Well today might be Father's Day, but in the James household there has been an apparently altogether more important celebration - the oldest of my James Juniors, Rebecca, turned 9 today. Her birthday always falls near to Father's Day, but as they actually clashed today she informed Daddy that every day is Father's Day and you'll only be 9 once - so one definitely trumps the other! My lack of blog post yesterday was due to my sheer exhaustion having held a day of party celebrations at home for Rebecca with a little group of friends - I'll tell you more about this another time as this is a Project Life page in the making! - so today I thought I would share the card I made for her.

I finally had a go at one of the 'card in a box' cards that are currently all the rage in the papercrafting world and decided that mine would feature my favourite DSP for birthday cards, Birthday Basics, and one of Rebecca's favoutie foodstuffs - cake! Well, cupcakes to be precise; here is my card, which is A5 size when folded flat:

I took the opportunity to use my 'Create a Cupcake' stamp set; it's on the retiring list, but the co-ordinating punch is staying and there is more cupcake loveliness just around the corner :-) Now I know this card does look rather on the crowded side with cakes popping out all over the place and nicely wobbly on their acetate supports, but when a card is for a 9 year old, excess is the name of the game - along with a little glimmer. A nice sparkly number 9 and a few sparkly stars complete the card. And Rebecca's verdict: "Perfect!"

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock	Create A Cupcake - Clear-Mount Stamp	Cupcake Punch	Label Love	Artisan Label Punch
Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper	Raspberry Ripple A4 Card Stock	Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad	Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Summer Starfruit Classic Stampin' Pad
Gumball Green Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
Silver Glimmer Paper	Typeset Alphabet Bigz Die	Medium Window Sheets

Did you know that 16-23rd September is National Cupcake Week here in the UK? Not that I need an excuse for a good cupcake, but this is surely reason enough! With this in mind, I have a cupcake card for you today, but alas of the paper rather than edible kind! Here's my card:

Starburst cards are very popular at the moment, so I thought I would take the opportunity to use up some of my retired Patio Party DSP which has a number of cake-themed papers to echo the punched cake that features in the foreground. This card would work equally well with any of the current papers though, if you wanted to create something similar. As you can see, the sentiment uses a combination of one of the ones in the Create a Cupcake stamp set and another personalisation from my retired 'For My Family' set. This was the card I made from the children for Granny's birthday last week, although I must confess the cakes on the card look somewhat more tasteful than the chocolate-covered rainbow sugar creations the children made the last time they baked with Granny - they definitely wouldn't taste as good though!

Back tomorrow with the first of my projects using some of my new Christmas goodies; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

This week is turning out to be busy, busy, busy! Yesterday the list of retiring stamp sets and accessories were announced: these featured in yesterday's post and the lists can be found in the box on the right hand side of my page. I will be sad to see some of these sets go; I'll be sharing cards featuring some of these retiring sets in my posts this month and first up I want to share a card made with the Aviary stamp set:

So, bird cages but no birds?! Bird cages are very 'on trend' in home décor right now, and after seeing an amazing display at a recent wedding fair with a table centre made with a bird cage filled with flowers, I was keen to try and achieve the same effect on a card. This design is actually not where I started out at all, but after several iterations this is the design I settled on and am post happy with. Three simple bird cages, then using the flower stamp from the Create a Cupcake stamp set I used my marker pens to colour and stamp flowers randomly through the cages. I left this card sentiment-free, as I sometimes do until I'm ready to send.

A post about the Aviary stamp set really wouldn't be complete without a card that shows some birds too - here's a wedding invitation I designed a while ago, that would also make a lovely Valentine's or anniversary card:

Remember the sets on the retiring list are only available until 1st July or whilst stocks last, so if you don't own the Aviary stamp set and it's on your wish list, contact me to place your order before it's too late.

Back soon with more exciting news from the world of Stampin' Up! Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Aviary (card 1&2), Create a Cupcake (card 1)

Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White (card 1); Pool party, Island Indigo, Whisper White (card 2)

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi (card 1); Basic Grey, Pool Party, Night of Navy, Rose Red (card 2)

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig

Another birthday card today - this time a quartet of bright and colourful cupcakes:

I made this card a while ago and the layout is a case of a Mary Fish card - I love her clean and simple style - and the Create a Cupcake stamp set and co-ordinating punch make this kind of card really easy. Its also great fun to see how many different cupcake combinations you can make using this set. The punch also makes birthday candles a doddle to create - handy as I have lots of friends (and family!) celebrating 'significant' birthdays this year where large numbers of candles are required. A co-ordinated envelope too makes this card a sweet treat!

Back tomorrow with another project - I've been very busy in my craft room today and have lots of great projects to share this coming week!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Create a Cupcake

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise

Tools: Cupcake Builder Punch