DESIGNER FRAMES

I'm back already.  I have a couple more cards I wanted to show you.  The first one was made using the new Designer Frames.  I dont normally make long cards but when I  designed it I felt it needed three oval frames instead of two.  I have used:
Cardstock - Confetti Cream, Bravo Burgandy
Stamp Set - Perfect Punches
Ink Pad - Bravo Burgandy
DSP - Paisley Petals
Accessories - Big Shot, Designer Frames folder, Wide Oval Punch.
I must play around with this as I was not too happy with this card.  I would like to do something a bit more brighter.  Perhaps that will be my next challenge.  Watch this spot!

The next card is the first one I made when I found the Side Spring Card on Beate Johns blog.  For this one I have used the Flirtatious DSP.  I have cut the doily sheet up and just used a portion of 1 circle (if you know what I mean).  I can then use the other part for another card.  I just carefully cut around and left the other piece still in the sheet. The instructions are on the next post or you can click here for the tutorial. I have used the following for this card:-

Cardstock - Concord Crush

Stamp Set - Happiest Birthday Wishes (2 of 2)

Ink Pad - Concord Crush

DSP - Flirtatious

Accessories - Rhinestones, Circle Scissor Plus,

Scissors to cut around stamped image.

CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

Hello there!  I am here at last.  It has been a whole month since I have updated my blog.  I am so sorry about that.  I just have been so busy as I am sure you all have.  This time of year is just crazy.  One of the highlights in the past month was to see Dolly Parton in her Better Day tour.  What an entertainer! The minute she was on the stage she had the crowd going.  First song was Jolene so we were all pumped and singing away.  For 62 years of age she has still got what it takes.

Our eldest grandson has been accepted into Guildford Grammar School and he had his orientation sleepover last weekend.  I went along with our daughter and spent a good deal of time at the school on the Sunday and Monday.  Our grandson seemed to have enjoyed his stay and was quite chatty on the way home with all the news of what went on.  I guess we will have a few trips back and forth to visit and pick him up over the next five years.

I've had a few workshops so prepping has taken a lot of priority over my time which I love.  Isn't it great when you HAVE to spend time doing something you LOVE!  If only everyone could do what they love for a living. Well I guess I had better make up for lost time and put a few extra pics and ideas on my blog. 

First of all here are the projects we made at our last workshop.
The first one is the Side Spring Card.  I cased this idea from Beate Johns from Splitcoast Stampers.  A lovely clever little idea. You can find the tutorial here. I have adjusted the sizing because as you know our A4 cardstock is of a different size than the American one.  (unless you are using 12 x 12) I have cut mine down so that I can get two cards from one A4 sheet of cardstock.  Have a look at Beate's gorgeous baby card that she made. 

We also made this patchwork card. I have seen this card a few times on various blogs and it didnt really catch my eye until one of my customers showed me a card she had made.  Hers was of a similar nature and I thought "well if you like that one then you will like this one". So I decided to alter it to a christmas theme.  For this card I have used the following:

Cardstock: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Whisper White Ink Pad: Early Espresso

DSP: Letters to Santa

Accessories: Big Shot, Petals A Plenty, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Scallop Circle Punch.

The Early Espresso cardstock measures 6.2 x 6.2cm (cut 2)

DSP measures 3.2 x 3.2cm (cut 8) If it is a patterned DSP be sure your pattern goes the same way as you place each piece down.  A great way to use up all that scrap DSP.

This card is very easy and quite affective.  I hope you like it.

Our next project was Susan Joyce's swap at our Stamparoo Stamp Camp.  This was one of my favourites and of course all the girls loved it.  I did not have the stamp or ribbon that Susan used but it still looks nice.  For this project I have used:-

Cardstock:- Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake

Ink Pad:- Early Espresso, Versamark

Stamps:- Delightful Decorations, Beautiful Season

Accessories:- Dauber, Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Ornament Punch, Paper Piercer, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Pearls

We had a lovely evening at our last Stamparoo get together at Ngaire's.  It was our last one for the year and the time just goes and there is never enough time to catch up with everybody.  Before we know it its time to go home.  Pat Carr brought along some lovely projects she had been working on for her daughters wedding which was last weekend.  Pat had made these gorgeous Placecard holders in Black, Pink and white.  Of course everyone just loved them and soon Pat was making little templates so that we could go home and make them.  We promised we would not put them on our blog until after the wedding.  Well now it is after the wedding and I am about to put my cased placecard on my blog. I decided to stick to the Christmas theme. I must stress that the pattern idea came from Pat. (very talented lady). Thanks Pat!  My ladies at yesterday's workshop loved them. I too was doing templates for them. For my placecards I have used the following:-

Cardstock:- Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Very VanillaInk Pads:- Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler (sponging)Accessories:- Big Shot, Petals A Plenty embossing folder, 5-Petal Punch (for flower & leaves) Unfortunately I do not have the punch for the middle flower so I cut that out by hand. Champagne Shimmer Paint mixed with alcohol. Computer to print out name. The cardstock is 12cm x 6 cm. Base card for name is 4.2cm x 7.2cm. Glue or tape left side at the bottom and fold top left corner down to front. Glue or tape bottom right side and fold left side over to right side. This will form a pocket. The top right coner does not get glued down. This one forms the other leg to hold the card holder up.

For my last project I had seen this on Splitcoast Stampers and it was by Brenda Quintana.  My hostess wanted to do gift tags and Christmas cards for her workshop so I went online checking out all sorts of tags I could find.  I came across this idea and thought it would be great for a little gift for her. You can find the tutorial here. Imagine the possibilities with this little project. Birthdays, Christmas, Note card holders etc.  I have used the following items for this project.

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Whisper White, Old Olive, Real Red.

Ink Pad: Early Espresso, Old Olive, Marina Mist, Real Red

DSP: Letters to Santa

Accessories:- Crochet Trim Victoria, Crop-o-dile, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint mixed with Alcohol. I bought some old tassels and broke them up and used the strains of cotton for the tags.   Well I guess thats about it for me.  I am off to put my thinking cap on for my next workshop.  Hopefully will be back to update my blog in no time at all. Its been a lovely weekend.  The weather has been just perfect.  They forecast rain tonight and you know how much I love the rain. Hopefully it will help the fire victims down south near Margaret River.  My thoughts go out to them.  What a horrible shame. Its not even summer yet. 

 I will leave you with various Christmas gift tags I have made, some of them cased from various blogs and others my own design. Bye for now and thanks for popping by :)

Cards From Long Ago

I just had to post these lovely cards that someone kindly loaned to me.  They are wedding invitations and I think RSVP cards and they date back to 1911-1916.  It is amazing to see that in those days there were such delicate embossing tools. It is difficult to show how small they are so I will give you the dimensions. To the right, the card on its own is 6 x 5cms.    In the photo below, the cards at the top of the picture are 8 x 10cms and two laying down are 6 x 9cms. Thank you Gail for lending me these very special cards. They are gorgeous.

October 11 Workshop

Hello once again,
Well Christmas is drawing closer and closer and other than making Christmas cards at my workshops I have not really thought about it. I see the christmas decorations are all out in the shops.  I swear each year slips by faster than the year before.

Our October workshop went well.  We made a Christmas decorative gift box which was made with the Mini Milk Carton Die. Susan Joyce showed us how to make the little gift box with the lid which prompted me to make this little item. I noticed that Susan had also shown these on her blog previously and I found the instructions on how to make it on KB Papercrafts. You can adjust the size of your box as well so you can have it tall or short depending on your choice. They are so easy to make and once you make one you can make a whole lot ready for your Christmas gifts for work buddies etc. You can see I also made one using Concord Crush & the new Flirtatious DSP.
The next card was one I made using the Well Worn DSP and have put it through the Square Lattice Folder using the Big Shot. (My lovely Big Shot that I received at half price, what a bargain and it is quieter than my old one). This card is very, very simple and one that you can whip up in a few minutes. I used for this card the following products:-
Cardstock: River Rock, Early Espresso
DSP: Well Worn
Stamp Pad: Early Espresso
Stamp Set: Perfect Punches
Accessories: 1/4" Grosgrain Early Espresso Ribbon, Round Tab Punch, Extra Large  Oval Punch.

The last card was one I received in the 2011 Convention Swap from the very talented Cathy Clark.  I just love the colours.  This happens to be one of my very favourite stamp sets, French Foliage and for those of you who know me I just love autumn colours. Unfortunately since this card was made and unknown to me until last night that the Brushed Copper no longer exists.
This card was made using the following products:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Cajun Craze, Brushed Copper, Brushed Gold, Always Artichoke
Stamp Pad: Basic Black
Stamp Set: French Foliage, Heard From The Heart, Woodgrain
Accessories: Word Window Punch, Black Brads.
I really enjoyed making this card and thank Cathy for such a gorgeous idea. Love it!

We always have cuppa and cake at half time and this time once again the girls were guinea pigs with a new recipe.  I found this recipe in the free Coles Spring magazine. It was a Pineapple Upsidedown Cake.  The recipe was easy but take a tip from me. Do not use a spring cake tin. I dont know why I used it but I lost some of my juice while cooking. Anyway it did not take away the lovely tasting cake that it eventuated into. I think it was one of my best at my workshops. I think the girls will agree as well.  The cake did stick slightly in the middle when I turned it out but I managed to salvage it. I am sure you can find the recipe online if you cannot get one from your local Coles store. If not email me and I will send you the recipe.
Well thats it for now for me. I am going to catch up on all the kits I hve left over from over the years instead of having them laying around as they have done. I made 17 cards on Saturday night along with dropping keys off to our son after his trip to Bali. They were there when the Earthquake happened and they said it was very scarey.
Anyway must go. Thanks once again for popping by :)

Party This Way

Hello fellow stampers once again!
Its my grandson's birthday today and he is now 13 years old.  Time flies dosen't it!  I wont be seeing him today and he asked me to keep his card here until he arrives tomorrow from the country so I sat up until 2.30am this morning making his card. Lucky he didn't want it earlier.  This card was made using retired products but I thought I would post it anyway as the idea is there. I wanted a nice bright card and was waiting for my Big Top Birthday DSP to arrive but it hasn't arrived yet hence the discontinued DSP. 
For this card I have used the following products:-
Stamp Set: Party This Way
Cardstock: Real Red, Daffodil Yellow, Very Vanilla (1 balloon)
Inkpads: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Versamark
Accessories: Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin DSP,
Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Real Red Marker,
B'Day Party Rub Ons
I have made this into a slider card. I will put the instructions up soon so keep watching if you have not already made a slider card. Can you tell where I got my inspiration for the colours. If you check down a bit further you will see our Make & Takes from Perth Regionals last weekend. The colours are so bright, its enough to cheer anyone up.






I was having a little play with the Flirtatious DSP and saw a card make on Andrea Walfords 12 weeks of Christmas and decided to use a similar approach to this card. Its very simple and did not take any time at all.
The following was used:Stamp Set: Heard From The Heart
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Ink Pad: Pumpkin Pie
DSP: Flirtatious
Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice Folder,
Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint diluted in rubbing alcohol,
Whisper White 5/8" Organza ribbon.
Its amazing what a difference it makes when you put your DSP through the Big Shot with a folder. It depends if you want the sharp clean image or not.
I best be on my way as I have some shopping to do for tomorrows birthday party.
Thanks for popping by:)

2011 Perth Regional Make & Takes

Well here I am again already.  I spent the afternoon making my Make & Takes from Regionals. I think this years Make & Takes are the best we have had. There were lots of different ideas on how to use the Under The Big Top Stamp Set. I am sure once you see these beauties that you will also like to have a go at making them. I just love the little Circus Box which holds four little cards along with the envelopes. It was made using the Scallop Envelope Die. The next one is so cute with the bear in the ballerina costume. I originally thought this was a mouse until today. After I read that it was a bear I looked to see if it had a mouse tail and of course it doesn't.  Anyway whatever it is, its cute.  The last one is a scrapbook page and full of colour. I have not got a photo to put on it as yet.  I will have to find some clown who will want their face on it. LOL!
Im off again to try out some of the new ideas we saw yesterday so its bye for now.
Thanks for popping by :)

2011 Perth Regionals

Hello fellow stampers!
What a day I have had.  We had our annual Stampin' Up! Regionals today in Perth.  The day was fun filled with many WOW demonstrations. The day went too quickly for my liking. Registration was from 8am.  It was so quiet walking through the big double doors of the resort but as we started heading up the stairs we could hear a beehive of activity going on upstairs. Demonstrators doing their swaps and catching up on old friends and fellow stampers. We had two new demonstrators on our table and it is always lovely to meet new friends. Thats what it is like with Stampin' Up! I have never been in a business that so many of us share the passion of the product we sell. I always think it must be wonderful being a singer as their job is to sing and that is what their passion is. This is how I feel about Stampin' Up! It is on my mind almost every minute of the day (in a good way). How many people get to experience that in their everyday life. Anyway back to the meeting we had today. We had the chance to watch and listen to some very talented people today who showed us some very interesting projects. I am sure each and everyone of us today learnt something new. Cate Lynch showed us various ways to use the Wheels. Sarah Klass dazzled us with her glitter and granny plastic lace ideas.  Andrea Buckland showed us her patchwork cards using the new fabric. Miriam Thomas gave us a lot of ideas on how to use the Petite Pockets. Ngaire Anderson gave us a fantastic demo on how to hold a workshop. Cathy Clark gave a fabulous demo on how to make various flowers with the punches. Gorgeous! Then we were shown how to make a bow using a huge garden fork by Amanda Maycock. The bigger the fork, the bigger the bow. Of course we had to use a normal dinner fork and it was very easy. The list goes on. Here are a few pics of the swaps that were doing the rounds today. I have also included my two swaps. The first one is using a few different techniques. I made this card with the following products:-
Stamp Sets: Oval All

Ink: Concord Crush, Old Olive, Whisper White
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories: Big Shot, Polka Dot & Framed Tulip folders, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Stamp Block, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Crystal Effects, 2 Step Bird Punch, Eyelet Border, Scallop Circle Punch, Whisper White 5/8" Organza Ribbon, 1/2" Circle Punch.
The Whisper White cardstock is in one piece. To achieve the result of having the Polka Dot centred on the card you will need to cut some scrap cardstock approx 6cm x the width of the folder. You can use the backing of the DSP but you will need them to be stuck together to form a pad about 1/2" thick. Place your cardstock into the folder and lay the pad over the top of the folder centred and run it through your big shot. I used the Big Shot without the plates. Have a play and you will work out what is best for you. Once that was done I then used my Framed Tulip Folder and lined up one end with the pattern along the last row of dots and only put the card through at that particular point and wound it back again. (hope this makes sense). I then did it again on the other end.  For the flower I punched two pieces of card using the Scallop Circle Punch. I then scored from top to bottom all the way around between the petals and then cut to the centre only once. I then folded concertina style and joined the two together with tape and sponged with Whisper White Ink using a dauber. The rest looks pretty self explanatory.
The next card is shown in three different colours. I even tried Basic Grey and Sahara Sand but I didnt like that one. For this card I have used the following:-
Stamp Set: Creative Elements (one of my very favourites)
Ink: Pear Pizzaz, Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Scallop Circle Punch, Tempting Turquoise Marker, Very Vanilla 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Pearls, Dauber, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint mixed with rubbing alcohol.

For the piece using the scallop circle punch I cut a piece of Very Vanilla 10.5 x 4.3cm. I put one end of the card into the actual cutting section of the punch using something sharp to lift up at the end so that it does not catch, punch. Do the same at the other end and you have a lovely double ended scallop. I rock n rolled with the butterfly. For those of you who do not how to Rock n Roll. I stamped the butterfly first witht he Pear Pizzaz and then rolled the edges of the stamp onto Tempting Turquoise. Always start with the lighter colour ink first as you dont want to ruin your stamps and it also gives the image that depth you need. I sprayed the butterfly with the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint mixed with Rubbing Alcohol (from the Chemist) and then placed some pearls on the body section. I used Pear Pizzaz and Tempting Turquoise to colour my Very Vanilla ribbon. This was done by putting the ribbon onto the stamp pad and using a dauber to hold it down and pulling on the ribbon.
The other two cards were made using Crumb Cake & Sahara Sand. Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight.
Well thats it for now as I am quite tired after a big day out and need my beauty sleep. I hope you have fun trying out these few techniques and I will be back soon with some more.
Thanks for popping by:)