Valerie Moody - SCT Aug Image 1

Hi there crafty friends! I am so excited to be sharing some projects with you today. The first product suite in the new Stampin’ Up! annual catalog is the Festive Birthday suite. The colours in these pages really grabbed me as it’s summer time here in the UK and I thought I would create some cards using that colour scheme with the Birthday Fiesta stamp set and coordinating Fiesta Time Framelits Dies.

Valerie Moody - SCT Image 2

However with my children now on holiday from school for the summer, the time I have available to create can be hugely variable – from just minutes snatched between activities, to hours if they have a play date! With this in mind, I decided to create three cards for you today – each suited to varying amounts of crafty time.

First up is the 5 minute card. This one is perfect if you’ve just remembered at 9 o’clock at night that it’s friends birthday today (I have done this!).

Valerie Moody - SCT Image 3

I started out with a card base from Whisper White Thick Cardstock, and onto it I stamped my ‘Fiesta’ greeting. To add interest quickly, I gave it an ombre look. First I stamped the entire image in Crushed Curry Ink Pad, and stamped off onto a piece of scrap paper. Then I inked it up the bottom two thirds of the stamp with the Crushed Curry ink pad again. Finally I inked up the ‘like there’s no manana’ using a Pumpkin Pie Ink Pad – then stamped the whole sentiment onto my base card.

I stamped the Cactus image using an Emerald Envy Ink Pad onto Emerald Envy Cardstock and die cut it out using the coordinating die. I also die cut a flower, stamped using a Melon Mambo Ink Pad onto Melon Mambo Cardstock. I attached both of these using Stampin’ Dimensionals above the sentiment – and done!

Valerie Moody - SCT Image 4

Next up is the 30 minute card! Perfect if it’s someone birthday tomorrow or that you’ve just got a few extra minutes crafting time on your hands.

For this card, I’ve started with a white card base again, and I stamped my ‘Fiesta’ greeting as before, at the bottom of the card. I’ve cut a piece of Tempting Turquoise Cardstock to cover ¾ of my card, and stamped it using the streamer image using Tempting Turquoise Ink.

Using the Fiesta Time Framelits Dies, I’ve die cut the square banner three times, once each from Melon Mambo Cardstock, Pumpkin Pie Cardstock and Crushed Curry Cardstock. I then stamped them with their coordinating inks – Melon Mambo ink, Pumpkin Pie ink and Crushed Curry ink – and the matching banner stamps. I die cut another cactus and flower as before and attached everything to the base card using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Valerie Moody - SCT Image 5

Lastly a card which will take around 30 minutes – 1 hour. For this I decided to create a shaker card, but with the fun twist of putting my die cut cactuses inside the shaker! I used my Layering Square Framelits Dies to cut a rectangle from a piece of Tempting Turquoise card and behind it, I’ve added a piece of Window Sheet, and then surrounded the opening with Foam Adhesive Strips to contain my shaker elements. I’ve die cut two Cacti to put inside the shaker, along with a good amount of Brights Sequin Assortment. Before attaching my shaker front, I’ve stamped the base card with the ombre Fiesta sentiment again, as well as a couple of streamer images too. Once the Shaker top had been added, I die cut more banners to add on top to complete the card.

The Birthday Fiesta bundle is perfect for summer themed birthdays and events, and no matter how much time you have to spare, you can always create something gorgeous!  Thank you for allowing me to share my projects with you today – here’s wishing you lots of crafting time!

~ Valerie Moody, Artisan Design Team 2015-16

Partner Appreciation GIVEAWAY – Day Six!

As this is our regular Stampin' Up! Inspiration Saturday it seemed only fitting to celebrate our wonderful friends at Stampin' Up! today! A family built company with a global reach through thousands of demonstrators living their creative dreams. It all fits so well with their mission statement called its Statement of the Heart, which says:

"To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments … in this we make a difference."

Yes Stampin' Up! you sure do make a difference to crafters around the world and to us here at SCT! Thank you for 10 years of partnership and support and for offering crafters around the world top quality, innovative products. And thank you for always joining our celebrations and celebrating our readers with this amazing prize today! 

Stampin'Up

Memory keeping is super simple and super beautiful with Project Life card collections. Just slip these designed cards into Photo Pocket Pages for instant color, design, and journaling space. Today's prize includes:

For an opportunity to win this Project Life Collecion be sure to leave a comment below by Wednesday, September 7th!  

Looking for more Stampin' Up! inspiration? Here are all the places you'll find them!  

Website: http://stampinup.com

Blog: http://stampinup.com/home/en-US/get-inspired

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stampinup

Instagram: @stampinup

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/stampinup/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stampinup

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/stampinup

Thank you again for joining us today! Our friends from Paper Smooches are here tomorrow so be sure to check in!

~ Catherine Tachdjian, publisher, Scrapbook & Cards Today magazine