birthday · Rest day

Checking in

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.

birthday · Fun Folds

Birthday Surprise

Welcome in, crafty friends, and welcome to the weekend! After a busy morning, we are enjoying some family downtime this afternoon before we hit some projects while the weather is nice. What do you have on the weekend agenda?

We’re rounding out our series this week where we’ve been restocking the birthday card stash, and there’s nothing better than a fun fold gift card holder to close things out for this series! I found the cutest (and easiest) pop-up gift card holder over at Klompen Stampers and just had to give it a try. I combined this cool fun fold with a picture-in-picture design using the Splendid Autumn paper and Layered Thoughts stamps. And I can’t wait to try this again with a scene building set!

We get started with a base of Cajun Craze cardstock, which serves as both the card base and the inside gift card panel. The front picture-in-picture panel starts with the background sheet from the Splendid Autumn paper pack that is matted with gold foil specialty paper. The window section is a second sheet of the same Splendid Autumn pattern that is cut using the Everyday Arches dies and matted with a larger-sized arch of Basic White. I used the negatives from the grass die from the Mixed Florals set cut from a sheet of the cream Season of Elegance paper and tucked the grass behind the panel inset to make it look like grass is waving outside the window. The sentiment is from the Layered Thoughts stamp set and the first portion of our birthday greeting is stamped on white cardstock, heat embossed in gold, and then cut with the largest banner from the Stylish Shapes die set. The sentiment panel is mounted over a bow of gold trim on dimensionals. The front panel is finished with a scattering of gold drusy embellishments.

The inside of our card is our pop-up gift card panel which is cut from Cajun Craze cardstock. It tucks behind the bottom panel of the card front to create the gift card movement when the card opens and closes. The second portion of our birthday greeting is on the bottom panel of the gift card section. It’s stamped on Cajun Craze cardstock, heat embossed in gold, and then cut with the largest Stylish Shapes banner die using the extension method. It’s a tight fit, but it works. This panel is adhered to the gift card panel with the dimensionals.

Here’s a quick look at this gift card in action.

My newest batch of Holiday Mini catalog and Online Exclusives have arrived, so I’m looking forward to bringing you a closer look at those as we explore the theme all that glitters is gold. I hope you’ll drop in and see what that’s all about!

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birthday

Cheers to Birthdays!

So sorry to disappear on you yesterday. By the time our day wound down and I got yesterday’s card finished, it was far too dark to take a photo that would do the project any justice.

This week, we’re restocking the birthday card stash by using a variety of products in the crafty stash. We’re pairing up the Label Me Grateful and Gathering Moments dies for today’s card. This design is inspired by a card that I saw on The Crafty O ink Pen over on Insta. And I must say that one of my favorite things about using inspiration is seeing how much or how little you can see the inspiration behind the design once it’s finished. And just for funsies, today I’m gonna show the two side-by-side and you tell me. Can you see it?

What drew me to the inspiration design to start with is our Luv 2 Stamp monthly team challenge bingo card – with one square being to design a fall card. And I figured what better way to kill two birds with one stone than to adapt this super beautiful fall inspiration design to fit the birthday design theme for this week. And one of the first obstacles I had to face was the color palette because I was completely out of my preferred base color of Crushed Curry and had to search for a suitable substitute that would work with the vision I had for the end result. I must admit that the new In Color Darling Duckling is NOT a favorite of mine. And if I’m being completely honest, I pretty much hate it because it has too much green and reminds me of … well, I’ll just say that I prefer not to say and let your mind wander. BUT I decided to give it a try here because I figured this would be the best context in which I ever could potentially use the few sheets of Darling Duckling I have in the stash. And from there, I worked to choose colors and elements that tamed the duck and let thoughts of fall shine.

So we get started with a base of Darling Duckling. I cut an extra quarter panel for the focal panel backdrop and cut it down using the largest Textured Notes die and then machine embossed it with the Forever Plaid embossing folder. This panel is matted with Peach Pie glimmer paper from the In Color pack. We move on to cutting our smaller detail elements with the Label Me Grateful dies using a combination of Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, and the peach end of a sheet of Pastel Ombre glimmer paper. To really hit home with the fall theme, the center sentiment is matted by a large oak leaf cut from Peach Pie glimmer paper using the Gathering Moments die. It’s adhered a little askew in the center of the card and then the smaller fall foliage elements are tucked around on each side in opposing corners and held with strips of tear-n-tape. The sentiment is broken into two distinct but complimentary sections. The first part of the sentiment is from the Scenic Adventure set and is stamped in Early Espresso on white and then cut with the smallest banner die from the Stylish Shapes set. Birthday is stamped on a scrap of white, also in espresso, and then hand cut with paper snips. Both portions are affixed to the center of the card over some gold striped ribbon using several layers of dimensionals. We finish things off with a scattering of Cajun Craze dots and gold drusy embellishments.

This card is one big, fun, fall celebration. I just couldn’t be more pleased with how this morphed into one big sparkly birthday party in an envelope! I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow to see what other fun goodies we can pair together.

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birthday

Peaceful Birthday Wishes

After a day like today, it has never seemed more appropriate to be working with a peaceful product line. This week we’re restocking our birthday card stash using a variety of products in the crafty stash. And today’s design pairs the beautiful Peaceful Garden products with the Simply Said stamp set to create this lovely botanical birthday card. The super classy and versatile layout is inspired by Sweet Stampin’.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. The background panel is a floral sheet of the Peaceful Garden patterned paper that is matted with a sheet of Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the coordinating glimmer pack. Our focal panel is a trio of elements starting with an arched backdrop cut from Secret Sea using the Everyday Arches dies. I fussy cut the hydrangea bloom from a sheet of the Lovely Garden patterned paper and affixed it to the arch panel using dimensionals. The sentiment from Simply Said is stamped in Secret Sea on Cloud Cover cardstock and then cut with the smallest Peace on Earth dies using the reverse-extension method, making it smaller than the standard die size. It’s tucked under the hydrangea bunch. The full panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. We add a knot of Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon over the sentiment, some Wink of Stella to the hydrangea blooms, and two bunches of silver Drusy embellishments opposite one another on the focal panel.

I feel like this card imparts a lot of warmth with its hues of blues and subtle sparkles. It certainly makes me smile anyway! Pop in tomorrow and see what we can pair together next to create a cheery birthday design.

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birthday

Falling for Birthdays

After a long day at the office, I alllllllmost pulled a skip for today. But I found some inspiration over at The Crafty Carrot that pulled me out of my dog-tired slump and I managed to pull together this super cute variation of the inspo card.

This week, we’re working on restocking the birthday card stash by pulling together goodies from the stash. Today we’re using another combination of new and old with the Gathering Together products and With You in Mind stamp set.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock. Two patterns from the Gathering Together patterned paper pack work together to create our backdrop. I chose the large birthday sentiment from the With You in Mind stamp set and cut a circle from Whisper White cardstock using the Spotlight on Nature dies to create the panel. The largest leaf from the Gathering Moments stamp set is stamped on either side of the sentiment. The panel is adhered in the center of the card with dimensionals. And then a collection of leaves from the stamp set is stamped onto white using a combination of Mossy Meadow and Old Olive inks and then diecut with the coordinating Gathering Moments dies. A few acorns are stamped on Crumb Cake and then diecut with the coordinating die. The leaves and acorns are tucked around the sentiment panel. A festive bow of gold striped mesh ribbon is placed at the top to hug the birthday sentiment. We finish things off with a few Cajun Craze & Gold dots for a pop of eye-catching color.

This design is super easy to replicate and would be great for a guy or gal in your life. I love having neutral designs like this in the stash to make it easy to grab one, write a note, and drop it in the mail on the fly. Tune in tomorrow to see what combination we’ll be using next!

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birthday

Celebrate Adventure

It’s hard to believe that we’re already starting a new week. I feel like we just started Friday! It was a nice weekend around here. The temps were cool and we had some rainy days – perfect for staying in and doing nothing.

We’re on to a new week and new design theme. For me, September is a very busy birthday month between family and close friends, and so I’m (a little selfishly) in birthday mode for this week’s projects. We’re going to be pulling out old and new sets from the crafty stash to create our designs. First up is this card for the nature lovers in your clan. Inspired by a lovely window scene created by Simple Stamper over in the Instaverse, we’re combining the Scenic Adventure and Light & Wonder die sets to create this beautiful mountain vista in our picture window.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. We build our scene on the front panel of the card base. I started by lightly sketching the smallest arch on the card front to ensure that I covered what would be visible through the picture window. We started by “painting” the sky with Cloud Cover and Pool Party inks blended using the small blending brushes. The mountain is cut from Cloud Cover cardstock using the Scenic Adventure die and then gave the mountain a bit more dimension by shading with Cloud Cover and blending brush. The mountain is adhered using dimensionals. I had a leftover piece of light blue pastel ombre glimmer paper that was embossed using the Soft Waves embossing folder that I adhered at the bottom of the mountain so that it would peek through the line of trees in the front of our scene. The trees are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the large treeline die from the Light & Wonder die set, which is adhered with dimensionals. The clouds are cut from a small scrap of vellum using the Scenic Adventure dies and adhered in the sky using glue dots. They’re colored with Wink of Stella so they sparkle and then the mountain scene is splattered with Wink of Stella for some subtle twinkles across the scene. I cut nesting arches using the Everyday Arches dies from two additional quarter panels of white to create the window frame. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Secret Sea under the window of the outside panel. The window pane look is create by adhering the two arched panels together with dimensionals. A scattering of frosted iridescent dots add some additional ethereal sparkle across the card front.

We’re continuing our birthday theme tomorrow. I hope you’ll drop in and see what pairing we have tomorrow.

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birthday · Gifting · Treat Boxes

Birthday Pinch Box

We’re already halfway through this week. I’m not quite sure how that happened! This week, we’re making 3D designs. And today’s design is a super simple fold-over pinch treat box. There are all sorts of variations of this box out there – mostly varying in size or shape. Regardless of which one you choose to make, the box comes together in a snap! And today’s birthday box uses the Wildflower Birthday paper pack and ephemera sheet.

The box itself is made from a full sheet of Pool Party cardstock. After scoring along both the long and short edges and making some strategic cuts, you fold in the flaps to create the bottom of the bag and the top flap. A quick little pinch of the sides at the top create the closure for the fold-over flap. I use small Velcro dots to act as my bag closure because I find it the simplest and most effective method, but I know some folks have used magnets and some have chosen to have a ribbon closure. But for me, I’ll stick with the easy button! *wink-wink*

I used two coordinating sheets of the Wildflower Birthday paper to decorate the bag. I intend to use this as a little birthday giftie, so I chose the sheet with cakes on it as the focal section (both front & back of the box) and then used the decorative scalloped sheet for the bag flap portion. I tied a bow using the gold striped sheer ribbon and decided I needed a little more oom-pah-pah for the bag flap, so I pulled a few gold twigs and a small leaf from the Wildflower Birthday ephemera sheet. Together, these elements provide the perfect eye-catching addition to the bag flap.

These gift boxes come together so quickly that it would be easy to trim and score a whole stack of cardstock in no time flat! If you’d like to give this cute gift box a try, you can download the tutorial here.

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birthday · Sentiments

Birthday Backgrounds

This week, we’re having fun with sentiments. Each of our designs has the sentiment take the stage in all new ways. And today’s card is devoted to text with the combination of the More Messages and Layered Thoughts stamp sets by Stampin’ Up!

I don’t know about you, but when I see card designs that use text in new or innovative ways, I always think, “why didn’t I think of that?!” I especially love designs that create a background panel from scratch. And when I realized that the new More Messages set is actually a single image rather than separate sentiments, I knew just what I wanted to do — create a fun background panel. For me, the whimsy and fun for this design comes from the angled stamping and festive color palette.

Our card begins with a base of Summer Splash cardstock. You could also use Coastal Cabana with equal flair! The focal panel is a piece of white cardstock diecut with the Textured Notes die and then stamped with the More Messages stamp. I used a combination of Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, and Crushed Curry. The background panel is matted with a sheet of orange and pink Beautiful Bokeh paper. I wrapped some Summer Splash, Daffodil Delight, and gold ribbons around the panel toward the bottom. The sentiment from Layered Thoughts is stamped in a combination of Versamark and Crushed Curry on yellow Beautiful Bokeh paper and then heat embossed with some glitter powder. I used paper snips to cut around the sentiment, leaving a nice border for that extra pop of yellow. The sentiment is mounted over the ribbon on the focal panel with dimensionals and then the focal panel is mounted to the card base with dimensionals, as well. I finished things off with a scattering of In Color shimmer gems across the background panel and some rhinestone basic gems.

Tomorrow we’ll try our hand at a sketch and a sentiment and see where we end up. Won’t that be fun?!

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birthday · Sentiments

Birthday Cake

Welcome to the midway point of the week. Why does it always seem like the summer goes by in a flash? We’ve had a busy week this week with junior police academy going on, but the kiddo seems to be enjoying it and is learning a lot about what goes in to being a law enforcement officer. I love that he’s finding a new respect for police officers and ALL that they do behind the scenes!

This week, we’re designing our cards around sentiments. And you might be wondering why I chose this particular design theme, and I must admit it’s because I couldn’t choose a bundle or suite to feature. Lol! Seriously though, I find it challenging sometimes to use my sentiments in new or exciting ways and I always find design themes a great way to think outside the box. Today, we’re pairing up the With You in Mind stamps with the Wildflower Birthday pieces and Beautiful Bokeh paper to create this easy z-fold.

We start our card with a base of Sea Foam Green cardstock and score as usual and then score one side in half again to create our Z fold. I chose a sheet of Beautiful Bokeh that has a lot of colors from the Soft Subtles palette as my background. This sheet is cut into 2-inch strips, leaving just a little edge on all sides, and adhered to each of our panels with the inside panel having a base layer of white to which we adhere the Bokeh strip so that it peeks through to the front when the card is closed. Next up, we cut a focal panel from the blue pastel ombre glimmer paper using the Textured Notes dies. I chose a large cake and a few balloons from the Wildflower Birthday paper pack (punched from the tag sheet) as the focal images. The cake is adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals in the center toward the top of the panel. The happy birthday sentiment from With You in Mind is stamped in Versamark and Coastal Cabana on a sheet of Coastal Cabana cardstock. It’s then heat embossed with some glitter embossing powder. I cut around the sentiment with paper snips leaving a nice shaped border on all sides. The sentiment is adhered over the cake stand at the bottom of the sentiment panel on a double layer of dimensionals. I tucked the balloon strings behind the sentiment, adhering the tails with glue dots, and then popped up the balloons themselves on either side of the cake on several layers of dimensionals. The focal panel is adhered to the left panel of the card (when the card is closed), leaving the right side free-floating so that the Z fold opens cleanly. We finish things off with some In Color shimmer gems.

Tomorrow we’re making our own patterned paper to help feature our sentiment. Stop in and check it out!

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birthday

Day to Celebrate

We’re winding up our spring break week, and although it’s been a little windy, we’ve had beautiful weather to enjoy our time together. I worked the end of the week, so getting back into the groove has been a little challenging with us mostly being off our regular schedule. But hopefully we’ll all get back in the swing next week.

Today, I had a little time to whip up a simple birthday card. Not only does the kiddo have a birthday coming up, but we have several of his friends to celebrate with, as well. So I turned to the cute Wildflower Birthday paper pack for design inspiration for this card.

We get started with a base of Summer Splash cardstock. I cut a piece of the Lovely Garden polka dot paper using the Textured Notes dies to serve as the backdrop for the focal panel. Next up is the focal panel which is a sheet of the Wildflower Birthday foiled paper cut with the Perennial Postage dies. I fussy cut a cupcake from one of the smaller diecut elements from the birthday paper pack as the focal image and matted it with a gold foil circle cut with the Spotlight on Nature dies. I love how this really makes the cupcake pop against the fun patterns of the background. A twist of Summer Splash bordered ribbon gives that extra pop of color and pulls the eye to the center of the design. The sentiment from Day to Celebrate is stamped in Summer Splash on white cardstock and diecut using the Mixed Labels dies. A few Sunny Day iridescent dots add a subtle glimmer on either side of the focal panel.

I intentionally made this card in a more neutral color palette so the kiddo could give it to any one of his friends who is celebrating a birthday without having to worry about it being too girly or too masculine. This layout is one that is simple to replicate for any number of occasions, which makes this one a layout for the sketch book!

Next week is all about nature. I hope you’ll come along with me as we take a tour through the crafty stash to see what we can whip up with this theme.

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