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.
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!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….OK maybe not – but I thought I’d share some DIY Christmas Card Ideas on the blog, especially since we’ve already had our first Christmas Card Class! Starting today and over the next few months leading up to the holidays, I will occasionally throw in a Christmas Card idea here on the YamStamps blog, to give you some inspiration for your own holiday cards (or to encourage you to sign up for one of my Christmas Card Classes!)
Here’s the DIY Christmas Card Idea number one. This was one of the cards we did in the August Christmas Card Class. Since the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalogue doesn’t come into effect until September 4th, I set myself the challenge of only using products that are available NOW in the Annual Catalogue. This one was fun.
All the August Christmas Card Class cards used the Designer Elements as accents, since that was the product included in the class fee. For this fun Christmas tree card, we used three squares from the Stitched Shapes Dies, and then used the stitching line from the Stitched Nested Labels Dies to create a diagonal line across them. We then just cut beside the stitched line to make a triangle. The Stitched Rectangle dies cut out the background and the trunk. I love the homespun, quilted look of this one! It does take a little time to do all the die cutting, but I love the effect in the end and I kind of also love the fact that there’s no “real” Christmas elements used to create it!
This is a card that you could easily mass produce with help from your family! Making the tree “whimsical” by angling the triangles takes away the stress of trying to have everything perfectly straight and lined up.
The next Christmas Card Class will take place September 18th at 1pm or 7pm, and the $30 class fee will include a package of Brightly Gleaming Foil Elements that will add a bit of shine to our projects (and to your other projects since there will be left overs to take home!). Register before September 4th to get the guaranteed $30 class fee – registrations after this date may be subject to an additional rush fee for product delivery. Contact me to register or for more information.
I’ll be sharing lots of DIY Christmas Card Ideas over the next few months here on the YamStamps Blog, plus the YamStamps Facebook Page and Instagram! PLUS YamStamps Newsletter Subscribers will be receiving 12 weeks of Holiday project tutorials that won’t be seen elsewhere! Ho Ho Hope you’ll join me….(sorry, couldn’t resist).
This week’s Sunday Swap Share is a fancy fold bird card from Sophie Ouellet. She took a “Z” fold card and oriented it so it’s a tall card rather than a wide card. Check out the work she put into this one!
This card uses the Free as a Bird bundle – which includes the Free as a Bird stamp set and the Stitched Nested Labels Dies. (and seriously? I just realized that the dies are called “nested” labels and they’re bundled with the Free as a Bird stamp set. Suddenly this pairing makes a bit more sense to me).
The Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper peeking through the window (which is cut out by one of the Nested Label Dies) obviously served as Sophie’s point of reference when she coloured in her images in the foreground of the card. She’s also added an accent of the Very Vanilla Scalloped Lace Trim.
Here’s another angle of this fancy fold bird card.
She’s even included an image on the very inside of the card! Can you imagine – she made TWENTY of these for our demonstrator swap. I love seeing the creativity of other demonstrators and use their cards as inspiration for my own projects for class and for personal use!
That being said….I am also going to try to share the wealth a little more going forward – so if you leave a comment on my blog posts, or on the YamStamps Facebook Page, or on the YamStamps Instagram….you may find yourself getting a message from me asking for your mailing address so that I can send you a card from my stash!
I’m off to finish off last minute prep for the first of the Christmas Card Classes! I’m accepting registrations for the September Christmas Card Class, so message me to get started on those holiday cards and check out the YamStamps Events Page for upcoming dates!
Thanks again to Sophie for this lovely fancy fold bird card.
For this card for a friend, I stamped 6 daisies in Rococo Rose ink before punching them out (usually easiest to stamp first and align the punch rather than the other way around). The “Friend” was stamped on a scrap piece of Whisper White and then die cut with one of the Stitched Rectangle dies, and the backing for the word was die cut from the centre of the Rococo Rose cardstock that backs the Whisper White cardstock that was embossed with the Basket Weave 3D Embossing Folder (since the hole will be hidden anyway!).
I love using Embossing Folders to add a little more interest to the layers on a card. It’s a great way to give texture without drawing too much attention away from the main images or sentiments. I just have to remember that when using the 3D Folders, I only need the top Plastic Cutting Plate with my Universal Platform, not a top and bottom Cutting Plate – usually as soon as I try to roll it through my Die Cutting Machine I remember LOL. The new Stampin’ Up! 3D Embossing Folders are slightly thinner than the “old” ones, so you may actually find that you need to add a little “shim” either of cardstock, or the 3D Embossing Folder Plate to make sure that the images are really well embossed.
If you’re not in need of a card for a friend, you can always easily change out the sentiment or greeting on the cardfront – or not include any sentiment! Often in card classes I’ll leave the cards blank or use more “general” type of sentiments or greetings so that attendees can use the card for whatever occasion they might need. Or you can be like my mother who tends to finish a card only up until the sentiment part and then add on whatever sentiment suits just before you give the card to the recipient! (heehee sorry Mom).
Need a card for a friend or family member (or a few cards)? Come to one of the Monthly Card Classes, Christmas Card Classes (yes, they are starting), or join the Stampers Club! They are a great way to meet new people, learn some new techniques and try out different Stampin’ Up! products while you build up your card stash. Check the YamStamps Events Page for upcoming dates or contact me for more information/to register. Hope to see you in class soon!
