Hello stampers! If you grew up in the eighties like me, chances are that you know Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh. I really do love this song and I also love the colour red. No surprise then that I chose to highlight the colour red in my creations using the Parisian Blossoms suite. Cherry cobbler to be specific, but Lady in Cherry Cobbler doesn’t sound quite as catchy, more like a gluttonous mini person caught in a dessert pan!
Some More Cards
I do love this card so much with it’s luscious red flowers. Combining different patterns of paper also really appeals to me. The trick to remember with this is to always combine a bigger, bolder pattern with a smaller, more subtle pattern. This card is a special fold as well and I will share all the details in the pdf.
You can see the same colour scheme with this card- cherry cobbler, petal pink and old olive. The metallic edge petal pink ribbon just sets it off perfects as does the “scripty” patterned paper from Parisian Blossoms specialty designer series paper. The sentiment was embossed with silver. Do you see the champagne rhinestones scattered here and there? It really is in the details. It is such fun making your own patterned paper.
All the Details
Tonight I am going to get to work making a detailed pdf with all the measurements, tips and tricks for making these cards. I hope to have it on my blog tomorrow! I am also toying with the idea of having a mega online party for everyone who orders this suite with me online in January. The plan would be to make ALL the cards during an exclusive live video. Wouldn’t that be fun? For those of you who couldn’t purchase through me because they live in the wrong country I might offer another option. Stay tuned for details while I work it all out. Tomorrow’s blog post will feature the scrapbook page and the framed piece featuring my parents.
Extravaganza Sale
If you scroll to the end of the product list you will see the eight bundles that are on sale until tomorrow. They are an additional 5% off the regular 10% off in the catalog. To sweeten the deal I am offering free shared host benefits to everyone who orders online using the host code or in person with me. All ink pads and cardstock in the neutrals and regals families are also 15% off, so be sure to stock up on these great basics. To be included in the free shared host benefits you can order anything you like, not just sale stuff! Happy shopping and thanks so much for your ongoing support, I appreciate it very much.
An Exclusive Facebook Group
I have a special exclusive Facebook group that is only for my customers and training group members. It is called The Pampered Stamper Elite Group and you can find it here. Please only request to join if you are a customer, team member or training group member, there are no exceptions. This is just another small way to make those who support me feel more special.
Tutorial now available
My pdf on how to make all the projects is now available! What a lovely gift to yourself to be able to recreate all these cards and pages without too much thinking. I hope you love it.
Hello stampers! I’ve missed you! I am finally home from the Greek Isles Incentive trip and ready to share my inspiration with you again. It is honestly one of the highlights of my year to go on the incentive trip and get spoiled by Stampin’Up! as well as reconnect with all my demonstrator friends around the world. I never take enough pictures of myself with other demos. I promise that will change next year when Gerard comes with me to Maui. This was also the first time I did not participate in the organized swap on the cruise. I did take pictures of some of the swap cards so that I could share them with you but the lighting in the Hospitality Suite on the ship was less than ideal. I think you would agree though that a lousy picture is better than no picture.
One of my favourite cards was this one that used the Pretty Pavilion bundle to make a Greek church that is so iconic on the islands. How creative is that! I don’t know who made it but if any of you readers do, please let me know in the comments. I just found out who made this card! It is Susan Smith from the USA. I also saw in her much better photo that the roof of the “church” is made from the Pretty Peacock foil run through the Subtle embossing folder. It just looks like glimmer paper in my photo.
Not only did the creator of this card use Pretty Pavilion to make the church, he or she also made the sea using High Tide. I love the addition of the copper trim in the background to mimic fishing nets. Did you know that this ribbon pulls apart to make it look like this? The blue glimmer paper was made using either silver or sparkle glimmer paper coloured with blends or reinkers. Very clever indeed and I knew you would want to see it. Do you know why the building on the Greek Isles are all blue and white? Our tour guide told us that during the several hundred years that Greece was occupied by Turkey they were forbidden to fly their own flags. They instead painted their houses in the colours of the flag: blue and white!
This photo was taken in Santorini. It is one of those moments when you want to pinch yourself to make sure that it is real. It is simply stunningly beautiful.
I have one other project that I would like to share with you. The picture quality is a little blurry but you will get the gist. I hope to recreate it in a class for you.
Isn’t that just the cutest thing? Great home decor item that would also make a perfect gift for someone. It uses the Come Sail Away suite as well as the Under the Seas framelits and Hand-Lettered prose dies. Here is the backside of it:
Do you see that the creator of this great art piece used our chipboard packaging that comes with our specialty designer series paper? The black circles that you see are just velcro circles used to adhere this project to the display board.
I’m so glad you stopped by today and I hope that you were inspired by these projects even if I didn’t make them myself! That is another reason the incentive trip is so much fun and so beneficial. We are surrounded by greatness and by inspiration and we learn so much from each other that makes it exciting to get back to work. Don’t forget about the amazing deal on the starter kit. Not only do you get $210 worth of product and pay only $135, you also get a $14 coupon to use on your order the month after you sign up.
I would absolutely love to have you join my team. They say that if you really love something, you want to share it. If you only get a very small part out of this starter kit than what I did it will be totally worth it. The possibilities are endless starting with your own discount but including finding new friends in your own town but also all over the world and creating a fun business if you want. I would love to show you how. My dream is to have a team that has representation from every province and territory in Canada. What are you waiting for? Here is the link if you are ready to start this amazing adventure.
July is also the month for Bonus Days. That means for every $60 you spend in July before shipping and tax you get a $6 coupon code to use in August. Every little bit helps!
That’s all for now! I hope to have more fun things to share with you tomorrow and I also know that I promised you some pdfs. One thing at a time, but I haven’t forgotten and I am looking forward to doing it. Have a super day and stay cool.
Hello stampers. When you are dealing with whimsical creatures, why not go a little funky with the colouring? That is why I made a purple cow! I decided to ink up two of our more whimsical sets, Over the Moon and Back on Your Feet, for my Epic Blends Day today. This fun day will get all the new Blends into the hands of my local customers. The new colours available are Purple Posy, Seaside Spray, Rococo Rose, Pretty Peacock, So Saffron and Gray Granite. So I thought, why not have a purple cow with pretty peacock boots and a rococo rose flower (now that last one makes total sense).
Those of you who know me well also know that I don’t usually go for cutesy cards, but these are a lot of fun. In fact I think Stampin’Up! has given us quite a few fun new stamp sets to play with that are amusing and whimsical. Purple cows are fun! Let’s take a look and you can decide if you want a purple cow too or if you want to keep it real.
I stamped the cow on a 2″ strip of whisper white cardstock and then punched it with the scalloped tag topper punch. How do you like my purple posy cow? Don’t you just love the coordinating scalloped linen ribbon? The background is done with the new bricks and mortar embossing folder. Order the Blends online and I will send you the supplies to make this card and the giraffe card too.
Here you can see the lovely detail in the ribbon. I just put a 6″ piece of ribbon through the slot opening and then tied a piece of linen thread in a bow around it. Super easy and cute. This purple cow looks just great against the early espresso brick and mortar background.
The second card we are doing at the Epic Blends Day is this giraffe card. I was inspired to use the woven threads trim because when you pull the bottom thread it becomes a fringe that mimics the mane of the giraffe!
I just love the expression on the giraffe! He’s like “I think I’ve gotten myself into a little bit of a predicament, do you think you could help me out here?” the giraffe was coloured with Gray Granite and So Saffron Blends. I think he might be whimsical as well because I think a giraffe might be yellow with dark spots so mine is just backwards and that is just fine! I had a bit of a funky spot in my trim so I decided to add it to the giraffe’s tail. This is one of those happy accidents that might not be so easy to duplicate.
That’s all for today, thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out the clearance rack for all the amazing Christmas sets on there. This has never happened before so it was a delightful surprise. I just checked and there is still a very nice selection for you to choose from. If you do order online, please use the current host code for maximum efficiency: YDZAPF6Y Have a super day!
Hello stampers. How ironic and sadly profound that I chose to feature Winds of Change today. Last night I got a phone call that made me very sad. My dear father’s lungs are shot and there is nothing the doctors can do for him any more. Granted, he is 92 and still living in his own home with my dear mother and they are as much in love as they were 61 years ago but you are really never ready to let them go are you? Of course I don’t know how long he still has but I have decided to go there this evening for a few days and just let everything go. Time with him is more important than anything.
When I first saw this stamp set in the new catalog I was thrilled with it because it perfectly captures my new situation, in love with someone from “the old country” a place with many cherished memories and a long family history. The sayings in this set are as beautiful as the images.
I love windmills and tulips and bikes and I love the font of this set, so all of that makes this a big winner for me! It makes me so happy to create with this art. Let’s take a look at my card.
I used Real Red, Daffodil Delight and Highland Heather Blends to colour the tulips with Old Olive on the leaves and Soft Seafoam in the background. You can’t see it in the picture but I used Wink of Stella which is an amazing glitter brush, on the red tulips on the side. Instant wow factor! The windmill was coloured with Soft Suede and Smoky Slate. The sky was coloured with a glycerin sponging technique and balmy blue. Here is a video I did a while ago showing how that amazing technique works.
Here is the inside of the card, nothing fancy, and also on computer paper so that the recipient can easily remove it and regift the card. I only coloured the flowers and the basket on the bike. For the flowers I just randomly stippled with the fine point of the Blends. No need to get finicky!
We never know what the future holds and that is probably a very good thing. What we do know is that love is indeed the most important thing. Without love we have nothing. Today I wish you much love. Thanks so much for stopping by. My paper is supposed to arrive today and I hope to get it chopped up and packaged for the paper share as well as a shipping estimate for those who are not local but would love to have a piece of every 12×12 patterned paper in the new catalog. Ribbon is being ordered today for the ribbon shares. Can’t wait to share with you!! As always, if you want to order anything and you live in Canada, just click on the images below and you will be taken to my online store. Gratification is only a click away! Live in the States? Click on the shop with Julie icon in the sidebar.
Before I forget, thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on my last two blog posts. Winner of the stamp set is Lena. Congratulations Lena, please send me your full name and address so I can send it to you. I hope you all realize that you are such an important part of my life and my business. Every comment you leave, every card you pin contributes to my success and allowing me to continue doing what I do. Owning your own business, especially in the crafting world can be a daunting task. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work to be successful. Making pretty cards and doing fun videos is not enough to guarantee success, so hats off to you for every little thing you do to help! We all need a tribe. I’m so happy you are my tribe.
Hello stampers! I’m back from a lovely time away and I appreciate your patience. Balance in life is a good thing and taking complete time away with your loved ones is so important. Wildly Happy is a stamp set that oozes love. While I think the original intent was for baby cards, I have hopefully shown that it can definitely be adapted for all kinds of other occasions. For some reason I wanted to use the stitched nested labels, the new in colours and the coordinating ribbon on these cards. I also played around with different colouring techniques.
For these cards I used the sentiments that come with the Wildly Happy set. I also used three different embossing folders and the new scalloped linen ribbon in terracotta tile, rococo rose and pretty peacock. Three different sizes of stitched nested labels were also used. The following trio of cards use different sentiments from A Wish for Everything and Here’s A Card.
It was also fun to play with different colouring techniques. I used Blends on the elephants and rabbits but I used watercolour pencils and a blender pen on the fox with the baby sentiment and blender pen and ink on the fox with “I made you a card”. You will also notice that there are no traditional bows on these cards. This scalloped linen ribbon does not tie well into bows, it is too stiff. It does tie beautifully in a knot like the one on the elephant card or a simple layered knot like on the rabbit card. It also can be tucked around a card front like on the fox card or layered over a strip of cardstock for added interest.
I did do a little colour coordination with the ribbon and the colour of the stamped sentiments. I really like the new incolours. Today I used Pretty Peacock, Rococo Rose and Terracotta Tile. The fox was the trendiest! He or she got some terracotta tile lowlights around the edges of his face and tail before being blended with pumpkin pie and daffodil delight. In the baby card I used four different colours of pencils: cajun craze, early espresso, pumpkin pie and daffodil delight. It was some serious colour therapy for me.
I hope you like the cards today, we will be making them at coffee and a card tomorrow morning. Today I am organizing the summer Blends Club as well as a paper share. Stay tuned for more details. Thanks so much for stopping by, if you would like to purchase any of the items featured today and you live in Canada, just click on the products below. If you choose to use the host code I would be most thankful. The code is YDZAPF6Y.
Hello stampers. This Spring Sampler is a little late, but it is officially still spring! Last year I made samplers for each season and my customers were requesting more of them. They are such fun to make! While making cards is very gratifying, they get sent away. A sampler is your creative work framed for all to see. Do you want to see what I made?
I didn’t have time to take pictures of each individual rectangle but I can tell you which stamps I used and the colours. The colours are whisper white, petal pink, calypso coral and pear pizzazz. I used a new stamp set called Butterfly Wishes as well as Enjoy Life, Beautiful You and the Large Letter framelits. The letters are popped up with mini dimensionals over vellum which was layered on the Petal Promenade designer series paper. With the new catalog going live today both the letter framelits and this pretty paper is now discontinued.
Measurements
frame: 8″ by 10″
bottom panels: calypso coral 3 5/8″ by 2 7/8″ white: 3 3/8″ by 2 5/8″
centre panel- petal promenade paper: 2 7/8″ by 7 1/2″ vellum: 2 1/2″ by 7″
top panels: 2 3/8″ by 3 1/4 (one was calypso coral, two were grapefruit grove) white or patterned paper 2 1/4″ by 3 1/8″
The panel with the lady from Beautiful You was a happy accident. I used the wavy framelet from Lilypad Lake to make an intricate design on the one end but instead it cut it right off leaving a nice wavy edge, so I just added some pretty paper from the Petal Promenade collection to add interest. It is 2 5/8″ wide and is tucked behind the white panel.
I added a scrap of ribbon to the top right panel that has the saying from Enjoy Life. Tomorrow I hope to share my Summer Sampler. We will be making this sampler on Saturday June 15 at 1pm. the cost is $25. I can make a kit that you can order but I cannot include stamped images. Thanks for dropping by and remember the new catalog goes live today!! What is at the top of your wish list?
