Category Archives: Cards

Learn New Embossing Techniques

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You will enjoy this video from the Stampin’ Up! Home Office about embossing techniques and learn new things!  Embossing with the Heat Tool is one of the things that really amazes new people to our craft when they see it demonstrated! I think heat embossing remains magical even to us experienced stampers every time we do it, especially with the metallic embossing powders!

After stamping and applying the embossing powder, the Heat Tool melts the powder and leaves a raised, stamped image that really adds some pizzazz to your stamping repertoire.

You do need the Stampin’ Up! Heat Tool in order to do this kind of heat embossing. Ours has the metal tip that gets hot while in use that is protected by a plastic cover. This makes it safer to use. I recommend always unplugging the heat tool when not in use, just so it doesn’t fall off the shelf or get bumped and accidentally turn on. I also generally recommend letting the tool heat up for a moment or two before aiming it at the embossing powder.

Be sure to use the Embossing Buddy by rubbing across your paper before stamping.  This eliminates some of the static and keeps the embossing powder from sticking outside the area you are going to emboss.  After applying the embossing powder and dumping off the excess, be sure to look over your piece and try to wipe off any stray specks of embossing powder.  I like to keep a small watercolor brush handy to wipe off any stray powder.

We used to have separate Craft Ink pads that were good to use when embossing.  However, as you see in this video, if you work quickly, you can use our current ink pads before the ink dries. It is worth your while for many other reasons to own the Versamark Ink Pad and surely every stamper has one!  This works great for embossing and is mostly what everyone uses.  Be sure to have the Versamark Refill because you will definitely need it.

I love this gold embossed Definitely Dahlia card I made that you can see HERE.

If you haven’t already tried heat embossing, you might want to after watching this Stampin’ Up! video!  Try it, I think you will like it!  It certainly is impressive on cards and projects and will stun the recipients!  They will think you are a highly talented professional (which, of course, you are!). You can choose various embossing powders to use.  I recommend gold or silver to begin with just for their stunning beauty!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! FOR EMBOSSING SUPPLIES!

 

Quick and Easy Christmas Card in Green and Black

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Quick and Easy Christmas Card in Green and Black

Here’s a quick and easy Christmas card made in the trendy colors of green and black.  What do you think? Often there are different colors and combinations of colors that pop up to use for Christmas just to get away from the traditional red and green. Sometimes there are really different colors like pink and light blue or purples, etc. So I think ultimately almost any colors CAN be used and can be very pretty and holiday-like, but maybe are just not what we are used to!

The Stampin’ Up! suite in the new Holiday Catalog is called Merry Little Christmas that has these colors in the designer papers. If you look closely at many of the patterns in the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper you will see that they can be used outside of Christmas.  For example, the Basic Black and Old Olive plaid on the card above could be used for birthdays, invitations, masculine cards, and more.

The greeting is from the Snowflake Sentiments Stamp Set.  This stamp set is not in the Merry Little Christmas Suite but certainly can be used on any cards.  It is die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and layered on the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.

For a little pizzazz, I added some Gold Mini Sequin Trim underneath the greeting as well as some Metallic Enamel Shapes in Gold adhered to the greeting.

If you need to make a lot of Christmas cards, you might consider just a basic card like this – a card base, a layer of designer paper and a nice die cut greeting!  Very quick and easy to make!

Take a look at the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper!  Some of the patterns are more clearly for the holidays, but take a look at the stripes and the plaid, the polka dots and the leaves!  Those leaves can be used on spring cards with flowers!

Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper

Check out the entire Merry Little Christmas Suite!  There are so many fun products and embellishments to use on your projects!

 

Halloween Card with Spooky Cat

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Halloween Card with Spooky Cat

Here’s a pretty easy Halloween card to make with a spooky cat!  If you are a cat lover, Stampin’ Up! has made it easy for you this fall season to enjoy cats!  We have the new Spooky Night Designer Series Paper with a whole page of cats!  And Stampin’ Up! makes it even more fun with the new Cat Punch!  How crazy is that?!  You can use the Cat Punch on both the designer paper and on stamped images!  This cat is punched out of the designer paper and adhered on to the card.

Some of the coordinating colors with this Spooky Night Paper are Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze. For this card, I made the card base Pumpkin Pie and a polka dot panel of the designer paper.  To make the paper stand out a bit, I put a narrow layer of Very Vanilla behind it.

One of the fun stamp sets this season is the Labels To Love Stamp Set. It has enough greetings to cover several occasions and has a cute one for Halloween. I used the Stampin’ Write Markers in Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, and Cajun Craze to color directly on the stamp to get a multi-colored look.  The fun thing about the labels in this stamp set is that there is a punch to match – the Everyday Label Punch by Stampin’ Up!  Since I wanted to layer the stamped Very Vanilla piece on to Cajun Craze I had to trim down the Very Vanilla label.  It was pretty easy with my Paper Snips and just following the lines on the label itself to make it a little bit smaller. Then I just punched a plain label of Cajun Craze.

To jazz things up a little bit, I did three things.  Before I layered the labels I adhered a bit of the Vintage Crochet Trim in Basic Black in the Holiday Catalog to the bottom of the vanilla label. Next I made a little Gold Glimmer banner to go underneath the label and adhered the label with Stampin’ Dimensionals. And for just a finishing touch, I stuck on two Black Rhinestone Jewels. They are already black so you don’t have to color the regular rhinestones yourself!

It’s time to make Halloween cards, so check out the Holiday Catalog and all the great products so you can order what you want for cardmaking or Halloween partying!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! FOR ALL YOUR HALLOWEEN NEEDS!

 

Autumn Themed Thank You Card with Painted Autumn Paper

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Autumn Themed Thank You Card with Painted Harvest Paper

Can you really make too many cards with this Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper like this autumn-themed thank you card? This package of paper has so many pretty patterns in it, and one that is stunning is this one with the watercolored sunflowers printed on it. You can use the

The card base for this card is Very Vanilla with an Early Espresso Cardstock layer. That has a Very Vanilla layer on it but the bottom half has a piece of the Painted Harvest sunflower paper adhered to it. I tied around some Crushed Curry Solid Baker’s Twine a few times.

The greeting is stamped with a “Thank You” from the Flourishing Phrases Stamp Set.  It’s die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and layered on a die cut from the Layering Ovals Set. The greeting is adhered with Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop it up over the twine. Just for fun I took a piece of the Crushed Curry Twine and made a little bow and stuck it on the greeting with a Mini Glue Dot or you could use a tiny drop of Multipurpose Liquid Glue.

The leaves are stamped with the two-step stamping in the Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set.  Then for the fun part!  Punch out the leaves with the new Leaf Punch!  Then I just tucked the punched out leaves underneath the greeting.  You could also cut the leaves apart and use them individually.

I think the sunflower patterned paper has such a rich look to it. You will love all the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper for your fall and Thanksgiving cards.  Some of the papers can be used for other occasions as well.

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online HERE!

Don’t forget to check the Clearance Rack when you are ordering just in case you find a discounted goodie on there!

 

Make a Fall Card With Painted Autumn Paper

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Painted Autumn Split Card

You can make a beautiful fall card so easily with the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog! I had been doing a lot of stamping with the flower stamps in the Painted Harvest Stamp Set, but there is this sheet of paper printed with sunflowers in the Painted Autumn paper package that I decided to use instead of stamping.

The card base is Very Vanilla with an Early Espresso layer over it. I had a slightly different idea for using the designer paper, but once I cut this sunflower paper, I saw that the other side of it had the blue and green patterned paper and thought maybe I could use it somehow. So instead of using a Very Vanilla pattern on the other side of the flowered paper, I used the other side of the patterned paper that coordinates. Before gluing down to the Early Espresso layer, I wrapped a piece of Copper Trim around the center of the designer papers.  It’s easier to either glue both pieces of designer paper down on to Very Vanilla cardstock or to make one piece larger so they can be glued together before layering.

I also cut out a sunflower from the patterned paper including the leaves and adhered that to the corner of the card, popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  This gives a little interest to that plainer paper without overpowering the card. Paper Snips are great scissors to use for detailed cutting like this.

For the greeting I used a stamp in the Flourishing Phrases Stamp Set.  It is stamped in Early Espresso and die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies.  This piece is then layered on a piece of Early Espresso die cut with the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.  For an extra touch, I tied a bow with the Copper Trim and adhered it to the greeting with a Glue Dot.

The amazing thing about the 1/4″ Copper Trim is that you can pull it apart a little bit to give it a different look.  And if you don’t like it, just pull on it and it goes back to the original shape! Really fun!

You can see a card I made with another pattern of the Painted Autumn Paper here.

I’m sure once you take a look at the Painted Autumn Suite of products, pictured in the Holiday Catalog on pages 48-49, you will want to purchase many, if not all, of the beautiful products. You can make cards to send to friends and family for any occasion or for Thanksgiving or lovely gift bags for fall birthdays or hostess gifts.

Be sure to notice the Painted Harvest Photopolymer Bundle which includes the stamp set and Leaf Punch at a 10% savings.

Once you have some or all of these products in your hands, you will want to make lots of fall cards!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Make a Nostalgic Birthday Card With Birthday Memories

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Nostalgic Birthday Card with Birthday Memories

I love this Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper and the whole Birthday Memories Suite of products in the Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog, so I thought I would make this card for a friend’s birthday. It was a “big” birthday for her and I debated what kind of special card to make for her. I just thought she would like this “vintage” look kind of card.

The card base is the new Powder Pink Cardstock, randomly stamped with the little bouquet in the Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Stamp Set with the same color ink.  This gives a little bit of interest in the background without taking away from the focal point. I used a piece of Powder Pink 1/2″ Finely Woven Ribbon wrapped around the card.

The cute little girl is die cut from the Birthday Memories Paper with one of the Birthday Friends Framelits Dies that fits the girl!  Also, the red polka dot package is die cut! The other little package I just cut out by hand with my Paper Snips. Something new that we can use the framelits to die cut images on the designer paper!  And very handy!

The little girl is adhered to a Whisper White oval die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies.  This is layered on a piece of Silver Glimmer Paper die cut with the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.  

The greeting is stamped from the Birthday Delivery Stamp Set. If you want to save 10%, you can purchase the Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Bundle which includes the stamp set and framelit dies.

I also stamped the envelope with a birthday cake in Powder Pink.  Stampin’ Up! has the best envelopes!  Try the Whisper White Medium Envelopes! Once you do, you’ll never go back to ordinary envelopes for your precious cards!  I can identify them by feel if I get a Stampin’ Up! envelope in the mail!!

And here is a glimpse of the inside of the card!

I just die cut another character on the designer paper and adhered him inside the card on a piece of Whisper White!  So fun! I wrote a note to my friend saying we weren’t getting older, just “nostalgic”!  I knew she would enjoy the “vintage” characters!

Take a look at the Birthday Memories Suite in the Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog and see if you can resist ordering it for making some fun cards and projects!

Shop Stampin’ Up! HERE Today!

Lots of Love Fall Sunflower Card

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Lots of Love Fall Sunflower Card

Even here in Houston we might be getting a taste of fall in a day or two with slightly lower temperatures so this fallish designer paper and sunflower from the Painted Autumn Suite of products in the Holiday Catalog is perfect for the season.

I have to say, once you get the hang of stamping these flowers from the Painted Harvest Stamp Set, it’s almost impossible to stop! The flower on this card is stamped with Crushed Curry and the Pumpkin Pie ink and even stamped a third time with the Crushed Curry ink one more time for extra fullness. After stamping the flower center with Soft Suede ink, I used the Clear WInk of Stella to blend the brown into the flower more and add a bit of glimmer. For this card, I just cut out my stamped flower with my Paper Snips. It’s not as hard as you might think!

The card base is Garden Green and the designer paper layer is from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper.  I think this is some of the prettiest paper Stampin’ Up! has had. So many pretty patterns to choose from!

The greeting is from the Lots of Love Stamp Set.  I love the big bold greeting and the sentiment expressed. It was perfect for this card. I stamped it in Early Espresso, a very dark brown ink, on a piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock over a piece of Pumpkin Pie Cardstock because the flower had that color in it. I also wrapped a piece of Pumpkin Pie 1/4″ Stitched-Edge Ribbon around the greeting.  The ribbon is white and the cardstock is vanilla so while not a perfect match, this is when I stand back and say ,”The person receiving this is not going to say ‘Oh my! Why didn’t she use a different ribbon!'”  And the flower covers part of it anyway.  This ribbon is so nice and soft, you have to try it to see for yourself!

If you want to see another type of card using the “Sending Lots of Love” greeting, click HERE.

I bet the Painted Autumn Suite of products in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog will be one of the most popular products.  It certainly seems to be a favorite among Demonstrators! If you need a Holiday Catalog, email me with your contact information.

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online!

Spooky Cat Halloween Moon Card

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Spooky Cat Halloween Moon Card

How about making a spooky cat on Halloween night looking up at the moon sitting on a fence? Halloween cards are so much fun! All the varieties of Halloween stamps in the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog give you so many design options for different scenes and Halloween themes for cards, party invitations, decorations, and more! And this card uses a fun (but a little messy!) technique for the spooky sky!

The card base is Fresh Fig Cardstock, one of the new In Colors this year. I also have a narrow layer of Basic Black, but you could try another color.  Then the card front layer is the fun part.  It is Glossy White Cardstock, something we used to have and now it has been brought back.  I always loved Glossy Cardstock since I first began stamping.  I still remember the lollipop cover I made with it!

The moon and background on this card is just made by sponging various colors of ink onto the Glossy White Cardstock. First I die cut a circle from a sticky note so that I could use both the circle and the negative piece that was left to make this card.  You could also use a punch. First I stuck down the negative piece on the layer where I wanted the moon to be and sponged on some yellow like Crushed Curry, then some Pumpkin Pie orange, and then a little of the Fresh Fig purple.  I love the Stamping Sponges we sell and usually cut them into smaller pieces for sponging. I just sponged inside the cut out circle making sure the paper didn’t move which is the reason to use a sticky note so the adhesive will hold it in place.

Here is another card I made for the Eclipse with the sponging technique.

When I was happy with the moon, I removed the negative piece of sticky note and then adhered the cut out circle over the moon to cover it while I sponged on the sky colors.  You can use whatever you like!  I used a bunch of colors, probably some Night of Navy, some Daffodil Delight, some Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, whatever you like to make a spooky sky!

For the fence, I took a piece of the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack and just cut the triangles at the top to look like the top of a fence.  You can draw a line on the back to keep them straight but mostly I just eyeballed it!

The cat is super simple, at least if you have the Cat Punch!  This is a new punch in the Holiday Catalog and if you like cats or Halloween it should be on your list right away!  You will also be able to use the cat on lots of other projects, like Christmas cards!  My punched cat is just stuck behind the pickets of the fence, easy peasy!

The greeting is stamped on a sponged scrap piece of the Glossy White.  I managed to smear it  a little as I was adhering it to the card, but since “there are no mistakes in stamping” I fixed it! Can you tell?!  I looked in the Spooky Cat Stamp Set, where the greeting came from, and found  a rat stamp!  I stamped the rat in Basic Gray and cut him out with my Paper Snips.  Yes, a little tedious since he is so small but I did it and adhered him with a tiny piece of a dimensional so he would cover my smear! I also added a couple of the new Black Rhinestone Jewels in the Holiday Catalog. They are all ready to go, already colored black for you to use at Halloween and beyond!

If you want both the Cat Punch and the Spooky Cat Stamp Set, the be sure to purchase the Spooky Cat Photopolymer Bundle and save 10%!

Yes, it is time to start thinking about Halloween and start making those cards and craft projects! Maybe that will make fall get here sooner!

Shop the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog & More HERE!

The Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog is Live Today! Sept. 1st!

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The new Stampin’ Up! Holiday 2017 Catalog is LIVE today! Finally the day is here!  Can you believe it? Time for stampers and papercrafters to get going to get ready for the holidays!

Click on Photo to View Catalog!

Click HERE to View the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog!

Click HERE to See the Holiday Catalog Products Online in the Store!

If you are interested in Stampin’ Up! products and want a Holiday Catalog, email me your contact information at Karen@KarenStamps.com.  As of this moment, I don’t know when our regular mail service will be restored after Hurricane Harvey so it might take me until next week to find an open post office and know that it will get out of Houston! The airports opened yesterday so maybe mail will start coming in and out as far as planes are concerned, and by truck as more and more roads completely open up!

And during September and October, Stampin’ Up! has this special Host Promotion! If  you have your own large order or gather some orders from friends, if your workshop or order total reaches $300 or more, you will receive this FREE exclusive stamp set, Merry Patterns!  This is in addition to your normal Hostess Rewards benefits!

SU Merry Patterns Host and SampleMore information on my blog post yesterday HERE.

SU Merry Patterns Stamp SetGo ahead!  Start enjoying the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog!  Ordering begins today, September 1st. Get your favorites right away before they are backordered!

Shop Stampin’ Up! HERE!

Painted Autumn Card During Hurricane Harvey

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Painted Autumn CardYou might think that I’ve been sitting around stamping a bunch during Hurricane Harvey here in Houston, but that just didn’t happen until last night. I thought this Painted Harvest Stamp Set might be a good one to make a bright card with since we have not seen the sun in days. This is a new set you will love in the Holiday Catalog coming September 1st. Surprisingly, that is just days away!!  You will be able to view the Holiday Catalog online on that date and start ordering. I hope my customers have received catalogs that I ordered for you.  I know there were some problems with addresses and sometimes the catalogs just do not arrive for whatever reason. If you haven’t gotten yours, let me know or if you do not have a Demonstrator and would like a Holiday Catalog send me your contact information if you are interested in Stampin’ Up! products. If you are new to me, let me know if you would also like the Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog.

Just a reminder, please periodically check your online account and make sure you have your best address in there. Even if I know you moved, I can’t go into your account unless I have ordered online for you, but that is still separate from your account.

We have been absolutely fine in our home and neighborhood during Harvey which means we are VERY lucky indeed. No flooding and no loss of power.  The storm is beginning to move off to the east although plenty of people are still affected and being rescued and in shelters and evacuating, etc. etc. It is unbelievable! Equally as unbelievable is how many people have come with boats, or even BOUGHT boats to come and help and get people out of flooded homes and helped in many other ways. It is actually still raining at our house but very lightly. Some places south and east are still getting heavy rain as the storm moves off to Louisiana. We think we have had 35″ of rain where we live but areas east of us that got bigger and heavier bands of rain from Harvey Saturday night got at least 10 more inches and some places will record more than 50″.  These kinds of storms are so unpredictable as they are approaching, that all you can do is prepare as best you can and hope that the path changes or that it is not as intense as predicted. This one moved so slowly and then backed up, which is unusual. Our worst storm had been Tropical Storm Allison but Harvey is breaking all those records.

But back to stamping! It’s hard to tear yourself away from all the TV news and updates and trying to keep friends and family updated about our safety, but it’s good to have something like stamping to take you away for a little while!  This Painted Autumn Stamp Set is going to be so fun for you to play with, try out various color combinations and ways of stamping the flowers.

Painted Autumn Combinations

You might want to just practice on scrap cardstock to see what you like. It’s really two-step stamping so you can stamp off the first color, then stamp with that full color, or use a different color, or even stamp a third time with another color.  You just have to play!  The photopolymer pattern on these stamps is the watercolor look so it doesn’t stamp a “full” image all around. There’s nothing wrong with the stamp, it’s the way it is made for this look.

My card base is Old Olive and that is the ink I used to stamp the leaves.  The ribbon on the card is the cool 1/4″ Copper Trim. I stamped my flowers with Daffodil Delight first and then Crushed Curry.  I didn’t get too adventurous!  In my practice page I also used Cajun Craze as the third color. You could use oranges, too and even unusual colors like blues and purples.

REMEMBER to use your BONUS COUPONS from July if you earned them!  August 31 will be the last day!  If you are waiting to order from the Holiday Catalog but you have these coupons and want to use them, you could at least order basics like adhesive, cardstock, ink pads, ribbon and then you can order holiday products starting Sept. 1st.  Just a suggestion! And if you want something “holiday” you can get the Carols of Christmas Bundle, available now, while you wait for the Holiday Catalog

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP ONLINE HERE!

 

Handmade Gift Box and Card For a Birthday–For Me!

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Handmade Gift Box For a Birthday

I was so lucky to receive this handmade birthday gift box and card from my friend Jan recently! Such a happy thing to see after opening the mailing box! So many gifts now are given in gift bags, which are fine, so it was an extra treat to see a package to “open”! And of course my friend made it herself plus the card!  So pretty! She makes such beautiful cards and things!

The box is made with the pretty Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper from Sale-A-Bration several years ago. There are lots of instructions online of how to make a box out of paper, very simple. You can find directions to a box I made recently in THIS POST.

The birthday card she made me is made with the stamps, dies, and stickers in the Eastern Palace Suite.  This suite was released the month before the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog came out, but of course it is still available now. You can make very pretty cards and projects with this group of products, and the stickers are such high quality and fun to use.

We made it through Hurricane Harvey just fine last evening and overnight. We’ve gotten almost 5″ of rain at our house in our rain gauge. It’s just the outer bands of rain from the hurricane, not anything like the people close to the eye had.  So it might rain lightly or more heavily for a few minutes and then let up. No heavy wind, maybe some light wind gusts, like we had last night when we tried to go for a walk after dinner and misjudged the radar! There was a tornado that struck at 1:00 am several miles from here in a very nice neighborhood with lots of young families, about fifty homes damaged. The pictures on TV look pretty horrible but I’ve heard only one minor injury. They say these tornadoes drop down quickly and go back up quickly, but this one looks like it was pretty strong.  As long as these bands of rain keep moving through and don’t stop over one location they think things will be much better.  Every break in the rainfall gives the water time to drain.  Still a mess and the storm can do whatever it wants, no matter the weather predictions, so who knows!  Our power just blipped off for a second last night but we are very lucky at this moment to still have power, internet and air-conditioning!

Here is a screenshot of the radar on my phone at 9:00 am today, Saturday Aug. 26. I’m the blue dot!

Hurricane Harvey Aug 26 9 am

That’s the hurricane update for now!  Keep your fingers crossed for us!  The worst is yet to come I think for our location and the city of Houston.

Wouldn’t you love to receive a beautiful handmade gift box and card like my friend sent me? Make one for your friend and send it!  It really only takes a little bit of time to make something like this and you know it will be very much appreciated! Love it, Jan!  And the gifts inside! Guess I should say……if you are curious….she sent me a cute candle in a little bottle with a birthday cake scent and a cute boxes of matches – which we may have to put to use this week!! – and a cute little Halloween decoration because she knows I love Halloween!

Don’t forget to use your Bonus Coupons before August ends!!

Enjoy your weekend if you’re not in Hurricane Harvey’s path!

Happy Halloween Pick a Pumpkin Card

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Happy Halloween Pick a Pumpkin Card

This is my first Halloween card of the season and of the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog, made with the Pick a Pumpkin Bundle.  I wondered if some of you were “on the fence” about subscribing to Paper Pumpkin, the papercrafting kit that comes to you in the mail once a month!  And then I thought about making a card with pumpkins on the fence!  You never know where inspiration will come from!  LOL!

New Paper Pumpkin subscribers can join and get the September Paper Pumpkin Kit for 50% off! Just use Promo Code:  HALFOFF0917. The only clue for September is that it is an “exceptionally beautiful kit”. That’s all I know, but if you like fall, there’s no reason not to try Paper Pumpkin at least for September because it is well worth the special offer price!  It is well worth the regular price, too, but might as well take advantage of a bargain I say!

Click HERE to Join Paper Pumpkin!  No risk, no obligation! Do it for yourself!

Now back to my Halloween card!  If you changed the greeting, this card could be any occasion. The card base is actually Crumb Cake, even though the front layers completely cover it up. I have a piece of Whisper White at the top on which I sponged some colors like Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry to make an interesting sky. The greeting is stamped in Early Espresso ink and is from the new stamp set Spooky Cat.

The fence portion is the Hardwood background stamp stamped on Crumb Cake Cardstock with Early Espresso ink. To make the pickets at the top, I drew a pencil line across the top a little ways down so I knew how far down to cut.  Then I used my Paper Snips to just cut by hand. Very easy!  If you don’t own the Stampin’ Up! Paper Snips, you really need a pair, more than you know!  They can do things regular scissors can’t!  I love mine! I’ve mentioned this before, but in the large background stamps I do prefer the wood-mount.  I just think it gives them a little more strength to have them already mounted on the wood and they are ready to go. It also saves you from buying the largest acrylic block if you don’t have the whole set.

The pumpkins, stems and vines are stamped with the Pick a Pumpkin Stamp Set and die cut with the Patterned Pumpkins Thinlits Dies.  Now as I mentioned, if you buy them together in the Bundle (144670), you will save 10%. I also discovered that the pumpkin dies also fit some of the pumpkins in the Spooky Night Designer Series Paper if you would like to die cut some of those from the paper!

The pumpkin on the ground on this card with the die cut little stars is backed with a piece of Gold Glimmer Paper that I hand cut for a sparkly layer behind the stars!  Cute!

The Holiday Catalog will be out September 1, 2017! I believe customers are starting to receive the ones I ordered in the mail.  Some will take longer than others to arrive, just depends where you live and how long the postal employee sits in the back room and reads it first!  I do have some extras if you are new and are interested in Stampin’ Up! products. Just email me with your contact information. If you already have a Demonstrator you are working with, she will be able to provide you with a catalog.

Don’t forget!  Try Paper Pumpkin with the special 50% offer for September!  Don’t just sit on the fence and miss out!  To find out more about this offer, click HERE.

JOIN PAPER PUMPKIN!  USE PROMO CODE:  HALFOFF0917

Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun Greeting Card August 21, 2017

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Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun Greeting Card August 21, 2017

Today is the total solar eclipse of the sun!  Finally, the day is here!  I thought I would commemorate the eclipse by trying to make some sort of card. Thankfully we now have Glossy Cardstock back at Stampin’ Up! because this was the perfect paper to use for my eclipse card!

The card base is Basic Black with a layer of Gold Foil. On the Glossy White Cardstock piece, I sponged on ink of various colors with pieces of a Stamping Sponge.  For the sun, I used the new Starburst Punch.  I actually punched a piece of a sticky note with the Starburst Punch when I started making the card and stuck it down on the clean sheet of glossy, then did all the sky colors around it.  That way the sun itself would not be colored. Next I took off that mask, and placed the negative of the sticky note over the Starburst shape on the card, carefully lining it up, and sponged in the sun with Crushed Curry ink.

For the moon covering the sun, I punched a 2″ Circle in another sticky note and used the negative over the sun for the mask and sponged on Memento Black Ink in the center of the sun inside that outline of the 2″ Punch.

The adirondack chair die cut is from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies.  The little greeting is from the Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set. I die cut that and the gold foil layer with the Layering Circle Framelits Dies.

My son is off camping in Oregon on a ranch to experience the solar eclipse of 2017 in totality, so we are partly more interested in the eclipse because of that, but we would be interested anyway!  Just hoping for no clouds at the time of the eclipse today!

Hope you enjoy your eclipse experience!  Just be sure NOT to look at the sun for even a second! You can look online for many ways to safely experience the eclipse.

HAPPY ECLIPSE DAY!

Making a Z-Fold Card with Birthday Memories Designer Paper

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Birthday Memories Z-Fold Card Open

Making a Z-Fold Card for a birthday is easy and with the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper, your card will be so cute and fun! Z-Fold cards give an added dimension to cardmaking and thereby make you look like such an expert and professional! And yet, if they only knew, it is SO EASY!

To make the Z-Fold card base, just make a regular card. Then fold the front of the card base back on itself in half! In other words, score the front of the 4  1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card front at 2 1/8″ (in the middle of the 4 1/4″ card front) and fold the right side backwards toward the card fold. This is easy to see on the photo above. You can add whatever designer pieces of paper, if you want, to decorate the panels.

As you design the front square or rectangle which is the focal point of the card, consider what size the greeting on the inside of the card will be. You will want that focal point to cover the greeting when the card is closed. Once I decided on the size I wanted that focal panel to be and cut the pieces, I closed the card with the focal piece on top and lightly penciled in the outline of it on the Whisper White layer that was going to be inside the card so that I could see where I had to stamp my greeting inside the card.

As you can see, I used the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper, which is such a happy and whimsical collection of papers. I don’t think we have had anything quite like it in the past.  I just love it!  The Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Stamp Set coordinates with the paper, and that is what I used to stamp the greeting on the fox’s banner and on the inside of the card. The other amazing product is the Birthday Friends Framelits Dies. These dies not only cut some of the stamped images, but also some of the images in the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper.

You do have to have it all, you know you do!!  Get the Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Bundle and get the stamp set and framelits all at a 10% savings. Also order the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper and if you like, get some embellishments you can use like ribbons or Balloon Honeycomb Embellishments.

You can see another birthday card I made with this set HERE in this post!

Be sure to use any July Bonus Coupons you have before the end of August!

Also, check the Clearance Rack as new products were added the other day!  Only available while supplies last!

Birthday Memories Z-Fold Card

Place your Stampin’ Up! order today so you can get your hands on this fun Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper, stamp set and dies and start creating!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Quick and Easy Birthday Card with Birthday Memories

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Birthday Memories Card in Red

Want to make a quick and easy birthday card?  Then reach for the Birthday Memories red print in the designer paper package and make a card like this one!  I love the color red, and I thought this card might be a different one than a person would expect using this designer paper and stamp set. Just a quick and easy, simple birthday card to make in a couple of minutes!

Start with a card base of Real Red Cardstock.  Layer with Whisper White with just a thin border to help the Real Red patterned paper stand out against the red card base. The Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper has so many pretty papers in it, although most are colorful and filled with child-like or vintage type images. But this plainer red paper caught my eye and I thought I would make more of a monochromatic card with no much fuss so the paper can stand out on its own.

The greeting is from the same suite, from the Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Stamp Set. I stamped it in Real Red on Whisper White and cut out with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Die. Then I layered it on a scalloped oval die cut from the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.  The paper is the Silver Glimmer Paper.  I think I just as easily could have left the greeting without the glimmer paper layer underneath and it would have looked fine.  The ribbon wrapped around twice is the Whisper White 1/8″ Sheer Ribbon.  It’s always good to have some basic white ribbon on hand because you can use it on most any project.

Be sure to check out this wonderful, happy Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper.

Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper

Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper

Order this amazing suite of products, the Birthday Memories Suite .  Save 10% by ordering the Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Bundle which includes the stamp set and framelit dies.  Add on the Birthday Memories Designer Series Paper and you are good to go!  Add any of the extra embellishments if you like.

Remember to use your Bonus Coupons that you earned in July before the end of August!  They will expire August 31.

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Clearance Rack as new items were added yesterday, although many sold out right away, but there is still a selection and you might find good things to go along with the upcoming Holiday Catalog!

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online Today!