Sunday, August 30, 2026

Swing Strong, Stand Out: A Sketch-Inspired Baseball Card

Sometimes a great card starts with a great sketch! For this project created for Pajama Crafter Stamps, I used a card sketch as inspiration and turned it into a fun baseball-themed design featuring the Champion In the Making Stamps.

I often use sketches as the starting point for my card designs, especially if I’m stuck for an idea or have “crafter’s block”.

Pinterest is a great place to find sketches, which is where this one comes from. Not sure who the creator is or I would give credit. It may be Dawn Griffith.

Preparing Materials

Once I found the sketch I pulled out my materials.

I knew that the Champion in the Making Stamps set would work great for this sketch.

And, since this set contains baseball images, I will go with papers from the Let’s Play Ball Paper Pack. These papers are red, white and blue. So that’s what my color palette will be.

A navy blue card base will make for a great card base and for matting the solid red, red stripe and white papers.

I cut 3 pieces of navy card stock. One piece at 4 1/4 x 11 inches for an A2 card base. The second piece is approximately 3 5/8 inches square. And, a third piece about 2 1/8 x 2 7/8 inches.

Cut solid red paper from the paper pack to 4 x 5 1/4 inches for the background. I cut the red stripe with a square die which measures about 3 1/2 inches. Cut white card stock to
2 x 2 3/4 inches.

Stamping & Die Cutting

I stamp the girl image from the stamp set, color with Prismacolor Pencils and fussy cut.

Navy card stock is cut with the Scalloped Circle Die and the longest banner from the Banner Die Set.

Die cut a white circle and stamp the sentiment “Swing Strong, Stand Out”.

Building the Design

To build the card design, adhere the red paper panel to the card base. Add the 2 square pieces on a slight tilt. Fancy Corners on the stripe paper add a little something extra.

Layer on the scallop circle and banner, which is cut down slightly.
Mat the white panel onto the small navy panel.

Complete by adding the girl image and sentiment circle.Complete by adding the girl image and sentiment circle.

Using a card sketch is a great when you’re feeling a little stuck creatively. You don’t have to follow the sketch exactly—use it as a jumping-off point and adapt the layout, images and embellishments to fit your project.

Products Used

Whether you’re creating a card for a baseball fan, a player, or simply someone who deserves a little encouragement, this sketch-inspired design is a fun way to let them know to Swing Strong and Stand Out!

Thanks for taking a look at my project! I hope you’ll give card sketches a try!

Friday, August 28, 2026

Welcome Little One Card

Happy Friday!

Sharing an inspiration card today for

Conie Fong Art & Design!

This sweet digi is called Baby Ellie.

I colored with Ohuhu markers and die cut with a stitched circle die.

A scalloped circle was cut to mat.

A die cut border was cut twice and layered.

The sentiment was die cut as well.

This card came together quickly.

If you know someone expecting a sweet little one,

grab this digi and create a special card for them!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Merry Woofmas

Hey there!

Just a quick post to share a cute card I had

so much fun creating!

Yes, it is another Craft Roulette inspired card!

This one for Episode #333.

And I had to use products from

Pajama Crafter Stamps!

Why? Because there are so many great products that

work well for, well, for any project!

I used:

Wienerful Christmas Stamps - dog image and sentiment

Rustic Christmas Owl Stamps - pine boughs

Hippo Ho Ho Stamps - presents

Pennant Dies - I used 2 of the 3 in the set

Spring Plaid Paper Pad - spring plaid patterned paper,

but works so well for Christmas

The parameters:

Project 4" x 6" Card - My card is a side fold 4 x 6 inch card.

Colors Buffet- I went for colors from a salad buffet

Element Holiday - I chose Christmas as my Holiday

Random Bark - a dog barks

All parameters met and so fun to play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

********************************************

Linking up to:

CRAFT Challenge - Christmas

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - ATG

Addicted to Stamps and More - Any Occasion

A Place to Start - playing ATG

613 Avenue Create - ATG /Play Time Twist

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - ATG

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge - ATG Christmas

Monday, August 24, 2026

Rediscovering the Border Punch: Creating an Ombre Card

Sometimes the best crafting tools are the ones we haven’t reached for in years!

I'm here today with my latest CutCardStock project.

I pulled a long-forgotten border punch from my stash and gave it a fresh new purpose.

Instead of using it simply along the edge of a card, I

used the punched designs to create a fun ombre background for this birthday card.

The combination of purple, lavender, black, white, and

pops of yellow creates a bold floral-inspired design, while

the large dimensional flower and birthday sentiment finish the card beautifully.

Cardstock

Lessebo Sunflower Yellow

Other Supplies

Border punch with a floral or decorative design
Paper trimmer
Scissors
Hole punch
Adhesive
Flower dies or die-cut flower pieces
Birthday sentiment die

Creating the Ombre Background

1. Choose Your Color Palette

Start by selecting several coordinating cardstock colors. I chose white, lavender, purple, black, and yellow for this design.

2. Card Base

Cut a piece of Lessebo Pitch Black cardstock to 10 x 6 1/2 inches. Score at 5 inches along the 10 inch side, fold and burnish to form as 5 x 6 1/2 inch card base.

A piece of Bright Foil Silver cardstock is cut to 4 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches for a matting panel.

Cut a piece of Cougar White Smooth cardstock to 4 5/8 x 6 1/8 inches for the background.

3. Punch the Borders

Here’s where that forgotten crafting tool comes in!

Cut 1 strip each of the white, black, aubergine, plum, grape jelly and hydrangea cardstocks.

Also cut three 1/4 inch strips of the silver cardstock.

Use your border punch along one long edge of each cardstock strip.

Make sure the punch design is lined up consistently so

the patterns will repeat when the strips are placed together.

Tip: Before punching all of your pieces, do a test punch on a scrap strip. This will help you determine exactly where the pattern needs to begin and end.

4. Add the Punched Strips

Arrange the punched strips onto the white background panel starting from the bottom to top. Arrange the colors from darkest to lightest to create the ombre background.

5. Add the Metallic Accents

Adhere the strips of silver cardstock where

the straight edges of the punched strips come together.

These little strips add just enough shine to break up the pattern and

give the finished card a polished look.

6. Assemble the Card Front

The completed background panel was then layered onto

the silver matting panel attached to the black card base.

Creating the Focal Flower

For the focal point, I created a large dimensional flower die cut

with Pop Tone Grape Jelly cardstock.

I added additional dimension by layering the flower petals and

finished the center with a contrasting Lessebo Sunflower Yellow flower center.

A small Lessebo Pitch Black layer between the purple flower and yellow center

helps define all of the individual pieces.

The flower was adhered toward the upper left portion of the card,

overlapping the color-blocked background slightly.

Adding the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used a “Happy Birthday“ die cut from Lessebo Pitch Black cardstock.

I positioned it in the upper right portion of the card where

it balances the large flower without competing with the background pattern.

Finishing Touches

The final touch was adding small yellow circles, punched with a hole punch,

throughout the punched floral rows.

These coordinate with the center of the focal flower and

create the appearance of little flower centers scattered across the background.

I love how these small details help tie the entire design together!

A New Way to Look at an Old Tool

This project was a great reminder that sometimes we don’t need the newest crafting tool to create something fresh and interesting. A border punch that had been sitting unused in my stash became the star of the background!

Try looking through your own collection of “forgotten” tools. A border punch, decorative scissors, punches, or even an older die can often be used in a completely different way than originally intended.

What forgotten crafting tool do you have hiding in your stash? Pull it out and give it a new life—you may be surprised by what you can create!

For more inspiration join us over on the CutCardStock Facebook Page and the Facebook Group Creating with CutCardStock.

And, be sure an subscribe to the CutCardStock Blog where the design team

posts a variety of cardstock projects.

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Stamp, Layer & Die Cut: Creating a Festive Christmas Card

There’s something timeless about a traditional red and green Christmas card! This project combines seasonal elements with classic Christmas colors creating a cheerful card filled with layers, dimension, and festive details.

Gathering Images

To begin, stamp, color and fussy cut the large image from Pumpkin & Spice Stamps along with the small images from Citrus & Scarlet Blooms Stamps. Also stamp pine fronds from Rustic Christmas Owl Stamps.

Cutting away the foliage and pumpkins from the Pumpkin & Spice cup making it easy to convert from a fall image to a Christmas image.

Die Cutting

Die cut a green decorative circle with the Circle Peek A Boo Die. Cut banners using the Banner Die Set out of red and green card stock. Cutting the “Merry Christmas” from the Christmas Words with Shadow Die in red makes for the perfect holiday greeting.

Preparing the Card Base

Next, cut a piece of red card stock for an A2 top folding card base. Cut a piece of white card stock to 4 x 5 1/4 inches for the card background. Cutting a strip of pattern paper from the Emerald Isle Paper Pad for the bottom portion of the card will add interest.

Cut a narrow strip from red card stock for an additional decorative element.

Building the Design

Adhere the white background to the red card base. Add the circle die cut next. Then the patterned paper strip.

Red and green banner die cuts go on next. The narrow red strip goes on top.

Layer the stamped pieces onto the die cut circle. Add the sentiment and finally, the red rhinestones go on throughout the design for a festive finishing touch.

A Little Christmas Stamp Creativity

By combining images from several Pajama Crafter Stamps collections a festive holiday design comes together.

The classic red and green color combination, layers of stamped images, dimensional elements, and touches of sparkle give this card plenty of traditional Christmas charm while still keeping the design playful and unique.

Products Used: