Peonies and Paper Chains: May 2013

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May 2013

05/20/2013

Only Have Minutes to Make a Card? You Can Do It!

Do you sometimes find yourself with literally just a few minutes available to make a card? I know this happens to me at times and I suspect the same can happen to you. Handmade cards don't have to have lots of layers and complex techniques to share your heartfelt wishes with the recipient. Today's card is the perfect example of a handmade card that can be created in under 10 minutes! Let's face it, that is quicker than running to the store to buy one!

Here's all you need to do to make a card in minutes:

Pull out a 3.5 x 5" note card and envelope
Cut a piece of Designer Series Paper to 3.25" x 4.75"
Stamp a sentiment directly onto the Designer Series Paper
Cut a piece of ribbon or Baker's Twibe to approximately 6.5"
Either tie the ribbon around the Designer Series Paper and knot it before mounting the paper to the note card OR adhere to Designer Series Paper and then wrap the ribbon around the entire card front and knot in place.

That's it -- your're done! Write your message, place in an envelope and the card is set to send or hand-deliver.

Easy to make? Absolutely!

Heartfelt? You bet!

Time consuming? Not in the least.

While I am all for stretching our creative muscles, there's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping things simple when we have neither a lot of time or energy!

Good to Know - Stampgoodness Tips:

Use Stampin' Dimensionals to mount the Designer Series Paper -- this adds a little more interest without any real "work" to do so.
Stamp your sentiment at an angle so you don't have to be worried about whether or not it goes on straight.

What is your best tip for making keeping cards sweet and simple? Please be sure to share by leaving a comment!

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Indulge in your passion for paper crafting! Right now you can select up to $155 in products for just $99 plus local tax. This incredible value is available when you treat yourself to the no-risk, no-obligation Starter Kit. Click here to read about the benefits and perks of purchasing a kit AND click here and scroll down to see all the sneak peek items you can order TODAY!

Try It All! One fabulous way to get to use all the new Designer Series Paper, ribbon, and embellishments from the new catalog, is to participate in a product share! Product shares save you tremendously over ordering all these items on your own. Click to take a look at the shares that I've put together for you!

Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Get great deals on retired Stampin' Up! products here!

Click here to place your Stampin' Up! order now!

Stampin' Up! Goodies Used to Create Today's Project: Birds of a Feather Designer Series Paper (126899), Note Cards & Envelopes (107311), From My Heart stamp set (wood mount 126555 / clear mount 126557),Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad (126859), 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Marina Mist (119257), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

Posted at 08:30 AM in birthday | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

05/19/2013

Break Out Your Stampin' Up! Blossom Punch!

Hope you are having a fabulous weekend! If you've not yet been to the grocery store, be sure to add liquid starch to your list so that you can get right to work on today's fun home decor project. Or, perhaps you, unlike me, iron regularly and already have some on hand! I actually received my liquid starch at a kid's craft swap last fall and used it to make pinata. I'll show you pinata today, but my guess is that most of you would actually prefer a stylish wreath to a pinata for home decor!

Some of you may have just clicked over from Mary Fish's Stampin' Pretty blog where I am today's guest stamper. A big thank you to Mary for having me today and to you for stopping by! Last September I became a member of Mary's Stampin' Pretty Pals by purchasing a starter kit through Mary. We have exchanged many emails and have spoken by phone, but we have yet to meet in person. I look forward to meeting Mary live in person at the Stampin' Up! convention this July!

Stampin' Up! products are for so much more than cards and scrapbooking. I'm a big fan of creating home decor projects and party decorations using my Stampin' Up! goodies. Today's wreath project is a perfect example of how you can pair Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper, tools, and embellishments with a few craft store finds to make a fabulous project for your home or to give as a gift.The wreath is easy to make but it does require overnight drying since it is covered in strips of paper that were dipped in liquid starch.

Since my guess is that some of you will want to print and/or save the directions for the wreath, I've put together a free PDF file with these -- click here for the file!

What is your favorite non-card, non-scrapbook page project to make with your Stampin' Up! supplies?

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Try It All! A fabulous way to get all the new Designer Series Paper, ribbon, and embellishments from the new catalog, is to participate in a product share! Product shares save you tremendously over ordering all these items on your own and allow you to play with as many need goodies as you want. Click here to take a look at the shares that I've put together for you!

Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Get great deals on retired Stampin' Up! products here!

Click here to place your Stampin' Up! order now!

P.S. Here's the pinata!

All you need to do is inflate a balloon and cover it with pieces news paper dipped in liquid starch. Once that dries, pop the balloon and add a strong near the opening. Next, glue on some pieces of tissue paper. Fill with treats and use the pinata as an activity at the next party you host!

Using newspaper is a fabulous recyling option but the ink smudged and smeared all over when it got wet. Next time we make one of these, you can bet I'll be pulling out retired Designer Series Paper to use since there was not so much as a single smudge when making the wreath! Plus, with some colorful Designer Series Paper, we might be able to skip the decorate stage altogether!

Posted at 09:30 AM in home decor | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)

05/18/2013

Saturday Swaps - Cards from my Stampin' Up! Club!

Today you get to see 3 fabulous cards made by members of my stamping club! For our gathering at the beginning of May, everyone prepared a masculine card to swap with the other members. They created some really wonderful cards and I'm so excited to share a few of the cards with you! Here they are:

Three fabulous nautical cards! I'm so glad the club decided to swap cards -- such a wonderful way for the members to share the talent with one another! The swaps are typically card fronts only that measure 4" x 5-1/4" and this allows them to easily take the swaps home and mount to a card base. Or, they can save the swaps for ideas and have less bulk to store since it is a front only.

There are 6 members in the club and I'll be sharing more cards with you next week!

When you participate in swaps, do you keep the cards or give them away?

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Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Get great deals on retired Stampin' Up! products here!

Click here to place your Stampin' Up! order now!

Posted at 08:30 AM in birthday, masculine | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

05/17/2013

Five on Friday: Five Fab Stampin' Up! Product Shares

Reaction to the new catalog has been incredible! Everyone I know who has seen it is in love with what's inside it...the project samples, the colors, the new stamps, and more! Wish lists are growing longer by the day. Knowing that so many of us try to stretch of crafting dollars, I've put together product shares that allow you to sample so much of what is new in the catalog at a fraction of the cost to purchase on your own!

While I can't yet show images of the all the new products or their names, I want to give you an overview now of the shares that I'm offering you. Full details will be posted on May 31 when the new catalog launches.

Here's how the new catalog product shares work:

You choose one (or more) of the five fabulous Stampin' Up! product shares that I have put together. Once a share is filled, I invoice all partipants and as soon as all payments are all made via PayPal, I place the order for the items. Stampin' Up! ships everything to me and I measure, cut, sort out the shares and promptly get them in the mail to all participants. You then get to enjoy all the items from the share(s) that you participated in! This is an incredible way to use a tremendous array of products at a fraction of the cost of purchasing them all on your own!

As my way to thank you for purchasing your shares through me, I'll include a free package of Baker's Twine with each share and 4 packages if you choose the "It's So Good I Want It All" option -- the color of the twine will be a surprise.

Here are the 2013 new catalog product shares:

Share One - Designers Series Paper

11 news designs, including one specialty paper
66 total sheets measuring 6” x 12”
$29.95 + $4.95 shipping

Share Two - Designers Series Paper Stacks

Double sided designs in the Brights, Neutrals, Regals, Subtles and the two In Color Collections
100 total sheets measuring 6” x 12”
$32.95 + $5.95 shipping

Share Three – Buttons and More

156 buttons, 12 clips, 10 embellishments, and 100 adhesive backed embellishments with 50 coordinating brads
$36.95 + $4.95 shipping

Share Four – Ribbon

Cuts from 22 new ribbons -- approximately 55 total yards with approximately 2.5 yards from each ribbon
$39.95 + $4.95 shipping

Share Five – It’s So Good, I Want It All! - SAVE BIG!

Everything from shares 1, 2, 3, and 4
$119.95 and this share ships for FREE

It takes just 4 people to fill each share so rally a friend or two to sign-up with you to ensure that the share fills quickly! I can place the first order for share items as of May 31...reserve your space today!

Have questions or want to reserve your space in a share? Please EMAIL ME.

Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

P.S. The pink flamingo is NOT in the new catalog! She is currently in our front yard waiting for the daylillies to bloom. Just a little flamingo fun for you today.

Posted at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

05/16/2013

PPA159: Bringing Together Old and New Stampin' Up! Products

Today's card combines a mix of retiring Stampin' Up! products with new products that will soon be available for purchase. It was inspired by this week's fabulous Pals Paper Arts sketch designed by Margaret Moody. The bright colors and delightful layout made it a fun card to pull together and I hope you'll be inspired!

Here's the sketch (PPA159):

This card combines:

a retiring stamp set that I love (Mouthwatering - available until June 3 )
Spring Catalog Designer Series Paper (Sunshine & Sprinkles - available until May 31)
a new stamp set (Chalk Talk - available beginning May 31)
plus a new In Color -- Strawberry Slush (available for purchase on May 31 or sooner if you purchase a starter kit)

The Strawberry Slush seemed to be the perfect color for the popsicle and it works well with the Sunshine & Sprinkles paper. TIP: If you don't have a Stampin' Write Marker in a color that you need, ink up your stamp with the main ink color then clean off the popsicle stick with a damp paper towel or baby wipe and marker on your second color.

Here's a closer look at the card and the "ribbon" knot:

Second time this week that you are seeing a paper knot from me! Easy to do and works well if you do not have an actual ribbon in a color that you want/need. TIP: After trimming your card stock or Designer Series Paper to the width that you want, run the paper over your bone folder or along the edge of your desk to loosen the paper fibers before you make the knot. Adhere to your card using a Stampin' Dimensional.

We'll be giving away this card at a birthday party we are attending on the weekend. Since the party is for one of my daughter's friends, I'll have her make coordinating wrapping paper using the popsicle stamp from the Mouthwatering set.

Gift bag or wrapping paper -- which do you stamp most often? Please leave a comment sharing your response. I'm guessing the majority will say gift bag, but you might surprise me!

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SAVE BIG TODAY! Right now you can select up to $155 in products for just $99 plus local tax. This incredible value is available when you treat yourself to the no-risk, no-obligation Starter Kit. Click here to read about the benefits and perks of purchasing a kit AND click here and scroll down to see all the sneak peek items you can order TODAY!

Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Find the retired Stampin' Up! products you've been looking for here!

Click to place your Stampin' Up! order now!

Stampin' Up! Goodies Used to Create Today's Project:

Mouthwatering (wood mount 125675 / clear mount 125677), Chalk Talk* (wood mount 130631 / clear mount 130634), Whisper White card stock (100730), Marina Mist card stock (119682), Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper (126922), Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad* (131178), Crumb Cake Stampin' Write Marker (120967)

Posted at 09:30 AM in birthday | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

05/15/2013

Stampin' Up! News and a Sneak Peek!

The next Pals Paper Arts challenge (a sketch one) starts tomorrow and I thought I'd share a sneak peek of my inspiration project as a member of the design team. But, before we get to that, I thought I'd share the latest MDS news with you!

New Digital Downloads Released Yesterday!

Four great new downloads, including the adorable freebie shown below, were released yesterday! Click here to see all the new downloads.

Digital is On Sale

Select MDS content and most professional printing is 25% until June 15! This a phenomenal time to print your MDS creations and to purchase some new downloads. Click here to learn more about the digital sale!

Now, here's that sneak peek for you...

Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Get great deals on retired Stampin' Up! products here!

Click here to place your Stampin' Up! order now!

Posted at 08:30 AM in digital designing / mds2 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

05/14/2013

Party Time! The Pals May Blog Hop Retirement Bash!

Thank you for joining us for the May Pals Blog Hop and our annual retirement party! It's time to say goodbye to stamps and accessories that will not be available in the new 2013-14 Stampin' Up! catalog. Although it's always sad to see wonderful products retire, it is exciting to think about all of the new products that will soon be available. So enjoy the farewell tour for our favorite retiring products! You have until June 3rd to order from the retiring product lists; however, accessories are only available while supplies last.

You should have just left stop number 1 on the Pals Hop - Sherrie Gross at Stampin' Sunshine. If so, you are in the right spot. If you get off track, the full blog lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all of the amazing creations.

I'll miss so many of the retiring stamps and hands-down one set I will miss most is Daring Adventure. Today you get to see both a gift box and card that have been decorated using this set. I used a simple yet elegant color palette -- Basic Black, Pool Party, and a splash of silver. Take a look:

Anyone recognize the box that I used? If the "Dude, You're Welcome" kit came to mind, you are correct! It is very sturdy, a fabulous size, and the black color really makes the embossing pop!

Good to Know - Stampgoodness Tips:

Be sure to use your embossing buddy for the cleanest and most crisp embossed images!
When you fail to use your embossing buddy (head down, hand up...that's me right now) and have stray powder droplets that get embossed, just roll with it. The sides of the box are very crisp and clear of this, but the top of the box ended up with some excess droplets. Since a "do over" was not possible, I just added more so that it looked intentional.
Double emboss to really bring out the embossing powder color. For the box top and the card, I embossed with Pool Party powder and while the images were still hot, I sprinkled on more powder. After that, I heated again and this helped to make the color more bold.

Stampin' Up! Goodies Used for Today' Project Stamps: Daring Adventure (wood mount 122600 / clear mount 122602 -- retiring on June 3, 2013) Inks: VersaMark Pad (102283) Papers: Pool Party card stock (122924), Basic Black card stock (121045), Finishing Touches: Pool Party Stampin' Emboss Powder (129398), Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (109131), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430), Delicate Designs Embossing Folders (127023), 1-1/4" Two-Tone Ribbon in Basic Gray/Basic Black (129295) -- only available for order until May 31 from the Spring Catalog

What retiring product will you most miss from the annual catalog? Please leave a quick comment with your answer.

The next stop is Amy Williams at Stampin' on the Range, stop number 3 on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting – and I hope to see you next month!

Posted at 09:30 AM in gift giving | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack (0)

05/13/2013

Let the Festivities Begin!

It's time to celebrate our old "friends" -- those stamp sets that will soon retire. All week long I will be sharing projects that feature retiring stamp sets. And, tomorrow, I'll be participating in a BIG retirement "party" and that is the Stampin' Pretty Pals Retirement Blog Hop! Today the festivities get started as we celebrate the Circle Circus stamp set!

Circle Circus is a fabulous graphic set with a range of image styles that from very classic and elegant pattern to very bold designs...

For today's card I chose two of the bold designs to pair with the Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper, Melon Mambo ink, and Melon Mambo card stock. This product combination makes for a bright and cheery birthday card!

Good to Know - Stampgoodness Tips:

Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add a little "pop" to your designs. The entire front panel is popped up, along with one of the large stamped images, and all of the small stamped circles. The large popped up circle allowed me to easily "tuck in" the sentiment.
Off set circles inside one another -- this creates more visual interest and also eliminates the feeling of looking at a bullseye.
Create a paper knot by trimming a long and very thin strip of card stock. Run this sliver of card stock over a bone folders so that it loosens the paper fibers and become pliable. Tie in a knot and trim the ends.
Punch a small hole next to a cut out area so that you can easily tie on ribbon or a paper knot -- you cannot see it, but there is a 1/8" hole that was punched along side the circle cut in the bottom left corner of the card. This allowed me to thread through my paper "ribbon" and tie into a knot.

Main ingredients for today's card:

Circle Circus stamp set (115778 wood mount / 127784 clear mount)
Wishes Your Way stamp set (129153 wood mount / 129156 clear mount)
Sunshine & Sprinkles Designer Series Paper (126922)
Melon Mambo card stock (115320)
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad (126948)

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Indulge in the art of paper crafting! Right now you can select up to $155 in products for just $99 plus local tax. This incredible value is available when you treat yourself to the no-risk, no-obligation Starter Kit. Click here to read about the benefits and perks of purchasing a kit AND click here and scroll down to see all the sneak peek items you can order TODAY!

Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Get great deals on retired Stampin' Up! products here!

Click here to place your Stampin' Up! order now!

Posted at 08:30 AM in birthday | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

05/12/2013

Simply Swallowtail

Enjoy your day!

Kerry

Posted at 08:30 AM in everyday | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

05/11/2013

Put Down the Paper and Pick Up Some Dough!

Today is a paper-free post! I know that many of you have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and other special little ones in your life (me, too!). One of the things we have done this year is to make homemade play dough on a regular basis. I'm sharing this idea with you today because this is an easy activity to do and putting the play dough to use is both fun and stress relieving!

You can find many recipes online to make it. Some recipes that we have used can be found by clicking here and here. Know that your arms will get a work out with all the stirring but it is well worth it!

We made a batch on Thursday and Brooklyn wanted it to be purple. She did all the measuring, I did all the stirring on the stovetop, and she and Britt had fun pretending to make more play dough while I was "cooking" the purple batch. As I stirred away, I noticed that the purple was looking an awful lot like Wisteria Wonder. Check out the color match -- not sure I could have gottten any closer if I tried!

Here are a couple other pictures I took when the girls were playing with the play dough yesterday, along with our Stampin' Up! Cookie Press stamps:

I'm quite confident that no play dough was consumed but even if there was a bite or two I am not worried given the ingredient list.

If you'd like to know what NOT to do when playing with homemade play dough, click to see this post from last fall.

One of the recipe links I shared calls for using Jell-o to add scent and color to your play dough. What flavor would you most likely try for play dough?

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Enjoy your day!

Good wishes,

Kerry

Sign-up for the Stampgoodness newsletter!

Get great deals on retired Stampin' Up! products here!

Click here to place your Stampin' Up! order now!