Happy Friday and welcome to another Festive Friday Challenge!

for this week’s challenge I decided to go with a super quick and easy Christmas card …

Festive Friday Challenge 5

Recipe:
Stamps:  Snow Swirled, Curly Cute
Paper:  Island Indigo, Wisteria Wonder, Glossy White
Inks: Island Indigo, Marina Mist, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories: Big Shot Machine, Top Note die, Paper Snips, Stampin Sponges, Rhinestone Jewels

I just love this card and how quick and easy it is – it will be a great Stamp A Stack card!  Now remember it doesnt have to be Christmas to include Christmas Cards in your Stamp A Stacks so if you’d like to host a Stamp A Stack and include this card please contact me as soon as possible to book it in.  As a Stamp A Stack Hostess you are entitled to all the Hostess benefits from anyone purchasing at your Stamp A Stack and if you host during Sale•a•bration then your rewards are even better!  Hurry – Sale•a•bration finishes 31st March, 2012.

Be sure to check out all the details of the Festive Friday Challenge #5 and play along!

Here’s my same card but with changing the card layers around ….

Festive Friday #5 in Wisteria

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!

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.

As you know Sunday I decided I should really sit down and make me some cards and so I went to my drawer to find a set I hadnt used much for Christmas and Holiday Lineup seemed to be jumping and saying “pick me” … “oh oh .. pick me”.  So I did!!

I wanted a design that was fairly quick and easy as I needed to make a few.  I came up with a design I liked and then thought it was missing something and sat back and looked at it and thought … hmm it needs an embellishment of some sort.  I added a bow and wallah .. this is what I came up with….

Now for a closer view …

The Carolers

Rudolph and Friends

Frosty & Friends

Recipe
Stamps: Holiday Lineup, Contempo Christmas, Snow Swirled
Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Inks: Jet Black Stazon, Basic Grey, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Poppy Parade, Soft Suede
Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Stampin sponges, Aqua Painter, Glimmer Brads, Ribbon, Rhinestone Brad, Antique Brads, Mini Glue dots.

Dont forget I have Free shipping from now till the end of December so if you’d like to order the supplies to make this card or anything else I’m happy to have it shipped direct to your door absolutely free of shipping charges – thats a saving of 5%!!

Thanks for stoppin by

Are you all Christmassed out?? I am over going shopping!

I cant believe there’s still 12 days till Christmas and I’ve finished my shopping – its just the creating I have to catch up on and all I need is lots of time and a little energy – well ok .. alot of energy!

I was going through and uploading some Christmas Cards to my Facebook page to share some motivation and inspiration and found I have a couple of cards that I havent shared yet!  These were actually some we created for my Christmas in July Class and being the month July was I’m not surprised they were overlooked!

Here’s my Blue Baubles card using the Tree Trimmings Stamp Set …

I decided to pop the card in our tree to take the photo … as you can see our tree has taken on a Blue and Pink theme this year and do I quite like the colour combination.

This is a very simple card with a little Big Shot Emboosing and the very pretty baubles from Tree Trimmings which is such a cute and affordable stamp set at just $24.95.  You could make a heap of these cards without much effort at all!

Dont forget to check out the December Frenzy happening and if you would like anything to arrive in time for Christmas you’d need to order by Friday at the latest – so just give me a call and let me know what you’d like to order and I’ll have it sent straight to your door!  Cant get much easier than that!

Click the banner below to check out what items are on sale up to 50% off with the December Frenzy

Thanks for stoppin by

Happy Saturday to you! I hope you are well and if you’re anything like me your busy preparing for Christmas with shopping and what not.  We got our tree up last night – funny story as hubby wanted a 5 foot tree and we sorta ended up coming home with a 7 foot tree! Thats ok cos it was in sections so we just left one section out and wallah – instant 5 foot tree!! So glad he only got the box of 300 Christmas Tree lights and not the box of 600 lights!!

Now being Saturday its time for another Sketch challenge from Utah Divas International group and here is this week’s sketch …

Now I can see you imagining a lovely simple Christmas card with some snowflakes – right??

Well thats what I thought to start with but then my mind started to wander and since tomorrow I have a Project Class on I wanted to make something with this sketch – something that could be used either by the ladies coming or given as a gift for Christmas and this is what I came up with ….

I’ve used the new Spiced Cake DSP in the new Summer Mini Catalogue and I just love this paper and can see me going through quite a few packs over the next few months!

This would make a great gift for Mums, Dads, or students on their desk or maybe even as a Teacher Thank You gift.  It could lie flat on your desk or pop a couple of magnets on the back and attach it to the fridge.

I hope you like this little message centre and I hope the ladies like it tomorrow too!

Dont forget to stop by the Utah Divas International Blog for links to what the other Designing Divas have created with this sketch.

Wow what a day!!

Not only do we have the awesome December Frenzy starting today we also have a gorgeous new Mini Catalogue to celebrate!

2011 Summer Mini Catalogue

Please feel free to contact me if you’d like your own copy to be posted to you and I’ll include a special offer just for you!

Now if you’d like some ideas for using all the gorgeous new products in the Summer Mini Catalogue we arranged an ESAD Summer Mini Catalogue Blog hop to inspire and motivate you – just click on the button below to start you on your motivational hop!

click here to start hopping!

Contact me to place your order and if you mention you did the Blog Hop you’ll get free postage on your order!

Today I’m sharing a gorgeous project that was demonstrated by Melissa at Stampin’ Up! Regional Training in Canberra.  I loved it so much I just had to make one of my own and share it with my lovely customers

This is one of the projects we made at my first Monday Make-It Class this week.

Top Note Frame

This frame uses the flocked paper from the Mocha Morning Specialty Designer Series Paper Pack and its so lovely and elegant.  You need the Top Note Die, Beautiful Wings embosslit and Beautiful Butterflies Die and the Creative Elements stamp set.

You could either pop a stand on the back as I have done or a magnet to stick it on your Refrigerator.

Just add a photo, 2012 Calendar or a stamped saying and it would make a beautiful Christmas Gift.

Dont forget today is the last day for the ‘Sale to Die for’ and get those special dies and folders at 10% off – click on the image below to view what  dies and folders are on sale.

As you know last weekend was huge with Dad’s 80th Birthday dinner and then my neices’ wedding on the Sunday.

When I got my copy of the upcoming Summer Mini Catalogue and saw the Marry Me stamp set I knew I had to get it for Janine’s wedding card and since it included a flower stamp and a couple of sayings I’d be able to use it for other occasions as well.

Here’s the card I made for Janine & Rob …

I love the colours in the new In Colour range and I’ve used Pool Party and Island Indigo on this card.  I’ve also stamped the image onto vellum and embossed it. I simply then just cut out the veil and attached it using Glue Dots and used the gorgeous pearls to ‘hide’ the glue dots and to give it that special lift.

Now as I was sitting enjoying a coffee that morning my brother messages me and asks if I can make a card for Dad – I think they forgot it took us an extra hour than them to get to the Wedding Venue!  but being the wonderful daughter I am I made a card for Dad to give ….

I’ve used Marry Me again with Razzleberry, Pretty in Pink and Vanilla.  I love this combo and this card was rather quick & easy once I’d worked out what to do.

The Summer Mini Catalogue starts on Thursday 1st December and if you dont have your copy yet and would like a copy please contact me and I’ll get one in the post to you this week.

Dont forget there are just three days left for the Big Shot ‘sale to die for’ promotion so if you’d like to grab some dies at 10% off or maybe grab some for Christmas gifts contact me today and if you place and pay for your order before midnight Tuesday 29th November you’ll get free shipping!  Email or Ring me now to place your order!!