Author Archives: Karen Fontinelle

Making a Star Jasmine Card

Jasmine Card

We have some beautiful star jasmine blooming in our front yard.  I only wish the blog had "smell-o-vision" so you could smell the beautiful fragrance from these flowers!  I wish it bloomed all year!  Sometimes we smell it the most heavily in the back of the driveway.  What a treat!

This card demonstrates how you can get inspiration from lots of places…even some flowers blooming in the yard.  The Garden Green card base is 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" and the Whisper White layer 3" x 3". I punched the flowers with the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  To give them a little dimension, I placed them on the Stampin' Pierce Mat and poked them in the center with my Bone Folder! The stems and leaves are punched from the Bird Builder Punch. I just put a dab of glue on the back of each flower and placed them on the stems and dotted a little Daffodil Delight marker in the center of each flower.  The greeting is from the stamp set "A Little Greeting" in the Spring Catalog.

And here is a photo of our blooming jasmine!  There used to be a pine tree in the center of it years ago. It's just gorgeous and the fragrance is wonderful!

Star Jasmine

Star Jasmine and Bee
If you want to play a little "I Spy" can you find the bumble bee and two other orange-ish insects in the photo??

Shop now at my Stampin' Up! Online Store for any of your stamping supplies!

Make a Gift Bag for Mother’s Day!

Mother's Day Twitterpated Paper Gift Bag

Do you need a pretty gift bag for your Mother's Day gift…or really any occasion? You can use this design and just change out the paper for whatever person or occasion you want a gift bag for. If it's for a man, maybe leave off the paper flower but add a stamped image or greeting instead. You'll think of something!

I just found one of those small brown handled bags that you get now and then at the store.  If you save them, you'll always have a stash to go to when you need a nice gift bag.  Just choose 3 patterns from a pack of Stampin' Up! designer paper and cut one larger piece for the bottom section, one smaller piece for the top and  a piece to go across and cover up that line where the two papers meet and make a cute border. You could leave it as is or you could cut or punch a scalloped edge or whatever to jazz it up.

For my bag, I used three patterns out of the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper. For a pretty accent I added three buttons from the  Designer Buttons Subtles CollectionEach is tied with a small piece of White Baker's Twine. For something at the bottom corner of the bag, I chose to make a flower with the Flower Folds Die and the Big Shot using a pattern from the Twitterpated DSP.

Some of these items are on the Stampin' Up! Retired List so better do your shopping soon!  Anything on the list can sell out at any time so you don't want to be disappointed. Just click that link to go to my store with the retiring products and shop to your heart's content!

It’s May 10th—Sign Up for the Paper Pumpkin Kit!

Paper_Pumpkin_Logo

I'm Paper Pumpkin . . .

I come to your door each month (a fully decked-out creativity carriage). I'll help you to escape your life with some paper fun.

I come in a sweet box, but you'll really love what you find on the inside:

All the stamps, ink, paper, and accessories to create pinable projects. Create stuff like cards, journals, décor, and more!

Paper Pumpkin by Stampin' Up! is a new monthly kit program that anyone (even you) can enjoy!

Every month a new, surprise Paper Pumpkin project kit arrives at your doorstep. Just think of the anticipation of creating a fun project to pin, showoff, and share with your friends and family every month!

Sign up for the Paper Pumpkin monthly subscription HERE!

Of course, you'll want to know more. So here's the nitty gritty:

  • Each month we send you a unique, surprise kit with a project-cards, journals, décor, and more! (We've even color-coordinated, measured, and cut everything for you!)
  • Each kit includes stamps, ink, paper, and accessories-everything but adhesive.
  • Each kit gives you a 30-minute creativity escape.
  • We will ship your Paper Pumpkin on or around the 15th of the month. 
  • You need to sign up for a kit by the 10th of the month to get that month's kit. If you sign up on the 11th of the month, your first kit will come the next month. (Let's say you sign up on May 10, we'll send your kit around May 15. If you sign up on May 11, we'll send your first kit around the June 15.)
  • A Paper Pumpkin membership is $19.95 per month (and shipping is included!) There's no commitment, you can cancel your monthly Paper Pumpkin at anytime. You can also skip a month if you want.
  • If you prefer, there's a Try-It kit if you'd like to try Paper Pumpkin for one month. Order the Try-It Kit here just like any other Stampin' Up! product.

Paper Pumpkin is for the new crafter, the non-crafter, the occasional crafter! It's for the person who wants an easy-to-make surprise in the mail once a month! It's also a great gift….want to give a unique graduation gift to someone? Have a special mother, sister, niece, granddaughter, friend, relative who you'd like to surprise? They'll think of you every month when their kit arrives!

Go ahead….sign up for Paper Pumpkin by clicking this link.  If you do it today, your kit will be on it's way around May 15th.

 

 

Are You Getting My Stamping Newsletters?

Mailbox (1)mail

Are you getting my stamping newsletters? I send out a main email newsletter at the beginning of every month and another mid-month just as a reminder of whatever Stampin' Up! special offers are available or expiring. The main newsletter has plenty of papercrafting projects you can try or be inspired by to create something yourself.

Sign up to be on my Stamping With Karen Mailing List for my newsletters and notification of any extra news I feel is important during the month.  And at Christmas we have the "12 Weeks of Christmas" with ideas to help you with your holiday crafting and gift-giving. You can fill out the form at the top of my blog or you can click here for the form.

After you sign up, within minutes, you should receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription.  Please open this and click on the link inside immediately so you won't forget!  Then you will get a Welcome email with a link to your Free Gift!

My mid-month email will be going out next week!  Who knows what Stampin' Up! news there will be by then in this 25th anniversary year?!  You don't want to miss a thing!  Be sure you are on my Mailing List!

Please contact me if you have any questions!  Let's stamp together via my newsletters!

***If you signed up for my newsletters but you aren't receiving them, perhaps you did not confirm your subscription.  In that case, your name may automatically be taken off my list.  Please just sign up again or contact me if you have a problem!

When Is Mother’s Day? Mother’s Day is Sunday!

Pleasant Poppies Mother's Day Card

When is Mother's Day? Yes, Mother's Day is this Sunday, May 12th!

Here are some quotes about mothers that perhaps you can use in your cards or projects for your mother.

 A mother’s heart is a patchwork of love. – Anonymous

A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done. – Anonymous

A mom’s hug lasts long after she lets go. – Anonymous 

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.- By Tenneva Jordan 

A mother is one to whom you hurry when you are troubled. – By Emily Dickinson

A mother understands what a child does not say. – Jewish proverb

All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother. – By Abraham Lincoln

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. – By Jewish Proverb

Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world. – By Kate Douglas Wiggin

Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. Anonymous

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. – By Theodore Hesburgh

***

I hope you enjoyed these sayings about mothers and that they help you with your Mother's Day card or Mother's Day gift or project.

***

My Mother's Day card is stamped with Pleasant Poppies (a large background stamp) in Stazon Black Ink. The flowers and stems are colored in with Calypso Coral and Tangerine Tango Stampin' Write Markers using an Aqua Painter and just the markers themselves. As a final touch I spritzed the card with Gold Glow Smooch Spritz.  I think you can see it in the photo.

 

Design Your Designer Paper

Designing Designer Paper

Stampin' Up! Demonstrators receive a magazine from Stampin' Up! every other month packed with stamping and papercrafting ideas and Stampin' Up! news and offers. We all can't WAIT to receive our Stampin' Success Magazine when it comes out! In paging through some recent issues, I found this idea that jumped out at me…design your own designer paper!  On the left you see a sheet of the Patio Party Designer Series Paper…and on the right you see the same paper with the polka dots stamped with a small heart from the stamp set Itty Bitty Bits. Just a fun and different kind of idea and easy to do!

You can purchase the Patio Party Designer Series Paper while supplies last at a discount in the Retirement Sale at my Stampin' Up! Online Store.  As I've said before, it's a paper I didn't use very much but have grown to love!

Look through the designer paper you have and see what unusual ways you can use it! Then use it on a card or project!

An Easy Butterfly Card

An Easy Butterfly Card

If you’re looking for an easy but elegant card to make, perhaps a card for Mother’s Day, this is a good one. I used Regal Rose card stock, which is being discontinued with the Stampin’ Up! Color Refresh. It’s a pretty color, but I didn’t really use it a lot. I embossed just a strip of Whisper White with the Stripes Embossing Folder, wrapped a bit of 1/4″ Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon around it, and glued it down to the Whisper White layer. The butterflies were made with the Elegant Butterfly Punch, one butterfly punched out of Regal Rose card stock and one out of Vellum Card Stock which was them embossed with the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder and decorated with the few Basic Pearls.

I love cards like this that you can use for many occasions.This could be for Mother’s Day, a birthday, a wedding, a “thinking of you”, even graduation.

Don’t forget about the stamps and accessories that are retiring the end of this month from Stampin’ Up! Check the retiring stamp list here and the retiring accessories list here.  

You can also see all the retiring products HERE in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! Some are even discounted!

Get them while they are still available!

Make an Easy Gift for Mom

Mother's Day Votive Candle Decorated

What can be easier to make for a little gift for Mother's Day or for your favorite teacher for Teacher Appreciation than decorating a little votive?  Just wrap some Delicate Details Lace Tape #130966 around a clean glass votive holder (it's even repositionable which helps to get the ends lined up where they meet!). It's self-adhesive so easy to apply!  I made a quick and easy paper flower out of the Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper #126922 using the 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch #119854 (what did we ever do without this punch??!).  Just punch several scallops (I punched four) and either glue together after some crumpling, if you like that look, or use a small brad to insert through the center to hold all the layers together.  I used the brad and then glued on a small Vintage Faceted Designer Button #127555.  You could easily decorate this votive holder in lots of different ways!  Just a simple little gift when you want a little something or an extra little something to go with a bigger gift! Try it!

For any of these supplies to make your last-minute gift-giving easier, just check out my Stampin' Up! Online Store here.

Don't forget….Mother's Day is Sunday, May 12!

 

Paper Pumpkin Stampin’ Up! Subscription Kit “Seriously” Cards

Paper Pumpkin April 2013 Seriously

Honestly, when I saw the greetings with this April Paper Pumpkin monthly subscription kit from Stampin' Up!, I wasn't too enthused. Not my style.  BUT when I made the cards, I loved the cards themselves and had fun making them! I think the first one on the bottom row on the left is the example for the kit….the other three I just did other things with…and even had a few pieces from the kit leftover! The background layer is glued down but the other pieces are self-adhesive pieces (and you can move them around and restick!)

Paper Pumpkin isn't for everyone….if you like elaborate papercrafting with lots of layers and embellishments, this is not meant for you. If you have tons of supplies to use, you probably don't need to order a simple kit.

But if you're looking for a quick little treat for yourself each month, want to dip your toes in papercrafting and card making, if you don't have the right supplies to actually make a decent card or project, if you've never even made a card before….then the monthly subscription program from Stampin' Up! called Paper Pumpkin just might be for you! You can sign up with no obligation to continue for any certain length of time…you can pause for a month or two if you want and then continue on.

You can start with a kit for a few months to get the hang of it, then just launch into your own stamping and projects choosing your own supplies from Stampin' Up! It won't always be cards.  Each month is a surprise!

And it doesn't have to be for YOU….maybe you have a daughter, niece, friend, granddaughter, sister who might enjoy a surprise kit in the mail every month! Especially when it is from Stampin' Up!…and you!

Check out Paper Pumpkin from Stampin' Up!

and see what you think!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Celebrando Creatividad 2012-13

Did you know Stampin' Up! has a special Spanish-language supplement to the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog?  It's called Celebrando Creatividad! You can find many of the same stamp sets, but with the greetings in Spanish. There are even a few unique stamp sets in this catalog.

After looking through the samples and projects in this catalog, here are the list of supplies you need for the projects:  Materiales para estampar Celebrando Creatividad

If you would like to order any products from Celebrando Creatividad, please visit my Stampin' Up! Online Store here!

 

Brides & Babies–Best of 25 Years!

Best of 25 Years_May Brides and Babies

Click to Enlarge

In continuing to celebrate their 25th anniversary, Stampin' Up! has released this new collection of stamps for May 2013! One stamp in the set is a new image and the rest are favorites from the last 25 years! Although a new set is being released each month, they will all be available until March 31, 2014.

This is the season for brides and babies, so if you need to be making cards for new babies or weddings, you might want to invest in this set!

Just shop at my Online Store and check out this stamp set!

Best of Brides & Babies   #133482   Clear-mount



 

 

Spring Sampler Flower Card

Spring Sampler Flower Card

It's funny how I don't always end up making what I thought I was going to make!  Since I had fun with the Spring Sampler stamp set in yesterday's post, I decided to make another card with it.  I was going to select an image for a baby card and just stamp it in one color on the Whisper White layer, maybe put a ribbon or strip of designer paper down the side.  Simple, simple.

I got out the Bashful Blue pack of paper and in there was a piece already cut but the front was narrower than the back. Either I cut it wrong the first time or I didn't end up using it. Since I had already pulled out the Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper to possibly use, I decided to adhere a strip of it to the inside edge which would make it show on the front.  I love the colors in the striped pattern of the paper!! That changed the theme of the card from baby to flowers, choosing colors that coordinated with the paper….Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight and Marina Mist.  On the Color Coach Marina Mist is the "Dynamic Duo" match with Bashful Blue, if you were doing a monochromatic color scheme.

And since I didn't stamp a couple of the flowers perfectly and since "there are no mistakes in stamping" I decided to stamp some extra flowers, cut them out, and pop them up with Stampin' Dimensionals over the "boo-boo" flowers.  No one would know I didn't plan it this way!

Although it is pretty cool outside today, the sun is out and the weather is gorgeous!  So I think this flowery, spring card is just perfect!

Spring Sampler Flower Card Front

Scallop Square Spring Sampler Card

Spring Sampler Scallop Card
One of the many things that is on the Stampin' Up! Retirement List is the Scallop Square Bigz Clear Die, so when I found one already die-cut in my stash, I decided to make a spring card with it!  I attached a 4" x 8" card base (folded in half) to the back of the scallop square. The scallop square is Melon Mambo with a Daffodil Delight layer. The Spring Sampler Stamp Set seemed like the perfect set to use for this card. So many cute little images to choose from!
Since it is snowing in some parts of the country, raining and flooding in others, and here we have a cold front on its way to drop the temperature from near 80 this morning down to 44 by tomorrow morning, I thought a card that reminds us of spring was a good idea! Although I will be miserable in the cold the next two days, I'm hoping it will cool down the upcoming summer!!  Any cooler weather we can get here in Houston, especially from this month on, I am all in favor of it!
A card like this with nine little stamped squares is a little tedious to make, but once I colored on the stamps with markers and stamped on Whisper White card stock, it was easy to punch them out with the 1" Square Punch and then the layers with the Postage Stamp Punch.

You'll find the Spring Sampler Stamp Set in the Spring Catalog…and by the way, that catalog is only good until May 31st so don't forget to order what you want out of it this month!
If you have nasty weather where you live, why not make a card to cheer yourself up!

New Bloomin’ Bouquet Project Kit from Stampin’ Up!

It's not quite May, but if April showers bring May flowers, the rain and flooding we had in Houston on Saturday have brought a nice flower surprise from Stampin' Up! a little early this morning!  It's a new flower kit! The Bloomin' Bouquet Project Kit #134542 $12.95 will be available starting at 3:00 pm MT this afternoon (that's 4:00 pm Central Time)…while supplies last!

Kit contents:

  • 2 sheets of preprinted and precut flowers on 12" X 12" cardstock; makes 13 flowers using Pool Party, Gumball Green, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, and Rich Razzleberry
  • 13 Vintage Faceted Buttons
  • 13 green floral wire stems

Adhesive not included. (Glue gun recommended.)

You actually get a "baker's dozen" of flowers….that means you have one extra to give away!  That means the number 13 is a lucky one here! Lucky for the person you share your handmade flower with!

Just add this kit to your order of retired and current items!  Just remember, it's not available until later this afternoon! The link is not available yet, but here is the link to my Stampin' Up! Online Store.

Here again is the Stampin' Up! retired stamps list.

Here is the current retired list of Stampin' Up! accessories.

Zoom in to the page so you can read it!

 

 

Stampin’ Up! Offers Coming to an End

You may be as surprised as I am to realize that April is soon coming to an end! What happens to these months??  And now with all the hoopla over the Stampin' Up! retirement lists, I thought we could use a reminder about some things ending on Tuesday, April 30.  You can add them to the same order with retiring items!

Epic Day This and That Bundle…15% off thru April 30.  Items available only separately after that.

This and That Products
(Clips not included in bundle.)

131268

Epic Day This and That Journal

$10.95

130814

Epic Day This and That Designer Series Paper

$10.95

130133

Remember This and That Rotary Stamp

$5.95

131271

Epic Day This and That Designer Stickers

$4.95

131269

Epic Day This and That Designer Washi Tape

$4.95

133350

Epic Day This and That Bundle
Includes the five This and That products listed above. Only available in a bundle until April 30.

$32.08 
15% Off Retail Value!

Sent With Love Special Offer …. Buy stamp set or designer paper…or buy the bundle and save 20%.

Sent with Love Image

131847

Sent with Love Stamp Set (clear-mount; English only)

$17.95

132182

Sent with Love Designer Series Paper

$10.95

132851

Pretty Bundle
Includes the Sent with Love Stamp Set, Sent with Love Designer Series Paper, and Calypso Coral Baker's Twine

$25.50
20% off retail value!

The Sent with Love Stamp Set and Sent with Love Designer Series Paper are only available during this special offer. After April 30, they'll both fly away!

In addition, you may purchase the Sent with Love Digital Kit (item 132914; $9.95). Please note that the digital kit is not included in the bundle.

For all your Stampin' Up! needs, please shop at my Stampin' Up! Online Store here.