St Patty's

Luck for You

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Saturday, everyone! It’s been a busy one around here since Wednesday. And I just haven’t had any crafty mojo. I had some ideas this morning but I’ve had a super hard time getting those ideas down in paper. Ever have that problem? We all do. And you know what, it’s okay to take little breaks.

This week’s lucky design theme has been a little harder to bring to life than I expected. I kept reaching for all the same things. But I wanted to bring fresh ideas each day — hence the mojo problem. Today we’re frolicking in the clover as we pair up the Sweet Jar stamps with the Everyday Arches dies to create this window scene.

We get started with a base of Summer Splash cardstock. I really love the slight color variation between the backdrop and focal elements. We build our picture window with a gold foil base that is cut with the Everyday Arches die. The front portion of the card base is machine embossed with the Beautiful Patterns embossing folder to give a bit of texture to our backdrop. The base of our focal panel scene is a sheet of Cloud Cover cardstock that is cut with an arch die just one size smaller than the gold mat. I used a scrap of Shy Shamrock cardstock to create the hill of clover, which uses a combination of the Scene Adventure die to create the grass and the clover stamp from the Sweet Jar stamps to give us our field of clovers. The sentiment from the Sweet Jar set is stamped in Shy Shamrock toward the top of the arch. Some white & gold baker’s twine is tied around the panel immediately underneath the sentiment. The two-toned butterfly is created with a combination of vellum and Shy Shamrock glimmer paper. The detailed portion of the butterfly uses the small butterfly die from this year’s Advent Calendar. To give the vellum wings the look of shimmery gold, I drudged my Wink of Stella brush through gold embossing powder before coloring over the vellum. We finish things off with some pops of twinkly gold sequins and shimmery green pearls.

I’ll be bringing you another clean & simple design in just a bit. Stay tuned!

Product List
Summer Splash 8 1/2" X 11 Cardstock [ 163797 ]
[163797]
$14.00
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Shy Shamrock 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 163795 ]
[163795]
$14.00
Gold Foil Sheets [ 132622 ]
[132622]
$5.00
Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 167099 ]
[167099]
$10.00
2024–2026 In Color™ Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 163771 ]
[163771]
$11.00
Beautiful Pattern 3 D Embossing Folder [ 167097 ]
[167097]
$10.50
Everyday Arches Dies [ 164629 ]
[164629]
$29.00
12 Days Of Crafting Advent Calendar (English) [ 167335 ]
[167335]
$99.00
Scenic Adventure Dies [ 165467 ]
[165467]
$31.00
Sweet Jar Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 169171 ]
[169171]
$20.00
Shy Shamrock Classic Stampin Pad [ 163808 ]
[163808]
$9.00
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [ 141897 ]
[141897]
$10.00
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165678 ]
[165678]
$21.00
Traditional Sparkling Sequins [ 165875 ]
[165875]
$8.00
2024 2026 In Color™ Flat Pearls [ 165266 ]
[165266]
$8.50
Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine [ 166005 ]
[166005]
$8.50
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
St Patty's

Sending Luck

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Fat Tuesday, everyone! For me, today was a struggle. It was a super early and super busy day at work. And then Tuesday are rehearsal nights, so that always makes the day long. I’m definitely ready to hit the hay here pretty quick!

This week, we’re playing our luck at some pretty cute designs. And I decided to dig through the stash of recently retired goodies for most of today’s card. But I thought you might have some similar things on-hand to pull off this super cute clover design yourself as we pair up the Wildflower Birthday paper with the 2024-26 In Color glimmer paper and heart punch.

This cutie starts with a base of Summer Splash cardstock. We use a sheet of the retired Wildflower Birthday paper to serve as our backdrop. The gold accents were fitting for our lucky sentiment. We build our focal section by beginning with our four-leaf clover. I used my retired heart punch and punched four hearts from some Shy Shamrock glimmer paper and then I hand-cut a stem shape. I pointed all of the ends of the hearts toward the center to make the clover shape and adhered them to the backdrop with dimensionals. The stem is tucked under to give the illusion that it’s floating on the wind. The sentiment and center of our clover is stamped tone-on-tone on Shy Shamrock cardstock using the Sweet Jar stamps and then cut with one of the smaller Spotlight on Nature circle dies. It’s adhered in the center with dimensionals. I tied some Summer Splash ribbon around the stem. And we finish things off with some pops of gold using the Traditional Sparkling Sequins.

It’s easy peasy and oh so cute! You don’t have to a lot of pieces or a complicated design to create super cute cards. I’ll be taking a little break tomorrow for Ash Wednesday. But I plan to be back on Thursday to bring you some more luck. I hope you’ll drop by and see!

Products used in this card:
Summer Splash, Shy Shamrock cardstock
Wildflower Birthday, In Color glimmer (both retired)
Sweet Jar stamps
Spotlight on Nature dies
Heart punch (retired)
Summer Splash bordered ribbon (retired)
Traditional sparkling sequins
Dimensionals

sketches · St Patty's

Best of Luck

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, friends, and welcome in on this fantastic Monday. We’re super thrilled to all be home together today for a work & school holiday. And it just so happens to be a gloriously sunny day here in North Texas. It’s supposed to be near 80-degrees today — crazy for February! We’ve already gotten in our bowling for the day and the boys have headed out to see if the fish are biting. Do you have today off? What are you getting up to?

As we start this new week, we’re also beginning a new theme for the week. It’s all about the luck this week. And today we’re pairing up some of the new specialty papers from Stampin’ Up! — Pleasant Patterns & Easter Joy — with the Sweet Jar stamp & punch bundle to create today’s lucky design.

We’re using a sketch from the gals over at Global Design Project for this card. We get started with a base of white cardstock, which provides the backbones on which we build our design. A sheet of the plaid Easter Joy paper covers the full card front and gives us the backdrop for our design. Textured gold specialty paper serves as the vertical strip down the left side, while a sheet of green striped paper from the Pleasant Patterns paper pack sits front & center. The center striped panel is wrapped in Shy Shamrock bordered ribbon before it’s adhered to the card front with dimensionals.

Now we build our focal point, which is a combination of image and sentiment. The jar image from the Sweet Jar stamp set is stamped in Smoky Slate on white cardstock and then filled with all the luck in the form of oodles of shamrocks from the Sweet Jar stamp set stamped in Shy Shamrock ink. We’re keeping all the luck in the jar with a gold lid and an extra bit of white & gold baker’s twine tied around the top. Our jar o’ luck is adhered with dimensionals to a circle of vellum that has been cut with the Spotlight on Nature dies. The sentiment from the Unbounded Love stamp set is stamped in Shy Shamrock also on a smaller circle of white cardstock cut with the Spotlight on Nature dies. A few extra shamrocks are stamped tone-on-tone on Shy Shamrock cardstock and fussy cut with paper snips and then adhered with dimensionals to form a visual triangle. We finish things off with some In Color pearls for a splash of extra color and sheen.

I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to see where we find our luck next!

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Pleasant Patterns 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 166950 ]
[166950]
$10.00
Easter Joy 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 166939 ]
[166939]
$16.50
Shy Shamrock 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 163795 ]
[163795]
$14.00
Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 167099 ]
[167099]
$10.00
Textured Metallic 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 163772 ]
[163772]
$8.50
Sweet Jar Bundle (English) [ 165507 ]
[165507]
$41.25
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147113 ]
[147113]
$9.00
Shy Shamrock Classic Stampin Pad [ 163808 ]
[163808]
$9.00
Unbounded Love Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 163378 ]
[163378]
$25.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies [ 163580 ]
[163580]
$35.00
Shy Shamrock 3/8" (1 Cm) Bordered Ribbon [ 163787 ]
[163787]
$7.50
2024 2026 In Color™ Flat Pearls [ 165266 ]
[165266]
$8.50
Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine [ 166005 ]
[166005]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Valentines

Happy Valentine’s Day

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back to today’s Valentine posts. In case you missed it, earlier today I shared the simple gift bags I gave to my co-workers yesterday. Just a simple combo of SU! goodies from the crafty stash.

This afternoon, I’m using a lot of those same products — Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, and ribbon — to dress up the gifties I picked up for my two loves.

First up, sometimes you get things that are a little oddly-shaped for a gift bag or maybe you want a bit of the gift to show. So we’re using a belly band to dress up these first two. I chose the small heart sheet from the Most Adored paper pack and cut each belly band to size and adhered with tear-n-tape. The band is wrapped with some retired gingham ribbon. The tags are cut from the foiled heart patterned paper and cut with the To the Point label punch. The tags are dressed up with a punched heart and sentiments from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack adhered with dimensionals. A few gold sequin hearts are added for a little extra pop.

Next up, we’re still using the belly band technique but covering more of our chocolate bars here since their wraps didn’t really coordinate well with the color scheme. We’ve got two different heart patterns from the Most Adored paper pack and each is wrapped with ribbon — white iridescent and some Melon Mambo polka-dot. The tags are punch from a sheet of plaid and we add hearts and sentiments from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack with dimensionals. The tags are tie on with Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon and some sequin hearts are added for a pop of gold twinkle.

It doesn’t to much to turn a gift into something special with just a few handmade elements. All it takes is some goodies from the stash and a few minutes of your time.

I hope you all feel loved today. Know that you are special to your Creator and that is the most importantly love anyone can have! Next week, we’re going to find some fun ways to share a little luck.

Products used:
Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, heart punch, Iridescent ribbon, Melon Mambo polka-dot ribbon, Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon, Real Red & white gingham ribbon, heart sequins (retired)
To the Point label punch
Dimensionals


Valentines

Happy PALentine’s Day

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody! So glad you stopped by today. I’ve been so tired when I got home from the office on Thursday and Friday that I pretty much had dinner, did the usual family thing, and then went straight to bed! It’s a super busy time of year with the kiddo’s various activities, church activities picking up as we head into Lent, and just life stuff. Do you ever have weeks where you’re just done when you get home? I feel like I’m having a string of them.

Despite being pretty wiped out from the work day, I did actually play in the crafty goodies the last two days in preparation from Valentine’s Day. So today, I’m going to be bringing you two posts to show you what I pulled together from the crafty stash to make some folks feel a little love this week. I have oodles of Valentine-themed goodies in the retired Stampin’ Up! stash and that’s where I turned for my projects. I like to swipe holiday-themed things when they go on the sale rack in the store to prep for the next year. For anyone who likes to make things for craft fairs or just likes to make things to give away, this is a perfect way to give gifts from the heart on a budget! So we’re pulling out last year’s beautiful Most Adored foiled paper, Celebrate Love ephemera, and Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon, along with some gift bags I bought on clearance a Christmas or two ago.

I like to make little gifties for my co-workers, and with some clearance chocolates in-hand, I just needed to whip up some cute packaging. I had a package of pre-scored, pre-assembled SU! gift bags in my stash and they were just the perfect size to fill with the assortment of chocolates I purchased — Hershey Kisses, Hershey Nuggets, and some Lindor truffles. I cut some smaller pieces of metallic tissue paper from my wrapping stash to stuff in each bag. And then I set about making the custom gift tags. I chose a red plaid pattern from the Most Adored paper pack and cut tags using the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. I punched a small hole in the top of each one and thread a loop of red & white baker’s twine to affix the tag to each bag. I made a bow of the Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon and then placed a sentiment from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack on top using dimensionals. I tied the tag to the bag and voila — gift complete.

Sometimes it’s just a simple touch that really elevates a gift. And all we needed here to dress up the cute SU! gift bag was a tag. If you drop back by a little later today, I’m going to show you how I dressed up the little gifties I got for my boys for Valentine’s Day.

Products used:
Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon (retired)
Heartfelt Hexagon punch
Red & white baker’s twine
Dimensionals

Valentines

Wish You Were Here

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Hello, crafty friends. Welcome in. I know it’s only Tuesday, but it sure feels like we’ve lived about 3 Mondays this week! Anyone else? Hopefully the rest of the week smooths out.

This week we’re tipping our hats to our loved ones near & far as we think of ways we can honor the upcoming Valentine holiday in our designs this week. And today I still wanted to give a nod to the fellas with this blue-hued design combining blue cardstock and a few elements from the 12 Days of Advent calendar.

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our blue floral backdrop panel is from the patterned paper pack from this year’s Advent calendar. And the same goes for a sentiment panel — it’s one of the 3×4 notecards from the Advent calendar that’s been matted with Night of Navy before being adhered to the center of the card front with dimensionals. And to finish things off, some of the darker opal rounds are added in opposing corners to draw the eye across the design.

I think this is the perfect card to send to a friend you don’t see often — just to let them know they’re on your mind. And it could easily be for a guy or gal pal. What do you think?

I’ll be taking a break tomorrow to attend the kiddo’s basketball game. But we’ll be back at it on Thursday. Hope to see you then!

Products used in this design:

Night of Navy cardstock; 2025 Adventure Calendar; Misty Moonlight & Silver edged ribbon; Opal rounds; Dimensionals

Valentines

Extra Special Grove

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, friends! It’s Monday and my tail is dragging. What about yours? After getting a little crafty time on Saturday morning, the hubby & I set about tackling our to-do list for the day. Late in the afternoon, I got a headache that eventually morphed into a migraine. So my grand plan for rewarding myself for conquering our to-do list by playing in the craft room again was replaced by retiring to bed early and sleeping with a pillow over my head. Womp-womp.

So here we are at Monday again and time for a new design challenge. This week, we’re thinking about the upcoming Valentine holiday, if we want to call it that. It’s actually a perfect time to let your friends know you’re thinking of them — and that special someone too, of course! So we’re starting off with one for the fellas since they didn’t really get their due last week. And we’re combining the new Aspen Grove stamp set with the Country Woods paper and a sentiment from the 2025 Advent Calendar.

We get started with a base of Smoky Slate cardstock. A sheet of the grey woodgrain from the Country Woods paper pack serves as our focal backdrop. I arranged the Aspen Grove stamps on a large block and stamped the row of trunks in black ink onto white cardstock. I layered several shades of green leaves up top to create the treetop canopy. To give some realistic depth to the tree trunks, we use Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends down the left side of each one, which gives a shadow effect. I filled in a touch of blue in the background with Cloud Cover ink, but you could easily skip this shading (and next time, I think I will!). The focal panel is downsized using the Textured Notes die and then adhered to the woodgrain backdrop. The full panel is wrapped in black & gold bakers twine that is tied in a knot on the left side before the focal panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. The sentiment panel is cut from Cloud Cover cardstock with the Stylish Shapes circle die and then the sentiment from the 12 Days of Christmas Advent calendar is stamped in black in the center and then adhered over the twine with dimensionals. I added a few of the lighter Shades of Green Hexagons on either side of the sentiment to draw the eye in and add a bit of colorful eye candy.

This design is 100% inspired by one of the samples from the January Mini catalog. Much like using a sketch, you can take a design and make it your own with a substitution here & there. It’s another great trick when you’re either short on time or lacking a little inspiration — or both!

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see another Valentine-inspired design.

Product List
Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 131202 ]
[131202]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163393 ]
[163393]
$12.50
12 Days Of Crafting Advent Calendar (English) [ 167335 ]
[167335]
$99.00
Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [ 101406 ]
[101406]
$10.50
Textured Notes Dies [ 165555 ]
[165555]
$31.00
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Aspen Grove Photopolymer Stamp Set [ 167018 ]
[167018]
$20.00
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147089 ]
[147089]
$9.00
Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147088 ]
[147088]
$9.00
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147111 ]
[147111]
$9.00
Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154882 ]
[154882]
$11.00
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154904 ]
[154904]
$11.00
Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine [ 166005 ]
[166005]
$8.50
Shades Of Green Hexagons [ 165233 ]
[165233]
$8.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Masculine Designs

Sweet Dreams

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Saturday, everyone! My crazy week at the office ended with a crazy long day that seems to have followed me into the weekend. Sometimes that’s just the life of a public servant. While I have lots of things on the to-do list, I’m not feeling very motivated to get any of them done. So into the craft room we shall retreat. *grin*

This week, we’re looking at shortcuts for creating masculine designs. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s just plain difficult to create a masculine card. One way we can shortcut the process is using a more geometric card sketch. Another way is to choose a more masculine-inspired color scheme. And along those veins, today we’re combining the idea of layout and color scheme with a monochromatic, geometric look.

Today’s design gets started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. The background of our focal panel is a quarter sheet of Cloud Cover that has been machine embossed with the Forever Plaid embossing folder, and I chose to do so on the diagonal for that geometric visual interest. This embossed panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. Our sentiment panel begins with a strip of the blue Country Woods woodgrain patterned paper that is adhered on the diagonal across our card front. To keep with the monochromatic color palette, I chose the words sweet dreams from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack. The sentiment is adhered to the woodgrain panel with a glue pen and then I covered the letters and star with Wink of Stella for the added drama of a little shimmer. We finish things off with some blue Rainbow Adhesive Dots on either side of the sentiment and a few Cloud Cover sequins in opposing corners.

I created this card for my kiddo for Valentine’s Day. He has a basketball tournament that day, so it will be fun to use the play on words of sweet dreams to share some chocolate and encouragement to reach for his dreams. A little later today we’re going to talk about how we can shortcut a masculine design with our stamps. I hope you’ll drop back in and check it out.

Product List
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163393 ]
[163393]
$12.50
Forever Plaid 3 D Embossing Folder [ 164049 ]
[164049]
$12.00
Unforgettable Times Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack (English) [ 166987 ]
[166987]
$8.50
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [ 141897 ]
[141897]
$10.00
Rainbow Adhesive Backed Dots [ 162758 ]
[162758]
$9.00
Traditional Sparkling Sequins [ 165875 ]
[165875]
$8.00
Fine-Tip Glue Pen [ 138309 ]
[138309]
$7.25
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Masculine Designs

Great Explorer

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Thursday, everyone! Whew — it’s been a rough week as we have all transitioned back to normal life after the Winter Storm Fern. Work and school and all of the things are back in full swing, and I guess I just wasn’t ready. Hopefully next week will go a little more smoothly.

But all that aside, I’m back with some more tips & tricks for those masculine cards. This week, we’re looking for those shortcuts to make cards for the fellas come together a little quicker. We started by using a sketch with geometric patterns. Today, we’re focusing on color palette as we take our cues from the new Nature Walk paper released by Stampin’ Up! This gorgeous paper combines hues of blue and brown and green to create perfect subtle patterns. We’re pairing it up with the newer Outdoor Adventure stamp & die set to make our adventure-themed card.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock and then add a sheet of the Nature Walk patterned paper as our backdrop. We cut an accent piece from a sheet of Timeless Plaid using the Textured Notes rectangle dies and adhered on the left side of our card. I stamped a stand of trees on white cardstock in a combination of Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, and Soft Sea Foam using the Outdoor Adventure stamp and then cut it out with one of the smaller Spotlight on Nature dies. It’s adhered over a bow of Secret Sea cardstock with dimensionals. Our wolf is stamped in Smoky Slate on Cloud Cover cardstock and then cut with the coordinating die from the Outdoor Adventure die set. It’s adhered at the bottom of our tree panel with several layers of dimensionals for some extra depth in the scene. I stamped the sentiment from the Outdoor Adventure set onto vellum with Versamark and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. It’s cut out with the banner die from the Stylish Shapes set using the extension method to make it long enough to capture the full sentiment. The sentiment banner is adhered at the top of our focal panel using glue dots on either end to make it look like the banner is rippling in the wind. We finish things off with some Mossy Meadow and Secret Sea embellishments from the Moody Palette and Sparkle dot sets.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see a clean and simple design that comes together in minutes.

Product List
Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165624 ]
[165624]
$14.00
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Nature Walk 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 166912 ]
[166912]
$12.50
Timeless Plaid 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 164678 ]
[164678]
$12.50
Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 167099 ]
[167099]
$10.00
Outdoor Adventure Bundle (English) [ 168009 ]
[168009]
$38.50
Textured Notes Dies [ 165555 ]
[165555]
$31.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies [ 163580 ]
[163580]
$35.00
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147113 ]
[147113]
$9.00
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147111 ]
[147111]
$9.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147090 ]
[147090]
$9.00
Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147102 ]
[147102]
$9.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165678 ]
[165678]
$21.00
Secret Sea 3/8" (1 Cm) Bordered Open Weave Ribbon [ 166932 ]
[166932]
$8.50
Moody Palette Glossy Dots [ 167180 ]
[167180]
$8.00
Sparkle Dot Essentials [ 166991 ]
[166991]
$8.00
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Masculine Designs

Amazing Nature

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, friends. Can you believe it’s Monday already? There was lots on the to-do list this weekend which meant that the weekend flew by, but it felt good to get most of what we had on the list all done. We bid adieu to the Christmas decorations (am I the only one who waits until February to take it down?) and put the house back together.

This week we’re beginning a new design series that’s all about the fellas. It can sometimes be hard to make cards that feel more masculine, but we’re going to explore our crafty stash together and find some shortcuts to masculine designs. And today’s shortcut begins with a sketch. I’ve found that a geometric feel to a card layout can lend itself to feeling more masculine. With a more neutral color palette and some earthy patterns in the Autumn Toile and Nature Walk papers, we have the perfect recipe for a card fit for a dear dude. (Did you catch my play on words there? *wink*)

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I used a sheet of the Mossy Meadow Nature Walk patterned paper to serve as the backdrop for the design. Our three repeating shapes are from the Nested Essentials die set and are cut from a sheet of the Autumn Toile patterned paper. I really love how you can still make out the original scene as you look down the three shapes and how the deer repeat in each panel in a perfect triangle.

The sentiment panel finishes our visual triangle and is punched from vanilla cardstock with the To the Point label punch. The sentiment from the Words of Beauty stamp set is stamped in Early Espresso. We cut some oak leaves and acorns from Cajun Craze and Early Espresso cardstocks and adhere them behind the sentiment panel, along with a twist of white & gold baker’s twine. The whole panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals. And we finish everything off with some gold drusy embellishments for the perfect pop of sparkle.

Today’s sketch is from the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and also happens to be our current Luv 2 Stamp team challenge sketch. What do you think about using a sketch to inspire your masculine cards?

I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow to see what other tips we can use to make creating masculine cards a little less challenging!

Product List
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Very Vanilla 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166784 ]
[166784]
$14.00
Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 119686 ]
[119686]
$14.00
Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 119684 ]
[119684]
$14.00
Autumn Toile 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 165882 ]
[165882]
$12.50
Nature Walk 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 166912 ]
[166912]
$12.50
Words Of Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 167083 ]
[167083]
$20.00
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147114 ]
[147114]
$9.00
To The Point Label Punch [ 164568 ]
[164568]
$25.00
Nested Essentials Dies [ 161597 ]
[161597]
$34.00
Label Me Grateful Dies [ 166111 ]
[166111]
$24.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments [ 164223 ]
[164223]
$9.00
Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine [ 166005 ]
[166005]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart