Tag: Christmas

Terrific Tuesdays

Stars Shining Brightly

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week we have been exploring all of the beautiful project possibilities with the O Holy Night and Shining Brightly designer series papers that were offered alongside this week’s featured product bundles — Night Divine and Stars at Night. While the papers are sold out, I wanted to offer design possibilities for those of you who purchased these beautiful paper packs.

Today’s fun fold card design uses the O Holy Night papers and Night Divine dies to build a scene. This spanner fun fold by fellow demonstrator Jackie Bolhuis with Klompen Stampers is the perfect design for this project. The front card panel is split to allow for a double flip-up as the card is opened. I chose to feature the Journey of the Wise Men on this design.

Night of Navy cardstock as the base. The starry sky and desert paper designs are both from the O Holy Night designer series paper pack. The camels and wise men are diecut from Basic Black cardstock using the Night Divine dies. The camels are reversed to have them traveling in the same direction with the wise men, and each wise man is elevated on mini dimensionals to give depth to the scene. The Star of Bethlehem shines brightly in the sky and is diecut from gold shimmer paper and embossed using the Stars at Night hybrid embossing folder and dies. Dimensionals separate each layer of the star to draw the eye and emphasize its prominence above all other stars in the night sky. The star panel remains as you lift the top section of the card front, and this reveals the sentiment which has been heat embossed in gold atop a vellum sheet. The message panel underneath has been left blank for a personalized note to the recipient.

I really debated about whether to add the sentiment on the center panel, but I am pleased with the result. What do you think? Would it be better to have no sentiment on this design?

Did you miss this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video and would like to know what all the fuss is about? You can check it out here:

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Basic Black, vellum cardstock
O Holy Night, gold shimmer (retired) DSP
Night Divine stamps
Stars at Night dies
Stars at Night hybrid embossing folder
Gold embossing powder
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on personal browsing history.  Song Sparrow Papercrafts is not responsible for ad content.

Terrific Tuesdays

Bright Christmas

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re making gorgeous Christmas cards with the Stars at Night and Night Divine bundles. Specifically, we are looking at designs that use the coordinating designer series and specialty paper packs called O Holy Night and Shining Brightly. Although both of these paper packs are sold out, I wanted to provide some design inspiration for those of you who purchased these papers or maybe have something that looks similar in your stash.

For today’s fun fold card design, we begin with a base of Night of Navy card stock. The base is scored at 1 1/2-inches and 4-inches to achieve the fun fold. The left panel consists of a sheet of the starry Very Vanilla Shining Brightly paper that has been embossed with the Stars at Night hybrid embossing folder. I made sure to place the largest star as close to the center of the panel as I could. The smaller fold-over panel is adorned with a strip of More Dazzle specialty paper. The sentiment panel has a circular base of Night of Navy and is wrapped in gold trim. The sentiment from Stars at Night is heat embossed in gold atop vellum, cut with a small border using paper snips, and rests atop the gold trim. Two sprigs of greenery from Stars at Night are heat embossed in gold on Very Vanilla and diecut using the coordinating Stars at Night dies. A strip of gold satin edged ribbon is tied in a bow and affixed under the greenery. The entire panel is elevated on dimensionals for some added drama and emphasis. The sentiment panel is intended to look like a cross between a wreath and an ornament, and I really love the effect. What do you think?

Would you like to know more about all of the designs we made with the Night Divine and Stars at Night stamps and dies in this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays? Check out this week’s video to see them all!

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Very Vanilla cardstock
Shining Brightly, More Dazzle DSP
Stars at Night stamps & dies
Stars at Night hybrid embossing folder
Gold satin edged ribbon
Gold trim
Gold embossing powder
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on personal browsing history.  Song Sparrow Papercrafts is not responsible for ad content.

Terrific Tuesdays

Wonderful Counselor

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Have you seen the latest episode of Terrific Tuesdays? This week, we’re working with the Stars and Night and Night Divine bundles to make gorgeous Christmas cards. These two bundles of products are part of a larger suite called O Holy Night, which included designer series paper, specialty paper, ribbon, and star trinkets. Unfortunately, the papers and trinkets are sold out. But for those of you who purchased these products and are wondering what to do with them, I wanted to show you how they pair with the rest of the suite.

For today’s card design, we begin with a base of Night of Navy card stock. A sheet of the Night of Navy foiled Shining Brightly cardstock, which is wrapped in Night of Navy & gold glittered ribbon, serves as the dramatic backdrop for the sentiment panel. The sentiment panel is matted with gold foil specialty paper. The sentiment from the Night Divine stamp set is stamped in Night of Navy atop a Very Vanilla base. The sentiment panel is finished with a star diecut from Distressed Gold specialty paper and popped up on mini dimensionals. The entire sentiment panel is elevated on dimensionals for an eyecatching finish.

Would you like to know more about all of the designs we made with the Night Divine and Stars at Night stamps and dies in this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays? Check out yesterday’s video to see them all!

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Basic White cardstock
Shining Brightly, Gold Foil, Distressed Gold DSP
Night Divine stamps
Stars at Night dies
Night of Navy & Gold glittered ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on personal browsing history.  Song Sparrow Papercrafts is not responsible for ad content.

Terrific Tuesdays

Merriest Evergreens

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Have you been enjoying all of the cards using this week’s featured bundle of products called Merriest Trees? During this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays we looked at all the ways we can use the Merriest Trees bundle to create beautiful holiday cards, and today we’re focusing on how the stamps can do all the work.

Today’s card is one of the designs we made during the Terrific Tuesdays video. The stamps do all the heavy lifting in this card design—from the background to the focal point and everything in between. The coordinating suite of dies make cutting out the beautiful evergreen trees a breeze, even down to the stars on top.

This holiday card is built on a base of Shaded Spruce. The focal panel is matted with Pretty Peacock. The trees are stamped in a variety of colors to give a realistic look. The sentiment is nestled in the corner. I finished off the design with a sprinkling of Wink of Stella across the focal panel, which gives it a fine shimmer as it catches the light.

Wanna know more about how this card came together? Do you want to see what other designs we made using the Merriest Trees bundle? Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video to learn more!

Products used for today’s card design:
Shaded Spruce, Pretty Peacock, Crushed Curry, Basic White cardstock
Merriest trees bundle
Wink of Stella
Faceted gems trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.

Terrific Tuesdays

Merriest Sleigh Ride

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Did you catch this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video? This week’s episode we looked at all the ways we can use the Merriest Trees bundle to create beautiful holiday cards, including pairing it with some of Stampin’ Up!’s popular designer series paper packs.

Today’s card is one of the designs we made during the Terrific Tuesdays video. I really love how the One Horse Open Sleigh paper provides the perfect backdrop for a single stamped image of the largest evergreen tree from the Merriest Trees stamp set. The coordinating set of dies makes it super easy to cut out the tree image. Pretty Peacock is currently one of my favorite shades of blue-green in the Stampin’ Up! color palette, and it takes center stage in this design.

Wanna know more about how this card came together? Do you want to see what other designs we made using the Merriest Trees bundle? Check out this week’s Terrific Tuesdays video to learn more!

Products used for today’s card design:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Merriest trees bundle
Faceted gems trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.

Terrific Tuesdays

Merriest Bobbles & Packages

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Thursday, crafty friends! I hope your week has been going well. For me, things are really gearing up in the singing department, so I’ve been busy rehearsing while working in the craft room. Do you ever multi-task during your crafting time?

Today, we’re taking a look at more of the detailed elements of the Merriest Trees bundle. The combination of stamps and dies allows you so much versatility and variety in your designs. This card design highlights yet another way you can build a beautiful scene with this bundle of products.

The base of today’s card is Cherry Cobbler cardstock. And in the spirit of this musical week, I also incorporated some Merry Melody in today’s card design by using the embossing folder for the top portion of the focal panel. I finished the focal panel with the fun argyle print from the Shining Christmas designer series paper pack, which is very sadly sold out. The four-panel tree is diecut from Mossy Meadow and adorned with gold trim and a star cut from Distressed Gold and sparkly ornaments cut from glitter paper. The packages under the tree are diecut from gold shimmer paper with the bows diecut from Distressed Gold and then the bow stamped in Early Espresso to give the details. The sentiment from Merriest Trees is stamped in gold and then heat embossed in gold on top of a Nested Essentials banner. The silver and gold trim in the center helps merry the two sections with a cohesive sparkle. I just love how Merriest Trees allows you to incorporate so much detail into a design without much effort.

A few tips from today’s card design:

  • Using an adhesive sheet on the back of your paper when cutting the finer elements, like the tree trim and star, allow for very easy application of your diecut element onto your tree.
  • Mini dimensionals are perfect for popping up the ornaments. Half of a mini dimensional is just right for the long, narrow ornament.
  • For a richer color when embossing metallics, try stamping tone-on-tone metallic ink instead of Versamark. For example, here I used Tsukineko Galaxy Gold ink under the layer of SU! gold embossing powder.

Wanna know the other ways we learned to use the Merriest Trees bundle? Check out this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays!

Products used for today’s card design:
Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow cardstock
Shining Christmas, Distressed Gold DSP
Glitter and shimmer paper
Merriest Trees stamps and dies
Nested Essentials dies
Merry Melody embossing folder
Gold embossing powder
Gold & silver trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.

Christmas · Inspiration · No Stamp Design

More Than Cards

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

One of the fun things about the art of papercrafting is that it is so much more than just cards or scrapbooks or gift packaging. You can also create beautiful 3D projects using the supplies you already have in your crafting stash. Today’s designs are just 2 of the most recent projects I’ve created with current Stampin’ Up! products.

I love a good opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, and sometimes all you need is a little prompting to get the wheels turning. For me, that came in the form of a team event. I needed an ornament and a 3D project for our team Bingo event, so I got to work looking for inspiration on Pinterest.

After seeing a lot of different ornament designs where circles were layered to created an ornament, that got me thinking about the dies I had in my stash that could be layered in the same way. On the left is a super fun Christmas ornament I put together using the Joy of Christmas designer series paper and the Merriest Trees die set. I used a repeating pattern of 2 different patterns from the Joy of Christmas paper pack. I really liked the look of the green plaid with the sheet of evergreen branches. I used a combination of red festive pearls and green iridescent discs as ornaments. The star tree topper is diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock.

For my 3D project, I knew that I had an upcoming Advent Tea for which I volunteered to create table decorations. I knew I wanted the design to be elegant to fit the occasion. The lantern I created was inspired by a small votive box ornament that our team made together during a recent craft-together. I decided a tabletop lantern would be more appropriate for my tea, and I was able to find a tutorial created by Rick Adkins. This beautiful lantern was created with the O Holy Night suite of dies. I substituted current products from my stash to meet the theme of the tea. The lantern and window elements are constructed of Early Espresso cardstock, and a layer of vellum in each window provides the backdrop for the ethereal glow of the tealight. Don’t you just love it?!

What do you have coming up that could be accomplished with your craft stash rather than a trip to the store? I would love to see what you create!

Products used for today’s projects:

Christmas ornament
Joy of Christmas DSP
Crumb Cake cardstock
Merriest Trees dies
Festive pearls
Iridescent discs
Gold trim
Adhesives

Christmas lantern
Early Espresso, distressed gold cardstock
Gold shimmer paper
Vellum
Night Divine, Stars at Night dies
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.

Christmas

Wonderful Counselor

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Would you consider yourself to be an adventuresome person? It’s fair to say that I have a particular paper crafting style, but I’d like to think that I can do things differently every now and then. Today’s design is a good example. I love the angled Z-fold. And as a general rule, I would say I turn to this fold more for fun designs rather than more serious or thoughtful ones. But the angled Z-fold really lends itself well to all occasions.

This card begins with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Shining Brightly designer paper provides the beautiful sparkle on the two front-facing panels. The front focal panel is a piece of vellum diecut using the Deckled Rectangles dies and the sentiment is then heat embossed in gold in the center. I tied a piece of gold twine at the top and adhered the vellum to the front card panel using my adhesive runner, allowing the top of the diecut panel to overhang at the top. I really liked the emphasis I felt this put on the focal sentiment. The inside center panel is left blank for a personal message, while the back panel has a small vellum Deckled Rectangle with a gold heat-embossed sentiment. I created a visual triangle around the sentiment on the bottom base panel with the gold sequins.

Wanna give the angled Z-fold a try? Hop over here for a PDF tutorial.

Products used:
Night of Navy, vellum, white cardstock
Shining Brightly DSP
Night Divine stamps
Gold embossing powder
Gold twine
Adhesive-backed sequins

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.

Christmas

Fear Not

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

As I was recently preparing for a craft show, and specifically designing Christmas cards, I realized that I had a few older sets that hadn’t seen any ink yet. Do you ever have that happen, where you purchase a lovely stamp set that somehow gets lost in your stash?

Today’s design began with the stamp set called God’s Peace. Because the image and sentiments are so lovely, I wanted them to take center stage so the overall design of this card is quite simple. The card base is Cherry Cobbler and the sentiment panel is Basic White cardstock. The advent wreath image is stamped in black ink and colored using the Stampin’ Blends markers, and the sentiment is heat embossed in gold. I added Wink of Stella to the glow of the candles and a few sequins in opposing corners for added drama and sparkle. The entire focal panel is elevated on dimensionals to draw the eye and add interest.

I love the simplicity of this design and intend to incorporate it in my personal Christmas card designs this year!

Products used:
Cherry Cobbler, white cardstock
God’s Peace stamps (retired)
Stampin’ Blends markers
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.

Christmas

Peace on Earth

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

I love a clean and simple design, and today’s card fits the bill in every way. When preparing for craft shows or even for my own personal mailings, clean and simple designs can help speed production without sacrificing the grace and beauty of handmade designs.

Today’s card showcases another “lost” stamp set I recently found in my craft room. Nature’s Peace is a stunning set, and it’s hard to imagine that it’s gone uninked in my stash! I decided to keep the color palette simple — red and cream. I used Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the card base (scored at the top rather than left) and focal panel base. The focal image of this card design is a single stamp. The stamped image is heat embossed with pearl embossing powder. The focal panel is elevated on dimensionals with natural finish ribbon running behind the focal panel and around the base on the inside. A small piece of Cherry Cobbler twine holds the ribbon together and in place. I finished the design with a shimmer spray so that the entire card front sparkles, which is unfortunately impossible to capture in photos.

I just love how this turned out and am excited to get started on a full set of these for part of my Christmas mailing list this year.

Products used:
Cherry Cobbler cardstock
Nature’s Peace stamps (retired)
Pearl embossing powder
Natural finish trim
Twine
Dimensionals

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress and are based on your personal browsing history. I do not control ad content.