Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Simple Christmas - Stampin' Up!® Simple Alphabet

  The New at SU blog hop is back today with a fantastic assortment of projects showing off our theme of "Fontastic"!  We are highlighting words, letters and numbers on our designs.  Follow the hop list at the end of my post and leave some love for our wonderful designers!  

  For my "Fontastic" project I'm highlighting the Simple Alphabet stamp set and have paired it with the Home for Christmas bundle to bring it all together for a set of clean and simple Christmas cards with  prominent sentiments.

  I kept the same layout for each card and changed up the word, colors and image/die cut.   I love the Simple Alphabet set because it's so easy to make whatever word you want and the size is big enough that it's a statement.


I have found this alphabet set very easy to line up and fussy cut.  The roundness of the letters goes well with the scallops on the Scalloped Christmas Cheer die cut layer.


  It was fun picking out color combinations and which stamp or die from the Home for Christmas bundle would go with which sentiment. 


The words and images are all popped on dimensionals so they would stand out from the white background.


  The Swirls of Magic embossing folder is used on the background for each card.  The fun pattern adds interest to the clean and simple layout without drawing the eye away from the sentiments.


  A little bit of sparkle helps tie the elements together on the "merry" and "peace" cards.


   What other words or phrases would you make using the Simple Alphabet set?  



 
  I hope my cards have given you some ideas for how to use your alphabet and word stamps and how to feature them on your projects.  Be sure to hop around and visit all the designers!

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Simple Alphabet, Home for Christmas

Ink: Highland Heather, Granny Apple Green, Flirty Flamingo, Pecan Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Blueberry Bushel

Paper: Basic White, Highland Heather, Flirty Flamingo, Cherry Cobbler, Cloud Cover, Garden Textures Specialty paper, Glimmer papers (retired) 

Accessories: Swirls of Magic embossing folder, Home for Christmas dies, Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies, dimensionals, gems, baker's twine

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Thanksgiving Greetings - Stampin' Up!® Elegant Leaves

 Is it truly fall where you live yet?  Yesterday it was over 80 here in Richmond and today it didn't hit 60 so we are in a different season every day!  We do have a little bit of fall color here and there but for the most part there is more green than any thing else so I'm getting my autumn colors on my cards for now!  


  I thought the colors at the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge was a fun combo for a Thanksgiving card.  Timid Tiger, Misty Moonlight and Cajun Craze.  The Elegant Leaves bundle continues to pair well with other products from the Sept.-Dec. 2026 Stampin' Up!® catalog.

  The card base is Crumb Cake with another layer of Crumb Cake embossed with the Textured Tree Ring embossing folder (currently discounted on the Last Chance List!).  Next is a layer of Painted Patch DSP.  I angled that layer for some interest against the more straight layers of other elements.

  Some more texture is brought in with the Misty Moonlight strip die cut with the wood grain die in the Elegant Leaves die set.  A bit of Misty Moonlight checkered trim highlights that cross piece.



  Even more texture comes in on the Cajun Craze layer embossed with the Softly Woven embossing folder.  

  The leaves are 2 step stamped with the detail layer in Cajun Craze and the fill layer in Timid Tiger.  I arranged the leaves on a Scalloped Christmas Cheer die cut.

  I am loving the Soiree Salutations sentiment stamp set for my seasonal greetings and the smaller sizes mean they work really well on most layouts.  I embossed this one in white on Misty Moonlight cardstock.  Finally a few Misty Moonlight dots are sprinkled on the card front.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Elegant Leaves, Soiree Salutations

Ink: Cajun Craze, Timid Tiger, Versamark

Paper: Crumb Cake, Misty Moonlight, Cajun Craze, Painted Patch DSP, Basic White

Accessories: Textured Tree Ring embossing folder, Softly Woven Embossing folder, Elegant Leaves dies, Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies, dimensionals, Misty Moonlight Checkered Trim, Strawberries & Dots, white embossing folder


Thursday, October 15, 2026

Celebrate in Autumn - Stampin' Up!® Elegant Leaves

   I've got a nice masculine birthday card to share today!  The Elegant Leaves bundle continues to be well used in my stamp room and I made a stack of this design for my customer thank you cards for orders placed in September.  Everyone always seems to need ideas for guy cards so here's one that you can use for inspiration.


  I started this one with a Secret Sea card base, then a layer of Pecan Pie with a 2 1/2" circle punched (or die cut) from it.  I stamped the largest leaf overlay stamp in the same color ink.  Using a piece of Florals in Bloom DSP in a nice Cloud Cover striped pattern I adhered it to the back of the circle opening making a nice focal point for the card.


 Using Two-Toned card stock in Cloud Cover, Cajun Craze, and Golden Glow I cut out the leave shapes on the light side of the paper.  Using some adhesive sheets and cardstock in the same colors I die cut the overlay pieces and added them to the shapes.  Using cardstock made the stickers a bit more sturdy than if I had used the Two-Toned again. The leaves are popped on the card front with dimensionals.


 The sentiment from Round About Messages is stamped in Secret Sea onto Cloud Cover cardstock.  The sentiment strip is backed with a torn piece of Secret Sea to add weight and texture.

  Finally a few retired Faux Bronze Pentagons are added for a little masculine bling.

  To see how this card comes together you can watch this quick video:



Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Elegant Leaves, Round About Messages

Ink: Pecan Pie, Secret Sea

Paper: Secret Sea, Cloud Cover, Pecan Pie, Cajun Craze, Florals in Bloom DSP  Two Toned: Golden Glow, Cloud Cover, Cajun Craze

Accessories: 2 1/2" circle punch (or circle die), dimensionals, Adhesive Sheets, Faux Bronze Pentagons (retired)


Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Comfort & Joy - Stampin' Up!® Home for Christmas

   How far into Christmas cards are you??  I've definitely got a way to go before I have what I need but adding a few every week now keeps it from being overwhelming come the middle of November!!  A hand made Christmas card doesn't have to be over the top to and my card today is a simple layout where you can change out a few detail for a whole new look without having to start from scratch!


  I started out with a Cloud Cover base and then another layer of Cloud Cover embossed with the Swirls of Magic embossing folder.  Swap out the embossing folder for a different look.  I'm loving the Softly Woven embossing folder lately!  A Real Red stitched ribbon and fork bow goes across the middle.  Change it to jute twine for a more rustic look or even a narrow piece of DSP for added color.

  The Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies are a wonderful shape to give your sentiment and images a landing place but any rectangle-ish shaped die with a little bit of detail gives your card a bit of 'wow'.  I embossed my sentiment in gold but stamping with ink works well too!


  I stamped my trees in Old Olive and layered them to the side of the sentiment.  I topped both with gold stars and added ornaments (sequins) to the front one.  If you want to change it up you could use the gingerbread man stamp and or the peppermint candy stamp a whole new look.  

  A simple layout with interchangeable elements to use what you have will help make your Christmas card making a little bit more fun and a lot less stressful!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Home for Christmas

Ink: Versamark, Old Olive

Paper: Cloud Cover, Basic White, Gold Shimmer paper (retired)

Accessories: Swirls of Magic embossing folder, Scalloped Christmas Cheer dies, Home for Christmas dies, dimensionals, gold embossing powder, Real Red Stitched ribbon, Traditional Sparkling Sequins (retired)

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Thanksgiving Houses - Stampin' Up!® Welcome Noel

  The CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge team is back with a brand new challenge today.  Suzy has given us a great color combo to work with.  I'm thinking fall but I can't wait to see what you come up with using these colors!


  You can see why I immediately thought of fall right? I tried to start with some leaves and other truly fall-ish products but I couldn't get anything I was happy with so I grabbed the Welcome Noel dies and cut some houses in the challenge colors and that was that!


   This is a simple one isn't it?  The layer with this houses is cut with the retired Textured Notes dies and is backed with a piece of Mossy Meadow.

  The sentiment from Soiree Salutations is stamped in Early Espresso and is accented with a Cajun Craze & Gold dot.  And that's it! 

  I hope you'll play along with these colors and share your creation in our gallery!

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Soiree Salutations

Ink: Early Espresso

Paper: Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze, Golden Glow

Accessories: dimensionals, Textured Notes dies (retired), Cajun Craze & Gold Dots (retired)

Monday, October 12, 2026

Retro Get Well - Stampin' Up!® Elegant Leaves

   A few weeks back I came across some mid century modern color palettes on a design website and I thought some of them were pretty good and would translate well into Stampin' Up!® colors.  My card today uses one of those palettes and I made a simple card using the spotlight technique and the Elegant Leaves stamp set.


  I started with a piece of Basic Beige stamped all over with leaves from the Elegant Leaves stamp set in Early Espresso ink.

  Next the leaves are stamped again but this time on colored pieces of cardstock.  I used Cloud Cover, Darling Duckling and Cajun Craze.  I punched them out with 3 different sizes of circle punches (you could use circle dies also).  I lined them up over the background leaves and popped them on dimensionals. 



  Before adhering the stamped panel to the card front I tied a piece of linen thread around it.  The sentiment is from the Sending Salutations stamp set and is stamped in Early Espresso on a piece of Very Vanilla.  I used the Party Banner's dies to cut it out.  A few Cloud Cover flat pearls accent the banner.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Elegant Leaves, Sincere Salutations

Ink: Early Espresso

Paper: Basic Beige, Cloud Cover, Cajun Craze, Darling Duckling, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Party Banner dies, linen thread, circle punches/dies, dimensionals, 2025-2027 In Color Flat Pearls



Sunday, October 11, 2026

Framed Pumpkins - Stampin' Up!® Soiree Salutations

  I've been trying to make a few more Thanksgiving cards so I have enough to send out to family and friends.  I took a break from fall leaves and decided that pumpkins would be the star of this card.  The only problem?  I don't have any pumpkin stamps at the moment. That's where the Painted Patch DSP comes in!


   I'm using the recipe challenge at As You See It and the sketch from TGIF Challenges.  The recipe calls for gingham or checks, sequins or gems, ribbon or twine, die cut and pumpkin.  I liked the sketch with the nice square panel and the interesting split square as the backing layer.  I realized after I had adhered everything that I placed the split going the wrong direction from the sketch...hope that can be forgiven!

  The background is a piece of retired Country Gingham DSP in Balmy Blue.  The split square is Secret Sea.  The die cut element is a Golden Glow Tile Garden die cut.  I embossed a piece of Basic White with the Softly Woven embossing folder for some added texture behind the pumpkins.

  I fussy cut a few pumpkins from a piece of Painted Patch DSP.  This is a nice layered layout because you don't have to have 3 full pumpkins and you can utilize some of the images that get cut off on the edges.  The tall pumpkin in the back is really only about 2/3 of the image. The top two are popped on dimensionals.

  To finish off the recipe, under the Soiree Salutations sentiment is a twine bow and a few Secret Sea Dewdrop embellishments.

Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps:  Soiree Salutations

Ink: Secret Sea

Paper: Painted Patch DSP, Secret Sea, Golden Glow, Basic White, Country Gingham DSP (retired)

Accessories: Tile Garden dies, Softly Woven embossing folder, dimensionals, linen thread, Dewdrop embellishments




Saturday, October 10, 2026

Winter Village - Stampin' Up!® Welcome Noel

   I recently gave my stampers a pretty color combo for inspiration and I found time yesterday to play around with it and see what I could make myself.  I pulled out my Welcome Noel bundle and created a little winter village scene with a bit of sparkle!


  The colors were Coastal Cabana, Berry Burst and Powder Pink.  You might not think of these colors as a Christmas or winter combo but that's the direction I went!  It was fun putting together this little scene using mostly the dies and a few easy techniques. 


  I started this card with a Coastal Cabana card base.  I blended some Coastal Cabana ink along the top corners for a bit of shading.  Then using my white gel pen I made a snowy sky.  Love (!!!) the new Stampin' Up!® gel pens....they've worked perfectly every time I've pulled them out which is a huge step up from the others I've tried!!  I started with the larger flakes, then made slightly smaller ones then finally I filled in with tiny dots.

  The 2 layers of snowy trees were die cut with the top panel just and inch or so shorter than the other layer.  All of the trees are covered in clear Wink of Stella for a shimmery snow effect.  The shorter layer is also popped on dimensionals.



 The houses are die cut with Basic White detail layer and the colored layers behind just showing through the openings.  A few trees are stamped in Coastal Cabana with one being stamped off just for variety.  The smaller house is popped on dimensionals.

  The roofs and wreath are also covered in Wink of Stella to carry the snowy theme down the hill and a little Berry Burst sequin decorates the wreath.  I played around with sentiments and their placement and couldn't come up with something that worked so I left it off.  This could be a sweet Christmas card or a New Years card depending on what you choose!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

All of the current products used to make this card can be purchased in my ONLINE STORE.

Stamps: Welcome Noel

Ink: Coastal Cabana

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Basic White, Berry Burst, Powder Pink

Accessories: Welcome Noel dies, white gel pen, clear Wink of Stella, dimensionals, Purple Adhesive-Backed Sequins (retired)