Category Archives: Cards

Flower Pot Designer Series Paper On Trend!

Flower Pot Orange and Blue Pansy Punch Flower Card

The other day I was actually reading one of my new magazines (as opposed to catching up on Christmas issues in June!) and saw a lot of orange and blue used together in home decorating. I decided to make a card using dark blue and orange and was reminded that our Flower Pot Designer Series Paper already had those colors in it!

Flower Pot Designer Series Paper

I know we have been making Christmas cards, holiday cards, and Valentine cards for months now, so it’s time to remind ourselves of some other papers and supplies we have as we page through the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog again. As cold as it is in many parts of the country right now (even in Houston!), spring will arrive eventually. Maybe just working with bright colors and flowered paper will get your mind out of the winter funk! We always say stamping is therapeutic!

This is a very simple card, but that doesn’t mean it was simple for me to make! For some reason I couldn’t get my original idea to come together, as simple as it was! All it took was turning the Flower Pot DSP over and using the other side, the orange print, which was less busy that the other flowered side. I cut it down to fit just on the bottom portion of the card. Now maybe today I could make something with the dark blue side easily, but the other day it wasn’t working. That’s how creativity is!

The flower is made with the Pansy Punch (discounted this week on the Weekly Deals!!) and sponged with a little bit of Tangelo Twist ink. Since I originally planned to use the Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set I stamped the flower center with one of the stamps and punched out with the 7/8″ Circle Scallop Punch. The little Hello Honey circle underneath is the 1″ Circle Punch. The ribbon is the beautiful Tangelo Twist 3/8″ Satin Stitched Ribbon. The greeting is from the Fabulous Four Stamp Set.

With all the excitement around the Occasions Catalog, don’t forget to check out the wonderful products in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. Click this link now or grab your own catalog and take a few minutes to page through it. For Sale-A-Bration, you can add any current Stampin’ Up! products to your order to earn a free product with every $50 purchase. Don’t miss it!

 

New Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals

Weekly Deal Feb 17 2015

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Here are the new Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals for Tuesday February 17 through Monday February 23. Be sure to check them out when you place an order. With every $50 purchase from now through March 31 you can earn a FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration Brochure! No limit! And I’d sure like to see you get free Stampin’ Up! products!!

Speaking of Sale-A-Bration, here is one of the stamp sets you can earn with a $50 purchase.

You Brighten My Day Stamp Set

The You Brighten My Day Stamp Set (Item 139103 [w]) is very versatile. Think about how many days you can brighten with the You Brighten My Day Stamp Set! No need to spend precious time cutting out all the adorable images; this set coordinates with three different punches: the Banner and What’s Up Punches, and the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack. Plus, the triple star and triple heart images fit right on the little house, making it ever so easy to customize your creation. And with four different sentiments, this stamp set works for just about any occasion.

You Brighten My Day SAB

 

Please check out all the great Stampin’ Up! products available to you to make your stamping and crafting projects look beautiful and professional!

Visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE today!

Be sure to check your merchandise total to make sure you reach $50 – or $100 – or $150 – and so on to earn your free Sale-A-Bration products!

 

 

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Projects

Last Minute Valentine's Day Project Ideas

Looking for last minute Valentine project ideas?  Here are two Valentine cards and one Tiny Treat gift box decorated for Valentine’s Day.

If you have a small gift you are giving your Valentine, just use one of Stampin’ Up!’s many gift boxes, such as this Tiny Treat Box. Or use any box you have and get some inspiration for decorating from this box. Do a little stamping, embellish a little and tie on a pretty ribbon! I always keep some Stampin’ Up! packaging products on hand because you never know when you might need one, and once you have the box, it is easy to decorate! I used the You Plus Me Stamp Set and some coordinating Stacked with Love Designer Washi Tape.

The Wood You Be Mine Photopolymer Stamp Set is great for masculine cards with loving greetings that aren’t “too mushy”! I even WON this stamp set as a Prize Patrol from Stampin’ Up! during the Occasions Catalog Reveal that was livestreamed! Who would think you could win a prize sitting at your computer?! While I wasn’t crazy about this stamp set at first, you can’t but fall in love with this woodsman and his cute flannel shirt that you can stamp or color any way you want! Lots of possibilities with this stamp set, and of course it won’t just be for Valentine’s Day with different greetings. I cut out the woodsman with my Paper Snips so I could place everything on the card the way I wanted (copying a sample in the Occasions Catalog!). He was surprisingly easy to cut out so don’t be afraid! Of course using Paper Snips Scissors makes cutting easy! They REALLY make a difference! Every stamper should have a pair.

And for a fun Valentine, how about the Cheerful Critters Photopolymer Stamp Set?! These “critters” just make you happy no matter what project you are making!  And with their signs and arms up you can add any greeting you like. After coloring the bunny critter with the Blendabilities Markers, I cut out with Paper Snips and cut out her arms without the sign so she could hold up the heart, die cut with the Hearts Collection Framelits Die. The background is stamped with the little grouping of tiny hearts from the You Plus Me stamp set.  Just think of how often you can use those cute little hearts because hearts and stars are for any occasion!  Good to have on hand!

If you are making valentines at the last minute today, I hope these ideas inspire some creative ideas for you whether or not you have these exact stamp sets or materials.

Of course you can order any stamping supplies you need at your convenience online at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store by clicking this link! Remember, with a $50 purchase during Sale-A-Bration you get to choose a free Sale-A-Bration product! You will see the details at my Online Store.

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Masculine Valentine Card for Your Husband

Masculine Valentine Card for Your HusbandNow that the valentines you made have been mailed and the valentines for your kids’ classes have been made and will be passed out this afternoon at the school parties, it’s probably time to think about a masculine Valentine card for your husband (or boyfriend)! Chances are, the men aren’t going to ooh and aah over our beautiful cards we make like our friends might, so you may as well keep it simple. My husband has been known to open his card, read it, put it down, and not say a word. But that’s him and I do know he has at least COME to appreciate my handmade cards. We do place some importance on the cards we give each other and what they say and how they look.

Most “masculine” cards have darker colors, simpler design, less embellishment and maybe more texture. Somehow we often feel at a loss when we go to make a card for a man, but it’s really not that hard. You just usually have to think in terms of the things I just mentioned.

Since I just received the Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack in my most recent order, I was flipping through it and spied this woodgrain paper. As it happens, we need to do some replacement of part of our wood fence and gate, so you could say the paper kind of goes along with that! Not that it matters so much, I might have picked the woodgrain paper regardless!

I was thinking about a heart, or a heart cutout or something, when I thought of this round image in the You Plus Me Stamp Set. I thought maybe it looked a little like the knots in the wood or something somebody might carve into wood. I stamped it in Early Espresso Ink to match the paper and punched out with the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch. I also punched out the little heart in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack to cover the little white heart that is part of the stamp. Then since I had just received the Confetti Hearts Border Punch, I had to play with that, and punched all the tiny hearts and glued a stream of them to the card.

It’s a very simple card to make if you still need a valentine for your husband!  If you don’t own the Adventure Bound Paper Stack, use the Hardwood Stamp instead. And if you don’t own the Adventure Bound Paper Stack, put it on your next order if you ever need to make masculine cards because it will be great.  There is a coordinating stamp set as well, Adventure Awaits, that you might like. And if you want to save money, but them together in a Bundle to save 15%.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day! Do you have a valentine card made for your husband?

Adventure Bound Paper Stack

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Valentine Card with Hearts

Valentine Card with HeartsTime to make a valentine card with hearts! This one has die cut hearts and punched out hearts!  The card base is Real Red with a Whisper White card stock layer. I used the Hearts Border Punch to punch the row of hearts along the edge. The red card stock underneath shows through to look like a row of red hearts!  The two hearts in the  center of the card are die cut with the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies from a sheet in the the Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack and the Gold Foil Sheets.  The greeting is stamped from You Plus Me. And for a finishing touch I tied on some Gold Baker’s Twine. Pretty easy valentine to make if you are looking for last minute ideas!

Remember to shop at Stampin’ Up! Online here at your convenience!

If you don’t have a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and would like to have a catalog, please email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

Have fun making some valentines!

Flip Up Valentine Card

Flip Up Valentine Card

Can you believe it is Valentine week?! Valentine’s Day is Saturday, February 14th, so it is time to get those valentines made and mailed! Doesn’t making valentines remind you of being in elementary school and decorating a shoe box or lunch sack to hold all your class valentines? Just thinking about valentines probably reminds you of construction paper and paste if you made some of your valentines!  Maybe you even had doilies or glitter or maybe stickers if you were lucky!

This valentine is made with high quality Stampin’ Up! card stock and sophisticated adhesive, not construction paper and paste!  I got the idea to fold a sheet of Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack in half and die cut a heart from the Hearts Collection Framelits DiesThe die is placed just below the fold at the top of the paper (be careful of the pattern you are choosing so that the design will be going the right way!) so that you can open up the heart at the fold. I also cut a smaller heart from Whisper White and stamped with a greeting from the Perfect Pennants Stamp Set. The little red heart is punched with the heart punch in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack. I also punched two Basic Black arrows from the What’s Up PunchOne is adhered so that the tail end shows and the other so that the front tip of the arrow shows. The white heart is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The heart is adhered to a piece of Real Red card stock embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder. The red card stock is layered on the Basic Black card stock.  When you open the heart, you can see the pattern from the other side of the sheet from the Stacked with Love Paper StackIn order to have a greeting inside, I die cut a smaller Whisper White heart and stamped with a greeting from the You Plus Me Stamp Set. I love the color scheme of black & white and Real Red, Crisp Cantaloupe and Calypso Coral.  You can buy the paper stack and stamp set together in a Bundle and save 15%!

Flip Up Valentine Card Inside

Today is the last day for the current Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals!  Be sure to order before 11:50 pm Mountain Time tonight!

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal Feb 3 2015

Shop for all your Stampin’ Up! products at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

Try making a flip up valentine for someone and mail it today! Your friend will certainly appreciate it!

Life in the Forest Valentine Card

Life in the Forest Valentine Card

Today I had fun playing with the Life in the Forest Stamp Set and made it into a valentine card! I think those two animals have something going on! I stamped them with Memento Black Ink on Whisper White card stock and colored in with Blendabilities Markers so that I could cut them out with my Paper Snips and place them on the “grass”.  The grass is two strips of Old Olive torn to give it that rough edge. The trees are stamped on the Brights Backgrounds Designer Series paper and cut out. The greeting on the card is stamped with the Just Sayin’ Stamp Set. The background of the paper is sponged lightly with Soft Sky ink.

It’s fun to play with these little animals and especially to color with the Blendabilities Markers. You must use Memento Ink and they work best using Whisper White Card Stock.  Just be sure to have something underneath the card stock when you color as the ink will seep through the paper. I love the feel of coloring with these markers. You don’t HAVE to do the blending and shading with them, if you like you can just color in with them.  Keep it fun and easy! But these markers really are fun to play with.

And you can get FREE Blendabilities markers during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 purchase!! I was quite surprised to see them offered as free items, but what a great opportunity to get some for yourself FREE with your $50 order! Let me know if you have any questions!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store for all the great Stampin’ Up! products so you get your hands on them soon!

Don’t forget the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals, good through Feb. 9.

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal Feb 3 2015

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For Moms: Valentine Treat Bag Idea

Valentine Card Treat Bag

Moms, are you looking for some kind of treat idea for your children’s Valentine class parties or maybe just Valentine treats for the teachers? This is an idea I got from watching the live stream from the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference last week.  Sara Douglass (Shelli’s daughter) presented this idea on stage:  Take a sheet from the Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack, and cut it in half lengthwise. Fold in half and punch the top layer with the Sweetheart Punch (on sale this week on the Weekly Deals!). Then stamp a greeting on the inside layer to show through the punched out heart.  I used a stamp from the You Plus Me Stamp Set.  I really just eyeballed it but you could mark the inside or use the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

For this project I used the Chevron Tag a Bag Gift Bag. Put a treat inside, fold down the top edge, fold a Tea Lace Paper Doily over the top and use the Stampin’ Up! Handheld Stapler to attach the little card and hold the bag closed.

Valentine Card Treat Bag card insideOn stage at Leadership, this is the project Sara showed.  She used the Petite Cafe Gift Bags and just placed the little card at the top edge of the bag. Then she just rolled down the top edge, which also held the card in place! Very simple and easy!

Valentine Card Treat Bags Leadership
You can really use this idea with any designer paper, make the card wider if you want, embellish the bag more. I had to “push myself away from the table” to keep it simple and not add any extra stuff that it really didn’t need to a Valentine Treat Bag.

The Stacked with Love Paper Stack has turned out to be one of the most popular items in the Occasions Catalog! And it won’t just be for Valentine’s Day either. Hearts are good for any time and certainly the black and white sides of the paper will be easy to use always.

Get your Stacked with Love Paper Stack and the Sweetheart Punch today. Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.

Make a Card of Hearts for Valentine’s Day

Card of Hearts

When coming up with this Valentine card, my main focus was using the Stacked with Love Designer Washi Tape. I’ve partially hidden it now with my hearts, but you can still see the black and white tapes and the  white with gold hearts. Washi tape is so fun and easy to use in many ways. And it’s forgiving because you can pull it back up and tape it down again. Just tear off the ends, no need to be perfect with the scissors or wrap around the edge of the card.

After getting the Washi Tape where I wanted it, I proceeded to die cut a bunch of hearts with the Big Shot and the Hearts Collection Framelits Dies I used Basic Black, Real Red, and Whisper White card stock as well as the Gold Foil Sheets and the Champagne Glimmer Paper  (or you could use the Gold). Then I just played around with the placement of the hearts until I was satisfied with the look. But THEN I got excess glue on the gold foil heart from the glimmer heart moving out of place when I put it upside down to add the Stampin’ Dimensionals – so I had to partially cover it with a small red heart! The greeting is from And Many Morea great stamp set with many phrases to use.

The card is layered on a Gold Foil Sheet and then onto Basic Black for the card base. If you are running short on the gold foil, you can cut out a piece of the center of the gold foil layer which will be hidden underneath the card layer.

Surprise your friends and loved ones by making a BUNCH of valentines and mailing them out! You never know what an impact a handmade card in the mail might make on someone! Everything these days is digital and email and text messages and all that, but a real card or letter in the mail is something special – and always has been. Make someone’s day special when they find a card from you in their mailbox!

Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals February 3 2015

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal Feb 3 2015

New Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals out today until next Monday, February 9. The items that jump out at me of course are the three punches! The Ornate Tag Topper Punch is in the Occasions Catalog right now! And what’s more timely right now than the Hearts Border Punch and the Sweetheart Punch for Valentine’s Day, but really hearts are good year round.

At Leadership last week, Carrie Cudney of the Stampin’ Up! Home Office made a cute project using just the bottom of the Hamburger Box Die to hold cute little Cheerful Critters Notecards. Here is a photo from my laptop screen as I was watching from home!

Hamburger Box Die Note Card Holder
Check out all the Stampin’ Up! products by going through your Annual Catalog and the Occasions Catalog, as well as the categories in the left sidebar in my Online Store. When you place your order, remember you get to choose a free Sale-A-Bration item with every $50 you spend!

It Doesn’t Have to Be a Card

Love Is Kindness Stamp

I’ve been watching the live streaming Stampin’ Up! provided for us demonstrators at home and not in Orlando during the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference 2015. I have to say, it’s been ALMOST as good as being there, and I really appreciate that they did that.  There really aren’t too many things more fun than attending any Stampin’ Up! event! And getting to watch the General Sessions on my home computer has been great!!

Last night they had several different people on stage doing numerous stamping projects!  So many ideas and so many good tips! It’s always amazing! Here is the Love Is Kindness stamp from the Occasions Catalog, a single stamp. The presenter, Alisa, talking about ink, stamped this with Memento Ink and colored in with Blendabilities. She used lighter and darker shades of (perhaps) the new Pink Pirouette on the flowers, Wild Wasabi on the leaves and a little bit of Soft Sky as shading around the outside of the image. If those aren’t the correct colors she used, they certainly could be!

The photo isn’t great because I took it of my laptop screen, but you get the idea! But she didn’t make this into a card – she framed it! Isn’t that just beautiful and so simple! So we don’t always have to make a card with our stamping.  Try framing a few things as gifts or home decor for yourself!

Love Is Kindness Framed

Look through your Occasions Catalog again and see what you missed the first or second time around!  And if you need an Occasions Catalog, just send me an email at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

To order any supplies you need, either contact me or just shop at your convenience at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Wood You Be Mine Valentine Card

Wood You Be Mine Valentine Card

Maybe I AM going to like this Wood You Be Mine Stamp Set! It will be great for making masculine valentine cards or really valentines for anyone.  This is the stamp set I WON during Prize Patrol during the unveiling of the Occasions Catalog that Stampin’ Up! held in a livestream to various movie theaters around the country.  I was watching it at home and I still won!! I hadn’t played around with it yet, for some reason, so today was the day! Once I stamped the guy and overstamped his shirt with Real Red to make it plaid, I loved it! Since you can see through the photopolymer stamp you can easily eyeball the stamping of the color of the shirt. The greeting is from the stamp set as well as the wood slices stamped on the background Early Espresso. I did use the Hardwood Stamp to stamp on Crumb Cake to look like a piece of wood or fence post.  The woodman and the Marina Mist circle are cut out with the Circle Collection Framelits Dies.

*** Here’s a bonus tip I thought of!  I was playing around with some punched out hearts with the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and couldn’t quite decide how to place them or if I should put them on the card at all.  THEN I thought of putting them on the plaid shirt part of the inked up woodman stamp to get that plaid look to the hearts!  And then they seemed to work!  Loved it!

Go get your Wood You Be Mine Photopolymer Stamp Set at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE and make some valentines!

Class Valentines for Girls & Weekly Deals

Two Hearts 3 x 3 Valentine

It’s about time to start thinking about class valentines for school parties! Over the weekend I had two moms come over and get an early start on valentines for their three school classes. Since I knew we would be making LOTS of valentines, I needed to keep them simple and doable. That meant we probably wanted to punch rather than crank the Big Shot fifty times, make sure I had enough supplies for that many valentines, and basically keep them fairly simple to make and remember that it would be little children receiving these who weren’t going to care how creative we were, who might only barely look at them before tossing aside.  YET we were making them and enjoying doing that so we didn’t mind putting in a little work!

I knew Elsie liked pink and would want some bling and shine on her valentines for her all-girl 2nd grade class! I had some retired Pretty in Pink 3″ x 3″ notecards in my old stash so that saved cutting and scoring and were just the right size. Melon Mambo is a color that goes with Pretty in Pink so I made the layer from Melon Mambo paper in the Brights Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack.  The hearts are punched with the retired Heart Punch. One is made from the Silver Glimmer Paper and the other heart is stamped with a retired stamp set P.S. I Love You. The greeting is stamped on a little 1/2″ wide banner from a stamp in the January Paper Pumpkin Kit! The little staple from the Stampin’ Up! Handheld Stapler adds a cute little touch. And for some bling, we added a little Rhinestone Jewel to the heart. The hearts are popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.  The inside of the card is stamped with the “You’re the Best” stamp in the Just Sayin’ Stamp Set  that Elsie chose herself to use.

After the valentines, Elsie wanted to play (not with toys but with stamps!), and I had already spotted this past kit that I thought she might have fun with. In just a few minutes she had a whole bunch of flowers made! I have no doubt she can now use these flowers to embellish some other projects at home! She also made the popular rubber band bracelets for everyone in her class to give out with her valentines! Elsie is quite the stamper even at her young age.  She knew exactly what she was doing when she was helping us with the valentines, and I loved having a child’s touch to all the valentines for herself, her brother Wyatt, and her friend Carl. Isn’t she the cutest thing?!

Elsie

Don’t we all have the best memories of elementary class valentine parties, of decorating the shoe box or the bag, cutting hearts out of construction paper, using doiles, maybe even some glitter and glue?! I think I remember having a kit to assemble my own valentines rather than the typical store-bought valentines. So maybe it has all come full circle!

Here are the new Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals for January 27 – February 2. If you like embossing with the Big Shot or the Texture Boutique, you will LOVE these deals!  Stock up on some embossing folders! The Texture Boutique is way less expensive than the Big Shot, but remember, you can only emboss with it. To do more, get the Big Shot, some paper, some embossing folders, whatever you like to total $150. Then get $25 in Hostess Dollars to spend on anything, plus 3 Sale-A-Bration items FREE!

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal Jan 27 2015

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Making Class Valentines

My Hero ValentineThis weekend I had the pleasure of having two moms come over to make class valentines for their three children’s classes. One daughter came along to help make the valentines for her class and her brother’s and the other mom brought her teenage goddaughter along to help out. We all had so much fun! That’s what happens when you stamp with nice people!

I designed the superhero valentine in the photo above using the Calling All Heroes Photopolymer Stamp Set, and we made fifty of these for the boys to give out to their classes. You can easily make female superheroes as well with this set if you want. I found some retired small notecards to use that were just the right size so that saved time cutting and scoring paper. There were quite a few steps involved but we didn’t mind the time because it’s what we enjoy doing.

We made quicker work of cutting out the faces by punching them out with the Stampin’ Up! Owl Punch. Just trim off the owl feet from the top of the superhero’s head and round off the chin area which was the top of the owl! You can do it before or after stamping, depending on what works for you. With the photopolymer stamps, you might be able to combine the hair and the mouth on one block and stamp once and then add in the mask.

Tomorrow I will show you the “girl” valentine! So pretty!

Don’t forget, today is the last day for the current Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals!  Order before midnight MT tonight if you want any of these products.  Remember, with a $50 purchase you also choose a FREE Sale-A-Bration product. Note the Skin Tone Blendabilities Markers on sale!  

Just shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal Jan 20 2015

 

Chocolate Inspiration Card

Chocolate Box

How about some chocolate inspiration for a card?  My daughter gave me this box of chocolates for Christmas (I know, you can’t believe I haven’t eaten it all by now!) but it is almost too cute to eat! At least it is so colorful that I enjoy looking at it on the counter. The other day I thought, those colors would make a good card! So this is my chocolate inspiration card below:

Chocolate Inspiration Card

I just matched up some colors of card stock to the wrappers in the candy box.  They didn’t have to be perfect but I was going for the look. I wanted to stamp just a fun greeting at the bottom, so I chose “Yippee-Skippee!” from the Yippee-Skippee Stamp Set. Just imagine the different greetings you could put on this same card!

I thought the top portion needed a little something, and then I noticed the candy box had some multi-colored twine wrapped around it! That was perfect! I just grabbed some Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine and wrapped it around. I like it!

So you never know where your inspiration can come from!  It can come from anywhere, not just a card website or magazine or something only stamping related. It might be a canned goods label in your pantry, a pillow at the store, a dress or scarf in a magazine, a map in an atlas – anything!

Don’t forget to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration so you’ll have even more stamps and supplies with which to make your gorgeous creations when inspiration strikes! Just purchase $50 in Stampin’ Up! products and choose a free Sale-A-Bration item FREE!