STAMP CAMP AT AVALON

It has been a whole week since our Stamp Camp at Avalon with Pat Carr.  We had a wonderful time but the weekend went by so quickly.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and stayed two nights and packed up around 2pm to head back home. There were 17 ladies and one of them my mum who enjoyed herself with it being her first ever stamp camp. It was a very busy weekend and lots of interesting projects. Avalon Homestead is situated just out of Toodyay in Western Australia. It is so peaceful and the views are just gorgeous. There was mist in the valley on Sunday morning and the birds were chirping and it was just magic sitting outside having a nice cup of tea with Mum.

Delveen and Peter are the owners of Avalon Homestead and they made us truly welcome. There is nothing that they wouldn't do for us. They are always happy to help. Delveen came in with her camera to take a few shots of us busy making our projects. I managed to talk her into making a card with us when it was my turn to demo.  I am not sure if Delveen has made any cards before but she did a great job.  She seemed pleased with her efforts.  Here you see her with the card she made.

I have almost finished my projects from the camp. I brought home 5 packs that I was unable to complete on the camp.  I have one more card to make.  Here is a pic of the projects we made.  There were 21 projects to be completed. We had guest demos who showed us some techniques that most of us had not seen before. They were Andrea Buckland, Susan Joyce, Angela Ebert and myself. At the time of taking this photo I could not find my card that I did the demo on so I have substituted one I made earlier. The one I did at camp was a slider card like the one Delveen is holding in her hand. I really liked the projects we made over the weekend.  There were no real simple ones.  Each one took quite some time to finish and as I said before a lot of us took home incompleted projects to finish at home.

 

The card below is what I think Pat called Floating Flower Card. What a great idea.  You could use your imagination to do anything to this card. For a boy you could do aeroplanes, cars etc. You could do tools for the men or even beer. LOL! Anything is possible.

 

 

This is what the card looks like when you open it up. What a lovely surprise the recipient will get when they open up this card.

Well last but not least here is the group of 17 ladies sitting out the front of Avalon Homestead. This area was where we would take our cuppa out and sit and relax and clear our minds.  Its easy sitting and making cards all weekend but your head does need a little break even if you dont think it does.
Thanks to Delveen and Peter who made our stay feel like home.

Well its off to bed for me. I have been sitting up trying to decide what swap to do for SU! Convention which is only two weeks away.  I cant believe how quick this year has flown by and how quick Convention has come up. I still have no idea of what I am going to do. Perhaps something will come to me in my sleep.
Bye for now and thanks for popping by:)

It's Autumn!

Hello fellow stampers! We are well into Autumn now and aren't you just loving this weather? The mornings are fresh and invigorating. A little bit of rain and a taste of what is to come during winter. I can see you cringe with the mention of winter.
Well before Autumn is over I thought I would make a card that represents it. This was my design for the last Sketch Stamparoo Swap Challenge. The challenge was in the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue on page 14, top left. The technique that is used in this card was from DarleneDesign.com. First of all you need to use your Embossing Buddy and rub over your cardstock (Confetti White) and using Versamark to stamp your image then Black Embossing Powder. Heat with heat gun but dont over do it as you will lose your shiny embossing if you heat too much.  The next step for this technique is to use four colour co-ordinating markers and colour in the area you wish to then spray some water into your hands and flick it onto the card that you have just coloured in. Leave it to dry.  It will depend on how much water you flick on as to how much your colouring will change. You will see further down another card I have made using this technique. The colours I have used for this card are Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Pumpkin Pie.
I have used Confetti White as it allows the water to soak in. Other cardstock used are Cajun Craze and More Mustard.  For the circles I have used Circles #2 Dies and distressed the edges. For the leaf on the circles I have used the Confettie White the same way as the original card. Its as easy as that. What a lovely effect. Thanks Darlene.  My first try with this technique was by using the same colours as Darlene but I wanted to do something different for the swaps so chose the autumn colours. I love the colours Darlene chose for her card. They are Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Marina Mist. I have also used the circle from Perfect Pennants.
My in home workshop was yesterday and we had a lovely bunch of ladies, 12 in fact.  It was like a beehive full of action and laughter as usual.  We even had a little rain at the end which didnt last long.  The first card I am about to show you I cased from Kathy from Stamping Still. Kathy I love this card. You are so talented and thanks so much for sharing. I decided to make this card smaller for my workshop as I found the dimensions only allowed me to get one card from an A4 piece of cardstock. My measurements for the base of the card are 21 x 10.5cm. Of course the images are a lot closer together but the idea is there. I love Not Quite Navy so I have used the same as Kathy. Hope you dont mind Kathy. For this card you need your Embossing Buddy and then using French Foliage (one of my very favourite stamp sets) with Versamark, White Embossing Powder and your heat gun. You can then use En Francais stamp and before stamping it onto your cardstock just using a tissue wipe away a bit here and there to give it the light and dark effect. You will then need a dauber and Not Quite Navy Stamp Pad and starting on your embossing areas gently rub in circles toward the edges and then to the rest of the card. You need the veins to show. You will also need a piece of Not Quite Navy cardstock for the extra leaf and embossing the same. I have used the 4 You from Tiny Tags along with the Tag punch. I am sure if you pop onto Kathy's site you will agree that she is a very talented lady. Thanks again Kathy for a gorgeous card.
Our next card I decided to do a simple one just in time for Mother's Day. I have once again used Confetti White cardstock as it is a lot thicker than Whisper White and will stand up a lot better. Firstly I have used the Adorned Accents Edgelits Dies to cut the shape into the bottom of the front of the card.
A WORD OF WARNING!!! When using the Edgelits Dies be sure that both ends of the Dies are in line with the plates.  If not, when you run the plates through the Big Shot they will catch on the side and flick and bend the Dies out of shape.
I then used my Adorning Accents Embossing Folder for the embossed area above the cut. Both the Edgelits and Embossing Folders are in the new Autumn - Winter mini catalogue.
I have used Field Flowers Stamp Set.  For the outline of the image I have used Pumpkin Pie. For the fill in I have used Peach Parfait but stamped it off once and then onto my card. With the Confetti White you may need to do this three times to get the shade you want. I have finished off with Pumpkin Pie Satin Ribbon. Very simple but effective.
The last card was also cased from Catherine Pooler. Catherine used Mocha Morning Specialty DSP.  Catherines blog is so interesting so just pop on over and have a look.
I had three lots of kits done up for this card using Bashful Blue, Regal Rose and So Saffron. It all depended on who wanted which colour and who was quick enough to get the colour they chose.
For the card here I have used the following:-
Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, So Saffron
DSP - Love Sparkels (discontinued)
Stamp Set - Punches Three (discontinued)
Accessories - Crumb Cake ribbon, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Two Tags Dies.
If you pop over to Catherines Blog she has a video presentation of this card as it gives a great new idea of how to use the Two Tags Dies. Once again thank you Catherine for sharing your lovely card.
The sentiment I used in this card was found over 21 years ago when a dear friend of mine had her first child. I have used this sentiment ever since in my homemade cards.
Here it is:-

CHILDBIRTH
Nobody tells you about childbirth
Sure they tell you about the pain
The Piles, the veins, the heartburn, the always full bladder,
the tender breasts, the stretch marks, the fatigue, the cravings, the backache, the tearing, the stitches,
the pain, the pain, the pain,
.......But not about the heart,
How it is captured forever,
by one small glimpse of a fuzzy head emerging.
How it is tied with silken, iron-strong bonds to a wrinkled pruny face, a tightly curled fist,
a nuzzling rosebud mouth, a periwinkle eye tear drenched.
Nobody tells you you're hooked for the next twenty years at least on the most powerful drug of all.
Love.
Nobody tells you at all.

The next card is a masculine slider card. I did a demo at one of our stamp camps and it is such a hit and so easy to do. If you wish to see my original card then go to August 29th 2011 on this blog.
For this card you will need the following items:-
Stamp Set - Lovely As A Tree, Perfect Punches
Cardstock - Basic Black, Confetti White (for leaf image)
Stamp Pad - Versamark, Basic Black
DSP - Well Worn
Markers - Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Cajun Craze
Accessories - Corner Rounder, 3/4" circle punch, Wide Oval Punch, Daubers, Black Embossing Powder, Water for flicking.
Use the same technique as mentioned earlier in this post for the leaf. 
Rather than giving you the instructions it might be better if you went to Beate Johns instructions on Splitcoast Stampers.  She gives a very good tutorial and easy to follow. If you wish to watch her video tutorial then scroll down to the bottom of her instructions.

Well thats about it for this time. I cant seem to get on here each week and have to cram it all in when I get the time. I have locked myself in my craft room while my grandchildren are in the lounge room watching Beaconsfield. 

I hope you like my selection of cards and would like to thank you for stopping by:)
See you next time!

Stamparoos 2011 Stamp Camp at Swanleigh

Well here I am again and the stamp camp is all over. I left straight from work and headed to Swanleigh.  We all met between 5-6pm at the Hamilton house and found our bedrooms and made our beds and then headed up to the Dining room for dinner. Its always lovely to catch up with old friends and meeting the newbies from Stampin' Up! There were 22 of us this year. Quite a considerable drop from last year but it was very relaxing and enjoyable. We were able to do our Shoebox Swaps at leisure.  Some of the ladies left earlier than others to hit the sack.

The few laggers left the library (where we held our stamping etc) at around 12.40am including myself. I was not tired at all and could have gone on longer. I ended up getting to bed at about 1.45am. I hardly slept as I was worried I might sleep in as breakfast was to be held at 7.30am in the dining room. After breakfast we went back to the library to carry on our Shoebox Swaps.  Morning tea came around at 10.30 then lunch at 12noon.














We then came back to the library and Skip did her presentation. Skip's card is shown here using the new Creative Element Stamp set which is in the new catalogue. I love this set and it has to be my favourite from the catalogue.  I love the way Skip has used the set and colouring. We also learnt how to use the Scallop Die so that we had a nice little scalloped edge at the bottom of the card. Thanks Skip!




It was my turn next and I used Love Letter and made a Slider card. My ladies from my monthly workshops at home made this card last week. I just love the DSP Love Letter but unfortunately it is disappearing at the end of August so if you like this one too you will have to be quick to order it before time is up. 








Sue Joyce showed us how to make a little gift box from the Mini Milk Carton Die.  We all found it very easy to make and a good workshop WOW! I can see I am going to have to order this die.  Thanks to you as well Sue for your presentation. We all finished our cards etc just in time for dinner. I went home before dinner so that I could take my hubby out for his birthday. We ended up going to the local tavern where they always have delicious food and then headed off to Hillarys to San Churros where I introduced Peter to Churros. I had a lovely hot chocolate and we shared 6 Churros.  Whoa! Too many as I began to feel ill after leaving the shop. I ended up on the couch once we got home as I really did not feel well. I have been so looking forward to visiting San Churros since it opened over a year ago.  I dont think I will be visiting again real soon. Anyway I really enjoyed the Stamp Camp. Next year I WILL stay two nights.
Next is Perth Regionals which we all look forward to each year. I missed last year as Peter and I were away in Qld travelling. I leave you with a lovely photo of our gorgeous Ngaire who organised the stamp camp and some of the cards we made at the camp.
See you again soon and thanks for popping by:)