Year of Magic

August 23, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend, everyone! I don’t know about you, but I had the Monday-ist Friday everrrrrrrr. So needless to say, by the time work was over and I was home, I had zero energy or creativity left for getting crafty. But I’m hoping to make up for it today as we close out our design series using the new SU! Lights of Aurora suite set to launch in a little over a week.

Today we’re pairing up the Lights of Aurora paper and dies to create this stunning fun fold scene. I’m calling this the Dutch Door fold because it reminds me of the divided swinging doors. What do you think?

Our card gets started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. I have to say that I think this might be my new favorite neutral background starter! I chose a sheet of blue paper from the Lights of Aurora paper pack that reminded me of the sky, which happens to look bright & blue just like this in our area today. The card front is cut into three sections to create the center section and then spanning section over the top. The Light & Wonder dies help us create the mountains and trees that span the front of the card. A small lake created with the pastel ombre paper peeks out from the glad in the middle of the trees. The sentiment from the Light & Wonder stamp set is stamped on the center panel and heat embossed in black. When the connected panel is lifted to reveal the center section of the card front, you can see that I’ve used the Light & Wonder dies to recreate a portion of the larger scene – a lot like a picture-in-picture effect. A scattering of some frosted iridescent dots finish things off with a little twinkle.

I think the Dutch Fold would work perfectly with similar die sets that create a cut that spans a longer distance. Think tree lines, mountains, or something similar. Would you like to try your hand at this fold? You can download the free PDF tutorial here.

Products used in today’s card:
Cloud Cover, Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow, Basic White cardstock
Lights of Aurora (coming in Sept), pastel ombre glimmer DSP
Light & Wonder stamps & dies (coming in Sept)
Black embossing powder
Frosted iridescent dots (coming in Sept)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · Fun Folds · Holiday Mini Catalog · Peaceful Garden

Peaceful Thoughts

August 16, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend! How is yours going so far? It’s been a busy one here just catching up on all of the things you don’t have time to deal with during the school week. But, of course, there’s always a little time for crafting too! *wink*

This week, we’ve been using the products in the SU! Peaceful Garden suite that will release in a few short weeks with all of the products in the new Holiday Mini catalog. Today we’re pairing up the paper with the With You in Mind stamp set and a cool fun fold I learned from fellow demo Patti Dolan called the Arrow Fun Fold.

We get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. One sheet of patterned paper from the Peaceful Garden pack serves as the show-stopping focal elements in this card. The sentiment from With You in Mind is stamped in Secret Sea on white cardstock. I used paper snips to cut around the sentiment. It’s adhered to the arrow portion using dimensionals. I finished things off with some Misty Moonlight silver edged ribbon, Hues of Blue flowers, and charming shimmer gems.

Would you like to give this fun fold a try? It’s really pretty simple, and you can download the PDF tutorial here.

Next week, we’re going to a stroll through another suite of products that will be releasing in September. And I can’t wait to show it to you!

Products used in today’s card:
Cloud Cover, Basic White cardstock
Peaceful Garden DSP (coming in Sept)
With You in Mind stamps
Misty Moonlight silver edged trim (coming in Sept)
Hues of Blue flowers (coming in Sept), charming shimmer faceted dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds · Holiday Mini Catalog · Tutorials

Big Hugs

August 2, 2025August 1, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, everyone, and happy Saturday! We are officially to the weekend. We’re counting down the last week of summer break over here, so there are lots of things on the to-do list to be sure the kiddo is ready for his first week of 8th grade! What about you? What will your weekend plans have you doing?

Here in the craft room, we’re wrapping up our full week of fun fold designs. And today, I’m giving you a sneak peek of a full suite of products that will be available in the Holiday Mini catalog on September 3rd. We’re using the Peaceful Garden Suite to create a 4-Panel Accordion Fold. Demos were able to purchase this suite early as part of the special Creativity Now event in June, and I’ve saved using it until we got closer to the official release date for customers.

We get started by cutting down a 12×12 piece of Night of Navy cardstock and then score it to create the accordion base. I chose the leaf and vine patterned sheet from the Peaceful Garden paper pack as my focal paper and then matted these strips with the coordinating silver glimmer paper. The sentiment panel is created using the Peace on Earth stamp & die bundle included in the Peaceful Garden suite. I finished things off with a few Hues of Blue flowers and Misty Moonlight trim from the suite, along with a few drusy embellishments.

I dressed this fun fold up a bit by adding mats for each of the patterned paper panels. When you’re using heavier glimmer paper, like the sheets from Peaceful Garden, this will add some extra weight to your card. You could simplify this by omitting the extra mats or using lighter weight glimmer paper.

How would you like to give the 4-panel accordion fold a try? You can download the free PDF tutorial here.

It’s been a lot of fun learning some new fun folds this week. And there are quite a few that will be going into my more regular rotation. Do you have a favorite from this week’s fun fold series? Tell me in the comments!

Next week, we’re going to be exploring a super fun stamp bundle called Sweet Jar that has a new coordinating holiday stamp set called Jar of Joy. I hope you’ll pop in and see all of the fun things we can do with these cute stamps & punch!

Products used in today’s card:
Night of Navy, Cloud Cover, Basic White cardstock
Peaceful Garden, Peaceful Garden glimmer DSP (coming in September!)
Peace on Earth stamp & die bundle (coming in September!)
Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon (coming in September!)
Hues of blue flowers (coming in September!), Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds · Tutorials

Trick or Treat Flap

August 1, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Friday, craft friends! We have made it to the end of the week and the weekend is fast approaching. What do you have on your weekend to-do list? We haven’t decided if this is going to be a productive weekend or not. Ever have those where you just decide to do fun stuff instead of the things on the to-do list? *wink*

This week, we’re having a good time going through my stash of “must try” fun folds. And today, we’re trying out the Flip Flap fun fold that I saw over at Stampin’ on the Back Porch. I thought it would be super fun to build an unfolding Halloween scene with the SU! Spooky Sweet paper pack. And it turned out sooooo cute, if I do say so myself! Of all the cards I’ve made recently, I dare say this one is the simplest as far as the supply list goes. And the fold itself? Also easy peasy?

We get started with a standard sized base of Basic Black cardstock. This design uses most of a full 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. Half is dedicated to the card base, while the other goes into making the two-sided flap. I chose the door scene from the scene sheet found in the Spooky Sweet paper pack. This scene panel is adhered directly to the card base. I made my flaps next so I could get the placement of the fold correct. And then I used a combination of ephemera characters and a few characters cut from a sheet of the Spooky Sweet paper to create the scenes for each layer. The fold-over flap hides the final scene on the card front. And it’s all about the layers to make these scenes come to life, which means we’re using my most favorite tool – dimensionals!

So what do you think? Is it eerily delightful? Or just plain frightful?

Love this card and wanna give it a whirl yourself? You can download the free PDF instructions here.

Product List

Basic Black 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock

[166786]

$22.00

Spooky Sweet 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166191]

$16.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$9.00

Shimmer Star Foam Stickers

[166202]

$9.50

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

birthday · Gifting · Treat Boxes

Birthday Pinch Box

June 25, 2025 susanfoxbowen2 Comments

We’re already halfway through this week. I’m not quite sure how that happened! This week, we’re making 3D designs. And today’s design is a super simple fold-over pinch treat box. There are all sorts of variations of this box out there – mostly varying in size or shape. Regardless of which one you choose to make, the box comes together in a snap! And today’s birthday box uses the Wildflower Birthday paper pack and ephemera sheet.

The box itself is made from a full sheet of Pool Party cardstock. After scoring along both the long and short edges and making some strategic cuts, you fold in the flaps to create the bottom of the bag and the top flap. A quick little pinch of the sides at the top create the closure for the fold-over flap. I use small Velcro dots to act as my bag closure because I find it the simplest and most effective method, but I know some folks have used magnets and some have chosen to have a ribbon closure. But for me, I’ll stick with the easy button! *wink-wink*

I used two coordinating sheets of the Wildflower Birthday paper to decorate the bag. I intend to use this as a little birthday giftie, so I chose the sheet with cakes on it as the focal section (both front & back of the box) and then used the decorative scalloped sheet for the bag flap portion. I tied a bow using the gold striped sheer ribbon and decided I needed a little more oom-pah-pah for the bag flap, so I pulled a few gold twigs and a small leaf from the Wildflower Birthday ephemera sheet. Together, these elements provide the perfect eye-catching addition to the bag flap.

These gift boxes come together so quickly that it would be easy to trim and score a whole stack of cardstock in no time flat! If you’d like to give this cute gift box a try, you can download the tutorial here.

Product List

Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[122924]

$14.00

Wildflower Birthday 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164591]

$16.50

Gold Striped 3/8" (1 Cm) Mesh Ribbon

[165599]

$8.00

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon · Treat Boxes

Boo Box

June 24, 2025June 23, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week’s design theme is 3D projects, and today we’re whipping up a super simple (but simply adorable) treat box using some up-and-coming Online Exclusives. The new Spooky Sweet paper pack and coordinating precut shapes are just adorable. Add a few twinkly stars and some iridescent ribbon and you have the perfect treat box for your trick-or-treaters!

Our treat box is made from Basic Black cardstock. I used two different patterns from the Spooky Sweet paper pack on the box and added a little twinkle with the glimmer paper for an extra pop on the lid. I chose some precut shapes that complimented the patterned paper and helped tell the trick-or-treating story on the lid. A few sparkly stars scattered across the lid finish things off. I found that adding a few finger notches on the sides of the lid, as well as the little tab on the front of the box really helped make the box much easier to open.

Isn’t this box the cutest?! A simple swap of paper and embellishments and you can have a cute little gift box for any occasion! Wanna try making one yourself? You can download the instructions here.

Products used in today’s project:
Basic Black cardstock
Spooky Sweet DSP & cutouts (coming July 1st)
Three color glimmer paper (retired)
Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon (coming July 1st)
Shimmer stars foam pieces (coming July 1st)
Small circle punch
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fun Folds

Pop-Up Smile

June 23, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! We’re on the downward slope for the month of June and summer is just cranking up. Thus far, we haven’t had any unusually hot days here in North Texas just yet, but the temps are definitely starting to creep up and the rain is becoming less frequent.

This week, we’re beginning a new design series — 3D projects. And today we get started with a fun fold card called a Z-fold pop-up card. This is a card design that I’ve had hanging out in my “want to make it” pile for quite a while and I thought there was no time like the present to give it a whirl! We’re combining the Lovely Garden patterned papers with the Beautiful Butterflies dies to create this fun garden scene.

As you might expect, this garden scene is full of bright, vibrant color. And we get started with a base of Melon Mambo cardstock. This is a standard A2 card base that is scored in the center as you would with any standard A2 card. To create the Z-fold pop-up base though, we add a slit and a few extra score lines to give us the dynamic portion of our design.

I chose two coordinating floral patterns from the Lovely Garden paper pack. I really like the contrast between the white and dark backgrounds. Each panel is a quarter sheet that is cut to cover each side of the card panel, including the small panels of the dynamic folding portion in the center.

Our butterflies are the real stars of the show here and the perfect opportunity to add not only beautiful pops of color, but the lovely pops of sparkle to really draw the eye in. I pulled out my collection of glimmer papers, including the pastel ombré and In Color packs, along with the (now retired) three color pack. I cut the larger butterfly background pieces in both sizes from the glimmer papers and then all of the detail pieces are cut from black cardstock. Each of the small butterflies is two-sided with a small strip of acetate window sheet in between, which is what allows them to look as tho they’re fluttering in the flower garden.

We’re keeping the sentiment panel very simple by cutting it from white cardstock using the smallest Something Fancy scalloped tag die and then cutting it to fit at the top of the front panel. The sentiment from Pattern of Friendship is stamped on the tag in Melon Mambo. And we finish things off with some iridescent faceted gems.

And here’s the Z-panel pop-up card in action. What do you think — does it look as though the butterflies are fluttering in the garden?

Wanna give a pop-up card a try? You can download the tutorial for today’s card here.

Product List

Melon Mambo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[115320]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[121045]

$14.00

Pastel Ombre Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[164851]

$12.00

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

[163771]

$11.00

Three Color Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[162813]

$10.50

Window Sheets

[142314]

$5.00

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

[165524]

$12.50

Pattern Of Friendship Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[165383]

$18.00

Something Fancy Dies

[160424]

$28.00

Beautiful Butterflies Hybrid Embossing Folder

[164614]

$42.00

Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad

[147051]

$9.00

Iridescent Faceted Gems

[163368]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

birthday · Sentiments

Birthday Cake

June 18, 2025June 16, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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!

Product List

Soft Sea Foam 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146988]

$14.00

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[131297]

$14.00

Beautiful Bokeh 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[164607]

$12.50

Pastel Ombre Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[164851]

$12.00

Wildflower Birthday 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164591]

$16.50

Textured Notes Dies

[165555]

$31.00

With You In Mind Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[164747]

$20.00

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

$9.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

2024–2026 In Color™ Shimmer Gems

[163781]

$8.50

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

Father's Day · Fun Folds

Absolute Best Dad

June 15, 2025June 14, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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!

Product List

Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[131202]

$14.00

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$14.00

Pecan Pie 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[161717]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Thoughtful Journey 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163303]

$12.50

Scenic Adventure Bundle (English)

[165468]

$49.50

More Messages Bundle (English)

[165473]

$52.00

He's The Greatest Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[165684]

$17.00

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$10.50

Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments

[164223]

$9.00

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

florals

You Mean So Much

April 22, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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.

Product List