Sometimes it is easy to just grab the nearest pack of Stampin’ Up! designer series paper and the coordinating colors of card stock and make a card.  Add a greeting, maybe a few embellishments, and you’ve got a card in minutes!

For this card, I picked the orange pattern out of the Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper and choose Pumpkin Pie card stock for the card base. Then with a scrap of the polka dot pattern, I backed that with a piece of Tempting Turquoise card stock and then another after I stamped a greeting from Perfect Pennants Stamp Set.

For a little bit of embellishment, I added three stamped and punched Petite Petals flowers, accented with Brights Candy Dots.

The Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper is available at a discount today for the last day on the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals!  You can add the Weekly Deals to any order with the Retiring products you want to grab.

Check the Retiring List of products  PDF or shop HERE.

This beautiful Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper is in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog, which will be ending soon!  Just so you don’t miss out, I wanted to remind you of how you can make six easy cards with one sheet of Painted Blooms paper! The “beauty” is already done for you, you just add a greeting and maybe an embellishment. This paper came from an actual watercoloring! Since you get two sheets of the same design in the package, you can cut one up and frame the other one for artwork! Don’t be afraid to use it!  Better to be made into cards or in a frame than to be stuck in a plastic package unused! Release it!

Here’s how you do it!

Just cut 3/4″ off the top and the bottom of the sheet of paper. At first I wondered why I wouldn’t just cut 1 1/2″ off the bottom or top, it would be the same, but following these directions you are just trimming off the bottom of the grass on the bottom and the white area on the top, leaving almost all of the design intact!  Then cut the middle piece in half at 12″ x 5 1/4″ horizontally and then cut each strip at 4″.  So your card layer pieces will be 4″ wide and 5 1/4″ tall.

Then just add these layers to card bases, stamp a greeting if you like, maybe add some ribbon or a butterfly or whatever you like, maybe some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on a flower. Keep it simple and you will have six cards made in no time!

If you need some pretty Mother’s Day cards this weekend and you have this paper, try this out! Don’t be afraid to use your designer paper! I know we are all paper hoarders! If you don’t own this paper, look through your stash and see if there is another pattern you can use similarly. It’s easy!

Don’t forget the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals as well!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store during May while you can still buy retiring stamps and accessories from the current catalog and Occasions Catalog!

Click to Shop!

Lots of times when I start out, I don’t know what I will end up with, even when I THINK I know what I am going to make! This card with Petite Petals is another example! I just like this stamp set, and I own the wood-mount set. Although I like all the other kinds of stamps, there is something about holding that wood block in your hand and stamping with it that feels good!

I planned to use some pattern from the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper so I chose the Daffodil Delight card stock for the card base. Then I found this Whisper White piece cut with the retiring Top Note Die in with the scraps so I decided to use it on this card.  The Top Note Die was one of the things I was totally surprised to see that it was retiring! It seemed to be really popular, but I guess it ran its course. The greeting is from the Four You stamp set and is on the retirement list. I think it is a very useful stamp set so grab it while you can!

And then I had fun just stamping and stamping a bunch of flowers with the Petite Petals in the Brights colors.  I used Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay, Rich Razzleberry, and Melon Mambo. The Petite Petal Punch made it super easy to get all those flowers cut out perfectly! Some of the flowers I adhered flat with Glue Dots on the Top Note Die and some I popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. And for a finishing touch, I added some Brights Candy Dots for centers on some of the flowers. Sometimes you have to know when to stop!

Check out the products that are retiring HERE!

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Retired List HERE.

Check out the Stampin’ Up! Sortable Retired List Excel HERE.

One of the stamp sets on the Retirement List is For The Birds, which is kind of a shame because it’s one of those nice stamp sets, pleasing images, all-occasion greetings and easy to color in.  You can also stamp the image in just one color and leave it plain without coloring it in and make a monochromatic card.

In this card, I used a Mossy Meadow card base and a piece of designer paper from the All Abloom Designer Series Paper Stack for the layer. The image is stamped with Jet Black Stazon Ink on Whisper White.  The wagon, flowers, and bird are colored in with Stampin’ Write Markers and Blender Pens. Isn’t it fun to feel like a little kid again while you sit and color?! For a  little sky color I just sponged on a little blue with a Sponge Dauber in the background.

When I found a little scrap of Real Red that was already embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, I tried it as a layer under my stamped image and thought it worked. This Polka Dot Folder is retiring also!  I use this one a lot so will be sorry to see it go! It’s a good all-purpose/want-a-little-something embossing folder!

For a finishing touch I added a small bow made with the Lost Lagoon 3/8″ Satin Stitched Ribbon.  I thought it finished off the card nicely. When the card was finished, I felt very satisfied with the colors and look of this card! It’s nice when that happens!

To shop for all the Stampin’ Up! Retiring Products, check out this section of my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.

Stampin’ Up! Retiring List PDF

Stampin’ Up! Excel List (by page number)

And don’t forget to check the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals!