Author Archives: Karen Fontinelle

Halloween Candy Bowl Decoration

If you want to fancy up your candy bowl a little, try this Halloween Candy Bowl Decoration! Get yourself some kind of small bowl, dish, or container and make something like a tag or miniature card, essentially, to decorate the bowl for the holiday!

I just took the 5/8″ Burlap Ribbon and wrapped around the candy bowl. Actually, I used some velcro to hold the ribbon together thinking that I could maybe make a Christmas decoration and change it out on the same bowl. But you could also just use some Mini Glue Dots or something to hold the ribbon on to the bowl if you wanted to.

For the Halloween decoration, I stamped the dog from the Trick or Tweet Stamp Set in the Holiday Catalog on Whisper White Cardstock and colored him in with Stampin’ Blends. I love those Stampin’ Blends Markers! So relaxing to color with these alcohol markers. I also stamped and colored the tiny little jack-o-lantern. Then I cut these both out by hand. I also cut out a pumpkin from the Toil & Trouble Designer Paper as well as the little bat.

The greeting is stamped with the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set and ultimately I decided to just cut all the words apart to fit them onto the decoration easier. The full moon is cut with the 1″ Circle Punch out of Crushed Curry Cardstock. I just glued all these pieces onto a piece of Granny Apple Green Cardstock, punched with the 2″ Circle Punch. This is then layered on a piece of Gold Glimmer Paper die cut with one of the Layering Circles Dies. I adhered this decoration to the burlap ribbon with a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For a finishing touch, I couldn’t resist tying on a piece of the beautiful, sparkly Black 5/8″ Glittered Organdy Ribbon. You’ve got to have this lovely ribbon to use on projects! It’s for more than Halloween, too!

Find a candy bowl in your stash or at the craft store or even the dollar store and decorate it for Halloween! I bet it will make the candy even more enticing (not that we need that!).

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP!

Christmas Crafting in a Box!

Leave a reply

Don’t miss this festive Paper Pumpkin Kit in November! You might think it is too early, but it’s a good idea to join Paper Pumpkin right now so you don’t miss out! When Stampin’ Up! makes a special box for the monthly kit, you know it is going to be something special!

The holidays are the best time to share our appreciation for others, and nothing does that like a handmade holiday card! November’s kit gives you everything you need to make plenty of those! (10 cards; 5 of 2 unique holiday designs.)

The box is a great sneak of what’s inside!

Here are the coordinating colors to further entice you:

Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Gold, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Whisper White

Remember, a Paper Pumpkin subscriber gets all of this PLUS an exclusive stamp set AND an ink spot—all for $19.95 (shipping included). Not only will you have cards to SEND but you will have the fun of making them yourself! You don’t have to have any supplies yourself and you don’t have to decide what to make! That’s all taken care of for you! Just open the box and the magic happens!!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN BY NOVEMBER 10th TO RECEIVE THIS HOLIDAY KIT!

Don’t Miss Out! Are You On My Stamping With Karen Mailing List??

Leave a reply

JOIN MY STAMPING WITH KAREN MAILING LIST!

Join my Stamping With Karen Mailing List and get a FREE GIFT! Well, besides that, I will keep you up with the latest Stampin’ Up! news and offers and send you free projects complete with supply list and instructions every Tuesday!

AND…..especially right now, every Wednesday I am sending out a FREE holiday email, The 12 Weeks of Christmas, with a new holiday project each week leading up to Christmas! This is a free gift to my subscribers only! These projects will not be on my blog, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. They are exclusive to my Mailing List! We start with holiday card ideas, then gift ideas, and also gift wrap/gift bags/gift tags! Everything you need for the holidays!

Sign up right now in the box below or in the sidebar on my blog or in the pop-up box! No matter where, you will be signed up! If you do it before Tuesday, you will receive my Tuesday newsletter and Wednesday you will receive my 12 Weeks of Christmas email! I hope you will join us!

Graceful Glass Stained Glass Birthday Card

Leave a reply

With all the excitement over Halloween and Christmas products and projects, let’s not forget about one of our greatest needs as cardmakers, and that is birthday cards like this Graceful Glass Stained Glass Birthday Card. It’s always great to sit down and make a birthday card for a loved one or friend.

One of the most beautiful groups of products has been the Painted Glass Stamp Set and the Graceful Glass Designer Vellum Paper. The vellum comes in a 6″ x 6″ stack with two each of 12 designs. This vellum provides a wonderful opportunity for some “adult coloring”! Coloring is therapeutic and relaxing! I especially like to use the Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers but you can use the regular Stampin’ Write Markers or Watercolor Pencils if you like. Sometimes it is interesting to put different colors of cardstock behind the colored piece. Usually you might just want Whisper White Cardstock behind the colored piece which brightens the colors.

You might enjoy the Painted Glass Bundle which consists of the Painted Glass Stamp Set and the Stained Glass Thinlits to use with the Big Shot. This elegant, medieval look will be beautiful on any of the projects that you make.

Enjoy this video about the Graceful Glass Suite!

I hope you get some new ideas from this video. I can’t emphasize enough the fun and relaxation of doing the coloring on this paper!

For my card, I also used the Tufted Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the background layer. I think this embossing folder really gives a nice look for lots of cards.

Take a day and think about upcoming birthdays so you don’t get behind in the midst of all the holiday projects. There are other good sentiments in the Painted Glass Stamp Set, too for other types of cards. The Graceful Glass Suite is a slightly different style to have on hand but will produce cards and projects of beauty. Check out this blog post with another example of a card using the Graceful Glass Vellum!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP!

Coming November 1st: Snowflake Showcase!

Leave a reply

Coming soon! The Snowflake Showcase is coming November 1, 2018 through November 30, while supplies last! The Snowflake Showcase is a suite of products with which you can make beautiful winter and holiday cards and projects – just in case you didn’t see enough beautiful products in the Holiday Catalog to tempt you!

The Snowflake Showcase has two stamp sets, white velvet paper, dies and Snowflake Trinkets. Think of the beautiful snowy wonderland projects you can make with these products!

If you want these products right now in October, you can buy the Stampin’ Up! Starter Kit and put them on your list and become a Demonstrator! Otherwise, just wait until November 1st and order your products right away to beat the rush! You will actually be able to use some of these products to make designs other than snowflakes. Use your creativity!

SHOP The Snowflake Showcase Beginning November 1st!

Black Cat with a Hat Halloween Card

Leave a reply

It’s fun to make a silly card like this Black Cat With a Hat Halloween Card for Halloween! This is an easy one because it just uses a punch, paper, scissors, a few sequins and a bit of ribbon!

The card base is Basic Black on this card with a layer of the cute Toil & Trouble Designer Series Paper. I thought this pattern of the little black cats on the orange background was perfect for this card!

I used the Cat Punch to make the cute black cat. You could also cut out the cat from designer paper with a small pattern for something different to put on a solid background. I cut out one of the witch’s hats from the Toil & Trouble Designer Paper to put on the cat. I stamped the little greeting from the Trick or Tweet Stamp Set and decorated it with a few Iridescent Sequins. I punched it out and layered it on a piece of Basic Black. You can use whatever punches or dies that you like.

The little bit of ribbon is the beautiful Black 5/8″ Glittered Organdy Ribbon. It has bits of real glitter in the ribbon. Unfortunately, the ribbon is backordered right now and might not be available until just before Halloween. But you can use this ribbon for any elegant project and Christmas and New Year’s! I don’t think we have ever had a ribbon like this one and it has been very popular.

Make a few fun cards for your friends for Halloween and be sure to mail them out, like this Black Cat with a Hat Halloween Card.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Do You Own a Stamparatus Yet?? Great For Christmas Card-Making!

Leave a reply

Do you own a Stamparatus yet? When you start making Christmas cards, you will be glad you have one to help you with your stamping! As you can see in the funny little video above, you can do a lot of things with this tool. If you don’t get a good impression when you stamp once, you can just reink your stamp and stamp again because your paper will not have moved. You can stamp various layers by using the other plate and both sides of the plates. You will find it quite handy if you are making multiples of the same card! I know last year I wished I already had mine!

And now, if you would like extra plates for even more details in your stamping or an extra mat, not to mention the small Grid Paper, check out the Stamparatus Accessories . Watch the video below to find out about the Stamparatus Accessories.

You can order the Stamparatus in the Stampin’ Up! Online store and get started on lots of creations!

SHOP FOR THE STAMPARATUS HERE!

Make a Witch’s Boot Candy Holder Halloween Treat

Leave a reply

Make a Witch’s Boot Candy Holder Halloween Treat if you want to make something different and fun! It just takes a toilet paper roll or part of a paper towel roll! (I think I prefer a paper towel roll myself!)

To make it look like a witch’s boot just wrap the roll in a designer paper or cardstock. I used the Toil & Trouble Designer Paper. Then take a piece of Basic Black Cardstock however high you would like it to be to wrap around the bottom of the roll to start making the “boot”. Cut it so the ends meet in the center of what will be the front and then you can fold back the top corners. Make it tall enough so you can add the buckle, especially if you want a big one.

Next just cut a piece of Basic Black in a long triangle to make the bottom of the boot. You want it to be as wide as the roll but you can trim around it to make it rounded in the back. You cut it longer than you want and then curl up the toe with just a pencil or something however you like it.

You can make a cheater buckle by just adhering a square of black in the center of a square of Gold Glimmer or Gold Foil. Then put some candy in a cello bag or add it to the “boot” as is. Just have fun with this idea and don’t worry about perfect measurements. It all depends on the size of the roll you use! Here’s another Witch’s Boot I made a couple years ago!

Don’t forget the Paper Pumpkin Flash Sale if it is still going on today! New subscribers can get the October Paper Pumpkin Kit for only $5.00! It certainly is worth a try for that price! Check out yesterday’s post for more info!

Have fun trying the Witch’s Boot Candy Holder Halloween Treat for the fun people in your life!

Paper Pumpkin FLASH SALE! October Kit $5! New Subscribers!

Leave a reply

Paper Pumpkin, the papercrafting kit that comes in the mail from Stampin’ Up!, has an awesome deal beginning today until October 10, while supplies last! All supplies included!

New subscribers can join Paper Pumpkin and get the October Kit in the mail for ONLY $5!!!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN!!

Use Promo Code FLASH1018

Paper Pumpkin has a LIMITED NUMBER of October kits to offer at this special introductory rate.

The flash promotion price for new subscribers is $5(USD).
The flash promotion starts October 8, 2018.
The sale will continue until our supplies run out or the October subscription period ends on October 10, whichever comes first.
If the supply runs out before October 10, we’ll end the sale and automatically begin accepting new subscribers for November (which features our one-of-a-kind, exclusive holiday kit in a specially-designed box).
Just enter the code FLASH1018 before the sale ends to receive this special introductory price.

If you EVER were interested in Paper Pumpkin this is the time to do it! But don’t delay! Who knows how fast the Flash Sale will go! JOIN as soon as you read this! You can always cancel if you try the kit and don’t like it. Although you are bound to like it!! It’s a papercrafting project with everything you need in a box. Just open the box and start crafting! Each month is a surprise! I look forward to my kit in my mailbox every month!!

Click HERE: JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN TODAY FOR $5!!

Use Promo Code FLASH1018

Last Day! Stampin’ Up! World Card Making Day Sale! Save 10% on Select Products

Leave a reply

World Card Making Day Products List 2018

Click to Open!

Did you check out the Stampin’ Up! Sale to celebrate World Card Making Day, with select products 10% off? Today, Sunday October 7 is the last day for the sale!

Some of my favorites are the Petal Palette Stamp Set in wood or clear-mount, the 12″ x 12″ Vanilla or Whisper White Cardstock, the Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes available in Whisper White or Very Vanilla, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Mini Dimensionals, and Tear & Tape Adhesive. All good things we use all the time so saving even a little bit of money on them will be worthwhile!

Check out the World Card Making Day Sale today! Last Day!

Add on any other items, too!

Celebrate World Card Making Day With a New Fancy Fold! Try This Pop Up Corner Card!

Leave a reply

It’s World Card Making Day so try a new kind of card fold, this Pop Up Corner Card With Frosted Floral Designer Paper. It’s really quite easy to make! How fun would it be for your friend or loved one to receive a card made like this!

Start with a piece of cardstock that is 8 1/2″ x 8 1/2″. Score with the Stampin’ Trimmer or the Simply Scored Tool. Score down the center (4 1/4″) vertically and horizontally. Then in the upper left corner, score horizontally. You can line up the tips of the paper at the top and bottom in the cutting channel. You could also use a ruler and stylus on a piece of foam or something soft like the Stampin’ Pierce Mat.

Next, cut along the score line as you see in the photo below. Fold and crease all the score lines. I find it is best to fold back and forth, both ways. If you find the edges don’t match up exactly, you might try trimming this scored line that you cut in the photo below just a very thin smidge off which might make that piece fold in better to get that extra bulk of the score off.Flatten out the cardstock and fold the top half down over the bottom half.

Now lift up the right hand corner and fold it back along the diagonal fold forming an L-shape.

Now pick up the right corner and fold over to the left. If you did the previous step correctly, you will be folding the right section over onto the diagonal score line. Just practice folding this card first without gluing anything to make sure you have it correct and understand the card. BUT after you have the hang of it, after you fold this right section over to the left, you will put adhesive on the face of that section. OR imagine it like this – after folding over the right section to the left, the piece above that will be folded down and adhered, so you can put glue on either the top piece or the bottom. At first just hold the pieces together so you can see how it will open up and make sure you know which section will be the front of the card.

Then fold the top section down. When you are ready, this is where you will put adhesive, between these two sections.

On this photo, you can see on the final fold the edges didn’t quite match up. This is where I went back in and trimmed a teensy tiny bit off the little bulk of the score line where I cut the straight line initially.

If you feel confident to plan ahead, you could write in pencil on the sections where you want to adhere other cardstock or designer paper or simply stamp to decorate. It’s easier to do all these things when the paper is flat. But otherwise, go ahead and assemble the card and then adhere the extra paper.

For this card, I chose the beautiful Frosted Floral Designer Paper. It has a shimmer to it that normal designer paper does not have. It is lovely!! I stamped the inside with some stamps from the First Frost Stamp Set. The greeting is from the Petal Palette Stamp Set, which is discounted 10% for the World Card Making Day Sale at Stampin’ Up!

Click HERE to see another Pop Up Corner Card I made a couple of years ago! I had fun making that one and made others ones, too.

Celebrate World Card Making Day today by trying a different fold or making any kind of card and sending it! Or start working on your holiday cards! Whatever you like but take a moment today to stamp! And check out the World Card Making Day Sale!

Joyous Noel Thinking of You Card

Leave a reply

This Joyous Noel Thinking of You Card is made with one of those basic, classic designs that works well almost any time. It’s just the card base, a layer or two perhaps wrapped with ribbon or a strip of paper across the card, and the greeting layered to the side. So simple, just fine!

I only recently ordered this Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper. Honestly, I didn’t care for it just looking at it in the catalog. Then I started seeing some samples of projects that other people made and I started to like it. And of course, we all know it is a fact that ALL designer series paper looks way better in person than it does in the catalog! So I ordered it and wow, was so pleased when I opened the package! It is REALLY pretty paper! These are the coordinating colors if that helps you to imagine: Copper foil, Gray Granite, Merry Merlot, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Tranquil Tide, Whisper White. This card is a little difficult to photograph because it has the copper foil accents on one side of the paper, plus I added some Copper Foil.

To make this card, I used a card base of Merry Merlot Cardstock. The designer paper has a layer of Copper Foil underneath. I have to admit, I cheated and cut out the center of the Copper Foil piece leaving about a 3/4″ margin so that I wouldn’t waste the copper underneath the paper that wasn’t going to show anyway. I could also have punched or die cut some pieces out of it to use some of the foil. The ribbon tied around is the Merry Merlot & Copper 5/8″ Reversible Ribbon. It’s very pretty!

The greeting is stamped in Merry Merlot Ink on Whisper White Cardstock and die cut with a Layering Ovals Framelits Die. The greeting is from the Winter Woods Stamp Set. It is layered on a scalloped oval from the same die set. I adhered it over the ribbon with two Stampin’ Dimensionals. I finished off the card by just tying a knot with the ribbon on the left side of the card. You could also do a bow.

Check out the pretty designer series paper in the Holiday Catalog! All of it is beautiful! And don’t forget the World Card Making Day Sale going on now through October 7 (Sunday!). Save 10% on select products! Even if you don’t have this Joyous Noel paper, you can use this basic design that I used on my Joyous Noel Thinking of You Card because it works with almost any paper and greeting!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

My 12 Weeks of Christmas Holiday Emails Begin Today! Sign Up!

Leave a reply

My 12 Weeks of Christmas holiday emails begin today, Wednesday, October 3 at 1:00 PM! Be sure you are signed up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List TODAY before 1:00 PM so you don’t miss a single week! Just add your name and email in the red box on the side of my blog or just below!

Each Wednesday from now until right before Christmas, I will send out a fun holiday project with a complete supply list and instructions. First we start with Christmas cards, then gifts, then ideas for wrapping – bags, tags, and wrapping ideas. You may copy the idea or get inspired to make something of your own. The holidays are the best time for stamping and crafting and we should enjoy it!

These holiday emails each week are my annual gift to my mailing list subscribers. It is ONLY available to them so you MUST sign up for my Mailing List to get these exclusive ideas. You won’t find them later on my blog or Instagram or Facebook.

Please join us and get inspired and in the mood for the holidays! We’d love to have you!

Only 24 Hours Until the “12 Weeks of Christmas” Begins!

Leave a reply

Tomorrow is the first day of my 12 Weeks of Christmas holiday emails! Can you believe it?!

Once a week, for the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas, I’m going to be sending you an email with a wonderful holiday project that you can make or be inspired by to create something of your own. Each email will have one holiday project, the list of supplies and complete instructions to make it. You can copy it or use the idea to create something of your own.

There will be cards, gifts, bags, tags, and wraps over the course of the 12 weeks. We will start with cards for the first few weeks. This is absolutely free and I love to share it with you!

This is a special gift to my mailing list subscribers, so in order to receive these holiday emails, you must be on my mailing list. Be sure to sign up by Wednesday, October 3 at 1:00 PM Central Time so you won’t miss the first one! These projects won’t be shown anywhere else.

Just sign up in the box below or in the box in the upper-right corner of my blog. You will get a free gift just for signing up! We’d love to have you!

New Stamparatus Accessories!

Leave a reply

Here’s a thank you card that is easy to make with my Stamparatus! I just placed the stamp on the card where I wanted it, lowered the Stamparatus lid to pick up the stamp, inked it up, and then stamped. With the Stamparatus you can move the plastic plate down to the next hinge and the next to get the various lines of stamping. Can you imagine how long it would take to do that by hand and get it all straight??

I like to put a piece of window sheet over the card stock particularly with a greeting that I want placed perfectly because I can stamp the window sheet and see how it will look on the card. If the stamp is slightly crooked, I can correct it and re-stamp. When I have it right, I just remove the window sheet, clean it off, and stamp directly on the cardstock. With the Stamparatus the paper doesn’t move so you can stamp over and over and the paper is in the same place. If the image didn’t stamp dark enough, just reink the stamp and lay the plate back over the cardstock and stamp. Perfect positioning!

Stampin’ Up! has come out with some new accessories for the Stamparatus®! I’m especially happy about the Small Grid Paper that easily fits in the Stamparatus to protect surfaces but mainly to give you lines for lining things up. Just like the big Grid Paper I use all the time for stamping.

There are extra Stamparatus Plates if you want even more stamp arrangements to have handy and another Foam Mat. If you want to order all three items, just order the Accessories Pack.

Just think how handy the Stamparatus will be for making holiday cards this year!