Gifting

All the Best, Grad

Happy Monday, friends! I don’t know about you, but I needed double the weekend and half the week! Whew, there’s just too much going on and not enough time to get it all done as we close out the school year. And I ended up taking some extra down time last week and did zero crafting. Not because I didn’t want to but because I simply didn’t have the energy to put into anything. Sometimes we just have to listen to those call for rest.

So here we are at the start of a brand new week and it’s time for a new design theme. And o think you’ll like this one and probably find it as fitting as I do as we stare down the last day of school on the horizon. That’s right, we’re tackling graduation designs this week. And we get started with a really simple one that can honestly serve a whole host of happy celebrations as we pair up the Velvet Meadow paper with the Everyday Arches dies.

We start with a neutral base of Cloud Cover cardstock. A sheet of the light snd bright vine pattern from the Velvet Meadow paper pack is taking center stage here as we prep a quarter panel. I cut a small section from the center with the Everyday Arches dies. We’re matting that small panel with a little larger panel of Elegant Pine shimmer paper. The panel is adhered directly over the area from whence it was cut using dimensionals. The sentiment from the Saying Something ephemera pack is adhered over a bow of white with gold ribbon using dimensionals. A few opal rounds on either side finish things off.

This design is super versatile and could encompass a whole host of celebratory gatherings. It also comes together in about 5 minutes, making it a nice go-to when you’re crunched for time.

Masculine Designs

Today is Your Day

Happy midweek, everybody! We are halfway to the weekend already. And it’s definitely the downhill slide to the end of school. The kiddos are counting down the days — T minus 7 now.

And the countdown to school means the countdown to vacations for a lot of folks. And today’s card is a nod in that direction as we continue our card series that’s all about the guys. Even the guys spend time thinking about summer vacay! We’re putting the new Rolling Waves bundle center stage in today’s design.

We get started with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. A quarter panel is then embossed with the Soft Waves embossing folder and adhered to our card front to set the stage for our beach scene. Our beach scene is built on a base of Pool Party cardstock cut with the Everyday Arches die. The Rolling Waves stamps allow us to create the look of water as we stamp tone on tone on the panel. The same stamp also allows us to create the look of sand on a panel of Crumb Cake. A smaller detail stamp in the set gives us the darker grains of sand. The sand is cut from the half arch panel and adhered to the ocean backdrop. The foamy water rolling in is created with a die from the Rolling Waves set and then lightly brushed with Pool Party ink and adhered over the sand. The sentiment from the Saying Something ephemera set is adhered with dimensionals at the water’s edge. A bow of Lost Lagoon soft cording is adhered with a glue dot at the op edge of the sentiment panel. We finish things off with some starfish cut from Flirty Flamingo paper and adhered with dimensionals beside the sentiment and a scattering of shimmering dots.

Can you hear the sound of the crashing waves and picture yourself sitting beside the water? And isn’t this the perfect color palette for celebrating a guy in your life?

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Adventures

Hello, Birdie

We’re rounding out our outdoorsy series of card designs this week with a look through the window at some cute little birdies — just the perfect way to say hello. We’re pairing up the Cutest Crew stamps with Everyday Arches for this one.

We get started with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. The background is a sheet of the white and gold foil plaid from the Distressed Patterns paper pack. Our focal panel is a panel of Pool Party cut with the Everyday Arches die. The sentiment and bird image from Cutest Crew are stamped in Secret Sea ink. I added a touch of sky with Cloud Cover and a blending brush. The remainder of the scene is colored with Stampin Blends. The focal panel is adhered over some Gray Granite ribbon with dimensionals. The green hexagons give us a pop of extra color and draw the eye across the full card front.

Hope to see you next week when we delve into a new design theme!

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Easter

Hoppy Day

As we march our way toward Easter this week, we’re pulling out the crafty goodness to make some cute Easter-inspired cards. Today we’re using the Easter Joy foiled paper and Time for Celebration ephemera pack to create the springy encouragement card.

We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. A sheet of the floral pattern from the Easter Joy paper pack serves as our backdrop for the springtime scene on our focal panel. Our focal panel starts with a mat of yellow shimmer paper from the Pastel Shimmer paper pack and then we layer on top the scenic panel from a sheet of the Easter Joy pack. Both are cut with Everyday Arches dies of graduating sizes. We use small flowers and the cute bunny from the Time for Celebration ephemera pack to finish our scene, using dimensionals to add some depth to a few of our ephemera pieces. The sentiment from the retired Heartfelt Hellos stamp set is stamped in Secret Sea and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder to help the wet ink set on the foiled paper and to add some glossy sparkle to catch the eye. The focal panel is adhered to the patterned backdrop over a twist of gold & white baker’s twine using dimensionals. And then we finish things off with some assorted opal rounds in opposing corners of the card and around the sentiment to help draw the eye across the full scene on our card front.

This is such a fun and easy card to pull together and is sure to bring a smile to the recipient, don’t you think? I’ll have a much more Easter-focused design trend going as we move forward this week. I hope you’ll drop in and check those out.

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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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Coming Soon

Here for You

Happy Monday, friends! Did you have a productive weekend? We ticked quite a few things off the to-do list. And then there’s still quite a bit left to do. Isn’t that how it always goes? A never-ending to-do list, it seems.

Even with all of the household to-dos, I still found some time to play in the studio with new stampin’ goodies. I’m really digging into the new releases that will go live in the shop tomorrow (1/6). You guys are going to love them! This week, we’re going to playing with the Lovely Blossoms suite. This gorgeous suite of SU! products includes patterned paper, stamps, dies, an embossing folder, ribbon, and embellishments. I love the cool hues of this suite! And *bonus* one of the patterned papers includes a side of mixed-size images that make quick work of a card front. And we’re using one of those today.

Today, we’re keeping things pretty simple. We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. The background layer is the striped pattern from the Traditions of Christmas paper pack. I cut apart the image sheet in the Lovely Blossoms paper pack and used one of the large images. To make things interesting, I decided to cut it down with the Everyday Arches dies and cut a mat from a sheet of the silver Peaceful Garden glimmer paper with the next-up arch die. The sentiment is from the new (coordinating) Lovely Arrangements stamp set and is stamped in Secret Sea right on top of the focal image panel. The whole panel, including mat, is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. And we finish everything off with a bow of Misty Moonlight & Silver ribbon and some of the new Misty Moonlight sparkle dots.

This card comes together in a jiffy thanks to the ready-made card front panel. We’re going to use another panel tomorrow but in a dressed-up version. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out!

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birthday

Peaceful Birthday Wishes

After a day like today, it has never seemed more appropriate to be working with a peaceful product line. This week we’re restocking our birthday card stash using a variety of products in the crafty stash. And today’s design pairs the beautiful Peaceful Garden products with the Simply Said stamp set to create this lovely botanical birthday card. The super classy and versatile layout is inspired by Sweet Stampin’.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. The background panel is a floral sheet of the Peaceful Garden patterned paper that is matted with a sheet of Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the coordinating glimmer pack. Our focal panel is a trio of elements starting with an arched backdrop cut from Secret Sea using the Everyday Arches dies. I fussy cut the hydrangea bloom from a sheet of the Lovely Garden patterned paper and affixed it to the arch panel using dimensionals. The sentiment from Simply Said is stamped in Secret Sea on Cloud Cover cardstock and then cut with the smallest Peace on Earth dies using the reverse-extension method, making it smaller than the standard die size. It’s tucked under the hydrangea bunch. The full panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. We add a knot of Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon over the sentiment, some Wink of Stella to the hydrangea blooms, and two bunches of silver Drusy embellishments opposite one another on the focal panel.

I feel like this card imparts a lot of warmth with its hues of blues and subtle sparkles. It certainly makes me smile anyway! Pop in tomorrow and see what we can pair together next to create a cheery birthday design.

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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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Botanicals · Florals in Bloom

Coming Up Flowers

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks around here in Song Sparrow land. Between completely redecorating my son’s room (minus the paint – that’s still on the to-do list!) and then prepping to go on vacation, let’s just say I was chasing my tail and had zero brain cells left for creative work!

But in the end, the kiddo was over the moon with his new room setup and we had a fabulous time on vacation. The vacation was, of course, the highlight for the adults because we traveled to a place we’ve been to many times (and love) that provides oodles of things for the kiddos to do without a screen. And for people who love to be outside fishing and enjoying the great outdoors, it was heaven! So all in all, I would call the hiatus from designing a win.

I don’t really feel like I did the last design theme a lot of justice with only 3 designs using the Florals in Bloom suite. So this week, we’re going to continue creating with this beautiful combination of products. And to spice things up, because you know that’s how I roll, we’ll be bringing in other sets as we go to keep it all interesting. For today’s design, we’re pairing the Florals in Bloom paper with The Right Words stamp set and the Beautiful Butterflies and Everyday Arches die sets.

We get started with a base of Highland Heather cardstock. The background panel is a combination of the small purple floral pattern from the Florals in Bloom paper pack and a mat of Highland Heather glimmer paper that I’m fortunate enough to still have in my stash. I tied a bit of Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon around the bottom of the background panel to help bring out the subtle shades of pink and lighter shades of purple. The background panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. The focal panel is cut from white cardstock using the Everyday Arches dies and turned on its side. I’ve then stamped the sentiment from The Right Words set in Gorgeous Grape on the side up and adhered the panel against the far edge of the background panel. A beautiful, dainty butterfly cut from pastel ombre and silver foil paper using the Beautiful Butterflies dies adds the perfect pop of sparkle and bit of visual interest that draws the eye directly to our focal panel. It’s adhered to our focal panel with a double-dose of dimensionals for an extra boost. A few purple sequins scattered about the card front in strategic places give the bits of sparkly interest so your eye moves across the design.

This design is clean and simple and comes together in a snap but lacks nothing in the drama department – which is just my style!

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Florals in Bloom

The Right Words

Our design spotlight for this week is the Florals in Bloom suite by Stampin’ Up! Aside from the fact that this suite is gorgeous in every conceivable way, it’s been the perfect spot of sunshine in a week that hasn’t been the happiest here in North Texas. Whether you are personally impacted by the flooding in the Texas Hill Country or not, there seems to be a universal feeling of sadness as we all come to grips with the innocent lives lost in the blink of an eye.

Today’s card design is inspired by those difficult moments where we simply don’t have any words to say. We simply hope that a hug will do. And for cardmakers, sometimes we have to send a hug in the mail. This card pairs the Pretty Florals bundle with The Right Words stamp set for the perfect hug in the mail.

We get started with a base of Coastal Cabana cardstock. The focal panel backdrop is a simple piece of white cardstock diecut with one of the larger Textured Notes dies. I wanted to create a window look and so I used the Everyday Arches dies to create a window frame of white cardstock and then cut a backdrop of Pretty Peacock that is machine embossed with the Distressed Tiles embossing folder to give the look of a paneled wall in the background. Our window is mounted over gold striped mesh ribbon for a subtle bit of twinkle that spans the card front. I loved the idea of a flowering fine climbing outside the window to add that touch of happy color. The flowers are stamped in various shades of pink, yellow, orange, and red-orange on white carsdtock using the Pretty Florals stamps and then diecut with the coordinating dies. The vine is cut from a sheet of the green ombre glimmer paper in the pastel ombre paper pack. The vine and flowers are adhered next to the window using a combination of glue dots and dimensionals to create a layered look. We add little pops of sparkle across the card front with a combination of foil gems in a variety of colors.

The dies in the Florals in Bloom suite offer a lot of opportunity for beautiful designs. We’ll explore more of what the dies can do in our next design. I hope you’ll drop by and check it out.

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