by Jackie Bultje | Oct 2, 2019 | Feels Like Frost, Nature's Beauty, vellum |
Hello stampers. Yesterday I did a Facebook live showing how to do reversible deer in two different ways. Unfortunately I have a really bad cold so I am going to do a simple blog post. I don’t have the energy to show you step by step photos for the reversible deer but I will share the link for the Facebook live in case you missed it. In this video I show you how to make three different cards using the deer from Nature’s Beauty with two cool folds as well. I will blog about all three cards this week but for today I am just going to talk about the reversible deer.
Reversing the Deer using the Stamparatus
The most common way of creating a reverse image is done with our fabulous too, the Stamparatus. Place the silicone mat in the stamparatus, right into the corner. Position your stamp where you want it to go on the silicone mat. Make sure you have a piece of card stock ready that is cut so that it will be big enough to cover the area of the stamparatus where the stamp is. Ink up your stamp and stamp it directly on the silicone mat. Be careful not to ink it up too much or your image will be blurry. Lift the stamparatus plate, place your card stock in the corner and lay it carefully over the stamped image. Put the magnet on it and then stamp the image again. You can ink up your image again if you plan to use both sides of the image. Take a look at what you have created! You will see that you have a mirror image on both sides which you can now either fussy cut or use a die if there is a coordinating one. There is no die for the deer from Nature’s Beauty but it is very easy to fussy cut.
Reversible Deer with Vellum
It was totally by accident that I discovered the easiest way to create a reverse image deer. For one of my cards I needed a vellum deer. When I turned the deer over to adhere it to my card I noticed that you could see the image just as well on the other side! How awesome is that? No muss, no fuss, that is my kind of “technique”! Another bonus to doing it that way is that you get two different shades of deer, just like in real life. A good tip is to sponge liquid glue like Tombow just on the legs and body of the deer. This gives the deer a little more “movement”. The deer will look like they are inquisitive and inclining their heads towards you a little bit. Trust me, it really does look like that! When you have vellum deer it won’t work to use dimensionals since you will see them through the vellum.
The Card
I got the idea for this card from Rachel Tessman. She loves the Feels Like Frost paper as much as I do and she wanted to use it in such a way that you can see the full six inches of it. I tweaked it a bit by changing the measurements to use even more of the paper and I added a vellum deer because that is what I have been wanting to do for a while with this paper.
I have to say that I love Rachel Tessman’s idea of using the framelit from Feels Like Frost and deconstructing it to use the elements to pop behind the front of this card. It is a good idea to think outside the box and use this paper not only for Christmas cards. I have limited supplies with me in Holland so I used the framelit from the Most Wonderful Time product medley for the words. The sentiment came from Toile Christmas.
The Measurements
The early espresso card is a regular size, 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ with just one extra score line at 1 1/2″ as well as the regular score line in the middle at 4 1/4″. The patterned paper is trimmed to 5 3/8″ and then cut in strips of 2 3/4″, 1 1/4″, and 2″. At the far right you add a strip of white card stock 2″x 5 3/8″. The optical illusion is that when the card is folded into a z-fold style (the first part is folded back towards you) then you adhere the patterned paper just on one side so that it extends past the cardstock. Clear as mud? Watch my Facebook live video here and it will all make sense.
I thought I would end this blog post with the picture of the reversible deer card that I made during the Facebook live video yesterday. This card has no cabin and the puddle is also darker. There were a lot of positive comments on this card so here it is!
We will make the Feels Like Frost card with the vellum deer at my class on October 17 and 19, you can read more about it here. If you purchase the Feels Like Frost suite you will make 8 free cards, if you purchase the bundle you will make four free cards. I know it is going to be an epic class with amazing cards and lots of fun.
Thanks so much for joining me today. I have not accomplished nearly as much today as I had hoped but I am very thankful that I could at least share this blog post with you. Happy stamping!
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by Jackie Bultje | Sep 30, 2019 | Come to Gather, community, fall, fancy fold, harvest hellos, leaves |
Hello stampers! Many of you know that I am in the Netherlands for four weeks. Today I wanted to share some insights with you that I have gleaned over the weekend. It all comes down to the power of community. I had four totally different experience of gathering but all showed the need for and power of community.
A Funeral
On Saturday morning I had a family funeral. Of course it was a sad event, but in this case there was more joy than sadness. My Tante Irene had lived much longer than expected and she died both pain free and with the full assurance of salvation. She knew she was going to heaven! The beautiful thing for me was gathering with family members, some of whom I had not seen since I was a young teenager. One of my cousins is battling cancer, one of my aunts is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, many more are dealing the regular vicissitudes of life, but all together there was just such a beautiful power of community. Together we are strong. Together we are weak, together we are sad or joyful. I was so thankful that I could be a part of this. To be in such a big group of my mom’s family in the “old country” was meaningful and powerful for this immigrant’s daughter. Our extended family in Canada was small. I had one uncle on my dad’s side and one aunt on my mom’s side, that’s it. Eight cousins in all. When you have so much family so far away it really is beyond words to finally be part of this tribe in a very real way.
A Community Race
On Saturday afternoon Gerard had a community race. There were two options, either a 5km or a “ten English miles” which is 16km. Normally he runs a 10k but that was not an option. He wasn’t feeling great and a 5km is not a real challenge for him so I was curious as to why he would still want to run. Turns out it was all about community, about gathering with all the runners before the race and after the race and with running together in a big group. It was the energy of the group that was the big factor. It was not running a 5km. It was being connected with the power of community. How awesome is that?
A Retirement Party
Saturday night there was a retirement party for two brothers who are in the same business as Gerard; they are amaryllis growers. They sold their business and they wanted to celebrate with all their colleagues, friends and family. The amazing thing is that I met total strangers who had unknown connections to me. One man told me that his mother and my oldest aunt were best friends. Another man told me that his oma was a good friend of my mother’s!! Another man asked me where I was from so I said southern Ontario. Where he persisted. Somewhat impatiently I said Chatham. He then tells me that he has nephews there. Do I know the VanderEndes? Well, yes I do. Crazy small world. Even though the music was so loud that we had to shout in each other’s ears (boy was I feeling old!!) it was still wonderful to connect with all these people and to feel the power of community. Together we could celebrate with these two amaryllis growers and be happy for their success and also for the coming time where they can enjoy the fruits of their labour. With the power of community our joys are doubled and our sorrows are made less.
The Connection
Now what on earth does this all have to do with card making? Well, now I am going to tell you about the fourth event. I was invited to go to a good friend’s team gathering on Sunday afternoon. What a delightful group of women. I learned from them that also here in Holland, they get great satisfaction of gathering together as a team. They just love to meet in person once in a while and create together, to touch base and catch up with each other’s lives. Inspiration and energy is derived from these gatherings. I know that I certainly left inspired by their creativity and enthusiasm! Once again I was witness to the power of community. My friend told me that without these gatherings she would have stopped with Stampin’Up! when the going got tough. It was the power of community that kept her strong and motivated. Wondering who this friend is? It is the lovely and talented Caroline van der Straaten. You can check out her blog here.
How very fitting that the cards I am going to share today are made with the Come to Gather suite of products. Gathering with these ladies was so lovely. Even though I was still feeling under the weather with a bad cold, I am so very glad that I went. Believe it or not for the first five or ten minutes I was feeling a little overwhelmed and almost decided not to make a card. I was just going to take all the pieces back home and make them quietly alone later. It is a very enlightening experience for me to be on the other side of the creative experience. Does this surprise you?
I absolutely love this card that Annette Koolmees designed. While I love the Come to Gather paper, I have to admit that this particular sheet didn’t at first appeal to me. After seeing and making this card, I changed my mind. The tipping point was that Annette chose to stamp the pumpkin and the leaf on crumb cake card stock and then use an aqua painter to colour it. The result is an entirely different effect. My cajun craze leaf didn’t quite turn out the way it should have because I was using a brand new Wink of Stella and I squeezed a little too aggressively!! This led to a little heavier application of what should have been a subtle touch of bling.
A better surprise with this card is in the inside when you open it. It is a fancy fold with a tea light inside! The picture definitely doesn’t do it justice. Do go on over and check out Annette’s blog here. I see that she has already blogged about our wonderful afternoon together!
I used this card to participate in a tic-tac-toe challenge with The Joy Of Sets. You can check that out here!
Annette had more cards using this suite of products but I will share just one more with you. I might share some more of them tomorrow if I run out of time to create myself!
Here is a closeup of this fantastic card. the leaves have been blinged up with a bit of wink of stella.
The Power of Community for You
If you are feeling like you could use a little more “power of community” you may want to consider coming to a card making class. Maybe you are not into cards and scrapbooking is your thing. Perhaps neither of those things make your heart sing, but you really do love home decor. Well, paper, stamps and ink can be used to make some pretty amazing things and making them together with other people is simply wonderful. No classes offered in your area? Then I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone, get the starter kit and start playing. There is so much information on this hobby online, so many videos and tutorials to watch that you will have no problem figuring out how to do it. Once you get a feel for it you will be ready to share the love of your new hobby with other people and YOU can create the power of community and bring joy to the world through paper crafting. Click here to get the starter kit. You can put anything you want into this kit. You pay only $135 but you get $165 worth of product with no shipping or tax. It really is wonderful thing. I’m happy for you. I’m hazarding a guess that if you are here you are already either hooked into this lovely hobby or intrigued by it. Happy stamping and thanks for dropping by!
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by Jackie Bultje | Sep 27, 2019 | Christmas, corner flip fold cards, Snowman Season |
Hello stampers. Have I told you that I am a bit of a lazy stamper? I really do like a special fold when I am making a card but I don’t like it when they are super complicated. There is one exception to this and that is the twisted pop-up card. I really do love this one and find it is worth the extra time because it is just such a cool card. You can click here to see my post about this fun fold. When people open that card they get such an amazed look on their face that it is totally worth the extra effort. The special fold card that I am sharing with you today is much more simple but also fascinating. It is called a corner flip fold and is quick, easy and fascinating.
How to Make this Fold
I have discovered that this fold is indeed called a corner flip fold. During my Tuesday Facebook live I showed everyone how to do it and you can see that here. My setup was very interesting to say the least. Since I don’t have my Arkon phone mount for videoing another solution had to be found. We actually used a fork lift truck with a piece of sturdy cardboard across the tines with a hole cut out of it for my phone! It worked quite well but I think you will find Dawn Olchefske’s video quite helpful for a closer up look. You can see that one here.
I have to admit that I do find it supremely frustrating to work from another computer. While I am thankful for all the things that I am able to do so far from home, it is time consuming to learn different ways of doing everything. For example, I had a great sketch I wanted to share with how to make this fold but I can’t find a quick and easy way to do it. What I can do is give you another link. Not as much fun or as easy as me putting it right here for you, but now you can share in my pain just a little bit! Check it out here.
The Cards
Peggy Murwin designed this corner flip fold card for her Holiday Hoopla event in Illinois that I was privileged to speak at two weeks ago. It has been a long time since I made a card using this corner flip fold technique. I thought it would be fun to try it with Nature’s Beauty as well. Necessity is the mother of invention and I had no coastal cabana card stock with me in the Netherlands, so decided to use thick whisper white card stock instead. Take a look at how it turned out:
You can see that for both cards I used the new snowfall accents puff paint. This is a great new product but you do have to be careful as it tends to come out of the bottle quickly. Always do your larger snowy areas first before you do the small snowballs. You activate it with a heat tool, that is what makes it puff up. The background for this card was stamped in bermuda bay stamped off to lighten it with the Crackle background stamp. The snowflakes in the background are from Frosted Foliage. The Merry Christmas is from Snowman Season and was stamped in real red.
Feedback
I am by nature a curious person, so I would love to hear from you. I value your feedback and am curious where you like to connect with me. What is your favourite platform? Is it my business Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest or is it this blog? Going forward it is important for me to know where I should spend the most of my time and energy.
If you live in Canada I would encourage you to either shop with me or join my team. When you join my team you will get your very own discount starting at 20%. Of course there are many other perks and possibilities, the discount is only the beginning. Want to join? Click here. Want to shop? Just click on the images below of the products I have used. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day.
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by Jackie Bultje | Sep 26, 2019 | mental health, Nature's Beauty, Snow Front, Uncategorized |
Hello stampers. I absolutely love stamp sets that allow me to play. Snow Front and Nature’s Beauty are perfect for that. Nature’s Beauty has some great images in it and I really wanted to make some great cards so that you would all want to buy it. Why you ask? Well of course I want you to want ALL the stamp sets in the catalog, but this one has a special place in my heart. Nature’s Beauty is a stamp set that has been especially created to raise money for mental health organizations. Four dollars from each set will be donated to different mental health organizations in each country so that the money raised in each country remains there. Thank you Stampin’Up! Nature’s Beauty is a lovely stamp set with beautifully drawn animals: a deer, a rabbit, a fox as well as several different groupings of trees and grass. It will be great for many different occasions and just because.
Snow Front
When I was ready to make my third card using Nature’s Beauty I knew that I wanted to create a scene for the deer. I also knew that I wanted two deer facing each other. That means that I needed to use a really cool but simple technique involving the stamparatus and the silicone mat. I will share this technique during my Facebook live next Tuesday. Having only limited supplies on hand forces me to be a little bit more creative. Snow front has so many different stamps that allow you limitless possibilities for winter scene making. Time was of the essence and this card was actually very quick and easy to make, it came together on the first try!!
You can see that I used only three colours: soft suede, mossy meadow and seaside spray. The seaside spray is very subtle, it is found in the small patch of ice at the feet of the deer. It also ties in with the patterned paper in the background that comes from Come to Gather.
The deer on the right is the one that was reverse stamped using the silicone mat. This technique gives the stamped image a totally different look which may cause you to think that it is an entirely different stamp! I would love to spend a romantic evening in that cabin by the woods watching these deer? I hear the nightly rate is good, so you might want to stay there too!
Nature’s Beauty
This stamp set has only image stamps in it but it will coordinate with any of the sentiments from our other stamp sets. I also think it works very well for blank cards. Sometimes the only words you need are the heartfelt letter you write on the inside of the card. They are priceless. I would encourage you to use this stamp set to send random acts of kindness cards. Cards that can be sent for no reason at all but to send happy mail. If we all did that more often the world would be a better place. Mental illness would decline and that is the purpose of this stamp set! I hope you all get on board and buy the set. In fact I believe so strongly in this that EVERYONE who orders this set from my online store will get a card from me in the mail using this set. The only catch is that you must use the current host code: ZQKK7SAB.
Remember, four dollars from every set sold will be donated to the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada. That is a significant contribution and I am excited to see how much money we will raise. It would be amazing if we could keep tabs on how many cards are sent using this stamp set! Together we can make a difference, one small step at a time, one stamp set at a time, one card at a time.
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tune in to the Facebook live on Tuesday at 9am EST or 3pm European summer time. I will be making this card and two others using Nature’s Beauty.
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by Jackie Bultje | Sep 25, 2019 | Come to Gather, fall, framed art sampler, Thanksgiving |
Hello stampers. It was quite a stamping and teaching frenzy before I left for Holland last week so I didn’t have a chance to blog about my alternative cards using Come to Gather from last week’s Facebook live. I was actually quite pleased with how they turned out so I would love to share them with you. It seems that every week something crazy happens during my weekly Facebook live, so maybe you should check it out. For the next three weeks they will be on Tuesday morning 9am EST or 3pm European summer time. I would love for you to come to gather with me during these Facebook live events. We have so much fun together!
Come to Gather designer series paper
When the paper is this gorgeous it is easy to create beautiful cards. My original card was a swap card that I had received and was not allowed to share just yet, so I changed it up and made this one instead. I really like the white ghost pumpkins so I used Harvest Hellos to stamp one on shimmery white cardstock and one on the Come to Gather designer series paper.The sentiment is from a Paper Pumpkin stamp set and is stamped in Pretty Peacock.
There is a sheet of paper in the Come to Gather collection that reminds me of the printing books we had when I was in grade one, so I made a school inspired card with it.This was actually cased from a swap card that I received earlier in the month.
I love how you can make two totally different cards with the same set of paper. One is vintage and the other is clean and fresh.This last one uses the September Paper Pumpkin stamp set for the saying. Where you see the leaf at the bottom? That was an embellishment opportunity as I had smudged some ink there! It looks even better now. Embrace the imperfections!
More than Cards
This gorgeous framed art piece was made by Lisa Lange, one of the display artists at the Holiday Hoopla event I spoke at in Illinois the weekend before I left for Holland. One of the things you will need to create this beauty is the Hand-lettered Prose dies. I am not sure about the size of the frame but I am guessing either 5 x 7 or 8 x 10. Isn’t the Come to Gather paper just spectacular?
The Purpose
If you have never put ink to paper then you are in for a very pleasant surprise. You will truly be amazed at the creativity that this simple act unleashes.With creativity comes joy, and joy begs to be shared. I would love to help you start on this journey of discovery. Please comment below and we will connect! I post videos on my Facebook page which you can find here. I also share a bit on YouTube. If you want to follow me there, just click here. If you click on subscribe then you will never miss another video!
The purpose of making cards is double. You get the joy and satisfaction out of making something special with your own two hands. Someone else will then get the pleasure of receiving what you have made.I am a firm believer that every card makes the world a better place, as long as you take the time to send it.
Thank You
Thanks so much for joining me today. I really do get a lot of joy from seeing you come on over and reading my blog. You are noticed and appreciated! This is just another place to come to gather!
You can help me by pinning my creations to Pinterest. If you hover your mouse over the pictures on this blog a red Pinterest button shows up, just click on that and away you go! Your comments are also very encouraging. Lastly, if you live in Canada you can order from me through the shop now button or by clicking on any of the supply items below. Of course, there is always room on my team for you as well! The best deal in the catalog is always the starter kit. Click here if you want to save a LOT of money and get exactly what you want, not just what’s on sale. Every day is a sale day with the starter kit.
I hope you have a wonderful day. I am coming down with the first cold I have had in over a year, so I am going to take some more oil of oregano and am going to go for a walk along the sea with Gerard.
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