Birthday Boys

The end of September, beginning of October has always been a crazy time in our family, but a little less crazy nowadays - I don't have to make birthday cakes for my five sons! My husband and I were married in September, number 2 son arrived 28th September, luckily #3 was July, but #4 arrived 8 years after #2, on October 6th so that made for too much cake, too close together. 

Happy birthday for your recent birthdays, boys! Mr 39 has received the somewhat subdued shirt-style card.I was actually thrilled with how it turned out, and you can place money or a gift card in the shirt pocket. I loved the pattern on the Best Route DSP (designer series paper) and using Pocketful Of Sunshine to stamp and diecut the pocket, plus to stamp stitching down the shirt front really tickled my fancy. I had just enough of the retired metal buttons for this project, but I will order the Galvanised buttons on page 13 of the Holiday catalogue as I feel they may be similar.

There is a die in Pocketful Of Sunshine dies that is a half -circle, for a sun in a pocket, and I cut the tee-shirt neck with that, before hand drawing the ribbing. This is such an appropriate card for Jake as on Father's Day (early September in Australia) we were talking about hand-me-downs and homemade clothing. I reminded Jake how he used to order specific items of clothing, including picking out the fabrics with me.That's how he had one-of-a-kind MC Hammer pants!!! I used to sew all my kids clothes including shirts and even suits when they were young. Much easier to just put together a paper shirt!

Both cards are finished off inside in the same way, except Will has the train included, because he catches trains to get around town. The pair of stamps on the inside are from Perennial Birthday, and they are go-to stamps for any birthdays. That stamp set is a Stampin' Up!® suggested stamp set to begin your collection with and I totally agree with that suggestion.

I had a bit more trouble coming up with a card for Will, turning 31. He is an active member of the Melbourne Parkour community, who headed to Sydney recently for a gathering, so I settled on the plane DSP from Best Route. That was before I found out it was a road trip!!!

When I ordered the Best Route paper and En Route stamp set, I also added the Memories and More cards. "You're The Best" is actually a sticker from the Memories & More Cards, and later this month I'll share the Thank you card (using more stickers) I made for the travel agent who arranged the trip to the States for my travel buddy in Adelaide and me.

They will come in very handy when I scrapbook our big adventure I think. So many of the cards seem very appropriate for our first trip to the USA, for both Kathryn and me. We are feeling very brave planning it and travelling independently.

Let me know if I can help you find your crafting solutions, or browse my Online Shop at your convenience.

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Thrifty Thursday #6

Here it is Thursday morning again, and I have another thrifty hint for you. I've started making a large batch of cards to hand out as swaps, in November at a Stampin' Up! convention. This leaves scraps of paper around 2 inches square. They almost made it into paper recycling until it occurred to me to make them into a card of their own. I die cut with a Stitched Square die, so the size was completely uniform, and placed them evenly on card measuring 10cm by 14cm. They are all from the same suite of papers, so co-ordinate perfectly. #thriftythursday #loveitchopit

Although I plan to purchase Tropical Chic. I haven't been able to order it yet, so the sentiment is from Crafting Forever, another fave of mine. I can imagine that adding a flower from Tropical Chic would be a plus. A number of our demonstrator friends and leaders, who achieved the Alaska cruise, were allowed to share some of the new products with us while they were away.The Stampin' Up!® Holiday Catalogue, available to customers on September 1st, is full of more beautiful stamps, dies, papers and other surprises. I don't know how I'm supposed to economise while they keep on tempting me like this!!!

There are always strips of paper left over too, and they are a nice addition on the inside, giving a 'finished' look to your card. I do hope you find these thrifty hints helpful.

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