Sweet Jar

Sending Love Your Way

This week, we’re using the new Stampin’ Up! Sweet Jar stamp & punch bundle to create our projects. And today, we’re keeping things super simple with just a few scraps of patterned paper and a diecut panel. And I used a fun taping technique to make the sentiment into a horizontal strip.

We get started with a standard base of Secret Sea cardstock. I used a scrap of the heart pattern from the Marbled Elegance paper pack along with a striped pattern from the Florals in Bloom pack to create the anchor for the focal panel. The focal panel starts with a piece of white cardstock diecut with one of the larger Spotlight on Nature dies and then we stamp the jar image and hearts directly onto the panel. To dress things up and add a touch of sparkle, I decided to punch the lid from a piece of red Festive glimmer paper (now retired). The focal panel is adhered directly over the paper strips onto the card front. I wanted to have a banner for the sentiment panel so I opted to break up the sentiment from the Sweet Jar stamp set to create a more horizontally-stretched sentiment. To ensure I didn’t have any ghost stamping on my sentiment panel, I covered the already-stamped portions of the sentiment with a strip of tape after I had the next portion inked up. The banner shape is created the simple way with just the trimmer and paper snips. And it’s popped up on dimensionals so that it stands up front and center. I scattered heart sequins and pink In Color shimmer gems across the front to draw the eye across the panel and provide some nice pops of sparkle.

The Sweet Jar bundle and its complimentary Jar of Joy stamp set provide possibilities for all sorts of different occasions. I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what we celebrate next!

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Sweet Jar

Sweetest Birthday

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you enjoyed a restful weekend. I spent lots of time in the craft room this weekend working ahead on these weeks designs knowing that my work week is going to be pretty hectic this week. What did you get up to?

This week, we’re using the new Sweet Jar stamp and punch bundle, along with the companion Jar of Joy stamp set, to create our projects. There are so many cute things you can do with this bundle and it plays well with lots of other stamp sets, too! Today we’re pairing it up with some DSP to create a fun birthday card.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. Our background panel consists of three layers of cardstock. We started with a base layer of pink Beautiful Bokeh paper and then a layer of Unbounded Beauty, using a sheet of the Berry Burst glimmer paper (sadly retired) to add some sparkly eye relief in the middle. A strip of the Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon around the panel gives another hint of twinkle just behind the focal panel. Our Sweet Jar focal image is stamped on white cardstock and punched with the coordinating jar punch, but I decided to dress up the lid by punching it from a sheet of Shy Shamrock glimmer paper and wrapping it in gold thread. The birthday candles felt a little left out at the sparkle party, so they got a dab of Wink of Stella to make them festive, too. I combined several different stamps from the Sweet Jar set to make the sentiment and stamped it in the top-right corner. Some charming shimmer faceted dots help our eyes pass across the card and each of the key design elements.

We’re going to be making our way through a number of holidays and festive occasions this week. I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see what’s next!

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Fun Folds · Holiday Mini Catalog · Tutorials

Big Hugs

Howdy, everyone, and happy Saturday! We are officially to the weekend. We’re counting down the last week of summer break over here, so there are lots of things on the to-do list to be sure the kiddo is ready for his first week of 8th grade! What about you? What will your weekend plans have you doing?

Here in the craft room, we’re wrapping up our full week of fun fold designs. And today, I’m giving you a sneak peek of a full suite of products that will be available in the Holiday Mini catalog on September 3rd. We’re using the Peaceful Garden Suite to create a 4-Panel Accordion Fold. Demos were able to purchase this suite early as part of the special Creativity Now event in June, and I’ve saved using it until we got closer to the official release date for customers.

We get started by cutting down a 12×12 piece of Night of Navy cardstock and then score it to create the accordion base. I chose the leaf and vine patterned sheet from the Peaceful Garden paper pack as my focal paper and then matted these strips with the coordinating silver glimmer paper. The sentiment panel is created using the Peace on Earth stamp & die bundle included in the Peaceful Garden suite. I finished things off with a few Hues of Blue flowers and Misty Moonlight trim from the suite, along with a few drusy embellishments.

I dressed this fun fold up a bit by adding mats for each of the patterned paper panels. When you’re using heavier glimmer paper, like the sheets from Peaceful Garden, this will add some extra weight to your card. You could simplify this by omitting the extra mats or using lighter weight glimmer paper.

How would you like to give the 4-panel accordion fold a try? You can download the free PDF tutorial here.

It’s been a lot of fun learning some new fun folds this week. And there are quite a few that will be going into my more regular rotation. Do you have a favorite from this week’s fun fold series? Tell me in the comments!

Next week, we’re going to be exploring a super fun stamp bundle called Sweet Jar that has a new coordinating holiday stamp set called Jar of Joy. I hope you’ll pop in and see all of the fun things we can do with these cute stamps & punch!

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Cloud Cover, Basic White cardstock
Peaceful Garden, Peaceful Garden glimmer DSP (coming in September!)
Peace on Earth stamp & die bundle (coming in September!)
Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon (coming in September!)
Hues of blue flowers (coming in September!), Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds · Tutorials

Trick or Treat Flap

Happy Friday, craft friends! We have made it to the end of the week and the weekend is fast approaching. What do you have on your weekend to-do list? We haven’t decided if this is going to be a productive weekend or not. Ever have those where you just decide to do fun stuff instead of the things on the to-do list? *wink*

This week, we’re having a good time going through my stash of “must try” fun folds. And today, we’re trying out the Flip Flap fun fold that I saw over at Stampin’ on the Back Porch. I thought it would be super fun to build an unfolding Halloween scene with the SU! Spooky Sweet paper pack. And it turned out sooooo cute, if I do say so myself! Of all the cards I’ve made recently, I dare say this one is the simplest as far as the supply list goes. And the fold itself? Also easy peasy?

We get started with a standard sized base of Basic Black cardstock. This design uses most of a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. Half is dedicated to the card base, while the other goes into making the two-sided flap. I chose the door scene from the scene sheet found in the Spooky Sweet paper pack. This scene panel is adhered directly to the card base. I made my flaps next so I could get the placement of the fold correct. And then I used a combination of ephemera characters and a few characters cut from a sheet of the Spooky Sweet paper to create the scenes for each layer. The fold-over flap hides the final scene on the card front. And it’s all about the layers to make these scenes come to life, which means we’re using my most favorite tool – dimensionals!

So what do you think? Is it eerily delightful? Or just plain frightful?

Love this card and wanna give it a whirl yourself? You can download the free PDF instructions here.

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Fun Folds · L2S Group Instahop

Sending Sweetness

This week, we’re trying out some new fun folds from my “must try” stash. Do you have a stash of card designs, maybe even fun folds, that you’ve been meaning to try? Why don’t you play along?! Let me know if you do so I can come check out your handiwork!

Today I’m trying out the Slide & Lock Fun Fold card that I learned from fellow Luv 2 Stamp team member Patti Dolan. I went a little off the reservation with my variation on this fun fold. I’m not 100% sure if I would recommend. *snort* So I’m going to leave it to the pro to show you how it’s done! But let me know what you think of variation.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. It’s scored so that it opens in the center. I assembled the background of Strawberry Slush, Wildflower Birthday, and Nature’s Sweetness to look like a kitchen and then cut this panel in half and adhered to the card front. Next up we make some cookie jars using the Sweet Jar stamps and punch. Two of the jars are adhered on dimensionals on either side of the center opening. The third cookie jar serves as our sentiment panel, as well as the slide. Here’s where I went a little off on my own. I decided to use the cookie jar as the slide, but I must say that it’s pretty small and oddly shaped, which makes it a teensy bit challenging to work with. But once I figured it out, I think I would replicate the card design without nearly as many do-overs. *grin* The challenging part for now, however, was writing instructions for this card that made any sense at all. So I think I’ll make it a few more times and then try again. But be sure to click on the link above the photo for Patti’s fabulous video and PDF instructions!

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! 

Here’s a complete look at the finished product. What do you think? Does the Sweet Jar bundle do the Slide & Lock fun fold justice?!

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Fun Folds · Tutorials

Incredible Fan Fold

This week, we’re having some fun exploring a whole new crop of fun folds that I’ve been dying to try. Today, we’re working on a “faux” fun fold I learned from my fellow Luv 2 Stamp team member Patti Dolan called the Fan Fold. I call this a faux fun fold because it’s made to look like a folded fan but doesn’t actually involve any special folding.

We’re working the lovely Floral Delight paper pack for this new fun fold design. And we get started with a base of Mossy Meadow. The card front uses two patterns from the Floral Delight pack — the daisy and fleur de lis patterns. Our fan element is created by cutting our card base and paper panels and then adhering them together to create the fan look. I used a More Messages sentiment and accented with Daffodil Delight satin ribbon and some Peach Pie glimmer paper. Drusy embellishments on either side draw the eye to the sentiment.

Our peek-through panel from the inside card panel also uses a sheet of the Floral Delight paper and is mounted on a quarter sheet of Cloud Cover to bring together the outside and inside color palettes.

This fun “fold” looks a little complicated but is super easy to put together. You can download the free tutorial here.

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Fun Folds · Tutorials

Birthday Explosion

This week is all about fun folds. I have to admit that I was pretty intimidated by fun folds at first, but once you’re brave enough to try your first one, there’s really no going back! Now, there’s nothing more exciting than adding another fun fold to my arsenal, especially when it’s an easy one that looks hard. *wink*

Today, we’re trying out a fun fold that I learned from my Luv2Stamp team leader Patty Bennett called the Explosion Pop-Up. And there are tons of variations of this fold out there that really dress it up and dress it down. I went with a pretty simple version for my first go.

We get started with a standard A2-sized card base of Pool Party cardstock. The two-panel focal panel starts with a backdrop of Pretty in Pink plaid from the Wildflower Birthdays paper pack that is diecut using the largest Textured Notes rectangle die. Then we cut a circle from the Pool Party and gold sheet using the Spotlight on Nature dies. To help set off the center of our focal panel, I mounted the circle panel atop a faux bow of gold striped mesh ribbon. Our focal image is from the ephemera sheet included in the Wildflower Birthday pack and mounted with dimensionals. A few gold drusy embellishments on either side set things off nicely and really bring the eye in.

The inside pop-up panel is a 6×6 sheet of the striped paper from the Wildflower Birthdays pack. I used more ephemera to decorate the left side. The sentiment panel is a small square of white cardstock that is stamped with a sentiment from The Right Words set in Pool Party ink. A few drusy embellishments on either end of the gold banner tie the design together nicely.

It takes just a minute to get the hang of folding the pop-up panel correctly. But other than that, this is a really simple fun fold that packs so much visual fun. Wanna give it a try? You can snag the free tutorial for today’s card here.

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florals · Florals in Bloom

Birthday Blooms

We’re wrapping up our week(ish) of designs featuring the Florals in Bloom products by Stampin’ Up! I love the vibrant colors in the papers and the versatility of the stamps and dies. I decided to round out the design series with a card that really allows this suite to shine. Helping us out for this card are the Country Woods paper and More Messages stamps and die.

To keep the color palette lighter and brighter, we get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. I’m not sure I’ve talked too much about the new In Colors, but this is probably one of my favorites of the bunch. Cloud Cover is the perfect combination of grey and blue that allows you to transform the mood of the card easily with just a few changes in your helper colors. In this case, I chose the moody blue of the Secret Sea hashed-pattern sheet from the Florals in Bloom paper pack. Our focal panel is broken into three interwoven sections. The opposing corners are a piece of the cheery hyacinth patterned paper from Florals in Bloom that is matted with some Brushed Silver to help give some definition between the two busy patterns. The center portion of the focal panel is where all of the action takes place. A sheet of the Pool Party woodgrain from the Country Woods pack – also matted in Brushed Silver – serves as our stage. It rests atop a bow of Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon. Our purple-hued flowers take center stage with the sentiment tucked quietly underneath. A few Petunia Pop shimmer dots add a touch of twinkle to the center of our floral bunch, while the silver drusy embellishments on opposing corners give the eye a path to follow down and across.

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a closer look at this beautiful product suite. Next week, our design series is all about fun folds. I have a stash of them in my gotta-try-it folder that we’re going to take for a test drive! I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

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florals · Florals in Bloom · Free Shipping

Lovely

Lovely certain seems a fair way to describe this Wednesday. Would you like to know why?

It’s that time of year…where Stampin’ Up! is offering FREE shipping on any order of $75 and above. I’ve had some items hanging out in my cart for a little while now, and I used this opportunity to save big on shipping since quite a bit of it was paper and other weighty items. Now is the perfect time to buy that paper or anything else in your shopping cart because you’ll save BIG on shipping. But better act fast because this deal won’t last long – July 23 through July 25! Check out my online store to learn more!

And that brings us to our card design for today. This week, we’ve been giving the Florals in Bloom suite a bit more attention and pairing it with other items in the crafty stash. Today’s combo includes the Country Woods patterned paper and brushed silver specialty paper. Let’s check it out.

We get started with a base the new In Color cardstock called Cloud Cover. The background panel is a piece of the lovely Florals in Bloom paper that is matted on brushed silver and adhered directly to the card front. I cut a piece of the blue woodgrain pattern from the Country Woods paper pack using the Everyday Arches dies and adhered this focal panel to background panel. Using the Pretty Florals dies, I cut stems and florets from a combination of Shaded Spruce, Pretty in Pink, and Strawberry Slush cardstock. The flowers are assembled with glue dots and each is adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals of varying heights. Using the Sweet Blooms dies, I cut the sentiment from a combination of brushed silver and a piece of pink shimmer paper from my retired stash bin. You could easily get the same shimmery effect by cutting from any shade of pink and then covering with Wink of Stella. I used my glue pen to adhere the two parts of the sentiment together. The sentiment is adhered over the flowers with extra dimensionals to be sure it stands above. We finish things off with the pink gems across the card front.

What do you think of this pretty simple design?

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florals · Florals in Bloom

Floral Thoughts

This week, we’re giving the elements in the Florals in Bloom suite a bit more love and combining them with other fun products in the stash. Today, we’re pairing up the Pretty Florals stamp set with the Thoughtful Designs specialty paper and Country Corners dies.

Our card begins with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. A sheet of the blue Thoughtful Designs specialty paper serves as the dramatic backdrop for our focal panel. I love the intricate foiled detailing in this paper. I chose the darker end of the blue ombre sheet for the contrasting drama that it adds to this happy garden scene. Our focal panel begins with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock that is cut with the largest Country Corners die. A small stand of wildflowers stamped with the Pretty Florals stamps set adorn the panel in shades of pink, purple, and yellow. The sentiment from The Right Words stamp set is stamped in Secret Sea onto white cardstock and then cut with a combination of paper trimmer and paper snips to create a banner. I tied a length of white diagonal trim around the top of the panel and then adhered the sentiment panel over it with dimensionals. A bow of silver & white sheer ribbon over the center of the white trim adds the perfect touch of sparkle, along with a little Wink of Stella on the cone flowers, some gold foil gems over the purple flowers, and drusy embellishments scattered across the front.

Even cards that take a more serious tone can have touches of sparkle here and there to help invoke feelings of genuine care and heartfelt wishes.

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