Hey Valentine, it's a male birthday! - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

Hello and welcome to another Thursday hop round the world to see what the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team has been up to!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VALENTINE?
Are you getting excited about Valentine's Day yet? Of course you are! A day dedicated to letting your loved ones know how much you care is the best idea ever! There are some gorgeous new Valentine stamp sets in the new Stampin' Up spring/summer catalogue - including Hey Valentine, which is perfect for children's birthday cards too. Come and see:

I got my blendabilities markers out for these cards - and if you haven't yet discovered the therapeutic effect of colouring with these, you are seriously missing out! You can even earn packs of these as a free item with Sale-a-bration, just by spending £45!

Mr Fox is doing a great job of wishing someone a happy first birthday! I coloured him with Stampin' Write markers before stamping so that I could omit the hearts from the number one. TIP: Stampin' Write markers are water-based, so it's fine to use them on your stamps, but don't try it with the alcohol-based blendabilities markers because they'll dry too quickly to stamp and will just stain the rubber. Once I'd stamped the image, I coloured it with blendabilities to create beautifully blended shadows, then added pattern to the number with Stampin' Write markers over the top - see how the markers work wonderfully together!

There's something a little fishy going on with my next card...! (*slaps thighs and wipes eyes* Dear me, the old ones are the best aren't they?! ) The heart has mysteriously disappeared and a birthday present has turned up in its place! I covered the heart with a tiny gift snipped out of card stock (TIP: A square punch is best for this job!) The gift was coloured with Stampin' Write markers and given a 'ribbon' with a few strands of the two tone trim - SO pleased this carried over into the new catalogue!

Any aspiring pirate would be delighted with a birthday card made with this swashbuckling buccaneer! Ooh arr me hearties, extra rations of grog on the poop deck! I snipped his treasure chest away and gave him a present to hand over to the birthday boy instead (but WILL he hand it over?!!!) The greeting I used for all three cards is from the brilliant sentiment set Hey You - LOVE this set!

I had great fun making this trio of cards and I hope you like them too. You'll find plenty more bright ideas on the Artisan blog hop so click the button below to whizz over to Allison Okamitsu and check out her latest offering!

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY CARDS NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Hey, Valentine Clear Stamp Set £15.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment £10.95	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment £10.95
Brights Stampin' Write Markers £23.95	Hey You Wood-Mount Stamp Set £12.95	Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock £6.25

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

We always have great fun celebrating birthdays in our family. Now that everyone is older, we tend to come together for a special meal and maybe a games evening, but when they were little I'd organise fun parties for them.

This photo is of me preparing a jungle party for my youngest son's 4th birthday We got hold of some netting from somewhere and filled it with balloons before attaching the netting to the ceiling. To make vines, I cut streamers from crepe paper and threaded them through the netting, adding paper flowers and leaves. There were pop up tents, toy jungle animals, animal-themed music and games, all of which were a big hit. At the end of the party, we let the netting down and encouraged the children to let off steam with the balloons before delivering them back to their parents to calm down...!

See you tomorrow,