[Birthday Bash] Shake It, Shake it...

Dear Birthday Bash fans! We are coming to an end with our last Guest Designer. Funny enough we are almost doing a full circle with this last Birthday Bash post. Remember, Danielle's favorite party music?

Yep - we pretty much "Shake[d] it, Shake[d] it...Like a Polaroid Picture" over here all month and I hope you had fun partying with us. Now keep this song in mind while you read our last guest post and you will know what I mean with coming around "full-circle." 

Before we close out this party, I wanted to revisit a few comments from Day 2.

Birthday Q&A
Many of you had very broad requests for inspiration - really anything. Or to show off as many styles as possible

shirley-beeAugust 3, 2013 at 8:01 AM

Happy birth/day/month! I'm hoping to see your stamps used on as many different styles of cards as possible :)

zub momiAugust 2, 2013 at 10:48 AM

Happy Birthday! Hoping to see lovely inspiration from your DT:)

JessiAugust 2, 2013 at 12:08 PM

Anything really.... I seem to always be inspired by not only Neat and Tangled but Little Tangles too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY :) :) :)

Teresa Godines #6857August 2, 2013 at 11:54 PM

Celebration. That is what theme came to mind first

LisaAugust 3, 2013 at 1:45 AM

How fun! I'm hoping for lots of inspiration to get creative!

LyndalAugust 3, 2013 at 8:49 PM

CELEBRATIONS!!!!! Shared fun & inspiration :)

Katie Ann BrooksAugust 7, 2013 at 2:20 PM

I just want to come to take part in the fun! Happy birthday N&T~!

I hope we met your expectations and that you have now many days of inspiration to look back on. If you have other requests or questions, please do not hesitate to drop us a line! 

One reader in particular mentioned her take a struggles with a shaker card, and we have two during our Birthday Bash to show you. 

MindyAugust 3, 2013 at 8:17 AM

I'm loving the N & T sequins so would love to see more ideas on how to use them. I struggled my way through a shaker card the other day and it just didn't turn out the way I'd hoped

The Super Shaker Cupcake card by Betty has a lovely video with many great steps outlined. And last, but certainly not least, our very last Birthday Bash Guest Post has another great shaker card tutorial. Heather Ruwe has the cutest designs, and here is just an example why we want her back anytime! Take it away, girl...

I was super excited to be invited to share a project for the birthday bash! I decided to go with the birthday bash theme and create a shaker card...

I wanted to do a longer card to accommodate my shaker banner. My card base was cut from white card stock and the measurements are 7.25 x 3.75. I thought I would do a photo tutorial to show you how I created the shaker banner on my card...

After the shaker card is assembled, I started on the background....

After the embossed piece was stamped, I adhered a piece of black card stock behind it to give it some definition and adhered it to the card base. Then I attached a piece of patterned paper in the center of the card and adhered the shaker banner on top. A closer look at the banner shaker...

One more thing, I found the craft foam at my local craft store. They also sell adhesive backed foam sheets! Here is a peek at it...

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how to create a fun and festive card for any occasion! Happy Birthday Neat and Tangled! :)

Hugs,

Heather Ruwe

Heather you really helped us go out with a bang with this amaze-balls tutorial. It's really very awesome. My only wish would have been so see you "shake it, shake it...like a polaroid picture." ;)

Now, because it would be tragic to let all 31 days of inspiration go to waste, we're going to have one last huzzah - a fun competition with perks and prizes, a Winner and a Top Three spots. If it sounded like a lot, it is a lot (granted, I don't come close to the "Win it All" Blog Hop prize, but I would like to think I can get you excited.)

Birthday Bash C.A.S.E Challenge

• Create a New project by CASE-ing any of the Birthday Bash inspirations that the guest designers have done. You may also CASE a Designer from our Challenge #19 Eat Cake Blog Hop
• You must link back to this challenge and also mention which designer on which day from the Birthday Bash you're CASE-ing. That way we can see who you are CASE-ing
• Grab our Birthday Bash Banner so that we can spot you easily
• Link up your post below
• The link is open until Sept 30, 11:55p Eastern Time; yep I am giving you an entire month to CASE as many designs as you want
• We will award
• 1 - Guest Design Spot
• 3 - $5 gift certificates to the Top Three
• 1 - Sketchy Cupcake stamp set to a random draw
• Perks to everyone that enter (I will go think of a good one for you)

When we announce the winners for our CASE challenge, I will also be putting together a fun summary of statistics and shout-out on the blog. So look out for a special blog post in October!

Challenge Reminders

Technique Challenge - ends Sept 4; Guest Designer Spot

Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set

Loads of Little Prizes and Perks, right? We want to go out with a bang and here is hoping you will help us...'cause that's how we roll...! So we hope you will link up and link up lots. 

[Birthday Bash] Creative Birthdays - the Un-birthday Way

Hello everyone. I can't believe we have made it to Day 30. Just one more day, eh? So let's get right down to business...

Sneak Peek No. 5
September Neat & Tangled will be on Sept 9 - Sept 13. Can you guess what this one is all about? ;)

Well, I think this little set will come in quite handy in preparation for the holiday season...what do you think?

Birthday Q&A 

Our tough readers really know what they are looking for. Here is one that we addressed a little already along the way with this awesome inspiration by Jessica Pascarella or our Un-birthday Birthday challenge, which a bunch of you gals really knocked out of the park.

MaureenAugust 2, 2013 at 1:07 PM

Happy birthday! I would love to see sets not normally associated with birthdays used for the birthday celebration - I love to see versatility!

SmilynStefAugust 2, 2013 at 10:08 PM

I realized I don't have any of your birthday sentiments ... but still want to be inspired on how to make birthday cards with the stamps I do have.

But I gave this one to Design Team June to puzzle out and she created some lovely things and has a bunch of helpful tips along the way. So off you go to see what talented June has up her sleeve.

Hello, this is June Houck celebrating with you today!

  We are wrapping up (birthday humor) the month long celebration and giveaways to celebrate Neat and Tangled's first birthday.   Today, August 30th, is my mom's birthday, how appropriate is that?

  Ren-Yi has been hard at work addressing all of your inspiration requests, like this comment from my friend Stef:

SmilynStefAugust 2, 2013 at 10:08 PM

I realized I don't have any of your birthday sentiments ... but still want to be inspired on how to make birthday cards with the stamps I do have.

  I know the lovely Stef has this "Just Hello" set, so I used the "what's up?" sentiment from "Just Hello" along with some Neat and Tangled "Birthday Bash Sequin Assortment" and "Little Tangles" as my balloon strings:

 and the other using Thickers:

Just Hello

Little Tangles

 Thanks for stopping by!  I'd like to see you use your non-birthday stamps to create a birthday card...and don't forget our current challenge:  Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set up for grabs.

Oh this is just perfect June! The key is really to look at what you have and make it all work with festive colors, birthday related objects, or put a sentiment together using Thickers or stickers! Both really are amazing! Thanks for sharing your ideas...

Day 28 "Guess Who" Winners!

Congrats are in order to Piali & Katie!  They successfully guessed that Jennifer McGuire was our Day 29 Guestie! You know the drill! Please contact me at neatandtangledstamps(at)gmail.com with the subject line "Day 28 Prize Winner" and I will send out instructions how to claim your free bag of sequins.

Challenge Reminders

Technique Challenge - ends Sept 4; Guest Designer Spot

Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set

We only have one more last Birthday Bash post tomorrow. I'm almost getting emotional that our Birthday-month is almost over! I hope you have had a lot of inspiration along the way and there are a few challenges still to enter. 

Stay tuned for our last Guest Designer and for a fun challenge that you want to take part in. See you then.

[Birthday Bash] Loads of Happy...

Hello everyone. Any guesses on the guest designer for today? It's on my bucket list to meet this amazing woman... just sayin'....

Sneak Peek No. 4
September Neat & Tangled will be on Sept 9 - Sept 13. Can you guess what this one is all about? ;)

Well, whatever it is, any girl can use Sparkle and Shine! I'm loving it! 

So onto our guest designers! I was getting into the car earlier this week and scanning radio stations, when ABBA's "Dancing Queen" was on. And this guest designer's name popped into my head, which resulted in me singing the rest of the song with the lyrics "Stamping Queen" ;) This woman is one of the sweetest, nicest, kindest & humble women I know in this stamping industry. And she is a chockful of inspiration. So we're super psyched to have the lovely Jennifer McGuire on our small little blog-o here. (i'm still pinching myself that she said yes ;)

Hello! It's Jennifer McGuire here and I am so excited to help Neat & Tangled celebrate their big birthday!

Danielle is one of the sweetest gals in the industry. In fact, she is so lovely that I am trying to talk her into buying the house across the street from me even though she currently lives several states away! Ha! 

I also like to use Neat and Tangled stamps because they are high quality, so they stamp wonderfully every time.

And one more reason I love their stamps? They are classy yet fun graphic designs - right on trend. I used one of my favorite sets today for a bit of overlapped stamping.

I started at the bottom by stamping three circles in pink. I then stamped right above it - overlapping a bit - with yellow ink. I love that the overlapped area makes orange! I continued until the card was covered. Easy to do... and they just magically fit on a card front perfectly.

The punched the little stars from black cardstock and added shimmer with my Wink of Stella pen and some shine with Glossy Accents. 

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to Neat & Tangled and Little Tangles for having me! I am proud of you and your success, Danielle! XO

Jennifer

Supplies:

Hero Arts Shadow Inks: Bubble Gum, Butter Bar, Green Hills, Tide Pool, Cornflower

Hero Arts Black Dye Ink

EK Success Starry Night Border Punch

Neenah White Cardstock

Neat and Tangled Everyday Circles

Corner Chomper

Glossy Accents

Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen

Wow, wow, wow. I'm always amazed about the simplicity, yet the amazing visual impact your techniques have! I just adore the mix of colors from the overlap stamping. A huge thank you to Jennifer McGuire for taking the time out of her very busy schedule to whip something up for us and helping us celebrate Neat & Tangled's milestone! 

While I go admire that card somemore, here are a few challenges where you can practice your overlap stamping :)

Challenge Reminders

Technique Challenge - ends Sept 4; Guest Designer Spot

Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set

I'm almost getting emotional that our Birthday-month is almost over! I hope you have had a lot of inspiration along the way and there are a few challenges still to enter. 

Stay tuned for our last Guest Designer and for a fun challenge that you want to take part in. See you then.

[Birthday Bash] An Inky Birthday Shoutout

Happy Happy Hump Day! By now I am well on my way on a business trip and tacking on a couple of days to take a quick breather. So if there are any hiccups between now and the end of the Birthday Bash, bear with me. I do have backup who will help monitor and make sure there are no cases of emergencies. 

In the meantime, we have a Project Life challenge for you. There are hardly any entries, so the $5 gift certificate is practically an easy win. Just cut a bunch of a card stock down to 3x4 or 4x6 and go nuts decorating them with N&T goodness... That's what I would do ;)

Sneak Peek No. 3
September Neat & Tangled will be on Sept 9 - Sept 13. Can you guess what this one is all about? ;)

Well, my "inner-Sherlock Holmes" thinks this "gobble gobble" sneak peek has something to do with Thanksgiving. And now I'm really craving the fall season...I do love love love Thanksgiving!

Birthday Q&A

Here is a question we saw a couple of days again...

Angela LemmonsAugust 2, 2013 at 8:27 PM

Happy Birthday!! I am new to N & T, but I would love to see more projects using Ink Splash (which I have and LOVE!!!) and sequins. Thanks!!

Our fabulous next guest designer whipped up something fabulous with this fun popular Ink Splash set. I ran into this guest designer through our Little Challenge blog and she has been wow-ing us with her unique designs. This girl can really color and stamp. And it's no other than Piali Biswas.

Hello Everyone!!

Piali here from Touch Of Creation. I'm super excited to be a part of Neat & Tangled Birthday Bash!! Thank you Ren-Yi for inviting me! 

I love the fabulous N&T stamps...but I don't have any birthday themed sets so I used the my very 1st N&T stamp set from their 1st release and my MOST fave N&T set.. the Ink Splash !!!!

I'm so glad the INK splash set is back in stock, I just got it few days ago...its the most favorite splatter image of mine.

Here is my B'day card...

I like fun b'day cards....this card is a party in itself.... Super FUN!!!

I created my own sentiment with some diecut and sentiments from N&T- Just Hello set.

The arrows and the heart are also from the Just Hello....that set is packed with lil' things for very occasion.

Hope you like my card!!!!

I wish Neat & Tangled a very happy 1st Birthday !!!

Congrats Danielle ....wish you many more success!!!!

Excellent color inspiration. And I love how you pointed what elements you used to create your fun graphic look. That ink splash looks so natural! Thanks Piali for joining us! 

Day 25 "Favorite Birthday Bash Part" Winner
The Random.org tool has spoken...

Congrats are in order to Emily Daniels. You know the drill! Please contact me at neatandtangledstamps(at)gmail.com with the subject line "Day 25 Prize Winner" and I will send out instructions how to claim your free bag of sequins.

Challenge Reminders

Technique Challenge - ends Sept 4; Guest Designer Spot

Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set

Project Life Challenge - ends Aug 28; $5 gift certificate

There is plenty of time to still sneak in a Project Life Challenge. And as a last note, you do not want to miss tomorrow's amazing guest designer. She is a star in this stamping and card industry and one of the nicest and kindest person (from what I hear others say and have experienced on the virtual world thus far). We're so humbled that she will grace us with her talent, time and such. And she is one of the busiest women I know because her kids keep her busy and grounded on what's important ;)

So, if anyone guesses who she is, I will eat my make-believe hat and throw a bag of free sequins to one correct answer. Now go put your "Guess Who" hats on... ;)

[Birthday Bash] Celebrating a Birthday - the Manly Way

Hi there! I can count how many more posts I'm writing and putting together. And it is a little bitter sweet, but when I see the calendar, we have loads of stuff lined up for you guys. So I hope you're just as excited about this week as you were the first week.

Sneak Peek No. 2

September Neat & Tangled will be on Sept 9 - Sept 13. Can you guess what this one is all about? ;)

Whatever it is, anything magical has to be great! Can't wait to see this full reveal...

Birthday Q&A

Jessica PascarellaAugust 2, 2013 at 12:49 PM

Happy birthday!! I would love to see some AMAZING inspiration on making masculine birthday cards! I sometimes struggle with those!

Here is another question that we all struggle a little bit with. Because it is just too easy to gravitate to that glitter, or that fabulous (oh so adorable) pattern paper that may be just a little too girly, or tie a bow to that fabulous card. So today I put the fabulous and talented Design Team member Charlene up to the test by giving her Jessica's question. Here is what she whipped up...(and oh my it's lovely)...

Hello Neat and Tangled Friends!  It's Charlene here with you today.  I am super excited to share a couple of cards that I whipped up to celebrate Neat and Tangled's first birthday. But, first and foremost I want to give a shout-out to Danielle and Ren-Yi for putting a fabulous party on the blog.  Ladies, I am blown away!

My assignment:  Masculine Card.  Yikes!  I almost hit the panic button :) but instead I came up with 2 cards.  

For my first card, I created a tone on tone card that is masculine and CAS.  The inspiration came from Challenge 17, Into The Woods AND from my super talented teamie, Amy!  I stamped A Lot To Say on cork and filled it with the fun cupcake from Sketchy Cupcakes, colored it Copic markers, then adhered it on a white woodgrain card stock.  The sentiment is heat embossed in white and popped up with foam dots.  

For my second card, I wanted to use some of my pattern papers.  My teamies and I had a conversation about using up pp.  So here it goes, a card utilizing 2 different prints!  I stamped the frame from Swirly Twirly Tags onto a gray cardstock, filled it with a sentiment from Across the Card (same as the above card), then finished it off with some embellies.    

Stamps by Neat and Tangled

A Lot To Say

Across The Card

Swirly Twirly Tags

Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Crafting!

Hugs,

Charlene

Charlene, you're a genius! Really. And I think it's so amazing that the Design Team looks to one another as inspiration. I love your smart genuis idea of using more robust textures, like woodgrain & cork; or how you chose lovely manly colors like gray and blues. You also fooled me real good with "Across the Card" - they remind me like those manual label makers ;) 

Day 15 - Eat Cake Blog Hop Winner
So if you know our format, you know this is where the winner section comes up. We had a Blog Hop for Challenge #19 and teamed up with some lovely ladies for a great showcase of inspiration. Ready?

For $5 Gift Certificate, from the Little Tangles blog

For the second $5 Gift Certificate, from Laurie Willison's blog

And ::drum roll:: 

For the Win It All prize, from the Neat & Tangled Blog

Wow - that was a lot of excitement right there. Congrats ladies! Please contact me at neatandtangledstamps(at)gmail.com with the subject line "Little Tangles Blog Hop Winner"  and I will send out instructions how to claim your prize. 

@Crafty Math Chick - you have no excuses not to play in every Little Tangles challenge from now on ;) We expect great things of you... just kiddin' but it would be great to see what you create with your mountain of Neat & Tangled goodness.

Challenge Reminders

Technique Challenge - ends Sept 4; Guest Designer Spot

Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set

Project Life Challenge - ends Aug 28; $5 gift certificate

I hope you gals had a lot of fun on the blog hop and had a healthy dose of inspiration. I'm still personally recuperating. I will be back with another challenge, so keep soaking up all the inspirations. 'Til tomorrow...

[Birthday Bash] Birthday Sunbursts & Ink Splash Fun

Happy Monday, everyone! I have one of the most upbeat, positive people to help us get over the slow Monday start. So stay tuned to see her contribution.

This is also the last week of our Birthday Bash, so we're going to make sure we go out with a blast, right? So no fears, we won't be slowing it down. In fact, we'll have even more surprises along the way for you :) I wanted to revisit some of the comments from Day 2, when I asked what you were looking for...

Birthday Q&A Part I

Miriam PrantnerAugust 2, 2013 at 1:51 PM

I'd love to see some sneaks of new stuff coming to N&T. :)

Denacline88August 2, 2013 at 4:15 PM

More sneaks of upcoming N&T stamps coming in the near future please.

Kathleen ClineAugust 2, 2013 at 4:17 PM

More sneak peeks please

The people have spoken, so we will deliver! We have five sneak peeks, one for each stamp set that will be released in September. So look for our "Sneak Peek N&T September Release" heading where a cute little sneaky peek will be made available for your eyes to feast on.

Sneak Peek No. 1
September Neat & Tangled will be on Sept 9 - Sept 13. Can you guess what this one is all about? ;)

Cute stuff, eh? 

Birthday Q&A Part III

Angela LemmonsAugust 2, 2013 at 8:27 PM

Happy Birthday!! I am new to N & T, but I would love to see more projects using Ink Splash (which I have and LOVE!!!) and sequins. Thanks!!

Sue DAugust 2, 2013 at 6:45 PM

Happy Birthday. I would like to see projects combining new and older sets.

Anyways, remember how we have an awesome Design Team? They have been getting assignments from me ;) Today we have Amy Tsuruta up on the blog and she will show you two examples that should answer these questions! Check out her lovely creations...

Howdy!  It's Amy T!!  Aren't you having fun with all the great birthday festivities?!

Today I'm sharing a card using some of my favorite Neat & Tangled sets!

One of my VERY fav is the Sunburst image.  At just under 3x4, it's a great size to layer goodies onto:

I have fussy cut the Just Thinking of You cloud and have it on foam dots.  

**tip**

Having it spill onto the kraft card base gives the card visual interest.

The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Sketchy Cupcakes set.  

**tip**

Selectively inking up sentiments can give your sets a whole new look. 

Next up is Ink Splash

I teamed it up with Swirly Twirly Tags & Party Dots.   There's something about the Ink Slpash image that always has me grabbing for the neon inks!  

**tip**

Ink Splash is the perfect way to add a pop of color to your project!

I decided to fussy cut the same Amy Tangerine yellow blooms that coordinate with the chevron panel.  I wanted that Neon Pink Splash to **sing**!!

I always love to see craft spaces and storage techniques. 

I thought I'd share my stamp storage:

It's a variation of Jennifer McGuire's.  I use THESE Office Depot clear pockets.  If you go with my system, make sure you bring your phone or bring the screen print from their online store, it's cheaper than retail and they have been price matching for me.  I use THESE bins from Target, I buy them retail.

A big shout out to Danielle for her 1 year celebration AND a big woot woot for Ren-Yi who has been rockin' the blog posts!

Oh my goodness, Amy. What an amazing set of cards. I feel like you really rocked those question and we're so lucky to have you on team. Then again what do I know? We should ask our dear readers...Did Amy pass the test? After all, we want to make sure we have answered your questions!

Day 10 Party Favor Challenge Winner

I asked Random.org to pick a winner and here is what I got...

So, Cornelia, come on down to claim your prize :) Your cute party favor wins a $5 gift certificate.

by Cornelia (fun stamping)

Please contact me at neatandtangledstamps(at)gmail.com with the subject line "Little Tangles Party Favor Challenge Winner" and I will promptly send you instructions on how to claim your little gift.

And because we'd like to give a quick shout-out to the other girls that played along with their stunning creations...

Angela Lemmons, shirley-bee, and Carol  

Challenge Reminders

Technique Challenge - ends Sept 4; Guest Designer Spot

Challenge #19 Eat Cake - ends Sept 1; free stamp set

Project Life Challenge - ends Aug 28; $5 gift certificate

Tomorrow we're back with another amazing Guest Designer. And our big announcement on who won the Blog Hop prizes. So come back to check it out.