You may not know it, but I love baseball. It’s actually my most favorite sport. I’m so obsessive about baseball that I actually keep score by hand – yes like old school pencil and score card. My family thinks I am crazy – but its what I have always done. Here is an example of a score card:

While the World Series was on, I needed to get some swaps done for my trip to OnStage in Vancouver BC. A swap is pretty common in my crafting world. It’s when you create a card and trade it for another card. This year I signed up for two organized swaps and also needed to make swaps for general swapping. An organized swap typically has guidelines – which could be a theme or must include an embellishment. During game 6, I created one of my swaps which was had to be for a birthday.

I wish I had better pictures to share of the swaps. But I really love the way this gate fold card came out. I used the Hues of Happiness suite. The stamps, dies and paper all coordinate beautifully. Stampin’ Up! has done a great job in making sure that we can also not only use the dies with the stamped images but with the designer series paper as well!

I had to make 12 cards for the swap, so during the game I die cut flowers from the paper and did everything in an assembly line so that when I was ready to assemble I could just put each card together. A belly band holds the cards closed. I adhered a scalloped rectangle from the Scalloped Contours dies to the belly band. I then placed the flowers the I die cut from the Hues of Happiness designer series paper. Once you slide the band off the card opens up to bring your birthday greeting. Here’s a tip for you – the inside greeting is actually two stamps! I needed more than just “happy birthday” but also just the sentiment. So why not stamp them both!