Something Sweet &Treat Cups

I've been playing with some new products from the Summer Mini, which runs from December 1st. I am loving the 1 3/4" punch and have tried it with the Treat Cups and Something Sweet stamp set.

First I made a gumball machine, which seemed the most obvious place to start! This was fun and easy. I kept the design simple and bright and let the gumball machine filled with Smarties take centre stage. The Treat Cups are super-easy to use with adhesive backing. I made a 3 fold card which meant I had to punch out my circle near the top of the card (next time I'll do it differently as now this card is a little top-heavy with the weight of the Smarties).


The next card was stamped with the uber-cute Hello Again stamp set, and I simply punched out a 1 3/4" circle and filled the treat cup with mini marshmallows.


Then I went for a no-stamp card. I used the Good Morning Sunshine DSP (both sides of one sheet) and the new Chit Chat rub-ons from the Summer Mini.

How cool are those owls peeking out?


Lastly I used some stamps from Something Sweet along with the 1 3/4" punch to make a friendly caterpillar.


His eyes are stamped with the gumball stamp and the mouth with the jelly bean stamp.

He would be welcome in my garden, so long as he didn't eat my vegies!

Christmas Treats Box

This is a little box we made at a workshop the other night.
Materials:
Real Red & Old Olive cardstock and Stampin' Ink
Scallop Circle Punch
1 3/8" punch
1 1/4" punch
1" punch
Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon
Hole punch (office type)

To make the box, almost but not quite fold an A5 card horizontally, and pinch a little crease at the centre of each long side. Open out the card and almost fold it long-ways, again pinching a crease, this time on each short side. Open out and score from the creases to form a diamond shape, and then score across the middle of the card from long side to long side. You should have a diamond with a line across the centre. Fold the triangles inside and punch a hole on the short side of each of the four triangles. Thread a ribbon through the holes and there you have a cute easy box for Christmas gifts!

Trendy Trees Spring

This is a card using theTrendy Trees stamp set, this time in Spring colours. In the past I've only ever used this set with Autumn colours, but I love the combination of these colours:

Kiwi Kiss
Cameo Coral
Basic Gray
Pirouette Pink
Whisper White

and a clean simple but cute look. Lots of fun.

Birthday Cake

My friend Catherine has recently been on a weight loss challenge, so I came up with a low-fat birthday present for her! I used the Sweet Always DSP, So Saffron, Regal Rose and Very Vanilla cardstock. The template for the Piece-a-Cake is here.

Inside I put some little goodies from Kikki K. The present on the right is some post-it notes that were too big for the cake! I wrapped them with some DSP and used the Ovals All stamp to make a label.

Tree Trimmed notecard

This was a quick notecard using the Tree Trimmings set and some scraps I had on my desk. The background is stamped with images from the Great Friend set. I think I'll be using this colour combo again for Christmas - Real Red, Garden Green and Kiwi Kiss.

Forest Friends Tree

I love the way the tree from the Forest Friends set looks when it is coloured with the stamp n write markers. The colours blend together just a little and on this stamp it gives a stencilled look, which I love.

This little calendar was a quick project (calendar from an educational supplier last year)

and close up

and a masculine-looking card, with some leaves from the Great Friend set in the background, and a piece of DSP also from the Spring Mini.

I two-toned the greeting with Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip markers and I love the look!

Baroque Motifs Christmas

I ran my first Stampin' Up! Christmas Card Class the other night, and this was one of the 8 cards we made. I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set with Real Red and Garden Green to give it a Christmassy flavour. The greeting is from the Best Yet hostess set.

Baroque Motifs Christmas

I ran my first Stampin' Up! Christmas Card Class the other night, and this was one of the 8 cards we made. I used the Baroque Motifs stamp set with Real Red and Garden Green to give it a Christmassy flavour. The greeting is from the Best Yet hostess set. Stay tuned for more cards from the class.

Forest Friends Baby Card

I love this little deer from the Forest Friends set so much! This was a quick and simple card using Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink, and the Cameo Coral flower brings it to life.

Gift Box

Emily made this cute pouch for a schoolfriend's birthday. It was so cute! She used the Think Happy Thoughts stamp set, and used Rose Red and Ballet Blue inks and cardstock. What a great job! Inside were 3 mini Mars Bars for her friend Sarah.

Step It Up Challenge

Marelle challenged us to create a card, and then "step it up" by adding to the original card design. This is my first card. I used the Pocket Silhouettes and Sincere Salutations stamp sets, and the gorgeous Urban Garden DSP, and chocolate chip taffeta ribbon. It's a quick, effective card with a nice clean design.

This is my second card (apologies for the photo -having a few technical issues). Same basic elements, but I softened the look and added more layers. To soften the design I distressed and/or daubed every layer. The Old Olive card layer and the DSP are distressed on the edges, I also daubed Kiwi Kiss on the DSP and on the circle and punch shapes. I roughed up the scallop circle with my fingernails and scissors, and added a little Pink Pirouette behind the ribbon (daubed with Pink Pirouette, of course) and stamped a few little pink flowers on the greeting. I also added a couple of bronze brads, and a knot to the ribbon.


Everyone has different taste - which one do YOU like best?

Bloom & Grow

Here is another page I made for our class the other day. I am loving these gorgeous papers in the Urban Garden series. I based my page on this sketch on the Pagemaps website.

I love that it uses a large portion of patterned paper, but what drew my attention was the foliage at the side of the photo. On my layout I used a stamp from the Echoes of Kindness hostess set, stamped in Not Quite Navy and watercoloured using the ink (press the closed inkpad in the centre then open to reveal a puddle of ink inside the lid).

For the title I used a nestabilities die on basic gray, with a scalloped border in Kiwi Kiss. Somehow the words of Edelweiss popped into my head, so I used them for the journalling and title. Laura does greet me every morning, and seem happy to meet me! She is soft and white, clear and bright (but I didn't include all that on my page!)

A bit of machine stitching around the edge finished off my title , and I also stitched around the patterned paper and distressed all the edges for a softer look.

Scrap Club Layout - May

Yesterday we had the first Scrap Club class, and based our layouts on the above page, using the Trendy Trees stamp set, and the Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Papers.

This stamp set is just too cute, and so versatile. perfect for outdoor photos, autumn, family tree and many more themes.



Our next Scrap Club is on Wednesday 18th June, at 8pm, and YOU are invited! We will complete 2 layouts (one based on a set design, and the other your own choice of colours/papers/theme) and the cost is $15.00 To book in please email me.

Sweet Mothers Day Offerings

My sweet Emily used my Stampin' Up! supplies to make Mothers Day special for me!

A very cute card using the Good Friend set and the Polka Dot Punches (retired)

and a header for a bag of Dark Chocolate Hazelnuts, also using the Polka Dot Punches set.

Both lovely surprises!

I love the colours she chose for the bird, ones I would never have thought to use, but they work well. The neutral background is also very classy.

Well done Emily, I love you too!

Classes in May

You're invited to my classes this week and next!

May Stamp-a-Stack
Make 8 cards in 2 hours!
Learn new techniques and play with the Stampin’ Up! products.
(We will use Trendy Trees and Echoes of Kindness, as seen in the previous two posts)
All materials and morning tea/supper provided
Beginners welcome

Dates:
Wednesday 20th May 8.00-10.00pm 5 places left
Thursday 21st May 10.00am-12.00pm 6 places left
Thursday 21st May 8.00-10.00pm 6 places left

Cost: $18.00 (or $15.00 when you BYO SNAIL adhesive)
Venue: my home in Hornsby

Scrap Club
Use coordinated stamps, 12x12 papers and cardstock to create 2 or more beautiful scrapbook pages in one class.

Included in the cost:
· 1 set page using the Trendy Trees set – great for an outdoor/family page
· 1 page using your choice of papers, card and stamps
· If you want to make more pages then paper and cardstock is available on a per sheet basis.
· Use of punches, stamps, ink etc.
· Supper
Beginners welcome

Bring: photos to scrapbook, paper trimmer, adhesive (or add $2.00 to use my adhesive), cash to purchase extra card/paper, ribbon etc.

Date: Thursday 14th May 8.00-10.00pm - yes that's in 2 days!
Cost: $15.00
Venue: my home in Hornsby

Organise your own class
If these dates don’t suit you and your friends, or you’d like to learn a specific technique, then contact me to book a time that does suit!

To book into a class, or for any enquiries please email me

Echoes of Kindness

The Echoes of Kindness hostess set is another of my favourites from the new catalogue, and in a completely different style to Trendy Trees (see last post). This one is gorgeous for watercolouring, which I have done in various ways. For this card I stamped Elegant Eggplant onto watercolour paper, then painted loosely within the lines using the Aquapainter and the Watercolor Wonder crayons. I ran an Old Olive marker along the stem. A quick elegant card which became a Mothers Day card for my mother-in-law.

Trendy Trees

In the holidays my extended family went on a holiday to the Blue Mountains. We had a great time, and for Mothers Day I made Mum a little album of photos we took of all the family members enjoying Leura.

I used a slip-in 10x15cm album, and made a title page and end page using the Trendy Trees set, my latest favourite set. I also used the coordinating wheel at the bottom of the page. Lots of fun.

Craft Sale in May

GIANT CRAFT SALE

The girls in Marelle's team and I are getting together to have a Giant Craft Sale Day. We have cleaned out our cupboards, and have lots of Craft Goodies that need to find new homes. There are stamps (both Stampin' Up! and other), scrapbooking supplies, ribbons, embellishments, plus handmade cards and gifts too, and lots more!

Everything will be priced to sell, so come along and grab a bargain! We'll also have Lucky Door Prizes to be won.

When: Saturday, 23rd May 10am -2pm

Where: The Church Hall (Blacktown East Presbyterian) Cnr Heffron Rd and Gallop Gve, Lalor Park

Lalor Park is right at the end of the M2 if you are coming from the Hornsby/Pennant Hils/St Ives direction.

I hope you can come!

Fresh Cuts

At last I'm able to show you some of my recent projects, using stamps and new colours from the new 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! catalogue (check the sidebar to view it online!). I made them a few weeks ago but I've just been too busy to photograph them.

These two cards were created with the Fresh Cuts set, which comes with coordinating die-cut paper - the flower is already cut out! This makes it super-easy to create an elegant card in minutes.

For this card I cut a piece of Kiwi Kiss (an In Color this year) slightly smaller than the white die-cut card, and stamped the background on that. I punched out a 5-Petal flower in Pirouette Pink and attached it behind the cut-out, using a brad. I stamped using Pirouette Pink and Chocolate Chip on the front of the card, and tied it all together with Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon.


For the second card I stamped onto Whisper White, with Kiwi Kiss ink. I rubbed Kiwi Kiss around the edge before mounted it on Kiwi Kiss card. Using the Aquabrush and some ink from the inkpads I highlighted a few of the flowers on the design. I punched two 5-Petal flowers in Pirouette Pink, and daubed one of them with Pirouette Pink ink, and then roughed the edges. I used a little daisy from my stash, but you could colour a flower from the Pretties kit if you wanted to, and joined all the flowers together with a brad. Greeting is stamped with Chocolate Chip.

I love this combination of colours together, and that I could achieve two quite different looks using the same products. I'm hoping to run some classes using this set next term. Hope you can come!

Easter Egg Pouch

Tonight some friends came over for a play with some new stamps from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue. As a treat I made them a little easter egg pouch each, stamped with the new Good Friend set.
I cut a piece of A4 card lengthwise down the middle at 10.4cm to make two long pieces of card. I then scored across each card at 12cm from each end, which makes 3 sections, the middle smallest one being the base. I stamped with Ballet Blue and Whisper White, and punched a peephole using the Scallop Circle punch.



I popped the easter eggs into a cellophane bag, which I stapled to the inside back of the pouch. Then I used the double rectangle punch to punch holes on the front and back of the pouch, and threaded through some pink ribbon to secure.

I've been trying lots of things with my new stamp sets I've pre-ordered, and will be posting them in the next few days, so stay tuned! There are some beautiful stamps in the new catalogue, and gorgeous scrapbooking papers. So much fun.

Asian Influence

The other night I got together with Jacqui and Debbie to make some cards for our school fete.

It turned out to be quite an Asian night. Jacqui made these cards with the (no longer available) Symbols of Solicitude stamp set, some bold colours and some origami paper. Very effective with the black ink.

Debbie used the Eastern Blooms set, which I'm happy to see in the 2009-2010 catalogue (yes it's arrived!)

I loved the way she created these beautiful cards with just a few of the Rich Regal colours and a white inkpad.
I made 2 noteboxes with 6 notecards in each, very much inspired by Marelle, and ended up with a sort of tropical feel which always makes me think of Asia.


We had lots of fun chatting, stamping, munching on crackers and cheese, and eating Debbie's yummy chocolate cake. It was nice to see the Stampin' Up! products bought at my launch night being put into action!

Better late than never!

I didn't actually get hold of the Botanical Blooms SAB set until after the promotion ended! But am glad to have them now :-)

Such a sweet set and once again so quick and easy to create a beautiful card. So I thought I'd post photos of what I've been doing with them, anyway.


Colours are Rose Red, Regal Rose, and Old Olive.

Oh So Lovely

This hostess set really is oh so lovely. I received it just the other day, and yesterday made these cards, it was so easy to make them and yet they look so elegant.

I'm currently trying to use up my old stash of cardstock from various companies, this is a natural looking card and I've used River Rock, Chocolate Chip and Bravo Burgundy with it.

The watercolouring was done with the crayons

and on this one I coloured the fine stems with the fine tip of an Old Olive marker and doodled on the circles at the top - easy!


Sad to think that soon these stamps will be unavailable when the new catalogue comes out ... I'm glad to have them!

Sketch Challenge

This is the first time I've joined a sketch challenge, and I've had a lot of fun giving it a try! My card is based on Makeesha's sketch here.

My card ended up with a bit of a country feel.

Using the A Little Bit of Happiness hostess set, I stamped and embossed the image, then coloured it with the Watercolour Wonder Crayons, in the Rich Regal colours. Then I matched the image with cardstock in Close to Cocoa, Rose Red, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and Old Olive, most of them distressed on the edges with their matching ink colours. I stamped the polkadots from the Polka Dots & Paisley set on the Brocade Blue piece.

But my favourite part was making the cute scallop frame. First I punched a 1 1/4" circle on a piece of Old Olive card, then punched the Scallop Circle punch over that, centering it over the circle I had already punched. I adhered it with scraps of dimensionals.

In the top right corner it was looking a little empty, so I sprinkled some hearts from the Sprinkles set!