Thank you for your messages of support for my appearance yesterday on Morning Live! As always, it was a lot of fun. If you weren’t able to catch it, I’ve included the video below, or you could catch it at the YamStamps YouTube Channel or on the CHCH site. I made a collage of the projects I had on air (sometimes you can’t always see them in the shots. Most of them survived fairly unscathed, and I did leave Annette’s “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree as is.
I’m looking forward to the washi tape Christmas Card Classes this week. Don’t forget that there’s still a chance to get in on classes – the December Monthly Card Class is Wednesday, December 7th at 1pm or 7pm. It will feature a variety of cards, including one holiday specific card. On December 14th, it’s the Tin of Tags class – you’ll receive a full Tin of Tags kit, and I will supply the inks and stamps necessary to complete all the tags. You’ll end up with a cute tin with beautiful gift tags – a great hostess gift, or a great way to decorate the gifts you’ll be giving. See the YamStamps Events page for more information and registration links. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
In the meantime….for your viewing pleasure, here’s the video! Thanks as always to everyone at Morning Live. They are so professional and welcoming, and the makeup artist made me glam!
I’m in a holiday prep mode – tomorrow, tune in to CHCH TV’s Morning Live show – I’m scheduled to be on air around 840AM sharing holiday cards and projects featuring washi tape! (It’s also the main product we’re using in the Christmas Card Classes this week!). Wish me luck. I enjoy these appearances, and everyone at the show is wonderful, but I do still get a bit of “stage fright”. My biggest worry is that I’ll run out of things to show or talk about. (I know, if you’ve met me in person, you’re probably snickering right now). I’ll see if I can get footage to share here later.
This week marks Week 7 of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas Project Mailings – it will be out Wednesday, November 16th around 1pm Eastern to YamStamps subscribers, and this week was one of my favourites. Easy but impressive – my kind of project!! Sign up here or use the box at the top right of the blog, and thank you for being a subscriber!
I’m sure you can relate (perhaps especially on a Monday?). One of those days where nothing seems to work in your favour and you’re constantly swimming up stream. Like Dory, my mantra is often “Just keep swimming”. Here’s a great card to send to someone who’s going through a bit of a rough patch, and it’s perfect for a Manic Monday, I think! This card is easy to reproduce and a perfect way to brighten someone’s day. It uses the Stampin’ Up! Canada Weather Together Bundle which includes the Umbrella Weather Framelits and Weather Together photopolymer stamp set.
Colours used are Crushed Curry for the background and umbrella top; Island Indigo for the raindrops, Real Red for the hearts and Smoky Slate for the umbrella handle. I did the usual thrifty trick of stamping the umbrella top in the centre of the Crushed Curry cardstock, and die cutting it before using the remainder of the cardstock as the backing for the main image piece. Noone sees the umbrella shaped hole behind the other layers! Since this set has coordinating images and framelits, I was able to cut out a few hearts easily, and add one or two to the front of the card with the Fine-Tip Glue Pen. I combined Thick Whisper White cardstock for the cardbase and regular Whisper White for the top layer. This way, the whole card feels substantial, but it’s not too bulky or heavy, especially since the umbrella top is raised with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
I’m off to continue on my Manic Monday….prepping for the Christmas Card Class on Wednesday – going to be a fun one with lots of bling! The registration deadlines for the November Christmas Card Class and the Tin of Tags Class are coming up soon – visit the YamStamps Events page for more details and registration information. Hope to see you in class soon.
I love the Bokeh effect – in photography and in crafting – where the out of focus highlights are twinkling in the background of the shot…. and this stamp set makes it easy! Twinkle Trees, from the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalogue is a great holiday set, and I love when I can use a holiday set in a way that doesn’t scream CHRISTMAS!!!! (Though I have nothing against that, but it just makes the sets even more versatile, in my opinion!). The large circles stamped randomly in the background recreate a bokeh effect, and the little hearts rising from the mug also have a bit of the same effect. This is my Thank You card for September orders (and I’m working on getting them mailed out or handed out!). On some of the cards, I used the Gold Baker’s Twine from the Baker’s Twine trio, and I love that it’s a bit more substantial than the Metallic Gold Thread on this sample, but not too bulky. Of course, this card also uses my thrifty trick of punching something out of the background layer – so the circle that backs the mug circle is cut from the Elegant Eggplant layer that backs the bokeh piece.
I did a video a while back showing another way to do a bokeh background, with a watercolour wash and circles cut from a window sheet. Click here to visit the YamStamps YouTube channel if you can’t see it embedded below.
I was having some internet woes for a while, but it seems like they’re all resolved now (FINGERS CROSSED) so I should be able to get back to a regular schedule with online sites. Today is Stamper’s Club – always a fun time – and of course the ongoing Christmas Card Classes. (See the YamStamps Events page for upcoming events). If you’re in the Burlington Area and are attending the Black Cat Masquerade in support of the Burlington Humane Society, look for the basket of goodies I’m donating! It includes a free card making class for 6 people so please bid high and bid often. I’m happy to once again be supporting this event and organization. Ok I’m back to prepping for classes – but as always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!
Don’t forget to sign up for the YamStamps papercrafting newsletter – free ideas and inspiration each month, plus special editions, like the Twelve Weeks of Christmas!
This card sketch and samples show off Stampin’ Up!’s Designer Series Papers. How fun are these? You can use the Banner Triple Punch to make the symmetrical banner cuts at the bottom of the strips of Designer Series Paper (“DSP”) easily. If you use the papers from one package, they’ll coordinate with each other; the colours used in each package are also listed on the backing sheet, so you can pick out coordinating cardstock easily….or just purchase the coordinating cardstock package which features 8 sheets from 3 coordinating colours! (You can find the cardstock by looking up the name of the DSP – e.g. By the Shore – in the search box on the online store). Designer Series Papers are on sale – buy 3 get 1 free during October, so it’s a great time to stock up! Week 2 of my Twelve Weeks of Christmas mailings featured a card that used some Designer Series Paper – so if you purchased it now, you’d have lots of materials to make your Christmas cards!
If you use this sketch to create something, I’d love to see your results! Feel free to share it on the YamStamps Facebook page.
I love the sentiment “Shoot for the moon – even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars”. I think I use it a lot when setting goals for myself. I have the “moon” goal which is usually quite challenging and lofty, the “back up” or “stars 1” goal, which is still a challenge but perhaps slightly more realistic and the “worst case scenario” or “stars 2” goal….LOL. For example, as a Stampin’ Up! Canada demonstrator, one of the things you can earn through sales, promotions etc is a Trip (this past year was Thailand). So that tends to be my “moon” goal. This year, I came close, but not close enough to earning that goal. However, I easily earned my “stars 1” goal – an iPad Air2! The new Stampin’ Up! business year has started again this month, so once again, the “moon” goal is the trip (this year is an Alaskan cruise). I will have to see what my “stars” goal will be!
This is a spinner card made with the Shooting Star set (available in Wood Mount or Clear Mount) and the coordinating Sliding Star Framelits Dies. Have I mentioned lately how much I love coordinating framelits and images? No fussy cutting. Just my cup of tea! We used the Foam Adhesive Strips to lift the front portion of the card and allow the sliding/spinning mechanism to work better. The strips are a little thicker than the Stampin’ Dimensionals. We used pennies with a dimensional behind the star to allow the mechanism to move. You could also use small washers if you’ve already gotten rid of all your Canadian pennies. Though you maybe can’t see it in this picture, the star is glitzy – coloured with the Gold Wink of Stella Glitter Brush. (this is always when I yell “Stellllllaaaaaaaa” in my head. Perhaps I shouldn’t have admitted that??!! LOL).
Thank you to everyone who has recently signed up for the YamStamps Newsletter. The Twelve Weeks of Christmas have started, and Week 2 will be sent out on Wednesday at 1pm. In the meantime – Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!
