Ultimate Birthday Inspiration

Welcome back for the first group post day of the July 2013 Papertrey Ink Release Week. Today is all about birthdays. We can all use oodles of inspiration, ideas, and products for that particular occasion. Birthday cards are the number one project I make in my stamping life and I'm thrilled to have some new material to choose from.

It really is all about the dies this time around. We've got these incredible new rainbow style stripe dies which I'm absolutely just crazy for. They make the sweetest backgrounds with ease. Great foundation pieces.

I am featuring the "Rainbow Stripes Dies" on this 8th Birthday card. I am using only three of the five for a different look. Blueberry Sky, Simply Chartreuse, and Summer Sunrise are the basis of of my color palette against the trendy Smokey Shadow. If you notice on the top of my card is a wide curved cut of Stamper's Select White. That is actually the negative cut from using the same die I used for the Blueberry Sky strip. So there's a fun option for you.

And here's an up close view of my focal point. We've got mats now for the "By the Numbers" dies, which I used to mat an "8"  (stamped with "Grunge Me") from the original set. And we've got the "Suffix Style Dies" to add an easy suffix to your numbers. And (see...I told you it was all about the dies!) we have the "Birthday Trio Dies" that I used to cut out the word "birthday" from black glitter paper for a little flair. I separated the word into two lines to make it work better with my design.

I'm digging the skateboard myself. Stamp and die from "Boy Basics: Skater Dude". I shaded it with the ink colors to match my stripes. Way too cool.

For the inside, I used the same shading colors as the skateboard on a sentiment from "Inside & Out: Birthday II". Stars are from the new "Balloon Bash".

Next up, we've got a card for a special lady in my life who is having a birthday soon. The background was stamped with "First Place" and "Bitty Background Blocks 2" in shades of Raspberry Fizz, Blueberry Sky, Summer Sunrise, and Limeade Ice. This configuration is a nice fit for an A2 card...that is as long as you can cover up the hot mess in the middle. :) Easy to do with a cut and stamp from the new "Mat Stack 6 Collection", embossed with clear powder on Raspberry Fizz cardstock.

The focal point is framed with curved brackets from "Modern Wood Mats". My sentiment once again uses all the new dies (By the Number Borders, Suffix Style Dies, and Birthday Trio) to make my card ultra personalized. I've also added a little floral flair with some of the stamps and dies from the upcoming "Polka Dot Parade: #6" collection.

Inside, I pulled the same elements and colors from the front of the card to highlight a sentiment from "Inside & Out: Birthday 2".

That's it for me today. Remember that all new products will be available to purchase here on July 15th. In the meantime, go get your birthday on at the other PTI Design Team blogs listed below.

Nichole Heady

Maile Belles

Jessica Witty
Dawn McVey
Melissa Phillips
Heather Nichols
Betsy Veldman
Cristina Kowalcyzk
Danielle Flanders
Ashley Cannon Newell

Supplies

8th Birthday
Stamps: Inside/Out: Birthday II, Grunge Me, Boy Basics: Skater Dude
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Blueberry Sky, Limeade Ice, 
Summer Sunrise, Smokey Shadow
Ink: Blueberry Sky, Limeade Ice, Summer Sunrise, True Black
Dies: Rainbow Stripes, Skateboard, Seeing Stars, By the Numbers, 
By the Numbers Mats, Birthday Trio Dies, Suffix Style Dies
Black Glitter Paper

Happy 60th
Stamps: Bitty Background Blocks 2, Mat Stack 6, Polka Dot Parade #6, Modern Wood Mats, First Place
Ink: Summer Sunrise, Blueberry Sky, Raspberry Fizz, Limemade Ice, Enchanted Evening
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Raspberry Fizz, Blueberry Sky, Limeade Ice, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse
Dies: Mat Stack 6, Suffix Style Dies, Birthday Trio Dies, Polka Dot Parade #6, By the Numbers Border
Clear Embossing Powder