One of the most interesting and beautiful products in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog has to be this Graceful Glass Designer Vellum with which I made this Stained Glass Coloring Birthday Card. It’s a stack of 6″ x 6″ vellum printed with stained glass images that you can then color in various ways.  You get 2 each of 12 different designs.  I have seen so many pretty cards made with this paper.

For my first attempt, I simply colored on the top side of the paper with the Stampin’ Blends markers.  I had no plan, really, just colored in as I went along.  Even the “dark” Stampin’ Blends markers color pretty lightly on this vellum, so you can go back over it if you want to make it darker.  If you adhere a piece of Whisper White cardstock behind the vellum, it will brighten up the colors of the markers.  You can also experiment with other colors of cardstock to put behind the stained glass for different effects.  You can also color with the Stampin’ Write markers but you might want to color on the back side of the vellum so the colors will not be too strong.  Just experiment and see.

I debated which green I wanted to use for the card base but settled on the Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock to just go ahead and make a bright card!  After adhering the vellum to a piece of Whisper White the same size for a backing, I layered that on a piece of Daffodil Delight.  But then I thought maybe it could use a layer of Basic Black so I added that.

In order to adhere the vellum to anything, make a small puddle of Multipurpose Liquid Glue either on the Silicone Craft Sheet or a piece of plastic or wax paper, and sponge the glue onto the paper, lightly.  This will not show through the vellum like almost any other adhesive will do.

The greeting is from the coordinating stamp set, Painted Glass Stamp Set. The stamps have that old style that goes with the stained glass look!  There are also Stained Glass Thinlits Dies if you would like to add that dimension.

I can’t wait to do a little more coloring with the various papers in the Graceful Glass Vellum package!

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I wanted to make a special birthday card for my daughter, and I had seen pretty cards like this design, but I didn’t know what they were called. After some sleuthing, I found out this card design is called a Bridge Card.  With the new, beautiful Share What You Love Designer Series Paper, I was able to come up with this Bridge Card Technique For a Birthday Card.  It’s very easy, really!

This card is really just half a sheet of cardstock, some scoring, and a strip that goes across the front.  It even folds flat for mailing and fits in our Medium Envelopes. Amazing!

Start with a piece of cardstock for the card base that is 8″ x 4 1/4″.  Score at 1 1/4″, 2 1/2″, 5 1/2″ and 6 3/4″ on the long size of the cardstock. Fold and crease the score lines so that the card would stand up as you see in the photo.

Cut strips of designer paper to fit each of the panels. I used the new Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper.  You’ll need four strips that are 1″ x 4″. They can all be the same pattern or two different ones as I did on this card. For the wider center panel, cut either a piece of Whisper White or Very Vanilla Cardstock or, as I did, designer paper at 2 3/4″ x 4″.

For the “bridge” part of the card, cut a strip 1 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ of cardstock. Add a strip of designer paper if you like, 1″ x 5 1/4″.  Adhere all the designer paper on the panels and then get ready to do the bridge piece.  You can adhere it so it is all the way at the bottom of the card or up a little higher.  It just depends on the design you want. To assemble, adhere the left side of the bridge piece to the left edge of top folded panel. Then, if you open up the right side of the card, flat on the table, you can adhere the right end of the bridge piece to the right side edge of the card.  Make sure you only have adhesive on the parts of the bridge piece that will cover the left front panel and the right front panel. Now you card should be able to open up and stand!

Embellish your card however you like.  I added birthday greetings and some flowers that I cut out of the designer paper.   I used the Happy Birthday Gorgeous Stamp Set for the greetings. If you would like an area to write a note or sign your name, make a panel to fit on the back side of the card and you will have plenty of room.

Once you try making one, you will easily see how it all goes together!  It seems amazing that it folds flat for mailing.  Speaking of mailing, if you want to decorate the envelope flap, cut a piece of designer paper that would completely cover the flap and adhere it to the flap.  Then take your scissors and trim off the excess around the flap! Now it’s your turn to try the Bridge Card Technique for a Birthday Card!

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You can make this Easy to Stamp All-Occasion Dahlia Card in just minutes and add whatever appropriate greeting you want! This Definitely Dahlia Stamp Set is just one large background stamp, and sadly, it is on the Last Chance List of retiring products.

If you love this big beautiful flower, it is time to order it! I also made these two cards with other products that are retiring the end of May……the 2016-2018 In Colors.  Particularly if you want these colors in cardstock, ink pads, or ink refills plus any accessories with these colors, you will want to put these on your order!  The colors I chose to use are Peekaboo Peach and Flirty Flamingo.

Now the funny thing is, with the Stampin’ Up! Color Revamp, one color that is “retiring” with the In Colors is actually coming back as one of the Brights Core Colors!  That color is Flirty Flamingo.  Read about the Color Revamp HERE in my recent blog post.

I have always particularly like these background stamps on the wood blocks. However, now with the Stamparatus, if you plan on purchasing this tool, I might recommend the Clear-mount version of Definitely Dahlia so that you can stamp with the Stamparatus. That way if you do not get a good impression the first time, you can reink the stamp, leaving it in place on the Stamparatus, and stamp again to fill in the image. But either stamp is good!  I still love the wood blocks too!

Sometimes we get wrapped up into the latest stamping idea, which is great, but sometimes we need to remember we can stamp quick and easy, simple cards like this Easy to Stamp All-Occasion Dahlia Card.

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I was actually struggling to make a card with the striped side of this designer paper and one of the cakes I’d cut out by hand, when I flipped the paper over and made this Sweet Soiree Fancy Cake Birthday Card. As soon as I turned the paper over, the cake designs layered over the pretty Powder Pink card base, looked beautiful and perfect. There was no point in trying to force a card that wasn’t working when all I had to do was flip the paper over and make a simple card out of it! The Sweet Soiree Paper is so pretty!

To embellish the card, I adhered a strip of the Powder Pink 3/8″ Shimmer Ribbon across the bottom of the card.  It’s a real shame to cover up ANY part of a paper pattern as pretty as this one! Then I tied the bow separately to adhere on top of the ribbon.  Luckily I held off until I had the greeting ready.

I finally found a pretty small “Happy Birthday” stamp in the Beautiful Bouquet Photopolymer Stamp Set. I could punch it out with the 1 3/8″ Circle Punch after I stamped the birthday greeting using Powder Pink Ink and Whisper White cardstock and layered it on a small silver foil doily in the Metallic Foil Doilies package.

I played around with where to put this greeting on the card, when finally I figured out the best place was on the ribbon with the bow on the bottom of the greeting since there was some empty space there anyway!

This Sweet Soiree Fancy Cake Birthday Card is a very easy card to make since the paper is so pretty by itself.  How can it be retiring??!

Be sure to check out the retiring Stampin’ Up! products in the Online Store.

My mojo kicked into high gear thinking about the probable retiring 2016-18 In Colors, and these Easy Cards Designed With 2016-2018 In Colors are the result!  I wanted to make a card with each of the 2016-18 In Colors, which we all assume will be on the upcoming Stampin’ Up! retiring list, scheduled to be released this afternoon.

If you have any of these In Color ink pads and don’t have the ink refills, I would be ready to pounce on your order as soon as you see the retirement list today, if not sooner!  No one can predict, but in the past, the ink refills have sold out pretty quickly, and you don’t want to pay some higher price on an auction site later on!  Chances are, the ribbons and papers that have any of these In Colors in them will also retire.  To make these easy cards I chose designer papers that had these colors in them.  You can look at the back of your designer paper package for the list of coordinating colors (I always write them in marker, larger, on the back, so I can read them at a glance!  If you are under 40, you might not need to do this step!!) See how I do it in this post HERE. (It’s a very old post but the advice is the same!)

• The card with the balloons is on Sweet Sugarplum Card Stock with Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper. The additional layers are Rich Razzleberry and a piece of Blushing Bride, all coordinating colors with the designer paper.  The greeting is from Birthday Delivery.
• The card with the candles is on Peekabook Peach Card Stock using a pattern from the Picture Perfect Party Paper, embellished with some Peekaboo Peach 5/8″ Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon.  The birthday greeting is just stamped across the top of the card with an image from the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set.
• The card with the gemstones is made with a card base of Emerald Envy. The coordinating designer paper is Naturally Eclectic.  The card is embellished with the Lemon Lime Twist Woven Ribbon and a die cut gold foil gem with the Eclectic Layers Thinlits Dies and a greeting from the Oh So Eclectic Stamp Set.
• The butterfly card base is Dapper Denim and uses a piece of Color Theory Designer Paper as a layer (which is layered on Whisper White just to help it stand out a bit). I grabbed a Copper Foil butterfly, one of my extra die cuts from the other day using the Butterflies Thinlits Dies and layered the butterfly on a pretty Delicate White Doily.  The greeting is from the Beautiful Day Stamp Set.
• The last card with the Sweet Soiree Designer Paper layer, is on a card base of Flirty Flamingo.  The ribbon is Berry Burst 3/8″ Metallic-Edge Ribbon and the greeting is from the Flourishing Phrases Stamp Set.

These easy to make cards use each of the retiring In Colors from 2016-2018. If you like them, stock up!

Check back around 1 PM MT and I will get up the Stampin’ Up! Retiring List and information as soon as I can! Assuming my computer is compliant!

My Stampin’ Up! newsletter will come out tomorrow with all the retirement information plus whatever other updates Stampin’ Up! has, so be sure you are on my Mailing List.  Sign up HERE.

Make easy cards designed with the 2016-18 In Colors getting inspiration from the ideas I posted above!

Shop Retiring Products from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog and also the Occasions Catalog in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store TODAY after 1:00 PM Mountain Time (2:00 PM Central Time).

In the midst of stamping Easter cards yesterday, I came up with this birthday card stamped with the Petal Palette Stamp Set and colored in with the Stampin’ Blends markers. At first glance, you might not be all that impressed with the Petal Palette Stamp Set (I wasn’t!), but as usual, once I started seeing samples made with this set I was convinced I had to have it!  Besides the images, which are so pretty, there are some very nice words to use in the set.

The card base is Cherry Cobbler Cardstock with a layer of Basic Black.  The flowers are stamped on Whisper White in Memento Black ink and colored in with the Stampin’ Blends markers.  Some of the markers are backordered right now, but I suggest ordering the single markers, even if you want the whole collection, because then you will receive all of the markers that are available now and Stampin’ Up! will ship the backordered ones when they are resupplied. Even if they are backordered, I would suggest putting them in your Shopping Bag now so you will be first in line to get them when they come in stock.

I chose a greeting from Picture Perfect Birthday and die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies.  Then that is layered on a scalloped oval die cut from Layering Ovals from Gold Foil. For some extra pizzazz I wound up some Gold Metallic Thread adhered to the back of the greeting.  This thread is only $3.00 so a great thing to have on hand or add to your order when you need a little bit more!

On the inside I put a piece of Whisper White cardstock since the Cherry Cobbler is so dark, and stamped one other flower from Petal Palette.

There you have it!  An easy birthday card made with stamping Petal Palette flowers and coloring in with Stampin’ Blends markers!

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You can make an elegant birthday card for someone special using the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper. I think anything you would make with this fancy foiled paper with handpainted designs would look beautiful and elegant! Even this simple background has silver foil dots, plus the outlines of the flowers and leaves are silver foil.

To make this card, I started with a card base of Calypso Coral, one of the coordinating colors of the designer paper. I liked this dotted paper layered on Silver Foil.  I looked through the papers and decided on the flowered paper with the Marina Mist background and cut out some of the flowers to adhere to the front of the card.  If you have the Paper Snips scissors, it makes cutting out a little easier and you can just do it while you are watching TV!  After I cut out the bigger group of flowers, I also cut some of the smaller ones out of the scraps.

Before I glued down the flowers, I thought a little ribbon might be nice on the card.  The Calypso Coral 1/4″ Ombre Ribbon was perfect! I just adhered one strip across the card and then tied the bow on later.

With the ribbon on, I popped the large group of flowers up on Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals mostly, with a few of the regular size dimensionals. The smaller flowers I fit in alongside the large group and adhered with some Fast Fuse. (Only the Fast Fuse refills are available from now on.)

For the greeting, I chose the “Happy Birthday” from the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set. Not only is this stamp set wonderful for all the flowers, but it has a great selection of greetings! I stamped it on a piece of Powder Pink Cardstock with Powder Pink ink, not quite knowing what I was going to do with it!  I ended up die-cutting with the Lots of Labels Framelits Dies but cut off the top of the diecut with the top edge of the card layer. For a little more pizzazz I added a Silver Foil diecut underneath.

I thought the greeting looked a bit plain so I stamped some small flowers on from the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set. It’s one of those things where perhaps I should have stopped before doing that! I nearly messed it up and I’m not sure I’m happy with it now.  I thought adding some of the teeniest pearls would help it, but I’m not sure.

As my friend and I used to say back in the day when we were painting t-shirts and wine glasses together, sometimes you have to know when to stop!  I should have stopped with just the stamped greeting on this card! But I doubt the recipient will be so critical!

If you want to make some beautiful, elegant cards and other projects, you might want to consider purchasing this Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper.  Now there is also a stamp set and framelit dies in the Cake Soiree Bundle, if you want to get the whole works! If you want to make an elegant card for someone special, this paper will make your job easy!