Great Masculine Birthday Card

Earlier this month was my husband’s birthday and my mom, being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator also, sent him a handmade card that I loved.  In fact, I think I liked it even more than he did!

Anyway, I loved how striking it was and thought it was a great masculine card and so I wanted to share it with you.

card created by Kathy Thisted

The stamp and the paper are retired from last years catalog – Engraved Greetings stamp set and Love Letter designer paper.  But the cardstock, embossing folder, and punch are all current.

And the embossing, she heat embossed the stamp image with black embossing powder which made it look even cooler!  (I tried getting a close up to show you but its still hard to see).

This just goes to show that a card doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated to be a striking and fabulous card, huh?

To Order Stampin’ Up! Products Anytime, click here!

Get them before they are gone! Items are selling out so don’t miss out!

Retiring Stamps | Retiring Accessories | Retiring Décor Elements

Need a copy of the 2012-2013 Stampin’ Up! catalog?   Click here!

Engraved Greetings Birthday Card Recipe:

Stamps: Engraved Greetings
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Love Letter designer paper, Cherry Cobbler cs, Basic Black cs, Whisper White cs
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, Basic Black embossing powder, Heat gun, Decorative label punch

Playing with the Petal Cone Big Shot Die

Every catalog since Stampin’ Up! started offering the Big Shot, they have offered new dies in all kinds of shapes and sizes.  This time around, the Occasion Mini catalog offered the Petal Cone Bigz die.  My mom ended up getting it and so I had to play with it myself.   

The die itself actually punches out two sides of the cone (with attached half circle flaps), one half-scallop circle, and a banner like strip.  So, I decided to experiment.  I created the cone out of your basic Melon Mambo cardstock and then decided to use the Love Letter designer series paper for the half-scallop circles, which I attached underneath the flaps. 

Tip – if you are going to use the scallop circles under the flaps, you will want to trim the last scallop or two off each side.  Otherwise your flaps will not lie flat as the scallops get in each others way.

I wrapped some Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon around the rim of the cone and then added some pearls for an extra fun touch.  Finally, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with the banner, so I took two of them and glued them together to make the strap for the cone!  Since I didn’t want a seam to show, I cut out a couple flowers and added them to the strap for a pretty way to finish it off.

So, this was a start but I’ve seen a lot of other cute projects with this die including baskets (made by folding in the pointed ends of the cone before you glue them together) and carrots for holding Easter candy! 

Click here to shop online 24/7

Clean and Simple Scrapbook Layout

I will admit, I spend most of my crafting time making cards.  They are practical…they are fun…they don’t take too much time if I’m in a rush.  But that said, I have a ton of pictures that I take and keep that I want to scrapbook.  So, I’ve started trying to make an effort to catch up on my scrapbooking backlog.  This is a page I completed recently and I love how it turned out.

If you can’t tell from the picture, my son is pushing the sand out of the play tube and onto the ground.  Just keeping it clean.

So, I used the “vintage-y” paper Love Letter and when I first saw this paper when it came out I thought I would never use it but turns out it works great even for non-Valentines, non-girly pages.  Yay!  I also made the red embellishment on the bottom right by just layering two punchouts using the decorative label punch (layer so that they are perpendicular to each other).  I think it turned out pretty cool and kind of different.

What do you think, do you think the paper works for a layout like this?

Click here to shop online 24/7

Keeping It Clean Scrapbook Page:
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (for sponging of the label)
Paper:  Love Letter designer paper, Chocolate Chip cardstock, Sahara Sand textured cardstock, Riding Hood Red cardstock
Accessories:  BigShot die cutting machine, Billboard alphabet die cuts, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon (retired), Decorative Label punch, Large oval punch, Wide oval punch, silver brads