XOXO Valentine Pouch

You can tell that it's February with all the decorations up in stores and handmade Valentines online! I ran across some adhesive-backed fabric with a Valentine print that I just had to use this week.

Sometimes you just want to make a treat or surprise of some sort for someone...a coworker, a neighbor, your offspring...filled with a note, little cookies, candies, a trinket. I went looking for a box or bag tutorial and stumbled upon this cute paper-folded pouch. It took minutes to make. A piece of patterned paper, adhesive-backed patterned fabric and glitter cardstock. It could be set on the breakfast plate or by the coffeemaker for a sweet surprise. 

I am playing along at Simon Says Stamp where the Monday Challenge is Add Some Texture and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes! The fabric is a very different texture than the smooth patterned paper, and the crinkled paper strips are a texture all their own. And finally, the glitter paper of the die cut stamp has a soft gritty feel to it!

Here is the tutorial from Miss Tracy Creates for the pouch. I used a Simon Says Stamp circle die to cut the top of the heart (folded double to cut both curved adges at once). I used my Concord & 9th Sweet Sayings Dies for the white sparkly postage stamp that imprints XOXO on it. I added a piece of hot pink cardstock behind it to fill in the cutout of a heart that this die makes. I added the fun adhesive-backed fabric (so old I don't remember the source) on the inside because my black patterned paper is not a two-sided design.

Happy heart season! Thanks for stopping by.

Carol

Live in the Moment

Hello and thanks for stopping by! Here's a card I made for our Just Us Girls #808, CASE a DT challenge this week. Each of us makes whatever we want and you Copy and Selectively Edit what inspires you from one of our cards to make your own project. It is so much fun seeing how creative the cardmakers are who join us!

What I used:

• My Favorite Things Stitched Scalloped Rectangle dies
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk sentiments
• Spellbinders gold glitter cardstock, Essentials gems: Gold Mix
• Black Glitter cardstock

I was in the mood to make a simple "frame inside a frame" design with some shine and sparkle as the focal point. Pink has been my go-to color lately so my card base started there. It's an easy layout to remake in different colors for a variety of "feels" and occasions. I used scalloped rectangles and added a pretty bow, sentiment and gems.

Be sure to check out the team's blogs for their creative ideas for cards. We'd love for you to join our challenge this week where you get to create your own version of one of our cards!

Hope you are well and have lots of time to craft!

Carol

You are Snow Sweet

It is Stencil Week at Just Us Girls #807 and I just happened to receive dies, stencils and stamps from the Snow Angel collection at Waffle Flower for Christmas. A special person picked them out herself, not being a stamper, and these perfectly matched gifts were so cute that I could not wait to use them! The trees, hills, snow angel and paw prints in the snow, and the cat are all stenciled. We hope you will get out a stencil or two and share something you make with them.

What I used:

• Waffle FlowerSnow Angel Cat Duo Die-n-Stencil set, Snowy Hills Stencil, Postage Collage Winter Add-ons, Snowy Hills die, Snow Angel Sentiments
• Ranger Distress and Distress Oxide ink pads
• Concord & 9th ink pads
• Altenew Obsidian black ink pad

The expression on the cat's face is undeniably happy! I started this project making the cat: die cut then stenciled. Next was the fun tree-covered hills die. After stenciling the trees, I popped them up on my card base with foam tape. I stenciled the snow angel into the snow, then added the paw prints over to that spot. I popped up the cat above the snow, then stamped the sentiment. It was a really fun card to make!

We hope you will join us this week with some stenciled fun. Thanks for visiting!

Carol

Love You,Thank you

For our second challenge of the year at Time Out #305, we have an Inspired By challenge asking for a Favorite Technique. This is a great challenge topic for learning how others make their cards. My current favorite "technique" is using bundles that include coordinating stamps, dies and stencils to create cards. It is so much fun to stencil or stamp first, then die cut from the same coordinating products. The best part for me is that I can stencil instead of using markers to color in the images. Sometimes my coloring needs practice, so that's the "technique" part I like best!

My card uses all three products from this bundle by Concord & 9th. These City Block stencils are easy to use and by just changing the colors, you get a totally different feeling from them each time. Using these stencils I always get the feeling of vacation or downtown somewhere, or even a brand new shopping/living development.

Our wonderful sponsor, Top Flight Stamps, is generously offering a $25.00 store credit as a prize for our Challenge Winner, who will also get an invitation to join us as Guest Designer for a future challenge.

We are joined by Gundi of Papierelle, and winner of Time Out #300 as Guest Designer. Visit her blog to see her work. Don't forget to check out our design team blogs for the techniques and products they share for each challenge.

I think this will be a fun challenge with everyone sharing their favorite techniques. We can't wait for you to play along with us!

Thanks for visitng!

Carol

Winter Greetings

With cold weather all over the country I thought I should make a snowy scene for this week's Just Us Girls Challenge #806. We have a moodboard from Vicki and I chose to capture a closeup of the New Yorker magazine cover in the bottom right area. The team has a variety of creative ideas for you this week! And our guest this month, Laurel Seabrook, has something special for you as well. Stop by their blogs to see what they've made.

What I used:

Memory Bow Oval Snowman Collage die

Poppystamps Holiday banners stamp and die sets

Waffle Flower Snowflake Background die (snowflakes)

White glitter cardstock

Concord & 9th ink pads

Altenew Obsidian black ink pad

Copic and Sharpie markers (face and arms)

My card front is made with one die, plus snowflakes from another cover die. So I die cut the scene, ink blended it, then popped it up on foam tape to a white glitter cardstock panel. That panel is sparkly!

There is a lot to be inspired by in our moodboard and we look forward to seeing what you create. Hope your new year is off to a good start and that you are staying warm!

Carol

Happy 2026

I like to come up with at least one New Year card idea every year and the CASE It Instagram Hop came just in time for me to make a card of my own inspired by someone on Instagram. Each of us in the hop finds a card on Instagram that we want to Copy And Selectively Edit. This month I am CASEing Nat of @natspaperworld and two of her cards using the Concord & 9th Handmade Holiday die set. I love how she gave her cards a frame, then added the hands and arms doing the holiday activities. Her Christmas card is especially festive, isn't it? Her second card is for a new year greeting and is just lovely, too. Check out her Instagram account...she is so creative and talented!

Here are Nat's cards that caught my eye.

This is her Happy New Year card.

What I used:

• Concord & 9th Handmade Holiday die set
• Sizzix Number die
• Waffle Flower Nesting Rectangle Frame dies
• Stampin' Up! Star Border punch
• Spellbinders gold gems, Gold shiny and gold glitter cardstock
• Patterned paper
• Vellum
• Black Glitter cardstock

The elegant patterned background is actually a black and gold, very striking design. It was too busy for a background for the little arms and hands so I covered it with vellum, then cut a smooth gold metallic frame and one out of a sticky back foam sheet to give it dimension.

Originally I die cut gold shiny numbers out of the same cardstock as the frame but it was too much gold, so I went with the black glitter cardstock instead and I really like it a lot better. 

The stars, bell and bracelet are cut from glitter cardstock and the lacy sleeve edge is gold vellum. I added a few gold gems for a bit more sparkle and shine.

I am also playing along at Inkspirational Challenge #358 Shine/Shiny.

Hop along with us! You can start at my Instagram account: @sawithadtomakeit if you like. Happy hopping and...

Happy New Year!

Carol

Things You Love

Thanks for stopping by today! Our latest Just Us Girls Challenge #805 is Word Week and Elizabeth chose Encouragement for us to add to our cards. This is the type of sentiment we all have in our stash so we hope that lots of you will participate this week!

Elizabeth shared this Nordic Crown Flower die set with me and it is so pretty, isn't it? I die cut it out of white cardstock then ink blended the colors I wanted it to be. I grabbed my Ellen Hutson A2 Piercing Plate 2 for the background and my trusty Tim Holtz Idea-ology adhesive-backed sentiments.

Be sure to visit our January guest Laurel's wonderful blog as well as those of each team member. It's a great place to learn about products and techniques to try, or ones you haven't done in a while.

See you in the gallery!

Carol