Hugs in a Card

One of the things I love about card making is being able to design my own birthday cards for friends and families. It’s such a rewarding feeling to know that the recipients of my cards feel special and cared for because the cards were handmade with love.

If you’re a fan of diy and creative stuff, you might fall in love with the thought of making your own birthday cards too. Cardmaking, indeed, is such a meaningful hobby, both for yourself and for your card recipients.

Here are some birthday card ideas that you can make for your next card making projects, using different stamp sets, die cuts, and colouring tools.

Contents

Birthday Card #1: Lawn Fawn Really High Five Happy Birthday Card

This diy birthday card is one dimensional so it’s really simple to make even for beginners in cardmaking like me.

First, I cut the panel using my largest rectangle stitched die from Scrap Dragon however, you can manually cut this using your paper trimmer.

I then created the background by blending the 3 inks from top to bottom: Shaded Lilac on top and Worn Lipstick next (Distress Inks) then Mango Melody (Stampin’ Up!) at the bottom. I used a blending brush to do this.

Using a stitched border die cut, I cut the clouds from a white cardstock and adhered it to the bottom so it would like the creatures were flying in the sky.

The stamped images I used were from Really High Five Lawn Fawn Stamp and Die set while the big word birthday die cut was from Scrap Dragon. It was actually Happy Birthday but I only used the word birthday and cut it out from gold cardstock.

Birthday Card #2: MFT BB Mermazing Shaker Card

The BB Mermazing stamp set from MFT is one my old favourites and why not? The mermaids in the stamp set are simply, well, mermazing. And when it comes to under the sea themed birthday cards, it has to be a shaker card for me and so that’s what I did for this birthday card design.

As with the first diy birthday card, I created the background by blending 3 inks from top to bottom: Spun Sugar, Shaded Lilac (both Distress Inks), and lastly Balmy Blue (Stampin’ Up!). I then sprayed the background with water to lift off some color and look like bubbles under the sea.

All the images I used were from the BB Mermazing set. After colouring using various alcohol ink markers, I added accents using a white gel pen and some glitter glue.

I cut the white frame next using my rectangular stitched dies from Scrap Dragon and then attached an acetate for the window. The sequins I used were from my stash, a cheap set I bought from Kmart a few months ago. This assortment had really nice colours that fit the theme.

I attached the images on the panel first, using foam adhesives, before I finally attached the window. This way, the acetate covers and protects all the elements inside.

The Happy Birthday greeting is stamped inside.

Birthday Card #3: MFT BB Beary Special Birthday Pop Up Box Card

When I saw the release of card stacks base dies from Concord & 9th, I knew I just had to have that in my collection. Alas! It’s still out of stock from my fave online crafting shop so I decided to make my own pattern in the meantime.

This cute birthday card was specially made for my daughter’s friend who turned 15 in January 2022. Sad to say, the birthday party was cancelled because of the increasing covid cases. I just hope that the card made her feel special and happy even though she wasn’t able to meet with her friends.

How to make this birthday card is actually easy although it might look a bit complicated. First, I traced my self made half circle pattern onto this beautiful plaid paper which I got from All Free Designs.

Next, I attached the 3 rectangular pieces to the sides of the half circle cardstock. For the front rectangle, I glued the words, HAPPY Birthday! The word happy, was from Lawn Fawn, Happy Happy Happy set while the Birthday! was from the same die cut I bought from Scrap Dragon.

Then I placed the 2 bears with the big cake and balloons on the rectangle paltforms. I added party hats to both bears, tiny gifts at the front and more balloons at the back. All the images were from MFT BB Beary Special Birthday stamp set which is one of my fave sets for diy birthday cards.

Finally, I added a bunting banner I’ve got from my stash a long time ago (from Kmart) and added accents using Nuvo drops.

Other than the sentiments at the front, I also added a sentiment at the back plus plenty of blank space where you can write your own birthday greetings!

Birthday Card #4: MFT BB Mermazing Birthday Pop Up Box Card

Because I enjoyed making the pop up birthday box card, I decided to make another one this time using my favourite MFT stamp sets, BB Mermazing! I used a similar format as with my 3rd handmade birthday card design but I stepped it up a bit and added a swish and pop interactive feature.

I had the swish and pop dies from Lawn Fawn for a while now and this is the first time I actually tried it. The interactive feature was added at the right bottom part of the half circle panel.

To start making this extra-special birthday card, I inked the half circle panel first. Using the same inks as with the mermaid birthday shaker card, I blended Spun Sugar (Distress Ink), Shaded Lilac (Distress Ink), and Balmy Blue (Stampin’ Up!) from top to bottom. All images were from BB Mermazing stamp set plus a few images I used from other stamp sets.

Then I added some silver stars but I kept the middle part of the half circle panel clean so that the jumping fish can swish and pop freely without obstacles. Then I also added a back part for personal message. I did stamp a sentiment at the bottom part to cover the paper fasteners.

These pop up birthday box cards are fun and whoever receives them will love the 3D effect for sure. They also fold nicely and can easily fit into a C6 sized envelope.

The swish and pop pull tab dies coordinate with the Really High Five stamp sets from Lawn Fawn but I think that I will be using this in a lot of my future handmade card ideas.

Birthday Card #5: Simple Design Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Friends Card

Making birthday cards do not always have to be over done as I sometimes get carried away! Sometimes, going simple can be best too.

And so for this next birthday cardmaking project, I decided to go with a simple and clean design. Using images and sentiment from Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Friends stamp set, I came up with this cute and easy birthday card idea.

I used my rectangle die cut for the front panel and stamped and colour the image and sentiment, easy. I did use the masking technique on the girl so I could blend in the blue ink as her background, using my blending brush and Balmy Blue ink from Stampin’ Up!

Finally, to add some interest, I added a few colourful sequins from my stash.

Which of these handmade birthday card ideas are your favourite? 🙂

Do you want to be one of our lucky Hugs in a Card happy mail recipients? Each month, I send out a FREE handmade card to some of my readers as a way of saying thank you and giving back. Click here to find out more!