Gone Fishing · Shop the catalog

Good Things Come Pop-Up Card

I ventured to try another fun fold technique today that I learned over at Klompen Stampers. I modified the template to create a pop-up card because I forgot how the template was supposed to fold, which created a whole lot of extra work. Because I was winging the pop-up portion of this design, there was way more cutting and measuring of smaller pieces than is really necessary for the original template. BUT in the end, I did like the result so I’m gonna go ahead and share my happy accident. (PRO TIP: just go back and rewatch a tutorial video when you can’t remember exactly how to make a fold work!)

I used the Gone Fishing Suite for this design. The front of the card is CASEd from the current catalog but flipped to accommodate the horizontal orientation of this design. The base of the card and pop-up segment is Night of Navy. I fussy cut the fish on the inside of the card and popped them up to give some depth of field.

Products used:
Night of Navy, Basic White cardstock
Gone Fishing stamps and dies
Let’s Go Fishing DSP
Silver embossing powder
Gold trim
Dimensionals
Adhesives
Sending You Thoughts stamps for inside sentiment (retired)

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Dies · Gone Fishing · Shop the catalog

Fishing Fun Fold Card

I’m excited to bring you another design using the Gone Fishing Suite and another fun fold technique. The StampingBae girls posted this terrific belly band fun fold card design today, and I just had to give it a whirl!

My favorite thing about this particular design is that it showcases so many of the wonderful elements of the Gone Fishing Suite, but especially the DSP. The card base is Night of Navy cardstock that is cut and scored. All of the patterned panels are comprised of strips of designer paper, and the sentiment panels are white cardstock. TIP: you can use the tackle box die to cut sentiment panels!

Products used:
Night of Navy, Basic White cardstock
Let’s Go Fishing DSP
Gone Fishing stamps
Gone Fishing dies
Silver Simply Elegant Trim
Adhesive
Dimensionals

Download the tutorial here!

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Dies · Gone Fishing · Shop the catalog

Father’s Day Tri-Fold

I’m excited to bring you another design using the Gone Fishing Suite. I also decided to tackle a new folding technique that Stampin’ with Kim shared this week, and I would highly recommend that you give it a try.

Today, we’re using the stamps, dies, and designer paper for this suite to create this stunning design. This design uses three sheets of the DSP—the swimming fish, the netting, and the map. The base of this design is made from Night of Navy cardstock. The matting is Crumb Cake cardstock, and the center panels are white. The tackle elements are stamped on white cardstock and cut out using the coordinating dies. The base of the card is cut and scored to create the folding portions of the design.

TIP: I wanted the sinkers, hooks, and spinner elements to be shiny but don’t have any silver paper right now. So I embossed a section of white cardstock with silver embossing powder and diecut these elements from the silver embossed section.

Here is a view of the card stretched out to see each of the panels and then a view of the collapsed card design.

Products used:
Let’s Go Fishing DSP
Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Basic White cardstock
Gone Fishing stamps
Gone Fishing dies
Silver embossing powder
Linen thread
Dimensionals
Adhesives

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Dies · Gone Fishing

Hooked on Father’s Day

Thus far, I’ve showcased the Pansy Patch set from the new catalog. This week we’ll be taking a look at the Gone Fishing Suite. June is a busy month in our family between Father’s Day and birthdays, and this set will be perfect!

The Gone Fishing Suite includes the stamps, dies, designer paper, and the Twisted Rope 3D embossing folder. (Buy the suite here) For this design, I used the stamps, dies, and paper. I included jute ribbon in the background to give the look of netting and add a little visual interest. The center panel is popped up on dimensionals to ensure it stood out against the patterned paper, and the fishing tackle elements are also layered on dimensionals for visual interest.

I’m really loving this set so far and can’t wait to show you more designs with this suite all this week!

Products used:
Let’s Go Fishing DSP
Night of Navy cardstock
Gone Fishing stamp set
Gone Fishing dies
Adhesive-backed pearls
Dimensionals
Adhesives
Stitched Nested Labels dies (retired)
Jute ribbon (retired)

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Pansy Patch · Shop the catalog

Patch of Pansies

The long-awaited first batch of new SU! product arrived late this afternoon, and I’m just getting the opportunity to sit down and have a little crafting time. Knowing that I had two sympathy cards in the queue, I decided to start with the Pansy Patch stamps and dies. The stamps layer beautifully to create realistic-looking blossoms, and the dies cut snugly around each stamped image for a fussy-cut-free design. The die set also includes dies that paper piece blossoms and stems. Check back tomorrow to see the result!

Products used (current):
Pansy Patch stamps and dies
Adhesives
Dimensionals

Products used (retired):
Almost Amethyst cardstock
Delicate Dots DSP
Ribbon Originals rickrack
Stitched Nested Labels dies
Love & Sympathy sentiment

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On the way

New Designs on the Way

Does anyone remember the Marshall’s commercial with the lady standing outside the door drumming on the window saying, “Open! Open! Open!” I’m currently awaiting my latest SU! product order and find myself checking on shipping status updates in much the same way, thinking “Just get here already!”

I have several new suites of products headed my way, including Gone Fishing and Zany Zoo, and I can’t wait to unpack them to get started on the design ideas I have rattling around in my head! With Father’s Day and several birthdays in June, I have plenty of opportunities to put ink to paper. I hope you’ll keeping fly by the nest in the next couple of days to check out the new designs as soon as they fledge!

Kits · Shop the catalog

Coordinating Products

Stampin’ Up! offers everything you need to assemble beautiful papercraft projects. From paper to ribbon to embellishments, all items are color-coordinated and perfect for a polished project. You can shop the online catalog anytime and have supplies delivered straight to your door!

Just getting started with papercrafting and not sure where to begin? SU! offers a variety of complete kits to make getting started on a project easy. These all-in-one kits contain everything you need to complete a beautiful project, like this Bright & Beautiful Memories & More Card Pack. There are many kits to choose from, and you can shop them all by visiting the kits page.

If you would like to attend a Just Getting Started class, send me an e-mail to get on the schedule!

Inspiration

Finding Inspiration

Every project we undertake has an underlying inspiration — a photo, a magazine article, an object, nature…the list of inspiration is endless. Personally, I find that a lot of my craft designs are inspired by nature.

I love to garden, and this time of year there is so much inspiration to be found in the garden. We really love to grow plants that attract pollinators — the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Our year-to-year favorites are morning glories, pentas, petunias, milkweed, zinnias, alyssum, and lantana. But I think my favorite is the morning glory, and this year we added a new variety that is just so lovely in its details.

I’ve found that the stunning details in our favorite garden flowers often provide inspiration for project color palettes and focal images. And I often study our backyard garden flowers in order to create more realistic designs on my projects. I have a number of floral images in my stamp library. I especially love one called Morning by Morning by Papertrey Ink and a retired set called Touch of Ink by Stampin’ Up!.

I’m really looking forward to the arrival of a new SU! floral set in the coming weeks, and I will share some of my new designs here once it arrives. Where do you typically turn for your design inspiration?

About Me

New Adventures

Welcome, all! I’m so glad you’ve stopped by. Some of you may know me, but I’ll start off by introducing myself. I’m Susan Fox-Bowen, an independent Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I recently retired from public service in order to spend more time with my family and doing some of the things that I love, like singing, crafting, and gardening. While I am no stranger to the blogosphere or to paper crafting, I haven’t exactly been regular at either one over the last several years. But I’m jumping back in with both feet, and I would love for you to join me!

It will take me a little bit to get fully up and running here, so bear with me as I reacquaint myself with all things virtual. And I’ll be learning a whole lot of new tools and tricks of the trade, too! You’re going to see a little slice of home life and a whole lotta crafty fun on your visits, so I hope you’ll come along as we start this new adventure together.