Explosion Fun Fold Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

I’m kicking off my fall crafting with an Explosion Fun Fold card with the Fancy Folds Design Team! I’ve never made a card like this before so I’m excited to give it a try. And Tami White, a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator from the US, has a video and cheat sheet that’s super helpful if you want to try and make your own. You can find them both here.

For my design I’m using the Them Bones Designer Series Paper from the upcoming mini catalogue. I got my pre-order earlier this week and couldn’t wait to get crafting with it. Then for my images and sentiments, I’m using the Cottage Wreaths bundle from the Annual Catalogue.

The card base is Crumb Cake cardstock. On the inside I used Very Vanilla cardstock. I like the softer white for my Fall cards! Now before I added my DSP mechanism, I stamped a few leaves on the cardstock using Pumpkin Pie and Cajun Craze ink. Then I stamped the sentiment with Pumpkin Pie and framed it with a few Cajun Craze acorns and another piece of Crumb Cake cardstock to put in the centre of the mechanism.

On the outside I have the same DSP design as the the mechanism. The belly band, to keep the card closed, is Crumb Cake cardstock. And to cover up the overlapping cardstock, I added a Crumb Cake wreath that I cut out with the coordinating die. I stamped “grateful” in Pumpkin Pie ink and punched it out with a circle punch. I used the 2 3/8″ Circle punch and then trimmed a bit off. The 2″ Circle punch should work without having to do any trimming. Once I added this to my Crumb Cake belly band I added a few Brushed Metallic Dots to the wreath. Gotta add a bit of bling!!

Explosion Fun Fold Card

Make sure to keep hopping so you can see all the Explosion Fun Fold card fun! Next up is Mette Nording Shaw and you can see her card design here.

If you want to see our last hop, check out my Double Fan Fold card here!

Faux Wood Paneling Card

The idea for this card came from a picture I saw of a home decor project. I really liked how they had an image on what looked like wood panels and thought it would make for a pretty cool card design. I’m calling it the Faux Wood Paneling card for obvious reasons. If you can think of another name, or if there is already a name, let me know. I’d love to hear it!

I wish I still had some of the recently retired Sahara Sand cardstock. It would have looked really nice! Crumb Cake is too dark and so I’m using Basic White. The softer colour of Very Vanilla would maybe work even better for this card design. I did use Crumb Cake for my card base though.

The biggest tip for this design is to do ALL your stamping, colouring, etc. first. Embossing first would make it alot harder to get nice even colour. I stamped one of the images from the In the Moment stamp set using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Then I stamped the birds from that same image a couple more times. To avoid getting any unwanted leftover ink on your cardstock, make sure to use a scrap piece of paper or cardstock to cover the rest of the image.

To create the sunset I used my Blending Brushes along with 3 different colours. I started at the bottom of the cardstock with Crushed Curry. Then I used Flirty Flamingo and finally Calypso Coral. These 3 colours go really well together and blend well too!

Next I coloured the image with Stampin’ Blends. I used Dark Crumb Cake for the railing, the band on the hat and the hair. Then Light Crumb Cake on the hat and belt. For the dress I used both the Light and Dark Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blends. And for the wine I used Light Daffodil Delight. If you’re more of a red wine person Merry Merlot would work well.

Once that was done I embossed it with the Timber 3D embossing folder and cut it into 1″ strips. To finish it off I stamped a phrase from the same stamp set with Memento ink and then added some Crumb Cake ink around the edges. Then I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Faux Wood Paneling Card

This Faux Wood Paneling card was fun to make! I don’t think I’ve used so many different techniques on one card before.

Check out another card I made using the In the Moment stamp set here. And you can find this stamp set along with everything else you need in my online shop!

Colouring with Circle Sayings

With all the hustle of working mom life I don’t colour as often as I’d like to. It’s definitely been way too long since I did some colouring for a project. And one of the reasons I love the Circle Sayings bundle is because the images are great for colouring. So this week I decided to finally get around to some colouring with Circle Sayings. And since it’s still July I’m going with a summer themed card.

So that’s where I started with my design. With the seashell image as my jumping off point, I went with Pool Party and Crumb Cake as my colour combination. I just love these colours for a summer/beach themed card. So I have Pool Party for my card base and then I added a strip of Crumb Cake across the centre. But not before I embossed it with the 3D Painted Texture embossing folder.

Behind the strip of embossed Crumb Cake cardstock are a few seashells. These ones are from the Season of Chic stamp set. Then on top of these layers I have my little seashells from Circle Sayings. I stamped it twice with Crumb Cake ink to create a ring. Usually when I’m colouring with my Stampin’ Blends I stamp with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Fortunately it worked out for me. I used mostly the light Crumb Cake blend. But there’s also some light Pool Party, light Petal Pink and a little bit of the dark Crumb Cake.

Once that dried I punched it out and popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then to finish it off I added a few of the Flat Adhesive Backed Pearls.

Colouring with Circle Sayings

I definitely need to do some more colouring with Circle Sayings! Maybe next time I’ll use the Watercolour Pencils.

Check out another card I made using the Circle Sayings bundle here. And you can find the bundle in my online shop here.

Double Fan Fold Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

This month the Fancy Folds Design Team is making a Double Fan Fold card. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the name. The video from Brenda Quintana, a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator from the US, was helpful. Check that out here. My design started once I figured out what images I wanted to put in the centre. I went with Bottles of Happiness. Great flowers and I can use the coordinating punch to make it a shaker card. I love the Vintage Bottle Shaker Domes and Loose Frosted Dots!

Usually I stamp first and then punch. But this time I switched it around. I wanted to make sure that I got the punch up as far as I could. Once I punched then I stamped the bottle outline. Doing it this way also make it much easier to stamp the flowers and foliage in the right place. I stamped the centres and foliage first in Crumb Cake ink. Then I stamped the flowers on top in Pretty Peacock.

The sentiment is from the Season of Chic stamp set. And I die cut it using one of the Meadows dies. I popped that up with a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then to decorate the side panels, I used a Pretty Peacock design from the Masterfully Made Designer Series Paper pack.

Double Fan Fold Card

Check out the next Double Fan Fold card by Mette Nordling Shaw from Australia here. And then keep hopping around the world to see more!

And you can find last month’s hop here. Last month we made a Double Decker Pop Out card.

Decorative Borders

I got the Decorative Borders stamp set back in November at OnStage. That’s when I was knee deep in my holiday crafting and not too long after that we were off to Disney. So I haven’t really had a chance to craft with it yet. Finally I’m digging it out!

For this card I decided to make a Z-fold card. This is one of my favourite fun folds. And for my colour combination I’m using Pear Pizzazz and Crumb Cake. Pear Pizzazz is probably my favourite colour for leaves and other greenery. And with Spring coming I have a feeling I’ll be using it alot!

To start, I stamped a little something on the inside piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. Then I stamped a wall of foliage for the outer panel using Pear Pizzazz. I also did some tone on tone stamping for the middle panel.

The sentiment comes from the Something Fancy stamp set. I stamped it with Crumb Cake ink and cut it out with one of the coordinating dies. Then I popped it up some some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

A few more ideas popped in my head as I was making this card. So I’m looking forward to crafting some more with the Decorative Borders stamp set.

Check out another card I made with this stamp set here. Sadly the other stamp set I used, Adorable Owls, is no longer available. But you can really swap in any stamp set from your craft stash.

Need some supplies? Head over to my online shop and grab the Decorative Borders stamp set… along with whatever else you need!

Adorable Owls

I can’t believe it’s the last day of Sale-a-bration already! And that means its time to say goodbye to the Adorable Owls… and all the Sale-a-bration products. Adorable Owls is definitely my favourite stamp set from this catalogue. These guys are just too cute! So for my last card I of course had to use this stamp set.

I wanted to pair this stamp set with the Country Gingham Designer Series Paper. That’s one of the ways I figured out my colour combination. I also wanted to colour my little friend and Balmy Blue is one of the watercolour pencils in Assortment 2. So I’m using one of the Balmy Blue designs and paired it with Crumb Cake.

Above the DSP I stamped some leaves and flowers from the Delicate Borders stamp set. Then I layered my owl on top. I used one of the Framed Florets dies to cut out my owl and create the frame with Crumb Cake cardstock. To colour my owl I lightly coloured with Early Espresso, since there isn’t a Crumb Cake watercolour pencil, and Daffodil Delight for the beak and feet. I coloured the owls eyes with Balmy Blue and lightly all around him for a bit of sky.

From here I popped up my framed owl using some Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then added a phrase from the Adorable Owls stamp set with Crumb Cake ink which I also popped up.

Adorable Owls

It makes me sad to say goodbye to these Adorable Owls, but I think I’ll be holding on to this stamp set so I’m not too sad.

Check out another one of my favourites from the Sale-a-bration catalogue here. And make sure to head over to my online shop before the end of today if you want to grab some last minute Sale-a-bration products. Once they’re gone… they’re gone!

Framed Florets

The Framed Florets bundle was an early release product from the January-April Mini catalogue. Somehow though I haven’t used it much yet. So I thought I’d pull out the dies for this card.

The design for this card stared with a design from the Dainty Flowers Designer Series Paper pack in the Sale-a-bration catalogue. This is my favourite pack of patterned paper from the Sale-a-bration catalogue. And I really like the subtle design on this sheet! So I pulled Blushing Bride from the design as one of my colours and Crumb Cake for my other. Other than the patterned paper, I used Blushing Bride for the sentiment and stamped flowers. The Crumb Cake is my card base and frame.

The sentiment comes from the Something Fancy stamp set. And the flowers some from the Beautifully Happy stamp set. Then for the flowers and sentiment I stamped directly onto the cardstock. But for the leaves and buds I stamped off my Old Olive ink on a scrap piece of paper first. I wanted to make sure the green didn’t come out too strong.

I used the Framed Florets dies to cut out both the stamped image and the frame. Then I strategically placed my Stampin’ Dimensionals to hold the two pieces together and popped it all up. I cut out the ‘congratulations’ with the Stitched Rectangles dies. And layered that on top of the frame. To finish is off I added some Wink of Stella to the Blushing Bride flowers and added a few Pearl Basic Jewels.

Framed Florets

I can’t wait to use the other dies in this set!

Check out another card I made using the Dainty Flowers DSP here. This pack of patterned paper and the Beautifully Happy stamp set are part of Sale-a-bration which is on until February 28th. Don’t miss out on getting these and other great products for free! Here’s my online shop.

Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho

I’m excited to join the Paper Pumpkin blog hop again this month! Probably because I’m loving this month’s Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho. This is definitely my favourite holiday themed Paper Pumpkin ever! The stamp set has so many great images and phrases. And the envelopes and dies cut pieces are great too.

For this alternative project I’m making a card and I’m using some non-traditional colours; Bermuda Bay and Crumb Cake. It all started with me wanting to use Bermuda Bay to stamp some snowflakes. Then when I was looking at the pieces in the kit and I had the idea to cut up one of the intricate die cut pieces. I layered that on top of one of the pieces left over from the frame and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. But not before I did some tone on tone stamping and added a snowflake to the centre of each of the die cut snowflakes.

Underneath that layer I took a strip of Bermuda Bay cardstock and did some more tone on tone stamping using the “ho ho ho” stamp. For my other phrase I combined “holly jolly” and “Christmas”. It’s one of my favourite holiday songs! I used both Bermuda Bay and Crumb Cake ink to stamp this phrase. Then to finish it off I added an Iridescent Pearl Basic Jewels to the centre of each of the “snowflakes”.

Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho

I just LOVE the October Paper Pumpkin Ho Ho Ho kit! Don’t you?!

Check out the other projects on this month’s hop with the link below. And to check out last month’s hop with the September Paper Pumpkin kit, start with my alternative project here.

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Spruced Up

With every new catalogue our larger team always does a card swap. And the July-December mini catalogue is no different. For my swap I wanted to step it up a little while keeping it simple. I especially like to keep it simple when I have to make a lot of cards at once. So I made a book fold card using the Spruced Up bundle.

I have a few different elements to this card so I wanted to have a neutral card base. Crumb Cake works nicely for this and is probably my favourite brown to craft with. On the “spine” of my card front I have a strip of one of the designs from the Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper. I love the colours and patterns in this DSP pack, don’t you?! For the main part of my card front I embossed a piece of Basic White cardstock using the snowy mountain range from the Charming Landscapes embossing folders. I thought it makes a really nice background for the other elements.

I stamped the large tree with Evening Evergreen and then cut it out with the coordinating die. And the phrase is actually 2 phrases from the Spruced Up stamp set. I really love these two together! To stamp them I place them as close together on the block as I can. I stamped the phrase in Evening Evergreen too. Then I die cut it with one of the All That dies and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. To finish it off I added a few Festive Pearls. These are another favourite of mine from the July-December mini catalogue. And apparently a lot of people agree… I’ve seen it out of stock a couple of times already.

Here’s my card…

All Spruced Up

Check out some of the cards I got from this recent card swap here. I’ll be sharing more here in the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned! And you can check out the Spruced Up bundle in my online shop.

#SimpleStamping with Paper Craft Crew

Each month Stampin’ Up! has a #SimpleStamping challenge and I’ve been having a lot of fun doing them. This week the Paper Craft Crew is doing some #SimpleStamping too (PCC488). So I’m excited to do some #SimpleStamping with Paper Craft Crew and Stampin’ Up!

#SimpleStamping with Paper Craft Crew

For my card design I started with what punch I was going to use. (Stampin’ Up!s challenge gives us an extra punch to work with on top of the usual stamps, ink and paper.) I love the bottle images from the Vintage Christmas stamp set! So I decided to use the Vintage Bottle punch even though this is going to be a thank you card.

From here I picked my colour combination. And since it’s not going to be a Christmas card I’m using Pale Papaya and Crumb Cake as my main colours. I stamped the bottly with Crumb Cake ink and the main flowers in Pale Papaya ink. Then I added in a splash of Soft Succulent for the flowers’ centres. The thank you is from the Biggest Wish stamp set. I also stamped that in Pale Papaya, then framed it with some Crumb Cake cardstock and popped it up with Stampin’ Dimensionals to be at the same level as the bottle. And to have a little something more in the background I stamped the ink splatter image from the Quiet Meadow stamp set with Crumb Cake ink.

#SimpleStamping with Paper Craft Crew

I really enjoy #SimpleStamping! And so I had a lot of fun with these challenges.

Check out the other cards for more #SimpleStamping with Paper Craft Crew here. And you can check out one of my previous #SimpleStamping cards here.

September #SimpleStamping

Today I’m sharing my card for Stampin’ Up!s September #SimpleStamping challenge. This month we’re making a “thinking of you” card using ONLY stamps, ink and paper. I really enjoy these challenges because I sometimes find it a bit more challenging when we don’t have an extra little something to work with like Designer Series Paper or ribbon. You don’t realize how used to using these things you’ve gotten until you’re challenged to NOT use them.

For my design I started with my stamp set. I wanted something that had nice images that I could layer. The Bottled Happiness stamp set I think works well for this kind of card in a lot of different ways. The images and how they are supposed to layer on top of each other… and the phrases are great too.

From here I picked my colours. Since this is a “thinking of you card” I wanted more subtle colours. I used Crumb Cake for my card base partly because of this and partly because I can pair almost any other colour with it. The other colours I picked are Soft Succulent and Fresh Freesia; both colours from the 2021-2023 In Colour collection. So pretty and not too much either.

The phrase also came from the Bottled Happiness stamp set. I stamped that with Soft Succulent ink and then framed it with some Crumb Cake cardstock. Then to finish it off I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

September #SimpleStamping

If we would have been able to add a little something to the September #SimpleStamping challenge I would have voted for some Designer Series Paper. Or maybe even a punch and then I could have used the coordinating Vintage Bottle Punch. Either way I’m happy with how this card turned out. Check out another recent card I made for another #SimpleStamping challenge here.

And you can always stock up on stamps, ink and paper in my online card shop here!

Summer Themed Birthday Card

Yes September is here. And yes Fall is less than two weeks away. But I’m still enjoying the warm summer weather. I think that’s where the inkspiration came from for today’s card. Plus I wanted to do some colouring! So that’s where I started… with the stamped image I wanted to colour. The In the Moment works great for this summer themed birthday card. I love all the images in this stamp set, but to keep with a summer theme there was only one choice.

Then I picked my colour combination. I love blues and browns together and they’re a great combo for summer too! I used Crumb Cake as my base colour; the card base and the specs of sand behind all the other elements. Then I have 3 different blues. The blues are Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana and Pool Party. I liked the idea of the shades going from dark to light and so I simply used some strips of the different shades.

The image in the centre is stamped with Crumb Cake and then coloured with the Watercolour Pencils. I used Early Espresso from the first assortment. And Coastal Cabana and Cherry Cobbler from the second. I added a Pool Party scalloped circle behind it (using the Layering Circles dies) and popped them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. The phrase is from the Happiness Abounds stamp set and I stamped in with Pool Party ink. Before I popped it up I die cut it using the Stitched Rectangles dies. And to finish it off I added a few of the blue-green Faux Sea Glass Shapes.

Summer Themed Birthday Card

I really like how this summer themed birthday card turned out! And I might need to add to my cardstock stash so I can do something similar with some Fall colours.

Check out one of the first cards I made with the In the Moment stamp set here. And you can find it here in my online shop.

Watercolour Background

There are so many ways that you can use watercolouring to make great looking projects. I think that’s why I’ve been loving celebrating World Watercolour month. For this card I decided to create a watercolour background. It’s so easy and looks so pretty. You can even use more than one colour to give it a different look.

In this case I thought of making a summery/beach themed card. The In the Moment stamp set has a great image for this and it’s great for any kind of colouring. And of course I had to use the Friends are like Seashells stamp set. For my colour combination I used Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake. I wanted something a little brighter than Pool Party which is what I usually use. And the Crumb Cake is great for some tone on tone stamping to create a sandy look.

Before I started my watercolour background I stamped my main image on to a piece of Fluid 100 Watercolour paper using Tuxedo Black Memento ink. Once that was dry I used my ink colours and water painters to colour the image in. Then I used more Coastal Cabana ink and my water painter to fill in the background all around the image.

The layers on top of this piece are nice and simple. I cut out the phrase using one of the smallest Stitched Rectangles dies and fussy cut the seashells. These ones are pretty easy to do that with. Then I popped them all up using some Stampin’ Dimensionals. I thought about adding some bling with the Wink of Stella Glitterbrush, but decided not to.

Watercolour Background

To check out this card and see how I created the watercolour background head over to my YouTube channel. And you can check out another card I created using watercolouring with the Happiness Abounds stamp set here.

Blossoming Happiness

Usually my cards are fairly simple… pretty but simple. I’ve seen some cards with layers upon layers of different things and can appreciate the work that goes into them. For me those designs can be a bit much sometimes. But lately I’ve been wanting to add some more layers to my cards while still keeping it simple. I think it all started with the Hues of Happiness suite. The images from the stamp set and Designer Series Paper are so pretty and the Blossoming Happiness dies lend themselves well to layering.

So in the spirit of keeping it simple I went with a neutral colour combination, Basic Black and Crumb Cake. Then I added a pop of colour with Flirty Flamingo. I stamped some leaves and one of the smaller bouquet of flowers images around the edge of the piece of Crumb Cake using Crumb Cake ink. The tone on tone stamping keeps it subtle and really helps the Flirty Flamingo stand out.

I also stamped a couple of the larger flowers on a piece of Basic White cardstock using Crumb Cake ink. Once that was dry I used one of the Blossoming Happiness dies to create a torn notebook page look. This is such a cool die! I added that to the Crumb Cake card mat on an angle with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Then for my last layer I stamped a few flowers using Tuxedo Black Memento ink on some Basic White cardstock. And here’s where the Flirty Flamingo comes in. I coloured the flowers using the Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blends. I just love colouring with these markers!! Then I cut them out using the coordinating dies and added them to my card. To finish it off I added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels and some Wink of Stella to the centre of the coloured flowers.

Blossoming Happiness

I’m slowly easing my way into adding more layers to my cards. It’s a new kind of design, so it’ll take me a few attempts before I start to get the hang of it. But I love the Blossoming Happiness dies and know that they will definitely be a part of future layered creations!

Check out one of my other cards using the Happiness Abounds stamp set here. And you can check out the full Hues of Happiness suite in my online shop.

Hippest Hippos

Summer is officially here! I’m looking forward to a slower pace and more time for crafting. And I’m definitely looking forward to round 2 of Sale-a-bration. I especially love the Hippest Hippos stamp set and coordinating dies that you can earn for FREE starting next Friday with qualifying orders. So to celebrate the first day of Summer I thought I’d pair these cute hippos with the Friends are like Seashells stamp set.

With that in mind I went with a beach themed colour combination. Pool Party and Crumb Cake I feel work great for this. I used Crumb Cake for my card base. And then I added Pool Party to mat the images and phrase. Before I stamped my images I used my Blending Brushes on the main piece of Basic White cardstock. I used Crumb Cake along the bottom to create a kind of beach and then Pool Party along the top for a water/sky look. On top of the blended inks I stamped some specs of sand and a few seashells.

Then for the hippos I stamped them with Smoky Slate on separate pieces of Basic White cardstock. Once they were dry I used some of my Watercolour Pencils to colour them in. Then I cut them out with the coordinating dies and popped them up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The phrase comes from the Friends are like Seashells stamp set. And I cut it out with one of the Stitched Rectangles dies. Then I popped it up with some more Stampin’ Dimensionals and added a few of the Faux Sea Glass Shapes.

Hippest Hippos

This was such a fun card to make! I can’t wait to create some more with the Hippest Hippos. Stay tuned for more cards featuring these guys.

For information about how Sale-a-bration works check out this post from this past Sale-a-bration. And make sure to bookmark my online shop so you’re all set for when it kicks off.