Sketch & Color Challenge Combo

April 9, 2025Leave a comment

TUNE IN for a M*A*S*H*U*P of the Stampin’ Up! April 2025 sketch challenge AND the TGIF Color Combination challenge #tgifc519

My beloved Tune In stamp set and dies are retiring (on the Last Chance list NOW), so it seemed like a good time to have a “rerun” and show it off by mixing these two challenges:

Lemon Lolly (and Lemon Lime Twist) are difficult colors to photograph, however you can see that this card gives off retro-vibes and may make you want to make a piece of cinnamon toast and catch up on the Brady Bunch!

Just like classic television, this stamp set will always be groovy to use!

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Arched Wishes Birthday Card, Color Challenge

March 10, 20251 Comment

Rubber stamps should come with a warning label. Once you get a bundle with a punch or set of dies, Stampin’ Up! releases ANOTHER stamp set that coordinates, and then you MUST have it, because it extends the use of the first bundle…and the addiction continues! That’s what happened to me, and look where I am now. 😂

With new Online Exclusive products in my Stampin’ Up! store for March 2025, the Arched Wishes stamp set coordinates with the Everyday Arches Dies (which are essential for every paper crafter):

The TGIF Challenge #tgifc515 is a color combination that felt like a party, so I ran with it!

If you can see the bit of shimmer on the cupcake, it’s from the Wink of Stella pen, and I wanted to use the arch I cut out of the front panel on the inside of the card, so the party continues when you open it up!

The Mini Corrugated 3D embossing folder gave the background a bit of texture and added interest, and there are a few other tips I shared in the “How To” video:

Switch it up and stamp the balloons on the back, or add a “Happy Birthday” sentiment in black (an afterthought following my live video). If you prefer not to fussy-cut the sentiment, make it a banner!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve your creative needs! Because of your orders, I am able to continue helping you squeeze the most from your paper crafting art.

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Arched Wishes Cling Stamp Set (English)

Everyday Arches Dies

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

Summer Splash 8 1/2" X 11 Cardstock

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

Summer Splash Classic Stampin Pad

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad

Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad

Uninked Stampin’ Craft Pad & Whisper White Refill

Blending Brushes

Basics Wow! Embossing Powder

Embossing Additions Tool Kit

Heat Tool (Us And Canada)

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

Mini Corrugated 3 D Embossing Folder

Summer Splash Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

Fresh Freesia Stampin' Blends Combo Pack

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

Iridescent Adhesive Backed Discs

Stampin' Dimensionals

Multipurpose Liquid Glue

Friendly Seagulls Valentine Cards

January 13, 2025January 13, 20251 Comment

Now is the time to plan and create your Valentine cards, and since it’s Sale-a-Bration time at Stampin’ Up!, I knew you would enjoy using one of the products you could get FREE (with a qualifying order before Feb. 28th). The Friendly Seagull stamp set was the first thing I chose, because it’s so stinkin’ cute!

This card was speedy to put together because I followed the TGIF Sketch #tgifc507

A bit of diagonal embossing keeps the background clean and simple, but adds texture, while the seagull’s favorite snack becomes the added embellishment!

But if you dislike fussy cutting, I get it. When I don’t feel like trimming around an image, I reach for a punch to do the work, like the Heartfelt Hexagon. It made both the Simple and Stepped Up version of this card easy to create:

For the Stepped-Up version, I added dimension with the light Pool Party Stampin’ Blends marker and embossed the sentiments:

TIP: Order early in January to select Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration items you love (like the Friendly Seagull stamp set), so you can order AGAIN in February for MORE FREEBIES! There are products to choose with each $60 you order, and some that are options at $120 orders:

Watch the tutorial for both cards here, plus get a sneak peek of a card I’ll be sharing later this week, then add the supplies to your cart below and start stamping your own:

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While the little heart patterned paper I used was leftover from the Bee My Valentine Paper from last year, there IS a re-colored version of the same paper just released in the January Scrapbooking brochure and it’s called “Cute as Can Bee”. You could mix up the colors and create a Petunia Pop/Bubble Bath version of these cards! The heart design is in the lower right corner:

Ready for MORE Valentines? Join me in Southern Utah this Thursday for the Love, Hugs & Valentine’s Class! RSVP TODAY!

Friendly Seagulls (SAB Sneak Peek)

December 13, 2024December 14, 2024Leave a comment

While Christmas is just around the corner, Sale-a-Bration is right on it’s heels!

Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration is the best time of the year because when you SHOP or JOIN, there are extra products to choose as a bonus. Let’s take a first look at one of the stamp sets you could choose free with a qualifying purchase: Friendly Seagulls

This card was inspired by the #tgifc503 sketch challenge:

Rather than coloring the seagulls, I colored AROUND them with Stampin’ Blends markers, creating a seaside sunrise (or sunset?) background. I fussy-cut around two of the birds to set them in front.

The set comes with a few different sentiments than what I used here. For this card, I added words from the “Saying Hey” stamp set from the annual catalog.

If you have ordered from me in the last year, you should receive a January-April mini catalog AND Sale-a-Bration brochure in the mail this month! If you don’t yet have a demonstrator serving you in the U.S., I’d be happy to send you both, simply shoot me a message!

Like this card? It makes me happy to hear if it makes you smile~ scroll back to the top of the post and leave me a comment!

Ultimate Shabby Chic: Torn Paper

November 27, 2024Leave a comment

Celebrating the 500th TGIF Challenge with a birthday card I made for a dear friend, and my longest team member. Ann, if you see this, just act surprised when you open your mail!

Tearing – or ripping – paper was one of the first techniques I remember being taught at an EARLY crafting convention I attended. It’s so simple, and adds terrific texture, and while many things have changed in paper crafting styles, this technique has just grown more sophisticated.

To be honest, there were a few times I almost threw out this card to begin again, but I persevered, and surprisingly, I think the end result is “tres shabby chic”!

With a whopping 6 (or more) layers of card stock, Designer Series Paper, ribbon, and the birds (also die cut from the patterned paper, so I didn’t have to color them), this was much more detailed than I usually do, but the card needed all the fussy stuff, and Ann deserves a very special card.

Luckily, most of the elements came from the Nests of Winter Suite, so all I had to add was the pretty pompom ribbon. These items can also be ordered individually, which I will include in the supply list below.

Added a few more torn patterns to the inside of the card and the envelope!

Next time you are crafting, give Torn Paper a try. #tgifc500

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3 Stampin' Up! Sentimental Wishes Tags for Christmas

New at SU!- Sketches are for Tags, Too

October 16, 2024October 16, 20245 Comments

Sketches are a Stamper’s secret design tool, and not only do they work for greeting cards and scrapbook pages, sketches also help you master a GIFT TAG…and a beautiful tag will level up any gift!

For our October New at SU! blog hop, I selected 3 tag sketches from page 16 of the September-December Mini catalog and combined those sketches with a set of products that evoke classic Christmas vibes.

The sketches gave me a starting point for my creativity, and a suite of Stampin’ Up! products helped limit my options, which actually makes it easier to be artistic. All supplies are listed at the end of this post.

The Joy/Candle tag mostly features stamping the images from the stamp set:

The stocking tag shows how you can cut some of the images from the Designer Series Paper with the dies, which also match the stamped images:

Finally, the Very Merry tag puts the focus on the sentiment:

The wonderful thing about tags is that they dress up any gift, along with a bit beautiful ribbon ~ see how they make a Kit Collection box fancy? Remember that all the kits are ON SALE this month (see below).

But that’s not all! Tags are adorable on a greeting card, as well:

Not only are tags a miniature piece of art, they are also a terrific way to use up scraps! Try cutting some of your smaller pieces of card stock into tag shapes, and have them ready to pair with a sketch.

Tell me what you think of these tags- leave a comment link at the top of the post!

Visit all the other posts to see how a sketch inspired their projects:

October 2024 New at SU! Hop: Sketches-Crafter’s Secret Design Tool

1.Creative Juice by Loni (US) – Sketches Are for Tags, Too

2.The Joy of Stampin’ with Rachael (US)- Playful Ghosts Triple Panel La

3.Furry Cat Designs (UK) – Cute Snowy Scenes card

4.Playing with Papercrafting (CA) – Shepherd’s Care for New at SU

5.Stamping Flair (AU) – Humble Home Sketch Card

6.Stampinxime by Ximena Morales (DE) – Sketch Challenge

7.Tricia’s Stamping Creations (US) – Sketches Surfing Santa

8.De Kijkkast (NL)- Peaceful Trees and a Sketch

9.247 Inkspiration (US) – More Than Autumn

10.iHeartCards2 (US) – Sketches & Mix & Match Ephemera

11.Nature’s INKspirations (US) – Golden Greenery Sketch

12.Studio Shabaz (AU) – Regal Winter

When you purchase the Sentimental Christmas patterned paper, Stampin’ Up! donates $3 to support children’s literacy in each of it’s markets. In the U.S. the donation benefits First Book.

Snag some kits for Christmas, while they are on sale up to 30% off during October, and add a tag to the top for thoughtful and creative Christmas gifts:

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Fall Bird Card for a color challenge, Winterly Tree Tops by Stampin' Up!

Flowers & Feathers

October 3, 2024Leave a comment

Another sleepless night as I dreamed of creating this card 🥱 … trying to decide if creativity is a blessing or a curse!

The idea came from the #tgifc492 Inspiration challenge:

Think of it like a mashup of two songs, but two stamp sets: Enduring Beauty for the flowers and Winterly Tree Tops for the birds.

I wanted to give it a fall vibe, so picked a palette of Pecan Pie, Very Vanilla, Peach Pie, and Mossy Meadow (almost sounds like a recipe!). With a lot of layers and texture, it feels vintage and the sprinkle of three Drusy Embellishments adds a bit of glittery elegance.

TRIVIA TIME: “DRUSY” is an adjective that means “covered in minute crystals” and can describe the inside of a rock cavity that is lined with tiny crystals. These embellishments are truly gorgeous, but not easily mailable, as they do make the card quite bumpy. It needs a padded envelope if you are mailing it!

Peek inside the card:

Winterly Tree Tops is a part of the larger Nests of Winter Suite and features the beautiful birds. You may be interested in the coordinating craft kit called Nests of Christmas that is part of our crafting subscription service (Paper Pumpkin). It’s only available if you subscribe by October 10th, and if you use promo code HOLIDAY40 as a first-time subscriber, you’ll get your first kit at 40% off!

Now that the card is finished and shared with you, I’m looking forward to a nap!

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Stampin' Up! Attention Shoppers, Pop Up Gift Card Sunburst card

Let’s Go Shopping

August 30, 2024Leave a comment

The theme for the TGIF Challenge #tgifc488 is retail therapy: What could make you feel better than new crafting supplies?

Did I throw you off by showing the inside of the card first? It’s one of my favorite gift card holders, and pops out to present a card or gift certificate. Did you know I offer gift certificates of any amount? My gift certificates are good for products OR classes/events!

Moving on to the FRONT of the card…

A sunburst is a terrific way to use up scraps of Designer Series Paper, and I know I’m always on the lookout for ways to bust my stash of scraps!

The shopping cart die cut with silver foil sheets just feels like the real experience of being on the hunt for the perfect item in store. I was going to fill it with little die cuts from the Crafting With You dies, but apparently it’s loaned out to a friend…the goodies in the Attention Shoppers bundle work just as well to give you the gist.

Here’s to filling your cart with a gift certificate to delight a friend, or all the supplies needed to make this card your own:

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Keepin’ It Cool with Pink Ice Cream

August 3, 2024Leave a comment

When we take the grandkids for Ice Cream, COLOR is always the biggest factor in choosing which flavor to get! According to their thinking, the brighter the color, the better it tastes?

For a hand-stamped birthday card today, the colors were chosen by the weekly TGIF Challenge, #tgifc484

I’m a big fan of images that pop out of the frame, and that concept works well here.

A quick swipe of the White Craft ink pad over the eyelet-embossed Daffodil Delight background allowed me to emboss it with white embossing powder – if double scoops of ice cream are better, so is double embossing!

Top if off with some sprinkles (Iridescent discs sparkle and catch the light, and they are flat for mailing as an added bonus) and you’ve served up a cute birthday cone!

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Remember to redeem any Bonus Days Coupons you earned in July this month (August)!

Hybrid Embossing Folder How-To

July 15, 2024July 15, 20244 Comments

Curious about how a “Hybrid Embossing Folder” works? Allow me to demonstrate how-to using the new Online Exclusive Changing Leaves bundle.

The embossing folder creates amazingly detailed leaves which are beautiful both embossed (raised) and debossed (recessed). Here is a “raised” example in Granny Apple Green using the embossed design for a background on a card:

Flip the embossed paper over and paint into the recessed images using water painters and ink refills -OR- water painters with Metallic Enamel Effects for shine:

Simply stamping the images and die cutting them to use on your projects is also an option. Watch for the tip to lining up all three leaf images in the correct spot, making them easier to die cut at the beginning of this video, in which I also demonstrate all the techniques I’m sharing:

I used my stamped/die cut leaves on a floating frame card:

Finally – and this is the HYBRID VERSION – the dies snap into the embossing folder! All you have to do is add your paper, run it through the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine, and out come die-cut, embossed accents! This is a bonus project that shows the detail:

I borrowed the sentiment from another Online Exclusive stamp set called Comforting Thoughts for an occasion when there are just no words to express what you are feeling for someone’s heartache.

Try dragging your ink pad across the top of an embossed/cut leaf to bring out the details (or use a brayer rolled in ink), like the Pretty Peacock leaf on the card:

The Changing Leaves bundle is $54 (US) so it qualifies for a $5 BONUS DAYS coupon when you purchase it during July 2024. Collect coupons July 3-31st, then redeem them during August!