Bad Blogger

I have been a bad bad blogger of late. I really don't like wishing time away but I am really looking forward to the day after Boxing Day. I will then be officially on holidays in Port Stephens for a month of R & R.
The past two weeks have been flat out with my customer Christmas Party last Tuesday night and then the Stampin' Up! team that I am lucky enough to be part of on Friday night both at my house. They were both fantastic nights and I totally enjoyed both parties. I also did a workshop on the Thursday night.
I have my son's Year 10 formal tonight which I still can't believe he isn't in Year 7 anymore, where did those years go.
As usual I am running behind schedule and still need to make my own Christmas cards which I will hopefully get done along with my tax return this weekend. Luckily I don't have any overseas ones to send or they would be more like Valentines cards. I am hoping that I have a stash of cards somewhere I have forgotten about that will get me out of trouble.
I am hoping to get a few more posts done in the next week or so but I won't promise anything.
Perhaps while I am laying around sipping cocktails over the holidays I can get some work done for next year so I can at least start the year ahead of myself.
Back soon hopefully!!!!!

Summer Mini Is Live!!

Finally the Summer Mini is active and you can now see all the fantastic goodies available. You can never have enough gift tags on hand and these gorgeous little card holders are ideal to store them in.

The blue folder is made from Tempting Turquise and matching paper. The cards use Tempting Turquise and Green Galore card stock and the co-ordinating papers. The words are from Short & Sweet and of course I have added bling with Dazzling Diamonds. The punches are the new 1 3/4" circle punch, Word Window, Full Heart and Scallop Edge. Two of the cards have some faux stitching added as a highlight.

The yellow folder is made from Barely Banana card and matching paper. The cards use Pixie Pink and Barely Banana card stock with co-ordinating papers. The words are from Short & Sweet and Best Yet Hostess Set. The punches used are 1 3/4" circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle and the Full Heart. Once again I couldn't resist adding a little Dazzling Diamonds.

If you missed the Blog Hop yesterday, you can still take a look at the fantastic creations. Just follow the links in my post from yesterday.

I would love to hear what you think so please take time to leave a comment.

Bring On Summer!!!

Welcome to the Stampers Anonymous SU Blog Tour! You many have just come from Jennifer's blog, but if you are starting here, don't worry....you can make the complete circuit just by following the links at the end of each post. There are 14 stops along the way and we hope you will visit each one to see the gorgeous creations we have to show you!

For our first tour we decided to showcase the beautiful new products in the Summer Mini, available from December 1st. At the end of each post there will be a link to take you to the next stop on the tour. Feel free to "share the love" and leave a comment! So sit back, relax and enjoy!

I was drawn to the freshness of the Kaleidoscope Designer Series Papers. After winter it was nice to see such vibrant colours. I also loved the quirkiness of the Sweet Treat Cups.

The photo's don't do the colours justice, not sure if it is the camera or the photographer - but hope you enjoy these!!

CARD:

Kaleidoscope Papers (Mini)
Tempting Turquise & Gable Green card
Tempting Turquise ink
Large Oval Punch
1 - 3/4" Circle Punch (Mini)
Sweet Treat Cups (Mini)
Sponge Daubers
Trendy Trees (words)
Jelly Beans - one for the card - two for me!

GIFT BAG:
Kaliedoscope Papers (Mini)
Tempting Turquise & Gable Green cardstock
Butterfly Punch (Mini)
Scallop Edge Punch
1 -3/4" Circle Punch (Mini)
Crop-A-Dile
Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon

I hope you enjoy these creations and you will visit again over the next few days to see more projects.

Well that's it from me. Now your off to enjoy the wonderful creations of Robyn. Thanks for stopping by.

Blog Hop Countdown

I have some exciting news! On November 30th I will taking part in my first Blog Hop along with some other very talented ladies from the Stampin' Up! team I am part of. 14 of us will be show casing the wonderful new products in the Summer Mini that goes live on 1st December.

What is a Blog Hop? Just check into my site on November 30th from 8pm. You will be able to "hop" from one blog to another until you are back to where you started. You are sure to see some fabulous creations so don't miss it.

Tree Trimmings

It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Can you believe how quickly Christmas is coming around. I would like to have at least another month up my sleeve but haven't been able to find that magic time reversal switch anywhere.

Sticking to my plan of using sets I haven't used much I started this card with one of the flourishes from Frames With a Flourish - page 100. I can't believe that I haven't used this set much and will definately be using it more in the future. Thats what happens when you are addicted like me and have to have everything you like straight away - it takes too long to get around to using everything. One day I might learn, but who am I kidding!

The Baubles are from Tree Trimmings on page 21 of the Spring Mini and the phrase is from Best Yet which is one of the gorgeous Level 1 Hostess sets. I have used the Large Oval and Scallop Oval punch to mount the words. The Scallop Oval is also in the Spring Mini and you don't have much time left to make sure you get one of these. The catalogue runs out on the 30th November so get in quick.

The paper is from the Ski Slope Designer Series paper also in the Spring Mini. This is aimed at Christmas but there are several sheets that could be used all year round so if you like these papers grab a few packs before the end of November - once there gone, there gone!

The colours in this card are Real Red, Old Olive and Whisper White.

Crayon Resist

This weeks class was created due to a request from one of the lovely ladies that comes along every week. We did a card using the Crayon Resist technique. This is another technique I had seen many times but not done so I really enjoyed trying out different things.

I am also on a mission to use some of the many stamp sets I had to have but haven't used much or at all. I experiemented with a few sets but I settled on Seaside from page 89 of the catalogue. This is another set I purchased with male cards in mind, although it can be flexible.

Keeping with an ocean theme, I used Not Quite Navy, Sage Shadow and Whisper White. The words are from Fifth Avenue Floral.

The extra shell was tied on with some Hemp Twine which adds to the manly feel.

Wokshop Tags

I recently had the pleasure of meeting a lovely group of ladies at a workshop that I held. One of the ladies came along to the Stampin' Up! stand at the Stitches & Craft Show so it was great to catch up again.
They wanted to do some gift tags and with the potential of being a large group I thought the Fun & Fast Notes set from page 50 was a great option. This set covers so many occassions and with 8 stamps it is great value and allowed everyone to have something to go on with.
I used Bold Bright card stock and to add some colour we used the Bold Brights markers. The group got to try a little Faux Stitching, Dry Embossing, Crystal Effects, and Dazzling Diamonds.
In order to keep these great little cards together, they also made a Wallet using Whisper White and Lovely Lilac. The wallet was embellished using the Scallop Edge, Scallop Circle and two of the Circle punches and of course some more Dazzling Diamonds.

If you would like to earn some FREE products - and lets face it we all love something for FREE, why not book a workshop. Get a group of friends together and have some fun.

Faux Tiling

Faux tiling is a technique that I have seen done many times but hadn't done myself. I just kept forgetting to give it a go. When I started this card I just thought "kitchen" and I just had to use one of my favourite sets - Voila! I think the Chef is soooo cute and a lot of fun.

I used Bashful Blue and Pacific Point and Glossy White Card Stock. The patterns on the "tiles" are from Circle Circus. We used the Blender Pens to colour the Chef and he is mounted using Dimensionals.

As an added technique to this card we did a "pop-up" message on the inside of the card. Using the Glossy stock gives a look of actual tiles when the light reflects on the card.

The other card made in this class was Male orientated. I always find it hard to make male cards but the Sense of Time set from the Spring Mini is great. The phrases in this set are some of my favourites. The Spring Mini runs out at the end of November so if there is anything in this catalogue that you want or should I say need, let me know and I can order it for you.

The cardstock is Chocolate Chip, Ballet Blue and Very Vanilla. To give it a rough, masculine look I used the distresser on the Cutter Kit from page 155. The Chocolate Chip brad is from the smaller of the Jumbo Brads Neutrals Assortment on page 10 of the Spring Mini. I double stamped the clock and with the 1" circle, punched out the second counter and mounted this with Dimensionals. It doesn't come up in the photo but I used the mechanism stamp from the set and versamark to create a watermark effect on the base card.

Blog Breakdown

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted! There has been so many days where I've thought I have to take some photo's and post them but then some little thing called "life" has stepped in and those spare minutes have vanished right before my eyes. So today I got the kids off to school, got out the camera, took some photos and now I am sitting with a cup of tea, my memory card and nothing is going to interupt me. Over the next few days I will show you some of the things we have been doing in classes and I will try and be a little more regular with my postings.

A few weeks ago we made these cute little gift cards using Christmas Classics from page 32 and Spotlight on Christmas from page 28 of the Catalogue. There are 4 cards in the pack, two of each design. The second card of each design was done in reverse colours. We used Riding Hood Red, Old Olive and Whisper White. We added some Riding Hood Red Ribbon and Dazzling Diamonds to dress them up and created a little gift bag so that they could be given as a gift or kept for some special presents at Christmas time.

Classes Begin Again Next Week

How quickly the holidays go and now it is time to get back into the creative flow. Next weeks classes will be Christmas cards to help you be ready for the crazy Christmas season. Class times are:

Tuesday
10.00am - 12.00 noon and 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Wednesday 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Friday 10.00am - 12.00 noon

Bookings are necessary and I hope to see you all at one of the classes. If you have done any homework over the holidays, please bring it along, just don't expect to see much from me as I really had a holiday this break.

Missing In Action

I haven't been updating my blog lately as I feel I haven't been home for ages. We went camping over the long weekend for 5 days and broke the drought. It rained for most of the time we were there but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. The place we stayed at hadn't had a drop of rain for 3 months so they were happy.
My eldest son has just got back from 2 weeks in Japan as an exchange student. He had a marvelous time and wants to go straight back. I was so envious, I wish I could have gone.
My youngest son was at school camp for a week and also had a great time. We have all just come back from Anna Bay at Port Stephens where we spent 4 days. I had two extra children and everyone really enjoyed themselves.
I feel like all I have done is pack and unpack for the past 3 weeks and I am happy to be home and settled. Now I just have to catch up on all the washing and ironing.
I will get around to posting some cards soon. While I have been away my computer has also been away on a little holiday being refreshed so I have to catch up on emails also.

Upsy Daisy Step Up

This was a card that I had at the Stitches & Craft Show to demonstrate how you could "Step Up" a quick and simple card that we did as the Make & Take.
As you will no doubt be seeing, I love my bling and I think any card slightly girly should have at least a little bling on it.
The colours are Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette and Whisper White. The image has been double stamped to give a look of depth in the flowers. I have picked out the darker images from the first stamp and applied Crystal Effects and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds onto that. The Eylet Border Punch adds a bit of softness and the image used to create a brad from the Build a Brad kit adds some interest. The Thank You is from the ever so useful Short & Sweet set.

Waterfall Favourite

My youngest son's 11th birthday was last weekend and one of his favourite cards that I make is the Waterfall card so I thought I would make him one.

I was true to form and made this late at night the night before his birthday.

A tradition in our family is that you get breakfast in bed for your birthday and we all sit around and share the breakfast and do presents.

Kye started his toast and then opened his cards. As you can see this has a lovely buttery finger print on the front of the card. He felt bad that he had done it so I will have to put a star over it to fix it up.

I have used Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White card and Real Red ink. I stamped the red background with the Sanded background and versamark. The letters are from the Schoolbook Serif Alphaber and the greeting is from the Starring You set on page 141.

The pull down flap has a Round Tab punch attached with eyelets which also attach the horizontal strip on the main card. The stars are the small Star punch.

These are great interactive cards that children love.

GIANT CRAFT SALE!!

It is on again, put the date in your diary!

The perfect time to pick up some great Christmas gifts for teachers, work mates, family and friends.
A group of very talented ladies are getting together again and we have all cleaned out our cupboards. There will be stamps, (new and used), scrapbooking supplies, embelishments, craft goodies, cards and heaps more!!!!
Everything will be priced to sell so don't miss out on the opportunity to pick up a bargain and get to cross of a few christmas presents as well.

Make sure you come up and say hello!

Details:

Saturday October 24th

9.00am - 1.00pm

Church Hall

Blacktown East Presbyterian Church

Cnr Heffron Road & Gallop Grove

Lalor Park

Missing In Action

I haven't been giving my Blog much attention lately but life has taken over. Early September is a very busy time in our household. We have so many family and friends with birthdays in the first week all we seem to do is eat cake, hand out gifts and as usual make cards at the last minute. One day I will get around to having a huge stash ready (ha, ha)!

I have been making many things but I haven't even got around to taking photo's of them before giving away, slack I know. It is my nieces 5th birthday on Monday and we will be seeing her later today. I made a card for her last night and I have managed to take a photo of it.

She is having a party next weekend and will be having fairies and butterflies as all little girls should so I had to incorporate some butterflies. I don't have any fairy stamps can you believe so went to the next best girlie option - BLING!!! The photo doesn't do this justice as it sparkles like a christmas tree.

The stamp sets are Garden Whimsy and Great Friend and Polka Dot background. I used my two favourite colours at the moment, Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette with a bit of Old Olive. I am really struggling to get a way from these colours at the moment.

After stamping the flowers I applied Heat & Stick powder and then Dazzling Diamonds. I then wanted it to have a shine to it so added Versamark and Clear Embossing Powder. This sparkles so much in the light. I did the butterflies and the words with clear embossing powder first and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds on whilst it was still hot. The 'wish big" is from Short & Sweet and I used the Word Window, Large Oval and Scallop Oval punches. A bit of the Riding Hood Red satin ribbon and finished.

It is never too early to introduce a girl to BLING, wouldn't you agree!

Up Coming Classes

It is one of those rare moments in time where planning comes together and I actually know what the next two weeks classes are going to be. Next weeks class is based around the Mere Males in our lives and you get to create using Totally Tools.

The following week will be Shaker Cards. This was one of the first cards I made many years ago and I have to say they seemed a whole lot more difficult then. I don't think I have made a shaker card for about 3 years so had fun creating a couple of different samples today. I am pleased to say they are not difficult but great fun! Its always nice to have an interactive element to a card.

Please contact me by phone or email me to book in. Hope to see you soon!

A Little Pizzaz

Where does all the time go?? In the few weeks since the Stitches & Craft Show I feel like I have been chaing my tail and not getting anywhere. I haven't had time to do any postings on my blog and barely anytime to make anything other than class samples. I am looking forward to Friday though and doing the "I Wish" christmas book. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Christmas, its my favourite time of year. Everyone seems to have a little sense of majic.

There are still some places available for the Saturday 19th September if you haven't had a chance to book in.


I made this card before the show along with the "Trifold Wonder" that I posted on July 30, wow where did that time go. The Petal Pizzazz set is so gorgeous and with Spring being here I want to experiment with this some more. I might of mentioned earlier that orange is not one of my favourite colours but I enjoyed going outside of my box to make this one.
The colours used are Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette and Old Olive. The patterned paper is from Haiku and the ribbon is Old Olive grosgrain. Once again, bling is always close to my heart and the flower centres are Dimensionals dipped in Dazzling Diamonds. Punches are Word Window and Large Oval. The card base is Very Vanilla.
Even though cutting out is not my favourite pass time I do sometimes find it a bit theraputic.
Hope you like this one.

I Wish Christmas Fold Out Book

Many people who visited the Stitches & Craft Show expressed an interest in attending a class to make the I Wish Christmas Album that was on display. Now that I have had time to regroup I have set two dates aside.

Friday 11th September - 10.00am - 1.00pm

Saturday 19th September - 1.00pm - 4.00pm

All materials will be supplied to make the album. All you need to bring is double sided tape. If you don'e have any you can purchase some on the day. Please contact me to book in as bookings are essential.

If you are interested in attending a class and these dates don't suit you, please contact me and I can look at putting another class on.

These albums would make a great gift with some family christmas photo's added.

Stitches & Craft Wrap Up

I think I am just starting to get back to normal after the 5 days at the show. Sunday was another great day and once again we met so many lovely people. We were lucky enough to have a bit more time to speak with everyone on Sunday as it was a little quieter.
A huge thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments and your emails commenting on the stand. Another HUGE thanks to all the fantastic ladies from our team for all their hard work as we couldn't have done what we did without them!!
For anyone who ordered any goodies from the show they are being processed and you should be receiving them shortly. If you requested any follow up information regarding classes, products or workshops, someone will be contacting you to discuss the details.
If anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to contact one of the ladies on the contact sheets that you received in your Make & Take bags or email me and I will be happy to help you.
I am looking forward to catching up with those of you who want workshops very soon.
Now I have to get back to doing some postings of something a little more exciting.
Keep a watch out over the next day or two and I will have dates posted for the Christmas "I Wish" fold out booklet that so many people were interested in.
Once again, thanks for attending our stall.

Day 4 Stitches & Craft Show

Four down and one to go! I am still blown away by how many people have popped along to see our stand and have joined us on our Make & Take tables. So many people have had great stories to tell of how they found the stamping bug and have been hooked ever since.

My youngest stamper today was 2 1/2! She did such a great job and mum definately has a budding crafter on her hands.

We have met so many fellow demonstrators and it was great to see so many of my customers pop in and say hello.

I didn't do any classes last week as there wasn't much time to fit them in, (wonder why), but they will be resuming next week. The times will be:

Tuesday 10am - 12 noon

Tuesday 7.00pm - 9.00pm

Wednesday 7.00pm - 9.00pm

Friday 10.00am - 12.00 noon

I would love to see some of the ladies that I met at the stand that were looking for classes. Just email me or give me a call to book in.

This is a sneak peak of one of the cards you will make. If you have been to the stand you may remember it as it is up on the Inspiration Wall.

Stitches & Craft Show

Wow! What a fantastic day we had. Today was the first day of the Stitches & Craft Show and it was such a great day. I got to meet so many lovely people. Thank you everyone for visiting our stand and taking part in the Make & Take and for all your wonderful comments. We are also running 2 Lucky Door Prizes each day and have several Show Specials available.

If you couln't make it to the show today you have to come along before it ends on Sunday. There are so many amazing displays and you have to pop in and say hello to all of us on the Stampin' Up! stand. (64). I can't wait until tomorrow and meeting more new faces and hopefully seeing some familiar ones also.

This is what we look like. See you there!

Stitches and Papercraft Show

Exciting news!!!! If you are going to the Stitches & Craft Show at Rosehill you will have to come along to the Stampin' Up! stand - Stand 64 and say hello. I will be there for the entire 5 days and I'm looking forward to seeing familiar and new faces.
This week will be a hive of activity in our house creating new products for everyone to see. Come along and join in on the "Make & Take" and meet some of the other fabulous ladies I have the pleasure to share this great passion with.
The show starts on Wednesday 19th August and finishes on Sunday 23rd August. It is open from 10.00am - 5.00pm and entry fee is only $10 this year!
Make sure you come and say hello!!!

Trifold Wonder

I am often coming across some very talented peoples blog sites and I see some amazing creations. Last night I found this wonderful site (Bonnie) and amongst her many fabulous cards I saw a trifold card which inspired me. Today I was faced with housework or having a "play" day and quess what won out!!! I set about making this card not realising that it was going to engross me for almost 2 hours.

I fiddled with different papers and stamp sets and finally settled on my new Petal Pizzaz set. I then struggled with what words to use and after thinking who would I want to give this card to that I had turned into such a labour of love and realised it had to be a friend card so used the Wonderful Favourites set.

I am not usually an Orangy person but I love the freshness of Tangerine Tango and it goes really well with Kiwi Kiss. I have fallen in love with all the new In Colours as I knew I would eventually.

The papers are from the Haiku Designer Series papers. I also used a brad from the Fire Rhinestones and the 1", 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches. The card base is Basic Black and there are small amounts of Very Vanilla.

I did have fun making it and Bonnie has very kindly put instructions on her blog site. I am sure that the next one won't take anywhere near as long to make and I don't know if I will ever part with this one but I will do another as they are really effective. Have a go if you are game.

Boys & Train Sets

I don't think there are many boys (young & not so young) that have never had or dreamt of having a train set. There is always something quite fasinating about watching a train in motion. I have an ambition of travelling from the East to West coast of Australia by train one of these days.

This is a sneak peak from the new Spring Mini that goes live on 1st August. It is called "Choo Choo" and is a set of 5 stamps. The track is a matching small wheel and I couldn't resist either when I saw them.

The colours are Whisper White, Not Quite Navy and Kiwi Kiss. It doesn't show up in the photo unfortunately but I put Chrystal Effects on the clouds to add a bit of interest.

Christmas In July

I hope everyone has been enjoying the school holidays. I would actually like them to go for another week, crazy I know, but I have really enjoyed the time off. No homework, packed lunches and a little less running around.
I am starting the Christmas In July theme this Saturday night with a dinner party with some friends. We have done this for a few years now and I am looking forward to the great company and the sticky date pudding we are having for dessert - my all time fav!

Now down to business!! Classes will start back next week and I will be continueing the Christmas theme with Christmas Cards. This will help get everyone ready for that mad rush time at the end of the year. Without starting now I know I would have to do the unthinkable and buy cards - and how would I explain that one away.....

Can't wait to see everyones projects you have been working on over the holidays. If you want to attend classes, contact me to book in.

Keeping It Simple

This was juts a quick card that I put together to have as a spare back up card. I used the tree from "Thoughts & Prayers". The cardstock is Whisper White and Always Artichoke. I finally got around to using some of the great papers from the Level 1 Hostess DSP Patterns Pack. There are some beautiful papers in this pad and I will have to get around to using more of them. Too many projects and not enough hours in the day!!!
I purposely kept this simple so that it could be used for any occassion and also it could be a male or female card.

Recognise These Cards

Do the images on these cards look familiar?? If you check down a few postings to More Spring Flowers you can see the similarity. I was making up a second card from a spare pack but scored the Pink card base too heavily and it fell apart. Rather than waste my hard work I turned it into 2 cards. It just goes to show that there really are no mistakes, just creative opportunities.

The Same But Different

It may be hard to believe but these two cards were made from the same packs.
The first card was created for a work shop. The main card is Not Quite Navy with Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. The patterned paper is from the Urban Garden pack.
We stamped with Versamark and the Inspired By Nature set and then embossed with White embossing powder.
The strip of Kiwi Kiss was torn and edged with the sponge daubers and Kiwi Kiss ink. The words are from the Inspired By Nature set also and the edges of strip were rounded with the corner rounder punch. We made a ribbon tag with the Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon. These colours work really well together and create a peaceful look.
When I was putting some things away I found a spare pack from this work shop. I was going to make up another of the same cards but then thought I should try and make it different. I think I achieved that.
I used exactly the same cardstock but turned the patterned paper over which made it more male orientated. I used the words from the Starring You set on page 141 which are easy to look over but are really handy. I punched out a few small stars with the punch and as you can see it is very different from the first. You should try doing this yourself and see what you come up with. If you have a blog send me the link so I can see what you have created.

More Spring Flowers

This is the other card made in classes this week. The stamp set is Eastern Blooms and the words are from Upsy Daisy.

The card stock colours are Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. Inks used were Pink Pirouette & Riding Hood Red. The ribbon is the new Pink Pirrouette stiped grosgrain.

There was quite a bit of cutting for this card but other than that it was a quick and easy one to make with a bit of a twist on a normal folded card.

Love To Hear From You

I really enjoy being able to share what I love doing with others that enjoy my hobby. It is so rewarding when someone leaves a comment letting me know what they think of my creations and knowing that people are looking. This is also a great way of creating new friendships with someone who shares your passion. Thanks for visiting my site and I hope to hear from you soon.

Fields of Flowers

I am not a winter person at all and I can't wait for spring to come along. Hopefully this card will help inspire the warmer weather to come sooner. This is a version of one of the cards made in this weeks classes. It is using the Inspired By Nature set which is one of my favourites from the new catalogue.

I have used Rose Red, Always Arthichoke and Whisper White card stock. Inks are Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Tangerine Tango and Versamark. We used daubers to apply the ink to the stamps and then put Crystal Effects over the centres of the flowers and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds to create some sparkle. This might be a little hard to see in the photo.

The corners have been rounded using the eyelet border punch.

The inside of the card has a "pop-up" centre for a bit of WOW effect! I haven't added a sentiment to this card so that I can use it for one of those last minute emergencies we all have.

A Few Thank You's

I haven't had much time to play and create this week with 2 children home sick and now it seems I have caught the flu. I really don't like winter and can't wait for the warmer weather to set in.

A friend of mine asked me to do some thank you cards for an event he has been taking part in. He needed 15 cards and gave me a copy of a logo that he wanted to try and use. It was one of the most challenging things I have been given and I have to admit under the foggy flu cloud I failed him. I couldn't come up with anything that I felt looked right. I even showed some of the talented ladies that were at a class on Tuesday night and they all wished me well with it.

I tried again on Wednesday night and still nothing. Time was running out and I was getting a little stressed. I gave up working with the logo and put some cards together last night.

As it was for a corporate event I had a vision of simple and elegant in mind. I haven't used much Stampin' Up! products in these but in the end I was happy with them. My friend collected them today and was pleased with the result.

Hopefully I will get some enthusism to play over the weekend as I have so many projects in my head that I want to get done.

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.