Holidays · Winter

Stopping on a Snowy Evening

We’re finishing off this week’s stopping by the woods on a snowy evening card series with this clean and simple card design. I’ve been wanting to try the double embossing technique, and this card gave the perfect opportunity to layer snowflakes and evergreens. Let’s take a closer look at how this stunningly simple card comes together.

I wanted this snowy scene to literally sparkle, so I started by covering a quarter panel of white cardstock with a heavy layer of Wink of Stella. You want the layer to be fairly heavy without completely saturating the paper, which will drastically impact drying time. I allowed about an hour of air dry time and then finished things off with the heat gun. Next came the embossing, and I learned that even when you think your paper is dry, it’s probably still too wet to emboss just how a truly dry sheet will. I also learned that the Snowflake Sky embossing folder seems to emboss more deeply than the Painted Trees, so while I wanted the snow to be drifting in front of the evergreens, I had to emboss them a second time to ensure that they were actually visible through the snowfall. I used my finger to apply a very light layer of Shaded Spruce ink over the evergreens to help them stand out. I adhered this panel over a mat of festive glimmer paper and then wrapped the bottom with iridescent striped ribbon and tied a small bow. The sentiment from the Joyful Sayings ephemera pack is adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. Green transparent dots finish things off by drawing the eye across the card design. This whole card just shimmers in the smallest amount of light.

I thought it would be fun to leave you with this week’s inspiration, and one of my favorite Robert Frost poems, to really bring this theme to life.

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

As we are entering the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, how might you be able to stop and take it all in like the man on the horse? To observe the wonder and joy of the everyday moments that make up this thing we call life? I hope we can all take a few mindful moments when we’re enjoying time with family and friends this holiday season to just breathe and take it all in.

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Christmas · Holidays · Winter

Sketchy Fridays: Snowy Wonder and Happiness

I really, really love this week’s theme, which is one of the reasons that I wanted to spend today showing you the designs I had planned for you throughout the last week. One of the most valuable things I have learned over the last several years is that flexibility is key when things don’t work out exactly as you planned.

So this post is the ode to Sketchy Fridays. Each week we’re using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found in current Stampin’ Up! catalogs.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #13 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog and features the Peaceful Evergreens and In the Grove Dies, along with the ever-lovely Snowflake Sky embossing folder. Today’s card design is inspired by the very talented demo known on Instagram as Craftsomnia.

This week’s design theme is stopping by the woods on a snowy evening. This Robert Frost poem is all about taking the time to bask in the wonder of falling snow, and I can’t help but think how well the idea of stopping to take in the wonder and joy everyday moments of life has to be one of the best life lessons. And outside of this wonderful life lesson, the theme lends itself so well to a variety of lovely winter cards, don’t you think?

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock. Our backdrop is a panel of Night of Navy that is machine embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder and then lightly brushed with white craft ink to really bring out the beautiful soft snowflakes. Our snowbank is a simple piece of white cardstock that is torn to create the soft edges of a snowy hill. The Mossy Meadow trees are diecut with a combination of the In the Grove and Peaceful Evergreen dies. A touch of craft ink to the edges of the treeline and a bit of white glimmer paper on the larger evergreens in the foreground make for the perfect dusted evergreen grove. The sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set is stamped in Night of Navy in the center of a white banner cut with the Radiating Stitches die and then finished in the snowbank. Dimensionals help give lots of depth to our scene, and the silver trim and iridescent faceted gems lend the sparkle.

This design is even more stunning in person as the lighting in my craft room just wasn’t quite right today to capture the true colors and details. I hope you’ll drop in a little later as I bring you one final clean & simple design in this series.

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Winter

Loads of Holiday Cheer

Well, to say that my week didn’t exactly go as planned is likely obvious to you all by now. I had everything planned out, but when all was said and done, I simply didn’t have the time to execute. I had to travel out of town for work and then had some other obligations that simply overran the time I allotted for them. Such is life sometimes, eh? So today, I’m going to play a little catchup and bring you all the content I had planned for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week.

If you’re new here, for the last month or so, I’ve been working with themes to inspire designs. This week, we’re stopping by the woods on a snowy evening. And today’s card was inspired by a design that was recently posted by Stampin’ Up! Artisan crafter the Crafty O’ Ink Pen. When I saw her design, I knew it would be perfect for this week’s theme, and I wanted to do my own take on it. That’s the wonderful thing about design inspiration — you get to make it your own!

So we get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of Pool Party that is machine embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder, which is then lightly inked with a sponge dauber and Pool Party ink to give the look of a cloudy sky. To create the snowdrifts, I tore a quarter panel of white cardstock in half and then very lightly inked the torn edges with the Pool Party ink to give some definition and detail and layered them to the snowdrifts. They’re ultimately adhered to the background panel with dimensionals. Using the Merriest Trees dies, I cut two of the smaller sized trees from Shaded Spruce cardstock and lightly rubbed some craft ink over the tops to give them the look of having a dusting of snow. They’re tucked in and behind the snowdrifts to give depth and dimension to the scene. The sled is diecut with the Sophisticated Sled and Filled With Fun die sets from gold foil and Early Espresso cardstocks and then cut in half to create the side view of our sled. Isn’t this brilliant?! Such a great idea, Crafty O’ Ink Pen! The sled is filled with holiday goodness which has been stamped on white cardstock using the Filled With Cheer stamp set and then colored with Stampin’ Blends. Our sentiment from Filled With Cheer is stamped in Night of Navy on white cardstock and then diecut using the Peaceful Season small banner die and adhered with dimensionals over some gold trim. Adhesives snowflakes finish our snowy scene with a little sparkle.

Check back in a little later in the afternoon for our Sketchy Fridays snowy evening design.

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Winter

Snowy Thoughts

It’s a super busy week around the Song Sparrow household. Yesterday, the kiddo’s basketball team had their first game of the season. It was a fairly solid loss, but I think the kids learned a lot and could see areas that still need some work and improvement. Everyone seemed to have fun, and that’s all that really matters in sports, as far as I’m concerned. I’m over here prepping for some out-of-town training and a big meeting for work, so I’m burning the candle pretty low.

This week, we’re working around the theme of stopping in the woods on a snowy evening. I kept it pretty simple with this first design. We’re using a layout by the lovely Did You Stamp Today demo as our inspiration.

We get started with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Our focal panel is a strip of the snowy evergreen forest pattern from the Winter Meadow designer series paper pack that is matted with Pool Party to really bring out the more subtle blues. Our sentiment panel is cut from the blue woodgrain from the Country Woods patterned paper using the Spotlight on Nature dies. He sentiment from Friends for Life is stamped in Pretty Peacock. Our focal trees are from the Frosted Forest die set and are diecut from Shaded Spruce and adhered over a strip of layered Shaded Spruce satin ribbon and white diagonal trim. A few carefully placed regal foiled dots finish things off with a little pop of color and sparkle.

I’ve really enjoyed working with design themes the last several weeks. I find it especially useful if I want to highlight a bunch of different products rather than focusing on just one. What about you? Which format do you like best? Let me know in the comments!

Thursday we’ll continue our stop in the woods with the Sophisticated Sled set. I hope you’ll pop in!

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Clean and Simple · Winter

Woodsy Thoughts

I don’t ordinarily post twice in one day or even on Sundays, for that matter. But sometimes our schedules get a little off-kilter and we have to make some quick adjustments. I returned to working full-time in September, and as things are beginning to pick up at work, maintaining a good balance has become a little challenging. So hopefully you guys will bear with me as I work to find that perfect balance between enjoying down time with the family and time doing things I love, like crafting.

This week, we’ve been designing around the theme of in the woods. And I wanted to finish off with a really simple design that combines paper, a die, and ephemera.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock. Our focal panel has a sparkly backdrop of white glimmer paper with a panel of Garden Green diecut with the Winterly Treetops die and mounted with dimensionals to give us the look of peeking through the evergreens. Two reindeer from the Joyful Images ephemera pack are standing in the open glen as snow is softly falling (represented by the iridescent faceted gems). Our sentiment comes from the Joyful Sayings ephemera pack and is matted with a textured gold banner. I just love how simple and elegant this design turned out.

This next week will be a little hit and miss with card designs as I have to fly out of town midweek for some training. Our new design theme will be stopping by on a snowy evening. I hope to give you some fun ideas for working with this theme with some unexpected product combinations.

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Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Thanks

Well, the last several days have been far busier than I anticipated and so we’re playing a little catch-up here on the ol’ blog. I recently returned to a full-time job, and I’m finding it a little challenging to balance family time and my most favorite side gigs. I’m sure there are many of you who understand, especially when your family time includes sports activities that your kiddos have chosen to play.

Although a couple of days late this week, we’re marching on with our Sketchy Fridays, where each week we’re using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found in current Stampin’ Up! catalogs.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #7 in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog and features a fun assortment of products, including designer series paper, dies, and holiday ephemera.

If you’ve followed along for a little while, you’ve heard me talk about how sketches are such a great way to get started with a card design. And you don’t always have to follow a sketch to a T. This week, I’ve rotated the sketch but have otherwise stuck to the layout pretty closely. So let’s take a closer look at all of the elements that are working together here.

We get started with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. I used a piece of Tartan Foil patterned paper as the base for our focal panel. And then a piece of the Winer Meadow designer paper serves as our focal panel. I pulled the reindeer from the Joyful Images ephemera to serve as our focal image in the bottom corner. I added a smaller tree diecut from Pretty Peacock using the Merriest Trees dies to anchor the bottom corner of our focal panel. The sentiment pieces and greenery are also from the Joyful Images ephemera and sit nicely over a faux bow of Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic trim. A foil silver circle diecut with the Everyday Details dies serves as the top corner anchor and adds that nice pop of metallic sparkle to compliment the Wink of Stella on the opposing anchor tree. A few Pretty Peacock foiled dots finish things off nicely and draw the eye to the sentiment.

I’m rounding out this week’s woodsy card designs with a peek through the trees. Hope you’ll come check it out.

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Holidays · Winter

Bright & Beautiful Season

We’re taking a trek in the woods this week, and as much as I love all things autumn, I thought it would be nice to show how a few simple tweaks can yield beautiful winter designs. Today’s card is another clean and simple design, and we’re highlighting the Stampin’ Up! In the Grove dies and the Snowflake Sky embossing folder.

We get started with a card base of Smoky Slate cardstock. A piece of Graceful Greenery vellum serves as a soft base for our focal panel and is diecut using the Deckled Rectangles dies. Our focal panel combines a white background embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder and the trees diecut from the grey woodgrain in the Country Woods patterned paper pack using the In the Grove die. The sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set is stamped in Smoky Slate on white cardstock and then diecut using the Radiating Stitches circle die and then matted with a silver foil circle diecut with the Everyday Details dies. A scattering of snowflakes and iridescent faceted gems give the snowy background the perfect amount of twinkle.

Tomorrow we’re going to be pairing our woodsy theme with a sketch from a SU! catalog. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out.

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Clean and Simple

He Will Direct Your Paths

This week we’re venturing into the woods with our card designs. One of my favorite things to do is build scenes, and I love it when a scene comes together with just a few simple elements. For today’s card, we’re combining a stamp set, two die sets, and a patterned paper pack. And what a stunner this one turned out to be!

Our card design starts with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. A piece of Thoughtful Journey designer series paper sets the stage for our sunrise lake scene. The line of trees in the foreground is cut from Blackberry Bliss cardstock using the Frosted Forest dies. The deer is cut from Early Espresso using the Grove dies. The large sentiment from the You Are Beautiful stamp set is stamped in Blackberry Bliss and hangs beautifully in the sunlit sky.

This design literally comes together in minutes. I love how the Thoughtful Journey paper makes it so easy. Do you have products in your stash that can make easy scenes? Sometimes you just have to take a second look to see things a little differently.

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Autumn · Fall

A Brighter Tomorrow

Happy Veterans’ Day to all of those who have served in the Armed Forces! We are ever so thankful for the sacrifices you and your family have made to make our way of life possible. Your service is always respected and appreciated!

I can’t believe we’re already starting another week. Is it just me or does it feel like August to the end of the year is always on fast forward?! Another new week means another new theme for our card designs. And this week, we’re going to be in the woods, which is one of my favorite places to be! I look forward to showing you some unique ways to use this theme in your designs.

Today, we’re getting started in the treetops. My favorite stretch of road in our neighborhood is just starting to show hints that the foliage is about to put on its fall foray. And I can’t wait! Before it’s all done, this stretch of road will look like it’s on fire. So today’s design is another nod to the changing foliage of fall.

We get started with a base of Copper Clay cardstock. Our focal panel consists of a background of Very Vanilla and a mat of Oxidized Copper. We build our forest of trees using the Frosted Forest dies. The base color is Mossy Meadow and then the changing foliage is a combination of Blackberry Bliss, Daffodil Delight, and Pumpkin Pie. The trees are adhered on varying levels of dimensionals to give some dimension to the scene and realism to the depth of forest. A few birds stamped using the Frosted Forest stamps add another layer of realism to our forest scene. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped on the vanilla backdrop. The strip of Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon add some sparkle and help draw the eye to the top and the sentiment. A few Blooming Pearls help finish things off.

We’re going to be in the forest all week. So I hope you’ll tag along for the trip!

Products used in today’s card:
Copper Clay, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pecan Pie, Blackberry Bliss, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Mossy Meadow cardstock
Oxidized Copper DSP
Frosted Forest bundle
Unbounded Love stamps
Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon
Blooming Pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Thankful

Amazing Leaves

Fall is my favorite season of the year. Thus far, Texas isn’t really cooperating. It’s unseasonably warm for November and the leaves have only just started to hint at changing color. I’m ready for sweater weather and a big pile of leaves in the yard!

This week, we’re working within the theme of thankfulness. Aside from this time of year lending itself to this type of reflection, it just really feels like we all need a little reminder to slow down and appreciate all of the little things. Even when we don’t have it all, there are so many small ways we are living in the overflow of God’s grace and goodness.

For today’s card design, I took inspiration from the usual color palette of fall foliage that we see in our area. I really love the combination of foliage color and texture in today’s design.

We get started with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. Our leaf patterned focal panel is matted with lots of shimmer between the Oxidized Copper specialty paper and the Old Olive glimmer paper. For the focal panel, I inked the Leaf Collection background stamp with a combination of Blackberry Bliss, Copper Clay, Cherry Cobbler, and Mossy Meadow ink and stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock. I then embossed with the Changing Leaves embossing folder. I used gold ink to bring out the embossing and add a sparkly sheen to the leaves. The sentiment from the Changing Leaves stamp set is heat embossed in gold on a piece of Early Espresso that was embossed with the Leaf Fall embossing folder and then diecut with the Nested Essentials dies. Another rub of some gold ink helps bring out the pattern in the sentiment panel and match the sheen of our focal panel. A twist of the Natural Tones linen thread and some gold Blooming Pearls add the final touches.

Next week we’re going to take a trek through the trees and see what we can find. Hope you will tag along.