birthday · Fall

Falling for Birthdays

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

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

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

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

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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Christmas

Peace of the Season

Have you enjoyed the sneak peek at the Magical Meadow designer series paper that launched this week in Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Mini catalog? These watercolor designs are beautiful. Today’s focal pattern from the paper pack is one of those sheets of designer paper that you almost hate to cut! But with just the right design, you can showcase those really stunning sheets of designer paper and not feel quite so guilty about cutting them up.

Because I wanted the designer paper to be the show-stopping focal point of this design, I chose a cardstock color that complimented the DSP but basically disappeared into the background of the design. Lost Lagoon was just the ticket to help this beautiful sheet of paper really stand out. I chose the peek-through fun fold design again because it allowed the greatest use of the sheet of paper but also added a lot of visual interest to the overall card design. The sentiment is heat embossed on vellum and mounted atop a complimentary-shaped Lost Lagoon mat. A few carefully placed shimmery gems and the ribbon add a touch of sparkle.

TIP: When you want to color match a heat embossed element but don’t have the exact color embossing powder, you can make your own. Surprised? Wondering how? Before you ink your stamp, apply a heavy layer of Versamark and then cover the stamp with your preferred ink color before stamping. Then coat with clear embossing powder before heat embossing. This allows your ink color to shine through as your embossing color. Voila! Color-matched!

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, vellum cardstock
Winter Meadow DSP
Ornamental Pine stamps (retired)
Rose Garden (retired), Window Frames (retired) dies
Clear embossing powder
Fine sparkle gems
Silver & White shimmer ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesive

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Christmas · Fun Folds · Tutorials

Oh Deer

We’re taking another tour of the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper pack. There are so many beautiful winter scenes in this 6×6 paper pack. I’ll be making a variety of fun fold cards to show you how you can take beautiful paper that you’re hesitant to use and turn it into gorgeous cards that really allow the paper designs to shine.

Today’s design focuses on the sheet of paper with the deer in the grove of snowy trees. The gate fold is the perfect design to allow you to look through the trees.

In this video, you’ll learn how to make this card design and how easily you can adapt it to showcase other vignette paper designs. So grab a cup of tea and let’s make a card!

Products used:
Balmy Blue, vellum cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
All That dies
Magical Meadow stamps
Silver & white ribbon
Faceted gems
Adhesive-backed sequins
Adhesives

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Christmas

Beautiful Season

Today we continue our tour of the Winter Meadow designer series paper pack. Many of the designs remind me of snowy mountains. The two patterns included in this design are a perfect example. Don’t you feel like you’re in the winter woods when you see these patterns together?

Lost Lagoon cardstock serves as the base for this card design. It coordinates well with the designer paper and brings out the finer details in each sheet. This is a peek-through fun fold design, where the card front is just a touch short allowing you to see through to the pattern inside the card. The overall design for this card is quite simple with the paper doing the heavy lifting. Just a few special details with the sprigs of greenery and shimmery ribbon underneath the simple sentiment panel bring it all together for a stunning design with a real WOW factor.

Products used:
Lost Lagoon, Basic White, Mossy Meadow, Soft Seafoam cardstock
Winter Meadow DSP
Peaceful Cabin stamps (retired)
All That, Magical Meadow dies
Fine sparkle gems
Silver & White sheer ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesive

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Christmas · Fun Folds · Tutorials

Winter Cabin Fun Fold

Have you seen the One Horse Open Sleigh designer series paper that is currently available in the Online Exclusives section of my online store? Every single sheet of paper in this 6×6 pack is gorgeous! It makes them so hard to cut and use! So I’m designing cards that use as much of each sheet in one card design as possible.

And I’m going to be bringing you a series of videos that show you how you can make stunning cards with the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack, and your supply list will be pretty simple for each design because we’re going to have this beautiful paper take center stage in each design.

First up is this cozy cottage scene. We’ll be making a single panel z-fold card together using this sheet of designer paper. Won’t you join me?

Products used:
Early Espresso cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh DSP
Magical Meadow stamps
Misty Moonlight ribbon
Wink of Stella
Adhesive-backed sequins
Adhesives

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Christmas

Season of Joy

This week we are focusing on the additional design offerings in A Walk in the Forest designer series paper pack offered by Stampin’ Up! in the next Holiday Mini catalog which goes live next week. All of the designs are festive, but I especially love the holiday greenery designs because they are so versatile. I saw this fun fold design using a different designer paper and was inspired to create this card.

After seeing this fun z-fold design, I felt like it lent itself well to making a card that felt like a beautiful double door with a holiday wreath hanging on the front. A sheet of Crumb Cake serves as the card base and helps the lighter elements of the paper, like the branches and music notes, really stand out. The gold glimmer vellum keeps things festive and draws out the gold embossing and foiling on the outer portion of the card. I kept the interior of the card light and bright with a sheet of the white foiled holly design from the Joyful specialty paper pack.

This z-fold design also works really with designer series paper sheets that I like to call story sheets. They’re the designs that really look best when you can use larger portions because they have a scene that encompasses a much larger footprint of the sheet of paper. I’ll be showcasing a story sheet design with this fun fold in a few days and that post will include a video tutorial.

Products used:
Crumb Cake, Basic White cardstock
Shimmer vellum (retired)
A Walk in the Forest, Joyful DSP
Welcome Christmas (retired), Christmas Messages (retired) stamps
Magical Meadow, Seasonal Labels (retired) dies
Gold embossing powder
Adhesive-backed sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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