Hello, welcome to the Stampin’ Pretty Pals’ Blog Hop! This month our Design Team created “Birthday Bonanza” projects to inspire you to make for all of your family and friends. We hope you enjoy and are inspired by them! Don’t forget to leave comments because we all love hearing from you! At the end of my post, you will find the full line-up to help you “hop” along from Pal to Pal.

I designed 3 cards for the Pals Blog Hop Birthday Bonanza to showcase some of my favorite products: Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper, Hey Chick bundle, and the Balloon punch.

Here are 3 cards for every level card-maker. Let’s get started.

CREATING THE BACKGROUND

• Paper
  • Thick White cardstock: (scraps plus …)
    • 4-1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5-1/2″
    • 5″ x 3-3/4″ (qty 3)
  • Basic Black cardstock: 5-1/8″ x 3-7/8″ plus scraps
  • Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper – punch out balloons
• Stamp Sets
  • Itty Bitty Birthdays
  • Itty Bitty Greetings
  • So Much Happy
  • Hey Chick
  • Friends Are Like Seashells
• Dies & Punches
  • Chick dies
  • Balloon Bouquet punch
  • Happy dies
• Ink Pads & Markers
  • Terracotta Tile ink pad
  • Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad
  • Black Stampin’ Marker or Journalling pen
  • Stampin’ Blends: Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Mango Melody, Calypso Coral
• Other Supplies
  • White Craft ink pad
  • White Embossing Powder
  • Liquid Multipurpose Glue, Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive
• Tools – These are always a MUST HAVE
  • Snips & Bone Folder
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine

Stamp the Good Morning Magnolia image onto the vellum panel using Basic Gray ink. The lines will be blurred by the Stampin’ Blends and the alcohol to create a faux watercolor effect.

Color the image starting with the lightest color. Use Dark Daffodil Delight for the center. Dip a fine-tip paintbrush into the rubbing alcohol and gently move the color. I added Champagne Shimmer Paint to my rubbing alcohol.

Next, color non-adjacent petals with Dark Flirty Flamingo. Gently blur the stamped line. Let dry and repeat on other petals. Do the same for the leaves. TIP: Blow into a straw to gently direct the ink flow in the desired direction.

Add a second layer of color after the image is dry. Repeat the process of alcohol painting and gently blowing the ink.

OPTIONAL: Pick up some clean rubbing alcohol with the paintbrush and flick it over the image. This will create small droplets that will lighten some areas by moving the color outward.

Adhere the vellum panel to the Basic White cardstock panel using Stampin’ Seal or a light amount of Multipurpose Liquid Glue. Add to Basic Black card base.

Stamp the sentiment in White Craft ink and heat emboss with with embossing powder. Trim to you liking. Add to card panel with small black Dimensionals.

Customize the message insert and the envelope with some flicks of color from the brush end of the Stampin’ Blends.

Stamp the chick using Memento Tuxedo Black ink 3 times on Thick White cardstock and die-cut with the NEW coordinating Chick dies. Color one of the chicks with the Stampin’ Blends.

Punch out several balloons from the Ice Cream Corner DSP. Then use a Black Stampin’ Marker and outline the balloon shape inside the balloon. No need to be exact!

Now have some fun and hand-draw, stamp, or die-cut balloon strings as shown. Adhere the balloons to the ends and place the chick. The Happy die set has a very cute little bow that I added to a couple of balloons.

On 2 of the cards, the border was drawn either with or without the sentiment. TIP: Don’t forget to ‘ground’ your chick if you are not layering your card base. I did this with a couple of sketched lines and dots to coordinated with my drawn border.

Stamping a sentiment as the background, embossing and fussy-cutting a birthday greeting, and using Dimensionals really takes the card up to Avid Creator Level. TIP: Adding Foam Adhesive strips to the back of the card panel is easy. Cut strips as shown and put 3 strips across the back. Add dimension without extra weight.

I hope you enjoyed the 3 variations of the birthday chick card that I designed for the Pals Blog Hop Birthday Bonanza. Add an extra layer to your next project and see how much it changes.

More inspiration awaits! Use the Blog Hop Line-up below to visit the rest of this month’s Design Team. My fellow Pals are excited to show you what they’ve created! Mark your calendars for our next blog hop on March 10th when our theme will be “Cute Critters” where the design team will be sharing projects that will feature critters of all sorts to inspire you. Don’t miss the fun! Until then, please stay safe and have fun in your craft room.

PALS BLOG HOP LINE-UP

1. Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty
2. Melissa Seplowitz at The Stamping Ninja
3. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
4. Lori Pinto at LollyPop Paper and Ink
5. Rosanne Mulhern at Heartfelt Stamping
6. Renae Novak at Blessed By Cards w/Renae Novak
7. Su Mohr at Aromas And Art
8. Windy Ellard at Windy’s Wonderful Creations
9. Deb Walker at Deb Stamps Life
10. Stesha Bloodhart at Stampin’ Hoot!
11. Tricia Chuba at ButterDish Designs
12. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
13. Jeanie Stark at Just Stampin’
14. Rae Harper Burnet at Wild West Paper Arts
15. Debbie Mageed at Secrets to Stamping
16. Ann Murray at Murray Stamps INK
17. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
18. Jennifer Roque at Stamp Camp with Jen
19. Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose
20. Sara Stuart at Sentiments by Sara
21. Lisa Milligan at Stamping Made Simple
22. Leah O’Brien at Honey Bee Stamping & More!
23. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
24. Debbie Crowley at expressively deb…
25. Karen Hallam at Karen’s Stamping Habit
26. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
27. Mary Hanson at Up North Stampin’
28. Lori Webb at Clever Copies
29. Lynn Kolcun at Avery’s Owlery

SUPPLY LIST

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