Sunshine on the Porch

January 3, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend, friends! I’ve started out my day in the craft room but have lots more on the to-do list since it’s a beautiful, sunny day here in North Texas. What about you? What are you getting up to today?

This week, we’ve been playing with some of my new crafty goodies. And we’ve started with the new On Display stamp & die bundle. The latter part of the week, we’ve paired this bundle with the new Gliding Garden Swing bundle that will release next week. And let me tell you, these two sets go together like peas & carrots! (And I don’t even like peas & carrots! *snicker*). Today, I’m also adding a little peek at a new ribbon and a new die set. Let’s take a closer look!

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock, which works together perfectly with the current Product of the Month (leaving next week!) True Blue Florals patterned paper that gives us our background panel and grounding strip of white patterned paper. Adding to our grounding background is a circle pattern lattice from the new Lovely Arrangements die set. These pops of white provide the perfect lift from the dark background so that our scene really pops.

Speaking of our scene, we’re combining the new On Display bundle with the Gliding Garden Swing bundle to create our cozy porch scene. The swing set includes dies that allow you to create a bench rather than a swing, which is what we’ve done here using the Country Woods woodgrain paper. Our sweet kitty, stamped and cut with the On Display set, is cozied up next to the throw pillow, cut with the swing set. The little side table, cut with the swing dies, holds a little picture frame, cut with the On Display dies. We finish our scene with a few potted plants, which use both of our bundles. The sentiment from the Gliding Garden Swing set is stamped in Secret Sea on white cardstock and cut with the Stylish Shapes banner die and sits on top of a circle of Secret Sea glimmer paper cut with the Spotlight on Nature dies and a twist of the brand new gold & white ribbon. Some Secret Sea charming shimmer faceted dots finish things off with a dash of sparkle across the card front.

We’ll take some time in January to look at both of these bundles a little more closely. But next week, we’re going to be playing with some more goodies that will be available in the store on January 6th! So tune in for some more peeks at new product!

Product List

Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[100867]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165624]

$14.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$14.00

Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119684]

$14.00

Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146981]

$14.00

Granny Apple Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146990]

$14.00

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$5.00

Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163393]

$12.50

Peaceful Garden 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Paper

[165929]

$10.50

On Display Bundle (English)

[167306]

$56.50

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$30.00

Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad

[165285]

$9.00

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$9.00

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$10.50

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

[166139]

$8.50

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon

Great Friend

January 2, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Friday, everybody! What’s on your weekend to-do list? For us, a lot is going to depend on the weather. But we definitely have some outside work to do while we’re having more springlike weather. And it’s time to swap out the holiday decor, which means making some trips to & from the storage unit.

This week, I’m having fun getting some of my new crafty goodies out. We’ve been working closely with the new On Display bundle. And now we’re weaving in the Gliding Garden Swing bundle, as well. These two sets pair beautifully thanks to similar scaling with the images, which allows easy scene-building cards. Today we’re also getting a sneak peek at the new Lovely Stripes embossing folder. Both the swing bundle and embossing folder will launch in my online store on January 6th.

Today, we’re having some tea on grandma’s porch. I used my Granny’s porch as inspiration for the setup. So we get started with a base of white cardstock and emboss half of it with the new Lovely Stripes embossing folder. The focal panel starts with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock cut with the largest Textured Notes die. I used the fence die from the Notes & Totes die set to build the porch. We start with the floor, which is planks of Crumb Cake cardstock. Then we cut white cardstock planks to build the porch railing. Both the flooring and railing are adhered directly to the focal panel so they are clearly at the back of our scene. Next up, we build our swing by stamping the swing image on white cardstock with Gray Granite ink and then diecut with the coordinating die from the Gliding Garden Swing set. I also cut just the seat portion from white woodgrain paper from the Country Woods paper pack. The swing is adhered with dimensionals. We add some pillows and our comfy cat to our swing. The pillows are cut from Pretty Peacock, Lost Lagoon, and Cloud Cover cardstock using a combination of dies from the On Display and Gliding Garden Swing die sets. The center pillow uses the upside-down cookie jar from the On Display set to add some variety to our pillow collection. Our kitty is stamped in Gray Granite and Crumb Cake and cut with the coordinating On Display die. These are all adhered onto our swing using a variety of heights of dimensionals to give lots of depth here. Our little garden table is cut from silver foil and we add a pitcher and glass of tea on top which are cut from vellum to give a more realistic see-through look. And no porch is complete without some potted plants. The pots are cut from Cajun Craze using the swing dies and then filled with foliage cut using a combination of the leaf bunches and purple flowers from the swing die set and the large-leaf plant from On Display. I used the smallest rectangle from the Textured Notes dies to cut the sentiment panel and stamped the sentiment from the Words of Beauty set in Blackberry Bliss ink. I used a leftover flower to the end to tie things together. And we finish things off with a dab of shimmer with the frosted iridescent gems.

Do you want to sit a spell on this porch and enjoy a nice cup of sweet tea? I know I sure do! Brings back fond memories, for sure! We’re going to be wrapping things up tomorrow in our little On Display-Gliding Garden Swing mini series. I hope you’ll drop by and see what images appear together next.

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165621]

$14.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$14.00

Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119684]

$14.00

Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146981]

$14.00

Garden Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[102584]

$14.00

Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133675]

$14.00

Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165624]

$14.00

Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133679]

$14.00

Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[150880]

$14.00

Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[167099]

$10.00

Silver 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Foil Sheets

[163387]

$5.00

Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163393]

$12.50

Textured Notes Dies

[165555]

$31.00

On Display Bundle (English)

[167306]

$56.50

Words Of Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167083]

$20.00

Notes & Totes Dies

[165240]

$39.00

Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Pad

[147118]

$9.00

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[147116]

$9.00

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

[147092]

$9.00

Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad

[147088]

$9.00

Frosted Iridescent Dots

[165766]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon · On Display

Swinging Smiles

January 1, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy New Year, everyone! Did you stay up until midnight? These days, I don’t ever make it to the new year in my own time zone, but I always make it for Europe. *snicker* We enjoyed a day full of family fun yesterday and I was just plain tired. But it was a great day and the perfect way to finish off the year. We’ve done much the same today, so I would call that winning as far as a fresh start!

This week, we’re playing around with some new crafty goodies that arrived in my studio over the last couple of weeks that I hadn’t had time (or felt well enough) to play with. We’ve been taking a close look at the new On Display stamp & die set and today I’m starting a little mini series to show you how well this bundle pairs with the *brand new* Gliding Garden Swing stamp & die bundle. In fact, today’s card gives you a sneak peek at the new swing set, some new ribbon, and another new stamp set! All of these goodies will drop on January 6th!

When all was said and done, I decided to make this a monochromatic backdrop rather than mixing in some patterned paper because, quite frankly, I didn’t find a small enough pattern that I liked well enough to pair up with the focal panel. That is, until I remembered the gorgeous new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder had just the pattern I had pictured and realized I could just make my own patterned paper by embossing!

So we get started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock and emboss just the card front with the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. To help the pattern pop a bit more, I went over it lightly with a blending brush and Cloud Cover ink to give the pattern a bit more definition. The focal panel background is also Cloud Cover cardstock and we start building our scene right on top. The tree trunk is cut from Country Woods woodgrain using the new Gliding Garden Swing dies and adhered to the focal panel with a glue pen. I cut it to size by removing the overlapping portions with my paper snips. The leaves are stamped in Garden Green on Garden Green cardstock and then cut with the coordinating Gliding Garden Swing die. I cut apart the larger foliage piece to allow layering that looked more realistic. Dimensionals are just the ticket to give good depth of scene. The bits of branches are filled in with a Light Crumb Cake Stampin’ Blend. The swing is stamped on Crumb Cake cardstock with Gray Granite ink and then filled in with a Light Crumb Cake blend. I also cut the coordinating swing from Country Woods and used the coordinating die for the swing seat for a more realistic look. The seat is adhered with a glue pen directly to the diecut swing. The pillows are cut from Peaceful Garden and adhered to the swing seat with dimensionals. The sweet grey kitty is stamped in Smoky Slate on Smoky Slate cardstock and then cut with the coordinating On Display die. The sentiment from the new Lovely Arrangements stamp set is stamped on vellum that has been cut with the Stylish Shapes banner die and adhered with glue dots so it looks like it’s just floating at the top of our scene. Our focal panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals and then we tie a beautiful twist of brand new Cloud Cover linen ribbon right over the far-left side. We finish off with a touch of sparkle using the Cloud Cover flat pearls.

Today’s card keeps the pairing uber simple with just a single image from On Display, but I’ll show you tomorrow how you can really put both sets together to build beautiful scenes. Because tomorrow we’re going to have some tea on Granny’s porch! I hope you’ll drop in and sit a spell.

Product List

Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165621]

$14.00

Garden Green 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[102584]

$14.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$14.00