Category Archives: Birthday

Abigail Rose Colored Flower Birthday Card

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I’m a later comer to the Abigail Rose Suite and Cottage Rose Bundle but it’s a really pretty, different set to use. There are all kinds of flowers to either stamp or color in on the designer paper, or die cut. So many possibilities! This Abigail Rose Colored Flower Birthday Card came together pretty easily!

The card base is Crumb Cake but I almost used Early Espresso. Either would work. Before adhering the Abigail Rose Designer Paper to the card base, I adhered a piece of the Gold & Vanilla 3/8″ Satin Edged Ribbon around the top and bottom on the side, then tied on a bow with another piece of ribbon. This ribbon is so pretty with the gold and I thought it looked good with the brown print paper.

The flower and leaves are stamped in Early Espresso ink on Very Vanilla Cardstock. To easily and not perfectly color in the flower and leaves, I just used Sponge Daubers. I used Petal Pink Ink, a bit of Daffodil Delight for the flower center, some Gorgeous Grape ink for the tiny flowers, and Granny Apple Green for the leaves. Then I used a die to cut it out. Actually, I cut it out first, then colored it. Either way is fine. I popped this flower up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The greeting is in the Go-To Greetings Stamp Set. This is a new set I just got recently that has multiple sentiments but in different sizes and styles so you always have something you can use! I stamped it in Early Espresso Ink on Very Vanilla cardstock then die cut with one of the Painted Labels Dies.

For a finishing touch, I added three Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots. I thought they would go with the gold on the ribbon.

You could also stamp this flower and leaves and color in with Stampin’ Blends, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pen and ink, and more. Or even leave it plain for a different, monochromatic look!

Here is another card I made with the Abigail Rose Designer Paper and Cottage Rose Stamps. If you like the look of this Abigail Rose Colored Flower Birthday Card you may want to check out the Suite or Bundle in the Online Store HERE.

Glitter Washi Tape Birthday Card

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Glitter Washi Tape Birthday Card

I saw this idea of using our Glitter Washi Tape this way on the @Stampinupofficial Instagram account the other day and I loved the idea! Because of the colors, I assumed they were suggesting this was a way to make a Halloween card. While that would be very cute, I thought I could make a Glitter Washi Tape Birthday Card with three of the four washi tape colors! And I did! But I’m also dying to make a Halloween card using this technique, too!

The main idea is to use the Black & White Designs Designer Series Paper and add strips of the Glitter Washi Tape in the Holiday Mini Catalog on page 57. You have to look up in the upper left corner of the page to find it! I did make THIS CARD for Halloween using some Glitter Washi Tape but not in this way. I think this is such a clever idea to use this washi tape with this designer series paper!

The colors of the Glitter Washi Tape are Old Olive, Black, Highland Heather, and Pumpkin Pie. I left out the Pumpkin Pie so it wouldn’t look like Halloween. The card base is Highland Heather and I embossed the front with the Hive 3D Embossing Folder. I would normally use a separate layer to emboss, but since this card base was already cut and folded in the cardstock package I just went with it this way. I had to run the folder through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine sideways which isn’t the best but it worked. Since I had a slightly smaller layer for the card front I thought a little texture around the edges of the card was in order.

The card front is a polka dot pattern in the Black & White Designs Designer Series Paper in the Holiday Catalog. I ran the washi tape diagonally in between the polka dots. There are also striped designs and others so you can choose other ways to apply the washi tape. Just let the strips of washi tape extend over the edges of the cardstock and then fold them all under instead of cutting or tearing them off at the ends. You could do that though. I used Stampin’ Seal+ adhesive to adhere the striped card front to the card base.

Glitter Washi Tape Card Front
Glitter Washi Tape Card Front2

I used the Biggest Wish Stamp Set for the greeting and focal point of the card. I stamped the words separately in Highland Heather ink and cut them very closely to the words with the Paper Trimmer. I also added a narrow layer of Highland Heather behind the stamped words. This stamp set is a fun one to own and perfect for a card like this.

Just in case the Glitter Washi Tape wasn’t enough “bling” on this card, I added a few 2021-2023 In Color Jewels even though they are retired now. (Such a shame!) I thought the Fresh Freesia jewels could be a close enough match to work on the card and applied a few to the greeting.

You might want to add this 4-pack of Glitter Washi Tape to your next order. It’s not just for Halloween and you can use the tape in so many ways in cardmaking and scrapbooking. You could just use little touches of it or actually make stripes or designs with it on cards. Just one of the fun embellishments we have for our papercrafting!

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Hues of Happiness Floral Card

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Hues of Happiness Floral Card

Did you know that a lot of the flowers and even leaves in certain papers in the Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper can be diecut right from the designer paper?! It’s a fun new trick Stampin’ Up! has been doing with some of its designer paper patterns. I came up with this Hues of Happiness Floral Card idea just by looking through the designer papers and finding this “other side of the paper” that looked so soft and pretty with mostly light blue and just a touch of green and blue in the corners to use as the background layer.

The card base is Pool Party with a layer, as I said, from “the other side” of one of the gorgeous floral papers. When you have papers like this you hate to NOT use the side with the pretty flowers, but sometimes, it must be done! I cut the paper so that it was mostly the Pool Party shade of blue and then a watercolor area of a darker blue in the upper right corner and a green watercolor area in the lower-left corner. You can see the brushstrokes.

Next, I cut the floral paper into smaller pieces so I could die cut a lot of the flowers and leaves using the Blossoming Happiness Dies. I die cut more than I needed, but I can use the extras on another card. I didn’t realize I could diecut leaves as well! Then I laid them out on the card front, fiddled with them for a while to figure out the design I liked, and fiddled some more. Finally, I was satisfied and started gluing them down. The large center flower is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then I placed the leaves around where they looked good.

The greeting is in the Happiness Abounds Stamp Set. I stamped it in Pool Party ink on Basic White and die cut it with one of the banner dies in the Stylish Shapes Dies. This is a new set of dies in the Annual Catalog in the shapes of circles, squares, and labels all with a stitched edge. Very useful! And for a final touch, I added some Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewels for a little sparkle.

When you have new designer papers, be sure to check if maybe the dies work on the images on the paper! Sometimes they do like on this Hues of Happiness Designer Paper that I could use on this Hues of Happiness Floral Card.

Flowing Flowers Trio Birthday Card

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Flowing Flowers Trio Birthday Card

Sometimes you don’t know exactly where you are going with a card idea, or what you thought of doesn’t work out very well, yet in the end, something works out and you come up with a card you are happy with like this Flowing Flowers Trio Birthday Card!

The card base, which is difficult to see in the photo is Petal Pink with a layer of Melon Mambo, and then Basic White for the card front and flowers. The Flowing Flowers Stamp set is a beautiful one! This is a Distinktive** stamp set; it has a special texture that gives added depth and dimension in a single step, creating photo-realistic images. **Patent pending. In other words, the stamp does all the work and will stamp surprisingly beautiful! If you look at it after inking it, it will look like you missed some areas. You can stamp on scrap paper just to make sure and then reink it for your card or project. Some areas will be darker, some lighter, and some blank. It’s a surprise when you stamp it and see how pretty the image is!

For this card, I stamped several Flowing Flowers but ended up using just three of them. One is Highland Heather, one is Melon Mambo, and one is Mango Melody. I stamped them and then cut them out with Paper Snips. If I had known for sure how the card would come together, I could have stamped the two flowers on the ends straight onto the card front and then added the separate middle flower. But I didn’t know that at first! The flowers may look complicated to cut out but you don’t need to cut right on the lines and in some spaces, there aren’t any lines so just cut it out free and easy! I usually like to leave a tiny margin of white around the stamped image anyway so you don’t have to be precise.

The middle flower is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the other two adhered right on to the cardstock. There are no leaf stamps in the stamp set, so I just used the Sprig Punch to quickly punch out a bunch of leafy sprigs. I used three different green cardstock – Granny Apple Green, Pear Pizzazz, and Soft Sea Foam. I just tried to scatter them around tucking them underneath the flower edges.

There wasn’t much room for a greeting, but I stamped the “Happy Birthday” on Basic White and die cut it with one of the Tailor Made Tags. It seemed to fit best tucked in the upper right corner, just barely tucked under the Melon Mambo flower. It also has a piece of the Petal Pink 1/8″ Cotton Ribbon Combo Pack.

For some sparkle and glimmer, I colored over all three flowers with Clear Wink of Stella and also added a few Iridescent Rhinestones Basic Jewels.

Check out the Flowing Flowers Stamp Set. There are no dies, so you can just buy the stamp set and not worry about spending extra money on the dies! With that Distinktive style, you will stamp beautiful flowers on your cards and projects. Here is another card I made recently with the other major flower stamp in the set.

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Calming Camellia Birthday Card in Fresh Freesia

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Calming Camellia Birthday Card in Fresh Freesia

I so loved making the card the other day with the Calming Camellia stamp that I had to try another one. This Calming Camellia Birthday Card in Fresh Freesia though was really super simple! The stamp does all the work of making a beautiful card!

The card base, as you might have guessed, is Fresh Freesia Cardstock, one of the 2021-23 In Colors. I really like this group of In Colors. I cut the Basic White layer for the card front a little smaller than usual just to let more of the Fresh Freesia color show. It is 5″ x 3 3/4″. I stamped the camellia up a little high in the center of the Basic White with Fresh Freesia ink. The entire image you see on that card is all from the Distinktive stamp, a new type of stamp developed by Stampin’ Up! You don’t have to add anything else to get that full look of all the texture and detail.

The birthday greeting is also in the Calming Camellia Stamp Set so I stamped that near the bottom of the card. I decided not to do a die-cut or punch, but just to stamp right on the card front (unless I messed up!). Then I just tied the Fresh Freesia Open Weave Ribbon around with a bow so it looked like the bow was on the flower stem. That’s all there is to it! I didn’t even add any jewels this time, I just wanted the card to be simple and basic.

Now this stamp set, Calming Camellia, is special because you can’t just purchase it. It’s a Host set to earn with a $300 order during Sale-A-Bration which is quickly coming to an end in less than ten days! It can be all your own order or go in with some friends to reach that amount.

You can earn Sale-A-Bration products by ordering from either of the catalogs plus from the Clearance Rack! Just spend $50 and choose a product in the Sale-A-Bration Brochure. Spend $100 and you have additional choices! No limit to the products you can earn, so shop in $50 increments!

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Blessings of Home Floral Bouquet Valentine

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Blessing of Home Floral Bouquet Valentine

Although this card has the title of Blessings of Home Floral Bouquet Valentine, it could be a valentine but it could be a wedding card, anniversary card, or engagement card. Change the greeting for a birthday or “thinking of you” card. Flowers can be for almost anything!

I actually wanted to make a card that could be a valentine without hearts like all the other ones I made. I chose this bouquet stamp in the Blessings of Home Stamp Set in the Spring Mini Catalog. I used my Stamparatus to stamp the image on Basic White because I wanted to make sure I got a good impression. As it turned out, it was okay but I re-stamped it which was easy to do with the Stamparatus just to make it a tiny bit darker.

I looked through the Heart & Home Designer Series Paper and decided on this green leafy background which I thought would look good against the bouquet of flowers. The card base turned out to be Melon Mambo cardstock after I colored the flowers. The first layer on the card base is Basic White embossed with the Pretty Flowers Embossing Folder. The designer paper is cut smaller so the embossing shows at least a little bit around the margins.

Can you guess what the flowers are colored with? Almost always I use Stampin’ Blends Markers, but I was in the mood for something different and tried the Watercolor Pencils! We have two different packages of Watercolor Pencils. I used some colors from both boxes. When you color with Watercolor Pencils, you likely will want to use a Blender Pen to smooth and blend the colors. You can actually just kind of scribble in some color and then use the Blender Pen, which is moist, to move the color around and smooth it out. You can’t work it too much or you will rub and moisten the Basic White paper too much. Just a light and quick touch are all you need. Watercolor Pencils always take me back to my early days in Stampin’ Up! when we used Watercolor Pencils a lot and I loved using them with the Blender Pen! Now we have more things for coloring and I think they get forgotten, but they are fun and easy to use.

Stampin' Up! Watercolor Pencils

The whole flower bouquet was die cut with one of the Flowers of Home Dies. You can purchase the stamp set and dies together in the Blessings of Home Bundle and save 10%.

The greeting is stamped in Melon Mambo ink and is from a stamp in the Blessings of Home Stamp Set. It is die cut with one of the Rectangle Stitched Dies. It fits just underneath the floral bouquet, which is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals®. For a little sparkle, I adhered three Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Whether you use this card for a Valentine or some other occasion, using the Blessings of Home Stamp Set will guarantee you a pretty card!

Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

Sunshine & Rainbows Daisy Card

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Sunshine & Rainbows Daisy Card

The other side of this paper is the pattern I used the other day on a card with the bright and cheerful sunshine and rainbows. But when I happened to look at this other side, the sunshine images made me think of daisies! I hadn’t used my Daisy Punch in a long time!

This card has a Basic White card base, not really visible in this photo. I layered the Sunshine & Rainbows Designer Paper on the card base. Remember, you can earn this paper FREE during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 Stampin’ Up! purchase!

The daisy is made with both daisy punches, the Daisy Punch and the smaller Medium Daisy Punch. I punched one large daisy and two of the smaller and layered them in a staggered fashion. The largest daisy is adhered directly to the card, the smaller two are popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals®. I used my retired 1/2″ Circle Punch to punch out a piece of the same designer paper for the flower center and also added one of the small Elegant Faceted Gems to the center.

The greeting is from the Encircled in Friendship Stamp Set. I simply stamped it on a scrap strip of Basic White I already had in Bumblebee Ink. Then I punched the banner ends using the point of the Tailored Tag Punch. This greeting is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals also. For a finishing touch, I added two of the Brushed Brass Butterflies. I love these because they are so dainty and delicate and FLAT so no problem mailing them!

That’s the story of this card that I never dreamed I was going to make! You never know what kind of inspiration might strike! Even if you don’t know exactly what to make, just get out your supplies and see what pops up!

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Blessings of Home Floral Birthday Card

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Blessings_of_Home_Floral_Birthday_Card

The Blessings of Home Stamp Set in the new January-June 2022 Mini Catalog has this beautiful bouquet stamp in it. You might think it would be too involved to color in this Blessings of Home Floral Birthday Card, but I found that I was done before I knew it.

This time I started with the stamp set, Blessings of Home, with the largest bouquet. I would decide later what color the card base would be, etc. I stamped the bouquet on a piece of Basic White Cardstock and die-cut it with the Flowers of Home Dies. You can purchase both the stamp set and dies in the Blessings of Home Bundle and save 10% over buying them separately.

I stamped the bouquet in Memento Ink so I could color it with my Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. I looked at the colors that coordinate with the Heart & Home 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper but mostly I just wanted a soft look to the flowers. I started with Pale Papaya for the big center flower with a Delightful Daffodil center, with maybe a touch of Mango Melody to darken it. The other flowers are Calypso Coral, Highland Heather, and Pool Party. The leaves are mostly Granny Apple Green. Just use whatever colors you are in the mood for!

I decided on Cinnamon Cider for a card base with a Pale Papaya layer. Then I cut two pieces of the Heart & Home Designer paper to use for angled layers. They are 3″ x 4 3/4″. I actually mixed them up by accident! I intended for the wood pattern one to go behind the flowers since it is plainer, but I think it works okay the way I made it. The busy flower pattern is behind the bouquet but I think it still looks good. You probably can’t go wrong with the pretty designer paper and this floral stamp! The floral bouquet is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals®.

The birthday greeting is in the Blessings of Home Stamp Set. I simply stamped it in Memento Ink on a scrap strip of Basic White and cut it down to the right length. I put a strip of Basic Black behind it to help it stand out. I could have used Cinnamon Cider perhaps or one of the other colors in the flowers instead. Since it goes across the popped up bouquet, I put Mini Dimensionals on each end and a bit of Stampin’ Seal in the center to adhere to the card over the bouquet.

It really didn’t take me long to color the flowers. Besides, coloring is good for our mental health and relaxation so we should take the time and not feel rushed! But if you don’t have time or really don’t like to color, just stamp the bouquet in a color. HERE is a card I made earlier with the smaller bouquet and just stamped it in Cinnamon Cider.

There are many beautiful and fun stamp sets and products in the new January-June 2022 Mini Catalog or Spring Mini, so take your time and make out your shopping list! Don’t delay too long though for things you really want because you know what can happen sometimes! And don’t forget about Sale-A-Bration! With every $50 purchase, you earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Sunshine & Rainbows Birthday Wishes Card

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Sunshine & Rainbows Birthday Wishes Card

Here’s a bright and happy card to start the New Year, this Sunshine & Rainbows Birthday Wishes Card. With things still disorganized at my house from moving things around for Christmas, I don’t even know what new products I have or where they are! I found one little pile and this paper was in it!

Beginning Tuesday, January 4 (yes, tomorrow!) the new Stampin’ Up! Spring Mini Catalog goes live plus our Sale-A-Bration promotion! Spend $50, get one free Sale-A-Bration product! This is everyone’s favorite promotion because who doesn’t like free product! This paper is used on this card is a Sale-A-Bration product that you can earn for free with a $50 purchase! It’s the Sunshine & Rainbows 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper and it coordinates with the Rainbow of Happiness Bundle in the Spring Mini Catalog. Some images coordinate with the dies and the new punch.

I was surprised to find this polka dot paper in the package, I was thinking it was all going to be rainbows on the “front” side of the paper, but when I saw this colorful polka dot, I had to use it! The bottom striped portion is the opposite side of the polka dots side!

The card base is Magenta Madness. I cut one of the pieces of designer paper a little longer so that they could overlap and not just meet, although that would have worked out okay, I didn’t know which ribbon I was using at first. The striped bottom piece is 5 1/4″ x 1 3/4″ and the polka dot pattern is 5 1/4″ x 2 1/2″ so the two papers can overlap by about 1/4″. The ribbon I used is the White 3/4″ Frayed Ribbon in the Spring Mini.

The greeting is found in the Little Delights Stamp Set, stamped in Magenta Madness ink on Basic White cardstock, and die cut with a die in the Painted Labels Dies. Then the greeting is layered on one of the Stitched So Sweetly Dies in Magenta Madness. It is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals over the wide ribbon. This stamp set is retiring from the Holiday Mini so TODAY is the LAST DAY for the great stamp set! Get it while you can!

To finish off this card, since the die cut behind the greeting was rather large, I felt like I should add something. Of course, that something was some jewels! I used the new Iridescent Rhinestone Jewels and a couple of the Gilded Gems from the Annual Catalog on each side of the Magenta Madness die cut. I’m not sure I love the placement of the gems, I didn’t feel like I was getting it right, but it’s right enough, so I decided to leave well enough alone! Sometimes you have to know when to stop!

*** Remember: Today is the last day for the LAST CHANCE PRODUCTS, the products retiring from the July-December 2021 Holiday Mini Catalog! Take a final look at your list and especially check in the Online Store to see what is still available! Check the Clearance Rack, too, as long as you are looking! There are a few things you could even use for making Valentine projects soon, plus punches, embossing folders, great dies, Gold Mini Pizza Boxes (great for treats, little 3″ x 3″ cards, small gift)

One more day until the new January-June 2022 Spring Mini Catalog AND Sale-A-Bration! Sleep well so you are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow!! Happy New Year and Shopping!

Blessings of Home Birthday Card

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Blessings of Home Birthday Card

This weekend we Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators got to enjoy attending the OnStage Stampin’ Up! event….virtually! If we wanted to, we could preorder a few products so we could stamp along during the event presentations. This Blessings of Home Birthday Card uses some of those new products that will be coming in January in the January-June 2022 Mini Catalog! We got to view the new catalog plus the Sale-A-Bration Brochure also coming in January 2022! If you would like to be a Demonstrator and get in on some of this fun, consider joining now during the special Starter Kit offer during November!

This card uses the new Blessings of Home Stamp Set along with the new Heart & Home Designer Series Paper. I started with a card base of Cinnamon Cider and layered that with a piece of Pale Papaya cardstock. I chose this pattern with the foliage and bumblebees on it and layered that on the Pale Papaya.

The flower bouquet is stamped in Cinnamon Cider ink on Basic White cardstock. I wanted to make it kind of a monochromatic card although it’s not really that. It kind of has the look, though! I only stamped the flowers, I didn’t try to color anything in. This stamp set has a lot of details already designed into the stamp. I die cut the flowers with the die in the Flowers of Home Dies.

The greeting is stamped in Cinnamon Cider Ink on really a scrap of Pale Papaya that happened to be laying there! This sentiment is also in the Blessings of Home Stamp Set. I flagged the ends using the Tailored Tag Punch. This punch is so useful for punching into those ends of cardstock to cut out that little notch to make it look like a banner or flag!

The flower die-cut piece is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals onto a Pale Papaya scalloped rectangle in the Scalloped Contours Dies. The birthday greeting is laid across the stem with a Dimensional on each end of the strip so that it fits over the popped up flower.

For some bling, I added three of the new Classic Matte Dots in white. Then I remembered the Bumblebee Trinkets that we already have and just had to add one bumblebee to the card! If I hadn’t already popped up the flower, I could have adhered the bumblebee right on the flower bouquet instead of off to the side, but if you get too many layers popped up the embellishments might not make it through the mail! I think the Bumblebee Trinkets will be really cute with this paper!

That’s it! Pretty easy card to make and certainly lots of fun ahead with this new paper and stamping with the new floral stamps! We have to get through the holidays first, but once January hits, you know we will be ready for some fresh new products!

Don’t forget the Seasonal Sale starting Tuesday, Nov. 16 for three days only, through Thursday, Nov. 18!

Don’t miss it!

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online Here!

Counting Sheep Birthday Card

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Counting Sheep Birthday Card

If you like sheep, I hope you are able to get this cute stamp set and dies to make a card like this Counting Sheep Birthday Card. I really had fun making this card and coloring the sheep and the background of the card. I think it’s the party hats and balloon that made me so happy! Who can’t be happy when you have party hats??!

The card base is Old Olive and the top layer is Basic White, but I colored it with ink. For the grassy area, I used Granny Apple Green ink and applied it with the Blending Brush. For the sky, I used Coastal Cabana ink. The fences are cut with the Sheep Dies. When I was going through some retired stuff in my stash, I found these wood sheets that Stampin’ Up! sold several years ago. It’s so thin it’s meant to be used like paper almost. So I die cut the fences using the wood sheets rather than paper! I also thought about using the Cork Paper! You can use any card stock you like.

The sheep were stamped on Basic White Cardstock with Memento ink and I colored them in with various Stampin’ Blends. The party hats were also stamped and colored with Blends and then everything was die cut with the Sheep Dies. The stamp set for everything is the Counting Sheep Stamp Set. After I had everything planned where I wanted it placed, I stamped the greeting at the top, which is in the same stamp set. I stamped the “You’re Amazing” on the inside of the card as well.

You can earn the Counting Sheep Stamp Set or the Sheep Dies during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 purchase. If you want both the stamps and the dies, you would need a $100 order. Sale-a-Bration ends Thursday, September 30 so don’t let it pass you by! It’s the biggest promotion of the Stampin’ Up! year and this year we had TWO Sale-A-Brations so that was pretty special…and historic! Check HERE under Sales & Specials in the Online Store to see what is currently available during Sale-A-Bration. Right now the only thing that is gone is the Be Dazzling Designer Paper.

I hope you are having as much fun as these sheep are on this Counting Sheep Birthday Card celebrating someone’s birthday!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card

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Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card

Bet you can’t make a card with this Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper, like this Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card, without feeling happy afterward! It’s not about making the card, it’s that designer paper that just is so pleasing to me!

Just to make things a little more interesting, I made this into a gatefold card. Instead of folding the card the normal way, you fold in both sides. The center greeting is just glued on the left side so that it can be opened!

The card base is Basic White. Cut the cardstock in half like usual – 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″. But don’t score and fold in the middle! Score each end at 2 1/8″. The math is that you want the center of the card to be 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″. So you divide 4 1/4″ in half, so each side “gate” will fold in to cover the center of the card. That gives you 2 1/8″ on each end. Mine somehow didn’t quite meet in the middle. Maybe I should have folded the sides in from the opposite side. You can try both ways!

For this card, I cut a Highland Heather piece of cardstock to go on the inside of the card. I made it the usual layer size, 5 1/4″ x 4″. I stamped a greeting on the inside before I adhered it to the center of the card. This greeting is from the Inspired Thoughts Stamp Set.

On the front of the card, I cut a layer of Highland Heather to go behind the Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper. Since the gate-fold panel is already pretty narrow, you have to cut the other layers pretty narrow. The Highland Heather layer is 5 3/8″ x 2″ on each gatefold panel. The designer paper is 5 1/4″ x 1 7/8″.

Now as I was putting glue on the back of this pretty floral designer paper, I also liked the Highland Heather color print on the other side. So I added that side of the designer paper to the inside panels of the card!

Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card Inside

For the greeting on the front of the card, you could use a variety of shapes – circles, rectangles, squares, ovals. Use whatever you like or fits the greeting. I used these two die cuts from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies. The Happy Birthday greeting is from the Peaceful Moments Stamp Set. I stamped that in Highland Heather Ink and also stamped a few flowers and leaves in the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set. Layer the Basic White stamped piece on top of the Highland Heather piece. Be sure to only apply adhesive to the left side of the greeting from the middle over to the left side. Check the inside to make sure no glue is showing on the inside or it will stick to the other side of the card. I added two Elegant Faceted Gems to each side of the Highland Heather die cut.

Here is a fairly recent card I made in the gatefold style using the Expressions In Ink Designer Series Paper.

This is an easy card but the gatefold gives it a little extra pizzazz. Try your hand at making something like this Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card.

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Bloom Where You’re Planted Happy Birthday Card

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Bloom Where You're Planted Happy Birthday Card

If you would like to make this Bloom Where You’re Planted Happy Birthday Card, you can buy the paper with the plants and the paper with the background both on sale in the Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper Sale! There are nine select papers on sale right now through August 2 so you can stock up or try out new ones at a 15% discount!

To make this card, I used two of the papers on sale now – In Good Taste for the background and Bloom Where You’re Planted for the plants! In Good Taste is a giant package of paper, 24 sheets of paper, 2 papers each of 12 different designs. You are sure to find patterns for every creation in this package! Each sheet has photographic images of wood, tile, stone, and other elements to add visual textures to all kinds of projects. These would be great backgrounds for scrapbook pages as well.

For the card base, I used Early Espresso Cardstock. Since this paper is so dark, you will want to add a Basic White or lighter color layer inside the card on which to stamp or write your message. You might even stamp or add a cutout image of one of the plants to this inside layer for a fun surprise.

For the plants, I just went through the Bloom Where You’re Planted Designer Paper and chose some plants I wanted to cut out. This paper has sheets of separate plants and pots, leafy backgrounds as well as various generic backgrounds to look like walls where you might place a plant. If you have the Perfect Plant Dies, you can cut out certain pots and plants on separate papers by running them through the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine. I just used my Paper Snips to cut out one separate pot and separate plant and the other two were the full pot and plant on another sheet.

The largest plant on the left is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals® and the other two are adhered right down on the background paper. I found a retired spool of twine and used that to tie a little bow and adhered it to the middle pot with a Mini Glue Dot.

The greeting was already die-cut in a little pile on my table from the Many Messages Stamp Set and Messages Die. This is an amazing concept! It’s like a large background stamp filled with greetings that is best to stamp with the Stamparatus so you make sure every inch is stamped fully. Then die cut with the one large die, making sure it is lined up properly, and it cuts out all the greetings in one fell swoop! You used to be able to buy both the stamp set and die in a Bundle, but that retired now so you have to buy them separately. However, they added a new stamp set, the Many Happenings Stamp Set, for even more greetings to be stamped and die-cut in the same way! If you stamp and cut out these greetings maybe in a couple of colors of ink or on different colors of cardstock, then store them in a little box or bag, you will have a whole bunch of greetings ready to go when you don’t have time to look for a specific stamp set to use!

In this previous post, you can see how I used the Stamparatus to stamp all these greetings!

Check out all the papers on sale, if you haven’t already! Maybe you have purchased one of the patterns already but used a lot of it. Now is the time to stock up on more at a discount! Every little bit helps! My Bloom Where You’re Planted Happy Birthday Card was fun to make!

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Pattern Party 2-4-6-8 Birthday Gift Bag

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If you are able to get this Pattern Party Designer Series Paper, I think you will really enjoy using it as I did making this Pattern Party 2-4-6-8 Birthday Gift Bag! I thought this festive diagonal stripe would make a fun gift bag, at least for a small gift or treat, and certainly a 2-4-6-8 gift bag (or box) is easy enough to make!

The Pattern Party Designer Series Paper is an item you can choose as one of your Stampin’ Rewards with an order of $150 or more. That’s a big order but maybe some friends would like to go in on the order with you and you could divide up the paper because it’s a big package! Twelve different designs and four pages of each!

We’ve made this bag a bunch of times before but even I have to go back and review the directions. It is very easy though! Once you know how to do it, you can vary the size by using a larger or smaller piece of paper. Always be sure the pattern of the paper is going in the direction you want it to go in so you don’t end up with upside down flowers or animals or a stripe going sideways when you wanted it to go up and down.

For this gift bag, I started with a piece of paper 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″. I just scored it at 2″, 4″, 6″ and 8″ going across the paper. Then I turned it and scored at 1 1/2″ for the bottom tabs of the bag. Trim off the little 1/2″ bottom piece and cut on the 2″, 4″, 6″, and 8″ score lines for the bottom flaps up to the 1 1/2″ score line. Difficult to see in the photo below but you can get the idea.

Pattern Party Small 2-4-6-8 Birthday Gift Bag scoring

Assemble the box, putting adhesive on that 1/2″ piece on the side. You can just fold over the other side of the bag with it laying flat on the table. You don’t have to try to maneuver it in your hands! Apply adhesive to the bottom flaps, first doing a “test” to see which way you want the flaps to go in before you glue. Then pay attention to where the seam is and try to have that face the back. Fold in the bottom flaps, trying to make the front of the bag look nice.

To decorate this bag, I stamped “Happy Birthday” in the Pansy Patch Stamp Set in Pale Papaya Ink. Then I die cut it with one of the Layering Circles Dies and layered it on a scalloped circle die in Pale Papaya Cardstock. It’s perfect fit! I needed something big enough to fit the greeting but not too big for the bag! I popped that up with two Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the top of the bag, you can leave it open, or kind of squeeze in the sides and pinch the top together. Punch or poke some holes in the top for ribbon. I used the Pale Papaya 3/8″ Open Weave Ribbon to tie the top closed in a bow. Have I said how much I love that ribbon?! Then for a little extra, I added some of the Genial Gems on the greeting and on the bag. These come in two colors, Pale Papaya and Mint Macaron but I think you can use them even without matching colors.

Knowing how to make a 2-4-6-8 bag is something you should know how to do as a papercrafter! They are fun to make, not to mention useful when you need some cute packaging for a small gift or treat! Here’s a very similar one made for Valentine’s Day. Being able to make an easy gift bag just might save you a trip to the store!

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Expressions in Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil

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Expressions In Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil

THIS PAPER!!! Expressions in Ink Specialty Designer Series Paper (155464) Order it!

Okay, that’s really all that needs to be said for this blog post! But since you probably want to know more about the card and the paper, I’ll continue.

When I first saw a Stampin’ Up! video giving us Demonstrators a sneak peek at some of the new Annual Catalog products, I fell in love with this Expressions in Ink Suite! And when I saw it online in the catalog I wanted to order it right away. But it was not on our Demonstrator pre-order so I had to wait just like everyone else. My order just came and I have to say, when I opened this package of paper and looked at the sheets, I just gasped! It is beautiful and striking with the gold foil accents on one side of the sheets. You must have it!

Here are closeups of some of the sheets of paper, but even these do not do it justice!

Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper1
Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper2
Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper3
Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper4

For the card, I started out copying the catalog sample on page 96 in the upper right of the samples. It turned out not exactly the same. I dared to cut into one of the papers, trying to match the pattern I could see on the catalog page. Then I stamped the large and small flowers from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set plus the small individual leaves. The large flower is stamped in Polished Pink Ink and the small flower in Pale Papaya. The leaves are stamped in Just Jade Ink since the card base will be Just Jade. You can choose from lots of coordinating colors!

Expressions In Ink Card Beginning

Now when I stamped these flowers and leaves, I didn’t give a lot of thought ahead of time to that gold foil piece placed over the top on the sample. In the Ephemera Pack, I was thinking that there would be individual foil cutout flowers, leaves, etc. to place over my stamped images, but there were not! The pack will still be fun to play with, it just didn’t have what I was expecting. Then I realized, I just needed to die-cut a gold foil piece from the Artistic Dies. While my flowers and leaves lined up pretty well with the die-cut, and while it doesn’t and shouldn’t be perfect because this is a watercolor look, I did add another stamped leaf and then got my foil to line up pretty well.

Expressions In Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil

I highly recommend using Adhesive Sheets on the back of the Gold Foil Sheets before die-cutting this intricate design, which I always forget, but I did manage to use teeny tiny dots of the Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the back. The greeting comes in the stamp set and I stamped that in Polished Pink Ink and placed it in a lower position than on the catalog sample. For a little extra, I used a strip of the Just Jade & Gold 3/8″ Braided Ribbon, a little frayed on the ends, and adhered just below the greeting a tiny bit. And for a little more bling, I wanted to try out the little adhesive-backed iridescent sequins in the Ephemera Pack. You can see about five of those placed around the card.

This is a relatively easy card to make, using both stamping and designer paper, or rather stamping ON the designer paper, plus the die-cut Gold Foil accent and other embellishments. I suggest you order this paper, or the whole Suite of products sooner rather than later because once word gets out about how beautiful this Suite is, it could be backordered by the time you decide to get it. Hopefully, Stampin’ Up! anticipated how popular this Suite would be and ordered plenty!

You might also consider the June Paper Pumpkin Kit which will coordinate with this Suite! Even if you subscribed before and dropped, you may want to come back just for this kit at least if you like the style of the Expressions In Ink Suite of products!

Here’s another view of my card without so much glare from the foil! I hope you are as attracted to this Suite as I am!

Expressions In Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil Closeup

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