Nutz about Stamping

You need to see this second idea for the drapery card technique

This week's Paper Craft Crew challenge card map really stumped me. I immediately thought Valentine's Day but after thinking for a few minutes I realized that the map could indicate occasions beyond 14 February. 

So I looked through my stamp sets and spotted one set that had the word: Liefs - which means Love in Dutch. I don't use this set much so dusted it off and chose it for my phrase. 

Next was the layout, which was an easy choice for me. This past week I learned a new folding technique called Drapery - you can see my blog post HERE introducing this technique, along with a YouTube video taking you through step by step. I love this technique so much that I decided to duplicate it but with a twist. 

I used a leftover piece of the Paper Blooms designer paper. Lovely colors and patterns, right?

This paper pack is a FREE choice for any order over $50 USD between now and 28 February, as part of Stampin' Up!s Sale-a-Bration event. Look on the right side of my blog and click on the cover of the Sale-a-Bration catalog to download it to your device. You can see many other products you can earn for free!

For my card I recreated the Drapery technique but changed how it is laid out on my card front. I also had fun adding several Woven Thread sequins - to add a fun, sparkly touch. 

Here's my card:

Now it's your turn: have a look through your supplies and see what Romance-themed cards you can make using the supplies you have on hand. If you want to see what the other design crew members made for this challenge, click here. 

See how 3 simple dragonflies make a beautiful card

This is such a fun Paper Craft Crew card map, isn't it? And for the first time in a long time, I didn't even blink when I saw the triangles (which I would normally do, ha). I knew right away that I wouldn't be using triangles - they are simply three images on the card front, rather than shapes. 

I wanted to create a card using one of the new Mini Catalog bundles and decided to use my Dragonfly Garden bundle. Imagine yourself in an idyllic garden, surrounded by lovely meadow flowers and watching dragonflies elegantly fly by. The Dragonfly Garden set captures the tranquility and beauty of this scenery. 

I thought it would be fun to stamp and punch the larger dragonfly for my card front. Use 3 dragonflies instead of triangles! And to coordinate I chose to use a strip of the Dandy Garden designer paper - I love the colors and designs in this paper. 

You'll see dragonflies, bees, foliage, and more in the paper designs --all guaranteed to bring a natural look to your projects.

Here's my card - clean, simple and gorgeous! 

Do you want to see what the other design crew members created using the same card map challenge? Click here! 

And I hope you will give this map a try at home too - using what you have on hand. 

What would you choose for this challenge?

Oooh, here's a fun card map challenge - what would you choose?

Tough right? I had sooo many favorite holiday sets to choose from that I stood in front of my stamping closet and debated for a long while. 

And then made a decision to use, once again, the Christmas Gleaming bundle. Can you tell that I am going through withdrawal already? (smiles) In case you didn't know the entire bundle is retiring on 3 January or earlier if supplies run out. Groan. 

I love this simplicity of this bundle - how easy it is to make cards using it, the gorgeous paper designs and the delicate images in the stamp set. This bundle is the real deal! 

So I used all the parts of this bundle to make my card:

Alright a bit of an extra cheat. I also used the Coming Home stamp set for the small image with the stars - a perfect compliment to the paper, don't you think?

Now it's your turn: try our card map challenge and make a holiday card using your favorite set. What will you choose? Leave me a comment below and tell me which set you'll choose! 

If you want to order this bundle before it is gone for good click here. If you want to see what the other design crew members created and their favorite holiday sets, click here. 

Why not try an unusual Christmas card this year?

I think it's really good to stretch our creative muscles every once in a while and this week I certainly did that! The Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is really nothing special:

Looks very simple, right? But I decided to do something quite out of the ordinary for me. I chose a left over piece of Poinsettia Place paper for the large rectangle:

Then I chose the 'black' layer next, a phrase from the Trimming the Town paper. The background was stamped using the Snowfront stamp set. 

Happy so far. But the paper layer seemed so plain that I decided to stamp and color the holly leaf image from the Christmas Gleaming stamp set:

Ready to see my card? I do love it but it is waaaayyyyy out of my comfort zone.

Now it is your turn! Try the above card map and see what you come up with. And if you want to see what the other crew members made using this map, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew website. 

Today's challenge: create something that reflects the holidays

Ohhh, this card map challenge is super fun, right? You can create whatever you want as long as it reflects the holidays! As soon as I saw this challenge I knew I would like it. 

I immediately went to my all time favorite Winter Holidays bundle: Trimming the Town suite. 

This suite just makes me happy and I love using it for my Christmas projects this year. If you haven't seen all the cards I have made so far this season, scroll back through my blog and have a look. Lots of fun ideas to give you inspiration.

For my card I chose to use the dies for a background with trees, dies for the houses (cut from a sheet of the corresponding designer paper), the stamp set for the background snowflakes and the designer paper for the phrase. 

My Trimming the Town card came together in mere seconds, and I love it:

Now it's your turn: have a look at your crafting supplies and see what you can create that reflects the holidays. If you want to see what the other design crew members made for this challenge, click here. We invite you to upload your project for us to see too - look the link under the challenge. 

 

How to be playful with a card map challenge

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is super easy so I decided to do something a bit different. 

I decided rather than stamping and layering a scalloped rectangle, that I would go a bit rogue today and use something completely differing.

As usual, I started with my designer paper choice: Heartwarming Hugs. 

I decided to use two corresponding designs on my card and make one of them the complete card base layer. The right away I chose to use the Christmas Gleaming stamp set and matching punch to make the top layer - instead of the layered rectangle. 

I love this bundle - and am delighted that is was a returning favorite in this year's Aug-Dec catalog:

The rest was pretty easy. I decided that that top banner on the card map would be my phrase and I would attached it at a playful angle on my card. 

I love how it turned out, do you? 

Now it is your turn - give this card map challenge a try using what you have on hand at home. Why not share your final project over on my Facebook Page? Look for the card map image and post under there! 

What would you create with this easy card map challenge?

This week's Paper Craft Crew challenge is super fun and I took a bit of a departure from the map:

 

I knew right away that the card base would have designer paper on it and that this would be a Christmas card. I am feeling a bit behind on my Christmas card list and need to get cracking'!

So I dug through my pile of holiday paper and immediately stopped when I got to the section for Trimming the Town. You just have to know that I LOVE this paper - heck, I love the entire product suite!

Seriously, what's not to love about this suite? The moment I saw it in the catalog I knew I had to have it ALL. So I did. 

I used the paper as a main layer and then stamped and colored the house and wreath with my Stampin' Blends

• Old Olive
• Real Red
• Pool Party
• Smoky Slate
• Misty Moonlight

Those colors coordinate fabulously! 

I really struggle with the circle background on the card map. Should it be a die-cut? A layer? A stamped image? In the end I decided to a bit of a cheat: it would be a bow instead. I just didn't have anything else that looked good. 

And the smaller banner I decided to place in a different spot and make it a phrase for my card. 

Here is my Coming Home card map challenge card:

And here is a side view:

Righty-oh! It's your turn now. Try our card map challenge and see what you can create. 

 

How many possibilities can you see with this challenge?

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge offers so many possibilities! 

This is a tic-tac-toe challenge which means you can design a card using three elements: horizontally, vertically or diagonally. 

I used to find theses challenges a bit overwhelming or intimidating but not this week. I was feeling ready for something different and had fun thinking of what I wanted to create and share. 

I narrowed down my choices through the process of elimination: 

• I wasn't in the mood for a sympathy card so that eliminated one column and one row. 
• I wasn't in the mood for clean and simple cards, mainly because I have so much designer paper waiting to be used. So that eliminated on row and one column. 
• I love monochromatic cards, and my customers always asked for masculine ideas, so that column was tempting. But. Natural element? Hmmm. 

Then I spotted the diagonal set: masculine, seasonal and designer series paper. And that was my choice. I looked again through my paper stash and saw some left over bits of the Trimming the Town paper:

This paper has such happy designs and colors so I chose two different patterns. And a very unusual layout idea too. I spotted this layout idea on a completely different challenge site and thought I would stretch myself and give it a try.

I used my Coming Home bundle for a couple of the elements and a strip of designer paper for my phrase. 

Here's my challenge card - fun, right?

Now it is your turn! Which row, column or diagonal will you choose for your next card design? Why not give more than one idea a try? We'd love to see what you created: feel free to share your card over at the Paper Craft Crew site. 

You need to try this unusual card layout

This week's card map is really unusual - with a triangle being the main focus. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out what to create:

I ended up taking a lot of creative liberties too. Right off I chose Night of Navy as my card base with a layer of Brightly Gleaming paper on top:

I knew that I wanted to make my card a Christmas theme so next I set out looking for a phrase, which I found in the Poinsettia Petals stamp set:

This bundle is one of the most popular in the August-December Mini Catalog - and I can see why. 

I had a tough time thinking of how to create a triangle and this is where things veered off track a bit. I decided to make a banner instead of a triangle, the strip I put in a different spot and I chose a star instead of a circle. Finally I chose not to add sequins or jewels because the Brightly Gleaming paper has shiny stars all over it already. And as you can see below I make my layout landscape instead of portrait. Despite all these changes, I love my card! 

Here it is:

What would you create using this card map? If you want to see what the other design crew members created, click here. We'd love for you to take up our challenge and share your card idea over there too!

What would you pick for this interesting triangle card challenge?

What a cool card map this week! I was really pumped to give it a try.....until I realized that I don't have any triangle dies, lol. 

Then enthusiasm was taken over by determination and I decided to look through all my stamping products until I found something that would work. 

And I did. I realized that some of the images in the Coming Home bundle have triangles:

Can you see the triangles? I thought it would be really fun to give this a try, so I stamped, colored the images with my Stampin' Blends and then layered the houses to make the triangles more visible. 

Next the layer under the triangles - which embossing folder to use? I decided on the Dainty Diamonds embossing folder because it looks like stars or snowflakes, you decide:

Next I chose the Trimming the Town paper as a layer on my card - it will pull the colors together and add a fun touch behind the houses. 

The card came together quickly and for fun I added a trimmed phrase from the Trimming the Town paper that has a bunch of phrases on it. I chose a long phrase and cut it into smaller strips to attach to my card front. 

Here's my card:

If you want to see what the other design crew members created, click here to link over to the Paper Craft Crew site. If you give our card map challenge a try, we would love to see it - you can add it to the Paper Craft Crew site too! Have fun!

What autumn adventure would you create for this challenge

This week's Paper Craft Crew challenge is super fun - you get you create your own Autumn Adventure!

Normally challenges like this intimidate me and I stall out trying to figure out what to do. But not this week. I immediately decided to use the My Meadow set to create an autumn scene. 

 

I chose this set because it is perfect for creating soft and lovely outdoor scene with its images. As per usual, I started with my paper choice and colors. I love the Plaid Tidings paper pack and chose a strip that had colors that I consider to work well with this autumn themed challenge:

I chose a pattern that had Cajun Craze in it - that seemed a perfect color for my card base. Then the rest was pretty easy. I used my Stampin' Write markers to create my wheelbarrow image, and matched colors where possible to the paper. I chose to make my card a thank you so that I can mail it to a customer who placed an order at my online store. But you can certainly change the phrase to match an occasion you have coming up soon. 

Here's my challenge card - what do you think?

Why not look through your sets and see what Autumn Adventure card idea you can create using the supplies you have on hand. If you want to see what the other crew members created, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

Feeling crafty? Let me help with a design challenge

This week's the Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is pretty easy and fun and I hope it helps you feel crafty. 

It sure did for me! I started off by choosing the paper strip and from that strip I chose my main card colors. The paper strip comes from the Plaid Tidings paper pack:

 

I absolutely LOVE this pack of papers because the colors are, in my mind, more masculine. Some plaids are even perfect for Halloween and Christmas. 

• Cherry Cobbler
• Melon Mambo
• Blackberry Bliss
• Shaded Spruce
• Pretty Peacock
• Bumblebee
• Pumpkin Pie

I chose Bumblebee and Rich Razzleberry as my main card colors. But then I was a bit stumped by which stamp set to use. After digging around in my crafting closet I spotted the Coming Home bundle and thought it might be kind of fun to use one of the houses on my card. 

It was fun making this card. I colored the house using my Stampin' Blends and then at the last moment, I added the 'congrats' phrase. 

Here's my Coming Home card - do you see the background stamp? Do you know what stamp set it is from? It is also from the Coming Home stamp set - but was designed to be 'smoke' coming from the chimney. 

Now it is your turn. Try the card map challenge for the wee using what you have on hand. If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this challenge, click here. 

who would you case for this card challenge?

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is super fun - and challenging, lol. 

Fun, right? But where to begin and what to make. I had a fun time cruising through previous card map challenges on the Paper Craft Crew site and considered what I wanted to CASE. And then I spotted this card:

I love the Trimming the Town product suite as I am sure you know. I have used it so many times in the past few weeks and every time I use it I get such a happy feeling.

So I decided to CASE the above card but make it my own by using a different piece of paper and a house combo from one of the paper designs. I think it is so much fun that one design in the Trimming the Town paper can be die-cut! 

Below is my card. I took one phrase from the Trimming the Town paper and cut it into three pieces, rather than use three different phrase strips. I layered two of the die-cut houses and adhered them together to add a bit of dimension to my house. I also die-cut two trees and adhered them to my card. 

Now it is your turn: CASE a card that you love and see what you can create as a result. 

How to send healing hugs to someone special

There are times when I breathe a sigh of relief when I see my weekly Paper Craft Crew card map challenge. And this week was one of those times. The map below is perfect for a beginning card maker but don't be fooled. You can also take the map and add sophisticated elements to take it to another level. 

I decided to start with the polka dot and build my card around this element. The polka dots could be something that I stamped, it could be a paper layer or it could even be a layer that I dry or heat embossed. 

I chose a strip of the Playing with Patterns paper - one that has polka dots on it. 

I let the colors in this strip of paper guide the colors for my card: Crushed Curry, Purple Posy and Whisper White. 

I decided that the smallest layer on my card would be a phrase. Digging through my stash for a vertical phrase, I spotted the lovely Healing Hugs stamp set. I stamped the phrase and then die-cut it out using the Stitched Nested Labels dies. This will make the phrase really stand out. 

I almost had the card ready to assemble and then at the last moment I decided to emboss the Crushed Curry layer using my Subtle 3D embossing folder. 

Here's my card:

Now it's your turn. Try this week's card map challenge and decide whether you will keep it simple or go all out. Whichever your choice, I am sure you will love what you create too! 

If you want to see what the other crew members created for this challenge, click here. 

There are so many ways to think triangles

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge features, once again, triangles! Hmmm. I created my own triangles using my paper cutter last week but this week I wanted to try something a bit differently. 

For this week's challenge I looked at all my stamp sets to see what might spring to mind for the triangles layers on the map:

I didn't see anything on my first pass through but then the second time I saw the Coming Home bundle:

Do you see what I see?  I noticed that not only do the trees are the set made of triangles, the houses are triangles too! There are so many ways to think triangles. 

My decision was made. I decided to use two houses and layer one on top of the other. Sort of like the card map photo but not really and that's ok. The trees could be the second triangle. 

Do you know where I got the houses from? Check out the Trimming the Town designer paper, or watch my most recent YouTube video. 

The rest of my card was trying to figure out layers. I chose to match the colors in the Trimming the Town house: Early Espresso, Pool Party and Old Olive. 

Once I had the layer sizes I decided to emboss each layer using two embossing folders. The phrase I chose from the Best Year stamp set. 

If you like my card idea below - change the phrase to suit the occasion you need. 

Here's my card:

And now it's your turn: what would you create using triangles the next time you craft? Give our map a try and if you want to see what the other crew members created using the same map, click here.