Clean and Simple

Beautiful Day

TGIF, everybody! We made it to Friday, and I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. Do you have fun plans for the weekend? I have all kinds of things on the to-do list and hope to cross some of those off.

This week we’re working with the new Beautiful Gallery patterned paper pack. This pack has so many frame-worthy patterns that it makes it such a task to cut it down. Today we’re using one of my favorite paper-save-it techniques to all but a teensy strip of the beautiful meadow pattern from the pack. We’re pairing it up with the new Sweet Words & Labels dies and the Sunset Coast stamps to make this clean & simple design.

We get started with a base of Petal Pink cardstock. I chose the rolling meadow pattern sheet from the Beautiful Gallery paper pack as the focal panel for the card front and cut it so that there is just a tiny border of our Petal Pink around each side. Save that strip you have left because we’re going to be using it! The panel is wrapped with black & gold baker’s twine before being adhered directly to the card front. The sentiment from the Sunset Coast stamp set is stamped in Flirty Flamingo onto a sentiment panel diecut from Petal Pink using the Sweet Words & Labels dies. The sentiment is adhered over the twine wrapping with several layers of dimensionals to be sure it stands nice and proud over the twine. A few pearlized faceted circles in opposing corners finish things off with the subtlest of pink-hued twinkle.

And we use that extra strip of the gorgeous paper to dress up the message panel on the inside of our card.

Such a clean and simple design and super easy technique to put the whole beautiful sheet of paper to work. What do you think? Tomorrow we’re going to cut some paper and combine some patterns. I hope you’ll drop in and check it out!

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Shop the catalog

Days Spent Together

Happy Monday, friends! I’m over here wishing it was Friday so I could recover from my weekend. It was a busy with one with a 10-hour vendor fair on Saturday. We had beautiful springlike temps running right up into the latter part of the week last week, but then in true Texas fashion, it went straight to summer flambé with temps in the 90s and humidity about the same on Saturday for the event! Needless to say, the crowd was a bit thinner than we had hoped.

So I’m skidding into this week without a single clue what direction we’re headed. All I know is I have a bunch of new goodies that I haven’t gotten to play with yet because I’ve been in vendor mode. So today we’re going to start with a fun piece of home decor I made for my booth using the new Silly Old Bear suite.

This cute framed piece is 6×6-inches in size. I typically buy my frames on Amazon in a bundle. We get started by cutting down the Pooh & friends sheet from the Silly Old Bear paper pack to serve as the backdrop for our framed piece. The sentiment from the Sweet Words & Labels stamp set is stamped on Very Vanilla in Early Espresso and then diecut with the coordinating frame die. The mat for the sentiment is cut from a piece of Gathering Together patterned paper. A piece of gold & white ribbon is wrapped around the background panel and tied in a knot to the side of the sentiment panel which is adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. We finish things off with some gold adhesive hearts.

I really love how versatile the Silly Old Bear suite is. It makes adorable cards, gifts, and home decor. And I’ve really only scratched the surface on what it can truly do. I’ll try to get my act together between now and tomorrow evening and see if we can get a design theme going for this week. If you have a suggestion, feel free to send it my way!

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Masculine Designs

Super Thankful

Welcome back and happy Monday, friends! It was a busy weekend around here with all of the kiddo’s activities — pretty fitting for Mother’s Day weekend, I suppose. He played his final band concert on Friday, had his 8th grade formal on Saturday, and we have the athletics banquet today.

Given the stormy Mother’s Day we had yesterday, I got some unexpected time to play in the craft room and whipped up this fun card to start off this week’s design theme — everything masculine. We’re pairing up the Nature Walk and Silly Old Bear papers with a few new dies and a new set of ephemera. Let’s get a closer look!

We get started with a nice neutral base of Crumb Cake cardstock. I chose three different patterns from the Nature Walk paper pack to build our backdrop. The grid pattern is cut using the new Scalloped Blooms die. Our focal image is a cute scene from the Silly Old Bear paper pack with Pooh getting a little help from Rabbit & his buddies to get out of a “tight spot.” The new Sweet Words & Labels dies coordinate perfectly with the scene sheets in this paper pack. Pooh and friends are adhered over the backdrop of the scalloped circle using dimensionals. The sentiment is from the new Saying Something ephemera pack and is adhered with dimensionals over a bow of white with gold ribbon. A few of the new shimmering dots give us a pop of color across our card front to draw the eye across the design.

This week’s masculine theme should be lots of fun. We’re going to use a few unexpected products to create a few of our designs. I hope you’ll drop in each day for inspiration!

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Father's Day

Best Dressed Dad

Welcome back, everyone! So glad you could stop by. Now that it’s been a couple of days, I’m dying to know — have you looked at all the new goodies in the online store yet? Eeeek! So much good stuff! If you haven’t had a chance to peek at everything that dropped on Tuesday, I highly recommend it.

Today we’re continuing our celebratory design theme as we turn to dad. We’re pairing up one of my favorite retired stamp sets with some super fun ephemera to create this cutie!

We get started with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. A sheet of the Nature Walk paper gives us our soft, masculine background. The background panel is wrapped in some Shaded Spruce & Soft Sea Foam ribbon before it’s adhered to our card base. The sentiment from the Heartfelt Hellos stamp set is stamped in Garden Green ink on a white panel cut with the More Messages die. The sentiment panel is mounted with dimensionals on a banner of green Garden Textures foil paper cut with the Sweet Words & Labels die. We add a cute mustache from the Time for Celebration ephemera pack at the bottom of the panel for a cute nod to our theme. The whole kit & kaboodle is then adhered in the center of our card front with dimensionals. We adhere the two bow ties from the ephemera pack just above snd just below our sentiment panel and then finish things off with a scattering of the new shimmering dots.

Isn’t this just too cute?! And it comes together super quickly to boot! I’ll be taking a little break tomorrow since it’s the kiddo’s very last band concert. *sniff* But I’ll be bringing you some more fun stuff on Saturday. I hope you’ll drop in!

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birthday

Birthday Friends

Howdy, friends! We’ve made it to the halfway point thru the week and will soon be on the downhill slide. As we count down the final days of junior high, our days are beginning to get really busy. This weekend is one of those on-the-go weekends with school activities spanning the weekend and into next week.

We’re continuing our celebration design series this week. And today we’re turning to birthdays. This is a super simple combo that comes together in a snap and packs a lot of punch without a lot of work. We’re letting the new Silly Old Bear paper sit front snd center.

We get started with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. A sheet of the neutral floral pattern from the Delicate Dreams paper pack serves as our backdrop for the focal panel. The background panel is wrapped in Shaded Spruce & Soft Sea Foam striped ribbon before it’s adhered to our card front. The focal image from the Silly Old Bear paper pack is cut out with the coordinating die from the Sweet Words & Labels set. We mat our focal image with some green Garden Textures specialty paper that is cut with one of the larger dies from the Sweet Words set. The two panels are adhered together with dimensionals and then mounted on our card front with dimensionals, as well. We tuck our sentiment from the Saying Something ephemera pack down in the corner of our focal panel and adhere it with several layers of dimensionals so it stands nice & tall above everything else. We add just a touch of twinkle with some drusy embellishments.

And just like that, you have a super cute birthday card. I hope you’ll drop by tomorrow to see what we’re celebrating next!

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Mother’s Day

Mother’s Meadow

Welcome in, friends! It’s a very exciting day here in the studio….why, you might ask? it’s new product release day! There are new kits, new Online Exclusives, a brand new catalog, and the new batch of SU! in Colors. Talk about exciting!

And we’ve got a new card in this week’s celebratory design series. It’s another tribute to mom with a special fold out in the middle! And we’re showcasing new flocked paper, new shimmer vellum, new dies, new stamps, and new ephemera on this one. It’s just a red letter day all around!

We get started with a standard base of Melon Mambo cardstock. Our front focal panel features the new Velvet Meadow flocked paper and is matted with the new pink shimmer vellum. Both are cut with the Perennial Lavender die set in nesting sizes. The panel is wrapped in Berry Burst shiny ribbon before it’s adhered to the card front with dimensionals. The sentiment from the retired Heartfelt Hellos stamp set is stamped in Melon Mambo on white before being cut out with the new Sweet Words die. The sentiment panel is adhered over the ribbon with dimensionals. I pulled a retired paper butterfly from the stash and covered it with Wink of Stella before attaching with dimensionals at the top of the sentiment panel. We add a little extra twinkle to the sentiment panel with Strawberry Slush dots—also recently retired.

The inside of the card dresses up a gift card with a coordinating pocket panel on the inside left panel. The backdrop for our gift card fold out panel is a sheet of pink Garden Foil paper. A sheet of the pink shimmer paper gives us our foldout base. And we use additional pieces of our Velvet Meadow paper to cover each panel and make the pocket for the gift card. The new Saying Something ephemera give us our sentiments for this foldout. The Heartfelt Hexagon punch makes a nice notch to make the gift card easy to slide in and out. The sentiment on the message panel is from the new Words & Wishes stamp set.

While this particular design might be a little heavy for mailing, it’s definitely perfect for surprising mom at Mother’s Day brunch! We’ve got other celebrations in store this week. I hope you’ll drop back by and check them out!

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Mother’s Day

Lovely Mother

Happy Monday, everyone! It was sure a doozy and I’m ready to just hide under a rock. Anybody else? Hoping for a smoother day tomorrow!

This week is all about celebrations and we’re quickly coming upon a very important one — Mother’s Day. We’re combining the Lovely & Beautiful paper with some fun dies. And there’s even a little sneak peek of a new die set launching tomorrow!

We get started with a base of Real Red cardstock. I selected the gold foil floral pattern from the Lovely & Beautiful paper pack and matted it with some textured gold specialty paper. The mat is cut with the Textured Notes die and then our focal panel is cut with the Branching Out die. We wrap this panel with shiny red ribbon and then mount on the card base with dimensionals. The sentiment from the retired Heartfelt Hellos stamp set is stamped in Real Red on white. The mat is cut from a sheet of the retired Garden Flowers foil and then both are cut out with nesting dies from the new Sweet Words & Labels set. The sentiment is mounted over the ribbon with dimensionals. And then we finish things off with some red Hearts & Flowers enamel dots.

Don’t you just love how the red really pops against our gold elements? Everything works well together. I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see where our celebrations take us next.

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Coming Soon · Father's Day

Always There

Welcome back, everyone! So glad you chose to stop by today. This week, were taking a random tour of the myriad of projects on my desk as I’m in the throes of creating product for an upcoming craft show and am also thinking ahead to both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Today we’re using the brand new Silly Old Bear patterned paper (that will release next week) to create this Father’s Day card. I love the ready-made panels that are included in this paper pack. There are two separate sheets that give you instant card panels when cut apart.

We get started with a base of Crumb Cake cardstock for this one. The background panel is a sheet of the Nature Walk paper. I love the subtle grid pattern that this sheet provides. The Silly Old Bear paper gives us our focal panel, which is cut out with the largest Perennial Postage die. The focal panel is wrapped in gold and white baker’s twine before it’s mounted on our background sheet with dimensionals. The sentiment is from the Sweet Words & Labels set is stamped on Crumb Cake in Early Espresso and then diecut with one of the coordinating dies. We finish things off with some iridescent opal rounds for a hint of twinkle.

I hope you’ll hop back by tomorrow to check out a very special fun fold design!

Products used in this card:
Crumb Cake cardstock
Nature Walk, Silly Old Bear (coming soon!) DSP
Perennial Postage dies
Sweet Words & Labels (coming soon!) stamp & die bundle
Early Espresso ink
Opal rounds
Gold & white baker’s twine
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon

Keep Looking Up

Welcome to the weekend! We made it. This is one of those weeks where I’m glad to see the weekend but already wishing I had more time to do all the home-things I put off to the weekend AND still get a chance to rest & recharge. But sometimes it doesn’t really seem to be in the cards to do both.

We’re still working our way through the patterns & textures design series. And as soon as I saw the patterns included in the new pack of Silly Old Bear paper, I knew I had to use it to make a card for this design series! Two patterns in the pack include a sheet of small scenes, like the one I used in today’s card, which make quick & easy work of a card. We’re pairing up Silly Old Bear with the Branching Out dies, which are on the last chance list, and some of the Woodgrain Wonders paper for this super simple encouragement card.

We get started with a neutral base of Crumb Cake cardstock. A sheet of the darker woodgrain from the Woodgrain Wonders paper pack serves as the backdrop for our focal scene. The focal panel is cut from a sheet of the Silly Old Bear paper using the largest die in the Branching Out die set. The panel is adhered with dimensionals over a strip of green patterned paper from the Nature Walk paper pack. The sentiment from Sweet Words & Labels is stamped in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then cut with the small banner die from the coordinating die set. The leaf and acorns are also cut with dies from that set. The sentiment is adhered with dimensionals. A few metallic gems in opposing corners finish things off.

I love how all of the subtle patterns in the papers work together to create a feeling of walking through the woods. Sometimes patterns are bold and loud, while other times they’re backup players in the overall design. Either way, patterns are a great way to convey a message in your designs.

Products used in this card:
Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Basic White cardstock
Nature Walk, Woodgrain Wonders, Silly Old Bear (coming soon!) DSP
Branching Out dies
Sweet Words & Labels (coming soon!) stamp & die bundle
Early Espresso ink
Metallic gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Coming Soon

The Right Words

Welcome back, friends! I’m glad you decided to stop by. Do you ever have days that just get off on the wrong foot — with one snafu after another? It started out as one of those days for me, but thankfully, everything was a bit more uphill after lunch. I’ll definitely be glad to see this week in the rearview!

We’re slowly but surely going to work our way through a patterns & textures design series. And today I’m sharing a sneak peek of some new paper that literally has texture — velvet, to be precise. The new Velvet Meadow patterned (and textured) paper is taking center stage in this fun fold sympathy card, along with a few other new products.

We get started with a base of Berry Burst cardstock. It’s scored to give a standard size panel inside but with offset folding panels for the card front. I really love to use this fun fold with busy patterned papers. It allows the sheet to sit front and center while also breaking up the pattern for some eye relief. The sheet of new Velvet Meadow patterned paper is matted with Pretty in Pink soft shimmer paper, which really helps the softer details in the paper pop. The sentiment from The Right Words stamp set is stamped in Secret Sea on a panel of white cut with the More Messages die. (Hint: I usually cut a quarter sheet of cardstock with the More Messages die to create a stash of sentiment panels for easy grab-and-go sentiments.) its mounted with dimensionals on a sheet of new pink Sunset Shimmer vellum and Berry Burst Garden Textures paper that are both cut with the new Sweet Words & Labels dies. I made a big twist of Berry Burst shiny ribbon and adhered it to the back of the sentiment panels for before adhering it to the left panel of the card front with dimensionals. Pearlized faceted circles and frosted iridescent dots finish things off with pops of color.

Although not pictured (because I completely forgot to photograph it), the inside is decorated with leftover strips of the Velvet Meadow paper. And the message panel includes a coordinating sentiment from The Right Words stamp set.

Sympathy cards are always hard, but combining products in a way that feels like a paper hug is always worth the extra effort!

Products used:

Berry Burst, Basic White cardstock

Garden textures, pastel shimmer DSP

Velvet Meadow DSP, Sunset Shimmer vellum, Sweet Words & Labels dies (May releases)

The Right Words stamps

More Messages dies

Secret Sea ink

Pearlized faceted dots, frosted iridescent dots

Berry Burst shiny ribbon

Dimensionals