It’s that time of year – make sure you have a Congratulations Card in your stash!
As we approach the end of June, it’s the time for graduations – so we made this congratulations card in Stampers Club this month. Of course, there’s many reasons to send a congratulations card, but I guess I am thinking of grads, since my son just finished his university degree! We just attended his convocation at Western earlier this week, and so happy that we were able to be there in person. I was thinking that he got a little lucky with the timing (weird to say that, I know), but honestly – he was able to have a “normal” first year; the pandemic started in his second year so things changed part way through and into third year, and fourth year they were able to resume a lot of their in person classes and groups, including an in person convocation ceremony.
(one of the many photos taken the other day…)
So here’s the card (right, you’re here for the crafting LOL). Featuring some new catalogue product, including something that I need to reorder already…
Congratulations Card
I absolutely love the Distressed Gold Specialty Paper! (So much so that I have to put it on my next order going in because I’m down to scraps). Even though it’s in the background, it still stands out because of the design of the card. The foreground paper is from the Sun Prints Designer Series Paper, and it’s die cut with the Split Card Textures Dies. I die cut a Tailor Made Tag from the bottom right corner of the Distressed Gold Paper (because it’s hidden behind the DSP) before using Multipurpose Liquid Glue to tack the the Gold Paper and DSP together. I die cut the tag reinforcement from a scrap of the Sun Prints Paper. The sentiment is from the Art Gallery stamp set, and is stamped in Starry Sky ink.
I am drawn to the shiny objects LOL, so the Distressed Gold Paper was an easy pick for this card design, and I also love the Sun Prints Papers….plus the Sun Prints include a bit of a purple tone, and Western’s main school colour is purple!
one more photo of the grad for good measure…
Stampin’ Up! does have some other stamp sets that include the word Congratulations (including A Grand Kid, Peaceful Moments, Celebrate Sunflowers, the new Breaking News and more…) so there’s lots of options for your Congratulations Card – whether it be for a graduation, promotion, wedding, baby or whatever life event you’d like to celebrate! (For me, right now, I think it’s “You made it to today, yay you!). Shortcut to shopping is yamstamps.com/shop or you can send me a message if you’d like assistance placing an order or would like to pay by etransfer and have the order shipped directly to you.
Stampin’ Up! Canada is offering free shipping today only! Order $100CAD product (before taxes, after discounts applied) and pay no shipping costs. Shortcut to shopping with me is yamstamps.com/shop.
If you have a smaller list of things you “need”, and can pick up your order in Burlington, contact me by 6pm today and I will include your order in a group order going in this evening – so everyone will qualify for free shipping! Everybody wins 🙂
Don’t forget that the Kits Collection BOGO 50% off sale continues until the end of June – purchase one kit, get the second one at half price! If you purchase these today, remember that the $100CAD threshold is after discounts applied. (Oh, darn, must pick out more merchandise…LOL).
As always, if you have any questions, need assistance placing an order, or would like to pay by etransfer, contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
I’m always Chasing Rainbows! Combining some retiring and some new product on a simple, sparkly card
I thought this was such a pretty card – I love the rainbow theme!
Chasing Rainbows Card
It’s a super simple design but I wanted the sparkly rainbow arcs to stand out on my Chasing Rainbows Card. The Brilliant Rainbow Dies are from the January-June 2022 Mini Catalogue, and they’re retiring at the end of this month (or if they sell out before then). (That’s the “old” on this card). They’re part of the Last Chance Sale – and they’re 50% off!! Such a deal! If you want to get the coordinating Rainbow of Happiness stamp set, which is also retiring, you’ll want to purchase these separately – it’s the best deal because of the sale. Bundles typically offer a 10% discount on regular catalogue prices and are usually the more cost effective way of buying coordinating products – but it’s actually more expense than the separate items right now!
The arcs themselves are the 2022-2024 In Color Glimmer 6″ x 6″ Papers (well, 4/5 of them – since this rainbow only has 4 arcs). That’s the “new” on this card! Since this was one of our Stampers Club cards, I was able to cut a bunch of arcs at the same time and then everyone got one arc of each colour. So, yes, not always in ROYGBV order. (Though my sample is…LOL). Sample shows Sweet Sorbet, Parakeet Party, Tahitian Tide and Orchid Opulence.
I guess the something “blue” if we are going with that theme is the background – it’s the new In Colour Starry Sky. I positioned the rainbow die with the cutting edge off the side of the cardstock so that it left an open end at the edge. I liked that it looks like we are seeing this half of the rainbow, and not literally half a rainbow.
close up to show the glimmer of the Chasing Rainbows Card!
I love the ombre effect on this glimmer paper….and I love that the glitter doesn’t come off all over the place. I love shiny stuff, but I tend to be a bit of a messy crafter, and so I need all the help I can get to try to contain the chaos and mess. I have actually started to use Liquid Glue a little more often these days – often because it’s right there, and I do like the ability to move things around a bit before they’re totally adhered in place. I still end up with glue on my fingers though LOL.
Shortcut to shop is https://yamstamps.com/shop – be sure to check out the Last Chance Sale and grab these dies to make chasing rainbows even easier! Remember that retiring product is available until 30 June or until supply is exhausted. Don’t miss out!
See the painfully slow progress as I am organizing my craft room!
My son has recently returned home after finishing university (what? how fast was that?!) and we have switched out his bedroom and my craft room….so I’m in the process of organizing my craft room. Well, to be truthful, I’m still in the process of unpacking and placing, so I’m trying to organize at the same time – so it’s painfully slow. (Plus I’m still running my Stampers Club, making projects and shooting videos and photos for classes and social media, so you can imagine how efficient I am right now….LOL).
My new craft room is smaller than my old one (don’t judge me, I delusionally thought that he wouldn’t be living at home full time again), so I’m also downsizing. My retired product garage sale a while back did help to free up some space, but there’s still so much stuff!
Organizing my craft room – old way of storing dies
I used to store my dies in stamp cases, with magnetic sheets inside, which is fine if you’ve got room. I’m a visual person, so I need to see what is there (and there’s no way I’m relying on my memory these days LOL!)
Organizing my craft room – storing dies now – ignore the typo on my label
For now, I’ve gone back to leaving them in their plastic sleeves; I add in a magnetic sheet if I have one, or if there was one in the case in which it used to be stored. I’m also using a rubber band to keep the stamp set and coordinating dies together (which also helps when I’m getting prepped for retired product sales, so I know what was bundled together!). I also use the labels to show the name of the dies in large print (because my eyes are not what they used to be), and how many dies are in the set (because I tend to take them out and leave them around).
Organizing my craft room – dies with magnetic sheet
This process has just begun, and since it’s a “working craft room”, it means that sometimes organizing my craft room is the last thing on the priority list… I do have some time off from my “other” job so I am hoping to get a bit more organizing done.
I recently finished the videos and projects for my Stampin’ Blends 101 Online Class so when I was putting my Blends markers away in the Blends Storage trays, I thought I would change how I stored them. I am a “Sort by Stampin’ Up! Colour Family and in Alphabetical Order” kind of girl, because I usually search for things by their name. For example, if I’m trying to coordinate ink/cardstock with a Designer Series Paper, I check which colours are used in the DSP (it’s on the backing sheet) and then I go grab those colours. For the Stampin’ Blends, when I’m colouring an image I often find I choose based on hue vs specific colours – “I need a green” vs “I need Old Olive” for example. So…..
Organizing My Craft Room – Stampin’ Blends
I was so brave and did the ROYGBV thing! OK, OK, you’re probably thinking “what’s brave about that?” but for me, this is stretching the boundaries a bit. You can see my little labels on the caps (because I still need to know what colour it is LOL). I did have them originally sorted by Stampin’ Up! Colour Family and in Alpha Order (because I’m me…), but I actually found that putting them away took longer because I had to read the label, remember what Colour Family they were in, and then put them in the right spot alphabetically. (and then I would often wonder if I was putting them in the right spot and had to move them around). Sometimes being slightly obsessive about these things is not good….LOL. So rainbow order it is for now! I also tried to go paler shades to darker shades….
Have any good organizing tricks? Throw them my way! Perhaps at some point in time I’ll have the craft room organized (and cleaned) enough to do a room tour. Don’t hold your breath, though, that’s going to take a while!!! I think the Blends are the best organized thing in the room so far LOL.
This eye catching angled fun fold card is easy to make!
angled fun fold card – slightly open angle
Another in my quest for eye catching, “different” card designs that aren’t overly tricky to make – the angled fun fold card! This is like a “gatefold card”, where the two ends of the card are folded towards the centre. In this case, the flaps overlap, and you just trim the top and front edge at an angle (and it’s the same on both sides) to create this look.
For this angled fun fold card, start with a 5.5″ x 11″ piece of cardstock. Score at 3-3/8″ and 7-5/8″ to create the gatefold design. Mark 1″ down from the top on the front/long edge of each flap, and 1″ in from the edge along the bottom/short edge of each flap. Cut from the top of the score line to the first mark, and then cut from the first mark to the mark along the bottom of the flap to create the angle. That’s it!
I used the Heart & Home Designer Series Paper from the January-June 2022 Mini Catalogue (retiring soon and on sale right now!). I cut two pieces from the same paper to 3-1/4″ x 5-1/4″. I stacked the papers so that the designs that I wanted to show on the front of the card were facing each other on the inside, then I cut them the same way that I cut the edge of the card – from the corner, to 1″ along the long edge, and then from that spot to 1″ in along the bottom edge.
angled fun fold card (closed flat)
To finish off the card, I added some circles from the Stylish Shapes Dies – my new “go to” dies. The sentiment is from Honeybee Home, which is part of the Heart & Home Suite with the Heart & Home Designer Series Paper.
This was another of the Stampers Club Cards in May. We’re getting set for another session of Stampers Club this month and looking forward to welcoming new members starting in June. The good thing about virtual Stampers Club is that when people can’t make the live Zoom meeting, it’s recorded and uploaded to a members only site. I know that many members actually prefer to go through the card construction with the recording and use the “live” time to watch and chat with other members. You can find more information about Stampers Club on the YamStamps Events Page.
Another option, if you want a “one off” for card classes, is to check out my online classes. They are all “stand alone” classes – so you can purchase whatever one suits your crafting needs. Once you’ve purchased a class, you’ll have lifetime access – so you can definitely take your time going through the step-by-step videos!
In the meantime – give this angled fun fold card a try! It’s a great design to have in your crafting repertoire!
This easy Hello There Floral Card is perfect for brightening someone’s day
Hello There Floral Card
I love the new Stylish Shapes Dies that are in the Stampin’ Up! Canada 2022-2023 Annual Catalogue, and we used them to create a fun frame effect on this Hello There Floral Card that we made in Stampers Club in May.
Frugal Friday Tip….the frame and main image are the reverse sides of the same piece of Designer Series Paper! I die cut the largest square with the lattice design up. I then flipped that square over so the floral side was up, and then die cut the next smaller square. The die has a stitched edge on it, so I wanted the main stitched area to be the “right way” (indented) on the floral piece. It’s reverse on the inner edge of the lattice patterned frame, but I don’t mind that as much. This paper is the Design a Daydream Designer Series Paper – and it’s a huge package of 48 sheets which you can only select with your Stampin’ Rewards. You earn Stampin’ Rewards when you place a single order with product of $200 or more – this could be a workshop order where many people place orders at one time (like for my Stampers Club), a single person order, or in my case, a single Demonstrator order…LOL.
Hello There Floral Card Closeup
I thought I’d tie in the stitched theme on my Hello There floral card by using the Stitched Greenery Die on the background. This is one of my favourite dies because it adds texture and interest but doesn’t take away from the main focal element! I stamped the sentiment from the Nature’s Prints stamp set on a small square and then adhered it at the same angle with some Stampin’ Dimensionals to give it some lift.
If you’d like to join our Stampers Club, our next get together will be Monday 13 June. We continue to meet virtually at this time via Zoom. The one good thing about meeting by Zoom is that we can record the sessions and members have ongoing access to the recordings in our Members Only site. The other good thing is that if you don’t live close to Burlington Ontario, you can still join, since all I have to do is mail your class packet to you, and you can join us virtually too! Contact me if you’d like to join us for a 6 month membership. You can get more information on the YamStamps event page, or you can message me if you have any questions.We’d love to have you join us!
