Author: susanfoxbowen

12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Hugs

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, friends. Today we’re on Day 5 of our 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar series, where we’re opening two boxes of our calendar each day and then making a fun project with the new goodies. Today we’re on boxes 9 & 10. Let’s see what we’ve got.

So today we have a set of notecards and a new set of pinkish-hued shaker elements. And guess what I figured out as I was going through the notecards to come up with a design — they’re two-sided! How fun is that?! Today’s design is extra fun because I wanted to use the shaker elements in a traditional way. Who doesn’t love a shaker card??

So we get started with a base of Strawberry Slush cardstock. The sheet of Very Vanilla leaves from the Advent Calendar paper pack serves as our neutral backdrop for the focal panel. I decided to use a little shortcut for the shaker panel and dug out a cellophane bag I’d saved from a prior order to serve as the shaker bits holder. The scrap of pink paper from yesterday is the mat for the center section of the focal panel. I used the pink floral notecard for the sentiment panel and picked the coordinating long oval diecut piece from an earlier calendar box as the panel where I heat embossed the sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set in gold. All of these elements are adhered together so they’re nice and flat so the shaker pieces will move freely in our containment bag. We tuck the panel in and then shake in the shaker pieces in the front and seal the bag shut. I adhered the bag to the neutral front panel piece with tear-n-tape to ensure a good stick. This panel is then wrapped with the Strawberry Slush baker’s twine from our calendar before the panel is adhered to the card front. I chose two diecut pieces from today’s bag—a pink butterfly & flower—as our accent pieces in opposing corners of the shaker panel. We finish things off with a few of the gold shaker bits in opposing corners.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re down to our last two boxes tomorrow and I absolutely cannot wait to see what we’re closing out our crafting adventure with! I hope you’ll drop in and see!

12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Extra Special

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Welcome in, friends, and thanks for joining me! We are currently on Day 4 of our 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar series, where each day we’re opening two boxes in our calendar and then creating a fun project with the new goodies. Let’s see what our calendar has in store for us today.

OOooo, today we’ve got a new set of postage stamp dies and two spools of baker’s twine — a Strawberry Slush & a Cloud Cover. And I think we’re going to try the layout that I started working on yesterday that just didn’t pan out with the elements I had to work with. I think a variation of Sketch #3 from the Holiday Mini works beautifully today.

We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. I used a quarter panel of Strawberry Slush as the backdrop and stabilizing piece for the fractured panels of the floral Advent Calendar patterned paper. Using the new postage dies, I cut 3 panels of varying sizes from the sheet of pink from the Advent Calendar paper pack. The largest panel holds our sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set. The two smaller panels provide the perfect backdrop for our fuzzy foam stickers. I used the new baker’s twine to add some pizzazz to our long & skinny panel. The foil diecut elements from Day 2 make the perfect accents to help our postage stamp panels really pop. We finish things off with some adhesive gold heart sequins in opposing corners.

One of the fun things about this week is getting more comfortable with designing on the fly. We’re on to boxes 9 & 10 tomorrow and I’m excited to see what we’ll get to work with next!

Product List
12 Days Of Crafting Advent Calendar (English) [ 167335 ]
[167335]
$99.00
Strawberry Slush 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165625 ]
[165625]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Adhesive Backed Heart Sequins [ 164920 ]
[164920]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Thinking of You

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to another day in our week with the SU! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar, where each day we’re opening two boxes together and then creating a fun project with the goodies we found inside. Thus far, we’ve scored a set of dies that coordinate with the Advent Calendar stamp set, some patterned paper, some glitter shaker elements, and a set of foiled diecut elements. Today, we’re opening boxes 5 & 6. Let’s see what’s inside!

Alrighty, so today we have a set of decorative masks and some fluffy felt stickers. I’m not gonna lie, I was initially pretty stumped on what to do with our new goodies. But I started looking through the rest of the Advent Calendar goodies for some inspiration and decided that continuing with the floral theme would work best, especially since I wanted to incorporate the new items in today’s design. After stacking the decorative masks and getting a sense for the scene they would create, I pulled a sheet of patterned paper that would coordinate and went to town.

We get started with a backdrop of Cloud Cover cardstock. A quarter sheet of Cloud Cover is machine embossed with the *new* Beautiful Pattern embossing folder, which releases next week. I used a strip of the coordinating Advent Calendar patterned paper on the left of the panel. The focal panel floral scene is created with today’s decorative masks, blending brushes, and a combination of inks — Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Pretty in Pink, Strawberry Slush, Cloud Cover, Misty Moonlight, Garden Green, and Shaded Spruce. The panel is cut with the largest circle in the Spotlight on Nature die set and then adhered with dimensionals. The sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set is heat embossed in black on vellum and then diecut with one of the smaller circles from the Stylish Shapes set. The panel is adhered over Balmy Blue sheer ribbon with dimensionals and a pink bow from the new fluffy felt sticker set finishes off the sentiment panel. A fluffy felt flower and a few of the Hues of Blue Flowers in the corner finish off our floral theme.

Isn’t this fun? Every day we’re stretching our creativity! Can’t wait to see what our Advent Calendar brings us tomorrow!

Product List
12 Days Of Crafting Advent Calendar (English) [ 167335 ]
[167335]
$99.00
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies [ 163580 ]
[163580]
$35.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Basics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165679 ]
[165679]
$21.00
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147094 ]
[147094]
$9.00
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147087 ]
[147087]
$9.00
Pretty In Pink Classic Stampin Pad [ 163807 ]
[163807]
$9.00
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165286 ]
[165286]
$9.00
Cloud Cover Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [ 165279 ]
[165279]
$5.50
Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad [ 153118 ]
[153118]
$9.00
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147089 ]
[147089]
$9.00
Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147088 ]
[147088]
$9.00
Balmy Blue 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Sheer Ribbon [ 165767 ]
[165767]
$8.50
Hues Of Blue Flowers [ 165930 ]
[165930]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Thanks

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, crafty friends! Welcome back to our second day of the 12 Days of Crafty Christmas as we work our way through the new SU! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar, where we’re opening two boxes each day and then creating a fun project with them.

Yesterday, in our boxes we received a set of coordinating dies that go with the included stamp set, along with a set of 6×6 patterned papers. Let’s see what boxes 3 & 4 have in store for us today.

So today, we have a set of gold glitter shaker elements and gold foiled diecut shapes. After thumbing through the set of patterned papers we opened yesterday, the white floral pattern really caught my eye — especially the golden centers. So I looked for a sketch that would make quick work of today’s project and settled on Sketch 2 from the Holiday Mini catalog on page 14. Let’s see how our clean & simple project comes together.

I wanted a nice neutral base that paired well with the subtle background of the patterned sheet and decided that Smoky Slate was the ideal choice for the card base. The sheet of patterned paper serves as the backdrop for our card front. I modified the sketch slightly so that our 3 diagonal elements are solid lines rather than broken and used the narrow Daffodil Delight satin trim for those diagonal elements. The sentiment from the coordinating 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar stamp set is heat embossed in gold on the long oval diecut from today’s box of diecut pieces. The sentiment panel is mounted over the ribbon with dimensionals. I used the shaker elements as individual embellishments in several floral centers by adding pieces of glue dots to the backs of each small gold glitter circle.

Are we having fun yet? I’m looking forward to opening the next two boxes of our Advent calendar tomorrow. What about you?!

12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Birthday Wishes

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everybody! Have you missed seeing crafty inspiration because I’ve certainly missed having time for it! Sometimes we just have to know when to make a little space for other things — like coordinating major work programs and family time, all of which were time well spent.

But we’re back at it this week with 12 days of crafty Christmas! Each day we’re going to be opening 2 slots in the Stampin’ Up! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar. Each calendar comes with a box of crafty surprises, as well as a coordinating stamp set. Let’s see what we have in store today!

So isn’t that fun — today we’ll be working with the coordinating dies and 6×6 patterned paper for the Advent Calendar stamp set. The first thing I wanted to do was put everything side-by-side to decide on a theme and color palette for a card design.

The pink floral pattern stood out to me in the selection of papers, so from there I looked for a simple design that would allow me to use the stamps & dies. I pulled out the Holiday Mini catalog and turned to the sketches on page 14 and was drawn to the very first one — clean and simple & a perfect way to coordinate the paper, stamps & dies.

So we have a sketch, our 2 Advent Calendar boxes, and the stamps. We pull coordinating papers together — Strawberry Slush, Pretty in Pink, Mossy Meadow, and white — to get started. To add a pop of interest, I decided to add some texture to the background panel using a *NEW* embossing folder that releases in just a few weeks.

We get started with a base of Strawberry Slush cardstock. The background panel is a quarter sheet of Strawberry Slush that I machine embossed with the new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder, which releases in just a few weeks! The sheet of pink florals is cut and then wrapped with Strawberry Slush ribbon before being adhered to the embossed background panel. Using the Advent Calendar stamp set, we stamp the large and smaller flowers on Pretty in Pink in both Strawberry Slush & Pretty in Pink ink. The center is stamped in Timid Tiger. The flowers are then diecut with the new coordinating dies we opened today, along with coordinating leaves from Mossy Meadow. Our flower is adhered over the ribbon on the left — substituting for the circle in our sketch. The sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set is stamped in Strawberry Slush on white cardstock and cut with the banner from the Mixed Labels die set and adhered over our flower element and just under the ribbon. A few Strawberry Slush & Pretty in Pink gems finish things off with pops of twinkle across the card front.

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see what our next 2 boxes will reveal. I know I can’t wait!

Product List
12 Days Of Crafting Advent Calendar (English) [ 167335 ]
[167335]
$99.00
Strawberry Slush 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165625 ]
[165625]
$14.00
Pretty In Pink 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 163793 ]
[163793]
$14.00
Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 133676 ]
[133676]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Pretty In Pink Classic Stampin Pad [ 163807 ]
[163807]
$9.00
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165286 ]
[165286]
$9.00
Timid Tiger Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165278 ]
[165278]
$9.00
Mixed Labels Dies [ 164652 ]
[164652]
$21.00
Strawberry Slush 3/8" (1 Cm) Faux Linen Ribbon [ 165274 ]
[165274]
$8.00
Strawberry Slush & Pretty In Pink Gems [ 165615 ]
[165615]
$8.50
Tear & Tape Adhesive [ 154031 ]
[154031]
$7.00
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Kits

Sending Joy

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We thoroughly enjoyed our quick little trip to the country. The weather was perfect and we managed to find a spot where the fish were biting. But most importantly, we simply enjoyed being together!

During the afternoons when it was a tick too warm to fish, we enjoyed time cooling off in the cabin. And that meant a little crafting time here and there to play with the new Calm & Bright Kit.

This kit includes everything you need to make 3 different holiday card designs. And I brought along just a few extra things to make some simple variations.

Today’s variation includes a wide band of Pretty in Pink soft shimmer paper, some Lost Lagoon soft cording, a touch of Wink of Stella, some iridescent striped trim, and an assortment of faceted gems and sequins.

I also worked a little on my photography for this one. I still worked with the early morning light but got outside before the sun peeked over the horizon. So I got much better soft light without so much orange undertone. Needless to say, I won’t take for granted my nice studio setup quite so easily anymore! *wink*

It’s back to the regular work grind for the remainder of the week, along with the fast and furious last-minute, late-night crafting for this weekend’s craft fair.

Kits

All is Calm & Bright

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to a brand spankin’ new week! I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

We are definitely enjoying our time at the lake for a little family Fall Break getaway. The weather is perfect and we are soaking up the time outside.

And since I’m on the go, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to highlight the perfect line of products for crafting away from the crafty stash — Stampin’ Up! kits. And a gorgeous new holiday card kit is coming your way and I’m going to give you a little sneak peek.

SU! Calm & Bright Kit

Meet the Calm & Bright kit. This gorgeous kit offers you 3 different clean and simple holiday card designs. Kits include everything you need to create the designs shown. You can literally throw the box in your bag and be able to create on the go! And that’s exactly what I did with a little bit of free time I had yesterday afternoon.

While the on-the-go photography may not be quite as good, the crafting is perfect! I brought along just a few extra goodies to create an easy punched-up alternative design. The card on the left is assembled according to the included instructions, while the design on the right is my variation. I added a sparkly layer of Pretty Peacock glimmer paper under the main panel to make the colored elements really pop. I wrapped the focal panel in Lost Lagoon soft cording rather than the white linen thread included in the kit. I added some Wink of Stella to the house for a touch of twinkle and offset it from the snowy stamped background. I used the smallest snowflake stamp for the tag detail to coordinate with the background stamping, and I finished things off with some iridescent gems for subtle twinkle in opposing corners of the focal panel.

It’s hard to decide which design I like better, but one thing is for certain — I love being able to craft on the road!

birthday · Rest day

Checking in

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Hello and happy Sunday, my crafty friends! I have survived the big work training event this last week. Remind me never to go into the party planning & logistics business! *belly laugh* It was a crazy week, to say the least, but all of the program attendees thought it went off without a hitch, so I guess I will call that a success!

I jumped straight into vacation prep on the heels of the big work event, but there’s something about a vacation that makes it feel a little bit less like work. *snicker* I’m checking in today from our cabin on the lake, where we’re planning to fish until we’re tired. The weather is beautiful and our cabin is perfect!

While I’m away, I do plan to pop in with a fun little project sometime tomorrow. Because what crafter can go on the road without taking a little project?! LOL! Seriously though, it’s the perfect opportunity to show off the new Christmas card kit and a few on-the-go design alternatives, so I hope you’ll drop in.

In the meantime, how about a little giveaway in honor of my birthday? Drop a comment on this post or on the posts in my socials (going up later today) to be entered to win a little packet of goodies. I’ll announce a winner on Wednesday (10/15) evening.

Autumn

Gather Decor

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re rounding out this week’s design series with some home decor. I have a craft show in a couple of weeks, and I’m still working feverishly to prepare all of the things I have on my display wish list. Last year was the first year I offered home decor items, and they generated a lot of interest.

Today’s design is inspired by a recent post on the Stampin’ Up! official Instagram page. I, of course, put my own twist on it. And isn’t that the best thing about inspiration?! So let’s dig in and see how this comes together.

This is a 6×6 frame I found on Amazon. So we get started with a 6×6 card base. HINT: Before you fully commit to your layout, be sure that it shows through the frame as you intend. I neglected this step this time so my Cajun Craze base – that was supposed to be a small border around the focal panel – doesn’t show at all. *womp-womp*

The focal panel base is a sheet of the gold foil hashed patterned paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack. I decided to use the retired Changing Leaves embossing folder to create the background texture because I wanted the pattern to more closely tie with the image theme. The focal image is an image rub using blending brushes.

I decided to create a mask and negative that I could use more than once using some of the acetate sheets I had saved in my stash. When I unpack my acrylic stamps, I always save the thicker acetate sheet to use for shakers and window cards later on. It’s the perfect thickness for a mask and negative too! I used the larger leaf from the Gathering Moments dies to cut through the acetate. I used both pieces to create my focal image. The negative creates the center image, which is rubbed in Mossy Meadow, and then the shape is used to create the highlight around the leaf image, which is rubbed in Flirty Flamingo.

The sentiment panel has several layers. The backdrop is a banner created from two strips of the Gathering Together patterned paper. The sentiment from the Gathering Moments set is stamped in Versamark on Cajun Craze and then heat embossed in gold. I cut around the sentiment using paper snips. The fall foliage arrangement on the left is created using the Gathering Moments images and dies. We finish up with a bow of gold striped iridescent ribbon and some Cajun Craze & gold dots.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s series. I’ll be in and out over the next two weeks as I prepare for the big educational program at the office and then head off to the woods for a little family fall break get-away. But I have new goodies arriving that I hope to be able to show you so don’t go too far!

Product List
Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 119684 ]
[119684]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Nature's Sweetness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 162616 ]
[162616]
$16.50
Gathering Together 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 165969 ]
[165969]
$16.50
Changing Leaves Hybrid Embossing Folder [ 164138 ]
[164138]
$40.00
Gathering Moments Bundle (English) [ 165980 ]
[165980]
$56.50
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147111 ]
[147111]
$9.00
Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147052 ]
[147052]
$9.00
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147084 ]
[147084]
$9.00
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147087 ]
[147087]
$9.00
Timid Tiger Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165278 ]
[165278]
$9.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147090 ]
[147090]
$9.00
Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147092 ]
[147092]
$9.00
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147114 ]
[147114]
$9.00
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147085 ]
[147085]
$9.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165678 ]
[165678]
$21.00
Gold Striped 3/8" (1 Cm) Mesh Ribbon [ 165599 ]
[165599]
$8.00
Cajun Craze & Gold Dots [ 165984 ]
[165984]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Beautiful Pumpkins · Peaceful Garden · Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: BIG thanks

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Sketchy Fridays, everyone, and welcome to the weekend! Except it’s Saturday, but we’re all good with that, right? *snicker* My week could be summed up by lions and tigers and bears, oh my! We had a major cloud data migration at my office over last weekend and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. So we were having to make due with alternative ways of accessing e-mail and cloud files all week, and let’s just say that it’s been a mess! In and amongst all of that, we’re hosting a big educational conference in our office next week annnnnnd naturally all of my spreadsheets and files were a part of the data migration. *sigh* So it’s been a little challenging at the office this week, to say the least!

BUT here I am on Saturday bringing you the Sketchy Fridays card because it was just going to be too cute not to make & share! For those of you who are new here, Sketchy Fridays is a weekly series where we use a card sketch to design our featured card.

This week’s card is based on the Freshly Made Sketches #706 sketch. As soon as I saw it, I already had an idea in mind and that made it an easy choice! And we’re turning it on its head, so to speak, to make it landscape. Today’s design features the new Online Exclusives Beautiful Pumpkins bundle.

We get started with a neutral base of white cardstock. Our front panel backdrop is a sheet of the gold foiled script paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack. The focal panel is a combination of two sheets of the Gathering Together paper – the Cajun Craze small leaf pattern and the gold foiled fall foliage pattern. It’s mounted to the card front with dimensionals. The sentiment from the *new* 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar stamp set is heat embossed in black at the top of the panel. I wanted the pumpkins to have more texture and interest than what the stamps alone would provide, so I selected several of the woodgrain patterns from the Country Woods paper pack and used the detail stamp from the Beautiful Pumpkins set and a coordinating, but light, color on top of each woodgrain and then used the coordinating dies to cut out each one. The pumpkin stems are also cut from one of the darker woodgrain patterns from the Country Woods paper pack. I tried several different colors for the leaves and vines before settling on the Old Olive sheet from the Season of Elegance paper pack. We give the pumpkins lots of depth of field by adhering them with varying heights of dimensionals. And we finish things off with some gold low profile dots.

I’ll be closing out this week’s design series with some home decor. I hope you’ll drop back by later to check it out.

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Nature's Sweetness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 162616 ]
[162616]
$16.50
Gathering Together 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 165969 ]
[165969]
$16.50
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163393 ]
[163393]
$12.50
Season Of Elegance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 164144 ]
[164144]
$16.50
Beautiful Pumpkins Bundle (English) [ 166012 ]
[166012]
$36.00
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147116 ]
[147116]
$9.00
Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147101 ]
[147101]
$9.00
Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147097 ]
[147097]
$9.00
12 Days Of Crafting Advent Calendar (English) [ 167335 ]
[167335]
$99.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Basics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165679 ]
[165679]
$21.00
Low Profile Dots [ 164658 ]
[164658]
$7.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart