Bobbi's Paper Trail

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Scrapping A Thank You

Hello and welcome,

Are you a paper hoarder? I know I am! I just celebrated my 15th year as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and believe me, I still have paper that I haven't used since I first joined in June 2010. Why do we do that? Well, in my case, there's so much pretty paper, and not enough time to use it all. And then again, some of it is just too pretty to cut up. I'm sure you know what I mean. But today, I'm going to show you a card I made when a friend gave me several 12-inch strips of paper and said, "I bet you can make something with these". I laughed and said, "challenge accepted". 😁

Here's my card:

These 4 strips of paper came off the end of 4 sheets of designer paper that was originally made by Close to My Heart. A few months ago, CTMH closed their doors and Stampin' Up! bought several of their products and many demonstrators from CTMH joined our Stampin' Up! family. It was great to meet new friends and fellow crafters. I'm not sure if this paper is still available, but I have a feeling that it recently retired. In any case, I challenged myself to make something with the pieces I received.

I had originally thought I would make a chevron pattern by adhering different designs in different directions on my white card panel. I adhered the gray and white dashed strip and glued it down. Then I had a different thought and that was to do a basket weave instead. Now I really had a challenge because I had already glued down one piece. After many thought process changes, and talking to myself, this is what I came up with.

You can see that it's not a REAL basket weave design, because some spaces have more than one piece next to each other. For example, the yellow and white stripe in the bottom and top right, as well as the blue floral and pink gingham vertical pieces in the center. But as weird as I am about things having to be "even" at least my mistakes are exactly the same in all areas. That's perfection I tell you!

What really happened is I made several "glue down mistakes" and had to improvise. And then I cut the panel into a smaller size so that anything not quite right on the end was not seen. You can do just about anything you want in card making, because (and I've said this in my post with Mr. Popcorn Guy), there are NO mistakes in card making. 😉

Total time spent on this basket weave? Over 2-1/2 hours! A real challenge! 😬

Total time I spent talking to myself and reasoning out design? Almost the whole 2 hours

Total times I laughed at myself? WAY too many to count!

What did my Wednesday card making friends say? They all loved it. (whew!)

Always challenge yourself and do something unusual. Try something new, then laugh when you make silly mistakes because it's all in fun!

Product List

Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146982]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[121045]

$14.00

Greetings For All Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)

[164862]

$7.00

Paper Trimmer

[152392]

$28.00

Multipurpose Liquid Glue

[110755]

$6.00

Add All to Cart

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Just Poppin' By

I want to show you a really cute bundle today. The Poppin' By bundle has the cutest little popcorn guy, complete with glasses and cool shoes. Isn't he adorable? I have to admit, this is another sleeper set that I did not have my eye on. But then I started to see many projects online that made me change my mind.

This is my very first try at this set and I accidentally made it way different than I originally intended. You see, the bucket and popcorn above it is all one stamp. I wanted a black and white bucket body and that meant my popcorn would come out black. Well, we couldn't have that, so I stamped the image in Memento Black ink and also again in Daffodil Delight. I then cut the popcorn away from the bucket in Daffodil Delight and attached some dimensionals so I could attach the yellow popcorn. When I tried to attach the popcorn to the top of his bucket head, I didn't align it up properly, and then I couldn't remove the dimensional residue. OOPS! So, I got this brilliant idea to use my yellow highlighter and make the dimensionals the popcorn. It's not perfect, but it does make me laugh. The dies in this set have larger popcorn shapes, but I did not realize that I really should have stamped them first before I cut them out with the dies. Hence, I tried my hand at making faces; not really that good, but I guess it all goes with the dimensional popcorn and could be funny. Maybe 😀

One of the things I love about card making is that there really are "no mistakes". Everything is a learning curve, and although this card is not what I had intended, it's still part of my personality. Everyone that knows me well also knows I make fun of myself a lot, so this card is ok after all. So, don't be afraid of not making something perfect. Your project is handmade and comes straight from your heart. Anything you make will be well received and cherished.

I still have the Daffodil Delight popcorn, and one day I will try my hand at making another cute popcorn guy. I hope I've made you laugh a little today. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Product List

Poppin' By Bundle (English)

[165489]

$34.00

Poppin' By Cling Stamp Set (English)

[165487]

$20.00

Poppin' By Dies

[165488]

$18.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Poppy Parade 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119793]

$14.00

Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[121045]

$14.00

Brights 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[165301]

$12.50

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$8.00

Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad

[147094]

$9.00

Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[150673]

$69.00

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$140.00

Add All to Cart

Monday, July 14, 2025

Cheers & Sips to You

Hello and thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a good weekend and had fun with family and friends. It's been a bit humid and hot here in Missouri, so many of us are staying inside and I've been taking some time for myself when I can.

I was able to make a few cards in the past week, and today I'd like to show you what I did with the Celebratory Sips Suite. You can find this bundle in our new Online Exclusives category and at first, I must admit, it didn't spark my interest that much. But after I saw some really pretty things online, I decided to get it when we had our Suite sale last month and I'm so glad I did.

The rich colors of the Celebratory Sips designer series paper are so pretty. One of the pages has color "swatches" that you can make glasses out of just by using the dies in the suite. No stamping required and that makes it easy.

Here's what I made:

I did not use the dies to cut out the glasses and fruit and springs. I love to fussy cut so I found the page in the designer series paper that had all of what I wanted and just went to town while watching TV

This glass is actually not a full glass, but I cut it out anyway. Laying it on top of the sentiment panel allowed me to use it and no one would know unless I told them. So, now you know. 😉

I cut every piece of fruit and sprigs on the paper and still have quite a few left-over pieces for another project. Fussy cutting is relaxing to me, and I enjoy it once in a while. Note: I used the Sunny Day Iridescent Dots because I had them in my stash. Unfortunately, they are now retired.

I had a lot of fun making these cards. I will use them for birthday cards and stamp a birthday sentiment on the inside at some point. The paper here does a lot of the work. It allows you to achieve some bright and cheery cards to send to anyone.

I hope you enjoyed my cards today. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message. I'm happy to help you unleash your creativity. Enjoy your day!

Product List

Celebratory Sips Suite Collection (English)

[165600]

$78.75

Cheers & Sips Bundle (English)

[165594]

$41.25

Cheers & Sips Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[165588]

$19.00

Cheers & Sips Dies

[165593]

$27.00

Celebratory Sips 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[165586]

$12.50

Holographic Resin Dots

[165598]

$8.00

Sunny Day Iridescent Dots

[164696]

$8.00

Peach Pie 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[163799]

$14.00

Melon Mambo 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[115320]

$14.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

[147092]

$9.00

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[147111]

$9.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$4.25

Add All to Cart

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Sunflower Love

Hello friends,

Today I'd like to talk about another fabulous new product in our Online Exclusives. Our 3D Sunflower Embossing Folder is ahhhmaaazzzing! (amazing). You won't believe the rich depth this folder shows you once it comes out of your embossing machine. Check this out:

This embossing folder is so detailed, and I did not have to spritz the cardstock before I ran it through my Stampin Cut & Emboss machine. You can choose either the "positive" or "negative" side of the cardstock and in this case, I chose the negative. I embossed on our Basic White (not thick) cardstock, and then I ran my Memento Black ink pad just slightly over the panel until I was happy with the coverage. On the negative side, the background portions come to the front. If you choose the positive side, then your floral images will show more ink. Either way, the results are just stunning!

I had this card made in under 15 minutes, including washing my hands. You will get inky but that's part of the fun. I used our Greetings for All Ephemera Pack for the sentimentk and attached it with dimensionals. This ephemera pack has many sentiments both in black with white letters, and white with black letters. Quick and easy! You can bet I'll be playing more with this embossing folder on different color cardstock and inks.

Thanks for stopping by today. Until next time, happy stamping!

Product List

Sunflower 3 D Embossing Folder

[166145]

$12.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$14.00

Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad

[132708]

$8.00

Greetings For All Mix & Match Ephemera Pack (English)

[164862]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.25

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$140.00

Add All to Cart

Saturday, July 12, 2025

Sunrise Sailing

Hello friends,

Once again, it's taken me a bit of time to get back to blogging. Try as we may, daily life gets interrupted with things not under our control. All is well, and the last few days, I've been able to catch up on some much needed crafting time.

This post is all about one of my favorite online exclusive bundles, Sunrise Sailing. This bundle includes the stamp set, dies and the Hybrid 3D Embossing Folder. What makes this bundle unique is that you can stamp your images on a cardstock panel, then place that inside the embossing folder and if you also include the dies to match, your result is a stunning cut out and embossed stamped image. Fun! Using the 3D embossing folder alone gives beautiful results, that can be stamped on or use blending brushes to create a beautiful sailing scene.

I cannot take credit for these cards. I almost copied them exactly from Lynn Dunn at Stamptastic Designs. Lynn is a demonstrator in Wisconsin and sometimes you don't need to put your own spin on something. The term we use is CASE (copy and share everything) and I think there's only one card of mine that I chose a different sentiment. To see Lynn's cards click below:

https://stamptasticdesigns.com/2025/06/21/sunrise-sailing-card-ideas/#more-39967

Here are my versions of Lynn's designs:

The background is made up of strips of our 2025-2027 In Color 6 x 6 designer papers. Don't these work great as backgrounds? Instead of blending using inks to achieve a sunrise, sunset or night sky, these papers do all the work. Brilliant idea! That moon is perfect using my 2-3/8 circle punch. You can substitute any circle punch or die if you don't have that size.

I have seen many more cards using this bundle and I will be showing more soon. With our updated products just launched this month in the Online Exclusive category, there's so many new things to play with. I'm starting to work on trying them all that came to the Miller house. 😉

Thanks for stopping by today. I love when you visit and I welcome your comments. Enjoy your day!

Product List