Sketchy Fridays: Birthday Blossoms

March 6, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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.

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Easter Joy 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166939]

$16.50

Pleasant Patterns 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166950]

$10.00

Lovely & Beautiful 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166957]

$16.50

Garden Textures 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Foil Sheets

[167125]

$10.50

Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[167099]

$10.00

Fabulous Sayings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167972]

$5.00

Easter Time Mix & Match Ephemera Pack

[166984]

$7.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165678]

$21.00

Pearlized Faceted Circles

[166978]

$8.00

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

Purrrfect Day

February 26, 2026February 25, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Thursday, friends! We are almost through this week and on to the weekend. I’m super excited to bring you today’s card design because we’re getting sneak peeks at several new Stampin’ Up! goodies coming your way next week with the new Online Exclusives release. This week, our design theme is all about our favorite critters and there are some adorable critters coming your way! We’re pairing up the brand NEW Cutest Crew stamp & die bundle with the Easter Joy foil papers to bring together this adorably cheerful card. Let’s see how it all comes together!

We get started with a nice neutral base of Crumb Cake cardstock. It works well to bring out the pastels in the patterned papers without competing with them. (And trust me, I tried all kinds of colors as the base layer and the neutral worked the best!). Our background layer is a fun multicolor cross pattern from the Easter Joy foiled paper pack. There’s just enough peeking out around the edges to add some interest and pizzazz without taking away from the focal panel scene.

And speaking of our focal panel. We get started with the focal panel mat which is a brand new patterned foil paper coming your way next week in the Garden Textures foil pack. This panel is cut with the largest arch in the Everyday Arches die set. I chose the Blueberry Bushel sheet to help our focal panel stand out against our patterned background, and it also works to help the pastels in our scene pop. Our focal panel on which we’re building our scene is one of the ready-made panels in the Easter Joy paper pack. I used the next-smallest die in the Everyday Arches set to cut it out.

And then we get started with our cute kitties who are enjoying a romp on the grassy hill chasing butterflies. These adorable felines are part of the new Cutest Crew stamp set & die bundle releasing next week. I stamped the kittens on white cardstock and then used a combination of Stampin’ Blends to color them before using the coordinating dies and paper snips to cut them out. They adhered to the scene with a combination of glue dots and dimensionals to give lots of depth of scene. The butterflies are cut from Lemon Lolly pastel shimmer paper and adhered with glue dots. The sentiment from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack is adhered over Secret Sea bordered ribbon using dimensionals. A double layer helps the sentiment to really stand above everything else and catch the eye. We finish things off with some flowers from the new garden epoxy dots pack and some pops of twinkle with the pearlized faeted circles.

Isn’t this super fun? We’re going to get a peek at a few more critters tomorrow as we return to the lazy days of breezy summers. I hope you’ll drop in and see what cutie critters are up next!

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

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Easter Joy 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166939]

$16.50

Pastels Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[167198]

$10.00

Unforgettable Times Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack (English)

[166987]

$8.50

Everyday Arches Dies

[164629]

$29.00

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$10.50

Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154882]

$11.00

Basic Black Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154843]

$11.00

Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154897]

$11.00

Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154881]

$11.00

Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154904]

$11.00

Pearlized Faceted Circles

[166978]

$8.00

Secret Sea 3/8" (1 Cm) Bordered Open Weave Ribbon

[166932]

$8.50

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Easter

Bunny Hunt

February 24, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, crafty friends, on this sunny Tuesday here in North Texas. I know that some of you may find yourselves under a significant snowfall and maybe aren’t seeing the sun just yet. And if that’s you, I’m wishing you some sunny days ahead really soon!

This week, we’re designing around the critters in our crafty stash. And today’s card is a no-stamp, no-sentiment design. We’re pairing up the super cute Easter Joy paper with the Easter Time ephemera.

We get started with a base of Pretty in Pink cardstock. Our focal panel starts with one of the ready-made scenes from the Easter Joy paper pack that has been cut down to size using the Textured Notes dies and adhered to our card front panel with dimensionals. We build our bunny hunting eggs scene using the Easter Time ephemera pack — a combination of bunny, flowers, and decorated egg. These are all adhered to the scene with dimensionals to give depth and interest to the scene. We finish things off with some Garden epoxy dots, which are NEW and will be releasing next week, and some of the pink foiled gems.

What do you think of this super simple card? It comes together in just minutes, which is nice when you’re in a hurry. But I’m always a little leery of designing one without a sentiment, even when the theme is obvious. What are your thoughts on that?

I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to see where our critter theme takes us next!

Product List

Pretty In Pink 8 1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock

[163793]

$14.00

Easter Joy 12″ X 12″ (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166939]

$16.50

Textured Notes Dies

[165555]

$31.00

Easter Time Mix & Match Ephemera Pack

[166984]

$7.00

Strawberry Slush & Pretty In Pink Gems

[165615]

$8.50

Stampin’ Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Masculine Designs

Sweet Dreams

February 7, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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.

Product List

Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165621]

$14.00

Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163393]

$12.50

Forever Plaid 3 D Embossing Folder

[164049]

$12.00

Unforgettable Times Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack (English)

[166987]

$8.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$10.00

Rainbow Adhesive Backed Dots

[162758]

$9.00

Traditional Sparkling Sequins

[165875]

$8.00

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

[138309]

$7.25

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

January Mini Catalog

Filled With Happiness

January 31, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back for today’s bonus post! This week, we’re working with the new Memories & More card set from Stampin’ Up! called Days Like This. These notecards come in two sizes — 3×4 and 4×6 — and they can make it super easy to put a card together in a flash. And today’s bonus card is a perfect example of how you can do just that!

This card starts with a base of white cardstock. We use one of the 4×6 cards from the Days Like This pack and cut it down to size to serve as the backdrop for our focal panel. Using the largest banner die from the Stylish Shapes set, we cut out the sentiment from our backdrop panel before we adhere the background panel to the card front. To help our sentiment stand out and to add a bit more color to our design, we cut a rectangle from the small butterfly-patterned card with the Textured Notes Dies using the extension method. This rectangular piece is adhered over the cut-out in our background panel and adhered with dimensionals over it. Then we add our sentiment panel on top with dimensionals. I cut out the butterfly from a scrap of one of the smaller 3×4 cards I still had on hand and added some Wink of Stella and then tucked it behind the right-hand corner of the sentiment. I grabbed a few of the gold foil hearts from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack and added them around the sentiment panel and finished things off with a few opal rounds and just a touch of Wink of Stella on the butterfly on our backdrop.

This one comes together in less than 5 minutes and is the perfect way to spread a little handmade kindness to someone who might need a little pick-me-up. Next week, we’re going to use the crafty stash to create more masculine designs. It’s going to be fun to pull together new & less-new products to make some projects for the fellas. I hope you’ll drop by and check them all out!

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Days Like This Memories & More Card Pack

[166911]

$11.50

Unforgettable Times Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack (English)

[166987]

$8.50

Textured Notes Dies

[165555]

$31.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$30.00

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$10.00

Opal Rounds Assortment

[163298]

$8.50

Opal Rounds Assortment

[163298]

$8.50

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

January Mini Catalog

Happy Day

January 28, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’ve made it to the midweek, friends! For us here in North Texas, where everything is still covered in a thick sheet of ice, that’s kinda saying something. Kiddos are out of school again today, and it’s a good thing given the current conditions. The sun is shining bright and we’re supposed to get above freezing today, so we will see if we have greater success than yesterday at thawing out.

This week, we’re using the new Days Like This Memories & More card pack to design our projects. And today’s card is another clean & simple design where we’re using a few dies, some patterned paper, and the new pack of Unforgettable Times ephemera to create a bright and happy card. (See what I did there? *wink*)

We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock that sits under all of our pretty patterns. A sheet of the green Pleasant Patterns foiled paper serves as the backdrop for our Days Like This card covered in butterflies that has been sized down using the Perennial Postage dies. We wrap some white with gold ribbon around the center of the butterfly panel before adhering to the card front with dimensionals. To help the sentiment from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack really pop against the busy butterfly background (whew — that was a lot of Bs!), I cut a circle of vellum with the Spotlight on Nature Dies to break up the pattern just a bit. Both the sentiment and circle panel are adhered to the card front over the ribbon with dimensionals. I added a combo of green and pink In Color pearls on and around the sentiment.

This easy peasy card makes me happy just looking at it! It will be sure to brighten someone’s day, don’t you think? I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow when we pair the Days Like This cards with the Beautiful Butterflies bundle. It’s sure to make your heart flutter!

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Pleasant Patterns 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166950]

$10.00

Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[167099]

$10.00

Days Like This Memories & More Card Pack

[166911]

$11.50

Unforgettable Times Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack (English)

[166987]

$8.50

Perennial Postage Dies

[162607]

$33.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

White With Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Ribbon

[166979]

$8.50

2024 2026 In Color™ Flat Pearls

[165266]

$8.50

2025–2027 In Color™ Flat Pearls

[165192]

$8.50

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

January Mini Catalog · Online Exclusives

Celebrate Days Like This

January 26, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, crafty friends! Is it cold where you are today? We’re experiencing super cold temps here in North Texas as Winter Storm Fern has left a cold air mass in place. All of the sleet and snow that fell over the weekend is solidly frozen in place and a perfect slippery ice rink for the kiddos to play in. On days like this, I like to stay warm and craft. What about you?

Speaking of days like this, this week we’re beginning a new design series incorporating the new Memories & More pack called Days Like This. The pack includes a mix of 3×4 and 4×6 cards with an assortment of spring(ish) designs. Pair it up with some patterned paper, like I have a here, and add a sentiment, like this one from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack and you’ve got a super quick — and cute — design!

We get started with a base of white cardstock, which isn’t visible on our card front. A full quarter panel of a sheet of the Lovely Blossoms paper serves as the backdrop by our large focal panel. I used one of the larger cards from the Days Like This card pack as the focal panel and matted it with Pool Party shimmer paper. The panel is wrapped with white & gold baker’s twine at the top, and then we adhere our sentiment from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack on top with dimensionals. The full focal panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals, as well. We finish things off with a touch of sparkle with some iridescent foil gems.

You could celebrate all kinds of occasions with this card, making it a good all-around design to have in the stash. I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see more of the Days Like This Memories & More pack.

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Lovely Blossoms 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[167168]

$12.50

Pastels Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[167198]

$10.00

Days Like This Memories & More Card Pack

[166911]

$11.50

Unforgettable Times Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack (English)

[166987]

$8.50

Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine

[166005]

$8.50

Iridescent Foil Gems

[162842]

$8.00

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Elegant Pine Snowflakes · Winter

Season of Snow

September 23, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, friends. This week, we’re having all kinds of snowy fun as we explore some of the great snow-inspired products in our crafty stash. Today’s clean and simple design uses the Elegant Pine Snowflakes products and Greetings for You ephemera to create this lovely embossed design. Let’s check it out.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. The focal panel starts with a sheet of the Elegant Pine Snowflakes patterned paper, which we’re going to mat with a sheet of the Cloud Cover Flower Garden Foils specialty paper. I really wanted the patterned paper to take center stage, so I opted for an embossed effect for the focal images. I arranged three of the Delicate Pines stamps over the coordinating images in the paper and stamped in Versamark before heat embossing with clear embossing powder. I just love this shimmery, raised effect that really draws attention to the beautiful detailed snowflakes. We finish things off with a ’tis the season sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack, which is mounted over a twist of Mossy Meadow & Gold ribbon using dimensionals. A scatter of Old Olive sparkling sequins finish things off with a touch of coordinating color.

Tomorrow we’re going to have a throwback to our childhood as we use the paper snowflake effect. I hope you’ll drop in and check it out!

Product List

Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165624]

$14.00

Elegant Pine Snowflakes 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[166066]

$12.50

Flower Garden Foils 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[165511]

$10.00

Delicate Pines Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[166067]

$24.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Basics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165679]

$21.00

Greetings For You Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)

[166208]

$8.50

Mossy Meadow & Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm)

[166158]

$9.50

Traditional Sparkling Sequins

[165875]

$8.00

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Winter

Joyful Flakes

September 22, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to fall, y’all! When I was choosing this week’s design theme, ironically, I didn’t even think to make it coincide with the changing of the seasons here. That’s a real face-palm moment, don’t ya think? *snicker* But that’s just the way it goes sometimes when you’re excited about digging into some new crafty goodness.

This week, we’re delving into everything SNOW. There are some wonderful new snowy products in the new SU! Holiday Mini catalog and Online Exclusives that I can’t wait to show you. And today we’re getting started with a mixture of Elegant Pine Snowflakes & Snowy Delights to create this beautiful card. I decided on the word joy from the Greetings for You ephemera pack because snowflakes bring me joy. What about you?

Our card today gets started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. This brings out the subtle hues of blue in our background paper from the Elegant Pine Snowflakes paper pack. Our trio of snowflakes is built from two sets of dies – Delicate Pines and Snowy Delights. Using a scrap of the Elegant Pine Snowflakes paper, I cut several different sized snowflakes from a corner of the sheet. I paired up the larger printed snowflake with some of the Summer Splash glimmer paper and cut a detailed snowflake to go behind using the Snowy Delights die. Before adhering the two layers together, I sandwiched a faux bow of Lost Lagoon soft cording in between. The smaller snowflakes are paired with some Shy Shamrock glimmer paper cut using one of the smaller detail snowflake dies from the Delicate Pines die set. They’re adhered together with dimensionals to give them a more realistic depth of field before adhering them to the backdrop with dimensionals. Each snowflake has a center of Traditional Sparkling sequins. The sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack is adhered toward the bottom-center of the card front. (HINT: did you know that these sentiments are already sticky? Just peel the backing & stick!) I added another sparkling sequin as the tittle for J in joy. A few blue sequins in opposing corners finish things off perfectly.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what other snowy goodness there is in store!

Product List

Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165621]

$14.00

Elegant Pine Snowflakes 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[166066]

$12.50

2024–2026 In Color™ Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[163771]

$11.00

Delicate Pines Dies

[166073]

$39.00

Snowy Delights Dies

[165807]

$37.00

Greetings For You Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)

[166208]

$8.50

Lost Lagoon Soft Cording

[164938]

$8.00

Traditional Sparkling Sequins

[165875]

$8.00

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon · Holiday Mini Catalog

Merry & Bright Plaid

September 2, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

I don’t know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with holiday weeks. We all love a short work week, but it always feels to me like I’m just squeezing in a lot more work into a shorter time period. That was definitely the case today anyway!

And I’ve been SO off on my days as of late that I was thinking today was the new product release day when it’s actually tomorrow….womp-womp! But it doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for you to see all of the new stuff. I’m just sad you have to wait one more day.

Anywho, this week we’re getting another peek at some of the cute holiday products that will be available tomorrow. Our design focus this week is clean and simple holiday cards using the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack, the Greetings for You ephemera, and the Christmas Tags & More patterned paper pack with ephemera sheets included. So much good stuff! Today we’re mixing in an embossing folder.

Today’s card starts with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I had a leftover strip of light brown patterned cardstock from one of the sheets in the Christmas Tags & More pack which served as the jumping-off spot for the color palette and design for the rest of the card. I paired it up with a piece of Pecan Pie machine embossed with the Birch Wood embossing folder to create the backdrop for the focal panel. The focal panel backdrop is a combination of one of the smaller cards of plaid from the Joyful Days card pack and a plaid tag from the sheet of tags in the Christmas Tags & More pack. I chose the Merry & Bright circle sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and matted it with a banner of gold foil specialty paper and adhered it to the focal panel with several layers of dimensionals to be sure it really catches the eye. I finished things off with some gold sparkly sequins from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins pack so your eye catches some sparkles all the way across the card front.

I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to see another clean & simple holiday card design.

Products used in today’s card:
Cherry Cobbler, Pecan Pie cardstock
Gold foil, Christmas Tags & More DSP
Greetings for You ephemera
Joyful Days Memories & More card pack
Birch Wood embossing folder
Traditional sparkling sequins
Dimensionals