Today is the beginning of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament in Brazil. In spite of having sat through hundreds of little boys’ soccer games (and big boys!) through the years, I can’t say I ever learned the rules or understood the positions or anything.  I was just there to cheer on our team and my son, visit with the other parents, and bring the half-time snack and drinks for the end of the game! Sometimes I took one son to one game and my husband took the other one to the other game. Usually he was the coach of one team so that made soccer life even more interesting. All you soccer parents know what I am talking about! Sitting outside in Houston in the hot sun, sometimes no shade, was beyond miserable at times.  I still don’t know how those kids could all run around on that huge field in that heat! On some occasions it was miserably cold. I remember taking a thermos of hot chocolate and sitting in the car to watch the game until half time, then getting out to give my son a drink of hot chocolate and I was absolutely freezing just in those few minutes – but these kids were running and playing through the cold weather.

So in honor of the World Cup Soccer Tournament and my boys’ soccer games, here is a card I made to celebrate soccer! All you need is the Hexagon Punch for the black and white shapes. To add some interest, I stamped with the Six-Sided Sampler Stamp Set on Whisper White to give that little stitched look and then punched with the Hexagon Punch. Just for some color and contrast, I layered the hexagon pieces on a piece of Old Olive. Adhere the hexagons all the way to the edges of the card, letting them overhang the edge.

This is what it looks like from the back:

Then just trim the excess!  Maybe you can use the scrap pieces on another card.

The greeting is from the Geometrical Stamp Set. You could also make this a Father’s Day card!

I think it is fun that you can do just about anything with stamping, even make something that looks like a soccer ball if you don’t have a stamp.

But if you want a sports stamp set, Stampin’ Up! has a new one!  It is called Simply Sports and comes in wood- or clear-mount. There are also My Digital Studio downloads you can purchase  and print out, then use on your traditional card or project – or make the whole card in My Digital Studio!

Enjoy the soccer if you are into the 2014 FIFA World Cup! Make a card or make a scrapbook page of soccer or you favorite sport!  You can shop anytime in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

Calling all super-hero fans!  The new arrival today in the Stampin’ Up! Store is this photopolymer stamp set Calling All Heroes! You might think this set is mainly for little boys, but since the artist, Dave B., has a daughter who is just as interested in capes and masks, he says, as her older brother, he made sure this set could be for a girl, too!  And I contend it is also for the super-hero ADULT fans as well!  I know this will be a set to use to make cards or projects for my son-in-law who loves to go to shows such as Comic-Con and others, collects comic books, and has quite the collection of action figures. Not to mention I think my own grown up “little boys” will like cards made with this set as well! This set just solved some of your masculine card-making problems! The artist mentions (and shows) how well the Just Sayin’ phrases and Word Bubble Framelits work together.

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

You can find these brand-new stamps, Calling All Heroes, in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE under New Arrivals.

And while you are in the Stampin’ Up! store, be sure to check out the new Weekly Deals for this week, June 10 – 16.

It sure is an exciting morning in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store! Not only is there all the new catalog merchandise, and the Tuesday Weekly Deals, but the brand-new super heroes stamp set, Calling All Heroes!  Be sure to check it all out and then place your order. Email me if you have any questions.

I had fun making this smaller size card using Lost Lagoon card stock, one of the new In Colors, and stamping it with the Work of Art stamp set, a set that is already very popular. Being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator comes with many perks, one of them being receiving a special magazine every other month called Stampin’ Success. That magazine is one of everyone’s favorite things about being a Demonstrator!  I made this card copying one of the samples in that magazine, although the sample was a little gift bag! But it could also look like a card so that is what I made.

The Stamp-a-Ma-Jig came in handy to get those chevron lines at the bottom just right. The stamp in Work of Art has three lines on it so I stamped it three times. The Stamp-a-Ma-Jig is really easy to use and certainly comes in handy now and then when you don’t want to just “eyeball” something. The greeting is also included in the Work of Art stamp set. The card actually measures 3 1/2″ across and 5 1/2″ tall, so cut the paper 7″ wide.

I cut my own tag, but a better idea would be to use the new Tag Topper Angled Punch. No measuring, getting the corners even, just punch! The ribbon is the new Lost Lagoon 3/8″ Satin Stitched Ribbon. The strip of designer paper at the top is different than the sample in the magazine but I used the Lullaby Designer Series Paper rather than a strip of Lost Lagoon as in the sample.  And I added a tiny bit of bling, a sequin from the Gold Sequin Trim.

You might as well put that Work of Art stamp set on your order!  You’re going to be seeing a lot of it from me and from other stampers! It’s just a fun set! And if you don’t already have the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, I would go ahead and order that, too! You’ll be real happy you did every now and then!

Don’t forget, today is the last day for the current Weekly Deals! Shop at my Online Store!

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the day that Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, invading Nazi-occupied France, and proved to be the turning point of World War II. I thought a patriotic card was in order.

This isn’t an idea I would have thought of on my own, but I copied ideas others came up with using the new stamp set Work of Art to make a US flag of sorts. The “thank you” is from Itty Bitty Banners and die cut with the Bitty Banners Framelits. I just hand cut the Silver Glimmer Paper as a layer underneath the words. The little stars are punched with the star in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack. There are times during the year when we want to make a patriotic card or decor item or favor and now we have another useful stamp set for this in our arsenal.

The flower on this card is stamped with the So Very Happy stamp set that we demonstrators received free at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference held here in Houston last January. Now that the new catalog is out, we can use it and show it! The stamp set kind of reminds me of one we had years ago, the little bit whimsical line art drawings. I love it! The paper in the background is the new Lullaby Designer Series Paper, which, as I’ve said before, is absolutely not just for babies despite the name! The greeting is one of several in the stamp set.

I originally intended to use the other side of the designer paper which was Brown Sugar diagonal stripes. But when the piece I cut happened to be turned over to this side, I loved the look and used it instead. I also intended to cut out the flower, but laziness overtook me and I just left it on the Whisper White square layer. I would have been a little upset had I cut it out, because what I didn’t realize is that the Blossom Punch fits this flower!

Check my Stamping With Karen Facebook Page to see another version of this card using the Blossom Punch!

Shop for anything you want in the BRAND NEW Stampin’ Up! 2014-15 Annual Catalog at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

The Blended Bloom single stamp is a new one in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog and has mostly been used to color in with the new upcoming Blendabilities alcohol markers (hopefully they will be available around the end of June or early July). But I thought I would just stamp the flower in one color and not color it in at all. And as usually happens, I changed it up a little more, stamping two more blooms and cutting out a couple of layers to make the flower more dimensional. I added a strip of the Lullaby Designer Series Paper. Don’t be fooled by the “Lullaby” paper, because there is not one image on it that will make you think it is “baby paper”. I was going to tie a piece of white Organza ribbon around the designer paper, but then I changed my mind and pulled off three threads from the Burlap Ribbon and tied that around the strip of designer paper.  The greeting is stamped in Blackberry Bliss ink with a stamp from the Four You stamp set. The card stock I used is Blackberry Bliss and Hello Honey, two of the new 2014-16 In Colors.

Check out the beautiful new In Colors in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog! Blackberry Bliss is one of the favorites, so far, but we’ll all get acquainted more and more with these new colors!

Find what you need in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!  Remember, today, June 4th, is the last day to order any retired products that are still available.

This card is stamped with the Work of Art Stamp Set and will be available in the NEW STAMPIN’ UP! CATALOG later today!!!  You have to sit on your hands all morning, but at Noon Stampin’ Up! Time (Mountain Time) (1:00 pm Central Time) the catalog should go live! Keep your fingers crossed that all goes smoothly with technology today as thousands of Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators and customers want to get online and place their first orders as quickly as possible! Those internet wires are going to be humming and soon the UPS truck wheels will be rolling delivering those much anticipated Stampn’ Up! boxes!!

This Work of Art Stamp Set is one you will probably want to put on your list!  It has proven very popular already as demonstrators received it at the Catalog Premiere event and it was a set we were allowed to preorder.  Mine was backordered for awhile. It’s just going to be a fun stamp set to work with!

Why are there two hearts at the bottom?  Well, because “There are no mistakes in stamping!” And I had a mistake on my beautiful card – a little ink from an edge of the stamp! There were a couple of ways I could have fixed it – added more little lines like squiggles around the heart with a marker, or put a rhinestone at one end of the wayward line as if it was supposed to be there, but I decided to play with the hearts some more and cut some out to cover up the line. It worked, I think.

Get your Wish List ready and start the countdown to the new Stampin’ Up! catalog today!! And be sure the Work of Art stamp set is on it!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE starting this afternoon!  Let me know if you have any questions!

Stampin’ Up! asked on their Facebook page the other day what we thought the top-selling stamp set was in the 2013-14 Annual Catalog. It turns out, in spite of lots of guesses for Lovely As a Tree, that the top seller was Mosaic Madness! It’s an interesting set and definitely trendy, but I wouldn’t have guessed that stamp set! Of course it does have a matching punch, the Mosaic Punch and you can buy the stamp set and punch in a bundle if you prefer. It was fun making this card with the Quatrefancy Specialty Designer Series Paper and punching out the stamped images.  The greeting is from Four You, also in the new catalog!

TODAY, SUNDAY JUNE 1st: Last day to order from the Occasions Catalog (that’s my understanding now!)

June 4th:  Last day to order retiring products (while supplies last). You’ll have a couple days overlap (that’s my understanding now!)

***Important Note: Online Ordering will be down on Monday, June 2, from midnight to noon (MDT) while we transition the system to the new 2014-2015 annual catalog. During this time, no orders can be placed in Online Ordering. We look forward to taking your orders from the new catalog beginning Monday at noon (Mountain Time)!

Monday, June 2:  Weekly Deals for week of May 26 Last Day!

Be sure to order at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store or contact me and I can put it in for you.

Are you making out your Wish List for the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog??!

Be sure to look at the Watercolor Wonder Designer Note Cards and Envelopes in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog before they are gone. You get a nice variety, plus envelopes, and you can do a little or a lot to decorate the front of the cards! They are printed on watercolor paper and coordinate with all the other items in the Watercolor Wonder Suite in the Occasions Catalog. On this card, I stamped the vine with the the flourish in the Everything Eleanor stamp set. Then the really easy and fun part – I punched the flowers out with the Petite Petals Punch from the Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper! If you poke the flowers in the middle on a foam pad, such as the Stampin’ Pierce Mat with the opposite end of the Paper-Piercing Tool, it will make the petals of the flower pop up, making them 3-D.  It’s very cute and just adds a little something than just being glued down flat. Add a Candy Dot to the center.

Here are some of the other cards I made for fun! Just use various stamp sets with greetings or images.

This card was almost a loss, I thought!  I dropped the stem stamp on the edge of the card which I thought ruined it.  But no!  I decided to stamp LOTS of stems so the wayward stems would not be obvious. It worked out well, especially stamping off and stamping the lighter stems just for them all to blend in together. The stems and flowers are from the Too Kind Stamp Set.

Such a cute border on this card, already printed for you! I added a banner stamped from the Perfect Pennants Stamp Set as well as the heart.

This card was so easy to make, yet so beautiful!  The flowers are already printed on the card and I just stamped the greeting from Four You and added a small rhinestone jewel to the end of the word.

You will find the Watercolor Wonder Designer Note Cards at this link and the entire Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE.