Tag: paper crafts

Fall · Fun Folds

Love Spending Time With You

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Do you love learning new things? I’m learning new fun folds to add interest to my card designs, and I really love this one that I learned from fellow demonstrator Jacki Bolhuis with Klompen Stampers. She calls it the Split Front Fold, but I like to think of it as the Cut and Twist because you cut out the center of the front panel and twist it up to make it a focal panel. What I really love about this fun fold is that you can get stellar results whether you dress up the front focal panel or leave it as a stand-alone, like I did here. So many possibilities!

For this card, we begin with a base of Early Espresso and a single sheet of the leaf pattern from the All About Autumn designer paper pack. The base is is a standard size but scored at the top rather than on the side. To achieve the cut and flip, with the long edge up, you cut 1 1/2-inches from one side and then make a second cut of 2 1/2-inches. This leaves a 1 1/2-inch strip just beyond the center fold, along with the two pieces that were cut. The larger piece gets twisted up vertically to serve as the focal panel on the card front and also holds the smaller pieces of the card front together. I chose the leaf pattern of All About Autumn to serve as the star of the vertical focal panel. The foiled pattern on the back side of the leaf sheet serves as the two decorative strips at the top and bottom. A little twist of linen thread gives a little punch to the focal panel. To allow the beautiful patterned paper to really shine, the sentiment is stamped on the card base so that it shows through the peek-through window in the card front.

What do you think of this new Cut and Twist method? I’m excited to try some other designer papers with this unique fun fold!

Products used:
Early Espresso cardstock
All About Autumn DSP
Linen thread
Adhesives

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Fun Folds

Joy to my Heart

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Sometimes I find myself a little stumped with design ideas for beautiful designer papers because the thought of cutting them up gives me pause. But I’ve learned that there are a whole host of fun folds that afford an inspired design while sparing gorgeous designer papers.

I recently ran across a small modification to the Z-fold that gives even more space for designer paper. As you look at the closed card, you may be thinking that the design looks oddly familiar. That’s because this fun fold is a combination of both a Z-fold and peek-through, but rather than cutting the one-inch strip from the card front, the card front is scored at the one-inch mark. Then this small flap is folded back toward the card front.

This card design begins with a base of Crushed Curry card stock. It is cut to a standard size of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inches with the 1-inch panel scored and folded back on the front panel. Two sheets of a single pattern of Meandering Meadow designer paper are needed for this design — one for the card front and flap and the other for the inside panel and inside base. I chose the beautiful fields of yellow daisies for this card because it perfectly represents the cheerful sentiment. The smaller strips of patterned paper are the reverse side of the sunny daisy paper. The focal sentiment panel is comprised of a vellum banner diecut using the Nested Essentials dies and a smaller sentiment panel diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock using the Autumn Leaves dies. The sentiment is from the So Sincere stamp set. To add a pop of additional color to the sentiment, a few sprigs of greenery cut from Pretty Peacock using the Bold Bouquet dies is tucked in the center. A scattering of sparkle gems add visual interest and move the eye across the design.

I really love this new fun fold variation and am looking forward to putting it to use with a few of my other favorite designer papers. What do you think of this fun fold variation? Interested in giving it a try? Check out the PDF tutorial here.

Products used:
Crushed Curry, Crumb Cake, Pretty Peacock, vellum cardstock
Meandering Meadow DSP
So Sincere stamps
Nested Essentials, Bold Bouquet, Autumn Leaves dies
Tinsel gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Fall · Fun Folds

Because You’re You

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For today’s card design, I challenged myself to use paper scraps for as many elements as I could. I had accumulated a number of scraps of All About Autumn after completing projects for a team event. So those scraps set the color palette for this card design.

We begin with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. A 1-inch peek-through panel is cut in the card front. The predominantly vanilla mosaic foil from All About Autumn serves as the decorative base for the card front. Scraps of Mossy Meadow and copper foil serve as the peek-through elements on the base panel. A scrap of Moody Mauve foil is mounted askew on the mosaic foil to add visual interest and a color base for the vellum sentiment panel. The mauve also helps to bring out the copper metallic of the leaves and sentiment. The leaves are diecut from Oxidized Copper designer paper using the Autumn Leaves dies. The veining of the larger leaf is diecut from Crumb Cake cardstock to add a little definition without detracting from the overall design. The sentiment is stamped using the Pansy Patch set and heat embossed in copper atop a vellum panel that is diecut using a Deckled Rectangle die. The vellum sentiment panel and leaves are layered using dimensionals. The brushed metallic dots draw the eye to the sentiment panel in the center.

Do you save your paper scraps? If so, do you have success in using up your accumulated scraps? I’m a scrap saver and pretty efficient at being able to use them. I do periodically purge my scraps since the smaller pieces can sometimes take over. I love how these scraps worked together for this design!

Products used:
Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, vellum cardstock
All About Autumn (retired), Oxidized Copper DSP
Pansy Patch stamps
Autumn Leaves, Deckled Rectangles dies
Copper embossing powder
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Happy Day

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I’m feeling all the fall vibes these days. What about you? In usual fashion, however, the weather here in North Texas can’t decide if it’s summer, fall, or winter. But I shall press on with my fuzzy socks and long sleeves anyway!

Today, we’re revisiting the Z-fold. Did you recognize it when you glanced at the photos of today’s card? It looks a little different when the orientation is changed from portrait to landscape, and I just love how this orientation adds some extra drama!

For this card, we begin with a base of Pretty Peacock. You’ll want to cut your card base 4 1/4-inches by 11-inches and then score at 2 3/4-inches and 5 1/2-inches to achieve the landscape-oriented Z-fold. The foiled papers are from two different designer series paper packs — All About Autumn and Oxidized Copper. For the card panels, I selected 3 different foiled patterns from the All About Autumn paper pack. These 3 patterns work in tandem to introduce the color palette of vanilla, peacock, and mauve. The leaves on the front panel are diecut from our selected designer papers using the Autumn Leaves dies. The veining for the largest leaf is cut from Early Espresso, which helps the eye pick up on the foiling in our other card elements. The sentiment is stamped using the So Sincere stamp set and then heat embossed in copper atop a panel of vellum, which is diecut using the Autumn Leaves die set. The sentiment panel and leaves are layered on the card front using dimensionals. The brushed metallic dots help the eye move across the front panel of the card and also draw out the foiling in the papers.

TIP: if you use a paper scrap that isn’t quite wide enough, like I did here with the mosaic pattern in the center, select a complementary ribbon to fill in the gap and add interest. I loved the texture and pattern that the natural wavy trim adds to the mosaic panel.

Products used:
Pretty Peacock, Early Espresso, vellum cardstock
All About Autumn (retired), Oxidized Copper DSP
So Sincere stamps
Autumn Leaves dies
Natural wavy trim
Copper embossing powder
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall

Hello from Me to You

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Today, we continue to explore all of the ways we can use the current autumn products to make beautiful cards. Believe it or not, this card is a variation of yesterday’s design. Hang around and I’ll show you how we got from A to Z.

The base of this card is Early Espresso. The dark background helps make the copper elements in this design stand out. Because I wanted copper to be more prominent, the center panel of copper Tartan Foil went from a smaller accent-sized panel to encompassing most of the card front. The large sweetgum leaf is diecut from the copper and gold sheet of Oxidized Copper designer paper and stands prominently in the center of the design to give the eye a starting point when viewing the design. The smaller elm and sweetgum leaves were leftover from other projects and are scattered under the larger leaf to mimic the feeling of falling leaves. The sentiment panel is centered at the bottom of the card rather than offset in the center of the card. Rather than drawing the eye with a much lighter element, cutting the sentiment panel from the darker Early Espresso helps draw out all of the copper elements and draws the eye to the heat embossed sentiment. The scattered sequins help the eye move down and across the card to reinforce the feeling of the leaves falling.

I’m having lots of fun playing with all of the autumn-themed products. Hopefully you’ve been enjoying them. I’m planning to practice a little gratitude over the course of the month and will be mailing a lot of these designs out. Do you do anything to actively practice gratitude?

Products used:
Early Espresso cardstock
Tartan Foil, Oxidized Copper, All About Autumn DSP
Pansy Patch stamps
Tsukineko Cosmic Copper
Copper embossing powder
Neutrals sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall

A Pile of Thanks

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Have the leaves begun to change in your area? Fall is my favorite time of year. And I absolutely love it when the leaves begin to change colors. The main thoroughfare through our neighborhood is lined with a wide variety of trees that put on quite a show during the fall. The street looks like it’s lined with fire. I love to watch the process and am always awed by it. I find reasons to run errands every day as the leaves are changing.

I was super excited to receive a box of goodies last week, which included the beautiful Oxidized Copper designer paper, the Autumn Leaves die collection, and brushed metallic dots. When the Holiday Mini Catalog first released, I completely talked myself out of any of the fall products. But after participating in a team building event where we used them, I realized that I would find myself reaching for them more than I thought!

I was inspired by a card posted by i.heart.stamps over on Instagram and wanted to try my hand at recreating it with a few twists here and there. This card design begins with a base of Early Espresso cardstock. The beautiful woodgrain panel is from the All About Autumn designer series paper pack. The gorgeous leaves are diecut from Oxidized Copper designer paper using the Autumn Leaves dies. The sentiment panel consists of two layers. The base layer is gold glimmer paper diecut with the Deckled Rectangles set. The sentiment is heat embossed in copper atop Crumb Cake cardstock, which has been diecut using the Autumn Leaves dies. TIP: for richer color when heat embossing, whenever possible stamp in the same color ink that you will be embossing with. A twist of gold trim behind the smaller sentiment panel really helps unify the metallic elements and draw the eye to the sentiment. The brushed metallic dots allow the eye to pass across the card, following the path of the falling leaves.

I just love the details in the Autumn Leaves dies. The veining you see here is a part of those dies. There are also leaves without the vein detail embedded within the die but that include a separate die for the veins. The leaf duo under the bottom, left corner of the sentiment panel is an example of that combination of dies.

Products used:
Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, gold shimmer (retired) cardstock
All About Autumn DSP (sold out)
Oxidized Copper specialty paper
Tsukineko Cosmic Copper ink
Copper embossing powder
So Sincere stamps
Autumn Leaves, Deckled Rectangles dies
Gold trim
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Fall · Fun Folds

Thanks, Pumpkin

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Do you participate in Thankful November? While I don’t always participate to the extent that I make social media posts, I do tend to find myself much more reflective through the month of November and try to turn my focus to giving thanks. Honestly, it’s such a wonderful practice that I really need to carry it forward throughout the entire year. How do you feel about it?

Inspiration for card designs reflecting thankfulness always seem to come much easier this time of year. And today’s design is no exception. This lovely peek-through fun fold card uses the All About Autumn designer series paper. This paper pack is so inspired — with its beautiful foiled patterns on one side and still life fall photographs on the other. I’m finding it hard to even begin to grow tired of it! And clearly LOTS of you agree because it is now completely sold out!

Today’s card begins with a base of Cajun Craze. Aside from the 1-inch peek-through section on the card front, the base is a standard 4 1/4-inch by 5 1/2-inch design (when closed). This design uses 3 separate sheets of All About Autumn designer paper. The sheet with the sweetgum leaves, the foiled side of the sheet with books, and the sheet with pumpkins. The sweetgum leaves sheet is cut to 3 1/8-inches by 5 3/8-inches and adhered to the front panel of the card base. I retained a 1-inch strip of the leaves and used it as an accent on the foiled panel on the inside of the card, and the small strip is matted with a scrap of the blue cardigan sheet from this paper pack — that I happened to have lying on the craft table. The pumpkin sheet that serves as the peek-through portion of this card measures approximately 2-inches wide. The sentiment panel is more understated in this design because I wanted it to complement more than stand out. The base panel of the sentiment is vellum that is diecut using the All That die set. The sentiment from Circle Sayings is stamped in Cajun Craze on Very Vanilla cardstock and then diecut using the oval from the All That die collection. Before adhering the sentiment to the vellum base, I elevated it on dimensionals and then set it atop some twists of gold cord. Glitter sequins and speckled spots add a little sparkle and visual interest and help guide the eye down and across the card design.

I don’t know about you, but when I have a pack of really gorgeous paper, my mind immediately turns on designs that allow me to showcase as much of the paper as I can. And so I naturally gravitate to fun folds. Do you like fun folds? Did you know that there are quite a few PDF tutorials for some of my favorite folds over on the Tutorial page of my website? Feel free to click here to check them all out!

Products used:
Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, vellum cardstock
All About Autumn DSP (sold out)
Circle Sayings stamp set
All That dies
Speckled dots
Glitter sequins
Gold cord
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Gifting · Packaging

Did Someone Say Gift Cards?

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These days, it can be hard to know what to buy friends or family for that special occasion. And so gift cards or cash have become very popular options. But who says that you can’t wrap a gift card?

When we give gift cards in our family, we like to dress things up. And sometimes the recipient even has to go on a little scavenger hunt to get to the prize. I’ve found various ways to make these types of gifts feel special. And today, I’m highlighting just one way — the booklet envelope.

Long ago I purchased some pre-cut/pre-scored templates that serve as the booklet base for each envelope. And in hindsight, now that all of these templates are gone, I wish I had jotted down all of the measurements for the base to be able to make more on my own! Each booklet is then decorated using designer paper, ribbon, and embellishments. One 6-inch by 12-inch strip of designer paper covers the outside and both inside flaps of the envelope. I used scraps of DSP to cover any exposed portions of the base on the inside of the envelope up against the gift pocket. I found that a ribbon closure seemed to work best with this design and adhered the ribbon all the way around the outside of the booklet using tear tape. TIP: my favorite brand of tear tape is Sookwang because it’s super sticky, easy to tear, and comes in a variety of widths.

Do you like to dress up a gift card? How do you do it? Let me know in the comments!

birthday · Gifting

Spruce Up a Gift Bag

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As a paper crafter, I try not to miss an opportunity to add that special handmade touch to gifts. It’s incredibly simple to dress up those packages with a lovely little something. From beautiful ribbon to a unique gift tag, a gift can be jazzy in no time!

I recently whipped up these cute gift tags so I would be ready for the next birthday party. These designs may look fancy and a bit complicated, but each design came together quickly. Let’s see how these came together.

Candles. The tag base is Basic White cardstock diecut using the Merriest Trees dies. I used some older washi tape I had on hand to serve as the colorful grounding for the sentiment panel, which begins with a piece of vellum diecut using the circle from the All That die collection. The candles are stamped in multiple colors on white cardstock using the Big News stamps. I colored each one lightly with a coordinating watercolor pencil and then add a bit of sparkle to the flames of each one using Stickles. The “happy birthday” sentiment is stamped on white cardstock using the Papertrey Ink Birthday Basics stamps and then diecut using the Bunch of Banners dies. A few iridescent discs on either side of the sentiment keep the eye in the center of the tag.

Wish. The tag base is comprised of two layers. The base layer is cut from Oh So Ombre designer paper and the Crumb Cake is diecut using the Merry Tags dies. Next comes the silver star banner which is diecut from metallic silver cardstock using the Star Blast dies. The sentiment is a single Papertrey Ink die and cut from a sheet of Pretty Peacock. Everything is held together with glue from the precision glue pen.

Products used: Birthday candles
Basic White, vellum cardstock
Washi tape
PTI Birthday Basics stamps (retired)
Big News stamps (retired)
Merriest Trees, All That, Bunch of Banners (retired) dies
Watercolor pencils
Stickles
Iridescent discs
Dimensionals
Adhesives
Ribbon

Products used: Make a Wish
Crumb Cake, Pretty Peacock cardstock
Metallic silver cardstock (retired)
Oh So Ombre DSP (retired)
Circles Collection, Merry Tags, Star Blast dies (retired)
PTI Make a Wish die
Adhesives
Precision glue pen
Ribbon

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Fun Folds

Through the Garden Window

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Happy Monday, everyone! I’m popping in today to share another fun fold card using the Meandering Meadow designer paper which will be available in the Online Exclusives section of the online store tomorrow (November 7th)!

For today’s design, I decided to try my hand at a window card, which I combined with a flap fun fold. The design starts with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock cut to standard size and scored in the center. I chose the sheet of Meandering Meadow with the tree and bench as the focal image to peek through the window. I paired it with the sheet of moody blues — a combination of Night of Navy and Pretty Peacock — which would serve as the window panel. After trying several combinations, I felt that this moody sheet really drew out the darker hues of the garden scene, which felt more true to a peek through a window. And I just love how the whole feel of the garden scene changes from the view through the window to the open flap.

The moody blues sheet is adhered to the card front. Basic White cardstock serves as the base for the flap panel. Adhere the flap panel base to the inside of the Balmy Blue card base. With the inside flap closed, the garden scene paper is adhered to the front of the flap. The window is cut using the Deckled Rectangles die. (TIP: Run the die back and forth through your diecutting machine several times to ensure a clean cut through all layers.) I used the cut rectangle as a focal image for the inside of the flap next to the message panel and decorated the rectangle using the scenic side of the roughly 2-inch strip of moody blue cut from the larger 6 x 6 panel. The sentiment from the So Sincere stamp set is heat embossed in silver on a vellum panel diecut using the Autumn Leaves dies. Pops of sparkle are added to the card front using tinsel gems and on the garden scene using glitter sequins.

What do you think? To see this design come together from start to finish, check out the reel over on Instagram. Want to recreate this design on your own? Here is a PDF tutorial to walk you through the process from start to finish.

Have you been enjoying the sprinkling of fun folds and how-I-made-it videos? If you’d like to continue seeing more of this type of content, please Like or comment on this post to let me know.

Products used:
Balmy Blue, Basic White, vellum cardstock
Meandering Meadow DSP (Online Exclusive available November 7th)
So Sincere stamps
Deckled Rectangles, Autumn Leaves dies
Tinsel gems
Glitter sequins
Silver embossing powder
Adhesive

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