Category Archives: Cards

Paper Pumpkin Sew You Kit Cards

Paper Pumpkin Sew You Kit Cards

With each Paper Pumpkin Kit, the papercrafting kit that comes to you in the mail once a month, you can choose the make the project, whatever it might be, exactly as described or you can change up the design and perhaps add some extra materials of your own. This kit for March, Sew You, comes with little prepunched cards all ready for some embroidery! If you’ve never picked up a needle and thread (or it has been awhile!), the instructions with the kit tell you how to do it. It’s very simple. You can even change up the stitching if you like, as I did on the middle Thank You card. On the bottom card, I cut one of the black and white card bases in half and used that as a layer on top of my own Coastal Cabana card stock to which I added some Daffodil Delight Seam Binding Ribbon. The little acrylic stickers come with the kit. They are a fun little accent to add to the card!

Once you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, you can purchase any past kits that are available or any refills for the kits. Maybe you want to make more or maybe you missed a kit that you would like to have. The refill kits come with just the supplies, not the stamp set, so you might have to supplement with your own stamps and greetings but that shouldn’t be so difficult.

If you haven’t made your kit yet, here is a GREAT way to thread the needle without fighting with the multiple strands in the thread.  Just take a piece of paper, folded in half that will fit through the eye of the needle.  Lay the end of your thread inside the folded paper and insert through the needle. Your thread goes through easily and perfectly! I love it! There are all kinds of threading gadgets, but this tiny piece of paper worked great!

How to Thread the Needle

To purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, just visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE.  If you are interested in Paper Pumpkin, just click on Kits. Or if you would like to subscribe just month to month, sign up for Paper Pumpkin HERE.

Uh-Oh! My Paper Pumpkin Kit Doesn’t Work!

After being on vacation when my March Paper Pumpkin Kit arrived and then preparing for a tax audit, I am finally getting some time to play with my Paper Pumpkin Kit! This is a very versatile kit. Make the cards exactly as designed or double your options by cutting the card bases in half and using them as layers on your own Stampin’ Up! card stock! Add some embellishments, like ribbon, to tie around the card. Make invitations, birthday cards, thank you cards, any occasion cards. Probably many other ideas.

But I have to say, this kit was weird!  After making a card, it unmade itself and put everything back in the box!!!  How could that happen???!!!  Watch the video to see for yourself!!

 

Ok, my pathetic attempt at an April Fool’s joke!

 Happy April’s Fool Day! 

What tricks are you playing today?

Use Your Ribbon to Make an Easter Egg Card

Ribbon Easter Egg Card

Use your ribbon to make a colorful Easter egg! Use the Oval Framelits to cut an Easter egg shape in a card layer. I used adhesive (Fast Fuse) around the back edge of the oval and stretched the ribbon across the opening.  If I did it again, I think I would adhere the ribbon to a separate piece of card stock that fit underneath the oval opening. I used the three colors of ribbon in the Best Year Ever Accessory Pack in the Sale-A-Bration Brochure.  It also comes with buttons.  The bunny is stamped with Stazon and colored in with Stampin’ Write Markers and cut out with Paper Snips (not too hard!). The greeting is from the stamp set And Many More. For a little bling, I added some Rhinestone Jewels to the Easter Egg and a Pearl to cover where I cut through the bunny to reach that inner arm part that needed to be cut out!

Today is the second to last day of Sale-A-Bration!  The biggest promotion of the Stampin’ Up! year ends tomorrow, Tuesday March 31.  Don’t miss it!  With every $50 purchase, choose a free Sale-A-Bration product!

Are you on my Mailing List?  I sent out a last minute reminder for the end of Sale-A-Bration today! Just trying to take care of my customers!  Be sure to check your Inbox!  And if you aren’t signed up, do it today so you won’t miss a thing!

Shop Stampin’ Up! Online HERE!

The Easter Bunny is Hiding Some Easter Eggs!

Easter Card with Bunny and Eggs

This is such a fun and happy card to make! When you are making an Easter Bunny card hiding Easter eggs, it’s bound to be a happy card! I started with a piece of the Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper #138635 that comes in plain white with embossed patterns on it.  When you apply ink over it, the pattern magically appears! I used a Sponge Dauber with Pear Pizzazz ink. Then just take a tissue or paper towel and wipe just to get any excess ink off the embossed patterns.  It’s so fun! Half the work is already done for you with the embossing already printed on the paper.  You could of course leave it plain for an elegant card or to use on a fancy package.

I thought the Easter Bunny hiding eggs in those leaves on the paper would be a fun scene for an Easter card. I just punched out eggs from the Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper #138633 with the Extra-Large Oval Punch and the Small Oval PunchI wasn’t really planning to use both sizes but decided the two sizes looked cute together and why couldn’t the Bunny be leaving eggs of different sizes?!

The punch-art bunny is simply made with the 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, the Large Oval Punchand the Word Window Punch. His little nose is the heart on the Owl Punch. Just draw on some eyes and whiskers with Stampin’ Write Markers.

The greeting comes from two stamps from the Crazy About You Stamp Set.  The card base is Calypso Coral which coordinates with the Best Year Ever Designer Paper.

You can get either or both of these designer paper packs FREE during Sale-A-Bration, each with a $50 purchase, but only until Tuesday, March 31.  Sale-A-Bration ends at 11:50 pm MT (Stampin’ Up! Time) on Tuesday, March 31.  Don’t miss it! That’s THIS Tuesday, believe it or not!!

If you need just a little bit more to reach your $50, or $100, or $150 for Sale-A-Bration, be sure to check out the Weekly Deals or the Clearance Rack for just an inexpensive item to add! And they did add more items to the Clearance Rack the other day!! Or choose a download for My Digital Studio which anyone can use on their computer.

Feel free to contact me if you would prefer that I put in your order for you.  I’m happy to do so.

Sign up for my Mailing List today in the upper right corner to get one more reminder about Sale-A-Bration —and of course all my newsletters about stamping and Stampin’ Up!

To shop online, click the link below!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store today and get your order in ahead of the last minute rush!

Easter Eggs Easter Card

Easter Eggs Easter Card

This Easter Eggs Easter Card was a complete surprise to me because I started out planning to make some totally different project! Once I reached into my Whisper White card stock scraps, I discovered these ovals already cut with the Ovals Collection Framelits  #129381 (as of today, these are on backorder). I don’t know what project they came from, but it was handy to find them! I immediately had the idea to stamp these ovals and decorate them as Easter eggs!  I pulled out the Work of Art Stamp Set and used the chevron pattern, the straight line, and the circle stamps in the set to stamp in various colors to give these ovals the look of Easter eggs!  I choose several ink colors from the Subtles family:  Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Blushing Bride, and So Saffron. You could also use the Brights or In Colors. I kept this card simple, but you could add glitter to the patterns or some other embellishments like pearls or rhinestones!

The card base is Pool Party.  The Whisper White layer is sponged a little at the top with Pool Party ink using a Sponge Dauber to look like sky.  The grass is a scrap strip of Old Olive and cut with the Fringe Scissors.  So easy! The bottom (chevron) egg is glued right to the layer with the Liquid Multipurpose Glue and the other one is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The greeting is stamped with two words on a clear block from the Crazy About You Photopolymer Stamp Set.  You an order this stamp set in any of the types:  wood, clear, photopolymer, digital. I chose photopolymer because I can see through the stamp to hopefully get the words lined up exactly where I want them. On this card I was able to put both words on the clear block and stamped on scrap paper first to make sure they were lined up and spaced correctly.  Then I just stamped right on the card. It was risky since I already had the rest of the card made!  Better to do the stamping first in case you mess up!  But I also knew that if I messed up stamping directly on the card I could go back and stamp on card stock and then adhere that to the front of the card like a banner or just a strip or a punch.

I might add that this stamp set, in any of the forms, is also available as a Bundle which includes the stamp set and the Hello You Thinlits!  AND you save 15%!

With the exit of My Digital Studio the end of May, as I was looking at these stamp sets and Bundles in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store, I saw the digital version of Crazy About You which includes the stamp brush set (the stamps) plus the Hello You Thinlits words!  All for only $9.95.  It is actually named the So Very You Stamp Brush Digital Download. You can use this whether or not you have MDS, just use it on your computer. But you can still buy My Digital Studio and use it as long as you like even though Stampin’ Up! won’t be supporting it or putting out new downloads. I’m sad to see it go!

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Clearance Rack today!  New items were added, only available while supplies last, of course!

All of this will count toward your order for Sale-A-Bration rewards with a $50 order, or multiples of $50.  Sale-A-Bration ends March 31, next Tuesday!  Don’t miss it!!

Clearance Rack Banner

Happy Easter Bunny Easter Card

Happy Easter Bunny Easter Card

From the minute I saw this Happy Easter Bunny single stamp I loved it! You’ll find it in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog. It’s just a “happy” stamp!  I kept this Easter card simple, just stamp and color.  And the coloring is easy and fun!

I stamped the image with Stazon Jet Black Ink and colored in the images with my Stampin’ Write Markers. You can purchase these markers in color families, some individually, and best of all, in the complete set with carrying case. If you purchase the Many Marvelous Markers, you will earn two FREE Sale-A-Bration products!  If you add some more products to your order to reach $150, you will earn three SAB products plus Hostess Benefits! That means you get to shop with $25 in Hostess Dollars!

The bunny is colored with Crumb Cake, the leaves are colored with three different “green” markers just for fun, and the eggs and flowers are just colored with random colors.  You choose! To jazz up the greeting “Happy Easter” I used the fine tip of the marker to go over the letters with Melon Mambo. And for a little extra bling, I pulled off some sequins from the Bermuda Bay Sequin TrimTo adhere any sequins, I put a tiny tiny dab of Liquid Multipurpose Glue on the card where I want to place the sequins and then place the sequin on the tiny glue dab.

I find it relaxing to sit and color, and Stampin’ Up! has several ways to do it. I had pulled out my Blender Pens and was going to scribble some ink from the marker on to the stamp case, then pick it up with the Blender Pen, but as it turned out I just colored lightly straight with the marker. But if you need a lighter look, you can try the Blender Pen.

There’s still time order the Happy Easter Bunny stamp and get it before Easter if you hurry.

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store today!

Easy to Make Blooming With Kindness Flower Card

Blooming With Kindness Card

Sometimes it is so easy to come up with an idea for a card, and the Blooming With Kindness Stamp Set seemed to fit the bill for this easy card. While catching up on reading newspapers after our vacation to Death Valley last week, I saw a furniture store ad that had a pillow that caught my eye. The main image on the pillow actually looked a little like a retired stamp we used to have but I also thought of this Blooming With Kindness flower stamp. Then I just stamped a small portion of the flower in each corner of the Whisper White layer.  This is a 4″ x 4″ card.

On the inside of the card I stamped a larger portion of the flower in the lower right corner of a piece of Whisper White. A greeting can be stamped inside or I can simply write a little note in my own handwriting.

The card base is Night of Navy card stock 4″ x 8″ folded in half.  The layer is Whisper White 3 3/4″ x 3 3/4″ and the images stamped in Night of Navy Ink.

Here is a picture of my inspiration for this card:

Pillow Inspiration for Card

I think you will find that often home decors ads or pictures in magazines can really give you ideas for card, especially pillows! They are the accent pieces of the room and often the colors or the basic design pattern can catch your eye and make you think of how you could translate that into a card or other project. Think about that next time you are paging through one of your magazines.

We are often focused on the newest “mini” catalog, but don’t forget the beautiful stamp sets in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog!  I have a few copies available if you do not have your own demonstrator that you work with and if you would like the hard copy of the catalog to look through. Just send me an email or leave a comment on this post.

This is about the last week for Stampin’ Up!’s biggest promotion, Sale-A-Bration!  Last day is the last day of the month, Tuesday March 31. Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product with every $50 purchase in current Stampin’ Up! products!  Just shop online RIGHT HERE!

Sale-A-Bration is also a good time to sign up to join Stampin’ Up! and become a Demonstrator! Not only do you get the Starter Kit chock full of $125 in stamping supplies plus some business supplies to get you started for ONLY $99, but during Sale-A-Bration you have two extra options to choose from:  Receive a FREE Simply Created Project Kit from the Occasions Catalog OR Receive two free Sale-A-Bration items of your choice. And remember, the Starter Kit is customizable now, no set products that you will receive.  You make your own list according to your likes and needs. As your upline, I can help you build your business in whatever manner you prefer. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have. It’s a very easy process to sign up, you will be a Demonstrator in minutes, and it just may be the best thing you could do for your life or for your family’s benefit.

Shop HERE during Sale-A-Bration until March 31!

Stampin’ Up! Coloring Techniques for You!

Maybe this is the end of your Spring Break, or the beginning.  Maybe you are snowed in or rained in. Maybe you are having a relaxing and lazy Sunday and would just like to sit back and watch some videos!  Here are some that Stampin’ Up! released the other day showing various coloring techniques that you might enjoy.

Coloring Techniques with Sale-a-Bration Papers:

Watch Carrie use the Sale-A-Bration Irresistibly Yours paper that is already embossed AND the printed Sheer Perfection Vellum Paper Stack!

Watercoloring with Blender Pens – A Happy Thing Stamp Set

When I first started stamping, Blender Pens were one of the main things we used! They are still tons of fun to use with ink pads or ink refills in many ways!  Get re-acquainted with your Blender Pens or order new ones!

Watercolor Wash Technique – For Being You Stamp Set

Have some fun by embossing with White Embossing Powder and the Heat Tool, then use the Aqua Painter and ink to do a watercolor wash!

Order any of the current Stampin’ Up! products and with a $50 purchase you qualify for a FREE Sale-A-Bration product!  Remember, besides the Sale-A-Bration Brochure, new Sale-A-Bration products were added! And a few more were added last week!!

SHOP HERE!!

Easter Bunny Tag

Easter Bunny Tag

Last weekend I had SO much fun making twenty-four of these fun Easter tags with two of my customers/friends and one cute little girl for a group of children. I found the idea for the punch art bunny on Pinterest somewhere and fortunately the bunny fit just right on a tag made with the Stampin’ Up! Tag Topper Scalloped PunchI added some designer paper on the tag for the background and stamped the Easter greeting from a retired Hostess set (sorry!) right on the paper. We played with different combinations, like stamping on cardstock and punching out a shape, but in the end we just liked it stamped on the paper. That’s how you have to play around sometimes with rubber stamping until you just “know” you have the right design!

This is how you make the bunny:  The head is the Extra-Large Oval Punch. The body is the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, cut in half. The ears are the Large Oval Punch with the pink insides made with the Word Window Punch.  We opted to fold down the top of the ear for cuteness!  The cute little heart nose is punched with the Owl Builder Punch. The eyes are just drawn in with a black marker and Miss Elsie did the whiskers with some wispy strokes with the Crumb Cake Marker! The rabbit paws are just 1/2″ circles.  The carrot is punched with the Modern Label Punch and then just trimmed down with Paper Snips. With the heart punch in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack you can make the carrot topper and even fringe it with the Paper Snips if you want to make it look real.

The ribbon on the tag is the Tangelo Twist 3/8″ Satin Ribbon. It really goes well with the tag.

Hang this tag on an Easter basket or put the tag on a card for Easter. Or just make the punch art bunny on an Easter card.  Have fun with it.

If you need any of these supplies, you might be able to earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product with a $50 purchase. Due to the Blendabilities not being available any more, other Sale-A-Bration items may sell out so if there is something you really want, don’t delay.

Don’t forget about the Weekly Deals and New Arrivals.

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

 

 

Happy National Pi Day 2015!

Illustration of a Pi Mascot Carrying a Pie

It’s National Pi Day and I won’t pretend to know very much about the subject of Pi! I much prefer the National PIE Day! Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which is approximately 3.14159 and apparently very interesting to math geeks! Pi Day is celebrated on March 14 because the date reads 3.14, the beginning of the pi numeral. It will continue beyond the first few numbers after the decimal point, infinitely.

This year, 2015, makes Pi Day especially notable as the date can be expressed as 3-14-15, the first five numbers of pi (3.1415)!  Some people even get a thrill out of memorizing the digits of pi, including my youngest son who did that in high school calculus class. His record stood for a couple years, I think!

That’s about as far as my interest in Pi goes, but I did come across this piano piece for Pi Day! I think you might enjoy it!

Realize the Importance of What We Do In Our Personal Communications


At the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference this year, the keynote speaker was Jason F. Wright., an author and speaker. He spoke to the demonstrators about our Stampin’ Up! Statement of the Heart and how we make a difference with our handmade cards, handwritten letters and personal communication. This is something I feel very strongly about, that I worry our society is losing, because when I find a box of old letters, written in ink on paper, hand-addressed envelopes, I recognize and feel the person who wrote it. This is true with traditional scrapbooking, too.  When I hear someone say they don’t like to do the journaling because their handwriting is terrible, I think they are selfishly keeping something of themselves from the people ultimately looking at that scrapbook. Nothing typed or emailed can compare to the handwritten note or letter! I’m just as guilty, being in too much a rush to sit down and write a real letter. Think about how you used to feel when you went to the mailbox and found a letter from a friend. My mother wrote me letters almost everyday when I was away at college (everyone did think I got the most mail!).

Anyway, please take some time to sit down and watch and listen to this video of Jason Wright’s talk at Leadership. I guarantee you he is very funny and also very emotional describing some letters in his life.  Have a box of tissue handy! You’ll enjoy his stamping experiences also! And it will make you realize how important that paper and ink you are working with just might be to someone who receives your card or letter.

Hope you enjoy! Then go write a letter or send a card to someone! If you have a story about a special letter or card, please leave a comment. Here is the link to view the video if you need it:   https://youtu.be/iURdgEYuoso

“To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments…in this we make a difference!”

Stampin’ Up! Statement of the Heart

The Good and the Bad from Stampin’ Up!

Just Kidding Card

Let’s start with the good!  Here is a new photopolymer stamp set, Just Kidding, released this month by Stampin’ Up! The designer of this stamp set said she created it to honor her long-time friends and their journey through life together with lots of laughter. I’m sure we can all appreciate that and know that probably the older we all get, the more we appreciate our dear friends. Now you can enjoy making funny and endearing cards to send to those special people with this new stamp set!

Just Kidding Photopolymer Stamp Set

 

Just Kidding Photopolymer Stamp Set         #140667          $15.95

To view ALL the photopolymer stamp sets available from Stampin’ Up! – some in the catalogs and some just shown online – please click HERE.

Blendabilities Update

Not such good news! Stampin’ Up! has discontinued the Blendabilities markers due to quality manufacturing issues.  When the tip is welded to the barrel, the welding process can leave microscopic (invisible) holes in the marker tip. This leads to accelerated evaporation of the alcohol in the ink. As Stampin’ Up! noticed more and more issues and complaints with these markers, they stepped up their quality testing and discovered that there was a serious problem with the entire line. While not all the markers were bad, the failure rate from the manufacturer was unacceptable to Stampin’ Up! After much consideration, they said, they decided to discontinue the product. You will need to contact your demonstrator if you are having issues with your Blendabilities or if yours were backordered. No backorders will be filled as all markers have been sent back to the manufacturer.

The good news, I suppose, is that the popularity of the Blendabilities with customers and demonstrators showed that we like alcohol-based markers! So Stampin’ Up! is looking into this. It will probably be awhile until this is all sorted out and Stampin’ Up! has all issues addressed and hopefully a new product to offer us.

With Blendabilities no longer available as a Sale-A-Bration option, it is anticipated that the demand on other Sale-A-Bration items will be higher than forecast. For that reason, all Sale-A-Bration items (with the exception of stamps) will now be “while supplies last.”

If you have Blendabilities that work, just enjoy them! Not all of them will have problems, and keep in mind, none of them were meant to last forever. There was even talk of possible refills for them down the line. But certainly they shouldn’t have arrived dry or dried out after just a few uses.  Be sure to store them flat, not on either end, so the ink will be distributed evenly.

The Memento Black Ink and Refill ARE still available to order!  The Memento Black Ink is great to use and isn’t just for Blendabilities.

 

 

Celebrate Baby Ombre-Look Card for the New Parents

Celebrate Baby Card

New parents may get lots of baby cards, but yours will be extra-special if you give them a handmade baby card with a good baby stamp set like this Stampin’ Up! Celebrate Baby Stamp Set. It comes with many stamps with which to compose a greeting and then the cute little mobile stamp! I colored mine with Stampin’ Write Markers and turned it into a tag with the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch. You can round the bottom corners of the tag like I did with the Project Life Corner Punch The Pool Party 1/4″ Cotton Ribbon is just tied into a bow and adhered to the tag with a couple Glue Dots rather than tying it through the tag. The card base is Pool Party card stock with a Whisper White layer.

The dotted ombre layer starts with the Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper which you can earn FREE with a $50 purchase of any Stampin’ Up! merchandise right now during Sale-A-Bration. For the “ombre” look, which means graduated colors or tones of colors, I used three different ink colors starting with the darkest at the bottom. I don’t remember what I used so you can make your own choices! I may have started with Bermuda Bay, maybe Coastal Cabana and Pool Party. I just sponged on each color, blending them together where they met. The fun effect is using the Irresistibly Yours Paper which is embossed, so when you apply ink over it, the embossed design stands out! Then you take a tissue and rub over all the inked area just to clean off the embossed design to make it show up even better and get rid of any excess ink.

Since I stamped the greeting using two stamps in the set right on the card layer, it hit the embossed polka dots so has a look that you either like or you don’t. I think it makes the word “Welcome” look a little broken up, but I like the way the polka dots show up on the wider word “Baby”. You get two sheets each of six designs in the Irresistibly Yours pack of paper so you have a lot of creative potential there!

With a $50 Stampin’ Up! purchase during the month of March, you can choose a free product from the Sale-A-Bration Brochure HERE or  choose from the newest products Stampin’ Up! just released for Sale-A-Bration HERE.

Have fun shopping with Stampin’ Up! If you are new to Stampin’ Up! and need a catalog, please email me a Karen@KarenStamps.com.

Best Day Ever Dot Card

Best Day Ever Dot Card

With a $50 purchase during Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration, you could choose this stamp set, Best.Day.Ever. as your free product! I stamped the dots at the bottom of the card front and after stamping the greeting on the tag, added a couple little hearts and the lined heart. Then I remembered the Itty Bitty Accents Epoxy Stickers I hadn’t used yet! I stuck one on the lined heart and was surprised that it had a completely different feel to it than I expected! It’s a fun embellishment!  The tag was punched with the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch and a bow added tied from Whisper White 5/8″ Satin RibbonAnd for a little more pizzazz, I added a few silver sequins from the Frosted Sequins, which are now on the Clearance Rack! Get some while you can!

Easy and fun card to make!  Get your stamping supplies at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Add on some of the Weekly Deals, too!

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deals Mar 3 2015

Lovely Amazing You Letters Sending Wishes Card

Lovely Amazing You Letters Card

Not in the Stampin’ Up! Catalog but under “New Arrivals” in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store, you will find this new photopolymer stamp set Lovely Amazing You. It’s a simple stamp set with just two images, an envelope and a feather, plus a tiny little heart and some great greetings!

On this card my idea was to stamp a bunch of the envelopes. I ended up just stamping them in different colors, in Soft Subtles, going across the card. I stamped “off” each time before stamping on the Whisper White card front and masking the envelope before the one I was stamping with an envelope I had stamped on computer paper and cut out. You can watch the Stampin’ Up! video below to see how to do “masking”.  It is very easy except perhaps for cutting out the image! Then for a little emphasis I stamped one envelope full-strength in Blushing Bride and cut it out. It is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. The greeting is stamped in Memento Black Ink (still available even though the Blendabilities are not). And for a little fun pop I added a strip of Stacked With Love Designer Washi Tape.  Washi Tape is so fun!

Enjoy this video!