Tamara's Paper Trail: October 2021

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Nature's Beauty - Stampin' Creative Global Blog Hop

Happy Blog Hop Day! Each month my friends and I from around the globe bring you projects around a common theme, in hopes of inspiring you to try a new layout, learn a new technique and/or put ink to the stamp set you bought but haven't used yet! This month the theme is "Nature's Beauty". Here is what I came up with ...

Can I just pause for a moment to say ... I. LOVE. THIS. CARD!!!!!!

Thank you.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program ...

I wanted to create a card with elements of nature in it but wasn't feeling the "animal", "mountain" or "leaf" sets we have. I've been using those a lot lately and was craving something different .. and something that stretched me a little. I'm also on a mission to "use what you buy .. BEFORE it retires!" lol. This card ticks all the boxes and I just love how it turned out. Yes, it was time consuming (I think it took me two hours from start to finish!) but a LOT of that was just playing with colours and embossing folders. Having said that, it's NOT a card you want to mass produce, for sure, but it is so pretty and very worth while when you need a special card to send.

The colours I used are Basic White, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake and Poppy Parade.

The Basic White layer measures 3 1/2" x 4 3/4".

The Crumb Cake layer measures 3 5/8" x 4 7/8"

The circle die is the largest of the Layering Circle dies

The mushrooms and leaves are from the Iconic dies

The sentiment is from Hand-Penned Petals

The time consuming, "fussy" part comes from changing out the colours of the spots on the mushroom. Yes, you COULD add them one at a time with glue, the putty end of your Take Your Pick tool and a LOT of patience ... but I found an easier way. I'm not sure how well this will translate in written form but I'll try ... here goes ...

I wanted white dots on my Poppy Parade mushroom ... so ... first you need to cut out your Poppy Parade mushroom. KEEP THE SPOTS - you will need a few of them later!

Next you need to cut out your white mushrooms ...

Yes, my cutting pads are disgusting ... but that is actually a GOOD thing for this hack. Dirty plates often are a bit sticky ... and we want that because the next step is to carefully remove the white mushroom from the plate, whilst leaving the spots in place!

One or two of the smaller spots moved each time I did this, but the majority of them stayed in place, which is what we want.

With your white dots still in place on your cutting plate, carefully place your Poppy Parade mushrooms over the white spots ...

Here is the "hack" on how to pick these pieces up and transfer them to your card. Head to your kitchen and grab a piece of "Press'n Seal". This is a sticky cling film (usually used to cover food/bowls - like Saran Wrap).

Lay your Press'n Seal on top of your mushrooms and press it down firmly, especially on the spots.

Now you will be able to lift the Press'n Seal and the mushrooms (complete with dots) will lift up all as one piece ...

We now need to secure those spots! Grab your Tear and Tape and tape them in place ...

Ta-Da! Mushrooms with different coloured spots ready to go! Here are the ones I did in Crumb Cake and White ....

I used my paper snips to cut a white stem to add to my Poppy mushroom and I added a red spot to each of the mushrooms. The rest was pretty straight forward and a mere two hours later I had my final card ...

If you're more of a visual learner, I will have a video showing this "Press'n Seal" process on my YouTube Channel "Tamara's Paper Trail" this week. Check it out and then TRY it out! It's a fun way to "paper piece" without all the work!

So that is my "Natures Beauty" project for you. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Thanks for popping in - now hop along and see the beautiful projects my friends have put together for you ... and have a stampy day :)

Tam

Product List

Iconic Dies

[155965]

$39.00

Hand Penned Petals Photopolymer Stamp Set

[155070]

$30.00

Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[159276]

$13.25

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

[120953]

$12.00

Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[121043]

$12.00

Poppy Parade 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

[119793]

$12.00

Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad

[147050]

$10.25

Bark 3 D Embossing Folder

[155431]

$13.50

Layering Circles Dies

[151770]

$48.00

Take Your Pick

[144107]

$14.00

Tear & Tape Adhesive

[138995]

$9.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$5.50

Mini Stampin' Dimensionals

[144108]

$5.50

Stampin' Seal

[152813]

$11.00

Bone Folder

[102300]

$9.50

Paper Trimmer

[152392]

$34.00

Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine

[149653]

$163.00

Sunday, October 24, 2021

I'm dancing as fast as I can!

Happy Sunday!

I think it's going to be one of "those" days ... you know the ones ... the ones where you have great PLANS to get things done but whether or not they actually HAPPEN is another story entirely! lol

I got up at 6:00 am today ... with all SORTS of things I was going to get done whilst the family sleeps ... yet here I am ... 2.5 hours later and I'm not really where I thought I'd be. That's ok though,, right? Sundays are SUPPOSED to be more relaxing and less working. I have to keep reminding myself of that. This week has been INSANELY busy and I need to "just keep swimming" - slowly but surely.

Scrolling through my camera roll to see what I've been working on this week I realize I didn't have time for new CREATING time. Nope. The week was FULL of organizing, tracking, prepping and mailing! The week ahead is much the same as I am hoping to run away to the mountains for a few days. We'll see. "Life" has happened and my BFF lost her mom on Friday. If the timing works I'll get away but if not I won't. Once again I will pivot and just "go with the flow".

Today I've been setting up some systems for my business so I can "work smarter, not harder". It's time consuming at the beginning but it will (hopefully!) save me time in the long run. One of the things I want to do is start post my Mystery Card Monday and Check It Out Tuesday videos and cards here. I know not everyone who follows my blog is on Facebook and I'd like to reach as many people as possible ... without adding a lot more things to my already-full plate! It just makes sense to share what I've already created in as many places as possible .. so! For today I'm going to share the Mystery Card Monday card layout "recipe", completed cards and video link. My PLAN is to do this every week moving forward. Wish me luck!

Last Monday (Oct 11, 2021) this is the card "recipe" we used ...

... and these are the cards I made USING that layout:

I LOVE them!!!Shout out to Lisa Addesa for the inspiration for the layout. It's a GREAT one! I works with any designer paper and you just snazz it up as much or as little as you like with embossing folder, embellishments, die cuts and sentiments. SO easy! You can catch the replay of the video on my YouTube channel "Tamara's Paper Trail". When you head over there I would be ever so grateful if you would subscribe to my channel! I'm trying to expand my reach to inspire as many crafters as I can and the best way to do that is with every "subscribe" and "share".

If you watch my Facebook Live events on my FB Page "Tamara's Paper Trail" you KNOW I can ramble on! (it's part of my charm, right? lol). If you prefer shorter (less-rambly) videos I have those too. Check out my Channel here.

Here's the MCM (Mystery Card Monday) replay ...

So there you have it! The first thing checked off my list for today "do blog post". I hope you like the project! Whatever YOU get up to this Sunday, I hope you have a stampy day! Thanks for popping in!

Tam

Monday, October 18, 2021

All For Baby - Kylie's Trip Achievers Blog Hop

Happy Blog Hop Day!

You will notice an all-new banner at the top this month. Yes, the NEW 2021/2022 Stampin' Up! year is underway and that means it was time to change the logo from the "Maui Trip Achievers" to "Trip Achievers". It was GOING to be the "Western Caribbean Trip Achievers" alas, Covid has forced SU to cancel that trip so we are going with a more generic "Trip Achievers".

Each month Demonstrators from across the globe who have earned the Incentive Trip come together to share some inspiration via projects we've put together using only current Stampin' Up! products. We hope you like what we have to share!

This month I was in dire need of some baby cards. This is what I came up with (and I LOVE them!)

SO cute and they came together SO QUICKLY! I made 25 cards in just 2 hours! Here is a close up ...

ADORABLE, right??

As you know, when I need quick, easy and cute I OFTEN turn to my very own Mystery Card Monday layouts. Every Monday night at 7:00 pm MT I go live on Facebook here and I show you how to make easy cards using just a few products. THIS particular layout is SO versatile ... and I knew it would be perfect for cracking off my batch of 25.

Card base is Basic White measuring 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Layer is Basic White measuring 5" x 3 3/4" - run through the Cut & Emboss machine using an embossing folder of your choice (I used Tasteful Textile 3D)

Layer of Designer Paper of your choice measuring 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" (I used our 6" x 6" Subtles Designer Paper Assortment)

Layer of Card Stock measuring 1 3/4" x 3 3/4" (I used Early Espresso)

A sentiment on a shape or strip of your choice (I used the second smallest Stitched Rectangle die and the sentiment from All For Baby)

Embellishments (I used dies from the Baby Clothes Dies) and some Basic Rhinestones

I popped up the bib, onesie and sentiment on Dimensionals. Life was made a LOT easier by using our Adhesive Backed Sheets before running the Early Espresso hangers through the machine. Instant stickers - no mess!

Now I actually need more "Congratulations on your GRANDCHILD" cards so grabbed one of my retired sets ("Grandma's House)" and just switched out the sentiment. For the inside, the Congratulations sentiment is from the All For Baby set but the cute little "So happy for you (and also slightly jealous)" is from one of my more over-looked / under-utilized CURRENT sets, "Many Mates". I'm THRILLED to have a stash of these cards on hand for the next 6 months!

You can check out my Mystery Card Monday video for this layout found on my business page "Tamara's Paper Trail" or on my YouTube Channel with the same name. The video is from Monday, October 11th. Here are three other cards I made last week with this same layout. See? SO versatile!

So that's MY share for this month. I hope you like my projects! A full list of the products I used are at the end of this post. Now hop along to see what my friends have to share with you ... and have a stampy day!

Tamara

Product List