Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Masking Paper and Blending Brushes add up to a lot of fun AND some pretty awesome cards. I will be teaching these cards tomorrow in person and I am so looking forward to that. Today I also made one of these cards for my weekly Cheer Corner which is live on Facebook every Monday at 10am EST or 4pm Central European Time.
Video Tutorial
Three More Cards with Masking Paper
I must admit that I used our retired layering ovals dies to make the mask for these cards. Here’s hoping that they end up in our new annual catalog on May 1!
Thanks for joining me today. If you live in Canada you can get these products in my online store by clicking the links below. Live in Europe? Then you can shop with me here or join my team. Have a super day!!
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Love Cats is a fun and simple stamp set that just makes you smile, especially if you are a cat lover. My daughter Rachel has a white and black cat and her boyfriend Lushaun has a black and white cat. This stamp set reminded me of those fun felines. I made some simple Valentine’s cards using the Love Cats stamp set.
Love Cats Simple Valentine’s Cards
My go to product in the annual catalog is the assorted Memories & More cards and envelopes. They come with twenty cards and envelopes in a pack, ten large and ten small. The large ones are 4 1/4″ by 6 1/4″ and the idea is that you can use them with our 4″ by 6″ Memories a& More cards for a quick and easy card. I love using them just for their convenience and size. The small cards are 3 1/4″ by 4 1/4″ and they are great for the smaller 3″ by 4″ Memories & More cards. I find this smaller size great for a quick and easy card to pop in with some flowers or in a gift bag. They ARE big enough to go in the regular mail as well.
Large Memories & More Card with Love Cats
Love Cats Video Tutorial on Tuesday
I am including the link for the video tutorial that will be happening tomorrow at 10am EST or at 4pm in the Netherlands. You won’t be able to watch it right now (Monday) but I hope you join me tomorrow!! YouTube really is the best place to find the videos you are searching for, so I hope you take the time to subscribe to my channel.
Great New Freebie!!
Did you know that Stampin’Up! has added some new saleabration freebie choices? My favourite is free with a $120 purchase. Guess what it is? The Eden’s Garden bundle!!! That’s right, you get a bundle for free. A stamp set and dies. This has NEVER happened before, so be sure to get this great set free as well.
Here is a screenshot of all the other new saleabration freebies available until February 28, 2023 with either a $60 or $120 purchase.
Thanks!
Thanks for joining me today, I hope you have a super day.
Hello stampers and happy Friday. Happy Valentine’s Day too. Instead of a romantic pink and red card today we are doing something a little different. How about Granny Apple Green meets Night of Navy? What a striking colour combination!
Throwback to Saleabration 2019
The cards I am showing you today are a throwback to March 2019 with the second release of saleabration products. All Adorned was one of these products and it didn’t really look like much of a stamp set to be honest. Until you pair it with the stamparatus!! When I saw what this stamp set could do with the stamparatus I was super impressed.
Running out of Time
I was so impressed with this stamp set and how it showed the amazing abilities of our stamparatus I created a class for it. Then I ran out of time and it got shelved. Today I resurrected those cards and set a class date. I am so excited to finally show what our stamparatus can do and I hope you can join me. I have five stamp sets left that will be included in the class. One is already spoken for, so there are four available now. $40 will get you a two hour class, three cards and an amazing stamparatus lesson.
Long Distance Option
If you would love to participate in this class with a private, exclusive Facebook live video, I will be creating an event. Tickets will be available for $15US and the time will be 10am on Thursday March 19. I have a PayPal button so that you can prepay to guarantee your spot. I will have the measurements of all the card pieces that you will need so that you can create the card right along with me if you like. Just think of it as a video and a tutorial all in one.
Granny Apple Green Meets Night of Navy
Here are the cards that we will be making in the class or during the private live video. They all use the retired stamp set All Adorned. The middle card really touches my heart, it uses the stamp set Artfully Aware that Janet Wakeland designed in honour of her mom who has Alzheimer’s.
If you would like to see each card individually, check out this blog post from last year. Thanks for joining me, I am going to spend some time with my kids and grandkids and make some great memories! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. Remember, if you comment on this blog post and share it on Facebook or Instagram you will be entered into a draw for the I’ll Bee Yours stamp set. Draw is in one week!
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.
Hello stampers! Today I would like to tell you a cardinal love story. I love feeding and watching birds in my backyard, and cardinals are my favourite. The reason for this is not only their vivid colouring, it is the way they love each other. Did you know that cardinals mate for life? If you spend some time watching them you will inevitably see the male cardinal feeding the female berries or seeds. Now that is the most beautiful thing to witness! They also take turns sitting on the eggs and feeding their young.
That is why I wanted to make a card with a male and a female cardinal looking at each other. Their romance deserves to be celebrated and the stamparatus and the silicone mat make it easy to make a reverse facing cardinal. Would you like to see my card?
The Card
When you open the card then you get a lovely surprise with the female cardinal inside looking back at the love of her life! This is made possible through the reverse stamping technique. You can see a video on how to do that here.
How do you like the colours of the cardinals? I am thrilled with how they turned out and I will tell you all about it very soon.
I will show you a couple of pictures to try and do justice to the z-fold construction of this card. I shared the measurements in a previous post. This basic card design was inspired by Rachel Tessman. You can find the measurements for this card in a previous blog post here.
You can see that my cardinals are enjoying hanging out in the amaryllis greenhouse. The light in there is perfect for photographing my cards and I have to use the resources I have on hand! Today is my last day here with Gerard, I fly home very early tomorrow morning so there will be no blog post tomorrow.
The Colouring Trick
Do you remember that I told you that I had no cherry cobbler or real red ink? My Blends collection is also still in Canada, so I had to get creative with what I did have and I am so very pleased with how it turned out. It really is amazing what can happen when you layer colours. I started with shimmery white cardstock. The cardinals were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and left to dry for a little while. The reason I let them dry for a while is because I was going to be colouring them with an aqua painter and ink. Water can make memento ink run if it hasn’t had time to set.
For the male cardinal I started with colouring him totally in Poppy Parade. This colour really lives up to its name, it really is exactly the colour of those large poppies in my garden, a beautiful orange-red. However, this is not the right colour for a cardinal. I decided to layer on some Lovely Lipstick. What a difference! After that I decided to add just a little more depth by adding a touch of Merry Merlot. Bingo!! It was just the right shade for my proud male cardinal. For his beak I first used Pineapple Punch and then coloured over with Flirty Flamingo.
The female cardinal was going to be a little more challenging because of her muted colouring. Mrs. Cardinal has a lot less red because she has to blend into her surroundings when sitting on the nest protecting her eggs and later her chicks. You have to remember that I used to question my talent as an artist, so this is a big deal for me! I started with a little Gray Granite around the edges and then filled in with Soft Suede that was really diluted with the aqua painter for a softer effect. I left a little white space which I then filled in with a little Poppy Parade also watered down significantly and then a touch of Flirty Flamingo. Her beak was done the same as for the male.
I no longer doubt my artistic abilities. Creating this pair of love birds was a lot of fun. I am so very happy with how they turned out. This card and this cardinal love story simply brings me joy and I hope it does the same for you.
Personal Reflections
Today is my last day in Holland. I wanted to do a blog post even though it is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Here it is a regular work day. Thanksgiving Day is a “new world” holiday. Tomorrow my plane flies out of Amsterdam at 9:45am, that means I need to leave home at 6am, so there will be no blog post tomorrow!
My four weeks here have flown by. I am thankful that I was able to blog almost every week day and that I was able to do my weekly Facebook live videos both on my business Facebook page and also on my Pampered Stamper training group page. Many visits were made with my family here both over coffee and meals in their homes and also in fun restaurants and for this I am so very thankful. What an amazing opportunity to reconnect with my roots and also to hear stories about my parents that I had never heard before.
Gerard and I went to see a famous Dutch comedian and he was impressed that I was able to understand almost all of it. I met my cousin that night as well whom I hadn’t seen in twelve years! Last Friday we went to see a musical called Soldat van Oranje which is the longest running Dutch musical ever. It is in its 9th year and is a story about a student in World War 2 who flees to England to start an undercover operation with the help of Queen Wilhelmina. If you are interested in reading more about this, here is the link. I am sure there is a translate button so that you can read it in English too.
We only went out for supper three times in four weeks, the rest of the time we cooked together or we were at relatives. For the first time I had a taste of what it would be like to actually live here. Next time I will drive more myself and do some solo exploring. I was unable to unlock my phone so that means I had no GPS and having that would make me a lot more comfortable driving here.
It was interesting to work here with limited supplies. I have learned how to improvise and it has also stretched my creativity. My desire to share the opportunity of the starter kit has only grown through this experience. I am a firm believer that every new stamper should really start with this kit. Crafting is so much more rewarding, fun and easy when you have a few more supplies to work with. You may as well do that on a discount don’t you think?
Thank You
Thanks again for dropping by and for being a part of my journey. There is always room for you on my team if you live in Canada and I am always thrilled to help new customers get just what they need. I am looking forward to evolving my business to better serve my long distance customers. If you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to introduce yourself in the comments below. Have a super day and I will be back here when I am in Canada again.
Hello stampers. Have you seen the new selection of freebies for our annual Saleabration event? There has been so much hype about the Painted Seasons bundle (with good cause) that All Adorned is waiting patiently in the shadows. This set was created specifically to work beautifully with the stamparatus. I chose to make my cards in night of navy and granny apple green. I absolutely love those two colours together. These cards came about because I was playing with the set before looking at anything online. I wanted to see what would happen when I used different sized squares. I started with a four inch square, then a 3 1/2″ square and finally a 3″ square. They all work great for different effects.
This was the last card I made but the first square I stamped. It is the four inch square. What is nice about this design is that it leaves a nice amount of white space in the middle that fits and image and a sentiment. I used Artfully Aware, the magnificent set designed by Janet Wakeland in honour of her mom who is struggling with Alzheimer’s. My four inch panel is mounted on a 4 1/4 inch granny apple green card.
This was the second square I made and it is 3 1/2″. The saying and the hearts are also from All Adorned. I also stamped the night of navy cardstock tone on tone for a subtle effect. With the stamparatus you can just turn your cardstock ninety degrees each time for perfect placement.
This card uses the last square I stamped, it is the three inch one. In this square all the stamped images touch each other. Don’t you just love the different looks? I can only imagine that it would look magnificent embossed in silver, gold, copper or black! I used the Blends to colour the clear epoxy droplet. The background is the beautiful new embossing folder Country Floral that you can also get for free with a $60 purchase in Canada until March 31, 2019. My picture isn’t as clear as I would like, but no time for a redo!! My eyes have definitely seen better days. Glasses are not too far off I think. Or maybe I shouldn’t be taking pictures before breakfast!!
This card uses the stamp set All Adorned in a different way. You simply stamp the image with the stamparatus in granny apple green, then stamp the coordinating image in night of navy and move the plate up the hinge two notches to stamp again. The small circle image connects that larger images and is also great for covering any smudges that may have happened from inky fingers!!
I hope you have enjoyed this sampling of cards using All Adorned. You can see what a beautiful crisp image it makes that can be easily repeated using the stamparatus. I have some spots left in March if you want to host your own private gathering with a group of friends. I would love to get creative with you! Remember, I do all the prep work, you have all the fun. If you live in Canada and are looking for a Stampin’Up! demonstrator, I would love to be your person. Just click on the images below and you can start shopping. Spending more than $100? You should seriously consider the starter kit. You will pay only $135, but you get to choose a whopping $225 worth of product. You will also get a free Paper Pumpkin kit in there as well as 8 catalogs to give to your friends and neighbours. Sound great? Click here. You also get to come to my Diva Day on March 23 if you join my team. A whole day of pampering and stamping and a treat bag to take home. How much fun is that?
