Tag: DSP

Christmas

Advent Prayer

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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

Christmas · Holidays

Christmas Greenery

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

As soon as I saw the Seasons of Green & Gold suite of products by Stampin’ Up!, I immediately put it in my cart. Aside from the fact that one of my favorite things about the holidays is all of the evergreens, this suite had all of the festive sparkle that could be used beyond holiday card designs.

Today, I’m using a combination of evergreen colors with the glittering gold elements of the suite to create this elegant holiday design.

We get started with a base of Very Vanilla cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of the golden greenery from the Seasons of Green & Gold paper pack. I used some of the leftover diecut greenery from last week’s home decor project to create an evergreen spray for the center focal point of this design. The greenery is diecut from the Graceful Greenery vellum and Seasons of Green & Gold patterned paper using the coordinating Golden Greenery dies. The sentiment combines the word Merry from the Joyful Sayings ephemera pack and elements diecut using the Peaceful Season dies and a combination of gold foil and festive glimmer papers. A faux bow of Shaded Spruce sheer ribbon adds a layer of green while dressing up the design. Dimensionals give us lots of layers between the card elements. We finish things off with a combination of earth tones shimmer gems and regal foiled dots.

Tomorrow, I’m going to share our newest dinner prayer with you — just in time for Advent.

Product List
Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[101650]
$13.00
Season Of Green & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164324]
$16.50
Graceful Greenery Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164118]
$10.00
Gold Foil Sheets
[132622]
$5.00
Festive 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Paper
[164106]
$12.00
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Golden Greenery Dies
[164116]
$39.00
Peaceful Season Dies (English)
[164020]
$34.00
Shaded Spruce 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Satin & Sheer Ribbon
[164224]
$8.50
Earth Tones Shimmer Gems
[164070]
$8.50
Regal Foiled Adhesive Backed Dots
[164038]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holidays

Merry Stockings

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy December, everyone. I don’t know about you, but I’m over here wondering how I ended up in a time warp! Every year, I feel like the fall months just whiz by and we end up at Christmas in the blink of an eye!

The last quarter of my year has definitely felt like it’s on fast forward after returning to work. I just can’t seem to find a good rhythm to keep all of the balls in the air. Each week, something has to give, it seems. So for those who have been following along for a while and for those who are new here, I’m still working on finding a good balance in order to find time in the craft room.

I was fortunate to have a few days at home over the Thanksgiving holiday and could carve out a little crafty time. I’m still working on Christmas cards and it’s going to be a race to the finish to get enough made to get them all out before Christmas! Today’s card uses the Joyful Ephemera packs to create a super simple and very festive holiday card.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. The focal panel is machine embossed using the Cute Crochet embossing folder that is then matted with some red Festive Glimmer paper. The mantle is a strip of the Take a Bow patterned paper pack that is mounted with dimensionals. The stockings and bows are from the Joyful Images ephemera pack and the banner sentiment is from the Joyful Sayings ephemera. A few iridescent discs finish things off with a twinkle and help the eye pass across the design.

I’ll be bringing you some more holiday designs as the week moves along. Thanks for dropping in!

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Festive 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Paper
[164106]
$12.00
Take A Bow 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164309]
$12.50
Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack
[164110]
$9.50
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Cute Crochet 3 D Embossing Folder
[163792]
$10.00
Iridescent Adhesive Backed Discs
[161954]
$7.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holidays · L2S Group Instahop

Most Wonderful Time

susanfoxbowen2 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Our family has so very much to be thankful for this year. Most importantly is that we’re all here to celebrate together. After my husband’s very serious health crisis early in the year, we do not take for granted that he is here and he is healthy and recovering!

A quiet holiday week at work has turned out to be quite busy, and so once again, I’m mostly playing catchup this week. But I’m thankful to have a job that I really enjoy and that provides for my family. Even if it does cut into my favorite hobby! *wink-wink*

And speaking of my new job, I wanted to create a little festive holiday art that I could display in my bookshelf. And so today’s project uses the ever so lovely Seasons of Green and Gold Suite of products to create the festive 6×6 framed project. This is a simple white frame that I purchased on Amazon.

We start with a 6×6 piece of white cardstock as the base for our greenery spray. The greenery is diecut from the Season of Green & Gold patterned paper and Graceful Greenery vellum using the coordinating Golden Greenery dies. I also mixed in a few green Festive Glimmer paper sprigs for a pop of sparkly fun. Our pops of red are also diecut from Festive Glimmer paper but use the small sprig from the Changing Leaves die set. The greenery is adhered to the white cardstock in varying layers, which are created with dimensionals. The sentiment from Greetings of the Season is heat embossed in gold on white cardstock and diecut with the Spotlight on Nature die set. A ribbon of silver and white sheer ribbon dresses the sentiment panel with some shimmer. And drusy embellishments in the corners catch the eye and move it across our decorative piece. I really love how this turned out and can’t wait to put it out in my office!

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! 

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Season Of Green & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164324]
$16.50
Graceful Greenery Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164118]
$10.00
Festive 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Paper
[164106]
$12.00
Greetings Of The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164325]
$25.00
Versamark Pad
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder
[165678]
$21.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
Golden Greenery Dies
[164116]
$39.00
Changing Leaves Hybrid Embossing Folder
[164138]
$40.00
Silver & White 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Sheer Ribbon
[162149]
$9.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments
[164223]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Winter

Snowy Thoughts

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s a super busy week around the Song Sparrow household. Yesterday, the kiddo’s basketball team had their first game of the season. It was a fairly solid loss, but I think the kids learned a lot and could see areas that still need some work and improvement. Everyone seemed to have fun, and that’s all that really matters in sports, as far as I’m concerned. I’m over here prepping for some out-of-town training and a big meeting for work, so I’m burning the candle pretty low.

This week, we’re working around the theme of stopping in the woods on a snowy evening. I kept it pretty simple with this first design. We’re using a layout by the lovely Did You Stamp Today demo as our inspiration.

We get started with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Our focal panel is a strip of the snowy evergreen forest pattern from the Winter Meadow designer series paper pack that is matted with Pool Party to really bring out the more subtle blues. Our sentiment panel is cut from the blue woodgrain from the Country Woods patterned paper using the Spotlight on Nature dies. He sentiment from Friends for Life is stamped in Pretty Peacock. Our focal trees are from the Frosted Forest die set and are diecut from Shaded Spruce and adhered over a strip of layered Shaded Spruce satin ribbon and white diagonal trim. A few carefully placed regal foiled dots finish things off with a little pop of color and sparkle.

I’ve really enjoyed working with design themes the last several weeks. I find it especially useful if I want to highlight a bunch of different products rather than focusing on just one. What about you? Which format do you like best? Let me know in the comments!

Thursday we’ll continue our stop in the woods with the Sophisticated Sled set. I hope you’ll pop in!

Product List
Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[146981]
$11.50
Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[122924]
$11.50
Winter Meadow 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[162133]
$12.50
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[163393]
$12.50
Friends For Life Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[163359]
$25.00
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad
[150083]
$9.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
Frosted Forest Dies
[164136]
$36.00
Shaded Spruce 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Satin & Sheer Ribbon
[164224]
$8.50
Petal Pink & White 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Diagonal Trim Combo Pack
[163417]
$10.00
Regal Foiled Adhesive Backed Dots
[164038]
$8.50
Add All to Cart
Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Thanks

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Well, the last several days have been far busier than I anticipated and so we’re playing a little catch-up here on the ol’ blog. I recently returned to a full-time job, and I’m finding it a little challenging to balance family time and my most favorite side gigs. I’m sure there are many of you who understand, especially when your family time includes sports activities that your kiddos have chosen to play.

Although a couple of days late this week, we’re marching on with our Sketchy Fridays, where each week we’re using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found in current Stampin’ Up! catalogs.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #7 in the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog and features a fun assortment of products, including designer series paper, dies, and holiday ephemera.

If you’ve followed along for a little while, you’ve heard me talk about how sketches are such a great way to get started with a card design. And you don’t always have to follow a sketch to a T. This week, I’ve rotated the sketch but have otherwise stuck to the layout pretty closely. So let’s take a closer look at all of the elements that are working together here.

We get started with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. I used a piece of Tartan Foil patterned paper as the base for our focal panel. And then a piece of the Winer Meadow designer paper serves as our focal panel. I pulled the reindeer from the Joyful Images ephemera to serve as our focal image in the bottom corner. I added a smaller tree diecut from Pretty Peacock using the Merriest Trees dies to anchor the bottom corner of our focal panel. The sentiment pieces and greenery are also from the Joyful Images ephemera and sit nicely over a faux bow of Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic trim. A foil silver circle diecut with the Everyday Details dies serves as the top corner anchor and adds that nice pop of metallic sparkle to compliment the Wink of Stella on the opposing anchor tree. A few Pretty Peacock foiled dots finish things off nicely and draw the eye to the sentiment.

I’m rounding out this week’s woodsy card designs with a peek through the trees. Hope you’ll come check it out.

Product List
Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[150880]
$11.50
Tartan Foil 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[162332]
$10.00
Winter Meadow 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[162133]
$12.50
Silver Foil Sheets
[132178]
$5.00
Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack
[164110]
$9.50
Merriest Trees Dies
[162047]
$37.00
Everyday Details Dies
[162864]
$34.00
Pretty Peacock & Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic Ribbon
[162588]
$8.50
Petal Pink & Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems
[162587]
$8.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush
[141897]
$9.00
Add All to Cart
Holidays · Winter

Bright & Beautiful Season

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re taking a trek in the woods this week, and as much as I love all things autumn, I thought it would be nice to show how a few simple tweaks can yield beautiful winter designs. Today’s card is another clean and simple design, and we’re highlighting the Stampin’ Up! In the Grove dies and the Snowflake Sky embossing folder.

We get started with a card base of Smoky Slate cardstock. A piece of Graceful Greenery vellum serves as a soft base for our focal panel and is diecut using the Deckled Rectangles dies. Our focal panel combines a white background embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder and the trees diecut from the grey woodgrain in the Country Woods patterned paper pack using the In the Grove die. The sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set is stamped in Smoky Slate on white cardstock and then diecut using the Radiating Stitches circle die and then matted with a silver foil circle diecut with the Everyday Details dies. A scattering of snowflakes and iridescent faceted gems give the snowy background the perfect amount of twinkle.

Tomorrow we’re going to be pairing our woodsy theme with a sketch from a SU! catalog. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out.

Product List
Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[131202]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[163393]
$12.50
Graceful Greenery Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164118]
$10.00
Silver Foil Sheets
[132178]
$5.00
Peaceful Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164145]
$24.00
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
[147113]
$9.00
Snowflake Sky 3 D Embossing Folder
[162026]
$11.00
In The Grove Dies
[163511]
$31.00
Deckled Rectangles Dies
[159173]
$30.00
Everyday Details Dies
[162864]
$34.00
Radiating Stitches Dies
[161595]
$30.00
Adhesive Backed Snowflake Assortment
[162129]
$8.00
Iridescent Faceted Gems
[163368]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Fine-Tip Glue Pen
[138309]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Clean and Simple

He Will Direct Your Paths

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week we’re venturing into the woods with our card designs. One of my favorite things to do is build scenes, and I love it when a scene comes together with just a few simple elements. For today’s card, we’re combining a stamp set, two die sets, and a patterned paper pack. And what a stunner this one turned out to be!

Our card design starts with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. A piece of Thoughtful Journey designer series paper sets the stage for our sunrise lake scene. The line of trees in the foreground is cut from Blackberry Bliss cardstock using the Frosted Forest dies. The deer is cut from Early Espresso using the Grove dies. The large sentiment from the You Are Beautiful stamp set is stamped in Blackberry Bliss and hangs beautifully in the sunlit sky.

This design literally comes together in minutes. I love how the Thoughtful Journey paper makes it so easy. Do you have products in your stash that can make easy scenes? Sometimes you just have to take a second look to see things a little differently.

Product List
Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[150880]
$11.50
Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[119686]
$11.50
Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[133675]
$11.50
Thoughtful Journey 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[163303]
$12.50
You Are Beautiful Cling Stamp Set (English)
[163704]
$24.00
Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad
[147092]
$9.00
Grove Dies
[157844]
$39.00
Frosted Forest Dies
[164136]
$36.00
Transparent Adhesive Backed Dots
[163432]
$8.00
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Fall · Thankful

Amazing Leaves

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Fall is my favorite season of the year. Thus far, Texas isn’t really cooperating. It’s unseasonably warm for November and the leaves have only just started to hint at changing color. I’m ready for sweater weather and a big pile of leaves in the yard!

This week, we’re working within the theme of thankfulness. Aside from this time of year lending itself to this type of reflection, it just really feels like we all need a little reminder to slow down and appreciate all of the little things. Even when we don’t have it all, there are so many small ways we are living in the overflow of God’s grace and goodness.

For today’s card design, I took inspiration from the usual color palette of fall foliage that we see in our area. I really love the combination of foliage color and texture in today’s design.

We get started with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. Our leaf patterned focal panel is matted with lots of shimmer between the Oxidized Copper specialty paper and the Old Olive glimmer paper. For the focal panel, I inked the Leaf Collection background stamp with a combination of Blackberry Bliss, Copper Clay, Cherry Cobbler, and Mossy Meadow ink and stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock. I then embossed with the Changing Leaves embossing folder. I used gold ink to bring out the embossing and add a sparkly sheen to the leaves. The sentiment from the Changing Leaves stamp set is heat embossed in gold on a piece of Early Espresso that was embossed with the Leaf Fall embossing folder and then diecut with the Nested Essentials dies. Another rub of some gold ink helps bring out the pattern in the sentiment panel and match the sheen of our focal panel. A twist of the Natural Tones linen thread and some gold Blooming Pearls add the final touches.

Next week we’re going to take a trek through the trees and see what we can find. Hope you will tag along.

Sketchy Fridays · Thankful

Sketchy Fridays: Tweet Thanks

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’ve made it to another Friday, and you know what that means? It’s time for another Sketchy Fridays!

Each week we’ll be using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found in current Stampin’ Up! catalogs.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #22 in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog and features a whole assortment of products. We’re pairing our sketch with the Thoughtful Journey and Nests of Winter papers, the Timber embossing folder, and Simply Said stamps along with our thankfulness theme to create today’s card.

Today, I used our sketch more as a guide than an absolute. That’s the best part about using sketches to design cards—they get you started but don’t have to box you in!

Our card starts with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. The focal panel combines a sheet of Gray Granite embossed with the Birch Wood embossing folder with a mat of Blackberry Bliss. Our two focal panels are cut from a sheet of Thoughtful Journey patterned paper using the Nested Essentials dies. I fussy cut the bird from a sheet of Nests of Winter paper and adhered over the focal panel with dimensionals. The sentiment from Simply Said is heat embossed with gold on a Blackberry Bliss panel diecut using the Peaceful Season dies. A few gold iridescent foil gems and Blackberry Bliss transparent dots finish things off with pops of interest.

We’ll be finishing out our thankfulness theme tomorrow. I hope you’ll pop in.

Products used in today’s card:
Early Espresso, Blackberry Bliss, Gray Granite cardstock
Thoughtful Journey, Nests of Winter DSP
Nested Essentials, Peaceful Season dies
Birch Wood embossing folder
Simply Said stamps
Gold embossing powder
Transparent dots, iridescent foil gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[119686]
$11.50
Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[133675]
$11.50
Gray Granite 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[146983]
$11.50
Thoughtful Journey 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[163303]
$12.50
Nests Of Winter 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164183]
$12.50
Birch Wood 3 D Embossing Folder
[164069]
$12.00
Nested Essentials Dies
[161597]
$34.00
Peaceful Season Dies (English)
[164020]
$34.00
Simply Said Mix & Match Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[163756]
$17.00
Versamark Pad
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder
[165678]
$21.00
Transparent Adhesive Backed Dots
[163432]
$8.00
Iridescent Foil Gems
[162842]
$8.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart