WINTER "SQUARE COLUMN" CARDS

 

Last November, my friend, Laura, sent me the neatest birthday card!  It was a Square Column design that folded flat for mailing, and I just loved it.  Had to make one (or a few).  While I made a couple of Christmas cards featuring this fun design, the cards that I'm sharing today are thank you cards that I made after Christmas.

As you can see, I covered part of the inside of the column with the same designer paper that I used on the outside, but a coordinating color for the card base would look fine with designer paper only on the outside.  

I like the look of the two colors of snowflakes on this card.  As you can see, there's plenty of space for writing your greeting on the white panel, but you might want to continue building a scene there and use the back of the card for your greeting.  

I continued the snowflake theme on this card but used different colors and opted to inlay the snowflakes on the gray panel.

Making a Square Column card is quite simple.  The card base is 5-1/2" x 10-1/8" and scored at 4.25, 5.75, 7.25, and 8.75 inches.  Let me know if you make some cards like this, and I know you'll tell me how much you love them!  This would be a great way to dig into your ever-growing stash of designer paper and put some of it to use.

Okay.  That's all for now.  Off you go.  You've got some cards to make.

"EVERYDAY DETAILS" SYMPATHY

Sharing a simple sympathy card today that features an image from Stampin' Up!'s "Everyday Details" stamp set, which kind of looks like a set that was built by giving random images (and three nicely designed sentiments) a home.  The real appeal for me was the bird's nest image with three little eggs (see previous post HERE), which is so quick and easy to color and makes a great focal point for just about any kind of card.  I needed to color the other images in the set, so I worked with the vase (crock???) of flowers.  Do you like to color?  I find it a very relaxing way to spend an evening, especially when my mind wants to wander and I don't have a lot of time to get into something more time-consuming.  

Doesn't the colored image look nice with the wood designer paper background?  I used one of the Stitched So Sweetly (retired) dies to cut the white cardstock, and the sentiment is stamped onto a tag that was cut with a Tailor Made Tags die.  If you don't have this set of dies, you should get it as soon as you can . . . every paper crafter should have those dies!

That's it for today.  Treat yourself to therapeutic coloring!

"SIMPLY SPARKLING" FUN FOLD BIRTHDAY CARD

 

First things first . . . I apologize for the awful photos.  Lighting was totally working against me as I rushed to get this card photographed and ready for mailing.  My friend, Laura's, birthday was fast approaching, so I was in a hurry.  This card features one of Stampin' Up!'s recent Online Exclusive bundles--Simply Sparkling--and I'm sure that I can't fully express what a FUN bundle it is!  

SEE IT ONLINE HERE

Let's start with the inside of the card and work our way to the outside.  As you can see from the photo below, the 4.25" x 11" cardstock was scored and cut to have a 2" flap at the top and approximately 3.25" bottom pocket.  A stamped and die-cut soda can was slipped into the pocket, and that's where I wrote my greeting.

Now let's look at the front of the card with the top flap folded down:

The ribbon, of course, keeps the card neatly closed.  But take a closer look at that adorable soda can!

The can image was stamped with Soft Sea Foam ink onto Soft Sea Foam cardstock and then cut with the coordinating die.  The top and bottom of the can were cut with dies from Silver Foil, as were the bubbles that you can (kind of) see on the red gingham paper.  The lemon, strawberry, and lime images were stamped onto white cardstock, colored with alcohol markers, given a brush of Wink of Stella, and then die-cut.

I decided to use a Tailored Tags die to create a "birthday wishes" tag that I tied on the ribbon with silver cord.

Again . . . I apologize for the poor quality of the photos, but do take a look at this fantastic product bundle.  The Online Exclusive products are only available while supplies last, and I'd say this one is a must-have.  "Simply Sparkling" is like a new pair of shoes that fit like a comfy glove straight from the box.  When you sit down to create with this bundle, you'll just go and go and go and enjoy the process.

Have a stampin' good day!

CLEAN & SIMPLE "JUNGLE PALS"

 

Sometimes the most difficult card to make is one that is clean and simple . . . but still visually interesting.  The card that I'm sharing today is both, I think.  The only pop of color on my card is the green crocodile, and doesn't he look happy being green?

Two other elements that lend interest and texture to this card are the distressed edges and the embossed background, which features Stampin' Up!'s "Fern" 3D embossing folder.  For the die-cut "hello", I used (retired) Little Letters alphabet dies.  The "Jungle Pals" stamp set and dies are part of the current Sale-a-Bration promotion.  

With a $50 purchase, you can select the stamp set for FREE.  

With a $100 purchase, you can select the dies for FREE.

With a $150 purchase, you can select both products for FREE + earn Host Rewards.

Jungle Pals dies

Jungle Pals stamp set

"BEACH DAY"

 

Don't let this post fool you into thinking that I'm wishing for Summer to hurry and get here.  That is SO not the case.  I'm holding out for an accumulation of snow before the season changes, but I recently received Stampin' Up!'s new "Beach Day" stamp set and dies and wanted to take them for a creative spin.

Although I much prefer Winter, I can't deny that this scenery kind of makes me want to sit under an umbrella on the beach.  On a day that isn't too hot.  Or humid.  The "Beach Day" bundle has quite a lot of images and dies--lots of creative choices.  Confession:  the die-cut clouds are not part of this bundle.  They actually were cut for the top of Christmas stockings and just happened to still be laying on my desk.  They make nice clouds, though, don't they?  And what does every cloud need?  A little wink of glitter!

Just look at everything that is included in this bundle:

LEARN MORE ABOUT "BEACH DAY"

Have a stampin' good day!

"CUTEST COWS" + MINI ACTION WOBBLE

What a cute cow, huh?

The first thing I thought about when I saw Stampin' Up!'s adorable "Cutest Cows" stamp set was how perfect it would be with a Mini Action Wobble.  It's been quite some time since I used Action Wobbles, and the mini was a perfect fit.  See it in the photo below:

His sweet little head just wobbles so happily, and I think the recipient of this card will enjoy that.  I suppose you'd like to see the whole card, huh?

Blending Brushes were used to apply Balmy Blue ink to the top 2/3 of the card to create a sky and also to apply Crumb Cake ink to the embossed fence posts.  All of the coloring on the stamped images was done with alcohol markers.  The sunflowers don't look nearly as dark in real life as they do in the photo, although the petals on those flowers are quite small.  The photo below does a better job of showing the flowers and also the embossed detail on the fence posts.

There are quite a few stamps in the "Cutest Cows" set--a total of 24!!!--which include several options of cow bodies and heads/expressions.  There are some nice sentiments, too!  

And, of course, I should mention that Stampin' Up!'s Sale-a-Bration is in full swing now.  Moo-ve on over to my website to check it out along with all the new products in the current mini catalog!

"EVERYDAY DETAILS" FAUX SHUTTER/FRACTURED CARD (with instructions)

 

My stampin' friend, Brenda, sent me a really pretty Christmas card featuring the faux shutter/fractured card technique, and it is so neat!  And so easy to make!  Below is a picture of the card from Brenda:

This technique is another one that puts designer paper in the spotlight and, since I always have an abundance of paper that I seem to hoard, maybe I can start putting it to use.  The short version of how to make a faux shutter/fractured card:

1.  Cut designer paper to fit your card base.  For my card, the paper is 4" x 5.25".

2.  Cut a square of cardstock, and place it "on point" in the horizontal center just a little way down form the top of the paper.

3.  If you want to layer the square, cut a smaller one (as Brenda did) and adhere it to the center of the on point square.

4.  Cut a few strips of cardstock (or paper) that are 1/2" wide.  Of course, you can cut them as wide or narrow as you like.

5.  Place the first strip so that the top aligns with the corner of the square, and the bottom extends past the edge of the paper.  Repeat this process until you have framed the square.

Easy peasy, huh?  Now let me show you my card:

As you can see, I used an embossing folder to give my Balmy Blue strips some texture.  Isn't that bird's nest one of the sweetest things?  It's one of the images in Stampin' Up!'s brand new "Everyday Details" stamp set.  I took some time earlier this week to stamp and color the images, and they are all so easy to color!  It's nice to have a few of them all ready for cards.  

And what does every little nest of pretty eggs need?  A brush of Wink of Stella, of course!  That glitter brush is one of my most favorite "tools" and it seems to never get put away . . . at least not for very long.

If you haven't tried the faux shutter/fractured card technique, give it a whirl.  I'm pretty sure you're going to love it.

Have a stampin' good day!

HOLIDAY TRIPLE POP-UP CARD . . . AND MY RETURN TO BLOGGING

Happy new year!!!

It's so hard for me to believe that I dropped the blogging ball so drastically last year.  At first, I struggled to find the time and then . . . as the span of time widened since the last post . . . I felt that I'd lost what little audience I once had.  Surprisingly, I still had visitors but lost a couple of followers.  Mostly, I really have missed my blog!

What happened?  The long and short of it is . . . life.  Life is what happened.  Working part-time took a bigger bite out of my "me" crafting time than I ever imagined that it would.  I only work three days per week; however, I am usually worthless by the time I get home.  Of course, the evening is gone in a flash by the time I have dinner, chat with my mother, bathe, and play with the dogs.  Often, my craft room stays dark and lonely on the days that I work.  I also share my creative time with another hobby . . . sewing.  I thought making cards could be time-consuming, but sewing really requires a lot of time and concentration.  Whew!  

I may not ever get back to sharing as many blog posts as I used to, but I am going to try my best to breathe life into this blog as often as I can.

Today I'm sharing a fun holiday card.  I know, I know . . . Christmas has come and gone, but I thought this card turned out so cute.

It's a triple pop-up card that is such a fun and simple one to make.  This particular fun-fold design is a perfect choice when you have designer paper that you really want to showcase.  I don't recall the name of the designer paper, but it's from Stampin' Up!'s 2022 holiday collection.  The stamped and colored images are from CTMH's "Pawliday Express" stamp set and coordinating dies.  They were too cute for me to resist!  I don't know why it didn't occur to me that they would take sooooooooooo very long to color, but wow . . . I spent hours (maybe even days) just coloring.  I had die-cut all of the shapes and then did all the stamping which seemed so much quicker than stamping first and then lining up the dies for cutting.  And I die-cut and stamped a LOT of these images because I had no idea that they'd take so long to color.  LOL

The above photo shows the view from looking down at the card, and it demonstrates how perfectly the triple pop-up design is for showcasing pretty designer paper.  Even though the stamped images took time to color, they were worth the effort, don't you agree?