Stamping with Karen

Jackpot Designer Series Paper

I've owned this Jackpot Designer Series Paper (#113995) for awhile but used it very little. However, as I making come cards for a friend's birthday gift the other day I came across this paper and thought it was perfect for her and this was what I should use!  While I started off looking online for ideas, once I got stamping I started to come up with my own ideas.  And you will, too!

Here are a couple of the cards I made.

 

 

This Jackpot Designer Series would be good for a lot of your masculine cards....you know, the ones we usually have a little bit of trouble coming up with ideas for!

You can order this paper and other products any time, either directly through me or on your own at your own computer through my online store.  Click HERE for online shopping!  Remember, with a purchase of $50 in product, you get to choose a Sale-A-Bration product FREE.

 
 

Robot Gift Card

It's been awhile since I have used this template...usually I think people put a tea bag or a chocolate candy in the little pocket.  But since I needed a quick birthday gift for a young teenage boy, I thought it would be fine to hold cash!  I thought of my Lots of Bots stamp set, a good one for boys, and stamped that image for the front.  After I had it all colored in and mounted on Brushed Silver card stock, I thought it needed a little more silver.....and since I am apparently into silver glitter these days, why not a little silver glitter, Chunky Essentials, for the robot!  I just applied a thin line of Tombow Multi Glue around the edge and sprinkled on the glitter.  I think it looks kind of jazzy now!  The Designer Paper I used is the retired Jersey Shore, a good set of colors for a boy.  You could also use any color of card stock and perhaps embellish it with some designer paper.  Lots of opportunity for creativity in this easy project!  Email me if you want more information or ideas!

 

Fun & Fast Notes

I felt like I needed to get back to some simple, versatile stamping today and decided to pull out my Fun & Fast Notes stamp set.  This set covers about every occasion and is easy and fun to use.  Here is a birthday card I made, adding some brads on the side and a little Dazzling Diamonds on the cake (flames and middle layer of frosting!).  After that I decided to add a little something to the background so I used the Retro Remix wheel and Versamark ink.  I used our Stampin' Up! Watercolor Paper for the cake and colored in with In Color Markers and my Aquapainter.  If you don't own this set, you can go to my Online Store and order it!

Lots of Bots Birthday Card

Now that my son's birthday is over I will post the card I made for him.  Not that I really think he would be reading his mother's stamping blog, but it seemed better to wait!  When this stamp set first came out and Stampin' Up! demonstrators had a chance to preorder it at a discount, I was going to pass on it.  But then I remembered my son was going to be working on some robot project at college, so gee, it might come in handy!  I've seen lots of cute cards made with it so it is a great set to own!

Here is the card for his 21st birthday.....and he LIKED the card!  What more could a stamping mother want??!

 

I used the In Colors Crushed Curry and Soft Suede, plus some Basic Gray under the 021, only because I couldn't find my Brushed Silver at the moment.  That is one of the Sweet Treat Cups holding the screws, etc. from the Holiday Mini.....so the Sweet Treat Cups aren't just for candy!  The Sweet Treat Cup is actually mounted to the inside of the card so that the front opens and you can still see the robot in the cup.  You use the 1 3/4" Circle Punch to make the holes.  After I made the first one, I traced with a pencil where the next one would go so I would get the placement right with the punch and everything would line up.  The punches work best with one layer of card stock at a time.

 

 

 

 

Use some Mini Glue Dots to attach the front of the Treat Cup to the layer you see here, then when you attach the stamped robot layer you will peel away the adhesive strip on the actual Treat Cup to adhere that so it looks like the robot is inside the cup.

I left the right hand corner unstamped so we could sign the card there!  Be sure to stamp the images before adhering over the Treat Cup......otherwise it is difficult to stamp near the cup!  Duh!

And the finished card again...........

 

I hope these photos make the assembly process somewhat clear, but if not, email me with any questions!

PS:  Since I don't own any number stamps, I used My Digital Studio to print out the numbers I wanted and then adhered them to this card!

Last of the "Deals of the Week" for October!

Here are the final Deals of the Week for October!  Have a little princess or pirate in your house?  You'll need these party kits for sure!  If you don't have a party coming up soon, I think they would be fun for just a craft project for the children!  See pages 174-5 in the Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog for more information!

Week 4 Deals of the Week

Item	Description	Special Price
116214	Princess Party Kit	$9.99
116213	Pirate Party Kit	$9.99

Be sure to contact me before October 31, 11:50 PM (MT)

What Would We Do Without "Lovely As a Tree"?

If you don't already own the stamp set "Lovely As a Tree" you should really add it to your collection right away! We all held our breath when Stampin' Up! retired stamp sets this last time because "Lovely As a Tree" has been around for awhile!  But it just is the most versatile, necessary stamp set to have on hand!  It is perfect for making cards for men, which is often a bit of challenge, but it can also be made into a beautiful Christmas card or a sympathy card or used on scrapbook pages and gifts.  Since my husband and I are planning a fall foliage trip to New England, it seemed perfect to make yet another "Lovely As a Tree" card for his birthday yesterday, this time with colored leaves and the new Autumn Traditions Designer Series Paper in the catalog.

I used an old technique called "thumping" to ink up this stamp of trees.  It is a little hard to describe, but you just hold your Stampin' Write Marker loosely and let it flop up and down onto the stamp!  Kind of a tapping thing I guess.  I used various fall colors, like More Mustard, Old Olive, Ruby Red, to make the leaves.  Then I just kind of colored in the tree trunks and branches with the new Soft Suede marker, just hitting the lines as well as I could.....plus some green marker for grass lines on the stamp.  When I got the trees stamped, I decided to sponge in some blue ink for the sky and some green for the grass.  The card might be a little "busy" with that particular DSP, but too bad, I wanted the one with the colored leaves!

Here is the inside of the card using another stamp in the set.  The greeting is from the Level 3 Hostess Set "Kind & Caring Thoughts".  To color in the leaves I just colored with a marker on the lid of the stamp box and picked up the ink with my Aquapainter.  I love to color that way!

Wow! What a Birthday!

I got the best surprise yesterday for my birthday when my brother called from Kansas and said he might be flying to Houston that evening on business.  We haven't seen each other  in a couple of years and he rarely gets to fly to Houston, so that he was coming to Houston, much less on my birthday, was a pretty big treat!  He did just barely make it in by evening, and then we went out to his and my favorite restaurant for him to have dinner and me to have a second dinner I guess!  He even brought along handmade birthday cards from my nieces and nephews!  I was so impressed with how "fancy" they made the cards!  Their mom said on the phone that they love the stamped cards I send them so now they make fancy cards also!  They used decorative scissors and had belly bands around them or around the envelopes, glued on borders, and lovely little notes! Here's a photo of the cards and handmade envelopes!

 

So never underestimate the power of a handmade card, whether you are giving or receiving!

If you enjoy a good ESP story....this was weird!  At dinner my husband, brother and I were talking about amusement parks and roller coasters.  I asked my brother if he liked roller coasters.  He said yes, he loved them (crazy fool!).  As soon as he said that, I remembered that one time as teenagers in St. Louis, I went with him, his best friend next door Ronnie, and Ronnie's girlfriend (and later wife) Patty to Six Flags.  They wanted to ride the new wooden roller coaster, the Screamin' Eagle I think, and I DID NOT but I stood in line with them for 45 minutes just to wait with them.  By the time we finally got to the head of the line, I decided I should go ahead and ride it and I did.  As soon as we got off, they wanted to ride it again and we stood in the long line again......and again.  Now last night I literally barely had those words out of my mouth when my brother's cell phone rang.....it was his friend Ronnie!!  How weird is that?!  Ronnie calls him now and then but not real often so for him to call like one minute after I was talking about him was really unbelievable!

So this morning I have just taken my brother back to the airport and gotten to board some rich person's private jet that he is going to fly back to Montana after maintenance here.  It's nice to see how the "other half" lives!  And I came home to a beautiful bouquet of birthday flowers on the porch from my upline/best friend!

I'll get back to Stampin' Up! Convention news and photos later!

Birthday Diorama Card

One of my blog readers emailed the other day and asked how I had made the diorama card, which is in THIS post.  While I looked up the measurements and refreshed my memory with scrap paper in order to answer her, I got inspired to make another Diorama Card!  They really are fun and easy, so you should try it!  Once you make one you can see how you could change the measurements to suit your purpose, but these are the ones I used.

You need:

2 pieces of cardstock 8.5" x 3" for the front and back pieces, score each piece at 2" from each end.

1 piece of cardstock 6.5" x 3" for the middle piece, score at 1" from each end.

Punch or cut center opening on front and middle pieces.  I used the Large Tag Punch and cut off the little remaining triangles with my Paper Snips.  You could use circle punches, a square punch, or even a hobby knife.  Using the tag punch, I punched in the center, then off to each side, creating the large opening.  You could leave space in between and make window panes.  (I love to use the Stampin' Up! grid paper because on it I can measure, align, scribble, stamp, write, etc.)

 

 

Before you adhere anything, go ahead and stamp or decorate your card how you want.

 

To assemble, use a strong adhesive such as Sticky Strip or Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive.  Love that Tombow!  Set the middle piece inside the back piece as you see in the photos.  Then you will see that the front piece side flaps cover the outside of the "box".

 

 

 

 

 

Stamp sets I used on this card:

Trendy Trees, Boho Backgrounds, Party Hearty, Crazy for Cupcakes

Did you notice the "Sneak Peek"?

My First Three Tier Pop-Up Cake Card

This was originally just my first attempt with my new Three Tier Pop-Up Cake Die, but when it was time to send my daughter a birthday card I decided to go with this pop-up.  I only had the "bare" cake constructed, so I had to finish it up.  I quickly punched out some flowers with the Trio Flower Punch and inserted Gold Brads and adhered those on the cake.  I love to use a touch of glitter anywhere I can, so I used the Two-Way Glue pen on the flames of the candles and shook on some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

The front of the card is decorated with some Rainbow Sherbet Designer Series Paper, ribbon, and the Party Hearty stamp set with a little flower from the Pretties Kit.  The Designer Paper and ribbon is actually a little band to hold the card closed.

 

Here's what the card looks like without the band.

 

This card is made with the new "Three Tier Cake Pop-Up Bigz XL Die" (#116760).  You might think this looks too complicated, but I was actually able to make this at 3 am one night when I couldn't sleep!  (I think my mind was on this new die I had received and couldn't wait any longer to try it!).  A little bride and groom also comes with this die so you can also mkae a wedding cake!  And don't think you will be limited to just birthday or wedding cakes!  Other creative demos have made pirate ships, a flower pot, and all kinds of designs with this die.  Instructions come with the die, and of course I am always available for help!

If you want to own this die and start making your own fantastic projects, just go to my website and click on the "Shop Now" button or contact me and I will be happy to help you with your order.

Fun Explosion Box

Do you need a fun little gift?  Make this easy Explosion Box and either add some photos yourself or let the recipient add their own!  This one is for my niece.  I love the "Lovely Letters" monogram to use on notecards and gifts such as this.  The Designer Paper I used is Candy Lane.  Love that paper!

 

 

If you add photos to this you can add journaling on the blank corners.  Or just stamp some pretty things or embellishments to make a decorative item.

Here is a tutorial on Splitcoast that will give you some instructions on how to make this explosion box:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/explosion_box/

It's very easy to make.  You must kind of "squeeze" the box to fit into the lid so that it will "explode" when you take the lid off.