Author: susanfoxbowen

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Heartfelt Thanks

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Today we’re rounding out our quick peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. This is a super easy design that uses the new Memories & More kit called Mixed Media Florals and the gorgeous new Plaster Painting embossing folder.

Our design begins today with a base of Petal Pink cardstock. The focal panel backdrop is a piece of Beautiful Bokeh patterned paper that is embossed with the new Plaster Painting embossing folder. I made sure to give the panel a deep impression, which allows the white center of the paper to show through. I really loved this distressed look ad how it brings out the white elements of our focal panel. Our focal panel is one of the smaller cards from the Mixed Media Florals Memories & More kit, along with one of the included sentiments from the same. The focal panel is adhered to the backdrop over the Petal Pink diagonal trim using dimensionals. I added Wink of Stella across the wings of the butterfly and adhered to the corner of the focal panel with dimensionals. A few shiny sequins and foiled gems help draw the eye across our design and settle on the sentiment.

Next week, we’ll be taking more in-depth looks at all of these new products and we’ll be getting started with the Beautiful Butterflies bundle. I hope you’ll come along as we combine a few products from the upcoming catalog to make gorgeous projects!

Products used in today’s design:
Petal Pink cardstock
Beautiful Bokeh DSP (coming soon)
Mixed Media Florals Memories & More (coming soon)
Plaster Painting embossing folder (coming soon)
Petal Pink diagonal ribbon
Petal Pink & Gold foiled gems, shiny sequins
Paper butterfly
Wink of Stella
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Hearts Full of Thanks

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Today, I’m continuing to work through my stash of favorites from the Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs that are set to launch on January 7th. And today we’re working with some Sale-a-Bration goodies — the Heart Shaped bundle and 2 lovely paper packs called Bloom Impressions and Toadstool Gardens. So let’s dive in.

We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. A sheet of the Toadstool Gardens paper pack serves as the backdrop for the design. I used a strip of the Bloom Impressions paper to break up the geometric background pattern and provide a unifying floral element for our decorative pieces. The two vine hearts are diecut from glimmer paper using the Heart Shaped dies. The sentiment from the Heart Shaped stamp set is stamped in black on white cardstock and diecut with the Beautiful Butterflies banner die. The sentiment is matted with a Petunia Pop panel diecut with the largest banner from the Mixed Labels die set. Our focal elements are mounted on the card front with varying layers of dimensionals for lots of depth. A few Sunny Day iridescent dots give us a little shine and draw our eye to the sentiment.

If all goes well and my favorite UPS driver stops in today, I’m planning a super fun design for tomorrow. We’ll keep our fingers crossed! But never fear, I have a backup plan in mind. *wink wink*

Products used in today’s card:
Basic White cardstock
Shy Shamrock glimmer, Bloom Impressions (coming soon), Toadstool Gardens (coming soon), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Heart Shaped stamps & dies bundle (coming soon)
Beautiful Butterflies (coming soon), Mixed Labels (coming soon) dies
Sunny Day iridescent dots (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · L2S Group Instahop

Birthday Florals

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Welcome, crafty friends! I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday with friends & family. Our time was filled with music, food, memories, and fun! And today we’re snuggled in enjoying a day of rest. What about you? I know lots of folks like to get out and shop the deals on the day after Christmas. I would much rather do that in my PJs these days myself.

On to crafty things. I wanted to highlight the beautiful new Mixed Media Florals bundle that will be launching in the January 7th Mini Catalog. Today’s design began with Sketch #16 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, but when all is said and done, it’s more of a jumping off point for today’s card. I love how the elements work together in this design to move your eye down and across.

We get started with a base of Basic Black cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of the Mixed Media Florals designer series paper. Our focal elements are all standing front and center thanks to some dimensionals. That starts with the greenery cut from a sheet of pastel ombre glimmer paper using the Mixed Florals dies. I added a few flowers cut from white and Real Red glimmer paper using the Country Woods dies. The flower centers are gold low profile dots. A paper butterfly is coming in for a sniff up in the corner. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in black on white cardstock and then cut using the Heart Shaped banner die. We ground the sentiment with a strip of Shaded Spruce satin & sheer ribbon that is tied off with some gold thread.

Products used in today’s card:
Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Mixed Media Florals (coming soon), pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon), white glimmer, Real Red festive glimmer DSP
Beautiful Butterflies stamps (coming soon)
Mixed Florals (coming soon), Country Flowers, Heart Shaped (coming soon) dies
Paper butterfly
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Shaded Spruce satin & sheer ribbon, gold thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Purrrfect Hello

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We’re continuing to get some sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. And as soon as I saw this large-scaled cat stamp, I just had to have it. I often mentioned my “office assistants” in my social media posts. We’re a family of cat people and currently have 4 fur babies in the house and feed a colony of feral kitties outside. Each and every one of them is spoiled in their own way, even the ferals. While not everyone is a fan of cats, we love them and enjoy getting to see their individual personalities really shine.

So on to today’s project, today we’re pairing two new lovely papers — Beautiful Bokeh and Timeless Plaid — with the cute new background stamp called Meow Mates. One thing I took for granted was being able to get the coat pattern in my mind’s eye translate to paper. Next time, I’m going to try using my watercolor pencils instead of Stampin’ Blends —namely because I’m simply better with the subtleties and blending with the watercolor pencils than I am with blends. And that just comes down to practice!

We get started with a base of Petal Pink cardstock. A sheet of Beautiful Bokeh paper serves as our backdrop for the larger center focal panel. The focal panel background is a sheet of Timeless Plaid cut with the Perennial Postage dies. I stamped the Meow Mates image in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then selected the portion I wanted to highlight and cut using the Spotlight on Nature dies. I colored in the cats with Stampin’ Blends. I used a twist of gold thread behind the image panel to draw the eye in. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then cut with the Mixed Labels die and adhered it over a strip of Petal Pink striped ribbon. The focal section is all adhered using dimensionals to bring it forward (literally). Low profile dots across the card front bring our color palette together and add some pops of interest to draw the eye across the design.

I’m looking forward to playing around more with the coloring and shading of the Meow Mates stamp. And we’ll see if we can find a version that looks a bit more realistic than cartoon-y. I still have several more favorites to show this week, so I hope you’ll stop back in.

Products used in today’s card:
Petal Pink, Basic White cardstock
Timeless Plaid (coming soon), Beautiful Bokeh (coming soon) DSP
Meow Mates (coming soon), Beautiful Butterflies (coming soon) stamps
Perennial Postage, Spotlight on Nature, Mixed Labels (coming soon) dies
Stampin’ Blends
Petal Pink striped ribbon, gold thread
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Made My Day

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We’re marching right into Christmas, but I think I’m finally ready. What about you? Do you still have things on your to-do list? Today, I’ve put the last batch of holiday cards in the mail (I hope) and I’m making the last batch of holiday Chex mix and doing a bit of cleaning. But otherwise, packages are wrapped and we’re ready to go.

The last few days leading up to Christmas are always a bit reflective for me. As a church singer, the music I’m usually preparing for these last few days of Advent puts me in that frame of mind. But this year hits just a little differently.

We’re continuing our sneak peeks at some of my favorite things from the new Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs that are set to release on January 7th. Today, we’re pairing Sketch #17 from the Annual Catalog with the new Timeless Plaid patterned paper and Mixed Labels stamps.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. Our backdrop is a split panel of Regal Winter cardstock matted with Pretty in Pink glimmer paper. The focal panel is a sheet of Timeless Plaid patterned paper cut with the Deckled Rectangles dies. I used some Blackberry Bliss & Gold ribbon to bring out the subtle stripes of purple in the plaid and really tie our color palette together. The sentiment from Mixed Labels is stamped in Blackberry Bliss on Petal Pink and then diecut using the Unbounded Love dies. A wrap of some gold thread and a few purple fine shimmer gems bring things together.

Products used in today’s card:
Blackberry Bliss, Petal Pink cardstock
In Color glimmer, Timeless Plaid (coming soon), Regal Winter DSP
Mixed Labels stamps (coming soon)
Unbounded Love, Deckled Rectangles dies
Blackberry Bliss & Gold ribbon, gold thread
Purple fine shimmer gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Clear Skies for ’25

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We’re continuing our sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. And today, we’re making a super easy easel calendar using the new Everyday Skies designer paper and (what is clearly showing as one of my top favorites) the pastel ombre glimmer paper. I just love all of the skies depicted in this paper pack — from moody to dark to beautiful sunrises & sunsets, this pack has them all!

I needed some simple Christmas gift stuffers, so I whipped up these two easel calendars last night. Let’s see how these two beauties come together.

For the first calendar, we get started with Basic Black cardstock. This is cut so that the card would be in portrait orientation and the score mark is at the top. To make the easel holder in the center of the base, I cut down a quarter panel of black to 4-inches by 5.5-inches and scored it in half and then a half-inch from each side on the short edge. I chose a lovely sunrise sheet from the Everyday Skies paper pack and matted it with the pink/purple ombre glimmer paper. I moved the mini calendar around until I got the placement just right to show off the beautiful sky. A few two-tone sparkle gems give us some twinkle.

For the second calendar, we start with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. This time I chose a night sky from the Everyday Skies paper pack. I kept the mat color the same but varied the direction of the ombre coloring to really bring out the subtle colors in the sky. Two-tone sparkle gems give little glints of twinkle like stars.

These calendars are super easy to put together. I made the two of these in less than 30 minutes. You can try it out for yourself by downloading the full PDF instructions here.

Products used in today’s featured designs:
Taylored Expressions mini calendars
Basic Black, Night of Navy cardstock
Everyday Skies (coming soon), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Two-tone sparkle gems (coming soon)
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Sending Big Hugs

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Today, we’re continuing through our stroll of some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. We’re using Sketch #2 from the Annual Catalog to create this bright and cheery card using the Floral Delight paper and Hugs for Love stamps & punch.

We get started with a base of Daffodil Delight cardstock. I chose a sheet of Floral Delight patterned paper with lots of white space for a nice contrast against our base. To help the focal panel stand out, I matted it in Crushed Curry to bring out the details in the flowers in the focal panel background. The sentiment from the Hugs for Love stamp set is stamped in Pool Party on white cardstock and then punched with the coordinating punch. I also punched a panel from the pastel ombré glimmer paper and cut it in half to make a sparkly mat. A twist of Daffodil Delight satin ribbon and Lost Lagoon soft cording behind the sentiment panel bring everything together. A few of the new low profile dots add a touch of glimmer to the sentiment and really draw the eye in.

This whole paper pack is bright & cheery and will make some wonderful pick-me-up cards, as well as designs for the floral-lovers in your life!

Products used in today’s design:
Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Basic White cardstock
Floral Delight (coming soon), pastel ombré glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Hugs for Love bundle (coming soon)
Daffodil Delight satin ribbon (coming soon), Lost Lagoon soft cording
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Time to Celebrate

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This week, we’re getting some sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs that are set to release on January 7th. Today’s card comes together in a snap thanks to the newest paper packs — Wildflower Birthday and pastel ombré glimmer paper. The new Wildflower Birthday pack makes quick work of festive cards and is the perfect addition to any crafter’s stash for those last-minute cards.

This super clean-and-simple design starts with a base of Basic White cardstock. The focal panel is a panel cut from the sheet of tags in the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper pack. I used the pink/purple sheet of pastel ombré glimmer paper as the mat behind the focal panel and tied everything together with the new Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Melon Mambo directly on top of the focal panel. We finish things off with a little bling from the new two-tone sparkle gems pack.

Products used in today’s design:
Basic White cardstock
Pastel ombre (coming soon!), Wildflower Birthday (coming soon!) DSP
Beautiful Butterflies stamps (coming soon!)
Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon (coming soon!)
Two-tone sparkle gems (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Pretty Wonderful

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As we’re racing to the finish of the fall semester, we find ourselves running to and fro from various school activities and holiday events and rehearsals. I think we might get one evening at home this week. I’m glad I took a little time over the weekend to work on some crafty projects!

This week, we’re taking some sneak peeks at products from the upcoming January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs from Stampin’ Up! Today we’re pairing up a Sale-a-Bration patterned paper pack with new stamps & dies.

Our card design uses Sketch #18 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, which makes putting this card together a breeze. Once again, we’re using the Luv 2 Stamp Group’s monthly color combo to make our color selections — Night of Navy, Pool Party, and Melon Mambo. We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of the new SAB Bloom Impressions paper separated into large shutters. The focal section consists of our sentiment and focal image. The sentiment from Mixed Labels is stamped in Pool Party on white cardstock and then cut with the coordinating sentiment die from the Mixed Labels die set, which is mounted over some crinkled Pool Party ribbon and a strip of the new Beautiful Bokeh paper cut into a banner. The butterfly is diecut using the new Beautiful Butterflies dies. I layered Pool Party pastel ombré glimmer paper and black cardstock to create the butterfly. The focal section is adhered with dimensionals to help it stand out against our field of flowers. A few of the new Sunny Day iridescent dots draw the eye to our sentiment.

I’m going to be showing you more of the Beautiful Butterflies a little later this week because, YOU GUYS, it is just fabulous! There are so many possibilities with this bundle, including some shape cards, that I can’t wait to share. But we’ll be getting a broader look at my new products favorites before we dive in to the details of each.

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Bloom Impressions (coming soon!), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon!), Beautiful Bokeh (coming soon!) DSP
Beautiful Butterflies (coming soon!) dies
Mixed Labels bundles (coming soon!)
Pool Party crinkle ribbon
Sunny Day iridescent dots (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives