I am carried away with joy that I can participate in a continent wide fundraiser to help fund autism research and awareness. Pardon the pun. Carried Away is the name of the paper that is used to make these happy and colourful cards. I just love that Stampin’Up has offered sale-a-bration items that coordinate with products in the Occasions catalog. It makes the stamp so much more versatile when there is more designer series paper to coordinate with it. That is the case with Carried Away designer series paper and Lift Me Up stamp set.
Autism is a terrible thing. What’s worse is that there is often not enough funding for the families who have to deal with it, so that makes their situation even more difficult. I am so happy that together we can make a small difference. Won’t you join me in making these beautiful cards and a lovely tin to keep them all in? The date for this fundraiser is Wednesday April 26 at 10am and 7pm. If you do not live in the Chatham area, then you can help by placing an online order of $60 or more and I will donate all my sales commission to the cause. You can also choose the tin as your free sale-a-bration item #143833, or you can place a $120 order and also get the free sale-a-bration paper to make these cards. It is called “Carried Away” and it is item #143608. The host code to use is 2MQZTNWF.
What is so nice about this set of cards is that they are happy and colourful and easy to make. They would make a fabulous gift for someone as everyone loves a matched set of cards that are all ready to use and organized in a pretty tin. The card bases are watermelon wonder, mint macaron, peekaboo peach and smoky slate. They are all cut either “hamburger” or “hotdog” style. Just watch the video below to be sure what that means. What a great description! The patterned paper is all cut to 4″ by 5 1/4″. The white part for stamping on is 3″ by 3 1/2″ adn the white strips for the greeting is 3 3/4″ by 1″. You will need a piece of either navy or white baker’s twine approximately 34″ long to wrap around the card.
Here is a close-up of the tin. It truly is amazing how decorating with a simple banner just makes into a beautiful work of art that you will be happy to display in your home or give as a gift.
Here are a few step by step photos of the card making:
Next we add the banner. This photo shows a little trick of just adhering the patterned paper banner to the white one that has the greeting. Just a few dimensionals do double duty, popping it up and holding the two together!
After the stamped image is popped up on the card and the banner is added, all that you have to do is add some baker’s twine to finish it off. Little details make a big difference. I think I may have added the twine first and then popped up the banners. I got a little ahead of myself. No worries, at the end there will be a video from the home office that is actually very well done.
So here is the video that inspired me to do this as a fundraiser for autism that Lee Conrey has organized for several years now. Autism awareness month is April, so on April 26 you can come and join me and make this great set of cards with the tin for only $60.
Hello stampers! Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and love is in the air! One of my favourite songs is by Josh Groban, You Raise Me Up. That is why Lift Me Up is such a perfect set for Valentine’s Day. It is inspiring, joyful and filled with love. Who doesn’t love the sight of a colourful hot air balloon in the sky? We all think it is quite romantic to go up in the air for a hot air balloon ride. (well, I have to admit, I do have some reservations…what if I have to go to the washroom about half way through? There is no easy answer there.) Take a look:
The balloon is basic grey and the strips behind are real red, pink pirouette and smoky slate. If you look closely you can see I messed up a little with the adhesive, but I have since put into practice a much better way of adhering intricate die cut pieces. Squeeze some liquid tombow onto the corner of your silicone mat, use a sponge to pat it down and then put the balloon upside down on a clean part of the mat and lightly sponge over it and then put on your solid pieces right away. Works like a charm. Both the silicone mat and the sponge will clean perfectly with a bit of soapy water. The bit of linen thread looks very whimsical holding the heart to the hot air balloon. Add a bit of bling and you are all set!
Here the balloon is night of navy and the coloured strips are watermelon wonder, peekaboo peach and soft sky. The white strip is 1″ by 3 3/4″ and the patterned paper is 3 3/4″ x 5″. Navy mat 4″ x 5 1/4″. I love how the navy just makes the bright colours pop.
Enamel shapes (formerly known as candy dots, although these are more rounded, the candy dots had a more flattened shape) also make lovely embellishments for the hot air balloons. Did you know that you can also use Sharpies to colour your pearls and rhinestones in case you have no enamel shapes on hand? The middle card is a note card size and for the background it uses the stamp set Timeless Textures (140517, clear mount, set of 9 for $27)
Now the card above clearly does not use Lift Me Up, but it was one of the cards I made for my classes last week so people would be all set for Valentine’s Day a little bit ahead of time. This bundle was so popular it actually went on backorder! The lesson here is that if you really love something, especially if it is for a time sensitive occasion, be sure to order it right away so that you won’t be disappointed. It is kind of like when you are shopping for clothes or shoes. If you really love it, don’t wait, because when you go back it will most likely be gone.
Since we made these cards at my regular Coffee and a Card class, I thought I would share this older video where I explain how coffee and a card works. This is truly my favourite class ever since it has such a relaxed community feel to it.
The last thing I want to share with you is that I am now going to have a new hostess code up each week so that if you want to order online you can do this using the hostess code. Remember, if your order is more than $110, you would be better off getting the starter kit. Why? Because on a $110 order once you add shipping and tax you are paying just over $136. The starter kit is $135, you get to pick out $165 in product AND until the end of March you also get to pick out TWO free stamp sets out of either the annual catalog or the Occasions catalog. There is no shipping or tax in Ontario. In some provinces there is tax. Just click here to get the starter kit. Be sure to have your social insurance number and a credit card handy as well as your wish list of course for the two free stamp sets and $165 worth of product. Please note that you cannot go over this amount even by a penny. You also will get 8 catalogs and 8 Occasions catalogs to hand out to your friends and family. What fun!! I would truly love to have you on my team.
Hello stampers. I fell in love with Stampin’Up! because it gave me the tools I needed to become an artist. Now that is a very big deal because I never felt artistic. In fact, I avoided art in school. Fast forward to Beautiful You. Now that is the perfect set to help you discover your inner artist. There are TONS of great cards out there using this set and so many different techniques to try. One of my favourites is the reflection technique, and it is much easier than you might think. The card below was totally cased from Sandi MacIver.
The reflection technique also works very well with the stamp set High Tide. Check out this card I made. The other benefit is that it is a surprisingly quick and easy card to make. Five minutes is all it takes.
I used night of navy for the birds, crumb cake for the sand, garden green for the grass and marina mist for the water. The sun is so saffron. The patterned paper on the left is from Serene Scenery (#141642) and on the right the coral strips are from By The Shore (#141640) The white strips measure 2 1/2″ by 5 1/2″.
Here is a close-up of the birds. If you wanted to go the extra step, you could use a blender pen to make a smoother transition between the water and the shore. I didn’t do that with this card. It is literally a five minute card.
I just realized that I have totally failed to tell you how this technique is accomplished. Simple. You use the imaging sheet that comes with our Stamp-a-ma-jig. Yes, that is actually what it is called. It is used to accurately position your words, but this is a side benefit! You stamp your image on the smooth side of the imaging sheet. Then flip it over and place it under your stamped image and rub it onto the cardstock. Clear as mud? No worries. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video even more so. Here is a video showing you exactly how to do it.
Thats all for today. If you enjoyed this please leave me a comment, it is so rewarding knowing that someone has seen your post!
Perfect Mix is the perfect stamp set for me because it is all about baking! The Pampered Stamper is called just that because I like to pamper people in my classes with homemade baked treats. I also love words, the words in this stamp set really tickle my fancy.
I chose to keep my cards clean and simple by using square mats on the whisper white notecards. The black mat is 3″ square and the white one is 2 7/8″ square. You could definitely step them up a bit by adding a little Wink of Stella to add some sparkle.
Here is a closer look at the cards. I got the idea of using this set at the first ever Canadian Business Conference for Stampin’Up! demonstrators who are at the Silver Elite level and up. It was introduced as a “speed class” and for good reason. You can make all six of these cards in one hour with ease and even time for a coffee and a piece of cake.
Come for a fun class, Perfect Mix, on Wednesday February 22 at either 1pm or 7pm. If you have any requests for treats, post a comment here and you might get lucky. It really is all about the treats!! There is lots more that you can do with this set. You could make fancier cards, cute tags for when you give someone a lovely loaf or a dozen muffins, or even some free-range eggs.
Here is a cute tag that you could add to a simple gift to really impress someone with how thoughtful you are! It really is the Perfect Mix!
Well, I hope that I have inspired you today and that you will consider coming to this Perfect Mix class. Even if you have never stamped before, I promise you that you will go home with some beautiful cards and a new hobby to love. Bring a friend and I will have a small surprise for both of you.
Baby Bear has a very important job to do. He is helping to welcome our first grandchild into the world! I am thrilled that our oldest daughter Stefanie and her husband Andrew are expecting their first child. So we used Baby Bear to make baby shower invitations. At first Stefanie wasn’t sure, but when she saw how this beautiful vintage bear just pops off the page she was smitten. Look how he transforms!
Stefanie’s favourite colour is crushed curry so that was our accent colour. The bear was stamped first in black (this is actually image number three) then in basic grey (image number 2) and then in smoky slate (image number 3) The numbers are actually right on the acetate sheet that the stamps are on to make it super easy.
Here is a look at the complete set. It is only $32 Canadian for 12 stamps. Did you notice that you can also use it for wedding cards or Valentine’s Day?
Here is a cute Valentine’s card I found on Pinterest by Rita Mootz. And yes, the cable knit folder is still available!! Here is the holiday carryover list so you can see what is still available from our beautiful Holiday catalog.
I am very excited about becoming an “oma” even though it means not being able to go to OnStage live in Amsterdam. That might happen again, but being a grandma for the first time only happens once. April 7 is the due date.
In case you were wondering why it has been a while since my last blog post, it is because I was just gone on an amazing ski vacation in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. When I work, I work hard, and when I play, I play hard, so I try not to combine pleasure with work, so I didn’t bring a laptop along to blog. I knew you would understand. Here are a couple of pictures:
