Tamara's Paper Trail

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Go from beginner to pro - handmade cards made easy! MCM layout May 18, 2026

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a lovely long weekend. I did! A good mix of friends, family, outdoors and work. Im getting the hang of balance these days!

I usually take bank-holidays off but not this round. I didn't go live LAST Monday (Mom and I went out for Mother's Day Dinner Theatre) and I couldn't justify taking another one off. Not when I had a GREAT little card layout to share with you! You know I love me a good layout that can go from "easy" to "fancy" in just a few steps. THIS is one of those layouts. Check out what we made on my Facebook Live and how I took it from "super simple" to "woah!".

I started with the very basics. Stamp, ink and paper (SIP). I used Moonlit Flora paper and a sentiment from Frames & Phrases. Nothing fancy here! A simple sentiment on a strip of paper straddling some strips of pretty paper, a bow and a few flower embellishments and you have a sweet little card. VERY minimal supplies (and no fancy tools) needed!

Same idea, I just moved the papers to the right a bit and flag-ended the sentiment strip ...

If you've watched me before, you know how to "step it up". You add layers, and/or texture. This one adds some visual texture by stamping the card base (in Soft Sea Foam), adding a layer of white to frame the designer papers and popping the sentiment up on dimensionals. It's a little fancier simply by die cutting a label for the sentiment.

This next one adds even MORE texture by embossing the back layer ...

Things are getting crazy now, as I used coloured card stock for the base, embossed the top left corner of the layer and sanded it to expose the white core. Soft Sea Foam and Mossy Meadow die cuts take it to the next level!

This one is very similar. I embossed the ENTIRE layer, not just a corner of it. This one has Mossy Meadow and Old Olive die cuts.

So there you have it! How to go from simple to fancy in a few easy steps. Here is the "recipe" of the pieces you need to prep if you want to try making one ...

... and here is the Mystery Card Monday (MCM) Facebook Live replay, showing you how to cut the papers and put all the pieces together. Check it out!

I hope you give this one a try! Try it with different papers, embossing folders and colours. Enjoy the process!

That's it for this week. If you would like to join me LIVE for my MCM (Mystery Card Monday) sessions, you can catch me on my FaceBook Page here at 7:00 pm Mountain Time every Monday ... or on my YouTube Channel here at the same time (I stream live to both). Like and Follow my FB Page and/or Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. I'd love to have you - the live community is AMAZING and so much fun!

If you live in Canada and would like to purchase any of the items I used for my cards, just click any of the pictures below and you will be taken to my Stampin' Up! online store. (I apologize that not all products are shown! When I do a blog post before the product is available for sale I can't add it to the list shown below.) Thank you! I appreciate your support!

Stay amazing!

Tamara

Product List

Fern & Flora Bundle (English)

[167745]

$73.75

Stylish Shapes Dies

[159183]

$41.00

Moonlit Flora 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[167737]

$18.00

Secret Sea 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Two Tone Cardstock

[166709]

$13.75

Secret Sea 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[165624]

$20.00

Mossy Meadow 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[133676]

$20.00

Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[100702]

$20.00

Soft Sea Foam 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146988]

$20.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[166780]

$20.00

Secret Sea Classic Stampin' Pad

[165285]

$15.00

Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad

[147102]

$12.25

Floral Spray 3 D Embossing Folder

[167946]

$16.50

Dreamy Flowers

[167916]

$13.00

Baker's Twine Essentials Pack

[155475]

$15.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$6.00

Stampin' Seal

[152813]

$12.25

Sponge Daubers

[133773]

$10.25

Bone Folder

[102300]

$11.00

Take Your Pick

[144107]

$16.50

Paper Trimmer

[152392]

$39.00

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$191.00

Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Z Fold Fun Fold Card - a quick and easy "wow"! - MCM layout May 4, 2026

Happy Tuesday! ... and Happy New CATALOGUE Day - whoot! Yup, as happens three times a year, I'm exhausted, after having stayed up until midnight to place may paper/ribbon share order. *yawn - I am a total waste of makeup today! ... but so worth it. I LOOOOVE my paper/ribbon shares and needed to "secure the goods" before they sold out. Mission accomplished! BEFORE I stayed up, though, I had my standard MCM Live on Facebook. I taught you how to make the EASIES "WOW!" Fun Fold card ... a "Z-Fold". These are the projects I made ....

I've done Z-Folds before ... and shown you how, as well ... but I was inspired by a SWAP card I got from Angela O'connor and it was SO popular on my FB Page a few weeks back I decided to CASE hers and make it Live with you. Here is her card ...

Great, isn't it? She used the Lovely Blossoms DSP and the Banner Saying bundle for the sentiment and punched element. It's a great card! Here are closeups and details on the ones I made ...

These two show a "basic" version (left) and a "stepped up" version. The difference is the one on the left just uses cut layers for the focal point, whereas the one on the right uses the Everyday Arches dies. As always, I like to show a layout for beginner stampers or those who may not have "all the tools/toys" and then a fancier version, that usually includes die cuts. Both are lovely! The both use the NEW Moonlit Flora paper and Fern & Flora set/bundle.

These next two are the "stepped up" versions and both use the new Velvet Meadow Specialty Paper. It's SO soft and ... well, velvety! lol. The Berry Burst version also uses the new Dreamy Flower embellishments.