WELCOME APRIL - WHAT'S HAPPENING?

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  It's April 1st and it's the month of transition. The signs of Spring are starting to show up in my yard now. Today I was checking out the forsythia blossoms in the trees below our yard.  Looks like the birds know it's Spring too because they seem to be busy looking for nesting materials.   

As we get closer to the end of the current catalogue year, Stampin' Up! has just updated the Last Chance Products portion of the online store with some more retiring deals.  You can check it out by clicking here.

BIG STAMPIN' REWARDS CHANGES:

Stampin’ Up! is updating their Rewards Program beginning April 15!

A big change is coming on April 15th, 2025 to the current Stampin’ Rewards program offered by Stampin’ Up! Any order over $20.00 will now qualify to earn Stampin’ Rewards from 2pm MT April 15 onwards.  This is a big change and probably a welcome one.  

Here's what you'll need to know:

• Stampin’ Ups! online store will be offline from 8 AM MT until 2 PM MT on April 15 for the transition to the new rewards system.  So don't place any orders until after 2pm on April 15, 2025. 
• My  “host code offer” will no longer apply my so you won't see any more Hostess Code postings or decals on my blog. 
• Orders of $200+ are no longer needed to start rewards with the new Stampin' Rewards system.
• Orders of $20+ will earn 10% rewards.  So, if you place an $50, you’ll earn a $5 reward to use the next time you shop! And, the system tracks your spent/unspent rewards for you.
• You can choose to spend a portion or all of your Stampin' Rewards on your next order, or you can save them up for a special purchase.
• Stampin' Rewards can be saved for up to a year.

The Fine Print - What do you need to do:

• If you don't already have an active Stampin’ Up! online store account you'll need to set one up so you can place orders and earn and redeem rewards.  If You can set one up your online account at stampinup.com.  

• I won't be able to create and manage customer accounts any longer.  Although I can still provide demo assistance, and answer any questions regarding your order, because of stricter banking policies and data/privacy laws, you'll need to officially be in charge of your own customer account for ordering and earning & redeeming Stampin' Rewards. 

• Starting April 15th you'll need to opt into the program to begin earning and deeming Stampin’ Rewards. When you place your first order on or after April 15, you’ll be given an option to opt into the new rewards program.  If you don't choose to opt in at that time, you'll have the option again when you place your next order.  When you don't opt in you won't qualify for rewards on your order, so why lose out on rewards, opt in right away.  

• There'll be a pop up option when you log into your stampinup.com as of the afternoon of April 15th just click the “get started” button to go through the opt-in process and start earning your rewards.

• If you don’t want to opt into the rewards program, you don’t have to opt in.  You can still order; you just won’t receive the Stampin’ Rewards for your purchases.  

Again, these changes will begin April 15th at 2 PM Mountain Time.  Contact me if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help you out. 

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNYTOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Floral Delight "Hello" - FMS #679

 

Hi and welcome back to a new week and a new card challenge.  This week I am using the FMS #679 for my "hello" greeting card.  It's always nice to have some cards on hand that you can send to friends for no other reason than to touch base, let them know you're thinking of them and that you care.  

FMS #679

Here is my card:

One of my best purchases this year has been the Floral Delight suite.  I am totally in love with the blend of yellows, greens and blue in both the DSP and the Floral and Gingham Vellum paper pack.  

Another Online Exclusive bundle used in this card is the Everyday Arches stamp and die bundle. I'm in love with the die cuts and how beautifully they next together to create great focal frameworks. The stitching around the arches adds such a polished look.   

Instead of using cardstock for the inside coloured matte on this card, I cut an additional piece of the green Floral Delight dsp and then layered on a smaller piece of Whisper White for the messaging area. I like using dsp for this layer as it cuts down on the mailing weight and it's a great way to use up those papers that you might not showcase in your cardmaking.  

Instead of adding a sentiment to the inside of this card I kept it simple by only adding a single flower in the bottom right corner.  Tip:  A lot of times there will be half images on the outside of the dsp paper that can be fussy cut and added right to the edge of your projects.  In this case there was only a half image of the flower and it fitted perfectly into the corner of the matter.  I like cutting out these types of images because they can be used as fillers by tucking them into an arrangement or are perfect for jazzing up a corner.

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• Everyday Arches #164623 
• Everyday Arches Dies #164628\
• Banner Framelit Dies (R) 132173 six 4 7/8 x 2 3/4 (trimmed down to 4 3/8"

The banner was cut from one of the designs in the Floral and Gingham Vellum paper.  To hide the band of yellow DSP going across the center of the card, and to make the design on the vellum pop out a bit more, I cut a second banner from Whisper White and adhered it to the vellum one with mini glue dots.  This really made the beautiful floral design on the Vellum come to life and gave it sort of a dreamy background for the arches. 

Cardstock:

• Whisper White card base 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for card base.  
• Whisper White 3 3/4" x 5" for inside matte, 5 1/4 x 4 for banner backing, 3 1/2" x2" for smaller arch on front matte.
• Lemon Lolly 4" x 5 1/4" matte for card front 
• Pool Party for 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" for larger arch on front. 
• Floral Delight DSP:
• 2 pieces 5" x 3 3/4" for front and inside mattes (solid green pattern)
• 1/2" x 4" strip of patterned paper for front matte
• 5" x 3" piece Floral and Gingham Vellum #164713 - for banner 
• Small flowers fussy cut for decoration on Arch and inside card

Floral and Gingham Vellum #164713

Floral Delight DSP #164700

Ink:

• Old Olive for the "hello" sentiment from Everyday Arches stamp set. 

Accessories:

• Dimensionals large and mini
• Adhesive Backed Shiny Sequins (green) #163484

The sprays of yellow flowers which remind me of forsythia which is currently in bloom here in Abbotsford, were fussy cut from the DSP and blued in the corners of the white arch.  To add some dimension I cut the yellow flowers from a different DSP in the package and popped them up on Dimensionals.  The shiny sequins gave a bit of sparkle as the finishing touch on this card.  

Well that's it for my "hello" card.  I love the fresh spring look achieved by layering the beautiful Floral Delight papers.  What do you think? Would this card brighten your day and make you smile?  

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my Online 24/7 Shop 

Friendly Seagulls Birthday Card - AHSC#622

March  is definitely going out like a lion with lots of wind and rain.  On Thursday night we had a big thunder and lightening storm in the wee hours.  Quite frightening, however woke up to sunshine and a nicer day on Friday.  How the days in the week fly by. 

Speaking of things flying by, it's time once again for my entry into the latest Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.   

     

Here's My Card:

Sketches are always up for interpretation, so when I looked at this one, the strips reminded me of nautical pilings.  I could envision the gulls from the Friendly Seagulls set perched on top of the piling arguing over a chip.  That vision led me to create this birthday card.   

I debated about spritzing or splattering the background but decided I liked the look of the card without a lot of other things going on.  Between the glimmering gems and the sandy pebbles I figured that was enough design elements.  

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• Friendly Seagulls #164961
• Under the Moon #163531 - water 
• Fun in the Sun - PP July 2023 for sun and "sending an ocean of love"
• Sending Love Dies #162879 - logs
• Textured Note Dies #165555 - sentiment basic white stitched strip

Cardstock:

• Basic White 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for base
• Scraps of Basic White for seagulls and sentiment strip
• Scraps of Crumb Cake for logs
• 4" x 5 1/4" Summer Splash
• 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" Marigold (R)

Ink:

• Momento Black Ink for Seagulls
• Crumb Cake
• Summer Splash
• Mango Melody
• Pool Party

Accessories:

• Dimensionals
• Navy and Crumb Cake Butcher Cord for logs
• 2024-2026 Incolour Shimmer Gems 

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my challenge card.  Hope you got a chuckle out of those seagulls.  They make me smile.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store 

Dodge Charger Masculine Birthday - FMS#678

This sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is open to interpretation as you can see from the Design Team's samples.  

The moment I looked at this sketch I visualized using the splatters for a masculine birthday card and having the splatter mark as a backdrop for a vehicle. 

Click here for details and to see the Design Team Submissions 

Here's My Card: 

Our nephew Tom's birthday falls on April 1st so it was time to get busy and make him a special card. Like me he's always been a big fan of hot American cars like the Dodge Charger series so I decided to use this sketch and Stampin' Ups! "Geared Up Garage" for the focal for his card.  

My dream car back in the 70's was a yellow Dodge Charger Hellcat like this one in the photo. 

 

Later models had more black on the roof and hood details but for my card I chose to keep the colouring fairly simple.  

Supplies:

Stamp & Die Set:

• Geared Up Garage (R) #148590 stamp set "car and sentiments"
• Garage Gear Dies (R) #148521
• Perennial Birthday (R)  "Happy Birthday" inside sentiment 

Cardstock:

• Card base 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" Whisper White scored at 4 1/4", matte 3 3/4" x 5", inside matte 3 7/8" x 5" 
• Pebbled Path matte 5 1/4" x 4"
• Crushed Curry matte 5 1/8" x 3 7/8", inside matte 4" x 5 1/4" 

Ink:

• Momento Black ink for car and sentiment
• Mango Melody light and dark for car
• Crushed Curry for splotches 
• Pebbled Path for splotches and car details 
• Color Lifter 

Accessories:

• Crushed Curry and Pebbled Path Flat Gems 
• Cut and Emboss Machine 
• Dimensionals 

Thanks for dropping by for a visit and checking out this card and I hope you liked my interpretation of the sketch.  Come again! 

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 online store:

Click here for info on how to apply Hostess Code 

Seaside Adventures with AHSC #621

Update:  Top Three Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #621

A big thanks to Brandi for entering my card into the AHSC #621 challenge when I was late getting it entered.  Also a big shout out to the Admin team for choosing my card along with Brigits Easter Eggs and Deb Horst's Blueberry design as Top Three Badge Winners for this Challenge.  You made my day!  So appreciated! I loved all the card entries!  

Penny Hanuszak
Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot !

This week's sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge was designed by Michelle. This sketch is a throwback to when this challenge blog first started. Over the coming months they will be doing a look back at those old sketches on the third Monday of each month and will post a new challenge based on one from that time period.  Here is the latest challenge: 

Here's My Card: 

The circles on this sketch had me thinking of bubbles and fish so I dug through my stash until I found some cute fish stamps and went to work on a summery seaside card. I hope you like my interpretation of the sketch.  

Supplies:

Stamp Set and Dies:

• Seaside Shore #141625 (R)
• Shore Thing (R)
• Friendly Seagulls #164961

Cardstock and DSP:

• Card Base in Whisper White 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" and 
• 5" x 3 3/4" for front matte, scraps of white for fish and seaweed.
• Petunia Pop Matte 5 3/8" x 4 1/8"
• Summer Splash 5 1/4" x 4" 

Ink:

• Summer Splash for sentiment
• Pool Party for water and bubbles
• Crumb Cake for Sand
• Petunia Pop, Orchid Oasis, Peach Pie for large fish
• Blends for seaweed, small fish and star fish:  Granny Apple Green, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Just Jade, Mango Melody

Accessories:

• Scissors for fussy cutting fish
• Stickles for Sparkle on fish
• Adhesive and Dimensionals
• Iridescent Faceted Gems 

If you've ever snorkeled in an area with tropical fish, you've probably been amazed at all the activity below the surface. There are big fish, teeny tiny fish and they all seem to be going in different directions.  I used that concept for creating the scene for this card.  I only had a few stamp sets with seaside images to use for my design. 

The larger fish, bubbles and seaweed were from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Seaside Shore. The cute little crab was from another retired set called Shore Thing. When it came to the small green fish I used a stamp from a very old set that had a school of fish in a square. I wanted them to be individual and look like they were swimming amongst the bigger fish, so I coloured them and then fussy cut each of the images out.  Yikes that was time consuming! I also used Stickles to add some sparkle to these little fishies, the seaweed and two of the larger fish.

Well that's it for this week's post, which was somewhat out of my comfort zone, however was fun to make.  I hope you enjoyed it and will leave me a comment about your snorkeling experiences and the most colourful fish you spotted. Cheers and have a good week.   

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Textured Notes Top 3 Badge for AHSC #620

 Top 3 Badge Winner for Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #620:

AHSC #620

I was thrilled to find out that my Textured Notes card in last week's challenge was  one of the top three for sketch challenge #620.  Thank you to the Atlantic Heart Challenge Designers for not only a great sketch challenge, but for choosing my card as one of the three top  badge winners.  Appreciate it! 

Click here to see the original post

I had a good feeling about this sketch right from the start.  A shout out to the other two winners - PJs Projects and Jolanda Johnston.  Make sure you check out their gorgeous cards too.    

Stay tuned for some additional Textured Notes over the coming weeks.  The natural textures in the DSP make it such a wonderful  set to create and play with.  I'm also a big fan of the coordinating stamps which are perfect for layering on the texture and for creating wonderful focal points.  

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

Click her for "how to apply the hostess code" instructions.

Plaid Shirts Masculine Cards

Have you seen the Timeless Plaid 6x 6  designer series paper that's featured on page 25 of the January to April 2025 Mini Catalogue.  It's sold separately or as part of the Storybook Moments Suite.  

These plaid papers are perfect for masculine, seasonal, and all-occasion cards, gift tags, scrapbook pages, and more and there are 48 sheets of patterned paper (4 each of 12 double-sided designs).  The product colours are Basic Beige, Boho Blue, Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Lost Lagoon, Misty Moonlight, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Pebbled Path, Pecan Pie, Wild Wheat.

During the month of March I have several guy birthday occasions, and as soon as I saw this plaid paper I wanted to make some shirt birthday cards.  I found a great template on Tonya Denton's So Inking blog that was exactly what I was looking for.  Here are some of the cards I made:

These shirt cards are so easy to make. Here are the supplies I used:

Supplies:

Card Stock:

• Card base 8 1.2x 11 scored at 4 1/4"  I used very old retired cardstock that matched the plaids for example:
• Blue card is Close to Cocoa, and Matte is Misty Moonlight, Buttons Close to Cocoa
• Orange and Wild Wheat Plaid with  Cajun Craze Matt and Groovy Guava base, Buttons Groovy Guava
• Flirty Flamingo and Crumb Cake Plaid with Early Espresso Matte and Flirty Flamingo base, Buttons Close to Cocoa
• Lost Lagoon and Old Olive Plaid, Matte is Lost Lagoon, Base and buttons are Old Olive 
• Basic White scraps for pocket inserts
• Basic White 4" x 5 1/4" for inside matte layer

Stamps: 

• Special Moments #158081 (best wishes sentiment)
Inside sentiment "wishing you the best birthday ever" retired Stampin Up!

Accessories: 

• Retired Button Die by Stampin Up
• Rectangle Stitched Framelit Dies (R) - largest one for Shirt  
• Stitched Nested Label Dies (R) for pocket and pocket insert 

I made this blue and green plaid shirt with the buttons and collar facing the 

opposite way from the other shirts, just for some variety.  It worked okay. 

Well, that's it for my Plaid Masculine Birthday cards.  I hope you liked them.  If you're interested in casing these cards the instructions are in  Tonya's post.  Hope you enjoyed these.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store