It’s a Cat and Dog Card Sketch

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Are you a cat lover or dog lover?  Maybe you just love animals in general.  If so, then the Sweet Stockings suite of products in Stampin’ Up!’s July – December Mini Catalog is for you!   The stamp set and the designer paper are all about cats and dogs (and a few other critters)!  The designer paper is adorable and has some great designs on the sides that don’t feature animals.  I don’t have the stamp set/bundle but I do have the paper and decided I wanted to try for this card sketch.

Pretty darn cute if you ask me!  You’ve got to love the critters hanging out of their stockings!  To darn cute.  I paired that with one of the patterns and a sentiment to complete my card.

Enough about these cute critters! We’re suppose to be talking about card sketches today. Ha!

What do you think? Did I stick close to today’s sketch? I only added one extra layer and changed the orientation of the card. I think that’s a win! This sketch was perfect for highlighting cute designer paper. Give it a try with your favorite designer paper!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Grateful

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Sparkle of the Season Fall Card

Grateful.  It’s something we should always be.  No matter how tough things can get there is always something, big or small, that we can be grateful for.  One thing I am grateful for is that I get to play with all of my crafting supplies and create things to share with you.

Today I wanted to share a Fall wreath with you using Stampin’ Up!’s Sparkle of the Season Bundle.  I’ve seen lots of cards made with this versatile bundle but the card that inspired me had pumpkins on it so that’s the direction I went this week.

When you view the card that inspired me you will notice that there aren’t a lot of similarities between the two cards. I took a lot of creative license with this Make-It-Mine project.

The first thing that I saw on this card by Karen that I wanted to use was the Cork Specialty Paper. It adds that special little touch to a project. The second thing I wanted to incorporate on my card was the double wreath. The second wreath adds another level of dimension to the card.

Instead of copying what Karen did, I combined those two points of inspiration into one. I die cut one of the wreaths on my card from the Cork Specialty Paper. I love how it turned out! When I set it against a Early Espresso colored wreath the cork really popped.

The only other thing that I really took from the inspiration card to my own was to include the three pumpkins on my wreath. Other than those few things there aren’t a lot of other similarities between the cards. That’s ok though. The whole point of Make-It-Mine Monday is to get inspired and find a starting point for my project.

Give it a try. Go get inspired! Maybe start with my card and move on from there. I’d love to see what you come up with! Have a great day. Take care and Happy Stamping!

The Colors of Fall Strap Fold Card

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Ah, the colors of Fall.  That’s what I like best about Stampin’ Up!’s Beauty of the Earth Designer Series Paper….the colors!  This Strap Fold fun fold was the perfect choice for highlighting this paper because I got to use two large panels of it.  Doesn’t this paper design remind you of a pile of leaves that you can jump in?  Ok….that your kids or grandkids could jump in?

This fun fold is pretty easy to make.  You just need to be a little strategic when adhering the strap so that you don’t see it when you open the card.  For the card itself, not including the focal point label and leaf and the inside piece for you message, you only need three pieces of cardstock and two pieces of designer paper.  Here are the dimensions:

Cardstock:  5 ½” x 4 ¼”, 4 ¾” x 3 ½” and 1 ½” x 4 ¼” scored at 1 ¼”

Designer Paper:  5 ¼” x 4, 4 ½” x 3 ¼”

The small section of the strap will be sandwiched between the large base piece of cardstock and the large piece of designer paper.  When you adhere the strap to the cardstock be sure to line up the folded edge of the strap with the left edge of the cardstock.

The large section of the strap will be sandwiched between the smaller front piece of cardstock and the small piece of designer paper.  To make sure I got everything lined up straight I used temporary adhesive to adhere the top piece of cardstock to the base.  A sticky note or two will work also.  I then folded the strap over the top piece of cardstock and used a pencil to lightly draw around the edges.  This showed me where to place the adhesive on the cardstock piece.  Once I had applied the adhesive I again “closed” the strap and then adhered the small piece of designer paper.  The basic card is now complete and ready to be decorated!

The label on my card is die-cut using the Tasteful Labels dies and the leaf is die-cut using the Stitched Leaves Dies.  Such a fun card!  The inside piece of Basic White cardstock is 4 ½” x 3 ¼”.  It needs to be slightly smaller than the front piece of cardstock so it doesn’t show when the card is closed.

Happy Fall Y’all and enjoy those colors!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

A Winter Wonderland Card Sketch

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Ah, Winter! Ok, I’m really not ready for Winter yet but I love this designer paper and it was perfect for today’s card sketch. Unfortunately, my photograph doesn’t do the card justice. Not only is there white snow on the trees, there is also silver snow on the trees to complete the gorgeous scene. I embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder to coordinate with the silver on the trees.

The background is a piece of the Peaceful Place Specialty Designer Series Paper. (#156394 $15). This paper is gorgeous!  Grays, black, white and silver.  The sheet of paper that this scene came from had four different 6” x 6” sections with the same scene.  Perfect for those easy cards! The sentiment is from the Heartfelt Wishes stamp set (#156541 $21) in Stampin’ Up!’s July – December Mini Catalog. I love the font!

I wanted to use black ink on a strip of Basic White cardstock, but the background of the trees has a little too much gray in it and the white just didn’t look right.  My next choice was black, and it worked perfectly!

It is Card Sketch Day, so I should probably share with you the sketch I was trying to copy.  Did you notice that I used the exact number of layers on my card as the sketch shows? Unbelievable! Ha! The only thing I changed was the orientation of the card. I made my card in a landscape orientation so I could use the gorgeous Peaceful Place paper.

What supplies are you going to use to try your hand with this card sketch? Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Pretty In Pink

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It’s time to step away from Fall, Halloween, and Christmas for a bit.  I love making cards and projects for those occasions but today I felt like switching it up.  With the days becoming shorter and cooler it’s time for a little pretty in pink to brighten things up.

This color combination is one of my favorites and I love the contrast between the two colors.  The little window with a peek at the outline of the flower bouquet is gorgeous.  The flower bouquet outline is from Stampin’ Up!’s Artistic Dies.  Of course you can’t go wrong adding a little sparkle with a bow made with the Black Glittered Organdy Ribbon.  This card makes me smile!

I had seen the card that inspired me (thank you Arlene!) months ago and had saved it on my computer in a special place so I could Make It Mine at some point in time. Lucky you that today is that day!

When I saw Arlene’s card I knew I had to recreate it.  But being me, I had to change some things up.  I really only changed a few things.  I changed the color of the card base from pink to black for a little more contrast on the card.  I did the same with “frame” for the window changing from white to black.  The last thing I changed was leaving the sentiment off the front of the card. 

I hope this card brightens your day as much as it did mine.  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Cookies and a Fun Fold

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I love fun fold cards!  They make an ordinary card a bit more special.  When I find a fun fold that I want to recreate and it’s only called “fun fold” the hard part begins.  What do I call it? How do I describe it to you?  That’s where my unoriginal descriptive names come in.  Ha!

I am calling today’s fun fold the Side Flap Fun Fold because…it has a side flap.  Yep.  Original.  Whatever….let’s forget about the name and talk about how to make this fun card.  Basically, you take a regular-sized card, trim the front and add the side flap.  Easy peasy.

The base is 5 ½” x 7 ½” or a regular 5 ½” x 8 ½” card base with 1” trimmed off the front of the card.  The side flap is 3 ½” x 3”.  Score at the 3” mark on the 3 ½” side.  The ½” section of the flap is the part that gets adhered to the inside of the card back. 

After you’ve folded the card base along the score line it’s time to adhere the flap.  Fold the flap all the score line.  With the flap still folded, place adhesive on the small section.  Now, with the card base open, line up the fold of the flap with the right edge of the card base.  Adhere the flap to the card base.  That’s it.  You’ve made the Side Flap Fun Fold.  Now it’s time to decorate.

I used products form Stampin’ Up!’s Gingerbread & Peppermint Suite of products.  The sentiment on the inside of the card is from the Frosted Gingerbread stamp set and the “cookies” on the flap of the card are cut using the coordinating Gingerbread dies.  I love how you can die cut the “cookie” and the intricate “frosting”.  I just wish I could make cookies that look so good.  Ha!  The designer paper is from the Gingerbread & Peppermint Designer Series Paper pack.  Gotta love all that coordination!  The jewels on the “cookies” are Wonderful Gems.

Here are some additional dimensions for the layers on the card.
Basic White:  5 ¼” x 4”, 5 ¼” x 3”, 2 ¾” x 2 ¾” Designer Paper:  5” x 2 ¾”

This was a pretty easy fun fold card to make.  I hope you’re enjoying fun folds as much as I am.  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Just In Case

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Happy Tails

My cousin’s dog moved on to Doggy Heaven last week and I wanted to make them a doggy sympathy card.  Luckily, I had saved the Happy Tails stamp set as well as the Dog Punch.

I’m calling today’s card Throwback Thursday and a Make It Mine Card Sketch because:

a) The stamp set and punch I used are retired

b) Two of the embossing folders I used on my project are retired

c) The dies I used are retired

d) I made up my own card sketch (Ha!)

As you can see, I used a lot of retired products on this card.  This is why my craft room is so messy.  I hang on to a lot of retired items….just in case!  You never know when you might need that embossing folder that you liked but only used once or that designer paper that you absolutely loved but don’t want to use because it’s so pretty.  And the list goes on.  How many of you are just like me and save way too many older products….just in case?

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Inspired Thoughts

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Wow!  Are you in for a treat today.  You’re getting the combo post.  What?  It’s Make It Mine Monday but the card I made also uses last week’s card sketch.  It’s a twofer…two for one!  Ha!

Enough silliness (although I do that fairly well…)! Let’s get to the card!  Isn’t it lovely?  The colors are beautiful and the design is simple.  Thank you to Mary H. for the inspiration.

Mary used the Beauty of the Earth Designer Series Paper as the background for the die-cut trees. Some of the designs from this package of paper are absolutely gorgeous! This is one of my favorite designs. The die-cut trees are from the Inspiring Canopy Die Set.  The sentiment is from the Inspired Thoughts stamp set which can be bundled with the Inspiring Canopy dies. If you haven’t checked out this bundle of products (pg. 52 of Stampin’ Up’s Annual Catalog) please do. The stamp set is all lovely sentiments for various occasions.

Here’s my take on Mary’s card combined with last week’s card sketch. As you can see, I switched things up a bit from both cards that inspired me, but not too much.

It’s so fun and easy to create when you’re inspired by others (and/or yourself…). Give it a try! Take care and Happy Stamping!

A Squirrely Fun Fold Card

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Window Double Card Fun Fold

I was going through my stash of cards the other day and came across this Fun Fold that I call the Window Double Card Fun Fold.  It’s a rather easy fun fold and I decided to give it a try for today’s card.  Next was to figure out what supplies to use on it.  As I searched my shelf of stamps, I came across the adorable Nuts About Squirrels stamp set from the current Mini Catalog and knew it was perfect for this fun fold.

The little squirrels in this stamp set are so dang cute and the sentiments are cute too. The outline of the squirrel is stamped in Early Espresso and the shading of the squirrel is in Cinnamon Cider. The insides of the acorn are stamped with Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.

This fun fold gets it’s name because it’s basically two cards in one.  You have the outside decorative card and then you have another piece of cardstock folded into a card on the inside of the card.  The outside of the card is a basic 5 ½” x 8 ½” piece of cardstock folded in half.  The inside piece is a 4 ¾” x 7” piece of cardstock folded in half. 

I added the designer paper (from the Beauty of the Earth package) to the front of the card before die-cutting the circle.  After die-cutting the circle I die cut the circular frame to fit around it.  I started by die-cutting the larger circle and then chose the next smallest circle die from my Layering Circles Dies.  The outside of the smaller die fit the edges of the die-cut larger circle perfectly.  The leaves on the front of the card are stamped on Basic White cardstock and then cut out by hand.  Fussy-cutting isn’t my favorite thing but these little leaves finished off the front of my card perfectly!

This fun fold could easily be made without the window in the front but the little peek-through makes it so fun!  Have a great day.  Take care and Happy Stamping!

A Spooky Card Sketch

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Boo! Stampin’ Up!’s Cute Halloween Designer Series Paper has so many cute designs! I am having so much fun using it on my Halloween projects this year.

I know I say this a lot but working with card sketches makes card making SO easy! The Freshly Made Sketches that I am using really make it easy because their designs are so simple. For this card I simply layered a piece of designer paper on cardstock and adhered it to the front of the card. Then I finished it off with the sentiment. So fun! So easy!

If you’re in a card-making rut or don’t know where to begin on your next project give a card sketch a try. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what you come up with!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Fall Inspiration With Gorgeous Leaves

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Fall has finally come to Colorado! The highs are finally only going to be in the 60’s so I can finally get my long-sleeves and jeans out! Woo Hoo!

This lovely fall card made with Stampin’ Up!’s Gorgeous Leaves stamp set and the Intricate Leaves Dies was my inspiration for today’s Make It Mine Monday.

I love how Linda masked portions of the card before stamping her background of leaves. So pretty! To do this take a piece of scrap paper and with either washi tape or a removable adhesive, adhere the scrap paper to the portion of the card front you don’t want stamped. Don’t use too much adhesive, just enough so the scrap paper doesn’t move while you are stamping. On this card, you want to mask both at the top and the bottom.

Confession time….I wanted to try to recreate Linda’s card but it just wasn’t working. My background just didn’t turn out as nicely as hers the rest of the card wasn’t working out the way I wanted so I really changed things up.

To start with, I stamped my leaves background vertically instead of horizontal and kind of framed it with strips of cardstock. As I liked the masked edges on Linda’s card, mine wasn’t working but when I added the frame of Old Olive cardstock it really made my leaves background pop.

Then instead of using the intricate leaf dies to add a leaf to my card I stamped the leaf and die cut it before adhering it to the card from. This added a little bit of dimension to the leaf.

I definitely made Linda’s card my own. The only thing on my card that remotely resembles her card is the leaf background. That’s ok though. I was inspired! I may just have to take another run at recreating Linda’s card. Her design is so “clean”.

Trying to recreate Linda’s card reminded me that even when you’re trying to recreate someone else’s card as close as possible it’s ok to go off on your own tangent. Go where your creative juices are leading you!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

The Overlapping Panel Fun Fold Card

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Another descriptive name for a fun fold card….the Overlapping Panel Fun Fold or if you prefer you can call it the Overlapping Tri-Panel Fun Fold. Three score marks make three front panels that show off your favorite designer series paper.

When I saw the Blackberry Beauty Designer Series Paper in Stampin’ Up!’s July – December Mini Catalog I wasn’t overly impressed. I thought it was a little busy and the I didn’t like the birds on it. Fast forward to actually seeing the paper in person and using it. I still don’t really like the birds on it but the paper is gorgeous! Deep purples and gold foil. A lovely combination. Have you seen this paper in person? What do you think of it?

I die cut the foliage on my belly band from Gold Foil using the Forever Flourishing Dies and adhered it to a label die cut using one of the Tasteful Label Dies. The purple cardstock used on my card is Blackberry Bliss.

In this photo you can get a better idea of how the card is folded and how the three different sections will overlap. I added a layer of gold foil to the inside white piece of my card to really set it off.

Here’s the template to show you where to score and in which direction to fold your score marks.

Start with a piece of cardstock that is 5 1/2″ x 11″. Score at 1 3/4″, 5 1/2″ and 9 3/4″. The designer paper measurements for the panels are 5 1/4″ x 1″, 5 1/4″ x 1 1/2″ and 5 1/4″ x 3 1/2″.

Overlapping Panel Fun Fold Card

Above is a quick video showing you how make this fun fold card. It shows you in which direction your folds should go and where to apply the designer paper. Enjoy!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Boo To You Card Sketch

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Cute Halloween Card Sketch

Boo!  Halloween is definitely in the air.  When we returned home from our trip this past weekend the two houses at the entrance to our street were completely decorated for the spooky holiday. 

This cute and easy card was inspired by a Card Sketch.  The Cute Halloween designer paper was the perfect choice for the background of my card.  Aren’t these little ghosts adorable.  I used one of them on my Make It Mine project this past Monday.

Once again I couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to add an extra layer. Other than that I stuck pretty close to the card sketch. Do you use card sketches when creating? If so, are you able to follow the sketch as is or are you like me and have to change things up a bit? There is no right or wrong way when creating. Just do what works for you!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Halloween Tombstone

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Halloween Tombstone

Boo! It’s October and that means it’s time to celebrate Halloween. These tombstone boxes from Stampin’ Up! are adorable and perfect for your Halloween treats. The box portion of the tombstone is 3 3/8″ x 2 1/2″ so it’s a good size. It’s also food safe! The boxes are quick and easy to put together.

I decorated my tombstone box with Stampin’ Up!’s Cute Halloween Designer Series Paper. Yes, I cut out the little ghost right from the paper! I didn’t have the Cutest Halloween stamp set or the coordinating Halloween Punch but my Paper Snips worked out perfectly for my project.

The label is die cut from the Ornate Frames Dies. After die-cutting the label I ran it through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder. The letters are die cut using the Playful Alphabet Dies.

This fabulous little project was my inspiration for Make It Mine Monday. Isn’t it fun? I would have loved to use large letters on my project but unfortunately they are a retired product (although I do still have them…).

Not only did the large letters catch my eye but so did the use of the gingham ribbon and the gingham paper. I love my plaid!

This trio of tombstones is so dang cute you may just see another take on this project from me later this month so stay tuned!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

A Book Binding Fun Fold Card With A Twist!

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A bit ago I shared with you the very easy Book Binding Fun Fold card. The base of the card is so easy. Start with a piece of cardstock that is 4 1/4″ x 11″. Score along the long side at 4 1/4″ and 5 1/2″. On the inside of the card place adhesive between the two score marks. Close the card and adhere. Now when you open the card the inside will be 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″. Decorate the card and this fun fold is done.

Let’s step it up a notch. We’ll start with the same base of the card but when we open it, the magic begins!

Ok, it’s not really magic. It’s simply a 6″ x 6″ piece of designer paper that has been folded three times and adhered to the inside of your card.

When you open the card you get a fun surprise!

The first thing you need to do to add the “explosion” to the card is to determine which side of the designer paper you want to be prominent when you open the card.

With the prominent side of the paper facing up, fold the designer paper in half. Open it and now fold it in half the other way. Open it once again, flip it over so that the side you don’t want to see is facing up. Now fold the card in half diagonally. Done. You’ve got these folds completed you’re reading to place this piece in the card. Below you will find a video with the details of the folds and how to adhere it to the center of the card.

This “explosion” is a fun addition to the easy Book Binding Fun Fold. Give it a try! I may be making a number of these cards for my holiday cards this year. Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!