We have some kind of flowers back along the fence with long stems and lots of small flowers in pinks and whites. This morning they looked especially beautiful blooming in all their glory! And those flowers inspired this card.

Since I couldn’t stamp white flowers on Whisper White card stock, I stamped flowers from the Secret Garden stamp set in Pink Pirouette and Strawberry Slush (with some flowers stamped off once to give a lighter shade) with three flowers cut out with Paper Snips (cuz I forgot we had matching framelits, oh well!!) and popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. The greeting is from the stamp set Label Love and punched out with the Artisan Label Punch.  Actually the greeting is trimmed a bit so I could layer over the punched piece of Baked Brown Sugar card stock.  I stamped it twice and cut out the strip with “just for you” so I could pop it up with dimensionals. Three new In Colors were used on this card:  Strawberry Slush, Baked Brown Sugar, and Pistachio Pudding.

With so many flowers stamped on my card stock, it’s almost like I made my own designer paper! You can do the same thing!

For any Stampin’ Up! supplies, please visit my Online Store here!

For its 25th Anniversary celebration, Stampin’ Up! has been releasing favorite stamps in a “Best Of” collection every month. This month Shelli Gardner, Founder and CEO of Stampin’ Up!, was asked to choose the stamps for July. So here are her choices! Plus there is always one new image in the set, not just the old stamps!

Click Image for Flyer

Even though these stamp sets are released every month, they are all still available past that month, until March 31, 2014!  And for every 6 “Best Of” sets that you buy, you will get to choose a free stamp set valued up to$14.95. Just save the Collector’s Sticker that comes with the set.

Check out all the “Best of 25 Years” stamp sets

here in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Did you know Stampin’ Up! Washi Tape is repositionable?  Apparently it is, for quite awhile! Today I took off some Gingham Garden Washi Tape I had used on a project that I didn’t like, wondering whether or not it would still stick on some other paper.  It did!  And it looks fine, it doesn’t look like I ripped it off something else and forced it to stick on this project. Even on this card, I had to restick it a couple times until I got it (fairly) straight and it is fine.  So USE your washi tape! Don’t be afraid to place it wrong or get it crooked. You can pull it off and use it again.  If one end looks bad for some reason, just tear it off. Washi tape typically has one or both torn ends, no need to cut perfectly.

For this card, I stamped some flowers from Flower Shop and punched one out with the new Pansy Punch.  I suggest getting the Flower Shop Bundle with both the stamp set and punch (your choice of clear-mount or wood) and save 15%! The greeting is from Really Good Greetings, the same set I used yesterday in my post. This card is simply a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Whisper White card stock folded in half. And it was SO easy to make! The little button on the popped up flower is from the Brights Collection.

Stampin’ Up! is giving us more details about our Convention experience coming up next week in Salt Lake City!  Is it REALLY next week??!  We always receive a bag of some sort to carry around our stuff, but this year instead of just handing them out when we arrive and sign in, they seem to have something else up their sleeves about the bag! I’m guessing maybe they will hand them all out at the first General Session on Thursday night.  Maybe they will be handed out by someone special.  Maybe they will have something special inside.  Maybe I am making too much out of this! It also sounds like our days will be jam-packed with more activities than we can possibly do, so that we all have choices as to what interests us.

If you need some Washi Tape from Stampin’ Up!, you’ll find it here in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Washi Tape is such a hot item right now in the papercrafting world, and you can order several different designs of washi tape from Stampin’ Up! However, if you wish to stamp the images of washi tape, you can do that with a stamp set called Tape It. I almost forgot I ordered it until I was looking through the catalog and spotted it.

Look how easy this card, or a similar one, would be to make! You could even just stamp on Whisper White card stock without layering on another color. I stamped the greeting from Really Good Greetings with Jet Black Stazon Ink. Then I stamped various washi tape images on the card using colors from the Brights Collection:  Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, and Old Olive. And yes, the washi tape images do have that “torn off” look on each end!

To check out the Stampin’ Up! washi tape and the Tape It stamp set, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store here.

Also, don’t forget the Stampin’ Up! Designer Paper offer going on this month, Buy 3 Papers, Get 1 Free!

I hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July, celebrating the United States’ independence from Great Britain. Independence Day is filled with great traditions!  Picnics, barbeques, family get-togethers, parades, concerts, with everything culminating in a fireworks display!!  Back when I was growing up, it was not illegal to shoot off fireworks in our driveway, so all the neighbors could take turns shooting off their fireworks and we could all watch. Shopping centers would often have displays and we could walk to the top of our hill and watch one display. Somehow that is still a great childhood memory with my friend who lived across the street and me and others in our neighborhood, according to their Facebook postings!

This card may be a bit overdone!  I obviously ignored the rule of crafting which is “know when to stop!” But that’s okay, I think it represents the “grand finale” of the fireworks display!  My favorite part!

Here are some of my other 4th of July decorations!

It’s time for the red, white, and blue and what says 4th of July more than stars and sparkle?! When I got out my red, white, and blue paper I had a completely different idea of a card I was going to make. Then I thought of my new stamp set Simply Stars and this card came together quite nicely. It was just fine with just the Real Red and Night of Navy stamped stars, but who can leave off some bling with Red and Silver Glimmer Paper when you have the opportunity?!

The greeting on the card is stamped with Real Red ink on Whisper White card stock from the stamp set Chalk Talk.  It needed a layer, though, and that’s where I was starting with the Glimmer Paper.  In order to layer on the Silver Glimmer Paper, I had to hand cut the greeting following the lines around the design.  It’s not perfect but it’s fine! Then I cut out the Glimmer Paper using the Chalk Talk Framelits Dies. It still seemed to need something. I adhered the Silver Glimmer Paper to a piece of Night of Navy and hand cut with my Paper Snips (an indispensable tool for cutting like this, in my opinion!), just leaving a small border around the design. The “Happy Big Day” greeting from Chalk Talk is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  They stick well on the Glimmer Paper. I thought “Happy Big Day” can easily cover the 4th of July holiday!

As I said, not to ignore an opportunity for more sparkle and shine, I punched out stars from the Silver and Red Glimmer Paper with my small Star Punch in the Merry Minis Punch Pack #126882. This punch pack was in the Holiday 2012 Catalog.  It doesn’t appear in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog but it is carried over and can be ordered. Just copy that item number into your order. That little star fits perfectly in the center of the Simply Stars stars!

I had fun making this card and I know you will too!  I almost wished the card was bigger because it was fun stamping and embellishing with glimmer paper!

Make something, anything, today with red, white, and blue for whatever your 4th of July celebration is. Make a card for a neighbor.  Make a party favor for your guests. Make some table decorations for your picnic.  Make a scrapbook page for your 4th of July photos. Check out my posts from last year with some 4th of July ideas! Fly your flag, even if it is one of those little ones you can buy at the store on a stick.

Have a Happy 4th of July!