Tag: Holidays

Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Wonderful Time

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It is most definitely the most wonderful time of the year. Wanna know why? Two things: (1) it’s starting to feel like fall, which is my most favorite season; AND (2) it’s time for the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini Catalog!!! Have you checked out all the new goodies in the shop today? What’s on your shopping list? I’ve already shopped twice and still have a few more things I’m on the fence about.

This week, we’re creating very clean & simple holiday cards using the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack, Greetings for You ephemera pack, and the Christmas Tags & More 6×6 designer series paper pack with coordinating ephemera sheets. Today’s card is maybe just about the simplest design of the whole week. You can literally turn out 6 cards just. like. that.

Today’s card starts with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I selected the most wonderful time of year card from the Joyful Days pack and cut off just enough so it fits horizontally on the card front. Before adhering with dimensionals, I wrapped the decorative card with some (sadly retired) Cherry Cobbler & Gold satin ribbon tied with a nice, big bow. I finished it all off with a scattering of Pool Party sequins from the Traditional Sparkling sequins pack. Easy peasy!

Tomorrow we’re going to be creating a holiday card that has long legs. You’ll have to drop by to see what I mean. *wink*

Product List
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Joyful Days Memories & More Card Pack [ 165822 ]
[165822]
$11.50
Traditional Sparkling Sequins [ 165875 ]
[165875]
$8.00
Cherry Cobbler & Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Satin Ribbon [ 164028 ]
[164028]
$8.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Coming Soon · Holiday Mini Catalog

Merry & Bright Plaid

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I don’t know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with holiday weeks. We all love a short work week, but it always feels to me like I’m just squeezing in a lot more work into a shorter time period. That was definitely the case today anyway!

And I’ve been SO off on my days as of late that I was thinking today was the new product release day when it’s actually tomorrow….womp-womp! But it doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for you to see all of the new stuff. I’m just sad you have to wait one more day.

Anywho, this week we’re getting another peek at some of the cute holiday products that will be available tomorrow. Our design focus this week is clean and simple holiday cards using the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack, the Greetings for You ephemera, and the Christmas Tags & More patterned paper pack with ephemera sheets included. So much good stuff! Today we’re mixing in an embossing folder.

Today’s card starts with a base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. I had a leftover strip of light brown patterned cardstock from one of the sheets in the Christmas Tags & More pack which served as the jumping-off spot for the color palette and design for the rest of the card. I paired it up with a piece of Pecan Pie machine embossed with the Birch Wood embossing folder to create the backdrop for the focal panel. The focal panel backdrop is a combination of one of the smaller cards of plaid from the Joyful Days card pack and a plaid tag from the sheet of tags in the Christmas Tags & More pack. I chose the Merry & Bright circle sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and matted it with a banner of gold foil specialty paper and adhered it to the focal panel with several layers of dimensionals to be sure it really catches the eye. I finished things off with some gold sparkly sequins from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins pack so your eye catches some sparkles all the way across the card front.

I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to see another clean & simple holiday card design.

Products used in today’s card:
Cherry Cobbler, Pecan Pie cardstock
Gold foil, Christmas Tags & More DSP
Greetings for You ephemera
Joyful Days Memories & More card pack
Birch Wood embossing folder
Traditional sparkling sequins
Dimensionals

Christmas · Holidays

Merry Stockings

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Happy December, everyone. I don’t know about you, but I’m over here wondering how I ended up in a time warp! Every year, I feel like the fall months just whiz by and we end up at Christmas in the blink of an eye!

The last quarter of my year has definitely felt like it’s on fast forward after returning to work. I just can’t seem to find a good rhythm to keep all of the balls in the air. Each week, something has to give, it seems. So for those who have been following along for a while and for those who are new here, I’m still working on finding a good balance in order to find time in the craft room.

I was fortunate to have a few days at home over the Thanksgiving holiday and could carve out a little crafty time. I’m still working on Christmas cards and it’s going to be a race to the finish to get enough made to get them all out before Christmas! Today’s card uses the Joyful Ephemera packs to create a super simple and very festive holiday card.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. The focal panel is machine embossed using the Cute Crochet embossing folder that is then matted with some red Festive Glimmer paper. The mantle is a strip of the Take a Bow patterned paper pack that is mounted with dimensionals. The stockings and bows are from the Joyful Images ephemera pack and the banner sentiment is from the Joyful Sayings ephemera. A few iridescent discs finish things off with a twinkle and help the eye pass across the design.

I’ll be bringing you some more holiday designs as the week moves along. Thanks for dropping in!

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Festive 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Paper
[164106]
$12.00
Take A Bow 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164309]
$12.50
Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack
[164110]
$9.50
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Cute Crochet 3 D Embossing Folder
[163792]
$10.00
Iridescent Adhesive Backed Discs
[161954]
$7.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holidays · Winter

Sketchy Fridays: Snowy Wonder and Happiness

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I really, really love this week’s theme, which is one of the reasons that I wanted to spend today showing you the designs I had planned for you throughout the last week. One of the most valuable things I have learned over the last several years is that flexibility is key when things don’t work out exactly as you planned.

So this post is the ode to Sketchy Fridays. Each week we’re using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found in current Stampin’ Up! catalogs.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #13 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog and features the Peaceful Evergreens and In the Grove Dies, along with the ever-lovely Snowflake Sky embossing folder. Today’s card design is inspired by the very talented demo known on Instagram as Craftsomnia.

This week’s design theme is stopping by the woods on a snowy evening. This Robert Frost poem is all about taking the time to bask in the wonder of falling snow, and I can’t help but think how well the idea of stopping to take in the wonder and joy everyday moments of life has to be one of the best life lessons. And outside of this wonderful life lesson, the theme lends itself so well to a variety of lovely winter cards, don’t you think?

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock. Our backdrop is a panel of Night of Navy that is machine embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder and then lightly brushed with white craft ink to really bring out the beautiful soft snowflakes. Our snowbank is a simple piece of white cardstock that is torn to create the soft edges of a snowy hill. The Mossy Meadow trees are diecut with a combination of the In the Grove and Peaceful Evergreen dies. A touch of craft ink to the edges of the treeline and a bit of white glimmer paper on the larger evergreens in the foreground make for the perfect dusted evergreen grove. The sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set is stamped in Night of Navy in the center of a white banner cut with the Radiating Stitches die and then finished in the snowbank. Dimensionals help give lots of depth to our scene, and the silver trim and iridescent faceted gems lend the sparkle.

This design is even more stunning in person as the lighting in my craft room just wasn’t quite right today to capture the true colors and details. I hope you’ll drop in a little later as I bring you one final clean & simple design in this series.

Product List
Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[146982]
$11.50
Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[100867]
$11.50
Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[133676]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Berry Burst, Old Olive & White 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Specialty Paper
[163769]
$6.00
Snowflake Sky 3 D Embossing Folder
[162026]
$11.00
In The Grove Dies
[163511]
$31.00
Peaceful Evergreens Dies
[164024]
$40.00
Radiating Stitches Dies
[161595]
$30.00
Peaceful Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164145]
$24.00
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad
[147110]
$9.00
Whisper White Craft Stampin' Ink Refill
[101780]
$7.00
Iridescent Faceted Gems
[163368]
$8.50
Gold & Silver 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Trim Combo Pack
[161633]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Holidays · Winter

Bright & Beautiful Season

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re taking a trek in the woods this week, and as much as I love all things autumn, I thought it would be nice to show how a few simple tweaks can yield beautiful winter designs. Today’s card is another clean and simple design, and we’re highlighting the Stampin’ Up! In the Grove dies and the Snowflake Sky embossing folder.

We get started with a card base of Smoky Slate cardstock. A piece of Graceful Greenery vellum serves as a soft base for our focal panel and is diecut using the Deckled Rectangles dies. Our focal panel combines a white background embossed with the Snowflake Sky embossing folder and the trees diecut from the grey woodgrain in the Country Woods patterned paper pack using the In the Grove die. The sentiment from the Peaceful Season stamp set is stamped in Smoky Slate on white cardstock and then diecut using the Radiating Stitches circle die and then matted with a silver foil circle diecut with the Everyday Details dies. A scattering of snowflakes and iridescent faceted gems give the snowy background the perfect amount of twinkle.

Tomorrow we’re going to be pairing our woodsy theme with a sketch from a SU! catalog. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out.

Product List
Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[131202]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[163393]
$12.50
Graceful Greenery Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164118]
$10.00
Silver Foil Sheets
[132178]
$5.00
Peaceful Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164145]
$24.00
Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad
[147113]
$9.00
Snowflake Sky 3 D Embossing Folder
[162026]
$11.00
In The Grove Dies
[163511]
$31.00
Deckled Rectangles Dies
[159173]
$30.00
Everyday Details Dies
[162864]
$34.00
Radiating Stitches Dies
[161595]
$30.00
Adhesive Backed Snowflake Assortment
[162129]
$8.00
Iridescent Faceted Gems
[163368]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Fine-Tip Glue Pen
[138309]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Bells & Boughs

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This week, we’re exploring some of the ways we can use the Stampin’ Up! Season of Green & Gold suite of products. Today, we’re using it in a more traditional holiday-inspired layout.

Our design gets started with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Our focal panel uses two patterns from the Season of Green & Gold designer series paper pack. I just love the gold-foiled patterns, and here we’re using the mistletoe and diamond patterns to create the backdrop for our focal section. The sentiment from Greetings of the Season is stamped in Shaded Spruce on Very Vanilla cardstock and then diecut with the Autumn Leaves die using the extension method. The greenery and bells are cut from a sheet of the Season of Green & Gold patterned paper and then adhered with several layers of dimensionals. The bells are adhered over a satin bow tied with the Very Vanilla satin ribbon. A mixture of drusy embellishments add sparkle and draw the eye across the card design.

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see how we can use this suite to create a fall-inspired design.

Products used in this card:
Shaded Spruce, Very Vanilla cardstock
Season of Green & Gold DSP
Greetings of the Season stamps
Autumn Leaves dies
Very Vanilla satin ribbon
Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[146981]
$11.50
Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[101650]
$13.00
Season Of Green & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164324]
$16.50
Greetings Of The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164325]
$25.00
Autumn Leaves Dies
[162185]
$38.00
Very Vanilla 3/4" (1.9 Cm) Satin Ribbon
[164120]
$10.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments
[164223]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Happy Holidays Greenery

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

How excited was I to wake up to a rainy cold front this morning?! While it’s not exactly fall cool yet, we’re definitely headed in the right direction.

Today, we’re continuing a closer look at the Stampin’ Up! Season of Green & Gold suite of products. This suite includes beautiful gold-foiled patterned papers, coordinating vellum, stamps & dies, and lovely satin ribbon. Today’s card is another take on a traditional holiday design.

We started with a base of Basic Beige cardstock. Our background panel is a greenery pattern from the Season of Green & Gold designer series paper pack. Our focal panel background in the center is a strip of Basic Beige that is embossed using the Cute Crochet embossing folder and then matted with the backside foiled pattern of the background panel sheet. The sentiment panel is cut from Basic Beige using the Greetings of the Season dies. The sentiment from Greetings of the Season is stamped in Mossy Meadow toward the bottom of the tag. Using some of the leftover sprigs of greenery that I cut for yesterday’s card design, I affixed them to the sentiment panel to overlap the top of the tag and then tied a bow of Very Vanilla satin ribbon and affixed it in the center. A few drusy embellishments on either side of the sentiment help draw the eye and add a bit of finishing sparkle.

Tomorrow we’re going to round out our winter holiday designs before transitioning to a few out-of-the-box designs. I hope you’ll pop in.

Products used in today’s card:
Basic Beige cardstock
Season of Green & Gold DSP
Cute Crochet embossing folder
Golden Greenery dies
Greetings of the Season stamps &dies
Very Vanilla satin ribbon
Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Basic Beige 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[164511]
$11.50
Season Of Green & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164324]
$16.50
Cute Crochet 3 D Embossing Folder
[163792]
$10.00
Golden Greenery Dies
[164116]
$39.00
Greetings Of The Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164325]
$25.00
Greetings Of The Season Dies
[164112]
$32.00
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad
[147111]
$9.00
Very Vanilla 3/4" (1.9 Cm) Satin Ribbon
[164120]
$10.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments
[164223]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Bright & Beautiful Greenery

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to a brand new week and the start of FALL! Have I mentioned that fall is my absolute favorite season? Unfortunately, Texas isn’t being very cooperative with me right now, and it doesn’t feel a bit like fall. Not one bit!! In fact, it’s still feeling like we’ve been thrown into the deep end of the frying pan. But we’re only a couple of good cold fronts away from fall officially being here to stay! *wink-wink*

This week, we’re going to be spending time with the Season of Green & Gold suite of products by Stampin’ Up! And we’re going to mix it up with some obvious holiday designs and some out-of-the-box fall designs. Today’s card is solidly in the holiday mood.

We get started with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Our focal panel is a sheet of white cardstock that has been diecut using the Dotted Circles embossing folder and then the panel is matted with gold mercury vellum. Using the Golden Greenery dies, we cut a variety of greenery from the Season of Green & Gold patterned paper with coordinating shapes. These are then layered on the focal panel using dimensionals to create several different visual planes. Our sentiment from Peaceful Season is stamped white cardstock in Versamark and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder. We cut it out with the smallest circle from the Everyday Details die set. This is then mounted on a circle of white glimmer paper cut using the Spotlight on Nature dies and adhered over a twist of Cherry Cobbler & Gold satin ribbon in the center of our greenery. A few iridescent faceted gems finish things off with a nice sparkle.

Tune in tomorrow as we keep things in the holiday zone.

Products used in today’s card:
Shaded Spruce, Basic White cardstock
White glimmer, gold mercury vellum, Season of Green & Gold DSP
Dotted Circles embossing folder
Golden Greenery, Spotlight on Nature, Everyday Details dies
Peaceful Season stamps
Versamark
Gold embossing powder
Cherry Cobbler & gold satin ribbon
Iridescent faceted gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[146981]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Gold Mercury Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164142]
$10.00
Berry Burst, Old Olive & White 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Specialty Paper
[163769]
$6.00
Season Of Green & Gold 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164324]
$16.50
Dotted Circles 3 D Embossing Folder
[163789]
$12.00
Golden Greenery Dies
[164116]
$39.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
Everyday Details Dies
[162864]
$34.00
Peaceful Season Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164145]
$24.00
Versamark Pad
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder
[165678]
$21.00
Cherry Cobbler & Gold 1/2'' (1.3 Cm) Metallic Ribbon
[156312]
$8.00
Iridescent Faceted Gems
[163368]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Tear & Tape Adhesive
[154031]
$7.00
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holiday Mini Catalog · Holidays

Peace & Wonder

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s hard to believe that we’re already to the end of another card series. I don’t know about you, but it seems like the closer we get to the end of a year the faster the time goes!

This week, we’ve been using the Joyful ephemera packs from Stampin’ Up! to create simple yet beautiful card designs. If you find yourself short on time, the full line of ephemera packs that SU! offers allow you to continue making beautiful cards. With or without any extras, ephemera cards are just as stunning.

Today, we’re mixing things up with a whole combination of elements from the crafting stash. I have a box of pre-cut card bases and typically have at least one or two pre-cut focal panel bases on hand, as well. And both were go-to items for creating this lovely card in a jiffy.

We get started with a base of Pretty Peacock cardstock. Our focal panel base is a sheet of the Season of Elegance designer series paper. I cut a circle from white glimmer paper using the Spotlight on Nature dies that is just a bit larger than the snowy cabin circle image from the Joyful Images ephemera pack. These are adhered with dimensionals over a twist of the Pretty Peacock & Gold metallic ribbon. The sentiment from Joyful Sayings is also adhered with dimensionals and just a bit higher than our image panel. Things are finished off with a few gold snowflakes with rhinestone centers for a bit of added twinkle.

Are you interested in learning how you can get started on your Christmas cards? Check out my upcoming card classes for both virtual and in-person options!

Next week, we’ll be using Season of Green & Gold to create our cards. I hope you’ll stop by and check it all out.

Products used in today’s card:
Pretty Peacock cardstock
Season of Elegance, white glimmer DSP
Spotlight on Nature dies
Joyful ephemera
Snowflake assortment, rhinestone jewels
Pretty Peacock & gold metallic ribbon
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[150880]
$11.50
Season Of Elegance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164144]
$16.50
Berry Burst, Old Olive & White 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Specialty Paper
[163769]
$6.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack
[164110]
$9.50
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Pretty Peacock & Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Metallic Ribbon
[162588]
$8.50
Adhesive Backed Snowflake Assortment
[162129]
$8.00
Rhinestone Basic Jewels
[144220]
$6.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Tear & Tape Adhesive
[154031]
$7.00
Add All to Cart
Christmas · Holiday Mini Catalog · Sketchy Fridays

Sketchy Fridays: Holiday Joy

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Do you ever have weeks where you aren’t sure which end is up much less what day it is? I’ve been confused about what day of the week it is all week and it’s NOT even a holiday week! Perhaps it’s a phase of the moon or something.

Today is another installment of Sketchy Fridays, where each week we’ll be using a card sketch to design our featured card. Right now, we’re working through a full series of designs using the card sketches found in current Stampin’ Up! catalogs.

This week’s card is based on Sketch #13 in the Holiday Mini catalog and features the Joyful ephemera packs and the fun Take a Bow designer series paper in the new Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini catalog.

I know I probably say this often enough that you’re beginning to think that I’m a broken record, but what I love about using sketches to build a card design is that it’s merely a starting point. There aren’t any rules that say your card HAS to look exactly like the sketch that inspired it. Today, you’ll notice that I’ve taken some liberties with the sketch. Rather than using actual rectangles in the design, they’re a representation of the images from the Joyful Images ephemera pack. Can you see it?

We get started on this card design with a base of white cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of the red polka dot Take a Bow patterned paper with a strip of the green star pattern from the same pack. In each of the places represented by rectangles in the sketch, I’ve put images from the Joyful Images ephemera pack, building a cute scene of a cup of cocoa surrounded by snacks you might enjoy with it. There’s a twist of the peppermint baker’s twine tied behind the images for a little visual interest. The sentiment down below is mounted on a banner from the Images pack while the word Joy is from the Joyful Sayings ephemera. A few adhesive peppermints and some drusy embellishments help the eye move across our design and add some pops of fun color and sparkle.

Tomorrow we’ll be rounding out this week’s series with a trip to grandma’s house. I hope you’ll come along!

Products used in today’s card:
Basic White cardstock
Take a Bow DSP
Joyful ephemera packs
Real Red & White twine
Real Red & White peppermints
Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Take A Bow 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164309]
$12.50
Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack
[164110]
$9.50
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Real Red & White Baker's Twine
[164051]
$5.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments
[164223]
$9.00
Real Red & White Adhesive Backed Peppermints
[164050]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart