Happy Birthday with Pennant Punch!

Hello all! I've been so busy lately, but in a totally good way!
I did make time today to share a quick and easy birthday card!
I LOVE the pennant punch from Stampin Up and I also love the Life of the Party line from Basic Grey! They go perfectly together!
The Penant Punch is one of my faves! It can be (obviously) penants, trees, an ice cream cone, and as in this case a birthday hat! So cute!
This is one of the cards we made at our Stamper's Night Out on Tuesday! It is quick, simple, and fun!

Supplies:
- 4x5.5 inch white card base
- 3.5x5 inch piece of patterned paper (Life is a Party from Basic Grey), plus scraps for hat
- Penant Punch from Stampin Up
- Happy Birthday Stamp from Happiest Birthday Wishes Stampin Up Set
- Small Star Stamp from Penant Parade Stampin Up Set
- Real Red, Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie, and Garden Green Markers
- Frame Ornate #4 Sizzix Die and Big Shot
- Whisper White cardstock
- .25x3.75 inch piece of Real Red cardstock punched with the scalloped border punch

Directions:
1. Adhere the large piece of patterned paper to the front of your card.
2. Cut your piece of Whisper White cardstock with the frame die and Big Shot.
3. Use your markers to color the letters on the happy birthday stamp different colors. Once the letters are colored, huff on the stamp to remoisten the image and stamp onto your die cut frame. Stamp several stars around the sentiment and adhere to the front of your card. Trim the excess.
4. Adhere the red border punched strip of cardstock beneath the stamped sentiment.
5. Take your Penant Punch and punch both shapes out of patterned paper. Adhere together with foam adhesive squares and add to the front of the card.
6. Stamp another star and punch it out with the extra small circle punch. Adhere to the top of the hat.

Yep it's that simple! This card is great for when you are headed out the door to a birthday party! It takes less than 10 minutes to make!
Well I hope you like today's card! I hope you have a safe and fabulous Labor Day weekend!

Welcome Tooth Fairy!

We had a visit from the Tooth Fairy at our house last week!
Brodey's tooth has been loose for a while and it started to bug him when he ate. I knew it was coming out soon so I asked him if he wanted to help me make a Tooth Fairy Box! He was so excited!
I die cut a pillow box with my Big Shot out of white cardstock. I gave it to Brodey and let him color it however he wanted to! (He only chose green lol)
I stamped the Tooth Fairy stamp onto watercolor paper and colored her with my watercolor pens, blender pens, and ink. I punched her out, added the strip of Tempting Turquoise paper, and topped it off with the punched Tooth Fairy! SO cute and personalized by Brodey! He loved it and was so proud of it!
Thank goodness we made it! That very night he pulled his tooth! He put his tooth in his Tooth Fairy pillow box and tucked it under his pillow. The Tooth Fairy left him a little note saying how proud she was that he took good care of his teeth and she loved the box he made! He was more excited that she left him $8! ;)
We had fun making the Tooth Fairy pillow box and it reminded me that Brodey and I need to make more things together!
This was a quick post, but I'll share a card tomorrow! I've been busy scrapbooking this week! If you have the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks Summer Fun and Travel Issue check out page 65! I have shared a fun technique using the large Medallion stamp!
Enjoy your Wednesday!

Bye Bye Stars

Happy Friday!
As I mentioned on yesterday's post it's Stampin Up's retirement time! They will be retiring a ton of products that you can order until June 30th. They do this to make room in the new catalog for a ton of new stuff!
One of the retiring sets is Seeing Stars. I used it on today's card. This is another card using the inlaid embossing technique! This easy technique gives your card a quilted look and is perfect for 4th of July cards/projects!
I have shared supplies and instructions to make this card below!

Supplies:
- 4x5.5 White Card Base
- (3) 1 inch circles punched from Riding Hood Red cardstock
- (1) 5/8 inch circle punched from Riding Hood Red cardstock
- (2) 5/8 inch circles punched from Not Quite Navy cardstock
- (1) 2 inch circle punched from Not Quite Navy Cardstock
- (1) 2.5 inch circle punched from Not Quite Navy cardstock
- Whisper White Cardstock
- Scrap Piece of Riding Hood Red Cardstock (Optional)
- Stars #2 Big Shot Die and Big Shot Machine
- Square Lattice Embossing Folder
- Scallop Oval Punch
- Scallop Oval Die and Movers and Shapers Die for the Big Shot (Optional)
- Ink in Riding Hood Red and Not Quite Navy
- Sentiment or You're Invitied from the Sincere Salutations Stamp Set
- Seeing Stars Stamp Set

Instructions:
1. Adhere your circles to the card front as shown in the photo above. (Use a glue stick to adhere the circles and stars for best results after embossing)
2. Die cut your stars out of Whisper White cardstock using the Stars #2 die.
3. Use temporary adhesive to adhere your stars to a flat stamping surface. Use the Stamp-a-ma-Jig to stamp your die cut stars with the Seeing Stars stamps. Adhere your stamped stars to the card as shown in the photo above.
4. Trim the excess cirlces and stars from the edges of the card. (I have a rotary blade trimmer and to trim I simply lay the card face down and trim the excess off)
5. Use a corner rounder to round the top right corner of the card. (Optional)
6. Place your card front into the Square Lattice embossing die and run through your Big Shot.
7. Use your Movers and Shapers die to cut out a scallop oval from your scrap piece of Riding Hood Red. (Optional)
8. Stamp your sentiment onto Whisper White and punch out with the Scallop Oval punch. Adhere onto the red scallop oval.
9. Use foam adhesive squares to adhere your sentiment onto the center of the largest star.

This card would be perfect for invtations to your 4th of July picnic! One of the best things about the Big Shot are the steel rule dies. These dies allow you to cut multiple layers of cardstock at one time! This is great when mass producing cards!
I hope you enjoyed today's card and the fun inlaid embossing technique!
If you have any questions about Stampin Up's retiring products, receiving a new catalog, or today's card send me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com!
Have a super fab Friday!

Flowers Flowers Flowers

I LOVE flowers! They are all over my back porch, on my front porch, and around my pool. Every year I can't wait for springtime to bring them all back out and plant new ones!

Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooking Tips and Tricks came out at the perfect time! This issue is ALL about flowers. While this blog is my cardmaking blog that doesn't mean you can't take an idea from a scrapbooking layout and translate it into your cardmaking! Flowers look beautiful on ANY project! ;)

My layout in this issue is for the Latest and Greatest column. They sent me some goodies and I had to make scrappy magic with them. I can't post the whole layout on here, but I will give you a sneak peek!
The sneak peek pic above is of a clothespin I added to the layout to hold Brodey's note. (I wanted it to be removable since it's a keepsake.)
I used the Punch Potpourri stamp set and stamped the flowers onto the clothespin with brown Stazon ink. I then took my markers and blender pens and colored in the flowers. I attached the clothespin to my layout with Glue Dots. I thought it was a fun way to add memorabilia to a layout and it's always fun to color flowers!
To celebrate the flower issue I made a card with some fun tissue flowers! We first made a tissue flower card in my March Stamper's Night Out. For that card I used the smallest flower in the Island Floral die for my Big Shot.

For today's card I used the Daisies #2 die. I LOVE this die! There are three different sizes of daisies on it! Remember that with the Big Shot you can cut just about any type of material out! It's AWESOME!
This card is very simple to make so I'm just going to give you the directions for making the flower. (If you need directions for the entire card sent me an email at aprilmassad@yahoo.com)

Here are the stamp sets and ink colors I used on this card:
Four Frames - Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink Frame Around the Sentiment
Sincere Salutations - Old Olive Best Wishes
Love and Care - Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink and Old Olive Flowers

Supplies Needed to Make Flowers:
- Big Shot Die Cutting Machine
- Daisies #2 Die (or any flower die)
- Light Pink Tissue Paper (Largest and smallest flowers)
- Dark Pink Tissue Paper (Medium flower)
- Scrap Paper
- Circle Punch
- Paper Piercer or Small Hole Punch
- Brad

Directions:
1. Take your tissue paper out of the package but DO NOT separate the sheets. (By keeping the sheets together you can cut all of one flower size at once)
2. Cut a square out of the pieces of tissue paper close to the size of the largest flower in the die. Lay the square of tissue paper over the flower and run through your Big Shot.
3. Repeat with the two other sizes of flowers.
4. Take the smallest flower and begin separating the tissue paper with your fingers. It's easier to do this by just rubbing the center of the flowers between your fingers. As you separate each flower, feed it onto a pencil, paper piercer, or paintbrush. (This helps them stay centered and keeps them from blowing away)
5. Repeat with the other sizes of flowers.
6. Punch a circle out of scrap paper the size closest to the flower you are using. (I used all three flower sizes in the die so I punched out a 1 inch circle.)
7. Punch or pierce a hole into the center of your circle.
8. Slide the tissue flowers off and put the punched circle on the back of the flowers. Feed your brad through the hole to hold your flowers onto the circle base.

And now you have a beautiful Gerbera daisy!
I hope your Thursday has been a happy one!

P.S. I just wanted to let you know that if you scroll down my blog, on the right side there is a product index. There are products, colors, stamp sets, etc that you can click on and see what projects I have shared using those items! This might be helpful when you get that stamp set in your hands and you can't kick your creative side into gear! ;)

Best Dad Ever

Don't we all have the best Dads ever? Doesn't he deserve an awesome card for a day that honors him!? Or why not honor all of the Dads in your life?
I'm going to kick off my Father's Day cards with this FUN hybrid card! LOVE this digital motorcycle stamp! I wish Stampin Up still had it available in a stamp, but you could actually be slapping this baby on a card in about 5 minutes! It's one of hundreds of digital designs that SU has available to download! With a few clicks of your mouse you can have this printed out and in your hands in no time!
(Please keep in mind that to take advantage of the "Preferred Price" you must order from my online store or your Stampin Up demonstrator's online store)
I'll bet you are wondering about that cool shiny background right? Would you love it if I said you can do this with what you probably have at home? :)

Supplies Needed to Make Faux Metal Background:
- Cardstock (use the cheapest you have on hand or you can use scrap cardstock in any color)
- Glue Stick
- Brayer or Rolling Pin
- Aluminum Foil (heavy duty or regular will work)
- Rotary Blade Paper Trimmer OR Scissors (Paper Trimmers with the small blade, like Fiskars, will just rip the foil when you cut it)
- Embossing Folders and Big Shot (optional-you don't have to have the embossed design)

Directions:
1. Take your piece of cardstock and cover with your glue stick. (I have found that the consistancy of the glue stick works the best)
2. Take your aluminum foil and carefully lay over your cardstock. (Crazy enough the aluminum foil is 12 inches wide and is perfect for making sheets using 12x12 cardstock)
3. Use your brayer and roll over the aluminum foil to smooth out any air bubbles.
4. Trim to the size you need and emboss with your Big Shot! (If the foil lifts up at the edge simply reapply Glue Stick underneath and use your brayer to smooth back out BEFORE you emboss it.)

And that's all, folks! Can you believe that in 4 easy steps you have an awesome background!? Who wouldn't love that card?
If you are wondering how I colored the motorcycle image I simply used the Aqua Painters. I actually printed my motorcycle image out on watercolor paper on the watercolor paper setting on my printer. (I have an Epson R1800 large format printer)
To distress the edges I went along the edge with my Aqua Painter in black and brown ink. Gotta love those Aqua Painters!
Well I really hope you liked today's card! I'll post another fun card tomorrow using the same faux metal technique. It's a card I taught at Stamper's Night Out using the Friends Rock stamp set!
Hope Monday was kind to you! See you tomorrow! :)