Tag: blending brushes

Botanicals · Hot Foil

Gilded Thoughts

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to a new week, friends! I don’t know about you, but the weekend went by in a blur. And now here we are at the beginning of a brand new school year. It’s a big transition year for us as the kiddo starts his freshman year of high school. When they tell you time flies, they are not kidding!

This week brings about a new design theme as we take things outside. Sometimes I like having a broad, open-ended theme because it leaves a lot of possibilities for inspiration. And today’s card was inspired by the Hot Foil Craft Class. I really loved this card layout and knew it would easily adapt to fit this week’s theme. I loved having the opportunity to play with the new hot foil goodies in my stash this weekend, and today’s design uses the Classic Greetings and Butterfly Flight bundles.

So we get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. The striped pattern from the Everyday Essentials paper pack serves as our backdrop. I chose the sheet of white florals from the Lovely Blossoms paper pack that provided the perfect amount of blue contrast against the striped backdrop. This panel is torn to leave a rough-edged section on the right-hand side. Because I had a particular recipient in mind when making this card, I chose the thinking of you sentiment from the Classic Greetings sentiment set and hot foiled it in gold on white cardstock and then cut it out with the coordinating die. It’s adhered over a double bow of gold & white baker’s twine right over our fissure section. The double-layered butterfly is a combination of a gold gilded wing butterfly and a small butterfly created with the Butterfly Flight masks. I used a sheet of Crushed Curry as the base and then blended a combination of Crushed Curry, Timid Tiger, and Secret Sea inks to create the smaller butterfly. We finish things off with a few metallic gems to give a nice diagonal of gold elements.

I just love the little pop of contrast the butterfly provides. It’s the perfect eye-catcher for the sentiment. This layout is one that can truly be used for a whole host of color and pattern combinations, as well as a myriad of occasions.

Tomorrow’s design might bring in some of our other senses as we continue our trek in the great outdoors. I hope you’ll drop by!

Product List
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Everyday Essentials Mix & Match 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 167702 ]
[167702]
$13.00
Lovely Blossoms 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 167168 ]
[167168]
$12.50
Butterfly Flight Bundle [ 170065 ]
[170065]
$45.00
Classic Greetings Hot Foil Dies [ 170042 ]
[170042]
$36.00
Gold Stampin' Hot Foil Rolls [ 170066 ]
[170066]
$12.00
Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165285 ]
[165285]
$11.00
Timid Tiger Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165278 ]
[165278]
$11.00
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147087 ]
[147087]
$9.00
Small Blending Brushes [ 160518 ]
[160518]
$15.00
Gilded Wings Accents [ 169953 ]
[169953]
$10.00
Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine [ 166005 ]
[166005]
$8.50
Adhesive Backed Metallic Gems [ 163780 ]
[163780]
$9.50
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Stampin' Hot Foil System Na & Craft Class [ 170009 ]
[170009]
$160.00
Add All to Cart
Father's Day

Making a Difference

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Thanks for popping back by today for the second card of the day. This week we’re using the stash to create something special for dad. And today we’re spending time in the great outdoors with this lovely mountain sunrise scene as we combine the Far & Away Landscapes stamps with the new Sunset Coast dies.

We get started with a neutral white card base. Our focal panel starts with a quarter sheet of Cloud Cover cardstock and we cut a circle in the center toward the top using the largest Stylish Shapes circle die, which perfectly nests with the sunrise die in the Sunset Coast set. We cut the sunrise circle from yellow shimmer paper and affix it behind the focal panel with some basic masking tape. To fill in the sunrise on the card front below, I laid the panel in place and lightly marked a few points in the sunrise to know where to shade with the blending brushes with a combination of yellow, orange, and pink. Next up, we stamp the focal image from the Far & Away Landscapes stamp set in Secret Sea under the sunrise and then shade the image with Stampin’ Blends. I wrapped the bottom of the focal panel with white & gold baker’s twine and affixed the sentiment from the Saying Something ephemera pack using dimensionals so it stands above the twine. Then the focal panel is affixed to the card front with dimensionals. We finish things off with a few clear dewdrops for just a touch of sparkle.

Have you been enjoying the Father’s Day inspiration thus far? We’ll be closing out our design series tomorrow with man’s best friend. I hope you’ll drop in!

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Pastels Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 167198 ]
[167198]
$10.00
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Sunset Coast Dies [ 167780 ]
[167780]
$37.00
Far Away Landscapes Photopolymer Stamp Set [ 167543 ]
[167543]
$19.00
Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165285 ]
[165285]
$11.00
Saying Something Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English) [ 163761 ]
[163761]
$8.00
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147094 ]
[147094]
$11.00
Timid Tiger Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165278 ]
[165278]
$11.00
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165286 ]
[165286]
$11.00
Pool Party Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154894 ]
[154894]
$12.00
Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154903 ]
[154903]
$12.00
Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154902 ]
[154902]
$12.00
Old Olive Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154892 ]
[154892]
$12.00
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154904 ]
[154904]
$12.00
Fresh Freesia Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 155518 ]
[155518]
$12.00
Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine [ 166005 ]
[166005]
$8.50
Dewdrops Embellishments [ 167748 ]
[167748]
$9.00
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Small Blending Brushes [ 160518 ]
[160518]
$15.00
Add All to Cart
scene building

Peaceful Sunrise

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the midweek. I can’t decide if this week is moving slowly or swiftly. What about you? In some ways it’s hard to believe it’s Wednesday but then again I feel like it should be Friday already. Today’s card seems awfully fitting under those circumstances!

This week, we’re pulling out all the critters in our crafty stash. And today I just couldn’t resist the mom and fawn from the Autumn Trees die set. I’ve paired them up with the new Aspen Grove stamp set to create this peaceful scene with lots of layers of beautiful color.

We get started with a nice neutral base of Crumb Cake cardstock. To pull out all of the subtle colors in the pre-dawn sky, I chose a sheet of the Pool Party glimmer paper from the pastel shimmer paper pack as the mat for the focal panel. To build the scene on our focal panel, we start with the Aspen Grove stamp set. The aspen tree trunks are stamped in several different colors, including Early Espresso, Gray Granite, and Smoky Slate, to create the shading you often see if those trunks. To keep the leaves a truer green, I opted to shade the sky in the background next. Using small blending brushes, I applied a combination of Cloud Cover, Daffodil Delight, Timid Tiger, Strawberry Slush, and Fresh Freesia to create the beautiful colors of a pre-dawn sky — just before the sun peeks over the horizon. Then we stamp our canopy of leaves so that those greens stay nice and crisp over the sky. A combination of Soft Sea Foam and Old Olive worked well. Our doe and fawn images are cut from a scrap of Crumb Cake and tucked in the opening in the trees using dimensionals. The sentiment from the Prayers & Promises stamp set is stamped in Cloud Cover on white cardstock and then cut out with the Traditional Labels dies. The sentiment is tucked in the top-right corner and adhered over a twist of the brand new Berry Burst shiny ribbon that will release next week. Several layers of dimensionals help the sentiment panel stand tall above the ribbon and really catch your eye in the scene. A few opal rounds finish things off with a subtle twinkle.

Tomorrow is the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instahop day, and I can’t wait to show you a brand new and absolutely adorable critter bundle. I hope you’ll drop in and see!

Product List
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Pastels Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 167198 ]
[167198]
$10.00
Aspen Grove Photopolymer Stamp Set [ 167018 ]
[167018]
$20.00
Prayers & Promises Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 167014 ]
[167014]
$20.00
Autumn Trees Dies [ 165899 ]
[165899]
$38.00
Textured Notes Dies [ 165555 ]
[165555]
$31.00
Traditional Labels Dies [ 165864 ]
[165864]
$29.00
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147114 ]
[147114]
$9.00
Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147118 ]
[147118]
$9.00
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147113 ]
[147113]
$9.00
Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147102 ]
[147102]
$9.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147090 ]
[147090]
$9.00
Cloud Cover Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [ 165279 ]
[165279]
$5.50
Small Blending Brushes [ 160518 ]
[160518]
$14.00
Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147094 ]
[147094]
$9.00
Timid Tiger Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165278 ]
[165278]
$9.00
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165286 ]
[165286]
$9.00
Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad [ 155611 ]
[155611]
$9.00
Opal Rounds Assortment [ 163298 ]
[163298]
$8.50
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Coming Soon · On Display

Swinging Smiles

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy New Year, everyone! Did you stay up until midnight? These days, I don’t ever make it to the new year in my own time zone, but I always make it for Europe. *snicker* We enjoyed a day full of family fun yesterday and I was just plain tired. But it was a great day and the perfect way to finish off the year. We’ve done much the same today, so I would call that winning as far as a fresh start!

This week, we’re playing around with some new crafty goodies that arrived in my studio over the last couple of weeks that I hadn’t had time (or felt well enough) to play with. We’ve been taking a close look at the new On Display stamp & die set and today I’m starting a little mini series to show you how well this bundle pairs with the *brand new* Gliding Garden Swing stamp & die bundle. In fact, today’s card gives you a sneak peek at the new swing set, some new ribbon, and another new stamp set! All of these goodies will drop on January 6th!

When all was said and done, I decided to make this a monochromatic backdrop rather than mixing in some patterned paper because, quite frankly, I didn’t find a small enough pattern that I liked well enough to pair up with the focal panel. That is, until I remembered the gorgeous new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder had just the pattern I had pictured and realized I could just make my own patterned paper by embossing!

So we get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock and emboss just the card front with the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. To help the pattern pop a bit more, I went over it lightly with a blending brush and Cloud Cover ink to give the pattern a bit more definition. The focal panel background is also Cloud Cover cardstock and we start building our scene right on top. The tree trunk is cut from Country Woods woodgrain using the new Gliding Garden Swing dies and adhered to the focal panel with a glue pen. I cut it to size by removing the overlapping portions with my paper snips. The leaves are stamped in Garden Green on Garden Green cardstock and then cut with the coordinating Gliding Garden Swing die. I cut apart the larger foliage piece to allow layering that looked more realistic. Dimensionals are just the ticket to give good depth of scene. The bits of branches are filled in with a Light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend. The swing is stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock with Gray Granite ink and then filled in with a Light Crumb Cake blend. I also cut the coordinating swing from Country Woods and used the coordinating die for the swing seat for a more realistic look. The seat is adhered with a glue pen directly to the diecut swing. The pillows are cut from Peaceful Garden and adhered to the swing seat with dimensionals. The sweet grey kitty is stamped in Smoky Slate on Smoky Slate cardstock and then cut with the coordinating On Display die. The sentiment from the new Lovely Arrangements stamp set is stamped on vellum that has been cut with the Stylish Shapes banner die and adhered with glue dots so it looks like it’s just floating at the top of our scene. Our focal panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals and then we tie a beautiful twist of brand new Cloud Cover linen ribbon right over the far-left side. We finish off with a touch of sparkle using the Cloud Cover flat pearls.

Today’s card keeps the pairing uber simple with just a single image from On Display, but I’ll show you tomorrow how you can really put both sets together to build beautiful scenes. Because tomorrow we’re going to have some tea on Granny’s porch! I hope you’ll drop in and sit a spell.

Product List
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Garden Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 102584 ]
[102584]
$14.00
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 131202 ]
[131202]
$14.00
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163393 ]
[163393]
$12.50
Peaceful Garden 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 165917 ]
[165917]
$12.50
Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 167099 ]
[167099]
$10.00
Beautiful Pattern 3 D Embossing Folder [ 167097 ]
[167097]
$10.50
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154882 ]
[154882]
$11.00
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147089 ]
[147089]
$9.00
Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147118 ]
[147118]
$9.00
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147113 ]
[147113]
$9.00
Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165285 ]
[165285]
$9.00
Cloud Cover Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [ 165279 ]
[165279]
$5.50
Small Blending Brushes [ 160518 ]
[160518]
$14.00
2025–2027 In Color™ Flat Pearls [ 165192 ]
[165192]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Fine-Tip Glue Pen [ 138309 ]
[138309]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Love

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend, everyone, and to our last day of this week’s SU! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar series. Each day, we’ve been opening two boxes in our Advent calendar and then creating a project with the new crafty goodies. Let’s see what’s in boxes 11 & 12 today!

Alright, so we’re closing our 12 days of crafty treats with some gold glittery glue, a package of embossed notecards, and some beautiful, intricate laser cut pieces. Let’s get to work and see how we can put a lot of our new crafty goodness to work today. The first thing that I wanted to do was work with the laser cut pieces to create a focal feature for the card. And from there I built the remainder of the design around what ends up being the sentiment panel.

We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. This really lets our other elements take center stage. I used two notecards from the Advent Calendar as our background pieces — a pink notecard with bows, flowers, & butterflies and then one of the new embossed panels from today’s box. The two cards are adhered offset over one another directly to our card base. To bring out the embossing on the white notecard in front, we use a blending brush and some Pretty in Pink ink to make a circle of color in the center where we’ll put our sentiment panel. The sentiment panel starts with a plain circle and decorative laser cut circle from today’s pack of embellishments that are adhered together with glue dots. Sequins, bows, and butterflies from the shaker elements bag gives us little pops of color and detail all around our wreath of flowers & greenery. Don’t you just love the tiny, little butterflies? I didn’t notice them in the shaker elements but wanted them to get special attention today! The sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set is stamped in Pretty in Pink in the center. And the full sentiment panel is adhered in the center of our brushed pink circle. We use leaf bunches and hearts in opposing corners to draw the eye in to our sentiment and finish things off with some dots of glittery gold glue next to each heart and then in the centers of each of the flowers on our wreath.

I hope you’ve had fun this week as we’ve opened our Advent Calendar and found creative ways to use each of the new additions to our crafty stash. You’ll be seeing these elements pop up in future designs. Next week we’re going to be touring the autumn woods. I hope you’ll stroll along!