I thought we could use a little floral feel on the blog today…after having a big snow dump around here, I need a little reminder that spring will eventually arrive! I love the Rose Garden Thinlits Dies, and the coordinating Rose Wonder Stamp Set – and love the bundle that’s discounted by 15% even more! For this card, rose/leaves were die cut from watercolour paper, then we used the aquapainter with some Rose Red and Always Artichoke reinker to colour the die cut image. The Fine-Tip Glue Pen came in very handy to adhere this die cut onto the card front. The other tool that was useful was the Big Shot Die Brush to remove all the little bits and pieces, and help ease the die cut out of the thinlit. This bundle and the Brush tool have been popular choices from the Occasions Catalogue!
I sent out my monthly paper crafting newsletter yesterday (if you sign up for the newsletter now, you’ll get a copy of the last one that went out as well!). In that newsletter was a link to a quick survey about paper crafting – to help me tailor my online and in person classes to what your needs are! Please complete the survey, and if you include your information (it’s optional), I will make a draw from everyone who completed the survey to win a $20 gift certificate from me! Thank you in advance for your help.
Don’t forget about the upcoming Birthday Card Class for March – you get a Wink of Stella pen included in your $25 class fee! Click on the button to register – deadline is Thursday, March 10th so that the supplies can arrive in time for the class!
See the YamStamps Events Page for other upcoming classes and events. I look forward to seeing you in class soon!
So I have committed myself to sending forty cards over forty days….because I realize that I have limitations! LOL. Some in the Stampin’ Up! world are mailing out birthday cards to any and all takers…and I know that’s just beyond me. So forty cards and forty days….ish….it is! Thankfully, I have a Paper Pumpkin subscription to help me out! Each month, I get a fun kit full items to help me create a project quickly and easily (and who doesn’t want that?!). Even better – it’s ON SALE right now! You can get a three month subscription for $69, plus you’ll qualify for one free Sale-a-Bration item! This month’s kit includes a birthday stamp (among others), so I decided to use it to help me get a few bithday cards out and in the mail. I did choose to modify this design slightly – by adding some of the glitter tape that you can select as your free Sale-a-Bration item! This is one of the new limited time offerings for the last part of Sale-a-Bration – there’s gold, white and silver. LOVE the bling without the mess or fuss. On the card above, I snipped the ends of the gold washi tape to match the banner that is pre-cut in the kit. I stamped “happy birthday” with the Blackberry Bliss Stampin’ Spot (mini travel ink pad), added the adhesive die cuts and now it’s ready to send! It _may_ even get to the recipient on the intended day!! (This is shocking, in my world….sad but true).
Speaking of washi tape, did you see the photo I shared on Instagram and Facebook? This idea was shared by one of the artists at Stampin’ Up! and I LOVED it – so had to copy it.
I think I like this even better than my previous washi tape storage (which was to tie them on a ribbon).
If you would like to join the handmade card revolution, come to March’s Monthly Card Making Class! It’s a great way to get some new ideas and have some creative time. See the YamStamps Events page for other classes and events, or contact me if you have any questions!
Doesn’t this have a lovely, serene, beachy feel? This is made with Stampin’ Up!’s Picture Perfect set, and the watercolour wash effect paper on the bottom is the limited editionSale-a-Bration Perfectly Artistic Designer Series Paper. The flip side of this paper is a marbled look – it’s truly gorgeous and difficult to pick which side to use!! The paper will be available for free with a $60 product order until February 15th. There _may_ be an opportunity to get it after that date, depending on inventory, but it’s not guaranteed – so grab it now before you miss it. The other colours on this card are Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip.
I’ve decided that I’m going to make an effort to send out more cards by mail. During the next 40 days, I’m going to mail out 40 cards – a card a day. I’m not going to count my “Thank You” customer cards in that total, because I want to challenge myself! This ties in nicely with a movement happening in the Stampin’ Up! world. One of the corporate team members is starting a trend to send out birthday cards – celebrating the handmade, mailed card as opposed to electronic messages (even though those are nice, too!). Shannon bravely put out a facebook post welcoming all to indicate their birthdays to receive a card. I think she has over 1000 birthdays to keep on top of, at last count?! I am being a little more realistic in my abilities and time allotment, so I’m going to do 1 random card per day over 40 days. I posted my first card for this challenge on the YamStamps facebook page yesterday.
If you’d like to bring back the art of the handmade, mailed greeting card, you can register for the Birthday Card Class!! February’s class will be Thursday, February 25th at 7pm in Burlington. The registration deadline is TOMORROW so don’t miss it. You receive a package of the Birthday Bouquet Designer Series Paper included in your class fee, so you’ll have plenty to take home after completing four different birthday cards in class. Please contact me if you have any questions, or use the registration link below.
Sympathy cards – the ones you tend not to have on hand when you need one, and the ones you are least likely to feel very creative about at the time you need one. These are the kind of cards that it can be good to have an easy model to whip up, or have one or two in your stash of cards. This is a monochromatic card, using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder (which in my world often gets called the Gently Falling Folder….but I digress) and die cuts from the Rose Garden Thinlits Dies. The sentiment is from the Rose Wonder Stamp Set, and you can get the dies and stamps together in a discounted bundle. I love the coordinating stamps and dies or punches that Stampin’ Up! sells – the less brain work for me, the better and easier it is for my crafting!!
If you look closely at this card you may catch something here – the colours used were Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke….and Mellow Moss. The Mellow Moss leaves were a fluke that I discovered after the fact…I thought I had grabbed a piece of Always Artichoke – that’s what happens when I sort scraps too quickly I guess. Thankfully they do coordinate and are kind of tonal versions of each other. (sorry, for the artsy type out there that are cringing at my description….).
If you want to build up your stash of cards, please consider joining a class here in Burlington. The monthly card class is the first Wednesday of each month, open to all, and my Stampers Club meets the third Monday of the month (afternoon and evening options) – well, except this month, when we meet the second Monday so that we can relax with our families on Family Day. If an in person class is not an option for you, consider one of my online classes to learn from the comfort of your own home. See the YamStamps Events page for upcoming classes, or contact me if you have any questions.
One of my goals this year is to get more organized in how I work my business. Truthfully, I think every year I have some sort of organizing goal/resolution! I have spent some time and think I’ve hit a good method for me to keep on top of all the ongoing tasks….so we’ll see how it goes! Fingers crossed. One of the areas I needed to streamline was my thank you card process.
This is the thank you card for eveyone who placed an order in January. I came up with a quick card using some great Sale-a-Bration items – Botanicals for You stamp set and Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum stack, and teamed Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder together for a monochromatic colour scheme. I have post-it notes inside with a note to the recipient, with the intention that they can re-use the card for their own card giving needs!
I tried out a set up to shoot some quick videos on my iphone, and I can already tell I need to invest in a microphone to improve the sound quality. That being said, you can still hear what I’m saying, and see what I’m doing. This was a “one take wonder” video, no re-dos and no editing other than for time and to add the title and end slides. If you subscribe to the YamStamps YouTube Channel, you’ll hopefully have received notification of this video when it went live yesterday. In the meantime, here it is again for your viewing pleasure 😉 If you don’t see a video below, go to the YamStamps YouTube Channel to check it out. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. If you want to see what the February thank you card looks like…you should place an order!!
I’ve been working behind the scenes getting ready for the online class version of the Party Wishes Bundle Class which should be up and running on the weekend – here’s a sneak peek:
I hope that you’ll join me online for this fun class! Full details will be on the YamStampsMore Class site, but check back here for updates and for the official launch!
