Going, Going…….Better get them while you can!

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Don't forget with the new Color Renovation by Stampin' Up! a lot of favorite colors are retiring….and not only the card stock but the refills, the markers, ribbons, buttons, etc. Be sure you get what you want because when they are gone, they are gone! Already a lot of things are either not available or on backorder. Stampin' Up! will substitute textured card stock for the smooth when it is no longer available for as long as possible.

These are the retiring colors:

The following items are no longer available to order. Our inventory has been depleted, and we are unable to order more.

101563: Sage Shadow card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
102837: Only Orange card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
107079: Sage Shadow card stock (12" x 12")
107101: Close to Cocoa card stock (12" x 12")
119833: Old Olive Polka-Dot 6" x 6" Designer printed album (in the new Summer Mini Catalog)

Availability can change at any time, of course! You can place your order with me or Shop Online HERE. Also, don't forget the May National Scrapbooking Month Promotion….great stamp sets and FREE Designer Brads….or purchase the My Digital Studio software!

Extreme Elements Graduation Card

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Extreme Elements #115181 is one of the stamp sets on the May Scrapbooking Month Promotion, which ends May 31. Purchase this set, or one of many others, and get a free set of Designer Brads with each set! I didn’t think this stamp set was my style until I played with it! Oh my gosh, I had the most fun using this set on this card!! You can just do anything with this stamp set and it comes out looking great! Since this card is for a college boy, I thought something a little less traditional might be fine. I also added a little Gold Glow Smooch Spritz #118770 for even more fun! You can see it better in the close-up. And my Big Shot came in handy to make the “OU” with the Naturally Serif Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die #113453.

Look closely and you can see the Gold Glow Smooch Spritz!

Order your Extreme Elements stamp set this week while you can get your choice of Designer Brads (page 179 of the Idea Book & Catalog) FREE! And don’t forget about the Happy Grad (#117006) single stamp on the last page of the Summer Mini Catalog ! It’s such a useful stamp….and when graduation season is over, you could omit the “Happy Graduation” and use just the words below for various cards and projects!

May Promotions at Stampin’ Up!

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Stampin' Up! in recent years often has LOTS going on and that's what keeps life exciting! But that also means all good things must come to an end….usually at the end of a month. Can you believe the last day of May is next Monday?! And since that weekend is Memorial Day weekend and you might have plans (even if plans just to relax!), you might want to check over the Stampin' Up! specials and things going on right away before Friday!

Best Thing:

Become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! Have as much fun as I do being a part of this great company! They just improved their "Career Plan". There's still time to sign up for the fabulous Stampin' Up! Convention in July in Salt Lake City if you want to jump in with both feet! And if you want to really make this a business and work hard, you could earn a free incentive trip to Disney World, which, knowing Stampin' Up!, won't be your ordinary trip to Disney World. They make everything extra-special. Don't wait another day! Be ready for the new catalog in July and as a demo take advantage of preordering new merchandise in June!!

Go to my website HERE, watch the video, read the information, then click the "JOIN NOW" button on the left and start the sign-up process. You will need my password: karenstamps Just choose which Starter Kit would suit you the best….the regular one or the Digital+ Starter Kit with the new My Digital Studio software.

You can be a demo in minutes and with your new demo number can sign in to the Stampin' Up! website right away and start exploring! And of course I am available to help you along the way.

To help you get started, Stampin' Up! is offering these two free DVDs full of presentations of various stamping techniques. Offer ends May 31st.

Free Technique DVDs Special Offer

From April 1-May 31, join Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator and receive two FREE technique DVDs.

Free Technique DVD Details

Description	Retail Value
Workshop Wow DVD 2008-2009 (140 min.) Includes 19 demonstrator presentations of “WOW” techniques.	$24.95
Workshop Wow 2007-2008 DVD (117 min.) Includes 18 demonstrator presentations of “WOW” techniques for use in preparing for workshops.	$17.47
Total value for over 250 minutes of stamping and paper crafting ideas!	$42.42

*DVDs are in English only

Please contact me with any questions or concerns. I'd be happy to answer your questions!

UT Graduation Easel Card

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We enjoyed a fabulous weekend in Austin celebrating our son's girlfriend's graduation from the University of Texas at Austin! Here is the card I made for her. I had planned to post a "decoy" ahead of time to fool her in case she was looking at my blog, but I ran out of time! I love this easel card, so easy to make and looks like a special style!

Stamps: Happy Grad (#117006 Stampin' Up! Summer Mini), Typeset Alphabet (retired), In the Stars (inside) (retired).

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Really Rust, UT Scrapbook Kit (non-SU)

Saturday was a very full day! First was a luncheon with her parents and family, then the graduation ceremony, and finally the spectacular University-Wide Commencement outside at the UT Tower. You have to arrive more than two hours ahead to get a seat for that evening event….did I mention it is outside?….in Texas?….in May?….but they do provide free ice water!…and paper fans…..and it wasn't TOO bad being outside for over five hours in the evening… there was a breeze….and it will get a LOT hotter than that pretty soon….so, not too bad. There were over 7000 graduates and their familes! I'm sure they weren't all there, but most of them were!! The actress Marcia Gay Harden was the speaker, and it was fun to hear the deans bestow the degrees on each school, some offering a little humor in their spiel or perhaps the graduates having some impromptu reaction. Finally the evening concluded with the impressive fireworks display off the Tower and "The Eyes of Texas" playing in the background. The Tower is lit in orange for the graduates and the windows display a "10" for the graduation year if you look carefully! It's really a great way to celebrate commencement!

Fancy Favor Box with Butterfly Pansy

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These pansies made from butterfly punches are all the rage right now and so easy to make! I believe another demonstrator, Dawn Olchefske, may be the originator. After I made my pansy, I die cut the Stampin' Up! Fancy Favor Box #115965 with my Big Shot, stamped with Elements of Style from the Summer Mini with Versamark on the box, and attached my pretty pansy.

To make the pansy:

Use the Butterfly Punch #116629 to punch two butterflies from Shimmery White card stock #101910. (it works better with the water)
Place on a folded paper towel and spritz heavily with water.
Using your Aquapainter #103954 or small brush, pick up some ink and touch to the wet butterflies. Use one or more colors. The ink will spread with the water.
Let dry, draw little "whisker" type lines from the center of each.
Assemble the two butterflies at right angles with a center brad, curl the edges a bit with your fingers or a tool, and look at your beautiful pansy!
Be careful, because they are addicting and you will want to make more!

Who on earth would think you could make a pansy out of two butterflies?! But that's how talented a lot of our Stampin' Up! Demonstrators are!

My Digital Studio….New Digital Downloads Available!

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Just in time for graduation! Stampin' Up! just released this new graduation stamp brush set for My Digital Studio called "Go Graduate Plus"! Plus two alphabets! If you already own My Digital Studio, great! If you own other digital scrapbooking software, you can use these Stampin' Up! downloads. If you own neither, it's time to buy the My Digital Studio software! You'll be glad you did! We're all having so much fun learning to use it, exploring all the options and elements included, and just playing around when working on our projects! In some cases, you can use a template, just insert your photos, and you're done in minutes!

If you are interested in purchasing "My Digital Studio" or any of the extra downloads including these newest ones, please click on the Shop Online button in the upper right corner to go to my Stampin' Up! store.

Item	Description	Price
121069	Go Graduate Plus stamp brush set	$5.95
122143	Jumbo Outline Alphabet stamp brush set	$9.95
122145	Contempo Alphabet stamp brush set	$9.95

All images copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2010.

Contempo Alphabet

Jumbo Outline Alphabet Stamp Set - by Stampin' Up!

Jumbo Outline Alphabet

Island Oasis Tin Album

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In my "stash" I've had these tins I purchased from Stampin' Up! awhile back and finally I got one out and made something with it. I decided to work with the new Island Oasis Designer Series Paper (#117173) in the Summer Mini, and I had SO much fun with it! I'm going to order another pack of this paper on my next order!

Now I can always go back and do more embellishing on my pages, but for now I wanted it rather generic. You could add more pages but the tin is pretty skinny so it had to stay fairly small. And after struggling to get exactly the right shape to have the card stock fit the entire front of the album, I opted for just a strip across the middle! Much easier! The paper flower is made with five punched flowers from the Extra Large Fancy Flower Punch #118073 (a carryover from the Occasions Mini so still available!) and one card stock flower on the bottom, all scrunched up individually and then assembled together with a brad and scrunched up once more toward the center. Really fun!

If you are interested in this tropical Island Oasis Designer Series Paper and any other great products for stamping and scrapbooking, please click HERE or the Online Shopping button in the upper right corner to go to my Stampin' Up! Online Store.

My Matryoshka

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I realize I am one mini catalog behind in showing you these cards, but it was time to play with my own matryoshka dolls.

The Designer Series paper is the beautiful glittered Sending Love Specialty paper from the previous Occasions Mini Catalog….but you can see it is not just for Valentine's Day! So if you still have some, get it out and use it! The stamp set is also from the Occasions Mini, My Matryoshka. We can hope it makes it into the next new Idea Book & Catalog in July!

Find a stamp set in your stash you haven't used in awhile and stamp something for fun today!

Graduation Easel Card

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I think if you have stars of some sort….star punches, star stamps, star wheel….. you can make just about any card. I’ve used them for graduation, birthdays, even baby cards and scrapbook pages. So if you don’t have stars in your collection, check out the Stampin’ Up! Online Store and see what we have!

Lots of people are looking for graduation cards this month so I thought I would offer this idea. I’ve loved making these easel cards, so easy and yet looks so good! On this card I have used the Star Punch #109045 and the Large Star Punch #110710 and the single stamp Happy Grad #117006 in the Summer Mini Catalog.

Besides the Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White card stock, I also used the Brushed Gold and Silver card stock for this special occasion!

So if you need to make some stamped graduation cards, this one or a similar style is pretty easy. I hope it provides you with an idea to get started! Sometimes that is all you need to be creative!

Assembling Your Color Catcher

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I'm getting ready to try out the new Smooch Spritz in the Summer Mini Catalog (page 15). A great product Stampin' Up! added to go with the Smooch Spritz is the Color Catcher (#121093) to catch the overspray. This means you don't have to find your own box to spray in or get colored spray all over your table or patio outside! The Color Catcher comes all folded up and has a few illustrations on how to assemble, but I thought I would take pictures of how I assembled mine. Not really hard, but at first it might look confusing.

This is what it looks like out of the package:

Open it up!

Open it and spread it out on your table, being careful not to knock over your cup of hot tea! You can follow the enclosed instructions to see how to lay it out right.

Fold up the backside of the Color Catcher.

Fold the bottom side flaps up and pull the sides in.

The other side.

Now you're going to fold the side flap down over the folded up bottom flap.

It almost feels like you are doing it wrong, but just fold it and you will see that those tabs are going to go into the back and one at the bottom.

Voila!! You have a Color Catcher! And when you are not using it, you can unfold it and store compactly (which is important for most of us stampers, scrapbookers, and crafters!)

Now go get your Smooch Spritz, shake it up, and spray away!

Even if you are not a stamper, you can use this for any kind of craft projects where you want a little protection when spraying or maybe some other techniques. Assembled size 10" x 10" x 10".

Please sign up for my mailing list in the box in the upper left corner! You can keep up with the latest Stampin' Up! news and products as well as stamping projects and tips!

Mother’s Day Stair Step Card

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This was my first attempt at a "stair step" card, and it was very easy to make. (If I could find the measurements I used I would post them! Maybe later!) All you really do is fold your card stock in a series of accordion folds. If you want the side panel like I have on this card, you cut a slit to separate it from the rest of the folds. Then you just add whatever fanciness you want to each stair step! On this card I used the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper #113976 and the Stampin' Up! Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die #118138 to make the butterflies.

If you would like to purchase any of the supplies to make this card, just click on the red Order Online button in the upper right of my blog!

Choo Choo….Who Doesn’t Love Trains?!

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I've had a fondness for trains since I was a little girl probably because my grandfather worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad and because I'd been to Union Station in St. Louis many times to take or pick up relatives who were traveling. Trains were still hanging on then as the main mode of transportation. I can remember standing on the walkway in between the big trains and seeing them pull in under the shed. Sometimes we got to get on the train with our visitor until the train was ready to leave. It was the way my family and relatives all traveled back then (and before my time) rather than driving in a car or flying in a plane.

This one little card I made drudged up all those memories!

Supplies:

Stamps: Choo Choo #113982, On Your Birthday #111664, Right on Track Wheel #113838

Ink: Brilliant Blue, Old Olive, Real Red, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray

Paper: Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Old Olive

Accessories: Chocolate Chip 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag and Small Tag Punches

There are so many cute projects you could make with this Choo Choo stamp set. If you don't mind some cutting with your Paper Snips (they make intricate cutting easier!) you can make the train look 3-D by cutting out some or all of the cars. Think of what a cute little wall plaque in a frame you could make for a little boy's (or girl's) room!

If you would like to purchase any of the supplies for your train card, scrapbook page, or project, just go to my Online Store! You can have fun with this set!

Playing with Presto Patterns Specialty Paper

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In the Summer Mini Catalog, Stampin' Up! is offering new Designer Series Paper called Presto Patterns Specialty #117175. It is plain white, but then you can add ink to it to make the design pop out! The new Smooch Spritz would also work great with it.

Here is the plain paper:

Here I used my Brayer #102395 and Really Rust ink to cover:

Although the design "popped" out as soon as I applied the ink, I also took a paper towel and just wiped the excess ink off the design. Looks almost the same, just a little cleaner.

Reminds me of fabric! It's just like emboss resist, except you don't have to do the embossing first!

Now back to playing!!!

If you don't have a demonstrator and would like a copy of the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog, please email me.

Mother’s Day Card

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I made this card to share with all the mothers out there. I made it quickly and easily using My Digital Studio! Would you believe this began as one of the baby girl designer templates? I just took out the photo box in the middle of the frame and inserted the Sweet Pea felt elements, changed the color of the ribbon from brown to Pretty in Pink, and added the text! Hope your children give you a happy day to remember!

Another Build-a-Bear Birthday Paint Can!

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Here is the other Build-A-Bear can I decorated for someone. These are so fun to make. I think it makes a great gift container for whatever you want to put in it….and then the recipient can still use it afterwards! I got lots of use out of my Big Shot with these Paint Can projects!

I used some retired Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper and ribbons on this project, but I was looking for paper I thought the recipient would enjoy.

Once you start on a project like this, you'll find that it is so much fun just to play with it and your creativity will come!

Stamping With Karen

Having Fun With Paper, Ink, and Stamps

Going, Going…….Better get them while you can!

Extreme Elements Graduation Card

May Promotions at Stampin’ Up!

UT Graduation Easel Card

Fancy Favor Box with Butterfly Pansy

My Digital Studio….New Digital Downloads Available!

Island Oasis Tin Album

My Matryoshka

Graduation Easel Card

Assembling Your Color Catcher

Mother’s Day Stair Step Card

Choo Choo….Who Doesn’t Love Trains?!

Playing with Presto Patterns Specialty Paper

Mother’s Day Card

Another Build-a-Bear Birthday Paint Can!