Fun Folds · January Mini Catalog

Grateful Forever

Welcome in, crafty friends, on this frigid Saturday! We had a brief warm-up yesterday with temps well above freezing and today we’re back down in the low 20s. We’re thankful for the brief period of time we had to thaw out from all of the ice and snow Winter Storm Fern left us. And we’re praying for all of those in the areas that are still in the midst of the freeze and are without power and basic utilities. Having been there during Winter Storm Uri back in 2021, we personally know all too well what that is like!

We’re continuing our design series using the new Days Like This Memories & More card pack from Stampin’ Up! I love having at least one set of Memories & More cards on hand for those times when I need to make a quick card for a specific occasion. Today we’re using the Beautiful Butterflies dies and Lovely & Beautiful paper to make a fun fold card. Our Memories & More cards are perfect for the finishing touches on the inside of our card. Let’s see how this one comes together.

We get started with a base of Lemon Lolly cardstock on a standard A2 card base. We’re using a sheet of the Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper as the backdrop for our card front. The front panel focal panel is a fold-over panel of Lemon Lolly shimmer paper cut using the Beautiful Butterflies dies. This fold-over panel is cut just large enough to give us our butterfly shape for the front with about a half-inch strip to adhere to the inside panel of our card. Our butterfly details are made from vellum and black cardstock cut with the Beautiful Butterflies dies. The vellum is colored with the black Stampin’ Blend and then a layer of Wink of Stella is added to both pieces for some nice subtle twinkle. The detail pieces are adhered to the butterfly panel with glue dots. The front-facing part of our sentiment is the word grateful from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack and is adhered at the base of the fold-over butterfly panel with several layers of dimensionals. I added some clear opal rounds on either side of the butterfly panel to draw the eye in to our front focal section.

When you lift the butterfly panel, lots of extra detail is revealed, including the second portion of our sentiment. I used the hybrid embossing folder to cut a detail butterfly from the Lemon Lolly glimmer paper and adhered it to the back of the fold-over panel. I love this hidden detail and it makes the butterfly more realistic because there’s a front and back view to their wings, after all. I cut a smaller butterfly from the hybrid embossing folder panel and used gold foil to add the details to coordinate with the gold foil forever sentiment from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack. A small bow tied from the black & gold baker’s twine ties the two sentiment panels together.

We open our card to reveal our sentiment panel — complete with additional butterfly detailing. Here we’re using our Memories & More cards to add the finishing touches to the inside of our card. A larger 4×6 card from the pack serves as the patterned panel for the left-hand side of the message panel. I had a scrap of one of the smaller 3×4 butterfly cards left in my stash, and I cut out one of the butterflies to add to the corner of the patterned sheet. We use half of the more subtle butterfly-patterned 3×4 card to decorate the message panel. A few Peach Pie pearls finish off the opposing corners of the inside panels.

I love how each of the panels of this card reveals a fun surprise. And while it looks like a super complicated design, it really comes together quickly thanks to beautiful paper and Memories & More cards. I have a super quick & easy bonus card to bring you this evening once I knock out today’s around-the-house to-do list. I hope you’ll drop back by to check it out.

Product List
January Mini Catalog · L2S Group Instahop

Smiles and Laughter

Howdy, everyone! Anybody know what day it is? I say that because the kiddos are once again out of school today due to the weather and we have all completely lost track of what day it is! Good news tho — temps have hovered just above freezing overnight so we’re expecting all of our slick roadways to completely thaw today so the kiddos can return to school tomorrow. Fingers crossed anyway!

This week we’re having fun with the new Days Like This Memories & More card pack that just released in the Stampin’ Up! January Mini catalog. Today we’re pairing it up with the new Lovely & Beautiful paper and Beautiful Butterflies dies to finish off the message panel of our card. Let’s see how it all comes together.

We get started with a base of Pool Party cardstock. Our card front begins with the larger floral pattern foil sheet from the Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper pack. The sentiment from the Lovely Arrangements stamp set is stamped in a combination of Versamark and Pretty Peacock and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. We use the smaller banner die from the Stylish Shapes die set to cut out the sentiment using the extension method to get the full sentiment and a little border. The sentiment panel is adhered over a faux bow of black & gold bakers twine using dimensionals. Now we work on our sparkly butterflies. The detail portion of each set of butterfly wings is cut from Pool Party shimmer paper using the Beautiful Butterflies dies. The larger wings are cut from vellum that is covered with Wink of Stella. Each butterfly body is cut from black cardstock that is covered with Wink of Stella. We assemble our butterflies with glue dots and then adhere them to our card front on either side of the sentiment panel using varying layers of dimensionals. And just look at how those butterflies sparkle thanks to our shimmer paper and Wink of Stella! We finish off our card front with some of the white opal rounds.

Our message panel is where our Days Like This cards come to our aid. We use one of the larger 4×6 panels as the base layer and the grid pattern is perfect for writing a nice straight message. I used a leftover scrap of the reverse side of the large base panel as the detail piece on the left-hand side. We tie together our butterfly theme between front and inside panels by adding a touch of Wink of Stella to the small butterfly in our side accent panel. The inside sentiment is diecut from one of the smaller 3×4 cards in the Days Like This pack using the Nested Essentials banner dies. We finish off our inside message panel with a few yellow opal rounds.

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! 

Product List
Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

You Can Do Anything

Happy Saturday, crafty friends! It’s a cold and icy day here in North Texas, just as the weathermen predicted. The kiddo has had fun sliding down the steep driveway, and I’ve puttered around sweeping off the porch and setting up makeshift shelters for the cat food bowls and temporary potty box so our (very spoiled) outside cats don’t have to leave the back porch. Hubby made us all a big breakfast and we’ve been enjoying loafing around since, which leaves me time to play in the craft room!

I got a brand new box of goodies earlier this week that I’ve been dying to take out and make some projects. Today, I decided to make another project with the new Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper pack and Fabulous Sentiments Product of the Month stamp set. I flipped through my trusty fun fold template book put together by fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis over at Klompen Stampers to source the card layout.

So this design gets started with a quarter panel of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I love the contrast that this small panel provides and the stability it lends to the overall card design. Our folding panel is a sheet of Fresh Freesia that is scored to give us a tick-smaller standard quarter panel in the center section. The top and bottom flaps of our folded section then open to reveal the inside message panel of our card. I chose a sheet of the smaller foiled floral pattern paper from the Lovely & Beautiful paper pack as the patterned sheet for the card front panels. The top fold is just slightly larger than the bottom so that it overlaps slightly, and so we build our overhanging focal panel on the top panel. Our focal section gets started with a scrap of Blackberry Bliss cut with the Nested Essentials die. The sentiment from the January Product of the Month Fabulous Sayings stamp set is stamped in Fresh Freesia on white cardstock and then cut with paper snips. The sentiment is adhered over a bow of white & gold ribbon with dimensionals onto the Blackberry Bliss panel. This panel is adhered to the bottom of the top flap with dimensionals. A flower and leaves from the Covered in Flowers accents serve as our floral accents, and they’re colored with small blending brushes using Fresh Freesia and Mossy Meadow before being covered with Wink of Stella. They’re tucked behind the sentiment and adhered with a combination of dimensionals and glue dots. I added a gold drusy embellishment as the flower center to coordinate with the foiled paper and added a group of In Color pearls on the sentiment panel for a pop of twinkly color contrast to draw the eye to the sentiment.

I’m planning to bring you some more designs this weekend. I hope you’ll drop back by and see what I have in store for you!

Product List
Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

On My Mind, Lovely

Howdy, friends! It has beeeeeeeeen a week! You might remember that I mentioned my office was moving over the weekend last weekend. Needless to say, this week has been crazy busy as we’ve unpacked and put things back together so we could actually function. Despite the move, the work kept coming and we had to make the best of it. I was pooped by the time I got home, but the work didn’t stop at home either.

We’re expecting a major winter storm with temps around 0-degrees F this weekend and my evenings have been taken up preparing things inside and out. I’ve been getting all of the heated huts ready for our outside kitties, wrapping pipes, and covering plants, as well as thinking of all of the things we needed to have on hand in the event of power outages from the ice. Although we’re no stranger to winter precip here in North Texas, we’re not necessarily adequately equipped for it because we’re accustomed to it just blowing in and out in a day or two instead of sticking around for extended periods.

But I’ve been itching to get in the craft room to play with a few more new goodies that arrived this week. And with that winter storm set to keep us in for the foreseeable future, it looks like I’ll have my opportunity and I’ll be able to bring you some fresh ideas. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty stoked about this winter storm. *snicker*

I just couldn’t resist the new Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper pack. It’s the perfect combination of florals and foiled patterns. And I paired it up with the new January Product of the Month (POTM) — the Fabulous Sayings stamp set. A simple layout with gorgeous paper made for a quick and stunning result.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. Our backdrop is a sheet of the gorgeous Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper matted with a panel of Fresh Freesia. Some Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon is wrapped around the bottom before the panel is adhered to the card front. The sentiment from the Product of the Month Fabulous Sayings stamp set is stamped in Petunia Pop on white cardstock. I used my paper snips to cut around the sentiment for a little visual interest. A circle of the Pleasant Patterns paper is diecut with the Stylish Shapes circle and adhered to the card front over the strip of ribbon. The sentiment is adhered to the circle over a faux bow of Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon with dimensionals. A few In Color flat pearls on either side of the sentiment add a sheen of extra color to draw the eye to the sentiment.

Isn’t this paper gorgeous?! I can’t wait to use the other sheets in the pack. And the new POTM set deserves some more love too! Tune in tomorrow to see what’s up next.

Product List