Thursday, April 16, 2026

SAYING GOODBYE TO THE TURTLES

I'm going to remember the Turtle-Y Cute Suite this week as we get ready to say goodbye.  The products in this suite are all on the recently updated Last Chance List.

On Monday I shared an Elegant card using the Layers of Beauty Bundle.  Today's card is anything but elegant.  I'm not sure turtles could ever be made "elegant", but they can be made "cute".

I'm calling today's Fun Fold a Double Flap Diagonal Fun Fold.  Maybe there is an "official" name for this Fun Fold, but if there is, I don't know what it is, so I made up my own name!

If you have not ever tried this Fun Fold, you need to.  Not sure where to start?  Watch this video to see how it's done.

The star of the show on today's card is the Turtle-Y Cute Designer Series Paper and my Stampin' Up! Paper Snips!


All the images were cut from the Designer Series Paper.  The only stamping on this card is the "Thank You" sentiment on the inside of the Small Front Card.

As with most Fun Folds, the easiest way to "describe" them is with photos, so let's start the photo tour.


The focal point with Chef Turtle grilling up some Salmon is actually its own separate little card.  This small card weaves its way among the diagonal flaps.  If you open the small card the first thing you see is this.


Open the left diagonal flap and you will see the complete inside of the small card.


Lift the last diagonal flap upward and you see the inside of the "main" card where Chef Turtle is there to tell you, "lunch is ready".


Be sure to watch the video to see how to cut and then add DSP to the "main" card base with the two diagonal flaps.  You'll be happy to know that when you cut one card base, you will end up with two!

After Chef Turtle finished making us all lunch, he's invited us to go swimming.  Check out his swimming gear on the video card!

Use this link to download a copy of the tutorial with all the cutting & scoring dimensions and step-by-step assembly directions.

A list of the products used is shown below.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Monday, April 13, 2026

LAYERS OF BEAUTY

This week, I am featuring some of my favorite retiring products from Stampin' Up! These products have recently been added to the Last Chance List, so once they are gone, they’ll be gone forever.

Today's card is made with the Layers of Beauty Bundle.  I love that this bundle has coordinating masks which makes coloring the large, beautiful, floral image so easy.

I used two of the retiring 2024-2026 In Colors: Pretty in Pink and Petunia Pop.  For me, it was love at first sight with this 24-26 Class of In Colors, so I'll admit I'm a little sorry to say goodbye.  


Before adding the flowers, the Basic White cardstock was very lightly shaded with Pretty in Pink ink using a Blending Brush.  A few speckles were also added by flicking the cap of a Basic Black Stamping Write Marker on the brush end of the marker.  

After creating the image with gold heat embossing, I colored it using blending brushes and the coordinating five layers of masks.   After die cutting the coloring image it was positioned in the lower right corner of the tinted Basic White cardstock so that some of the edges were extending off the cardstock layer.  Those edges were then trimmed flush with the Basic White layer.

The sentiment was stamped with Old Olive ink and die cut using the small label die from Layers of Beauty Dies.

For the inside of the card, I stamped a portion of the large floral image and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.  The coloring process using masks and blending brushes was repeated, just as on the card front.

Use this link to download a free tutorial.

Below is a list of the products that were used.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Thursday, April 9, 2026

SIDE-STEP WITH FRIENDLY FOLIAGE

I had a vision for today's card, and after I finished the card, I realized, I had totally "forgotten my plan".  It was sort of like what happens when I walk into another room to get something -- once there, I've forgotten why I went there in the first place.

Oh well, I like how the card turned out, so, now we'll see what you think of it.

This is a Side-Step Fun Fold card -- but it's not the normal version of this fun fold.  It is actually a Faux Side-Step.  It is much simpler than the "real" thing, and in my opinion, it is just as fun!

This fun fold actually is made with two separate card bases.  If you have never seen a Faux Side-Step, watch my how-to video to see how easy it is.



I used the Nature Walk Designer Series Paper (DSP) for the backgrounds on each of the layers (or steps) of the card.  It is all from the same sheet of DSP -- just cut from different areas of the sheet so the colors vary.  

The different designs on the DSP show up much better in person than in my photos.  The envelope flap perhaps is a better representation of the color variance on the same sheet.

I used the largest stamp/die for the main focal point.  The image was stamped with Pretty Peacock ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and then die cut using two dies.  One cuts the outer edges, and the second die cuts out the areas between the branches.

The smaller stems on the right were also stamped with Pretty Peacock ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and die cut.

For all the dimensions and product details use this link to download the tutorial,  It will give you step by step assembly directions as well as diagrams for cutting and scoring both of the Pretty Peacock card bases.

Since there is no "inside" to this card, I used the back for a Message Layer.

The tall, skinny leaf stem from the stamp set was stamped 3 times in the lower right.  The greetings on the card are both from Friendly Foliage.

Below is a list of the products that were used.  Click on any image to learn more about a product or make a purchase from my Stampin' Up! store.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Monday, April 6, 2026

PAPER STRIPS AND FRIENDLY FOLIAGE

This week I am sharing some additional ideas with the Friendly Foliage Bundle.  I featured this bundle back in November, and it has quickly become a favorite of mine.  It is versatile and can be "dressed up", or "dressed down".


Today, I decided to use some of the smaller foliage stamps and die cuts.  I tend to gravitate towards the very interesting large focal point stamp & die, but I wanted to see what I could do with some of the smaller pieces alone.


The background for this card is made with 3/4" strips of the Boho Vibes Designer Series Paper (DSP).  It's a great way to use of those strips of DSP that seem to accumulate but are so hard to throw away.

Just position the strips in any pattern on a piece of cardstock and adhere them.  Then trim your sheet to size to get rid of all the "over-hanging" strips.


After I completed my background, I simply added one of the sentiments from the Friendly Foliage stamp set.  A few of the small leaves were added to the back of the sentiment assembly before adhering it to the card front with dimensionals,

For the inside of the card, I made another strip for the bottom of the message layer using the same paper strips technique.  Since I had a couple of the stems left over from the card front, I tucked them under the edge of the strip.  (You could also just stamp them on the Basic White before adhering the decorative strip.)


I even used the Paper Strip technique to cover a 6" x 2-1/2" piece of Basic White to cover the envelope flap.  If I had thought ahead, I would have made a larger piece all at once and then cut it into two pieces for the inside strip and the envelope.

Use this link to download a tutorial with more details for the card.


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