Very Simple Birthdays

For our church cardmaking gathering last week, I needed to put together some very simple cards for our group to make.  I had a number of cards for our advanced cardmakers, but really did not have anything for the beginners.  Here are two very simple birthday cards:

I have seen a number of people do the drop down butterfly shadow.  They had done it all in white with the shadow in black or purple.  I tried changing it up a little.  I like my colors, but the many colored gems just don't stand out as well as they did on the other cards that I had seen.

The second card is a CASE from the Paper Crafts special magazine, Color Inspiration for Card Makers.  Their card was just two colors - a warm tan and a hot pink - and was gorgeous in just those two colors.  But I had to change it up and went with patterned paper.  Although I like the way the pattern in the paper matches the rounded edge of the die, the tan and pink original is really unique.

Birthday Butterflies:

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Full of Life
• Ink: Stampin' Up Blue Bayou
• Paper: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Baja Breeze
• Accessories: Cuttlebug dot embossing folder, Martha Stewart butterfly border punch, misc gems

Simple Present:

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Wishing You, Circles
• Ink: Stampin' Up Old Olive
• Paper: Stampin' Up Ice Cream Parlor (from Sale-a-Bration), Melon Mambo, Old Olive
• Accessories: Martha Stewart bow punch, Papertrey Mat Stack die