I am Leonie and I'm an Independant Stampin' Up! Demonstrator in Sydney, Australia.Archive for Challenges
Painted Easel
Posted by: | CommentsHello!! Well I knew it had been a while since I’d posted but I had thought it was days rather than weeks! I am so sorry – we’ve had so much happening and I havent been 100% but now with super-charged meds I should be on the road to recovery – well lets hope so cos they cost $70!
Its Saturday so time for another Utah Divas International Sketch Challenge and another lovely sketch from the lovely Carol. 
I looked and looked at this sketch until I worked out what to do – I know its not a hard sketch but I wanted to do something a little different and this is what I came up with …
It suddenly dawned on me that I could do an Easel Card and I’d done one of these for Christmas but not for a general card and since I am now creating classes for Mother’s Day gifts I thought why not turn this into a Mother’s Day card!
It also happens to be my Mum’s birthday on 1st April so I can easily make this card into a lovely birthday card just by changing the sentiment! Mum has always loved hydrangeas and has always had at least one plant of them in her garden if not a row of them! I am sure she’s had them at every house she’s lived in.
I love these Easel cards as they are so so so easy to make and when someone receives one they just ooo and aaah over them!
Now so you can see how they stand here is an image of the side view of the card when standing.
These cards flatten out for easy posting too – you might just have to include instructions on how to stand them up and show them off!
Now we are continuing with the Sketch round so now hop over to Lori’s blog to see what wonderful creation she has made this week.
Now my lovely husband has to go in for cataract surgery on Monday so I will be out at the hospital with him all day but will try to be back posting regularly again for you – I actually have some projects I havent posted yet so thats a good thing. If you dont mind please say a prayer for him (and me) on Monday.
Thanks for stoppin by
Utah Divas Sketch Challenge #71
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It seems we’ve arrived at another Saturday and yes that means another sketch challenge from the lovely Carol.
Simple enough hey? and look …. a circle!! I just had to use my Circle Scissor Plus for this challenge and I know I’ve done a few circles lately but I love that Circle Scissor Plus so much and it makes circles so so easy!
Here’s my first card ….
Yes you read that right … I did say ‘first’ card.
I love the Inspired by Nature Set and wanted to do a ‘grass’ card for a while and hopefully it has a bit of a manly feel to it.
I originally just had the En Francias stamp on the background layer but thought it looked a bit plain. Well my trusty Baroque Motifs helped fix that!
I do hope you like this card – I’m not totally sure about it.
Now while doing it I thought how nice it would be with the flowers from Inspired by Nature so I had to give it a go.
I’ve missed using my purples of late so grabbed them in the markers to colour the flower direct to the rubber of the stamp.
Its the same as the grass card but just in different colours and using the flower stamp.
I like this second card a lot more than the first however I do feel that some of that can be attributed to the use of eggplant and plum cardstocks and markers.
Now from this week we are doing something a little different with the sketch challenges. Usually I direct you to the Utah Divas blog for the other ladies on the design team however from this week there will be a link at the end of our posts directing you to the next design team member.
So without further a do I am happy to guide you over to Lorie’s blog. I met Lorie through Utah Divas group and since then we’ve become good friends – maybe its the passion we both have for stamping and chocolate – who knows!! Enjoy doing the rounds of the Utah Divas Sketch Challenge Team!
Thanks for stoppin by ….
Party Sketch
Posted by: | CommentsWell here we are at another Saturday – at least today I’m relaxing after last weekend’s Saleabration Spectacular! Now being Saturday its time for another Divas Sketch Challenge! 
Here is this week’s sketch ….
Carol was very nice to let me have last weekend off now wasnt she?? but I’m back into the sketches again and not to let the side down I’ve changed it a little – but what more could you expect from me??
I really struggled with the “least favourite colours” though … I just couldn’t work out what to do as I just love Stampin’ Up!’s colours so I went with some that I don’t use as often and hopefully that will be ok (at least I noticed the ‘extra’ in this week’s challenge this time!)
Here’s my card ….
Now not only did I use colours I don’t use often I also used a stamp set that hasn’t seen much ink!
Recipe:
Stamps: Party Hearty
Paper: Pacific Point, Gable Green, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Inks: Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Gable Green, Versamark
Accessories: Scallop Border Punch, Pacific Point Striped grosgrain ribbon.
I do hope you like my card and please be sure to check out the other creations by the Utah Divas International Sketch Challenge Team.
Thanks for stopping by
Soul Scrappers Thursday Technique Challenge – TC3
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You may remember that I told you that I had been asked by the lovely Erika Martin to be on her ‘Soul Team’ for the Soul Scrappers forum – well today is my first challenge! So I do hope you will go to the forum and join in on the challenges and fun!
This is my very first Technique Challenge and I hope you like what I’ve done. This is all a bit daunting for me to be on a ‘Soul Team’ with such talented ladies!
I thought at first using circles was a bit basic but I do know that some are new to scrapbooking. It also doesn’t hurt to go back to the basics and revisit some of the techniques we did when we started scrapbooking and maybe use them in different ways.
Here is my first ‘circles’ layout ….
I’ve used the Stampin’ Up! Love Sparkles Simply Scrappin’ kit for this layout and my lovely new Circle Scissor Plus. I have fallen in love with this tool as it makes making circles so so easy!
I’ve incorporated the circle adhesive die-cuts from the Simply Scrappin’ kit and then cut some more with the Circle Scissor in coordinating colours for this layout.
The large scalloped circle I’ve done by cutting out the largest circle with the Circle Scissor then I’ve taken the guard off my corner rounder and gone all around the edge for the ‘scalloped’ look.
Here is a close up of the “I love You” on the bottom left and the “you mean everything” embellishment
To make the “You mean Everything to me” I’ve used sentiments from the Always stamp set and the frame is from the Frames with a Flourish set.
Now the circle scissor just doesn’t cut circles – you can also draw circles with it!
It comes with two attachments – one for cutting and a holder for drawing – now you can draw circles onto plain coloured cardstock to make your own circle patterned paper!
With this layout I took my piece of Specialty Designer Series paper from the Sweet Slumber pack and drew some circles in pencil.
I then used those pencilled circles as a guide for journaling,
Once I had finished and the ink was dry I just used an eraser to remove the pencilled circles.
Here is a close-up of the end of the quote and my “flower” embellishment.
I do hope you like what I’ve done and if you want to do this challenge please and join over at Soul Scrappers to participate in the challenge. Go to the Thursday Technique Challenge 3 post for all the instructions for this challenge.
I can’t wait to see what you make!
Winners are Grinners!!
Posted by: | CommentsJust a quick note today to announce the winners of a couple of recent challenges I’ve had here.
Firstly …. for the ESAD Sale A Bration Blog Hop
Thank you to each and everyone of the girls who were in the Blog Hop – we all managed to get our posts and links working with just a couple of minor hitches. So thank you so much and your projects were just awesome (insert applause)
Now another huge thank you to all who visited each blog and left a comment! It was a huge blog hop with 41 blogs involved so I thank you for your patience and making it all the way through! I had 43 ladies email me to confirm they completed the rounds so its my pleasure to announce the following as winners of our blog candy ….
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Donna Zammitt
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Keegan Rigby
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Charmaine Black
So ladies I’ve sent you an email tonite so please send me your mailing address so we can get your candy in the mail!
Also, last week I announced a colour challenge I put to the girls at my ESAD-SU Yahoogroup and shared the card I made. The cards made were all awesome! and I thank you all for playing and am happy to announce the winner of the card challenge is the lovely Cathy Clarke from Queensland.
So congrats Cathy youre card is now on the home page for the ESAD-SU Yahoogroup and I’ll have a little something in the mail for you this week. This is Cathy’s gorgeous card
I will be back tomorrow with a card and a mini tutorial so make sure you pop back for that!
Thanks for stoppin by
I heart …
Posted by: | CommentsLook at me – back again and four days in a row!
I have some very exciting news to share with you today – well to some its no longer news but I’m still over the moon about it! This past week I received an invitation to join a new Scrapbooking Forum and thought to myself ‘well I did say at Christmas I wanted to do more scrapbooking this year’ so off I went and joined.
A day or so later I get a message from the forum owner (Erika Martin) and she asks me if I’d like to be on the Soul Scrappers Design Team!! Well after picking myself off the floor I did check with her first to ensure she had the right person and she said YES!!! Soooo I said Yesssss too! Its a huge honour to be asked to be on a Design Team for someone who does such awesome scrapbooking like Erika!
The forum is such a great place to be a part of and I’m still amazed at being on the Soul Team! They’ve already had some new challenges posted to the forum and they look really good – there will be sketch challenges, technique challenges, theme challenges and also some for Digital Scrapbooking. Now the one posted this past week that I wanted to have a go at was the “About Me Challenge” from Erika.
I originally was going to start with a brown theme and baroque motifs however after pulling out umpteen different Designer Series Papers I opted to go with colours that match my photo’s and couldnt work out a title for me so I figured for a page about me I should share the things I love so I immediately thought of the Love Sparkles Simply Scrappin kit – if you remember I used this for yesterday’s Utah Divas Sketch challenge card.
I couldnt get a patterned paper to work from the kit so I went through my stash (and believe me this took some time!) I opted for the pretty floral paper from Candy Lane Desiger Series Paper pack.
I love these hearts!
The adhesive die cuts that come in the Simply Scrappin kits make any layout look good! I’ve torn vellum to go behind the “I heart …” letters just to lift and make them stand out better. All the things I love were printed and cut up and I put the small adhesive die cut hearts on each one.
Its been so long since I’ve done a layout it was good to sit down and play with photo’s and paper again – I even found the little photo printer we have and the photo paper without much searching which is a good thing considering we’ve just moved furniture around in the house and this is a sure way to put something in such a safe place that it can never be found again! I’m sure you know what I mean.
Now if you’d like to do more scrapbooking or even learn how to do it why not come and join Erika’s new forum at Soul Scrappers or just click on the Soul Scrappers banner below or over in the sidebar on the right.
Thanks for stoppin by
Love Sparkle Sketch
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Hello and welcome to another Saturday Sketch from the Utah Divas International Group.
I love Carol’s sketches as you would know if you’re a regular visitor to my blog.
Now when I first saw today’s sketch I thought it wayyyy too busy but I’m pleased with the card I’ve made. –
Oh and guess what??
NO STAMPING!!
I do hope you like my card.
I have had the Love Sparkles Simply Scrappin kit for some time and have wanted to make a whole array of projects with it and thought today’s sketch would be perfect and just traded the circles for hearts.
I am allowed to do that – Carol said so!
I love the colours and everything in this kit!
The Simply Scrappin kits are a great purchase! They have so so much stuff in them you can make so much.
Each pack includes ….
- eight 12×12 sheets textured card stock (2 each of 4 colours)
- 6 sheets double sided patterned paper ( 3 each of 2 different designs)
- 6 sheets Adhesive Die Cuts (2 sheets of 3 different designs.
- So as you can see its great value!
- Now don’t forget to pop over to the Utah Divas International Blog to check out the other projects the Design Team there have created – now they are all in USA so you may need for them to wake up before their projects are uploaded.
- Now I’m off to do some scrapbooking – yes you read that right!! Me scrapbook and I’ll have some exciting news when I upload that layout! So make sure you pop back.
- Thanks for stopping by ….
ESAD Colour Challenge
Posted by: | CommentsGood Morning all …. well today is going to be a big day – My oldest has her first day of High School so no doubt that will be a whole new adventure for all of us! Miss 10 starts 5th Grade – and mum has a day all to herself!!
I want to thank everyone who managed to survive the Saleabration Blog Hop on Monday – it was huge and we had so many new visitor and comments. Now you can still do the blog hop to be in the running for the Blog Candy as this closes on Friday. You can start here and will need to leave a comment on each blog then email me to advise you finished and I will put your name into the draw for the Blog Candy. Now be prepared as there are 41 blogs involved so you’d better go get a cuppa and some bikkies! I promise next time it wont be so big!
I have set a colour challenge to all the girls on ESAD and thought I’d share it with you too in case you wanted to join in.
Make a card, 3d item or scrap page using the following colours ….
Here is my card for the challenge ….
It’s actually a case of a card that the gorgeous Shelli Gardner (Stampin Up! CEO) demonstrated at Leadership recently in USA. I’ve used the lovely new “I {heart} Hearts” stamp set – this is also the set to purchase help raise funds for the Haiti Disaster Relief fund. I love this set – it coordinates so well with the Stampin’ Up! heart punches.
Now if youre playing once your item is finished upload your project to your blog or online gallery like flickr or photobucket then come back to this post and leave a comment with the link to your project to be in the running for the prize. I should have known the first time I use Mr LInky it would go MIA – I cant even get their site to load so my apologies for that.
You have until 31st January to create and upload your item and I will announce a winner – the lucky winner will receive a small prize in the mail.
Thanks for stoppin by
Sketchy Hearts
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Its Saturday again and time for another Utah Divas International Sketch Challenge from the lovely Carol.
Now I didnt see the word ‘top’ until I was cropping and resizing the sketch but then thats like me isnt it? to change or turn or do something to the sketch – Carol would think I was ill if I didnt change it in some way, shape or form!
I wanted to make a card using the “I {heart} Hearts” stamp set from the Summer Mini Catalogue as its the one that Stampin’ Up! have chosen to help the Haitian Disaster Relief. With every sale of this stamp set from now until 28th February Stampin’ Up! will donate $2 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund.
Here’s my card …
I hope you like it as much as the girls do.
I used three of the hearts to make a collage background and layered the saying over the top using vellum to give the background a muted look. You may also notice the sentiment stamp is one you havent seen as yet? Its a stamp from one of the upcoming ‘free’ Sale-A-Bration sets.
I love being with Stampin’ Up! and always know that when a country or area is affected with a disaster like this Stampin’ Up! will always find a way to help just as they did last February for the Bushfires that ravaged Victoria, Australia.
Now in addition to the $2 from Stampin Up! anyone who purchase the “I {heart} Hearts” stamp set I will donate my commision on this set and if you purchase the heart punches at the same time (either of them or both) I will donate my commission on those heart punches as well.
So contact me today to place your order and help raise funds for these poor people in Haiti.
Dont forget to pop over to the Utah Divas Blog and view the other cards made by the Sketch Challenge Design Team.
Thanks for stoppin by
Dazzled Challenges
Posted by: | CommentsHello!!
Yes today is Saturday and I’m here with not one but TWO challenges!! Well OK I’ve rolled two challenges into one card 
so that counts does it not??
First – the Utah Diva’s Sketch Challenge 
When I first saw this sketch I thought ‘how am I supposed to make something with that??” (sorry Carol) but as I started working well I’ve had so many ideas through my head I’m dizzy!
I remembered the layered window cards I used to use a few years back and have noticed can you can still buy them but they cost more than regular card-stock so I figured I’ll make me own!!
So I just utilised my Stampin’ Up! square punches on the different layers. You just need to remember to used the larger punch on the top layer and the smaller punch on the base layer – this gives you a little frame around your window.
Here’s my card with the window in it. The window is where the little bird is. I am sorry about the picture – I had trouble getting a good image with all that white on the top level.
I have used one of the new sets in the Summer Mini Catalogue and its called For Everything and its a great set at just $47.95 for 11 stamps - that’s just $4.35 a stamp - what great value!!
Now for my second card today ….
I’ve incorporated Carol’s above sketch with Makeesha’s Inkspirations Colour Challenge
and this is what I came up with ….
I am not a huge fan of Cameo Coral but I do quite like how this card turned out.
Can you believe that this card contains just one stamped image and NO ribbon!!! Its just so unlike me.
This card is very quick and easy as the patterns and saying on the card are both rub ons! The patterns are from the lovely Dots and Designs rub ons and the sentiment is from the Chit Chat rubons and both are from the Summer Mini Catalogue.
The main image is from the Razzle Dazzle stamp set which I’ve coloured using my Stampin’ Write Markers.
If you would like to see more from the Summer Mini Catalogue and you’re free on 6th February, 2010 then call me today to reserve your seat at the Sale A Bration Spectacular I’m running with a couple of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators. Its at the Ambarvale Re-Creation Centre from 11am to 4pm and costs just $25 – although if you book and pay before 21st January we’ll only charge you $20! Bargain – we’ll have raffles, door prizes, make n takes and lots of displays and demonstrations. Its going to be a wonderful day and I do hope you can come along and enjoy the fun too!
Thanks for stoppin by
