Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2026February 14, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back to today’s Valentine posts. In case you missed it, earlier today I shared the simple gift bags I gave to my co-workers yesterday. Just a simple combo of SU! goodies from the crafty stash.

This afternoon, I’m using a lot of those same products — Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, and ribbon — to dress up the gifties I picked up for my two loves.

First up, sometimes you get things that are a little oddly-shaped for a gift bag or maybe you want a bit of the gift to show. So we’re using a belly band to dress up these first two. I chose the small heart sheet from the Most Adored paper pack and cut each belly band to size and adhered with tear-n-tape. The band is wrapped with some retired gingham ribbon. The tags are cut from the foiled heart patterned paper and cut with the To the Point label punch. The tags are dressed up with a punched heart and sentiments from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack adhered with dimensionals. A few gold sequin hearts are added for a little extra pop.

Next up, we’re still using the belly band technique but covering more of our chocolate bars here since their wraps didn’t really coordinate well with the color scheme. We’ve got two different heart patterns from the Most Adored paper pack and each is wrapped with ribbon — white iridescent and some Melon Mambo polka-dot. The tags are punch from a sheet of plaid and we add hearts and sentiments from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack with dimensionals. The tags are tie on with Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon and some sequin hearts are added for a pop of gold twinkle.

It doesn’t to much to turn a gift into something special with just a few handmade elements. All it takes is some goodies from the stash and a few minutes of your time.

I hope you all feel loved today. Know that you are special to your Creator and that is the most importantly love anyone can have! Next week, we’re going to find some fun ways to share a little luck.

Products used:
Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, heart punch, Iridescent ribbon, Melon Mambo polka-dot ribbon, Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon, Real Red & white gingham ribbon, heart sequins (retired)
To the Point label punch
Dimensionals

Valentines

Happy PALentine’s Day

February 14, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody! So glad you stopped by today. I’ve been so tired when I got home from the office on Thursday and Friday that I pretty much had dinner, did the usual family thing, and then went straight to bed! It’s a super busy time of year with the kiddo’s various activities, church activities picking up as we head into Lent, and just life stuff. Do you ever have weeks where you’re just done when you get home? I feel like I’m having a string of them.

Despite being pretty wiped out from the work day, I did actually play in the crafty goodies the last two days in preparation from Valentine’s Day. So today, I’m going to be bringing you two posts to show you what I pulled together from the crafty stash to make some folks feel a little love this week. I have oodles of Valentine-themed goodies in the retired Stampin’ Up! stash and that’s where I turned for my projects. I like to swipe holiday-themed things when they go on the sale rack in the store to prep for the next year. For anyone who likes to make things for craft fairs or just likes to make things to give away, this is a perfect way to give gifts from the heart on a budget! So we’re pulling out last year’s beautiful Most Adored foiled paper, Celebrate Love ephemera, and Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon, along with some gift bags I bought on clearance a Christmas or two ago.

I like to make little gifties for my co-workers, and with some clearance chocolates in-hand, I just needed to whip up some cute packaging. I had a package of pre-scored, pre-assembled SU! gift bags in my stash and they were just the perfect size to fill with the assortment of chocolates I purchased — Hershey Kisses, Hershey Nuggets, and some Lindor truffles. I cut some smaller pieces of metallic tissue paper from my wrapping stash to stuff in each bag. And then I set about making the custom gift tags. I chose a red plaid pattern from the Most Adored paper pack and cut tags using the Heartfelt Hexagon punch. I punched a small hole in the top of each one and thread a loop of red & white baker’s twine to affix the tag to each bag. I made a bow of the Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon and then placed a sentiment from the Celebrate Love ephemera pack on top using dimensionals. I tied the tag to the bag and voila — gift complete.

Sometimes it’s just a simple touch that really elevates a gift. And all we needed here to dress up the cute SU! gift bag was a tag. If you drop back by a little later today, I’m going to show you how I dressed up the little gifties I got for my boys for Valentine’s Day.

Products used:
Most Adored DSP, Celebrate Love ephemera, Sweet Sorbet metallic ribbon (retired)
Heartfelt Hexagon punch
Red & white baker’s twine
Dimensionals

Valentines

Wish You Were Here

February 10, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Hello, crafty friends. Welcome in. I know it’s only Tuesday, but it sure feels like we’ve lived about 3 Mondays this week! Anyone else? Hopefully the rest of the week smooths out.

This week we’re tipping our hats to our loved ones near & far as we think of ways we can honor the upcoming Valentine holiday in our designs this week. And today I still wanted to give a nod to the fellas with this blue-hued design combining blue cardstock and a few elements from the 12 Days of Advent calendar.

We get started with a base of Night of Navy cardstock. Our blue floral backdrop panel is from the patterned paper pack from this year’s Advent calendar. And the same goes for a sentiment panel — it’s one of the 3×4 notecards from the Advent calendar that’s been matted with Night of Navy before being adhered to the center of the card front with dimensionals. And to finish things off, some of the darker opal rounds are added in opposing corners to draw the eye across the design.

I think this is the perfect card to send to a friend you don’t see often — just to let them know they’re on your mind. And it could easily be for a guy or gal pal. What do you think?

I’ll be taking a break tomorrow to attend the kiddo’s basketball game. But we’ll be back at it on Thursday. Hope to see you then!

Products used in this design:

Night of Navy cardstock; 2025 Adventure Calendar; Misty Moonlight & Silver edged ribbon; Opal rounds; Dimensionals

Valentines

Extra Special Grove

February 9, 2026 susanfoxbowenLeave a comment

Welcome back, friends! It’s Monday and my tail is dragging. What about yours? After getting a little crafty time on Saturday morning, the hubby & I set about tackling our to-do list for the day. Late in the afternoon, I got a headache that eventually morphed into a migraine. So my grand plan for rewarding myself for conquering our to-do list by playing in the craft room again was replaced by retiring to bed early and sleeping with a pillow over my head. Womp-womp.

So here we are at Monday again and time for a new design challenge. This week, we’re thinking about the upcoming Valentine holiday, if we want to call it that. It’s actually a perfect time to let your friends know you’re thinking of them — and that special someone too, of course! So we’re starting off with one for the fellas since they didn’t really get their due last week. And we’re combining the new Aspen Grove stamp set with the Country Woods paper and a sentiment from the 2025 Advent Calendar.

We get started with a base of Smoky Slate cardstock. A sheet of the grey woodgrain from the Country Woods paper pack serves as our focal backdrop. I arranged the Aspen Grove stamps on a large block and stamped the row of trunks in black ink onto white cardstock. I layered several shades of green leaves up top to create the treetop canopy. To give some realistic depth to the tree trunks, we use Crumb Cake and Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends down the left side of each one, which gives a shadow effect. I filled in a touch of blue in the background with Cloud Cover ink, but you could easily skip this shading (and next time, I think I will!). The focal panel is downsized using the Textured Notes die and then adhered to the woodgrain backdrop. The full panel is wrapped in black & gold bakers twine that is tied in a knot on the left side before the focal panel is adhered to the card front with dimensionals. The sentiment panel is cut from Cloud Cover cardstock with the Stylish Shapes circle die and then the sentiment from the 12 Days of Christmas Advent calendar is stamped in black in the center and then adhered over the twine with dimensionals. I added a few of the lighter Shades of Green Hexagons on either side of the sentiment to draw the eye in and add a bit of colorful eye candy.

This design is 100% inspired by one of the samples from the January Mini catalog. Much like using a sketch, you can take a design and make it your own with a substitution here & there. It’s another great trick when you’re either short on time or lacking a little inspiration — or both!

I hope you’ll drop in tomorrow to see another Valentine-inspired design.

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