Bonus Days - Final Days to Earn

There are just over 48 hours left to earn during Stampin' Up! Bonus Days.

Stampin' Up! Bonus Days

Bonus Days end on July 31, 2024; phone orders must be completed by 6:59 pm MDT and online orders must be submitted by 11:59 pm MDT. All of the details were posted on July 1, but in a nutshell you will earn a $5 coupon for every $50 spent (before shipping and tax). The coupon(s) will be emailed to you minutes after you complete your qualifying purchase. Save the email to redeem coupons between August 1 and August 31. The coupon codes are valid online until 11:59 pm August 31 (valid on phone orders until 6:59 pm MDT on Friday, August 30).

Earning coupons via Bonus Days is a great way to "bank" a little extra to spend in August.

Try to stay cool the rest of the week (can you believe this past Saturday morning it was cool enough for the seat and steering wheel warmer to automatically turn on when I ran an early morning errand?!).

Additional Information for July 23

When I wrote about the free shipping (when you spend $75 or more) on July 23, I forgot to remind you about Bonus Days.

Stampin' Up! Bonus Days

Bonus Days continue though July 31. Phone orders must be completed by 6:59 pm MDT and online orders must be submitted by 11:59 pm MDT on July 31. You will earn a $5 coupon for every $50 spent (before shipping and tax) to spend in August. All of the Bonus Day details are on my July 1 post.

In addition to free shipping on July 23 and Bonus Days through July 31, from July 23 to July 25, Paper Pumpkin subscribers can purchase past Paper Pumpkin Kits, Refills and Add-On's at a discount – some up to 75% off. You can browse the Refills, Past Kits & More here. To subscribe to Paper Pumpkin month-to-month, go here.

Paper Pumpkin August 2024 Subscription

If you have been considering a prepaid Paper Pumpkin subscription, now is a great time. Let me show you the savings you could enjoy for a 12-month subscription on July 23 when free shipping is available:

The 12-month subscription is $252.00 – please do NOT use my host code when ordering – rather look for the Stampin' Rewards box in your shopping cart. With the 12-month subscription you will qualify for $25.20 in Stampin' Rewards. Immediately add the items you choose for your rewards to your cart (this is a use them or lose them situation) to have the rewards shipped directly to you. In addition to the Stampin' Rewards, you will receive Bonus Days coupons, $25 to spend in August. Finally, if you choose to order the 12-month subscription on July 23 when free shipping is available, that is another $27.72 savings (or so depending if your Stampin' Rewards selection goes a little over). Let's see, that is $50 in free products, $25.20 to spend today and $25 in coupons to spend in August, and almost $28 savings on shipping.

No matter if you choose a month-to-month or a pre-paid Paper Pumpkin subscription, if you subscribe by August 10, there is a bonus stamp that will be included with the August 2024 kit.

Thank you for visiting today!

Mark Your Calendars for July 23 - Free Shipping

I am excited to share that I just learned that Stampin' Up! is offering free shipping on July 23rd!

Free Shipping

Here are the details: All order types qualify for this promotion. Free shipping is for 24 hours only. Orders must be opened and closed on July 23, 2024. Ordering Deadlines

• Phone: 23 July 2024 at 6:59 p.m. (MT)
• Online: 23 July 2024 at 11:59 p.m. (MT)

Free shipping automatically applies to your cart after the qualifying amount has been met, which is $75 USD (before tax).

Coupon codes and product credits are non-commissionable and will lower your order’s retail amount. Orders must meet the qualifying amount to be eligible for free shipping.

The additional cost for expedited shipping is not covered by this promotion.

Prepaid 3-, 6-, or 12-month Paper Pumpkin subscriptions can contribute to the qualifying amount for free shipping (Month-to-month subscriptions do not qualify). Subscriptions billed and shipped this month will be charged for the normal amount ($24.50 USD shipping included) + tax. You can browse the Stampin' Up! website here or download a PDF of the catalog here.

Have a great Sunday and week ahead!

Simpler Sympathy Cards

Happy Sunday!

When I am short on inspiration or I am waiting for an appointment, I often flip through current and past catalogs. No matter how often I look at the books, I typically find something new to me. The final two sympathy cards I created last week were inspired by a card in on page 46 of the Stampin' Up! Mini Catalog January-April 2024 (see the card that inspired me below).

Flirty Flamingo Sympathy Card 

This card uses Flirty Flamingo paper from the Brights 6" x 6" (15.2 x 15.2 cm) Designer Series Paper (163775), white and black cardstock and a silver foil paper (unfortunately it appears white on the left and black on the right of the embellishment. Since I became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator on May 1, my selection of sympathy sentiments is rather limited, so the sentiment is from Altenew: With Deepest Sympathy. The scalloped circle is from my stash and the "willow branches" are dies from Stampin' Up! Winterly Tree Tops Dies (164065). I embellished with Silver Metallic Thread.

Honey Bunny Sympathy Card

This card uses paper from the CTMH Honey Butter paper packet, CTMH Flamingo cardstock, black and white cardstock and silver foil paper. the Flamingo cardstock was die cut with Stitched Swirl Background Thin Cuts (CC9227) which was available from CTMH during National Stamping Month in September 2022. I though the swirls looked like the trails from butterflies. The circle and butterfly were dies I've had in the stash for awhile. The butterfly die cut has open spaces in the wings that I covered with silver foil paper. Unfortunately I am not quickly finding the stamp set I used for "Thinking of you". I am pretty certain it is one I have in my stash from CTMH. When I find it, I will update this post. I embellished with Silver Metallic Thread.

Below is part of the page from the Mini Catalog that inspired me. The card in the catalog was created featuring the Botanical Beauty Stamp (162903).

 Botanical Beauty Stamp and card samples from January–April 2024 Mini Catalog

Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to download the recipes for the January–April 2024 Mini Catalog; I am curious how the lines on the lower part of the, I think, Berry Burst card. It looks like the Botanical Beauty stamp was used twice on the top part of the card. It was stamped once in coordinating ink and a second time with pigment ink and was heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Thank you for visiting today.

Winterly Tree Tops Sympathy Card

Happy Independence Day!

Today I am sharing the third of five sympathy cards I created last last week.

sympathy card created with Winterly Tree Tops

Is one of your first thoughts, "I have not seen this set in the catalog or on the website"? If so, there is a great reason. The Winterly Tree Tops Bundle (164066), which includes the Winterly Tree Tops Cling Stamp Set (164184) and Winterly Tree Tops Dies (164065), was recently used at Creativity Now, a creative virtual event for demonstrators.

Rather than the Winterly Tree Tops Bundle, we had the option to purchase the Nests of Winter Suite Collection (164072) which includes the Winterly Tree Tops Stamp Set, Nests of Winter 12" x 12" (30.5 x 30.5 cm) Designer Series Paper, Natural Tones Linen Thread, Earth Tones Shimmer Gems, Birch Wood 3D Embossing Folder, and Winterly Tree Tops Dies. Both the bundle and the suite will be available in an upcoming catalog (I think September, but watch my blog and/or Facebook page for updates).

I stamped the birds, branches and sentiment on white cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (132708). I used the coordinating dies to cut the birds and branches. I trimmed the sentiment piece to focus on "thinking of you". I colored using Colorista Pencils. My goal was to color the birds to resemble male and female cardinals and the berries to look like blueberries since they are in season here. The colors I used were: Flint Grey, Dark Timber, Oak Tree and Chestnut Brown from the Natural Landscape bundle, Blue Teal and Azure Blue from the Bright & Vivid bundle and Primrose, Marigold and Poppy Red from the Floral Sensation package.

I used a scalloped oval die (The Paper Boutique Essential Nesting Dies Vol. III - possibly/probably retired) I've had for years to cut the Pine cardstock from CTMH; a good SU! cardstock substitute would be Shaded Spruce. I also used white, black and Sea Salt cardstock. While not perfect matches, either Costal Cabana or Lost Lagoon from Stampin' Up! would be good alternatives to the Sea Salt cardstock from CTMH.

close up showing Spotlight on Nature texture stamping

Before I layered the Pine onto the Sea Salt and the die cuts on the Pine, I used the texture stamp from Spotlight on Nature (163579) and an old neutral ink, Bamboo, from CTMH in a few spots where the texture could be seen coming from behind the oval and the birds/branches. Second generation stamping aka stamping off using Wild Wheat or almost any lighter, more neutral color would be a good alternative to achieve a similar look.

I assembled using Stampin’ Dimensionals® (104430) to layer the pieces.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Another Layers of Beauty Sympathy Card

This is the second of five sympathy cards I created last week. I used the Layers of Beauty Bundle (163519) which includes the Photopolymer Stamp Set (163514), Dies (163518), and Decorative Masks (163517) to create this card.

sympathy card created with Layers of Beauty

I stamped the floral spray from the Layers of Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (163514) twice onto white cardstock using a Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (132708). The first stamped image was onto the top card layer and the second was on a smaller piece of cardstock, making sure the rose with three leaves fit onto it. I then used the Layers of Beauty Decorative Masks (163517), blending brushes and Honey Butter, Pumpkin, Scarlet and Clover Stamp Pads from CTMH to color the images.

Layers of Beauty Dies (163518)

The "focused" image (rose with three leaves) was die cut with the die circled in red above. The die allows Layers of Beauty to be used in a decoupage style.

decoupage on Layers of Beauty Sympathy Card

After cutting the image with the die, I did trim a little more with my scissors and used the blending brush to "tone down" the white edges. Then I used Stampin’ Dimensionals® (104430) to layer the rose/leaves on top of the card front.

The sentiment is from CTMH: RYS102 Bluebird Sentiments. It was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.

If you had questions about the Layers of Beauty Dies, or even if you did not, I hope you like the idea of decoupage, especially with this Bundle. Myself, I am very pleased with the results.

Have a great rest of your week.

What's New for July 2024

There is much Stampin' Up! news to share for July 2024. Please note, promotions begin on July 3 and I believe all promotions (product availability and Bonus Days) are in place at 12:00 am MDT.

Bonus Days

Stampin' Up! Bonus Days

Bonus Days are from July 3 until July 31, 2024. Phone orders must be completed by 6:59 pm MDT and online orders must be submitted by 11:59 pm MDT.

• Earn a $5 coupon for every $50 spent (before shipping and tax). 
• All coupon codes will be emailed right after a qualifying purchase has been made. Since a Customer Account is necessary, if you do not have an account with SU! online, be sure to create one prior to placing an order.
• You can earn multiple codes on a single order; if you earn multiple codes from a single order, you will receive one email with multiple codes. If you earn multiple codes from multiple orders, you will receive separate emails for each code earned. BE SURE TO SAVE THOSE EMAILS.
• All order types qualify for this promotion. Phone and email orders still require an email address.
• Orders started before the promotion begins will not count toward earning coupon codes. For example, if you add items to your cart before 3 July and wait to purchase until that date or later, then those items will not qualify towards earning coupons. You must add items to your cart and complete your purchase during the earning period. 
• There is no limit to the number of coupon codes you can earn per order or throughout the duration of the earning period. 
• Coupon codes can only be earned on commissionable items. Non-commissionable items, purchasing a catalog for example, do not count towards coupon earnings. 
• You must use a valid email address during checkout in order to receive their coupon code. If you place an order over the phone, you must still provide a valid email address to receive the coupon code.
• Starter Kit orders are excluded from this offer. All other order types qualify.
• For workshop orders, each customer who reaches a qualifying amount will receive a coupon code to their provided email address. 

Beginning on August 1 you can redeem the coupon codes you earned in July. The coupon codes are valid online until 11:59 pm August 31 (valid on phone orders until 6:59 pm MDT on Friday, August 30).

• There is no limit to the number of coupon codes you can redeem on an order during the redemption period. If using multiple codes, they must be separated by a space. 
• Coupon codes may be redeemed one time only. They cannot be redeemed after the 31 August. 
• Coupon codes may be redeemed for any product (excluding Starter Kits and demonstrator supply items). They cannot be used on exchanges.
• Bonus Days coupon codes can be applied to month-to-month Paper Pumpkin subscriptions and new prepaid subscriptions.

New Online Exclusive Products

All of the options are not included in the two flyers below, but here is a sampling of what you will find on July 3 when the Online Exclusives become available.

Greenery and Gold Suite Flyer Page 1	Greenery and Gold Suite Flyer Page 2
Iconic Celebrations Flyer Page 1	Iconic Celebrations Flyer Page 2

Two New Card Making Kits

Stampin' Up! has two new card making kits coming! The kits include everything you need to create fun crafts with simple instructions. Check the Stampin' Up! website on July 3 for kit details.

The final CTMH™ Products are here.

Cover July-August 2024 Product Release Exclusive CTMH™ Products

This digital flyer has all of the products that Stampin' Up! received from Close To My Heart. We are able to finish the Gnome series and pick up the Secret Garden Collection. It is my understanding that Secret Garden would have been the National Scrapbooking special in May 2024 if Jeanette Lynton had not decided to retire. Wowza! It is a beauty. There are also a few stamp sets, some albums and page protectors along with some stamp pads and cardstock (including a few new colors). Unfortunately the quantity that SU! was able to acquire is limited and stock may sell out. As of about a week or 10 days ago, we were also told that all of the products were not expected to arrive at the SU! warehouse by July 3, so you may see a couple of waves of product availability.

I think I am forgetting to share some news. Hopefully I will find some notes to remind me what I am missing. In the meantime take a look at the flyers so you know what will be available on July 1.

Have a great week ahead and if we do not "see" each other before Independence Day, have a wonderful time celebrating our great nation's birthday.

Wildflower Designs Sympathy Card

Sadly we recently needed sympathy cards again recently. This card was very much inspired by a card on page 40 of the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog May 2024-April 2025. If you do not have a copy of the catalog, you can download one in PDF format from this page.

sympathy card created with Wildflower Designs

Since I am relatively new to Stampin' Up! and I do not have many of the colors yet, I relied on my CTMH stash to aid me with completing this card.

From Stampin' Up! I used the Wildflower Designs Bundle (163334) which comes with the Wildflower Designs Stamp Set (163325) and Wildflower Designs Dies (163333), but you could use the Wildflower Designs Stamp Set alone to create this card. I used a sentiment from a past Close To My Heart card subscription kit (if you've followed my posts for awhile, you know I keep the stamp sets from the past card subscription kits nearby when I create). The CTMH colors I used were Journey, Acorn and Pine, but SU! colors Pretty Peacock, Pecan Pie and Shaded Spruce will produce similar results. I used Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (132708) to stamp the sentiment. For cardstock I used White Daisy, Journey and Pine. Basic White, Pretty Peacock and Shaded Spruce.

I created a total of five sympathy cards, one for each daughter and one for three of the granddaughters. Be sure to stop back over the next few days to see each card.

By the way, today is the last day for Bundled Savings. Save an additional 10% on all stamp and die bundles. In addition, save 10% on the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine or the Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine. The Bundle Savings can be found here.

Have a great day of rest before the hectic workweek begins again.

Happy Graduation Congratulations

Graduation season is upon us here in New York State. We received an invitation to a graduation party for the great-great-granddaughter of the woman who watched me while my mother worked when I was not old enough to go to school (and for at least one summer when I was to young to be on my grandparents farm). My goodness, that makes me feel old. Here's the card I created for this special occasion.

graduation card created with Sweetly Scripted

While the caption says "created with Sweetly Scripted" (Stampin' Up! item number 163600), in addition to the "congratulations" from that set, this card came together with a mix of items from my collection. In addition to the Sweetly Scripted Cling Stamp Set (163600) from Stampin' Up!, I also used The Future Is Bright Stamp + Thin Cuts (Z4706) in the April-June 2023 Close To My Heart Catalog and some unearthed treasures in my craft stash. Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (132708 is the Stampin' Up! item number) was used for the stamping.

To try to match the school colors better, I used a sheet of green cardstock from my stash. The pearl white cardstock is from Slice (remember that electronic cutting machine from Making Memories?) and was in the Metallic Paper package. I used the pearl white for the cap, tassel and brad (the smallest circle die I own from Tattered Lace Foundation 2 Nested Circles Die Set). Silver foil cardstock was used for the "brad" and tassel (as a shadow to the pearl white) and with a die from Scrapbook.com to cut and emboss the strip of stars.

The class year was created with QuicKutz dies I have had for awhile: the Quickutz 4x8 Dies - Chocolate Alphabet. I cut the apostrophe, two and four in black and green and slightly offset them so the green would have a black shadow. The stars were from set I found on clearance a few years ago: Sizzix Dotted Stars (Sizzix product number 662731). 

I planned to share this card Sunday (the graduation party was Saturday), but the weather did not cooperate and we were without power most of Sunday.

I hope you are inspired to mix some recent additions to your crafting library with some products you have had for a hot minute. Have a great week ahead!

Layers of Beauty Sympathy Card

If you follow my page on Facebook, Brenda's Paper Crafts, you saw this card a few days ago. I created the card when we learned that someone my mother attended school with passed away.

card created with Layers of Beauty

I stamped the floral spray using the Layers of Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (163514) onto white cardstock using Intense Black Ink from Close To My Heart (the Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad (132708) from Stampin' Up! is another option). The stamped image was then die cut using the Layers of Beauty Dies (163518). I used an old Cricut cutting mat to hold the die cut in place while I stenciled using the Layers of Beauty Decorative Masks (163517) and Honey Butter, Rosy and Jade Stamp Pads from CTMH.

The Layers of Beauty Bundle (163519) includes the Photopolymer Stamp Set (163514), Dies (163518), and Decorative Masks (163517). The bundle is an extra 10% off the bundled price until June 30, 2024.

The card front was covered with the light side of Jade cardstock from CTMH after it was embossed with the Diamond Embossing Folder (Z3020) from CTMH. The floral spray was added to the card front using foam tape. The sentiment and die cut shape it is stamped on are from the Thoughtful Expressions Cling Stamp Set (162815) and Thoughtful Expressions Dies (162821). This was added to the card with a thinner foam tape.

I used some gold foil cardstock found in my stash to cut the layer placed behind the sentiment and to cut five leaves from the Layers of Beauty Dies (163518). The gold leaves are tucked in several places behind the floral spray. I really wish foiled cardstock photographed better.

This was the second card I created with Layers of Beauty. You will find the first card here.

I am very happy with the results. I hope this card brought a little bit of comfort to the family.