Personalised teen birthday - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

It's Thursday so that means it's time to whizz around the world to see what Stampin' Up's fabulous Artisan Design Team have been up to! Are you ready to be inspired?!

CELEBRATE A SPECIAL DATE
I've been thinking about teen birthdays just lately and have come up with something that can easily be adapted to suit teenagers of either gender with virtually any interest. Come and see:

A little bit of no-fuss personalisation! Personalising the date is a great way to make a teen feel special. I used the Day to Day stamp set for mine and I can highly recommend this useful stamp set for cards as well as scrapbook projects.

The rest of the greeting is from a great little set called Words of Truth. I stamped these on a lined paper from the Schoolhouse designer paper pack for a bit of extra interest.

Once you have your teen's special date stamped you can add an image which reflects their interests (I've added a bicycle here but the possibilities are endless!)

I punched my bike out of another of the great papers in the Schoolhouse pack using the extra large oval punch. To create a badge-style embellishment, I punched three more ovals out of Pool Party card stock and glued them in a stack with the bike on top.

Have you noticed the stars? These were cut out with one click of the Confetti Stars border punch and are such a quick way to embellish your projects!

I hope this idea comes in handy for those tricky teen cards. And now it's time to carry on with the blog hop!  Click on the button below to visit the rest of the team, starting with Allison Okamitsu :)

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS CARD NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!

Schoolhouse Designer Series Paper £10.00	Words Of Truth Wood-Mount Stamp Set £21.00	Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set £23.00	Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock £6.50
Pool Party A4 Card Stock £6.50	Tangelo Twist Classic Stampin' Pad £6.00	Extra-Large Oval Punch £16.00	Confetti Stars Punch £20.00

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.

Today's card was a prototype for my eldest son who celebrates his birthday on the last day of July - the same date as Harry Potter no less! Once he'd read that, he felt a special affinity with HP and once was so convincing about blurred vision that I whisked him off for an emergency eye test. When I saw him lurking wistfully around the Harry Potter glasses display in the waiting room, I became quite thoughtful and was remarkably calm when the optician told me anxiously that she had tested and tested again and could find nothing wrong with my son's 20/20 vision!

I'll be back tomorrow with more crafting fun. Do come and join me :)

Get your bargains in the Stampin' Up retirement sale!

Have you taken advantage of the fabulous Stampin' Up retirement sale yet? Well hurry - some items have already sold out but there are still many amazing bargains to be had!

SAY IT WITH SPEECH BUBBLES!
One of my favourite retiring stamp sets is Just Sayin', a bargain at 25% off. The coordinating Word Bubbles framelits have been slashed to half price too making this a very attractive little bundle. Come and see some of the cards I've made with this set:

With trendy word bubbles against a watercolour background, this card is perfect for a teen. And yes, no matter how grumpy they appear to be, they DO like to be told that you love them :)

This cheeky sentiment is a bit of fun for anyone's birthday but I designed this particular card for a male. The word bubble was combined with a stripe image from Gorgeous Grunge and some bright chevrons made with the Chevron Border punch. The tyre marks are from a previously retired set, Need For Speed, but a strip of washi would work just as well.

Are you getting an idea of how versatile this set is yet? Here's another speech bubble, this time sitting on a Hardwood background smeared with ink and overstamped with Gorgeous Grunge ink splats. You can make these word bubbles say whatever you like and I hope you realise that I've been very good to restrain myself!

• Just Sayin' is 25% off at £14.21 (cling mount) and £17.96 (wood mount.
• Word Bubbles framelits are 50% off at £10.48 for the pack.

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

Just Sayin' Clear Stamp Set £18.95 NOW £14.21	Word Bubbles Framelits Die £20.95 NOW £10.48	Gorgeous Grunge Wood Stamp Set £21.95
Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad £4.95	Hardwood Clear-Mount Stamp Set £12.95	Border Chevron Punch £19.95

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.

The heatwave we were having seems to have cooled down considerably and I found myself complaining that I felt quite chilly the other evening. "Go and sit in the corner then," suggested my youngest son obscurely. "Why on earth would I do that?" I asked. "Well it's 90 degrees in the corner!" he said and then added, kindly: "That's a maths joke!"

Thanks for joining me today. If you fancy a little more male card inspiration, do come back and visit me tomorrow when I'll be adding a quirky touch to a classic!

Hugs,

Sea Street - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

Today is a fabulous day for THREE reasons!
1. You can now start ordering from the brand new Stampin' Up autumn/winter 2014 catalogue - woohooo! And it's my favourite catty ever with some exciting new styles!
2. You've still got time to join Stampin' Up and get £150 worth of products for just £99 (it's the last day of the offer today though, so don't miss out!)
3. It's time for another fabulous Artisan Design Team blog hop - yay!

The team have got some fantastic inspiration for you this week so are you ready to hop?! My own project demonstrates that Sea Street isn't just for children's cards but can work well for anyone - including those tricky-to-make-for teens and males in our lives! Come and see:

If you've ever visited one of those wonderful Sealife Centres you'll know where the inspiration for this card came from! I sponged the scene using inks and a mask made from torn scrap paper, then stamped and heat embossed the creatures. Don't you think the octopus from the set makes excellent seaweed?!

The scene and the porthole were cut out with Stampin' Up's useful Circles framelits. I love how shiny the Silver Foil Sheet I used for the porthole is and you can see I've studded it with some of the Mini Brads for that nautical vibe! The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Banners, stamped twice, snipped and layered.

While I was making this card I suddenly had an idea which sent me hopping about the Craft Square Metre like a loon - this kind of scene would make a great shaker card! Naturally I had to try it out:

Stampin' Up's shaker frames and window sheets make shaker cards a doddle and a little gold Stampin' Glitter created the perfect sand. Give the card a shake and you have a magical underwater sand storm going on - maybe a shark turned up aaaaargh!

It was a whole lot harder getting a photo of this card than it was making I can tell you! Anyway, my teenage boys told me they love 'cards that work' and this one certainly went down well in our household!

I  know you'll be dying to see what the rest of the amazing Artisan Design Team have been up to! Allison Okamitsu is next up, so click the button below and prepare to be wowed:

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY CARDS NOW!
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my online shop) 

Sea Street Clear Stamp Set	Silver Foil Sheets	Silver Mini Brads	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
White Stampin' Emboss Powder	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
Gold Stampin' Glitter	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Shaker Frames	Medium Window Sheets

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products 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.

My eldest son was always a gentle, cuddly boy as a tot (and still is!) I remember when he started school and the children were welcomed with a teddy bears' picnic. They were told they could bring any little animal, not just a teddy, so my son decided to bring his bathtime shark along.

I suggested that some of the children might not feel quite comfortable eating their picnic with a shark, but he looked at me with his clear blue eyes and told me that 'Sharky would never hurt anyone'. Hmm, I suppose Sharky has his mouth open like that to show everyone how white his teeth are!

See you tomorrow,

Easy teen and male birthday cards using Stampin' Up's Little Letters dies

It's lovely to be home again (even if it did rain for most of the weekend!) but while we were away we had a major family celebration: my eldest son turned 16! I brought all his parcels along, cunnningly disguised as a boring old suitcase, and although he would never admit it, I think my son was slightly worried that we'd forgotten about his birthday! Come and see the card I made for him:

My son is planning to be a graphic designer so I went for a very clean look using Stampin' Up's new Little Letters thinlits dies. The word was cut out of the panel and layered over a piece of Basic Black card stock. TIP: To keep the dies really firmly in place as you line the letters up, I recommend using the magnetic platform for the Big Shot. This makes all your thin metal dies easy to use.

Before deciding on the black and white theme I'd planned to use blue and the backing card here was given an ombre effect using my Coastal Cabana blendabilities. This card design would work just as well for a girl, perhaps with a floral designer paper backing - what do you think?

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THESE CARDS
Click the product to find it quickly in my shop

Little Letters Thinlits Die [133730]	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688]	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549]
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment [131000]	Magnetic Platform [130658]	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine [113439]

Click any item to place an order any time, day or night,
but if you have any queries or prefer to speak to me, I'm always very happy to help.
You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

These Little Letter thinlits dies are very useful for male cards, especially teenage males where a single terse word seems appropriate! Although you won't be able to believe I could say such a thing about this gorgeous young man...

... who combines being strong and silent with a kind and cheerful nature and a great sense of humour. My lovely boy!

See you tomorrow.