August Swaps and Mystery Card #15
Hello Stamping Friends,
Hostess code: WKQ6CJ7R with Cindy as our hostess this month.
I just had the most incredible weekend with the Backstage At Home Stampin’ Up! virtual leader’s event. The speakers were tremendous and the chance to network with demonstrators all over the world was delightful! Next year the event will be in person in New Orleans! Join my team of Carin’ Crafters and/or let me help you promote so you, too, can attend these events!
Would you like to attend a virtual Stampin’ Up! conference for any level of demonstrator November 11-13? Join my team, if you haven’t, and we’ll meet here and have fun together; for you out of town folks, we will set up a Zoom with you so you feel a part of the PARTY! Don’t have an upline nearby? Come and join the fun, we are all a family of stampers no matter what! So hop on over to your website tomorrow, August 31, and sign up for the November event, then block it out on your calendar so you don’t make appointments on those days. Click on the “Events” tab in your demonstrator website and find out all about it!
Wow! You really have a lot of enthusiasm today!
I do, Sal! And I can’t wait to hear all the other speakers when the videos are posted. We had to choose just one speaker for each session. It was hard to choose since the topics all sounded interesting.
Now– let’s go on to today’s agenda of posting the Mystery card and the swaps from August. We meet on the second Tuesday of the month for club, or for some event I conjure up, and then we meet by Zoom on the fourth Tuesday of the month for a Mystery Card challenge and to share our swaps. September 14 we are having casual crafting at my house to make a Pinwheel Tower Card at 9:30. Prepare your own kit and we will work together to make the cards. The tower card is the new rage on social media and I think every video I have watched uses different measurements. Choose one of the videos you like and make a kit to bring on the 14th at 9:30. I will put on the coffee!
Mystery Card Challenge #15 printable file
Step 1: Adhere the large DSP (Designer Series Paper) section to the front of the card base.
Step 2: Adhere the 1″ scored section of the card base strip at the middle of the inside of the card base 1/8″ over from right
Step 3: Turn the strip of DSP over to its other side and adhere to the neutral 4” X 5 ¼” piece on the right side
Step 4: Adhere the neutral and its DSP on top of the strip glued on in step 2
Step 5: Add a greeting or an image on the strip that folds over the front and decorate
I used the ‘Gingerbread & Peppermint’ DSP from the Mini Catalog and fussy cut out the ornaments and peppermints. If I had purchased the bundle or the entire suite I would have had dies to cut out both. There are five 5! sizes of circles in this die set so imagine the possibilities! Do you know where that tag comes from? It is in the new ‘Pretty Pillow Box Dies’. The greetings are in the ‘Snowman Season Stamp Set’, a carryover in the Annual Catalog.
It isn’t even September and you have a Christmas card made! I am impressed!
It is a record, Sal! Maybe next year I will do a ‘Christmas in July’ like so many others like to do.
Sharon Fincham used the ‘Turtle Friends’ stamp set on retired Whale of A Time DSP. She hooked her flap under the ‘Story Label Punch’ to keep the card shut. Great idea, Sharon.
Heather Guitreau used the ‘In The Wild’ DSP and ‘Big Cats’ dies. She made a great closing flap and used a greeting from the ‘Wild Cats’ stamp set:
She made a second card thinking she needed to follow directions but we all know that the best creativity often happens outside the box!
Joy Meadow’s card uses the ‘Pansy Petals’ DSP with the greeting from the ‘Pansy Patch’ stamp set on a ‘Story Label’ punch.
Ann Hausmann used the ‘Beautifully Penned’ DSP that is free with a $50 purchase during this round of Sale A Bration which goes through September 30. I love the pop of color on the black and white.
Jo Brooks’ card made me wish I had purchased the Playful Pets DSP from the last catalog. However, we have pets DSP in our new mini called ‘Sweet Stockings’ and it is now on my wish list!
Is that as cute as it gets?! Thank you everyone for a fun time of Mystery Stamping. I ran out of time and sent you a video instead of walking you through each step but I will get back to normal in September!
You even have the Mystery card picked out I hear!
Shhhh, Sal, or I will start talking about it and give everything mysterious away!
August 2021 Swaps
Jo Brooks used the ‘Stitched Triangle’ dies and for the bouquet of flowers, the stamps in ‘Welcoming Window’. It is the great two step stamping that we love with a stamp for the greenery and another stamp for the flowers. Adding the lace was genius!
Sharon Fincham used the ‘Turtle Friends’ and ‘Scalloped Contours’ die for this delightful card:
Joy Meadows used the ‘Pattern Party’ DSP available to hostess’ and the ‘Dragonflies’ punch with lots of added sparkle on the black. Note how she used a flap on the front of the base instead of the standard base. Very cool and shows off both sides of the pretty DSP.
Ann Hausmann found the cutest little lip gloss containers that looked like popsicles at Target and made a fun popsicle card with Very Vanilla and Pool Party. The popsicle images are in the ‘Sweet Ice Cream’ stamp set, retired from the last mini, but Ann hand drew all the faces to match the lip gloss container. You are the cool one, Ann!!
Lori had fun with the ‘Nothing’s Better Than’ stamp set which carried over to the Annual Catalog. She formatted the front words on her computer, printed them on card stock then added the words and images which she cut with her Brother Scan and Cut. The coloring is awesome as she matched the coloring on the words to the colored images. So Creative!
My swap card was a clean and simple card. I wanted to show the swappers the beautiful ‘In Color Shimmer Vellum’ (the pink layer on the card) and the ‘Expressions In Ink’ DSP with its gold foil on the pink that looks like the alcohol ink on vellum technique we just learned. I used the ‘Tailored Tags’ dies with a cutout of gold for the reinforcement ring. The ribbon is the In Color 3/8″ Open Weave ribbon. To get the ribbon to lay on the tag the way I wanted, I used two pieces. I used glue dots to loop the bows on the right and left with nice little tails and then used a second piece and more glue dots to tie a middle around the bow. I secured the knot and the tails of this piece of ribbon on back of the tag. The good sized thanks is in the ‘Artistically Inked’ stamp set. Can you see the shimmer of the pink vellum?
Recipe for Thank You Card
- Base: Thick Basic White, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 scored at 4 1/4
- Layer: Polished Pink Shimmer Vellum, 5 1/2 X 4 1/4
- Top: Expressions in Ink DSP, 5 1/4 X 4
- Tag: Basic White, 3 1/2 X 1 1/2, die cut with Tailor Made Tag, third from the largest plain tag
- Gold Foil, Scrap, cut with the square reinforcement ring
- Inside Border Strip: Polished Pink Shimmer Vellum, 4 1/4 X 1
- Inside Top Layer: Expressions In Ink DSP, 4 X 3/4
- Embellishment: 3 In Color gems
- Ink: Polished Pink
- Stamp Set: Artistically Inked
Did you enjoy that show? It is like having a scrapbook of cards that I hope inspires you to make your own special creation.
Remember to join Paper Pumpkin before September 10th if you want this special fall kit:
We have one more month to take advantage of Sale A Bration’s free products!
And remember to sign up for On Stage and sign up to be a part of my team if you would like to attend On Stage. (Think Prize Patrol, A goody bag, Make and Takes, The Upcoming catalog and lots of fun!) Click on the JOIN button here or at the tab on the blog.
Hostess code: WKQ6CJ7R with Cindy as our hostess this month. Cindy’s craft room is gradually getting set up there in Tehachapi, California and she made this cool card:
Since we didn’t have club in September, I set Cindy up as hostess to help her get back into stamping. She has been regularly placing outside orders that were credited to club members hostess codes so it seemed right to give her a chance at free products!
We hope to see you on Zoom some fourth Tuesday of a month, Cindy!
Her Hostess code: WKQ6CJ7R, click on little Sal to go to the online store!
SAL, Stay And Linger a bit dear summer
Karen (Thank you for choosing me as your demonstrator. After this past weekend of meeting and seeing many talented demonstrators, I felt honored to have so many of you following me.)
Shaded Summer Partial Die Cut & Shadow Stamping
Hello Stamping Friends,
Hostess Code through September 15: WKQ6CJ7R
At our July Club we made a special card using the Shaded Summer stamp set and the Summer Shadows dies to do a Partial Die cut and Shadow stamping
Why didn’t you just run the ribbon under the top layer?
Ahh, Sal, I love to find new ways to do things so I have something new to teach my customers. I used a 3/8″ circle punch and punched a little hole on the right side between the images and then, with the card closed, and a pencil line marking a straight line from the right, I punched the left hand side.
Recipe for Shaded Summer Partial Die Cutting and Shadow Stamping
- Stamp Set: Shaded Summer in the Annual Catalog
- Tools:
- Summer Shadow Dies – Free during Sale A Bration with a $100 purchase
- 3/8″ Circle Punch, pencil, ruler, scissors
- Stamparatus
- Stampin’ Cut and Emboss Machine
- Inks: Evening Evergreen, Craft White
- Base: Just Jade, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2, scored at 4 1/4
- Top Layer: Experessions In Ink Designer Series Paper (DSP) 4 X 5 1/4
- Inside Layer 1: Mint Macaron, 4 X 5 1/4
- Inside Layer 2: Evening Evergreen, 3 3/4 X 5
- Ribbon: Soft Succulent 3/8″ Open Weave Ribbon, 12″
- Embellishments: 3 In Color Jewels
To do a Partial Die Cut on the front:
- Temporarily glue DSP Top Layer flush to the right hand side of front card base.
- Set up Stamparatus to stamp the two Shaded Summer flower images, small at top, larger at bottom, as close as possible to right hand edge. Add the greeting to the stamparatus plate so you can stamp it at the same time.
- Stamp the images with Evening Evergreen until images are dark. If DSP has the darker portion at right it may take three times to stamp the images.
- Pencil a line with a ruler, 1″ over from right hand side. You will line the cutting plates up on this penciled line.
- Make your standard sandwich on the cutting machine with the platform #1, and #2, and then the #3 cutting plate.
- Place your open card on the cutting plate with right side of card base going in head first and secure your dies on the images with sticky notes or tape.
- Place the top cutting plate with its edge on the 1″ penciled line. I found it easiest to go in with the plate from the back of the cutting machine. Hold securely as you start to cut. The plate pops out the back rather hard so don’t have your machine where something could get broken with a flying cutting plate.
- Die cut the images and then fussy cut the sides and middle.
- Take the DSP off base and move over to the left to leave a nice border on the images. Glue in place.
To do Shadow Stamping on inside:
- Use the Stamparatus as above with the two flower images in same place yet position your Evening Evergreen inside layer 1/4″ less than where you positioned your card base, I made lines on the grid sheet so I knew where to line up the base and where to line up the Evening Evergreen remembering that we have a Mint Macaron layer as well.
- Clean off the stamps and then ink them up with Craft White ink and stamp several times.
- Move the card just slightly to the right.
- Clean off the white ink and reink with Evening Evergreen .
- Stamp several times.
- Mount the inside greeting on a separate Stamparatus plate and repeat steps 2-5.
- When you attach your Evening Evergreen layer make sure it is positioned where the inside stamping doesn’t show.
You make it sound really easy!
It is, Sal, and the DSP does the rest of the work to make a beautiful card!
Thank you for being with me for this card demonstration. If you don’t have a demonstrator I would love to have a chance to bring a pinch of creativity to spice up your crafting world! I have clubs and events and a group of Carin’ Crafters that make up my team. Check out my calendar and join us if you can, or gather your own group of friends and host a workshop to see if they might want to start a club. For club – I provide all the kits and members commit to a $25-$50 order depending on the number of members. For example our club of five commits to $30 each club so that the hostess reaches $150 in sales and earns free products. Contact me at 303-815-0838 to learn more.
The Hostess Code through September 15 is WKQ6CJ7R. Click on little Sal in the computer to go to the online store and shop! Remember it is currently Sale A Bration time and for each $50 or $100 order you receive free product. The other thing to think about is the Paper Pumpkin subscriptions that are available with holiday kits coming in the next months:
SAL, Shop A Little, Save A Lot with Sale A Bration
Karen
July 2021 Swaps
Hello Stamping Friends,
Hostess Code for August: WRQKTXMA with Joy as our hostess!
Announcement from the home office: The delayed products are back in stock and you can order them now!
If you are new to following blogs, be sure and click to open the blog post in your email and then click the title again to go to the main site. Sometimes the videos don’t even work if you don’t completely open the blog post by clicking twice.
Thank you for giving me some of your precious time as I share inspiration to bring a pinch of creativity to spice up your crafting world!
Today’s inspiration comes from the July swaps! Let’s look at the red, white and blue ones first! I love to decorate the house with cards for the season and now I have some to save forever and put on the end tables and shelves around July 4th. Do you decorate with cards?
Joy’s card feels like a 4th of July picnic with a plate of goodies on a red and white tablecloth amidst a garden of flowers! Love it! She used the ‘Encircled In Friendship’ stamp set and the ‘Encircled in Beauty’ dies with Basic White, Paper Blooms DSP, Berry Delightful DSP, Crinkled Seam Binding and Opal Rounds.
Jo’s card is another ‘save forever to decorate’ card. She used the ‘Ornamental Christmas’ framelits for the stars, the ‘All Around Wreath’ dies for a red and white layered wreath, the ‘Playful Alphabet’ dies for the lettering of July, and ‘Family Party’ for Happy 4th. Inside she used the ‘Celebrate You’ dies. She sponged with Pacific Point ink to get the shaded blue look on the base!
The inside of Sharon’s card was as decorated as the outside and both were beautiful! She used the’ American Celebration’ holiday stamps from Close To My Heart and a 4th of July block stamp for the inside. She used silver, white and aqua tinsel embossing powders with Carousel & silver sparkle embossing glitters. She has a silver star embellishment on the flag, a gold star brad on the fireworks, and blue and red stars from a roll of stickers for the inside. She used a Spots and Dots cuttlebug embossing folder and square dies from Hobby Lobby. Her cardstocks are Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler and blue.
Lori’s swap card would put a smile on anyone’s face! She made watermelons from the ‘Layering Circle dies’ and a ‘Tasteful Label Die’ for the sentiment. She also used ‘Create With Friends’ stamp set and a Close To My Heart ‘August Word Puzzle’ for sentiments. She used a small flower punch and the ‘Pattern Party’ hostess DSP with Whisper White, Polished Pink, Garden Green and Blushing Bride card stock.
Prepare to be wowed, awed and inspired by Ann’s fabulous diorama card! She used the ‘Mountain Air’ stamp set and ‘Majestic Mountain’ dies with a sentiment from Happy Trails by Simple Stories. Her cardstock is Old Olive, Crumb Cake, and Basic White with inks of Early Espresso, Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow, Balmy Blue, Pool Party and So Saffron.
My card is a ‘sort of’ case of one I saw Frenchie Martin post at Frenchie Stamps.com. I used her idea of the ‘Stitched Stars’ with the medium ‘Daisy Punch’ and ‘Daisy Punch’ to layer red, white and blue on top of the stars, but I cut the stars in half so they covered more of the card front and I added a different sentiment and ribbon. The dies cut out stars that I used on the top of a 1/2″ Basic White circle and on the inside red and white strips. Do you recognize that Stampin’ Up! red, white and blue ribbon? No? It is the 1/4″ ‘Quilted Ribbon’ in red and green and I used our ‘Dark Night of Navy Blends’ to color the green to make it blue! The sentiment is from the ‘Hey Birthday Chick’ stamp set stamped on a ‘Stitched So Sweetly Die’ with a sponged edge of real red.
Recipe for 4th of July Card:
- Base: Thick Basic White, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 scored at 4 1/4
- Layer 1: Real Red, 5 1/4 X 4
- Layer 2: Basic White, 5 1/8 X 3 7/8
- Swirly Star: Night of Navy, 4 X 2, cut in half and adhere to red daisy then adhere to card front
- Daisy:
- Real Red 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 punched with larger daisy punch
- Basic White 2 1/2 X 2 1/2 punched with larger daisy punch
- Night of Navy 2 X 2 punched with medium daisy punch
- Circle on top of daisy: Basic White, scrap, with 1/2″ punch layered with a small star cut out from the die
- Greeting: Basic White, 2 1/2 X 2, Stitched So Sweetly Die, stamped in Night of Navy, sponged with Real Red
- Stamp Set: Hey Birthday Chick
- Inks: Night of Navy for sentiment and Real Red for sponging
- Dies: Stitched Stars Dies, Stitched So Sweetly
- Punches: Daisy Punch, Medium Daisy Punch and 1/2″ circle punch
- Ribbon: 1/4″ Quilted Ribbon, 6 1/2″ with the green stripe colored with a Dk Night of Navy Stampin’ Blend
- Inside strips:
- Real Red 4 X 1/2
- Basic White 3 7/8 X 3/8
- 3 Night of Navy stars from the die cut outs used for the swirly stars on front
- Embellishments: 3 holiday red rhinestones
I am so blessed to have found these dear stamping friends!
Didn’t some of them actually find you?
Yes, Sal, that is true! Through mutual friends and the online search for a demonstrator, we all came together.
We would love to have more of you join our circle of stampers so give me a shout out if you are interested in club or holding a workshop or attending events. 303-815-0838. If you would like to join my team of Carin’ Crafters we have a special offer during Sale A Bration and you can pick out a bundle of your choice to add to your starter kit. Check the details out HERE in my previous blog post!
Hostess Code for August: WRQKTXMA with Joy as our hostess! Click on Sal in the computer to go to the store.
SAL, Smile A Little
Karen
Sale A Bration Round 2 and a new Mini Catalog
Hello Stamping Friends,
Current hostess code: WRQKTXMA for use if you are a club member or your order is under $150-(that’s where hostess dollars start.)
To launch the new Mini Catalog and the Sale A Bration brochure I held a Caravan party followed by a luncheon. Thank you to those who were able to participate.
Caravan is a fun card and dice game that is quick to learn and participants change tables so everyone gets to see each other. There was a prize for the lowest score, the most caravans and the highest score. The prizes were from the new mini catalog; someone took home a stack of Designer Series Paper, someone won the Merry Melody Embossing folder and last place took home the Wonderful Snowflakes embellishments. Such fun!!
Do we get to see some pictures? I doubt the participants would mind.
I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, Sal, but I didn’t take a single picture – not even of the winners holding their prizes. It was my intent but somehow the intent didn’t pan out! Check out these prizes, though…..


We didn’t have club or the normal zoom and mystery card event in July since we were traveling to Glacier National Park in Montana for an extended vacation.
Surely you have a picture or two of that!??
Dozens!! Here are two of my favorites.
It is an amazing place! We saw a few mountain sheep and two bears. We drove the ‘Going to the Sun’ road twice, the first time it was cloudy but we went again and it was a beautiful sunny day. We took two boat tours – Mary’s Lake and Flathead Lake, a lake outside the park. I wish we had had time to enjoy Apgar village on the west side, it looked very quaint and interesting (with an artisan shop) but we were too tired to stop. There were waterfalls everywhere and the Mary’s Lake boat tour stopped at a little cove and we walked up to a beautiful one:
The first time we drove the Going To The Sun road we went out of the park on the east side and then drove the road that went around the bottom of the park and back to the West entrance where we were camping. That road has beautiful scenery as well and that is where we saw a bear cross the road. Add that road to your travels if you are ever there.
Enough about parties and vacationing! Let’s look at today’s excitement – the new mini catalog goes live and the second round of Sale A Bration starts today! Click on the catalog images to view the catalogs by pdf – contact me to get a hard copy if you need one.
Aren’t you – like – really late in introducing the Mini Catalog. It says it started in July.
It was supposed to start in July but shipping delays caused such a problem that the home office thought it would be best to launch the catalog one month later. There are still three items that are delayed and can’t be ordered.
- 156326: GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT MEMORIES & MORE CARD PACK
- 156327: GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT MEMORIES & MORE CARDS & ENVELOPES
- 156275: GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT SUITE COLLECTION (ENGLISH)
- 156719: PAIN D’ÉPICES ET BONBON SUITE COLLECTION (FRENCH)
- 156458: BLACKBERRY BEAUTY 12″ X 12″ (30.5 X 30.5 CM) SPECIALTY DESIGNER SERIES PAPER
- 156278: BLACKBERRY BEAUTY SUITE COLLECTION (ENGLISH)
- 156725: AUTOUR DES MÛRES SUITE COLLECTION (FRENCH)
I will keep you posted on when those are available.
In the meantime, grab a cuppa something and sit back to enjoy these videos showcasing the suites in the new mini and a close up view of the Sale A Bration offerings!
- SWEET STOCKINGS SUITE COLLECTION
- PAINTED CHRISTMAS SUITE COLLECTION
- GINGERBREAD & PEPPERMINT SUITE COLLECTION
- PEACEFUL PLACE SUITE COLLECTION
- HARVEST MEADOW SUITE COLLECTION
What about the new people who don’t even know what Sale A Bration is?!
You are so right, Sal! I jumped right in without explaining our favorite time of the Stampin’ Up! year –Sale A Bration! In the past Sale A Bration was held for three months from January to March but this year Stampin’ Up! changed the program to be two months, twice a year- the first in January and February and now the second round in August and September. During Sale A Bration (SAB) you earn free level 1 products with each $50 purchase, and free level 2 products with each $100 purchase. If you host a party with $300 in sales you earn a free stamp set and if you join during Sale A Bration you get the standard $125 of products for $99 (with free shipping) and you get to choose a bundle of products free! I will leave the french sets in the images for those of you who might want to send a card to your french speaking friends!
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During this round of Sale-A-Bration, some products will only be available while supplies last. This means that once they’re gone, they’re gone for good! The Sale-A-Bration products with limited supply include:
- 156629 Be Dazzling 6″ x 6″ (15.2 x 15.2 cm) Specialty Paper
- 156600 Sheep Dies
- 156618 Summer Shadows Dies
All other Sale-A-Bration products will be available throughout the promotion. High demand can send these products into backorder and delay shipping, but the supply will not run out; all orders placed will be honored except for those three products.
I would love to have you on my team of Carin’ Crafters! Contact me or click HERE for details.
Our next club event is August 10th at 9:30, 1:30 and 6:30. The 9:30 is full but I have openings at 1:30 and 6:30. The morning and afternoon classes meet together at 11:30 with a potluck. Join us as a guest for $5 or a $25 order; however I need RSVPs by noon tomorrow. If this sounds like fun contact me to join or gather some of your friends for a get together at your house and they may want to start a club.
I think I have covered everything! Let’s grab those catalogs and a shopping list!
Current hostess code: WRQKTXMA
SAL, Stamp A Lot, Smile A Little and Share A Love
Karen Click on Sal in the computer to go to the online store: