Hello stampers! Did you know that this is the first time that Stampin’Up! has offered a coordinating combination of dies and embossing folders? Yes, this brand new product has dies that cut out an oval and a rectangular frame as well as embossing folders that transform these frames into works of art. I am even more excited to use the heirloom frames dies and 3D embossing folders now that my new 3D embossing plate came in. It is so easy to use with just the Big Shot base. At the end of this post I will share a video so that you can see it in action.
Why Get the new Embossing Plate?
When Stampin’Up! announced that they were no longer going to be selling the Big Shot I was rather alarmed. What were we going to do without a die cutting machine? It is true that they are working on a new machine but it will not be available for a while. I firmly believe that it will be a superlative product just like our Stamparatus is way better than any other product in its class. However, I am frugal and I didn’t really want to spend any more money making the Big Shot work for me. Our new 3D embossing folders are made to work in the new machine that is being developed and they will only work in the Big Shot with some tweaking. I used two pieces of thicker cardstock that come in our specialty designer series paper to create a shim. What a nuisance!! It was tricky to use and boy was it getting ugly. For $13 I have a beautiful 3D embossing plate which works like a dream. I can totally vouch for it as it will just make your life so much easier. No muss, no fuss. Yay!!
The Cards
What I like most about this card is the duplication of colour between the designer series paper and the stamped birds in the frame. It highlights one of the best features of Stampin’Up! products: colour coordination. You never have to guess. Your cards always look professional even if they are very simple. Colour coordination saves you time and simplifies the creative process.
Do you notice that this card is larger? That is because it is! It is a large Memories and More card measuring 6 1/4″ by 4 1/4″. I wanted a larger card to better showcase the pretty feather paper from the Bird Ballad suite. Otherwise the pretty grey heirloom frame would cover most of it up. the bird was fussy cut from the Bird Ballad paper as well.
The Opportunity
Did you know that the starter kit is also an option for someone who has no intention of becoming a demonstrator? Furthermore, did you know that you can put whatever you want into this kit? Yes! It is totally customizable to whatever you want and it costs only $135 in Canada with no shipping and tax. Normally you would get to choose $165 worth of products to put in your kit, but for the month of August you can choose $205 worth of product. There is an “Extra, Extra” promotion going on right now where you get an extra $40 worth of free product and then in September you get an extra $14 coupon code to use on your order.
You can get the kit just to get the great deal, but after that you will have until the end of December to use your own 20% discount. If you want to stay active as a demonstrator or keep getting your discount you need to spend or buy $400 each quarter. If you order the starter kit through me that automatically makes you a member of my Beyond Pampered Team. We have free monthly gatherings where we get together to stamp and enjoy treats. I also have a team training page that is free. My goal is to help you meet your goals and to live your dreams. Click here if you want to get started. You will be asked if you have a host code, click “no”, then click “apply”. The only time you have a host code is if you hosted a workshop and you wanted to use your host rewards towards the purchase of a starter kit.
The Video Must-See
Here is the video I made to show you a very important trick to using the Heirloom Frames Dies and 3D embossing folders without messing up. Without this trick it can be troublesome indeed, in fact, I wasn’t sure if I was going to promote this product until I discovered this trick. Happy stamping and thanks so much for stopping by.
Hello stampers. Sometimes we really think we can do it all. Until life happens and suddenly you realize that, no, you can’t. I had that happen last week when I got a call from my brother that my Pap had to go to the hospital because he couldn’t breathe. I have learned not to overreact in such situations. Taking a deep breath I asked them to keep me updated and let me know if the situation really was critical. Trusting that he would do so I carried on with my day knowing full well that I would head to Fergus to see him early the next morning.
Why not drop everything and go?
You may be wondering what could be so important that I wouldn’t rush off right away. The first thing was my beginner class that was due to start an hour after my brother called. When new people take the plunge to come to a class it really is a big deal and I didn’t want to disappoint them. The second thing was a big team party that was happening that evening to celebrate some milestones. You know how difficult it can be to get a large group of people together especially in the summer! As women our gifts and achievements are not celebrated enough. We tend to be competitive more than cooperative and I truly believe in the importance of recognition. I wasn’t going to postpone this needlessly. I also know that with proper medical attention a situation can improve dramatically and quickly and that my Pap was in good hands for one more day.
The importance of a tribe
It is both in good circumstances and bad that a tribe is very important. This is the urban definition of tribe: A group of friends that becomes your family. The people that will be there for you no matter what and who you’re guaranteed to have a good time with.
My team is my tribe. At our team party one of the girls who was being celebrated for her ten year anniversary brought her stash of cards from the last month. That helped me out enormously because I didn’t have to design my own cards for my next class. My tribe is also my fellow demonstrators from all around the world. In my Pap’s hometown I discovered a fellow demonstrator who used to be his bank teller. Joanne Mactavish asked me to drop in the next time I visited my parents. So, between visits to the hospital, I stopped in to see Joanne. It was such a stress reliever to be able to just chat about card making and to take some pictures of her cards and be inspired. I am sharing some of those in my blog post today!
I hope that you have found your own tribe as well, but know that there is always room in my tribe for you. My customers are also a part of my tribe and they are an important part of each other’s tribe. I see the bonds that are being formed in my classes and I am so thankful that I can provide that community for them.
The cards
I love how the dog from Happy Tails comes with a coordinating punch, but did you know that there is a trick so that you can punch him out and have him facing the other way? You can check out my video here.
This card has a great fold! If you look at the next picture you can better visualize what I am talking about. I might have to do these cards in a class soon. Let me know if you are interested.
The last picture is not very clear, but I decided to include it anyways since it is such a cute card. I am loving all the stitched framelits that were used on these cards. Thanks so much Joanne for letting me take some pictures of your cards. I know that they might also be from your team members; you also have a great tribe and are a great tribe leader.
Host Code
Thanks so much for joining me today. My heart is thankful to all my team members, customers and fellow demonstrators for being such an important part of my tribe. My Pap was touched by all your heartfelt comments concerning his health. I am blessed!
If you live in Canada and need any supplies, just click on the images below and you will be taken straight to my online store. I would very much appreciate it if you also use the host code: XBTQ47UR If your order is close to $100 then do yourself a huge favour and get the starter kit. You can choose $205 worth of products and pay only $135 with no additional shipping or tax (at least not in Ontario) Here is the link if you should choose that option. Just click “no” when asked if you have a host code to use. You would only have this code if you hosted a workshop and wanted to use your host rewards towards getting a starter kit.
Hello stampers! Do you ever have a product that you keep reaching for? Stitched Nested Labels might just become one of those.I know it has been for me. These lovely dies are perfect for adding a distinctive focal point to your card. They are big enough to stamp an image on as well as a sentiment. Stitched Nested Labels are also part of the Free as Bird bundle, so it is a win win situation don’t you think?
Two of the cards use the Stitched Nested Labels, but they all use Free as a Bird which is one of my favourite stamp sets and suites in the catalog. Have you seen the gorgeous paper that coordinates with this set? Oh my!! So many possibilities. These dies are really wonderful to use, much easier than our earlier stitched dies. I don’t know if it is just me, but the other stitched dies are really hard to get out and some of my people are afraid of tearing their cardstock when doing so. The Stitched Nested Labels pop out really easily and cut perfectly as well, so I consider them a good investment.
This is a close up of the first card so that you can see the great coordination of the in colour designer series paper. You can also see the lovely stitching in the Stitched Nested Dies here. No fussy, time-consuming poking here, you just run the die through a die cutting machine and it comes out like this! I used the largest die here and I used a scrap of white. Here is a picture so you can see how it is done.
This pool party card uses tone on tone stamping in the background and it also uses the second largest die from the Stitched Nested Labels. The bottom piece of patterned paper measures 4 1/4″ by 2 3/4″. Do you notice that the flowers on the stamped image perfectly match the patterned paper? I love using the designer series paper as inspiration for colouring.
So Thankful For My Team
Actually I didn’t make these cards at all, my team member Alison Reid did. What a blessing to me! Alison brought a box full of cards that she had made in the last month to our team party on Wednesday night. Her timing was perfect as I had just found out that my Pap was in the hospital and was planning to go visit him first thing Thursday morning. That meant I had no time to design cards for my coffee and a card class. Thankfully I had taken pictures of Alison’s cards and decided to use the three she had made using the Stitched Nested Labels. I sent the pictures to my other team member Yvonne Macfadyen who then made the cards and prepped them for my class. I am so blessed to have such a great team. These two have been on my team for ten years now and we were actually celebrating that on Wednesday night. One of the things that many team members shared that night and then later on our team page was how thankful they all were for the meaningful friendships formed through Stampin’Up!
This last card doesn’t use the Stitched Nested Label dies, but it does use the Swirly Frames stamp set and the layering circles dies. When you look at the crumb cake circle it makes you think that a stitched die was used, but that is actually the stamp. I got this stamp set at a Prize Patrol at an OnStage event. OnStage is a local Stampin’Up! event that used to happen twice a year and Prize Patrol is when a select group of people win a prize. We are given wristbands or stickers with different colours and when a certain colour is announced, then those people win a prize. It’s a lot of fun. I may have overlooked this stamp set in the catalog, but it is one of those great foundational stamps that can really make a big difference in your card making. The rectangle in the background is also from this set.
This card actually has a lot going on in it. Alison cased this card straight from the catalog. You can see it on page 117. I actually like Alison’s card better. She used the Subtle embossing folder on the so saffron background rather than the stamped image in the catalog. The flowers and the leaves are fussy cut. You can join me at my weekly Facebook live video on Tuesday night at 7pm EST when I will be making these cards and sharing any tips and tricks we learn at class.
Starter Kit Opportunity
Thanks for joining me. I appreciate you ever so much. If you live in Canada and want more excitement in your life, you may wish to consider joining my team. Whether you only want your own discount or you want to build a stamping empire, the starter kit is the golden ticket. Click here or message me if you need help. And yes, you can add pre-order items from the holiday catalog to your starter kit!! Until the end of August the starter kit can be totally customized with up to $205 worth of products in it as well as a Paper Pumpkin kit, 8 annual catalogs, 8 holiday catalogs and 50 order forms. You pay only $135. Wow! What are you waiting for?
Hello stampers. Did you know that I am now doing a regular Facebook live every Tuesday at 7pm EST? I am calling it Coffee and a Card revisited since I make all three cards from Coffee and a Card class that morning. I’ve done it twice now and I am really loving it. Last night the third card I made used Pigment Sprinkles. After I showed how I made my original card there was a lot of interaction and suggestions and the result was some different cards which I will share with you today. Facebook live is the next best thing to actually coming to a class. It’s even better when it turns into a play session! Thanks to everyone who joined me last night. If you missed it, you can still catch it here.
First I will show you the card with the three little silhouette children. We decided in class that it was better without the squirrel. He simply didn’t fit the theme or the look. What do you think? The so saffron layer is 3 3/4″ by 5″. You add the tree branch after you put the saffron layer on the blueberry bushel card. Trim off the excess tree by turning the card over first.
The next card uses only the gorgeous grape pigment sprinkles. When I did this one of my viewers immediately spotted the face of a bear. She is so right!!
The next card used two colours of pigment sprinkles, mango melody and granny apple green.
We noticed last night during the Facebook live that the colour of the pigment sprinkles doesn’t first match the colour on the lid. But when you add water the magic happens! I embossed the sentiment in shimmer black embossing powder as well. I wasn’t sure if it work well for words, but it does indeed.
I had made this card at coffee and a card class. Remember that with pigment sprinkles, less is definitely more. For this one I used gorgeous grape, melon mambo and bermuda bay. I love the white space on this card. The sentiment is from the July Paper Pumpkin On My Mind. I matted this one on gorgeous grape for a totally different look.
This last card I have dubbed “engagement” card since it was the result of a suggestion from one of my Facebook live viewers Dianne Bazelmans. She suggested that after sprinkling on the pigment sprinkles and spritzing with water that I drag the block across the paper. I like how it turned out. You do notice that the colours tend to blend together as you go across the page. This girl is swinging before an evening storm. I totally forgot to add the branches but I like it like this as well. I will add a branch later, right now I need to head off to pickleball. I will post it on my Instagram and Facebook for you to check out there.
Thanks ever so much for joining me today. Remember it is the last day for Bonus Bucks today. Spend $60 and get a $6 coupon code to use in August. It’s not huge bucks, but it is a lot better than nothing and it all adds up. Have a super day. (don’t forget to help me out by pinning some of my cards or even sharing this post on social media)
Hello stampers. I have a very special interest in the Royal Peacock. Not only is it a gorgeous stamp set with a beautiful suite of products to support it, it is also a creature very dear to my grandson’s heart. Two weeks ago we went to the lovely local attraction called Clovermead. They raise bees, sell honey and have a petting zoo with lots of cute critters including a passel of goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, cows and, yes, peafowl. I say peafowl because there are peacocks and peahens and peachicks!! Little Leo doesn’t have too many words in his vocabulary yet, but one of the new ones is definitely peacock. He prays for the peacock every night before bed now. I think I need to send him a peacock card, what do you think?
I think that Stampin’Up! has really captured the beauty of the royal peacock in its stunning paper, foil sheets, rhinestones and reversible ribbon. When I was on the cruise I received this lovely card from my friend Kathy Morgan. I met Kathy years ago at a Leadership Convention in Houston, Texas. We were roommates at the Embassy Suites and we really bonded over happy hour! It was wonderful to spend a day with her and her husband BIll in Santorini. Thank you so much for gifting me this Royal Peacock card. I can’t wait to make it in a class. Here is Kathy’s blog if you want to check it out.
Royal Peacock is also a two step stamp set which allows for some amazing opportunities. The peacock was stamped in blueberry bushel and then a detail stamp was stamped over it in versamark and embossed in gold. Wow! The photo really can’t capture the beauty of this card. I took a close up so you can see it a little better.
In this closeup you can see the gold embossing that add a lot of richness to the feathers. You can also see the beautiful Noble Peacock specialty series paper in the background as well as the coordinating Beads & Baubles embossing folder. I have to say that this is one of my favourite suites in the annual catalog. The colours are just so rich and striking, just like the actual bird. I can see why Leo is enthralled. Click on the image below and you will see the contents of the entire Royal Peacock stamp set as well as the rest of the suite. It would be great to add to a starter kit or to order and get some bonus bucks. If you live in Canada and want to take advantage of the amazing deal on the starter kit, just click here.
Tomorrow’s post will feature me sharing some of the cards that my customers made at coffee and a card class this morning as well as one variation that I made myself. It was so neat to see how each person’s card turned out differently. One big lesson with pigment sprinkles: less is more!! If you are too generous with your sprinkling they you will actually ruin your card since the colours will be too saturated.
Thanks for stopping by today, I appreciate you!! Have a super day and be sure to spread some love by sending a card.
