Nutz about Stamping

See that simple can also be beautiful

This week's Paper Craft Crew challenge is a testament that simple can also be beautiful or even elegant:

 

You may have seen that I have been using my Beautiful World bundle a lot in the past couple of weeks and again I turned to this fab bundle for today's challenge:

Beautiful World Bundle
$48.50

 

 

 

 

 

There is a stamp in this set that I have not used yet so I decided to try it on my Cinnamon Cider card base. I wanted the image to be more subtle so stamped 'off' onto a scrap piece of grid paper before stampin 'on' the card base. That way the image would be noticeable but not compete with the phrase on the card. 

I love the Rectangle Stitched dies and thought it would be fun to layer two of them to frame the phrase. 

Next was to consider what to use for the 'flower' and the 'banner' on the card map. I decided that rather than a flower I would use the quill and ink. Love it! And for the banner I used one of the banner stickers in Beautiful World Memories & More card pack. I chose to put my banner sticker behind the phrase instead of on top - I prefer the subtle look this time. 

World Of Good Memories & More Card Pack
$11.00

 

 

 

 

 

When thinking about card map challenges, consider combining products from a suite like I did for my Beautiful World card below:

If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's challenge, click here. And why not try the map yourself and share your creation over on the Paper Craft Crew site? We'd love to see what you made too. 

See how to combine products to create an amazing card

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge looks simple and is simple....

...but I ddin't want simple this week. I wanted a card that had lots of details to create my own unique design. So I decided to combine the following products:

Forever Fern bundle + Beautiful World bundle:

Forever Fern Bundle (English)
$54.00

Beautiful World Bundle (English)
$48.50

I also used my Rectangles Stitched dies to create a frame around my phrase. Can you see the little swirl behind the branch? 

I did have a stress moment when I realized that I didn't have matching ribbon. But then I remembered that i had the Whisper White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon and that I can color the ribbon to match the Pretty Peacock card base. I love it! 

Here's my card:

I am so happy with all the laters. You may not be able to see it in my photo but I used the Old World Paper 3D embossing folder on the Pretty Peacock layer. Another eye-catching touch for this amazing card. 

If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this week's challenge, click here. And we invite you to take our card map challenge and join in as well! 

Try this bright and colorful card challenge idea

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is really wide open and I am guessing you will have lots of fun giving it a try:

 

It's kind of funny but I am not much of a flower person when it comes to crafting. I do love fresh flowers and I love to walk in the woods and see wild flowers growing and of course I love, love, love Keukenhof in the spring. But I don't own a lot of flower stamp sets. 

I do own the Timeless Tulips stamp set and so thought I would create a clean and simple card idea for this week's challenge. 

Timeless Tulips Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
$18.00

 

I really like playing around with color combinations and so for this card I chose one of my faves (for this year): Gorgeous Grape and Poppy Parade. As the tulip and leaf images are rather large I needed a phrase that would fit near the top. 

I didn't really have a theme in mind but when I saw one particular phrase in the Forever Fern stamp set, I knew I had a winner:

One final note: I chose some new embellishments to finish off my card. They are clear so don't complete with my flower colors and I love how they look on this card. When the new catalog goes live later today, have a look for the Flowers for Every Season Gems. You can download a free copy of the catalog by clicking the cover image on the right side of my blog. 

Here's my card:

Do you want to see what the other design crew members created for this challenge? Click here to head over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

What would you choose for this simple card map challenge?

Today's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is quite the puzzle! (pun intended) 

I enjoyed choosing what I would use and my card was inspired by one of my crafting friends. Because of the pandemic I have been careful to not hold classes right now but as the weeks go on I have decided that one friend at the far end of my crafting table would work. Yes, I disinfect all my tools before they are used and after my friend leaves I clean everything again. 

This past week my friend decided to use a sheet of Perennial Essence designer paper to make a card. I really liked her idea so used it as my jumping off point for today's challenge. 

I love the patterns and colors in the Perennial Essence pack:

Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper
$8.05

 

 

 

There are so many possibilities for matching with solid colors:

• Balmy Blue
• Blackberry Bliss
• Blueberry Bushel
• Calypso Coral
• Crushed Curry
• Flirty Flamingo
• Mossy Meadow
• Old Olive
• Petal Pink
• So Saffron

For my card I chose Blueberry Bushel as it is retiring on 2 June and I have quite a few sheets left. I stamped my Under My Umbrella phrase on the same design paper, created matching solid layers for the banner strips and then, for fun, I decided to punch a balloon shape from the same paper and pop it up on my card front. 

Have you see the Balloon Bouquet punch?

Balloon Bouquet Punch
$18.00

 

 

It's so fun to use with designer paper as well as plain card stock and stamped images. 

Here's my card!

If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. I also have many blog posts using other card map challenges so why not have a look through each of the past few weeks to see if another map catches your eye? 

How to rock a card and save tons of time

Yes, it's that time again - a Paper Craft Crew card map challenge! I love card maps because I am always happy with what I create and I also love saving tons of design time. 

For me, the most challenging part of making a card is the time it takes to figure out a layout. Well not with card maps. The layout is figured out for us and all we have to do is create. 

This week I started with choosing my paper - the daffodils are coming up, the sun is shining and spring is on its way (soon I hope!) so I decided on a piece of Best Dressed designer series paper. 

Best Dressed 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper
$11.50

 

 

 

The sheet of paper I chose then helped me decide on the card base color and layer colors - I selected some of the colors in the paper design: Daffodil Delight, Purple Posy, Blackberry Bliss and Mint Macaron. 

For the leaves, I used my leaf punch and I decided to stamp a Daffodil Delight flower from the Perennial Birthday stamp set because I thought it matched the flowers in the paper. The flower I punched out as well and then it was time to figure out the square layers. I thought that I would stamp a phrase instead of an image as I didn't want to visually compete with the patterned paper. And as I feel that I will be using a lot of 'get well soon' in the near future I used the phrase in the Healing Hugs stamp set. 

Perennial Birthday Cling-Mount Stamp Set
$22.00

Healing Hugs Cling-Mount Stamp Set
$21.00

 

Here's my card - I am so pleased with how it turned out:

Here's a side view of my card:

If you want to see what the other crew members made for today's card map challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. 

 

Which 3 would you choose in this creative challenge?

Today's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is a fun one - it's a Tic Tac Toe challenge!

I love these kinds of challenges because they are not as straightforward as they seem. I usually sit and ponder for a bit, then find a coupe of squares that work but one that doesn't. Sometimes they are not even in the same row or column. Is that the same for you too? 

I ended up deciding on the middle row: Floral, Favorite Color, Thank You card. Although I have to admit that Daffodil Delight is not my favorite color but it is for this week!

I also decided right off to use up some of my Golden Honey designer paper - I love this paper to bits! Then the matching Honey Bee stamp set and my card fell together really quickly. 

 

Honey Bee Bundle
$41.25

 

 

I am showing you a photo of the Honey Bee bundle because if you want to buy the set, get the framelits too. You won't regret it! (My fave is the honey comb die!)

Here's my card!

Why not give this tic tac toe challenge a try? It's a fun way to challenge your creativity and to use up some of your supplies!

How confident are you to use bold patterns?

This week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge is so much fun. The big decision I had to make was whether to use plain or patterned paper on the card base as that is usually my starting point. 

 

Let me ask you: how confident are you to use bold patterns? I am not very confident at all but I will confess that I do love the Tropical Oasis paper:

Tropical Oasis Designer Series Paper
$11.50

 

 

 

 

You can add a pop of paradise to your crafting with lush foliage and tropical images. This fun paper pack includes retro tropical images including palm trees, flowers, fruit, flamingos, and vintage surf woody wagons, making it ideal for scrapbook pages and travel scrapbooks. Cut paper down for card fronts, paper elements, or tags.

Or maybe it's the colors: Balmy Blue, Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Garden Green, Grapefruit Grove, Mango Melody, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Pretty Peacock, Real Red, Seaside Spray, Shaded Spruce, So Saffron, Soft Suede, Terracotta Tile

Actually I love the entire product suite!

Tropical Oasis Suite Bundle (English)
$116.00

 

 

 

 

I chose a super fun pattern and coordinating colors for my card. I also used the Coastal Weave embossing folder for the Mango Melody strip across the card front. I decided on a phrase from the Waterfront stamp set - I think it is appropriate time for a phrase like this. Perhaps this card could be sent to a first responder?

Waterfront Photopolymer Stamp Set
$17.00

 

 

 

 

Here's my card:

One note here: I didn't stamp the phrase in the center of the Whisper White layer. Solution = put the embellishment on the opposite side so nobody notices (shh, don't tell!). And here's a side view so that you can see that I used a left-over strip of the Tropical Oasis paper inside. 

If you want to see what the other design crew members created for today's card map challenge, click here. Why not join the fun and use this map the next time you craft? 

Hope is the power that makes all things possible

I love this phrase from the Power of Hope stamp set and I also think it the especially appropriate for what the world is experience today.

Power Of Hope Bundle
$0.00

 

 

I chose this phrase as part of my design for this week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge and used my Rectangles Stitched dies to frame it:

To create my card I started with choosing the paper and colors that caught my eye as I dug through my stash. I love the Lily Impressions designer series paper and found a pattern that I thought would work well. 

Lily Impressions Designer Series Paper
$0.00

 

 

 

Then I let the design dictate the rest of the design:

• A strip of Coastal Cabana
• 5 From My Heart Faceted Gems (151154)

And then I encountered a bit of a slow down. I didn't know what to use for the flower embellishment. After digging back through my stash I spotted my Colorful Seasons stamp set and Seasonal Layers dies.

Colorful Seasons Photopolymer Stamp Set
$27.00

Seasonal Layers Dies
$33.00

 

Taa-Daa! My card is complete and ready to share with you.

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

There are so many options with this week's challenge

It's time for another card map challenge!

There are so many options with this week's challenge - which row/column will you try? For me it wasn't an instant decision, but when I saw 'masculine' I decided to give that a try because I haven't made many masculine cards in the past few months. 

But when you see my card below you will actually see that it works with the top row as well. So you can decide which row my card best fits and here is my decision path (such a business word huh!):

First I chose the paper, from the Tropical Oasis paper pack:

Tropical Oasis Designer Series Paper
$11.50

 

 

 

From the colors in the paper I chose Pretty Peacock as my card base and a layer of Crumb Cake on top, and then a Tropical Oasis layer.

When looking in the Mini Catalog for my matching color choices, I spotted the Coastal Weave 3D embossing folder and wanted to use it for a 'belt' across the front of my card. I love the detail of the embossed layer - subtle but still textured. 

Next, I needed a phrase, so chose the Sale-a-Bration Sending You Thoughts stamp set. I decided my card would be a birthday card.

Sending You Thoughts Cling Stamp Set (English)
$0.00

 

 

 

 

The final touch is also from the Sale-a-Bration catalog - the Metallic Baker's Twine and Sequins pack. I haven't used the sequins at all since I got them - yikes! 

Metallic Baker’S Twine & Sequins Combo Pack
$0.00

 

 

 

Here's my card for this week's challenge:

And now it is my turn to challenge YOU! Give our card map challenge and try and see what you come up with. If you want to see what the other crew members created, click here. 

 

See how to create something you love today

Last week's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge was a struggle for me. But this week was a breeze! As soon as I saw the map I knew exactly which bundle I was going to use. 

First, here's the card map:

For my card I decided immediately on the Under My Umbrella bundle. You can find this bundle on page 42 of the Mini Catalog. If you don't have this catalog yet, click on the cover of the catalog on the right side of this page to download it to your device. 

Here's the bundle - it is SO much fun to craft with!

Under My Umbrella Bundle (English)
$30.50

 

 

 

 

 

There are so many ways to use the stamps and Umbrella Builder punch:

• stamp on Whisper White, color and punch
• stamp onto designer series paper and punch
• punch plain colored cardstock
• punch images from the Pleased as Punch paper
• what have I missed?

For today's card, I chose option a combination of the above options. I punched the umbrella from the Pleased as Punch paper. I stamped and colored the boots and flowers and then fussy-cut them out. I punched a plain umbrella handle and then layered all these pieces onto my card using Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.

Then I had a look at the card map again and saw the two sentiment strips. What came to mind? The Label Me Bold stamp set, page 36 of the Mini Catalog:

Label Me Bold Cling Stamp Set
$17.00

 

 

 

 

I love this set so much that it was on my first order. Did you notice that it was designed by a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? (super cool) I decided to use two of these phrases for my sentiments, stamp, fussy cut and adhere. 

Here's my card:

If there was one thing I would do differently, I would layer the Whisper White diamond with a contrasting color - either Basic Black or Pool Party. What do you think?

If you want to see what the other design crew members created, click here to head on over and then search for PCC372. You may get some additional fun ideas to try! 

What would you do with this odd challenge?

What an odd Paper Craft Crew card map challenge this week. At least that's what came to my mind when I saw it. 

As much as I try to stay true to our weekly challenges, this one didn't feel 'right' to me. I couldn't bring myself to splatter stamp three different colors on a card base but admittedly I could have but just didn't want to. 

And then I spotted a left over piece of the Peaceful Poppies designer series paper:

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper
$11.50

 

 

 

 

 

I thought to myself: technically this pattern has lots of different colors in it, and there are sort of mini splatters too....can you figure out which sheet it is? 

So I decided to go rogue and use this paper on my Poppy Parade card base and create a fun element on top using the Painted Poppies bundle:

Painted Poppies Bundle
$52.00

 

 

 

 

This card was super easy to create and I do love to color using my Stampin' Blends - silly but I feel like an artist when I use the blends. 

The final bit of the challenge was the 'black' strip across the front. I could have used a plain black piece. I could have created a phrase strip. But then I saw the banner die in the Painted Poppies bundle and decided to use that as my strip. I could have made a Basic Black banner but again, went for something outside my comfort zone: I used Poppy Parade!

I do like my card, do you? 

If you want so see what the other crew members created for this card, click here and then search for PCC371. You will get some other fun ideas for today's challenge. 

You need to see my unusual take on this card map

Here's today's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge and as soon as I saw it I decided to do something unusual with the large center image. 

I didn't want to use a punched image with a layer. Instead, I knew right away that I wanted to use my Painted Poppies stamp set and replace that center image with not one, but three poppies. 

Do you ever get that sometimes? When you see a card map or another card and this idea pops into your head? That's what happened to me. 

So I grabbed my Painted Poppies bundle:

Painted Poppies Bundle
$52.00

And my Stampin' Blends:

Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
$9.00

Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
$9.00

 

and set to work by stamping and coloring the poppies and leaves. Then the rest was pretty simple. I laid the poppies and leaves on the Granny Apple Green card front (did you spot the Versamark stamped background?) and then when I was happy with how they looked, I adhered them down. 

That left the phrase. Again, an idea popped to mind: to use my Well Written dies instead of a stamped and punched phrase:

Well Written Dies
$40.00

 

The final touch was to add a few of the Peaceful Poppies Sequins and taa-daa, my card was complete:

I love the simplicity of this card and the 'hooray' can be used for so many different occasions, too, can't it? If you want to see what the other design crew members created for this challenge, click here!

It's time for another fun card map challenge

It's time for another Paper Craft Crew card map challenge and this week's is really fun:

I knew right away that I wanted to use my Painted Poppies bundle and Peaceful Poppies paper:

Painted Poppies Bundle
$52.00

Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper
$11.50

 

These two products were on my very first demonstrator order. I love that Stampin' Up! demonstrators can pre-order catalog products so that we have time to play a bit before the catalog goes live. The moment I saw the Peaceful Poppies suite I knew that I had to order most of it right away. 

Here are the colors you need to stock up on if you want to add this suite to your crafting collection:

• Poppy Parade
• Calypso Coral
• Flirty Flamingo
• Crushed Curry
• Old Olive
• Mossy Meadow
• Pool Party
• Rich Razzleberry
• Blackberry Bliss
• And of course, Whisper White

So following the card map above, I chose a strip of the Peaceful Poppies paper and corresponding Old Olive and Flirty Flamingo strips. 

The rest was super easy: stamp the image and color it with my Poppy Parade and Old Olive Stampin' Blends:

Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
$9.00

Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
$9.00

 

Here's my card - why not give it a try when your bundle arrives?

If you want to see what the other Paper Craft Crew members created for this week's challenge, click here. 

Please share your thinking for this card map challenge

It's confession time again. This Paper Craft Crew challenge card map is not my favorite and caused a bit of stress trying to figure out what to use. Well it's not the map that is the problem, it is my resulting card!

I would love to know what you would use - please share your thinking using the comments link under this post!

These were my starting points:

• Christmas card
• Let It Snow Specialty Designer Series Paper
• Pool Party and Blueberry Bushel

I chose the Everything Festive stamp set for the phrase and So Many Stars for the background:

Everything Festive Cling Stamp Set (En)
$24.00

So Many Stars Photopolymer Stamp Set (En)
$26.00

So the main elements came together for my card. But then I got stuck. What to use for the Snowflake embellishment when I don't have anything snowflake like in my stash?

Then it hit me - I would layer two stars from the Stitched Stars dies! Add three Snowflake Sequins and my card was done:

 

So back to you. What would you use from your stash? If you want to see what the other designer crew members created for this challenge, click here. 

 

 

What would you choose for this card challenge?

Today's Paper Craft Crew card map challenge was a tough one for me. I will happily confess that it looks easy....but....it just wasn't! 

I think it is the size of the circles...or maybe not. First I chose my paper - Brightly Gleaming of course!

Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper
$14.50

I am so sad this paper is sold out - lesson learned to order what you love early in the life of a catalog! I layered the Brightly Gleaming strip onto a Very Vanilla card base - and then wasn't happy with that either. The two circles were an easy choice: more Brightly Gleaming paper and some Night of Navy paper. 

Next I stamped and colored the Christmas Gleaming ornament, punched it out and added it to the circles.

Christmas Gleaming Bundle (En)
$49.50

Then I stamped and fussy-cut phrase. A bit of Copper Trim ribbon and things are looking a bit better. 

What I love most? The Star Designer Elements! Quite surprising for me to love those star elements and where I placed them but I really do like them. What do you think?

If you want to see what the other design crew members made for this challenge, click here to head on over to the Paper Craft Crew site. And don't forget to give our challenge a try too! You just might surprise yourself like I did.