With all the excitement over Halloween and Christmas products and projects, let’s not forget about one of our greatest needs as cardmakers, and that is birthday cards like this Graceful Glass Stained Glass Birthday Card. It’s always great to sit down and make a birthday card for a loved one or friend.

One of the most beautiful groups of products has been the Painted Glass Stamp Set and the  Graceful Glass Designer Vellum Paper.  The vellum comes in a 6″ x 6″ stack with two each of 12 designs. This vellum provides a wonderful opportunity for some “adult coloring”!  Coloring is therapeutic and relaxing!  I especially like to use the Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers but you can use the regular Stampin’ Write Markers or Watercolor Pencils if you like. Sometimes it is interesting to put different colors of cardstock behind the colored piece.  Usually you might just want Whisper White Cardstock behind the colored piece which brightens the colors.

You might enjoy the Painted Glass Bundle which consists of the Painted Glass Stamp Set and the Stained Glass Thinlits to use with the Big Shot.  This elegant, medieval look will be beautiful on any of the projects that you make.

Enjoy this video about the Graceful Glass Suite!

I hope you get some new ideas from this video. I can’t emphasize enough the fun and relaxation of doing the coloring on this paper!

For my card, I also used the Tufted Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the background layer. I think this embossing folder really gives a nice look for lots of cards.

Take a day and think about upcoming birthdays so you don’t get behind in the midst of all the holiday projects. There are other good sentiments in the Painted Glass Stamp Set, too for other types of cards.  The Graceful Glass Suite is a slightly different style to have on hand but will produce cards and projects of beauty. Check out this blog post with another example of a card using the Graceful Glass Vellum!

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If you want to send a fun birthday card to someone special, you might want to try this Broadway Birthday Shaker Card.  You can find it as a sample in the Stampin’ Up! Catalog on page 69 with the Broadway Bound Suite of products.  I made this card for my brother, my little brother, as I will always think of him no matter how old we get, even though he is only two years younger than me! On my birthday I told him I wished I was as young as he was! I thought this card was perfect for him because I wanted to make something special for him and because if anyone does deserve a wonderful birthday wish, it is him. In THIS POST I mentioned that he and his wife adopted eight (yes, eight!) children in international adoptions over a few short years. Amazingly, time is passing by quickly and those children are growing up and some have left the nest for college! We never could have imagined that would happen (as most of us parents can’t imagine!)!  His family threw him a surprise birthday party earlier this month since he is often busy at work around the time of his birthday.

While shaker cards take a little extra effort, they are fun and impressive!  Anyone can make them!  This one is sized at 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ with a Basic Black card base. There is a piece of Broadway Bound Specialty Designer Series Paper layered on the card base. This paper is fun because one side has a bright party design and the other a design with gold foil accents.

I cut two pieces of Whisper White Cardstock, one very slightly smaller than the other so that it could go behind the front piece and not show. This piece provides the background that you can see through the window. I stamped a few of the small images on this background piece.  I also stamped some of the diamonds on the front piece after die-cutting the square opening with the Layering Squares Framelits Dies.  A piece of  Window Sheet was adhered to the back of this front window piece. Then I used Foam Strips to make a tight border around the edges of this window on the Window Sheet.  I poured in some retired gold glitter and some colored sequins I had leftover from a Paper Pumpkin Kit. After the contents are in the shaker window it is time to adhere the smaller Whisper White piece over it. Then this whole window shaker piece was adhered to the front of the card.

Next comes decorating the front of the card on the shaker window. I die cut the word “Wish” with the Broadway Lights Framelits Dies out of Gold Foil. I stamped the greeting with words in the Broadway Birthday Stamp Set and just hand cut the little banners.  There is also a little candle and flame that I stamped and die cut.

There are many ways this card could be decorated using the basic sample in the catalog!  Get the basic shaker part made and then decorate the card however you like for whatever occasion. The Broadway Bound Suite is a great group of products to have on hand for birthday and other congratulatory occasions!

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Be sure to use your Bonus Coupon Codes by September 30, 2018!

I wanted to make a card for a long-time friend who has a birthday the day after mine, so I came up with this Easy Fancy Petal Promenade Z-Fold Birthday Card.  What can make a more beautiful birthday card than the Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper!  I just love it, and as you may have seen on a video previously, this paper was photographed in the Stampin’ Up! studio from fresh flowers and then made into a paper design by the graphic designers – I think they mentioned digitally removing a spider or ladybug hiding in the flowers!

One of the coordinating colors for this paper is Petal Pink, so that is what I used for the card base. I decided to jazz it up a bit by making a z-fold card.  So simple, yet it makes you look like a specialty card designer!  Just make the card as usual, then fold the front of the card in half back on itself!  It’s best to score first so half of the card front (4 1/4″) is 2 1/8″.  Just score and fold back, hence the name “Z-Fold”.

The designer paper is layered on to the card using the photographic flowers on the front panel, and the opposite side of the paper that looks like a granite pattern on the inside of the card. Since I was using a light color of ink, I used my Stamparatus to stamp the greeting inside the card on the designer paper (stamp first, glue second!). As I thought, the first stamping looked too light, but I could stamp it a second time and then it was inked up well enough to look good. I even glued another “back” of another pattern of paper on the inside of that front fold.  It’s the one that looks like bokeh dots.

The greeting on the front of the card is stamped in Petal Pink Ink on Whisper White and die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. I was hoping I could layer this on top of the Petal Pink die cut piece from the Stitched Labels Framelits Dies and I think it works. The thing is with a Z-Fold card is you want the stamped greeting on the inside of the card to be hidden behind the greeting on the front of the card. You need to think this through a little bit while you are making the card.

For a little bling, I added the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls on the greeting on the front of the card.  I first looked at sequins and some of my other embellishments, but decided, as I often do, on the Artisan Pearls.  They are so teeny tiny they add a nice accent without being too bold.

Remember, Stampin’ Up! Bonus Days are here during August! Spend $50 and get a $5 coupon by email to spend in September!

Pick up some of this gorgeous Petal Promenade Designer Series Paper on your next order and start making some easy cards and projects that will be beautiful like this simple Z-Fold card.

If you need an easy card for a special day for someone, this might be it!  It’s a monochromatic card, all in Petal Pink. I think it looks pretty elegant for a special occasion, like a birthday, graduation, wedding, or anniversary, yet with the Big Shot, it is very easy to make!

The greeting is stamped and then die cut with one of the Stitched Labels Framelits Dies.  The greeting is stamped from the Stitched All Around Stamp Set. You can even buy the dies and stamps together in a Stitched All Around Bundle.  I love the phrase and the pretty font.  The die cut piece is beautiful too!

But let’s talk about that embossed background!!  Is it beautiful or is it beautiful??!  It’s the Tufted Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This is a new embossing folder in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog. It’s one of the heavy duty ones that really creates a deep impression in the cardstock.  It’s recommended that you just lightly spritz the paper with water before embossing to loosen up the paper fibers.  This will make a wonderful background for many cards!

To finish off this card, I added some Petal Pink ribbon from the Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack underneath the greeting.  And for just a little bit more fanciness, I added a few matching pearls from the Share What You Love Artisan Pearls.

So stamp a greeting, die cut with the Big Shot, emboss the card front layer and add some ribbon and pearls for embellishments.  That’s as easy as it gets making a very easy card for a special day, for a special someone, with Stampin’ Up! products!

This is a fun card to make, a Broadway Bound Birthday Card with a surprise inside! From the outside, it looks like an ordinary card like we make all the time. I started seeing these cards around the internet and wrongly assumed how they were made.

Take a look at the inside of the card first:

Now you might, and I did, assume that there is a card base of Basic Black, with a panel of designer paper on the front and another panel of designer paper on the inside of the card, adhered to the full inside of the back of the front card base.  Well, it’s not!

I did start with a card base of Basic Black as usual. But the different step is to cut off 3 1/4″ of the front of the card base, leaving a 1″ strip for the card front instead! This way when you adhere the piece of designer series paper to the remaining portion of the card front, you will be showcasing both sides of the designer paper because when the recipient opens the card, they will see the opposite side of the designer paper!  Now if you did it the other way, adhering a piece of designer paper to the front of the card and adhering another piece of designer paper showing the other side to the inside of the card, this saves weight!  And it’s just something a little different!

Check out the pieces shown in the photo below.  I added a 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ strip of Gold Foil to put a little divider and accent on the front of the card.  When you adhere the designer paper to the card front, be sure to line up the designer paper with the corner and edges of the back side of the card base rather than the fold on the front of the card. (The gold strip in the photo is just laying on the black cardstock, it is not the proper placement.)

For this card, I used the Broadway Bound Designer Series Paper in the new catalog. It’s a little difficult to photograph because of the gold foil accents, but the paper is very pretty and fancy!  It will make lots of great birthday and other cards.

To complete my card, I stamped a greeting from the Picture Perfect Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set. It is then die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and then layered on a Gold Foil  Scalloped Circle die.

Try this different way to make a card to use and appreciate our beautiful designer series paper. Something fun and different!

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Here’s an Easy Birthday Memories Birthday Card that you could make with the delightful Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper if you get it before it retires!  I love red so I was particularly drawn to this pattern in the package!  There also is a coordinating framelits set that goes with this paper.

The Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper is unique because there are some framelit dies that fit some of the images in the paper so you can die cut those. These Birthday Friends Framelits Dies also coordinate with the Birthday Delivery Stamp Set. And the best part is that if you like all three of these items – the paper, the stamp set, and the dies – you can purchase them all in a Bundle and save 10%.  It’s the Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Bundle.  It’s almost always a good idea to go ahead and buy the bundle so you have everything you need! Stampin’ Up! does such a good job of coordinating lots of products with images and colors.

To make this card, I started with a Real Red card base.  If you are following the new Color Revamp, Real Red is not retiring, it is being moved to the Regals color family! Kind of surprising to me, but we’ll see how it works!  As long as they aren’t getting rid of Real Red!

Real Red is actually what taught me the quality of Stampin’ Up! products way back when I was a new customer. I saw no need to purchase the Stampin’ Up! cardstock and went to a craft store to buy paper at a discount.  I was thrilled to find a whole package of red cardstock AND envelopes!  What a deal!  But when I learned how that “red” compared to the Stampin’ Up! Real Red I could tell there was NO comparison!  Stampin’ Up! had the better red by far!  Even more than “by far”!  In my opinion, it is the BEST red anywhere!

I chose this red piece of designer paper for the card front and layered it on a piece of Whisper White with a thin margin, just to help it stand out against the Real Red card base.  Then I die cut a cake from the designer paper with a framelit. Next I needed something to make the cake stand out a bit, so I layered it on a Stitched Shapes Circle Framelit and even layered it lower on the circle rather than in the center. I don’t know why, but I liked it better in that position.

For some bling, I added the Silver 3/8″ Metallic-Edge Ribbon just adhered back and forth behind the circle piece. Then this whole focal piece is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the greeting, which didn’t fit on the circle as I had originally planned, I chose one from the Happy Birthday Gorgeous Stamp Set.  I also stamped “It’s Your Day” and “Happy Birthday” on a piece of Whisper White inside the card.  I could have used a greeting from the coordinating Birthday Delivery Stamp Set, but I happened to have this other stamp set handy.

So all in all, this is an easy birthday card to make, and easy enough to use the layout and just change up the theme and greeting by changing the paper and the sentiment.

This Bundle and all the separate pieces are on the Last Chance List of retiring products, so these will only be available until May 31 at the latest, while supplies last!

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