One guaranteed way to see the Northern Lights? Make a Northern Lights Card using Stampin’ Up! Canada products!
I have been fortunate to see the Northern Lights, but they weren’t extremely strong where I was, so it’s still on my bucket list….Stampin’ Up! Canada’s September-December 2025 Mini Catalogue features the Lights of Aurora Suite, and I used that to create a Northern Lights card for a recent Demonstrator card swap! Make your own and be guaranteed to have a great view of this beautiful phenomenon!
I’ve always enjoyed participating in card swaps, because they’re a great way to get ideas for products that I own – or have yet to purchase! They’re inspiration as well for my future card designs – by taking the basic design and then using what supplies I have on hand, I can come up with a new look without too much effort (or frustration!). My nothern lights card design had two different versions, as I used two different sheets of Designer Series Paper. The Lights of Aurora Designer Series Paper is a 6×6 package, with 8 sheets of 6 different double sided designs. By using two different papers, I had enough for 16 cards which was enough for what I needed for the swap. I can’t decide which was my favourite version!
I used a fairly simple layout for this card because I really wanted the paper to be shown off – it is a northern lights card, after all! Honestly, the most finicky thing about this card was making sure I got all the little bits out of the die cut trees! Thankfully, I had my Take Your Pick tool with the die brush tip, so I just ran that over the die cuts a few times, an easy task to do while binge watching shows. The streaming shows of choice during the card swap making sessions – Wednesday, and Only Murders in the Building. I typically watch foreign language shows, but I can’t do that when I’m multitasking because I can’t read subtitles at the same time! I do have subtitles on all the time, but at least with English language shows I can listen and follow along for the most part…
Anyway! If you want to get the full supply list (with links) for this northern lights card, I shared this card as part of the YamStamps Sunday Swap Series Page – yamstamps.com/sunday-swaps. If you’re a Stampin’ Up! Canada Demonstrator and are interested in participating in our next Demonstrator only swap, message me! If you’re not yet a Stampin’ Up! Canada Demonstrator and want to find out more about being one (and maybe participating in a card swap, too), message me! Happy Sunday! Hope the upcoming week treats you kindly.
I love that Stampin’ Up! Canada has a Kintsugi Inspirations Suite!
Kintsugi is a Japanese art/craft where broken pottery is repaired with laquer that is dusted with gold or another precious metal. It celebrates imperfection and that there is still beauty in things that may not be “perfect”. Kintsugi Inspirations is a suite of products from Stampin’ Up! that brings that elegant beauty to your craft room!
I love the whole concept of celebrating the history of an item and imperfections, and I love that there is an easy way to craft with this suite! For this Kintsugi Inspirations card, I used the Kintsugi Inspirations Specialty Designer Series Paper, and the coordinating Inspiring Imperfections Dies. The Dies coordinate with the Inspiring Imperfections stamp set (and you can get them together in a discounted bundle), but they also coordinate with the Designer Series Paper!! I roughly trimmed around the images I wanted to use (because the paper is 12″ x 12″ and won’t fit through the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine!), and then I die cut the images with the tea cup shaped die. I made sure to pick one of the images that had the kintsugi-look to it – the centre one, with the gold lines. If you prefer, there’s also a couple of stamps that have those “crack lines” – so you could use that on any image!
The concept behind Kintsugi also suits my paper crafting…because my crafting is often not totally perfect, and I’m learning to roll with that (though it’s a difficult concept sometimes!!). So I’m going to look to Kintsugi and how imperfection can be inspiring and still beautiful in its own right!
Don’t forget that free shipping offer is only available July 23-25, so don’t miss out!! You can message me if you would like to pay by etransfer, or need assistance setting up your account or order!
I think Stampin’ Up! Canada’s Friends for Life bundle is one of my favourites right now. I used it along with the Country Woods Designer Series Paper to create this Friends For Life Card – and it’s easy to re-create! I’ll share a couple of tips that might make this card a bit easier as well.
First off, the Country Woods Paper has some gorgeous wood grain / painted wood grain images including this multicoloured/striped one. That makes for an easy background for my Friends For Life Card! I used Early Espresso Cardstock for the backdrop, but before I stuck everything down, I cut the backing die for the word “friend” from the centre of that cardstock. I love that thrifty trick. The hole was then covered by the patterned paper and noone’s the wiser. I chose to die cut the detailed text and the heart from another sheet of the paper that had the lighter blue toned “paint”.
The trickiest part about this Friends for Life card is not losing the dot for the “i” when you pop everything out of the die!! If I am sending out die cut pieces like this to my Card Club Members, I fold some Press ‘n Seal in half around the pieces to encase everything safely. The other thing that the Press ‘n Seal can do is to hold the die cut in the original shape. Sometimes when I pull a thinner die cut word out of the die, it will stretch/spread, so I have to smush it back into the original orientation to fit onto the background. I hold the die horizontally, close to my work surface (covered in a bit of Press n’ Seal), use the brush tip for my Take Your Pick tool, and run it over the die to push out the die cut shape and drop it directly onto the Press ‘n Seal (or with as little handling as possible) to keep it in the original ratio/shape.
One other thing to make it easier with thinner or more detailed die cuts – I often will use an Adhesive Sheet on the backside of the paper – so that I just have to peel off the liner and it’s ready to attach. The other option is to use Multipurpose Liquid Glue – small dots, and it’s good to let it dry just a bit so that it doesn’t “smoosh” out everywhere.
To tie everything together and add a finishing touch to my Friends for Life Card, I took the brush end of my Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker (part of the Neutrals Stampin’ Write Markers set) and ran it around the edge of the heart so that it matched the word “friend” and the general design of the card. Put everything onto a Crumb Cake Card and it’s done!
Starting today and running until the end of July, it’s Stampin’ Up!’s BONUS DAYS! For each $60CAD in product that you order, you’ll earn a $6CAD coupon that you can spend in August! Product total must be before shipping/taxes and after any discounts or codes are applied. It’s a great way to get an extra reward for making sure you’ve got crafty supplies on hand! Shortcut to shop in Canada is YamStamps.com/shop or you can message me with your order if you’d like to pay by etransfer or if you need assistance placing your order. Happy Shopping, and Happy Bonus Days!!
An eye catching element for this celebrate you card!
A “celebrate you card” is a perfect one to have in your card stash – because it can cover so many occasions – or non-occasions! This one has an eye catching design element that is easy – and an efficient way to use your patterned papers!
It’s apparently spring here (*cough*)….so I thought this was a good floral-spring themed celebrate you card to share! The patterned paper is from the Delightfully Eclectic Designer Series Paper which has four times the sheets that are in the typical DSP packages. I die cut the paper with one of the Patchwork Pieces Dies, and then used half of the die cut on this card – meaning I can use the other half on another card! The sentiment is from the Sentimental Park Stamp Set and the label and flowers from the coordinating Sentimental Park Dies.
This is the time of year when we start getting ready to say goodbye to products from the 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue and the January-April 2024 Mini Catalogue. Happily, the Sentimental Park stamp set and dies will be around for another year….but the Patchwork Pieces Dies and Delightfully Eclectic Designer Series Paper will be retiring at the end of the month, so are available only while supplies last/end of April – whichever comes first. Starting 9 April (next Tuesday), the Last Chance Sale starts – and the Delightfully Eclectic Designer Series Paper will be half price! So you may want to take your chances and wait until 9 April to get all that paper for less…. HOWEVER…
Here’s a little peek at some of the new product that will be available Wednesday!
The September-December 2023 Mini Catalogue will be in effect as of Wednesday, 6 September – here’s a peek at new product that you’ll find in it!
Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators get advance ordering privileges for new catalogue product – one of the very fun perks of being a Demonstrator. It’s so we can prepare samples and classes ahead of time, theoretically, but really, half the time we are just ooohing and aaahing over the product. (Or maybe that’s just me?! ha!). One of the other things I enjoy about being a Demonstrator is being part of Demonstrator only card swaps – where we make multiples of a single design and share with others who have done the same thing – so we end up with a variety of cards in terms of designs and products used. It’s a great way to kick start my own creativity plus get samples of products that I might not (yet) own!
I love the colours used in the Snowflake Magic Specialty Designer Series Paper. I always love things that are shiny or sparkly….and blues/greens are some of my favourite tones, so this paper was part of my first preorder from the catalogue. I combined it with the Magical Meadow stamps and coordinating dies (available in a discounted bundle) and stamped the sentiment in Pretty Peacock, which partners so well with Lost Lagoon. A little bit of bling from the Faceted Gems Trio pack completes the card. All of these links will work properly after 6 September, so you can come back then to follow the trail down the rabbit hole… (plus I’ll post a link to the actual catalogue as well, so there’s that).
Here’s a speedy video of my mass production process (less the part where I cut out the vellum circles because apparently I sometimes get the start/stop process messed up and just record me getting ready to record….not the actual part that I wanted to show!!). It’s from the YamStamps TikTok (speaking of rabbit holes…)
When I mass produce, I tend to do all (or most) of the same task at the same time before moving on to the next. Less switching of tasks means less brain work for me….and when you get into a rhythm it’s easier – plus it’s the only time I can usually craft and watch/listen to something at the same time without getting too distracted!
Did you enjoy this peek at new product?! I’ll be sure to post more – especially after the catalogue is live on Wednesday, so be sure to come back to the YamStamps blog to check it out!
Sharing this Leafy Die Cut Card using one of my favourite die sets.
Similar but different….here’s another leafy die cut card for you today! The Artistic Dies are still one of my favourite sets of dies – and this leaf spray is a big reason. I love how this spray is big enough to be the main feature if you’d like it to be…and can be used for cards for anyone and any occasion.
For this card, I die cut the leaf spray from a sheet of the Dry Brushed Metallic Specialty Designer Series Paper. Before I die cut it though, I did add some Adhesive Sheet to the back – so it was super easy to add to the cardfront. I used the sheet that had Soft Succulent shades in it, so I stuck to blue-green tones for the background. The ombre patterned Lost Lagoon paper is from the Bright & Beautiful Designer Series Paper. I placed it onto a piece of Lost Lagoon Cardstock before adhering to the front of a Crumb Cake card, which I think echoes to gold tones in the Specialty DSP. So matchy matchy, but not perfectly so for this Leafy Die Cut Card.
I have confessed how I tend to automatically reach for Basic White as my go-to neutral background for a card, but this was a good reminder of how nice Crumb Cake can be! Light enough that you don’t have to add any extra cardstock inside to be able to write a message but a deeper, more calming shade than a bright white. It also feels a little more “artsy” to me. Or maybe “kraftsy” – because it’s the shade we used to call “kraft” cardstock… (Sorry, I’m a little punchy as I’m writing this post…)
So – the crafty challenge for the next week or so (for all of us who are willing to take it on…) – create a card and use a different neutral shade than you usually use for your cardbase! If you post it on social media – tag me – @yamstamps across all platforms – including Threads which I have joined and am still trying to figure it out!
Don’t forget that if you are stocking up on Stampin’ Up! supplies – you’ll want to do so in multiples of $60! Each $60CAD product order (before shipping/taxes, after any discounts) for the rest of July will earn you a $6CAD coupon code that you can redeem in August! You can shop online at https://yamstamps.com/shop or message me if you’d like to pay by etransfer or need assistance placing your order.
