It’s a new year and almost time for a new Stampin’ Up! Spring Mini Catalog, so here’s a new Playing in the Rain Turtle Card! This little turtle isn’t playing in the rain but some of his friends are in the Rain or Shine Suite Collection in the new catalog coming January 5th! That’s right, just a few more days until a new Stampin’ Up! catalog goes LIVE and we all love that!

Plus, it will be Sale-A-Bration 2023, the biggest promotion that Stampin’ Up! has annually! With every $50 you spend, you earn a FREE product in the Sale-A-Bration brochure, no limits! With a $100 purchase there are a couple of special items you could choose instead of two $50 level items but it’s all your choice. Just think in increments of $50 if you can when you shop to get as many free products as you can! (Before tax and shipping, of course!)

This Rain or Shine Suite was one that I chose during the Demonstrator pre-order because the little animals in the stamp set and designer paper were so cute and fun! And we all need to make some “fun” cards to send out to bring a smile to someone’s face, not to mention our own as we make the card! The Suite contains a Bundle of stamps and dies, a Raindrops Embossing Folder, tiny little daisy embellishments, and very cute designer paper with some images having a UV Coating that adds some shine.

To make this card, I used one of the sample cards on the catalog pages to copy. That card is a “slimline” card, taller and narrower than most cards. My card is the usual size so it looks a little different. Sometimes using a card sample in the catalog is a good way to get your creativity flowing.

This card has a Balmy Blue card base I use a strip of the Rain or Shine Specialty Designer Series Paper which has the sky, clouds and flowers. I trimmed it down and separated the clouds and flowers to fit my card the best. I wanted the turtle to be standing in the field of daisies with the sky behind him so I have two pieces of paper on the card front. After I trimmed off a little of the top of the sky portion I noticed the other side had the Mango Melody plaid design. The catalog sample uses a wider piece but I just used it across the seam of where my sky and flowers meet.

The turtle, in the Playing in the Rain Stamp Set, is stamped with Memento Ink and colored with Stampin’ Blends in Old Olive and Granny Apple Green. The little daisy is colored with Daffodil Delight and a center of Cajun Craze. I was prepared to cut him out with scissors, but there is a die in the Playing in the Rain Dies! There are lots of fun dies in this set to play with! You can buy the stamp set and dies in the Playing in the Rain Bundle and save 10%! (Notice the same name for the stamp set and dies??!)

The greeting is stamped with Mossy Meadow ink and die cut with a small scalloped Layering Circles die. I thought it would be fun to add a bow to the Mango Melody strip. For embellishments, I used the very small Loose Daisy Embellishments on the greeting.

As I looked at the sample card in the catalog again, I noticed that they had some popped-up clouds in the sky and I felt my card needed a little something in the top portion. I was prepared, again, to hand-cut some clouds out of the designer paper, but lo and behold, there is a die that cuts out a certain group of three clouds from the paper!

Be sure to take care lining up the die so you don’t cut off the UV coating that outlines the cloud shape. After cutting out the clouds, I popped them up on the top of the card. I could have popped them up directly over the printed clouds on the paper.

Although it’s supposed to be a rainy, stormy day here in Houston, I chose to make this sunny, happy day card. Whether you choose rain or shine with this suite, you will be making a cute card! Get ready for the January-April 2023 (Spring Mini) Catalog to go live on Wednesday, January 5th, and for Sale-A-Bration to begin the same day! Circle that date on your calendar for sure!