Would you guess you could take a Christmas stamp set and make a baby card with it? Take a good look at your holiday stamp sets and see if you can get some other uses out of the stamps during the year before you put them away! For example, these Cookie Cutter Christmas bear baby cards are made with the bear in a Christmas stamp set and even with holiday or wintery designer paper. But if you don’t use the holiday patterns in the Warmth & Cheer Designer Series Paper Stack, there are plenty of generic patterns you can use at other times. While the Cookie Cutter Christmas Stamp Set is obviously for the holidays, once you notice the cute bear stamp, face, and ears, you can see that you can use that stamped image for other occasions!

These cards are square, 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″, with a Whisper White Thick Cardstock base. The designer papers are from the Warmth & Cheer Paper Stack.  The bear is stamped on Whisper White and then the circle is cut out with the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies. Love these!! If you put them on your order now, even though they are backordered, you will be in line to get them sent to you as soon as they are available again. They have been so popular that Stampin’ Up! will have to turn the number off until they have sufficient supply again.

On the card on the left, I added a Flirty Flamingo scalloped circle layer die cut with the Layering Circles Framelits Dies. I also added a strip of Flirty Flamingo 3/8″ Ruched Ribbon across the middle of the card.  The greeting is from the Flourishing Phrases Stamp Set. I added two In Color Enamel Dots because I LOVE these little dots!

The baby card on the right is very similar.  I added a strip of 1/8″ Gold Ribbon underneath the banner greeting.  That greeting is from the Better Together Stamp Set.  Once I looked at these two cards side by side I noticed the word “Congratulations” looks exactly the same even though they are two separate greetings from two different stamp sets! Hmmm!

So look at your stamp sets a little diffferently and see if you can get even more use out of them that they seem intended! This is very difficult for me until I see someone else’s idea!

If you want to make a Cookie Cutter Christmas Bear Baby Card and need some supplies, please click this link below to order your Stampin’ Up! products!

Stampin’ Up! Online Ordering HERE!

I needed a baby card so I turned to the Something For Baby Stamp Set in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. If you look on page 59 you will see the sample that I copied.  I loved the little stamp that looks like the stacking colored rings that I’m sure we all had for our babies to play with! However, I did use a greeting from a retired stamp set, Big News. I also used a piece of retired designer paper on the front of the card,

To make the ring stack, just color each ring with a different colored Stampin’ Write Marker. I used several Brights colors plus Crumb Cake. Just color with the markers but then breathe (huff) on the stamp before stamping to remoisten the ink. Then cut out with the Big Shot and the Baby’s First Framelits Dies. I popped it up on a Stampin’ Dimensional or two.

The little hearts are stamped from the Big News stamp set. I couldn’t resist using some of the Brights Enamel Shapes.

Don’t forget to use your Stampin’ Up! catalog for ideas and inspiration for your cards and projects!  There are more ideas than you can possibly use!  Even if you tried to follow each one, you would change it up some of the time and make something different. It’s an easy way to find ideas.

If you need some supplies for making cards, please visit my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE!

There’s a little bit of the new mixed in with the old on this baby shower card. The other day I had a fun afternoon stamping with a friend, and she wanted to make a baby shower card for a friend. Normally I would search online for at least 100 ideas and then look for 500 more just to be sure I had all the cutest ideas floating around in my head or one to copy. But this day, immediately the Something For Baby Stamp Set and the Baby’s First Framelits Dies popped into my head along with this cute paper, part of the English Garden Designer Series Paper. I love that simple but cute pattern on the paper! I think it reminds me of a comforter I bought for my daughter many moons ago.

The card base is Blushing Bride, which I seem to have used a lot recently! The Whisper White background is embossed with the Happy Hearts Embossing Folder.  The baby onesie is diecut with the Baby’s First Framelits, as I mentioned before. The little hanger is stamped with a hanger stamp from the Something For Baby stamp set. The bow is the Melon Mambo 1/4″ Cotton Ribbon. The banner is from the new stamp set in the Occasions Catalog, Bloomin’ Love Photopolymer Stamp Set. I just colored it with markers so I could make the little leaves Old Olive and the rest Melon Mambo. The words come from Teeny Tiny Wishes, one of my favorite and most useful stamp sets of words.

Although I don’t have a photo of the inside of the card, my friend stamped the inside with the “Your little baby is big news” from the Big News Stamp Set. And she also grabbed the little heart from the Bloomin’ Love set and stamped that below the greeting.  We laughed about whether or not she should stamp more hearts randomly on the inside – you know, how you can go from something that is perfectly fine and then go crazy with a little too much stamping! Suddenly you have way too many hearts! As another friend who I used to paint with always said, “Know when to stop!”

All in all, my friend and I were pleased with this baby shower card we came up, just out of our own heads!

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Have I said before that I think you will love the Circle Card Thinlits Die for making cards?  I needed a baby card for a little boy and thought the Thinlits Die would make a cute card! The paper I used is retired (Nursery Nest), but of course you could use any paper of your choice.  The stamp set I used is also retired, unfortunately.  I loved the Easy Events stamp set because it was so versatile for many occasions. I loved the little duck so I had to use it for this card.

The Thinlits Die practically makes the card for you!  Just decide what to put for the focal point on the front of the card in the circle and probably a greeting for the circle on the other side inside the card.  Add a little designer paper if you like or do some stamping on the plain card stock.

If you are game to try the new Thinlits Dies, just contact me or shop online at my Stampin’ Up! Online Store HERE.

Today is Teddy Bear Day so here is a Teddy Bear punch art baby card. Teddy bears are named after President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt.  The name supposedly came after a 1902 hunting expedition where Roosevelt was offered the opportunity to shoot a young bear but refused.  A cartoonist illustrated the incident and the larger bear was later redrawn as a cuddly cub. The whole story became famous and a toymaker brought out a cute stuffed bear and named it “Teddy’s Bear”. The teddy bear, of course, has become a staple with babies and children and even adult collectors.

My teddy bear is made with some punches, but also some hand-cutting was involved! Actually, I also used some of the new Circle Framelits.  It’s good to sponge the edges of the pieces with ink before you assemble so that they stand out more. My bear is made with Soft Suede and Crumb Cake card stock and adhered to a layer of Marina Mist on a Whisper White card base. The Marina Mist is embossed with the popular Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.

Do you have a favorite teddy bear?  Get it out today and celebrate Teddy Bear Day!

One of the many Stampin’ Up! products that I will miss when it retires next week is the Two Tags Die. You can make cards, tags, even little bags and boxes for treats and little gifts. Today I have used my Two Tags Die for two projects as well as two retiring stamp sets, retiring designer paper, and retiring colors, Regal Rose and Baja Breeze.

There are actually two tag shapes on the Two Tags Die.  This one pictured above had a score line so can be folded in half and tucked under the little slit, which the die also makes.  I cut out the Twitterpated Designer Paper at the same time as the card stock so it fit perfectly. I stamped the cupcake image from the retiring Easy Events stamp set (a great set for all-occasions, especially for the beginning stamper!) and colored it in with Stampin’ Write Markers. For a little pizzazz I had to add some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the frosting with my 2-Way Glue Pen. And for a little trim above and below the stamped image, I used the versatile Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch with only the scallop edge showing. The little flower on the edge is made with the Boho Blossoms Punch.

This card I made using the discontinued Regal Rose card stock (admittedly not one of my favorite colors in all these years, but it’s okay) and embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots Folder. The Two Tags Die is stamped with a greeting from the Word Play stamp set (another stamp set I hate to see retire) and decorated with a couple of Subtles Collection Designer Buttons tied with
White Baker’s Twine.  I made a similar card back in this post.

The Two Tags Die is a fun and handy die to own if you also own the Big Shot.  If it is still available, I would add it to your list of must-haves before the retirement period is over.

Remember, the new Stampin’ Up! catalog goes live at Noon Mountain Time on Friday, May 31.  Ordering will be down that morning and the night before so they can make the change to the new catalog.  You will still be able to order from the old catalog until June 3.  The Spring Catalog ends May 31.

Place your order today before time runs out at my Online Store or email me with your order at Karen@KarenStamps.com if you prefer.

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