Birthday candle tag card using Stampin' Up!'s Build A Birthday Stamp set.

Today I have a bright and cheery birthday card for you which was inspired by an image of a gift tag I saw in the new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue (on page 11), featuring the "Build A Birthday" photopolymer stamp set. I think it would be great for a teenager or a male birthday, or anyone, really - I think it would suit ANY birthday actually, don't you? 

The card base and envelope are from a pack of Crumb Cake Notecards and Envelopes. I dry embossed the front of the card with the Lucky Stars textured embossing folder. The colours I have used are Watermelon Wonder, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pool Party and Tip Top Taupe. The coloured stars are punched out using the little star punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and stuck on with mini glue dots and "blinged-up" with rhinestone gems:

The top of the tag was shaped with the fabby Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and I tied the bow using a doubled-up duo of Whisper White Baker's Twine and Natural Linen Thread:

I stamped the flames using my Daffodil Delight Ink Pad and then I drew over the stamped wicks with the fine end of my Tip Top Taupe Stampin' Write Marker, as they didn't look quite right in the yellow, plus, I wanted to tie-in the taupe "birthday wishes" greeting with the wicks and the card base.

In the photograph below, you can just see that I have decorated the flap of the envelope with a piece of Cherry On Top DSP Stack. I discovered by accident that the cute little candle paper matches my card perfectly! I do LOVE how Stampin' Up! products coordinate so perfectly with each other. Those clever people have done all the hard work for us and make choosing bits for our projects so much easier - so, thank you, lovely Stampin' Up! product design people for that! 

You can get enough paper to decorate three notecard-sized envelopes in this way and have an extra strip left over, out of just ONE sheet of the 6x6" designer paper stack - so a little does go a long way.

I used this as one of my recent class projects and I think everyone really enjoyed making it. I was having such a great time teaching and chatting, that I totally forgot to take photos of everyone's cards to show you though! Doh! There were some lovely variations too, as I gave the ladies different options for the coloured card behind the whisper white sentiment banner; also some people chose to add more stars and upped the 'bling' on their cards. I love how everyone's cards come out a little different each time we make a project together! The classes are always nice and sociable too. I love our classes (thanks, ladies)! We all had quite a chuckle over a joke about there being only three, not "fork-handles", on the card, well, that is we were laughing until we realised that we were maybe showing our ages and if there had been anyone younger at the class, then they would not have got the "Two Ronnies" reference at all! Eek! Hehe!

On a brighter note: we also agreed that the above card would make a great Christmas card with just a few tweaks to the sentiment,  the addition of narrow gold ribbon instead of the twine, some gold heat embossed or glitter paper stars and maybe a bit of Dazzling Details glitter on the card base too... Hmm... Must remember to try that soon!  - I make no apology for mentioning Christmas, by the way, afterall, we are only six months away from it now, so I don't consider it swearing anymore! hehe!

Anyway, moving swiftly along... that is it for today. I do hope you liked today's project? Come back soon to see what else I have been making.

Until next time - happy crafting everyone!

Lucy x

P.S. There is only one more week left to get TWO FREE STAMP SETS with your Starter Kit if you join my team. This fabulous offer ends on 30th June 2015, so don't delay if you want to take advantage of it. You can choose any two stamp sets from Stampin' Up!'s current Annual Catalogue! I think that this is such a good offer, so don't miss it, order your starter kit today! Click on the image below to go to the joining page, or, feel free to contact me for more information.

New Catalogue is just around the corner!

Not long now until the new 2015-2016 Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue launches on 2nd June 2015! Here is a picture of me with my copy of it - I am not allowed to show you the inside of it yet... but believe me when I say it is jam-packed with all sorts of AMAAAAAAAZING, yummy, gorgeous Stampin' Up! goodies - some returning products and many brand spanking NEW goodies!! Squeeeee! It is so exciting!!

I have gone through my copy and stuck bits of sticky notes on the pages to mark all the "oh-my-gosh-that-is-lush-I-neeeeed-it" items... good job I have a good supply of sticky notes in my craft room, eh? 

I have learnt over the years that you don't need to buy it all in one go, the catalogue lasts for a whole year, so you can pace yourself and spread your purchases over 12 months!! (Although I expect there will be many "got to have it now" wish lists being written in the next week or so!) 
There are also several ways of getting stuff for free, by hosting a party and earning "Stampin' Rewards", by joining my team and earning free goodies that way etc. I have heard a whisper that there will be an exciting joining offer between 2nd and 30th June 2015, so watch this space for more information on how you can get your hands on free stamp sets!

One of the many privileges of being a demo, is that you can get your mitts on selected items from new catalogues before they are available to customers as sneak peek pre-orders.  I recently went to the Stampin' Up! UK Regional event in Telford with 349 other demos and the swaps that I designed and made for the event featured some brand new products -  some of the new 2015-2017 In Colors cardstock and inks and also a new stack of 6x6" (15.2x15.2cm) designer series papers called "Cherry On Top"... here are a couple of photographs to show you - can you spot the lovely new products that I used?

These card fronts are 3x3" and show that a little bit of designer series paper (DSP) goes a long way! Don't you just love the patterns? I think my favourites are the doughnuts and the balloons and I just love how some of the doughnuts have little bites taken out of them! Nom nom! The DSP includes several of the new In Colors (Watermelon Wonder, Crushed Cucumber and Tip Top Taupe) - mixed with old staples of Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Hello Honey, Pool Party and Whisper White - which goes to show how well  the yummy new In Colors coordinate with our existing colours. I think that the Cherry On Top papers will become a firm favourite - and they are a steal at only £7.25 (9.75€) for 48 sheets! Great for scrapbooking, Project Life journalling as well as card-making and treat box/bags too don't you think? They are so bright and jolly! Just seems a shame that you will have to wait until 2nd of June to buy some for yourself really... ;0)

If you would like me to send you a paper copy of the new catalogue, then please contact me. There will be a link to the new catalogue as soon as it goes live, so do keep an eye on here for it!

Don't forget that you only have until 2nd June 2015 to purchase any of the retiring products before they are gone forever - many have already sold out, but there are still many bargains to be had as many of the items are discounted. Don't lose out as once they are gone, they are gone! Click on the "retired list" icon on the left had side of this blog page to go to my shop to see them.

Anyway, that is all for today... all this talk of doughnuts is making me hungry!

Until next time, happy stamping!

Lucy x