Online Exclusives · Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Birthday Blossoms

Happy Friday! We have made it to the end of the week. And it was quite an exciting day for me. In the middle of a big work meeting today, we had a medical emergency. There’s nothing like someone crumpling in their chair to get the ol’ adrenaline pumping! Luckily, we could rouse the person and get them on their way for a medical evaluation pretty quickly. And on top of the excitement of the work day, it seems that the weather in our area is ramping up to make for an exciting evening. I hope it turns out to just be rain. I’m not sure my poor heart can handle anymore crazy adrenaline rushes today.

But on to our crafty fun for today. We are having another Sketchy Friday (even more appropriate than I originally intended!). For those of you who are new here, Sketchy Fridays is a weekly series where we use a card sketch to design our featured card.

This week’s card is based on the Freshly Made Sketches #722 sketch. A sketch like this one is the perfect way to use busy patterns and/or scraps. In our case, we’re doing both!

We get started on today’s card with a base of white cardstock. Since we’re using a lot of pattern, we want a nice neutral backdrop. A sheet of the Easter Joy pattern paper serves as our background. For the three diagonal corner strips, we combine the floral foil from the Pleasant Patterns pack, the pink sheet from Garden Textures, and the small floral foiled sheet from the Lovely & Beautiful pack. The two competing floral patterns are broken up with the solid textured sheet from Garden Textures. I wanted all of our fun patterns to show through, so the sentiment from the Fabulous Sayings set is stamped on vellum in Versamark and then heat embossed in gold. Before adhering our sentiment, we add a few floral bunches on either side from the Easter Time ephemera pack and then adhere the sentiment over them with glue dots. We finish things off with some pearlized faceted circles.

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Botanicals · Online Exclusives

Delicate Thoughts

Welcome back for today’s bonus post. This week’s theme is all about spring as things here in my area are certainly starting to feel like spring, including last night’s storms! But with spring showers come spring flowers and isn’t that what we’re all in for?! Today’s bonus card is showcasing more of the Delicate Dreams suite as we pair the Delicate Dreams and Delicate Designs foil papers to create this lovely thinking of you design.

The layout for today’s card uses Sketch 276 from the Freshly Made Sketches team as the starting point. We get started with a base of Misty Moonlight cardstock. Our base layer combines the small blue floral pattern from the Delicate Dreams pack and the leaf pattern from the Delicate Designs pack and then separated with some Misty Moonlight and silver edged ribbon in a faux book binding look. Our focal panel plays double duty as our sentiment panel. The sentiment from With You In Mind is stamped in Versamark on vellum and then heat embossed with copper. The panel is cut with the Label Me Grateful panel die and then adhered over some leaf fronds cut with the same die set from a combination of earthen toned metallic and blue garden textures foil sheets. We finish things off with a combination of metallic gems on our sentiment panel and then blue opal rounds surrounding our focal panel.

This paper is just so beautiful that I keep turning to it. But I promise I’ll be branching out into some other goodies in the crafty stash tomorrow as we continue our spring design series! Hope to see you then!

Edited to add: would you like to know what happens when you get in a hurry to post your card because you’re so excited about how it turns out? You forget to actually insert it in your post. DOH!

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Coming Soon · Online Exclusives · Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Little Howl-lo

Happy Friday! We finally made it. You know, it’s so funny. I was in a work meeting today and we were all talking about how the last two weeks have felt like a month and it’s just been CRAZY. Anybody else been in the boat? BUT we’re finally to the weekend and get a little breather.

And I thought this was the perfect opportunity to have a Sketchy Friday. What do you think? For those of you who are new here, Sketchy Fridays is a weekly series where we use a card sketch to design our featured card.

Funny enough, I was drawn to a sketch that I used the last time I hosted a Sketchy Fridays post. Clearly, it must be a good one! Soooo this week’s card is based on the Freshly Made Sketches #706 sketch. As I was trying to find a sketch to go with the idea in my head to best show off the adorable new bundle called Cutest Crew, this one caught my eye. So here we go.

We get started with a neutral base of Crumb Cake cardstock. Our focal panel sits on a background of the brand new Garden Textures foil that will release next week. The base of the focal panel is a combination of a neutral geometric pattern from the Autumn Toile paper pack with a border of Earthen Toned metallic paper and adhered to the card front with dimensionals. The focal panel starts with a banner of Crumb Cake cardstock cut with the Nested Essentials dies. We heat emboss our sentiment from the new Cutest Crew stamp set in copper. Our cute band of doggos is from the new Cutest Crew stamp & die bundle releasing next week. We start by stamping the band of merry furballs onto white in black ink and then color them with an assortment of Stampin’ Blends, including Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Basic Black, and a few others. The puppers are adhered to our focal panel with dimensionals. The full focal panel is adhered to the larger base with dimensionals over some Gray Granite variegated trim and Cloud Cover baker’s twine from the 2025 Advent Calendar. We finish thigs off with some opal rounds on opposite corners of our sentiment to draw our eyes across our adorable scene.

We’re rounding out our critter series tomorrow. Do you have any critter favorites that might be in my crafty stash? Drop me some suggestions and see if yours makes the cut!

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St Patty's

Just Plaid Lucky

We’re playing with the lucky design theme this week. And after looking for some mojo — a/k/a design inspiration — I ran across a card that used plaid patterned paper. And that got the wheels turning. So we’re pairing up the Forever Plaid embossing folder with the Unbounded Love stamp set to create this clean & simple 5- minute card.

We get started with a base of Shy Shamrock cardstock. I machine embossed just the front panel using the Forever Plaid embossing folder. To really bring out the embossing and add a pop of gold, I used my finger and some gold ink to give the front a distressed look. It really makes our embossed plaid stand out. The sentiment from the Unbounded Love stamp set is stamped tone-on-tone on Shy Shamrock and then cut with one of the Spotlight on Nature dies. I used a combination of vellum and gold foil as the mat for the sentiment and cut those out with a circle one size larger from the same die set. I added some Wink of Stella to the vellum for a bit of twinkle. The sentiment is adhered to the card front over a double twist of white & gold baker’s twine. Some white with gold ribbon is tied around the length of the card against the fold. And we finish things off with some gold sequins around the sentiment.

Next week is all about the critters. I hope you’ll drop in and see all of the cute new furry friends Stampin’ Up! has in store.

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St Patty's

Luck for You

Happy Saturday, everyone! It’s been a busy one around here since Wednesday. And I just haven’t had any crafty mojo. I had some ideas this morning but I’ve had a super hard time getting those ideas down in paper. Ever have that problem? We all do. And you know what, it’s okay to take little breaks.

This week’s lucky design theme has been a little harder to bring to life than I expected. I kept reaching for all the same things. But I wanted to bring fresh ideas each day — hence the mojo problem. Today we’re frolicking in the clover as we pair up the Sweet Jar stamps with the Everyday Arches dies to create this window scene.

We get started with a base of Summer Splash cardstock. I really love the slight color variation between the backdrop and focal elements. We build our picture window with a gold foil base that is cut with the Everyday Arches die. The front portion of the card base is machine embossed with the Beautiful Patterns embossing folder to give a bit of texture to our backdrop. The base of our focal panel scene is a sheet of Cloud Cover cardstock that is cut with an arch die just one size smaller than the gold mat. I used a scrap of Shy Shamrock cardstock to create the hill of clover, which uses a combination of the Scene Adventure die to create the grass and the clover stamp from the Sweet Jar stamps to give us our field of clovers. The sentiment from the Sweet Jar set is stamped in Shy Shamrock toward the top of the arch. Some white & gold baker’s twine is tied around the panel immediately underneath the sentiment. The two-toned butterfly is created with a combination of vellum and Shy Shamrock glimmer paper. The detailed portion of the butterfly uses the small butterfly die from this year’s Advent Calendar. To give the vellum wings the look of shimmery gold, I drudged my Wink of Stella brush through gold embossing powder before coloring over the vellum. We finish things off with some pops of twinkly gold sequins and shimmery green pearls.

I’ll be bringing you another clean & simple design in just a bit. Stay tuned!

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Masculine Designs

Sweet Dreams

Happy Saturday, everyone! My crazy week at the office ended with a crazy long day that seems to have followed me into the weekend. Sometimes that’s just the life of a public servant. While I have lots of things on the to-do list, I’m not feeling very motivated to get any of them done. So into the craft room we shall retreat. *grin*

This week, we’re looking at shortcuts for creating masculine designs. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s just plain difficult to create a masculine card. One way we can shortcut the process is using a more geometric card sketch. Another way is to choose a more masculine-inspired color scheme. And along those veins, today we’re combining the idea of layout and color scheme with a monochromatic, geometric look.

Today’s design gets started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. The background of our focal panel is a quarter sheet of Cloud Cover that has been machine embossed with the Forever Plaid embossing folder, and I chose to do so on the diagonal for that geometric visual interest. This embossed panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. Our sentiment panel begins with a strip of the blue Country Woods woodgrain patterned paper that is adhered on the diagonal across our card front. To keep with the monochromatic color palette, I chose the words sweet dreams from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack. The sentiment is adhered to the woodgrain panel with a glue pen and then I covered the letters and star with Wink of Stella for the added drama of a little shimmer. We finish things off with some blue Rainbow Adhesive Dots on either side of the sentiment and a few Cloud Cover sequins in opposing corners.

I created this card for my kiddo for Valentine’s Day. He has a basketball tournament that day, so it will be fun to use the play on words of sweet dreams to share some chocolate and encouragement to reach for his dreams. A little later today we’re going to talk about how we can shortcut a masculine design with our stamps. I hope you’ll drop back in and check it out.

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Masculine Designs

Great Explorer

Happy Thursday, everyone! Whew — it’s been a rough week as we have all transitioned back to normal life after the Winter Storm Fern. Work and school and all of the things are back in full swing, and I guess I just wasn’t ready. Hopefully next week will go a little more smoothly.

But all that aside, I’m back with some more tips & tricks for those masculine cards. This week, we’re looking for those shortcuts to make cards for the fellas come together a little quicker. We started by using a sketch with geometric patterns. Today, we’re focusing on color palette as we take our cues from the new Nature Walk paper released by Stampin’ Up! This gorgeous paper combines hues of blue and brown and green to create perfect subtle patterns. We’re pairing it up with the newer Outdoor Adventure stamp & die set to make our adventure-themed card.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock and then add a sheet of the Nature Walk patterned paper as our backdrop. We cut an accent piece from a sheet of Timeless Plaid using the Textured Notes rectangle dies and adhered on the left side of our card. I stamped a stand of trees on white cardstock in a combination of Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, and Soft Sea Foam using the Outdoor Adventure stamp and then cut it out with one of the smaller Spotlight on Nature dies. It’s adhered over a bow of Secret Sea cardstock with dimensionals. Our wolf is stamped in Smoky Slate on Cloud Cover cardstock and then cut with the coordinating die from the Outdoor Adventure die set. It’s adhered at the bottom of our tree panel with several layers of dimensionals for some extra depth in the scene. I stamped the sentiment from the Outdoor Adventure set onto vellum with Versamark and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. It’s cut out with the banner die from the Stylish Shapes set using the extension method to make it long enough to capture the full sentiment. The sentiment banner is adhered at the top of our focal panel using glue dots on either end to make it look like the banner is rippling in the wind. We finish things off with some Mossy Meadow and Secret Sea embellishments from the Moody Palette and Sparkle dot sets.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see a clean and simple design that comes together in minutes.

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Winter

Warm Hello

Welcome back, friends. I got a little side-tracked during my afternoon crafting session and suddenly realized I hadn’t gotten my project posted. This card is inspired by a cute card made by fellow demo Bree Renwick over at Craft-somnia. It’s always fun to start with an inspiration and see where the variations take you. I paired the Outdoor Adventure bundle with the Soft Waves embossing folder to create this snowy scene. And I recycled some scraps of glimmer paper from another project using the Lovely Arrangements dies — can you spot them?

We get started with a base of Secret Sea. I think it’s the perfect blend of black and navy and certainly sets the scene nicely here. Our scene is built on a base of Cloud Cover, which peeks out at the top to create our snowy-looking sky. Next up is our stand of evergreens created using Soft Sea Foam as the base and then we use the Outdoor Adventure stamps to create the tree line with Soft Sea Foam, Old Olive, and Mossy Meadow inks. I fussy cut around them and adhered them to a strip of white cardstock. To create our snow in the foreground, I embossed a piece of vellum with the Soft Waves embossing folder and adhered it over a scrap of white cardstock. This is adhered over the bottom of our tree panel with dimensionals to create the look of the snow being in the foreground. Our elk is stamped in Crumb Cake on Crumb Cake cardstock and then diecut with the coordinating die. I fussy cut a little closer to the elk image and then adhered it over the snow with glue dots. The whole panel is wrapped in Secret Sea bordered ribbon tied in a knot and then it’s adhered to the card front with tear-and-tape. The sentiment panel is cut from vellum using one of the sentiment dies from the Lovely Arrangements die set and then the sentiment from the Snowy Delights stamp set is stamped in Secret Sea. I used my heat gun to speed up the ink drying process so the sentiment panel could be adhered to the card front with glue dots. I pulled the Secret Sea sparkly diamonds from my scrap pile and adhered them with glue dots.

Schools are officially closed in our area for the next two days, so all of us working folks have to figure out how to “work” from home productively the next couple of days. Here’s hoping! *wink* And speaking of days like this, we’re going to be working with the Days Like This Memories & More pack this coming week. I hope you’ll drop in and see all of the fun projects you can create with this set of cards.

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Winter

Warmest Winter Wishes

Welcome in for a bonus day of crafty goodness from the winter wonderland of Northeast Texas! True to the forecast, Winter Storm Fern dumped lots of sleet and snow here overnight, and we woke up to a slippery mess. With temperatures not forecasted to get anywhere near freezing until Tuesday afternoon, if we’re lucky, we are going to be tucked inside where it’s warm & dry for the foreseeable future.

But all this wintery weather has me in the craft room and thinking of snow. So I’m dusting off my winter crafty goodies to bring you some bonus cards today. We’re starting with a super fun pairing of the Winter Scenes and Delicate Pines stamps with the Lights of Aurora paper to create this warm wishes card.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. A sheet of the Lights of Aurora paper serves as the backdrop for our winter scene and it’s matted with a sheet of the blue Pastels Shimmer paper. Our scene panel begins with the cabin stamp from the Winter Scenes stamp set and is stamped in Crumb Cake on the right edge of a quarter panel of white cardstock. I used the smaller trees from the Light & Wonder die set to cut a stand of trees next to the cabin and then fussy cut around the cabin to finish the scene. Using a water painter, we add color to our scene with a combination of Mossy Meadow, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, and Basic Gray inks. I went over the whole scene with Wink of Stella to add the sparkle of fresh snowfall. The sentiment from the Delicate Pines stamp set is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with silver. I wrapped and tied some white & gold baker’s twine just above the sentiment to pull the eye down to the sentiment. The panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals. We stamp some snowflakes from the Delicate Pines set in Versamark and emboss with clear embossing powder before cutting with the coordinating Delicate Pines die and then covering with some Wink of Stella. The flakes are adhered in the sky with glue dots. I added some frosted iridescent dots to the snowflake centers and a few around the sentiment for good measure.

I hope you’re staying safe & warm if you’re in Winter Storm Fern’s path. Pop back in later this afternoon to see what other winter-inspired designs I find time to make.

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Snowy Delights · Winter

Winter Wish

Welcome back, friends, for a bonus post on this snowy day in North Texas. Winter Storm Fern is living up to all the hype here for sure as temperatures are frigid and mixed precipitation continues to fall. The streets are covered and roads are slippery, so needless to say, we’re staying home where it’s safe & warm.

And that’s giving me the opportunity to make up for the crafting time I didn’t get earlier in the week. I thought it would be fun to have a few bonus posts that give an ode to the current weather here. So today I’m inking up a stamp set I’ve had for a while that has *eek* made its way to the Last Chance list — Snowy Delights. Time to get it inky! And it just so happens to pair up perfectly with the new Nature Walk paper.

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. The background pattern is from the Nature Walk paper pack and I machine embossed it with the Soft Waves embossing folder to give a snowdrift effect. The embossed panel is wrapped in a combination of Cloud Cover and Misty Moonlight & silver ribbons before it’s adhered to the card front. Our focal image from the Snowy Delights stamp set is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in silver before being diecut with the coordinating outline die. I added some of the white frosted iridescent dots to the center of the snowflake for some extra detail and a bit of sparkle. The snowflake is adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. The sentiment from the Snowy Delights set is embossed on vellum in silver before being cut out with the banner die from the Stylish Shapes set. It’s adhered over the snowflake with glue dots so the adhesive isn’t visible. A few extra iridescent frosted dots finish things off.

What do you think of this super simple tribute to Winter Storm Fern? I think it’s pretty perfect. I hope you’re staying & safe and warm in your neck of the woods. It’s the perfect evening to curl up with some soup and a good movie and that’s just what we plan to do!

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