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.

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. 

Since Susan uses some tools that are no longer available to shape her flowers, I had to get creative. I was able to cobble together some tools in order to copy her techniques pretty well and I have provided affiliate links to those below.

I used a bright green cardstock for the center of the flowers. The leaves were also colored with Copics YG93, YG95, YG97, and G99. I colored both tops and bottoms to make sure no white was showing.

After I had created all my primrose blooms and the leaves, I took a piece of A2-sized Neenah white cardstock and created an ink blended “glow” in the center with a 1” Pinkfresh Studio blending brush and Crushed Olive Distress Ink. I then used the Nested Postage Label and Tag die set to cut out a stitched rectangle. Finally, I used the Tufted 3D embossing folder to make the panel complete, spritzing the backside with water first. I adhered this to a white A2 card and adhered all my flowers and leaves on the 2 opposite corners. For my sentiment, I hot foiled a sentiment from the You Are Everything Hot Foil Plate and Die set. I used gold foil on white cardstock, then die cut, then adhered with foam tape.

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 first used the original A2 Waffle Flower Postage Collage die to cut one of the squares for behind the sentiment from Spellbinders Saffron cardstock. Next I used the Waffle Flower Envelope die to cut the diagonal lines that make the impression of envelopes on an A2 piece of Neenah cover stock. Then I used the Postage Collage Envelope stencils to ink blend on three Distress inks: Spiced Marmalade, Abandoned Coral, and Picked Raspberry. I did a very light pass for the bottom of the envelopes and a much heavier pass for the top part.

I stamped Miss You with Versa Clair black ink and cut it to perfectly fit the postage square.

I used the Postage Collage Blocks die to cut out all the envelopes. In all honesty, this ended up separating ALL the envelope tops from the bottoms, and I used washi tape on the back to join them up again to look like closed envelopes.

I splattered a piece of white cardstock with black India ink and matted it onto an A2 panel of black cardstock.

After arranging and adhering all the envelopes onto the splattered panel using foam adhesive, I added 3 butterflies cut from pearl paper from the Artful Palette die set by Simon Says Stamp.

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 do not get paid to promote any products.

If I were ever stuck on a desert island with only a select number of craft supplies, the Waffle Flower Postage Collage (PC) collection would be at the top of my list. One of the most viral stamp/die/stencil collections ever made, I never get tired of using it and trying more and more ways to combine them all.

Today’s card using the original Postage Collage A2 Die, the PC Envelope Die, the PC Envelope Stencil, the PC Collage Mini Seals Die and the original Postage Collage Stamp Set.

I started with the stencil and ink blended using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans, and Stampin’ Up!’s Crumb Cake ink.

I colored in the tiny hearts formed by the die with a Uni-ball Signo Gold Gel pen.

Next, I used the original Postage Collage A2 die and cut the stenciled panel to make it look like a sheet of stamps. Using Gina K’s Amalgam black inkpad, I stamped with the PC stamp set in 3 places.

Now that my background was done, I die cut an envelope, an envelope liner, a little paper note, and a tiny seal all with the PC Mini Seals die set and scraps of cardstock. I inked the edges of the letter, and I stamped a tiny little heart-circle in Versamark inside the little seal using the Simon Says Stamp Easter Greetings Stamp set (I was so happy to discover this little stamp in my stamp collection). I assembled everything as shown and added a Gold foiled Happy Birthday sentiment from the Spellbinders You Are Everything Press Plate and Die set with foam tape. I backed the panel with Stampin’ Up!’s Crumb Cake cardstock and then with Spellbinders Malibu cardstock.

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 do not get paid to promote any products.

SUPPLIES USED

When I started this card I knew I wanted to combine this adorable Flourish Rabbit die from Simon Says Stamp with the Elegant Circles Die Set from Pinkfresh Studio. What I didn’t know is that I’d use one of the oldest embellishments I own and had never opened before (we’re talking 19 years, people).

I cut the bunny from Neenah Classic Crest 110lb coverstock. For the piece that makes the background of the ear, I gently ink blended a little Dried Marigold Distress Ink to give a hint of color. On that same piece, I colored the eye black so it would show through the top piece of the die. I used 2 alcohol ink markers to color the flower and leaves on the rabbit. I also used one of my lightest Copic markers (E40) to add in a hint of shading on a few edges of the rabbit.

I used the largest die in the Pinkfresh Studios Elegant Circles die set and cut it from a pale green cardstock, Soft Seafoam from Stampin’ Up!. I stacked this die cut with 3 more behind it to give it a lot of lift and sandwiched a circle of Heavyweight Vellum from Amazon amongst the stack. After I had glued the rabbit on this portion, I wanted to add tiny flowers and leaves on the bottom edge to give the rabbit something to sit on. I pulled out my basket of “paper flowers.” In this basket is both the kind of paper flowers I would buy from Prima decades ago and tiny little paper flowers from left over die cutting I had done recently. I unearthed an unopened package of tiny white paper flowers and silver brads from a long-ago company called Making Memories. I bought these in about 2007 when I was working for Archiver’s. I paired these cute little flowers with greenery from some large Poppystamps Pop Up Easel card die sets. I put tiny orange Poppystamps Fairy Jewels in the center of all the flowers and glued everything onto my circle frame.

I discovered an already paint splattered piece of Stampin’ Up! Crumb Cake in my stash, cut it into a 5 x 5” square and dry embossed it with the Tufted 3D Embossing Folder from Spellbinders. I backed this with a piece of pale orange cardstock 5.25 x 5.25” and another piece of Crumb Cake, 5.5 x 5.5”. Finally, I stamped a sentiment in dark green ink from the Simon Says Stamp Easter Greetings stamp set and used the Honeybee Stamps Mini Messages Banner die set to cut out the greeting. As usual, I attached this to a white cardbase.

I am entering this card in 3 challenges. First is the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the theme of Emboss It. Next is the Double Trouble Challenge using the 3-2-1 element (3 Copic markers, 2 new dies, 1 cotton tail) plus Thing 3 theme of Easter. Finally, I am entering the CreaLadies challenge with the theme of animal. 

NOTE: Square cards in square envelopes, of any size, cost more to mail than a rectangular envelope. Please check with the USPS to make sure you have enough postage.

A very happy Easter to you!

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 do not get paid to promote any products.

I recently got several packages of Tim Holtz’s Palette Paper Collection. It is absolutely dreamy. I’m so glad I got the Orange Tim Holtz 8x8 Palette Paper Collection, because it made the most ideal carrots. I used the Tim Holtz Abstract Elements die set to cut out 3 different sizes of carrots and then I edged them with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink to really make the orange pop. I used one die from Trinity Stamps Wildflower Clippings die set to create the carrot tops, cut from watercolor paper sprayed with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain.

I created Mr. McGregor’s Garden by taking Canson XL watercolor paper and dipping and drying it in a series of inks and sprays: Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso inkpads along with Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain Spray Stains. I made dirt! I die cut this one large piece using the Lawn Fawn Puffy Clouds Border dies and a die from the retired Mama Elephant Slim Window Dressings Die Set. It was a bit of a trick getting the carrots glued just where I wanted them and then gluing the levels of dirt all together. I’m sure I did it the hard way.

I computer printed the “Mr. McGregor’s Garden” text onto Stampin’ Up! Crumb Cake paper and then cut it out (along with some green cardstock) using the sign dies out of the Tim Holtz Road Trip die set.

I made a tiny sentiment from the old Colorado Craft Company Bunnies and Robin stamp set.

I used a homemade cloud stencil along with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to inkblend clouds in the sky.

I adhered the entire garden scene with foam tape on top of the cloud background. I was happy with how my garden grew. ;-) I am entering this in the Pick Three Challenge using text, slimline, and die cuts.

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 do not get paid to promote any products.

Hi everyone! I am very excited to announce I was invited to join the Simon Says Stamp Designer Family last month. So, today I am helping to introduce the In My Heart release from Simon Says Stamp. I have 3 cards to share today featuring the Bereavement Thank Yous* sentiment stamp set designed by Cathy Zielske for this release. Now, I think we’d all admit that this isn’t exactly a stamp set you’d be “excited” to use. However, when you’ve been through a significant loss of any kind, and people love and support you through it, you want to say thank you. This is that stamp set. It’s also an ideal set to have on hand to make thank you cards for someone else to give in their time of need. Those kinds of cards are a gift all unto themselves.

My first card was inspired by the gorgeous new Spellbinders Color Wheel cardstock. I chose their Oceanside cardstock (the color reminds me of Tim Holtz Uncharted Mariner Distress Ink) and cut 2 pieces to 4.25” x 5.5”. Next, I die cut a circle out of the right lower portion of 1 piece, leaving the perfect amount of room for my Bereavement Thank Yous sentiment to fit inside. Finally, I embossed it with the Tufted 3D Embossing folder from Spellbinders. That folder really has a Wow factor. With the flat piece, I heat embossed my sentiment onto the lower right portion to line up with the cut circle. I used Ink on 3 Gold Rush again.

Next, I die cut a variety of pieces of leaves and flowers from Poppystamps Floral Vase Pop Up Easel Set and Floral Cake Pop Up Easel Set. I glued those down on the embossed top piece and attached that with a lot of foam tape to the sentiment piece. Finally, I stamped the slender one-line sentiment from the same stamp set in a dark teal ink onto white cardstock. I used a Honey Bee Stamps sentiment strip die to cut it out.  I attached it with glue on the left and 2 skinny strips of foam tape on the right to hover just below the gold sentiment. Finally, I attached all this to a white card base.

My second card features not only the Bereavement Thank Yous but also the Heart Flowers Background from Simon Says Stamp. I used a few of Tim Holtz’s Distress Watercolor Pencils from Set #4 and scribbled all over the stamp. I spritzed the stamp with water and then stamped it onto a light kraft cardstock. I did this 2-3 times to get one good impression. I absolutely love how those pencils (pigment-based) look on colored cardstock. I cut it to the size I wanted. Next, I took a copper colored cardstock and dry embossed it with a folder featuring an all-over-pattern. I cut that to a size just a fraction larger. Next, I took my Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Distresser (a favorite tool) and roughed up all the edges on both these pieces.

I heat embossed the “I appreciate you” (a great stamp for any kind of thank you) with Ink on 3 Gold Rush embossing powder on a strip of dark brown cardstock. I also die cut a circle from this same cardstock. Between these two, I sandwiched lots of leaves cut using Simon Says Stamp’s Eucalyptus Leaves die set and Trinity Stamps Wildflower Clippings. I used a darker kraft cardstock, the copper colored cardstock, and also a gold pearly cardstock from the Crafter’s Companion (Violet Studio) 6x6 Pearlescent Colours paper pack.

Finally, I added two pieces of rough twine (they came with a pack of tags I bought on Amazon) to the cluster and attached everything with glue and foam tape.

My third card is simpler and larger. I wanted a 5x7” card so I could allow a decent amount of white space around the sentiment. First, I used Pinkfresh Studio’s Breezy Blossoms set of dies, stamps, and stencils to make a few floral accents. I used Taylored Expressions Lavender Glaze ink and Dusty Concord Distress Ink to color the flowers. Next, I used a piece of Neenah Classic Crest 110lb Cover stock and stamped it with the Bereavement Thank Yous sentiment using black Versa Clair ink. 

Leaving space above and below the sentiment, I die cut it using the Spellbinders Essential Arches dies. I cut a larger arch from black cardstock to mat it onto. I used a piece of Neenah cover stock about 3.5” x 5.5” and embossed it with Honey Bee Stamps Spring Medley 3D embossing folder. I mat that onto a piece of Taylored Expressions Lavender Glaze cardstock, and then onto my 5x7 piece of black cardstock.  I assembled everything as shown and added tiny black gems around the floral accents. Of course, all this was glued to the top of a cardbase made out of Neenah 110lb cardstock.

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 do not get paid to promote any products.

Today's card uses a fantastic set I stumbled upon at Simon Says Stamp. It is called Fantastic Flowers and when I purchased it (on sale!) it came with stamps, dies AND a stencil set. Now, that's winning. Currently only the stencils and dies are available. I've been watching oodles of Jennifer McGuire videos and she's done so much ink blending through stencils that the technique called my name. 

I first stamped the palm frond stem in Versamark on Hammermill 80lb white cardstock (later I glued this to a 110lb Neenah Solar White Classic Crest piece after they were both die cut - gave it some real heft). I also stamped the Happy Birthday from Simon Says Stamp's Circle Sayings Stamp set in Versamark. I used my Ink on Three Gold Rush gold embossing powder (five stars, highly recommend) to heat emboss both images. Next, I put down the stencil and blended Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire together. I was thrilled with the results and I know I will make more because it was so fun. (A thanks to Cathy Zielske or I would never have thought to do the stem before the stenciling but it worked perfectly). 

I used the matching die to cut the stenciled image and a "shadow" from Stampin' Up's Berry Burst cardstock. I glued both these down onto 110lb Neenah cardstock. I die cut the circle saying with a circle die from Trinity Stamps and popped it up with some foam tape. The wonderful hole-free sequins are in a brushed gold and from Spellbinders. Pretty simple card that was really fun to make.

I'm going to enter this at Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge PP731. I think it meets the criteria of sentiment, lavender, and glitter. 

I hope to get back here with more cards but I know I will post more on my Instagram too. Thanks for reading this and happy crafting. 

If this card looks familiar it’s because it is a carefully made CASE of a card posted by the uber talented Martin Stone of @martinmayhem on February 4. His blog post on it is here. Instagram post is here.

You’ve probably had it happen to you where you see something and HAVE TO make it. I went so far as to get the retired stamp and die set, called Happiness Abounds, off eBay (very reasonable price, thank goodness) in order to make this card. Since then I have made other cards with the stamps and dies. I think if I were stuck on a deserted island with my craft supplies I'd take this stamp and die set with me, it's so good. 

One game-changing idea I learned from Martin’s Mayhem is how to alter a diecut to better match the color of your card. When you stamp an image on white cardstock, color it, and die cut it, you end up with a white outline around the image. Sometimes it works with your design and sometimes the white is just too stark. On this card, Martin colored the white outline with alcohol ink markers to fit in better with his card. Now I've started doing that (I used watercolor here) and I'm loving the results.

I stamped the flowers from Happiness Abounds (retired) on watercolor cardstock with black Distress Archival Ink and watercolored the inside of the images with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers (I know Dull Blue was one of the colors). I used a waterbrush with Fossilized Amber Distress Ink to color the leaves, and then with Misty Moonlight ink to color the outside edge of the images, just before I die cut them. After this, I splattered the image with white ink. Specifically, I used Dr. Ph. Martin's Pen-White ink. I am splatter-impaired and both the black and white ink from Dr. Ph. Martin's allows me to use a small paintbrush to make tiny splatters with NO giant blobs falling on my paper. It dries super fast and I think I am "cured" from my impairment. 

I stamped the sentiment from another amazing SU stamp set called Good Feelings with black Memento ink onto 80lb white cardstock, and used one of the dies in the Happiness Abounds stamp set to get the spiral notebook edge at the top.

I assembled it to copy his card as best I could, adding lots of different bling when I was done. I was very happy with the results. Thanks, Martin. 

What I've used here :

Cardstock: Watercolor paper, 80lb Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover, Stampin’ Up! Misty Moonlight

Stamps: Happiness Abounds (plus matching dies), Good Feelings, both by Stampin' Up!

Ink: Distress Archival Ink in Black Soot, Memento Black Tuxedo Ink, Distress Ink Fossilized Amber

Other: Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, Dr. Ph. Martin's Pen-White ink for white splatter.

I guess I am on a roll. I decided to make yet another slimline, mixed media card featuring a big butterfly. This time it is a stamp called Big Butterfly (really) by Impression Obsession. My other ingredients for this card were Distress Oxide Inks in Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord and Faded Jeans. I stamped on the oxides with Tim Holtz's Ledger Script stamps using his Archival ink in Black Soot. Then I applied a thin coat of gesso over what I had. I stamped with the Tim Holtz Field Notes stamp set in both Archival gray and black. I die cut the film strip from black cardstock. I stamped the butterfly stamp onto Bristol Smooth paper with black to get the sharpest image I could. Then I used Distress inks in Dusty Concord and Stormy Sky to get the purple I used to paint on the butterfly.

I made a giant mess splattering the filmstrip, cardbase and butterfly with Distress White Paint (I am splatter impaired). I stamped Tim Holtz's Floral Outlines stamp set onto heavy vellum paper with Versamark and embossed using Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder. I tore a strip of that to go under the butterfly. I computer printed the saying which I found on Pinterest and cut it out in strips. I used foam tape to glue it over a white thread nest. 

I matted the entire thing onto black cardstock. This is another card going out to a young female relative. 

I am entering this card at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, the Stamping Sensations challenge, the Creative Artiste Challenge, and the We Love Stamping Challenge., and the We Love to Create Challenge and also the Triple B challenge

T'is the Season. Christmas is typically a very busy time in most households that celebrate the holiday. But this year, mine is extra busy. I am planning my daughter's January wedding and I'm swamped with a To Do list longer than Santa's Naughty list. Fortunately, very early this year I began making some Christmas cards. I chose 5 designs and made 7 of each. I saw this design somewhere - perhaps Instagram, using the now-retired Tim Holtz Snowflake Impresslit. If you're not familiar with them, at one time Sizzix produced these small embossing folders that both cut and embossed an image at the same time. They are all retired now, so I am holding on to the ones I have. The oak leaves one is my favorite. 

I used Neenah's Classic Crest Solar White 110lb cardstock (spritzed with water) to make the snowflake. Next, I used a Bazzill Kraft stock (maybe Peanut Cluster color) and embossed it with the Sizzix embossing folder called Nordic Pattern by Olivia Rose. I just adore the imagery. I very lightly swiped Picket Fence Distress Ink over the raised areas using a domed foam blender. 

Finally, I embossed Merry Christmas using Taylored Expressions Modern Holiday Greetings stamp set. It's a fantastic set with lots of "clean" Christmas sentiments. By clean, I mean there are no flourishes and everything is sans serif. Lots to choose from. 

I put it all together on a cardbase using the same Neenah cardstock. Just dropped this card, along with about 40 others at the post office. 

Happy Holidays, y'all!

This one was a doozy of a make. I had an idea and I ran with it -- but it was a marathon. I'll describe all the layers from bottom up, okay? The bottom layer is a piece of Bazzill cardstock in a taupe brown. With the exception of a little foam tape, I used my trusty Bearly Arts glue on every layer and flower. The next layer was a scrap from the Tim Holtz Paper Stash Wallflowers 12x12 paper pad. 

Ideaology no longer makes these but you can still find them online. I cut the piece into a tag shape by simply snipping the corners of a long rectangular piece. I inked the edges with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink, splattered some Frayed Burlap Distress Spray Stain on, then stitched with a dark brown thread around the edge. I made some tiny rips on the edges to add to the aged look. Next, I stamped the Don't Forget and the April 22 with a Point Planners roller stamp by American Crafts. Finally, I went back to stitch on the Ideaology tag.

The Earth was created with watercolor paper and the large and medium Tim Holtz Moon Masks by Stamper's Anonymous. I dusted my paper with anti-static powder, then smashed a Versamark embossing ink pad through the largest moon mask onto the watercolor paper. I applied  Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Glaze and heat set it. Next, I masked off a portion of the medium moon mask so that I wouldn't catch any edges, just the blobs. I positioned it where I wanted it and did the same technique with the Versamark and the embossing glaze. I used my dear old Coluzzle cutting tool to cut a circle around the green blobs.