Gifting

Home Decor

October 18, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

It’s been a tremendously busy week. I’ve been working away in the craft room as I’m down to the wire for my craft booth items. Today is setup day and tomorrow is booth day!

Today, I’m popping in to share another fun giftie that will be available in my shop — home decor items. On one of our recent virtual team events, we made a framed project and I just fell in love with the idea.

And as with most things I prefer to undertake in the craft room, projects don’t have to be overly complicated to have a WOW factor. Today’s sample is a Christmas project using the O Holy Night suite. This set of products retired last year and I’m still super sad about it! This particular project is a combination of patterned paper and diecut elements — most of them are repeated images. A simple bit of layering with dimensionals builds a gorgeous scene of the wisemen on their journey to find Jesus.

For those of you who have been following along over the last week and expressed some interest in the lip balm box, I was able to carve out a little time to make a video and PDF tutorial to walk you through putting a box together.

Next week, I’ll be popping in with a preview of my favorite soon-to-release Online Exclusive bundle. It’s otterly adorable! *wink wink*

Season’s Greetings

September 17, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

This week, we’re taking a closer look at the new Joyful ephemera packs available in the current Stampin’ Up! Holiday Mini catalog. Although ephemera packs have been available for some time, I’ve been hesitant to purchase them because I didn’t think I would like working with them. But let me tell you, these are a lifesaver if you’re wanting to create a card but are crunched for time!

We’re going to be using the Joyful ephemera packs this week in a number of different ways. You can use ephemera all on its own to create beautiful cards, just like I did yesterday with the Christmas mantle design. Or you can add additional elements to dress up your designs and add a bit more complexity, like we’re doing with today’s card.

This card begins with a green Gold Dipped card base. We’re using the reinker watercoloring technique I first introduced to you on Saturday to create a sheet of custom paper to cut our tree from using the Merriest Trees dies. Each of the tree layers is separated by dimensionals on the bottom edge to give it a more realistic look, and the bottom layer of the tree is adhered directly to the card front. Our bear and packages from the Joyful Images ephemera pack sit directly in front of the tree. The packages are adhered to the card front and the bear is adhered with dimensionals to have it appear to be oriented in front of our packages. I added a gold star to the top of the tree for a festive finish. The sentiment from the Joyful Sayings ephemera pack is adhered directly to the top layer of our tree. A few drusy embellishments add some sparkle and draw our eye across our card design.

Would you like to learn how to create your own watercolor paper and see this card come together from start to finish? Check out today’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays to watch the magic happen!

https://youtu.be/nTIgAIJvvAE

Products used in today’s card:
Gold dipped card & envelope
Joyful Images ephemera
Joyful Sayings ephemera
Watercolor paper
Water painter
Pretty Peacock, Old Olive ink
Merriest Trees dies
Drusy embellishments
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Gold Dipped Mix & Match Specialty Cards & Envelopes

[164108]

$12.00

Joyful Images Mix & Match Specialty Ephemera Pack

[164110]

$9.50

Joyful Sayings Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)

[164109]

$9.50

Drusy Adhesive Backed Embellishments

[164223]

$9.00

Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper

[149612]

$9.00

Water Painters

[151298]

$13.00

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Ink Refill

[150090]

$5.50

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[100531]

$5.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Fine-Tip Glue Pen

[138309]

$7.25

Add All to Cart

Terrific Tuesdays

Autumn Birthday

September 3, 2024September 3, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re continuing our All About Autumn design series today, and I’m excited to bring you the much-anticipated in-depth look at the acetate rub technique that I first mentioned in my post on Saturday.

Today’s card mixes things up just a little bit to give us a different look to Saturday’s card design. We start with a card base of Pretty Peacock. Our focal panel background starts with a piece of white cardstock. Using the acetate sheet and 4 colors of Stampin’ Blends — Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, and Pool Party, we create another dusky backdrop for our trees in the midst of a wardrobe change. To achieve that look, we’re using the Pretty Peacock Oxidized Copper and the Real Red Season of Elegance specialty papers and Frosted Forest dies to create the foliage for our trees. Our groves of trees are diecut from Early Espresso cardstock using the Frosted Forest dies. To help our focal panel stand out against our card base, we mat it with a combination of Country Woods woodgrain patterned paper and the Real Red & Gold satin ribbon. The sentiment from Simply Said is heat embossed in gold and then flanked with some drusy embellishments. A few extra drusy embellishments are added in opposing corners to help draw the eye across our focal panel to the sentiment.

You can learn all about the acetate rub technique and how to make this card from start to finish in this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays.

I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to check out a cool technique to try with your embossing folders.

Products used in today’s card:
Pretty Peacock, Early Espresso, Basic White cardstock
Country Woods, Oxidized Copper, Season of Elegance (out tomorrow!) DSP
Window sheets
Simply Said stamps
Frosted Forest dies
Stampin’ Blends
Gold embossing powder
Cherry Cobbler & Gold satin ribbon (out today!)
Drusy embellishments (out tomorrow!)
Adhesives

Product List

Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[150880]

$11.50

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

[119686]

$11.50

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock

[159229]

$11.25

Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163393]

$12.50

Oxidized Copper 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[162190]

$8.00

Simply Said Mix & Match Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[163756]

$17.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Metallics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165678]

$21.00

Frosted Forest Dies

[164136]

$36.00

Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154883]

$11.00

Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154881]

$11.00

Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154880]

$11.00

Pool Party Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154894]

$11.00

Window Sheets

[142314]

$5.00

Adhesive Sheets

[152334]

$11.50

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[154031]

$7.00

Add All to Cart

Terrific Tuesdays · Winter

Warm Feelings

August 28, 2024August 28, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re continuing our trek through the woods today with a fun new-to-me card technique called a fractured card design. I’ve seen this card layout featured a number of times in my inspiration searches but, honestly, thought it was going to be too difficult to learn and so I passed it by. But I decided to do a little more research on fractured card designs and do you want to know what I discovered? It’s probably the easiest “hard” card you’ll ever learn! Let’s take a look and you’ll see what I mean.

What I love about this particular card layout is that it’s a great way to showcase designer series paper patterns. And there are all kinds of variations that make this card layout easy to adapt to any patterned paper and keep your cards interesting even when using the same patterns multiple times.

For today’s card, we get started with a base of Blueberry Bushel cardstock. I used white cardstock as the backing for the fractured panel. I chose to showcase the Winter Meadow designer series paper and chose two coordinating patterns. Silver serves as a nice compliment to the wintery feel and a terrific sparkly backdrop. Pretty Peacock serves as our fracture strips and draws out the predominant color in our patterned paper pieces. The sentiment from the new Peaceful Season stamp set is stamped in Blueberry Bushel and then diecut on the diagonal using the Perennial Postage die. A faux bow of silver ribbon and few iridescent faceted gems draw the eye front and center to the sentiment.

Want to know how to make today’s card step-by-step? You can catch this week’s of episode of Terrific Tuesdays to see a fractured card design come together from start to finish and see first-hand how versatile this design can be. I’ve also provided a FREE PDF tutorial here. Please note that some of the products shown will not be available until September 4th.

Products used in today’s card:
Blueberry Bushel, Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
Winter Meadow, silver foil DSP
Peaceful Season stamps (coming soon!)
Perennial Postage dies
Silver trim
Iridescent faceted gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Blueberry Bushel 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146968]

$11.50

Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[150880]

$11.50

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.00

Winter Meadow 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[162133]

$12.50

Silver 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Foil Sheets

[163387]

$5.00

Blueberry Bushel Classic Stampin' Pad

[147138]

$9.00

Perennial Postage Dies

[162607]

$33.00

Gold & Silver 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Trim Combo Pack

[161633]

$9.00

Iridescent Faceted Gems

[163368]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Fun Folds · Terrific Tuesdays

Diamond Birthday

August 22, 2024August 20, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Do you ever see a special fold and think WOW? That’s precisely what happened when a fellow demonstrator shared the Diamond Fold with our team. And I’m glad to finally have the time to sit down and learn this fold. It looks far more complicated than it is, and it is absolutely a perfect way to spotlight beautiful patterned paper!

This week, we’re looking at all the ways we can use traditional holiday products in everyday designs. Today, we’re pairing the Season of Gold & Green designer paper with part of the new Season of Elegance suite to make this gorgeous Diamond Fold card.

We get started on today’s fun fold design with a base of Shaded Spruce cardstock. We cut a standard-sized base but in landscape orientation with a fold in the center and then one to divide the second half. I chose two different patterns from the Season of Green & Gold designer series paper pack, a current Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusive. We’re bringing out the gold foiling by using the gold foil specialty paper as an accent color on our diamond panel. Our focal image is the largest tree from the new Peaceful Evergreens bundle. It’s stamped and diecut from Mossy Meadow with a gold bow diecut and added to the top. The new Peaceful Evergreens die set that will release on September 6th with the Holiday Mini catalog includes a set of dies to make paper bows and it really makes it easy to have perfect bows for your cards! Our sentiment from Adventurous Sky is stamped in black on Very Vanilla cardstock and then diecut using the Peaceful Season dies. This panel is mounted on a gold foil banner diecut with the largest banner from that same die set. I added some drusy embellishments for lots of extra sparkle and to help draw the eye across the card front.

Tomorrow we’ll be using a sketch to create a super fun thank-you design. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out.

Want to know how to make today’s card step-by-step? You can catch this week’s of episode of Terrific Tuesdays to see this card come together from start to finish. I’ve also provided a FREE PDF tutorial here. Please note that some of the products shown will not be available until September 6th.

Products used in today’s card:
Shaded Spruce, Mossy Meadow, Very Vanilla, Basic White cardstock
Season of Green & Gold, gold foil DSP
Adventurous Sky stamps
Peaceful Evergreens stamps & dies (coming soon!)
Peaceful Season dies (coming soon!)
Drusy embellishments (coming soon!)
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Botanicals · Terrific Tuesdays

Busy Florals

July 31, 2024July 30, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We are already halfway through this week. Every time I get to Wednesday, I feel like the week is just whizzing by! Maybe it’s because it feels like we still have so much to do before the regular routine of school days gets started. Or maybe it just comes with getting older.

This week, we’re tiptoeing through the garden as we make cards inspired by the beauty of nature. And today, I’m going to show you ways to use “difficult” patterned paper. Do you ever fall in love with a pack of patterned paper but then find yourself stumped when it comes to actually using it? That’s precisely what has happened to me with the Unbounded Beauty paper pack by Stampin’ Up! I fell in love with the patterns but then just haven’t been able to find designs where the patterns make sense. Until now.

In this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, we are using two card layouts to showcase that paper that you are finding hard to use. We get started with a card that I like to call the tuxedo fold. We choose two complimentary paper patterns, bearing in mind the backside of one sheet will be visible and must also be considered in our paper choice. And one sheet will be folded to reveal a portion underneath so that it almost looks like the collar of a tux shirt on each end. Then our sentiment panel sits on top as a prominent feature on our card. Suddenly, our overwhelming pattern now fits perfectly in a design — no longer overwhelming but instead a beautiful backdrop.

Our second design literally cuts our busy patterns down to size. I like to call this design a patterned paper or designer paper (DSP) grid since we use strips of busy patterns to build a grid on our card front, leaving the center section for a small sentiment. The patterned paper strips can be of any size from 1- to 2-inches, depending on how large you wish to make your center sentiment. Not only does this design tame some wild patterns, it also allows you to use up scraps of even your favorite patterned papers.

To see the tuxedo fold and DSP grid designs at work, tune in to this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays where we made 2 cards from scratch using these two card layouts.

Tomorrow, we’re making things easy with the Nature’s Sweetness paper. Pop by and check it out.

Products used in card above — tuxedo fold:
Summer Splash, Pretty in Pink, Basic White cardstock
Unbounded Beauty DSP
Inspiring Snapdragons, Something Fancy stamps
Spotlight on Nature, Inspiring Snapdragons dies
Pretty in Pink ribbon
In Color shimmer gems, tinsel gems
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Products used in card above — DSP grid:
Basic White cardstock
Berry Burst, Unbounded Beauty DSP
Unbounded Love stamps
Everyday Details dies
Iridescent striped trim
Iridescent discs
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Summer Splash 8 1/2" X 11 Cardstock

[163797]

$11.50

Pretty In Pink 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[163793]

$11.50

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.00

Unbounded Beauty 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163372]

$12.50

Inspiring Snapdragons Cling Stamp Set (English)

[163672]

$26.00

Inspiring Snapdragons Dies

[163673]

$32.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

Something Fancy Cling Stamp Set (English)

[160416]

$23.00

Pretty In Pink Classic Stampin Pad

[163807]

$9.00

Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad

[147089]

$9.00

Pretty In Pink 3/8" (1 Cm) Bordered Ribbon

[163784]

$7.50

2024–2026 In Color™ Shimmer Gems

[163781]

$8.50

Tinsel Gems Four Pack

[161623]

$8.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.00

Unbounded Beauty 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[163372]

$12.50

Berry Burst, Old Olive & White 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Glimmer Specialty Paper

[163769]

$6.00

Unbounded Love Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[163378]

$25.00

Everyday Details Dies

[162864]

$34.00

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$10.50

Iridescent 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Striped Trim

[163299]

$8.50

Iridescent Adhesive Backed Discs

[161954]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Winter

Warm Hello

July 25, 2024July 24, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

I hope you’re having as much fun with the wintery designs as I am this week! Ordinarily, I would be escaping the Texas heat by dreaming of winter, but we continue to enjoy unseasonably cool, spring-like weather here in North Texas and I’m not complaining a bit!

Today, we’re learning a new fun fold to build this super cute snowy scene using Merriest Trees and the new Online Exclusive stamp set called Filled With Cheer. The double easel fold is a cute way to showcase sets that create scenes or just to draw attention to beautiful patterned paper and a sentiment.

We get started on today’s snowy scene with a standard card base of Lost Lagoon cardstock. In this case, we’re cutting the base so that our center fold is oriented at the top of the portrait-oriented design. Our double easel is created with a sheet of Pretty Peacock, which also serves as the mat for our patterned paper on each front-facing panel. The small tree patterned sheet from the Winter Meadow designer series paper pack is our backdrop for this snowy scene. Our tree is diecut from Pretty Peacock cardstock using the Merriest Trees dies, which are designed to layer on top of one another to create the look of a fluffy evergreen tree. Layers of dimensionals help provide our fluffy look even after our card has made its trek through the mail. A dab of Wink of Stella across the bottom of each layer of branches adds some twinkle. The snowman from Filled With Cheer is stamped on white cardstock and is then separated from the remaining portion of the stamped scene with paper snips. A touch of color is added to the hat, scarf, and nose of the snowman using Stampin’ Blends. The snowman is adhered on top with layers of dimensionals to ensure he stands out against the background elements. I chose the “warm hello” sentiment from Filled With Cheer and stamped in Versamark on the snowy vellum sheet from the Graceful Greenery vellum pack. It’s then covered with white embossing powder and heat embossed. I just loved the play on words with the melting snowman. *grin* The transparent dots serve as cover for the dimensionals under the sentiment but also serve as subtle snowflakes across the card front.

Isn’t this just the cutest scene?! 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 and check out what the other demos in our L2S Group have created for you today!

Want to see this card come together from start to finish? You can watch the full Terrific Tuesdays video tutorial. I’ve also added a FREE printable tutorial. Click here to download the PDF.

Products used in this card:
Lost Lagoon, Pretty Peacock, Basic White cardstock
Winter Meadow, Graceful Greenery vellum DSP
Filled With Cheer stamps
Merriest Trees, Spotlight on Nature dies
Embossing powder
Stampin’ Blends
Wink of Stella
Transparent dots
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Lost Lagoon 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133679]

$11.50

Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[150880]

$11.50

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.00

Winter Meadow 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[162133]

$12.50

Graceful Greenery Vellum 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper

[164118]

$10.00

Filled With Cheer Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[164362]

$20.00

Merriest Trees Dies

[162047]

$37.00

Spotlight On Nature Dies

[163580]

$35.00

Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad

[101406]

$10.50

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Basics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165679]

$21.00

Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

[154895]

$9.00

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

$9.00

Transparent Adhesive Backed Dots

[163432]

$8.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Terrific Tuesdays

Tour the Studio

July 20, 2024July 20, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Ever wondered about my crafting setup? In this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays, we’re taking a behind-the-scenes tour of my crafting space. From work area to storage solutions, you get to see it all!

Clean and Simple · Saying Hey

Miss Your Face

July 10, 2024July 9, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

We’re already halfway through this week. Hard to believe, isn’t it?! This week, we’re working with the Saying Hey stamp set by Stampin’ Up! to create card designs of all kinds. Today’s clean and simple card design pairs our featured stamp set with the Friends for Life set. This card also works in my favorite color family and uses some of my favorite techniques.

We get started with a card base of white cardstock. Our focal panel is matted with a panel of Pretty Peacock cardstock. Only a small border peeks out around the edges to really help our center focal section pop. Our focal panel of white cardstock has a strip of text as the backdrop for the focal panel. This one sentiment is stamped in a repeating pattern of Pretty Peacock and Coastal Cabana inks across two lines, which is just enough width to nicely frame the focal point panel. Stamping part of the sentiment as a backdrop is one of my favorite techniques for repeating the card theme.

Our focal point consists of two large font sentiments. I stamped HEY from the Saying Hey stamp set tone-on-tone on Coastal Cabana cardstock. The sentiment is then punched with the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. A second hexagon is punched from Summer Splash glimmer paper, cut in half, and then mounted behind the sentiment panel to serve as an eye-catching mat. The word FRIEND from Friends for Life is stamped in Pretty Peacock on Coastal Cabana and heat embossed with clear embossing powder for an extra pop and twinkle. Each sentiment element is mounted on the panel with dimensionals. Things are finished off with In Color glimmer gems to draw the eye across the card design.

TIP: you can make any ink color sparkle with clear embossing powder. This is one of my favorite ways to punch up text on card designs when I really want them to stand out. Want to know more? Tune in to this week’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays to catch it all in action.

Tomorrow we’ll be using a sketch but with a twist. Tune in tomorrow to learn all about it!

Products used in today’s card:
Basic White, Pretty Peacock, Coastal Cabana cardstock
In Color glimmer paper
Saying Hey, Friends for Life stamps
Friends for Life dies
Heartfelt Hexagon
In Color shimmer gems
WOW! embossing powder
Dimensionals
Adhesives

Product List

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock

[159229]

$11.25

Pretty Peacock 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[150880]

$11.50

Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[131297]

$11.50

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

[163771]

$11.00

Saying Hey Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[163697]

$17.00

Friends For Life Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[163359]

$25.00

Friends For Life Dies (English)

[163364]

$34.00

Heartfelt Hexagon Punch

[162888]

$23.00

Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad

[150083]

$9.00

Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad

[147097]

$9.00

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$9.50

Basics Wow! Embossing Powder

[165679]

$21.00

2024–2026 In Color™ Shimmer Gems

[163781]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Hello Hollyhocks · Kits

Thinking of Hollyhocks

July 2, 2024June 29, 2024 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week, we’re getting a closer look at the beautiful new kit by Stampin’ Up! called Hello Hollyhocks. This kit comes with everything you need to create 9 stunning cards. And each day this week, I’m showing you how you can use the kit elements along with a few items from your own personal crafting stash to create gorgeous design alternatives.

Today, we’re adding an additional diecut cardstock element to the Hello Hollyhocks kit to create this stunner. We start with the provided Petal Pink dotted card base. The backdrop for the image panel is a piece of Flirty Flamingo cardstock diecut using the Spotlight on Nature dies. The larger Calypso Coral rectangle included in the kit is adhered at the base of the circle and together these provide the base for our image and sentiment elements. The two-stem hollyhocks and peacock and olive stems are arranged and then adhered to the back of the sentiment. A faux bow made from the white & silver sheer ribbon is adhered to the Flirty Flamingo circle using tear and tape. And then the sentiment panel is adhered over it using two layers of dimensionals. The sparkle gems included in the kit finish off the design.

Would you like to see how to put together the 3 designs from the Hello Hollyhocks kit? Tune in to today’s episode of Terrific Tuesdays to see this all-inclusive kit come to life: