I can’t believe I haven’t really played with the Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper but it came out today to make this card along with the Starburst Sayings Stamp Set and Starburst Framelits Dies.  I decided to make a 6″ tall card.  Just cut your card base 3″ x 6″ and fold in half. Just something different. I also used the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder for the Very Vanilla piece on the top of the card.  You can get the Decorative Dots folder FREE with a $50 purchase during Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration during March.  It’s really a cute folder! The scalloped strip is So Saffron.  The ribbon pieces are Baked Brown Sugar Ruffle Stretch Trim.

Just get out some designer paper and card stock and play!  See what patterns appeal to you that day and then see what the coordinating colors are that go with it.  Before you know it, you will have a lovely card or other project!

You can purchase the Starburst Sayings Stamp Set and the Starburst Framelits TOGETHER in a Starburst Bundle for a 15% savings!  Be sure you choose some Retro Fresh Designer Paper as well just because you will really like it!  You can find my Stampin’ Up! Online Store right HERE.

It’s time for Mardi Gras! Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French and is the celebration the day before Ash Wednesday, when Lent begins. Mardi Gras is the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the religious obligations of Lent. Of course everyone has heard of the parties and parades in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, but actually celebrations are held in lots of places. There are big, fancy parties with delicious food and parades with floats and throwing of beads and other trinkets. These are just a few of my beads, not from going to the real Mardi Gras, but from going to Mardi Gras parties for a few years. The man who hosted the parties was from Louisiana so the food was great and the live music great! Not to mention the little parade through the tables of the party when they would toss some beads!

My card is made from a base of Very Vanilla with a Brushed Gold card stock layer (hard to tell in the photograph). I decided to make little Mardi Gras banners with the Triangle Punch “strung” on Gold Baker’s Twine and then I just hand-lettered the banners. To jazz up the card a little I decided to add some Watercolor Wonder Designer Washi Tape at the bottom. I also punched a few stars from the Goil Foil. Can you figure out how I made the little mask? I folded a piece of the Gold Foil and stuck it in the wing piece on the Bird Punch, just so the fold line would not be cut. I thought it kind of looked like a mask! I dug out the retired Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole or two in the mask to make the eyes.  Then I added a string of Rhinestone Jewels to decorate the mask.

Make something with gold, green and purple today to celebrate Mardi Gras. The colors have meaning: purple for justice, gold for power and green for faith. There are lots of interesting articles online to read about Mardi Gras! It’s quite the day and celebration!

Here are the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals:

These are good through next Monday night! Have fun shopping at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

I guess there is a day for everything and today is National Margarita Day! Move over George Washington! (It’s actually his birthday today, February 22.) I thought it would be fun to try making a margarita card using our Stampin’ Up! Vellum Card Stock. Just cut a circle for the glass, a thin stem from the scrap and punch a small Oval.  Cut off a portion of the top of the circle to make the shape of glass you want. There’s no good way to hide your adhesive under vellum so do the best you can. I used Sticky Strip.

To make the margarita glass, sponge on some green ink (I used Gumball Green) on the underside of the vellum. Make it as light or dark as you like. I left a border to look like the glass. For the “salt” on the margarita, I spread a line of Crystal Effects and sprinkled on some retired Stampin’ Up! Chunky Essentials Glitter that I had. You could also use Sticky Strip.

The border at the top is stamped with the Mosaic Madness Stamp Set.  The word “Enjoy” is from the carryover stamp set  Oh, Goodie! To jazz things up a bit I stuck on a cute little bow from the Silver 1/8″ Ribbon.

Now if you are not into margaritas, you can use the same technique to make a regular shaped glass of lemonade or punch or anything you want. Just color the backside of the glass with whatever color drink you want to portray – or even layers of different colors for a fancy drink!

You can shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store for any supplies you need!

Enjoy National Margarita Day by making a Margarita card and perhaps visiting your favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner tonight! I know my mouth is watering for some fajitas and enchiladas!

Use the buttons below if you’d like to share this Margarita with your friends!

Sometimes when you make a card, you don’t really know what design you are going to come up with! All I knew was I wanted to use the beautiful Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper and our Silver Foil Sheets. I layered the flowery piece of designer paper on the strip of Silver Foil, but I had cut the foil too wide.  I trimmed it off and decided that scrap would look good going across the bottom of the card! I wouldn’t have thought of that ahead of time, it just happened.  So when you are making cards and projects, just play and see what you come up with!

For the greeting, I used the one in the stamp set Happy Watercolor. To match the Silver Foil Sheet I had used, I decided to emboss the greeting with Pewter Stampin’ Emboss Powder and the Heat Tool.

The card base is Island Indigo, which is one of the coordinating colors with the Watercolor Wonder DSP. You can look on the back of any package of designer paper and see what Stampin’ Up! colors coordinate with the paper. The catalog also lists them.

The watercolor look is IN so be sure to check out the Stampin’ Up! products in the Occasions Catalog! Order $50 or more and you’ll earn a free product from the Sale-A-Bration Brochure!

Go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store today and place your order! Check the Clearance Rack, too!