Pocket Silhouettes

Here is the third card we made that I was telling you about yesterday:Stamp Set: Pocket Silhouettes

Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun, Whisper White

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun and Tangerine Tango

Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon (very nice ribbon)

The colours of this card were inspired from a card I saw on Sarah Klass' blog. I very rarely use summer sun but I really like this colour combination. This card is also really easy to make. To line up each image I got the ladies to line the top of the stamp with the top of the white cardstock and I stamped the image in the centre first. All the ladies cards were lined up perfectly. This card looks great using all four images from this stamp set.

Upsy Daisy

I thought I would show you a some cards we made at a workshop a little while ago. The ladies attending were all beginners so I wanted to make some nice simple cards so they would enjoy card making. Here is the first card we made:

Stamp set: Upsy Daisy

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Close to Cocoa and Sahara Sand Marker

This is such a simple card. The only thing that took a little time was using the marker to give a bit of a shadow effect on the left of the image. This picture doesn't really show this well but it is there.

The second card we made is this one:Stamp Sets: Upsy Daisy and On Your Birthday

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette and Very Vanilla

Ink: Pink Pirouette and Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Candy Lane Paper and Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon (which I love)

I really like this card and so did the ladies. Again this card was really easy to make as well. To make tying the ribbon easier I got the ladies to firstly attach the lenght of ribbon at each side on the back and then cut a smaller piece of ribbon to slide underneath and tie it in a knot. All the ladies did really well with all the cards we made and I hope they had fun making them.I will show you the other card we made tomorrow.

Pocket Silhouettes Gift Card Set

I love this set (Pocket Silhouettes); it was one of the first sets from the new catalogue on my wish list. I used it in a workshop the other day (I will show you the card later) and I used it to make a Hostess thankyou set (Hi Narelle) using the cute Gift Cards. I made 4 cards using one of each of the stamps and made a little folder to hold them all in. Here is the Gift Card folder:Stamp Set: Pocket Silhouettes

Cardstock: Choc Chip, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette and White

Accessories: Choc Chip Patterns Designer Series Paper, Choc Chip grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch

Here is a picture of the inside:

Here are individual photos of the cards inside:

I was really pleased with how it turned out and it was so easy; and everyone loved it.

A little Easter Treat

I thought I would make up just a little something for a couple of my work friends for Easter. It's nothing fancy but here it is: I just wanted to put a couple of eggs in a bag so I bought some little Lindt rabbits and eggs and put them in a medium size cellophane bag. Because the eggs were wrapped in red and gold I thought I would use matching colours when making the tag and choosing the ribbon therefore I have used Summer Sun (as I didn't have any gold cardstock) and Whisper White for the tag with Real Red ink. I used the Real Red grosgrain ribbon to tie around the top of the bag and the cropadile to punch a hole for the ribbon the go through the tag - very very quick and easy. I think they look cute.
After I finished putting them in their bags I thought I would work out the calories (as you do just to ruin things!) and the total came to 420 calories for the 5 chocolates that are in there.

Masking

I wanted to make a card using the Masking technique so I thought what better stamp set than A Happy Heart to use for it. The heart in this stamp set is perfect for masking. Here is the card I made:Stamp sets: A Happy Heart and Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Whisper White
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red and Choc Chip
Accessories: Dimensionals, Choc Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Ginger Blossom paper and Dotto

This is a really simple card. The thing that took the most time was cutting out the hearts. For this technique you need to stamp the heart image onto a piece of paper and cut it out slightly smaller that the image; this makes sure you don't get white spaces in between the hearts when you do your stamping. Then I started in the middle with the red heart and stamped it onto white cardstock. I then placed the piece of paper I cut out earlier over the image and stamped another heart in pink on either side of the first heart, take the piece of paper away and repeat process as many times as you would like. I wanted 5 hearts in total so I repeated the process another 2 times. I then cut the entire heart image out and mounted it using dimensionals. I then attached a piece of Ginger Blossom paper (now retired) as it went so well and added a little ribbon and greeting - too easy.

SALE

RETIRED ITEMS FOR SALE

If there is anything on the list you would like you can email me here and I will post them out to you. Prices are listed below but I am flexible and postage will depend on weight.

Level 1 Hostess Sets - all unmounted
Party Punch - $20
Oh, So Lovely - $20
From the Garden - $20
For a Friend - $20
A Little Bit of Happiness - $20

Level 2 Hostess Set - mounted but barely used
In The Spotlight - $30

Level 3 Hostess Set - mounted but barely used
Time Well Spent - $40

All other stamp sets are mounted and in good condition
Peaceful Wishes - $30
Pretty Princess - $30
Polka Dots and Paisley - $25
Wild Rose - $40
Petal Prints - $35

Roller
Bloomin' - $5

These stamp sets are from the 07/08 catalogue
Olive You - $12
Happy Hearts - $12
It All Adds Up - $16
French Script - $15
Riveting (level 1 hostess set) - $12
Lively Little Ones - $30

Rollers
Twinkle - $5
Butterflies and Blossoms - $5

In-Colour items
Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate and Groovy Guava ink pads - $5 ea
A4 Blue Bayou cardstock - unopened - $7
A4 Wild Wasabi cardstock - unopened - $7
A4 River Rock cardstock - 23 sheets - $6.50
12 x 12 textured cardstock - whole packet minue soft sky - $15
12 x 12 cardstock - 2 of each colour except soft sky - $8
Wild Wasabi ribbon - whole role unopened - $10

Kristina's Colour Challenge #48

It has been so long since I've participated in one of Kristina's challenges so I was pleased I had time for this one. Here is the inspiration picture:A couple of new in-colours in this challenge Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss with some Choc Chip and Whisper White. Here is the card I made with the colours:Stamp sets: One of a Kind, Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss
Ink: Choc Chip, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze
Accessories: blue rhinestone brad, blender pen, piercing tool, dimensionals, scallop edge punch, choc chip wide grosgrain ribbon and stamp-a-ma-jig

I really like using White for card bases sometimes, it gives a clean fresh look I think. Once I had scored the card in half for the side fold I then scored it again 2cm from the fold. This is where the ribbon is attached and tied into a bow on the front. I used the scallop edge punch several times on this card - perhaps I got a little carried away; I was having fun so I guess that's all that matters. I used the stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the centre of the flower and then pierced a hole for the rhinestone brad. The piece of Kiwi cardstock on the inside is also scalloped with the scallop facing the centre of the inside of the card.

The new Idea Book and Catalogue is here....

You are going to love the brand new Idea Book and Catalogue; it is full of fabulous stamp set (die cut), lovely papers, ribbons, new punches and lots of accessories and much more. For those that don't have a copy yet here is what the front cover looks like:You can view this catalogue online by clicking on the picture

Fabulous

I thought I would show you this simple card I made for a recent workshop:Stamp sets: Fabulous Flowers and Short and Sweet (a favourite)
Cardstock: Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue and Whisper White
Accessories: Brocade Blue wide grosgrain ribbon, Scallop square punch and dimensionals

This is a really easy card to make. I cut 3 small squares to stamp the small flower onto in the 3 different colours. When I stamped the flower I wanted one of them to be in the upper centre and the other two on the outer bottom corners. They are mounted onto the scalloped squares in the same colours using dimensionals. They are then stuck down using double sided tape across the top of the white cardstock. Attach the ribbon and stamp your greeting and then stick the finished piece of cardstock to the base of the card - how easy is that?!

Fabulous Baja

I really liked the size of the card used in Karen's sketch challenge that I thought I would make another card that size, here it is:Stamp sets: Fabulous Flowers, Short and Sweet and So Swirly jumbo roller
Cardstock: Baja Breeze (new in colour), Perfect Plum and Whisper White
Ink: Perfect Plum and Baja Breeze
Accessories: Rhinestone Brad, Scallop Square punch, Dimensionals and Piercing tool

Card size is 6 1/2" x 3 1/4"
I inked the jumbo roller by using a standard ink pad in Baja Breeze and rolled it across the bottom of the card. The flowers were stamped randomly on the 3 small squares of white cardstock and mounted onto the plum scalloped squares using dimensionals. Before mounting the centre flower I used the piercing tool to put a whole in the centre of the flower for the rhinestone brad. I then stuck them the scallops where I wanted them and stamped the greeting.

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #11

I know you are all in shock right now as it has been quite some time since I made a post - very sorry about that, hopefully I can make up for that from now onwards.
Anyway I often check out the fabulous blog of Karen Giron whose work is absolutely amazing, you really need to check it out. Every week she puts up a sketch challenge and I've always wanted to give them a try and this week I finally have. I have to say I always like the sketches she comes up with but I really liked this weeks one, here's the sketch:


The measurements of the card are 6 1/2" x 3 1/4"
Here is the card I came up with for the challenge:

Stamp sets: Priceless and Short and Sweet

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Going Gray, Basic Gray and Whisper White
Accessories: Basic Gray taffeta ribbon (love this), flower brads (from new catalogue), scallop edge punch, Ginger Blossom patterned paper (summer mini), dimensionals, horizontal slot punch and silver brads

This card came together really easily given you already have the layout mapped out for you all you have to do is put it all together.

Retirement List Is Up

OH MY GOODNESS.... Stampin' Up! are getting rid of so many things to make way for lots of new stuff. I was surprised to see so many things retiring but I am also very happy to be getting rid of Figures of Speech as much as Di would be happy to be getting rid of Greetings Galore (hey Di?)

Anyway you will need to get in quickly as items sell fast and are only available while stocks last. This means once you've had a look at the list you will need to email me so I can order them for you.

You can view the list here in alphabetical order or here by page number. Please note that some items are marked at a 25% discount (marked with 1 asterisk) so be quick. Also it looks like ink pads will be increasing in price to $11.95 as of the 1st April so if you have some favourites that you haven't yet ordered you might want to before the end of March.

Challenge time

It's time for another one of Kristina's Colour Inspirations. Here is number 38, a tricky one this week I thought.The colours we had to use are Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie and Whispter White. Here's the card I made:Stamp Set: Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Ruby Red and Whisper White
Ink: Ruby Red
Accessories: Flower Fusion, striped grosgrain ribbon, corner rounder punch, rhinestone brads, dimensionals, mini glue dot and Spring Fling designer series papers.

This is a very simple layout. I cut the whisper white to size and rounded the corners using the punch. I then cut a piece of patterned paper and rounded the bottom corners to match the white cardstock. I also used the corner rounder punch for the piece of cardstock with the greeting on it. The ribbon is wrapped around the cardstock and then a bow is made a stuck down using a mini glue dot. I used a large rhinestone brad for the centre of the flower and mounted it using dimensionals.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

At the end of my last post I commented that I had to go so I thought I would share with you the where's and how's of it all.
Matty had to take a small truck down to someone in Victoria (Loch Sport) so I decided I would go with him to keep him company (probably not that helpful considering I usually fall asleep not long after leaving home but anyway). Matty worked all day friday so we weren't able to leave as early as we had planned. We left home at 8.30pm driving the truck that does maximum speed of 85-90km per hour. I had a bit of a drive to give Matty a break and then he took over again. We had to have the truck at Loch Sport in time to catch the 1.15pm train to Melbourne from Sale (45 min drive from Loch Sport) so this meant there was not a lot of time for sleeping. Because of the truck's speed it took a good couple of hours extra to get there than it normally would. By the time we got there Matty was extremely tired as you would expect after starting work at 6.00am friday morning; anyway we did well for time. We then got a lift to Sale to catch the 3 hr train trip to Melbourne to then catch a bus the the aiport and a plane back home to Sydney where we caught a taxi to Chipping Norton where Matty works to pick up the car to drive home to Thirlmere a 50 minute drive. By the end it felt a little like we were playing the game 'The Amazing Race' only we weren't running everywhere thank goodness. Anyway we got home at 10.10pm Saturday night and went straight to sleep.
Anyway I hope everyone has had a good weekend.

Happy Birthday Gena

It's a little late but it was our niece's birthday the other day so I thought I would share the card I made for her. I used bits and pieces from the Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin' Kit. I bought the kit a while ago and had lots left over. I really like how it turned out so here it is:

Stamp set: God's Blessings

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Whisper White

Accessories: Rhinestone brad, Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon, stamp-a-ma-jig, paper, flower from simply scrappin' kit, 1" circle punch and the corner rounder punch

I cut the patterned paper and white cardstock to the sizes I wanted then stuck them together by butting them up to each other and using a strip from the kit stuck over the top of the join. I then tied the ribbon into a bow and stuck the flower down over the top. This card is backwards for me because usually I would put the flower on the left hand side but I didn't like the bow on the right so the flower had to go on the right instead. I then punch out a 1" circle from some more patterned paper from the kit to put in the centre of the flower and put the rhinestone brad through all layers before sticking it all down to the card. I then used the stamp-a-ma-jig so that I got the greeting where I wanted it to be.

Colour Challenge Time

It has been ages since I have participated in one of Kristina's Colour Challenges so I was very pleased with myself to get this one done. We are up to number 37 and here is the inspiration:
The colours we are to use are Old Olive, Baja Breeze (I used Soft Sky as we don't have this colour yet), Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White.

Here is the card I made:

Image copyright Stampin' Up! 1990-2009

Stamp set: Embrace Life and Short and Sweet

Ink: Chocolate Chip and Soft Sky ink pads and Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie Markers

Accessories: Dimensionals, Pumpkin Pie striped grosgrain ribbon, Glossy white cardstock, Soft Sky re-inker and Baby wipes

I used the Soft Sky re-inker and a baby wipe to colour the glossy white cardstock a pale blue colour. I then stamped the image using choc chip ink several times randomly onto the cardstock and coloured it in using the fine tip of the markers. I stamped the same image using the Soft Sky ink onto the card base but only on the bottom half. I added some ribbon at the side and mounted it onto choc chip and then mounted it using dimensionals onto the Soft Sky card base. I then stamped the thankyou greeting using choc chip ink also.

The photo could have been better but I was in a hurry to post it before heading out. Hope you like it.

Kelly's Keeping Box

I was asked if I could decorate a box for a lady at work (hi Margaret) for her to give to her daughter as a 'keeping box'; of course I said yes. Margaret bought a box that you can buy at Spotlight - plain brown shoe box size box that she wanted decorated in blue and black as they are her daughters favourite colours and not too girly. I had some paper at home and sorted out what I was going to use. I hadn't really done much covering of things in the past so I was a little worried about how it was going to turn out. I had a look on Splitcoast stampers website to see if I could find any tutorials that might help me. There were tutorials on decorating tins and clipboards and stuff and they all used Mod Podge so I decided that was what I was going to use to stick the paper down and as a sealer when I had finished. Anyway here is a couple of pictures of the box

Stamp set: Yummy (sale-a-bration set), text was done on computer

Paper: mixed papers from before Stampin' Up! days, whisper white cardstock

Accessories: 2 fowers from pretties kit with clear brad, Mod Podge, Black stazon ink, Brocade Blue wide grosgrain ribbon. extra sticky double sided tape, mini glue dots, jumbo glue dot and a plain shoe box bought from Spotlight

The box was quite easy to decorate and I really enjoyed doing it. I stuck the side panels down first by applying Mod Podge to the box and lining up the paper with the top of the box and wrapped a little over the underneath of the box and the sides (front and back) for a neat finish. I then stuck the paper down for the front and back ends measuring the exact size. I applied a coat of Mod Podge over entire surfaces to seal. I then stuck down a piece of plain blue on the underneath of the box to finish it off.

For the lid I did the sides first with the striped paper again wrapping extra over the top and the sides and then stuck a plain piece on blue down and applied a layer of Mod Podge. I love Mod Podge, it dries pretty quickly and really sticks stuff down.

I attacked the ribbon using extra sticky double sided tape before mounting the "Kelly's keeping box" panel at the front. I typed the text on the computer and printed if one whisper white cardstock and cut it to size. I stamped the swirl in the top right corner using stazon ink so when I applied the Mod Podge over the top it didn't smudge (I didn't want to have to do it again if it did). I put the 2 flowers together using the brad and stuck them down using a jumbo glue dot. I then needed to put a couple of mini glue dots under a couple of the petals because they weren't sitting how I wanted them to.

Birthday Gift Folder and Box

My good friend Di has made quite a few of these gift card folders and showed me how to make them. I made this one for my good friend who's birthday is on monday. Stamp sets: Embrace Life, Short and Sweet

Cardstock: Choc Chip, Very Vanilla

Ink: Choc Chip, Ruby Red

Accessories: Ginger Blossom Designer Series Paper, Ruby Red Brads, Dimensionals, Choc Chip wide grosgrain ribbon

I made this gift card folder by scoring a sheet of patterned paper at 2 1/4", 6" and 9 3/4" then turn your paper and score at 2 1/4" and 7 1/2". Follow the link above which will lead you to the tutorial Di found on how to make them. If you have any problems email me here.

Here is the inside of the gift card holder.

Stamp Set: Embrace Life

Cardstock: Choc Chip, Very Vanilla

Ink: Ruby Red, River Rock

Accessories: Blender Pen

I used the blender pen and ink pads to colour the flower stamp and place the image in the top left and bottom right corners of the vanilla cardstock. When I was doing this I didn't think about where the images would be when I finished so next time I would stamp the image in the top right and bottom left corners. Once I stamp the image I used the blender pen and Ruby Red ink to colour parts of the flowers. Before colouring the image I wiped some excess ink on scrap paper to get a liter more subtle colour.

I love choc chip with this paper, it has to be my favourite paper at the moment and who doesn't love choc chip - really!!

I attached the ribbon using a brad front and back and then simply tied it into a bow.

Because I was making this for a good friend I wanted to put it into a box so I made a very simple pizza box. I've seen many of these around lately but again Di showed me some she had made and how to make them; so easy. Here is the link to where Di found them

Stamp sets: Embrace Life and Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Choc Chip and Very Vanilla

Ink: Ruby Red, Choc Chip

Accessories: Choc Chip wide grosgrain ribbon, small and large tag punch, slit punch and horizontal slot punch

I allow an extra millimetre for the top of the box so when you fold it down it doesn't pull a little. The measurements for this box are 14cm x 10.5cm (10.6cm for the top) x 1.5cm deep. To make this box you will need to cut your cardstock to measure 17cm x 25.6cm.

T stamped this image from Embrace Life set in Ruby Red randomly over the cardstock.

To make the tag I cut the Vanilla cardstock at 3cm wide then threaded it through the punch to make it longer in length. I did the same with the larger punch by cutting the Choc Chip cardstock at 3.5cm and punched it to length.

It's time to Sale-A-Brate

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great christmas and I hope you all have a Happy 2009.

Stampin' Up! provides customers, hostesses, recruits and demonstrators with the opportunity to earn free exclusive stamp sets based on purchases and sales. Here are the ways you can earn free stamp sets:

- for every $100.00 (before shipping and handling) you spend you can choose a free sale-a-bration stamp set not available any other time

- for every $600.00 (before shipping and handling) you receive in workshop sales, the hostess can choose a free sale-a-bration stamp set in addition to your regular hostess benefits

- for those who become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, you will receive any regular stamp set to the value of $79.95 from the current catalogue (not including hostess sets) for free

How great does that sound. To make it even better, anyone who places a $100.00 order (before shipping and handling) with me during Sale-A-Bration will go into a draw to win a level 1 hostess set (my choice) free. Winner will be drawn on the 1st March.

So if you would like to book a workshop, email me here with your details.

Have a lovely day