Tag: diecuts

Country Flowers · Shop the catalog

Previewing Country Flowers

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My box of goodies from the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog came a bit ago, but I haven’t had time to play with much of it just yet. But as soon as I took a look at few of the items I got from the new Country Woods Suite, I knew I wanted to start with those.

I really love the Country Woods designer series paper and chose to have it serve as the backdrop of this card design. We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. The main background panel is a sheet of the lighter woodgrain pattern from the Country Woods paper pack. I diecut the sheet of Pool Party woodgrain from the same designer paper pack using the largest die in the Spotlight on Nature dies set. I stamped the stool from the Country Flowers stamp set onto the darker woodgrain pattern sheet and then diecut using the coordinating die. I stamped all of the greenery, along with the bucket and teapot, onto white cardstock using the Country Flowers stamps and then colored them with my Stampin’ Blends. I layered everything up with dimensionals to build a lot of different layers on the card front so that it gives it a more realistic look. I finished things off with some of the pearlized sequins from the Sequins Trio set and a double twist of the Iridescent Striped Trim. I chose not to have a sentiment on the front so that I could easily choose an inside sentiment on the fly once I’m ready to send it out.

This whole suite of products is fabulous. There are so many different ways that you can take it — masculine, feminine, shabby chic, country, and the list goes on. I’ve seen so many wonderful ideas that I’ve put in my inspiration folder!

I hope to bring you some more designs later this week, assuming we get to go home from the hospital.

Products used on this card:
Basic White cardstock
Country Woods DSP
Country Flowers stamps & dies
Stampin’ Blends
Iridescent striped trim, linen thread
Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Mother’s Day

Sure of Things Unseen

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Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Faith is being sure of what we cannot see is the theme of today’s card design. As a mom and, in particular, a mom who struggled with infertility, these words resonate a little differently. Faith has to become a part of your inmost being—to simply trust that you will carry a baby to term and hold that precious and healthy part of you in your arms and have the privilege of raising this baby to adulthood.

It is such an honor to be a mom! It teaches you so much about our Creator and His love. And it teaches you a lot about humility and faith.

Today we’re wrapping up a series using a sketch and a small stash of crafty supplies. I loved this sentiment from the Unbounded Love stamp set and thought it was the perfect compliment to Mother’s Day.

We get started on today’s card with a base of Berry Burst cardstock. I also cut a quarter- sheet and embossed it using the Dotted Circles embossing folder. To give a bit more definition to the embossed pattern, I used my finger to spread a very light layer of white craft ink over the panel. Once dry, which didn’t take too long, I cut the embossed panel to be just a smidge smaller than the card base. I cut a small strip of the Thoughtful Journey designer paper so that a small scene would be exposed and then adhered it to the right side of the embossed panel. The embossed panel is adhered to the card base using dimensionals, and the sentiment panel is also adhered using dimensionals. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped on white cardstock that is diecut using the Autumn Leaves die set. I chose to stamp the word faith in Fresh Freesia ink to emphasize the word and draw the eye to the sentiment. I wanted to add a soft eye-catching element behind the sentiment panel and chose to diecut some sprigs of greenery from vellum using the Painted Lavender dies and then added a paper butterfly and some paper white sequins from the Sequins Trio.

I hope that you are able to enjoy this Mother’s Day—whether through a family celebration or a remembrance.

I hope to be able to post a little more regularly in the coming week, assuming we’re able to come home from the hospital.

Products used in this card design:
Berry Burst, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Thoughtful Journey DSP
Unbounded Love stamps
Autumn Leaves, Painted Lavender dies
Dotted Circles embossing folder
Paper butterflies
Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Clean and Simple

True Blessing

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Thus far this week, we’ve been exploring how a sketch and a few supplies can give you to terrific cards in no time flat. Today’s card is a slight variation on yesterday’s card design with a slightly wider designer paper section that begins on the edge of the embossed panel.

I really love this particular sheet of the Thoughtful Journey designer paper pack. The cedars set on the hill with the wildflowers down below reminds me of the prairie that was behind my childhood home.

This card begins with a base of Berry Burst. I cut an additional quarter-panel and embossed with the Eyelet embossing folder then cut the panel down to be one-quarter inch smaller, leaving just a small border behind on the base. I wanted to ensure that the beautiful embossed pattern stood out to compliment the soft white in the patterned paper, so I used my finger to rub a thin layer of silver ink over the top of the pattern. Then I adhered the designer paper panel to the right side of the embossed panel before adhering the full panel to the base using dimensionals. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped on white cardstock diecut using the coordinating Unbounded Love dies. To draw the eye to the sentiment, I finished the card with tinsel gems and silver trim tied in a small bow.

Tomorrow, I’ll be rounding out this series with one final variation. I hope you’ll come check it out!

Products used in this card design:
Berry Burst, Basic White cardstock
Thoughtful Journey DSP
Unbounded Love stamps & dies
Eyelet embossing folder
Tinsel gems
Silver trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Clean and Simple

Sending Love

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When you’re low on crafting time, keeping things simple is key. I typically choose a simple sketch and a few coordinating supplies when I’m needing to make a card but don’t have time for lots of layers or fussy cutting. The beautiful thing about the products Stampin’ Up! offers is how wonderfully they coordinate to give you consistent results each and every time. And I don’t say that simply because I’m a demonstrator. It’s one of THE reasons that I became a demonstrator!

We begin our card today with a base of Berry Burst cardstock. The background panel is cut a tad smaller than the card base and then machine embossed using the Distressed Tile embossing folder. I decided from the get-go that I wanted metallic gold to be an accent color for this card design, so after embossing the Berry Burst quarter-sheet and cutting it to size, I used my finger to lightly rub metallic gold ink across the card front to bring out the gorgeous pattern. A two-inch strip of Thoughtful Journey designer paper is adhered to the left side of the embossed panel, leaving a small strip of the panel exposed on the left so that the pattern goes from edge to edge in the background. This whole panel is then adhered to the base using dimensionals. The sentiment from Country Flowers is stamped on white cardstock diecut using the Unbounded Love dies and it, too, is adhered with dimensionals. A twist of gold trim and a few gold Blooming Pearls add that bit of sparkle and bring out the golden hues in the designer paper. And a few In Color shimmer gems on either side of the sentiment ensure your eye lands here last.

Tune in tomorrow to check out a variation on this card layout that gives us a very different look but results in a card that’s just as stunning!

Products used for today’s card:
Berry Burst, Basic White cardstock
Thoughtful Journey DSP
Country Flowers stamps
Unbounded Love dies
Distressed Tile embossing folder
In Color shimmer gems, Blooming Pearls
Gold trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds

Brighter Tomorrow

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Hello, friends! I hope your week has gotten off to a good start. Thanks so much for hanging with me as I took a little break to tend to my hubby who was in the hospital. I’m pleased to report that we are now home! And as the saying goes, there really IS no place like home!

Over the weekend, I had a small bit of time to play around with some of the products I purchased from the new Annual Catalog. I kept things really simple and used a few sketches that I pulled from my sketch book.

Today’s card is a faux fold-over fun fold card. The center section lifts up, just as a fold-over would, but this card is constructed entirely of the card base without any extra layers like the usual fold-over design has. The front panel of the card is cut to give you a large center section and the two small side sections are adhered to the card base so that, rather than the entire card front opening, only the panel in the middle opens. I like to call this a fun fold cheat because it has all the pretty and half as much work — haha!

We begin with a base of Petunia Pop cardstock, which is one of the new In Colors. The base is cut to standard size and scored in the center. After selecting a side to serve as the card front, cut a one-inch strip on each side of the card front, leaving a larger panel in the center. Be sure you’re only cutting from the bottom edge to the center score line. Next, choose and cut a piece of the Thoughtful Journey designer paper so that it is slightly smaller than the entire card front. Then cut a three-quarter inch strip from each side. This will leave you a center piece of designer paper that should lay perfectly over the entire center flap of the card front, leaving only the small border of Petunia Pop on the top and bottom. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Petunia Pop and black on a piece of vellum diecut using the Nested Essentials set. It’s adhered to the center section using glue dots on each end. A few sequins and a paper butterfly finish things off and draw the eye across the card to rest on the sentiment.

I have a few more cards to share this week from my weekend crafting mini session and hope to get back into the swing of things as we settle into an appointment schedule here at home.

Products used in today’s card:
Petunia Pop, vellum cardstock
Thoughtful Journey DSP
Unbounded Love stamps
Nested Essentials dies
Paper butterflies
Shiny sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Retiring · Zany Zoo

Something Great

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We’re rounding out this week with our zoo pals at the theatre. Before my son was born, I spent quite a bit of time in theatres in my area performing opera, musical theatre, and sacred music. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being onstage, and I’ve been pleased to be able to return to some singing over the last year.

Today’s card actually combines two card designs that I saved in my inspiration folder quite some time ago. And I decided to combine them by using the barn fold fun fold to build the drama of waiting for the curtains to open and then starting the show.

We start with a base of Basic White cardstock. The standard sized base is scored so that there are two equal sized flaps serving as the card front, which creates the barn fold. A piece of Lemon Lolly cardstock and a strip of Basic Black serve as the background. Using the Zany Zoo dies, I diecut curtain panels from Pool Party cardstock. The curtain tie backs are cut from Distressed Gold specialty paper using the tie back die. The chairs are cut from Real Red using the base of the llama die. The silhouettes of the audience members are diecut from Basic Black using the llama and ballerina dies. The canned lights are diecut from black using the vase die and strips of vellum serve as light beams pointing to the sentiment in the center. The sentiment from Zany Zoo is stamped on white cardstock and then diecut using the Hot Air Balloon dies. The sentiment panel is adhered to the left panel of the card front using dimensionals.

The interior scene has another set of Pool Party curtain panels. The sentiment from Something Fancy is stamped in black on the center panel. The stage floor panels are diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock using the Filled With Fun wagon panels that I cut apart using paper snips. The base of the stage is a strip of black cardstock. The spotlight coming down center stage is a strip of gold vellum. The adorable ballerina is diecut from the Zoo Crew designer paper using the coordinating dies. I’ve placed her on a double layer of dimensionals to ensure she stands above the scene and really catches the eye. Things are finished off with some glitter sequins to reinforce the *magic* of the scene.

I’ve had a lot of fun taking our zoo friends on adventures this week, and I hope you’ve enjoyed tagging along! I’ll be taking a few days off next week to be with my hubby in the hospital. But I’ll be back with some more crafting goodness soon!

Products used in today’s card:
Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Lemon Lolly, Basic Black, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Zoo Crew, Distressed Gold DSP
Something Fancy, Zany Zoo stamps
Zany Zoo, Hot Air Balloon, Filled With Fun dies
Glitter sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · Coming Soon · Mother’s Day

Zinnias for You

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Things have really begun to green up in our area and I’ve begun making treks to my favorite garden center to fill my patio pots. I really love having a yard full of color! For our growing area, I have to choose plants that not only like our mild springs but that really love the sweltering heat of summer. And one of my all-time garden favorites is zinnias. They come in a wide variety of colors, are fairly bug resistant, and don’t mind the Texas heat one bit — winner!

When Stampin’ Up! released the Flowering Zinnias suite in the latest Online Exclusives, I immediately fell in love with the designer paper. I wasn’t quite so sure about the stamps or dies. If I’m being honest, I didn’t immediately like the stamps or dies because I felt like they were a little too fussy and I was intimidated by the thought of trying to use them. But I was soon convinced that I needed them when I began seeing all of the drop-dead stunning designs my fellow stampers were making with them.

Believe me when I tell you that this card looks way more complicated than it actually is to assemble. The dies really do do all of the work for you. And just look at the stunning results!

We start with a base of Flirty Flamingo cardstock. I next diecut a quarter panel of the same and then embossed using the Zinnia embossing folder. This panel is cut slightly smaller than the card base. I then began diecutting flowers from Real Red and Calypso Coral cardstock using the Simply Zinnias dies. The flower centers are a combination of Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight. Next are the leaves, which have been diecut from Shaded Spruce and Old Olive. The smaller flowers are diecut from Lemon Lolly. The sentiment from Perennial Postage is stamped on white cardstock and then diecut using the soon-to-release Unbounded Love dies.

The embossed Flirty Flamingo panel is adhered directly to the card base. I next assembled the flowers. To assemble, I used dimensionals between the two flower petal layers. A large Zot glue dot secures the orange center to the top layer of petals and then I used a fine tip glue pen to add adhesive to the circle of small flowers that sits atop the flower center. For the smaller budding flowers, a glue dot adheres the flower to the stem.

To complete the card, I began by adhering the sentiment to the center with dimensionals. The red flowers come next and are also adhered to the card front using dimensionals. The leaves are layered underneath the flowers and secured with glue dots. The Calypso Coral flower is secured directly to the card base with a large Zot glue dot to give dimension to the look. The small stem of accent flowers is secured with a single dimensional, while the flowers themselves are held in place with glue dots. Shiny sequins finish off the design with some flare and a bit of sparkle.

I’ll be bringing you some BONUS content tomorrow of brand NEW product as we take a romp through the meadow using the gorgeous Unbounded Beauty and Thoughtful Journey products. You won’t want to miss it!

Products used for today’s card:
Flirty Flamingo, Real Red, Calypso Coral, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lolly, Shaded Spruce, Old Olive, Basic White cardstock
Perennial Postage stamps
Simply Zinnia, Unbounded Love (coming soon!) dies
Zinnia embossing folder
Shiny sequins
Glue dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · Mother’s Day

Lavender for You

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This week, we’re touring fields and flowers as we explore some of my favorite Stampin’ Up! products. And stopping to smell the lavender from yesterday’s lovely hillside was just too tempting. In fact, today we have a whole bouquet.

From top to bottom, the Perennial Lavender suite in the January Mini Catalog is one of my favorite releases to date. There is not one single element in the suite of products that leaves me wondering what I’ll do with it, which is honestly pretty rare for me. Portions of this suite of products will be fully retired when the new Annual Catalog releases. So if you’ve been on the fence about buying this suite, time is of the essence before portions of it are gone for good!

Being that Mother’s Day is just around the corner, it seemed fitting to design a card perfect for the occasion. Today’s card design begins with a base of Highland Heather cardstock. The focal panel base is a sheet of the Perennial Lavender designer series paper, and I have distressed the edges with my paper trimmers to give it a well-worn look. The lavender bunch is stamped on white cardstock using the Painted Lavender stamp set and then diecut using the coordinating die set. To give the fronds of lavender a more realistic look, I used three different shades of purple — Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape, and Fresh Freesia. The flower bunch is tied together with linen thread. The sentiment from the Perennial Postage set is stamped on white cardstock and diecut using the Thoughtful Expressions dies. I cut a coordinating mat from white glimmer paper using the next die size up. I added a paper butterfly to further soften the feel of the card and finished things off with classic matte dots and purple shimmer gems.

Later today, we’ll be enjoying another fresh bouquet. I’ll hope you’ll pop back by to check it out!

Products used in today’s card:
Highland Heather, Basic White cardstock
Perennial Lavender, white glimmer DSP
Painted Lavender stamps & dies
Perennial Postage stamps
Thoughtful Expressions dies
Paper butterfly
Classic matte dots, purple shimmer gems
Linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals

Hello, Lavender Fields

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As promised, I’m back! Thanks for hanging with me as I worked to get my husband settled in back home for a few days before we head back to the hospital for the next big surgery. Hats off to all of the full-time caregivers out there — it’s definitely a big job!

I’m super excited to get back to scheduled programming and take a stroll through the hills and fields of flowers. I’m going to showcase some of my favorites from the current and soon-to-release Stampin’ Up! lineup. I hope you’ll plan to come along for the whole trip!

Today, we’re walking the Hills of Tuscany, using the stamp set by the same name. This lovely stamp set is on the Last Chance list, and I’m sad to see it go! But this is a set that will definitely be staying in my crafting stash for making beautiful landscape scenes.

Now, let’s take a closer look at how today’s card came together. I chose to have a lavender theme for this landscape. We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. The back panel of the focal section of this card is a quarter-sheet of Crumb Cake that has been diecut with the largest Deckled Rectangles die and then machine embossed with the Distressed Tile embossing folder. To help the beautiful embossed detailing stand out a bit more, I gave it an aged look by sponging Crumb Cake ink over the top. It’s also elevated with dimensionals to give depth to the design. The focal panel mat is Gorgeous Grape cardstock that has been diecut with the Deckled Rectangles dies, while the focal panel is a sheet of white cardstock diecut with the nesting rectangle from the same set of dies. The focal panel landscape scene is stamped using the Hills of Tuscany stamp set.

The sentiment panel is diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock using the soon-to-release Unbounded Love dies. The lavender bunch is diecut from Gorgeous Grape using the Painted Lavender dies and tied together using linen thread. The frame is adhered directly to the focal panel, while the sentiment portion is popped up on dimensionals to ensure the sentiment isn’t lost in the scene.

Two strips of the Perennial Lavender designer series paper behind the focal panel finish off this design. They serve to begin the eye’s journey across the card front. Notice how the purple elements form a visual triangle across the card front as your eye passes from this strip of DSP to the sentiment panel to the field of lavender in the landscape to the gems in the bottom-right corner.

TIP: when you overlap stamped images from this stamp set, it creates darker areas that add depth and shading. Notice the darker green path in the hill that was created in this fashion. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to this technique, but I have enjoyed experimenting with the layering. Should we make this an episode of Terrific Tuesdays? I would love to know your thoughts!

Products used in today’s card:
Crumb Cake, Gorgeous Grape, Basic White cardstock
Perennial Lavender DSP
Hills of Tuscany stamps
Deckled Rectangles, Unbounded Love (coming soon!) dies
Distressed Tile embossing folder
Purple fine shimmer gems
Linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Clean and Simple · Fun Folds

Picked for You

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This week, we’ll be frolicking in the meadows and stopping to smell a few flowers along the way. Stampin’ Up! has a whole host of papers and stamps that put us squarely in the middle of beautiful fields and fragrant flower patches. And we’re going to explore some of my favorites throughout this week.

We begin today with a new take on an old fun fold. I recently ran across the hidden barn fold design and knew I had to give it a try. Why is it called a hidden fold? When the card is completely closed, the two sections of the front panel meet, they make the center cut virtually disappear.

So our take on this card begins with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. The focal panel consists of a bottom mat of Lost Lagoon soft shimmer paper that is diecut using the largest Perennial Postage die, followed by a layer of Highland Heather cut just a tick smaller, and finally with our section of Meandering Meadow designer paper on top. To accomplish the two perfect sections, I cut the shimmery layer in half after I diecut it. I adhered the DSP and Highland Heather mat together first before also cutting them in half with the trimmer. Then these three layers were adhered together before carefully adhering them in place on the card front so that they meet together perfectly at the center. The sentiment from Charming Sentiments is stamped on white cardstock and diecut using the smallest Thoughtful Expressions die. The sentiment mat is cut from Lost Lagoon shimmer paper. A twist of silver & white sheer ribbon and Lost Lagoon bordered ribbon are adhered in between the two sentiment layers. Using dimensionals, the sentiment is adhered to the left flap of the card front. I added a few purple fine shimmer gems for sparkle and to move the eye diagonally across the card front.

This particular design is super easy to put together. And by changing the color palette and DSP, each card has a completely different look. This is going to be a go-to design for me if I need to make a whole host of simple yet beautiful cards!

Tune in tomorrow as we explore the rolling Hills of Tuscany!

Products used in today’s card:
Blackberry Bliss, Highland Heather, Basic White cardstock
Meandering Meadow, Lost Lagoon soft shimmer DSP
Charming Sentiments stamps
Thoughtful Expressions, Perennial Postage dies
Silver & white sheer trim, Lost Lagoon bordered ribbon
Purple fine shimmer gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives