Happy Birthday! Pals February Blog Hop!

Hello, welcome to the Stampin’ Pretty Pals’ Blog Hop! This month our Design Team created “Birthday Bonanza” projects to inspire you to make for all of your family and friends. We hope you enjoy and are inspired by them! Don’t forget to leave comments because we all love hearing from you! At the end of my post, you will find the full line-up to help you “hop” along from Pal to Pal.

One of my goals this last year has been to send more birthday cards. I have fun going through the birthdays of my friends in my address book and on Facebook, and sending handcrafted cards in the mail. I made a Creative Swing Card, the instructions of which I gleaned from a video at Connie Stewart’s Simply Simple Stamping. HERE is the link for the video she presents. This card is a really fun creative fold, where the inside sentiment, located on the Stitched Nested Label die, ‘flips’ when you open the card.

I started with a 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ card base, scored on the long side at 2 1/8″ and 4 1/4″. I really wanted to feature the beautiful papers of the Fine Arts Floral Designer Series papers. I cut three panels of Designer Series Paper, according to the measurements below. The trickiest part of the card is accomplished using a Stitched Nested Die, but only cutting HALF of the die into your cardstock. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, so just take a look at Connie’s video! It’s really easy!

The back of the Stitched Nesting Die sentiment area has its own stamping area when the card is opened:

Here are the measurements in a nutshell:

Base – 5 ½” x 8 ½”, scored at 2 ⅛” and 4 ¼”

Panels (stamped cardstock or Designer Paper) -1 ⅞” x 5 ¼” and 4″ x 5 ¼”

Basic White – 5 ½” x 8 ½” – cut Stitched Labels dies

To decorate my cards, I used the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder to emboss a panel of scrap cardstock, and then punched out some butterflies with my Butterfly Duet punch. I went over the butterflies with Wink of Stella to give them a nice sparkle, although it’s hard to tell from the photograph.

Such a fun fold to try — I highly recommend it! Who wouldn’t want a BIRTHDAY HUG in the mail using these beautiful Stampin’ Up! products?

I created a ‘sister’ card with a spring theme, using a sentiment from the Springtime Joy stamp set. These papers are so luscious – it’s easy to just keep on making cards!

More inspiration awaits! Use the Blog Hop Line-up below to visit the rest of this month’s Design Team. My fellow Pals are excited to show you what they’ve created! Mark your calendars for our next blog hop on March 10th when our theme will be “Cute Critters” where the design team will be sharing projects that will feature critters of all sorts to inspire you. Don’t miss the fun! Until then, please stay safe and have fun in your craft room.

BLOG HOP LINEUP

Product List

Oval Occasions Cling Stamp Set [154477] $19.00	Fine Art Floral 12″ X 12″ (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [154558] $11.50	Stitched Nested Labels Dies [149638] $35.00
Basic White 12 X12 (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock [159231] $7.75	Daffodil Delight 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [119683] $8.75	Rich Razzleberry 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [115316] $8.75
Tasteful Textile 3 D Embossing Folder [152718] $9.00	Butterfly Duet Punch [148523] $18.00	Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin’ Pad [126950] $6.50
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $8.00	Elegant Faceted Gems [152464] $7.50