DIY cards

Card Sketch: Summer Sunflowers

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How about some sweet sunflowers for today’s Card Sketch? I saw this card sketch and had to try and figure out what type of image to put in the two circles. After scouring my stamp shelf I decided on these small sunflowers. As you can tell though, I couldn’t stick to just two. You know….that rule of three….things are more eye catching/pleasing in three or odd numbers.

Once I decided on the images to use this sketch came together quite easily. Of course I had to add a few extra layers but that seems to be par for the course! The sunflowers are from the Celebrate Sunflowers stamp set. I colored them with my Stampin’ Blends markers. Coloring isn’t my favorite thing to do but it’s SO easy with Stampin’ Up!’s Stampin’ Blends markers. The sentiment is from the Tasteful Touches stamp set. I needed something large to fill the space.

I heat embossed all of the stamped images on my card. I like to do this when I used the Stampin’ Blend Markers. It makes it easier to stay in the lines (Ha!) and is especially nice when using the lighter colors. Just my preference but give it a try sometime.

If you haven’t tried playing with card sketches be sure to give it a try. It’s fun! Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Flowers of Friendship

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The Flowers of Friendship stamp set can be found in Stampin’ Up!’s current Annual Catalog.  I wasn’t going to purchase this set but finally gave in.  Once I saw this card by Tracy Bradley I was glad I did.  Tracy’s card is clean and fresh.  I like the red and white with just that little pop of green.  The sentiment is from one of my new favorite stamp sets, Biggest Wish, which I first shared with you last week.  Tracy also used the new Pretty Flowers Embossing Folder.

When you like an original card so much how do you change it up to make it your own?  I actually started with the embossing folder and used the side that Tracy didn’t use.  I love the fact that you can get two different looks when using an embossing folder.

The next thing I changed on Tracy’s card was to add a layer behind the scalloped rectangle.  Now the focal point really pops.  Did you notice that instead of adhering the scallop rectangle to the red rectangle and popping that up I adhered the red rectangle directly to the card front and popped up the scallop rectangle.  When I di it this way I feel it really makes that focal point pop. 

I only made two other small changes.  I added another leaf so that there would be an odd number and I stamped the sentiment in black instead of red.  I was going back and forth between black and red for the sentiment but black finally won out.

How would you have changed Tracy’s card? Leave a comment and let me know or better yet share a picture of your Make It Mine!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Card Sketch: Blocked Christmas

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Card Sketch: Blocked Christmas

This week’s Card Sketch features designer paper again.  I wanted to get one last plug in for Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Series Paper Sale before it ends next Monday. So here’s my plug:  don’t forget about the sale!  Ha!  If you’re interested in getting 15% off of 9 of Stampin’ Up!’s fabulous designer series papers be sure to click here and check it out.

Now that that’s out of the way let’s get back to today’s card sketch!  I thought about trying this sketch with one of the papers that’s on sale but decided to try it with one of the brand new papers that you will be able to find in the Sale-a-bration Brochure next week.  This package of paper is called Peaceful Prints and is 12” X 12”.   There are lots of fun patterns in the package and it coordinates with the Peaceful Deer Bundle from the upcoming (Holiday) Mini Catalog!  Love that coordination!  😊

I did pretty well with this week’s sketch.  I only added one teeny tiny layer behind the designer paper to make it pop as well as adding the sentiment (from the Banner Year stamp set) to the small strip of paper.

When I work with papers that butt up against each other and need to be straight like on this sketch I like to start with a piece of cardstock the same size as my finished designer paper design will be.  On this card I started with a piece of Basic Black cardstock that was 3” x 4 ¼”.   I then cut two strips of designer paper that were 4 ¼” x 1 ½”.  I cut 1 ¼” off of each strip for the small section.  Then I adhered my papers to the Basic Black card stock piece. 

The layer of Basic White cardstock that I added is 4 3/8” x 3 1/8”.  Just enough of a border to make the designer paper pop.  The strip of Basic Black cardstock is 3 5/8” x 3/8”.  I heat embossed the sentiment with White Embossing Powder since it was on the black cardstock.  The sentiment strip is popped up with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.

This Card Sketch is a great design to highlight those gorgeous papers you have in your craft room.  You’ll just want to remember to stick with smaller patterns.  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Make It Simple!

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Those of you who have followed me for a while know that simple and Cindy don’t usually go together.  I’m all about layers with ribbon.  Despite the fact that I don’t do simple there was something about this card by Sue Vine that caught my attention.  I loved it and knew I wanted to share it with you.  What better way to share it than change it up, right?

Well, if you look close at the two cards you will see that I didn’t change a whole lot about Sue’s card.  I did change the color of the card base as well as the color of one of the inks.  Sue used a white card base and I used a Bermuda Bay card base.  The only other thing I changed was the color of the lighter ink.  The original card has Coastal Cabana as the light ink and I used Pool Party.  The only reason I switched this color up was that my Coastal Cabana was stamping too dark and if I stamped it off first it stamped too light.  Pool Party to the rescue!  😊

Biggest Wish

Sue and I both used the Biggest Wish stamp set.  It’s really a fun set to use.  There are only five different words in the set but they all come in both a block font and a script font.  It makes it fun to combine them as you can see on our cards.

I do have to admit that I was itching to emboss the front of card but I resisted.  Keep it simple!  Simple stamping is difficult for me but I do need to try it more.  The results can be stunning.

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Beauty of the Earth

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Stampin’ Up! makes such beautiful paper that sometimes you just need to make it the focal point of your card.   The first card that I’m sharing here is the card that inspired me.  Simple, yet elegant.  I received this card in a swap and unfortunately there was no name on it so I don’t know who to credit.

The piece of designer paper used on this card is from the Beauty of the Earth package.  It is beautiful and layering it on Night of Navy cardstock makes it pop.  Those of you who have been around me for a while know that I have a hard time with “simple”.  I usually have to add layers and embellishments to my cards.  However it was the simplicity of this card that caught my eye and I knew I had to give it a try.

Beauty of the Earth Sympathy Card

If you look closely at my version of the card you will notice that this time I actually used one less layer!  What? I know, it’s pretty different for me.  I tried layering my version like the original but I felt that by just layering the designer paper and popping it up on the card base with Stampin’ Dimensionals kept the focus on the designer paper better.

On the original card the sentiment is stamped directly on to the Merry Merlot cardstock with Night of Navy ink.  I felt this was a little hard to read.  I didn’t want to stamp my sentiment on a label because I thought that that would fight with my designer paper focal point.  I thought I’d just try a strip of Basic White cardstock and tuck it under the focal point.  Guess what?  I LOVE it!  What do you think?  I am definitely going to have to try this little trick again.  It’s just enough to add a little something-something to the front of the card but not enough to detract from the focal point. 

Do you love designer paper as much as I do?  Don’t forget that Stampin’ Up! has 9 different packages of designer paper on sale this month.  Don’t miss out!  Check out what’s on sale right here! 

Card Sketch: Make It Simple!

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This card sketch couldn’t have been any easier.  Four pieces of designer paper that are 1 3/8” wide by 4 ¼” tall.  That’s it!  The hardest part of using this sketch was finding just the right combination of designer paper!  

The sketch didn’t call for a sentiment but I thought my card needed a little something more on the front. This sentiment is from the Lovely You stamp set and the label that my sentiment is on was punched with the Lovely Labels Pick A Punch.  So easy!  I did have to color the pearls with my Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blend Marker so they would match the paper.  That’s just me being picky though.  😊

I used Stampin’ Up!’s Sweet Symmetry package of Designer Series Paper on my card.  Such fun patterns!  And yes, this package of paper is one of the one’s that is on sale this month for 15% off!  Be sure to check out the pdf of all of the patterns on sale here or view them directly in my online store here.

I’d love to see what you do with this sketch!  Leave a comment with your card or send me a photo!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Party Puffins Birthday

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July is birthday month!  Yep, I’m having another birthday and we’re going to celebrate.  I’m going to share a birthday card with you that I made my own but first I want to share something I’m going to do for you! 

Send me a handmade birthday card this month and your name will be entered in a drawing.  The first person’s name that I draw will get to choose a current Stampin’ Up! stamp set (valued at $30 or less).  The second person’s name that I draw will get to choose a kit from Stampin’ Up!’s new Kit Collection!  How fun!  Birthday cards can be mailed to me at:

Cindy Russell 1640 Mountain Maple Ave. Highlands Ranch,  CO  80129

Let’s get to our cards today!

Here’s a birthday card that I received in a swap.  These Party Puffins are SO cute!  This stamp set makes the best birthday cards!  Thank you Kim for the inspiration with your card.  I stayed pretty true to Kim’s card design just changing up the color scheme and the arrangement of the layers.  I also left off the ribbon and moved the sentiment to the inside of the card.

Kim and I both used the Pattern Party package of designer paper that is only available for hosts with Stampin’ Rewards.  It’s one of my favorite papers in the new catalog! One of my favorite things about this package of paper is that one side is bright colors while the second side is black and white. So versatile!

Is it weird to admit that the little fish on the inside of the card is my favorite part of the card? Ha! Too cute!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Fun Fold: Origami Window Fold

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On Tuesday in my newsletter I shared a gorgeous origami frame with you that another talented demonstrator made.  As I was searching around the web trying to find out how to make it (I’m still searching), I came across this fun and easy Origami Window Fold.  The card itself isn’t a fun fold but you use this Origami Window Fold as the focal point of the card.

When you first look at this fold it’s a bit intimidating but once you have the measurements it’s quite easy.  Start with a square piece of designer paper that is 4 ¼” x 4 ¼”.  As with most origami folds you want the two sides of your paper to coordinate.  I tried starting with a couple of squares that were a bit smaller but I couldn’t get the other measurements to quite work out.  I’ll let you know if I get that figured out.

Lay your square of paper diagonally on the Simply Scored scoring board with the top and bottom points lined up on the 3” mark.  Now score along the 1” and the 1 ½” marks.  Turn the paper 90 degrees and repeat.  Continue until you have four sets of score marks.

If you don’t have a Simply Scored to make your score lines and want to use your Paper Trimmer you line things up a bit differently.  You still start by placing the paper diagonally on the Paper Trimmer.  You will line up the top and bottom points at the 2” mark and score.  Then slide the points over to line up on the 1 ½” mark and score.   Turn paper and repeat three more times.  Fold along the inside marks toward the center and them fold the other score marks to the outside.

Fold along the inside score marks towards the center of the paper.  They should all meet in the center.  Then fold the other score marks back towards the outside.

To complete the fold and give it a little dimension you want to add a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals to the inside of each side of the frame.  See the photo to the left to see where I placed them.

The Origami Window Fold is done.  Now it’s time to decorate.  I chose to mount my Origami Window Fold on another piece of cardstock (3 ¼” x 3 ¼”)  before adhering it to the card.  I also lined the inside of my frame with a coordinating piece of designer paper (2 7/8” x 2 7/8”) to make my flower pop.  If I hadn’t, the inside of my frame would have been the gingham checked print like the folded out flaps. 

This was a fun and easy fold to make that adds a lot of “wow” to my card.  Give it a try.  I think you’ll like the results!  Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Card Sketch: Summer Daisy

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Do you think of summer when you see daisies?  I know I do.  And you can’t beat a yellow, white and black color combination.  Oh, wait a minute….yes you can….PINK, white and black.  Ha!

Whatever color you like to pair with black and white, this simple card sketch is for you.  Three strips of designer paper, a sentiment and the focal point.  That’s it! I really like the simplicity of this sketch. Clean and simple.

Did you notice that I kept pretty darn close to the sketch with this card.  The only “extras” I added were the Matte Black Dots.  That’s pretty good for me!

Make It Mine: Sweet Strawberry

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Summer is officially here and that means it’s strawberry season!  Not only do we get to eat these tasty berries in summer but we need to get out our Sweet Strawberry stamp set and make some strawberry cards!

I received this card in a swap and liked the simplicity of it as well as the color combination.  You can’t go wrong with black and white with a pop of color.

I was browsing through the catalog and on page 43 I found the Sweet Strawberry stamp set. What made me giggle was one of the card samples that I saw. Let’s just say that Diane likes to “Make It Mine” too. I know where she got her inspiration. 🙂

Sweet Strawberry

As you can see by comparing the photos I kept pretty close to the original. I did add a layer behind the designer paper and I arranged the strawberries differently. My sentiment was a bit smaller and I added the red rhinestones.

This was a fun and easy card to make. We’re making it my first post-Covid in-person card class tomorrow. Having an in-person card class is a really big step for me. For some reason, even though I’ve been fully vaccinated since April, I’m still a little skittish about everything Covid. One step at a time, right?

Be sure to check out page 43 in Stampin’ Up!’s Annual Catalog so you can compare the three cards. Similar…yet diferent.

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Pretty Perennials Card Sketch

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It’s Card Sketch Day! I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I’m having with these. I spent a whole day last weekend playing with them.

These card sketches are great because they get me searching all the stamp sets on my shelf to find the right one to use with the sketch I’m working with.

The Freshly Made Sketches website that I’m getting my sketches from runs a contest each week with that week’s sketch. Then the next week they publish the winning card along with the others that were submitted. This gives you a lot of inspiration on where to start.

Pretty Perennials

Here is the card I came up with for this sketch. The words are from the Pretty Perennials stamp set which is retiring on June 30th. The designer paper is from the Pattern Party paper set which is a host only pack.

I did change up the sketch a bit by changing the orientation of the card as well as adding layers and an extra focal point (happy) to my card.

Once again I want to encourage you to give card sketches a try. They are fun and a little addicting. Ha!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Hey Chick

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Hey Chick

Before I get into the details of todays card(s) I want to remind you that June 30th is the very last day that you can order the Hey Chick stamp set, the Chick Dies or the bundle that includes both items. Don’t miss out on these fun items!

But back to our originally scheduled post….

As I was searching for a card made with the Hey Chick Bundle I came across this card. I really liked the unique layout and thought I’d give it a try.

Hey Chick

It’s kind of funny, but the thing I really liked about the original card is the first thing I changed on mine. On the original, I liked that everything in the background was the same color. Since I couldn’t decide what color I would use I just switched everything up.

I made my chicken wire die out of Smoky Slate cardstock and used a wood pattern from the In Good Taste Designer Paper on my card. Of course, I added a layer too.

Even though I left my chicken white it still pops against the background since I embossed it with the Tasteful Texture Embossing Folder.

How would you have made the original card yours? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping! Don’t forget to grab the Hey Chick Bundle before it’s gone!

Card Sketch: Hey Birthday Chick

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It’s time for this week’s card sketch. I know this is only the second one I’ve done but it’s kind of fun. It can definitely be a challenge too. The sketch looks simple enough but then I need to figure out which of my supplies to use.

The first thing I did after deciding on this sketch was to find a stamp/die that would fill most of the white space on the sketch. After browsing my shelf of stamps I chose Hey Birthday Chick with the adorable chicken being lifted in the air by a balloon.

As you can see, I added a couple of layers to the card. My sentiment is a bit lower as I didn’t want to cover up the adorable chicken. Other than that I kept pretty close to the card sketch. I used a blending brush to lightly add Bermuda Bay ink for the sky.

Have you tried working with card sketches yet? Give this one a try and then either post your photo in the comments below or email me (cindy@stampbystampcreations.com) a photo of your card. I’d love to see what you come up with!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Hats Off!

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When I first saw the Hats Off stamp set in Stampin’ Up!’s new annual catalog I thought it would be a great masculine stamp set. Of course, girls wear baseball caps too, right?

I came across this bright and cheerful card by Lisa Cummings and knew I wanted to recreate it. I had also come across a couple of hat cards that had flowers on them so that’s what I wanted to incorporate on my card along with color combination.

Before I share my version of Lisa’s card with you I want to share a little tip I learned. To give your ball cap a little dimension, use your bone folder to give it a little ben like you do with curling ribbon. Then, when you adhere the cap to the card (or other project) place some dimensionals in the center of the cap. That’s all I used on my card to adhere the cap.

Feminine Hats Off Card

Here’s my card. It looks a little more washed out than Lisa’s but we both used Polished Pink on our card. I used Bermuda Bay but I think Lisa may have used Coastal Cabana.

After completion, this card was one of those that just tickles your fancy because it turned out cuter than you imagined. 🙂

You can see be the shadow under the brim of my ball cap how I curved it a little. I think it really adds to the card.

The little flowers on my card are from the Pierced Blooms dies (one of my favorites that makes me sad it’s retiring). The “hello” is from the Artistically Inked stamp set and the pennant die is from the Tasteful Lables dies.

I love the new 3/8″ Open Weave Ribbon that comes in the new in-colors. It’s got a little stiffness to it that makes it easy to make the perfect bow, even small ones.

Here’s a photo of the inside of my card. I had to share it with you so you could see the smaller little ball cap die. It’s about 1 1/4″ x 7/8″. So cute!

Be sure to check out the Hats Off bundle. I think you’re going to like it!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Card Sketch & Challenge!

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It’s a new month so I think it’s time to try something new.  We’re going to move on from Tools of the Trade to Card Sketches!

What is a Card Sketch?  It’s exactly what the name says.  It’s a sketch of a design you can use as the basis for your card.  Many of us have a difficult time making decisions.  (Yep!  That’s me!).  A card sketch gives you the design starting point for your card.  From there you choose the stamp set, colors and embellishments you want to add to the card.

You can come up with your own card sketches but I’ve found this fabulous site called Freshly Made Sketches that has almost 500 sketches on it and they keep adding to it! Be sure to check it out sometime! I will be sharing one of their sketches every week along with the card I make using it.

When using a card sketch you can keep your project as close to the sketch as you want.  As you can see on my card, I kept the basic elements of the shape in the upper left corner with the diagonal strips behind it.  But I added to that.  I (naturally) added a couple of layers and I also added a sentiment on the front of my card.

Working with card sketches should be pretty fun.  I don’t think I’ve worked with them much.  Here’s my challenge for you.  My challenge for you is to make a card using this sketch and send it to me.  I really would like to see what you do with the sketch.  Then, I would like to share your creations on my blog and possibly my Facebook Page (with your permission of course).  You can email your card to me at cindy@stampbystampcreations.com or add it to the comments for this post. Will you join the challenge and play along?  I hope so!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping.  Don’t forget to join the challenge!  I can’t wait to see your projects!