Monday, June 29, 2026

250 YEARS OF BLESSINGS

 This week we are celebrating our Nation's 250 Anniversary, so I've decided to share a couple of Patriotic projects.

Today's card has a Red, White and Blue Faux Herringbone Design and it wishes the USA a Happy Birthday.

The Faux Herringbone Background is a fun way to use up scraps.  I made my Red, White & Blue Herringbone design with Real Red Cardstock and two woodgrain designs (one is mostly white and the other is mostly Navy) from the Country Woods Designer Series Paper.

If you are unfamiliar with how to create a faux Herringbone Background you can watch this video that I made a couple of years ago.  In the video I demonstrate this "faux" herringbone version as well as an alternative that creates more of a "real" herringbone pattern.

The letters on the card front were die cut with two different alphabet die sets. 


The Silver Foil letters were die cut with the Alphabet a la Mode dies and the "YEARS" letters were made with the Mini Alphabet die.

An adhesive sheet was added to the cardstock before cutting, and then all letters and numbers were cut 3 times.  I used Basic White cardstock to create the extra two layers for the Silver Foil die cuts.  The adhesive sheets makes adhering the die cuts together quick and easy.


A few stars die cut from Basic White cardstock with a die from Swirled Designs were scattered the card front and topped with a Basic Rhinestone in the the center of each.

The faux bow was made with 1/4" White Ribbon which I cut in half lengthwise to make narrow strips of ribbon.  Two of the strips were colored with Real Red and Night of Navy Stampin' Blends.  I was out of White Baker's Twine so improvised and cut down ribbon.  I really like the frayed look of the ribbon strands.


As I typically do when I create any type of technique sheet, I make is larger than I will need.  When I trim it to size this provides "scraps" that I can use to decorate the inside of the card.

Use this link to download a tutorial with all the needed dimensions, a supply list and step-by-step direction.

A list of the products used is shown below.  You can click on any image to learn more about a product of interest.

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Thursday, June 25, 2026

A STADIUM WAVE OF BALLOONS

Have you ever participated in "the WAVE"?  It's fun right?  Well, this Fun Fold mimics that Stadium Wave.  I stumbled across it as I was perusing the internet.  I found several videos from 2 - 3 years ago, and each had a little different take on this fun fold.  The main difference was the number of "waves" and how those waves were constructed.

I found a video by Dawn Griffeth from Dawnsstampingthoughts that was very well done and didn't scare me off.  So, I decided to try it.  

Dawn also scored her card base a little differently which I thought nicely accommodated the "bulky" wave on the inside of the card.

The inside of the card is where the fun begins.  Remove the belly band; lift the front of the card to open it, and the stadium wave rises to greet you.

I made a video showing how I made this card.  I used the designer series paper called Beautiful Ordinary Life.  Combined with the Balloon Festoon balloons it makes a beautiful, happy card.

Check out the video.


Obviously, you can use different DSP, stamps and dies to completely change the "feel" of the card, but no matter what you use, the recipient will be impressed.  

Think about using butterflies, flowers, letters to spell a word, a sports theme or any type of theme you want.

The belly band is a great way to hold the card closed and decorate the simple DSP card front.  But again, this doesn't have to be DSP.  Think of using an embossed layer to add texture.

I used the above Beautiful Ordinary Life DSP design on my card front.  I love it, and it makes a beautiful "sky" for my balloons to float in.

The stretched hexagonal shape on the belly band that provides a backing for the balloon bouquet was made with the Nested Essentials Dies.  The balloons were simply die cut from other patterns from the DSP.

If you want additional space to write a note, you could add Basic White cardstock to the back of the Basic Black card base.  I didn't do that on this card, but I can always add it later if I want.

Use this link to download the PDF Tutorial.  I know you will be focused on making the "waves" but also be sure to note the different scoring for the card base and the resulting cut sizes for the DSP layers on the front and inside.  

It isn't 100% required to score the card base this way, but it does help the card to lay nicer when it is closed.

A list of the products used is shown below.  Click on any image to learn more about that product.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Monday, June 22, 2026

TRIPLE THE BALLOONS

This week I will be featuring the Balloon Festoon Bundle.  This bundle is great to create fun cards for any type of celebration.


I have made Double Z Fun Folds many times, but this is the first time I ever attempted a Triple Z Fun Fold.  It was just as easy as a Double Z -- just a few more pieces of paper to cut.


Wouldn't this be a fun card to receive and open on your birthday?  It's a happy card!

On the Triple Z Fun Fold there are many surfaces that you can choose to decorate any way you choose.  I decided to put a large balloon bouquet in the card front.


The two smallest dies from Balloon Festoon were used for the balloons.  They were made using the Splash of Sparkles Designer Series Paper, Silver Foil and stamped images.  

The sentiments are also all from the Balloon Festoon Stamp Set and were added  to the right, middle and left panels.  On the upper middle panel I added couple of more balloons.


Because I used the colorful Splash of Sparkles DSP, there really wasn't a need for much additional decoration.  This beautiful, foiled Specialty Paper did all the work.

Since there isn't really a good place to sign this Triple Z  card, a panel was added to the back of the card to have a place to write a short note.


These three balloons were stamped rather than die cut.  The masking technique was used to make them look like they are in front of and behind each other.  The ENJOY YOUR DAY greeting is also from Balloon Festoon.

If you would like to make a Triple Z Fun Fold, go for it!  Download a tutorial at this link.  It includes all the cutting and scoring dimensions as well as diagrams and step-by-step directions that make the process easy.

The products used are shown below.


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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA
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