A Fun Mini Album

This interactive mini album is based on a design by Tamar Perry of Creative Treasures.  You can find some of her tutorials here.  The bulk of the papers are from a discontinued Stampin' Up! set called Season of Green and Gold, augmented with Stampin' Up cardstock and some papers from my stash.  I've designed it as a gift that will include Title options the recipient can add to the front of the album, a variety of colored mats for photos that can be added to the pages and flaps, decorative embellishment pieces that can be added, and a roll of Stampin' Up!s Tear and Tape they can use to add their photos, mats, and embellishments.  In the picture above, you can see what it looks like without the title.  The rest of the photos are a bit of a walk through of opening the various pages and flaps.

Here you see the album with the strap released and the first flap opened toward the top of the album.  The inside of it, with the lovely gold foil pattern on cream, has a decorative flap that can hold a large photo.  The new page that has been revealed has a decorative mat for a square photo, along with a mat that slides into the pocket that can have photo or journaling on both sides of it. 

Do It Another Way

My last post showed 4 cards made with one 6x6 piece of double-sided patterned paper and other papers cardstock, and embellishments I had put together for club members.  I had one of those sets left over and decided to chop up the papers/cardstock in other ways and create 4 different cards.  These are the results.  I'm not going to list specifics of how I cut the papers or what I did, but thought it could be interesting for folks to compare these cards to ones in the last post.  Here's a quick look at them again:

And now for the new cards. 

September Club Cards

For club this time, we created four cards from a single 6 x 6 piece of double-sided patterned paper from a discontinued Stampin' Up! paper pack called Season of Green and Gold.  Here's a picture of the 4 of them:

In this post, I'll show you the 6x6 one sheet wonder I used for them, the sketches I created, and a close up with instructions for each of the cards made.  

KCC#11 Set 1

For this older KCC set, I again chose to use papers pulled from several paper packs.  

This set of 6x6 papers again started with a paper from the Beautiful Bokeh 6x6 papers (this one Balmy Blue).  And, as I've done in the past, I added pieces from some discontinued paper sets.  I added 5 additional papers - one from Subtles 6x6 DSP (Balmy Blue), one from Neutrals 6x6 DSP (Night of Navy).  Both of these sets from the 2024-2025 catalog, but you can find something similar from the current catalog here and here.  The final three papers were from the discontinued Countryside Inn 12 x 12 papers - cut to 6x6 for this project.

In addition to the patterned papers, I used cardstock in these colors: Basic White, Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue, and the discontinued Boho Blue.   I also used ink in these colors: Tuxedo Black Memento, Night of Navy, Misty Moonlight, Balmy Blue, Boho Blue (discontinued); and Stampin' Blends in these colors: Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Boho Blue (discontinued).  Embellishments, and stamps/dies etc used are mentioned in the description of each card.

Here's what the entire set of cards looks like:

And here's a closer look at each.  

Jams & Sauces

While I'd love to spend all my time paper crafting, there are other things in life.  We planted a peach tree several years ago, and this is the second year we've gotten a pretty good crop from it.  We were also given some from Mom & Dad's tree - and a friend gave us some berries.  SO . . . we've been canning - all that fruit AND some oranges & lemons that we purchased made great jam and sauces! 

Here is what we made: 

• Peach Almond Jam - The first batch had more vanilla and almond extracts in it than I would have liked, but the second batch was pretty good.  We ended up with eleven 1/2-pints and thirteen 4-oz jars from the two batches.
• Peach Jalapeno Jam - I'm not interested in this type of jam, but Geof likes it - and so might some of my siblings and nephews.  We made two 1/2-pints and seven 4-oz jars of this.
• Peach Citrus Marmalade - This one is one of my favorites.  It is SO good!  Of course, that's only if you like marmalades.  We made eighteen 1/2-pints and one 4-oz of this one.
• Maple Vanilla Peach Jam - The recipe made it sound really good, but I wasn't particularly impressed when I first tasted it.  It DOES have the distinction of only having maple syrup for sweetener.  HOWEVER, after it sat for a couple of days, the flavors were so enhanced - IT IS DELICIOUS!  We got five 1/2-pints and six 4-oz jars of this one, BUT we could have had 2 more 1/2-pints if one jar hadn't broken and I hadn't reserved another 1/2-pints worth for eating now!
• Chocolate Orange Marmalade - This sounded SO good, that I made two batches.  It IS good, but I don't really taste that much chocolate in it.  It's still good marmalade.  We made twelve 1/2-pints and five 4-oz jars of this one.
• Peach Melba Sauce - I was glad when we were given some raspberries so I could use them with some of the peaches to try this recipe.  I decided to make sauce instead of jam because I realized fruit sauces for waffles etc. would be something we could really enjoy (and would use less pectin as we were running low).  If I had realized how good this would turn out to be, I would have made several more batches!  As it was, we made seven 1/2-pints and three 4-oz jars of this scrumptious sauce.
• Berry Blitz Sauce - We had more raspberries and some blackberries - just enough to make this recipe.  Again, it was a jam recipe that we turned into a fruit sauce recipe.  It was good, but next time I'd make more of the Peach Melba instead.  We made six 1/2-pints and two 4-oz of this berry sauce.
• Peach Sauce - We still had a bunch of peaches and decided to make the rest into plain peach sauce.  From the remaining peaches, we made three 3/4-pint and twenty-seven 1/2-pints. 

Whew!  That was a lot of jams, marmalades, and sauces - a total of THREE 3/4-pints, EIGHTY-THREE 1/2-pints, and thirty-seven 4-oz jars. 

KCC#17 Set 1

Again I'm going back to make up a KCC that I never had time to make - this time KCC #17.  And again, I pulled together papers from various packs to create the set of 6x6 papers from which I created it.  Here's what the papers looked like:

Materials used: Once again I started with a paper from the Beautiful Bokeh 6x6 set. To this, I added various discontinued papers from my stash - two pieces from the Subtles 6x6 DSP (Pool Party and Petal Pink) and one from the Neutrals 6x6 DSP (Mossy Meadow - all from 2024-2025 catalog - the current catalog has similar papers Subtles 6x6 DSP and Neutrals 6x6 DSP), and two 6x6 pieces cut from papers in the 12x12 Flowering Fields set.  In addition, I used several different cardstock colors: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Mossy Meadow, and Basic White.  I also used the following inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMark, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, and Mossy Meadow. I also used some gold embossing powder.  Most of the embellishments were from discontinued sets, but if they're current, I'll mention those.  There are lots of similar ones to choose from on their Embellishments page.  I used three types of adhesives: Multipurpose Liquid Glue, Mini Glue Dots, and Mini Stampin' Dimensionals. Specific stamps, dies, embossing folders, used are noted in each card description. Some of these are from discontinued sets, but there are other many great sets to choose from on the Stampin' Up! website.

Here's a look at the 15 cards I made with these papers:

And now, for a closer look at each.

Christmas Sketch Cards

 

Today I have 4 cards based on a sketch on page 14 of the September-December 2025 Mini Catalog.  

Card #1 (above):   A quick and easy card.  I simply cut a piece of Secret Sea cardstock just smaller than my card front, cut a piece of patterned paper a bit smaller than that - then chopped it into four pieces and arranged them on the card with the cardstock as a mat.  Then I cut a circle from white cardstock on which I stamped my greeting using Secret Sea ink, and matted it on Secret Sea cardstock.  The final touch was a gold ribbon bow.

Playing with a Sketch

 

Today I thought I'd play around with a sketch from this year's Stampin' Up!s Sept - Dec Mini Catalog.  They have several sketches on page 14 of that catalog, and I've chosen to play with the one you see above.  I've made a variety of cards - some simple - some "stepped up" versions, but all were designed to demonstrate something about ways to use a sketch.  

All papers and cardstock used were from Stampin' Up!, but some are discontinued designs that I need to use up.  Most of these were made using paper from the discontinued pack called Regal Winter.  If the patterned paper is from a different paper pack, I'll point that out in the description. I invite you to do your own experimenting with whatever paper you have on hand!  

Also assume all stamps/dies/etc that were used were from Stampin' Up! unless I say differently.  Note that some of the embellishments I used - sequins, etc - have been discontinued (I need to use them up), but there's always something similar you can find here.

Inks used include: Cherry Cobbler, Pretty Peacock, Shaded Spruce, (or you can get all 3 colors as a part of the Regals Stamp Pad Bundle) and VersaMark.  The pineapple card also used Pecan Pie and Crumb Cake.

Cardstock used includes: Pebbled Path (discontinued - try Gray Granite), Cherry Cobbler, Pretty Peacock, Basic White, and Basic White Thick.

Most circles created with one of the following Stampin' Up! punches: 1 3/4" punch, 2" punch, 2 3/8" punch.  I occasionally also used a couple of scalloped punches I had in my stash.

Below is a look at the 11 cards I made as variations on this sketch. 

KCC #18 Set 1

I DID do one KCC19 in July, but hadn't had time to do up several of the previous KCC before now.   So, I pulled some Stampin' Up! papers and used them with KCC18.  Here are the papers I used:

 

I started with two papers from the Beautiful Bokeh 6x6 that I've been working with for the butterfly cards.  I decided to look through my discontinued papers to find others to coordinate.  I chose one from Bright & Beautiful 6x6, one from Subtles DSP and one from Neutrals DSP (both from 2024-2025 annual catalog) and a 6x6 piece of paper from the 12x12 Flowering Fields).  After cutting these up as per the KCC18 directions, I used several coordinating cardstocks, inks, Stampin' Blends, and Stampin' Write Markers to go with them as I made up the 18 cards from the sketches.  Colors I used were: Pretty Peacock, Lost Lagoon, Fresh Freesia, Highland Heather, Berry Burst, Blackberry Bliss and White. In addition, for some of the cards I used flowers and leaves cut from the Extraordinary Flora Washi Tape cut using the Extraordinary Flora cutting die.  Here's a picture of the 18 cards made from this set of papers:

The last four were all from the same sketch - but, of course, I couldn't do them all the same!  Next up is a close up look at all eighteen cards.

August Swap Cards

Today I just have a couple of Swap Cards.  Most materials this time were from my stash - not Stampin' Up!.  Current Stampin' products have links to them - several stamps were from discontinued Stampin' Up! sets and I've noted those as well.

This one was for an "ANYTHING GOES" swap so that made it easy.  As you can see, I made it as an easel card.  

Here's how it looks when closed.  It was pretty straight forward.  All the papers were misc from my stash - with a brown ribbon (also from my stash).  The sentiments were stamped with Early Espresso ink.  The outside sentiment was stamped with a stamp from the discontinued Flower Cart stamp set; the inside one from the discontinued Sentimental Rose Kit.  

Card #2: 

This card was all stuff from my stash - no Stampin' Up!  The paper was a printed download.  The sentiment was from Sassy's LLC. The panda was made from scraps using an old Spellbinders die set called Scruffy Panda.

Pretty Jungle Papers - Part 2

Part 2 continues the use of papers from an 8 x 8 paper pack I was given last year - don't remember who made it.  My previous post showed the first 9 cards, here are 8 more.

Pretty Jungle Papers - Part 1

Today I have a bunch of cards made using papers from an 8 x 8 paper pack I was given last year - don't remember who made it.  I had planned to use it to create more cards using a Kendra's Card Challenge cut/sketch set.  However, I realized that nearly all the papers were directional and KCC's cutting diagrams never are for more than one or two sheets.  So, I cut it up myself thinking about the pattern in the paper and the size of the cards.  Now to figure out how to use these pieces!

It's pretty paper, but it has reminded me how much I wish I had realized the value of Stampin' Up! papers and cardstock years ago - especially their cardstock!  Prior to that realization, I bought cardstock packs of mixed colors - quite a few of them because it seemed I never had the colors I needed!  Now that I have Stampin' Up! cardstock, I always know what colors to try - even if I'm using it with papers from other companies.  Unfortunately, I still have a LOT of that old mixed color cardstock to use up, so when working with paper that didn't come from Stampin' Up!, I try to use up the old cardstock as well.  Going through all my different sets of cardstock takes SO long to find the color I need!  I'll be glad when it's all gone and I can focus on just using Stampin' Up! cardstock!  I DID find I had to use cream colored cardstock for some of the card bases - but I didn't have the right color of cream in my old stash, so I used Stampin' Up!s Very Vanilla cardstock.

Below is a quick look at the first 9 cards I made this way. 

Beautiful Butterflies - and fixing them when they're not!

Today I have several cards made by exploring using the Beautiful Butterflies Hybrid Embossing Folder and coordinating Stamp Set.  The patterned paper used was from the Beautiful Bokeh set of 6 x 6 papers.    

Hybrid EF (embossing folder): I have two examples of using the basic Hybrid EF from this set.  They were made in a similar way, though one is vertical and the other horizontal.  I’ll first describe the vertical one – and then add any differences for the horizontal one.

 

 

1. Place cutting die in the embossing folder, then the patterned paper, and run the whole through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine using the 3D embossing folder sandwich.  In the case of this yellow card, I made two mistakes. First, I didn’t hold the EF closed well and the cutting die moved (NOT GOOD! Not only could it have hurt my embossing folder, but the cut butterfly didn’t have the correct embossing!  This is why I chose NOT to ink the raised areas.).  Second, I didn’t place the paper correctly so the yellow side was Debossed instead of embossed – not a serious problem – just a different look. 
2.  Cut the embossed (or debossed!) piece just smaller than the card front (in a vertical orientation).
3. From black cardstock, die cut the main butterfly and the large butterfly body, cut a rectangle mat for the sentiment, and use a standard hole punch to punch 3 small circles (mats for the “Dots”).
4. Glue the background in place on the card front with the black butterfly die cut glued in the “hole” on the card front.  The body was glued to the butterfly itself, the edges inked with black, then the whole was added with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.
5. The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock.  After gluing the black mat in place, glue a smaller mat of the embossed (debossed!) yellow paper.  Add the stamped sentiment with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.
6. The small punched circles were glued near the top of the card – then the yellow Dots on top.
7. At this point I set it aside.  I really didn't like it as well as I wished - mostly because I couldn't ink the embossed parts of the butterfly since it didn't have the correct embossing.  Later I came back and looked at it, realizing that I could try the butterfly detail stamp with black ink.  That made it look better, but because of the dimensionals and embossing, there were plenty of areas of missing ink.  I found that using the brush side of the Black Stampin' Write marker to fill in the missing parts worked pretty well. 

For the horizontal card, I used the reverse side of the paper - cutting it just smaller than the card front before I embossed/die cut it.  I inked the background with Calypso Coral ink and the butterfly with black I stamped the sentiment on a small piece of white and inked the edges with Calypso Coral.  The background was glued directly to the card, as was the sentiment.  The butterfly was added with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. I added 3 white embellishments to the upper left corner - if you don't have those, you could punch them from white cardstock using a standard hole punch.

Embossed Background with Die Cut Butterfly Card: Again, I made two versions - a basic one, and a step card for more advanced card makers.  I'll give instructions for the basic one - picture and instructions for the more advanced one can be found here.  

 

1. Cut a panel from the patterned paper that is just smaller than the card front.  Then, using the embossing folder without the cutting die, emboss the background.
2. Ink the raised portions and edges using Balmy Blue ink, then glue it to the card front.
3. Add another embossed greeting from the Thoughtful Moments Hybrid EF (colored with Calypso Coral Stampin’ Blends) with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals and 3 die cut butterflies from white cardstock using dies included with the Beautiful Butterflies Hybrid EF.

Butterfly Shaker Card:

 

1. Cut the Berry Burst cardstock just smaller than the card front, then emboss/die cut it in a horizontal orientation.  Save the die cut butterfly for the next card.  (It might have been nice to ink the raised areas, but it's pretty as is, too.)
2. Stamp the large butterfly with Berry Burst ink and die cut it.  Carefully glue it in place so it will show behind the embossed piece when you add that.
3. Glue a piece of acetate to the back side of the embossed piece, being careful to avoid getting adhesive where the acetate will show.  Use an embossing buddy to decrease any static electricity on it.
4. Use Foam Adhesive Strips and shape them on the back of the embossed piece around the butterfly hole, making sure there are no spaces where the filling could get out.  I also added a few Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals around the edge of the panel.
5. Carefully pile the filling (Itty Bitty Bokeh Mix - discontinued) in the middle of the stamped butterfly, then add the panel to the card front, making sure the filling doesn’t escape.
6. Finally, add a sentiment near the bottom using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals (Mine was created using the hybrid EF called Thoughtful Moments - unfortunately, discontinued).

Butterfly Shaped Card Top:  There is a special shaped card die in the Beautiful Butterflies Hybrid Embossing Folder set.  If placed on a folded piece of light cardstock (there are markings on the cutting die to show where to line up the die with the fold), you can get a small shaped card approx. 3 1/2" x 4 1/4".  Today, though, I chose to make it so only the card front was shaped.

  

1. Open the card base and carefully place the die on the card front, lining up the marks with the fold.  After running this through the machine, snip the sides of the card front to the butterfly wings to remove the excess front panel.
2. Cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the inside of the card with just a little bit of white showing all around it.  Ink the edges with black, then glue it in place. (It would look really nice if you embossed the paper before adding it!)
3. Take the embossed and die cut butterfly, and use a Black Stampin’ Write Marker to color the raised areas.  Glue this butterfly to the shaped card front (cutting the butterfly head off the shaped card front since two butterfly heads looked weird).  (You could use stamps from the Beautiful Butterflies stamp set to add texture to the edges of the card front before adding the die cut/embossed butterfly).
4. Stamp a sentiment (black ink on white cardstock using stamp from Beautiful Butterflies Stamp set), fussy cut around it, and added it to the card front using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.  

I had intended to stamp on the large white butterfly before I added the pink one, but I forgot until the card was finished.  I tried die cutting a butterfly from scrap paper so I could use it as a mask over the pink butterfly and then stamp.  It didn't work as well as I would have liked because I first tried it with the sentiment still in place (which had been added with dimensionals, so made it more challenging with parts that didn't stamp.   By the time I removed the sentiment and tried again, I realized the stamp I tried first wouldn't work well with the masked embossed butterfly.  The dotted stamp worked better, but the damage had already been done.  None-the-less, I think it still looks better than without the stamping, though I'm not entirely sure. :D  

 I might end up adding some gems over the stamping to disguise the issue.  At any rate, this should give you some ideas for fixing things that you mess up (because we ALL do that sometimes!).

After creating these cards, I had some pieces left over.  I decided to use them to create another card:

 I think I like this one best of all!  

Christmas in July - KCC19

It's been quite awhile since I used one of Kendra's Card Challenges.   I DO like these for using 6 x 6 papers!  Today I've got Christmas cards using her KCC #19 and some 6 x 6 papers from my stash. Here's a picture of all 15 cards:

Next up is a look at each.

More Scrap Cards

Today I have a couple of cards made from scraps.  The paper was wrapped around a bouquet I was given.  I had made several cards from this paper, and these tiny pieces were all that I had left.

Card #1: 

This card used 4 small paper pieces that I trimmed to the same size.  For this card, I used stamps and a die from an old Hero Arts' Kit-Tea Stamp N Cut set. I stamped the sentiment with Shaded Spruce ink, and colored the focal using Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends, Crumb Cake Stampin Blends, and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Blends.  I also used Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends to color borders on the white mat for the focal and for the sentiment.  

Card #2:

This time I debossed the card front using an old Cuttlebug embossing folder called Swiss Dots.  I combined three little paper scraps and glued them in place.  The sentiment was stamped with Shaded Spruce ink and a stamp from Stampin' Up!s Beautiful Butterflies stamp set.  I added 2 butterfly stickers from my stash (probably Dollar Store finds) and 3 adhesive backed sequins (discontinued Stampin' Up! product).

Leftover Card Kits

 

I had some leftover card kits that I had made for class and club.  I didn't want them just sitting around taking up space, but also didn't want to make them up the way the other kits had been.  Here's what I did with them.

Card #1:

I made two cards from the first card kit which included paper from the discontinued Take to the Skies designer series papers and Night of Navy cardstock.  This was the first.  It's pretty plain, but I wanted it to have a masculine feel and was feeling low on mojo.  I cut the patterned paper in half and die cut the sentiment from an old Hot Off the Press die set, using the remaining scrap rather than the die cut itself. I also die cut a butterfly using dies from the Beautiful Butterflies Hybrid Embossing Folder and backed it with Night of Navy scraps.

Card #2:

Here's the 2nd card from that first kit.  As you can see, I used the die cut from the last card and the remaining patterned paper and most of the remaining cardstock.  The "Celebrate" was cut from the discontinued Wanted to Say die set, and the "70" was from the Birthday Celebration die set.

Card #3:

This is what I did with the 2nd kit - which again had a patterned paper from the discontinued Take to the Skies DSP. I used the whole piece of patterned paper on the card front.  Then made multiple mats for the focal (an old sticker from my stash) by die cutting the centers of the white and Copper Clay cardstock pieces.  From the other piece of Copper Clay cardstock piece, I die cut the sentiment using the discontinued Wanted to Say die set and misc dies from my stash.

Card #4:

The card actually takes advantage of parts of two card kits.  The first had paper from the discontinued Flowering Fields DSP and Pumpkin Pie cardstock. The 2nd used "found" paper that came around a bouquet of flowers that I received.  I decided to save the Pumpkin Pie cardstock for another project and use the found paper with the DSP instead.  The daffodils were from an Elizabeth Crafts die set.  The sentiment was stamped with Shaded Spruce ink.  I used Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends to color a piece of neutral colored twine.

Another Dual Side Stepper

Today I made one of these Dual Side Stepper cards - calculating measurements for an A2-sized card.  Here are the measurements I used:

1. With basic A2 card open, cut sides 1" in running from 2" in the back to 3/4" in the front. 
2. Score between these cuts starting at the base of the cut lines at 2", 4", 5 1/2", 7", 7 3/4" - again between the cuts. This should give you a total of 5 score lines. 
3. On the outer sides - score as normal at 4 1/4" and fold as mountain fold.
4. Fold along the scored lines as follows: mountain, valley, mountain, valley, mountain. 

I also cut a piece of cardstock that was 3 1/2" x 3 1/2", which I used to create the back panel.  

I cut papers (Beautiful Bokeh) just a bit smaller to nearly cover the 3 1/2" square panel, the front step, and the card front.  I embossed these pieces using the Beautiful Butterflies Hybrid 3D embossing folder.  Then, I used a foam applicator to add Balmy Blue ink to the raised areas and around the edges before gluing in place.  I die cut 3 small butterflies from Basic White cardstock using some of the extra dies included with the Hybrid embossing folder.  I added these butterflies to the top of clear acetate strips - which were then attached to the front step using Mini Glue Dots.  I stamped a greeting from the Beautiful Butterflies stamp set and Balmy Blue ink - then inked the edges before adding to the front step with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.

Hybrid Embossing

Today I have 4 sample cards, again mostly using Stampin' Up! products.  They all made use of a hybrid embossing folder called Thoughtful Moments.  In class, we will discuss several ways to use such an embossing folder, but for these cards, I used Tuxedo Black Momento ink direct to the folder before embossing/die cutting the sentiments.  Then I used Stampin' Blends (Calypso Coral, Balmy Blue, Lemon Lolly, Highland Heather) to color inside the lines, using the darker color on the lower half of the letters and the lighter on the upper:

I made 4 quick cards using the four sentiments I colored.  I chose papers in the same colors from a discontinued DSP (designer series paper) but it was similar to this.  Here's what I did.

Card #1:

I created the panel by adding strips of Highland Heather cardstock on either side of the yellow and white DSP and taping the pieces together on the back side with transparent tape.  Because the colors made the pattern difficult to see, I embossed the taped panel using the 3D embossing folder called Fern.  Then I added a diagonal piece of ribbon across the panel, taping it in the back with transparent tape.  After gluing the panel in place on the card front, I added a ribbon bow using a Mini Glue Dot.  Then I added the prepared sentiment with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals and finished with seven Iridescent Faceted Gems – one in the center of the bow. 

Card #2:  

I began by cutting thin strips of the yellow paper, making sure they were narrow enough to thread through the lace.  After threading the paper through both pieces, I trimmed the paper and set them aside.  Next, I glued the striped paper to the center of the card and trim the bottom off – even with the bottom of the card front.  I turned the trimmed piece over so the flowered side was showing and glue it in place in the center of the striped paper, adding narrow white strips of cardstock top and bottom.  Using tear and tape adhesive, I added the prepared lace borders on either side of the striped panel.  Using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, I added the prepared sentiment to complete the card.

Card #3:

After trimming just a bit off the right side of the paper (so it would fit the card front - saving the piece I cut off!), I wrapped the larger piece of ribbon (Cherry Cobbler & Gold ribbon - discontinued) around the lower edge - wrapping it around to the back and taping it in place before gluing all in place on the card front.  Taking the scrap of patterned paper I had cut off, I turned it over to the reverse side and used it as a mat for my sentiment – gluing it in place toward the lower right corner.  After adding the sentiment with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, I took the small piece of ribbon, wrapped it as in the picture, and added it to the border using a Mini Glue Dot, before adding a Flirty Flamingo Dot from the Adhesive-Backed Dots for Days (discontinued).

Card #4:

For my final card, I embossed a strip of Balmy Blue cardstock using the Soft Waves 3D embossing folder - then glued it to the piece of patterned paper so the stripes were on the front side.  I trimmed the paper and cardstock so the panel fit the card front with just a bit of a border around it – then added white ribbon over the join, taping it in back of the panel and gluing the panel to the card front.  For my focal, I stamped 4 flowers from the Inspiring Imperfections stamp set using Tuxedo Black Momento ink.  After coloring them using Stampin’ Blends (Balmy Blue and Granny Apple Green), I trimmed the fourth flower so I had just the stem and leaves, then arranged it with the other three flowers to create a cluster.  I taped the cluster together from the back, then glued it in place.  I created a bow with silver 1/8" ribbon and added it to the flower cluster using a Mini Glue Dot.  I again added the sentiment with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals, and finished the card by adding 3 silver “gems” (from my stash) toward the bottom left corner of the card.

More with Kintsugi

I've liked the concept of "Love it Chop it" that I've seen from Kylie Bertucci.  Cutting into a gorgeous piece of paper can be HARD.  But I've found it REALLY works well to cut my paper into sizes that fit for front panels of cards!  I usually cut my papers into 4" x 6" panels. This gives a basic A2 panel that is 4" x 5 1/4" with an additional strip that is 3/4" x 4".  That small piece is perfect for inside the card if I don't use it elsewhere (like I did here).  Also, by cutting these into "4 x 6" panels, they can be matted and used for 5 x 7 cards if I wish.  AND, if I actually cut them into panels, I'm much more likely to actually USE them!  

For my Kintsugi Inspirations papers, of the 6 different double-sided patterned papers, I saved the one that could be die cut for focals and accents and cut the remaining 5 into panels.  I've then created "sets" of one each of the 5 panels to use for making sets of cards. 

Last post used one set of these papers, plus a few vases and flowers from the cut-out sheet, to make a set of Oriental-flavored cards.  Again this time, I started with a set of 5 of those panels.  This time, though, I experimented with chopping up the panels before I started to see what I got!  I again used Inspiring Imperfections stamps and dies, and Textured Notes dies.  However, I didn't stick to an Oriental theme this time, and only used a little bit of the gold tag board.  This gave me cards that had quite a different feel from my last set of cards.  Most products used are Stampin' Up!  Those that aren't are noted in the description.