Category Archives: Cards

Signs of Santa Z-Fold Christmas Card

 

Signs of Santa Z-Fold Christmas Card

This Signs of Santa Z-Fold Christmas Card is a fun card for the holidays!  Z-Fold cards look so impressive, I think, yet are SO easy to make! The Signs of Santa Photopolymer Stamp Set IS still available to purchase even though most everything else in the Santa’s Workshop Suite sold out.

To make a Z-Fold card, simply make a basic card, but then score the front of the card at the center mark (2 1/8″) and fold back. Stamp a circle, square, or oval shape to adhere to the front and you’ve got it!  When stamping a greeting inside, make sure it is completely hidden by whatever you put on the front.

I used the striped flocked pattern in the Santa’s Workshop Specialty Designer Series Paper which is no longer available, but perhaps you already purchased it! Just a little bit of it on each side of the card added a little something, but not too much.  If you don’t own this paper, just choose something else that matches your colors. Or skip the designer paper element!

I stamped the Santa with his list, the elf and the North Pole sign using Memento Ink and then colored in with various colors of Stampin’ Blends Markers.  I LOVE these markers and doing coloring and blending with them.  They are die cut with the coordinating framelit dies, which are also sold out.

Certain Stampin’ Blends Markers (plus regular Stampin’ Write Markers!) are available TODAY on the Online Extravaganza page in the Online Store.  Today is the last day for the Extravaganza!

I die cut a large Whisper White circle (sponged with a little Balmy Blue) and a larger scalloped circle out of Shaded Spruce for the focal point of the card and popped up the Santa and elf with Stampin’ Dimensionals®.  The little North Pole sign I just glued right to the card so it could be seen from the front or inside.

Try your hand at a Z-Fold card if you haven’t already.  Any time they are fun, but even if you make a lot of them for your Christmas cards, they won’t be any more trouble than a regular card and will look like you made a masterpiece!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE TODAY!  LAST DAY FOR ONLINE EXTRAVAGANZA!

Signs of Santa Z-Fold Christmas Card Closed

Cyber Monday! Save on Stampin’ Up! Stamp Sets & Kits!

Hearts Come Home Christmas Card

It’s Cyber Monday and the Stampin’ Up! Online Extravaganza is going on today with 10% off Annual Catalog Stamp Sets and Kits! Today is the last day of the two-day sale.  Tomorrow and the next day will be Tools & Ink.  Quantities are limited so shop early!

Here is a Christmas card I made using the Hearts Come Home stamp set, which is on the Online Extravaganza today.  The card base is Real Red and I decided to emboss it with the Swirls & Curls Embossing Folder in the Holiday Catalog.  I could have left the card plain, it looked fine the way it was.

I did cut a circle with the Layering Circle Framelits Dies and layered that on the largest scalloped circle die of Old Olive. Then I stamped on the circle with a house and some trees plus a greeting and Santa and his sleigh (who could resist putting that on there!).  The trees I stamped and then stamped again without re-inking for a few to look more like a little forest. (Also, I was covering up a little stray ink spot!)  For a finishing touch, I added a little white bow with the Whisper White 1/8″ Sheer Ribbon.

Look through the stamp sets and the cardmaking kits offered on the Online Extravaganza today and see if there are any you have been wanting or “need”!  Add on any other products you want as well.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! TODAY!

What Crafting Do You Plan to Do This Thanksgiving Weekend?

Craft Supplies

What crafting do you plan to do this Thanksgiving weekend??  In my wildest dreams, I plan on doing tons of papercrafting starting the day after Thanksgiving!  Doesn’t it sound heavenly?! But we’ll see!  There’s always…..”I’ll just do this first!”

I want to make Christmas cards, I hope to heavens my Paper Pumpkin Kit comes in the mail today because I know it has been sitting in a Houston post office somewhere for days now (Grrrr!!), make some framed projects I intended to make LAST YEAR, and then I bought all these things from a couple of craft stores!!!  The question will be can I find the samples again that I liked so much!  I know I should pin them to even a Secret Pinterest board, but I don’t always.

The clear plastic half balls are to make a little scene inside and then have a flat back out of cardstock or thin cardboard on the back. I don’t even know if I bought the right thing. I’ve seen some cute ornaments made out of what look like slices of a tree trunk, sometimes REAL slices from a REAL tree, so I bought these little wood things. And the other day I saw some really cute decorated wreaths that caused me to make a quick trip to the craft store and get the last box the lady could find! I don’t remember what the wreaths looked like but hopefully, I will find it again!

Whatever you have planned for Thanksgiving, I hope you will find some time for yourself to enjoy some holiday stamping and crafting!  It might be impossible with the family home and all those distractions, but maybe if my husband and son put up the Christmas lights outside I can stay inside and do my own thing!

Remember there will be a Stampin’ Up! sale starting Black Friday through November 28. It will cover “most” (but not all) products in the Annual Catalog at 10% off. The only catch is that each sale will last two days so it’s like three separate sales.  You will have to stay tuned every two days. More details later!

  • November 23-24:  Paper & Embellishments

  • November 25-26:  Stamps & Kits

  • November 27-28:  Tools & Ink

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TOMORROW!!!

All Is Bright Christmas Handmade Tags

All Is Bright Christmas Handmade Tags

Today I thought it would be fun to just make these All Is Bright Christmas Handmade Tags!  Make it easy on yourself and just pull out a pack of designer paper where you have a lot of scraps and some coordinating cardstock. Get out a stamp set of greetings and go for it, maybe with a few punches and embellishments if you like.

I chose the All Is Bright Designer Series Paper from the Holiday Catalog just to use in small and little pieces to decorate the tags.  For the tags, I punched narrow strips of cardstock (a smidge less than 2″ wide) with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch.  I only chose Real Red and Garden Green Cardstock to use to keep it simple.

For the greeting, I only used the Sincerely Santa Stamp Set.  This set coordinates with the Sincerely Santa Project Kit, but you can put it to good use without the kit.  Or look in your stash and I’m sure you will find appropriate holiday greetings for making tags.

The first tag has three punched Christmas light bulbs made with the Christmas Bulb Builder Punch.  The middle white bulb didn’t photograph well, but it is there!  I used Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush on it, but then I couldn’t stop myself and put it on the red and green bulbs also. I added a little bit of twine for the string on the bulbs, glued down with teeny drops of Multipurpose Liquid Glue.  The top of the bulb has Gold Foil punched with the same Bulb Punch.  The background paper is the light bulb pattern in All Is Bright.  And I stamped the “To: and From:” on a scrap of Whisper White.

The second tag is just stamped with the candy cane, snowflake and star stamp in the Sincerely Santa Stamp Set.  I colored each design with my Stampin’ Write markers so each one could be a different color.  Just “huff” (breathe) on the stamp after coloring on the stamp to remoisten so it stamps well.

The third tag is probably the easiest.  Just stamp the greeting and adhere a tiny strip of designer paper at the bottom!

For the fourth tag, I stamped that candy cane, snowflake, and star stamp in Real Red on Real Red Cardstock.  I stamped the greeting in Real Red, punched out with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, layered on a 2″ punched circle of Gold Foil, and that layered on the Starburst Punch piece (which was already in my scraps!) (The gold foil looks black in the photo!)

The last tag is easy also!  Just use a strip of the stocking paper, tie a little ribbon around, depending on the location of the stockings, and stamp a little greeting to place at the bottom.

Then for all the tags, I just tied on some Garden Green & White Baker’s Twine.  It could be whatever twine or ribbon or string that you have on hand.

That’s it!  Five tags made in just a little while!  And I used up scraps of designer paper without cutting into big beautiful sheets of paper!!  You might want to make some extra fancy tags for certain gifts or people, but you might also remember that some people will not pay much attention to the tag on the gift and will just throw it away!  So while you can make something pleasing to yourself and hopefully to them, don’t put all your effort into just gift tags!

If you want a whole coordinated fancier set of Christmas tags, purchase the Sincerely Santa Project Kit!  Everything you need to make 30 tags is in the cute little tin, except for the Sincerely Santa Stamp Set.  If you do not want to purchase the stamp set, you probably have a stamp set you can use of Christmas greetings.

Have fun making some Christmas tags!!  Use what you have!  Use it up!  Then you can buy more!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Santa’s Workshop Flocked Paper Christmas Card

Santa's Workshop Flocked Paper Christmas Card

The Santa’s Workshop Specialty Designer Paper is special with the white flocking on one side of four of the sheets, so many cards you make are going to have that special effect!  What a treat for the recipient!

This card starts with Poppy Parade Cardstock for the card base.  You might wonder about Poppy Parade for a Christmas card, but it works!  I cut just this little strip of elves carrying packages out of one of the sheets and placed it at the bottom of the card, layered on a piece of Garden Green Cardstock.  The candy cane paper is actually the opposite side of the elves paper.

I used a greeting out of the coordinating stamp set, Signs of Santa Photopolymer Stamp Set, die-cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and layered it on a die cut scalloped oval from the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.   It seemed like the card still needed “something”, so I added a little bow with the Whisper White 1/8″ Sheer Ribbon and a couple of Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

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Stampin’ Up! “Shop By Project”

Stampin' Up! Shop By Project

Stampin’ Up! is testing a new feature called “Shop By Project” in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store!  You can check out a project you like, and then find all the products you need to make that project right there on the page!  This will make for a little easier shopping and give you card ideas or simply let you know the products that they used for that card.

You will find the “Shop By Project” category listed on the left side of the Online Store.

Stampin’ Up! OnStage (what used to be called Convention) over the past few days in Orlando has ended.  Although I didn’t attend, I’ve been following some of the news coming out, photos, new stamp sets, make & takes!  For a good time you should certainly consider signing up to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and then attend these events! The ones I have attended over the years have always been fun and funny, friendly, exhausting and exhilarating, and mostly inspiring to see and be around so many creative ideas and people! The upcoming Occasions and Sale-A-Bration Catalogs look beautiful! If you want to look into joining Stampin’ Up!, just read HERE and HERE and ask me any questions you have!  A good time to join will likely be after the holidays during Sale-A-Bration.  Of course, any day is a good day to become part of Stampin’ Up!

Santa’s Workshop Snowman Christmas Card

Santa's Workshop Snowman Christmas Card

I was surprised to come across this snowman paper in the Santa’s Workshop Specialty Designer Series Paper, so I thought I would use it to make this Santa’s Workshop Snowman Christmas Card.  I really liked making this card!  This Santa’s Workshop paper has flocking on four of the sheets so that makes it extra special.  The snowflakes in the die cut circle with the snowman are flocked as are the white stripes on the candy cane striped paper on the side of the card.

To make this snowman card, I had to cut into the sheet of paper to get this particular snowman so that I could use the Layering Circle Framelits Dies to cut it out.  It was one of those necessary evils! Then I layered the snowman on a Poppy Parade Cardstock circle and layered that on a scalloped circle piece.  That helped it stand out on the Poppy Parade dotted paper in the Santa’s Workshop package.  The card base is Whisper White, but you could also use Poppy Parade.

I had this scrap of the striped pattern in the Santa’s Workshop Paper so I cut it for a little accent on the side of the card. I felt like it matched everything else on the card. The greeting is stamped from Itty Bitty Greetings and punched out with the Classic Label Punch.

The extra snowflakes are die cut from the Santa’s Signpost Framelit Dies. And for a final touch on the card,  I added some Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels They are listed as “Low Inventory” so if you want them, better order soon.

The Santa’s Workshop Paper is backordered, unfortunately, but should be in after Thanksgiving.  When something is backordered you can still order it and they will send it out to you as soon as it is available.  I think it is better to go ahead and order it then rather than wait until you hear it is back in stock.

Maybe this card will give you an idea for a cute Christmas card.  You could change paper and images and use the same design.  It’s time to make those holiday cards and projects!

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First Frost Flowers Holiday Card

First Frost Flowers Holiday Card

This First Frost Flowers Holiday Card is made for Christmas, perhaps a little untraditional looking, but just change the greeting and the same card could be for many other occasions! With the First Frost Bundle of stamp set and dies plus the beautiful Frosted Floral Specialty Designer Series Paper you will be making gorgeous cards and projects!

For this card, I started with the Gray Granite Cardstock for the base since I had already picked out this pattern of designer paper.  All of this designer paper has a shimmer to it so it is gorgeous!  I stamped some flowers with the First Frost Stamp Set and die cut with the Frosted Bouquet Framelits Dies.  The flowers are stamped on Shimmery White paper to go along with the shimmer on the designer paper. The Shimmery White Cardstock is one of my absolute favorites!

Behind the flowers I have a Pearlized Doily.  I also die cut some little sprigs with the Green Garden Cardstock.  The greeting comes in the First Frost Stamp Set. Then you can die cut the shape with one of the Frosted Bouquet Dies.  There’s even a tiny piece in the same shape that fits inside and merely embosses the shape.  For a layer I just adhered the stamped piece onto Merry Merlot and trimmed it down myself.

I thought about adding a little pearl or something on the greeting but remembered that old rule, “Know when to stop!”

You can easily grab this Frosted Floral Specialty Paper and Bundle to make holiday cards or many other cards past the Christmas holidays!

Paper Pumpkin November 2018

Don’t forget!!  Today, November 10th is the LAST DAY to sign up to get this November Paper Pumpkin Kit! This one is special in its plaid holiday box! It will make holiday crafting fun!  Easy for you!  Just open the box!

JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN TODAY!

All Is Bright Ornament Christmas Card

All Is Bright Ornament Christmas CardIf you are looking for a simple design for a Christmas card, this All Is Bright Ornament Christmas Card is one idea. It’s simply a piece of designer paper, a greeting, and some gold embellishments. When you are making a stack of the same card to send out, you need something easy to duplicate over and over.

The card base is Shimmery White Cardstock with a layer of the Ornament pattern in the All Is Bright Designer Series Paper.  I chose the Shimmery White Cardstock because it is not SO white, which I thought went better with the designer paper and the ribbon.  I originally planned to have a layer of Gold Foil but I only had scraps left!  Time to order more! However, that made for a slightly simpler card and I was able to use a scrap for just the right touch as an accent on the side.  The Gold 3/8″ Metallic Edge-Ribbon is so pretty to use for a festive card.

The greeting is from the Merry Christmas To All Stamp Set. This set has so many holiday greetings and combinations of words to use for greetings. I chose the scripted “Merry” and a separate stamp “Christmas”.  You can do that with this set!  I stamped with Versamark Ink and embossed with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and the Heat Tool.  Then I die-cut the greeting using the Big Shot and the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies.  Just for something extra,  put some Gold Metallic Thread behind the greeting and popped it up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

If you just look at this card, at the basic design, you will see that it is an easy one to make.  You could even turn it vertically, with a layer of designer paper, a strip of cardstock across the bottom or even down the side and a greeting in the middle. Try this exact All Is Bright Ornament Christmas Card or make a similar design with different paper and greeting.

SHOP THE HOLIDAY CATALOG AT STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE!

 

Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card

Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card

Here’s my Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card that I made with the Winter Woods Stamp Set, the In the Woods Framelits Diesand the Buffalo Check Stamp. I think it turned out kind of antique-looking or old-fashioned and I think I like the look for something different!

The card base is Garden Green Cardstock. The Real Red layer is stamped with the Buffalo Check Stamp, which is one big background stamp, as we used to call them. I usually find with these background stamps that it is better to lay the cardstock face down on the stamp itself which is laying on the table, stamp side up.  Then I take a scrap of computer paper and place that over the cardstock being stamped.  This way I can run my fingers all over the paper without getting inky fingers and I can make sure every portion of the large stamp inks the paper.  I could also use the Stamparatus and stamp more than once if necessary to make sure everything was stamped well.  If you stamp black ink on a piece of Real Red Cardstock, you get this red plaid design!

The tree from Winter Woods is stamped in Garden Green Ink and then die cut with the Big Shot and the tree framelit die. Of course the die leaves a narrow white border around the die cut tree, which I didn’t like against this red plaid background.  I took a piece of Sponge and Crumb Cake Ink and lightly sponged the edges of the tree and even on top of the tree.  This gave it a antique or aged look, not bright white. I also tied on some 3/16″ Braided Linen Trim to also give it that antique or country look.   I added just three tiny little Red Rhinestone Jewels to the tree.  I thought it needed a tiny bit of pizzazz but not much bling.  These little tiny red rhinestones fit the bill!

The greeting is in the Winter Woods Stamp Set and is die cut with a Layering Oval Die and that layered on top of a scalloped Oval Die.  I stamped it with Real Red Ink and also sponged a bit of Crumb Cake Ink to take away some of that bright white.

If you are looking for an easy card to make, something like this Winter Woods Red Plaid Christmas Card will fit the bill!

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Winter Woods Vellum Trees Christmas Card

Winter Woods Vellum Trees Christmas Card

I can’t believe I have had this Winter Woods Bundle for awhile and only now am I getting around to making this Winter Woods Vellum Trees Christmas Card. You can make all kinds of beautiful cards and projects with this stamp set and framelits dies.

Since I was trying this out for the first time, I used the Holiday Catalog samples for inspiration. The Stampin’ Up! catalogs are always the best places to go when you are looking for an idea! Of course I changed it up a little bit partly by turning the card sideways instead of vertical.

The card base is Garden Green with a Whisper White layer and a couple of snowdrifts made from Sparkle Glimmer Paper.  There is a curved die in the set of framelits that can be used to cut out snow, but I just used some scissors! I made two layers so I could place the vellum trees in between.  The Whisper White layer is first embossed with the Softly Falling Embossing Folder.

The trees are cut from Vellum Cardstock and placed in the snowdrifts. It would have been handy to use the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets before die-cutting the trees so the adhesive would already be on them, but I didn’t think of it ahead of time.  The next best thing to use with vellum so the adhesive doesn’t show is to sponge on some Multipurpose Liquid Glue very lightly.

Next I stamped the evergreen tree from the stamp set with both Pear Pizzazz and Garden Green inked on the stamp. Then it was die cut with the tree outline in the In the Woods Framelits Dies Set.  There is also a die to cut out a stamped tree with little bunches of branches that you can pop up.

This very nice greeting comes in the set, although I thought it was a little big for the placement on my card. I used the Pretty Label Punch, but I trimmed off the top and bottom portion on the Whisper White.  Then I punched it again in Garden Green and layered the full punched piece under the greeting.  I also added two little Clear Epoxy Droplets.

Check out the Winter Woods Stamp Set and In the Woods Framelits Dies in a Bundle and save 10%!

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The Snowflake Showcase of New Products Is Here!

Snowflake Showcase Banner

Image © Stampin’ Up! 2018

Today is the first day you can order products in the Snowflake Showcase!  This is a group of exclusive products that you will love that are only available during the month of November! It’s hard to believe we have now passed Halloween and are on the slippery slope to Christmas!!

We did not have a fun Halloween in Houston yesterday!  We knew there was a possibility of rain during the day with a cool front coming through seemingly late at night, looking like there would be plenty of time for trick-or-treating. But it rained lightly all day until late afternoon when the rain got heavy and funnel clouds were sighted and tornado warnings were issued, including one near my area. Then it all let up just long enough for dinner and a bit of trick-or-treating, but I only had 12 kids come by!  So sad! There was a Trunk-or-Treat event, moved indoors, down the street so hopefully, a fair number of kids got to participate in that and have fun.  Now we are all wondering what to do with all the leftover candy!

So now it is November already, but the good thing is you can check out this Snowflake Showcase stamp sets, paper, dies, and velveteen paper. It isn’t even just for the holidays! You can get lots of use out of these products!  I urge you to order as soon as you can just in case any sell out.

Enjoy this Stampin’ Up! video with Shannon West from the Home Office!

SHOP THE SNOWFLAKE SHOWCASE FROM STAMPIN’ UP!

Halloween Cards and Projects Collage 2018

Halloween Cards and Projects Collage 2018

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Today is the big day, especially if you have young children! I remember all those class parties and costumes, the carnival down the street with the Sesame Street puppet booth that gave out cookies and candy to the little ones, the duck pond, the cake walk, my husband taking the kids out trick-or-treating while I stayed home and gave out candy, our first Halloween here 36 years ago when my husband carried our tiny baby daughter to the little carnival down the street at the urging of a friend who came by, and even a Halloween thirty years ago when my newborn baby boy and I were in the hospital, alone, because everyone everywhere was out trick-or-treating. The night before when we’d gone to the hospital I told the nurse the last food I ate was cupcake batter and frosting because I was making cupcakes to take down to the carnival!  His birthday parties always had a Halloween theme with an October 30th birthday!

Lots of good memories of Halloween, even when I was a child, except for those Halloweens in St. Louis where it could be cold on Halloween night and we might have to wear a winter coat over or under our costume! Imagine! We were expected to tell a joke at each house where we went trick-or-treating before we got a treat!

I made this collage with a lot of the Halloween projects I made since the Holiday Catalog came out! If you are looking for last minute Halloween ideas for cards or favors or whatever, check the Categories drop-down box and click on Halloween to find even older ideas from years past!

Whether you are going to a Halloween party, trick-or-treating, helping with the school party, or stamping at home with the porch light turned off, have a safe and fun Halloween!

Now Available! Timeless Tidings Project Kit from Stampin’ Up!

Timeless Tidings Project Kit

If you were interested in this kit when you saw it in the Holiday Catalog, you will be happy to know that after being so popular it completely sold out, the Timeless Tidings Project Kit from Stampin’ Up! is available again!  Along with the Timeless Tidings Stamp Set, you can use this kit to make holiday cards quickly and easily!

The Timeless Tidings Project Kit makes 20 cards, 5 each of 4 designs.

Kit includes:
* 20 printed card bases
* 20 printed envelopes with gold foil edges
* Cardstock
* Gold foil
* Printed die-cut accents and backgrounds
* 80 green and champagne rhinestone jewels

Watch the Stampin’ Up! video and find out more about the kit:

Whether you are a new stamper or crafter or an experienced one, you might like to have this kit on hand to easily make 20 cards to have on hand even if you have made some cards of your own designs. We often need “just a few more cards” at the last minute and this would solve that problem.

Timeless Tidings Project Kit Finished Cards

If you love the watercolored look, you will love this Timeless Tidings Project Kit. Be sure to order it now in case it sells out again!  You never know!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! TODAY!

 

 

 

Black Cat Halloween Cards

Black Cat Halloween Cards

These black cats may be spooky for Halloween, but on these Black Cat Halloween Cards, they are just fun! One is even wearing a witch’s hat!  To make these cards I used the stamp set in my September Paper Pumpkin Kit (I need to remember to use these stamp sets more often!).

I stamped the background  on the Whisper White Card Layer with various stamps from Paper Pumpkin just randomly around the card.  I think these words have such cute fonts!

I had a few of the self-adhesive words left over from the Halloween treat bag project so I happily used those on these cards.  You will see the Silver Foil “Boo” on the black cat on the left and the word “Eeeek”  underneath the cat, on the other card.  The Cat Punch is always fun to use, especially at Halloween!  The witch hat is just cut by hand out of the Toil & Trouble Designer Paper.  I provided a little background for each cat to help him stand out!

That’s all there is to these two easy cards make with some leftover pieces from the Paper Pumpkin Kit.  Have some fun this weekend making something for Halloween!

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