Christmas Slider

September 15, 2025September 15, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to a new week, everybody! It was a relatively busy weekend for us with lots of bowling for the kiddo, but we spent it together and that sure made it fun! We capped off the weekend by bringing our feral momma kitty and her five precious week-old babies inside in preparation from exterior housework we’re having done this week that would have upended her cozy hiding spot. So we scooped up her little birthing hut (thank goodness she used it this time!) and brought her and the crew inside where they’ll all stay until babies are big enough to go to the local rescue group for adoption and mom is recovered enough to (finally) get fixed. I’ll have to share some precious baby photos once I can get momma to let me take some good ones.

This week we’re on to a new design theme — all that glitters is gold. With so many beautiful gold foiled and glittery products in the Stampin’ Up! lineup, it should be a week of shiny goodness! We get started with some goodies from the new suite called Traditions of Christmas and pair them up with a few oldies, like gold foil sheets, Regal Distressed Patterns paper, and a few die sets.

You might recognize this gift card layout and think that it looks familiar. And you would be exactly right! We’re flipping our new slider fun fold on its side to create today’s beautiful gift card design. I’m currently working on the tutorial and hope to have that up on the site later this week!

We get started with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and score it to create the off-center barn fold look with the right panel serving as the pocket for our slider section. A sheet of the beautiful Traditions of Christmas paper serves as the backdrop for our card front. The overlapping focal panel backdrop is a combination of gold foil cut with the Perennial Postage dies and a sheet of the Regal Distressed Patterns paper cut with the Textured Notes dies. We use a combination of the Christmas Greenery dies and paper snips to cut the floral elements from another sheet of the Traditions of Christmas paper. The larger spray of florals is the focal image for the front panel, while the smaller fussy-cut elements serve as the cover for the slider pocket of the gift card panel. The front floral spray is adhered over a twist of the Real Red shiny ribbon using several layers of dimensionals. We finish everything off with a scattering of the Traditional Sparkling sequins across the front panel and add just a few on the gift card panel.

When adhering the florals on the sliding panel, ensure that they are flat for a fully unobstructed open/close of the inside slider gift card panel.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what we have glittering next!

Product List

Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119685]

$14.00

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$5.00

Regal Distressed Patterns 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164037]

$10.00

Traditions Of Christmas 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[165853]

$16.50

Perennial Postage Dies

[162607]

$33.00

Textured Notes Dies

[165555]

$31.00

Christmas Greenery Dies

[165872]

$36.00

Words For The Season Dies (English)

[165797]

$32.00

Real Red 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Shiny Ribbon

[165876]

$10.00

Traditional Sparkling Sequins

[165875]

$8.00

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

[138309]

$7.25

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Add All to Cart

birthday · Fun Folds

Birthday Surprise

September 13, 2025September 13, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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!

Product List

Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119684]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Splendid Autumn 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[164173]

$12.50

Season Of Elegance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164144]

$16.50

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$5.00

Layered Thoughts Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[165346]

$20.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165678]

$21.00

Everyday Arches Dies

[164629]

$29.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$30.00

Mixed Florals Dies

[164641]

$39.00

Gold & Silver 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Trim Combo Pack

[161633]

$9.00

Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments

[164223]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon · Fun Folds · Holiday Mini Catalog · Peaceful Garden

Peaceful Thoughts

August 16, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend! How is yours going so far? It’s been a busy one here just catching up on all of the things you don’t have time to deal with during the school week. But, of course, there’s always a little time for crafting too! *wink*

This week, we’ve been using the products in the SU! Peaceful Garden suite that will release in a few short weeks with all of the products in the new Holiday Mini catalog. Today we’re pairing up the paper with the With You in Mind stamp set and a cool fun fold I learned from fellow demo Patti Dolan called the Arrow Fun Fold.

We get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. One sheet of patterned paper from the Peaceful Garden pack serves as the show-stopping focal elements in this card. The sentiment from With You in Mind is stamped in Secret Sea on white cardstock. I used paper snips to cut around the sentiment. It’s adhered to the arrow portion using dimensionals. I finished things off with some Misty Moonlight silver edged ribbon, Hues of Blue flowers, and charming shimmer gems.

Would you like to give this fun fold a try? It’s really pretty simple, and you can download the PDF tutorial here.

Next week, we’re going to a stroll through another suite of products that will be releasing in September. And I can’t wait to show it to you!

Products used in today’s card:
Cloud Cover, Basic White cardstock
Peaceful Garden DSP (coming in Sept)
With You in Mind stamps
Misty Moonlight silver edged trim (coming in Sept)
Hues of Blue flowers (coming in Sept), charming shimmer faceted dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds · Holiday Mini Catalog · Tutorials

Big Hugs

August 2, 2025August 1, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, everyone, and happy Saturday! We are officially to the weekend. We’re counting down the last week of summer break over here, so there are lots of things on the to-do list to be sure the kiddo is ready for his first week of 8th grade! What about you? What will your weekend plans have you doing?

Here in the craft room, we’re wrapping up our full week of fun fold designs. And today, I’m giving you a sneak peek of a full suite of products that will be available in the Holiday Mini catalog on September 3rd. We’re using the Peaceful Garden Suite to create a 4-Panel Accordion Fold. Demos were able to purchase this suite early as part of the special Creativity Now event in June, and I’ve saved using it until we got closer to the official release date for customers.

We get started by cutting down a 12×12 piece of Night of Navy cardstock and then score it to create the accordion base. I chose the leaf and vine patterned sheet from the Peaceful Garden paper pack as my focal paper and then matted these strips with the coordinating silver glimmer paper. The sentiment panel is created using the Peace on Earth stamp & die bundle included in the Peaceful Garden suite. I finished things off with a few Hues of Blue flowers and Misty Moonlight trim from the suite, along with a few drusy embellishments.

I dressed this fun fold up a bit by adding mats for each of the patterned paper panels. When you’re using heavier glimmer paper, like the sheets from Peaceful Garden, this will add some extra weight to your card. You could simplify this by omitting the extra mats or using lighter weight glimmer paper.

How would you like to give the 4-panel accordion fold a try? You can download the free PDF tutorial here.

It’s been a lot of fun learning some new fun folds this week. And there are quite a few that will be going into my more regular rotation. Do you have a favorite from this week’s fun fold series? Tell me in the comments!

Next week, we’re going to be exploring a super fun stamp bundle called Sweet Jar that has a new coordinating holiday stamp set called Jar of Joy. I hope you’ll pop in and see all of the fun things we can do with these cute stamps & punch!

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Cloud Cover, Basic White cardstock
Peaceful Garden, Peaceful Garden glimmer DSP (coming in September!)
Peace on Earth stamp & die bundle (coming in September!)
Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon (coming in September!)
Hues of blue flowers (coming in September!), Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds · Tutorials

Trick or Treat Flap

August 1, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Friday, craft friends! We have made it to the end of the week and the weekend is fast approaching. What do you have on your weekend to-do list? We haven’t decided if this is going to be a productive weekend or not. Ever have those where you just decide to do fun stuff instead of the things on the to-do list? *wink*

This week, we’re having a good time going through my stash of “must try” fun folds. And today, we’re trying out the Flip Flap fun fold that I saw over at Stampin’ on the Back Porch. I thought it would be super fun to build an unfolding Halloween scene with the SU! Spooky Sweet paper pack. And it turned out sooooo cute, if I do say so myself! Of all the cards I’ve made recently, I dare say this one is the simplest as far as the supply list goes. And the fold itself? Also easy peasy?

We get started with a standard sized base of Basic Black cardstock. This design uses most of a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. Half is dedicated to the card base, while the other goes into making the two-sided flap. I chose the door scene from the scene sheet found in the Spooky Sweet paper pack. This scene panel is adhered directly to the card base. I made my flaps next so I could get the placement of the fold correct. And then I used a combination of ephemera characters and a few characters cut from a sheet of the Spooky Sweet paper to create the scenes for each layer. The fold-over flap hides the final scene on the card front. And it’s all about the layers to make these scenes come to life, which means we’re using my most favorite tool – dimensionals!

So what do you think? Is it eerily delightful? Or just plain frightful?

Love this card and wanna give it a whirl yourself? You can download the free PDF instructions here.

Product List

Basic Black 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock

[166786]

$22.00

Spooky Sweet 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166191]

$16.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$9.00

Shimmer Star Foam Stickers

[166202]

$9.50

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Fun Folds · L2S Group Instahop

Sending Sweetness

July 31, 2025July 30, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re trying out some new fun folds from my “must try” stash. Do you have a stash of card designs, maybe even fun folds, that you’ve been meaning to try? Why don’t you play along?! Let me know if you do so I can come check out your handiwork!

Today I’m trying out the Slide & Lock Fun Fold card that I learned from fellow Luv 2 Stamp team member Patti Dolan. I went a little off the reservation with my variation on this fun fold. I’m not 100% sure if I would recommend. *snort* So I’m going to leave it to the pro to show you how it’s done! But let me know what you think of variation.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. It’s scored so that it opens in the center. I assembled the background of Strawberry Slush, Wildflower Birthday, and Nature’s Sweetness to look like a kitchen and then cut this panel in half and adhered to the card front. Next up we make some cookie jars using the Sweet Jar stamps and punch. Two of the jars are adhered on dimensionals on either side of the center opening. The third cookie jar serves as our sentiment panel, as well as the slide. Here’s where I went a little off on my own. I decided to use the cookie jar as the slide, but I must say that it’s pretty small and oddly shaped, which makes it a teensy bit challenging to work with. But once I figured it out, I think I would replicate the card design without nearly as many do-overs. *grin* The challenging part for now, however, was writing instructions for this card that made any sense at all. So I think I’ll make it a few more times and then try again. But be sure to click on the link above the photo for Patti’s fabulous video and PDF instructions!

Today’s card is a part of the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instagram Hop, which goes live at 9 AM Pacific Time (PST). Click here to head over to my Instagram feed at 9 AM Pacific/11 AM Central and check out what the other demos in our L2S Group have created for you today!

Here’s a complete look at the finished product. What do you think? Does the Sweet Jar bundle do the Slide & Lock fun fold justice?!

Product List

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

[120953]

$14.00

Strawberry Slush 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165625]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Wildflower Birthday 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164591]

$16.50

Nature's Sweetness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[162616]

$16.50

Sweet Jar Bundle (English)

[165507]

$41.25

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$9.00

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[147116]

$9.00

Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad

[165286]

$9.00

Strawberry Slush 3/8" (1 Cm) Faux Linen Ribbon

[165274]

$8.00

Strawberry Slush & Pretty In Pink Gems

[165615]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Fun Folds · Tutorials

Incredible Fan Fold

July 30, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re having some fun exploring a whole new crop of fun folds that I’ve been dying to try. Today, we’re working on a “faux” fun fold I learned from my fellow Luv 2 Stamp team member Patti Dolan called the Fan Fold. I call this a faux fun fold because it’s made to look like a folded fan but doesn’t actually involve any special folding.

We’re working the lovely Floral Delight paper pack for this new fun fold design. And we get started with a base of Mossy Meadow. The card front uses two patterns from the Floral Delight pack — the daisy and fleur de lis patterns. Our fan element is created by cutting our card base and paper panels and then adhering them together to create the fan look. I used a More Messages sentiment and accented with Daffodil Delight satin ribbon and some Peach Pie glimmer paper. Drusy embellishments on either side draw the eye to the sentiment.

Our peek-through panel from the inside card panel also uses a sheet of the Floral Delight paper and is mounted on a quarter sheet of Cloud Cover to bring together the outside and inside color palettes.

This fun “fold” looks a little complicated but is super easy to put together. You can download the free tutorial here.

Product List

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$14.00

Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165621]

$14.00

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

[131202]

$14.00

Floral Delight 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[164700]

$12.50

2024–2026 In Color™ Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[163771]

$11.00

More Messages Bundle (English)

[165473]

$52.00

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[147113]

$9.00

Daffodil Delight 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Satin Ribbon

[164715]

$8.00

Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments

[164223]

$9.00

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Fun Folds · Tutorials

Birthday Explosion

July 29, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week is all about fun folds. I have to admit that I was pretty intimidated by fun folds at first, but once you’re brave enough to try your first one, there’s really no going back! Now, there’s nothing more exciting than adding another fun fold to my arsenal, especially when it’s an easy one that looks hard. *wink*

Today, we’re trying out a fun fold that I learned from my Luv2Stamp team leader Patty Bennett called the Explosion Pop-Up. And there are tons of variations of this fold out there that really dress it up and dress it down. I went with a pretty simple version for my first go.

We get started with a standard A2-sized card base of Pool Party cardstock. The two-panel focal panel starts with a backdrop of Pretty in Pink plaid from the Wildflower Birthdays paper pack that is diecut using the largest Textured Notes rectangle die. Then we cut a circle from the Pool Party and gold sheet using the Spotlight on Nature dies. To help set off the center of our focal panel, I mounted the circle panel atop a faux bow of gold striped mesh ribbon. Our focal image is from the ephemera sheet included in the Wildflower Birthday pack and mounted with dimensionals. A few gold drusy embellishments on either side set things off nicely and really bring the eye in.

The inside pop-up panel is a 6×6 sheet of the striped paper from the Wildflower Birthdays pack. I used more ephemera to decorate the left side. The sentiment panel is a small square of white cardstock that is stamped with a sentiment from The Right Words set in Pool Party ink. A few drusy embellishments on either end of the gold banner tie the design together nicely.

It takes just a minute to get the hang of folding the pop-up panel correctly. But other than that, this is a really simple fun fold that packs so much visual fun. Wanna give it a try? You can snag the free tutorial for today’s card here.

Product List

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

[122924]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Wildflower Birthday 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164591]

$16.50

Textured Notes Dies

[165555]

$31.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

The Right Words Cling Stamp Set (English)

[165316]

$26.00

Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad

[147107]

$9.00

Gold Striped 3/8" (1 Cm) Mesh Ribbon

[165599]

$8.00

Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments

[164223]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Fun Folds · Gifting

Hats Off for the Grad

July 28, 2025July 29, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! Our summer is flying by in a flash as we begin the last two weeks of summer break here in N. Texas. It’s hard to believe that school is just around the corner. And I don’t know about you, but that brings about a lot of anxious preparation as we begin gathering new school supplies and shopping for new clothes with a preteen (not for the faint of heart!).

It also means that we’re beginning a new week of fun crafty designs. And this week we’re going to be working through a stash of fun folds that I’ve been dying to try. And first up comes a design of necessity as my oldest nephew is headed off to college in a few short weeks. I might be just a teensy bit behind in honoring his graduation, but there’s always the last-minute items to buy right? *wink* Today, I’m trying my hand at a super cute cap & tassel fun fold that I saw over at Beth’s Paper Cuts.

For a giftie like this one, I try to coordinate the color palette with the graduate’s school colors. In this case, I need to work with a palette of royal blue, white, and black. Finding just the right shade of blue proved a little tricky since I was out of Blueberry Bushel. BUT I happened to still have a supply of Pacific Point in my retired stash, so here we go.

I decided to have the royal blue serve as the predominant color in the design and then I used white and silver as accent colors. I used white baker’s twine to tie the tassel and happened to have some silver thread on hand that I used to bind the tassel together. I liked having this silver detail tie together with the sentiment. I used the recently-retired die set called Wanted to Say to cut the sentiment. Silver trim and drusy embellishments give us nice pops of festive shimmer around the sentiment.

As I was putting my card together, I got a little ahead of myself and ended up adhering the panel that was intended to be the gift pocket, which meant I had to improvise a solution. I cut an extra square of silver specialty paper to serve as the money pocket and placed it in the center of the folding section. It works, but it wasn’t exactly how envisioned this coming out. I’ll fix it on the next go-around. *grin*

I chose to use the top-inside panel to include a hand-written note, so it is not strongly affixed in this short demo. But I still wanted to show how this adorable fun fold opens and where that message panel will eventually be situated. I haven’t had time to make the how-to video for this design yet, but I did take the time to create a PDF tutorial which is free to download here.

Products used in today’s fun fold:
Pacific Point (retired), Basic White cardstock
Brushed metallic silver specialty paper
Wanted to Say dies (retired)
Silver trim
White baker’s twine
Drusy embellishments
Brad
Dimensionals

Fun Folds · Gifting

Birthday Duo

June 28, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re closing out our 3D design series this week with a fun combination of designs. Do you ever find yourself looking for a cute way to give a gift card? This combo is the perfect way to dress it up! Our gift box has the Timeless Plaid paper and up-and-coming Label Me Thankful set sitting front & center, while our card pairs the Everyday Arches and Scenic Adventure dies.

The card and gift box have coordinating bases of Misty Moonlight cardstock. The gift card box is covered with a sheet of the Timeless Plaid cardstock. The sentiment panel is cut from white cardstock using the Everyday Arches dies and then the sentiment from The Right Words stamp set is stamped in Early Espresso. I used one of the newest Online Exclusive die sets called Label Me Thankful (releasing Tuesday!) to cut the leaves and acorns and finished things off with a few of the Earth Tones shimmer gems.

I wanted the card to give the feeling of looking through an old window, so I used the Everyday Arches dies to cut a window shape out of the sheet of Country Woods patterned paper that serves as the focal panel. I set this panel aside to build the scene using the Scenic Adventure dies. The underlying scene panel starts with a sheet of white cardstock that I cut with the largest arch die to fit behind the focal panel that will ultimately sit on top. I started by filling in the top with Cloud Burst ink using a blending brush to create a soft sky. Next, we move to creating the water element at the bottom using the detail die in the Scene Adventure set. Moving the die around and passing through several times gives us the realist-looking shimmery water. To bring out the details of the water, I went over that section with Pool Party ink and a blending brush. The grass at the shore is cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock, while the small stand of flowers is cut from Granny Apple Green for a pop of contrast. The flowers are cut from pastel ombre glimmer paper and adhered to the floral stems with glue dots and then tucked behind the grass at the shore. The trees are a combination of Pecan Pie and Shaded Spruce cardstock and layered both behind and in front of the grass at the shore. The mountain in the distance is cut from Thoughtful Journey paper and adhered behind the grass and trees in the foreground. Dimensionals help give this scene a lot of depth and layers. The window pane layer is adhered on top using several layers of dimensionals to ensure that the scene looks as though it’s outside the window. We finish things off with the sentiment cut from Flower Garden Foil using the Wanted to Say dies. An assortment of riverside pearls, two tone gems, and In Color pearls add the finishing touches and help the eye pass across the design.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration in this week’s designs and have maybe even downloaded a tutorial or two to try out sometime soon! I hope you’ll stop in next week as we take a look at some new Online Exclusives!

Product List for Card