birthday · Sentiments

Birthday Cake

Welcome to the midway point of the week. Why does it always seem like the summer goes by in a flash? We’ve had a busy week this week with junior police academy going on, but the kiddo seems to be enjoying it and is learning a lot about what goes in to being a law enforcement officer. I love that he’s finding a new respect for police officers and ALL that they do behind the scenes!

This week, we’re designing our cards around sentiments. And you might be wondering why I chose this particular design theme, and I must admit it’s because I couldn’t choose a bundle or suite to feature. Lol! Seriously though, I find it challenging sometimes to use my sentiments in new or exciting ways and I always find design themes a great way to think outside the box. Today, we’re pairing up the With You in Mind stamps with the Wildflower Birthday pieces and Beautiful Bokeh paper to create this easy z-fold.

We start our card with a base of Sea Foam Green cardstock and score as usual and then score one side in half again to create our Z fold. I chose a sheet of Beautiful Bokeh that has a lot of colors from the Soft Subtles palette as my background. This sheet is cut into 2-inch strips, leaving just a little edge on all sides, and adhered to each of our panels with the inside panel having a base layer of white to which we adhere the Bokeh strip so that it peeks through to the front when the card is closed. Next up, we cut a focal panel from the blue pastel ombre glimmer paper using the Textured Notes dies. I chose a large cake and a few balloons from the Wildflower Birthday paper pack (punched from the tag sheet) as the focal images. The cake is adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals in the center toward the top of the panel. The happy birthday sentiment from With You in Mind is stamped in Versamark and Coastal Cabana on a sheet of Coastal Cabana cardstock. It’s then heat embossed with some glitter embossing powder. I cut around the sentiment with paper snips leaving a nice shaped border on all sides. The sentiment is adhered over the cake stand at the bottom of the sentiment panel on a double layer of dimensionals. I tucked the balloon strings behind the sentiment, adhering the tails with glue dots, and then popped up the balloons themselves on either side of the cake on several layers of dimensionals. The focal panel is adhered to the left panel of the card (when the card is closed), leaving the right side free-floating so that the Z fold opens cleanly. We finish things off with some In Color shimmer gems.

Tomorrow we’re making our own patterned paper to help feature our sentiment. Stop in and check it out!

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Father's Day · Fun Folds

Absolute Best Dad

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. For every big thing and small thing that you do for your family, you are loved and appreciated!

We’re wrapping up our special Father’s Day card series with a variation on one of my favorite fun folds – the step card. Today’s card is the side step fun fold that combines the lovely Thoughtful Journey patterned papers with the new Online Exclusive Scenic Adventure and More Messages bundles.

We get started with a base of Smoky Slate cardstock. The side step fun fold consists of a single cut and some scoring to create a tall panel on the left and smaller graduated panels on the right, which happens to be perfect for creating this mountain scene. I cut a sheet of the Thoughtful Journey patterned paper to fit the L-shaped front panel of the fun fold and then used the scrap to cut the grass and trees for the two smaller side steps using the Scenic Adventure dies. I happened to have several other scraps of Thoughtful Journey and chose one that coordinated with the primary sheet here in order to cut the mountain for the back side step panel. The trees are cut from a combination of Mossy Meadow and Pecan Pie and I chose to shade one of the larger trees with Wink of Stella for a little extra pizzazz. The small tree is adhered to the center side step panel with a dimensional. I layered the larger trees and had the pair in the foreground a wee bit higher and oriented to overlap the side step panels. The sentiment panels are stamped using the More Messages and He’s the Greatest sets and are diecut using the More Messages die. I finished things off with a few drusy embellishments for a bit of sparkle because even dad deserves some oo-la-la!

Isn’t this variation of the center step fun fold super fun? And I especially love it with the Scenic Adventure stamp & die bundle. You can download the tutorial for today’s fun fold here.

Next week is all about sentiments. I hope you’ll drop in a see what that’s all about!

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Father's Day · Fun Folds

Dad’s a Catch

Welcome in, friends. We’re having fun trekking through the crafty stash this week to create Father’s Day designs, and today we’re headed to the pond. Today’s fun fold design uses the Gone Fishing bundle by Stampin’ Up! While the Gone Fishing bundle is quickly on its way out via the Last Chance List, it’s hard to resist this opportunity to create a fun card with this bundle, especially when you have avid fishermen in your family!

This standard sized card begins with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock cut so that it opens in the center. Each of the bottom corners is cut at an angle. The top flaps of each side are turned down and affixed to the card front. A few Industrial Trinkets serve as the buttons at the top. This combination gives the look of a shirt or jacket. The pockets for the fishing jacket are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the Countryside Corners dies. Each shape is then cut in half to create the four pockets. The pockets are each adhered to the card front with foam strips, ensuring that the top of each pocket is open to slide our tackle in. Using a combination of foil and glimmer papers and the Gone Fishing dies, I cut and assembled lures to tuck in each of the pockets. I used the Lost Lagoon soft cording to serve as a twist of extra line. The sentiment from the Gone Fishing stamp set is stamped on the pocket. HOT TIP: Be sure you stamp the sentiment before you decide to adhere the pocket to your card front. Otherwise, you’re going to have to punt in order to cover up your stamping boo-boo! *wink*

When the Gone Fishing suite first released, I saw so many cute designs. And one of the ones that really caught my eye was creating a fishing jacket. I didn’t get around to trying it out while the full suite was current, but I think the dies did a nice job of creating this fun card.

Tune in tomorrow as we take a trip through dad’s closet. You’re going to love it!

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Fun Folds · L2S Group Instahop

Heart Aflutter

Although I’m not much a fan of the allergies that accompany the advent of spring, I’m a huge fan of all things becoming new again. I love the early spring flowers — irises, daffodils, and primrose — the budding trees and the first influx of butterflies.

This week, we’re walking through the garden of our crafty collection and working with florals in our stash. Today, I’m combining the Stampin’ Up! Thankful Garden collection with Beautiful Butterflies. And what better way to showcase both than with a fun twist on a two-panel fun fold!

I wanted this design to have a fun twist on the usual layers you might incorporate into a more conventional two-panel fun fold design. And most especially, I wanted to give a more realistic look to a fluttering butterfly.

To accomplish this idea, I incorporated a sheet of acetate as the outer flap. This does two things — first, it allows the florals to remain center stage, and second, it gives the illusion of the butterfly coming in to light on the garden of flowers. Tip: I save the sheets of acetate from new photopolymer stamp sets to use later (act as window sheets).

So we get started with a base of Basic Black cardstock. I really love how this provides a nice but neutral contrast for the focal elements of the design. The focal backdrop on the card front is a sheet of the Lovely Garden designer series paper. I used paper snips to fussy cut two flowers from a separate sheet of the paper to add dimension to the flowers in the garden. One is adhered directly to the front card base on the left side and the other is reserved for the acetate panel. I wrapped some Fresh Freesia velvet ribbon around the bottom of the patterned paper, which acts to hide, if you will, the bottom of the acetate panel when the card is fully closed. I added pink sequins from the sequins trio to several of the floral centers for a bit of interesting dimension to the garden of flowers. The sentiment from the Layers of Beauty set is stamped in black on white cardstock and then diecut with the largest Beautiful Butterflies decorative banner and adhered to the bottom of the panel with dimensionals and finished with a pink Blooming Pearl on either side.

The acetate panel wraps around the front card panel from the inside of the card. The inside message panel and decorative paper cover where the acetate panel is affixed to the card base. A bone folder helps give a deep score line to the acetate so that it folds and lies flat more easily. Using the Beautiful Butterflies dies, I cut the base of the large butterfly from the sheet of aqua-hued Pastel Ombré glimmer paper and then cut the detailed piece from black cardstock to make the butterfly look similar to a Ulysses swallowtail. It’s adhered to the acetate panel with glue dots. The flower cut from the Lovely Garden paper is adhered with glue dots onto the acetate so that it perfectly aligns with the flower on the front card panel underneath. I added pink Blooming Pearls to the flower’s center and then added a few peacock sequins from the sequins trio to either corner of the acetate to tie the full design color palette together.

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! 

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florals

You Mean So Much

This week we’re tiptoeing through the garden as we use beautiful floral products from the Stampin’ Up! lineup. Today we’re featuring part of the Lovely Garden suite using the diamond fun fold. I love this particular fold because it gives lots of opportunity to showcase beautiful patterned paper.

We get started with a base of Crushed Curry cardstock. I used two different patterns from the Lovely Garden paper pack as the backdrops for the inside and outside card panels. The diamond panel is a combination of textured gold specialty paper and a sheet of foiled paper from the Nature’s Sweetness paper pack. The focal image from the Thankful Garden stamp set is stamped in black on white cardstock and then colored using the decorative masks and a combination of Shy Shamrock and Daffodil Delight inks before being diecut with the coordinating die. For a little added visual interest, I stamped, colored, and diecut the smaller flower a second time and then popped it up on the full floral stem. The stem is adhered to the diamond panel with dimensionals. The sentiment from the Enduring Beauty set is stamped in black on white cardstock and then diecut with the smaller sentiment die from the Mixed Labels set. I tucked a twist of gold thread behind the sentiment panel before adhering it at the bottom of the diamond panel with dimensionals. A few gold textured dots serve as floral centers and eye-catching sparkle in opposing corners.

Tomorrow we’ll be stopping to smell the roses. I hope you’ll plan to come by and sit a spell.

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Holidays

Love Never Gives Up

Happy Good Friday! While that may seem like a strange thing to say, given the historical significance of this day in the Christian faith, this day is indeed good when all is said and done. Today is necessary for the ultimate victory over sin and death and our full reconciliation to God in eternity. Thank goodness “Love never gives up!”

This week, we’re using the Faith Collection bundle to create designs to honor this Holy Week holiday. And today we pair the dies with several patterned paper packs, including Everyday Skies and Country Woods, and the Unbounded Love stamps. I used fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis’ easy step fun fold to create this Good Friday scene.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I used a sheet of moody skies from the Everyday Skies paper pack as the backdrop for our scene. The illusion of hills is created with Thoughtful Journey papers and both of the Grove die collections. I cut three crosses from two different woodgrain patterns from the Country Woods papers using the Faith Collection dies. For Christ’s cross in the center, I used the extension method to make this cross taller than the rest. The hills are adhered to the backdrop with differing levels of dimensionals. The two darker crosses are tucked behind the grass on either side of Christ’s cross in the center. The center cross is adhered to the center panel with dimensionals so it stands above the others. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is heat embossed in black on a lighter woodgrain sheet and then diecut with the smaller banner from the Autumn Leaves dies. A few two tone sparkle gems around the crosses draw the eye across the scene and the twist of gold thread behind the panel draws the eye down to the sentiment.

We’ll be rounding out Holy Week with a design honor Resurrection Day. I hope you’ll stop in to check it out.

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Holidays

Believing in a Brighter Tomorrow

We are midway through Holy Week. For me, this is the point where things get a little hectic as my musical obligations for this special week pick up between rehearsals and services. While it may be busy, I really do cherish this special season and am always blessed to be able to share musical settings that celebrate God’s ultimate sacrifice to reconcile us to Him for eternity.

This week’s design theme centers squarely on the Holy Week celebrations and, in particular, is focusing on the new Online Exclusive bundle by Stampin’ Up! called Faith Collection. Today we are pairing it with the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper and the Unbounded Love stamps and dies bundle in a double easel fun fold design.

I tried several different layouts with this double easel design before settling on the one you see here. In my mind’s eye, I originally saw the cross on the smaller easel in the front, but visually it just didn’t accomplish the look I was hoping for. But when I moved the cross to the back, on what is essentially the card front, it completed the illusion of walking up the hill to the lone cross. And I just love how this ultimately gives the feeling of a contemplative walk to the cross at Calvary.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock, which is cut to standard A2 size. A sheet of the Thoughtful Journey patterned paper is the backdrop for our fun fold sunset scene. A sheet of Pretty Peacock cardstock serves as the mat for the patterned papers and the second easel section. Using the Faith Journey dies, a cross is cut from an Early Espresso woodgrain patterned sheet from the Country Woods paper pack and then adhered in the center of the card front panel with dimensionals so that the base of the cross is just below the front easel fold when the card is closed. A strip of Thoughtful Journey also covers the front easel panel. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Early Espresso ink on Thoughtful Journey paper and then diecut with the decorative banner die from the Unbounded Love die set. Two greenery bunches, which to me look like palm branches, are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the Winterly Treetops dies and are then adhered with glue dots behind the sentiment panel. Linen thread is wrapped around the small easel panel before the sentiment is adhered with dimensionals. A few In Color shimmer gems on either side of the sentiment panel add a little glimmer of color to draw the eye to the center focal section.

I’ll be taking a little break tomorrow but plan to be back with a Good Friday fun fold.

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Fun Folds

Thinking of You Fun Fold

With spring making its appearance here in North Texas, it seemed appropriate to have this week’s designs hone in on a nature theme. And it also seemed like the perfect way to revisit some of my favorite sets that may soon find themselves fully retired.

We get started this week with a fun fold design that features the Simply Zinnia dies and the Bloom Impressions patterned paper. I used a simple fold-back skinny z-panel design for this card to really bring emphasis to the fun panel of diecut flowers.

We started with a base of Pretty in Pink cardstock. I’m using the standard A2 size but folding the front card panel back a little over an inch on the right side to create the slender z-panel effect. I used a sheet of the pink Bloom Impressions patterned paper from the most recent Sale-a-Bration catalog to cover the front and inside panels.

For the focal panel affixed to the slender fold-back panel, I started with a sheet of the pink Beautiful Bokeh paper and diecut it with the Textured Notes dies and then cut a nesting white panel using the next smallest die. I decided to keep the color palette of the zinnias very simple and chose to use Melon Mambo as the featured hue. I used Peach Pie as the floral centers with the surrounding disc and ray florets being Crushed Curry. The stems are cut from Mossy Meadow. The flowers and floral elements are all cut with the Simply Zinnia dies. I layered the flowers with a combination of dimensionals and glue dots to create a more realistic look. The sentiment from Everyday Greetings is stamped in black on white cardstock and cut out with paper snips and affixed with dimensionals. I added some In Color shimmer gems as floral centers and then scattered a few Sunny Days iridescent dots for a little extra pop of pink.

Tomorrow we’re going to continue our ode to nature by sticking to the garden path. I hope you’ll pop by and take a look!

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Online Exclusives · Thankful Garden

Silent Garden

This week, I’m featuring the new Online Exclusive suite called Lovely Garden. And today’s card uses a twist on a fun fold I learned from fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis called the panel Z-Fold to showcase the beautiful patterned paper and the stamp, mask, die bundle. Let’s get a closer look.

We get started with our card base, which is a quarter-panel of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Our sheet of Lovely Garden patterned paper actually serves as the bulk of the structural paper for this design. We cut it to a standard size for making a portrait orientation card (with the score line at the top), but it’s important that you cut the paper so that your design will be running in the right direction for a landscape card. So when scoring this patterned sheet, the long edge will be on the top/bottom and then you’ll score at 5 1/2-inches, 2 3/4-inches, and 1 3/8-inches. The two smaller panels will be adhered together so that both sides of the patterned paper will now show when the card is closed. I used the middle sized die from the Textured Notes set to cut an inside sentiment panel and a piece of the Graceful Greenery vellum for the card front.

After deciding on the orientation of the front panel, I lined them both up to go ahead and adhere the inside sentiment panel to the base for safe keeping. I moved on to the focal image from the Thankful Garden stamp set which is stamped in black on white cardstock. I used a combination of Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, and Peach Pie and the masks to color the flowers and then Shy Shamrock and Shaded Spruce for the stems. Using the coordinating Thankful Garden dies, I cut out the floral image. I stamped the sentiment from Wonderful Thoughts in black on the far-right side of the vellum and heat embossed with black embossing powder. Before adhering the floral bunch next to the sentiment, I made a bow of cream woven ribbon. An assortment of embellishments, including rhinestone jewels, shimmer gems, and starburst sequins, bring it all together and add some pops of sparkle.

Tomorrow we’ll be pairing this beautiful suite with a sketch. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out!

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Fun Folds · L2S Group Instahop

Up & Away Birthday

This week, we’re working with the Everyday Skies designer series paper that is currently available as a Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive. We’re pairing it up with the Hot Air Balloon bundle to make this super fun birthday fun fold. I’m using the Accordion Z-Fold by fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis.

Our card starts with a base of Azure Afternoon cardstock, which also serves as the z-fold base. I used several sheets of the blue skies sheets from the Everyday Skies paper pack to build the background. I made sure that all of my panels fit together to build the scene without any odd junctions between pieces and adhered them according to Jackie’s instructions. I cut a variety of balloons from several patterns from the Bright & Beautiful paper pack using the Hot Air Balloon dies. I outlined each balloon with a black marker to give some defined shape to each balloon. The balloon baskets are cut from several different paper scraps, including Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, and gold foil. The sentiment from the Hot Air Balloon stamp set is stamped in Night of Navy ink on white cardstock and then diecut with the banner die from the Hot Air Balloon set. The banner edges are pieces of silver foil for a little festive sparkle on the sentiment panel. The sentiment banner is adhered directly to the balloon. The balloons are all adhered to the card panel with dimensionals of varying heights and in such a way that when the card is closed they overlap so that only the small front panel scene is visible. The clouds are cut from the white spotted sheet of vellum from the Graceful Greenery vellum pack using both the Bright Skies and Hot Air Balloon dies. I used glue dots to affix the clouds in our scene. The largest cloud holds our inside sentiment which is from the Pattern of Friendship stamp set, which is set to release in the newest batch of Online Exclusives next week. This sentiment is heat embossed with white embossing powder. We finish things off with a scattering of white transparent dots.

It’s always fun to build scene cards, and this fun fold is a terrific way to combine this beautiful Everyday Skies paper with the Hot Air Balloon bundle. I love how you’ll be writing your message in the sky when leaving a note for the recipient!

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! 

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