a bag of chips: I made some cards!

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In honor of upcoming World Card Making Day on October 4th, the kind folks at Stampin' Up! sent me a Simply Sent card-making kit the other day to try out and talk about here. So I tried it out last night and boy, I'm ready to talk about it!

I'm seriously card-challenged these days, which is hugely funny since I got into the whole paper crafting thing in the mid-90's after attending a Stampin' Up! demonstration (my oldest stamp set is from 1998). I even had a year-long stint as a demonstrator about eight years ago. With scrapbooking front and center and the challenges of three kids, a house, a husband, a photography business and a partridge in a pear tree, my card-making days have been very few these last few years.

So I was very exciting to receive this kit! The kit contains six sheets of lovely textured cardstock in three colors, a sheet of coordinating stickers, and two sheets of double-sided coordinating patterened paper, a few buttons and two very generous lengths of grosgrain ribbon in coordinating colors. They also included the coordinating stamp set and two coordinating stamp pads. (Have I said the word "coordinating" enough? Well, that's because one of my favorite things about Stampin' Up! has always been how all of their colors are consistent and so well coordinated. Takes so much of the guess-work out of creating darling projects.)

I was able to create all of these cards in about 90 minutes and I still have plenty of supplies left to make four or five more. I love how simple and easy it was to put these together. The Simply Sent kits come with an instructions booklet with three card ideas. I sort of did my own thing but used the booklet for inspiration.

And the timing of this particular Simply Sent kit couldn't have been better. I have a friend who is due with a baby boy any minute now, and my best friend's son is having a birthday in a few weeks. And in addition to the kit items, I also used the totally awesome Stampin' Up! scallop border punch. I freakin' love that thing! Toss out your scallop edged scissors and get this awesome new punch. (I do wish they also made this with a wider and a thinner scallop, too. My life would be complete then!)

If it's been a while since you've been to a Stampin' Up! demonstration or bought some of their products, you're in for some surprises. One of the big things to change at Stampin' Up! recently is that most of their stamps are now die-cut. No more cutting your own stamps, no more guess-work, no more hand cramps from hours of cutting rubber. The cutting part is done for you now. That, right there, is all the more motivation I needed to get my ever-lovin', card-makin', rubber-stampin' rear in gear. The other huge change is that you can now purchase Stampin' Up! products through a demonstrator's website - no need to attend a demonstration to place an order. You can find out more about how this works and to find a demonstrator here, and you can view the current Stampin' Up! catalog here.

So don't forget about World Card Making Day and make some cards! And if you make some cards and share a link to view them in the comments section of this post, I'll draw a random winner to receive the darling "Starring You" stamp set that coordinates with this Simply Sent kit.

Have a great day, my friends!