Here’s a fun way of using paper scraps on a birthday card!  The other day I cut into my Color Theory Designer Series Paper Stack and as scraps, I had these very narrow little scraps. They were at least several inches long.  Normally, I would throw those small scraps away (yes, I would!) but being as this was brand new designer series paper from the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog, I hated to do that!  But I couldn’t just leave the scraps laying around, so I decided to find a way to use them on a card.  You can see another example on THIS POST.

This card was a little more complicated.  I actually covered the front of the top card layer of Whisper White with all the little scraps. I laid them out in offset lines so it wouldn’t all be lined up perfectly.  Some scraps I put down lower and some higher, which then necessitated cutting some strips of paper shorter to fit in the empty spaces. Instead of measuring and guessing how long to make the shorter strips to fit, just glue them on in the empty space and trim them off later along the edge of the Whisper White.  Obviously you don’t want to adhere this layer to the card front until you have all the strips glued down.  Mine is off a tiny bit in a spot or two. Perhaps you can cover yours, if that happens, with a greeting or some other embellishment.

The greeting is from the new stamp set Icing on the Cake Photopolymer Stamp Set. I die cut the greeting piece with the Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies, the square shape, obviously, but you could use whichever shape you liked. For a little accent, I had to add the Glitter Enamel Dots.

Another thing you could do with this card is after you have all the strips applied to the card front, you could run it through the Big Shot inside an embossing folder, which would give it a quilt-like look!  Try it and see!

Just have fun stamping and experimenting and see what you come up with! You don’t have to save all your paper scraps, but you might want to experiment with some once in awhile and see what unique creation you come up with. I’ve given you a way to use paper scraps on a birthday card, now it is your turn!

If you need a quick and easy happy birthday card to make, this is it!  You do need a Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine.  If you don’t own one, I’d highly recommend treating yourself to one. I’ve had mine since Stampin’ Up! started carrying them and use it practically everyday. It can do so much work and all you have to do is crank the handle!

For this card, I just used a Whisper White Cardstock base and a Whisper White layer. I think it gives a nice, elegant look!  I embossed the white layer with the Oh My Stars Embossing Folder, a new folder in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog. The “Happy Birthday” is die cut with the Happy Birthday Thinlits Die.  It’s so simple to just have one die cut on the card but has such a fun impact!  I used a piece of the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper. You could also just used a piece of cardstock.

Now if you don’t own a Big Shot, the next best thing would be the Stylized Birthday Stamp. It’s  a single wood-mount stamp and quite cute for stamping a birthday greeting.

There are so many quick and easy way to make a birthday card, whether you own a Big Shot and accessories or just stamps, ink, and paper. Make those cards and mail them out! Real mail, real birthday cards, real cards to say I’m thinking of you can make a bigger impact on a person than you might imagine!

Shop Stampin’ Up! for the best selection of birthday stamps and accessories!

This is an easy birthday card to make with a big die cut greeting on the front. One of the new products in the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Catalog is the Happy Birthday Thinlit that die cuts “Happy Birthday” all in one piece.  The designer paper is the reverse side of the paper I put on the card I made yesterday in this post. That’s all there is to this card!  So easy!

The card base is made with Pool Party cardstock, one of the coordinating colors with the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper. I used this beautiful floral print for a layer on the card. The greeting is die cut from Calypso Coral cardstock, but I felt like it needed some kind of layer behind it.  I started with a piece of Whisper White cardstock, but that didn’t seem to be enough. Then I cut a larger layer of Calypso Coral to go behind it. Usually I don’t like the off-kelter style of layering, but somehow the layers turned out this way on this card and I liked it! Or at least I thought it was fine for this card!  That helped the die cut stand out from the busy print background without  taking away from the beautiful paper. Like I said yesterday, just keep playing with your card or project if you aren’t satisfied with it, and when you get it, you will know it!

This card could probably be further embellished in many ways, but I decided to keep it super simple and easy because we often need a birthday card in a hurry.  This one would be perfect to make under those circumstances, although it would be better to have already made up in your stash! This Happy Birthday Thinlit Die was one I had seen online and thought was very cute in the samples, so I was happy it was on the preorder list for Demonstrators and was one of the first new products I wanted to use!

When the new catalog ordering begins June 1st, check out this Happy Birthday Thinlit Die (143700) so you, too, can make some quick and easy birthday cards!

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Make an easy elegant birthday card with the Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies for someone special! Let the Big Shot and the dies to most of the work! I am SO glad that these dies are not on the Stampin’ Up! Retiring List of products!  There are a lot more beautiful cards to be made with the Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies!

To make this easy elegant birthday card, or card for any occasion, I started with a card base of Whisper White Cardstock. If you have it, I would recommend the Whisper White Thick Cardstock which is a little sturdier than the regular cardstock. Use the Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies to cut cardstock in the color of your choice. For this card, I used the In Color Flirty Flamingo. This is the grouping for 2016-2018 that is sticking around for another year! For an embellishment, I tied around the Flirty Flamingo 3/8″ Ruched Ribbon. This ribbon, as I write this, is on sale on the Retiring Products List, not because of the color but because they are retiring the ribbon style!  I loved this type of ribbon, though.  You can get it on sale right now, while supplies last.

I stamped the greeting on Whisper White and die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies that give that little stitched look around the die cut.  I love those dies!!  Then the greeting is layered on the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.  Click here to see a similar card I made with these beautiful dies.

When you are using the intricate dies like these Detailed Floral Thinlits Dies, you will get the best results with your Big Shot if you use the Precision Base Plate and use the Big Shot Die Brush to help get out any stubborn little pieces.

You may notice on the Retiring List that the Floral Phrases Bundle is retiring, but that just means that all Bundles in the current catalogs retire and will not be offered as bundles any more.  However, in a lot of cases you can still buy the components separately! But if you want to save 10%, get the bundles that are available before May 31 while they are available. If the two items are on sale, you might want to do the math and see which is the better deal, the separate items on sale or the 10% off Bundle!

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Retiring List of Products!

The easiest way to see the Retiring Products that are still available is to just go to my Online Store HERE.

Grab a bunch of die cut flowers in bright colors and put them on a card against black and white for a snazzy-looking birthday card. These flowers were all die cut with the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies, which sadly are retiring.  If you don’t already own these dies yet, you an get them for 50% off during the Stampin’ Up! Retiring Sale!  I love the way the one flower has the petals partially die cut so that you can fold up the petals a little bit if you like. Then there are all kinds of little die cuts that you can add for flower centers or as little smaller flowers. Cut some extra flowers while you are at it with your Big Shot  so that you have some on hand for a last minute card!

The card is made with a Whisper White card base and layered with Basic Black Cardstock. You will be surprised to know that the designer paper that the black and white stripe piece belongs to is called Pop of Pink! The Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper was one of my favorites.  And now it is on the Retiring List at a good discount!  You can also get the matching Pop of Pink Designer Washi Tape for a fun accent on your cards or envelopes. There is also the  Melon Mambo Thick Baker’s Twine and the Basic Black Solid Baker’s Twine for more coordinating items for your projects.  And for a glittery accent, I adhered a strip of Gold Glimmer Paper between the black cardstock and designer paper in the center of the card.

The greeting on the card is stamped with Melon Mambo ink and is from the Build a Birthday Stamp Set.  You could make this card for almost any occasion, or none! It’s pretty enough to stand alone and just write a note inside.

Be sure to check out the Retiring List from Stampin’ Up!  Some products are already gone but there is still lots to choose from if you don’t want to miss out after May 31.

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This blog post will be about placing glimmer paper under die cuts on a card so that you can use the beautiful new 6″ x 6″ Glimmer Paper Assortment Pack (143831) that you can earn FREE during Sale-A-Bration. You’ll find this Glimmer Paper Pack in the extra Sale-A-Bration Brochure that came out February 21 to give you a few more choices during Sale-A-Bration,  which ends March 31.

I love the beautiful Special Reason Stamp Set and especially the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies. If you buy both in a Special Reason Bundle you can save 10% and you will be all set to go! It seems that Stampin’ Up! never wants us to be without flower choices!  These dies are particularly unique in the way they can cut out the flowers so that makes them even more interesting.

This card isn’t what I started out making, and I have to say, I don’t like my card! But since it is really about how I made the card rather than if I loved it and since I’m a bit under the weather today, I don’t really care that this isn’t one of my favorite designs!

I was going to just die cut a big flower and two smaller ones and place the new Glimmer Paper underneath. But then I realized that what I was thinking of was having the top card layer popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals, so placing the Glimmer Paper underneath was going to be just a wee bit trickier. I couldn’t just place the glimmer paper underneath the die cuts directly, seeing what I was doing. I was going to have to adhere the glimmer paper to the card base and have it lined up perfectly with the die cut images on the layer I was going to place over it.

There was just a bit more playing around to make sure the color was under the entire area of the die cut flower without sticking out underneath the sides of the top layer or running into an adjacent flower. Once I thought I had it placed perfectly, I put a few pencil marks where the glimmer paper would go and glued down with my Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

Next I added the Stampin’ Dimensionals, with a few in the center of the card for support.

Finally I stuck on the top layer on which, of course, I had already die cut the flowers with the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies.

Now after I did that, I realized I should have already stamped a greeting on the card front! I did finally take a chance and stamped a happy birthday greeting from the stamp set but it doesn’t look that eye-catching on the card. But for today, “oh well”!

The card still looked like it lacked something so I die cut some glimmer paper leaves!  They are pretty but I’m not sure they worked that well on this card.  Maybe they did on the big flower, but then the little flowers didn’t have anything!  So I took a chance and stamped some leaves with Mint Macaron ink around the little flowers. That didn’t look great so I added Clear Wink of Stella to the leaves. That didn’t do much, so I added the Gold Wink of Stella to the leaves! Finally I stamped the leaf veins and then I liked it a little better!

Maybe you like the card after all!  In some moments I do, but I think I could do better. Sometimes you have to know when to STOP when you are designing something! My friend and I used to always say that back in the day when we were painting tee shirts and wine glasses and plates! Maybe I will give this card another shot later, but now you know one way to use the Glimmer Paper, one of the new releases for Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration, with die cuts!

Take Advantage of Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration Before March 31 and Get Something FREE!