In looking for inspiration for making a card, I wanted to use the Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper, so I looked in the new catalog and decided to “copy” one of the samples displayed. As it turned out, making this card shows a way of using scraps to make a card with the Eastern Palace Suite.  I made my card slightly different than the catalog sample, but this shows that the catalog is a great place to look for ideas. What you end up with might be entirely different than what you started copying.  I might add this card was difficult to photograph because of the glare of the gold foil on several different pieces.

The card base is one of the new In Colors, Tranquil Tide. I randomly stamped a few of the small images in the Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set on. the card with Tranquil Tide ink. Then I began placing some of my Eastern Palace Paper onto the card, somewhat like the sample I was copying from the catalog.  One of the pieces of scrap paper has the gold foil design, plus I added a thin Gold Foil Sheet strip on the top edge of another Eastern Palace piece. Since I had a scrap of Lemon Lime Twist Cardstock, I used that piece on the card whereas the Stampin’ Up! sample used a piece of designer paper in the pack. The greeting is stamped with images from the Eastern Beauty Stamp Set.

Different from the Stampin’ Up! catalog sample, I found the urge to use the fun Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers too strong to resist! The sample card used a piece of the new Gold Mini Sequin Trim, but since I don’t have that yet, I felt the card needed a little more pizzazz, which I had already tried to add with the gold foil pieces of paper. Since we have the gold stickers, I looked in there and chose some to use on the card. The stickers are high quality, easy to use, and fun to use!

This card was made with one half sheet of cardstock plus scraps I found mixed in with my designer paper pack, so don’t under estimate what you can do with small pieces of your precious designer paper, since I know we are all paper hoarders! Use your scraps, even as small pieces, to decorate a card or project. We can all get a lot of mileage out of our large sheets of designer paper.

Be sure to use the Stampin’ Up! catalog as a source for ideas for your projects.  It’s a gold mine!

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This weekend I took my own advice and once I made one card that I liked, I made several of the same design and even branched out using the same Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper on several others. This is a good way to make easy all-occasion cards. I didn’t even add greetings yet because I thought I might wait until I HAVE an occasion, whether “thank you” or “birthday” or “thinking of you” to add a greeting.  Or I might even just leave it plain and write a note inside! Remember, like in the olden days when people wrote letters and real notes inside cards and mailed them?!!!

I found that I loved this Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper and want to order more! These cards were very easy to make, especially with the new Daisy Punch and Daisy Delight Stamp Set. Sadly, the Daisy Punch is backordered and unavailable to order right now until probably near the end of June. The good news is, that tells you it was extremely popular with Demonstrators during our preorder period so it must be good! But in the meantime, the Delightful Daisy Paper is so pretty, I’m sure you can make pretty cards without the punch. Also, the Daffodil Delight 1/4″ Double-Stitched Ribbon is just the right color to go with the Daisy paper so you can embellish with that on some cards.  I also did a  little “watermark” stamping on the cardstock with the same color ink just to add a little interest.

Sometimes just easy, basic cards are all we need to make and other times we can make the fancy cards for special occasions or special people.  Of course, anybody who gets one of our handmade cards IS special!  Make some easy all-occasion cards just to have on hand to pull out when you need them and add the greeting at that time.

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The other day one of my very nice customers, Phyllis, sent me the card with the yellow embroidered flowers that she made with a note and the other two papers with the pink and blue embroidered flowers. She said she’d like to see what I would do to them! My first thought was I would frame them, they were all so beautiful! Since we are into cards, though, I thought I would just make these extra embroidered flower cards into greeting cards.

The paper with the blue embroidered flowers just seemed to have an empty space where I could put a greeting so I concentrated on that.  I thought the new Stitched Shapes Framelits would go well with the actual stitching. I love the stitched look those dies give (without having to do any stitching or piercing!). First I played around with cardstock colors to see what would match and finally decided on Wisteria Wonder and Soft Sky. Her floss seems to be varigated colors so that’s why I chose two different colors.

I chose a greeting from the Floral Phrases Stamp Set which I think is a nice greeting, plus it would fit into a nice oval shape. I die cut the greeting with the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies. The greeting is layered on a piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock die cut with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and then layered on a piece of Soft Sky cardstock die cut with the scalloped oval in the same Layering Ovals Framelits Dies pack. The card is made by layering the embroidered piece on top of Wisteria Wonder and Soft Sky for the card base. I think you could also add a small pearl or rhinestone in the center of each flower and maybe some sequins adhered randomly to take up a little of the open space, but I wouldn’t want to distract from the pretty embroidery. Sometimes less is more!

For the pink embroidered flowers I went through the same process of choosing cardstock colors. As it turned out, I thought Rose Red and Pirouette Pink worked best with the thread. Then I even wondered if a pop of Basic Black would work. I think maybe it does, but I like the Rose Red and Pink the best.

Since I had first thought of framing these pretty embroidered flowers, I happened to remember a card I made way back in the beginning of my stamping with an oval as a frame. I used the largest oval in the Layering Ovals Framelits Dies to cut out a frame to place over her embroidered piece. I think maybe you could also emboss the oval frame if the design didn’t take away from the embroidery.

It’s nice to see someone doing something different with her cards and yet you can still use Stampin’ Up! cardstock, and accessories to enhance the design.  A greeting could also be added to these cards, something smaller and simple since the pink embroidery takes up more space. But just a plain card without a greeting is always good to have on hand for those personal notes you want to write.

Stampin’ Up! actually has a Christmas kit of cards on which to do some stitching on the Clearance Rack, the Stitched with Cheer Project Kit. If you would like to incorporate some stitching on your cards and get some early Christmas cards made, check out this kit! It’s quite the deal, on sale for 60% off the original price!  Watch the video below to see it!

I hope you will be inspired by Phyllis’s idea to make cards with beautiful embroidery. She says this is her “go to and easy” card to make. Although I have done all kinds of needlework in years past, needles and thread are not my thing any more so for me stamping is much easier! It’s great we can see all kinds of styles of cardmaking and crafting and creativity! Leave a comment below if you have any other ideas for Phyllis’s cards or tell us about any different kinds of cards you make.

Last weekend for Stampin’ Up! Retirement Shopping!

Don’t Delay!