Hello stampers and happy Friday to you. I am SO excited to share this beautiful new suite with you called Prized Peony. If you watch my daily Facebook live videos you will have seen the last two creations. Now you get to see them on my blog.
Prized Peony Perfection
One of the best things about Stampin’Up! is their coordination. This suite is no exception and it makes it so easy and so fun to create beautiful things. There is the stamp set with the coordinating dies, the matching paper, ribbon and gems. Wow! Such beautiful subtle colours that can be left muted or can be combined with other things for a dramatic pop of colour. You choose!
My Cards
This first card was made using a sketch challenge for a Canadian Direct Demonstrators meeting. I don’t often use sketches, but they are fun to do and it is always interesting to see what other people do with the same sketch.
Here is the sketch that I used so that you can see the measurements.
More Cards
During the video we had to choose which side of the patterned paper to use and the votes came in for petal pink. Of course I needed to now create a card with the other side too, just so that it wouldn’t feel badly! Here it is:
Just in case you are wondering where the framelit from the sentiment came from, it is in the Tasteful Touches bundle. The last card I am going to show you is my very favourite. I love jewel tones so I am glad that I still have my Lovely Lipstick blends. If you missed out, I happen to have two extra sets! I did create the card with Rococo Rose as well and it is pretty too.
I took a close up picture so you can see the sheen of the ribbon as well as the “cut” of the gems. They really are stunning and put your card up to the next level of awesomeness. Sympathy cards don’t have to be drab. The burst of colour represents the vibrancy and the love of the person who will be missed.
Rococo Rose Prized Peony
It would be unwise of me to only show you a card with a product that you can no longer get, so shove over Lovely Lipstick and make room for Rococo Rose. It turned out brighter than I expected and I am also curious if you could blend it with a little bit of real red for greater intensity.
Just in case you think you are seeing double, you are! For this picture I just laid my Rococo Rose peony on top of the Lovely Lipstick one. I didn’t feel like making another complete card.
My Video
Here is a video showing you how I made the first card. Just take a look at the first few minutes if you only want to see the paper and the coordinating items and not the actual making of the card. If you like it, please share so that others will follow my YouTube channel as well. Somehow this squirrel wants to get more views on YouTube. It remains a mystery to me that I have so many followers but so few views, so please help me!
Free Bundle Promotion
Yes, you can get this gorgeous Prized Peony bundle for free as a bonus when you get the starter kit. Here is the link to make it easy for you. It remains a mystery to me that not every single customer of mine would take me up on this offer. I would get another starter kit myself if I could! The savings are tremendous and it will feel like Christmas in June for you. Questions? Concerns? Don’t hesitate to message me and I will be happy to address them. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and have a super day.
Hello stampers. You have heard me talk a lot about Paper Pumpkin. One of the many things I love about Paper Pumpkin is that it makes it easy for me to help charities like Hospice. Our Chatham-Kent Hospice has a beautiful program where they send a handmade card on the one year anniversary of the death of a loved one. This is such a thoughtful thing to do and when I heard about it I knew it was the right fit for me. What a great way to use my business to bless others. Studies have shown that the one year mark in grieving is a tough one. Most people have forgotten your loss and moved on, so it can be very touching to receive a card on that anniversary. Paper Pumpkin is different every month but every once in a while it is perfect for my Hospice cards. That means I can make beautiful cards with my team of volunteers with very little prep time involved. It is also wonderful for the volunteers because the cards are easy and beautiful. Here are some of the cards we made today.
All the sentiments that we used came from different Paper Pumpkin kits. Paper Pumpkin is a monthly subscription that comes in the mail and includes a stamp set, a mini ink pad and all the supplies you need to make great cards. All you need is a tape runner. Glue dots and dimensionals are included as well. Paper Pumpkin is going up in price in June, so if you want to lock in the savings you would be wise to get a 12 month prepaid subscription. This will not only save you $3 per month (when the price goes up) it also gives you a free month as well as $27.50 in host benefits. You can skip a month at any time with no penalty and you can activate your subscription whenever you like. Don’t you think it would be a wonderful Mother’s Day gift?
See all the details in this card? Everything was included in the kit. Lovely colour coordination and such great textures too.
Do you see the sentiment on this card? It is from next month’s Paper Pumpkin! How on earth did I get my hands on that so early? It was my prize at OnStage in Quebec City where one of our make and takes was a Paper Pumpkin card from the May kit designed by Shelli herself. You are not going to want to miss out on this beautiful Paper Pumpkin kit.
After I took the picture of this third card I realized it would be fun to daub a little daffodil delight in the centre of this grey granite rose. It really did look great, so I took another picture to show you. I just changed this card up a little from the original in the kit. I centred the middle panel and added some baker’s twine. So simple and so pretty.
Don’t you think these cards will be perfect for Hospice? I love the soft spring colours, just like a bit of sunshine after a long dark winter. I thought you might like a glimpse of my table as I was prepping for the Hospice card making class. I pre-stamped the sentiments to make it easier and faster to get more cards finished.
I took one more picture to show you a little trick of mine. Whenever you are trying to adhere something to a surface that is not smooth such as ribbon or corrugated paper or glimmer paper it is a good idea to have your dimensionals on a smooth surface, not on the other stuff. Take a look:
Do you see how I placed the dimensionals above the corrugated banner? That way the sentiment will not only be offset, it will also be on firm footing and not fall off in a few days. I hope you enjoyed these cards and that you were also inspired to either come and help out with making cards for Hospice or starting some kind of community service in your area. Share what you love and spread joy with your hobby or your business. Together we can make the world a better place. Have a super day and thanks for dropping by.
Hello stampers. One of the sad realities in life is that we are often in need of sympathy cards. On the bright side, it is often therapeutic to take the time to make a beautiful card to show you care. We often feel helpless in the face of someone else’s grief, but a handmade card in the mail will help the bereaved person feel less alone. It is actually a good idea to send your card a few weeks after the funeral when the person may need to be reminded that they are not forgotten. We have a beautiful stamp set in the annual catalog called Kindness Compassion. Not only is it great for making sympathy cards, it also perfect for sending thank you cards for those who were helpful to you during the time of your bereavement. Giving the bereaved person a set of thank you cards that they can use can be very timely and thoughtful. Take a look at the set.
I chose to make my swap cards for Quebec City local OnStage using this set. I combined it with the Delicate Lace Edgelets and the Subtle embossing folder for a simple but striking card.
I always like the look of a group of swap cards together. They also always take much longer to do than I anticipate. I am very happy with how they turned out. The Delicate Lace Edgelits are stunning on this card.
If you use the Precision Plate with your Big Shot when cutting out the delicate lace edgelits there is very little poking that you have to do. I used my clever ribbon trick to make this bow. I will share a video I made quite a while ago in case you haven’t seen it yet.
I still had Dandelion Wishes laying on my stamp room table from Coffee and a Card class, so I thought the dandelion image would look good on the inside of this card. What do you think?
On April 15 the retirement list will be posted. If you want to beat the rush, be sure to order your ink refills and card stock for the retiring colours: tranquil tide, berry burst, lemon lime twist, fresh fig and powder pink. You may have heard that the Big Shot is retiring as well as the paper trimmer. With both of these products Stampin’Up! is being innovative and is working on coming up with an even better product. My advice is to get what you need NOW for both of these products: extra blades, cutting plates, precision plate, magnetic platform, anything that was on your list. I am super excited to see what they have in store for us. As always, thanks for stopping by. I try to make it easy for you to shop with me if you live in Canada, just click on any of the images below and you will be taken straight to my online store. If your wish list is long do consider the great deal on the starter kit. If you have any questions, just send me a message or comment on this post. I would love to connect with you.
Hello stampers. Do you like to treat yourself once in a while? I know I do. Sometimes it is a lovely bunch of tulips or a fun magazine or takeout sushi. You all know that I stamp and make cards as my business. Not many days go by without ink on my fingers. And yet who would think that I would want to treat myself to more stamps, ink and paper! Well….meet Paper Pumpkin!
You would be surprised that I very much look forward to getting my Paper Pumpkin every month. Do you know why? It is called “instant gratification”. Inside that little red box is a surprise. There is a stamp set, an ink spot (mini ink pad) and whatever paper and embellishments I need to make a stack of cards. Once in a while it might be some other paper crafting option. A mini calendar, treat bags or a framed art piece. I don’t have to think, I don’t have to decide, I just follow the instructions and create.
Paper Pumpkin Blissful Blooms is a beautiful kit with lovely cards, embellishments and stamps. I have created a class for you to introduce you to the beauty and simplicity of Paper Pumpkin. There will also be door prizes and great food. There is no need to be a Paper Pumpkin subscriber to come to the class and there will be no pressure to become one either. It is just a fun class that shines the spotlight on this wonderful product. The benefit of me telling you this now is that if you do choose to get a three month prepaid Paper Pumpkin subscription before March 31, then you will also qualify for a free saleabration item. How wonderful is that? Let’s take a look at what I did with Paper Pumpkin Blissful Blooms.
I love the vivid colours of the flowers but mostly I love this sentiment. What a wonderful thing to say on a sympathy card. We want to acknowledge the pain and the loss but also celebrate the good memories and the love that was shared. The sentiment was stamped in Blackberry Bliss. The pink twine and the vellum leaves as well as the beautiful embossed label are all included in the Paper Pumpkin kit.
For this card I took one of the cards in the Blissful Blooms Paper Pumpkin kit and I cut it in half. Then I again cut the card front in half and made an old olive and a blackberry bliss mat to make it stand out. I popped this panel up with dimensionals. Once again the label and the vellum leaves are part of the kit.
I love the stitched rectangle framelits. I once again cut a card in half and used the card front to make two cards. I did this by using the rectangle stitched framelits. This is the inside of the rectangle piece. I mounted it on a piece of pineapple punch cardstock embossed with the Country Floral embossing folder. This beautiful folder is only available as a free item with a $60 purchase until March 31.
If you look closely at this card you will see that this is the larger stitched rectangle piece that I cut for the previous card. I layered it on an old olive card and then I used the back of the card that I had cut off to make this focal point. Both the sentiment and the flower stamp are part of the Blissful Blooms stamp set in this Paper Pumpkin. See the vellum leaf and the pretty pink metallic twine? Yup, all from the kit.
This is the last card for the class and it used the other half of the card front that I had cut in half for the second card I showed you. This part had more pink in it so I layered it with melon mambo and old olive for a brighter look. Just the right card to cheer someone up!
My Blissful Blooms Paper Pumpkin party will be on Wednesday April 10 at 1pm or 7pm. Class is $20 and you will make five cards. You will also get a door prize ticket and if you bring someone new, you will get an extra door prize ticket. You could win this stamp set or a different Paper Pumpkin kit. If I have extras left over I will offer them as classes by mail. Prepayment is required now for all my classes except Tuesday coffee and a card. E-transfer is preferred to jackiebultje@gmail.com
Remember that saleabration ends in just ten days!! Message me if you have any questions. As always I appreciate you so much. Thanks for taking the time to stop by today. If you are interested in subscribing to Paper Pumpkin, here is the link. Click on the images below if you want to purchase a prepaid subscription and please do use the host code as that really helps me to keep class costs down. I will happily send you a card to thank you for taking this extra step. The current host code can be found in the sidebar of each blog post. I hope you have a super day.
Hello stampers. Shimmer white paper is simply lovely and perfect for watercolouring. The shimmer will show through your stamped and watercoloured images for a magical effect. At class yesterday I had someone ask if I had added shimmer on top! I got the idea for doing this with Painted Seasons from Linda Dalke. The distINKtive images in that set are already so pretty that you might hesitate to alter them by watercolouring, but it is so nice to get a totally different look with Painted Seasons. If you already have this bundle be sure to get the coordinating framelits before they sell out. We have been having a good problem. Our products are so popular and demand is exceeding production so some of our beauties are selling out very quickly. The frog framelits and the cupcake framelits are no longer available and the lasting lily framelits are on low inventory.
Let’s take a look at the cards I have made. This first one is cased from Linda Dalke. I changed it up a bit. She did a one layer card all in shimmer white which was stunning. I wanted to “stretch out my investment” and get four cards out of a sheet of shimmer white instead of only two, so I cut it into 5 1/4″ by 4″ and layered on to a berry burst card. This great colour will be retiring in June along with lemon lime twist, fresh fig, tranquil tide and powder pink. I stamped my flowers and leaves and then brushed over them with an aqua painter making sure to leave the edges untouched so they would remain distinct. All inks are not created equally and you will find that some of them “wash” more than others. Highland heather did not wash nearly as well as berry burst.
The thinking of you sentiment comes from Rooted in Nature and it was stamped in night of navy. With the bold flower images I wanted the sentiment in the middle to also pop. I added some share what you love artisan pearls as an accent. Colours used are berry burst, highland heather, mint macaron, balmy blue and night of navy.
Here in this closeup you can see how the colours are gorgeous when watercoloured but that you can still see the distINKive details of the stamps. Night of navy was added to the centres of the flowers to give a totally different look. Thanks again Linda Dalke for the inspiration!! For the next card I wanted to use the textured embossing paste because it had been collecting dust on my shelf for a while. I thought it would pair well with some of the Painted Seasons flowers and leaves cut out with the coordinating framelits. I really love how Stampin’Up! made coordinating products to go with our saleabration offerings this year. Now that we realize how popular they are we will simply have to make more of them next year!!
The flowers for this card were also stamped on shimmer white cardstock and then “gone over” with an aqua painter. You don’t have to be too precise with this, you can just wash over the entire image, just be careful not to go over the beautiful edges so that they remain crisp. A light wash of night of navy was added to the centres of the flowers. The embossing paste dries quite quickly. I first stamped the sentiment and the mint macaron leaves and then I used a decorative mask (stencil) and the embossing paste. Apply it thinly like you are buttering toast but try to leave it a little uneven for a more artisanal look. After that step I put is aside and made the first card in this post. When that card was finished the paste was dry and I could finish this one. I used mini dimensionals under the flowers and placed them strategically between the embossing paste “diamonds”. The leaves were attached using a glue dot on the stem.
I think that this closeup almost captures the beauty of the shimmer. For this card I added a flower stamped in Powder Pink to soften it up even more. Be sure to keep the liner of the lid of your embossing paste and put it back on before screwing the lid on tightly. It dries out very easily! Also wash your decorative masks (I like to call them stencils) and your “spreader” (real term is palette knives) right after use with hot water and a dish brush. If you let it dry it will be quite a difficult task.
Have fun with this great stamp set, the framelits and an aqua painter. If you have never used shimmer white cardstock before I highly encourage you to try it out. It is also great with Brusho. I did a Facebook Live video on it yesterday, I will try and link it here. I have just figured out how to save those videos to my phone so that I can post them on Youtube. That will make life a bit easier I hope.
It’s March 15 today so that means we are at the halfway point of the month and just over two weeks left to take advantage of saleabration!! If you are new to Stampin’Up! that means that you can choose a free item with every $60 purchase or something really special with a $120 purchase. It also means a fabulous deal on the starter kit. You pay only $135 but you get to choose any products you want for a total of $225. No shipping, no tax and your own 20% discount after that. If you choose to do this as a business then you will need to buy or sell a minimum of $400 a quarter (every three months). If you have any questions I would be most happy to answer them. If you live in Canada, I would love to have you join my team, whether it is for your own discount or if you want to build a business, small or large. Starting your dream has never been easier.
Hello stampers. Today I felt the need to create a simple blog post. Sorry. No, I’m not sorry that it will be a short and simple one, sorry is the focus of the post. It is also the focal point of this amazing stamp set called Sorry for Everything. It is one of the few stamp sets that is only words. There is not even one image in this set!!
I love this set for the following reasons. 1. It is very versatile. It ranges from sorry I missed your birthday to sorry for the loss of your furry friend to sorry you’re not feeling well. 2. It tackles the more difficult issues in life in a straightforward manner. Sorry that things fell apart! I wish I could make everything better. I’m so very sorry for your loss. Sorry to see you go. And finally, forgive me?
As a Christian saying sorry (and asking and extending forgiveness) is essential to the faith. We were forgiven everything, so who are we to withhold forgiveness? I know, my thoughts are running deep today. Let’s break up these deep thoughts and take a look at the card that I made.
Never underestimate the power of a hand written hand made card. I personally know of relationships that have been forever changed and salvaged due to this simple act. If you do not yet have this set, I would highly recommend adding it to your stash. You will use it over and over. The big “sorry” makes it a wonderful focal point so that you can keep the rest of your card fairly simple. I used thick whisper white cardstock for the base, a night of navy layer 4 1/8″ by 5 3/8″ and then a whisper white layer of 4″ by 5 1/4″ run through the Big Shot with the Detailed Floral thinlits (they used to be a bundle with the beautiful Floral Phrases set. Be sure to use the precision base plate as this is a detailed thinlet. If you forget to use this plate and use just the regular platform or the magnetic platform you will notice, trust me! Lots and lots of poking and it might not even cut through all the way. The precision base plate is worth every penny. Remember, it is saleabration time and that means an amazing deal on the starter kit. If you need some of these big ticket items, this is by far the best way to get them. Just click here to join my team and get this deal. No selling required, but wouldn’t a 20% discount on your future purchases be absolutely wonderful? You also get to pre-order from the new annual catalog on May 1!!!! Whooohooo. Lots of perks. (you do need to live in Canada to join my team, sorry!)
Are you interested in how I did the faux bow on my card? This ribbon trick is the most favourite trick I have ever shared, but maybe you are not yet familiar with it. Check out this video. I hope you have a super rest of your weekend!
