Birthday Wishes

We were invited to a party on Saturday night so I made up a card and a little gift bag full of yummy chocolates with a matching bottle cover for the birthday girl. It was all planned,. I had these all made in advance which is a miracle. We were all going for the night to stay at a great spot up the river and the kids were excited about toasted marshmellows, camp fires and hanging out with friends. Unfortunately we didn't make it. Best laid plans went astray. My 15 year old son gave us a huge scare. He was playing football on Saturday afternoon and received a knock to the head. Within 20 minutes he had gone from appearing like all was well to not speaking clearly or making much sense and was really not well. He was diagnosed with a severe concussion and rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

We spent the night at Westmead Children't Hospital with him having scans and x-rays. Luckily all was okay and he only needed to be kept over night for observation and to be cleared by specialists. He is home and although not happy about not being able to play sports for at least 2 weeks he is thrilled about the week off school. I don't know that I am too pleased with that one. We all know what males are like when they think they are sick!! To add to all that, my daughter also has tonsilitis so it is fun in the Dean household at the moment...

Back to my creations. I used Real Red, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip ink and Real Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla card stock. The flower centres have had Crystal Effects and Dazzlin Diamonds applied to give them some sparkle which hasn't photographed very well but looks great under the lights. The stamp sets used are: Inspired By Nature, Upsy Daisy and Short & Sweet. I have also used the wide oval, large oval and small oval punches and a bit of real red grosgrain ribbon.

I am hoping to get this to the birthday girl tonight and hear all about the great night we missed!

Useful Leftovers

Last weekend was a bit wet and miserable so I had some time to sit down and create a few projects for classes coming up. When it came time to pack up and put everything away, I looked at all the little bits of leftovers that had accumulated. I am not the best filer by any means so I thought rather than put these bits away I should make something useful with them.

When customers place an order with me I do like to put a little Thank You card in their bag to show my appreciation. If possible I like to include some of the products from their orders so they can see ways of using their new goodies. As you can see they don't need to be big cards to be effective.

I set myself the goal of making as many little cards as possible with the pieces of cardstock I had on my table. The only things I allowed myself to add were punches, stamps and ink pads.

This is what I came up with in a short amount of time. Now I have a stock of cards and I didn't have to file away all those leftovers.

You could do this also. You don't have to make them all Thank you cards. You could do Thinking of You, Birthday tags or just blank so you can use them for any occassion. For most people it is the thought that counts, not the size of the card.

Boy Grunge

My son is going to a friends birthday on the weekend so I made a male version of my previous post.

The cardstock is Basic Grey, Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy. I also used the Word Window, large and small Star and Corner Rounder punches.

You have to excuse the quality of the photo but still struggling with the camera issues of earlier.

Girly Grunge

I had fun making this card but didn't enjoy trying to get it to post. Firstly, I had to tear the house apart looking for a camera. We have a couple but one doesn't work. That's the one I found first. After looking for ages, I found it then had to charge the battery. To do this you need a battery charger and I had to go look for that. I have rediscovered that teenage children are great at finding new storage spaces for things. So some time later I finally got to take a photo.

Materials Used:

Just Jawing

Friendly Works Roller

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Grey & Pink Pirouette

Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds

Distresser from the Cutter Kit

Ink: Basic Grey, Pink Pirouette

Hmmm Ironing or Creating

As usual the ironing missed out. The courier arrived with my new Just Jawing set yesterday and it was far more tempting to play than to iron - don't understand that!!

I also recently bought a binding machine so thought it about time I used that so this is what I came up with. There are 8 pages and it is the perfect size for a handbag so great gift for a grandparent.

I had so much fun making this and it was nice to do something different for a change. Now all I need to do is find some photo's to put in and do a little journalling and it will be finished. Realistically this will be how it will look in a few months I'm sure as I am terrible at doing the photo thing. Hope you like it.

Materials used:
Stamps: Just Jawing, Really Retro & Sanded
Paper: Urban Garden
Card: Basic Black, Basic Grey, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze
Punches: Small and large Star, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle, word window& Round Tab

A Week of Charity

Last week I hosted a Biggest Morning Tea with a very good friend Noreen. This is such a wonderful charity and it was a pleasure to be able to do something to contribute. It was also nice to catch up with people and relax over a cuppa and chat.

We also asked people who attended to make some cards that we will be donating to The Westmead Children's Hospital. The idea is to give the children access to cards to give each other, family or staff and hopefully bring some cheer to their days.

We have 159 cards to give to them and I can't wait to see their faces. Sometimes you wonder what are you going to do with all the cards that you have accumulated over time and this seemed like such a rewarding way to put them to use.

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped both these wonderful institutions.

$40 Extra Free Spending Money


We all love spending money but how good is spending FREE money!!!
Stampin' Up! have just released a wonderful Promotion.
Simply host a workshop during June or July which totals $600 in sales and you will receive an extra $40 free...so that's at least a $110 shopping spree from the catalogue, plus a free Level 1 or 2 Hostess set too! What a fantastic deal!
Just think what you could get from your wishlist with this opportunity! Why not get a bunch of friends together and learn some new stamping techniques, and then have fun choosing some freebies too :o) I only have a few openings left in June and July so book in quickly to take advantage of this fabulous offer. Email me to book a date.

Everyone Loves Roses

It is my sister-in-laws birthday today and I have just been indulging my love of roses with the wonderful new set "A Rose Is A Rose". It is a beautiful two step stamping set that I had to have to replace Wild Rose from last years catalogue.

It is a real girly set and I have been in a very girly mode lately. If you like this card, you have to book into next weeks classes as we will be using this set and making something special.

Materials:

Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss and Pink Pirouette card and ink

A Rose is A Rose stamp set

Bella Rose stampin' wheel

Urban Garden In A Tin

What do you do with some great Designer Paper and an unused tin? Put them together and see what you come up with.

I have used the Urban Garden Designer Series Paper and covered the tin and then sealed it for added protection. The inside is a flip out booklet using Basic Grey and Baja Breeze cardstock.

The stamp sets used are Upsy Daisy, Always and A Rose Is A Rose. Punches used were the Eyelet Border and Large Oval punch. The inside cover is made to reflect the front of the tin and is tied off with Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon.

You could add a few photo's or some insert some nice phrases and it would make a wonderful gift for someone special.

To You From Me

Upsy Daisy was one of the first sets I got when the new catalogue came out. I made this card a few weeks ago but I was waiting for my new Eyelet border punch to finish it off.
The colours are Riding Hood Red, Mellow Moss and Whisper White. After stamping the main image, using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, I stamped over with Versamark and then used clear embossing powder to give a wet look shadow effect. The words are from the Best Yet Level 1 Hostess Set. They were punched out using the 1 3/8" circle and mounted on the desinger label punch.