Tag: Stampin' Up

Outdoor Adventure

Great Adventure

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

There is no greater appropriate post title than today’s. Wouldn’t you agree?! Life is truly a great adventure. And every day is a surprise. Will it go as planned or will something off-the-wall come up? Adventure indeed!

Speaking of adventures, this week we’re taking a trek through our crafty stash to create outdoorsy-themed projects. And today we’re getting a better look at the brand new stamp and die bundle that released this week called Outdoor Adventure. We have another clean and simple design today — just combining our new bundle with ink and paper to create this fun design.

We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. I had a small mountain panel leftover from a card-making session several weeks ago using the Light & Wonder dies that works perfectly with the design I had in mind today and it just so happened to be the perfect size to serve as the focal panel. We stamp some stands of evergreen trees using the new Outdoor Adventure stamps. They’re stamped in Pretty Peacock on Lost Lagoon and then cut with the coordinating die from the Outdoor Adventure die set. Next we stamp our focal point — the wolf — with Gray Granite ink on Smoky Slate cardstock and then diecut with the coordinating die. I arranged the sentiment from Outdoor Adventure on a single block and stamped all at once in Secret Sea in the bottom-left corner of the focal panel. And then we set to work assembling. I alternated the trees behind and in front of the focal panel and adhered the panel to the card front with dimensionals. The wolf is positioned below the center set of trees and above the sentiment, giving the look that our majestic wolf is strolling across the flat at the base of the rise of the mountain. A few iridescent frosted dots finish things off perfectly with an ethereal twinkle in the opposing corners.

What do you think of this clean & simple design? I was tickled when my scrap turned out to be an even better element in the design than I thought it might be! I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see where else we might go on our woodland trek this week.

Product List
Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165624 ]
[165624]
$14.00
Cloud Cover 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165621 ]
[165621]
$14.00
Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 133679 ]
[133679]
$14.00
Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 131202 ]
[131202]
$14.00
Outdoor Adventure Bundle (English) [ 168009 ]
[168009]
$38.50
Light & Wonder Dies [ 165762 ]
[165762]
$38.00
Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad [ 165285 ]
[165285]
$9.00
Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad [ 150083 ]
[150083]
$9.00
Gray Granite Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147118 ]
[147118]
$9.00
Frosted Iridescent Dots [ 165766 ]
[165766]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Online Exclusives · Outdoor Adventure

Let’s Explore

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, friends, and welcome in! Today is an exciting day. It’s new product release day! Have you checked out all of the new Online Exclusive items in my store? So much good stuff there!

As we continue our trek through the woods this week, we’re getting another peek at a *new* bundle of products — the Outdoor Adventure stamps & dies. We’re pairing up this new set of products with the Timeless Plaid paper to create a fun masculine design.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. Our backdrop is a sheet of the Timeless Plaid paper cut with the largest Perennial Postage die. The focal panel is a sheet of the Gathering Together paper cut with the Textured Notes dies. The two panels are adhered to our card base with dimensionals. We create our trekking footprints with Crumb Cake cardstock and the Outdoor Adventure footprint dies. They’re adhered to our focal panel with glue dots. The sentiment panel is a sheet of Cajun Craze on which we stamp our sentiment from the Outdoor Adventure stamp set in Cajun Craze ink and then diecut with the Textured Notes dies before adhering over our footprints with dimensionals. I used a twist of Cajun Craze linen thread to create a bundle of climbing rope that is adhered in the bottom-right corner of our focal panel. The sign post is created with a combination of Crumb Cake and Country Woods papers using the Outdoor Adventure dies and then adhered to our focal panel with dimensionals. A few Cajun Craze & gold dots finish things off with a touch of sparkly interest.

I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see what else some of the new SU! Online Exclusives can lend to our trek through the woods!

Product List
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 119684 ]
[119684]
$14.00
Timeless Plaid 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 164678 ]
[164678]
$12.50
Gathering Together 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 165969 ]
[165969]
$16.50
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163393 ]
[163393]
$12.50
Perennial Postage Dies [ 162607 ]
[162607]
$33.00
Textured Notes Dies [ 165555 ]
[165555]
$31.00
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147085 ]
[147085]
$9.00
Natural Tones Linen Thread [ 164071 ]
[164071]
$9.00
Cajun Craze & Gold Dots [ 165984 ]
[165984]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
Coming Soon · Online Exclusives · Winter

On My Mind

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, crafty friends! It was a busy weekend here in the studio as I worked furiously all weekend to make Christmas-themed product for an upcoming craft show. While I made a lot of progress, I still have quite a ways to go to be fully prepared for a Christmas market. Eeek!

But I digress. This week, we’re on to a new design theme, and I thought we would continue to hang out in the woods this week. The fun thing about a general theme is that we get a lot of freedom to pull all kinds of things from our crafty stash. *grin* And I’ll be sneaking in some of the new Online Exclusives that I snagged in my preorder.

So today we’re getting started with a sketch. When I saw the Freshly Made Sketches #709, I knew exactly what I wanted to pair together — the new Winter Scenes stamp set, the Elegant Pine Snowflakes paper, and the brand new Words of Beauty stamp set (releasing tomorrow!).

I kept things super simple with today’s color palette. We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. The sheet of white snowflakes from the Elegant Pine Snowflakes pack serves as our backdrop. Our focal panel starts with the mountain scene from the Winter Scenes stamp set on a postage stamp of white cardstock cut with the smaller square from the Perennial Postage die set. I did some light shading with Stampin’ Blends to add a touch of color to the scene and covered the scene with Wink of Stella for the perfect snowy twinkle. This scene is matted with some silver brushed silver and a square of Lost Lagoon cut with one of the smaller squares from the Stylish Shapes die set. The sentiment panel is a smaller banner cut from white cardstock using the Stylish Shapes dies. The sentiment from the *new* Words of Beauty stamp set is stamped in Pretty Peacock and then flanked with some silver drusy embellishments before being adhered on the back of the winter mountain scene panel. The full panel is adhered in the bottom-left corner with dimensionals.

Super simple but oh-so stunning, don’t you think? I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to see where our trek in the woods takes us!

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 133679 ]
[133679]
$14.00
Brushed Silver And Gold Foil 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [ 164861 ]
[164861]
$10.00
Elegant Pine Snowflakes 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 166066 ]
[166066]
$12.50
Winter Scenes Cling Stamp Set (English) [ 166088 ]
[166088]
$22.00
Perennial Postage Dies [ 162607 ]
[162607]
$33.00
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments [ 164223 ]
[164223]
$9.00
Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154903 ]
[154903]
$11.00
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [ 154904 ]
[154904]
$11.00
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [ 141897 ]
[141897]
$10.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Autumn · Autumn Trees

I’m Here

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome in on this beautiful Saturday, friends! It’s a stunning day here in North Texas as we’re getting our first real taste of fall weather this weekend. The sun is shining, the air is crisp, the leaves are just beginning to turn. It’s my time of year!

And speaking of fall, we’re closing out this week’s design series where we’ve been using the new Autumn Trees bundle by Stampin’ Up! to create this week’s projects. Today’s super clean & simple card design is inspired by all of the silhouette cards I’ve been seeing lately. It’s such a simple design technique, but it really does pack a punch!

So our design gets started today with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. This is the perfect blend of a blackish-blue that really brings out the moodiness in our beautiful backdrop from the Everyday Skies paper pack. We often see both sunrises and sunsets a lot like this scene, where it’s bright & beautiful and casts the perfect light for silhouettes. And here, our mighty oak and pair of deer are silhouetted by our beautiful sunset on the open prairie. To create this effect, we use the Autumn Trees dies to cut the shapes from black cardstock and then adhere them to our backdrop with dimensionals. I love how this accentuates the shadowing in our scene. The sentiment from the Beautiful Butterflies stamp set is heat embossed in black in top-right corner of our card and we flank the sentiment with some Secret Sea faceted shimmer dots as a finishing touch.

What do you think of this super easy design? I’m going to have to remember the silhouette technique more often with beautiful scene-building sets like this one! I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s series. I look forward to spending a little more time in the woods next week as we feature some of the new sets that will go live on Tuesday!

Product List
Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 165624 ]
[165624]
$14.00
Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 121045 ]
[121045]
$14.00
Everyday Skies 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 164622 ]
[164622]
$12.50
Autumn Trees Dies [ 165899 ]
[165899]
$38.00
Beautiful Butterflies Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 164608 ]
[164608]
$24.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Basics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165679 ]
[165679]
$21.00
Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots [ 166139 ]
[166139]
$8.50
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Autumn · Autumn Trees

Autumn Birthday Wishes

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Friday, friends! I don’t know about you but I can’t believe that we’re already at the end of October. The last part of the year always feels like it’s on fast forward.

We are continuing our design series for this week using the new Autumn Trees bundle by Stampin’ Up! And today we’re really letting the stamps take center stage in this beautiful masculine design, where we’re pairing our featured bundle with designer series paper and several die sets.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. A sheet of the neutral dot-patterned paper from the Gathering Together paper pack serves as our focal panel backdrop. I stamped the focal panel scene on white cardstock before diecutting it with the largest die from the Branching Out set. I used most of the stamps from the Autumn Trees stamp set to create our tranquil scene and then shaded everything with ink and blending brushes. I love the soft look that this lends. Our deer is stamped on Crumb Cake and then diecut with the coordinating die from the Autumn Trees set and adhered with dimensionals to give some depth to our scene. The sentiment from the 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar is stamped on Crumb Cake and then diecut with the Stylish Shapes banner die using the extension method to get the perfect length. The sentiment is adhered with dimensionals over linen thread that is wrapped around the focal panel. And we finish things of with gold iridescent foil dots in opposing corners for a touch of twinkle.

We’ll be wrapping up our autumn series tomorrow. I hope you’ll drop in and see what’s in store!

Product List
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Gathering Together 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 165969 ]
[165969]
$16.50
Autumn Trees Cling Stamp Set [ 165896 ]
[165896]
$25.00
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147116 ]
[147116]
$9.00
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [ 147111 ]
[147111]
$9.00
Cloud Cover Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [ 165279 ]
[165279]
$5.50
Autumn Trees Dies [ 165899 ]
[165899]
$38.00
Branching Out Dies [ 165775 ]
[165775]
$29.00
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Linen Thread [ 104199 ]
[104199]
$5.00
Iridescent Foil Gems [ 162842 ]
[162842]
$8.00
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Small Blending Brushes [ 160518 ]
[160518]
$14.00
Add All to Cart
Autumn · Autumn Trees · L2S Group Instahop

Autumn Window

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

So glad you’re back, friends! You probably noticed that my day shaped up as I expected and I didn’t have the opportunity to post yesterday. But never fear, the card design I had in mind is about halfway finished and coming your way tomorrow!

But today, we’re hopping along with the Luv 2 Stamp Group over on Instagram. And our card today continues our design series using the Autumn Trees bundle by Stampin’ Up! I thought it would be fun to do a variation of last month’s window card design by making it a double flap card to make room for a nice note section on the inside panel. Let’s take a look!

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock and cut a window using the largest Everyday Arches die. To make the shaker section, we cut a window frame from a sheet of Country Woods patterned paper using the largest and third largest dies to make the frame wide enough for our two-sided tape to adhere the window sheet. The front window frame is adhered directly to the card front. The second frame and window sheet is assembled and then we use adhesive foam strips to create the box in which the shaker elements will move about inside our window. Before adhering this window frame, we add our shaker bits to the back of the outside window sheet and then seal everything up with the inside window frame. I used the new shaker bits that I scored from my SU! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar.

Now we move on to our inside fold-out panel where we build a fall scene using the Autumn Leaves bundle and a sheet of Thoughtful Journey patterned paper. The base is a quarter sheet that is cut a half-inch wider to allow for the small fold-over flap that is adhered to the inside card base under the message panel. We get started by building our background scene. The mountain is cut directly from our patterned paper using the Scenic Adventure dies. The top piece of the sky is cut down to size and then adhered at the top of our panel and then the mountain section is adhered over it with dimensionals. I added Wink of Stella to the portion resembling a lake, giving it time to dry while we work on the forefront of our scene.

From another sheet of Thoughtful Journey, we cut a small section of trees using the Light & Wonder die set and adhered at the water’s edge and just under the mountain ridge. Using a small scrap of black cardstock, we use the deer die from the Autumn Trees set to cut the doe and fawn. They’re adhered directly to the background. Next up, I stamped the tree image from Autumn Trees in Early Espresso on the slightly smaller quarter sheet of Crumb Cake and shaded the trunk with blending brushes and Crumb Cake ink. We cut leaves in several different colors. I especially love the look of the red and green leaves from the Season of Elegance paper. Each set of colored leaves is adhered on top of the other with dimensionals and slightly askew of one another to create lots of depth. The tree is then adhered at the base of our scenic panel along the edge using dimensionals. We finish things off with some grass in the foreground that is cut from the other sheet of Thoughtful Journey using the Scenic Adventure die. This panel is then adhered to our inside panel with tear-n-tape along the small fold-over flap. The inside message panel has a small buck in the bottom corner and the sentiment from With You in Mind at the top.

This card is even prettier in person. And I thought you might enjoy seeing it in action to get an idea. *grin*

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! 

Product List
Crumb Cake 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock [ 166787 ]
[166787]
$22.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 166780 ]
[166780]
$14.00
Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 121045 ]
[121045]
$14.00
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163393 ]
[163393]
$12.50
Thoughtful Journey 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163303 ]
[163303]
$12.50
Season Of Elegance 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 164144 ]
[164144]
$16.50
Window Sheets [ 142314 ]
[142314]
$5.00
With You In Mind Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 164747 ]
[164747]
$20.00
Autumn Trees Bundle [ 165900 ]
[165900]
$56.50
Everyday Arches Dies [ 164629 ]
[164629]
$29.00
Light & Wonder Dies [ 165762 ]
[165762]
$38.00
Scenic Adventure Dies [ 165467 ]
[165467]
$31.00
Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [ 141897 ]
[141897]
$10.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Foam Adhesive Strips [ 141825 ]
[141825]
$8.25
Add All to Cart
Autumn · Autumn Trees

Grateful

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, friends, and welcome back! I’m so excited to be bringing you some fall cards this week. I almost feel like that maybe inspired Mother Nature to send us our first real cool weather here in North Texas. *snicker* If only that were true, but we really are cooling off here and the trees are starting to look like the fall show is imminent. Man, I love fall!

This week is all about autumn as we pull together things in our crafty stash that pair well with the new Stampin’ Up! bundle called Autumn Trees. This is a gorgeous stamp and die set that allows you to finish all of your fall scenes with the perfect complimentary trees and things. And today the dies from the set take center stage in this very clean & simple (and incredibly easy) design.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I left a teensy border of it exposed around the edges of the card to pull out some of the lighter colors in our sheet of Thoughtful Journey patterned paper. This sheet of fall grasses provides the perfect meadow backdrop for our doe and fawn pair from the Autumn Trees die set. The pair of deer are cut from a sheet of Cajun Craze cardstock and tucked behind our grassy panel to give the effect of them standing in an open part of the meadow. To create this look, I used the full 6×6 sheet of Thoughtful Journey and started by cutting around the top set of grasses to allow us to create some depth of field by adhering it over the top portion of the sheet with dimensionals. The sentiment from the Sentimental Framing stamp set is heat embossed in copper at the top of the sheet. A few drusy embellishments flank either side of the sentiment to draw the eye in and provide some sparkle in the sky.

And that’s all there is to this design. What do you think of this simple scene? The paper and dies really do all the work here with a stunningly simple result!

I have a full day at the office tomorrow but hope to have some time to bring you another clean & simple design using the Autumn Trees set. But you definitely want to tune in on Thursday when I’ll be bringing you a fun fold design as part of the Luv 2 Stamp Group Instahop. It’ll be worth the wait if it turns out half as well as the design idea!

Product List
Crumb Cake 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Cardstock [ 166787 ]
[166787]
$22.00
Cajun Craze 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 119684 ]
[119684]
$14.00
Thoughtful Journey 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [ 163303 ]
[163303]
$12.50
Autumn Trees Dies [ 165899 ]
[165899]
$38.00
Sentimental Framing Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [ 165475 ]
[165475]
$24.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165678 ]
[165678]
$21.00
Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments [ 164223 ]
[164223]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Add All to Cart
Autumn Trees · Fall

Means the World

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Here we are at the start of another week. Did you enjoy last week’s series as we worked our way through the Stampin’ Up! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar? I had a lot of fun coming up with things to make from each day’s new crafting goodies.

Well, this week, we’re turning back to autumn. I just got the new Autumn Trees bundle in a recent order, and I’ve been dying to get crafty with this awesome new set. The stamps and dies are so detailed and there are so many ways to really punch things up with this set. Today, the beautiful oak tree is taking center stage, along with our doe & fawn. Let’s see how this all comes together.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. This provides a nice neutral base that plays along with our nature-themed design. I used several different patterns from the Gathering Together patterned paper pack to create the backdrop for our focal images. The contrast from dark to light really let the beautiful tree and its foliage shine. The base image of our tree from the Autumn Tree set is stamped in Early Espresso on Copper Clay cardstock and then diecut with the coordinating die. (While this color is retired, you could just as easily substitute the Cajun Craze — it will simply be a bit brighter and I was going for a little more subdued.) The tree is adhered to the card front with glue dots. To really give some depth and realism to our beautiful fall foliage, I used the detailed leaves die from the die set and cut both Copper Clay and Oxidized Copper leaves and layered them a bit offset and affixed with dimensionals. I just love how the oxidized copper catches the light. The doe & fawn are the perfect addition to this serene scene. They’re cut from the woodgrain patterned sheet in the Gathering Together paper pack. The sentiment panel needed to be soft to allow our autumn scene to shine so I opted for some vellum. The sentiment from Gathering Moments is heat embossed in copper on the vellum and then diecut with the medium-sized banner in the Stylish Shapes set. It’s mounted over some Mossy Meadow & gold ribbon. And we finish things off with a touch of copper & gold in our Cajun Craze & Gold dots.

Tune in tomorrow as we take a stroll through the autumn meadow.

Product List
Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 120953 ]
[120953]
$14.00
Copper Clay 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock [ 161721 ]
[161721]
$11.50
Vellum Basics 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 160839 ]
[160839]
$10.00
Gathering Together 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 165969 ]
[165969]
$16.50
Oxidized Copper 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [ 162190 ]
[162190]
$8.00
Gathering Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) [ 165970 ]
[165970]
$26.00
Autumn Trees Bundle [ 165900 ]
[165900]
$56.50
Stylish Shapes Dies [ 159183 ]
[159183]
$30.00
Versamark Pad [ 102283 ]
[102283]
$9.50
Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder [ 165678 ]
[165678]
$21.00
Mossy Meadow & Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) [ 166158 ]
[166158]
$9.50
Cajun Craze & Gold Dots [ 165984 ]
[165984]
$9.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [ 104430 ]
[104430]
$4.25
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [ 144108 ]
[144108]
$4.25
Mini Glue Dots [ 103683 ]
[103683]
$7.25
Add All to Cart
12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Love

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome to the weekend, everyone, and to our last day of this week’s SU! 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar series. Each day, we’ve been opening two boxes in our Advent calendar and then creating a project with the new crafty goodies. Let’s see what’s in boxes 11 & 12 today!

Alright, so we’re closing our 12 days of crafty treats with some gold glittery glue, a package of embossed notecards, and some beautiful, intricate laser cut pieces. Let’s get to work and see how we can put a lot of our new crafty goodness to work today. The first thing that I wanted to do was work with the laser cut pieces to create a focal feature for the card. And from there I built the remainder of the design around what ends up being the sentiment panel.

We get started with a base of Basic White cardstock. This really lets our other elements take center stage. I used two notecards from the Advent Calendar as our background pieces — a pink notecard with bows, flowers, & butterflies and then one of the new embossed panels from today’s box. The two cards are adhered offset over one another directly to our card base. To bring out the embossing on the white notecard in front, we use a blending brush and some Pretty in Pink ink to make a circle of color in the center where we’ll put our sentiment panel. The sentiment panel starts with a plain circle and decorative laser cut circle from today’s pack of embellishments that are adhered together with glue dots. Sequins, bows, and butterflies from the shaker elements bag gives us little pops of color and detail all around our wreath of flowers & greenery. Don’t you just love the tiny, little butterflies? I didn’t notice them in the shaker elements but wanted them to get special attention today! The sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set is stamped in Pretty in Pink in the center. And the full sentiment panel is adhered in the center of our brushed pink circle. We use leaf bunches and hearts in opposing corners to draw the eye in to our sentiment and finish things off with some dots of glittery gold glue next to each heart and then in the centers of each of the flowers on our wreath.

I hope you’ve had fun this week as we’ve opened our Advent Calendar and found creative ways to use each of the new additions to our crafty stash. You’ll be seeing these elements pop up in future designs. Next week we’re going to be touring the autumn woods. I hope you’ll stroll along!

12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar

Advent Hugs

susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, friends. Today we’re on Day 5 of our 12 Days of Crafting Advent Calendar series, where we’re opening two boxes of our calendar each day and then making a fun project with the new goodies. Today we’re on boxes 9 & 10. Let’s see what we’ve got.

So today we have a set of notecards and a new set of pinkish-hued shaker elements. And guess what I figured out as I was going through the notecards to come up with a design — they’re two-sided! How fun is that?! Today’s design is extra fun because I wanted to use the shaker elements in a traditional way. Who doesn’t love a shaker card??

So we get started with a base of Strawberry Slush cardstock. The sheet of Very Vanilla leaves from the Advent Calendar paper pack serves as our neutral backdrop for the focal panel. I decided to use a little shortcut for the shaker panel and dug out a cellophane bag I’d saved from a prior order to serve as the shaker bits holder. The scrap of pink paper from yesterday is the mat for the center section of the focal panel. I used the pink floral notecard for the sentiment panel and picked the coordinating long oval diecut piece from an earlier calendar box as the panel where I heat embossed the sentiment from the Advent Calendar stamp set in gold. All of these elements are adhered together so they’re nice and flat so the shaker pieces will move freely in our containment bag. We tuck the panel in and then shake in the shaker pieces in the front and seal the bag shut. I adhered the bag to the neutral front panel piece with tear-n-tape to ensure a good stick. This panel is then wrapped with the Strawberry Slush baker’s twine from our calendar before the panel is adhered to the card front. I chose two diecut pieces from today’s bag—a pink butterfly & flower—as our accent pieces in opposing corners of the shaker panel. We finish things off with a few of the gold shaker bits in opposing corners.

It’s hard to believe, but we’re down to our last two boxes tomorrow and I absolutely cannot wait to see what we’re closing out our crafting adventure with! I hope you’ll drop in and see!