Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks

Welcome to the September 2023 Creative Card-iology Team Blog Hop! We’re glad you've joined us to check out this month’s cardmaking inspiration featuring the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks.

 When I saw the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks pictured in the September-December 2023 Mini Catalog, I knew they would be on my first order from this catalog!  I could just envision using them for so many different projects – cards, wall art, journals, etc. The creative possibilities seemed endless! 

 

There are 7 masks/stencils in the collection – 4 of them layer together to create a beautiful collection of sunflowers and leaves.  The other 3 include leaves, snowflakes and an argyle pattern.   You can spritz, sponge, trace, emboss or add texture with the masks.  And they clean up easily with a baby wipe or by rinsing with water.

I drew some color inspiration for my project from a set of paper napkins I had bought a while ago.  The checked border on these napkins reminded me of the Black & Very Vanilla Large Check Ribbon that is in the Mini Catalog, and I decided to include that ribbon in my project too.

 

I used Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Copper Clay and Early Espresso Ink and blending brushes to color my sunflowers.  Boho Blue, Misty Moonlight, Pretty Peacock and Old Olive were the inks I used to color my leaves.

I also created a background with the argyle pattern using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Very Vanilla Cardstock.  My sentiment came from the So Sincere stamp set, also from the September-December 2023 Mini Catalog.

Here are the measurements for the card pieces:

   Basic Black Card Base – 5 ½” x 8 ½”, scored at 4 ¼”

   Argyle Pattern Layer 1 – 4” x 5 ¼”

   Basic Black Layer 2 – 3 ⅝” x 4 ⅞”

   Very Vanilla Layer 3 – 3 ½” x 4 ¾”

   Very Vanilla Mask Layer – 6” x 6”

   Black & Very Vanilla ⅜” Large Check Ribbon – approximately 10”

After blending the inks over the stencils to color my sunflower and leaf images, I fussy cut out the flowers and leaves with Paper Snips.  I layered the smallest sunflower on top of the largest sunflower image to create a flower with a little more depth and dimension.

I love how my card came out, and I’m looking forward to playing and creating more projects with the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks!

Thanks for hopping with us today!  Don’t forget to check out my teammates’ blogs by clicking on the links below.  We always appreciate your feedback and would love to know you stopped by, so feel free to comment below!

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog

Product List

162331

$10.50

162283

$24.00

121045

$10.00

101650

$10.50

161650

$9.00

147085

$9.00

161647

$9.00

147087

$9.00

147114

$9.00

153118

$9.00

147090

$9.00

150083

$9.00

132708

$6.50

153611

$13.00

160518

$12.00

161982

$8.00

103683

$5.75

104430

$4.25

152813

$8.00

103579

$11.00

152392

$26.00

147042

$8.50

144107

$11.00

Zoo Crew Lunchbox

 

The other day I confessed on my Facebook page that I’m a bit of a “procraftinator” – many of my ideas/projects come together at the last possible moment, and I’m confessing now that sometimes they come together even later than that!

My Zoo Crew Lunchbox Note Holder is one of those projects, and I'm hope that the old adage “better late than never” applies here.

For last month’s Creative Card-iology Team Back to School Tutorial bundle, I created 3x3 notecards using the Zany Zoo bundle and the Zoo Crew Designer Series Paper – encouraging notes that could be put in with a child’s lunch.

I love the Zany Zoo bundle – it’s such a fun collection and features a variety of creatures involved in all kinds of activities – just like the kids in our lives have different interests and skills.  

I wanted to create a coordinating box in the shape of a lunchbox to hold the cards. I decided to do a Pinterest search to see if anyone else had ever created one before, and I found one in a blog post by Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator Angie Pyjas at stampingwithamore.com.

I used the dimensions I found to make an initial lunchbox, but it turned out a bit bigger than I wanted.  I made some adjustments and was able to create a lunchbox that fit my notecards perfectly.  So I added a note to my tutorial that I would be having a special blog post at the end of the month for the lunchbox holder.

And then I ran into trouble!  I planned on using small super thin neodymium magnets for a closure for my lunchbox lid, but at the time I turned in my tutorial I hadn’t actually tried them out yet (because of my “procraftination” tendencies).   I tried a couple different sizes of magnets and different placements of the magnets and kept having issues with the magnets not staying together or coming loose from where I’d adhered them.  I ripped off many layers of DSP, but finally came up with a finished project!  This lunchbox can be used to hold all the notecards you create as well as some 3x3 envelopes, or it can be used a treat holder with a 3x3 notecard added in.

Here are the dimensions that I used for my lunchbox:

Pool Party Cardstock

3 ½” x 11”, scored at 2 ½” and 4 ½”

3” x 3”, scored at ½” on 3 sides (cut 2)

¾” x 5”

Zoo Crew DSP

3 ¼” x 6 ¼” (lid)

3 ¼” x 2 ¼” (front)

1 ¾” x 2 ¼” (sides, cut 2)

1/2” x 4” (handle)

A list of products I used in making my lunch box is posted below.  A full tutorial is available as a gift for opting into my mailing list during the month of September.  You can opt in here.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and sticking with me on this project!  I always appreciate your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment below!  Happy Stamping!

Product List

121045

$10.00

159276

$10.50

144245

$10.00

122924

$10.00

161304

$12.50

154242

$22.00

160424

$28.00

159183

$30.00

161314

$34.00

162363

$21.00

103683

$5.75

104430

$4.25

138995

$7.00

152392

$26.00

150673

$66.00

144107

$11.00

Crafting with the Kits Collection

I’m back with the Creative Card-iology Team bloggers for another blog hop, and this month we are featuring the Kits Collection from Stampin’ Up!  The kits are on sale through August 31 at great discounts – up to 30% off, and there’s a great variety of kits that are sure to give you a great time of crafting.

I chose the Forever Friends Kit, which includes the supplies to make 8 cards (2 designs, 4 of each) with envelopes.  I love the beautiful floral designs and foil accents for the cards and the envelopes with the same foil design on the flap, and I was so excited to see the Dimensional Strips as the adhesive in the kit.  The coordinating Stampin’ Up! colors are Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Old Olive and Petal Pink.  A Night of Navy Stampin’ Spot and Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine are included.

I made 2 cards following the pictorial directions, and then changed up the designs a bit by adding a little extra cardstock to the supplies in the kit.  I switched card bases and printed design layers to the opposite ones in the printed directions and added a layer of colored cardstock (Night of Navy and Old Olive) as a mat behind the printed design.  I stamped a floral image in the Night of Navy ink and colored the flowers with Stampin’ Blends.  My Calypso Coral Baker’s Twine was arranged around and adhered to the back of the floral images and then the floral images were adhered to the card fronts, popped up with pieces of the Dimensional Strips.

I went a bit further with an alternate project with this kit and made a mini journal using one of the card bases as my journal cover.  I made a score line about 1/16” on either side of the center score of the card base.  I took about 8 pages from a sketch journal and folded them together inside the card base and then stapled everything together twice along the center score of the card base with my long neck stapler.  I then trimmed the inside pages even with the cover.

I kept the cover design pretty simple as I didn’t want any embellishment to be ruined when this journal is slipped inside a purse, back pocket, etc.  I just cut one of the printed design pieces to the size I wanted, stamped the floral and leaf outlines on the flowers and leaves of the printed design, and then matted the piece it with a slightly larger piece of Night of Navy cardstock.  I die cut a sentiment label using one of the stitched circle dies from the Stylish Shapes Dies collection.  To fit my sentiment within this circle, I colored half of the sentiment with the Night of Navy Stampin’ Write Marker and stamped it on my die cut circle, then repeated the process with the second half of my sentiment.  I adhered it to my card front with Mini Glue Dots.

Since I used sketch journal sheets for my inside pages, I thought this would make a great beginner’s (that’s me) mixed media art journal.  I decided to start by embellishing the first page of my journal by brushing some Daffodil Delight ink with a blending brush over the lower right-hand corner of the page.  I then stamped the floral and leaf images in Night of Navy ink over the inked corner.  I used Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Real Red pencils from the Watercolor Pencil Assortment 1 collection to color the images.  Who knows where it will go from here!

Not quite sure what I’m going to use the journal for, but I love how it came together.  I might keep it myself to write about answered prayers and how God brings me through hard times, or I might give it as a gift.

Since the kits don’t take up much room, they’re great for crafting on the go or in small areas when you don’t have a lot of room, and they are an easy and cost-effective way to get started stamping.  The Classic Stampin' Spots Assortment is a great beginners collection of inks to add on to your kit, and it will help expand the use of your kit stamp set beyond the kit contents.  I used the Daffodil Delight Stampin' Spot for brushing ink on my journal page. 

The Kits Collection changes as availability changes, and new kits are added regularly.  Stampin' Up! also has a monthly subscription kit called Paper Pumpkin, which is a stamping kit that includes all the supplies to make the featured project, just like the kits in the Kit Collection.  Paper Pumpkin subscriptions are available on a month-by-month payment basis (paperpumpkin.com) or by 1, 3, 6 or 12-month prepaid subscriptions (shop prepaid subscriptions).  

The September Paper Pumpkin kit looks like it will be a beautiful kit - you won't want to miss it!  The sign up period for the September kit runs through September 10th.  There is a coordinating Thoughts of Thanks journal add-on available now while supplies last.

I hope you were creatively inspired by the Forever Friends kit – making the cards as the kit directions called for or possibly creating some alternate projects - and I hope you can see how easy it is to get started stamping with a kit.  

Don’t forget to check out my blogging teammates’ projects for some more "kitspiration" by clicking on the links below.

Bonnie's Blog

Diana's Blog

Jessica's Blog

As always, thanks for hopping along with us today!  I love connecting with blog readers and getting your feedback on the projects, so I hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know you stopped by today!  Don’t forget to check out the Kits Collection and take advantage of the super Kits sale (shop the Kits Collection)!  

If you’d like to get together with some friends at your home or mine to craft together with Kits, I’d love to talk with you about how I can assist you with your craft gathering!  You can connect with me by email at kimskeepsakecreations@gmail.com or on my facebook page @kimskeepsakecreations.

And as always, the products used to create my projects can be found in the list below.  Happy Stamping!

Product List

162363

$21.00

159276

$10.50

100867

$10.00

100702

$10.00

153183

$24.00

147158

$30.00

154881

$10.00

154883

$10.00

154893

$10.00

161700

$16.00

153611

$13.00

150673

$66.00

159183

$30.00

103579

$11.00

152392

$26.00

103683

$5.75

152813

$8.00

147042

$8.50