Rubber Stamping & Card Making with Yapha

As you know, Stampin’ Up’s 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog goes live today. What does this mean for My Digital Studio users? 26 NEW My Digital Studio downloads and an In Color update to the software! Whoo-hoo!

The new downloads coordinate with your favorite traditional stamps, embellishments, and Designer Series Paper from the catalog! You can purchase all of this content as individual downloads or as four large DVD collections (priced at over a 10 percent discount from the individual download prices). You do have to pay tax & shipping on the DVDs, but you can also include them on a workshop order. Life’s a trade-off!

And what better way to start out the first day of the catalog than with a FREE greeting card designer template! Download this adorable Fruit & Flowers 5-1/2” x 4-1/4” template for a quick glance at some mixing and matching of this new content! (Please note that the free download will be available immediately if you already have an online ordering account. If you don’t have an account, it may take up to 24 hours to appear after creating it.)

(Free Fruit & Flowers designer template uses the following downloads: Fruit & Flowers Stamp Brush Set, My Friend Stamp Brush Set, Downtown Grunge Photobook Template, and Simple Stitches & Corners)

You may have also noticed all of the new 2011-2013 In Colors on the free designer template. You can update your My Digital Studio color palette by downloading the latest 1.0.7 update to the software by going to “Check for Updates” in the Help menu of your My Digital Studio software or by installing from the Updates section of MyDigitalStudio.net. Once installed, the color palette in your software will be updated with this year’s In Colors: Calypso Coral, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, and Wisteria Wonder.

And, make sure you stay tuned next Tuesday for more exciting In Color downloads!

Ever wish you were a Stampin’ Up demonstrator? Joining was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made! Now you can sign up for less!

During July, you can join the Stampin’ Up! family as a demonstrator for only $99! This limited time Starter Kit–valued at $185–comes with the following high-quality products:

• Easy Events Clear-Mount Set
• Pennant Parade Wood-Mount Set
• Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Old Olive Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Brights 8-1/2″ x 11″ Assorted Card Stock
• Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper
• Chocolate Chip 1/2″ Scallop Dots Ribbon
• Note Cards (20)
• Clear-Mount Block C
• Blender Pen (1)
• SNAIL Adhesive
• Business supplies

As always, the stamps, ink, and paper are customizable to your liking with similar products of equal or lesser value.

Plus, join in July and get a FREE Christmas Keepsake project kit–a $40 value! Imagine an afternoon spent chatting with friends while creating something beautiful–isn’t that what Stampin’ Up! is all about? But act now because this special kit is only available as part of this limited-time offer. Contact me for more information — I’d love to have you join my team of Craft Therapists – or visit my website.

New stamps! New ink! New paper! New ribbons! New punches! What could be better than the start of a new catalog? Well, maybe winning the lottery to pay for it! I have a card for you today featuring the ColorLab Color Challenge for the week — Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy. It uses a brand new stamp set with a matching punch! Love those pennants! How cute are they? And yes, I did actually sewing them together with Baker’s Twine. It was much softer than I thought it would be, almost like embroidery floss, and I was able to easily thread it through a needle.

Stamps: Pennant Parade, Oval All
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Other: Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Cherry Cobbler Baker’s Twine, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Big Shot

I created the background by brayering Not Quite Navy ink inside the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and placing a piece of Whisper White card stock inside. When I ran it through the Big Shot, the polka dots stayed white, while the rest of the background turned Not Quite Navy!

New Hostess Benefits start today — be sure to check out that information here.

Looking for inspiration? Check out my PDF for sale of 50 Card Sketches.

With the start of the new Stampin’ Up year, there are important changes being made to the Hostess Benefits (or Stampin’ Rewards if you shop online). Instead of having to pick an exclusive hostess set at a certain level, and then give X amount of dollars to spend on the rest of the catalog, you get more Hostess Dollars that can either be used in an exclusive hostess section or throughout the catalog, or any combination thereof! Here’s the new chart:

HOSTESS DOLLARS
The new hostess merchandise section of the catalog will, as always, contain stamp sets and other selected products. These items remain exclusive to hostesses and must be purchased with hostess dollars. Since there will no longer be levels of products associated with workshop sales totals, these items will have a price associated with them; however, the assigned price will reflect a discount, so hostess dollars go further when used on hostess products. But hostesses will have the best of both worlds—not only will they get exclusive products, but they can use their hostess dollars on anything in the catalog!
50%-OFF ITEMS
We’re very excited about the addition of the 50-percent-off  items—and hopefully you will be, too! A couple of things to note about this benefit:

• 50-percent-off items will be noncommissionable and do not count toward the net workshop total.
• Hostess dollars cannot be applied toward the purchase of  50-percent-off items.
• The 50 percent is taken off of the full catalog price of the item.

I’m now booking workshops through September, so let me know when you want to start earning your Hostess Benefits! And as always, you can be your own party, as long as you reach that $150 minimum.