More Retiring Favorites - Week 2 and Discounts are Live (Punches, Dies, & Embossing Folders)

 

Hi Everyone,

Well it's week 2 of my Favorite Retiring Stampin' Up! products. Today I wanted to share the must have punches, dies, and embossing folders that every crafter needs. It's the perfect time to get those must haves because many are discounted in the Last Chance Sale. You can also get double Café Coins and have a chance to win Mystery Hostess. 

Lets start off with punches. I think that punches are so handy. Even if there are dies that have some of the same images, that's fine. Sometimes you just want to have a quick result. You can see in my card, that I've used the Cloud Punch. This is the first and best punch not to miss. 

In my recent video, I shared many samples using the Cloud Punch. It has so many uses and just needs to be in your crafting supplies. Let's see what other punches are must haves.

• Cloud Punch
• Dragonfly Punch
• Ladybug Builder
• Double Oval Punch
• Bunny Punch (Coordinates with Easter Bunny Stamp set)
• Songbird Punch (Coordinates with Sweet Songbird Stamp set)

All of the punches I'm suggesting can add great additions to your projects. Both stamp sets mentioned are also retiring. 

Let's talk about dies. So many of Stampin' Up! dies coordinate with a stamp set. They can cut out stamped images or even from the coordinating designer series papers. If you look closely at the die offerings, you will notice that many of the die sets can stand alone as well. Here are a few that I think every crafter needs. Most retiring dies are 30%-50% off now!

• Scallop Contour Dies (Coordinates with the Color & Contour Stamp set)
• Labels Aglow (Coordinates with the Lights Aglow Stamp set)
• Stitched with Whimsy

The final category for my blog post is embossing folders. Embossing folders can add so much wonderful texture to your stamped projects. There are great techniques you can do as well. Let's talk about the few every crafter needs. 

• Merry Melody (great for the holidays)
• Timeworn Type (my favorite for that vintage look and great techniques)
• Raindrops (perfect for many occasions)

I hope you like my ideas for the must have punches, dies, and embossing folders. There are so many Stampin' Up! products. When the Last Chance Sale happens, the discounts on these products can be up to 60% off. All of must have products I shared are all have deep discounts. The Double Oval Punch and Merry Melody 3D Embossing Folder are full price. 

When you shop with me in April, you are in the drawing for a chance to win the hostess rewards (if $150 is met in orders). Shop with the Host Code #UG7TDQU6. You can shop with any links I share. Shop from the products below and apply the host code at check out. Shoppers also with receive double Café Coins. Collect 20 coins and choose $40 of FREE product. Check out my recent video for more details on the products I'm suggesting. 

Thanks for stopping in today. Be sure to check back next week when I share more retiring favorites. Don't delay in ordering because products are selling out quickly.

Happy Stampin'

Mary Blocher

Mary's Stampin' Café

A Few of my Favorite Retiring Stampin' Up! Products - Week 1 (Designer Series Papers)

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for stopping in. Today is the first post dedicated to my favorite retiring products. Why am I sharing these? Well I want to help crafters know how to have great products as well as getting the products that will be the best for the bucks and have lots of uses. I plan to focus on one category each week. 

The Last Chance Sale begins on April 9th. Many products have discounted prices, so be sure to go online to see what they are. I will also mention in my blog posts if the products I'm sharing are discounted or not. 

This brings me to my first topic. Designer Series and Specialty Papers. I know if you are a crafter, you love patterned papers. Stampin' Up! has gorgeous Designer and Specialty Papers. In my recent video, I mention how Stampin' Up! DSP stands well above the rest. 

• Beautiful and artistically designed
• Perfect color coordination
• Product Coordination

This card has two of the three things I mentioned above. It is beautiful and artistically designed and has perfect color coordination. This paper is called Forever Love. It is a 12" x 12" Specialty paper. This means that one side of the designer series paper has metallic features. In this case the metallic features are beautiful flowers and designs. 

When it comes to color coodination, Stampin' Up! is the best! It's an amazing process to the creation of the designer series papers. Artists sketch, paint, color the patterns and images. Then the art pieces are scanned into a computer and color matched to Stampin' Up! color offerings. It's amazing! This card features Pretty Peacock cardstock and ink. The Forever Love DSP is also in Pretty Peacock and it's a perfect match! I love this feature. The projects you create look so rich and just wonderful. 

Another reason to love Stampin' Up! designer series paper is how it coordinates with other products. This Bee Mine Valentine Bundle is so cute and using the Bee Mine 12" x 12" Designer Series paper creates great projects. 

This designer series paper is so cute! Pairing in with the Bee Mine Valentine Bundle for cards, memory pages, or treat bags is so much fun. The Stamp set and bee punch are carrying over, but this DSP is retiring. If you have the Bee Mine Valentine Bundle, you might want to stock up on this fabulous DSP. I know that I am for sure!

Another specialty paper I am going to suggest is Vellum. Vellum is a type of transulent cardstock. In this card, I used the Vellum Basics Specialty paper. This is Vellum that has some designs. There are diagonal stripes, dots, and leaves. You can die-cut and punch out Vellum. There are many ways to use Vellum too. The Vellum Basics will be 40% off beginning April 9th. 

There is one more type of paper products that I want to call out and tell you the couple that you need to put on your list. These are Specialty papers that do not have designs for the most part. 

• Soft Shimmer 12" x 12" Specialty Paper (not overly shimmery, just perfect)
• White Center 12" x 12" Specialty paper (great for techniques) Also going to be 50% off beginning April 9th.

I hope you take some time to check out the Designer Series and Specialty papers available. Take note of all the retiring papers. All the DSP retires each year with the exception of two. You can also check out my video for more details.

Thanks again for stopping in and Happy Stampin'

Mary Blocher

Mary's Stampin' Café

Fancy Fold Weekly Wednesday FB Class

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for stopping in for my Fancy Fold projects. I decided to use a couple of my favorite products and create two of the same Fancy Fold to show off my favs.

The Latte Love Suite is found on the Online Exclusives at Stampin' Up! My favorite part is the A Little Latte 12" x 12" Desiner Series Paper. I am beginning to enjoy the dies quite a lot as well. 

The stamp set is also a lot of fun. The splatter and cup stain are great for the inside of this card!

One of my favorite Designer Series Papers is the Fresh as a Daisy 12" x 12" DSP. I just love the colors in this package of DSP. It is perfect for the Easter Bunny stamp set and punch. 

This Fancy Fold card layout is really very easy. I have a PDF tutorial that you can click on and download to create your own. Share your project with me if you do make one. I'd love to see what you've created. 

You can also check out details on my March Madness FREE card kit and Mystery Hostess drawing. I have a recent blog with all the details. Thanks again for stopping in. I hope to have you back again. 

Freshly Made Sketches with Softly Sketched Stamp set

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for checking in on my blog today. If you saw the recent March Madness Blog, you know that this card is one of the four cards in my FREE March card kit. I origanlly designed this card for the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #624 by Jen B. I love creating with the sketch challenges. I feel like half of the work is taken care of, so all I need to do now is choose the products I'll use. 

I just love the colors in the Softly Stippled Designer Series papers. They are so soft and subtle. This paper was a FREE Sale-a-Bration pick in January & February. The colors in my card are Wild Wheat, Pool Party, and Lost Lagoon. So very nice!

I love the beautiful stamped images in the Softly Sketed Stamp set. I thinks the petite sentiments are perfect for some simple yet stunning stamping. One idea I was thinking about was to use the Stampin' Up! Notecards & Envelopes to create some gift sets of cards using the images and sentiments in the stamp set. It would be such a nice variety of handstamped cards. I'll be sure to share a blog when I get that finished. 

I hope you enjoyed my card for the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #624. You can create your own card for this challenge too. The challenges are open to everyone, so have some fun! Check out the March Madness post if you are interested knowing more on how to get my March card kit FREE.

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

Mary's Stampin' Café

It's March Madness - FREE Card Kit & Mystery Hostess

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for stopping in for my March Madness blog post. It's always so much fun when March arrives. So many festive activities are happening, so I wanted to share my love of crafting more with you. You can earn this FREE card kit with four fabulous cards when you order with me in March. 

The cards in the FREE card kit are the cards that my local stamping friends can come to my workshop room and make them on the third Saturday of the month. I am extending these cards to other stamping friends near and far who cannot make my in person workshop. 

 

One of the wonderful things about this FREE card kit is that three of the cards are using new Online Exclusive products. 

The Latte Love Suite is great with fabulous DSP, Embellishments, and a Bundle. The DSP is definately the star of the card. 

The other Suite is called Flowering Zinnias. It also has stunning DSP, embellishments, and a Bundle. Two of the cards feature these products. One project is a special folds card too.

For this FREE card kit, any order of $30 before shipping and tax qualifies you to get the March kit. In order to qualify, you need to shop with me. When you shop my links, the host code is already applied. If you shop online without my link, the Hostess code is #S7QDERMS. Use at checkout.

The last card in the FREE card kit uses the Softly Sketched Stamp set in the current catalog. I've paired it with the Sale-a-Bration Softly Stippled DSP. This DSP goes so well with the stamp set!

Did I mentioned that during this March Madness month, any orders placed with me by March 30th, will go into the drawing for Mystery Hostess. That means, you could win all the hostess dollars for the party total  (minimum $150 party total is required before hostess benefits apply). This also is only for U.S. customers. I cannot ship outside the U.S.. 

I hope you love these cards as much as I do. I am so happy with the new Online Exclusive products. Remember, if you want to get this FREE card kit, you simply place the minimum $30 order by March 30th and I will package and ship your card kit the first week of the following month.

Thanks again for stopping in for this March Madness post. I hope I've inspired you to craft with me. 

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

Mary's Stampin' Café

Additional Supplies:

In order to complete the projects like mine, you will need to have some of your own supplies. I cannot stamp any images, so you will need to have the same stamp sets or switch out for something you already have. Much of the cards focus on the designer series papers. All the consumble cardstock, DSP, Die-Cuts, and embossing will be done for you. Stamp sets, sentiments, inks and adhesives will be your responsibility. I've listed below the additional supplies you will need. Add any of these to your order. Latte Love and Flowering Zinnia products are available to order March 5th. I cannot add images of these, so be sure to look those up at my online store under Online Exclusives. 

Sweet Springtime Paper Pumpkin Kit - Some Additional Cards

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for stopping in. Boy if you haven't seen the February Paper Pumpkin kit called Sweet Springtime, you have missed out! If you aren't a subscriber, you can subscribe and get the refill kit for this Paper Pumpkin kit. 

During my Facebook Live Wednesday session, I shared the Sweet Springtime Paper Pumpkin kit. Then I wanted to share how to take some old card supplies from past classes and create something new. This first card uses the Misty Moonlight base, Daffodil Delight layer and the Hand Penned DSP strips. These were pieces from an old card design left over from a past class. 

I added some interest on the Daffodil Delight cardstock by adding some texture with Art and Texture stamp set. The Bunny and chick are from the Paper Pumpkin kit as well as the daffodil pieces. 

The stamps are from the Sweet Springtime Stamp set. The daffodil stamp is so cute!

This card was also created using left over supplies from a past card class. The cardstock, DSP, and scallop pieces were all together in an envelope. Even the small circle. 

The bunny and chick are so sweet. I colored the bunny with Wild Wheat and the chick with Daffodil Delight with a hint of wheat. What I really like about this card, it's perfect for any baby.

I have one more card to share, but it isn't using the Sweet Springtime Paper Pumpkin kit. I was prepping some supplies for an upcoming class and had several strips of the Flowering Zinnia DSP left over and decided to create with them along with some other odds and ends.

The bold and bright colors are so awesome! Lemon Lime Twist and Berry Burst and colors in the DSP. 

To get the Lemon Lime Twist on the Thoughtful Moments "Hello", I first embossed and die-cut the words in white. Then I took the Brayer and inked up with the Lemon Lime Twist and lightly rolled over the embossed word. It is wonderful that you can get any color you want using the Brayer. 

Thanks again for stopping in. I hope you enjoyed the cards I shared. Let me know which one you liked best. I'd love to hear from you. If you would like to get details on my Brayering Techniques Specialty Class, you can check out my recent video or blog. 

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

Mary's Stampin' Café

 

Fabulous Brayering Technique Specialty Class Open Registration Now!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are well and ready to have some fun with Brayering Techniques. Today's blog gives all the details for the wonderful products and supplies for my Brayering Techniques Specialty Class. I usually have a Specialty Class (class with products) on the last Sunday of the month. Participants can join me in person or choose the To Go option. Well for March, the last Sunday happens to be Easter Sunday. I decided to get this class going much sooner, so you can have fun with the techniques I share. 

For the specialty class, the product portion includes the Stampin' Up! Brayer and the upcoming Adhesive-Backed Sequins that will be Online Exclusive only. Of course, you also get supplies for 5 wonderful projects. The projects you see are the ones for the class. Mine are the prototypes, so they may have have a little shadows and things. 

One thing that will be a focal point of the class will be the Thoughtful Moments Hybrid Embossing Folder. There are several ways to use this folder. You will also have lots of extra die-cut words for future projects.

A couple of the projects are using upcoming Online Exclusive products. These bundles will be available beginning March 5th for customers. The Magnolia Mood Bundle is just beautiful. I shared a card in my last blog on the fabulous dies. 

The Simply Zinnia Stamp set is also an upcoming Online Exclusive product. This is also available in a Suite including the bundle, Flowering Zinnia DSP (we will use some of this on a project) and the Adhesive-Backed Sequins (you are receiving a full package in the class). 

If you are interested in participating in this class, I know you will love it. You can simply fill out the registration form to reserve your space or To Go Kit. Below is my video sharing for the class. I also have listed out the additional products you will need to complete your projects like mine. You will need any coloring tools. I used Stampin' Blends for my coloring. 

For To Go participants, If you want to complete the projects just like mine, you would need to purchase the Online Exclusives I mentioned on March 5th in order to get them for your projects. You can order any of the upcoming products NOW if you want to join my team and take advantage of the joining special that ends at the end of February. You can choose $125 for $99 in your starter kit, but also get the Glass Mat Studio FREE or an additional $30 product FREE. You can find the details here on my blog. Joining in February also gets you Sale-a-Bration rewards too. You can also substitute any of the sets. Any die-cutting or embossing will be done for you. 

I hope you are inspired by the cards in my Brayering Techniques Specialty Class. Deadline to register for this class is March 2nd. Reach out if you have any questions. This class is for U.S. customers only. I cannot offer these types of classes outside the U.S. 

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

Mary's Stampin' Café