June - Twin 60th Birthday Cards

Hello again,

As promised, here are some more of my recent creations.


I made two birthday cards last week for twins in the family - Margaret and her twin brother Peter celebrated their 60th Birthday on Sunday and we joined in the happy celebrations along with other family members and friends.

It was a lovely afternoon spent chatting with everyone - lovely food, a few drinks, lots of laughs and some funny moments which I'm sure the guests of honour will remember for a long while to come.

I knew what sort of card I wanted to make for Margaret but didn't know what type of card to make for Pete so opted for a simple card but with dramatic colours.

This is his card -

I chose black for the base card and embossed some silver card with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and mounted it on bright lime green card for dramatic effect.

I used some acrylic alphabet tiles to add his name to the card and punched out two stars - one in green and one in black, using my Stampin' Up! punch. I ran my Krylon Gold pen around the edges of the black star so it would co-ordinate with the gold peel-off 60th greeting.

I punched a matching black photo corner and inked up the edges in gold with the Krylon pen to match the star. A few gold stars and dots were all the embellishments needed to finish off the card. I added a white Top Note shaped insert and stamped it with the Birthday greeting from the SU Upsy Daisy stamp.

As Margaret is a very special lady, I wanted to make a keepsake card for her - something that she will hopefully treasure for years to come.

I had recently seen examples of Tri-Shutter Cards on other women's blogs and was determined to try and make one and this was the perfect opportunity, so here is my version of this great card idea - my card for Margaret's 60th Birthday.

It takes a bit of folding and cutting but the results are well worth it. I wanted to use these beautiful Stampin' Up! papers from the Le Jardin Designer Series as the colours are so pretty.

To set off the gorgeous papers, I added matching blue and pale yellow flowers and white sheer ribbon threaded through a pearl buckle. I added little adhesive gems to the flower centres and some of the card panels for a little bit of Bling!

The greetings on the centre top and bottom panels were SU Rub-Ons from the 2008 Summer Mini catalogue. I stamped the main greeting from the Fifth Avenue Floral set in Baha Breeze ink on white card then mounted it on Soft Sky and Barely Banana card.

The stamped greeting on the far right panel is from Hero Arts and conveys a very simple but meaningful message.

I wanted to add the numbers '60' somewhere on the card so punched a scallop circle in Barely Banana, mounted a smaller plain circle in textured Soft Sky card on top and then added the gold peel-off numbers in the centre.

I spelt out 'Margie' (her nickname) in gold letters on the front panel and added a yellow satin butterfly (which had been decorated with some glitter) to one of the smaller panels.

Here is the whole card in its flat stage so you can see all of the decorated panels.

The card folds up to a regular A6 size and will fit in a C6 envelope but is a little bulky when folded so if I was going to mail this sort of card, I'd pack it in a gift box or padded post bag before mailing it.

The Birthday Greeting was stamped in Baha Breeze on some white card which I attached to the back of the main centre panel and I added my personal wishes onto that.

Margaret was thrilled with her card and I know she will be reminded of a lovely occasion whenever she looks at it.

I was proud of my efforts as this is the first one of these cards that I have made and it worked out better than I had hoped - I even surprised myself !! LOL

Even though it took awhile to make it, I already have plans to make more of these as I have lots of ideas buzzing around in my head ! Now, where was that other pack of printed papers ..............

If you want the instructions for this Tri-Shutter card you will find it here on the Split Coast Stampers site and also here at The Craftiblog.

Before I go, here's a photo of the Birthday Twins as they were about to cut their cake (which by the way, was yummy - chocolate with a mousse centre, mmm, mmm !!).

and here's a photo taken of me with my eldest grandson Andrew at the party - isn't he gorgeous ?? (Man, I hate being short !!)

Well that's it for another day - hope you enjoyed your visit. Come back again soon to see what else I've been inspired to make !

And remember, as the quote says, 'Take time to enjoy the simple things in Life' !!

See you again soon.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 16

Hi, I'm back again with another MDUC entry - I'm sorry but I missed getting my card uploaded on Sunday as I've been busy making special family Birthday cards recently and was out all weekend.

For this week's challenge our team had to make a card using one of a few colour selections - I chose the Pink, Brown and Cream combination for my Tilda card.

I love this image of Tilda with the Tulips (my favourite flowers) and thought it would be perfect to use with these colours.

I used Chocolate Chip for the base card and Pink Pirouette for the embossed panel and for mounting the patterned paper.

The paper is from a retired Stampin' Up! Designer Series set called Au Chocolat which was in one of the Mini catalogues a long while ago. (I knew I should have bought more at the time - it's such beautiful paper !)

I embossed the pink panel with my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder and added some Cocoa and Pink foam flowers which I found in my collection. The colours matched the cardstock perfectly.

I stamped the greeting on white card and punched it out with an oval punch, mounting it on a larger oval in Chocolate Chip cardstock.

As always, Tilda was coloured using watercolour pencils and an aqua brush. I added some glitter to the tulips and the foam flowers for a bit of bling !

Some lovely pink gems were added to finish off the card.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette.

Stamps - Short and Sweet (for the greeting)

Ink - Chocolate Chip

Designer Series Papers - Au Chocolat (2007-2008)

Punches - Small and Large Ovals

Extras -

Foam flowers, adhesive gems, Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder, Kindy Glitz - Crystalina.

I hope you will join our team this fortnight and add your creation to our MDUC site - here is the link. I'll be dropping in to see what beautiful cards you've all made.

If you haven't entered before then please, take the plunge and play along with us - it's so much fun and we all get so much inspiration from everyone else's cards.

You'll be amazed by the different ideas you can see here and there is sure to be more than a few cards to inspire you !

Well, drop by again soon to see what else I've made - I have a lovely treat in store for you.

A special Birthday card I made for a family member - got you intrigued ??

'Bye for now - thanks for stopping by.

Team Inspiration

Hi there,

I thought I had better check in again with some new cards.

Two weekends ago I met up with some Stampin' Up! girls in our team for a get-together at 'Princess' Kristy's place. We combined an afternoon of stamping and chatting with a Birthday celebration for Kristy.

Needless to say, due to the eating, drinking and merry making, we didn't get as much crafting done as we had planned though there was a lot of inspiration flowing around the room !

I stamped a lot of images ready for card making later on and picked up a lot of ideas from the other girls and I did actually make a card while I was there. (That's a plus for me !) LOL

I was trying out my new stamps and had brought along some assorted papers and ribbons to play with and came up with this design. Here is the card I made.

The main stamped image is from the Thoughts and Prayers set and I coloured it with markers. I used some papers from the DS Urban Garden set and mounted them onto Baha Breeze card and wrapped some blue taffeta ribbon around them before attaching them to the white base card.

I then stamped a greeting from the Best Yet - Hostess set on white card and punched it out with the Scallop Circle punch then sponged around the edge with Baha Breeze ink. I then mounted it with 3D foam dots and added a ribbon bow.

The inspiration for this card came from some of the beautiful cards Kristy had received from friends on the sad loss of her father recently. This stamp set has some beautiful images and greetings which are just perfect to use to let someone you love know that you are thinking of them.

When I got home, I felt inspired to make another two cards using the same set - so here they are.

I love this floral branch image and wanted to try a different colourway so used Cameo Coral, Creamy Caramel and Kiwi Kiss for this version.

I used paper from the DS Haiku set and punched one edge with the Scallop Border Punch and added a photo corner made with the Photo Corner punch. I added a gold brad to this corner and some glitter to the stamped flowers.

The Caramel taffeta ribbon matches the branch and photo corner and I added a small white flower with a gold brad centre for a more feminine touch. To balance the top of the card, I pierced a corner pattern on the top left hand side.

The third card I made was very simple in design using the tree image from this set. I wanted to make a card that would be suitable for either a male or female, conveying a simple message sent with love.

For this card I used some of the DS Haiku paper mounted onto Barely Banana card which was then attached to the white base card.

The tree image was again coloured with markers on white card which was mounted onto Close to Cocoa card and the greeting from this set was stamped onto white card, punched out with the large oval punch and edged in gold using a Krylon metallic pen. To keep in with the simplicity of this card, I just added 3 gold brads at the side.

This is such a versatile stamp set and I can see myself using it more often. It has greetings suitable for Sympathy and Get Well cards or just to let someone know that you care about them.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Whisper White, Baha Breeze, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana.

Stamp Sets - Thoughts and Prayers, Best Yet (Hostess Level 1).

Inks - Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss.

Markers - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Cameo Coral, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa.

Taffeta Ribbon - Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel.

Designer Series Papers - Urban Garden, Haiku.

Punches - Scallop Circle, Scallop Border, Photo Corners, Large Oval.

Extras - Gold brads, Krylon gold leaf pen, white paper flower, Kindy Glitz - Crystalina.

It was a lovely day as we shared our ideas and much laughter - I had a lot of fun with Kristy, Kellie (who had stayed with Kristy for that weekend), Yvonne, Debbie and the other girls who came along that day - I think there were nine of us all together and the day just flew by so quickly.

We'll make up for it though when we all meet up again at our Stamp Camp at the end of July for a whole weekend of crafting fun - can't wait !!

Well, that's it for this post but don't go too far away as I have another two Posts to add as I've been busy making Birthday cards recently.

See you next time !

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 15

Hello again,

I'm back with another entry for our Magnolia Down Under Challenge.

This week's theme is 'All about a Boy' so this is a chance for Edwin to star !

I wanted to make a bright and vibrant card as the only image I have of poor little Edwin is this one which looks a little serious. LOL

Whilst sorting through my many containers of patterned papers, I found this great one from Alison Ellis. It was one of a few in a range depicting images from Outer Space and was perfect for this card as most boys dream of rockets and spaceships and aspire to being astronauts !

Here is the card I made.

I layered the glittery paper onto white, blue and then red cardstock and cut out some of the Space images and attached them with 3D foam dots to the background paper.

I embossed a piece of red card and cut out a half circle for the 'planet' that Edwin is sitting on.

He and the planet were also attached to the paper with 3D foam dots.

To finish off the card, I printed out the Boy Zone greeting from my computer onto white card which was then punched out with an oval punch. This was adhered to a larger, embossed oval of red card and a silver frame was attached over the greeting with two silver brads.

As the paper and images already had glitter on them, I didn't need to do anything else to this card.

I think Edwin is having a wonderful time up there in space among the stars, watching all those rockets and spaceships whizzing by him!

Thanks for stopping by to see my latest MDUC entry - why not join in the fun and create your own entry ?

Go to the link above at Kellie Winnell's blog to view all the other entries from our Design Team members. We'll be checking on all the entries received in the next week so I hope to see yours there !

'Bye for now - see you again soon.

Workshop Projects

Hi there,

As I mentioned in my previous Post, I have been very busy lately with workshops and working at Craft Fairs plus other family commitments. I'd like to share some of my recent projects with you.

Here are some cards we made at two of my recent workshops.

The stamped image on this card is from the new Stampin' Up! - Pun Fun set which features 8 cute animals and greetings.

This little guy is actually a skunk hence the greeting 'I stink you're sweet'.

I stamped him in Chocolate Chip ink and coloured in the flower using markers from the Earth Elements colour family. The white stamped card was layered onto Chocolate Chip then onto the

Tangerine Tango base card.

I attached a strip of Haiku DS paper to a piece of Kiwi Kiss card which had been scallop-punched along one edge.

A strip of Old Olive grosgrain ribbon was then wound around one end (securing it at the back with some double-sided tape) and using another small piece of ribbon, I tied a knot around the centre of the ribbon strip.

The layered strip was then attached to the base card to complete the design.

This card is very easy to make for first-time stampers and it was a hit with all the girls.

Another card we made at each of the workshops was also suited to novice stampers.

This one features the new Fifth Avenue Floral set which is easy to use yet produces stunning results.

The base card for this one was Chocolate Chip and the floral images were stamped in Kiwi Kiss,

Baha Breeze and Chocolate Chip on Whisper White card.

The white stamped panel was then attached to the base card and a strip of co-ordinating Haiku DS paper was attached across the front of the card.

I then stamped a greeting onto white card using Baha Breeze ink and punched it out with the Square Scallop punch. Using a sponge and some Kiwi Kiss ink, I sponged around the scalloped edges of the greeting to co-ordinate with the paper strip and the flowers on the central panel.

This card can then be jazzed up a little with self-adhesive pearls or rhinestones if you want to give it a more elegant touch. I have also at times, used glitter on the flower centres when making this card for personal friends.

The beautiful images of this set make it very easy to create simple yet elegant and stunning cards.

I was also working on the Stampin' Up! stand at the recent Picture to Page craft show held in Burwood, Victoria and designed this liitle Matchbook Tea Bag Holder for my 'Make and Take' project.

I offered a few variations so that customers could choose the colour of their choice. It's a simple design of a piece of cardstock which has a scalloped border punched at one end and the card is then scored close to the scalloped edge and again near the centre of the card.

The card is then folded at each of the scored lines, a staple is inserted close to the bottom fold and the top fold then tucks under the scalloped edge, holding the cover in place.

The front of the matchbook was stamped in two colours using the leafy branch from the Fresh Cuts stamp set and a strip of co-ordinating DS paper was attached across the centre.

Using the Best Yet Hostess set, I stamped a greeting on white card and after punching it out with the Square Scallop punch, layered it onto a square of coloured card which was then attached over the paper strip with 3D foam dots.

I slipped a tea bag into the holder and closed the cover to hold it in place (no glue needed). This little project proved to be a hit with the customers who visited our stand and as a treat, I offered them a choice of flavoured teas to put into their finished tea-bag holders.

This is a simple gift item which can be used with tea-bags or individually wrapped After Dinner Mints or Chocolate squares if you prefer. It can be slipped into a greeting card or attached to a wrapped present as a little 'surprise gift' or you can place them around the table for your dinner guests which is sure to be a talking point!

I demonstrated this project at a recent workshop and the ladies there liked it so much that they made a couple of versions each to take home with them. As most of them had never stamped before, the design was easy enough for them to make and after their first tentative steps at stamping, they were away!

It was lovely to see the proud looks of accomplishment on their faces when they had completed this project and the floral card - that's what is so satisfying about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, sharing ideas with others and watching them enjoy themselves as they discover their 'hidden talents' which just need a little help and guidance to emerge !

I also brought along a matching set of 3D items to showcase our new DS papers.

This little handbag and Post-It Note holder were easy to make and would make a sweet little gift for someone - I actually made one of these note holders for my workshop hostess as part of a Thank You gift.

I used Baha Breeze cardstock and some of the new DS papers from the Urban Garden set.

The paper strip on the note holder was punched with our new Eyelet Border punch and I added some self-adhesive pearls to 'dress up' this little set. The bag closure is a small velcro dot cut in half and each piece attached to the cardstock under the flap.

The bag is roomy enough to fit in a small gift - e.g. lollies, chocolates, earrings or other small item of jewellery, miniature bottle of perfume, etc.

If you like the paper designs on these projects, check out our catalogue to see the whole range on offer.

We have 14 different sets to choose from plus another 8 sets of monochrome Designer Prints in 8 different colours which co-ordinate with our cardstock, inks, markers and ribbons so there is bound to be something there to suit everyone's taste but beware, these gorgeous papers are addictive and once you buy one or two sets, you'll find yourself wanting them all !!

Well that's it for another Post - come by again soon to see my next creations.

Thanks for visiting - see you next time.