Hi friends! Please join me in welcoming the oh-so-talented and amazing Yana Smakula! (Please note; our dear friend Yana is Ukrainian, to show support to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine, please see Yana’s post HERE.)

Hello, crafters, this is Yana Smakula for Simon Says stamp! Welcome back for another Yippee For Yana video! In this video, I’m creating CAS Birthday Cards using just a single candle stamp along with some sentiments and I’m also playing with the OLO markers. 

I never have enough birthday cards, so I tend to make a lot of them. For my today’s video, I pulled out an older stamp set from Simon, called Big Birthday Greetings, it is one of my all-time favorites. The main image I am using today is the candle. This stamp set also has a set of coordinating dies and there’s a die to cut that candle out. So the idea that I have for this card – I want to have a bunch of colorful candles, basically have a candle background and just add a simple birthday sentiment. 

I stamped and heat embossed a bunch of candles in Simon’s Antique Gold Embossing Powder onto Simon’s #130LB cardstock. 

I used new-to-me markers, OLO, to color the images. I did use one Copic marker, the Y35, and I combined it with the OLO markers. You can combine Copics and OLOs. In fact, if you have a decent size Copic marker collection you can use the OLO markers to fill in any color gaps that you might have. Here I did the opposite, I used a Copic marker to fill the yellow gap that I had with my OLOs. 

Coloring over embossing powder is always tricky. You don’t want to do a lot of blending, in fact, it is best to do no blending over the embossing powder, as the alcohol might dissolve it, so when it comes to coloring over embossing powder, it is best to do minimal blending. 

With the coloring done I cut the candles apart and used a coordinating die to cut each one of them out. At this point, I started testing the layout of the candles that I wanted to have on my card and I realized that an A2 card wouldn’t work here, so I switched to a mini slimline. The mini Slimline cards measure 3 1/4 x 6 1/4”. Here I cut a white cardstock panel to 3 x 6” and my plan was to have 2 rows of colorful candles with a tiny Happy Birthday sentiment in the center. 

I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black ink and foam-mounted the candles on top. I also foam-mounted the panel onto the card base. 

I wanted to add something else to the background, so I used the black gems from Spellbinders and scattered them here and there adding movement and interest to the background. The black color worked well here as it coordinated with the black-stamped sentiment. 

I still had some candles left, so I decided to create another card, also a mini slimline. I used a big sentiment from the same Big Birthday Greetings stamp set, I stamped it in Versafine Onyx Black, I also stamped a mini sentiment at the top – it reads Time to Eat Cake and I filled the space between the sentiment using my leftover candle die cuts. This panel was cut even smaller, so 2 3/4 by 5 ¾” and it was also foam mounted onto the slimline card base. I love the way they turned out, I feel pumped to go ahead and stamp and color a bunch more candles and make a bunch more birthday cards and I hope you feel the same after watching this video. Have fun stamping!

WATCH THE VIDEO:

SUPPLIES:

Simon Says Clear Stamps BIG BIRTHDAY… [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp MEGA THICK WHITE… [ SSS ] SCS-175 Spellbinders CLEAR EMBOSSING… [ SSS ] Ranger ANTI STATIC POUCH ink62332 [ SSS ] Popular Wagner Precision Heat Tool HT400 [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp EMBOSSING POWDER… [ SSS ] OLO SPRING COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO WINTER COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO AUTUMN COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO LAVENDER COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO PORTRAIT COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO FOREST COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO COOL GRAY COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO WARM GRAY COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] OLO PRIMARY COLLECTION Markers [ SSS ] PE-104 PLATINUM SIX Die Cutting… [ SSS ] 9 x 12 WHITE FUN FOAM 12 Pack 118711 [ SSS ] Bearly Art THE BUNDLE Precision Craft… [ SSS ] T-035 Spellbinders TOOL ‘N ONE White [ SSS ] SCS-196 Spellbinders ONYX MIX Color… [ SSS ]

Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks again to Yana for being our guest!

Ways to support Ukraine:

If you are looking for ways to support Ukraine, we encourage you to visit this page on Yana’s blog: