Celebrate Sunflowers!

 

I have a whole bouquet of sunflowers for you today - sunflower-themed cards, that is.

These cards all feature the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle, which consists of the Celebrate Sunflowers set of 8 cling mount stamps, and the Sunflowers dies. This bundle is found on page 13 of the 2020-2021 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog. And here's a tip - the bundle of stamps and dies sells for $51.25, which if you purchase before Feb. 28, 2021 will earn you a free Sale-A-Bration item!

On to the bouquet - These cards all came from Stampin' Up! demonstrators who joined in a card swap recently. Enjoy!

January Team Swap Cards

It is always an exciting day when the mail carrier brings my package of the monthly swap cards from my upline’s team. The first one here is my creation for the swap. The theme for January was Valentines and love. As I don’t have any non-retired Valentine stamps, I chose the Positive Thoughts stamp set and the coordinating Nature’s Thoughts dies to make this card of encouragement. And here is the inside of the card.

 And the cards from my fellow demonstrators...These two cards feature the Forever and Always Bundle from the January to June 2021 Mini Catalog. (Contact me if you would like to receive this catalog.)

This card gets its bright colors from the Artistry Blooms Designer Series Paper from the Annual Catalog.

 This card uses products from the Love You Always Suite, which is found on page 10 and 11 of the Mini Catalog.

And finally this card combines the Reversibles type stamp set Back to Back Blooms and the dies from the Word Wishes dies, which has words for many holidays and can be used throughout the year.

Time-saving Idea for using a Stampin' Up! Builder Punch

 

    Do you have one (or more) of the Stampin' Up! Builder punches, that have multiple pieces to create a punched shape, such as this cute snowman? 

When there is a matching stamp set, I have a quick tip for getting all those stamped images to line up with the punch so you can ink once and punch once, saving time and cardstock!

First, punch the shapes on a scrap piece of cardstock to make a template. Stampin' Up's Thick Very Vanilla Cardstock or Thick Basic White Cardstock work very well for this, as the thick cardstock will be a little more study. I save the template in the case with the stamps to use over and over again.

Put the stamps in the holes in the template. I marked my template to know which side is up. It will match the top side of the punch.  You want the side of the stamp that will be on the acrylic block to be facing up when the stamps are laying in the punched openings.

Now lay your acrylic block on top of the stamps, press to make the stamps stick to the block, then lift up the block.

Now your stamps are properly positioned for the punch. Ink and stamp away.

I find it helpful to leave the block upside like this and tap the ink pad all over the stamps. I am able to see that the stamps are completely inked before I apply them to my cardstock.

I hope you find this tip helpful. I made almost 20 swap cards with this punched-out snowman, and believe me, it was a huge time-saver!

Happy Stampin!

Tutorial for a Simple Pop-Up Card

     

I recently posted a picture of a card I made that included a pop-up snowman on the inside. My friend Sheryl asked me to post the instructions for making a pop-up, so here is my simple method. Don’t let all the photos intimidate you. Once you make the first one, you’ll have it down. 

Here are all the pieces I used for this card. The only difference between this and any normal card is the snowman that will pop up inside the card and the strip of Basic Gray cardstock that measures 5 x 3/4 inches.

I have a sweet trick for stamping and punching the snowman pieces with the Snowman Builder punch. Watch for another tutorial to show you how to save time on that. I made almost 20 cards with this design, so I definitely wanted some time savers.

I'll skip over the steps to assemble the card front. When you're ready to make the pop-up, grab your inside piece with the words and the strip of Basic Gray cardstock.

Score the Basic Gray strip at 3/4", 1 3/4", 2 3/4" and 3 3/4".  Here's what it will look like.

I marked letters on the sections of the scored strip for reference with the photos. You don't need to mark them. The 1 1/4 inch long end is marked A and the 3/4 inch end is marked E. I didn't mark the C section because that piece will show when the card is open.

Put some Tear and Tape adhesive strips on the end marked A.

I like Tear and Tape for projects that will have a lot of movement because it holds better than the other types of adhesives, and I don't want my pop-up to come loose!

Remove the liner strips from the Tear and Tape adhesive on the A section and center it with the fold on the inside of the card as shown here. Make sure the fold of the strip is tight up against the fold of the card and stick it down good.

Then glue your word piece inside the card, covering the A part of the strip.

Next, put some Tear and Tape adhesive on the E end of the Basic Gray strip. It will be on the side facing up as you can see in the above picture.

Fold the Basic Gray strip at the center score line, fold the E piece so the adhesive is facing down toward the white word piece, and press it flat to glue it as shown here.

As you can see in the above picture, I have already put the adhesive on the D section of the strip. This is where your snowman will go. Fold the card part way closed so you can line the snowman up with the card as shown here.

Press the snowman on and fold the card closed to press all the pieces so they lay flat.

Voila! There's your simple pop-up card!

Be sure to check back in a day or 2 for my tips on how to save time stamping the snowman to use the Snowman Builder punch.

Happy Stampin!