This leaf stamp on this Thinking of You card comes as a single stamp called Magnificent Maple in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog. I thought it was a beautiful leaf stamp, even though I have other leaf stamps.

I thought about calling this my Backache Card because I have done something terrible to my back, maybe putting it into perpetual spasm. I’m beginning to think that it is actually slowly getting better.  I couldn’t exist without ice packs right now! But Saturday night, after a miserable day, I was feeling mostly better, like magic! The first thing I wanted to do for my mental health was play with something from my new Holiday Catalog order.

This Magnificent Maple stamp seemed like the perfect stamp to make a simple card. Since the right colors of ink pads weren’t already on my kitchen table, rather than reach down to where the ink pad caddy is on the floor because of my back pain, I decided to just ink up the stamp with Stampin’ Write Markers. If you start with the lightest color and progress to the darkest you won’t mess up your markers. I believe I used Crushed Curry (or Daffodil Delight) for the yellow, Gumball Green, Pumpkin Pie, and a bit of Cherry Cobbler, just coloring in various areas of the stamp. When you use markers, you should “huff” or breathe on the stamp to remoisten the ink before stamping.  Obviously I stamped the center leaf full strength, inked up the stamp again but stamped off VERY lightly on scrap paper before stamping on my card for that lighter image. Maybe I stamped the lightest leaf on the left with what was left of the ink on the stamp.  It’s very light.

The card still needed something so I decided to sponge some color around the leaves. See those big sponged areas of Baked Brown Sugar? I wasn’t happy that I was sloppy and got the first big brown area when all I was trying to do was sponge a little soft subtle color around.  But since “there are no mistakes in stamping”, I decided to just add another big blob!  Make it look like I intended it to be that way! There’s almost always some way to fix a stamping boo-boo.

The greeting is from A Dozen Thoughts.  I put it at the top since I happened to stamp the leaves a little too low. And for a little extra interest I tied some Linen Thread around the panel and added a Natural Designer Button. I also stamped a few leaves in green on the Gumball Green card stock to add a little something around the edges.

So if you have back pain and it stops for awhile, go celebrate by stamping something!

One of the exciting new Stampin’ Up! products introduced at the Stampin’ Up! Convention was the new Thinlits Card Die. There are two card dies available to create a card that flips! Instead of having to cut the design of this card by hand, now you can just use the new thinlit and your Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine.  Each die comes with extra die pieces that you can use to embellish and design your cards.

These Thinlits Card Dies were one of the Prize Patrols at Convention but they had not yet arrived at Stampin’ Up! so the prize winners had to wait until the next day to pick them up!  That’s how NEW these card dies are!!

Please enjoy this video and get the full idea of how to use them here:

http://youtu.be/CwdGSYeIn44

Click on the image below to read the flyer or print it off!

Click image to read flyer.

To order these new Thinlits Dies and other products you like from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalog, please shop at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store here.  Or you are always welcome to email your order to me!

We have some kind of flowers back along the fence with long stems and lots of small flowers in pinks and whites. This morning they looked especially beautiful blooming in all their glory! And those flowers inspired this card.

Since I couldn’t stamp white flowers on Whisper White card stock, I stamped flowers from the Secret Garden stamp set in Pink Pirouette and Strawberry Slush (with some flowers stamped off once to give a lighter shade) with three flowers cut out with Paper Snips (cuz I forgot we had matching framelits, oh well!!) and popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. The greeting is from the stamp set Label Love and punched out with the Artisan Label Punch.  Actually the greeting is trimmed a bit so I could layer over the punched piece of Baked Brown Sugar card stock.  I stamped it twice and cut out the strip with “just for you” so I could pop it up with dimensionals. Three new In Colors were used on this card:  Strawberry Slush, Baked Brown Sugar, and Pistachio Pudding.

With so many flowers stamped on my card stock, it’s almost like I made my own designer paper! You can do the same thing!

For any Stampin’ Up! supplies, please visit my Online Store here!

I hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July, celebrating the United States’ independence from Great Britain. Independence Day is filled with great traditions!  Picnics, barbeques, family get-togethers, parades, concerts, with everything culminating in a fireworks display!!  Back when I was growing up, it was not illegal to shoot off fireworks in our driveway, so all the neighbors could take turns shooting off their fireworks and we could all watch. Shopping centers would often have displays and we could walk to the top of our hill and watch one display. Somehow that is still a great childhood memory with my friend who lived across the street and me and others in our neighborhood, according to their Facebook postings!

This card may be a bit overdone!  I obviously ignored the rule of crafting which is “know when to stop!” But that’s okay, I think it represents the “grand finale” of the fireworks display!  My favorite part!

Here are some of my other 4th of July decorations!

It’s time for the red, white, and blue and what says 4th of July more than stars and sparkle?! When I got out my red, white, and blue paper I had a completely different idea of a card I was going to make. Then I thought of my new stamp set Simply Stars and this card came together quite nicely. It was just fine with just the Real Red and Night of Navy stamped stars, but who can leave off some bling with Red and Silver Glimmer Paper when you have the opportunity?!

The greeting on the card is stamped with Real Red ink on Whisper White card stock from the stamp set Chalk Talk.  It needed a layer, though, and that’s where I was starting with the Glimmer Paper.  In order to layer on the Silver Glimmer Paper, I had to hand cut the greeting following the lines around the design.  It’s not perfect but it’s fine! Then I cut out the Glimmer Paper using the Chalk Talk Framelits Dies. It still seemed to need something. I adhered the Silver Glimmer Paper to a piece of Night of Navy and hand cut with my Paper Snips (an indispensable tool for cutting like this, in my opinion!), just leaving a small border around the design. The “Happy Big Day” greeting from Chalk Talk is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  They stick well on the Glimmer Paper. I thought “Happy Big Day” can easily cover the 4th of July holiday!

As I said, not to ignore an opportunity for more sparkle and shine, I punched out stars from the Silver and Red Glimmer Paper with my small Star Punch in the Merry Minis Punch Pack #126882. This punch pack was in the Holiday 2012 Catalog.  It doesn’t appear in the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog but it is carried over and can be ordered. Just copy that item number into your order. That little star fits perfectly in the center of the Simply Stars stars!

I had fun making this card and I know you will too!  I almost wished the card was bigger because it was fun stamping and embellishing with glimmer paper!

Make something, anything, today with red, white, and blue for whatever your 4th of July celebration is. Make a card for a neighbor.  Make a party favor for your guests. Make some table decorations for your picnic.  Make a scrapbook page for your 4th of July photos. Check out my posts from last year with some 4th of July ideas! Fly your flag, even if it is one of those little ones you can buy at the store on a stick.

Have a Happy 4th of July!