It’s here! The new Stampin’ Up! 2016-17 Catalog is here with new In Colors, new stamps, new accessories, new Project Life products for memory-keeping, new designer paper, and MORE!

View the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog Online HERE!

SHOP the new Stampin’ Up! Catalog Online HERE!

Contact me if you need a new Stampin’ Up! Catalog to hold in your hands or to put in an order for you!  Email me at Karen@KarenStamps.com.

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During the month of June, if you host a workshop, gather orders together from some of your friends, or put in your own BIG order of $350 or more, you will earn an EXTRA $35 in Hostess Stampin’ Rewards!

Let me know if you have any questions about the new catalog or ordering! Be sure to flip through the catalog online today if you don’t have your own copy!  It’s worth a view for sure!!

Check out the NEW STAMPIN’ UP! CATALOG TODAY!

It’s almost time! The holidays are getting closer, and my valued mailing list subscribers will be getting a special gift soon!

If you are receiving my newsletters already, you don’t have to do anything.  You are ON my list already! And to show my appreciation, I will be sending you something fun very soon!

If you are NOT on my Stamping With Karen mailing list, you probably better sign up! If you are reading this on my blog, then perhaps you have found something interesting on my blog. Why not join my list of subscribers and get a monthly newsletter filled with projects and Stampin’ Up! news and latest offers?  As a bonus, you get a FREE GIFT for signing up. And as an extra bonus for the holidays, you will be getting something else, too!

Stay tuned and find out! But first you MUST sign up in the red box in the upper right of my blog or the fun pop-up box on your screen! All I need is your first name and your email address. You can always unsubscribe if you are not pleased. I send out a newsletter at the beginning of the month and a short one mid-month with any updates and usually an extra project idea for fun. And something my customers and mailing list subscribers tell me they enjoy once a year is coming soon and you will receive it too IF you are on my list! Don’t miss out!

When you do sign up, you will receive a “Confirmation Email‘ almost immediately to be clear that you do want to receive the newsletter.  This is a customary thing with email to protect you. PLEASE be sure to check your email and spam folder to find this Confirmation Email and CLICK the link inside to confirm.  Only then will you be added and receive your free gift from me!

I hope I see your name magically appear on my list so that you will be set to receive my special gift!  Be sure to tell your friends, too!

Have you signed up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List yet? If you like visiting my blog or if this is your first time here, please join us by signing up in the Mailing List Sign Up Box! You won’t get tons of emails from me!  But you will receive a main monthly email newsletter around the beginning of each month with the latest Stampin’ Up! news and any special offers, plus several tutorials for cards and other projects.  I also usually send out a mid-month email to update everyone on any new offers or to remind you of ongoing ones. Even though I try to keep it very short, I often include another project or two. So that is two emails a month. On some rare occasions, I may send out a special one if there is a big announcement or offer I want you to know about right away!

If you like getting new ideas for stamping, then this is for you! These projects are exclusive to my newsletter – you won’t find them anywhere else. As a special gift for signing up, you will receive a PDF called “A  Dozen Creative Gift Wrap Ideas”. Who doesn’t need some quick and easy way to wrap a gift at the last minute?! This might save you a trip to the store for gift wrap!

Once you sign up, you will receive a confirmation email very shortly, which you do need to open and click the link inside to confirm that you do indeed mean to subscribe.  Yes, this is an extra step and many people don’t take it, but it helps to keep everyone compliant with email and helps keep you from receiving emails you really didn’t want.  When you click that confirmation link in the email, it means you really did sign yourself up for this mailing list. And after that, you will get another email with a link to your FREE GIFT!

And one of the best parts of being on my mailing list is something that will be coming up soon! This may be hard to believe, but we are inching ever closer to Christmas, even as we are suffocating in the August heat!  Something very popular with my subscribers is my “12 Weeks of Christmas” newsletter. Each week leading up to Christmas, I send out a special email with an exclusive project in it.  We start with cards, move on to gift ideas, and end up with tags and bags! This makes it handy for my subscribers to get ideas or just be inspired to create something of their own. Get some cards made, make a few simple gifts, and then be ready with some wrap ideas and cute tags for gifts! It’s all fun! Only my subscribers receive these newsletters each week leading up to the holidays so make sure YOU are signed up! And tell your friends!

No obligation, of course!  As with any email, just unsubscribe it if it is not for you.

You can also “Be a Fan” on my Stamping With Karen Facebook page HERE and follow me on Instagram @stampingwithkaren.

Keep on top of all things Stampin’ Up! and learn ways to use those great products in your papercrafting!  Sign up in the Mailing List sign up box in the upper right corner of my blog or in the pop-up box if you are lucky enough to get one! 🙂

Are you on my Mailing List? If not, you missed out on getting all the news that we know so far about the Stampin’ Up! Retiring List, links to click to get your own list to print, info about My Digital Studio and why you might want it, the new Stampin’ Up! Weekly Deals, and more!

My monthly newsletter has all the latest Stampin’ Up! news and any deals, plus several projects with complete instructions and maybe some stamping or papercrafting tips and techniques. You won’t see these projects on my blog or Facebook page, they are just for my subscribers.

Occasionally I send out an extra newsletter, such as this last one about the Retirement List, but usually I only send one at the beginning of the month and one mid-month. I know people get lots of emails. But sometimes I want to be sure my subscribers have the latest important Stampin’ Up! information!

When you subscribe to my newsletter by filling in the red Sign Up box, you will also receive my free gift, “A Dozen Creative Gift Wrap Ideas”. You can use these ideas with whatever card stock, paper, ink and accessories are current and put your own twist on them if you like!

After you subscribe, you will receive an email asking you to CONFIRM your subscription.  You MUST open this email and click the link inside to officially be on my list. This is just “safe” email practice you’ve probably seen with other companies to guard against spam and other nasty stuff. So be SURE you watch for that confirmation email (usually within a few minutes) and after you click on that you will receive your FREE GIFT. Let me know if you don’t receive this confirmation email or have any trouble with the process.  It’s surprising how many people sign up but don’t complete the process and I can’t contact them and remind them to do so!

Don’t just be a lurker!  Join us by signing up for my Mailing List today!

Don’t forget! Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday, March 8 at 2 AM!  For most of us that means it is a good idea to change your clocks before you go to bed tonight! Remember, spring forward. So if it is 11:00 pm, set your clock to 12:00 midnight. My mother always hated losing that hour and feeling tired the next day! I can’t believe Daylight Time has arrived already. Maybe it will be a sign to those of you snowed in all winter that spring is really on its way!

Do you love looking at new ideas for stamping and creating with Stampin’ Up! products? Do you like to learn more tips and ideas for using your stamping tools and accessories? Do you like to know what specials Stampin’ Up! is offering or when the next catalog is coming out? Do you generally like what you see on my blog? Then it’s time for you to sign up for my Stamping With Karen Mailing List!

Would you like a free gift just for subscribing to my monthly newsletter? Then sign up right now in the Stamping With Karen mailing list sign up box! It’s on the right at the top of my blog!  My February newsletter is going out as soon as I put the finishing touches on it and you don’t want to miss it! I have exclusive fun projects with complete directions that you won’t find on my blog or Facebook page. I usually send out a mid-month newsletter as well to remind you of any specials or send an extra project your way. And just for subscribing, you will get my FREE GIFT “A Dozen Creative Gift Wrap Ideas”.  

Be sure you CONFIRM your subscription by clicking on the link in the email you will receive within a few minutes after signing up.

I’d love to visit with your through my newsletter!  Sign up right now while you are here!

Thought you might enjoy this Dance Party at the Stampin’ Up! home office! You get to see some of the behind-the scenes!

It’s time to join my “Stamping With Karen” Newsletter mailing list! Don’t wait another minute! The holidays will soon be upon us, believe it or not, and receiving my monthly stamping newsletter plus my mid-month reminder is the best way for you to stay on top of the latest news and offerings from Stampin’ Up! plus get project ideas and inspiration with full supply lists and instructions. One of the best parts is (besides the FREE GIFT!) the upcoming 12 Weeks of Christmas emails you will receive from me, free of charge, if you are on my mailing list! Once we get to that point (I know, it CAN’T be time!!), I will send you a weekly email with a new project to make or use for inspiration, from cards to gift ideas to packaging ideas!

I know you don’t want to miss a single thing from Stampin’ Up! – and you know they have had more news, new products, specials recently than ever before! It’s hard to keep up!

Just fill out the Mailing List Sign-Up Box you see here on my blog, BE SURE to look for another email to confirm your subscription (be sure to click the link inside that email) and then you will receive the link to your FREE GIFT. That’s the way of the internet world so we are in compliance with sending you emails you have requested and not being a nuisance! It should arrive most likely within a few minutes, but if you don’t see it, try again or let me know. Be sure to check your spam folder or your other Gmail tabs just in case.

I’ll look forward to visiting with you with each email and sharing stamping ideas and news and tips!

This isn’t your usual stamping post, but I’m sure you creative types could take some artistic inspiration from Hello, Dolly! if you would like! While in St. Louis to visit family last week, we made pretty much a last minute decision to go to the Muny, an outdoor theater in Forest Park, to see Hello, Dolly! The Muny Opera is a summer treat for everyone in St. Louis. When I was in high school, I would meet a friend at a mall close to my house and we would ride the special Muny bus and watch a show. The last time I went was when I was dating my husband and thought an ultimate date would be to dress up to go to the Muny! I probably insisted he wear a suit and I know I wore a long dress I had made myself, back in the day when my friends and I sewed a lot of our own clothes. I remember it being so stifling hot and the fans only ran before and after the show and during intermission! Not a good night to be “dressed up” at the Muny! They even have free seats way in the back, if you want to get there early enough to snag one and have a good pair of binoculars!

My husband, his sister and her husband decided we would all go, especially after talking to my cousin who said it was one of the best shows she had seen. We bought tickets, stopped for dinner on the way, and arrived at the Muny with a couple of umbrellas and jackets “just in case” (although everyone knows that the best way to prevent rain is to take an umbrella!). It was cloudy and the temperature almost cool with the fans blowing and, the show started. After a little while, a few stray raindrops started falling and then more, and I pulled my jacket up over my head. Finally they stopped the show, saying they needed to dry the stage so the dancers would not get injured. In a few minutes, the rain stopped, we walked back to our seats from the side under a roof and the show restarted. It wasn’t too long until the sprinkles started again, and again they stopped the show, announced that the Weather Service said the rain would be out of the area in 10 minutes, they dried the stage and we took our seats again. My sister-in-law kept grabbing paper towels to dry off our seats each time we returned. As it turned out, it was nearly time for intermission, so again the show stopped because they had to “reset the stage” for the second half but they cut intermission short.

Great!  Now we could finally watch the rest of the show! Just as they got to the big number where Dolly walks down the grand staircase during the “Hello, Dolly!” song, a few little raindrops began falling. Nobody moved,even as the rain continued to fall and the cast kept singing and dancing! I think they were determined to get through that big number no matter what and sang and danced their hearts out, even walking out on this narrow portion of the stage closer to the audience.  By then it was pouring, but the audience stayed to watch and cheered them on and applauded. This time they had to call the show, but I think everyone in attendance had enjoyed the show so much up to that point and appreciated the effort of all the performers (there were umbrellas up in the orchestra pit!) that no one was upset that we didn’t get to see the rest of the show. I don’t think I’d ever been to the Muny when it got rained out so this was a first for me! I read later that the local marching band in the show, the O’Fallon Township High School Marching Panthers, stayed and played for the people exiting out the front of the theater, but we were parked in back. I was glad I had gotten to see them in the show earlier, though. It also got rained out the next night, so hopefully they will get in the last show of the season tonight!

I’m sure I will remember the rainy night at the Muny seeing Hello, Dolly! for a long time! You can even go to THIS LINK to view the Muny website and scroll down to see the audience full of umbrellas. If you are in St. Louis in the summer time, you might like to put seeing a show at The Muny on your itinerary! It’s a St. Louis institution!