Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deal May 20 2014

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal May 20 2014Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal May 20 2014

Be sure to also look on page 2 when you check out the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deal this week! Lots of ribbon available this week plus two Digital Downloads for My Digital Studio. Stop and think about how you can use the ribbon other than for making cards or scrapbook pages. Use it for gift wrap or give a collection of ribbon, maybe tape, scissors, and some plain wrapping paper as the gift itself to someone who could use a started gift wrapping set! We can all use ribbon from time to time. We used to tie ribbon in our hair when we were girls! Maybe you bake a plate of cookies or special bread for a friend now and then.  Tie some ribbon around it and make it special!

The Burlap ribbon is really on trend now and is fun to use. Use it as is or even pull it apart and use a bunch of the individual threads for a new decorative look.

The deals will be available May 20 – 26, 2014. Don’t delay!  And don’t forget about the Retired List of stamp sets and Retired List of Accessories!  The end of the Stampin’ Up! catalog is coming soon!

Have fun checking out all the current products at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store!

Flower Shop Pop Up Box Card

Flower Shop Pop Up Box Card

This Flower Shop Pop Up Box Card was one of the projects we made yesterday at my Stamp Camp with some stamping friends. It’s actually easy to make once you know how and can be varied in size if you want it smaller or larger.  This size is made with half a sheet of card stock and will fit in a regular size envelope. It’s amazing that something that looks so 3D can be folded up to fit perfectly in an envelope! You can design a card like this for almost any occasion! Just change up the images, the greeting, the colors and you can make anything!

Flower Shop Pop Up Box Card Folded

This is the pop up box card folded. I made a belly band to go around it just to hold it flat and decorate it.

If you are in the Houston or Sugarland area, sign up for my Mailing List in the upper right corner of my blog and you’ll find out when I am having a stamp camp. Stamping is not too hard for anyone, not even a beginner, so feel free to join in! If you prefer a free private beginner session to get the hang of it, just contact me at Karen@KarenStamps.com and we can arrange something.

For all the best in stamping supplies, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

Graduation Announcement Pocket Card

Pocket Card Graduation Announcement

If you need some graduation announcements, this pocket card makes a nice one. I made a similar announcement for my son a few years ago that you can see in THIS POST. This uses a half sheet of card stock “the long way”, so 4 1/2″ x 11. Then it is folded in half and the  little flap in front folded down. I made an insert with all the commencement information, printed on my computer. I used some retired product on this card, some new, and some using My Digital Studio as I didn’t have the exact stamp I needed.You can probably purchase a scrapbooking pack of paper and embellishments in the college bookstore if you want the official college colors. These pocket cards work great for other kinds of invitations, gift card holder, just cards in general.

The colleges and schools often offer a gigantic box of announcements and some families just aren’t going to send out 50 or whatever the quantity is.  So sometimes it makes sense to just make a few of your own and personalize the occasion!

Last night I remembered a little too late that the University of Texas at Austin was having a live webcast of their all-school graduation ceremony. I was interested in hearing the speaker and seeing the fireworks at the end! We have attended three of these ceremonies and they were all very nice, but require parking where you can get out easily afterwards, arriving early to get a seat, sitting outside in some amount of heat, eating early so you don’t starve, and mostly sitting, sitting, sitting, and waiting. So I was glad we didn’t have to attend this ceremony this year, but I did catch the end of the webcast. Lots of happy faces in that crowd finalizing their college days and degrees! And I was just in time to see the fireworks over the  UT Tower!

UT Fireworks 2014

Decorated Flip Album

Flip Album Cover Decorated

I actually got my flip album decorated yesterday that I first told you about in THIS POST and mailed off for a gift. You can see the way it folds from the photos on that blog post better there than here. I have to say I had so much fun decorating this flip album and coming up with ideas, but finally ran out of time and wanted to get it in the mail. I usually start out kind of slow, not many ideas of what to do, and then maybe I’ll look through all my stamp sets to see what words or images might be appropriate. I almost always look online for ideas, maybe by the stamp set name, paper name, or accessory name, or something like “paper flowers”. Out of all that, my brain will usually start coming up with its own ideas or I can just copy. The more you stamp and design, even in one day, the better you will get at it! In a little while, I had so many ideas and was having so much fun, I didn’t want to stop. I hope the recipient will like it, From the first time I saw one of these flip albums (that’s what I call it anyway) I thought it was one of the neatest things I’d ever seen!

The designer paper I used is Sweet Sorbet from Sale-A-Bration that isn’t available any more, but maybe you have some, or you can substitute something else.  Mainly I chose the colors that went with the designer paper (you can see the list on the back of every designer paper package now). That makes it easy to coordinate everything without thinking! The “Oh Happy Day” is from Starburst SayingsThe Gold Foil is cut out with the Starburst Framelits Dies. Now the “Oh Happy Day actually stamps as a starburst but you can very carefully punch it out in a circle with the 2 1/2″ Circle Punch.

Flip Album Decorated Pages on Film Framelits

These pages are just inside the front cover. I used the On Film FramelitsThe little camera is stamped with the Peachy Keen Stamp Set. The filmstrips are stamped with the single stamp, Filmstrip, which retired and I think is no longer available.

Flip Album Decorated Pages2

I stamped the smaller image in So Very Grateful with ink the same color as the cardstock Crisp Canteloupe

Flip Album Decorated Pages4

Flip Album Decorated Pages5

Just use whatever strikes your fancy! You can leave some pages plain so there will be room for photos and memorabilia. Also, be careful when adhering elements. Maybe just adhere the corners where no photo is going to go and then leave the other corner free so a photo can be slid underneath.

I hope you will try a flip album!  It really is fun and easy to do after you do the first one!

For any stamping supplies and accessories, just visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.

 

Make Something New From An Old Idea: A Flip Album

Flip Album Open

This flip album is something I haven’t made in several years, but I’ve always thought it was one of the neatest ideas ever! This one is going to be a gift, hopefully. It’s not even that hard to make, although it appears to be very complicated.  I think these albums are so much fun! I’m not sure what the official name of it is, but I think I’ve always known it as a Flip Album and there are other variations.

This flip album isn’t finished yet, but it is the basic layout. Now I need to go through and add some embellishments of some kind. But since the pages are relatively small, I don’t want to add too much and not leave room for photos.  I will post pictures when I finish it up. The paper I used is the beautiful paper from Sale-A-Bration 2014 called Sweet Sorbet. I chose that based on my paper supplies and what I thought the person would like who I plan to give this album to. You do need some 12×12 paper in order to make this.

So now I need to go finish up my little flip album and hopefully get it in the mail today!

Why don’t you take an old idea and make something new with it today?!

For any stamping supplies, retiring products, Weekly Deals, the new Endless Birthday Wishes Photopolymer Stamp Set, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store.

Flip Album Pages

Flip Album Cover

Cookie Monster Celebrates Chocolate Chip Day

Cookie Monster Celebrates Chocolate Chip Day

Today is National Chocolate Chip Day!  Could there be a better holiday?!  Have you ever just dug into a bag of chocolate chip morsels to get your chocolate fix? Think of all the chocolate chip cookies that have been baked and all the variations that exist!

And who would celebrate this day more than anyone but Cookie Monster!  If you have baked some chocolate chip cookies as a gift for someone, you could put a few in this Stampin’ Up! Decorative WIndow Gift Box and decorate the box with a cute punch art Cookie Monster! He’s so fun and easy to make and you can vary the size or even make him into a card.  For this box, I punched his face with the 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch. His mouth is die-cut with a 2″ Circle Framelit and then part cut off to look like a mouth. His eyes are punched with the 1/2″ Circle Punch and the circle in the Itty BItty Punch Pack. The all important cookie is punched with the 1″ Circle Punch and the eaten part punched out with the 7/8″ Scallop Punch.  I just colored in the chocolate chips with the Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker rather than deal with glueing tiny dots! You can use Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up certain parts or the whole Cookie Monster face.

And now I think I will go bake some chocolate chip cookies to put inside that box!

Need some punches for your collection?  Just shop at my Online Store!

Cookie Monster Punch Art Close-up

April Paper Pumpkin Kit Framed Love – Lovely!

April Paper Pumpkin Kit Framed Love

I was late in opening my April Paper Pumpkin Kit and missed out on using the “Happy Mother’s Day” stamp that was inside! But what a cute project!!  And tons of materials included, extras, in fact! It was supposed to be wrapped in a wrapper that came in the kit, but since I am keeping it for myself at least so far, I will use the wrapper for some other project.  I LOVE this cute little frame that came in the kit. It had a piece of glass, like most picture frames, but I took it out so the paper design can be 3D with the popped up heart and the clear button. The photopolymer stamps that came in the kit stamped great to make the background design.

To start receiving your Paper Pumpkin papercrafting kits in the mail each month, just sign up HERE on my Paper Pumpkin site. It’s just $19.95 a month which includes the $5 shipping. You do pay tax.

And if you prefer, you can purchase a Paper Pumpkin prepaid subscription which can count towards your order, if you are putting one in, or counts toward Hostess Benefits if you are at a workshop. However you decide to go about Paper Pumpkin, you should try it out and see how much fun it is! Each kit only takes a few minutes, probably less than half an hour, to make, which gives you just a little bit of relaxation time for a creative adventure!  You deserve at least that much! And for a beginner, you don’t need a whole roomful of supplies, just some adhesive – and in this kit I didn’t even need to provide my own! It came with small little foam dimensionals and glue dots. But if you DO have a roomful of supplies, you might enjoy the treat you get in the mail and just taking the box, sitting down at the table and having a craft experience – without digging through all your craft supplies to find what you need.  Just sit down with the cute Paper Pumpkin box and start creating! Change it up if you want, it’s yours, or follow the instructions exactly!

Check out Paper Pumpkin and see if you want to have some creative fun at least once a month! You can always cancel or pause your monthly subscription or restart it later on.

Paper Pumpkin Prepaid Subscriptions & Gifts

Click Image Above for more Information

New Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals May 13 2014

Stampin' Up! Weekly Deal May 13 2014

Here are the new Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals for the week of May 13 – 19, 2014. Remember, these deals are only available through Monday night next week.

One thing I would recommend would be purchasing the Project Life Corner Punch rather than the one on sale this week. The rounding is slightly different and I think you should have the latest thing that might work best for you.  The Project Life cards come with square corners that you CAN round if you want to – or leave as is!

You might LIKE to get the Retro Fresh Designer Journaling Tags because you can use those with Project Life or just to add to cards or other projects! Of course you also can see designer paper on the deals plus Big Shot dies and an embossing folder!?!

Just announced this morning, but probably won’t last long!  Stampin’ Up! has a LIMITED QUANTITY of 2012-14 In Color card stock available only while supplies last, which I bet won’t be long!  If you want some, GET IT right away! Just go to my Online Store HERE.

In Color Card Stock Limited

Only two weeks left to buy Stampin’ Up! retired products!  Don’t wait much longer!

Shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

Hearts A Flutter Just For You Card

Hearts A Flutter Just For You Card

The Hearts A Flutter Clear-Mount Stamp Set is on the Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals this week, today being the last day to order it for that discounted price. The Hearts a Flutter stamp set is on the Retired List, too, so if you like it, you better get it! At this moment, anyway, both the wood-mount and clear-mount are available, with just the clear-mount being discounted today only. Tomorrow a new Weekly Deal list will come out.

As you can see, hearts are not just for Valentine’s Day.  I think hearts are like stars – everybody should have some!  They are so multi-purpose! This card I made can be used for any occasion, all you have to do is put the appropriate greeting you want. I used the Hearts A Flutter Framelits Dies to cut out an assortment of hearts and a banner. That made it so easy. Although the Primrose Petals card stock is no longer available, it looks like the ribbon and ink pad are, of course that can change in an instant, so don’t delay. The other color I used on this card is Bermuda Bay.

If you have a small budget for stamping supplies, think about sets like this that are versatile when you order so that you can use them in many ways for cards, projects and scrapbook pages!

If you want to check out the Weekly Deals that end late tonight, please go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store. Be sure to check out all the categories in the left sidebar!

An Easy to Make Mother’s Day Card With Hearts

An Easy to Make Mother's Day Card With Hearts

If you need an easy to make Mother’s Day card idea, make a Mother’s Day card with hearts! Hearts are kind of like stars – they can be used for many occasions and are easy to use to design a quick and easy card. For a card like this, just make the card base and adhere as many or as few hearts as you like.  You can cut them out with various of our Stampin Up! Framelits Dies or punches or cut out with our Paper Snips. I used the Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper, but of course you can use any paper, even solid color card stock. Adhere flat on the card, layer, pop-up with Stampin’ Dimensionals, whatever you like.  Stamp a greeting somewhere on the card. This one comes from the Geometrical Stamp Set in the Occasions Catalog. If you don’t have a “Mother’s Day” greeting, use something else, like this one. Leave as is or add a little bling like I did with the Gold Baker’s Twine and some individual sequins from the Sequin Trim. (Did you know you can just pull off some sequins from the trim to use individually? Or wait until the new catalog comes out and see what’s in there!)

I hope all of you mothers out there are having a very happy Mother’s Day! And if you are fortunate enough to still have YOUR mother, I hope you are spending some time with her, even if by phone.

Make your mother a quick and easy card, even if you already bought one at the store. You don’t know how much that might be appreciated! Just like when you were a little child!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Need a Last Minute Mother’s Day Gift? (Or A Gift for Yourself??!)

Paper Pumpkin Gift Subscription

Supermoms Deserve a Gift Every Month

Get the moms in your life a subscription to Paper Pumpkin for a gift that keeps on giving!

If you need a last minute Mother’s Day gift – or if you fear you aren’t going to get something special YOU wanted – consider a Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Subscription! This is a new wrinkle to the Paper Pumpkin papercrafting kit that comes to your mailbox once a month. Instead of signing up for an ongoing monthly subscription, you can choose a one month, three, six, or twelve month prepaid subscription and receive the redemption code the same day. If it is a gift, just give the redemption code to the lucky recipient and they can redeem the code at www.mypaperpumpkin.com. I can even email you a special card to give the recipient.

Request a Paper Pumpkin subscription for yourself for Mother’s Day! Easy peasy for your family to order!! Just click that link! Or if you prefer they get you the ongoing subscription (which you can pause or cancel any time), direct them to THIS LINKI’d suggest they do it last minute on Sunday, May 11th so that you will start receiving the same kit that goes out that month rather than the past Welcome Kit first.

BUT – if you or they want to save $5 on the Welcome Kit:  Not a Paper Pumpkin subscriber yet? Sign up by May 10th and get your Welcome Kit for $5 off! Use this promo code: FACEBOOKMAY at mypaperpumpkin.com/?demoid=54345

Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators Have It Good!

Stampin' Up! Shipped Box

At this exciting time of year, when the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog is about to go live in a few weeks and everyone is anticipating the new products, Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators have it good because we get to place a pre-order of just certain products in the new catalog. If we get some new products early, we can make samples for our customers and get acquainted with some of the new things! Here’s my treasured box of goodies that came late yesterday!

SU Box insideHere’s the inside! Love that bubble wrap, don’t you?!

Stampin' Up New Catalog Cover

Here’s what we’ve all REALLY been waiting for!  The brand-spanking new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog for 2014-15! If you look carefully at this cover, you will see some sneak peeks of what is inside and new! Shelli Gardner said she especially loved the photos of the hands, creating together, which shows one of the most important things about Stampin’ Up!, the relationships, the fun of stamping together.

New Stampin' Up! Celebrando Creatividad Catalog 2014-15

Here is the new Spanish language catalog, Celebrando Creatividad! If you are looking for a catalog in Spanish in the USA, please contact me and I can have one sent to you.

The new Stampin’ Up! catalogs will go LIVE on Monday, June 2, 2014 at Noon Mountain Time! That’s Stampin’ Up! time in Utah!

If you want to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and start your own stamping and scrapbooking business, just contact me with any questions or if you want more information. You, too, can get in on these perks, fun, and a business of your own. Click HERE for some information online. It only takes minutes to sign up online when you are ready.

And now I’ve got to go play with the new things in that box!!

Project Life Everyday Adventure Traditional Scrapbook Page

Project Life Everyday Adventure Traditional Scrapbook Page

One of the things I love already about Project Life by Stampin’ Up! are the many ways you can use the materials, for example in this traditional scrapbook page with the Everyday Adventure products. The simplicity of the basic concept of Project Life is using the Photo Pocket Pages to easily slip in photos and the cards for journaling or embellishing. But if you prefer making traditional scrapbook page layouts, you still can do it and use the Project Life cards and accessories. You’re only limited by your own imagination and creativity! And that comes much easier when you have those Project Life products to hold right in your hands for inspiration!

You can find any of these early release Project Life products in my Stampin’ Up! Online Store! More will be in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog – coming soon!!! Contact me if you are interested in Stampin’ Up!’s many product offerings and would like a copy of the catalog.

Stampin ‘ Up! Weekly Deals May 6-12

Weekly Deal May 6 2014

Check out these Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals available starting today, May 6 and on sale through Monday, May 12. Don’t hesitate because you never know what might sell out! The Pop N Cuts Card Base is interesting to have and nice at a reduced price! I love the Hearts A Flutter stamp set. Hearts are one of those things you can often use on a card. The Holiday Ornaments Framelits Dies you could use just with designer paper if you didn’t own the stamp set. Ribbon? Well, we always need more ribbon for our stash!  Have fun shopping and don’t forget the Retiring Lists and the Clearance Rack and the current Occasions Catalog!  So much to choose from!

Just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and check the categories on the left sidebar! Don’t miss anything!

It’s Cinco de Mayo! Check Out the Stampin’ Up! Celebrando Creatividad Catalog!

Stampin' Up! Celebrando Creatividad Banner

Stampin’ Up! held its Leadership Conference back in January here in Houston, TX and one of the displays was for the Celebrando Creatividad Catalog which is all in Spanish and has Spanish Stampin’ Up! stamps, plus a few unique sets. Click on the catalog photo below to view the Celebrando Creatividad PDF.

Celebrando Creatividad 2013-14

Here are some photos that were on display there using stamps from the Celebrando Creatividad Catalog.

Celebrando Creatividad Quinceañera Card

Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 2014

Celebrando Creatividad Spanish Cards

Celebrando Creatividad Quinceanera Pink Card

Celebrando Creatividad Quinceanera Blue Card

Quince Anos Card

Gracias Treat Bag

Today on Cinco de Mayo, take a look at the Spanish stamps offered by Stampin’ Up! Just go to my Stampin’ Up! Online Store and look under “Stamps” in the left sidebar, then “Translated Stamps”, then “Spanish” – or click HERE. Click the dropdown box to show ALL and you will be able to scroll through more easily. If you are interested in receiving a new Celebrando Creatividad Catalog for 2014-15 when it comes out, please send me an email at Karen@KarenStamps.com.