1.17.23 Tuesday Tool Tip YouTube Video for You - Here's How to Get Perfect Looking Images!

 Here's another Tuesday Tip for you. It is a little shorter video than my first one. Give it a look!

In this short video, I show how to color the edge of a fussy cut stamped image using Stampin' Up!s Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker. By using this product in your papercrafting projects you will achieve what looks like a perfectly stamped and fussy cut image (and no one will be the wiser, but you!) 

I hope you find this idea useful with your cardmaking and papercrafting projects.
Do you need more creative papercrafting ideas using Stampin' Up! products? I can help!

While visiting here, you can subscribe to my twice monthly Newsletter filled with class news, Stampin' Up! news, tips and some free card idea tutorials. As a thank you for subscribing you will receive a Free 14 card One Sheet Wonder Tutorial that can be used throughout the year. Subscribe here https://homemade-with-heart-stampin-with-eva.aweb.page/p/ed66a3c7-3266-49ae-a5b8-f165e4fc6d34
 
To purchase the Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker  #100082  Cost $3 - Purchase several so you'll never be without one!

https://www.stampinup.com/products/stampin-write-marker-basic-black

Thank you for watching!

Share the Moment Video from Shelli, Sara, and Sidney

Did you know today is Best Friends Day? Stamping together is one way to have fun with your good friends and be creative together. I can help with that when using a Kit from of Stampin'  Up!s Kit Collection.

This short, sweet video stars Co-Founder of Stampin' Up! Shelli Gardner, her daughter and current CEO Sara Douglass, and Sara's daughter Sidney. They are sharing some generational moments together around one of Stampin' Up!s kit too! I love this!

There are card kits, craft kits, and home decor to choose from. Purchase a kit or two for your Share the Moment party and you can get a kit at 50% off. The BOGO deal goes through the end of June. Click the link below, click on the Shop Now tab and search for Kits and there you will see all the wonderful options you have!

Shop or Join Stampin' Up!

Please contact me or email me at stampinwitheva@gmail.com if you have any questions about products, techniques, or card designs.

Sharing Joy by Sending a Handmade Card

Do you sometimes get discouraged? A friend notices and sends you a card to help you feel better. What makes it even more special is when the card is not a store-bought card but a beautiful handmade encouragement card. This gift of love from your friend will probably be set in a place where you can see it frequently so it will continue to lift your spirits.

It really is special when someone sends you a card, made by hand, in the mail because they were thinking of you, wishing you well, or they want to say thank you.

We all have busy lives, so in this day and age, it is often easier and faster to write a quick email or send an ecard rather than personally handwrite something. I'm thankful that through Stampin' Up! I have learned how to make pretty, unique, one-of-a-kind handmade cards that I can send to others to share joy, love, and encouragement with them. I love the fact that I can create a card with that special person in mind. It becomes so much more special. A store-bought card is mass-produced, cold, and impersonal. Handmade cards are much more meaningful to the recipient and just as (if not more so) attractive as any store-bought card.

Handmade cards using Stampin' Up! products are sure to win you over and melt someone's heart. Stampin' Up! has high-quality cardstock, designer papers, ink in color families, and stamp sets galore. There is something for everyone. You can be proud of the handmade card you send when you use their color-coordinated products. Your handmade cards will be a treasure to be kept forever. What better way to show someone that you really care about them than to take the time to create a special card just for them. Then the recipient should place that special card they have received on a mantle, buffet, or bookcase alongside other special mementos and treasures.

Gift-giving is an important part of life and a handmade greeting card is a gift of time and love. Every handmade card is a work of art! When you send one of your works of art, you are sending an emotional piece of yourself. What better way to tell someone you care and bring joy to them.

Making your own handmade Christmas cards are especially fun to send during the holidays. Receiving a handmade holiday card is like receiving a present, just in a smaller form. What a treat it is to receive them!   

Your handmade cards are even more personal and extra special when you handwrite something in the card. That is why many cardmakers leave the inside of their cards blank. So you can write that special message. It is also a cool keepsake of that person's handwriting to treasure forever. It is almost like they are still there right inside the card, as memories of them flood your mind. That is why many people hang on to handmade cards longer. 

Children often love to keep the handmade cards they are given for a very long time. If you are a parent, making a special keepsake box for your child is a great place to keep these very special works of art. Wouldn't it be so cool that when your child is an adult, they can look back through that keepsake box to find a handmade card from their grandma there?

How often have you thought of someone, but because of distance or hard times you can't go see them? Sending a Thinking of You card is the next best thing, especially when you write a special message inside. It is the cheapest way to travel for under a dollar!

There are so many benefits to sharing joy through a handmade card with others. You are making someone happy - which makes you happy. It is fun to create an original work of art just for them. These feelings are beneficial to our well-being. These good benefits keep our handmade greeting cardmakers around and companies like Stampin' Up! continuing to design amazing products for paper crafters to use. I am glad to be a part of this group of creative and talented people because we all make each other better through our friendships, design challenges, and sharing our ideas for making beautiful, joyful cards.

What could be better than being a cardmaker? If you would like to get involved with cardmaking I encourage you to do so. I can help you. Contact me here. It was one of the best decisions I have made in my life and Stampin' Up! is a great company to represent as an Independent Demonstrator. 

Send some happy mail today!

Happy Creating,

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#stampinwitheva #handmadecards

You Can Make This Bridge Card Easily

 Do you ever have one of those days where you have such good intentions to get something accomplished in the morning, but you finally get it done by late afternoon. That was me today.

When I got up this morning I went straight to my stamp room in my jammies to get busy cutting 70 card kits for tomorrow's three sessions of classes in my home. Breakfast was Hershey's nuggets and I kept on slicing, scoring, gathering, and putting the pieces in the envelopes for each stamper as the minutes ticked by.

I listened to a mix of Facebook - Dry Bar Comedy and my direct sales coach Brenda Ster continuing with her valuable advice on making my business better every day.

By 11 am I was getting hungry. So downstairs I went to grab a couple of slices of pizza from the other night. I sat at my desktop computer munching my pizza when I realized, "Oh no, today's blog post posted an hour ago with nothing in it but a photo and my signature stuff at the bottom.  Yikes! 

It's embarrassing to admit this isn't the first time this empty posting has occurred. So I quickly deleted that post and set up a new one for late this afternoon at 5 p.m.

I finished my pizza, took a shower, then went back to slicing and dicing for a couple more hours. I'm 98% done with all the prep work.

At 3 pm I needed to buzz to the grocery store for the munchies I needed for class tomorrow. That took an hour because I kept running into people I knew. It was good to see them, just bad timing for me.

So here it is 4 pm and I'm back at the desktop computer in my office to write about the last card I'm sharing with you from the Friendly Hello Stamp Set and matching Designer Series Paper this week.

A Bridge Fun Fold Card!

I hope you've loved seeing all the beautiful designs that are part of this Designer Series Paper (DSP). I absolutely LOVE that bold "Hello Friend" stamp too.

The best part about a Bridge Fun Fold card is it folds down to fit in the standard A2 envelope that Stampin' Up! sells.

Here's how to create this card:

Cutting Directions:

Petal Pink Card Base 4-1/4" x 8", score at 1-1/4", 2-1/2, 5-1/2", and 6-3/4" 

2 pieces of Side Panel DSP - 1" x 4"

Center back DSP with Bird Stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink - 3" x 4"

Petal Pink Bridge piece - 1" x 5-1/2"

DSP for Bridge 3/4" x 5-1/4"

Pool Party Tag 1-5/8" x 3"

Basic White Tag with greeting Stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink - 1-3/8" x 2-3/4"

Assembly:

With a bone folder crease all the score lines.

Adhere the center back section DSP with bird image.

Adhere the two side panel DSP pieces.

Adhere the Bridge DSP to the Petal Pink Bridge piece (don't attach it yet!)

Stamp and Assemble your tag.

Tag is glued to the bridge starting about 1/2" from the left end of the bridge.

Now is the time to attach the bridge piece, but you MUST fold the left side in so it lays flat. 

See Diagram below:

The bridge piece is attached 1/2" from the bottom of the card and lines up with the sides of the base as shown in the above diagram. You only put glue on each end of the bridge. Approximately a 1" square area on each end. Press firmly to the folded card base.

You are welcome to add embellishment if you desire.

As always add a 2-3/8" x 6" piece of DSP to the envelope flap. Glue well, When dry, trim off excess.

Stand up and admire your beautiful card!

Now if you have loved all the card designs this week, now is the perfect time to place a $100 online order with me before shipping and tax, so you can receive this bonus reward set for free! A value of $28!

Just click on the yellow box below and you'll go straight to my online store. Stock up on cardstock, adhesives, a new Memento Inkpad, some blades for your paper trimmer, envelopes, and whatever else your stash needs to be replenished with. Even check out the Clearance Rack. There are always some great deals there! Then when you are checking out, you can add #159990 to your Sale-a-bration Rewards area and the Friendly Hello stamp set and DSP will be arriving in your order box with all your other products right to your door. 

If you don't already have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I'd love to be yours!

Thank you! Phew - made it by 5 pm!

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#stampinwitheva #sudemo

History and Inspiration - Read all About It!

When I started cardmaking well over 20+ years ago I didn't give it a second thought to inform myself about the interesting history of rubber, rubberstamps, or greeting cards. The only place I went for inspiration was the Stampin' Up! catalog because back then, I purchased one from my local demonstrator. Inside those wonderful catalogs were beautiful photos of cards that I could make or CASE (copy and share everything) if I purchased the needed products. No wonder for a long time Stampin' Up! called it "The Idea Book." 

Sitting here in front of my computer screen this morning, I decided to go down a little rabbit hole and see what I could find on the internet that would cover some of the history of greeting cards, the tools we use to make them, and places we find and share our cardmaking ideas. 

Here's what I've found:

1) A short time line of the History of Greeting Cards

https://www.greetingcard.org/industry-resources/history/

2) A very interesting article about the History of Stamping

https://www.scrapbook.com/articles/the-history-of-stamping

3) Next, I looked up when the "famous" greeting card companies here in America began. American Greetings was first in 1906, followed by Hallmark in 1910. Both of these companies are still in business today. A good product lasts a long time!

4) Of course, none of us would be where we are today without computers. So if you've wondered what all the abbreviations mean - ftp, html, url - here's a short explanation - do go thru all 10 short webpages at the link below. I think it is pretty interesting (but I love history!)

https://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_01.phtml

Microsoft was formed in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Apple was formed in 1976 by Steve Jobs. Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Computers have turned how we do things upside down. Mostly for the better, but sometimes they can be very frustrating to use.

5) A decade or so later, here comes Stampin' Up! in 1988. Read about their history here

https://www.stampinup.com/company/our-story

6) What I find interesting is Stampin' Up! existed before all these other companies.

Amazon 1994, Ebay 1995, Google 1998, Splitcoast Stampers 2002 (the first website especially for stampers to share their card designs), Facebook 2004,  You Tube 2005, Etsy 2005, Pinterest and Instagram 2010, and Tik Tok 2016. 

That's pretty cool in my opinion. 

7) Most of us today can't live without our smartphones. I bet many of you think that the first smartphone was from Apple, but read the info at the link below and you'll be surprised. I was!

Smartphone History

---------------------------------

So this little dive into history brings us to today. We have the knowledge of the world at our fingertips. We can create artwork, send digital ecards, do our finances, and shopping all from the comfort of our smartphones no matter where we are in the world.  Back in 1962, AT&T coined this phrase "Let your fingers do the walking" to encourage their customers to use the Yellow Pages section in a paper phone book to find businesses and what they offered in your surrounding community. Now our fingers do the walking across our smartphone screens to find whatever we want around the WORLD! Amazing! Many people can't live without this modern convenience. Neither can I.

Some of us slightly older folks (me!) who were growing up prior to computers and smartphones, still like the ability to make things with our hands. That's why making your own greeting cards, scrapbooks, gift items, and home decor items are still such big business today. We did Do It Yourself when DIY wasn't cool!

Going back to my beginning paragraph idea, Stampin' Up! still puts out an annual catalog and two mini catalogs each year, stocked with beautiful card images and the products for sale to make them with. I give the catalogs away free to my customers so they can be inspired and hopefully purchase something.

Thanks to Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and other websites, you can post your finished card projects to share with the world. You can also see other designer's great ideas to adapt for your own cardmaking projects. You may have some favorite companies or card artists that you follow, or You Tube Channels you subscribe to. The creativity and possibilities are limitless!

You might even be one of those people that just sit down and start moving paper, shapes or greetings around until inspiration hits and an amazing project comes to life.

No matter how you approach your cardmaking or papercrafting projects, just be grateful for all that has come before to help us make the awesome projects we do in today's world!

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What a Wonderful Papercrafting World We Live In

I have realized I haven't done a good job of inviting people into the Wonderful Papercrafting World we have here in America. Many people have never even heard of Stampin' Up! I hope to change that this week by doing some Q & A here. I'm excited to share with you what I've learned on my papercrafting journey over the last 10+ years. 

Q: Who's in the Papercrafting Community?

A: All types of people, especially those who enjoy being creative with their hands. (Remember coloring books  and sticker books when we were kids? I think those started the journey for me. The feel of the paper, the smell of the ink, trying to stay inside the lines, the taste of licking and sticking stickers on the paper, the hearing of scissors cutting paper, and the visual pleasure when you made something you liked). Papercrafting really encompasses the five senses fully.

Q: But I'm not creative can I still come here to learn?

A: Of course, I'd love to have you learn along with us on my website. Just sign up for my email list and become a follower on this page.

Q: Where else can I go to learn about Papercrafting?

A: There are many avenues in which to learn from besides me. Take a class at a local big box craft store. Come to a home class with an Independent Demonstrator from one of several papercrafting companies out there. Buy a Papercrafting magazine. Sign up for a monthly subscription kit to try. Check out some papercrafting books at the library. View some You Tube Videos on this topic. Join a Facebook group. Sign up for a Community College class. Or just create something from items you already have a home. Most people have some paper, scissors, and writing/coloring tools to get started with. A lot of Papercrafting is just about experimenting with what you have and not being afraid to try. 

Q: Does Papercrafting cost a lot to get started?

A: Depending how deep you go, yes, it can become an investment in tools and supplies. A lot depends on what you might already have around your home or apartment. For example, you may already have a paper cutter on hand, a bottle of glue or glue stick, scissors, and even a variety of cards you could recycle/upcycle into a new piece of art. That will get you started.

Q: What kinds of Papercrafting are out there?

A: There's a lot! Cardmaking in a variety of sizes, Scrapbooking pages and albums, 3D items like gift boxes or bags, wedding invitations, party favors, journal book making, mixed media, home decor items, items for gifts, digital design, sticker design, origami, quilling, paper modeling, paper airplane design, pop up cards, print making, making your own envelopes, and even carving your own stamps. And that's just a start!

Q: Could you use a little extra income?

A: Selling your papercrafts is a fun way to meet new people at street fairs, craft shows, home bazaars, farmer's markets, and even virtual online shows through Facebook. You can open up your own Etsy store or one of the other ecommerce store sites.  Again there are many options out there.

Q: So who is Stampin' Up! anyway?

A: Stampin' Up! is a papercrafting company based in Riverton, Utah with another stamp producing facility in Kanab, Utah. They have been in business for 32 years and the original founder is still part of the Board of Directors, but she has passed the CEO reins down to her daughter. Stampin' Up! has approximately 60,000 Independent Demonstrators worldwide in America, Canada, a few European countries (Germany, Austria, France, and the Netherlands), and the South Pacific (Australia and New Zealand.) These people are some of the most helpful and nice people I have ever met!

Of course I'm partial to Stampin' Up! products since I'm an Independent Demonstrator for them for 10 + years now. (I do own a few non-Stampin' Up! items, but not too many.)

One of the things that makes this direct sales company so special is they have four color families of coordinated cardstock colors and two lines of In-Colors that last for two year intervals, plus all their other specialty papers and inks are color coordinated, so you can't go wrong when choosing colors that go together for your projects. Even their embellishments and ribbons match. Their quality is outstanding and you get a great value for your money because their products last a very long time!

In my opinion they have the best customer service I've ever encountered as their motto is to make things right!

**********

Come back tomorrow to learn more. I've got lots to share this week. If you have a question or comment please let me know. I'm here to help.  Have a wonderful day!

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