We all love beautiful Designer Series Paper, and in June, you can enjoy a 15% discount on select Designer Series Papers from the new 2023–2024 Annual Catalog and Online Exclusives. Whether you’re a scrapbooker, a card maker, or simply a paper lover, this is a great time to stock up and save on gorgeous paper so you have artistic and versatile paper designs on hand for your next projects! Click the graphic below to see the two-page pdf file with the specifics of this one-month promotion that begins tomorrow! (I’d love your order at my online storefront!)
It’s a fact: I send most of the birthday cards I make to women. And yet, there are guys I know who deserve a birthday card, too! (I’m on the verge of needing a whole slew of them.) It’s just sometimes a challenge to make a guy card that will do. I always run it by my guy to make sure he would sign it. This one passed.
Circle Sayings is a stamp set loaded with possibilities. It is part of a bundle — one of a few bundles that has as its “other half” a punch, instead of a set of dies. The 2⅜” Circle Punch is certainly useful, but I have to tell you that if you have the now-retired Layering Circles dies, there is one in that set the same size as this punch.
I must point out that the cupcake was fussy cut only because it was much easier to get it straight and centered, I think. We stamped the Celebrate circle and punched it out, then colored and flat adhered the cupcake to the circle.
For this May camp card, I chose two colors that are new in the Stampin’ Up! 2023-2024 Annual Catalog. Or, more correctly, are new again. You know, returning from a period of time in the Retired Zone. I don’t remember loving Lost Lagoon when it was an In Color several years ago, but this time I can barely put it away. Stampers, you’ll see it again at camp this month!
In addition to Lost Lagoon’s best friend, Pretty Peacock, the other non-neutral color here is Pumpkin Pie. The complementary color of blue is orange, so this is an easy color combo to use.
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Last week I shared how immediately smitten I was with the “hobnail-glass dots” folder from the Basics 3D Embossing Folders Set (available in the Online Exclusives area of my Stampin’ Up! online storefront). I knew I had to create a card with an embossed white panel, so I made a bunch of note cards that got sent (along with a gift) to stampers who earned Stampin’ Rewards — what we used to call “host benefits” — during the last catalog year. Not a single one of them had a home party; they either held a “book party” (wherein other stampers placed their orders using the workshop’s Host Code) or earned Stampin’ Rewards as a result of their own qualifying order (a minimum of $150 in product, before S/H and tax).
This note card was an opportunity to use new products from the 2023-2024 Annual Catalog. I had a fun time inking up Darling Details; both the flower outline and “filler” are in Berry Burst ink, but the filler was stamped off first. These photopolymer stamps benefit from a foam pad under your work; make sure when you stamp off the foam pad is also under the Grid Paper or scratch paper so the ink is evenly removed from the stamp.
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When there is a new bundle that offers elements spanning the seasons, I’m usually all in! Seasonal Branches has not disappointed me, although I did have to adjust my design for this May camp card because my first attempt was way too fussy.
This is fussy enough, considering there are two die-cut branches (using an adhesive sheet is essential) and all those flowers! I did the stamping and die cutting of dozens and dozens of flowers — or, rather, I die cut first and then stamped, using a Stamparatus technique I call “stamping in the hole.” It’s easier to watch my video than to write out the steps, so here you go:
Of course, these little flowers are not two-step images, but you get the idea. One thing I failed to point out in the video is that you are not securing the die-cut piece on the Stamparatus with magnets or any other way. Instead, the negative cardstock piece (the result of die-cutting one flower) acts as a frame for the flower, keeping it in place.
Did you notice the background panel? This was the first time I used one of the Foursquare Decorative Masks — so useful and fun!
Wondering about the phrase on the front of this card? Inside it says, “Happy Birthday Wishes”!
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If you’ve stamped with me or watched this space, you have seen how I love to create my own backgrounds. Not that I never have bought any Designer Series Paper (ha!), but I’m really a stamper, so I enjoy the challenge of creating my own design in my choice of inks.
I have done lots of random, all-over stamping for backgrounds, but I love a good background stamp. So when I spied Berry Harvest in the Stampin’ Up! 2023-2024 Annual Catalog, I knew it needed to live here. Bonus: priced at $20.00, this stamp will provide me with lots of backgrounds! I feel the same way about the value of embossing folders, and if I can combine a folder with a background stamp, even better!
This variation on “black and white plus a pop of color” uses Pebbled Path as its main neutral. I wondered if this May camp card would be too “moody,” but I love this contrast.
Although I took the “Pebbled Path not taken,” the traditional colors of berries and leaves appear attached to the sentiment circle. We stamped the background once on Pebbled Path, then again on white, using the retired Stamparatus to ensure coverage on both pieces was perfect. Select berries and leaves were colored, then fussy cut.
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Before I submitted my last Stampin’ Up! order, I decided to check the Online Exclusives group of products to see if the Basics 3D Embossing Folders Set was available again. My timing was perfect! There are three folders in the set; here I used the one called “hobnail-glass dots.”
I’ve owned several embossing folders with dots, but I’ve never had one so distinctive! I’m going to try it using Basic White cardstock to truly emulate hobnail glass. If you’re not convinced of the value of our 3D folders, just look at this one!
On this Stamp Review Crew hop card, I experimented with a type of floral silhouette using our White Craft ink pad. This product comes as an uninked pad with ink refill — I suppose so the pad doesn’t dry out. I have several pads that have been inked for … years, and I was surprised to find them still usable and not a bit dry! Still, you want this pad to be juicy so you get the image as white as possible. (I also use the Heat Tool to dry the images and brighten the white.)
But the re-inking filled me with a bit of dread: I’ve always wondered if this ink is a kind of paint, it’s so thick. The arthritis in my thumbs makes it difficult to squeeze this refill bottle (also the VersaMark refill). Surprisingly, although I thought I might have to use pliers to do the squeezing, the process went well. Perhaps because the refill had never been opened?
Note the small flowers stamped in Lost Lagoon ink inside the card; although you can’t see them, some are second-generation (“stamped off”) images.
This was my first attempt and I am pretty pleased — I hope the recipient is, too!
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My first card from this week’s Stamp Review Crew blog hop is my salute to spring, even though the colors look a bit autumnal IRL. I used the Cane Weave background to give the feel of a garden trellis.
As I mentioned in my hop post, the technique to get the multi-colored petals is an old one — worth revisiting! You’ll need a fairly solid image for this, then lightly load a Sponge Dauber with ink (I started with Crushed Curry) and dab it directly on the stamp. Repeat with the darker color (Sweet Sorbet). Breathe on the stamp to moisten the ink (as if you’re cleaning your glasses), then stamp it on the cardstock. So, the coloring occurs before stamping. The result is unpredictable but worth trying!
The centers of these daisies are separate stamps. I love Pecan Pie and am finally able to release my grip on all my Soft Suede items!
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Hello! Welcome to the first Stamp Review Crew blog hop of the new catalog year! You can expect a hop from SRC on the first and third Monday of each month, featuring a brand-new stamp set or a returning favorite. Did you miss a blog hop? Go to the Stamp Review Crew site and you will see them all (and search for specific stamp sets); barring technical difficulties, you can access the posts long after the hop went live.
Today we’re featuring Cheerful Daisies and coordinating Cheerful Daisies dies, part of the Cheerful Daisies bundle (available at the bundled savings of 10% off). Did you notice how Stampin’ Up! has changed the naming conventions for bundled stamps and dies? So much easier to remember!
For this hop, I am delighted to follow Kim Fee of Simplyfairies Papercrafts; Kim is new to the Stamp Review Crew, but not to stamping, as you can tell from her work! Don’t forget to click the banner above to view all the participants of this hop.
Note that I will be posting each of these Cheerful Daisies cards individually this week so I can give you some additional information and share the product lists.
My first card was inspired by the Cheerful Daisies sample on page 156 in the new Annual Catalog (US). It pays to check out the samples on the accessories pages! I was intrigued by the coloring of the flowers, so I looked up this page in the 2023-2024 Annual Catalog Sample Recipes(you can find this pdf file on my Resources page). It’s a simple technique, loading a Sponge Dauber with ink and tapping it directly on the stamp before stamping.
I love the Inked Botanicals 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper that coordinates with Inked & Tiles, so I tried my hand at interpreting it using Cheerful Daisies. I can’t remember the last time I used my White Craft Stampin’ Ink! This card turned out pretty much as I wanted it to, and I have plans for more stamping in this style in the future.
Thank you for spending time with Heartfelt Inkspiration today! Don’t forget to check back for details on each of these cards later this week. But now, you are on to see what Jay has created at his blog, Mitosu Crafts. Enjoy your time there!
I’ve told stampers at camp this week that the Cheerful Daisies bundle was not on my first (or even second) wish list for the 2023-2024 Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. I’ll admit I’ve gotten more cautious about those go-ahead-just-add-it-it’s-only-money impulse buys. But I realized I don’t have daisies anymore on my shelf — or really any floral sets that provide opportunities to use different techniques — so I added the bundle.
I’m not ashamed to admit I love stamping with flowers, and I have another new set on my list for next month’s camps. Can you guess which one?
I’ll be part of the Stamp Review Crew blog hop next Monday, May 15, featuring the Cheerful Daisies set. Till then, enjoy this Stampin’ Up! corporate video that shows off the Fresh as a Daisy Suite; you can see it in the catalog on pages 110-111.
This is the last card from April’s All-Occasions Stamp-a-Stack. This set wasn’t originally on my January-April 2023 Mini Catalog wish list, but when I saw it would be in the new annual catalog, I put it on an order.
Am I the only one who loves Ruby Red grapefruit from Texas? It is a bit of sunshine in a cold and gloomy winter. Ponder which of these is the stranger habit: one of us uses sweetener on a grapefruit half in the morning and the other uses salt.
This is a card that is not really “simple stamping,” but it’s worth the effort! These are photopolymer stamps, which makes the two-step stamping easy, but if you have a Stamparatus, the stamping is very easy!
Although this hybrid embossing folder allows you to cut and emboss at the same time, I think the embossed panel itself is really stunning.
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