Yesterday was my husband’s birthday so of course I launched a search for masculine cards and found this birthday beer stein card idea on Pinterest. I copied it exactly except for the greeting. There are other versions similar to this but this one was made by a demonstrator named Tammy.

You’ll need a piece of Whisper White for the card base and Soft Suede for the layer. Mine is embossed with the Stripes Embossing Folder (hard to see in this photo!) but you could use something different or leave it plain.  The beer stein is a piece of 3″x 3 3/4″ Whisper White with the bottom corners rounded (you can use the new Envelope Punch Board!) with three strips of So Saffron 7/8″ x 3 1/2″, again with the bottom edges rounded.  I stamped the greeting from the stamp set Four You.  Everything is sponged with a little bit of ink around the edges on the card.

Then for the “punch art” part!  Make the beer foam bubbles with three circles from the 1 1/4″ Circle Punch, five circles from the 3/4″ Circle Punch, one circle from the 1/2″ Circle Punch and five scallops from the little scallop punch in the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  That’s what I used but you could certainly use lots of other things to make the bubbles, such as other scallop punches or circle sizes.  The beer stein handle is the Large Oval Punch, then punched over with the Extra-Large Oval Punch.

It’s fun to make your own birthday cards for your friends and loved ones!   When you make handmade birthday cards, you can personalize the cards for that person.  My husband might not be a big beer drinker, but what he really likes is to pick out assorted different beers to try, in stores where you can do that. So while I saw lots of masculine card ideas and birthday card ideas I easily could have used for him, I thought the birthday beer stein card idea was one he would enjoy! I think it is important to send happy birthday wishes to people, especially after enjoying my own best birthday ever!

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The Daydream Medallions stamp set I have thought is a beautiful one.  And this birthday card my longtime dear friend made for me for my birthday with Daydream Medallions is certainly a beautiful card. She always makes a beautiful card in a simple elegant style.

Don’t you love the cupcake on the envelope, too?! Always stamp something on your envelope! We don’t want to send a naked envelope! If that cupcake wasn’t stamped on that envelope, wouldn’t you just toss it out right away?

My friend also sent me a funny book with quotes about old age! My favorite one I’ve found so far is one by Ann Landers, the advice columnist. Let me first state that I did NOT turn 70! Just to be clear!!  But whatever decade below that it was, this describes exactly how I feel!

“Inside every seventy-year-old is a thirty-five-year-old asking “What happened?”

Maybe the essence of ourselves doesn’t age past thirty-five and that’s why we don’t feel as old as we get!

The book is called Old Age Is Always 15 Years Older Than I Am by Randy Voorhees if you need a funny gift for a middle-aged friend!

Do you ever wonder where people get these creative ideas for making cards or any papercrafting projects?  There are lots of places, but perhaps the best one is right at your fingertips…..the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog! I just barely started paging through the catalog when I saw both a tag and a birthday card at the top of page 15. The birthday card was simple enough although it had some sewing on it……but the tag was also cute.

I made the tag using the stamp set You’re Amazing and embossed with Pool Party Stampin’ Emboss Powder and Versamark Ink. I added two of the new Candy Dots on there (probably my main reason for making the whole card!). One of my favorite framelits dies is the one I used from the Apothecary Accents Framelits collection. I even punched a little hole in each side of the Happy Birthday piece and tied on some Pool Party Baker’s Twine (that color retired).

The card base is Crumb Cake, a great neutral to start with! For this card, I did cut it smaller than usual, 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ so when it is folded I have a 4 1/4″ square card. I meant to round the bottom corners of the card but I guess I forgot! After putting a little border on the bottom of the greeting using the  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch  I used strips of the This And That Epic Designer Series Paper for the layers underneath.  Very simple, good use of scraps, and makes a fun card I think!

In the photo below I think you can see the Pool Party embossing a little better!

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There are many places to get inspiration for our stamping, and for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators, one of them is our Stampin’ Up! publication called Stampin’ Success. This card I made is pretty much like one in my magazine. I changed the center of the flower because I didn’t have the same stamp set they used, and I used a different color of Baker’s Twine to wrap around the card layer.

The base of the card is made with one of our new In Colors, Coastal Cabana, and the front layer is Whisper White. The sizes are different than our usual cards. The card base starts at 6 1/2″ x 6 1/4″ and folded in half to become 6 1/4″ long by 3 1/4″ wide. (If you want to make it a little easier for yourself without remembering all those numbers, cut a 6″ x 6″ square of card stock for the card base and fold in half!) Before adhering the Whisper White layer, I adhered three separate strings of Baker’s Twine (I used retired Pool Party) to the card stock on the back to save those extra inches I would have used wrapping around.  You can do it either way.  Then I just tied the bow to the center string.

The flowers are stamped with the Mixed Bunch stamp set and Coastal Cabana ink and punched out with the Blossom Punch.  I punched out two flowers so I could layer them and slightly curled the top flower with my Bone Folder to give it some dimension. For the flower center, I stamped the “For You” image from A Round Array twice–once in Coastal Cabana and once in Crisp Cantaloupe.  I used the 1/2″ Circle Punch to punch out the words in Crisp Cantaloupe and used the new 7/8″ Scallop Circle Punch to punch out the whole image in Coastal Cabana. Then I just layered the words on top of the scallop with a tiny Stampin’ Dimensional (part of one). You can layer whichever parts you want with dimensionals or just adhere them together in a flat fashion. The scallop is layered on top of a 1″ Delightful Daffodil circle. I made two little strips of Crisp Cantaloupe card stock and cut the ends like flags and stuck them underneath the flower for a little contrast.  The greeting is from Bring On the Cake but of course, you could use any number of greetings.  For the center of the flower you could place a button or other embellishment instead of the words.

This is a good basic card that you can modify for any number of occasions!

Here are some other ideas you could do:

• Use ribbon instead of the Baker’s Twine.
• Turn the card sideways, putting the flower on one side and stamp a greeting on the other side.
• Stamp a flower or other image and wrap the Baker’s Twine or ribbon around the base of the layer.

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When I needed to make birthday cards for my twin nieces I found this idea of making purse cards for them. My cards just fold completely flat, but you could make yours more 3-D. I used a piece of designer series paper for the purse shape so that there would be a nice design on the inside when it was opened.  You could just as easily use card stock.  The Top Note Die folded in half is used for the top closure of the purse.  What would we do without the Top Note Die?! I’m glad it is not retiring next week!

• Cut out the Top Note Die with the Big Shot. Score and fold in half lengthwise.
• Cut a piece of designer series paper (DSP) 6″ x 6″. Score at 3″ and fold in half. Be mindful of which way the pattern is going and which side you want on the outside.
• Now you will need to trim the sides of the purse from the bottom to the top edge on a diagonal. To do this, measure in on the top open edges about 5/8″ from each side. Use your paper trimmer to cut from that point on each side to the bottom edge of the folded side. You know, make it look like a purse shape!
• Adhere the Top Note Die to the back of the “purse”. Make some sort of decoration for the front closure.  Adhere to front of Top Note Die on the front of the purse. Use a small piece of velcro in order to hold the purse closed.
• Depending on your DSP design, you’ll probably need to stamp the greeting on a plain piece of card stock and adhere to inside of purse card.
• If you want, you could make some ribbon handles for the top of the purse.

Here is the inside of the card.

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