I’m getting back to some #SimpleStamping with this card. As much as I like using patterned paper, die cuts and embellishments, pretty cards don’t have to be complicated! This month’s challenge from Stampin’ Up! is to make a #SimpleStamping birthday card with a Sale-a-bration item. I had a hard time choosing because there are so many great products to choose from right now. But for this card I’m excited to stamp with one of the new stamp sets from the January-April Mini catalogue… Hooray for Surprises. And so I’m using the Pool Party Crinkled ribbon as my Sale-a-bration item.
For my card base I’m using Pool Party cardstock of course! I’m pairing it with Daffodil Delight to keep the colour combination nice and bright. Plus it’s a great colour for all the candle flames.
To make my background, I stamped a bunch of candles, using Pool Party and Daffodil Delight ink, around my sentiment… which is in Pool Party ink. Then I stamped a birthday cake on a smaller piece of Basic White cardstock using more Pool Party. The candle and flame are in Daffodil Delight. I framed that with another piece of Pool Party cardstock and then popped it up with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals on top of my Sale-a-bration ribbon. To finish it off, I added a little bit more of the ribbon with a simple know.
I’m so tempted to add some Wink of Stella to this #SimpleStamping birthday card. Or maybe even a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels. Heat embossing the flames would be another great way to level up this card design.
Check out another one of my #SimpleStamping cards here.
Maybe it’s because of a New Year’s resolution. Or maybe it’s because you just wanted to try something new. Whatever the reason, I’m always excited when I meet someone who’s new to stamping. There are so many great ways to be creative, but I also know that it can feel intimidating, making it hard to know where to start. So I thought I’d share what I think are the top 5 things every beginner crafter needs!
First up is a good paper trimmer. YOu’ll want something that can cut cardstock and patterned paper up to 12″ x 12″. And you’ll also want something that you can get replacement blades for. Eventually the blades do get a little dull and you end up with fussy edges. I really like Stampin’ Up!s new paper trimmer because it’s relatively compacet and has an arm that extends for the bigger sheets. Anotehr reason I like this trimmer is because I can cut OR score my cardstock and patterned paper.
Next is a couple of different kinds of adhesive. There are ALOT of different kinds of adhesive out there, but when you’re starting out you probably only need one or two. So to start I would recomment a tape runner, like Stampin’ Up!s Stampin’ SEAL, and Stampin’ Dimensionals. Stampin’ SEAL will cover most of your needs for your projects and it’s nice and strong. Plus you don’t end up with blobs like you can with liquid glue. And the Dimensionals are fun to pop things up and add more layers to your projects. As you get more into paper crafting you can add in other adhesives like Mini Glue Dots or Tear & Tape Adhesive.
Every crafter also needs a good pair of scissors of course! This is a tool that you’ll use a lot so you want to make sure it’s a good pair! You’ll use it for simple cutting/trimming, for fussy cutting images and cutting twine, ribbon, etc. The paper snips from Stampin’ Up! are great for all of these and they’re not too big so they easily fit into your craft bag. And the cover will make sure the sharp blades don’t poke any holes in anything. If you end up using a lot of ribbon for your projects, you may want to get a separate pair of scissors for that. Stampin’ Up! used to have a pair of craft scissors that I use for mine. but you can easily find a pair at a local craft store.
Number 4 is one tool that I always have with me… my Bone Folder. This really helps get a nice crisp fold which comes in handy especially when you’re doing a fun fold! It also works great if you need to reposition your cardstock or patterned paper. As long as you catch it quickly.
And last, but definitely not least is the Take Your Pick Tool. This is a tool that I didn’t know I needed until I had it. And now I can’t imagine crafting without it. The putty end is great for picking up sequins and gems. I also use this end when I need help positioning my stamped image in my punches. It comes with two different sized scoring ends. As well as a paper piercing and spatula tip. Either one of these works great for picking up adhesive-backed gems and the paper piercing end is ideal if you ever need help getting that paper off the back of the Glue Dots and Dimensionals. There’s a brush tip to help get all those little bits out of your dies. And if all that wasn’t enough there’s a craft knife tool and a perforating disc tool. I’m sure there’s ones that I’m forgetting, but you get the idea!
So these are my suggestions for the 5 things that every beginner crafter needs. I hope you find this helpful!
If you’d like more stamping tips and project ideas, sign up for my weekly newsletter here.
And if you’d like to grab any of the tools I talked about here you can do that in my online shop.
I’m having a lot of fun crafting Valentine’s Day cards! And the Most Adored Specialty Designer Series Paper pack makes it really easy to make a pretty handmade Valentine’s Day card. The colours are perfect for Valentine’s Day. And I just love the gold foil designs. So I had a hard time picking what designs to use for this card.
The inkspiration for this card design came from a picture I saw in a Facebook group I’m a part of. It’s such a great way to show off pretty patterned paper like this! I’m keeping the card base neutral with Crumb Cake to help the colours from the Designer Series Paper stand out. Once I picked my designs I stuck them to a piece of Basic White cardstock.
My “Happy Valentine’s Day” comes from the Bee My Valentine stamp set in the January-April Mini catalogue. I stamped it with Crumb Cake ink. Then I added some cute little hearts from the same stamp set with Flirty Flamingo ink. Finally I popped up that piece of cardstock with a couple Stampin’ Dimensionals.
I love that Stampin’ Up! has a pack of patterned paper with gold foil as one of the free products in the Sale-a-bration catalogue this year! Check out another handmade Valentine’s Day card I shared using some of the other Sale-a-bration products here.
And you can find everything you need to make your own handmade Valentine’s Day cards in my online shop.
We’re halfway through January and Sale-a-bration 2024 is just kicking into high gear. Every year at this time Stampin’ Up! comes out with it’s biggest promo of the year. So what’s the deal?
From now until the end of February (Feb. 29th), you can earn free products with your order. Order anything from the Annual or new January-April Mini catalogues and if it’s $60 or more you can choose a Sale-a-bration product for free! You can also get free Sale-a-bration products when you order a pre-paid Paper Pumpkin subscription.
Now there are a couple of ‘levels’ in the Sale-a-bration catalogue. The first level goes with $60 orders and the second level goes with $120 orders. And the nice thing about Sale-a-bration is that you can mix and match! So if your order is $60 you can choose 1 product from the first level. But if your order is $120 you can order 2 from the first level OR 1 from the second. And if your order is $180 you can choose 3 from level 1 or one from each. And so on and so on.
This is a great time to stock up on cardstock and adhesives. All those essentials! I’m definitely going to be doing that before the end of February. Right now is also a great time to host a stamping party or even join the Stampin’ Up! family.
If you host a workshop before the end of February there are special products that are only for hosts. And if your party orders are more than $375 then you won’t get just 10% ($37.45+) worth of free product from the Annual/Mini catalogues but 10% PLUS an extra $37.50! So at least $75 worth of free product.
Or if you want to get even more free top quality crafting supplies and a good discount, then think about joining my team and becoming a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. For only $135 (no tax or shipping) usually you get $165 worth of Stampin’ Up! product of your choosing. But right now for that same great price you can either get $206 worth of product OR the $165 worth of product and the Stampin’ Glass Mat Studio. I have one and am excited to use it!
Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you might have about Sale-a-bration or joining the Stampin’ Up! family. If you’re excited to join my team and take advantage of these great deals, then here’s where you can do that.
In the meantime, check out a card I made using a couple of the Sale-a-bration products here. Or you can check out my Facebook live from last night using some of Sale-a-bration 2024 products here.
After Christmas this is the most wonderful time of year! At least for crafters anyway… because it’s Sale-a-bration time. This is Stampin’ Up!s biggest promotion of the year. It’s such a great time to stock up on crafting essentials like cardstock and adhesive because it leads to FREE crafting supplies like the Heartfelt Hellos stamp set.
This stamp set is full of great sentiment, so I decided to pair it with the Bee My Valentine stamp set to make a cute Valentine’s day card. But the only traditional Valentine’s day colour I used on this card is pink. Well Bubble Bath actually. For this design I made my own background full of different images. I stamped the larger hearts in Bubble Bath ink. Then I stamped some flowers with Pool Party ink. And to fill in some of the gaps I stamped some little hearts in Highland Heather ink.
I used Pool Party for my card base so that I could also use the Pool Party ribbon that’s also part of Sale-a-bration. The sentiment from the Heartfelt Hellos stamp set is in Bubble Bath. And I added a few more little hearts in Pool Party. Next I die cut it with one of the Something Fancy dies to create a cute tag. Then I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. And to finish it off I added some Iridescent Pearl Basic Jewels to the centres of the flowers. What girl doesn’t like a little sparkle for Valentine’s Day?! lol
Other than the die cut tag, this is a nice simple Valentine’s Day card. And as much fun as I’ve been having with the bumblebee from the Bee My Valentine stamp set, it was nice to use a few of the other images.
Check out another card I made with the Bee Mine suite here.
I’ll be sharing all there is to know about Sale-a-bration in my next post so stay tuned! Or if you can’t wait until then, head over to my online shop.
Stampin’ Up! definitely ended 2023 on a high note. The All the Best Paper Pumpkin kit is gorgeous! This is probably my favourite kit of 2023. The colours are nice and bright and the sentiments are lovely. Plus I love the gold foil and dandelion images! It totally reminds me of a stamp set from a couple of years ago, Dandelion Wishes. That is one set that didn’t make it into my craft stash, so I’m definitely holding on to this one.
I didn’t make too many alternative projects with this kit because I love the original designs so much. But I did make a few. For my first alternative card project I just mixed and matched what was in the kit. I used one of the Balmy Blue card bases and cut up one of the envelopes for my main image. Then I trimmed one of the gold foil circles and added a dandelion I fussy cut as part of another alternative project.
The other dandelions I fussy cut went to make a different kind of project. This could be a framed piece or the focal point of a scrapbook page. To make it, I trimmed one of the other Balmy Blue card bases and popped up the gold foil square with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals, with the dandelions just behind it.
I made one other alternative card project with the All the Best Paper Pumpkin kit. Catch the replay over on my Facebook page where I made it last night.
And check out one of the other super popular Paper Pumpkin kits of 2023 here.
Want to get in on all the crafty fun?! Paper Pumpkin kits arrive at your door with everything you need to make the projects inside. The January kit looks like it’ll be really pretty! Plus it coordinates with one of the suites from the new January-April Mini catalogue. Sign up for the Lovely Lavender kit by January 10th! That’s tomorrow.
The original inkspiration for this handmade thank you card design came from a colouring page image I saw on Pinterest. Go figure! I really like the idea of popping images up on top of different shapes. And I just love butterflies so that’s where I started with my design.
To go with the butterfly theme I debated a couple of patterned paper options; Fresh like a Daisy and Masterfully Made. I really love the colours, smaller sized flowers and other elements in the Masterfully Made Designer Series Paper pack, so that was the winner. From there I pulled Fresh Freesia as my card base and ink colour.
Then to contrast the darker and eventually busier patterned paper, I stamped the simple ink splatter image from the Quiet Meadow stamp set. And I stamped off on a scrap piece of paper first to make the Fresh Freesia even lighter. Next I added the hexagon shapes that I cut using one of the Something Fancy dies. Starting with just one and spreading out as I went down the cardstock.
For my butterflies I used two different ones. I started with the smaller Brushed Brass Butterflies and then die cut some larger ones using the Meadow dies. I popped up the cardstock butterflies with some Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. And the “thanks” comes from the Biggest Wish stamp set. I punched that out with the Double Oval Punch and then popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals.
This handmade thank you card design is such a nice one! I think I’ll have to try it with some different shapes and/or images next time.
Check out another card I made using the Masterfully Made Designer Series Paper pack here.
I want to take a moment and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy 2024! It’s been a busy few days for us here. We visited with both sides of the family, enjoyed great food and the munchkins were very happy to get a “few” presents. Lol!
For this year’s Christmas card for my customers I used the Cottage Wreaths bundle from the Annual catalogue and the retiring Christmas Tidings embossing folder. Shaded Spruce is my main colour, but I did throw in a splash of Cherry Cobbler for the berries. Great Christmas colours!
I hope you all had the chance to spend time with those you love this festive season. And I hope you also have some time to relax and do something you love.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2024 everyone!
Don’t forget there’s still time to take advantage of the Last Chance sale. You can get up to 60% off until January 3rd. Some things have already sold out, so for the most up to date info, check out my online shop.
This past weekend I had my small team over for a Christmas party! We played games, ate some yummy treats and of course made some cards. But we didn’t make Christmas cards. Instead we did some more crafting with Bee Mine from the upcoming mini catalogue and another set from the Annual catalogue. Today I’m sharing the card we made with the Bee Mine suite.
I really wanted to show off the fun Designer Series Paper in this suite. So I used a Basic White card base and card front. In between is a piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock. Then for the patterned paper, I picked 2 different designs. This was kind of hard because I like all the designs in the Bee Mine DSP pack. But for this card I went with 2 designs that are a little more subtle. That way my little bumblebee will stand out.
To make my bumblebee I started by stamping the body using Daffodil Delight ink. Then I layered the strips on top with Tuxedo Black Memento ink. I also stamped the wings in black. And the little heart is in Sweet Sorbet ink. To make it super easy to punch out everything, I made a template beforehand with a scrap piece of cardstock. I layered that on top of my cardstock for stamping and stamped the images through the template.
I popped up the little heart and my bumblebee with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. The minis are perfect for the little heart. Here it is…
I’ll definitely be doing some more crafting with Bee Mine. It’s such a cute suite! There’s some great sentiments to choose from and there are 4 different faces that you can give your bumblebee.
Check out the 2 cards I made with I attended OnStage at Home back in November here.
And don’t forget there’s still time to get your favourite products before they retire. Check out my online shop to see what’s retiring and what’s still in stock.
It’s been quite a while since I shared a fancy fold card and so when I saw this one I couldn’t resist! It’s a Suspended Book fold card. Now this card is a little bigger than I usually make. It’s 5″ x 7″ instead of 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″. But I love how this card looks!
I’m still deep into my Christmas crafting, so my card design is Christmas themed. Although I did go in a little bit of a different direction with some of my colours. My main colour is Misty Moonlight. I’m using that colour because I wanted to use the Winter Meadow Designer Series Paper pack. I just love the designs in this pack of patterned paper. And I’m so glad that it’s not retiring!
For my sentiment and images I’m using the Joy of Noel bundle. I used Misty Moonlight ink for the berry branches and “Noel”. And for the pine boughs I used Garden Green cardstock. I stuck the pine boughs and berry branches to the back of the sentiment first. That made it so much easier to then stick it all to the strip of window sheet.
Here it is….
The Suspended Book fold card is probably one of my favourites! I might need to make another version of this.
Check out another card I made using the Joy of Noel bundle here.
And just in case you love this bundle as much as I do, you’ll want to grab it before it retires on January 3rd… or sooner if it sells out. You can find it in my online shop.
It’s been a while since I did a #SimpleStamping challenge. And so I thought it’d be fun to join in on this month’s challenge. This month Stampin’ Up! is looking for a congratulations or celebration theme using stamps, ink, paper AND an embellishment. I’m not sure why, but I immediately thought of doing some #SimpleStamping for New Years. Usually my New Years crafts are more along the lines of cute favours. But New Years is all about celebration, so why not?!
For my card base I’m using Misty Moonlight. And for my ink colours I’m using Misty Moonlight and Pool Party. I created the background using an image from the Gift of Giving stamp set and Pool Party ink. And for the “happy new year”, I paired two stamp sets. Biggest Wish from the Annual Catalogue and More Wishes from the September to December Mini catalogue. I stamped the sentiment with Pool Party and then stamped some more ‘sparkles’ around it with Misty Moonlight.
I framed all that with some more Misty Moonlight cardstock. And then I popped it up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals. Finally for my embellishment, I used the Adhesive-Backed Glitter Sequins. I put a few white ones in the background with the Pool Party sparkles and a few blue ones around the sentiment.
While I do like how this #SimpleStamping for New Years card turned out, I’m not sure I’ll do many New Years cards in the future. What do you think? Cards for New Years, yes or no?
Check out another card I made for one of Stampin’ Up!s #SimpleStamping challenges here.
And you can get both of these stamp sets in my online shop… by the way More Wishes will be around after January 4th!
Happy Chanukah everyone! Last night was the first of 8 nights of celebrating. To celebrate we light the candles and there are a few presents. We don’t do gifts every night like my youngest wants, but we do play dreidel and have fun. I also make cards to send out to all our Jewish family and friends. Since I need to make more than 2 dozen cards just for Chanukah, I keep the design simple. And the Celebrate the Miracle stamp set makes it easy to make simple AND pretty cards.
For the card base I’m using Balmy Blue. Balmy Blue is also my main ink colour. To start I stamped a few Stars of David in the background with Balmy Blue ink. But the sentiment, “sending love and light”, I stamped with Wild Wheat. It’s such a lovely golden colour! I also used Wild Wheat for my candle flames. Chanukah candles are often colourful, so I stamped those with Balmy Blue ink. And the Chanukkiah is stamped with Smoky Slate. I popped up my lit Chanukkiah with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then I added a few Adhesive Backed Glitter Sequins to add a little more sparkle.
The Celebrate the Miracle stamp set makes it so easy to make Chanukah cards. This stamp set is definitely going into my permanent stash! I can’t wait to see how my projects for our upcoming family dinner turn out!
Check out another card I made with the Celebrate the Miracle stamp set here. And you can find this online exclusive stamp set in my online shop.
In less than one week Chanukah starts! We celebrate both Chanukah and Christmas in our house so December is a busy month for us. It also means I make Chanukah AND Christmas cards to send out this time of year. Finding Chanukah themed stamp sets can be tricky. But I was super excited when Stampin’ Up! launched the Celebrate the Miracle stamp set! This online exclusive stamp set has a great variety of images and sentiments. Up until now I’ve had to mix and match with the bits and pieces I’ve collected over the years.
One of the things my munchkins love about Chanukah is playing dreidel… even Leo enjoys it, lol! We don’t play for money, but we do have a lot of fun. So I couldn’t resist making a card featuring the dreidel images. And blue is one of the colours you see a lot of at Chanukah so I used that for my card base… Balmy Blue to be exact. Balmy Blue is also my main ink colour with a bit of Misty Moonlight.
I stamped the dreidels and coins in Balmy Blue ink and “spin” in Misty Moonlight. There’s also a “Happy Chanukah” in Misty Moonlight on the inside. I like how easy the dreidels are to fussy cut! Before I popped them up with some Stampin’ Dimensionals I put a bit of the silver Simply Elegant Trim behind them. And behind that is a strip of patterned paper from the A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper pack.
I can’t wait to do some silver heat embossing with the Celebrate the Miracle stamp set! Sadly it’ll have to. 2 dozen cards are a lot to heat emboss and I need to get my Chanukah cards done and in the mail.
I’ll share what I do end up sending out next week. In the meantime, check out this card I made with the A Walk in the Forest Designer Series Paper.
If you like this pack of patterned paper, you’ll need to add some to your stash sooner rather than later. As of January 4th it’ll no longer be available… along with a number of other products that are retiring from the September – December mini catalogue. You can get all the most up to date information on what’s still available in my online shop!
This weekend’s going to be a busy one for us! We’ve got two birthdays and a wedding to celebrate. I usually have a decent stash of birthday cards. But when it comes to weddings I try to get some inkspiration from the couple’s invitation. And as soon as I saw this one I’ve had a picture in my head of what I wanted to do! I knew I just had to make wedding cards with Abundant Beauty Decorative masks…. specifically the sunflower masks.
The invitation was full of flowers and deeper colours. So for the card base I’m using Basic Black, which was also one of the colours they used. On top of that I layered some Wild Wheat cardstock and another piece of Basic Black. The next layer is a stamped piece of Very Vanilla. I stamped the large flower from the Quiet Meadow stamp set with Crushed Curry. And a few smaller ones with Cajun Craze.
I also used these colours for my sunflowers. Starting with Crushed Curry and then adding a little Cajun Craze to the centre of my petals. Then I used Wild Wheat and Early Espresso for the centres. For the leaves I used Old Olive ink. I made a whole bunch because my mother-in-law asked if I could also make her a card to give to the couple. Thankfully it wasn’t too time consuming to fussy cut them all out!
I switched it up a little bit for my mother-in-law’s card. The colours are the same, but I embossed a piece of Wild Wheat cardstock with the 3D Painted Texture embossing folder. I also used a sentiment from the Something Fancy stamp set which I die cut with one of the coordinating dies. The sunflowers on both cards are popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. But the sentiment on my card wasn’t.
I just love how both of these wedding cards with Abundant Beauty turned out! These decorative masks will definitely be staying in my craft stash for a while after they retire.
Check out another card I made using the Abundant Beauty Decorative Masks here.
If you want to add these masks to your craft stash, don’t wait too long! These are on the list of retiring products and won’t be available after January 3rd… if they last that long. Find them and the other retiring products in my online shop.
A couple times a year Stampin’ Up! has to make room for new catalogues and products. The big one is in the Spring when the Annual Catalogue retires. But right now is the other. The September to December Catalogue retiring list is out! See what’s sticking around and what’s not.
Starting today, until January 3rd, or until supplies run out, grab these retiring products before they’re gone! Some of the retiring products are up to 60% off. The list includes packs of patterned paper, stamp sets, dies, embellishments, etc. There are also products that are carrying over, so you won’t have to worry about those just yet. And then there are some products that are part of a bundle, but they won’t be a bundle after January 3rd. A bundle gets you 10% a coordinating stamp set and punch/dies. So once the new catalogues launch you’ll have to buy them separately and at full price… unless you’re a demonstrator like me.
I’m always a little sad when this happens. I just get into a creative groove with some of these products and then it’s time to say goodbye. Be sure to check your wishlist and see if anything from the September to December catalogue retiring list matches up. If it does I wouldn’t wait too long. Things have been known to sell out before we get to the end of the sale.
For the full list, you can contact me. I’m happy to answer any questions you have and to send you the list!
And you can check out my online shop before things start to sell out here.
