This beautiful Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper is in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog, which will be ending soon!  Just so you don’t miss out, I wanted to remind you of how you can make six easy cards with one sheet of Painted Blooms paper! The “beauty” is already done for you, you just add a greeting and maybe an embellishment. This paper came from an actual watercoloring! Since you get two sheets of the same design in the package, you can cut one up and frame the other one for artwork! Don’t be afraid to use it!  Better to be made into cards or in a frame than to be stuck in a plastic package unused! Release it!

Here’s how you do it!

Just cut 3/4″ off the top and the bottom of the sheet of paper. At first I wondered why I wouldn’t just cut 1 1/2″ off the bottom or top, it would be the same, but following these directions you are just trimming off the bottom of the grass on the bottom and the white area on the top, leaving almost all of the design intact!  Then cut the middle piece in half at 12″ x 5 1/4″ horizontally and then cut each strip at 4″.  So your card layer pieces will be 4″ wide and 5 1/4″ tall.

Then just add these layers to card bases, stamp a greeting if you like, maybe add some ribbon or a butterfly or whatever you like, maybe some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on a flower. Keep it simple and you will have six cards made in no time!

If you need some pretty Mother’s Day cards this weekend and you have this paper, try this out! Don’t be afraid to use your designer paper! I know we are all paper hoarders! If you don’t own this paper, look through your stash and see if there is another pattern you can use similarly. It’s easy!

Don’t forget the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals as well!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store during May while you can still buy retiring stamps and accessories from the current catalog and Occasions Catalog!

Click to Shop!

Lots of times when I start out, I don’t know what I will end up with, even when I THINK I know what I am going to make! This card with Petite Petals is another example! I just like this stamp set, and I own the wood-mount set. Although I like all the other kinds of stamps, there is something about holding that wood block in your hand and stamping with it that feels good!

I planned to use some pattern from the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper so I chose the Daffodil Delight card stock for the card base. Then I found this Whisper White piece cut with the retiring Top Note Die in with the scraps so I decided to use it on this card.  The Top Note Die was one of the things I was totally surprised to see that it was retiring! It seemed to be really popular, but I guess it ran its course. The greeting is from the Four You stamp set and is on the retirement list. I think it is a very useful stamp set so grab it while you can!

And then I had fun just stamping and stamping a bunch of flowers with the Petite Petals in the Brights colors.  I used Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, and Melon Mambo. The Petite Petal Punch made it super easy to get all those flowers cut out perfectly! Some of the flowers I adhered flat with Glue Dots on the Top Note Die and some I popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. And for a finishing touch, I added some Brights Candy Dots for centers on some of the flowers. Sometimes you have to know when to stop!

Check out the products that are retiring HERE!

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Retired List HERE.

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Sortable Retired List Excel HERE.

One of the stamp sets on the Retirement List is For The Birds, which is kind of a shame because it’s one of those nice stamp sets, pleasing images, all-occasion greetings and easy to color in.  You can also stamp the image in just one color and leave it plain without coloring it in and make a monochromatic card.

In this card, I used a Mossy Meadow card base and a piece of designer paper from the All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack for the layer. The image is stamped with Jet Black Stazon Ink on Whisper White.  The wagon, flowers, and bird are colored in with Stampin’ Write Markers and Blender Pens. Isn’t it fun to feel like a little kid again while you sit and color?! For a  little sky color I just sponged on a little blue with a Sponge Dauber in the background.

When I found a little scrap of Real Red that was already embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, I tried it as a layer under my stamped image and thought it worked. This Polka Dot Folder is retiring also!  I use this one a lot so will be sorry to see it go! It’s a good all-purpose/want-a-little-something embossing folder!

For a finishing touch I added a small bow made with the Lost Lagoon 3/8″ Satin Stitched Ribbon.  I thought it finished off the card nicely. When the card was finished, I felt very satisfied with the colors and look of this card! It’s nice when that happens!

To shop for all the Stampin’ Up! Retiring Products, check out this section of my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.

Stampin’ Up! Retiring List PDF

Stampin’ Up! Excel List (by page number)

And don’t forget to check the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals!

One of everyone’s favorite things about being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator is receiving the Stampin’ Success Magazine. Inside we will find the latest Stampin’ Up! news and products, stamping tips and ideas, business tips and more.  The part I love, of course, are the pictures of samples of cards and other projects! This thank you card is based on a card I saw in my new magazine, although I changed it up a little. I made a regular size card and used the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper cut in 3/4″ strips and adhered on a diagonal on Whisper White card stock.  The card base is Daffodil Delight.

To make the card, I just laid out the strips of paper so that they covered the Whisper White down to the bottom.  If you miss a little bit, like I did, just trim it off later. I stamped the greeting from the Fabulous Four Stamp Set, part on the Whisper White and part on the designer paper strip.  I got lucky just eyeballing it, but you could be more precise with the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig. I only put a little bit of adhesive on the back of that first strip until after I did the stamping, so in case I messed up, I wouldn’t be ruining the whole card! But as I said, I got lucky!  The ink is Blackberry Bliss, one of the coordinating colors of the designer paper.

For a little embellishment, I added a bit of Gold Baker’s Twine. You could also use the Painted Blooms Cotton Twine, as I did in another card I made while I had the supplies out.

Here’s how I laid out my strips on the Whisper White layer.  Then I just trimmed off the excess strips. This is easier than trying to measure exactly!

For any stamping supplies in the regular Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog or the Occasions Catalog, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Want to make an easy and fun card with the Sheltering Tree Stamp Set? Make a lovely pastoral scene with the Sheltering Tree. This stamp set, which is photopolymer, has a lot of little pieces that make it fun to play with!  Since it is photopolymer you can see through the stamp and know that you are placing your stamp where you want it. But you don’t need to use all the pieces if you want to make a simpler card.

The card base is Baked Brown Sugar, layered with Pistachio Pudding and then Whisper White for the stamped layer. I stamped the tree trunk in Early Espresso and the leaves with Pistachio Pudding ink plus other greens markered on with the Stampin’ Write Markers. That didn’t show up that well so probably not worth the trouble, but you could try doing it with a little more contrast. Next I stamped the swaths of grass in Pistachio Pudding and Old Olive for some contrast, you could do just one color easily. Several good greetings come in the stamp set so you can choose the one you like. I stamped mine in Early Espresso.  The rake is also stamped in Early Espresso.  I put the rake in the scene because I raked up some leaves and broken twigs this morning on our sidewalk.  Not one of my usual activities! But I was in the mood!

The little blades of grass are also a stamp in the set.  Kinda fun to stamp those around.  And for a final touch, I sponged some Soft Sky ink around the background for some sky and additional color.

Lots you can do with this set, including making some framed pictures for home decor!

Here are the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals if you missed them on Tuesday.  These are good until Monday, April 20.

 Shop Stampin’ Up! Online anytime, day or night!