Outside of the Box

You'll see the similarity in these cards with the one from the previous post. While I was making the cards for the new catalog swap, I decided to try the same design in softer colors. I really like the way they turned out. I think my favorite is this pretty in pink/certainly celery combo (bashful blue ink).

When making new projects, you don't always have to go with traditional colors. In fact, some of the most beautiful projects have been made by "accident" or by just thinking out of the box when combining colors.

Colors: Bashful Blue/Certainly Celery

Enjoy!

Karen

Why are you thinking about snow?

"Why are you thinking about snow?" This is the question my 9 year old daughter asked me as she watched me create this card for a swap. Good question, huh? (smile) When I was in Costco the other day, I saw that they already had Christmas decorations out, so I'm not the only one thinking about snow! I made this card for a "new catalog swap". I chose this set (Deer Friends) because, even though it is August, you can't get started on your Christmas card ideas

too early.

Wouldn't it be nice to be totally done making your Christmas cards early, so when the holiday gets closer you can concentrate on other things like shopping, wrapping, baking and not being out of your mind thinking of all the things you need to do? So you see, that's why I'm thinking about snow in August. Look for this card in one of my upcoming Christmas card workshops at my house.

The second image shows that when you pull the tab, a surprise tag come out. I just thought the card needed a little something else to make it special. Also, it's hard to see from the scan, but the snowman in the middle is cut out and a dimentional is used to make him pop out.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Deer Friends, Seasonal Icons

Ink: Night of Navy (craft), versamark (snowflake on tab)

Paper: Real Red, Very Vanilla, Night of Navy

Accessories: 1 1/4 circle punch, scallop punch, round tab punch, night of navy ribbon, scallop edge punch, scissors, natural hemp twine, sticky strip, dimentionals, Tombow Multi Purpose Adhesive

Enjoy!

Karen

Featured Stamp Set - Garden Whimsy

Garden Whimsy - set of 8
product #109290
Page 93 Fall-Winter 2008 IBC
$23.95

Don't forget to view my SPECIAL at the bottom of this post!


Today I'm featuring the stamp set Garden Whimsy (product #109290). The set comes with 8 stamps, including this darling butterfly used in this card. It also has a ladybug, tulip, snail, larger butterfly, 2 verses (one curved and one regular) and 2 tiny little bugs. (In this card, the "Wonderful Words" stamp set was used for the word "Friendship" ). This lovely card, inspired by Lucy A. makes use of all of our new IN COLORS for 08-09. See how great they look together?

Supplies for this card:
Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Wonderful Words
Ink: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Pink Pirouette, Basic Black
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White, Basic Black
Accessories: Punch Oval Small, Punch Oval Large, Crafter's Tool Kit, Metallic Eyelets, 2 way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, stamping sponges

Email me to purchase this set today at 10% off!! Purchase this stamp set plus another product of your choice (accessory, punches, ink, paper, etc...) and receive 15% off of your entire order. Offer good Aug. 28 - Aug. 31. This is a personal special not offered by other SU demonstrators.

Enjoy!
Karen
mengels@verizon.net

Birthday wishes for Pop

Click on photo to see bigger picture.

I made a little photo book of our beach vacation photos for my Father-In-Law's birthday. (Don't worry, I don't think he reads this BLOG so the surprise won't be ruined - smile!) I printed out the pictures I wanted in wallet size, then cut my cardstock (retired soft sky) 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (standard invitation card size). I scored each page at 3/4" and saved that space to use as a binding.

I used up a lot of my retired "Ginger Blossoms" Designer Series Paper scraps for this book. My main coordinating color was my favorite....chocolate chip!!

I'm thinking this would make a great class! I literally put this together in 2 days, but that included all the cutting, finding and printing the pictures, figuring out what embellishments to use, etc... If I had all this pre-cut and organized I'm sure we could do it in a few hours!! What do you think?

Enjoy!

Karen

Last Days Of Summer

I've been enjoying my summer and I've had several really fun trips. I haven't posted to my blog as much as I would have liked. I thought I'd share a couple of pictures from my summer.

This first picture is of my 2 kids (the 2 on the ends) and my sister's kids (2 in the middle). They get along great and had a blast spending a week together at the beach in June.

This is a picture of my husband Dave and our 2 kids.

One more, this one was from our 2nd trip, this time with Dave's side of the family. Here are my 2 kids with their younger cousins. Does it look like the same beach? That's because it is!! We go back to the same exact place with both families....that how much we love it down in Hatteras, NC.

More stamping related posts to come soon! Thanks for letting me share my family!!

My New SU Website

I'm pleased to announce that I have a Stampin' Up! website! Here's the address:
http://karenmengel.stampinup.net

I made the decision to sign up for an "official" SU website for 2 reasons. The biggest reason is that starting this fall, you will be able to go directly to my website and place an order on-line! Don't get me wrong - I love the communication with all of you, but sometimes you just get the urge to go out and place an order, and now you don't have to wait for me. You can shop and buy at 2am if you want!! As an added benefit, this also eliminates the need for me to see/handle your credit card information. Increased security is always a good thing. As soon as I know the date they will turn on this feature, I'll let you know.

The second reason is the ability for you to sign up to be a demonstrator right on my website! (just click the JOIN STAMPIN UP! link). And what a better time, since we are running our promotion for a $99 starter kit through October 11!

Please go check it out and let me know what you think! Comments are always welcome.

Karen

The Catalog Has Arrived

It's here....at it is fabulous from cover to cover. Wow!

To get yours, contact me at mengels@verizon.net . For only $5 it can be in your hands!!

Don't forget retiring sets and accessories are only available for a couple more days....Sunday, Aug 10 is the deadline (or while supplies last). Retiring accessories are almost sold out. Get yours while you can.

Did you see the announcement about SU partnering with Sizzix to offer the Big Shot and exclusive dies? See the brochure for more info. DON'T MISS THIS!! The excluse dies are AMAZING!!

BIG SHOT BROCURE

Stay tuned for OPEN HOUSE information.

Karen

New Catalog Info

I'm as anxious as everyone else to see the new catalog. SU decided to NOT send their demonstrators their copy (or any that have been ordered for customers) until after the convention. So even though I have not seen it yet (sigh!) I've got some news about the great stuff inside.

Here's the "Sampler" of the new catalog.

Items from past mini catalogs that made it into the new catalog
Holy Triptych stamp set
Tart and Tangy stamp set
One of a Kind stamp set
Bloomin' Beautiful stamp set
Summer Picnic designer series paper
A Perfect Day Rub-ons
Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware
Mini Library Clips
Chunky Sprinkles Glitter
Die Cut Blooms

Items we've seen before but small changes have been made
-An additional set of Die Cut blooms in baja breeze, very vanilla, close to cocoa, & kiwi kiss
-Carousel Notes in ruby red, kiwi kiss & baja breeze. The envelopes are still Chocolate Chip
-Scallop Notes in pink pirouette, baja breeze, & chocolate chip with very vanilla envelopes
-Gift notes in kiwi kiss, riding hood red, & kraft
-*Textured* love notes in tangerine tango, bashful blue & old olive
-Green Tea designer series paper--same print as Ginger Blossom DSP except the colors are changed to old olive, certainly celery, & baja breeze
-Junior Varsity designer series paper--same print as East Coast Prep DSP except the colors are changed to rose red, old olive, bashful blue & so saffron
-Pina Colada simply scrappin' kit--same print and design as the Summer Days simply scrappin kit except the colors are changed to riding hood red, tangerine tango, old olive & so saffron
-Flower Fusion--we still have the first set, but they've added another set of flowers in pink pirouette, baja breeze, & chocolate chip (yeah!)
-Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware--just like the silver styled hodgepodge hardware except with a vanilla colored finish


Ribbon Here are the new colors added to what we already have. We no longer sell any packs of ribbon origionals.
--1/4 " grosgrain--added Rose Red, Sage Shadow, Old Olive, & Chocolate Chip
--1 1/4" Pink Pirouette Grosgrain ribbon
--7/8" So Saffron Poly-twill ribbon
--3/8" Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin ribbon--very vanilla on one side and kiwi kiss on the other
--Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon
--1" Double-stitched Grosgrain ribbon (this looks like the wide Rose Red grosgrain ribbon that is currently in the Fairy Tale ribbon originals)--Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip. The stitching is white.
--5/8" Striped Grosgrain ribbon (this looks just like the black ribbon with the two white strips going down the middle that's in the Jersey Ribbon Originals)--riding hood red, pink pirouette, baja breeze, pacific point, kiwi kiss, tangerine tango. The stripes are white.


New Punches
--Scalloped Edge
--1 3/4" Circle
--Wide Oval
--Scalloped Square
--Curly Label Punch Box--the punch looks like this { } on all four sides. It comes with a set of four stamps.

BIG news for August

While I was away at the beach last week, there were some major announcements made in the Stampin' Up! community. Each year SU hosts a convention where they unveil the new catalog and announce the new products and promotions for the upcoming year. THIS year was a BIG one, because we are celebrating our 20th year as a company. Here are a few of the big announcements:

-Stampin' Up! has partnered with Sizzix to sell the Big Shot die cutting machine and EXCLUSIVE SU die-cuts made to coordinate with our products.

-All new stamps in the new Fall 2008 Catalog will be die-cut (you don't have to trim the extra rubber when you mount them). Note this does not apply to stamp sets that are returning from the previous catalog.

-Starting Aug. 11 there is a new 15% off promotion
From August 11 through September 30, you can get
never-before-seen savings on never-before-seen stamps. Receive a 15 percent discount on preselected, brand-new stamp sets--no additional purchase necessary!

(click on image to enlarge)