Mail Friendly Monday - Easel card with Punch Bunch

Good morning - and happy Valentine's day! Now, I know that you'll have already created all your Valentine's projects, so this morning I'm looking at birthday cards. Most of you will know that the Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration promotion is currently on, with free stamp sets available for every £45 you spend. I've really enjoyed show-casing the free stamp sets and this week it's the turn of Punch Bunch.

Just look at these beauties - all of which can be cut out with a coordinating punch (the owl punch will be available in April with the launch of the summer mini catalogue). When I first saw this set, the poppies on the scalloped circle really leapt out at me and I couldn't wait to use them. Here's a card I made with them:

When you want a card for easy posting with a standard letter postage stamp, an easel card is a great choice. It lays flat when you mail it but pops up into an attention-grabber when opened! And it's quick and easy to make too - and you know how I love quick and easy!

The poppy image in Punch Bunch looks beautiful on its scalloped circle but is easy to give a completely different look by using the flowers on their own. Here I used them to stamp a field of poppies. One flower has been stamped separately, cut out and popped it up on a dimensional - it acts as a kind of doorstop to keep the card open.

Here's how to make this card:

• Cut a 9cm x 18cm piece of Rose Red card stock. Score and fold it at 9cm and 13.5cm so that it looks like this:

• Cut a 7cm square piece of Whisper White card stock. Stamp the bottom with a design of poppies - use markers to colour the flower heads on the stamp in various shades of pink and the stems in Certainly Celery. Use a sponge dauber to sponge Certainly Celery ink between the flowers. Roughly sponge Bashful Blue ink on the top half of the panel.
• Use a stamp-a-majig to add a sentiment.
• Use a black marker to define the flower centres.
• Mount the poppy panel onto a 7.5cm square of Certainly Celery card stock.
• Turn the card stock round as shown in the picture below. 

• Fix a piece of Pretty In Pink taffeta ribbon around the card with Snail and attach the bottom of the poppy panel over it. 

• Add a piece of Whisper White card stock to the card base - you can write a greeting on this. Stamp a poppy onto a scrap piece of Whisper White card stock and cut it out with sharp paper snips. Fix it onto the card base with a dimensional - it will keep the card open.

Supplies

Stamps: Punch Bunch, So Happy For You (Both FREE Sale-a-bration stamps - click here for details)
Ink: Always Artichoke (sentiment), Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery
Card stock: Whisper White, Rose Red, Certainly Celery
Other: Markers, Pretty In Pink taffeta ribbon

These poppies remind me of a game I played when I was a little girl. I used to pick flowers to use as fairies; turned upside down, the petals of the flowers became the skirts of the fairies' ball gowns. (These Shirley poppies in today's card would have been perfect, looking like wisps of chiffon in shades of pink!) I used to put the 'fairies' on leaf boats that would sail down the stream outside our gate and I imagined they were on their way to the fairy queen's ball. When my own children were small, I shared this game with them. My daughter loved it and my sons were keen to play it too - although in their game the fairies tended to white-water raft to the fairy queen's ball and frankly not many of them made it!

Hope you're enjoying the Sale-a-bration inspiration. There are only two weeks of this promotion left, so if you haven't got your free stamps yet, please get in touch as soon as possible! Also remember, if you are wanting to sign up with Stampin' Up, you get to choose an extra stamp set while the promotion is on! I have forms ready for you to read through and am here to answer any questions you may have. To contact me please email me or phone me on 01280 820593.

Thanks for dropping in today. Hope to see you again tomorrow for more Punch Bunch fun!