Full of Life Thank You Cards

By | March 26, 2025
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Hi there

When needing masculine cards – whatever the ocassion – my ‘go to’ ideas are either fun folds or using DSP. So when I needed two masculine ‘Thank You’ cards I reached for some DSP. The Full of Life DSP has so many colours and is nice and bright so that jumped onto my desk. With a few cuts here is what I created.

I don’t use the Regal colours much so picked the Shaded Spruce colour from the papers for my card base. After cutting four DSP designs measuring 2.5cm x 9.5cm and adhering them directly to a Basic White mat measuring 10cm x 11.3cm my card front was almost complete. The strip of DSP running behind the main focal point was a scrap I had – this is about 2cm and the Basic White was another offcut I had – it’s about 4cm wide. These pieces can vary – just use what you have on hand.

I decided I’d make another one with a slight change.

Did you spot the difference? Not just the colour which is Pumpkin Pie. The strips of DSP are the same width, just a little bit shorter at 9cm and the mat measures 9.5cm x 11.3cm allowing a bit more of the base to be seen. The DSP strip behind the mat is 2.5cm wide with the Basic White being 4cm.

These first two cards use the Thank You sentiment from With You In Mind – a great set to have in your stash.

While I was playing with the DSP I created another card using the Spring Corners set for the sentiment.

After selecting the paper I found a large offcut of Basic White in my stash and then cut the DSP to fit. The DSP measures 7.5cm x 11.5cm and the mat is 8cm x 12cm. Don’t be afraid to stamp your sentiments directly on to DSP. I know I don’t do this enough. The background mat of Granny Apple Green measures 10cm x 14.3cm.

I didn’t take an actual photo of the insides of the card but in each one I adhered an offcut that I had that coordinated with the front. Another great way of using up the small strips.

I hope you get some inspiration from these cards to use up some of your DSP scraps.

Until next time …

Floral Delight Suite Fun Fold

By | March 11, 2025
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Hi there

A couple of weeks back I discovered a new fun fold created by US demo – Connie Stewart. I love a fun fold, especially one where I can get two bases from a sheet of A4 cardstock.

It folds nice and flat so is easy to post and when opened it stands on it’s own to show the ‘fun fold’.

This is such a versatile fun fold and really easy to make – three score lines and two cuts and you are ready to decorate your card. I’ve manage to use a bit of everything from the Floral Delight Suite (page 33-37 of the Jan-Apr Mini Catalogue).

So as not to spoil the lovely fun fold with a space to write your message the back of the card base has been utilised for that.

You still get to decorate the ‘insert’ and have plenty of space to write.

I love teaching and sharing my love of paper crafting. If you’d like to make this card why not get some friends together for a card class. Message me to book in a time.

If you like this suite check out my earlier post using these products.

Until next time …

Beautiful Butterflies – Baby Wipe Technique

By | February 19, 2025
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Hi there

Last month I participated in a team swap. What is a swap you ask? A swap is where you make multiple cards of the same design. You then give one of your cards to each member of the group and they give you one of theirs. This means you end up with multiple different samples. It’s a great way to get ideas and be able to showcase a wider range of products. I used the Beautiful Butterlies bundle paired with the Baby Wipe technique.

I went with two colour ways – Berry Burst and Pumpkin Pie – I couldn’t decide which one I liked best.

The Baby Wipe technique is a great one for this type of stamp design. I have some other samples from previous years using this technique here and here.

To create my card I die cut the solid butterfly first then stamped. As this is a Photopolymer set I recommend using a Paper Pierce mat under your cardstock. This gives a better impression. The die cut overlay is adhered only on the body not the wings. This was so the wings could be lifted up to add dimension to the card.

To create the mat for the sentiment I used the same die as the words and then cut it in half. This gives a nice coloured edge especially when the sentiment and mat are white.

Here’s a list of the supplies:
Stamp and Dies – Beautiful Butterflies Bundle – stamps, dies and embossing folder
Card Stock – Berry Burst or Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black and Basic White
Reinkers – Berry Burst, Fresh Freesia and Balmy Blue or Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight and Poppy Parade plus Memento Black Ink Pad
Other – Glossy Dots Assortments, Baby Wipes

Don’t forget Sale-A-Bration finishes at the end of February, so place your orders of NZD$125 or more to receive a free product. Check out my Promotions page.

Until next time …

Five-Three-One Card Design

By | February 6, 2025
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Hi there

Do you ever find a card design and then make multiples of that design? We’ll that’s what I’ve been doing this week.

I saw a simple design by Sue’s Paper Creation’s that is so versatile and it uses those small pieces of Designer Series Paper (DSP) we all have. The card is called a 5-3-1 design – five stips of DSP, three fun images and one sentiment.

I taught these two cards at a recent workshop using the Notecards and Envelopes, Bloom Impressions DSP (Sale-A-Bration product), With You In Mind stamp set (January-April Mini), Everyday Arches dies (Online Exclusive) and the Purple Adhesive-Backed sequins (Sale-A-Bration).

The DSP measures 2cm or 2.5cm x 8cm. Depending on the size of card you’re making you can alter the widths of the DSP to fit the card. I’d cut more strips than I needed as I wanted the ladies to have a choice on paper designs. I got a bit carried away and made an additional three full sized cards with the left over strips of DSP.

For the above and below card I cut a Basic White mat measuring 13.3cm x 9cm and adhered the DSP directly to the mat. I then cut a coloured co-ordinating mat measuring 14.3cm x 10cm and adhered the two together. I don’t mind fussy cutting but if you’re not into that find a small image that can be die cut.

For my last sample I decided to arrange the DSP at different heights – I quite like this look. The Basic White mat is slightly bigger than the previous two cards and measures 13.8cm x 9.5cm.

I hope these cards have inspired you to use up your DSP scraps – have a play with the widths – they could be five different sizes depending on what paper you have.

Until next time …

Floral Delight Suite

By | January 28, 2025
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Hi there

Can you believe it – I almost didn’t buy this suite. What – you’re saying but it’s Yellow. I know – but I was going to purchase the bundle. Sometimes when I see Designer Series Paper (DSP) I think – will I actually use this? Do I like all the patterns? Can I bring myself to cut into it? After purchasing the entire suite I decided my first card needed to use the DSP so I cut into not one sheet but two sheets and one of the vellum. It actually felt good.

The Floral Delight Suite consists of a bundle (stamp and dies), DSP, vellum, ribbon and some cute bee trinkets. If you want to purchase all items use this one code to get everything 164716.

I set myself a challenge when I created this card. Could I use all the elements of this suite on the one card? The answer – yes. My card mat is 10cm x 14.3cm with strips of DSP and vellum measuring 3cm x 13.8cm.

I also sneeked in another new product – the Everyday Arches – one of the new Online Exclusive items. They create a window effect – looking through to the flowers. The stamp set is a ‘two step’ stamp set which helps you build your image with multiple colours. I also stamped the flowers on a scrap bit of cardstock, die cut them and adhered with dimensionals.

There are five sentiments which work well with the ‘wishing’ which can be stamped, stamped and die cut or die cut as I have done here. A good tip when die cuting words like this – use adhesive sheets on the back ot the words – it makes for easy no mess adhering.

To adhere the bee I folded a glue dot in half and placed the bee on top – it covered the glue dot perfectly – then carefully remove the glue dot from it’s backing and adhered it to my project.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this project – there will be more to come from this Suite.

Until next time …

Happy Anniversary – Hearts & Hugs

By | January 19, 2025
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Hi there

Today Phil and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary. We had a lovely lunch out at a local cafe and have a dinner booked for later this week – it’s an ‘experience’ and a dinner.

I don’t own any traditional wedding anniversary stamps so normally go with a fun option for Phil’s card. This year I’ve used the Hearts & Hugs bundle. This bundle includes some cute ‘furry’ characters one of which is a mouse. Now I am not a fan of mice in real life, but I must admit the stamped image is rather cute.

I stamped the mouse with Memento Black then coloured it in with Smoky Slate, Pretty In Pink and Poppy Parade Stampin Blends then die cut it with the coordinating die. The dies in this bundle also include flowers, greenery, a banner and hearts. I die cut the hearts (all one die) from the white mat to allow the coloured mat below to show through. As yellow is my favourite colour my flowers are Daffodil Delight.

From now until 28 February we are celebrating Sale-A-Bration – check out my Promotions page to learn more. With every order of NZD$125 or more you can select a FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration brochure. If you like the Hearts & Hugs bundle and added a pack of card stock you would qualify for a Free product. You can place you order via my online store or message me directly.

Until next time …

Welcome to 2025 – new beginnings

By | January 17, 2025
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A new year has begun and with it hopefully new routines. I had good intentions to have regular blog posts in 2024 but life happened and blogging was the first thing to drop by the wayside. 2024 was a rollercoaster of a year – highs (attending OnStage in Melbourne, a wonderful holiday with friends in the South Island) and lows (a major company restructure (thankfully I still have my job), my MIL dying). The biggest low was my Dad being diagnosed with a terminal illness and then dying at the beginning of December.

After having a break at Christmas, I am ready to get back into my crafting. Hopefully I can keep to regular blog posts and get back into having classes – I have missed both of these.

With a new year comes new catalogues. We have a new mini catalogue, a new release of Online Exclusives and a new scrapbooking brochure. To top it off we have Sale-A-Bration happening during January and February.

Now onto my first project for the year. When I received the new mini catalogue the first set that jumped into my cart was the With You In Mind set. This set was inspired by Million Sales Achiever Julie Davison. I love the big font for the sentiment and the five images that can be used with all the sentiments.

I wanted something bright and cheerful to start the year off. I’ve stamped and ‘fussy cut’ the flower image in rainbow colours – Red (Poppy Parade), Orange (Pumpkin Pie), Yellow (Daffodil Delight), Green (Granny Apple Green), Blue (Balmy Blue), Indigo (Blueberry Bushel) and Violet (Gorgeous Grape) – and adhered them with dimensionals. Before adhering them I stamped the sentiment in Memento Black at the bottom allowing room for the rainbow to frame the words.

For the centre of the flowers I used the white sequins from the Purple Adhesive-Backed Sequins which are a FREE Sale-A-Bration product when you place an order of NZD$125 or more between now and 28 February.

Check out my Promotions page to find out more about Sale-A-Bration.

Until next time …

TGIF Challenge – Layout Design

By | March 4, 2024
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Hi there

I don’t know about you but sometimes I struggle to come up with a layout design for a project. That is where challenges are great. There are a couple of types of challenges that I use – a colour combo challenge – where you’re given two or three colours to use or a layout design challenge – this is where you’re given a layout design and you add your own colours and stamps to fit the design. Last month I used a layout design from TGIF Challenges and this is what I came up with.

TGIF Challenge

This was the layout we were given and here’s my template with measurements – so I can use it again.

My first card uses the Earthen Textures bundle (pg 71 of AC) and the second card uses the Pansy Patch stamp and dies (pg 27 of AC)

Earthen Textures Bundle
Pansy Patch stamp and dies

If you want to see how I created these cards check out my Facebook Live – Yellow Bear Stamping On that note – I do a Facebook Live every Monday night at 7pm – I’d love to have you join me.

Until next time …

Pop Out Swing Card – Trucking Along

By | February 22, 2024
2 Comments

Hi there

The saying goes ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’ so I’m putting that into practice in my crafting. Rather than coming up with a new card design I’ve gone back into my archives and selected a card style I’ve made many times before. This time I’m adapting the card to use current product to achieve a similar result.

Trucking Along Fun Fold

Once I knew the design I wanted the next thing was ‘what elements will I use?’ I tried the Trusty Tools but they were too big for the size of my square (Stylish Shapes dies). I looked on my desk and found the truck, already coloured, and it fit perfectly. The next question was ‘what colour card base will I use?’ Out came the colour coach but none of the combinations looked right so I used another tool My Create Ink and chose Pool Party. Full steam ahead and my card is created. The sentiment is from Phrases for All.

Trucking Along Fun Fold

To create the circle ‘tab’ I folded a piece of Pool Party cardstock in half and using the smallest circle die from the Stylish Shapes cut it out. By placing the die a little bit over the fold you end up with two circles joined together by the fold – creating a tab. You can then adhere this to the square mat.

Trucking Along Fun Fold

Check out my previous cards by clicking here, here and finally here which has the measurements. I hope these cards inspire your to recreate with products you have on hand.

Until next time …

Bee My Valentine Alternative

By | February 6, 2024
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Hi there

Well I haven’t been good at starting my new habit for 2024 of blogging more often – oops. I must admit by the end of the day I haven’t really wanted more screen time so have been enjoying reading over the summer.

Have you seen the Bee Mine Suite in the current mini catalogue? The bees are so cute and the sentiments are perfect for not only Valentine’s Day cards but wedding anniversary cards. Phil and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary last month so this was the set I used for his card. My parents have their 65th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day so I’ve created a card for Dad to give Mum using this same set.

This is the card I made for Phil which features the Bokeh technique for the background. It’s been ages since I used this technique. I’ve used a mix of Balmy Blue, Pool Party, Coastal Cabana and Azure Afternoon ink applied with Blending Brushes before adding White Craft ink with a dauber to create the ‘blur’ of the technique. Check out my Facebook Live from Monday 22 January to see how I did this technique. The bees wings have been heat embossed in white on Vellum before being punched out with the Bee Builder Punch.

This is the card Dad chose to give to Mum – love the sentiment. I’ve used the new Everyday Details dies to create a frame for my scene in the background. The scene is stamped on a separate piece of Basic White and adhered directly to the card base. The Basic White card front has then had largest die die cut from the centre to create the window. To create the frame I cut a piece of Poppy Parade measuring 2 7/8″ x 4 3/8″ then die cut the largest die from the centre and adhered it on top of the Basic White card front. This is then adhered with dimensionals to the card base.

This is a similar card design although this time I’ve made it a shaker card. I’ve used Adhesive Strips and Window Sheet to keep my Loose Silver Sequins intact. The background Designer Series Paper (DSP) is from the Bee Mine Suite. If you’d like to see how I made this shaker card check out my Facebook Live for Monday 15 January.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these cards and give these techniques a go yourself. I do a regular Monday Facebook Live at 7pm NZT and would love you to join me over on my business page – Yellowbear Stamping.

Until next time …

Bee Mine Suite - Wedding Anniversary cards

Sale-A-Bration is here plus a new Mini Catalogue

By | January 4, 2024
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Hi there

Welcome to 2024 and a fresh year ahead. I saw a post on Facebook the other day asking what New Year Resolutions people had made. I personally don’t make New Year Resolutions but I did like one persons reply – make new habits instead of resolutions. So my new habit for 2024 is to blog more often. I hope I can make this habit stick.

January is a busy month in the Stampin’ Up! world – we have a new mini catalogue that started today and goes through until 30 April 2024. It’s filled with amazing products and ideas. If you haven’t received a copy yet please message me and I’ll send you one. In the meantime check out the pdf version via my Catalogues page or from the sidebar on my home page.

As mentioned in my blog title it’s Sale-A-Bration time too – one of our biggest promotions of the year. There are three ways to benefit from Sale-A-Bration during January and February – Shop, Host and Join. Shop – earn FREE products with every NZD$110 you spend and there are special products available when you spend NZD$220. Check out my Catalogues page to download the brochure to see the products.

Host – gather some friends together for a workshop with me where we’ll make two projects and you could receive an additional NZD$57.50 to spend on product when your personal or group orders total NZD$575.

Join – join my Stampin’ Up! team during January and February and in addition to your Starter Kit (NZD$285 worth of product for only NZD$189) you get to choose one of the two FREE bonus options – a Glass Mat Studio or an additional NZD$57 in product. I’d love to have you join me and be part of the amazing Stampin’ Up! community.

If you have any questions about Shop, Host or Join please contact me for more details.

I’ll be starting my weekly Facebook Lives on Monday 8 January at 7pm NZT – I’d love to have you join me – https://www.facebook.com/yellowbearstamping

Until next time …

Masculine cards in Blue

By | November 6, 2023
2 Comments

Hi there

Back in September I participated in a 14 day Social Media challenge on Facebook and since then I’ve been trying to build up my presence on my business Facebook page. I’d love to have you join and follow me there. I am now going to try and incorporate posting here again too as I know not everyone is on Facebook and I’d hate for you to miss out on seeing my creations and what’s new in Stampin’ Up!

One of the biggest challenges during the 14 days was to do a Facebook Live – eek I’d never done one before but I stepped out of my comfort zone and actually enjoyed doing it. I am now doing a regular Monday Live at 7pm (NZT) and would love for you to join me. Unfortunately I had a prior engagement tonight so am posting a project rather than making it ‘Live’.

On a Friday I ask a ‘this or that’ question which will determine what I create on a Monday. My question was ‘which colour do you go to when creating a masculine card – blues or neutrals?’ Blues won hands down so here are some cards which I hope will inspire you.

None of my family are into fishing but I really liked the Let’s Go Fishing Designer Series Paper (DSP). One side is ‘fishing’ and the other is designs of blues and neutrals. The Twisted Rope 3D Embossing Folder goes really well with this paper. The banner is cut from two of the largest banner dies from Nested Essentials – the join is hidden under the sentiment. The sentiment mats are also from the Nested Essentials dies. I’m not sure what shape this is but I’m calling it an elongated hexagon. I’ve used Boho Blue and Misty Moonlight with a Thick Basic White base.

For this card I’ve used a different design of paper and cut three panels measuring 4.5cm x 9.7cm. Before adding it to the mat (10cm x 14.3cm) I’ve run each panel through the Stampin’ Cut and Emboss machine using the Timeworn Type 3D Embossing Folder. This gives an added texture to the paper. The sentiment is from Phrases for All and is adhered to the largest tag from Tailor Made Tags.

These designs are a great way to use up your DSP and can be used for masculine or feminine cards.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these cards and give them a try yourself.

Don’t forget to pop on over to my business Facebook page – I’d love to have you follow me there.

Until next time…

Patchwork Crafting With You

By | August 20, 2023
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Hi there

I’ve had so much fun creating projects with the Crafting With You bundle. Here are two more cards I made to share at the recent crafting retreat I attended.

I made this card for my Sister-in-law who had a birthday yesterday. She has made some amazing patchwork quilts so when I saw this idea on Pinterest (thanks Marcie Besecker) I knew I had to recreate it. I cut my squares from the various designs of the Countryside Inn DSP and adhered them to a piece of copy paper. Before adhering them I had a play with the positioning – it changed a number of times. I adhered the DSP to a piece of Night of Navy cardstock that was slightly bigger to create the binding. I love the texture on the cotton spools – the die cuts and embosses at the same time.

When I was creating the jotta pad table gifts for the retreat I’d been playing around with various colour combos. I decided to use the ‘trials’ to create a card similar to the jotta pad. The paint brush outlines were stamped in Crumb Cake so to add some colour I used my Stampin’ Blends on the handles and brush tips.

Don’t forget we have our Kit sale on this month – ends 31st August. I’m going to purchase a couple of kits and put them aside for when I have my Christmas holiday. These kits are all inclusive – way easier to pack a small box that trying to remember to pack all the bits and pieces to create cards. Check out my post here about our kits.

If you’d like to place an order you can do so via my online store or contact me directly.

Until next time …

Crafting With You – Weekend Retreat Projects

By | August 9, 2023
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Hi there

Last month I attended a weekend craft retreat with 9 others. We had a great weekend and I came away with lots of samples and ideas. We each taught a project and for those of us that participated in the swap we used the same stamp for our swap. I used the Crafting With You bundle (page 91). I also made my table gifts with this set. The Crafting With You bundle covers a number of ‘crafts’ – painting, sewing/knitting and paper crafting so I featured these across my projects.

For my table gift I covered and decorated a jotta pad going with the ‘painting’ theme.

Crafting With You bundle

For my swap I went with the sewing/knitting items in this bundle.

Crafting With You bundle

I went through a few iterations for the layout of this card and finally settled on the above. To colour the flowers in the ‘hoop’ I used daubers carefully applying the different coloured ink. The spools of thread are so cute – it’s a bit hard to see in the photo but the coloured bits are textured.

For my project that I taught (and the others got to make) I used the rest of the elements from this bundle – the paper crafting items.

Crafting With You bundle

This is a fun fold ‘book fold’ card – one of my favourites (you can see some other designs here and here). There is very little stamping on this card and quite a bit of die cutting. I love the paper trimmer and scissors. To create the side panel I used one of the dies from the Beautiful Balloons bundle (page 15) and threated a strip of cardstock in between the slits for a ribbon effect. Instead of using normal ‘bling’ for the embellishments I used the Enamel Effects Basics Metallic of copper, gold or silver. If you’ve missed this product check it out on page 137.

To recreate these projects hop on over to my online store to purchase this great bundle.

Until next time …