Monday, October 12, 2026

PUMPKINS BEHIND THE GATE

This week I am featuring the fun Painted Pumpkins Bundle.  This bundle not only includes the typical stamp set and coordinating dies, but it also includes coordinating decorative masks -- which are always fun!

Today's card focuses on the dies from the bundle.

I love the dies that create the fence and gate.  The gate and the narrower fences on each side of the gate are separate dies.,  I die cut all three pieces from the Gradient Foils Specialty Paper.  


The Gradient Foils Specialty Paper is a beautiful collection of Pecan Pie foil paper with tone-on-tone patterns -- two sheets each of stripes, medium-size sunflowers and a smaller pattern of what I'd describe as medallions.  For my gate I used the stripes pattern.

I love that you can create the gate so that it is "openable" if you want.  It's fun to put a little surprise behind the gate!

Behind my gate I put a few die cut pumpkins with vines and leaves.  Then I added a little fussy cut "Hey" greeting.  I'm not sure how someone would walk through my gate with the pile of pumpkins behind it, but it's creative license, right?

The Designer Series Paper (DSP) on the card front is from the Glow of Harvest collection which is beautiful specialty shimmer paper with soft designs.  This DSP was the Product of the Month in August.  At the time I wrote this post it was still available.

If you're not familiar with Stampin' Up!'s Product of the Month, here's a quick overview.  At the beginning of each month, Stampin' Up! introduces a new product that you can purchase for $5 with a $75 merchandise order.  Because these products are available only while supplies last, we never know how long they'll be around.

I turned my card into a Halloween card on the inside, but it could easily be used for any occasion.  It definitely has an Autumn Theme, but there isn't anything in the design that particularly "screams" Halloween.  There are no scary ghosts, spiders or witches.  It's only the Soiree Salutations greeting that makes it a Halloween card, so you can make it whatever you want.

Use this link to download a PDF Tutorial with all the details you need to recreate the card.

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

Product List

Thursday, October 8, 2026

SUNFLOWERS AND PLASTIC WRAP

This card uses a simple and fun technique that uses Plastic Wrap to create the unique background behind the Sunflowers.

Just scrunch up a piece of plastic wrap, tap it on your ink pad and then tap it on your paper.  Voila!  You have an interesting background.

Here's a video that shows you just how quick and easy the technique is!

In the video I created an alternate version of today's card.  Rather than creating the technique background on the arched die cut, it was created on the front card layer.  

Which do you like best?

The only stamping on these cards is the sentiment!  The rest of the design is made using the Radiant Sunflower Dies and the Everyday Arches dies.

The sunflowers were made with two die cuts in different colors.  Twist the top sunflower layer a bit and you see the accent color behind the yellow sunflowers.

The sentiment from Radiant Sunflowers stamp set was die cut with the smallest Everyday Arches die.  This small die is the perfect size for the "Thinking of You" sentiment, and it keeps the "arches" theme going!

I kept the inside of the card clean & simple.  I pulled the two main colors from the card front, Cajun Craze and Misty Moonlight, to create double mats for the Very Vanilla message layer.

Since I'm not sure yet how I will use the card, I left it sentiment free.  If desired, I can easily add a sentiment when I'm ready to use the card, or I can just write a personal note.

Use this link to download a PDF tutorial.

A list of the products used is shown below.

Product List

Monday, October 5, 2026

SUNFLOWERS FOR A FRIEND

This week I am featuring the Radiant Sunflowers Bundle.  Last week's video used this bundle for one of the cards also.  If you missed that video, visit my post dated 10/1/26.

Today, I have another Fun Fold Card.  It uses the gorgeous Sunflower Fields Designer Series Paper (DSP).  Isn't it pretty?

Today's fun fold is very simple, and when you open the right panel of the card front there is a smaller card on the inside that also opens.

The inside of the smaller card is where you can write your message. To decorate it, I die cut a flowerpot from a scrap of DSP using a Radiant Sunflower die.  The Radiant Sunflower stamp was colored with Stampin' Blends.

To create the card front you simply cut the front of the card up to the fold 1-1/2" from the left edge.  The left edge is then adhered to the back of the card, so it stays stationary when you open the right flap.

Since the pretty DSP is the star of the show on this card, I wanted to minimize how much of it I covered.  So, I just added a stamped sentiment from Radiant Sunflower stamp set and tucked a few small stamped and die cut leaves to set it off.  The sentiment is die cut with a die from the Radiant Sunflower dies.

A tiny yellow bow made with ribbon in my stash draws your eye to the sentiment.

When you open the flap on the right, this is what the inside of the card looks like before you open the small inside card.

The flower on the front of the inside card was stamped with the Sunflower stamp from Radiant Sunflowers and then colored with Stampin' Blends.

For detailed directions and a cutting and scoring diagram for the fun fold download the PDF tutorial at this link.

A list of the products used is shown below.

Product List