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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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Thursday, April 2, 2026

THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

Today I have a last-minute, but meaningful, Easter card for you that is sure to WOW its recipient.

As is often the case with Fun Folds, they can be a challenge to photograph in a way that makes them easy to "understand".  

The above photo shows the card partially opened, and the photo below gives a top-down view to help you better understand the card.


To open the card, you just grab the cross and pull to the left to open.

Don't let the pictures intimidate you.  This card is super-simple to make.  Watch this video for all the details.

For the background of this cross card I used designer series paper from the Beautiful Gallery Collection, but you can see in the video that choices are very versatile.  Use what you like and what you have!


The DSP on the left is on the front of the card and the DSP on the right is on the inside of the card.  If you use DSP that is a scene like on this card be sure to cut the two pieces so it that looks like the scene continues across the card front.   


You can decorate your cross any way you like.  For this card I used die cut ovals and flowers from the Scalloped Wishes Dies.  But as you see in the video, I also used flowers on a couple of my cards.  That's why this is such a great "last-minute" card because you can use whatever supplies you have and it's quick to make.


When you open the card fully it looks like the photo above.  For the inside sentiment, I used a VERY OLD favorite Easter stamp set called Glorius Gift.  It was one of the very first stamp sets I purchased when I became a demonstrator over 19 years ago.


That was back in the day when we had to cut our rubber stamps out from a sheet using a Rubber Scissors and then mount them to wood blocks.  But this is still one of my favorite Easter Stamps.  After all, it states what Easter is all about!  

If you would like a written tutorial with all the dimensions and step-by-step directions, use this link to download a free copy.  You can also access the video from a link on the Tutorial.

A list of the products I used for this card is shown below.  Not all products are currently available.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA
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