Archive for the ‘Gifts’ Category

I’ve had a bit of a creative block lately and today it was nice to pull out some stamps and ink have the creative juices flowing.

Well it officially became Spring on Wednesday however the last two days its felt like Autumn again so I pulled out some Autumn colours as some customers have asked for ‘male’ cards.  I then decided that if I’m doing Autumn colours then I should use an ‘Autumn’ stamp set and there’s no better Autumn set than Autumn Days.

  I love this wheat stamp!

This is a very quick and easy card and you can adapt it for any occasion just by changing the sentiment.

The sentiment on this card is from the Sense of Time stamp set which I am glad to say is in the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue.

Recipe:
Stamps: Autumn Days, Sanded, Sense of Time
Paper: Soft Suede, More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Inks: More Mustard, Soft Suede, Always Artichoke
Accessories: 1 1/4″ square punch, 1 3/8″ square Punch, Sponge Daubers, Crimper, Stampin Dimensionals.

Have you got your copy of the new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue yet?  Its 164 beautiful pages of stamps, accessories, colours, tools and ideas – its a must have!  Email or ring me today to arrange your copy – or arrange a date to hold your demonstration and get the gorgeous catalogue for free!

I do hope you like this card and I hope the ladies tomorrow night like it too!

Ribbon Spools ?

Well empty ones at least!

You can pull the spools apart and remove the circle pieces of cardboard. Now you could keep one of each size and use these as circle templates – that is until you’ve saved the money to buy the Circle Scissor Plus!

These can also be used to create curves and rounded corners larger than the punch does or theres always the templates for making pom poms! Do kids still do that these days?? I know I always used to make them as a kid – ahh childhood memories – gotta love them!

But what about the plastic spools???

Well this is what you can do with the spools ……………

You can make them any height and you can pop in so many different things …

• ribbons
• smarties
• buttons
• m&m’s
• brads
• chocolate bars – well long skinny ones like this White Knight or Curly Wurlys
• roll up money and pop inside
• keys to the new car (I wish)
• a map with directions to the new iPad (now that would make an awesome birthday gift!)
• coloured pencils
• watercolour crayons
• a lovely pen

So many different ideas!  All you need to do is to measure around your spool and thats how wide you cut your piece of acetate and the height is up to you! Use sticky strip to hold it all together and your done – soooo easy!  If you wanted to jazz up your tubes then you could always use the lovely printed window sheets in the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue.

Dont forget to keep an eye on the Last Chance List and the availability list and make sure you put your order in before the items you want are gone for good.

Also, I should have my delivery of new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogues over the next few days so if you havent pre-ordered yours you’d better do so soon!

Today is my sweet baby girl’s 11th birthday!  Hard to believe it was 11 years ago that Miss Emily came into the world – and in a hurry too I might add!! Just over 2 hours labour – eeeeek!  It all seems like yesterday – well ok maybe not yesterday but not that long ago!

Emily has always loved the Garden Whimsy stamp set so I went straight for that set to create her card.

When I had the thought of those butterflies I thought them flying through the grass would be a nice effect and I thought what better stamp for grass than the one from Inspired by Nature.  I added a bit of sponging for the grass and added some sponged clouds using the scallop circle punch.

As I had a Stamp A Stack here yesterday I gave hubby the task of doing birthday shopping – brave I know!  He did quite well and just goes to prove he can buy birthday presents after all!

It was then my task last night to create the gift bag to fit the presents in.  I found a tutorial by the lovely Makeesha and just did some tweaking with the measurements to fit the presents in. So two sheets of Sweet Always Designer Series Paper and some ribbon later and we have a bag for the presents!

I just stamped some more butterflies, cut them out and popped them on and whallah

I hope she has a wonderful day today as she’s going to bed early tonight after one of her friends slept over last night … well not sure they actually slept so maybe we should call it a giggle-over!!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will know I enjoy the ‘occasional’ cup of coffee …… well ok maybe a little more than the occasional cup

In my last post I shared I had the lovely Tanya come and visit for a few days (on her way home from Perth – yup long way home!) well she brought with her some of her Big Shot dies and cutting pads for us to play with. Yes its true – I dont have everything in the Catalogues!!  One of the dies she bought and gave it to me as a gift was the Movers and Shapers die!! How stoked was I?? She laughed at me cos the first few times I picked it up I just cuddled it lol.

Now I’ve been wanting this one off for a while now and now I have one of my very own … again thanks heaps Tanya.  So while she was here I had to use it did I not??

I first ran some Melon Mambo cardstock and some Cottage Garden DSP through the Big Shot with the die and thought immediately of the lovely little ‘Share a Cup’ a la carte stamp and thought of just putting one on the corner but then thought a few cups would look good.

What do you think?

Now while I was making this card I thought about how some hang their cups on hooks and thought it would look cool with them just under the ribbon.

So thats how this second card came into being.

These are both very simple and easy cards to make and you might notice the stamped image inside the curly label window? Its a new set called Perfect Punches which will be available in the new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue. This is actually a set that Shelli Gardner (Stampin Up! Founder and CEO) gave to all the demonstrators at the end of Convention in May.  So it really does pay to be a demonstrator and attend convention

Did I mention I got my copy yesterday and its just sooo gaw-juss!  Dont forget to email me and reserve your copy!

Now you all know about the Last Chance List and as expected some items are running low and some have already run out so here’s  a list of those products ….

Products Running Low

• Rose is a Rose
• Playful Petals
• Totally Tabs
• Short Order Alphabet
• Basic Black Cardstock 12×12
• Basic Black Cardstock A4
• Basic Gray Cardstock A4
• Sahara Sand Cardstock A4
• Whisper White 12×12
• Kraft Cardstock A4
• Real Red Stampin’ Around cartridge
• Stampin’ Pastels
• Pop Up Glue Dots

Products Sold Out

• Close to Cocoa A4
• Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP

If there is anything on the Last Chance List that you would like then please ring or email me your order as soon as possible so you dont miss out.

Sorry for my absence – I’ve had the lovely Tanya Kitto visit me for a few days so we spent alot of time chatting, laughing and creating.  It was wonderful to finally meet in person and to spend some stamping time with her. Thanks to Robby and the kids for letting her come all this way for a few days.

Just before Tanya arrived I came across these gorgeous little bags using the Scalloped Envelope Die and the booful Big Shot.

I found a video tutorial on Chic n Scratch and just followed that … they are so super easy to make.  They are going to make an awesome make n take for my Open House on 17th September – so mark that date in your diary!

With Tanya visiting we had a couple of friends come along for a ‘play date’ as they knew Tanya as well and wanted to meet her in person. So I showed them how to make these delightful bags and this is the one we made.

Here is a close up of a couple of the bags showing the greeting – oh look its a set from a previous Mini thats going to be in the new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue (which my copy arrived today and its just delishamon!)

Arent these bags just the cutest little things??  They are even better when they come with a Mint Pattie or Golden Rough inside and they happen to fit perfectly!  You can also fit in two Freddo Frogs or several little Chocolate Eclairs – yummo!

Welcome to the ESAD Christmas in July Blog hop!!

I do hope you’ve come prepared for a wonderful ‘Christmas’ journey so if you havent got your cuppa and some biscuits you’d better go get some now … I’ll wait till you get back to continue.

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!®

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors but we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when its needed. There is also the online chat networking that is available whenever youre online.

So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

You should have come here from Clare’s blog but if you havent dont worry … just keep hopping until you get back to me.

Now, like all good bloggers, we all LOVE comments so please be sure to leave us a comment as we just thrive on them!

I have had one of these Simply Scrappin’ “I Wish” kits for eons – maybe even last Christmas and I hadnt pulled it out to use so I thought I’d better take this opportunity and use it before its retired.

Here is what I created ….

We have ….

• A Christmas planner
• A Gift box with toffees inside
• A Gift Bag
• 6 Christmas Cards with matching Envelopes
• 8 Christmas Tags

Now all of these things I made with just half of one of the kits – oh and I had quite a bit left over that I didnt use including adhesive die cuts, cardstock and patterned paper.

So I could still make a bundle more cards, tags and even a scrapbook layout if I wanted to – or I might even dress up a canvas for the Grannies for Christmas.  So just imagine how much you could make with a full kit!

The Christmas Planner

I love the idea of these planners so when I was making projects for this blog hop I thought I’d love to make one of these so I went looking online for ideas and maybe a tutorial.

After spending half a day (I kid you not!) of looking and not really finding what I wanted I sat down and decided to design one myself!  So I did and I love how it turned out!

The Planner takes one sheet of 12×12 cardstock to create then I’ve just added pieces of the Designer Series Paper and adhesive die cuts from the kit to decorate it.  Easy!

Here are a couple of shots inside the planner ….

Then we have the cards ….

These cards were actually made using the Stampin’ Up!® Notecards.  Using the Notecards made them so quick and easy to put together and they come with envelopes so I just stamped some snowflakes from the Snow Swirled Stamp Set and I was done! Easy!

A Box for the special someone with the sweet tooth!

How cute is this box?  These Acetate boxes are so easy to make and you can put anything in them from toffees to candles!  Oh if you are buying someone a gift card you could pop that inside and then fill it up with toffees or Werther’s Caramel Chocolates – now I did buy a bag of those but they umm disappeared … well one does have to do quality control do they not?? I do know that hubby took two of them – the hide of some people!

A Gift bag …..

How nice is this little bag?  Now you could put just about anything in here too … a CD, stamp set, punch, set of car keys, toy car even (being a replica of the new one in the drive-way maybe? please Santa???)

Not forgetting … the gift tags ….

Now these were fun to make and I will probably make a few more – but how cute is that Penguin??  I do so love Penguins   I’ve been eyeing off this Punch Pals set for a couple of years now and thought why not?? My customers need new stamps for their Christmas Stamp A Stacks!

Wow .. .I apologise this post is so long!  I didnt mean for it to be so if you’ve got this far I thank you from the bottom of my Christmas heart!  It does happen to be my favourite holiday and its a shame its all over so quickly.

Now before I go I do have to tell you that if you do happen to see those Werther’s Caramels to grab one bag for you and one bag for me cos they are D-I-V-I-N-E!

Now that you have got this far its time to hop onto the next ESAD Blogger in the Blog hop being the gorgeous Gardenia Pepworth

Now dont forget to leave everyone a comment

Have I told you recently how much I love Stampin’ Up! Notecards and envelopes?  Well not for at least a month!  These notecards make the quickest and easiest of gifts to make and give and who doesnt like to receive presents?

The previous sets I’ve made were the one’s done for our Sale A Bration Spectacular and ESAD Blog Hop with the Rose is a Rose stamp set which can be found here.  I also made some very quick and easy notecards using the Thoughts and Prayers set which you can see here.

Now just recently I participated in the ESAD Secret Stampin Sister Swap and I thought about what to make and one of my sister’s friends said she loves the Pocket Silhouettes and didnt have that set. So in the last month in the Swap you send 2 cards, a handmade gift and a gift to the value of $30 so I ordered the Pocket Silhouettes set for her.  Then I wanted to make something using Pocket Silhouettes (my set not her new one!) so then my mind drifted off to the Notecards and I thought why not. I also thought I’d give some of our retiring subtle colours a bit of a last ‘hurrah’ so to speak.

This is the box I designed to pop the notecards into.  Its funny where you get inspiration from as the inspiration for this box came from and skin care sampler kit. One of those lightbulb moments! The paper I’ve used on the box is from Bella Rose Designer Series Paper pack.

These are the cards and envelopes that I made to put in the box … there were 6 in total with envelopes.

I love the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set as it has 4 different flower/leaf stamps plus two greetings and all for just $33.95 so it makes a very cost effect purchase and you can use this set for masculine, arty or feminine cards.  As my good friend Libby says … Your creativeness is only limited by your imagination.

Special Offer #1

Now as a special offer to all my lovely friends who read my blog if you purchase the Pocket Silhouettes and the Notecards from me before 31st July I will also give you the template for this gift box.

Special Offer #2

Now if you’re thinking that you spend too much money on stamps and accessories then have you considered joining the Stampin’ Up! family?  Why would you want to do that? Well as a Stampin Up! Demonstrator you get a 20% discount on everything you order.

Wait!! Thats not all! (sorry couldnt resist!)

If you place your first order withing 45 days from the date you joined then you get a bonus 10% discount – so place your first order within 45 days and you get 30% off that first order! Sweet hey?

Wait!  Thats not all!!

If you join now you will receive the new 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue for free and one month before it is officially released.  You would also then be able to order a month before it is released from the pre-order selection.

Wait … thats not all!

Until 31st July you only pay $259 for your Stampin’ Up! kit – thats 20% off or a saving of $65!!  The kit is regularly $324 so look at all the money you’ll be saving – see and this means you can get more from the new Idea Book & Catalogue!  The kit includes stamps, inks, cardstock, accessories and business tools all valued at over $560 – so its a win/win deal for you!

Also, if you sign up with me before 31st July not only do you get all these goodies and a hugely discounted price but you can also select either a Stamp-a-majig or the gorgeous Pocket Silhouettes stamp set as a free bonus from me – so now you will just under $600 worth of products for just $259!

Email or Ring me today to ask any questions you might have or to arrange your free no obligation information pack.

You can even sign up online via my Demonstrator Website so there’s no pesky paperwork to fill out and post off – wow I’ve just saved you another 60 cents!

Yesterday I shared my Birthday Tess card and said I’d pop a gift bag on the card.

I am happy to report that Tess has now been shopping and has a lovely Gift Bag with a present inside for her friend.

It lifts the card a little dont you think? and who wants to visit a friend on their birthday without a little something in a gift bag?

The gift bag is simply a small piece of Designer Series Paper with some white tissue paper scrunched up and sticking out the top.  The handle was created using the Word Window punch.

Hope you like my little addition

I’ve had a few birthdays the last few weeks and wanted to use my Tote-ally Tess stamp set.

After deliberating for what seemed like hours (which was really about 20 minutes or so) on what papers to use I finally gave in and went with the gorgeous Cottage Wall Designer Series Papers.

As much as I love the Tote-ally Tess set and ‘had’ to have her I’ve struggled to use her in cards.  So I’m challenging myself  to use Tess more so I hope you will see a few different “Tess” cards over the next few weeks.

Why dont you make a card with Tess too and pop a comment with the link to your blog post or online gallery?

This one is simply a “Birthday Tess” carrying a little cupcake. Looking at the card now I could have added a little gift bag as well – I might even still do that and send through a photo once its done.

Recipe:

Stamps: Tote-ally Tess, Short and Sweet
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White, Cottage Wall DSP
Inks: Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Ridinghood Red, Going Gray.
Accessories: Big Shot, Lots of Tags sizzlits, White Taffeta Ribbon, Aqua Painter, Stampin Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive, Mini Glue dots.

One of my favourite ways to colour is to use my Aqua Painter and the ink pads to water colour and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Certainly Celery top went with the Rich Razzleberry pants. 

So who’s for a cupcake?

I could go one right about now!  Why not treat yourself to one today and why not grab a Latte at the same time to wash it all down! In honour of all the birthdays we’ve had lately of course

Hello and welcome to another Sketchy Saturday!

My apologies for posting late (sorry Carol) we had a spanner thrown in the works last night with a call to let us know that an ambulance had been called for my Mother in Law.  She has had a bad cold and ended up with chest pains last night so everything was just dropped while we attended to her.

Here is this week’s sketch from the lovely Carol.

Diagonals?  What am I supposed to do with that?  So as I do I deliberated and deliberated and then …. I deliberated some more!

Then it dawned on me … pockets.

I have quite a bit of Designer Series Paper that I need to use over the next 2 months so I tried to think what paper I havent used for a while and I grabbed my Candy Lane Papers.  You dont see these pack used so much and I think its really lovely – or maybe I just dont go to the right blogs!

Here is what I came up with …

I’ve modelled this card on the Diagonal Pocket card but I’ve just used it for the pockets on the front so only used 1/3 sheet of 12×12 for the front pockets instead of using the whole  sheet as in the tutorial.  I’ve also added a bit of elegance using the Eyelet Border Punch on a piece of Very Vanilla.

Now here’s the card showing the insert.

I couldnt go past doing my “Latte Stack” on the tag with my gorgeous “Share A Cup” stamp.

I’ve left the tag mainly blank so you can put a little note or even attach a gift card for your favourite Coffee Place like Gloria Jeans or The Coffee Club.

Here is the inside of the card for you to write a message to your friend

Now I’ve added the Eyelet Border egde again with some of the stripes from the Candy Lane Designer Series Paper pack for continuation from the front.

Now I could have put another tag in the top pocket but after grabbing my little Pun Fun Latte stamp I thought what better than to put in a sachet for a Latte.  Its a nice way to say hello to a friend and give them a cuppa

I do hope you like what I made for this sketch and now all I have to do is to find someone to send it to!  Maybe you??

Now its time for you to skip along to the next Designing Diva being the loverly Ruthie Burkey so pop over to Ruthie’s blog and see what she has created for this week’s sketch challenge

Thanks for stoppin by