Stampin Up Happy Hour - Out of the Ordinary

This card is out of the ordinary, at least for me! I don't usually make cards where I have to feel like I am wasting paper but when I saw this card during a search I wanted to try it. I also had a healthy supply of Early Espresso cardstock and didn't feel like I would be wasting too much precious paper by cutting up some 12x12 for the base. This is also the last card of the Happy Hour series, at least for now.

The base idea of the card was found at Stamping Art Studio and I though it was really cool how the card opened. The paper is once again the Stampin Up Well Worn Designer Paper.

I used the Word Window Punch and the Modern Label punch for the sentiment on the front. I then stamped the rest of the sentiment and punched it with the Word Window punch and lined it up under the sentiment in the front on the second front flap of the card *okie thinks that sounds confusing but hopes the next picture explains it a little better*.


The copper brads went nicely with the paper and fit perfectly under the sentiment.

Here you can see the sentiment on the second open flap and how the card opens to the inside. The sentiment on the inside of the card reads "Here's to you on your birthday!" and comes with the Happy Hour set. I used the little olive stamp on both sides of the inside sentiment.

I am glad I now have a few manly looking cards in my card boxes and I know I should probably find a few more to make at some point and I just remembered I have some awesome Graphic45 papers that I could use! *okie envisions a full set of manly cards coming up soon*.

Stampin Up Happy Hour - Rock-A-Billy Paper

One of the first Designer Paper packs I ever bought from Stampin Up was Rock-A-Billy and my friend Linda and I fell in love with it as soon as we saw it. We love it so much we have hoarded it and I think she might have used all hers by now but I have been coveting mine too much to use very often. I decided to let go of a little of it for this card.

This is probably my favorite of the Happy Hour cards and I love all the matting that is on this card. I actually found the idea for this card during an image search and I came across the idea from Stampin Anne's blog.

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I took a picture of the inside of this one to show you another one of the sentiment stamps in the set and I love this sentiment. I used some scrap strips to add to the inside to decorate it up a little. Most of the time I am too lazy to add decorative strips but I didn't want to throw away those small strips I had and I didn't think they were big enough to use on something else.

The stamp set doesn't have a cherry image but I wanted one to tie the drinks to the paper. I knew I had some cherry images and found one that worked from an acrylic stamp set. I used Pearl Pens to color in the cherry and the bubbles on the other two drinks are one with Glossy Accents.

For the circle sentiment I just inked the "cheers" from the "3 cheers for you!" stamp and then punched with a circle punch. I loved how the original card I saw had the bling and I had to copy that. I used the Paisley Cuttlebug folder for the red base layer and while you can't see the overall design I think it was the right choice for this set of paper.

Stampin Up Happy Hour - Punch Crazy!

I think I went a little punch crazy with this card but I love how it looked with all the squares making an argyle pattern.

The patterned paper is from the Well Worn Designer Papers by Stampin Up, it really is a nice set of papers with strong masculine patterns and colors.

Since I made 6 of these, like I usually do *okie wonders if she even has to say that anymore since most folks probably know cards are made in multiples in okie's house* I had to punch quite a few of the squares and I used a 1" punch for those. The mat was done with the Stampin Up Postage Stamp punch. I cut the outer edge ones in half and then for the top and bottom I attached them first and then cut off the over hang.

The image was punched out with the Curly Label Punch and attached to Early Espresso cardstock that had been punched with the Decorative Label punch and distressed by sanding. The sentiment was punched out with the Word Window Punch and then attached to cardstock that was punched with the Modern Label Punch, still to of my favorite punches of all times for cardmaking! The sentiment on the stamp actually reads "3 cheers for you!" but I only inked the 3 cheers to make it fit for the punch.

While this one took awhile because of all the punching I do like how it turned out.

Stampin Up Happy Hour - Simple Can Be Good

I felt this card was really plain but when I showed it to my friend Carmen she really loved it. I guess the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Every now and then I try to make some cards that are less embellished than most cards I make just so I know that not every card has to be decorated to the hilt to still look nice.

The paper is Stampin Up's Berry Blossoms Designer Paper and of course you guessed it, I got it on the clearance rack. I used the Fiskars Apron punch for the border at the bottom. The image was stamped on white paper and then punched out with the Stampin Up Decorative Label punch and then cut the shadow with Make The cut. I love how Stampin Up has some of their punches available in SVG format!

I didn't need the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to line up these images since they were easy enough to do with just eyeing them. I added some Cotton Candy Stickles to the drink to glitz it up a little and love how it made it look a little frosty *okie is looking forward to frosty alcoholic drinks in March when she and her BFF Karen hit the cruise ship*. As my friend Carmen pointed out to me the slice of lime on the drink just really tied the card together with the background paper.

Notice the edges? I used my Zutter Distrezz It All to give the paper a raggedy look. I really love that thing and it is so much easier to use than scissors...and a bit safer too!

Sometimes simple can be good!

Stampin Up Happy Hour - Easy Fast Masculine Card

I have all kinds of trouble making masculine looking cards and I think it is because I don't think men really appreciate the work that goes into a handmade card. Okay, I say that but I do know my friend Larry appreciates them and I think he has kept every card I ever made him, even way before I got into cutting machines and stamps.

The paper  Stampin Up Well Worn Designer Series Paper and I got it on the clearance rack a few months ago because I knew I did need to make some masculine cards to have on hand *okie scratches head and thinks*, well at least in my card sets that I will be giving away to my friends since I don't have many males in my life I give cards to. This was a fast and uncomplicated card to make. For the banners I used scrap strips of paper and then used square punches for the notches.

Graduating the circles for the image was a fast way to make the image stand out on the card. After getting it together I felt it needed something and I think the 3 brads did the trick *okie wonders why she likes brads so much since they tend to hurt her quite often and looks under her finger nail where she was recently poked by a brad* and they always seem to really add to a project.

Stampin Up Happy Hour Set

I have loved the Stampin Up Happy Hour set ever since I first saw it but didn't get it for quite sometime, and then when I did it sat on my stamp shelf for a long time. I finally broke it out and started playing with it.

I love that the set has several little stamps - strawberry, citrus slice, umbrella, olive and holly leaves, so you can really make any kind of card you want and change it around quite a bit. There are a few sentiments included in the set as well that makes it a very versatile set.

I can't remember the designer paper I used for this one and I am too lazy to go look through my paper to find out.

One of the things I have always liked is a stamped image that is cut out but I am way too lazy to cut out each image, I have in the past and it gets tedious and boring. Using Make The Cut I made a file where I can now cut the images, use my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to line up the stamps to the cuts and POOF, no hand cutting! I cut extra because it is still sometimes easy to slip and stamp the image incorrectly. 

You can see here where the glass, umbrella and lime have been cut and stamped. It doesn't show in this picture but the sentiment "Cheers" was cut and then stamped as well.

I have 5 more cards I will be posting in the next few days using the Happy Hour set. I am not sure why I make cards in sets like this but for me it just seems easier to stick to a theme and get quite a few done. I am starting to get my card boxes restocked now, thank goodness since my daughter has been giving my cards away! *okie wonders if investing in a gun cabinet with a secure lock and storing her cards in there might be a wise move*