Tag: fun fold card

Fun Folds

So Appreciated

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I wanted to give a fold-over flap fun fold another try, and I knew that the new Meandering Meadow designer series paper would be the perfect patterned paper to use. This new pack of 6 x 6 designs is set to launch as an Online Exclusive on November 7th and is a beautiful pack full of pastel chalk designs.

We begin with a base of Balmy Blue. I knew I wanted to highlight the bend in the water with the beautiful sunset reflection on the flap, so I chose Bubble Bath as the base for the flap in order to draw out those beautiful, subtle colors of the sunset and delicate flowers. This design calls for 2 sheets of the selected Meandering Meadow pattern. The middle section of the card front is comprised of almost an entire sheet. The flap is approximately 4″ x 3 3/4″ with the patterned panel just 1/8″ smaller all around. (The entirety of the Bubble Bath strip is 4″ x 7 1/2″ and scored in the center.) The front sentiment from the So Sincere stamp set is heat embossed in silver atop a vellum panel diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. A pop of sparkle comes from the tinsel gems nestled around the sentiment panel. For th inside message panel, I elected to use a sheet of cardstock to ensure good coverage over the flap base. I used scraps of the patterned paper to add interest to the message panel and flap inside the card. The inside sentiment is from the So Sincere stamp set.

What do you think of this fun fold? If you hop over to Instagram, you can watch how this whole design came together. It was a lot of fun to put together, even if I did make a boo-boo in my cuts while making it. Can you tell me where things went awry? I decided to leave that mistake in the video so you know that we ALL make them!

Products used:
Balmy Blue, Bubble Bath, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Meandering Meadow DSP (coming soon to Online Exclusives)
So Sincere stamps
Nested Essentials dies
Silver embossing powder
Tinsel gems
Adhesives

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Fun Folds

So Thankful for You

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I’m excited to show you a sneak peek of a new designer series paper set to release on November 7th. Meandering Meadow is a gorgeous set of oil pastel designs turned to designer paper. Each of the designs in this pack is simply stunning and a little reminiscent of some of my favorite Renaissance paintings. Monet or Manet anyone?

For today’s card, I tried a new fun fold so that I could retain as much of this beautiful paper in the design as possible. The base of this card is a sheet of Balmy Blue cardstock in the standard 8.5 x 5.5 inch format and scored at the traditional 4 1/4-inch mark. To create the flap, a 1-inch strip is cut from each side of the card front flap. The 6 x 6-inch sheet of designer paper is first cut to 4 1/8 x 6 inches. I next cut 1 3/8″ from each side of the panel to create a 3 1/4 x 4 1/8-inch panel. A plain sheet of white paper serves as the message panel on the inside of the card, and each of the 1 3/8-inch strips are adhered on either side of the inside message panel so that a portion peeks through when the card is closed. The larger patterned paper panel is adhered to the front flap. The sentiment from the So Sincere stamp set is heat embossed on a vellum panel diecut using the Autumm Leaves dies. A strip of silver trim and a few fine sparkle gems draw the eye to the sentiment.

What do you think of this fun fold? You can find the PDF instructions here. And if you hop over to Instagram, you can watch how this whole design came together.

Products used:
Balmy Blue, vellum cardstock
Meandering Meadow DSP (coming soon to Online Exclusives)
So Sincere stamps
Autumn Leaves dies
Silver embossing powder
Silver trim
Fine sparkle gems
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Fabulous Friend

susanfoxbowen1 Comment

It’s really beginning to feel and look like fall here in Texas. Fall is my favorite season. At its peak, the main street to our house is lined with trees that look like fire. I try to run errands often once the trees begin to turn just to be able to watch the progression and transformation into a street lined with the beautiful colors of a warm fire.

And that brings us to today’s design which uses the beautiful All About Autumn designer paper. It has been so popular that it sells out as quickly as Stampin’ Up! can restock the shelves. I was lucky enough to get a sampling and just this week snagged a whole pack!

The card base for today’s card is Mossy Meadow cardstock. The fun fold design begins with the single Z-fold. (Hop over here for a PDF tutorial.) I selected the beautiful grove of trees and the foiled side of the limbs of leaves sheets of DSP. The grove of trees pattern is cut into 2-inch strips and adhered on the left of the outside and inside panels. The foiled sheet is approximately 3 inches wide to allow some overlap with the tree pattern. The inside sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped on a 2-inch strip of white paper and the panel is adhered in the center on the left side of the center card fold (at 4 1/4 inches).

The outside sentiment from Bold Bouquet is stamped on a Very Vanilla banner diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. A strip of natural finish ribbon is layered behind the sentiment panel and adhered to the outside tree panel. Because I wanted a large focal point on the front of the card, the z-fold must be modified to a half-barn fold by adhering the two smaller panels together to ensure the sentiment and message panel inside the card are visible and accessible. And I absolutely love the result! If you want to see the evolution of this design, hop on over to Instagram to catch the reel.

TIPS for this design: 1) you can turn a one-line sentiment into a block using a simple masking technique. I inked each word individually and covered the inky words I didn’t want to stamp using a piece a masking tape; 2) you can keep a ribbon in place using staples.

Products used:
Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Bold Bouquet, Heartfelt Hexagon stamps
Nested Essentials dies
Adhesive-backed speckled dots
Natural finish ribbon
Adhesives

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Fun Folds

Clouds of Love

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I don’t know about you, but I like to keep an assortment of cards on hand that I can tuck into my hubby’s suitcase. As a commercial pilot, my husband is gone fairly often. With modern technology, he never feels very far away, even when he’s halfway across the globe. But even so, it can get a little lonely on the road, so I like to sneak a note in his suitcase every now and then. Do you ever do things like this for your loved ones?

For today’s design, I started with a card base of Cherry Cobbler and paired it with another of the designs from the Country Floral Lane designer paper pack. I decided to do a center barn fold, which simply meant scoring the card base at 2 1/8″ from each edge rather than at 4 1/4″ in the center. The sentiment panel is diecut from Petal Pink cardstock using the PTI Mat Stack 6 die. The hearts are punched from Cherry Cobbler, and the sentiment is diecut from Bubble Bath using a PTI die. I used dimensionals under the sentiment and one heart for a little added interest. The adhesive-backed sequins give a little sparkle and reinforce the center focal point.

Products used:
Cherry Cobbler, Petal Pink, Bubble Bath cardstock
Country Floral Lane DSP (retired)
PTI dies (retired)
Heart punch (retired)
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Clean and Simple

Riding in With Thanks

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Today’s design features another pattern from the Country Floral Lane designer series paper. All of the designs in this paper pack are fun and happy and lend themselves well to all sorts of occasions — even thinking of you or encouragement cards. In this case, I designed a thank-you card to send to my upline for all of her help with a recent craft fair.

The bicycle design works great for this cute peek-a-boo fun fold design. I started with a base of Blushing Bride cardstock and cut 1″ from the bottom of the front panel to give the peek-through to the bottom of the base panel. To achieve the peek-through with the paper, I separated the designer paper between the bicycle and floral patterns and then adhered the strip of floral pattern to the bottom of the message panel inside the card so that it shows through when the card is closed. The sentiment is stamped on white using the Heartfelt Hexagon and Circle Sayings stamp sets. The sentiment panel is popped up on dimensionsals and is the visual center of the card front. A few sequins add some sparkle and draw the eye to the sentiment. Simple but so cute! Don’t you think?

This is such a fun design and can easily be adapted to use any product you have on hand. If you wanna give a peek-through card a try, feel free to download the PDF tutorial here.

Products used:
Blushing Bride (retired), white cardstock
Country Floral Lane DSP (retired)
Circle Sayings, Heartfelt Hexagon stamps
Heartfelt Hexagon punch
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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birthday · Fall

Falling for Birthdays

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The All About Autumn designer series paper is another line that lends itself really well to a variety of fun fold designs. This pack of paper is full of stunning designs with one side of the sheet being fall-themed, full-color photographs and the other side showcasing gorgeous foil designs. The paper is so popular that it sells out quickly each time it comes back in stock, so you can’t hesitate to swipe it when you see it or else it’s usually gone on backorder again when you go back to the online store!

For this design, I wanted to create a card that you would be perfect for any recipient and selected elements that would draw out all of the finer details of the papers. The single-Z fun fold is perfect way to spice things up and create more visual interest and drama. The card base is a sheet of Crumb Cake cardstock, which helps draw out the lighter brown elements of the leaves in the sheet of DSP that serves as the card front. The sentiment panel is diecut from Very Vanilla cardstock using the Nested Essentials dies and stamped with the Charming Sentiments stamp in Copper Clay. A sheet of foiled Copper Clay provides a good base for the sentiment. Adding some dimensionals under the sentiment panel, along with the metallic Flirty Flamingo ribbon, allows it to pop against the busier background. The ribbon also draws out the orange and gold elements of the leaves. The inside of the card holds a small panel of foiled Copper Clay and a small sentiment panel.

I can think of so many of my friends with upcoming birthdays for whom this design would be perfect. What about you?

Products used:
Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Charming Sentiments stamps
Nested Essential dies
Adhesive-backed speckled dots
Metallic Flirty Flamingo ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

Sparkle Barn Fold

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It was fun to take a little break from holiday cards last week to participate in the Thinking of You card challenge to send at least 7 cards in 7 days. I really hope that the cards received spread a little joy and made some folks smile. Did you participate in the challenge? Were you a recipient of a card?

Now I’m circling back to designing for a few upcoming craft fairs and working on a custom order for a dear client. Today’s design is a fun take on the barn fold. I love the versatility of this fun fold and how just a little tweak or two can make all the difference in how a card feels when it’s finished. This card feels like you’re pushing through the lush evergreen forest to see what awaits you at the end of the trail, don’t you think?

A piece of Crumb Cake cardstock serves as the base of the card to keep with the natural feel. A sheet of A Walk in the Forest designer paper provides the lush evergreen background of the two front panels. The sentiment panel and mat were diecut using the Nested Essentials dies. The pop of red of the sentiment panel, cut from a sheet of Joy of Christmas designer paper, provides the perfect backdrop for the gold embossed sentiment. The twigs of greenery diecut using the Magical Meadow dies tie everything together nicely. What do you think?

Products used:
Crumb Cake, Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow, Granny Apple Green, Cherry Cobbler, white cardstock
A Walk in the Forest, Joy of Christmas DSP
Nested Essentials, Magical Meadow dies
Magical Meadow stamps
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella (red berries)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Christmas

Peaceful Season

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At quick glance, you maybe thought that I’m repeating the card design from yesterday. I am, in fact, using the same sheet of paper. But today’s card uses a different fun fold design and really showcases the versatility of this sheet of the Winter Meadow designer series paper.

This design uses the single Z fun fold. A sheet of Basic Gray serves as the card base and the same sheet of Winter Meadow is our focal image for the front when the card is closed. One thing you’ll notice when dividing this sheet of designer paper is how the placement of the deer in the evergreens moves across the paper when you cut the full 12×12 sheet into pieces, which works beautifully for different fun fold designs. For this card, I selected the piece where the deer was off to one side — the left in this case. The single Z fold creates two 2″ folding panels, and this perfectly aligned the deer for the left fold-over panel and I placed the remaining portion on the base on the right so that, when the card is closed, the two pieces meet to complete the scene, and I added a touch of Wink of Stella to the deer and white tree for some ethereal sparkle. For the remaining 2″ panel, I used the backside of the deer pattern, which reminds me of a snowy fog, and I used the snow pattern from the Stars at Night stamp set to give the feeling of falling snow. I completed the snowy theme by adding some white adhesive sequins throughout the design to draw the eye across the full design of the card and highlight the sparkle of freshly falling snow in each panel.

Products used:
Basic Gray cardstock
Winter Meadow DSP
Stars at Night, Peaceful Cabin (retired) stamps
Adhesive-backed sequins
Wink of Stella
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

Magic of the Season

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If you have followed me for the last month or so, you probably will recall that I have mentioned how much I love the Winter Meadow designer series paper that Stampin’ Up! just launched in its Holiday Mini catalog. And you may have heard me talk about how much I love this particular sheet of paper from that paper pack. I come from a family of avid hunters, so I’m always drawn to well-designed craft products that lend themselves well to documenting a hunt or simply the majesty of wildlife.

What I love, in particular, about this sheet of paper is the repeating pattern of the deer in the forest. It feels like you’re seeing the deer through the fog of fall morning. Pairing this design with different background colors allows for many different moods and lends itself well to different occasions. A while back, I used this paper to make a birthday card. Today, I’m focusing on the muted colors of a snowy winter to make this holiday card. And I tried my hand at a variation on the two-flip fun fold.

I used Basic Gray as the base for the card design as a whole. I also pulled a sheet of shimmer white cardstock to serve as the base for the front flip and inside panels. The gorgeous scene of the deer standing in the grove of evergreens serve as the focal image on the front of the card. Although it’s difficult to capture in photographs, the shimmer of the white cardstock and the touch of Wink of Stella on the deer really give the feel of a cold winter morning.

When you flip up the front panel, a new scene is revealed. This view of the forest from the open prairie is created atop another sheet of paper from the Winter Meadow paper pack. On its own, this design looks like a gray wash, but to me, it still spoke to the feeling of a snowy morning. I simply stamped the forest scene and sentiment in Basic Gray using the Magical Meadow stamp set. The Basic Gray card base serves as the base for this panel and gives some depth to the snowy grays. The sentiment stamp itself is one long strip, but I wanted two lines for better symmetry so I masked portions of the sentiment stamp to create it across two stacked lines. I added a little sparkle with the glitter sequin.

When you flip down the center panel, you reveal the inside of the card. Since this section is intended for a message to your card recipient, it’s very simple with just a sentiment panel over the shimmer white cardstock. I added a few stars diecut from a sheet of the Snowflake Magic designer paper for a little visual interest and to carry the snow theme through to the inside message panel.

Overall, everything about this design is simple and muted because I wanted the beauty of winter and the pizzazz of the fun fold to be the stars of the show. How do you think it turned out? Would you like to see a video on how this card is made?

Products used:
Basic Gray, shimmer white (retired) cardstock
Winter Meadow, Snowflake Magic DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Stars at Night dies
Whisper White, silver ribbon
Glitter sequins
Wink of Stella
Adhesives

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Christmas · Fun Folds

What Brings Us Together

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Happy Monday, everyone! I really love the various wintery/holiday paper designs that Stampin’ Up! has introduced lately. Have you had a chance to check them out? I just recently got the One Horse Open Sleigh DSP pack and I am loving all of the fun folds you can do to really show off these beautiful paper designs.

A week or so ago, I shared a video of how I made a barn fold card using a different set of designs from the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack. In that video, I showed how you could vary the placement of pieces to make it work for what you have on hand. I loved this variation so much that I felt it was worthy of having its own post to show you how you can make stunning cards with just a few supplies and just moving things around, like the placement of a sentiment panel, can make it feel like a completely new design even when it’s the same fun fold.

For this design, I started with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I chose two different designs from the One Horse Open Sleigh designer paper pack — a lovely snowy woods scene and a gorgeous cabin across a frozen pond scene. Because I wanted the cabins to remain a whole panel and not be separated, I decided to use this particular sheet of paper on the inside of the card. And as I began working with this sheet of paper, it naturally lent itself to being cut into a 4″ and 2″ panels with the cabin portion in the inside center and the trees on the smaller right inside panel. So the snowy woods cover the outside of the card design and really set the mood for this beautiful theme of Winter Wishes. The sparkly touches of gems, ribbon, and sequins complete the feel of the twinkle of freshly falling snow.

Interested in making this card? You can check out the video tutorial here or download the PDF here.

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, vellum cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
All That dies
Versamark
Clear embossing powder
Faceted gems
Adhesive-backed sequins
Silver & white sheer ribbon
Adhesives

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