It's time for another Monday Montage and I'm writing this from my hotel in Vegas! I've been attending out annual leadership event called Backstage. It's been an amazing few days full of learning and fun. 

A tradition at Stampin' Up! events is to swap cards with one another. In fact, our opening event was a "Sweets and Swaps" reception designed to give us the perfect chance to swap cards with one another.  Here is the one I created. I was only able to get 15 made but it means I'll have 15 other new card ideas to share! Stay tuned on social media for those.  You can find me on Facebook and Instagram. 

The stamp set I used is called Translucent Florals and will be available in the mini catalog starting on September 6th. 

We always get the best swag from Stampin' Up! I'm excited for all my message board fun. Time to get organized. 

The people are always a highlight of Stampin' Up! events for me.  I especially loved that I met fellow Monday Montage buddy Bree (aka Craft-somnia Momma) in person for the first time. We had a chance to hang out and and share ideas.  

Be sure to hop all the way through. I always love the variety of projects. 

It's time for another Monday Montage Blog Hop! 

I wanted to come up with a masculine card and saw a fun design shared by Sara Douglas using the new Inked and Tiled punch pack. This is an easy, but fun, design that can be done with any Designer Series Paper. I used the fun Gone Fishing Designer Series Paper for my version and paired it with some Boho Blue card stock. 

Here's another look at the card. I popped up the Designer Series Paper pieces to add more dimension.

Be sure to hop all the way through to check out all the great projects shared. I love seeing what everyone makes! ​ You can click next to see Julie's and back to see Elizabeth's. 

Have you checked out the Stampin' Up!s kit collection?  I find that a lot of people have totally missed them since it's a new concept to have some products online only and not in a catalog. 

They are awesome! A new one is added almost every month and we have nearly 30 available now.  Each kit is all inclusive. This means everything, and I mean everything, is included! In some kits this means a stamp set, ink and block and in others it means pre-printed sentiments so all you do is assemble. 

The best part is they are on sale all month in August.  Plus, I am donating 20% of all my kit sales this month to the Glen-Ed Pantry.  The pantry has seen a large increase in need recently and this seemed like a good way for me to give back through something I love.  I want to get even more people to try paper crafting especially those who think they aren't creative.  Everyone can be successful with kits! 

I thought I'd share some alternative ideas for how to use some of the stamp sets after you complete the kits.  I'm sharing the Forever Friends and the Love This Memory kits today. 

For this first card I used Berry Burst ink and card stock to create a pretty background.  I decided to use one of the Stitched With Whimsy dies to add some texture. A quick punched piece along with a sentiment and the card is nearly complete.  This is a very simple card that I think looks much fancier than it is! 

This is another one with the same stamps from the Forever Friends kit. I paired Berry Burst, Shaded Spruce and Crushed Curry.  A design from the Delightfully Eclectic was the perfect pairing. 

The stamps that come in the Love This Memory are so adorable! I LOVE this cute little face stamp. Lemon Lolly is a bright and cheerful yellow and the perfect pairing for this stamp. 

I wanted to show off all the cute mini stamps in this set on this card. Arrows, flowers and hearts...oh my! 

Which is your favorite?  Have you tried a kit yet?  Go shop while they are on sale! Be sure to use Host Code ​ESVP2UWG.