Birthday Basics and Bring on the Cake for the May Pals Blog Hop

Welcome to the May Pals Blog Hop. This is the first hop on our new day - the second Wednesday of the month. Before we celebrate the release of the new Stampin' Up! catalog next month, it's time to say goodbye to our favorite retiring prodcts. This months we are showcasing projects that feature stamps or accessories that are retiring along with the 2013-14 Idea Book and Catalog on June 4th.

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from  Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards on the Pals Blog Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog.

For me, the set I will miss most (I haven't decided if I'm going to sell it or not!) is Bring on the Cake. It has so much birthday fun in it, yet over the year I have not even used all of the stamps in the set. The one stamp I chose for today's card is probably the first one I used and also my favorite. Coloring those letters in is too much fun!

This time I chose to use Water Color Paper and stamped the image using Black Stazon. I used the ombre effect of coloring dark at the top and light at the bottom. I did this by using pooled ink and a Blender Pen. I love how the water color paper grabs the ink.  The colors I used were: Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Gumball Green (retiring) and Raspberry Ripple (retiring).

The Birthday Basics Designer Paper is also a favorite that I'll be sad to say goodbye to. I have gone through almost two packages of it, saving each and every snippet to use on my projects.  You notice that I made peek-a-boo hearts using the retiring Small Heart Punch. I am not overly sad to see this punch retire, as there is a new small heart, but it has been a favorite since I got it. And last, but not least, I will miss all the Stretch Ruffle Trim that overlaps my candle print.

The next stop is Debbie Pierce at Stampin' Sunshine on the Pals Blog Hop. Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you next month!

1. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
2. Patti MacLeith at Papercrafts by Patti
3. Debbie Pierce at Stampin' Sunshine
4. Jackie Diediker at Stampin' Jackie
5. Nancy Gleason at My Stampin Space
6. Sue Becker at RnR Stamping
7. Susan Itell at Simple Stampin
8. Michelle Quinno at Shell's Life
9. Beth Beard at My little craft blog
10. Amy Lazzell at Just A Thought...Cards by Amy
11. Debbie Mageed at Secret Stamper
12. Rae Harper at Wild West Paper Arts
13. Katie Ferguson at Cottage Paper
14. Colleen Mollema at Uncanny Crafting
15. Natalie Bradley at Natalie Bradley Events
16. Dawn Tidd at Tiddbits from Dawn
17. Kerry Willard Bray at Peonies and Paper Chains
18. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin' 
19. Marlene Heringer at So Many Toys So Little Time
20. Diane Roberts at Score at Four and a Quarter
21. Lynn Kolcun at Stamping With Avery's Owlery
22. Kelly DeTommaso at Kelly's Creative Corner
23. Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works by Shannon
24. Christie Crosby at Stampin' Creativity
25. Kalyn Shubnell at Stamping Chronicles
26. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
27. Michelle Gleeson at StampinMojo
28. Debra Simonis at Deb's Stampin' Grounds
29. Nicole Watt at Pixel Maven's Retreat
30. Mary Fish at Stampin' Pretty
31. Maxine Conrad at Stamp to the MAX!
32. Donna Kopenski at Crafty Cardmaker
33. Angie Blake at Angie's Musings

Long Beach LIVE Catalog Premiere with My Friend Shannon

Exciting news! This year Stampin' Up! is having a "live" catalog reveal! The live event takes place in Long Beach, California and I happen to live near there. Demonstrators who do not live nearby will be able to gather at designated movie theaters nationwide and watch what takes place in Long Beach on the big screen! 

The best part is that I'm carpooling with a fellow Pretty Pal, Shannon Jaramillo (we met in person last year at Convention) and we are meeting up with a bunch of other Pretty Pals at the Convention Center. Also, we each receive a copy of the soon-t0-be-released 2014-2015 Annual catalog tonight and I hear there will even be some giveaways of SU products! We are all very excited. It is a Red Carpet event, so we are going to dress up a bit and I will be showing photos on my blog tomorrow.

I thought today would be a great day to show a card that I CASEd from Shannon. She makes very lovely cards and I always admire her work. Here I used a different base color, ink color and Dahlia, and for the Birthday Basics parts of the card, I used different patterns than she did. I loved her layout and kept that the same. 

Thanks for looking and I hope you will leave your comments below. 

Whenever you need Stampin' Up! products, please use my Online Store to order.

Birthday Basics Card Supplies:

Card Stock: Very Vanilla

Designer Series Paper: Birthday Basics

Stamps: Delightful Dozen

Ink: Gumball Green

Big Shot: Banners Framelits

Embellishments: In Color Dahlias

Tools: Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Addition with Tiny Wave Cutting Blade

Quick Treasure Box

Mary Fish, leader of the Stampin' Pretty Pals challenged us to "dress up" any item recently. I had this box from a Mac Power Cord on top of my light box for months! I saved it because it was such a sturdy box with a slide-out "drawer."

Voila! Here is my dressed up box! It took one sheet of designer paper from the Birthday Basics pack, the bicycle stamp from Petal Praise (My Paper Pumpkin a few months back) and some scraps from my little desk tray.  I plan to store some trinkets in here.

Thank you for looking. I enjoy reading your comments, so won't you leave one for me?

For all of your Stampin' Up! supplies, I hope you will use my Online Store. 

Birthday Basics Box Supplies:

Card Stock: Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla, Gumball Green

Designer Series Paper: Birthday Basics

Big Shot: Finishing Touches Edgelits, Bitty Banners Framelits

Embellishments: Summer Starfruit Satin Ribbon, Antique Brads

PPA178- Early Crisp Summer Birthday!

Another week has gone by and it's time to challenge yourself with the Pals Paper Arts Color Challenge. I was thrown for a loop when I saw these colors, but I really like what I came up with! Not at all uneasy like when I first sat down. 

I loved coloring those letters on the stamp from Bring on the Cake! Using the brush end of our Stampin' Write markers makes it easy!

How will YOU answer the color challenge? A card? I scrapbook page? A gift favor? When you complete your project, just upload it with a direct link and you may be chosen as a PPA Pick of the Week and featured next week on the Pals Blog! 

Please leave your comments, I love to read them all. When you need Stampin' Up! products to complete your paper crafting, I hope you will use my Online Store to order.

PPA178 Early Crisp Summer Birthday Supplies:

Card Stock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Summer Starfruit

DSP: Birthday Basics

Stamps: Bring On The Cake

Ink: Early Espresso

Embellishments: Glimmer Basics Brads, Summer Starfruit 3/8" Satin Ribbon

2nd General Swap Card for Convention

Happy Saturday! This is my last post while I'm away. I hope you enjoy this card. I used only SCRAPS of the Birthday Basics paper that was leftover from the Pals Swap card! I made them work into another card. I added a sentiment from Chalk Talk, cut it out with the Chalk Talk Framelits and that is all I needed for a colorful celebratory card!

General Swap Supplies:

Card Stock: Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla, Raspberry Ripple

Designer Series Paper: Birthday Basics

Stamps: Chalk Talk

Ink: Raspberry Ripple

Big Shot: Chalk Talk Framelits

As always, please use my Online Store to order your own Stampin' Up! any time!