Jul 12, 2018 | cards, rubber stamping, specials, Stampin' Up!
I love to travel, so Stampin’ Up! stamp sets and papers that are travel themed always catch my eye. This Going Places card features a few travel themed products! The stamp set En Route is available in red rubber wood mount or clear mount options, and the Best Route Designer Series Paper – which is part of the Buy 3 Get 1 Free Special running this month! The adhesive travel-themed embellishments are from the Best Route Enamel Shapes – available in colours that coordinate with the paper – because who needs to think too hard?!
The sentiments are cut with the Stitched Shape Framelits and the Classic Label Punch. The Stitched Shape square of Designer Series Paper is actually cut from the paper used on the card – it’s the flip side of that design! I adhered that square into the hole where it was cut from because I like to be thrifty with my paper – even if it is buy 3 get 1 free…I love the coordination of the Blueberry Bushel cardstock with the Designer Series Paper and the ink. Makes my crafting easy! This Going Places card would be great for a graduate, a traveller, or someone setting off on a new adventure in life.
This was one of the designs I submitted for the Canadian Demonstrator swap that I participated in last month. As part of my goal to blog more regularly, I’ll be sharing a swap card a week here on the YamStamps site. (This card is a “bonus” LOL). If you’re interested in getting more card ideas and samples, be sure to be signed up for my newsletters! Each week I send out paper crafting information and inspiration – including a big projects newsletter at the beginning of each month. Click here to sign up or use the box at the top right of the blog to register.
One last note – I’ve set up a Christmas Card Class for July 25th – consider coming out to get a start on those holiday cards! Contact me to register or check out the YamStamps Events page for all the upcoming dates. Hope to see you soon!
Jul 8, 2018 | cards, Stampin' Up!
As a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, I’m often asked “Do you design all the cards yourself?” The answer = no! One of the ways I get ideas and inspiration is to participate in swaps. These are usually demonstrator organized, and whoever signs up for the swap is given some guidelines – e.g. create a full sized card, use x number of layers and x number of embellishments. Each person creates a specified number of their designs, and then sends them to the organizer, who swaps out the cards so that everyone gets one of each card in return. Lots of ideas and inspiration to be had – like this fun summer card!
This card, created by Selina Merali, features the Stampin’ Up! stamp set Sunny Days, which is available in wood mount or clear mount red rubber stamps. I love the summery feel of this one! It also features some of the new In Colours – Blueberry Bushel (quickly becoming my fave new colour) for the cardbase, and a strip of the Pineapple Punch Designer Series Paper from the In Colo(u)r 2018-2020 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper Stack.
I know that there have definitely been some sunny days already! I spent the past week in Rhode Island with the Burlington Teen Tour Band. They had two parades – Bristol, Rhode Island and Warwick, Massachussets on July 4th, after completing a Canada Day performance in Burlington on July 1st. We had some VERY sunny days in Rhode Island, with lots of humidity as well, though I understand that conditions were much the same in Burlington. The band did very well, completing the parades in those challenging weather conditions and enjoying some free time in the area, including a morning of whale watching off the coast of Boston.
This tour was the last one that my son and I will share, as he has now retired from the band and is preparing to go to university in the fall. I’ve watched as many of the teens who joined the band at the same time as my son graduate and leave band this year as well. It’s been a privilege to watch these young people along this part of their journey. as they grow and mature into young adults with fantastic futures ahead of them.
Now that I’m catching up after my time off (and unkinking my neck from falling asleep while on the bus haha), I’m also getting ready for the July Monthly Card Class, happening THIS Wednesday, July 11th at 1pm or 7pm. Postponed due to the holidays and my “vacation” time with the band, it’s happening the second Wednesday of the month this time around. Please contact me to register for the class – $20 includes all supplies required to complete four different projects using a variety of stamps, tools and techniques. Monthly Card Class and Stampers Club continue year round – so schedule some “me” time and join us! If you aren’t local to Burlington, or can’t make class on the scheduled dates, you can always get a group of friends together and schedule a private class, or join one of my online classes! The Scrapbook in a Box is the latest online class, and you can even order the class by mail, which includes the raw basic materials for the project! Check out the YamStamps More Online Class page for more information. Hope to see you in class soon!
Jul 1, 2018 | Business Opportunity, cards, specials, Stampin' Up!
Happy Canada Day! I will be spending part of my day watching the Burlington Teen Tour Band perform in the heat…and then try to cool off by hiding in air conditioned areas or a pool until the temperature hopefully drops a bit…
If you are beating the heat for a while by staying in air conditioned rooms and maybe surfing the internet, surf these specials that Stampin’ Up! is offering in July! Shop and save or sign up and save this month with some colourful specials!
If you’ve been thinking about becoming a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, July is a GREAT time to join! Colourful Special #1 – Select $165 product for just $135, AND get a full set of ink pads in your choice of colour family! Click on the image, or go to www.yamstamps.com/join for more information about becoming a demonstrator with my group, known as the “Eh” Team! If you have any questions, please contact me and we can chat – online, on the phone or in person! OR – if you’re ready for a fun new “side hustle” and want to jump right in, you can sign up with me HERE. Get your new venture off to a colourful special start!
Colourful Special #2 – Buy three, get one free Designer Series Paper offer! Purchase any three of these DSPs and select a fourth one for free! Click on the individual image to see the paper in the YamStamps Online Stampin’ Up! Canada Store, or go here to see all the Designer Series Paper (please note that only the ones shown below are included in this special). While these two specials are both running in July, they cannot be combined. Best option if you want to take advantage of both deals? Sign up as a demonstrator in July, get your free set of ink pads, then on your first demonstrator order, buy 3 get 1 free of the qualifying Designer Series Papers! Contact me for more information or if you need assistance placing your order. Happy shopping!
Animal Expedition
Best Route
Garden Impressions 6×6
Nature’s Poem
Petal Promenade
Tranquil Textures
Tropical Escape 6×6
Twinkle Twinkle
Under the Mistletoe
Wood Textures
Jun 18, 2018 | Big Shot, cards, rubber stamping, Stampin' Up!
One of my past online classes was a Monochromatic Class – where you used one colour in your project. Sounds a little boring, but I promise, it isn’t! Plus it makes crafting a little easier, so what’s wrong with that?! So along those lines, I present a single colour leaf card.
Notice that single colour doesn’t mean you can’t play around with shades of a particular colour! For this single colour leaf card, the base colour is green. In the Stampin’ Up! world, the colours are Garden Green and Pear Pizzazz. You can get further shades by using first, second or third generation images. First generation images mean ink the stamp, then stamp onto the paper. Second generation is inking the stamp, stamping off / stamping onto scrap paper, THEN onto the paper. So guess what third generation is…. Yes, 10 points for you if you said inking the stamp, stamping off twice on scrap paper THEN onto the project paper. Now, I do find that this technique works better with red rubber stamps (in the Stampin’ Up! world those would be the wood mount or clear mount stamps), rather than the photopolymer stamps, which don’t seem to hold onto the ink quite as well, at least when I’ve tried. You can still do this technique, but you want to stamp off with a light hand so there’s still enough ink left on the stamp surface.
The Rooted in Nature stamp set is available in Wood Mount or Clear Mount versions, and also can be bundled with the coordinating Nature’s Roots Framelits Dies.(Wood Mount Bundle / Clear Mount Bundle) For this card, though, I chose to use the Stitched Shapes Framelits to cut out my sentiment. I love this sentiment – perfect for special occasions or just because. In my case, it may end up being a graduation card…(I know I said that about my last card, but I need options…LOL).
If you are interested in trying out an online class, right now I have two current offerings – there’s the Clever Cards class – interactive card designs, and the new Scrapbook in a Box class which has an option to purchase the Class By Mail as well – so pre-cut cardstock/Designer Series Paper is sent to you! Check them out at YamStampsMore – or message me/leave a question below for more information. There’s always the in person options for classes as well – check out the YamStamps Events Page for details. Hope to see you in class soon – whether in person or online!
Jun 15, 2018 | Announcements, online class, Stampin' Up!
Did you miss out on my Scrapbook in a Box Class? Busy that day? Not close to Burlington ON? Good news! I’ve launched the online version of this class!
If you are in Canada, you have the option of purchasing the Class By Mail (which includes access to the online class materials) OR the Online Only version of the Class. If you’re outside of Canada, you can access the Online Version.
You can get all the details here! The Class By Mail will include precut cardstock and Designer Series Paper, plus the doilies. You provide the adhesive and the stamps and ink that you want to use. If you want to purchase materials so that you can recreate the box exactly as per the class sample (well, with your own photos, I hope…), there’s a list of class supplies in the Online Class Group, or you can contact me.
Once you have made one of these, you’ll want to make more! You have lifetime access to class materials, plus there will be online support in the Class Group site. Register here! I’ll be doing a live video for the class before the end of June so if you want to be in on the real time video, you’ll want to be registered for class before then. Of course, there will be lifetime access to the replay of the video as well, plus I’ll be available to answer questions in the group site. Contact me for more information – otherwise, “see” you in class!
Jun 6, 2018 | cards, Stampin' Up!
Looking for a card to mark a special occasion? Check out this customized Celebration Card! The colours can be changed out to suite the recipient’s colour scheme – whether it be school colours, wedding colours or favourite colours! The main image in this card is from the new Stampin’ Up! set Big Wishes (available in wood mount or clear mount). I used some new In Colours – Pineapple Punch and Lovely Lipstick – because they’re bright and celebratory! The background cardstock is embossed with the Scattered Sequins Embossing Folder, and I added a few paper spirals to tie in with the ticker tape image. (Obviously this card might be better just sitting on top of a gift or being handed to the recipient rather than travelling a distance through the postal system…).
To get the multicoloured look, I inked a portion of a Stampin’ Sponge with the Pineapple Punch ink, and then dabbed it directly onto the rubber of the stamp, randomly. I then used a sponge inked with Lovely Lipstick and dabbed it randomly onto the rubber stamp as well. Once the rubber was coated, I stamped onto the Whisper White cardstock. Easy peasy! Just be sure that if you’re doing multiples of this card, you clean the stamp in between each use. You can use the Stampin’ Scrub with some Stampin’ Mist, or the new kid on the block, the Simply Shammy with some water. That’s how easy it is to make a customized celebration card!
I confess that I also used these colours because they’re pretty close to my son’s high school colours! (see that title, customized celebration card…it’s customized for him!) We are in the final days of his high school years – I can’t believe it! It’s been final concerts, banquets, prom…and now we’re into final projects and exams. Add in the process of completing the university acceptance (picking a residence, creating shopping lists, starting to cough up the money…LOL) and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind! Thank goodness that I am able to escape into the craft room every once in a while, and I have lots of new things to play with from the new catalogue!
Unlike my son and his friends, however, I will still be having classes over the summer! Monthly card classes will continue in July and August, though please note that the July class will be the SECOND Wednesday of the month, not the first Wednesday. Stampers Club will also continue on the 3rd Monday of each month, and new members are welcome to start at any time. You can find other dates on the YamStamps Events Page. I’m thinking I may have more time on my schedule to have a few more classes come autumn, when my son is away at university?!! (Contact me to book dates so I don’t get too socially isolated come the fall….please….LOL).
