Sending Blossoms of Love

March 7, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend, everyone! It’s a rainy Saturday here in North Texas. And while I have lots of things on the outside spring to-do list, the indoor activities won out today. I started the day providing music for a funeral and then spent the afternoon at the kiddo’s Academic Pentathlon district meet, where he placed individually in Literature and then took several medals with his team. And before hitting the home to-do list, I’ve stolen a little time in the craft room to bring some of my own sunshine to this overall dreary day.

This week, we’ve been letting spring inspire our designs. And today is all about the gorgeous Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper, along with a few other things from the crafty stash, and a sketch as we create this beautiful encouragement card.

Because I’ve got a list of things to do, I wanted to create a beautiful card but without a lot of time spent on designing from the ground up. And what helps the most in those situations? For me, sketches are a must! So we’re using #719 by the Freshly Made Sketches team to make quick work of today’s card.

We get started with a base of Fresh Freesia cardstock. A sheet of the small floral pattern from the Lovely & Beautiful paper pack serves as our background pattern. A strip of Fresh Freesia helps break up our busy patterned background and we spruce it up just a touch by machine embossing our strip with the Beautiful Patterns embossing folder. From a scrap of one of the larger floral patterned sheets from the Lovely & Beautiful pack, I cut a gorgeous peony and adhered it on the left with dimensionals. The sentiment from the Fabulous Sayings stamp set is stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in gold before being diecut with the Nested Essentials banner die using the extension method to get it just the right size. The vellum sentiment panel is adhered over the flower with mini glue dots. We finish things off with some pearlized faceted gems for just a touch of twinkle.

There are so many more beautiful spring florals in the current Stampin’ Up! lineup that I think we’re going to continue it for one more week. Do you have any current floral-y favorites you’d like to see? Maybe they’re in my stash. Drop me some suggestions in the comments! Until then, see you next week.

Product List

Fresh Freesia 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[155613]

$14.00

Lovely & Beautiful 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166957]

$16.50

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

[167099]

$10.00

Beautiful Pattern 3 D Embossing Folder

[167097]

$10.50

Fabulous Sayings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167972]

$5.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165678]

$21.00

Nested Essentials Dies

[161597]

$34.00

Pearlized Faceted Circles

[166978]

$8.00

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Sketchy Fridays: Birthday Blossoms

March 6, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Friday! We have made it to the end of the week. And it was quite an exciting day for me. In the middle of a big work meeting today, we had a medical emergency. There’s nothing like someone crumpling in their chair to get the ol’ adrenaline pumping! Luckily, we could rouse the person and get them on their way for a medical evaluation pretty quickly. And on top of the excitement of the work day, it seems that the weather in our area is ramping up to make for an exciting evening. I hope it turns out to just be rain. I’m not sure my poor heart can handle anymore crazy adrenaline rushes today.

But on to our crafty fun for today. We are having another Sketchy Friday (even more appropriate than I originally intended!). For those of you who are new here, Sketchy Fridays is a weekly series where we use a card sketch to design our featured card.

This week’s card is based on the Freshly Made Sketches #722 sketch. A sketch like this one is the perfect way to use busy patterns and/or scraps. In our case, we’re doing both!

We get started on today’s card with a base of white cardstock. Since we’re using a lot of pattern, we want a nice neutral backdrop. A sheet of the Easter Joy pattern paper serves as our background. For the three diagonal corner strips, we combine the floral foil from the Pleasant Patterns pack, the pink sheet from Garden Textures, and the small floral foiled sheet from the Lovely & Beautiful pack. The two competing floral patterns are broken up with the solid textured sheet from Garden Textures. I wanted all of our fun patterns to show through, so the sentiment from the Fabulous Sayings set is stamped on vellum in Versamark and then heat embossed in gold. Before adhering our sentiment, we add a few floral bunches on either side from the Easter Time ephemera pack and then adhere the sentiment over them with glue dots. We finish things off with some pearlized faceted circles.

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Easter Joy 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166939]

$16.50

Pleasant Patterns 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166950]

$10.00

Lovely & Beautiful 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166957]

$16.50

Garden Textures 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Foil Sheets

[167125]

$10.50

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

[167099]

$10.00

Fabulous Sayings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167972]

$5.00

Easter Time Mix & Match Ephemera Pack

[166984]

$7.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165678]

$21.00

Pearlized Faceted Circles

[166978]

$8.00

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

You Can Do Anything

January 24, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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

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

[133675]

$14.00

Fresh Freesia 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[155613]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Lovely & Beautiful 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166957]

$16.50

Nested Essentials Dies

[161597]

$34.00

Fabulous Sayings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167972]

$5.00

Covered In Flowers Accents

[167197]

$6.50

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

[155611]

$9.00

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[147111]

$9.00

Small Blending Brushes

[160518]

$14.00

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$10.00

Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments

[164223]

$9.00

2024 2026 In Color™ Flat Pearls

[165266]

$8.50

White With Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Ribbon

[166979]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Glue Dots

[103683]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

On My Mind, Lovely

January 23, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Fresh Freesia 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[155613]

$14.00

Lovely & Beautiful 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166957]

$16.50

Pleasant Patterns 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[166950]

$10.00

Fabulous Sayings Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167972]

$5.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$30.00

Petunia Pop Classic Stampin Pad

[163811]

$9.00

Petunia Pop 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Iridescent Ribbon

[166203]

$9.50

2024 2026 In Color™ Flat Pearls

[165266]

$8.50

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Botanicals · January Mini Catalog

Hope & Comfort

January 17, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

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!

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

True Blue Florals 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[167970]

$5.00

Prayers & Promises Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167014]

$20.00

Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad

[165285]

$9.00

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$30.00

Lovely Arrangements Dies

[167175]

$34.00

Covered In Flowers Accents

[167197]

$6.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$10.00

Black & White & Gold Baker's Twine

[166005]

$8.50

Moody Palette Glossy Dots

[167180]

$8.00

Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

[166139]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Coming Soon · Product of the Month

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

Clean and Simple · On Display

Just for You

December 30, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Tuesday, everybody. I still find it hard to figure out what day of the week it is after being home sick and just the holidays generally. Anybody else? Slowly but surely we’ll get back in the groove. But not before another holiday interrupts our week!

This week we’re playing with some of my new crafty goodies that arrived. And we’re keeping it simple again today with the new On Display stamp & die bundle. All of the little images in this set make it easy to make quick, clean & simple cards, which is super helpful when you’re short on time but don’t want your card to show short on thoughtfulness. Today we’re pairing up On Display with the current Product of the Month True Blue Florals paper to create this cutie.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock and we’re using the floral pattern (that reminds me of my grandmother’s wallpaper) from the True Blue Florals paper pack as our backdrop. I wrapped this panel with some Misty Moonlight linen thread to tie all of our hues of blue together. The focal panel is cut from white cardstock with the smallest die in the Branching Out set and then matted with Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the Peaceful Garden glimmer pack that’s diecut with the next size up. I stamped the sentiment from the On Display set directly onto the focal panel in the top-right corner. Our potted plants are cut with the On Display dies with a combination of Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Oxidized Copper, and Shaded Spruce. They’re adhered onto our focal panel with dimensionals and then the full panel is adhered to our card front with dimensionals, as well. We finish things off with some Misty Moonlight flowers from the Hues of Blue flower set, along with some Secret Sea charming shimmer dots.

Doesn’t this feel like a picture in a picture? I just love that effect. And I love how the backdrop feels calm and familiar, just like my Granny’s house. This card would be perfect to welcome someone into a new home or simply to just say hello.

Tune in tomorrow as we take a peek in Granny’s curio cabinet. It will be fun to see what we find!

Product List

Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146982]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

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

[119684]

$14.00

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$14.00

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

[146981]

$14.00

Oxidized Copper 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[162190]

$8.00

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

[165929]

$10.50

True Blue Florals 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[167970]

$5.00

Branching Out Dies

[165775]

$29.00

On Display Bundle (English)

[167306]

$56.50

Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad

[153118]

$9.00

Hues Of Blue Flowers

[165930]

$9.00

Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

[166139]

$8.50

Natural Tones Linen Thread

[164071]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Add All to Cart

On Display · Product of the Month

You’re on my Mind

December 29, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! Did anyone else feel weird going back to work? It was especially weird for me since I had basically been out for 2 weeks. But I always enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year’s because traffic is light and so my commute is much shorter.

I got some new stampin’ goodies while I was down the flu, and I’ve been thinking about getting into them the whole time I was recovering. So this week, we’re going to be getting a few new things inky. Today we’re pairing the Product of the Month paper called True Blue Florals with the new On Display stamp & die bundle. There are so many ways to use this super adorable bundle. And today we’re starting with a simple scene.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock. I chose the leaf frond pattern from the True Blue Florals paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our focal panel. Our focal panel starts with a circle of white cardstock cut with the largest Spotlight on Nature die. I used the large rose pattern from True Blue Florals to break up the white space and serve as an anchor for our scene — specifically to form our area rug. I used the On Display dies to cut all of the scene elements, including the orange tabby cat, the plant and small decorative table, and the cage of red finches. The sentiment is also from the On Display set and is stamped on a banner of white cardstock cut with paper snips. Dimensionals help give layer and depth to our scene. The full panel sits atop a twist of the new Cloud Cover linen ribbon. And we flank our panel with some Cloud Cover flat pearls.

Is this just not the cutest little pick-me-up card? What scenes can you see yourself building with this stamp set?

Product List

Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146982]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00