December Inspiration Station Blog Hop Challenge

This month's inspiration photo! 

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Worth the wait!  This post had the potential to be four pages long lol, so, I'll post pictures of the process I did in creating this card and give just brief descriptions :)

Used shades of browns to reflect the tones of the inspiration photo, retired Stampin' Up! embossing folder and Tim Holtz Alterations brick embossing folder, Anna Griffin slim line window die (cut off to just the window portion). 

To create the snowy backdrop for the window I used light grey ink roughly blended over grey cardstock cut to fit behind the window.  I used retired Stampin' Up! layered trees and snow drift dies for the scenery and light brown ink to add texture to the window.

Added the same light brown to add depth to the brick embossed parts.

I used a die from the Anna Griffin pop-up Christmas tree die to cut a template for the tree.

Cut, embossed and folded the aperture that will allow the tree to pop out of the scene when the card is open and folded the tree to fit in it.

Folded 1/2" in on the ends of the aperture to attach it to the card base.

To create the glow of the fire in the fireplace, I started with white pigment ink and added the same light grey ink around it for shadowing and soot. Added a layer of yellow and orange ink for the backdrop of the flames.

Added the light brown ink and the light grey ink to the rest of the fireplace parts and assembled it. I used foam tape to lift the mantel up for depth.

Went thru my stash of vellum scraps to pick out flame colors.

Cut and layered "logs" with foam tape to layer up the flames for the 3D effect.

So far so good! I was inspired to re-create the inspiration photo as closely as I could, reminiscing of Christmas in my living room when I was a kid.

Time to trim the tree! Gold glitter cardstock and Hero Art Christmas tree dies to recreate the look of the old fluffy gold garlands we had when I was a kid. Used the same die sets to cut out the ornaments, green garlands and bows. Also added a fun holiday kitty to the fireplace hearth.

Used the same dies from the Hero Arts set as well as some left-over Anna Griffin gift embellishments to get plenty of gifts under the tree. I layered them with foam tape for depth.

This card project took me nearly a week to put together lol because of life getting in the way, but I am super happy with how it turned out. I won't be listing all the specific items I used as most of them, if not all are retired. However, I hope this project inspired you!!  If you try any of the techniques I used in this card, be sure to tag me on social media @scrappystampthefunup, I'd love to see your take on it. And be sure to head to the Inspiration Station blog to join the hop and see all our creations!  Happy Holidays from The Paper Creative LLC and Stamp the Fun Up! See you in 2026!

Themed Fridays! Geometric Fun Instagram Hop!

 This card was super simple to put together! This is a 5"x7" card base.  I stenciled right on the card face with the Geometric Landscape Stencil and Blue Horizon and Iceberg Fresh Dye Ink from Altenew. Because the stencil is a 6"x6" shape, I turned it and angled it on the face of this card and was careful when applying the ink, not to go over the edges of the stencil. This gives a good ground for all the geometric elements. 

I used the Geometric Frames Dies from Altenew to cut out the shapes from the Altenew cardstock called Alcohol Ink Backgrounds. 

This die set also cuts the frames for each shape, so I cut those from the Brushed Gold cardstock also from Altenew. The frames for the shapes are super thin, so my tip was to use my glue stick and run it along the edge of each shape, then apply the frame to each shape. This worked great because there was no spill over to get onto the shiny gold frames.

 I then cut circles from the Fine Frames Circle Die from Altenew from their Brushed Silver cardstock. To put it all together, I placed the framed elements in a pleasing composition. Then I tucked some of the silver circles under them to pull the composition together.

 I then used a paper weight to hold down the elements while I glued them down. The sentiment is cut from 4 layers of black cardstock, using the sentiment die from Altenew Mini Delight "You're A Classic" and for the dot in the "i" I used an Onyx Gem Sparkle.

I hope you like this project! To snag any of the Altenew items (as long as they are still available), click Shop Altenew! to shop!

Thanks for stopping by! 

November Inspiration Station Blog Hop Challenge

 This month's inspiration photo

Click here to join the blog hop challenge

My take on the inspiration photo!

When I'm inspired to a card project with flowers, I really try to figure out a fun fold card so they can "pop" off the card. This project is built on a 6"x6" golden yellow cardstock base. The folding is super simple:

I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of cardstock to 6" on the 8 1/2" side, reserving the cut off portion. I scored the cut piece at 6". Since it's not cut from a 12"x12" sheet, one side measures under six inches. But, for this fun fold, it doesn't matter. I just measured 2 1/2" from the center fold and scored. Then I made a mountain fold. Next, I went thru my stash because I knew I had paper with poppies on it. It was from Stampin' Up! years ago. 

This cardstock also had a coordination stamp and die set-woot!  I also pulled out other papers for consideration, based on the inspiration photo.

Using Real Red ink from Stampin Up! I stamped details onto some of the poppies. 

I then went in with the outline stamp and embossed gold outlines on some of the poppies with WOW! embossing powder in Metallic Gold Rich Regular embossing powder.

Going back to the card base, I used the reserved golden yellow cardstock to make a footer on the mountain fold.  I cut this at 6".

On the 6"x6" left side of the card I applied a piece of black cardstock, cut to 5 7/8" square and attached it. I then trimmed the poppy paper down to 5 3/4" square and attached that to the black piece. I wanted to pull the black details of the poppies in the inspiration photo out. To the mountain folded side, I cut some pretty green with gold accented pieces to fit.

On the footer I cut to fit a fun piece of argyle paper in soft blues and browns to bring out the color of the sky in the inspiration photo and attached that to the right-side mountain folded panel.

Next came the fun part: stamping and die-cutting leaves and flowers for embellishments:

I did some layout work with the sentiment stamps I chose from this same stamp set (and again, sorry, it has been long retired from Stampin' Up!)

I used Mossy Meadow ink from Stampin' Up to stamp some background foliage around the footer.

Next, I added the flowers and leaves and stamped the sentiments. I did use some foam dots on some flowers to give them depth.

I have to admit, at first, I had no idea how to approach this month's inspiration photo, but I think it came together pretty good! I hope you like it! And I hope you play along with us at Inspiration Station!  See you next month!