Magnificent Branch Sympathy Card

One of my friends in the crafting community recently lost her mother-in-law, and I wanted to send a sympathy card to her and her husband. I created this card during a practice session for another friend's upcoming Leve 3 Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP) workshop. Kim (the friend leading the practice session over Zoom) created a card design using Altenew's Build-A-Garden: Magnificent Branch set, and I pulled that set out and used the stamp, coodinating stencil set, and coordinating die to create this card inspired by her class.

I first stamped the image in my Stampwheel 2.0 and left the stamp on the flip plate so I could restamp the image after ink blending it. Then I chose inks from Altenew's Warm & Cozy ink collection along with Silverstone and Moss inks for the leaves and Brambleberry for the purple flower center on the flower at the bottom left side of the card. I used inks from Delectable Desserts ink collection for the branch. 

After ink blending the image, I put it back in the Stampwheel 2.0 and restamped it so the lines were nice and crisp again. Then I die cut it. I wanted to use colors in Altenew's October Inspiration Challenge, so I chose purple cardstock for the background panel and used a matching purple Ohuhu alcohol ink marker to color the white edges of the die cut stamped image. 

To create my layers, I trimmed 2 pieces of purple cardstock and one of white cardstock. The purple layers were: 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 and 4 by 5 1/4. I added Orange Cream ink to the edges of the white panel I had trimmed to 4 1/8 by 5 3/8 inches and adhered it to the large purple panel. I adhered that to a 5 by 7 card base. Then I adhered the Magnificent Branch image to the smaller purple panel and trimmed off the edges. I added back the bits I had trimmed off to fill up the space a little more (and so they weren't wasted). 

For the sentiment, I used the November 2026 Craft-Your-Life: Wildflower Tufts project kit and add-on dies. That set is available to subscribers now and will be available on the website to non-subscribers in early November. It's a beautiful kit with sympathy-themed sentiments I think will be a great addition to my stash. I stamped the sentiment and die cut it and then die cut several more to stack behind the sentiment for dimension. I added the sentiment to the smaller purple panel, adhered that panel to the layers already on the card base and then finished off the card with 6 enamel dots from Altenew's Warm & Cozy Enamel Dot collection.

If you're interested in doing some crafty shopping at Altenew, I'd be so grateful if you used my affiliate link here: Carrie's Altenew Link.  I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Altenew carries many wonderful craft products and has a great weekly sales section if you are looking for bargain prices to grow your Altenew collection. 

Inside the card:

 Challenges I'm entering:

October 2026 Inspiration Challenge | Altenew: ends at the end of the month

Creative Moments: Autumn Colors (1/3; ends 10/12/26)

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game!: ATG with stencils with option of Orange (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

little red wagon: Autumn Colors (2/3; ends 10/7/26)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG with option to use die cuts (ends 10/12/26)

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends 10/24/26)

The Neglected Stuff Challenge: ATG with neglected items from your stash (I used a stamp set I hadn't used in over a year) (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG with option of Spotlight technique (1/8; ends at the end of the month)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with option of Think Pink (1/8; ends at the end of the month)

We Love Stamping: Shades of Autumn (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (2/4; ends 10/27/26)

Crafty Catz: ATG (2/5; ends 10/9/26)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends 10/9/26)

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog: ATG (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Paper Rocks Scissors: ATG with paper and/or scissors (2/5; ends at the end of the month)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26

Triple Flap Accordion Card for Creative Creases #120

 It's time for a new challenge up on the Creative Creases Challenge blog, and for this challenge, I decided to try a new fun fold by Iced Images. If you'd like all the instructions and measurements, please check out her video here: (4) Super Simple Sunday | 5x7 Triple Flap Accordion Card - YouTube.

I have an enormous amount of pattern papers and thought this card design would be a great way to use some of them. I chose 49 and Market papers from the Peach Collection and the Grove Collection as well as 49 and Market Spice washi tape stickers. 

Once I had chosen my papers, I trimmed all my layers according to Louise's instructions in her video. This card is quite simple to create. It just has a lot of layers. Once I had trimmed all the pieces and adhered all the layers, I added everything to the accordion card base and then decorated the layers with the washi tape stickers mentioned above and ephemera from 49 and Market's Peach Envelope Bits set. I also added a few elements from 49 and Market's ARToptions Spice Cluster Kit. 

To finish the card, I die cut the "sending hugs" sentiment and shadow words from Altenew's Warm & Cozy Sentiments die set and adhered them to the front of the card. This was such a fun project, and I always love it when I can use supplies that have been sitting in my stash for awhile!

I hope you'll join the fun over on the Creative Creases blog and enter your fun fold projects in the gallery here: Creative Creases Challenge

If you're interested in doing some crafty shopping at Altenew, I'd be so grateful if you used my affiliate link here: Carrie's Altenew Link.  I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Altenew carries many wonderful craft products and has a great weekly sales section if you are looking for bargain prices to grow your Altenew collection. 

Front of the card:

Top view: 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges: More than 1 Fold (3/4; ends 10/6/26)

little red wagon: Autumn Colors (2/3; ends 10/7/26)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (5/5; ends 10/7/26)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (5/5 for the week; 5/10 for the challenge; ends 10/14/26)

Ellibelle's Corner: I spy with my little eye: Add Text (I have sentiments and there is also text on some of the pattern papers) (1/5; ends 10/18/26)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (1/4; ends 10/27/26)

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends 10/24/26)

Crafty Catz: ATG (1/5; ends 10/9/26)

Creative Fingers Challenge Blog: ATG (1/3; ends 10/9/26)

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog: ATG (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Paper Rocks Scissors: ATG with paper and/or scissors (I used lots of paper and also used scissors to cut the foam tape I used in places to add dimension (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26

Happy OWL-Oween Card For Just Us Girls #843

I'm thrilled to be the October Guest Designer on the Just Us Girls Challenge blog, and today I have a card following the Die Week: Halloween theme. I hope you will join the fun and link up your own Halloween cards featuring dies here: "Just Us Girls" Challenge. The challenge runs from October 1-7.

For my card, I chose some spooky pattern paper that features branches and trimmed it to 4 1/8 by 5 3/8. I adhered it to a panel of black cardstock that I trimmed to A2 size: 4 1/4 by 5 1/2. Then I set to work die cutting the pieces for my owl and the words for my sentiment.

For the owl, I used white and black cardstock and ink blended the white cardstock pieces with Altenew's Tranquil Reflections fresh dye ink collection. Then I adhered all the little pieces together and popped up the assembled owl using Altenew's Instant Dimension Foam Tape. I strategically placed him to look like he's perched on a branch from the pattern paper. 

For the sentiment, I die cut "happy Halloween" using dies from the now-closed company Top Dog Dies. I trimmed off the first part of the word "Halloween" and die cut the letters to spell out "OWL" using a die in Altenew's Creative Cuts: EZ Arrangement: Antique Leaves die set. I adhered the words and letters to the card front to finish the card. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Crafty Animals: ATG with animals (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Creative Moments: Autumn Colors (1/3; ends 10/12/26)

Critter Crazy CHALLENGE BLOG: ATG with critters (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

Halloween Crafts All Year 'Round: ATG Halloween (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie...: Come on Get Spooky (1/5; ends at the end of the month)

Pearly Sparkles Challenge Blog: Trick or Treat (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

fourseasons: ATG Fall (ends at the end of the month)

little red wagon: Autumn Colors (1/3; ends 10/7/26)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG with option to use die cuts (ends 10/12/26)

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends 10/24/26)

Word Power: ATG with words as the focus (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

The Pick 3 Challenge: Halloween, bird, brown (1/6; ends 10/18/26)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26

 

Matthew 6:33 Card

I love making cards with scripture verses, and I recently discovered Papertrey Ink's Reflections subscription. Each month, a beautiful scripture stamp, coordinating die to cut out the stamped verse, and 2 decorative label dies arrive in my mailbox to play with! I'm delighted by the subscription and have started making a set of cards using the verse of the month stamp and sending them out to elderly members of my church and other people the Lord puts on my heart to encourage. 

For this card, I wanted to use the colors in Papertrey's September challenge, so I picked yellow, orange, and pink inks and started by creating a stenciled background using Papertrey's Color Pop Butterflies set. Once I had finished stenciling, I trimmed the panel to fit my white, top-folding A2 card base and adhered it to the card front. 

For the verse, I stamped it in black ink so it would stand out. I die cut it with the coordinating die (I just love the look of die cut sentiments/verses!) and then ink blended it with the same pink I used in the background. I then die cut the largest of the 2 labels in the Reflections Matthew 6 subscription set out of white cardstock. I ink blended the die cut using the same golden yellow I had used in the background. Then I adhered that die cut and the scripture verse to the front of the card. This was a quick and easy card that will brighten a friend's day with the cheerful color palette and the encouraging verse. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

September 2026 Inspiration Challenge – Papertrey Ink: 

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (4/5; ends 10/7/26)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 4/10 for the challenge; ends 10/14/26)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG with option to use die cuts (ends 10/12/26)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with option of  Bright and Breezy (6/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG with option of Relates to a Song (5/8; ends at the end of the month) Rising Star Week 4 Honors

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26

 

Butterfly Wedding Card

One of my good friends has a daughter getting married in October, so I thought I would create a wedding card for her, and a shaker card seemed like a fun, celebratory design for a wedding card.

I started with a white, top-folding A2 card base and then trimmed a piece of white cardstock to 4 1/8 by 5 3/8ths and ink blended it in yellow along the edges. I then adhered this panel to the card base. 

Next, I die cut the butterfly body from Papertrey Ink's Enclosed: Butterfly die set. Using the same yellow ink, I ink blended the die cut and set it aside. Then I die cut the frame several times. I used fun foam for the bottom layer and added that to my yellow body. I added some sequins and small beads as my shaker elements inside the layer of fun foam. Then I die cut a piece of acetate with the solid butterfly die and adhered it to the layer of fun foam. Then I die cut a couple more layers of the frame piece and trimmed out the word "blessed" from one. I ink blended the layer that still had the word "blessed" in it using orange ink and then ink blended the trimmed layer with pink ink and adhered that on top of the orange layer. I adhered those layers on top of the acetate to complete the butterfly shaker.

I was planning to use an ink blended background behind the butterfly, but it didn't feel quite right, so I took out Papertrey Ink's Make it Market: Out of this World kit and used a stencil from that kit. I ink blended all three colors for this month's challenge on the Papertrey Ink blog through the stencil. Then I put the butterfly shaker down on the card front to see where to stamp the "wedding day" stamp from Papertrey Ink's One Big Happy stamp and die set. After stamping the sentiment in orange ink, I adhered the butterfly shaker to the panel and adhered the panel to the yellow layer on the card base to finish the card. 

 

Challenges I'm entering: 

September 2026 Inspiration Challenge – Papertrey Ink: 

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (3/5; ends 10/7/26)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for the week; 3/10 for the challenge; ends 10/14/26)

Allsorts challenge blog: Anything Autumn or ATG (4/5; ends 10/8/26)

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG with option to use die cuts (ends 10/12/26)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with option of  Bright and Breezy (5/8; ends at the end of the month) 

A Place To Start: ATG with option of Relates to a Song (4/8; ends at the end of the month) Top Sprout honors 10/5/26

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26

 

Bountiful Blessings Card

I recently started subscribing to Papertrey Ink's monthly Reflections subscription, and while I was on the website, I checked out the monthly challenge and decided I wanted to create a card for it. I pulled out the Color Pop: Autumn set and used the challenge colors to ink blend and stamp my card elements. I've had this kit for some time now but hadn't ever played with it, so I was learning as I went. I discovered the stamps create beautiful additions to the stenciled background, but I discovered that too late as I had already added my sentiments to the stenciled panel before I realized how the stamps coordinate with the stencils. No problem though! I used the coordinating dies to die cut a couple elements that I went back and ink blended with the stencils (they were easy to line up with the stencils) and then stamped the tops of them and added them to the card front using foam tape for dimension. I layered the panel on a piece of cardstock I had ink blended around the edges to match the yellow in the stenciled background and then added the panel to a top-folding kraft card base. I finished the card by adding 3 pink enamel dots. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

September 2026 Inspiration Challenge – Papertrey Ink: 

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG (2/5; ends 10/7/26)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 10/14/26)

Allsorts challenge blog: Anything Autumn or ATG (3/5; ends 10/8/26)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (3/3; ends 10/5/26) C10

Inspiration Station: My card has a fall theme like the one in the inspiration photo (5/8; ends at the end of the month) 

Classic Design Challenge Blog: ATG with option to use die cuts (ends 10/12/26)

613 Avenue Create: ATG with option of  Bright and Breezy (4/8; ends at the end of the month) Front Porch Winner 10/4/26

A Place To Start: ATG with option of Relates to a Song (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game!: ATG with stencils with option of yellow (I used the Paper Echoes stencil on the card front, the inside of the card, and the envelope) (3/3; ends at the end of the month)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26

 

Apple Branch Card

I'm delighted to be hosting Altenew's September Inspiration Challenge, and I chose a color palette with lovely fall colors. To see the card I created for the challenge post, check out this link: Carrie's Custom Cards: Altenew September Inspiration Challenge. 

For this card using the challenge colors, I created a top-folding white A2 card base. Then I trimmed a panel of black cardstock to 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 and adhered it to the card front. Next, I used Catherine Pooler's Over Coffee ink on Altenew's Weathered Bark 3D embossing folder and ran a piece of brown cardstock through my Platinum 6 machine. The texture from this embossing folder is amazing, and it's even better when I add ink to the embossing folder so it gets in the crevices and darkens those areas. I made sure the ink was dry before trimming the embossed panel to 4 1/8 by 5 3/8 inches. I adhered that panel to the card front using a piece of fun foam I had trimmed to 4 by 5 1/2 inches so it has a bit of dimension. 

For the apples, I die cut the pieces to create 4 apples from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Fruits & Flowers project kit and watercolored them using Altenew's Ruby Red Watercolor Brush Marker. Then I created the branch and leaves using Altenew's Creative Cuts: Fresh Pears die set and ink blended the leaves using Altenew's Whispering Woodland Fresh Dye Ink collection. For the branch, I ink blended Altenew's Choco Hazelnut ink onto the branch. I stamped the "You are apple-solutely the best!" sentiment from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Sweet Harvest project kit and trimmed the sentiment into a banner shape. I adhered the branch, leaves, apples, and sentiment using Altenew's Instant Dimension Foam Tape. 

If you're interested in doing some crafty shopping at Altenew, I'd be so grateful if you used my affiliate link here: Carrie's Altenew Link.  I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Altenew carries many wonderful craft products and has a great weekly sales section if you are looking for bargain prices to grow your Altenew collection. 

TIME OUT Challenges: Colors of the season where you're located: I'm in Michigan, USA, so fall colors are beginning to show and it's apple season (4/5; ends 9/30/26) C5

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG 

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 10/14/26)

Allsorts challenge blog: Anything Autumn or ATG (2/5; ends 10/8/26)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges**********: ATG (2/3; ends 10/5/26) C10

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:22-26