Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Today I am going to be focusing on my favourite new in colour: Misty Moonlight. Of course I will also share some travel ramblings that might bring a smile to your face as it is now so difficult and risky to travel. You may as well enjoy my stories!!
Misty Moonlight Card
I have designed five cards for my In Colour Club and this is the first one featuring Misty Moonlight. The stamp set I used is called Beautiful World which really sums up how I am feeling right now. Of course when you have just been reuinted with the person you love after five months of longing, you do see the world through rose coloured glasses!!
For the background you can see that I used two of the stamps from Beautiful World to stamp around the edges. This design also mimics the globe die cut. Do you see that I used our new brass foil sheets? Complete instructions for all my In Colour cards will be provided in the free pdf that you get when you order your In Colour bundle (ink pads, cardstock, patterned paper, markers and enamel dots) You will also get ten yards of free in colour ribbon when you purchase this bundle through me.
Some Traveling Rambles
I have a question for you. Do you ever struggle with what to pack in your suitcase? You know how people often say, don’t worry, whatever you forget you can buy? Well…..that is not exactly true. Take for example micellar water. That is what I use to clean my face at night and remove makeup. Before I left I had purchased a new bottle but I thought it would add too much weight to my suitcase and decided to buy some here. I did find some here but it doesn’t work at all. My eyelashes are clogged and yucky. Now I have to go and search for something better.
Another thing that I forgot was my “interproximal brush”. Before I had braces I had never heard of such a thing, but I had a dentist appointment the day before I left and endured an hour of teeth cleaning, so I am rather adament to keep them as clean as possible! I got what I thought was the right thing at the grocery store but no, the brush is too wide and only fits though the gaps between some of my teeth! Back to the store….
The last and problably most important struggle is my hair. There is a lot of mineral content in the water here, so hair products that do a beautiful job back home work only with lacklustre effect here. Trying to get my hair to look halfway decent here is an ordeal of epic proportions. I have to keep telling myself that Gerard is worth it for me not looking nearly as nice as I usually do back home!!! My vanity is taking a hit, but thankfully he is so happy to see me that it makes no whit of difference to him!
Some Highlights
Thursday night we went out for supper inside in an actual restaurant!! I did not have to quarantine which was such a lovely surprise. The restaurant did have a hand sanitizing stand when you entered and half of the tables had been removed to ensure proper social distancing. The servers were not wearing face masks and neither were the locals that we could see walking by on the streets and through the town square. It felt great to wear long sleeves as the weather is only 17C all week! You can see I am holding on to a hat and my sunglases. I had assumed that we would be sitting outside for our supper!!
On Saturday morning there was a knock at my door. There was Gerard’s father with a beautiful bouquet of roses for me!! It almost brought a tear to my eye to feel such a welcome and such love! What a sweetheart. You can see that Gerard comes from good stock.
These gorgeous roses are grown locally by La Vie en Rose. Isn’t the colour just stunning? It reminds me of our Petal Pink.
For this flight I chose a window seat. It had been a long time since I did that because lately I like the aisle seat so that I can get up whenever I want and not disturb anyone. I also choose the aisle seat so that I can at least stretch one of my legs once in a while. This time I knew that there would be no in flight service. Instead there was a bag of provisions on my seat with water, cola, a sandwich, chocolate bar, chips and crackers. My plan was to take a Gravol as soon as the plane was in the air, watch a movie and then sleep. I watched 1917 which is based on a true story from World War 1. I highly recommend it.
Stamping Supplies
Since it is summer and since the primary purpose of my visit it to spend as much quality time as possible with Gerard, I took the minimum of stamping supplies with me. That means I will be doing some simple stamping with you and sharing with you which supplies I miss the most! That is also why I am doing another Happy Mail in Holland contest. If you send me cards in Holland that not only gives me great stories to share, it also gives me a card to share on my blog. As a thank you I am doing another contest and you will have a chance to win a stamp set worth up to $30. Mail your cards to Jackie Bultje, Bloemenlaan 6, 2691 JC, ‘s-Gravenzande, The Netherlands. This contest is open to anyone in the world!
Thanks for joining me today, I hope you have a super day!!
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Today I am going to share with you a gorgeous swap card featuring a brand new set called Tasteful Touches. I think this will be set that I reach for again and again. The paper that goes with this stamp set, In Good Taste is stunning! Before we delve into the card I want to share a little bit about what has happened since I last blogged here.
The Past Week
If you follow me here on my blog or on my Facebook page, you may know that I was supposed to fly to Holland on Tuesday to be reunited with my love, Gerard. We haven’t seen each other since January 29! My trip has been canceled and postponed twice, but this time I really thought it was a go. KLM sent me reminder emails that my flight was on time, I could check in a day early and get my boarding pass sent to me electronically. When I got to the airport I went to the kiosk with my passport and this enabled me to print my luggage tag but not my boarding pass. I needed to speak to an attendant. Well. The attendant when seeing my Canadian passport said that it was impossible for me to fly. The only way to get in was with some sort of official letter stating a legitimate exception. This I did not have. There were maybe ten other people checking in and no line ups for anything. A very weird feeling!
Changing My Mindset
Of course it was a terrible disappointment to not be able to fly, but I knew that in order to make the best of my time, I needed to switch my mindset. My son had given me a ride to the airport after a visit to my parents, and he and his fiancée were going to go up to Owen Sound for a few days of hiking and biking. They were using my vehicle, so that meant I was staying with my parents for three days. That turned out to be such a blessing. Thursday was their 62nd anniversary and I was able to make it special for them. I picked up egg McMuffins for them for breakfast, a Too Tall lemon cake from M & M and then fish and chips from a little take out place in Elora for lunch. In the afternoon we went for a visit to the old farmstead and we enjoyed a lovely lawn visit with my brothers overlooking the hills and the valley where the cows used to graze and where we tobogganed and skated as children.
While we were sitting here a bald eagle flew right overhead, so low that I heard it before I saw it. At first I thought it was a drone!! How majestic and another highlight of a very special day.
There used to be a deck under the big window, but it had deteriorated and my brother just finished removing it. The back of the house is now a work in progress. The small door leads to the basement where my mom made hot cocoa for about 100 elementary school kids every year on the last day of school before the Christmas break. The whole school would come for a tobogganing party! There was also a coal bin down there as they used to burn coal to heat the house. I used the coal for my snowmen. So many good memories.
Pap and Mom enjoying their morning coffee and cake on the front porch. Pap is on oxygen now even though he doesn’t think he needs it. We are just so thankful that they can still be together in their own home.
Unexpected Blessing
When you go through difficult times, it can be really helpful to change the spotlight. By focusing my energy and attention on my parents, it gave meaning and purpose to not being able to travel. When they had their afternoon nap I was able to deep clean and declutter the kitchen. When you are 88 and 93 the daily vicissitudes of life are enough and there is no time or energy to do the extra things. Mom was so happy to see her kitchen restored to a neat and tidy space. I should have taken a picture!
Beautiful Weather
Together we were also able to take advantage of the beautiful weather and get a ton of dahlia bulbs planted. This is the one thing in their garden that they still do and they were both so happy to have this job done. It also gave us a chance to come together as a family to work together, my sister, my nephew, mom and me. Social distancing outside, each with our own gardening tool and some of us with gloves!
Mom was also so pleased with her tulips. She doesn’t believe in fences, that way the neighbours and the passersby can also enjoy the garden! These too are tasteful touches.
Tasteful Touches Card
Today’s card is a gorgeous swap card that I received from my team member Jessica Bégin. She used Tasteful Touches from the In Good Taste Suite. What a great suite this is! The paper is to die for, I know you are all going to want it as well as this stamp set. Let’s take a look at her card.
Jessica also decorated her envelope. I love the pop of colour with the washi tape and the saying is perfect for this COVID-19 time. The feathers were stamped in Basic Gray on the patterned paper “In Good Taste”. Do you see the details in the dies? They are also a part of this bundle. The saying on the envelope comes from Well Said. Don’t you just love the look of texture in this paper?!
If you want to see another post about patterned paper, check this one out. This paper is also retiring, so if you love it, get more of it now or at least before June 3.
More On Wednesday
I am trying to pace myself, so I will show you more of this suite on Wednesday. There will be some pictures of the stamp set and of the paper so you can see how awesome it is. Remember, you don’t have to wait to get these great products, they are part of the preorder that all demonstrators can take advantage of. That means YOU can put it in your starter kit as well. Here is the link to do just that, message me and I will send you the pdf of what is all included in the new catalog preorder.
Thanks so much for joining me today, I am looking forward to doing videos with you again every day this week. More #kitsforkids will be distributed as well and I think I will start another online auction of retired stamps. No need for boredom at 81 Delaware! Have a super day.
HInt: you can see the new products if you click on the images below in the product list.
Hello stampers! Does monochromatic Christmas sound boring to you? Or does it sound complicated? This week I had a request from one of my club members to take the mystery out of our wonderful Snow Front stamp set. The sheer number of stamps in there can be daunting. Let’s take a look at why I chose a monochromatic Christmas card for this set.
The Inspiration
I had two sources of inspiration for this card. The first one was the Toile Christmas paper, the second was The Cow Whisperer. Now I love that name as I grew up on a dairy farm. But that is where the similarities end. You see, I was terrified of cows. I had to help with the milking and we had a few cows that were downright mean. They could kick sideways and they would do it when you least expected it. Most cows are gentle, but when you meet a mean one, look out!! There was no whispering then! Anyways, here is her card.
Simply Monochromatic
The idea for a monochromatic card was indeed inspired by the paper as it is also monochromatic. If you would stamp a colourful scene and put it on this paper it would be too busy. When you use Snow Front in just one colour it is not so overwhelming. I chose to use Garden Green, but you could also use real red as that is the colour on the other side of this stunning paper. We used to have wallpaper in our living room that reminds me of this paper. Maybe you did too?
Start by putting all your stamps on blocks. Then decide what sort of scene you would like to make. I like to take some cheap computer paper and play a bit. That takes the stress out of it as you are not wasting any of your precious cardstock.
The Most Important Tip
The most important tip when working with Snow Front is to use a mask. For this card I made a mask of the cabin. The way it works is that you first stamp your cabin where you want it to go. Stamp it again on piece of sticky note paper, cut it out and place it over your stamped cabin. Then you can stamp some trees around the house and it looks like the cabin is nestled in the woods rather than just floating in the scene. The other tip is to stamp multiple times without reinking, that will give you different shades of colour for a more realistic look.
My Card
I stamped the cabin first and then covered it with a “mask” which is just another cabin stamped on a sticky note and cut out. That allows you to stamp over your mask so that the trees and the slope come right up to the cabin to make it look like a unified scene. There are three different sized single trees in Snow Front. Your scene will look a lot nicer when you use different sized trees. I will do an exclusive video on how to make this card on my Pampered Stamper Elite Group on Facebook. If you want to be a part of this group you can be! All you need to do is place an order with me, either for product or for a kit. Kits can be shipped anywhere!
The stitched rectangle framelits are perfect for adding detail. “Lots of love at Christmas” is from Itty Bitty Christmas. What I liked best about using these two stitched rectangle framelits is that I didn’t have to do any fussy cutting. The sentiment fits right under the very vanilla rectangle, and because it is curvy you don’t even have to worry so much about trying to get it perfectly straight.
Don’t you just love how all the Stampin’Up! products coordinate? The garden green double-stitched ribbon is also part of the Toile Tidings suite. Very vanilla is the colour of the card base which is also the background for the Toile Tidings designer series paper. If you want to really take it over the top with coordination you can wrap your gift in our exclusive Toile Tidings gift wrap!
My lovely Clementine
I just had to end this blog post with a few pictures of my darling Clementine. She is my third grandchild who came into this world in the middle of a snowstorm just before 2am on Friday November 8. Oma missed her birth by about ten minutes because of that nasty storm. So did the midwives! My brave daughter delivered her 9 pound 6 ounce baby herself. Both are doing so well.
It is pretty awesome to be able to hold your grandbaby so soon after birth. Oh, those cheeks and that tiny nose! I’m so thankful that everything went so miraculously well given the circumstances. God is so good.
Thanks!
As always, thank you for stopping by today and reading my blog post. I love hearing from you! Thanks for sharing my creations on Pinterest and on Facebook and thanks to those of you who are ordering online from me and also ordering kits. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Hello stampers did you know that Stampin’ Up! is raising money for mental health with a brand new stamp set? The stamp set is called Nature’s Beauty. Four dollars from every stamp sold is donated to mental health organizations. I find it so fitting that Stampin’Up! is doing this awesome thing. We all know that the joy of stamping is great for mental health; it is such a stress reliever. On the other side, it is such a mental health boost to receive a beautiful hand made card. This is a beautiful stamp set with animals and trees that are perfect for colouring. I want to show you what I have done with this set.
The Cards
The first card was made because I wanted to showcase these stamp sets for my Christmas Bingo event on Friday. At this event we play lots of Bingo and everyone wins a prize of product from the new holiday catalog. We also make four simple projects using holiday catalog products. There are a lot of people at this fun event so the projects have to be simple. I decided that a monochromatic card would be perfect. The colours are also emotionally soothing, very appropriate for a mental health awareness campaign! Here is my first card:
Here is the second card, and lastly be sure to watch the video to see how the last card was created and why. I hope you fall in love with this stamp set and help raise money for mental health awareness.
The Video
Thanks so much for joining me today, I am especially proud of working together with such a great company that is always looking for ways to help out. Mental health is a huge issue these days and card making is a great way to make a difference in so many ways. Have a super day!
