You’re on my Mind

December 29, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! Did anyone else feel weird going back to work? It was especially weird for me since I had basically been out for 2 weeks. But I always enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year’s because traffic is light and so my commute is much shorter.

I got some new stampin’ goodies while I was down the flu, and I’ve been thinking about getting into them the whole time I was recovering. So this week, we’re going to be getting a few new things inky. Today we’re pairing the Product of the Month paper called True Blue Florals with the new On Display stamp & die bundle. There are so many ways to use this super adorable bundle. And today we’re starting with a simple scene.

We get started with a base of Balmy Blue cardstock. I chose the leaf frond pattern from the True Blue Florals paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our focal panel. Our focal panel starts with a circle of white cardstock cut with the largest Spotlight on Nature die. I used the large rose pattern from True Blue Florals to break up the white space and serve as an anchor for our scene — specifically to form our area rug. I used the On Display dies to cut all of the scene elements, including the orange tabby cat, the plant and small decorative table, and the cage of red finches. The sentiment is also from the On Display set and is stamped on a banner of white cardstock cut with paper snips. Dimensionals help give layer and depth to our scene. The full panel sits atop a twist of the new Cloud Cover linen ribbon. And we flank our panel with some Cloud Cover flat pearls.

Is this just not the cutest little pick-me-up card? What scenes can you see yourself building with this stamp set?

Product List

Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146982]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Peach Pie 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[163799]

$14.00

Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119686]

$14.00

True Blue Florals 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[167970]

$5.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

On Display Bundle (English)

[167306]

$56.50

Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad

[147085]

$9.00

Peach Pie Classic Stampin Pad

[163810]

$9.00

Timid Tiger Classic Stampin' Pad

[165278]

$9.00

Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad

[147088]

$9.00

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[147111]

$9.00

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[147113]

$9.00

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

[147084]

$9.00

Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad

[165285]

$9.00

Cloud Cover 3/8" (1 Cm) Faux Linen Ribbon

[165271]

$8.00

2025–2027 In Color™ Flat Pearls

[165192]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Because You’re on my Mind

December 27, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Howdy, friends. It’s another balmy day here in N. Texas. We’re so confused that we think we’re in the Southern Hemisphere about now! But winter is supposedly on the way as the next cold front is due to arrive sometime tomorrow. I really hope so because shorts in December is pretty crazy!

Today I’m bringing you another floral design in our ode to this Texas faux spring. And we’re pairing up the Words of Beauty stamps & die bundle with the oh-so lovely Peaceful Garden suite. And I’m giving you a little sneak peek of an upcoming release of the beautiful laser cut Covered in Flowers Accents.

This card comes together super quickly. We get started with a base of Secret Sea cardstock. Our background panel consists of the vine patterned sheet from the Peaceful Garden pack with the silver glimmer paper from the coordinating glimmer pack. Our focal panel consists of the sentiment and an overlapping image. We get started by cutting a circle from white cardstock with the middle size of Spotlight on Nature dies. I stamped a portion of the sentiment in Cloud Burst ink directly on this panel. The rose diecut is from the up-and-coming Covered in Flowers accents pack and overlaps the set of leaves from the Peaceful Garden sticker sheet. I covered the rose with Wink of Stella for some extra shimmer on our focal panel. The remainder of the sentiment is diecut from Secret Sea and Misty Moonlight glimmer paper from the Peaceful Garden glimmer pack using the Words of Beauty dies. This full panel is adhered to our card front on a single layer of dimensionals just above a bow of Misty Moonlight & silver edged ribbon. We finish things off with some Hues of Blue Flowers.

To me, this card feels like a warm hug and I know just who needs it right about now. This lovely will be headed out in the post next week to bring a little snail mail love to some family.

Next week, we’re going to be exploring two new sets and I can’t wait to show you how well they work together! I hope you’ll drop in.

Product List

Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165624]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Peaceful Garden Designer Series Paper & Sticker Sheet (English)

[167363]

$17.00

Peaceful Garden 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Paper

[165929]

$10.50

Words Of Beauty Bundle (English)

[167090]

$45.75

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

Cloud Cover Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[165279]

$5.50

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$10.00

Misty Moonlight & Silver Edged 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Ribbon

[165931]

$10.00

Hues Of Blue Flowers

[165930]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Online Exclusives · Words of Beauty

Because I Appreciate You

December 26, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Hello, crafty friends! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas. We enjoyed time together and time with family. My voice managed to hold together well enough to do an okay job for Christmas Eve services and we’ve enjoyed just loafing around since.

While I have the time off, I’ve also been enjoying time in the craft room. I’ve had several boxes of new goodies arrive. So I’ve taken the time to put away the Christmas mess and get somewhat reorganized. I’m really looking forward to playing with all the new crafty goodness that has arrived.

For the remainder of this week, I thought it would be appropriate to tiptoe back through the garden florals since it’s in the 80s here in North Texas. And today we’re pairing up the ever-lovely Perennial Lavender patterned paper with the Words of Beauty stamp and die bundle.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I love how this light neutral really pulls forward the lighter colors in our patterned papers. I chose two complimentary sheets from the Perennial Lavender paper pack. The larger fronds of lavender serve as the backdrop for our focal panel, which is a combination of summer wildflowers. To help the busier, smaller pattern stand out against the background panel, I decided to use some retired Highland Heather glimmer paper. The sentiment is a combination of dies and stamps from the Words of Beauty set. just because is cut from Petunia Pop glimmer paper and adhered directly to the focal panel with a glue pen. The remainder of the sentiment is stamped in Blackberry Bliss ink on white cardstock and cut with the larger sentiment panel from the Words of Beauty die set and then adhered between the two glittery words. We finish off the focal panel with Petunia Pop iridescent ribbon tied in a bow and a combination of shimmery gems.

Tomorrow we’re going to pair up Words of Beauty with some more florals from the crafty stash. I hope you’ll pop in and check it out.

Product List

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Perennial Lavender 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[162593]

$12.50

2024–2026 In Color™ Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[163771]

$11.00

Three Color Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper

[162813]

$10.50

Words Of Beauty Bundle (English)

[167090]

$45.75

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

[147092]

$9.00

Petunia Pop 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Iridescent Ribbon

[166203]

$9.50

Purple Fine Shimmer Gems

[162611]

$8.00

Charming Shimmer Faceted Dots

[166139]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

[138309]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

Christmas · Gifting

Nugget Treat Trio

December 23, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Tuesday, everyone! The days to Christmas are ticking away quickly. Do you ever feel like time is a bit on fast-forward this time of year? I sure do!

I’m sharing another fun treat box with you today. And it’s also another one I learned from The Paper Pixie. When I tell you that she is a 3D packaging genius, I’m not kidding! *wink* This cute little box perfectly holds 3 Hershey nugget treats. But you could easily use it for other things, as well.

I pulled out a combination of both old and new papers as I was making these little gift boxes. I have found that Christmas treats are the perfect way to use retired papers. While you tuck the lid right into the front of the box, I chose to make each of mine close with a tiny Velcro dot. I like the finished look that gives.

I like to use these little gifties for the mailman, my hair dresser, and anyone I think needs a little holiday cheer. And they’re great in combination with a host of other things in a goodie bag.

Wanna give this cute little treat box a try? You can download the PDF tutorial here.

Christmas · Gifting

Holiday Gift Trio

December 22, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! It’s the official countdown to Christmas. Are you feeling prepared or are you like me and scrambling to the finish? It really didn’t help that I had the flu last week and didn’t feel well enough to do much crafting at all beyond Tuesday. I’m definitely in crunch mode now! But that’s okay. Christmas cards will come a little late and no one will keel over when it arrives after Christmas. *wink* Sometimes we just give ourselves the grace to get done what we can “on time” and make due with the rest.

Today I’m sharing another gift box with you. I learned this box from The Paper Pixie and it’s been a huge hit. This little box is the perfect size for some hand cream, a little treat, and a pocket sanitizer. And I’ve had fun finding all the different ways to put this together. Today’s variation uses 100% patterned paper. Let’s check it out.

I just had to pull out the super fun Reindeer Days paper from last year’s holiday release. It’s so cute & festive and has the perfect front-backside combinations for this gift box. The inside dividers need to be a little more sturdy and so I chose some coordinating Real Red cardstock for that. I used the coordinating sticker sheet and Memories & More cards to decorate the box, along with some of the current shiny Real Red ribbon.

I whipped up a little tutorial that gives you some instructions both for the patterned paper and cardstock versions of this box. And you can always catch The Paper Pixie video tutorial if you’re like me and more of a visual, hands-on learner.

Christmas · Gifting

Gift Set Box

December 17, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Hi, friends, and welcome back. This week, I’m taking you along on a journey of handmade gifting. And today we have a very special gift box.

As I prepare for craft fairs — and also just for my own gifting purposes — I like to find new ways to package items that make great stocking stuffers or small gifts. In years past, I’ve made separate little packages for lip balms and hand sanitizer, but this year I thought it would be fun to find packaging that combines them into a little gift set. And here we are!

I wish I could claim credit for creating this box from start to finish, but I’m terrible at creating 3D items on my own. I just don’t think dimensionally like that. But I’m a wicked template follower and I found a great template over at Stampin’ Gala that I adapted to make this adorable gift box.

This box uses a sheet of 8.5×11 paper for the box and a quarter panel for the inside divider. And then it’s decorated with patterned paper and whatever embellishments you might like to dress it up. Here, I’ve used just a simple bow. But it looks equally as snazzy to make little popped up panels with ephemera and the like.

I’m still feeling pretty under the weather. Turns out I have the flu. So needless to say that has very much slowed down my crafting this week. Assuming I start feeling a little better, I hope to bring you another gifty project and to get the PDF tutorial for this cute box posted. Not sure if that will be tomorrow or Friday. We shall see how it goes.

Christmas · Gifting

Custom Gift Bags

December 16, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, friends. I’ve been under the weather the last several days, which is really cutting into my crafting time. Because quite frankly, I don’t feel like crafting. *gasp* I know — I can’t even believe I said it either.

Luckily I had made some fairly decent progress on office gifties and I’ve been able to share those projects with you. I’ll be giving my coworkers gift bags filled with handmade goodies. And today you’re getting a look at the gift bag shell. Why just a shell? Because I’ll be putting all the finishing touches on once all of the giftie goodies are tucked inside.

I learned how to make an assortment of gift bag sizes from my upline Patty Bennett. This particular bag uses 2 sheets of 12×12 patterned paper. I happened to pull from some of my favorite retired paper packs to make my gift bags. These come together quickly and easily and I love being able to coordinate all of the items in the bag! I’ll show you the finished product once I get all of them finished. Hopefully I’ll be well enough to finish them before our office party on Thursday!

Tune in tomorrow as I show you a super cute gift set in a handmade box!

Christmas · Gifting

Festive Treats

December 15, 2025December 19, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Monday, everyone! We’re on the downhill slide to Christmas which means we’re all in the last-minute scramble to gather all the things and make all the treats.

Speaking of which, this week we’re going to be exploring all of the ways we can use our crafty stash to create unique gifts and goodies for our friends and neighbors and family. We’re getting started with a fun little treat box that I learned from The Paper Pixie. If you don’t follow her, you totally should. She makes the best 3D crafty items and provides spot-on, easy-to-follow instructions.

For the particular batch of boxes shown, I pulled out some of my retired stash of holiday papers. I’ve found that treat boxes are often a great way to use up leftover paper. For the box itself, you’ll need one sheet of 8.5×11-inch cardstock. I typically coordinate the box color with the selected patterned paper I’m going to use to decorate it. Here I’ve used Pool Party and Shaded Spruce for these two boxes. I cut three pieces of patterned paper to cover the front flaps and back of the box. I chose not to cover the inside flaps, but you definitely could if you so chose. I used one of the small Velcro dots to fasten the box closed. The front is decorated with some retired ephemera. I’ve filled the current batch of boxes with Ghiradelli squares, but these boxes easily fit other treats too.

I’m making a bunch of these this year — for coworkers, for my choir members, for the mailman, and anyone else who I think just needs a little holiday pick-me-up. They make great stocking stuffers too! I hope you’ll pop in tomorrow to see the next giftie item on the list.

EDITED TO ADD: You can download the PDF tutorial here.

Christmas · No Stamp Design

Joy of Christmas

December 13, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Saturday, everyone! Who all is frantically trying to get all of those last-minute Christmas list items done this weekend? *raising hand* It’s been a busy one today as we’ve squeezed in all sorts of things, including (finally) getting our outdoor decor set up. And now I’m frantically working in the craft room working on gifties for friends, coworkers, and loved ones and still whittling away at the Christmas card stash in hopes that I might at least get them in the mail by Christmas Eve……

So this week we’re working through the crafty stash to put together some (mostly) simple holiday cards. Today’s design is by far the most detailed design so far, but I would still say it only took about 15 min to put together once I got everything situated. We’re pairing up the new Beautiful Pattern embossing folder with the Delicate Pines dies to create this lovely card full of joy!

I was inspired by a card I saw over at Stampin’ Fancy Friday, and I just ran with it from there. We get started with a base of Real Red cardstock. Our focal panel is a quarter sheet of red that is machine embossed with the Beautiful Pattern embossing folder. I went over the embossed panel lightly with some metallic ink to really make the embossing pop. You could easily use paper with a white core, but I like the sheen & sparkle from the metallic ink rub myself. Our sentiment panel takes center stage here with lots of detailed elements and pops of holiday color. The joy sentiment is from the Greetings for You ephemera pack and is mounted on a panel of Traditions of Christmas plaid paper diecut with one of the smaller Traditional Labels dies. We mount the sentiment panel with dimensionals on top of a bow of Real Red shiny ribbon, along with winter evergreens cut from Shaded Spruce and Mossy Meadow cardstock and pinecones cut from Crumb Cake and Pecan Pie cardstock using the Delicate Pines dies. We finish it all off with a scattering of gold glitter dots.

With the template done, this card will come together much more quickly each time since you can cut lots of greenery pieces, pinecones, and sentiment panels all at once. I really love how this turned out and can already think of some variations that I plan to do for my personal stash.

I hope you’ll join me next week. I’ll still be in full-on Christmas mode as I work to finish the card stash and continue making gifts and gift tags.

Product List

Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[102482]

$14.00

Shaded Spruce 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146981]

$14.00

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$14.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$14.00

Pecan Pie 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[161717]

$14.00

Traditions Of Christmas 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[165853]

$16.50

Beautiful Pattern 3 D Embossing Folder

[167097]

$10.50

Delicate Pines Dies

[166073]

$39.00

Traditional Labels Dies

[165864]

$29.00

Greetings For You Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)

[166208]

$8.50

Real Red 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Shiny Ribbon

[165876]

$10.00

Traditional Sparkling Sequins

[165875]

$8.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Christmas · No Stamp Design

Merry Through the Branches

December 12, 2025 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

TGIF, everybody! I’m not sure if I feel like this week whizzed by or if I feel like it dragged. I guess it kinda depended on the day. All is I know is that I’ve been in race mode to get back home every day to hide all of the boxes that Amazon delivered. *snicker* Anybody else?

Well, I’m still whittling away at my holiday card stash in hopes that I’ll have enough cards made to send out to at least half of the annual mailing list. We shall see how many I can turn out this weekend. One thing that really helps when you get in a crunch is finding easy designs, and that’s exactly what we’ve been up to this week. And today we’re pairing up the Joyful Days Memories & More cards with the Regal Distressed Patterns paper and using a sketch from the Holiday Mini catalog to create this simple card. Let’s check it out.

The inspiration for today’s clean & simple card layout comes from the first sketch in the Holiday Mini catalog. We get started on our card with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock to tie in the evergreen needles in our focal image. I pulled the small evergreen Merry Christmas card from the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack to serve as the focal image and sentiment. We dress it up just a touch with a secondary sentiment from the Greetings for You ephemera pack that is layered on top of some Mossy Meadow & Gold ribbon. We finish off our pops of coordinating green elements with some sparkly glitter dots in opposing corners.

This card comes together in less than 5 minutes flat! Another perfect addition to the arsenal of make-it-quick designs. I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see what else I can pull together from the holiday product stash. I’m thinking we’ll dig into the dies tomorrow, but we’ll see where the crafty muses take me once I lay out the options.

Product List

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$14.00