Good Things Come in Small Packages

Over the years I’ve come to love Stampin’ Up!s Paper Pumpkin kits. I always liked the idea of everything you need being sent right to your door and all I have to do is stamp and stick. And in the last couple of years the kit designs have really leveled up! This includes December’s kit Good Things Come in Small Packages. I was hoping to take this kit with us on our trip to Disney, but unfortunately it didn’t arrive in time. So instead I get to craft with it now that we’re back!

This kit was a bit different because instead of cards you get to make cute little boxes. And these boxes are perfect as gift card holders. So I’ll totally be storing these away for when I need them! There were also coordinating notecards and envelopes as an add on. Such a great idea and I was able to get mine early (and on sale) because I attended OnStage back in November. I love making alternative projects with my Paper Pumpkin kits. This time I cut up some of the belly bands for the boxes to create some patterned paper for my notecards. You can see how I made them over on my Facebook page here.

The other thing I love about Paper Pumpkin is that during Sale-a-bration you can get free Sale-a-bration products when you buy a pre-paid subscription. Plus when you buy a pre-paid subscription you’re saving money. Here’s a simple break down for you. And if you want more info on how Sale-a-bration works, check out my post from earlier this week here.

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Good things come in small packages for sure… especially when it says Stampin’ Up! on the box!

How Sale-a-bration Started

January is here, which means it’s that time of year… it’s time for Sale-a-bration! Have you ever wondered how Sale-a-bration started? I have to admit that I haven’t. I’m usually too excited about all the free products! But recently I found out where the idea came from and that I would share it with you all.

If you didn’t already know, Stampin’ Up! was started by Shelli Gardner and her sister in 1988. And just like with any business there are good times and not so good times. Unfortunately, not too far into business things weren’t going very well and their accountant said that they were on the verge of bankruptcy. So they introduced Sale-a-bration which ended up saving the company and has become a yearly tradition.

So now that you know where it comes from, you need to know how to maximize this next 2 months!

Between now and February 28th you can choose an exclusive, free Sale-a-bration product with every $60 order! So if your order is $60 you can choose one Level 1 product. If your order is $120 you can choose either two Level 1 products or one Level 2 product… and so on. This is a great time to cross things off your wishlist or simply stock up on those things you need all year long like adhesives and cardstock. Plus if you get together with your friends and family to do some crafting and host a party you can potentially get an exclusive stamp set for free just for hosting a qualifying party!

And as always there’s a special offer to join the Stampin’ Up! family too! Right now you can choose from 3 different Starter Kits. The simplest kit is to join for $135 and choose $225 worth of Stampin’ Up! products. The other two kits are similar… for only $40 more ($175) you can choose up to $225 worth of Stampin’ Up! product AND get a Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss machine ($86 value) too. What’s the difference? With one kit you get the original white machine and in the other you get the Boho Blue machine. Boho Blue will be one of the new In Colours in the upcoming new Annual Catalogue. And there’s no tax or shipping on any of the kits if you live in Ontario and some other provinces!

So now that you know how Sale-a-bration started don’t miss out! This is the only Sale-a-bration event this year and products do sell out so don’t wait! Here’s my online shop and if you have any questions about joining my team and what that means, check out my Join My Team page here.

Happy 2023!

Happy New Year everyone! Happy 2023! We finished the Disney part of our vacation and will be off to Wizarding World soon. But in between we have to ring in the New Year. Since we’re away from home and can’t do our usual get together with friends I wanted to do a little something special. We have our usual hats and noise makers and I also have some crackers to pull. But the best part is that I bought us all some sparklers to celebrate.

I used the Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper to make little pockets to hold them. then to make the pockets a little fancier I used the retired Delightful Tag topper punch. And I used the also retired Playful Alphabet dies on some of the Metallic Specialty Paper for the “2023”s.

Happy 2023!

It’s been a hectic, but super fun vacation! And I’m looking forward to the last couple of days before we head back home.

There’s still time to get some of the retiring July-December mini catalogue products! This has been a very popular catalogue. Many things have already sold out! See what’s left in my online shop.

And check out this other card I made using the Lights Aglow DSP here.

Happy 2023!

Merry Christmas everyone!

As you read this we’re in the final bit of driving to get to Orlando. It’s been a long drive and we’re all looking forward to not being in the car for a while. But before we get carried away with all the Disney Christmas fun I wanted to say Merry Christmas everyone!

On top of the cards I make for friends and family I also make cards for my customers. This is card I designed this year. I used Shaded Spruce cardstock for the card base to make this simple fun fold card. It’s just like two cards layered together, with one of them being a little smaller than the other. Plus this is a great way use what’s left of my Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper.

Most of the Painted Christmas DSP went on the outside, but I also added a little bit on the inside. And because of the design of the card base it was easy to use one piece of DSP. The sentiment is from the Joyful Flurry stamp set. I stamped it with Shaded Spruce ink. And I added a few snowflakes in Shaded Spruce ink to frame it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

To check out the cards I made for my friends and family you can find them here.

Things will be a little quiet around here for the next week or so. So you can follow our Disney adventures over on social! You can find me on Facebook and Instagram.

Merry Christmas everyone!

DIY Disney Autograph Books

Only a couple more days and then we’ll be on our way to Orlando, Florida! I haven’t gotten to packing yet. The past few weeks has been all about getting everything we need for our trip. And no trip to Disney is complete without DIY Disney Autograph books!

To make it I pulled out some of the chipboard I saved from some of my Paper Pumpkin kits. I cut two pieces in half and punched holes in them. Then I covered them with some more Disney patterned paper I picked up at Scrapfest. I cut it strategically so that when the chipboard bent to open the book the patterned paper didn’t get in the way.

On the inside I simply cut down printer paper to fit inside. Then I used my corner rounder on the edges and punched holes in the sheets to line up with the back and front covers. To hold it all together I looped some of the Black and White 1/4″ Gingham ribbon through and tied as tight a bow as I could.

Then to finish them off… and because I didn’t want to have my two munchkins arguing over who gets which one… I added a Mickey and Minnie to the fronts of the books. To make them I just used the Layering Circles dies with Basic Black cardstock. And for Minnie’s bow, I used the Scottie Dog punch with some of the Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper.

DIY Disney Autograph Books

Too cute right?!

They love their DIY Disney Autograph books and I hope they’re able to get all the autographs they want!

Check out the countdown calendar I created for our trip here. And you can see some of my other projects and glimpses from our trip over on my social media! Follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

Shaded Gatefold Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

It’s time for the last Fancy Folds Design team blog hop of 2022! I really enjoy these hops and can’t wait to make even more fun and fancy folds next year! For this month’s hop we’re making a Shaded Gatefold Card. This one works out to be a different size than my usual cards, so I’ll just have to make a special envelope for it with some pretty patterned paper. Jan B, a demonstrator from the UK, has a great video to help you through all the steps. I highly suggest taking it slow once you’ve scored and folded the card base. The folding in of it took me a couple of tries. You can find her video here.

For my card design I stuck with a Basic White card base. Keeps it simple and helps with the snowy winter theme. I wanted to create a cute little scene inside the card using the Penguin Place bundle. The snowflakes and hill are stamped with Pool Party ink. And for the penguins I used Tuxedo Black Memento ink and Pale Papaya. The coordinating punch makes it really easy to create more friends. These penguins are super cute! I’m sad to see these guys retiring.

To go with my penguin friends I used the Snowflake Specialty Vellum. And on the outside I used some of the snowflakes from the Joyful Flurry stamp set. To adhere the vellum I was very strategic with my Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue. I definitely didn’t want any glue peeking out from behind these iridescent dots!

The Shaded Gatefold card was definitely a fun one to make! My littlest munchkin is already asking me if he can have it, lol!

Keep hopping to see the other’s designs! Up next is Mette Nordling Shaw. You can see her design here.

You can also check out last month’s hop where we made a Dual Pop-Up card.

For My Team

This past weekend I had my holiday party for my direct team members. I always like to do a little something for my team to celebrate them throughout the year… birthdays… stampaversaries. But for Christmas I like to do a little more. And I try to make sure to do it before the craziness of the holiday season kicks in.

To get ready there were a few things I wanted to put together. Of course they each got a Christmas card! These ones I used either Evening Evergreen or Soft Succulent cardstock along with some coordinating Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper. I cut out a peep hole in the top layer using the Stitched Rectangles dies. And the phrase from the Joyful Flurry stamp set is on the middle layer with a piece of Basic White cardstock on the third inside layer. I also made a simple belly band using the Painted Christmas DSP and the Spruced Up dies around some chocolate.

For My Team

Then last but not least is the Triple Pocket Fold card I made to fill with some stamping goodies! For this I used some of the DSP and stamps from the upcoming mini and Sale-a-bration catalogues. I made a belly band for these as well using the same design of patterned paper and then die cut the sentiment with the Layering Circles dies.

We had such a great time crafting, listening to Christmas music, playing games and just chatting! I really appreciate my team members and I hope that comes across in what I made for my team.

For more information on my direct team as well as the larger team that I’m a part of, you can find that here. And if you’re all set to get in on all the crafting fun then you can join my team here. I’m happy to answer any questions you have. And I’m happy to support you no matter why you decide to join my team!

Spruced Up Christmas Cards

Last week I shared the first design from this year’s holiday cards. I always make 2 different designs. One for the side that celebrates Hannuakah and one for the side that celebrates Christmas. For this design I made some Spruced Up Christmas cards. I’ve made a few cards with the Spruced Up bundle, but I still haven’t managed to use all the stamps and dies yet. So I’m excited to use the 2 ornament dies for this card.

For the base I’m using Cherry Cobbler cardstock. Then I added a strip of Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper for part of the card mat/front. There’s two different Cherry Cobbler designs in this pack and they’re both really nice. I just love this pack of DSP and can’t believe that it’s not coming back next year!

The sentiment is actually 2 smooshed together on one block. Then I stamped it with Shaded Spruce ink to go with one of the die cut ornaments. To add a little something more to the card, I stamped a few Cherry Cobbler candy canes in the background. Then to add some depth to the design I popped up the ornaments with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I had to strategically place them though, so that the solid and outline of the ornaments stayed connected. It was a bit of a pain, but I really like how these Spruced Up Christmas cards turned out.

Spruced Up Christmas Cards

Check out my first card design using the Joyful Flurry bundle that I shared last week here.

Sadly this bundle is retiring and the dies are already sold out! You can still get the stamp set with a lot of other great products that won’t be available after January 4th. Or in some cases while supplies last! Find them all in my online shop, but don’t wait too long… things are already selling out!

Countdown to Disney

This time about 4 years ago we booked tickets to take the munchkins to Disney for the very first time. Unfortunately not even 6 months later we had to cancel our trip due to the pandemic. But now we’re finally able to take our trip! We’re super excited! And on top of counting down to Christmas we’re also doing a countdown to Disney.

To do this I used Stampin’ Up!s retired Advent Calendar kit from a few years ago. I cut up some patterned paper that I picked up back in April at Scrapfest to fit the boxes. And used a retired circle punch to line up with the holes on the boxes. In the past I’ve used the smallest of the Layering Circles dies, but I didn’t have enough time to die cut 25 boxes. This does make it a little tricky to open the boxes it they’re pushed in all the way. But I popped up the numbers from the kit using Stampin’ Dimensionals, so as long as we’re gentle we can use the numbers like knobs to open them.

Countdown to Disney

Inside each box I put a little something just like a regular advent calendar. Sometimes it’s the Christmas Hershey Kisses, sometimes it’s Disney pins or Disney Tsum Tsums. And sometimes it’s something Harry Potter related because we’re also going to Wizarding World at Universal Studios.

The munchkins have been really enjoying the countdown to Disney calendar!

For our first COVID Halloween I created a Halloween version using this same kit. Check that out here! I grabbed myself a second of these kits back when they were retiring for this trip and because it was a great deal. Stampin’ Up! just released it’s most recent list of retiring products and some of these are up to 60% off! Check out all the deals in my online shop.

Blue Handmade Christmas Cards

Although I’m a little behind schedule, I’m still doing better than previous years with my cards for friends and family! At least I have one of my two designs all cut and ready to assemble. The other design is almost there. I always do two different designs for the different sides of the family. This year for my husband’s side of the family they will be getting blue handmade Christmas cards. Actually the sentiment for these cards is a little more generic because while a lot of them celebrate Christmas, they’re Jewish and celebrate Hannukah. I often love using blues in my holiday crafting, but I chose blue for this card because of this.

For the card base and main colour of I’m using Pool Party. It’s such a pretty blue and works great with snowflakes… which I love to use this time of year! These snowflakes come from the Joyful Flurry stamp set. The designs on these snowflakes are so pretty and the variety in sizes is great. I also used one of the special coordinating dies for the central snowflake with Tahitian Tide cardstock. This gives the card an extra bit of pop without overpowering it.

I popped up the special snowflake with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. And behind it I have a strip of Snowflake Specialty Vellum along side the stamped snowflakes. The fuzzy designs are so soft and I love the effect you get with the iridescent designs! The sentiment is in Tahitian Tide to go with my special snowflake. And to finish it off I added a Rhinestone Basic Jewel to the centre of the it.

Handmade Blue Christmas Cards

Check out some other blue handmade Christmas cards I made previously here.

And sadly I have to report that the Joyful Flurry bundle is retiring! Along with the Snowflake Specialty Vellum. To get them while you still can head to my online shop before January 4th… retiring products are only available while supplies last!

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

Only 26 more days til Christmas! I can’t believe it’s already almost December. I was hoping to have my Christmas cards ready to mail out by the end of this week, but I’m a little behind. I’ll share them here once they’re done. But in the meantime I thought I’d share some more cards from a recent team card swap. These Lights Aglow Christmas cards are just so pretty! I just love this pack of Designer Series Paper and am sad that it won’t be returning next year. Each of these cards features a different design from this pack of patterned paper.

The first is from my larger team leader, Jenn Tinline. She uses one of the Cherry Cobbler designs from the pack so it makes sense that she used Cherry Cobbler for her card base. It’s hard to see in the picture, but she used one of the Charming Landscapes embossing folders on the card base. She also added some more gold with the Brushed Metallic cardstock and heat embossing the sentiment from the Jingle Jingle Jingle stamp set.

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

Julie MacIssac also used Cherry Cobbler for her card base. But she uses another piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock that she die cut with the Labels Aglow dies to create a patterned paper look. I love the touch of gold Shimmer Specialty Paper she used with the Gold and Vanilla Satin Edged Ribbon. The sentiment if from the Brightest Glow stamp set.

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

This last card is from Kerry-Anne Pumphrey. She used the Lights Aglow DSP and a piece of Basic White that she embossed with the Timeworn Type 3D embossing folder for her background. The sentiment is also from the Brightest Glow stamp set. And she die cut a gold foil Christmas tree using the Twinkling Lights dies.

Lights Aglow Christmas Cards

These Lights Aglow Christmas cards are so pretty! I can’t pick a favourite.

Check out my card for this swap here using the Spruced Up stamp set. And if you need any holiday crafting supplies or gifts for the crafters in your life, then head over to my online shop!

Joyful Flurry Christmas Card

I’ve had this bundle on my wishlist for a while now! So I’m excited to finally have it and get crafting with it. This Joyful Flurry Christmas card is just the first of many to come! I’m definitely a big fan of snowflakes with my holiday crafting and cardmaking. So of course this is one of my favourites from the July-December mini catalogue. And since my main image is snowflakes I’m using blues for my first card.

For this card design I went with Pool Party and Night of Navy. Two nice shades of blue that contrast each other really well. And with just a little bit of Night of Navy, the Pool Party really stands out. I used Pool Party for the card base and Night of Navy for the card mat. And even with the stamping I stuck with Pool Party as my main colour. Stamping the larger snowflakes in Pool Party for the background and then surrounding the sentiment with Pool Party snowflakes.

For the banners I layered some Brushed Metallic cardstock with a piece of Pool Party cardstock that I stamped with Pool Party snowflakes. Then there’s the banner with the sentiment on top. No Stampin’ Dimensionals this time. Although that would look really nice too. Instead I kept it simple and just added a few of the small Rhinestone Basic Jewels to finish it off.

Joyful Flurry Christmas Card

I just love this Joyful Flurry Christmas card! And I can’t wait to see what I can really do with the coordinating dies!

Check out some other samples from a recent team card swap using this same bundle here. And if you’re looking to get this in time for some holiday crafting, then head over to my online store.

OnStage 2022

It’s been just over a week now since I got back from Montreal for OnStage 2022 and I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. I like to say I had an OnStage hangover, lol! There’s always so much going on at these events. The energy is high and there’s so much to be excited about. Plus this year is the first in-person event since before the pandemic… so of course everyone was excited to get together again!

It was extra exciting for me because I’m celebrating my 10 year stampaversary this year! And I was helping out with registration. So I got to grab my swag box early and be one of the first faces people saw at the event. It was so awesome to see the excitement on everyone’s faces and to cheer for those people who were attending for the first time. I also got to make some new friends as my check in buddies were 2 demonstrators from the US; Selene and Cheryl. We had a lot of fun! It was also great to see some familiar faces. It’s just not the same seeing my team members faces on ZOOM!

Making new connection and deepening old ones is one of the many things I love about Stampin’ Up! events. I also love the sneak peeks and free stuff you get! How can you not right?! And because I attended in-person I got the new January-April Mini and Sale-a-bration catalogues before other demonstrators. My swag bag was full of goodies from the new catalogues and I even got to order some of the new products before pre-order in December!

I’m so glad I got to go to OnStage 2022! I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of how much fun these events are. It’s something you really need to experience for yourself to truly know what I’m talking about.

If you’d like to join in on all the fun, join my team! We have a lot of fun together and I’m here to support you in any way I can no matter what you’re hoping to do. Sign up here!

Oh…. and don’t forget to check out the card I made to swap at OnStage! I can’t believe I forgot to mention how much I love to swap projects. Check it out here!

Dual Pop Up Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

I’m back with the Fancy Folds Design Team blog hop! And this month we’re making a Dual Pop Up Card. This card took a little longer to figure out, but in the end it wasn’t so hard. You definitely want to take your time with the two pieces for the mechanism! Jan B, a demonstrator from the UK, has a great video to walk you through step by step. She also has measurements for those of us in North America. Just look under the video in the comments for the A2/US measurements.

For my design I went with a holiday theme. Using the All Spruced Up bundle and Painted Christmas Designer Series Paper worked nicely for this. I used Soft Succulent for the card base and a lighter design throughout the inside and outside to keep it nice and subtle.

On the card front I added a few die cut tree outlines from the Spruced Up dies. One in Evening Evergreen, one in Soft Succulent and one in Basic White. Next I paired two phrases from the Spruced Up stamp set together to go on the outside and die cut them using one of the All That dies. Then I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals and added a few gold Festive Pearls.

The inside is also pretty simple. Just a couple more tree outlines on the doors. And I did add an extra piece of 3″ x 3″ Basic White cardstock on the inside to give room to write.

The Dual Pop Up card was definitely a little trickier than some of the other cards I’ve done with the Fancy Folds Design team. But still easier than I thought. Keep hopping around the world to see all the different designs. Next up is Mette Nording Shaw from Australia. Check out her card here.

And check out last month’s hop here where we made a Cascading Display card.

OnStage 2022 Card Swaps

I’m back after an exciting weekend in Montreal for OnStage! It was great to be back in person again. And it was just as awesome as I remember! There are so many things that I love about OnStage and one of my favourites is the card swapping. Here are 3 of my favourite OnStage 2022 card swaps.

This first one is by Serena Li and features the Texture Chic Designer Series Paper. I just love this patterned paper! The colour combinations and designs are so unique! Behind the strips of DSP she embossed a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock with a retired folder; the current Timeworn Type embossing folder would be a good substitute. The “thanks” is on a strip of Soft Succulent cardstock and she added a few Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

OnStage 2022 Card Swaps

This next card is from Sara Ogilvie and I love how she used the Blending Brushes to add her colours. The Basic Black card base really helps the Parakeet Party, Tahitian Tide and Orchid Oasis pop. The image comes from the Stronger Together stamp set. She also added a piece of Vellum as well as a strip of Black and White Designs DSP behind the image.

OnStage 2022 Card Swaps

The last card features the early released Fitting Florets suite. This suite is actually from the upcoming mini catalogue and you can get it now if you want. My favourite thing from this suite are the dies. The frames are so cute! And I really like how this demo layered 2 of the designs from this DSP pack to create her card mat.

OnStage 2022 Card Swaps

These are just 3 of the OnStage 2022 card swaps that I got. Check out the rest of them over on my Facebook page here.

And check out my card swap design here!