Christmas · Fun Folds · Holidays

Season of Evergreens

We’ve made our way to another weekend and halfway through the month of September already! This week, we’ve been All About Christmas and have been exploring a whole selection of Stampin’ Up! holiday products. Today, we’re revisiting a set of products that carried over from last year’s holiday release. And it’s no wonder because the Merriest Trees set and the Winter Meadow paper pack both offer so many ways to create beautiful cards and not just holiday designs!

Today, we’re pairing up the Merriest Trees dies with one of my all-time favorite fun folds — the Center Step fun fold. I also gave a new coloring technique a try to make my own patterned paper for the trees. So let’s take a closer look at how this fun fold comes together.

We get started with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. A sheet of the Winter Meadow designer series paper serves as our backdrop for the center focal panel. Our pair of trees start with a custom coloring technique using Pretty Peacock and Old Olive ink. (Tune in on my YouTube channel on Tuesday for a full tutorial during the next episode of Terrific Tuesdays!) I also splatter some white craft ink to give the look of snowflakes falling in front of the branches. Using all of the various sizes of trees in the Merriest Trees die set, I cut out tree panels and then selected ones to layer to create each tree. Dimensionals on the bottom fringes of the branches help give a little dimension and the look of the stacked branches. Each tree is then decorated with garland and stars cut from textured gold specialty paper. The trees are adhered to the bottom of the center fold portion of the card base with dimensionals. Our sentiment consists of a mat of gold foil cut with the banner die from the Peaceful Season die set. The sentiment from Merriest Trees is heat embossed in gold on white cardstock and then diecut using the Peaceful Season dies. It’s adhered to the top of the center panel with dimensionals. I tucked a few bunnies by the trees for a little added interest and then scattered snowflakes in the background.

Next week we’re going to be exploring the new Christmas ephemera. I hope you’ll tag along!

Products used in today’s card:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
Watercolor paper, Winter Meadow, gold foil, textured gold DSP
Merriest Trees stamps & dies
Peaceful Season, Grove dies
Gold embossing powder
Pretty Peacock, Old Olive reinker
Snowflakes, rhinestone jewels
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Fun Folds · sketches · Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Brighten Your Day

I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe that we’re wrapping up the month of August and marching right into September already! I mean, it’s Labor Day weekend. Whaaaaaa?! I feel like the older I get the faster the time seems to fly by.

And speaking of time flying by, it’s time again for another installment of Sketchy Fridays, where each week we’ll be using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found on page 22 of the current Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #20 and features the gorgeous Splendid Autumn designer paper from the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini catalog that launches on September 4th.

This paper pack just turns out sheet after sheet of stunning designs, and I’m loving each and every one. I’m pairing up a fun fold shared by my upline Patty Bennett with Sketch #20 from the Annual Catalog. I’ve taken the liberty of changing the orientation of the sentiment piece. And that’s the best thing about using a sketch — it gives you a place to start and then you tweak things to work for you.

So our fun fold starts with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. Rather than scoring in the center, we score and fold at 3-inches and 7.25-inches to give us our front fold with a standard-sized inside message panel. I decided to double mat the gorgeous sheet of Splendid Autumn patterned paper and used Flirty Flamingo to bring out the pinky-orange hues of the leaves. I cut and mounted the patterned paper so that the panels meet to form a complete picture when the card is closed. When open, there is a small border of Flirty Flamingo visible on the left panel and a slight overhang of the Splendid Autumn sheet on the right panel. The sentiment from Changing Leaves is stamped in black on white cardstock and then diecut using the Greetings of the Season die. I diecut a leaf from gold mercury vellum using the Autumn Leaves dies and adhered to the sentiment panel. The sentiment panel is mounted to the left panel of the card front using dimensionals. We finish off the card front with an assortment of regal foiled dots, which release next week. I felt like it was a shame to waste the remainder of the Splendid Autumn sheet, so it serves as the decorative strip next to the message panel on the inside of the card. I added a few additional gold mercury vellum leaves to tie things together.

I loved this fun fold because it offered the perfect opportunity to showcase a gorgeous sheet of paper. When I have paper that’s so pretty that I don’t want to cut it, I search for layouts like this one that let me put it on full display. Give it a try the next time you have a sheet of paper too pretty to cut up!

Tomorrow, we’re closing out our In the Woods card series with a fall sunset. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out!

Products used in today’s card:
Blackberry Bliss, Flirty Flamingo, Basic White cardstock
Splendid Autumn (coming soon!), gold mercury vellum DSP
Changing Leaves stamps
Autumn Leaves, Greetings of the Season dies
Regal foiled dots (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Fun Folds · L2S Group Instahop

You Can Do This

This week, we’re making our way through the woods as we feature a whole array of woodsy products from the Stampin’ Up! lineup. Today, we’re dreaming of winter with this diamond fold card design featuring the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper and Frosted Forest bundle.

Stampin’ Up! has released some gorgeous watercolored patterned paper packs over the last year, and I think I have loved each and every one. I thought it would be fun to use the snowy scene paper from the Thoughtful Journey paper pack and create a pop-out using Frosted Forest since the evergreens closely resembled those in the paper. So let’s see how it all comes together.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I love how this really pulls forward the purple hues in the patterned paper. Our diamond panel leaves a little of the Blackberry Bliss peeking around the edges and the mat for our panel is a piece of white glimmer cardstock to be reminiscent of twinkling snowdrifts. I used the Frosted Forest masks to create the evergreen using a combination of Blackberry Bliss, Fresh Freesia, Night of Navy, and Misty Moonlight inks and then diecut it using the coordinating Frosted Forest die. I went over the tree with Wink of Stella and added iridescent ribbon for added sparkle on the diamond panel. The sentiment from Saying Hey is stamped in black on white cardstock and then diecut using the Happy Little Things banner die. A few iridescent faceted gems finish things off nicely with an additional twinkly touch.

Isn’t this just a gorgeous scene?! Today’s card is a part of the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instagram Hop, which goes live today at 9 AM Pacific Time (PST).  Click here to head over to my Instagram feed at 11 AM Central and check out what the other demos in our L2S Group have created for you today! Tomorrow we’ll be walking in the woods with another fun fold design using the new Splendid Autumn designer series paper. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out!

Want to see how a Diamond Fold card layout comes together from start to finish? You can watch the full Terrific Tuesdays video where we make one together and snag a FREE printable tutorial to boot. Click here to download the PDF.

Products used in today’s card:
Blackberry Bliss, Basic White cardstock
Thoughtful Journey, white glimmer DSP
Frosted Forest masks and dies
Saying Hey stamps
Happy Little Things dies
Iridescent striped trim
Iridescent faceted gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Coming Soon · Fun Folds

Happy Birthday Deer

Do you ever see a card design and think, “man, that’s brilliant!” as you’re scrolling Pinterest or some other platform for inspiration? There are some cards that are just show stoppers! Today’s tri-fold card design was inspired by a stunning card posted by fellow demonstrator Stamp With Amy K, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to give it a try for this week’s In the Woods card series.

I knew that I wanted to spotlight a gorgeous sunrise scene paper from the upcoming Splendid Autumn paper pack. We get started with this super simple tri-fold fun fold design with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I laid the open tree grove die from the Grove die set over the sheet of paper to determine what portion I wanted to peek through to the card front and then diecut the front panel of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I diecut two deer silhouettes in black cardstock with the Grove dies and then adhered them in the grove of trees with tear-n-tape. To keep the deer in place, a sheet of acetate is then adhered to the back of the card front. The focal sentiment from Adventurous Sky is stamped on Flirty Flamingo and diecut using the Happy Little Things banner die. It’s adhered over a ribbon of Blackberry Bliss & Gold, gold trim, and Peach Pie and then mounted to a textured gold hexagonal mat.

The sheet of Splendid Autumn is then cut to fit inside the card and the far right of the patterned paper panel is scored to create the fold-out portion. The inside card base is covered with white cardstock, which also serves to cover the anchor for the patterned paper sheet.

I stamped the sentiment from Something Fancy in black ink on white cardstock and then diecut with the Greetings of the Season die, adding some gold trim to finish things off before adhering to the fold-out panel. We finish off the whole design with careful placement of shiny sequins and sparkle gems to add twinkles on several of the panels to help draw the eye across and through the full tri-fold.

Although this card looks complicated, it comes together quickly and is even more stunning in person! Tomorrow, we’re going to be walking through a new-to-me design technique. I hope you’ll pop by and check it out!

Products used in today’s card:
Blackberry Bliss, Flirty Flamingo, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Splendid Autumn (coming soon!), textured gold DSP
Acetate window sheets
Something Fancy, Adventurous Sky stamps
Grove, Autumn Leaves, Happy Little Things dies
Heartfelt Hexagon punch
Peach Pie bordered ribbon, Blackberry Bliss & gold textured ribbon (coming soon!), gold trim
In Color shimmer gems, shiny sequins
Adhesives

Product List
Changing Leaves · Fun Folds

Not Without You

Welcome to another bright & shining Monday. I don’t know about you, but it was a busy weekend for us. The kiddo finished up his summer bowling league and took some lessons in preparation for the start of the fall league. So we spent a lot of time at the bowling alley. But given the inferno we’re experiencing here in North Texas, that worked out just fine!

This week, we’re starting a new card series called In the Woods. Each we’ll be using products from Stampin’ Up! that fit our weekly theme. Today, I’m feeling all the fall vibes and thought it would be appropriate to get started with the Changing Leaves bundle paired up with the Splendid Autumn designer series paper that launches next week on September 6th.

To give an opportunity for our gorgeous leaves from the Changing Leaves bundle to take center stage, we’re working with the barn fold today. And we get started on today’s card with a base of Crushed Curry cardstock. We cover each of the front flaps of our barn fold with a strip of paper from the Splendid Autumn paper pack. The pattern is a very subtle brushed, grainy texture that gives some nice depth in our color palette. Next up, we emboss a quarter panel of Blackberry Bliss cardstock using the Changing Leaves hybrid embossing folder and then diecut it into a smaller panel with one of the larger Deckled Rectangles dies. On a quarter sheet of white cardstock, I traced the outside of the trio of leaves from the Changing Leaves die set in pencil to make it easier to stamp each of the leaf images and then diecut all at once. I used a combination of fall colors to ink each leaf from the stamp set, including Copper Clay, Blackberry Bliss, and Crushed Curry, and imitated the look of leaves in a color metamorphosis by going over sections of each leaf with other colors for a subtle two-toned look. I diecut a few additional leaves in gold foil and Blackberry Bliss and then layered everything together to create a leafy focal section behind the sentiment panel. Our hexagonal sentiment panel consists of a white center panel and mat of Peach Pie glimmer paper. The sentiments from Everyday Greetings and Changing Leaves are stamped in Blackberry Bliss. Our focal panel section is finished off with Blackberry Bliss & Gold textured ribbon from the upcoming Holiday Mini catalog, releasing next week on September 6th. A few shiny sequins finish things off with a little extra sparkle and help draw the eye across all the gorgeous design elements on the front of this card.

Tomorrow we’re working with another fun fold design and another gorgeous sheet from the Splendid Autumn paper pack to create a gorgeous peek-through scene. You won’t want to miss it!

Products used in today’s card:
Crushed Curry, Blackberry Bliss, Basic White cardstock
Splendid Autumn (coming soon!), gold foil, In Color glimmer DSP
Changing Leaves stamps, dies & hybrid embossing folder
Deckled Rectangles
Everyday Greetings stamps
Hexagon punch
Blackberry Bliss & Gold textured ribbon (coming soon!)
Shiny sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Fun Folds · Terrific Tuesdays

Diamond Birthday

Do you ever see a special fold and think WOW? That’s precisely what happened when a fellow demonstrator shared the Diamond Fold with our team. And I’m glad to finally have the time to sit down and learn this fold. It looks far more complicated than it is, and it is absolutely a perfect way to spotlight beautiful patterned paper!

This week, we’re looking at all the ways we can use traditional holiday products in everyday designs. Today, we’re pairing the Season of Gold & Green designer paper with part of the new Season of Elegance suite to make this gorgeous Diamond Fold card.

We get started on today’s fun fold design with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. We cut a standard-sized base but in landscape orientation with a fold in the center and then one to divide the second half. I chose two different patterns from the Season of Green & Gold designer series paper pack, a current Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive. We’re bringing out the gold foiling by using the gold foil specialty paper as an accent color on our diamond panel. Our focal image is the largest tree from the new Peaceful Evergreens bundle. It’s stamped and diecut from Mossy Meadow with a gold bow diecut and added to the top. The new Peaceful Evergreens die set that will release on September 6th with the Holiday Mini catalog includes a set of dies to make paper bows and it really makes it easy to have perfect bows for your cards! Our sentiment from Adventurous Sky is stamped in black on Very Vanilla cardstock and then diecut using the Peaceful Season dies. This panel is mounted on a gold foil banner diecut with the largest banner from that same die set. I added some drusy embellishments for lots of extra sparkle and to help draw the eye across the card front.

Tomorrow we’ll be using a sketch to create a super fun thank-you design. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out.

Want to know how to make today’s card step-by-step? You can catch this week’s of episode of Terrific Tuesdays to see this card come together from start to finish. I’ve also provided a FREE PDF tutorial here. Please note that some of the products shown will not be available until September 6th.

Products used in today’s card:
Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Basic White cardstock
Season of Green & Gold, gold foil DSP
Adventurous Sky stamps
Peaceful Evergreens stamps & dies (coming soon!)
Peaceful Season dies (coming soon!)
Drusy embellishments (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Frosted Forest · Fun Folds

Thoughtful Thanks

We are closing out our week of card designs where we’ve been using the new Online Exclusive by Stampin’ Up! called Frosted Forest. And we are doing so in style with one of my very favorite fancy fun folds called the Center Step fold. This is one of my favorite folds when I have a bundle made for scene building, and of course, Frosted Forest is absolutely perfect for that. For this design, we’re pairing it up with some patterned paper from the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper pack.

We get started on today’s fun fold design with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock, which is cut to the standard size. The panel is then cut and scored to allow for the center standout section. (Click here for the full PDF directions.) I used the sheet of patterned paper with the evergreens from the Thoughtful Journey paper pack to serve as the backdrop for the front scene. The evergreen tree is stamped on Mossy Meadow using the Frosted Forest stamp and then diecut with the coordinating full tree die. The coordinating limbs are then diecut and added on top for additional detail. This is adhered to the left side of the center fold with dimensionals.

Next up is the tall tree, which is stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock and then diecut with the coordinating die. The top of the tree is then also stamped on Mossy Meadow, diecut, and adhered on top. I also diecut a branch portion of the tree from Crumb Cake to be layered on top of the green canopy. I went over the trunk and limbs with a Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend. The coordinating leaves are diecut from Old Olive and then adhered on top of the branches. This is adhered to the right side of the center fold with dimensionals and made to stand a little higher than the evergreen for greater depth of field. I added some low-lying bushes using the die from the Sending Love set. The squirrel and bunny are diecut using the In the Grove dies, while the deer is from the Grove set. I added some shading detail to the deer and squirrel using my sponge dauber.

The sentiment panel is a simple circle diecut from Very Vanilla using the Everyday Details dies. The sentiment from Changing Leaves is stamped in Lost Lagoon. I added coordinating rainbow dots on either side to draw the eye and some linen thread behind for a more natural attention-grabbing detail.

The inside panel of the card is covered with another patterned sheet from the Thoughtful Journey paper pack. This sentiment from Changing Leaves is stamped on Very Vanilla and then diecut using the Autumn Leaves die. It’s adhered in the centered of the inside panel with dimensionals.

This card is a perfect example of how a great piece of patterned paper and a beautiful scene-building stamp bundle allow you to make beautiful cards without a lot of effort. The patterned paper does the heavy lifting here, while the Frosted Forest just adds the icing on the cake.

Next week, we’re going to dip our toes in the snow and dream of cooler weather! I hope you’ll join me.

Products used in today’s card:
Lost Lagoon, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Pecan Pie, Smoky Slate, Very Vanilla cardstock
Thoughtful Journey DSP
Frosted Forest stamps & dies
Changing Leaves stamps
In the Grove, Grove, Everyday Details, Autumn Leaves dies
Stampin’ Blends
Rainbow adhesive dots
Linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesive

Product List
Botanicals · Country Flowers · Fun Folds

Country Flowers Sympathy

Welcome back, everyone! This week, we’re taking a tour of the country — Country Flowers, that is. We’re making an assortment of cards using products from the Stampin’ Up! Country Woods suite. Today’s card is a fun fold that features the Country Woods paper and Country Flowers bundle.

I really love the Barn Fold and once I discovered a little modification where your designer paper covers the center fold so the card front background looks totally cohesive once closed, I was even more sold on this fun fold! The Country Woods designer paper pack includes a whole host of woodgrain patterns and they come in any number of colors and textures. When I ran across the sheet of Petal Pink woodgrain, I knew it would be perfect for today’s card.

We get started with a card base of Petal Pink cardstock that is cut to open front and center, literally. The sheet of Petal Pink woodgrain serves as our backdrop for the front panel. The focal panel in the center has a base of white woodgrain, also from the Country Woods pack, that is diecut using the Spotlight on Nature set. The sentiment panel is diecut from Petal Pink cardstock with the Autumn Leaves die using the extension method. (You can watch a Terrific Tuesdays video tutorial on the extension method here.) The sentiment from Country Flowers is heat embossed in copper. Behind the sentiment panel are layers of iridescent striped ribbon and Petal Pink diagonal trim. And then nestled behind and around the sentiment are flowers and greenery that have been stamped or diecut using the Country Flowers bundle. I used Stampin’ Blends to color the flower bunches, and the greenery is diecut from Soft Sea Foam cardstock. Layers of dimensionals give the center focal panel lots of depth. The design is finished off with Petal Pink foiled gems scattered across the card front to draw the eye up and across the design.

With a simple sentiment substitution, you could easily make this a birthday or wedding design, or even a thinking of you. The possibilities are only limited by what’s in your stash!

Tomorrow, how about some tea? Stop in and join me for a cuppa — with some flowers, of course!

Products used in today’s card:
Petal Pink, Soft Sea Foam, Basic White cardstock
Country Woods DSP
Country Flowers stamps & dies
Spotlight on Nature dies
Copper embossing powder
Stampin’ Blends
Iridescent striped ribbon, Petal Pink diagonal trim
Petal Pink foiled gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · Country Flowers · Fun Folds

Buckets of Thanks

This week, we are looking at all the ways we can use parts of the Stampin’ Up! suite of products called Country Woods. In particular, we’ve been focusing on the Country Flowers bundle, which includes stamps and coordinating dies, and the Country Woods designer series paper. Today, we continue with a brand new fun fold design.

Today’s fun fold is called the Front Panel Z-fold. What I love about this particular fun fold is that you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. For this card design, I went somewhere in the middle. This design requires a little fussy stamping and some die cutting but all-in-all comes together pretty quickly once you get the hang of it. You can download the full PDF tutorial for today’s card, which includes a complete materials list and measurements, by clicking here. But for now, let’s take a closer look at how this card comes together.

Our card front consists of the smaller panels of the Z fold. Using the small detail stamp from the Country Flowers stamp set, we stamp a repeating pattern tone-on-tone on Smoky Slate cardstock. I chose a very symmetrical pattern and used a sheet of grid paper along with grid lines on my stamp block to accomplish this. This stamped panel is then cut into two smaller panels that are just a tick smaller than the card base. We cut a second quarter panel of white cardstock to make an identical sized mat that is adhered on the outermost fold to precisely overlay the inside message panel.

We start with a card base of Basic Gray cardstock. Our card base is of standard size and scored to give us our Z panel. The full-sized panel is our inside message panel, while our Z fold serves to give us a look inside with the overlapping front focal panel. For the inside panel, we cut a sheet of the gray woodgrain panel just a little smaller. The inside message panel is a quarter sheet of white cardstock that has been cut to size and then adhered to the center of the woodgrain panel. Be sure you only adhere to the outermost small panel so that your card will open. Next, we diecut a piece of the Pool Party woodgrain pattern from the Country Woods paper pack using the Deckled Rectangles die set. Using a glue dot, a faux bow is adhered diagonally across the front white mat and then the Deckled Rectangle piece is adhered over it using dimensionals. Using the Country Flowers stamps, stamp a bucket in black ink on Smoky Slate. I used Stampin’ Blends to provide shading and shadowing to the bucket, then diecut the bucket using the coordinating die from the Country Flowers die set. The greenery is cut from Old Olive and Mossy Meadow cardstock using the die from Country Flowers. The bucket and greenery are adhered with layers of dimensionals to give realistic visual planes. The sentiment from Something Fancy is stamped in black on white cardstock and then diecut using the Spotlight on Nature die set. The sentiment is adhered over the corner of the image panel using dimensionals. To draw the eye to the sentiment, rhinestone basic jewels are placed in a triangle around the sentiment panel.

Want to watch how this card comes together? You can watch the full episode of this week’s Terrific Tuesdays where we walk through the making of this card:

Tune in tomorrow for another fun fold design that showcases the beautiful greenery in the Country Flowers bundle. You want want to miss it!

Products used in today’s card:
Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Basic White cardstock
Country Woods DSP
Country Flowers stamps & dies
Something Fancy stamps
Deckled Rectangles, Spotlight on Nature dies
Stampin’ Blends
Linen thread
Rhinestone basic jewels
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds · Masculine Designs

True Blessing

This week, we’re working through our stash of Stampin’ Up! products to honor all the guys. It’s hard to believe that it’s already June and Father’s Day is quickly approaching. I hope one of this week’s designs inspires you to create something special for your fellas.

Today, we’re combining some gorgeous designer series paper with our dies to create this stunning fun fold called the Faux Fold-Over. We get started with a base of Early Espresso cardstock that has been cut to give us a flip-up panel, or the faux fold-over panel, in the center. Our full background layer is the sheet of Pool Party woodgrain from the Country Woods designer series paper pack.

For the center panel, we emboss a piece of the Pebbled Path luster paper using the Leaf Fall embossing folder. The sentiment panel consists of three layers — the bottom two layers utilize both sides of the white woodgrain sheet from the Country Woods paper pack and the third panel is white cardstock. Each circle is cut using the Spotlight on Nature dies. The white sentiment panel is stamped with the Unbounded Love sentiment in Copper Clay. The sentiment panel is adhered to the darker circle to create a matted sentiment. This layer is then adhered with dimensionals to the largest circle and the full panel is adhered using dimensionals to the center panel over a twist of linen thread. From Copper Clay luster paper, we diecut deer and branches from the Grove die set and a maple leaf from the Autumn Leaves dies and then adhere them to our panel to create our scene. The card front is finished off with swirl dots. Our inside sentiment from the Something Fancy set is stamped atop the small leaves from the Autumn Leaves stamp set in the bottom-right corner of the message panel.

This week’s Terrific Tuesdays episode walks you through making this card step-by-step. Missed the episode? You can watch the full episode right here:

You can also download the FREE step-by-step PDF tutorial for today’s card by clicking here.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading through the grove. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out!

Products used in today’s card:
Early Espresso, Basic White cardstock
Country Woods, In Color Luster DSP
Unbounded Love, Something Fancy, Autumn Leaves stamps
Spotlight on Nature, Grove, Autumn Leaves dies
Leaf Fall embossing folder
Linen thread
Swirl dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives