Kids Happy Birthday card

I'm preparing for a card workshop this weekend and my hostess wanted a kid's birthday card. I pulled out one of the card patterns that never lets me down (so it might seem familiar), and some Boom-di-ada paper and my blending pens. To make this card cut paper as follows:

8 1/2 by 11 colonial white cardstock, fold in half for card base
5 1/2 by 4 1/4 autumn terracotta cardstock, cut off the two right edges with a corner rounder
2 by 4 1/4 piece of pattern paper
1 by 4 1/4 piece of autumn terracotta cardstock
2 by 2 colonial white cardstock
2 1/4 by 2 1/4 sweet leaf cardstock

Distress everything with cocoa ink.

Using your dry embossing tool and your trimmer's groove, draw two lines 1/2 and 1 inch in from each side of the autumn terracotta card front piece. With raised edges showing, sand with sanding block to expose white core.

Apply pattern paper and autumn terracotta strip to card under the second embossed line. The embossed lines make it easy to line up straight.

Stamp two of the kids on the card (or just one if it's for a particular boy or girl) in cocoa ink.

Use a blending pen to color these in. Squeeze your ink pad together before opening and use the ink that has spread to the lid to color in the kids. It will make for a lighter application.

Remember when using blending pens that you don't go over and over the paper or it will get wet and tear. I used autumn terracotta, barn red, sweet leaf, sunkiss yellow, cocoa, and hollyhock to color these kids in.

Once finished, attach the piece to the sweet leaf square to frame it. Glue to card using embossed lines as a guide, I put mine just under the green pattern strip.

From the Everyday Celebration set I pulled off the Happy Birthday stamp. Add that in cocoa ink just above the second embossed line up from the bottom.

Add two bronze colored brads up in the top embossed "square" to balance the card out and you're done!