This week’s Sunday Swap Share has an autumn feel to it – though it’s using product from the Holiday Catalogue, which often seems like the Christmas and Halloween Catalogue…LOL. Created by Sophie Ouellet, this wildlife card features Stampin’ Up!’s Nature’s Beauty Stamp Set and seems appropriate for the first official Sunday of fall!
One other thing to note – a portion of each sale of this stamp set goes towards supporting mental health in the country in which it is sold. Stampin’ Up! has designated the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as the Canadian beneficiary. I know that crafting is a great stress reliever for me, and helps my mental health – and it’s great to know that this stamp set goes towards helping support mental health in Canada!
The Petal Pink Vellum is from the Perennial Essence Vellum Cardstock package and coordinates with the Petal Pink Organdy Striped Ribbon. I would never have thought to use Petal Pink and Blackberry Bliss on an autumn card – part of the reason I love participating in swaps! I don’t have to think up every single design on my own, and can borrow from ideas and inspiration from others. While I do enjoy coming up with my own designs, there are times when I need a little creative boost.
Did you know that if you purchase a starter kit through me, you become part of my group of demonstrators known as the “Eh” Team? You aren’t out there on your own – you have my support and training, plus Stampin’ Up!’s trainings, plus our team in total – when you want it or need it. I’m having an Information Night on Thursday, October 9th at 7pm. It’s a short, free event for you to have your questions answered. If you’re not local to Burlington, ON, or can’t make it that evening, you can contact me for other options. Check out my Demonstrator Information Page by clicking the link, or typing in the shortcut yamstamps.com/join. As always, you can contact me if you have any questions or need any information – about becoming a demonstrator with my team, crafting supplies, or paper crafting techniques! Thanks to Sophie for this great wildlife card, thanks to Stampin’ Up! for a great fundraiser, and thanks to you for stopping by the YamStamps blog.
If you’ve been visiting the YamStamps site for a while, or checking out the YamStamps Facebook Page or Instagram Account, you’ll know that I like projects that look impressive but don’t take too much work. Sometimes I like to colour – but it’s got to be something that will be effective while also being easy!! Here’s the latest in that line of Lazy Crafting…in which I colour ON the lines.
This easy colouring card uses the Animal Outing stamp set and coordinating Animal Friends Dies. How is this an easy card? Well, I only used 3 colours of Watercolour Pencils and a Blender Pen. I took advantage of all the artist drawn shading and contouring lines to give the image a bit more dimension. The image is stamped in Staz On Jet Black ink onto Shimmery White cardstock – which deals well with wet media and techniques. I coloured along the outlines and shading lines with the Watercolour Pencils, then went over it with the Blender Pen to move the colour out to the rest of the image. I used Bermuda Bay Cardstock to tie in the colour of the card with the pencil that was used to colour the bird.
The leaves were cut along the side of the Smoky Slate Cardstock and had to be cut twice to span the entire length of the card. What you can’t see behind the rhino image is that there is a bit of an overlap of the cut images which isn’t so pretty….but it’s hidden so it’s all good!
So remember – colour ON the lines to make your colouring quick, easy and effective! If you’re interested in learning more paper crafting tips and techniques, be sure to be subscribed to my Paper Crafting E-Newsletters. Starting NEXT WEEK all subscribers will receive a bonus newsletter installment – the Twelve Weeks of Christmas! Each week, for the next twelve weeks, in addition to the regular YamStamps Email, you’ll get an exclusive Christmas Project email – complete with picture, supply list and step by step instructions. Don’t delay – the first of the Twelve Weeks emails goes out October 2nd!!
Sometimes you want to send a card for “no reason” or to let a friend know you’re thinking about them. Here’s a card to say hello that will serve those purposes!
I might have a bit of an issue with this Basket Weave 3D Embossing Folder – in that I LOVE using it for my cards. It’s one of those things that I will have to force myself away from when designing class cards (because class attendees might like to try out different products – go figure). However, you will notice that it’s another blue card….LOL. I can only do so much outside my typical comfort zone, people!!
This card features the To a Wild Rose Bundle which includes the To a Wild Rose stamp set and Wild Rose Dies, at a discount vs buying the products individually. LAZY CRAFTER ALERT / #craftinghack I lifted the colour palette for this card from the ribbon. The Seaside Spray Scalloped Linen Ribbon is so pretty that I wanted to highlight it. I used Crumb Cake as the brown tone for the card. I placed the plain linen side out on the front of the card and then used the other side when tying the knot. Some class attendees opted to use the blue edged side showing for both portions though! My lazy crafter way of doing the knot – one length of ribbon goes on the card (tape the ends in behind with SNAIL or adhesive tape), and then use another slightly shorter piece of ribbon and tie it around the first. By doing it this way, you can move the knot around to where you’d like it on the card front without undoing the entire ribbon piece!
If you are in need of a card to say hello to a friend, or just want to get out and try some techniques and products, come to a class! The Monthly Card Class is held the first Wednesday of each month (generally…) in north Burlington ON, and there’s an afternoon and an evening session. Your class fee includes all the supplies required for the 4 cards we create during class – including adhesive and envelopes. You can check out the upcoming dates on the YamStamps Events Page or message me to register or get more information. Hope to see you in class soon!
Please come back to visit the YamStamps site for future Sunday Swap Shares – and all the other regular postings during the week! If there’s something you’d like to see here – leave a comment below or message me. Thanks for stopping by!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Catalogue has a lot of great products for the holiday season – and I love being able to use them for something other than holidays! This starry birthday card is an example of using a holiday catalogue product for another occasion. (OK, maybe not too much of a stretch there, but still an alternative).
Like many of Stampin’ Up!’s “stitched” dies, there is a stitching mark on the outside and the inside of the cutting line for the Stitched Stars dies – so both the positive and negative die cuts have that detail. For this card, the stars were cut from the Whisper White cardstock and then set aside (to be used on another project at some point in time!). The cardstock was then adhered to some Designer Series Paper – in this case, Bird Ballad, and then onto the cardfront. We just used a single piece of paper, but if you wanted to be really tricky, you could either die cut the stars from the Designer Series Paper and then place them in the negative spaces of the cardstock, or cut squares/circles from the DSP and place them behind the negative spaces. In either case, you could vary up the pattern direction if you desired. However, you may know that I sometimes refer to myself as “The Lazy Crafter” (trademark pending LOL), so the single sheet of Designer Series Paper was the way to go for my starry birthday card design. This card design could be used for so many different occasions by changing out the sentiment and switching the backing papers. Easy peasy!
The sentiment is from the Perennial Birthday stamp set, and a little rhinestone bling goes a long way to make a card more special. The backing cardstock (and ink) are Calypso Coral, which is one of the colours in the paper’s design. (Lazy crafter – why think too much?).
This starry birthday card was one of the featured projects during September card classes. Tomorrow is the September Christmas Card Class – using some of the elegant Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements. At the time of writing this post, there were a couple of openings left – so if you are free at either 1pm or 7pm, contact me ASAP if you’d like to join us! Class fee of $30 covers all supplies, including a full package of the elements. Next month we’ll be using the Holiday Rhinestones for our projects – and class is filling quickly. Check the YamStamps Events page for all the upcoming events, and contact me if you have any questions or for registration! Thanks for stopping by the blog today.
So we had a complete cable/internet outage in our household the last couple of days and it was painful! I know, first world problems and all…but it did emphasize to me how much I rely on technology to make my life easier – both my work life and my home life. Breathing a bit easier now that we have internet and wifi back – and I’m not going to look at data usage over the past couple of days. Thankfully my son is away at school, because I can imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth if this had happened when he was home!!
In the meantime, now that I’m not hovering by the door waiting for the service call, I’ll go back to prepping for this week’s Stampers Club and Christmas Card Classes! There are a couple of last minute openings in the Christmas Card Class on Wednesday if you’d like to join us – message me! Otherwise check the YamStamps Events Page to see upcoming dates (I’ve written them down until the end of the year!). Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to Chris for this lovely floral paper card.
You’ll notice that the Pressed Petals Specialty Designer Series Paper is included in this sale – so if this slightly more pricey paper is on your wish list, you’ll want to be sure to get in on this special! When you are at the YamStamps Online Stampin’ Up! Store shopping this special, add the Pressed Petals paper to your shopping bag FOURTH and you will automatically get it for free. More bang for your buck! Remember that only the papers listed above are included in the special.
As always, if you have any questions or need assistance placing your order, please feel free to contact me! In the meantime, remember that the shortcut to the YamStamps Online Stampin’ Up! Canada store is “yamstamps.com/shop“. Happy shopping!
This week’s Sunday Swap Share is from the Holiday Catalogue – but it’s not a Christmas Card! This Autumn Leaves Card was created by Christine Dionne and highlights some of the “other” holiday products in Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Catalogue.
I’m just starting to go through the fantastic cards I received as part of this demonstrator card swap. This was another organized swap – focusing on Holiday Catalogue product, with some guidelines in terms of card construction. At Stampin’ Up! demonstrator gatherings, there’s usually a fair bit of swapping occuring! Demonstrators will create multiples of a cardfront, or full card, and then trade them with other demonstrators. It’s a great way to get ideas and inspiration. I’m looking forward to On Stage in November – it’s the Stampin’ Up! organized event for demonstrators. The main event moves from location to location, since Stampin’ Up! is a global company, but there are smaller, pretty much identical events that happen on the other continents. This fall there’s a local event in Toronto! I love that it’s just down the road from my home. If you’re interested in joining me at that event, check out my FAQ page about becoming a demonstrator with my team. You’ll be able to purchase a starter kit and once you’ve got your demonstrator number, you can buy your ticket to On Stage! I’ve also got an Information Evening scheduled for Thursday, so you could RSVP for that and join me to find out more and ask any questions. I’d love to have you as part of my group of demonstrators – known as the “Eh” Team!
One of the perks of being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator is early access to catalogue product. This die cut star card was made using products from the Holiday Catalogue. I created this for a swap with fellow demonstrators while the summer heat was still in full effect!
I love the combination of navy and silver, so chose to use it for these starry cards. On this card, I did silver heat embossing, but you could also use the new Silvery Shimmer Delicata Metallic Ink Pad. The Night of Navy star is die cut from the background, and layering stars were cut from Silver Foil Sheets. The largest silver star is fitted into the opening in the Night of Navy cardstock, and the the other stars are turned and layered in place. A little bling from rhinestones also helps to make thisdie cut star cardeven shinier.
While there was a fair bit of die cutting involved in this card, it was actually not to bad to do assembly-line style. I did all the die cutting at one time, then I did the stamping and assembling. Last was the bling. I found the Take Your Pick Tool “spatula” helpful in picking up and placing the rhinestones. I usually just use my finger nails if I’m only doing one or two, but doing a whole bunch of rhinestones on a whole bunch of cards was a different story.
While the Stitched Stars are great for the holidays, they can also be used for other card giving occasions! This month’s card classes feature a fun birthday card created with these dies. I want to keep some of the surprise for class and Stampers Club members, so I’ll share that version a little later this month.
There are a few spots still available for September’s Christmas Card Class – Wednesday September 18th at 1pm or 7pm. Cost is $30 and includes a package of the Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements. We’ll use some for our in class projects and you’ll take the rest home! Contact me to reserve your spot. You can see the other upcoming Christmas Card Class Dates on the YamStamps Events Page.
If you need a copy of the Holiday Catalogue, live in Canada and don’t have a demonstrator that you work with already, please contact me to arrange to get a copy! In the meantime, if you prefer, you can download the digital version here, or see the items in the online store here, including the So Many Stars Bundle used to create today’s Die Cut Star Card. Happy Shopping!
