Now is this fun or what! You all know that I love cards that are simple…but when I can create a card that I can make multiplies of in a jif, I do my own happy dance and usually…my audience just wags their tail…but I still smile! (heck, they are my best critics) 

I know many of us start the New Year with many different resolutions or should I say, great intentions as heck…..no need to put stressful pressures….let’s just try to put that great intentions into a habit…as that’s how we can make a difference!

Birthdays are something we all have and something that many of us intend to be better at, sending Birthday cards! I am posting this week about Birthdays as that is one card that we all seem to use quite often and I hope that I will be able to put a little “spring in your step” to share and show you that there are ways to stay on top of it and develop a “stash of cards”

I love paper…because to me, paper and layers add an instant feel of specialness to a card and lets face it, paper is not that expensive but the layers DO make a difference…especially when you hold a card in your hand. We are so lucky that all of our papers and DSP match each and every time making the “color match game” a cinch!

Today I based my color palette from the Picture Perfect Party DSP collection. This is one of the newbies in the Occasions catalog and it is super unique to Stampin’ Up! as one side is an actually photo like image and the other is a fun print. I am more of the “fun print kinda gal” and these stripes….are just that FUN! I also love the fact that the size of this collection is a 6″ X 6″ square and you get (4) sheets of each design so you do have a lot of paper to work with if you are looking to make many of the same card!

Before we go on…there is one thing that I want you to remember with a paper pack like this…you can choose just about any paper within this collection and there will be another that will basically be….“in the same church… just a different pew” making it super easy to mix and match within a collection. Mixing and Matching is FUN…because Stampin’ Up! has taken the guess work out of it for us!

Both of the below Stamp sets are also newbie to our collection. The Bird Banter is sooooo on trend right now – if you shop with other stamp companies, you will see the “bird craze” everywhere and this stamp landed a home on Randall Lane because of the fun and unique sentiments and the fact that it is a photopolymer! DOUBLE WHAMY!

The later stamp, Birthday Wishes for You is SPOT ON with being a classic but look at that price…..just $12.00 – here comes a big WOOT – WOOT! The spacing in the “birthday” is a perfect way to add a fun pop of color without being too hard…as it is a breeze to color!

You know that I enjoy keeping things simple….so I have a stash of card stock already cut to 1/4 sheets so I can grab and go as I need to. I find that this saves me a bunch of time and lets face it – IT IS THE BASICS and you know how I feel about them!

After I stamped all of the images, I trimmed off the excess to make it work for todays card – it ended up to be a 4″ X 4″ area and then I matted with just a smidge larger (4 1/8″ X 4 1/8″) in Lemon Lime Twist…

You will see below in the post that I did use the STAMPARATUS to create this card and each time I use it….I enjoy it more and more….mainly because of the sheer ease, efficiency and being able to stamp with multiple stamps!

The Stampin’ Blends made it a cinch to color….they just glide over the paper and the NO STREAK of color is a dream. No worries about knowing how to blend, with these you get the best of both worlds – simple one color coloring or use multiple makers and blend….just do what works and feels comfortable to YOU!

I know that this does not seem fair to tease you with talking about the Stamparatus but I just need to. I do have one and as I shared, I am lovin’ it! I do have both the MISTI and also the Tim Holtz Platform so I think I can give you great feed back with our product, the STAMPARATUS. This product will be available in the Annual Catalog in June and also for those that have pre-ordered it…..(your time will be soon)

The 2 plates make using multiple stamps for a project a dream machine. For todays card I used (4) different stamps…

• The “Happy Birthday” word
• The Bird
• The Balloon
• The Sentiment inside the card…(a little birdie told me it was your birthday)

Because I was able to have the (2) plates I was able to stamp my card with ease and precision without having to change and clean my stamps after each stamp. THIS IS the a game changer to the other stamp positioners that are on the market. I truly did not think that this would make such a big difference but you just wait and see….you will be amazed!

I know that this might be hard to see but look closely and then it will make sense….I “get it” that we get frustrated and just sad when we ruin paper if an image is not lined up properly…I cut a piece of Window Sheet to 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″ (the size of an A-2 card) so as I stamp…I can first give it a trial run on the Window Sheet! You can easily clean it off and reuse it time and time again!

The other thing that I do it…put a BRIGHT color of Duct Tape  and then cut the tape to a point as I “pick me up-er” as I admit….it not only save “my nails” but it helps in not having these STRONG MAGNETS get stuck together! On the bottom of the STAMPARATUS there is a place to store your magnets and this Duct Tape on them does not effect the storage one bit!

I know that this is a LONG POST but hang in there as this is a great TIP to making this card…..as I said before, I adore paper and the POP of this DSP just makes the card FUN but the reality of it is that I used a wee bit of DSP…..let me break it down for you…

• for the card….I used a 1/2″ and a 1/4″ of DSP for the card…YEP  – I just used 3/4″ in TOTAL!!!!
• for the envelope….I used a 1 1/2″ strip of DSP

The below photo will help you better see….all you need to do is be creative with how you cut your paper. From a glance, it looks like I used a bunch of DSP but just think of how many cards you could make using this same DSP from a paper pack? I made up 8 cards in a jif….ready for Birthdays when I need a super cute card!

One more peek at this card…I know its amazing but I did not POP up anything on this card today (something that is rare for me) but I did add the Susan dashes and dots to give it my signature touch!

I did add some Wink of Stella over the balloon and bird, something that honestly I forget about but when you hold the card in your hand, it is the perfect amount of bling.

There you go…a super fun Birthday card to inspire you to create! These 2 stamps are a perfect addition to your stash as you can see the mileage you will get out of them and also mileage out of your DSP!

I will see you back on Wednesday with another Birthday card…..make it a great day and lets all have a fabulous week!