Posts Tagged ‘Classes’

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!

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 …

Sorry for not posting the last couple of days … I got my birthday present early and have been playing with it and configuring it and trying to work out how to get it to do what I want it to do – what is ‘it’??  It’s an iPad!  I’m not as impressed as I thought I’d be but I’m slowly working it out.

If you remember I had my lovely friend Tanya come stay for a few days at the beginning of the month and one of the projects she brought kits for us (us being my lovely friend Lisa and myself) to make is this awesome 3d Truck complete with cards!

How cool is this truck? and doesnt every girl need a pink truck? I think so!!  Looking at the above image I’m thinking we could even pop on some swirls or flourishes around the fender. Now that would be cool would it not?

Here are the lovely cards we made to pop inside ….

They are like a gate fold. Now when I was making my cards I got a bit of a serve from the girls asking why I put the presents and pets in the back. Well when you move you have to take the pets right?? and there will also be all those housewarming presents you’ll need to pick up too!! Or maybe they are all the new stamps and accessories in the upcoming 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue!!

Now if you didnt want to put cards in the back of the truck you’d be able to fit in some coffee/hot chocolate sachets, chocolates, gift card, small stamp set, ribbons, brads, glimmer paints, gorgeous new sizzlits dies or some of the lovely new textured impressions embossing folders! So much to choose from!!

Now you wont fit the new Idea Book & Catalogue in the back of that truck but you can arrange your own copy from me as I have received my order of 4 boxes!

You can get yours by ….

• paying $10 plus postage. Now if you live close by and can pick it up or I can drop it off you wont have to pay the postage. Also, you will receive a rebate of $10 on your first order from the new catalogue of $100 or more.
• book a workshop & get it for free – its that easy!

Now if you do happen to purchase yours from me and after reading the book decide you need a workshop to earn the awesome new products for free then I will give you a voucher valued at $10 to use at your workshop.

Contact me today to arrange your workshop and get your free catalogue!

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

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!

Its been a busy but exciting week.

Last week my lovely Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator friend Sonia Garbut announced she was a guest designer for a new online class called Inkspirations4U and was offering a free pass … well…. Sonia’s 2yo daughter pulled out my name so I won a free pass!

How exciting is that?  I never win anything!

Before the projects started rolling in Madeline gave us a colour challenge to get us started.

Now those colours happen to be some of my favourites but boy did I have a hard time putting them together!

Here is what I came up with ….

I love this flower image from Asian Artistry. Its just gorgeous … and so is that dragonfly!

I used my Stampin Write Markers to colour the image however I wanted it to have a soft feel to it so I coloured the leaves and stems with the Basic Grey marker and then stamped it off once. I then inked the flowers with the Pretty in Pink marker, huffed and then stamped onto Naturals Ivory cardstock.  I also sponged around the edge of the naturals ivory piece but again after dabbing the sponge on the Basic Gray Ink pad I dabbed it off first to give a softer edge – it tends to blend into the Basic Gray piece behind it this way.

Using the Rich Razzleberry as the base card fulfilled the ‘colour challenge’ although I wasnt totally sold on the card. I thought the Rich Razzleberry was too dark for this sympathy card so here are a couple of variations …

with ribbon

changed base card to Pink Pirouette

Now as much as I love Rich Razzleberry I think the softness of Pink Pirouette on this last card fits the ‘soft sympathy’ feel I was after.

The projects coming through the Inkspirations4U classes are so nice and its not too late to join and well worth the US$20 it costs so why not pop over to Inkspirations4U and join up – would love to see you there!

Welcome to another Diva Sketchy Saturday!

I know its later in the day but it IS still Saturday!  Here is this week’s sketch from the lovely Carol for the Utah Divas International Sketch Challenge.  Easy enough right??

Well I was half way through my card when I thought that if I rotated the sketch it would make a great landscape card – and then I looked at the sketch again and yes its meant to be a landscape card!

Here is the card I made …

The cocoa on the blue was actually inspired by one of the coffee cups I have and think it turned out well.

I love this litte floral design stamp from Vintage Vogue – its so versatile and makes awesome background paper.

The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Messages and fits perfectly in the small oval punch or even the word window. I’ve added a small flower from the Trio Flower Punch for that extra little bit.

Now when I was making this one I thought that a flower in the place of the ‘friend’ layer would look nice so I made another.

Now with the second card I changed the ink to Creamy Caramel to stamp onto the blue and sponging around the edges.

The Happy Mothers Day Sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Messages.

I have been busy this past week making swaps for Convention and doing all those behind the scenes things for convention – making sure I have decent clothes and shoes to wear and all the other bits and pieces.  As a Convention Special I am offering free postage on all mail or telephone orders between now and 31st May. So if there is something you wish to order now is the time and the more you purchase the more you save!

Now its time to send you skipping off to the next Sketchy Diva being the lovely Ruthie!

How would you like to earn a free Hostess Stamp Set and $30 to spend on any item in the Stampin’ Up Idea Book & Catalogue or Mini Catalogue?  How about learning new techniques to use in your stamping?

You can do this and more just by being a member of my Latte Stamp Club you can do this and more!

What is a Stamp Club?

• The Latte Stamp Club meets monthly and for 6 months, the workshop is free of charge and you will get to make 3 items created just for my stamp club members.

• Each Latte Stamp Club member must place a minimum order of $50 each month

• Each month each Latte Stamp Club member will take a turn of being the ‘hostess’ and as a hostess will earn hostess benefits being a free Hostess Stamp set as well as a minimum of $30 of  free products from the Stampin’ Up! Idea Book & Catalogue or the current Mini Catalogue. Now when it is your turn to be hostess then you are welcome to get outside orders to boost your hostess benefits.

Not located near me?  Not a problem!

You are then able to join my Latte Long Distance Stamp Club.  If you like the idea of the stamp club but are unable to make the time to attend or cant attend on the specified date then  contact me to arrange a spot in my Latte Long Distance Stamp Club. You will still be required to place a minimum $50 order each month, and each member will still get to be ‘hostess’ and receive the hostess benefits!

Maybe you’d like to start your own Latte Stamp Club with just you and five of your friends – I just need 6 people to start a club and then you can share all the joys of the monthly Latte Stamp Club and taking turns in playing  hostess with your friends.

Please note that this is a 6 monthly commitment so you wont be able to drop out during those six months and you will need to complete the agreement to participate each month. If you find you can not make the Stamp Club meeting for any reason you will still be required to place a $50 order and you will receive kits to make the projects for that meeting along with any templates and full instructions.

Here is a sample of one of the cards you will make as being part of my Latte Stamp Club!

How sweet is this card?? This is actually one of the easiest cards I’ve made and is a case of a card in the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue and could be used for any occasion.

Recipe:
Stamps: Tiny Tags
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Kraft
Ink: Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Melon Mambo Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon, Jewelry Tag Punch, Manhatten Flower Textured Impressions Folder, Linen Thread

Have questions? thats fine – just contact me today to ask any questions you might have or to reserve your spot at my Latte Stamp Club. 

First club will meet in June as long as I have numbers – I already have three willing to join so email or ring me today to reserve your spot!

I do hope you are having a good week and you’re all busy buying lots of lovely goodies for mum for Mother’s Day this Sunday – you haven’t forgotten have you??

Dont stress if you have just give me a call to arrange a gift voucher and receive a bonus $5 on top of what you pay for mum! She’ll love you forever … and so will I!!

Now onto the Technique Challenge for the Soul Scrappers forum ….

I thought this week I’d look at frames – well not because I need to get my eyes checked but I have this really lovely stamp set called Frames with a Flourish and it gets so neglected. <awwww>  So I pulled it out this morning and thought well lets see what different ways we can use it. I am sure you have those ‘frame’ sets or dies in your stash that you just ‘had‘ to have yet rarely use.

So first off I thought that I could use that dotty fancy frame as a pattern on my background so came up with this ….

I’ve just used the stamp to create the pattern on the background Pretty in Pink piece and stamped in Regal Rose. It works quite well with the staggering of the images I think.

I then took the square floral frame from Frames with a flourish and stamped it in Regal Rose onto Whisper White. I think cut around the frame and then sliced it in half diagonally.

Then using the two corners I attached them to my photo and used them as photo corners.

I then layered the photo and the photo corners onto a Pink Pirouette mat so that you wouldnt loose the photo corners into the background.

I’ve then stamped the dotty frame onto Whisper White and created my page title with that piece and here is my finished layout …

Its a little cute dont you think?? so is that kid!

I even attempted a ‘boy’ layout ….

What do you think? does it pass??

I’ve used the circle frame from Frames with a flourish and the party hats come from Party Hearty stamp set.

Now stamps arent the only things we have frames in. There is also now our lovely Big Shot and all the awesome dies. Here is a layout I’ve created using the Top Note die …

I’ve used the die to create the Journalling box and also the photo descriptions and just switched the colours around on each of them.

Well I hope you’ve liked what I’ve done for the challenge and feel free to have a play yourself and either post your creation over on the Soul Scrappers Forum or comment on this post and insert a link to your blog post or online gallery. I do have a little surprise for the Challenge Winner soit could be worth your while to have a play and enter.

Good Morning!

I thought today I’d share with you my ‘re-vamped’ craft nook which is where I create and work and do my blog posts

Its not a new area but I do have a very new Ink Pad Storage unit that my lovely Brother In Law made for me!  I’ve seen these online for a few years and have often wished I had one and now I do!

Here is the unit empty & sitting on my sofa waiting for me to clear the space on my desk to fit it in.

How cool is it?? It will hold 60 ink pads, ink refills and Stampin Write Markers. So now I have all my colours in the one place!

Mind you getting this wonderful new unit it meant I had to remove the shelf I already had there and rearrange where I kept things. Now if you are a crafter you will know just what havoc all this rearranging does to ones ‘neatness’  and if you know me at all you’ll know I dont have that gene – my sister got my share (and some) of that!

Now here is my lovely unit all filled – well except for one spot and after transferring all my goodies over I’ve realised two things ….

1. I dont really need 3 Chocolate Chip reinkers!
2. I need reinkers for all my ink pads!

It looks pretty sweet hey??  If you would like to purchase one of these units then please email me for price and postage details – Australia only (sorry) Dimensions are 805mm W, 125mm D and 330mm H.

Hubby did suggest it needs to be painted and when I suggested he was welcome to do that any time he then decided the ink pad shelves wouldnt then slide in and out easily! Typical!!

Now as for my work area I have a corner (nook) of the living room and have an L shaped desk with a hutch. So this is my area to the right…

You can see here that my computer is there and I have my Ribbons,  Designer Series Papers and cardstock on the shelf above.

They are stored in the Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage. I do have those lying on their sides though so its easy to just stretch and grab whatever cardstock I need and it also comes in handy when I am ordering so I know at a glance what cardstock I’m low on.

I also have my drawers to the right of my computer which house all my scraps and off cuts. I have a drawer for each colour family and then if I need a smaller piece its easy to find.  When I get to a stage when the drawers are so full they wont close I just make up ‘collage’ bags and give them to customers with their orders and they love it!

Now here’s the view on the left of my table featuring my new storage unit

I now have all my inks and markers right in front of me and I love it!

My desk sure does look good when its this tidy!!

I am thinkin its time to do some more creating