My scrap bin was bursting with discarded images and shapes, and this snowy weekend seemed like the perfect time to turn them from trash to treasure!

Whenever I am stamping, I put any stamped images or die-cut shapes that I decide not to use for whatever reason into a small tub. My thought is that someday, I will come back and do something useful with those pieces. Today was that day. 

I started by dumping out the contents of my scrap bin on my stamp table. I sorted through everything by putting like shapes and images together. I also started putting aside bits and pieces that I was most interested in working with. I put a few things neatly back in the tub right away, knowing that it was not yet time to transform them into a beautiful card. Then, I got to work. 

I quickly made over a dozen cards. I'm going to showcase a few below and others will be the subject of upcoming blog posts. So, if you see a card you like that's not explained below, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to get updates about my blog. 
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Even after putting together over a dozen cards, my scrap bin is still full! I'll need to spend some more time crafting with my leftovers. Do you have a scrap bin? I'd love to hear about your creations in the comments below.

I'm so excited to be participating in the Stampin' Friends Blog Hop this year! Our first hop of 2020 is a Birthday Bash. All of the bloggers have created some amazing projects to share with you that are perfect for celebrating birthdays. I hope you'll click through and check them all out! The next blogger on the hop is Maureen Rauchfuss. So, when you're done here, hop over to her blog to see the projects she's created!

Isn't that super fun?!? I love the excitement of sliding out the box bottom and having the four interior boxes pop out everywhere! It's a great way to add a little pizzazz to giving a gift card or a birthday message. I found this neat project in a blog post by Krystal of Red Hot Stampers. I have rewritten and adapted parts of her tutorial, but you might want to jump over there and see her take on it. 

I've decorated my box with the Birthday Bonanza Designer Series Paper from the January - June 2020 Mini Catalog and the Here's a Card stamp set. On the inside of the box bottom, I used the Broadway Birthday stamp set. The cardstock is Mango Melody and Bermuda Bay. I used these same colors for the ink as well as Terracotta Tile and Tuxedo Black Memento ink.
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5. Cut the corners out like the picture above. The solid blue lines are the cut lines. The dotted green lines are fold lines that you have already scored.
6. You will notice there are dotted blue lines that create triangles inside the triangular shapes at the sides. You will need to score these. I find the middle of the diagonal line and then score from that point to the opposite corner of the triangle. 

10. Twist the rubber band and slide it over the other side and into the accordion groove. Then, adhere the two sides of the triangles on that side.

11. Finally, adhere the flap on the end to close the box. 

12. Decorate the outside of the boxes as you wish. I used the Birthday Bonanza Designer Series Paper from the January - June 2020 Mini Catalog. ​

13. Collapse the pop-out boxes by pinching the sides and close them inside the slide-out box bottom and sleeve. 

14. Give to a friend and wait for the surprise!   

I hope you've enjoyed this box project and card as much as I do! Thanks for visiting the blog today and make sure to go take a look at all the projects on this month's hop!

1. Rachel Rife
​2. Kim Lamos
3. Teri Pocock
4. ​Cheryl Taylor
5. Jo Blackman
6. Steph Jandrow
7. Katja Ettig
8. Lisa Ann Bernard 
9. Kim Quade
10. Heidi Collins <-- You Are Here!
11. Maureen Rauchfuss
12. Jean Bolen Beaulieu
13. Anne Marie Hile
14. Barbara Welch 
15. Melissa Thomas
16. Sue Vine

I will be doing a Virtual Stamp Class as a Facebook Live event on February 12. Through a series of live Facebook videos, I will be demonstrating these four projects. There will also be specials, games, and all the fun stuff of a stamp class! If you'd like to join me, please RSVP to my Facebook event. 

If you'd like to stamp along with me during the class (or after), you can order a Make-n-Take kit for only $40. The kit includes the Painted Poppies stamp set, a Wink of Stella pen, and all of the cardstock and accessories to make all four projects. Be sure to order by January 25, 2020 to have your kit in time for the Facebook Live event. You can find more details on the Card Classes by Mail page. 

I finally got a chance to sit down and play with some new Designer Series Paper yesterday. Sometimes, the patterned paper is so pretty that all it needs is the addition of a sentiment to create a beautiful card. That is what I did here.

Using dimensionals, I layered the sentiment on ribbon and linen thread from the Annual Catalog. I also added three copper brads below the sentiment. The whole card front is attached to a Pretty Peacock card base. This truly is a quick and easy card that still has loads of texture and interest!

It’s the best time of the year for stamping! From now until the end of March, earn a FREE stamp set or accessory for each $50 you spend (before shipping & handling and tax). These special stamps and accessories are only available during Sale-A-Bration and only with a $50 order.

In addition to the FREE stamps and accessories with each purchase, you can also earn a Free ladybug stamp set with a qualifying hostess order. And if your wish list is long, you might want to consider getting the starter kit which includes a FREE mini cutter, a 6” x 6” sample paper pack, and a FREE stamp set of your choice!

For the Christmas cards, I used the So Many Stars stamp set and dies with the Beautifully Gleaming Designer Series paper. Unfortunately, this gorgeous paper is sold out for this year, but Stampin' Up! has promised to bring it back next September! The stamps and dies will be retiring at the end of December, so if they're on your wish list, be sure to order them before they are gone. ​

While all of these fun folds make great Christmas cards, they can be used for any occasion. I paired the Check You Out stamp set with the See a Silhouette Designer Series Paper to create another set of cards using these same three folds. 

I hope you've enjoyed these Christmas cards and are able to use the fun folds in your own creations. Please take a moment to check out the rest of the designers participating in the Magnolia Blog Hop!

Judith Weiß
​Silke Trapani
Samira Merzouk​
Heidi Collins (You are here!)
Ginny Harrell
Ramona Shneider
Margreit Siekman
Sandra Herzog

Before the 2019 Holiday Catalog by Stampin' Up is over, I wanted to share a few more cards featuring stamp sets from it, like these Playful Penguins. This set is so cute and easy to overlook in the catalog. It is a great set for creating a variety of cards. While the stamp set includes some great sentiments, I also paired the penguins with greetings from other stamp sets to show its versatility. 

All of these cards follow the same basic pattern. A piece of 5" x 3 3/4" Whisper White cardstock, a piece of 5 3/16" x 3 15/16" Basic Black cardstock, and a card base in one of the brights colors cut to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4". 

I stamped the scarf with Melon Mambo ink on a scrap piece of Whisper White cardstock and cut it out before adhering it to my penguin with liquid adhesive. I tried stamping the scarf directly on the penguin, but was unhappy with the muddled results. The scarf is much brighter when it isn't stamped onto a black penguin. And fussy cutting the scarf was easy! However, the hat is stamped directly on the card front. 

Once again, the sentiment is from the Playful Penguins stamp set. I stamped it in Melon Mambo on a strip of Whisper White cardstock and mounted it on another piece of Basic Black cardstock. Then I mounted it to my card front using Stampin' Dimensionals.
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I hope you've enjoyed this quartet of penguins! Tomorrow, I have one last post of gorgeous Christmas cards coming your way as I participate in the first ever Magnolia Bloghop Project.

The Bells are Ringing stamp set and the Detailed Bells Dies from the 2019 Holiday catalog feature a variety of bells from handbells to jingle bells that are perfect for Christmas, the New Year, weddings, and more. I paired this bundle with the Brightly Gleaming Designer Series Paper. While the paper is sold out for this year, it will be back for the Holiday 2020 catalog. However, this wonderful bundle of bells will retire at the end of December!

To coordinate with the Brightly Gleaming DSP, all of these cards use Pretty Peacock, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, and Merry Merlot cardstock and ink as well as Very Vanilla Copper Foil cardstock. All of the coloring on these cards has been done using an aqua-painter with ink from the ink pad. 

I stamped the bow with Stazon ink. To color it, I tapped my Pretty Peacock ink pad on an acrylic block to transfer a little ink. Then, I used my aqua-painter to pick up the ink from the acrylic block and color the ribbon. 

I cut the bells using the Detailed Bells dies and stamped the sentiment with Pretty Peacock ink. ​

Normally, I only blog about projects that involve rubber stamping, but today, I thought I'd share with you what has been taking up all my time and keeping me from my stamping.

My kids were both in marching band all through high school, and when they went off to college, they joined their universities' marching bands. Band has been a huge part of our lives for the last 10 (?) years, from Jr. High all the way through. (Although, they both decided not to continue this fall, and it has probably been harder on me than them!)

We also give the kids a special ornament each year that ties into something they'd been doing or that they really liked that year. So, when my kids were in high school, I wanted to give them marching band ornaments. They had other musical instrument ornaments from previous years, but since they were both in high school marching band, I wanted something that was specifically related to marching. I searched and searched and came up completely empty handed.

Not one to be easily daunted once I have an idea in my head, I decided that I was just going to have to make them something. 

As a Francophile, the new Parisian Beauty stamp set was a must have! It will be available in the new January - June 2020 Mini Catalog, but I just couldn't wait to sit down and have a play with it. And then I couldn't wait to share the results with you!

I used this stamp set to create three cards, one that is very simple but elegant, one that has a few more layers or what I like to call chic, and the last one where I pulled out all the bells and whistles, or embossing folders and masks, to create an over-the-top, Oh là là! card. For all three cards, I used a color combination of Pool Party, Petal Pink, and Smoky Slate.

​Finally, I pulled out all the stops for my Oh là là! card. Although, as you can see, it still has the same basic imagery stamped on the front, but there is a lot of other stuff going on as well.

This time I started with an even smaller piece of Whisper White cardstock (3" x 4 1/4"). I started by using a mask from the set of Basic Pattern Decorative Masks found on page 35 of the Holiday Catalog. I used a sponge dauber to lightly sponge Smoky Slate ink in the upper left and lower right corners. Over this, I stamped the long, hard-to-read sentiment from the stamp set in Petal Pink ink. I stamped off before stamping it each time. Then, I stamped the other images as I had on the previous two cards.

I ran this stamped piece of Whisper White through my Big Shot using the Subtle 3D embossing folder. Then I swiped my Smoky Slate and Petal Pink ink pads along the edges to give it a distressed look. I layered it on a piece of Petal Pink cardstock (3 1/8" x 4 3/8"), a piece of Pool Party cardstock (3 7/8" x 4 5/8"), a piece of Bird Ballad DSP (4 1/16" x 5 5/16") whose edges I had also swiped in Smoky Slate and Petal Pink ink, and finally onto my Petal Pink Card Base. 

​I stamped the greeting in black on a small piece of Petal Pink cardstock, clipped the ends with the Tailored Tag punch, and swiped the edges with gray and pink ink. I adhered this to my card with Stampin' Dimensionals so that it was somewhat off-center and across multiple layers. I added three Basic Rhinestones near the greeting, and in the upper right corner, I took a small piece of Petal Pink Metallic-edged Ribbon, folded it in half, tied a piece of White Baker's Twine in a bow around it, and adhered it in place with a glue dot and a little Snail adhesive. 

This card was definitely not quick, but like the chic card, it wasn't difficult either. It just took a little more time and fussing. The end results were completely worth it though! I can't wait to make more cards with this beautifully elegant stamp set. Did I mention it has matching dies as well? Hopefully, those will be coming to my stamp studio soon!