Everyone needs a little Kindness dont you think and yes it matters!!

Have you noticed the Kindness Matters stamp set?? its on page 71 of the Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalogue (AU/NZ) – it is just the sweetest little set with three lovely butterflies, two sentiments and two little motif/decal images – its just gorgeousness in a box for just $22.95 (wood)!

Here’s a card I made to go with the Kindness Matters mini album I shared last week …

Recipe
Stamps: Kindness Matters, Creative Elements
Paper: Beau Chateau DSP, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Inks: Jet Black Stazon, Marina Mist, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Big Shot, Designer Frames Embossing folder set, Lots of Tags Sizzlits, Pearl Jewels, Stampin Dimensionals, Stampin Sponges, Marina Mist Satin Ribbon

How sweet did this card turn out – I just love it!! The Kindness Matters goes so so well with the Beau Chateau DSP!

I hope you like this card as much as I do and if you’d like to see how to make this card or any others I have shared here on my blog then please feel free to contact me to arrange a demonstration.  Now is the perfect time to be a Hostess as you not only get all the gorgeous Hostess Benefits but you also get free Sale•a•bration sets as well!  You’ll need to be quick as I only have a couple of spots left for February!

Are you ….

• new to Stamping?
• a Beginner Stamper
• recently reignited your passion for stamping
• A Stamper who wants to learn the basics
• A stamper who has learnt the basics and wants more
• A Stamper or Scrapbooker who wants to purchase their supplies at a discount
• a Stamper in love with Stampin’ Up! products
• someone who’d love to purchase a beginner Stamping Kit at a discount & earn free stamps

If you said “yes” to any of these then have you thought about purchasing the Stampin Up Starter Kit?

Morning all!!

I’m busy finishing off some wedding samples for a customer who’s coming to view them this afternoon – so hard working out pricing as I dont want to charge too much yet at the same time dont want to rip myself off for my work and time!

Its another Saturday – last Saturday of our school holidays here before the girls embark on a new year of schooling and with my youngest starting High School it is a bitter sweet time for me but glad they’ll both be in the same school now so wont need to worry if one is running late on the bus or not!

Being Saturday that means its time for another Utah Divas Sketch Challenge and here is this week’s sketch …

Diva Sketch 173

Easy enough … and look no rotating or anything …

So Sweet!

Recipe
Stamps: Up in the Air (Hostess – Summer Mini), Charming (Summer Mini)
Paper: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Subtles Paper Stack
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Bashful Blue, Peach Parfait, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Modern Label Punch, Scallop border punch, Saleabration Organza ribbon, stampin write markers, rhinestone jewels.

How pretty and ‘springy’ is this card??  and what’s a ‘spring’ card without butterflies??

I love how this turned out and it seriously came about in like 25 minutes – must be one of my quickest sketch cards ever!!  This will be one of the cards for our next Stamp A Stack so if you’d like to make a couple of these be sure to book your spot for the 11th February!

Now be sure to hop over to the Utah Divas Blog and see what lovelies the other Designing Divas have got up to this week!

Good morning and welcome to the ESAD Sale•a•Bration Blog Hop

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for “Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators” and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin’ Up!® demonstrators.

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 it is needed.

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 arrived here from Jacinta’s Blog but dont stress if you havent – just keep going till you get back to me!

Now onto my project ….

Enchanted Mini Album

I am a little bit excited about sharing this album today – not just because of the gorgeous Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper  and the Vintage Foliage Sale•a•bration sets, or that you can get both of those for free during Sale•a•bration but also cos this little mini album is the first one I’ve designed myself!

If you have a close look on the above picture you may see the little danglies I created with the ribbon & brad pack which is also available through Sale•a•bration!  Here’s a close-up for you …

I’ve just taken a brad and bent back the backs and tied the ribbon around the backs – cute hey?

Now lets open the album ….

I love this paper!!  I love how the paper matches the Stamp set perfectly and how Stampin’ Up! use their own colours to make it easy for us to match cardstock, inks and ribbons!  The sentiment on the right page is from the Summer Solstice stamp set.

Here I’ve popped in a photo matt on the left and a couple tags on the right for journalling.  I’ve popped a simple slit in the centre of the right page to slot the tags into.  I’ve used the Vanilla Satin ribbon with a piece of the pool party ruffled ribbon on top and embellished that with a couple of the brads from the Sale•a•bration Ribbon & Brad pack.

Full view of tags

I can see how very versatile this stamp set is going to be – from main images like the one on the front cover to backgrounds and borders! I used the same stamp on the tabs of the tags!

Same stamp again on the matt and the sentiment on the right as is used in this sheet of the Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper. Sentiment on the right is from the Hostess Stamp set Faith in Nature which you earn for free just by holding a Stampin’ Up! demonstration.

For the final pages I’ve just popped on two mats with coordinating ruffled ribbon.  You could used these for putting on a single photo, a collage of photo’s or some journaling – whatever you wish!

I do hope you like my little album and if you’d like to make this at a class please let me know as I’ll be scheduling them during February & March.

Now to continue on the blog hop you need to hop over to Alisa’s lovely blog and see what gorgeousness she has creating for your view pleasure

In case there are some broken links along the way here is a complete list of all the lovely ESAD ladies involved in the blog hop – now dont forget to leave the girls some comment love as well.

• Sherylee Tutt
•  Juliette Chapman
•  Alison Barclay
•  Corina Beyer
•  Christie Kunkel
• Jane Norrish
• Nicole Derendorf
• Jacinta Argent
• Leonie Schroder – you are here!!
• Alisa Tilsner
• Keryn Campbell
• Sharlene Meyer
• Madonna Dunn
• Joanne Kechagias
• Pauline Bennetts
• Monique Fielder
• Bron Heslop
• Felicity Fernandez
• Michelle Grech  
• Kelly Nelson
• Louise Layton
• Yvonne Walker
• Kathryn Ruddick

Hope you enjoy all the lovely goodies you see through the blog hop and if you wish to book your own demonstration or place an order please dont hesitate to contact me – as a special bonus for all ‘hoppers’ I am offering free postage on all orders of $100 or more from today to 31st January, 2012.

Its that time of the year again where Stampin’ Up! rewards everyone for their loyalty and shopping with free products!!

Want free products??

Here’s how ….

Place an order

Host a Party

Join my team!

Contact me today for more information – or click the link in the sidebar on the left to view the catalogue online!

Yes its Saturday and time for another Utah Divas Sketch Challenge and I do hope the other sketchy Divas had a great time at Leadership in Utah!

I am feeling a bit weary this afternoon after hitting the shops this morning to do the ‘back to school’ shopping … Uniforms, Shoes, Back Packs, Books, Pens, Pencils, etc – the list seems to get longer and longer each year!  My poor body is starting to seize up so I’ll take some meds and go rest up a bit after I finish this post.

Here is this week’s sketch ….

simple enough hey?? well i had a sneak peek at what the other girls made and wanted to do something a little different – so unlike me isnt it?? well you will be surprised to know that I rotated the sketch (is that you I can hear gasping??) and here is what I made …

Recipe
Stamps: Easy Events, Tiny Tags, You’re Cherished
Inks: Jet Black Stazon, Pear Pizzaz, Pool Party, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Old Olive
Paper: Whisper White, Pool Party, Early Espresso, Spice Cake DSP (Summer Mini)
Accessories: 1/8″ White Taffeta ribbon, Whisper White Bakers Twine, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Modern Label Punch, Vintage Trinkets, sponges, aqua painter, stampin dimensionals

When I rotated the sketch all I could see is the sweet little grandfather clock from Easy Events – yes I used that set again!!  I did tell you that you’d see a few things made with it didnt I??

I do hope you like what I’ve made this week and be sure you pop over to the Utah Divas International Blog and see what the other girls have made.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Good Morning!!

Well today is the first day I’m up with the Festive Friday Challenge which has been started by the lovely Nicole Derendorf.

Each Friday the design team will share a Festive card for the challenge to inspire you into creating card for Christmas and all those Festive occasions that happen during the year and this week it is Valentine’s Day!

Now remember the other day I said I’d have more from Easy Events??  Here is my card for today’s Festive Friday Challenge …

It’s amazing what you can do with just one of those little stamps!!

As soon as Nicole asked for Valentine’s well I knew what stamp I wanted to use – I love that little tree!

Now you know how all crafters say there is no such thing as a mistake and its just a creative licence?  well see my little banner? thats one of those ‘creative licences’!  I had stamped the image crooked and after all that spongeing I just about cried! So I just redid the greeting on a scrap of paper (this way it doesnt matter if it’s crooked cos I can cut it out and make it straight!) and turned it into a banner and used glue dots to position it to not only cover my mistake but to also give it the wavy/wind blown look

Now I wanted to make this card a little special so I can use it for Valentine’s Day for hubby and came across an idea online and once I saw it I thought yes this lady will have a template … but no – her sight was in some foreign language I’d never seen before so I just made my own using Microsoft Word and here’s the inside ….

Cute hey??  Took a bit of fiddling but finally worked it all out and I must say I do like this card!

Want to know more about the Festive Friday Challenge? here’s how it works.

1. Choose a card or project that inspires you
2. Create your own Project
3. Load your project online somewhere and mention who on my design team inspired you
4. Link your project to the Festive Friday Challenge on Nicole’s blog.
5. Links close Thursday January 26th at 10am.  Winners will be posted with Next Week’s challenge.

I hope you like my little card and it inspires you to create and enter the challenge.  This is a fun new challenge so make sure you pop back each week to see what we’ve been creating to inspire you and who knows you might have all your Christmas cards done before December this year!

Firstly, let me wish you all a very Happy New Year!!

My prayer is that you have a blessed and prosperous 2012 and may it bring you more joy than you’ve ever known!

I know its been a while since I posted and I did consider posting earlier however I also needed a break so I took a little me time and have started de-cluttering the house and my body – well that’s the plan at least!

Now I know I’m running really late for the Utah Divas Sketch Challenge from Saturday but I’ve made the card and its been a bugger to photograph but I wanted to share it anyways.

Here is the latest sketch ….

I was going to do something other than hearts but I do have an anniversary to make a card for and Valentine’s Day is coming up in just a few weeks so decided to go back to the hearts and this is what I came up with ….

Falling Hearts

Now I had real trouble trying to get a good picture of this card due to how I’ve made it -  the hearts are actually in an open section strung on some bakers twine.  You will see what I mean by the following picture.

Its not a very good photo but I think you can see how the card works.  Its just a little bit different to your regular card!  Now the trick will be to write inside the card without it showing behind those hearts and open section!

I hope you like my little card and be sure to check out the Utah Divas Sketch Challenge Blog and see what delicacies the other Designing Divas came up with!

Now this week I will be scheduling classes, workshops and clubs for 2012 so if there is something you’d like to learn, a technique you’d like to try or a project you wish to make then please contact me so I can schedule it for you.

Dont forget Sale•a•Bration starts next week so if you havent got your Sale•a•Bration brochure yet contact me and I’ll pop one in the post to you!  You may wish to book your workshop in when you contact me so you too can earn free Sale•a•Bration stamps!

Good Morning!!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed your time with family and friends.  There is always such a huge build up to Christmas and its all over so quickly sometimes it can be a bit of a let down but this year I totally enjoyed it – well except for a few teary times when I thought of Dad and his first Christmas without mum but after I spoke to him on Christmas day he said he’d had a really nice day with my sister’s husbands family – they included him in their celebrations which is so nice and such a relief.

This was the first year I didnt buy my own presents. I gave a list to the girls and hubby and said ‘go shop’!! Well needless to say they did good and I think I should have done that years ago and now they’ve done it once they can do it again!

My Christmas eve was spent getting the food I needed to be as fresh as possible like fruit and bread rolls and croissants, then it was onto the gift packaging – and yes I have to make my own whenever I can – not really sure why as you can get such lovely bags and boxes these days but as I explained to hubby – I feel guilty if I dont! Silly isnt it??

There are always some we buy gift cards for so this is this year’s gift card pockets …

These little Santa pockets were so so easy to create … just some red and white cardstock and the tasteful trims die. Then you just add some black ribbon and a belt buckle!  Now the easiest way to make a belt buckle is to grab a can of Coke or Fanta or your favourite soft drink and once consumed remove the ring pull from it and thread your ribbon through that and wallah … instant buckle!

Now dont take that pull tab off before you finish drinking from the can or you’ll cut your upper lip and we dont want that! I suppose you could pour your drink into a glass but only creates more washing up and we cant have that!

Here’s the pocket revealing the gift card …

Each year I bundle up some cards that I make during the year to give to the families on Christmas Day and these are the gift boxes I made this year ….

Its a simple design that I got from Splitcoast Stampers but since their paper size is different to ours it means our cards are bigger so after a few adjustments and making the change to centimetres the gift boxes were then assembled with little fuss and quite easy to do. Now you dont just have to put cards in them – you could put bags of biscuits, lollies, coffee beans or bottles of marinades or candles or anything. I’ve used the lovely Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper with some Cherry Cobbler Cardstock and some Vanilla Satin Ribbon for the bow.

Here’s one of the bags up close …

There’s six cards and envies in each box and I try to choose a selection of cards to suite each person. So one family has younger kids so I try to pop in some birthday cards for young kids and to the newly weds I put in a baby card or two but for grandma its mainly birthday, get well and thinking of you.

Now to buy that many cards commercially they’d be paying at least $30 if not more so my work during the year pays off and I dont have to spend time and money in the shops buying something I’m not sure if they would use or not.

Now in saying that in previous years I hadnt had much feedback other than the ‘thank you’ so I was asking hubby if he thought I should keep giving them to which he said yes you make great cards. Now I dont know if he was just saying that to make me happy but on Christmas Day everyone commented on how lovely the cards were – even a couple of the hubby’s mentioned it to me how much work I must put in them each year!!  So that tends to say it all and I thank God for that confirmation!

Stay tuned to my blog or Stampin Up! site for details of special classes coming up in January – we’ll be doing some Valentines Gifts and Packaging as well as a few Back to School ideas.

Dont forget Sale•a•bration starts on 24th January where you can earn free stamps, papers and accessories just by buying Stampin ‘ Up! products or hosting a workshop or joining my team.  So if you’d like more details about Sale•a•bration ior joining my team please feel free to ring or email me anytime at all!  Contact me to get your free Sale•A•Bration Catalogue today!

Good Morning and Happy Christmas Eve to you!!  I do hope you’ve managed to get everything done and dont have to race around madly today and can put your feet up a bit and take it easy.

Here is this week’s sketch for the Utah Divas International Sketch Challenge …

Divas Sketch Challenge 168

Now the twist with this week’s sketch is that we had to use the sketch on a shaped card – so it couldnt be on a regular rectangle or square card.  Bit sneaky but then I got to thinking and remembered my telescoping cards I made back in September and gave it a Christmas theme!

How cute is this guy??

I’ve rotated the sketch so the vertical lines become horizontal and become Frosty’s arms.  I just love making these Telescoping cards!!

Here’s the card opened …

I love this guy and I love giving my circle scissor a run too – makes the best circles and for any size you want!  You can grab the glass mat for the circle scissor for just $26.57 as part of the December Frenzy!  Thats a whoppin 30% off!

Now dont forget to pop over to the Utah Divas International Blog to see the gorgeous cards the other Divas have created.