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.

Stampin' Up! UK's "Easter Treats" Youtube video filming day...a behind-the-scenes-account!

A few weeks ago, I received a 'phone call from the lovely Paula Gorry at Stampin' Up! UK's HQ asking me if I'd like take part in filming a Stampissimo "how to" video later in the year... erm... YES PLEASE!!!! What an honour to be asked!! Wow! How exciting...I love a challenge! Great, I thought, it's a few months away, plenty of time to design some fabulous projects... and go on a diet, lose a couple of stones, get my hair done, lose the winter pallor etc etc...well, you know, us girls are never happy about what we look like, are we?! LOL!!

 

Well, to cut a long story short, I had another 'phone call a little while later asking me would I mind coming to the rescue, at short notice, as the lady they'd booked for the 19th on March couldn't make it as she was really poorly and would it be OK if I swapped filming dates with her... I immediately said yes, of course! (eek no time for the diet...but yey, less time to get nervous about it!!) and only 10 days later, I found myself on a train to the UK head office in High Wycombe!

Paula kindly met me off the train and after a quick en route visit to a well-known home and garden store, to get some plants for the brand new film set in the office, we arrived, with me being rather too nervous but very excited to see the head office for the first time!

The film set had only arrived and been set up a couple of days before the filming day - not that you would be able to tell - Kelly had done an amazing job of making it all look awesome!

Here is the lovely Paula on the fabulous set:

Doesn't it look swish?! The lovely "Ben and Jerry" as they are fondly known, (it's Ben and James, really!)  were our camera crew for the day and their calm professionalism and expertise really helped calm my nerves no end! I was still shaking with nerves though when we started filming! I was convinced that I'd say something completely stupid, trip over something, or, that my bad cough would hamper it all... thank heavens for their amazing editing skills is all I can say!! (Thank you guys!)

 

Here are a couple of photos of the set up of the filming equipment...

Those lights were very bright! There were three cameras, one in front, one to the side and one directly above the desk, looking down on where I was to make the projects... and here is my view from behind the desk... how scary is that?!!

No, not the sight of Ben and "Jerry", nor the lovely Kelly, but, to be in front of so many cameras...all pointing at me, I mean!! Waaaaay out of my comfort zone!! I much prefer to be behind a camera... Eek! Shudder!

 

Here are a couple of photos that were taken before filming started, whilst the guys were still setting up all their amazing cameras and recording equipment, I think you'll agree that I'm only just managing to mask my "scared bunny in headlights" feelings of panic in the photos of me with Paula and with Kelly!! LOL! I was so nervous...

 

 

 

Here are a few more pictures of the set throughout the day:

 

 

Oh dear -one day I will learn how to craft tidily!! And the left-over bowl of choccy eggs & veggie jellybean eggs (in the top left of the picture above) was considerably more depleted by the end of the morning than this - well, it is important to do a "quality control test" of all treats and after all, an army marches on it's stomach, so they say!! hehe ;O)

 

I love the Celebration Banner across the front of the desk that Kelly made - especially the dangly strings of circles between the letters... which reminds me, I've still not got around to making my banner up yet - oops!

 

Here is a group photo, taken by Kelly with my camera, after all the filming had been done - phew, relief! hehe:

 

 

And another:

 

"But who is the handsome chappy on the right?", I hear you ask! "Nooo, not the one in the DroogMedia t-shirt , [sorry, James!!], the handsome, furry chappy, sporting the dapper red bow tie": Ahh, well, that's Mr Manoo, of course.... the Head Office mascot, who is very well-known in demo circles!! In fact I was completely star struck when I met him that day... but I managed to get a 'selfie' of the two of us and I think it is actually my favourite photo of the whole day:

 

 

 

:O) Hope you've enjoyed this behind-the-scenes account of my exciting day at head office? I had a fantastic day - despite all my nerves and terrible cough! A HUGE thank you to Stampin' Up! UK, Paula Gorry, Kelly Francis, the lovely Ben and James Wolstenholme from DroogMedia and Mr Manoo, who all helped make the day so enjoyable and fun - thank you!

 

 

And finally, click here to see the video - I hope you enjoy it and like all the projects which I designed and make on it - and please come back again soon, as I shall hopefully be  posting a tutorial for the Easter Bunny Gift Bag on here in the next few days!

 

If you are in the UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands or Austria, then you can buy any of the products used to make these projects, from my online shop here and get them shipped straight to your door!

 

Thank you and happy crafting everyone!

 

Lucy x