As part of this group we also have a Secret Stampin Sister program where we are given a partner and we spoil them with cards and hand made gifts for 3 months.  The recipient doesnt know who she is to receive from so its all a little bit exciting to get those little secret treasures in our mailbox.

I received my first card for this round last week and today I’m sharing it with you.

How nice is this card??

I’m not really one for ‘red’ but I just love everything about this card!  I love this little blossom flower from Embrace Life and that ‘for you’ sentiment is also one of my favourites!

The base card is Naturals Ivory which they’ve then stamped the blossom image in Close to Cocoa and coloured the blossoms in what I think is Regal Rose and Ruby Red – wonder how close I am in guessing the colours??

The edging is from the set All Scallops which was in the Summer Mini December 2008. She’s then used the Scallop Border punch to do the edging. She’s also stamped this same stamp onto Ruby Red cardstock in Whisper White Craft Ink. She has used three red brads in the spine of the card to give it that extra ‘wow’ factor.

Thank you so much to my secret sister for this gorgeous card and hopefully you read my blog so you know how much I love this card! It has that old ‘aged’ feel to it and I love it.

I will share future cards and goodies I’m sent and we wont know who my secret sister was until the reveal at the end of May.

A special thanks goes to Lynda for picking up my typo which I’ve now fixed up – a little pressie will be in the mail to you

They use the Stampin’ Up!® Idea Book and Catalogue as it was designed – as an idea book. They will go through all the samples in the book and decide which they want to do and tonight I’m sharing the cards they’ve chosen. They have chosen the two cards at the top of page 75 -  I have altered them ever so slightly as I dont have the Kindred Spirits stamp set and I’ve change the chipboard to using the cardstock instead.

In previous years the recipes for each card have been listed in the back of the catalogue and idea book. This year they have used those pages to give us a few more stamps and accessories and have placed the files for the recipes on the Stampin Up Website with the Catalogue. You can download the recipe file with or without the images.  You can find the files here

Here are the recipes for the two cards ….

This card is made from a 6×6 base so finished size is 6×3 inches.

Recipe:

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Frames with a Flourish
Inks: Not Quite Navy
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
DSP: Urban Garden
Accessories: Stampin Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper Snips

This is a very quick and easy card to make and really suites any occasion.

Recipe:

Stamps: Circle Circus, Eastern Blooms, Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Not Quite Navy
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
DSP: Urban Garden
Accessories: Paper Piercer, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin Dimensionals

This also makes a quick and easy card as I think the longest bit was cutting out the circle and ring.

I am looking forward to catching up with the girls again tomorrow as we always have a good time when we catch up and stamp together.

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you the layout they will be making.

One of the great things about convention is the swaps. I only had time to make 40 swaps this year so they didnt last very long. These are the cards I made.

The card made with the Inspired by Nature stamp set I did in a variety of colours and some were done using Poppin Pastels technique and some where done using the Direct to Rubber with the markers.

So although I only did 40 swaps I still returned home with 40 different cards to inspire and case.

Two of the swaps I recieved I did case and use for my Stamp A Stacks last Saturday and Monday and the ladies really loved them too. I cased cards from two special friends – the lovely Kerri Hunter and Nicki Tidbold. These two great demonstrators have become very dear friends through Stampin’ Up! and I am blessed to called them friends.

This first one is the card I made after casing one of Kerri’s swaps. Its a simple but elegant card and very easy to make and all with just one stamp set – Pocket Silhouettes.

Recipe:

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Inks: Sahara Sand, Basic Black
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Accessories: Stampin Write Markers, Small Oval Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals

This second card was cased from one of Nicki’s Swaps.

This is another simple but elegant card and I’m a great admirer of Nicki’s work. She also did a presentation at convention on making Male themed cards which was awesome – well done Nic!

Recipe:

Stamps: Eastern Blooms
Inks: Regal Rose, Basic Black
Paper: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Sweet Always DSP
Accessories: Small Oval Punch, Sponge Daubers, Chocolate Chip 1/4″ Grosgrain, Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds, 2 way glue pen, Scallop Border punch.

So as you can see Convention is more than just going and attending the business talks and the make & takes – its also about friendships and the swaps!!

If you’ve been thinking that you’d like to try Stampin’ Up! to earn a little extra cash then now is the perfect time to join. You can choose to purchase the full Starter kit at just $324 or for the month of May you can join for just $150 by purchasing the Scrapbooking Starter Kit.

The Scrapbooking Starter Kit includes ….

You will also receive all the business tools you need to start with order forms, catalogues, dvd, sample sheets and so much more – you will also then receive a montly newsletter from Stampin Up highlighting techniques, tips and more samples! This along with being part of my lovely team so you’ll also get my team newsletters and access to a great team forum for even more help and inspiration – not to mention the demonstrator discount and all the rewards you can earn along the way.

One of the things that drew me to Stampin’ Up is that there is no pressure to perform or to do demonstrations and such – its all up to you just how much or how little you do. Its up to you if you want to be a hobby demonstrator and purchase products at a discount for you and your friends or if you want to do this as a business – you can also swap between the two at any time – its all up to you!

So if you’d like more information or maybe you have some questions regarding the cards I’ve shared today or about becoming a demonstrator then please email or ring me when its convenient for you.

Ever since Nicki made that set of cards with the lovely colour combination of Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red I’ve been wanting to make some.

Now I know this card is no where near as nice as Nicki’s set but thought I’d share it with you. I’ve used our square punches for the flower tiles and it makes a very simple & bright birthday card.

I’ve also used the Happy Birthday from Its your birthday stamp set for the greeting at the bottom.

Here’s another very easy card to make and works well at a Stamp A Stack.

If you havent noticed I am rather in love with Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive combination and the pale plum just goes so nicely with those two colours. You’d never know I liked purple would you??

The flowers on the Pale Plum layer are stamped in versamark and I’ve uses my markers to colour the stem stamp in old olive and eggplant for the flowers. I love the richness too of the Eggplant Grosgrain.

The For You greeting comes from Occassional Greetings stamp set which is a great set for different greetings and one for just about every occasion.

This is the last card for today. As you can see from these cards you can get different styles with just the one set and great value at just $39.95 for 5 stamps.

Would make a great christmas present too and you can match it with the Bali Breeze designer series papers!

This card is done in Chocolate Chip and River Rock. I’ve used the circle punches to create the little round tab and the Taffeta ribbons just give it the ‘oooo’ effect.

Hope you do like these cards today and look forward to sharing some more and from different sets from the new Summer Mini over the next week or two so dont forget to bookmark this blog and pop back often.

Now it’s back to writing out christmas cards!