Holidays

He Is Risen!

This week, our design theme has centered on the Holy Week holiday and we’ve been using the Online Exclusive bundle called Faith Collection by Stampin’ Up! to create our designs. Today is the culmination of the Holy Week series with the Easter card that pairs the Faith Collection set with the Enduring Beauty bundle to create this design celebrating Christ’s victory over death.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. The backdrop of our focal panel is a quarter sheet of white cardstock that is cut with the Pattern of Friendship die. This panel is cut down to size and then matted in a sheet of Petunia Pop glimmer paper. Our focal panel has the cross in the center that is cut from a sheet of white woodgrain paper from the Country Woods paper pack using the extension method so that the cross is a little taller. Our cross sits atop a floral spray created with the Enduring Beauty bundle. I kept the color scheme very simple and stamped the main floral image in Smoky Slate and used a combination of Shy Shamrock and Petunia Pop to add color to the leaves and floral centers and then cut out the image using the coordinating die. We’re matting the floral spray in gold mercury vellum and use the die extension method to cut the mat for our florals a little larger than the original. I’ve cut an assortment of leaves from Shy Shamrock cardstock using the individual leaves in the Enduring Beauty die set and then tucked them behind the florals. I added some Easter lilies around the cross. They’re stamped on white in Smoky Slate and have Petunia Pop centers, as well. The sentiment from the Faith Collection stamp set is stamped in Blackberry Bliss and then cut with the smallest banner die from the Countryside Corners die collection. The sentiment is mounted in the center of the cross over a sash of iridescent striped ribbon. I used some gold thread to help the sash keep its shape, making it easier to adhere to the cross underneath the sentiment. I finished things off with a gold butterfly cut from textured paper using the Beautiful Butterflies dies and also added a few purple sequins on either side of our focal image.

We’ll be closing out our Holy Week design theme with an update to the family prayer that we keep on our dinner table. I hope you’ll pop in later to see where our post-Easter scripture will lead us as we make our way to Christ’s ascension.

Product List
Holidays

Love Never Gives Up

Happy Good Friday! While that may seem like a strange thing to say, given the historical significance of this day in the Christian faith, this day is indeed good when all is said and done. Today is necessary for the ultimate victory over sin and death and our full reconciliation to God in eternity. Thank goodness “Love never gives up!”

This week, we’re using the Faith Collection bundle to create designs to honor this Holy Week holiday. And today we pair the dies with several patterned paper packs, including Everyday Skies and Country Woods, and the Unbounded Love stamps. I used fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis’ easy step fun fold to create this Good Friday scene.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I used a sheet of moody skies from the Everyday Skies paper pack as the backdrop for our scene. The illusion of hills is created with Thoughtful Journey papers and both of the Grove die collections. I cut three crosses from two different woodgrain patterns from the Country Woods papers using the Faith Collection dies. For Christ’s cross in the center, I used the extension method to make this cross taller than the rest. The hills are adhered to the backdrop with differing levels of dimensionals. The two darker crosses are tucked behind the grass on either side of Christ’s cross in the center. The center cross is adhered to the center panel with dimensionals so it stands above the others. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is heat embossed in black on a lighter woodgrain sheet and then diecut with the smaller banner from the Autumn Leaves dies. A few two tone sparkle gems around the crosses draw the eye across the scene and the twist of gold thread behind the panel draws the eye down to the sentiment.

We’ll be rounding out Holy Week with a design honor Resurrection Day. I hope you’ll stop in to check it out.

Product List
Holidays

Believing in a Brighter Tomorrow

We are midway through Holy Week. For me, this is the point where things get a little hectic as my musical obligations for this special week pick up between rehearsals and services. While it may be busy, I really do cherish this special season and am always blessed to be able to share musical settings that celebrate God’s ultimate sacrifice to reconcile us to Him for eternity.

This week’s design theme centers squarely on the Holy Week celebrations and, in particular, is focusing on the new Online Exclusive bundle by Stampin’ Up! called Faith Collection. Today we are pairing it with the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper and the Unbounded Love stamps and dies bundle in a double easel fun fold design.

I tried several different layouts with this double easel design before settling on the one you see here. In my mind’s eye, I originally saw the cross on the smaller easel in the front, but visually it just didn’t accomplish the look I was hoping for. But when I moved the cross to the back, on what is essentially the card front, it completed the illusion of walking up the hill to the lone cross. And I just love how this ultimately gives the feeling of a contemplative walk to the cross at Calvary.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock, which is cut to standard A2 size. A sheet of the Thoughtful Journey patterned paper is the backdrop for our fun fold sunset scene. A sheet of Pretty Peacock cardstock serves as the mat for the patterned papers and the second easel section. Using the Faith Journey dies, a cross is cut from an Early Espresso woodgrain patterned sheet from the Country Woods paper pack and then adhered in the center of the card front panel with dimensionals so that the base of the cross is just below the front easel fold when the card is closed. A strip of Thoughtful Journey also covers the front easel panel. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Early Espresso ink on Thoughtful Journey paper and then diecut with the decorative banner die from the Unbounded Love die set. Two greenery bunches, which to me look like palm branches, are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the Winterly Treetops dies and are then adhered with glue dots behind the sentiment panel. Linen thread is wrapped around the small easel panel before the sentiment is adhered with dimensionals. A few In Color shimmer gems on either side of the sentiment panel add a little glimmer of color to draw the eye to the center focal section.

I’ll be taking a little break tomorrow but plan to be back with a Good Friday fun fold.

Product List
Holidays

Golden Faith

This week’s design theme centers on the celebration of Holy Week, and in particular, I’m focusing on the new Faith Collection bundle that recently released as a Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive.

Today’s design is based on Sketch #7 from the current Annual Catalog. This simple layout allows our focal image to sit front and center. And in the end, I decided it stands so well on its own that I chose not to include a sentiment on the card front. This opens up this design to not only the current Holy Week holiday, but also to a whole host of other religious celebrations throughout the year, including baptisms, weddings, and confirmation celebrations.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. The focal panel backdrop is a sheet of vanilla foiled Season of Elegance paper that is cut with the middle Textured Notes die. Our focal image is stamped in Shaded Spruce on white cardstock using the Faith Collection stamps and then diecut with the coordinating die. I stamped the lilies in Versamark and then heated embossed with gold to give a more realistic look of Easter lilies. They’re adhered around the cross on dimensionals. The cross is adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals. I added a few extra lilies to opposing corners of the focal panel background to tie all of the focal elements together. A few purple shimmer gems near the cross bring a touch of purple to the focal panel.

This super simple design lacks nothing in the wow factor department and really shows how a sentiment isn’t always needed to convey a message. I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see what other products can be paired with the Faith Collection bundle to create stunning designs.

Product List
Holidays

Sure of What We Can’t See

Welcome to the start of a brand new week. I hope you enjoyed a restful weekend. We had gorgeous weather in our area for the Palm Sunday weekend and spent a fair amount of time outside enjoying it. Any my allergies would certainly concur!

As we embark on Holy Week this week, we’ll be using our crafty stash to make cards appropriate for the occasion. And today’s card aptly pays tribute to Palm Sunday as the entirety of Easter season reminds us that we have an everlasting hope in what we cannot see!

We get started on today’s card with a base of Pecan Pie cardstock. The focal panel background consists of two panels cut using the Textured Notes dies. The main panel is a quarter sheet of Smoky Slate that is machine embossed with the Distressed Tiles embossing folder and then the mat is a sheet of the gold mercury vellum. Our focal image is a two-parter. The cross is cut from Early Espresso using the Faith Collection dies and that’s mounted on top of the coordinating palm branches that are stamped tone-on-tone onto Mossy Meadow before being diecut with the coordinating die. A twist of gold thread behind ties our gold elements together nicely. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then diecut with the Autumn Leaves sentiment banner. A few low profile dots around the focal section draw the eye in.

I hope you’ll follow along this week as create Easter designs.

Product List
Retiring

Blue Skies Friend

We’re closing out this week’s series of card designs using some of my favorite products from the Stampin’ Up! Last Chance list with this clean and simple design. We’re pairing up the Saying Hey stamp set with the Friends for Life dies to create this friendly hello.

We get started with a base of Azure Afternoon cardstock. The focal panel is a sheet of the Everyday Skies patterned paper matted with Pretty in Pink. A strip of Pretty in Pink bordered ribbon is tied around the bottom of the panel before it’s affixed to the card base. The sentiment panel is a piece of white cardstock punched with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. The sentiment from Saying Hey is stamped in a combination of Balmy Blue and Blueberry Bushel so that there’s a small shadow effect. A combination of Everyday Skies and pastel ombre glimmer paper are cut with the Friends for Life dies to create the second portion of our Hey Friend sentiment. Dimensionals are used to give height and dimension to both portions of the sentiment so they stand proud above the ribbon. The dragonfly is cut from a combination of purple silver foil and pastel ombre glimmer paper and adhered with a dimensional above the sentiment panel. I love how the small dragonfly breaks up the sky and really draws the eye down to the sentiment. A scattering of pink sequins from the sequins trio give us some subtle twinkle across the clouds.

Last Chance items are quickly disappearing from the shelves. Did you see any sets this week that need to be in your stash? Don’t delay or you might miss them for good!

Next week, we’re going to be looking toward Easter with our card designs. I hope you’ll hop along!

Product List
No Stamp Design

Holy Week Scripture

If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you may remember me mentioning our daily family prayer. Our daily family prayer is a selected scripture that is appropriate for the season on the church calendar or even just the time of year. I rotate these scriptures periodically, in particular as we enter different seasons in the church (liturgical) calendar. What I love most about this is that we ultimately memorize the scripture because we’ve said it each day. So as I’m choosing scriptures, I try to bear that in mind and choose scriptures that I think are important for us to take with us each day.

As we enter Holy Week, it’s time for a new family prayer and that means a new layout for our prayer frame. The 6×6 frame is from Amazon.

For the Holy Week prayer, I chose a darker backdrop that felt most appropriate for the significance of this upcoming week. This happens to be a sheet of the Everyday Skies paper. I printed the scripture on a quarter sheet of white cardstock and then cut it out using one of the Countryside Corners dies. I trimmed it slightly to reduce the white space on top and bottom. I then used the same die to cut the mat from a sheet of the purple Silver Foil specialty paper using the die extension method. I wrapped some Blackberry Bliss & gold metallic ribbon and linen thread around one end of the mat before adhering the sentiment on top with dimensionals. I used dimensionals to adhere the sentiment panel to the patterned paper and then added a few two tone sparkle gems for just a touch of moody sparkle.

Do you do anything special to mark the seasons?

Product List
Retiring

Country Love

Whew, we’ve made it to the weekend! I don’t know about you guys, but I really ride the struggle bus toward the end of the week. The week is go-go and my energy is no-no. And my crafty mojo just hasn’t been very cooperative lately. Anyone else?

This week, we’re looking at some of my favorite sets that have made it to the Stampin’ Up! Last Chance list. If any of these happen to be your favorites, now is the time to add to cart before they’re gone for good! Today’s design uses a combination of my crafty favorites — Cute Crochet embossing folder, Country Flowers and Sending Love dies, and an already-retired sentiment called Heartfelt Hellos. I’ve seen so many cute designs that incorporate an envelope exploding with flowers and just knew I had to take a stab at it. Our color palette is inspired by two colors from a triad — with hues of turquoise and purple.

We get started with a neutral base of basic white cardstock. I embossed a quarter panel of Fresh Freesia with the Cute Crochet embossing folder and then diecut with the largest Perennial Postage die to serve as the backdrop for our main focal panel. I cut an envelope from white cardstock using the Sending Love dies and then foliage and flowers using the Country Flowers dies. The foliage is a combination of Old Olive cardstock and Season of Elegance papers and then the flowers are cut from a variety of glimmer papers, including pastel ombre, Summer Splash, and white. The florals are spilling out of the envelope with layers of dimensionals giving us our realistic-looking arrangement. A combination of gems give us our floral centers, including In Color, two tone sparkle, and purple shimmer gems and iridescent faceted gems. The sentiment from the retired Heartfelt Hellos set is stamped in Fresh Freesia on Pool Party cardstock and then cut with the Mixed Labels dies. I cut a second Mixed Label banner from Highland Heather glimmer paper, cut the banner in half, and then offset the pieces on either side to create a mat for the sentiment panel. I tied some Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon around the embossed panel before adhering the other elements with dimensionals. A few purple sequins add an extra touch of sparkle and draw the eye to our sentiment.

I still have a few more of my retiring favorites to show you, so I hope you’ll pop back by over the weekend to see how we can use these sets!

Product List

Retiring

You’re Too Kind

With the release of new products to the Last Chance products list, it seemed like a fitting time to revisit some of my favorite products that will be leaving us for good. And today’s card combines quite a few of my faves in one design — Painted Lavender, Distressed Tiles embossing folder, and the Wanted to Say sentiment die set.

I really wanted the lavender to take center stage, so I kept the color palette super simple. We start with a backdrop of Smoky Slate cardstock. I machine embossed a quarter panel of slate using the Distressed Tiles embossing folder and then cut it down by about a quarter-inch. I matted the panel with Highland Heather glimmer paper to really help our purple elements pop. The focal floral stems in the center are all cut using the Painted Lavender dies. The grass is cut from Mossy Meadow and the lavender stems are cut from a combination of the purple-hued silver foil specialty paper (retired). The lavender blooms are cut from a combination of pastel ombré glimmer paper and the (retired) Highland Heather glimmer paper and are adhered to the stems with glue dots. I arranged the greenery to overlap like a hand-tied floral bundle and secured the stems together with a small strip of tape and adhered to the background panel with a dimensional. I used a small bow of velvet ribbon to cover the tape and dimensional and to solidify the look of a hand-tied bundle of flowers. The sentiment is cut from silver foil sheets and Highland Heather glimmer paper using the Wanted to Say dies. The sentiment is adhered together using a glue pen and then affixed to the background panel at the base of the floral stems with dimensionals. I added purple shimmer gems for pops of purple shimmer across the card front and to accentuate a few of the lavender flower centers.

You could very easily transform the look of this lavender nosegay by simply swapping out the purple accents for another color. There are many wildflowers that resemble lavender stems but with florets in a variety of colors.

Product List
Retiring · Take to the Sky

Flying By

The Take to the Sky suite has officially hit the Last Chance list. If you’ve been eying this fantastic set, now is your chance to add it to the crafty stash before it’s gone! I know that I’ll be sad to see it go and fully intend to keep it in my stash even after it’s gone from the shelves.

The stamps and dies offer you a variety of plane sizes to use on your designs. Earlier today, I wanted a larger-scaled plane to take center stage, but for this card, I wanted to scale things back a little and so I chose the larger biplane stamp for this fun card.

We get started with a base of Basic Black cardstock. A sheet of the grey plaid paper from the Take to the Sky paper pack serves as our backdrop, and I decided to mat it with a sheet of textured silver specialty paper for just a hint of twinkle in the background. I wanted it to look as though our focal image is bursting through the clouds, so I began setting up the focal scene by cutting clouds from Azure Afternoon cardstock using the Bright Skies dies (also a set that is retiring!). I cut the map background panel with the Countryside Corners die and arranged the clouds and map so that our plane would sit front and center and look as though it’s mid-flight.

Our plane is stamped in black on Smoky Slate cardstock and then colored with the Night of Navy Stampin’ Blends. The propellers are cut from silver foil and an industrial trinket serves as the hub. Wink of Stella helps give our propeller the look of spinning. The sentiment from the Adventurous Sky stamp set is stamped on a smaller cloud cut with the Bright Skies dies. A few of the iridescent white sequins from the sequins trio pack further the illusion of being in the clouds and help draw the eye to the focal panel and sentiment.

The combination of products in the suite offer endless possibilities for so many fun designs — from super simple to detailed. It’s perfect for all the flight enthusiasts in your life.

Product List