90th Birthday Card

Here's a special card I made for my Mother's 90th birthday. The paper is a beautiful rose print from an older Hunkydory set. I used a die set from Card Making Magic (Octagon Box Kit) for much of the card base & layers.  I've also used dies from Stampin' Up!s Spotlight on Nature for some of the circle layers - along with some circle dies.  Finally, I used some alphabet and number dies from my stash to complete the focal.

Inside:

The poem was adapted from one created by Gemini AI, and printed on patterned paper from Microsoft Word (I created a couple of circles to help me with placement of the words so I had room left for the die cut roses - which I then removed before printing).  The rose sprays were created from Paper Artist dies from Hot Off the Press.  I die cut them from gold foiled poster board and pink glitzy paper.

Box: 

 And here's the pretty box I made to hold it.

Swap Card & More

 

Today I have a couple of quick cards using an old Luxury Card Collection kit from Hunkydory called Winter Wildlife of Britain.  These particular cards come from the Fallow Deer and Hedgehog set - though I've focused on the Hedgehogs this time and saved the deer for later.  I really appreciate Hunkydory supplies when I am short on time and inspiration - their beautiful focals, embellishments, sentiments, and "Adorable Scoreable" cardstock (AS) make creating a breeze!

Fun Cards from Gifted Papers

I was given a set of 8 A2 sized papers from a pack my mother had purchased from somewhere.  Here are the cards that I made using them.

More Easels

Today I have a few more easel cards - same structures as the last post - just decorated differently.  I'm again using up some of my Stampin' Up! stash, so not all materials are still available.  If they are (as of this posting), I'll add links so you can find them.  Most card bases start with Basic White Thick cardstock, and many use Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

Card #1: Standard Easel

I have found that the greenery created from the Otterly Amazing cutting dies comes in SO handy for lots of things, but especially in filling out the scenes from the Otterly Adorable papers.  I love these papers!  As you can see, instead of making a vertical easel this time, I just made it as a regular one.  I used scraps of Old Olive cardstock for the fronds and stopper mat. I also made us of Lost Lagoon and Old Olive Inks to add color and depth.

Card #2: Twisted Easel

Next up is another twisted easel.  This one was made using Turtle-y Cute designer series paper, and Pool Party ink.  Here's what it looks like as displayed:

Card #3: Vertical Easel

This time, I'm using papers from Lovely Garden DSP and the coordinating Thankful Garden stamps, dies, and masks. I also added Garden Green cardstock and Daffodil Delight and Garden Green inks.

Here's what the card looks like on display:

 Card #4: Twisted Easel

Again, I'm using Lovely Garden papers, Boho Blue and Basic Black cardstock, and the coordinating Thankful Garden stamps, dies, and masks.  I also used the Fern 3D embossing folder and stamps from an older kit called Sentimental Rose.  Here's what it looks like on display.

Card #5: Double Twisted Easel

Again, I'm using the Lovely Garden papers.  This time I've used Boho Blue and Blueberry Bushel cardstocks, Blueberry Bushel ink, Mixed Labels dies, and stamps from Textured Notes and Autumn Leaves.

And here's what it looks like on display:

Variations on Easels

Today I have a trio of cards that are all variations on easel cards.  While it's fun to use new things, sometimes we need to use up our current stash, and that's what I'm doing with these cards.  So, many of the items are discontinued, but you can find plenty of pretty papers, stamps & dies to use to make similar cards here. Where materials are still available as of this writing, I'll provide links to them.  Please note that all Stampin' Up! images © 1990–2026 Stampin’ Up!®

 

You can see a how-to video of these makes here. 

Another Gatefold Spread

 

I am really jazzed about using Stampin' Up! supplies for scrapbooking.  I understand they just started carrying scrapbooking supplies shortly before I started as an independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, but I only recently realized all that they now have for memory keeping! 

One of the biggest challenges I have had with scrapbooking in the past is the time it takes to find papers that coordinate with my pictures.  With Stampin' Up! products, I know at a glance what colors will go well with my photos and can quickly see what papers contain those colors.  As always, it's nice to know that I have coordinating markers and inks and cardstock to make my task easier!

I've also had a challenge with figuring out how to embellish my pages without just throwing flowers willy nilly.  Sometimes flower embellishments fit the theme - but sometimes they don't!  Stampin' Up!s stamps and dies are great for creating some of those embellishments.    

And THEN, there's Stampin' Up!s scrapbooking workshop kits which make the whole process easier still!  With papers, cardstock, and embellishments that all go together - plus step by step instructions for building the pages.  I look forward to using some of those scrapbooking kits as I get them in the future, but for today, I'm just using some older Stampin' Up! papers I had left over - and also older Stampin' Up! cutting dies for embellishments (when I didn't find something pre-made in my stash that would work!).  Though I love to use the newest things, some days I just have to do with what I have!

5 Quick Christmas Cards

 

Last night I realized I had somehow forgotten 5 important Christmas cards I need to deliver! SO, I pulled out my scraps from a couple of discontinued DSP packs (designer series paper - Traditions of Christmas and Seasons of Green and Gold).  With the many die cuts and fussy cut pieces that I had, three of these cards came together very quickly.  I also used a stamped/colored focal for a couple of them from an older stamp set called A Beautiful Season.  Four of the five cards are Inverted Center Step cards.  All materials were from Stampin' Up! except for the cutting dies used to create the sentiments for all five cards - they were a discontinued Moonstone die set.  This is how my five cards turned out:

December 2025 Class 2 - Turtle-y Cute Pop Up Card & More

 

Today's class continued a look at scene creation.  This time, the scenes are all created by fussy cutting pieces from designer series paper (DSP) from Stampin' Up!.  This time we used the Turtle-y Cute DSP (all images © 1990–present Stampin’ Up!®.  This first card took scene building a bit farther, by making it a simple pop-up scene!   Here's a look at these cards and how we made them:

December 2025 Class - Scene Creation & Monochromatic Color Schemes

 

This month we're looking at aspects of scene creation - this time with Monochromatic color schemes.  All cards used Stampin' Up!s discontinued Winter Meadow papers, but most paper packs have papers that will work well for this technique. (As always, all Stampin' Up! images © 1990–2025 Stampin’ Up!®)  

I started with shades of brown using Early Espresso ink and cardstock.  The focal was a simple single-stamp scene like you see in the card above - though this one is dressed up as a shaker card with an embossed frame. To make it, I used a scene from the Winter Scenes stamp set, dies from the Framed Scenes die set and the Timber 3D embossing folder (both, unfortunately, discontinued), but again, you can find great dies and embossing folders on their website here.  The sentiment was created using a discontinued hybrid embossing folder called Thoughtful Moments.

The same color scheme was used for the center step card below.  

This time, the focal was created using two stamps from that same Winter Scenes stamp set - with some masking.  Sentiments came from two discontinued sets - Sentimental Rose kit, and Flower Cart stamp set.  

Next, I moved to a blue color scheme using Night of Navy ink and cardstock.  

 

This time I used stamps from Stampin' Up!s Woodland Scenery set and stamped directly onto the patterned paper.  (Sentiment was from the discontinued Paper Pumpkin kit called Warm Wishes).  

As you can see, the second of these cards was made like an easel card. I didn't like the way the smoke and logs were see-through enough that they didn't show well over the patterned paper.  I colored them in with a light Boho Blue Stampin' Blends marker - which fortunately looks better in real life than in the picture!

And finally, I made cards using a blue-green color scheme. This time, the cardstock used was Pretty Peacock, and I used both Pretty Peacock and Lost Lagoon inks.  

This first card again used stamps from Woodland Scenery (with sentiment from Warm Wishes Paper Pumpkin kit). 

 

For this last card, I used BOTH stamp sets - Winter Scenes and Woodland Scenery. This time I used Lost Lagoon ink for all but the greeting (from discontinued Greetings of the Season) which was stamped in Pretty Peacock ink.  I really like the way all those stamps combined on this card - all four of the Winter Scenes, and then the trees, deer, and snow from Woodland Scenery. In hindsight, however, it might have been better to have used both inks like I did for the previous card. I would have liked just a bit more contrast. Anyway, I finished this card by adding a few snowflake confetti pieces I had in my stash.

November Swaps

Today I have not one but TWO cards for the November digi swap - and then my regular swap card.  For the digital makes, I used printed digi paper and focals/greetings I found in my stash from Hunkydory.  

 

First up, above, is a 5 x 7 card made using a lovely denim colored digital background.  Unfortunately, the colors show a bit differently in the picture, (probably a difference between the glossy focal & mat background).  In real life, the colors of the focal/greeting panel go REALLY well with the background. For this card, I simply cut the digi paper to be a little smaller than my card front, inked the edges with Stampin' Up!s Night of Navy ink, and glued it to the card front.  Then I cut down the Little Book page to fit, (I'm not sure what set it came from because it was given to me), matted it on white cardstock, and added it with dimensionals.

 

Secondly I have the card you see here: 

This card uses a digi paper that is more of a linen look with lace - really pretty.  I  found this cute dog in my Hunkydory stash - came from an old Pop-a-Topper set called It's a Cat and Dogs Life, while the sentiment came from a little book of sentiments I had.  After gluing those two pieces directly to the card front, I added a ribbon bow with a Mini Adhesive Dot (ribbon from my stash - no idea who made it) and sequins (again from my stash) using Multipurpose glue.  Easy, but I think it's a cute card.

 

Finally,  I have my Swap Card:

 

Because it turns out there really wasn't time to create the third step card in my More Step Cards class (see next picture below), I decided to turn it into my swap card for this month.  I simply created a pumpkin to add to it!  The pumpkin was made from a small stamp from HOTP and colored with Stampin' Blends.  Then I found I had a squirrel with an acorn in my stash (Karen Burniston dies), so added it.  Quick and easy turn around - and nice to have it completed in this busy month!

 

 

 

I HAD made it as you see here. The structure was created quite similarly to a side step card, but has a narrower area on the left and the back two stairs are created side by side with different heights.  I decorated with leaves (from Autumn Leaves dies and Changing Leaves Hybrid Embossing folder - discontinued from Stampin' Up!) & a sentiment.  This time, the stamp for the sentiment came from the Textured Notes stamp set, and was created using the Autumn Leaves dies.

More Step Cards Class

Today I have more step cards from our latest class.  The first 3 have a clear Autumn theme and are the ones we made in class.  At the end, I show 2 more versions of these cards - same types, but decorated differently.  Here's the list of materials used for the first three cards (all from Stampin' Up! (except for the little bit of ribbon & the squirrel that I found in my stash):

• Autumn Leaves (stamps & dies), Changing Leaves (hybrid embossing folder with dies, stamps), Textured Notes (stamps).  Note that the first two sets are no longer available, but there are several other options currently available here.
• Thick Basic White cardstock for card bases
• Colored Cardstock in these colors - Pecan Pie, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry 
• Woven Textures DSP - beautiful neutral papers that can be used for MANY different themes, and make great backdrops for these Autumn makes (and the last two cards as well).
• A bit of To Market DSP that had a basket on it. 
• A squirrel from my stash (made with a Karen Burniston die, but you can get a very similar look using the Fluffy Squirrel bundle from Stampin' Up!  
• A bit of brown grosgrain ribbon from my stash
• Classic Inks in these colors: Pecan Pie, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Old Olive 

I had them make a bunch of leaves using the both the Autumn Leaves dies and the Changing Leaves Hybrid Embossing Folder.  They used blending brushes to add color to the leaves to make them look more real.  This is mostly what we used to decorate the cards, so we could focus on how to make the cards themselves.  Here's a look at the cards. 

October Swaps 2025

Today I've got a couple of cards - one a regular swap card, and one a digi-swap card.  The card you see above is the regular card swap card.  This month the theme was Mushrooms and Fall Colors. I started by making what I call a Dual Side step card.  It's a bit challenging to see in the picture - I should have been farther above the card when taking the picture (and it's already mailed so can't fix that!) - but the card has three steps in the center with the sides of the card as normal.  Here's a quick run-down of the materials I used for this card.  Most are from Stampin' Up!, but a few are not.  Assume all are Stampin' Up! unless I say otherwise.  Here's the materials list:

• Autumn Leaves stamps and dies bundle 
• Changing Leaves stamps and hybrid embossing folder (which includes dies) 
• Cardstock in several colors: Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Pecan Pie.
• Inks in most of those colors
• Stampin' Blends: Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Ivory, Boho Blue
• Black Stampin' Write Marker
• Walnut Spray ink (Tsukineko) 
• Mushroom die (misc one in my stash)
• Paper People dies (from Karen Burniston) 

And now for the digi-swap card.  I made it as a Joy Fold card.

Unfortunately, in the picture, my sentiment looks washed out.  Fortunately this is not so in real life!  

Once again, the materials list is mostly Stampin' Up!  If it's not, I've marked it otherwise in the materials list.

• Printed Digi-paper (no clue where it came from) 
• Cardstock: Secret Sea (5 1/2" x 8 1/2"), Wild Wheat (discontinued - 3" x 8 1/2"), Balmy Blue (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"), Basic White (2 7/8" x 4 1/8" plus some for sentiment & stamped/die cut images), Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, and Daffodil Delight (for leaves).  
• Waves 3D embossing folder 
• Autumn Leaves stamps and dies (leaves & sentiment),  
• Cosy Christmas (cat stamp - came in a cardmaking magazine several years ago). 
• Paper People (girl - Karen Burniston dies)
• Balmy Blue twine
• Inks & adhesives 

The background patterned paper piece is the printed digi paper.  I used the embossing folder on the front of this card to give it some texture.  Then I simply glued the card pieces together and added all my elements - some with glue and some with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.   

Step Class Samples

This time for class we're making step cards.  We're using the Storybook Garden Patch Bundle (which is currently on last chance), along with some discontinued products (Market Goodness stamps & dies and To Market papers).  I've got 3 example cards.

A Xmas Look at KCC18

 

Today I have another look at KCC18 using these GORGEOUS Traditions of Christmas designer series papers (DSP) from Stampin' Up!  When I started these, Kendra's Card Challenge was currently on #19, but I chose to go back to #18 because I thought these papers would work extra well with it.  I guess you'll have to see if I'm right!  Note that many of the focals and embellishments were either die cut or fussy cut from a couple of the papers.

A 4 in One Sketch

Today I have 4 cards - similar but different.  The basic card was introduced by Jann McCollom in a Zoom meeting that I attended.  Before I get to that, though.  I just want to highlight how useful it is to have some basic shaped dies - especially if they create pretty edges as you use them!  For this reason, you'll see that I use the Textured Notes cutting dies A LOT!  Similarly, now that I have the Spotlight on Nature circular dies, I expect to use them a lot too - and I DID use them on the last card in this set.  I suggest that you look for these types of cutting dies as ones that you'll use over and over again!

Anyway, back to this set of cards.  They start with 4 coordinating pieces of patterned paper that are each 4 3/4" x 3 1/2".  Note that if there is a direction to them, you want them all going the same direction.  Other than that, you simply make two cuts for each of the 4 pieces. First, in portrait orientation, cut at 1 1/2".  Then turn each of those resulting pieces 90 degrees to landscape orientation and cut at 3".  You now have the four pieces you can see in each of these cards.  Mix and match them - mat them - add a focal and greeting. Voila'!  You have FOUR A2 sized cards!

I used the beautiful Seasons of Green and Gold papers (unfortunately discontinued now), but you could use anything - there are some gorgeous papers that are currently available - check them out here.  Mostly, I just combined them with coordinating cardstocks (Basic White, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Garden Green) and some Gold Foil paper. Then I added cutouts from the papers, a stamped focal, stamped or die cut greetings, and a few embellishments from my stash.

Here are the details:

Makes for Some WCMD Challenges (& Upcoming Club Samples)

 

 

Today I have several makes for WCMD challenges on this message board I frequent.  Some are made from SU supplies.  Some are made from old stash I need to use up.  I'll list supplies used for each make - and links for SU tools/supplies that are still available.  First, here are a couple of things that were used on almost every make:

• Mini Stampin' Dimensionals
• Basic White Cardstock

Class Cards Using Decorative Masks

 

I have 4 cards today, from the Lovely Garden Suite - specifically the Lovely Garden patterned papers and the Thankful Garden bundle (decorative masks, stamps, dies).  I also used the Mixed Labels stamps and dies for my sentiments (currently the stamps are discontinued and the dies are on last chance sale).  

 

The four cards are shown below.

 

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.