Surprise Birthday Delivery

Have you seen the Birthday Delivery stamp set, coordinating dies, and coordinating paper yet? This bundle gave me my first real *gasp* as I flipped through the Stampin' Up catalog for the first time. The animals are the superstars of this set, but my first card idea uses the cute little pastry chef and adorable birthday cakes from the DSP. This set features an adorable hodgepodge of characters, including a chef, forest animals, vintage little girl, and a random poodle. All are incredibly adorable!

Because this card features a fun surprise inside, I had to create a belly band to keep it closed. Every sentiment on the project is stamped in black and then in sugar and spice embossing powder so the whole thing smells like cake. I kid you not.

Here's the card front:

And here's the fun surprise!

The pop-up mechanism for this card is as basic as it gets. Cut your card interior to size and then fold in half. Trim on the folded side to create one or more "steps" that hold elements you want to pop up. This technique takes 5 minutes but adds such a fun twist to a basic card!

I had a blast creating this project, and I can't wait to explore all the other unique elements in this bundle. 

Thanks for stopping by today, my friends!

Happy Birthday, Gorgeous!

The beautiful new birthday set from Stampin' Up called Happy Birthday, Gorgeous is absolutely stunning, and pairing the lovely floral imagery with the coordinating foil designer series paper creates a really winning combination!

I love bright colors, and I was really inspired by the projects in the annual catalog for these products. I used the examples as a starting point and then added by own twist, of course!

This project was inspired by a gift box using this set in the annual catalog, but I went with a card instead. I used the same overall layout and added a crinkled seam binding bow to the top for a little extra girliness. I think I actually dyed this ribbon using Rich Razzleberry ink, but the color gradations coordinated with Berry Burst just perfectly! I wanted my Smoky Slate sentiment to be nice and thick, so I actually cut three sentiments and layered them with Stampin' Up's new adhesive sheets. This added extra dimension to my sentiment and really made it stand out in real life.

The second card was inspired by a tag in the annual catalog. I used the orange foil paper and a tiny bow. These are so cute!!

I had to finish off my card trio with a shaker! I have tons of pink sequins in my stash, so a Powder Pink and Berry Burst color combination worked out wonderfully for this project. What a cheerful card this one turned out to be!

Thanks for visiting today, friends!

Circle Scribbles

I love creating watercolor looks on cards, and when my wonderful sister gifted me with the Circle Scribbles set from Papertrey Ink, I saw the potential for some fun watercolor effects right away! These circles would create an amazing repeating pattern for a card background, in addition to a number of other creative uses. I know I will have a lot of fun with this set. Thanks, sissy!

I decided to create some scribbled roses with emboss resist as a fun weekend project. This project is clean and simple and very fast! I think I spent a total of 10-15 minutes on this project outside of drying time. 

I started by heat embossing my circles with gold embossing powder and then used Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry, and Spiced Marmalade for my watercolor background. I die cut a sentiment from gold glitter paper and mounted the whole panel on an A2 sized piece of water color paper. 

This project was fast and fun, and I can't wait to create another card with this set!

Beautiful Bikes!

So many of the sets in the new Stampin' Up annual catalog are irresistible to me, but none more than the Bike Ride set. I had a flurry of ideas right away when I saw this set since scene cards basically give me a reason to live. I adore them! :)

I don't use tons of patterned paper in my crafting, but I knew I wanted to use a feminine color combo on this card. I stole some scraps from my stash and got to work! These stamps are photopolymer, so lining things up was a breeze. I have found over the years that every project improves when some kind of texture is added - dry embossing, a textile, or another 3-D object - so I included ribbon, felt, and buttons too.

The second card uses an identical layout with some different scraps from my stash. I added books to the back of my bike and an apple button for some texture.

I know I'll be using this set often in my scene cards! 

2017-2018 Annual Catalog Favorites

Hello, friends! Since this summer has been kind of a whirlwind already, I thought I might do sort of a mega-project post showcasing some of my favorite new products from the 2017-2018 Annual Catalog. I've made a number of projects already using these new goodies!

My super duper favorite of my new products HAS to be the 2017-2019 In Colors. These beautiful brights look great together! 

This Lovely Friends bundle is probably one I would have overlooked if it hadn't been part of the demonstrator pre-order. In the catalog it just doesn't look that impressive, but in real life, YOWZA! The pop up element is quick and simple to create and makes a huge impact! See what I mean when I say these colors look great together? I have all five in this photo, and they make a gorgeous statement without much design know-how. That's my kind of coordination!

This clean and simple card uses the Cool Treats set in a repeating background pattern using the In Colors plus Baked Brown Sugar from

a past release.

I used Fresh Fig and Berry Burst on some glossy card stock and then sprinkled the panel with water for a bright impact on this card. This Climbing Orchids set is one I knew I had to have right away ... and as usual, I was right! :)

Tranquil Tide made a fantastic statement on this card using Papertrey Ink's Main Street stamps and dies from their Petite Places line. 

I think our new In Colors for 2017-2019 are a smashing success! Which is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for visiting today!

Quick and Simple Craft Night Projects

My friends and I have had a monthly craft night for going on 7 years (holy cow!!), and since there is usually a fabulous amount of food and chatting, I needed a quick and easy project to case and throw in my bag for this month. I had some time off earlier in the week, so I cut out two simple projects cased from the Occasions catalog using the Carousel Birthday stamp set and coordinating paper.

This card was so fabulously easy, and it will be perfect for one of my daughters' friends. If you don't have a tassel to decorate the front of your card, they are SO easy to make! Using embroidery thread or bakers twine, create about ten loops around two or three fingers. Pinch the loop together at the top and tie tightly with coordinating thread. Cut the bottom loops open and even the bottom off and BOOM! Super easy card embellishment! I added a jump ring to the top of my tassel so that I could easily slip it around my Pool Party ribbon.

The second project took a lot of time to fussy cut, but that created wonderful chatting time!

Sometimes I feel guilty about casing so many projects, but as my sister so wisely says, "They do call it an idea book for a reason!"

Thanks for stopping by today!