by Jackie Bultje | Jan 3, 2020 | Blends, Botanical Prints Product Medley, Christmas, New Year, tutorial |
Hello stampers and happy Friday to you. Today is the official start of my favourite sale of the year: saleabration!! What does it mean for you? Well, with every $60 you spend you will get a free saleabration item. The starter kit also has some great bonuses with it right now: a free mini paper trimmer, any stamp set in the annual catalog or mini catalog for free plus a free paper pack assortment. How awesome is that?
Happy Mail from Carla van der Mei
I could tell right away that this was a European card. Their cardstock is known as A4 and is longer and narrower than ours in North America. I rather like the look of it. Carla tells me that she made this card at a workshop taught by Janneke Dijkstra-deJong in Friesland which is the most northerly province of Holland. It is a little bit like the Quebec of Canada. In Friesland there language is completely different from Dutch and they are proud of their distinct heritage as well.
I really love how Carla used tiny strips of copper foil paper as the string for the ornaments. The greenery and the sentiment are from the Itty Bitty Christmas bundle which you can see here.
Rhonda Gump’s card
I love Rhonda’s bright and cheerful card. I don’t have an annual catalog with me here and simply don’t have the time to do the homework on this one. If any of you loyal followers want to help me out with the names of the stamp sets used here that would be great! Just when you think you know everything, you find out it isn’t so.
Rhonda coloured her bright balloons with granny apple green and mango melody. The star bursts are embossed in silver and she also added some more sparkly detail with our shimmery crystal effects. What a happy and cheerful card to start the new year. Thanks for your happy mail Rhonda. Rhonda is from Fort Wayne Indiana. I am guessing that it is about four or five hours away from me, right between the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie and then a bit south. My geographical searches are proving to be most rewarding!
Saleabration Begins Today
Do you know how saleabration got started? Let me tell you. When Shelli and her sister first started the company more than 30 years ago they had humble beginnings. It all started in their kitchen when they saw a need for scrapbooking and card making supplies. Their first year went quite well and they thought their second one did too. Their accountant had a different story. After their second year he warned that they were about to go bankrupt. What to do? Have an amazing sale right after Christmas. That is how saleabration was born and it has kept going ever since. I am impressed with their tenacity. I am also very excited to share a special bonus present to you from me!
A New Freebie!
I am ever so excited to share with you that I have a very special gift for you if you place an order through me of $50 or more. Since you need to be in Canada to be able to do that, I also want to give you another way to get this free gift. If you are a fellow demonstrator I will also give you this gift if you join my Pampered Stamper Training Group. It is only $5 a month, but you pay in 6 month instalments. Message me if you are interested. My team members also get this gift. So does anyone who attends a retreat with me. My next retreat is Februrary 20-23. What is this freebie? It is a pdf from the Dream Demo Design team with 16 cards. All the cards feature brand new product from the new mini catalog.
Botanical Prints Product Medley Tutorial
So much excitement today. My second pdf is now available. I have made a pdf tutorial with ten cards all using the gorgeous Botanical Prints Product medley. Just click on the buy it now button below and I will send it to you. Here you can see all the cards that are featured in this tutorial.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for joining me today. I am about to go to the mail to check for happy mail. Yesterday I received one from Ann-Marie Paré from Quebec. Tomorrow you will get to see her card. I hope you have a super day and also a fun time placing your first saleabration order or even better yet, joining my team!! Remember, the starter kit is the very best deal in the catalog.
Product List
by Jackie Bultje | Dec 24, 2019 | Blends, Botanical Prints Product Medley |
Hello stampers and happy Christmas Eve day to all of you. Today I want to share with you a soft floral Botanical Prints card. My collection of cards for this Product Medley is growing. The pdf for all of them will be my project between Christmas and New Year. Would you like to see this soft floral card?
The Card
I used the floral branch stamp and the coordinating die to make two accents for my sentiment. They look so soft and pretty coloured with Petal Pink and Old Olive Blends. Add a little Wink of Stella and then it is super pretty. There are some laser cut card fronts included in the Botanical Prints Product Medley and I can a strip off of one of them and put it under the front panel as a pretty accent. My background was stamped with grey granite. The person presenting this Product Medley at #OnStage2019 in Toronto used this technique. I thought it was very clever!
Some Gleanings
I am finding that this gorgeous medley of products is exceptionally lovely. The stamps works so well for making your own backgrounds. Old olive is a wonderful colour that pairs with so many other colours. You can totally change the mood of your card depending on your colour scheme. The images work well for colouring with Blends or with stamping on shimmery white cardstock and then watercolouring with aqua painters. You can get super creative with this medley. I haven’t used a ton of the patterned paper yet, I find that I am gravitating more to the black and white side because I am not a huge fan of the colours on the other side but I am going to see if I can overcome this challenge. Here is the live video I did on this card and it also shows the other cards I have made so far.
Merry Christmas to You
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. May peace, joy and love surround you during this festive season.
If Gerard is busy in the greenhouse then I will keep blogging and videoing as per usual. It is noticeable according to my site traffic that many of you are busy with Christmas preparations and are not online the way you usually are. That means you will have a lot to catch up on later. Happy reading to you!
edited to add: my tutorial for the ten cards with Botanical Prints Product Medley is now ready! You can get it by clicking the buy it now button below.
Product List
by Jackie Bultje | Dec 20, 2019 | bees, Botanical Prints Product Medley, Framelits, tone on tone stamping |
Hello stampers! Happy Friday to you. Have you noticed the buzz about bees? Lately bees have been very popular and also a bit controversial. People are worried about the environment and the dwindling bee population. One of the happy results about that is that there are a lot of backyard beekeepers. My niece Jennifer and her husband Joash are also novice beekeepers. Check out their Facebook page, they live one street over from me! Today I am also incorporating bees into my cards and you will see how adorable they are!
Copper Bees
Have you seen the pretty copper bees that are included in the Botanical Prints Product Medley? They are so pretty and they really make such a beautiful accent on a card. I am happy that so many are included in this product medley, that way I don’t have to hoard them. Every time I create with them I look forward to sharing them with everyone who is coming to my winter retreat in beautiful Muskoka. How does relaxing in a cozy cabin with a woodstove sound to you? Making cards, eating warm biscuits fresh from the oven with homemade raspberry preserves and whipping cream? Hot chocolate and a movie? Skating in the woods?
Oops. I got distracted! I am supposed to be talking about bees! Would you like to see the card?
The Card
I had started making this card during my Facebook live on Tuesday where I showed you how I had cut out the two triangle framelits side by side in the mossy meadow piece. This left a very narrow strip between the two openings. I decided to utilize that and filled the space with two crushed curry detailed triangles.
Unfortunately I had taken no embossing folders with me but I wanted to add interest to the background. What to do? Why, tone on tone stamping of course. This look reminds me of toile. I used the same technique on the crushed curry strip on the bottom and added some foliage to the sentiment to add depth and richness to the card. My original card had only one bee, but I decided to live lavishly and add three bees to my card. The recipient will hopefully feel the love!
Up Close and Personal
Since I have been crowing about these bees, I thought I should give you a nice closeup shot so you can see how pretty they are. I am really loving how all the elements from the Botanical Prints Product Medley work together. I find that playing extensively with one group of products really unleashes your creativity. That is one thing that my presentation at #OnStage2019 taught me.
Just so you know, there are 12 copper bees in the Botanical Prints Product Medley. I am getting excited for the pdf I am going to make with all the beautiful cards you can make with this medley. I hope to get it done before Christmas. Here’s hoping!! It is good to set goals. I think I will make a card using the free bee paper that you can get during saleabration, that can be a part of my goal.
Travel Notes
I thought you might enjoy a few personal notes on my time in Holland. You can see lots more pictures on my Instagram account and on my Pampered Stamper Facebook page but I thought I would share a little here as well. You may know that my boyfriend Gerard is an amaryllis grower. He works all year tending the bulbs and fighting the bugs and it all comes to a climax in December when the bulk of his flowers are sold on the flower auctions in Holland. It is quite an amazing thing to witness and be a part of.
I have helped stack the boxes of cut flowers on the carts that are to be picked up by the trucker and taken to the auction. Several nights it was after midnight before we were done! I also stapled identification tags on the flower boxes and marked the different batches. It felt good to contribute in a practical way other than emotional support. All his hard work is then dependent on supply and demand and the market prices. Almost a million stems are produced in his greenhouses. We were very thankful that the last few days finally had great prices. That sure makes it easier to get up early in the morning and go to work.
Last night we were finally able to get away for a bit of together time and we headed to den Haag to the Royal Winter Fair which is their Christmas Market. It was so magical. I loved all the live music, a gospel choir, an old fashioned caroling group dressed up in olde English garb and a small choir singing in German. There were also lots of treats to sample and of course hot mulled wine and pretty lights and baubles everywhere. The city itself is also stunning. Here are a few photos. I also forgot to tell you that den Haag is The Hague in English. If you are interested in learning more about this city of international peace, here is a link for you!
Thanks!
Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you are enjoying the days leading up to Christmas as well. If you have had loss in your life, my prayers are with you and I hope that you will be surrounded with people who love and support you. Never forget that you are loved with an everlasting love by the One who made you and knows you by name.
Product List
by Jackie Bultje | Dec 18, 2019 | Blends, Botanical Prints Product Medley, Framelits |
Hello stampers and happy Tuesday to you. Today I am going to share my card using Wrapped in Plaid paper with the Botanical Prints Product Medley. When I saw this paper I knew I wanted to use it for a non-Christmas card. I am really happy with how it turned out. Chances are pretty good that you will have some of this paper left over after you are finished with your Christmas card making. Now you will have an idea for January.
The Card
I am having some issues with the computer that are making me want to sin!!!! When I try to fix a sentence it keeps “eating” the words ahead of it. Instead of a cursor blinking it is a highlighted mark. No idea how to fix it so I just deleted the entire sentence and created a new paragraph, so if it reads a little funny, you know why! Sorry, I just had to vent a bit. What I wanted to say is that this foliage branch looked a little Christmassy to me, so I coloured it with cherry cobbler and old olive blends. The foliage looks great with the strip of Wrapped in Plaid paper and the pop of cherry cobbler in behind. The strip is 4 1/8″ by 1 1/4″. The plaid piece is 3/4″ by 4 1/8″.
To keep the look more natural and a bit assymetrical I trimmed the one floral branch a bit. I would have liked to add a bit of sparkly crystal effects and a few pearls but I don’t have either of these with me. Do you see the mossy meadow leaves tucked in behind the foliage? They add a little depth and interest. There are two leaf framelits included in the Botanical Prints Product Medley. If you want to watch me making this card, then check out my Facebook live video from yesterday here.
A New PDF
I am so happy with the success of my Parisian Blossoms pdf. It shows how to make the 11 projects that I made for #OnStage2019 in Toronto. Based on your positive feedback, I am planning on making a pdf for this Botanical Prints Product Medley as well. It is a gorgeous assortment of coordinating products, but having a pdf to show you exactly what to do with it will make for instant gratification. We all need that once in a while don’t you think? If you missed out on my first pdf you can get the buy it now link in this post. Haven’t got a clue what pdf even means? Here is a definition: PDF stands for “portable document format”. It was introduced to ease the sharing of documents between computers and across operating system platforms when you need to save files that cannot be modified but still need to be easily shared and printed. When you purchase the pdf then I send you an email with the document attached and then you can print it out or just use it on your device.
Happy Mail Contest
I thought I would remind you about my happy mail contest! If you send me a card in Holland then I will feature it in a blog post and I will enter you in a contest to win Poppy framelits from the new mini catalog. Here is the mailing address Jackie Bultje, c/o Gerard van der Sar Bloemenlaan 6, 2691 JC ‘s-Gravenzande, Zuid-Holland, The Netherlands
This will accomplish a lot of amazing things. It will shine the spotlight on your work, it will give me happy mail and it will help me blog every day even though I have limited supplies with me here in Holland. Lastly it will give you the chance to win some great framelits!
Thanks
Thanks a lot for joining me on this blog today. If you take the time to share on Facebook or Pinterest, that really helps me spread the word about my work and I do appreciate it very much. This is the cyber version of old-fashioned “word of mouth” which is crucial to the success of small business owners. Of course, if you live in Canada I would be over the moon happy if you ordered online with me or if you considered getting your own discount on every purchase by getting the starter kit. That would also make you a member of the Beyond Pampered team which also gives you membership in my exclusive Training Group and Elite group. We have a LOT of fun together. Enjoy this beautiful day, the sun is shining in Holland!! I need to get outside.
Product List
by Jackie Bultje | Dec 17, 2019 | Botanical Prints Product Medley, retreat, Stamparatus |
Hello stampers. Today I was inking up in Holland for the first time. I hadn’t stamped in exactly a week!! That is a very rare occurrence and I was worried that my creativity might lag. I used my usual tricks and it all worked out just fine. Do you want to know what I do to jump start my creativity?
Jump Starting my Creativity
I have a fairly simple system to jump start my creativity. In the past I would have trolled the internet and wasted a LOT of time. Now I simply stamp all the images in the set a few times. I colour the ones that could use that approach and then I use the framelits to cut out a bunch of images as well. Everything is laid out: all the patterned paper, the copper bees, the ribbon and the die cuts. I tied a few bows and knots and then I start playing with layouts, deciding which paper to use, what to cut in strips and which sentiment to use. It helps to have had a cup of coffee or your favourite beverage and to have some nice music going.
Use the Stamparatus for your sentiments
The stamparatus is perfect for stamping your images correctly on the labels from the Botanical Prints Product Medley. After I have stamped the three I pop them out and put a new blank one in the template. That way I can leave my stamps in the right position. It is also super helpful when you are working with a relatively old and abused Memento ink pad. I had to stamp three times to get the right intensity and that would have been a nightmare without the Stamparatus.
The Basic Layout for the Card
This is the basic layout for the card. I used a whisper white thick cardstock base of 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ scored at 4 1/4″. I then cut a card front out of mossy meadow, 4 1/4″ by 5 1/2″. I used tombow and a sponge with the silicone mat to adhere the detailed die cut piece to the front. There are four of these included in the product medley. It was so much fun to use the mini paper trimmer to cut a strip of paper for some pretty contrast.
There are four different coloured die cuts all ready for to use when you want instant gratification. Now to decide whether we like the peaches or the plums best. Tomorrow I will use a different die cut on my card, but you can see it already in the live video. One thing is certain, those copper bees are adorable!!
Everything on this card comes from the Botanical Prints Product Medley. The card base is mossy meadow but the ribbon is old olive. These two greens work very well together and I am really happy about that because I have no old olive paper with me. It is a good challenge for me to work with what I have. Makes me feel a bit more like my customers!! I am so happy that the copper bees came in this product medley.
Copper Bee Embellishments
I used a copper bee embellishment on both of the cards, they are just so very pretty. Of course they will work very well with several of our new stamp sets in the new mini catalog and the saleabration catalog. These bees are only available as part of the Botanical Product Medley. Here is a close-up of the bee:
When Can You Get It?
Well, that is always the million dollar question isn’t it? If you are a demonstrator you can get it right now. If you get the starter kit, you can put it in your kit right now as well. Or you can get it as part of my retreat in February. This entire kit is included in your cost which is an amazing deal. We will be making all the cards that I blog about as well as the one I am designing for the new design team I am a part of. How exciting is that? Of course, if you are a patient person, you can wait until January 3 to order this great product medley.
Facebook Live
I showed how to make these cards at my Facebook live this morning (or afternoon depending on where you live). If you missed it, you can catch it here. I will go live every Tuesday at 9am EST which is 3pm in Holland. The one on New Year’s Eve day will probably just be a live video showing me making oliebollen.
Thanks so much for joining me today, I love connecting with you on my blog. I almost forgot to remind you that there are LOTS of amazing new deals on the clearance rack. You can check them out here, there are lots of amazing framelits, embossing folders and ribbon for really good prices.
Product List
by Jackie Bultje | Dec 6, 2019 | Botanical Prints Product Medley, product medley, retreat |
Hello stampers! Have you ever gone on a retreat with like-minded people? People who share the same interests and passion as you do? It is so rewarding to do that! I have gone on several in the past few years and it has been such a worthwhile investment of both time and money. When I was looking for a great cottage to spend some time with my kids and grandkids I was inspired to also offer a retreat for stampers. Do you want to hear some more about it?
My Retreat
My retreat will be the weekend after Valentine’s Day and Family Day in Canada. The cottage is near a town called Huntsville in the Muskoka area of Ontario. It is two hours from Pearson International Airport in Toronto. More importantly, it is nestled in the woods with complete privacy. You can see no other cottages from this one!
What will you do? What is included? Good questions! Wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and home baked scones! Sit around in your pajamas and ease into the day. We will explore the town, go for walks in the woods and of course we will stamp.
I hope to teach you and inspire you based on my fourteen years experience as a Stampin’Up! demonstrator and global and national achiever. All your meals will be provided for you as well as a beautiful creative kit called Botanical Prints product medley. I will have a ton of projects made with this medley to inspire you and enable you to recreate some of them at the cottage.
The retreat will be from Thursday February 20 at 4pm until Sunday February 23 at 10am. There is a gorgeous provincial park nearby that has a skating trail that I hope to visit. The town of Huntsville has some lovely bakeries and boutiques. One of the nights will be a cozy pjs and hot chocolate movie night. The cost for all this is only $400. A small deposit of $100 will guarantee your spot and the balance can be paid the week before. You can etransfer if you live in Canada, otherwise just click on the buy now button to use PayPal.
Here you can see one of the cozy bedrooms. There is an assortment of sleeping options- three queen beds (price is based on double occupancy, that means you share with a friend) four singles and two doubles. If you prefer to have a queen bed to yourself there is $200 surcharge to offset the loss of one more person being able to attend.
Business or pleasure?
This retreat will definitely be both!! If you are a business minded demo there will be lots of informal training available for you as well. Creating together and chatting in a relaxed setting is priceless. When is the last time you just had fun with no agenda? I hope this excites you as much as it does me. I’m looking forward to spending time with you.
Botanical Prints card samples
The following are some cards that were made at #OnStage2019. Inside the hall the lighting was terrible, so these aren’t the best pictures, but rest assured, this product medley is gorgeous!!
Thanks!
Thanks so much for dropping by today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, mine will be filled with kids and grandkids and my heart is full just thinking about it! I have a favour to ask. Even if this retreat is not something that will work for you this time, please share this post with anyone who you think could use this in their lives. Together we can make a difference.
