Brian’s Week in Review: October 5, 2025

Welcome to my Week in Review! Each Sunday, I like to share a quick recap for those who don’t follow along every day—and a little extra behind-the-scenes for those who do.

Finding Joy

I’m still staying very busy in retirement. Not only did I leave the house for three lunches with friends this week, but I have also emersed myself in Halloween-themed projects at home (it’s October, right?). I pulled out all of our Halloween decorations and have enjoyed decorating little spots in the house. In the evenings, I’ve been working on my second Halloween puzzle (finished the first one with Mom). I find it relaxing at the end of the day to listen to a podcast or some great music while working through the complexities of a challenging puzzle. We have to seek out the things that bring us joy, right?

Speaking of joy, my week was turned on its side a bit by the release of Taylor Swift’s new album. I stayed up late Thursday night (which is already part of my routine…) to listen to her new album (twice before going to bed), AND I treated myself to the listening party at the local movie theater. If nothing else, I knew I’d enjoy the ginormous popcorn and Diet Coke … but I really enjoyed the entire event.

World Card Making Day Event

Since we are already talking about joy…Mom and I signed up for yesterday’s World Card Making Day Event hosted by Stampin’ Up!. During half of the call, Sara Douglass made cards from the Handmade & Heartfelt Kit and then handed it over to Melody, Karen and Jay who shared some incredible techniques and inspiration with card layouts. The video is on Stampin’ Up!’s public YouTube page, and I’ve shared it here if you’d like to take a look:

I bought two of the Handmade & Heartfelt Kit and sent one to Mom. Mom and I assembled the cards (as designed). Direct quote from Mom: “These are beautiful! I’m so happy to stock up on cards I can send to friends.” – and she loved the organization station that accompanies the cards in the kit. Here’s a look at the Handmade & Heartfelt Kit:

Kits Sale – Next Week

Starting Tuesday, Stampin’ Up! is launching a 3-Day Kits Collection Sale. This three-day sale is the perfect opportunity to stock up on your favorite kits from the Kits Collection. All kits will be between 10% and 30% off during the sale. 

Some of these kits will sell out quickly, so be ready to log in on Tuesday and place your order! ♥

Now, to the wrap up of my week in blog posts…

Monday

On Monday I shared a look at two of the alternative projects I shared in my Pumpkin in the Fungeon call with my September Fall for Toile kit. While the tree was a standout image in this collection of products, I was not sure sure about the cornfield. In the end, I was really, really happy about the finished project with the cornfield image. Here are the cards I shared:

For a closer look at these projects and the products I used to make them, CLICK HERE.

Tuesday

Every once in a while, I have to take a break from projects to share promotions and sales information. On Tuesday I shared all of the October promotions and sales at Stampin’ Up! – and there are a lot of things to pay attention to. The new Join Promotion is pretty incredible!

To learn more about these promotions (I don’t want you to miss out), CLICK HERE.

Wednesday

Stampin’ Up! released three new kits on Tuesday, and I gave you a closer look at all three in my post on Wednesday. Since we received the Nutcracker Tags Kit during our trip to Salt Lake City, I shared an alternative project I made with elements from the kit. Here’s that card:

I used the nutcracker (punched with a circle), sentiment, holly and banner from the kit to build this sweet card. To read more about this project and see all three of the new kits, CLICK HERE.

Thursday

On Thursday I shared a third alternative project from the September Paper Pumpkin Kit. I used the flaps of three envelopes (one Pumpkin Pie, one Pecan Pie and one Cajun Craze) to cut 1″ squares and build a pattern I loved for this card. Here’s the card I made:

To see more about this card and the Paper Pumpkin Kit I used to make it, CLICK HERE.

Friday

Because Thursday’s card shared a fun idea that’s easily transferred to other products, I made another card with the 1″ square layout. Inspired by Vicki’s suggestion during our Pumpkin in the Fungeon call, I used the Floral Charm Designer Series Paper and coordinating Charming Day Bundle to make this card:

Bonus: Here’s what you didn’t notice about this card: When I was making this card, I positioned the squares in the corner of a Basic White piece of cardstock and then trimmed the edges to create the frame on the other two sides. As I was cutting the edge, I miscalculated and cut the entire piece of white paper off one side. Ugh! To fix that, I cropped all of the edges on that panel (lined up with the edges of the squares) and then mounted it on another piece of Basic White. I feared the mix-up would show – when it didn’t, I felt the need to tell you more about how I worked around my mistake.

If you want to read more about this project, CLICK HERE.

Saturday

Yesterday was World Card Making Day – did you do something special to celebrate the art of making cards? I hope so. In yesterday’s post, I offered a Double Crowns promotion for the month AND a closer look at five of my favorite cards from the past year. Every card has a story, so it’s nice to give you a little more about some of them.

There’s still time to earn Double Crown Rewards (I’m offering them all weekend). If you’d like to read more or see the five cards I shared in my World Card Making Day parade, CLICK HERE.

Looking Ahead

I’ve got some fun projects to share with you this coming week, too! I hope you’ll come back every day! 🙂

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar

I was really excited to order my 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar (and picked one up for Mom, too!) on Tuesday morning. So excited for it to arrive! Since I’ve already seen all of the products (we were able to play with the kit while on our visit to Stampin’ Up!’s home office), I know it’s worth every penny!

To learn more, CLICK HERE.

To shop for this advent catalog, click on the image below: