My Obsession My Passion My Therapy

Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T13:19:00.002+11:00

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, just the craft world, and hopefully only for a bit?? With full time Motherhood, full time study and part time work I did not get a chance to share my Christmas message with cards this year :( I do hope your Christmas was Merry and Bright, and that 2012 will bring many crafty wishes come true xx

Spring has Sprung

2011-09-14T11:12:00.003+10:00

On Monday I played hooky from my studies and had a lesson on how to colour using copic markers with my friend Phil. I am very proud of my first attempt, so I decided to play along with the challenge at Mad for Markers this week which is all about spring. I also got the chance to use one of the new stampin up in colours, Island Indigo, which looks gorgeous alongside Poppy Parade. Anyway, hope you like my first attempt at colouring with copics, it was a lovely way to spend a Monday! Thanks Phil xx

That might be it for a while

2011-08-29T11:09:00.003+10:00

Well, yet another study period started today and with it, lots of reading and assessment so I will sadly have very little creative time over the next 12 weeks :( Here are a couple of girly creations I have made lately.
I spied this punch art castle over on Madonna Dunn's blog a while back, and hear that Pat Carr was the original creator. I just love it, and so do my girls. I made it for Miss Tara who was six this year, and I am sure she loved it too. You cant see it in the photo, but I covered the castle in swirly shimmer paint it is quite shiny.

My next card was for another six year old girl, Miss Michaela. I just love rich razzleberry & Melon Mambo together, such a yummy color combo.
My pom pom ribbon looks a bit dodgy, does anyone have any secrets for adhering it perfectly?

And my last card is a case of something I have seen around the traps (no idea where, so sorry), and I think I will use it for an older girl, maybe a tween? I used the extreme elements stamp set with wild wasabi, melon mambo, perfect plum, rich razzleberry and blushing bride.
Oh well, thats it for a while, I am off to hit the books now :(

New Toys

2011-08-28T10:10:00.003+10:00

I spied this colour combo of Poppy Parade and Calypso Coral here on Christine Blain's blog and thought to give it a go. It is certainly not a combo I would think up on my own but I don't mind it together, it is bright and fun. I have coupled it with the new Forever Young stamp set, which in my mind goes perfectly with earthy neutral tones, not these bright babies, so it is definitely out of the box for me. I finished the image off with a couple of highlights using the white gel pen, and of course, the new ribbon border punch! We are having some fabulous sunny weather here this weekend, so I intend to get myself out in the garden to enjoy it. What are you up to this fine Sunday morning?

Bubble Queen

2011-08-26T16:56:00.002+10:00

I made this card about a month ago for a friends 40th birthday. It has been a very long time since I wiped away the cobwebs from my Bubble Queen stamp set, and I think I have to say that it is my all time favourite set.Since the last time I used it, Stampin Up have introduced shimmer paint to their line, the perfect tool to add a little shine to the bubbles.
It was also fun to do some colouring in too. I find colouring very therapeutic, I really should do it more often.

Christmas Craft

2011-08-21T09:57:00.004+10:00

On Friday night, I decided to get my Christmas cards started, I would usually have created about 20 or so by now, but because I am not doing classes at the moment, I have nada! The first one is using one of my fav colour combos, crumb cake, black and vanilla.
I have used the Welcome Christmas set, and the very fancy lace ribbon border punch, due for release in next months new catalogue. I used heat and stick powder, and diamond glitter to dazzle the whole image up.

On this next card, I got my new Merry & Type stamp set all inky in my favourite Christmas colour combo, old olive and cherry cobbler.
As you can see, the ribbon lace border punch got a work out again (I am sure this punch will feature on many of my cards in the future!)

And my last card used the same glitter technique, but this time using the ever popular lovely as a tree stamp set. Good to see this one is still in the catalogue, I don't think it will ever retire.
Colours are baja breeze and night of navy. I also added Mr Dasher to the corner and the sentiment is from Contempo Christmas. Here is the group (oops, baja card is fading into the baja wall of my craft room, lol!):
Not a bad start to my Christmas card collection, only about a hundred to go, lol!

What Happens at Stamp Camp...

2011-08-19T22:23:00.007+10:00

A couple of weekends ago, I was lucky enough to get away for the weekend to attend STAMP CAMP 2011! We had so much fun, however, very little stamping took place on my table! I spent most of my time chit chatting! Lucky for the shoe box swap or I wouldn't have gotten anything done! Anyway, thought it might be fun to share some pics of our adventures.
Phil and I thought it would be so funny to take a photo of this because we believe us scrappers will photograph absolutely anything, but now we have a funny story to go with it. The place we stay is a little tricky to find, so we thought we would pave the way with pink balloons to make it easier for everyone! It did make it easier for people to find, but sadly one children's party entertainer (a young man dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow) chose to follow the balloons to our party (25 women in PJ's) rather than the kids party he was supposed to be at.

We had a door prize of course, a punched flower taped to the bottom of a chair, sadly, nobody sat in the designated chair so at the last minute, Phil & I had to think of another way to give the prize away. Quickly we stuck it under one of our raspberry & white chocolate muffins that were made for dessert. You can imagine Nina's delight when she bit into hers and found she was the lucky winner of a stamp set!
And every few hours alarm bells went off, that could only mean one thing...PRIZE PATROL! Each time the bells rang out we drew a card out of a hat, if the card matched the dsp in your lanyard you got to pick one of these cute little milk cartons with Hershy Kisses and a lucky number inside. Each number corresponded to a prize, all crafting goodies of course! Sarah, Kathryn & Yvonne were our first lucky winners!Here is Amanda, Kiley & Adele, also winners from one of the Saturday Prize Patrol :)
Years ago, Phil and I got our hands on a a WOW presentation DVD from the US. It is a little out of date but it was fun to have on, and we picked up a few tricks too.
This way we could pretend we were at convention too!

And with so much talent in the room, we had some wows of our own! We were lucky enough to get some tips for colouring with Copics from the ultimate talent Debbie P
And Alison gave us some very handy ribbon tips and tricks, including how to tie the perfect bow!
With all the stamping going on, we thought we might break it up a little and got our very own gym instructor in to give us a Zumba lesson. It was such a laugh! Zumba in pj's!
Lucky me! Got to share my birthday with these fun chickies! And, Sarah made me a yummy cake, yummy cause it was chocolate, and yummy cause she put Edward on top!mmmmm
And, speaking of cakes, check these out, this is stamping on cakes, how clever is that! These were made by the lovely Karen, who I believe won the prize for most creative creation of the weekend!
Before I got a chance to take photos of all of the other terrific creations made during the weekend my battery died :( Ahhh, you will just have to trust me that there were some amazing creations.

Philippa and I had so much fun organising this weekend, it was a huge job at a very busy time of year. Thank you for all of your efforts Phil, I had a ball sharing this experience with you, and thanks to all of the girls who came along, it was so lovely catching up with old friends and making new ones:) And an extra special thank you to the beautiful ladies who made my birthday so very special, spoiling me with gifts, cake and a sprakly feather boa xx

Girl you're amazing

2011-08-19T21:52:00.002+10:00

phfffff...that is me blowing the dust off my blog! lol! I have two weeks off from school again, so I plan to spend a bit of time creating (fingers crossed)

Anyway, here is a page that I have been working on since May! lol! I had all of the elements cut out and ready to put on, just needed the time to do it and now viola'!
This amazing little possum is my beautiful God Daughter and the apple of my very best friends eye. She is the most amazing, beautiful baby (yes I am biased). One of the things I love about Miss Amelia are her captivating eyes, and every time I hear the song 'Just the way you are' by Bruno Mars I think about her, so I decided to put it on a page. I saw the idea somewhere around the traps and agreed it was a fantastic tribute to someone you find amazing!

Sparkle, Shimmer, Shine

2011-07-09T09:01:00.007+10:00

I got the idea for the first card from the monthly Stampin Up magazine you get when you are a demonstrator. Here it is:
So that really shiny flower in the middle has been stamped in certainly celery ink, then I applied shimmer paint to the stamp and stamped again over the top. It is so pretty in real life. The line of glitter is achieved by applying a line of double sided tape and tipping the glitter on top, give it a shake, and the glitter sticks to the sticky strip! Easy! I made this one in pink too, but it was a bit of a failure for some reason. I have posted it below for you to see, but I think it was much nicer in old olive & certainly celery.

My next card was a simple one, with very little stamping at all:
The range of Stampin up punches is so large now that you can create almost anything without any stamping at all. I really love the new cup cake punch, it is so versatile! Here is a cute card I made a while back using the cup cake punch to make a little bags, and here is an ice cream card I made using the same punch! I especially love the sweet little cherries :)

We also made a Christmas card, but I gave it away at a Christmas in July party, and when I downloaded the photo, it was all blurry! Shame!

Anyway, here is that pink card I was talking about, it just doesn't have the same pizazz:

Hope you have a great weekend :)

A Case of the Sew Suite

2011-07-07T09:52:00.003+10:00

Last week I spied a series of cards made by Mel Sharp using the Sew Suite stamp set, and it inspired me to get mine all inky for the first time. The first one is almost a complete case of a card that Mel made, I just made a few minor changes:
I am really loving the subtles collection this week! lol! Does anyone else go through stages like that? Anyway, the second card is based on the first one, just different images and flipped.
Thanks for the inspiration Mel, I now really, really love this set too!

Replacing Punches?

2011-07-06T23:15:00.003+10:00

I have decided that I totally love how the new style punches store and that I will slowly replace my old ones. My plan is that each time I place an order, I will replace one or so at a time. Since making this decision, I have placed two orders and what do I do instead? Order more punches that I don't already have of course! lol! I have been holding out for the Owl punch for almost a year, thinking how much will I really use it? The other day I thought what the heck, it is so darn cute. Well, it arrived today, and here are some cute little creations:
I love the combo of crumb cake, black and bashful blue, please excuse the photos, it is a little bit late here, and I just couldn't wait :)
Anyway, best be off to bed, nighty night xx

Moving Motorbike

2011-07-03T11:16:00.004+10:00

Hi all! Hope you are all keeping well :) We are on school holidays here in Melbourne, so I thought I would take some time out to share some cards I have been making. Today I am posting some fun I have been having with the motorbike stamp. By stamping it multiple times without re-inking you can create the illusion of movement, check it out:I made this first one when I was trying to come up with a card for a class, but I decided it didn't make the grade, so then I made this one, which I have nicknamed 'bursting out'.
This 'bursting out' is not my idea, I have seen it around the traps in a few different ways. The last one is the same just using different colours, and its my favourite of the bunch.
I have used the Extreme Elements stamp set which is fast becoming one of my all time favourite sets! No matter what you do, it seems to look great. I cant believe it took me so long to buy it!

2011-06-02T08:28:00.003+10:00

I was on such a roll with my crafting and then we started painting the house, so my craft room is empty and my house is upside down. I have also started a new study period for school, so I know that my creative time will be limited, never the less, here are some cards I hadn't had a chance to share yet:
Both of these cards were inspired by the incredibly talented Teneale Williams, her work is just divine, and I love the combination of baja breeze, black and white so much I used it on both cards:)
Who knows when my next post will be, but until then, happy stampin'

Flutterbies

2011-05-22T09:27:00.002+10:00

I had a bit of a crafty day last week and made these two cards, just to have on hand. Quite a simple design that I have seen similar around here and there.
I have used concord crush & pirouette pink, which is a lovely combo. I think this is the first time I have used the concord crush too!
Our painter is coming tomorrow, so in a few days I will have a gloriously freshly painted craft room (baja breeze of course), I cant wait!!!!!

Motorbikes

2011-05-20T21:09:00.003+10:00

Here is another creation using the extreme elements stamp set (believe me, I am making the most of borrowing this set!), this time combined with extreme dirtbike (not currently available in Australia).
I have used a base of crumb cake, combined with not quite navy & real red, a very masculine combo I think.

And this one is using the motorbike stamp which is available in the current mini.
I have coloured some of the bike in real red and glossed it up with crystal effects. I added some texture with an embossing folder, and some hardware with the cropodile and jumbo eyelets. Overall, I quite like the effect! I have so many birthdays in May, it is great to be having some crafty time. Sadly, next week my creative time will be limited because we are having our house painted and it will be turned upside down for a bit. On the upside, my craft room is being painted out in baja breeze, so I am thinking I will be inspired all over again! lol!

Colour Throwdown #142

2011-05-19T10:05:00.003+10:00

Nothing gets the day started like a good colour challenge, and the combo at colour throwdown this week really got me going! I was in need of a few male cards, and as luck would have it, my friend Phil left a few of her stamp sets here for me to play with including extreme elements and extreme dirtbike. I knew that these two sets would work so well with this colour combo!

Here is what I came up with:
I love doing the chalkboard technique, it is simple and quick, and I think it always produces a striking effect. I love how it makes the sentiment pop on this card. If you have never done the chalkboard technique, check out the tutorial section of split coast stampers. I used pear pizazz (I think for the first time), going grey & basic black.

Happy House Warming

2011-05-16T17:17:00.001+10:00

When Gardinia posted this card, I knew it was perfect for my friend Philippa who just moved house! I changed up the colours a little and here is what I came up with:I loved the layout so much that I made two more using the funky four stamp set in melon mambo and rich razzleberry:
When my four year old daughter found them on my craft desk she quickly claimed them to give to her grade six buddies (mentors) at school. I hope they like them!
I think they are so cute :)

For My Mum

2011-05-15T19:01:00.001+10:00

It is always hard to buy presents for My Mum! And lucky me, her birthday is usually in the same week as Mothers Day! So I always have to think of double the presents and double the cards! This is the card I made for her birthday:
I got the idea from here, it is using the bottom part of the cupcake punch.

And this is the card I made for Mothers Day:
I made on similar a little while back, originally inspired by something made by Teneale Williams.

2011-05-14T19:55:00.000+10:00

I saw this really cute idea on Alisons blog and decided to make my own version for our Stamp club get together.

It was really simple to do, and Dawn Griffiths has done a video tutorial, making it even easier!

And this was the 2nd card we made:
I go the idea from Chris on this post. She had a bunch of other ideas using the new cupcake punch too, so check it out!

A Couple of Kids Cards

2011-05-14T19:49:00.001+10:00

I have made this card for another family member to give my neice for her 4th birthday in a couple of weeks. She just adores strawberry shortcake:
See how the strawberry is so shiny? That is because it is a scratch and sniff card, it actaully smells like strawberry!

And this next card I made for one of my daughters friends birthdays. She was invited to his lego party and I do not have many boyish stamps, so I googled lego cards, and ended up making him this:
It a lego block, clever huh? So very easy, and perfect for lovers of lego!

Butterfly Vogue

2011-05-14T09:27:00.000+10:00

Recently. my brother in laws Mother, asked me to make a birthday card for her daughter in law (my sister in law! lol!) So I got out the trusty vintage vogue stamp set, because it just never fails to produce a lovely card. I used bashful blue and soft suede together, and made a few butterflies with the beautiful wings sizzlet die.
I decorated the inside of the card in a similar pattern too.
It feels very good to be stamping again, I must say!

Elephant Trek

2011-05-14T08:30:00.000+10:00

Melbourne has really turned on the weather to welcome all of the out of towners in for Convention! It is icy icy these past few days. The gloomy skies really dont help with taking great photos either, so sorry for the poor quality, but what can you do?

These pages have been floating around my mind for quite some time, and recently my hubby was away on a camping trip, so it was the perfect time to have a few girls over for a craft night! Needless to say, that not very much crafting got done, way too much talking! I did get these two pages started though, and last nights disappointing episode of glee gave me the oppotunity to finish them off.

Here is the one with Me, Mum and my youngest (2 at the time):
And here is the one with my Dad, Hubby and eldest daughter:

See what I mean about the poor photography? These two pages have a lot of texture (ipossible to see here) and natural elements. The elephants in the bottom corner are actually off a photo album that got confiscated at customs because the pages were made out of elephant dung. The nice customs lady took the elephants off the front of the album for me to keep and they were the perfect addition to the page.

Not another post?

2011-05-10T20:05:00.002+10:00

Yes, that is two posts in two days! It must be school holidays! (for me anyway)

This is a card I made for one of my good friend and fellow stamper, Amanda. She was one of my roomies at Convention last year, poor girl deserves a medal sharing with Philippa & I!
I used the vintage vogue stamp set which is one of my favourites, as well as a never fair colour combo of vanilla, soft suede and pirouette pink.

Memories of Convention

2011-05-09T10:05:00.004+10:00

I have been so very busy with my studies and life in general that craft and blogging takes a back seat, but I have a brief break in between units, and I plan to craft my butt off! lol!

This is something I have been working on for a little while. It is a shadow box for my craft room that captures my fond memories of the Stampin Up convention last year.
I got some fantastic new glitter pens from paperific expo that make blinging up a piece of chipboard a breeze, check out my candelabra and fancy crackle paint on the frame of the shadow box:
I wanted to have a little bit of everything in my frame, so I printed tiny photos and made them into a few photo strips - Here we are entering convention, on the plane, and when I won a prize
And here we are out in the lane at midnight during a fire drill, meeting Shelli, at the casino, Amanda taking photos (as all good scrappers should!), team shot, singing karaoke, out for dinner, the paparazzi who snapped our photos coming into the awards dinner, meeting Shelli again (can you tell it was a major highlight for me?) and out in the rain seeing the sights on Sydney!
We had such an amazing weekend, that I want to remember every second! Here is a pic of Philippa and I at the awards ceremony, does it look like we had fun?
I couldn't help but include this photo, nothing at all to do with convention though! Philippa and I were at the paperific expo for all of two minutes when an announcement was made that the people doing a make and take at this stand would win a prize, lucky for Philippa, she was doing one!

Stay Tuned

2011-05-09T08:56:00.001+10:00

I actually have something to post! lol! Be back soon xx

Scratch & Sniff Cards

2011-02-21T20:48:00.002+11:00

I love to discover new techniques and a little while ago I figured out how to make a scratch & sniff card, but then I lost my mojo and didn't really do anything with it. With a team meeting coming up, I dusted off the technique and made this orange scented card:
I wasn't really all that happy with it, I think because orange really isn't my colour, so I then made this strawberry scented card, which was my contribution for the shoebox swap.
After all of the girls left, I made this coffee scented card
If you want to make your own, you just mix together equal parts of clear embossing powder and a powdered drink, then emboss as usual.

Look at what I have been doing today!

2011-02-20T18:49:00.005+11:00

I love our team get togethers. We get to share ideas, make a few awesome cards and catch up on each others gossip! I had such a lovely day today, it's been so long since I have been to one, that I had forgotten how much I enjoy the girls company! We usually do a shoebox swap (where everybody brings along a sample card and enough supplies for each of us to make a card ourselves), here is what we came up with today:
This note book was designed by Philippa using the gorgeous "Just Believe" stamp set.
These cute little "Kimono Kids" was Amanda's swap.
This gorgeous easel card was Pene's using the "Vintage Vogue" set.
We got to play with Ramona's "Aviary" stamp set
And Karla came up with today's biggest "wow" with this gorgeous cake shop window using the "Birthday Bakery" set! It was so much fun, cant wait for the next one!

A New Baby Boy

2011-02-18T19:49:00.004+11:00

I had so much fun making this new baby boy card for my online friend Sam.
I have been a long time admirer of Sam's creations on her blog and when I read about the birth of her new baby boy, I had just the idea. I have seen a few variations of these kind of cards around, and I was lucky enough to receive a Christmas version last year, so using that one for measurements I was able to create this card. I am really happy with how it turned out, and I cant wait to make a few more for my stash.

Crumb cake, bashful blue cardstock, early espresso, crumb cake and bashful blue inks, well scripted and baby bundle stamp sets (kindly lent from Philippa -thanks Phil). Bashful blue brads, trimmer & scorer, circle, scallop and tag punches, blender pens

2011-02-16T17:59:00.002+11:00

I made this one the other day because I wanted to play with my beautiful background stamp, 'bella toil'. I think it is the most lovely stamp.
I know I have seen this design somewhere before, but for the life of me, I cant find the link, so if it is yours, let me know and I will give credit.

Whisper white, night of navy ink and cardstock. Organza ribbon, bella toil & well scripted stamp sets, neutral button and eyelet border punch.

Just Add Love

2011-02-15T08:23:00.007+11:00

After I spied this weeks Just Add Ink challenge was Just Add Love, I decided to re-work this card that I made last year, and was not entirely happy with.
I am far more satisfied with this version. It has a little bit more pop to it. Off for coffee with girlfriends now, I could get used to this life!

Basic grey, whisper white cardstock, vellum. All a flutter, baroque motifs & well scripted stamp sets. Versamark, silver EP, heat & stick, dazzling diamonds, neutral button, organza ribbon and eyelet border punch.

I'm Stamping Again!

2011-02-14T10:07:00.002+11:00

So my last post told about our stamping in the dark adventure. Here is another creation from that night:
It is pretty much cased from the lovely Christine at Happy Heart Cards. I had to work off memory as we had no power for internet, and it turned out to be different from Christine's, but I like it never the less, and we had a ton of laughs while I was making it, as you can imagine!

Now that my baby is off to school, and my own school work has eased up for two weeks, I have had a chance to have a crafty day with my friend Phil (who's baby also started school this year!). Phil was preparing her swap for our next team meeting, and it was so good, that I took inspiration from her card, but made it my own.I do love the scalloped shaped cards! Anyway, I do have a few more creations to share, but I cant do it all in one day in case I dont make anything else for another two months! And, how can I mention little one being off to school without sharing some happy snaps?

The Funniest Craft Night Eva!

2011-02-10T21:13:00.004+11:00

After all the news in the past week or so I am sure that most people have seen the wide spread havoc that the floods in Melbourne caused. Well, on a much lighter note, I have not even been into my craft room for around 2 months or so, and last Friday night, I got together with my crafty buddy Phil and new friend Susan, for some long overdue stamping time. I was lucky enough to get small window in the down pour to get myself (and my cardstock) into her house, just poured a glass of wine when ...the power went out! I couldn't believe it, this night was 2 months overdue! Did we let that stop us? No, we stamped by candle light! lol! Check us out!
It was ok for a bit because it is still daylight savings, but 2 hours was enough already! This next photo is so blurry I should not even be posting it, but I just want you to be able to see how dark it ended up getting.Such a funny night. At one point, I could smell something burning, it turned out to be the hairs on my arm! Anyway, I managed to produce a couple of cards. It looks like my mojo was still on holidays too, and without a computer to go trawling online, I made this one:
I have seen a couple similar around the traps, I know that elements of the card came from Teneale Williams, but also some others in my shabby memory!

With so long out of the craft room, and no mojo to be found anywhere, I can tell you that there will be some serious casing going on here for a bit! Until next time...

Santa Claus is Coming

2010-12-22T21:13:00.002+11:00

With only 3 sleeps till the fat man comes I thought I had better post the last of my Christmas creations! Here are some of the cards we made at my last class:
Hard to see in the photo, but I have smooched on shimmer paint on the embossed areas of this card, very pretty IRL!
I am trying to use up all of my retired Christmas dsp, man those packets last forever!
In case I don't make it back, Merry Christmas!

Christmas Stocking

2010-12-20T09:27:00.002+11:00

Terrible photo, I know, but I had to take it at night because I needed to deliver it the next morning. I have always wanted to make one of these cute little stocking cards, so this Christmas I made sure I did. I made a template to cut out, a bit of embossing, a dash of dsp, viola, it's done! One of the quickest cards of the season!

Delightful Decorations

2010-12-18T11:15:00.003+11:00

I cased this card from Andrea. As soon as I saw the design I loved it and knew the girls who come along to classes would love it too!
I just changed bashful blue to baja breeze because we were already using bashful blue in another card during the same class, but it is still a great colour combo.

Paper Pals & Winter Wonderland

2010-12-13T09:22:00.004+11:00

Over at Paper Pal Arts, they are hosting a gorgeous challenge using this picture as inspiration:
So going on from the cards that I posted yesterday, I came up with this card:
I have clear embossed the flourish from 'baroque motifs', then heat set a glittered image from the 'welcome christmas' set and turned it into a bauble using the ornament punch. The sentiment is from the hostess set 'occasional quotes'. Over at the Winter Wonderland site, they are also hosting a challenge to use a christmas bauble, so I guess this cards fits into that category too.

While I was making this card, I kept thinking that it would look lovely with butterflies too, so I quickly whipped one up:
I have not added a sentiment yet because I wasn't sure what I wanted to use it for, but I think this one would make a lovely wedding card. Rather than clear embossing the flourish, I heat set it with dazzling diamonds, and the butterflies are white embossed onto vellum with some sparkle added to their wings after I cut them out. My craft room is full of sparkle at the moment! As you can appreciate, sparkle is very difficult to photograph so you will just have to imaging that both of these cards are very shiny ane sparkly IRL!

It has been such a long time that I have played along with a challenge, it has been fun doing so again!

Glitter Everywhere

2010-12-12T17:34:00.006+11:00

I got the original idea for this card here from Sue Rowe and knew that it was a perfect card for a workshop! I played around with a few colour combo's and came up with this one:
I used bashful blue & choc chip and the gorgeous fine supernova chocolate glitter. Does anyone have any tips for NOT getting this glitter everywhere! I also used my spritzer to add some splatters in the background. I like the design and colour combo so much that I tried using different sets here:
Not as cute as the first one, but I am glad I got the Welcome Christmas set inky! It has not had much use this Christmas. It has been all about dasher. What has been your fav set this Christmas?

Oh My! Its a busy time of year!

2010-12-11T10:10:00.000+11:00

How can it already be the 10th of December? Logan officially finished school yesterday for the year, so we are on school holidays for the next two months, yay! No more rushing about!
I thought I might share with you a few cards that I made for some of the stamp club members. As these girls pretty much see everything I make, I had to come up with a newie just for them!
And since it was for my regular girls, I thought I would bust out the fancy silver, gold & bronze card stock!
I used the masking technique to shade the oval area, and stamped off the l tree from the lovely as a tree set. Next I embossed the holly from Christmas Classics, or the Dasher stamp
The border along the bottom here is actually Dasher's antlers. And on this card, I used the supernova fine chocolate glitter with heat and stick powder to set heat set it. I forgot to use the embossing buddy to get the static off first, so the glitter stuck around the image a bit too :( No matter, but I must remember for next time!

Normally, I am all about the bling and bright colourful cheer, but this Christmas, I am really loving the more simple cards that incorporate vintage elements, and a neutral colour scheme I have to say! Dasher and lovely as a tree have certainly got a work out this year!

Gorgeous Dasher

2010-11-30T17:07:00.003+11:00

I am about to get really busy with school again, throw in my daughters birthday and the festive season, I am afraid I wont be getting too much creative time in the near future, so if you notice I am MIA, that's why! Before the craziness starts, I thought I would share one of the cards we did at this months stamp club:
There are a few versions of this on SCS. It is a perfect layout for 'easy to mass produce' Christmas cards. It is single layered and comes together in only minutes. I love the soft look of vanilla, craft & soft suede together, and who can go past a bit of bling in dashers antlers?

Well, most of my cards went out in the mail tonight, for arrival tomorrow (maybe??). At least I am on the ball with something! Hope your Christmas crafting is coming along...

Ribbon Weaving

2010-11-29T18:14:00.004+11:00

I have seen a number of cards lately that have been featuring ribbon weaving so I thought I best give it a go! I watched this tutorial, and it was quite simple to do.
I must say that initially I tried using a taffeta ribbon and I found it quite difficult, so I switched to a grosgrain ribbon and it all came together in a matter of minutes. Give it a go, and let me know how you went!

Apologies for the poor photography but the weather here is abysmal, it was the best I could do!

Baroque Decorations

2010-11-22T15:50:00.004+11:00

These were the last two cards that the ladies made at our Christmas Stamp-a-Stack last week.
I found the original idea here on Danielle Daws blog, and I just tweaked it a little to make it more stamp-a-stack friendly. I changed the colours to crumb cake/white and bashful blue/white.
These were super quick to make and if I need to add any more Chrissy cards to my stash, I think I will make a heap of these in different colours!

Christmas Stamp a Stack & JAI-Christmas

2010-11-15T21:55:00.000+11:00

I created these first in Cherry Cobbler recently, and thought they would be lovely in Not Quite Navy too! I also thought that they are perfect for the Just Add Ink Challenge this week - Just Add Christmas, which asks you to enter your projects that are easily mass produced for Christmas, and let me tell you, these babies are super quick to whip up!
So these two are done with very vanilla and not quite navy, and both are using snow swirled set and Dasher is on the second one. I have mixed a little dazzling diamonds in with the white embossing powder too, to add a little shine, but you really cant see this in the photos. It look especially pretty on the tree.
I added a little border around the edges just with a marker. I saw this recently on someone else's creation and thought it added a little something extra!

These are the ones I recently made with Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla.
So fun, quick and easy to do! Thanks for looking

Another Book to Sign

2010-11-15T21:28:00.004+11:00

I am so glad that Marelle Taylor posted her idea of these fabulous little albums to use as cards for when a lot of people need to sign, I have been creating them a lot lately. I think they are such a cute idea and make a sweet keepsake. This one is for one of the school Mums, she needed a card for people at work to sign for a friend that was leaving. I hope she likes it.
I have used soft sued, baja breeze and whisper white with the en fracais and all a flutter stamp sets. The sentiment is from a retired sale-a-brations set. Inside, I have stamped a butterfly on each page and sponged and spritzed the edges.

More for the SAS

2010-11-13T19:16:00.003+11:00

Here are another couple of cards that we will be making at this weeks Stamp a Stack class.
I originally got the idea from Alison, but wanted to make a regular size card and then I decided that I needed another ornament and I changed the sentiment, and colour too.

These white baubles have been embossed onto the burgundy cardstock, and I have mixed the white powder with glitter to add a bit of bling (which is not showing up in the photo).
I think I will make these in another colour too. They are so simple and quick to make, but they are also quite lovely too. Seats are filling up fast and the class on Wednesday night, so if you would like to make these cards (and others) email me to reserve your seat.

Treasures in the Rockpools

2010-11-13T09:09:00.000+11:00

I wasn't really sure about this two page layout. I don't like to use too many photos when creating pages, but we had a stack of photos and I thought these ones told our story the best. When I showed my husband he said it was the best page I have ever done! Go figure, the one I am not sure I like is the one he loves!
Here are the pages up close:

60th card to sign

2010-11-06T19:03:00.004+11:00

In a couple of weeks, I am heading to a family friends 60th birthday party. A bunch of us are putting infor the pressie and so instead of making a really big card, I made a little book for us all to sign:

I got the idea some time back from Marelle Taylors blog, and i thought it was a terrific idea!

Two Page Christmas Layout

2010-11-06T08:16:00.000+11:00

It has been my intention to scrap my girls an album each of their first 5 years. My eldest is turning 7, and hers is nowhere near finished and my youngest will be 5 next year, she has a page or two done on hers! But, I scrap what I like, and this one will be for my album of special memories. I used to be so particular about our Christmas tree and in 2008, for the first time, I let the kids have free reign on the tree decorating. It was the most beautiful tree we ever had!
I admit to having a few heart palpitations over how "un" symmetrical our tree was, but seeing how much the girls enjoyed doing it made it worth while. Now its a new Hegarty tradition, much better than the old one!

Off Camping

2010-10-29T07:42:00.002+11:00

It's the famous horse race that stops the nation, and us lucky Melbourne-ites get a very long weekend because of it. Our family have planned a camping holiday, hubby is just packing the car and we'll be off! The only thing is, Mr Weather Man has predicted about a months worth of rain this weekend. Wish me luck!

More Bella Toile

2010-10-27T08:38:00.002+11:00

I just had to use this gorgeous Bella Toile stamp again, its so pretty to stamp! This time I have coupled it with the sweet birdie punch, and of course, the scallop die. The sentiment is from occasional quotes, then just a few pearls and taffeta ribbon to finish it all off.
I think soft suede and crumb cake are two of my favourite Stampin Up colours, they go with just about anything, and perfectly with each other.

New Stamp!!

2010-10-26T08:44:00.003+11:00

I had an order arrive yesterday, and in it received the gorgeous background stamp "Bella Toile" It is just divine!! I quickly inked it up last night just before bedtime and made this card:
I stared off water colouring, then trying to use daffodil delight, but in the end I stuck with an easy layout and an easy colour combo. I love the simplicity of this card, the gorgeous stamp can really shine!

Live, Laugh, Love - Breast Cancer Challenge

2010-10-21T13:20:00.003+11:00

My good blogging friend Sylvia posted her entry for this challenge for Colour Q Challenge #55, and I knew I wanted to play along right away, these are my favourite colours!

And I have the perfect recipient for the card too! One of my very best friends, Narelle, is hosting a Breast Cancer Fundraiser this Sunday and I am so proud of her for undertaking it. She has got some awesome sponsors behind the event and last time we spoke, I know she was hoping to have around 90 ladies attending with the hopes of raising around $4000! I think that is an awesome achievement for anyone, so I wanted to make a card to give to her on Sunday, just to let her know that I am so proud of her efforts!
It is very fitting because she has named the event the Live, Laugh, Love Lunch! Ahh, ya gotta love Stampin Up! A stamp for every occasion! lol!

Jumping Jellybeans

2010-10-20T08:35:00.001+11:00

Wow, I am posting my butt off lately, can you tell I have been ignoring my homework and house work? Anyway, I felt like scrapping a page the other night, so I got out my stash of photos I have in mind for scrapping, and found some inspiration for this page:
This was cheeky Logan's 5th birthday, almost 2 years ago now. Over the top of all of the chatter of around 20 or so people in the dining room, we could hear the loudest giggles coming from her bedroom! We discovered 4 very cheeky monkeys jumping on the bed, having the time of their life and I couldn't resist capturing the moment. Remember how much fun it used on be jumping on the bed? (Especially in party clothes)

Brick Wall Technique

2010-10-19T21:29:00.000+11:00

At a workshop tomorrow night we will be making this card which involves the brick wall technique:
Donna at Butternut Sage Designs posted this tutorial a while back and I couldn't wait to give it a go. I am pretty happy with the end result. I love the Lovely as a Tree stamp set, it is one of my all time fav's, and I was very happy to river rock make a come back with the new colour renovation too. Hope the sun is shining in your corner of the world, it is here, finally! We are enjoying a lovely spring day in Melbourne today after some horrid weather over the weekend, hope that was the last of it!

Hope & Inspiration - Breast Cancer Awareness

2010-10-19T21:27:00.004+11:00

I have decided to dedicate this card to the very Brave Elise from paper love affair, for sharing her story with fellow readers about her diagnosis of breast cancer in the hope of spreading awareness. Her post is enough to bring the harsh reality to all of us, we never know what is just around the corner. Elise has a 4 and half year old son, so the road ahead is a long one, and she will certainly be in my prayers. Her friend Cheryl from cardmaking haven together with Bizzy Becs has put together a card drive for Elise, which you too can participate in and send a card of hope and inspiration to Elise. The details are on Cheryls blog.

A Crafty Weekend

2010-10-18T09:04:00.003+11:00

I made this card a few days ago after checking out this card on spiltcoast stampers then low and behold, fellow team member, Mel Sharp, posted this card over the weekend! Here is my take:
My colour selection is more traditional. Great minds think alike huh Mel?
And this card was inspired by Andreas card posted here. I loved the dasher stamp combined with the lovely as a tree set and I love the combination of white and crumb cake too. Here is the end result:
I spent heaps of time in the craft room yesterday and have a few more projects to share, but I think I will spread them out over a few posts, who knows when I will have the chance to craft again!

A Source of Inspiration

2010-10-17T12:39:00.002+11:00

I have spent some time this weekend looking back through some creations on Teneale Williams blog. I absolutely love her work, and some of the cards she has made using the fifth avenue floral set are just beautiful. They inspired me to make this card:
I think this is what we might make at our next stamp club get together, colouring is so therapeutic, and I always find the more I do it, the better I get (obviously have not been doing too much colouring lately from the looks of this colouring! lol!) My weekends have been so full lately, that this has been such a lovely way to spend my Sunday morning.

Adeles & Julia's Etchings

2010-10-16T14:40:00.004+11:00

A little while ago I spied this fabulous card on Adele's blog and just knew I had to make one! I have hardly changed anything at all from the original that Adele made, just added a bit of spritzing and a sentiment, and my pics are a little different too. I really love this card!
And this was one we made at stamp club last week and I think it shows how versatile the Artistic Etching set can be. I would never have thought to make it into a Christmas ornament, so thank you to Julia for coming up with the idea, and sharing it too! Here is the original on Julia's blog.
And last of all is one that I made a little while ago. It would suit any Princess in your life I think! lol! The colours are a bit washed out, but you get the general idea!
Hope you are having a great weekend! I am off to a girls breast cancer night tonight for some sing star action so if you are the vicinity of Wyndham Vale, I apologise in advance!

House Warming

2010-10-14T08:35:00.002+11:00

Wow, two posts in two days! ITS A MIRACLE! lol! I have enjoyed a little craft time this week which has been just lovely, I was starting to think I would never find the time! My SIL asked me if I had a house warming card, and would you believe of the hundreds upon hundreds (literally) in my stash, I did not have a house warming card. So I set about making her one and this is what I came up with:
I have a feeling that this is not my original design and that I have perhaps seen something similar in the past, but I would not know where, so if this is your card (or something like your card) apologies, and let me know and I will give credit, of course!

Now I was lucky enough to get my hands on this fabulous set called 'a little bit of magic' which is from SU in the states. Now, I have to admit that my water colouring leaves much to be desired. I find that unless I am doing it regularly, I definitely lose the knack for it, alas, here is the card that I came up with:
Ohh, and see the beautiful bow action on both of these cards? Pretty neat huh? Well, there is a tutorial here on Teneale Williams' blog which shares the secret of this gorgeous looking bow. Anyway, best be off to start my day!

40th Pop Up

2010-10-13T09:28:00.004+11:00

I have been dying to share this card, but I have been so busy I just have not had the chance! A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of ours turned 40. By day he is a fireman but in his spare time, he is a magician. He is always thrilling our kids with his magic tricks and balloon characters. He is very fun to be around! And, he is always a great admirer of my card creations, so I wanted to make him something he would remember, and with some help from my clever friend Phil, I came up with this magic hat:But the real surprise is inside. I popped the letters of the word 'forty' inside on acetate. I remembered this technique a while back from a card on Liams blog, and it was so simple to do!Here is a close op of the pop up:
And my magician friend seemed to love his card, so that was great! Ciao for now!

2010-09-29T07:53:00.003+10:00

A little while back, Miss Sylvia from our netball team celebrated her 60th birthday, so I made her this little scallop mini albumn for us all to sign:
I got the idea from here on Marelle Taylor's blog. Hers is in modern colours and more intricately decorated than mine though! I thought it was such a clever idea! I have used the retired groovy guava and another retired dsp set, which I cant remeber the name of.
I have used a bunch of stamp sets including birthday best, inspired by nature, butterfly prints, friends 24/7, live your dream (retired) & whimsical words (retired). Doing a project like this makes you realise how very many beautiful sentiments the Stampin Up range has!

Hope you are having a lovely week!

Welcome Christmas

2010-09-26T16:19:00.003+10:00

I loved the Welcome Christmas set as soon as I spied it in our new catalogue! I love the silhouette type stamps but sometimes find them hard to use. I am looking forward to seeing what other demo's come up with using this set. Here are a couple I have done while playing around with it:
This is my first time using cherry cobbler, I was so looking forward to seeing the colour IRL, I love the card stock, but I am finding the ink a little dark? What is your favourite new colour?
I have lightened the colour of the ink here with crystle effects.

Launch Make & Takes

2010-09-20T16:01:00.006+10:00

On Friday night I held a launch party for my customers. We had a lovely night with wine & cheese, plenty of laughs, prizes, party games and of course, a make and take. Here is the card I made as the sample using the delightful decorations set and that gorgeous ornament punch:
And since the fine supernova glitter comes in a range of colours I got the girls to pick the colour of their own card. I took a couple of snaps to show the combinations, but bear in mind it was late on Friday night, so the flash was on. Here is my favourite combination, early espresso & crumb cake:
Tempting turquoise and crumb cake:
Pretty in pink & crumb cake:
And another striking combination, tangerine tango and crumb cake:
The sentiment us from the new set called curly cute, which I think is ever so cute, and we used the eyelet border punch on the corners of the colours card stock, just for a bit of interest.
We had quite a few kids come along this time, and so I let my girls stay up late and we gave them free range on the stamp sets. That was ok, but free range on the glitter maybe not such a good idea! I am still finding sparkles 3 days later! Anyway, another young guest Miss Olivia, made a card just like her Mum's so I thought I would take a photo and post it for her, since she is only 9! I think she did an amazing job! A future demonstrator I think!

Stamp Club Techniques

2010-09-17T07:39:00.005+10:00

I keep meaning to share this gorgeous card, but every time I take photos, I keep forgetting, well this morning I remembered, only a month later!
Isn't it divine. It is from the ever so gorgeous Liam, from inspirestampin. I am a long time admirer of her work, and now I am lucky enough to have my very own! lol! Isn't she a clever, clever girl! Thanks again Liam :)

These are the cards we did at our last stamp club get together. I always try to demonstrate a new technique, so the girls have the opportunity to learn something new. I had had a request for a scratch and sniff card, so it was a great time to give them a go. They were so fun to make, the hardest part was finding the smelly stuff!
And this one was made with pencils. There was a tutorial on the SCS newsletter (cant remember what the technique was called) but I know that our SU pencils were not the same type of pencils they used, but it worked out pretty well anyway.
And here is one using greens and yellows:And lastly, one we made with crayons direct to rubber! Some of my fellow demo's on stampin connections were kind enough to help me out with this technique, as I couldn't quite remember how it was done! Colour the crayon direct to the stamp, mist with water then stamp, I was forgetting to mist, and low and behold, I couldn't get the colour to transfer! We get there in the end, and a lovely result too!
This was the last month of this particular stamp club, and we have had a lovely half year! The next one will be starting tonight, at my Launch Party for the new catalogue, and I am sure we will have just as much fun!

A Patchy Christmas

2010-09-16T08:10:00.001+10:00

I actually made these cards a couple of weeks ago, but have not had a chance to upload them. I think the idea came from my friend Phil, but I know I have seen a ton of the patchwork inspired cards around. I have so much of the holiday harmony dsp left over from the last catalogue, I thought this would be an effective way to use some of it up!
The sentiment and orniment is from the 'contempo christmas' set. Unfortunately, when I made these cards, I didnt have my orniment punch yet, so I had to hand cut them out! Shock horror!

A Bomber Birthday, Many Fangks & an Ice Skating Shaker

2010-09-15T09:41:00.001+10:00

It's my nephew's birthday this weekend, and he is all about football at the moment. He is a mad bomber supporter, so I needed no further inspiration for his card. Simple, but I know he is going to love it!
And a my girlfriends husband, very kindly has been taping True Blood Season 3 for me, as I don't have foxtel, so I thought I would show him my appreciation, just a little vampire humour between friends!
And this last one is a shaker card I made for one of my daughters friends birthdays. She had an Ice Skating party at a local rink, so I thought the image from winter post would be perfect!

More New Toys

2010-09-12T09:33:00.001+10:00

My new ink is on back order, so I had to use choc chip and soft suede, but the card stock and ribbon is the new and fabulous colour, early espresso. Isn't it gorgeous? The stamp set is a returning set from a previous mini called "sense of time" I wanted to get it ages ago, but didn't in the end, so I was so wrapped to see it make it into our new catalogue and was on my first order! I have also used one of the new, fabulous, antique brads. Ohhhh, so many yummy things in this catalogue!!
And these next two cards are made using the new "delightful decorations" set, which I know is going to be mega popular, as it has the matching ornament punch! Very handy! I coupled these cards with 'seasons of joy' set, a holiday season must have, in my opinion! And, the sentiment here is from another new set, 'Welcome Christmas'. This one in traditional Christmas colours:
In this one I have used rich razzelberry and pink pirouette. The sentiment is from 'many merry messages', and it is hard to see, but this one has dazzling diamonds to make it shine! Very pretty!

New Toys

2010-09-09T09:21:00.004+10:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day! My Mum and girlfriend came over for some help with their crafty projects, and just before they arrived, two boxes of goodies arrived at my door! How exciting. It was so lovely to have some new toys to play with last night, it was such a long time between catalogues this time. Anyway, here is a cute little card I made using the new "funky four" set. The sentiment is from the pendant park and that cute little bunny is from forest friends.
I have loved this reindeer for so long, and I was beside myself when I saw it on our catalogue! It was the first thing I got inky last night, and I just cant wait to make a whole ton of stuff with it. It is called "Dasher" and isn't he just lovely? That dsp is from the new range of neutral papers and the sentiment is also another newbie, curly cute.
These butterflies were cut with the new Beautiful Wings Embosslits, which cuts and embosses simultaneously. I have also used the 'Inspired by Nature' set here too, and the sentiment is from the level one hostess set, "after thoughts".
I made a whole heap of cards last night, but I cant share them with you all today, who knows when the next chance I will have to craft!

Strawberry Inspired

2010-09-02T17:30:00.003+10:00

One of my girlfriends sisters just had a little baby girl and when I saw this gorgeous little strawberry outfit I just couldn't resist.
And it inspired me to make this card to go with it:
Melon mambo & wild wasabi were the perfect colours to match the card, and that scallop die is just so versatile, I use it more than any other tool I have ever brought (even the spritzer!!)

Splattered Daisies

2010-08-31T20:27:00.002+10:00

I always like to try a technique that is highlighted in our monthly newsletter we receive from Stampin Up, and last month was using the spritzer, which is my favourite tool of the month at the moment! I am splattering anything that sits still! In this case, I inked up the daisy stamp from Upsy Daisy then sprayed with with the spritzer before stamping. Doing it this way gives you a much softer spray than spritzing direct onto the card stock. I love it when I find a new way to use things, I feel like I am getting value for money, lol!
Anyway, there is not much else to this card, pretty straight forward, I had zero mojo and needed to make something simple.

Flutterby's

2010-08-30T12:04:00.004+10:00

On Friday I went to the Paperific Expo here in Melbourne and it was a terrific day! I brought a couple of bits and pieces, one of which was this beautiful butterfly die, isn't it exquisite?
I coupled it with the all a flutter stamp and the sentiment from butterfly prints for these two simple but beautiful (well, I think so anyway) cards.
I added a small splatter with the spritzer on this regal rose one, just for some added interest. I love it when I find little treasure such as this die, I know it's going to get a heap of use!

Christmas Capers!

2010-08-25T09:16:00.004+10:00

In case the lack of posts does not speak for itself, I have slowed down a bit on the crafting front lately. There are a couple of reasons, one is that I seem to be lacking in the mojo department. Another is that life is crazy and the last reason is that I am in the midst of preparing to go back to study teaching. Next year I will be studying full time but I start part time in about 2 weeks. I am looking forward to it but I am a bit scared too!

Anyway, I have also slowed down my classes to one per month, which is working out great. This month we made a bunch of Christmas cards, which is always fun! Here is what we made:
You may have seen this one before, I made it a little while ago, hard to see but it is teal & white (yay! used up the last of my taken with teal card stock, make way for the new gorgeous colours!)
This one is using the gorgeous Contempo Christmas set that is due for release just a few more days .This one was terrible to photograph because it has a vellum overlay to soften the colours. Sorry, but I just couldn't manage any better, but at least you get the idea (I got the idea originally from a newsletter sent from Marelle Taylor) We used the ever versatile Seasons of Joy set, and my favourite tool - the SPRITZER! LOVE IT! I also managed to used up almost all of my ballet blue card stock too! Yippee!
And this last one is an easel card. The idea came from a birthday card sent to me by Alison Wade, and changed up the colours and stamps and viola' a snazzy Christmas design. We used razzleberry, pale plum and white with a combination to Tree Trimmings (which is returning to the catalogue), Winter Post & Snow Swirled.

A Seriously Happy Mail Box

2010-08-19T08:54:00.005+10:00

I love having clever friends! It really makes birthdays special when you get to open a card that one of your nearest and dearest has created especially for you! Here are a couple I recently got for my birthday:
This first one was made by Philippa and she has used one of my all time fav sets, fabulous flowers (retired), and this one is by my good friend, Sarah, who first introduced me to Stampin Up,
Fellow Team Member, the clever and oh, so talented Alison Wade
Another fellow team member, Kylie Stevens I got this fun and bright card (to brighten up my freezing winter day) off my friend Adele. Our daughters have become BFF's, and as it turns out, Adele and I went to school together, and she is a fan of paper craft and Stampin Up too, kindred spirits!
My clever friend Narelle, who I have known most of my life, has just discovered the love of paper craft and is fast becoming quite the card maker:
He, he, this one was from my very good friend Philippa who recently had knee surgery. To help her out, I offered to do some of her housework as she had to stay off her feet for 4 weeks. All was going well until the last week when I did by back and had her running around after me on her crutches! lol! Ahhh, what are friends for?
And the very clever Kathryn who had just had a new baby sent out these lovely thank you's:
This one was from Mandy Schiller from a while back, to say thank you for a Twilight inspired book mark I made for her:
I joined a secret sister swap a while back and sadly my sister got sick and I missed out on my goodies, so the lovely Gardenia became my Angel Sister and sent me this lovely card, along with a few goodies.
Ahhh, I love having clever friends, it makes my day so special :)

New Toys!

2010-08-19T08:48:00.005+10:00

Finally, I squeezed in some time to have a play with the soon to be released "Artistic Etchings" set that is in the new catalogue starting Sept 1. I have loved this set since I started seeing cards pop up on the US blogs, and as soon as I saw it in our pre-release, I knew I had to have it. I think I am getting the hang of the vintage look (sort of), I think it is my favourite kind of style in card making too. Anyway, here is the first thing I have made in ages:
I used all neutral tones, kraft, soft suede, river rock(new) and vanilla. And, speaking of new toys, I got a big new toy on Tuesday, check me out in my new wheels!
Zippy huh! Hope you week has been full of crafty lovely-ness (and hoping my weekend will be) Have a good one, toot toot!

Welcome to the world, Baby Jordan

2010-08-09T18:18:00.004+10:00

My long time work collegue, friend, and now stampin buddy recently gave birth to her new little man Jordan. Kathryn and I used to work together at a local real estate agent, and when I was pregnant with Logan, she was pregnant with her second. We both have two girls, and our husbands used to run amok at our work Christmas parties! Needless to say, I was wrapt when Kathryn discovered her passion for paper craft, because now we no longer work together, it gives us another excuse to hang out.

Anyway, I made this card for her when little Jordan was born:
I used the nursery necessity stamp set. I also made Jordan a little wall hanger for his room:
Here are a few close ups:

I got the idea from Felicity. I lvoed it as soon as I saw it and was just waiting for the opportunity to make one!

Baptism Card

2010-08-09T18:12:00.003+10:00

This weekend I found my self in need of a card for a little girls Baptism, and I don't own any stamps that are suitable for this kind of occasion! So I 'fashioned ' this little cross, and stamped it with the vines from Vintage Vogue set, then embossed it in white. Then I just layered it up with white and pirouette pink and finished off with a little taffeta ribbon. I also stamped some of the vines onto the ribbon, just for some interest, but it is very hard to see in the photo.
Sorry I have been missing in action of late, but I just cant seem to find the time to craft, let along blog! I am missing every ones creations, and hearing the tidbits of their lives!

Blow off the dust

2010-08-01T21:50:00.003+10:00

Wow! Has it really been that long! No way! I really havnt made anything new for ages & ages either, my craft room is spotless, which never happens, so I have to dig into the archives to find you something to share! lol!

I made this card for one of my daughters friends Jake. I really dont own any boyish stamps, and I remembered that Sam Post had created a whole bunch of great dino stuff a while back so I went searching and "borrowed" one of her creations!

A break from Christmas

2010-07-13T08:28:00.002+10:00

After convention, I was all excited about the circle scissors plus and had this scrapbook page already in mind before we even hit the tarmac! I put it together a little while ago, and finally got around to photographing it:
It still needs the titles added in, but I am waiting to find the right sized letters, everything I have is too big or too small! I also have another page in mind to go with it, but haven't got around to it just yet, but stay tuned...

Tangarine tango, pacific point, so saffron & rhred.

A Snow Swirled July

2010-07-10T11:30:00.005+10:00

Oh, I am just loving Christmas cards at the moment, and just cant seem to stop making them! lol! Here are a couple I made the other night when my stampin buddy Phil came over to play:
Lucky for me, she brought her snow swirled set, and I feel that snow flakes are very appropriate in with this bitterly cold weather we are having! This first card was inspired by Teneale Williams' convention swap, but I have changed the colours, the stamps and the layout of the card! lol!
Snow swirled, kraft, soft suede & bashful blue, mat pack, fine supernova glitter-chocolate, spritzer, wide oval punch, blue taffeta ribbon, tearing edge, distressing tool.
I have done the second one here mostly in the same colours, and it was inspired from Sandi Maciver:
Kraft, night of navy, bashful blue, silver EP, heat tool, snowflake punch, spritzer, circle cutting tool, blue taffeta ribbon.
Thank you to Philippa for the use of her stamp set, and a fun night of stamping and thank you to all of the lovely ladies who so willingly share their work to inspire other!

Christmas in July Stamp-a-stack

2010-07-07T23:35:00.004+10:00

Thursday 8th July I am having a Christmas Stamp-a-stack, where we will be making these cards:
Christmas Classics, mellow moss, ruby red, whisper white, scallop die, mellow moss taffeta ribbon, holiday harmony dsp, scallop boarder punch, small oval punch

If you live nearby(Hoppers Crossing), you are most welcome to join us, I have extra kits made up.
Lovely as a tree, en francais, many merry messages, occasional greetings, christmas classics, handsome hunter, very vanilla, sahara sand, top note die, scallop die, circle cutters, tearing edge, distressing tool, sponge daubers., dazzling diamonds

The cost is $20, I ask that you BYO adhesives and we kick off at 8pm. If you would like to come along, please email me, and I will forward you the details. If it is late in the day, please leave your mobile and I can text you the details.

Happy Christmas in July!

More of the Same

2010-07-06T19:47:00.004+10:00

The other night me & my old pal Phil had a bit of a craft night, and I think I used up all of my inspiration in the morning, because nothing was working out for me! Anyway, I thought I would make a couple more of these fun & simple Christmas cards, but this time in black & white (well, vanilla actually)

And because of the card being black, I put a panel inside for writing on.
Of course, I had to do a scallop too, because that is my new thing!
These were fun to do, and I liked the end result! Kind of vintagy and not too traditional, but not way out there either! I think I am just about ready for Christmas now! lol!
Winter post, en francais, lovely as a tree, top note & scallop dies, spritzer, sponge daubers, mat pack, basic black, saharah sand & very vanilla.

Inkspirations Colour Challenge #30

2010-07-05T18:09:00.004+10:00

As soon as I saw cards for this challenge popping up all over blog land I knew I wanted to play along, and I had the perfect card in mind:
I love olive & razzleberry together and the addition of kraft makes the combo so good, I couldn't stop at just one:
I thought that the ornament card would look great in just about any colour, so I tried it with teal & white, and I think I like this one the best:
Snow swirled, perfect punches (yet to be released), scallop die, round tab punch, old olive taffeta ribbon(yet to be released), green rhinestone brad, silver cord, circle cutting system, taken with teal, whisper white, rich razzleberry, old olive & kraft.

A Flutterby Thankyou

2010-07-05T09:04:00.004+10:00

After I saw these super sweet cards on Alisons blog, I decided I wanted to do something similar. Now since everything has to be scalloped, I started with that:
But then decided that they would have a bit more pizazz if we went top note instead:
I love how these have turned out, and have the perfect recipients for them in mind! If I ever get around to posting them, slack!!
Kraft, Cocoa & Black, oval punch
Almost amethyst & night of navy, white taffeta ribbon, blue rhinestone brad & oval punch.
Blush blossom & cocoa with a touch of diamonds (I know this one looks crocked but it is an optical illusion, IRL it is straight...driving me crazy that it looks like this!!)

Stamps: All a flutter, en francais & sincere salutations

Some Christmas and Some Scalloped Cards

2010-07-04T11:22:00.005+10:00

The other night I couldn't sleep, so rather than toss and turn and drive my husband mad, I started my Christmas Card stash. For my first one, I dug out my old favourite "Holiday Line Up". As I had zero mojo, I scoured SCS and found this card which I loved, and so, this card was born:
Holiday line up, many merry messages, swiss dots embossing folder, spiral punch, snowflake punch, soft suede, rhred, basic black, river rock & white.
And I have nearly a whole reel of this fabulous ribbon, but never, ever use it, so with that in mind, I came up with this card:
Seasons of joy, top note die, RHR stripped grosgrain ribbon RHR & Vanilla
And to carry on with my obsession with all things scalloped, I made this little number:
Occasional greetings, scallop die, scallop circle punch, silver ep/heat tool, swiss dots embossing folder, circle cutters, holiday harmony dsp, silver cord, aluminium foil, old olive cs.
And this one:
A kind word, baroque motifs, occasional greetings, scalloped die, square scallop punch, choc chip taffeta ribbon, , twine, cropodile, circle cutters, blender pens & ink, sponge daubers, choc chip, pirouette pink, very vanilla
And this one:
I have made one like this a while a go, but this time I jazzed it up a little bit more, and I liked it heaps better! The glitter looks a bit rubbish in the photo but IRL, it was sparkle city!
Pony Party, scallop oval punch, scallop die, swiss dots embossing die, spritzer, blender pens & ink, white taffeta ribbon, purple rhinestone brad, sponged daubers, dazzling diamonds glitter & a mixture of almost amethyst, lovely lavender, pale plum and elegant eggplant.

Again, it is 11.53 and I am still in my jammies, this has been the best weekend!

A Forks Inspired Christmas Set

2010-07-03T10:06:00.004+10:00

The biggest thing in my life this week, was the release of Twilight Saga's Eclipse! I know, it's a sad life, a near second was the American catty release, my oh my, what a day the 1st of July was! lol! Anyway, the release if Eclipse got me feeling all "pine tree-ey" so this morning I got up created this little set:
I love Saturday mornings, still dressed in my PJ's, sitting in my craft room...bliss! lol!
I am trying to use up all of my retiring stock, and in this case, I went for Handsome Hunter. I love this colour, but really never use it. I guess that is why it is retiring!
So, the trees represent the landscape of Forks, the sparkle on the trees (hard to see in the photography) is for the sparkle of the vampires skin and the crappy photography is a great representation of the almost constant cloud cover we are having here in Melbourne! lol!
Of course, I had to spritz all of these cards, because that is my new favourite thing to do, and the background 'en francais' is stamped in sahara sand. Some the edges are distressed and sponged with the handsome hunter ink. I have used the scallop & top note dies to shape the cards, and Christmas sentiments from various sets. Of course, that lovely tree is from the 'Lovely as a Tree' set.
On Wednesday night, some of my girlfriends and I, went to the movies to see Twilight, New Moon &, of course, Eclipse. The marathon started at 6.30pm on Wednesday and finished up just after 2am Thursday morning.
This is us at the beginning of the marathon! I don't think that anyone would want to see photos of us at the end! The top photo is Sarah & me. The bottom is Michelle, Philippa & Emily.
Ahhh, all of those young werewolf boys with no shirts on are really swaying me towards Team Jacob, but then, all Edward has to do is smile and I am straight back to Team Edward! It is a hard life...

Look at how clever the girls in our team are:

2010-06-29T10:09:00.002+10:00

A couple of weekends a go, we had a team get together at the gorgeous and very talented Yvonne Campells house. She is such a generous upline, and I know that I always walk away from her having learned at least one thing (if not more). It is also a really good chance to see all of the other beautiful girls on our team, and meet the newest members too! This time we got to welcome Julie, who has joined under Adele Khoo. Most times we get together, we each bring a project for all of the other girls to make, so we walk away with a whole bunch of new ideas and some very pretty cards to boot! Here is what we made this time:

Sweet Little Hearts by Yvonne Campbell

Crocodile Fun by Pene Toose

Marvelous Medallion By Nicole Koutsaplis

Gorgeous in Gold by Marggret Canzoneri

A Sassy Scalloped Envelope Bag by Kylie Stephens

A Terrific Topnote Bag by Karla Gregory

Cute Cupcakes Peepthough by Elena Howey

Always Elegant bag & love note by Alsion Wade

And I killed two birds with one stone and used this card from my class that week! There was also a really cool Christmas card by Philippa, which I didn't get a chance to make because I had to leave early, but I will get a photo of it and post it because it was really pretty! Arnt I a part of the BEST team...and nicest too!

Something For Everyone

2010-06-26T10:55:00.004+10:00

In the class I ran last week I wanted to make something for everyone! A female card, male card, something for a boy & something for a girl. Here is the first card we made:
We used the ever so popular Vintage Vogue set with soft suede & pirouette pink, as well as the top note die & bird punch & vintage wheel! I love how this card turned out. The inspiration for the male card came from Christine Blain's blog, she is a very tricky lady, who's blog I love to stalk...I mean visit! lol! Here is my card:
We used creamy caramel, basic black, close to cocoa & choc chip, as well as a bunch of circle punches, the circle circus & outlined for fun sets. The next one is for a boy and we used the oh, so fun Fox & Friends set, along with stem sayings & petal pizazz, here is my card:
I love that cheeky monkey! And for the girl card I used the owl out of the fox & friends set, polka dot background and that sentiment is a brand newie that will be in the new catalogue in September!
I added some googly eyes for fun and embossed the polka dots at the bottom of the card, for some interest! We had a very fun night, great to catch up with these great girls!

Stamp Club Projects

2010-06-18T14:10:00.002+10:00

Each time we get together for stamp club I try to demonstrate a new technique. This month I did the cracked glass technique. Here is the card we made:
And we also put together this cute little gift box using the scalloped envelope die. This box was demo'd at Convention:

Pony Party, Scalloped

2010-06-16T23:32:00.006+10:00

I had been waiting (not so patiently) for my scallop die to arrive. I was hoping it would come on Friday but that was just wishful thinking. I expected it to come Tuesday (Monday being a public holiday!) and it didn't arrive, then when it had not arrived by lunch time today, I really wanted to cry! I wanted to use it in a class tonight! It finally arrived at around 3pm this afternoon, 5 hours before the class, but by then I had chopped card stock for my back up card, so it didn't get used after all. I did get a chance to have a little play though, here is what I made:
And last weekend, I did a fun run for MS with our good, good friend Gary! Here is a photo of our team on the very, very wet track!
There were twenty of us in our team "Gazza's Demons" and we had a great time in the rain, even though we all have cold now. Thank you soooo much to the beautiful people who donated to our efforts! It warms my heart to think of people sponsoring me whom I have only recently met face to face for the first time at convention! You are the absolute sweetest! I think stampers are the kindest, most generous people on the earth!

Shannons Soccer Ball

2010-06-09T08:03:00.003+10:00

I know my blog has been a little bit light on for content lately, but I cant seem to find the time for crafting much :( Too sad. Anyway, here is a little something that I took away from convention. In Shannon's circle scissors plus demo she made a card similar to this. Hers was a back & white ball, and far more perfect than mine, but can I just say that this was about attempt number 4 and those little six sided shapes (cant think of the correct name atm) were so hard to line up. Oh well, I am sure the little girl who wants to play soccer that I made this for will like it anyway!
Mandy Schiller has made an absolutely fabulous scrap page using a soccer ball for inspiration, you should check it out, it blew me away!

Lucky Me!

2010-06-05T09:50:00.004+10:00

One of my favourite times at Convention was when Shelli did her demonstration. Her focus was on the vintage style of crafting, which is one of my favourites, and she made a really cute on board journal. My travel buddy, room mate and very good friend Philippa, took a liking to this journal also, and she made me one just like Shelli's! I am so stoked, look how beautiful it is:
Thank you so much Phil! Now, Alison put another spin on Shelli's creation and made a Happy Birthday card which you can see here. I have done something similar too, but solely using the Vintage Vogue stamp set (the must have set of the season!)

MS 5k Fun Run

2010-06-02T21:50:00.003+10:00

In light of my recent fitness kick I am doing the MS 5k fun run this weekend and have left my fundraising efforts to the very last minute! Our very close family friend, Gary, was diagnosed with MS a few years back. He is my parents age (mid 50's) and until recently, his wife Sheryl has been caring for him in their home. But, recently that became impossible, so he is now living in a retirement village where he has 24 hour care. Our Team is called Gazza's Demons (he is a huge Melbourne FC fan) and Gary will be joining us for the walk, which is so exciting! Here is a picture of Me with Gary and another family friend, Amanda, at his sons wedding last year:Gary and his family play a huge part in my child hood memories, and it has been very sad to see him decline so much over the past few years. I am so proud to be representing his team this weekend and hope to raise lots of money and awareness for MS. If you would like to sponsor me please click here to donate, it will be going to a great cause!

Last of the Secret Sister Swaps

2010-05-31T08:33:00.002+10:00

My camera is still camping somewhere along the Murrumbidgee River in NSW with my hubby, so I cant share the projects I have been working on this week, however, I still had one last Secret Sister Swap to share. These were the cards that I sent to Pat during the month of May:I used the bella rose dsp (which is just gorgeous) and the outlined for fun (which is really fun), as well as some RHR ribbon, choc chip ribbon, rhinestones, flower fusion too, butterfly punch & flower designer brads...I think thats it!
I couldn't get the colour right in this one for some reason, but it is cocoa and pirouette pink & choc chip
I leaned how to do the gorgeous ribbon flower on Sarah Klass's blog.

2nd Secret Sister Gift

2010-05-27T20:58:00.002+10:00

Time to share what I sent to my Secret Sister on the 2nd month of our swap. I made this little wall hanging for her. It is hard to see but it is stamped with the motif from Friends 24/7, and very distressed. The twill tape is stamped with the flower stem from the same set, and then I spelt out the letters CREATE and blinged it up with some diamonds. I originally made it for my own craft room, but loed it so much, I had to share.
And I made this fabulous Cup cake box. My stamping sister Philippa came over with this great new template for us to try out, and I can tell you, our thinking caps were NOT ON! We made so many mistakes and laughed so much at our selves, but we got there in the end, and the result was quite pretty! Apparently, it didn't mail to well though, even though I papped it up with bubble wrap, what can you do? I filled it up with little twirls, another of Pats fav's.
And I made a cute banana and chocolate cupcake card to match.

Some Highlights!

2010-05-27T08:35:00.004+10:00

I wanted to share a couple of photos with you all, I know it's kinda boring if you are not in them, but I am going to bore you anyway. Here is most of the girls from our team who were at Convention, Sydney. I tell you, I had such a blast with these girls, and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to get to know each of them a little bit better, they truly do ROCK!
From the front left is Ramona, Amanda, Adele, Me, Yvonne, Philippa, Alison & Kylie. I tell you, there is so much talent sitting at this table, if you get the chance, check out their blogs!
This is me and Philippa on the plane. I have never looked so alert at 7am!
Here is Me, Ramona & Philippa with the funniest chick in the US. Her name is Bonnie, and due to her loss of voice, she had to whisper her entire presentation! On top of that, she has us in absolute stitches of laughter, I had tears pouring down my face, she is so funny! Meeting her was a huge highlight for me!
And, in the first couple of minutes of convention, Philippa and I got to meet to Rock Star of Stampin Up, Shelli, what an inspiration she is, and a truly beautiful and down to earth person. I am so proud to belong to a company owned and ran by this woman!

And here is my swap: I did it is 4 different colour combos, cameo coral/basic black, apricot appeal/basic black, sage shadow/basic black & taken with teal/basic black.

The Stampin Up Convention in Sydney 2010, is such a huge highlight for me, I just want everyone to experience it! Next year is in Melbourne, which is awesome for us Victorians! Stampin Up have a huge offer going at the moment. You can purchase the starter kit for just $259 between now and the end of July. Usually the starter kit is $324, and you get over $560 worth of stamping product and business supplies, so it is a huge saving!

The beauty of Stampin Up is that you can join as a hobbyist or grow a successful business and all that is in between. If you are interested in joining this fabulous company, and my team, I would love to talk to you more, please feel free to email me or call and you can be sitting at my table at next years convention! Click here to download the starter kit flyer.

Secret Sister Gift Part #2

2010-05-26T13:25:00.004+10:00

So this was the rest of the final gift I posted off to my Secret Sister Pat. Due to convention coming up, I was really limited time wise, so I raided my stash to help me out. I sent her this card with the details of the big reveal, letting her know who I was, and that I couldn't wait to meet her!And a matching scalloped box (template available from Butternut Sage Designs) Inside this box was the neighbourhood wheel (from Pat's wish list)I included one of these little note pads and pens:
And this cool mini album:I made this one at a team meeting one day at Yvonne Campbells house, I think they made them originally on the incentive trip. Here is how it opens up:
And again:
And last but not least, Pat mentioned that she loved Old Gold Mint Chocolate, so how could I not send her a little something yummy for her tummy? But of course, it needed to be decorated:
Tomorrow I will show you what I sent her for the April gift.

Meet My Secret Sister Pat Carr

2010-05-25T13:23:00.004+10:00

Hi guys, I am back from Convention 2010 with so many stories and samples to share with you, but my monkey of a husband has taken off on his blokes week away with my camera, so I thought this would be the perfect op to share what I have been sending my Secret Sister, Pat. I got to meet Pat at convention, which was awesome! Here is a pic of us together:
So here is a part of her final gift that I sent to her. It was a card folder that held 6 different cards that I had made using the Friends 24/7 set (my fav). Here is the front of the folder:
And, inside:
Card #1
Card #2
Card #3
Card #4
Card #5
Card #6
Stay tuned and over the coming days I will show you what else I sent. Take care xx

2 more sleeps

2010-05-18T22:01:00.000+10:00

Hi all, so sorry to neglect my blog but way too much going on here! I am off to Sydney in two more sleeps, to the Convention, and I am soooo excited! Hopefully, I will have loads to share with you when I return!

Workshop with New Stuff

2010-05-10T14:02:00.002+10:00

I have a workshop later this week where we will be playing with new colours, new stamps & new tools, I cant wait! Here is what we will be making:
Each of the cards is done using the Vintage Vogue set, along with sentiments from On your birthday & sincere salutations and some background work with the very vintage wheel. I have used rich razzleberry, melon mambo, soft suede & old olive for the colours, and the tools include the top note die, polka dot embossing die & little leaves die, plus various ribbons.
These first 3 cards have been inspired by Marelle Taylors work found here. I loved her cards as soon as I saw them. Originally I was not going to run a class in May with convention just around the corner, but using her work for inspiration made it easy to put a class together, so thanks Marelle!
On the weekend just gone by, we had a little pre-convention catch up at our uplines, Yvonne Campbell, house, and I spied a very attractive card on her shelves. I took a little pic of it an my phone and used it as inspiration for this card:
It's mostly the same, with a few minor differences. I want to take the time to thank all of our lovely blog friends who share their work! It makes everything so much easier when you need to come up with something, but it is also a huge inspiration for new stampers who don't know where to start! Thanks for all of the lovely bloggers that I follow for putting yourself, and your work out there to share with a bunch of strangers! It's really great:)

Mothers Day High Tea

2010-05-06T10:57:00.003+10:00

I had such a lovely day yesterday. We had a Mother's Day High Tea at my daughters school, 3 hours of chit chat & dining with the loveliest group of Mum's you could imagine. So, on Tuesday night, after a very exciting episode of Survivor, I couldn't sleep and decided to make the Mum's on my table a card & book mark each to wish them a fabulous Mothers Day.
There were two twilight fans on our table, so I did something a little different for them, cause lets face it, who wouldn't want Edward for Mother's Day?
And here is a close up of the "non" twilight edition. I think I am in love with Easel cards, why did it take me so long to try one of these?
In case I dont make it back to the city of the lost blog, I want to wish all of the fabulous Mum's out there a very, very Happy Mother's Day for Sunday, I hope you get spoilt rotten.

Nothing New

2010-04-29T12:44:00.001+10:00

Hi all, nothing new for me this week, too busy doing my convention swaps! I am covered in teal & coral chalk! lol!