Christmas · Fun Folds · Holidays

Christmas Slider

Welcome to a new week, everybody! It was a relatively busy weekend for us with lots of bowling for the kiddo, but we spent it together and that sure made it fun! We capped off the weekend by bringing our feral momma kitty and her five precious week-old babies inside in preparation from exterior housework we’re having done this week that would have upended her cozy hiding spot. So we scooped up her little birthing hut (thank goodness she used it this time!) and brought her and the crew inside where they’ll all stay until babies are big enough to go to the local rescue group for adoption and mom is recovered enough to (finally) get fixed. I’ll have to share some precious baby photos once I can get momma to let me take some good ones.

This week we’re on to a new design theme — all that glitters is gold. With so many beautiful gold foiled and glittery products in the Stampin’ Up! lineup, it should be a week of shiny goodness! We get started with some goodies from the new suite called Traditions of Christmas and pair them up with a few oldies, like gold foil sheets, Regal Distressed Patterns paper, and a few die sets.

You might recognize this gift card layout and think that it looks familiar. And you would be exactly right! We’re flipping our new slider fun fold on its side to create today’s beautiful gift card design. I’m currently working on the tutorial and hope to have that up on the site later this week!

We get started with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock and score it to create the off-center barn fold look with the right panel serving as the pocket for our slider section. A sheet of the beautiful Traditions of Christmas paper serves as the backdrop for our card front. The overlapping focal panel backdrop is a combination of gold foil cut with the Perennial Postage dies and a sheet of the Regal Distressed Patterns paper cut with the Textured Notes dies. We use a combination of the Christmas Greenery dies and paper snips to cut the floral elements from another sheet of the Traditions of Christmas paper. The larger spray of florals is the focal image for the front panel, while the smaller fussy-cut elements serve as the cover for the slider pocket of the gift card panel. The front floral spray is adhered over a twist of the Real Red shiny ribbon using several layers of dimensionals. We finish everything off with a scattering of the Traditional Sparkling sequins across the front panel and add just a few on the gift card panel.

When adhering the florals on the sliding panel, ensure that they are flat for a fully unobstructed open/close of the inside slider gift card panel.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what we have glittering next!

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birthday · Fun Folds

Birthday Surprise

Welcome in, crafty friends, and welcome to the weekend! After a busy morning, we are enjoying some family downtime this afternoon before we hit some projects while the weather is nice. What do you have on the weekend agenda?

We’re rounding out our series this week where we’ve been restocking the birthday card stash, and there’s nothing better than a fun fold gift card holder to close things out for this series! I found the cutest (and easiest) pop-up gift card holder over at Klompen Stampers and just had to give it a try. I combined this cool fun fold with a picture-in-picture design using the Splendid Autumn paper and Layered Thoughts stamps. And I can’t wait to try this again with a scene building set!

We get started with a base of Cajun Craze cardstock, which serves as both the card base and the inside gift card panel. The front picture-in-picture panel starts with the background sheet from the Splendid Autumn paper pack that is matted with gold foil specialty paper. The window section is a second sheet of the same Splendid Autumn pattern that is cut using the Everyday Arches dies and matted with a larger-sized arch of Basic White. I used the negatives from the grass die from the Mixed Florals set cut from a sheet of the cream Season of Elegance paper and tucked the grass behind the panel inset to make it look like grass is waving outside the window. The sentiment is from the Layered Thoughts stamp set and the first portion of our birthday greeting is stamped on white cardstock, heat embossed in gold, and then cut with the largest banner from the Stylish Shapes die set. The sentiment panel is mounted over a bow of gold trim on dimensionals. The front panel is finished with a scattering of gold drusy embellishments.

The inside of our card is our pop-up gift card panel which is cut from Cajun Craze cardstock. It tucks behind the bottom panel of the card front to create the gift card movement when the card opens and closes. The second portion of our birthday greeting is on the bottom panel of the gift card section. It’s stamped on Cajun Craze cardstock, heat embossed in gold, and then cut with the largest Stylish Shapes banner die using the extension method. It’s a tight fit, but it works. This panel is adhered to the gift card panel with the dimensionals.

Here’s a quick look at this gift card in action.

My newest batch of Holiday Mini catalog and Online Exclusives have arrived, so I’m looking forward to bringing you a closer look at those as we explore the theme all that glitters is gold. I hope you’ll drop in and see what that’s all about!

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birthday

Cheers to Birthdays!

So sorry to disappear on you yesterday. By the time our day wound down and I got yesterday’s card finished, it was far too dark to take a photo that would do the project any justice.

This week, we’re restocking the birthday card stash by using a variety of products in the crafty stash. We’re pairing up the Label Me Grateful and Gathering Moments dies for today’s card. This design is inspired by a card that I saw on The Crafty O ink Pen over on Insta. And I must say that one of my favorite things about using inspiration is seeing how much or how little you can see the inspiration behind the design once it’s finished. And just for funsies, today I’m gonna show the two side-by-side and you tell me. Can you see it?

What drew me to the inspiration design to start with is our Luv 2 Stamp monthly team challenge bingo card – with one square being to design a fall card. And I figured what better way to kill two birds with one stone than to adapt this super beautiful fall inspiration design to fit the birthday design theme for this week. And one of the first obstacles I had to face was the color palette because I was completely out of my preferred base color of Crushed Curry and had to search for a suitable substitute that would work with the vision I had for the end result. I must admit that the new In Color Darling Duckling is NOT a favorite of mine. And if I’m being completely honest, I pretty much hate it because it has too much green and reminds me of … well, I’ll just say that I prefer not to say and let your mind wander. BUT I decided to give it a try here because I figured this would be the best context in which I ever could potentially use the few sheets of Darling Duckling I have in the stash. And from there, I worked to choose colors and elements that tamed the duck and let thoughts of fall shine.

So we get started with a base of Darling Duckling. I cut an extra quarter panel for the focal panel backdrop and cut it down using the largest Textured Notes die and then machine embossed it with the Forever Plaid embossing folder. This panel is matted with Peach Pie glimmer paper from the In Color pack. We move on to cutting our smaller detail elements with the Label Me Grateful dies using a combination of Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, and the peach end of a sheet of Pastel Ombre glimmer paper. To really hit home with the fall theme, the center sentiment is matted by a large oak leaf cut from Peach Pie glimmer paper using the Gathering Moments die. It’s adhered a little askew in the center of the card and then the smaller fall foliage elements are tucked around on each side in opposing corners and held with strips of tear-n-tape. The sentiment is broken into two distinct but complimentary sections. The first part of the sentiment is from the Scenic Adventure set and is stamped in Early Espresso on white and then cut with the smallest banner die from the Stylish Shapes set. Birthday is stamped on a scrap of white, also in espresso, and then hand cut with paper snips. Both portions are affixed to the center of the card over some gold striped ribbon using several layers of dimensionals. We finish things off with a scattering of Cajun Craze dots and gold drusy embellishments.

This card is one big, fun, fall celebration. I just couldn’t be more pleased with how this morphed into one big sparkly birthday party in an envelope! I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow to see what other fun goodies we can pair together.

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birthday

Peaceful Birthday Wishes

After a day like today, it has never seemed more appropriate to be working with a peaceful product line. This week we’re restocking our birthday card stash using a variety of products in the crafty stash. And today’s design pairs the beautiful Peaceful Garden products with the Simply Said stamp set to create this lovely botanical birthday card. The super classy and versatile layout is inspired by Sweet Stampin’.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. The background panel is a floral sheet of the Peaceful Garden patterned paper that is matted with a sheet of Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the coordinating glimmer pack. Our focal panel is a trio of elements starting with an arched backdrop cut from Secret Sea using the Everyday Arches dies. I fussy cut the hydrangea bloom from a sheet of the Lovely Garden patterned paper and affixed it to the arch panel using dimensionals. The sentiment from Simply Said is stamped in Secret Sea on Cloud Cover cardstock and then cut with the smallest Peace on Earth dies using the reverse-extension method, making it smaller than the standard die size. It’s tucked under the hydrangea bunch. The full panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. We add a knot of Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon over the sentiment, some Wink of Stella to the hydrangea blooms, and two bunches of silver Drusy embellishments opposite one another on the focal panel.

I feel like this card imparts a lot of warmth with its hues of blues and subtle sparkles. It certainly makes me smile anyway! Pop in tomorrow and see what we can pair together next to create a cheery birthday design.

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birthday

Falling for Birthdays

After a long day at the office, I alllllllmost pulled a skip for today. But I found some inspiration over at The Crafty Carrot that pulled me out of my dog-tired slump and I managed to pull together this super cute variation of the inspo card.

This week, we’re working on restocking the birthday card stash by pulling together goodies from the stash. Today we’re using another combination of new and old with the Gathering Together products and With You in Mind stamp set.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock. Two patterns from the Gathering Together patterned paper pack work together to create our backdrop. I chose the large birthday sentiment from the With You in Mind stamp set and cut a circle from Whisper White cardstock using the Spotlight on Nature dies to create the panel. The largest leaf from the Gathering Moments stamp set is stamped on either side of the sentiment. The panel is adhered in the center of the card with dimensionals. And then a collection of leaves from the stamp set is stamped onto white using a combination of Mossy Meadow and Old Olive inks and then diecut with the coordinating Gathering Moments dies. A few acorns are stamped on Crumb Cake and then diecut with the coordinating die. The leaves and acorns are tucked around the sentiment panel. A festive bow of gold striped mesh ribbon is placed at the top to hug the birthday sentiment. We finish things off with a few Cajun Craze & Gold dots for a pop of eye-catching color.

This design is super easy to replicate and would be great for a guy or gal in your life. I love having neutral designs like this in the stash to make it easy to grab one, write a note, and drop it in the mail on the fly. Tune in tomorrow to see what combination we’ll be using next!

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birthday

Celebrate Adventure

It’s hard to believe that we’re already starting a new week. I feel like we just started Friday! It was a nice weekend around here. The temps were cool and we had some rainy days – perfect for staying in and doing nothing.

We’re on to a new week and new design theme. For me, September is a very busy birthday month between family and close friends, and so I’m (a little selfishly) in birthday mode for this week’s projects. We’re going to be pulling out old and new sets from the crafty stash to create our designs. First up is this card for the nature lovers in your clan. Inspired by a lovely window scene created by Simple Stamper over in the Instaverse, we’re combining the Scenic Adventure and Light & Wonder die sets to create this beautiful mountain vista in our picture window.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. We build our scene on the front panel of the card base. I started by lightly sketching the smallest arch on the card front to ensure that I covered what would be visible through the picture window. We started by “painting” the sky with Cloud Cover and Pool Party inks blended using the small blending brushes. The mountain is cut from Cloud Cover cardstock using the Scenic Adventure die and then gave the mountain a bit more dimension by shading with Cloud Cover and blending brush. The mountain is adhered using dimensionals. I had a leftover piece of light blue pastel ombre glimmer paper that was embossed using the Soft Waves embossing folder that I adhered at the bottom of the mountain so that it would peek through the line of trees in the front of our scene. The trees are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the large treeline die from the Light & Wonder die set, which is adhered with dimensionals. The clouds are cut from a small scrap of vellum using the Scenic Adventure dies and adhered in the sky using glue dots. They’re colored with Wink of Stella so they sparkle and then the mountain scene is splattered with Wink of Stella for some subtle twinkles across the scene. I cut nesting arches using the Everyday Arches dies from two additional quarter panels of white to create the window frame. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Secret Sea under the window of the outside panel. The window pane look is create by adhering the two arched panels together with dimensionals. A scattering of frosted iridescent dots add some additional ethereal sparkle across the card front.

We’re continuing our birthday theme tomorrow. I hope you’ll drop in and see what pairing we have tomorrow.

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Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Christmas Wishes

Howdy, friends! Have this week’s card designs gotten you into the holiday spirit? Well, today’s card will have you smelling evergreens. *wink*

We’re using some of the new Stampin’ Up! holiday release products to create our clean & simple holiday card designs this week. And today, we’re pairing up the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack with the Christmas Tags & More paper pack with coordinating ephemera sheets and the Greetings for You ephemera pack. And what kind of card would it be if I didn’t include some sparkle? *grin*

We get started with this card with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of snowflake pattern Christmas Tags & More paper diecut with the largest Textured Notes die. The bottom of the panel is wrapped with Shaded Spruce sheer ribbon that is tied off with some gold thread (both now retired). Our focal panel is the smaller evergreen card from the Joyful Days card pack that is matted with some (retired) Shaded Spruce festive glimmer paper and mounted on dimensionals. I added some of the packages from the ephemera sheet included in the Christmas Tags & More pack and mounted them on varying levels of dimensionals for some realistic depth of scene. The tree baubles are some of the traditional sparkling sequins. We finish things off with a holiday sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and mount it with enough dimensionals to stand above the center focal point.

This is such a super simple design – so fun & so easy to put together. And don’t you think it’s just a lovely way to send some holiday cheer? Tomorrow we’re going to close out this week’s design series with a traditional evergreen wreath. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out.

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Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

From Our House

It’s hard to believe that we’re already quickly approaching the weekend. It’s been a super busy week, so it’s really just flying by. I’m gonna need two weekends just to recover. *ha!* So have you gotten to check out all the new goodies that launched yesterday? Which ones are your must-haves? I’m looking forward to playing around more with my faves from the new Holiday Mini catalog & the new Online Exclusives. And since it’s craft show season, I’ll have even more reasons to be in the craft room creating fun new projects!

This week, we’re getting a look at some of the must-haves that I got from the new release. And we’re using the new products to create clean & simple holiday cards. Today’s card combines the Joyful Days Memories & More cards with the Christmas Greenery Dies and the Gathering Together patterned paper to create a design that extends well beyond the traditional Christmas holidays. With the more masculine, neutral color palette, you can easily use this design from fall through winter. And that’s a design I can get behind!

We start with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock to tie with the subtle striping in our focal panel plain backdrop. I chose a sheet of the striped foiled Old Olive paper from the Gathering Together paper pack as the full-panel backdrop. It coordinates perfectly with the Joyful Days card that serves as our focal panel background. The evergreen branches are cut from gold foil specialty paper using the Christmas Greenery dies and are tied together with some (now retired) Cherry Cobbler & Gold satin ribbon. The sentiment is from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and is mounted on a small panel of gold & white foiled grid paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack and cut using the Traditional Labels dies. I added some dimensionals behind the sentiment and then behind the full panel when adhering over the greenery to be sure they catch the eye. Some extra sparkle from the traditional sparkling sequins add the perfect coordinating gold finish.

Tomorrow we’re headed to the trees … the Christmas trees. I hope you’ll drop by and check out O Tannenbaum!

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Coming Soon · Gathering Together · Online Exclusives

Give Thanks

Happy rainy Saturday, crafty friends. Here in N. Texas, it’s the perfect day to spend in the craft room as we sit and enjoy a cup of tea while listening to the pitter-patter of the raindrops falling and soft (or not-so-soft) rumbles of thunder.

We’re rounding out our design series this week which has featured sneak peeks of upcoming Online Exclusive releases of Gathering Together and Beautiful Pumpkins that will be live in my shop on Tuesday! Today, we’re using the Gathering Together suite to create a lovely home decor project. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you have maybe seen a post or two here and there about our family table prayers. And today’s featured project is a fall refresh for our framed prayer.

I’m continuing to use the 6×6 tabletop frame I bought off Amazon. I used a sheet of the Gathering Together patterned paper as the backdrop and cut it down to 6×6 to fit in the frame. Everything gets started with the selected scripture we’re using as the prayer. I used my computer to type it up and print it onto Crumb Cake cardstock and then cut it out using the Spotlight on Nature dies. It’s adhered in the center with dimensionals. Using the Gathering Moments stamps, I stamped both large and small leaves in a variety of colors onto Very Vanilla cardstock and then used the coordinating dies to cut them out. I also stamped some fronds of greenery and acorns onto Crumb Cake cardstock then diecut them with the coordinating dies from Gathering Moments set. I arranged these around the circular sentiment panel to create a wreath and adhered them all at varying heights with a combination of tear-n-tape and dimensionals. For some pops of sparkle, I cut some leafy fronds from gold foil paper and Old Olive glimmer paper using the Peace on Earth dies (another Tuesday release) and tucked them in and around the fall foliage wreath. I added a small bow of Mossy Meadow & Gold ribbon at the top and finished things off with a few Cajun Craze foil dots.

What do you think? All in all, this comes together really quickly. It’s really striking in person, and I’m super pleased with how this turned out. I think I’m going to make a few more to display in my booth at an upcoming craft show.

Next week, we’re going to jump ahead just a little and have a Christmas sneak peek as I show you some fabulous goodies that will be available to you in Tuesday’s release. I hope you’ll drop in and see what’s in store!

Products used in today’s project:
6×6 frame
Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake cardstock
Gathering Together (coming Tues), Old Olive glimmer (retired), gold foil DSP
Gathering Moments stamps & dies (coming Tues)
Peace on Earth (coming Tues), Spotlight on Nature dies
Mossy Meadow & gold ribbon
Cajun Craze foil dots (coming Tues)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Beautiful Pumpkins · Coming Soon · Gathering Together · Online Exclusives

Height of Friendship

Happy Friday, everybody! I’m super excited to be (legitimately) wearing long sleeves & pants today as we’ve had our first major cool front of the season push through here in N. Texas. We’re not expected to get out of the 80s today. And if you’re at all familiar with Texas in August, well, this is quite a treat!

It’s definitely feeling like fall here which makes this week’s card theme all the more apropos. We’re working with the new Online Exclusive suite by Stampin’ Up! called Gathering Together. And once again, we’re pairing it up with the new Beautiful Pumpkins bundle to create a fun fall card design. All of the new products are set to drop on Tuesday, and everything is really and truly a must see!

Today’s card gets started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I chose a sheet of the woodgrain pattern from the Gathering Together paper pack as the background for this design. The Beautiful Pumpkins stamps and dies create our focal image section. The pumpkins are stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and cut with the coordinating dies. I decided to the use the Season of Elegance sheet for the vines and leaves because I loved the little touch of shimmery gold peeking out between the stacked pumpkins. The stem is cut from Crumb Cake and a lovely bow of gold trim sits atop the heap of gourds. Just for funsies, I added a mushroom from the Gathering Moments bundle that I had leftover from earlier this week to add a fun and whimsical detail at the bottom of the tower. The sentiment from Beautiful Pumpkins is stamped on Crumb Cake and diecut with the Mixed Labels die using the extension method. It sits atop some Mossy Meadow & Gold ribbon, which helps tie all of our focal elements together. We finish things off with some Shades of Green hexagons.

Tomorrow we’ll be finishing off this week’s series of sneak peeks at the upcoming fall products release. I hope you’ll drop in and see how we finish things off….it’s sure to be a showstopper!

Products used in today’s card:
Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla cardstock
Gathering Together (coming Tues), Season of Elegance DSP
Beautiful Pumpkins bundle (coming Tues)
Gathering Moments bundle (coming Tues)
Mossy Meadow & Gold ribbon, gold trim
Shades of Green hexagons
Dimensionals
Adhesives