Double Z-Fold Card

The Z-fold card is one of my favourite cards when I want to craft something a little different without too much fuss. So I’m excited to share this double Z-fold card with you. It’s also fairly simple and straight forward. I also like it because it’s a nice way to show off some patterned paper.

For my card design I’m using the Flight and Airy Designer Series Paper from the Sale-a-bration catalogue. This is such a pretty pack of patterned paper. I just love all the birds… they’re so cute! But this time I’m using one of the floral designs. From there I decided to use Misty Moonlight for my ink and cardstock.

The main card base is 4 1/4″ x 11″ and scored at 2 3/4″ and 5 1/2″. Then the smaller piece that makes it a double Z-fold is 3″ x 9″ and scored at 3″ and 6″. The best tip I can give you when putting yours together is to adhere the smaller piece to the centre of the largest piece of the main card base first. Then close the card base to adhere the other end to the outside of the card base.

I used the Notes of Nature stamp set for the images and sentiment. And I popped up the sentiment after die cutting it with one of the Something Fancy dies. Then to finish it all off, I added a few Brushed Brass Butterflies.

Double Z-Fold Card

There really isn’t anything tricky about the double Z-fold card. I hope you’ll give it a try and share it here if you do.

And if you’d like to see another somewhat simple fun fold card, you can check out the book fold card I made here.

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Handmade Masculine Cards

Handmade masculine cards are the ones I hear people struggle with the most. And I put myself in that group too! I’m always looking for a good masculine themed stamp set and fun patterned paper. So I was excited when I saw the Trusty Toolbox Designer Series Paper in the Sale-a-bration catalogue. And with this card design I’m able to make 3 cards at once!

To make it I pulled 3 different designs and cut them each into 4″ x 5 1/4″ pieces. Then I cut each design into 3 pieces. I didn’t measure exactly, but you don’t really need to. You just need to get close. Then I mixed and matched the 3 different designs so that each card has a Real Red, Crushed Curry and Lost Lagoon design.

Once I stuck them to the Gray Granite card bases, I fussy cut a few of the tools. Thankfully they’re pretty easy to do that with. But you can use the Trusty Tools dies for some of them instead if that’s easier.

Then to build up my stash of handmade masculine cards I used 3 different sentiments from the He’s All That stamp set. I stamped them with Gray Granite ink. And then I die cut them with the coordinating dies and popped them up with a mix of Stampin’ Dimensionals and the minis.

Handmade Masculine Cards

I totally forgot about the Brushed Metallic Dots. Those would look great if you like to add a little bling to your handmade masculine cards!

Check out another card I made using the He’s All That stamp set here.

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Hooray for Surprises

It’s time for another team card swap! And even though there’s two catalogues right now, for this swap we’re focusing on the January-April Mini Catalogue. So for my card design I’m suing the Hooray for Surprises bundle. I’m excited to make some fun cards with these dies. But for the swap I’m keeping it simple!

I’m using Basic White cardstock for my card base. But this card base is a little different. I cut the cardstock so that the front panel doesn’t line up with the back panel. Then for my colours, I pulled from the Bee Mine Designer Series Paper pack. I like the design with the small flowers because it matches one of the images in the stamp set. So from this design I decided to use Pool Party as my ink colour.

Next I stamped a sentiment in the bottom right hand corner of the “inside” of the card. This way no matter whether the card is open or closed you can see it. Then I stamped the heart with the flowers in it and die cut it. To attach it to the front/outside panel, I added a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals to one side of the heart. Just make sure you double check which side you put them on. You don’t want to accidentally get it stuck to the inside of the card. Then to finish it off I added a couple Brushed Brass Butterflies.

Hooray for Surprises

I’ll share some of the cards I got from m team here and on my socials (Facebook and Instagram). So stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out a simpke birthday card I made using the Hooray for Surprises stamp set here.

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Valentine’s Day Card with Hello Ladybug

I think I might be almost done with my Valentine’s Day crafting for this year. And part of me is kind of sad about it because I’ve been having so much fun! But before I’m done I need to share a cute Valentine’s Day card with Hello Ladybug. And while this isn’t necessarily a Valentine’s Day stamp set per se, it’s easy enough to add a “Happy Valentine’s Day” to these cute ladybugs.

For my colours I’m pulling from one of the designs of the Sale-a-bration Flight & Airy Designer Series Paper… Fresh Freesia and Bubble Bath. Not exactly traditional Valentine’s Day colours, but I love the combination and I think this patterned paper will make pretty wings.

My card base is Bubble Bath. And then I used a little bit of both for my ink colours. The little hearts around the edges are Bubble Bath. Next I layered a piece of Basic Black cardstock and a piece of the DSP. I made my bumblebee with Bubble Bath and Tuxedo Black Memento ink. And for my ladybug, I used some Basic Black cardstock and some of the DSP.

When I first say the bumblebee builder punch, I saw speech bubbles instead of the body. So I used that idea to add a cute sentiment for each bug. And then I popped them all up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Valentine's Day Card with Hello Ladybug

I’m so glad I remember to make a Valentine’s Day card with Hello Ladybug. These bugs are just too cute!

Check out another Valentine’s Day card I made using the Bee My Valentine bundle here.

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Handmade Valentine’s Day Card

I’m having a lot of fun crafting Valentine’s Day cards! And the Most Adored Specialty Designer Series Paper pack makes it really easy to make a pretty handmade Valentine’s Day card. The colours are perfect for Valentine’s Day. And I just love the gold foil designs. So I had a hard time picking what designs to use for this card.

The inkspiration for this card design came from a picture I saw in a Facebook group I’m a part of. It’s such a great way to show off pretty patterned paper like this! I’m keeping the card base neutral with Crumb Cake to help the colours from the Designer Series Paper stand out. Once I picked my designs I stuck them to a piece of Basic White cardstock.

My “Happy Valentine’s Day” comes from the Bee My Valentine stamp set in the January-April Mini catalogue. I stamped it with Crumb Cake ink. Then I added some cute little hearts from the same stamp set with Flirty Flamingo ink. Finally I popped up that piece of cardstock with a couple Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Handmade Valentine's Day Card

I love that Stampin’ Up! has a pack of patterned paper with gold foil as one of the free products in the Sale-a-bration catalogue this year! Check out another handmade Valentine’s Day card I shared using some of the other Sale-a-bration products here.

And you can find everything you need to make your own handmade Valentine’s Day cards in my online shop.

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Handmade Thank You Card

The original inkspiration for this handmade thank you card design came from a colouring page image I saw on Pinterest. Go figure! I really like the idea of popping images up on top of different shapes. And I just love butterflies so that’s where I started with my design.

To go with the butterfly theme I debated a couple of patterned paper options; Fresh like a Daisy and Masterfully Made. I really love the colours, smaller sized flowers and other elements in the Masterfully Made Designer Series Paper pack, so that was the winner. From there I pulled Fresh Freesia as my card base and ink colour.

Then to contrast the darker and eventually busier patterned paper, I stamped the simple ink splatter image from the Quiet Meadow stamp set. And I stamped off on a scrap piece of paper first to make the Fresh Freesia even lighter. Next I added the hexagon shapes that I cut using one of the Something Fancy dies. Starting with just one and spreading out as I went down the cardstock.

For my butterflies I used two different ones. I started with the smaller Brushed Brass Butterflies and then die cut some larger ones using the Meadow dies. I popped up the cardstock butterflies with some Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. And the “thanks” comes from the Biggest Wish stamp set. I punched that out with the Double Oval Punch and then popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Handmade Thank You Card

This handmade thank you card design is such a nice one! I think I’ll have to try it with some different shapes and/or images next time.

Check out another card I made using the Masterfully Made Designer Series Paper pack here.

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More Crafting with Bee Mine

This past weekend I had my small team over for a Christmas party! We played games, ate some yummy treats and of course made some cards. But we didn’t make Christmas cards. Instead we did some more crafting with Bee Mine from the upcoming mini catalogue and another set from the Annual catalogue. Today I’m sharing the card we made with the Bee Mine suite.

I really wanted to show off the fun Designer Series Paper in this suite. So I used a Basic White card base and card front. In between is a piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock. Then for the patterned paper, I picked 2 different designs. This was kind of hard because I like all the designs in the Bee Mine DSP pack. But for this card I went with 2 designs that are a little more subtle. That way my little bumblebee will stand out.

To make my bumblebee I started by stamping the body using Daffodil Delight ink. Then I layered the strips on top with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. I also stamped the wings in black. And the little heart is in Sweet Sorbet ink. To make it super easy to punch out everything, I made a template beforehand with a scrap piece of cardstock. I layered that on top of my cardstock for stamping and stamped the images through the template.

I popped up the little heart and my bumblebee with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. The minis are perfect for the little heart. Here it is…

More Crafting with Bee Mine

I’ll definitely be doing some more crafting with Bee Mine. It’s such a cute suite! There’s some great sentiments to choose from and there are 4 different faces that you can give your bumblebee.

Check out the 2 cards I made with I attended OnStage at Home back in November here.

And don’t forget there’s still time to get your favourite products before they retire. Check out my online shop to see what’s retiring and what’s still in stock.

Suspended Book Fold Card

It’s been quite a while since I shared a fancy fold card and so when I saw this one I couldn’t resist! It’s a Suspended Book fold card. Now this card is a little bigger than I usually make. It’s 5″ x 7″ instead of 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″. But I love how this card looks!

I’m still deep into my Christmas crafting, so my card design is Christmas themed. Although I did go in a little bit of a different direction with some of my colours. My main colour is Misty Moonlight. I’m using that colour because I wanted to use the Winter Meadow Designer Series Paper pack. I just love the designs in this pack of patterned paper. And I’m so glad that it’s not retiring!

For my sentiment and images I’m using the Joy of Noel bundle. I used Misty Moonlight ink for the berry branches and “Noel”. And for the pine boughs I used Garden Green cardstock. I stuck the pine boughs and berry branches to the back of the sentiment first. That made it so much easier to then stick it all to the strip of window sheet.

Here it is….

Suspended Book Fold Card

The Suspended Book fold card is probably one of my favourites! I might need to make another version of this.

Check out another card I made using the Joy of Noel bundle here.

And just in case you love this bundle as much as I do, you’ll want to grab it before it retires on January 3rd… or sooner if it sells out. You can find it in my online shop.

Celebrate the Miracle

In less than one week Chanukah starts! We celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas in our house so December is a busy month for us. It also means I make Chanukah AND Christmas cards to send out this time of year. Finding Chanukah themed stamp sets can be tricky. But I was super excited when Stampin’ Up! launched the Celebrate the Miracle stamp set! This online exclusive stamp set has a great variety of images and sentiments. Up until now I’ve had to mix and match with the bits and pieces I’ve collected over the years.

One of the things my munchkins love about Chanukah is playing dreidel… even Leo enjoys it, lol! We don’t play for money, but we do have a lot of fun. So I couldn’t resist making a card featuring the dreidel images. And blue is one of the colours you see a lot of at Chanukah so I used that for my card base… Balmy Blue to be exact. Balmy Blue is also my main ink colour with a bit of Misty Moonlight.

I stamped the dreidels and coins in Balmy Blue ink and “spin” in Misty Moonlight. There’s also a “Happy Chanukah” in Misty Moonlight on the inside. I like how easy the dreidels are to fussy cut! Before I popped them up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals I put a bit of the silver Simply Elegant Trim behind them. And behind that is a strip of patterned paper from the A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper pack.

Celebrate the Miracle

I can’t wait to do some silver heat embossing with the Celebrate the Miracle stamp set! Sadly it’ll have to. 2 dozen cards are a lot to heat emboss and I need to get my Chanukah cards done and in the mail.

I’ll share what I do end up sending out next week. In the meantime, check out this card I made with the A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper.

If you like this pack of patterned paper, you’ll need to add some to your stash sooner rather than later. As of January 4th it’ll no longer be available… along with a number of other products that are retiring from the September – December mini catalogue. You can get all the most up to date information on what’s still available in my online shop!

Wedding Cards with Abundant Beauty

This weekend’s going to be a busy one for us! We’ve got two birthdays and a wedding to celebrate. I usually have a decent stash of birthday cards. But when it comes to weddings I try to get some inkspiration from the couple’s invitation. And as soon as I saw this one I’ve had a picture in my head of what I wanted to do! I knew I just had to make wedding cards with Abundant Beauty Decorative masks…. specifically the sunflower masks.

The invitation was full of flowers and deeper colours. So for the card base I’m using Basic Black, which was also one of the colours they used. On top of that I layered some Wild Wheat cardstock and another piece of Basic Black. The next layer is a stamped piece of Very Vanilla. I stamped the large flower from the Quiet Meadow stamp set with Crushed Curry. And a few smaller ones with Cajun Craze.

I also used these colours for my sunflowers. Starting with Crushed Curry and then adding a little Cajun Craze to the centre of my petals. Then I used Wild Wheat and Early Espresso for the centres. For the leaves I used Old Olive ink. I made a whole bunch because my mother-in-law asked if I could also make her a card to give to the couple. Thankfully it wasn’t too time consuming to fussy cut them all out!

Wedding Cards with Abundant Beauty

I switched it up a little bit for my mother-in-law’s card. The colours are the same, but I embossed a piece of Wild Wheat cardstock with the 3D Painted Texture embossing folder. I also used a sentiment from the Something Fancy stamp set which I die cut with one of the coordinating dies. The sunflowers on both cards are popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. But the sentiment on my card wasn’t.

Wedding Cards with Abundant Beauty

I just love how both of these wedding cards with Abundant Beauty turned out! These decorative masks will definitely be staying in my craft stash for a while after they retire.

Check out another card I made using the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks here.

If you want to add these masks to your craft stash, don’t wait too long! These are on the list of retiring products and won’t be available after January 3rd… if they last that long. Find them and the other retiring products in my online shop.

September to December Catalogue Retiring List

A couple times a year Stampin’ Up! has to make room for new catalogues and products. The big one is in the Spring when the Annual Catalogue retires. But right now is the other. The September to December Catalogue retiring list is out! See what’s sticking around and what’s not.

Starting today, until January 3rd, or until supplies run out, grab these retiring products before they’re gone! Some of the retiring products are up to 60% off. The list includes packs of patterned paper, stamp sets, dies, embellishments, etc. There are also products that are carrying over, so you won’t have to worry about those just yet. And then there are some products that are part of a bundle, but they won’t be a bundle after January 3rd. A bundle gets you 10% a coordinating stamp set and punch/dies. So once the new catalogues launch you’ll have to buy them separately and at full price… unless you’re a demonstrator like me.

I’m always a little sad when this happens. I just get into a creative groove with some of these products and then it’s time to say goodbye. Be sure to check your wishlist and see if anything from the September to December catalogue retiring list matches up. If it does I wouldn’t wait too long. Things have been known to sell out before we get to the end of the sale.

For the full list, you can contact me. I’m happy to answer any questions you have and to send you the list!

And you can check out my online shop before things start to sell out here.

September to December Mini Retiring List

A Walk in the Forest

Can you believe there’s only about 5 weeks left until Christmas?! I feel like I’m only just starting to get into my Christmas crafting groove. Thankfully I think I finally figured out my designs for the card I’ll be sending to my friends and family. And while this isn’t it, it is using this pack of Designer Series Paper… A Walk in the Forest.

For this card I’m pairing up the Joy of Noel and More Wishes stamp sets. I think the holly leaf image from the Joy of Noel stamp set goes nicely with the design I chose. And to play up the pine cones in this design I’m using Pecan Pie for my card base and as a frame for the DSP and sentiment.

I stamped the holly leaves in Garden Green. And I stamped the “Merry Christmas” from the More Wishes stamp set in Pecan Pie. Then I popped up the sentiment with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals. And then to finish it off I added a few of the green Adhesive-Backed Glitter Sequins.

A Walk in the Forest

Stay tuned for the designs I use for my family and friends!

In the meantime, check out another Christmas card I made using the Snowflake Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper here.

You can find both packs of patterned paper in my online shop. And when you buy the A Walk in the Forest DSP pack Stampin’ Up! will donate $4 to support organizations dedicated to spreading cheer and providing support to those who need it.

Bee Mine

On Saturday I got a peek at some of the new products from the upcoming new catalogues. OnStage is always a lot of fun! As a demonstrator you get to see some of the new products, you get to see project demonstrations AND you get to do some crafting. With this being a virtual event we were given the chance to order the Bee Mine suite in advance. That way we could craft along on Saturday. Now usually I don’t order an entire suite, I prefer to pick and choose from different suites of products. But I love this suite so much that I couldn’t not.

Shannon West shared two cards for us to craft at OnStage and walked us through them step by step. The first card uses Daffodil Delight for the card base with another piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock that I stamped using Daffodil Delight ink. Then we layered on a couple of the different designs from the Bee Mine Designer Series Paper pack on top. And of course we added a bee using the Bee builder punch. To finish it off I decided to add one of the adhesive back flowers that also comes with this suite.

Bee Mine

Then for the second card we used a Basic White card base. This worked really well to show off two different designs from the DSP pack. And we did a little more tone on tone stamping with Pool Party to create a flight path for our bee. My favourite thing about this card was the watercolouring we did on the bee’s wings. It really gives a nice effect! I’m going to have to remember this when I get back to using this suite again in a few weeks.

Bee Mine

I hope you love these cute cards using the Bee Mine suite as much as I do! I can’t wait to get to some of the other products that come with this suite… we didn’t even use the Sweet Sorbet ribbon or the square pillow boxes.

To learn more about OnStage and what it’s all about you can check out this post I shared about the 2018 OnStage.

Want to see more sneak peeks? Or add your name to my list of people to send catalogues to? Then you’ll want to sign up for my weekly newsletter! You can do that here.

Lost Lagoon Christmas Card

I don’t remember liking Lost Lagoon this much last time Stampin’ Up! had it. But since the colour refresh, it’s become one of my favourite colours! So much so that I decided to make a Lost Lagoon Christmas card. It’s definitely not a traditional Christmas colour, but I do like to try some non-traditional colours every once in a while.

For this card I’m using Lost Lagoon for the card base and ink colour. I stamped some holly and berries from the Joy of Noel stamp set on a piece of Basic White cardstock. Next to that I layered in two of the designs from the Snowflake Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper pack. Then on top of that I added a sentiment that I sponged the edges of the cardstock with using more Lost Lagoon ink. And behind that I put a little bit of silver Simple Elegant trim.

Lost Lagoon Christmas Card

This Lost Lagoon Christmas card is what I made for my large team’s September to December Mini Catalogue card swap. I just love doing card swaps with my team! The cards I get are so pretty and such a great way to see samples with products I don’t have.

Check out another Christmas card I made using the Joy of Noel stamp set here.

And check out my online shop to stock up on all your Christmas card making supplies!

Christmas Card with Winter Meadow

Patterned paper can make it so easy to create beautiful handmade cards! And the Winter Meadow Designer Series Paper pack is no exception. The colours and designs are so pretty. And one thing I really like about this pack is that it’s not your typical Christmas patterned paper. I really didn’t need to add much to craft this beautiful Christmas card with Winter Meadow DSP.

I started with choosing the design from the pack of patterned paper. And this one is great just on it’s own. So I decided to use it as my card mat. For the card base I went neutral… Crumb Cake. The other colours came from the patterned paper; Misty Moonlight and Garden Green.

I paired it with the Joy of Noel bundle. The pines branches are Misty Moonlight cardstock. And the berries I stamped in Garden Green. Then for NOEL I used Crumb Cake. To make it easy to pop all this up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals I punched out a Basic White circle and layered them on. And to finish it off I added some Wink of Stella to the NOEL, along with a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Christmas Card with Winter Meadow

I really like this Christmas card with Winter Meadow DSP. And I can’t wait to craft some more!

Check out a fun fold card I made using the Joy of Noel bundle here.

And if you want to see all the different designs in the Winter Meadow DSP pack, then head over to my online shop.