A friend in my neighborhood asked me to make some invitations for her Red Hats luncheon.  While I didn’t have a hat stamp, I improvised by using the classic Red Hats color combo of red and purple and some pretty flowers.   I cased the Stampin’ Up Annual catalog sample on page 167 for my easy layout!

I used the Subtle Dynamic Embossing Folder to give the solid Whisper White card stock a little character. I used Garden Green, Real Red and Gorgeous Grape for my Red Hats colors.   The Bundle is called Bouquet Blooms and actually makes these fun fold cards, too!
I also used the new Sprig Punch for the green leaves poking out.  That will be available to all on Sept 4th!

Stampin’ Up’s home office made a video showing how to use the dies for the fun fold card:

YES!  I will be offering my Holiday Shares!

I’ll post those on August 28th, when we are officially allowed to take payments for them.  (that’s 7 days before the new catalog begins on Sept 4)

If you would like to be on my email notification list for those, email me at Linda@stampingschool.com and include your full name and mailing address.

Don’t forget AUGUST is $5 coupon month aka Bonus Days!
For every $50 you order in August, you get a $5 coupon code to redeem in September!

Also, the Blended Seasons bundle will be ending soon!  I’ve really enjoyed the stitched dies in this set!  The Watercolor Pencils are not a part of this bundle and are reported to be coming back later.  The stamp set and dies will not be coming back.

August 1-31 Only!
A group of limited time only products with stamps, dies and 10 new watercolor pencil colors! You can view the official flyer HERE

Linda’s Special during August!
If you are a member of my Stamping School video library, you saw 2 videos I made using this new bundle. For all orders of $40 or more, I’ll send you the kits for both cards I showcased! (stamping not included per policy but all die cuts and embossed pieces included) If ordering online and your order is under $150, use Host Code AUEZZHDS
(ordering customers and team have free access to video library)

The stamp set is called BLENDED SEASONS
$39 Clear Mount or $53 wood mount   This is a BIG , two case stamp set!

Go Stamp Something!

$5 Bonus Days are Back!
If you were shopping with Stampin’ Up last year you may remember this fun promo.
For every $50 you spend in August, you get a $5 coupon code in your email to redeem in September.  It was a very successful promo and everyone loved using those coupons in for the Holiday Catalog, which releases on Sept 4!

Coupon Codes will be emailed to you so be sure you print it out and write the codes down and keep them!  I can help you redeem them either ordering online or by emailing them to me to place your order.   No limits to earn or redeem!

Color Your Season August Promo starts Today!

August 1-31 Only!
A group of limited time only products with stamps, dies and 10 new watercolor pencil colors!  You can view the official flyer HERE

Linda’s Special during August! 
If you are a member of my Stamping School video library, you saw 2 videos I made using this new bundle.  For all orders of $40 or more, I’ll send you the kits for both cards I showcased!  (stamping not included per policy but all die cuts and embossed pieces included)   If ordering online and your order is under $150, use Host Code AUEZZHDS
(ordering customers and team have free access to video library)

This is a big, two case stamp set!

If you already own the Stampin’ Up Watercolor pencils, don’t forget to order this companion set of pencils with 10 new colors!

The stamp set is called BLENDED SEASONS
$39 Clear Mount or $53 wood mount

We can get them individually (I will definitely get the new watercolor pencils!)
or get the stamps/dies as a bundle for 10% off:

A few samples from the home office:

Go Stamp Something!

Hi All!
Matt and I just returned from our week with Stampin’ Up on the Alaska incentive trip.  It was a wonderful trip away and it’s also great to be home:)  Some of you are on Facebook and followed along with me but for those not on social media, I’ll recap here on the blog!

Before I do, just a quick reminder that tomorrow is the last day for our ink pad starter kit promo!  If you decide to join my team by July 31, you get a free set of 10 ink pads!
Email me for details. 
New demos can also get in early on the Holiday catalog pre-order in August!

Stampin’ Up always leaves a little welcome on our cabin door.
This year is a wooden photo frame!

We boarded on a Friday and got settled in.  Beautiful balcony view and roomy cabin!

My guy loves the ocean.  He must have sailor sea legs in his ancestry somewhere!

On Saturday, we had our General Session for achievers and their guest.
It’s a business update and sneak peeks of the upcoming Holiday catalog!  (Demonstrators can order from it in August and customers on Sept 4*)
It’s a beautiful, stocked full catalog as usual!
*if you have ordered from me in the last 6 months, you will automatically receive one from me. If you want to request one, email me with your address to Linda@stampingschool.com.   (Demos, you will receive a complimentary copy from SU.)

(It’s not that easy to get a selfie on a windy balcony with a ship rockin!! I look surprisingly calm but I was trying not to get knocked over LOL)

During our General Session, we received some freebies!  Look at this beautiful foiled holiday paper!

This is a fun tool coming out in the Holiday catty, too!  It’s called Take Your Pick, and it has a little spatula for getting up stuck pieces or scooping up embellishments.  It can be pulled out and replaced with 2 stylus ends. On the other end is a sticky end for picking up sequins, etc. and it has an extra replacement sticky end.

This folder…..Love!  its a corrugated folder that creates deep grooves.  Shelli, our founder, showed these cute samples using it along with a new stamp set:

The hospitality room is full of candy and stamping inspiration!  This is where the guys hang out….I can’t even imagine how many pounds of peanut M&Ms they go through that week!

SUNDAY – JUNEAU

We were at sea until Sunday when we got to Juneau.   Matt and Tom went kayaking and I went to see the Mendenhall Glacier and Mt. Roberts tram.

Janet, Patsy and I enjoying the cool water breezes after a long hike to get up there!
(Alison and Des were with us too!)

When in Alaska, have some King Crab legs with chowder and crab cakes!  And the most fantastic Alaskan Amber beer that I can’t get here.

The view of our cruise ship 1800 feet up from Mt. Roberts.

In the hospitality room there were LOTS of samples on display featuring stamps coming in the holiday catalog!  We have a poinsettia each year but I love when they have coordinating framelits. too:

    
I tried to get a good shot of the detail above in the right photo but in person it’s really pretty.  The set below is called Alpine Adventure and there is a sled framelit die, too!

MONDAY – SKAGWAY

Matt and I were super excited about a Grizzly Bear excursion along the Chilkat/Chilkoot river in Skagway.  We had been to Alaska about 5 or 6 years ago and missed seeing bears so were hopeful we could get some this time but no.  Hard to control nature!  But we saw pretty scenery…

Then feeling a little ‘blah’ over our non-bear excursion we had a little time left for some
mush puppies!  We stopped to see the Iditerod-in-training sled dogs for some puppy breath and play time:

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY- TRACY ARM FJORD

We were at sea the next 2 days!  It’s a long time to be on the ocean and it was really too chilly to be on deck or in the pool.  We enjoyed the views, friends and ship entertainment.  Saw goats on the rocks, eagles and a few seals.  Cindy, Janet and I got a little  itchy for land but luckily SU had some nature set up in the hospitality room LOL

 
THURSDAY – VICTORIA
We decided to go very local and took a tour called Eat Like a Canadian!
So much fun with a great group of friends and we ate well indeed!
From our first time enjoying Poutine to Nanaimo bars, candied salmon, crab cakes, smoked tuna…..our taste buds were singing! Our tour guide MaryLou gave us a walking tour with history and food at the same time, perfection.

After all these years, I still rush back to the room to see what they left for us.  Like opening presents under the tree, I can’t wait to see what’s inside!  Giving us the upcoming, new Holiday catalog goodies is EXTRA exciting!
Here are the goodies on our pillows during the trip:

Who doesn’t love deer for the holidays?  And the framelit dies….love.

Beautiful papers with ph0to-realism ornaments and pine on one side

Annual catalog ‘stocking stuffers’

This jacket is actually gray but the lighting in the cabin was odd.  It’s a perfect weight and fits me perfectly, which most don’t.  There’s a SU logo on the back collar.  Love it!

Swirls & Curls embossing folder!  This will be fun for winter and all year, really!

A custom logo Bluetooth speaker!

A cool Scratch Map so we can scratch off all the amazing destinations
we have traveled with SU over the years

Another fun bundle coming in the Holiday catalog!  Matt said the light bulb punch
looks like a man’s shoe!

Isn’t this a pretty SU logo tote bag? Holds lots of stuff
including some 12×12 paper stuffed inside, too.

A   
This may be my favorite!  Think Tin Tiles embossed metals….going to be fun!

My FAVORITE bundle so far!  The framelit word dies are super!  Lots of possibilities!

Thanks for stopping by and if you have read all the way to the end, good job!
I know it was a long one!

P.S  August 1st begins BONUS DAYS COUPONS!   You may remember those from last year.  Spend $50 in August and get a coupon in your email for $5 off orders in September when the Holiday catalog begins.  Collect as many as you want and spend anyway you like!

Matt and I are heading to Alaska tomorrow on the Stampin’ Up Incentive Trip cruise!  This is our 12th trip with SU and continually thankful for my team and faithful customers who helped me earn it each year.  I’ll be posting on my Stamping School Facebook page if I see good ‘stampy’ things I can post:)  We will have a general session one day to see some sneak peeks of the upcoming Holiday catalog, so that will be exciting!

Before I go, I thought I’d share a quick project:

I love that Stampin’ Up is carrying these cute, premade pillow boxes this year in the annual catalog!  I think the Crumb Cake and white dots are versatile but I want more colors:)

Sponging takes a LONG time to get the coverage you need. I chose the Direct to Paper application, where I press the ink pad directly to the pillow box.  In this case, the new Merry Merlot is a perfect color to go with the Waterfront stamp set theme I needed.  Grap a paper towel or napkin before you begin.

(By the way, if you are on my Stamping School,
I showed 2 other videos with a reptile twist! )

It will be dark at first – once you wipe off the excess, it will be perfect!

Rub off the excess ink.  Switch ends and use the paper towel to
hold the inked side of the box down:

Repeat and rub the other side.  It will dry lighter!  Ink lightens when it dries, paint darkens.  Not sure why!

Stampin’ Up Product List

Choose a group of 10 new ink pads from the Brights, Regals or Subtles, Neutrals or In Colors… 10 new ink pads in your choice of color group when you join as a demonstrator (hobby discount shopper or business demo)

What a great time to start up or come back and re-join for a while!

You choose products up to $125 in your kit, pay only $99 and tax, free shipping and during July only, 10 free ink pads. Pretty good! There is also a ‘demo only’ preorder special and that can be added to your kit also – see the bottom of my post for that info)

As a hobby demo you can enjoy the 20% discount and place your own orders (I’ll walk you thru how to do that as your team leader, it’s easy) Here is my link to join:

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/lindaheller/jointhefun

Have you seen this punch box bundle in the Stampin’ Up annual catalog?
It’s on page 44 and has 6 photopolymer stamps that coordinate with the Darling Label punch.  It comes in a big 8″x 8″ tin with 2 ink spots and an acrylic block to mount the stamps on.  The stamps are versatile with Birthday, Hello, Thanks, Thinking of You, Best Wishes and Congratulations.

At first glance I thought it was pricey at $45 but then I added up the stamps, block and punch and you pretty much get the tin for around $2 and it’s a nice tin!   Great for storing cards and supplies or anything you want.

I made this card using the stamps from the set but opted to use circles and the Tailored Tag punch instead of the punch in the bundle.   I make a bright and colorful card for Stamping School videos a few weeks back using the same layout. (remember customers and team get free access to my video library of over 1000 videos!)

This one is all shiny gold foil, black and white using the Broadway Bound designer series paper!

This paper is gorgeous!
Shiny shiny gold foil designs on one side and bright birthday on the back side!

I really love how it turned out!
Below are just a few other samples from the home office:

Before I go, don’t forget about the AMAZING sign up promo for
10 free ink pads!

Choose a group of 10 new ink pads from the Brights, Regals or Subtles, Neutrals or In Colors… 10 new ink pads in your choice of color group when you join as a demonstrator (hobby discount shopper or business demo)

What a great time to start up or come back and re-join for a while!

You choose products up to $125 in your kit, pay only $99 and tax, free shipping and during July only, 10 free ink pads. Pretty good! There is also a ‘demo only’ preorder special  and that can be added to your kit also – see the bottom of my post for that info)

As a hobby demo you can enjoy the 20% discount and place your own orders (I’ll walk you thru how to do that as your team leader, it’s easy) Here is my link to join:
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/lindaheller/jointhefun

What a way to wake up and start July with 3 new Stampin’ Up promos!

The first one is a sign up promo for a whole color family set of ink pads FREE!  Choose a group of 10 new ink pads from the Brights, Regals or Subtles, Neutrals or In Colors .
10 new ink pads in your choice of color group when you join as a demonstrator (hobby discount shopper or business demo)

What a great time to start up or come back and re-join!

You choose products up to $125 in your kit, pay only $99 and tax, free shipping and during July only, 10 free ink pads. Pretty good!  There is also a ‘demo only’ preorder special starting today and that can be added to your kit also – see the bottom of my post for that info)

As a hobby demo you can enjoy the 20% discount and place your own orders (I’ll walk you thru how to do that as your team leader, it’s easy)  Here is my link to join:
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/lindaheller/jointhefun

Promotion #2

Here are the packs included in the promo and you can view them all in my store HERE and view a video from the home office showing all the papers we have in the annual catalog.  (some aren’t included in the sale)

COLOR YOUR SEASON
Promotion #3

DEMO PRE-ORDER   JULY 1-31
Customer Ordering August 1-31

The 3rd is happening now for demonstrators and will be available August 1st for customers!  It’s a group of limited time only products with stamps, dies and 10 new watercolor pencil colors!

You can view the official flyer HERE

The stamp set is called BLENDED SEASONS
$39 Clear Mount or $53 wood mount

We can get them individually (I will definitely get the new watercolor pencils!)
or get the stamps/dies as a bundle for 10% off:

A few samples from the home office:

That’s it for me today!  I hope you have a wonderful Holiday weekend for those that are celebrating and hope you find time to stamp today!

I’ve been going through some of my really old, pre-HD videos on Stamping School.  Time to send them to the recycle bin but also to do an updated version with new papers.  This is one I did back in 2008 called a Mini Shopping Bag Gift Card Holder.

The light outside today here in NC was so much better than inside!  I should have made the whole thing and photographed from my porch:)

I needed a little gift card holder for a new baby and I also got to use my new
Twinkle Builder Punch from Stampin’ Up!   I would highly recommend adding this one to your punch collection, even for the assortment of little stars that are useful for so many occasions.

I started with our new Twinkle Twinkle designer series paper and cut it to
4-1/4″ x 7-1/2″.  I also cut a coordinating piece 1/2″ x 7-1/2″.

After adhering that striped piece, score in landscape position at
2-1/2″, 3″, 3-1/2″, 6″, 6-1/2″ and 7″.

Turn to portrait position and score at 1″ to create the bottom of the bag.

Now it’s a few mountain, valley, mountain folds to create the shopping bag effect!

Before you get too far and glue it together, slide that punch in
from the top to punch the front of the bag.

Cut those bottom Flaps so you can glue to close.

We have these cute little adhesive stars in the new catalog.  Perfect to add on for some extra sparkle on the front and the tissue paper. I used glue dots to attach a few pieces of ribbon for the handle.  I also added some of the navy paper behind the punched moon and stars so it showed up better.
I really like how it came out!  Supplies are at the bottom of the email if you are interested in ordering those sometime!

Oh, before I forget!  We have TWO new promotions in July!

One is a pretty big one….a whole set of new ink pads, your choice of color group, when you sign up as new or returning demonstrator in July!
So you can choose the Brights, Regals, Subtles or Neutrals or In colors – 10 pads in each group!

The Starter kit is the same price and same perks –  You choose $125 worth of Stampin’ Up products and pay only $99 plus your tax and still FREE shipping on it all.  Then during July, you can choose one of the color groups of ink pads Free!   If you want to place your own orders (I’ll show you how) and get a discount of around 20% or more, then give it some thought. I’d love to have you on my team!

The 2nd special is a returning favorite – Buy 3 packs of Designer Paper and get One free!  Here are the 10 papers included in the sale but I’ll post the official sale flyer on July 1st.  Since I know some of you will ask, my recommendations are the 6×6 Tropical Escape or Garden Impressions,  Twinkle Twinkle, Under the Mistletoe (yes, early for christmas BUT I love the plaids in it) and it’s a toss up for the cuteness of the Animal Expedition or the serene Nature’s Poem.  If you don’t have the wood texture paper from last year, it’s a must-have!

Go stamp something!

Product List for Shopping Bag Gift Card Holder