Category Archives: Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine

Encircled in Friendship Birthday Card

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Encircled in Friendship Birthday Card

Somewhere recently I saw a card made with the colors blue and yellow or maybe it was blue and orange. I don’t remember, but it popped up in my head when I went to make this Encircled in Friendship Birthday Card. After looking through my designer papers, I chose this Misty Moonlight blue print in the Pattern Party Host Designer Series Paper. I also knew I wanted to use the Encircled in Friendship Bundle with its beautiful dies!

I chose Bumblebee Cardstock, one of last year’s In Colors, for the card base. I could have used another yellow but I’ve been on a Bumblebee kick recently. I used a couple of the dies in the Encircled in Beauty Dies to cut out a large Bumblebee outer die, which also produced the circle I used under the stamped image. I also die cut the white layer and die cut a Basic White circle with the Layering Circles Dies. For my design inspiration (and help!) I was copying my own card from a little while ago which you can see here.

On the white circle, I stamped the flowers in the Encircled in Friendship Stamp Set with Memento Black Ink. It would have been better to stamp first, then die cut, but I got lucky and got the stamp placed just fine! The flowers just barely fit. Then I colored them with Stampin’ Blends. Since we don’t have a Bumblebee color, I used Daffodil Delight for the flowers and Granny Apple Green for the leaves. Even though it is not an exact color match, it is close enough and maybe the Daffodil Delight even provides a little brighter color to the card.

I intended to wrap the Bumblebee Gingham Ribbon around the Misty Moonlight piece of designer paper, but I forgot and glued down the paper to the Bumblebee card base first! It happens! For the greeting, I chose one I had already stamped and die-cut with the Many Messages Bundle. To add some ribbon for embellishment, I just cut a strip and adhered it underneath the greeting, and snipped the ends. Very quick and easy!

The die cut sort of doily-like layers would be easier to adhere to the card if you remembered to use Adhesive Sheets first but I seldom remember! However, I can usually make teeny tiny dots work (and I mean teeny tiny!) of Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the biggest spaces I can find and even the smaller ones on the back of the die-cuts. Just be very careful and squirt out some glue on a piece of scrap paper to avoid an explosion of a blob on your tiny die-cut area!

Don’t forget! Tomorrow, June 24th is FREE SHIPPING at Stampin’ Up! so if you would like this Encircled in Friendship Bundle to make a card like this one, you can save the money you would normally spend on shipping! You must have a $50 order to be eligible for free shipping, and don’t start putting in your order until tomorrow so the computer will take it. Double-check to make sure you don’t get charged for shipping.

ONE DAY ONLY! Thurs. 62421

Kangaroo Just For You Cards

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Kangaroo Just For You Cards

I hate to tempt you with these Kangaroo Just For You Cards because the Kangaroo & Company Stamp Set is sold out. But I loved making these even though I was a little late to the party with ordering the stamp set and dies and even later in using them. I’m sure you have seen plenty of samples of the Kangaroo cards. There are so many cute ideas out there!

If you already have the Kangaroo & Company Stamp Set, but you don’t own the Kangaroo Dies, I would encourage you to order them now! They are on the Last Chance List for the January-June 2021 Mini Catalog and are HALF-PRICE! Sometimes dies are just an extra expense when we want so many things, but for this price, I would get them.

Kangaroo Dies #154334

Just search for “Kangaroo” or else the item number #154334 for them to come up.

Here is another card I made a little while back. This stamp set and dies can be used for birthday cards, baby cards, general “thinking of you” cards, all kinds of fun occasions! As I said, the stamp set seems to be sold out, but if you already have it, you might want to get the dies at half-price.

Sometimes when I make cards, I like to make several at one time while I have all the supplies out and mainly the idea for the design! For this set of cards, I just chose several colors of cardstock and started stamping and die-cutting! If you make cards assembly-line style, stamp all the kangaroos, stamp all the flowers, stamp all the card bases, do all the die-cutting of each thing, etc. it goes pretty fast. You develop sort of a muscle memory while you are doing it! This is especially useful for Christmas cards!

Check out the Last Chance products, some discounted, before the end of June if there are any retiring products you want from the Spring Mini!

Using the Stamparatus With Many Messages

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Using the Stamparatus With Many Messages

If you always want more greetings and sentiments for your cards and projects, you should consider the Many Messages Bundle which is going away when the January-June Mini Catalog ends on June 30. The stamp set and dies aren’t really going away, though. You will find them in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog on page 42, but they are being sold separately rather than in the Bundle since most Bundles “retire” with a new catalog. If you want to save 10% with both the Many Messages Stamp Set and the Messages Dies, then buy the Bundle now before the Spring Mini Catalog retires.

Also, there is a new stamp set on the order of Many Messages called Many Happenings in the Annual Catalog on the same page 42. If you want to be awash in greetings, get this stamp set, too, along with the Many Messages Bundle before it retires and you will have a complete set with the die and two stamp sets of sentiments!

The main idea is that you stamp all these greetings at one time and then die cut them all at one time. Then you can save the greetings in a little bag or box and you can just choose one when you make a card! If you have the Stamparatus, this is a great time to use it with this large stamp. Make sure your ink pad is pretty juicy with ink, ink up your stamp, then use the Stamparatus to stamp your cardstock. You could make quite a collection by stamping these greetings in different colors or on different colors of cardstock and have a ton of greetings ready to go! The beauty of the Stamparatus is that if part of the stamp doesn’t stamp well, you can reink, even just that area, and stamp again with the Stamparatus since the cardstock has remained in the same place. Give a good push each time evenly over the surface to get the best results.

Using the Stamparatus With Many Messages

In the photo above, you can see the large stamp with all the greetings, the paper in the Stamparatus that has been stamped, and on the right, the one large Messages Die that will cut out all the greetings at one time with the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.

Many Messages Die-Cut Sentiments

On the photo above, you can see how the greetings have been die-cut in different shapes, some with stitching around the edge and some plain. The tiny little stars and hearts on the stamp are to help line up the die on the stamped paper. I found that my very well-used cutting plates that are slightly warped made it difficult to keep the die lined up perfectly, but I keep some rolls of old washi tape by my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine to tape down a die if need be. (You might want to get some of the washi tape stickiness off by sticking it on and off your clothing a couple of times and being careful where you place it so it doesn’t tear the paper if it is too sticky.) But it was pretty easy to line everything up with the stamped words.

Now I am finally ready to have these greetings on hand to make it quicker and easier to use on cards and other projects! I also stamped the Many Happenings set so I have lots to choose from!

Remember, if you buy the Many Messages Bundle now before it retires, you will save 10% and then you can also order the Many Happenings Stamp to use with the Messages Die in the Bundle. If you own the Stamparatus, all the better, and if not, just add one to your order as well!

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Using the Meadow Dies on Cards

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Meadow Dies Cards

If you want an easy way to make cards that look like you put a lot of effort into, check out the Meadow Dies. The dies look like wildflowers with many different blossoms. You can use them many different ways, and the way I used them on these cards is probaby the easiest way.

These dies come in the Quiet Meadow Bundle, which includes the Quiet Meadow Stamp Set. If you look at both, you will see that while the stamp set is very pretty with very useful sentiments, the dies do not match any of the stamps.

Quiet Meadow Stamp Set

While I should be trying to convince you to buy both, if you have tons of things on your Wish List, you can do what I did and just buy the dies and use them in different ways. But if you think you might ever want the stamp set, you might as well buy them together in the Bundle and save 10%! If you get both, you can stamp on the card and add or overlay one or more of the dies for extra texture and interest.

Both of my cards use the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper, available in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog as a Stampin’ Reward with an order of $150 or more. I simply cut out all the wildflower die cuts out of Basic White Cardstock so I could play with all of them! After trying out several patterns of the designer paper because I needed the white wildflower silhouettes to show up well on the card front, I chose the Granny Apple Green pattern and also the black with tiny white dots pattern, just because I had to many wildflowers to use!

It would be good to remember to use the Adhesive Sheets as you cut out the wildflowers so that they already had adhesive on their skinny stems and leaves. I was able to use teeny tiny dots of Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the backs of the dies to adhere to the card, but this can get messy! Be sure to squeeze out some glue onto scrap paper to make sure you don’t get a big blob on your skinny die cut! These die-cuts would also be pretty popped up on Dimensionals if you could do it without them being on the back of the stems!

On the green card, I just used two die-cuts and added a greeting, die cut from the Ornate Frames Dies. It’s perfect. The greeting is in the Pansy Patch Stamp Set. I used Crushed Curry for the card base, a color I rarely use, but I like it on this card. For some embellishment, I used three of the Clear Epoxy Essentials which I loved because you can see through the clear and see the color underneath.

On the second card, I used Polished Pink for the card base. I used three of the wildflowers and also adhered a Polished Pink Open Weave Ribbon bow to the stems. I didn’t even add a greeting because I liked the card as it was.

I think the way you can use these dies provide a different look to our cards, using these die-cuts as silhouettes. You could also color the die-cuts and I will try that another time! Just remember or notice that the dies do not match the stamp set but you can use them together beautifully.

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Kangaroo & Company Baby Card

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Kangaroo & Company Baby Card

Who doesn’t love the image of a kangaroo and a baby in her pouch as on this Kangaroo & Company Baby Card? Although I’ve had this stamp set and dies for a while and thought it was such a cute set, I hadn’t been using it. If I had waited even longer, I could have gotten the dies on a steal right now on the Last Chance list for the January-June 2021 Mini Catalog! But you can still take advantage of this Bundle. Actually, it is a better deal to NOT buy the Bundle and to buy the stamp set and dies separately because the dies are 50% off, while supplies last!

This card uses the Kangaroo & Company Stamp Set (sold out now) and Kangaroo Dies. The stamp set comes with so many cute little stamps from hearts to packages to flowers, even a party hat. And many greetings to use for all kinds of occasions! So the kangaroo doesn’t have to be just for kids or babies! You can get by with just the stamp set and just do stamping or even cut things out by hand, but at the 50% off price for the dies, I think they are well worth it!

To make this card, I used a Soft Suede Cardstock card base and a layer of Daffodil Delight patterned paper in the Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper. I used one of the Scalloped Contour Dies (one of the best dies sets we’ve ever had!) to cut out a Basic White scalloped panel and then stamped the kangaroo on it for the card front. I decided to add a layer of Soft Suede underneath to help it stand out from the designer paper.

A fun thing you can do with this kangaroo, is cut a slit in its pouch in which you can insert on of the stamps in the set, whether the baby kangaroo, flowers, heart, or whatever you want. You could maybe even write a message on the back so the recipient can pull it out of the pouch and read the message or insert it but adhere it with a Glue Dot or even a Stampin’ Dimensional to have it pop up a bit.

I colored the kangaroos with Stampin’ Blend, mostly in Light and Dark Crumb Cake and maybe a little Soft Suede. The group of hearts was stamped and colored in with Real Red and also Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blends. You can use whatever colors you like! So many choices!

The “Hello Baby” greeting is stamped and die cut with the die in the Tasteful Labels Dies. I also cut one in Daffodil Delight, then trimmed down the greeting die-cut to fit layered over the yellow die-cut. For some bling, I added some Resin Hearts Embellishments, 50% off now in the Last Chance Sale! For half-price, you can have a package of stick-on hearts to use for many occasions just as a little embellishment. The hearts come in white and red.

You could make this same card and just change the greeting and send it for occasions other than a new baby! The Kangaroo & Company Stamp Set is very versatile, cute and fun to use, so take a look at it in the Spring Mini Catalog before it retires and while they are still available, I would consider the half-price dies as well!

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CLEARANCE RACK!

Expressions in Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil

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Expressions In Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil

THIS PAPER!!! Expressions in Ink Specialty Designer Series Paper (155464) Order it!

Okay, that’s really all that needs to be said for this blog post! But since you probably want to know more about the card and the paper, I’ll continue.

When I first saw a Stampin’ Up! video giving us Demonstrators a sneak peek at some of the new Annual Catalog products, I fell in love with this Expressions in Ink Suite! And when I saw it online in the catalog I wanted to order it right away. But it was not on our Demonstrator pre-order so I had to wait just like everyone else. My order just came and I have to say, when I opened this package of paper and looked at the sheets, I just gasped! It is beautiful and striking with the gold foil accents on one side of the sheets. You must have it!

Here are closeups of some of the sheets of paper, but even these do not do it justice!

Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper1
Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper2
Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper3
Expressions in Ink Specialty Paper4

For the card, I started out copying the catalog sample on page 96 in the upper right of the samples. It turned out not exactly the same. I dared to cut into one of the papers, trying to match the pattern I could see on the catalog page. Then I stamped the large and small flowers from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set plus the small individual leaves. The large flower is stamped in Polished Pink Ink and the small flower in Pale Papaya. The leaves are stamped in Just Jade Ink since the card base will be Just Jade. You can choose from lots of coordinating colors!

Expressions In Ink Card Beginning

Now when I stamped these flowers and leaves, I didn’t give a lot of thought ahead of time to that gold foil piece placed over the top on the sample. In the Ephemera Pack, I was thinking that there would be individual foil cutout flowers, leaves, etc. to place over my stamped images, but there were not! The pack will still be fun to play with, it just didn’t have what I was expecting. Then I realized, I just needed to die-cut a gold foil piece from the Artistic Dies. While my flowers and leaves lined up pretty well with the die-cut, and while it doesn’t and shouldn’t be perfect because this is a watercolor look, I did add another stamped leaf and then got my foil to line up pretty well.

Expressions In Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil

I highly recommend using Adhesive Sheets on the back of the Gold Foil Sheets before die-cutting this intricate design, which I always forget, but I did manage to use teeny tiny dots of the Multipurpose Liquid Glue on the back. The greeting comes in the stamp set and I stamped that in Polished Pink Ink and placed it in a lower position than on the catalog sample. For a little extra, I used a strip of the Just Jade & Gold 3/8″ Braided Ribbon, a little frayed on the ends, and adhered just below the greeting a tiny bit. And for a little more bling, I wanted to try out the little adhesive-backed iridescent sequins in the Ephemera Pack. You can see about five of those placed around the card.

This is a relatively easy card to make, using both stamping and designer paper, or rather stamping ON the designer paper, plus the die-cut Gold Foil accent and other embellishments. I suggest you order this paper, or the whole Suite of products sooner rather than later because once word gets out about how beautiful this Suite is, it could be backordered by the time you decide to get it. Hopefully, Stampin’ Up! anticipated how popular this Suite would be and ordered plenty!

You might also consider the June Paper Pumpkin Kit which will coordinate with this Suite! Even if you subscribed before and dropped, you may want to come back just for this kit at least if you like the style of the Expressions In Ink Suite of products!

Here’s another view of my card without so much glare from the foil! I hope you are as attracted to this Suite as I am!

Expressions In Ink Birthday Card With Gold Foil Closeup

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Color & Contour Pattern Party Card

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Color & Contour Pattern Party Card

Once again, as I looked through the Pattern Party package of designer papers, this Flirty Flamingo stripe jumped out at me and screamed to be made into a card which resulted in this Color & Contour Pattern Party Card. I had almost forgotten this set of dies has this scalloped edge die in it which just helps to make this card! I love how this card turned out!

The card base is Flirty Flamingo Cardstock. The striped paper is from the Host Product in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. This means that with an order of $150 or more, instead of choosing some other free merchandise in the catalog, you can go to the back of the catalog where there is this designer paper option (48 sheets!) and some other stamp sets, all that you can choose as your Stampin’ Rewards at a discounted price. I think this package of paper is going to be a hit because it’s something different (just stamp sets have been offered as Host Rewards) and you will love the paper patterns! Look for the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper on page 171.

The striped paper is die cut with a die in the Scalloped Contours Dies. You can purchase the Color & Contour Stamp Set and the dies in a Bundle and save 10%. I love the stitched look along the scalloped edge. Whether you purchase the stamp set or not, I would buy the Scalloped Contours Dies by themselves. They are that good!

I do have the Color & Contour Stamp Set and I do like the flowers in the set! You can do two-step stamping to color in rather abstractly the flowers, or you can color in the open design yourself with whatever coloring technique you like. Then you can cut them out with the dies. You can set on the set that the individual leaf has a very open design, but I just stamped it in Memento Ink, colored in with two colors of green Stampin’ Blends, and cut out the leaf itself, not the extra squiggle! The lower flower is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals and the other two and the leaves adhered right to the card. The flower center is stamped with Daffodil Delight Ink.

It IS a little tricky to line up the two-step stamp with the first stamped impression and then to line up the die with the flower. You could spend some time lining them up and then put a black mark on the stamp and on the die to remind you of how to line them up. But since the design is rather abstract anyway, it kind of doesn’t have to be perfect. For some of us, though, who like things “perfectly lined up”, well, we can fiddle with it and we can get it lined up!

The greeting is in the stamp set but I did use another set of dies to cut out the greeting. I used the Stitched So Sweetly Dies to get a smaller rectangle to fit at the bottom of my card. This is another set of dies that I have used a lot and recommend you have in your supplies!

Not one to leave well enough alone, I saw the “speckle” stamp in the set and thought maybe it would look interesting in the bottom portion of the card. Usually it is not a good idea to stamp something more on a card that is nearly finished and could potentially be ruined if you mess up, but I took a chance and it worked out! I inked the stamp with Flirty Flamingo Ink but stamped off before stamping on the bottom of the card.

On the inside of the card, I put a piece of Basic White for a layer and stamped one of the flowers, just the outline, in Flirty Flamingo Ink down in the right-hand corner. Later I can stamp a message on the inside of the card or write a personal note.

If you have a large order of $150 or more, remember that you can choose Stampin’ Rewards of 10% or more and remember that there are special Host choices in the back of the catalog, one being this year the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper. This is 48 sheets, 4 sheets each of 12 different designs. This card, the Color & Contour Pattern Party Card, shows off one of the pretty patterns in this package of paper! You will enjoy it I’m sure!

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Pansy Patch Card For a Special Day

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Pansy Patch Card For a Special Day

This card is an easy way to make pansies if you don’t want to bother with the smaller die-cut pieces, and this Pansy Patch Card For a Special Day is perfect for Mother’s Day! Add whatever greeting you like or need for the card and it will be perfect for almost any occasion.

To make the pansy, just use the Pansy Dies to cut out the one large and two smaller pansy petals in Basic White. You could also use light colors of cardstock and still do what I did also. I used the Blending Brush along the edges of the pansy petals to color just/mostly the edges and then assembled them. I happened to use Mango Melody, but it is very light so it almost matches the paper in the background that is another color. The leaves and flower stem for the bud are Granny Apple Green. Even the two pieces of the flower bud are Basic White with just a bit of ink blended on them. If you don’t have the new Blending Brushes (so soft!) use a piece of a Stamping Sponge that you probably already have or a Sponge Dauber.

Actually, I was undecided on how I wanted to use one of the pretty Pansy Petals Designer Paper on the card. The design I have just kind of accidentally happened! I used the Bumblebee pattern for the main layer on the card and was going to die-cut a rectangle piece out of some colored cardstock. But I also wondered about the opposite side of the paper which had all these small pansies. I laid a scrap of it down on the card just to place the die-cut pansy on top and see how it would look with it but not necessarily behind it and I liked the look as it was! The pansy still stood out well enough against the print, especially when I popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The greeting is stamped with part of the stamp in the Hand-Drawn Blooms Stamp Set and then die-cut with just the middle portion of the Banner Blooms Die where the greeting would go. Then I just trimmed the stamped banner piece away from the rest of the bouquet die-cut and flagged the plain end.

This is actually a pretty easy card to make for Mother’s Day or to send on any day!

Don’t forget about the Paper Pumpkin special going on today and tomorrow only! Get the May Kit with a baseball theme for only $5 for new subscribers (shipping included!). A great gift to give a mother who is a baseball fan!! Be sure to use the promo code HOMERUN0521 to get the $5 price!

Go to my personalized link HERE and use Promo Code HOMERUN0521.

Die-Cut Pansies For May Day

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Die-Cut Pansies For May Day

It’s May 1st and this Die-Cut Pansies For May Day Card is perfect to celebrate the day! If I went outside and walked up and down the street, I would see loads of pansies planted in neighbors’ landscaping. They won’t last in the hot weather, but so far the weather is tolerable for them. Just today I had a memory of being a little girl in Sunday School and planting or just bringing home a pansy planted in a milk carton to my mother for Mother’s Day.

As I discovered the other day, I need to play with the new Pansy Patch Stamp Set and the Pansy Dies in the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog coming out on Tuesday, May 4th a little more to learn how to effectively make a pretty pansy. I’m sure it is not difficult, but I was a little unsure. Maybe I need to take photos of some of our neighbor’s pansies so I know exactly how the petals are placed!

For this card, I wanted to just experiment with the Pansy Dies and not worry about making an amazing card. I just wanted to make pansies. I decided to just die-cut a bunch of pieces and then see how they all fit together. I planned with two different shades of similar colors for each pansy, like Petal Pink and Polished Pink, Pale Papaya and Mango Melody and even just Basic White and Highland Heather for the contrasting parts of the flowers. The leaves are Soft Succulent for the solid leaf (really very pretty on it’s own because the die embosses it) and Evening Evergreen for the outline piece.

After cutting out an assortment of pieces for the pansies, I just glued, with tiny dots of Multipurpose Liquid Glue, the outline edge to the corresponding color. Each pansy flower has three pieces (at least mine do!). The top part has kind of the three areas and then the two bottom pieces are each like one petal with an outline piece along the bottom edge. I glued those two pieces together, then added the top piece. I think you want them close enough so the outlines kind of line up. There also is a die that cuts out three flower centers at once, so I used Daffodil Delight cardstock for the centers.

The leaves, of course, are simple. Just glue on the outline color…..or don’t. You could easily leave the leaves plain.

To make the card I used a base of Pale Papaya Cardstock and die cut a Basic White scalloped rectangle with the new Scalloped Contours Dies. I am really liking these dies! They go with the Color & Contour Stamp Set and you can buy the stamps and dies together in the Color & Contour Bundle and save 10%.

Then I just placed the pansies and leaves on the rectangle to see how they would fit. Since the pansies (at least mine) turned out a little large, they took up most of the room on the rectangle. There was just enough space at the bottom to stamp a greeting from the Pansy Patch Stamp Set in Pale Papaya Ink. I probably should have used a darker color as this one doesn’t show up that well with the pansies grabbing all the attention!

My advice when you get the Pansy Patch Bundle is just to get out your Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine and cardstock and cut out all the pieces and just play. Don’t worry about making anything, except flowers. Just play! And soon we will all be learning good tips and tricks of the best way to use this stamp set and dies I’m sure!

HAPPY MAY DAY With the DIE-CUT PANSIES!

Die-Cut Pansies For May Day Closeup

Ornate Style Birthday Card

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Ornate Style Birthday Card

I think this card might be a little too bright for me even though I think I like Granny Apple Green Cardstock just fine! But today it looks very bright! But it certainly is an Ornate Style Birthday Card with all the colors, stamping, embossing, and diecutting! I just looked through the catalog to see what stamp sets I have that are retiring and which ones I want to showcase again before they are gone!

To make this card, I started by stamping the large bouquet in the Ornate Style Stamp Set, retiring May 3. I stamped it with Memento Ink and colored in with Stampin’ Blends. Just choose whatever colors you like for the flowers and leaves. Then I cut it out with Paper Snips, although I first took it to my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine thinking there was a die to cut out this bouquet! No such luck!

I did use the coordinating dies, the Ornate Layers Dies, to cut out the fancy frame to layer underneath the bouquet out of Calypso Coral Cardstock. If you want to save 10%, you can purchase the Ornate Style Stamp Set and Ornate Layers Dies together in the Ornate Style Bundle. The dies are not retiring. They will be in the new catalog!

Before I layered the cut out bouquet on the Calypso Coral die cut piece, I put some ribbon behind it winding back and forth. This ribbon now is on the Clearance Rack! It’s the All the Trimmings Combo Pack, the Old Olive ribbon with a gold edge. The bouquet is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

To decorate the card front, I embossed it with the Ornate Floral 3D Embossing Folder. This folder is so pretty with all the tiny flowers and leaves to provide a nice, textured background. This folder is being carried over to the new catalog so it will not be retiring like the stamp set.

For a greeting, I chose the “Birthday Wishes” from the retiring Itty Bitty Birthdays Stamp Set. I hate that all the “Itty Bitty” stamp sets are leaving us! I could always find a greeting to use for any occasion in one of the stamp sets. But rest assured, there are a lot of greeting stamps in the new catalog as well!

Here’s another card I made with the Ornate Style Stamp Set. I just stamped and colored in the bouquet and added some sequins for some bling!

Only about another two weeks to go until the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog goes live on May 4th! Enjoy your current stamp sets and be sure to show them some love before all you want to use are your new sets!

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Good Morning Magnolia Soft Subtles Thinking of You Card

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The other day I had another blog post about the Good Morning Magnolia Stamp Set and that I was surprised it was retiring because the magnolia stamp is so striking and dramatic in its size and beauty as you can see on this card, Good Morning Magnolia Soft Subtles Thinking of You Card. You don’t really need much else when you have this beautiful magnolia on the front of a card!

The card base is Soft Sea Foam, a color I haven’t really used that much. It is a very soft, light green, and perfect for this card. The magnolia in the Good Morning Magnolia Stamp Set is stamped in Memento Ink and colored with the Petal Pink Stampin’ Blends Combo. I left some areas whitish on the petals so it wasn’t all colored in solid. The leaves are colored with Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends with a tiny bit of yellow thrown in.

The greeting is stamped in Petal Pink and die cut with a die from the Ornate Frames Dies. For a little layer underneath, I cut another die from the same set, but since it is small, I cut it in half so an end could stick out from each side of the greeting. The stamped layer of the card, instead of just layering on a pink cardstock, is layered on a pinkish pattern in the Peony Garden Designer Series Paper. Actually, on this card I made recently, you can see the same designer paper that I used behind the Basic White stamped layer, used as a layer behind the die-cut magnolia.

For a little pizzazz and sparkle on my card, I used the Elegant Faceted Gems, three in the smallest size and two in the larger size. I think they add a little extra to a very pastel card.

The Good Morning Magnolia Stamp Set and Magnolia Memory Dies are retiring on May 3. The Dies are SERIOUSLY reduced in price! They were originally $35.00 and are now discounted to $8.75!! If you already have the stamp set, it would be a good time to pick up the dies! They weren’t sold in a Bundle, just separately, so check that out!

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True Love Sympathy Card

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True Love Sympathy Card

If there is one card we all hate to make, it is a sympathy card such as this True Love Sympathy Card although at the same time we hope it expresses our feelings and sends comfort to the family. I’m pretty sure I got the idea for this card from someone else but I don’t remember where I found it and haven’t been able to find it again. I do think I changed it up at least a little bit. I didn’t originally plan to post it but I came across it in my photos and I think it is a pretty card. Just change the greeting and you can use the same card design for almost anything else.

The card base is Blushing Bride with several layers on top. Let’s start with the flowers. The flowers are from the True Love Designer Series Paper in the Spring Mini Catalog. All the papers are black and white, but if you want to, you can color in the flowers and cut them out. That’s what I did here with the Stampin’ Blends, my favorite way to color. Behind the flowers for an embellishment is a loop of the 3/8″ Fine Art Ribbon, which is a natural-colored ribbon with gold in it. It’s very pretty!

The flowers are layered on a diecut from the Ornate Layers Dies to make a frame. Underneath the frame is another Basic White layer that is edged in the new Gilded Leafing. I applied Tear & Tape on all four sides of the white cardstock and then applied the Gilded Leafing. That stuff is so fun! Then this piece is layered on Basic Black Cardstock to help the gold leafing stand out plus to go with the black and white of the True Love Flowers. And finally all this is on a layer of Basic White adhered to the Blushing Bride pink card base.

The greeting is in the Prized Peony Stamp Set. It is die cut with a circle in the Tasteful Labels Dies. It really didn’t need any layer underneath it on this card.

I think just the True Love Designer Series Paper will be retiring when the Spring Mini retires as usually most designer papers retire, but I think most of the rest of the supplies I used will be sticking around in the new catalog.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Good Morning Magnolia Enjoy Today Card

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Good Morning Magnolia Enjoy Today Card

This Good Morning Magnolia Enjoy Today Card is one I had to make before this beautiful stamp set retires soon! I can’t believe they are taking away this beautiful, dramatic flower, but I think it has been around for two years. However, I haven’t had enough opportunity to play with it!

The Good Morning Magnolia Stamp Set is on the Last-Chance List for the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. It is easiest to see what is retiring and still available by going to the Stampin‘ Up! Store. There are also coordinating dies, the Magnolia Memory Dies, that are retiring along with the stamp set. You can get these dies for the low, low, ridiculously low price of $8.75!! Be sure to check these out!

To make this card, I started with a card base of Petal Pink. I stamped the large magnolia using my Stamparatus because with a very large stamp like this one, it could be that one area of the stamp might not stamp as well. If you are using the Stamparatus, you can simply reink the stamp, still attached to the Stamparatus, and stamp again focusing on the area that needs more pressure or more ink. The Stamparatus is so great for things like this! The Stamparatus even has its own Craft & Carry Stamparatus Bag that is on sale for only $11.60 after being reduced from $29.00. This is a great bag, actually, even if you don’t own a Stamparatus. Even if you do, you can use the bag for other things. There are nice pockets inside for holding all kinds of things, crafting or otherwise.

After stamping the magnolia on Basic White Cardstock, I colored it with Stampin’ Blends. You can use various methods of coloring but I love using the Stampin’ Blends. I used the Petal Pink Combo on the flower and then for some crazy reason added tiny bits of Melon Mambo. It really was a strong color on the flower and I figured I had ruined it! BUT, I kept blending with my Petal Pink colors and I think it all worked out! I die cut it with the Magnolia Memory die. As I got ready to layer the flower on the card, I saw a piece of designer paper from the Peony Garden Designer Series Paper and thought this Petal Pink pattern would look good behind the flower. (Honestly, I had looked all over for the Magnolia DSP I thought I had and had loved, but I guess that was from the year before!)

Because the die cut had a bit of white showing on it, I decided to put a layer of Basic White with a very narrow margin underneath the pink designer paper, which helped it stand out a little from the Petal Pink cardstock base. The magnolia is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals®. I chose a greeting in the stamp set and stamped it in Petal Pink Ink and die cut it with a frame in the Ornate Frames Dies. To finish off the card, I added two Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels to the Ornate Frame.

Here is a similar card I made with the Good Morning Magnolia Stamp Set and the designer paper almost two years ago. Really, this Good Morning Magnolia Enjoy Today Card is an easy card to make so check out the stamp set and dies if you don’t already own them on the Stampin’ Up! Retiring List.

Love You Always Happy Easter Card

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Love You Always Happy Easter Card

Can you use Valentine paper to make an Easter card? Sure, with the Love You Always Specialty Designer Series Paper with its beautiful foil floral design on three different colors of papers. Of course, it is not officially Valentine paper. It is just presented in the January – June 2021 Mini Catalog in “sort of” the Valentine section of the catalog, in the Love You Always Suite. It is actually beautiful paper that you can use for many occasions. Since two of the three sheets of paper are pink (Blushing Bride and Rococo Rose) and since the suite contains hearts, we perceive it as Valentine’s Day paper. But if it would have been added to a floral suite, we wouldn’t consider it Valentine paper! All this to say, you can use this Love You Always Paper to make almost any pretty cards that you want!

This easy Easter card starts with a Blushing Bride Cardstock card base. The layer is the Love You Always Paper in Blushing Bride. I wanted to keep the card simple so I didn’t try for anything fancy. I stamped the greeting with stamps from two different stamp sets. First, stamped the Easter greeting from the Arrange a Wreath Stamp Set (retiring from the Annual Catalog!) and then for a little extra, I remembered the tulip in the Springtime Joy Stamp Set which I thought would sort of match the designer paper. I stamped just one tulip but decided on one on each side of the greeting.

Next, to cut out the greeting, I looked through my dies and finally decided on a large one in the Tasteful Labels Dies. Then I tried various things to make a layer of Blushing Bride Cardstock under the greeting, usually by cutting another die in half so it would just show out to the sides of the greeting. Nothing seemed to add anything to the card.

I thought I would try ribbon, so I used the Blushing Bride 3/8″ Metallic Ribbon. I’ve been using this ribbon pretty often. It’s very pretty with its one satin side and one metallic side. I wrapped this ribbon horizontally around the designer paper and added a bow separately. This seemed to enhance the card without interfering with the large die-cut greeting.

The greeting is popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals®. For a little bling, I added a few of the smallest Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels, which I really liked on this card!

If you were to copy this card, you would find it very quick and easy to make because you wouldn’t have to figure out which elements to use! So if you need a quick and easy Easter card, try this card design! You can change it up however you like, but at least you will have a quick and easy idea to go by if you need to make some Easter cards and get them in the mail today! This Love You Always Happy Easter Card is really a basic card design so you can make a card like this for Easter.

SHOP STAMPIN’ UP! ONLINE HERE!

Easter Bunny Wreath Easter Card

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Easter Bunny Wreath Easter Card

There are so many pretty cards you can make with this die-cut wreath including a card like this Easter Bunny Wreath Easter Card. You can use this wreath and the other design that comes in the set as well to make all kinds of cards for many occasions. I love adding the Easter bunny and his basket of eggs to the wreath!

The die-cut wreath is made with the Wreath Builder Dies. I die cut two wreaths, one out of Pear Pizzazz and one out of Soft Sea Foam for a lighter color. You can use just one wreath but I think two look more interesting. Just glue one on top of the other, however you would like to place it, and then adhere to the card front.

The card base is Pear Pizzazz with a layer of Shimmery White Cardstock. I thought the background needed a little something, so I embossed it with the Ornate 3D Floral Embossing Folder. I think it adds a nice background without being too much.

The Easter bunny and basket, from the Springtime Joy Stamp Set, are stamped on Shimmery White with Memento Ink and colored in with Stampin’ Blends. I then cut out each by hand. To get your scissors inside the handle of the basket, you can punch a hole or maybe a couple of holes carefully which might work better than trying to stab the point of your scissors into the cardstock! I just used Multipurpose Liquid Glue for everything, although you could pop some things up with Stampin’ Dimensionals if you wanted to.

I also added a bow with the Daffodil Delight 1/4″ Ruched Ribbon and adhered it with Mini Glue Dots. There is also a die for a bow to hang on the wreath, but I preferred a real bow. For the greeting, I stamped one in the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set and made a tiny tag out of it to tie on behind the bow. You can even cheat and add Glue Dots behind a little tag like this to hold it in exactly the position you want it or even behind ribbon tails or bow loops to keep them where you want them!

Here is another card I made for fall die-cutting one each of both the wreath designs on one card!

Easter is in two weeks from yesterday so it’s time to make Easter and Spring cards if you want to send them.

Shop the Last-Chance Products Sale March 24 – May 3 on select, retiring Annual Catalog products! Be ready!

(Sale probably begins at 1:00 PM Mountain Time, 2:00 PM Central Time when the Retiring List is released. Stay tuned!)