Category Archives: Challenges

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.

“Love You” Valentine’s Day Card Featuring Heart Motif and Flowers

Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Love You Valentine’s Day Card With Hearts and Flowers Featuring Stamps by Hero Arts

Love You Valentine Card With Hearts and Flowers Featuring Stamps by Hero Arts

Love You Valentine Card With Hearts and Flowers Featuring Stamps by Hero Arts

Last year at this time, the lovely people at Hero Arts hosted a challenge with the theme of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. Pictured above, you can see the card I entered in the challenge. It’s a Valentine’s Day card featuring stamped images I created using a couple of different Hero Arts stamp sets. I just took a look to see if the stamps and other supplies needed for making this card are still available — and they are, except you’ll probably have to substitute washi tape designs because I’m not sure if the ones that I used are still available. But the Hero Arts stamps are still current for Valentine’s Day 2024, and I highly recommend them; they are some of my most-used stamps.

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Making a Similar Valentine Card:

  • The “Togetherness” Stamp Set by Hero Arts — This stamp set features a gorgeous floral bouquet stamp and 7 lovely sentiment stamps.
  • The Hero Greetings Christmas Messages Stamp Set by Hero Arts — No, this isn’t a Christmas card (although you could make it a Christmas card if you want to; simply change out the pinks for greens, and voila, it’s a Christmas card). The “Hero Greetings Christmas Messages” stamp set includes mostly Christmas-themed sentiments, but it also has other sentiments like “love you,” “you warm my heart,” “stay cozy” and “let’s party”. So you can use it for many occasions besides just Christmas. I think the “love you” stamp is just perfect for using on Valentine cards, birthday cards and everyday cards.
  • Pink Cardstock
  • White Cardstock
  • Kitsch Flamingo Distress Oxide Ink Pad by Tim Holtz for Ranger Industries
  • Love Letter Memento Ink Pad
  • Washi Tapes: I used 3 different washi tape designs to create this card. The one on the top is a glittery, sparkly white washi tape by Graphic 45. The one in the middle is a red floral design by Recollections. The one on the bottom is a lovely design from the Papillon collection by The Happy Planner / Me & My Big Ideas.
  • A Heart Die or Heart Stencil
  • Scalloped Scissors — I used Fiskars Paper Edgers in the Mini Scallop design to cut around my “love you” sentiment.
  • Pens & Markers — You’ll want to personalize your card on the inside, and you might also want to make some touch-ups to the embellishments on your card. I used a Tombow brush marker, color #847 to color in the scalloped edge around the “Love You” stamped image. I also used a Sakura Gelly Roll pen and a Marvy Uchida highlighter to personalize the inside of my card. No need to get these pens and markers specifically; you can use other coordinating pens and markers from your stash to do your personalizing. If you don’t have any pens that will work for this, I definitely recommend the Gelly Rolls; they are affordable and super pretty. I love the results I get from using them, and I think you will, too.
  • Scoring Board or Other Scoring Tool

Thanks so much for taking a look at my Valentine Card. I really appreciate your interest.


Check Out More DIY Valentine’s Day Cards

Find More Project Ideas Featuring Stamps and Supplies by Hero Arts

Posted By: Amy Solovay

Slimline Thank You Card Making Idea Featuring Floral and Botanical Motifs

Slimline Floral Thank You Card + Vintage Crocheted and Embroidered Linen

Slimline Floral Thank You Card + Vintage Crocheted and Embroidered Linen


I created this handmade thank-you card awhile back when the lovely people over at Pinkfresh Studio hosted a card making challenge to celebrate World Card Making Day. The card you see pictured above was my challenge entry.


At the time I originally made the card, I didn’t take a very good picture of it because I was in a hurry to beat the challenge deadline. I made a mental note to take a better picture of the card later. Then I promptly forgot all about it.


Fast forward to now. I’ve been unpacking boxes because I recently moved. A few days ago, I came across the vintage embroidered linen you see pictured in the background of the photo above, and it occurred to me that the vintage linens in my collection would make lovely photo backgrounds for all my craft projects. So I am working on updating and improving bunches of my old photos to look prettier.


What do you think? You can see the “before” photo below and the “after” photo above.

Supplies for Crafting This Slimline Thank You Card

The supplies used for making this slimline thank you card are all by Pinkfresh Studio:

Handmade Thank You Card Featuring Floral and Botanical Motifs -- This Card Is Made Using Craft Supplies by Pinkfresh Studio

Handmade Thank You Card Featuring Floral and Botanical Motifs — This Card Is Made Using Craft Supplies by Pinkfresh Studio

Thanks so much for checking out my project. I appreciate your interest.

More Card Making Ideas:


Posted By: Amy Solovay

This page was last updated on 2-9-2024.

International Scrapbooking Day Mood Board Challenge Entry

Explore Diamond Head, Oahu -- Hawaii Travel Themed Scrapbooking Layout

Explore Diamond Head, Oahu — Hawaii Travel Themed Scrapbooking Layout

I created this scrapbooking layout to enter in Art_Teacher’s International Scrapbooking Day 2023 Mood Board Challenge (now closed) over at A Cherry on Top Crafts. The challenge was to use the colors from the mood board, which are turquoise and purple, plus to choose 3 additional sources of inspiration.

I was inspired by the moon in the mood board photo #10 (used a large circle), the 5-petaled flowers in the mood board photo #1 at top left (used a 5-petaled flower), and the body of water in the mood board photo #3 (so I used a photo that also has a body of water in it).

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

This is a one-photo layout, so you’ll need a photo to scrap.

  • Flower Embellishment: There are many ways to create flower embellishments you can use for this. You can buy ready-made flower embellishments from brands like Graphic 45 and Prima. You can also make your own paper flowers using stamps or dies. In this case, I ink blended some heavy cardstock using Pinkfresh Studio’s Mermaid Cove ink, and then used the inky cardstock for die-cutting my flower with the Layered Flowers die set by Waffle Flower Crafts.


  • Washi Tape — You can use any washi tape you happen to have. I used a washi tape by Jen Hadfield that is now discontinued, but there are many available washi tape designs that would give you excellent results in this project.


  • Border Designs: To make a project similar to the one pictured above, you’ll need two border designs that harmonize with each other but are not an exact match for each other. I used Pinkfresh Studio’s Lacey Edgers dies to create these, and I also used Decorative Scalloped Scissors by EK Success. There are many other possible ways to create borders that would work for this sort of project.


  • Cardstock and Patterned Papers: You’ll need a variety of patterned papers; if you are creating a Hawaii-themed or travel-themed layout, it would make sense to choose a tropical-themed or travel-themed paper collection to work with, but these are not your only choices. You can use basically any paper from any collection if you are careful to choose paper designs that harmonize with your photos. I used papers from the Simple Stories Coastal collection, which is now out of stock at every store where I usually buy scrapbooking supplies. I think Pinkfresh Studio’s Sunshine on My Mind Collection looks like an outstanding paper collection to use for scrapping summer vacation photos, but you have many choices to use for this purpose.


  • Alphabet Letter Dies: There are many different dies, stamps or letter stickers you could use for creating your page title. I used Altenew’s Simple Alphabet die set.


  • Pens or Markers: If you want to journal on your page, it would be nice to do your journaling with a pen in a color that coordinates beautifully with your layout. If you aren’t sure what kind of pen to get, I recommend using Sakura Gelly Rolls or Tombow’s Fudenokuke brush pens. I’ve used the Fudenosuke pens on this page.


  • 6″x8″ Scrapbooking Binder / Album and Page Protectors If you’re scrapping 6″x8″ pages like this one, you’ll want to have sheet protectors and an album to put them in. My layout is housed in a Sn@p! album by Simple Stories.


  • Stamps: The “Explore” stamp is by Citrus Twist Kits.

I am planning to add this page to my Hawaii travel-themed mini scrapbook album and also to our list of Hawaiian Travel and Vacation Scrapbook Ideas shortly. If travel-themed scrapbooking pages are of interest to you, I invite you to check them out.

Thanks so much for checking out my project. I appreciate your interest!