July birthday cards are always fun to make because I tend to lean towards a favorite nautical/red, white, and blue theme. This card is no exception, as I combined those colors with some stamped images from Gina K‘s “My Anchor” set and papers from Graphic 45’s “By the Sea” collection. The two products worked together beautifully!

This card was a breeze to make! I cut various of pieces of patterned paper from the Graphic 45  “By the Sea” collection and softly brushed the edges with distress ink in “Vintage Photo.” I matted two of the patterned pieces with MFT‘s “Poppy Prestige” card stock for added dimension on the front of my card.

The focal point of my card was the anchor image from Gina K‘s “My Anchor” set. This set was included in Gina‘s “My Anchor Mini Stamp Kit,” and was my first purchase from the company a while ago. I stamped the anchor using “Faded Jeans” distress oxide ink onto a small rectangle of vanilla card stock I had in my stash. I adhered another piece of vanilla, also softly distressed on the edges, on to a A2-sized card base of MFT‘s “Nightshift Blue”card stock.

I stamped the vanilla layer inside the card with the lighthouse image included with the stamp set, again in “Faded Jeans.” The set’s “Happy Birthday” sentiment was stamped using “Candied Apple” distress oxide ink.

The finishing touches on this card are pretty cool if I say so myself! I adhered fishnet and mini starfishes to the bottom left corner of the card, and then sprinkled and adhered some real sand I had saved from a favorite beach of both mine and the card recipient’s. Three red enamel dots finished the nautical look.

I hope you enjoyed today’s card!