This is a super-speedy quick post from me today, as I'm just managing to write in between school plays, swimming lessons and an evening out with friends to say farewell to two who are returning to their homelands in a matter of weeks - one to Ireland and one to Australia. This week's challenge over at Less is More is watercolouring and I decided to get another use out of a set that is retiring next week - Make a Wish. Here's my card:

I've been wanting to have a go at watercolouring the candle 'i' on this stamp to see if I could create a realistic-looking glow and I'm quite pleased with the effect. I simply inked the stamp in stazon then used a variety of yellow and orange inks and my aquapainter to achieve the effect I was after. I then watercoloured the word 'wish' in Melon Mambo and chose my base and mat panels to tie in. I also added a small ribbon tie just to prettify my card a little, but hopefully not stray too far from the clean-and-simple look that the LIM ladies are after.

I'll update this post with the supplies used for my card tomorrow when I've a bit more time, but meanwhile I have to be on my way (done!). Back tomorrow with another project - until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Make A Wish Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Melon Mambo 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon
6 X 9 Watercolor Paper	Jet Black Stazon Pad	Stazon Cleaner	Aqua Painter	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad

A busy weekend of birthday celebrations in the James family this weekend: yesterday my brother-in-law celebrated his 40th birthday (I was back too late and had drunk too many cocktails to blog when I arrived home yesterday evening; I will share his cards later in the week!) and today was my 'baby' the not-so-little Benjamin's 6th birthday.

I had something of a quandary when trying to decide what kind of card to make Ben; I needed something special but this birthday featured so many of the things that he loves that choosing was difficult. One of the things that he really wanted for his birthday was a Lego City Coastguard Patrol boat - he loves all kinds of Lego, but his first and enduring love is for the fire brigade - the only reason this wasn't on the wishlist is because I think he must own every mortal piece of the Fire Department and then some! His big sister bought him a Lego City Fire Chief alarm clock for his birthday and this ultimately became the inspiration for my pop-up card. This is the card from the outside:

A Lego brick number 6 (lots of glue dots used to get the pins on the bricks just right!). Then on the inside, this cheery little fellow:

I used my Pop 'n' Cuts base and modified my dress form insert to accommodate my fire chief mini figure in front of his desk. I am very pleased with how he turned out and doubly so when Ben opened it this morning and deemed his card 'totally awesome - the best card you've ever made!' Praise indeed!!

Back tomorrow with another of Ben's birthday cards - from his big sister. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Make a Wish

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Basic Grey, Crumb Cake

Ink: Real Red

Tools: Pop 'n' Cuts Base, Pop 'n' Cuts Dress Form, Big Shot, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Small Oval Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch (circle), Corner Punch

Today I am having a brief interlude in sharing the festive makes from my weekend Christmas workshop, to share with you another party invitation and co-ordinating thank you card made with the 'Oh, Whale!' stamp set. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, my youngest celebrated his forthcoming 6th birthday with a swimming pool party held jointly with one of his classmates, whose 6th birthday was last week. Having used the 'Oh, Whale' set for Rebecca's party a couple of months ago (you can see her invites here), it seemed the obvious choice, although a different design was required. Here is what I came up with:

This time 2 whales were the order of the day and they were attached to the inside of the card, visible through an aperture cut with an oval framelit. Here's the view of the inside of the card; the 'Make a Wish' set is great for creating party invitations and makes it really easy:

Luckily for me, the classmate who was celebrating his birthday jointly with Ben was no other than the son of one of my downlines, Barbara, so between us we managed to get a great production line going and knocked out these invitations in super quick time. We also created our co-ordinating thank you postcards, which we pre-printed with a short thank you message (well, have you ever tried to get two six year old boys to write a bunch of thank you cards from scratch during the school summer holidays? We needed to give them a helping hand!). Here's the finished card:

This time I created a mask to enable me to stamp two whales without the need to cut out and layer and I printed the text using MDS.

That's my last set of 'Oh, Whale' party invitations for a while. Back tomorrow with another of the projects we made in our Christmas workshop. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Oh Whale, Make a Wish

Cardstock: Whisper White, Marina Mist

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Basic Grey

Tools: Cloudy Day Textured Embossing Folder, Ovals Framelits, Happy Whale Clearlits, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Finishing Touches: 1/4" Night of Navy Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Basics Rhinestones (coloured black with a Sharpie)

So something different today - birthday invitations! I was going to share a birthday card with you today but changed my mind (bloggers prerogative!) As already mentioned this week, it was Rebecca's 8th birthday last Saturday. She is having a swimming pool party next Sunday to celebrate with her friends and so water-themed invitations were the order of the day. She decided that 'Oh, Whale' was to be the stamp set of choice for the task, I saw this lovely Valentine card here and loved the layout, so decided to use this as the basis for my party invitation design. Here are the finished invitations:

I switched out the hearts, went for a darker blue whale and couldn't miss the opportunity to use my Cloudy Day Embossing Folder to add texture to the circle behind the whale. I really like the mix of circle styles on this card and the way the DSP, punched circle and paper piercing bring the whole design together. I then used the 'Make a Wish' set to make light work of the details on the inside of the card (no photo of this though - oops!)

Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Oh Whale, Make a Wish

Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Polka Dot Parade Designer Series Paper (Marina Mist)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Real Red

Tools: Circles #2 Originals Die, Cloudy Day Textured Embossing Folder, Small Heart Punch, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Today's the day - my beautiful princess turns eight years old. Where did the last year, or eight even, disappear? I can't believe how quick she's growing and changing into a (very!) young lady, but a young lady none the less. She may be another year older, but she is still my water baby and as always, there is a strong aquatic theme to our celebrations: a swimming pool birthday cake, pool party next week and in keeping with this, an 'Oh, Whale' birthday card with a difference:

I liked a similar card using this stamp set that Mary Fish had done using a Paper Pals sketch layout a while ago (you can see her card here) and knew that this layout would enable me to make the most of the patterned papers in the Sunshine and Sprinkles set, but I wanted a special sentiment for my card and this proved to be a challenge! There is a photo in the Spring-Summer Seasonal catalogue that shows a play on the word 'celebrate', where the '-ate' is replaced with a number 8 and I really liked this and wanted to incorporate something similar in my card. So armed with a couple of stamp sets, my Typeset Alphabet and my trusty stamp-a-ma-jig, I came up with 'Let's Whale-A-Br8'. Here's a close up of the detail on the flags:

Pretty cute, even if I say so myself! We really did have a great day; here's hoping the next 12 months don't fly by quite so quickly.

I'll be back tomorrow with my husband's Father's Day card, but will have some other birthday-related cards and invitations to share early next week. Until tomorrow, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Oh Whale, Make a Wish

Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Sunshine and Sprinkles Designer Series Paper

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Pacific Point

Tools: Oh Whale Clearlits, 1/16" Handheld Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Itty Bitty Punches (flower)

Finishing Touches: Basics Pearls