Take Two: Musical Note Card

This is another take on a musical note card – like the birthday card I shared here, it has the same black/white/red theme, because why mess with something that works?!

Musical Note Card

This is definitely a clean and simple card. It’s great for sending a note to a friend, whether they themselves are musical or not! Once again, the Stamparatus comes to the rescue, ensuring that the images from Music from the Heart are straight. Stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, then coloured with the Dark Real Red Stampin’ Blends Marker (this combination will ensure no bleeding of the stamped images). Shimmery Crystal Effects on the note because why not?! The Whisper White Note Card is a great size for this simple card.

I often think that the amount of thought that goes into creating a clean and simple design can be underrated. I know that as a cardmakers, we often think that “more is better” and that we need to be over the top in order for people to appreciate the hand-made-ness of the effort. Looking at some of the higher priced cards available in the stores, though, I have realized that a lot of them are of the clean and simple type, or featuring one main image, so as cardmakers, we need to be comfortable and confident when we choose not to overload our cardfronts.

Plus, lets be honest, once you’ve got the design, it’s easy to create/re-create a clean and simple card in a pinch! (#lazycrafter rules).

This Musical Note Card is great for any occasion (I’ve used it as a thank you card) but it could also be used for Valentine’s Day! Join us at Stampers Club/Monthly Card Class if you are local to Burlington ON and want to build up your card stash – or watch for my next Online Class Offering (I’m putting the finishing touches on it now) for ideas and inspiration wherever you are.

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Sparkly Christmas Lights Card

This fun sparkly Christmas Lights Card is a great way to send greetings to a friend!

sparkly Christmas Lights card

Using the Making Christmas Bright stamp set and the coordinating Christmas Bulb Builder Punch means that this card is not too tricky to recreate! The Stitched Nested Labels make the sentiment stand out.

The bulbs were made glittery by an application of Shimmery Crystal Effects. It was a quick application, if you can’t tell LOL!! I figure the recipient should be distracted by the shiny objects and will overlook the not totally perfect application….and as I always say – if the person who receives a handmade card criticizes it, THEY DON’T DESERVE THAT CARD! (joking). (not really).

Anyway – the good news is that Shimmery Crystal Effects is(are?) here to stayat least for the next little while! It’s on the carryover list from the Holiday Catalogue.

In the meantime, I’m already looking ahead to next year – as I’ve got my new January-June Mini Catalogues and Sale-a-Bration Catalogues on order! I’m anxiously awaiting their arrival. I’ve used the Stampin’ Up! mailing system to send a bunch out to those who have placed orders with me in the last year and will follow up with those on my list to be sure that they arrive safely in the next while!

If you are signed up for the YamStamps Paper Crafting Newsletters, you’ll be receiving the FINAL week of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas Projects next week. Can you believe it?? In the meantime, I will be *cough* finishing up my own holiday cards with the hope that they will get into the mail system by Valentine’s Day…..so while I go to work on that, please continue to enjoy this sparkly Christmas Lights Card…because it may be the only way I manage to spread a little paper crafting holiday joy at the rate I’m going!!

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Starry Card

Hi! I’m recovering from tech trauma…I had website issues earlier this week, and then had some issues when trying to do a scheduled Facebook Live. It seems like all is well now (fingers crossed) so hoping it’s going to be back to “business as usual”.

I bring you another starry card…but this time it’s GOLD and blue, rather than silver and blue, because I can only handle so many changes at one time.

starry card

This card was created for the October Christmas Card Class. It uses the So Many Stars Bundle that includes the So Many Stars stamp set and the Stitched Stars dies. What you maybe can’t quite see is that the stars and swirl are cut from the blue Noble Peacock Foil Sheet – and they’re all from the one die cut. We added the Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels for colour coordinated bling too.

The stars in the background are stamped with the Golden Giltz Delicata Metallic Ink Pad. Just a heads up – these ink pads will NOT be carrying over – so if you want the Gold or Silver ink pad, you’ll want to place an order ASAP before they are all gone – gold is already on low inventory notice and copper is already gone (I just saw that when I was linking things up here!).

November’s Christmas Card Class is scheduled for November 27th at 1pm or 7pm. Everyone will receive a bottle of Shimmery Crystal Effects – we’ll use a bit for our projects and then you’ll have the rest of the bottle to glitz up your other projects at home! It’s sure to be a glittery class. You can contact me to register by November 13th – cost is $30 and includes all supplies required (including adhesives). I wonder if I’ll be able to design yet another starry card in blue for that one?!

Check out the YamStamps Events Page to see what else is being offered. I’ll be working on finalizing the start of my 2020 Events Calendar and will get that published soon. In the meantime, sign up for the YamStamps Mailing List by using the box at the top right of this page, or click here. You’ll get notifications of upcoming classes and events as well as the weekly paper crafting ideas and information, so you won’t miss out!

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Hey There, Pumpkin!

A cute Halloween card to showcase as today’s Sunday Swap Share.

hey there pumpkin card

Isn’t it fun? Created by Rose Marie Coleman, this Halloween card showcases the Harvest Hellos Bundle, which includes Harvest Hellos stamp set and the coordinating Apple Builder Punch, which obviously can double as a Pumpkin Builder Punch! Remember that the bundle is discounted so you save a little money on the coordinating products too!

hey there pumpkin open

It’s a bit of a fun fold card as well – easily created by cutting the cardstock to 4.25″ x 11″, folding in half and then cutting off a portion of the front of the card. The Monster Bash Designer Series Paper adds even more interest! This cute card would be great to give to your favourite trick or treater!

If you’re looking for seasonal inspiration outside of Halloween, don’t forget that YamStamps Newsletter Subscribers are currently enjoying the Twelve Weeks of Christmas series. This extra newsletter is my way of thanking subscribers – each week brings a different holiday project. We’re showcasing card ideas right now, but will move on to gifts and packaging inspiration in the next few weeks. You can subscribe to the YamStamps Newsletter here, or go here for more information. If you’d like in person inspiration, check out the YamStamps Events page if you’re local to Burlington Ontario. Come to a class, or get a group of friends together and I will bring the class to you! Contact me if you’d like more information or want to see what dates I have available.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and family! Pumpkin pie is baked and I will be putting the turkey in the oven in the next while. I am so grateful to be able to get together with family and friends this weekend. Sunday’s Swap Share celebrates this fact!

Thanksgiving Card

This card was created by Selina Merali and features the Gather Together stamp set and Come to Gather Designer Series Paper. The pumpkin image is die cut with the Gathered Leaves Dies, which also comes with the Gather Together stamp set in a discounted bundle. You could get all these products plus the Come to Gather Ribbon Combo and Tags & Feathers Elements by grabbing the Come To Gather Suite Bundle – it’s like pressing the “Easy” button for these items! Selina’s done a beautiful job on this elegant card, don’t you think?

A tip if you are creating multiples of one design but want to use Designer Series Paper as part of the project – copy this card design – use smaller pieces as accents. You’ll be able to stretch your sheets a little further. For this demonstrator card swap, we had to make 21 cards. If you have a standard Designer Series Paper package, it will have two 12″ x 12″ sheets of each of the double sided designs. You could cut six 2″ strips and then cut them down further – if you make the pieces 2″ x 3″, you’ll get 24 pieces for example. If you’re trying to be super efficient and thrifty, I’d just recommend doing any number that divides into 12, if you’re trying not to tax your brain too much, I’d recommend doing whole numbers rather than fractions!

I’m looking forward to our family Thanksgiving dinner tonight, and will work it off by walking alongside the Burlington Teen Tour Band at the Kitchener Waterloo Oktoberfest Parade tomorrow! Happy Thanksgiving!

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Blue and Silver Holiday Card

I used my favourite colour combination for this blue and silver holiday card! Plus it has some teeny stars on it – so an all around favourite for me I think. This is from the August Christmas Card Class – and I liked it so much, I included a variation of it for my regular September class too!

blue and silver holiday card

My Christmas Card Classes include product – and it’s typically a package of embellishments that we use on our cards and then class members take the remainder of their packages home to use for other projects. In August, I was only working out of the Annual Catalogue, since the Holiday Catalogue wasn’t available for customer orders yet! We used the Designer Elements in that class, and then used Clear Faceted Gems this month.

Holiday Basic Rhinestones

By the way – If you like bling, you’ll want to register for the October Christmas Card Class – we’ll be using the Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels!

close up blue and silver holiday card

This blue and silver holiday card could be used for Christmas, Hanukkah or New Years, don’t you think? The sentiment and dangling stars are from the Making Christmas Bright stamp set (the one with the Christmas bulbs!). The variety of stamps in the set means you can come up with a variety of “looks” from one stamp set. To extend the dangling stars, we used the Stamparatus to make sure the images were perfectly in line, and then stamped them twice – the sentiment hides the gap. I didn’t mind the lines running off the top of the card, but I wanted the finished effect at the bottom. (which I now realize you can’t really see well for the watermaking on the photo. Sorry!).

he image and sentiment were stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with the Silver Embossing Powder. Heat embossing is always a winner for holiday cards in my opinion! The card is Smoky Slate, which I find really compliments any silver accents, without drawing attention away from them.

Hard to believe, but I’ve only got two more scheduled Christmas Card Classes this year! You have two more chances to make some beautiful handmade cards to give to the special people on your card list. Plus there’s an Advent Calendar Class too! Wednesday, November 13th – 1pm or 7pm – you can come to class, pick up your Christmas Countdown kit and use my stamps and ink to complete the project!

Countdown to Christmas Project

The class fee of $55 covers the kit (plus shipping/taxes) and the use of my adhesives/ink/stamps to complete the kit as per the instructions. You can contact me to register, or use the PayPal link on the YamStamps Events page. Registration & payment required by October 30th, or additional fees may apply in order to ensure that your kit will arrive in time for class.

Check out an alternative use for the kit that I shared here on the YamStamps Facebook Page! BONUS – you don’t have to use the kit for one or the other! The boxes have notches on two sides, so I’m thinking that after the Christmas season is over, I’ll flip the boxes around and use them for something else! What would you use them for?

Oh – and for my next Christmas Card share, I promise to try to show something OTHER than a blue and silver holiday card. No promises about the card AFTER that one though. hahaha!

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