Author: susanfoxbowen

Fun Folds · Packaging

Oh, Happy Day

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Did you catch yesterday’s Terrific Tuesdays video? This week’s episode is all about gift card holders and was inspired by today’s card design! I love finding fun ways to give gift cards. I recently ran across this super fun gift card holder shared by fellow demonstrator Heidi Collins. I knew this would be the perfect design for an upcoming family member’s birthday as this young man is all things outdoors.

The gift card holder is built on a standard single-panel base of Night of Navy cardstock. The patterned papers are all from the Let’s Go Fishing designer series paper pack. The fold-out gift card holder portion in the center is built on a piece of Basic Gray cardstock, which is scored into thirds. For the front-facing panel, I decided to add a little interest to the navy mat by embossing it using the 3D Rope embossing folder. The sentiment panel is stamped on Smoky Slate cardstock with a border stamp from the Heartfelt Hexagon set and a sentiment from the So Sincere stamp set and then punched with the coordinating hexagon punch. The gift card pocket is made with a piece of Let’s Go Fishing DSP with the notch created by the hexagon punch. The cute vellum sentiment panel on the gift card pocket has a heat embossed sentiment from the Gone Fishing stamp set and is diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. There are a few bobbers and some line underneath the vellum panel to carry the theme through and for a bit of visual interest. The message panel is a simple piece of white paper with a strip of Night of Navy diecut and embossed using the Gone Fishing dies.

This gift card holder was super easy to put together! And with several more upcoming birthdays and the Christmas holidays just around the corner, as well, I love having a cute way to give gift cards that can easily be tailored to each individual recipient and occasion.

Wanna know more? Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video to learn how this design was adapted for holiday gift-giving!

Products used for today’s design:
Night of Navy, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Cherry Cobbler, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Let’s Go Fishing DSP
Gone Fishing stamps & dies
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Faceted gems trio
Linen thread
Silver embossing powder
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

Terrific Tuesdays: Episode 1

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Welcome to a brand new video series called Terrific Tuesdays. Each Tuesday at 10 AM CST, I’ll be launching a new video where I’ll share three fun projects with you using current Stampin’ Up! products. Each week you’ll have the opportunity to receive a Kit to Go for FREE, and each Kit to Go will include the supplies needed to complete the week’s projects.

This week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays focuses on the Trucking Along bundle, which includes a photopolymer stamp set and punch. Watch today’s video to see how you can use this bundle to create 3 cute gift card holders.

How do I get a FREE Kit to Go?

To receive a FREE kit, simply place an order of at least $40 in my online store (excluding tax and shipping) using host code U23PF2CZ at checkout OR simply click on the link below to start shopping with the host code:

https://www.stampinup.com/?hostcode=U23PF2CZ

In order to qualify for this week’s free Kit to Go, all orders must be placed by Monday, November 27, 2023 at 11:59 PM CST and must use the host code. (In the video, I incorrectly stated November 20th.)

Each Kit to Go will make 6 projects (2 each of 3 designs). Per Stampin’ Up! policy, I do not include any stamped images in the Kit to Go. But each kit includes the cardstock or designer paper required for the week’s projects. Any embossing, if applicable, will be done for you. If a die or punch is part of the week’s featured bundle, those pieces will not be included in the kit. However, any punched or diecut element outside of the week’s featured bundle will be pre-cut for you and provided in the kit.

For this week’s projects, you’ll need the following items in addition to the kit to complete the projects as instructed. You are free to make substitutions for any of the supplies listed below for items that you already own.

  • STAMPS: Trucking Along
  • PUNCHES: Trucking Along
  • INK: Basic Black, Real Red, Pretty Peacock, Shaded Spruce, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Pool Party
  • TOOLS: scissors, Tear-n-Tape, adhesive, dimensionals, glue dots

Remember: If your order is $150 or greater before tax and shipping, do NOT use the host code. I want you to earn your FREE product from Stampin’ Up! AND you will still qualify for this week’s free Kit to Go!

Your qualifying order must be placed no later than Monday, November 27, 2023 at 11:59 PM CST using the host code U23PF2CZ in order to receive the FREE Kit to Go. Kits will ship no later than Friday, December 1st.

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birthday

I Can’t BeLEAF It’s Your Birthday

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The leaves are really putting on a show in our area now. We have a beautiful Ash tree in our front yard that is covered in beautiful shades of yellow right now. And the drive up the main parkway in our neighborhood is beginning to look like it’s lined by fire. I just LOVE this time of year!

Today’s card is inspired by all of the beautiful foliage of fall. The card base is Pretty Peacock cardstock, and although hues of blue are not necessarily traditional for leaves, it certainly works to complement the lovely shades of foliage we traditionally see this time of year. I used a beautiful vanilla foiled pattern from the All About Autumn designer paper pack to help the leaves really pop. The different colored leaves are diecut from Oxidized Copper and All About Autumn using the Autumn Leaves die collection. The sentiment, from the Circle Sayings stamp set, is heat embossed in copper atop a layer of Early Espresso that has been diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. A scattering of brown sequins adds some dazzle and moves the eye across the design.

I love how an everyday thing, like a leaf, can be used to create a beautiful and versatile card design.

Products used:
Pretty Peacock, Early Espresso cardstock
All About Autumn (sold out), Oxidized Copper DSP
Nested Essentials, Autumn Leaves dies
Copper embossing powder
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Love Spending Time With You

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Do you love learning new things? I’m learning new fun folds to add interest to my card designs, and I really love this one that I learned from fellow demonstrator Jacki Bolhuis with Klompen Stampers. She calls it the Split Front Fold, but I like to think of it as the Cut and Twist because you cut out the center of the front panel and twist it up to make it a focal panel. What I really love about this fun fold is that you can get stellar results whether you dress up the front focal panel or leave it as a stand-alone, like I did here. So many possibilities!

For this card, we begin with a base of Early Espresso and a single sheet of the leaf pattern from the All About Autumn designer paper pack. The base is is a standard size but scored at the top rather than on the side. To achieve the cut and flip, with the long edge up, you cut 1 1/2-inches from one side and then make a second cut of 2 1/2-inches. This leaves a 1 1/2-inch strip just beyond the center fold, along with the two pieces that were cut. The larger piece gets twisted up vertically to serve as the focal panel on the card front and also holds the smaller pieces of the card front together. I chose the leaf pattern of All About Autumn to serve as the star of the vertical focal panel. The foiled pattern on the back side of the leaf sheet serves as the two decorative strips at the top and bottom. A little twist of linen thread gives a little punch to the focal panel. To allow the beautiful patterned paper to really shine, the sentiment is stamped on the card base so that it shows through the peek-through window in the card front.

What do you think of this new Cut and Twist method? I’m excited to try some other designer papers with this unique fun fold!

Products used:
Early Espresso cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Linen thread
Adhesives

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About Me

Welcome!

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With quite a few new followers over the course of the last several months, I thought it might be time to re-introduce myself. So first off, welcome — I’m so glad you’re here! My name is Susan Fox-Bowen, and I’m an independent demonstrator for Stampin’ Up! and reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I use this space to share my love of papercrafts and a few snippets from home.

My childhood friends would probably describe me as a crafty person, but I didn’t really get into papercrafts until college when I began scrapbooking. I fell in love with the process of designing pages and making those design ideas come to life. My son enjoys looking through all of my scrapbooks, and it’s fun to see the evolution of design trends through the years.

My mom is the one who invited me to a stamping party, and that’s when I officially became hooked on stamping. I’ve always loved writing to friends and family, and being able to make my own cards to send to them made those notes and letters all the more special. Some of my most treasured family memorabilia are cards and letters, and I hope that others now feel the same about ones they have received from me.

Aside from being an avid papercrafter, I also moonlight as a semi-professional singer. Over the years, I have had the privilege of singing many major works from Mozart to Broadway in renowned theatres in the area, and I have served as a staff musician at several area churches.

My family and I enjoy spending time outdoors, are huge baseball fans (Go, Rangers!), and love cats (we have 3). All in all, I’m thankful to have the platform and opportunity to share what I love with all of you. So thanks for following along!

Fun Folds

Joy to my Heart

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Sometimes I find myself a little stumped with design ideas for beautiful designer papers because the thought of cutting them up gives me pause. But I’ve learned that there are a whole host of fun folds that afford an inspired design while sparing gorgeous designer papers.

I recently ran across a small modification to the Z-fold that gives even more space for designer paper. As you look at the closed card, you may be thinking that the design looks oddly familiar. That’s because this fun fold is a combination of both a Z-fold and peek-through, but rather than cutting the one-inch strip from the card front, the card front is scored at the one-inch mark. Then this small flap is folded back toward the card front.

This card design begins with a base of Crushed Curry card stock. It is cut to a standard size of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inches with the 1-inch panel scored and folded back on the front panel. Two sheets of a single pattern of Meandering Meadow designer paper are needed for this design — one for the card front and flap and the other for the inside panel and inside base. I chose the beautiful fields of yellow daisies for this card because it perfectly represents the cheerful sentiment. The smaller strips of patterned paper are the reverse side of the sunny daisy paper. The focal sentiment panel is comprised of a vellum banner diecut using the Nested Essentials dies and a smaller sentiment panel diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock using the Autumn Leaves dies. The sentiment is from the So Sincere stamp set. To add a pop of additional color to the sentiment, a few sprigs of greenery cut from Pretty Peacock using the Bold Bouquet dies is tucked in the center. A scattering of sparkle gems add visual interest and move the eye across the design.

I really love this new fun fold variation and am looking forward to putting it to use with a few of my other favorite designer papers. What do you think of this fun fold variation? Interested in giving it a try? Check out the PDF tutorial here.

Products used:
Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Pretty Peacock, vellum cardstock
Meandering Meadow DSP
So Sincere stamps
Nested Essentials, Bold Bouquet, Autumn Leaves dies
Tinsel gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fall · Fun Folds

Because You’re You

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For today’s card design, I challenged myself to use paper scraps for as many elements as I could. I had accumulated a number of scraps of All About Autumn after completing projects for a team event. So those scraps set the color palette for this card design.

We begin with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. A 1-inch peek-through panel is cut in the card front. The predominantly vanilla mosaic foil from All About Autumn serves as the decorative base for the card front. Scraps of Mossy Meadow and copper foil serve as the peek-through elements on the base panel. A scrap of Moody Mauve foil is mounted askew on the mosaic foil to add visual interest and a color base for the vellum sentiment panel. The mauve also helps to bring out the copper metallic of the leaves and sentiment. The leaves are diecut from Oxidized Copper designer paper using the Autumn Leaves dies. The veining of the larger leaf is diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock to add a little definition without detracting from the overall design. The sentiment is stamped using the Pansy Patch set and heat embossed in copper atop a vellum panel that is diecut using a Deckled Rectangle die. The vellum sentiment panel and leaves are layered using dimensionals. The brushed metallic dots draw the eye to the sentiment panel in the center.

Do you save your paper scraps? If so, do you have success in using up your accumulated scraps? I’m a scrap saver and pretty efficient at being able to use them. I do periodically purge my scraps since the smaller pieces can sometimes take over. I love how these scraps worked together for this design!

Products used:
Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, vellum cardstock
All About Autumn (retired), Oxidized Copper DSP
Pansy Patch stamps
Autumn Leaves, Deckled Rectangles dies
Copper embossing powder
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Happy Day

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I’m feeling all the fall vibes these days. What about you? In usual fashion, however, the weather here in North Texas can’t decide if it’s summer, fall, or winter. But I shall press on with my fuzzy socks and long sleeves anyway!

Today, we’re revisiting the Z-fold. Did you recognize it when you glanced at the photos of today’s card? It looks a little different when the orientation is changed from portrait to landscape, and I just love how this orientation adds some extra drama!

For this card, we begin with a base of Pretty Peacock. You’ll want to cut your card base 4 1/4-inches by 11-inches and then score at 2 3/4-inches and 5 1/2-inches to achieve the landscape-oriented Z-fold. The foiled papers are from two different designer series paper packs — All About Autumn and Oxidized Copper. For the card panels, I selected 3 different foiled patterns from the All About Autumn paper pack. These 3 patterns work in tandem to introduce the color palette of vanilla, peacock, and mauve. The leaves on the front panel are diecut from our selected designer papers using the Autumn Leaves dies. The veining for the largest leaf is cut from Early Espresso, which helps the eye pick up on the foiling in our other card elements. The sentiment is stamped using the So Sincere stamp set and then heat embossed in copper atop a panel of vellum, which is diecut using the Autumn Leaves die set. The sentiment panel and leaves are layered on the card front using dimensionals. The brushed metallic dots help the eye move across the front panel of the card and also draw out the foiling in the papers.

TIP: if you use a paper scrap that isn’t quite wide enough, like I did here with the mosaic pattern in the center, select a complementary ribbon to fill in the gap and add interest. I loved the texture and pattern that the natural wavy trim adds to the mosaic panel.

Products used:
Pretty Peacock, Early Espresso, vellum cardstock
All About Autumn (retired), Oxidized Copper DSP
So Sincere stamps
Autumn Leaves dies
Natural wavy trim
Copper embossing powder
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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