In The Christmas Spirit

Enjoying and savoring the moment I'm in has been instrumental in increasing my delight in life.  It also has caused my perception of time's passing to slow.  You'll probably never hear me say, "I can't believe it's December already" or a version of that.  This enjoying of the moment has not come easily to me - I've prayed my way to it for years - nor does it stay without a daily renewing of my mind.  But the joy is worth it!

All that to say, I'm ready to celebrate Christmas.  Yes, I've been making Christmas projects for over a month but that was out of necessity.  Whipping out 60 cards in a day or two isn't happening in my world!  But it's a week before Christmas, which is my signal to wrap gifts and that's what "kicks off" the holidays for me.  I'm all-in now!  Cue the carols!  This Friday, Caitlin and I start our annual 1000-piece Christmas puzzle and I'm really excited about it.  What "kicks off" Christmas for you?  Leave me a comment because I'd love to know.

  

Now that I'm in the Christmas spirit, I thought I'd make a birthday card!  That made no sense at all, except for the fact that each year, I gift my Grandma a stack of birthday cards with a roll of stamps.  She loves mailing out my cards and I love creating them for her.  I used this week's Splitcoaststampers Sketch to make today's project.

Two versatile, go-to sets on my stamp shelf are Birthday Backgrounds and Perennial Birthdays.  Birthday Backgrounds is perfect for creating backgrounds, adding a little something to balance out a card, or to draw the eye to the focal point (as I did in the card above).

Perennial Birthdays has birthday sentiments in my favorite font.  They're also the perfect size - not too big, not too little.  I used the Balloon Bouquet punch with Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (the stripes are so fun!) to create a celebratory trio.  The strings are handdrawn with a journaling pen.  I love the shape of the Stitched Nested Labels dies - it's so different from the usual circle/square/rectangle.

You can find the supplies for this card in my online store:

Birthday Backgrounds

Perennial Birthdays

Balloon Bouquet Punch

Stitched Nested Labels dies

Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper

Journaling Pen

Also check out the Clearance Rack while you're at my online store.  It is filled to the brim with bargains!

I'm so excited about the January - June 2020 Mini Catalog that I'm devoting an entire day to showing off the stunning projects you can make with its new products!  January 3 is the day it goes live, along with the 2020 Sale-A-Bration catalog.  Follow my Facebook page and set your notifications to alert you when I go live so you don't miss it!

What is Sale-A-Bration? It's a special brochure with tons of fun product that you can earn for free.  Level 1 items are earned with every $50 order and Level 2 items are earned for every $100 order.  There are no limits to what you earn.  

• Order $50-->earn one Level 1 item
• Order $100-->earn two Level 1 items OR one Level 1 item
• Order $150-->earn three Level 1 items OR one Level 1 item plus one Level 2 item PLUS Stampin' Rewards (free product of your choosing)!
• And it just keeps going!

Need your own copy to follow along with during my Catalog Launch Party on January 3?  Request a catalog package here or email me at nicole @thejoyfulstamper.com with your mailing address.

Thank you for choosing me as your demonstrator and giving me the opportunity to earn your business!

Tiny Purse for 3x3 Note Cards and Envelopes

How was your weekend, friends?  We took a trip to Hershey, PA to watch the state cross country championship meet.  The boys' team from our daughters' school made it as did one girl from the girls' team.  Caitlin runs for Eden's team and went along as her teammate's roommate.  It was such a fun day!  We had a tailgate lunch after the races in our team tent with lots of photos and celebrating.  Then we walked over to Hershey Chocolate World for a tour and some shopping.  Did you know the streetlights in town are Hershey Kisses?  Even the park where the meet was held smelled like chocolate!  Someone told me the company intentionally pipes the aroma around the area but I have not verified that is true.  Whether true or not, it smelled divine!  Better than the sewage plant that used to sit on the course 😜.

On page 30 of the Annual Catalog is a set of 6 tiny note cards using Itty Bitty Greetings that I've wanted to make, but I wanted to gift them so I searched for a holder.  I found a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers for a cute little tote.  Hold on, because I have lots of photos to show you of this treasure!

Isn't it adorable?  I piled on the layers and added sponging with Soft Suede ink.  The Crumb Cake ribbon is one of two spools in the Come To Gather Ribbon Combo Pack.  I cut a piece in half length-wise to get a frayed look.  That bit of wood embellishment peeking out from behind the ribbon and leaf is a round tree trunk tag from Tags & Feathers Elements.  Did you know you can color on them with Stampin' Blends?  And did you know you can heat emboss them?  Yes!  They are fun to work with!

You can see how it holds 3x3 sized cards and envelopes.  I fit 6 of each in the tote. 

To make the 3"x3" note cards, I began with a 12"x12" sheet of Whisper White cardstock.  3" and 9" are where you'll score and 6" is where you'll cut.  That gives you (2) 6" x 12" pieces which you can then cut at 3", 6", and 9".  That gives you 8 note cards, although I used just 6 of them for this project.

When making projects like these, I love to pile products on my desk and dive in.  It's inspiring to see it in front of me like that, plus it limits my choices which makes it easier to create.

I could hardly stay in my seat while working on this!  It was so exciting to play with the different patterns in the Come To Gather pack and the colors of fall were gorgeous.  Do you know what really made me happy, though?  The sponging on the sentiment dies and the addition of the Basics Holiday Rhinestone Jewels!  That mix of vintage and sparkle makes my heart sing.

Here's the tutorial:

3" x 3" Note Card Tote

Here's what was on my desk to make this:

Come To Gather Bundle (includes bulleted products listed below - bundle is orderable November 11 when ribbon combo pack comes back in stock, or products can be ordered individually) 

• Gather Together stamp set
• Gathered Leaves dies
• Come To Gather designer series paper
• Come To Gather Ribbon Combo pack (back in stock November 11)
• Tags & Feathers Elements

Itty Bitty Greetings stamp set

Stitched Nested Labels Dies

Leaf Punch

Basics Holiday Rhinestones Jewels

Sponges

12"x12" Whisper White cardstock

3"x3" envelopes

Layering Squares dies

Ink Colors: Soft Suede, Merry Merlot, Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, Pear Pizzazz

You can see other projects made with the Gather Together suite here.  

November's Gift (a $15 value)!

Fall Banner

My oldest daughter Emma requested fall decorations for her dorm room a few weeks ago.  Of course, I got to work!  Today, I'm sharing the banner I made.

I apologize that these photos are not as good as what I have been posting.  The camera was temporarily out of commission so my laptop camera had to do.  The banner is what we should be noticing, anyways!  Don't you love it?!?!  Ever hear of a runner's high?  Well, I had a crafter's high when I made this!

  

Confession: I used a retired stamp set called Well-Worn for the letters but the Lined Alphabet (item #145908, pg 159 in the Annual Catalog) would be an even better one to use since it's clear (which makes it easier to see where you are stamping).  You could also use letter stickers, if you have any alphabet ones.

Each letter panel uses the same components from the Come To Gather product suite.  They are arranged slightly different on each letter panel, though.  I LOVE how those wooden tree tags set off the letters and add a nice contrast to the other elements.  They are in the Tags & Feather Elements pack (item #150455, pg 47 in the Holiday Catalog).

I began my banner by die-cutting, stamping, punching, and heat embossing all the elements (I did not end up using those Pretty Peacock gingham pumpkins - the pattern was too big for the pumpkin sizes).

I put together a short tutorial for you in the photo above to create each letter panel for the banner.  Stampin' Up!'s Grid Paper comes in handy for this part (item #130148, pg 183 in Annual Catalog)!  

Use a hole punch to make a hole in the top left and top right corners of each panel, then string the Crumb Cake ribbon from the Come To Gather combo pack through the holes (item #150456, pg 47 in the Holiday Catalog).

Isn't that a fun banner?  It took an hour to make it and that included design time, so it would be even faster for you!

Supplies To Make This Fall Banner:

• Gather Together stamp set (item #150589)
• Gathered Leaves dies (item # 150662)
• Gather Together Bundle (includes stamp set and dies listed above at a 10% discount; item # 153036)
• Come To Gather Designer Series Paper (item #150454)
• Come To Gather Ribbon Combo Pack (item #150456)
• Tags & Feather Elements (item #150455)
• Come To Gather suite (includes everything listed above, orderable with just one number; item #153484)
• Lined Alphabet (item #145908)
• Stitched Nested Labels dies (item #149638)
• Early Espresso cardstock (for the banner panels; item #119686)
• Pumpkin Pie cardstock (for the pumpkins; item #105117)
• Versamark ink (to stamp the pumpkins before heat embossing them; item #102283)
• Pretty Peacock ink pad & cardstock (item #150083 & 150880 )
• Mint Macaron ink pad & cardstock (item #147106 & 138337 )
• Merry Merlot ink pad & cardstock (item #147112 & 146979)
• Cajun Craze ink pad & cardstock (item #147085 & 119684)
• Leaf Punch (item #144667)
• Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder (item #109129)
• Heat Tool (item #129053)
• Multipurpose Liquid Glue (item #110755)
• Stampin' Dimensionals (item #104430)
• Glue Dots (item #103683)
• Tear N Tape (to adhere wooden tags; item #138995) 
• Grid Paper (item #130148)

Pick your favorites to order here in my online store.  Use September's Host Code RCRTAFKX on your order and I'll send you a Halloween wreath tutorial that uses our new coffin boxes!  It's my gift to you for shopping with me!

This once-a-year sale ends September 30!

Click image to follow me on Facebook!

TGIF and Splitcoatstampers Challenges

Woo-hoo!  I got to stamp this past weekend!  After being on Hilton Head Island for a week, then jumping right into our church's kids' Bible camp, it had been a few weeks since I'd created anything.  Sometimes that break is a good thing, though, because I find the ideas come easily after returning from one.

I made this for TGIF's #tgifc220 and Splitcoaststamper's CC747 challenges.  TGIF's is a sketch challenge and Splitcoaststamper's is a color challenge, so combining the two allowed me to focus on the elements of my card.  I had to substitute the retired Primrose Petals for Rococo Rose since I did not have any of the latter, but it worked!

As I was coloring the images from the Free As A Bird stamp set, my mind wandered to time spent at my parents' camp in the Allegheny National Forest near Tionesta, PA.  They have a big front porch with rocking chairs and, when my three girls were small, we'd sit there with my mother as she played bird calls on this little machine she had.  The machine came with cards that had calls from loads of bird species recorded on them.  Whichever bird the girls wanted to call, my mom would put the proper card in the machine and the girls spent so many hours having fun trying to lure real birds to call back.  My mom also had a hummingbird feeder on the porch and it was constantly seeing activity.  The girls loved seeing how long they could sit quietly so as to attract more hummingbirds to the feeder - sometimes there were so many they'd "flit" each other away so as to get a drink!  My daughters' sweet excitement and joy in God's creation is such a beautiful memory.

I encourage you to play along in challenges like these two if you find yourself short on stamping time or in a creative rut.  They really are fun, plus you get to see others' takes on the same challenge.  

Here's the Card Recipe so you can make this, too: 

• Free As A Bird stamp set
• Stitched Nested Labels Dies(used to die-cut strip under sentiment)
• Free As A Bird Bundle (stamp set and dies together to save 10%)
• Primrose Petals cardstock (5-1/2 x 8-1/2 card base, 5-1/4 x 3-3/4)
• Soft Sea Foam cardstock (scraps to stamp images and die-cut strip)
• Very Vanilla cardstock (scrap for sentiment)
• Shimmer Detailed Laser Cut DSP
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad
• Soft Suede Ink Pad (to stamp sentiment)
• Whisper White Craft Ink Pad (swiped onto Primrose Petals layer)
• Rococo Rose Scalloped Linen Ribbon
• Light & Dark Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends
• Light & Dark Pink Pirouette Stampin' Blends (retired)
• Light & Dark Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends
• Light & Dark Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends
• Dark Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends
• Paper Snips for fussy cutting images

Last day to register for the Daisy Lane Class To Go!

Use Host Code KVQ6SS4R

Details here.

Sign up now - I promise you'll love this class!

Bird Ballad Notecard Set Part 2

I showed you two of the four notecards I had made in this post from Friday.  Now I'll show you the next two!  They use stamped images from Free As A Bird.

Coloring with Stampin' Blends markers means your images will not have marker lines and there will be nice blending of shades.  You can use different colors on the same image and not worry about the colors contaminating each other.  My bird above uses Dark and Light Petal Pink Blends and Light Crumb Cake Blends.  My flowers use Dark and Light Daffodil Delight and the leaves Dark & Light Old Olive.

In this sample, I added a couple cute little flowers colored with a Dark Calypso Coral Blend.  Both of these cards were made with Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White Notecards and Envelopes, which come already cut and scored for you!  

See the other two notecards I made with this product suite in this blog post.

Wouldn't a set of these sweet notecards make a fantastic gift?  Bundle some together with the included envelopes stamped to match and they make a perfect welcome gift for a new neighbor, or for a new mom to write thank yous, or even as a wedding or baby shower game prize.  So many uses!


You Can Make It:

• Bird Ballad Bundle (save 10%!)
• Free As A Bird stamp set
• Stitched Nested Labels Dies
• Bird Ballad DSP
• Crumb Cake cardstock
• Early Espresso ink pad
• Basic Pearls
• Paper Snips
• Scalloped Lace Trim
• Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes

 Click on any of the links above to go to my online store and shop!  I would so appreciate your order!

Bird Ballad Bundle Notecard Set Part 1

I am CRAZY for the Bird Ballad suite!  I can't stop creating with it!  Do you get like that?  Where you just obsessively craft with a specific set of products or even a technique?  I do that and right now I'm doing that with all the Bird Ballad coordinating products - the scalloped lace trim, the trinkets, the DSP, the stamp set, the dies - everything!  

Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White notecards are so convenient for making these pretty cards.  They come cut and scored using our Thick Whisper White cardstock and are 3-1/2" x 5" when folded.  A pack has 20 cards and 20 envelopes.  You can also get them in Very Vanilla.  They are a hidden gem in our catalog and you'll find them on page 168.  

I cut some of the gorgeous Bird Ballad DSP to 3-1/2" x 5" to fully cover the notecard front, then used Crumb Cake cardstock and the Stitched Nested Labels Dies to create panels for my sentiments.  The sentiments come from Free As A Bird stamp set.  A little bit of Scalloped Lace Trim and Basic Pearls and these are done!

 Here's a tip for you: this DSP has beautiful images that work great as focal pieces on notecards.  Use Paper Snips to cut out those images to add to your cards - no stamping required!  In the first sample, my bird was cut from DSP and in the second sample, I cut feathers from the DSP.  

Come back for my next post to see the other two notecards I made using the Bird Ballad suite.  Or you can subscribe to my blog in the right sidebar by typing in your email address and my posts will automatically show up in your email inbox!

You Can Make It:

• Bird Ballad Bundle (save 10%!)
• Free As A Bird stamp set
• Stitched Nested Labels Dies
• Bird Ballad DSP
• Crumb Cake cardstock
• Early Espresso ink pad
• Basic Pearls
• Paper Snips
• Scalloped Lace Trim
• Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes

 Click on any of the links above to go to my online store and shop!  I would so appreciate your order!

A Photo Display For College

Since my oldest girl just graduated from high school a little over a week ago, I have been in both a reflective and prospective state of mind.  Last week, I showed you the mini album I made of her senior photos here.  Recently, there was a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers for a Home Sweet Home mini album.  Immediately I knew I wanted to make it and fill it with photos of Emma's favorite things about home.  It was the perfect way to let her know she is loved while away at school for the first time.

I deviated from the original tutorial by omitting the roof and accordion folding the home to make it flat.  That wasn't my intention, however making it 3D with the roof and four sides made it rather large for a shared dorm room (space is precious!).  The revision was not well thought-out, though, because it doesn't actually tie shut now!  The left edges of the project are not tied shut, but it does allow for standing the album up for easier display so that was the bright side of my mistake.

Check out those adorable key charms!  They are from the Bird Ballad Trinkets.  I love how they match one of the designs in the DSP from that suite.

  

The key charms inspired my title for the album (family holds the keys to love).  I had the idea to use my Stampin' Blends marker to write some of the title on vellum, use a black journaling pen to write the same word on the whisper white cardstock, then layer the vellum over it.  I saw this technique years ago in an idea book by my favorite scrapbooker of all time, Rebecca Sower (she gave me freedom to journal in a more unique manner and I forever love her for that).

And here's the inside once untied and unfolded.  Notice the different pattern on the left most panel as compared to the other three panels.  That, too, was a mistake.  I did not pay attention to the patterns as I was making the cuts to the two 12x12 sheets and I should have, because it mattered when I glued them together.  As with most other things in life, though, mistakes are usually not the big deal we think they are, so I continued on with the album.

What will ultimately go in here are photos of her dad and I, Emma and her two younger sisters, and Lily our little dog.  When so much is changing, it's nice to know there are those back home that are rooting for you!  What would you put in an album like this and who would you give it to?

Tips and Tricks:

• Use a grade school art class trick to make symmetrical hearts - fold cardstock in half, pencil in half a heart along the fold, and cut along the pencil line (but don't cut the fold) 
• Use a journaling pen to doodle a frame on the interior cardstock panels.  Perfection not required! 

You Can Make It!

• Free As A Bird bundle
• Ink: Soft Suede (sponged along edges of cover cardstock pieces), Memento Tuxedo Black (to stamp small flowers on cover)
• Bird Ballad DSP
• Cardstock colors: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Petal Pink, Old Olive
• Vellum
• Journaling Pen
• Bird Ballad Trinkets
• Linen Thread
• Braided Linen Trim
• Sponges
• Dark Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends
• rhinestone
• eyelets and hole punch (non-SU!)

Don't forget to order my Bird Ballad Class To Go by June 18

Use Host Code VTFXMJVH

Details found here