Category: sketches

Coming Soon · sketches · Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Cuppa Thanks

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This week we’re exploring all of the ways that we can use our holiday products to make everyday cards. For this week’s Sketchy Fridays, we’re taking a little detour from the Annual Catalog and, instead, are taking a page from my personal sketch book. And today, we’re pairing our sketch with the new Take a Bow patterned paper and Joyful Images ephemera both of which will be available on September 6th.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock. Our center strip of patterned paper is from the Take a Bow paper pack and provides a colorful grounding base for our focal panel. Our focal panel backdrop consists of a piece of Garden Green cardstock embossed with the Cute Crochet embossing folder that is mounted on the mercury vellum sheet. The mug of hot chocolate is from the Joyful Images ephemera pack. A few adhesive peppermints add some visual texture and interest. The sentiment from Simply Zinnia is stamped in black on white cardstock and then diecut using the Autumn Leaves die. A faux bow of gold trim behind brings another pop of gold to the design, tying our full focal panel together as one. The mug and sentiment are adhered over a Graceful Greenery vellum panel diecut with the Nested Essentials dies. Iridescent faceted gems across the design help the eye pass across and to the sentiment.

We’re closing out our design series tomorrow with a stunning sympathy card. You don’t want to miss it!

Products used in today’s card:
Balmy Blue, Garden Green, Basic White cardstock
Take a Bow (coming soon!), Graceful Greenery vellum, mercury vellum DSP
Simply Zinnia stamps
Nested Essentials, Autumn Leaves dies
Cute Crochet embossing folder
Joyful Images ephemera (coming soon!)
Real Red & White peppermints (coming soon!), iridescent faceted gems
Gold trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Holidays · sketches · Sketchy Fridays · Winter

Sketchy Fridays: Season’s Greetings

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Whew, we all made it to Friday. Anyone have exciting weekend plans? I’ll be hosting a virtual Kit Together this evening where I will be assembling the Hello Hollyhocks kit. If you’re free, I would love for you to join me! Simply click this link to register and join in on the fun.

But for now, it’s time for the second 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, we’re using Sketch #2 and pairing it up with the gorgeous Seasons of Green & Gold patterned paper pack and coordinating Graceful Greenery vellum pack. Let’s see how it all comes together.

We get started with a base of Garden Green cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of mistletoe paper from the Seasons of Green & Gold patterned paper pack. The focal panel consists of a mat of gold foil specialty paper and a sheet of greenery patterned paper, which is also from the Seasons of Green & Gold designer series paper pack. Our sentiment panel is matted with a lovely gold banner which is diecut from gold foil using the Greetings of the Season die. The sentiment from the coordinating stamp set is stamped in Shaded Spruce on white cardstock and then diecut with the oval die from Greetings of the Season. The tag holes in each of the sentiment panel pieces are covered with small bunches of mistletoe berries and sprigs of greenery that have been cut with paper snips from a sheet of Seasons of Green & Gold designer paper. Additional sprigs of greenery are cut from the edge of the same sheet of patterned paper, as well as a sheet of vellum from the Graceful Greenery pack. In conjunction with a twist of gold trim, the greenery serves as an eye-catcher for the sentiment panel. A sprinkling of rhinestone jewels across the card front draw the eye across the design.

Tomorrow we’ll be closing out our wintery designs in the snowdrifts. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out.

Products used in today’s card:
Garden Green, Basic White cardstock
Seasons of Green & Gold, Gold foil, Graceful Greenery vellum DSP
Greetings of the Season stamps & dies
Gold trim
Rhinestone basic jewels
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Garden Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[102584]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Season Of Green & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164324]
$16.50
Gold Foil Sheets
[132622]
$5.00
Graceful Greenery Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164118]
$10.00
Greetings Of The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164325]
$25.00
Greetings Of The Season Dies
[164112]
$32.00
Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad
[147088]
$9.00
Gold & Silver 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Trim Combo Pack
[161633]
$9.00
Rhinestone Basic Jewels
[144220]
$6.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Frosted Forest · sketches · Sketchy Fridays

Frosted Thoughts

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We continue our tour of the Online Exclusive bundle by Stampin’ Up! called Frosted Forest. And today, things are cooling off a little bit as we find our forest covered in a light dusting of snow.

Today’s card is also the start of a brand NEW blog series called Sketchy Fridays, where we’ll be using sketches as the basis for our card designs. We’re kicking off this series with the sketches found in the current 2024-25 Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. Did you know that there are 22 sketches included in the new catalog at the bottom of page 22? What a fantastic resource we have right at our fingertips to make beautiful cards in a jiffy!

And today, we begin with Sketch #4 which we are pairing with the Frosted Forest bundle. This sketch drew me because of its large focal panel which allows a beautiful product bundle, like Frosted Forest, to take center stage. TIP: remember that a sketch is just a starting point and moving elements around to suit your design is a-okay!

I loved the pairing of the Winter Meadow paper with the lovely evergreens in the Frosted Forest set. So we get started with a card base of Mossy Meadow. The base of our focal panel is a combination of gold foil specialty paper and a patterned sheet from the Winter Meadow designer series paper pack. Our focal panel is a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock where we stamp both the small and large evergreens from the Frosted Forest stamp set in black ink and then shade them in using the decorative masks and a combination of Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, and Garden Green inks. The snowflakes from Merriest Trees are stamped in Versamark and I then used mask #2 to apply Versamark to both trees and a Versamark pen to fill in underneath both evergreens. All of this is heat embossed using the opaque bright white embossing powder. The focal panel is matted with Boho Blue luster paper and then adhered with dimensionals. Our sentiment from Everyday Greetings is stamped in Versamark on Mossy Meadow and heat embossed in metallic gold rich embossing powder. Fussy cutting around the sentiment gives it a more casual feel. The sentiment is adhered to a Gold Mercury vellum mat with dimensionals. Our vellum mat has been diecut with the smallest Deckled Rectangle die and is adhered to the focal panel with a strip of tear-n-tape. I added a dove from Frosted Forest and a few rhinestone basic jewels to finish things off.

Using a sketch is like using a recipe when you’re cooking — it gives you a great place to start but allows you to spice things up with your own variations. For me, it helps a design come together more quickly because I have a great base.

Tomorrow we’ll be finishing up our card series using the Frosted Forest bundle with one of my favorite fun folds. I hope you’ll drop by and check it out!

Products used in today’s card:
Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla cardstock
Gold Mercury vellum, Winter Meadow, Boho Blue luster, Gold foil DSP
Frosted Forest stamps, decorative masks, and dies
Everyday Greetings stamps
Deckled Rectangles
Embossing powder
Rhinestone basic jewels
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[133676]
$11.50
Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[101650]
$13.00
Gold Foil Sheets
[132622]
$5.00
2023–2025 In Color™ 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Luster Specialty Paper
[161746]
$11.00
Gold Mercury Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164142]
$10.00
Frosted Forest Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164344]
$21.00
Frosted Forest Decorative Masks
[164350]
$15.00
Frosted Forest Dies
[164136]
$36.00
Merriest Trees Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[162043]
$25.00
Everyday Greetings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[165084]
$21.00
Deckled Rectangles Dies
[159173]
$30.00
Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad
[101406]
$10.50
Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad
[147088]
$9.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
[147090]
$9.00
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad
[147089]
$9.00
Versamark Pad
[102283]
$9.50
Basics Wow! Embossing Powder
[165679]
$21.00
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder
[165678]
$21.00
Rhinestone Basic Jewels
[144220]
$6.00
Tear & Tape Adhesive
[138995]
$7.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Botanicals · Country Flowers · sketches

Buckets of Birthday Flowers

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This week, we’re using portions of the Stampin’ Up! Country Woods suite to make all sorts of lovely card designs. We’re also using inspiration from fellow crafters as a jumpstart for our designs. Today, we’re taking a sketch from my sketchbook as inspiration for our layout.

When I see card layouts I really love, I try to make a quick sketch or save a photo of the inspiration card. There are many times that I love a card and immediately think of stamps and dies in my own stash that will work with that layout. Great layouts are like that — they can be used over and over and give you completely different looks based on the products you use.

For today’s card, we get started with a card base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. The background panel consists of two layers. The mat is Pretty in Pink and the foreground is a piece of Moody Mauve that has been machine embossed using the Eyelet embossing folder. The focal panel base is a piece of the lighter grey woodgrain pattern from the Country Woods designer paper pack that has been diecut using one of the larger Spotlight on Nature circles. The milk tin and floral bunches from Country Flowers have been stamped on white cardstock and then colored with Stampin’ Blends. The tin and flowers are adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals with the florals just a smidge higher than the tin they are resting in. A bow of striped iridescent ribbon sits just underneath the flowers at the top of the tin. The sentiment from Something Fancy is heat embossed in white on black cardstock and then cut into a thin strip with the paper trimmer. A few Berry Burst sequins from the sequins trio are placed to draw the eye across the design.

Pop in tomorrow to see what else we do with the Country Flowers.

Products used in today’s design:
Blackberry Bliss, Pretty in Pink, Moody Mauve, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Country Woods DSP
Country Flowers stamps & dies
Spotlight on Nature dies
Something Fancy stamps
Embossing powder
Striped iridescent ribbon
Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · sketches

Flower for a Friend

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We’re rounding out our week of designs using the Stampin’ Up! Inspiring Snapdragons bundle, which includes coordinating cling stamps and dies. Today, we have a clean and simple design that was inspired by a sketch from my sketchbook.

We get started with a base of Shy Shamrock cardstock. I also cut a quarter-sheet of Shy Shamrock and then embossed using the Cute Crochet embossing folder. The embossed quarter panel is then trimmed down to be 1/4-inch smaller than the standard card front. The panel is adhered to the card front using dimensionals. I next diecut the middle-sized snapdragon from white cardstock using the Inspiring Snapdragons dies. Using Pretty in Pink and Shaded Spruce Stampin’ Blends, I colored the decorative layer of the snapdragon. I used a glue pen to apply adhesive to the decorative layer and adhere it to the snapdragon base. The sentiment is diecut from Shy Shamrock glimmer paper and Basic White cardstock using the Friends for Life dies. I used a glue pen to apply adhesive and adhere to the two sentiment layers together.

To assemble the focal section of the card, I began with a glue dot in the center of the card. I cut linen thread and made a decorative faux bow and used the glue dot to hold it in place. Using dimensionals, I next adhered the snapdragon over the linen thread and then the sentiment over the snapdragon blossom. To ensure the sentiment stands above everything else, the dimensional layer is doubled. I finished things off with a scattering of Shy Shamrock shimmer gems.

I really love this card design because it’s super simple to make and replicate quickly, but it looks like a million bucks. If you have other sentiment diecuts in your stash, you could easily substitute a different one for a multitude of occasions.

Next week, we’ll be focusing on the Friends for Life bundle. I hope you’ll pop in and see how many different ways we can use this fabulous bundle!

Products used in today’s design:
Shy Shamrock, Basic White cardstock
In Color glimmer paper
Inspiring Snapdragons, Friends for Life dies
Cute Crochet embossing folder
Stampin’ Blends
In Color shimmer gems
Linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · sketches

Hi, Friend

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Howdy, friends! Thanks for popping by today for another look at the Inspiring Snapdragons stamps and dies bundle. Snapdragons were one of my Granny’s favorite seasonal flowers. She had the best green thumb when it came to snapdragons. I, however, did not inherit that part of her gardening skills. I have the worst luck with snapdragons, even though I enjoy them a lot. *grin*

We’re revisiting our sketch from yesterday … with a little twist. The fun thing about sketches is that they give you a place to start with design and give you the flexibility to adapt them. And today’s card is a perfect example of adapting, where I scaled down and adjusted the placement of the image panel to allow more of my background panel to show.

So let’s get started on today’s card. We begin with a base of Pretty in Pink cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of Meandering Meadow designer series paper. I chose a sheet that had flowers that, to me, had similar shape and look to snapdragons. I tied silver & white trim around the designer paper panel before adhering to the card base.

The image panel is a base of white cardstock diecut using the Everyday Details dies. I chose to make several snapdragons in the pink color family to really pull the pink blossoms forward in the background paper. I used a combination of cardstock and glimmer paper for the snapdragon blooms, including Berry Burst, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, white, and Petunia Pop. Each blossom consists of two layers—a base and detail layer. I adhered the snapdragon blossoms to the image panel and varied the height of each using dimensionals. The image panel is adhered to the background layer using dimensionals.

The sentiment panel is cut from white cardstock using the Spotlight on Nature dies. The sentiment from Wonderful Thoughts is stamped in black in the center. The sentiment panel mat is diecut from Pretty in Pink using a larger die from the Spotlight on Nature die set. The layers are adhered using dimensionals and then affixed to the card front using stacked dimensionals to ensure the sentiment panel stands above the layered snapdragons. I added a dragonfly cut from In Color glimmer paper above the snapdragon blossoms and then finished things off with iridescent foil gems.

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see how we can use this fabulous bundle to build a scene! You won’t want to miss it.

Products used in today’s card:
Pretty in Pink, Petunia Pop, Melon Mambo, Basic White cardstock
Meandering Meadow, In Color glimmer DSP
Wonderful Thoughts stamps
Inspiring Snapdragons, Everyday Details, Spotlight on Nature dies
Silver & white trim
Iridescent foil gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · sketches

Snapdragon Love

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This week, we’re going to be working with the Inspiring Snapdragons bundle by Stampin’ Up! This bundle includes cling stamps and coordinating dies. We’ll be looking at all of the ways that we can use these stamps and dies, both together and apart, to create beautiful cards.

And today’s card is based on a sketch from my sketch book. When I come across a great card, I typically take a screenshot and add it to my inspiration folder. Sometimes I am saving a card because I’m inspired by product usage, but a lot of times, I’m saving it as inspiration for layout when using products from my own stash. I often share with you guys when I found inspiration for a layout but don’t usually include a sketch. I have begun converting awesome layouts into digital sketches and thought I would begin sharing them with you as I use them. Love a sketch? Please feel free to save it to your own sketch collection.

Today’s card starts with Pretty in Pink cardstock. The patterned background layer is a sheet of the Unbounded Beauty designer series paper. For the image panel, I started with a sheet of white cardstock diecut using the Everyday Details dies. The image panel mat is diecut from Petunia Pop In Color Glimmer paper using the Deckled Rectangles dies. On the white panel, I stamped the two smaller snapdragon images using Bubble Bath, Pretty in Pink, and Petunia Pop ink. I then adhered the two panels together using my adhesive runner.

Next, I diecut the sentiment panel and mat. The sentiment panel mat is diecut from white glimmer paper and the sentiment panel itself is diecut from white cardstock using nesting circles from the Spotlight on Nature dies. The sentiment is from the Country Flowers set. I first stamped the word “sending” in black ink towards the top of the blank sentiment panel. Then I stamped “love” in Petunia Pop underneath, allowing part of the L to overlap the word “sending.” Adhere these two panels together with adhesive. TIP: To prevent stamping any portion of the word “sending” while stamping the remaining portion of your sentiment, I covered it with a piece of tape — any tape will do. I have tried cleaning my stamp in between stamping portions, but I still manage to get a ghost image of the previously inked portion. And I’ve found the taping method to be the most effective way to prevent that.

To finish things off, adhere the image panel on the top-right portion of the card. Tie sheer ribbon around the bottom third of the card, covering the bottom of the image panel. I chose to tie the sheer ribbon in a knot, but a bow could also work. Next, adhere the sentiment panel over the ribbon and bottom-left portion of the image panel using dimensionals. I added a gold glimmer dragonfly and In Color resin dots to finish things off.

Tomorrow, we’re going to take our sketch for another spin with a little variation. I hope you’ll pop in and let me know what you think!

Products used in today’ card:
Pretty in Pink, Basic White cardstock
Unbounded Beauty, In Color Glimmer DSP
Inspiring Snapdragons, Country Flowers stamps
Iridescent striped trim
In Color resin dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · sketches

Time to Celebrate

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Preparing for my son’s birthday last week had birthday front and center in the design line-up. And today’s card is a second take on a sketch by Stampin’ Pretty — with a flip of the smaller background panel and a little shift on the position of the decorative element.

This card begins with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. I chose two star patterns from the Bright & Beautiful designer series paper pack to serve as the backdrop. I used a strip of More Dazzle specialty paper and Night of Navy & gold sheer ribbon to bridge the divide between the two patterns. For the decorative element, I chose the balloons from the new Filled with Fun die set and diecut them from all of the shades of the Soft Shimmer specialty paper pack. The sentiment from Filled with Fun is stamped on white shimmer paper and the decorative element is white glimmer paper diecut using the Thoughtful Expressions set. A few Night of Navy tinsel gems finish off this sparkly celebration in an envelope!

This week, we’ll be exploring some botanical designs. I hope you’ll follow along!

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy cardstock
Bright & Beautiful, Soft Shimmer, Glimmer, More Dazzle DSP
Filled With Fun stamps
Filled With Fun, Thoughtful Expressions dies
Tinsel gems
Gold cord, Night of Navy & gold sheer ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesives


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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · sketches

Heart Blooms

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Today, we’re taking another look at the Filled With Fun bundle, which includes an adorable photopolymer stamp set and coordinating dies. This Online Exclusive from Stampin’ Up! can be used in so many different ways and will pair with any number of other super cute sets. One of the many things I love about SU! is that they design products to mix and match, which means your stamps and dies can serve you in a LOT of ways. I’m not always the best at thinking of creative or different ways to use my stamp sets, but someone in my great, big world of crafty friends has!

I’ve been coloring a lot outside of my usual design lines lately. And today’s stretch uses patterns. There are some patterned papers that really just stump me. Outside of having them stand alone and take center stage, I’m not sure what to do with them. But one of the things you can learn by following stampers who have completely different styles from your own is how to do things differently and IT WORKS! For today’s card, we’re using two very busy patterns from the Delightfully Eclectic designer series paper pack and they work together beautifully! Sometimes it’s all about figuring out how your patterns can compliment one another and remembering that a pattern doesn’t have to take center stage in a design.

Today, we’re using a sketch from Stampin’ Pretty as the inspiration for our card layout. We start with a base of Fresh Freesia cardstock. I really like how this color brought out the deeper pink tones in both patterns of the Delightfully Eclectic DSP. Rather than using the full wagon image from Filled With Fun, I chose to use a portion of it as a planter for the lovely flowers from the stamp set. Our Stampin’ Blends provide the beautiful flowers with their coordinating color. I love how perfectly the sweet turtle from Playing in the Rain pairs with this scene and sentiment. The sparkle for this design comes compliments of the white and Bubble Bath shimmer papers, along with the Blooming Pearls, adhesive hearts & flowers, and Bubble Bath sequins from Sequins Trio.

Today’s card doesn’t follow the sketch to the letter, but that’s the beauty of inspiration – it’s not your ruler, it’s just your guide!

In honor of my son’s birthday, I will be giving away 3 mystery packets of 6×6 designer series paper – both current and retired designs. To be entered to win, simply comment on any of my social media posts (WordPress, Facebook, Instagram) and tell me your favorite Stampin’ Up! color(s). I’ll have my son draw a winner at 3 PM CST tomorrow (March 29).

Products used in today’s design:
Fresh Freesia, Basic White cardstock
Delightfully Eclectic, Bubble Bath soft shimmer, white shimmer DSP
Filled With Fun, Playing in the Rain stamps & dies
Hearts & flowers, Blooming pearls, Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives


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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · sketches

Celebration Wagon

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

One of the most recent Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive releases is called Filled With Fun. This bundle includes an adorable wagon-themed set of stamps and dies. There are so many cute possibilities with this set! I’ve had so many ideas swirling in my head ever since I saw it.

So today, we’re pairing this adorable wagon with another sketch by the crew over at Freshly Made Sketches. When I saw this sketch, I was immediately drawn to the scallop element at the bottom of the focal section. I remembered the sheet of paper in the Lighter Than Air paper pack that had the scalloped element and wanted to give it a try as the focal panel for my card design. And it’s worked beautifully!

Our card begins with a base of Highland Heather cardstock. I chose the cross-stripe pattern from the Lighter Than Air designer paper pack as the background. From there, I began building my wagon. I diecut the wagon using the coordinating dies and a sheet of the polka-dotted paper. I used Night of Navy and Lost Lagoon glimmer paper for the wagon wheels and hubcabs of Blooming Pearls for a little extra pizzazz. The wagon handle is diecut from the Holographic Trio specialty paper. I wanted to fully lean into the celebratory theme of this card design, so I diecut the banner from Berry Burst shimmer paper and hung it on the side of the wagon.

The Filled With Fun stamp set includes a birthday-themed stamp with presents and cake, but I wanted to fill the wagon with presents alone without all the fussy cutting. And that’s when I remembered that the Merriest Trees die set included packages! I selected several different patterns from the Lighter Than Air paper pack and began diecutting packages. I chose to use the Rose Gold specialty paper as the bows for a little additional colorful sparkle. The packages are layered on dimensionals to give depth of field to the scene.

This card is finished with a beautiful CELEBRATE banner at the top of the focal panel. The sentiment from Happy Little Things is stamped on Highland Heather and then cut with the paper trimmer. A twist of silver & white trim and a few carefully placed iridescent discs draw the eye across the design and tie everything together.

Tune in tomorrow for another fun design using Filled With Fun and a new sketch plus a GIVEAWAY. You won’t want to miss it!

Products used in today’s design:
Highland Heather cardstock
Lighter Than Air, soft shimmer, Holographic trio, Rose Gold DSP
Filled With Fun, Happy Little Things stamps
Filled With Fun, Merriest Trees dies
Silver trim
Iridescent discs
Blooming Pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives


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