Birthday cards abound

My grandma's birthday is a few days before Christmas, and as part of her birthday present, I gave her a box filled with birthday cards she can use throughout the year. That means I have a whole mess of birthday cards to share with you. Hooray! I'll be posting them in groups over the next couple of weeks, and here are the first three:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Celebrate Today
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White card stock
Ink: Pacific Point, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Balloons Framelits dies, Dimensionals

This is a new stamp set and the coordinating dies from Stampin' Up!'s 2015 Occasions catalog. The set includes a few different accents you can stamp over the solid balloon image, including the banner image in the background. This is a pretty straightforward card -- just stamping and die cutting -- and I just realized that I didn't use any embellishments. With the bold, bright colors, I think it looks OK without anything extra, but what do you think?

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Happy Birthday Background (Inkadinkadoo), Birthday Best
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Gold sequin trim, Glue Dots

To make the focal panel on this card I started by stamping the Happy Birthday Background on Whisper White card stock. I stamped the image again on a sticky note and cut it out, following the general shape of the image. I placed the trimmed sticky note over the image on card stock and then stamped the balloons. I used markers to color the balloons in a "scribbly" style -- one of my favorite ways to color since it doesn't have to be perfect -- added a few rhinestones and matted the piece with Basic Black card stock. Then I adhered the panel to a Daffodil Delight card base.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Essential Messages (Hero Arts)
Paper: Pistachio Pudding, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Very Vanilla card stock; gold glimmer paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Large oval punch, scalloped oval punch, Cupcake Builder punch, Simply Scored tool, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, paper-piercing tool, sponge Mono Multi liquid glue

To make this punch-art cake, I started by punching an oval from Chocolate Chip card stock for the top. Then I cut a small piece of Chocolate Chip card stock the same width as the oval for the base. To make the curve of the base the same as the top, I traced the curve of the punched oval along the bottom of the base piece and then cut along the curve. I added scored lines and lightly sponged some Chocolate Chip ink on the base for depth. To make frosting I punched a scalloped oval from Very Vanilla card stock and adhered it behind the Chocolate Chip oval. I glued the pieces together and added candles made with the Cupcake Builder punch. (The candle flames are glued directly on the card base.)

Just about any color would work for the card base. I wanted a fairly neutral color, so I used Pistachio Pudding. Unfortunately, when I was taking pictures, the flash kept washing out the color, so it looks dull and gray in this photo. I promise it's prettier in person.

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for more birthday cards!