Even though Fox & Friends stamp set is retiring at the end of the month, this is one stamp set that will stay in my personal collection as I’ll definitely be using it again and again.  If I’m doing a kids birthday card or a baby card then Fox & Friends always comes to the rescue for a fun card.

The little monkey was just stamped in different colours and in different angles.  The “happy birthday to you” is from another stamp set but it’s one that I like to pull out for kids cards because it’s just fun looking.  I just stamped that then punched it out with the oval punch and pierced some holes around the perimeter to add a bit of interest and texture.  The glimmer brads were added for some sparkle.  You might also want to try putting a glimmer brad on the tummy of each monkey for another fun look.

If you have any questions about the card or products I’ve used, or if you wish to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please feel free to email me.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Fox and Friends (retiring 31st August 2012)
Up, Up & Away (birthday greeting).

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White cardstock
Tempting Turquoise cardstock
Real Red cardstock

Inkpads/Markers/Paint:
Tempting Turquoise inkpad
Real Red inkpad
Tangerine Tango inkpad
Rich Razzleberry inkpad

Tools:
Wide Oval Punch
Paper piercing tool & mat

Accessories:
Brights Glimmer Brads (turquoise)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals (foam dots)

Update of retired products that have now sold out:
Peach Parfait ink refill
Dotto refill
Concord Crush ink refill
More Mustard Marker
3/16″ Gold Brads
Pear Pizzazz ink refill
Poppy Parade ink refill
Stampin’ Scrub Replacement Pads

The beauty of having a daughter who also loves papercrafts is that when I receive my new Stampin’ Up! catalogues I have someone right there with me to get excited and pour over all the new beautiful products.  When the Idea Book & Catalogue came out last September one of the stamp sets that my daughter chose as her favourite was the Up, Up & Away stamp set that features hot air balloons and she couldn’t wait for me to order it so she could get her hands on it.  So the other day when I was making her birthday card I knew exactly which set I’d use as a change from the usual flowers and butterflies.

Easy technique tip: You’re probably wondering already if I’ve used a punch to punch out those balloons – nope!  I cut them out super quickly with some small sharp scissors.  The trick to making your cutting look as neat as possible is to leave a thin border around your image.  So when when you adhere your image to the cardstock the edges fade into the background and your eye isn’t drawn to any dodgy cutting.  Also, if you’re new to all this – try keeping your scissors in the one place and move your cardstock around while you cut, this gives you a much smoother border

Happy 14th Birthday Jade!!!

Style tip:  I think this card would also work well for a masculine birthday card.  Simply change the ribbon to one that’s not ruffled and use some different brads or embellishments.  I’d probably also change the punched out shape behind the sentiment, maybe just stamp the sentiment straight onto an oval. I think you could even use the same papers/colours as the patterns are quite generic.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Up, Up & Away

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White
Pool Party
Everyday Enchantment Patterned Paper (free! out of the Sale-a-bration brochure)

Inkpads/Markers:
Lucky Limeade inkpad
Pool Party inkpad & matching marker (the fine point of the marker was used to make the dots around the sentiment)
Calypso Coral inkpad
Chocolate Chip inkpad

Tools:
1 1/4″ Square Punch
Decorative Label Punch

Accessories:
Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon
Everyday Enchantment Brads (free! out of the Sale-a-bration brochure)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals

It’s my daughter’s 13th birthday coming up very soon and while her friends are expecting an invite via Facebook or email, there’s no way we weren’t going to take the opportunity to make up a cute card as the invitation.  So here’s the finished product, designed by my daughter Jade with my help.

Jade’s birthday party is going to be a theme of pink and green so she chose Melon Mambo and Pear Pizzaz as her colours for the card.  She likes a nice clean looking and modern card so we decided to stick to a simple design of a cupcake within brackets.  The white background was done on the Big Shot using Stampin’ Up!’s Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.  The cupcake is a die called Big Bold Birthday which comes in separate pieces so you can cut out the different elements in different papers.  My favourite part of the card is the cherry on top!  This was made using the Itty Bitty Buttons – I just punched out the scallop shape that matches the Itty Bitty Button and glued it to the bottom of the button then topped the button with a rhinestone.

So there’s the card.  After the birthday I’ll come back with photos of other elements of the party to show the pink & green theme in action.

All products are by Stampin’ Up!

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White
Melon Mambo
Pear Pizzazz
Designer Series Pattern Paper Stack – InColour (green dotty paper)
Raspberry Tart (retired paper for the top of the cupcake)

Tools:
Big Shot
Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
Big Bold Birthday die
Hearts & Brackets die

Accessories:
Itty Bitty Buttons
Itty Bitty Shapes punch pack
Basic Jewels (self-adhesive rhinestone)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals

If you have any questions about this card or would like to purchase Stampin’ Up! products please feel free to email me.

When I started cardmaking, children’s cards were pretty much the only cards I made – well kids and baby cards.  For some reason though I still struggle a bit with them, I guess the tricky part for me trying to make the layout ‘fun’.

This is a 10th birthday card I made for a friend of the family.  I was thankful for the elements that I had to make this card easier for me, having the adhesive die-cuts (the strips of card and dotty circle are sticky die cuts) made the ‘fun kids card’ theme easier for me.  In fact I bet if I went back and checked all my other kids cards I’d find that most of them use some adhesive die-cuts somewhere.

To make this card I started with the background, stamping the ‘nuts and bolts’ image repeatedly over the Pear Pizzazz cardstock using the matching inkpad.  The strips of card as I mentioned are adhesive die-cuts from the Celebration Quick Accents by Stampin’ Up!  The ’10′ was cut out with the Big Shot in Pacific Point cardstock and I then added a layer of Crystal Effects over the top to give it dimension.  The main image on the card is from the ‘Lots of Bots’ stamp set that I coloured in using a blender pend and inkpads.  It looked a bit bland stamped there on it’s own and I didn’t want to add another layer of card underneath so I just made some dots around the perimeter of the circle using the fine end of a marker – the dots then fit in with the rivets on the robot and the overall dots and circles theme.

So let me know… do you find a particular theme of card tricky to make? For most people it’s vintage or masculine – for me it’s kids cards.

Here’s a list of the products I’ve used to make this card.  All products are by Stampin’ Up! and are available for purchase through me.

Rubber Stamps:
Lots of Bots

Inkpads and Markers:
StazOn Jet Black
Pacific Point inkpad
Pacific Point Marker
Pear Pizzazz inkpad
Real Red

Cardstock & Paper:
Pacific Point
Pear Pizzazz
Whisper White

Accessories:
Celebrations, Quick Accents

Tools:
Big Shot
Circles Dies (the circle that the robot is stamped onto)
Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Dies (for the number ’10′)

Adhesives:
Crystal Effects (used for dimension instead of glue)
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals

So what do you do when you have a card to make for a 10 year old girl and you don’t know much about her?  I decided to go with glitter, flowers, a butterfly, ribbon and a rhinestone.  I’m hoping somewhere there I’ve hit on something she likes!  Actually a little trick I use when I don’t know the likes & dislikes of of someone I’m making a birthday card for is to either use their name or age as the main image on the card.  Maybe this idea will help you out too.

I like to keep a stash of chipboard and Sticky Cuts for these sorts of cards.  With this birthday card I used Stampin’ Up!’s Sticky Cuts – so easy, I just peeled the numbers 1 and 0 off the sheet and placed them onto some white cardstock then peeled off the protective covering and dumped the glitter on to it.  You need to make sure you press down the glitter firmly with your fingers and then pour off the excess glitter – the Sticky Cuts are super strong so the glitter stays put.  Because I’ve used Chunky Glitter here I also dumped some ultra fine glitter (Dazzling Diamonds) over the top to fill in any gaps.  I could have left it as it was because the gaps really aren’t noticeable but I think it gives an nice extra sparkle to the card.  The butterfly on the card was done by using Stampin’ Up!’s Butterfly Punch, I just punched out two butterflies – one in Melon Mambo and the other in Pink Pirouette textured cardstock then attached them to each other with the Rhinestone brad.

Time to pack this card up now and get ready for the party

All products used in this card are by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through Angela Sargeant

Rubber Stamps:
Daisy Dash Stampin’ Around Wheel

Inkpads/Markers:
Certainly Celery inkpad

Cardstock & Paper:
Melon Mambo cardstock
Certainly Celery cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Pink Pirouette textured cardstock

Accessories:
Letters Sticky Cuts
Melon Mambo Polka Dot Ribbon
Chunky Green Glitter
Clear Rhinestone Brad

Tools:
Butterfly Punch

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals

Woohoo! I found a new fun card that I enjoy making that I think would be great for a few different occasions.  I think it’s good to have a ‘standby card style’ that you can whip up easily for different occasions. I made these cards for some of the ladies on my Stampin’ Up! team but I’m already thinking they’d be cute cards for my daughter’s friends – especially since the Sticky Cut Letters I used on the front can be substituted for Sticky Cut shapes like hearts or flowers.

And have you noticed? No rubber stamping.  I didn’t even realise that until I had made a couple of the cards but I decided they were fine the way they were.

If you’ve never used Stampin’ Up!’s Sticky Cuts I’ll just quickly explain what they are and how to use them.  They’re seriously simple – you just pop out your Sticky Cuts shape (in this case I used the Sticky Cuts Letters), peel off the protective backing and place the shape onto your paper or cardstock or whatever else you want (it’s super super sticky just like Stampin’ Up!’s Sticky Strip).  You then rub the top of the shape with your finger – Sticky Cuts just like Sticky Strip is ‘heat activated’ which means when you rub it, it adheres beautifully and allows you to pull the top protective covering off very easily.  Once you’ve peeled off the top then you just dump your glitter over the top.  I just dump the whole lot then pour the excess glitter back into it’s container.  So quick but really cool looking

Want to see what else is in the new Stampin’ Up! Summer Mini Catalogue?  Simply email me at angelasargeant@gmail.com to receive your own copy or if you simply can’t wait then you can view the Summer Mini Catalogue on-line here. (Link will download the pdf file to your computer)

All Products used to make the cards in the top photo are by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through me at angelasargeant@gmail.com

Cardstock & Paper:
Green Galore
Tempting Turquoise
Pixie Pink or Pink Passion Textured cardstock (either)
Kaleidascope Patterned Designer Series Paper (from the Stampin’ Up! Australia Summer Mini Catalogue)

Accessories:
Sticky Cut Letters
Fine Supernova Glitter (Aqua)
Clips Assortment
Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon
Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads

Tools:
1/16″ Circle Punch (to make a hole in the ribbon)
Scallop Edge Punch

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals

Yikes! I find it so difficult to make birthday cards for young boys.  Once they get out of that bug-pirate-trucks stage it’s difficult to find a theme for a boy’s birthday card.  Anyone else here have issue’s with boy’s birthday cards? Thankfully the young boy I made this birthday card for is into Karate so I was able to whip out my “All In The Family” stamp set and the matching accessories to make a card that I hope he’ll like.

This card was simple enough to make, I just chose a head image that suited the birthday boy then used the Stamp-a-ma-jig (stamp positioner) to position it in the right place over the Karate suit and then also added the arms.  I like the way the arms come separately that way I can make the figures do whatever I want them to do.  The balloon image was stamped onto the patterned paper then cut out and adhered onto the card.  The colouring was done very simply to suit the drawing, I used a blender pen and the ink from my inkpad to colour the clothes in.  A little bit of Sahara Sand marker was used on the white Karate suit so that it didn’t look totally flat.  The ’9′ on the card is just a piece of chipboard that I sponged with ink so that it matches the card.  Okay, well I’ve just been told that there’s another birthday coming up, a girl’s birthday this time so I’m off to make another kids birthday card!

p.s. the bottom of the card doesn’t look very flat but it is in real life, I just photographed it at a very bad angle. :blush:

Rubber Stamps:
All In The Family (boy’s head and arms)
Family Accessories Too (Karate Suit)
Family Favourites (balloon stamp)
On Your Birthday (birthday greeting)

Inkpads & Markers:
Pacific Point
Kiwi Kiss
Sahara Sand marker

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White
Kiwi Kiss
Pacific Point
Good Morning Sunshine (patterned paper)

Accessories:
Kiwi Kiss Striped Ribbon
On Board Lots of Letters (chipboard ’9′)

Tools:
1 1/4″ Circle Punch
1 3/8″ Circle Punch
Large Oval Punch
Word Window Punch
Photo Corners Punch
Paper Piercer and template (to add holes above and below the ‘Happy Birthday’ greeting)
Blender Pen

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive (for cardstock)
Stampin’ Dimensionals (to pop up the greeting and circle with the age)

So what’s a nice girl like me doing with a skull and crossbones stamp?  Well with a tween daughter (yikes! that word scares the hell out of me), I was sure this stamp would get some good use.  Sure enough this week I was asked by my daughter to make a card using Stampin’ Up!’s ‘Just Jawing’ stamp set.   When making cards for this age group I figure it’s not my taste that counts, it’s whether the recipient will like it and judging by all the skull and crossbone stuff out there in teen shops I’m sure my daughter’s friend will like this card.

This theme was so out of my comfort zone that I actually stamped out some images and did a practice run of the card before stamping it properly.  So I stamped the skull and did a variety of things with it before I settled on what I’ve put on the finished card.  In having practiced with it I can see the potential to do quite a bit with it.  The background though came to me right away… I just stamped the star image repeatedly around the black cardstock using Versamark ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder to give an interesting yet uncluttered background.  Not sure if you can see it well in the photo but the whole background shines with black stars.  To colour the chipboard star I just dabbed a sponge dauber into a Pink inkpad and then dabbed the colour onto the chipboard, it’s very quick to do and the chipboard ends up looking a little bit like suede which is a nice bonus.

Although I made this as a birthday card, my daughter assured me that “You Rock” would be great instead of “Happy Birthday” (but I’m sneaking a Happy Birthday stamp on the inside of the card!)

Anyway, hope I haven’t scared all of you off with this card, LOL, but I’m hope that some of you out there that have cards to make for tweens/teens will be inspired.  If you have teens and are interested in this stamp set then I’m happy to answer any questions for you or to help you get your own Just Jawing stamp set – just email me at angelasargeant@gmail.com.  By the way, you can make it into boy cards too by cutting circles instead of heart eyes or even adding googly eyes – now there’s a challenge for me next time!

Rubber Stamps:
Just Jawing Stamp set

Inkpads:
Versamark
StazOn Jet Black (although you don’t need StazOn, it’s the black inkpad of my choice)
Pink Passion

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White
Basic Black
Pink Passion

Accessories:
Chipboard Star
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Small Rhinestone (I used a rhinestone brad and just removed the rhinestone)
Clear Embossing Powder

Tools:
Sponge Dauber
Scallop Border Punch
Heat Gun
Anti-static pad (to prime the black cardstock before embossing)

Adhesives:
2-Way Glue Pen (to apply glitter)
Sticky Strip (to stick down the chipboard star)
Stampin’ Dimensionals (just under three of the bones so they sit nicely)
Crystal Effects (to glue down the rhinestone)
SNAIL (to layer cardstock)Can you tell I like to use lot of different adhesives?

My sweet little guys turn 9 today   I can’t believe it’s been nine years already since that panic filled morning when I realised I was giving birth to twins any minute and my obstetrician was away in Canberra playing golf with his friends.  Sure the midwife was there but she looked as panic-stricken as I did.  But here we all are now nine years later!  So I showed you Thomas’ card the other day, now here’s the card I made for Nicholas:

Nick is my little soccer dude so I made him in his soccer gear and gave him a party balloon.  The cute idea about the grass was stolen borrowed from one of my team members, Michelle Dyson who so sweetly made a card for Nicholas recently.

Here’s a list of products I’ve used to make this card: (all products by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through me at angelasargeant@gmail.com)

All In The Family stamp set
Family Favourites stamp set (the soccer ball and balloon)
Pacific Point Cardstock and inkpad (inkpad to ink up the chipboard ’9′)
Kiwi Kiss cardstock
Summer Sun cardstock
Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series paper (the dotty one, the green background and the balloon)
Watercolour Pencils
Blender Pen (to blend the pencil colouring)
On Board Lots of Letters (Chipboard 9)
1″ Circle Punch (behind the 9)
Designer Label Punch
Styled Silver Hodgepodge (fits perfectly over the Designer Label Punch)
Black Marker (to draw the string for the balloon)
Stamp-a-ma-jig (to get the stamping ‘just right’)

And now I’m off to think about Easter cards.  I wasn’t going to make any but the kids were asking me this morning if I’ve made them Easter cards as yet!?!  And here I was thinking they just wanted chocolate eggs!

It’s my twin sons’ birthday on Thursday so today I’m busy making birthday cards for them.  This is a card I made for Thomas, he has a great sense of humour and never fails to make me laugh, so I wanted to make a funny card for him.

When I looked at the stamp of the owl with his wings spread and then the balloon stamp, my first thoughts were of him being carried away by balloons so that’s how I came up with this idea.  I thought it would be nice though to give him a little friend so the winking owl was also stamped.  Now, not sure if the owl with the balloons is taking off because his friend tied balloons to his wings or if he’s landing on the branch to give his friend one of his balloons but I thought the whole scene was cute and I’ll let Thomas make up his own story to go with this card.

Here’s a list of products I’ve used to make the card: (all products by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase from me at angelasargeant@gmail.com)

Owl Together Now stamp set
Whisper White cardstock
Kiwi Kiss Cardstock
Pacific Point Cardstock
Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series paper
StazOn Jet Black inkpad
Kiwi Kiss inkpad
Summer Sun inkpad
Pacific Point inkpad
Close to Cocoa inkpad
Blender Pen (for colouring with the inkpads)
Stamp-a-ma-jig (important for stamping in the exact position you want your image to be)
Designer Label Punch
1″ Circle Punch
Word Window Punch
Stampin’ Dimensionals
SNAIL Adhesive

Off now to make Nicholas’ card!  Please feel free to comment while I’m away stamping