Valentines

Happy Valentine’s Day

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

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

Valentines

Wish You Were Here

Hello, crafty friends. Welcome in. I know it’s only Tuesday, but it sure feels like we’ve lived about 3 Mondays this week! Anyone else? Hopefully the rest of the week smooths out.

This week we’re tipping our hats to our loved ones near & far as we think of ways we can honor the upcoming Valentine holiday in our designs this week. And today I still wanted to give a nod to the fellas with this blue-hued design combining blue cardstock and a few elements from the 12 Days of Advent calendar.

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our blue floral backdrop panel is from the patterned paper pack from this year’s Advent calendar. And the same goes for a sentiment panel — it’s one of the 3×4 notecards from the Advent calendar that’s been matted with Night of Navy before being adhered to the center of the card front with dimensionals. And to finish things off, some of the darker opal rounds are added in opposing corners to draw the eye across the design.

I think this is the perfect card to send to a friend you don’t see often — just to let them know they’re on your mind. And it could easily be for a guy or gal pal. What do you think?

I’ll be taking a break tomorrow to attend the kiddo’s basketball game. But we’ll be back at it on Thursday. Hope to see you then!

Products used in this design:

Night of Navy cardstock; 2025 Adventure Calendar; Misty Moonlight & Silver edged ribbon; Opal rounds; Dimensionals

Valentines

Extra Special Grove

Welcome back, friends! It’s Monday and my tail is dragging. What about yours? After getting a little crafty time on Saturday morning, the hubby & I set about tackling our to-do list for the day. Late in the afternoon, I got a headache that eventually morphed into a migraine. So my grand plan for rewarding myself for conquering our to-do list by playing in the craft room again was replaced by retiring to bed early and sleeping with a pillow over my head. Womp-womp.

So here we are at Monday again and time for a new design challenge. This week, we’re thinking about the upcoming Valentine holiday, if we want to call it that. It’s actually a perfect time to let your friends know you’re thinking of them — and that special someone too, of course! So we’re starting off with one for the fellas since they didn’t really get their due last week. And we’re combining the new Aspen Grove stamp set with the Country Woods paper and a sentiment from the 2025 Advent Calendar.

We get started with a base of Smoky Slate cardstock. A sheet of the grey woodgrain from the Country Woods paper pack serves as our focal backdrop. I arranged the Aspen Grove stamps on a large block and stamped the row of trunks in black ink onto white cardstock. I layered several shades of green leaves up top to create the treetop canopy. To give some realistic depth to the tree trunks, we use Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends down the left side of each one, which gives a shadow effect. I filled in a touch of blue in the background with Cloud Cover ink, but you could easily skip this shading (and next time, I think I will!). The focal panel is downsized using the Textured Notes die and then adhered to the woodgrain backdrop. The full panel is wrapped in black & gold bakers twine that is tied in a knot on the left side before the focal panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. The sentiment panel is cut from Cloud Cover cardstock with the Stylish Shapes circle die and then the sentiment from the 12 Days of Christmas Advent calendar is stamped in black in the center and then adhered over the twine with dimensionals. I added a few of the lighter Shades of Green Hexagons on either side of the sentiment to draw the eye in and add a bit of colorful eye candy.

This design is 100% inspired by one of the samples from the January Mini catalog. Much like using a sketch, you can take a design and make it your own with a substitution here & there. It’s another great trick when you’re either short on time or lacking a little inspiration — or both!

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see another Valentine-inspired design.

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Masculine Designs

Sweet Dreams

Happy Saturday, everyone! My crazy week at the office ended with a crazy long day that seems to have followed me into the weekend. Sometimes that’s just the life of a public servant. While I have lots of things on the to-do list, I’m not feeling very motivated to get any of them done. So into the craft room we shall retreat. *grin*

This week, we’re looking at shortcuts for creating masculine designs. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s just plain difficult to create a masculine card. One way we can shortcut the process is using a more geometric card sketch. Another way is to choose a more masculine-inspired color scheme. And along those veins, today we’re combining the idea of layout and color scheme with a monochromatic, geometric look.

Today’s design gets started with a base of Cloud Cover cardstock. The background of our focal panel is a quarter sheet of Cloud Cover that has been machine embossed with the Forever Plaid embossing folder, and I chose to do so on the diagonal for that geometric visual interest. This embossed panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. Our sentiment panel begins with a strip of the blue Country Woods woodgrain patterned paper that is adhered on the diagonal across our card front. To keep with the monochromatic color palette, I chose the words sweet dreams from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack. The sentiment is adhered to the woodgrain panel with a glue pen and then I covered the letters and star with Wink of Stella for the added drama of a little shimmer. We finish things off with some blue Rainbow Adhesive Dots on either side of the sentiment and a few Cloud Cover sequins in opposing corners.

I created this card for my kiddo for Valentine’s Day. He has a basketball tournament that day, so it will be fun to use the play on words of sweet dreams to share some chocolate and encouragement to reach for his dreams. A little later today we’re going to talk about how we can shortcut a masculine design with our stamps. I hope you’ll drop back in and check it out.

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Masculine Designs

Great Explorer

Happy Thursday, everyone! Whew — it’s been a rough week as we have all transitioned back to normal life after the Winter Storm Fern. Work and school and all of the things are back in full swing, and I guess I just wasn’t ready. Hopefully next week will go a little more smoothly.

But all that aside, I’m back with some more tips & tricks for those masculine cards. This week, we’re looking for those shortcuts to make cards for the fellas come together a little quicker. We started by using a sketch with geometric patterns. Today, we’re focusing on color palette as we take our cues from the new Nature Walk paper released by Stampin’ Up! This gorgeous paper combines hues of blue and brown and green to create perfect subtle patterns. We’re pairing it up with the newer Outdoor Adventure stamp & die set to make our adventure-themed card.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock and then add a sheet of the Nature Walk patterned paper as our backdrop. We cut an accent piece from a sheet of Timeless Plaid using the Textured Notes rectangle dies and adhered on the left side of our card. I stamped a stand of trees on white cardstock in a combination of Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, and Soft Sea Foam using the Outdoor Adventure stamp and then cut it out with one of the smaller Spotlight on Nature dies. It’s adhered over a bow of Secret Sea cardstock with dimensionals. Our wolf is stamped in Smoky Slate on Cloud Cover cardstock and then cut with the coordinating die from the Outdoor Adventure die set. It’s adhered at the bottom of our tree panel with several layers of dimensionals for some extra depth in the scene. I stamped the sentiment from the Outdoor Adventure set onto vellum with Versamark and then heat embossed with silver embossing powder. It’s cut out with the banner die from the Stylish Shapes set using the extension method to make it long enough to capture the full sentiment. The sentiment banner is adhered at the top of our focal panel using glue dots on either end to make it look like the banner is rippling in the wind. We finish things off with some Mossy Meadow and Secret Sea embellishments from the Moody Palette and Sparkle dot sets.

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see a clean and simple design that comes together in minutes.

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Masculine Designs

Amazing Nature

Howdy, friends. Can you believe it’s Monday already? There was lots on the to-do list this weekend which meant that the weekend flew by, but it felt good to get most of what we had on the list all done. We bid adieu to the Christmas decorations (am I the only one who waits until February to take it down?) and put the house back together.

This week we’re beginning a new design series that’s all about the fellas. It can sometimes be hard to make cards that feel more masculine, but we’re going to explore our crafty stash together and find some shortcuts to masculine designs. And today’s shortcut begins with a sketch. I’ve found that a geometric feel to a card layout can lend itself to feeling more masculine. With a more neutral color palette and some earthy patterns in the Autumn Toile and Nature Walk papers, we have the perfect recipe for a card fit for a dear dude. (Did you catch my play on words there? *wink*)

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I used a sheet of the Mossy Meadow Nature Walk patterned paper to serve as the backdrop for the design. Our three repeating shapes are from the Nested Essentials die set and are cut from a sheet of the Autumn Toile patterned paper. I really love how you can still make out the original scene as you look down the three shapes and how the deer repeat in each panel in a perfect triangle.

The sentiment panel finishes our visual triangle and is punched from vanilla cardstock with the To the Point label punch. The sentiment from the Words of Beauty stamp set is stamped in Early Espresso. We cut some oak leaves and acorns from Cajun Craze and Early Espresso cardstocks and adhere them behind the sentiment panel, along with a twist of white & gold baker’s twine. The whole panel is then adhered to the card front with dimensionals. And we finish everything off with some gold drusy embellishments for the perfect pop of sparkle.

Today’s sketch is from the current Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and also happens to be our current Luv 2 Stamp team challenge sketch. What do you think about using a sketch to inspire your masculine cards?

I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow to see what other tips we can use to make creating masculine cards a little less challenging!

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January Mini Catalog

Filled With Happiness

Welcome back for today’s bonus post! This week, we’re working with the new Memories & More card set from Stampin’ Up! called Days Like This. These notecards come in two sizes — 3×4 and 4×6 — and they can make it super easy to put a card together in a flash. And today’s bonus card is a perfect example of how you can do just that!

This card starts with a base of white cardstock. We use one of the 4×6 cards from the Days Like This pack and cut it down to size to serve as the backdrop for our focal panel. Using the largest banner die from the Stylish Shapes set, we cut out the sentiment from our backdrop panel before we adhere the background panel to the card front. To help our sentiment stand out and to add a bit more color to our design, we cut a rectangle from the small butterfly-patterned card with the Textured Notes Dies using the extension method. This rectangular piece is adhered over the cut-out in our background panel and adhered with dimensionals over it. Then we add our sentiment panel on top with dimensionals. I cut out the butterfly from a scrap of one of the smaller 3×4 cards I still had on hand and added some Wink of Stella and then tucked it behind the right-hand corner of the sentiment. I grabbed a few of the gold foil hearts from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack and added them around the sentiment panel and finished things off with a few opal rounds and just a touch of Wink of Stella on the butterfly on our backdrop.

This one comes together in less than 5 minutes and is the perfect way to spread a little handmade kindness to someone who might need a little pick-me-up. Next week, we’re going to use the crafty stash to create more masculine designs. It’s going to be fun to pull together new & less-new products to make some projects for the fellas. I hope you’ll drop by and check them all out!

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Fun Folds · January Mini Catalog

Grateful Forever

Welcome in, crafty friends, on this frigid Saturday! We had a brief warm-up yesterday with temps well above freezing and today we’re back down in the low 20s. We’re thankful for the brief period of time we had to thaw out from all of the ice and snow Winter Storm Fern left us. And we’re praying for all of those in the areas that are still in the midst of the freeze and are without power and basic utilities. Having been there during Winter Storm Uri back in 2021, we personally know all too well what that is like!

We’re continuing our design series using the new Days Like This Memories & More card pack from Stampin’ Up! I love having at least one set of Memories & More cards on hand for those times when I need to make a quick card for a specific occasion. Today we’re using the Beautiful Butterflies dies and Lovely & Beautiful paper to make a fun fold card. Our Memories & More cards are perfect for the finishing touches on the inside of our card. Let’s see how this one comes together.

We get started with a base of Lemon Lolly cardstock on a standard A2 card base. We’re using a sheet of the Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper as the backdrop for our card front. The front panel focal panel is a fold-over panel of Lemon Lolly shimmer paper cut using the Beautiful Butterflies dies. This fold-over panel is cut just large enough to give us our butterfly shape for the front with about a half-inch strip to adhere to the inside panel of our card. Our butterfly details are made from vellum and black cardstock cut with the Beautiful Butterflies dies. The vellum is colored with the black Stampin’ Blend and then a layer of Wink of Stella is added to both pieces for some nice subtle twinkle. The detail pieces are adhered to the butterfly panel with glue dots. The front-facing part of our sentiment is the word grateful from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack and is adhered at the base of the fold-over butterfly panel with several layers of dimensionals. I added some clear opal rounds on either side of the butterfly panel to draw the eye in to our front focal section.

When you lift the butterfly panel, lots of extra detail is revealed, including the second portion of our sentiment. I used the hybrid embossing folder to cut a detail butterfly from the Lemon Lolly glimmer paper and adhered it to the back of the fold-over panel. I love this hidden detail and it makes the butterfly more realistic because there’s a front and back view to their wings, after all. I cut a smaller butterfly from the hybrid embossing folder panel and used gold foil to add the details to coordinate with the gold foil forever sentiment from the Unforgettable Times ephemera pack. A small bow tied from the black & gold baker’s twine ties the two sentiment panels together.

We open our card to reveal our sentiment panel — complete with additional butterfly detailing. Here we’re using our Memories & More cards to add the finishing touches to the inside of our card. A larger 4×6 card from the pack serves as the patterned panel for the left-hand side of the message panel. I had a scrap of one of the smaller 3×4 butterfly cards left in my stash, and I cut out one of the butterflies to add to the corner of the patterned sheet. We use half of the more subtle butterfly-patterned 3×4 card to decorate the message panel. A few Peach Pie pearls finish off the opposing corners of the inside panels.

I love how each of the panels of this card reveals a fun surprise. And while it looks like a super complicated design, it really comes together quickly thanks to beautiful paper and Memories & More cards. I have a super quick & easy bonus card to bring you this evening once I knock out today’s around-the-house to-do list. I hope you’ll drop back by to check it out.

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January Mini Catalog · L2S Group Instahop

Smiles and Laughter

Howdy, everyone! Anybody know what day it is? I say that because the kiddos are once again out of school today due to the weather and we have all completely lost track of what day it is! Good news tho — temps have hovered just above freezing overnight so we’re expecting all of our slick roadways to completely thaw today so the kiddos can return to school tomorrow. Fingers crossed anyway!

This week we’re having fun with the new Days Like This Memories & More card pack that just released in the Stampin’ Up! January Mini catalog. Today we’re pairing it up with the new Lovely & Beautiful paper and Beautiful Butterflies dies to finish off the message panel of our card. Let’s see how it all comes together.

We get started with a base of Pool Party cardstock. Our card front begins with the larger floral pattern foil sheet from the Lovely & Beautiful patterned paper pack. The sentiment from the Lovely Arrangements stamp set is stamped in a combination of Versamark and Pretty Peacock and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. We use the smaller banner die from the Stylish Shapes die set to cut out the sentiment using the extension method to get the full sentiment and a little border. The sentiment panel is adhered over a faux bow of black & gold bakers twine using dimensionals. Now we work on our sparkly butterflies. The detail portion of each set of butterfly wings is cut from Pool Party shimmer paper using the Beautiful Butterflies dies. The larger wings are cut from vellum that is covered with Wink of Stella. Each butterfly body is cut from black cardstock that is covered with Wink of Stella. We assemble our butterflies with glue dots and then adhere them to our card front on either side of the sentiment panel using varying layers of dimensionals. And just look at how those butterflies sparkle thanks to our shimmer paper and Wink of Stella! We finish off our card front with some of the white opal rounds.

Our message panel is where our Days Like This cards come to our aid. We use one of the larger 4×6 panels as the base layer and the grid pattern is perfect for writing a nice straight message. I used a leftover scrap of the reverse side of the large base panel as the detail piece on the left-hand side. We tie together our butterfly theme between front and inside panels by adding a touch of Wink of Stella to the small butterfly in our side accent panel. The inside sentiment is diecut from one of the smaller 3×4 cards in the Days Like This pack using the Nested Essentials banner dies. We finish off our inside message panel with a few yellow opal rounds.

Today’s card is a part of the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instagram Hop, which goes live at 9 AM Pacific Time (PST).  Click here to head over to my Instagram feed at 9 AM Pacific/11 AM Central and check out what the other demos in our L2S Group have created for you today! 

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