Thursday, July 2, 2026

250 YEAR AMERICANA SAMPLER

Today's project was a special project to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of our great country, the United State of America.

I now have this Patriotic Red, White and Blue 12" x 12" Sampler on the countertop in my stamping area.  Each time I look at it I'm reminded to be grateful that I was born in the USA.

It was made with a variety of stamp sets and dies -- many are current, but some are retired.  

Late last fall I made a Christmas Sampler as the project for one of my Stamp Camps.  I had never made a sampler before that, but since then I've become kind of "hooked".  We made a Spring Sampler earlier this year for Stamp Camp, and I'm planning a fall one for a class in the next few months.  This one, I did "just for me".

I hope you are doing something special to celebrate our nation's birthday!

I created a tutorial for this sampler with all the details and supplies.  You can use this link to download a copy.  The tutorial and product list is long, but don't let that scare you off from trying to make a sampler of your own.  The main thing the tutorial will help you with is the sizes of each of the seven elements and the sizes of the mat layers.  

Just think of each of the elements as a small focal point for a card.  You can decorate them any way you choose!  Use the products you have!

For reference, I've listed the recent & current products that I used below.  The two elements that have fireworks on them were made with a VERY OLD stamp set I have in my stash.  It is the only set I have that has fireworks stamps.

Enjoy! And I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July celebrating and remembering the Blessings we enjoy every day here is the USA!


Product List

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.

Product List