Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Birthday Card

'Heros in a half shell.  Turtle Power!!'  I still hear this in my head whenever I think about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I had so much fun making my minion birthday card that when we got an invitation to another birthday and it was a TMNT theme I knew I wanted to use that to make a birthday card for that boy.  Here is what I came up with. 

I just love this card!!  It turned out exactly how I envisioned.  With only a few simple tools I bet you have on hand you too can make this card.  Let me show you how!

My first step was to punch out ovals and circles to make the faces.  I used a punch for the circles and the Creative Memories oval cutter for the ovals.  Once I got them cut I inked the edges with Distress Ink.  The Distress Ink adds just a little depth to these shapes and ties the whole card together.   

Now I needed to make the mask.  I got out some scrap paper in the four colors of the masks and punched out another circle like the one I used in the first step.  No need for a full circle on this step as you will be cutting only a portion of the circle to use.  I figured out how tall I wanted the mask to be and free hand cut a strip for the mask and used it as a pattern for the other three.  Super easy! 

Now it's time to assemble your turtle head.  I first put some adhesive on the mask and lightly adhered it to the circle lining up the edges.  Then I pushed the oval piece under the mask making sure the edges were hidden.  I added google eyes and a smile from a Tracerkins stencil.  See how simple this is!  The best part is the mask hides the edges so it looks like the head is only one piece!

Next I cut some squares slightly larger than my turtle heads and inked the edges in Distress Ink that coordinated with the masks.  This was just a fun way to use some more Distress Ink on this card.  I just love that stuff! 

I wanted the background of the card to look a little like a turtle shell with varying shades of green.  I smeared Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, and Mowed Lawn on my craft mat and spritzed it with water.  I then placed a piece of watercolor paper (cut slightly smaller than my card front) in the ink and smooshed it around.  I used my heat gun to speed up my drying time and then put the paper back in the ink to add some splotches.  I repeated this until I was happy with my result.  Then I used Forest Moss to ink the edges of the paper.  I love this technique and look!  It's so fun and easy to do and I am  always happy with the results.   

Next I stamped Happy Birthday on the front of the card in black ink.  Due to the green background it was a little lost so I got out my trusty white gel pen and outlined it in white.  I love the way it stands out now!  If you don't have a birthday stamp you could easily write Happy Birthday, use a sticker, or die cut one with a die cutting machine.  The possibilities are endless. 

I hope you enjoyed this little card.  I know I enjoyed making it.  Thanks for stopping!!

Supplies:

• cardstock- scraps
• tools- EK Success (1 1/4" circle punch), Creative Memories (oval cutter), Inkadinkado (Stamp-a-ma-jig)
• ink- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Mowed Lawn, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord), Memories Dye Ink (Black)
• stamp- Stampin' Up!
• misc- watercolor paper, foam squares, glue dots, google eyes, EK Success (Tracerkins), Creative Memories (Fine-Tip pen black), Uniball (Signo Broad White)