Cute Punch Art

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I love cute punch art, and this owl and lamb are the cutest I've found yet! I can't take the credit for designing either of these though, as I found them both on my travels in cyberspace, but I have designed the cards that they sit on.




One reason I love punch art is because it extends the usefulness of my punches, and allows me to create unique embellishments for my cards and scrapbooking pages. Stampin' Up! currently sell 36 different punches and both of these cards only use 12 of them! Although I have been in love with Stampin' Up! for over a year now I have yet to complete my punch collection - but I'm more than half way there! How many punches do YOU own??

Owl Recipe:
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Close To Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Punches: Wide Oval, Scallop Circle, 5 Petal, 1" Circle, 3/4" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Round Tab, Boho Blossoms, Designer Tag
Stamps: Seeing Spots, Short & Sweet
Other: Vintage brads, cork, goggly eyes, Dimensionals

Lamb (cased from here) Recipe:
Paper: Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Creamy Caramel
Punches: Scallop Circle, Wide Oval, Scallop Edge, Boho Blossoms, Word Window
Other: Basic Black marker, White Gel Pen

Get ready for Christmas!

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Christmas is just around the corner, and this year's Christmas is going to be EXTRA special because I will be spending it with my nephews and niece in Australia!!! Yes, I'm leaving on the 17th of December for Sydney! I'm really looking forward to having a Christmas with kids (because, after all, isn't that what Christmas is all about!). I'm a little bit worried about the heat (!!) but am starting to get even more worried about just how much I have to do between now and then; cards, presents, decorations - it's enough to make my head spin!!



Luckily I found some gorgeous easy to make ornaments on Gretchen Barron's blog, so I've got the tree sorted! I also made some of these ornaments for our Creative Inkers team swap on Saturday, which happily also had a Christmas theme, and put them on a little Christmas tree so that the other ladies could each pick one and leave behind a swap for me under the tree.


These gorgeous little origami ornaments are made using the lovely Ski Slope DSP paper ($19.95 for 12 sheets) from the Spring Mini Catalogue, which is only available for another 6 weeks. The advantage of using double-sided paper is that it is slightly thicker than regular paper and makes a sturdier ornament.

If you would like to find out how to make this then sign up for my FREE newsletter here. During the run up to Christmas I will be sending out regular Christmas bonus newsletters showing you a variety of quick and easy Christmas projects that even the busiest person will have time to do. And hopefully I will be able to fit some of them into my suitcase to take to Oz for my nephews and niece!
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Converting Cardmakers to Scrapbookers??

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Hooray, I've managed ONE blog post in September!! Sorry I have been such a slack blogger - as usual, life happened!

This month the Creative Inkers Team Challenge was to create a scrapbooking layout or project that would appeal to scrapbookers using Stampin' Up! products. One aim of this was to maybe convert some of our cardmaking customers into scrapbookers. Personally, I have had no problems converting the cardmakers to scrapbooking, but converting scrapbookers to cardmaking is another story! For that reason I created the following page which I cased (an anagram for "Copy And Share Everything") from the Spring Mini Catalogue (page 17) using the wonderfully masculine set Uncharted Territory ($40.95).



To get the effect shown on the card I was casing I firstly stamped the images onto acetate using StazOn Cotton White ink, then stamped the highlighted areas onto colored cardstock before cutting them out and adhering to the back of the acetate. I used a torn piece of Pacific Point cardstock to make the ocean and there you have it - a scrapbook page cased from a card!

I also used the stamp set Enjoy Every Moment ($62.95) to create the title and journalling block, and the background card is the very funky Ballet Blue - not a very masculine name but a very masculine colour!

I am holding a scrapbooking class this Sunday, 4th October, so please contact me to book in if you would like to become a scrapbooking convert!

When the cat's away....

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The mice make cards!! The last 'Cat's Away Challenge' was to make cards for the three lovely ladies who have been away in Noosa, and what better than some cat cards! You may recognise one of the cards - it was my entry for the Corrosive Challenge #25. These are the three cards I made for Jacque, Patrice and Rachael:


All materials are from Stampin' Up! except for the Penny Black cat stamp. The greeting and background stamped on the Kiwi Kiss card here are from the set Cheers To You, which goes perfectly with the cat sipping a mocktail.


In the next two cards I changed around the layout and colouring, using my aqua brush to get a cool (and easy!) watercolour effect from my ink pads.



I haven't decided who is getting which card yet, but I sure hope Jacque, Patrice and Rachael enjoy them and that they bring back fond memories of their time in the sun!

Corrosive Challenge #25

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A very hurried post as I am late for my scrapbooking class! This card is part of two challenges; one for our demonstrator forum and the other for the Corrosive Challenge #25. Gotta love those cats ay!! More later, gotta run!!

Very Popular Workshop Card

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My lovely upline Jacque and two other members of the Creative INKers team earned an all-expenses paid trip to Noosa through their hard work demonstrating Stampin' Up! products last year, and while they are away the rest of the team is keeping busy with challenges to do in their absence. Our first challenge is to blog a popular project from one of our workshops, and this one immediately sprung to mind!

This card was a very popular one at the two workshops I demonstrated it at. It features the classical set Baroque Motifs ($46.95), a stunning set for use in both scrapbooking and cardmaking.


This card was shamelessly CASED off Splitcoast Stampers, the fountain of a lot of my inspiration for the projects I make. Here is a pic of the card partially opened - I just love gatefold cards!

This card has inspired many of my customers to buy the Baroque Motifs set, and also the Chocolate Chip cardstock ($12.50 for 24 A4 sheets). Actually, Chocolate Chip is my favorite cardstock, as it goes with any other colour; it's practically neutral! The other colours used are Almost Amethyst and Very Vanilla, and I used the slit punch to create the closure for the gatefold bar. I even managed to type out some instructions for this project, so if you want a copy then please feel free to email me!

Pretty.... easy!

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This is another card I made for the Spring Mini catalogue launch I held at my home on the weekend. Because of my supreme organisation and time management skills (NOT!!) I had to make most of my samples in a hurry at the last minute (obviously being in the Brownies and Guides with their motto 'Be Prepared' didn't rub off on me!). Luckily the stamps in the Spring Mini make it really easy for people like me to whip up a card in a hurry, which is exactly what I did!

This card uses two of the new sets; Soft Summer ($48.95) and Great Friend ($37.95). Soft Summer is a two-step stampin' set, which means you can stamp the outline and the body of the image separately (i.e. in two different colours). This is what I have done on the flower, with the image stamped in black Stazon and the body stamped in Pink Pirouette. I had originally intended to brayer or sponge the flower, which is why I used Stazon and gloss card, but the gloss gives a nice effect even if it is 'naked'! I used the body of another image from the same set to make a subtle background on the Almost Amethyst cardstock, by stamping on it with the same colour ink.


The sentiment and border from the Great Friend set is actually two stamps as well, and because the sentiment fits so tightly in the frame I needed to use a Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the positioning correct. Don't know what a Stamp-a-ma-jig is or what to use it for? Email me to find out! I then carefully cut this out and attached it to a strip of Pink Pirouette card and finished off with a flower brad (also available in the Spring Mini for $16.25 for a pack of 32). And there you have it, simple but easy peasy!!