The Tower Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

It’s time for another Fancy Fold Design Team blog hop!! This month we’re all creating the Tower Card. It’s a really interesting fun fold. It’s a fairly easy card. But I was definitely glad that there were step by step pictures when it came time to figure out which pieces went forward or backward. Here they are. I made mine a little bit different. No layers of cardstock underneath the Designer Series Paper.

For my card design I wasn’t quite sure where to start. At first I debated about diving into the holidays with some of products from the new mini catalogue. In the end I decided to go with something a bit more summery. I pulled out the Hand Penned pack of DSP and pulled my colour combination from there; Misty Moonlight and Daffodil Delight.

This card took a couple of different turns in the creative process. Initially I thought of using the Meadow dies… then I started cutting out some of the flowers from the DSP. Even the images I thought of stamping changed. One thing that didn’t change was the phrase I wanted to use. It comes from the Friends are like Seashells stamp set. I partially stamped the phrase to make it fit on the piece of Basic White cardstock. Then I added a few of the small flowers from the Quiet Meadow stamp set down in the bottom right hand corner.

The Tower Card

On the other side I ended up stamping a combination of the larger and smaller flowers. Then to add another layer of depth to it I stamped and fussy cut a few of the larger flowers to pop up on some Stampin’ Dimensionals. To add a little something more I stamped “love” which I cut out using the tag from the Meadow dies. Then I “tied” it on with some Basic White twine.

The Tower Card

I do like how my card came out. But I have to admit that I’m not so sure about the Tower card. Make sure to keep hopping and head over to see Fiona’s card here. You can also check out last month’s Fancy Fold blog hop here.

The Tower Card

#SimpleStamping with Textures & Frames

It’s Sale-a-bration time again! And so this month’s #SimpleStamping challenge from Stampin’ Up! is to create any kind of card featuring a Sale-a-bration item. So considering I can only use stamps, ink and paper I decided to do some #SimpleStamping with Textures & Frames. This is one of the stamp sets that you can earn for free right now til the end of September. I’m still trying to decide if I like this stamp set. I used it for another card, which you can check out here. Let me know what you think.

For this card I kept things very simple. I used a Basic Black card base to help the different colours really pop and Basic White cardstock for the other pieces. I wanted to try and make a kind of abstract design. So I paired up a bunch of the images from the stamp set with the new In Colours. All of them except for Evening Evergreen anyway. I also stamped the ink splatter image on the inside of the card using Fresh Fressia.

#SimpleStamping with Textures & Frames

I went back and forth on whether to add anything else… like a phrase using another stamp set. But I decided to keep it general and abstract and not add a phrase. To add a little something more though I did pop up my colourful strip with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

#SimpleStamping with Textures & Frames

I loved the challenge of #SimpleStamping with Textures & Frames! You would think that with the word simple in it, it would be simple to create them. But I often find I need to really think about these designs before I start stamping. With my other designs I can kind of design and tweak as I go. It’s harder to do that with these designs I find. Weird right?!

To check out all the Sale-a-bration options that you can earn for free with your qualifying orders, check out my online shop! Remember with a $60 order you can choose one item and with a $120 order you can choose one or two items and so on. If you have any questions just send me an email; inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com

Pattern Party

I’m always needing thank you cards. Mainly for my customers, but it’s nice to have a stash for those unexpected thank you’s too. Somehow I’ve gone through my stash and needed some more. So I had to figure out what kind of a thank you cards I wanted to make this time around. It’s funny how the design came to be. Usually I’ll start with the Designer Series Paper, but the Pattern Party DSP was almost the last thing I choose. I actually started with the Just Jade Gingham ribbon from the Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack. That sparked my colour combination of Just Jade, of course, and Basic Black. Sometimes I forget how using Basic Black can really help the other colours pop!

Once I figured that out I picked my stamp sets. If you haven’t noticed already I’m a big butterfly fan! So I liked the idea of using the Butterfly Brilliance stamps. Then of course I needed my “thank you” which came from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set.

Pattern Party

I always use my Stamparatus when I use the Butterfly Brilliance stamp set. And this time I angled the stamp to maximize the number of butterflies at the top of the piece of Basic White cardstock. I stamped the butterflies in Just Jade and the “thank you” in Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

From there I wrapped some of the Just Jade Gingham ribbon around the piece of stamped cardstock and DSP. Then I cut out the “thank you” with one of the smaller Stitched Rectangles dies and popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. To finish off the card I added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels. (gotta have some bling!)

Pattern Party

I love this card using the Pattern Party DSP! I definitely need to use this pack of paper more often. Unfortunately this pack is only available for those who host a stamping workshop. If you live in Canada and would like to be a host send me an email (inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com) or go to my website for more info. You can also check out all my upcoming classes and events here.

Extra Bonus

I love being a part of the Stampin’ Up! family! While I did join for the discount on their great products, I’ve met so many wonderful people and had some really fun experiences. The group that I’m a part of are such a fun group of people. And I’ve had the chance to meet demonstrators from around the world. I couldn’t imagine not being a demonstrator any more. Which is why I have to share the extra bonus that Stampin’ Up! is offering to everyone who signs up between now and the end of September.

Right now when you join Stampin’ Up! you get the usual Starter Kit, which on it’s own is a great deal, plus you can get a bundle from the new mini catalogue for free! There are 12 different bundles to choose from. Many are holiday/winter themed, but there are other options too. I’m having fun crafting with the Frosted Gingerbread bundle right now. I also love the Gorgeous Leaves and Christmas Season bundles. And how can you not love the super cute Penguin Place bundle?! And this is on top of the Starter Kit!

The Starter Kit is only $135, no shipping or taxes on top, and you get $165 worth of Stampin’ Up! product from any of the current catalogues. Plus you get just about all the business supplies you need if you want more than just the discount. I’m also here to support you and answer any questions you might have. I’m happy to help out in any way I can. And if I’m not sure the larger team that I’m a part of will have us covered. I love these women!

Check out the list of bundles that you can choose your extra bonus from below. Then if you live in Canada and are ready to join the Stampin’ Up! family, you can do that here.

Extra Bonus

Sweet Treats

The new mini catalogue is here! And so is another round of Sale-a-bration!! I’ve been having fun with some of the products from the new catalogues and am so excited to share them with you. While the July-December mini catalogue is all about the holidays, especially Christmas, this card is something a little different. I’ve been on the look out for a new birthday themed stamp set and I found a really cute one in the mini. It’s the Sweet Treats stamp set.

I don’t think I’m quite ready to take the deep dive into holiday crafting just yet. So while I can use this set for Christmas, I decided to make a birthday card instead. I just love the versatility of this set. And I can’t wait to use the coordinating dies! For this card I started my colour combination with Pale Papaya, one of the newest In Colours. I also wanted something a little darker than Crumb Cake. So I went with Soft Suede and I really love these two colours together.

For this design I wanted the Pale Papaya to be the stand out colour. So I used it for the card base and frame behind the cupcakes. For the background I used a combination of the Pale Papaya and Soft Suede to stamp the images. Then I wrapped some of the White Crinkled Seam Binding ribbon around it and added a bow.

Sweet Treats

I really wanted some cupcakes as the focal point for this card. So I used some masking to create my cupcake pile. Then I used a Blender Pen to make some Pale Papaya frosting and Soft Suede cupcakes. Once that was dry I added some Wink of Stella to the frosting.

To help them stand out even more I used the Layering Circles dies to frame them. And then I popped them up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. I still wanted a little something more for this card. So I pulled out one of my favourite go-tos… the Rhinestone Basic Jewels. I love my bling!

Sweet Treats

I just LOVE this card using the Sweet Treats stamp set! And I can’t wait to craft some more with it. If you want to check out one of the stamp sets that you can earn for FREE during Sale-a-bration, then check out last week’s post here. And if you want to check out the new mini catalogue, you can do that here in my online shop. Plus if you live in Canada and want your very own copy just send me an email (inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com). I’d be happy to mail them out to you!

Textures & Frames

Over the last couple of week’s I’ve been sharing projects using some of the Designer Series Paper that’s on sale this month. Last week it was the Hand Penned DSP pack’s turn. You can check that out here. This week I’m showing off the In Good Taste DSP pack. I’m also adding in a little sneak peak with this project; the Textures & Frames stamp set. The new mini catalogue and Sale-a-bration kick off next week. So I’ve been playing around with some of my pre-order goodies.

For this card design I started with the DSP design. There are a few that I really like and for this card I thought I’d use the DSP as my background. Once I sorted that out the Textures & Frames stamp set made a lot of sense. I also used the DSP to spark my colour combination; Smoky Slate and Night of Navy. I wanted to add a splash of colour to the card and Night of Navy pops and compliments the Smoky Slate nicely.

Textures & Frames

The “for you” comes from the A Good Man stamp set. I just picked this one up recently and love the phrases and images. I’m not sure why I waited so long to get it. From there I cut out the phrase and framed it with the Layering Circles dies. I also did a simple Smoky Slate frame for my circles and ink splotches which I popped up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Textures & Frames

The Textures & Frames stamp set is still growing on me. I definitely need to craft some more with this one to see where it goes. In the meantime, I really like how this card turned out.

If you want to grab the In Good Taste DSP, or any of the other packs that are on sale, head over to my online store. And make sure to check it out before August 2nd, because that’s the last day to get 15% off of these DSP packs!

Hand Penned

This month is Stampin’ Up!s Designer Series Paper sale. So I thought I would show off some of my favourite packs. Last week I used the Beauty of the Earth DSP, you can check that out here. For this week’s project I decided to use the Hand Penned DSP. This is definitely one of my favourite packs from the Annual Catalogue! I love the colours and designs. And this is a pack that is great to use to make simple cards. You don’t need to add a lot when you’re using this DSP.

I’m a big purple fan, so for this card I’m using the Highland Heather design. I also decided to keep this a monochromatic card, so Highland Heather is my only colour (other than white of course). For the inside of the card instead of stamping a phrase or image I added a strip of the DSP design. I always like to add a little something to the inside of my cards… and the envelopes.

Hand Penned

On the outside of the card there’s of course another strip of the DSP. Then for my images I used the Butterfly Brilliance stamp set. And I love that the butterflies are super easy to cut out using the coordinating dies, Brilliant Wings! I’ve fussy cut butterflies before and while it’s not as bad as some other images I still prefer to not if I don’t have to.

The phrase comes from the Quiet Meadow stamp set which is another favourite of mine. I stamped it in the bottom right hand corner so I would have lots of room to add some of my butterflies which I popped up using some Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then of course I had to add a little bit of bling. So I added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels. You could also add some Wink of Stella to the stamped butterflies.

Hand Penned

I love this card using the Hand Penned DSP! If you want to check out this and the other packs of DSP that are on sale til August 2nd head over to my online shop. Next week I’ll be featuring the In Good Taste DSP pack.

Twist & Pop Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

I’m back this month with another Fancy Folds Design team blog hop! This month we’re making a Twist & Pop card. When I first heard the name I admit I was a little intimidated. But when I saw the card I was super excited to give it a try. And this video by Maymay shows off an easy way to make it.

To spark some inkspiration for my card design I started with the Beauty of the Earth Designer Series Paper. I’ve been having a lot of fun lately crafting with this DSP pack and I knew I wanted to use one of these designs. Once I picked the sheet I wanted to use I choose my colour combination. For my colours I pulled Mossy Meadow from the DSP and paired it with Crumb Cake.

Now even though the “main event” of this card is on the inside, I still wanted to have a little something on the outside. So I used the same DSP as on the inside and stamped “hello” from the Beauty of Friendship stamp set. I cut out the phrase and a Mossy Meadow border with the Layering Circles dies and popped it up with a couple Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Twist & Pop card

For the inside of the card I used the same DSP sheet from the Beauty of the Earth pack. I used a different phrase from the Beauty of Friendship stamp set as well as one from the Free as a Bird stamp set. And the images came from the Free as a Bird stamp set.

Twist & Pop card

The Twist & Pop card was so much fun to make! I did have to play around a bit with the mechanism, but I think it turned out pretty nicely.

Make sure to keep hopping and check out the next Twist & Pop card from Fiona Carson here.

Twist & Pop

Our last blog hop showed off the Slide & Lock card. You can check mine out here and then keep hopping if you like. Enjoy!

Sale is On Now

Usually this sale doesn’t happen til the Fall. But with a new Mini Catalogue and round 2 of Sale-a-bration starting next month, Stampin’ Up! decided to do it early. So the Designer Series Paper sale is on now! This time around there are 9 different packs of Designer Series Paper on sale. And they’re all 15% off from now until August 2nd! There are no limits on how many packs of DSP you can order and if you only wanted one pack that’s okay too.

Sale is On Now

Some of my favourites that are on sale include the Beauty of the Earth pack of DSP. I’ve been having a lot of fun crafting with this pack. I’m using it for a Fancy Fold that I’ll be sharing here on Friday. My other favourites are the Hand Penned and In Good Taste packs which are on their way to me now. I can’t wait to get crafting with those packs. You can check out some team card swaps using the Hand Penned DSP pack here. Then if you LOVE Christmas you’ll definitely love the Tidings of Christmas pack of DSP!

And that’s only 4 of the 9 packs. The other packs on sale this time around are Bloom Where You’re Planted, In the Wild, Pansy Petals, Sweet Symmetry and You’re a Peach. So there are lots of options no matter what you like to create.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be sharing projects using some of these paper packs. So be sure to check back in. And if you live in Canada and want to stock up on the Designer Series Paper that’s on sale now, head to my online store. And if you place on order of $49 or more be sure to use my host code for this month to get a free pack of From my Heart Faceted Gems.

Sale is on now

Gatefold Card

Summer is here! School is done and the hot sunny weather has arrived. So I thought I would share one of my cards from last month’s Stamp & Jammies online card class that featured Friends are like Seashells. This is such a fun stamp set! Plus all the phrases in it make it very versatile. This design is a gatefold card. It’s an easy fold to do and helps switch things up every once in a while. I’ve used it before for my daughter’s Harry Potter themed birthday party.

I wanted to use the Blue Adhesive Backed Gems so I went with Bermuda Bay as one of my colours. I used that for my card base and the gate part of the fold. For my other colour I used Crumb Cake. It’s a nice neutral, beachy colour. It also works great for the sea star and sand dollar stamps from the set.

On the inside I stamped a small seashell in Crumb Cake to have both colours on the inside as well as the outside. Then on the front 3 panels I used a combination of Crumb Cake and Bermuda Bay ink for the seashells and seaweed.

Gatefold Card

I framed the square shaped panel with some Bermuda Bay cardstock and adhered it with a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals on one side. You definitely don’t want to accidentally lock your gate! Then to top it all off I added a few of those Blue Adhesive Backed Gems.

Gatefold Card

The gatefold card is so simple to make and looks really nice! Check out my YouTube channel for the step by step video for this card. I’ve really enjoyed stamping with the Friends are like Seashells stamp set. So be sure to check out all those videos. Join my next Stamp & Jammies online card class in September using Quiet Meadow here.

Summer Theme Challenge

I wasn’t sure if I was going to join this week’s Paper Craft Crew challenge, but then I saw the theme. This week’s Paper Craft Crew challenge (PCC433) is a summer theme challenge. And as soon as I saw the picture I knew I had to do it, I just couldn’t resist. It also sparked some inkspiration for my card design. Here’s the picture for this week’s challenge…

Summer Theme Challenge

I love watching sunsets and in summer you can enjoy them even more because they’re earlier and the weather’s warmer. So for my card design I wanted to create my own summer sunset. To do that I pulled out my Blending Brushes. I love using these!! Check out one of my first projects with them here. For the sunset I chose 3 colours to blend; Pale Papaya, Flirty Flamingo and Calypso Coral. I started with Pale Papaya at the top, Flirty Flamingo in the middle and Calypso Coral at the bottom. The Blending Brushes really blend the colours together nicely.

To frame my sunset I used Flirty Flamingo for the card base and some Basic Black to help the sunset pop. But I still needed more. To accent the sunset even more I used some of the Meadow dies. I die cut a few flowers and butterflies out of Basic Black cardstock and adhered them to the sunset with Tomboy Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue.

I still felt like the card needed something else. So I added a simple phrase from the coordinating stamp set, Quiet Meadow with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. But no bling this time around.

Summer Theme Challenge

This was such a fun card to make! I definitely need to use my Blending Brushes more often. Check out the rest of the cards for this summer theme challenge from the Paper Craft Crew here.

United through Creativity

I love colouring! But I don’t get to do it as often as I’d like with a full time job and two munchkins. So this last week I decided it was time to get back to it. I’ve been meaning to get creative with Stampin’ Up!s free digital stamps, United through Creativity, and with Canada coming up (yesterday) I thought it would be the perfect time. There’s a lot of different images and phrases to choose from, but for Canada Day the maple leaf image and those coordinating phrase were ideal!

Once I printed all the maple leaves I needed I pulled out my Real Red Stampin’ Blends and got to some colouring. I wanted to make a couple of different projects so I needed to print a bunch of them. Since I wasn’t able to isolate the maple leaf image I just did some double-sided printing. I knew I only wanted the maple leaf so I didn’t mind the overlap.

The first project I had in mind was to create two treat bags for my two munchkins. Since there still aren’t any big celebrations going on I wanted to do something special. To make the treat box I just cut and scored some Real Red cardstock. Then I adhered it with some Tear & Tape adhesive. I cut out the coloured maple leaves and phrases using the Layering Circles and Stitched Rectangles dies. We had some candy leftover from the teacher gifts we had put together, so I used that and added a couple other treats to fill the bags.

United through Creativity

The other project I wanted to make was a framed home decor piece. I grab the 6×6 Shadowboxes from Michael’s whenever I get the chance so that’s the measurement I used for this. Now to keep my eyes peeled for a sale and some white ones!

I created the background with some Real Red and Basic White cardstock. And I stamped the Basic White cardstock using the ink splatter image from the Quiet Meadow stamp set and some Real Red ink. I fussy cut the rest of my coloured maple leaves. This is not something I do often, but it was a necessary evil for this project. I adhered a couple of the maple leaves right to the stamped cardstock. The others I adhered parts of the leaves directly to the cut out phrase, then adhered the phrase and other leaves to the stamped cardstock with some dimensionals.

United through Creativity

I LOVE how these turned out! And my munchkins loved their treat boxes. I’m excited to do some more colouring with the United through Creativity digital stamps. You can download yours here. And you can check out another colouring project I did here. Enjoy!

Card Swaps with the Hand Penned Suite

I’ve been meaning to share some of my favourite cards from a recent team swap. Finally here are the first of a few posts that I’m planning to share over the next couple of months. All the cards are featuring new stamp sets, etc. from the new Annual Catalogue. First up are some card swaps with the Hand Penned suite of products. This is one of my favourites from the new catalogue. I love the images and how you easily “colour” them in. But my favourite is the Hand Penned Designer Series Paper!

The first card is by Diana Langman. It shows off the DSP, stamp set AND one of the newest In Colours… Pale Papaya. She also embossed the piece of DSP and a small piece of cardstock using the Tasteful Texture 3D embossing folder. The stamped phrase and image were cut out using the Scalloped Contours dies. Then she topped it off with a few Elegant Faceted Gems and a bit of Soft Succulent ribbon.

card swaps with the hand penned suite

Next up is a card by Laurie Reaume. Another great combination of the stamp set and DSP. This one is a combination of Misty Moonlight and Pale Papaya. She also used the Scalloped Contours dies and did some embossing with the Ornate Flower 3D folder.

card swaps with the hand penned suite

And the last card looks like it’s DSP, but it’s not! It was made by Maria Luchetta. She used the stamp set and coordinating dies to create this effect. It looks really nice! And I’m a big fan of Fresh Freesia, another one of the newest In Colours.

card swaps with the hand penned suite

I think I might have to bump up this suite and the Scalloped Contours dies on my wishlist! These card swaps with the Hand Penned suite are just great! Check out the Hand Penned suite in my online shop. And check out my card for this swap here.

Display Frame Card

I’m sure I’m not the only one who would say this, but my dad is not an easy person to shop for. I don’t think he ever has been. And whenever I ask him what he wants he never really has an answer. So for Father’s Day I decided to make a special card for him; a Display Frame card. Another demonstrator posted their version of this card and I thought it would be really fun! I checked out Jennifer McGuire’s YouTube video for the step by steps and as with most fancy folds it’s easier than it looks.

For this card I used a little bit of current and retired products. My dad has always been a BIG golf fan and so I started off my design with the retired Country Club Designer Series Paper. And I pulled my colour combination from there. I used Night of Navy for the card base and some Crushed Curry for a bit of extra pop.

Display Frame Card

To create the opening for the frame I used the largest circle from the retired Stitched Shapes dies. The Layering Circles dies would work well too, but mine had gone into hiding. I used the Playful Alphabet dies to create “Dad” out of Crushed Curry cardstock. And I popped it up using a piece of Window Sheet and a couple of small boxes adhered on the inside of the frame at the back.

The phrases on the front and inside of the card came from the “A Good Man” stamp set. This is a great set for masculine themed cards and so I’ve been using it a lot lately. Here’s the inside of the card…

Display Frame Card

This Display Frame card turned out really nicely and was super easy to make! If you want to start trying some fancy folds yourself, this would be a good one to start out with. You can also check out my card for a recent Fancy Folds Design Team blog hop here.

Make Your Own Designer Series Paper

There’s only a week and a half left to get your favourite retiring products from the January-June Mini catalogue! This week I’m featuring some of the Ice Cream Corner suite of products. I love just about all of these products! My favourite, which is retiring, is the Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper. But for this card instead of showing off the paper I’m showing you how to make your own Designer Series Paper. (Heads up… the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set and coordinating punch isn’t a bundle in the new Annual catalogue so get your 10% while you still can!)

For this card design I started with the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set and the Gorgeous Grape Sheer ribbon. To go with the Gorgeous Grape I decided to use Bermuda Bay. This is a great colour to use with this stamp set! Actually they both are… they’re both such nice bright colours. Now to make my own DSP I had to pick a few other colours. So I went with Crumb Cake and Petal Pink. The important thing to remember when you want to make your own DSP is to start with the larger images. It’s easier to fill in any leftover spaces with smaller images. Then just randomly stamp your images over the cardstock.

make your own designer series paper

I also used Petal Pink for my other ice cream scoop and I paired Crumb Cake with Cinnamon Cider to make my cone. The other scoop and phrase were stamped with Bermuda Bay. I popped up this piece over the sheer ribbon using a few Stampin’ Dimensionals. And for my bit of bling I added a few of the Artistry Blooms Adhesive Backed Sequins.

This was a fun card to make! I think I need to do the make your own Designer Series Paper more often. Check out my YouTube channel for a walk through of this card. This was one I made for my Stamp & Jammies online card class. You can find out about my next Stamp & Jammies class here!