Stampin' Up Hip Hip Hooray Designer Card Kit

It's always very special to receive a handmade card from a loved one.  Knowing the love and effort put into creating a card especially for you makes it a wonderful keepsake to treasure.  However, if you are anything like me, you may struggle to think of creative ideas or find it hard to execute any ideas that do bubble to the surface.  Sometimes, I just need a little help to get my handmade mojo into the swing of things.  That is why, when I was sent a Stampin' Up UK Hip Hip Hooray Designer Card Set to try out, I knew it'd be the ideal kit to get me crafting cute, fun and stylish cards (that were also quick and easy to make!)

The Stampin' Up Designer Card Set compromises of 20 printed card bases (10 each of 2 designs), 5 sticker sheets, 20 envelopes, 1 sheet of Stampin’ Dimensionals, 18' Whisper White Twine; 10 mini paperclips; 3-piece Hip Hip Hooray Stamp Set & clear stamp block and 1 Basic Grey Stampin' Spot mini ink pad.  It also comes with an instruction sheet with guidelines on making the card designs. You can make up a whole batch of 20 homemade greetings cards for special occasions.

The first thing to do is to make up the stamps, sticking the self-adhesive rubber stamps to the backing sheet.  Bar one small mishap where we put one on upside down, we achieved this pretty easily.  The stamps say "Hip Hip Hooray It's Your Day", "Just For You" and "Thanks" making the kit pretty versatile.  The instructions give you a technique where you can mask off some of the big stamp so you can use either of the phrases on its own, with or without the pattern that divides them.  This brings even more versatility to the product.

I loved the quality of the cards with their spotty or lined designs.  The sticker sheets are really impressive as the pieces are made from strong card that peels away from the backing.  They stick securely and look very professional on the finished items.

We chose to make one of the more simple cards for our first try, which was very easy to do.  The patterned card made it very easy to line up the stickers to get a good finish.  Then it was just down to using the stamp to print the message onto the card.  OK, at this point there may have been a little nudge that caused a little smudge on the ink, so it wasn't a perfect result, but it wasn't bad for a first attempt.  Once you start, your confidence grows and you learn techniques that you can then apply to future projects.

Stampin' Up sell a whole array of paper crafting products and kits, including some seasonal things, which are really fun. (I love the Halloween range!)  There are products for all levels of crafting expertise from beginners (like me!) to the more experienced crafters.  The kits are a great starting point for those new to crafting and are also a great idea for craft parties or for gifts.

The Stampin' Up products are sold through independent demonstrators as well as online.

Hip Hip Hooray Designer Card Kit is £17.95 and makes 20 lovely homemade cards with envelopes, (and of course adds three versatile stamps to your collection).