Category: Fun Folds

Fall · Fun Folds

Fabulous Friend

susanfoxbowen1 Comment

It’s really beginning to feel and look like fall here in Texas. Fall is my favorite season. At its peak, the main street to our house is lined with trees that look like fire. I try to run errands often once the trees begin to turn just to be able to watch the progression and transformation into a street lined with the beautiful colors of a warm fire.

And that brings us to today’s design which uses the beautiful All About Autumn designer paper. It has been so popular that it sells out as quickly as Stampin’ Up! can restock the shelves. I was lucky enough to get a sampling and just this week snagged a whole pack!

The card base for today’s card is Mossy Meadow cardstock. The fun fold design begins with the single Z-fold. (Hop over here for a PDF tutorial.) I selected the beautiful grove of trees and the foiled side of the limbs of leaves sheets of DSP. The grove of trees pattern is cut into 2-inch strips and adhered on the left of the outside and inside panels. The foiled sheet is approximately 3 inches wide to allow some overlap with the tree pattern. The inside sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped on a 2-inch strip of white paper and the panel is adhered in the center on the left side of the center card fold (at 4 1/4 inches).

The outside sentiment from Bold Bouquet is stamped on a Very Vanilla banner diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. A strip of natural finish ribbon is layered behind the sentiment panel and adhered to the outside tree panel. Because I wanted a large focal point on the front of the card, the z-fold must be modified to a half-barn fold by adhering the two smaller panels together to ensure the sentiment and message panel inside the card are visible and accessible. And I absolutely love the result! If you want to see the evolution of this design, hop on over to Instagram to catch the reel.

TIPS for this design: 1) you can turn a one-line sentiment into a block using a simple masking technique. I inked each word individually and covered the inky words I didn’t want to stamp using a piece a masking tape; 2) you can keep a ribbon in place using staples.

Products used:
Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Bold Bouquet, Heartfelt Hexagon stamps
Nested Essentials dies
Adhesive-backed speckled dots
Natural finish ribbon
Adhesives

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Fun Folds

Clouds of Love

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I don’t know about you, but I like to keep an assortment of cards on hand that I can tuck into my hubby’s suitcase. As a commercial pilot, my husband is gone fairly often. With modern technology, he never feels very far away, even when he’s halfway across the globe. But even so, it can get a little lonely on the road, so I like to sneak a note in his suitcase every now and then. Do you ever do things like this for your loved ones?

For today’s design, I started with a card base of Cherry Cobbler and paired it with another of the designs from the Country Floral Lane designer paper pack. I decided to do a center barn fold, which simply meant scoring the card base at 2 1/8″ from each edge rather than at 4 1/4″ in the center. The sentiment panel is diecut from Petal Pink cardstock using the PTI Mat Stack 6 die. The hearts are punched from Cherry Cobbler, and the sentiment is diecut from Bubble Bath using a PTI die. I used dimensionals under the sentiment and one heart for a little added interest. The adhesive-backed sequins give a little sparkle and reinforce the center focal point.

Products used:
Cherry Cobbler, Petal Pink, Bubble Bath cardstock
Country Floral Lane DSP (retired)
PTI dies (retired)
Heart punch (retired)
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

Sparkle Barn Fold

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It was fun to take a little break from holiday cards last week to participate in the Thinking of You card challenge to send at least 7 cards in 7 days. I really hope that the cards received spread a little joy and made some folks smile. Did you participate in the challenge? Were you a recipient of a card?

Now I’m circling back to designing for a few upcoming craft fairs and working on a custom order for a dear client. Today’s design is a fun take on the barn fold. I love the versatility of this fun fold and how just a little tweak or two can make all the difference in how a card feels when it’s finished. This card feels like you’re pushing through the lush evergreen forest to see what awaits you at the end of the trail, don’t you think?

A piece of Crumb Cake cardstock serves as the base of the card to keep with the natural feel. A sheet of A Walk in the Forest designer paper provides the lush evergreen background of the two front panels. The sentiment panel and mat were diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. The pop of red of the sentiment panel, cut from a sheet of Joy of Christmas designer paper, provides the perfect backdrop for the gold embossed sentiment. The twigs of greenery diecut using the Magical Meadow dies tie everything together nicely. What do you think?

Products used:
Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green, Cherry Cobbler, white cardstock
A Walk in the Forest, Joy of Christmas DSP
Nested Essentials, Magical Meadow dies
Magical Meadow stamps
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella (red berries)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

Magic of the Season

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If you have followed me for the last month or so, you probably will recall that I have mentioned how much I love the Winter Meadow designer series paper that Stampin’ Up! just launched in its Holiday Mini catalog. And you may have heard me talk about how much I love this particular sheet of paper from that paper pack. I come from a family of avid hunters, so I’m always drawn to well-designed craft products that lend themselves well to documenting a hunt or simply the majesty of wildlife.

What I love, in particular, about this sheet of paper is the repeating pattern of the deer in the forest. It feels like you’re seeing the deer through the fog of fall morning. Pairing this design with different background colors allows for many different moods and lends itself well to different occasions. A while back, I used this paper to make a birthday card. Today, I’m focusing on the muted colors of a snowy winter to make this holiday card. And I tried my hand at a variation on the two-flip fun fold.

I used Basic Gray as the base for the card design as a whole. I also pulled a sheet of shimmer white cardstock to serve as the base for the front flip and inside panels. The gorgeous scene of the deer standing in the grove of evergreens serve as the focal image on the front of the card. Although it’s difficult to capture in photographs, the shimmer of the white cardstock and the touch of Wink of Stella on the deer really give the feel of a cold winter morning.

When you flip up the front panel, a new scene is revealed. This view of the forest from the open prairie is created atop another sheet of paper from the Winter Meadow paper pack. On its own, this design looks like a gray wash, but to me, it still spoke to the feeling of a snowy morning. I simply stamped the forest scene and sentiment in Basic Gray using the Magical Meadow stamp set. The Basic Gray card base serves as the base for this panel and gives some depth to the snowy grays. The sentiment stamp itself is one long strip, but I wanted two lines for better symmetry so I masked portions of the sentiment stamp to create it across two stacked lines. I added a little sparkle with the glitter sequin.

When you flip down the center panel, you reveal the inside of the card. Since this section is intended for a message to your card recipient, it’s very simple with just a sentiment panel over the shimmer white cardstock. I added a few stars diecut from a sheet of the Snowflake Magic designer paper for a little visual interest and to carry the snow theme through to the inside message panel.

Overall, everything about this design is simple and muted because I wanted the beauty of winter and the pizzazz of the fun fold to be the stars of the show. How do you think it turned out? Would you like to see a video on how this card is made?

Products used:
Basic Gray, shimmer white (retired) cardstock
Winter Meadow, Snowflake Magic DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Stars at Night dies
Whisper White, silver ribbon
Glitter sequins
Wink of Stella
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

What Brings Us Together

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Happy Monday, everyone! I really love the various wintery/holiday paper designs that Stampin’ Up! has introduced lately. Have you had a chance to check them out? I just recently got the One Horse Open Sleigh DSP pack and I am loving all of the fun folds you can do to really show off these beautiful paper designs.

A week or so ago, I shared a video of how I made a barn fold card using a different set of designs from the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack. In that video, I showed how you could vary the placement of pieces to make it work for what you have on hand. I loved this variation so much that I felt it was worthy of having its own post to show you how you can make stunning cards with just a few supplies and just moving things around, like the placement of a sentiment panel, can make it feel like a completely new design even when it’s the same fun fold.

For this design, I started with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I chose two different designs from the One Horse Open Sleigh designer paper pack — a lovely snowy woods scene and a gorgeous cabin across a frozen pond scene. Because I wanted the cabins to remain a whole panel and not be separated, I decided to use this particular sheet of paper on the inside of the card. And as I began working with this sheet of paper, it naturally lent itself to being cut into a 4″ and 2″ panels with the cabin portion in the inside center and the trees on the smaller right inside panel. So the snowy woods cover the outside of the card design and really set the mood for this beautiful theme of Winter Wishes. The sparkly touches of gems, ribbon, and sequins complete the feel of the twinkle of freshly falling snow.

Interested in making this card? You can check out the video tutorial here or download the PDF here.

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, vellum cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
All That dies
Versamark
Clear embossing powder
Faceted gems
Adhesive-backed sequins
Silver & white sheer ribbon
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds · Tutorials

Oh Deer

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We’re taking another tour of the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper pack. There are so many beautiful winter scenes in this 6×6 paper pack. I’ll be making a variety of fun fold cards to show you how you can take beautiful paper that you’re hesitant to use and turn it into gorgeous cards that really allow the paper designs to shine.

Today’s design focuses on the sheet of paper with the deer in the grove of snowy trees. The gate fold is the perfect design to allow you to look through the trees.

In this video, you’ll learn how to make this card design and how easily you can adapt it to showcase other vignette paper designs. So grab a cup of tea and let’s make a card!

Products used:
Balmy Blue, vellum cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
All That dies
Magical Meadow stamps
Silver & white ribbon
Faceted gems
Adhesive-backed sequins
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds · Tutorials

Winter Cabin Fun Fold

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Have you seen the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper that is currently available in the Online Exclusives section of my online store? Every single sheet of paper in this 6×6 pack is gorgeous! It makes them so hard to cut and use! So I’m designing cards that use as much of each sheet in one card design as possible.

And I’m going to be bringing you a series of videos that show you how you can make stunning cards with the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack, and your supply list will be pretty simple for each design because we’re going to have this beautiful paper take center stage in each design.

First up is this cozy cottage scene. We’ll be making a single panel z-fold card together using this sheet of designer paper. Won’t you join me?

Products used:
Early Espresso cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Misty Moonlight ribbon
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Adhesives

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Card Sets · Fun Folds · Hello Irresistible

Irresistible Center Barn Fold

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Today’s card design is the fourth in the Irresistible Birthday card pack series. This designer series paper has been so fun to work with because it lends itself to so many possibilities. And this card leans much more feminine in both palette and overall feel.

I really have a hard time working with shades of orange. Believe it or not, this card base is a shade of coral, and this card came together easily. Hello Irresistible has really been a delight to work with for that very reason.

This design plays to the feminine vibes with all of the sparkle. From the gold-laced ribbon to pops of gold in sequins to the tiniest sparkle around the sentiment panel with Wink of Stella, this card really shines!

This fun fold reminds me of a barn door with the card opening in the center. Don’t you think? If you’re interested in how this design came together, go check it out over on Instagram!

Products used:
Hello, Irresistible DSP
Calypso Coral, Basic White cardstock
Bold Bouquet stamps
Deckled Rectangles dies
Flirty Flamingo ribbon
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Download the tutorial here!

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Card Sets · Fun Folds · Hello Irresistible

Irresistible Birthday Garden

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Today we’re taking a look at the third design in the new birthday pack called Irresistible Birthday that will be up in the Etsy shoppe later this week. This design is based on a new fun fold I learned from Sharon Armstrong. The original design has been adapted to exclude a few layers in order to lighten up the design, but it does not lose any of the drama of this unique fun fold.

This showcases yet another sampling of the SU! Hello, Irresistible designer paper. One of the things I really loved about this design was the ability to use every scrap of the gorgeous paper on both the inside and outside panels of the card. And who says a masculine card can’t have a little sparkle? This design is punched up with a few eye-catching features — silver pearls, iridescent sequins, and the touch of Wink of Stella around the edges of the sentiment elements.

Products used:
Hello, Irresistible DSP
Lost Lagoon, Pretty Peacock, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Pansy Patch stamps
Nested Essentials, All That dies
Adhesive-backed pearls
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Download the tutorial here!

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Card Sets · Fun Folds · Hello Irresistible

Irresistible Birthday Happiness

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Today I’m sharing another design in the Irresistible Birthday card pack that will be available in the Etsy shoppe at the end of the week. I had a lot of fun learning this new fun fold that my mom shared with me (originally shared by Dawn Griffith). The original design is a square card, and I like to keep all of my designs a standard size that doesn’t require special envelopes or additional postage. So I resized the original to be a standard-sized vertical card. Because I didn’t want to make any mistakes with my “good paper,” I worked on getting all of the measurements and folds just right by using paper from our shredding bin. And now I have a workable template where I scribbled all of the measurements as I went. Do you ever make templates? It helps me to keep all of the instructions I scribble down straight with what they actually make!

I am really loving the versatility of this designer paper. The first design in the Irresistible Birthday card pack really lent itself to being more masculine, but this card is definitely softer and more feminine. It’s the perfect combination of pale pinks and soft, rosey oranges. And I think the fun fold design really adds some fun to this card!

Would you like to know how I made this card? Hop on over to my Instagram feed and check it out! Link over on the right ➡️➡️.

Products used:
Petal Pink, Basic White cardstock
Hello, Irresistible DSP
Vellum
Calypso Coral ink
Pansy Petal, Bold Bouquet stamps
Bold Bouquet, All That, Nested Essentials dies
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Download the tutorial here!

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