Stampin' Creative Global Blog Hop - Hearts of Friendship

Happy Thursday!  Welcome to the first Stampin' Creative Global Blog Hop for 2020!

Tamara Bertram coming to you from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Yes, Canada ... the coldest place on the planet a few weeks ago, which gave me the PERFECT opportunity to hibernate in my Craft Cave and play!  This month my demonstrator friends from around the globe and I worked on projects with a "Hearts of Friendship" theme.  What does that mean??  Well ... I'm not sure *lol*.  The themes are kept quite general and generic so that it doesn't limit our creativity and/or imagination.  I thought and thought and thought about it and I wanted to create a card that I could send to my Girlfriends for Valentine's Day.  My girlfriends have been SUCH a huge support to me over the last 12-18 months.  I truly don't know how I would cope without them in my life.  I am SO blessed to have four Sisters-of-the-Heart living near me that I KNOW always have my back.  Now I'm not a "red heart" kinda gal ... but I CAN get down with some pretty flowers (and of course chocolate but that's a whole other post! lol)

This is the card I created for them:

 I made a few with an alternate sentiment

This is a VERY simple project to put together (well ... full disclosure ... it took me about 3 HOURS to put together but that was 2 hours and 50 minutes of playing, overthinking and using every craft supply I've ever owned before deciding on this clean, simple design!)

I actually started OFF CASEing the catalogue, and THIS project (bottom left) ...

I find it so funny how I START with a certain idea but end with something SO different!

Details:
Card Base:  Standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/2" (8 1/2" x 5 1/2" folded in half)
Layer: 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Parisian Blossom Specialty DSP
Top Whisper White Layer: 2 1/2" x 4"
Crumb Cake mat:  2 1/2" plus 2 ticks x 4" plus 2 ticks (or 2 5/8" x 4 1/8" for adults lol)
Stamp set:  Forever Blossoms (for both flower image and sentiment)
Inks:  Pool Party and Memento Black
Small pearls
Dimensionals
Wink of Stella
Linen thread: 22"
I stamped the sentiment on scrap Crumb Cake card stock then snipped apart with my paper snips and used glue to adhere

For this card I used the sentiment from the Peaceful Moments stamp set:

That's it!  My take on "Hearts of Friendship".  I pretty card I have already addressed and have ready to mail for Valentines Day ... or maybe it should be called GALentine's Day??

Of course Sale-a-brations is still in full swing and you can purchase all of the items through my online store over on the Right Hand Side.  With every $60 you spend you get a SAB item of your choice.  I'd be thrilled to be your Canadian Demonstrator, if you don't currently have one.

Right!  Now off you hop to check out what my friends have to share with you.  Have a stampy day .. and happy hopping!

Tam

Lovely Lily Pad Fun Fold Card - Kylie's Maui Achievers Blog Hop

Welcome to the Maui Achievers Blog Hop for January!  I'm Tamara Bertram, coming to you from REALLY REALLY REALLY cold Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  One great thing about having the coldest temperatures on the PLANET last week is there was PLENTY of indoor crafting time!  Perfect timing for our Blog Hop.  Top Demonstrators from around the globe are bringing you AMAZING projects this month so grab a warm drink and hop along.  Leave us comments as you go - we LOVE hearing what you think!

The cards I'm sharing this week are a Fun-Fold card, using primarily FREE products from the 2020 Sale-a-brations Brochure.  I found the layout through Pinterest and was inspired by Melissa Kerman on her blog melissascraftingtreehouse.com.  This is her card that inspired me ...

I just love it ... and I love that I have THREE packs of that paper in my stash so plan to replicate it VERY soon.  Speaking of my stash of paper, I *may* also have a *few* pack of the FREE Lily Impressions Designer Paper on hand so I wanted to try her layout with my spin on it.  This is what I came up with ...

I just LOVE how the colours on this card POP!

Do you love it?  I do!  .. and it's so easy to make!

• Purple Posy Card Base; 4 1/4" x 9", scored at 5 1/2"
• Highland Heather layer; 4" x 5 1/4"
• Whisper White Insert Piece; 3 1/2" x 7", scored at 3 1/2"
• Lily Impressions Designer Paper (larger piece); 3 1/4" x 4"
• Lily Impressions Designer Paper (smaller, Melon Mambo piece); 3 1/4" x 3 1/4"
• Scraps of Whisper White for the sentiments and the lily image

It come together SO quickly!  To attach the Thank You (I used our Thank You die ($24.00 CDN)) I used our white multipurpose glue.  To attache the Lily I used our fine tip glue pen.  Both glues were quick and easy and no, there wasn't a big gluey mess!  They worked REALLY well.  Of course if you have any of our retired Multipurpose Adhesive sheets on hand you can use those too but, honestly, I used both and found the glue better.  It was faster and less fiddly!

As I'm SURE you are aware, the Sale-a-brations promotion is now on and you can get SO MANY awesome products for FREE with a qualifying order.  I used THREE such free items on my card; the Lily Impressions Designer Paper (free with a $60 order), the Lily Pad stamp set (free with a $60 order) and the Lily Pad dies (free with a $120 order).  If you are in Canada and looking for a demonstrator to order through I would be honoured if you chose me.  You can click on my links over on the right hand side-bar to check out the catalogues and sale-a-brations brochure and to place your order through my store.

I hope you like my project today.  I actually had so much fun making it I decided to make some birthday cards too, using our retired Happy Birthday die ...

Now hop along and check out the other Maui Achievers' Blogs to see what THEY have designed for you this month!  Have a stampy day :)

Tam

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Lovely Lily Pad - a MUST have set!

Happy Sunday!

Well!  With the temperature in Edmonton hitting a not-so-balmy MINUS 47 degrees with the wind chill today I figured it is a GREAT day to do a blog post and hibernate in my ugella FarrCraft Cave!  GEEZ that's cold!  In fact, I believe Edmonton, Alberta, Canada is destined to be the coldest place on Earth this week.  Swell!  Thinkin' Doodle Dog is gunna be missing a few walks!

Today I'm sharing my absolute favourite card in for-EVER!!  Seriously!  In fourteen years of playing with paper this has GOT to be in my top 3 faves.  I'll preface by saying I can't take credit for it - I CASEd it from Stampin' Up! Artisan Narella Farrugia over at https://narallafarrugia.com.  She is my new favourite stamper to stalk!   Check out this STUPENDOUS card she made!

It.  Is.  STUNNING!

I changed it EVER so slightly.  Here is my CASEd version:

 LOVE IT!!!!  The ONLY reason I changed it at all is because when I used the Cherry Cobbler blends, as she did, for the flowers I didn't get the bright intensity that is shown in her picture.  I suspect her lighting played a factor there.  To get the GORGEOUS deep red I used my Dark Poppy Parade blend and then did highlights with my Dark Cherry Cobbler.  I used my Granny Apple Greens for the lily pads, Soft Sea Foam for the leaves and Pool Party for the water.  Sparkle was a must, so out came the Wink of Stella.

The other minor change to Narella's card is I used our Adhesive Backed Sequins - she used a red rhinestones, I believe.

I could just stare at this card all day.  Did I mention I love it??  lol.

The set is "Lovely Lily Pad" and it is FREE with a $60 (CDN) order during our Sale-a-brations promotion that runs all month.  You can also get the coordinating Lily Pad DIES with a $120 order (so to get both you need a $180 order).  I realize a $180 is nothing to sneeze at so DO know that good old fashions SCISSORS can cut those bad boys out!  Speaking of, scissors are what I used to cut out the "Thinking of You" sentiment that came from the Woven Heirlooms stamp set. 

If you would like to place an order to get these items, I would SO appreciate you ordering through my online store (if you are in Canada).  You can do so here.  If your order is under $200 and you use hostess code BEGD7QRN at the the checkout I'll mail you a little thank you gift!

Here are the fine details and how-to's for the card:

Whisper White Card Base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
Poppy Parade Layer (popped up on dimesionals): 4 3/4" plus 2 ticks x 3 1/2" plus 2 ticks
Whisper White top layer: 4 3/4" x 3 1/2"
Start by stamping the following pieces:

- Cut them out with scissors or dies.
- Colour the Lily Pads with the light Granny Apple Green Blend and then colour the second largest ring of the Lily Pad with your dark Granny Apple Green Blend
- Attach them to the card top layer using snail adhesive.
- Colour the leaves with your light and dark Soft Sea Foam Blends
- Colour the water at this point.  Use your light Pool Party blends to just add some blue around the lily pads and then use the dark Pool Party Blend for a little deeper colour under each of the lily pads for a shadow effect.
- Colour your flowers.  My preferred technique is to colour the entire flower with the dark Poppy Parade Blends and then highlight the base of each petal with your dark Cherry Cobbler blend.  I then take my Poppy Parade blend and go over the entire image again, to make sure there are no harsh lines between the two colours and that they blend nicely together for subtle shading.
- Attach the medium flower with snail.  Attach the two small flowers and large flower with dimensionals.  Attach the leaves with snail.
- stamp your sentiment in Black Memento Ink, fussy cut with scissors and pop up in dimensionals.
- use Wink of Stella for some glitz on your flowers
- add three sequins to finish it off.

To mass produce this card I stamped 10 sets of each of the pieces I needed and cut them out.  I then coloured them while watching a movie with my girls (GOTTA multitask! lol) and then just assembled.  I wasn't originally sold on this bundle ... until this card.  Now I say EVERYONE needs it - NEEDS it! lol.  Yes, I'm rather passionate about this one.

So that's it for today!  I hope it's warmer where you are ... and that you have a super stampy day!  Thanks for popping in.

Tam

2020 Occasions Catalogue and Sale-a-brations Promotion NOW AVAILABLE!

Happy Friday!

What a GREAT way to kick off the weekend!  The 2020 Occasions Catalogue products are now available ... and the annual Sale-a-brations promotion adds to the excitement!

For every $60 spent, customers earn a free items from the SAB Brochure.  There are two levels of free products - the $60 level and the $120 level. 

Click on the images over on the right hand side to see the catalogues.  Here are some quick pics of what you can choose for free!

These are the $60 level items:

These are the $120 level items:

Here are some ideas on what you can MAKE with the free items:

If you check out the new catalogue and your wish list is quite long I URGE you to get the Starter Kit!  It will save you money AND save you shipping and tax on TOP of the savings!  Need some extra incentive?  When you buy the kit this month you will ALSO get a mini paper trimmer, a designer paper sampler AND a free stamp set of YOUR CHOICE of ANY value! 

It's seriously the best way to get the products you want at a discount.  No, when you buy the Starter Kit ($135) you don't get SAB items on the purchase of that kit BUT you CAN then turn around and place an order to get those items.  I promise there are not strings attached - you can just grab the deal and run.  Drop me a line and I can answer any questions you have - no pressure!

Gotta dash - SO much to do for my Open House tomorrow morning!  Pop in, if you are in the Edmonton area, and grab the catalogues.  ALWAYS more fun to thumb through a physical book than look on a screen!

Have a stampy day!

Tam

Modern Heart meets Strong & Beautiful

Happy Sunday!

It IS Sunday, isn't it??  I have lost ALL concept of what day it is! ... and it's wonderful!

I truly haven't been this relaxed in I don't know HOW long!  The kids have been off school since last Friday afternoon ... and so has Craig!  The kids have another week off and Craig is off until Thursday!  As much as the man drives me CRAZY with his constant moving (her seriously only ever sits still for about 5 minutes at a time) I am VERY grateful for his neurotic tendencies *lol*.  My house is never as clean as when he has lots of days off in a row!  I also gain at least an hour a day by him always taking care of dinner!  It seriously feels like I have SO much more time in the day just by not having to deal with that one task every day!

So what have I been doing?  Well ... Christmas prep had me busy right up until Wednesday, of course ... but since then I have been just "putzing".  Yes, it's generally work related but I'm doing what I WANT to do, not what I feel I HAVE to do .. and I'm loving it!  Catching up on paperwork, planning classes, organizing my craft cave ... just getting caught up and trying to breath!  I don't have much time to keep that up, though, as I have my New Catalogue Class this Friday night and my New Catalogue Open House Saturday morning! ... and there is always a lot I want to do for those.  I'm going to TRY not to get all crazy prepping, though.  I'm MUCH more fun when I'm relaxed!

Today I'm going to share a project I made for a Canadian card swap I took part in.  It uses a new stamp set called "Forever Blossoms".  Trust me when I say this bundle is a MUST for you to own.  It makes quick and easy cards ... well ... quick and easy! ... but also stunning!  You CAN make it more complicated but you don't have to.  That's MY kind of set!  Check out what I made:

I just LOVE it!  I got a real muted, vintage look by stamping the image in Versamark then heat setting Gold embossing powder over it.  Heat embossing was my very first technique I ever tried and it's still my favourite, watching that powder melt!

To colour the images I used a fairly dry Aqua Painter.  I squeezed the closed Pear Pizazz and Blushing Bride ink pads really hard, to transfer a bit of ink into the closed lid.  I then used the aquapainter to paint the leaves and centres of the flowers.  An OLD aquapainter works well for this technique as the brush bristles give a feathers, realiztic look to the colouring, if that makes sense.

 I stamped the sentiment with Soft Sued ink and punched it out with my "Timeless Label" punch - and popped it up on dimensionals.

I added some Metallic Pearls for that finishing touch.  Love love love! 

I can't wait for the 2020 Occasions (Mini) Catalogue to go live January 3rd. This beautiful bundle (stamp set and dies) is $72.00 Canadian .... so when you purchase it you will also get a FREE Sale-a-bration item of your choice.  BONUS!

That's it for now - I'm off to finish off some projects I started MONTHS ago!  Whatever you get up to today, I hope it's a stampy one ... and I wish you all a very Happy New Year!



Tam

Stampin' Creative Blog Hop - Sale-a-Brations 2020 Sneak Peek!

Happy Boxing Day!

What is one to do on Christmas morning whilst waiting for the family to wake up and start the fun?  Why write your blog post, of course!  lol.

Welcome to the final Stampin' Creative Blog Hop for 2019!  I'm Tamara Bertram, coming to you from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  I'm THRILLED to be hopping with so many AMAZING demonstrators from around the globe.  Truly an honour!

This month we are bringing you Sneak Peak projects from the upcoming 2020 Sale-a-brations promotion.  You don't have to wait much longer - January 3rd you can get SAB products FREE with EVERY $60 (Cdn) you spend.  Yes, you will want them all, especially after you see all the great projects we have to share with you.  So grab a pencil and paper, hop along and start that wish list for your next order!

I decided to showcase the AWESOME "Happy Birthday To You" set. 

This set is PERFECT for birthdays AND for weddings.  I came up with a layout I just LOVE and, as you can see, couldn't stop creating in a variety of colours ...

Fun, right??  Yes, I used SCISSORS to cut out the cake but it really wasn't bad at all, as the image is large and easy to maneuver around.

The coloured mats are 4 3/4" plus two ticks x 3 1/2" plus two ticks

The white top layer is 4 3/4" x 3 1/2"

On all Cards I used my 2 1/4" Circle Punch, run through the Scripty Embossing folder.  I popped the layers and the cakes up on dimensionals.

This card is in Soft Sea Foam and I used my Soft Sea Foam and Petal Pink Blends to colour the cake ... and adhesive backed sequins for bling.  The sentiment and cake are embossed in Silver Embossing Powder (EP).  This would be a great wedding card ... and you could change the colours to be whatever the wedding colours are.  Fun!

This card is in Gold.  I used my Gold Shimmer Paint and a QTip to colour the cake ... and Gold Faceted Gems for bling.  The sentiment and cake are embossed in Gold Embossing Powder.  Wouldn't this be a great card for a Golden Wedding Anniversary??

This card is in Purple Posy.  I used my Purple Posy and Soft Sea Foam Blends to colour the cake ... and Silver Metallic Pearls for bling.  The sentiment was stamped in Highland Heather ink, covered  with Clear Embossing Powder and then heat set.  This is a technique you can use to get an embossed image in ANY colour!  Just make sure you have a juicy ink pad so the EP stick to it ... then heat set!  The cake is embossed in Silver Embossing Powder.  On this card I had TRIED stamping the sentiment with my Purple Posy Ink and covering it with Clear EP but when I heated the powder the colour changed to blue!  Funky but not the look I was going for! lol

This card is in Seaside Spray.  I used my Seaside Spray and Soft Seafoam Blends to colour the cake.  The sentiment was stamped in Seaside Spray ink, covered in Clear EP and heat set.  The cake is embossed in Silver Embossing Powder and I used Silver Faceted Gems for bling.

This card is in Basic Black.  I used my White Frost Shimmer Mist and a QTip to colour the cake.  The sentiment was stamped in Memento Black ink, covered in Clear EP and heat set.  This is my preferred method to embossing a black image.  I find when I use the Black Embossing powder it always leaves little flecks of black on the card, despite using the embossing body.  My way of doing it gets the same great black embossed effect but without the flecks!  

The cake is embossed in Black Powder (flecks really weren't an issue as I cut the image out) and I used Silver Faceted Gems, made black with my dark Black Blend for bling.

So there you have it!  Five samples of one layout, one stamp set but varying colours and em embellishments.  This is my favourite SAB item this year and, as you can see, I have already used it a lot!  Starting January 3rd you can get this set for free with a minimum purchase.  I hope this has inspired you to get it!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!  

Check out the rest of the SAB Sneak Peak projects my friends have created!

You've Got This Girl! - Kylie's Maui Achievers Blog Hop

Welcome to the Maui Achievers Blog Hop!  I'm Tamara Bertram, coming to you from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  I'm SO excited to he hopping with so many AMAZING demonstrators from around the glove as we bring you our projects this month!  Hopefully you will find some inspirations as you hop along.  Please leave comments for us as you go - it's always nice to hear what you think of our work.  Happy Hopping!

I have TWO cards to share today!  ... 10 hours LATE in posting, as I got my dates and times zones flipped with another hop I'm doing on Boxing Day but better late than never, I suppose!  It's funny that my card says "You've Got This, Girl" when in fact I do NOT have this *lol*

"Anything Current" is the theme and I was excited to play with non-Christmas sets!  I was pressed for time in creating them (little did I know I had already missed the deadline completely! lol) so I wanted to go with a simple, easy feel.  My eyes fell upon a FEW sets and I'm thrilled that they play nicely off each other.

My first one used two sets - the sentiment is from "Here's To Strong Women" and the splotch is from "Modern Heart".  I kept the colour palette simple, using just Whisper White, Basic Black and Bermuda Bay.  I love how it turned out:

 * Tip:  Whenever I want to keep things simple I turn to TEXTURE for interest.  On this card I heat embossed the sentiment in black, and the background is dry embossed with the Brick & Mortar Embossing folder.  You really don't need anything more!  Simple!

The next card I made . again uses the "Modern Heart" set and this time I paired it with "Strong and Beautiful" for the sentiment:

(Sorry for the lighting!  It's pretty dark at midnight over here in Canada! lol)

This layout is actually CASEd right out of our catalogue - I just changed the sentiment and colours.  I used Pretty Peacock, Blackberry Bliss and Highland Heather.  Again, I added texture by embossing the image and the sentiment and I used my snips to cut out the sentiment before popping it up on dimensionals.  I added a few Champagne Rhinestones for some bling.

There you are!  Two simple cards!  JUST what we need at this time of year - SIMPLE!

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the very best in the year ahead.  Enjoy hopping along with our other players!



Tam

Post Script:  My apologies - the link I need to join the blog hop is closed (how odd, given I'm only 11 hours late! lol).  If/when the link opens again I'll add the links to the other hoppers so you can hop along to check them out!