Monthly Archives: May 2014

Cookie Monster Celebrates Chocolate Chip Day

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day! Could there be a better holiday?! Have you ever just dug into a bag of chocolate chip morsels to get your chocolate fix? Think of all the chocolate chip cookies that have been baked and all the variations that exist!

And who would celebrate this day more than anyone but Cookie Monster! If you have baked some chocolate chip cookies as a gift for someone, you could put a few in this Stampin’ Up! Decorative WIndow Gift Box and decorate the box with a cute punch art Cookie Monster! He’s so fun and easy to make and you can vary the size or even make him into a card. For this box, I punched his face with the 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch. His mouth is die-cut with a 2″ Circle Framelit and then part cut off to look like a mouth. His eyes are punched with the 1/2″ Circle Punch and the circle in the Itty BItty Punch Pack. The all important cookie is punched with the 1″ Circle Punch and the eaten part punched out with the 7/8″ Scallop Punch. I just colored in the chocolate chips with the Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker rather than deal with glueing tiny dots! You can use Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up certain parts or the whole Cookie Monster face.

And now I think I will go bake some chocolate chip cookies to put inside that box!

Need some punches for your collection? Just shop at my Online Store!

April Paper Pumpkin Kit Framed Love – Lovely!

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I was late in opening my April Paper Pumpkin Kit and missed out on using the “Happy Mother’s Day” stamp that was inside! But what a cute project!! And tons of materials included, extras, in fact! It was supposed to be wrapped in a wrapper that came in the kit, but since I am keeping it for myself at least so far, I will use the wrapper for some other project. I LOVE this cute little frame that came in the kit. It had a piece of glass, like most picture frames, but I took it out so the paper design can be 3D with the popped up heart and the clear button. The photopolymer stamps that came in the kit stamped great to make the background design.

To start receiving your Paper Pumpkin papercrafting kits in the mail each month, just sign up HERE on my Paper Pumpkin site. It’s just $19.95 a month which includes the $5 shipping. You do pay tax.

And if you prefer, you can purchase a Paper Pumpkin prepaid subscription which can count towards your order, if you are putting one in, or counts toward Hostess Benefits if you are at a workshop. However you decide to go about Paper Pumpkin, you should try it out and see how much fun it is! Each kit only takes a few minutes, probably less than half an hour, to make, which gives you just a little bit of relaxation time for a creative adventure! You deserve at least that much! And for a beginner, you don’t need a whole roomful of supplies, just some adhesive – and in this kit I didn’t even need to provide my own! It came with small little foam dimensionals and glue dots. But if you DO have a roomful of supplies, you might enjoy the treat you get in the mail and just taking the box, sitting down at the table and having a craft experience – without digging through all your craft supplies to find what you need. Just sit down with the cute Paper Pumpkin box and start creating! Change it up if you want, it’s yours, or follow the instructions exactly!

Check out Paper Pumpkin and see if you want to have some creative fun at least once a month! You can always cancel or pause your monthly subscription or restart it later on.

Click Image Above for more Information

New Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals May 13 2014

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Here are the new Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals for the week of May 13 – 19, 2014. Remember, these deals are only available through Monday night next week.

One thing I would recommend would be purchasing the Project Life Corner Punch rather than the one on sale this week. The rounding is slightly different and I think you should have the latest thing that might work best for you. The Project Life cards come with square corners that you CAN round if you want to – or leave as is!

You might LIKE to get the Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags because you can use those with Project Life or just to add to cards or other projects! Of course you also can see designer paper on the deals plus Big Shot dies and an embossing folder!?!

Just announced this morning, but probably won’t last long! Stampin’ Up! has a LIMITED QUANTITY of 2012-14 In Color card stock available only while supplies last, which I bet won’t be long! If you want some, GET IT right away! Just go to my Online Store HERE.

Only two weeks left to buy Stampin’ Up! retired products! Don’t wait much longer!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

Hearts A Flutter Just For You Card

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The Hearts A Flutter Clear-Mount Stamp Set is on the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals this week, today being the last day to order it for that discounted price. The Hearts a Flutter stamp set is on the Retired List, too, so if you like it, you better get it! At this moment, anyway, both the wood-mount and clear-mount are available, with just the clear-mount being discounted today only. Tomorrow a new Weekly Deal list will come out.

As you can see, hearts are not just for Valentine’s Day. I think hearts are like stars – everybody should have some! They are so multi-purpose! This card I made can be used for any occasion, all you have to do is put the appropriate greeting you want. I used the Hearts A Flutter Framelits Dies to cut out an assortment of hearts and a banner. That made it so easy. Although the Primrose Petals card stock is no longer available, it looks like the ribbon and ink pad are, of course that can change in an instant, so don’t delay. The other color I used on this card is Bermuda Bay.

If you have a small budget for stamping supplies, think about sets like this that are versatile when you order so that you can use them in many ways for cards, projects and scrapbook pages!

If you want to check out the Weekly Deals that end late tonight, please go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store. Be sure to check out all the categories in the left sidebar!

An Easy to Make Mother’s Day Card With Hearts

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If you need an easy to make Mother’s Day card idea, make a Mother’s Day card with hearts! Hearts are kind of like stars – they can be used for many occasions and are easy to use to design a quick and easy card. For a card like this, just make the card base and adhere as many or as few hearts as you like. You can cut them out with various of our Stampin Up! Framelits Dies or punches or cut out with our Paper Snips. I used the Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper, but of course you can use any paper, even solid color card stock. Adhere flat on the card, layer, pop-up with Stampin’ Dimensionals, whatever you like. Stamp a greeting somewhere on the card. This one comes from the Geometrical Stamp Set in the Occasions Catalog. If you don’t have a “Mother’s Day” greeting, use something else, like this one. Leave as is or add a little bling like I did with the Gold Baker’s Twine and some individual sequins from the Sequin Trim. (Did you know you can just pull off some sequins from the trim to use individually? Or wait until the new catalog comes out and see what’s in there!)

I hope all of you mothers out there are having a very happy Mother’s Day! And if you are fortunate enough to still have YOUR mother, I hope you are spending some time with her, even if by phone.

Make your mother a quick and easy card, even if you already bought one at the store. You don’t know how much that might be appreciated! Just like when you were a little child!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Need a Last Minute Mother’s Day Gift? (Or A Gift for Yourself??!)

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Supermoms Deserve a Gift Every Month

Get the moms in your life a subscription to Paper Pumpkin for a gift that keeps on giving!

If you need a last minute Mother’s Day gift – or if you fear you aren’t going to get something special YOU wanted – consider a Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Subscription! This is a new wrinkle to the Paper Pumpkin papercrafting kit that comes to your mailbox once a month. Instead of signing up for an ongoing monthly subscription, you can choose a one month, three, six, or twelve month prepaid subscription and receive the redemption code the same day. If it is a gift, just give the redemption code to the lucky recipient and they can redeem the code at www.mypaperpumpkin.com. I can even email you a special card to give the recipient.

Request a Paper Pumpkin subscription for yourself for Mother’s Day! Easy peasy for your family to order!! Just click that link! Or if you prefer they get you the ongoing subscription (which you can pause or cancel any time), direct them to THIS LINK. I’d suggest they do it last minute on Sunday, May 11th so that you will start receiving the same kit that goes out that month rather than the past Welcome Kit first.

BUT – if you or they want to save $5 on the Welcome Kit: Not a Paper Pumpkin subscriber yet? Sign up by May 10th and get your Welcome Kit for $5 off! Use this promo code: FACEBOOKMAY at mypaperpumpkin.com/?demoid=54345

Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators Have It Good!

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At this exciting time of year, when the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog is about to go live in a few weeks and everyone is anticipating the new products, Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators have it good because we get to place a pre-order of just certain products in the new catalog. If we get some new products early, we can make samples for our customers and get acquainted with some of the new things! Here’s my treasured box of goodies that came late yesterday!

Here’s the inside! Love that bubble wrap, don’t you?!

Here’s what we’ve all REALLY been waiting for! The brand-spanking new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog for 2014-15! If you look carefully at this cover, you will see some sneak peeks of what is inside and new! Shelli Gardner said she especially loved the photos of the hands, creating together, which shows one of the most important things about Stampin’ Up!, the relationships, the fun of stamping together.

Here is the new Spanish language catalog, Celebrando Creatividad! If you are looking for a catalog in Spanish in the USA, please contact me and I can have one sent to you.

The new Stampin’ Up! catalogs will go LIVE on Monday, June 2, 2014 at Noon Mountain Time! That’s Stampin’ Up! time in Utah!

If you want to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and start your own stamping and scrapbooking business, just contact me with any questions or if you want more information. You, too, can get in on these perks, fun, and a business of your own. Click HERE for some information online. It only takes minutes to sign up online when you are ready.

And now I’ve got to go play with the new things in that box!!

Project Life Everyday Adventure Traditional Scrapbook Page

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One of the things I love already about Project Life by Stampin’ Up! are the many ways you can use the materials, for example in this traditional scrapbook page with the Everyday Adventure products. The simplicity of the basic concept of Project Life is using the Photo Pocket Pages to easily slip in photos and the cards for journaling or embellishing. But if you prefer making traditional scrapbook page layouts, you still can do it and use the Project Life cards and accessories. You’re only limited by your own imagination and creativity! And that comes much easier when you have those Project Life products to hold right in your hands for inspiration!

You can find any of these early release Project Life products in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! More will be in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog – coming soon!!! Contact me if you are interested in Stampin’ Up!’s many product offerings and would like a copy of the catalog.

Variety Pack 12″ X 12″ Project Life Photo Pocket Pages

$6.95

Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack

$9.95

Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection

$15.95

Everyday Adventure Digital Project Life Cards – Digital Download

$19.95

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Stampin ‘ Up! Weekly Deals May 6-12

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Check out these Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals available starting today, May 6 and on sale through Monday, May 12. Don’t hesitate because you never know what might sell out! The Pop N Cuts Card Base is interesting to have and nice at a reduced price! I love the Hearts A Flutter stamp set. Hearts are one of those things you can often use on a card. The Holiday Ornaments Framelits Dies you could use just with designer paper if you didn’t own the stamp set. Ribbon? Well, we always need more ribbon for our stash! Have fun shopping and don’t forget the Retiring Lists and the Clearance Rack and the current Occasions Catalog! So much to choose from!

Just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and check the categories on the left sidebar! Don’t miss anything!

It’s Cinco de Mayo! Check Out the Stampin’ Up! Celebrando Creatividad Catalog!

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Stampin’ Up! held its Leadership Conference back in January here in Houston, TX and one of the displays was for the Celebrando Creatividad Catalog which is all in Spanish and has Spanish Stampin’ Up! stamps, plus a few unique sets. Click on the catalog photo below to view the Celebrando Creatividad PDF.

Here are some photos that were on display there using stamps from the Celebrando Creatividad Catalog.

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

Today on Cinco de Mayo, take a look at the Spanish stamps offered by Stampin’ Up! Just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and look under “Stamps” in the left sidebar, then “Translated Stamps”, then “Spanish” – or click HERE. Click the dropdown box to show ALL and you will be able to scroll through more easily. If you are interested in receiving a new Celebrando Creatividad Catalog for 2014-15 when it comes out, please send me an email at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

Yoda Card for Star Wars Day

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Whether or not you are a Star Wars fan, apparently May 4th is Star Wars Day to celebrate all things Star Wars! The date was chosen because, well, how fun is it to say, “May the 4th be with you!” (I didn’t even get it when my husband said he was disappointed it wasn’t a work day so he could say that to his co-workers.) Of course it is a pun on the real Star Wars famous saying, “May the Force be with you!”

If you are looking for things to do on Star Wars Day you can watch any of the Star Wars movies, have a Star Wars party, get special deals on Star Wars merchandise, play with Lightsabers, dress up as your favorite Star Wars character, build a Star Wars model with Legos, or read all the Star Wars posts on Facebook and Twitter.

But what better way to celebrate Star Wars Day than to try your hand at making one or more of the famous Star Wars characters for a card or scrapbook page?! I found this Yoda made by a UK Demonstrator, Sarah-Jane Rae with punches, the Labels Collection Framelits Dies, and the Lattice Embossing Folder. I followed her tutorial for making Yoda ,and then I designed the rest of the card myself. Here is the link to her blog post because she explains so well how to make the Yoda. It really is simple.

I remembered that sometime in the past I had found a website that would “translate” something you said in English into “Yoda-Speak”. Not sure if this is the same one or not, and there is more than one, but here is a link to the Yoda-Speak Generator! Have fun with it! I just printed out my greeting on the computer. I even found that I had a font called “Star Jedi Rounded”. Then I cut it out with a Word Bubbles Framelits Die which was perfect! Almost forgot I had those! The little stars are punched with the star punch in the Merry Minis Punch Pack and Champagne Glimmer Paper.

How will you be celebrating Star Wars Day?

Owl Punch

$16.95

1-3/8 Inch Circle Punch

$15.95

Word Window Punch

$15.95

Merry Minis Punch Pack

$16.95

Labels Collection Framelits Dies

$26.95

Word Bubbles Framelits Dies

$24.95

Bird Punch

$16.95

Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die

$7.95

Boho Blossoms Punch

$16.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

It’s National Scrapbooking Day 2014! Get Your Stampin’ Up! Project Life Products!

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Today, May 3, 2014 is National Scrapbooking Day, so what a great time to start thinking about incorporating Project Life into your scrapbooking, if you haven’t already. And if you have heard of Project Life with Becky Higgins or have been using Project Life, now’s the time to incorporate the special sets and products offered by Stampin’ Up! using Stampin’ Up! colors and designs! There will be a selection of new Project Life offerings in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog out June 2, 1014 BUT you can get in on the pre-order RIGHT NOW at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store with the Everyday Adventure Card Collection and the Accessory Pack, plus several other Project Life product such as the Project Life Corner Rounder Punch, the Cards & Labels Project Life Framelits Dies, the Variety Pack 12″ X 12″ Project Life Photo Pocket Pages and even MORE!

The only hard part for me is to choose some current photos on my computer to get printed so they can be USED or to start with older photos in the boxes in my craft room (which, I’m sure you can understand, might require some rearranging of “stuff” and stepping over some valuable excess craft items in order to reach those boxes of photos!).

Just LOOK at the variety of cards you get in the photo above in the Everyday Adventures Project Life Card Collection to use for decoration, embellishment, and journaling (or whatever you want!).

And the photo above shows all the cool stuff you get in the Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack! It looks really fun but might be hard for us “papercrafting hoarders” to actually USE these fun things – stickers, die-cuts, washi tape, wooden embellishments, acetate page, etc. But we must! We can always order more!

To view and to order the new Stampin’ Up! Project Life offerings, available RIGHT NOW (you don’t have to wait for the new catalog!), just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE or email me if you would like me to put in an order for you. Digital downloads are also available!

Stampin’ Up! Project Life Also Available In Digital!

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By now you probably heard about Stampin’ Up! partnering with Project Life and Becky Higgins, but did you know you would also be able to purchase digital versions of Stampin’ Up! Project Life?

All of the Project Life cards and stamp sets will be offered as downloads that are compatible with the Stampin’ Up! My Digital Studio design software and other design and photo editing programs.

Each digital card kit will include all the Project Life images from the traditional card collections and some stamp brushes. Stampin’ Up! will also offer our Project Life Photopolymer Stamp Sets as downloads (English-only).

New to digital design? Here are some of the perks:

With just a few clicks on your computer, you can print your cards from home and add them to your projects.
Digital downloads are a great companion to the traditional products because you’ll never run out of cards.
Add stamps to your photos to create stunning overlays before you get them printed.
Create custom cards by recoloring and resizing the embellishments and stamps.

The possibilities are endless!

You can view the regular Project Life products that Stampin’ Up! has available now plus the digital downloads right HERE in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! And the digital downloads will be available to you immediately with no shipping! Be sure to also click on page 2 of the products!

Day To Day Digital Project Life Stamp Brush Set – Digital Download

$9.95

Everyday Adventure Digital Project Life Cards – Digital Download

$19.95

Point & Click Digital Project Life Stamp Brush Set – Digital Download

$8.95

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Stay on Top of All the Latest with Stampin’ Up! Sign Up For My Mailing List!

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Have you signed up for my Mailing List yet? Every month I send out an email chock full of papercrafting projects and the latest news from Stampin’ Up! My next one comes out next week so be sure you are on my list! This is an exciting time of the Stampin’ Up! year with the new Annual Catalog coming out June 2nd and stamps and accessories retiring from the current catalog. Project Life is a system of scrapbooking developed by Becky Higgins who Stampin’ Up! is partnering with now to provide this quick and easy method of preserving memories in Stampin’ Up! colors and designs. New alcohol markers are coming out soon from Stampin’ Up! called Blendabilities!

Don’t miss a thing! Sign up today in the Mailing List Sign Up Box in the upper right corner of my blog (or the pop-up box you may see!) and start receiving my monthly newsletter with stamping tips, project ideas with complete instructions, specials and offers from Stampin’ Up! and more! I also send out a mid-month email telling you the latest news or a reminder about some other special or product.

Get a FREE GIFT when you sign up in the box AND CONFIRM that you signed up. That is a way to assure you did intend to sign up and give permission to receive my Stamping With Karen emails. It’s a typical thing to do when you sign up with a reliable company. Just watch for the Confirmation email and be sure you open it and click on the link inside; otherwise I won’t have permission to send you my business emails. If you don’t see it in a reasonable amount of time, check your spam folder or the extra Gmail folders. If you never receive it, just let me know and I’ll check on it.

Looking forward to “visiting” with you next week to talk about all the exciting new developments in Stampin’ Up! and send you some fun projects to inspire you in your papercrafting!

Sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List to start receiving your email newsletters!

What’s New? Project Life Pre-Order Available Today for You!

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Get in on the Project Life® craze in scrapbooking now in Stampin’ Up! colors and designs!

You can begin ordering this set of products TODAY, MAY 1st at my Online Store!

More products will be available in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog coming out June 2nd. Stampin’ Up! has partnered with Becky Higgins who created Project Life and who has been well-known in the scrapbooking world for many years. In recent years she developed her successful Project Life line of products to simplify the scrapbooking process and leave more time for creating those moments we often want to scrapbook! Project Life consists of slipping your photos into scrapbook page pockets along with cards which can simply be used as a decoration on the page or as a journaling card. Embellish if you like or as much or as little as you like. Use the cards for other projects, in journals or on cards. The sky is the limit as it always is in papercrafting!!

Here’s something brand new you can get in on TODAY! Place your Project Life pre-order today and start playing! Much more will be coming in the future!

You can choose from photopolymer stamp sets, 12×12 Pocket Pages, cards, journaling pens, and more! Place your pre-order yourself or I will be happy to do it for you! Just email me at Karen@KarenStamps and we can arrange it.

Go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and shop around! Don’t forget the Weekly Deals, the Clearance Rack, and the Retiring Products as well if you want to add to your order. Let me know if you have any questions!