Online Exclusives · Thankful Garden

Silent Garden

This week, I’m featuring the new Online Exclusive suite called Lovely Garden. And today’s card uses a twist on a fun fold I learned from fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis called the panel Z-Fold to showcase the beautiful patterned paper and the stamp, mask, die bundle. Let’s get a closer look.

We get started with our card base, which is a quarter-panel of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Our sheet of Lovely Garden patterned paper actually serves as the bulk of the structural paper for this design. We cut it to a standard size for making a portrait orientation card (with the score line at the top), but it’s important that you cut the paper so that your design will be running in the right direction for a landscape card. So when scoring this patterned sheet, the long edge will be on the top/bottom and then you’ll score at 5 1/2-inches, 2 3/4-inches, and 1 3/8-inches. The two smaller panels will be adhered together so that both sides of the patterned paper will now show when the card is closed. I used the middle sized die from the Textured Notes set to cut an inside sentiment panel and a piece of the Graceful Greenery vellum for the card front.

After deciding on the orientation of the front panel, I lined them both up to go ahead and adhere the inside sentiment panel to the base for safe keeping. I moved on to the focal image from the Thankful Garden stamp set which is stamped in black on white cardstock. I used a combination of Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, and Peach Pie and the masks to color the flowers and then Shy Shamrock and Shaded Spruce for the stems. Using the coordinating Thankful Garden dies, I cut out the floral image. I stamped the sentiment from Wonderful Thoughts in black on the far-right side of the vellum and heat embossed with black embossing powder. Before adhering the floral bunch next to the sentiment, I made a bow of cream woven ribbon. An assortment of embellishments, including rhinestone jewels, shimmer gems, and starburst sequins, bring it all together and add some pops of sparkle.

Tomorrow we’ll be pairing this beautiful suite with a sketch. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out!

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Online Exclusives · Thankful Garden

You Matter

Stampin’ Up! just released a brand new batch of Online Wxclusives. Have you checked them out yet? We’re using one of the new suites as our design focus for this week — the Lovely Garden suite. And today’s card shows off the included stamp bundle — with its stamps, masks, and dies — beautifully.

This design gets started with a simple white base. The background panel is a sheet of striped paper from the Lovely Garden paper pack. I wanted to keep the color palette very simple for this design so that the focal image really takes the stage. Our focal image backdrop is a circle of Petunia Pop glimmer paper that is cut with the Spotlight on Nature dies. I love how this pinky-purple really teases out the color variations in our focal image.

The hydrangea image from Thankful Garden is stamped in black. Using the coordinating masks and my blending brushes, I added a layer of Pretty in Pink, then Fresh Freesia, and finally Blackberry Bliss to color the flowers. The leaves and stems combine Garden Green and Shaded Spruce. The trickiest part was figuring out how to orient the first mask to get it to line up properly with the image, but once you get the notch marked it’s easy breezy for every mask thereafter. (I’ll do a video for Terrific Tuesdays.) Using the coordinating die from the Thankful Garden set, I cut out the image. It’s mounted on the sparkly backdrop with dimensionals and then the panel is adhered to the base with dimensionals, as well.

I finished things off by building the sentiment panel. I stamped the banner from the Mixed Labels set in black on white cardstock. I chose a portion of a sentiment from the Wonderful Thoughts set and stamped it in the center of the banner with Blackberry Bliss. Using the Mixed Labels banner die, I cut the sentiment. It’s adhered at the bottom of the focal panel in the center with several layers of dimensionals so that it peeks out just a touch above the focal panel. I added a few of the new Starburst discs around the focal panel for some visual interest.

Are you loving this week’s featured bundle as much as I am? I’m looking forward to bringing you more design ideas. I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow for a cool fun fold idea!

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Online Exclusives · Thankful Garden

Thankful Difference

Have you seen the new Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusives that launched today? There are so many wonderful new things in the store. I still have a number of things hanging out in my cart.

This week, we’re looking at the new Lovely Garden suite, which includes stamps, dies, masks, paper, ribbon, and embellishments. And today’s card also incorporates the new Textured Notes dies, as well as the Pattern of Friendship embossing panel.

Our card starts with a base of Basic Black cardstock. I love how this brings out the details in the floral sheet from the Lovely Garden paper pack which serves as our backdrop. A sheet of Fresh Freesia that’s been embossed with the new Pattern of Friendship die serves as the mat for our patterned paper. Next, I stamped the sentiment from Thankful Garden in Fresh Freesia on white and diecut it with the narrow Textured Notes die. I cut the small frame from Melon Mambo using the Mixed Labels dies. In between these two layers, we’ve sandwiched a bow of Fresh Freesia velvet ribbon and mounted the full sentiment panel over some sparkly foliage with dimensionals. I added purple sequins around the sentiment panel for a sparkly detail, which works well to draw our eyes right to the sentiment.

The paper in the Lovely Garden paper pack is so pretty that it’s hard not to grab for it each and every time I go to make a card! Tomorrow we’re going to pair up this lovely paper with the stamps and masks. Can’t wait for you to see!

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Online Exclusives · Thankful Garden

Thankful Friend

We are already to another Monday – the first Monday of March. MARCH! Man, it seems like this year just got started. It was a busy weekend for us, so March definitely came marching’ on in. We had some beautiful weather and enjoyed a lot of together time that included time outside. One of my favorite things about spring is the return of all my sleeping plants and the chance to visit the nursery for new plants. My boys entertained me with a trip to our favorite local nursery and even helped pick out our new flowers.

And speaking of spring, there is a whole crop of brand new stamps releasing tomorrow with the launch of new Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusives. So this week, we’re going to be getting a closer look at the Thankful Garden bundle, which includes stamps, masks, dies, paper, ribbon, and embellishments. And today’s card showcases the beautiful paper.

Our card starts with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our focal background pattern is from the Lovely Garden paper pack. The sentiment from the Thankful Garden stamp set is stamped in Melon Mambo on white cardstock and then diecut with the Something Fancy dies. I cut the sentiment mat from Berry Burst glimmer paper using the larger Something Fancy die. A faux bow of Shaded Spruce satin ribbon is affixed to the back of the sentiment. The dainty dot patterned strip from the Lovely Garden paper pack serves as our sentiment backdrop. I cut a stem of greenery from Shaded Spruce with the Thankful Garden dies and adhered it under the sentiment panel which sits on top thanks to a layer of dimensionals. Regal foil dots dress things up a bit and bring our eyes front and center to the sentiment.

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see more of this Thankful Garden!

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Shaded Spruce, Basic White cardstock
Lovely Garden (coming 3/4!), Berry Burst glimmer paper
Thankful Garden stamps & dies (coming 3/4!)
Something Fancy dies
Shaded Spruce satin ribbon
Regal foil dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Everyday Skies

Starry Thoughts

Whew, today turned out to be just as busy as I thought it might be, but it was a successful day nonetheless. The kiddo scored an “excellent” on his euphonium solo and bowled above his average for his league games today. We took advantage of the glorious sunshine and perfect temps here in North Texas and rode our bikes around the park and played ball outside. And to top it all off, I got to steal a few moments in the craft room to bring you our last card of our Everyday Skies design series for this week.

We’re keeping things simple with a clean layout using the reverse sides of the Everyday Skies paper, which we have paired with the ever-lovely With You in Mind stamp set. And as a bonus, we’re getting a sneak peek of the new Textured Notes dies that will release next week. If you’re like me, you were crushed when Stampin’ Up! retired the Deckled Rectangles dies and wondered what you would ever do without them. Well, we’re all in luck as this lovely set of textured-edge dies hits the shelves in just a few days!

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. I chose the navy starry night pattern from the Everyday Skies paper pack and used the Textured Notes dies to cut our panel. I stamped the sentiment from With You in Mind in Misty Moonlight on a coordinating sheet of a lighter blue patterned sheet from the paper pack. I wrapped one end with some Misty Moonlight natural tones linen thread and tied a small bow and affixed the panel to our focal panel before adhering everything to the card base with dimensionals. I added a few silver stars just above and on one end of the sentiment panel. The stars are cut from silver foil using the two small dies from the Merriest Trees stamp set. A few rhinestones add that last little bit of twinkle.

This clean and simple layout is very versatile and allows you to make a whole variety of cards for a number of different occasions in no time. And as you can see, the patterns in the Everyday Skies paper pack allow for a lot of versatility, as well.

Next week, we start a new design series using the brand new Thankful Garden suite. You’re going to love it!

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Fun Folds · L2S Group Instahop

Up & Away Birthday

This week, we’re working with the Everyday Skies designer series paper that is currently available as a Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive. We’re pairing it up with the Hot Air Balloon bundle to make this super fun birthday fun fold. I’m using the Accordion Z-Fold by fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis.

Our card starts with a base of Azure Afternoon cardstock, which also serves as the z-fold base. I used several sheets of the blue skies sheets from the Everyday Skies paper pack to build the background. I made sure that all of my panels fit together to build the scene without any odd junctions between pieces and adhered them according to Jackie’s instructions. I cut a variety of balloons from several patterns from the Bright & Beautiful paper pack using the Hot Air Balloon dies. I outlined each balloon with a black marker to give some defined shape to each balloon. The balloon baskets are cut from several different paper scraps, including Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, and gold foil. The sentiment from the Hot Air Balloon stamp set is stamped in Night of Navy ink on white cardstock and then diecut with the banner die from the Hot Air Balloon set. The banner edges are pieces of silver foil for a little festive sparkle on the sentiment panel. The sentiment banner is adhered directly to the balloon. The balloons are all adhered to the card panel with dimensionals of varying heights and in such a way that when the card is closed they overlap so that only the small front panel scene is visible. The clouds are cut from the white spotted sheet of vellum from the Graceful Greenery vellum pack using both the Bright Skies and Hot Air Balloon dies. I used glue dots to affix the clouds in our scene. The largest cloud holds our inside sentiment which is from the Pattern of Friendship stamp set, which is set to release in the newest batch of Online Exclusives next week. This sentiment is heat embossed with white embossing powder. We finish things off with a scattering of white transparent dots.

It’s always fun to build scene cards, and this fun fold is a terrific way to combine this beautiful Everyday Skies paper with the Hot Air Balloon bundle. I love how you’ll be writing your message in the sky when leaving a note for the recipient!

Today’s card is a part of the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instagram Hop, which goes live at 9 AM Pacific Time (PST).  Click here to head over to my Instagram feed at 9 AM Pacific/11 AM Central and check out what the other demos in our L2S Group have created for you today! 

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Everyday Skies

Shining Light

Welcome to the midpoint of this week! Our design focus this week is on the gorgeous Everyday Skies designer series paper by Stampin’ Up!, where just about every beautiful sky is represented. And today we turn to the night sky for our card design. This is a clean and simple card that you can make in 5 minutes or less.

We start with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I chose a retired piece of specialty paper from a silver foil pack that really brings out the lighter purples in our night sky background panel. I loved the light shimmer of this sheet of metallic paper, but you could easily substitute the Fresh Freesia glimmer paper from the current Three Color Glimmer pack. I decided to stamp the sentiment from You Are Beautiful directly onto the focal panel. I used silver embossing powder to bring out the twinkling stars in our background paper and tied a simple knot of silver trim above the heat embossed sentiment. The two tone sparkle gems are the perfect sparkly addition here with their combination of blue and purple glimmer.

I love having clean and simple card designs with a wow factor in the stash, and the Everyday Skies paper makes it super easy to do just that! Tomorrow we’re Instahopping with the Luv 2 Stamp Group crew, and I can’t wait to show you the super cool fun fold I’ve created with the Hot Air Balloon bundle. I hope you’ll float by and check it out!

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Everyday Skies

Brighter Skies

This week we’re highlighting the lovely Everyday Skies paper in our designs. Each of the skies featured in this paper pack is like a work of art all on its own. Today’s design is using one of the more ominous skies to create an encouragement card using the Bright Skies stamps and dies.

We begin with a base of Basic Black cardstock. The Everyday Skies pattern serves as the backdrop and main focal panel. I wrapped a combination of Blackberry Bliss & Gold ribbon and Petal Pink diagonal trim around the bottom of the panel before adhering to the card base. Using the Brighter Skies dies, I cut two smaller clouds from Blackberry Bliss and a larger cloud from black. I heat embossed the sentiment from Bright Skies in black. The clouds are adhered to the focal panel with varying layers of dimensionals to give lots of depth to our scene. I added some Blackberry Bliss foil dots and two tone sparkle gems to draw the eye to our sentiment.

When you have wonderful product at hand, it doesn’t take much to make a lovely card. And the Everyday Skies paper certainly does the heavy lifting in today’s design! Tune in tomorrow for a clean and simple design.

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Everyday Skies

Hi in the Sky

Here we are, finding ourselves at another Monday — another week of opportunities to spread some joy and handmade kindness! This week, our product focus is the lovely Everyday Skies paper by Stampin’ Up!

I love how this paper captures so many different beautiful skies — from sunrise to moonrise and everything in between. And this week, I’ll be highlighting many of these lovely skies by pairing this paper pack with some current SU! products. And we won’t forget the gorgeous backsides of this paper either!

Let’s get our new design series started with the Adventurous Sky stamp & die bundle.

Our card gets started with a base is Balmy Blue cardstock. I chose a sunny day high in the clouds as the sky background here. The plane consists of two pieces cut with the Adventurous Sky dies — I used red festive glimmer paper and silver foil to give a more realistic metallic look to the plane’s exterior. I also cut propellers from silver foil and a disc of vellum with the Spotlight in Nature die to give the look of spinning propeller blades. An industrial trinket serves as the propeller hub in the center. I colored a few of the smaller iridescent faceted gems with my black Stampin’ Blend to serve as the hubcaps on the wheels. The plane is adhered to the sky background with dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment from the Adventurous Sky set in Balmy Blue in the upper left corner. I wanted the plane to look like it’s flying in between banks of clouds and so I cut another sheet of the background, going around just the clouds on the left. I adhered this layer with double dimensionals on top so that this cloud layer is on top. I added a few of the white sequins from the sequins trio pack as little glimmers in the clouds.

This card is so fun and whimsical — definitely sure to bring a small to a recipient’s face! Tomorrow we’re going to be making a pick-me-up with Bright Skies. I hope you’ll drop in and check it out.

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Kits

Painted Wishes Kit Alternatives

Happy Saturday, crafty friends! Today is class day here in the studio and class prep took a bit longer than anticipated, which is why Sketchy Fridays was a no-go this week. Sometimes it just works out that way and we have to pivot. BUT I have lots to share with you today!

In today’s class, we’re going to be working with the Painted Wishes Kit by Stampin’ Up! These kits are terrific for those who are new to paper crafting or for seasoned pros with not enough time for a full-on crafting session. This is an all-in-one kit, meaning it comes with everything you need to make beautiful cards. You can make them exactly as shown and have 3 birthday cards, 3 thank you cards, and 3 friendship cards. OR with a few things from your crafty stash, you can elevate the card designs into beautiful alternatives. Today, I’m going to show you how I adapted this kit to make 6 alternative designs.

For our first 3 design alternatives, we’re adding some paper and ribbon from the crafty stash and otherwise just taking liberties with the way things are combined and how they look.

Alternative 1

The kit uses the birthday sentiment with the rose card base, but here we’re substituting the friendship sentiment and adding Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon behind the sentiment to help it stand out.

Alternative 2

To punch up the backdrop for our sentiment panel, we’re adding a panel of the Pretty Peacock Season of Elegance paper over the peacock card base. I’ve also cut around the greenery to give more delicate detailing to the sentiment panel, along with adding gold foil specialty paper behind the sentiment to help it stand out. Some Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon ties everything together.

Alternative 3

For our third alternative, we’re cutting our rose panel into two pieces and giving them lots of detailing along the edges. I’ve also used the Spotlight on Nature dies to add the edging detail to the circle sentiment panel. Isn’t it amazing how those two simple things totally transform these kit elements?

Two of our next three kit design alternatives incorporate items from the crafty stash to punch things up.

Alternative 4

I wanted the gold foiling in the sentiment panel to pop as the main design element, so I chose a lovely foiled leaf pattern paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack and diecut it using the Countryside Corners dies. A little crisscross of Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon behind the sentiment helps it pop. I cut apart the rose panel and used just the greenery as the side accent for the sentiment. The detailing of the greenery pulls together the leaf elements.

Alternative 5

The rose card base is gorgeous all by itself, and I wanted as much of the watercolor beauty to stand out as possible, so we’re keeping things simple behind our sentiment panel with just a few sparkly diecut pieces. I cut a circle from the gold mercury vellum using the Spotlight on Nature dies and then added a Pretty Peacock banner die cut with the Countryside Corners set. A faux bow of the Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon ties all of our sparkly elements together and makes the sentiment pop.

Alternative 6

Our final alternative design uses all of the kit elements but in an unexpected way. First, I mounted each of the background panels a little askew for some visual interest. This really helps pull all of the subtle colors to the forefront and give the card a sense of movement. Using the other portion of the rose panel I cut for card #4, I mounted it along with the sentiment on dimensionals, giving us two planes of view for our greenery.

It doesn’t take much from the crafty stash to transform kit elements into elevated designs. Dig through your stash of leftover kit elements, scraps of paper, or extra diecuts and see what you can pull together.

Next week, we’re taking to the sky with the Everyday Skies designer series paper. I hope you’ll come along and check out all the fun ways we can make this paper soar!

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