Here’s a beautiful and easy Christmas Card for you! We made this as part of the October Christmas Card Class. Participants received a full package of Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels along with all their other class supplies. We used some rhinestones for our projects and then they took the rest home. Or they chose not to put them on their projects and reserved the right to do so later! LOL
I love the Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalogue. It’s featured on this quick card, which is blinged up a little to give it a little more glamour. (More glamour optional, of course).
According to the paper description, the green colour used is Mossy Meadow, so I used Mossy Meadow Cardstock and Mossy Meadow Ink to coordinate. I also used Very Vanilla Cardstock for the main card and sentiment. I like using Vanilla or White as the cardbase because it’s light enough to write on for the inside of the card, and it’s pretty neutral. I tend to use Whisper White more often than not, so have to “remind” myself to use Very Vanilla too! It’s appropriate for this card, I thought, since the Mossy Meadow has more warm/yellow tones. (Plus Very Vanilla is one of the colours also used in these patterns!)
The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Christmas – not all the images are itty bitty…and then it’s die cut with the Layering Ovals Dies. Frugal Friday Fanatics will probably realize that the backing oval of Mellow Moss is cut from the centre of the backing cardstock. If I was totally clever, I would have cut that belt strip from the centre of the backing cardstock, but I know my limits…so cut that from a scrap of Mellow Moss Cardstock instead.
I actually went a little overboard with the rhinestone accents and ended up removing some…and when I posted this picture I realized I hadn’t managed to scrape the glue dot off along with one of the rhinestones. Can you find the spot I missed? (Well at least the one spot I can see right now, who knows, there may be more). I’ll be sure to remove it before I put the card in a matching Very Vanilla envelope….otherwise the recipient won’t be able to get it out!
If you’d like to join me – there’s ONE more Christmas Card Class coming up – November 27th, in Burlington ON. See the YamStamps Events Page for details, and contact me to register. Otherwise, if you’re on the YamStamps Mailing List, you’ll be receiving the next installment of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas project emails next Wednesday – starting on 3D projects/gifts and packaging! Of course, I will also still be sharing other beautiful and easy Christmas Cards here on the YamStamps blog – because we’ve got a bit more time before Christmas arrives!
Yes, you CAN heat emboss with the regular Stampin’ Up! inks – but it is easier if your ink pad is well inked, and you need to work fairly quickly to get the powder to adhere to the wet ink. I did a Facebook Live showing this technique in the YamStamps Facebook Group. Join our group and then check out the video here.
I have to admit that Terracotta Tile has surprised me – I use this colour more than I expected! Out of the 2019-2021 In Colours, it was the one that I figured I would use the least – because the blues are definitely my favourite tones….but hey, it’s always good to go outside your comfort zone I guess?!
If you’d like to try out different stamp sets, tools and techniques, consider coming to a class with me! We make four different card projects and use a variety of colours (well at least I try to design them that way LOL) and tools to make them. It’s a great way to “try before you buy” or simply just try! Check out the YamStamps Events Page for upcoming classes in the Burlington ON area. If you can’t make an event, consider getting a group together and I will travel to you! (well, within reasonable driving distance in the southern Ontario area….message me if you’re not sure about what my mileage limits are – because I’m not sure either! haha). If you can’t make a class in person, I do have a couple of online classes (see YamStampsMore for more information), and of course you can always check out the YamStamps site, Facebook Page, Instagram and YouTube (working on that one a bit more soon) accounts for project inspiration and tutorials – like this Cheater Mosaic Card!
Shortcut to shopping is yamstamps.com/shop ! This sale starts Wednesday, October 23rd in the wee hours (12 am Mountain time) and ends at 11:50 pm Mountain Time – which is actually 1:50 AM October 24th Eastern time – but don’t delay and miss out on the deals! Quebec customers and those wanting assistance placing their orders, please contact me!
In the meantime – happy shopping – and happier shopping on Wednesday!
A cute Halloween card to showcase as today’s Sunday Swap Share.
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!
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.
Stampin’ Up! is an international company, with divisions outside North America in Europe and the South Pacific. Stampin’ Up! is also in Japan – and that’s where this stamp set started! The New Year Celebration stamp set is now available in North America for a limited time – until January 31, 2020.
I love the images and the calligraphy in this one, and being of Japanese heritage, wanted to get this stamp set for sure! Sadly, my fluency in Japanese is almost non-existent…though my son is taking it as his university elective!! (I think that it’s a crazy amount of work, but he’s enjoying it).
Even though it’s a new year set, the images can be used at other times of the year, and quite honestly, unless the recipient can read the Japanese characters, you could use those as well!
Here’s the image only/non-new year card. I used the Golden Glitz Delicata Metallic Ink Pad for the background and bow – but the photo doesn’t show how glitzy it actually is!
Here’s the new year version (well, for those who only read English….LOL). I used Sahara Sand as the colour for the other images on the card, including the faint flower images on the cardbase itself.
New Year used to be the bigger celebration (as opposed to Christmas) during the holiday season in Japan – not sure if that’s still the case, but it’s also a good reason to still send holiday cards….especially if you miss the Christmas mailing deadline! (…um….that’s typically me….)
HINT if you’re stamping these two images together. I stamped the mountain outline first – because the background “sun” image is a bit more flexible. If you stamp the mountain first, you can adjust the sun so it (roughly) fits around the mountain outline. My first attempt had the sun overlapping the mountain and that wasn’t quite the look I was going for. Also – the Stamparatus is great for 2 step stamping, and also made it easy for me to stamp the sun a couple of times with the Golden Glitz ink to make it really glitzy.
My next HINT – if you’re not sure which way the characters are supposed to go, look at the stamp case LOL. Even though I can’t read kanji, I can often tell which way they are supposed to go because of the brush strokes, so it bothers me if I can see that it’s upside down. True confession, I actually stamped it upside down the first time and had to check because I thought it looked weird.
If you’re interested in getting this stamp set, remember it’s only available until January 31, 2020. You can grab it through the YamStamps Online Store (shortcut: yamstamps.com/shop) or contact me for assistance placing an order.
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!
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!
I shared this simple die cut window card the other day in a Facebook Live Video. Did you see it? It was for World Cardmaking Day. If you missed it, go to the YamStamps Facebook Page, click “like” and “follow” and “all notifications” so that you can be notified when I do a Live video! (if you scroll down once you’re on the page, you should be able to find the recording of the video too).
In the Live video, I actually did a side fold card, but nevermind that…LOL. I chose to die cut the oval window using the Layering Ovals Dies, and then die cut a the lacy floral piece using the Christmas Layers Dies. I like that even though it is a Holiday Catalogue item, this die cut can be used for something other than a holiday card. I used a sentiment from the Path of Petals stamp set to create a sympathy card. Often sympathy cards are the ones that we don’t often feel like creating, but often need. Obviously, though, with this pattern and images, you could use almost any sentiment to create a card for almost any occasion. The random extra floral images are from the Shine Bright stamp set, but I thought they were similar to the die image.
In the sample above, I used Thick Very Vanilla Cardstock and Merry Merlot Cardstock. By cutting the die from the same tone cardstock, it makes the die cut look like it’s more continuous with the window, and using Merry Merlot ink for the images ties everything in and adds a bit more dimension without being too distracting. I did add dimensionals behind the Merry Merlot layer to highlight the window and die cut a bit more.
If you are looking for more ideas for easy and effective paper crafting, make sure you’re also on my Newsletter List! You’ll get ideas like this simple die cut window card sent to your inbox– but not this exact card, because the newsletter projects are typically not shared on my social media outlets! Tomorrow is the second of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas mailings – so if you’re a subscriber, I’ll “see you in your inbox” tomorrow!
Happy World Cardmaking Day! Yes, who knew there was such a thing? Sharing this sunflower card to celebrate and thank you for visiting the blog. My personal mission is to follow World Cardmaking Day with a “Mail It Monday” – meaning I get card(s) in the mail to people!
You’ll know that I’m all about the quick and easy card – and this is one of them for sure. Let the images take the centre stage and get the card done and mailed! The sunflowers are created with the Painted Harvest stamp set – I love how the two petal images layer to add shadow and dimension. They were stamped in Crushed Curry. The centre is done in Early Espresso (stamped off onto scrap paper once to lighten up the image a bit) so the “seeds” show up a bit more.
This is one of those stamp sets that is so versatile – just by switching out the colours used! I shared a Christmas Wreath card using this set on the YamStamps Instagram Channel.Click here to see it.
So Happy World Cardmaking Day! Are you following the YamStamps Facebook Page? I did a Live video showing a different card today. If you follow the page, click all notifications so that next time I go live, you’ll know about it!
In the meantime, I’m off to address an envelope to get this sunflower card mailed!
This glittery star card was one of my personal favourites from last month’s Christmas Card Class! While we set it up as a holiday card, I’m sure you could use this accent on a celebratory card for any occasion. (Oh, and surprise, it’s navy and silver….but there’s copper accents and the card is grey….so I’m kind of getting away from that recurring theme? Maybe? I’m trying, really I am!). Though now that I write that, I realize what the colour scheme was for the first of the YamStamps Twelve Weeks of Christmas project emails yesterday…. (Get on my newsletter list so you don’t miss any more of the subscriber exclusive projects!).
This is a square card, because I really wanted the large star to take up a lot of space on the cardfront. The background is the Brightly Gleaming Specialty Designer Series Paper so I took my colour scheme from that. The large copper foil star is from the Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements – you get 10 of them in the package (if I counted correctly). While I was playing around with the elements, I discovered that the star is the same size as one of the Stitched Stars Dies! So the Silver Glimmer Paper was cut with the star and then the Copper Foil Star was stuck onto it. Once it was secure, we just had to trim the ends of the silver star – because the die has pointy star ends and the foil element is rounded.
I try not to stray too much outside a bundle if possible, but I couldn’t resist using the Shine Bright stamp set sentiment – because I thought it was perfect! If you’re keeping track – the Stitched Stars Dies come in a discounted bundle with the So Many Stars stamp set, while the Shine Bright stamp set comes in a discounted bundle with the Stitched Brightly Dies. It’s heat embossed with Copper Embossing Powder and cut out with a Stitched Rectangle Die. Even though it’s an extra step to die cut a sentiment, it often means I don’t have to re-do a card because at the last moment I stamped the sentiment crookedly! Just stamp the sentiment on a scrap piece of cardstock, then die cut (and of course, position the die so the sentiment is squared and centred within the cut out portion!).
And it was pointed out to me that I missed an embellishment opportunity – a little rhinestone bling in the centre of the star?! Ah well – for the next time I make this card – or YOU could make it!
Are you a member of the Paper Crafting with YamStamps Facebook Group? I did a last minute Facebook Live on Wednesday, showing how you can heat emboss with Stampin’ Up! inks. Click on join and follow so that you can be notified of future Lives – because I’m on a mission to do a few more live videos on a regular basis! If you make a version of a glittery star card, please post it in the group – I have a participation challenge going on right now! Thanks for stopping by.
Are you on the list? The 12 Weeks of Christmas List, that is… If you receive the weekly YamStamps Paper Crafting Newsletter, then the answer is YES! If not – well, I think you can figure that one out…
You’ll want to be on the list by Wednesday, October 2nd at 1pm so that you can receive the first of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas Projects! This is an exclusive subscriber THANK YOU. In appreciation of being on my list, I send subscribers an additional email over the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas. Each week has a different holiday project, complete with photo, supply list and instructions – like you’re used to with the regular YamStamps Newsletters. The Twelve Weeks Projects will be cards for the first few emails, then we’ll move on to gifts and wrapping ideas. Lots of inspiration for your holiday crafting!
