Ferns x 4 - Stampin' Up!® Fern & Flora

    I joke around that I am not great at stamping in the wild aka stamping away from my stamp room and the fact that I only got one card done at the Stampin' Up!® After Hours stamping event at OnStage really just proves it.  Maybe I can blame being tired after an already long day of fun or that I had a really hard time corralling the teeny tiny die cut pieces for the card I started with but I came home with the project packet mostly intact.  I decided to wait until I could order the new In Colors to finish up the set of cards and I'm really glad I did.  The projects are lovely and really show the Fern & Flora bundle well.  This suite of products will be available soon in the May-August 2026 catalog.

  The patterns in the Moonlit Flora bundle are beautiful, moody botanicals and make a great background to a simple layout.

  The B sides of the DSP are pretty, small patterns that can work for all sorts of themes, not just ferns like this one in the new In Color Golden Glow.  The Fern & Flora stamp set is a mix of images and sentiments.

  The larger fern stamp makes lovely backgrounds or focal images or both like in this third card.  New In Colors Peaceful Pine and Golden Glow are a nice pairing here.  They work well with current In Color Secret Sea.

  And this last card which is the one I started with originally that was all I could complete at the event.  This one has a healthy dose of the new Dew Drop embellishments for a finishing touch!  See those little die cut flowers?  They were what defeated me that night I think lol.  But I love the finished card and the different fern die cuts.

  I hope you'll take a look at the Moonlit Flora suite when it become available on May 5.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the products used to make these cards can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.  Items marked with a * will be available May 5.

Stamps: Fern & Flora*

Ink: Peaceful Pine*,Golden Glow*, Secret Sea, Berry Burst

Paper: Moonlit Flora DSP*, Secret Sea, Misty Moonlight, Basic White, Golden Glow*, Peaceful Pine*, Mossy Meadow, Berry Burst, Gold Foil

Accessories: Fern & Flora dies*, dimensionals, Dew Drop embellishments*, 

Frames & Flowers Card Making Night

  Last week I met up with my mom, 2 aunts and a cousin in Columbus, Ohio for a girls trip.  Why Columbus?  Because it was kind of a central spot to meet as 3 of the group are from Illinois, one from Connecticut and then me from Virginia.  We rented a house in the super cute Short North neighborhood of Columbus and had fun hanging out, playing some games, lots of shopping and of course craft nights!  

  I thought if we had time and everyone felt like it that they could each make a set of cards using the Frames & Flowers Specialty Designer Series paper.  It's like half card kit and half DSP.  I packed up some card bases, inserts, envelopes, 2 sentiment stamp sets and 4 inks, some ribbon and embellishments and other tools and loaded it into the car.  I actually was able to fit everything that I wanted to bring into the awesome backpack bag that demonstrators received at the Houston OnStage event in March.  Like a card class on the go!

  My plan was for everyone to have 5 card bases and then they could use all of the fun pre-cut floral and leafy pieces and frames to mix and match to make 5 different designs.  I had some die cut circles and labels already made and they just used those to stamp a sentiment and then they added ribbons and pearls as they wanted.  It was so fun seeing all of their different ideas.

  They were all really creative and had fun embellishing.  I even taught them how to make a fork bow.

 None of them had much if any experience with paper crafting but they are all creative with sewing and other crafts so they jumped right in had fun seeing what they could make.

  The Frames & Flowers DSP was perfect for these beginners.  Every card was unique and they could choose the sentiments that they needed.

I loved being able to share my passion with my family!

 20 completely different and unique cards and look at those proud smiles!  We had a lot of laughs too.  We used up all of the die cuts and frames and some of the full DSP sheets.  I was impressed by how many cards we made with this DSP. 

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Simply Said, Heartfelt Hexagon

Ink: Pretty Peacock, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink

Paper: Frames & Flowers Specialty DSP, Basic White, Pretty Peacock, Lost Lagoon, Soft Sea Foam, Petal Pink

Accessories: various ribbons, pearls, dimensionals, Heartfelt Hexagon punch, Stylish Shapes dies (circles)

Stampin' Up! OnStage Houston Demonstrator Event

   I'm going to share a few photos (ok a lot!!) from my time in Houston at the Stampin' Up! demonstrator event called OnStage.  It was a multi-day event just for demonstrators with stamping demonstrations, previews of upcoming products, business updates/trainings, lots of connections with other demonstrators, giveaways and more and just so much fun overall!  

  It was the first time one of my downline and I got to meet in person so it made the event even better.  If you don't already follow her on social media I urge you to do so and if you're in the Dallas, TX area she also does classes so check out Kimberly Hile aka Scatter Some Joy on Instagram and Facebook.

Kimberly and I on Thursday afternoon in front of the convention center.  It was so windy and I never know where to look!  lol!

   We had presentations on Thursday afternoon, all day Friday and all day Saturday.  It was chock full of information and we even got the new annual catalog which will go live on May 1.  It was so cool to be among so many other people just as excited about stamping as I am.  I always knew these were my people but to get to be with them in person was very inspiring!

The cover of the 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! annual catalog!  I can't show you the inside yet but trust me it's great!!!

Stampin' Up! also uses these events to recognize demonstrator achievements so we got to clap and cheer for so many people and all the great things they accomplished in the last year.  I had a few "stand and wave" achievements and also found my name on the recognition boards.  It's really inspiring and makes me want to work harder to get to the next level!

Not too shabby though!

  Kimberly hit the ground running after she join as a demonstrator last year and she made both the Quick Start 3 month and 6 month goals (these are sales milestones for new demos and they get some great perks when they reach it!).  I was so proud to cheer for her! Out of 18,000+ new demonstrators last year only a small percentage reach these goals so all her hard work definitely paid off!

We got to see lots of stamping demonstrations from other demos as well as home office staff.  They showed off lots of new products that are coming soon and gave so many creative ideas of how to use stamps and dies and papers.  They all did such a great job being up on the stage in front of so many people!

There were great big screens everywhere so you could easily see the stamping demonstrations no matter where you were sitting.

As with any Stampin' Up! gathering there was stamping and swapping!  We got to do make and takes at lunchtime with some fun new products.  We also got to meet a lot of people and enjoy all that the Product Playground had to offer.  I only brought a few swaps but it's always a fun way to meet people.  The swap boards are also a great way to get new ideas and see just how creative a bunch demonstrators are!

I met so many people during the 4 days I was there.  I met some friends who I only "knew" from online and now we're in real life friends!  The lady on the right in the above picture I had "met" on instagram and we had been mutuals and she was in Houston on her own so we made up a nice little trio for the weekend.  Her name is Teresa Wearmouth and you can find her on Instagram as Stonesthrowstampin.  She's in Maryland for anyone looking for a demo!  We had a ton of fun posing in front of all the great displays and also meeting "famous" demos!

 Jaimie was so sweet to stop and say hi and let me get a photo with her!  I fangirled quite a bit getting to meet her as I so enjoy her Instagram!

  We got some fun giveaways during the weekend and I was worried it wouldn't all fit in my suitcase.  Thank goodness for free bag check with Southwest because there is no way I could have gone to this event with 'just' a carryon sized bag!  

  It was such a fantastic time I'm kind of kicking myself that I didn't try to go to a multi-day event sooner!  Thankfully they've changed the timing of this event so it makes it a little more doable for my schedule.  I'm so glad that I got to spend the time with Kimberly and Teresa and 2000 other demos who are all my friends even if we haven't met yet!

  If you're a demo and haven't attended OnStage yet I would highly recommend it!  If you're a stamper thinking about being a part of the Stampin' Up! family as a demo I would love to give you more information on how you can join me for this event next year!  There are so many great things about being a demo and I'm thrilled to have been able to finally get to do this one!

  Thanks for reading about my awesome OnStage experience!