When I first read the Occasions Catalog, the suite that stood out to me was the Cool Treats Suite! I didn’t order it right away, but I loved everything on pages 32-33. I haven’t really had time to stamp with it yet, so when I finally did, I started with inspiration from the Occasions Catalog.  I decided to mostly copy one of the cards on page 32.

Really the only stamping on the card is the greeting, the rest are all die cuts with the Frozen Treats Framelits Dies. I also did not make my card square as I believe the catalog sample is. Did you know that if you mail a card in a square envelope you have to pay a surcharge? Even if you make a square card, it is better to put it in a rectangular envelope. To stamp the greeting in the two colors, I inked it up with the lighter color, Peekaboo Peach, and then colored over on the “cherry” word with the Watermelon Wonder Stampin’ Write Marker. Always remember to “huff” or breathe on a stamp when you have delayed stamping with it to remoisten the ink.

Before I adhered the ice cream scoops and bowl onto the Whisper White layer, I sponged some Pool Party ink for the background. For the little spoon, I die cut the Silver Foil paper.  How cute! Now you can die cut the sprinkles, but oh my, they are as tiny as a strand of hair! I don’t know how you glue those down, or barely even see them without magnifying glasses!  So instead, I used the Sprinkles Embellishments! These are a combination of sequins and tiny pearls, all very small. Just put a tiny drop of glue on the ice cream and then add the Sprinkles Embellishments. Or maybe punch some tiny circles or stars!

The little ice cream dish is die cut from the Tasty Treats Specialty Designer Series Paper. Such cute designs on this paper!  Remember that usually Stampin’ Up! makes their designer paper so that one side is bold or graphic or themed, and usually the other side is something more generic that you can use for other things as well.

You probably have seen many yummy samples of cards and other projects with this Cool Treats Suite of products. I love the colors and all the cuteness! Not to mention I love ice cream!  If you like the stamp set and the dies, be sure to use the Cool Treats Bundle number to order and save 10%!

The Occasions Catalog will come to an end but not until May 31.  However, if you wish to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration, this is the last week!!  Can you believe it?! Get your $50 or more orders in by March 31 to take advantage of this fun promotion! A few Sale-A-Bration choices are no longer available.

If you love ice cream and other frozen treats, you might enjoy the Cool Treats Suite of products, especially with summer coming up!  Lots of potential for party invitations, birthday cards, neighborhood get-togethers, happy cards!

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Stampin’ Up! has so many great products that it is difficult to keep up with all of them! One very overlooked product, I think, are the notecards and envelopes which make creating a card such as this Easy Masculine Thinking of You Notecard so simple and quick. The notecards are available in Whisper White and also in Crumb Cake. Sometimes you would even rather have a smaller card with less space because you just want to write a short and quick note and notecards are perfect for this!

Another great product in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog is the Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper Stack. There are many different designs, a lot that are perfect for masculine cards. On this Easy Masculine Thinking of You Notecard I used a Whisper White Notecard but put a layer of Soft Suede Cardstock on top and then a woodgrain patte.rn from the Serene Scenery Paper Stack.  The greeting is from the Window Shopping Stamp Set and die cut with the Big Shot and the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies.  Then this piece was layered on a die cut made with the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.  For an embellishment, I wrapped a piece of the Kraft Rope (retired) around.

While we get very excited about the seasonal catalogs, such as the current Occasions Catalog, don’t forget to look in the main Stampin’ Up! Catalog because there are lots of goodies in there, too! In fact, this catalog will fairly soon be on it’s way out, so it would be a good idea to look through it and reacquaint yourself with the catalog so you know if there are any products in there that you want before the retirement list hits!

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Notecards and Envelopes, both in Whisper White and Crumb Cake, although I would suggest the Whisper White ones are a little more useful. You can simply stamp right on the notecard with an image and/or greeting and be done. You can’t get any quicker and easier than that! Yet you can also embellish to your heart’s desire if you want! It is also great to know that you have the proper size envelopes with the notecards.

Click here to see a similar masculine notecard I made with the Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper Stack. We’re always looking for ideas for masculine cards and the Serene Scenery paper will really help you out!

Remember, with a $50 purchase, you get to choose a FREE Sale-A-Bration item!  This promotion ends March 31.

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Here is an easy stamped flower card with the Special Reason Stamp Set. I wanted this to be a quick and easy card and it was.  For the card base I just used the Whisper White Thick Cardstock and I have no layers except for the greeting. To stamp the flowers and leaves, I used the 2016-2018 In Colors, all of them except Dapper Denim.  The greeting is one that is in the stamp set, Special Reason, as well as the shape that it is stamped on. I forgot that the matching Stylish Stems Framelits Dies have a shape to cut out both the greeting shape and the layer underneath, so I actually just hand cut them with my Paper Snips! Not too hard at all if you don’t have the framelits!  The ribbon is one of the Sale-A-Bration FREE choices with a $50 purchase of Stampin’ Up! merchandise. It’s called the 3/8″ Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack (143601) and is on page 11 of the Sale-A-Bration Brochure. One ribbon is white with silver accents and the other is vanilla ribbon with shiny gold accents woven through. It’s very soft and easy to tie and very pretty! I’ve ordered it twice!

I find that stamping a LOT on a card or scrapbook page is therapeutic. It just feels good having that stamp and block in my hand and fun to stamp randomly and see what turns out. If you need to get some stress-relief, just get out a clean piece of cardstock, choose a stamp and some ink and just stamp all over! And after what happened in our neighborhood on Tuesday, some stress-relief was in order! As I sat down to eat lunch and checked my phone, I also checked our neighborhood website for new posts.  Wow!  There was  a warning for my street and some others nearby to stay inside, there were burglary suspects on the loose!! In about another hour, someone posted that they heard gunshots. Very unfortunately, a neighbor down the street who is a policeman, answered the call even though it wasn’t for him, and he and another policeman went into a backyard to check out a shed where the door was open. At least one suspect was in there and shot both officers, although the gang member criminal was shot and killed by a third officer. Luckily the other officer was hit “only” in the leg and foot but our neighbor was critically injured. At that point, even more police, helicopters, ambulances and news media flooded into our neighborhood and we were “sheltered -in-place” all day while they searched for the suspect who got away.  Our neighborhood is not like this at all but for some reason this all happened the other day. I guess we never know what can happen from minute to minute. I plan to stamp some notecards that the officer’s wife down the street can use later on if she has people to thank and I’m sure she will. At least it is reassuring to know that the whole police community will be by their family’s side through this.

So on a lighter note, consider this pretty Special Reason Stamp Set and the Stylish Stems Framelits Dies, which you can purchase in a bundle and save 10%. The stamps have just a little texture on them, so don’t think they didn’t stamp well if you see some lighter areas. You will be able to make lots of beautiful cards and projects with this stamp set and dies.

Sometimes you just need to do some stamping, and by that I mean really pounding that ink pad and stamp to paper!  Try it!  It feels good! And when you do some random stamping, you can make an easy stamped flower card like this one with the Special Reason Stamp Set!

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Images (c) Stampin’ Up! 2017

One stamp set you possibly could have overlooked in the new Occasions Catalog is the Custom Tee Photopolymer Stamp Set by Stampin’ Up! along with the T-shirt Builder Framelits Dies.  You can purchase both of these in a Bundle, the Custom Tee Bundle, and save 10%! Just add a little something more to your order and you will earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration item in the Sale-A-Bration Brochure!  Surely you want free stuff! To go along with this Bundle, one thing you might want to choose is the Designer Tee Stamp Set on page 19 of the Sale-A-Bration Brochure.  You could use these greetings on your tee shirts you stamp but also on any cards or projects as greetings!

Here is a new video from Stampin’ Up! telling you about the t-shirt products!  Enjoy!

This stamp set also reminds me of when I was a young girl and I loved designing and drawing clothing. It wasn’t a phase that lasted too long but I do remember a little booklet I put together drawn with colored pencils! If you yourself or a future clothing designer in your family likes that sort of thing, they could have lots of fun with this tee shirt stamp set.

This stamp set is also good for making masculine cards, something we always seem to have a bit of difficulty with.  And as Holly describes in the video, you can use some of the stamps just for adding a little background interest or as greetings on other projects.

To order any or all of these tee shirt products, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

Today, January 20, 2017 is Inauguration Day here in the United States. No matter everyone’s political choices, it is the day we celebrate the peaceful transition of power from one President to the other. In honor of today, here is a red, white and blue patriotic card for Inauguration Day!

This card is made with the Balloon Adventures Stamp Set and the Balloon Pop-Up Thinlits Dies. I made it extra glitzy with the Gold Glimmer Paper, die cut with the big pop-up piece. Then I stamped the balloons with Real Red and Pacific Point Ink, punched out with the Balloon Bouquet Punch and adhered them over the Gold Glimmer paper balloons.  I also stamped the banner and greeting and just cut out by hand. The red paper behind the balloons is in the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack.  The card base is Pacific Point cardstock and cut the length of the paper, 11″ x 4 1/4″ with a fold at the top.

Just in case you don’t need an Inauguration Day card, you can easily use this card for a birthday!  Lots of possibilities with this stamp set and dies! Want to save 10%?  Buy the Balloon Adventures Photopolymer Bundle!  Get both the stamp set and set of dies at a discount.

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