Otter Failure

October 23, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re getting a closeup at one of the latest Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive releases called Otterly Adorable, coming to a cart near you on November 5! This adorable suite of products includes coordinating stamps, dies, and patterned paper, along with some silky cording and pearlized embellishments.

Today, I had planned to show you a super cute flip-panel design, but it turned out to be an otter failure. *snicker* In all seriousness though, my design was flawed from the start and I realized why after I switched gears to salvage the design. So I promise to make good on a cute flip-panel design later this week when I have a bit more time to execute a more complicated design. In the meantime, let’s get a closer look at how a failure turned into a cute peek-through panel.

Today’s card starts with a base of Pool Party cardstock. Our backdrop is a combination of Lost Lagoon shimmer pape (sadly retired) and the water foliage pattern from the Otterly Adorable paper pack. Using the largest circle from the Spotlight on Nature die set, I cut a circle through all layers of the card front. Separately, I also used the die to cut the two swimming otters from a separate patterned sheet from the Otterly Adorable pack. I adhered the swimming otters panel to the Pool Party circle and then to a quarter sheet of Pool Party to keep the inside of the card neat and tidy and one color. Behind our backdrop panel, I mounted some acetate to serve as the peek-through window into the water below and adhered all of this to the card front. From Flirty Flamingo, I cut several sets of the smaller fish using the Otterly Amazing dies and let them free-float on the acetate. Our swimming otter panel is adhered to the inside of the card using dimensionals to allow a little room for our fish to swim in the window. The sentiment from Country Flowers is stamped in Pretty Peacock on white cardstock diecut using the Greetings of the Season die and finished off with the Lost Lagoon soft cording. A few riverside irregular pearls add that last touch of sparkle to the design.

When I showed my son my “otter failure,” he said, “but mom, that doesn’t look like a failure….that’s cute!” One of the many lessons I’ve learned is that sometimes you just need to pivot when your first idea doesn’t work out. Not ever failure turns out to be something for the trash bin. Sometimes it’s cute!

Products used in today’s card:
Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo, Basic White cardstock
Soft Shimmer (retired), Otterly Adorable (coming soon), acetate DSP
Otterly Amazing (coming soon), Spotlight on Nature, Greetings of the Season dies
Country Flowers stamps
Lost Lagoon soft cording (coming soon)
Riverside irregular pearls (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[122924]

$11.50

Flirty Flamingo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[141416]

$11.50

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.00

Soft Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[161750]

$11.00

Window Sheets

[142314]

$5.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

Greetings Of The Season Dies

[164112]

$32.00

Country Flowers Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[163405]

$24.00

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon

Make Today Otterly Amazing

October 22, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

In just two short weeks, Stampin’ Up! will release a brand new set of Online Exclusive products, including the too-cute-for-words Otterly Adorable suite. This week, I’m featuring this cute selection of products in hopes of providing some inspiration for your future projects. This bundle has so much potential — from playful designs to love-themed projects and all kinds of things in between!

Today, we’re using the paper and embellishments to create an encouragement card. Pairing the paper with a few dies makes this the perfect scene to bring a smile to someone’s otherwise less than bright and happy day!

Our card starts with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I chose the watery pattern from the Otterly Amazing paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our scene and matted it with the Pretty Peacock shimmer paper from my retired paper stash. Our focal panel consists of two sheets of paper — the water reed patterned sheet and a cute otter sitting in the reeds from one of the sheets full of otter vignettes. I used the Spotlight on Nature dies to cut the reed background and a smaller inset panel on which our sunbathing otter sits among the reeds. I used my paper snips to cut more detail in this cute vignette and to help it stand out from the background. All of these layers are adhered with varying heights of dimensionals to give more depth and pop to our scene. A twisted some of the new Lost Lagoon soft cording around the background panel before adhering the focal panel. The sentiment from the You Are Beautiful stamp set is stamped in Pretty Peacock directly on our background panel under the focal point. A few riverside irregular pearls are scattered about our card front to add a little sheen and draw the eye across the design.

Tomorrow we’re going to make a splash with a fun fold design!

Products used in today’s card:
Lost Lagoon cardstock
Otterly Amazing (coming soon), Soft Shimmer (retired) DSP
You Are Beautiful stamps
Spotlight on Nature dies
Lost Lagoon soft cording (coming soon)
Riverside irregular pearls (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133679]

$11.50

Soft Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[161750]

$11.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

You Are Beautiful Cling Stamp Set (English)

[163704]

$24.00

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon

Otterly Amazing

October 21, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! I don’t know about you, but I needed a weekend from my weekend. *grin* Craft shows, while always fun, are always exhausting. I got everything home, but I haven’t unpacked a single thing. It’s onward and upward to new products!

That’s right, in just a few short weeks, there will be a brand new bunch of Online Exclusives. And let me tell you, there are some C-U-T-E, CUTE things in this release, including the suite that I’m showcasing for you this week — the Otterly Adorable suite. This suite includes patterned paper, coordinating stamps & dies, some specialty cording, and iridescent pearls. We’re starting off with a super simple layout.

Our card base is a piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock. Our backdrop is a piece of the patterned scene papers from the Otterly Amazing designer series paper pack that’s releasing soon. I really loved the look of the (now retired) Holographic Trio silver foil and how it looks like a flowing river, and so while I don’t usually use too many products from my retired stash, this one just had to be a part of today’s card! Our cute otter pair is diecut from a sheet of the Otterly Adorable paper using the coordinating Otterly Amazing dies. To complete the scene, I cut our otter’s log den from Crumb Cake cardstock and the rocks from Smoky Slate. Dimensionals add depth and dimension to our scene. The sentiment from the Otterly Amazing stamp set is stamped in Pretty Peacock and diecut using the Spotlight on Nature dies and then mounted over the Lost Lagoon soft cording with dimensionals. A few Riverside Irregular Pearls finish things off with some iridescent sparkle.

This whole set is so cute and I can’t wait to show you all of the ideas I have floating in my head (pun intended!)!

Products used in this card:
Pretty Peacock, Crumb Cake, Smoky Slate, Basic White cardstock
Holographic Trio (retired), Otterly Adorable (coming soon) DSP
Otterly Amazing stamps & dies (coming soon)
Spotlight on Nature dies
Lost Lagoon Soft Cording (coming soon)
Riverside Irregular Pearls (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[150880]

$11.50

Holographic Trio 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[161744]

$10.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$11.50

Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[131202]

$11.50

Basic White 12 X12 (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock

[159231]

$9.50

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

$9.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Gifting

Show Day

October 19, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s show day! Show days are always a little frazzled as you get the final touches on the booth setup and hope for the best.

If you’re local to the DFW area, come see me at First Methodist Rowlett! I’m in booth S in the Family Life Center.

Gifting

Home Decor

October 18, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s been a tremendously busy week. I’ve been working away in the craft room as I’m down to the wire for my craft booth items. Today is setup day and tomorrow is booth day!

Today, I’m popping in to share another fun giftie that will be available in my shop — home decor items. On one of our recent virtual team events, we made a framed project and I just fell in love with the idea.

And as with most things I prefer to undertake in the craft room, projects don’t have to be overly complicated to have a WOW factor. Today’s sample is a Christmas project using the O Holy Night suite. This set of products retired last year and I’m still super sad about it! This particular project is a combination of patterned paper and diecut elements — most of them are repeated images. A simple bit of layering with dimensionals builds a gorgeous scene of the wisemen on their journey to find Jesus.

For those of you who have been following along over the last week and expressed some interest in the lip balm box, I was able to carve out a little time to make a video and PDF tutorial to walk you through putting a box together.

Next week, I’ll be popping in with a preview of my favorite soon-to-release Online Exclusive bundle. It’s otterly adorable! *wink wink*

Gifting

Hand Cream Gifts

October 14, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s a bright and shiny new week, and I don’t know about you, but last week was a doozy. I felt like we were meeting ourselves coming and going! This week should be a little less frantic with the kiddos being out of school for fall break.

Last week, we got a special treat here in North Texas as the conditions were perfect (for those who live in areas without light pollution) to see the aurora. My parents had the absolute best view. Just look at that sky! What a terrific reminder of the majesty of God’s creation!

This week, I’m still frantically working to finish up items for my booth for this weekend’s craft fair. And since so many of these things are gift items and we’re heading into the gift-giving time of year, I thought it the perfect opportunity to continue sharing some of the things that go in my booth.

This year, I’m trying something new. I found a wonderful gift box by The Paper Pixie to hold small tubes of hand cream. Once I got the hang of making the box, which is a little tricky at first, these cute gifties come together pretty quickly. I try to have a good variety of seasons and occasions represented in the packaging. I found a really nice variety pack of hand creams that came in a whole assortment of fragrances on Amazon, but this box is also perfectly sized for the smaller L’Occitane hand creams if you happen upon a good deal for a variety pack.

If you’re a craft fair-goer, what types of things are you looking for? Tell me in the comments!

Gifting

Joy of Chocolate

October 12, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s craft fair season, and I’m hard at work preparing for an upcoming show. I like to offer a wide variety of products outside of just cards because, quite honestly, it always seems like the gift items sell best.

One surefire hit is always chocolate. And today’s cute giftie is a custom-wrapped chocolate bar. I’ve seen lots of clever ways to wrap a chocolate bar, but I really love this particular envelope design because it’s super quick and simple to make! super helpful when you want to turn out a bunch in a short amount of time.

Using double-sided patterned paper means that your treat envelope is decorative from start to finish. Several glue dots in the chocolate bar help it stay put inside the envelope. I like to hold the envelope closed with ribbon and then add a cute decorative element on top. Isn’t this an adorable way to give a sweet treat?!

We’ll be continuing our look into my craft booth next week. I have lots more cute stuff to show you and a video tutorial to share!

Gifting

Lip Balm Gifts

October 9, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It has been a busy week this week, and I wish I could say that it involved more time in the Song Sparrow Papercrafts studio. But alas, the call of work and homelife have prevailed. We’ve all had our share of homework to do. And I don’t know about you, but we’ve been watching the trek of Hurricane Milton with bated breath.

As I’m preparing for an upcoming craft show, we’re taking a look at some of the fun gifties that I’ll have in my booth. Aside from having the fun edible treats, I love to create little gift items that contain something useful. And who doesn’t love a good tube of lip balm? I have some in just about every room of the house, plus my car and my purse and at my office.

I found a super cute gift box tutorial over at The Paper Pixie that I have adapted/simplified a bit. Are these not the cutest little boxes? You can use solid or patterned cardstock for the box itself. I had some thicker patterned cardstock, and it worked super well. But as you can see, a plain box doesn’t have to look plain once you’re done dressing it up!

If you’re interested in a PDF tutorial for these cute boxes that includes my little shortcuts, simply drop me a comment with a link to your socials (or other means of sending it to you). I’ll be sending out all of the requested tutorials from this week’s projects over the weekend.

I’ll be popping in with a few more craft show goodies over the next few days. So I hope you’ll pop in and check out more cute gifties.

Gifting

Best Laid Plans

October 7, 2024 susanfoxbowen2 Comments

We’ve made it to a new week, and you may have noticed my absence at the end of last week. It’s crafting show season and I have 2 that fall very close together. Needless to say, I didn’t budget quite enough time to do ALL.THE.THINGS last week and so my planned blog post materials had to be set aside.

Over the weekend, I’m teamed up with my mom to set up a booth for an event in her area. We had a lot of fun, and I figured out just how much more work I have to do to be prepared for my next event in TWO short weeks!

So this week, I’ll be sharing some of the projects that I make especially for my craft fair booths. And first up are these super cute little Hershey nugget treat packages. I really love these for a quick little something to pass along to someone as a pick-me-up or thank-you.

When I’m preparing craft booth items, I always start by using the retired product in my stash. So these nuggets use several different packets of retired fall-inspired paper patterns. And then I dress up the packaging with dies that meet the theme. We have such lovely fall-inspired die sets that I, of course, had to reach for both Autumn Leaves and Changing Leaves for my dress-up elements for these nugget packets. I’ll be offering a variety of seasonal packaging for the nugget treats, including fall, Halloween, and Christmas.

If you’re interested in the tutorial for these Hershey nugget treats, drop me a comment with your e-mail or social media link so I can send you a copy.

Pop in tomorrow to see what else I’ll be offering in my craft show booth.

Holiday Mini Catalog

Hello, Fall Wreath

October 3, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re using the Nests of Winter suite by Stampin’ Up! to create our designs. This suite of products includes coordinating stamps & dies, patterned paper, an embossing folder, twine, and shimmer gems. Today’s card showcases the versatility of this set as we make a lovely fall design.

I don’t know if you’re one to change your decor based on the seasons, but I really love to do that. Some seasons I go more “all out” than others, but I have some very basic elements around the house that change based on the season. One thing I’m sure to change is the wreath on my front door, which inspired today’s design. The greenery swag in the Winterly Tree Tops set is perfect for wreath-making!

We get started on our card with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock. Our background panel is the woodgrain pattern from the Nests of Winter patterned paper pack. I just love the old barn door look here! Our wreath is made with the greenery swag image from the Winterly Tree Tops stamp set. The image is stamped in Crumb Cake on Wild Wheat cardstock. The berries are completed with a combination of In Color resin dots and Rainbow dots using a combination of pinks, oranges, and yellows to really reflect our fall color palette. I decided to mimic the look of fall wreath picks and used the smaller greenery elements in the Winterly Tree Tops die set to accomplish this. The picks are a combination of Early Espresso, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, and gold foil papers. They’re tied together with some of the lovely Very Vanilla satin ribbon. Our greeting placard is a combination of Very Vanilla and Early Espresso cardstock diecut using the Unbounded Love dies and the sentiment is stamped from Wonderful Thoughts is stamped in black. Everything is adhered with dimensionals to really give the look of a wreath hanging on the door. A few drusy embellishments add a little sparkle and really bring our eyes across the lovely wreath.

Tomorrow we’re going to be using a new sketch and once again using our Nests of Winter to create a lovely fall-inspired card design. Come check it out!

Products used in today’s card:
Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Early Espresso cardstock
Nests of Winter, gold foil DSP
Winterly Tree Tops stamps & dies
Unbounded Love dies
Rainbow dots, In Color resin dots
Very Vanilla satin ribbon
Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List