Welcome to Day 1 of the Remarkable New Catalog Blog Tour!

Stampin' Up!'s New Colors

One of the things I’m most excited about with the new 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalog is the Color Renovation (Stampin’ Up!’s new colors)! There are four new color collections, with 10 colors in each collection, that are fresh and exciting. Plus – the In Colors will be available for two years, instead of just one. Five new In Colors will be introduced every year — so starting in 2011, there will be a total of 10 In Colors to choose from.

The four core color collections are: Brights, Subtles, Regals and Neutrals. Some of your old favorites are still there… some of the previous In Color colors have returned… and there are some fresh new ones too!

Stampin' Up! New Color Collections

For today’s cards, I decided to focus on the NEW core colors: Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, and Crumb Cake (formerly known as Kraft). Even though these colors are from four different color collections, I thought they still looked great together! So these 2 quick-and-easy cards incorporate all of these colors.
 

Our Journey Card Instructions:

This first card starts with a Crumb Cake card. Then I used the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die in my Big Shot with the remaining 5 colors. (If you didn’t purchase this cute little embosslits die during the Occasions Mini Catalog sales period, you have a second chance – because it’s back in the new catalog!)

Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die - Closeup

I adhered the butterflies in a line on the card and drew in the antennae with an Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker. I then stamped the “journey” stamp (from the “In a Word” stamp set in the Summer Mini Catalog) in Marina Mist ink on Whisper White cardstock. I adhered that to the bottom of the card (leaving it raised a bit to draw attention to the “our” in “journey”), and topped it off with 2 more butterflies and a scrap piece of Early Espresso cardstock.

The second card is even easier!
 

Remember Me Card Instructions:

I layered a piece of Whisper White cardstock on an Early Espresso card. Then I punched out circles of cardstock with my 1/2″ Circle punch. Before adhering them to my card, I lined them up where I wanted them to go. Then I stamped “remember” (also from the ”In a Word” stamp) in Early Espresso ink, making sure to line up the “me” circle with where the top right circle would go. (The clear stamps came in really handy for this part!)

On a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock I stamped it again – and this time punched out the “me” circle with my 1/2″ circle punch – and then adhered that to my card with a Stampin’ Dimensional.

Finally, I adhered the remaining cardstock circles to the card and then outlined them with my Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker.

With all the excitement of Stampin’ Up!’s color renovation, you might be wondering what the best way is to update your existing Stampin’ Up! products. Wonder no more! With the new color kits, you can get all of Stampin’ Up!’s new colors (and just the colors you need) without the expense of replacing products you already have. In fact, all of the new colors I used in today’s cards are included in the “Card Stock and Classic Stampin’ Pad New Color Kit”. For $34.95 you get 6 Classic ink pads and 24 sheets of 8 1/2″ x 11″ smooth card stock (4 each of 6 colors). Download this flyer for more information on all the color kits that are available: Stampin’ Up! Color Renovation Kits (PDF document).
 

Stampin’ Up! Stamping Supplies:

“In a Word” stamp set*
Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Crumb Cake, and Whisper White cardstock
Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die
Big Shot
1/2″ Circle Punch
Early Espresso and Marina Mist Classic Ink Pads
Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker
Stampin’ Dimensionals

*Items from the Summer Mini Catalog (available May 1 – August 31, 2010)

In a Word Stamp Set

Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die

Make sure you stop by tomorrow for day 2 of the tour. I’ll be showing you some samples made with one of the new stamp sets available for FREE when you host a workshop!
 

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Welcome to Day 2 of the Going Green Blog Tour! Today’s project is: Gift Card Holders:

Can you guess what I recycled to create these gift card holders?

They’re made from… empty toilet paper rolls! I also used up scraps from a couple of my recent projects: Love Notes Mini Mailboxes, Pretty Valentines, and Stamped Gift Bags and Recycled Crayons. Here’s how:
 

Gift Card Envelope #1:

1. Flatten the toilet paper roll as much as you can.

2. Cut a 5″ x 5 1/2″ piece of Pink Flamingo Designer Series paper and punch a scallop border on one of the 5″ sides.

3. Put glue all over one side of the flattened roll and adhere it to your patterned paper, leaving the scalloped edge sticking out past the roll.

4. After the glue dries, put glue all over the second side of the roll and fold the paper up to adhere it to the cardboard.

5. You will have a small flap of paper left. Wrap that around the roll and adhere it so your roll is completely wrapped.

6. Cut small slits into the paper edge on the bottom. Fold them inside the roll. (This will give your bottom edge a nice, finished look.)

7. Close the bottom of your pouch by adhering the bottom edges together with a strip of Sticky Strip.

8. For the inside tag: Cut another piece of pattererned paper to 2 3/8″ x 4 3/8″. Score the top at 3/8″. Fold it down along your score line and adhere it.

9. Punch a 1/8″ hole in the top folded edge and add a ribbon pull with 1/4″ Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. (You can find the instructions for making this knot on yesterday’s post: Stamped Gift Bags and Recycled Crayons.)

10. Adhere the gift card to the tag with removable adhesive and place in your pouch.

11. Now decorate the outside of your gift card holder. Stamp a greeting from the “Three Little Words” stamp set in Basic Black ink on a scrap piece of patterned paper.  Punch it out with the Modern Label Punch. 

12. Ink the edges with a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker and adhere it to the pouch. 

Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: Three Little Words
Basic Black Classic Ink Pad
Pink Flamingo Designer Series Patterned Paper
Scallop Edge Punch
Modern Label Punch
Crop-A-Dile (1/8″ punch)
1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon: Real Red
Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker
Sticky Strip

*Items from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available January 5 – April 30, 2010)
 

Gift Card Envelope #2:

1. Flatten the toilet paper roll as much as you can.

2. Using one of the fold lines as a guide, cut a straight line all the way through the roll.

3. Trifold the cardboard so you have a small flap on the top. Press hard on the creases.

4. Cut a 5″ x 6″ piece of Sending Love Specialty Designer Series paper.

5. Put glue all over the piece, especially along the edges. Adhere the roll to the center of the paper.

6. Fold in each side and adhere to the roll, folding in the corners.

7. Cut a 4″ x 5″ piece of coordinating patterned paper from the Sending Love Specialty Designer Series pack. Punch each corner with the Corner Rounder Punch. Adhere to the center of the roll.

8. After the glue has dried, re-fold the envelope and hold tightly together, pressing down on the creases. With a Crop-A-Dile, punch a hole through the top flap all the way through the layers to the back of the envelope.

9. Temporarily adhere the gift card to the inside of the envelope with removable adhesive.

10. Close the envelope, thread Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon through the holes and tie a bow.

11. Now decorate the outside of your gift card holder. Punch a piece of scrap patterned paper with the Modern Label Punch. Ink the edges with a Chocolate Chip marker and adhere it to the pouch.

12. Punch a piece of scrap Chocolate Chip cardstock with the Small Heart punch. And die-cut a ”U” from Chocolate Chip cardstock. Adhere both to the label punch.

Stampin’ Up! supplies used:
Designer Series Paper: Sending Love Specialty*
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip
Crop-A-Dile
Modern Label Punch
Small Heart Punch*
3/16″ Corner Rounder Punch
1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon: Chocolate Chip
Big Shot die-cut machine
Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die: Naturally Serif 

*Items from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available January 5 – April 30, 2010)
 

Check back again tomorrow for the last day of the Blog Tour. Tomorrow’s project won’t be a recycled item… but it will definitely be within the spirit of “Going Green”!

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Welcome to Day #1 of the RemARKable Stampers Going Green Blog Tour! When I think of “Going Green”, my first thought is to recycle. So today’s project recycles in two different ways:

1. create a “new” product by recycling something that would normally go into the trash and
2. create gift packaging made from the scraps from a recent Stampin’ Up! project, instead of throwing them away
    

The Project: Gift bags with “Recycled” Crayons:

With two young children at home, I have more than my fair share of broken crayons! You too? Don’t throw them out; use them to create new ones! Not only will you be wasting less… but your kids will love them too! Here’s how:

1. Remove the paper wrappers from crayons. (Note: From my online research I have learned that for best results you should use Crayola crayons — not a different brand and not the washable kind.) You can use an exacto knife to slice the wrapper open or soak the crayons in warm-hot water for a few minutes and the paper will come off easier. Or… if you’re trying to keep your children busy for awhile, have them work on removing the papers on their own. (I think my two-year-old loves to remove the crayon papers more than she likes to color!)

2. Heat your oven to 275 degrees F.

3. Break or cut the crayons into pieces 1/2″ – 1″ long.

4. Spray a silicone mold with non-stick spray (e.g. Pam). I used a heart-shaped Wilton mold.

5. Put the mold on a sheet pan to make it easier to transport to and from the oven — and also to catch any spills.

5. Put the crayon pieces in the silicone mold. Make sure to use at least enough crayon pieces so that the bottom is covered. For small hands (like my 2-year-old’s), the crayons are easier to hold on to if they’re not too thick; so I only filled the molds half-full. For larger hands (like my 7-year-old’s), I filled the molds so they were almost overflowing.

6. Place the mold and sheet pan in your preheated oven and bake until the crayons melt (about 10 minutes).

7. Set the mold on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then place in the freezer (or a garage in Wisconsin during winter!) for another 15-25 minutes or until the crayons have re-solidified.

8. When the crayons are cooled and solid, gently push them out of each cup in the silicone mold. 

Now your crayons are as good as (and possibly even better than) new! Your child will have the cutest crayons! These also make great gifts for children to give at Valentine’s Day or throughout the year. Here are some other ideas for  making your crayons:

• Use star-shaped molds for 4th of July
• Use pumpkin-shaped molds for Halloween or Thanksgiving
• Try mixing different shades of the same color
• Swirl greens and browns for a camoflouge crayon
• Add silver and gold crayon pieces to the other colors
• Halfway through baking, add glitter
   

 Now Let’s Work on the Packaging!

1. Cut a 3″ x 6 1/4″ piece of Pink Flamingo Designer Series paper. (Side note: One of the awesome things about Stampin’ Up!’s patterned paper is that it’s double-sided. So not only do you get to pick your favorite side to use… but in projects like this one, where you will see both the front and back side of the paper, you get to see a pattern on both sides of the project!)

2. Score the top of the paper at 1 1/4″ and punch the edge with the Scallop Edge Punch.

3. Place the paper in a small flat cello bag, with the scalloped edge sticking out at the top of the bag.

4. On a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock, stamp the heart image (from the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set) with Tempting Turquoise ink. 

5. Cut out the heart image, leaving a white border along the image, and adhere to the top of the bag.

6. Put 2 crayon hearts in the bag. Fold over the top flap and punch a hole – making sure to punch low enough on the paper that the hole gets punched through the bag.

7. Cut a small piece of Whisper White grosgrain ribbon. Fold it in half and thread it ends-first through the back side of the bag.

8. Pull the ribbon ends through to the front side, leaving a loop of ribbon in the back.

9. Fold up the ribbon ends and thread them through the loop.

10. Pull up on the ribbon, forming a knot on the top edge of the bag topper.

11. Punch out 2 small hearts and adhere them to the left side of the bag topper.

12. Then outline the hearts with a black journaler and write each child’s name on the right side.

Stampin’ Up! Supplies Used:
Small Flat Cello Bags
“ I {Heart} Hearts” Stamp Set*
Tempting Turquoise Classic Ink Pad
Pink Flamingo Designer Series Patterned Paper
Cardstock: Whisper White and Tempting Turquoise
Scallop Edge Punch
Small Heart Punch*
1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon: Whisper White
Paper trimmer with scoring blade
Basic Black Stampin’ Write Journaler

*Items from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available January 5 – April 30, 2010)

Make sure to come back tomorrow for my next “Going Green” project! I think you’ll be suprised to see what I recycled next!

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Here is a cute (and quick and easy!) mini note I made for my son’s Love Notes Mini Mailbox.

I stamped the red heart on the card first. Then I punched out the curly label and stamped the small heart on top. I adhered the label on top of the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals so that it “stands out” from the card.

Inside

 In the inside of the card, I stamped the heart first – and then the saying on top. (I LOVE the new clear mount stamps for getting things to line up “just right”!)

And that’s it! Super easy and quick!

Stampin’ Up! supplies used:
Stamp sets: I {Heart} Hearts* and Well Scripted*
Clear-Mount Block
Cardstock: Whisper White and Real Red
Punch: Curly Label
Classic Stampin’ Pads: Basic Black and Real Red
Stampin’ Dimensionals

*Items from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available January 5 – April 30, 2010)

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My 7-year-old son loves to receive (and send!) mail. So I created these mini mailboxes for us to “mail” notes to each other.

(Click on each image to view a larger version of the photo.)

The mailboxes came as plain white boxes - and they were just begging for a make-over!

Because the flag wasn’t easily removable, I had to workaround the base of it. First, I adhered a piece of Sending Love Specialty Designer Series Paper* to the mailbox with Sticky Strip. My favorite paper from the pack has large glittery pink flowers on it. I used that one for my mailbox – and picked a paper without any pink in for my son. (Because according to him, boys don’t like pink.)

Next, I attached ribbon to the front of the mailbox and also to the flag (both with Sticky Strip). I added a piece of white cardstock to each side of the flags (again with Sticky Strip). Then I punched out several hearts from the new Small Heart punch* and adhered them to the papers on the mailbox and the flag.

Finally, I used my Big Shot to cut out ”Love Notes” and I adhered the letters to the mailbox opening.

I LOVE how they turned out — and more importantly, my son did too. We’ve been have a great time passing notes to each other. When the flag is up, it means we have mail! Now we can give and receive love notes throughout the year!

Stampin’ Up! supplies used:
Designer Series Paper: Sending Love Specialty*
Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, and Chocolate Chip
1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon: Whisper White and Chocolate Chip
Punch: Small Heart *
Big Shot die-cut machine
Sizzlits Decorative Strip Dies: Stampin’ Up! Join in the Cheer and Naturally Serif 

*Items from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available January 5 – April 30, 2010)

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We made this cute Valentine’s Box at the RAD (Remarkable Achieving Demonstrators) Trip that my upline, Janet Wakeland, sponsored. For 4 days, select demonstrators from her team get to go to her amazing house in Pennsylvania for a stamping retreat. Four days of awesome food, all the stamping supplies you could ever need or imagine, and some of the kindest and most talented Stampin’ Up demonstrators around! She definitely knows how to spoil her team! Join my Stampin’ Up! team and you can try to earn the next trip! It’s just one of the many benefits of being on the RemARKable Stampers team!

Anyway — back to the box!

The box slides open and inside is a matching card (that you can also get a peak of at the top of the box).

The heart is punched out of the Designer Series Paper and then adhered to the card.

Stampin’ Up! supplies used:
Stamp set: Well Scripted*
Clear-Mount Block
Designer Series Paper: Sending Love Specialty*
Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red and Pretty in Pink
5/8″ Satin Ribbon: Real Red
Punch: Full Heart
Classic Stampin’ Pad: Basic Black

*Items from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available January 5 – April 30, 2010)

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