Hello stampers and happy Tuesday to you. I know, I know. Blog posts are never on Tuesdays. This one is. Today I am sharing with you some simple cards with Fancy Frames dies. I hope you love them as much as I do!!
Fancy Frames Dies
What makes these dies so special is that they make it so very easy for you to make a stunning card with very little effort. No one will know how easy it was for you to create your masterpiece! No fussy die cutting, no cranking of lots of dies, just some pretty paper, coordinating cardstock and a few pretty gems. Sound unbelievable? Take a look!
Card Samples
Here are a few cards that I have made this week using these lovely Fancy Frames Dies. I also made a video tutorial that I will include at the end of this post.
Here is a closeup of the Abigail Rose card. I love how this card came together with all those subtle tones! The roses on the front were fussy cut from the patterned paper. “You’re always so good to others…” comes from In The Moment stamp set. The brushed metallic dots are the perfect finishing touch.
Using Leftovers
Do you see the cards above? I found some leftover Hues of Happiness paper and played with them to make these cards. The polka dot paper is one of the free saleabration items which I coloured with blending brushes and Balmy Blue ink. I love the crane turned into a stork for the baby card!
Video Tutorial
Here is a video showing you how I made some of these cards. Enjoy!! If you haven’t already, please subscribe to my channel. It’s a wonderful to stay in touch with what I am sharing. Lately it seems that Facebook is making it more difficult to find older posts and videos, so YouTube is a great alternative!!
Don’t Forget About Saleabration!
Summer saleabration is in full swing! You can order your Christmas stamps (or anything else!) and get free items as a bonus with each $60 purchase. You can see all the offerings here.
The current host code is 3S2AFM37.
Thanks so much for joining me today! I appreciate that you are a part of my stamping community, have a super day!
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Today I am going to share a Handsomely Suited Waterfall card with you. I first shared this card in my Prime Time With The Pampered Stamper group with a rather funny video. In typical squirrel fashion the card went seriously wrong, but I got it fixed and everyone got to see how NOT to do a waterfall card.
Handsomely Suited Waterfall Card
I won’t be sharing the video tutorial here since it is exclusive to Prime Time, but I will be doing a different waterfall card for my June virtual Coffee and a Card class. There are still a few spots left if you want one. Kits will be mailed out next week!
If you want to join Prime Time, this is the best time to do so. I have just committed to posting more exclusive content there including travel videos and photos. My Prime TIme people have been with me and supported me when COVID first crippled my in person business and I very much appreciate that.
Waterfall Mechanism
When I first had the idea to do this type of card I wondered whether or not the tie would make it “around”. It does!! This card is best appreciated when you see it in action, so here is a short video.
I’m not sure if the format of this video will actually work but I’m sure you will let me know what it looks like on your device. The one thing to remember when making a waterfall card is that your layers must be firmly adhered so that the edges don’t catch when you activate the waterfall mechanism. Here is a link to a tutorial that I used as a start for this card.
Join Me on June 1
On June 1 at 10am EST I will making another waterfall card featuring the Berry Blessings paper. This will be the first card for my June Virtual Coffee and a Card class. There are still a few kits available for $25 including shipping anywhere in Canada. This month you will get five cards, four of which are fancy folds. I am also going to write a tutorial so this will be another option to join in on the fun!
The Best News
On Friday I shared on social media that Gerard and I are engaged! Such happy news and so happy to be able to share with you all. We first met at my cousin’s birthday party here in Holland when I was visiting. I was 17. We wrote letters for a year and he visited me in Elora for two weeks. With no internet back then and slow mail and different plans we decided to break up. Fast forward more than thirty years and we reconnected when he heard that my marriage was over.
What a delight to discover that we were even more in love than we were as teenagers! Due to COVID we do not yet have a firm date in mind for the wedding and not even a definite place as that depends on my parents health. We are leaning towards Chatham in either June or September of next year.
This was just a fun selfie that we took at the beach. He proposed with dozens of roses and champagne right at home! I was in shock as it all happened so fast. Maybe you saw the photos of the champagne and the roses. I couldn’t say anything yet then because not of all our kids and family and friends knew yet. The outpouring of love on Facebook is amazing! Thanks so much for all your words of congratulations and kindness.
The Pampered Stamper Will Stay in Business!
In case you are worried, my business as The Pampered Stamper will continue. I have a great assistant on the other side of the ocean and she may just be working more hours for me. Planning times for online classes might be a little tricky but that’s ok. COVID has been a blessing forcing me to do my business totally online. There will still be lots of trips across the ocean to see my family and to keep things organized for my business.
Hello stampers and happy Monday to you. Today is the last blog post about the Happy Mail in Holland contest cards and it features Boho Indigo and Ornate Layers. I love the Boho Indigo Product Medley as well as the Ornate Layers dies so we are in for a treat today. Many thanks to Jo Foster and Carole Thomas for these great cards.
Boho Indigo
Jo Foster made a great fancy fold square card using the Boho Indigo product medley. You can find this great set of products on page nine of the annual catalog. Jo is from Grovedale in the province of Victoria in Australia. Jo has participated in several of my contests and she has also sent happy mail to my parents. I love our across the world friendship!! I hope that someday we can meet in person. To see her Happy Mail for Gerard card, and to read a little bit about Grovedale, check out this blog post.
Doesn’t this look like an interesting fold? The card measures 5 3/4″ across by 5 1/4″ high. The side flaps and top flap are approximately 2 7/8″. I will definitely be recreating this beauty and doing a tutorial with it for you. Would you like to see the inside?
I love how Jo used stamps to create “background paper” for the side flaps. I love this monochromatic card! Jo included a cute little mini card that had all the products listed that she used: very vanilla cardstock, Boho Indigo designer series paper, Tasteful Labels dies, Flowering Blooms and Tasteful Touches stamp sets and Boho Indigo gold ribbon. All the images were stamped in Misty Moonlight.
Ornate Layers by Carol Thomas
Carol is a member of my team from Olds, Alberta. I checked out Olds online and it is a small farming community with a great website that you can see for yourself here. I will share a picture with you too.
Carol’s card is a classic beauty with sahara sand and whisper white cardstock and a gold embossed leaf. The simplicity of her card really lets the ornate layers stand out. Carol also included a note telling me about this card. She cased it from Su Mohr of Aromas & Art. Sue does lovely work that has also inspired me in the past. Carol writes that the largest die is also a perfect fit for the inside of the card. Here you can see it for yourself.
Thanks so much ladies for your beautiful cards and also the sweet sentiments inside, I am feeling the love and so is Gerard!
Happy Mail in Holland Contest Winner
There were 25 entries in my Happy Mail in Holland contest and they were all wonderful. I am so thankful for each one of you that participated. It was a joy and an honour to blog about your cards and also a fun journey to see where you are from. I used a random number generator to select the winner. I am happy to announce that the winner is Bianca Rebel from Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Bianca gets to choose a stamp set of $30 or less and I will send it to her as a thank you for participating in this contest.
Hello stampers and happy Tuesday. Today I am going to share with you the Bargello technique, and yes, it is not Monday. Yesterday was my birthday and I took the day off! Despite the COVID pandemic, I had a most wonderful birthday. The only thing missing was the presence of my love, Gerard. Now, back to card making. Have you heard of the Bargello technique? Neither had I, so let’s see what it is all about.
Bargello technique
How did I discover this? Quite simply I saw this card from Tracy Tucker using strips of shimmery white cardstock that she had sponged in gorgeous colours. When I made the card in a video I was informed by my viewers that this was the name of that technique. Basically you cut strips of paper and then arrange them so that they are offset from each other. Here is a tutorial from Splitcoaststampers and I will also share the video that I did.
My Card of Many Colours
I like calling this card “my card of many colours”, it reminds me of a song by Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colours which I really love.
Here is the card before I put the sentiment on. I chose to remove the coastal cabana mat from the card that I cased from Tracy. The colours uses are melon mambo, pumpkin pie, mango melody, granny apple green and coastal cabana.
Here you can see the two cards together. I accidentally flipped the card as well! Do you see that I embossed the flower on the melon mambo section instead of the coastal cabana? Which one do you like better? It was a happy accident.
Video
If you watch my video you will see how it is done. I really like the splatter at the end to make water droplets which are echoed by the Flowers for Every Season gems OR the frosted and clear epoxy droplets.
Shimmery White Cardstock
This is a fantastic product that I really, really love. It is great for sponging and for watercolouring. Here is another post that I did with shimmery white cardstock. It just so happens that I have more of these stamp sets AND the paper in stock if you are interested. Just message me and we can negotiate!
Thanks!
Thanks for joining me today and for all the lovely birthday wishes. I had a wonderful day yesterday and it was great to not work at all and just enjoy the way the day evolved. Here is a picture of me and my son Oliver. He was the organizer for the kids to get the gifts and to spoil me along with Laura.
No, I am not drinking four glasses of wine! This cute table came with the picnic bag, isn’t it adorable and ever so functional? I also got silicone baking mats, a bicycle pump and a harness to hold my weed whacker so that my arms don’t almost fall off every time I do this garden chore.
Hello stampers and happy Friday. Today I am going to post the first fun fold card in my fancy fold card contest. This card is by Ina Eisen and it features the playful Dino Days stamp set and coordinating Dinoroar paper.
Ina Eisen’s card
Before I show you Ina’s beautiful card I want to tell you just a little bit more about this talented woman. I have found out that she is a hobby demonstrator and her upline is my friend Joanne MacTavish. Turns out that Joanne was my parents’ bank teller at the Royal Bank in Fergus. Joanne is very lucky to have Ina on her team. Before I knew that Ina was a demo, you may have seen that I was trying to recruit her to join my team! I’m looking forward to spending some time with both of them when this COVID situation is over.
There are so many great details in this fun card! Ina used the stitched nested labels dies for the focal point and fussy cut the dinosaurs out of the Dinoroar paper. This paper is on sale right now and available only while supplies last. The “miss you” is from the stamp set Enjoy Life which is also retiring.
Inside View of Dino Days card
Here is the inside of this fun card. Ina used a retired stamp set called No Bones About It.
The Measurements
I almost forgot to give you the measurements for this fun card. The cardstock base is 5 1/2″ by 4 1/4 in a colour that coordinates or contrasts with your paper. Ina used mango melody for this card.
Take a piece of patterned paper 11 3/4 inches and score at 1 3/4″, 4 3/4″ and 7 3/4″. Fold the first part back towards you (mountain fold) then fold a valley fold and then a mountain fold. Just look at the picture below and it will make sense. Adhere the largest part to the card base and decorate as desired.
Ina used the stone embossing folder that was available during saleabration on the white stitched nested label.
Video on my Facebook Page
If you want to see the video of how this card was made you can see it on my business Facebook page. It was supposed to upload to YouTube as well but my camera ran out of space so it couldn’t be saved. Bummer.
Alternative Card
I made a few alternative cards using this fun paper, but I only took one picture to share. This day has been totally nuts with every technical glitch imaginable happening. I am crazy squirrel, hear me roar!!
Thanks!
Thanks so much for joining me today, I hope you have a good weekend and stay sane. I would love it if you order from me online, just click on the links below in my product list. This suite of products will bring a smile to your face and help you make happy mail for any littles or for the young at heart. If you want to brighten my day, please leave a comment. Tell me what you have been making or doing to stay optimistic. Have a super day.
Hello stampers and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you. I’m not sure that everyone is in a celebratory mood, but here the sun is shining, I have a warm home with food, clothes and LOTS of paper, stamps and ink and a long to do list, so life is good. The key is to try to focus on the positive, to not immerse yourself in too much media and to do your part in keeping everyone healthy. Precaution is crucial. In the meantime, on a lighter note, here is a fun card that you can make with the Heartfelt stamp set.
Heartfelt for St. Patrick’s Day
It really is quite fun to see what you can do with your stamparatus simply by giving your square piece of paper a quarter turn each time before you stamp. Sound like Greek to you? No worries, just watch my video. Here is the card.
A Word For Everything
That is the name of the stamp set I used for the sayings on this card and it would be a fantastic choice for your free bonus stamp set when you get the starter kit. Seriously, this is the best time ever to get this kit. With everyone needing to practice social distancing, it sure helps to have a box full of amazing stamping supplies to help pass the time and keep your focus on creativity instead of the dark rabbit hole of “what if”.
I made the inside shamrock with four heart shaped punchies from Clubhouse designer series paper. The stem for the shamrock was created with the heart punch and is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. The video will show you how it was done. Here is another great card using the Heartfelt stamp set and heart punch. I have made one with the Clubhouse paper but I see that I haven’t yet blogged about it. It is available in the March tutorial that you get for free with a $50 order!
Video Tutorial plus Some Great Kits
Here is the video I did for a daily Facebook live. At the end of the video I show some kits that could be great for anyone needing some creative things to do now that we are having to make our own fun at home!
I have two extra Paper Pumpkin kits that are available for anyone local wishing to participate in the online live kid’s class on Saturday at 10am EST. Message me if you are interested.
Thanks
Thanks ever so much for joining me today and also for watching my Facebook lives. Please do share these so that more people get a meaningful, positive distraction from the troubles in the world right now. Creativity is great for mental health and social connection. The best deal right now is of course the starter kit, you can start that process by clicking here. I hope you stay safe and healthy and have a super day.
