Thursday, September 24, 2026

Size The Birthday - Use Fall Colours

Hello, we're back for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and this week Linda wants us to use fall colours.


But if you're not ready for fall or autumn yet, or you have something else in mind, you can always play along with our Anything Goes theme.

I've used an image from Stampingbella, a sentiment from Gina K, some rub-ons from Aall and Create, and autumn colours from Zig.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from our Surprise Party Guest Stacey, and from the rest of the DT, and join in the fun!

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Seize The Birthday - Add A Sentiment Strip


Time for a new challenge at Seize The Birthday, and this time we're welcoming Jules back after relocating to be nearer family.  As our hostess, she's chosen 'Add a Sentiment Strip' for the topping.


If you're not inclined to use a sentiment strip, you can still play along with your birthday-themed project in our Anything Goes category.


Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the Design Team, and from our recent winner Chris and our newest Surprise Party Guest Stacey who will be partying with us till the end of the year, and play along with us.

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Seize The Birthday - No stamping, Dies Only


 Hello!  JoAnn is our host for this week's Seize The Birthday, and she's chosen No Stamping, Dies Only.


I went for a Happy Birthday die by MFT and used metallic patterned paper on a purple linen panel, matted onto a lilac linen base card.  Here's a photo with the copper metallic catching the light.


So come and join us in the Seize The Birthday gallery with your dies-only birthday creation.  Or if dies aren't your thing, you could always play along with our Anything Goes theme.


See you in the gallery!

Friday, August 21, 2026

STAMPlorations - Simple Expressions

New product alert at STAMPlorations - Simple Expressions.

Shery's got a new release in the Designer Series of stamps.  Each mini set contains a solid and outline word, along with a coordinating script phrase.  And if you pair them with a qualifying paper goods pack, you'll get 40% off the pack.

Simple Expressions Stamps

I've used Create A Life You Love, along with Comic Pop Pocket Backgrounds to create two vibrant cards in next to no time.

For the first card I literally just cut along the zigzag lines to get the yellow section to streak across the card, then stamped and coloured the focal sentiment to match the colour scheme.  I added a few red pearl gems to finish off.


For the second card, I used the remainder of the background paper, stamped the word in the gap and added a few arrow stickies.


Two cards from just one of the sheets of background paper.


They're great little stamps, and you can combine them with so many of the paper goods options.


Take a look at the selection in the STAMPlorations store, and while you're there you can get 20% of all stamps, dies and stencils if you use my code STAMPGIRLSHIRLEY.



Saturday, August 15, 2026

Seize The Birthday - Funny/Pun-y


 Hello!  Our new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday is Funny/Pun-y, chosen by Jenny.

Or if you'd rather, you can play along with any birthday project in our Anything Goes category.

I went all-out colourful with these fun stamps from PaperArtsy.  I stamped, coloured and cut all the images and created a colourful stencil background (The Crafter's Workshop).  The pun-y sentiment is part of the PaperArtsy set, the Happy Birthday is by - I can't remember.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team, and our surprise party guests, and join in the funny, pun-y fun!

Thursday, July 23, 2026

Seize The Birthday - Square card + non-white base

Hello!  We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday - make a square card with a non-white base, chosen by Glenda.

 

Or if square cards aren't your thing, you can still play along with our Anything Goes theme.


For my card, I started off with a mop--up piece, which looked like a couple of large flowers in a garden


and I thought it would go perfectly with the new-to-me Tim Holtz French Garden CMS487 set.  I wasn't actually making this as a square card at this point, but decided it would work for this challenge, so I cropped it, matted it with dark pink and layered onto a pale pink card base.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some more fabulous inspiration from the team and from our surprise party guests, and join the party!

Thursday, July 09, 2026

Seize The Birthday - Use One Or More Numbers


Hello!  We've got a new challenge for you at Seize The Birthday, chosen by Cathy - One Or More Numbers.


But if you don't want to include numbers, you can still play along with our Anything Goes theme.


Rather than choose a big focal number, I took a leaf out of Ashwini's book after seeing her card, and went for unobtrusive numbers.  The stamps, stencils and die are all Tim Holtz.

Pop on over to the Seize The Birthday blog for some fabulous inspiration from the team, and from our Surprise Party Guests, Lynda and Fran, and join in the fun!