Monthly Archives: May 2010

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day Card from My Digital Studio 

I made this card using My Digital Studio, starting with a Designer Template but changing the colors and adding a few elements!  Easy and fun!

Hope you all have a happy and safe Memorial Day!

Do you have your flag flying today in honor of the men and women who died while serving in the United States military??

 

National Scrapbooking Month Special—Ends May 31, 2010

Is it really the end of May already??!  What a fast month and so much going on for so many people with graduations, end of the school year, etc.  I just wanted to send one more reminder of the Stampin' Up! promotion going on today and tomorrow:

Take your scrapbooking to a whole new level with Stampin’ Up!

During National Scrapbooking Month, get a FREE package of Designer brads with the purchase of My Digital Studio (item 118108) or any of the following stamp sets:

Page

Description

Wood-
Mount
Item
Wood-
Mount

Price
Clear-
Mount
Item
Clear-
Mount
Price
81 Extreme Elements 115181 $26.95
119 Framed with Love** 114389 $27.95
128 Certified** 113706 $27.95
129 Circle Circus 115778 $28.95
12* Elements of Style 118611 $27.95 120045 $19.95
13* Momentos 119910 $27.95 120105 $19.95
13* Éléments de style 119900 $27.95 120099 $19.95
14* Rough Type 118659 $26.95 120072 $18.95
22* Sentimental Journey 118513 $23.95 120075 $17.95
25* First Day 118521 $23.95 120051 $17.95
25* Camino a la Escuela 120152 $23.95 120154 $17.95

*From the Summer Mini Catalog
**A Last Chance stamp set!

Choose from the following Designer brads with qualifying purchase:

Page

Description

Item
179

Flower Designer brads

112579
179

Filigree Designer brads

112577
179

Circle Designer brads

112571
179

Star Designer brads

112572

View the flyer for more information and some great scrapbooking ideas. 

Notice that the sets with the double asterisk are sets that are going on the retirement list on June 1st.

If you want to purchase any of these sets just go to my Online Store and watch the video if you'd like or click on the "Shop Now" button and go straight to the store.  You can set up your Customer Account and you're ready to go!  Or email me your order and I'll take care of it for you.  Once your merchandise is entered, you can choose your free brads for each stamp set on the list!

Don't forget, this offer ends tomorrow!!

Sweet Scoops Card….Not Just Ice Cream!

SweetScoopsPartybears 

This new stamp set in the Summer Mini, Sweet Scoops, reminded me of a Stampin' Up! set from a long time ago when I first started stamping.  It was called "Perfect Party" but the ice cream scoop and cone were larger than these.  I remember being so amazed back then that somebody would think to make something besides an ice cream cone out of those stamps!  Don't these look like little bears with party hats on??  We also used to have a face stamp but since we don't now, I just drew in a little face with a marker.  

The little poofs on top of their hats are made with the new Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack in the Summer Mini also.  Sweet Scoops is a cute little stamp set perfect for summer and hot weather when some ice cream cones or a sundae is just the thing!  And how perfect to use for kids' birthday parties!  Get your set ordered now at my Online Store!  You can order it wood-mount (#117078) or clear-mount (#120078)!

Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio Introductory Video by Mark Jessen

Stampin' Up! has just released this video with Mark Jessen, a Stampin' Up! Trainer, to give you an overview of how to use My Digital Studio. Whether you are wondering about it or want to learn a little bit about how to use it, this video is a good one. Mark taught all of us demos who signed up for the Stampin' Up! My Digital Studio Certification program so we would be able to help our customers. 

I'm sure you will enjoy this video.  It's just an introduction, but it will give you an idea of how My Digital Studio works.  If you already own a good digital program, you can purchase the Stampin' Up! downloads without the software to add to your own program.  Watch the video and email me with any questions. To purchase My Digital Studio or any of the downloads (and new ones are being added often!!), just Shop Online HERE.

Going, Going…….Better get them while you can!

Don't forget with the new Color Renovation by Stampin' Up! a lot of favorite colors are retiring….and not only the card stock but the refills, the markers, ribbons, buttons, etc.  Be sure you get what you want because when they are gone, they are gone!  Already a lot of things are either not available or on backorder.  Stampin' Up! will substitute textured card stock for the smooth when it is no longer available for as long as possible.


These are the retiring colors:

Stampin' Up! Retiring Colors 

 

The following items are no longer available to order. Our inventory has been depleted, and we are unable to order more.

101563: Sage Shadow card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
102837: Only Orange card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
107079: Sage Shadow card stock (12" x 12")
107101: Close to Cocoa card stock (12" x 12")
119833: Old Olive Polka-Dot 6" x 6" Designer printed album (in the new Summer Mini Catalog)


Availability can change at any time, of course!  You can place your order with me or Shop Online HERE.  Also, don't forget the May National Scrapbooking Month Promotion….great stamp sets and FREE Designer Brads….or purchase the My Digital Studio software!

Extreme Elements Graduation Card

Extreme Elements Graduation Card stamped 

Extreme Elements #115181 is one of the stamp sets on the May Scrapbooking Month Promotion, which ends May 31.  Purchase this set, or one of many others, and get a free set of Designer Brads with each set!  I didn’t think this stamp set was my style until I played with it!  Oh my gosh, I had the most fun using this set on this card!!  You can just do anything with this stamp set and it comes out looking great!  Since this card is for a  college boy, I thought something a little less traditional might be fine.  I also added a little Gold Glow Smooch Spritz #118770 for even more fun!  You can see it better in the close-up.  And my Big Shot came in handy to make the “OU” with the Naturally Serif Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die #113453.

Look closely and you can see the Gold Glow Smooch Spritz!

Extreme Elements Graduation Card Gold Glow Smooch Spritz 

Order your Extreme Elements stamp set this week while you can get your choice of Designer Brads (page 179 of the Idea Book & Catalog) FREE!  And don’t forget about the Happy Grad (#117006) single stamp on the last page of the Summer Mini Catalog !  It’s such a useful stamp….and when graduation season is over, you could omit the “Happy Graduation” and use just the words below for various cards and projects!

May Promotions at Stampin’ Up!

Stampin' Up! in recent years often has LOTS going on and that's what keeps life exciting! But that also means all good things must come to an end….usually at the end of a month. Can you believe the last day of May is next Monday?!  And since that weekend is Memorial Day weekend and you might have plans (even if plans just to relax!), you might want to check over the Stampin' Up! specials and things going on right away before Friday!

Best Thing:

Become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!  Have as much fun as I do being a part of this great company!  They just improved their "Career Plan".  There's still time to sign up for the fabulous Stampin' Up! Convention in July in Salt Lake City if you want to jump in with both feet!  And if you want to really make this a business and work hard, you could earn a free incentive trip to Disney World, which, knowing Stampin' Up!, won't be your ordinary trip to Disney World. They make everything extra-special.  Don't wait another day!  Be ready for the new catalog in July and as a demo take advantage of preordering new merchandise in June!!

Go to my website HERE, watch the video, read the information, then click the "JOIN NOW" button on the left and start the sign-up process.  You will need my password:  karenstamps  Just choose which Starter Kit would suit you the best….the regular one or the Digital+ Starter Kit with the new My Digital Studio software.

You can be a demo in minutes and with your new demo number can sign in to the Stampin' Up! website right away and start exploring!  And of course I am available to help you along the way.

To help you get started, Stampin' Up! is offering these two free DVDs full of presentations of various stamping techniques.  Offer ends May 31st.

Free Technique DVDs Special Offer

From April 1-May 31, join Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator and receive two FREE technique DVDs.

Free Technique DVD Details

Description

Retail Value

Workshop Wow DVD 2008-2009 (140 min.)
Includes 19 demonstrator presentations of “WOW” techniques.
$24.95
Workshop Wow 2007-2008 DVD (117 min.)
Includes 18 demonstrator presentations of “WOW” techniques for use in preparing for workshops.
$17.47
Total value for over 250 minutes of stamping and paper crafting ideas! $42.42

*DVDs are in English only

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.  I'd be happy to answer your questions!

UT Graduation Easel Card

We enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Austin celebrating our son's girlfriend's graduation from the University of Texas at Austin!  Here is the card I made for her.  I had planned to post a "decoy" ahead of time to fool her in case she was looking at my blog, but I ran out of time!  I love this easel card, so easy to make and looks like a special style!

UT University of Texas stamped Graduation Card 


  UT graduation easel card

Stamps:  Happy Grad (#117006 Stampin' Up! Summer Mini), Typeset Alphabet (retired), In the Stars (inside) (retired).

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Really Rust, UT Scrapbook Kit (non-SU)


Saturday was a very full day!  First was a luncheon with her parents and family, then the graduation ceremony, and finally the spectacular University-Wide Commencement outside at the UT Tower.  You have to arrive more than two hours ahead to get a seat for that evening event….did I mention it is outside?….in Texas?….in May?….but they do provide free ice water!…and paper fans…..and it wasn't TOO bad being outside for over five hours in the evening… there was a breeze….and it will get a LOT hotter than that pretty soon….so, not too bad.  There were over 7000 graduates and their familes!  I'm sure they weren't all there, but most of them were!!  The actress Marcia Gay Harden was the speaker, and it was fun to hear the deans bestow the degrees on each school, some offering a little humor in their spiel or perhaps the graduates having some impromptu reaction.  Finally the evening concluded with the impressive fireworks display off the Tower and "The Eyes of Texas" playing in the background.  The Tower is lit in orange for the graduates and the windows display a "10" for the graduation year if you look carefully!  It's really a great way to celebrate commencement!

TowerFireworks
 

Fancy Favor Box with Butterfly Pansy

These pansies made from butterfly punches are all the rage right now and so easy to make!  I believe another demonstrator, Dawn Olchefske, may be the originator.  After I made my pansy, I die cut the Stampin' Up! Fancy Favor Box #115965 with my Big Shot, stamped with Elements of Style from the Summer Mini with Versamark on the box, and attached my pretty pansy.

Fancy Favor Box with Butterfly Pansy 

To make the pansy:

  • Use the Butterfly Punch #116629 to punch two butterflies from Shimmery White card stock #101910. (it works better with the water)
  • Place on a folded paper towel and spritz heavily with water.
  • Using your Aquapainter #103954 or small brush, pick up some ink and touch to the wet butterflies.  Use one or more colors.  The ink will spread with the water.
  • Let dry, draw little "whisker" type lines from the center of each.
  • Assemble the two butterflies at right angles with a center brad, curl the edges a bit with your fingers or a tool, and look at your beautiful pansy!
  • Be careful, because they are addicting and you will want to make more!

Who on earth would think you could make a pansy out of two butterflies?!  But that's how talented a lot of our Stampin' Up! Demonstrators are!

 

My Digital Studio….New Digital Downloads Available!

Just in time for graduation!  Stampin' Up! just released this new graduation stamp brush set for My Digital Studio called "Go Graduate Plus"!  Plus two alphabets!  If you already own My Digital Studio, great!  If you own other digital scrapbooking software, you can use these Stampin' Up! downloads.  If you own neither, it's time to buy the My Digital Studio software!  You'll be glad you did!  We're all having so much fun learning to use it, exploring all the options and elements included, and just playing around when working on our projects!  In some cases, you can use a template, just insert your photos, and you're done in minutes!

If you are interested in purchasing "My Digital Studio" or any of the extra downloads including these newest ones, please click on the Shop Online button in the upper right corner to go to my Stampin' Up! store.


Item         Description         Price
121069    Go Graduate Plus stamp brush set $5.95
122143    Jumbo Outline Alphabet stamp brush set $9.95
122145    Contempo Alphabet stamp brush set    $9.95


                All images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2010.

HappyGradDigi

Contempodigi
Contempo Alphabet

Jumbo Outline Alphabet Stamp Set - by Stampin' Up!

Jumbo Outline Alphabet
 
 

Island Oasis Tin Album

In my "stash" I've had these tins I purchased from Stampin' Up! awhile back and finally I got one out and made something with it.  I decided to work with the new Island Oasis Designer Series Paper (#117173) in the Summer Mini, and I had SO much fun with it!  I'm going to order another pack of this paper on my next order!

Island Oasis DSP Tin Album
Island Oasis DSP Accordion Fold Album
Island Oasis DSP Accordion Album

Now I can always go back and do more embellishing on my pages, but for now I wanted it rather generic.  You could add more pages but the tin is pretty skinny so it had to stay fairly small.  And after struggling to get exactly the right shape to have the card stock fit the entire front of the album, I opted for just a strip across the middle!  Much easier!  The paper flower is made with five punched flowers from the Extra Large Fancy Flower Punch #118073 (a carryover from the Occasions Mini so still available!) and one card stock flower on the bottom, all scrunched up individually and then assembled together with a brad and scrunched up once more toward the center.  Really fun!  

If you are interested in this tropical Island Oasis Designer Series Paper and any other great products for stamping and scrapbooking, please click HERE or the Online Shopping button in the upper right corner to go to my Stampin' Up! Online Store.

My Matryoshka

I realize I am one mini catalog behind in showing you these cards, but it was time to play with my own matryoshka dolls.

My Matryoshka Dolls from Kazakhstan 

My Matryoshka stamp set Occasions Mini
My Matryoshka Birthday Card 

The Designer Series paper is the beautiful glittered Sending Love Specialty paper from the previous Occasions Mini  Catalog….but you can see it is not just for Valentine's Day! So if you still have some, get it out and use it!  The stamp set is also from the Occasions Mini, My Matryoshka. We can hope it makes it into the next new Idea Book & Catalog in July!

Find a stamp set in your stash you haven't used in awhile and stamp something for fun today!

  

 

Graduation Easel Card

Graduation Easel Card with Stars
I think if you have stars of some sort….star punches, star stamps, star wheel….. you can make just about any card.  I’ve used them for graduation, birthdays, even baby cards and scrapbook pages.  So if you don’t have stars in your collection, check out the Stampin’ Up! Online Store and see what we have!

Lots of people are looking for graduation cards this month so I thought I would offer this idea.  I’ve loved making these easel cards, so easy and yet looks so good!  On this card I have used the Star Punch #109045 and the Large Star Punch #110710 and the single stamp Happy Grad #117006 in the Summer Mini Catalog.

Graduation Easel Card 

Besides the Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White card stock, I also used the Brushed Gold and Silver card stock for this special occasion!

So if you need to make some stamped graduation cards, this one or a similar style is pretty easy.  I hope it provides you with an idea to get started! Sometimes that is all you need to be creative!

 

Assembling Your Color Catcher

I'm getting ready to try out the new Smooch Spritz in the Summer Mini Catalog (page 15).  A great product Stampin' Up! added to go with the Smooch Spritz is the Color Catcher (#121093) to catch the overspray.  This means you don't have to find your own box to spray in or get colored spray all over your table or patio outside!  The Color Catcher comes all folded up and has a few illustrations on how to assemble, but I thought I would take pictures of how I assembled mine.  Not really hard, but at first it might look confusing.

This is what it looks like out of the package:

Color Catcher 

Open it up!
 

Color Catcher 

Open it and spread it out on your table, being careful not to knock over your cup of hot tea!  You can follow the enclosed instructions to see how to lay it out right.
Color Catcher 

Fold up the backside of the Color Catcher.
Color Catcher  

Fold the bottom side flaps up and pull the sides in.
Color Catcher  

The other side.
Color Catcher  

Now you're going to fold the side flap down over the folded up bottom flap.
Color Catcher 

It almost feels like you are doing it wrong, but just fold it and  you will see that those tabs are going to go into the back and one at the bottom.
Color Catcher 

Voila!!  You have a Color Catcher!  And when you are not using it, you can unfold it and store compactly (which is important for most of us stampers, scrapbookers, and crafters!)
Color Catcher  

Now go get your Smooch Spritz, shake it up, and spray away!

Even if you are not a stamper, you can use this for any kind of craft projects where you want a little protection when spraying or maybe some other techniques.  Assembled size 10" x 10" x 10".

Please sign up for my mailing list in the box in the upper left corner!  You can keep up with the latest Stampin' Up! news and products as well as stamping projects and tips!

        

Mother’s Day Stair Step Card

This was my first attempt at a "stair step" card, and it was very easy to make.  (If I could find the measurements I used I would post them! Maybe later!)  All you really do is fold your card stock in a series of accordion folds.  If you want the side panel like I have on this card, you cut a slit to separate it from the rest of the folds.  Then you just add whatever fanciness you want to each stair step!  On this card I used the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper #113976 and the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die #118138 to make the butterflies.

Mother's Day Stair Step Card
Mother's Day Stair Step Card from the side
 

If you would like to purchase any of the supplies to make this card, just click on the red Order Online button in the upper right of my blog!