Sunburst Birthday

 

I think this might be my favorite of the stamp club projects we did last month.  I always like the cards that look more complicated than they really are.  To make the sunbursts, I cut 1 x 5 inch strips and then cut them diagonally.  Start arranging them in a "rainbow" pattern.  When you are done, trim around the edge and cut some of the tip off to make you card less bulky.  Then simply cover over the bottom section with a white piece of cardstock. 

 

Here's an unfinished card but gives you an idea of what your vertical card would look like. 

 

 

 

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Rainy Day Card

Here's another idea from the Stampin' Up regional event I went to a couple of months ago.  No two cards will be alike!  Spray a few drops of reinker mixed with water in a Stampin' Up! spritzer at the top of a piece of watercolor paper.  If you don't like the drippy look, you can spritz a few more times and it will be more solid with color.  I used red, orange, yellow and turquoise.  Give it a little dry time and assemble the card.  I wanted to get this card made before this Million-Dollar Moments hostess set was no longer available - only available through May 31!

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Do It Yourself Gift Bags

 

Several months ago we made gift bags with mailing envelopes in stamp club.  The ladies loved them so I knew they would really like these gift bags made with two 12 x 12 pages of designer series paper.  This was one of the great demonstrations done by my friend, Linda Yearsley, at Spring into Stamping a couple of months ago.    

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Embossed Swallowtail

 

When I first saw this Swallowtail stamp, I thought it was pretty, but I didn't really need it.  Well, as you can see, I have changed my mind and I really do need this stamp.  I have seen so many pretty cards made with this stamp that I decided to add it to my collection, and I was delighted to see it made it into the new 2013-2014 catalog.  So this isn't the last you'll be seeing of this guy on my blog.  This card was heavily inspired by a swap I got at the St. Louis Stampin' Up regional event I attended a few months ago, but there was no name on the swap so I can't give credit for my inspiration.  I embossed it with black embossing powder and then colored with my blender pen. 

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Just Believe Birthday Card

Ah, another retiring stamp set that I will miss.  Just Believe has been one of my go to stamp sets for awhile.  It's versatile enough to be used for a number of occasions and I love the fact that it's one big stamp which makes using it for a main focal point of a card easy to do.  For the flowers I colored first with Pumpkin Pie and then added a few stripes of Melon Mambo.  The background cardstock, Certainly Celery, is also retiring at the end of this month too. 

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Hip-Hip-Hooray Popsicles

This is probably my last popsicle card before the Mouthwatering stamp set retires...sniff.  It was one of the more popular cards at my May Stamp-a-Stack even though there was a little extra work involved.  To get the bold colors, we stamped the popsicle sticks in Crumb Cake, then restamped with colors on scraps and cut out the popsicles.  Did you notice the embossing?  If you run your cardstock through the Big Shot the "normal" way, the scallop fans are sideways.  So I ran it through with the cardstock at a 90 degree angle.  Then I slid the cardstock up to send it back through the Big Shot to emboss the still flat section.  It's an extra step, but it's nice to have options. 

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Washi Tape Banners

This washi tape has been available early with the This and That product line and will be in the new (comes out May 31) catalog along with another cute package of washi tape. 

 

After we made our DIY washi tape in stamp club, I thought we better try out the real thing.  Folding it over the baker's twine and snipping it into banners makes a quick card. 

 

The new washi tape in the catalog was available for demonstrators to pre-order, and it's killing me that I haven't used it yet.  Oh, and there are other great products that will coordinate with the tape.  I am hoping I get some swaps at convention using some of these new goodies. 

 

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Happy Birthday Popsicles

This card was made with the soon to be retired Mouthwatering stamp set.  It's a cute set of 4 stamps, but I find that I am drawn to the popsicle stamp the most.  I did this card for a swap with other demonstrators a couple of months ago.  Don't look too closely at the happy birthdays because they aren't all lined up, but I got myself into a system by stamping the Melon Mambo at the top, middle and bottom.   Then I came back through with the Daffodil Delight and Wild Wasabi.  It lined up well enough that I wasn't interested in using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, but for those of you perfectionists out there, that's another option. 

 

 

 

Last summer I made a wiper card using the popsicle stamp that turned out great too.

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Cheerful Birthday

I really liked a card made by Julie Wadlinger and created my own version to use the soon to be retired stamp set Button Buddies.  I hate to see this one go because it's just so versatile.  We used the vase and flowers stamp a few months ago, and I also used it on one of my all time favorite cards featuring double embossing.

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Do It Yourself Washi Tape

After attending the Stampin' Up! St. Louis regional conference, I have been wanting to try this new technique - make your own washi tape!  Talk about light bulb moment - I look at scraps in an entirely new light now. 

 

To create your own Washi Tape, all you have to do is apply tape to a same sized piece of Designer Series Paper.  With your bone folder, run it along the paper side several times to burnish the paper to the tape.  I then wet the paper side of the tape and then rubbed it with a damp sponge to rub off the "back" side of the paper.  The "top" side of the paper will stay with the tape.  It's hard to see on the completed card, but the "washi tape" is a slightly transparent, lighter version of the paper.  On this card, I used the matte finish Scotch tape.  The bottom card, uses the shiny tape which doesn't work as well as the matte.  It didn't tear like the matte tape and it had a shiny, glossy finish which isn't very washi-like.

 

 

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Masculine Birthday Card

 



 

Here's the last card from April's birthday Stamp-a-Stack - it's pretty basic, but I try not to add too many accessories when it's intended for a man. We used "the pokey tool" to add a little something. 

 

May's Stamp-a-Stack is tomorrow night so watch for those cards featuring soon to be retired stamps and accessories next week. 

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