Tamara's Paper Trail

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Basic Card Layout for Beginners - MCM Apr 13, 2026

Happy Tuesday! It's a gloomy "gunna-rain" kinda day here in Edmonton. Perfect weather for gettin' stuff done! ... like Blog posts!

I had a lot of fun on my MCM Live last night, where we made THESE cards - SO quick and easy and perfect for my beginner card makers. I LOVE an easy layout that focuses mainly on our pretty papers. Add a few embellishments and a sentiment and DONE! If you love that too, this is a layout for you! Check them out ...

SO SO SO SOOOOOO easy!

This one uses the embossing folder Lazy Daisy, along with the Homemade Sweetness paper. The sentiment is from Words of Beauty.

Another upcoming batch of products - Fern & Flora embossing folder with Moonlit Flora paper. I also used the new In Color, Golden Glow ... and the new 2026-2028 In Color Butterfly embellishments (180 per pack! EXCELLENT value!)

Same products used on this one, but with Pecan Pie paper ...

This was my inspiration for our cards tonight - it uses a long-retired paper called Les Shoppes. The sentiment is from the retired Very Best Occasions set. This image is PERFECT for this layout! The embossing folder is one of my all time favourites and it retired WAY too soon! It was part of a 3-pack for "basics" embossing folders.

You REALLY need to give this layout a try. Use up those thin strips of paper you have you having lying around! Here is the "recipe" of the pieces you need to prep ...

... and here is the Mystery Card Monday (MCM) Facebook Live replay, showing you how to cut the papers and put all the pieces together ...

A great layout for "quick and simple" and mass producing but you can also add texture, layers and/or more die cuts/embellishments to jazz it up. Try it!

That's it for this week. If you would like to join me LIVE for my MCM (Mystery Card Monday) sessions, you can catch me on my FaceBook Page here at 7:00 pm Mountain Time every Monday ... or on my YouTube Channel here at the same time (I stream live to both). Like and Follow my FB Page and/or Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. I'd love to have you - the live community is AMAZING and so much fun!

If you live in Canada and would like to purchase any of the items I used for my cards, just click any of the pictures below and you will be taken to my Stampin' Up! online store. Thank you! I appreciate your support!

Stay amazing!

Tamara

Product List

Words Of Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167083]

$28.00

Very Best Occasions Cling Stamp Set (English)

[159871]

$34.00

Homemade Sweetness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[167467]

$17.00

Les Shoppes 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper

[161322]

$17.00

Misty Moonlight 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[153081]

$20.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$18.00

Pecan Pie 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[161717]

$20.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[120953]

$20.00

Soft Sea Foam 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[146988]

$20.00

Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad

[147110]

$12.25

Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad

[147111]

$12.25

Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad

[147101]

$12.25

Lazy Daisy 3 D Embossing Folder

[167196]

$15.00

Pearls Of Beauty

[167098]

$11.00

Baker's Twine Essentials Pack

[155475]

$15.00

Linen Thread

[104199]

$7.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$6.00

Stampin' Seal

[152813]

$11.00

Bone Folder

[102300]

$11.00

Take Your Pick

[144107]

$16.50

Paper Trimmer

[152392]

$39.00

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$191.00

Friday, April 10, 2026

Let Me Show You How ... to Colour LMSYH Apr 6, 2026

Well! Here it is FRIDAY and I'm just getting around to doing my blog post for the week. Better later than never, right? This one is actually more out of "stay consistent" than anything. I don't have totally completed cards for you. My Live this week was more of a technique demonstration. In it, I showed you various colouring techniques with one of our newer Online Exclusive Sets, Flowers Fair. Here is a photo of the sort-of completed cards we played with ...

Not much to look at, eh? lol

It's best to just watch the replay - it's at the bottom of this post. First, here are a few quick notes and full card photos of the techniques and tools we played around with.

I LOVE the look of images coloured with watercolour pencils on black card stock. I embossed the image in gold and then coloured with my pencils. I used some retired ribbon to finish it off. No sentiment - sometimes it's nice to just have a generic card on hand!

Same technique - embossed in white, coloured in white ...

This is one of the first techniques I ever learned ... and still love - Spotlighting! Stamp the image, cut out circles with punches or dies. You then cut circles slightly larger as a mat. You then only colour the images that were cut out to "spotlight" them. A great way to add colour to a large image without having to colour the entire image.

Same technique - embossed in gold and no colouring.

This one is an un-finished twist on the technique. Just use the circles on a card base, rather than on the entire, stamped, image ...

These next two were made by embossing the image in white and then using our Blends Markers to colour the embossed images. pOw!!!! this on is fun and fast! You don't have to stay on the embossed lines because the card stock is black. You can scribble over the areas you want to colour quite quickly. Easy!

Again, the cards aren't completely done - I will add sentiments to a few of them. The techniques are what I wanted to teach you. Here is the video replay. Check it out!

I hope you learned something ... and that you give one or two of them a try! I seriously played for about 5 hours making these. A fun, relaxing afternoon!

That's it for this week. If you would like to join me LIVE for my weekly FaceBook Live sessions, you can catch me on my FaceBook Page here at 7:00 pm Mountain Time every Monday ... or on my YouTube Channel here at the same time (I stream live to both). Like and Follow my FB Page and/or Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. I'd love to have you - the live community is AMAZING and so much fun!

If you live in Canada and would like to purchase any of the items I used for my cards, just click any of the pictures below and you will be taken to my online store. Thank you! I appreciate your support!

Stay amazing!

Tamara

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

6" x 6" Designer Paper One Sheet Wonder (OSW) - MCM Layout Mar 30, 2026

Happy Tuesday! MAN today there has been a LOT of adult behaviour going on ... and I'm NOT a fan! GAH! Took my first born to the bank to introduce her to investing her money (ugh), followed by passport renewal (ugh again) and round out the afternoon with a little light tax submitting! SO GROSS! I needed to step away and unpack my new ink pads to decompress from it all lol. I think everyone is safe, once again! My brain is SERIOUSLY overworked and overwhelmed today so I'm taking the evening to catch up on my "chair work" .., things like scheduling photos and writing blog posts from the comfort of my living room chair lol.

Here we go! Did you catch MCM last night? If you DIDN'T, you want to watch the replay, then make your 4 cards from it and post them on my FB page - big prize draw is in someone's future! Watch the video below to know what to do and how to do it.

I decided to do a OSW (One Sheet Wonder) from a "map" that was given to us at OnStage earlier this month. I haven't done one of those in AGES! I love how the cards turned out! Let's start with the final projects ... I used Floral in Bloom Designer Paper along with sentiments from Words of Beauty. Check them out ...

The new Lazy Daisy 3D embossing folder was used, along with some Timid Tiger ribbon and Dear Dots to embellish. The mat layer is Garden Green ...

Darling Duckling Ribbon and Muted Palette Dots here (although Dear Dots work too!) ... the sentiment is in Real Red

Lazy Daisy Embossing folder, Darling Duckling, Dear Dots and Granny Apple Green mats ... sentiments is in Granny Apple Green

Same as above but with some retired Garden Green ribbon ... sentiments is in Garden Green ...

These cards literally came together in 35 minutes! LOVE that! If you want to make a batch that is similar, here is the "map" for cutting your designer paper and the "recipe" of the other pieces you need to prep ...

... and here is the Mystery Card Monday (MCM) Facebook Live replay, showing you how to cut the papers and put all the pieces together ...

I thought I'd take picture of "the steps in "stepping it up" lol.

Brand new to stamping? Don't have many coloured papers? Maybe you're in a hurry. No problem. Just place the papers on your card bases as shown below and add sentiments. If you HAVE Baker's Twine, ribbon and/or embellishments you can add those too but not necessary. The cards are quick and cute!

How do we "step up" a card? We add texture and/or layers. Here I have just added a white layer that is 3 3/4" x 5" to each of the bases. Again, add sentiments and some embellishments and done!

Step it up even MORE by adding "mats". A mat is a layer of coordinating coloured card stock that is 1/4" larger than your designer paper piece. For example, the small 1 1/2" square piece would have a mat measuring 1 3/4". Add your sentiments and embellishments and done!

Step it up ONE MORE TIME by EMBOSSING the white 3 3/4" x 5" layers. I used a soon-to-be-released embossing folder, Lazy Daisy. I added my sentiments (from the Words of Beauty set) and embellishments and here are the final cards, all stepped up ...

So there you have it! A OSW "map" and how to use it - keep it simple or "step it up" as you time, supplies and/or confidence grows! I hope you give it a try!

If you would like to join me LIVE for my MCM (Mystery Card Monday) sessions, you can catch me on my FaceBook Page here at 7:00 pm Mountain Time every Monday ... or on my YouTube Channel here at the same time (I stream live to both). Like and Follow my FB Page and/or Subscribe to my YouTube Channel. I'd love to have you - the live community is AMAZING and so much fun!

Stay amazing!

Tamara

Product List

Words Of Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)

[167083]

$28.00