Tag: designer series paper

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Clear Skies for ’25

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We’re continuing our sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. And today, we’re making a super easy easel calendar using the new Everyday Skies designer paper and (what is clearly showing as one of my top favorites) the pastel ombre glimmer paper. I just love all of the skies depicted in this paper pack — from moody to dark to beautiful sunrises & sunsets, this pack has them all!

I needed some simple Christmas gift stuffers, so I whipped up these two easel calendars last night. Let’s see how these two beauties come together.

For the first calendar, we get started with Basic Black cardstock. This is cut so that the card would be in portrait orientation and the score mark is at the top. To make the easel holder in the center of the base, I cut down a quarter panel of black to 4-inches by 5.5-inches and scored it in half and then a half-inch from each side on the short edge. I chose a lovely sunrise sheet from the Everyday Skies paper pack and matted it with the pink/purple ombre glimmer paper. I moved the mini calendar around until I got the placement just right to show off the beautiful sky. A few two-tone sparkle gems give us some twinkle.

For the second calendar, we start with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. This time I chose a night sky from the Everyday Skies paper pack. I kept the mat color the same but varied the direction of the ombre coloring to really bring out the subtle colors in the sky. Two-tone sparkle gems give little glints of twinkle like stars.

These calendars are super easy to put together. I made the two of these in less than 30 minutes. You can try it out for yourself by downloading the full PDF instructions here.

Products used in today’s featured designs:
Taylored Expressions mini calendars
Basic Black, Night of Navy cardstock
Everyday Skies (coming soon), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Two-tone sparkle gems (coming soon)
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Sending Big Hugs

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Today, we’re continuing through our stroll of some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. We’re using Sketch #2 from the Annual Catalog to create this bright and cheery card using the Floral Delight paper and Hugs for Love stamps & punch.

We get started with a base of Daffodil Delight cardstock. I chose a sheet of Floral Delight patterned paper with lots of white space for a nice contrast against our base. To help the focal panel stand out, I matted it in Crushed Curry to bring out the details in the flowers in the focal panel background. The sentiment from the Hugs for Love stamp set is stamped in Pool Party on white cardstock and then punched with the coordinating punch. I also punched a panel from the pastel ombré glimmer paper and cut it in half to make a sparkly mat. A twist of Daffodil Delight satin ribbon and Lost Lagoon soft cording behind the sentiment panel bring everything together. A few of the new low profile dots add a touch of glimmer to the sentiment and really draw the eye in.

This whole paper pack is bright & cheery and will make some wonderful pick-me-up cards, as well as designs for the floral-lovers in your life!

Products used in today’s design:
Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Basic White cardstock
Floral Delight (coming soon), pastel ombré glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Hugs for Love bundle (coming soon)
Daffodil Delight satin ribbon (coming soon), Lost Lagoon soft cording
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Time to Celebrate

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This week, we’re getting some sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs that are set to release on January 7th. Today’s card comes together in a snap thanks to the newest paper packs — Wildflower Birthday and pastel ombré glimmer paper. The new Wildflower Birthday pack makes quick work of festive cards and is the perfect addition to any crafter’s stash for those last-minute cards.

This super clean-and-simple design starts with a base of Basic White cardstock. The focal panel is a panel cut from the sheet of tags in the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper pack. I used the pink/purple sheet of pastel ombré glimmer paper as the mat behind the focal panel and tied everything together with the new Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Melon Mambo directly on top of the focal panel. We finish things off with a little bling from the new two-tone sparkle gems pack.

Products used in today’s design:
Basic White cardstock
Pastel ombre (coming soon!), Wildflower Birthday (coming soon!) DSP
Beautiful Butterflies stamps (coming soon!)
Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon (coming soon!)
Two-tone sparkle gems (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Pretty Wonderful

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As we’re racing to the finish of the fall semester, we find ourselves running to and fro from various school activities and holiday events and rehearsals. I think we might get one evening at home this week. I’m glad I took a little time over the weekend to work on some crafty projects!

This week, we’re taking some sneak peeks at products from the upcoming January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs from Stampin’ Up! Today we’re pairing up a Sale-a-Bration patterned paper pack with new stamps & dies.

Our card design uses Sketch #18 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, which makes putting this card together a breeze. Once again, we’re using the Luv 2 Stamp Group’s monthly color combo to make our color selections — Night of Navy, Pool Party, and Melon Mambo. We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of the new SAB Bloom Impressions paper separated into large shutters. The focal section consists of our sentiment and focal image. The sentiment from Mixed Labels is stamped in Pool Party on white cardstock and then cut with the coordinating sentiment die from the Mixed Labels die set, which is mounted over some crinkled Pool Party ribbon and a strip of the new Beautiful Bokeh paper cut into a banner. The butterfly is diecut using the new Beautiful Butterflies dies. I layered Pool Party pastel ombré glimmer paper and black cardstock to create the butterfly. The focal section is adhered with dimensionals to help it stand out against our field of flowers. A few of the new Sunny Day iridescent dots draw the eye to our sentiment.

I’m going to be showing you more of the Beautiful Butterflies a little later this week because, YOU GUYS, it is just fabulous! There are so many possibilities with this bundle, including some shape cards, that I can’t wait to share. But we’ll be getting a broader look at my new products favorites before we dive in to the details of each.

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Bloom Impressions (coming soon!), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon!), Beautiful Bokeh (coming soon!) DSP
Beautiful Butterflies (coming soon!) dies
Mixed Labels bundles (coming soon!)
Pool Party crinkle ribbon
Sunny Day iridescent dots (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Made My Day

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It’s a bright and shiny new week already! It was a busy weekend for us between bowling league activities and lessons, holiday gatherings, and holiday preparations. Whew — I feel like I need a weekend from my weekend. What about you?!

As promised, this week we’re going to be getting some sneak peeks at some of my favorite items from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. Today’s card is based on a super fun color combination that our Luv 2 Stamp Group is working a challenge with right now — Night of Navy, Pool Party, and Melon Mambo. As soon as I saw this combo, I knew exactly what new products I was going to pair to show you. So let’s get a closer look.

I decided to use a sketch from the Annual Catalog to simplify the design process, so this design is based on Sketch #16. We get started with a base of Melon Mambo cardstock. The focal panel consists of the lovely new Toadstool Gardens designer paper, which is a Sale-a-Bration freebie, and a double mat of Night of Navy and the new pastel ombré glimmer paper, which will launch in the January Mini. I wrapped this panel with some Pool Party crinkle ribbon and then placed the sentiment panel over it. The sentiment from the new Mixed Labels stamp set is stamped on white cardstock and then diecut with the coordinating sentiment die from the Mixed Labels die set. I used the size-up sentiment die to cut the mat from the same Pool Party pastel ombré glimmer paper. Dimensionals behind both the sentiment panel and main panel give this card some dimension. I added some shiny sequins for a touch of sparkle across the focal panel.

I’ll be sharing more product previews this week, so I hope you’ll pop in and see what caught my eye from the new January catalogs!

Products used in today’s design:
Melon Mambo, Night of Navy, Basic White cardstock
Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon!), Toadstool Gardens (coming soon!) DSP
Mixed Labels bundle (coming soon!)
Pool Party crinkle ribbon
Shiny sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Christmas · Gifting

Beary Cute Envelope

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Howdy, crafty friends! I got a little side-tracked yesterday with a cookie project and ran out of time to play in my crafty stash. I was trying out a new cookie recipe to take to a cookie exchange. And once again, I forgot how much I hate messing with the candy coating. I can never get it to melt right and then end up making a big mess. I guess the good thing about this particular recipe is that the cookies are supposed to resemble snowballs, and snowballs are lumpy. Soooooo my lumpy candy coating is perfect! Hahaha!

I’m still furiously working away on gift tags and gift holders. And today, I’m bringing you a super easy gift card holder that I ran across on Pinterest that uses a standard card base. I decided to pull together some of my retired favorites for this one because the paper is perfect for my intended recipient!

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. It’s scored at 1 1/4 inches, 4 inches, 6 inches, and 8 inches and then folded to create the center gift card pocket. I used a 2-inch circle punch to make the pull-out section in the center of the gift card pocket. The pocket itself is held together with tear-and-tape. The Beary Christmas patterned paper pack was a part of last year’s holiday catalog, and I just loved it so much that I stocked up when it went on sale. I was able to use a collection of scraps from another project to cover the panels on the outside and inside of the gift envelope. I thought the sweater-patterned strips were perfect accents for the flap and adjoining panels. I found a cute star-patterned cardstock from the Irresistibly Yours paper pack (long ago retired) in my scrap stash that is the perfect panel for the gift message. Our smaller circle focal elements on the outside and inside of our gift envelope are diecut to highlight cute little critters. I used the Changing Leaves and Spotlight on Nature dies for these circles. I thought the decorative edges were perfect designs elements that add a lot of interest to the pop-out panels. The fox panel on the front is adhered to the flap with dimensionals, which gives a nice gap under which I slid the knotted diagonal striped ribbon to keep the envelope closed.

I just love how this turned out, and it came together quickly. The hardest part was choosing what adorable critters from the Beary Christmas paper that I wanted to highlight on each portion of the gift envelope.

Products used in this design:
Night of Navy Cardstock
Beary Christmas (retired), Irresistibly Yours (retired) DSP
2″ circle punch
Changing Leaves, Spotlight on Nature dies

Christmas · Gifting

Tree Pocket Gift Holder

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We’re gearing up for Christmas here at Song Sparrow. Every day that Amazon shows up, my husband says something about the number of boxes that end up on the porch. *snicker* Hey, I can’t help it if the warehouses decide to box orders in a multitude of boxes.

But speaking of getting ready for Christmas, I’m still working on gifts and gift tags. And today’s design is a super cute gift-giving envelope that I plan to hang on the Christmas tree for a little holiday hide-n-seek. I ran across this super cute envelope in one of my Pinterest searches, and it’s super easy to put together.

We get started with a 6×6 sheet of Take a Bow patterned paper and score from corner to corner on both sides. Then you fold to create the envelope. For this one, the flap on the envelope is supposed to stay open, which makes it a snap to put together. I used two smaller strips of the Take a Bow paper to cover my score line in the center and also to serve as a nice break in the pattern underneath the focal panel. Our focal panel starts with a base of the (retired) Garden Walk patterned paper that is cut using the Peaceful Season decorative square die. Then I just layered the stocking and sentiment from the Joyful ephemera packs right on top using the dimensionals. The gift panel is a sheet of the (retired) More Dazzle specialty paper with a to/from panel cut from white cardstock using the (retired) Stitched Nested Labels dies. I cut some greenery fronds from Granny Apple Green cardstock using the Golden Greenery dies and adhered them to the back of the gift panel with dimensionals. A cute red bow tied from Cherry Cobbler & Gold metallic ribbon finish off the gift panel nicely. The whole kit & caboodle will hang from the tree with some green thread.

The hardest part of this whole design was picking what ephemera I wanted to use! Otherwise, it comes together in a snap. And don’t you think it will just be the cutest way to give cash or a gift card?

Product List
Take A Bow 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164309]
$12.50
Garden Walk 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[162227]
$12.50
More Dazzle 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Specialty Paper
[161749]
$7.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Granny Apple Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[146990]
$11.50
Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack
[164110]
$9.50
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Golden Greenery Dies
[164116]
$39.00
Peaceful Season Dies (English)
[164020]
$34.00
Stitched Nested Labels Dies
[149638]
$35.00
Cherry Cobbler & Gold 1/2'' (1.3 Cm) Metallic Ribbon
[156312]
$8.00
Mini Glue Dots
[103683]
$7.25
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Gifting

Making Lists

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Welcome to a bright and shiny new week, crafty friends! We’re in full-on Christmas mode over here as we make our lists and check them twice. I pulled out all of the gifts we’ve purchased so far and started wrapping last night.

And that meant that I was also busy in the craft room making the gift tags. Did you know it’s super easy to make gift tags? Even with the smallest crafty stash, I have no doubt that you have the perfect combination of things to make cute gift tags. Today, I’m showing you a small sampling of what I whipped together last night using some patterned paper, several die sets, and the Joyful ephemera.

Are these not the cutest? And they are SO easy to put together. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

I got started on the first tag by diecutting the base from a sheet of Take a Bow paper using the largest Greetings of the Season die. I kept things simple with just a few elements from the Joyful ephemera packs — just a wreath and a sentiment. To help the wreath stand out against the polka dot background, I cut a sheet of red polka dot from the Take a Bow paper pack. I put this panel over a gold banner, which draws the eye nicely to the wreath panel. I mirrored on the reverse side with just the gold banner and then the Holly Jolly sentiment. For the to/from tag, I cut a smaller tag from white cardstock using the Greetings of the Season die and then finished off with some (retired) Cherry Cobbler twine to attach the tag to my package.

For this tag, I also used the largest Greetings of the Season die and cut a piece of the (now retired) Garden Walk patterned paper. I chose two larger images, some greenery, and two sentiments from the Joyful ephemera packs to decorate each side of the tag. I also cut some gold twigs using the Changing Leaves die sets. The bear, evergreen branch, and small sentiment are adhered on varying layers of dimensionals for a little depth. On the reverse side, I layered the drums, evergreen, gold sprigs, and sentiment. I also used varying layers of dimensionals on this side, as well. The small to/from tag is from Greetings of the Season and secured with some retired twine.

Our last tag uses a retired Memories & More set called Beary Christmas. I pulled the sleigh and sentiment from the Joyful ephemera packs and adhered on the package side of the Beary Christmas tag. I cut the to/from tag from white cardstock using the smallest banner from the Nested Essentials die set and secured with some retired twine. To cover the overhanging sentiment on the opposite side of the tag, I adhered two small stars from the ephemera packs to either side.

No matter the size of your crafting stash, you can dress up your packages with cute handmade gift tags! Tune in the rest of the week as we take a look at how we can quickly dress up our holiday gift-giving.

Products used in today’s featured designs:
White cardstock
Take a Bow, More Dazzle (retired), gold foil DSP
Joyful ephemera
Greetings of the Season, Nested Essentials, Changing Leaves dies
Beary Christmas Memories & More (retired)
Assorted twine (retired)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Christmas

Through the Branches

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I have sent handmade Christmas cards for many, many years — even before I became a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. In recent years, I’ve moved away from creating one single card design because I found myself agonizing over which of my favorites would be the star of the holiday card show each year. I love being able to create a variety of designs using both current and retired products in my stash and then choosing a design that really fits a recipient. What about you? Do you send a single card design? Or do you mix it up?

I love creating designs that seem to be peering through the trees. I’ve made several cards over the last couple of months that use this design concept. Today, we’re peering through the evergreens to this lovely Christmas tree in the center.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of the Take a Bow designer paper. I loved the variety of greens and the contrast that this patterned sheet provided to the design. Our focal panel has many layers and begins with a background panel of Mossy Meadow that is diecut using the largest Deckled Rectangle die. The evergreen branches are cut from Mossy Meadow using the Winterly Treetops dies from the Nests of Winter suite. Layers of dimensionals give the illusion of us looking through layers and layers of branches. Our focal tree is from the Joyful Images ephemera pack, and I cut around the image to remove as much white space as possible. I added a star, also from the ephemera pack, to the top of the tree. The sentiment is from the Joyful Sayings ephemera pack, and I love how the lighter green really pops against our mossy background panel. We finish things off with gold thread and snowflakes for a little touch of sparkle to bring out the small gold foiling elements on our tree.

Next week, we’ll be looking at all the ways we can use our crafty goodies to create special holiday gifts. I hope you’ll tag along.

Products used in today’s design:
Mossy Meadow cardstock
Take a Bow DSP
Joyful ephemera
Deckled Rectangles, Winterly Treetops dies
Gold thread
Snowflakes assortment
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Christmas

Advent Prayer

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We’re already halfway through the first week of December. I’m still working through Christmas lists and holiday to-dos. What about you?

Today, I’m sharing an update to our family dinner prayer. A month or so ago I shared the story of how this got started for our family. This is such a terrific practice, not only to hide the Word in our hearts, but to give us new and fresh ways to reframe each day — no matter how well or how poorly the day has gone. I challenge you to adopt something similar for your family and see how it begins to change things for you.

We get started with the same 6×6 frame from Amazon. Our backdrop for our scripture this month is a sheet of the (very sadly now-retired) One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper. I printed the scripture on a quarter panel of white cardstock and then diecut using the Radiating Stitches dies and mounted on the background panel with dimensionals. I added a few snowflakes and rhinestones basic jewels for a little sparkle. I’m storing all of the prayers we aren’t using in a 6×6 paper pocket envelope (also an Amazon find) so they’ll be ready to use again.

Products used in today’s featured design:
6×6 frame (Amazon)
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP (retired)
Basic White cardstock
Snowflake assortment
Rhinestone basics jewels
Dimensionals