Nutz about Stamping

Are you ready to sail off to new crafting adventures?

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge speaks to my heart. 

I love to be near water, and always have. So when I saw this week's challenge I was thrilled. Until I looked at my stamp set collection and realized that my beach-themed stamp sets retired last year. 

But I knew I have my trusty Sailing Home stamp set and Smooth Sailing dies: 

Whether you're sailing home or going off to new adventures, the images and sentiments in the Sailing Home Stamp Set will inspire you on your journey. I have used this set for masculine cards, scrapbook pages and gift ideas. 

When thinking about my card deign I decided to take a little cheat and have no sand on my card. My card, instead would be a water theme only so I used my Blending Brushes to create a waterscape background. 

I love each brush's velvety soft bristles - perfect for applying a little or a lot of ink. I decided to use Misty Moonlight for the water and then Bumblebee and Pumpkin Pie for the sky. Add a lighthouse, a sailboat and some birds in the sky and my card was complete. 

To make my layers stand out I used my Stitched Rectangles dies - and to add a little glamorous touch and visual interest. What do you think? 

Now it's your turn: try our card map challenge for the week and see what you can create. And if you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

 

 

There are so many fun possibilities with this simple card map challenge

Today's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is super fun! There are so many possibilities to use:

 

I knew right away what I was going to use too. On my daily walks I have been encountering many different flowers along my way, and on one particular walk I spotted these beauties blowing in the wind: 

I know these are not daisies but right away I thought of my daisy punch. And when I had a look at my card map challenge for the week I immediately thought: not butterflies. I can try daisies! 

So I grabbed my two Daisy punches and got right to work. I pushed six daisies - 4 small ones and 2 large ones and then used my Blending Brushes and Fresh Freesia ink pad to add color:

I  am telling you - if you have not used these brushes before then you are seriously missing out! Blend ink beautifully using our FAB Blending Brushes. Apply extremely light shades of ink or create soft gradient backgrounds with no lines. Or use them with Decorative Masks or stencils. The velvety soft bristles blend ink perfectly.

In mere seconds I had all daisies colored, attached together and ready for my card front. At that point I decided to use my Timeworn Type embossing folder to emboss the layer for my card. 

I love love love the look that this folder creates. Once I embossed my Fresh Freesia layer and added my daisies then I popped on a stamped and die-cut phrase and 6 lovely In Color Jewels. 

Here's my card:

I am crazy about my card - and hope that it will make a special friend feel better when she receives it. 

Why not join our card map challenge this week? And if you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

 

How to use up your crafting supplies with a super fun design

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge will help you use up lots of your supplies with a super fun design:

 

You have several layers, different colors and can embellish to your heart's content. 

For my card I chose some left over bits of my Beauty of the Earth designer series paper. I am proud to say that I have used almost the entire pack - a rare thing for me, the scrap-a-holic that I can be:

And this is kind of funny: I had my design all figured out, turned over the layer of Beauty of the Earth paper that I had chosen and in the last minute reversed sides - the one that should have had glue applied ended up being the layer that you see on my card photo below. 

I also dusted off my Dandy Wishes dies - gosh I find these really hard to use. But I love the two 'tree' sizes on my card front. 

The phase comes from the Art Gallery stamp set - love the font. 

And here's my card map challenge card. As unusual as it looks, I still LOVE it! 

PSST: if you want to purchase any of these products from me, click on the photos to hop on over to my online store!

Why not give our card map challenge a try this week - use up some of those supplies and end up with a card you love too! If you want to see what the Paper Craft Crew created this week for this challenge, click here. 

 

Do you know how to create a card with dark patterned paper?

This week's Paper Craft Crew's card map challenge is super easy: 

I decided to use up some of my Blackberry Beauty paper for the background, and chose one of the darker patterns on the card base. 

This paper pack is perfect for autumn cards and projects, with its rich colors and traditional autumn images of leaves, sprigs, and bird. This nontraditional color palette is sure to bring unexpected impact to all of your paper crafting projects, especially with the added shine of gold foil accents! 

Here are the coordinating colors: Blackberry Bliss, Cinnamon Cider, Early Espresso, Polished Pink, Rich Razzleberry - so cool right? 

Once I chose my darker patterned paper I then chose a light pattern for one of the layers, to help my phrase stand out a bit and to make my card even more interesting.  

I then did something unusual: I chose two phrases for the front of my card, one to match the map and the other to be a standout of my card. The larger one comes from the Tasteful Touches stamp set:

The second phrase comes from the Best Year stamp set - and adds a playful touch!

Here's my card - can you see what I did for the 'ribbon' on the map? Did you spot the bling? 

Now it's your turn - try this card map challenge using what you have on hand. And if you want to see what the other design crew members made for this week's challenge click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

What could be better than a card challenge using your sparkling products?

Nothing could be better I am sure. And this week's Paper Craft Crew challenge does just that:

I love cards that have bling on them even though I am not really a bling-y kind of person in real life. I made a New Year's Resolution two years ago to use my embellishments rather than hoard them (is this you too?) and have been making good on my promise. 

To make my card I used only three products, one of them creates the phrase:

1. Blackberry Beauty designer series paper (LOVE!)
   
   
   
   
2. Meadow dies (so versatile)
   
   
   
   
3. Floral Gallery dies (the perfect phrase)

And to make my card I tried a brand new fun fold technique - new to me, that is. I have never tried a Center Step fun fold card and was so surprised how easy it was to make. 

If you want to learn how to make a Center Step fun fold card, click here to see my YouTube video. 

Here's my card - can you see the bling? 

Now it's your turn: give this card map challenge a try and see what you can create that uses your sparkling products. And if you want to see what the other Paper Craft Crew design crew members create for this challenge, click here. 

What designer series paper would you use for this card map challenge?

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is a great way to feature your favorite designer series paper!

I am currently loving the Blackberry Beauty designer series paper - heck, I even love the name! Wouldn't it be fun to have to name papers and colors for Stampin' Up! I'm in!

 Anyway, the colors in this paper pack are perfect for masculine cards, fall cards and Thanksgiving projects. I decided to use a left over piece for my card. Funny but when I first had everything all laid out and ready to attach, I turned over the Blackberry Beauty layer and decided to use it on top instead. Has that ever happened to you? 

The large square kind of stumped me until I thought about my Floral Gallery dies - and realized it could be my feature instead of something else. And instead of making it a square I used my Stitched Rectangles dies so that the phrase would fit nicely. 

And then I decided to turn my card on it's side - instead of a portrait layout I would have a landscape layout. I love the look!

Now it's your turn! Try this week's card map challenge using what you have on hand. See what you can come up with! If you want to see what the other design crew members created this week, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

Here's an easy way to use up your left over paper scraps

Today's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is an easy way to use up your left over paper scraps. This must be the week for using up paper scraps - check out my Sunday blog post and video tutorial showing you a second way to use paper scraps! 

At first I thought the map was pretty plain but of course I decided to give it a try  and chose to use my Beautifully Penned designer series paper. Did you know you can earn this paper pack for FREE with a $50 order? (or 60 Euros in AT, DE, NL, GB and FR). Learn more about this offer here. 

For the sentiment on the front of the card, I chose to use one from the Tasteful Touches stamp set:

Funny but it was the strip across the front of the card that stumped me a bit. In the end I chose to use a second piece of the Gray Granite ribbon as the strip and love how it looks!

Here's my card: 

Now it's your turn: what will you create using this week's card map challenge? If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this challenge, click here to hop on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

Join this fun challenge using the 5 Olympic colors

This week's card map challenge was a tough one for me. A fun theme but I kinda went blank when I saw it.  What can you create with these five colors?

I dug through my designer paper stash, I looked through my card stock colors and through my stamp sets. Nothing came to mind. Then I spotted a left over square of the Beauty of the Earth designer paper.

And that particular pattern has 3 of the 5 colors - almost four if you consider the orange-red leaves a kind of red. This paper pack is seriously yummy and I have almost used it all up - and Fall isn't even here yet! Well done me but, yikes! 

So I added a black layer under the square (with Bumblebee on top), a layered phrase and two dragonflies from the Dragonfly Garden bundle:

And here's my card! 

For all the fuss and mess I created trying to find success with this week's challenge, I am pretty happy with my result. I can't wait to see what the other design crew members create using those Olympic challenge colors! Click here to see what they made. 

See how to create a diagonal optical illusion layer on your cards

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is a fun one:

I love the layout but the diagonal sentiment kind of stumped me. So I decided to create an optical illusion strip on the front of my card and use two of the same sizes of layers above and below the strip. It wasn't until after I finished my card that I noticed that the top layer is a little bit narrower. But no matter. 

What makes this card look tricky is the diagonal strip because it makes the striped paper on the map below it look like it was cut diagonal. But not necessarily! If your sentiment strip is wide enough you can angle the strip when attaching it to the card so it looks like the striped paper is cut on the diagonal. Pretty fun optical illusion huh! 

For the bottom part of my card I actually used Christmas paper! (HA) the Tidings of Christmas pack is really designed for your Christmas cards but the patterns in the pack can also be used for other occasions my birthday card below! 

I love that this paper uses two of the new In Colors: Soft Succulent and Evening Evergreen so I used those colors for the stems, phrase and narrow strip on my card front. 

And of course I just had to use my Meadow dies for the flowers! The dies come bundle with the quiet Meadow stamp set or you can purchase them separately. Your choice. 

Psst: Did you know that if you click the product photos above you will link over to my online store? Easy peasy! 

Here's my challenge card.

As I walked away from my table top photo box it crossed my mind that 3 small pearls might be a nice touch so I added these to my card and took a second photo.

Which do you like best? With pearls or without? 

If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's challenge, click here to hop on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. And why not give this map a try? You just may love the optical illusion sentiment strip that you will create! 

Here's how to take a card map challenge and make it your own

As much as I love flowers, this week's card map challenge was not what I was hoping for. To be clear, I do love card map challenges. But I am not really into stamping flowers right now so the card map image was more of an effort challenge rather than a design challenge.  

 

Until I noticed that the center flower image is really a sentiment. Or it could be a sentiment on a stamped or die-cut flower. So I dismissed that idea and chose to create a phrase in the middle rather than a flower. And since I am loving the upcoming Beautifully Penned paper (coming soon!), I chose a pattern for the background. 

And to be different I die-cut two leaves from the Pierced Blooms dies: 

I can't remember my stamping life before purchasing the Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine. The best investment ever! 

Especially when you can die-cut an entire phrase (Floral Gallery dies):

So I put all these elements together and created my challenge card for the week. 

Now it's your turn. Have a look at the supplies you have on hand and see what you can create for this week's challenge. If you want to see what the other crew members created, click here to head to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

What's this? Beautiful coordinating paper? You are definitely going to want this pack.

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is the perfect way to use up some of the designer paper you have lying around. 

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to use up my left over paper but I will confess that on my card today I opened a brand new pack of paper that you can earn for FREE in August or September. 

The Beautifully Penned paper is part of Stampin' Up!s second Sale-a-bration event this year. Yes you read that correctly. Stampin' Up! is now having TWO Sale-a-Brations per year, beginning in 2021. So you have the chance to earn free products like I did. 

What's really cool about this fab paper is that it is a perfect match with the Hand Penned bundle:

How clever is that! With a $50 order (or 60 Euros in Europe), you can earn a pack of paper that perfectly matches your Perfectly Penned bundle!

If you have placed an order through me in the past six months, you were on my mailing list. Watch your mailbox for these two catalogs, arriving any day now. (Tip: the Hand Penned paper is in the Sale-a-Bration catalog)

Want to see my card? 

 

I used two pieces of the Beautifully Penned paper, and the phrase and flower from the Art Gallery stamp set. This card was super easy to make so why not give it a try - or try something different using the card map challenge. 

If you want to see what the other design crew members created using this map, click here to hop on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. We'd love for you to share what you created - use the upload button to add your sample, using what you have on hand of course. 

This card map challenge helps you look at your supplies in a new way

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is simple. And simple is good at times. I think this map helps you look at your supplies in a new way.

 

You have two rectangles, one circle and some kind of shape in the middle. So dive into your craft room and see what you can come up with - perhaps supplies you have not used in a while? 

Here's what I chose to use the following for my card.

Simply Elegant designer series paper

Tasteful Touches stamp set:

To make a coordinating bottom layer I used a solid color: Basic Gray. But it looked too plain so I used Versamark and stamp an image randomly over this layer. This is the perfect way to add a little pizzaz to a plain layer. 

Add a bit of shiny ribbon, three silver petals and a die cut phase and you end up with this pretty card: 

If you want to see what the other Paper Craft Crew members created for this week's challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. And if you give our challenge a try, we invite you to enter your card over there for everyone to see! 

 

What kind of card would represent summer nights?

This week's Paper Craft Crew challenge card is a challenge indeed. A real stumper for me. 

I see the flowers on the image above but still wasn't completely inspired by what I own. Until I saw the sunset and thought that would be a good starting point and hopefully the rest will fall into place. 

So I pulled out my Blending Brushes to help me create color on my card base. 

I have used my blending brushes before to create a sunset feel so decided to try that idea again. This time, though, I used Pumpkin Pie at the top of my Bumblebee card base and then Cinnamon Cider at the bottom. I really like how it turned out!

Still stumped until I remembered, sadly, that I wanted to make a sympathy card for someone special. So I looked for a phrase next and saw the Color & Contour stamp set:

Yes, it comes as a bundle and I did buy the set and dies for other project ideas. But there is a two-part phrase in this set that expressed what I wanted to say to my special friend who will be getting my card. 

After I stamped this phrase onto the front of my card, inspiration finally hit! I would use my Meadow dies for the card elements, keeping my card simple but pretty. 

Yes another bundle and well worth it. But you can also buy the dies and stamp sets separately - you don't save $$ doing it that way but you need to do what works best for you and your budget.

I used one of the dies and one of the butterflies and my card is complete! What do you think? I would love a comment under this blog post if you have the time. 

Do you think my card now represents Summer Nights? I think so Let me know if you want more ideas for using your Blending Brushes - and I am happy to supply them in the coming weeks. 

Why not give this idea a try using what you have on hand? If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's card map challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

Can you guess what products I used for this card map challenge?

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge helped me to create a gorgeous friendship card!

I bet you can easily guess what I used for today's challenge! Yes, my Pierced Blooms dies because I am completely smitten with them: 

This pack is perfect for creating die cut flowers in several sizes, complete with stitching details, plus the leaves and centres to go with them. Try them on handmade cards, scrapbook pages, and other paper crafts.

For my challenge card I decided to use the same colors as I did for a recent Pierced Blooms fun fold card showing a fun fold card with a lovely surprise inside. This video received some rave reviews and so I decided to use the same flowers and color combo for this week's challenge. 

As you can see on the map above, the card is to use a phrase as well. I decided not to stamp a phrase on my flower, instead I put it right beside. I chose the 'hello' stamp from my Best Year stamp set. This set has such great value as you can use it all year long. 

Here's my challenge card: 

I hope you will give either my card a try or create something completely different using the supplies you have on hand. If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's challenge, click here! 

 

This card map challenge will help you use up leftover designer paper

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge will help you use up all those leftover pieces to designer paper that you have tucked away. 

This is such a simple layout idea and you can go wild with possibilities. As Father's Day is coming up next weekend I decided to create a masculine card idea using my Best Year stamp set:

This is the perfect set for so many different occasions so you get such good value from this purchase (tip: click on the image above to order it at my online store). You can stamp the phrases and die cut them out or use them to create a simple layer as I did below.

I also chose to sue some left over pieces of the Simply Elegant designer paper. An unusual choice you may be thinking! And I agree but I love to challenge my thinking when crafting and I think with the Basic Gray card base these particular paper designs just work. 

What I did struggle with was that single strip across the front of the card map. It looks like it is supposed to be a contrasting strip and I tried to see what might work. In the end I went with a strip of one of the larger patterns and am very happy with how it looks. 

The crowning touch, in my humble opinion are the 6 Gold Metallic Pearls. I seldom use the gold pearls on my cards but they were a perfect match on my card!

Here's my card. Although the photo makes the phrase look unnoticeable, in reality it really stands out.  

Now it's your turn. Why not challenge yourself and see what you can create using this week's card map challenge? If you want to see what the other crew members created for this week's challenge, click here. Happy designing! 

Here's a fantastic way to challenge your card making creativity

Do you struggle with card designs? Have you ever taken time to create a card and sat there completely stumped, not sure where to begin and what to use? Yes, I have been there too!

I have a fantastic way to challenge your creativity when card making: card map challenges! It took me years to realize that there are all sorts of card challenges out there that would help me overcome my creativity blocks. Once I started using card maps, card making became a breeze! 

I love card map challenges so much that I joined the Paper Craft Crew as one of their design crew members, committing to participate in their card map challenges every week. Here's the link to their site if you want to have a look around. 

To give you an idea of what a card map looks like, here's this week's Paper Craft Crew card map:

The idea is this: you look at the layout and then have a look at what you already own. Use the map to guide you in creating a card. As you can see in this particular challenge, there are three layers attached to the card base, each one is supposed to be unique. You are also to add a phrase on top of, or on, one of the layers. 

You decide on the colors, whether or not you want to use designer paper, and what kind of sentiment you will use (think what's coming in your life: birthday, graduation, Father's Day, etc). You also decide on the card base color. You can also change the layout from horizontal to vertical = the map is just a map, to guide you but as with any map, how you reach the final destination is up to you. Google does that too: gives you several different options to reach your destination and card map challenges do the same thing! 

Beyond making those decisions, the fun is adding embellishments (ribbon, gems, jewels, pearls, brads, etc) to complete your card. 

Other than Paper Craft Crew challenges, which are weekly, there are other sites that also offer weekly card challenges. Many are layout challenges like the one above; some sites also include color challenges, tic-tac-toe challenges, coloring tool challenges, and so on. 

Here are some of the other sites I often check out when I need card design inspiration:

• Global Design Project
• The Paper Players
• SUO Challenges
• Freshly Made Sketches

But: there are many other sites you can find if you ask The Google! If you want to see what I created using the card map challenge above, come on back tomorrow. My card is designed and my post is ready to share!