february swap cards

february swap cards

I LOVE getting HAPPY MAIL!
What is Happy Mail – for me it’s most anything sent by mail that is not advertising, junk or bills! When you get a hand written card in the mail doesn’t it bring you joy?
Demonstrator swaps are like that too! Every month I participate and cannot wait to get 10-20 cards in the mail from sister stampers that create some lovely cards for me to share with you all!

The first card is actually a late arrival from my January Swap that arrived in the mail after I posted my January Swap blog so this one features the most popular Sale-a-bration requested FREEBIE – the Bloom Impressions DSP. Carol S’s swap card uses that Sale-a-bration DSP paired with the Beautiful Butterflies dies and the Painted Plaster 3D embossing folder. For all of you that EARNED this gorgeous paper here is a lovely idea for how to use it on your own creations!

This Mediterranean Blooms DSP card from Lyn L shows an easy way to create a card using our gorgeous Designer Series papers as the main attraction! She used the coordinating bundle on top of the DSP.
Marie W’s swap card features the Linked Together bundle from the current January to April 2025 mini catalog products to create a lovely die cut creation full of colorful flowers and sentiment oval die set atop the neutral Country Woods DSP.
Judith P’s masculine swap card used the Terrific Toadstools bundle in neautral shades of Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Basic Black with splatters of Craft White ink over it to create a “magical” vibe!
Jeanna T’s swap card gives us an excellent peak at the newly released Online Exclusive suite Botanical Textures that features the Mini Corrugated 3D embossing folder, gorgeous masculine paper showing textured textiles in neutral shades and great dies and stamps to coordinate!
The Thankful Garden Bundle with it’s coordinating die, masks and stamp set is featured on Veronica S’s swap card in Bubble Bath and Lemon Lime Twist set on a background of contrasting black and white for a stunning thank you card! This is the first time I have seen the Starburst Sequins from the Lovely Garden Suite and they are stunning!
STARBURST SEQUINS #165539 $7.50
* 180 adhesive-backed pieces
* 5 mm, 6mm
* Crushed Curry, Fresh Freesia, white
This delightful swap Thankful Garden card is from Carol S. Using the sentiment from the Country Birdhouse stamp set and the flowers and foliage from the new Thankful Garden bundle with masks for easy coloring this cards focal pieces pop in Melon Mambo and Garden Green set on Black and White! The rectangular dies from the Textured Notes bundle set the tone on both the front and inside of the card.
Susan W’s swap card in beautiful green hues features the Layering Florals embossing folder, the Winter Meadow DSP, the Everyday Details stamp set and the coordinating (retired) Everyday Details dies and the Shaded Spruce ribbon all set on a Shaded Spruce card stock base.
Robin C’s swap card features the lovely Wildflower Birthday Suite of products including the Wildflower Specialty Designer Series Paper and die cut sheets, the Spotlight on Nature dies, and the eyelet embossing folder for a fun Gatefold Offset fun fold card with coordinating envelope flap with an additional piece of Designer Series paper!
This Tower card fun fold from Nancy F uses a fun stand alone display card featuring the Lovely Garden DSP and the sentiment from the Bright Borders stamp set and the coordinating To the Point Label punch for a very springtime card! She also decorated her envelope flap with DSP – clever!
Lori V’s swap card uses a belly band with a die cut from the Mixed Labels bundle to close around this gorgeous DSP from the Mixed Media Suite. But the best is the surprise inside with a pop up floral arrangement from the Mixed Florals bundle over the Painted Plaster 3D embossing folder panels!
The last card in my February Swap collection is from my upline Denise W and she made a Tri-fold Shutter card – fancy! I will be highlighting my own version on one of my upcoming blog posts and I will teach you have to make this fun card! Denise used Petunia Pop In Color for the base card and the Meant To Bee bundle with coordinating DSP to complete the look!
Hopefully we inspired you with all these fabulous swap ideas and now it is your turn to go and create some artwork of your very own – one stamp at a time!

Happy Stampin’
Natalie

scrapbooking workshops

scrapbooking workshops

I had the opportunity recently to attend the first of three virtual scrapbooking workshop training seminars.
To say that I am delighted for Stampin’ Up! to be expanding their scrapbooking line is an understatement – I am so excited with the offerings that are coming out and super excited to see the line that will be debuting in the future!
The first session met to discuss and put together the double scrapbooking pages of the new Meant To Bee scrapbooking workshop.
The workshop is a totally self contained packet that includes all of the product to make three gorgeous double page scrapbooking spreads with a lot of product left over to create more matching pages of your own!
The kit comes with a full color instructions booklet with step by step details on how to cut and put together these pre-designed scrapbooking pages.
The first page of the first double page spread features little 2″ x 2″ square of the patterned paper – one of which is exclusive to this workshop and coordinates with a stamp bundle and two toned scrapbooking paper that color coordinates with this suite of products.
The words and bumble bees are stickers for easy adhesion and coordination!
The second page of this spread carries the squares of DSP theme to the matching page and allows for a seamless spread to highlight your scrapbooking photos!
I used some recent photos of a family vacation to set off this stunning and easy to do scrapbooking spread!
I used a coordinating marker to draw dotted lines for the bee’s trail across the pages – such a cute detail!
The second spread used Designer Series paper as the background with the exclusive bee designed DSP to make the photos pop. Easy coordination with pop out die cut stars and flowers to decorate as you like along with the stick words with mixed fonts and coordinating colors!
The last page is set on Old Olive cardstock and carries the coordinating DSP papers along for a coordinated set of pages or use them separately – these photos were from an adult only Napa wine country tour we took last year and featured just a few of the many happy pictures we took! The third page was made from scraps and left overs from the kit and I still have many more scraps of DSP, stickers, punch out shapes and cardstock to use to create a bunch more pages!

I loved the ease of this coordinated kit and cannot wait for the next one to show you!

Interested in getting a group together for a scrapbooking night? Let me know and we can make your next ladies night out a scrapbooking fun night!

Below I have included the codes and linked photos of ALL the coordinating products,
I only used the Meant to Bee Scrapbooking Workshop to create these pages! You could do a whole themed scrapbook with just these products though – would “bee” super cute!

Happy Stampin’
Natalie