I love Stampin' Up!'s printed paper (also known as dsp - designer series paper).  Often, I love both sides and in my panic not to frivolously use it up, I don't use it at all!  But sometimes, I either find the print too distracting or not suited for my project.  What is a girl to do??
The answer is to make your own printed paper!  It's super easy when you have a stamp set, rather than just one stamp.    It's one of the beauties of purchasing a coordinating set. 
Last night, I was case -ing a new fold design by fellow Ohioan Chris Slogar.  She had several pieces of the new Flowers for Every Season dsp, paired with the Celebrate Sunflowers bundle.  While this dsp is beautiful, some of it is too busy for me.  But her design needs the background or it will look too unfinished.  So, I made my own paper.

Its simple.  Really.  For this one, I did not want to stamp the entire piece, so I blocked off with washi tape. 

 I did need to cover up the bottom portion more with scrap paper, when I stamped that low, half flower.  To get the two colors on one stamp, I used the Stampin Markers.

 This is the finished inside.

 This is with the front folded.  The blue print is dsp.  As you can see, I think mixing the two worked well.  Neither over powers the other. 

 And this is the front.  The sunflower is on an arm that goes up, revealing the sentiment below.  I think this is a super cute fun fold that is easy to make.

If you need measurements, have questions, or just want to make a comment, please contact me!

What will you make today?

SO STINKIN' CUTE!  There is just nothing else to say about Zany Zebras and Way to Goat stamp sets.  I love them!  But they remind of the cows and pigs from Over the Moon and This Little Piggy, which I adored.  Maybe its the farm girl in me (although zebras aren't farm animals).  Anyway, these had to be in my first purchase from the new catalog.

I decided to try sticking with just black and white.  (I will try adding color later.)  I did have some discontinued dsp with varying black and white patterns.  And I thought a new fun fold would keep it fun.

 My first attempt - I cut too much off the panel, which made my circles too small also.  But I like the look of the two scalloped circles.  Unfortunately, that is the biggest scallop, so in order to go bigger, I had to go with a plain circle.

 For my first goat card, I did the corner cut fun flaps (why can't I think of what this is called??!)  I again grabbed some discontinued dsp that I need to use up.  I cut out some of the flowers from the paper to add embellishment.

 My second card was cased from Ann Krucek.  I loved her idea of putting the bite marks in.  Funny, right?!

Instructions for the Zebra card:
Cut standard card base. Cut 1 1/2" off short side.
Dsp strip is 2 1/2 x 5 1/4.
White inside mat is 4 x 5 1/4.
Cut two circles large enough to contain your zebra off to the left side.  I scored it to help it fold better.  I just eye-balled this, based on where the image is.
The first attempt, I adhered the circle on the inside, then covered it with the inside mat.  The second attempt, I adhered it to the back of the card.  I don't like that you can see the white circle on the back, but also didn't like that it wasn't right on the edge with the first one.  I guess you need to decide which way you like best.

Instructions for the diagonal goat:
One piece of 8 1/2 x 11 makes 2 cards.  Score at both 4 1/4 long way and 5 1/2 short way.  Cut diagonally corner to corner.  If you have the SU trimmer, you need to remove your scoring blade so the paper fits.

Instructions for bite out goat:
Regular card base.  Dsp  5x3 3/4.
Fussy cut out goat.  Use circle die for hole.  The bites are using the flowers from the Jar of Love set.  But several smaller flowers (with the rounded edges) would work.

I hope you love these little guys as much as I do.  I can't wait to make more projects with them!  Show me what you make today!

I just LOVE fun folds!  I like that they are challenging and creative, so I get a bigger sense of satisfaction when the project is completed, especially the first time.  I think they are wonderful to receive, because they are unexpected, fun and the person knows I put extra time into it.  My classes in February are always Fun Folds (because I like the alliteration!).  But somehow, I always sneak another one in somewhere.

I found this design many years ago but just recently got a chance to try it.  Or maybe the nerve to try it.  It was not very hard to cut out.  It was hard to find enough things to decorate it though!  If you try this, plan it out first.  You really need to make sure you have enough stuff to cover all the panels.  Using double sided paper really helped, but it needs to be heavier weight so the card doesn't feel flimsy.

The original design I found (her blog is called Jozart) used a 12x12 paper or cardstock.  It results in a 6x6 card.  The first time I followed her directions but I felt that the card was too big overall and it was hard to decorate each panel.  But this larger size would be good for a small child.  My second attempt, I used a 10x10 paper, resulting in a 5x5 card.  I felt like this was perfect.  It made each panel much easier to fill.  Here is the 5x5.

I made a belly band to keep it closed.  My good friend has her kitchen decorated with coffee stuff, so I thought she would like this.  Here are a few more pics.

As you can see, I did not decorate every panel.  I am still working on another one.

By offseting the ballons, they help keep it closed.

So, I bet you want directions.  Here we go.  For a 12x12 paper, score at 3" from each edge.  For 10x10, score at 2 1/2".  Then cut out each corner (these two steps can be done at the same time, depending on your trimmer).

 The middle of each flap is either 3" or 2 1/2", score vertically, cut horizontally as shown.  You will want to make the cut a little wider, so it folds in nicely.

 Then fold the squares in and begin decorating.  The big square in the middle will be either the 6x6 or 5x5.

I hope you have fun with this.  I have a video showing all the panels on the 6x6 card, but I need to learn how to post a video!

Please show me your designs.  

Thanks to some friends who have placed orders for cards, I have been super busy making cards.  I will share some of them with you. 

I tried my hand at going Shabby Chic.  After looking at many beautiful projects on Pinterest, I figured out the key is layers.  Lots of layers.  

I layered strips of paper and dsp (designer series paper).  This dsp is very old and I've been wanting to use it up, even though it is super pretty.  It has lots of butterflies on it, so I thought I would stick with the butterfly theme.  I distressed the paper and cardstock, either by sponging the edges, ripping the edges and/or roughing the edges.

The other element I found on other shabby chic projects was stamping lightly on the background/base and then embossing.  

There aren't really any measurements to give you, as everything you see was my left-overs.  I just used what I had.

Shabby chic is not really my style, but I did have fun with these and my friends really liked them.  Which means I will have to try them again!

Feel free to show me your shabby chic side.

I received a request for some brightly colored cards.  We need some bright and cheery things these days.  My friend was thinking like I have been - that everything should be springy.  And of course we woke this morning to SNOW!!  What happened to spring??! 
Anyway, I have had fun these last couple of weeks with Breathtaking Bouquet and Daisy Lane, so I pulled them out.  Since I had already designed some projects with them, I was able to create more cards very quickly.  I made 9 cards in about an hour.

I wanted to just stamp the daisy directly over the birch background, but it did not show up well (in my opinion).  So I punched them out.  You can do only one punch, but I prefer the fuller flower.  I did try a different color combination - Delightful Daffodil and Mango Melody.  I think its super cheery.

Since I had already experimented with Bouquet, I knew that watercoloring would show off the colors more so than embossing and sponging.  I again tried some different color combinations.  As you can see, changing the color of the focal flower changes the look.  When you mount the mat to the corresponding color cardstock, the focal flower just pops.

To give my friend a non-floral option, I tweaked a previous design I made with High Tide.  The background is sponged through a mask (or stencil, not sure what to call it really!).  I thought this scene was also colorful and cheery. 

I hope my projects bring some sunshine to you today.

Please don't forget to drop me a line or post your own creations.

What will you make today?

To break up our isolation, I'm going to start some contests. The first one is a layout challenge. These 3 cards use the same pattern - strip of paper off to the left (any size can work) with the sentiment towards the right. As you can see from the last photo, I have accumulated many left-overs from other projects. This layout is perfect for left-overs! I also wanted to show you that you can choose any shape to put your sentiment in.

So, here's the contest: copy this layout and then post your creations on my facebook page. I will randomly draw a winner in 2 weeks. Winner will get an ink pad.

Check back often for another contest as well as to see what else I make from these left-overs!

What will you make today?

I hope you are all well and healthy!  The craziness of the world just makes me want to curl up in a blanket.  But, that will not help.  The best we can do is to try to stay positive, motivated and productive.  I do find it hard to be inspired to create some days, but sitting down at my table, surrounded by my "stuff" usually gets me motivated. 
So I am trying to play with items I had recently bought for upcoming classes.  Instead of making a sample for you all to follow, I have been trying to see how many different projects I can make with one stamp set or bundle.  I shared before all the different looks I came up with for the Breathtaking Bouquet background stamp.  Last night, I opened my Daisy Lane bundle.  This is a stamp set and coordinating  small daisy punch.  It also coordinates with the (larger) daisy punch and Delightful Daisy stamp set.  I copied a sample from the catalog (did you know that Stampin' Up! wants you to use the catalog for inspiration?!).  I paired it with the Birch background stamp.  Yes, I love background stamps!!  I did not make different looks last night but did try different color combinations.  So I have purple, pink and yellow cards.

In this time of social isolation, a handmade card is a thoughtful way to brighten someone's day.  SU has a campaign to share your projects.  Post a picture (on your social media or on mine) with #sharesunshine  

I will be announcing a share the sunshine contest shortly.  Check back for details!

What will you make today?