Crazy for Birthday Cards

A couple of birthday cards to show you today, made with the Crazy for Cupcakes set :) ! This first one goes out to a very special birthday girl...Becca Feeken (Amazing Paper Grace)! She recently joined the ODBD design team and she is such a sweetheart, not to mention a bundle of creativity, talent & inspiration. Happy Birthday Becca, hope you have a super-duper day :) !! The card was colored with Copics (R43, R46, C1 & C3) and yes, those cupcakes were topped off with Crystal Effects and Chunky Sprinkles!!! You can see that shine and sparkle up close right here ~ This card was made with the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge Sketch #36. It turned out, ummm, well...different than I expected (that's my nice way of saying I think there's something wrong with the card, can't decide what, it's a bit irritating, but I've spent enough time on it...so it's done!). While the jury's still out about the card, the sketch IS really fun and I'm grateful to Taylor for posting these each week. Sketches are a fun way to experiment and try new layouts that maybe you haven't tried before. This was a first for me. I used more of my favorite new Haiku DP and the sentiment is from a level-1 hostess set called Best Yet. More Crystal Effects and Chunky Sprinkles give those balloons some great dimension, shine & sparkle!

That'll do it for today : ) ... thanks for stopping by & you have yourself an awesome day!!!

Supplies for the first card~ Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes Paper: Paper Trey White, Prism Aluminum, Real Red Ink: Palette Noir, Copics Tools/Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Paper piercing tool, Crystal Effect, Chunky Sprinkles, Red gingham ribbon

Supplies for the second card ~ Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes Paper: Chocolate Chip, Paper Trey White, Haiku DP Ink: Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango Tools/Accessories: 1 1/4 & 1 3/8" circle punches, 1/2 & 1/4" circle punches, Scallop Edge Punch, Paper piercing tool, Clear Dew Drops

Crazy For Cupcakes!

Mmmmm....how about a cupcake? Okay, if we can't REALLY have cupcakes, then how about a couple Crazy For Cupcakes cards? What's your favorite kind of cupcake/cake? Mine changes from time to time, but today, it's chocolate cake with fluffy chocolate frosting!! Yum!!! I'm excited to share these delicious cards with you, including 2 of my SWAP cards. These are made entirely with Stampin Up supplies. For me, it's always fun to do SU swaps, because I LOVE my SU supplies, I really do! I have to tell you, the star of these projects are Crystal Effects and Chunky Sprinkles (chunky glitter). I'm always looking for new ways to add shine, dimension and sparkle to my images and these two products really take the cake (excuse the pun!), lol!!

I made 10 of those cards for my Ink For Brains, new catalog swap (plus I made a few extras...I never seem to have enough birthday cards). Here are a few of the supplies I used ~ And here's a close-up of that image so you can see some of the sparkly, shiny details ~To get this effect, it does take several steps, but the steps are all really easy and the end result is so worth a little patience. I colored the image with SU Markers...the cherries are Real Red, the frosting is Regal Rose & Pretty in Pink, and the cupcake bases are Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel & Chocolate Chip. The tray is Bashful Blue & Brocade Blue. After coloring the cupcakes, I applied Crystal Effects to the frosting, then sprinkled on some clear (white) Chunky Sprinkles. The Crystal Effects adds Dimension along with shine, so it's just perfect for the frosting. After that dried (about 30 minutes), I carefully added Crystal Effects to the cherries, to make them shiny :) !

And the inside of the card...the perfect finishing touche for a birthday card ~And here is my Great Swaps Girls 2, new catalog swap card! I selected the Heard From the Heart set for my swap card, and I used Crazy for Cupcakes for the image. I kept the same color palette for both swap cards, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pirouette Pink & Whisper White, along with the Sweet Always Designer Paper.I made 14 of these cards (plus a few extras for my birthday card stash)! This was my first GSG2 swap and it was so fun to receive those swaps in the mail last week!! My GSG2 girls did an awesome job on their swaps and I'd love for you to see every single card. I think they've been uploaded to SCS, but I'm having a little trouble locating the gallery (sorry!)...as soon as I find it, I'll be sure to pass that along to you so you can check out all those super swap cards!

And...how cool is this? During the month of October, while Stampin Up celebrates their 20th birthday , you can get this Crazy For Cupcakes set along with a selection of Birthday sets at 20% off! You can check out those sets and all the details right HERE! Wooo-hooo!! Great discount on some great stamp sets!!!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the cupcake cards! I sure enjoyed sharing them with you...I also enjoy hearing from you. For those of you who faithfully leave comments...THANK YOU very much :) !!! I appreciate the encouragement! For the rest of you, don't be shy...I really would love to hear from you!! I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of starting my blog and I've been thinking about what to do with my blog for this coming year...goals, ideas, etc. These posts, the links, and listing the supplies all take quite a bit of time and I can tell by the counter that lots of you stop by everyday, so I'm guessing you like what you see? If so, then it's worth it. But honestly, I can't be sure if you don't leave comments. Soooo, you'll have to leave a comment now & then...tell me what you like, tell me what don't you like (be gentle, lol!). Or just say hi... You'll make my day ;) !!!

Supplies for the first card (size 4 1/4 x 5 1/2) ~ Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Sweet Always DP Ink: Black Stazon & Chocolate Chip SU Markers: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue Tools/Accessories: Photo Corner Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 1/4" Circle Punch, Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-majig, Crystal Effects, Chunky Sprinkles, 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon

Supplies for the second card (size 4 1/4 x 5 1/2) ~ Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Sweet Always DP Ink: Chocolate Chip SU Markers: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip Tools/Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, , Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-majig, Crystal Effects, Chunky Sprinkles, 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon, Paper snips, Paper piercing tool/mat pack

Simple Little Box Tutorial

This is a variation- of a really simple little box I designed back in January for Valentine treats. One of my blog readers asked me to help her with resizing it to accomadate a project she was doing for her scout troop...the finished size for this resized box is 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 1 1/2. Click HERE to see those Valentine boxes from my January post...their finished size is 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 1/2". So, as I've been promising, here is that tutorial (the directions below are for the larger box...the one pictured today) ~


Basic Supplies needed~

Fiskar Cutter/scorer

(optional, but very helpful) Scor-Pal

Cardstock

Roll on adhesive

Stamps, Ink & Accessories to decorate the box

Step 1: Cut Cardstock 9 1/2 x 5 1/2

Step 2: Score (long) 1 1/2" on both sides

Step 3: Score (short) 1 1/2, 4, 5 1/2 & 8"

(See photo below...all black lines are score lines)
Step 4: Cut into score lines on the sides, cut out 2 outer squares on one end (see left side of photo) and trim/cut-out all shaded areas (see photo)
This is what your box will look like after all the trimming and cutting has been done ~ Step 5: Flip box over so you're looking at the outside and apply adhesive to the 4 small flaps and adhere those flaps to the inside of the box (the flaps with the black squigly lines are the adhesive flaps) ~ This is what the box should look like when it's finished ~

When I first designed this box, I wanted all the flaps to fold in, so it would hold itself closed. But you can also tuck the side flaps in and use a ribbon, magnetic button or velcro to hold the front flap closed if you prefer (click HERE to see an example of the flap being left out in my Elzybells box).

Another option is to make a sleeve for the box as I did here...I just took a 2" x 10" strip of paper, decorated it, crimped it, then wrapped it around the box and adhered it together. Very, very simple : ) !

If you want to make the smaller Valentine Boxes (which hold a peppermint patty)...you just cut your cardstock 3 x 5", score (long) both sides 1/2", and score (short) 1/2, 2 1/4, 2 3/4 & 4 1/2".

Here is another example of the smaller Valentine box . Great example of how you can completely change to look of a project just by changing the cardstock and stamp set. I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set, SU Brushed Silver Cardstock and Shimmery White Cardstock. The Tiny Red rhinestone brad & polka dot sheer ribbon were the finishing touches. The ribbon was mostly for decoration, but it does help to hold the box closed.


So, there you have it. It's a very simple little box that can be made with just a few basic supplies and can be used in lot of different ways...my favorite kind of project...Easy and Versatile : ) ! Hope you enjoy the tutorial, let me know what you think!!

Supplies for the blue box ~ Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts, Fast Flowers Wheel Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Whisper White, Pink Passion Ink: Ballet Blue, Pink Passion Accessories: 1 1/4, 1 3/8 & Scallop Circle punches, Paper piercing tool, Silver brad

Supplies for the silver box ~ Stamps: Baroque Motifs Cardstock: Brushed Silver, Shimmery White, Basic Black Ink: Basic Black, Real Red Accessories: Red rhinestone brad, polkdot black ribbon

Have a great weekend : ) !!!

Michael's Birthday

Today is my nephew's birthday : ) !!! Happy Birthday Mikey (I still get to call him that). I have a tough time making man cards in general, but Mike is a city boy, very classy, works for a big investment firm, so forget all my favorite stamps...all those cute little critters & flowers, and my sister says no glitter! Yikes, what's left? After giving it some thought (and shedding a tear about the no glitter rule)...this is what I came up with. Clean classic lines, bold colors and just a touch of shimmer. It's a little hard to see in the photo, but I used Shimmery White paper for the sentiment and the other white layer is Vellum on top of White. I used the Brilliance Graphite Black pigment ink pad for the sentiment and it gave me just the crisp, sharp black image I was looking for. I'm really, really liking that ink. It does require some drying time, but it's worth it to me (got it from Joy at Eclectic Paperie). Those elements, combined with the reflective silver star and paper piercing add just the right amount of texture and interest to this simple card. If you double click on the photo, you should be able to see some of those fine details : ) ! This turned out to be a really fun card to work on and I got to even got to pull out my neglected small star punch. I need to use that more often, I really like it, but always reach for the flower punches....habit!

I'm off to Corvallis to see my girls : ) !!! Going to bring some stamped images and Copics with me to play/color while I'm there!

Supplies for Mike's Card~
Stamps: It's all good
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Shimmery White, Vellum, non-su reflective silver Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black
Accessories: Black brads, Paper piercing tool/mat pack, small Star punch

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it : ) ... Psalm 118:24

Inspired

What inspires you? For me, it's having someone special to create a card for. I especially like making Birthday and Thank you cards. Birthdays, because it's fun to bless people with a one-of-a-kind card on their special day...I think people really feel special when they know you've taken the time to create a card especially for them! And Thank yous, because creating a handmade card always feels like such a personal way to express gratitude. This weekend I had 7 special people in mind as I was creating 2 birthday and 5 Thank you cards. Another thing that really inspires me is a good sketch....and guess what? I had 2 great sketches to work with! I'm going to show you the Birthday cards today and a couple of the Thank you cards tomorrow. For the first card, I used Julee's Poetic Artistry's Mojo Monday sketch25. For the second card, I used Beate's weekend sketch36!! Thanks girls, both sketches provided plenty of inspiration! Just click on their names to check out those great sketches.

I'm still enjoying the Merci SAB set! I can't get over how much I like it. Sometimes a stamp set will just surprise you like that! Hugs & Wishes is such a great all occasion set. I don't know what I ever did without it. I used the Spring Fling DP for both cards. I really like the soft, pretty, springy colors in that DP collection.

Have you signed up for the BLOG CANDY yet?? I'll be drawing one lucky winner on Monday morning! Check out the details HERE = ). It's been REALLY fun reading what all your favorite SU products are. You guys are making me want one of everything (lol!!!)!

Supplies for the first card~

Stamps: Merci, Hugs & Wishes

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Spring Fling DP

Ink: Brown Stazon

Accessories: SU Markers (Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery & Old Olive), Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Love & Happiness Rub-ons (SAB), Pewter brads, 1/4" polytwill brown ribbon, Ticket corner punch, Paper piercing tool/mat pack, Sakura clear stardust pen

Supplies for second card~

Stamps: Merci

Paper: Barely Banana, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Ink: Brown Stazon

Accessories: SU Markers (Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Barely Banana, So Saffron, Certainly Celery), Word Window Punch, 1/2 & 3/4" Circle punches, Banana brads, Paper piercing tool/mat pack, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/4" gg ribbon in apricot & pink, Sakura clear stardust pen, Love & Happiness Rub-ons (sentiment)

Enjoy your evening!