Crazy For Cupcakes!

Mmmmm....how about a cupcake? Okay, if we can't REALLY have cupcakes, then how about a couple Crazy For Cupcakes cards? What's your favorite kind of cupcake/cake? Mine changes from time to time, but today, it's chocolate cake with fluffy chocolate frosting!! Yum!!! I'm excited to share these delicious cards with you, including 2 of my SWAP cards. These are made entirely with Stampin Up supplies. For me, it's always fun to do SU swaps, because I LOVE my SU supplies, I really do! I have to tell you, the star of these projects are Crystal Effects and Chunky Sprinkles (chunky glitter). I'm always looking for new ways to add shine, dimension and sparkle to my images and these two products really take the cake (excuse the pun!), lol!!

I made 10 of those cards for my Ink For Brains, new catalog swap (plus I made a few extras...I never seem to have enough birthday cards). Here are a few of the supplies I used ~ And here's a close-up of that image so you can see some of the sparkly, shiny details ~To get this effect, it does take several steps, but the steps are all really easy and the end result is so worth a little patience. I colored the image with SU Markers...the cherries are Real Red, the frosting is Regal Rose & Pretty in Pink, and the cupcake bases are Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel & Chocolate Chip. The tray is Bashful Blue & Brocade Blue. After coloring the cupcakes, I applied Crystal Effects to the frosting, then sprinkled on some clear (white) Chunky Sprinkles. The Crystal Effects adds Dimension along with shine, so it's just perfect for the frosting. After that dried (about 30 minutes), I carefully added Crystal Effects to the cherries, to make them shiny :) !

And the inside of the card...the perfect finishing touche for a birthday card ~And here is my Great Swaps Girls 2, new catalog swap card! I selected the Heard From the Heart set for my swap card, and I used Crazy for Cupcakes for the image. I kept the same color palette for both swap cards, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pirouette Pink & Whisper White, along with the Sweet Always Designer Paper.I made 14 of these cards (plus a few extras for my birthday card stash)! This was my first GSG2 swap and it was so fun to receive those swaps in the mail last week!! My GSG2 girls did an awesome job on their swaps and I'd love for you to see every single card. I think they've been uploaded to SCS, but I'm having a little trouble locating the gallery (sorry!)...as soon as I find it, I'll be sure to pass that along to you so you can check out all those super swap cards!

And...how cool is this? During the month of October, while Stampin Up celebrates their 20th birthday , you can get this Crazy For Cupcakes set along with a selection of Birthday sets at 20% off! You can check out those sets and all the details right HERE! Wooo-hooo!! Great discount on some great stamp sets!!!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the cupcake cards! I sure enjoyed sharing them with you...I also enjoy hearing from you. For those of you who faithfully leave comments...THANK YOU very much :) !!! I appreciate the encouragement! For the rest of you, don't be shy...I really would love to hear from you!! I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of starting my blog and I've been thinking about what to do with my blog for this coming year...goals, ideas, etc. These posts, the links, and listing the supplies all take quite a bit of time and I can tell by the counter that lots of you stop by everyday, so I'm guessing you like what you see? If so, then it's worth it. But honestly, I can't be sure if you don't leave comments. Soooo, you'll have to leave a comment now & then...tell me what you like, tell me what don't you like (be gentle, lol!). Or just say hi... You'll make my day ;) !!!

Supplies for the first card (size 4 1/4 x 5 1/2) ~ Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Sweet Always DP Ink: Black Stazon & Chocolate Chip SU Markers: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue Tools/Accessories: Photo Corner Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 1/4" Circle Punch, Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-majig, Crystal Effects, Chunky Sprinkles, 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon

Supplies for the second card (size 4 1/4 x 5 1/2) ~ Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Sweet Always DP Ink: Chocolate Chip SU Markers: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip Tools/Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, , Silver Brads, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-majig, Crystal Effects, Chunky Sprinkles, 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain ribbon, Paper snips, Paper piercing tool/mat pack