I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that today is the last day to purchase items from the 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog.

We do have some products in there that are already Out of Stock and therefore, no longer available.  But then, we also have numerous products which are still available and may carry over into the next Idea Book & Catalog.

No Longer Available

117236: On Board Heart Book
117161: Sweet Pea Designer Series paper stack
117266: Sweet Pea stitched felt

Still Available After Today

Happy Stamping

Lianne Carper
CS partner and DTM for Brenda Cook
Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

A few days back, I came across a card created by Dawn McVey that utilized similar colors as my card trio here.  It didn’t utilize Stampin’ Up! stamps or colors, so they weren’t exactly the same.  Anyway, I was intrigued by it but didn’t really give it another thought.  Until today when I dozed on the couch.  When I woke up, this color scheme was stuck in my head and the first thing I did was grab my Card Stock Sampler and pull these colors out – Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White and Kraft.  Yes, I dream about card making – don’t you?

I planned the Kraft card first.  But I couldn’t stop there.  By the time I was finished, I had a cute little card trio perfect for Valentine’s Day, love notes to your sweetie or even to let a friend know how much they mean to you.  Because there isn’t a sentiment other than “friend” on the one card, you can use them anytime of the year.

These cards are very simple to make so I’m not going to go into the details.  If you have any questions, just let me know.  I utilized the new I {Heart} Hearts stamp set as well as the two new border punches released in the 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog.  I tell you – if you have this stamp set, you’ll never need another heart stamp!  So many different designs – 10 total!

Hope you like them! 

Happy Stamping

Lianne Carper
CS partner and DTM for Brenda Cook
Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

• Stamps:  I {Heart} Hearts (WM – #117010, CM – #118571)
• Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Whisper White and Kraft card stock
• Ink:  Real Red and Bermuda Bay Classic Inks, VersaMark, Whisper White Craft Ink
• Accessories:  Bermuda Bay Grosgrain Ribbon, Hemp Twine, Pinking Hearts and Scallop Trim Border Punches, Big Shot, Stampin’ Up! Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plates, Sponges, Buttons (from stash)

I have to say that I am truly IN LOVE with the new Vintage Vogue stamp set that came out yesterday in the new 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog.  This is going to be one of those stamp sets that you reach for time and time again.  I made this one for the Adult Birthday Card swap here at CARDScraps.

I CASEd this gorgeous card from Lori Rider.  I stepped this up a little bit from hers although I truly fell in love with the simplicity of her card.   There was no ribbon used, nothing popping up at you other than the brads used in the center of the flowers.  I’m not normally attracted to cards without sticky-up parts – lol – but this one was different.  It was beautiful; the colors, the layout, and of course the stamps. 

Once I got to working on mine, I had to change a few things.  First of all, I made the card base Rich Razzleberry.  Stampin’ Up!’s Whisper White card stock is awesome for stamping – however, I’ve gotten used to the thickness of their standard card stock and I prefer it for my card bases as the Whisper White is just a little bit thinner.  I also added a layer of cutout flowers.  This was mainly because when I stamped my small flowers, the color was too dark and a little too close to the big flower and I wanted a little more contrast.  So for the top layer flower, I stamped off twice before stamping on my Whisper White card stock.  Anyway, my card began to blossom and was no longer as simple as Lori’s – and I don’t mean that in a bad way at all because as I said, it was the simplicity of her card that I fell in love with.  In my case, I made an error and had to find a way to cover it up – hence, more layers!

1. Score a 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ piece of Rich Razzleberry card stock at 4-1/4″ and fold for the card base.
2. Cut a 5-3/8″ x 4-1/8″ piece of Whisper White and lightly sponge the edges with Soft Suede Classic Ink.  Glue to the card base leaving a 1/16″ border all the way around.
3. Cut a piece of Soft Suede card stock to 5-1/4″ x 4″ and stamp the border stamp the from Vintage Vogue stamp set in the center of each of the 4 edges using Soft Suede ink.  Fill in the corners on the long edges by just inking the ends of the stamp.  Sponge the edges using Soft Suede ink and then glue to the card front.
4. Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock to 4-1/8″ x 2-7/8″ for the stamped image.  Sponge the edges using Soft Suede ink.
5. Stamp the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Well Scripted stamp set in the bottom right corner.
6. With Rich Razzleberry ink, stamp the large flower near the top left corner (refer to the images for placement).  Load the small flower stamp with Rich Razzleberry ink but stamp on scrap paper two times and then stamp next to the previously stamped flower.  This technique is called Stamping Off and in this case, I stamped off twice before stamping on my image.  Repeat for the other small flower.
7. Load the leaf stamp with Soft Suede ink.  Randomly stamp leaves around the edges of the flowers.  Stamp them in clusters of two or three leaves before re-inking your stamp.
8. On scrap Whisper White paper, stamp the large flower with Rich Razzleberry and two small flowers with Rich Razzleberry that you’ve stamped off twice as in step 5.  Cut each of the flowers out.
9. Lay the cutout flowers on the main flower image and use a paper piercer to punch through both layers.  Insert brads to secure.  Curl the flower petals around the barrel of your paper piercer to get them some lift and dimension.
10. Glue to a 4-1/4″ x 3″ piece of Rich Razzleberry card stock and glue to the card front.
11. For the inside of the card, cut a 5-3/8″ x 1-1/2″ strip of Whisper White card stock and sponge around the edges with Soft Suede ink.  Load the small flower stamp with Rich Razzleberry ink and stamp off twice before stamping on the left side of your paper strip.  Add a couple of leaves using Soft Suede ink.  Glue to the inside of the card approximately 5/8″ from the bottom of the card.
12. Cut a 5-3/8″ x 1/2″ strip of Soft Suede and stamp the border stamp along one edge.  Sponge the edges and glue below the Whisper White strip as shown.  Cut another strip of Soft Suede to 5-3/8″ x 1/8″ and sponge.  Glue to the top of the Whisper White strip – I find it’s easier to glue these small strips using a 2-way Glue Pen.

I hope you enjoyed today’s card and tutorial.  If you have any questions, just let me know!

Happy Stamping

Lianne Carper
CS partner and DTM for Brenda Cook
Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

Stamps:  Vintage Vogue (WM#117690 – CM#118598), Well Scripted (WM#117072 – CM#118601)
Paper:  Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White card stock
Ink:  Soft Suede and Rich Razzleberry
Accessories:  sponges, 2-Way Glue Pen, Glue Stick, Hodgepodge Hardware Set Brads

 
This is cutie a for sure! Make sure that you have the Sending Love designer paper in your January Stampin’ Up! order – you will be disappointed if you don’t. Remember also that for every $50 of Stampin’ Up! product that you order through March 31 will entitle you to Sale-A-Bration freebies. And, who doesn’t like free stamping goodies!

I created this card for an upcoming card swap here at CARDScraps, but I wanted to share the preps with you. Here is how I did it.

Make a Very Vanilla card base and layer the background designer paper on top. Then I took another one of the Sending Love designer papers and cut out 4 hearts with the heart punch. I sponged the edges of each petal (heart) with Regal Rose Classic Ink.

I used the Big Shot and the Sizzix Little Leaves die and cut the Old Olive stems/leaves.

I used dimensionals on the back of each petal (heart) and placed them on the front of the card. I took the stems/leaves and placed them behind the popped-up petals (hearts). Then I trimmed them down, as needed, and used the glue stick on the back of each leaf/stem and stuck them under the petals (hearts). I attached the button with a glue dot and took the Signo Gel Pen and imitated thread and then applied Crystal Effects – faux stitching – my type of stitching! LOL

Lastly, I stamped the sentiment on Very Vanilla and punched it out with the Large Oval Punch and adhered it to a Chocolate Chip scalloped oval and placed this grouping on the card front. You could easily change the sentiment and have a birthday, friend, thank you or whatever type of sentiment that you need.

Brenda Cook
Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator
Tarboro, NC

Supply List – all supplies are by Stampin’ Up!

Stamp:  Short & Sweet
Paper: Sending Love DSP, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla CS
Ink: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip
Other: Big Shot, Sizzix Little Leaves Die, Heart, Large Oval, Scalloped Oval Punches, Button, Sponge, Snail, Glue Stick, Dimensionals, Glue Dot, Crystal Effects, Signo Gel Pen

The offer is simple–any customer who spends $40 on Occasions mini catalog products can order any 1 (one) "Under $10" product (see page 208 in the Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog absolutely free. (Note: Customers may choose a free "Under $10" product for every $40 from the Occasions mini catalog they order. For example, if a customer orders $80 in product from the Occasions mini catalog, they can select two "Under $10" items for free.)

Hostesses are also rewarded during this promotion. Any hostess who holds a qualifying workshop ($150) can also select one free "Under $10" item.

Click here to view the Get Connected flyer.

Brenda Cook

Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

Tarboro, NC

Are you ready for the new Occasions catalog available tomorrow?  My stamp sets came in the mail yesterday and you just don’t know how excited I am to be playing with these.  So, over the next few days, I’m going to be playing.a LOT!

Although when I sat down to start creating, I had intended on using another stamp set, when I saw the butterfly in the new Great Friend stamp set (Item #113792), I was inspired and just started grabbing materials to work with.  I must have still had Carla’s March Sketch Challenge in my mind because it fits perfectly with her sketch even though it wasn’t intentional (love the sketch Carla).

This one is one that has to be hand delivered as I don’t think it would go through the mail without some serious protection or getting mashed.  I made the butterflies a little too dimensional but I LOVE the way they turned out.  I actually glued the center of their bodies to the card and then put half of a Stampin’ Dimensional under each wing near the center to hold each wing up.  For the butterfly bodies, I just tied some Silver Elastic Cording (retired SU!) around the center and let the ends be the antennae.

Here’s a close-up of the other side of the card.  I have a little tip for you here.  One of my pet peeves is having the backside of brads show on the inside of the card.  This means that my cards normally have multiple layers just so I can add the brads and then glue the layers to the card front.hence, no metal will be showing on the inside of the card.  However, on this card, I really wanted silver brads around the sentiment to tie in with the silver elastic cord bodies but there was only a single layer of cardstock there.  Meaning that unless I came up with something creative, I was going to have metal brad clips showing on the inside of my card.  So, I grabbed by flush cutters (jewelry term for small wire cutters) and cut the brad clips off the backside of the brad.  Then I used Crystal Effects glue to adhere them to the card.  It worked like a charm and now my flush cutters have been added to my growing toolbox of stamping tools.

Another thing that I’ve started doing is decorating the inside of my cards as well.  I think they have a much better presentation and as we all know, it’s sometimes a challenge to write on the inside card stock.especially if it’s a darker color.  So, here’s the inside of my card.  I added a butterfly here as well although this one simply has 1 wing glued down and the other will lay flat when the card is closed.  I made sure I left plenty of room to write a personal message on the inside as well and now that it’s white on the inside, I’ll have no problem either stamping or writing my message.

Anyway, I can see the that this stamp set is going to become a favorite of mine and you’ll probably see several more projects made with it in the future.  If you love it as much as I do, you can order it starting tomorrow – April 1st from the new Occasions Mini Catalog for only $17.95.  Plus, there are some awesome Rub-ons that go with it which are perfect for springtime.

PLUS!!!! From April 1-30, when you purchase $40 in products from the new Occasions Mini Catalog log between April 1-30, or host a workshop totaling $150 or more, you’ll get one item from the “Under $10″ page (p. 208) in the Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog – FREE!

Thanks for looking!

Lianne Carper
CS partner and DTM for Brenda Cook
Independent Stampin’ Up! demonstrator
Tarboro, NC

Supplies: (All Stampin’ Up!)

Stamps: Great Friend; Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White and Cameo Coral card stock; Holiday Happenings Designer Series Paper (Retired); Other: Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, and Certainly Celery Classic Ink, VersaMark Ink, Silver Elastic Cord (retired), Crystal Effects, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sponges, Glue Stick, Scallop Edge Punch, Silver Brads, Crop-a-Dile.