This little gift card holder was a cinch to make using the Coffee with Friends stamp set* from the Simon Says Stamp Every Happiness release. I took a piece of Neenah Desert Storm 80lb cardstock and cut it to 4” x 6”. I used my corner rounder to round all the corners. I used my Gina K Amalgam black ink to stamp all over it using 3 clear blocks and 3 stamps - the teapot, the paper coffee cup, and the tea cup. I carefully created a random pattern all over 1 side of the cardstock with these 3 little images. I easily could have left it like this, but I decided to break out my Distress Watercolor Pencils and color, then blend with a watercolor brush. I used the Watercolor Pencil sets #6, #4, and #1, (specifically Carved Pumpkin, Brushed Corduroy, Saltwater Taffy, Abandoned Coral, Salvaged Patina, and Lost Shadow) along with the Picket Fence white Distress Watercolor Pencil. I scored this in the middle when I was done, and folded it over. I took a glue dot and attached a Starbucks Gift Card inside.

    On the outside I die cut an arch from Spellbinders Waterfall Colorwheel Cardstock using Spellbinders Essential Arches die set. I trimmed off a little at the end and attached it near the right side. I actually cut the sentiment stamp into 3 pieces and then heat embossed each part with Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder onto a strip of dark brown cardstock. I cut it up and glued it to the front of the arch. I used a beige and brown baker’s twine I found in my stash to wrap around the card and keep it closed.

    This is a super simple gift card holder that requires no “paper engineering.” Just cut, score and attach your card.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

    This card was inspired by one of my favorite card makers, Inge Groot. I used the wonderful Coffee with Friends* stamp set from the new Every Happiness release from Simon Says Stamp. I Copic colored the bear and the tree using E41, E43, E44, Y15, YR04, C0, B41, B45, G94, YG61, YG63, YR00. The remaining colors I used were Dick Blick Brush Markers and Spectrum Noir markers. I highlighted everything using a Gelly Roll white pen.

    I used an old Sizzix Swiss Dot embossing folder (it's retired and I've linked to one by Simon Says Stamp) with the white tag I cut using Hero Arts Nested Tag Dies. I made the frame using Cascade cardstock from Spellbinders and an old Poppystamps die set called Scalloped Stitch Frames (again, this is retired so I've linked to a set of very similar double stitch frames by Pinkfresh Studio.) I used Dried Marigold Distress Ink to ink blend through the Sunburst Stencil by Waffle Flower. I cut this piece with the Pinkfresh Studios Nested Rectangles Postage Edge dies. Behind all this is a small scrap of black and white lined paper from an old MFT paper pad.

    The sentiment is part of this sweet stamp set. I heat embossed it on black with Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder.

    The fun part is the Simon Says Stamp Festive Bunting die I used in the top left. I cut the triangle parts with 3 different colors (the blue is the Cascade I used earlier), and then the string part from black. The holes are large enough to easily snake the black string part through the holes.

    I used a variety of foam and liquid glue to adhere everything to an A2 card base made with Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

    The delightful Coffee with Friends* from the new 2026 Simon Says Stamp Every Happiness release is full of adorable images to color, and great, easy-to-use sentiments (even if you’re a tea drinker).

    I decided to create a pop up card using the excellent instructions from Jennifer McGuire’s YouTube video “Easy Pop-up Frame Cards” from September 2023. My base is a pale peachy-pink cardstock measuring 4.25” x 9.5”. I scored both short ends at .25”, 1”, and 2”. I used a pink ink and a Pinkfresh Studio large blending brush to stencil over the Lawn Fawn Brick stencil in the middle of the card base. My ‘floor’ is a kraft cardstock that is scored at every .5” to give the sense of a wood plank floor (I decided not to make this wood effect more prominent to not distract from the rest of the scene). I edged the floor pieces with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Pumice Stone.

    I folded the card base along the scorelines and then, using 2 Paper Rose nested rectangle dies (I don’t see these for sale anywhere, so I’ve linked to an almost identical Hero Arts set), I die cut 2 identical frames (gluing them together for strength) from Taylored Expressions Papaya cardstock. I adhered a small strip of the inked kraft ‘floor’ to the back of the frame. Next, following Jennifer’s instructions, I applied liquid glue to this frame and floor piece on the left and right edges only and adhered it to the .25” scored edge on the left and right of the cardbase.

    On to the critters, and the sweet accessories like the chair, table, vase and counter/cupcake stand. They’re adorable. I stamped with my new favorite black ink, Gina K Amalgam black ink on Neenah Classic Crest cover stock 110lb. I colored them with Copic markers, some Dick Blick Studio Brush alcohol markers and some Spectrum Noir markers. Here is my list of Copics: E31, E33, E35, E40, E41, E43, E44, E47, E11, E13, E15, C0, N0, R00, R20, R32, B0000, BG70, BG72, BG75, YR00, YG61, YG63, G94, B41, B45, B21. Feel free to email me or message me via Instagram for more details or to learn which Dick Blick markers I used. I used a white Gelly Roll pen to highlight all the images I colored.

    I fussy-cut all the animals (didn’t have the dies). The Elizabeth Craft Designs Fine Pointed Scissors are a game changer for detailed cutting. I don’t use them for big edges that are easy to cut with small scissors, but for areas like under an arm, between legs, around a stem. If you don’t have a set of these, put them on your wish list now. I carefully edged the cut images with a small or bullet-tipped black felt marker. The pen has to be held behind the cut piece so if you slip, you only mark on the backside. Jennifer McGuire gave this same tip in the video I referenced above.

    I glued all the critters into place as shown, providing some depth using foam adhesive in places. I heat embossed my sentiment with Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder on brown cardstock and glued it on.

    This card will flatten to fit into an A2 envelope. 

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.

I loved the July 6, 2026 Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge of using 49 & Market products to celebrate Back to School. Of all the wonderful and gorgeous scrapbook paper and ephemera manufacturers out there, 49 & Market is my absolute favorite. Recently, I purchased the Toddler Time line from Simple Pleasures Stamp & Scrapbook store in Colorado Spring, CO. I think of that store as The Mothership, as I have never seen anything like it in terms of selection. 

I used Ephemera Snippets from the line, including a premade tag, along with several pieces of 49 & Market paper on this card. I combined this with the Tim Holtz Schoolhouse stencil and his Ideology Field Notes Snippets, Field Notes stamp set, Garden Greens & Vault Picture Show dies. I used an old MFT die set to create the notebook edge on top of the blue 49 & Market paper. This is long retired, but Tim Holtz Vault Edges would make a great substitute. 

As I said, I am entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. 

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me. 

Loving the little neighborhood you could build with the new Whimsical Village* release from Spellbinders, I had an idea for a “capsule” scene.

This card was primarily created by die cutting. Except for my greens, all my cardstock was from Spellbinders Colorwheel cardstock. I cut the house from white. I cut the door, window and 1 roof from Anchor. I trimmed this gray roof down so it would appear like the eaves under another roof, cut from Poppy. I used Windy for the pale blue window panes. The clouds, the sun and the dog are all part of the Village Companions* die set. The clouds are the ultra-pale, pink Chiffon cardstock. The dog is cut from Acorn and I colored his nose with a black marker. The steps and the fence are all Truffle. The sun dies are a circle and a sun shape. I cut the sun shape from both Tuscan and Beeswax. I cut the circle from Tuscan.

It was a trick to get everything into the oval shape. I couldn’t build the scene and then cut it because it would be too thick to cut. I first cut a piece of Cascade using Spellbinders Essential Modern Ovals. Then, using three pieces of different colored green cardstock from my Stampin’ Up! stash, I shaped them with scissors to look like gentle hills. I die cut those individually with the same oval die and glued the darkest one onto the Cascade piece.

After I built the house, I used the oval die to cut off the side of the house. Then I adhered that onto the dark green SU Mossy Meadow piece (fitting name as that was its role here). I glued down the SU Lucky Limeade and Old Olive, just barely covering the bottom of the house. I put everything except the fence in place with liquid glue.

Finally, I built the fence using several of the same fence die cuts included with the Whimsical Houses, all glued with one picket overlapping. Next, I used one of the dies that comes in the Astrantia* die set from Spellbinders new Serenity Garden Collection to cut a pile of Orchid flowers. I used an ink pen to make the center dots and then used a tiny ball stylus to cup the flowers. I glued some of the flowers on the backside of the fence and some on the front of the fence to make it appear like a flowering vine growing around the pickets. I glued that in place on the middle green piece.

I finished the card by adhering it to a Cosmic Blue oval in a larger size. I used that same oval, hanging off my cutting mat just a fraction to cut a folded cardbase from 110lb Neenah Classic Crest. Lastly, I used foam adhesive to apply a sentiment from the new Whimsical Wishes* stamp set, stamped in black Versa Clair ink.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me. 

 

This card combines the new Big & Bold Sentiments die set* from Spellbinders and Simon Hurley with both the Astrantia* and Primrose dies* created by Susan Tierney Cockburn for Spellbinders.

Using 80lb white cardstock, I die cut 2 sets of petals from the Astrantia dies and then from the Primrose dies.

I used Copic markers Y38, YR21, YR04, Y38, Y15, Y17, RV13, and RV25 to color all 8 sets of petals. Then I assembled the 4 flowers as shown. I used a favorite die set - Spellbinders Nested Postage Labels and Tag set - to cut 2 stitched edged panels out of Neenah 110lb Classic Crest white cardstock. 

I adhered these 2 panels to a white cardbase made from the same Neenah cardstock. I glued the larger one on flat, but the top panel is adhered with foam adhesive.

Next I die cut the Thank You from the same Neenah cardstock twice and stacked and adhered them together to give the sentiment more dimension.

I die cut the coordinating shadow from heavyweight vellum. I carefully glued the words onto the vellum shadow and then VERY carefully applied glue on the back of the vellum only where it was obscured by the white letters. I glued this flat on top of the flowers.

To give the appearance of raindrops, I added Self-Adhesive Clear Fairy Drops made by Memory Box. These are now hard to find, but Spellbinders seems to make the exact same product, so I’ve provided an affiliate link below.

Affiliate links are used in this post at no cost to you. This means I may receive a small commission when you click through and shop using the links I provide. This helps support me in creating and posting my crafts. Items marked with an asterisk * at first mention were provided by a store or manufacturer. Otherwise, all items were purchased by me.