Happy Birthday, Sarah! (and a sneak peek!)

Continuing my saga of our busy August, I'm bringing you a birthday card that I made for my daughter-in-law, Sarah.  Her birthday was the day after my niece's wedding (see that card here), and I wanted to be sure she felt remembered.

(Remember, I'm still photographing cards in hotel room with really crummy light...see yesterday's post for THAT story.)

This fun Amazing Birthday set was one I received at our annual Stampin' UP! Convention, Inspire, Create, Share.  I couldn't wait to use it again, so pulled it out for this card.  See that Designer Series Paper?  That's your sneak peek of a great new collection coming in the new Holiday Catalog.  It's called Motley Monsters,and although one side is slated to become your favorite Halloween accessory, the other side is versatile enough to use for MANY other occasions.  And it's from where I drew my color inspiration for this card.

I first stamped the image in Tangerine Tango.  This took a quick trip through Mr. Big Shot using my Apothecary Accents framelits.   I then re-stamped the image with Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Smoky Slate and Bermuda Bay, cutting out the "HAPPY" images and popping them on top of the original stamped image using Dimensionals. 

A piece of Tangerine Tango was cut with the same Apothecary Accents framelit, and split up the middle; pulling it apart slightly it becomes the layer for the stamped image piece.

A strip of Bermuda Bay Taffeta Ribbon was threaded through, and it was mounted over Crushed Curry Chevron Striped Ribbon.

The Chevron Punch made quick work of my decorating strips and I stamped the birthday cake in Crushed Curry, punching it out with the 1-1/4" punch.

Now for a neat trick (thanks, Justin Krieger!)--if you punch a piece of Window Sheet (here with the 1-1/4" circle punch) and pour Crystal Effects over it (generous, but not too much) and let it dry (be patient, this can take 24 hours), you'll get a fun clear embellishment.  Once I stamped/punched my cake, I ran it through my Xyron machine to make it into a sticker, and popped one of my clear Crystal Effects embellishments over the top.

How fun is that?  

All current items can be purchased here.  The Motley Monsters Designer Series Paper will be making it's debut in the new Holiday Catalog, coming 8/28!

And let's get creating!

Amazing Birthday Wood-Mount Stamp Set

$28.95

Amazing Birthday Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$20.95

Motlley Monsters Designer Series Paper

$10.95

Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Big Shot

$99.95

Apothecary Accents Framelits Die

$24.95

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Stampin' Dimensionals

$3.95

Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon

$5.95

Crushed Curry 3/4" Chevron Ribbon

$8.95

Border Chevron Punch

$21.95

1-1/4" Circle Punch

$15.95

Window Sheets Base Material

$4.95

Crystal Effects

$6.25

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

A Fortunate Mistake!

My third sample from my Box of Cards (see Saturday's post here) started out with a goof that turned into a happy mistake:

I was really happy with the way this one turned out.  Again, my card base is Coastal Cabana (the "theme" for my box of cards), 5-1/2" x 8-1/2", scored at 4-1/4".
Using the pretty gingham-like piece of Designer Series from the Retro Fresh paper collections, I trimmed the edge with my Big Shot and the Finishing Touches Edgelits.  But I did it upside down and missed the pretty design!  (yes, I'm woman-enough to admit my mistakes!)  Of course, every mistake is an opportunity, and I adore how this one evolved...I took a piece of Very Vanilla trimmed with Finishing Touches the RIGHT way (!) and added it just below--a lucky error as it turns out, as this is just perfect!

Now for the focal point (although if it were up to me, I'd be focusing on that edge--can't get enough of how cute it is!!!  But I digress)...

Happy Watercolor was stamped with Old Olive to a panel of Very Vanilla.  I stamped the flower in Strawberry Slush, and again (twice) with Melon Mambo on scraps of Very Vanilla.  The Strawberry Slush one was snipped (Paper Snips!) and adhered to the front panel, and the the two Melon Mambo ones were snipped and layered with Dimensionals.  Butterflies were cut/embossed using the Beautiful Wings Embosslits and the Big Shot from Coastal Cabana card stock.  My panel (with opposite corners rounded) was adhered to a piece of Strawberry Slush and then onto my card front.

The sentiment was stamped in Coastal Cabana on Very Vanilla and cut using the Apothecary Accents framelits and the Big Shot, layered on Coastal Cabana.  I added a butterfly to the front of the envelope and the inside of the card.

Another sample will be featured tomorrow...hope you'll come back and see it!

Let's get creating!