I'm Back and I'm Blogging!!

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I must put my hand up and admit it - I've been a very bad blogger!! It's been five months since my last blog post (before yesterday's), and it's not as if I haven't been doing anything crafty... Actually, I have been doing LOTS, which I'll show you over the next few days/weeks/months! Thanks to all of you who have told me to get my A into G and start blogging again - see, I do listen to you (sometimes!).

My apologies in advance too; because I have been very bad and haven't blogged in so long, Stampin' Up! has gone through one whole mini catalogue AND Sale-a-bration while I've been away. Consequently, you may see projects that feature some products that are no longer available (although I live in hope that we'll see them again in the new Idea Book & Catalogue that comes out in September!). However, now that I have blitzed through my wishlist (yes, Demos do have these as well...) of goodies from the new Autumn/Winter Mini I have lots of new toys to play with, so you'll be seeing some of the projects I've been busily making with those as well. My gosh, I may have to blog every day for the next year just to get through everything I want to show you!!

Here's the first project I made when my goodies arrived; as you can see, I used a lot of my new toys to create this: the delicious new Rich Razzleberry cardstock, ink and ribbon, the new Cottage Wall DSP, the two-step bird punch, the Vintage Vogue set, and the Little Leaves Sizzlet die.


I used this card as my project at the Waipapa Extravaganza on 27 March. Those attending got to make four projects designed and taught by three different Demonstrators, and the ladies who booked to come to the Extravaganza through me also got to take home a little box filled with Easter goodies that I made for them. I got the idea for the punch art bunny from a blog I happened upon during my travels through cyberspace, but unfortunately have lost the link to it otherwise I'd post it here.


Stay tuned for more of my projects in the very near future!
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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

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!!

Scary or Traditional? You Decide!

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This fellow has caused quite a bit of debate among the other demonstrators in the team I belong to, with some saying he is scary and others liking him for the traditional feel he brings. What do you think? I was in two minds, but bought the set anyway (gotta get those Christmas cards sent early this year!) and now he's grown on me. I certainly don't think he's scary!


This was a really simple card to make, yet so effective. For the front I used Very Vanilla cardstock on Riding Hood Red, and used the matching ribbon to create a bit of elegance as well as tie the whole Christmasy theme together. The ribbon is newly available from the Spring Mini catalogue for $22.95 for a whooping 9 metre roll. To 'pop' the greeting up I covered it with Crystal Effects dimensional lacquer ($13.95), which gives a page pebble effect.

Inside the card I have used Very Vanilla for the inner panel, and have stamped the holly and greeting using Old Olive and Riding Hood Red ink. This set (Good Cheer - $46.95) is great value as you get a phrase for your card inner as well as the images.


Stay tuned for more peeks of what I've made from the new Spring Mini (have you got yours yet??).

It's a new month, and a new day, and a new catalogue

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Oh dear, I've been a bad blogger! But it's a new month and I intend to change my ways, and what better inspiration than the new Spring Mini catalogue from Stampin' Up! I had a great launch party yesterday - wow, haven't had that many people in the house in years! I made some samples using the new sets, and my favorite one is this very masculine card:


The stamp is from the set Uncharted Territory ($40.95), which also includes a very cool lighthouse stamp. I've used the new Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP ($27.95), a textured cover-weight paper in delicious shades of Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip, in this very simple but effective design. The yacht and sentiment are stamped onto white gloss card with black Stazon ink, and then sponged with Baja Breeze and Pacific Point inks, which are then polished off to give a soft look. The strip of Baja Breeze is attached to the layout with clear rhinestone brads and dimensionals to give additional depth. This design would be great for a scrapbooking layout too. I got it from a blog called Cat's Scratching Post.

Please contact me if you would like a copy of the new Spring Mini catalogue - it's packed full of great ideas and inspiration, and best of all it's free!

Pun Fun Waterfall Card

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It's been another busy day today, with one workshop done and dusted! We made the following items at the Cards and More workshop today:

• A flower pot card
• An origami box
• A cute baby card featuring a punch art lamb
• A card using the the gorgeous Friends 24-7 set, heat and stick powder and Aqua Super Nova glitter
• A tri-shutter card using the Haiku designer series paper.

I haven't had a chance to photograph any of them yet, but here is a card we made at last month's workshop:



This is a classic waterfall card; when the tab is pulled down the three images flip over to reveal each other. I have used the animals from the new Pun Fun set - really easy as I mounted the accompanying words separately on the end of each block. The sentiments are stamped using the very versatile set Short & Sweet - a great set to use with the circle, oval and label punches!

All going well with the weather I will photograph this month's projects and post them here soon. If you would like to know how to make any of the projects shown on my blog please contact me, and I'll gladly send you instructions or links to resources I have used. Thanks for looking!

Waterfall card Recipe:

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Going Gray, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette
Stamps: Pun Fun, Short & Sweet, Cupcakes
Accessories: Silver brads, Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon

Cheers To You!

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I love the new In Colors, and the ease with which they go together! I created this really quick and easy card in next-to-no-time using ONLY the In Colors (plus a little bit of Whisper White!):


The main color in this card is Kiwi Kiss, a colour I wasn't too sure about at first but now love. I gave the card a retro feel using the 1/2" circle punch to create a border of Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point (a real 'ooh-la-la' combo), and finished it off with a dab of Dazzling Diamonds in the middle of each punchie. The greeting is punched out using the Designer Label punch, with a bordering 1 3/8" circle punchie. The Pacific Point striped grosgrain ribbon just finishes this card off nicely! It also occured to me after I made it that it could pass as a 'male-friendly' card, especially if I had used the handle of beer image from the Cheers set!

If you don't have these colours yet then what are you waiting for?? Contact me NOW to order the matching card and ink pads. For those of you who bought the latest Stampin' Up! catalogue from me, the voucher for this month allows you to buy four ink pads and receive a fifth blue one for free! But if you didn't get a voucher book don't worry, you won't miss out. For this month only you can take advantage of the same offer if you email me and mention that you saw this offer on my blog! So... what are you waiting for??

Another Swap!

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I love this Top Note die! It is made exclusively for Stampin' Up! by Sizzix, but sadly is not yet available in NZ. However, I live in hope that it will be coming to NZ soon - maybe in one of the mini catalogues that are due out on 1st August, 1st December and 1st April (2010). I can dream!!

The theme of this swap was 'Your favourite card layout', and at the moment this is my favourite! I'm pretty fickle though, so my favourites change quite regularly!! I have used the stamp set Spring Song for this card. As soon as I saw it in the catalogue I fell in love with it and knew I had to have it! All three stamps from the set are used in this card - they just go so well together. The set costs $30.95 so is great value for money! LOL - but can you tell I have never seen a hummingbird before in my life?? I chose to use only the current In Colors on this card, so please forgive me if the bird is not colored in correctly!



Here is the recipe:

Inks: Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango
Papers: Whisper White, Pacific Point
Stamps: Spring Song
Accessories: Eyelet Border punch, Top Note die (USA only), blender pens, sponge, Dazzling Diamonds glitter (to give it some BLING!)

Always...

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Okay, I have a lot of 'old' stuff to post before I can get onto my 'new' workshop stuff. This is a really simple little notecard I made with the timeless Always set. The circle stamp is easily punched out with the 1 1/4" circle punch and is attached to the note with a dimensional. The only non-SU! thing here is the brads - I'm not sure what brand they are but they're really cute heart-shaped ones! Hmm... I might make this card for my simple swap!

My Version of the "Scallop Bite" Card

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This card has been CASED off a blog by a US Demo whose name escapes me at this moment! It's such a versatile card to use, and so easy to make! I made swaps for our Stampin' Up! team based on this idea.


Although the colours in this card, as well as the greeting set, are now retired it is such a timeless design that I will be using this for many years to come! And it would look great with the new DSP (Double-sided designer paper) that is on special this month.

Here is the recipe:

Stamps: Circle of Friendship (retired), So Swirly wheel, Short & Sweet
Inks: Groovy Guava (retired), Chocolate Chip
Papers: Groovy Guava (retired), Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Afternoon Tea DSP (retired)
Accessories: Scallop Circle punch, 1 3/8" Circle punch, 1 1/4" Circle punch, 1" Circle punch, 1/2" Circle punch, Groovy Guava double-stitched ribbon (retired), Wild Wasabi double-stitched ribbon (retired)