by Jackie Bultje | Nov 1, 2019 | Christmas, loneliness, Still Scenes Snow Globes, technique cards |
Happy Friday stampers! Sharing what you love is a huge concept. Some people have an advantage in this department. If you have an outgoing personality then it probably comes naturally to you to share what you love, but if you are more shy then it might not be the case. Today I want to talk about why this is so very important to me.
Why you should share what you love
We naturally make many assumptions. That can really get in the way of great happiness. Take for example the assumption that your spouse or your kids or your friends should simply know what you are feeling or thinking. It should be obvious right? No. That is why communication is so very important. The same principle applies to your stamping hobby. If you are like me, stamps ink and paper make you very happy. Yet when I encourage my customers to invite a friend to a class they are quick to say that they don’t know anyone who stamps. Think about that for a moment.
Were you always a stamper?
When you say that you don’t know anyone who stamps you need to remember that you weren’t born a stamper either. Before you were introduced to the joy of stamping you had no idea what you were missing out on. Now you know what fun it has brought to your life in the form of a meaningful hobby, with all the new people you have met at classes and events and with discovering your creativity you really should share! Simply tell your friends that you have found something and some people that make you very happy and you would like to share that experience with them. You have nothing to lose, neither do they and you might be opening a whole new world for them.
Not a bother
I think the main thing to remember is that you are not bothering your friends when you invite them to stamp with you. Use your stash to bless others in your community. Everyone could use happy mail, or even a note of encouragement passed to someone in the grocery store. Life can be overwhelming at times and it can be a huge encouragement to a complete stranger that someone actually cares. Keep some random cards in your purse in a clear stamp case to keep them from getting bent and damaged. Then be prepared to share!
Most of us have no problem sharing a good sale at the grocery store or a fantastic deal at our favourite shoe store or clothing store. What makes sharing about our hobby so different? If you had the cure for cancer you would definitely share that right? Well, I think stamping is a cure for loneliness and for boredom. What do you think?
A story
This morning I went to play pickleball but it was canceled. I was chatting to the staff while they were all eating my cookies warm from the oven to find out why there was no pickleball. They told me there was a craft show this weekend. My comment: I should probably be at this show since I make cards for a living. The manager says, “I know, here is a card you gave us. We show it to someone when they are having a bad day and need some encouragement.” I had given that card back in February during sale-a-bration. It was a froggie card saying “You can do anything.” That really touched me and reminded me of the power of affirmation with a hand made card.
The challenge
My challenge to you is to share what you love with others. Invite a friend to come and stamp with you. Make some cards for your local women’s shelter with notes of encouragement. Drop off some thank you cards at your local hospice, family there will need them soon. Bring some cards to your local nursing home to cheer up residents who hardly ever get company. The list is endless. Invite a neighbour to come to coffee and a card class. Some people have very few friends. Some people are exhausted caregivers and they could really use a break. It may not be about card making, but that could be the vehicle to give someone meaning and joy in their lives.
A card
Besides a sermon, you would probably like to see what I have been up to in my stamp room. You are in luck! Yesterday I made a fun card using the snow globe dies and the woodland embossing folder. I used a technique called “tarnished foil”. I have an old video that I did and I will share it here, but I promise I will make a new and better one very soon.
I had some other pictures with my good camera but the photos on my computer seem to be frozen. I think it may be time for me to get my Mac cleaned up. It has been super slow lately, I should never have updated it with the latest version. Technology is really not my strong suit. This will have to do for now, I hope to do a video on this card this weekend.
I was finally able to access my photos this morning so I thought I would edit this post to add this one. It shows how I swiped the StāzOn before embossing. The next step is swiping Versamark on the embossing folder, running it through the Big Shot and then sprinkling on silver embossing powder and heat embossing it with the heat tool.
Now I need to get ready for my Fab Four card making event tonight. Have a super day and thanks so much for stopping by. If you want to see the products I used, just scroll down for a complete list. Click on them and you will be taken to my online store which is quite handy if you are a Canadian and like to shop online. Remember, $200 will get you free host products too. Questions? I am only an email or a phone call away.
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by Jackie Bultje | Oct 31, 2019 | Christmas, Most Wonderful Time |
Hello stampers! Happy Thursday and happy Halloween. It is cold and rainy here today, not great at all for the little tricker treaters. Today I want to talk to you about mixing and matching. Amazing things can happen when you think outside the box and combine different products from different suites together.
I Love Deer
Have you seen the amazing deer stickers in the Most Wonderful Time product medley? There are more than two sheets of stickers with the deer standing, eating and facing either way not to mention with or without antlers. The variety is truly wonderful! I really love these deer and I think you will too. Remember that this is a sticker sheet so the deer are more delicate once they are removed from the sheet. Let’s take a look.
Mixing it Up
While Most Wonderful Time is a great product medley and you can make beautiful things just using this suite of products, it can get even better! When you add different embossing folders, the deer framelits from the annual catalog or the framelits from the Still Scenes snow globes you will simply go ga-ga!! The best part of the suite is that it allows you to create lavishly since there is just so much to work with. There is no need to skimp an I truly love that.
The Cards
New Traditions
I would like to suggest that you use this product medley to bring some joy to your family, to your neighbours or to your friend group. Just spread the products all over your kitchen counter or dining room table and let people get inspired by what they see. Have some white cards ready to that everyone can make what they want.
When I bought my first Stampin’Up! products I sat around the kitchen table with my kids and together we made Christmas cards, tags and even some ornaments. It was so much fun.
Thanks!
Thanks a lot for stopping by today, I appreciate you ever so much. I love it when you pin my cards to Pinterest, when you take the time to comment and when you order online from me. You need to live in Canada to shop with me, but you can still support me no matter where you live and I know you do. Big hugs back to you and have a super day.
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by Jackie Bultje | Oct 30, 2019 | Christmas, double stamping, Snow Front, white craft ink |
Hello stampers and happy Wednesday! Today I want to share with you a cool double stamping technique with Snow Front. This technique was a big hit yesterday at coffee and a card class and I showed how to do it during my weekly Facebook live video last night. I will include the link to the video at the end so you can see it too in case you missed it.
How to do double stamping
This technique is actually really simple and the best part is that you don’t need a lot of accuracy to make it look good. The secret is a white craft ink pad. For this card I first stamped the pond in pool party and then the trees in pretty peacock. The next step is VERY important. Be sure to clean your stamps thoroughly otherwise you will get coloured ink residue on your white craft ink pad. Ask me how I know! After the intense cleaning you can ink up your stamps in white craft ink and stamp over top of your trees and pond. If you offset your stamp just a wee bit that looks even nicer.
The result
The result from this simple technique is that your forest and pond look like they have been blanketed by freshly fallen snow. You can still see the colour peeking out but it looks very ethereal. There are ways to step it up a notch with some sparkle. One way is to stamp over the pond one more time with white craft ink and then sprinkle on some shimmer white embossing powder and heat set. You can also spread on some shimmery crystal effects and then add some ice stamping glitter. When your scene looks good you stamp your deer using the stamparatus so you can ink up several times and make your deer nice and bold.
The cards
The moon and the stars were stamped using our Delicata silvery shimmer ink pad. Those images come from the Waterfront stamp set which pairs very well with Snow Front. The saying is from the amazing host set Greatest Part of Christmas. Did you know that if you place a $200 order online you are also entitled to host benefits? You would get $20 in free merchandise and this set is only $18. Host sets are a fantastic deal because that one is worth $30 and is only available to people hosting a workshop or placing a $200 order.
Finding Joy in the Little Things
I was driving home from pickleball this morning and it had started to rain. After several beautiful days it was actually refreshing. There is something beautiful about wet pavement on tree lined streets. I actually did a u-turn so I could get some pictures to share with you. This is just two streets over from my house. It was raining and I was parked illegally so I snapped a few quick ones and one of the three was blurry but I still want to share it. You will see the potential I am sure! Another one is still on my phone that I forgot at my son’s place. Oh my….
Oma Duty
As a closing note, this blog post is super late because I had the lovely job of oma duty tonight. It was a crazy busy day with a fantastic Most Wonderful Time class this afternoon, a live video on my Elite group page, some finishing touches on my AIrbnb apartment above the garage and of course pickleball. Well…now it is time for bed but I didn’t miss a day of blogging! Truth be told this post was almost finished before noon but then life got in the way.
Thanks for dropping by, sleep well and don’t forget to count your blessings. Before I forget, here is the Facebook live video I did and you can see how I made one of these cards and two other ones as well.
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by Jackie Bultje | Oct 29, 2019 | affirmation, Feels Like Frost, Heirloom Frames Dies |
Hello stampers! This thought has been brewing in my head for the last couple of days: the power of affirmation. The simple truth is that we don’t affirm each other often enough. We are bombarded by advertising that shows us fake perfection that we simply can’t live up to and this can lead to feelings of inadequacy. There is a simple antidote to that. When you think something positive about someone, tell them.
How does affirmation relate to card making?
It totally relates!! I am on a bandstand right now trying to encourage people to send cards just because. Send a card to affirm someone, to tell them that they are loved, that they are wonderful and that you are just happy to have them in your life. That simple act can transform a day, a week, a month or even a life. Words of affirmation are priceless. So get out of the box of just giving birthday cards, Christmas cards and sympathy cards. It starts with turning thoughts into actions.
Pre-Christmas card
This idea just came to me because I really wanted to make this card but wasn’t sure how I could get it to fit my theme for today. Why not give a Christmas card ahead of time with the purpose being to not only affirm your friend but to give them a Christmas card that they can now give to someone else? All they have to do is change the sentiment which you could include in the inside of your card? I really like this idea. Let’s take a look at the card.
My inspiration came from a swap card from Carole Thomas, my talented team member from Olds, Alberta. This one has the heirloom embossing frame and die done in retired galvanized metallic paper. You see, I ran out of silver foil paper. My second card is done with champagne foil paper. Which one do you like better?
My photo didn’t turn out very well, it looks like it is only focused on the card on the right but maybe that is a trompe l’oeil? I used the Stylish Scroll embossing folder in the background which is hidden away as part of the Monster Bash suite on page 53 of the holiday catalog.
Inspired?
I hope you feel inspired today to send a card to someone for no reason other than to affirm them. Maybe you were also inspired by my idea to send an early Christmas card that they can re-gift to someone else. That way your card has served at least three purposes. First it made you happy making it. Second, the person who received it was affirmed and delighted with happy mail. Third, your recipient now gets to pay it forward to someone else with a beautiful Christmas card.
Thanks!
I’m so happy you stopped by today. I have been so blessed with lots of comments in the past few days, thank you so very much! I hope you have a super day. If you need any of the products for your own card making and you live in Canada then you can just click the links below and go straight to my online store. Please consider using the current host code. I appreciate you!
On a very important side note, we had our first prayer group after coffee and a card class this morning and it was so wonderful. A big thank you to my daughter Katrina for suggesting it. What a blessing it was to everyone who participated.
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by Jackie Bultje | Oct 28, 2019 | business opportunity, Christmas, embossing, loneliness |
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you! I ran out of time on Friday so you never got to find out why I call myself the “pampered” stamper. Rumour has it that I like to be pampered and that is why. While that may be true from time to time, that is not the real reason I am The Pampered Stamper.
My First Love
My first love is making food. Yes I am that rare creature who likes to bake and cook. I read cookbooks for fun! Before I became a demonstrator I was a scrapbooker and my very favourite place to go was to someone’s home in Mississauga. Together with my sister-in-law Yvonne we would drive more than two hours one way down the 401 to go and scrapbook for a day. Crazy right? Do you know why we thought it worthwhile to drive that far for a day of scrapbooking? It was the food!!! This lady was my inspiration. I realized that paper crafting was much more fun if there was food involved. It really does change everything.
Pampered
Everyone loves to be pampered. It means those extra little things that make you feel special. That is what I like to do for my customers. Sharing my love of stamping AND sharing my love of food. It all starts with a great cup of coffee or tea. Being Dutch, there is no such thing as a “naked” cup of coffee. In the Netherlands when you order a cup of coffee anywhere you will always get a little something with it. So lovely. At The Pampered Stamper you will always get something with your coffee or tea too and usually it will be homemade.
Not only do you feel pampered when you get treats, there is also a different vibe when food is shared. Everyone slows down a little bit. People congregate. They talk more and get to know each other. In short, friendships and relationships are built around a simple cup of coffee.
Beyond Pampered
That is the name of my team! It was my team member Liz Fields who came up with this name and I am ever grateful. She declared that with all that I do for my team they are “beyond pampered”. A generous thought that I am not sure is true. As a leader I feel that I am never really doing enough for me team. I would love to have the time to do more. What I do do however is create an atmosphere of family, of community a “sisterhood of the traveling stamps”! Whenever there is a Stampin’Up! event I try to rent a cool Airbnb or HomeAway place so that we can have a very special time together.
We have monthly gatherings where we create, share and inspire around food. The result is a lot of fun with great memories and relationships being made. I try to do a Facebook live video for my long distance team members.
Loneliness
It is now common knowledge that loneliness is a huge problem for people in all age brackets. This may have to do with social media and our age of technology that hinders people from having real relationships. Let me tell you that joining a stamping group whether just for fun or for the business opportunity will definitely fix the problem of loneliness! The beauty of this stamping business is that it also lets you make a difference in people’s lives by sending cards to dispel the loneliness. I love being in the “happy” business! As you know, there is always room for you on my team or in my classes. Please reach out. You are loved!
A Card
We can’t have a blog post without a card, so I wanted to share this swap card with you that I received from Janice Thompson. She uses a very fun technique, stamping on embossing folders. If you have never done it, check out my blog post here. It make take more than one attempt before you are totally pleased, but stick with it and you will love the outcome!
Here is a closeup. Do you see the snowflake sequins from the Still Scenes Snow Globe suite?
Thanks
Thank you so much for stopping by, it truly warms my heart. We are all connected and together we make a difference in so many lives. I hope you have a wonderful day and please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
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