Hello stampers and happy Friday to you. Today I am going to share the Triple Floating Diamond card that my team member Barb Gourlay taught at my team retreat a couple of weeks ago. It’s a stunning card and with some clear instruction it is not that difficult to make. This blog post will include Barb’s written instructions as well as my video. I hope it inspires you to make your own card, and if you do, please share it with me, I would LOVE to see your work. Let’s take a look.
Triple Floating Diamond Card
Here is the photo of my triple floating diamond card. This style of card was designed by Scrimpingmommy from the UK. I have been unable to find her video or blog post on this card, but that is what Barb used as her inspiration. She changed up the measurements so that the card would fit in a regular North American envelope that Stampin’Up! sells.
Edited: one of my followers found the link to the original video, so if you want to make this card in metric you will find it most helpful. Just click here.
Barb’s Instructions
Here is a copy of Barb’s instructions, I hope you find them helpful!
Triple Floating Diamond Card Video Tutorial
Here is the video tutorial. The nice thing is that you can pause it whenever you need to or you can go back and watch a part again if you didn’t understand it clearly. I hope you also subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any of my videos! There is a red subscribe button on the bottom corner of the video. It also helps if you click “watch on YouTube” when you click on the video in my blog post. Hope that makes sense!
A Little Smile Kit on Sale!
Good news! The kit that I used to make this card, A Little Smile, is on sale! All kits in the Stampin’Up! kits collection is buy one get one half price until the end of June. If you want to check out the selection, just click here. Remember, there are two different categories of kits so be sure to check them both out. When you put in your order be sure to make the second kit the more expensive one since it will be the one that gets reduced by 50%.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope you enjoyed this card. Happy stamping and have a super day!
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Today I have an awesome “collage stamping” card using Ranunculus Romance. Wow, that is a hard word to type!! Did you know that a ranunculus is a bulb? You can read about them here and see how many beautiful colours they come in. Ranunculus Romance is great for vintage cards too. I was inspired to make this card by the talented Gail Ellis.
Ranunculus Romance Card
Here is my Ranunculus Romance card. I figured if I spell it often enough it will get easier! The ranunculus is also called a Persian Buttercup.
I did a video tutorial for this card as well and I fussy cut the flower. Someone watching the video reminded me that there are indeed dies to go with this stamp set, so I looked into it. Indeed, there are dies! The reason that I did not have the dies is not that I forgot. Collage stamping is the primary reason that I got this stamp set and I didn’t think I would utilize the dies enough to justify the cost. You can decide that for yourself!
Video Tutorial
Rather than type out how I made the card, you can just watch the video here. I would be most grateful if you clicked on the bottom right corner of the video where it says “watch on YouTube”. It would be even more awesome if you subscribe to my channel and comment and share the video. This is the modern version of “word of mouth” which is the best form of advertising. Thanks for being a part of my stamping community!!!
Supply List
Did you know that the supply list for my cards is always listed at the bottom of my blog? I also share it in my YouTube videos. There are two little words beneath the description of the video. “Show more”. If you click on that you get a LOT more information including the links to my Stampin’Up! store and to my favourite Amazon products. With this video I used a great little bow maker. Mine came from a friend in the States, but it is much easier for you to get them from Amazon (or find a handy carpenter to make you one, in that case you can use the Amazon image as inspiration!) Click here to see it.
Thanks!
Thanks again for joining me today, I really appreciate you “stopping by”. Happy stamping and have a super day!
Hello stampers and happy Tuesday to you. There is going to be a big sale tomorrow! 15% off of ALL red rubber cling stamps in the annual catalog except for host sets. I am hoping to use this sale to get more kits into the hands of health care workers and teachers! This is how!
Take Advantage and Give!
You can take advantage of the sale and by doing so I will get host benefits. I am going to use ALL the host benefits AND my commission on more kits for our teachers and health care workers. Hopefully you will also add a kit to your order to give to one of these front line workers as well. Together we CAN make a difference.
When you place your online order please use this host code so that I can use my host benefits to get more kits for the teachers and health care workers. Don’t need anything yourself? You can sponsor one or more kits by sending me your $$ via etransfer to jackiebultje@gmail.com or through PayPal with the friends and family option.
More Good News!
I worked my tail off to get this huge 16 project pdf tutorial done before I fly home. So happy to tell you I did it! It’s finished and it’s fabulous. Perhaps you would like a copy? This tutorial gives you clear instructions and photos of lots of Christmas boxes, treat holders, cards and even a gingerbread house. It includes a link to a Zoom party on Saturday November 27 where I will demonstrate three of the projects: the gingerbread house, the spinning tower card and the Post-It note holder.
The house is not in this picture because I had to return it to Mardette and I didn’t have the Lots of Snowflakes dies here to make the trimmings for the house. You can see it in this blog post.
If you wish to purchase the tutorial, you can do so here.
“Fun-Raiser” Update
We are now at 26 kits sponsored and that is wonderful. I did a video yesterday showing the Love, Santa kit and explaining that my fellow demonstrator Tamara Bertram sold 75 kits. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta and there has always been rivalry between western Canada and the “east”. Funny how Ontario is in the middle of Canada but is considered to be “east”. Let’s show what we can do together! I would be over the moon to reach my initial goal of 100 but even 75 would be pretty awesome.
Instead of sponsoring a kit for $30, you can now sponsor TWO kits for $40. Two at a time we will reach our goal more quickly. Can I count on YOU to help??
Video of the Love, Santa Kit
Goodbye from Holland
Tomorrow will be my last day here, so no blog post. That is why I am writing one today. Thanks again for joining me, I hope you have a super day. Happy stamping.
Hello stampers and happy Saturday to you. Today I have a powerful story for you. First of all, I couldn’t write a blog post yesterday because our phone lines and internet cable were cut by a greenhouse crew accidentally. Bummer!! I was so excited to tell you the stories about my first coffee and a card class in the Netherlands. It just had to wait a day.
The Fear of the Unknown
How many times have you heard people say “I’m not crafty”? Often it really means “I’m afraid to try something new, especially in front of other people. What if I don’t get it? What if I do it wrong? I don’t want to fail and look stupid.” Trust me, I have had those feelings too and I still do when I go to craft at other people’s houses. I am not in my own environment, I feel like I have to get it right the first time and there is no time to play around. This has inspired me to do my classes a little differently and you can read about that a little later on.
A Powerful Story
One of the people who came to my class yesterday had to come later due to a previous engagement. By the time she came the others had already finished their card and were playing around making a second one. I poured her a cup of coffee and cut a piece of amazing carrot cake and I sat down beside her. Time to make a card! No, she said, I really don’t feel like making a card this morning. I’m not one of those crafty people at all. No problem!! I will never try to make someone do something against their will. Card classes are about relaxing and enjoying, not coercion and stress.
I’ll just sit beside you and show you how I made the card and then you can take it home is what I said. Before I had stamped three images, she had changed her mind. “I’ll make a card” she said all of a sudden. Wonderful! Now the plot thickens.
This person who claimed not to be crafty right away changed up the card in a few different ways to make it her own. She knew what she wanted! I love that so much. Then it gets better. While she was making the card she said, I am going to make this for my mother. She has dementia but she will love this cheerful card. It will mean so much to her that I thought of her and made her this special card. There was no procrastination. A pen was produced, the card was written, put in the envelope and mailed on the way home! How wonderful is that?
When People Gather Together
Another powerful thing that I once again realized is that amazing things happen when people gather, first around food and drink and then around a table crafting. Stories are exchanged, lives are enriched and creativity is discovered. One lady shared how magic happens when she goes into her craft room. Emotional hurts go into the background, aches and pains lessen and joy bubbles up.
It makes me so incredibly happy to be a small part in this whole process. I love sharing what I do. If you are one of these people who think they are not crafty, order a card kit from Stampin’Up! to get started. They include everything you need except for a tape runner and scissors. Find some inspiration on my YouTube channel or check out my tutorials to guide you step by step through some wonderful cards.
I’m hoping to have our internet restored on Monday and then I will be able to share the awesome photos with you. I was able to get one to load and that is better than nothing. I hope you have a super day and I am so looking forward to some day crossing paths with you and helping you with your creative journey.
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Today I want to talk to you about joy in the journey. I realize that it has been more than two weeks since I have blogged and an absence like that hasn’t happened for a long time! A lot has happened in the last few weeks. Let me tell you about it, perhaps you can relate.
The Many Hats of a Woman
Now I am not talking about real hats, although I have quite a few of those as well, not only because I love hats, but because I really need to keep the sun off my face. Vitilago and sun are not good companions. I’m talking about all the roles and commitments that we have to juggle. For me it’s mom, oma, daughter, sister and fiancée as well as friend and upline.
Traveling during COVID is a privilege but it also means lots of quarantining. On June 24 I was out of quarantine. That meant I could finally visit my parents and I could hold my grandchildren. We squeezed in an “oma day” and I had a lovely overnight visit with my oldest daughter. At the beginning of July Rachel my youngest, was finally able to move back to Ottawa. We packed up the car (actually she did that all on her own) and we stopped by for a goodbye visit to my parents and made the long drive to our capital city. Sadly there were no fireworks on Parliament Hill largely due to the residential school tragedies that have come to light. I was supposed to go on to Montreal to visit my second oldest daughter, but that ended up not working out. The bonus to that is that I was able to have a longer visit with my parents and I could tackle some gardening projects for my mom.
The Challenges
In the background I was trying to figure out a way that I could travel to North Carolina and avoid the mandatory hotel quarantine. This meant flying out of Toronto and flying back into Detroit. I looked into an airport shuttle service as well as the train but neither option could get me to the airport on time and I had a mid-afternoon flight!! My daughter-in-law ended up accompanying me in my vehicle which she drove back to her place. I arranged for a cab ride back to the border on the way home and had friends ready to pick me up in Windsor. It was enough to make your head spin!!
At the end of this journey I discovered that I could have arranged a cab from Detroit to pick me up in Chatham so I could have flown out of Detroit all along. So much for the myth that the borders are closed. Suffice it to say that there wasn’t much joy in this journey, but there was lots of joy in the stay in North Carolina!
Joy in the Journey
So what am I talking about if there wasn’t much joy in the journey? Well, thankfully I am talking about the bigger picture, the joy in the journey of life. I came across a great quote by Joanna Gaines:
“Consider the way we begin a new year, thinking about the goals we want to achieve, asking ourselves where we want to be at the end of that year, at the end of five years, at the end of 10 years. The last scene of a movie, the final page of a book the finished meal on the table – we judge a lot of things by how they turn out.
And through all of this it seems like we’ve learned to glorify the outcome of something far more than the defining moment that got us there: the spark that caught our heart’s interest in the first place or even the beauty of all that happened in between – the courage and belief and intention it took to pick up our brush and paint, only to repaint the very next day. I can see how I’ve judged my own commitments this way, forgetting that all things are shaped during the journey. That is the essential part.”
Type A
I am a bit of a Type A personality. I can be driven and competitive and that means that sometimes I do lose the joy in the journey and that makes me sad. These past few weeks have allowed me to refocus, to re-energize and to take a step back. Sometimes you have to let something go in order to find it. Covid has been a challenge for small business owners including me. I have tried new technology and am pleased with what I have learned. What I am not pleased with is the numbers and the reason is that I simply can’t understand them. I am going to be super vulnerable and transparent here so please be kind. By doing this I hope you can shed some light on this topic for me and perhaps even point me in the right direction.
YouTube Mystery
For the past year or so I have been posting regularly on my YouTube channel. I have 3690 subscribers which makes me very happy. The part that mystifies me is that I often have less than 100 views. I would love so much to change that but I have no idea how but I need to let it go because it is robbing me of my joy in creating and sharing. The mystery is that when I was just starting on Youtube I had more viewers per video than I do now. The only thing I can think of is that there are a lot more people now using this platform and maybe it is just saturated. Who knows? All I know is that I need to let it go!
On Saturday I was in my stamp room all day making beautiful cards and I would like to share them with you today. These cards will be the feature of my August virtual coffee and a card class as well as an in person class on Tuesday August 17.
Measure of Love Cards
I was so pleased with these cards and then I realized that there are five Tuesdays in August and I made one card for each Tuesday so I can do a video tutorial for each card on YouTube! Here is card number five.
This card was inspired by The Kitchen Table Stamper. I didn’t have the tags dies so I used a punch instead and drew around the hole with a Black Blends! Here is her blog.
This card was inspired by Cheri Stojcovich. Here is her blog post.
This last card was inspired by fellow Canadian demonstrator Tina Zinck. Here is her blog post.
How to Get these Cards
I am excited to now be able to offer you three options for these cards.
$25 for just the card kit including postage.
$50 for the card kit and the stamp set including postage.
In person class on Tuesday August 16 with both of these options.
Please remember that my card kits cannot include any stamped images so you will need the stamp set to complete them as shown.
More Joy in the Journey
In order to have more joy in my journey, I will only be blogging once a week for the foreseeable future. I do love writing but I love stamping more and I am hoping to do more spontaneous videos. As always I treasure your feedback. If you want to add a little joy to your journey, check out my tutorials page for some instant gratification. You can also choose a free tutorial with a $60 purchase. I hope you have a super day and I wish you joy in your journey.
Hello stampers and happy Thursday to you. I know, I know. I’m a day late. Usually I do blog posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Today I am going to be sharing a card with you that I made using You’re A Peach as well as a beautiful card that came in the mail yesterday.
You’re a Peach with Prime Time
Have you seen the You’re a Peach paper? It is so beautiful and it lends itself beautifully to mixing and matching. Take a look!
Yesterday I did a video, after many failed attempts with technology, and I showed my design process for this card. You can see it here. In the video I explained that I am very limited here in the Netherlands with my dies. Normally I would use a die for my focal point but I didn’t have any current ones that would work. The solution? To make a tag using the Fancy Tag Topper Punch!
More About Prime Time
Why am I so persistent with Prime Time? It really is all about consistency and value. I am dedicated to my Prime Time group and that means you know that you get a live video tutorial every week on Thursdays. When I am in the Netherlands it is at 9am EST and when I am in Canada it is 3pm EST.
On Wednesdays I post the supply list and measurements. This lets you get ready to stamp along with me. When you stamp regularly you are more likely to use the products that you invested in AND you will improve your techniques.
The other most significant added value is the monthly pdf tutorials. You get a 14 project tutorial which is worth $25! Even if you never watch a video tutorial or win a prize (did I mention there are weekly prizes?) it is STILL worth it.
From my perspective, it gives me reliable income from my followers. I can only sell SU products to Canadians, but in this group anyone can join. This allows me to focus on what I do best, to teach and create. You can be a part of that! Just click here.
Happy Mail
It was so lovely to find a tell-tale envelope in the mailbox yesterday. By the size and shape of the envelope you know it is a hand made card. Thanks ever so much to Jennifer Plaat for this stunning engagement card. It is still sinking in that in just over a year we will finally be official!
A Quaint Little Soap Shop
Last week I had the opportunity to browse around this adorable little soap shop. I am having a little buyer’s remorse that I only bought one piece, but truthfully I am more of a liquid or foam soap kind of girl. Maybe I need to change that. This was the real deal and the smell was divine. There was such attention to detail everywhere that I just wanted to linger and absorb it all.
From this picture you can see that they use essential oils and other natural ingredients in their soaps. Oh, the smells!!
It’s sort of like baking with similar tools and ingredients like lemon zest.
This soap looks like slices of cake. Don’t you just love this vintage stove?
I really wanted to get one of every kind of soap, but then I remembered that I rarely use bar soap. Maybe if I had this kind, I would.
I am too young to remember sunlight bar soap for laundry but I did know of its existence. I love how this little shop shows the history of soap and soap making.
Everything is Lush and Green
I am convinced that the Netherlands could give Ireland a run for it’s money for the title of “the Emerald Isle”. Although Holland has many islands, the country itself is not an island, but it sure is green! The drawback of course is that this lush greenery is the result of significant amounts of rain and a cooler climate for the most part. Compromise people, compromise.
In just one week I leave this idyllic place to go home. I am hoping that this will also put my technological problems behind me. Scenes like this help me to stay zen!! I hope it also brings some tranquility to your day.
Thanks!!
Thanks so much for joining me today, I really do like spending time with you. Several of you made me very happy during the video by giving me “stars” on Facebook. This is something new and I know very little about it, but the affirmation was great. I hope you seriously consider becoming a member of the Prime Time group. Remember, there is no commitment. If you find after three months that you are not getting enough value from it, you can just leave the group.
