Only three more days until Stampin’ Up! Sale-A-Bration begins! Here are some more of my Leadership Conference swap cards I wanted to show you.  They have products from both the Occasions Catalog and new ones coming that you can earn for free in the Sale-A-Bration Brochure! For every $50 in Stampin’ Up! product that you purchase, Jan. 28 – March 31, you will earn one FREE product in the Sale-A-Bration brochure. If you are a regular customer of mine, you probably should have received your brochure already in the mail or will soon. If you haven’t, please let me know. If you don’t have a Demonstrator that you order from and would like the Sale-A-Bration catalog, please email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

The card above uses a greeting in the Sale-A-Bration brochure called See Ya Later. It’s a cute one! The Pool Party Twine on the card comes from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack, free to you during Sale-a-Bration with a $50 purchase.  I love the Retro Fresh This and That Designer Washi Tape, available in the Occasions Catalog.

Here’s the See Ya Later greeting stamp set again along with Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper, plus three punched circles. Could card-making get any easier?!

This card uses the See Ya Later stamp set, the new Banner Punch (which will be carried over to the new Annual Stampin’ Up! Catalog), and the Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder in the Occasions Catalog.

Another cute card with some of the same products you’ve seen but a different look to the card!

One of the products I LOVE in the Sale-A-Bration Catalog is this Decorative Dots Embossing Folder. I wasn’t that excited seeing it on the page, but once I started seeing it in person at Leadership I really loved the look!  A nice simple card with the Sweet Sorbet paper and coordinating Petal Parade Stamp Set, plus some Twine from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack.

Don’t forget! Sale-A-Bration begins Tuesday, January 28!

Only six more days until Sale-A-Bration! This is an easy card you can make with one of the free products you can potentially earn during Sale-A-Bration! Just order $50 in Stampin’ Up! products and choose a free product from the Sale-A-Bration brochure beginning January 28th through March 31. No limits! Order $100, get two free products! Order $300 and get a bonus in Hostess Dollars! It’s all great!

This card uses the So Very Grateful stamp set in the current Occasions Catalog, called “Celebrate the Everyday”. The designer paper is the Sale-A-Bration product, Sweet Sorbet. This is a very pretty pack of paper!

I decided to make it a monochromatic card by stamping the flowers in the same color as the Sweet Sorbet paper, in Crisp Cantaloupe. The stamp set So Very Grateful comes with several “thank you” sentiments but I needed another type of card this time so I used a “thinking of you” from another stamp set, Sweet Essentials. I added a little piece of Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon around the designer paper. Sweet, simple, easy card!

Get ready for Sale-A-Bration! It is the biggest promotion of the year from Stampin’ Up! While you can’t see the Sale-A-Bration brochure online until January 28, you can be looking at all the current Stampin’ Up! products and making your shopping list! Just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store now and take a look! Be sure to check all the categories in the left sidebar of the store so you don’t miss anything!

Sale-A-Bration is coming to Stampin’ Up! in just one week! This is Stampin’ Up!’s biggest promotion so you’ll want to be a part of it! With just a $50 purchase, you can earn a FREE item from the special Sale-A-Bration brochure. This card has a sneak peek of the beautiful paper, Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper, used on this Pool Party card base. It has a little scalloped strip of Crisp Cantaloupe, punched with the Scallop Edge Border Punch. And a little bit of Pool Party Seam Binding Ribbon adds some softness. Another sneak peek on the card is the flower stamped on the top of the card. It is stamped in Pool Party ink to give that monochromatic, watermarked look.  You could also use Versamark Ink for the same effect. The stamp set is also a Sale-A-Bration item, Petal Parade.  The sentiment is from the Happy Day Stamp Set in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog.

Today, though, I wanted just a note card so I took the basic idea of the above card and used only the 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Pool Party and added the strip of Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper. Before I adhered the designer paper, I tore a strip of Crisp Cantaloupe card stock to adhere to the back. Before we had all our fancy punches, tearing a strip of card stock toward you was how we added a little contrast or interest to our cards with that rough edge! I also added a little flower with a few scalloped punches and a Candy Dot in the center.

Sale-A-Bration begins Tuesday, January 28 so be ready!  Make out your shopping list!  Visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store to see all your choices in current products!

When Sale-A-Bration begins January 28th, you could chose this stamp set, You’re Lovely, for your FREE Sale-A-Bration product with a $50 purchase! I thought this was a beautiful card on display at Stampin’ Up! Leadership. The delicate little white design I think is embossed. It’s my favorite part of the card.

This will be the best time to shop at Stampin’ Up! because with every $50 you spend, you get to choose a free product from the special Sale-A-Bration brochure.

Check out our Stampin’ Up! products at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE.

I finally got some swap cards made for Stampin’ Up! Leadership today!  I did lots of embossing with my Stampin’ Up! Heat Tool and Gold Embossing Powder! This is the Flowerfull Heart, one of the Valentine sets in the Online Store and the greeting is from the cute set Yippee-Skippee.

You can’t see too well in the photo but the card base is Baked Brown Sugar card stock. And for the finishing touch, I used the new Watercolor Wonder Washi Tape in the corner.  Washi tape is so easy and fun to use.  Just tear it off the roll or cut it.  It’s even repositionable.

I’ll let you know what fun I have at the Stampin’ Up! Leadership Conference today! It’s always exciting to wonder what new products or announcements they will have for us. It’s always a good time when you are at a Stampin’ Up! event!  Think about signing up to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and be part of all the fun while running your own business!

Here’s a Sale-A-Bration sneak peek preview for you!  Sale-A-Bration is the biggest promotion of Stampin’ Up! With every $50 you spend, you earn a free product from the Sale-A-Bration brochure!  The designer series paper you see on this card, Sweet Sorbet #133521, is one of your choices.  Although it is valued at $10.95, you would get it FREE with a $50 purchase. The flower stamp is also one of your choices, the Petal Parade stamp set.  I stamped it, cut it out, and popped it up with a couple Stampin’ Dimensionals. The greeting on the card is from a great set, Yippee-Skippee. The washi tape across the paper is from the Occasions Catalog, Retro Fresh This and That Designer Washi Tape. I actually got the “coordinating colors” mixed up as the paper matches Crisp Canteloupe and the tape and ink are Tangerine Tango.  But it all still looks good together! And I love the saying on that stamp!!

You won’t be able to get your free products until Sale-A-Bration starts January 28, but there are lots of great products available in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! When you order, be sure to check the categories listed in the left sidebar of the store page – Weekly Deal, Clearance Rack, Valentine product, etc. You don’t want to miss a thing!

I found myself drawn to this stamp image again from So Very Grateful in the new Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog. This time I stamped it and colored it in and cut it out with my Paper Snips. (Paper Snips are great for this kind of intricate “fussy cutting”! If you don’t own some, put them on your next order.) I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it and played around with a partially gold embossed paper doily. But what I decided to do was layer a piece of the Gold Fancy Foil Designer Vellum on Whisper White, adhered my cut-out flowers on top and tied some new Gold Baker’s Twine around the layer. I didn’t see a good spot for a greeting, just couldn’t figure out that part, so I just left the card plain. Nothing says you have to have a greeting on every card you make! I can always add one later or just use it as a notecard with no specific sentiment.  I LOVE the vellum with the tiny gold hearts – and all the rest of the sheets in the package!

You can find the products in the new Occasions Catalog (By the way, it’s not called the “Occasions Catalog” but it is referred to as that. It’s actually titled “Celebrate The Everyday”). You can shop at your convenience at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE or contact me and I can put your order in for you.  If you are shopping today, don’t forget about the current Weekly Deals, only good until midnight tonight MT.

This thank you card made with the new So Very Grateful stamp set in the new Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog 2014 might bring a hope of spring to those of you snowed in in many parts of the country today! Personally, I am a little jealous that I am not in a winter wonderland with lots of snow – as long as I could be home with my family and baking cookies, stamping, or going out to play in the snow! The cold air is even supposed to reach way down here in Houston but just for a night or two and then it will get up to a balmy 72 degrees later in the week (they say!).

This is also a sneak peek at some designer paper you will be able to get FREE during Sale-A-Bration beginning January 28. It is called Sweet Sorbet #133521 and will be beautiful on your springtime projects! You can see the strip of it on the side of my card layer with a strip of Pool Party punched with the Scallop Edge Border Punch. The card base is one of the 2013-2015 In Colors, Crisp Cantaloupe. I haven’t used that color very much but I think it will be pretty for spring and summer coming up!

I stamped the flowers in Stazon Black ink so I could watercolor with my Blender Pen and ink pads.  I used the colors Pool Party, Crisp Canteloupe, Pistachio Pudding, and Summer Starfruit. All these colors coordinated with the Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper.

In case you are new to Stampin’ Up!, Sale-A-Bration is the company’s biggest promotion. For every $50 in merchandise that you purchase, you earn one FREE product from the special Sale-A-Bration brochure. This promotion runs from January 28 – March 31.  You will want to take advantage of it! If you are new and don’t have a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator you are already working with, email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com if you would like the Sale-A-Bration brochure or the new Occasions Catalog just out!

If you are snowed in this weekend, get out your flower stamps and light-colored card stock and stamp and think of spring! This So Very Grateful stamp set, available in clear- or wood-mount is going to be able to used in many ways and comes with three nice greetings! Check out the new Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog in my Online Store right now.