On Saturday Stampin’ Up! held a virtual event called Onstage 2023 for Demonstrators, somewhat like a mini-convention, to introduce upcoming Spring Mini Catalog products as well as the big promotion called Sale-A-Bration. One of the fun Suites they showed, stamped with, and allowed us to purchase ahead of the event is the Bee Mine Suite, coming in the January-April 2024 Mini Catalog. I hadn’t had a chance to use it beforehand, but after watching the event I opened the package and got stamping!

Here are some of the Bee Mine Designer Series Papers, the Sweet Sorbet 1/4″ Bordered Ribbon, the Bee My Valentine Stamp Set, and the Bee Builder Punch. There are also adorable Adhesive-Backed Hearts & Flowers (you’ll probably want more than one package!) and Square Pillow Boxes that I forgot to put in the photo. If you like bees, and they are popular these days, you will want this Suite! And if you are not “into” bees, you will find these papers and stamp set so cute you will love them anyway!

The card I posted was one that Shannon made during the online event yesterday. The card base is Daffodil Delight as is the first layer which is stamped randomly with the honeycomb stamp in Daffodil Delight ink. This layer is cut at 3 3/4″ x 4 3/4″. Be sure to stamp the greeting at the bottom before adhering that top layer. It is stamped in Memento ink and is in the Bee My Valentine Stamp Set.

The two layers of designer paper, the little hearts and the little white flowers, are cut at 2 1/4″ x 3 1/4″ and 2 1/4″ x 3″. They are both placed on angles and staggered, not lined up straight.

The bee is made by stamping on Basic White with Memento Ink and then punched out with the Bee Builder Punch. If you look at the bottom of the punch and line up your images somewhat in the same direction as they are arranged in the punch (and allow space in between images!) you will find punching them out a little easier. Or you can punch a template and then use that to place the stamps when you are stamping the images. You could color the bee or use yellow cardstock, but I was copying the card as Shannon made it. Then just put a drop of glue to adhere the wings to the body and the antennae to the top of his head. You can pop up the bee with Stampin’ Dimensionals and even place them on the back where the wings and antennae meet on the bee’s body to hold them in place perfectly.

Once you have everything adhered, use Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the Daffodil Delight finished layer on the card base. On the inside of the card, you could use a strip of designer paper or cut out a small bee from the paper to decorate the inside of the card.

Then I had to make another card right away because I just loved the designer paper! It is all so cute!

I love that Sweet Sorbet is one of the coordinating colors with the designer series paper because I haven’t used it in a while and I love that color! It is one of the In Colors from last year but on its second year right now in the Annual Catalog. I used Sweet Sorbet for the card base. Next, I chose this flowered pattern in the Bee Mine Designer Series Paper for the background.

For the focal part of the card, I decided to diecut the largest tag in the Tailor Made Tags Dies out of Sweet Sorbet. Then I cut another tag, the same size, out of the same paper but used the striped side. This striped pattern I trimmed down with my Paper Trimmer just inside the stitched perforations to make it a layer on the Sweet Sorbet.

The bee body is stamped with Daffodil Delight ink on Basic White (or you could just use Daffodil Delight cardstock) and then the stripes and antennae are stamped in Memento ink. The face is another tiny stamp. There are several faces to choose from!

I stamped the wing in Sweet Sorbet for something fun, but first I watercolored a piece of Basic White with Sweet Sorbet ink and one of the Water Painters. Then it was punched out with the Bee Builder Punch and adhered to the top of the bee body along with the antennae. The bee was adhered flat to the tag along with the stamped greeting. I felt like the greeting needed a little layer, so I watercolored another little piece of Basic White with the Sweet Sorbet ink and trimmed a tiny layer behind the greeting. The whole tag is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

To embellish the tag, I tied a bow with the Sweet Sorbet 1/4″ Bordered Ribbon and adhered it on the top of the tag over the hole (I didn’t thread it through) with Mini Glue Dots. I also used just one tiny Petal Pink heart in the Hearts & Flowers embellishments to the greeting.

There you have two card ideas you can make with the Bee Mine Suite when it becomes available in January! If you want it sooner, sign up to be a Demonstrator and be able to preorder select products before January! And remember, Sale-A-Bration will be coming up in January at the same time. When you spend $50 you get to choose one FREE Sale-A-Bration product! With a $100 purchase, you can choose a Level 2 item or two Level 1 products. Your choice! It’s a VERY popular promotion Stampin’ Up! has been doing almost forever! Lots to look forward to in January!