Stamping With Karen

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$8.50

Snail Permanent Adhesive

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin’ Pad

Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin’ Pad

Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin’ Pad

Flower Shop Wood Stamp Set

Make an Easy Card with the Flower Pot Designer Series Paper

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This is an easy basic card. If you need to make a card in a hurry or just don’t have a creative idea in your head at the moment, make a card like this and everything will be right with the world! I used the Flower Pot Designer Series Paper in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog – either side of the sheet would have been fine on this card. I cut the designer paper about 2″ high and 5 1/4″ wide to fit on the Whisper White layer over Tangerine Tango (one of the coordinating colors for the Flower Pot DSP). Do this before adhering to the card base so you can adhere a piece of ribbon around the card (just the ends tuck under the sides of the card). I used my favorite ribbon, the Whisper White 5/8″ Organza Ribbon. I tied the bow separately and attached it with Mini Glue Dots. The greeting is stamped with Night of Navy ink using a stamp from A Dozen Thoughts. That’s a stamp set worth owning with all the choices of greetings included.

This is an easy layout for a card for any occasion. Make a card base, with or without a layer on top, and adhere a strip of designer series paper either horizontally like I did on this card or vertically on one side. Stamp or punch out a greeting, maybe add some ribbon or a contrasting strip of card stock and you are set. This card is just as nice as anything more complicated! Or start with this design and MAKE it more complicated if you like!

Stampin’ Up! is offering Buy 3 Get 1 Free Designer Series Paper this month, so it is a great time to get all your favorite packages or multiples to have on hand! Specialty papers and Paper Stacks are not included, but you can get all the brand new DSP right now!

Here is a close- up of the two sides of the Flower Pot Designer Series Paper I used on this easy card:

Visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store to check out all the choices of Designer Series Paper in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog.

Christmas in July at Stampin’ Up! Plus Weekly Deals

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A sneak peek from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog – Beauty of the Season stamp set, available NOW in wood- or clear-mount.

Wood 135776 $21.95

Clear 135779 $16.95

Another “Christmas in July” new stamp set from Stampin’ Up!, Christmas Bliss!

Christmas Bliss Photopolymer Stamp Set #138897 $15.95

If you loved the photopolymer stamp set Sweetie Pie with the little girl faces that sold out super-quickly and you also needed little boy faces, the Dear Heart Photopolymer Stamp Set is for you!

Dear Heart Photopolymer Stamp Set #128157 $25.95

And last, but not least! Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals for July 8-14:

All great things on the Weekly Deals! Surely you want all of them!

And as a Heads Up — New items will be added to the Clearance Rack on Thursday, July 10th! Be there or be – left out! You know some of those items go faster than the speed of light. You can put all of these products on one order, plus any new catalog items, like the new Blendabilities Markers as well!

So whatever is convenient and works for you, you can order online any time at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store or contact me and I can put your order in for you!

Sympathy Card Made with Flower Shop Stamp Set

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Sympathy cards are something we should all make to have a few on hand, because, unfortunately, we will need them now and then. This one is going to the daughter of my mother’s best friend. Our mothers had been friends since they were seven years old! I lost my mother many years ago and I know her friend missed her all these years. I remember them being on the phone almost everyday the years I was growing up. I remember “way back in the olden days” it was even a toll call for them to talk on the phone even though they only lived about fifteen minutes apart and in the same city! The night I met my husband I was struck by how much he looked like this lady’s oldest son!

I found this card design on Pinterest I think, and meant to keep track of the lady’s name who made it, but I forgot. I was going to make my card slightly different, but hers was so pretty as is I only have minor changes, such as the greeting and the card base color. The card base is Soft Suede and the designer paper layer is a page from the 2013-15 In Color Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack (soft suede). I used two of the dies in the Apothecary Accents Framelits on Very Vanilla Paper. I stamped the flourish from the Everything Eleanor Stamp Set on the large framelit piece in Old Olive and then embossed with the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder. For the sympathy greeting I had to dig out my recently retired stamp set Loving Thoughts and used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the two words placed one above the other on the smaller framelit piece.

The flowers are stamped with the Flower Shop Stamp Set with Crisp Cantaloupe ink and outlined a little more with the Crisp Cantaloupe Stampin’ Write Marker since they were a little light. Not that hard, just use the thin tip. Punch out the flowers with the Pansy Punch. Then embellish with Pearl Basic Jewels.

This card would make a beautiful birthday card, get well, thinking of you – just change the greeting. When we lose someone, it is so comforting to hear from all the people in your life. Be sure to write a personal note inside, don’t just sign your name. I think making a handmade sympathy card for someone really shows you care.

$23.95

2013-2015 In Color Backgrounds Designer Series Paper Stack

$21.95

Apothecary Accents Framelits Die

$24.95

Everything Eleanor Wood Stamp Set

$36.95

Fancy Fan Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments

Cupcake Party Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Stampin’ Up! Star Framelits 4th of July Card

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What says “4th of July” more than sparkly stars and fireworks?! These stars were cut out with the Big Shot and the new Stampin’ Up! Stars Framelits Dies plus the new little star punch in the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack. The little “fireworks” in the background were stamped with the smallest petals in the Too Kind Stamp Set. The word “Celebrate” is from the Cupcake Party Stamp Set except I only colored the word “celebrate” with a Stampin’ Write Marker. And I love the Goil Foil paper and the Champagne Glimmer Paper for this card for the stars!

If you have time to play today with crafts, make something sparkly and/or red, white, and blue to celebrate our freedom and the birth of our nation!

I hope you have a fun and wonderful 4th of July!

Go see some fireworks!!

A Surprise in My Stampin’ Up! Box

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Normally I wouldn’t be posting this late in the evening, but when I opened my box tonight from Stampin’ Up!, this is what I found inside!! A little handmade notecard! I did a double-take and realized whoever packed my order had snuck in this little treat! When I turned it over, it was a little note from “Julia” at Stampin’ Up!

Isn’t that just the nicest thing??!!! We shouldn’t underestimate how much our handmade cards, notes, and projects mean to people. Who would think such a little piece of paper could bring such a nice feeling of surprise and happiness in one ordinary evening?! I don’t know who Julia is, but she is obviously a special lady and special employee at Stampin’ Up! who loves what she does and shares what she loves! Thanks, Julia! Made my Stampin’ Up! order even more extra-special!

And yes, that is my order of Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper that is on sale during July, buy 3 get 1 FREE! (Specialty papers and Paper Stacks not included.)

Designer Paper Offer, Blendabilities, Weekly Deals – It’s a Sizzling July at Stampin’ Up!

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During the entire month of July, when you purchase three Designer Series Paper packs, you’ll get one free. That’s like getting $10.95 off your purchase AND receiving an extra–did we mention FREE?– DSP!

There is no limit to the number of free Designer Series Paper packs you can receive. For each three purchased, you (or your customer) will receive one free.
To get your free DSP, enter it in your order separately from the three packs you’re paying for. For example, if you want four packs of the same type of paper, put in the three you’re paying for and enter the fourth as a separate item

These items don’t qualify for the offer:

Designer Series Paper Stacks
Specialty Designer Series Paper
Designer Series Paper from the holiday catalog preorder
Designer Series Paper ordered through hostess benefits

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Cherry Cobbler (Item #130995 – $11.95)
Coastal Cabana (Item #131000 – $11.95)
Daffodil Delight (Item #130998 – $11.95)
Old Olive (Item #130999 – $11.95)
Pumpkin Pie (Item #130997 – $11.95)
Rich Razzleberry (Item #131003 – $11.95)
Skin Tone Assortment (Item #129370 – $22.95)
Memento Ink Pad (Item 132708 – $5.95 )
Memento Ink Refill (Item 133456 – $4.95 )
Color Lifter (Item 129369 – $4.95 )

If you like “coloring in” when you are stamping and creating, then these Stampin’ Blendabilities are surely for you! And if you don’t, you might like it better when you get to use these markers! They have a different feeling than the regular Stampin’ Up! Markers (which are also great!) that I really like. If you like to be a little more artistic when you are coloring, I’m sure you will enjoy these new markers! Be sure to also purchase the Memento Ink (and I do recommend getting the refill as well) because that is the ink that works with the alcohol markers. The markers work best on Whisper White card stock. You will also want the Color Lifter with any set of colors, for cleaning up any stray ink and sometimes for helping with shading and highlighting. Email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com if you have any questions.

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Great Stampin’ Up! products on the Weekly Deals this week! You should want all of them if you don’t have them! These deals are available until Monday, July 7th.

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store for all these GREAT deals!!

Paper Pumpkin Patriotic Pinwheel Wreath for the 4th of July

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The 4th of July is coming up on Friday and I love to have a few decorations for every holiday, like this Paper Pumpkin Patriotic Pinwheel Wreath. The June Paper Pumpkin Kit contained enough materials for 24 pinwheels, so I made some and put in a “bouquet” in my entry hall and also made a bunch of pinwheels but didn’t put them on the straws in the kit. Instead I ripped apart my spring wreath I had made from the kit in the Occasions Catalog and reused this burlap ribbon-wrapped flat wreath as the base for my pinwheels. For the top I made some stars with the two retired star punches (wish I’d had the new Star Framelits!) and even hand-cut some larger stars. I just used some hot glue to adhere the pinwheels, but for the stars I put on later, I was too lazy to get out the hot glue and just used Mini Glue Dots or Stampin’ Dimensionals.

If you aren’t already a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, you might want to sign up as the kits have just gotten better and better! Paper Pumpkin is a monthly subscription to a papercrafting kit you receive in a bright red box in the mail! You can subscribe in prepaid subscriptions, if you would like to add them to your Stampin’ Up! order. OR you can simply sign up to receive a kit every month. Once you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber you have the option of purchasing certain past kits and refill packages while supplies last! Even though you missed getting this June kit, if you began a subscription to Paper Pumpkin, you could then purchase the Pinwheel Party refill kit (doesn’t include the stamps or ink).

There’s no risk! Try it out and pause your subscription if need be for a month or two and then restart. Or cancel at any time. Just decide before the 10th of any month before the kits ship. But I think you will enjoy getting that gift in the mail, just for you, with a quick and easy project of some kind inside (it’s not just cards!) with all the supplies you need except maybe adhesive.

Check Out Paper Pumpkin and Subscribe Today!

If you prefer a prepaid subscription, just add it to your Stampin’ Up! order using these order numbers:

Let me know if you have any questions! I look forward to getting my Paper Pumpkin kit every month and know you will too!

A Cupcake Party Birthday Card

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For a fun birthday card, how about making one with the stamp set Cupcake Party?! Add some punched dots confetti and In Color Sequins for some bling and pizzazz! You can also use the Cupcake Builder Punch to punch out the cupcake! No snipping required! If you already have the Cupcake Punch, you might as well get this stamp set to go with it! I like the saying on this card, and it was a good opportunity to try out the new sequins! The Silver 1/8″ Ribbon really adds a special touch. It’s so sleek and shiny!

Be sure to sign up for my mailing list in the box in the right sidebar. My July Stamping With Karen Newsletter will be coming out next week with projects to make and the latest Stampin’ Up! news. And get a free gift when you sign up and confirm! Watch for that confirmation email and be sure to click on the link inside!

$16.95

2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment

Cupcake Builder Punch

$16.95

Silver 1/8″ Ribbon

Rhinestone Basic Jewels Embellishments

For The Birds Clear Stamp Set

For the Birds Easy Card Colored With Blendabilities Markers

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Sometimes when you need inspiration, just look through your stamp sets and see what strikes your fancy for stamping. When I saw the For the Birds stamp set on my shelf I decided that would be a fun and easy stamp set to use, and I could also color in with my new Blendabilities Markers. I just wanted to make an easy card with some of the new designer series paper. For the card base, I chose one of the new In Colors, Tangelo Twist and decided that the Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper would probably work with that paper. I stamped on Whisper White with the new Memento Ink and layered that on Hello Honey and then on Old Olive. At the end I added a little strip of Hello Honey accented with Brights Candy Dots.

The Blendabilities Markers are not available quite yet but they will be in just a few days!! Tuesday, July 1st is when Stampin’ Up! will make these products available to customers:

Cherry Cobbler (item #130995)
Coastal Cabana (item #131000)
Daffodil Delight (item #130998)
Old Olive (item #130999)
Pumpkin Pie (item #130997)
Rich Razzleberry (item #131003)
Skin Tone Assortment (item #129370
Memento Ink Pad (item #132708)
Memento Ink Refill (item #133456)
Color Lifter (item #129369)

Remaining Blendabilities Colors will be available August 1.

Don’t forget about the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals which end on Monday, June 30.

Shop anytime at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! Let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to put your order in for you! I’m happy to do that.

$24.95

Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper

$10.95

Hello Honey 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

Old Olive 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

Brights Candy Dots

Whisper White 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock

$8.50

Tangelo Twist 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

Everything Eleanor Blendabilities Flowers Card

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I was looking for stamps that were an outline image so I could practice with my Blendabilities markers, and I found the beautiful set Everything Eleanor that had some nice flowers I could color in. The flowers are stamped on Whisper White with Memento ink, which is recommended to use with the Blendabilities because they are alcohol markers. These flowers already had a lot of lines on them for shading so I only used two of the colors in the marker set, the medium and light shade. I cut each one out with my Paper Snips (a must have for cutting around images!) and popped up a few with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I also wanted to use the new In Colors so I stamped the swirl in Blackberry Bliss ink and the medallion with Hello Honey (stamped off once). The ribbon underneath is the Natural 5/8″ Chevron Ribbon. The greeting is stamped in Blackberry Bliss from the Fabulous Four Stamp Set.

Soon you will be able to play and color with the new Blendabilities Markers, too! Stampin’ Up! says ordering will begin for customers on July 1st! You won’t see them in the Online Store until July 1st.

In the meantime, you can check out all the Stampin’ Up! papercrafting products in my Online Store HERE.

Lovely As a Tree Christmas Card

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Today is June 25th which means Christmas Day is in 6 months! But really our Christmas preparations have to be done before that so we actually have less than six months to get ready for Christmas! Yes, that is still a lot of time that even I won’t take advantage of, I admit, but I did feel compelled to make a Christmas card today! Now we don’t have new Christmas sets in the Stampin’ Up! Catalog and we won’t get the Holiday Catalog until September, but I bet we all have stamp sets and accessories with which we can make Christmas cards starting today! I got an idea for this card on Pinterest, but I have always loved using Lovely as a Tree for Christmas cards! Lovely As a Tree is a classic stamp set, one that has been around as long as I have been a demo. In fact, it probably was one of the first stamp sets I owned. I also used the Northern Flurry Embossing Folder for the top Whisper White layer. I thought we needed snowflakes with a Christmas tree!

I stamped the tree with Old Olive ink and then die-cut it with the Ovals Collection Framelits Die, the third oval from the center. To cut the larger oval out of the Whisper White card front layer, I used the oval fourth from the center. Since that left a little bit of an embossing edge mark, I decided to cover it with a Gold Foil layer, which is cut with the fourth and fifth ovals. It turned out perfect and I think adds an elegance to the card! The Whisper White layer is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals as is the Christmas tree oval.

To decorate the tree, I colored Rhinestone Jewels with the new Blendabilities alcohol markers. The Blendabilities should be available to order from Stampin’ Up! on July 1st! Only six colors will be available, the same ones Demos were able to preorder, plus a few other items:

Cherry Cobbler (item #130995)
Coastal Cabana (item #131000)
Daffodil Delight (item #130998)
Old Olive (item #130999)
Pumpkin Pie (item #130997)
Rich Razzleberry (item #131003)
Skin Tone Assortment (item #129370)

In addition, the following accessories will also be available:

Memento Ink Pad (item #132708)
Memento Ink Refill (item #133456)
Color Lifter (item #129369)

There really wasn’t much space for a greeting on this card, but I did choose “Very Merry” from the new stamp set And Many More and used the Word Window Punch to punch it out.

Are you going to make some Christmas cards today to get a head start? If you find a design you like, like this Christmas card with Lovely As a Tree, make at least five cards the same. Make some more of another design another day.

Stampin’ Up! Is Special With It’s Specials!

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Here are the new Weekly Deals from Stampin’ Up! for the week of June 24 through June 30. Last ones of the month! If you are looking to add to your Big Shot collection, this is the week for you – Envelope Liner Framelits, Squares Framelits, and Window Framelits! And you might as well throw in some Regals buttons while you are at it!

Why not treat yourself, and maybe a friend or loved one as well, with a subscription to Paper Pumpkin, the papercrafting kit from Stampin’ Up! that comes to you in the mail every month! Add a prepaid subscription to your order (just write in the appropriate kit item number on your order) for one month, 3 months, or 12 months. You will receive an email with a special code to redeem your subscription. Do this before the 10th of July to receive the July kit! No idea what it is yet! There have rarely been “sneak peeks” of the kit so it is almost always a complete surprise when your kit arrives and you open it! It’s part of the fun, really! It’s a gift you give yourself!

Just contact me if you have any questions. Email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

Go check out those specials and all the other new products to order at Stampin’ Up! at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Flower Patch Birthday Card

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It was time to play with the Flower Patch stamp set and the Flower Fair Framelits Dies to make a birthday card. You can also purchase this stamp set and framelits in a bundle, the Flower Patch Photopolymer Bundle, and save 15%! Now that summer is officially here, you are bound to be inspired by lots of beautiful flowers blooming and this set will be perfect to use in your projects. The framelits make it easy to cut out most of the stamped images. The greeting I used comes with the set, but to cut it out I used a framelit from the Apothecary Accents Framelits. I stamped the greeting on a narrow strip of Whisper White and centered the framelit over it so I could have a narrow piece but fancy ends. Rather than try to layer it, I lightly sponged the edges in Real Red just to make it stand out a bit from the Whisper White layer. The large Daffodil Delight and Real Red flowers are popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the Rich Razzleberry flower just adhered right on the paper.

If you wanted, you could “bling up” this card, but for today I kept it simple except for the Candy Dot on the Rich Razzleberry flower!

For any of these stamps and stamping supplies, check out all the new products available in the Stampin’ Up! Online Store. Today is the last day for the current Weekly Deals, too!

Brights Candy Dots

Apothecary Accents Framelits Die

$24.95

Flower Patch Photopolymer Bundle

$43.25

Flower Patch Photopolymer Stamp Set

$25.95

Decorative Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

$7.95