This is a quick and easy mini fancy fold card disguised as a standard sized card! By adding a mini card on a 4.25″ x 5.5″ piece of cardstock, it fits into Stampin’ Up!’s Medium Sized Envelope for mailing, and doesn’t get lost on a gift.
This card is a single piece of Pool Party Cardstock cut to 4.25″ x 5.5″, and then I die cut the centre of the Designer Series Paper with one of the Stitched Rectangles. The Z folded Pale Papaya Cardstock covers the hole in the centre, and then the die cut piece fits on the front of that mini fancy fold card. The sentiment is another Stitched Rectangle on a Tasteful Label Die Cut. The sentiment and flower images are from the Free As A Bird Stamp Set.
I didn’t add any bulky embellishments to this card because I didn’t want to make it too thick for easy mailing – but you could easily add some ribbon or bling to further fancy it up!
We had fun making this easy mini fancy fold card together in Stampers Club the other evening. Our Zoom gatherings are usually filled with chatter and laughter, often with everyone laughing at me because I’ve messed up something when showing the construction of the card – I will often (unintentionally) demonstrate “What NOT to do when making this card”! While virtual card classes have their learning curve, some of the definite positives are the quick commute time for all and the quick class time – since I die cut and prep everything ahead of time for everyone! If you’re interested in joining us, new members can start their 6 months in club at any time – our next get together will be in June, so if you’d like to join us, please contact me! As we will still be virtual for a while, as long as you are located within Canada and can access the internet, you’ll be able to join us! I will most likely continue to offer an online version of club even once we can safely gather in groups again, because it’s nice to have options.
Thanks for stopping by the YamStamps site! Leave a comment and let me know what kind of projects you might like to see here in future!
Here’s another quick and easy fancy fold card – without a lot of layers or fuss! I think the only tricky thing about this one was fitting the cardstock in my paper trimmer…
Quick and Easy Fancy Fold Card
If you can cut it well enough on the diagonal, you could actually get two of these cards from one sheet of cardstock. This card features the retiring (and sale priced!) Peony Garden Designer Series Paper – which will be available until May 3 unless supply runs out before then. The sentiment is from the Lovely You stamp set and is on the sold out retired Layering Ovals Dies. Reminder: yamstamps.com/shop is the shortcut to the online Stampin’ Up! Canada store to grab Annual Catalogue retiring products by May 3rd!
Quick and Easy Fancy Fold Card
This quick and easy fancy fold card has two diagonal flaps that open up to reveal the inside of the card. Essentially, you score a sheet of cardstock into quarters (score in half lengthwise and crosswise) then cut on the diagonal from corner to corner. That’s it! The Designer Series Paper is cut on the diagonal as well to fit onto the flaps. I used two pieces of 4″ x 5.25″ paper so that I could have two patterns showing on the front. I think these patterns would work well for a Mother’s Day card too! It folds to a regular sized card that fits into Stampin’ Up!’s medium envelopes so it’s also an easy way to send a special greeting to someone in the mail.
Are you looking forward to the new Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalogue? There’s also some sweet specials coming our way in May – I’ll be sure to post more info on May 4th when everything is “live”, so please come back to visit YamStamps.com!
I do like crafting, but I don’t like crafting that’s too complicated or overly messy…LOL. Here’s a take on a shaker card that doesn’t have to deal with window sheets or foam tape. “Shaker card – but make it easy”
Easy Shaker Card
This card uses products from the Ice Cream Corner Suite in the January-June 2021 Mini Catalogue. I love how Stampin’ Up! gives the “easy” button for coordinating products – one item code gets you all the items in the suite. For this card, I used the Ice Cream Corner Designer Series Paper, the Ice Cream Corner Sprinkles embellishments, the Ice Cream Corner Builder Punch and the Sweet Ice Cream Stamp Set. The punch and stamp set are available together in a discounted bundle. I also used the Stitched Nested Labels Dies, which are retiring from the Annual Catalogue, so only available while supplies last/until May 3. (Bonus: they’re sale priced right now). I will also give the heads up warning that the punch and sprinkles are showing as low inventory right now, so may go on back order/unorderable status.
I had an easy shaker card tutorial in a past weekly email newsletter (get on my mailing list so you don’t miss future installments), but essentially you use Stampin’ Up!’s medium clear envelopes and insert everything inside and seal around the Designer Series Paper. The sentiment and the punch art ice cream cone are actually on the front of the sealed envelope (not inside). Easy peasy. The colour coordinating products make it seamless too!
Stampers Club members made this in a previous month’s class. Right now, the club class focuses on techniques and fun folds that aren’t heavily stamp/ink based, since we aren’t meeting in person. I can prep the projects and send out supplies ahead of time, and then we create them together. (Stampin’ Up! regulations prohibit us from pre-stamping items as part of class materials). It’s definitely keeping my brain working! If you’d like to join us, new members can start their 6 month membership at any time. You can contact me for more information. At this point in time, we will be continuing online (via Zoom), and likely will be doing so for the rest of 2021. I think even when we do get back to in person classes, I may still offer the online version as well if there’s demand for it!
In the meantime, we continue the countdown to the new Stampin’ Up! 2021-2022 Annual Catalogue product launch on May 4th! It seems like the catalogues are starting to arrive in mailboxes – so I’ll be following up with those on my list to make sure everything arrived safe and sound. Don’t forget that retiring 2020-2021 Annual Catalogue products are only available while supplies last/May 3 2021 – whichever comes first. Online shopping shortcut is yamstamps.com/shop or email me for assistance placing an order!
I love how quickly this easy and elegant card came together. It’s another one of those “looks like it’s more difficult than it actually is” type of techniques – aka my kind of technique!
Easy and Elegant Card
This card uses the Golden Garden Designer Specialty Acetate, which is available in the January-June 2021 Mini Catalogue. Trust me when I say the hardest part of this card is peeling off the layer of protective plastic from the back of the acetate. I actually thought that maybe these sheets didn’t have that layer because I couldn’t seem to catch the edge of it…but trust me, it’s there. And trust me, you need to take that layer off for this technique to work well.
Anyhow! Once I was able to peel of the plastic…..I simply added colour with my Stampin’ Blends alcohol based markers on the back of the acetate. I used Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry and Granny Apple Green, and I actually only used one of the shades – I didn’t do any shading/blending. The variation in the colours that you see is just from the way I coloured and the way that the ink collected on the acetate and I love the effect!
Easy and Elegant Card close up
You can see that the colouring doesn’t have to be super precise! I’m not sure that it shows very well, but the background paper has been embossed with the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder, just to add a little texture without distracting too much from the main image.
On the close up of my easy and elegant card, you may be able to pick out the Mini Glue Dots that I used to attach the acetate to the cardfront – I placed them in the centre of the flowers, because I figured even if they showed a bit, they just make the centres more distinctive.
If you’d like more ideas directly into your email inbox, please be sure to be signed up for the YamStamps email newsletters. You’ll get access to a video tutorial when you first sign up, and then every week you’ll get an email from me with paper crafting ideas, inspiration and tutorials.
I’ve spent the weekend in a virtual crafting session and it’s been so fun! In all honesty, I haven’t actually completed many of the projects, but it’s been great to watch the classes and get inspired. It’s also given me a bit of a kick in the pants to get working harder on -my- next online class offering! I think I actually prefer the online versions to the in person versions as a student….because there’s no rushing to get anywhere….and I can stay in my comfy clothes (which may or may not be my pyjamas…). Have you ever participated in an online class or retreat? I’ll be sure to let mailing list subscribers know when I’m ready to launch my next online class. Don’t forget that commenters have the opportunity to help me clear out my collection of sample cards! I’m randomly selecting a few commenters and sending some happy mail their way.
This is a clean and simple card (essentially)…using the Beautiful Moments stamp set. I love the outline images in this set – and you can choose to add colour or not.
Beautiful Moments card
For this quick card (it truly was a quick one, promise), I chose to add colour by using my Water Painters and some ink refills to watercolour the image. Watercolouring can be very forgiving – you don’t have to be perfectly within the lines – so that makes it a quick way to add colour. I stamped in Staz On Jet Black ink onto my Fluid 100 Watercolour Paper, and let it dry for a moment. You’ll want to be sure that your ink pad is well inked to stamp on the watercolour paper to get a good image. I find that my Staz On tends to need more frequent re-inking than some of my other ink pads, so I’d recommend purchasing the re-inker when you get the ink pad so you have it on hand.
One of the ways I like to add a background on my cards is by using patterned paper. For this card, I chose a more muted pattern from the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper. I liked the calm effect that seemed to go with the image. A bit of bling from the Blushing Bride 3/8″ Metallic Ribbon and some Rhinestone Basic Jewels to dress it up a little bit and I was happy with the resulting Beautiful Moments card. I added mattes in Basic Black because it seemed to go with the “arty” feel.
I just realized as well that I used the bottom right corner layout design again – that seems to be my “go to” right now?! I will have to try to mix it up a little bit more for the next card I share. Do you have a favourite card design layout? Leave me a comment – I obviously need some other layout ideas! LOL.
This Happy Mail Floral Card made me…happy! It was fun to create a card that primarily used stamps and ink. Sometimes I’m so focused on designing card for club and class that feature Designer Series Papers or different techniques that are not stamp-centric that I make a point of making a card that relies more on the beauty of the stamped images. (oh and read to the bottom to help me share my wealth of accumulated card samples…)
I love the watercolour effect of the images. By stamping full strength images (first generation) or stamping off onto scrap paper first and then onto the card (second generation images), you can vary the intensity of the tones and provide a bit more interest and dimension to the card. I had just re-inked my Highland Heather ink pad and was a little impatient so there was a lot of ink on the stamp initially so left a bit of a texture when I stamped off on scrap paper….but I personally don’t mind it! I added some Opal Rounds as a subtle accent for this Happy Mail Floral Card – kind of looks like dew drops I think?! If you are making this card, I might leave off the rounds if you’re planning on mailing it – kind of bumpy….
If you are looking to get some happy mail in your email inbox, be sure to be signed up for the YamStamps Newsletters!You’ll receive a video tutorial when you sign up, and then you’ll receive weekly emails featuring ideas and inspiration for your paper crafting. You can find out more details here or go straight to the sign up here.
I’m also looking to share the wealth of card samples that are starting to accumulate in my craft room – so starting with this post, if you leave a comment, I’ll select someone to receive a sample from my stash of cards!
