RAMONA'S HOME OF CREATION

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 28

2009-12-06T11:24:00.008+11:00

Good morning everyone,

It's time for another MDU challenge - this time the theme is Bedazzled !!

It's an excuse to use lots of bling - glitter, rhinestones, pearls, beads, etc. I thought this image of Tilda would suit the theme and I had the colours in mind when I picked this stamp.

I embossed some silver paper with swirls and matted it on a dark plum piece of card then mounted this to the bottom of the pink base card.

I then embossed a square of the silver paper with a different pattern to look like tiny pebbles.Over this I mounted a square of the dark plum card and added a piece of pale green and silver glittery paper which I'd distressed around the edges.

I folded back the top right-hand corner and added a pale green pearl to the paper and some small rhinestones on the plum card.

Tilda was coloured in using watercolour pencils and I added some glitter dots to her dress and ribbon bow and also on her wings and the rose she's holding. (Here is a close up of the 'bling'.)

To finish off the card, I tied some pink taffeta ribbon over the bottom silver panel, added the Tilda image (mounted on 3D foam dots) and some pink fabric flowers. I then added some adhesive rhinestones among the swirls and also stuck them onto the silver brads in the flower centres.

Well, if you like this idea why not join us and send in your entry for our challenge today - just click on this link to take you to our challenge site.

Check out the gorgeous designs that the other Design Team members have come up with - they're awesome !

Please drop in again soon - I have some Christmas cards to show you and a few other things.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you're all having a great weekend. See you again soon !!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 27

2009-11-22T10:38:00.011+11:00

Hi there,

Christmas is fast approaching - it's so scary, only a few weeks to go !!

I haven't even thought about Christmas shopping yet but I have started on my cards - I said 'started', have lots more to do but in keeping with this theme, here is my card for this fortnight's challenge.

The theme is 'Something for Christmas' - I made a card but if you would like to join us, feel free to make any project with a Christmas theme - a card, 3D object, scrapbook page, etc.

For my card, I chose this beautiful vintage paper as the background. It features some lovely flowers and text and I loved the colours in it.

I sponged around the edges of the paper with some ink to give it an antique finish then mounted it onto some dark green card and tied some gold glittery ribbon along the left side.

I then mounted this panel to the red base card. To highlight the flowers on the paper, I added some gold glitter glue to their centres.

The sleigh was one of two die-cuts I found in my stash of goodies - can't remember where I got them from but I had a gold one and a red one which I used for this card. I embossed it with an embossing folder then sponged around the edges with some brown ink to give it some definition.

I coloured in this gorgeous Tilda image with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added some gold gliiter to her buttons and the embroidery on her coat and also a little on the poinsettias in her basket.

For an added touch, I also put some crystalline glitter along the fur trim of her hood to simulate glistening snow - it looks beautiful on the card at night but as always, doesn't come up too well in photos.

To finish off the card I tied a sheer ribbon bow to the gold ribbon strip and then attached a little gold bell to the bow's centre.

To decorate the sleigh, I added a die-cut leafy branch and 3 red fabric flowers. I enjoyed making this card and I hope you like it.

Why don't you check out what the other team members have done for this challenge and join in the fun and create your own Christmas project.

Please share your creation with us by linking it to our site here. We'd love to see your work!!

Well, that's it for now. Drop in again soon to see what else I've been creating. Hope you're all having a good weekend.

'Bye until next time !

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #26

2009-11-12T22:48:00.011+11:00

Hello there,

I'm sorry that my card for the recent MDUC is so late - have had a few other commissioned cards to make for family members and have been busy with other things and issues recently.

For this challenge we had to use this sketch designed by Shell Barnard.

As I had been asked to make a 70th birthday card featuring a Tilda image I made use of this sketch for the card.

It worked out very well I think.

Here is my take on the sketch.

I used some pretty patterned paper and attached it to a scalloped piece of cardstock then mounted it onto the base card.

I then embossed some pink card, cut around the edges in a random shape then cut out a piece from the centre and turned it into a frame so that I could put the main image inside it.

The white piece of card behind the frame was sponged with some pale yellow ink to match the scalloped border strip.

I coloured Tilda with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and added some glitter glue to the flowers and the bow in her hair. 3D foam squares were used to attach her to the frame.

I used some gold peel-off stickers for the numerals and the Birthday greeting, attaching them to some yellow cardstock and then cut around the greeting with scissors and used a 1" circle punch around the numbers. (I edged the circle of cardstock with a gold ink pen.)

To finish off the card, I added a gold peel-off corner sticker and then attached a gold brad to a white flower and some pink flowers and leaves and adhered them to the embossed frame with 3D foam squares.

My Mother-in-Law was very happy with the card which she is giving to a friend of hers - I hope the Birthday 'Girl' will like it as well !

Please check out our MDUC site here to see what the other team members have done for this challenge and if you want to play along too, add your card creations to our link so that we can all have a look at them.

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you come back soon for another visit.

I have two more cards to show you which will be in my next post and I have to make another 2 cards by this weekend so will show you those as well when they're finished.

'Bye for now - see you again very soon!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 25

2009-10-25T22:49:00.008+11:00

Hello again,

It's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this fortnight's theme is 'Distressed' -

no not me, just the card!! LOL

This was a challenge for me as I like things nice and neat so had to push myself to distress the papers on this card. Pathetic isn't it ?

I started with the base card in Sage Shadow then adhered a piece of So Saffron which I had stamped using the thumping technique - I took my So Saffron Stampin' Spot and thumped it all over the piece of card, creating distressed lines from the edges of the stamp pad.

It's a quick and effective way to get this sort of look on your cardstock or paper.

I then distressed the edges of the card using my fingernail to just scrape aloong the edges.

Then I used a small circle punch to cut out the corners and distressed those also. I then mounted this card onto the base card.

I punched a scallop edge along a piece of SU Designer Series paper and mounted this to the left side of the yellow card. A piece of lovely pale blue vintage paper with the butterfly image was then distressed along three edges and attached along the side of the blue strip.

The join was covered with some beige coloured lace.

I then coloured the Tilda image using markers and watercolour pencils, cut it out and attached it to the base card with 3D foam dots.

To finish off, I added some lovely blue flowers (attaching adhesive pearls to the centres) and pretty little daisies. I also added some adhesive pearls in the four corners of the card.

Why not join in the fun and visit the MDUC site to add your creation and share it with all of us -here is the link.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Come back again soon to see more of my cards.

I'm sorry that I haven't had more for you lately but I've just finished a Forensic Medicine Course which I attended these last two weekends so haven't had time to 'play'.

It was a fabulous course and so interesting - I received my certificate today so may take a photo of it to show you in a later post.

Well, it's off to bed for some well earned sleep and back to work tomorrow.

Have a great week everyone and drop by again very soon !

See you then ........

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 24

2009-10-11T20:15:00.011+11:00

Hello again,

It's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this week's theme is 'Trick or Treat' for all of you who celebrate Halloween this month.

I had to think about this one as I don't have any Halloween type Magnolia stamps but I improvised instead and used this Christmas Tilda stamp.

While I was out shopping last week I looked for some suitable papers and stickers at one of my local craft stores and came across this great paper. It was perfect for this card and the witch's hat on a sheet of stickers that I bought at the same time. was just the right size to sit on Tilda's head.

I coloured Tilda with markers and also used watercolour pencils and my trusty aquabrush for her face.

The ribbons came from my own stash - love that bright green one which goes so well with the black spotted ribbon and also with the background paper and card.

The spiderweb medallion was made using an embossing folder which featured various circles containing Halloween images - after embossing my piece of black card, I punched out the circle with the web and attached it to the two strips of ribbon in the top right-hand corner with 3D foam dots.

Tilda and the hat were attached using 3D foam dots as well. After attaching Tilda, the ribbons and the web medallion, I glitzed the bat, spider and the web with some glitter glue - it's just a basic crystal colour but changes colour depending on the cardstock or paper you're attaching it to.

In this case, when I applied it to the black surfaces, it changed to green ! How 'spooky' is that ?

I also added some to the buckle on Tilda's hat and also the bit of tinsel that she's holding and this time the colour changed to gold which is the effect I wanted.

Well, that's it for now. If you want to join in the fun and create your own Halloween card click here to link your entry to our challenge site. I'd love to see what you come up with - our designers have done some fantastic work with this theme so if you need inspiration, check out their entries - they're just fabulous !!

Thanks for dropping in - please come back again soon to see my next lot of cards.

Hope you've had a great weekend - see you all next time!

Birthday Tri-Shutter Card

2009-10-05T22:24:00.012+11:00

Hi there,

Nice to see you again. I had a lovely weekend - very busy. Caught up with former workmates on Friday night for a quick drink to celebrate one girl's new job then it was on to a special birthday at one of my favourite craft shops.

The owner was celebrating her 10th year in the shop and had invited some regular customers to a VIP night at the shop to help her celebrate the special occasion.
Of course, I couldn't go empty handed so made this Tri Shutter Birthday card and gave her some yummy chocolates to share with her staff.

My S-I-L came with me and we had a great night - there were a lot of laughs (and a few tears) during the night's celebrations and some of the girls had made Birthday cards and treats which were a great hit !

One girl made (and decorated) the Birthday cake which was fantastic - she had 3 mini cards made out of icing sitting on top of the cake and get this, one of the 'cards' had been embossed with an embossing folder and fed through a regular die cut machine !

Who'd have believed that you could emboss royal icing using tools made for papercrafting !!

For this card I used the beautiful SU Designer Series - Tea Party papers and the Upsy Daisy stamp set for the main image.

I found the lovely pink and pale yellow flowers in my stash and they went so well with the papers and base cardstock. I also used Rub-ons for the greeting next to the flowers and stamped and cut-out the 3D butterfly on the right-hand panel.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White.

Stamps - Upsy Daisy (main floral image), Best Yet (Hostess Set) for greeting, Great Friend (butterfly and background leaves on pink panel).

Inks - Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Almost Amethyst, Pretty in Pink.

Designer Series Papers - Tea Party.

Extras - Rub-ons, adhesive pearls, paper flowers on wire stems, small piece of SU - Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, glitter glue.

I love making these particular cards as you can decorate them as simply or as elaborately as you like to suit the occasion and the recipient.

Thanks for dropping in - I hope you like what you see here.

Please come back again to see my next creation!

'Bye for now - take care !

Magnolia Down Under - New Online Shop - BLOG CANDY !!

2009-10-03T08:52:00.006+10:00

WOW, some very exciting news for all of you Magnolia Down Under Challenge followers - Kellie Winnell has just opened up her online store so you can buy all of your Magnolia stamps and accessories right here in Australia !

To visit her new shop, click on the MDU Shop logo on my sidebar which will take you there so you can see what she has in store and start your shopping now !!

To celebrate the grand opening, she is offering this fantastic prize of Blog Candy - have a look at all the goodies in this lot!

To join in the fun, click on this link and leave a comment and who knows, you may be the lucky winner.

Congratulations Kellie on your exciting new venture - I know it will be a huge success !!

Thanks for dropping by - hope you'll come back for another visit soon. I have some new

cards to show you.

'Bye for now. :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 23

2009-09-26T00:08:00.012+10:00

Good morning everyone,

It's like the depths of Winter in Melbourne this weekend - can't believe the first month of 'Spring' has nearly ended.
The wind is blowing a gale outside, it poured with rain all day yesterday and overnight and the heater is on at full blast in my house!!

Welcome to another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this week's theme is 'Buttons' where we have to make a card using buttons as one of the elements.

I decided to make a bright card this time and after selecting the papers and cardstock, I rummaged through my container of blue embellishments and found these buttons that matched the base card perfectly.

I also found the cute felt 'Love' embellishment in there so added it to the mix too.

Of course I couldn't resist adding these gorgeous flowers which I had bought at the Picture to Page craft show last week. They were a perfect match for the base card and the lovely 'owl' paper from our SU Designer Series.

I mounted the blue paper onto the Brilliant Blue base card and added strips of yellow paper (which had been punched along the edges with the SU Scallop Border punch) to the top and bottom of the card. I then sponged the edges of the yellow paper with some Yellow Sun ink.

I then mounted some of the pale yellow printed paper (from the SU - Tea Party papers) onto another piece of Brilliant Blue card and attached it to the left of the card.

Tilda was coloured using watercolour pencils and an aquabrush, cut out and mounted on 3D foam dots and attached to the above frame. I then attached a small blue flower gem in the corner and the three flowers at the bottom, using buttons as the flower centres.

The knot in the pale blue button at top left was made with a fine strip of cardstock threaded through the buttonholes and tied in a knot at the front - see, you don't always need thread or ribbon !

To finish off, I added the obligatory 'Bling' using glitter glue on the Love embellishment and one of the flowers plus Tilda's wings. Here is a close up view of the glitter effect.

As always, the card looks much better in real life - I wish our cards came up the same way in our photos. If anyone out there has any tips for achieving this, please let me know.

(I don't have a whiz-bang professional camera - just your average digital but would welcome any tips for getting good results with it.)

For this card I also combined our MDU challenge with a Mojo Monday sketch challenge - two for the price of one! It was fun to do and I hope to do more of these double-challenges in the future.

SU supplies -

Cardstock - Brilliant Blue

Designer Series Papers - Good Morning Sunshine, Tea Party (pale yellow behind main image)

Ink - Summer Sun (for sponging the edges of the yellow checked paper)

Punch - Scalloped Border

Extras -

Magnolia stamp, felt word embellishment, flower gem, paper flowers, buttons, glitter glue.

If you like my card and you want to play along with us, make a card and link your entry to our MDUC site here. We'd love to see your creations so what are you waiting for ?
Go make your card !!

Well, that's it for this week's challenge - see you again next fortnight for our next challenge.
It'll be something to look out for !!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend and stay warm (if you're in Melbourne that is !).

See you again soon :-)

Christmas Cards - (starting to plan now) .........

2009-09-25T22:54:00.006+10:00

Hello there,

Well it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas - frightening isn't it? How quickly the year has flown by.
Next week we'll be in October and now is the time that everyone is starting to make their Christmas cards!

I made a start on mine with one of the new stamps in the SU Spring Mini catalogue and another using a lovely set from our main catalogue.

This first card was made using the lovely Winter Post set (main catalogue) - I just love reindeer and this little image is just beautiful to use.

I cut a piece of this lovely paper from our Designer Series and cut out the corners (using a small circle punch) before mounting it onto red cardstock then attached gold brads in each corner.

I then attached this piece to the pale blue base card and wound some lovely sheer red ribbon across the top half of the card attaching it with double-sided tape.

The three reindeer were stamped onto white card and then mounted onto a piece of scalloped green card before attaching to some red cardstock.

The greeting stamp was coloured with red and green markers on white card and then punched out with the label punch. A lovely silver metal frame (which matched the label perfectly), was attached over it with two silver brads and then mounted at the top of the green card.

The cardstock co-ordinated with the patterned paper and it all matched beautifully.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White.
Stamps - Winter Post
Inks - Chocolate Chip
Markers - Real Red, Old Olive
Designer Series Papers - Ski Slopes (Spring Mini)
Punches - Scallop Border, Designer Label
Hodge Podge Hardware

Extras - Sheer red ribbon.

For my second card, I used the new stamps from the Spring Mini catalogue.

This lovely image is from the Good Cheer set.

This time I used papers from another Designer Series and using the same idea of cutting out the corners, attached it to some red card and added gold brads in each corner.

I mounted a stip of the spotted paper across the centre of the card then attached the lovely Christmas ribbon over the paper and secured it behind the red cardstock. This piece was then attached to the brown base card.

The main image was stamped on white card and coloured in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush.
Once it had dried, I cut around the holly border and centred the image over the patterned papers using 3D foam dots.

I stamped a second image of the reindeer and after colouring it, cut it out (including the antlers, which was a real challenge as they were very narrow and I had to be careful not to cut them in half !) and finally attached it over the base image with 3D foam dots to make it stand out.

To finish off, I added Crystal Effects glaze to the reindeer's nose and red glitter glue to the holly berries on the wreath around Santa's head.

You can't see it very well in this photo, but it does add that little extra ! Isn't that reindeer just gorgeous - you almost want to touch it to feel it's hide.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Whisper White.
Stamps - Good Cheer (Spring Mini)
Inks - Basic Black
Designer Series Papers - Holiday Treasures
Crystal Effects glaze

Extras - Red printed ribbon, gold brads, red glitter glue, watercolour pencils, aquabrush.

Well, these are only two of my Christmas cards - I have more to show you in upcoming posts.
I hope you like them.

Thanks for dropping in - please come back again to see my next set of Christmas cards and others in my collection.

See you next time - take care :-)

Apologies - you're not going mad !

2009-09-16T22:47:00.002+10:00

Hi again,

I'm so sorry if some of you have been searching my previous posts looking for my Meerkat card!

A friend of mine just told me that the photo of the card wasn't in my last Post so I double-checked and she was right. It was very late last night when I was editing my blog and I must have deleted the photo when I was trying to edit my text.

** Is it just me or do many of you have to edit your Posts a few times after creating them to get the text and photos to line up just right ? I always have to edit about 2-3 (or even more times) to get it the way I want.

If there is an easy way to do it, please let me in on the secret.

Thanks for any tips you can give me on Blog Posting.

Well, must get some shut-eye, it's getting late again and I'm still here in front of the screen !!

'Bye for now - see you again soon :-)

Fun projects to while away the afternoon .........

2009-09-15T22:31:00.013+10:00

Hi there,

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a lovely relaxing day last Saturday and while trying (and I say 'trying') to clean up my craft desk, I found some scrapbook papers that just 'grabbed' me and gave me some ideas for a few quick, fun cards to make.

These cards were just made using various papers, embossing folders, stickers, etc. and the only stamping on them is the Birthday greeting.

This first card was made with some lovely Owl paper - the image was big enough to just cut out and filled the front of the card. I just sponged some green ink around the edges of the owl and the tree outline to give it a bit of definition and shading.

I added some lovely copper adhesive rhinestones for the owl's eyes and cut out a little orange beak which I attached using some 3D foam dots and added some adhesive gems in the corners to match the base card.

The black embossed card in the background features a vine and birds design which goes so well with the main image.

Still on the Owl theme, I decided to decorate this little gift box that I had lying around. I had cut out the template a long while ago and hadn't done anything with it until now.

In one of my many plastic bags of ribbons and laces, I found this lovely cream lace so attached it to the bottom of the box underneath the lovely green patterned paper.

The little owl was cut out from one of the other papers I had and I cut the tree branch by hand and using my embossing stylus, embossed some 'knots' in the tree branch - you can't see them very well in the photo but it looks good in real life.

The little mushrooms on the back of the box were also cut out from some patterned paper.

I thought they were cute and added to the 'woodland' theme I was thinking about.

Still on a roll, I decided to make a Halloween card with some cute felt stickers I had bought last week in one of our local craft shops.

I know we don't celebrate Halloween in a big way here in Australia but I just love the cards that our overseas designers make and I love the traditional combination of the orange, black, purple and bright green used on these cards and so mixed them on this card.

I used some embossing folders for the purple and green pieces of card and attached the cute adhesive letter tiles to a strip of black cardstock and added some gold brads at each end.

(The purple card actually looks quite blue here in the photo, but it is definitely purple in real life.)

The lovely striped ribbon came from my bag of Stampin' Up! ribbons - it was a perfect match for this card.

As I collect all sorts of images from magazines, boxes, leaflets, etc. I couldn't resist making a card using this cute little Meerkat wearinig a pink Tu-Tu.

(Meerkats are one of my favourite wild animals and I love watching their antics at the zoo and also in documentaries - e.g. Meerkat Manor which was on TV here awhile ago.)

I added some glitter glue to the little Tu-Tu and also on the lovely floral paper (from Stampin' Up!) then added some sheer pink ribbon and used a rub-on for the greeting.

This was just a fun card to make - the image just tickled my fancy so I had to do it !! LOL

Well, I hope you like these - it's nice to just make something quick and easy and a little bit different every now and then.

Thanks for dropping in - come back soon for my next creations.

Have a great week everyone!

Some new cards

2009-09-13T21:43:00.008+10:00

Hello again,

Well as promised in my previous post, I thought I'd show you some of my latest cards.

A few of these were made at our recent Stamp Camp but weren't finished off so I finally got around to doing that yesterday.

For these floral ones I used SU Designer Papers - Bella Rosa set which is just beautiful - lots of pretty roses in pale pinks and also in darker reds as on these cards.

If you love floral papers, this is a beautiful set to use.

Stampin' Up! stamps used for these cards were from the current Spring Mini catalogue.

(Sorry about the darkness on the left of the card above - I took this photo at night.)

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip,

Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa.

Inks and markers - Pretty in Pink, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel

Stamps - Organic Grace (Hostess Set - Level 1), Soft Summer, Oval All, Great Friend,

On Your Birthday.

Designer Papers - Bella Rosa

Punches - Scallop Oval, Small Oval, Medium Oval, Eyelet Border, Scallop Border

Ribbon - Pretty in Pink (Taffeta).

Extras - Glitter glue, pink satin ribbon, adhesive pearl and pink gem.

Thanks for stopping by - come back again in the next few days to see what other things

I've done recently.

'Bye for now - see you again soon :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 22

2009-09-13T09:57:00.008+10:00

Good morning everyone,

It's Sunday morning and time for another MDUC entry.

After a lovely warm day yesterday, it's raining again here in Melbourne, but hey, what's new ?
A perfect day to stay in and join our fun challenge - this week's theme is 'Anything But A Card' so I came up with this little gift set.

I created a little handbag using the SU / Sizzix - Top Note Die and made a Post-It Note holder and a magnetic bookmark to match.

As the handbag is only small, I had to make a small bookmark to fit into it.

I decided on a folded strip for it and used magnetic tape at the bottom open ends so that it would close over the top of the book page, therefore it didn't need to be a full length bookmark.

Here is the handbag with the items in it.

The papers I used are from our SU Designer Series - Holiday Treasures set.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery.
Ink - Regal Rose
Stamps - Riveting (Retired Hostess Set)
Ribbon - Pretty in Pink (Taffeta)
Papers - Designer Series - Holiday Treasures
Punches - Scallop Circle, Round Tab, Eyelet Border
Die - Top Note

Extras -

Magnolia Stamp, gold brads, glitter glue, pink Ric-Rac, magnetic tape.

I had great fun making this little set (and will no doubt, make more of these - I have other ideas brimming in my head).

Why not join us for this week's challenge and share your creations with us - we'd love to see your work!

Thanks for stopping by - have lots more to show you in the next few days.

I had a great day yesterday, just relaxing and my Mojo was working overtime - I finished off a few cards that had been lying around waiting for the final touches to be added and I also created more cards and a little gift box.

Drop in again soon to check these out once I've posted them here.

Have a great day today - see you again soon :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 21

2009-08-29T17:54:00.010+10:00

Hello again,

Another two weeks have gone by and it's time for another Magnolia Down Under Challenge - this time our card was made according to a 'recipe'.

Our theme was '1,2,3,4' - we had to use 1 flower, 2 ribbons, 3 brads and 4 colours or papers.

A bit daunting I thought at first but after playing around with papers, ribbons and brads, I came up with this card.

I used our SU 'Sweet Always' Designer Series Papers and co-ordinated them with matching cardstock.

Instead of the usual A6 size card, I decided to go with a square card this time. I layered the patterned paper onto Regal Rose and Whisper White card then onto the Pumpkin Pie base card.

A piece of the Rose card was then embossed with the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder and then die cut using the SU/Sizzix 'Top Note' die (which I was able to get from a friend).

I cut a piece off so that I could align it with the left side edge of the patterned paper. Once this piece was attached I then adhered the two ribbon strips underneath it.

For added interest in the top right-hand corner, I decided to fold back the patterned paper and attach a 3D greeting over the fold then added 3 white brads to the Rose card.

Looking in my container of flowers, I found this lovely white fabric flower and attached a little pink fabric rose to the centre so that it would pick up the colours on the rest of the card.

To finish off, I added some glitter to the little heart in the centre of the circular greeting and also to Tilda's dress along the hem and at the neckline and sleeve tops. It's a bit hard to see the details in the main photo but here is a close up which shows it a little better.

Tilda was coloured using alcohol markers for her clothes and watercolour pencils for her face and hands.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Regal Rose, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie

Inks - Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose

Stamps - Riveting (Retired Hostess Set)

Designer Series Papers - Sweet Always

Extras -

Ribbons - (pink taffeta, chocolate stitched grosgrain), white brads, fabric flowers, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Sizzix die, Stickles glitter glue.

If you would like to take up our challenge this week, please join in the fun along with us. We'd love to see your cards - just link your creation to our challenge site here.

Birthday Card - Urban Garden DSP

2009-08-29T17:13:00.011+10:00

Well, another Birthday and another card. I made this card for my niece's 50th birthday last week.

I wanted to make a simple yet elegant card for her as she is not one for 'frilly ribbons and flowers' on her cards so our SU Urban Garden Designer Series Papers were the perfect choice for this card.

I layered the flower stems paper onto Baja Breeze card and then onto the Basic Grey base card.

I then cut two strips of co-ordinating paper - one in the pale Baja Breeze colour and the other in the Basic Grey which I punched out using the Scallop Border punch.

Both strips were then attached to the floral paper.

For the greeting I used the Birthday Celebrations stamp from the Upsy Daisy set and stamped it on white card using Baja Breeze ink. I then punched it out with the Scalloped Oval punch, sponged the edges with some Baja Breeze ink and attached it to the front of the card with some 3D foam dots.

To complete the card, I attached some adhesive pearls to the greeting and the scalloped strip of paper.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Basic Grey Baja Breeze

Stamps - Upsy Daisy set

Ink - Baja Breeze

Designer Series Papers - Urban Garden

Punches - Scalloped Oval, Scalloped Border

Extras - Self-adhesive pearls

(The birthday party was a lot of fun - it was lovely to catch up with my sister and my four nieces again. Everyone had a good time from what I've heard - we didn't stay all night but the 'stayers' partied on into the wee small hours .........)

Well, that's it for another creation - come back again soon to see what else I've made.

Thanks for dropping by - see you again soon !!

Animal Birthday Card

2009-08-20T22:21:00.005+10:00

Hello,

On the weekend we went to a Birthday party for a little boy in our family who celebrated his first birthday.
I wanted to make a really bright birthday card for him so decided to use these lovely papers and stamps from our Stampin' Up! collection.

The stamps are from the 'Wild About You' set and the papers are from the 'Jersey Shore' Designer Series.

I stamped the three animals on white card then punched them out with a circle punch. They were then attached to contrasting scalloped circles made from some of the papers in the set.

I had then mounted the dotty paper onto some dark blue card then onto the orange base card.
I crimped a strip of the dark blue paper and attached it across the lower half of the card then added the animal circles and the birthday 'medallion' using 3D foam dots.

The birthday 'medallion' was made with a dark blue scalloped circle with contrasting smaller circles adhered over the top. I then added a blue holographic peel-off sticker which was the number 'one'.

The greeting was from the same stamp set and after stamping it on white card, I inked the edges then attached it to the centre of the crimped strip. I then added a self-adhesive gem either side of the greeting to finish off the card.

SU Supplies:-
Cardstock - Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Inks - Brilliant Blue, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie
Stamp set - Wild About You
Designer Series Papers - Jersey Shore
Punches - Scalloped circle, circle punches

Extras -
Crimper, adhesive gems, 3D foam dots, peel-off stickers

It was a great day and the Birthday Boy had a lot of fun with his cousins and other family members.

Well that's it for another day - thanks for stopping by. Come back again soon to see what else I've been up to.

'Bye for now !!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #20

2009-08-16T09:35:00.004+10:00

Hi Everyone,

Well another challenge, another card!!

The theme for this challenge was Father's Day so I searched through my boxes of papers and found the perfect paper for this card.

Here is my creation for today.

I mounted the patterned paper onto green card then onto the navy base card.
Tilda was coloured using a combination of alcohol markers and watercolour pencils / aquabrush.

I added some 3-Dimensional glaze to the little heart on her envelope.

The green strip across the card was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I then stamped the greeting onto white card and mounted it onto a piece of pale blue card to co-ordinate with the background paper.

To finish off, I added a brown paper flower and 2 pale aqua brushed fabric flowers, using a gold brad and some self-adhesive gems for the flower centres.

Supplies:

Cardstock - Not quite navy, Certainly Celery, Whisper white - Stampin' Up!
Ink - Buckaroo Blue - Stampin' Up!
Greeting - Best Wishes and More - Stampin' Up! -
Crystal Effects - (dimensional glaze) Stampin' Up!
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Argyle

Extras - Flowers, gold brad, self-adhesive gems

I hope you like what I've done this week. Why don't you join in the fun and send in your version of a Magnolia - Father's Day card. Click on the link here to go to our Challenge site and upload your entry.

We'd love to see your work.

Well, that's it for this challenge - see you again in two weeks for the next one!!

'Bye for now.

My recent cards - July / August

2009-08-11T21:39:00.007+10:00

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to our team members' Stamp Camp recently where we made lots of team 'Swap' cards. Just prior to leaving for the camp, I was feeling very inspired so made a few cards that week - I'd like to share a couple of them with you.

This first one is a pretty floral one I designed using one of the Level 1 Hostess sets - Organic Grace.

I stamped the background with the fern leaf and dragon fly stamps using Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss inks then added a little glitter to the dragonfly wings.

The main image is the floral branch from the set which was stamped on white card then mounted onto Baja Breeze card and then onto some brushed gold card.

I added some sheer spotted white ribbon across the lower part of the base card and tied some around the main mounted image too. The main image was then attached to the base card using some 3D foam squares.

I then stamped the greeting using the Oval All set from the Summer Mini catalogue, punched it out with the large oval punch and then attached it to a gold scalloped oval which I had made using the new oval punch, also from the Summer Mini.

To finish off the card, I added some glitter to the floral image and an adhesive pearl to the greeting.

My second card was a little bit of 'fun' which I designed while playing around with some of the DS papers in the main catalogue.

I love flamingos and couldn't resist cutting out this image from one of the DS sheets in the Pink Flamingo set. I then dressed it up with some 'bling' - I used self adhesive gems for the flower centres and the bird's eye and added some glitter to the tall flower.

The background paper from the same DS set was a perfect match for the 3D flowers. I cut out the corners of the pink paper with a circle punch before attaching it to the Baha Breeze cardstock then added a gem in each corner.

The butterfly and greeting (from the Great Friend set in the Summer Mini) were stamped on white card then cut out and attached to the base card with 3D foam squares.

I then added some glitter to the centre of the butterfly and also around the edges of the greeting frame.

I had cut out a piece of Baha Breeze card using the Word Window punch and attached it to the pink background paper before covering it with the greeting.

I added an adhesive pearl to the blue strip to finish off the card.

These two cards turned out very well - I hope you like them.

In my next post I'll show you some Christmas cards I made too - please drop by again to see those.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you'll come back again soon!

'Bye for now.

'Stamp Camp' - Swap

2009-08-05T22:46:00.004+10:00

Hi there,

I have just returned from a weekend away at our team Stamp Camp held at Sunnystones homestead in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. It was lovely to get away from the household chores and spend two nights and two days just stamping and having fun with some of the girls in our team (upline - Yvonne Campbell) as well as some from Kerri Hunter's team.

We had just over 20 members and enjoyed a fun-filled weekend where we all stamped our hearts out and made lots of new cards in our 'Shoe-box Swaps' - each girl designed a 'swap' card and brought enough supplies for each of the others to make a copy of that card.

It's a great way to pick up new ideas and add more beautiful cards to your collection.

Here is the card I designed for my swap using some of the new stamps from our Spring Mini catalogue which has just been released this month.

Stampin' Up! Supplies -

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White.
Stamps - Great Friend, Oval All, Soft Summer.
Inks and markers - Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery.
Designer Series Paper - Walk in the Park.

Extras - Crimper, scalloped oval punch, glitter.

I really enjoyed making all the cards designed by the other girls - I now have 22 new cards and lots of ideas for more - the talent I saw there on the weekend was awesome ! It was really great to pick up tips from everyone and share our designs as well as the stamp sets and other supplies which we all brought along.

When we weren't working on our swaps, we created new cards or scrapbook pages, ate lots of lollies and chocolate (a stamper's staple diet) and drank champagne, wine, or whatever took our fancy. We were spoiled with lovely meals cooked for us as well as snacks to keep our energy up
thanks to Leanne and her husband who run Sunnystones.

The resident pets (2 cats and a dog) loved the attention we gave them as they came by our tables to say Hello though I don't know what they thought of the Saturday night's entertainment when some of the girls were having a ball playing 'Sing Star' in the lounge area's conversation pit ! (Pity I don't have any video footage to show you.) LOL

I was relaxing on one of the couches watching the girls sing and the look on Misty's (the cat) face was priceless !! I would have loved to know what was going through her mind as she watched the girls belting out their songs at the top of their voices. LOL

We all had a fabulous time and got on so well - it was such a great weekend that we've booked in again for another one in November.

Drop in again soon to see what I have for you next time. I'll post some more photos of the weekend then.

'Bye for now.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 19

2009-08-05T22:21:00.004+10:00

Hello everyone,

Well this fortnight's MDUC theme is 'Winter is Here' so I thought of a snow scene for Tilda.

I embossed the white card with the Cuttlebug 'Snowflakes' embossing folder then stamped the trees on another piece of white cardstock which had been sponged with light blue ink.

I added some 'snow' below the trees using 3D white paint then sprinkled over some glitter before the paint dried. I also added some falling snow dots to the main image and also on the greeting label.

Tilda was coloured using watercolour pencils and an aquabrush. Glitter was added to the embossed snowflakes and I attached some white and silver snowflake brads to the main image and also to the white spotted ribbon.

Supplies:

Cardstock- Stampin' Up! Soft Sky, Whisper White

Stamps - Magnolia -Tilda, Stampin' Up! Lovely as a Tree

Rub-ons - for the greeting (Stampin' Up!)

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Snowflakes

White spotted ribbon, white and silver snowflake brads, glitter glue.

Why don't you join in the fun and send us your 'Winter' creations - here is the link to our MDUC site. Looking forward to seeing all your beautiful cards !!

Come back again soon to see my next Magnolia Down Under Challenge card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tri - Shutter Card - #2

2009-07-15T22:31:00.005+10:00

Hello again,

I'm back with another creation that I made just the other night. A family member had asked me to make a card for their friend's 40th Birthday this weekend so as it was for a 'special' birthday, I thought I would make another of these brilliant Tri-Shutter cards.

I had so much fun making my first one (see my previous post to view my first attempt at this great design) that I wanted to try another.

This time I chose Pink / Pomegranate for the colours.

The cardstock and patterned papers are from Stampin' Up! as well as the rub-on quotes and the centre stamped images.

The stamped quote on the right-hand side is from Hero Arts - one of my favourites.

I added some pretty satin roses which were a perfect match for the Pomegranate base card and attached co-ordinating gems as well. To keep in with the floral / feminine theme, I added a lovely sticker of pink tulips and some pink satin-edged ribbon.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate (retired In-Color - 2008), Close to Cocoa

Papers - Designer Series - Berry Bliss

Inks - Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate

Stamps - 5th Avenue Floral (quote), One of a Kind

Rub Ons - Eastern Elegance

Extras -

Self-adhesive gems, Stickles glitter glue, ribbon, satin flowers, floral sticker, gold peel-off stickers (gift image and Birthday greeting which had been coloured with a pink marker),

Hero Arts stamp (quote).

I have plans for a few more of these so drop by again and check them out in my future posts.

Thanks for stopping by - please come back again soon!

June - Twin 60th Birthday Cards

2009-06-23T20:26:00.010+10:00

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

2009-06-22T23:19:00.006+10:00

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

2009-06-22T21:49:00.009+10:00

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

2009-06-07T21:39:00.008+10:00

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

2009-06-07T19:21:00.013+10:00

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.

I'm Back - My Latest Magnolia Down Under entries

2009-05-31T22:57:00.012+10:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I have been very busy since Convention and like many others, have found myself 'running behind' with lots of projects and chores.

In the last month I have been working at the Picture to Page craft fair, had a few workshops,
attended a few family functions and generally been 'chasing my tail'............

(Most of you will know what I mean.)

Here are my recent Magnolia Down Under Challenge entries - I missed one week but will hopefully be on track again from now on.

This first card was my Mother's Day entry.

I used my new Tilda stamp with the pretty green SU Designer Prints paper on SU Pretty in Pink and Pomegranate cardstock. The borders were made with the new SU Eyelet Border punch.

I had some pretty 'Art Deco' type floral paper and had a picture in my mind of Tilda sitting on
one of the flower stems so cut one of the stems out and played around with the layout until it was to my liking.

The pretty pink fabric flowers were added at the end to finish off this design.

The next week's theme was 'Thinking of You' but I missed getting in an entry for that one unfortunately.

Here is the card I made for the following week's theme - 'Butterflies'.

I had the perfect paper for this entry in my stash so used it as the background and added some glitter to the butterflies to jazz it up a little. Some green spotty paper was then embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and one edge was cut using a wavy trimmer.

I love this image of Tilda running and thought it would fit this design nicely as I pictured her running through a field chasing the butterflies.

The pale yellow grosgrain ribbon matched one of the butterflies on the paper and I punched out a tag in matching SU cardstock - (Barely Banana) then cut out a smaller butterfly and placed it over the bow to give it a 3D effect.

Tilda looks like she's having a lot of fun with her winged friends !

Last week's theme was 'Under the Sea' and I thought I would have Tilda looking into an aquarium or watching sea creatures on TV.

Here is the design I came up with.

The paper I used is from an Alison Ellis range and I cut out some of the fish and attached them to 3D foam dots over the main background then put the paper behind some thin acetate to give the effect of the sea creatures being 'behind glass'.

I then stamped some sea ferns and shells around the frame and cut a scallop shell from the patterned paper and attached it in 3D in one corner.

This photo doesn't show the total effect very well as it looks much better in real life.

There is glitter on the sea creatures and the seaweed but if doesn't show up here unfortunately.

Now for my latest card for this week's theme - 'Moving to the Country'.

I used the SU "Lovely as a Tree' stamp for the background image and placed it behind a dark green frame which has been embossed though you can't really see this is the photo - pity about that.

I used the same Cuttlebug embossing folder to create the log that Tilda is sitting on.

The cute little hedgehog and the mushrooms were cut from some lovely paper I have which has different borders on it - I thought these two images would give this card a 'Country' feel.

They were attached to the frame using 3D foam dots.

I added the gingham paper for a little extra 'country' effect and created the scalloped border using the SU punch.

Finally to round off this card, I attached a layered photo corner (made with the SU Photo Corner punch) and added a matching green button to co-ordinate with the dark green frame.

Well that's it for this post - hope you like these creations.

I have more cards to add in my next post so come back in the next few days to see what I had demonstrated at my recent workshops.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope to see you again soon.

CONVENTION - 2009 ! (HOORAY AT LAST!)

2009-05-04T21:49:00.029+10:00

Hi everyone,

Well as you may have seen on everyone elses' blogs, we have just been to Canberra for this year's Stampin' Up! Australia / New Zealand Convention.

This was the second SU event that I have attended in the last 6 months and I had a ball! It was so exciting to be there and meet up with other demonstrators from Australia and New Zealand and get to know the ones I have met through comments on each other's blogs.

DAY 1 - Thursday 30th April -

I flew up to Canberra that morning with my upline Yvonne Campbell and some of the girls in our team, Debbie Pamment (my roommate at the hotel), Kellie Winnell and Kristy Young. There were also other demonstrators on our flight who were as hyped up as we all were and excitement was in the air!

(Debbie and I talked so much on the flight up that the guy sitting in front of us moved over to the other side of the plane to sit in a spare seat where he could enjoy some peace and quiet !) ROFL

Here is a photo of our hotel Crowne Plaza taken from the rooftop of the apartment block where Kerri Hunter was staying.

We dropped our luggage at the hotel and Yvonne, our upline, presented us with a gorgeous little gift bag and tag set which she had made as a personal gift for each of us. Isn't this just beautiful ?

(Needless to say, the chocolate didn't stay in this bag for very long ! ) LOL

Then we went sight-seeing through the streets near our hotel. We had lunch sitting outside a cafe in the beautiful sunshine - yes, Canberra put on some glorious weather just for us - everyday that we were there, we had lovely sunshine and only one foggy morning which was on the Friday. No cold weather there to spoil the event !

We then went to do some shopping for Wine and nibblies, we headed back to the hotel where we descended on Yvonne and Makeesha Byl and crowded together in their room along with about another 30-40 other girls who 'dropped by' when they heard we were in there.

(This photo is of Kellie Winnell and 'Princess' Kristy Young, members of our team from Victoria.)

We had so much fun, talking about the upcoming 3 days, swapping our cards with each other and just 'letting loose' - some of the girls spilled out into the hallway and the laughter and noise was enough to prompt one guest to peer out of her door to see what was going on!

I felt sorry for any guests in the neighbouring rooms who were trying to enjoy some peace and quiet because they weren't getting any !! LOL

DAY 2 - Friday 1st May -

Waking up to a foggy morning, we went for a brisk walk through town and had breakfast at a lovely cafe where the food and service were fantastic! (It was so good that Debbie and I went there again on Sat. morning for another wonderful refill !)

Then it was a quick walk to the Convention Centre just a few minutes away from our hotel where we checked in and received our Stampin' Up! carry bag with lots of goodies inside!

Two free stamp sets, a copy of our new catalogue, Convention workbook, lanyard, badges, lip balm, etc. Here is a photo of the lovely bag and the items we found inside.

We met up with Robyn Clarke (another member of our team who had driven up with her husband) and we attended a general session in the main hall where Shelli Gardner, CEO and founder of Stampin' Up! welcomed us and thanked us all for attending and also for joining her company.

Shelli is such a beautiful woman - so warm and friendly and accessible to everyone. I had the privilege to meet with her for a quick chat and a few photos between sessions that morning and enjoyed every minute of it.

This is the photo with Debbie Pamment (my roomie) on the left, Shelli, myself and Robyn Clarke on the right. What a buzz it was to meet Shelli and actually chat with her !!

The rest of the day was spent attending seminars and workshops run by other demonstrators from Australia, New Zealand and the United States and it was a great experience - I certainly learnt so much from each of them and came out of each session feeling very inspired and eager to try out new things that I had learnt once I had returned home.

We also had a chance to buy some lovely Stampin' Up! souvenirs in the Memento Mall upstairs.

I bought quite a few things to take home to remind myself of this fantastic weekend - a lovely pink drink bottle, a note pad block, an umbrella with our Fifth Avenue Florals on it, a cute keyring calculator, some pens and the great keyring book of our Designer Paper swatches which is such a great idea.

Congratulations to the person who thought of that idea - it will come in very handy at workshops to show my customers what fantastic papers we have available this year!

After lunch in one of the rooms at the centre and another seminar, we were able to sit down and try out our new stamps making some of the lovely projects in the kits we were given. It was great to get stuck into the thing we all love best - stamping !!

That night groups of demonstrators went out to dinner at the various restaurants nearby in the city and our team ended up at the Pancake Parlour where we had a nice meal and some great fun though we were feeling a little tired after such a long but exciting day.

Soon it was time for some well deserved sleep back at the hotel andto get ready for the next day's activities though some of us didn't really sleep that much - too much fun, (wine) and excitement !

DAY 3 - Saturday 2nd May -

Another day of learning new ideas, techniques and gaining inspiration from the presenters and jotting down notes about some of the lovely cards, 3D items and scrapbook pages which these demonstrators shared with us, lunch in the Convention centre again then a final session before we went back to our hotels to relax and get ready for dinner and the Awards presentations that night.

Dinner in the huge dining room was wonderful - we were all dressed up in our evening best (lots of glitter and beautiful ladies in that room) and there was a small group of musicians playing in the background as we ate our lovely meal and we had a brief time to catch up with each other again before heading over to the main hall for the Awards ceremony.

Here is a photo of our table - the flower arrangements were just beautiful and the food was wonderful - thinly sliced barbeque pork and crispy noodle salad for Entree, chicken in a delicious creamy sauce with seasonal vegetables for our Main course and for Dessert, we were treated to individual citrus tarts with blueberrries, strawberries and a lovely drizzle of berry sauce.

(Wish you were there with us ???)

Here are some photos of the girls in our group on the night - don't we look fabulous ??

From L to R - Debbie Pamment, myself, Kellie Winnell and our lovely upline, Yvonne Campbell.

This photo is of Robyn Clarke standing with me before we sat down to dinner.

Kellie and Yvonne looking very glamorous !

We also met up again with Makeesha Byl (Yvonne's room-mate) - she is so gorgeous! We had so much fun with her that night and also on our first night when we were all in her room doing our swaps - she's a hoot to be with!

Here are some lovely photos of Keesh with our girls -

Debbie with Keesh.

Keesh with Robyn,

and a photo of myself with Keesh.

After dinner we went over to the main theatre for the Awards Presentations.

Our upline Yvonne made the walk up the stairs and across the stage so many times, winning lots of awards and receiving flowers, stamp sets and other beautiful gifts - one of them being a fabulous bracelet from Tiffanys, her eyes sparkled like the bracelet for the rest of the night !!

Her prizes were well deserved as she has worked so hard during the last 12 months holding workshops, team get-togethers and building up her team of new recruits - Congratulations Yvonne, think of us all when you're in Noosa later this year enjoying your Incentive Trip prize :-)

DAY 4 - Sunday 3rd May -

Well, after finally catching up on some sleep, Convention was over and we were about to head back to our homes later that day.

We shared our final breakfast together in the hotel restaurant and talked about all the events of the past few days and pledging to start saving money now towards next year's Convention which will be held in Sydney in May 2010.

Feeling happy but weary, we grabbed our luggage again and headed out to the airport where we boarded our flights home. I know we'll all have fond memories of those wonderful days spent together making new friends and enjoying ourselves and we're looking forward to repeating the experience next year.

If you have enjoyed reading this Post and looking at the photos of the great time we had, now is the perfect time to join our Stampin' Up! family and you too could be sharing in the fun next year.

For this month only, we have a fantastic offer - you can join up for only $150 instead of the usual $324 !! We are offering a Scrapbooking Starter Kit with stamps, papers, ink pads, cardstock and other items if you decide to sign up.

As the joining fee is heavily reduced for the month of May, we have also reduced the items in the Starter Kit but you won't miss out on any of the benefits offered to new Demonstrators.

You will still receive an extra 10% discount on top of your usual discount for the very first order you place after joining as well as all other regular discounts and promotional specials.

What a fantastic offer - if you have ever considered becoming a Demonstrator with Stampin' Up! then now is the perfect time to do it and save money at the same time!

Contact me now by phone or email (see my details at the right of my blog) to take advantage of this great Starter Kit special.

Not sure about signing up ? Please get in touch with me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

We welcome all types of Demonstrators -

The Hobbyist - (join up just to buy your own supplies at a discount and maybe sell to one or two of your friends)

The Part-time Demonstrator - (hold workshops at odd times of the week / month that suit you)

The Occasional Demonstrator - (work for short periods of time during the year to coincide with your family's holidays and lifestyle)

The Full-Time Demonstrator - (make Stampin' Up! your career - enjoy working at a job where you spend your days doing what you love best - stamping !)

I'd love to hear from you so don't wait any longer - take the plunge and join my team and you'll start to enjoy all the fun that I'm having too!

Well, that's it for another day - please drop in again soon to see what I've been up to.

Have a great day - keep stamping :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 9

2009-05-04T21:17:00.007+10:00

Hello again,

I'm back with another card for the MDUC - this particular week's theme was 'Spot the Dots' and I couldn't resist using this beautiful Stampin' Up! paper. It was from the Designer Series - Spring Fling set which has now been retired but I just love the pretty 'girly' colours and patterns in this set.

** Please excuse the lateness of this Post but I had been having trouble with my computer in the last week or so and have only now rectified the problem (well I hope I have anyway), so I am playing catch-up with my posting!

For this card I embossed the striped paper with my Cuttlebug - Swiss Dots embossing folder, cut the pink polka dot paper with a wavy cutter and mounted the two pieces over the embossed panel.

I then punched out the circular motifs on the SU paper and attached them along the curved edge of the dotty paper. Using another embossing folder with Swirls, I embossed a Yellow Polka Dot
circle of paper to form the 'ball' which Tilda is sitting on.

A few flowers, a rub-on greeting and some lovely pink gems were added and then my water-coloured Tilda was perched on the ball to finish off this creation.

I hope you like it - I had a lot of fun making this card!

Why don't you join in the fun each week along with us at Magnolia Down Under Challenges - follow this link to place your entry.

Hope to see you there ! Come back again soon to see my latest creations - 'bye for now :-)

Debbie's Free Blog Candy

2009-04-20T23:46:00.009+10:00

My Stampin' Up! buddy Debbie Pamment has just reached 15,555 hits on her blog which is fantastic seeing as she only started her blog in October last year!

What an achievement - why don't you pop over to see her amazing work and see what she has on offer to help celebrate her latest milestone.

Here is the link to her blog - I know you'll love visiting it as much as I do. Her cards and 3D items are just beautiful and she is truly talented, not just at stamping and cardmaking but also in other crafts - quilting, teddy bear making, dressmaking, etc.

Go on, check out her site now and join in the fun!

Congratulations Debbie - here's to reaching 30,000 hits!!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 8

2009-04-20T22:48:00.010+10:00

Hello again,

Another week, another challenge! This week's MDUC theme was 'Cupcake' and was a good chance to use my new Stampin' Up! 'Crazy for Cupcakes' set which had just arrived in the post.

I also had a chance to finally play with my Nestabilities and cut and embossed the oval 'window' on my card.

I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added some glitter to her wings and dress and added some SU Crystal Effects to glaze the little cake she is holding.

I stamped the tiered layers of cupcakes on white card and layered it to the inside of the card behind the oval window. The cakes were coloured and then I added some glitter 'icing' to each one.

I then stamped a greeting and punched it out using the larger SU Oval punch then sponged around the edges with contrasting ink and adhered it on the inside of the card just under the cupcakes.

Before I mounted the Tilda image on the front of the card, I stamped a background of little cakes in pink and green on the white base card then tied some pretty pink ribbon around the front of the card (cutting a slit in the spine of the card to thread the ribbon through) and attached a little foam flower with a brad in the centre.

I added some glitter to the flower so it co-ordinated with the glittered images.

Little Tilda was attached to the front of the card using 3D foam squares.

Here is a side-on view so that you can hopefully see the glitter on the cakes and on Tilda's wings and dress.

If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see the full effect.

SU supplies -

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, Short and Sweet.

Inks: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink.

Cardstock: Whisper White

Extras -

Nestabilities - Scalloped ovals, Kindy Glitz - Crystallina, pink ribbon, foam flower, brad.

If you like this card, why not join in the fun and send us your entry for this week's challenge -
check out all the other beautiful cards from the other MDUC Design Team members too when you visit the site - here is the link for you.

Well, time to go and make some more cards for you to look at when you pop in again for another visit to my blog. Have a great week - come back again soon!

Easter Cards

2009-04-20T22:12:00.006+10:00

Hi there,

Easter has now been and gone for this year and I thought I would share a couple of cards I made for family members. I am lucky enough to celebrate Easter twice each year - the second Easter is the Russian Orthodox one which I love as my partner and I visit his parents and family to celebrate with them each year and we always have a great time.

Card No.1 -

The first card is one I made for my sister-in-law. I love Penny Black stamps, especially the cute animal ones and I wanted to use this adorable rabbit and chick stamp which I had recently bought.

I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and mounted it on some blue co-ordinating card.

I had bought the cute Easter themed paper awhile ago and thought it would match the stamped image perfectly.

I punched the border on the white card with my new Stampin' Up! Eyelet punch and tied some yellow ribbon around the top layers before mounting them over the patterned paper.

The stamped greeting is from Stampin' Up! too.

Card No. 2 -

As I love the new SU Fifth Avenue Floral stamp, I used it on the card I made for my Parents-in-Law.
I wanted something simple and not too fussy or cute and this set is just perfect - nice clean lines, yet beautiful images.

The Easter greeting is a stamp I had in my collection and after stamping it in blue on some white card, I cut around it then rounded the corners before sponging the edges with the green ink to match the flower images on the card.

To finish it off, I added the flower which was made up of 3 flowers in various sizes, layered and held together with a gold brad in the centre. I mounted it over the greeting with 3D foam dots.

Both cards were a hit and were gladly received. I was a bit pushed for time this year so didn't make many Easter cards but may do a few now when I have some spare time and get ahead for next year ! LOL

Well, thanks for stopping by - hope to see you again soon.

Inkedspirational Blog Candy!

2009-04-13T15:27:00.004+10:00

Wow, there's so much Blog Candy on offer at the moment - here's another fabulous giveaway!

I checked out this great blog of Jodi's - Inked Inspirations and fell in love with her fantastic cards.
She uses all sorts of stamps and some of them are just so cute! Why don't you pop on over to check them out for yourself - you won't be disappointed! Here's the link to her site.

I have been looking through her blog and there's so much to see that I'm only a short way through it - I've been getting some great inspiration from her creations as I have similar stamps and now have new ways of using them!

That's what's so hard about 'blurfing' - when I find a great site, I spend ages just looking through everything on it instead of sitting down and creating some of my own designs! However, I do find lots of new ideas and techniques along with tips and helpful hints so that all adds to my creativeness as well.

It's wonderful to share all this creativity with everyone in the crafting world.

Well, 'bye for now - see you all again soon.

Free Blog Candy from Kellie!

2009-04-13T15:09:00.003+10:00

While visiting my friend Kellie's blog today, I saw her post offering free Blog Candy to celebrate her 15000 blog hits - check out her site here to see the beautiful packet of goodies she's generously giving away !

If you haven't seen her blog before, do yourself a favour and visit it right now! Her cards are just gorgeous, especially her lovely Tilda creations - she's now got me hooked on them as well.

(Thanks Kellie - more money flying out of my account! )

I wasn't surprised that she's received so many hits in such a short time as her work is really lovely and she has such wonderful ideas. I'm always inspired by her creativeness each time I visit her blog.

Thanks Kellie for the kind offer and Congratulations again - you deserve it :-)

KWerner Colour Challenge # 49

2009-04-13T13:15:00.010+10:00

Hi again,

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I've been busy making cards during the Easter break and here is another one.

Unfortunately, I just missed the deadline for Kristina Werner's challenge as I was out all day yesterday and when I tried to upload it this morning, it was too late.

It doesn't matter as I just love taking up these challenges for my own satisfaction.

I loved the colours in this one and immediately thought of using them with the flower stamps then while looking through my collection, I decided to add the bird and branch.

I mounted some Rose Red paper from the Designer Series Prints collection onto white card then onto the black base card. (I made a square card for a change as I thought it would suit the corner collection of flowers I wanted to use.)

The flowers were stamped in Rose Red and Pacific Point inks and the leaves in Kiwi Kiss ink.

I cut them out and mounted them using assorted 3D foam pads in different thicknesses.

The bird and branch were both stamped in black (to keep in line with the Challenge requirements) but I added leaves in Kiwi Kiss as a contrast and to tie in with the other leaves on the card.

The greeting is a rub-on from the set called 'A Perfect Day' .

I just love that striped Rose Red paper and now realise I should have bought another pack before it 'retired' - ah well, you live and learn!

SU supplies -

Cardstock - Basic Black, Whisper White.

Paper - Designer Series Prints (Rose Red)

Inks - Basic Black, Rose Red, Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss

Rub-ons - A Perfect Day set

Stamps - Eastern Blooms, Best Wishes and More, Cheep Talk, Always.

Thanks for dropping in - I hope you like my latest card. I had fun making it and have more ideas to try so stop by again to have another look at my latest work.

Come back soon :-)

Floral Birthday Card

2009-04-13T12:28:00.006+10:00

Hi everyone,

I've been able to make a few cards over the Easter break so thought I'd share them with you.

This card is a special Birthday card I made for my sister using one of the new sets in our catalogue. The set is 'Fifth Avenue Floral' and I loved stamping with it as it's perfect for a card with 'clean lines' and not too much fussiness!

I stamped two of the flowers in different colours over the base card then stamped the greeting (which was very appropriate for this particular card) onto white card and punched it out using a mega scalloped circle punch.
To give it a bit of depth, I sponged around the scallops with the Baha Breeze ink.

I then cut a strip of Baha Breeze cardstock and punched one edge with the Scallop Border punch and attached a strip of co-ordinating paper from the Urban Oasis DSP set to this.

Before mounting these strips to the base card, I wrapped a piece of Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon around them and added a ribbon bow. To finish off the card I added 3 pale aqua adhesive pearls to the centre of the bow.

(For the card insert, I printed a greeting in matching green on my computer and stamped some of the flowers in the bottom corner to co-ordinate with the front of the card.)

My sister was hoping I'd give her one of my handmade cards and she was very pleased with this one. I have more ideas for using this set so will show my cards here when I've done them so you can have a look.

SU supplies -

Cardstock - Whisper White, Baha Breeze.
Inks - Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss.
Ribbon - Old Olive wide grosgrain
Paper - Designer Series Papers - Urban Oasis.
Punch - Scalloped Border.

Extras -
Pale aqua adhesive pearls, mega scallop circle punch.

Thanks for visiting and looking at my creations - come back again soon.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 7

2009-04-13T11:54:00.007+10:00

Hello again,

Well another week has gone by and it's time for another entry in the Magnolia Down Under Challenges.

This week's challenge is for a design in 'Sepia tones' which is a little difficult, trying to use only browns, beiges, etc. for the card without adding any other colour as a highlight.

I was lucky enough to find a sheet of childrens' vintage paper in my collection which was suitable for this design and I also found the lovely flower in my stash to go with it.

Here is my entry for this week - looking at the other designers' cards I realised that I could have added a highlight in a slightly brighter colour but my card was already finished so for better or worse, this is what I came up with.

I mounted the vintage paper onto Creamy Caramel card and sponged the edges with Close to Cocoa ink, then tied some caramel gingham ribbon around it before mounting this piece onto the Close to Cocoa base card.

I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and 'sat' her over the ribbon using 3D foam dots. For the top right-hand corner, my first thought was to use an embossed photo corner in Cocoa and attach a button in the centre but as it was a bit dark with all the other Sepia tones and looked a bit bland, I changed my mind and decided to add the flower instead just to pretty it up a little.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa

Ink - Close to Cocoa

Extras -

Gingham ribbon, Heidi Grace flower.

I'll be back soon with more cards for you to look at - thanks for dropping by.

Hope you're all having a lovely Easter and enjoying the extra long holiday break -go easy on the Chocolate eggs & bunnies though :-)

'Bye for now.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 6

2009-04-05T11:23:00.006+10:00

Hi everyone,

I have been honoured by Kellie Winnell of Magnolia Down Under Challenges to become a Guest Design Team Member for the month of April.

This is my first design as a team member - it's for our Challenge No. 6 - 'A Baby Is Born'.

I love this image of baby Tilda and thought that her pink jumpsuit and yellow socks would team beautifully with the Spring Flowers paper from Stampin' Up!.

I layered this floral paper onto the yellow polka dot paper (which had been given a scalloped edge) then adhered them to the dark green base card.

The piece of striped paper was embossed using the Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' Embossing Folder then positioned over the other papers.

I stamped the greeting in green ink on yellow cardstock, punched it out using the larger oval punch and then punched a hole at each end using my Crop-a-Dile. The sheer pink 'Baby' ribbon was then threaded through the holes and adhered to the card using double-sided tape.

Baby Tilda was then positioned over the ribbon using 3D foam dots and for the final touch I added a pale yellow flower with a gold brad.

I coloured Tilda with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush then added SU Crystal Effects to glaze her dummy, buttons and the yellow heart on her jumpsuit.

Here is a side-on view of the card so that you can see the glazing effect.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Mellow Moss, So Saffron

Ink- Wild Wasabi

Papers - Designer Series - 'Spring Flowers'

Punches - Scalloped border, large oval

Crystal Effects

Extras -

Pink ribbon, paper flower, gold brad.

Please join in this week's challenge - it's a lot of fun, gets your Mojo working and you'll be inspired by all the lovely entries from our other Design Team Members.

Click on the link here to take you to this site.

Hope to see lots of lovely entries for this Baby Challenge and don't forget, we have a new challenge every Sunday so come back each week to see what the new theme is and then start crafting !

Thanks for stopping by - I'll be posting another design next week!

See you soon.

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 5

2009-04-04T23:38:00.008+11:00

Hello again,

I've been busy today but have managed to make this little card for my entry to Kellie Winnell's
Magnolia Down Under Challenge this week.

The theme is Easter and as I had just bought a Magnolia stamp of Tilda with her bunny, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to use it.

The beautiful paper is from Stampin' Up! Prints Designer Series and it was just what I wanted for this card. I teamed it up with some pale blue and navy SU cardstock.

I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush and I found the perfect ribbon to match in my container of ribbons. The little felt flower is from the SU Flower Fusion range.

Hope you like it - thanks for dropping in to visit today.

I hope to see you again soon.

Malin's Mini Blog Candy

2009-03-31T22:46:00.005+11:00

Hi there,

I came across this offer of Mini Blog Candy from Malin and thought I would share it with you.

Aren't these little characters so cute ?

To be in the running for this offer, check out Malin's site and leave a comment for her with a link on your blog but be very quick as the offer finishes tonight 31st March.

Thanks for stopping by - come back again soon!

Demo's Day Out !

2009-03-28T23:58:00.004+11:00

Hi everyone,

Well today I had a wonderful day out with some of my team members.
Jenni Oliver invited us to her house for a get-together and we had a fantastic day.

The weather was warm & sunny - just perfect for the drive to the beautiful town of Gisborne here in Victoria where Jenni lives. I picked up my friend Debbie and we drove up to Jenni's together where we met up with Yvonne (our upline) and other members of our team and also some girls from Jenni's team.

We spent a lovely day together talking excitedly about what we were all going to order from the new catalogue as we already have ours - we're all going to be broke in the next month or so judging by the number of items on our Wish Lists !! LOL

As we have been able to pre-order some of the new stamps, inks and other items, some of the girls had brought along the new stamp sets to share them around for some stamping fun !

We had a great time playing with them and bouncing ideas off each other for cards we were going to make when we got home. Jenni then treated us to a beautiful BBQ lunch and we had all brought along some sweet goodies to share for dessert so a good time was had by all.

For a special treat (and to get us into training for Convention at the end of April) we all made cards /items to swap with each other - there were some fabulous ideas there and we all went home loaded with inspiration !!

Here is the card I made for the swap - I used one of the new stamp sets so here's a SNEAK PEEK at what you'll find in the new catalogue which will be available from 1st April.

For this card I used the Fresh Cuts stamp set with the Kiwi Kiss ink and the new Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss cardstock. The strip of blue paper is from one of the new Designer Series sets and these colours just blend together perfectly!

I added a bit of glitter to the leaves and to the flower centres to give the card that little something extra ! I managed to make quite a few of these cards over two nights so have a few extra ones to put away for that unexpected occasion when I need a card in a hurry and don't have the time to sit down and make one! Will have to get into the habit of making one or two extra of each card I make from now on so that I can build up a stockpile.

Well I hope you like this card - it's a SNEAK PEEK at some of the lovely things in our new catalogue so if you want to be one of the first to receive one of these new catalogues, contact me now and I'll send one out to you.

They are $12.95 a copy and I already have a box full so what are you waiting for ? Call me now to see what great products I'll be using in my upcoming classes !

Well, that's it for another day - must get to bed or I'll turn into a pumpkin - it's well past midnight and I really should be asleep.

See you all again soon - thanks for looking in :-)

Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 4

2009-03-28T23:14:00.010+11:00

Hello again,

I was out all day today but managed to make this card for my entry in Kellie Winnell's Magnolia Down Under Challenge # 4.
For this challenge we had to use some 'Bling' and looking at the lovely Tilda images I have the other day, I immediately had an idea in my head of the sort of card I wanted to make so when I got home I set to work!

I chose my cardstock from my Stampin' Up! supplies and chose navy for the base card and two
different shades of blue for mounting the lovely sparkly paper onto.

The sparkly paper is from the Alison Ellis range which came out around Christmas time last year and I knew it would fit perfectly with this challenge.

I coloured Tilda in with watercolour pencils and my aquabrush then cut out the image and mounted it over the crescent moon then attached both to the patterned paper.

I then stamped the greeting and cut it out with my SU Window Punch and mounted it to the paper using 3D foam pads.

To finish off I added the compulsory 'Bling' - I used Kindy Glitz - Crystalline along the edges of the moon and the greeting and also on Tilda's hair bow, dress buttons and the pattern on her socks.

Here is the card I made -

It's very hard to see the overall effect in the photo so I have taken a side-on view as well to give you some idea of what it looks like but photos never do the cards justice - they look so much better in real life!

You can't see the beautiful glittery effect of the paper very well in these photos but it's really stunning paper and the glitter on the moon and Tilda doesn't come up as effectively either but I hope you get some idea of what I was trying to achieve with this card.

I hope to get some more challenges done tomorrow so check back again soon!

'Bye for now - thanks for stopping by.

Magnolia Blog Candy Giveaway

2009-03-24T22:07:00.007+11:00

Hi there,

I have just come across a lovely blog called Pretty Pressings via Debbie P's Place and Rosa at this site is offering some fantastic Magnolia stamps for her Blog Candy Giveaway.

I have just joined the huge following of the lovely Tilda, one of the characters in the Magnolia range of stamps and have recently made my first card using Tilda in an Autumn Theme - click on my heading titled 'Down Under Magnolia Challenge' on my side bar to see the card I made for my first entry to that challenge.

Claudia at Pretty Pressings has created some gorgeous cards - take a look at her site to see what this talented lady has come up with ! I love her cards - the colours she uses are stunning and the images are wonderful.

(My wish list for this range of stamps is growing bigger every day as I see more samples of fantastic cards featuring Tilda and Edwin.)

Well, this is just a short post for tonight - I'll be back again soon, hopefully with some new cards for you to look at.

Thanks for stopping by - see you again soon !

Happy Wedding Day - Photos and a Card

2009-03-22T15:21:00.015+11:00

Hi again,

My partner and I went to a really lovely wedding yesterday. The bridal couple were former workmates of mine who had met at work and started a relationship which had this truly 'Happy Ending' or should I say 'Beginning' ?

It was a second marriage for both so it wasn't the traditional 'White Wedding' but it was actually one of the most colourful weddings I'd ever been too.

(The bride was the 'Hen' I mentioned on my blog a few posts ago when I told you about the 'Hen's Weekend Away' bus tour which I went on.)

The ceremony was held at the edge of a small lake in a Reserve close to the couple's home - the day was very sunny and warm and just perfect for the outdoor event.

The bride looked beautiful in a stunning red dress with matching jewellery and she carried a lovely bouquet of Gerberas, her favourite flowers.
There were quite a few laughs during the ceremony which was led by a Wedding Celebrant and also some tears as the emotional groom declared his vows before his bride and guests.

I think we all had a few tears in our eyes listening to his words - they were truly beautiful !

It was a real family affair as the bride was 'given away' by her two handsome sons who walked her down the path towards her waiting groom, his daughter was one of the bridesmaids (looking gorgeous in a yellow dress which looked fantastic against the colourful Gerberas) and his son and grandson were also in the bridal party.

Another lovely girl was the other bridesmaid and she was wearing a pretty dress in a lovely shade of Oyster Grey.

(Sorry about this photo but the sun was directly in front of us and it was very hard to get a good shot of the bridal party from the top of the stairs where all the guests were standing.)

Below is a photo taken from the bridge on the other side of the lake - you can see the happy couple and attendants on the decking and all the guests on the stairs coming down from the Rotunda.

and lastly a photo of the stunning wedding cake -

The reception was held back at the couple's home and we all had a great night - I'm sure the happy couple had a wonderful day and will remember it for a long time to come.

Now, on to the card which I made for the occasion.

I used the SU Together Forever stamp set with Certainly Celery and Groovy Guava inks to stamp the floral image and the greeting.

I then punched out the floral image with the scallop circle punch and the greeting with the large oval punch and sponged around the edges with Certainly Celery ink.

I embossed the Whisper White card with my 'Birds & Swirls' Cuttlebug embossing folder then attached the stamped images with 3D foam dots and finished off the card with some lovely white and silver organza ribbon.

Here is a photo of the card I made - just a simple design but it worked out well.

And so, another weekend gone. Haven't done much today but relax and put up these two blogs.
Want to try to get some more cards done later tonight.

Please drop in again soon to see what my next creations will be.

Have a lovely day - see you all again soon!

Stitches & Craft Show - Melb. 14th March '09

2009-03-22T13:57:00.009+11:00

Hello,

Last weekend I was working at our Stampin' Up! booth at the Melbourne Stitches & Craft Show. The show started on the previous Wednesday and ran through until the Sunday.

That weekend we had quite a few girls helping out at our booth and we had a great time.

We had demonstrations of different stamping techniques and 3D projects and met lots of wonderful customers who stopped by to look at our card samples and to have a chat with us and
some of them also tried our 'Make and Take' samples.

It was lovely to see the smiles on their faces when they had finished their little projects - some of them hadn't stamped before and really enjoyed themselves at their first attempt.

Here is a photo of our group of Demonstrators at the stand on the final day of the show -(photo courtesy of Simone Bartrum).

We had a lot of fun together, sharing our ideas and stamping tips and also shared lots of laughs during the day. A great group of ladies! (Yours truly is the last one on the right.)

Here are my card samples which I designed for my 'Make & Take' demonstration - I used various stamps from the Boho Backgrounds, Sincere Salutations and Polka Dots & Petals sets for this collection.

The sponged backgrounds on the 'sampler' piece of paper (on the lower right) were made using the 'negatives' of the Scallop Circle and Square punches after I had punched out the pieces for the other cards.

I designed the 'flower' card (at the bottom on the left) while I was at the show, using some scraps of SU printed paper leftover from one of the other girl's projects.

I just cut out a strip of the paper and also some 'leaves' using a circle punch to finish off this card.

The sponged edges on the scalloped circles and squares were made using Certainly Celery and Groovy Guava inks.

For the above two cards, I used the same inks for the background and greetings and stamped the spotted circle in Close to Cocoa ink.

To make the little scalloped panels on the bottom card, I randomly stamped flowers and the spotted circle in the three different colours then punched out panels using my square scallop punch. The panels were then attached with 3D foam squares to the base card.

It was just an idea I had at the show whilst I was 'playing' with the stamps and it turned out very well.

There's nothing like being surrounded by crafty people and other craft products to give you instant inspiration !!

I really enjoyed myself there and hope to do it again sometime in the future.

If you were one of the many visitors to our stand, drop me an email and let me know what you thought of our cards and 3D items and our presentations - my email address is at the top of my blog.

Well, that's it for now - thanks for dropping in!

See you next time :-)

Inskpirations Challenge # 5

2009-03-19T23:37:00.008+11:00

Hi there,

Well after a busy weekend at the Stitches & Craft Show in Melbourne I finally found a few spare minutes to create this card for Makeesha Byl's Inkspiration Challenge #5.

Here is the card I'm entering.

I used the SU Embrace Life set with Night of Navy, Soft Sky and River Rock inks, stamping the flowers and branches around and over a central sponged oval then added some bling with adhesive rhinestones and finished it off with some pale blue ribbon.

Hope you like it - with the busy week I've had it was the only challenge I could manage so far but have a few to do on the weekend.

Thanks for visiting - come back again for another look see very soon!

'Bye for now.

Christening Cards

2009-03-07T22:58:00.012+11:00

Hello again,

Today I went to a double Christening in my family - no, not twins but cousins Riley and Lillielle. The babies were born a few months apart so their parents decided to have both babies Christened on the same day.

It was a lovely ceremony in the grandparents' home with family and friends attending.
Our family is multi-cultural and this was a traditional Russian Christening which was conducted in both English and Russian and was a new experience for the Aussie members of the family and their friends.

All went well until the actual Baptism of water - poor little Riley (the older baby) didn't much care for going through that bit, especially in a room full of people looking at him!

Lillielle faired much better and took it in her stride.

It was a long ceremony and both babies did really well to get through it with just a few tears but after it was over, a quick feed and then they were off to bed for a well deserved sleep while the guests ate lunch.

I was going to make the Christening cards last night but it was late and I was feeling very tired so got up this morning to make them.

(I find that I do my best work when I'm under pressure and usually find myself making cards for special occasions about half an hour before I leave for the event! )

Am I strange or do other cardmakers do the same thing ?

Here are photos of the presents I gave the babies -

and the two cards I made.

Strangely enough, I decided to 'Christen' my Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots' embossing folder for these cards - I'd bought it late last year but hadn't tried it out yet. I was very pleased with the result.

I wanted simplicity for these cards and was going to add teddy bears but while sorting through my tin of die-cuts, I found these lovely doves and thought they were perfect for this religious occasion.

I used SU cardstock for the base card and the greeting ovals and the 'With Love' stamp which was from our recent Sale-a-Bration promotion.

The insert pages were printed on my computer and I decided to add the babies' names and the date as a special touch for their parents to remind them of this lovely day.

SU Supplies :

Cardstock - Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue
Punches - Small and large ovals

Extras:

Cuttlebug embossing folder - Swiss Dots
Ribbons
Die-cuts - Doves
Kindy Glitz - Crystalline (for the edges of the birds' wings, their eyes and on the little stamped hearts in the greeting)

It was a lovely day and a good time was had by all.

Well, that's it for today - will be back again soon with some more creations.

Thanks for dropping by! See you again soon.

Color Throwdown # 32

2009-03-06T17:59:00.004+11:00

Back again with another challenge entry as promised - this is the current week's challenge from Color Throwdown.

I just love making pretty cards so was really happy with these colours. I got out the cardstock in the three SU colours then went through my SU Designer Series papers and found one that matched perfectly.

Here is my entry for the challenge -

I used the Regal Rose for the base card, mounted some Spring Flowers DS paper onto Pretty in Pink card and wrapped some pink satin ribbon around this piece before attaching it to the base card.

I then embossed a strip of Barely Banana card using my Cuttlebug 'Floral Fantasy' folder and mounted this over the patterned paper and ribbon.

Then using the SU small and large oval punches, I punched two ovals for the greeting - the larger one in Regal Rose and the smaller one in Pretty in Pink. The 'Dream' greeting was a rub-on from the Eastern Elegance pack.

To finish off the card, I searched through my container of flowers and found some lovely pink and pale yellow ones to match. I attached some adhesive pearls to the centre of the pink flowers and some small gold brads to the yellow ones then mounted all of them onto the card using SU Dimensionals.

Some lovely pink rhinestones added to the greeting and a little ribbon bow, and the masterpiece was finished !

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana

Paper - Designer Series - Spring Flowers

Rub-ons - Eastern Elegance

Punches - Small and large ovals

Extras -

Pink Satin ribbon, pink and pale yellow flowers, adhesive pearls, small gold brads, pink rhinestones, Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Looking forward to next week's challenge from Color Throwdown.

In the meantime, I have a couple more challenges to take up over the weekend so come back again to see those cards.

Thanks for checking in - see you again soon !

Color Throwdown # 31

2009-03-06T06:31:00.009+11:00

Hello everyone,

Another day, another challenge ! I just missed the deadline on this Color Throwdown one but thought I would show you what I created.

The challenge was to use SU Colours - Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss and Night of Navy and as we
don't have Kiwi Kiss here yet in Australia, I substituted some DS paper with a print in So Saffron for this colour.

I embossed the Bashful Blue card then wrapped a cream/gold ribbon around it before attaching it to the Night of Navy base card.

I then cut a piece of Le Jardin DS paper (florals) and navy card and punched a scallop edge on each with the SU Scallop Border punch then mounted them over the ribbon and embossed panel.

Using another piece of the DS paper (So Saffron print) and some more of the navy card, I punched a scallop circles of each with the SU punch, backed the printed circle with the navy one and positioned it to give just a hint of a 'shadow' .

I then applied a rub-on greeting and some flowers to the front and then attached it to the card using SU Dimensionals.

To finish off, I attached a small ribbon bow and some pearls.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Night of Navy, Bashful Blue

Paper - Le Jardin (Designer Series)

Punches - Scallop Border, Scallop Circle

Rub-Ons - Eastern Elegance

Extras:

Ribbon, adhesive pearls.

I managed to make another card for this week's challenge - check out my next post for that one.

Thanks for dropping in to see my latest efforts - hope you like them.

Come back again soon!

Birthday Card

2009-03-05T23:29:00.003+11:00

Hi there,

In my previous post I showed you my first 'Tilda' card which was an entry in the 'Magnolia Down Under Challenge'.

I used a panel of embossed metallic bronze card on that card and as I had another piece left, I decided to emboss that too and use it in a special card for my Mother-In-Law's Birthday.

I mounted this piece on some SU Close to Cocoa card which had been punched along the edges with my SU Scallop Border punch. Then I attached a piece of cream/gold ribbon to the side. and mounted the whole piece onto SU Very Vanilla base card.

I added some lovely cream flowers and some pearls then rounded the corners of the card and used my Gold Leaf pen to 'ink up' the sides of the card to finish it off.

For the greeting I used an acrylic sticker which was a perfect match to all the other elements.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa

Other supplies:

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Leafy Branch

Kaisercraft - Self Adhesive Pearls

Cream Flowers

Cream/Gold ribbon

Acrylic sticker

Well, thanks for stopping by - I have another two cards to show you in my next post.

Come back tomorrow to have a look at them - they are my latest entries for this week's Challenges.

'Bye for now.

Down Under Magnolia Challenge # 1

2009-03-03T21:22:00.010+11:00

Hi there,

I'm back - sorry I haven't posted for awhile but I've been busy with work and the last few weekends have also been busy with social events so haven't had much time to sit and create but I finally managed to do one challenge last night.

It was a welcome respite and some great therapy for a thumping headache which I had after a frantic day at work!

I have entered the first challenge from Down Under Magnolia Challenges created by two of my lovely friends Kellie Winnell and Debbie Pamment. Both of these ladies love the Magnolia stamps and out of that love, decided to create their own weekly challenge for others to play along.
They are joined by Kristy Young on their Design Team - these three ladies are very talented so please take some time to visit their blogs if you haven't already done so.

This first challenge was an Autumn theme and required the little girl Tilda and the colour Red to be used. I started playing around with my Stampin' Up! cardstock, found the perfect combination to go with a piece of Brushed Bronze card that I found lying around my house and with a stamped image of Tilda, set to work.

I embossed the metallic card using my Cuttlebug 'Leafy Branch' embossing folder and adhered it to some Real Red card which had been punched along one edge with my SU Scallop Border punch. The Autumn leaves were made with a small punch then I dry embossed the veins with an embossing tool.

I coloured in the Tilda stamp using some watercolour pencils and an aquabrush - my favourite method of colouring.
Tilda and the park bench were then cut out and positioned over the embossed panel using 3D foam dots.

I also adhered the falling leaves with the 3D dots.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Cardstock - Close to Cocoa (base card) and Real Red

Stamp - Celebrate Everday set - (Greeting)

Scallop Border Punch

Extras:

Magnolia Stamps - Tilda with Heart, Park Bench

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Leafy Branch

Watercolour Pencils / Aquabrush

Oak leaf Punch

Well, that's it for tonight - thanks for stopping by. I'll have more for you in the next day or two.

'Bye for now.

Stamped Image Swaps

2009-02-06T22:58:00.003+11:00

Hi everyone,

Looking at all your beautiful cards recently on your blogs, I had a thought which you may be interested in.

I noticed that a few of you have the new Magnolia stamps of the cute little girl Tilda and the matching boy stamp in the collection and you've been sharing your wonderful creations with us all.

Would any of you be interested in swapping stamped images with each other of stamps that you have seen and liked but may not have ?

I know that a few of you have expressed an interest in the cute (retired SU) baby images I used on my baby cards in previous posts so I would be happy to stamp up some of those and maybe swap them with someone who has the Tilda stamps for instance.

If any of you would like to do it, we could leave a note on our blogs and then contact each other to ask for images we've seen on other's blogs and offer to swap with each other.

Let me know what your thoughts are about this idea.

Thanks for visiting - have a great weekend and if you're in Melbourne, stay cool tomorrow :-)

'Bye for now.

My other card creations - Birthdays

2009-02-02T23:23:00.020+11:00

Hi there,

I was recently going through my file of cards that I have made in the last few years and thought I would share some with you. These are not stamped cards but something a little different.

These three Birthday cards were made especially for people I know - the two 80th and 50th Birthday cards were commissioned by a friend of mine for two friends of hers. (I have made a few cards now for my friend and she is one of my best customers! )

When making a specific card for someone, I ask about their colour preferences, their hobbies

and whether they like traditional or modern cards then go away and plan to make something unique and special for them. So far, I have been successful and the cards have been well received - I must be doing something right!

For this first card, I was told that the birthday lady loved gardening and the odd tipple of wine and while looking through my stash of supplies, I came across some manilla 'luggage' tags and suddenly had a bright idea to use them to make miniature cards, similar to ATC's.

This is the outside of the card - it's a little hard to see but the Peel-Off greeting says 'Happy 80th Birthday'.

I love this vintage floral paper which I bought in a scrapbook shop somewhere - it may be a K & Company design, I can't remember.

On the inside of the card, I made a little co-ordinating pocket to hold the concertina tags.

Here is the front view of the 4 tags - I decorated each panel with papers, stickers and flowers bearing in mind the recipient's love of gardening and wine.

Not liking to leave anything undone, I also decorated the back of the tags !

This was a good place to incorporate the Birthday greeting which was actually an acetate sticker from a little K & Company pad I have - I love the 'Victorian Charm' of their papers and stickers.

For the second card, I thought of another 'twist' and made a 'card within a card' - this one was a hit with my friend and also the Birthday girl.

Here is the front of the main 'outer' card.

My friend thought it was lovely but she was really impressed when she saw what I had put inside ! It was a four page mini album incorporatiing all the Birthday girl's favourite things

and even though I didn't know it at the time, the woman was treating herself to a widescreen TV for her Birthday so my motif on the front page was extra special to her.

This view is of the front page (on the right) and the back page (on the left). Like all we crafty people, I find inspiration in the most unlikely places !

For her TV hobby, I cut out DVD covers from a junk mail catalogue, mounted them on some cardstock to give them some 'body' then mounted them on 3D foam squares.

Here is a close up of these two pages.

Here are the two inner pages of the mini album.

And a close up of these two pages -

I cut out the wine bottles from the weekly supermarket catalogue and the books from another junk mail catalogue.

I co-ordinated the background papers on each page and added flowers and other embellishments to match.

I haven't really done much scrapbooking but I surprised myself when I did these two cards -

when I look at a blank 12 x 12 page, I find it hard to visualise what I'm going to do on the page yet find it much easier to think in terms of 'mini' layouts - must be the card-maker in me coming through! LOL - Does anyone else have the same problem ?

Finally, here is a card I made for my youngest Grandson, Tyler, for his 4th birthday in 2007.

I had these lovely bright Birthday stickers and wanted to make something colourful for him and thought of using his photo on the card to personalise it.

He loved the card and he is now a budding scrapper too like his mother (my daughter).

She is a whiz at scrapbooking and in contrast to me, finds it hard to work on smaller projects like cards ! We obviously share the same creative genes and have a lot of fun when we get together for crafting sessions - we've been away on weekend Scrapping Retreats in the last two years and had a ball at those.

If you can imagine 50 -70 crazy women all yakkin' and scrappin' at the same time in the same room, you'll know what I mean ! It's a hoot ......

Well, this was a very long post but I just wanted to show you that I do other things besides stamping and love to try out different techniques and learn about other papercraft ideas.

I hope you liked looking at these 3 projects. Thanks for stopping by - hope you'll come back again soon !

Happy crafting until next time. :-)

Floral Cards

2009-02-02T21:47:00.005+11:00

I decided to try out my Artfully Asian set and make some pretty floral cards as I love this image with the branch, flowers and leaves.

I stamped the base image in Basic Black then coloured in the flowers, buds and leaves with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush.

For the yellow card, I used the Four Seasons DS paper (from the 2007-2008 catalogue) as a background, cutting out the corners with a small circle punch and then mounting it on Chocolate Chip cardstock.

I then added a strip of Au Chocolat DS paper as a contrast (from one of the previous year's mini catalogues).

I sponged around the edges of the white card with Pumpkin Pie ink then mounted it onto Pumpkin Pie card before cutting out the corners with a small circle punch and piercing holes around the edges. This was then mounted onto Chocolate Chip card.

To finish off the card I stamped the greeting in Chocolate Chip ink, added small gold brads to the corners of the base card and then added some glitter to the flowers using KindyGlitz - Crystalline.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Stamps - Artfully Asian (floral branch) / Live Your Dream (Greeting)

Inks - Basic Black, Chocolate Chip

DS Papers - Four Seasons, Au Chocolat

Extras - Gold brads, KindyGlitz - Crystalline

For the second card using the same floral branch image, I chose a blue theme.

I coloured the floral branch in the same way but chose different background papers from the Prints Designer Series in Brilliant Blue.

These were mounted onto Ballet Blue and Green Galore cardstock. I added some Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon and added some KindyGlitz to the flowers for some added sparkle.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock- Ballet Blue, Green Galore, Whisper White

Inks - Basic Black, Ballet Blue, Soft Sky (for sponging the edges of the white card)

Stamps - Artfully Asian - floral branch and greeting

Papers - Designer Series - Brilliant Blue - spots and stripes

Scallop Border Punch

Ribbon - Bashful Blue grosgrain

Extra - KindyGlitz - Crystalline

I have another version in the making with a pink theme so come back and visit again to see that one which I'll upload once it's finished - in the next day or two.

There is something so lovely about creating floral, feminine cards and with our great range of stamps to choose from, there is no shortage of designs to inspire you.

Check out our main catalogue and our current mini's for some really beautiful stamps and papers and don't forget, some of these stamp sets will be retiring in the next few months to make way for our new catalogue so don't leave it till the last minute to place your orders.

Contact me now to place your orders or enquire about classes for cards like these.

Thanks for visiting - come back in the next day or so to see my other creations!

'Bye everyone!

Makeesha Byl's Challenge #3

2009-02-02T21:19:00.009+11:00

Well, as promised I have a new card for you.

I missed Keesh's deadline for this colour challenge but still made the card just to see what I could come up with.

I decided to use this cute little owl from the Celebrate Everyday set and found the perfect background paper in the DS Ginger Blossom set.

I coloured in the owl with watercolour pencils and an aquabrush, added some Blue Bayou ribbon and after stamping the flowers and cutting them out, I added co-ordinating pearls for the centres. The owl base image was stamped in Blue Bayou ink then a second image was stamped in Basic Black so I could colour it in, cut it out and adhere it over the base image with 3D foam squares.

I used the Scallop Border Punch for the edges on the Ruby Red and Blue Bayou cardstock pieces.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink - Blue Bayou, Basic Black
Stamps - Owl / Greeting from the Celebrate Everyday ( '08 - Spring Mini catalogue) -
Flowers from the '09 Sale-A-Bration - Polka Dot Punches set
Ribbon - Blue Bayou double-stitched
DS Papers - Ruby Red / White spots from the Ginger Blossom set
Scallop Border Punch

Extras - Self-adhesive pearls - Red / Chocolate (Kaisercraft)

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon, I have more to show you!

'Bye for now.

MIA .....

2009-01-27T23:55:00.003+11:00

Hi everyone,

Sorry but I too have been MIA lately though I see a lot of you have been very busy creating!

We were up in Queensland over the Australia Day long weekend for a wedding and I have been busy trying to catch up on all my emails plus the usual chores which have piled up in our absence.

I have missed the deadlines on a few recent challenges but still managed to finish one card since we came home very late on Sunday night - I will upload it in the next day or so to show you all.

The wedding was lovely but the hot and steamy weather up there really knocked us around -
we were so glad to get back home. Even though we are experiencing a heatwave here at the moment, it's a dry heat and bearable!!

Well, that's it for today - it's very late and I must go to bed or I'll never get up in the morning for work.

Will catch up with you all again by the weekend (and hopefully have some more things to show you).

'Bye for now - please come back again to visit very soon :-)

WOW ! I've reached over 1000 hits .....

2009-01-19T18:46:00.003+11:00

I was checking my blog yesterday and noticed that I had received well over 900 hits then tonight when I checked it, the figure was 1,025 !

I can't believe that I've had so many people visiting my blog since I set it up just a couple of months ago - to all of you, I give you my heartfelt thanks.

It's an amazing feeling to know that you are interested in my artwork and keep coming back to see what I've done with stamps, paper, ink and ribbons - especially when it's something that I just love doing.

To all you 'seasoned' artists, thank you for taking the time to look at my work and for all your kind comments and your encouragement.

To all you fellow 'newbies' like me, together we will grow and create new exciting things, learning from each other and flooding the world with beautiful works of art!
So far, it seems that thousands appreciate what we're doing!! LOL

Here's a big HUG for all of you and once again THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. :-)

Luv from Ramona.

KWerner Colour Challenge #38

2009-01-17T22:20:00.009+11:00

Hello,

I've managed to take up another challenge offered by Kristina Werner. I was a bit dubious about using these colours together but once I started to mix and match with cardstock and paper, it all fell into place.

Here is the card I created using the new Sale-A-Bration stamps - (if you like this card and want to try making it yourself, contact me for the brochure which features these beautiful stamped images).

For this card I used the Ruby Red as the base and stamped the beautiful corner flourish onto some DS paper. This was then matted on Ruby Red and Pretty in Pink cardstock.

The scalloped flower was made by stamping the image in Ruby Red onto pink and white polka dot DS paper then punching it out with the Scallop Circle punch.

The greeting was stamped in Ruby Red on Whisper White card then punched out using the large oval punch. I added red adhesive gems to the heart and the flower centre for a bit of bling.

I also added 3 more gems at the top of the card to co-ordinate with the main elements.

The striped DS paper was punched with the scallop border punch. I sponged the edges of this piece of paper, the oval greeting and the flower with Ruby Red ink to define them.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White

Stamps: Yummy, Polka Dot Punches - both from the 2009 Sale-A-Bration brochure

Ink: Ruby Red

DS Papers: Pumpkin pattern from the Bali Breeze set, Pink striped paper from the Petals and Paisley set

Punches: Scallop Circle, Scallop Border, Large Oval

Extras: Self-adhesive gems

It's fun doing these challenges as you stretch your mind to sometimes think outside of the square and use colours that you never thought would work together. You are usually surprised when you've finished !

Well, that's it for now. Come back again soon to see what else I have up my sleeve to show you ........

Thanks for stopping by.

Live Your Dream - another card .......

2009-01-11T23:34:00.002+11:00

Hi everyone,

Like all of you who have the Live Your Dream stamp set, I just love using it and keep thinking of more card ideas to try. Here is my latest effort ......

For this one, I used Blue Bayou for the base card instead of one of the co-ordinating colours which match the Afternoon Tea DS papers. I wanted a blue that was a little darker and contrasted a little more with the pastel colours in the paper.

The flower image was coloured with Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi inks and I then inked another image of the flowers only, in Soft Sky and cut them out to attach them over the base image for a 3D effect.
I sponged the edges of the white card with the Soft Sky ink and attached this to a piece of Old Olive cardstock which had been punched at the bottom edge with the Scallop Border punch.

I then tied a piece of Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon around this panel and attached self-adhesive pearls to the flower centres.

The greeting from the 'Say it with scallops' set, was stamped in Old Olive onto white card then punched out with the Square Scallop punch. This was then attached to a square of Old Olive card.

To assemble the card, I cut a piece of the floral striped paper from the 'AfternoonTea' collection and attached it to the Blue Bayou base card. I then attached the stamped panel over this and using 3D foam squares, attached the greeting to the right side of the card.

SU supplies:

Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Whisper White.

Stamps - Live Your Dream, Say It With Scallops.

Inks - Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi.

Paper - DS Afternoon Tea collection.

Ribbon - Bashful Blue taffeta.

Punches - Square Scallop, Scallop Border.

Extras - Self-adhesive pearls.

I hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping by - please come back again soon to see what else I've been up to!

Happy Stampin' !!

Hints and Tips

2009-01-11T22:49:00.007+11:00

Hi again,

As I learn a lot of things from other stampers' tips and techniques, I thought that I would share a couple of mine with you - you may have heard of these before but for those who haven't, here they are.

As we don't have Stampin' Up! ribbons or embellishments in every colour to match our cardstock, I am always on the lookout for suitable ribbons, trims or other items when I go out shopping.

To take the guesswork out of picking a colour and hoping that it will match once I get home, I've punched out scalloped circles of all of our cardstock, labelled them with the relevant colours and colour 'families' and attached them to a metal ring which I keep in my handbag.

Then when I find myself in a shop that sells ribbons and other items I'd like to use with my SU supplies, I just take out my little circles of colour and try to match them up then and there.

Here is a photo of my little gadget - I keep it in a sealed plastic bag, it doesn't take up much room in my handbag and is always ready whenever I need it.

My second tip for you is a neat way of dealing with sticky areas on your cardstock or papers when you've used a bit too much adhesive and you've got little sticky areas around your cardstock or papers which then stick to everything else !

Your glue eraser will work but if you don't have one, you can always do this - just sprinkle a little talcum powder on your fingers and rub them over the sticky areas then wipe away the excess - you'll find that you no longer have any sticky residue.

This is not only great for your cards and scrapbook layouts, but also works on other items where you may have removed a price label and it's left glue on the actual item which you can't get off by washing - e.g. CD / DVD covers, books, stationery items, etc.

Try it - it works!

Well, I hope these two little snippets may help you. I'll upload more as I think of them in future posts.

Hope you've all had a great weekend. See you again soon!

'Bye for now.

Makeesha Byl's New Year Challenge

2009-01-11T21:52:00.007+11:00

I thought I would try Makeesha Byl's New Year Challenge today and I ended up doing a 'Double Challenge' !
What's that, I hear you ask ? Well, you know how we stampers get when we see things around us in the home or at the shops and we suddenly get hit with an idea for a card, today I did just that.

I took a new tube of toothpaste out of the cupboard and loved the colours on the box so much, I decided to make a card using those colours!
Yes, it's sad I know, but I thought well, why not combine the 'Toothpaste Box colour challenge' with Keesh's sketch challenge!

Here is the box from the toothpaste so you can see the colours I wanted to work with,

they were aqua, orange, silver and navy. I started playing around with cardstock, papers & ribbon and voila, another card was born!

I used the DS floral paper to 'lighten' the contrast between all the strong colours and added a glittery silver flower for a bit of 'bling'.

I attached Tempting Turquoise to the Night of Navy base card, then attached a strip of DS floral paper to a piece of Only Orange cardstock and added some Turquoise grosgrain ribbon to this panel before attaching it to the base card.

The greeting is from the Occasional Greetings set and I used the Only Orange and Night of Navy markers to colour in the words then stamped it on Whisper White cardstock.

I then sponged the edges of the white card with Tempting Turquoise ink and distressed the edges before attaching it to Night of Navy card.

The glitter flower was in my stash of assorted flowers so I attached it with foam pads to a circle that I had punched out of Only Orange card.

SU Supplies -

Cardstock - Night of Navy, Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange.

Ink - Tempting Turquoise.

Stamps - Occasional Greetings (main catalogue)

Markers - Only Orange, Night of Navy.

Ribbon - Tempting Turquoise grosgrain.

Paper - DS Bali Breeze collection.

Extras - Circle punch, foam glitter flower.

This card is something different from my normal style as it's very bright but it worked out well.

I may do another card in softer colours for Keesh's challenge if I have the time so check back again soon.

Happy stampin' !

KWerner Colour Challenge #37

2009-01-10T23:07:00.008+11:00

Well, I've started my New Year's Resolutions to take up more challenges from various blogs.

Here is the card I just made for Kristina Werner's Challenge #37.

I received the lovely felt flowers from my upline Yvonne at Christmas time included in a lovely gift she had made for me so I thought this would be the perfect time to use them.

I used some of the floral DS paper from the Bali Breeze set which co-ordinated with the cardstock and the felt flowers. We don't have the Baja Breeze cardstock here so I substituted Tempting Turquoise and I used the Scallop Border punch for the decorative edge.

I then added some Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon, gold brads for the flower centres and a rub-on greeting from the Eastern Elegance Rub-ons set.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise

Felt Flowers - Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Grosgrain Ribbon - Pumpkin Pie

Rub-ons - Eastern Elegance

Extras - 3 gold brads

This was a very quick card to make and I loved the way the bright colours worked so well with the Chocolate Chip base.

I have another Challenge card to make so come back soon to see that one !

'Bye for now - happy crafting!

KWerner Colour Challenge #36 - Card 2

2009-01-02T21:52:00.005+11:00

I was having so much fun creating my previous card for Kristina Werner's Colour Challenge #36 that I decided to make another one just for the heck of it.

Still on a floral theme, I decided to stamp the flowers this time.

I really love this combination of colours - so pretty and feminine!

For this card I used the Live Your Dream stamp set and coloured the stamp with the markers, stamping two images on Whisper White cardstock.
I cut out the flowers and two of the leaves from the second image and mounted these on 3D foam squares, applying them over the base image for a raised look.

I then mounted the white card onto Old Olive then onto Pretty in Pink cardstock and attached it to the Rose Red base card. After cutting out a strip of Old Olive cardstock, I used the Scallop Border punch to punch one edge, leaving the other edge straight.

The photo corner was punched out of Pretty in Pink cardstock using the SU punch.

For added decoration, I pierced holes in the scallops and the bottom edge of the green strip and also in the photo corner.

Then to finish it off I added pearls to the flower centres, a pink taffeta bow to the scalloped green strip and used a white rub-on for the greeting.

SU supplies:

Cardstock - Rose Red, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Whisper White.
Markers - Rose Red, Pretty In Pink, Old Olive.
Stamps - Live Your Dream
Rub-ons - 'Dream' from the Eastern Elegance rub-ons.
Ribbon - Pretty In Pink taffeta
Punches - Scallop Border, Photo Corners.
Piercing kit

Extras - Self adhesive half pearls

Well, that's it for today. Thanks for visiting.

Please come back over the weekend for more things to see. I'm uploading as much as I can as I will be back at work on Monday so won't have much time for writing new Posts.

See you next time !

KWerner Colour Challenge #36

2009-01-02T15:04:00.011+11:00

I just love the colours in Kristina Werner's latest Colour Challenge - they're so pretty together.

Here is my creation - I just love adding flowers to my cards and this one gave my SU punch a good workout!

SU Supplies:

Cardstock:Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Whisper White
Inks: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink
Stamp: For You (from Occasional Greetings set)
Punch: Spring Flower Bouquet

Extras: Grosgrain ribbon, pink & clear crystal gems, white half pearl.

I will definitely use this colour combination in other cards - it's so nice.

Until next time .....

Iris Folding ......

2009-01-02T09:56:00.011+11:00

Hello again,

I thought that I would show you some of my other non-SU cards which I made awhile ago.
I took a class in Iris Folding when I first started making cards and was instantly hooked.

This technique which looks complicated but is so easy to do, was created by two Dutch women
many years ago. It originally began using the inside of envelopes for the folded paper strips - in Europe apparently, envelopes have the most beautiful patterned papers inside in various colours and designs though we here in Australia do have some too.

Go ahead, look through your window-faced envelopes and see the different colours and designs. Unfortunately, we don't have very many beautiful colours but our shades of blue, grey and green are all suitable for this style of papercraft and I have used them to great effect when co-ordinating them with other coloured papers.

You can use a variety of papers for this technique - patterned scrapbooking papers, foils, old inner envelopes, wrapping paper, etc. as long as the paper isn't too thick for folding.

The 'Iris' in the term Iris Folding refers to the Iris of a camera or your eye, (not the flower), as you lay strips of paper around a central pattern template in decreasing layers so creating the central 'Iris'.

When you have finished laying down all the strips, you are left with an open space in the centre of your work which can be left bare or filled with whatever you choose - I usually use holographic paper or card but sometimes I add a small motif in the centre.

You need to cut an aperture in the front of your card which can be any shape - either the basic ones of circle, square, rectangle, triangle, diamond, oval, etc. or any other shape you choose.
There are blank cards available with pre-cut designs or you can create your own using punches or cutting tools.

The cut-out section is placed (with the wrong side facing up) over a design template and you just need to follow the designated lines, laying down your paper strips as required until you've completed the pattern.

When finished, you turn the card around and your design is behind the aperture - then it's just a matter of finishing off your card by covering the messy bits at the back and decorating it as you choose and giving it to that special someone!

Here are a few of the cards I have made over the last few years - I have more, but need to find the disc that they're on in my mountain of craft supplies but that's another chore for another day.....

As you can see, the designs are only limited by your imagination and there is a shape for any occasion.

I hope you like these cards. If you want to know more about this technique, please contact me and I can give you lots of ideas and tips on this lovely art. It's just another facet to the world of card making and something a little different!

'Bye for now - see you again soon!

SALE-A-BRATION Starts Today - Happy New Year !

2009-01-01T10:44:00.007+11:00

Happy New Year everyone - hope you all survived last night's revelries without to much suffering LOL.

Here's to a wonderful new year full of all good things and to start off the year on a high, check out the great stamp sets on offer from our Sale-A-Bration catalogue - there are 4 beautiful sets which you can earn for FREE!

For every $100.00 you spend on any Stampin' Up! products you can choose any one of these FREE stamp sets.

There is no limit to the number of stamp sets you can earn - spend $200, earn 2 sets / spend $300, earn 3 sets / spend $400, earn all 4 sets, it's that easy !

There are also another two other ways to earn these free sets -

Host a workshop with sales of $600 or more and you'll get -

a FREE Sale-A-Bration set
a FREE Level 2 Hostess set plus a minimum of $70.00 to spend on any products of your choice
and for every $100 you spend yourself at your workshop, you'll earn another free Sale-A-Bration set!

What a great way to build up your Stampin' Up! collection of stamps!

If you sign up as a demonstrator during the Sale-A-Bration promotion - you can select any stamp set of your choice (to the value of $79.95) from the Main catalogue absolutely FREE!

This is a great way to get one of those higher priced stamp sets like the Alphabets - great for scrapbooking layouts or for greetings on your cards.

Want to know more about our Sale-A-Bration Promotion and how to earn FREE stamps? CONTACT ME NOW for all the information on:-

Booking Classes & Workshops

Placing orders - (yes, you can earn these sets for any $100 orders placed either online or at classes / workshops)

Becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - (and earning a free stamp set of your choice up to $79.95 in value not to mention joining our great family and making some fantastic new friends!)

Now don't forget, this promotion only runs from 1st Jan. to 28th. Feb. so get in quick for these great specials and as a further BONUS, I will throw in a free gift for anyone who holds a qualifying workshop (as above) or who joins up as a demonstrator during this promotion.

This is my own offer and is not part of any Stampin' Up! promotion or endorsed by Stampin' Up!

Go on, what are you waiting for - contact me now !!

Come back to my blog 'theatre' soon to see what projects I've created using these lovely new stamps.

"Bye for now - happy stamping!

Mini Waterfall Album

2008-12-31T21:37:00.012+11:00

Hi everyone,

As promised in an earlier post, I can now show you the mini waterfall album I made as a Christmas present for my daughter and my youngest grandson (5 yrs. old). I thought it was a lovely way to show off some family photos and make a gift that will be treasured for a long time.

I learnt how to make this album at a Kaszazz workshop a few months ago and it turned out so well that I know I will make more of these. I have modified the instructions so if you like what you see and want to know how to make one for yourself, contact me for more information - (see my contact details at the top of this blog).

Here is the cover page - the album uses two - 12" x 12" sheets of cardstock (with some left over) and any patterned papers and embellishments of your choice. All you need to add are the photos - one 5" x 7" for the inside of the cover and 6 or more which can be cropped to size to add to the inside panels of the 'waterfall'.

The photo below is of the inside cover which you can decorate any way you choose and it also shows the photo panels in their folded state.

As you pull the tab at the side, the 6 panels slowly unfold to reveal your photos and embellishments (see below). I was fascinated when I first saw one of these albums and I have had the same reaction to mine whenever I show it to other people - they are amazed at how it all works and can't believe how easy it is to make once I show them how.

Each panel slowly opens and falls back on itself creating the 'waterfall' effect.

To close the album, you just push the side tab back in again and the photo panels return to their original positions. You can make this album as simple or as decorative as you like by adding journalling, 3D embellishments, stickers, stamped images, ribbons, flowers, etc.

One of my friends Debbie Pamment has already made one as a gift for some friends of hers - check out her blog here to see her wonderful version.

I hope you like my album and if I have inspired you to create your own, please contact me for more details.

Well, until next time - happy crafting !!

Belated Blog Awards - #1

2008-12-31T00:21:00.006+11:00

As the last few months have flown by so quickly, I have been very slack and need to attend to a few things which I've neglected - namely passing on some Blog Awards.

I received two of these awards from my friends and fellow team members - Kellie Winnell and Robyn Clarke and I would now like to pass them on to others who I think deserve them.

I have to nominate 8 blogs for each award so here are my first eight nominees -

Yvonne Campbell - my upline and an extremely talented lady. Yvonne goes out of her way to help all of us in her team and I watch in amazement as she whips up cards and 3D items in a few minutes flat, just putting paper, stamps and ribbons together with ease to create such beautiful items. Her blog is always full of inspiration and lovely creations and great family anecdotes too!

Debbie Pamment - my new friend and team-mate. We met over coffee and became instant friends and even though Debbie is only a newbie to Stampin' Up, she has inspired me with her regular new creations every few days. I have seen some of her cards and other projects in person and she has talent to spare! I keep going back to her blog to see what she's come up with next!

Robyn Clarke - another new member of our team whom I first met at our Regional in Melbourne recently. I love Robyn's work and regularly visit her blog to see her latest cards. She made some lovely projects recently for a Trade Night at which she demonstrated her artwork and this award is for the inspiration she shares with everyone and also as a Thank You for honoring me with this award (my second).

Jenni Oliver - a lovely girl who is so welcoming when I and other girls visit her for stamping sessions, giving all of us free reign of her craft room and supplies and sharing her wonderful creations and ideas. I love visiting her blog to see her latest cards and projects and always pick up new ideas when I do.

Makeesha Byl - Keesh creates such beautiful cards and her blog is an endless array of inspiration. I love her work and always check out her latest projects every day or so. Her colour challenges are another source of great ideas and I will get around to submitting an entry one day!

Marelle Taylor - another extremely talented artist, producing the most exquisite cards with gorgeous colours and ideas! I am constantly checking out her blog for inspiration. I really love her work.

Karen Thomas - such gorgeous cards and other projects on her blog. I love her work too and always keep returning to see what new and exciting things she's come up with.

Carol Dunstan - I love the colours Carol uses in her cards and I always find new things to try out when I visit her blog. Wonderful creations!

I will list my other 8 Blog Award nominees in my next posts.

Please take some time out to visit the above 8 blogs and see what I'm talking about! I'm sure you'll find lots of things to admire and inspire you.

'Bye for now. I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve - Celebrate !!

More Christmas Cards ....

2008-12-30T22:22:00.010+11:00

Hi again - still on the Christmas theme, here are a few more cards which I created today.
A bit late for this year I know, but at least I've got a head start on next year ! LOL

I love the colours in the SU - DS Wintergreen papers so made two more cards using these.

For this first one, I used Sage Shadow for the base card and Wintergreen striped paper, stamped the greeting, swirls and Poinsettias on Very Vanilla cardstock and attached some grosgrain ribbon.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla
Inks - Sage Shadow, Certainly Celery
Stamp set - Season of Joy
Ribbon - Mellow Moss - grosgrain
DS Papers - Wintergreen

Extras - silver brads, KindyGlitz - Crystalline

I decided to make a square card for this next one - also in the same colourway but with a little twist.

I used one of the paler Wintergreen papers and sponged it with Sage Shadow ink, leaving a clear area in which to stamp the greeting. The edges of the square paper were also inked with Sage Shadow before mounting on the Sage base card.

I then cut a triangular piece of the striped Wintergreen paper to fit in the bottom right-hand corner. Using this piece, I positioned it over some Sage Shadow cardstock and cut this out slightly bigger to allow for the scalloped edge which I punched out using my Scallop Border punch.

All edges were again sponged with the Sage Shadow ink before mounting onto the square paper.

The Poinsettias were actually cut from another piece of Wintergreen paper - I used two whole flowers - one large and one small plus one of the 'half' flowers for added depth. I sponged the edges of the petals and attached them to the corner piece using 3D foam squares.

A green half pearl was added to the centre of the top flower.

To finish off the card, I ran Kindy Glitz along the lines in the patterned paper and around the greeting and also used it on the petals of the small flower for a little Christmas Bling!

I'm sorry but the photo doesn't do justice to the sparkling glittered lines which look like falling rain !

Here is a close up of the mounted flower.

SU Supplies:
Cardstock - Sage Shadow
Ink - Sage Shadow
Stamp set - Occasional Greetings
DS Papers - Wintergreen
Punch - Scallop Border

Extras - Green half pearl, Kindy Glitz - Crystalline

For this last card, I used the traditional red and green combination with the Dashing DS papers.

I stamped the Real Red base card with the small flower stamp from the Season of Joy set, using Wild Wasabi ink. I cut out notched corners from a rectangular piece of DS Dashing paper and attached it to a bigger rectangle of Glorious Green cardstock. This was then also notched at the corners using a circle punch.

The tag was made using the Scallop Circle punch on Glorious Green cardstock, (I pierced a small hole in each scallop for a decorative touch), the 1 1/2" circle punch with Real Red cardstock and the greeting was stamped on Whisper White cardstock with Real Red ink and then punched out using the 1 1/4" circle punch. The red circle was attached to the scallop circle using double-sided tape and the greeting was mounted on 3D foam dots before attaching to the red circle.

I added a piece of double-stitched Wild Wasabi ribbon to the patterned paper piece then mounted these onto the base card.

I then mounted the tag over the ribbon using 3D foam squares.

As a final touch, I added two red flower gems.

SU Supplies:

Cardstock - Real Red, Glorious Green
Ink - Real Red
Stamp set - Merry, Merry
DS Papers - Dashing
Ribbon - Wild Wasabi double-stitched
Punches - Scallop circle, 1 1/2" circle, 1 1/4" circle, small circle punch for notched corners

Extras - Flower gems

Well, I think you've probably had enough of Christmas cards now so in my next post I'll show you something else.

Thanks for visiting - hope you'll drop by again soon.

Happy Stampin' !

Christmas has come and gone .......

2008-12-27T10:08:00.020+11:00

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends - celebrating, eating everything you shouldn't, watching kids tearing through the wrapping paper as they unwrap each present in anticipation !

I had a lovely time over Christmas with family - Christmas Day was spent quietly relaxing with my partner, Boxing Day with my daughter and my youngest grandson (5 yrs), Saturday with my eldest grandson (14 yrs) and yesterday with one of my sisters. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone though I'm still not finished - have still to see other family members and friends over this next week!

I was very late with my Christmas cards this year but here is the card I made for my sister and some others which were the last ones I sent out to friends.

I CASEd this design from someone else's blog and I apologise for not mentioning that person here but I can't remember exactly where I saw it. (If you are reading this and it's your original design, please let me know.)

SU supplies: DS Papers - Wintergreen / Ink - Sage Shadow / Stamps - Season of Joy / Ribbon - Soft Sky stitched. Extras - Silver brads.

These cards are non-Stampin' Up! cards but I hope you like them as well.

The image on this card was stamped twice and one of the images was cut out and layered onto the base with 3D foam dots.

The red glitter frame around the main image was made using double-sided tape and after removing the paper from the tape, I sprinkled the glitter over the sticky strips.

A red bow & red flower embellishment add the finishing touches.

This card was made using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and peel-off stickers for the stars and corners. I love pastel colours for Christmas and thought that pink and silver would look realy nice together.

This one below has punched snowflakes and self-adhesive gems, white ric-rac ribbon and the greeting is from a sheet of rub-ons.

This next one has some SU items on it.

This one uses the SU DS paper from the Dashing set and I stamped the background with the Poinsettia stamp from the Season of Joy set.

The trees were cut out using a Sizzix die and I added a rub-on greeting and red satin ribbon to finish off.

Well, I hope you like this little collection. I am planning to add a slide show of my cards for you to look at so once I get it up and running, you will be able to see what other creations I have made over time.

Thanks for visiting - 'bye for now. Please come back again soon - I have more to show you!

Tres Chic, mon ami !

2008-12-19T22:52:00.010+11:00

Well girls, as promised, here are some more of my creations. Last Saturday I spent the day with my upline Yvonne and three girls from our team - Robyn, Leanne & Leonie.

The weather that day was awful with lashing rain and gale-force winds but we were cosy and dry inside the house (well some of us were - and that's another story ! LOL) and we had a wonderful time making cards and gift boxes.

We tried some Iris Folding which was fun as we added some of the new chunky glitter (from the Summer Mini) to our folded paper strips which really added some pizzazz !

I wasn't happy with my card so am re-working it and will post it soon but you can check out the other girls' cards on their blogs - see my Blog List.

Here is one of the cards I made that day.

Materials for the card -

Cardstock - Almost Amethyst, Old Olive

Die Cut Blooms - Bashful Blue (Spring Mini)

DSP - Summer Picnic (Spring Mini)

Ink - Blue Bayou

Ribbon - Moss gingham

Greeting - Eastern Elegance Rub-Ons (Spring Mini)

Extras - Crop-a-Dile - (for punching the holes in the flower petals), self-adhesive pearl for the flower centre, blue self-adhesive gems.

Both the small flower and the larger one were mounted using foam squares.

I also made a little gift box to match -

Materials for the gift box -

DS Paper - Summer Picnic (Spring Mini)

Die Cut Blooms - Bashful Blue (Spring Mini)

Cardstock - Bashful Blue

Extra - small blue self-adhesive gem for flower centre.

We had a great day despite the weather and it was nice to catch up with the other girls as they all live over the other side of town and it was the first time I had spent the day creating with them.

We had all only recently met at the Melbourne Regional so by the end of the day, we had become good friends. Of course, the luscious cake I brought along that day helped to bridge the friendship gap!! Oooh it was so yummy !!

While I was still feeling inspired this week, I made another card the other night after work. I had wanted to use my Tres Chic background stamp and thought of an idea for a card while I was looking at my new rolls of satin Pomegranate ribbon which I'd just bought.

I thought of adding a strong contrasting colour so chose a piece of Blue Bayou cardstock and punched out an oval to highlight the word 'Hope'. I thought that this card could be used for Christmas or any other special occasion and to dress it up a little, I added glitter to the stamped flourishes, inked the torn edges and added some pearls and lastly the beautiful satin ribbon to match the inked words.

Materials -

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou

Inks - Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou

Stamps - Priceless set (swirls) / Background Stamp - Tres Chic (main catalogue)

Ribbon - Purely Pomegranate satin (Spring Mini)

Extras - Kindy Glitz - crystalline / self-adhesive pearls

Hope you like these - there will be more to come over the next week as I have a few more items to finish off and upload for you to see.

Have a lovely weekend - until next time ........

Busy, Busy this week.

2008-12-10T22:44:00.005+11:00

Hi everyone, I must apologise for not putting up anything new as promised.

I started a new full-time job just last Wednesday and it's been a case of early morning starts,
mental stress learning new systems and by the time I get home, I'm ready for sleep!

I hope to relax on the weekend and make some more cards and things to show you.

Really looking forward to a short break over Christmas / New Year.

Well, must go to bed - ready for another working day tomorrow.

Please keep checking back as there will be more new things coming up here for you to look at.

'Bye for now.

Tying Up Christmas Promotion

2008-12-07T21:28:00.005+11:00

Santa's almost here - only 18 sleeps to go! We have a wonderful promotion for December - just perfect for that special gift for your stamping friends or better still, give yourself a gift !

Browse through this list of great specials (click here to view) and place your order with me now so that it will arrive in time for Christmas. If you want to make this gift even more special, giftwrap it using our Designer Paper range - we have two Christmas themed packs, Holiday Harmony with rich colours of Pomegranate, Old Olive, Sage and the Dashing pack in the traditional colours of Red, Green and River Rock. Add some co-ordinating ribbons, stamp some tags and you can create gifts that anyone would love to receive and they will be extra special as they will be 'handmade by you' !

Remember, time is quickly slipping away - contact me with your Christmas orders now.

I've been busy this weekend so I'm a bit slack with new posts - but stay tuned, there are lots more to come. Keep checking this site for more cards and projects.

'Bye for now - Happy Stampin' !

Two Blog Awards in the one week !

2008-12-03T22:01:00.011+11:00

Wow, I can't believe it but I've received two Blog Awards this week - how fantastic !

My very first one was from Kellie Winnell, one of our team members. Kellie is a lovely new stamping friend I've made in recent weeks through comments on each other's blogs and our 'chatty' emails. She also drew my name out of her prize hat in a recent competition on her blog so I've received two lovely 'prizes' from her now- how fabulous ! Her blog is wonderful - click here to take a look !

My second Blog Award was given to me by Robyn Clarke, also another member of our team

(under our Upline, Yvonne Campbell). Her wonderful comments about my blog really amazed me and I feel so honoured. I met Robyn for the first time at our Regional last month - she is a newbie like me and I love her creations. Why not check out her blog and see for yourself - click here.

These awards are flying around everywhere. Debbie Pamment, also a newbie and my lovely new friend, passed out her awards this week and mentioned me with some very lovely comments on her blog. Now, she is one very talented (and busy) lady who is always creating new things every day or two - I can't keep up with her. Her latest creations are some lovely stamped candles just right for Christmas. Go and check them out on her blog - click here.

I'm amazed at how many talented people we have in our team and also in Australia - it's mind boggling ! Everyday, there are so many beautiful creations to look at and gain inspiration from,

we should be so proud of ourselves!

If you've been thinking of joining our Stampin' Up! family but you're not really sure about it,

'just do it' - you won't regret it. I did and a whole new world has opened up for me - as you can see by the above article, I've made so many new friends, shared in some wonderful experiences and I'm having a fantastic time !

Do you want to know more about Stampin' Up ? Give me a call and I'd love to share my story with you.

Until next time, thank you everyone - hugs to you all.

Two new cards from the Summer mini range

2008-12-02T22:35:00.010+11:00

Hi everyone, well as I mentioned in my previous post, the colours of the new Designer Series papers in the Summer Mini just make you want to get stuck in and create which is what I did today.

I made this lovely 'Fishy' card using the new Ocean Commotion stamps and some of the Bali Breeze paper. I think the colours work so well together and make you think of Summer fun at the beach.

I positioned the Teal printed paper over the yellow base card first to work out where the greeting would go, then stamped the Birthday greeting in Taken with Teal. I then attached the Teal printed paper on the base card. lightly sponged a square of white cardstock with Soft Sky ink then stamped the marine plants with Mellow Moss at the bottom and the fish with Taken with Teal.

I then mounted the stamped card onto a larger square of textured Wild Wasabi cardstock and punched out the photo corners from Summer Sun cardstock using the Photo Corners punch.

The smaller photo corner was attached to the mounted image with a gold brad, then I attached the mounted image to the printed paper. Finally, I added glitter to the fish and the plants. The Crystalline glitter picks up the base colour of the inks so it looks like I've used two different coloured glitters.

Stampin' Up supplies:-

Stamps - Ocean Commotion (Summer Mini), Occasional Greetings (main 2008 catalogue)
Designer Series paper - Bali Breeze (Summer Mini)
Cardstock - Summer Sun, Wild Wasabi (textured), Whisper White.
Inks - Soft Sky (for sponged background), Taken with Teal (fish & ghreeting), Mellow Moss (marine plants).
Punch - Photo Corners

Non- SU supplies: Gold brad, silver gem (fish eye), Kindy Glitz - Crystalline.

Here is my second card using my new products. I wanted to make something in feminine colours and the Afternoon Tea Designer Papers were the perfect choice. This was a tall card for something a little different.

I stamped the blossom branch in Close to Cocoa on Whisper White card then coloured in the blossoms with a water-colour pencil and an aquabrush, then I inked the edges of the white card with the Cocoa ink. This was then mounted onto textured Wild Wasabi card, and the top two corners were cut away using a small circle punch.

I cut a strip of Groovy Guava cardstock and punched the scallops using the Scallop Border punch. The holes were made in each scallop using the 1/8" hole punch on the Crop-a-Dile.
The next step was to mount it on Chocolate Chip card and attach 2 gold brads in the top corners.

I used the Afternoon Tea Designer Series paper to mount onto the Guava base card. Then I positioned the taffeta Choc. Chip ribbon underneath and marked the spine of the card so that I could then cut a slit for the ribbon to pass through and attached it to the inside of the card.
I cut another small piece of ribbon and tied it in a knot around the longer strip then attached this strip to the card and adhered the edge of the ribbon inside the card too.

I stamped the greeting in Wild Wasabi on White card, punched it out using the Square Scallop Punch and attached it to a larger square of textured Wild Wasabi card. This was then adhered underneath the ribbon knot.

For the final touch, I added some Kindy Glitz to the blossom centres. (I don't know if the glitter shows up on this small photo but if you enlarge it, you can see where the glitter is.)

Stampin' Up supplies:-
Cardstock -Groovy Guava, Whisper White, textured Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip.
Designer Series paper - Afternoon Tea.
Stamps - Embrace Life, Say it with Scallops (both from the Summer Mini).
Ribbon - Chocolate Chip taffeta.
Punch - Square Scallop.

Non-SU supplies:- Gold brads, Kindy Glitz - Crystalline.

Well, I hope you like these two cards - I have already started another one which I'll upload in the next day or two.

Thanks for visiting !

Summer Mini catalogue has arrived !

2008-12-02T08:49:00.010+11:00

Well, the Summer Mini promotion has officially started - it runs through from 1st Dec. '08 to 31st March '09 and if you're quick and get your orders in this week, you'll have your goodies just in time for Christmas.

There are some beautiful floral stamp sets and really colourful designer papers but the one product that is everyone's favourite is the scallop border punch ! (See the punch below on my desk with some of the other new goodies.)

Just think, no more using decorative scalloped scissors to cut an edge on your cards only to find that it's crooked when you've finished or it hasn't cut cleanly and there are bits of paper hangingoff the edge !

Now it's so easy to decorate your cards with this wonderful punch and you can make the scalloped border as short or as long as you like - just slide your paper along the guide, matching up the scallops and keep punching. You'll definitely want one of these on your craft desk !

Have a look at some of the gorgeous papers available in this new catalogue - the colours are absolutely stunning, really bright and so pretty. They just get you so inspired to create immediately !

Now that I've tempted you with a glimpse of what's available, go to the link at the right-hand side of my blog to view the catalogue on-line and start your Christmas Shopping now!

Here's a hint - browse through the catalogue, send me your Christmas Wish List then tell your family and friends to contact me so that I can tell them what you would really like to receive in your Christmas stocking this year (and it will make things so much easier for them as they won't get headaches trying to come up with the perfect present for you !).

Happy shopping and don't forget to come back and visit my blog as I will upload some photos of my latest creations made with some of these wonderful new products.

'Bye for now.

Another Challenge Card

2008-11-29T22:52:00.010+11:00

I have been brave and taken up another Challenge. This one was from one of my favourite on-line Scrapbooking shops, Bizzy Bec's over in Western Australia.
A few months ago Rebecca set up a monthly competition for her customers who placed orders in that month. A challenge was set up for either a colour scheme or a specific layout and this month's challenge was for a specific card layout. Here is my card entry.

As it was a layout with 6 different elements, I made a square card to fit them all in.

The layout called for-
diagonally co-ordinating squares in a contrasting colour to the base card,
a matted rectangle in a darker colour with a co-ordinating ribbon around it,
a central image matted on a frame (either plain or scalloped edge),
a circular greeting.

I matched some glittered floral Christmas paper with some SU cardstock then stamped the main image and the greeting using SU sets from the main 2008 catalogue and the Spring Mini catalogue.

The Very Vanilla base card looked too stark against the printed paper and the co-ordinating cardstock, so I stamped little flowers in green on those two squares which did the trick and added the finishing touch!

Once it was all assembled, I added some glitter to the tree and the ribbon to match the glittered floral paper.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:-
Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, Old Olive,Garden green
Stamp sets - Season of Joy, Merry Merry
Ink - Ruby Red
Ribbon - Old Olive grosgrain

Non- SU supplies:- Floral Christmas paper, Kindy Glitz - Crystalline

Now I'll have to wait for the results of the competition. I was lucky enough to win 3rd prize in
Bec's challenge in September so will see what happens this time.

I hope to set up a gallery of my cards for you all to look at and this will feature my previous entries in these competitions. Stay tuned - it won't happen overnight, but it will happen ! LOL

Thanks for visiting.

In my garden

2008-11-27T17:22:00.007+11:00

After the little bit of rain we had here the other day, I noticed that the plants at the front of our house are looking quite healthy, especially these beautiful Gardenias so I raced inside to get my camera to take some photos before they die. Their perfume is really nice, especially at night.

I'm not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination but I do appreciate natural beauty so here are the photos of the flowers. Hope you like them too !

I must dig out my photos of the other beautiful plants we have and share them with you at some time.

We also have a Lemon-scented Gum tree in our backyard which has been listed on our council's 'Local Trees of Significance' register and I have taken many photos of it at various times of the day just to capture it's charm in different lights. I hope you'll like them too.

Well, until next time ......

KWerner Colour Challenge # 32

2008-11-27T16:46:00.013+11:00

This is my first entry for one of Kristina Werner's Colour Challenges. It's also a sneak peek at one of the stamp sets which will be available soon. (Details will appear in the next few days.)

I stamped the leafy branch in Sahara Sand on Whisper White cardstock and the flowers in black on Real Red cardstock. I then cut them out and used foam pads to mount them onto the white card. I also added tiny red gems to the flower stamens. The edges of the white card and the vanilla base card were inked with the Real Red ink pad.
Kristina suggested adding a metallic colour and when I was designing this card, I thought of the perfect colour of pearls which I had in my stash of supplies. They are Pewter in colour and are from Kaisercraft.

Supplies by Stampin' Up! -

Cardstock: Real Red (substituted for Riding Hood Red which we don't have in Australia),
Very Vanilla, Whisper White.
Stamp set: Embrace Life
Inks: Sahara Sand, Real Red, Basic Black.

I love this stamp set and will be making more projects with it - it's a beautiful set.

Single Markers Promotion extended

2008-11-26T13:09:00.003+11:00

Hi everyone, we received some good news today from Stampin' Up!
The Single Markers promotion has been extended to 14th December, 2008 so you'll still have another 2 weeks shopping time to buy those markers that you need. If you need to replace worn or dried up markers or if you can't afford the full set and would like to buy just a few primary colours, then this is a great way to buy them.

Click on the link to the Stampin' Up! hompage at the side of my blog to view the details of this promotion and then contact me to place your order.

'Bye for now !

Oh Baby !

2008-11-25T14:11:00.020+11:00

Spring has definitely sprung and newborn babies have appeared en masse ! I have made a few baby cards recently for friends so thought I would share them with you.

Here is one I made just this week.

I used the following items - Big on Spring and Short & Sweet stamp sets, Blooms die cuts, Summer Picnic DS papers, Bashful Blue & Whisper White cardstock.

I added a red button to brighten up the card.

These next two cards were ones I made about two months ago using the Baby Firsts stamp set which was in the 2007-2008 Ideas Book & Catalogue.
I also used Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink and Green Galore cardstock.
Non- Stampin' Up! Extras - co-ordinating papers, gingham ribbons, die-cut Baby Boy / Girl greeting, peel off stickers for greeting inside the card, border punch, Kindy Glitz glitter.
I printed out the various 'descriptions' from my computer and cut them out then adhered them to the images.

Here is the Girl version.

I chose the sentiment inside for a bit of fun as most first time mums live in a fantasy world where they think their little treasures will just eat & sleep all day and just look cute in their cots ! Welcome to the real world girls ...........

Wish List Registry

2008-11-25T09:18:00.002+11:00

Hi everyone, I've decided to open a Wish List Registry for my customers. If you would really love to receive Stampin' Up! products for Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day or any other special occasion, see the details at the side of my blog. It will make things easier for your family and friends when they are trying to decide what gifts to give you and you know that you will receive something that you really want!
You can choose any products from the main catalogue, any current mini catalogues or current promotions.
** If ordering from the mini catalogues or promotions, please advise your gift givers of deadline dates for purchases.

I hope to hear from you all soon - now start flipping through those catalogues and start scribbling !

Some Fruity little numbers ............

2008-11-18T14:38:00.012+11:00

Last weekend I went to visit the lovely Jenni Oliver and some of her team and we had a lot of fun creating at her house during the day. While I was there I saw a lovely Diorama card that Jenny had made so I thought I'd make one too - here is my little version.

They look more complicated than they really are but they're so much fun to make - you can make them up in whatever size you like. A great little gift idea (though it's a bit tricky trying to get them into an envelope for mailing !) LOL

I also made some cards and a little gift basket using the Tart & Tangy stamp set and the matching Designer Papers.

These were fun to make too. I added some pearls for the flower centres on the green card just to give it that little 'extra' .

Supplies for these items -

Stamps: Tart & Tangy / Papers: Designer Series - Summer Picnic / Die-Cuts: Blooms.

All of the these items are from the Spring Mini catalogue.

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Bashful Blue / Ribbon for basket: Bashful Blue striped grosgrain / Rub-ons: Cherished Memories / Pearls: Pretties Kit. All these items from the main catalogue.

Non-Stampin' Up! supplies - red and white ribbons.

If you like these ideas, you'll have to be quick to buy the stamps and papers from the Spring Mini catalogue before it ends on 30th November. Call me now to place your order !

Happy stampin'.

Christmas is coming !

2008-11-18T14:06:00.007+11:00

It's getting close to that special time of year - you know the one I mean, when you start getting frazzled thinking of what presents to buy for everyone on your list, starting to plan that special day, worry about how you're going to pay for it all and to add even more stress, you realise that you only have a few weeks to make your Christmas cards and get them in the mail !

Well I've made a start on mine and they didn't take very long at all. Here are just a few I made all with the same Season of Joy stamp set.

I even made a cute little gift box to match - perfect for filling with chocolates or a small gift.

As well as the Season of Joy stamp set from the Spring Mini Catalogue, I used the Dashing Designer Papers and the round scallop punch (for the tags) and the 2007 Hostess Set - Terrific Tags for the snowman tag. (You can substitute any similar image from our current catalogue.)

Non-Stampin' Up! products - the ribbons, adhesive gems and red glitter glue (for the Poinsettias, stamped in Versamark, on the green card).

Here is a close up of the little gems I used for the trees on the card and Snowman tag.

Now don't forget, the Spring Mini catalogue finishes at the end of this month so place your orders now and get those last few items you really want or you'll miss out !

If you would like to join my class for a Christmas Stamp-a-Stack where you can make 10 cards to kick start your Christmas collection, email me now to reserve your place.