Another Challenge Card

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

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

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

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 !

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

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 ............

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 !

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.

Melbourne Regional Highlights

My first ever Stampin' Up! event was fantastic. It was the Melbourne Regional held on Saturday 8th November, '08 at the Melb. Conference Centre in the city. I came in with my friend Debbie Pamment and we couldn't stop yapping about it all the way in and all the way back. LOL.

I was able to meet up with some of the girls in our team (Yvonne Campbell is our Upline) which was great - it's nice to put faces to the names.

Here is the card I made to swap. I actually managed to make 30 cards in 2 days and was able to swap all of them !

Products used -
Stamps - Merry, Merry set - 2008 - 2009 main catalogue.
* When I stamped the base card, I 'stamped off' the Celery & Plum snowflakes to lighten them.
Cardstock - Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery.
Inks - colours same as above (all from the Soft Subtles family)
Ribbon - Grosgrain in Certainly Celery - (I didn't have enough of the one type of ribbon so some of my cards had Taffeta or Gingham ribbon in the same colour.
Extras - Kindy Glitz - Crystalline to highlight the 'baubles' on the main image and around the tag.


Here is a close up of the glitter effect.
















Here are some of the gorgeous cards I received in return for my swaps. Aren't they lovely ?
Some awesome talent in that room !






























We were all given the Live Your Dreams stamp set from the new Summer Mini Catalogue which will be available from December '08 - March '09 and a bag with 4 projects to make using this
set plus some of the beautiful new papers from this catalogue. Here are the projects I made.

If you would like to learn how to make these, contact me for my workshop dates. They are so
much fun to make !















As well as the card swaps, stamp set and projects, our lovely team leader Yvonne, gave each of us one of these fun notepads as a gift. Thank you so much Yvonne.














Last of all, here is our team photo from the day - accessed from Yvonne's blog.













What a great day ! I'm definitely up for attending more of these events. 'Bye for now.

Welcome to my blog !

Hi everyone, well I've taken the plunge and created my very own blog. Please bear with me
as I find my way around this wonderful invention ! I will be adding more posts and my creations in the next few days so keep reviewing this site. (Any tips & helpful suggestions will be
most welcome but please be kind, I'm only a Learner.) LOL

For those of you who don't know me, I have always been a crafty person and only started making cards about 3 years ago. I attended some locally-run classes on basic stamping techniques and other papercrafts and was instantly 'hooked'.

I discovered Stampin' Up through an ad. in a craft magazine, hosted a few workshops in my home and finally decided to join the Stampin' Up! family as a demonstrator in February this year. I've met some wonderful people along the way and have already made some lovely new friends.

I attended my first SU event on the weekend - the Regional seminar in Melbourne. I had a wonderful time putting faces to names I had only seen in print, admiring the talents of all the artists there and learning lots of new things to help me in my business. I hope to attend Convention next year to meet up with even more SU demonstrators.

I hope you enjoy browsing through my blog. Please come back and visit often to see what I've
been up to.