I have been participating in a chain card swap for the past few months. It’s a fun activity where you make a card and send it along a chain of participants. Each person copies and edits the card before passing it on until it returns to the original sender, often looking quite different.
For round eight of this blog hop series, I created a simple fun fold card using the Lily Pond Lane Suite from Stampin’ Up! inspired by Annette’s card chain and the version of Annette’s card created by Sharni. I created this card with this gorgeous Lily Pond Lane Designer Series Paper because I was really inspired to use the koi fish on this Designer Series Paper. Koi fish are one of my favourite things. Did you know that Koi fish are a symbol of good luck, prosperity and good fortune and are a symbol of Japanese culture and closely tied with Japan’s national identity?

the finished lily pond lane side latch card

Here is a look at my finished card. I called this a side latch fun fold and have actually shared a tutorial of how to make one of these cards on a previous post here.
I created this one with hardly any stamping and instead featured a lot of the Lily Pond Lane Designer Series Paper and some fussy cut designs from this Designer Series Paper.

Stampin’ Up! have several Designer Series Paper collections that give themselves to being fussy cut or die cut and used as focal points. You can see all the Designer Series Paper for sale in my online store here.

a close up of all the detail

Here is a look at some of the detail on the finished card. To both create the ‘latch’ for this card and also as a ‘grounding’ for my focal point, I have used the Spotlight on Nature dies to create a circle which I have added my Koi Fish to. I love these dies and they are definitely a good basic to have in your stash.

I embellished my card with some Linen Thread and some of the beautiful jewels from the Faceted Gems. These are so sparkly & just a beautiful and elegant finish to the card.

a look at how the side latch card mechanism works

Here is a look at how this card opens with that fun side latch feature. I decided to use some more of that Lily Pond Lane Designer Series Paper featured on the inside, with some more subtle patterns from the designs. I did use the matching Charming Duck Pond dies to create some lilies to feature on the inside amongst another tiny koi fish that I have cut from the Lily Pond Lane Designer Series Paper.

This was a fun card to make and I really enjoyed seeing the progression of the card throughout the chain.
You can see the whole ‘chain’ of card in the series and how the card has evolved below.
I suggest following it in order from number one onwards to see the true progression of the card.

Until next time, crafty hugs. xx

There are two upcoming amazing events with The Stamping Lounge run by myself, Maheswari Rajaguru and Rochelle Laird-Smith. We will be running an online class using the brand new Stampin’ Up! Gingerbread Man Bundle and we also have our next Virtual Retreat quickly approaching that is open for registration now featuring the Stampin’ Up! Elegant Pine Snowflake Suite of products. Click the images or links to find out more and enrol OR sign up to The Stamping Lounge membership to get our monthly classes which are included in the membership.

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supply list

Product List

Charming Duck Pond Bundle (English) [163350] $81.75	Lily Pond Lane 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163342] $21.75	Spotlight On Nature Dies [163580] $61.00	Faceted Gems Trio Pack [162148] $13.25	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141897] $15.75
Linen Thread [104199] $8.75	Versamark Pad [102283] $16.75	Basics Wow! Embossing Powder [165679] $37.00	Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate [131291] $20.25	Pretty Peacock A4 Cardstock [150886] $20.25
Pebbled Path A4 Cardstock [161731] $20.25	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $20.25	Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock [159230] $19.75	Pretty In Pink A4 Cardstock [163794] $20.25	2024–2026 In Color™ Glimmer 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Paper [163771] $19.25
Pretty In Pink Classic Stampin Pad [163807] $15.75	Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin’ Pad [150083] $15.75	Berry Burst Classic Stampin' Pad [147143] $15.75	Blending Brushes [153611] $27.00	Regals Stampin' Write Markers [161699] $62.50