Getting ready for the holidays! While I’m excited about the upcoming long weekend (yay for summer), I’m also prepping for that big winter occasion….. First though – if you’d like a copy of the upcoming Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalogue, please complete this form before the end of Monday if possible…. They’ll be mailed out from head office starting in August, and I need to get my list finalized before the end of July.
Since it’s Sunday, it’s time for another Swap Card Share! In the spirit of this post, I’m sharing a holiday card that I received in a recent swap – from Rose Marie Coleman.
This card features the Stampin’ Up! set Mistletoe Season, which is in the Annual Catalogue (no need to wait for the Holiday Catalogue to get a start on those cards!). There is no wreath image in this set, but there are fir boughs, which you can use to create a wreath shape, which is what was done on the main image here. It also uses the Under the Mistletoe Designer Series Paperwhich was the featured product in my July Christmas Card Class. If you missed out on the in person class, be sure to “like” and follow the YamStamps Facebook Page for the announcement of the Online Version of the class – plus a bonus Facebook Live card!
If you’re in the Burlington, ON area, I hope you can join me for an upcoming in person class – there’s the Monthly Card Class that’s happening THIS Wednesday, August 1st at 1pm or 7pm (cost is $20 for 4 different all occasion cards), and the August Christmas Card Class on August 22 at 1pm or 7pm. The August Christmas Card Class featured product is going to be a set of 10 Watercolour Pencils, which are available in August as part of a special promotion (more details will follow on August 1st). Cost for class supplies only – $20, cost for class supplies PLUS a set of the Watercolour Pencils is $40. Contact me to register for the class. Deadline for registration and payment is Wednesday, August 8th if you want the pencils (after the 8th, pencils may still be available, but there will be an additional $25 fee to cover expedited shipping to ensure that your pencils arrive in time). Otherwise, basic class registration deadline is August 20th. Events and Classes are listed on the YamStamps Events Page. Hope to see you in class – whether in person or online!
I spent the past few days in London ON for the Stampin’ Up! “On Stage” event for demonstrators. It was so much fun, a fair bit of work (since I’m on the Events Committee) but so worthwhile! Demonstrators got a peek at the upcoming Annual Catalogue! So exciting…but also a little sad, when we see what products won’t be returning. The retiring list highlights all the Stampin’ Up! Last Chance items – things you will want to order or stock up on before they’re gone!
Here is the downloadable pdf list for Annual Catalogue and Occasions Catalogueproducts
Here is the sortable spreadsheet for Annual Catalogue and Occasions Catalogue products
Here is the easiest option – the link to the retiring products in the YamStamps Online Stampin’ Up! Store – yamstamps.com/retiring2018 The online store will be the most up to date place to check what items are still available to order.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW:
1) Retiring Stamp Sets have guaranteed availability until May 25th, after which time they are while supplies last 2) All other Retiring Product is while supplies last
3) You may notice that ALL ink pads and reinkers are on the retiring list. Stampin’ Up! is revamping the ink pad design as well as the colour offerings to keep the Stampin’ Up! palette current and up to date. This is also why the Stampin’ Write markers are on the list. All the reinkers that are listed are for colours that will NOT be in the upcoming catalogue due to the Colour Revamp.
Colours that are leaving:
Always Artichoke
Chocolate Chip
Elegant Eggplant
Island Indigo
Marina Mist
Perfect Plum
Pink Pirouette
Rose Red
Soft Sky
Tangerine Tango
Tempting Turquoise
Wild Wasabi
Wisteria Wonder
2016-2018 In Colours
Dapper Denim
Emerald Envy
Flirty Flamingo*
Peekaboo Peach
Sweet Sugar Plum
See that asterisk beside Flirty Flamingo? That’s because it will be coming back as part of the core Stampin’ Up! Colour Collection!
Colours being reformulated:
Basic Black
Basic Grey
These colours will return to regular dye based ink pads, rather than the Archival Ink Pads (don’t worry, there will be other Archival ink options available)
AVAILABILITY
For individual colour items – classic ink pads in current design and refills are guaranteed until May 7th, and then available as supplies last
For any colour collections (Brights, Neutrals, Regals, Subtles), all cardstocks, all Stampin’ Write markers, embellishments and the Colour Caddy (ink pad storage) – availability is while supplies last.
If your favourite colour is on the Retiring List, you may want to stock up on supplies. Again, you can head straight to the Retiring Product spot in the YamStamps Online Stampin’ Up! Canada Store by typing in http://yamstamps.com/retiring2018 or access the whole store by simply typing http://yamstamps.com/shop
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns, or need assistance placing your order. I will also post more about On Stage later this week!
Happy Valentine’s Day! I get to spend the day doing things I love to do! We are having a make-up date today for the February Card Class that was supposed to happen last Wednesday, but was weather delayed. I thought I’d share this video from last year when I was on Halton Insider, showing some quick and easy Valentine’s Day decorations. If you want to see more videos, please be sure to subscribe to the YamStamps YouTube channel. I do still post videos….in fact, I should be due to upload something in the near future. (that’s not really a teaser, that’s more of a “make sure this is on my to do list” thing LOL).
So with the lead up to the holidays plus my trip away, my pre-planning did not always go according to…well….plan. I also seem to forget how much time zone changes throw me. While I am able to be up at the “usual” time (or close to it), many of my waking hours seem to be in a zombie-like state (or more so than usual LOL) on my return to my “home zone”. However, that being said, I would not trade my recent time away for anything!
If you live in Burlington ON, or somewhere close by, you probably have heard of the Burlington Teen Tour Band. I was actually a member when I was a teenager, so it’s a joy for me that my son is currently a member of the same organization. After a detailed selection process, they were invited to the Rose Parade in Pasadena California, for January 1, 2018 (the band’s FIFTH time to this historic event!). I was fortunate enough to attend as one of the band photographers and as a chaperone. So from December 26th to January 5th, I got to hang out with some of my favourite teens and adults! This was a busy trip, but it was great to be in the sunshine….we missed the record cold temps of Burlington during our absence (sorry not sorry), and there were some definite once in a lifetime kind of experiences happening.
The band getting ready to perform at Pasadena Bandfest.
The band at the parade. (thanks Andrea, fellow photographer for this capture).
The band performing at Disneyland – last performance of the tour (what a way to finish!)
Sidenote – the band has red jackets that members and chaperones usually have to wear when out and about. Georgia was one of the teams in the Rose Bowl game – and their greeting to fellow Georgia Bulldogs fans is apparently to bark at them….which kind of threw a number of us when this happened while we were touring around California – until we figured out why strangers would bark at us (and until they figured out we were NOT from Georgia! LOL).
Now that we’re home again, the laundry is done and the bags are almost all put away (I’m a little slow on that one…), the house will be ready for Stampers Club tomorrow and it’s back to the regular grind. Well, technicially it was back to the grind last week, but it was definitely a dazed stumble-through week for me. Let’s hope this week gets a bit better.
I’ve sent out a number of Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogues to people, but if you still need one, let me know. I am in the midst of following up with those on my mailing list, to be sure that they actuallyarrived…. You can see the online versions here, but there’s nothing like having a hard copy in hand, I know. Until the end of March, select free merchandise with each $60 product purchase, get extra product for hosting a party with qualified sales, and get 2 free additional stamp sets if you purchase the Demonstrator starter kit! Contact me for more details or to book a date!
Isn’t this fun? This is a Mini Tinsel Trim Reindeer Card– one of the projects from the last Christmas Card Class. There’s a lot of components to this card, even though it’s not overly complicated, and it all adds up to fun, The reindeer is from Stampin’ Up!’s Cookie Cutter Christmas and punched out with the coordinating Cookie Cutter Builder Punch. He’s stamped in Soft Suede and then mounted onto a Cherry Cobbler Stitched Shape Framelits square, which, if you know me, you’ll know that the square was cut from the backing layer of Cherry Cobbler Cardstock – because it never hurts to be a little thrifty! The Soft Suede cardstock is embossed with theWoodlands Embossing Folder, and the Pretty Label features a sentiment from the Hearts Come Home stamp set (available in wood mount, clear mount or bundled with coordinating Framelits –wood bundle / clear mount bundle). I normally try not to mix & match too many stamp sets, but couldn’t resist how the Merry & Bright sentiment tied in so well with the Rudolph theme. The red Mini Tinsel Trim is featured on this card – holding the label in place, and on the reindeer’s nose! For the nose, I applied some Multipurpose Liquid Glue to the nose and then worked over top of the area and snipped bits of the red tinsel trim – to create red, sparkly shavings that stuck in place.
I love the versatility of the Cookie Cutter set – and this was the most popular make & take that we did at the YamStamps booth at the recent Scrapfest / CreativFest. Attendees who stopped by got to choose either a reindeer or a gingerbread man tag – both from the same set and using the same punch! We did different make & takes each day of the event, so those who were attending the crop could stop by each day to make a different mini project. If you are still looking for inspiration, I hope that you are on my mailing list! We are in the final stretch of the Twelve Weeks of Christmas – each week featuring a different holiday project. We are focusing the last few weeks on tags, bags and wrapping ideas. You won’t see this Mini Tinsel Trim Reindeer Card in there, since we’re already past the card section, and since the ideas shared in the Twelve Weeks emails are ONLY in the emails – not on the YamStamps blog nor any of the social media feeds.
December means we are getting into the busier time of the season! I don’t know about you, but I’m looking at a calendar full of Christmas concerts, gatherings and events. If you need a little creative “time out”, the Monthly Card Class is still happening – December’s class is this upcoming Wednesday, December 6th, at 1pm or 7pm. If you’d like to join us, please contact me to register. Please note, that looking ahead, January’s Card Class will be the SECOND Wednesday of the month, not the first.
I hope that you’ll come back tomorrow – because there’s going to be more details about a SALE happening during the month of December! Plus I’ll update in the next few days about the next Stamparatus Reservation window. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
This is a handmade wedding thank you card that I created to share with the Weddingbells Magazine staff – I think you could see it in the photo on their Instagram feed. I used the Stampin’ Up! Holiday Catalogue set Cheers to the Year (available in clear mount or woodmount). It’s the same set that I used for the card the other day – with a different focus.
I used the silver and gold scheme once again, this time, embossing the words in silver and the accent in gold. If you look closely, scattered over the cardfront I tamped the snowflake lightly in Smoky Slate – to add another dimension but not dark enough to draw the eye too much. The other thing I did on the front of the card is that I omitted a letter on one of the stamps! The sentiment is actually “and so your story begins” – but I inked up the stamp and then carefully removed the ink from the “y” so that it says “our” – which I thought was more suitable for a thank you card. If I was bulk producing this handmade wedding thank you card, I would probably just cut the stamp – this is obviously easiest or most forgiving if you use a clear mount set. If you do a straight cut, you can keep the portion of rubber, and use it when you want… since I was just making one card here, I chose not to cut the stamp.
For the envelope flap, I randomly stamped the snowflakes and then heat embossed. I stamped & embossed the larger silver snowflakes first, then to be safe, I swiped the flap with my Embossing Buddy to ensure when I did the smaller snowflakes that the gold embossing powder wouldn’t go astray too much. These are the Whisper White notecards, so the card and envelope are slightly smaller than the “usual” half sheet cards. The notecards are thick Whisper White cardstock, so they feel quite substantial, and the embossing makes everything more “wow”. I think handmade wedding thank you cards are a wonderful personal touch you can add to your wedding stationery.
Around here, we’ve been focusing on a different type of stationery – that would be the back to school kind of stationery. My son is not so keen on the whole back to school shopping idea (well, shopping in general, actually). I, on the other hand, LOVE the office supply store…so back to school supply shopping is always a happy thing for me! (Please tell me I’m not alone in that regard…) I actually picked up a great item that helped me with my ongoing organization kick, so tune in later to see that.
I hope everyone has a great first day of school tomorrow! I know that my son will enjoy it since he doesn’t actually start until 1230!!! The grade 9 students start at the regular hour, but the rest of the school starts later. It’s a nice way to ease the grade 9s into highschool, I think. While the kids get back to school, don’t forget that you can get back to class as well! Wednesday is the Monthly Card Class, and the September Christmas Card Class is coming up on the 13th! See the YamStamps event page for more information, and contact me to reserve your spot! Hope to see you in class soon!
