A Clawsome Birthday with Karen Burniston's Castle Pop-Up!

 Hello and Welcome! Today's card features Karen Burniston's Castle Pop-Up, Sea Animals and Mini Alphabet and Numbers. I wanted to start using some dies that I don't normally use, like the Castle Pop-Up or the Tent Pop-Up. So this week I am going to be making cards using my older dies. 

I was definitely inspired by some of the teams older sand castle cards and found this super cute saying online about having a "clawsome" birthday, so I decided to create my own sandcastle made by crabs!

For this card I started with an A2 long size card. For the background pieces, I cut two panels 1/16 in shorter then the card base. Then I used Distress Inks to create the beach and ocean. I covered the beach and added water drops to the ocean, then covered the ocean and added flecks of ink using Distress Spray. 

I die cut the Castle Pop-Up from Kraft cardstock, including all the outer pieces. I added Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to the edges of the outer Castle pieces and then added the flecks of Distress Spray to the pieces. Once they were dry I added them to the Castle. 

I trimmed two thin strips of heavy weight cardstock to create poles for the blue flags I die cut. Then I added them to the sand castle. 

I added Palm Trees using the Beach Charms, then I die cut the shells from the Tropical Scene die set in three different colors to add to my beach scene. 

I added two crabs to the sand castle, then I got the great idea to use the Bam Box Pop-Up to add a third crab on the beach behind the sandcastle. Like I said, the Bam Box Pop-Up is a total game changer!!

I used the Mini Alphabet and Numbers dies to create my "Have a Clawsome Birthday" sentiment. I wish I had of die cut the sentiment from a different colored cardstock because I feel it's just too much red, but it looks good with the added gel pen white shine lines. 

I left the bottom ocean area empty, so the sender could use that to write a greeting for the recipient. 

I love making the ocean background and I plan to make a video to show you how I do this. I got the idea from a designer at My Favorite Things and it was a great idea to make amazing ocean/beaches. 

For the front of the card, I wanted to keep it minimal. I added a couple more crabs and more shells. Then I added the "It's Time to Shell-abrate" sentiment, adding the gel pen shine lines again. 

It's hard to see but the background red paper actually has crabs on it, which came from a summer patterned paper pack I bought last year. 

Fun tip: To add the letters, I put them down on the cardstock then used Glad Press n' Seal cling wrap to pick the letters up. They stick to the cling wrap and I just added glue then pressed it down to the cardstock again. Then I carefully removed the Press n' Seal cling wrap and voila! Letters added all at once. A few moved position, but I was able to fix it as best I could. 

I love how fun this card is and soooo beachy! (Bring on Summer, I hate Winter! Lol). As always, thank you so much for stopping by and Happy Crafting!