We can always use a stash of “all-occasion” cards, or maybe they should be called “any-occasion cards” and this easy to make all-occasion card fits the bill! And sometimes you just want to make a quick and easy card and not spend a lot of time designing something super-special. Last night that was the case with me, as my niece had just come for a visit for several days, so I just wanted to try out some of my new paper but not take a lot of time right then making a card.

I decided to use the new Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper on this card. I chose a color for the card base from the list of coordinating colors with the paper on the back of the cardboard in the package (or you will find the colors in the catalog). I went with Peekaboo Peach, one of the continuing In Colors that we will have for another year. When I first laid this piece of designer paper on the top of the card, I loved it. Then I played around with other half and half combinations, etc. and nothing was striking me.  So I went back to the original paper and added a narrow margin of Soft Sky behind it. The Peekaboo Peach Ribbon is retired, but I had it so I used it!  You can substitute some other new ribbon.

For the greeting, I used the new stamp set Label Me Pretty and the coordinating punch, the Pretty Label Punch.  I stamped the greeting with Peekaboo Peach ink and then punched out. I thought I probably wanted to layer the greeting on something so I first thought I would cut off the margin of the punched greeting so I could layer that on the piece of cardstock punched with the Pretty Label Punch. But before I did that, I punched two pieces of Peekaboo Peach and layered them under the greeting and it seemed to be just fine!  What do you think? You can’t really tell it’s two separate punched pieces! There are other ways to make a punched layer look larger, like we used to do with the Decorative Label Punch but cutting two pieces in half, one horizontally and one vertically.  If you like the Label Me Pretty Stamp Set and the Pretty Label Punch (who wouldn’t?!), then buy them together in the Label Me Pretty Bundle, either clear-mount or wood-mount.

I think this is a very nice, simple stamp set and punch that you can use together or separately and get a lot of use out of. And of course the Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper is pretty on it’s own and help you be very creative!

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Make a bold bright card for any occasion with this beautiful designer paper, stamp set and trendy colors!  I just love this Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Series Paper in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog.  I made a project the other day with the pattern on the other side of this black and white polka dot paper, so today I used this dramatic pattern. I decided to pair it with the Lemon Lime Twist new In Color for the card base and ribbon.  The bold greeting is from the Lots of Love Stamp Set.  I wasn’t quite sure how the size of the greeting would work on the card, but stamping it on a larger piece of paper gave me the idea to tie the ribbon around the bottom of the greeting.

You really never know exactly what you are going to come up with when you start stamping! You may think you have a specific idea, but then as you work, often some other idea pops into your head! These pretty designer papers this year in the new catalog as just scrumptious to work with! Be sure to check them out and however much you think you might like them, just multiply that by 200% by how you will like them in person!

I think this Lemon Lime Twist color (am I finally learning the proper name of it??) was one that maybe a lot of people didn’t like at first, but I think it is going to turn out to be a favorite.  I also love the Powder Pink.  And the Berry Burst isn’t bad either!

The ribbon I used on the card is the Lemon Lime Twist 1/2″ Finely Woven Ribbon.  I think you will like it.  It’s very soft and easy to tie.  I think it makes beautiful bows.  You can get it in any of the In Colors. So many pretty Stampin’ Up! ribbons this year too!

Go check out Lemon Lime Twist and see if that color appeals to you or grows on you!  You can get an assortment package of the In Color paper, that way, you can try them all and pick your favorites. Then go make a bold bright card for yourself!

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Online I saw several examples of a watercolored background and then the Happy Birthday Thinlits Die adhered over the watercoloring, and I really liked that look. It just takes some random watercoloring to make this so easy watercolored birthday card.  Just imagine all the different backgrounds you could make like this in so many colors!

The card base is Pear Pizzazz, layered with Fresh Fig, one of the new In Colors. The Happy Birthday Thinlits Die is also made with Fresh Fig. You have two choices for the top layer of the card. Whisper White is not very good for watercoloring although you can do a very minimal amount. A better choice is the Shimmery White Cardstock (I love that paper because it has the most subtle shimmer under the light!). This is what I used on this card. The best choice for watercoloring is, amazingly, Watercolor Paper!

To make the watercolored background, I just picked up various colors of ink in the lids of the ink pads with my Aqua Painter, one of my favorite tools, and randomly watercolored some blobs of color on the Shimmery White.  If you squeeze the ink pad top to bottom before you open it, you likely will cause a puddle of ink to appear in the lid of the ink pad.  If you do not, then put a tiny drop or two of reinker in that lid. You can also just touch the Aqua Painter to the actual ink pad to pick up ink but try to just do this on the corners of the ink pad so as not to get a lot of water in the ink pad. Also, if the puddle you make in the lid is real watery when you are finished, just take a paper towel and wipe it out before closing the ink pad so as not to get water in the ink pad. Depending on dry your ink pad seems to be, you might consider reinking it while you have it out!

The greeting on the card is just the Happy Birthday Thinlit Die so that serves as both an embellishment on the card and the greeting!  I love this die! Here is another card I made recently with the Happy Birthday die.  

I don’t own them yet, but I think Stampin’ Up! carried them in the past, the new Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets. You can adhere a piece of the adhesive sheet to the paper you are die-cutting, then the die cut will automatically have adhesive on the back.  No putting tiny dots of glue on the back of a finely die-cut image. So that is a product to consider if you are having trouble with adhering these intricate die cuts.

For some extra embellishment, I used a few of the retired Candy Dots scattered around, but now we have new versions you can purchase in the new catalog on pages 196-197.

I highly recommend the Happy Birthday Thinlit Die because it is bold enough to adhere over a lot of different backgrounds yet very delicate and pretty. Try the watercoloring technique for a background for your card as a different way of making an easy watercolored birthday card.

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My Stampin’ Up! order of new products came late last night (yes, we live close to the UPS place so I think they save our neighborhood until last and then go back to UPS when they are done! Ugh!) so now I have all kinds of good things to play with, like the Tranquil Tulips Stamp Set to make this easy tulip card. Normally I don’t get the Host Sets that you can purchase at a discounted price with your Stampin’ Rewards with an order of $150 or more, but I’d already seem so many pretty cards with these tulip stamps!

I used a card base of Pear Pizzazz to match the color on the stems and leaves that I stamped. The designer paper is one I just got last night in the Whole Lot of Lovely Designer Series Paper package. Oh my goodness, the patterns in that package are so gorgeous!  I think they hit the jackpot this year with designer paper!  Really pretty!  And you can bet that the paper you look at in the catalog or online is going to be 200% prettier in person when you get it!

I stamped the tulips in Powder Pink and the stems and leaves in Pear Pizzazz. Now the tulips are “two-step stamping” which means you stamp one layer and then you stamp over that same image with another stamp that adds more depth and detail. You could even use two different colors. Just so you are aware, the first stamp stamps like this in my photo.  It looks like something is wrong with the stamp but there isn’t. It’s that textured, watercolored kind of look. Then when you stamp over it with the second stamp, you see the details of the tulip.

After I had my tulips and stems stamped, I die cut them with the next to largest oval in the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies and then die cut another Powder Pink oval with the scalloped oval in the same package. After adhering those two pieces together I adhered them to the card front with the designer paper using Stampin’ Dimensionals. (Do you know there are Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals in the new catalog??)

That’s it!  Easy card and so pretty!  I didn’t add a greeting yet, I’ll see what I need and then put one on.

If you put in a large order of $150 or more or gather some friends’ orders in order to reach that amount, you might consider choosing the Tranquil Tulip Stamp Set in the Host section of the catalog. It’s an easy tulip card to make for the summer and next spring and can be used for so many different kinds of cards.

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In looking for inspiration for making a card, I wanted to use the Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper, so I looked in the new catalog and decided to “copy” one of the samples displayed. As it turned out, making this card shows a way of using scraps to make a card with the Eastern Palace Suite.  I made my card slightly different than the catalog sample, but this shows that the catalog is a great place to look for ideas. What you end up with might be entirely different than what you started copying.  I might add this card was difficult to photograph because of the glare of the gold foil on several different pieces.

The card base is one of the new In Colors, Tranquil Tide. I randomly stamped a few of the small images in the Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set on. the card with Tranquil Tide ink. Then I began placing some of my Eastern Palace Paper onto the card, somewhat like the sample I was copying from the catalog.  One of the pieces of scrap paper has the gold foil design, plus I added a thin Gold Foil Sheet strip on the top edge of another Eastern Palace piece. Since I had a scrap of Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock, I used that piece on the card whereas the Stampin’ Up! sample used a piece of designer paper in the pack. The greeting is stamped with images from the Eastern Beauty Stamp Set.

Different from the Stampin’ Up! catalog sample, I found the urge to use the fun Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers too strong to resist! The sample card used a piece of the new Gold Mini Sequin Trim, but since I don’t have that yet, I felt the card needed a little more pizzazz, which I had already tried to add with the gold foil pieces of paper. Since we have the gold stickers, I looked in there and chose some to use on the card. The stickers are high quality, easy to use, and fun to use!

This card was made with one half sheet of cardstock plus scraps I found mixed in with my designer paper pack, so don’t under estimate what you can do with small pieces of your precious designer paper, since I know we are all paper hoarders! Use your scraps, even as small pieces, to decorate a card or project. We can all get a lot of mileage out of our large sheets of designer paper.

Be sure to use the Stampin’ Up! catalog as a source for ideas for your projects.  It’s a gold mine!

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