Category Archives: Uncategorized

How to Make Multiple Cards Efficiently

It’s time to get started on making your Christmas cards and you have at least 50 you want to send to family and friends. How can you get them created as quickly as possible. I have a few hints for you.

  • Choose a fairly easy design, especially a clean and simple one with a lot of space that has nothing in it except for maybe some dry embossing or designer series paper for the background and a fairly simple focal point.
  • Cut all your card bases at one time.
  • Stamp all your images at one time and then color them and cut them out at one time.
  • Do all the scoring you need at one time.
  • Cut out any die-cuts at one time.
  • Gather any embellishments and have them on hand.
  • Tie all the bows you will need at one time.
  • Then proceed to assemble the cards doing the same step on all the cards and then do the next step on all the cards.

The photo above shows these steps except that this particular card is not a Clean and Simple card. But the steps taken are the same. On the left are the card bases cut and scored. In the middle are all the images stamped and ready to be colored and fussy cut. The greeting has been stamped and will be diecut. As you can see, I have already die-cut two sets of dragonflies. When the pieces are all put together, I will have 15 of this beautiful wiper card created for a swap. I hope this helps you take some of the stress out of making multiple copies of a card.

Wiper card created with Detailed Dragonfly thinlits and Swan Lake stamp set

Order Stampin’ Blends Beginning Nov 1!

banner for Stampin' Blends with start date

Whoohoo! Stampin’ Up! just announced that customers can begin ordering the Stampin’ Blends November 1st. These are alcohol markers in Stampin’ Up! exclusive colors. Unlike Copic markers, you don’t have to be a color scientist to create beautiful works of art with the Stampin’ Blends. You already are familiar with the colors and know what colors go well together. To simplify things, the Blends come in a light and dark version of each color offered. They are similar to the Stampin’ Blendabilities which were pulled from the market due to manufacturing design issues but these Blends have been tested more thoroughly and the design of the pens revamped to correct the pitfalls of the Blendabilities. Another benefit of these Blends is that the price of each color has been reduced from the price the Blendabilities were. Check out the video below.

The colors being offered at this time are

  • Night of Navy
  • Bermuda Bay
  • Pool Party
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Calypso Coral
  • Daffodil Delight
  • Cherry Cobbler
  • Pink Pirouette
  • Rich Razzleberry
  • Old Olive
  • Smoky Slate
  • Crumb Cake
  • Bronze
  • Ivory
  • Color Lifter

Check out these October Specials!

World Card-making Day header

Oh my goodness! There are three Stampin’ Up! specials for you in October! The first one is this World Card Making Day special. World Card Making Day is being observed October 7th. I am not planning an event on Oct. 7th but you can take advantage of the discount on these select stamp sets. They are listed below and their coordinating designer series papers.

list of stamp sets on sale

While the coordinating designer series papers are not on sale, they are part of this Designer Series Paper Sale.

Header for Buy 3 get 1 free

These are the papers included in this sale:

list of dsp on sale

And if that is not enough happening in October, check out this Merry Patterns host special!

Merry Patterns Host Special

For more details on these October Specials visit my online store or contact me. Stock up on Fast Fuse and your favorite designer series papers (you can buy multiple quantities of each design) and earn an exclusive host stamp set Merry Patterns while stocking up! October is definitely a winning month!

The 2017 Holiday Catalog Is Live!

photo of front of 2017 Holiday catalog

September 1st was the beginning of the 2017 Holiday Catalog sales period and I am so excited to share with you some of the many very cool stamps, papers, and accessories to be found between the covers of this catalog. You can download it here or better yet contact me so I can send you a free catalog for you to hold in your hands and pour over until it gets dog-eared. This video by Stampin’ Up! will give you a peek at some of the products. Check it out!

Getting Ready!

Sue holding the holiday catalog

Yep, I have a copy of the upcoming 2017 Holiday catalog. Actually I have lots of copies of it and am ready to give them away. How else would you know about all the exciting new stamps,thinlits, designer series papers, and embellishments Stampin’ Up! has selected for us to enhance our fall and winter creativity. You know you need your own copy to pour over, mark-up, and purchase from! So if you don’t already have a demonstrator that feeds your rubber addiction, email me your address and phone number and I’ll get one into the mail for you. I’d love to be your source of your stamping supplies and inspiration.

But hurry, you will be able to order from the catalog September 1st and Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are coming faster than we think. It’s time to get stamping for those holidays!

Grandson’s Graduation Card

Graduation card for grandson using Large Letters Framelits

What to do for a graduation card for an eighth-grader? You make a quick card using the Large Letters Framelits, retired Pumpkin Pie Glimmer Paper, and Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper...easy, peasy and so quick! The letters take center front and I’m really happy the framelit set includes punctuation.

Inside of grandson's graduation card

Now this particular boy did not like middle-school and was not very excited about going to graduation. So I computer-generated the sentiment on the inside. I printed it out and used the Stitched Shapes Frameiits to cut it out. The white label on a white background would not have been very impressive so I backed it with an oval of the same pattern as on the front of the card. I really love this Naturally Eclectic designer series paper. Check out all the wonderful designs in it and place your order for it by clicking on the image below. Thanks for stopping by to visit today. I invite you to grab a cup of coffee and take some time to browse through my blog. Leave me a comment so I know you have been here.

Beautiful You Grad Card

Graduation card created with Beautiful You and Sunshine Sayings stamp setsDoesn’t this woman from the Beautiful You stamp set (wood-143004, clear-143637) exude happiness and joy? I thought it would be a perfect image to use on this graduation card for our granddaughter who graduated from high school yesterday. Almost all the product used in this card is new to the 2017-2018 Annual Catalog. The background is one of the patterns in the Naturally Eclectic Designer Series Paper. I stamped the woman with Basic Grey ink onto Whisper White cardstock; colored her with Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral (for her skin) and Daffodil Delight watercolor pencils; then fussy cut her out.  The sentiment came from the Sunshine Sayings stamp set. I have fallen in love with the 1/4″ Ombre Ribbon in Island Indigo and am going to order both the Calypso Coral and Lemon Lime Twist colors on my next order.

Thanks for stopping by to visit today. If you need to order any of the supplies I used for this card, just click on the images below to find them in my online store.

Detailed Dragonfly Birthday Card

Birthday card created with Detailed Dragonfly Thinlit Dies and Watercolor Wash stamp set

Just look at those beautiful dragonflies cut with the Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies from Sweet Sugarplum Glimmer paper! Yes, you read that right…Sweet Sugarplum Glimmer paper. A pack of glimmer paper which includes 4 sheets each of Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay, and Mint Macaron glimmer paper is one of the three new FREE Sale-A-Bration products you can choose from when you spend $50 in Stampin’ Up! products during January, February, and March.

Now on to the card. I resisted getting the very popular Dragon Fly Dreams bundle for a while because I already have all the butterfly dies Stampin’ Up! offers and really didn’t need to also have a set of dragonflies as well. Yeah…right! I especially love this particular die with the dragonflies flying up and it is this die that finally hooked me into getting the bundle.

I envisioned the dragonflies coming up out of grass with flowers in the background so I brought out my Watercolor Wash background stamp and used Pear Pizazz, Sweet Sugarplum, and Pool Party markers on it. Then I spritzed it with water and stamped onto watercolor paper. The sentiment is from the Special Reason stamp set. Click on the images below to go to their place in my online store to order any of the supplies you need to CASE this card.

Window Box Thinlits Again

Handmade Thinking of You card created with a Window Box Thinlit die

This die from the Window Box Thinlits Dies is so beautiful! A card on page 43 of the Occasions catalog looked to me like it was stenciled on the front. So I CASEd it but actually did use a die-cut piece as a stencil to create the image on my card. Since this particular die only cuts out the pieces and not the surrounding area, there is plenty of negative space to keep the sponging isolated just on the pattern. I sponged Wild Wasabi, Peekaboo Peach, and Melon Mambo inks on the design. The greeting from the corresponding Window Shopping stamp set is stamped on Whisper White cardstock with Melon Mambo ink and cut out with one of the Stitched Shapes Framelits. I backed it with a scalloped Layering Ovals die-cut from Melon Mambo cardstock and embellished it with rows of little pearls. Visit these two blog posts here and here to see a couple of other cards I have created using the Window Box Thinlits.

Remember that during Sale-A-Bration  you can choose a free item from the Sale-A-Bration brochure for each $50 in product you purchase. Click on the images below to be taken to their location in my online store.

Year-End Closeout Sale Begins!

Stampin' Up! Closeout Sale image

It is that time of year when stores hold close-out sales. Stampin’ Up! has started their sale today. Some items are up to 60% off. Other items like the bundles in the Holiday catalog are on close-out but not discounted because even if they are carried over, they won’t be part of a bundle. Still other items are going to be discontinued but are not marked down. In any case, you must check out the Year-End Closeout Sale! Just click on the image to go to the sale aisle in my online store.

Bashful Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanksgiving card created with Paisley Framelits Dies

I love a challenge and challenged myself to use the Paisley Framelits dies to make seasonal cards. I used Pumpkin Pie, Tip Top Taupe, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze and Very Vanilla cardstock in this card.

I love the new Stitched Shapes Framelits you can now purchase. No…there are no rectangle shapes. I used a square one. My first cut had the framelit hanging over the edge of the cardstock so that just the top was cut. Then I positioned the resulting label inside the framelit near the bottom of the framelit with the excess cardstock hanging out of the framelit.

Photo showing position of Stitched Shape Square Framelit

photo of step two in posigioning Square Stitched Shapes Framelit

First cut                                                                                                       Second cut

The products I used for this card are listed below. Click on them to find them in my online store. This makes for easy peasy shopping. 🙂

You have just one week to take advantage of the 25% off of selected stamp sets that coordinate nicely with these Stitched Shape Framelits. Check them out here!

Online Extravaganza Banner

Before you leave, would you do two things? Leave a comment below so I know you have visited and check out the wonderful and exciting Online Extravaganza going on this weekend. Just click on the image above.

Online Extravaganza Starts Today!

 

Online Extravaganza BannerBlack Friday starts early with Online Extravaganza happening November 21-28! Who could resist savings up to 40% and 24-hour sales with new products on the first and last day of this event? With the holiday season in full swing everyone could use a little help checking a few things off their gift list. And you don’t even have to leave the house! Check out the full details on the products being discounted during Online Extravaganza and don’t miss out on these great deals.

Time Is Running Out to Subscribe

Banner for 12 Weeks of Christmas campaign

Time is running out to subscribe to my mailing list. In just four hours, the first email will be going out to my subscribers with the first of my 12 Weeks of Christmas tutorial for a darling Christmas card. This countdown is my gift to my Soggy Stamper Newsletter subscribers. Over the next 12 weeks I will be sending a weekly email with an exclusive tutorial for a Christmas card, gift, or tag/bag/wrap for you to make. This gift is just for my subscribers so sign up now. Don’t miss a single tutorial! Fill out the form on the right.

See you on the list!

12 Weeks of Christmas Begins Tomorrow!

Banner for 12 Weeks of Christmas campaign

I am excited to bring you my 12 Weeks of Christmas Craft Countdown! Beginning tomorrow I will send you an email with a tutorial for an exclusive Christmas card, gift, or wrap for you to create. The first five weeks will be cards, then three weeks of Christmas gifts to make, and finally three weeks of tags, bags, or wraps. These emails are my gift to my mailing list subscribers. The thing is that you have to be a subscriber to receive these emails. Subscribing is easy. Just fill out the form on the right.

See you on the list!

The New 2016-2017 Annual Catalog Goes Live Soon

Front cover of 2016-2017 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog

This exciting and lovely 2016-2017 Annual Catalog goes live next Wednesday. You will be able to download it online through my online store beginning June 1st but you really need to hold it in your hands, pour over the wonderful artwork and samples, and take it to bed with you for bedtime reading.

I am ready to mail one to you for free but I need your contact information, your address and phone number so I can check with you to see if you receive the catalog. Email me, text me, or give me a call so I can get your personal copy in the mail to you right away! I’m looking forward to hearing from you!