Spring Card With Basket Weave and Blossoming Basket

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I used a couple of new Stampin’ Up! products to make this Spring Card With Basket Weave and Blossoming Basket. This stamp set, available during Sale-A-Bration, will be so useful for many different kinds of cards and occasions.

My Stamparatus arrived and finally yesterday I got to play with it! I think it is going to be a fantastic tool in many ways to make your stamping easier and better! We’ll talk about the Stamparatus another day, but I did use it to stamp this basket. You wouldn’t exactly “need” the Stamparatus to stamp just this basket, but since I’d cut my paper pretty much to fit the basket and since I wanted the basket centered and fully stamped, I used the Stamparatus. This way I could place the stamp where I wanted it on the paper, pick it up with the Stamparatus, and if it didn’t stamp beautifully (which it did!), I could have stamped it again with the Stamparatus with the paper and stamp in exactly the same position.

This Blossoming Basket was beautiful just stamped in the Memento Ink! It’s very finely detailed and lovely! I was eager to color it in with my Stampin’ Blends markers! Coloring with these markers is very relaxing and therapeutic! Some of the Stampin’ Blends markers are going on backorder because of their popularity, so I suggest ordering them if you want some as soon as possible. I believe it is better to order them individually or in the combos so that Stampin’ Up! will send out what they have right away and then send you the backordered ones when they are re-supplied. If you order the Collection of all the markers, they may hold that whole set of markers until they have all of them back in stock. It takes longer to order the markers individually, inputting all those numbers, but at least you will get them.

The Blossoming Basket Stamp Set is part of a Bundle with the Basket Weave Dynamic Embossing Folder. Let me tell you, this Basket Weave embossing is fantastic!! You will really be impressed the first time you take your embossed cardstock out of the folder! It is a WOW! You are supposed to spritz the paper lightly with some water to loosen the paper fibers and then emboss, and it works wonderfully! I used the Basket Weave piece as a background over part of the card, then layered the Blossoming basket over it. I cut out the basket and sponged a tiny bit of Soft Sky Ink over the background Whisper White paper and in the little part I did not cut out under the basket handle.

The Blossoming Basket Bundle includes the Blossoming Basket Stamp Set and the Basket Weave Embossing Folder. You can earn it FREE with a $100 qualifying order during Sale-A-Bration. It is well worth the $100 order to get this Bundle, much less FREE! You can use it for Easter, for Mother’s Day, for a bridal shower, for an engagement, for a sympathy card, for a birthday, for a Thinking of You card…..really an all-occasion stamp set!

The traditional Sale-a-Bration has always been that for every $50 a customer spent, they would earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product. This year Stampin’ Up! has also introduced a few products that could be chosen with a $100 purchase. So that gives you even more choices! And remember, with a $150 or more order, you also receive Stampin’ Rewards! And during Sale-A-Bration, with a $250 order you would IN ADDITION earn $25 more in products in addition to regular Stampin’ Rewards.

Sale-A-Bration ends March 31, and although that sounds like a long way off, it will come up sooner than we think. Don’t wait until the last minute! If you like this stamp set and embossing folder to make a card and other projects like this Spring Card With Basket Weave and Blossoming Basket for Easter and other occasions, stock up on your stamping supplies, like paper and adhesives, to reach a $100 order.

Easy Easter Card With Lots of Lavender

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It’s time! Easter is just a month away so here is an easy Easter card with the Lots of Lavender Set, available FREE during Sale-A-Bration. This card uses two-step stamping and a little bit of watercoloring.

I chose Wisteria Wonder Cardstock for the card base, a color I’d practically forgotten I had! Maybe it has been winter for too long! The lavender bouquet is stamped on Shimmery White Cardstock. If you don’t have this paper in your collection be sure to order some. It is so pretty on its own with just a barely-there glimmer. It also is good to use for some watercoloring, if you aren’t using Watercolor Paper. Whisper White Cardstock just does not hold up to very much water if you are trying to watercolor.

To use this stamp set as two-step stamping, I started with the “blob” stamp that doesn’t look like anything and stamped that with Wisteria Wonder Ink which becomes the coloring for the flowers. Then stamp over the “blob” with the bouquet outline image. I used Memento Ink, but you could use Wisteria Wonder to overstamp as well.

I was planning to color the leaves with markers when I realized there were leaf stamps in the stamp set. Here is a good technique for stamping the leaves. Lay the leaf stamps over where you want them stamped on the bouquet, facing down, then lay the acrylic block over them to pick them up. They will be on the block in the perfect position for stamping!

This is what the stamps look like on the block, but you couldn’t place them randomly on the block and get them placed properly on the image.

Now if you want quicker and faster, I would just color in the leaves with a marker, whether the Stampin’ Write Marker or preferably the Stampin’ Blends. Those colors are a little less intense than the Stampin’ Write Markers.

For the greeting I just stamped the “Happy Easter” from Teeny Tiny Wishes, one of my favorite stamp sets! To keep it easy, I just stamped it right on the card front, not on a banner or other piece. This stamp set has greetings for almost any occasion you can imagine, and I prefer having this set in the wood-mount since they are all small stamps.

After I stamped and colored the lavender bouquet, I felt the card still needed something, so I used my Aqua Painter and some Wisteria Wonder Ink to just add some very light watercoloring around the bouquet. Here is another card with Swirly Scribbles where I put a slight watercolored background behind the flowers.

And for a final embellishment, I tied a very small little bow over the stamped bow. It’s probably a little too large for this card, but that’s okay!

Don’t forget! Sale-A-Bration is going on through the end of the this month, March 31. Sale-A-Bration is the Stampin’ Up! promotion where for every $50 you spend on products, you earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration gift. No limit! And this year, if you have a $100 increment, you can choose one higher-value item instead of two $50 choices. Time will fly this month, so be sure you get your order in!

Flowers are always great for making an Easter card or spring card. If you choose the Lots of Lavender Stamp Set as your Sale-A-Bration free item, you can try your hand at this easy Easter card with Lots of Lavender.

Join the Stamping With Karen Mailing List!

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Stampin’ Blends Springtime Foils Coloring On a Card

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Today I am playing with two WONDERFUL Stampin’ Up! products, coloring on the Springtime Foils Paper with the Stampin’ Blends markers to make an all-occasion card. I was just experimenting with the actual coloring and trying different colors of makers, not trying to make the perfect card.

I love coloring with the Stampin’ Blends markers. There is just a certain feel to them that I like and that feels calming while you color! LOTS of people have loved the Stampin’ Blends, especially in recent months, which is causing a backorder situation at Stampin’ Up!, coupled with Chinese New Year in China where factories shut down for a period of time and causes delays in getting products to the market.

Here are the markers that are on backorder:

Bermuda Bay (Light and Dark)
Bronze
Calypso Coral (Dark)
Crumb Cake (Light and Dark)
Ivory
Pink Pirouette (Light and Dark)
Pool Party (Light and Dark – currently on backorder)
Pumpkin Pie (Dark)
Smoky Slate (Light and Dark)

I was told by Stampin’ Up! that if a customer ordered the whole Stampin’ Blends Collection, they would go ahead and ship the colors that are available now and send the backordered ones as soon as they are available. Now there is no price break for ordering the entire batch of markers, so if you only want individual markers, you aren’t missing out on anything. I would suggest ordering whatever markers you want as soon as possible because there might be more of rush on the markers when people find out they are getting scarce! It may be the end of April before Stampin’ Up! is re-supplied. If you want to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration, go ahead and order the Collection or any backordered markers so you can get your FREE Sale-A-Bration products! That will put you at the front of the line when the backordered ones come in rather than waiting until they are back in stock to order.

Here is a closeup of the coloring with the Stampin’ Blends markers. Since the Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper (FREE during Sale-A-Bration with a $50 order!!) has a glossy finish as well as the foil outlines, the markers color a little differently than on other paper. They do blend but I would say the colors maybe almost pool at times, sort of like watercoloring. So I’m seeing that they give a little bit different variation in blending and I’m not sure you can totally control it. So just go with it and enjoy the different look! You can also use regular Stampin’ Write Markers or sponge or brayer on ink. Lots of different techniques to try with this beautiful paper! Be sure to consider choosing it for your Sale-A-Bration gift.

And here I have assembled the card on a base of Pool Party with strips of the Copper Foil along the sides. This card has the fold at the top to the panel goes all the way from the top to the bottom.

The greeting is from Petal Palette Stamp Set and then layered on a die cut piece of Copper Foil with a die from the Petals & More Thinlits Dies. For the copper piece underneath, I simply cut it in half so just the ends would look layered.

Order your markers soon! And earn your FREE Sale-A-Bration products with every $50 purchase. I know you will enjoy coloring on various papers with the new Stampin’ Blends like I did on this Stampin’ Blends coloring on the Springtime Foils Designer Paper to make this any-occasion card.

Sweet Soiree Monochromatic All-Occasion Card

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The Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper can be used to make any kind of card, like a monochromatic all-occasion card. I would say MANY occasions! The paper is simply beautiful! One side has silver foil accents and the other side is regular designer paper. So the question is, can you actually NOT use the silver foil side and use the “plainer” side??! How can we possibly hide this beautiful floral paper enhanced with silver accents?! It’s almost like Stampin’ Up! has wasted time printing something on the opposite side because who is going to use that side!

Well, when I flipped through the papers in the package, this side of the accented paper caught my eye! But why would I use THIS side and cover up the really gorgeous side? Because in that moment, I liked this side and wanted to make a card with it. So what’s a girl to do? Make a monochromatic card using this Calypso Coral colored paper, ink and ribbon! Yes, I did it! As you can see in the top picture, I adhered the ribbon to the back of the paper and put lots of Fast Fuse on that beautiful design so that I could use this Calypso Coral floral print side! Does it kill you to do that?? Yes, it’s difficult, but I think the other pretty papers deserve a chance to make a pretty card!

I decided to just keep this card simple and monochromatic (one color). The card base is Calypso Coral and the ribbon is the Calypso Coral 1/4″ Ombre RIbbon. I did use a thin border of Whisper White under the designer paper just to make it stand out a bit more.

The greeting is from the Petal Palette Stamp Set and stamped in Calypso Coral Ink. I die-cut it with the Big Shot and the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. Then I die-cut a scalloped oval shape on which to layer the greeting with the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies.

This simple layout is one of the best to use for new stampers learning to make cards and even for us experienced stampers who could just use a simple design sometimes instead of going overboard! Sometimes we think we can’t just make a simple card when we have all these supplies!

If you want to see another idea, THIS CARD uses almost the same layout with just a little more embellishing, uses the silver-foil accented side of paper, and uses the same Calypso Coral paper and ribbon! Maybe it will give you more ideas!

I think monochromatic cards often have a simple beauty to them being the one color so try a card like this Sweet Soiree Monochromatic All-Occasion Card.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE FOR THE BEST IN PAPERCRAFTING PRODUCTS!

Thank You Card in Paper Pumpkin Kit February 2018

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Here is the Thank You Card in the Paper Pumpkin February 2018 Kit, Wildflower Wishes, that I received last week. There are two other designs as well, one saying “Friend” and one saying “Celebrate”. Paper Pumpkin is the papercrafting kit that comes to you in the mail once a month with a new project each time. Most months are cards but there can be other surprise projects for a variety.

I usually like to make some of the cards exactly as designed in the Paper Pumpkin Kit, but then I think about alternative ideas or look online for other ideas. Once you get the kit it is yours, and you can make whatever you like out of the supplies! Believe me, there are plenty of ideas out there for your kit contents and maybe a few extra of your usual stamping supplies.

This Wildflower Wishes kit has a plain card base, then a printed layer on which you can stamp the flowers in the exclusive stamp set that comes with each kit. After stamping, I tied some of the linen thread around the card layer then adhered it to the card front. Adhesives are usually even included in the kit, a sheet of glue dots and maybe dimensionals if needed! Some pieces are adhesive backed as well! This kit has so many pieces to play with!

Next the die cut piece with the word is adhered over the printed piece of wildflowers. This is then popped up on dimensionals. After assembling the card, you can add the vellum greeting, the vellum leaves and some tiny pearls! Another day I will see what pieces I have left and see what I can make out of them. Other of the cards use the adhesive backed flower stickers.

While every kit is a fun surprise to receive each month, you will want to be signed up by March 10 in order to receive the March 2018 Paper Pumpkin Kit, which will have a FREE GIFT inside to celebrate Paper Pumpkin’s 5th Anniversary! Who doesn’t love a free surprise gift?!

Promotion Details

The free gift complements the kit but is not needed to complete the kit.
The free gift is exclusive to the March Paper Pumpkin kit and cannot be found anywhere else.
The free gift is a crafting product with a wide range of use that can be used on a variety of papercrafting projects.
The free gift holds an approximate retail value of $6-$8 USD/$8-$10 CAD when compared to similar products offered by Stampin’ Up!.
Subscribe between February 11–March 10 at 11:50 PM (MT).

Once you subscribe to Paper Pumpkin, you are able to go back in to the Online Store and purchase any past kits or refills that are still available. Maybe there is something you would like to have a quantity of for class or office treats or party favors but you need more than the 8 or so that came in the kit. You can buy the Refill Kit if it is still available, which includes supplies but not another stamp set and ink spot, so the price is less.

If you think the Thank You Card in the Paper Pumpkin Kit February 2018 looks like something you might enjoy making, please consider signing up for Paper Pumpkin at least for one month, March, to get the free gift (not to mention a specially designed box!) and try it out!

Make Your Own Soda Pop Bottle Greeting Cards and Projects

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Make your own soda pop bottle greeting cards and projects with the fun Bubble Over Photopolymer Bundle from Stampin’ Up! This Bundle comes with the Bubble Over Stamp Set and the Bottles & Bubbles Framelits Dies together saving you 10%! Add a little more to your order and you can earn the Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper FREE during Sale-A-Bration!

If you are new to Stampin’ Up!, Sale-A-Bration is the annual promotion, a favorite of everyone’s, where you can earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product with every $50 purchase! This year Stampin’ Up! has added a $100 choice or two as well! And there are other benefits as well, like an extra $25 in Stampin’ Rewards with a $250 or more order, and a chance to earn two FREE stamp sets if you decide to join Stampin’ Up! as a Demonstrator!

This Bubble Over Bundle is of particular interest to me because I’d always heard my dad talk about when his father owned a “soda factory” in the small Illinois town where he grew up. They would deliver “sodie” (as I sometimes heard it called) to various school picnics, homecomings, etc. around the area. I’m not really sure how else it was sold. My dad enjoyed sometimes getting to drive the delivery truck (even though he was underage to be licensed at the time, but back in those days I doubt it mattered!). It turns out it was my great-grandfather who started this soda bottling works. I’d always heard my grandpa invented a certain flavor soda that everyone liked, although I don’t recall ever having any.

Amazingly, through a Facebook group about this town, I discovered that people were collecting and selling these bottles on Ebay! In fact, there are plenty of bottle collectors and bottle cap collectors out there! Since I have discovered this, I have purchased several different glass soda bottles on Ebay, some with my great-grandfather’s name on them, some with my grandfather’s name. I even found a photo of the inside of the bottling works and several of decorated cars in homecoming parades advertising the company! It is just so amazing to me that I have found these treasures that are part of my family history! If only I could tell my dad and grandparents!!!

You can make lots of cute cards and other projects with this Bubble Over Bundle and the FREE Sale-A-Bration paper, Bubbles & Fizz! Wouldn’t these be fun card ideas for teenagers? And certainly the bottles might hold something other than soda!! The bottles can be embossed with clear embossing powder to look like shiny glass. The bottles can be die cut out of vellum cardstock to look like glass or frosted bottles. These products would also make great birthday, congratulations, and celebratory cards and gifts! Lots of creative ideas!

Watch and enjoy the Stampin’ Up! video above, and be inspired to make your own soda pop bottle greeting cards and other projects!

Easter Small Gift Card With Bunny

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Here is a quick and easy Easter Small Gift Card With Bunny to kind of go along with my little Easter basket from the other day! Maybe you will have a little gift or bouquet of flowers for a hostess and you will want just a little card to go along with the gift. Something like this will be perfect, easy for you to make, and suits the holiday!

For some reason I was in the mood for just a little card and a little Easter bunny! The card base starts out at 3 1/4″ x 6 1/2″, folded in half. This is Powder Pink Cardstock. The top layer is the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper, the same pattern I used on the Easter basket except the opposite side without the foil accents.

Just to make the designer paper stand out a tiny bit from the card base, I added a layer of Whisper White under the designer paper. The designer paper is cut at 3″ x 3″, so the Whisper White layer is 3 1/8″ x 3 1/8″. If you don’t do fractions, you just want it to fit in between the card base and the designer paper!

The punch art Easter bunny is almost the same as the one I made on the Easter basket, just smaller. For the body I used the 1 1/4″ Circle Punch and the 1″ Circle Punch for the head. The ears are punched with the Classic Label Punch, but I just rounded the pointy ends with my Paper Snips. If you own the retired Word Window Punch that would be perfect! Since these ears are so short, I just cut the Label in half for the two ears.

Just for a little definition, I sponged Powder Pink Ink around the edges of the bunny body parts and then glued the bunny together. The facial features are sketched out freehand with a black marker. (I did a better job the other day!). I popped up the bunny on the front of the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

For the greeting, until my next order gets here with some new Easter greetings, I used the Happy Easter from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set. This is one of my favorite stamp sets of all time because it has greetings for everything! I use it all the time. It is just glued across the bunny.

As I look at the photo later, I wish I would have put a little bow on the bunny and maybe some Rhinestones or Pearls on the ends of the greeting! But I took the photo in a hurry before I thought of embellishing it. And yet, if you gave this card to someone, they wouldn’t think or know it was missing anything! They would love it just the way it is because you made it!

Bunnies aren’t just for Easter either! Could you see this with a different greeting for a baby card instead?? It would be adorable with your baby gift!

Get out your punches and paper and see what bunnies you can come up with. Make a small card like this Easter Small Gift Card With Bunny or make a full-size card with a larger bunny, but just have fun!

How to Make an Easy Paper Easter Basket With Punch Art Bunny

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Easter is on its way, so let’s learn how to make an easy paper Easter basket with a punch art bunny using the Sweet Soiree Designer Paper. When I saw this paper, I knew it would make a beautiful gift box, but somewhere along the way it turned into an Easter basket! And what better decoration for an Easter basket than a cute punch art bunny!

You can decide what size you want your basket to be, but I chose 3″ wide on each side, which meant I needed to start with a 9″ x 9″ piece of the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper. I just scored it at 3″ and 6″ on each of the two sides so that it looks like a tic-tac-toe board.

At this point, you can cut on the vertical score lines from the bottom up to the horizontal score line and down the same way from the top. Then you can crease all the score lines, fold in all the tabs, and make your basket.

To eliminate the bulk of all that paper, after I cut up to the score lines as above, I cut in from the sides as you see below in the photo. This makes “tabs” to adhere to the sides. The tabs do not have to be cut exactly straight. I just eyeballed that part. Then you can use Fast Fuse, or I used Tear & Tape Adhesive on the tabs.

Just for an extra tip, I cut the little angles on the tabs, just to keep them out of the way on the edges. Nothing special, just eyeballed it.

The handle for the basket is just a 3/4″ strip of paper, adhered inside the basket again with Tear & Tape. You could use brads or staples if you wanted to, or ribbon. For a little embellishment, I punched strips of Powder Pink Cardstock with the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch to decorate the top edge of the basket. I also made this 3/4″ wide but if I did it over I probably would make it wider.

The punch art Easter Bunny is fun to make! You can experiment with whatever punches you have. For this bunny I used the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch for the body, the 1 1/4″ Circle Punch for his head, and a small oval from the Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies for his ears. If you have a retired Oval Punch you can use that. I only needed one die cut because I just cut it in half for the ears. For the face, I just drew it in. Before adhering the bunny, I sponged the edges of the pieces lightly with Powder Pink Ink. I meant to color the inside of the ears with Stampin’ Blends in pink but I forgot! The bunny is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals on the front of the Easter basket. He/She still needed a bit of something so I tied a bow with Powder Pink 3/8″ Shimmer Ribbon.

The Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper is so pretty by itself you can make bags, baskets, or boxes easily without having to do much else! The silver foil and colorful handpainted design of the flowers don’t require much embellishment. If you learn how to make an easy paper Easter basket with a punch art bunny with the Sweet Soiree paper, you will have a beautiful little gift or treat for someone special.

An Elegant Handmade Birthday Card For Someone Special

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You can make an elegant birthday card for someone special using the Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper. I think anything you would make with this fancy foiled paper with handpainted designs would look beautiful and elegant! Even this simple background has silver foil dots, plus the outlines of the flowers and leaves are silver foil.

To make this card, I started with a card base of Calypso Coral, one of the coordinating colors of the designer paper. I liked this dotted paper layered on Silver Foil. I looked through the papers and decided on the flowered paper with the Marina Mist background and cut out some of the flowers to adhere to the front of the card. If you have the Paper Snips scissors, it makes cutting out a little easier and you can just do it while you are watching TV! After I cut out the bigger group of flowers, I also cut some of the smaller ones out of the scraps.

Before I glued down the flowers, I thought a little ribbon might be nice on the card. The Calypso Coral 1/4″ Ombre Ribbon was perfect! I just adhered one strip across the card and then tied the bow on later.

With the ribbon on, I popped the large group of flowers up on Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals mostly, with a few of the regular size dimensionals. The smaller flowers I fit in alongside the large group and adhered with some Fast Fuse. (Only the Fast Fuse refills are available from now on.)

For the greeting, I chose the “Happy Birthday” from the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set. Not only is this stamp set wonderful for all the flowers, but it has a great selection of greetings! I stamped it on a piece of Powder Pink Cardstock with Powder Pink ink, not quite knowing what I was going to do with it! I ended up die-cutting with the Lots of Labels Framelits Dies but cut off the top of the diecut with the top edge of the card layer. For a little more pizzazz I added a Silver Foil diecut underneath.

I thought the greeting looked a bit plain so I stamped some small flowers on from the Beautiful Bouquet Stamp Set. It’s one of those things where perhaps I should have stopped before doing that! I nearly messed it up and I’m not sure I’m happy with it now. I thought adding some of the teeniest pearls would help it, but I’m not sure.

As my friend and I used to say back in the day when we were painting t-shirts and wine glasses together, sometimes you have to know when to stop! I should have stopped with just the stamped greeting on this card! But I doubt the recipient will be so critical!

If you want to make some beautiful, elegant cards and other projects, you might want to consider purchasing this Sweet Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper. Now there is also a stamp set and framelit dies in the Cake Soiree Bundle, if you want to get the whole works! If you want to make an elegant card for someone special, this paper will make your job easy!

Celebrate With the Paper Pumpkin Kit By Stampin’ Up!

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Celebrate the 5th anniversary of Paper Pumpkin, the papercrafting kit that comes to you in the mail from Stampin’ Up! each month! Hard to believe, but it will be 5 years in March 2018 that the first Paper Pumpkin Kit was born! It’s been five years of creating and sharing together as we all got our kits in the mail and began making the project inside or creating something completely different and sharing it on social media!

Stampin’ Up! is saying “thank you” to all the Paper Pumpkin subscribers! And what better way to do that than with a March kit which includes a fantastic, FREE gift and a specially designed, one-of-a-kind box? This kit is gorgeous, collectible, and is almost sure to go down in Paper Pumpkin history as an all-time customer favorite!

Promotion Details:

The free gift complements the kit but is not needed to complete the kit.
The free gift is exclusive to the March Paper Pumpkin kit and cannot be found anywhere else.
The free gift is a crafting product with a wide range of use that can be used on a variety of papercrafting projects.
The free gift holds an approximate retail value of $6-$8 USD when compared to similar products offered by Stampin’ Up!.
Subscribe between February 11–March 10 at 11:50 PM (MT).

If you haven’t tried Paper Pumpkin yet, this is the time to do it! Besides the fun project inside the special box, who wouldn’t want a free gift inside! You can give it a try, and if it doesn’t suit you, you can skip a month or you can even cancel. No risk, no obligation!

And if you have been a Paper Pumpkin subscriber in the past, you are encouraged to try again, especially when there is a free gift involved! Join Paper Pumpkin by March 10th to get the celebratory March Kit mid-month, and join in the Paper Pumpkin 5 year celebration!

If You Love Baskets You Must Have This Blossoming Basket Bundle!

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If you love baskets and aren’t spending $100 on your Stampin’ Up! order, don’t watch the video below! Now you can’t say I didn’t warn you! Yesterday Stampin’ Up! added three more items available for Sale-A-Bration, and one of them is the Blossoming Basket Bundle, available FREE with a $100 order! I would guess that it will be one of the most popular Sale-A-Bration items because you can make beautiful cards and projects with it!

In this Bundle, you get the the Blossoming Basket Stamp Set AND the Basket Weave Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. This is one of those heavier embossing folders that really puts a deep impression in the paper, particularly if you mist the paper with water lightly first. You can have fun watercoloring the flowers and basket, or coloring in with your favorite technique. There are lots of ways to color! Even if you are not an artist you will look like one! Watch the Stampin’ Up! video below with Shannon at the Home Office and see the fun of this Bundle! You will want to make sure your order is $100 or more so you can choose this for Sale-A-Bration, so it’s a good time to stock up on adhesives or paper or any accessories you have been wanting, not to mention stamps!

Wouldn’t that be a beautiful Bundle to have for spring and Easter cards? You can use it for birthdays or weddings or upcoming graduations perhaps! And as Shannon showed us, you can cut the flowers away and do something separately with them or even pop them up over the basket!

Think about adding a Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Kit to your order to boost your total so you can get this Blossoming Basket Bundle!

If you have a long list for your Stampin’ Up! order, be sure to consider this Blossoming Basket Bundle. I’ve already seen some demonstrators cut the embossed piece in a circle, which makes it look like a pie crust! How creative! And I’m sure there will be even more creative ideas as everyone gets this folder in their hands!

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Chinese Red Money Envelopes for Lunar New Year, Year of the Dog 2018

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Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. This year is the Year of the Dog in the Chinese Zodiac. Chinese people gift family and close friends with cash money in these “lucky envelopes”. A Chinese acupuncture doctor asked me to make some red money envelopes for her so here they are!

Since it is the Year of the Dog I made some of the envelopes with “punch art” dogs. Of course I found ideas on Pinterest and other online places and used what punches I had to make what I could. But for other envelopes, I thought of other ideas, pulling out retired stamps and accessories or whatever I had! I figured lots of gold was good to use on the red envelopes either with Gold Foil paper or gold embossing or maybe some of the Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers.

This is how I began, making the envelopes out of Real Red Envelope Paper (retired). If I wouldn’t have this paper, I would use Real Red Cardstock. Too bad Stampin’ Up! retired this envelope paper because it is a little lighter to use than the cardstock. The Envelope Board was great for punching and scoring to form these envelopes, and then they just needed a little creasing with the Bone Folder and a bit of adhesive.

The Big Shot came in handy as well, for die-cutting some images to embellish the Chinese red money envelopes. On these I used the Large Numbers Framelits Dies, the Flourish Thinlits Dies, and the “Happy” from the Happy Birthday Thinlits Dies.

Finally I remembered I had the stamp set Color Me Happy, a special set brought out when we got the new alcohol markers, Stampin’ Blends. You can order it even though it is not in any catalog. Just search for it in the Online Store. This stamp set had the Chinese lanterns which were perfect for one of the envelopes! Finally I tried the “Eclipse Technique” with the Large Number Dies for the year 2018!

If you want to see envelopes I made last year, you can click HERE. It was the Year of the Rooster in 2017!

The more I worked on these Chinese money envelopes, the more ideas I got! If you want to celebrate the Chinese New Year, make some Chinese red money envelopes for the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dog! Surprise someone with a Chinese gift!

New Free Stamping Products Coming Tomorrow Feb. 16th!

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Check out the new FREE stamping products coming tomorrow, February 16, 2018 as part 2 of Sale-A-Bration 2018 from Stampin’ Up! Check out this brochure by clicking on the photo above and printing it out, if you wish, before you order again in case you prefer any of these new products. The products in the first brochure for Sale-A-Bration are STILL available, these are just some new extra ones in case you want to order again and want more choices!

Original Sale-A-Bration Brochure HERE

New Sale-A-Bration Products Feb. 16th HERE

This year for the first time, if you have a $100 merchandise total, instead of 2 $50 items, you can choose one $100 selection. The selection in this new supplement has a Blossoming Basket Bundle for the $100 choice. This is a beautiful set! It is a stamp set of a basket filled with flowers and an Embossing Folder with a basketweave. It is one of those heavier folders that makes deep impressions. The folder will be available to purchase in the next Stampin’ Up! catalog but not in the bundle as shown here. I don’t know about the stamp set.

Another beautiful choice is the Springtime Foils Specialty Designer Series Paper. This paper is beautiful as is, but Demonstrators who have it on a preorder have been coloring it in various ways! You will want to have some to experiment with!

The other choice in the new supplement of Sale-A-Bration products is a stamp set called Eclectic Expressions with two greetings and some watercolor-y images.

Everything in the original Sale-A-Bration brochure is still available, these new items are just “in addition”!

Check out the new Sale-A-Bration supplement HERE. Tomorrow you’ll be able to see the products added to the Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE.

Make an Easy Last Minute Valentine Card

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Happy Valentine’s Day to you!!

I thought I would make an easy Valentine’s card for all of you, even though I can’t mail it out to everyone! AND if you need one more idea at the last minute for an easy card to make, something like this one should inspire an idea for you!

The card base is Powder Pink, one of the In Colors. The designer paper on top is from the Sweet Soiree Designer Series Paper. It kills me that there is a gorgeous design with foil accents on the opposite side, but this Powder Pink print side is what I needed and wanted for my Valentine today! It’s a gloomy, foggy, drizzly day outside so I think that put me in the mood for something more subdued.

The hearts are stamped from the Heart Happiness Stamp Set in Powder Pink Ink. I love this stamp set, and I have to add it will be plenty useful even after Valentine’s Day. I simply cut them out by hand with my Paper Snips. Before adhering to the base, I wrapped some Powder Pink 1/2″ Finely Woven Ribbon around the designer paper and tied in a bow. Then the hearts are popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The greeting is stamped on a banner from Thoughtful Banners and the words are from Wood Words. I chose these words because now the card can be for anything, even just to send to someone to let them know you are thinking of them. For today, the hearts look like Valentines, but any other time, it just looks like a pretty card! So don’t restrict hearts to just Valentine’s Day! You can use them almost any time.

You could embellish this card even a little more, but I think it is fine the way it is. And now that I made a hair appointment for this afternoon at the last minute, I need to make some last minute Valentine treats myself to take! Keep it simple and you can make anything at the last minute!

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

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Original Sale-A-Bration Brochure HERE

Happy Valentine’s Day to you!!