I recently held my first Creative Cards class of the year with my local stampers. And, since it was right after the Stampin’ Up Occasions catalog launched, I HAD to play with all the new stuff I had gotten from that catalog! I am so glad I had this class on the books because I hadn’t taken much time to get my new stamps inky before then.

Let me give you a little back story – see, my family is FULL of December babies.  My birthday is in mid-December, both of my kiddos are in December (one at the beginning of the month, one at the end of the month) plus there is my Sister in Law’s birthday and Christmas, not to mention my Mother-in-Law and niece who both have birthdays around Thanksgiving.  So, you see… the end of the year is a busy time for me around here! 🙂   Add to that the fact that it looked like a tornado had thoroughly gone through most of the rooms in our house; well, lets just say that I spent most of the month cleaning up in preparation for parties or holiday get togethers, prepping for those events, and then cleaning up afterwards!

So, now things are getting back into a routine and I’m excited to start stamping more and sharing more here on my blog and over on my Facebook page. 🙂  Like this fun card using the Amazing You stamp set and Celebrate You thinlits from the Sale-a-Bration catalog!  I love that these can be Congrats or Birthday… which do you think this card would be good for?

Mix & Match for a fun Celebration card

This card started out as the idea of having the half sunburst behind the sentiment on a plain white cardbase.  But I got excited and stamped my images and then realized the idea that was in my head just was not working out in real life!  So, I started grabbing bits and pieces from around my craft table to add a little bit of color, a little bit of pop, and some extra sequins for balance; and I ended up loving how it turned out!

So don’t be afraid to grab unrelated embellishments and papers and experiment with popping them onto your project!

Need some pieces to play with?  Check out my 2018 Occasions Catalog product samplers to get a little bit of all the new papers, ribbons, and embellishments – so you can try them out and see which ones you like!

Tips for making this card:

• Neutral pattern papers are great! Take advantage of the Petal Passion designer paper being all black and white designs. Use them add some weight to your card without having to worry about conflicting colors.  I added this 3/4″ x 5 1/2″ strip to the left side of my card to anchor all my different elements.
• Coordinate the stamps and dies – Coordinate the sentiments from the Amazing You stamp set with the die cut sentiments from Celebrate You thinlits.  They are both free with a purchase during the Sale-a-Bration promotion (Jan-Mar 2018).  The stamp set is free with a $50 purchase, the dies are free with a $100 purchase.  *Or get them BOTH* with a $150 order, PLUS you’ll become the host of your own party and get an extra $15+ in free goodies to add on to your order.  And who doesn’t love free?
  
• Pick your Pop of Color – If you stick to one or two light or neutral colors (in this card, I used Basic Black, Basic Grey, and Daffodil Delight), then add in one bright color to add a pop to brighten things up!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Berry Burst metallic edge ribbon, and so used that behind my sentiment for that extra pop!
• Customize your stamps!  I wanted to add the flower from the Amazing You stamp set but it turned out it was just too big for how the card was turning out.  So just cut off the leaves!  I colored in the flower using my Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends, trimmed out, and ready to pop on the card.

• Sequins made easy! Finally I needed just one more touch – and it was the Tutti Frutti adhesive back sequins!  You get 5 pretty colors (Berry Burst, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie).  And they already have glue on the back so they are a snap to add on to your projects and they don’t fall off later! 🙂

Wanna make this at home? Here is what you need: