Monthly Archives: February 2012

Happy Leap Day Birthday!

Every Leap Year it's an amazing thing to know of people who were born on February 29 and therefore only have a Leap Birthday every four years! I saw a lady on TV who said she was 11 years old, when on any other day she would be 44! So for those people with a birthday on Leap Day, February 29, this birthday cake is for you!

I started with one of those little LED candles, that just has a switch on the bottom to turn on the candle. I got the idea to make a tiered cake by using one of my many empty containers that once held Stampin' Up! brads or buttons or whatever little accessories.

You can cover these with paper and then decorate to the hilt with punched paper flowers and leaves and lots of BLING! Our Stampin' Up! Jewels make it so much fun to add Basic Pearls #119247 and Basic Rhinestones #119246!

To complete the look, place the papercrafted birthday cake on the new Stampin' Up! Paper Doily, cut with the Paper Doily Sizzlits Die.

Even if this isn't your Leap Birthday, it IS your Leap Day, an extra day in the year, so enjoy yourself and do something fun…..like I just did making this cute cake!

New My Digital Studio Downloads!

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Great new My Digital Studio downloads just released today! Click on the images above to see them better….on your computer you can even zoom in a little. Read the description of the contents in the price list below the images on your computer to see exactly what is included with each download.

I love the "You're My Type" stamp set so it will be fun to have in My Digital Studio as well….not to mention the beautiful Mixed Bunch Kit, which includes not only the stamps (brushes) but designer paper, a punch, AND an 8"x8" scrapbook page! Just go to this page in my Online Store!

And lucky for you…..you can try My Digital Studio Express FREE for 30 days! Click HERE to shop for My Digital Studio Express! You can purchase extra downloads you would like as you go along!

Let me know if you have any questions about My Digital Studio!

Sale-a-Bration Everyday Enchantment Celebrate Card

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Are you looking for some beautiful designer series paper for your projects? A lot of us think the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper in the Sale-a-Bration brochure is some of the prettiest paper Stampin' Up! has ever carried. Here is a small piece on this card I had for a project at my stamp camp yesterday. Along with the greeting from Perfectly Penned, it makes a great all-occasion card.

And how cute and easy is the little stamped butterfly?! Just stamp the flower from Mixed Bunch and cut out two petals on opposite sides. I also have a Poppy Parade card stock butterfly right underneath, not quite visible in this photo. Just add a brad in the center, or a row of pearls or rhinestones would do as well. The other colors of card stock you see are Pool Party, Soft Suede, and Very Vanilla.

If you are in the Houston area and would like to stamp with us, please email me at Karen@Karenstamps.com or sign up for my Mailing List in the upper left corner of my blog and get notifications of when we are having a stamp camp!

Want to Get My Next Stamping Newsletter?

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Don't miss my March "Stamping With Karen" newsletter coming out soon! It will be filled with stamping news, projects and tips! To sign up for my mailing list, just find my Mailing List Sign up Box in the upper left of my blog. Whether you want to learn new things about stamping and papercrafting or just enjoy seeing new ideas, you'll want to be a part of this! It's all fun and it's all doable!

Stampin’ Up! Build-A-Bear Cards at Leadership

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Let's not forget about the fun Build-A-Bear products Stampin' Up! offers! My kids aren't little any more, although when the Build-A-Bear store opened in Houston at the Galleria they were just young enough I guess that we were able to experience the Build-A-Bear fun with each of them making a bear.

At Stampin' Up! Leadership last month there was a nice display of Build-A-Bears in various costumes on cards….really great creativity! I'm sure you will enjoy seeing these photos!

Check out the great Build-A-Bear Workshop Suite of products in my Stampin' Up! Online Store HERE. I know you can have lots of fun with Build-A-Bear, whether you have little children or not!

Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper for Scrapbook Pages

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As I was playing with the Attic Boutique Side Notes and pulled out the Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper, this page on the right with the old-fashioned fountain pens really struck me. I know my mother used to write with pens like that. Actually, when I was in school, 5th grade second semester was when we were allowed to write in ink….and it was with a fountain pen like one of these….well, not quite as fancy!

Since I am such a fan of handwriting (I used to love to watch my mother write….she had such perfect handwriting….so did my 3rd grade teacher!) I thought wouldn't this page be perfect to dig out some of my mother's and maybe grandmothers' old letters and put some samples of their handwriting on this paper as a scrapbook page. It can be paired with another sheet in the Attic Boutique collection as I have shown here for a two-page layout.

A lot of the Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper is already "scrapbook layout-ready"……it's already so beautifully designed, all you have to do is add your photos or memorabilia and journaling.

I think a person's handwriting (good or bad) is so important and just brings the person to life when you see it. That's why I advocate having at least some handwritten journaling or samples on your scrapbook pages rather than strictly computer-generated journaling.

If you want to order products from this Attic Boutique Product Suite in the Occasions Mini Catalog, just go to my Online Store or email me at Karen@Karenstamps.com. Remember, with a $50 order you earn a free Sale-a-Bration product!

Stampin’ Up! Attic Boutique Side Notes Birthday Card

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You may have missed the Stampin' Up! Attic Boutique Side Notes #125413 in the Occasions Mini Catalog on page 24. It is a collection of die cut tags and accents that you can use any number of ways….on cards, scrapbook pages, gifts! I hadn't played with mine yet but here they are all spread out on the table. Next I got out my Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper #125407 and came up with this birthday card:

You can see that I stamped the birthday greeting on the Attic Boutique Side Note die cut with my stamp set Sincere Salutations and added a few little pearls. Very easy, and with the Stampin' Up! coordinating products it turns out beautiful every time!

To order any Stampin' Up! products, please visit my Online Store HERE.

Stampin’ Up! Hispanic Opportunity Call

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Stampin' Up! has a growing Hispanic market. Here are couple of cards on display at Stampin' Up! Leadership using stamps from the Hispanic catalog Celebrando Creatividad.

If you would be interested in being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in the Hispanic market and would like more information, please join the Opportunity call every Wednesday. Here is the information:

The calls are held every Wednesday in both English and Spanish:

11:00 AM (MT) for English
4:00 PM (MT) for Spanish

To participate, simply call 877-787-7226 (toll free) at the appropriate time.

Someone from the Home Office will speak about Stampin' Up!, the products, and the opportunity to be a demonstrator. There will be a question & answer session and a special incentive.

There is no obligation so even if you are just a little bit interested, take advantage of this call to get more information and see what you think!

Call today!!!

A Mardi Gras Scrapbook Page

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Today is Mardi Gras…. French for “Fat Tuesday”, which refers to the last night for eating rich foods before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is really a period of time, varying between cities, for festivities. We usually think of Mardi Gras in New Orleans but it is celebrated in many other places. Galveston, TX has Mardi Gras festivities, parties, and parades, and they celebrated the past two weeks.

Beads are a big part of Mardi Gras….everyone wants beads, the fancier the better! Usually they are thrown during the parade into the crowd but you’ll find them at parties and lots of places. King cakes are popular decorated cakes with a tiny plastic baby baked inside. Usually the person who gets the piece with the baby has a special privilege or obligation….like maybe they have to bring a king cake into the office the next day! The grocery stores are full of king cakes right now.

So if you were lucky enough to celebrate Mardi Gras, perhaps you would like to scrap your photos! There is no faster way than to use My Digital Studio from Stampin’ Up! To make the page pictured above, I just started with a template, changed the color of the background paper and the punches along the side, added a photo box, added the crown “stamps” (known as brushes) and added a little text.

Stampin’ Up! is offering a free 30-day trial of My Digital Studio Express! This is the perfect opportunity to try your hand at digital papercrafting….and it’s not just scrapbooking!

Go ahead…..take the 30-day free trial and see what digital papercrafting is all about! You just download it in minutes and you are ready to use it!

John Glenn: An American Space Hero

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Fifty years ago today John Glenn orbited the earth and became the first American to do so. He was a member of the first group of astronauts, “Mercury Seven”. John Glenn was selected for this group in part for being known as one of the best test pilots in the country. After three years of training, on February 20, 1962 John Glenn climbed into his Mercury capsule Friendship 7, named after the group of seven astronauts, and orbited the earth three times in four hours and 56 minutes reaching speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour. At the end of his successful mission, he splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Space exploration back then was an amazing thing and not something taken for granted. Everyone knew the names of those first astronauts. I probably even watched the launch on a big black and white TV at school. I’ve grown up with the space program and have always been fascinated with it. My mother would always say she felt bad for Alan Shepard, who was the first American to go up in space but did not orbit the earth, so it was John Glenn who got more of the glory. So many inventions and things we use and take for granted in our lives came from these space missions.

Here is a newsreel video of the event. The sinister music is a bit alarming but it is amazing to watch this old video! Enjoy!

Funny Valentine Cards for Wushu Fans

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If you are looking for a funny valentine card for the wushu fan in your life, here are some my son made for his friends in the Texas Wushu Club! Apparently I am not the only card-maker in the family!

Steven explained the funny meaning behind each of these but of course I don't remember. Obviously there is some wushu humor involved here and inside jokes! He just made them on his computer and printed on photo paper. One of the girls who was here showed me some he gave her and they were very cute! So there is art and creativity in wushu martial arts besides the physical effort!

A Mixed Bunch Card

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We received this Mixed Bunch stamp set free at the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference. I admit I wasn't crazy about it in the Occasions Mini Catalog, but as soon as we did some Make & Takes with it and saw other samples on display I loved it!

Steven is home this weekend with several friends to participate in a wushu competition today and Carolina thought she'd like to try some stamping. After all she was staying in my craft room, which can be a scary proposition with all that is in there! So we sat down at the kitchen table and made this card so she could try out some stamps and ink and add some embellishments with the seam binding, a punched out flower with the Blossom Punch #125603 and even a little rhinestone! We had a great time!

And then so she could try out a little bit of coloring, we stamped with Easy Events and just made a little 3×3 card…and had to add a little Dazzling Diamonds!

It's so much fun to stamp with someone else….especially someone new who enjoys it!

Use Stampin’ Up! Fabric in Many Ways!

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Here are a few more examples of how to use your Stampin' Up! fabric! These photos were taken at the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference where we saw samples of so many creative ideas!

Decorate your pillows with Stampin' Up! fabric!

Make a flower with the Dresden Designs Die.

A cute cozy or decoration for your coffe cup!

You can even decorate your digital printed photo albums with Stampin' Up! fabric!

Just tie some fabric around an album cover!

If you are ready to order some of the beautiful Stampin' Up! fabric for your projects, you can order anytime from my Online Store HERE.

Beautiful Stampin’ Up! Fabric Projects

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At the Leadership Conference in San Antonio last month there were some beautiful Stampin' Up! fabric projects on display. Stampin' Up! doesn't JUST do stamps, ink, and paper right! They do fabric, too!

Dresden Designs Die #125597 and Twitterpated Designer Fabric #125412

Dresden Die and Twitterpated Fabric Pillows

Using the Pleated Satin Ribbon on a quilted pillow

Love these little Twitterpated Designer Buttons #125579

Using the Elegant Bird Bigz Die on a quilted wall hanging

Riding Hood Red Pleated Satin Ribbon for fringe on pillow

Use the Dresden Designs Die for the Big Shot with fabric or with paper!

My Digital Studio New Heights Kit….New Digital Downloads!

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Here are the latest My Digital Studio downloads by Stampin' Up!, and I think they are really great ones! When you purchase My Digital Studio you will have plenty of images to play with for your projects….but rest assured that there will always be something new coming out to inspire and delight you! Click HERE or on the images above for a better look. Then you can zoom in a bit with your computer to see them even better or go to my Online Store and check them out there.

And for a BONUS…..you can get a 30-day FREE trial with My Digital Studio Express! For more information, read my posts HERE and HERE.

What can you do with a digital program? More than you think…..almost anything! Contact me at Karen@Karenstamps.com if you have questions!