Author Archives: amysolovay

Happy Fall Card Making Idea With Bear Cubs and Autumn Trees

Happy Fall Card With Bear Cubs and Autumn Trees

Happy Fall Card With Bear Cubs and Autumn Trees

Last fall, the lovely people over at the Lawnfawnatics Blog hosted a challenge with the theme of “Awesome Autumn”! Pictured here, you can see one of my entries for this challenge; I made a card featuring cute bears, autumn trees and an expansive blue sky.

In my opinion, the best thing about this card is the soft, watercolor-y appearance of the surfaces made from papers from the “Watercolor Wishes” paper pack by Lawn Fawn. The grass looks so velvety, the trees look so lush, and the sky looks so dreamy thanks to these beautiful papers. This design wouldn’t be at all the same if you just used a solid colored cardstock (I tried making a similar card using different papers, and I do like the results, but I LOVE the look of this finished card much more than I like the other one — and it’s the “Watercolor Wishes” papers that make the most significant difference between the two designs).

Supplies You Will Need for Creating a Similar Happy Fall Card:

  • “Den Sweet Den” stamp set by Lawn Fawn


  • Lawn Fawn Simple Stitched Trees Border Die Set


  • Watercolor Wishes Patterned Paper by Lawn Fawn: To create this design, you need the green paper from this pack for the grass, the blue paper for the sky and the yellow and orange papers for the leaves on the trees. If you don’t feel like coloring your bears using Copics or other markers, you can also use the orange or the yellow paper for stamping the bears (which is what I did here). It could also be pretty to try making a card like this with a different color, like the purple or the pink, for the sky — to emulate a sky at sunset.


  • Milo’s ABCs Stamp Set for stamping the “Happy Fall” sentiment


  • A scrap of white cardstock for stamping the sentiment


  • There are different ways you could cut out the “Happy Fall” sentiment to make it look like the example pictured here. You could use a scalloped circle die to do the job. Or you could use a circle template plus scalloped scissors. I opted for the circle template plus paper edgers, but you’d likely get a more even shape if you went for the die instead.


  • Walnut Stain Distress Ink for stamping the bears


  • Fired Brick Distress Ink for stamping the “Happy Fall” sentiment


  • Stormy Sky Distress Oxide Ink for inking around the edges of the card in the spots where the paper is blue at the outer edge


  • Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Ink for inking around the edges of the card in the spots where the paper is green at the outer edge


  • Brown Marker: You might or might not need this, depending on how you use your dies. The hillside and the tree trunks can be cut in one piece; if you use the green Watercolor Wishes paper to do this, you’ll end up with a lovely green hillside (which you want) with watercolor-y green tree trunks (which you probably don’t want). That’s where the brown marker comes in; you can simply color over the green tree trunks to make them brown. Another option would be to use an ink blending tool and ink to color over the tree trunks.


  • Peach Marker or Other Coloring Tool: I used a Marvy Uchida highlighter to color the scalloped edge around my sentiment, but there are a lot of possibilities for this; you could use a Copic marker, a colored pencil or really, any coloring media for this.


I love how this card turned out! Thanks for dropping by to check it out.

Posted By: Amy Solovay

More Fun Paper Craft Projects Featuring Lawn Fawn Stamps, Papers and Supplies

Find More Fall Crafts HERE.

Get More Card Making Ideas HERE.

Happy Fall Card Making Idea With Cute Bears by Lawn Fawn

Happy Fall Card With Cute Bears -- Craft Supplies by Lawn Fawn

Happy Fall Card With Cute Bears — Craft Supplies by Lawn Fawn

Last fall, the lovely people over at the Lawnfawnatics Blog hosted a challenge with the theme of “Awesome Autumn”! Pictured here, you can see one of my entries for that challenge; I made a card featuring cute bears, autumn trees and an expansive turquoise chevron-patterned sky. Hey, why not, right?


I’m reposting this project idea in case you missed seeing it the first time — because if you need a fall-themed card to send now, this one is a quick and easy one you might like to try.

Supplies You Will Need for Creating a Similar Happy Fall Card:

  • “Den Sweet Den” stamp set by Lawn Fawn


  • Lawn Fawn Simple Stitched Trees Border Die Set


  • Patterned Paper From the “Into the Woods Remix” Collection by Lawn Fawn Update 9-9-2024: I originally used the 12″x12″ patterned paper for making this card, but that is hard to find now. The 6″x6″ patterned paper is still available, so you could use that instead — or substitute any similar, sky-colored patterned paper you happen to have stashed.


  • Milo’s ABCs Stamp Set for stamping the “Happy Fall” sentiment


  • Several scraps of Kraft cardstock for stamping the sentiment and the bears


  • There are different ways you could cut out the “Happy Fall” sentiment to make it look like the example pictured here. You could use a scalloped circle die to do the job. Or you could use a circle template plus scalloped scissors. I opted for the circle template plus paper edgers, but you’d likely get a more even shape if you went for the die instead.


  • Walnut Stain Distress Ink for stamping the bears


  • Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Ink for stamping the “Happy Fall” sentiment, and also for inking around the outer edges of the card


  • Distress Oxide Black Soot for stamping the bear’s knitting needles and ball of yarn


  • Light Aqua Marker for coloring the bear’s knitting needles and ball of yarn


  • Brown Marker: You might or might not need this, depending on how you use your dies. The hillside and the tree trunks can be cut in one piece; if you use bright green cardstock to do this, you’ll end up with a lovely green hillside (which you want) with vibrant, eye-catching green tree trunks (which you probably don’t want). That’s where the brown marker comes in; you can simply color over the green tree trunks to make them brown. Another option would be to use an ink blending tool and ink to color over the tree trunks.


  • Dark Green Marker or Other Coloring Tool: I used a random green brush marker to color the scalloped edge around my sentiment, but there are a lot of possibilities for this; you could use a colored pencil or really, any coloring media for this.


I love how this card turned out! Thanks for dropping by to check it out.

Posted By: Amy Solovay

Check Out More Fall Craft Project Ideas HERE.

Discover More Lawn Fawn Project Ideas HERE.

Find More Card Making Ideas HERE.

Take a Look at More Paper Craft Techniques HERE.

Decorate a Heart in Red, White and Blue for Fourth of July

Decorate a Heart in Red, White and Blue: This Version Features a Czech Glass Button as the Focal Point

Decorate a Heart in Red, White and Blue: This Version Features a Czech Glass Button as the Focal Point

Decorate a Heart in Red, White and Blue: This version of the heart incorporates crocheted lace trim with ribbon; faux flowers; and a sparkly dragonfly-shaped gem

Decorate a Heart in Red, White and Blue: This version of the heart incorporates crocheted lace trim with ribbon; faux flowers; and a sparkly dragonfly-shaped gem


There are zillions of different things you can do with crocheted heart shapes. A lot of times, people think of these as being Valentine’s Day craft projects; but the truth is, you can find suitable ways to use them for many other holidays — and for everyday, too.


Lets try decorating a crocheted heart shape with red, white and blue accents for Fourth of July.

Choose a Heart Shape to Crochet

Your first step is to choose a heart shape and crochet it in the yarn, thread or other material of your choice.


You can crochet a heart shape using this free crochet pattern; then decorate it in red, white and blue for Fourth of July (or in any colors, for any occasion).

You can crochet a heart shape using this free crochet pattern; then decorate it in red, white and blue for Fourth of July (or in any colors, for any occasion).

I’m starting with this heart shape crocheted in red yarn; but there’s nothing particularly special about this design. If you want more options, there are many different heart designs you could crochet.

Choose Your Decorations

After you’ve made your heart shape, it’s time to grab some things to use for decorating it. How you decorate your heart depends, to some degree, on what you want to do with it. You could turn it into a wall hanging. Alternately, you could crochet two hearts and put them together to make a pouch. One of my readers crocheted two hearts and a strap, and she used those to make a purse. Those are just a few ideas.


I’ll probably use these hearts as wall hangings, so I still have some work to do to figure out how I want to hang them.


I like to use lace, trims and edgings on my hearts; so when I am decorating hearts, I usually start off by stitching a bit of lace or trim to the heart and then building up layers of decorations from there. One of my favorite trims for this purpose is this easy scalloped trim with ribbon. If that one isn’t what you want to use, you can check out this page of (mostly free) patterns for edgings, borders and trims to find bunches more suitable options — or take a look at our recommendations on the best crochet edging pattern books for even more ideas.


Decorate a Crocheted Heart Shape: Start by Embellishing With Lacy Trim

Decorate a Crocheted Heart Shape: Start by Embellishing With Lacy Trim


Next, you want to grab whatever other pretty baubles you have hanging around that could be used for heart decorations: crocheted flowers, silk flowers, buttons, beads and ribbons are all fair game. If you want to use crocheted flowers, check out these crochet flower patterns for some options for flowers you can make. If you want to use faux flowers, I recommend scrapbook.com as being a great source for pretty ones. Czech glass buttons are particularly pretty for this sort of project; Etsy is one of the best sources I know of for Czech glass buttons.


Choose some Czech glass buttons for decorating your heart shapes.


The last step is to do your finishing. How you approach that will depend on what your plans are for the project; but, in general, you’ll need to sew, glue or otherwise attach your embellishments to your heart. I like using a tapestry needle and thread to do this part, but you could also use a hot glue gun.


So there you have it: Those are some ideas for decorating a crocheted heart in red, white and blue for Fourth of July.


Happy Independence Day!

Related Resources

April 21st Daily Planner Layout for Happy Planner or Other Discbound Planners

Daily Happy Planner Layout for April 21, 2024 Featuring Stamped Images by Graphic 45, Echo Park, Lawn Fawn and Others

Daily Happy Planner Layout for April 21, 2024 Featuring Stamped Images by Graphic 45, Echo Park, Lawn Fawn and Others

Need ideas for daily planner layouts to use in the month of April? This page gives you an idea of a page layout you could make if you have a need for writing down multiple to-do-list items and reminders that can’t all easily just be lumped into one long list. If you want to break out your to-do list into different sections and label each of them with headers to keep you on track, this is one possible approach you could take for accomplishing that goal.


I made this daily planner layout for April 21st, but there is no special reason for using it on that particular day. You can make a planner layout like this one for any day of any month.


I try to spend about 15 minutes each day production stamping multiples of different images that I can use in my planner layouts and scrapbook pages. If I didn’t do that, putting together a stamping-intensive planner layout like this one would be really challenging. There is a LOT of stamping on this page!


I stamped most of these images ink blended cardstock, then used a stencil to draw around them with a Gelly Roll or other colored pen, and then fussy cut them out straight or scalloped scissors.

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Creating a Similar Daily Planner Layout:

So there you have it: That’s one possible way to make a daily planner layout for April 21st or whatever day your calendar says it is when you happen to find this page.


Thanks so much for taking a look at my project! I really appreciate your interest. Happy planning!


Posted By: Amy Solovay

Bead Crafts for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is coming up soon. This year, in the USA, Mother’s Day will occur on Sunday, May 12, 2024. As of right now, you still have plenty of time to make or buy Mother’s Day cards and gifts for all the mother figures in your life.


If you love and adore making pretty things for the people you love, there are zillions of possible things you could make for your mom, grandmas, mother-in-law and / or stepmom. If you aren’t sure what to make, bead crafts offer you a fantastic starting point to consider because beads are beautiful, popular, readily available, reasonably affordable and really easy to work with.


If your mom and other gift recipients enjoy wearing jewelry, there are many pretty beaded baubles you could be making for them.


Furthermore, if you wear beaded jewelry yourself, and you’re taking any of the moms in your life out to Mother’s Day breakfast, lunch, brunch or dinner, you might also want to make something pretty for yourself to wear when you go out. Why not?

Beautiful Beaded Jewelry for Mother’s Day

Beaded Lace Crochet Choker Necklace Pattern

Beaded Lace Crochet Choker Necklace Pattern

This pretty beaded choker is easy and inexpensive to make, but it turns out stunning if you do a careful job of crocheting it. It’s also really easy to personalize, because you can easily make it exactly the right length for its intended wearer. Beyond that, you can choose just about any color and shape of small beads for embellishing it, and pretty much any fine yarn or crochet thread for working it. The crochet pattern for making it is available on this website for free, and the materials for making it can be reasonably affordable if you choose inexpensive beads, crochet thread and findings; it’s also possible to splurge on precious metals and other exquisite materials to make the finished project truly, luxuriously spectacular. So if you’re thinking of making a choker-style necklace for your mom, this one gets my vote as one that’s ideal for most crafters to try. You can get the free crochet choker pattern HERE.


The only exception: This really isn’t a fantastic choice if you’ve never crocheted anything before, ever; in that case, I recommend taking a look at this list of crochet projects for total beginners and choosing an item from that list to make first. Then after you’ve made an item or two to get comfortable with crocheting, you’d be better equipped to succeed at making this project. But if you’ve already made a few crochet projects before, I’m positive that you could handle making this beaded choker necklace easily.

If you want to find more ideas for pretty beaded jewelry you could make for Mother’s Day, check out this list of jewelry making ideas and this list of crochet bracelets HERE.

Beaded Gadget Cozy

Beaded Crochet Gadget Cozy: Free Crochet Pattern

Beaded Crochet Gadget Cozy: Free Crochet Pattern


If your mom carries a cell phone, camera, or other similar small gadget, this pretty beaded gadget cozy might be a useful gift for her. Alternatively, this little pouch could be a pretty way to giftwrap a small gift.

These ideas only just scratch the surface of what is possible to make for Mother’s Day using beads. Want even more ideas? Check these out:

Posted By: Amy Solovay