Easy Birthday Card for Him + Free How-To + Card Sketch

This Country Club Designer Series Paper is retiring and I barely touched it!  It's on page 47 of the Mini Catalog and is a part of the Country Club Suite.  Stampin' Up! gave it to us free at OnStage back in November (a VERY sweet demonstrator perk).  

Those bright colors inspired me to use my Balloon Bouquet punch.  Who wouldn't smile at a bunch of colorful balloons?  

The balloons are popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals.  I matted the DSP pieces with Basic Black cardstock to make them stand out from each other.

Check out how the stitching on the DSP matches the stitching on the Stitched Shapes die-cut oval!

I've included some helpful tools for you to make this card.  First up, a card sketch (go ahead and pin it to your card sketch board)!

Next up, the groovy color combination (you can pin this, too, to your color inspiration board)! 

 Last, a step-by-step how-to with measurements, a photo, and supply list!  Of course you can pin or print this (you do have a board of Joyful Stamper tutorials, right?).

New Catalog Alert: If you have ordered from me since November, you are automatically on my list to receive a new Annual Catalog package next month.  If you'd like one, place an order of any size to be automatically included or email me at nicole@thejoyfulstamper.com.

The Joyful Stamper Specials:

Order $35 in my store (before shipping and tax) to get the kit FREE to make both these fun fold cards!  Offer expires 5/1/2020 at midnight.  Use Reward Code SWDK2WN2.

Through-out April, I'm posting at least 12 projects made with the Ornate Garden Suite.

• Easy, stepped-up, fancy fold, technique-driven, anything-but-a-card - it'll be a WIDE variety!  
• Every project will have detailed instructions and photos in a pdf.  
• Each project's tutorial will be sent via email as each project is posted here on my blog.
• To receive it, place a $50 order (before shipping & tax) in my store April 1-30 and use Reward Code SWDK2WN2.
• You will receive ALL the tutorials, no matter when in April you order.  

This is a free class as a thank you for ordering with me!  And you can order whatever you want!

In The Christmas Spirit

Enjoying and savoring the moment I'm in has been instrumental in increasing my delight in life.  It also has caused my perception of time's passing to slow.  You'll probably never hear me say, "I can't believe it's December already" or a version of that.  This enjoying of the moment has not come easily to me - I've prayed my way to it for years - nor does it stay without a daily renewing of my mind.  But the joy is worth it!

All that to say, I'm ready to celebrate Christmas.  Yes, I've been making Christmas projects for over a month but that was out of necessity.  Whipping out 60 cards in a day or two isn't happening in my world!  But it's a week before Christmas, which is my signal to wrap gifts and that's what "kicks off" the holidays for me.  I'm all-in now!  Cue the carols!  This Friday, Caitlin and I start our annual 1000-piece Christmas puzzle and I'm really excited about it.  What "kicks off" Christmas for you?  Leave me a comment because I'd love to know.

  

Now that I'm in the Christmas spirit, I thought I'd make a birthday card!  That made no sense at all, except for the fact that each year, I gift my Grandma a stack of birthday cards with a roll of stamps.  She loves mailing out my cards and I love creating them for her.  I used this week's Splitcoaststampers Sketch to make today's project.

Two versatile, go-to sets on my stamp shelf are Birthday Backgrounds and Perennial Birthdays.  Birthday Backgrounds is perfect for creating backgrounds, adding a little something to balance out a card, or to draw the eye to the focal point (as I did in the card above).

Perennial Birthdays has birthday sentiments in my favorite font.  They're also the perfect size - not too big, not too little.  I used the Balloon Bouquet punch with Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (the stripes are so fun!) to create a celebratory trio.  The strings are handdrawn with a journaling pen.  I love the shape of the Stitched Nested Labels dies - it's so different from the usual circle/square/rectangle.

You can find the supplies for this card in my online store:

Birthday Backgrounds

Perennial Birthdays

Balloon Bouquet Punch

Stitched Nested Labels dies

Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper

Journaling Pen

Also check out the Clearance Rack while you're at my online store.  It is filled to the brim with bargains!

I'm so excited about the January - June 2020 Mini Catalog that I'm devoting an entire day to showing off the stunning projects you can make with its new products!  January 3 is the day it goes live, along with the 2020 Sale-A-Bration catalog.  Follow my Facebook page and set your notifications to alert you when I go live so you don't miss it!

What is Sale-A-Bration? It's a special brochure with tons of fun product that you can earn for free.  Level 1 items are earned with every $50 order and Level 2 items are earned for every $100 order.  There are no limits to what you earn.  

• Order $50-->earn one Level 1 item
• Order $100-->earn two Level 1 items OR one Level 1 item
• Order $150-->earn three Level 1 items OR one Level 1 item plus one Level 2 item PLUS Stampin' Rewards (free product of your choosing)!
• And it just keeps going!

Need your own copy to follow along with during my Catalog Launch Party on January 3?  Request a catalog package here or email me at nicole @thejoyfulstamper.com with your mailing address.

Thank you for choosing me as your demonstrator and giving me the opportunity to earn your business!

It's a BRIGHT celebration!

We celebrate five birthdays a year in the Steele home and it's a tradition to decorate the table and chair of the birthday person.  After the birthday boy/girl goes to bed the night before his or her big day, I pull out my box of decorations and party tablecloth and begin the process.  I throw bright crepe paper streamers over the chandelier in colors of blue, green, pink, yellow, and orange.  I cover the table with a liner that has sprinkles printed on it.  I stand up a 4-foot long cardboard cutout that spells "Happy Birthday" and has shiny purple and pink foil fringe.  There are pinwheels scattered about the table and a present waiting on top of the Special Plate, a platter that only the birthday celebrant may dine from.   

The birthday person also gets to choose what dessert mom makes.  We've had Chocolate Strawberry Delight, Chocolate Beet Cake with Homemade Frosting, Buckeye Cake, Apple Pie, and Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble.  When they girls were smaller, the cakes were more fanciful.  One year, I made a cake that looked like a CandyLand game board.  Another year, I created a pool scene on top of a cake using blue Jell-O, teddy bear graham crackers, and pretzel sticks.  The Pampered Chef sold this mixing bowl that I could bake a cake in, then invert it and stick a Barbie in it and it looked like she was wearing a huge fancy skirt.  None were bakery-perfect, but they all made my family feel so loved and so special.  And they sure were fun to create!

Much like this card:

Both the color scheme and layout are from Splitcoaststampers, a place from which I get a lot of stamping help.  See that polka-dotted ribbon?  I colored it with my Stampin' Blends to match my card!

I used the brush tip of my Stampin' Blends to color the little felt dots on this ribbon.  It didn't ruin the tips, although if you just touch the Blends tip to the ribbon dot, the color flows to it without having to move the Blends tip.  I was so tickled about this trick, I was talking out loud to myself!

Sometimes it's tricky to get a clean cut with more intricate dies.  A couple years ago, I read a tip that has worked perfectly every time and I'm passing it along to you:

I've used this tip to cut lacy hearts and detailed butterflies and the die-cuts peel right off the dryer sheet, leaving the little bits behind.

Must-Haves from This Card:

Color pearls, rhinestones, and ribbons any color you want; get beautiful shading and blending when coloring stamped images; no marker lines

You can make easy backgrounds with the Birthday Backgrounds set.  The stamps are designed so that you can ink and stamp without having to line images up.  They'll look good no matter where you stamp them.

Soft and easy to tie, this ribbon adds a playful touch to your projects.  And I showed how you can use your Blends to make the dots any color you need.

Shop my online store here to get these must-haves and don't forget to contact me to get your Holiday Catalog Package!

One Card Five Ways

I must need bright colors in my life right now.  When sitting down to create, that is what ends up being pulled from the cardstock shelves and the ink pad holders.  I blame Jeopardy James' loss, now almost two weeks ago, for my need of a pick-me-up.    

Say hello to Lovely Lipstick.

Now, I've been a fan of Jeopardy! for years and there exists on my mental bucket list a line that says, "Be a Jeopardy! contestant".  So you can call me a faithful viewer.

Now behold Blueberry Bushel.

But there was something about James Holzhauer and his aggressive style of play that was addicting to watch.  It gave me a predictable high every weeknight at 7pm #nerdgirl  

(I realize hashtags are not a blogging thing but that just adds emphasis to my point, don't you think?).

Meet Pineapple Punch.

James broke the mold for Jeopardy! contestants - he wasn't conventional, he wasn't a teacher or lawyer, and he played to win.  He had fun on the show and he made it fun for the viewers.

This is Call Me Clover.

I shamefully admit I enjoyed watching him shock and awe the other contestants.  No one comes on the show to battle for second and third places, but that's exactly the battle the two other hopefuls were left to fight, often before the first round was over.

And last we have Grapefruit Grove.

When someone other than James found the Daily Doubles, indignation and outrage would sweep through me and I would think, "How dare they take James' Daily Doubles!"  A couple times the game was close, down to Final Jeopardy, and my family had to rush to retrieve cold compresses for me to get my heart rate back to normal.

And then he lost on June 3.  

I've been stamping in bright colors ever since.  I think there is a correlation there.

You Can Make It:

~2018-2020 In Color 8-1/2 x 11 Cardstock Pack
~Whisper White 8-1/2 x 11 Cardstock
~1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon - Blueberry Bushel, Call Me Clover, Grapefruit Grove,                                            Lovely Lipstick, Pineapple Punch
~2018-2020 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (used to color on stamp, then                                  stamp image several times on cardstock without reinking)
~Gold Faceted Gems
~Daisy Punch (punched three times and layered for a fuller look)
~Leaf Punch
~Itty Bitty Greetings stamp set

Stepping It Up: (for heat embossing the dots on the daisy; still cute cards without it!)

Birthday Backgrounds stamp set *

Gold Embossing Powder *

Heat Gun *

Versamark Ink *

Last Call for my Bird Ballad Class To Go!

Sign-up ends today June 18!

Use Host Code VTFXMJVH

Details can be found here.

Using Up DSP Scraps To Make Birthday Cards

Stampin' Up!'s DSP packs are beautiful and fun and a joy to use.  I happily cut into the sheets and create cards, scrapbook pages, and 3D projects.  Then I look at the small mountain of various scraps leftover and they are just too gorgeous to throw away, but what to do with them?  Do you have this problem, too?  These two birthday cards show a way to creatively use them.

Both birthday cards use scraps from the Bird Ballad DSP pack.  In the first card, I used them to create a cake, complete with candles on the top.  The candles from the Birthday Backgrounds set got their dual colors from using markers to color directly on the stamp.  The stamp is actually longer but I wanted just three candles for my cake topper.  

The second card uses scraps to make a present, complete with whisper white baker's twine and a hand-cut tagged stamped with a flower from the Perennial Birthday set.  The large sentiment on both cards is also from that set.  Isn't the font FUN?

The DSP scraps idea and card layouts come from my amazing upline's Cheat Sheets Collections (a great design resource for cardmakers that offers layouts, instructions, and measurements).  

Think of all the fun combinations you could create with your DSP scraps!  I know you have them, so don't let them languish and go to waste.

You Can Make It:

• Stamps: Perennial Birthday, Birthday Backgrounds
• Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Whisper White
• Bird Ballad DSP
• Ink: Pool Party
• Bermuda Bay marker
• Calypso Coral marker
• Solid White Baker's Twine

Don't forget to order my Bird Ballad Class To Go by June 18!

Use Host Code VTFXMJVH

Details found here.

Graduation Cards using Punches

My oldest daughter graduated from high school this past Friday and she asked me to make her cards for all the parties she'll be attending.  This first design is for the guys.

I used Brusho pigment powders on watercolor paper, then punched the shapes out with the Balloon Bouquet punch.  I love that it punches out two sizes at one time!  You could also use a Real Red ink pad swiped over Whisper White cardstock to create red balloons.  To fill in the pattern a bit more, I used a fine tip journaling pen and ruler to draw lines on the white stripes.  The sentiment was heat embossed with white embossing powder.

This next card is for the girl graduates.

The same techniques were used here, but with the addition of a white twine bow.  Don't forget to stamp the envelopes, too!  That just adds to the fun!

You Can Make It!

• Stamps: Lilypad Lake (sentiment), Birthday Backgrounds (envelopes)
• Paper: Thick Whisper White, Basic Black, Neutrals DSP (retired) 
• Ink: Versamark, Memento Black, Real Red (envelopes)
• Balloon Bouquet Punch
• Brusho pigment powder (retired); Use a Real Red ink pad to substitute
• White Embossing Powder
• Journaling Pen
• Heat Gun
• White Twine

Need a Stampin' Up! catalog (a brand new one just came out!)?  If you aren't already working with a demonstrator, I'd love the opportunity to earn your business.  Contact me to request one!