Ink & Paper Pieces Part 2 - May 2026 Class #2

Today I have several cards made using items from the Waterside Retreat collection which includes the Waterside Retreat papers and the Relaxing Waterside stamp & die bundle.  This class was inspired by a challenge to "use the last stamp or die set that you purchased" - which for me was this Relaxing Waterside stamps and dies.  

So, I used those to support my main objective, which for this class, was that I wanted to demonstrate some additional techniques for creating backgrounds for cards.   

Here's a video that demonstrates some of these techniques and shows how I made the first 3 cards that are posted here: 

 

First up are two options for coloring a background with ink. Students will make one or the other.  Their 2nd card will be what's listed here as card #3, and then they will be given patterned paper and cardstock to make their own design for a 3rd card.  My card #4 is an example of one way they could do this.  And finally, I have a 5th card that was made for a message board challenge and will not be a part of the class.

A Special Gift

Make a quick gift that a love one will cherish!  This one is an 8 x 8 scrapbook showing pictures from a very special birthday celebration.

For tips, tricks, and "how-to's", check out this video:

It's SO nice to have stamps and dies that you can use to make your scrapbooks special.  Right now, there are a couple of products that I especially recommend:

Alphabet dies are GREAT for creating your titles. Stampin' Up! has a great set on last chance sale right now - the one I used for the title on the 2nd and 3rd pages of this scrapbook. It's called ALPHABET A LA MODE and is currently 40% off! 

Some of the stamps I used came from the CELEBRATE TOGETHER stamp set (which is ALSO 40% off as I write this!): Others came from discontinued sets, but there are several really nice new sets you can pick up here.  

You can subscribe to my YouTube channel here.  

And make Stampin' Up! purchases here.

Ink & Paper Pieces - May 2026 Class #1

 

Today I have two class cards featuring pretty papers and ways to use them.  I also introduce a fun fold I'm calling a Pillar Gatefold.  

The paper pack that I’m using for these two cards is one called Botanical Textures.  It has been discontinued, but the new catalog has a lovely paper pack that would work well for these techniques.  It’s called Artisan Sketched Garden and has several floral prints that would be so much fun to use this way!  Another new one you could try if you want a paper that is just leaves, would be a paper from the Beautiful Ordinary Life paper pack. 

I'm also showing a third card using papers from the Perennial Lavender DSP.  In class, I’ll give my students some of this paper and cardstock and encourage them to use 1/2” paper strips to do their own thing.   

My third card is not one the class will duplicate, so is not included in the video below.  Instead, it is a card that showcases a couple of possibilities – which I then put together in a single card rather than making two samples.   This also shows a variation on the basic gate fold card that can be a lot of fun.  Check out card #3 below.

Some of what I did in creating these cards was challenging to describe in a blog post, so feel free to watch the video:

Gate Fold with Pop Out Center

 

This Gatefold with Pop Out Center card is REALLY easy to make!  Just start with a standard Gate Fold card base & score a couple of line in the center of the inside panel, folding both as mountain folds.  Decorate the front as normal (you can see what I did in the picture below).  The inside is what makes the difference.  Here you will glue some sort of Pop Out element to JUST the space between your two score lines.  You can see I chose to leave the center panel white and just added decorative panels to the sides.  

The card base was made from Basic White, and I used Pretty in Pink cardstock to mat everything.  I again used the discontinued Wildflower Birthday DSP and both the inside pop out and the focal element on the front were punch outs from that paper pack. Again, any paper you choose will work fine for this, and your focal and pop out elements could be stamped and die cut images or images cut from patterned paper.  

 Here's what the card looks like when closed.

I matted the cake punch out on Basic White cardstock and stamped the sentiment (from Notes of Spring stamp set - a past product of the month) with Blueberry Bushel ink.  I then matted the whole on Pretty in Pink and glued it to just the left side of the card.