This week, we’re designing around the theme of nature. And I can’t think of a better way to reflect nature than with a mountain scene! The beautiful Grove collections (In the Grove and Grassy Grove) by Stampin’ Up! are perfect for creating beautiful scenic panels like this one.
We get started with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. The background panel of the darker woodgrain sheet from the Country Woods paper pack is matted with a sheet of the Old Olive Season of Elegance paper. The sentiment from Simply Said is heat embossed in gold centered underneath the focal panel. The mountain scene is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock using a combination of gray and green shades. The mountain stamp is from In the Grove, while the grasses are a combination of In the Grove and Grassy Grove stamps. I filled in the shading of the sky and grass with a combination of blending brushes but chose to simply use them as they sat in my storage bin for an even subtler shading effect. I used the birds from the all-too-fun Friendly Seagulls stamp set to add realism to the sky above the mountain range. The scenic panel is mounted on Basic Black cardstock and then affixed to the background panel. I wrapped some gold thread around the panel before affixing it to the card base. A few copper sequins from the neutrals set add a touch of sparkle to draw the eye to the sentiment.
This is one design that didn’t need a single dimensional. And if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know how rarely that happens! *snicker* This is the perfect design for a quick masculine design and could be suitable for any number of occasions.
I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to check out an ode to spring!
After a super hot week last week, we are now in the midst of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl. As it stands right now, we’ve just gotten some rain and wind — not much more than we would expect from a spring storm. I hope that any of you who may have been in the path of the storm are safe and dry.
This week, we’re exploring designs using the Saying Hey stamp set by Stampin’ Up! This photopolymer stamp set coordinates with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch and contains sentiments that cover all of your major occasions. Today, we’re pairing up our stamp set with a number of different patterned papers from several designer series paper packs.
We get started on today’s card with a base of Basic Black cardstock. The background panel is the pieced sheet metal patterned paper sheet from the Take to the Sky paper pack. The center sentiment panel sits on a sheet of text with gold splatters from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack that has been diecut using the Spotlight on Nature die set. The sentiment panel starts with a sheet of white cardstock where the sentiment from Saying Hey is heat embossed using the WOW! black embossing powder and then punched with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. It’s framed with a black and gold hexagon. To accomplish the frame effect, each hexagon is cut in half on either the horizontal or vertical, depending on which direction it needed to be expanded in order to create the framed effect. So for example, the black hexagon is halved on the horizontal so that it can frame the top and bottom of the sentiment panel. The second portion of our sentiment is heat embossed in gold WOW! embossing powder on a banner of black cardstock that is diecut using the Happy Little Things banner die. The full center sentiment panel is matted with a sheet of the Pebble Path Tartan Foil specialty paper, which helps pull all of the color elements together. A few gold sequins and iridescent gems help tie all of the gold elements together.
Tomorrow we’re using a super fun stamping technique to create a focal element with the Saying Hey set. I hope you’ll pop in to check it out.
Products used in today’s card: Basic Black, Basic White cardstock Take to the Sky, Nature’s Sweetness, Tartan Foil, Gold foil DSP Saying Hey stamps Spotlight on Nature, Happy Little Things dies Heartfelt Hexagon punch WOW! embossing powder Neutrals sequins, iridescent gems Dimensionals Adhesives
Today, we’re wrapping up our week of touring some of the Stampin’ Up! sets that lend themselves to making great Father’s Day cards. And it seemed only fitting that we finished off with the “truck that broke the internet.” If you’ve followed along here for a little while, you’ve heard me mention this before. For those who are new, when the Trucking Along bundle was first released by Stampin’ Up!, it was so popular that it sold out in hours on release day and quickly sold out each of the next several times it came back in stock.
So today’s card features the Trucking Along bundle and a super cute design layout that I’ve borrowed from fellow demo over at Stamp It Up With Jaimie. For the beach lovers or the fellas who just love some summertime fun, this card design screams of summer relaxation.
We get started with a card base of Pool Party cardstock. A piece of Lemon Lolly is diecut using one of the largest circle dies in the Spotlight on Nature die set. I thought the radiating edges represented a big sun really well. Our sand is represented by a strip of the white woodgrain pattern paper from the Country Woods paper pack. I chose to make a one-layer focal image using the Trucking Along stamps and filled our truck with the beachy accoutrements. The truck is filled in with the coordinating filler stamps, while the items in the truck bed are colored with Stampin’ Blends. Everything is fussy cut and then adhered to the background panel with dimensionals. The sentiment from Trusty Tools is stamped on white cardstock and then cut with a combination of paper trimmer and snips and then adhered in the center over the “sand.” Everything is finished off with the swirl dots and shiny sequins embellishments.
This card comes together in no time flat and could easily be adapted for other occasions, like birthday, graduation, etc. And it’s perfect for any recipient, whether guy or gal. I love having designs like this in my inspiration folder for those times when I need a card I can put together quickly but delivers on the cute and fun!
I hope you’ve enjoyed all of the Father’s Day cards we’ve made this week and maybe got an idea or two for the fellas in your life. Tune in next week as we unwrap the Country Flowers bundle.
Products used in today’s card: Pool Party, Lemon Lolly, Basic White cardstock Country Woods DSP Spotlight on Nature dies Trucking Along, Trusty Tools stamps Stampin’ Blends Swirl dots, shiny sequins Dimensionals Adhesives
We’re continuing our tour of Stampin’ Up! products that help us make the perfect Father’s Day cards. And today, we’re enjoying a quiet walk in the woods with the two grove sets — Grassy Grove and In the Grove. I really love these two sets because they allow you to create a whole myriad of beautiful scenes. I spent a lot of time in the woods growing up, and it’s fun to paint these pictures of memories in cards.
I wanted to give a lot of realism to this scene, so I combed through my designer paper stash to find just the right sheets for the background and leaves, and I found the Meandering Meadows paper pack to be the ticket.
We get started with a card base of Early Espresso cardstock. The background panel for our woodsy scene is a sheet of Meandering Meadow designer paper that, to me, very much resembles a morning sky. It’s been diecut with the largest Deckled Rectangles die. Next, using the grove of trees die from the Grove die set and the largest Deckled Rectangle simultaneously, I cut a quarter sheet of Early Espresso cardstock. This serves as the base for the leaf panel, which will sit above it for depth of field. Adhere this to the Meandering Meadow base. Using a sheet of green patterned paper from the Meandering Meadow paper pack, I diecut another grove of trees — this time without the Deckled Rectangle border. From this sheet, remove all of the branch portions of the green paper. Then cut this panel to size so that the Deckled Rectangle edge of the Early Espresso mat is revealed around the edges once the two layers are adhered together. Apply dimensionals to the back of the green panel and then adhere to the Early Espresso mat, ensuring that you line up the leaves of each layer precisely. From Crumb Cake cardstock, diecut a rabbit, squirrel, and deer using the Grove and In the Grove die sets. Adhere between your two tree layers using glue dots. Stamp the sentiment from Trusty Tools in Early Espresso ink on Crumb Cake cardstock and diecut using the Happy Little Things Banner die. Adhere at the center of the base of the focal panel using dimensionals.
Tomorrow we’re going to be trucking in some Father’s Day fun. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out!
Products used in today’s card: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake Cardstock Meandering Meadow DSP Trusty Tools stamps Grove, In the Grove dies Dimensionals Adhesives
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
We continue our look at a good sampling of the Stampin’ Up! products that stand to make great Father’s Day cards. Today we’re revisiting a terrific set called Trusty Tools, which includes a photopolymer stamp set and a set of coordinating dies (sold separately). When I first bought this set, I only bought the stamps, but then I found myself fussy cutting way more than I really like to do when making projects. And I also realized that the set of dies includes things like a peg board and a tool box that really help give my stamps even greater value. And this set can go well beyond just Father’s Day designs.
This super fun design begins with a base of Daffodil Delight cardstock. The background panel mat is Basic Black. The background panel is a strip of Daffodil Delight stamped tone-on-tone with the nuts and bolts from the Trusty Tools stamp set and then a panel of white cardstock that has been diecut using the peg board die from the Trusty Tools die set. Each of these smaller panels is adhered directly to the black mat. The tools are diecut from a combination of black cardstock and silver foil specialty paper. I felt like this really gave the tools a more realistic look. The tools are adhered over the peg board using varying heights of dimensionals so that you really feel like you’re sitting at the tool chest. The sentiment panel is the bottom portion of the toolbox die and cut from Daffodil Delight. The word DAD is stamped in black in the center. The Happy Father’s Day sentiment is stamped on a banner diecut using the Happy Little Things dies. The design is finished off with some industrial trinkets to keep with the tool-look.
Tune in tomorrow to check out a brand new fun fold and fun outdoorsy theme!
Products used in today’s card: Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock Silver foil specialty paper Trusty Tools stamps & dies Happy Little Things dies Industrial trinkets Dimensionals Adhesives
Howdy, crafting friends. Welcome to another sparkly day filled with crafty fun. This week, we’re pulling out a whole host of Stampin’ Up! products to make some masculine cards. And with Father’s Day around the corner, it only seems appropriate to make a few masculine cards to honor the special dads in our lives.
Today, we’re keeping things on the simple side with this high-flying design. You’ll notice that the bulk of this card is comprised of the new Take to the Sky designer paper. Did you know that there is a full sheet of perfect focal images included in the Take to the Sky designer series paper pack? Simply cut them apart and you have an instant focal point for your cards! Let’s take a closer look at how this design comes together.
We get started with a base of Misty Moonlight cardstock. Our background panel consists of a base of Night of Navy cardstock that has been machine embossed with the Softly Sophisticated embossing folder — a retired Sale-a-Bration product from earlier this year. I loved that the pattern resembled a topography map, which is the piece of patterned paper from Take to the Sky that I’ve paired with it here. The current So Swirly embossing folder would work equally as well here for the same reason.
Our focal panel consists of a mat of Mossy Meadow cardstock for the perfectly pre-printed panel from the Take to the Sky paper. To dress up the pre-printed panel and tie it with our theme, I diecut the pair of propellers from silver foil specialty paper using the Adventurous Sky dies. An Industrial Trinket serves as the propeller hub. To complete the illusion of our plane flying in the sky, I stamped clouds on vellum using the Adventurous Sky stamps and then diecut them with the coordinating die. They’re affixed to our focal panel and sentiment panel using glue dots. The sentiment panel is diecut from the navigation map paper using the Everyday Details dies and the sentiment from the Adventurous Sky stamp set is stamped in the center. The sentiment panel is adhered using dimensionals so it stands above the scene. White transparent dots finish off our card and help draw the eye diagonally across the design.
Tomorrow we’re going to rummage through the tool box. I hope you’ll pop in and see what shows up!
Products used in today’s card: Misty Moonlight, Night of Navy, Mossy Meadow, vellum cardstock Take to the Sky, Silver foil DSP Adventurous Sky stamps & dies Everyday Details dies Softly Sophisticated embossing folder (retired) Transparent dots Dimensionals Adhesives
Happy Monday, everyone! We were thankful to have a few days of beautiful weather here in North Texas — with sunshine anyway. This summer we’ve done the abrupt gear shift from lovely spring to straight into the fire. But we were glad to see a string of dry days nonetheless. And we did our best to make the most of it. How about you?
This week, we’re going to be looking at a whole host of wonderful Stampin’ Up! products that you can use to honor the dads in your life. Today, we’re getting started with the Gone Fishing stamps and dies.
There are so many things that you can do with the combination of stamps and dies. And today’s card shows the most straight forward way — filling a tackle box. I don’t know about you, but I grew up fishing with my family. And it was always a treat when we could choose something to use from dad’s tackle box!
We get started with today’s card with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock, which won’t be visible when your card is closed. I chose a patterned background from the (now retired) Let’s Go Fishing designer paper pack. As you can see, only a tiny portion of the background pattern peeks out from behind the tackle box, so any subtle pattern will do. Next up, we diecut the tackle box from Basic Grey cardstock using the Gone Fishing dies. The tackle box is comprised of the base and topper dies. By using dimensionals to adhere to the two layers to the card front, you’ll get a realistic look into your tackle box from top view.
TIP: Don’t throw away the squares that are cut with the tackle box topper die. Save them to use as sentiment panels on other cards. You’re welcome! *grin* (Genius idea from my upline Patty Bennett!)
Now comes the fun part — filling your tackle box. On white cardstock, I stamped some of my favorite lures and tackle from the Gone Fishing stamp set. I chose minnows, a spoon, and a bobber. I used the detail stamps to fill in each image with some color. Then I diecut each one using the coordinating die. For added detail, I chose to remove the stamped hooks on the minnows and spoon and replaced them with hooks diecut from silver foil specialty paper, which gives the hooks a more realistic look. I added an additional spinner element to the spoon with the silver foil wing.
Now we fill the remaining bins in our tackle box. I assembled two peg-style bobbers. Using the larger bobber die, I cut white cardstock and then used the smaller portion to cut Real Red. The white pieces serve as the base for the red element. The bobber peg is cut from Crumb Cake and affixed to the back of each bobber. I used a twist of linen thread to represent fishing line behind one of the peg bobbers and added a few sinkers, diecut from silver foil, to the bin for a complete bobber setup. I adhered one bobber with a dimensional for a realistic look to the bin. From the silver foil specialty paper, I also diecut two larger spoons and a small triangular turning element. I tied them together using linen thread. The sentiment from the Gone Fishing stamp set is stamped on white cardstock that is diecut using the Autumn Leaves dies with the extension method. The sentiment is adhered over the tackle box to catch the eye. The scene is finished off with some Industrial Trinkets to catch the eye and draw it across the full scene.
This super cute design can be adapted with any sentiment to make a masculine card perfect for just about any occasion. And while it looks complicated to put together, it really does come together in a snap!
Tomorrow, we’ll be taking to the sky for our next design. And you won’t want to miss tomorrow’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays either — we’re going to learn a neat (and quick) fun fold and how to use the die extension method! I hope you’ll buzz by and check it all out!
Products used in today’s card: Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Real Red, Basic White cardstock Let’s Go Fishing (retired), Silver Foil DSP Gone Fishing stamps & dies Autumn Leaves dies Linen thread Industrial Trinkets Dimensionals Adhesives
Song Sparrow Papercrafts 