Sending You Love...For Your Birthday

My sister-in-law wanted to use this card style for her wedding invitations next year.  The style is unique and easy to make, however, the card ends up being very small (only a 4" x 4"), not nearly enough space to place all the information that needs to be written on an invite.  To show her exactly how small the card is, I made her a sample, in the form of a birthday card. 

See how the card opens up (sorry the photo was rotated for some reason)?  I might actually make more of these for other occasions!

Birthday Circles

Here's another card we made at last week's Team Meeting -  a very simple yet colourful card that can be made for birthdays, thank yous, babies, congrats...The key is in the stamp set used called "A Fitting Occasion".  I've been itching to buy this set since I laid my hands on the catalog but I've been holding out.  I'm glad I got to try it out at the last meeting.  And the best thing about this card - you get to use up your scraps!



Scattered Flower Card

This simple card was made using the Reason to Smile two-step stamp set.  The first step is the solid flower stamp, and the second is the trace of the flower.  Instead of placing the two stamps directly on top of each other, I separated them out on this card.  I've seen others do this to make some beautiful cards but I'm not sure how I feel about mine...

Maybe I need to try a more cheerful colour combination?

A Grey Birthday (Card)

No birthdays should be grey, but that doesn't mean birthday cards can't be.  I'm beginning to love muted designs with a pop of colour.  It's just as eye-catching as a card full of colour.

Today is my birthday - maybe I'll save the card for myself :)

Birthday Twins

Twins Chloe and Hailey are celebrating birthday.  I knew I wanted to make 2 animals from Create a Critter for them but couldn't really decide on what.  Then I decided on mice!  I think they're adorable, and what's more, I could use a brick of cheese in place of a birthday cake for them.  I couldn't forget the birthday candle though!  The white background looked a bit plain, so I embossed with Swiss Dots.

The front:

Do you recognize the "Happy Birthday" cut?  I used the same cut for my sister's pig card last year.

The World Got A Present The Day You Were Born

At last week's crafting get-together with W and B, the three of us shared our supplies (namely stamps!) so that we could make cards that we otherwise won't be able to make.  I couldn't pass up on the opportunity to borrow W's Mixed Bunch and B's Papillon Pot Pourri stamp sets.  Coupled with some of my supplies (Fancy Fan Embossing Folder and the old Priceless stamp set), I put together this light cheery card.  The sentiment is from the old Happiest Birthday Wishes set.

The front:

Happy Birthday, Helen!

Hip Hip Hooray!

I have to admit, I wasn't in love with the Stampin' Up Aviary stamp set when I first saw it in the catalog, but after seeing what magic B did with it, I fell in love.  Aren't these little birdies and bird cages so cute?  I put them to use on a birthday card here but they will work on cards for any occasions.  I might just have to buy this stamp set now!

Birthday Bee!

E's boyfriend celebrated his birthday over the weekend.  Since his nickname is "Bee", E requested a card with a bee on it.  I couldn't help but create the cute little card below.  I hope he didn't find it overly childish, cuz I know I wouldn't!

Blue beehive?

 Did I mention that E likes to tease him about his age?

 Matching envelope!

Don't take pictures late at night...

Because I either end up with washed out photos, or yellowy photos from the yellow lights at home.  The pictures just don't do this card justice.  C requested a birthday card for her mom who likes bling and blue, so this is what I came up with.  Hopefully the recipient won't notice that the glittery blue paper in the background is Christmas (snowflake) design, but the colour as well as the amount of glitter was perfect so I had to use it.  I hope she likes it just as much as C!

Washed out (flash on) version:

Yellow (no flash) version:

Inside:

Happy Birthday, Brayden!

My bff's little baby is turning one, oh how time flies.  I made this simple but cute card for Brayden - notice how the ink and cardstock for each animal matches?  The stamp set is called Fox and Friends from Stampin' Up and the colours used are from the 2011-2013 In Colours line along with Early Espresso, my go-to colour for everything.  I hope he and parents all like it! 

Flowers, anyone?

My bff wanted a card for her mother-in-law who's turning 60 this year.  She loves to garden so I hope she'll like this floral card.  I used the Stampin' Up Reason to Smile stamp set and coloured in the flowers with ink and a Blender Pen.

DIY Patterned Paper

If you're wanting some patterened paper but just don't have exactly what you want or the colour scheme that you need, why not make your own with the stamps that you have.  From flowers to words to swirls, anything goes!  To give this card a theme, I used the happy birthday cupcake from Easy Events.



More Cards From My Class

Here are a couple more cards that I had prepared for my "Birthdays Galore" card class that B didn't get to make because we were short on time.

This card features the Afternoon Daydream Simply Scrappin' kit.  These kits are great and really simple to use.  Everything is coordinated for you, and all the shapes you see are adhesive.  No cutting, no guessing.  You can make this card in three minutes!

This one is another more elegant card that uses the "triple stamping" technique with the Reason to Smile stamp set.  I didn't really stamp it three times though, because if I did I would never be able to align the flowers up exactly!  Instead, they were stamped once, with all three layers temporarily fastened to each other.  You might see a hint of green in there too - that's a beautiful swirl from the retired Priceless stamp set.  I "stole" the sentiment from the Easy Events set :)  Oh, if you're loving the colour of the card like me, you'll want to know that it's Calypso Coral, one of the 2011-2013 In Colours.

My Very First Class!

On signing up to be a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I went through the motions of setting up a website with them (free for the first two months so sure I'll keep it for two months) and posted some classes on there.  Unexpectedly, someone RSVP'ed for a class (and she comes from a half hour drive away)!  Both shocked and excited, I had to prepare some cards we'd make for my "Birthdays Galore" class.  I had prepared four but B only made two.  I think she's into the more cute and fun cards like myself.  Here are the cards she decided to follow.

This card was made using the Patio Party paper collection, and the Make A Cake stamp set.  I finally got a chance to use my new Fancy Fan embossing folder which I love.  And of course, the Daffodil Yellow ribbon that I won. 

This card makes use of the Easy Events stamp set and the sentiment is from Petite Pairs.  The colour scheme is kept fairly simple here but I loev the way it turned out.  I coloured in the snail using the ink pads and the Blending Pens.  Easy!

Birthday Wonderland

Need a birthday card for a child who loves to go to amusement parks?  This would be a great one, though I actually made this for an adult!  Well, he was celebrating his birthday at Wonderland, so I thought it would be fitting.  I love all the Cricut Decals people, even though they look incredibly kiddish!

Pop Up Stack of Gifts

One day, out of the blue, I wanted to make some pop up cards.  So I googled and decided to case what caught my eye.  One of them was a pop up stack of gifts when you open the card up.  Perfect for birthday cards!  It's a relatively simple card, though as expected, it still took me some time as I like to fuss and make things perfect.

Here is the pop up stack of gifts on the inside.  I haven't decided what to do with the two blank sides yet.  Maybe a stamp, maybe a cut-out.

 You can make the front anyway.  I kept it simple with embossing and ribbons.



Make and Take Cards

At the Stampin Up meeting we did a couple of make and take projects.  There was also a shoebox swap, but I didn't have any Stampin Up products to use, so I wasn't able to participate.  Maybe next time :)

Without further ado, here are the cards we made at the meeting:

Imitation Cricut Decals Card

I made another card using this image previously, but I had to use it again for my sister-in-law who had purchased a new TREK bike shortly before her birthday last year.  I don't have the Cricut Decals cartridge (which is where I think it's from), so I traced an image I found online and cut it with a software.  Though simple, she loved the card. 

Mellow Floral Card

Here is a card I cased with a new but retired stamp set that I recently purchased.  Flowers can be used for so many occasions but in this case I made it into a birthday card.  When I get my Stampin Up ink pads I will be able to produce images that are more crisp, but in the meantime I'm still very happy with this card.  My apologies for the (consistently) poor quality of photos.  Maybe an SLR will actually help with my poor photography skills!

Birthday butterflies

As mentioned earlier, I am now addicted to stamping but boy are stamps costly.  So I went onto kijiji to see if I find some deals on retired Stampin Up stamp sets.  Afterall, cupcakes, flowers, and butterflies never go out of style, right?

Though much simpler, I like stamped cards just as much as Cricut-ed cards (especially how fast I can do them, and how different each card can be).  Whenever I find a card too plain, I can always spray a bit of glitter (Smooch Spritz) on them!