DIY cards - Stamp By Stamp Creations

Make It Mine Monday: Think Spring!

April 19, 2021 by Cindy

Happy Monday! We’re past the midpoint of April and I need to think Spring. We had snow here in Colorado last week (over 6″!) and we’re suppose to get more tonight! Sheesh! I’m ready for warm weather. Since flowers are definitely a sign of Spring I thought I’d find a floral card to copy for Make It Mine Monday.

I received this lovely card in a swap from Tina Barela. It was made using the Art Gallery stamp set from Stampin’ Up!’s January – June Mini Catalog. This stamp set is part of the Fine Art Floral Suite of products that can be found on pages 32-33 of the Mini Catalog. So many fun products! The sentiment and the die to cut it out are part of the suite. Tina used Flirty Flamingo and Mossy Meadow as the colors on her card.

The first reason that this card caught my eye to CASE was that it was PINK! When the dominate color of the card is my favorite color of course it’s going to catch my eye! I also liked that Tina used two different embossing folders on her card. It may be hard to see but she used the Subtle Embossing Folder on the large piece of Basic White cardstock. This embossing folder is retiring on May 3rd so if you love it as much as I do you may want to get one fast!

As you can see I didn’t change too much on Tina’s card. I kept pink the main color but instead of using Flirty Flamingo like Tina did I used the brand new 2021-2023 In-Color Polished Pink! I think it’s my new favorite Stampin’ Up! color!

I also used the strip of pink embossed with one of the Greenery Mini Embossing Folders. I have to admit I wanted to add the Subtle Embossing Folder to the Basic White background of my card like Tina’s but unfortunately I didn’t remember until the card was put together….oh, well….

I did add a few more layers to my card. You know that I can never seem to have enough layers on a card. Ha!

Soft Succulent is the gorgeous green that you’re seeing on my card. It too is one of the new In-Colors. It’s very similar to Mint Macaron but with a little more gray to it. And of course my card wouldn’t be complete with ribbon….Polished Pink Open Weave Ribbon to be precise. Oooo….SO pretty!

It’s so fun (and easy!) to get inspiration from someone else’s project. Have you tried it lately? If not, go for it! Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Fun Fold: Angled Corner

April 16, 2021 by Cindy

The Angled Corner Fun Fold card is fun and easy to make. The upper left corner of the card isn’t cut off, it’s folded in on itself. You then use die-cut or punched images to fill in the area that is “missing” on the card.

When you are decorating the card and filling in this “missing” area you want to be sure to stay within the 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card front area so that you card will fit in the envelope.

Below you can see some photos of the inside of the card as well as the side where the angled fold is.

The nice thing about this fun fold is that it’s easy to alter. You can increase or decrease the size of your angled fold depending on the size of dies/punches that you use to cover the “missing” corner.

You also want to add a die-cut or punched image on the fold on the inside of your card to show it off. In the picture to the left you can see how adhered the single die-cut flower to the inside fold.

The fold itself is made up of only 3 scored lines and one of those scored lines is the one you made at the halfway point (4 1/4″) to form your card. Below you can see the template I used for my card.

The cardstock measures 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ which is a standard card size. I scored it along the long edge at 4 1/4″ which will be the center fold of my card.

Along this center fold score line I measured in 2 3/4″ and made a light pencil mark.

I also measured up 2 1/2″ from this center fold score line and down 2 1/2″ making light pencil marks at these points.

You can’t really use the Simply Scored tool or your Paper Trimmer to score these angled lines so you need to get out your trusty Bone Folder and a regular old ruler or any type of tool with a straight edge. Line up one of the points on the side with the point on the horizontal score mark and run your Bone Folder along the straight edge.

After you’ve made all three score lines fold the card in half like you usually would. Open it up again and crease the angled score lines in the same direction. They will be “mountain fold”.

This fun fold is very easy to make. The hardest part is figuring out how to decorate it! Be sure to contact me if you have any questions on it. I’ll be happy to help you out!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Hello New In-Colors!

April 12, 2021 by Cindy

I saw this card by Jeanna Bohanan and knew I had to Make It Mine! I love the fun little envelopes from the Snail Dies. So cute!

This is another “long” card that fits in a regular letter-size envelope. I shared my first “long” card with you about a month ago and knew it wouldn’t be my last. It’s kind of fun to work with a different sized card.

Long card with Stampin’ Up!’s new 2021-2022 In-Colors

Here’s my take on Jeanna’s card. I decided to leave the snail off the card and just focus on the fun little envelopes because I knew they’d be the perfect showcase for Stampin’ Up!’s new 2021-2022 In-Colors! Yes! This is your first peek at these gorgeous new colors!

The first envelope is this gorgeous soft green called Soft Succulent. The bright pink envelope is Polished Pink. The light peachy/yellow color is Pale Papaya. The dark green one is Evening Evergreen and the light purple one is called Fresh Freesia.

These new in-colors are gorgeous! They are probably my favorite grouping recently. I like them all and am having a hard time deciding which one is my favorite. How about you? Which one do you like best?

Last year I made a video for each new In-Color comparing it to current Stampin’ Up! colors and I will be doing that again in the near future so stay tuned.

Let’s get back to talking about the card itself. As I mentioned, the envelopes dies are from the Snail Dies as are the inserts for the envelopes and the die-cut hearts. The stamped hearts are from the coordinating Snailed It stamp set and the die-cut letters are from the Playful Alphabet Dies.

My card base is 8” x 9 ¼” which you fold in half along the 8” side so that your card front is 4” x 9 ¼”. My Basic White layer is 8 5/8” x 3 3/8”. You can make your Smoky Slate layer 8 7/8” x 3 5/8” for simplicity. I actually like to make my layers only 3/16” wider instead of ¼” wider so my Smoky Slate layer is actually8 13/16” x 3 9/16”. I do this because 1/8” difference in layers is sometimes not quite enough. I know, it can make things confusing but it’s just the way I like to make my cards. To each his/her own. Right?

The hardest part of making this card for me was randomly stamping the little hearts. I just can’t do random very well. I was stamping along quite nicely until the last few. Naturally I waited until the end to mess things up but most of the hearts are covered by the envelops and letters so you can hardly tell. Ha!

This was a fun card to make and it was my first time playing with the new In-Colors. What do you think of these new In-Colors? Which is your favorite? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Oh Snap!

April 5, 2021 by Cindy

Oh Snap! This stamp set is adorable and has such cute sentiments in it. I couldn’t resist it. This stamp set has been sitting on my shelf for a while now and it was just calling out to be used. So I dusted it off and hit the internet to find a card to give me inspiration.

I thought this would be the perfect stamp set (and sentiment!) to make a belated birthday card. I do try to get cards out in a timely manner but it doesn’t always work.

Josee Smuck’s card was pretty darn cute and I knew this was the one I wanted to recreate. I didn’t change a whole lot on her card but enough to make it my own.

I made my “river” from Coastal Cabana cardstock and my background piece from Old Olive. I also made my sentiment circle a bit smaller.

I loved the way Josee’s alligator turned out so I tried to stay close to hers. I stamped my alligator in black and then used my Blending Brushes (love those things!) to add color. I started with Pear Pizzaz and then progressed to Old Olive. I did have to fussy cut the alligator but it wasn’t too hard. Josee’s texture on the alligator shows up better than mine. I should have used the Hammered Metal Embossing Folder instead of the Tasteful Texture Folder. Oh, well…next time. I will probably have to make this card again sometime since it turned out so cute. I may have to make my sentiment circle larger on the next one so I can add the fish!

Here’s the inside of my card. The sentiment is from the Happiest of Birthdays stamp set. I also had to add the adorable little bird on the inside of the card. If you notice in the picture of the outside of my card I used the little bird on the envelope too. No naked envelopes!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine: Butterfly Gala

April 1, 2021 by Cindy

Since the Last-Chance Products List came out last week I’ve been removing the retiring items from my craft room. As I was doing this I came across the Butterfly Gala stamp set and noticed how pretty these butterflies were. I knew then that I needed to share a card with you using this stamp set and the coordinating Butterfly Duet Punch. You know me, I love coordination! Did you know that the Butterfly Duet Punch also coordinates with Butterfly Wishes stamp set? Unfortunately that stamp set is retiring also.

Since this is a Make It Mine post (even though it’s Thursday…) I had to find a card that I liked that used the Butterfly Gala stamp set and the Butterfly Duet Punch. Once again, Pinterest saved the day! While scrolling through, I found this simple and lovely card made by Jill from Paper Daisy Crafting. Jill did a beautiful job of coloring her butterfly.

I kept my card pretty darn close to the original. I used a couple of layers for my butterfly but I changed the bottom layer on my card to black and left off the ribbon.

Stampin’ Blends Markers were perfect for coloring the butterfly. I will admit that Jill’s butterfly turned out a bit more vibrant than mine.

I do like the simplicity of this card. If you’ve seen enough of my designs you know that I have a bit of trouble with “simple”. Having Jill’s inspiration though really helped me out.

I like this card so much that I’m trying to decide whether or not to keep this stamp set and the coordinating punch in my stash! Decisions, decisions!

What is your favorite stamp set/bundle that’s on the Last-Chance List and leaving us? Leave me a comment and let us know.

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Kangaroo & Company

March 22, 2021 by Cindy

How cute is the Kangaroo & Company Bundle? Have you checked it out on page 17 of Stampin’ Up!’s January-June Catalog? If not, you should! Cute little kangaroos, cute sentiments and more!

This first card is one I made following instructions that I received in an online class that I took. So cute! All sorts of products were used on the card. The Kangaroo & Company Bundle, the Snail Mail Designer Paper and the Resin Hearts and white baker’s twine from the Snail mail Twine Combo Pack. I loved the card but it was a little busy for me. I know, you’re thinking “isn’t this the gal who can’t make a card without 10 layers? What does she mean ‘too busy’?”. Ha!

Here’s my simplified version. I just left off some of the background layers and the Resin Hearts. That’s it. I kept the same color palette as well as the red strip and the baker’s twine bow. On both cards I colored the kangaroo with my Stampin’ Blends Markers. Cinnamon Cider is the perfect color for the kangaroo.

Do you know the secret to the kangaroo die? This kangaroo can hide messages. There’s a special die that slips perfectly into the die-cut slit in the kangaroo. Stamp one of the small sentiments on cardstock and die cut with the special little sentiment die. Attach the flower bouquet or the bouquet of hearts to the sentiment die and slip it in the kangaroo’s pouch!

The thing to remember when “hiding” messages in the kangaroo pouch is not to put any adhesive in the way of the part the slides down in the slot. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals and I had to move them a couple times to make sure my sentiment would slide right. The key is to slide the sentiment in the slot and then add your dimensionals or adhesive. This way you know it will slide correctly when on the card.

I can’t wait to try another card with the fun Kangaroo & Company Bundle. Too fun!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Hey Birthday Chick!

March 15, 2021 by Cindy

I can’t say it enough….I love the Hey Chick and the Hey Birthday Chick stamp sets (and of course the coordinating dies!)! TSC…Too Stinkin’ Cute!

Now pair those adorable chickens with red plaid and chicken wire and you have the perfect combination! Right?!

I got the inspiration for my card from a card by Karen Day that I saw posted online. (You can see her card below.) It was definitely the red Buffalo Check background that caught my eye. I knew I wanted to use the All Wired Up background stamp too. I mean why wouldn’t you use a chicken wire background if your’e stamping chickens! Ha!

I started with the chubby dancing chicken on my card but it just didn’t seem to fit with the banner I had made. Then I grabbed the chicken floating with the balloon and tada! my card was complete!

Sometimes you just have to keep playing around. You may have a vague vision in your head of what you want but you just need to keep shuffling things around until it comes together.

Even when you’re copying someone’s card exactly this may happen. You’re cutting and gluing things together and all of the sudden….”OOO, what if I change this or add this…”. Be open to change.

I love browsing Pinterest and the Facebook page just for Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators that have SO many ideas! I may see a card that I want to copy exactly but in the end I usually end up changing up a little something.

Don’t forget that if you’re going to all the trouble to make the outside of your card adorable you should add a little bit of that to the inside of the card (and envelope) too! I may not have used the chubby dancing chicken on the outside of my card but she definitely made it on the inside. I’m pretty sure she’ll be on the envelope too!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Long & Skinny Card

March 8, 2021 by Cindy

Today I thought I’d try something a little out of my comfort zone. I decided to try a new size card. Have you seen these long, skinny cards? The card is 4” x 9 ¼” and fits perfectly in a letter-size envelope (9 ½” x 4 1/8”).

This is the card I saw that I wanted to make my own. Isn’t it pretty? I love the background and all of the different colored butterflies. I copied the basic design of the original card, along with the butterflies, but that’s about it.

I decided to keep my colors simple and used Blushing Bride, Basic White and Smoky Slate. I needed the Blushing Bride butterflies to pop a little more so I used my new Blending Brushes and lightly colored Velum Cardstock with the Smoky Slate ink. It was just enough to make the Blushing Bride butterflies and the little velum butterflies pop against the Basic White background. One other thing I did to help make the butterflies pop against the background was to use a Sponge Dauber and add a little color around the edges of the butterflies. It really made a difference on the card.

Another little secret is how I was able to emboss the Basic White background without a seam since the cardstock is longer than the embossing folder. I put the cardstock in the embossing folder about halfway. Then I ran it PARTIALLY through my Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine. I made sure the end of the embossing folder didn’t go all of the through the roller of the machine. I had to roll it back towards me to get the folder out and then turned the cardstock around and repeated the process. It worked like a charm! If you try this, you definitely don’t want to try it with a folder that has a distinct design. I used the Subtle Embossing Folder that didn’t need anything to line up.

On all of my butterflies I only adhered the bodies down to let the wings flutter. I used the Elegant Faceted Gems to add a little sparkle the butterflies too.

This was a fun card size to make. I’m not sure how often I’ll make this card size since it’s such a large area to fill. I’d have to be working with just the right products (like butterflies!) to make it work.

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Fun Folds: Angled Z-Fold Card

March 5, 2021 by Cindy

Lately we’ve been talking about many different types of Z-Fold cards and today is no different. Today I want to introduce you to the Angled Z-Fold cord or Angled Tri-Fold card. I think most people call it Angled Tri-Fold but you fold the three panels into a Z so to me it’s an Angled Z-fold!

Butterfly Bouquet Angled Z-Fold Card open

When you look at the card in it’s closed position you can see that there is going to be some type of special fold to it. You see the front panel with the designer paper and you can see a little bit of the designer paper on the “inside” or back panel. As you open the card it’s easy to see the angled top edge.

I used the exciting new Butterfly Bouquet products on my card. Gotta love those butterflies! The large pink butterfly is die-cut from the designer paper! You can view all of the products in this collection here. The stamp set and the dies from this collection are actually sneak previews from Stampin’ Up!’s upcoming 2021-2022 Annual Catalog. How fun is that?!

My card is made from 5 ½” x 10 ½” piece of cardstock and will fit in a standard Stampin’ Up! envelope. When closed, the card measures 3 ½” x 5 ½”. Score the 5 1/2″ x 10 1/2″ piece of cardstock along the long side at 3 ½” and 7” to form your panels. To get the angled edge you will then measure 3” up from the bottom on the left short side. Make a light pencil mark. Then draw a light line from the pencil mark to the top of the 7” score mark and then cut along this line. The base of the card is now done and you just need to decorate!

The angled piece of designer paper on my card is 3 ¼” across. The short side measures 2 ¾” and the long side measures 3 7/8”. The larger piece of designer paper on the back panel measures 5 1/4″ x 3 1/4″.

You can make an Angled Z-fold card in many different sizes. The key is to make sure that you can evenly divide the long edge of your cardstock by 3 so that your panels are all the same size. The starting point for you angled edge can be anywhere on the left edge and you can either end your angle at the second score mark like I did or you can take the angle all the way to the upper right corner of the cardstock.

I hope you like this fun and easy Fun Fold! Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Get Ready for Spring With Butterfly Bouquet!

March 2, 2021 by Cindy

It’s time to thing Spring with Stampin’ Up!’s new Butterfly Bouquet products! Butterfly stamp, buttefly dies and buttefly paper! All sorts of butteflies!

I didn’t really think I was a butterfly person but as I’ve been playing with these products over the last week they’ve just made me smile….and I haven’t even inked up the stamp yet!

The stamp and dies are an early release from Stampin’ Up!’s upcoming new 2021-2022 Annual Catalog. The designer paper in the Butterfly Bouquet collection however will only be available until May 3rd.

You may be wondering why I am saying “stamp” versus “stamp set”. Take a look at the photo above. The butterflies are all connected. It’s one large stamp! Ink up this stamp and you will stamp 6 butterflies at once! And guess what? There is a die that will die cut all six of them at the same time! One of the sheets of designer paper has these butterflies printed on it so you’ll be able to die cut them also with the single die.

There are both solid butterfly dies as well as intricate dies in the die set. This card was made using the designer paper and the intricate dies. So fun!

You can view these Butterfly Bouquet products here in my online store. Get a head start on those Spring projects with the Butterfly Bouquet collection!

Have a great day! Take care, happy stamping and Think Spring!

Make It Mine Monday: Hey Chick Double Z-Fold

March 1, 2021 by Cindy

Check out this fun Hey Chick Double Z-Fold card by my fellow demonstrator Patti Bagin! There’s so much happening and so many chickens! When I first saw this card I knew that I wanted to give it a try. But to make it my own I had to figure out where to start.

I couldn’t just copy Patti’s card because to start with I didn’t have the designer paper that she used. I did love how Patti made a fence and used that as the second Z of her Double Z-Fold. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about when I say “Double Z-Fold” check out my blog post from Friday. It’s all about the Double Z-Fold.

My card began with the fence. I knew I wanted to use the chicken wire on my fence but since I didn’t have the gray designer paper I had to come up with another option. I decided to a strip of clear Window Sheet and adhere by chicken wire to that. I then needed to add fence posts! The fence turned out just how I wanted it to. The only probably with it is that the Window Sheet doesn’t fold very easily. If I ever mail this card I’m going to have to probably put it in a larger envelope and pay extra postage.

I didn’t want to adhere my fence directly to the card so I used the foam adhesive strips that you’d use when making a shaker card. They worked perfectly! To get the two-tone chicken coop I die cut one from Real Red cardstock and one from Crumb Cake cardstock. I then cut out the tiny pieces from the Crumb Cake chicken coop and adhered them to the red one.

My tip when die cutting the corn stalks and the ears of corn is to to use Adhesive sheets. These pieces are so thin and so small it would be difficult to get adhesive on the back of them.

I didn’t include quite as many chickens on my version of this card as Patti did but I’m pleased with the results. Too fun!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make It Mine Monday: Berry Blessings

February 22, 2021 by Cindy

Wow! Winter 2021 Sale-a-bration is almost over! Can you believe it? There’s only a few days left so I thought my card today should use one of the Sale-a-bration items.

I haven’t used the sweet Berry Blessings stamp set yet so I chose that along with the coordinating Berry Delightful Designer Series Paper. So cute! Did you know that this designer paper also coordinates with the Sweet Strawberry stamp set/bundle from the January – June Mini Catalog? So much coordination! I love it!

Thank you to Heather Heroldt for the inspiration. As you can see, the biggest changes were just adding layers to Heather’s card. More layers seems to be what I do best. Ha!

I also decided to stamp the sentiment on the background piece of the card instead of a label and I also used green embellishments instead of blue. I used the Frosted and Clear Epoxy Droplets from Stampin’ Up!’s Annual Catalog and colored them with my Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends Markers.

Here’s a picture of the inside of my card. Heaven forbid that I didn’t decorate the inside as well as the outside!

I love getting my inspiration from fellow crafters. We all have to start somewhere, right?

The sentiment on the front of the card is from the Berry Blessings stamp set but the inside sentiment is from the Sweet Strawberry stamp set, which as I mentioned before, also coordinates with the Berry Delightful designer paper.

The Berry Blessings and Berry Delightful Designer Paper are grouped together as a Level 2 Sale-a-bration choice which means you need to spend $100 on Stampin’ Up! products in order to choose it. Don’t forget that February 28th is the last day of Sale-a-bration so get that order together and head on over to my online store or contact me with your order. I’d hate for you to miss out!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!

Make-It-Mine Monday: Snailed It!

February 15, 2021 by Cindy

Oh, my gosh! These snails are so stinkin’ cute! I only have the designer paper right now but I am ordering the stamp set and dies on my next order. I can’t wait!

I usually don’t go for the cutesy stamp sets and dies. I stick with the more traditional ones. However….the more I see of these little snails the more excited I am to have them in my stamp room!

Recently I took a training from another demonstrator which included cards we could make. The adorable card here is one of the cards we were able to make with our kit. I love new ideas!

Hopefully you can see in the photos this is a Z-fold card like the strawberry card I shared with you in this post. The only difference is that the strawberry card had a horizontal layout and this card is vertical.

This card turned out very cute but as I was making it I thought about how I could make it into an Easel Z-fold card like the one I shared with you here.

Of course, simply turning it into an Easel Z-Fold wasn’t the only change to be made by me. Hello….can you say “more layers please”? Ha! Actually, believe it or not, adding one layer and changing the color of the hearts were the only changes I made.

I think adding the red layer and changing the heart to red make things pop a little more on the card. The little resin hearts (that are on both cards) are really fun to add to cards. They come in red and in white. I do have to admit that I didn’t have the Kiss Punch which is where the pink heart came from on the first card. I had to dig through my retired stash of dies to find a heart that was about the right size for my version. This is why I hardly ever get rid of things! Ha!

Have a great day! Take care and Happy Stamping!