Poppin' Granddaughter Birthday

May and June are busy in our family. My four daughters, three of my grandchildren, several nieces and nephews and my mother-in-law have birthdays between April 30th and June 28th. I kept getting pulled away from my stamps so not everyone got handmade cards, but I did manage to make special cards for all the grandbabies. This was for the last birthday of the season, Leah turned 4 last weekend. She's a little monkey, so it only seemed fitting to use Sock Monkey for her card.

This was a super simple card to make on the outside. I stamped the monkey on Whisper White Cardstock with Jet Black Stazon, then colored him with Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I stamped the balloons and party hat on some of the Designer Paper in the Petal Party Simply Stampin' Kit, cut them out and adhered them to the card. I drew the balloon strings with a black Stampin' Write Marker. By the way, if you need a short straight edge in a pinch, bone folders work quite well. I mounted the white cardstock and image on Pumpkin Pie Cardstock, and used a piece of textured Pixie Pink Cardstock as the card base. The little strip of hearts at the bottom of the page is also from the Petal Party Simply Stampin' Kit.

The inside of the card is what makes this one special. It's a popup birthday cake. It's made with the Big Shot Pop-up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die for the Big Shot. And, it's a lot easier to make than it looks like it would be. Run the die through the Big Shot with some cardstock (Pixie Pink here, with a few small pieces of Pumpkin Pie for the candles) to make the pop-up pieces; cut some strips of designer paper; put together with sticky strip and you have a cake. Super cute, and everyone loves them.

I'll be featuring the Big Shot at our July Mostly Monthly Mystery Hostess Workshop. I hope you can come! You'll get a chance to make some simple projects with the Big Shot, and see the brand new (and very awesome!) Idea Book and Catalog. Not to mention, you could walk away with some great hostess gifts.