Tag: Sneak peek

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · L2S Group Instahop

Birthday Florals

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome, crafty friends! I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday with friends & family. Our time was filled with music, food, memories, and fun! And today we’re snuggled in enjoying a day of rest. What about you? I know lots of folks like to get out and shop the deals on the day after Christmas. I would much rather do that in my PJs these days myself.

On to crafty things. I wanted to highlight the beautiful new Mixed Media Florals bundle that will be launching in the January 7th Mini Catalog. Today’s design began with Sketch #16 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, but when all is said and done, it’s more of a jumping off point for today’s card. I love how the elements work together in this design to move your eye down and across.

We get started with a base of Basic Black cardstock. The background panel is a sheet of the Mixed Media Florals designer series paper. Our focal elements are all standing front and center thanks to some dimensionals. That starts with the greenery cut from a sheet of pastel ombre glimmer paper using the Mixed Florals dies. I added a few flowers cut from white and Real Red glimmer paper using the Country Woods dies. The flower centers are gold low profile dots. A paper butterfly is coming in for a sniff up in the corner. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in black on white cardstock and then cut using the Heart Shaped banner die. We ground the sentiment with a strip of Shaded Spruce satin & sheer ribbon that is tied off with some gold thread.

Products used in today’s card:
Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Mixed Media Florals (coming soon), pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon), white glimmer, Real Red festive glimmer DSP
Beautiful Butterflies stamps (coming soon)
Mixed Florals (coming soon), Country Flowers, Heart Shaped (coming soon) dies
Paper butterfly
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Shaded Spruce satin & sheer ribbon, gold thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Purrrfect Hello

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re continuing to get some sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. And as soon as I saw this large-scaled cat stamp, I just had to have it. I often mentioned my “office assistants” in my social media posts. We’re a family of cat people and currently have 4 fur babies in the house and feed a colony of feral kitties outside. Each and every one of them is spoiled in their own way, even the ferals. While not everyone is a fan of cats, we love them and enjoy getting to see their individual personalities really shine.

So on to today’s project, today we’re pairing two new lovely papers — Beautiful Bokeh and Timeless Plaid — with the cute new background stamp called Meow Mates. One thing I took for granted was being able to get the coat pattern in my mind’s eye translate to paper. Next time, I’m going to try using my watercolor pencils instead of Stampin’ Blends —namely because I’m simply better with the subtleties and blending with the watercolor pencils than I am with blends. And that just comes down to practice!

We get started with a base of Petal Pink cardstock. A sheet of Beautiful Bokeh paper serves as our backdrop for the larger center focal panel. The focal panel background is a sheet of Timeless Plaid cut with the Perennial Postage dies. I stamped the Meow Mates image in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then selected the portion I wanted to highlight and cut using the Spotlight on Nature dies. I colored in the cats with Stampin’ Blends. I used a twist of gold thread behind the image panel to draw the eye in. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then cut with the Mixed Labels die and adhered it over a strip of Petal Pink striped ribbon. The focal section is all adhered using dimensionals to bring it forward (literally). Low profile dots across the card front bring our color palette together and add some pops of interest to draw the eye across the design.

I’m looking forward to playing around more with the coloring and shading of the Meow Mates stamp. And we’ll see if we can find a version that looks a bit more realistic than cartoon-y. I still have several more favorites to show this week, so I hope you’ll stop back in.

Products used in today’s card:
Petal Pink, Basic White cardstock
Timeless Plaid (coming soon), Beautiful Bokeh (coming soon) DSP
Meow Mates (coming soon), Beautiful Butterflies (coming soon) stamps
Perennial Postage, Spotlight on Nature, Mixed Labels (coming soon) dies
Stampin’ Blends
Petal Pink striped ribbon, gold thread
Low profile dots (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Made My Day

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re marching right into Christmas, but I think I’m finally ready. What about you? Do you still have things on your to-do list? Today, I’ve put the last batch of holiday cards in the mail (I hope) and I’m making the last batch of holiday Chex mix and doing a bit of cleaning. But otherwise, packages are wrapped and we’re ready to go.

The last few days leading up to Christmas are always a bit reflective for me. As a church singer, the music I’m usually preparing for these last few days of Advent puts me in that frame of mind. But this year hits just a little differently.

We’re continuing our sneak peeks at some of my favorite things from the new Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs that are set to release on January 7th. Today, we’re pairing Sketch #17 from the Annual Catalog with the new Timeless Plaid patterned paper and Mixed Labels stamps.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. Our backdrop is a split panel of Regal Winter cardstock matted with Pretty in Pink glimmer paper. The focal panel is a sheet of Timeless Plaid patterned paper cut with the Deckled Rectangles dies. I used some Blackberry Bliss & Gold ribbon to bring out the subtle stripes of purple in the plaid and really tie our color palette together. The sentiment from Mixed Labels is stamped in Blackberry Bliss on Petal Pink and then diecut using the Unbounded Love dies. A wrap of some gold thread and a few purple fine shimmer gems bring things together.

Products used in today’s card:
Blackberry Bliss, Petal Pink cardstock
In Color glimmer, Timeless Plaid (coming soon), Regal Winter DSP
Mixed Labels stamps (coming soon)
Unbounded Love, Deckled Rectangles dies
Blackberry Bliss & Gold ribbon, gold thread
Purple fine shimmer gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Clear Skies for ’25

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re continuing our sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs. And today, we’re making a super easy easel calendar using the new Everyday Skies designer paper and (what is clearly showing as one of my top favorites) the pastel ombre glimmer paper. I just love all of the skies depicted in this paper pack — from moody to dark to beautiful sunrises & sunsets, this pack has them all!

I needed some simple Christmas gift stuffers, so I whipped up these two easel calendars last night. Let’s see how these two beauties come together.

For the first calendar, we get started with Basic Black cardstock. This is cut so that the card would be in portrait orientation and the score mark is at the top. To make the easel holder in the center of the base, I cut down a quarter panel of black to 4-inches by 5.5-inches and scored it in half and then a half-inch from each side on the short edge. I chose a lovely sunrise sheet from the Everyday Skies paper pack and matted it with the pink/purple ombre glimmer paper. I moved the mini calendar around until I got the placement just right to show off the beautiful sky. A few two-tone sparkle gems give us some twinkle.

For the second calendar, we start with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. This time I chose a night sky from the Everyday Skies paper pack. I kept the mat color the same but varied the direction of the ombre coloring to really bring out the subtle colors in the sky. Two-tone sparkle gems give little glints of twinkle like stars.

These calendars are super easy to put together. I made the two of these in less than 30 minutes. You can try it out for yourself by downloading the full PDF instructions here.

Products used in today’s featured designs:
Taylored Expressions mini calendars
Basic Black, Night of Navy cardstock
Everyday Skies (coming soon), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon) DSP
Two-tone sparkle gems (coming soon)
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog

Sending Big Hugs

susanfoxbowen2 Comments

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

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Time to Celebrate

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re getting some sneak peeks at some of my favorite products from the upcoming Stampin’ Up! January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs that are set to release on January 7th. Today’s card comes together in a snap thanks to the newest paper packs — Wildflower Birthday and pastel ombré glimmer paper. The new Wildflower Birthday pack makes quick work of festive cards and is the perfect addition to any crafter’s stash for those last-minute cards.

This super clean-and-simple design starts with a base of Basic White cardstock. The focal panel is a panel cut from the sheet of tags in the Wildflower Birthday designer series paper pack. I used the pink/purple sheet of pastel ombré glimmer paper as the mat behind the focal panel and tied everything together with the new Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon. The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is stamped in Melon Mambo directly on top of the focal panel. We finish things off with a little bling from the new two-tone sparkle gems pack.

Products used in today’s design:
Basic White cardstock
Pastel ombre (coming soon!), Wildflower Birthday (coming soon!) DSP
Beautiful Butterflies stamps (coming soon!)
Fresh Freesia seam binding ribbon (coming soon!)
Two-tone sparkle gems (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon · January Mini Catalog · Sale-a-Bration

Pretty Wonderful

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

As we’re racing to the finish of the fall semester, we find ourselves running to and fro from various school activities and holiday events and rehearsals. I think we might get one evening at home this week. I’m glad I took a little time over the weekend to work on some crafty projects!

This week, we’re taking some sneak peeks at products from the upcoming January Mini and Sale-a-Bration catalogs from Stampin’ Up! Today we’re pairing up a Sale-a-Bration patterned paper pack with new stamps & dies.

Our card design uses Sketch #18 from the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog, which makes putting this card together a breeze. Once again, we’re using the Luv 2 Stamp Group’s monthly color combo to make our color selections — Night of Navy, Pool Party, and Melon Mambo. We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our background panel is a sheet of the new SAB Bloom Impressions paper separated into large shutters. The focal section consists of our sentiment and focal image. The sentiment from Mixed Labels is stamped in Pool Party on white cardstock and then cut with the coordinating sentiment die from the Mixed Labels die set, which is mounted over some crinkled Pool Party ribbon and a strip of the new Beautiful Bokeh paper cut into a banner. The butterfly is diecut using the new Beautiful Butterflies dies. I layered Pool Party pastel ombré glimmer paper and black cardstock to create the butterfly. The focal section is adhered with dimensionals to help it stand out against our field of flowers. A few of the new Sunny Day iridescent dots draw the eye to our sentiment.

I’m going to be showing you more of the Beautiful Butterflies a little later this week because, YOU GUYS, it is just fabulous! There are so many possibilities with this bundle, including some shape cards, that I can’t wait to share. But we’ll be getting a broader look at my new products favorites before we dive in to the details of each.

Products used in today’s design:
Night of Navy, Basic Black, Basic White cardstock
Bloom Impressions (coming soon!), Pastel ombre glimmer (coming soon!), Beautiful Bokeh (coming soon!) DSP
Beautiful Butterflies (coming soon!) dies
Mixed Labels bundles (coming soon!)
Pool Party crinkle ribbon
Sunny Day iridescent dots (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Christmas · Coming Soon

Sending Snowy Cheer

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s that time of year where we’re all in holiday mode. Swiping all of the sale items off our lists to give to loved ones and friends. Taking the annual family photos. Carefully choosing the annual holiday cards.

Today, I’m sharing another holiday card from this year’s crafting stash. I have several versions of this particular design that I hope to try, but this is by far the simplest one, I think. And I just love the look of the new Soft Waves embossing folder that will release with the new catalog in January. Doesn’t it give the perfect look of snow drifts swirling swiftly across this scene?

We get started with a base of Real Red cardstock. The background panel is a quarter panel of Real Red that’s embossed with the new (not yet released) Soft Waves embossing folder and then lightly wiped with craft ink to give the look of swirling snow. To create the snowdrift in the front, I took a panel of white cardstock and tore it to create the perfectly soft and frayed-looking top edges. Our mailbox from Sending Love is stamped in black on white cardstock and colored with Stampin’ Blends. I cut with the coordinating die and then made the cuts even tighter with my paper snips. The wreath from the Sophisticated Sled stamp set is stamped in Shaded Spruce and Old Olive and then colored with Stampin’ Blends before I cut it out with the coordinating die. I also tightened up the edges around the wreath with paper snips to reduce the white space. I slit the wreath and then put it around the mailbox. Dimensionals help give it definition all around. The bow is cut using the Peaceful Evergreens dies and is cut from gold foil paper. Dimensionals help give the whole scene layers and dimension for all of the elements. I wrapped some red & white baker’s twine around the bottom of the focal panel and added the sentiment from the Joyful Sayings ephemera pack. Gold snowflakes and gold iridescent gems finish things off with just the right amount of sparkle.

Tomorrow, I hope you’ll pop in to see how I’ve updated our dinner table prayer for the season of Advent.

Product List
Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[102482]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Gold Foil Sheets
[132622]
$5.00
Sending Love Cling Stamp Set (English)
[162873]
$25.00
Sending Love Dies
[162879]
$35.00
Sophisticated Sled Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[164340]
$24.00
Sophisticated Sled Dies
[164133]
$35.00
Peaceful Evergreens Dies
[164024]
$40.00
Whisper White Craft Stampin' Ink Refill
[101780]
$7.00
Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad
[101406]
$10.50
Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad
[147088]
$9.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
[147090]
$9.00
Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack
[154882]
$11.00
Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends Combo Pack
[154903]
$11.00
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack
[154904]
$11.00
Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Combo Pack
[154880]
$11.00
Old Olive Stampin' Blends Combo Pack
[154892]
$11.00
Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)
[164109]
$9.50
Adhesive Backed Snowflake Assortment
[162129]
$8.00
Iridescent Foil Gems
[162842]
$8.00
Real Red & White Baker's Twine
[164051]
$5.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Coming Soon

Otter Failure

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re getting a closeup at one of the latest Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive releases called Otterly Adorable, coming to a cart near you on November 5! This adorable suite of products includes coordinating stamps, dies, and patterned paper, along with some silky cording and pearlized embellishments.

Today, I had planned to show you a super cute flip-panel design, but it turned out to be an otter failure. *snicker* In all seriousness though, my design was flawed from the start and I realized why after I switched gears to salvage the design. So I promise to make good on a cute flip-panel design later this week when I have a bit more time to execute a more complicated design. In the meantime, let’s get a closer look at how a failure turned into a cute peek-through panel.

Today’s card starts with a base of Pool Party cardstock. Our backdrop is a combination of Lost Lagoon shimmer pape (sadly retired) and the water foliage pattern from the Otterly Adorable paper pack. Using the largest circle from the Spotlight on Nature die set, I cut a circle through all layers of the card front. Separately, I also used the die to cut the two swimming otters from a separate patterned sheet from the Otterly Adorable pack. I adhered the swimming otters panel to the Pool Party circle and then to a quarter sheet of Pool Party to keep the inside of the card neat and tidy and one color. Behind our backdrop panel, I mounted some acetate to serve as the peek-through window into the water below and adhered all of this to the card front. From Flirty Flamingo, I cut several sets of the smaller fish using the Otterly Amazing dies and let them free-float on the acetate. Our swimming otter panel is adhered to the inside of the card using dimensionals to allow a little room for our fish to swim in the window. The sentiment from Country Flowers is stamped in Pretty Peacock on white cardstock diecut using the Greetings of the Season die and finished off with the Lost Lagoon soft cording. A few riverside irregular pearls add that last touch of sparkle to the design.

When I showed my son my “otter failure,” he said, “but mom, that doesn’t look like a failure….that’s cute!” One of the many lessons I’ve learned is that sometimes you just need to pivot when your first idea doesn’t work out. Not ever failure turns out to be something for the trash bin. Sometimes it’s cute!

Products used in today’s card:
Pool Party, Flirty Flamingo, Basic White cardstock
Soft Shimmer (retired), Otterly Adorable (coming soon), acetate DSP
Otterly Amazing (coming soon), Spotlight on Nature, Greetings of the Season dies
Country Flowers stamps
Lost Lagoon soft cording (coming soon)
Riverside irregular pearls (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[122924]
$11.50
Flirty Flamingo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[141416]
$11.50
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[159276]
$13.00
Soft Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper
[161750]
$11.00
Window Sheets
[142314]
$5.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
Greetings Of The Season Dies
[164112]
$32.00
Country Flowers Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
[163405]
$24.00
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad
[150083]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Coming Soon

Make Today Otterly Amazing

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

In just two short weeks, Stampin’ Up! will release a brand new set of Online Exclusive products, including the too-cute-for-words Otterly Adorable suite. This week, I’m featuring this cute selection of products in hopes of providing some inspiration for your future projects. This bundle has so much potential — from playful designs to love-themed projects and all kinds of things in between!

Today, we’re using the paper and embellishments to create an encouragement card. Pairing the paper with a few dies makes this the perfect scene to bring a smile to someone’s otherwise less than bright and happy day!

Our card starts with a base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I chose the watery pattern from the Otterly Amazing paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our scene and matted it with the Pretty Peacock shimmer paper from my retired paper stash. Our focal panel consists of two sheets of paper — the water reed patterned sheet and a cute otter sitting in the reeds from one of the sheets full of otter vignettes. I used the Spotlight on Nature dies to cut the reed background and a smaller inset panel on which our sunbathing otter sits among the reeds. I used my paper snips to cut more detail in this cute vignette and to help it stand out from the background. All of these layers are adhered with varying heights of dimensionals to give more depth and pop to our scene. A twisted some of the new Lost Lagoon soft cording around the background panel before adhering the focal panel. The sentiment from the You Are Beautiful stamp set is stamped in Pretty Peacock directly on our background panel under the focal point. A few riverside irregular pearls are scattered about our card front to add a little sheen and draw the eye across the design.

Tomorrow we’re going to make a splash with a fun fold design!

Products used in today’s card:
Lost Lagoon cardstock
Otterly Amazing (coming soon), Soft Shimmer (retired) DSP
You Are Beautiful stamps
Spotlight on Nature dies
Lost Lagoon soft cording (coming soon)
Riverside irregular pearls (coming soon)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List
Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
[133679]
$11.50
Soft Shimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper
[161750]
$11.00
Spotlight On Nature Dies
[163580]
$35.00
You Are Beautiful Cling Stamp Set (English)
[163704]
$24.00
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad
[150083]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart