Stamp Club Gifts

The first session of this round of our Stamp Clubs was held on Sunday and to welcome the ladies to this round of club I gave them a little gift:

A mixed pack of 6x6 designer series papers and a little book of post-it notes. 

The tags were created with the Watercolour Wings stamp set and the 2014-2016 set of In-Colour inks.  I also added some of the Gold Wink of Stella around the edges.  

I just love these multi-step stamp sets - its so much fun to experiment with different colour combinations and layering.  

I hope my club ladies enjoy using their papers and post-its :-)

Our next round of clubs will start in June when the new Annual catalogue comes out - contact me if you are interested in joining one of our clubs!  We make a couple of fun projects at each monthly gathering and each person take a turn at being the "host" which means they get FREE STUFF!!  Its a really great way to spread out your purchases over a few months too.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Card Folio, again

I've probably posted these card folios on my blog before but certainly not in the last couple of years. So here it is again :-)

My Nanna's birthday is this week and I know she doesn't want any more "stuff" to clutter up her little unit so a set of handmade cards are a great idea I think!  A practical gift that she can use and it won't create any clutter.

In order to make the cards look like more of a gift, they needed a bit of packaging, hence my little folio.  My mum and I came up with these folios a few years ago - we wanted one that could be made from a single sheet of A4 card stock, rather than 12x12.  

The cards inside were made using the "Backyard Basics" stamp set and matching Framelit dies to cut them out. I stamped them in Staz-On ink onto watercolour paper and coloured with markers and an Aquapainter.  I've also used the "Beautifully Baroque" embossing folder in the background.

If you'd like more information about how to make the card folios, please let me know and I just might do up a little photo tutorial in the next few days :-)

Seaside choccie holders

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

Designer Box in a Bag

I have had lots of fun making these cute little bags.  I made them based on the tutorial I saw on Cambria's blog.

Of course you could adjust the measurements to make bags of all different sizes.

This bag uses the Holiday Harmony DS papers from the Spring Mini catalogue.  I've also used a stamp from the Season of Joy set (also in the mini) and a flower and rhinestone brad from the Pretties kit.

This bag uses the Summer Picnic DS paper and the matching Tart and Tangy stamp set - all from the Spring Mini.  I've also used the Scallop circle punch.

Bugs and Kisses Choccie Bar Holder

Sorry about the lack of posting over the last week or so.  No excuses really, other than just life getting in the way of blogging! LOL!

Here's a pic of the choccie bar holder I gave my sister-in-law for her birthday at the beginning of August.  I don't often use the Bold Brights colour family but I am trying!  

Stamps: Bugs & Kisses, Spot On Jumbo Wheel

Inks: Brilliant Blue, Only Orange

Paper: Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, Gable Green, Whisper White

Tools: Slot Punch, Corner Rounder Punch (with guard removed to make scalloped edge), Small and Large Tag Punches

Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Hemp Twine

My Best Birthday Present Ever!!! The Scrapbox!!!

I am just sooo excited!  It's my birthday this Sunday 13th July and my wonderful husband gave me my birthday present early.  It's a big birthday (turning 30) so he decided I needed a big present.  The Scrapbox!

I had seen these online but at that stage they were only available in the U.S.A.  Then recently I saw them at a papercraft expo.  I went home and told hubby about it, expecting him to not be interested BUT he could see the value in having all my stuff in one place, at my fingertips, a place for everything and everything in it's place.  So he said "Let's get it for your birthday"  Whoo Hoo!

It arrived last week and we spent a few days putting it together (we don't get much uninterrupted time these days with 2 kids!) and now it is done.

I have labeled all the totes and put everything into them.

On the far left and right are velcro boards.  I plan on using one side for displays and the other for storage.  My paper trimmer fits nicely into one of the long clear velcro-on bags.

The large totes on the left hold all my stamp sets.  The skinny totes beside them hold punches, wheel handles, wheel guide etc.

The 12x12 totes in the centre hold 12x12 papers, scrapping kits, A4 papers, and the 2 closest to the bottom hold my markers and scissors.

I took out some of the shelves so I could fit my ink pad caddy in there.

On the right hand side, the skinny totes hold everything from buttons, brads, eyelets and embossing powders to sanding blocks, sponges, daubers and twine.

The wider totes on the right hold all kinds of things - hodge podge hardware, pretties kit, ribbon spools (although Heather from Scrapbox Australia is getting me a special ribbon tote soon), adhesives, watercolour crayons, brayer and so much more.

The table folds away and there is even a little bit of storage room under there.  I need to get a bin for under that space.

Here's how it looks all closed up. It even has locks on the top to keep the kids out - perfect!

If you want more info on the Scrapbox, leave me a comment and I'll pass Heather's details on to you.  She is getting more of these into the country in September.  Mine is the Vanilla but she will be getting the black ones and possibly the wood finish ones too.

Love it, love it, love it!

Swirly Box and Mini Cards - new version

So here's my updated version of the box and cards from THIS post.  I have changed the stamps used to reflect stamps I already have at home.  I also tried to keep it to a minimum of stamp sets.  I have used: Priceless, Petals and Paisleys (for the spotty background) and Occasional Greetings.

Old Olive and Very Vanilla cardstock, Vanilla grosgrain ribbon

Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White cardstock
Purely Pomegranate textured cardstock and stitched ribbon, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White cardstock
Pretty in Pink cardstock, soft subtles brads

Kraft, Old Olive ad Whisper White cardstock

Note Cards and Box

At our last Paper Angels meeting on Friday night we made these cute little note cards with a box to keep them in.  These were really fun and easy to make.  Thanks to Liz and Colleen for the lovely designs.

The box is super simple to do and I will be demonstrating it at my workshops this month.  I LOVE the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel we used on the box.  I was so excited when mine arrived.  I have a few other tricks up my sleeve to show you with this wheel this month so stay tuned!

Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Garden Whimsy, Short and Sweet

 

Inks: Old Olive, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink

Papers: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Rose Red, Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Pretty in Pink, Petals & Paisleys DS paper

Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, Rhinestone Brads, Choc Chip wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Double Stitched grosgrain in Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi

Tools: Crop-a-dile, Scallop circle punch, 35mm and 32mm Circle punches, Spiral punch

I am currently working on making some similar ones but with different stamps and accessories since I don't have the exact ones we used at the meeting.  I will post pics of mine when they are done.

Now for the proper one...

Here's the other card I made for Mum for Mother's Day along with a matching Chocolate Bar holder.  I also made the same again for my Mother-in-law.

I basically copied this one straight from page 72 of the Idea Book & Catalogue.  I left a couple of details off my version because I didn't have the exact same stamp or brads as the one in the catalogue.

For those of you who don't already know, if you see a project in the catalogue that you want to recreate, you can look up the page number in the back of the catalogue and find a list of all the colours and products used to create it.  

Stamps: Wild Rose, Occasional Greetings, Priceless 

Inks: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi

Paper: Kraft, River Rock, Blue Bayou, Confetti White

Accessories: Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Horizontal Slot Punch

I'm not sure about everyone else's computers and web browsers but I know that at least on mine, I can click on the photo and it will bring up a much bigger version so that you can see all the detail properly.  So if you can't make out the details, please try clicking on the photo to get a close up look at it.

Easter Treats

This little Bunny Basket was made by my mum for my son this Easter.  Isn't it so cute?  I believe she got the template from Splitcoast Stampers.  The bunny is made from various oval and circle punches from Stampin' Up!  I think I will be using this idea next Easter!

This Easter Treat bag is my own creation which I used as a make and take at a recent workshop.

Stamps: All Year Cheer 1 (retiring) Year Round Fun, Little Pieces

Inks: Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Versamark

Paper: Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Brushed Silver

Accessories: Silver Detail Embossing Powder, Blue Gingham Ribbon, Silver Brads, Cello Bags medium

Tools: Corner Rounder punch, 3mm circle punch, sponge, heat tool, 

Sick, sick, sick...

Hi everyone,

Sorry AGAIN for the break in posting. This time it was a bout of VERY nasty gastro that attacked our household. Matt and I had it very badly but thank GOD for my parents! Mum actually left work and came to collect our son Toby and took him for 2 days and nights. She got him just in time and he didn't get sick. I'm soooo grateful to them for that as it was such a nasty bug I really didn't want him to catch it. I have no idea where I picked it up from but it really knocked us around. Being pregnant didn't exactly help either! We had the after hours doctor here at 5am after a scary night.

Did I mention how grateful I am to my parents??? Here's some proof that we really love them and appreciate their help at times like this:

This card is pretty much a direct CASE from Carol's blog (click HERE to see).
I normally would have come up with my own ideas for something like this but I was pretty exhausted from being sick so it was just easier to copy in this instance. Thanks Carol for posting such gorgeous ideas on your blog!

The only thing I changed was the ribbon and cardstock that the flower image is stamped on. I didn't have the white organdy that Carol used so I used the Ivory colour and then used Very Vanilla cardstock so it would match better with the ribbon. I also used a Very Vanilla envelope and stamped the same flower image on it.

Stamps: Carte Postale, French Flair background
Inks: Cool Caribbean, earth Elements Markers (Cameo Coral and Not Quite Navy)
Papers: Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral, Cool Caribbean
Accessories: Ivory Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Square Punches

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I also gave them a gift voucher so I made a little gift card wallet using the same template as these ones I did for Christmas.




I used the Enchante paper from the Summer Mini for this wallet and a Pale Plum button from the Soft Subtles buttons.

Finally! Some Scrapbooking!

So I've shown you lots and lots of cards on my blog - that's what I do the most - but I haven't shown you any scrapbooking until now.

Over the next few days I'll be posting pictures and recipes for the pages I made to put in an album for my nephew Julian for Christmas. The album is 8x8 (which Stampin' Up! don't sell at the moment so I had to buy the album from Spotlight) and I have found this a fantastic size to work with. It's perfect for putting 1 standard size 6x4 photo on each page with plenty of room for embellishmants and journalling.

I created the layouts in the album for Ray and Bell (Julian's parents) to add their own photos and journalling to later. Try to imagine the layouts with photos on so that there is only 1/8th inch of the photo mat showing.

Here is the front of the album and the stamp set I used as my "theme" or "motif" throught out the album to tie it all together. This stamp set is a Level 2 Hostess set from the current catalogue. It is called "A is for Adorable".

Natural Beauty Card Folio

Here's another one of my card folios. This time I've stamped using an outline stamp set and coloured in with an aquapainter and my Watercolour Wonder crayons. It took a little longer than the other "one-sheet wonder" style cards but was still pretty quick really. You can be pretty haphazard with watercolouring if you want to - it doesn't have to be precise if that's the look you're going for. It's very easy to get different shades of colour just by adding a little more colour to make it darker or a little more water to lighten it up and spread the colour out. This set used a total of 4 sheets of cardstock!

Stamps: Natural Beauty, Curvy Verses
Inks: Whisper White, Staz-On black
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy
Accessories: Watercolour Wonder Crayons (Rich Regals), Navy Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Aquapainter

Another Card Folio - Petal Prints

So here's another version of the card folio. This time I've used colours from the Soft Subtles colour family and the Petal Prints stamp set. Instead of the 10 card one sheet wonder I've used an idea I saw on Marelle Taylor's blog (check it out HERE - she does beautiful work!)

There are 4 cards inside the folder and they were sooooo quick and easy to make. I simply stamped 1 A4 sheet of Whisper White all over with the Petal Prints stamps and then cut it into 4. I then folded up 4 coloured card bases, tore off part of the front, added some ribbon and a stamp and then attached the stamped white cardstock underneath. 4 quick cards using hardly any cardstock! Cool!

Stamps: Petal Prints, Warmest Regards (hostess only)
Inks: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke
Card stock: Whisper White, Pale Plum, Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss
Accessories: Olive Ogandy, Ivory Organdy and Moss Ginham Ribbons
Tools: Paper trimmer with scoring blade for folder, horizontal slot punch to feed ribbon through

Card Folio

Mum and I have been playing around with making our own template for a card folio and here is what we've come up with:


This little folder is made from one sheet of A4 cardstock and holds about 5 or 6 cards and envelopes as long as they don't have too many embellishments on them. You could probably fit more if you did "no layer" style cards.

I made 2 of these folders and a set of 10 cards to split between them so each folder has 5 cards and envelopes. The 10 cards were made using a "one sheet wonder" template. This means you stamp one sheet of A4 cardstock with a pattern/deisgn of your choice and then chop it up to use on 10 cards. It's a very quick and easy way to make a lot of cards with minimal supplies. You could use a lot more embellishments if you wanted to but they might not fit in the folder so I put a little Dazzling Diamonds glitter in the centre of all the flowers. It doesn't show well in the photos but just gives the cards a little "bling factor".



I think this would make a really great class so if I get enough interest I will set a date and run a workshop where you can make the folder and all the cards too. Let me know if you'd be interested!!!

Stamps: Seeing Spots, It's Your Birthday, Warmest Regards (hostess only), Curvy Verses, All Year Cheer, Terrific Tags (hostess only), Big Deal Alphabet
Inks: Bravo Burgundy, Night of Navy, More Mustard, Whisper White
Card Stock: Kraft (folder) Bravo Burgundy, Night of Navy, More Mustard, Whisper White
Accessories: Navy and Wine Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Tools: Oval Punch, Tag Punch, Circle Punches and most importantly the Fiskars Paper Trimmer with scoring blade to make the folders.

Recollections Tin

Remember the plain white tin I bought at the expo ages ago? Well here it is, finally decorated!

I used paper from the Recollections Designer Paper to cover the tin. I then used Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon to hide the edges that couldn't be covered with paper neatly. The papers and ribbons where adhered to the tin with SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip and Mini Glue Dots.

The word CARDS was stamped in Bravo Burgundy ink with the Pure and Simple Alphabet stamps onto Very Vanilla cardstock, then layered on Bravo Burgundy cardstock. The corner rounder was used on each corner.

The roses were created by stamping the medium sized rose from the Wild Rose stamp set in Bravo Burgundy and Mellow Moss inks. They were then cut out and adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals to raise them up.

The For You sentiment comes from the All Year Cheer stamp set and was stamped with Bravo Burgundy ink onto Very Vanilla cardstock. The ribbon is from the Prep School Ribbon Originals and the frame from the Antique Brass Hodge Podge Hardware.

The ribbons used to decorate the handle are: Chocolate Grosgrain, Celery Grosgrain, Cranberry Stitched Grosgrain, Olive Organdy and assorted ribbons from Prep School Ribbon Originals.