Author Archives: Karen Fontinelle

Life in the Forest Valentine Card

Today I had fun playing with the Life in the Forest Stamp Set and made it into a valentine card! I think those two animals have something going on! I stamped them with Memento Black Ink on Whisper White card stock and colored in with Blendabilities Markers so that I could cut them out with my Paper Snips and place them on the “grass”. The grass is two strips of Old Olive torn to give it that rough edge. The trees are stamped on the Brights Backgrounds Designer Series paper and cut out. The greeting on the card is stamped with the Just Sayin’ Stamp Set. The background of the paper is sponged lightly with Soft Sky ink.

It’s fun to play with these little animals and especially to color with the Blendabilities Markers. You must use Memento Ink and they work best using Whisper White Card Stock. Just be sure to have something underneath the card stock when you color as the ink will seep through the paper. I love the feel of coloring with these markers. You don’t HAVE to do the blending and shading with them, if you like you can just color in with them. Keep it fun and easy! But these markers really are fun to play with.

And you can get FREE Blendabilities markers during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 purchase!! I was quite surprised to see them offered as free items, but what a great opportunity to get some for yourself FREE with your $50 order! Let me know if you have any questions!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store for all the great Stampin’ Up! products so you get your hands on them soon!

Don’t forget the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals, good through Feb. 9.

Click to Shop!

Valentine Candy Bar Treat

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Valentine’s Day is getting close! Here is an easy idea! Just wrap a candy bar, whatever size, in card stock and/or designer paper and decorate. You will easily have a Valentine Candy Bar Treat! Make it as simple or as embellished as you like! For class valentines, you need to keep it pretty simple, maybe just designer paper and a punched out heart or two. For your loved one, maybe go crazy!

This sample is wrapped in Real Red card stock and then wrapped with a piece of paper from the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack. I stamped a greeting from the You Plus Me Stamp Set. I chose the “you’re sweet” sentiment since I was doing a candy bar! The little hearts are punched with the heart punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.

You can do any size candy bar, from the jumbo ones down to the little snack size. Better buy extra, though, so you can eat one while you stamp!

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online HERE!

Spend $50 and get a free Sale-A-Bration product!

Make a Cute and Easy Album from a Kit

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So You Project Kit Images (c) Stampin’ Up! 2015

I saw this new So You Project Kit in the Occasions Catalog on page 48 but honestly it wasn’t on top of my wish list – until I saw Sara Douglass on stage at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference last week show the album she made of her daughter and her friends out on a special date. I think they were going to make one for each of the friends! Then I watched the video shown below by Stampin’ Up! talking about this So You Project Kit album and saw how many things that are included, not to mention examples for each page IN COLOR that you could use – but certainly do not have to. The album holds 4″ x 4″ photos so you could get your Instagram photos printed to keep in this album! It’s the perfect size for a trip or a party or a shower or a new baby or graduation, certainly any occasion or holiday. Or just start it in a generic way and when you get a special photo, just stick it in there! On the catalog page, be sure to check out the extra supplies you might want to have on hand and the coordinating stamp set you could use. Of course, depending on your use, you might already have stamp sets you can use with it. Even if your photos are 4 x 6, they can be cropped to fit, most likely. I think it looks like a fun album and I’m putting it on my order!

Don’t forget, you will also get Sale-A-Bration FREE products with every $50 purchase! No limit! And at $150 you ALSO get Hostess Benefits! Talk to your friends and see if there is anything they would like to add to your order!

This kit would also make a great gift for any stampers, scrapbookers, or potential papercrafters!

Watch this fun video by Holly Linford from the Stampin’ Up! Home Office talk about the So You Project Kit.

To order your kit, just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and place your order! I appreciate your business!

For Moms: Valentine Treat Bag Idea

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Moms, are you looking for some kind of treat idea for your children’s Valentine class parties or maybe just Valentine treats for the teachers? This is an idea I got from watching the live stream from the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference last week. Sara Douglass (Shelli’s daughter) presented this idea on stage: Take a sheet from the Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack, and cut it in half lengthwise. Fold in half and punch the top layer with the Sweetheart Punch (on sale this week on the Weekly Deals!). Then stamp a greeting on the inside layer to show through the punched out heart. I used a stamp from the You Plus Me Stamp Set. I really just eyeballed it but you could mark the inside or use the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.

For this project I used the Chevron Tag a Bag Gift Bag. Put a treat inside, fold down the top edge, fold a Tea Lace Paper Doily over the top and use the Stampin’ Up! Handheld Stapler to attach the little card and hold the bag closed.

On stage at Leadership, this is the project Sara showed. She used the Petite Cafe Gift Bags and just placed the little card at the top edge of the bag. Then she just rolled down the top edge, which also held the card in place! Very simple and easy!

You can really use this idea with any designer paper, make the card wider if you want, embellish the bag more. I had to “push myself away from the table” to keep it simple and not add any extra stuff that it really didn’t need to a Valentine Treat Bag.

The Stacked with Love Paper Stack has turned out to be one of the most popular items in the Occasions Catalog! And it won’t just be for Valentine’s Day either. Hearts are good for any time and certainly the black and white sides of the paper will be easy to use always.

Get your Stacked with Love Paper Stack and the Sweetheart Punch today. Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.

Are You On the Stamping With Karen Mailing List?

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Do you love looking at new ideas for stamping and creating with Stampin’ Up! products? Do you like to learn more tips and ideas for using your stamping tools and accessories? Do you like to know what specials Stampin’ Up! is offering or when the next catalog is coming out? Do you generally like what you see on my blog? Then it’s time for you to sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List!

Would you like a free gift just for subscribing to my monthly newsletter? Then sign up right now in the Stamping With Karen mailing list sign up box! It’s on the right at the top of my blog! My February newsletter is going out as soon as I put the finishing touches on it and you don’t want to miss it! I have exclusive fun projects with complete directions that you won’t find on my blog or Facebook page. I usually send out a mid-month newsletter as well to remind you of any specials or send an extra project your way. And just for subscribing, you will get my FREE GIFT “A Dozen Creative Gift Wrap Ideas”.

Be sure you CONFIRM your subscription by clicking on the link in the email you will receive within a few minutes after signing up.

I’d love to visit with your through my newsletter! Sign up right now while you are here!

Make a Card of Hearts for Valentine’s Day

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When coming up with this Valentine card, my main focus was using the Stacked with Love Designer Washi Tape. I’ve partially hidden it now with my hearts, but you can still see the black and white tapes and the white with gold hearts. Washi tape is so fun and easy to use in many ways. And it’s forgiving because you can pull it back up and tape it down again. Just tear off the ends, no need to be perfect with the scissors or wrap around the edge of the card.

After getting the Washi Tape where I wanted it, I proceeded to die cut a bunch of hearts with the Big Shot and the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies. I used Basic Black, Real Red, and Whisper White card stock as well as the Gold Foil Sheets and the Champagne Glimmer Paper (or you could use the Gold). Then I just played around with the placement of the hearts until I was satisfied with the look. But THEN I got excess glue on the gold foil heart from the glimmer heart moving out of place when I put it upside down to add the Stampin’ Dimensionals – so I had to partially cover it with a small red heart! The greeting is from And Many More, a great stamp set with many phrases to use.

The card is layered on a Gold Foil Sheet and then onto Basic Black for the card base. If you are running short on the gold foil, you can cut out a piece of the center of the gold foil layer which will be hidden underneath the card layer.

Surprise your friends and loved ones by making a BUNCH of valentines and mailing them out! You never know what an impact a handmade card in the mail might make on someone! Everything these days is digital and email and text messages and all that, but a real card or letter in the mail is something special – and always has been. Make someone’s day special when they find a card from you in their mailbox!

Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals February 3 2015

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New Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals out today until next Monday, February 9. The items that jump out at me of course are the three punches! The Ornate Tag Topper Punch is in the Occasions Catalog right now! And what’s more timely right now than the Hearts Border Punch and the Sweetheart Punch for Valentine’s Day, but really hearts are good year round.

At Leadership last week, Carrie Cudney of the Stampin’ Up! Home Office made a cute project using just the bottom of the Hamburger Box Die to hold cute little Cheerful Critters Notecards. Here is a photo from my laptop screen as I was watching from home!

Check out all the Stampin’ Up! products by going through your Annual Catalog and the Occasions Catalog, as well as the categories in the left sidebar in my Online Store. When you place your order, remember you get to choose a free Sale-A-Bration item with every $50 you spend!

Stacked With Love Valentine Card

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It was announced at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference last week that the best-selling item in the Occasions Catalog is the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack! Maybe because Valentine’s Day is coming soon or that paper stacks are so cute and handy in their size?! Today I chose this pattern from the paper stack and designed this valentine card around it. (Yes, the circles are offset in the design on purpose!)

Originally I was just going to have the one heart and the little banner greeting on this card, but once I finished this card, it didn’t look right. Either the heart needed to be larger or it needed to be up higher. I almost let it go, but decided to try adding a heart or more sizes. Once I added the second heart, it felt balanced and much better! The first heart I planned to emboss, probably with the Perfect Polka Dots like the upper heart, but decided to just add some lines with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. I tore pieces of the Tea Lace Paper Doily to place underneath the heart. I added a flower from the Rosette Trim in the Artisan Embellishment Kit (love those flowers!). The pearl on the other heart is also from the Artisan Kit. The greeting is one in the January Paper Pumpkin Kit!

It’s fun and easy to make your own valentines, just get out some paper, stamps and ink and go for it! Add some simple embellishments and you’ve got an original, creative card that you made yourself! What more could anyone want?!

If you want the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack or any other stamping supplies, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store. Don’t forget, with Sale-A-Bration you choose a free product with every $50 purchase!

It Doesn’t Have to Be a Card

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I’ve been watching the live streaming Stampin’ Up! provided for us demonstrators at home and not in Orlando during the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference 2015. I have to say, it’s been ALMOST as good as being there, and I really appreciate that they did that. There really aren’t too many things more fun than attending any Stampin’ Up! event! And getting to watch the General Sessions on my home computer has been great!!

Last night they had several different people on stage doing numerous stamping projects! So many ideas and so many good tips! It’s always amazing! Here is the Love Is Kindness stamp from the Occasions Catalog, a single stamp. The presenter, Alisa, talking about ink, stamped this with Memento Ink and colored in with Blendabilities. She used lighter and darker shades of (perhaps) the new Pink Pirouette on the flowers, Wild Wasabi on the leaves and a little bit of Soft Sky as shading around the outside of the image. If those aren’t the correct colors she used, they certainly could be!

The photo isn’t great because I took it of my laptop screen, but you get the idea! But she didn’t make this into a card – she framed it! Isn’t that just beautiful and so simple! So we don’t always have to make a card with our stamping. Try framing a few things as gifts or home decor for yourself!

Look through your Occasions Catalog again and see what you missed the first or second time around! And if you need an Occasions Catalog, just send me an email at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

To order any supplies you need, either contact me or just shop at your convenience at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Want To Make a Valentine Treat Bag?

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Want to make a quick and easy Valentine treat bag? Just grab a Chevron Tag a Bag Gift Bag and decorate for Valentine’s Day! These bags are a nice size for plenty of treats or perhaps even big enough to enclose a small gift.

To embellish this gift bag, I found a pattern in the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack that I liked and cut the little tail at the end like a banner. I also used the You Plus Me Stamp Set. You can purchase the paper stack and the stamp set together in a Bundle and save 15%! I stamped the greeting from the You Plus Me Stamp Set and punched with the 2 1/2″ Circle Punch. That is layered on circles cut from the Circles Collection Framelits Dies. Extra little hearts were punched with the heart punch in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.

So easy! You could even fold down the top for a flap and tie with a piece of ribbon or staple the top. The bag is large enough you could even enclose a valentine card inside!

If you need any of these supplies (the Chevron Gift Bags are really good to have on hand!) please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! I’m always happy to put your order in for you with a credit card or other payment. Shipping usually does not take very long so you do have plenty of time to receive your order and start making valentines and valentine treat bags before Valentine’s Day!

Wood You Be Mine Valentine Card

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Maybe I AM going to like this Wood You Be Mine Stamp Set! It will be great for making masculine valentine cards or really valentines for anyone. This is the stamp set I WON during Prize Patrol during the unveiling of the Occasions Catalog that Stampin’ Up! held in a livestream to various movie theaters around the country. I was watching it at home and I still won!! I hadn’t played around with it yet, for some reason, so today was the day! Once I stamped the guy and overstamped his shirt with Real Red to make it plaid, I loved it! Since you can see through the photopolymer stamp you can easily eyeball the stamping of the color of the shirt. The greeting is from the stamp set as well as the wood slices stamped on the background Early Espresso. I did use the Hardwood Stamp to stamp on Crumb Cake to look like a piece of wood or fence post. The woodman and the Marina Mist circle are cut out with the Circle Collection Framelits Dies.

*** Here’s a bonus tip I thought of! I was playing around with some punched out hearts with the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and couldn’t quite decide how to place them or if I should put them on the card at all. THEN I thought of putting them on the plaid shirt part of the inked up woodman stamp to get that plaid look to the hearts! And then they seemed to work! Loved it!

Go get your Wood You Be Mine Photopolymer Stamp Set at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE and make some valentines!

Class Valentines for Girls & Weekly Deals

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It’s about time to start thinking about class valentines for school parties! Over the weekend I had two moms come over and get an early start on valentines for their three school classes. Since I knew we would be making LOTS of valentines, I needed to keep them simple and doable. That meant we probably wanted to punch rather than crank the Big Shot fifty times, make sure I had enough supplies for that many valentines, and basically keep them fairly simple to make and remember that it would be little children receiving these who weren’t going to care how creative we were, who might only barely look at them before tossing aside. YET we were making them and enjoying doing that so we didn’t mind putting in a little work!

I knew Elsie liked pink and would want some bling and shine on her valentines for her all-girl 2nd grade class! I had some retired Pretty in Pink 3″ x 3″ notecards in my old stash so that saved cutting and scoring and were just the right size. Melon Mambo is a color that goes with Pretty in Pink so I made the layer from Melon Mambo paper in the Brights Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack. The hearts are punched with the retired Heart Punch. One is made from the Silver Glimmer Paper and the other heart is stamped with a retired stamp set P.S. I Love You. The greeting is stamped on a little 1/2″ wide banner from a stamp in the January Paper Pumpkin Kit! The little staple from the Stampin’ Up! Handheld Stapler adds a cute little touch. And for some bling, we added a little Rhinestone Jewel to the heart. The hearts are popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. The inside of the card is stamped with the “You’re the Best” stamp in the Just Sayin’ Stamp Set that Elsie chose herself to use.

After the valentines, Elsie wanted to play (not with toys but with stamps!), and I had already spotted this past kit that I thought she might have fun with. In just a few minutes she had a whole bunch of flowers made! I have no doubt she can now use these flowers to embellish some other projects at home! She also made the popular rubber band bracelets for everyone in her class to give out with her valentines! Elsie is quite the stamper even at her young age. She knew exactly what she was doing when she was helping us with the valentines, and I loved having a child’s touch to all the valentines for herself, her brother Wyatt, and her friend Carl. Isn’t she the cutest thing?!

Don’t we all have the best memories of elementary class valentine parties, of decorating the shoe box or the bag, cutting hearts out of construction paper, using doiles, maybe even some glitter and glue?! I think I remember having a kit to assemble my own valentines rather than the typical store-bought valentines. So maybe it has all come full circle!

Here are the new Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals for January 27 – February 2. If you like embossing with the Big Shot or the Texture Boutique, you will LOVE these deals! Stock up on some embossing folders! The Texture Boutique is way less expensive than the Big Shot, but remember, you can only emboss with it. To do more, get the Big Shot, some paper, some embossing folders, whatever you like to total $150. Then get $25 in Hostess Dollars to spend on anything, plus 3 Sale-A-Bration items FREE!

Click to Shop!

Making Class Valentines

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This weekend I had the pleasure of having two moms come over to make class valentines for their three children’s classes. One daughter came along to help make the valentines for her class and her brother’s and the other mom brought her teenage goddaughter along to help out. We all had so much fun! That’s what happens when you stamp with nice people!

I designed the superhero valentine in the photo above using the Calling All Heroes Photopolymer Stamp Set, and we made fifty of these for the boys to give out to their classes. You can easily make female superheroes as well with this set if you want. I found some retired small notecards to use that were just the right size so that saved time cutting and scoring paper. There were quite a few steps involved but we didn’t mind the time because it’s what we enjoy doing.

We made quicker work of cutting out the faces by punching them out with the Stampin’ Up! Owl Punch. Just trim off the owl feet from the top of the superhero’s head and round off the chin area which was the top of the owl! You can do it before or after stamping, depending on what works for you. With the photopolymer stamps, you might be able to combine the hair and the mouth on one block and stamp once and then add in the mask.

Tomorrow I will show you the “girl” valentine! So pretty!

Don’t forget, today is the last day for the current Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals! Order before midnight MT tonight if you want any of these products. Remember, with a $50 purchase you also choose a FREE Sale-A-Bration product. Note the Skin Tone Blendabilities Markers on sale!

Just shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Chocolate Inspiration Card

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How about some chocolate inspiration for a card? My daughter gave me this box of chocolates for Christmas (I know, you can’t believe I haven’t eaten it all by now!) but it is almost too cute to eat! At least it is so colorful that I enjoy looking at it on the counter. The other day I thought, those colors would make a good card! So this is my chocolate inspiration card below:

I just matched up some colors of card stock to the wrappers in the candy box. They didn’t have to be perfect but I was going for the look. I wanted to stamp just a fun greeting at the bottom, so I chose “Yippee-Skippee!” from the Yippee-Skippee Stamp Set. Just imagine the different greetings you could put on this same card!

I thought the top portion needed a little something, and then I noticed the candy box had some multi-colored twine wrapped around it! That was perfect! I just grabbed some Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine and wrapped it around. I like it!

So you never know where your inspiration can come from! It can come from anywhere, not just a card website or magazine or something only stamping related. It might be a canned goods label in your pantry, a pillow at the store, a dress or scarf in a magazine, a map in an atlas – anything!

Don’t forget to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration so you’ll have even more stamps and supplies with which to make your gorgeous creations when inspiration strikes! Just purchase $50 in Stampin’ Up! products and choose a free Sale-A-Bration item FREE!

Easy Red, Black and White Valentine Card

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Since I’ve been talking about using up scraps recently, I had to show you this card I made in minutes from a few extra pieces I found on my table. They turned into my easy red, white and black Valentine card! Some other day when I was cutting out hearts with the Hearts Collection Framelit Dies I just saved these scraps. This card began when I just paged through the Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack and chose this paper with the x’s and o’s. I was debating exactly what to put on the front when I remembered these spare hearts and things over at the corner of the table. When I found them it was easy just placing them on the card and feeling satisfied with my creation. Then I just added a little bow with the Real Red 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon. The greeting is stamped with the You Plus Me Stamp Set. I suggest the Bundle of Stacked with Love Paper Stack and the stamp set and save 15%!

Don’t forget the new stamp set, Better Than E-mail Photopolymer Stamp Set! If you are making and selling cards, even if you are not a Demonstrator, you must add the Stampin’ Up! copyright stamp to your cards or any Stampin’ Up! images you are selling per the Angel Policy. Even if you are just making cards, I think these are great to stamp on the back just like the big card companies! Then sign or initial your card and put the date if you like.

These can be ordered in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! And with a $50 purchase you can choose a FREE product during Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration!