When it comes to the start of a new Stampin’ Up! Idea Book and Catalogue we just turn into little kids do we not? counting down the ‘sleeps’ like little kids do before Christmas or their Birthdays cos its just so exciting for all the new things that will come!

Now with the new Idea Book & Catalogue starting on Thursday this means you only have today and tomorrow to get your orders in for anything on the Retired Items list – you can view the list by clicking on the button in my sidebar over on the right or click here to download the file.

Here are a couple of cards using some retired stamps just to reminisce a little ….

I love these two sets and will be sad especially to see Always retire – be sure to check that list to ensure you dont miss out on anything you need to have.  I will have my used Retired Sets for sale on thursday so be sure to pop back then! I am still offering Free Shipping on orders with retired items till 6pm tomorrow – payment will need to be by credit card so I can get your order in on time.

Now would you like a little sneak peek of whats to come??

Here’s a little card I made last week …

I’ve been finding it hard to back into creating after Mum’s passing but this card has a little bit of sentiment attached to it.  Years ago, when I was much younger I loved to look through Mum’s jewelry box and she had this most gorgeous Cameo necklace and it came to mind as I opened the new Designer Frames Embossing folders. The silhouettes are in a new stamp set called Forever Young which I had won at Convention and this was just a match made in heaven!

I’m thinking it needs a little something but not sure – I dont want to add too much and overdo it – maybe a bow and an antique brad? What do you think?

I’ve also used some new Designer Series Paper and a lovely leafy swirl stamp from Creative Elements (yup another new set!) which was one of the sets we received in our Convention bags.

I cant wait to share the new catalogue with you and if you dont have your copy yet contact me to arrange one today!

Just a few weeks ago I did a demonstration for a lovely lady who had asked for a Christmas theme to their workshop.  These were all new ladies to me so I wasnt sure of their stamping abilities so I knew I had to make it simple but effective.  So I went with Contempo Christmas, Jolly Holiday DSP and the Christmas Bauble punch – these just work so well together and make Christmas gift giving and cards so easy!

This is the set the girls made and they loved them both!

One of the greatest high’s I get from being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator is when someone thinks there is no way they could make the project I have designed and yet they do make it and they are so proud of themselves!

This card is one of the easiest cards you can make and uses a couple of different Techniques.

Using your punches – we simply stamped the bauble once in cherry cobbler and then again in old olive and punched both of these images out.

Using your markers – markers are not just for colouring in – they have so many more uses! We took the Merry Christmas stamp from Contempo Christmas and coloured it using our cherry cobbler and old olive markers.  Once coloured you simply ‘huff’ on the stamp – the warmth from your breathe will remoisten the ink and you just stamp it on your piece of cardstock and wallah – instant coloured greeting!

Now onto the Box in a Bag ….

I love making these bags!  They are just so pretty and so easy to do – you can find the tutorial here

To make this one I’ve used the lovely patterns from Jolly Holiday DSP and used my scallop border punch and my round tab punch to finish it off.  I’ve also popped on a tag made using the bauble stamp and punch.

To create the tag i’ve taken a long piece of Whisper White cardstock and stamped the bauble at the bottom. Once the image is stamped I have folded the piece of cardstock in half across the top of the bauble. You will need to use your scorer on this fold so its a nice clean crisp fold to ensure it will go into the bauble punch easily.

Slide you folded piece into your punch and have the fold just below the top of the punch area. Punch your image and you should end up with a folded tag – you can then write your greeting inside or just pop in to/from as I have done here.

The To/From stamp I’ve used is from the Punch Pals stamp set.

These two projects are so very easy and I’d love to show you how to make them. Simply contact me to book in your Christmas Demonstration and I’ll show you and your friends just how to make these lovely two Christmas projects.

Dont forget about our lovely Christmas Bundles that are available to purchase till 30th November – you will receive a free roll of Christmas Ribbon when purchasing any of these bundles.  You can view all the bundles here.  You can simply email or ring your order through – you dont have to attend a workshop or class although these are lots of fun!

Also I have my ‘Christmas Cards with More” class happening on 27th November, 2010.  These cards are more involved than the regular Christmas Cards and just perfect to give to those special people in your life. Contact me to reserve your spot as places are limited. You can find full details on this class on my Stampin’ Up! website under Events here

cos the ESAD 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue Blog Hop is here!

I do hope you have got yourself a cuppa and a biscuit – maybe even a chocolate one as there are 25 lovel blogs as part of this New Catalogue tour!

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.

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. Now if you’re not a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator and would like to be please email me for a ‘no obligaton’ information pack.

Now as I’m the first in the blog hop you just keep going until you get back to me – easy   Also, if you happen to come across a link that doesnt have their posts up then scroll down to the bottom of the last blog post you were on and there will be a list of all the blogs involved.

We have blog Candy!

This blog hop we are offering blog candy for those who take the time and effort to visit every blog and leave a comment on all the blogs. All you have to do to be entered into the draw is to visit each blog and leave a comment on each one. Once you’ve done this email me and let me know you’ve fulfilled the requirment and  advised your name, email and location and I will enter you into the draw! How easy is that??

Now onto my project ….

One of the great new sets in the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue is called Artistic Etchings and I was lucky enough to be able to pre-order this set – one of the benefits of being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is being able to pre-order stamps before the catalogues are released to the general public.

Now I wanted to make something more than just a few cards and I’ve mentioned before that I love using the Stampin’ Up! notecards.  So I designed a ‘bag’ that would fit the notecards inside.

So using the notecard size  I went about designing the little briefcase and I just love how it turned out. I deliberated for quite some time on how to get the briefcase to get the texture of a real bag and decided that it would be easier to just use my stamp pad to create the lines/scratches on it. Then I just stamped some of the images from Artistic Etchings on the case to mimic those luggage bags with stickers and labels on them.

The three little cards fit in the briefcase perfectly and it uses a velcro dot to close the bag.  Here are the cards …

Now as I was making the briefcase and cards I thought of making a concertina passport photo book. I then remembered that my neice and her hubby are currently living in the UK and have made a couple of trips over to Europe and in particular France so I messaged Cath and asked if I could use some of their photo’s to which she was happy to do so.

So I set to work on the Passport.  Again I made it the size of the notecards so it would fit in the briefcase – and this way I wouldnt have to make another bag!  I downloaded and printed the photo’s I wanted to use and then set about to create the concertina part. I placed the photo’s without sticking them down so I knew where to put my stamps.Once I’d stamped and sponged the pages I popped the photo’s in and tagged them and I was done.

The Paris label on the front was printed on cardstock using word and I then attached the frame from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge (which I’m glad is in the new Catalogue) and popped it on the front.  It might look involved but it really was quite easy once I’d worked out where to put what photo.

I do hope you like what I’ve made as I really did enjoy making these two little projects. It’s Cath’s birthday later this month so I’m going to send the briefcase and the passport over to her – I do hope she likes it!

Now its time to head off on your journey to the next Blog that’s part of the hop being the lovely Keryn Campbell from New Zealand (see I knew you’d need a passport!!)

Here’s a list of all the ladies participating in the blog hop just in case one of the links in the posts dont work …

Well I’ve been up since 4.30am!!  This is what happens when you feel ill and go to bed at 9.30pm – well its what happens to me.

So I decided to utilise this lovely quiet time and make a couple of cards and continued on with the Christmas Theme from yesterday. Well the Christmas Classic set was still on my desk so why waste energy getting a new set out?

I remembered the pretty sketch challenge from Stamping 411 so decided to use that for my next card.

I do love to make cards from sketches as I find when I look at a sketch I can see so many cards with it whereas if I just go and pull out a stamp set to use I can deliberate for hours on colours, papers and layout.

You should give a sketch a try – use any of the ones I’ve done or just simply do a Google search on ‘sketch challenge’ and I’m sure you’ll be amazed at how many places have these challenges every week.

Here is my card ….

Recipe:

Stamps:  Christmas Classics, Baroque Motifs
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Ridinghood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP
Inks:  Baja Breeze
Accessories:  Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker, Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker, More Mustard Stampin’ Write Marker, 1/4″ Chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, eyelet border punch, stampin dimensionals, snail adhesive.

This is another very quick and easy card and a great one to make for christmas as you could do a few in no time at all!

Now I think I might take this aching body back to bed for a little nap and try and get over this flu.

This past week I’ve been busy getting my emails and Google reader up to date – cant believe I had over 700 posts I hadnt read!  Can you believe its now down to 3?

In my ‘reading’ I did find some gorgeous cards and projects to inspire and case.  Now when you do case a card or something you’ve found online the ‘proper’ thing to do is to give credit to the person who inspired you.  In today’s case this card is one I cased from the very lovely Lynda Shrimpton.  Lynda is an avid blog reader – I know this cos not only does she frequent my blog but those of my demonstrator friends and she always leaves the best comments! Thanks Lynda

Isnt this a great card??

Now I did change the colours somewhat as I wanted to use this as one of the cards for today’s Stamp A Stack.

Recipe

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Weathered background, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Inks: Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa
Papers: Close to Cocoa, Naturals Ivory
Accessories: Stampamajig, Sponge Daubers, Stampin Dimensionals
Technique – Shadow Stamping

If you look closely at the card you can see a faint shadow on the swirl. This is done by using the two inks – one light and one darker and you definitely need to use the Stampamajig to place the second stamping.

If you love this effect and would like to see how it is done why not book in for my Technique Class or have me come show you at a Workshop in your home.

Now I have some sad news …..

As you know we have the colour renovation happening when the new Idea Book & Catalogue comes out in September (not long now) and some of our beloved colours are being discontinued. Now while Stampin Up! have tried to keep up with the demand some of the colours will be gone early due to demand and everyone ordering and the first item to go is Close to Cocoa A4 Cardstock.  So while the full packs are no longer available you can get it in the mixed Earth Elements pack but again this is only while stocks last.

So please if there is any other retiring colour cardstock, inks, markers or refills you ‘need’ get it early before its too late!

Have a totally blessed Sunday!

Well its another very (very) chilly day here in Sydney.  I really do not like winter although spending the day in bed is rather nice but it doesnt get things done.

It was nice to receive a phone call this morning from the lovely Lisa to advise me that it actually just got to 10C!!  She is such a sweetie and so thoughtful!

Today’s card is one that I cased however now I cant find where it was that I cased it from – I’ve changed computers so if you do recognise this as your design please let me know so I can give credit where it is due.

How nice is this card?

Recipe:
Stamps: En Francais, Baroque Motifs
Paper: Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray
Inks: Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Extra Large 2 step bird punch, Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, sponge daubers, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin Dimensionals.

Now when I made this card I wanted the dots from the  Textured Impressions Folder to stand out so I just used my sponge dauber with the sahara sand and gently rubbed over the top just to make them ‘pop’ a little – it doesnt need much just a light touch.

Although it looks involved it is surprisingly simple. Its been a very popular card in my Stamp A Stack classes too.  Its also another good card to show that everyone really needs to have that Extra Large 2 step bird punch in their supply.

Now for my special offer ….

As its the end of the financial year here in Australia and I’m just shy of a sales target I am offering free postage on all orders received today and tomorrow!  So until the end of June (tomorrow) any orders placed will be processed with free shipping.

Dont forget about the Deal of the Week as it also finishes tomorrow. Selected rhinestone brads and ribbons on sale ….

So contact me now with your order – you can email, ring or send that courier pigeon – but make sure he has some Red Bull first so he gets here in time!

Good Morning!!

Its been a rather hectic week this week and hoping I do catch up to Friday very soon! I’d hate for Saturday to start and me still being stuck on Wednesday – that just wouldnt be fair!!

Its my turn again to host the Technique Challenge over at the Soul Scrappers forum that was started up by the lovely Erika Martin. We have over 500 members there now in just two months so thats an awesome achievement on its own! There are lots of Challenges, Sketches, ideas and wonderful people to share their talents and help so if you are a scrapper 0r even if you’d like to be a scrapper then pop over to the Soul Scrappers forum and check it all out!

My Technique Challenge this week is to create your own Designer Series Papers using your stamps. Being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator I love the papers they have and how they all coordinate with the colour families and stamp sets but sometimes you want a paper just a bit different or maybe in different colours.  So today I’m going to share with you how to make your own papers using your stamps and inks.

Supplies needed:

• Cardstock,
• Inks (I used Versamark, Mellow Moss, Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst and Apricot Appeal)
• stamps (I used Vintage Vogue and En Francais)
• Stamp a majig
• chalks ( i used versamark and chalk for the script in the centre)

I love using my stamps to create designs and the perfect patterned paper for my layout.  This way I can have colours that match my photo’s and I can make my own embellishments and accents and not only that – you know that no one else will have this designer paper you create yourself!

Technique Instructions:

• Start off with a piece of plain cardstock.  You could use any colour however I found those of the Soft Subtle family and lighter shades would be  better as you need to see the design youre creating!  I tend to use Whisper White or Very Vanilla  as my base and then build these up with colour.
• I first used the swirl from Baroque Motifs to create my border. You can use the stamp a majig to do this too so that you get the right swirl in the right place if you wish but you really cant go wrong with this stamp!
• Then I inked up the larger flower from Vintage Vogue (Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue) and stamped randomly in Pretty in Pink. I then did the same using Apricot Appeal. I then used the smaller flower to ‘fill in the gaps’ using Barely Banana and Almost Amethyst.
• I then tore up scrap paper to cover where I’d stamped and filled the centre in using the En Francais background with Versamark. I then grabbed my pastels and my handy sponge and ‘popped’ the script. Doing the centre this way gives it a softer hue rather than stamping it in the Creamy Caramel ink.
• Now look at your page and see if you are happy with the result. You may feel the need to fill in any ‘white space’ either by sponging or adding some more small flowers or maybe some leaves.

I was rather happy with the result of this page and was a little hesitant to put a photo over it!

I was strong and placed the photo on a Pink Pirouette mat  – I’ve also used some rub-ons on the photo but what I did was put the white part of the same rub on up the top left of my photo and the opposite dark part over the bottom right corner and onto the Pink Pirouette mat.

I didnt add much to this layout as I didnt want to detract from the Designer Paper I’d just created and sometimes less really is more!

I made a couple of flower accents from the Vintage Vogue (Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue). One small one down on the bottom left and then layering both flowers in colours from the layout and a button from the lovely Sherbet Designer buttons.

From this close up you can see that I’ve stamped the larger flower in Pretty in Pink and the small flower in Barely Banana. I’ve then adhered the button to the top. I’ve cut a very thin slither of Apricot Appeal cardstock and threaded it through the button holes and tied it. Now you need to be careful not to pull the knot too tight as the cardstock will break and I know this for a fact!

I do hope you like this challenge and I now challenge you to make a layout using your stamps. You can then leave me a comment and insert the link to your image online or email me a photo of your layout.

Why not pop over to the Soul Scrappers forum and upload your challenge there – there is always a winner each challenge and a small prize. You can find the messages about this challenge here. Its free to join and there really are some wonderfully talented ladies there who share, encourage and inspire!

If you would like to learn how to do this Technique then why not come along to my Scrap A Latte Summer Flower Layout class on 7th April. Class is $15 and I provide all the supplies you will need. Bookings are essential as I only have a small house and seats are limited. There is no need to bring any photo’s as you can add them later.

Dont forget that the Summer Mini Catalogue and Sale A Bration finish on 31st March and you only have till then to …

• order anything you still want from the Summer Mini Catalogue
• earn free Sale A Bration stamp sets
• receive bonus stamp set to the value of $79.95 when you join my Stampin’ Up! team

Welcome Welcome to not only the greatest ever Blog Hop you’ll be on but also the very first one that the ESAD group has done!

Ok before we start … go get yourself a cuppa and a biscuit or three – this is going to be a long post!

What is ESAD? Well if youre a regular visitor to this blog then you will have seen me talk about it before so for all the new ‘extra special visitors’ today (not that my regular visitors arent special cos they just know they are!!) I’ll fill you in ….

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australian (and New Zealand) 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 the regular cyberstamp happens to thanks to the loverly Tanya!

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

Click to join ESAD-SU

Now before I share my project with you I also want you to know that if you do make it around to all 30 Blogs involved in today’s Blog Hop and if you make a comment on each one you are then in the running for some Extra Special Blog Candy.  The demonstrators from all over have donated blog candy for this blog hop and if you are the lucky winner you’ll be getting all sorts of parcels and you will truly think that Christmas has come early this year and that you’ve been a very good girl (or guy)!  Now if you do get to all and comment on all the blogs shoot me an email with your name and email address and then everyone who has also visited and commented on all 30 blogs will go in the drawer for the ‘extra special’ blog candy.

Now onto the project …..

Now I must say how in love with this project I am! It was designed by the very lovely Andrea Walford who is a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator in Canada.

I’ve used the new Kaleidoscope Designer Series Papers through out this project and they are just gorgeous!  Everytime my 12yo walks past my desk she stops, sighs and says “Oh I just love that paper!”  She’s been very good not to take off with it I must say … its very girly and very tweeny!

Now when you open up this Friendship box you will see just how it all works inside. There is a pocket in the inside left of the Box which holds the envelopes.  On the inside on the right you have clear pockets to slot in some cards.

I’ve inserted 4 pockets here but you could put in more – you may just need to secure it with something a little stronger like the jumbo brads or similar.

Here’s another view of the inside showing how the ‘pages’ flip/turn.

Pretty neat huh???

Now onto the cards …all the cards have been made using the Kaleidoscope Designer SEries Papers and the Nature’s Nest Stamp Set. I’ve used the new Chit Chat rubons for all the sentiments on the cards.

This first card is done using the dragonfly stamp from Nature’s Nest. I just love dragonflies and as soon as I saw this set I just had to have it! I’ve added a couple of flowers from the Flower Fusion kit and a clear rhinestone brad.

I’ve stamped the dragonflies onto Glossy White and then coloured with the aquapainter using the Classic Stampin’ Pads. I sponged some blue around the dragonflies so it wasnt so ‘white’ then applied the rubon greeting.

How great is this turtle??

I dont know about you but ever since Finding Nemo I immediately say ‘duuuuuuude’ whenever I see a turtle so I had to name this stamp ”Crush” did I not? I love that movie!

I’ve stamped ‘Crush’ onto Watercolor Paper in Jet Black Stazon then going from my lightest colour (So Saffron) and built up his shell using More Mustard, Old Olive and Always Artichoke. The grounding is done using Going Gray.  He looks like he’s just about ready to travel along the EAC dont ya think?? I love this sentiment too as its just so very true – Friends make us strong!

See I told you it was a long post didnt I??

Now I must say that being a Stampin Up demonstrator and getting to preorder the upcoming stamps is not only wonderful but you also learn so much!  I wanted to find out if there was any symbology (see i even learn new words!) and there is so much with the Peacock feathers – some of it is good and some not so good.

I was amazed to learn that Peacocks can eat poisonus berries and the like and not be affected in any way – wouldnt that be good if we could bottle that for all those that have allergies to various things.

This is a very quick and easy card. The Peacock feather is stamped on whisper white in black stazon and then I’ve just used the Taken with Teal Ink to colour in the feather and my markers to colour in the ‘eye’.  Its a bit hard to see all the colours in the eye from this photo but I did try to make it as realistic as I could.  another great sentiment from the Chit Chat rubons.

Now the last card I made for this set is of a birds nest with eggs.

Now I’m not sure why but I ‘had’ to paint them blue – then I thought what bird lays blue eggs??

Now I was going to tell you but I wont – I will give an extra prize to the first person to guess that right! So when you leave your comment just add the answer at the end.

Can you see that I snuck in my Baroque Motifs?? I do love that stamp with all the swirls and leaves – its just gorgeous!

I do hope you like this project and if you would like to make one of these I’ll be doing classes in the new year so contact me before Christmas to book your seat.

Now before you click on the next blog to visit as part of this Blog Hop I thank you for putting up with such a long post and I thank all the other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators participating in this blog hop!

Now dont forget to pop a comment in so youre in the running for the awesome blog candy!

Your next stop on the ESAD Summer Mini Catalogue Blog Hop is Lisa Ryder – she’s a lovely lady and a dear friend and I just know you will love whatever she’s made!

Thanks for stoppin by

Today I travelled down the big hill to run the Sweet Tote class.  I love meeting with these ladies every couple of weeks as they have not only become lovely customers but they’ve also become great friends – I love that about Stampin’ Up! as running the classes I do I have made so many new wonderful friendships so Stampin Up! is not just stamping but friendships we build along the way.

Here’s the gorgeous little Tote we made today – and complete with Chocolate Wafer Fingers! The handles are made from the 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon and inserted through Jumbo Eyelets inserted using the Crop-a-Dile.

This is one that I made from a tutorial from the lovely Becky Roberts and you can download the tutorial for this Tote-ally Awesome Tote here.

It was Becky that I got the tutorial for the mini backpacks a little while back so she really does have some great ideas and wonderful creations on her blog.

On the side of the tote you see here there are 3 little pockets which you can put all sorts of treats in or gift cards or vouchers. I have the Chocolate Wafer Fingers in the two outside pockets and a pack of tic-tacs in the middle pocket.

Turn the Tote around and we have one long pocket.

In this pocket we have a covered long post it note pad and a biro/pen which we screwed the end of and inserted some matching Sweet Always Designer Series Paper and tied some co-ordinating ribbon around the barrel of the pen.

Open the Tote up and we have a four cards – two of two different designs.

There are two sections made from acetate which hold the cards in but with the acetate being clear its not so easy to see.

Although there are a few ‘fiddly’ bits all the ladies were very happy with their finished Tote and I know that whoever they decide to give it to will love it immensely!

We had lots of fun today and I’m back there again on Monday for one of their Stamp A Stacks.

Till next time …..

I have been working on a present for a special friend for her birthday. Once I get all the ‘pieces’ made I will share the gift but for the time being I thought I’d share one of the cards I’ve made to include in the gift.

Well Ok I made two cards the same – well they are the same apart from the brads used and the flourish from Baroque Motifs.  I thought I’d make two so I could pop one into the gift and have one as a sample for my Stamp A Stack folder.

I love using the Always stamp set and I dont think you could go wrong with anything you made using it!

Recipe:

Stamps: Always, Baroque Motifs
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Sweet Always DSP
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose
Accessories: 5/8″ Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Sponge Daubers

This is a very simple card to make and would love to show you how to make it. Ring or Email me today to arrange your demonstration or class at your home with your friends. Remember during June and July you have the opportunity to earn bonus free products once your demonstration sales reach $600 or more.