Good Morning … and what a lovely Saturday it is – blue skies!! Yes you read that right!!

Its Saturday and that means another Utah Divas Sketch Challenge and here is this week’s sketch …

Sketch #174

I really didnt want to do hearts or valentines and I wanted to use some stamps that I earned for free from the recent Bookathon Demonstrators took part in and this is what I came up with …

Topsy-Turvy Birthday

Recipe
Stamps: Topsy-Turvy Celebrations (Summer Mini)
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Flirtatious DSP
Ink: Peach Parfait, Regal Rose, Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  Stampamajig, Stampin Dimensionals, Paper Snips, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch.

I just love this cake!! It’s a wee bit funky isnt it??

It makes for a very cute card and it must be ok as my nearly 15yo daughter gave it her ‘squeal of approval‘!

This card is fun and quite easy to make and I’d love to show you how at your workshop – all you need is a few friends and the desire to have a lot of fun!  Contact me today to book your workshop in and start earning free stamps with Sale•a•bration and more when you have a qualifying workshop!

Be sure to check out the Utah Divas Blog for all the other gorgeous creations created by the Saturday Sketch Challenge Design team!

Good Morning and welcome to another Festive Friday Challenge!

Now with all the rushing I had to do in December to be ready for Christmas I am working on the theory that its never to early to start planning for Christmas!  So when Nicole asked me to join her Festive Friday Design Team I just jumped at the chance cos I really do need all the help I can get!

So for this week’s challenge I created my Christmas Planner – it was also a great way to use up some of the leftover ‘Letters to Santa’ Designer Series Paper pack!

Christmas Planner

Santa fits rather nicely on the front dont you think?  I even used the ‘naughty or nice’ image on my belly band that holds it all together to keep the image on the right spot when its all closed up.

So lets open up the planner ….

I’ve slid the belly band off and opened the front to reveal out little ‘petite pocket’ to house all our receipts we need for all the gifts for Christmas – this way you’ll know exactly where to find the receipt when those board shorts dont fit the nephew or that cardy just is not Granny’s colour!

Here we have the planner completely open. I also used the Letters to Santa Accents to decorate my pockets and pop the labels on.  I’ve got little lists in each pocket for Gift Ideas, Christmas Card List, and a Gift List.  Its a good idea to start your Christmas Card list early so you know how many you’ll need to send out at Christmas and then we can do a few each month so we arent in a tizzy 2 weeks before Christmas cos you dont have enough cards!  A little like me last December!!

I do hope you like my little planner and if you’d like to purchase the tutorial then please click on the paypal link below and the file will be sent to you.

Be sure to pop over to Nicole’s blog to check out what the other girls have created for this week’s challenge and to play along!

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!

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!

Wow is all I can say and thank you so much for all the gorgeous comments about my Enchanted Album I shared for the ESAD Sale•a•bration Blog Hop.

Recently we ran a Secret Stampin Sister swap within our ESAD group and I made that same album for my sister using Beau Chateau Designer Series Papers and the Kindness Matters Stamp set

Kindness Album

Those little butterflies from the Kindness Matters fit perfectly into the frame on the Beau Chateau Designer paper dont you think?

I am so in-love with these papers and the colour combinations and the ‘vintage-ness’ of the papers.  The greeting on this little pocket is from the Happiness Shared stamp set – sorry its hard to see.

The blue and soft suede seem to go so well together as well … not sure if you can see them in the photo but I have staggered those tiny pearls within the image stamped on the base page.  The flourish image comes from the Creative Elements stamp set.

I have had such a dilemma using these two pieces of paper but they seem to fit well with this double page spread.  Roosters and wire and the flowers in the rooster paper are on the memories paper but larger so they were perfect to cut out and layer on here with the ‘Memories’ word cut out.  A nice pocket for putting in some journalling or thoughts. Or maybe pop a journalling box on the left page and slot a few photo’s into the pocket – you decide!

Border with 'Pearls and Lace'

I love the simplicity of this page! The design is busy enough and if you added too much more it would be too much. So a simply border using the Lace Ribbon Border punch and some of our gorgeous adhesive pearl jewels.  So feminine and so very vintage.

I do hope you like this version of my little album and I do so hope that my sister liked it too!  I will be making a tutorial for this album so stay tuned for that!

Thanks for stoppin by

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!

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!

A couple of month’s ago my gorgeous friend Melissa Garland asked me to help her with a sample for her Presentation at Stampin’ Up! Regionals and she asked for this Side Swing Card.

So I got to thinking and here is the card I came up with …

this is a sweet little card and uses a single piece of A5 for the card base – its just the score lines that need to be mastered!  I love the flowers in this stamp set and the paper I’ve used comes from the Cheerful Treat Designer Series Paper pack which is available as a Hostess gift.

I made another of these for my recent Latte Project Class with a Christmas theme …

This one uses the Letters to Santa Designer Series paper and the Merry & Type stampset and for the inside I’ve inserted  a little pocket for popping in a gift card.

You can download the tutorial at SplitCoast Stampers here or contact me to book a workshop and I’ll show you how to make one of these to take home.

Dont forget to check out the December Frenzy – just click the banner above!

Thanks for stoppin by

Good Afternoon!!  Well the sun is out and the girls are playing nicely together so I’m enjoying this moment while it lasts!!

As I was making cards for me to send out I realised I had a card that I havent shared with you yet. Which is pretty sad considering its a card I started doing at my Christmas Stamp A Stacks last year! Its a wonderful quick and easy card and one I cased from the very lovely Jacque Pedersen in New Zealand.

Its simply a matter of spongeing and layering pieces of Whisper White cards to create the door then stamp & cut out the wreath from Welcome Christmas and attach a Merry Tag and a little ribbon. Oh and dont forget to add a brad for the door handle or no one will be coming inside!!  Can it get much easier than that??

Now when I was redoing the card the other day I thought the green wreath doesnt really come out on the green cardstock so I thought I’d ink up the wreath in Old Olive and then grab my Cherry Cobbler marker to do the berries and pop it on some Whisper White ……

I think it stands out a little more?

Now not all wreaths have little knotted bows like mine but have a great big bow on the wreath – a bit like this ….

Yes!! I think I like this one the best – which one do you like??

Dont forget the December Frenzy is still happening so if you have any money left you might like to take a look and grab a bargain as some things are up to 50% off!!

Now as my Christmas Gift to you I am offering free postage on all orders from now until 31st December, 2011.  So click the banner above and check out the sale and see what you ‘need’ and email or ring me to place your order.