scene building

Peaceful Sunrise

Welcome to the midweek. I can’t decide if this week is moving slowly or swiftly. What about you? In some ways it’s hard to believe it’s Wednesday but then again I feel like it should be Friday already. Today’s card seems awfully fitting under those circumstances!

This week, we’re pulling out all the critters in our crafty stash. And today I just couldn’t resist the mom and fawn from the Autumn Trees die set. I’ve paired them up with the new Aspen Grove stamp set to create this peaceful scene with lots of layers of beautiful color.

We get started with a nice neutral base of Crumb Cake cardstock. To pull out all of the subtle colors in the pre-dawn sky, I chose a sheet of the Pool Party glimmer paper from the pastel shimmer paper pack as the mat for the focal panel. To build the scene on our focal panel, we start with the Aspen Grove stamp set. The aspen tree trunks are stamped in several different colors, including Early Espresso, Gray Granite, and Smoky Slate, to create the shading you often see if those trunks. To keep the leaves a truer green, I opted to shade the sky in the background next. Using small blending brushes, I applied a combination of Cloud Cover, Daffodil Delight, Timid Tiger, Strawberry Slush, and Fresh Freesia to create the beautiful colors of a pre-dawn sky — just before the sun peeks over the horizon. Then we stamp our canopy of leaves so that those greens stay nice and crisp over the sky. A combination of Soft Sea Foam and Old Olive worked well. Our doe and fawn images are cut from a scrap of Crumb Cake and tucked in the opening in the trees using dimensionals. The sentiment from the Prayers & Promises stamp set is stamped in Cloud Cover on white cardstock and then cut out with the Traditional Labels dies. The sentiment is tucked in the top-right corner and adhered over a twist of the brand new Berry Burst shiny ribbon that will release next week. Several layers of dimensionals help the sentiment panel stand tall above the ribbon and really catch your eye in the scene. A few opal rounds finish things off with a subtle twinkle.

Tomorrow is the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instahop day, and I can’t wait to show you a brand new and absolutely adorable critter bundle. I hope you’ll drop in and see!

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Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

Hope & Comfort

Happy Saturday, friends! As expected, the office move stole my crafting time yesterday, so I’m stealing a little time in the craft room this morning before I head to the new office to unpack and work to get things settled so we’re ready to roll next week.

This week, we’re using the new Prayers & Promises sentiment stamp set to create our card designs. I’ve been pairing up this stamp set with a whole host of products in the stash — most of them new goodies. And today we’re using the January Product of the Month True Blue Florals paper, the new Lovely Arrangements dies, and the new laser cut Covered In Flowers accents. (FYI — the January POTM is still available with any qualifying order while supplies last!)

I used a layout by fellow demo Heidi Collins over at On Y Go! Stamping as the inspiration for this card design. We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. A sheet of the large floral-patterned paper from the True Blue Florals pack serves as both the backdrop for our card front, as well as the accent design panel behind the focal point. I used the Lovely Arrangements die to create that strip of circles on the right that really helps our focal point pop. The sentiment from Prayers & Promises is stamped in Secret Sea on white cardstock and then cut out with the Stylish Shapes circle die. This panel is adhered over a twist of the white & gold baker’s twine with dimensionals. A spray of florals is colored with Wink of Stella and then placed to the side of sentiment panel and held in place with dimensionals. We finish things off with a combination of the moody palette dots & charming shimmer faceted dots.

I love the contrast of light and dark in this design and how it really draws our eye to the encouraging sentiment. I hope to get a little time this evening to bring you one last project using the Prayers & Promises sentiment set. Fingers crossed I’m not completely wiped out from a day of unpacking and setup at the office!

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Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

Peace I Leave You

Hi there, friends! I can’t believe it’s already Thursday. Has this week been on fast forward for anyone else? It’s been a busy week at the office, especially as we prepare to pack up and move to a new space this weekend. So as much as I love to think about Friday approaching, I’ll be busy this weekend getting the office put back together! Womp-womp.

This week, we’re playing with some of the new products from the latest release. In particular, I’m using the new Prayers & Promises sentiment set for each design as we pair it up with other fun sets. Today, I’m using a less conventional color palette for a soft and comforting vibe with the plants from the On Display and Gliding Garden Swing sets.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock and then place our background pattern from the True Blue Florals paper pack (still available until it’s gone!) on top. Our focal panel backdrop consists of a trio of circles cut with the Spotlight on Nature dies from a combination of the Pleasant Patterns foiled paper and the pink shimmer paper from the new Pastels Shimmer pack. The pink shimmer circle in the center serves as our sentiment panel. The sentiment from Prayers & Promises is stamped right on the circle panel in a combination of Versamark and Lost Lagoon and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder to be sure it pops. We surround our sentiment panel with some potted greenery cut from Lost Lagoon and Cajun Craze using a combination of the On Display stamps & dies and the Gliding Garden Swing dies. Layers of dimensionals give us the depth of scene. A few Sparkle Dot Essentials finish things off with our twinkle of pink accents.

As I was working out this design in my head, I wanted to show that simple designs and unconventional color palettes can give just as much wow factor as the cards with all the layers and fancy techniques. And I think that’s one of the many things that I love about papercrafts — the multitude of ways to make beautiful things!

I hope to bring you another design tomorrow, assuming the office pack-up runs smoothly and I’m able to get home at a reasonable time. We will keep our fingers crossed!

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Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

Blossoms of Recovery

Welcome to the midweek, everyone! My best intentions of getting this post wrapped up and published yesterday didn’t come to pass. My day just didn’t quite go as planned. We’re still working to get back into the groove of all the things after the holiday break and I forgot how busy Tuesdays typically turn out to be.

This week, we’re continuing to take a look at some of the new products that hit the store last week. If you haven’t checked out all that’s new, click here to take a look. It’s definitely worth the peek!

So this week we’re working with the new Prayers & Promises stamp set. These sentiments cover a whole bunch of occasions and help with those “difficult” cards. Today we’re making a get well card using a whole host of new products, including paper, laser cut elements, ribbon, and embellishments!

We get started with a base of white cardstock. A sheet of the Lovely Blossoms patterned paper serves as our backdrop. I love the combination of the soft background with the bold Secret Sea accents. Our focal panel combines several elements. We start with a base of the January Product of the Month (still available!) called True Blue Florals and then layer the new Pleasant Patterns foiled paper on top. The sentiment from the Prayers & Promises set is stamped in Secret Sea on one of the diecut sentiment panels included in the 2025 Advent Calendar, which is adhered in the bottom corner with dimensionals. I layered some Covered in Flowers accents, colored with Wink of Stella, over a twist of the new white with gold ribbon. We finish things off with some sparkle dot essentials for an additional pop of twinkle.

This card comes together in a flash and is sure to be the perfect pick-me-up for a friend who’s under the weather. We’ll be staying with our botanical theme tomorrow as we pair our sentiment set with two new multi-image bundles. I hope you’ll drop in to see which bundles are coming to the stage!

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January Mini Catalog · Prayers & Promises

Prayers for Loss

Happy Monday, friends! We were traveling over the weekend for a family memorial service, so the weekend went by quickly. It was a beautiful service and it was wonderful to see everyone.

And honestly, this weekend’s activities spurred the idea for this week’s design theme centering on the new Prayers & Promises stamp set. This beautiful sentiment set can be used for a whole variety of cards — from sympathy to encouragement to recovery. There are so many ways to lift someone up with this set. Today, we’re pairing it with a whole collection of new products, including the Pleasant Patterns foiled paper, the Lovely Blossoms paper, and new embellishments.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock, which pairs beautifully with the focal panel and gives grounding for the green accent color. The backdrop for our card front is the Peach Pie spotted sheet from the Pleasant Patterns paper pack. I loved the soft glimmer this panel provides and helps the focal panel pop. The focal panel itself is a combination of two of the ready-made elements from the Lovely Blossoms paper pack. I had the green panel left after removing a square from the center for another design and found that it made the perfect frame for the peachy floral & vine panel. A strip of the peachy eyelet-patterned paper from Lovely Blossoms gave the perfect eye relief in the background pattern, tying everything together. The sentiment panel is cut from the eyelet pattern using the Stylish Shapes dies and then the sentiment from the Prayers & Promises set is stamped in Secret Sea in the center and adhered in the corner with dimensionals. A bow of Old Olive rickrack adds a decorative touch of green and the white glossy dots give the perfect pop of shine to draw the eye across the full card front.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow as we pair this sentiment set with some of the newest SU! releases.

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