Bec's Stampin Space

Tricycle Ride

2011-01-07T04:04:00.000-08:00

Another scrapbook page done tonight - I am on a roll!

This one uses some retired DSP that again, I will be sad to see the last of - lots of great spots and stripes for boys. However, next on my list of new DSPs to buy is the fabulous "Celebrations" on page 125 of the current Idea Book & Catalogue. Its got lovely blues, red and green in spots and stripes too.

I've used some Alphabet stamps to spell out the title for the page and some buttons for a pop of colour.

Meeting Elmo

2011-01-03T21:50:00.001-08:00

Another layout for you. This time I used a sketch to help me design it. I think I will be using sketches more often - it really helped me this time. I was so stuck on what to do with these photos. I initially wanted to make a punch art Elmo but I just couldn't make it work on the page. I somehow ended up using the Greenhouse Gala papers and I think they work well. Crumb Cake (formerly known as Kraft) is a great colour for the base of the page. It just goes with any colours and work well if you are too lazy to cover or colour your chipboard letters! LOL!

Some more scrapbooking

2011-01-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

I've got so many photos of my boys to scrapbook so I'm on a mission. My other mission is to use up all the bits and pieces that are "retired" and taking up space in my craft room. As a demonstrator I try to only use "current" products as much as possible but we all have a stash piling up that needs using so I am putting my stash to good use on my personal scrapbooking projects. :-)

I'm so pleased with the Hop Skip Jump layout. :-) I never thought I would use that paper on a boy's layout but it works perfectly with the faded red (pink!) of the stepping stones!

I'll be sad to see the last of my spotty paper from the Good Morning Sunshine collection. The colours go so well with so many of my photos of the boys. I've still got another double layout to do of Toby's birthday (family party) but have to print the photos out first. I plan to use some more Good Morning Sunshine on those pages too.

I did use something new on this LO though - the Builder Wheels! I used them to make a strip along the bottom of the page. I've been giving my Circle Scissors a bit of a workout lately too - love that tool!

A bit of scrap booking

2010-12-30T01:04:00.000-08:00

I don't know that these pages will be inspiring anyone very much but I'm pleased just to get some scrapping done! So many photos of the kids to catch up on so am keeping it so so simple and I'm working on using up all my "old" stuff - you know all those lovely papers you've got sitting there waiting to be used - well I'm just using them up as much as I can!

Rest of my trip

2010-11-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

Friday morning was really fun with swapping and make and takes.

Here's Liz swapping her lovely Christmas ornaments with Vanessa who made nifty decorations with the pennant die.

Here's my table for the make and takes. We made some lovely projects with a new stamp set from the upcoming Summer mini catalogue.

The husbands amused themselves for the morning - some went to play golf, others went bushwalking (like Matt did) or just chilled out by the pool.

I spent the afternoon lazing by a pool with Liz and our hubbies having a cocktail and reading trashy mags. :-)

Dinner that night was lovely! The Italian restaurant at the Marina was great.

On Saturday Liz and I and our respective husbands went for a visit to the air traffic control tower! My husband is an air traffic controller in Brisbane and knows the controller on Hamilton so we went to say hi.

It was really cool to spend some time in the tower watching the planes and helicopters come and go and to see the controller doing his thing. Although its probably one of the shortest towers around, it still had lovely views.

After the visit to the tower we grabbed some gourmet picnic hampers from the hotel and went off in one of the gold buggies to have our lunch. Check out the scenery!

Later that afternoon we gathered in the hotel bar to find out our activity for that evening. It was kind of like a treasure hunt! We were put into teams of 4 (there's our buggy buddies in the photo above!) and sent off in golf buggies to hunt down the answers to a bunch of questions and clues. As we drove around the island we stopped at various locations where a Stampin Up staff member gave us prizes - whoo hoo!

The very last clue we found gave us the location of our farewell dinner - the beautiful new Yacht Club. Absolutely gorgeous! We had some pre-dinner drinks and nibblies and then went inside to see...
...the beautiful table settings - lovely! The dinner was by far one of the best meals I have ever had - every element was just perfect. A beautiful ending to a dream get-away.

Hamilton Island Incentive Trip 2010

2010-10-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

As many of you may already know, I earned Stampin' Up!'s annual Incentive Trip this year. The Incentive Trip is earned on a combination of sales and team building and there were 25 demonstrators on the trip this year.

I thought you might like to have a bit of a look at where we went and what we did.

Day 1

When we arrived we went to visit the "hospitality suite" which was on the top floor of the Reef View Hotel. The room was a gathering place to meet with the other demonstrators and Stampin Up staff. Each day we could spin the wheel and win a little prize. The room was also stocked with jars upon jars of American Candies for us to eat! (I brought a few home for my lovely team members to share at our meeting!)

Here's me with Kim Gavarra (another Brisbane demonstrator) and her husband Warren. You can see Warren filling up one of the bags that had out for us to put our "candy" in!

Here's me getting a sneak peak of the next Summer mini catalogue that will be available from December 1st. Sorry, I can't show you what's inside - top secret!! But trust me, there is heaps of great new stuff in there - my wishlist is HUGE!!!

We had a Welcome Dinner that night (and of course I forgot to take the camera along!) and when we got back to our room this gift was waiting. Its a wet seal bag containing underwater cameras, snacks and instructions for the next day's group adventure - a trip out to go snorkeling on the reef!

Day 2.

Here's Kim and me waiting at the Marina for our trip to the reef. Gotta love the big hat! LOL! I didn't end up wearing much out at the reef pontoon as it was a bit too windy. The windy weather made for rough seas and most of the boat was throwing up! I was nauseous but managed to keep it all down. :-) They sold a lot of Sea Sick tablets before the return journey!

Once out at the Reefworld Pontoon we snorkelled and sat up on the sundeck. Matt and I spent a bit of time chatting with Shelli and Sterling. (Shelli is the CEO and co-founder) and found them to be very lovely people - very friendly and down to earth. They weren't keen on the snorkelling but Matt and I gave it a go and I'd like to do it again sometime.

We went out for dinner at one of the local restaurants near the hotel with Liz, Martin, Kim and Warren.

After dinner Kim and I went up to Liz's room to help her stick her swaps together. Goodness knows how long she'd have had to stay up for if we didn't help! LOL! It took ages! Here's me and Kim being worked like slaves! LOL!

When we FINALLY got back to our rooms, here's what we found: A lovely tin with all the supplies we'd need for the next days make and takes. Can't show you inside as it contains a new stamp set from the upcoming Summer Mini!

Goodness me, this is taking me forever to post. I am going to publish this much, take a break for lunch and come back to finish the rest this afternoon. :-)

Scrunchy flower and funky bird

2010-10-05T23:10:00.000-07:00

This is a card I have been demonstrating at my recent workshops. Its a really fun one because you use markers to ink the stamps and also the scrunchy flower is my new favourite embellishment!

Stamps: Cheep Talk
Inks: Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso and Peach Parfait Stamp'n'write Markers
Paper: Concord Crush, Whisper White, Dsp is from the Level 1 hostess gift paper stack.
Accessories: Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Rhinestone Brads (Circle Fire collection)
Tools: Scallop Circle Punch

This one is pretty much the same card, turned on its side, but with a knot in the ribbon instead of the flower.

Cute Owl!

2010-10-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a card featuring the very cute new 2-step Owl Punch.

Stamps: Woodgrain Background, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Inks: Soft Suede

Paper: Confetti White, Crumb Cake (formerly know as Kraft) Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Greenhouse Gala DSP

Accessories: Daffodil Delight Taffeta ribbon

Tools: 1 3/4 inch circle punch, 2-step Owl punch

September Xmas stamp-a-stack cards

2010-10-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

Christmas Stamp-a-Stack cards

In Septmeber I held a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack Class. A Stamp-a-Stack involves making multiples of a few nice and easy card designs. Its a great way to get started on your Christmas Card stash! I will be holding another one on the 26th October with 3 new designs.

Here are the 3 designs from September:

This one uses Early Espresso and Crumb Cake. The embossed carstock has been lightly sponged over with White Frost shimmer paint.

This one uses Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip and the Jolly Holiday Designer Paper. The Dasher reindeer stamp has been inked with markers. Then glitter was added with a 2-way glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds.

This Christmas tree is from the Season of Joy stamp set. I mixed a few drops of White Frost shimmer paint with a few drops of Old Olive ink and applied it to the stamp with a spnge dauber. The result is a pearlised Old Olive ink!

Sharing some Scrapping

2010-09-25T16:00:00.001-07:00

A while ago I attended my first scrapbooking weekend retreat - what fun! I had a mission to complete my eldest son's Baby Album (just the first year really) and am hapy to report that it is almost all done! (I came down with a virus on the Saturday night so didn't get anything done on the Sunday) There's still some journalling and dates that need to be added, must get onto that soon!

I thought I would just share a few of the pages with you here. The best thing I did that allowed me to get lots done was to get organised before I left. I spent a day choosing my photos and then the papers and embellishments to go with them. I used only what I had in my stash at home so it was not an expensive exercise at all. I find I work best/fastest when I have limited supplies, otherwise I get paralysed by choice! Also, there just simply was not room to take everything I owned!! LOL! I kept the layouts very simple in an effort to just "get it done!"

I'm not going to list all the supplied used since most of it is "retired" Stampin Up product that is no longer available. If you do have any questions you can always send me an email :-)

Ribbon Shares

2010-09-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

Are you a ribbon addict like me and you just NEED to have all the different colours and styles?? (Please don't let me be the only one! LOL!)

Well if you are (and I know you are - surely!!) then my RIBBON SHARES are just what you need!

One spot in each share allows you to receive 1 metre of each colour for that style of ribbon. You may even like to purchase two spots in a share to receive 2 metres of each colour.

Each share contains 13 colours (Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Rich Razzleberry, Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Early Espresso and Basic Black)

The exception to this is the In-Colour share which contains 5 colours - Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Concord Crush and Pear Pizzaz.

Listed below are the names of each share and the cost for 1 spot which = 1 metre of each colour.

If you require your shares to be posted to you (as opposed to being picked up from me or me delivering locally) there will be a postage charge added - it will be actual cost according to whatever Australia Post charges me. (I will keep it as low as possible)
1.
In-Color Stitched Poly Ribbon
$6.55 = 1 metre each of 5 colours
2.
5/8 Inch Grosgrain
$14.95 = 1 metre each of 13 colours3.
1/4 Inch Grosgrain
$10.95 = 1 metre each of 13 Colours4.
3/8 Inch Taffeta
$18.70 = 1 metre each of 13 colours
5.
1/8 Inch Taffeta
$17.35 = 1 metre each of 13 colours

6.
5/8 Inch Satin
$16.95 = 1 metre each of 13 colours.

New Catalogue is Here!

2010-09-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

The gorgeous new Idea Book & Catlaogue is now here! Click on the picture above to download your copy. Personally I think it is even better to have a hard copy to browse at your leisure - if you'd like your own copy please contact me and you can either pick yours up from me or I can have it mailed direct to you. Cost is $1o (RRP $12.95) plus $5.95 postage if being mailed to you.

The New Catalogue Is Coming!!!

2010-08-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Are you as excited as me about seeing the new Stampin Up Idea Book & Catalogue??? I have my demonstrator copy already and let's just say, my wishlist is HUGE!!! New stamps, new Big Shot dies and folders, new punches, new colours....
My pre-ordered catalogues will be arriving any day now and here’s how you can get your hands on one!

Come to my “Catalogue Launch” workshop!

Date: Saturday 4th September
Time: 10am
Place: 15 Coral Pea Close, Warner

Cost to attend is $10 – this includes morning tea, 2 make and takes and your copy of the new Idea Book & Catalogue (normally $12.95)

RSVP: Tuesday 31st August - The first 8 people to RSVP with payment will receive a bonus Father's Day card make'n'take kit!

Attendees will also have the opportunity to enter a raffle prize of some great Stampin Up products – cost of entry is a gold coin donation for our Mater Angel Boxes.

If you are unable to attend the Catalogue Launch workshop, never fear, you can still get your copy of the Idea Book & Catalogue!
You can drop in and pick up your copy just about any time – just call before hand to make sure I am home. Cost will be $10.

If you are unable to drop by (i.e. you live too far away) I can have the catalogue delivered direct to you but there will be a postage fee of $6 in addition to the cost of the catalogue.

Want your copy for FREE??? Here’s how:
Book a workshop – hostesses receive a free copy. Book for September/October and collect your free catalogue as soon as they are available.
Place a $100 order during August and pick up your free copy. (if you need it posted to you there will be a postage charge)

The Idea Book & Catalogue will also be available to view online at www.stampinup.com from the 1st September.

If you have been thinking about joining our fun team of demonstrators, you might like to consider attending a catalogue launch 'sneak peak' at our next demonstrators meeting on Saturday 28th August 2.30 – 5 at
Wynnum Manly Leagues Club, Wondall Rd, Manly West. Come along and see why we love what we do! RSVP is essential and cost to attend is $5 and includes 2 make & takes.

_______________________________________

Don't forget - many products and colours are being discontinued at the end of August so please contact me to order any of your must-have items before they are gone forever. If you don't have a copy of the list please let me know. It is available on the Stampin Up Website but I can also email you a copy if you prefer

_______________________________________

Rebecca Ross
stampinwithbec@netspace.net.au
0403 071 367
07 3882 5336

Close to Cocoa, close to gone!!

2010-06-27T00:35:00.000-07:00

Hi stampers,

Wow, been a while between blog posts, sorry!

Just wanted to let you know that Close To Cocoa A4 cardstock has just about run out! There will be no more after this so PLEASE, if you need some, order it right away!! It is expected to be all gone in a few days time. Probably a good idea to get the ink refill for you ink pad too if you are stocking up on the colour.

Convention News

2010-05-24T02:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a whirlwind few days at the Sydney 2010 Stampin Up Convention!

Big news first - you too can join in the fun be becoming a demonstrator for 20% less! From now until the end of July, the starter kit will be only $259! You will receive well over $500 value as well as enjoying a 20% discount on your purchases, a "job" that you can work in around your family life, fun and friendship with other demonstrators and more!

My other piece of big news is that I placed 18th in the demonstrator of the year awards for 2010! I have to admit I really was not expecting to place anywhere in that top 25, let alone 18th so I was very excited and honoured. I couldn't not have achieved that without my wonderful upline Liz (who place number 6 this year!!!), my wonderful downline or team members and of course my fabulous customers and friends. :-)

More news to share later but for now, here are a few pictures from the event:

Me, Shelli Gardner (CEO) and Liz

Liz and Me with our prizes for sales awards

Some of my lovely team members

Liz and me at the Managers' Reception with mega hot chocolates!

Colour Renovation Coming!

2010-04-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

Colour Renovation

Wow, some exciting news! Stampin Up is going to be having a "colour renovation" in September with the new Idea Book and Catalogue!

Some of our current colours will be discontinued and there will be some brand new colours introduced, along with the return of some of our favourite in-colours!

Our colours will then be organised into 4 Colour Collections, rather than the Colour Families we know at the moment. Some of the colours have moved into different collections and I just love the way they look - so fresh and vibrant!

There's still quite a bit of time before this comes into effect so don't worry - you will have plenty of time to collect any of your favourite colours that may be discontinued.

If you have favourties that you just can't live without, its a great idea to purchase the ink refill bottle so that your inkpad can last almost forever! And you might like to purchase a pack or 2 of the matching cardstock to see you through.

Personally, I know that I will fall in love with the new collections just as much as I love the current ones so I am not too worried. I do love Kiwi Kiss though so I may have to stock up on that one! LOL!

You'll see and hear more about this as September draws closer, but for now, enjoy your colours and keep stamping!

Brisbane Paper Craft Festival

2010-02-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, a few of our Paper Angels team and I held a stand at the Brisbane Paper Craft Festival. What a great time we had! It was an exhausting 3 days but we met lots of lovely paper crafters and had a great time helping them with our free make and take project.

Did any of you blog readers happen to pop by? We'd love to hear what you thought about our stand so leave a comment here on my blog if you like. :-)

Baby Shower for Bell

2010-01-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

A few months ago my lovely sister-in-law and (valued team member) Bell had a baby shower. Today she had her baby!!! I will be going to visit and meet my new niece tomorrow but in the mean time, here are some pics of the baby shower gift packaging I made a couple of months ago...

Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes (the pram image)

Inks: Pretty In Pink

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Tea Party DSP, Pretty in Pink Patterns DSP

Accessories and Tools: Butterfly Punch, Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Soft Subtles Brads, Chit Chat Rub Ons.

Face Book Fan Page

2010-01-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Just a quick note to let you know I have started a Face Book Fan Page for "Stampin' With Bec". If you're a Face Book User please come and join my page!

Bec.

9th Wedding Anniversary

2010-01-12T20:14:00.000-08:00

My lovely husband Matt and I were married on this day, 9 years ago. :)

Here is the card I've made for him this year.

You can see here that I've used Dimensionals to raise up the hearts. I've also used glue dots under the smallest hearts just to get a different height on them. The hearts were punched with the "heart to heart" punch.

I've used the Regal Rose patterned paper from the Level 1 Hostess pack as well as Night of Navy cardstock. I've done faux stitching around the navy cardstock with my white gel pen.

The "Happy Anniversary" is stamped and embossed in Whisper White.

I was really stuck for an idea for this card. I think it is taking me a while to get back into the swing of things after not doing any papercraft for 2 weeks! In the end, I pulled out a card magazine and had a flip through until I found something that caught my interest and then off I went. Here's the card that inspired my creation:

Baby Thomas

2010-01-11T01:27:00.000-08:00

This card was made for baby Thomas who made his arrival about 6 weeks ago - 4 weeks early - he just couldn't wait!

I'm having trouble getting my software to crop the photo, sorry about that! The sentiment on the bottom reads "welcome baby".

Stamps: Bundle of Joy (retired),

Inks: Staz-on Black, So Saffro, Close to Cocoa, Going Grey (outline) Bashful Blue

Paper: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Watercolour Paper

Accessories: Soft Subtles Brads

Tools: Designer Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, Aquapainters

(Oh, and this was taken ages ago, before I got my new camera)

Xavier's Baptism Card

2010-01-09T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here's what I came up with for Xavier's Baptism (which is today so I better hurry up and get this post done so we can go to church!)

So photography-wise I am a complete novice, have no idea what I'm doing but am keen to learn.

My new camera (Canon G11) is more than a point and shoot but not a digital SLR. Its kind of in-between because it has some manual functions and great zoom etc. I do plan on going to a beginners class to learn about all the functions. Hubby has a great Digital SLR too so I will be able to better utilise its functions.

The first photo here was taken on Automatic, just point and shoot.

This second photo was taken on Manual with me choosing the aperture and ISO (I am still learning what those even mean!)

This last one was taken at close range on Automatic and the camera automatically chose to use its Macro function for me. Sweet!

I know I still have lots to learn about lighting and other things but I think these came out ok considering I have not even read the manual yet! LOL!

Now onto the details of the card:

Stamps:

The cross I used is a non-Stampin' Up stamp set - OMG!! I don't own a Stampin Up cross so I used this one instead. (My back up plan would have been to create a cross out of a small love heart stamp if I could not find the acrylic block for this stamp!)

The sentiment is from "Occasional Greetings" and I thought it appropriate for a Baptism.

Ink:

I used Bashful Blue, overlayed with Silver Encore for the crosses and then Silver Encore for the sentiment.

Paper:

Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Brushed Silver

Accessories/Tools:

Eyelet Border Punch

Christmas Cards 09

2010-01-08T23:42:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some photographs of the hand made cards I received at Christmas:

Didn't everyone do a great job?? As you can see, the tree from "Season of Joy" was popular again - definitely one of my favourites!

I'll be back again soon with a Baptism card for my nephew Xavier.

Wedding Invitations for Shaun and Shell

2010-01-08T01:49:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

Yes, I know its been a looooooong time since I last updated the blog but I plan to be back for good now!

Let's get started with my most recent creation. Well actually it was a joint effort with my friend Monica - these are invitations for her son's upcoming wedding. They had the colours already in mind and wanted something simple and elegant and here's what we came up with:

We stamped the rose in Versamark and embossed with Gold Powder. The card is standard size but we sliced about 1cm off the edge and adhere a strip of gold paper that had been punched with the Eyelet Border Punch. This lines up with the edge of the card when its closed.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Sincere Salutations

Inks: Versamark

Paper: Textured White cardstock and gold paper (not from Stampin Up)

Accessories: Gold Ribbon (not from Stampin Up), Gold Embossing Powder

Tools: Heat Tool, Eyelet Border Punch

Well, there you go, my first blog post in many months but hopefully the start of a more regularly updated blog. I also have a new camera (Canon G11) so it will be interesting to learn how to get some nice shots on it and hopefully you will notice the difference as I start to improve my photography skills.

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Years. I'll be back tomorrow with some shots of the lovely hand made Christmas Cards I received this year. They are really great and I was so impressed with so many of them!

Tri-Shutter for Mum

2009-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here's the card I made for my mother's birthday on the weekend.

Mum loves blue so I used lots of Baja Breeze! Mum also likes things not to be too overdone so I tried not to completely cover up all the beautiful DSP.

Stamps: Oval All, Heartfelt Thanks

Inks: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Parisian Breeze DSP, Baja Breeze textured and plain, Choc Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: Baja Breeze Corduroy Buttons, Pretties Kit Flowers and half pearl, Button Latte white button, Rhinestome Brads, Flower Fusion Too felt flowers, Build-a-brads Pewter, Linen Thread

Tools: Large Oval and Scallop Oval punches, 1/2 inch circle punch (for build-a-brad) Aquapainter (for colouring pretties flower)

Toby's Hospital Visit

2009-09-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

What an action packed couple of days we've had!

I had planned to post pictures of the cards we were making at my Monday Night Masterclass but unfortunately I had to cancel the class at the last minute. I will post pics though after I've rescheduled the class.

On Monday morning I took the boys to the GP to have a look at Toby (my 3yr old) who was a bit "wheezy". Upon examining him the GP put him straight onto a nebuliser and called an ambulance!!

By the time the ambos arrived Toby's breathing was much better and there was much debate about how to get him to the hospital. The ambulance was apparently unable to transport all 3 of us (myself, Toby and Owen who is 16 months) due to lack of safe restraints. In the end it was decided that since his breathing was really pretty good I would drive them to the Royal Children's Hospital myself. Toby was a bit disappointed he didn't get to ride in the ambulance! Kids!

So we arrived at the emergency department and they gave him more ventilin and steroids. We were not allowed to leave the hospital until he could last 3 hours without Ventilin. He kept making it to about 2 hours and in the end we had to stay overnight. As you can imagine it was really not fun. Those recliner chairs may look comfy but they are really not nice to sleep in!
Not that I got much sleeping done - Emergency departments are sure noisy in the middle of the night! LOL!

We were finally able to leave around 10.30am the next day (Tuesday). Toby is now perfectly fine but we've been sent home with an Asthma management plan (even though he's not actually been diagnosed with Asthma yet) and a Ventilin Puffer.

So sorry there are no pics from my Monday night class but I promise I'll post them once we've rescheduled. And thank you to the ladies who were so understanding about the cancellation.

Christmas Charity Workshops

2009-09-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

If you would like more information on these events please contact me.

Oval All Thanks

2009-09-06T16:06:00.001-07:00

Here a couple of the little Thank You cards I like to pop in with orders for my lovely customers.

They are 3 x 3 inches - just the right size for a little note of thanks.
Stamps: Oval All
Inks: Baja Breeze
Paper: Baja Breeze (textured), Basic Grey, Walk in the Park DSP
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and 2-Way Glue Pen
Tools: Scallop Oval Punch

Stamps: Oval All
Inks: Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette (to colour butterfly)
Paper: Pink Pirouette (textured), Basic Grey, Patterns Hostess Pack
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and 2-Way Glue pen, Blender Pen(to colour butterfly)
Tools: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch

Father's Day '09

2009-09-06T02:32:00.000-07:00

Here is the card design I used for both my father and father-in-law this year for Father's Day:

Stamps: Seaside, Life Definitions
Inks: Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip
Papers: Whisper White, Sahara Sand (textured), Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Nil
Tools: Mat Pack and Paper Piercer

Spring Mini Make and Take

2009-09-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

This card was part of my Spring Mini Catalogue Workshop last month.
Stamps: Great Friend
Inks: Basic Grey, Cameo Coral, Baja Breeze
Papers: Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral, Basic Grey, Whisper White, Walk in the Park DSP
Accessories: Basic Grey Taffeta ribbon
Tools: Scallop Edge Punch, Large and Small Oval Punches

Birthday card for FIL

2009-09-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

FIL stands for Father-In-Law in case you didn't know! LOL!

This is the card I made for my husband's father last month for his birthday.

I was really happy with how this turned out. It was my first attempt at the "faux wood grain" technique.

Faux woodgrain is actually REALLY easy to do! You just need a piece of More Mustard cardstock and some ink pads. You simply drag the ink pads directly over the cardstock!
I started with the More Mustard ink pad, followed by Close to Cocoa and then a little Chocolate Chip. Lastly a little bit of Whisper White craft ink. Just be careful with that - you don't want to use too much. And just go gently - you don't want the other colours ending up in your white pad.

The circle sentiment was done using the "faux metal" techinique. You can see a tutorial I've done on it HERE.

The saw was stamped in Basic Brown ink onto Watercolour paper and watercoloured with the Neutrals Markers and an Aquapainter.

Watercolouring - what NOT to do!

2009-09-04T04:06:00.001-07:00

Here's a card I've been demostrating at my recent workshops:

Sorry it's blurry - I didn't realise it until I'd uploaded and unfortunately I don't have another (and am too lazy to go take another one! LOL!)

This close up is of another copy I made of the same card. I used it as a case-in-point of what happens if you don't let one colour dry before you add another colour. One of the workshop participants had a great idea - rather than call it a mistake she said it looks like a bit of "atmospheric burn"! I like it!

Stamps: Pun Fun, Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel
Inks: Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Staz-On Black
Papers: Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Watercolour Paper
Accessories: Hemp Twine
Tools: Aquapainter, Crimper

Urban Scrapbooking Pages

2009-09-04T03:39:00.000-07:00

Another event I held recently was a scrapbooking class. The event was an all day affair. We had a lovely time with lunch and afternoon tea included.

The ladies who attended did a BEAUTIFUL job on their pages and enjoyed learning some ways to use chipboard in their layouts.

I was a bit run off my feet on the day and didn't get time to take photos but here are some pics of the actual pages I designed for them to make. (I must give credit to my good friend and downline member Robyn for her helpful advice when I was a bit stuck on a couple of the pages - thanks Robyn!!)

If you'd like me to run another session on making these pages, gather a few friends together and we can book a date!

Fresh Inspirations Workshop wrap up

2009-09-04T03:23:00.000-07:00

Waaaay back in June our Paper Angels group help a half-day cardmaking workshop which we entitled "Fresh Inspirations".

The attendees received the Fresh Cuts stamp set and made 4 fabulous cards. (which I just realised I don't have a photo of! aarrgghh! Will take one tomorrow and edit to add)

A fabulous day was had by all and at our Pine Rivers venue we raised close to $700 for our chosen charity - the Mater Mothers Bereavement Support Program. (you can read more about it HERE)

Stampin' Up! is always generously supportive of our charity fund-raising efforts and supplied us with lots of lovely product for our raffles. Here's a pic of my Mum and I on the day. Mum always seems to manage to win a raffle prize or a competition prize at our events. I promise it's not rigged! LOL!

Apologies

2009-09-04T03:20:00.000-07:00

Firstly, let me apologise for the appaling lack of blog posts over the last month or so.

Somehow blogging kept getting pushed way down to the bottom of my to-do list. There always seems to be something more urgent/important that needs doing. (and sometimes I was just tired and couldn't be bothered!)

I'm going to make an effort to just get in there and blog! So here I go - I have a few posts I need to get on the blog so hopefully you will all forgive me and start reading my blog again!

Bec.

September Ribbon Bundle

2009-08-31T13:57:00.001-07:00

Urban Scrapbooking event

2009-07-19T00:48:00.000-07:00

Please click for a closer view of this flyer. If you are unable to view, please Email me and I will send it to you.

Post It Note Holder Instructions

2009-07-19T00:32:00.000-07:00

As promised (hello to the ladies from my Dayboro workshop!), here are the instructions/measurements for the Post It Note Holder I've been demonstrating at my workshops this month:

Cut a piece of cardstock to 9cm x 21cm. (You can get 3 of these from an A4 sheet.) Score at 9cm, 10cm and 11cm from one end.

Fold along score lines to create a "W" shape.
Fold back on itself (I don't know how else to word it!) so that you just see the middle fold. Cut two snips up to the score line.
Fold back out again to create the shape of the post it holder. Pop out the part that you snipped so that it sits out and creates the pen holder. Use some SNAIL or sticky strip to adhere the fold together.
Add a 3 inch square of DSP. This one is Bella Rose and the base is Riding Hood Red.

Add some ribbon. This one is the Kiwi Kiss / Vanilla Satin Ribbon.
Add some embellishments on top! Here I have stamped a flower from the Eastern Blooms set in Riding Hood Red, cut them out, added a green rhinestone brad to each centre (from the "ice" set of brads) and popped up on dimensionals. The squares beneath are 4.5 and 5cm squares in whisper white and kiwi kiss.

Bell's Birthday Gifts

2009-06-10T20:22:00.001-07:00

It was my sister-in-law (and team member) Bell's birthday yesterday. I've finally given her the gifts I made so now I can post pics of them!
This is a jar I bought a while ago which I thought would be great for putting rub-ons onto and filling with choccies or biscuits etc. Well, I had a bit of trouble at first, getting the rub-ons to actually stick! They are usually so easy to apply and stick to everything. I don't know what it was about this jar but it was giving me trouble. My wonderful team member Rel suggested I give it a rub over with my sanding block - hey presto! It worked!! The rub-ons were very easy to apply after that and the sanding block didn't damage the glass at all - no scratches or anything!

The card was really easy to do. It is a pre-cut and scored mini note card with matching envelope. I used rub-ons again, this time from the Bright Delights collection and added some felt flowers and brads over the top. I also put some rub-ons on the envelope to match.

I made a cute little post-it note holder for her as well. It was inspired by the one you see below.
This one was given to me by my lovely upline Liz at a meeting recently. It, in turn, was inspired by some swaps we received at Convention in May.
Unfortunately there are no details on the back of this swap. If you recognise this as your swap or someone you know, please let me know so I can give proper credit. Isn't this owl just so cute??

If you would like to learn how to make these little cuties, just contact me to book a free workshop.

Fabulous Deal for Hostesses

2009-06-09T16:52:00.001-07:00

Check out this great Hostess special:
Host a workshop in June or July with sales of $600 or more and receive an EXTRA $40 to spend!!

This means if your workshop totals $600 you receive:
*A level 1 OR level 2 stamp set
*$110 to spend!

Contact me today to book your workshop.

Don't have time to host a workshop? How about a "catalogue party"? Pass a catalogue around to your friends and collect their orders. You receive all the same hostess benefits as if you hosted a workshop in your home. Contact me to find out more.

Pocket Card with DSP

2009-06-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

Here's my final entry for Liz's challenge:

This time I decided to actually challenge myself! The first 2 cards were easy to make - that spotty design on the DSP is fun to work with.

I decided I needed to try and use a pattern that I didn't necesarily love...and here's what I came up with. I stuck to just the 2 colours to keep it simple. The pattern is already busy so I didn't want busy colours as well.

Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Frames with a Flourish
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Papers: Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: Choc Chip grosgrain (wide and narrow), Jumbo Eyelet,
Tools: Scallop Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Round Tab Punch, Cropadile, 1/2 inch circle punch (for the corners of the frame).

Rolling Bug

2009-06-04T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here's another of the cards I made for Liz's challenge.

This time I made a spinner card. I got the instruction from Splitcoast Stampers AGES ago so just did one by memory. It still worked!

The bug has dimensionals and a couple of 5 cent pieces on the back to help it roll across the card. The space it rolls through was created with the Word Window punch - punched a couple of times to create an extra long window.

The words were stamped by inking one or 2 words at a time and using the stamp-a-ma-jig to positioin them. On the word stamp, the words are not all in one line, they are on 3 lines so I had to fiddle around to get them to look like this.

I've sponged all the edges of the cardstock and DSP with Old Olive ink and put Crystal Effects on the bug.

Stamps: Bugs and Kisses
Inks: Old Olive, Pacific Point
Papers: Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories: Pacific Point ribbon, Crystal Effects
Tools: Circle punches, Word Window punch

Summer Daisies

2009-06-04T03:29:00.000-07:00

I am totally loving the "Upsy Daisy" stamp set! Here's a card I made for a little challenge my upline Liz was running. We had to make a card using the Good Morning Sunshine DSP. There were some BRILLIANT entries by lots of the Paper Angels team. I'll post pics of my other 2 entries soon.

I used the Eyelet Border punch on the corners of my whisper white to create these decorative corners. Just insert the corner of your paper into the middle of the punch.

The stamp was inked in So Saffron ink, then I daubered Summer Sun onto the middle of the flowers. I used an Old Olive marker for the stems.

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Short and Sweet
Inks: So Saffron, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Pacific Point
Paper: Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, Pacific Point, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories: Pacific Point ribbon, Fire Circle Rhinestone brads
Tools: Small and Lage Oval punches, Eyelet Border punch

Apricot Giraffe

2009-06-04T03:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent 'make and take' from my workshops. This card is super easy and quick to make.

Stamps: Wild About You, Family Phrases
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal
Papers: Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi kiss, Whisper White, Patterns Pack II (hostess only)
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss ribbon
Tools: Stapler, Word Window punch

OMG! I scrapbooked!

2009-05-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Just had to share with you some scrapbooking. I have not touched my 3 year old's baby album in soooo long but I finally did a couple of layouts for him. I really need to catch up on my scrapbooking. (Don't we all??) I have it all planned out for my second child - I have kits bought and ready to go! LOL! My main problem is just getting the photos actually printed out! And then sorted out too...

You can't really tell from this photo but the hanky on Toby's head is actually a ginham patter no it matches this paper really well. I've used mostly Stampin' Up! products for these layouts although a lot of it is retired stuff I've stashed away for my personal scrapbooking use.

I just knew that I would need this Au Chocolat papers after they retired! It goes perfectly with this teddy bear layout. You can't see it but I've used textured Very Vanilla cardstock here and it's totally gorgeous in real life.

I haven't added the jounalling yet but I'll get to that eventually! LOL!

Hip-hippo-ray

2009-05-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

(Apologies for the poor photography - it has been overcast here for days on end so it's been hard to get a good photo. I ended up just doing it and having to try and adjust the exposure etc.)

This card is one that I have been demonstrating at my recent workshops. I've used this card to show water colouring. I wanted to show people how easy it is to water colour, even when you're not much of an artist. The trick really is to use the proper water colour paper. If you use that, you just can't go wrong! If you're trying to colour on Whisper White there's not as much scope for fixing mistakes. Water colour paper allows you to even remove colour if you need to! It can cope with much more water than Whisper White and this means you can keep going back and adding on extra colour.

Stamps: Pun Fun
Inks: Staz-on Black
Paper: Water colour paper, Basic Grey, Regal Rose, Patterns Pack 2 (hostess level 1)
Accessories: Regal Rose wide grosgrain, Neutrals and Rich Regals Watercolour Wonder Crayons
Tools: Corner Rounder Punch, Aquapainter

Owen's First Birthday

2009-05-20T03:28:00.000-07:00

Can you believe my little baby is one already?? One of the funny things at Convention this year were the comments from the other Paper Angels about how I was much bigger I looked at LAST year's Convention! Sure I was, 8 and 1/2 months pregnant!!

Owen is such a little character and had very little interest in the whole birthday party ritual. All he wanted to do was play on the grass!

I thought I would share some pics of him on the day and his cake, along with pics of the card I made for him.

I made a pop-up card! I can't remember the last time I made one of these...
Ooh, and did you notice I used BOLD BRIGHTS??? I know! I hardly ever do the Bold Brights thing but hey, I gave it a go!

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Polkadot background
Inks: Tempting Turquoise, Staz-on Black
Paper: Watercolour paper, Yo Yo Yellow, Gable Green, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Tempting Turquoise grosgrain, Linen thread, Bold Brights Brads, Watercolour Wonder Crayons (Bold Brights)
Tools: Wide oval punch, Large oval punch, Aquapainter

Mothers Day card from my hubby

2009-05-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to show you the Mothers Day card my husband made for me. He whipped it up while I was having a sleep in on Mothers Day. He raided my stash of scraps and pre-stamped images and this is what he came up with. All he then had to do was colour in the flower. I think he did a great job, especially since he did it on the fly while I was sleeping and he was watching our two little boys!

Patterns Gift Set

2009-05-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Raelene is having a birthday this month so I made her a card and a little gift set.
Here's the card:
Stamps: Short and Sweet, Fun and Fast Notes, Frames with a Flourish
Inks: Basic Grey, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Certainly Celery
Paper: Patterns Pack 2 (hostess only), Basic Grey, Whisper White

The idea for this gift set was inspited by a make and take we did at Convention. The bag is made by placing a piece of double sided DSP in a cello bag and punching out a handle with the Word Window punch.

Before I posted the gift off to Ralene I popped in a White Gel Pen so that she can write on the inside of these cards without having to put in another layer of lighter cardstock or paper. The white gel pen show up beautifully on the Basic Grey and the pen looks cute inside the bag too!

Stamps: A Flower for all Season, Short and Sweet
Inks: Basic Grey, Regal Rose, Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Apricot Appeal
Paper: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Patterns Pack 2 (hostess only)
Accessories: Cello Bag, Brocade Blue wide grosgrain
Tools: Word Window punch

Fabulous Starter Kit Offer

2009-05-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

Stampin' Up! is offering a FABULOUS starter kit this month. It will cost you $150 to join (for this month only), but for that, you will get a stamp set ($77.95 value), a Simply Scrappin' Kit, 12x12 Textured cardstock, an inkpad and Craft and Rubber Scissors. That's all worth over $180.

You also get some business supplies to get you started: Idea Book & Catalogue (8), Getting Started DVD, Getting Started Guide, Guest Invitation Postcard (100), To My Hostess Envelope (10), Project Sample Sheet, Recruit Brochures (20), Hostess Brochure (20), Hostess Benefits Form (10), Customer Order Form (50).

If you decide down the track that you no longer wish to continue as a demonstrator there are no penalties. You've paid for your Starter Kit so it is yours to keep.

I provide as much or a little help and support to the ladies in my team as they want or need. If you wish to be a hobby demonstrator you can - you never have to do a workshop if you don't want to. You would still be welcome at all my meetings, classes and other events.
If you wish to be more of a "business" demonstrator I can assist you with information, training and support. I'll even conduct your first workshop for you!

There's room for all kinds of demonstrators in my team.

What are you waiting for? There's nothing to lose so give me a call today! We need to get your paperwork in before the end of May for this special offer. Of course the normal Starter Kit is also available during this time.

Convention Highlights

2009-05-05T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

For those that didn't already know, I spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday in chilly Canberra for the annual Stampin' Up! Convention. It was so much fun!

I haven't had time to edit and crop all my photos yet but here are some that I've done so far:

This is a shot of some of our Paper Angels team on the first day. Ursula (bottom right with the pink halo) organised our shirts with a hot pink Paper Angels logo on the back. She also made cute little angel name badges for everyone and even beauty queen sashes with the Paper Angels logo too! She made a special sash for our team leader Liz - she added the word Queen and a little crown. I'll have to get Liz to send me a photo or put one on her blog.

Our whole team was so pleased to see our Liz win the best award of the night - the Heart of Stampin' Up! award. Liz does so much for our team and for charity so we all put in our nominations. Not a dry eye amongst the Paper Angels as Shelli read excerpts of the nominations. You can see in the pics below the beautiful necklace that was awarded to Liz.Here's a pic of me as I walked across the stage to collect my award. I was so pleased to receive my pin and stamp set. I'm aiming to walk across twice next year and to earn the incentive trip to Hamilton Island as well! Gotta dream big!

And finally, all 16 of the Paper Angels team who attended Convention 2009. Who's coming with me next year??

June Card Workshop

2009-04-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Please click image to zoom in and read.

Kate's 21st card and gift

2009-04-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Remember a couple of weeks ago I posted pics of the invitations I made for a 21st party?

Here is the card and gift I gave the birthday girl Kate:

Kate is mad about elephants so the gift inside the box is an elephant ring.

I also made her a purple elephant cake with the help my of husband Matt who sketched out the design for me on my Stampin' Up grid paper! (please ignore the candles!! I forgot to get some and this was all we could find in the house! LOL!)Stamps: None
Inks: White Craft Ink
Papers: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, retired DSP (can't think of the name)
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds, Heat'n'stick powder, 5/8" Celery grosgrain
Tools: Heat tool

Stamps: None
Inks: Perfect Plum
Papers: Pale Plum, retired DSP
Accessories: 1/4" celery grosgrain, pretties kit flower (dyed with Perfect Plum ink), pretties kit half pearl, Small filligree brad, purple rhinestone brad (from the "ice" pack of brads)
Tools: Fiskar paper trimmer with scoring blade

Toby's Birthday

2009-04-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

Oops, again it's been a while since my last post - sorry! The boys have been a bit sick this week resulting in a lack of uninterrupted time for me to stamp and blog.

Quick couple of pics from Toby's birthday:

All the lovely hand-made cards Toby received from friends and family.
The card I made him.
Stamps: El-cheapo Thomas the Tank Engine stamps - this particular one is HENRY, retired stamp set Typeset Numbers, Polka Dot Background
Inks: Green galore, Real red, Yoyo Yellow
Papers: Green galore, Real red, Yoyo yellow, Whisper White
Tools: Circle punches and scallop punch.
The cake - my version of Henry.

The birthday boy.The party bags/Easter baskets. Made with circle and oval punches for the bunnies.

Purple 21st

2009-04-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

I recently made invitations for a 21st Birthday Party. The birthday girl is my brother's girlfriend Kate.

Kate wanted a purple party so here's what I came up with for her:

When mass-producing invitations I think it's best to keep it as simple as possible. Punches, wheels, backgrounds stamps, printing on the computer all help with this.

For this invitation I used punches and a background stamp. The most time consuming part was using the stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the 21 and the dots around it. Even so, this was still pretty quick to do.

Stamps: Polka Dot Background, Typeset Numbers (retired), Think Happy Thoughts
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Lavendar Lace
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Lavendar Lace
Tools: 1 and 1/4" circle punch, 1 and 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch

Baja Breeze - how do YOU pronounce it?

2009-04-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Another CASE from the new catalogue:

I don't have the "Friends 24-7" set so I used "Echoes of Kindness" which is a Level 2 Hostess Set (which I borrowed from Bell) instead.

I also don't have any of the new Designer Papers yet so instead I stamped the "En Fancais" background stamp on the lower half of the card.

Of course, if I don't have the papers I also don't have the new ribbons yet either! So I subsitituted some Whisper White tafetta for the Baja Breeze ribbon.

I really love this new Baja Breeze colour! I have heard a few interesting ways of pronouncing Baja already...how do YOU pronounce it? I say "Ba-ha" since I figure it is a place in Mexico and in the Spanish language the letter J sounds like the English letter H. Leave me a comment if you agree/disagree.

Stamps: Echoes of Kindness, En Francais
Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Staz-On Black
Paper: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Watercolour paper
Accessories: Whisper White Tafetta ribbon
Tools: Aquapainter

Gum Blossoms by Mum

2009-04-07T04:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a card made by my mum using the new stamp set "Blooms Away". I think she's done a fantastic job of colouring the gum blossoms.

Simply Said CASEd

2009-04-07T04:19:00.000-07:00

Here's another "CASEd" card from the new catalogue.

Stamps: Simply Said
Inks: Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Earth Elements Brads, Flower Designer Brads
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig

And here's the original:

Pick A Purple Petal

2009-04-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

The idea for this card came from the following picture in our new catalogue:

The catalouge is such a great resource! You can copy the samples exactly or do what I've done here and use it for inspiration. I've copied the layout but changed it a little bit by adding the scalloped border instead of a piece of ribbon.

I also changed the colours. The colour combination was inspired by the Colour Wheel. The colour wheel doesn't have the in colours on it so I substitiuted them in for other colours. The colour wheel suggested a combination of Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Pretty In Pink. I swapped the Olive for Kiwi and the Pretty in Pink for Pink Piroutte.

Stamps: Pick A Petal, Short and Sweet
Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Kiwi Kiss
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Piroutte, Whisper White
Accessories: nil
Tools: Word Window Punch, Scalloped Edge punch, Distressing Tool (Cutter Kit), 1 inch circle punch

Easter Cards

2009-04-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Easter is nearly here so I though I'd better show you a couple of Easter cards.I don't have ANY Easter Stamps!!! Well, except for the "Easter Wishes" greeting from the "Occasional Greetings" Stamp Set. So I had to make do with my punches!

My colour combination came from the Stampin' Up! Colour Wheel.

I have sponged around the edges of the card but it doesn't show up much in the photo. It is only light sponging.

Stamps: Occasional Greetings
Inks: Night of Navy, Sage Shadow
Papers: Night of Navy, Sage Shdow, Blush Blossom
Tools: Small and Large Oval Punches, 1/2", 1 and 1/4", 1 and 3/8" circle punches, scallop circle punch.
Accessories: Soft Subtles brads, sponge, black marker, googly eyes (not Stampin' Up)

This card is one that I made as a make and take at my Upline Liz's meeting last month. It is a half-sized card.

Stamps: Greetings Eight
Inks: Staz-On Black. Stampin' Pastels (chalks)
Paper: Barely Banana, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories: Bashful Blue 1/4" grosgrain ribbon
Tools: Paper Piercer and Mat Pack, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 and 3/8" Circle Punch, blender pen

Thomas for Toby

2009-04-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

My son Toby LOVE LOVE LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and all associated things!!

So for his 3rd birthday this year (which is on Easter Sunday) I have made him Thomas the Tank Engine party invitations. I got some el-cheapo foam-backed rubber stamps from eBay and got to work.

Now, these foam stamps were HORRIBLE to work with - absoloutely horrid! I didn't realise how great our Stampin' Up stamps are until I went back to cheap stamps! The image is not very deeply etched and is not trimmed nice and close so it was hard not to get those awful ink shadows around the image. It was also really had to stamp it evenly without patchy bits missing. Ugh.

I stamped the main image in Staz-On onto Whisper White. I coloured him in with a combination of markers and inkpads with an aquapainter. I used Ballet Blue, Real Red, YoYo Yellow and Going Grey. Ballet Blue was the closest we have to a Thomas Blue.

Colouring 15 of these darn things was quite a pain by the end of it all! LOL!

I stamped the same Thomas stamp as a background witht he Ballet Blue ink onto the matching Ballet Blue cardstock.

The "You're Invited" comes from the "Cheers and Wishes" stamp set.

Basic Birthdays

2009-04-03T16:50:00.001-07:00

Here are some basic birthday cards I made reently for some of my son's little friends.

This one was for Evie. Her party was a Princess/Pirates dress up theme so I tried to make a Princess card for her. I used the "All in the Family" stamp set and got the crown from the now retired "Unfrogettable" stamp set. If I'd had the accessories set that goes with All in the Family, I would have had a perfect crown stamp, but I think this one turned out ok.

I had to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig for this card to line up all the separate stamps of the body parts and crown. Funny story, every time I stamped the left arm it ended up in the wrong place, even though I was using the stamp-a-ma-jig! I FINALLY figured out (after aout the 3rd time) that I needed to turn the stamp over and have a look - sure enough, the piece of rubber had MOVED on the block! I had previously made up image sheets on vellum but because the rubber had moved, it no longer stamped in the same position as the arm on the image sheet!! Ugh. Anyways, I got it fixed up in the end.

This card was for Ilani. She didn't have a dress up theme but her party invitation did have butterflies on it so I reached for the "Garden Whimsy" set. I used the rock'n'roll technique for the butterflies but used a darker marker around the edges of the flower and snail to get a similar effect to rock'n'roll.

Simple Thank Yous

2009-04-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, is this the most neglected blog or what??? Sorry you guys, I promise I will get on top of this and get the blog happening more often.

Here are some simple thank you cards I made last month. This Bali Breeze paper is no longer available but of course you could use the same layout with some of the gorgeous new papers in the new catalogue!

The card on the left is made from a 1/4 sheet of A4 cardstock. The card on the right is a standard sized card - 1/2 sheet A4.

I used the 1 and 3/8" square punch for the card on the right. I layered the 4 squares onto a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock and the adhered to the Apricot Appeal card base. I then pierced a row of holes all the way around with the mat pack and paper piercer. The sentiment is from "Sincere Salutations" and is stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink.

Album In a Day Pics

2009-03-07T13:46:00.000-08:00

On Sunday 1st of March our Paper Angels group held the first of 2 Album in a Day workshops at Pine Rivers Bowls Club. The second one will be at Carina on the 15th of March.

We had a lot of wonderfully positive feedback about the day and we look forward to running more of these charity events and all-day events in the future. This particular event was run to raise money for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation. My sister-in-law Bell (who is also a member of my team!) recently lost her dad Garry to brain cancer. Her family have set up a Memorial Fund in his name and it is through this that we are donating all the money we raised.

Here are some photos from the day:

This photo shows the table we set up with samples on display. Everyone was welcome to browse the samples and take photos to use as inspiration later on. There were scrapbook pages, cards and other 3D projects on display.

Here you can see all the lovely ladies working hard on their scrapbook pages. Between the hours of 10am to 4pm they completed 20 6x6 pages for their album!

Here I am with my sister-in-law Bell and my mum Marie who won one of the fantastic raffle prizes. Stampin' Up! generously donated a huge box of supplies for us to use in our quest to raise money for the Australian cancer research foundation. Thanks Stampin' Up!

We had many other wonderful winners on the day. There were 8 of the large prizes like the one you can see Mum holding and also 4 Simply Sent kits which we raffled off.

Here's Bells's mum Julia who won one of the kits! (No, it was not rigged!! LOL!)

In total we raised $632 from our raffles, all of which is going straight to the foundation!

We are also donating 10% of our sales total from the day.

Here are photos of all our lovely ladies who attended this special event. Also pictured are the demonstrators who guided them through it - Jen, Kate, Leonie, Orrell, Karen, Bell and myself.

Not pictured (because she stayed behind the camera all day!) is the lovely Liz Collett. Liz is our team leader, without whom the day would not have been quite the success that it was. Thanks Liz!! Liz will be leading the team in the second event at Carina on the 15th of March where we hope to raise even more money for the Garry Palmer Memorial Fund.

A special photo - Me, Julia and Bell

Scallop Square Birthday

2009-02-11T11:53:00.001-08:00

Here's the card I sent to my friends' little boy Hunter when he turned 1 in January. (Check out the baby card I made when he was born.)

This was such an easy card to make. I started by choosing a piece of Designer Series Paper and that determined the colour combination for me. The crocodile image is simply stamped, cut out and mounted with dimensionals.

The sentiment was punched out with the Scalloped Square Punch. The larger, red scalloped square was created with the Scalloped Edge Punch. I will be creating a photo tutorial on how I made this sized one. There is a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers that shows a different method for creating scalloped squares and rectangles too.

Stamps: Birthday Best, Wild About You
Inks: More Mustard, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, East Coast Prep DSP
Accessories: Nil
Tools: Scalloped Square Punch, Scalloped Edge Punch

And sorry about the large gap in time between posts. Life with small children gets pretty busy as you all know and sometimes this blog just has to take a back seat to all the other things that need to get done in life. Sale-A-Bration is keeping me VERY busy with workshops and getting my new recruits off to a good sart with their Stampin' Up! businesses. Creating and organising the Album in a Day event has also been keeping me very busy. If you'd like to attend the Album in a Day event you'll need to get your payments in ASAP to secure your booking.

February 2009 Newsletter

2009-01-31T19:39:00.000-08:00

Album In A Day Event

A Paper Angels Charity Event supporting the Garry Palmer Memorial Fund
(for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation)

Spend a wonderful day with friends creating 20 beautiful scrapbook pages using lots of gorgeous, coordinating Stampin’ Up! products from the new Summer Mini Catalogue.
This class includes an album to showcase all your layouts and is suitable for beginners right through to advanced paper crafters.

Cost is $55 and includes:
• All materials needed to complete the 20 pages for your album (Designer Series Paper, Coordinating cardstock, Styled Silver Hodge Podge, flowers, beads and more from the Pretties Kit, Ribbons and more!)
• Instruction Sheets
• 6x6 Scrapbook Album
• Afternoon Tea, Tea/Coffee (Lunch can be purchased on site at the bistro.)

What to bring: scissors, adhesives, paper trimmer and your photos* (printed at 3x4 inches)

There will be wonderful raffle prizes full of gorgeous Stampin’ Up! product so do bring along some extra money for raffle tickets.

Venues and Dates:
Sunday 1st March - 10am to 4pm
Pine Rivers Bowls Club
Cnr Sparkes & Francis Rds, Bray Park

Sunday 15th March - 10am to 4pm
Carina Leagues Club
1390 Creek Rd, Carina

All proceeds from the raffles and 10% of sales on the day will go straight to our charity.

*Most photo labs will let you print 2 photos per 6x4 page, which will give you 3x4 photos

(This charity is close to my heart. My downline Bell who is also my sister-in-law lost her step-dad Garry to brain cancer just after Christmas. She had the wonderful idea of setting up a memorial fund and raising money for research so together with my wonderful upline Liz we have created this charity scrapbooking day. We hope you can join us and raise some money for a good cause.)

Contact me ASAP to reserve your place.

Sale-A-Bration

Our Sale-A-Bration promotion gives reason for everyone to celebrate! Click HERE to view the gorgeous stamp sets you can receive for FREE!

Customers -- Receive a free Sale-A-Bration stamp set for every $100 purchase. Contact me now to place your order. I can have it delivered directly to your door!

Hostesses -- Receive a free Sale-A-Bration stamp set with a $600 or more workshop, in addition to your normal hostess benefits.

I am all but booked out for Febraury workshops. If you would like to host a workshop this month you will need to contact me ASAP and it will have to be held on a weeknight.
Another option is to host a "catalogue party" where you as hostess collect orders from your friends, hand them in to me and you get the hostess benefits. Call me for more details.

Recruits -- Choose any retail stamp set (a value up to $79.95) from the current catalogues when signing up during the promotion.

Shoe-Box Swap Event

*** There are 3 spots left for this fun event! Anyone can come- you can be a customer, a friend, another demonstrator - you do not have to use strictly Stampin' Up! materials in your swap. Contact me ASAP to confirm your place! ***

A Shoe-Box Swap is a fun stamping event where a group of people all design a card and provide the materials and tools to make it. For example, if there are 6 people in the group, each person provides enough materials to make 5 of their card design and provides one sample for the other people to copy. This means that each person gets to make 5 cards on the day but only has to design one card. As you complete each card, you move on to the next “shoe-box”.

There is no cost for this event – it is just for fun!

Date: Monday 9th February
Time: 7:30pm
Place: 15 Coral Pea Close, Warner
What to bring: Your “shoe-box”, a basic kit with scissors, adhesives, etc, and a plate to share for supper

What to include in your “shoe-box”:
You need to supply everything needed for your card design (except for adhesives as each person will bring their own). Please pre-cut the cardstock to all the correct sizes.
For example your box may include: Stamp set, inkpads, markers, punches, an embellishment such as ribbons or brads, pre-cut cardstock, sample card. Please don’t include any difficult or time consuming techniques like embossing as we will not have the time to complete it all. Please keep your card relatively simple. Include at least 1 layer in your card design and at least 1 embellishment.

We will keep this a small group – maximum 6 people so that you only need to provide enough materials to make 5 copies of your card plus your sample card.

Summer Mini Catalogue

The Summer Mini Catalogue started at in December and runs until the end of March. Do you have a copy yet? If not, contact me so I can arrange to get one to you. Alternatively you can view it online HERE.

Team Meeting

If you've ever considered becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, please come along to one of my monthly meetings. You'll meet the other wonderful ladies in my team, do some stamping and have a chat about all things Stampin' Up!

Date: Sunday 15th Feb
Time: 7:30pm
Place: 15 Coral Pea Close, Warner

Product Spotlight - Flower Fusion

These gorgeous felt flowers add a really special something to your cards, scrap pages and other projects. They come in a gorgeous silver tin and you get over 130 flowers in 3 colours - Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red and Old Olive.

I like to use a Rhinestone Brad through the centre - I think the pink ones and orange ones from the Fire collection work well.

Project Corner

A Little Something For You card
Stamps Sanded Stamp Set Yummy Sab Stamp Set	Paper Card Stock Whisper White A4 Card Stock More Mustard A4 Card Stock Old Olive A4 Card Stock Rose Red A4
Ink : Classic Stampin Pad Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin Pad More Mustard	Accessories Buttons Earth Elements Stampin Dimensionals Ribbon Grosgrain Chocolate Chip 5/8 Inch Accents & Elements Flower Fusion
Instructions 1. Stamp Sanded background image in More Mustard ink on More Mustard card. 2. Stamp ‘A little something for you’ image in Chocolate Chip ink on Whisper White card stock (5.5 x 10.7 cm). Ink ‘For you’ with Chocolate Chip ink again and stamp on Old Olive card stock and cut out. Adhere to Whisper White card stock using Stampin’ Dimensionals. 3. Distress left edge of Whisper White card stock and adhere to Rose Red textured card stock (11.5 x 6.5 cm). Tie Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain ribbon around bottom of Rose Red card stock and adhere to card using Stampin’ Dimensionals. 4. Adhere More Mustard button to Old Olive felt flower and adhere to card using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Carousel Notes Wedding Card

2009-01-05T17:35:00.000-08:00

The Carousel Notes are a new product from the Summer Mini catalogue. They are single sheets of scalloped cardstock. At first I wasn't quite sure what to do with them but then I came up with this:

I applied rub ons from the "Love Bird" set (in the Summer Mini). The are a great fit for the Carousel Notes. I also sponged the edges lightly with Soft Sky ink. Doesn't really show in this photo.

I cut a cirlce (but not completely, I left a bit uncut on one side) with the Colluzzle Circle Cutter. This is a circle cutting system I purchased from a Scrapbooking shop but you could use any circle cutting system that allows you to leave a small bit uncut. You could even trace around something with a craft knife.

I cut another circle, slightly larger, from Whisper White cardstock and adhered it to the back so that I would have a space to write on. I stamped the dotted journalling lines from the stamp in the "Live Your Dream" stamp set in Soft Sky ink and wrote my message with my Chocolate Chip marker. I cut a notch out with a small circle punch to make it easier to open the card.

The couple getting married had organised a Wishing Well instead of gifts so I cut another circle from the "Afternoon Tea" DSP to make a pocket for a gift card to go in the back.

The envelopes that come with the Carousel Notes are gorgeous square Chocolate Chip coloured ones. I decorated the envelope very simply with the word Cherish from the "Cherished Memories" rub ons and a flower from the "Love Birds" rub ons.

Website dramas

2009-01-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

Hi all,

Well I have had some dramas accessing the Stampin' Up! website over the last week or so, hence the lack of links in my newsletter (which will all be fixed up now!).

But it is all fixed now! After lots of phone calls to my ISP they finally figured out a solution for me! Yay! If you are someone who is also having trouble loading the Stampin' Up! website, please contact me and I'll let you know the process we went through. Basically it had to do with changing something in our proxy settings and now it all works!

January Newsletter

2008-12-30T02:21:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a fun-filled New Year's Eve. I had a great Christmas but was in bed well and truly before midnight on New Year's Eve! LOL!

The big news this month is Sale-A-Bration - check out the first article in this newsletter for more information. Book your workshops ASAP as I will be quite busy during this promotion so first in, best dressed, so to speak.

There are wonderful deals for customers, hostesses and new recruits during this promotion. If you've ever thought of hosting a workshop or even becoming a demonstrator, NOW is the time to do it!

I hope you enjoy this edition of my newsletter - the first for 2009!

Edited to add - the Stampin Up website is not accessible at this present moment so there are some links and other things missing in this newsletter. I will update this newsletter ASAP once I have accessed the website. Sorry!

Sale-A-Bration

Our Sale-A-Bration promotion gives reason for everyone to celebrate! Click HERE to view the gorgeous stamp sets you can receive for FREE!

Customers -- Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $100 purchase.

Hostesses -- Receive a free Sale-A-Bration stamp set with a $600 or more workshop, in addition to the normal hostess benefits.

Recruits -- Choose any retail stamp set (a value up to $79.95) from the current catalogue when signing up during the promotion.

Demonstrators -- As a current demonstrator you can earn even more wonderful rewards based on your sales and recruiting during January and February. If you are thinking about becoming a demonstrator, join up ASAP at the start of January so that you can qualify for these other wonderful rewards. Contact me or attend my opportunity night for more information.

Opportunity Night

Have you ever considered becoming a demonstrator? Now is the time to do it! (see above)

There are so many great reasons to become a demonstrator but I will start by telling you mine.

In October 2006 I attended my first Stampin' Up! Workshop. I completely fell in love with the whole concept of Stampin' Up! Their stamps, the colour coordination, the accessories, the style, the awesome tools, everything! I had stamped a little before and had made cards and done some scrapbooking but I had always found it irritating trying to find products from various companies that matched. Stampin' Up! was just perfect for me.

The first product I bought was the Stampin' Scrub and Mist for cleaning my stamps and then I booked a workshop right away. The workshop was a great success and I earned lots of free product. I also decided to sign up that day! I knew that I wanted to have lots of products from the catalogue and that becoming a demonstrator would be the best way to achieve that for me.

By becoming a demonstrator I would receive a 20% discount on all my purchases and 20% income on all my sales. I could even earn more than 20% income depending on my level of sales and recruiting.

By doing workshops I would be able to earn enough money to buy all the things I wanted from the catalogue.

As a demonstrator I would also have access to sneak peaks, pre-order periods, the chance to attend Convention and other great Stampin' Up! events, as well as a fantastic 30% discount/income on my very first order and even the chance to earn heaps of free stamp sets in my first 6 months.

I absolutely LOVE being a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! I love the product, the company and all the great people I've met in the last 2 and a half years. I get to attend meetings run by my lovely Upline Liz (as do the ladies who have joined my team) and as of this year I will be running my own team meetings as well.

If you would like to hear more about joining Stampin' Up! please come along to my Opportunity Night. I'll be there to answer any questions you may have, we'll do some stamping and have some supper too!

Date: Tuesday 20th January
Time: 7:30pm
Place: 15 Coral Pea Close, Warner

Please RSVP by Thursday 15th January.

Workshop dates

As I mentioned at the beginning of this newsletter, I will be quite busy during the Sale-A-Bration promotion. It has always been my busiest time of year because of the fantastic free stamps for both customers and hostesses.

I have the following dates available for workshops:

Saturday 10th January (any time)
Thursday 15th January (evening)
Tuesday 27th January (evening)
Wednesday 28th January (evening)
Monday 2nd Feb (evening)
Tuesday 3rd Feb (evening)
Saturday 7th Feb (afternoon/evening)
Sunday 8th Feb (afternoon/evening)
Saturday 14th Feb (morning)
Thursday 19th Feb (afternoon/evening)
Friday 20th Feb (any time)
Saturday 22nd Feb (any time)

If these dates do not suit but you are keen to book a workshop, please do let me know as I may be able to move things around to accommodate you.

Shoe-Box Swap Event

A Shoe-Box Swap is a fun stamping event where a group of people all design a card and provide the materials and tools to make it. For example, if there are 6 people in the group, each person provides enough materials to make 5 of their card design and provides one sample for the other people to copy. This means that each person gets to make 5 cards on the day but only has to design one card. As you complete each card, you move on to the next “shoe-box”.

There is no cost for this event – it is just for fun!

Date: Monday 9th February
Time: 7:30pm
Place: 15 Coral Pea Close, Warner
What to bring: Your “shoe-box”, a basic kit with scissors, adhesives, etc, and a plate to share for supper

What to include in your “shoe-box”:
You need to supply everything needed for your card design (except for adhesives as each person will bring their own). Please pre-cut the cardstock to all the correct sizes.
For example your box may include: Stamp set, inkpads, markers, punches, an embellishment such as ribbons or brads, pre-cut cardstock, sample card. Please don’t include any difficult or time consuming techniques like embossing as we will not have the time to complete it all. Please keep your card relatively simple. Include at least 1 layer in your card design and at least 1 embellishment.

We will keep this a small group – maximum 6 people so that you only need to provide enough materials to make 5 copies of your card plus your sample card.

Summer Mini Catalogue

The Summer Mini Catalogue started at in December and runs until the end of March. Do you have a copy yet? If not, contact me so I can arrange to get one to you. Alternatively you can view it online HERE..

Blog Award

2008-12-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

Holy Moly, I've been nominated for a blog award - twice! Cool huh? Both Jenni and Carol have passed this award on to me. I feel a bit of a fraud since I haven't been updating the blog as often as many other stampin' bloggers do...but I'll accept it anyway! LOL!

Thanks Jenni and Carol!!

Now I need to award it to 5 other bloggers, so here's a list of them for you to check out:

Liz - Liz is the leader of our team the Paper Angels. She's a busy, busy woman but when she has time to update her blog she posts absolutely BEAUTIFUL creations. Liz has a real talent for "off the page" projects and home decor type stuff. Wait til I post a pic of the GORGEOUS journal she gave me (and other members of her team) for Christmas.

Ursula - Ursula is SUPER creative and always comes up with interesting ideas like dying the pearls from the Pretties Kit and making funky jewellery.

Bell - Bell is my newest downline and also my sister-in-law. Her blog is very new but she is giving it a red hot go!

Danneil - Dan is a blog buddy of mine. We got chatting via email some time ago. Dan does REALLY REALLY nice work! She's recuperating from an op at the moment but I can't wait to see some more of her stuff once she is back on her feet and stampin' again!

Chrissie - Chrissie is another Brisbane demonstrator and we check out each others' blogs regularly. We even got to meet and swap briefly at the last training event - hope you are coming to Convention next year Chrissie so I can chat to you a bit more!

The Rest of Tia's Album

2008-12-08T14:53:00.001-08:00

I've used the "Priceless" stamp set for this layout 'cos babies are Priceless!

The colours here are So Saffron, Almost Amethyst and Close to Cocoa. I've used pieces from the Hodge Podge Hardware kit - I have got to start using this stuff up instead of 'saving' it! Somehow I feel heaps better using it in Scrapbooking than in cardmaking since scrapbooks are kept forever. When I use it on cards I always cringe at the thought that it might be thrown away! LOL!

The background is the So Swirly jumbo wheel in Versamark ink. I've also used Vanilla grosgrain ribbon and the scallop and circle punches for embellishments.

This layout uses a retired Christmas Simply Scrappin' Kit. I still had heaps of this one left and thought best to use it up! The kits are FANTASTIC for quick scrapbooking as they have everything you need - plain cardstock, patterned papers and die cut stickers. I also added some retired silver cord just to jazz it up a bit more. The colours here are Always Artichoke, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy and Real Red.

Tia's Album again

2008-12-06T14:19:00.001-08:00

A few more layouts from Tia's album:

I really like how this layout turned out. Blush Blossom is a REALLY under-used colour but team it up with Groovy Guava and it looks great!!

Again I have used Versamark and a jumbo wheel to create a subtle background paper. This time I used the "Scatter Sunshine" wheel. The accents were made with stamps from the "Simply Said" set. The title was made with a stamp from the "For a Friend" set which is a hostess only set. I only wanted to use part of the stamp so I used a Blender Pen dipped in Groovy Guava ink (like a marker!) to only ink the part that I wanted.

This layout uses Petals and Paisleys DSP. I layered it onto Tempting Turquoise cardstock which I had stamped with the dotty stamp from the "Polka Dots and Paisley" set. The title and accents also come from that same stamp set.

The colours used are Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink (actually it might have been Regal Rose, stamped off once, I can't remember!) and Old Olive.

Still More of Tia's Album

2008-12-06T13:28:00.001-08:00

Both of these layouts use Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Certainly Celery.

These 2 layouts use Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Certainly Celery.

I've wheeled a background in Versamark using the "On the Spot" jumbo wheel.

The scalloped edges were made with the corner rounder - I didn't have my lovely new scalloped edge punch at that stage!

The accents were made by stamping images from "Seeing Spots" and punching them out with the 1 1/4 inch circle punch. I then layered them with the 1 3/8 circle punch and popped a rhinestone brad in the centre before mounting them with dimensionals.
This layout uses the Certainly Celery Prints DSP as the background. I've stamped the words SLEEP BABY using Perfect Plum ink and the "Jumbo Outline Alphabet". I then coloured it in lightly with Pale Plum chalk/pastels and an applicator. There is a little spot for journalling, made with the same dotted line stamp as before but punched with the circle and scallop punches.

More of Tia's album

2008-12-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

The following 2 layouts use the same colour scheme - Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa. I was originally going to do the whole album in this colour scheme but quickly got bored of doing that so only did it for 2 layouts. LOL!

I have used the Certainly Celery "Prints" DSP on both layouts. This layout uses clear buttons with the DSP underneath. The DSP was punched out with circle and square punches.

This layout used some of the little flowers from the Pretties Kit with Pretty in Pink brads in the centres.

I've also used the "Fast Flowers" wheel in versamark ink on the Pretty In Pink background.

The piece with the dotted lines is a stamp from the "Live your Dream" stamp set in the new Summer Mini Catalogue.

Baby Tia's Scrapbook

2008-12-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

The newsest addition to our Mother's Group tribe is baby Tia. It has taken me a while to get the time to finish it off, but I was finally able to giver her the gift I made for her - a baby scrapbook.

This scrapbook was actually really quick and easy to make (just took me a while to get around to it!). All the layouts are very simple and easy to do. There are no time-consuming techniques involved so it would be easy to reproduce in the future.

I chose to work in 8x8 inches as it is just the right size for 1 6x4 photo on each page plus a little embellishment and journalling.

I have left the journalling up to her mum and dad to add in as they add photos to the album.

All the photo mats are 6 1/4 inches x 4 1/4 inches so that there will be a nice 1/4 inch border once the photos are added.

This is the first page in the album. Here I have used the "Bundle of Joy" stamp set. The images are stamped in Basic Brown and coloured with watercolour crayons and the aquapainter. The colours used are Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana and Whisper White. The giraffe and teddy bear were cut out and mounted with Dimensionals.

The photograph is one I took of Tia when I visited her in hospital, as is the one on the front cover.

December Newsletter

2008-11-29T21:47:00.000-08:00

December Newsletter

Open Stamp Night - 11th December

This month's Open Stamping Night will be held on Thursday 11th December at 7:30pm. Come along and finish off your last-minute Christmas cards, or any other projects you wish to work on. For only $5 you will have access to all my stamps, ink pads, punches and more. Please bring your own basic kit with adhesives and your own cardstock and other consumables.
RSVP by Monday 8th December.

Summer Mini Catalgoue Launch Workshop

The new Summer Mini Catalogue is now available. From December 1st to March 31st you can purchase from this new mini catalogue. There are lots of great new products, including the fabulous Scalloped Edge Punch!

To celebrate the arrival of this new catalogue, I will be hosting a Summer Mini Catalogue Launch Workshop. At this workshop you will make 3 of the projects pictured in the new catalogue. (Similar to those pictured above)
These projects feature Rub-Ons and the Styled Silver Hodge Podge Hardware. As part of the fee, you will take home the remainder of your packet of Rub-Ons (RRP $19.95) as well as a 1/10th share of the Hodge Podge.

Places will be limited to 10 people per session so first in, best dressed!
Tea and Coffee will be provided and there will be prizes to win as well.

RSVP and Payment MUST be received by this Thursday 4th December so that the supplies can be ordered.

Dates: Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd December

Time: 3pm

Place: 15 Coral Pea Close, Warner.

Cost: $35

RSVP and Payment: 4th December
If you can't make it to the workshop but would like to have a copy of the new mini catalogue, please let me know and you can drop by to collect your copy. If you don't live locally, please contact me and I will arrange to post a copy to you ASAP.

Single Marker Offer Extended

The option of purchasing single Stamp'n'Write markers for $4.95 each has been extended to the 14th of December. If you thought you had missed out on this great opportunity, think again! Contact me today to place your order.

"Tying Up Christmas" Sale

Spend $20 on regular catalogue merchandise and be eligible to purchase a whole list of items at 20% off!

This offer runs from 1st to 31st December.

Christmas Gift-giving Guides

Check out Stampin' Up!'s Gift Giving Guides. To make sure your order arrives in time for Christmas, contact me today!

Gift Vouchers and Gift Wrapping

I have gift vouchers available this Christmas so if your spouse, children or other loved-ones don't know what to get you (or you just don't want another yoghurt maker, popcorn maker, blower-vac etc etc etc) tell them to call or email me for a Stampin' Up! gift voucher today! Perhaps you have another paper-crafter in the family that you'd like to buy for but don't what to get them...the gift vouchers are perfect for this! The best thing about the gift vouchers is that you can use them during January and February's SALE-A-BRATION when for every $100 you spend you get a free stamp set!! Another option is to give them my contact details and register a wish list with me so that I can place an order for the exact items you want. I'll even gift wrap it for free if you are local to my area!

Sale-A-Bration is coming!

As many of you know, Stampin' Up! runs a FANTASTIC special during January and February called Sale-a-bration. The deal is, for every $100 you spend, you can choose a FREE stamp set from the special Sale-a-bration catalogue. There's no limit - spend $200 and get 2 sets, $300 and get 3 sets and so on. Hostesses - host a workshop and for every $600 in workshop sales receive one of these free sets on top of your normal hostess freebies. Sign up to become a demonstrator and receive a free stamp set from the main catalogue (on mini) up to a value of $79.95!
Since this is my busiest time of year for workshop bookings, get in early to secure a date for your workshop. There are only so many weekends available but I can also do some weekdays and am happy to do evenings from 7:30pm onwards. I can even do them at my house - less packing up for me and less cleaning up for you!

Project Corner

Season of Joy card

Stamps

* Season Of Joy Stamp Set Au/Nz

Paper

* Card Stock Very Vanilla
* Card Stock Kraft
* Card Stock Real Red

Ink :

* Classic Stampin Pad Chocolate Chip
* Classic Stampin Pad Old Olive
* Versamark Pad

Accessories

* Snail Adhesive Permanent
* Brads Silver
* Stampin Dimensionals
* Ribbon Grosgrain Chocolate Chip 5/8 Inch

Instructions
1. Stamp flower image repeatedly in VersaMark ink on Kraft card.
2. Stamp joy image in Old Olive ink on Very Vanilla card stock (6 x 6.5 cm).
3. Stamp image again in Chocolate Chip ink on Real Red card stock. Cut out a portion of the image and adhere to original image using Stampin’ Dimensionals.
4. Adhere Very Vanilla card stock to Real Red card stock (8.8 x 7 cm).
5. Attach three Silver brads to flower images.
6. Tie Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon around front of card stock. Adhere to card using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Stampin' 101 Class projects

2008-11-20T19:37:00.001-08:00

Hi All,

Here are the projects we made at my recent Stampin' 101 class for beginning stampers. We had a great time making these simple but effective projects.

The idea of this class was to learn 4 stamping techniques as well as 4 easy card layouts that could be used again and again just by changing the stamps, inks or papers.

I'm looking forward to running some more sessions next year to build upon what we've done so far.

When the ladies arrived they were given a bag with their stamp set and all the bits and pieces they would need to complete their projects.

Technique: 2-step stamping

Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks

Inks: Lovely Lilac, Basic Black

Paper: Lovely Lilac, Sage Shadow, Whisper White

Accessories: Black Gingham RIbbon

Tools: Square Punches
Technique: Colouring with Stampin' Pastels (chalks) and Blender Pens

Stamps: Simple Somethings, Family Phrases

Inks: Basic Grey

Paper: Barely Banana, Whisper White

Accessories: Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon

Tools: Square Punch

Technique: Poppin' Pastels (stamp with Versamark and dab chalks on top)

Stamps: Simple Somethings, Wonderful Words

Inks: Versamark, Always Artichoke

Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke

Accessories: Stampin' Pastels (chalks)

Tools: Sponge Daubers and chalk applicators

Technique: Markers direct to stamp

Stamps: Simple Somethings

Inks: Earth Elements markers

Paper: Whisper White textured, Whisper White, Not Quite Navy

Accessories: Whisper White grosgrain ribbon, Earth Elements brads

Tools: Tag punches

What a storm!

2008-11-17T03:45:00.000-08:00

Totally non-stamping-related BUT whoah! How was that storm??? If you're in SE Queensland, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Thankfully we didn't have too much damage here. Quite a few large branches blocking our driveway - thanks to Matt from next door for helping us move them. And thanks to Dad too for popping over with his chain saw today.

We weren't home during the storm - I was actually at a workshop in Coorparoo and then drove up to my parent's place for dinner. I thought driving up that highway was scary (aquaplaning is my nightmare!) but I was glad I was on the highway and not on some of the streets where all the trees came down. I had to dodge lots of fallen trees and flooded roads once I exited the highway. Mayhem!

We only just got our power back on tonight. Lots of spoiled food in the freezer and a bit of dented guttering so in the scheme of things we got a way pretty clean.

My heart goes out to those of you in the worst hit suburbs. I sure hope nobody's stamping stash was damaged!! But seriously, we're thinking of those people who lost so much during this terrible storm. May your houses be fixed as quickly as possible and we're just thankful that everyone is all right.

Blog Visitors

2008-11-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

You know, I used to wonder sometimes if anyone even read this blog - I really only knew if someone left a comment or if a friend or customer told me in person that they read it.

I recently installed a little widget called Feedjit and it shows me where all my blog visitors come from - it is amazing to see just how many people do visit this blog! It doesn't tell me WHO you are, just where you came from - which country, whether you landed here direct or came via another website - it is so cool! Check it out on the left hand side of my blog and click on "view in real time" to see details.

If you are a visitor to my blog who doesn't usually leave a comment - could you leave one here just to say hi? That would be cool!

Bec.

More Quick Christmas Cards

2008-11-15T12:37:00.000-08:00

Stamps: Season of Joy

Inks: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Dashing DSP

Stamps: Crazy For Christmas

Inks: Real Red, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, Summer Sun (Markers)

Paper: River Rock, Real Red, Dashing DSP

Quick Christmas Cards

2008-11-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

Hi all!

I had a lovely card making session at my friend Robyn's house on Thursday. Her friend Catherine was also there and we managed to get quite a few cards made! Robyn's little boy Dominic and my eldest boy Toby kept each other amused the whole morning while the grown-ups stamped!

Here are some of the cards I made on the day. I made doubles of most of them - might as well make 2 at the same time I say!

Stamps: Season of Joy

Inks: Purely Pomegranate

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, River Rock, Whisper White, Holiday Harmony DSP

Accessories: Purely Pomegranate stitched ribbon, clear rhinestone brad

Tools: nil

Stamps: Season of Joy

Inks: Real Red, Old Olive

Paper: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories: Clear Rhinestone brad (from Pretties Kit)

Tools: nil

Stamps: Polka Dot background, Happy Christmas Mate, Season of Joy

Inks: Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Real Red

Paper: Water colour paper, Very Vanilla, Dashing DSP

Accessories: nil

Tools: aquapainter

Stamps: Season of Joy

Inks: Real Red, Old Olive

Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: Rhinestone brad (from Pretties Kit)

Tools: nil

Stamps: Crazy for Christmas, Season of Joy (sentiment)

Inks: Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Summer Sun, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Kraft, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White

Accessories: nil

Tools: aquapainter

Stamps: Season of Joy

Inks: Always Artichoke

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Holiday Harmony DSP

Accessories: nil

Tools: paper snips

Birthday Cards

2008-11-10T18:56:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of birthday cards I recently made:

This one was for my mother-in-law Betty.

Stamps: Bloomin' with Beauty, Think Happy Thoughts

Inks: Staz-On, Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose, Always Artichoke, Going Grey

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Holiday Harmony, Water colour paper, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter and 2-way glue pen

Tools: Aqua Pen, 1&1/4 and 1&3/8 inch circle punches, scallop circle punch

This was for my brother-in-law Nathan.

Stamps: For a Friend

Inks: Basic Black, More Mustard, Tempting Turquoise

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Real Red, East Coast Prep

Accessories: nil

Tools: nil

Specials 10th-30th November

2008-11-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

Click on the images to see in more detail.

Baby Sienna

2008-11-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

My good friend Mel recently had her second baby - a girl this time! Her name is Sienna and here is the card I made for them.

I don't use Bold Brights very much - I just don't seem to have the knack with them...but I tried here by using Pixie Pink when I normally would have used Pretty in Pink or Regal Rose.

I really struggled with this card! I usually find card making pretty easy but this one just had me stumped and I had to keep leaving it and coming back to it. I had originally tried to make this card with a different sentiment stamp from one of the hostess sets but it just didn't fit on the card with the elephant.

I also knew I wanted to use up some of the pretty Silver Hodge Podge Hardware - I have got to start using this stuff and not just "saving" it for something!

I used some Crystal Effects on the elephant's ear (which is also cut out and mounted on a dimensional) and her toes, as well as on the flower.

Stamps: Wild About You, Think Happy Thoughts, Scatter Sunshine (jumbo wheel)

Inks: Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery (marker) Pretty in Pink (marker) Versamark (jumbo cartridge)

Paper: Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Accessories: Silver Hodge Podge, Certainly Celery Grosgrain ribbon, Crystal Effects

Tools: 1&1/4, 1&3/8 Circle Punches, Scallop Circle Punch,

Curves Fundraiser

2008-11-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

I recently helped out at my local Curves gym for their "Girls Night In" breast cancer fundraiser. It was a really fun night. I must ask the girls for copies of the photos they took on the night.

I set up a small table where the ladies could come and do a free make and take. As you can see, we made pink gift tags!

I also donated a raffle prize of a stamp set and some other little goodies.

Other fun things on the night included pedicures, raffles, wine tasting and more!

November Newsletter

2008-11-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Newsletter November 2008

SPECIALS - 10th to 30th November

20% off Rub-Ons

Spend $20 on regular catalogue merchandise and qualify to purchase any Rub-Ons assortment at 20 percent off ($15.96 per package; regularly $19.95)

Single Markers Available

From 10-30 November, purchase single Stampin' Write markers for only $4.95. Stampin' Up!'s versatile, dual-tip markers have never been offered singly before, so be sure to take advantage of this special, limited-time offer.

SPRING MINI CATALOGUE

The Spring Mini Catalogue period finished on the 30th November so if there is anything you were thinking of purchasing, now is the time! The products in the mini catalogues are available for a limited time only so grab them before they are gone foverer!

SUMMER MINI CATALOGUE

The new Summer Mini Catalogue is coming! I received my demostrator copy on Friday and OH MY GOSH! There are some gorgeous things in there! I'm finding it very difficult not to purchase everything in the catalogue!!!

I will be holding a special Summer Mini Catalogue workshop in December (date to be advised) so keep your eyes peeled for an invitation in your inbox over the coming weeks. This will be a special workshop, showcasing products from the new mini with lots of other fabulous things happening too!

Apology

I do apologise that this newsletter is not as full as it would normally be. October was an EXTREMELY busy month for me. I assure you my newsletter will be back to it's usual fully-packed self next month! Thanks for reading!

Pine Rivers Christmas Card Workshop Update

2008-10-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic day!

We began our day by making 3 of the 6 Christmas cards. We had nearly 40 ladies in attendance, with a demonstrator on each of the 5 tables to guide them.

Liz's table - our illustrious leader!
Jen's table
Orrel's table
Fiona's table
My table!

When they had a spare moment, the ladies were able to go over to our displays and check them out for ideas and even take photos.

Lunch was lovely at the bistro downstairs. My husband and 2 little boys even came up to join us for lunch.

After lunch we returned upstairs and the ladies were able to purchase tickets in the FANTASTIC raffle prizes. Stampin' Up! gave us some lovely donated product to help us with our charity fund-raising. The prizes included cardstock, stamp sets, ribbons, ink pads, embossing powders, punches and more! Thanks to Ursula (one of our demonstrators) for teaching me to wrap and decorate the prizes. The bowls club also donated some meal vouchers for us to raffle.

Ursula also helped out by being our general "gopher" and also creating more of the name cards and foot print cards for our charity. To read more about our charity please click HERE.

We also had lots of entries in our Card Competition. Entry was $1 per card, with all proceeds going directly to our charity, just as the money from the raffle tickets did. Firt Prize was a Simply Sent card kit and the 2 runner up prizes were cardstock, ribbon and a little stamp.
We then continued making the remaining 3 cards. My group of ladies beat me back from from lunch and had started without me! Clever things! Here they are, and look - my chair is empty!

Afternoon tea was provided next, followed by the announcements of the competition winners and raffle winners. Can you believe my own mother won 1st prize in the card competition??? Well done Mum. And no, I did not do the judging! LOL! That was left to the lovely Ursula as she was unbiased at this event.Kim
Helena

Mary
Libby
Yvonne

And here's Marie (my mum) who won the card competition. She's away on holiday at the moment but once she gets back I'll ask her for a photo of her winning entry to show you here.

Little Thank Yous

2008-10-30T03:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share with you some little 3x3 thank you cards I have been making. This particular one is what I made as the thank yous for Owen's Baptism a few weeks ago.

I used the textured Soft Sky cardstock and the So Swirly wheel with Close to Cocoa. I just love blue and brown together. I quite like pink and brown together too for girly stuff.

I then used the Scallop cirlce, 1 and 1/4 inch and 1 and 3/8 inch circle punches with the Seeing Spots stamp set.

This card was soooo quick and easy to make. I can recommend reaching for your wheels and punches when you need to make a whole batch of thank you cards in a hurry!

I have now decided to use up MORE of my big scrap pile using this layout. I'm always in need of little thank you cards to pop into customers' orders and for many other little occasions too. I am attempting to use up the Yo Yo Yellow that is haunting me! (More on that later)

P.S. I am dying to do up a post about the Xmas workshop last Sunday but am waiting on copies of photos from the other demosntrators as I didn't get a chance to take lots on the day. Hope to get it done over the weekend.

Tips and Links - Ribbon tying

2008-10-26T03:16:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful time we had at our Pine Rivers venue today for the Christmas Card workshops! I will fill you in on all the details when I have time to upload my photos etc.

But for now I just wanted to post a link that I was telling some of the ladies about today.

We made a few cards at our workshop today that involved tying ribbon and I was showing them a technique for getting a nice, flat front on your knots. (I think I was talking about this at our last Paper Angels meeting too...)

This is one of those things that once you have physically done it a few times, it becomes easy. One of the ladies on my table today (Rebecca) was proof of this and was even helping others with their knots!

So, here's the link I was telling you about on Kristina's Blog!

I'll be back later with some more info about today's workshop.

Oh! I'm sure I was talking about some other links today - so any of the ladies who I spoke to about it today, can you email me or leave me a comment here to remind me which links I am supposed to be putting here for you! Pretty please!! I have forgotten!

More workshop pics and info...

2008-10-21T13:28:00.001-07:00

Oops! I forgot to say - check out LIZ's and URSULA's blogs for some more info and pics about our Charity Christmas Card workshops.

Carina Christmas Card Workshop

2008-10-21T04:31:00.000-07:00

I had a fantastic time on Sunday at our Carina venue for our Annual Paper Angels Christmas Card Workshop! (There will be more photos to come once I receive them from the other demonstrators.)

We all had a ball making our cards and giving out raffle prizes. We raised over $700 for our charity (Mater Mothers Bereavement Support Program) in the raffle tickets alone!
The raffle prizes were amazing - huge baskets of Stampin' Up! product including punches, cardstock, inkpads, Pretties Kit, stamps and more!

There was also a card competition with first prize being a Simply Sent kit valued at over $80!

You'll also see more photos after our Pine Rivers venue this coming Sunday.

If you are interested in attending, we still have a few spots available at our Cleveland and Macleay Island venues on the 1st and 9th of November. Contact me ASAP to book.

More scrap challenge cards

2008-10-21T04:27:00.001-07:00

I managed to make a few more cards using my pre-stamped images and scraps.

I looked for scraps large enough to layer my images onto. I then coloured my images with the matching inks and an aquapainter. I also tried to find matching ribbons where possible.

You may notice I used Kraft cardstock as the card base for most of them. It goes so beautifully with ANY colour combination.

Paper Angels Blog

2008-10-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

Please do check out our new PAPER ANGELS BLOG.

Scrap Challenge

2008-10-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

I have a big pile of scraps building up in one of my drawers. I've set myself a challenge to use up as many of the scraps as possible. I also have a lot of pre-stamped images so I've added that into the challenge too.

Here are some pics of my scraps and images:

I've started trimming the images down and layering them onto scraps of coloured card stock. Once that is done I will start making them into cards.

Do you have lots of scraps and/or images that need using up? Send me a pic of your scrap pile and some cards you've made with it. I'll post pics of my faves here on the blog.

Here are some cards I made last night with my scraps and images:

Macy's Birthday Card

2008-10-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

My littlest neighbour Macy turned one recently - Happy Birthday Macy!

Here is the pop up card I made for her:

Stamps: Unfrogettable
Inks: Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi
Papers: Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Accessories: Wasabi Stitched Ribbon
Tools: Scallop and Circle Punches

For instructions, click HERE

Bell's Play Page

2008-10-05T03:14:00.001-07:00

My newest team member (and sister-in-law!) Bell has created a blog to share her new passion with her family and friends in Sydney. Great work Bell! I'm adding her blog to my Paper Angels blog list in my sidebar so go check it out!

October Newsletter

2008-09-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

October 2008 Newsletter

Stampin’ 101 Classes

Are you a beginning stamper? Do you have stamping supplies that you’re not sure how to use? Do you just want to get out of the house and do some stamping???

I will be holding some Stampin' 101 classes in November. These classes will cover the basics of stamping and cardmaking. Of course the techniques you learn can also be applied to scrapbooking and other projects.

Places are limited. If there is enough demand I will run the classes again at a different time.

Stampin' 101 will run over 3 sessions - Friday evenings at 7:30pm, 7th, 14th and 21st November. Each session will run approx 1.5 to 2 hours. At each session you will make 3 projects and learn 3 techniques. You will also receive an instruction sheet for each technique learned so that you have a record to keep at home to refer to.

Costs - session 1 will cost $35. You will receive the stamp set "Simple Somethings" (RRP $23.95) as part of the class fee for session 1. We will be using this stamp set for many of the projects throughout the three sessions. (If you already have this set, you may substitute a stamp set or other merchandise of equal value)

Sessions 2 and 3 will be $25.

Session 1 must be booked and payed for by Friday 24th of October so materials and stamp sets can be ordered.
If you pay for all three sessions up-front you will receive a FREE Classic Ink Pad in a colour of your choice.

All tools and materials will be supplied but you will need to bring a basic kit with adhesives, scissors etc. If you need to order any adhesives or scissors, please let me know.

World Card Making Day

October 4th is World Card Making Day! To celebrate, Stampin’ Up! is offering 20% off the wonderful Simply Sent Card Kits. This special applies to orders placed between the 4th and 11th of October.

These kits are fantastic for beginning stampers as they contain everything you need – stamps, pre-cut cardstock, ink pads, markers, ribbons etc. The kits are also great for experienced stampers who want to make beautiful cards quickly and easily. My favourite use of these kits is for gifts. The kit comes presented in a gorgeous chocolate coloured box – it doesn’t even need wrapping!

Check them out on pages 12, 13 and 14 of the Idea Book & Catalogue.

October 20% Off Special

Stampin’ Up! turns 20 years old this year! While Stampin’ Up! has only been in Australia a short time, it has been a leader in the stamping industry in the U.S.A. for quite some time now. To celebrate this milestone birthday, Stampin’ Up! is running a fantastic birthday sale:
Spend $20 on regular catalogue merchandise and qualify to purchase any of the following 5 stamp sets at 20 percent off.

Big Bold Birthday $43.16
Pretty Princess $36.76
Birthday Best $20.76
Crab & Company $42.36
Short & Sweet $23.96

This sale will run from the 1st to the 31st of October.

Contact me today to place your order or book a workshop!

Christmas Card Workshops

Throughout October and November our Paper Angels team are running six sessions of out Annual Charity Christmas Card Workshop. This year the charity we are supporting is the Mater Mothers Bereavement Support Program – a very worthy cause.

There are still a few places left at most of our venues so call me ASAP if you would like to come along. (Carina venue is completely booked out)

Product Spotlight – Cutter Kit

You’ll love our portable cutting kit – I know I love mine! This great little kit includes all of the tools you’ll need to perforate, cut, score, or distress your paper. It’s perfect for projects on the go.

The cutter kit includes a paper distressing tool and 3 mini rotary tools (cutting, perforating and scoring)

The cutting tool is small and not intended to replace your paper trimmer, however it is a really useful tool. It’s great to take along to crops when you don’t have room for your big cutter. It is also fantastic for cutting curves! You can cut them free hand or place a curved object on your paper and cut around it with the cutting tool.

Tips – always use a cutting mat to protect your work surface and a think metal ruler works best with these cutters.

Project Planner

Materials

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday
Inks: More Mustard, Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou
Paper: Whisper White (4.5 x 5), More Mustard (5.5 x7.5),
Soft Sky card base (from In colour 12x12 textured pack)
Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, mini glue dots, silver brads,
1/2 inch circle, Purely Pomegranate stitched ribbon

Instructions
1. Adhere More Mustard card stock (5.3 x 7.5 cm) to Soft Sky textured card.
2. Stamp gift box image in Blue Bayou ink on Whisper White card stock (4.5 x 5.1 cm). Stamp bow image in More Mustard ink on Whisper White card stock. Adhere card stock to card.
3. Stamp flower image in Purely Pomegranate ink on Purely Pomegranate card stock; punch out using 1/2" Circle punch. Attach Silver brad to centre of flower; adhere to card.
4. Tie Purely Pomegranate 3/8" double-stitched grosgrain ribbon around front of card.

Stamping on cakes

2008-09-23T15:36:00.001-07:00

Check out the lovely Liz's blog CRAFT CLASSROOM to see how you can stamp on cakes!

Totally cool!

Seaside choccie holders

2008-09-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some choccie bar holders I made for my brothers-in-law for their birthday. (They are twins)

Stamps: Seaside, Birthday Best
Inks: Blue Bayou, Sahara Sand
Papers: Sahara Sand, Blue Bayou, Whisper White
Accessories: Blue Bayou stitched ribbon
Tools: Tag punches, slot punch

Beach cards and pages

2008-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I demonstrated this scrapbook page at a workshop on Friday night. The hostess is having a beach wedding in Mackay very soon so I thought it was very appropriate for her. The photo I have used is from my sister-in-law's wedding last weekend, which was also at the beach in Mackay! How is that for a coincidence???

I used the same layout and techniques on this page as I did for some cards I made recently. I first designed this card to be a make and take at my hostess appreciation night back in July. I then made more of these cards as my swap card at the Field Training event I attended last Wednesday night. (More about that later on - sneak peeks for you coming soon!!)

Stamps: Seaside, Occasional Greetings (scrapbook page), Birthday Cheer and Wishes (card)

Inks: Close to Cocoa, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand (and marker), Soft Sky

Papers: Close to Cocoa, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, Naturals Ivory

Accessories: Pewter Hodge Podge Hardware (scrapbook page)

Tools: Colour Spritzer Tool, sponges, sponge daubers