Tag: punches

Valentines

Happy Valentine’s Day

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Welcome back to today’s Valentine posts. In case you missed it, earlier today I shared the simple gift bags I gave to my co-workers yesterday. Just a simple combo of SU! goodies from the crafty stash.

This afternoon, I’m using a lot of those same products — Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, and ribbon — to dress up the gifties I picked up for my two loves.

First up, sometimes you get things that are a little oddly-shaped for a gift bag or maybe you want a bit of the gift to show. So we’re using a belly band to dress up these first two. I chose the small heart sheet from the Most Adored paper pack and cut each belly band to size and adhered with tear-n-tape. The band is wrapped with some retired gingham ribbon. The tags are cut from the foiled heart patterned paper and cut with the To the Point label punch. The tags are dressed up with a punched heart and sentiments from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack adhered with dimensionals. A few gold sequin hearts are added for a little extra pop.

Next up, we’re still using the belly band technique but covering more of our chocolate bars here since their wraps didn’t really coordinate well with the color scheme. We’ve got two different heart patterns from the Most Adored paper pack and each is wrapped with ribbon — white iridescent and some Melon Mambo polka-dot. The tags are punch from a sheet of plaid and we add hearts and sentiments from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack with dimensionals. The tags are tie on with Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon and some sequin hearts are added for a pop of gold twinkle.

It doesn’t to much to turn a gift into something special with just a few handmade elements. All it takes is some goodies from the stash and a few minutes of your time.

I hope you all feel loved today. Know that you are special to your Creator and that is the most importantly love anyone can have! Next week, we’re going to find some fun ways to share a little luck.

Products used:
Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, heart punch, Iridescent ribbon, Melon Mambo polka-dot ribbon, Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon, Real Red & white gingham ribbon, heart sequins (retired)
To the Point label punch
Dimensionals


Valentines

Happy PALentine’s Day

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Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody! So glad you stopped by today. I’ve been so tired when I got home from the office on Thursday and Friday that I pretty much had dinner, did the usual family thing, and then went straight to bed! It’s a super busy time of year with the kiddo’s various activities, church activities picking up as we head into Lent, and just life stuff. Do you ever have weeks where you’re just done when you get home? I feel like I’m having a string of them.

Despite being pretty wiped out from the work day, I did actually play in the crafty goodies the last two days in preparation from Valentine’s Day. So today, I’m going to be bringing you two posts to show you what I pulled together from the crafty stash to make some folks feel a little love this week. I have oodles of Valentine-themed goodies in the retired Stampin’ Up! stash and that’s where I turned for my projects. I like to swipe holiday-themed things when they go on the sale rack in the store to prep for the next year. For anyone who likes to make things for craft fairs or just likes to make things to give away, this is a perfect way to give gifts from the heart on a budget! So we’re pulling out last year’s beautiful Most Adored foiled paper, Celebrate Love ephemera, and Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon, along with some gift bags I bought on clearance a Christmas or two ago.

I like to make little gifties for my co-workers, and with some clearance chocolates in-hand, I just needed to whip up some cute packaging. I had a package of pre-scored, pre-assembled SU! gift bags in my stash and they were just the perfect size to fill with the assortment of chocolates I purchased — Hershey Kisses, Hershey Nuggets, and some Lindor truffles. I cut some smaller pieces of metallic tissue paper from my wrapping stash to stuff in each bag. And then I set about making the custom gift tags. I chose a red plaid pattern from the Most Adored paper pack and cut tags using the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. I punched a small hole in the top of each one and thread a loop of red & white baker’s twine to affix the tag to each bag. I made a bow of the Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon and then placed a sentiment from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack on top using dimensionals. I tied the tag to the bag and voila — gift complete.

Sometimes it’s just a simple touch that really elevates a gift. And all we needed here to dress up the cute SU! gift bag was a tag. If you drop back by a little later today, I’m going to show you how I dressed up the little gifties I got for my boys for Valentine’s Day.

Products used:
Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon (retired)
Heartfelt Hexagon punch
Red & white baker’s twine
Dimensionals

January Mini Catalog · sketches

Timeless Thanks

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We’re going to close out our week of working with the new Stampin’ Up! Hugs for Love bundle with today’s bonus card. I’m pairing it up once again with the Timeless Plaid paper, which is also a new release, and using Sketch #6 from the new January Mini catalog.

We get started with a base of Boho Blue cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of the Timeless Plaid in blue. I used the reverse side of the Pool Party plaid sheet from the same pack as the center background elements and punched the shapes using the To the Point Label punch. Although it’s difficult to see in the photo, there are very faint lines of Pool Party in the blue plaid sheet, making the Pool Party plaid sheet the perfect compliment to really draw out those subtle stripes. The sentiment panel is stamped on white using the Hugs for Life outline stamp and the sentiment from the Heart Shaped stamp set. The panel is punched with the To the Point Label punch. I tied some Night of Navy linen thread around the background panel and passed it underneath the sentiment panel. I added some rhinestone basic jewels and industrial trinkets to finish things off.

Next week is all about birthdays. I hope you’ll pop in!

Products used in this featured design:
Boho Blue, Basic White cardstock
Timeless Plaid DSP
Hugs for Love bundle
Heart Shaped stamps
Natural Tones linen thread
Industrial trinkets, rhinestone basic jewels
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Boho Blue 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[161724]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Timeless Plaid 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164678]
$12.50
Hugs For Love Bundle (English)
[165738]
$38.50
Heart Shaped Bundle (English)
[164953]
$31.50
Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad
[153118]
$9.00
Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad
[161678]
$9.00
Natural Tones Linen Thread
[164071]
$9.00
Industrial Trinkets
[163450]
$8.50
Rhinestone Basic Jewels
[144220]
$6.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
January Mini Catalog

Fairy Hugs

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When I was growing up in the country, I used to love to hunt for mushrooms and toadstools. I loved the *poof* of dust that would come from the toadstools. And I always found the different mushroom shapes fascinating and would think about what kind of Smurf might live in it based on the size and shape. I always loved a rainy spring because it meant that there would soon be oodles of fungi to find, and I was always excited when we had “fairy rings” — those are the mushrooms that grow in a circle. Anyone else call them that? My grandpa used to say that the circles of mushrooms were where the fairies played. To this day, I still smile every time I see a circle of mushrooms in a yard here in the ‘burbs.

And that’s the inspiration behind today’s card design using the Toadstool Gardens patterned paper. This week, we’re using the new Hugs for Love stamps & punch bundle to create our designs. And I thought the “you make me smile” sentiment was just perfect for today’s card with our cute mushrooms.

We get started on our card today with a base of Berry Burst cardstock. A sheet of the pink Beautiful Bokeh paper serves as the base for our focal panel with two patterns of the Toadstool Gardens designer paper. The sentiment from Hugs for Love is stamped in Blackberry Bliss on the woodgrain pattern from the Toadstool Gardens paper with a lovely heart from the same stamp set stamped in Flirty Flamingo. The sentiment panel is then punched with the coordinating Hugs for Love punch. I also punched two partial panels from Blackberry Bliss to create a full mat for the sentiment panel. The sentiment panel is adhered to the focal panel with dimensionals. The white diagonal trim breaks up the patterns and adds the perfect eye-catching backdrop for our sentiment panel. A scattering of purple sequins gives us the sparkle that makes this design feel magical.

Tomorrow we’re going to use our Hugs for Love bundle to play with patterns. I hope you’ll stop by.

Products used in today’s card:
Berry Burst, Blackberry Bliss cardstock
Toadstool Garden, Beautiful Bokeh DSP
Hugs for Love bundle
White diagonal trim
Purple sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Berry Burst 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[144243]
$11.50
Blackberry Bliss 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[133675]
$11.50
Beautiful Bokeh 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164607]
$12.50
Toadstool Gardens 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
[164942]
$12.50
Hugs For Love Bundle (English)
[165738]
$38.50
Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad
[147092]
$9.00
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
[147051]
$9.00
Petal Pink & White 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Diagonal Trim Combo Pack
[163417]
$10.00
Purple Adhesive Backed Sequins
[164970]
$8.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
January Mini Catalog

Lots of Hugs

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This week we’re having some fun with the new bundle by Stampin’ Up! called Hugs for Love. This bundle includes a stamp set and coordinating label punch. And while you can certainly get a great start on Valetines with this bundle, it’s versatile enough to create designs for all sorts of occasions.

Today, we’re taking a more traditional approach with the design elements and color palette by making a card that feels very Valentine-y. For this card, we’re pairing our featured bundle with the Marbled Elegance pattern paper.

We get started today with a card base of Cherry Cobbler cardstock. Our Marbled Elegance paper is matted with gold mercury vellum, which really accentuates the lovely gold foiling in our patterned paper. The sentiment from Hugs for Love is stamped in Real Red, while the heart accents are stamped in Pretty in Pink and the decorative border is stamped in Cherry Cobbler. The sentiment panel is then cut with the coordinating punch and adhered over a bow of gold trim using dimensionals. We finish things off by scattering varying sizes of gold foil hearts on and around the sentiment panel.

This is such a simple design that can be replicated quickly. And a simple swap of the sentiment makes this is a great layout for all occasions.

Tomorrow we’re smiling with the fairies. I hope you’ll drop in!

Products used in today’s card:
Cherry Cobbler, Basic White cardstock
Marbled Elegance, Mercury vellum DSP
Hugs for Love bundle
Gold trim
Gold hearts
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[119685]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Marbled Elegance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164919]
$16.50
Gold Mercury Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper
[164142]
$10.00
Gold Foil Sheets
[132622]
$5.00
Hugs For Love Bundle (English)
[165738]
$38.50
Gold & Silver 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Trim Combo Pack
[161633]
$9.00
Adhesive Backed Heart Sequins
[164920]
$8.50
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Stampin' Seal+
[149699]
$12.00
Add All to Cart
Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Sending Big Hugs

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Today, we’re continuing through our stroll of some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. We’re using Sketch #2 from the Annual Catalog to create this bright and cheery card using the Floral Delight paper and Hugs for Love stamps & punch.

We get started with a base of Daffodil Delight cardstock. I chose a sheet of Floral Delight patterned paper with lots of white space for a nice contrast against our base. To help the focal panel stand out, I matted it in Crushed Curry to bring out the details in the flowers in the focal panel background. The sentiment from the Hugs for Love stamp set is stamped in Pool Party on white cardstock and then punched with the coordinating punch. I also punched a panel from the pastel ombré glimmer paper and cut it in half to make a sparkly mat. A twist of Daffodil Delight satin ribbon and Lost Lagoon soft cording behind the sentiment panel bring everything together. A few of the new low profile dots add a touch of glimmer to the sentiment and really draw the eye in.

This whole paper pack is bright & cheery and will make some wonderful pick-me-up cards, as well as designs for the floral-lovers in your life!

Products used in today’s design:
Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Basic White cardstock
Floral Delight (coming soon), pastel ombré glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Hugs for Love bundle (coming soon)
Daffodil Delight satin ribbon (coming soon), Lost Lagoon soft cording
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · Clean and Simple

Pots of Joy

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This week, we’re exploring card designs that use botanical images. I love stamp sets that include flowers and greenery but then sometimes find myself stuck for ideas on how to use them. We’re so fortunate to have so many different inspiration forums, and in cases where I’m fresh out of ideas, that’s precisely where I turn.

Today’s card design was inspired by a Stampin’ Up! Artisan design. The inspiration card used the lovely argyle detail die from Everyday Details — a die that I have had a really hard time finding a use for — and the lovely Planted Paradise stamp set.

This card design is a built on a base of white cardstock. The focal image panel sits atop a Blueberry Bushel panel where each long edge has been diecut using the argyle die from Everyday Details. A strip of white cardstock serves as the focal image base in the center. The pots and greenery are stamped on separate sheet of white cardstock and then cut with paper snips before being mounted with dimensionals. The sentiment panel consists of the Heartfelt Hellos sentiment that is punched with the coordinating Heartfelt Hexagon punch. I also added an additional layer of dimensionals to the sentiment panel to ensure that it stood above the supporting images. I added Blooming Pearls on the pots and near the sentiment for added detail and to draw the eye across the focal panel.

Yesterday, I mentioned the TIP for stamping crisp images when your photopolymer stamps tend to pool ink and stamp blotchy images. When you’re going for a more vintagey feel, I would definitely allow the ink to pool on the stamps. But if you’re going for a clean look, you’ll definitely want to use that layer of Versamark first before applying your selected colored ink. Today, I elected to use both types of stamped images on my card design so that you could see the difference. Can you spot which stamped elements look more vintage than crisp?

Products used in today’s design:
Blueberry Bushel, Basic White cardstock
Planted Paradise, Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Heartfelt Hexagon bundle
Blooming pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Luv 2 Stamp Artisan Design Team · Terrific Tuesdays

Heartfelt Hexagon Sympathy

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While masculine card designs can be, in and of themselves, quite challenging, designing sympathy cards for the guys in your life can seem daunting. In this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, we made a sympathy card together. A friend recently lost his wife, and since I needed a more masculine sympathy card myself, I felt it would be a good opportunity to share my process for designing cards for those hard times.

Today’s card design began with a pattern idea and a color palette. As I was making a project to-do list for this week, I knew that I wanted to make patterned paper using the Heartfelt Hexagon stamps and was inspired by the Softly Sophisticated embossing folder in the newly-released Sale-a-Bration catalog. As I was thinking about a color palette for a sympathy card that would appropriately convey both comfort and hope, I was drawn to the combination of Basic Gray, Night of Navy, and Copper Clay. 

So today’s card is built on a base of Basic Gray cardstock, while Night of Navy and Copper Clay luster cardstock serve as the mats for the main image panel. The single-framed hexagon from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped in Smoky Slate in a repeating pattern that mimics the pattern of the Softly Sophisticated embossing folder. I liked the look of the larger stamped pattern rather than the smaller pattern for this particular occasion. The sentiment from Heartfelt Hexagon is stamped in Night of Navy on Basic Gray and then punched with the coordinating hexagon punch. The Night of Navy and gold glittered ribbon — a carry-over from the Holiday Mini catalog — adds a soft touch and ties the blue elements together, while a few brushed metallic dots tie together the sheen of the luster paper and sparkle of the glitter ribbon and add an additional layer of warmth.

As we’re wrapping up our week of masculine card designs, I hope you’ve been inspired by all of the possibilities there are to make gorgeous masculine cards for any occasion. In case you missed this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, you can still catch it over on YouTube to find even more inspiration.

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy, Basic Grey, Copper Clay luster cardstock
Heartfelt Sympathy stamps & punch
Night of Navy & gold glittered ribbon
Brushed metallic dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

All ads on this site are posted by WordPress.  Song Sparrow Papercrafts is not responsible for ad content.

Terrific Tuesdays

Enjoy Your Day

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While I don’t always find it easy to make masculine cards, sometimes you sketch a layout from an inspiration card and find that it’s absolutely perfect for all sorts of occasions. Such is the case with a card layout I sketched a long while back that calls for swapping out the corner of the background panel. As soon as I ran across the sketch, it immediately went in the to-do project list for this week’s masculine-themed card designs.

This card design begins with a base of one of my favorite colors right now — Pretty Peacock. The diamond patterned sheet is from the One Horse Open Sleigh paper pack and the corner piece is from Inked Botanicals. A thin border of Pretty Peacock is allowed to peek through in between the two patterned pieces. The sentiment is stamped in Pretty Peacock and is from the Heartfelt Hellos stamp set in the newly-released Sale-a-Bration catalog. The sentiment panel is punched using the coordinating Heartfelt Hexagon punch. A twist of iridescent ribbon helps draw the eye to the sentiment, along with the Pretty Peacock sequins.

There are a number of ways that you can use this sketch, but in this case I wanted to use two coordinating patterns of patterned paper for the two background panel elements. And one major take-away I have from designing cards for this week is to never count out an unlikely pack of paper for masculine designs because that’s where you’re likely to find a perfect fit for your project. Today’s card is a perfect example of that. Never in a million years did I think I would find a likely candidate in One Horse Open Sleigh or Inked Botanicals! So, in short, leave no stone unturned — and consider all of the options you have in your stash.

Interested in seeing what other masculine designs we were able to put together using the Heartfelt Hexagon bundle? Hop on over to YouTube and check out this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays!

Products used in today’s design:
Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
One Horse Open Sleigh, Inked Botanicals DSP
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Iridescent ribbon (retired)
Sequins trio
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Terrific Tuesdays

You’re the Best

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This week’s focus is all about masculine cards. I sometimes find it challenging to design masculine cards. And that often has to do with my mindset — particularly this idea that the theme has to be clear through the images and/or patterns I choose. But that’s how we end up boxing ourselves in creatively. Sometimes it’s all about reminding ourselves to trust the creative process as much when designing masculine cards as we do with any other occasion.

For today’s design, I wanted to create something that was warm and inviting. I was carrying that comfy old Victorian library feeling forward from another design. And that helped shape the patterned paper options I pulled for this card. I kept the card base light but warm by choosing Very Vanilla. All of the patterned papers are from the All About Autumn paper pack. To add extra emphasis to the sentiment panel, I used a mat of the foiled paper diecut using the Nested Essentials set. The sentiment from Heartfelt Hellos is stamped in Pretty Peacock on Very Vanilla and then punched with the coordinating hexagon punch. The Pecan Pie bordered ribbon adds another layer of emphasis to the sentiment panel, and the touch of sparkle from the copper sequins adds that “you’re special” feeling to the design.

So the next time you really like a layout but find it difficult to adapt to feeling more masculine, try picturing the feeling you’d like to evoke with your design and see how that influences your decisions on design elements. I think you’ll be surprised!

Curious what other masculine card designs we made during this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays? You can check it out on my YouTube channel!

Products used in today’s design:
Very Vanilla cardstock
All About Autumn (retired) DSP
Heartfelt Hexagon stamps & punch
Heartfelt Hellos stamps
Pecan Pie bordered ribbon
Neutrals sequins
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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