Funny Phone Birthday Card

Hello, SugarPea friends! It’s Bobbi Lemanski (@BobbiHartDesign), back with another card to share as the April guest designer for SugarPea Designs. Today, I’m sharing a birthday card “for the funny bone” that includes funny phones!  Yep, I went there… just a little phone humor, poking fun of the old school, dial phones. Believe it or not, I remember using a dial as a kid. Boy, have we come a long way since then! I’m sure my kids would need instructions on how to use a dial to phone a friend! 😊 I fell in love with the SugarCut Vintage Telephone die set and knew one of my cards just had to have it.

I’m using several products from SugarPea Designs including:

Call Me stamp set and coordinating die set

SugarCut – Vintage Telephone die set

SugarCut – Letter Message Board die set

Geo Snowflake Stencil

SugarCut – Greatest Hits die set (used for the phone legs and hands only)

Inside, this 5” X 7” card reveals the retro phone in its glory! Isn’t she pretty? I used vintage colors of gold and black with a little teal accent to really add the vintage feel to her shining beauty. Now for the details…

Cutting Preparation

To make this 5” X 7” card, I started by cutting the following pieces of cardstock. 

Card Panels

I use Neenah 80lb Solar White cardstock for the white pieces. Since I layer my panels, the 80lb weight is perfect for a sturdy card.

• Cut one card base : 10” X 7” from white cardstock and score to create an A7 sized, side-fold card.
• Cut two panels: 5” X 7” from white cardstock. One will be for the card front and one for the interior.
• Cut one card front panel: 5” X 1-1/8” from light aqua cardstock.

Mobile Phones

• Cut one each: 2” X 1-1/4” and  1-1/4” X 1-1/8” from charcoal gray cardstock and round the corners using a ¼” corner round punch.
• Cut one each: 1-1/2” X 1” and 1-3/8” X 7/8” from white cardstock and round the corners using a ¼” corner round punch.

Die Cuts (die cuts requiring no stamping)

Die cut the following:

• SugarCut – Vintage Telephone from gold, black and teal cardstock (See photo). Note: You need two of the handsets. 
• SugarCut – Letter Message Board base from white cardstock
• SugarCut – Letter Message Board letters from black cardstock to say, “Long ago our ancestors had tails,” “O” and “Happy Birthday”
• SugarCut – Vintage Telephone dial from teal and black cardstock to use circular cutouts on the mobile phones and interior card panel.
• SugarCut – Greatest Hits musical notes from black cardstock to use for arms and legs on the mobile phones.

Now, let’s put it all together!

Front Panel Construction

For the front panel background:

• I stenciled the Geo Snowflake design on the white 5” X 7” card front panel using Ranger Distressed Oxide Ink in Speckled Egg. I chose this stencil because it has a geometric, mid-century modern design that fits so well with the vintage phone look. After stenciling the pattern, I trimmed it to be 5” wide X 5-1/4” long. TIP: I like to keep the panel bigger before stenciling so that I have something to “tape” the stencil to on the perimeter for a full pattern design (i.e., tape does not get in the way of the full coverage area).
• I stamped the dial numbers from the Call Me stamp set in black. I love how this turned out. The black is a nice contrast to the light aqua pattern color.
•  I attached the pattern piece to the card base and added the aqua 5” wide X 1-1/8” band at the bottom to cover the card front. 

The message board and letters were assembled together and attached to the card front. I added a simple, thin black border around three sides of the message board. I think it just sets it off and looks more finished. Note: I didn’t add a black border to the bottom. I felt it got too busy with the mobile phones layered over it. 

Next, I worked on the mobile phones: 

• I attached all the elements as shown, including the googly eyes that I had on hand. I used different sizes of eyeballs to make them more humorous looking.
• I attached the “O” die cut for the mouth and added a pink fill to it by simply die cutting another “O” letter from pink.  
• The black punch out dots from the dial cut were attached on each phone at the bottom for the button control.
• The music notes were attached for the arms and legs.  

Lastly, I added the handset at the bottom. I stamped and die cut the cord and attached it to the phone piece.  Simple shading was added below the handset using C3 and C1 Copic Sketch Markers. The shading helps to “ground” the piece for a finished look. 

Interior Panel Construction

For the card’s interior panel:

• I stenciled the Geo Snowflake design and stamped the numbers to match the front panel and trimmed the piece to 4-3/4” square. Little teal cut outs from the dial die were glued in the middle of each one. 
• I assembled the phone and attached it to the patterned background, matching up the bottoms.
• I stamped the cord design and phrase right below the phone, in the white area using black ink. 
• The “Happy birthday” letters were glued on, above the phone.

Finally, I heat embossed, using white embossing powder the “Just an old-fashioned” phrase on black cardstock, trimmed it down and attached it above the birthday letters.

I plan to send this one to one of my older brothers. I can poke fun at his old age!  If you like this and decide to place an order, please use the links in this post. It lets SugarPea Designs know what inspired you! You can shop here!     

Thanks for stopping by today. I’ll be back next week with another card to share here on the SugarPea Designs blog.