International Women's Day - Card Making

Happy March 8th and celebration of International Women's Day. International Women's Day (IWD) has occurred for well over a century with the first gathering held in 1911. Purple, green and white are the colors of International Women's Day, an annual event that celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

My journey with Stampin' Up! started in 2006 and has given me the opportunity to celebrate creativity with women all over the world.  Whether we're coming together to make cards or scrapbooking or share our love of papercrafting it doesn't matter who we are.  There are no boundaries to the friendship, caring and camaraderie we've shared.  

So here's my salute and shout out to women papercrafters around the world. Keep your creativity positive and ongoing!  

HERE'S MY CARD: 

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Visit my 24/7 Online Web Site: 

Click here to see the benefit of adding my March Hostess Code to your order.

On Line Exclusives ReFresh Starts Today!

Oh Happy Day!  Over the past week or so you may have seen some "sneak peek" cards or projects featuring new Stampin' Up! products and wondered how do I get my hands on those.  Well the wait is over!  

Starting today, March the 5th, 2024 you can begin shopping the new Online Exclusive product line. These new products are not in any catalogue and are only available online, and require an Online Account to place your order.

 It's easy to set up an account with me, but if you run into any difficulties or have questions don't hesitate to contact me for assistance. 

Online Exclusive products have no fixed end date.  Some of the Online Exclusives are available only while supplies last, and others will be reordered when inventory is low.  In this way, Stampin' Up! can offer even more new products throughout the year.

 

Click here to view the flyer or you can scan the bar code below to check out what was added today.  

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store 

Zany Zoo March Birthdays #FMS645

March is always a busy month for me.  I have so many friends celebrating birthdays or anniversaries that my to do calendar is full.  I don't mind though, it's fun to celebrate and make someone's day with some happy mail! 

For today's card I've used the Freshly Made Sketch Challenge #FMS625

HERE'S MY CARD: 

For today's card I used a fun birthday stamp and die bundle from the Annual Catalogue called Zany Zoo #161315.  There are 20 dies and 11 red cling stamps in this bundle.  The full suite called the ZOO Crew on pages 46 and 47 of the catalogue includes the beautiful Zany Zoo 12 x 12 designer series paper, as well as the stamps, dies and coordinating pastel ribbon  Duo pack.  Love it!  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator

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Jungle Pals TSOT#641

The mid-month sketch challenge from Try Stamping on Tuesday (TSOT) #641 runs to March 3rd, 2024.  I decided to give it a try.  Here is the sketch: 

Click here to see the TSOT design  team cards. 

Here is My Card:

This card is for one of my stamping friends who's currently going through some pretty rough health issues and needs something to lift her spirits. I decided I would use one of my Sale-a-bration stamp sets called Jungle Pals and the coordinating dies and try and create a fun card. 

Stamping Products Used:

Stamp Set & Dies: Jungle Pals (Sale-a-bration now retired)
Cardstock: Granny Apple Green, Lemon Lolly and Whisper White

Ink: Momento Black Ink, Granny Apple Green, Lost Lagoon, Lemon Lolly, Wheat, Sweet Sorbet

Blends: L&D Crumb Cake, L&D Gray Granite, L&D Black

Accessories:  White and Pink Pearlized L&S adhesive sequins, Dimensionals, Mini Cut and Emboss Machine, Tom Bow Adhesive, Acrylic Blocks, Regular and Mini blender brushes.  

• The card base measures 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" and is scored at 4 1/4"
• Mat Layer 5 1/4 x 4" piece of Lemon Lolly cardstock, adhered to the base
• 51/8 x 3 7/8" layer of Whisper White for top layer.  I used this piece of card stock beneath my die cut images when I was colouring them with blends to colour the background and make it more interesting. 
• All the leaves, tree trunk and flowers were cut from scraps of Whisper White card stock and then coloured with blending brushes (see Products). 
• The Sloth and the cat were stamped in Momento Black ink on Whisper White cardstock and then coloured with blends and cut out with the coordinating dies.  The Sloth was mounted with Dimensionals to the tree branch.  

For my version of the TSOT #651 sketch, I used the tree for the long vertical  layer.  The leaves at the bottom actually cross over and behind the tree so they represent the strip that runs horizontal on the card, and, the Sloth and flowers and additional leaves are the focal .  

I love the images of the leaves on the background layer I created just by colouring the leaves and flowers with the various layers of ink on top of this whisper white layer.  I moved the images around as I coloured so that the ink would cover the whole area of the layer.  It really looks like the jungle.  

I enhanced the size of the tree trunk by leaving a margin on the right hand side of the tree when I made the first cut.  Then I ran it through the mini cut n' emboss again, moving the die so it cut to the left on the margin which left little stubs of the branches on the side.  You can see them in the photo below.  

Well that's it for this sketch challenge and my Jungle Pals get well card.  I had a lot of fun playing with the dies and stamps in this set and have already started a couple of other cards that I'll post later this week.  What fun!  

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up Demo 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store: 

NOTE:  I wasn't paying attention to the TSOT deadline, thinking I had all day, unfortunately it closed at 1pm MT today, so I missed entering my card.  Oh well the sketch still inspired me to make a card and there's lots of great samples on the web link for TSOT.!  

MY MARCH 2024 HOSTESS CODE

 HELLO MARCH

My March Hostess Code PN4VBUTU starts today and runs through to March 31st at noon. May the Luck of the Irish be with you this month!

Every papercrafter needs stuff, but not everyone can afford to place orders over $200 or host workshops to accumulate sales, so offering my monthly hostess code for smaller orders, is my way of saying "thanks for supporting my business".  

If you're planning on placing an order valued from $60 to $199.00 (before shipping and tax) during the month of March add this code at the end of your order to receive a small token of my appreciation and thank you card. 

The benefits of shopping at my online store and adding my monthly Hostess Code are:

• You never have to go to a workshop or party. 
• If you need help with your product choices I'm always here to help. 
• You get to decide when to place your order and my online store is available 24/7.
• Your new products are shipped directly to your front door and generally arrive within 5-7 days of placing your online order.

After you've  placed your order and applied the current hostess code you'll receive a free surprise gift from me and thank you card  generally within 2-3 weeks.  

Here's How It Works:  

My monthly Hostess Code/free gift offer is only available for orders placed on-line and you must add the hostess code before the order is finalized.  If you don't already have an online account with me, you'll need to set one up. It's fast and easy.

Once you've got your account set up you simply type in the monthly hostess code at checkout to any qualifying order valued from $60 to $199.00 (before shipping, tax and handling). 

Before you finalize your order at checkout you must add my hostess code to the circled area.  Make sure before you place your order to have the current code because once your order has been finalized, I can't add the code for you, and unfortunately you will not qualify for my free gift although you'll still receive a thank you card from me.   

If your order totals more than $200, no worries, you'll automatically receive Stampin' Rewards at the checkout based on your order total and will be prompted to enter products adding up to the qualifying amount before you proceed to checkout.

NOTE:  My March Hostess Code promo closes at noon on March 31, 2024.  Your free gift and thank you card will be sent to you by the 3rd week in April.

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up Demo

Click Here To Go To  My 24/7 Online Store 

Cascading Folds Fancy Fold Cards

Have you ever received a handmade card from a fellow stamper that leaves you speechless and wanting to craft?  That's what happened when I opened this beautiful birthday card made by my friend Debby Evoy. Honestly when I pulled it from its fancy envelope,  I just stood there checking it out for at least 5 minutes. It was the prettiest card I'd received and I didn't want to put it down.  

What impressed me so much about this card?  Well, what didn't!  I loved the double tone cardstock layers and mix for the branches. And, I was really taken with the Perennial Lavender designer series paper layers. The focal point florals, tiny butterflies, amethyst gems (my birthstone) and lovely draped folds captured and held my attention. Honestly, opening this special fancy fold card was truly a WOW, WOW, WOW moment for this cardmaker. Thanks Deb for making my day special! 

Prior to Debby's card arriving I had a couple of cards in the works, that were  inspired by posts on Youtube and Pinterest. This fancy fold card style comes in a variety of names.  It's most commonly referred to on social media as a Cascading Pleat or Three Panel Fold Card.  There are also a variety of sizes and orientations.  One thing all of these cards have in common despite their different names and sizes, is they have easy to follow directions and there are many beautiful samples to inspire you. 

I reviewed a lot of different posts and samples before I made my cards, but my favourites were those demonstrated by Lesly Kilby of the UK, Tami White, Dawn Griffith, and Susan Camfield (Suestampfield).  Sizes and measurements on each of their posts.   

Here Are My Cards:  

I was making a get well card for a very sick friend and wanted something special.  Because I wanted to send some positive vibes I chose the Sunny Days 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper and the Brighter Skies stamp set to achieve this. 

My moods are highly influenced by colour so I wanted to project a soft and soothing background for my get well card.  The colour mix of Pool Party, Shaded Spruce, Smokey Slate and Whisper White in the Sunny Days dsp provided that  soothing feel. Also raindrops, clouds, and rainbow designs when mixed together were very cheery. 

This is a back view of the card base showing a better view of the cascading pleats. I scored and cut the card base, all the mats and DSP layers and did the sentiment stamping before I started assembling the card.  It came together very quickly.

This picture shows the front panel, that began with a piece of cloud covered dsp followed by a mat of Pool Party cardstock. The rain drops on the whisper white mat were stamped in Smokey Slate.  The raindrop stamp and the sentiment are both from the Bright Skies #162787 stamp set. I finished this panel by adding 5 pool party opaque faceted gems and although you can't see it I used Wink of Stella to add some shine to the raindrops. 

For the second or middle panel I adhered a piece of raindrop dsp.  When I planned the layers for this card I decided to stamp this adorable bunny from the "Playing in the Rain stamp set. This character has just the right amount of positivity and cheer to make my "feel good" get well card.  The image was coloured with Petal Pink, Smokey Slate and Pool Party Stampin' Up! blends 

The Playing In The Rain Stamp Set #160542 coordinates beautifully with the Bright Skies #162787 stamp set and dies #162793.  It's available in the current Annual Catalogue on page 60. 

This cool rainbow dsp was adhered to the inside panel of  the card.  added a smaller mat to the center so that the dsp would be the spotlight on this panel.  The "get well wishes" stamp is from the retired Petite Pairs stamp set which retired years ago and the umbrella is from the Playing in the Rain stamp set.  

HERE'S MY SECOND CARD SAMPLE: 

My second Cascading Pleat card is for a friend's masculine milestone birthday. He loves carpentry and Mr. Fix It stuff, so I know he'll love this one.  

This card was made in the landscape or horizontal orientation mode.  Although the card is assembled in the same way as my first card, the measurements are quite different and I had to make adjustments to the PDF instructions I was following.  

The tools were fussy cut from the free Sale-a-bration 12 x 12 designer called Trusty Toolbox. I used some dies from the Trusty Tools bundle on page 56 of the January Mini Catalogue.  I love the pegboard background die and the toolbox.  Both are easy to cut and or assemble.   

Another great stamp set I used from the Sale-A-Bration flyer was called Heartfelt Hellos.  I can't tell you how many cards I've made using the Enjoy Your Day sentiment over the past two months and I'll be sad to see it retired at the end of February. In fact I wish this one would carry over into the next catalogue season. 

The birthday sentiment and cake stamps on the middle panel are from the Hey Chuck stamp featured on page 49 of the Annual Catalogue.  Both were stamped in Smokey Slate ink, on the Whisper White banner.  I used the Nested Essentials Die set to die cut the banner for this focal point as well as some silver foil nuts and a screw from the Trusty Tools dies.  

Well that's it for today and I hope you enjoyed both of my versions of the Cascading Pleat card. I'll be making and giving away more of this style of card in future because it was so much fun to make.  All you need to make this card is a good mix of dsp and coordinating cardstock.

I hope you'll give this fancy fold a try, you're sure to find it easy to make.  I suggest you watch any of the crafters videos on YouTube first so you can get the full cutting instructions and see how the cascading fold is created.  

Let me know how whether you've tried to make a Cascading Pleat card or would like  to try it out.  I love to receive your comments and hear or see what you're creating.  Cheers and have a good week.   

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Shop My  24/7 Online Store 

More Sweet Thoughts Memories And More

Following yesterday's FMS challenge post, I wanted to share some other cards I've made using the Sweet Thoughts Memories And More pack.  

It's so easy to make quick and simple cards using the Memories and More packs, because only a few additional supplies such as a paper trimmer, scissors, adhesive, some sentiment stamps and ink are needed.  You can add coordinating cardstock for layers and card bases, to extend the number of cards you can make.  

HERE ARE SOME OF MY CARD PROJECTS: 

Birthday Card:

This birthday card literally took me less than 15 minutes to put together, using the stickers in the kit and some standard sized basic whisper white card bases.  

Note:  I'm not a fan of the large sized envelopes and card bases (4 1/4" x 6 1/4") in the pack.  They are simply too big.  To remedy this I just cut the  cardbases in half and then cut those half pieces down to 4" x 5 1/4" mats.  The leftover scraps can be thrown away or used on the insides of the cards for decoration.   I also cut the envelopes apart so I can use the beautiful designed paper as layers on my cards.  The flap can be glued over the flap on a standard card envelope (Stampin' Up!).

Note:  When cutting the card base in half, do not cut on the fold line, move the card stock so the card lines up at the 4" on either side of the fold line.  

This is a single layer card without mats.  I started with a standard Whisper White A2 card base measuring 8 1/2" x 5 12" and scored at 4 1/4".  Next I adhered a 3" x 5 1/2 inch strip of the Calypso Coral card base in the center front of the card.  The two daisy strips from the sticker collection were placed on either side of the front panel.  The paint brush, sentiments and flowers are also from the sticker collection.  I randomly placed some pearlized white sequins to finish the card.    

Thank You Cards:

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I am a real fan of monochromatic designs, so this card was very easy to assemble. I cut a Pretty Peacock card base in half and then cut 5 1/4 x 4" mats from each one. I cut the two side strips which measure 1" x 5 1/4" from one of these mats. The 3 x 5 1/4" center panel was cut from one of the larger cards. I cut Stitched layering circles from Lost Lagoon and Whisper White for the focal point. The "thanks" sentiment and flower stamps are from Stampin' Ups! Artistic Impressions stamp set. The focal point was attached with dimensionals and some sequins were added to finish the card front.

For this second thank you card I die cut the scalloped edge mat using the largest die in the Scalloped Contour die set from a Calypso Coral card base.  I cut a mat from Lost Lagoon cardstock and then layered it with the floral 3 x 5 card.  I added some Lost Lagoon (retired) satin ribbon around the center of this layer before attaching it with dimensionals to the scalloped layer.  I stamped thanks in Pretty Peacock ink on a scrap of whisper white and then layered it on a scrap of the Flirty  Flamingo card base.  A few coordinating opaque Calypso Coral gems were added to finish the card off.  These gems were FREE from Sale-A-Bration.  

My third thank you card once again uses mats from the card bases. The floral strip was cut from one of the larger cards.  I basically just cut off the wording.  The butterflies are cut from  one of the 3 x 5" cards.  

The final card took probably 3 minutes to make.  I cut a 4" x 5 1/4" mat from Lost Lagoon and layered it with one of the larger cards that I had cut down to 3 3/4" x 5".  I added some of the pearlized sequins to give it some glam.  Easy Peasy!  

Note:  The Lost Lagoon Stitched Circles that were used in two of the cards were cut from the Lost Lagoon mats before they were adhered to the card bases so there is no waste. 

Well that's it for today's cards.  I hope you'll drop me a comment and let me know if you've tried out any of the Memory and More card kits that Stampin' Up! features, and or any comments on my cards.  I'd love to hear from you.  Enjoy! 

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Only 4 more days to take advantage of my
February Hostess Code don't miss out! Click here to see
how to apply the code to your order.  

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Sale-A-Bration 2024 is coming to an end. 
Last day to shop February 29, 2024