How I Spent My Spring Vacation…

How I spent my spring vacation report!

A bit overdue, but here’s my report! I think I was actually better at posting while I was away – because I worked at prescheduling so much – so maybe I need to plan my next trip so that I get back to all that prescheduling…

I had the privilege to travel with the Burlington Teen Tour Band to Ireland in March (actually a month ago this week!). They were invited to participate in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade and had a number of other scheduled performances as well. I volunteer as one of the photographers for the band. It’s a great way to work on my photography and editing skills, give back to an organization that has meant a lot to me and my family, and hang out with my band friends (both young and not so young anymore).

Burlington Teen Tour Band Dublin 2023

Photo: Burlington Teen Tour Band – Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Festival Parade 2023

The Burlington Teen Tour Band is a city sponsored marching band of youth – aged 13-21. (Right now, they are a pretty “young” band, I think they are mostly around 15-16 years old??). The majority are from Burlington, but we also have teens who travel from nearby cities to participate. They march, but also perform concerts (sitting down…), and include a colour guard section (the ones who carry the flags and twirl the baton). I was a member when I was the right age…LOL, and later my son was also a member in his teens, which is how I got re-involved with the band. The parent group, the Burlington Teen Tour Band Boosters, do a lot of fundraising and also chaperone on trips and events with the band, and I actually reconnected with a lot of people that had been in the band at the same time as me! My son retired from band a few years ago, but I stuck around as one of the volunteer photographers.

Burlington Teen Tour Band Dublin 2023 St Patrick's Day Parade

(spot the band in red in the sea of green as they make their way along the parade route)

This tour had been delayed a couple of times due to COVID, so it was great to finally see it happen! Unfortunately, the band equipment was delayed in arriving in Ireland (despite being packed and at the airport for transport days in advance of the band’s actual departure/arrival), so a couple of performances had to be cancelled and schedules re-worked, including a last minute extra practice once the equipment DID arrive! In the end, it was all good – the band performed really well in the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Festival Parade and won Best Overall Band, topping a number of US college bands, which is quite a feat.

We did also get to do a bunch of site seeing, historical castles and building, farms (sheep and horses!) and cities. Number one most purchased item (besides the badges/pins for band jackets) – RAIN GEAR. It rained pretty much every day. One of the positives to so much rain (besides a very green landscape) though, is the number of rainbows we saw.

rainbows in Ireland

If you want to learn more about the Burlington Teen Tour Band, their website is https://teentourband.org . If you want to see more of the pictures from the trip and other activities taken by myself and Andrea, my fellow photographer (and also a fellow band alumna), you can go here.

Last but not least, you may have seen my attempt at a travel reel – I did one on Instagram, but I also did one on TikTok – and I think the TikTok editing was a little better….LOL. You can see that if you follow me on TikTok – or below! (yes, I usually post crafting videos, but had to commemorate my first time travelling internationally in 4 years!!).

@yamstamps

Returned to international travel!! Love that i can keep my paper crafting business going even when I take a little down time – as proven in this video! #ireland🇨🇮 #rockofcashel #cliffsofmoher #cliffsofinsanity #bunratty #notatravelvlogger

♬ The good part – Kyrke

And we will now resume regular paper crafty postings….

Share this post on:

Watercolour World Map

I made this watercolour world map card more colourful by using a tried and true technique!

When you want your cards to be even more special than usual, pull out some old favourite techniques like I did on this watercolour world map card! The name of the stamp set I used is Watercolor World, but since I’m in Canada, I reserve the right to add in the “U”.

watercolour world map

Watercolo(u)r World is a single stamp, so I guess I shouldn’t call it a set! The stamp itself has an irregular texture to it so it has the look of a watercoloured image without you having to do anything. I made it more watercolour-ish by using the “Baby Wipe” technique – or in my case, the “Make up Remover Wipe” technique since I didn’t have any baby wipes on hand.

Essentially, you just want a wet wipe that doesn’t have anything too harsh in it – so no bleach, alcohol etc!! Just add a few drops of reinker to the surface, then use that as your ink pad! For this watercolour world map card, I blotted the stamp on the inked wipe a number of times, moving it around, since it’s a fairly large stamp. This blended the inks a bit more, so you’ll want to watch what colours you choose.

colour wheel

(From a non-art major…) I try to pick colours that are not opposites – so the ones that would be opposite each other on a colour wheel – like the two indicated above. These colours tend to blend together and create mud LOL! They end up brownish in tone, which is usually not the look I’m going for. I’ve also learned not to pick colours that are too close together on the wheel for these kind of techniques because they often end up looking like one solid colour.

Anyway – the reinkers I chose to use were Cherry Cobbler, Night of Navy and Crushed Curry for my watercolour world map. (I ended up picking shades of the three primary colours). Getting close to some opposite colours but if it’s a “fresh” application there’s not as much blending of tones. If you look at the image, you’ll see very little Crushed Curry – it tended to blend with the other colours and not stand out on its own. I stamped a few of these with the same wipe “ink pad” and found that the more I stamped, the more muddy/blurred the colours became.

watercolour world map closeup
watercolour world map card close up

The other tip I have is to have the dots of reinker farther apart on the wipe when using a larger stamp – that way, you just move the stamp around a bit and get the ink blend happening. When I put the dots too close together they bled together before they inked up the stamp so you couldn’t see areas of distinct different colour (which is the look I wanted). OH also – you may want to wear rubber gloves for this! I tend to pick up the wipe and daub it on the stamp to add colour where I wanted it (what can I say, I’m a little controlling that way I guess) – which worked well except for the fact that my hands were super inky afterwards!!

I didn’t want to hide the image, so I stamped the sentiment from the Begin with a Dream stamp set onto some Vellum Cardstock and then added that to the cardfront, using some Foam Adhesive Sheet pieces under the borders I created (to hide the attachment!). I added some Opal Rounds that reflect in similar shades (I think!) so felt like they matched the colour scheme as well.

I stamped a number of these images at the same time, so have got a copy to put into my travel journal – since I’ll be travelling again! So exciting! It’s been four years since I’ve been on a plane….so it’s taking me longer to pack than it used to. I’ll be travelling to Ireland with the Burlington Teen Tour Band – taking photos for them while they perform and sightsee! They finally get to march in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin, a few years after they were initially set to do so. I will still be posting and checking messages, but it may take me a little longer than usual due to the busy schedule and time zone difference! (and jetlag, always my nemesis). I’ve never been to Ireland (though it’s been on my list of places to visit for FOREVER it seems) so I’m looking forward to it!

Share this post on:

How I Spent My Summer Vacation…

OK so I know it’s technically not even summer yet…but here’s my “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” entry – or “why it’s been a little more quiet than usual in the YamStamps world”.

I have almost recovered now I think – I haven’t been overseas in a few years and I don’t remember the jetlag being this bad last time – but this was a busy trip and we came back to a full moon so maybe that’s part of it…?!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...
Burlington Teen Tour Band performing at Juno Beach Centre, Courseulles-sur-Mer France as part of the DDay 75 Ceremonies

I am privileged to be one of the photographers for the Burlington Teen Tour Band and the band recently returned from a trip to England and France. While in France, the band performed as representatives of Canadian youth during DDay 75 Commemoration events, including the above performance at the Juno Beach Centre.

photographer in action
photo of photographer courtesy of D VanClieaf!

This trip was a busy one! We started with an overnight flight to London, and a couple of days sightseeing before taking an overnight ferry to Normandy. While in Normandy (sleeping in a community gym for 4 nights!) the band practised and performed a number of times, including a fun performance in front of local school children, one of the highlights for me (and many of the band members!).

Before the trip, members (also chaperones and staff) received a dog tag – part of a fundraiser for the Juno Beach Centre. Each set of dog tags had a personalized one for the band member, and then the dog tag with information for a soldier buried at the Canadian Cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer. Band members were to research their soldier – you can find their research (still being uploaded) here on the Burlington Teen Tour Band site. We made a couple of visits to the cemetery – and it was one of the significant events for the band. Each member sought out “their” soldier and was able to pay tribute at the gravesite – with Canadian flags and mementos. Some members wrote letters, others carried messages from family members. These moments made this tour so much more significant for all of us.

Burlington Teen Tour Band at Beny sur Mer Canadian Cemetery

We capped off the trip with a day of sightseeing in Paris before heading home again. You can check out the tour photos here and the tour vlogs here.

This was not my first trip to Normandy – I actually participated in the DDay 40 band trip as a band member (stop doing the math in your head…). There were 4 of us who returned – 2 of us as chaperone/photographers and 2 as staff members. That’s not counting the number of second generation (well, technically there were also third generation) band members whose parents had been on that tour, and the staff members who had been on the 2nd tour 15 years ago (some as band members). I think that’s one of the things that I love about the Burlington Teen Tour Band – it’s such a positive experience and well run organization that generations will return to be involved in it.

Anyway – I returned home to the patience of the Monthly Class attendees who dealt with my jet lag (note to self – arriving home on a Monday evening from a country that is 6 hours ahead of your home time zone and having class on Wednesday may not be the best scheduling choice). I think I have recovered…kind of…and will be ready(ish) for the New Catalogue Open House and Retiring Product Sale this Saturday, June 22nd, running from 9am til 11am. Please RSVP and let me know if you need directions. I also apologize if you tried to contact me while I was away – connectivity was limited (you should have seen those kids with 5 days of no wifi…LOL).

I have this Stampin’ Up! set on order so can’t wait for it to arrive! It’s called Capture the Good. I think I’ll be able to come up with some ideas for using it…LOL.

OK back to the regularly scheduled programming – but hope you enjoyed the “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” entry (especially since I think that’s probably it for my vacation plans for the next few months!!). Otherwise you can check out some of my cheesy tourist selfies in the YamStamps Instagram “travel” highlights!

Share this post on:

What’s the Occasion?

20140103_Occasions_en-CA

What occasion will you be celebrating? Something everyday or something a little extra ordinary? The new Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalogue is here and full of fun goodies! Click on the image to download the .pdf version of the catalogue, or check out the products in the YamStamps Online Stampin’ Up! Canada store here.

I’ll be sure to post some projects created with the Occasions products!

In the meantime, it was a bit more quiet than usual here on the blog and in my social media world….I took some time off and was lucky enough to go on a trip with my family! Guess where we went?? I’m going to be working on some scrapbook pages to commemorate our trip for sure.

 

platform-pic This is not at Universal Studios Florida….this is actually at King’s Cross Station in London England! By the way the tube operator responded to my question, I’m sure he’s been asked MANY times about where to go to see Platform 9-3/4….all of us tourists!!

I promise not to inundate you with (too many) photos from my trip….LOL  so don’t be scared away from coming back to see the YamStamps Blog!!

 

Share this post on:
FREE TUTORIAL
FUN FOLD CARD
Fill out the form to let us know where to send your free tutorial video!
SEND MY TUTORIAL!
Learn At Your Own Pace.
close-link