I'm Back!

I've had a busy couple of weeks, so not a lot of time for posting on the blog...sorry!

Last weekend, I went on a scrapping weekend with some friends, run by Remember When. We had an awesome time and I got lots of layouts done. I've shared one of my favourites today on the Simple Aussie Girls Blog so make sure you go check it out. I will share more over the next week or so.

But today I wanted to share a couple of cards I have done for a Workshop I have tomorrow. These are simple cards, but I think they are quite effective.

You can't really see it in the photo, but when the card is closed, there is a different colour strip down one side which you can also see when the card is open.

I'm looking forward to making these with the ladies tomorrow.

Also, just as a bit of a teaser, I have seen the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue which will be available on 1st September and it is gorgeous. As I did last year, I will be doing a special series on my blog of my Top 10 favourite products from the new catalogue so stay tuned for details of that. It will probably be mid September that I will do this.

Thanks for stopping by and I promise I will be back tomorrow with another layout.

A card for a change!

I haven't posted many cards lately, I've completely been in scrapping mode! But today Ella was going to a friends birthday party and I had no cards in my stash (usually I have heaps!). So I made this card.

I love butterfly's and it is my go to theme for any card for Ella's friends. 8 & 9 year olds love butterfly's! This was very simple to put together and I used my Flight of the Butterfly stamp set with a bit of bling in the middle to make it a little more special!

Card Recipe:
Stamp Set: Flight of the Butterfly
Cardstock: Poppy Parade (ink colour), Baja Breeze & Whisper White
Embellishments: Rhinestone jewels and Stitched Poly Ribbon in Poppy Parade

Also, don't forget the current Stampin' Up! Gift with purchase promotion.  Go to the promotions page on my website to get all the details...definitely not to be missed!



As always, thanks for stopping by!

Struggle with Cards for Men?

Are you like me and struggle to make cards for men? I find it really difficult as I'm drawn to ribbon, bright colours and a bit of bling all of which don't exactly equal a male card! So a little while ago, I had to make a card for my brother and this is what I came up with. It is very simple, but effective. I think I will use this design often for male cards!

I have used black, crumb cake, baja breeze and confetti white for the colours. The scalloped bottom broder is easily done by punching circles using a circle punch and then layering them up in the pattern. The stamp is one from a Sale-a-bration set which is no longer available (sorry!). To finish it off, I added a couple of matching baja breeze brads.

This next card is not really a male card, but thought I'd add it in as it uses the same stamp as above. This one has bling (I love bling on cards!).

I love this colour combo...tempting turquoise, rich razzleberry and black! I've used the SU black satin ribbon and two rhinestone jewels. The rich razzleberry has been embossed using a Big Shot embossing folder. Another extremely simple, but effective card.

Don't forget I'm offering FREE POSTAGE on all orders over $30 for the month of June. So place your order now by email or phone me on 0419 219 240. The catalogues can be viewed by clicking the link on my sidebar.

Oh and one other reminder, there is lots happening over at the Simple Aussie Girls blog. Monday will be the first challenge so make sure you stop by and join in on the fun with the challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.

Simple Cards

I like spending time checking out blogs and websites for inspiration on cards and scrapbook layouts. One of the blogs I regularly visit is Jodene's blog. She makes some amazing cards and I am constantly inspired by her work.

A few days ago she posted some quick cards she had made and I just loved them. You can see the post here. I was inspired to create something similar and this is what I came up with below.

These are very simple to do...only the card base and one layer of Whisper White combined with stamping. But even though they are so simple, they look very effective. These took me all of 5 minutes to make (perhaps another 10minutes to decide on my colour combo and which stamp sets!). So this is a very easy card to remember if you need to make a card in a rush!!

Card Recipe

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Wonderful Favourites, Punched Posies (hostess set), Cottage Garden.

Cardstock: Popppy Parade, Whisper White

Ink: Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black

Other: Rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by.

SU Regional Make & Take's

It seems bizarre that I am posting this now, as the SU Regional Meeting was in November last year, but I have just never gotten around to sharing what we made.

We were given the Every Moment Stamp Set as a freebie. Now I'll be honest, its not one that I would normally pick or use, but I have to say I was very impressed with what we made. It may not be completely my normal style, but I really enjoyed learning different techniques and creating something different to what I normally do.

We created a card (you will have to ignore the smudge mark on the writing - my first time using a spritzer plus under pressure as I was surrounded by a lot of other extremely talented demonstrators!!!!! We made a mini gift card which I really like. Very quick and easy to make. Plus we made the little gift box which I think is really cute. A close up of the box is below.

We used watercolours and an aqua painter to colour the images, which again was something new for me. It was a lot of fun.

We also created a Scrapbook layout. It was 6x6, but I have just added it to a 12x12 page so that it fits in my album.

This was a very quick and easy page and it turned out quite well I think!

The Regionals was a great time of getting to know other demonstrators and learning some great new techniques. I really enjoyed the day.

In May I will be attending the annual Stampin' Up! Convention in Melbourne. This will be my first time and I am extremely excited! There are around 500 demonstrators that attend the Convention and I am sure it will be a wonderful time of learning (and shopping in Melbourne!!!!). I am busily working on my swaps at the moment, but will have more cards and things to share in the next few days. I'm determined to be better at posting on my blog.

Just on another note, I have some dates available for workshops coming up in the next month and it is a great time to host a workshop as the New Autumn/Winter Mini catalogue has been released. There are some great new products and just by hosting a Workshop you have the opportunity to earn FREE Products along with hostess stamp sets, a free catalogue and a gift from me just for booking. So get some friends together and contact me to arrange a Workshop date.

I'm Back!

Well I have been missing in action for awhile...sorry! Things are just so hectic at the moment I am struggling to keep up!! Its amazing how many activities and social engagements my three children have!

Anyway, enough of that. I have a card to show you. It is one I did for my open house a few weeks ago. It is using one of my favourite stamp sets from the current mini catalogue, Love Defined. This is such a versatile set and I really love using it!

I've used Melon Mambo, Black and Pear Pizzazz for the colours. I was really happy with this card...I love the clear stamped image. I used the little heart punch out shape from the Owl Punch and stuck them in a few spots on the stems using Stampin Dimensionals which give them a 3D look. A very easy but effective card.

Thanks for stopping by. I promise I'll be back in a few days!

Clean & Simple - FTL 125

I'm just stopping by quickly to show you this card I made using a new challenge website I found called Clean & Simple Stamping. They give you a sketch and you interpret how you wish!

So this is the sketch...

And here is my entry in FTL 125...

I have used the Heard From the Heart Stamp Set and the strips of Patterned Paper are from the SU Greenhouse Gala pakc. I've also added a cute SU Button. The card colour is Baja Breeze - one of my favourites!

I loved this sketch and can see I will be making more cards using it!

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget Sale-a-bration is on now. For more information click on the Sale-a-bration catalogue in my side bar.

I'm a Top Pick!

I'm very proud to say that my scrapbook layout was a Top Pick at Just Add Ink! I'm very excited, I've never been a Top Pick before in a challenge, so I'm honoured!

I'm off on holidays tomorrow so I will leave you with a very quick card I made the other day for a friends birthday. It was very simple and quick to do. This layout could be used for any stamped image so it is very versatile.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back after my break with lots more to share with you.

 

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! The days leading up to Christmas were a bit hectic for us, but the day was lovely and the kids (and I!) got spoilt! I love Christmas, and Boxing Day is always a bit of a downer because I'm a bit sad its all over. But in saying that we had a nice day today playing with toys, building things, opening a multitude of boxes etc. The kids loved it!

Anyway, just thought I'd show a couple of things today. The first is a small "cutesy" gift I gave to a few friends kids. They were simple to make and I've used the Reindeer again that we used on Jacobs cards.

Some are filled with Jelly Beans, the others with M&Ms. The kids liked them!

I also wanted to show you a card. This is the card I made for my husbands birthday last week. It is using one of the new sets, Love Defined, from the latest mini catalogue and I just love it. This card was based on one in the catalogue, with a few slight alterations.

I am loving this colour combination at the moment - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise and whisper White.

I am planning on getting some Scrapbooking done this week, so hopefully I will be back in a few days with some layouts to show you.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the break. I am hitting the shops tomorrow for the sales...hopefully I survive!

Punch Art Blog Hop

Welcome to my first ever Blog Hop...the inaugural South Pacific punch art blog hop!!! If you are coming from Tia's blog, I hope you are enjoying the blog hop so far and getting lots of inspiration. If you are just starting out at my blog then WELCOME and grab a cuppa so you can sit back and be inspired by all the wonderful creations on the different blogs.

A bunch of us Stampin Up demonstrators from NZ and Australia have got together to put this blog hop together. We all love our Stampin Up punches. We have gotten together to showcase a selection of the punches you can purchasae from Stampin Up. Please leave a comment and let us know what you think to go in the draw to win some yummy scrummy punch art blog candy (offer not available to su demos). Comments are open till Friday 5th Nov at 10am.

So the way it works is that each of us demonstrators have been assigned a punch/s to showcase. You start at one blog (doesn't matter which one) and then you follow through the links. So at the end of my post will be the link to the next blog in the blog hop and so on. I've also included the full list of blogs just in case you have any trouble! 

So I am doing the 6 x Circle punches and I would have to say without a doubt these are my most used and most versatile punches. They have so many uses. I use them alot on Scrapbooking Layouts, but also on cards.

Before I go any further, I have to apologise for my photos...I did leave things till the last minute and took all these photos last night so the lighting is a bit dodgy and they are quite crooked as I was trying to get it all finished. Anyway, moving on...

I have heaps of picutres to show you...it really is the best way to showcase how versatile these punches are.

Firstly, Circles are wonderful for use as general embellishments on scrapbook pages...

Some of you may have seen this one before, but I thought I'd use it again as it is a good example of using patterned paper with the circle punches.

Whether you use one, three, six or more circles, you really can't go wrong. They really add some interest to scrapbook layouts.

Then you can add layers to your circles. Whether you use a few different size punches or combine a circle with another punched shape such as the scallop circle or a square, it will always give a great effect.

Another great use for one of the larger circle punches is to punch out a photo. This can really draw attention to an expression on the face of someone if you crop in close and punch out your circle...

This one below may be a little hard to see, but if you take several punched circle shapes (in this case white circles) and put them together they give a flower like effect. You could also place half circles on a page to give a large scallop like effect.

I love using half circles as well. All I do to create this effect is punch out the circle then cut it in half using my trimmer. This layout was done a few years ago and I loved it so much that I recently created a card using the same effect and similar colours! 

Circles come in handy for a place to add a date to a scrapbook layout as well...

My last example of the circle punch is to not only punch out a circle but to punch out a half circle to use as a frame of sorts. Its hard to explain, but you can see what I mean in the two layouts below.

I highly recommend all sizes of the circle punch (there are 6 available through Stampin' Up!). However, I have to say my most used sizes are the 1 3/4"; the 1 1/4" and the 1" punches. They can be found on pages 146-147 of the IB&C and they range in price from $11.50 through to $33.95.

So now you can move onto the next blog in the blog hop which is the very talented Angie Jones and she is showcasing the Ornament punch. Check out her blog at http://angiescraftfusion.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to leave me a comment and you will go in the draw to win some blog candy prizes from all of us demonstrators! Below is the list of all the demonstrators that are participating in the blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by.

1. Karen Southwell - http://www.kareniescrafts.blogspot.com/
2. Carol-Ann Torrie http://queen-of-scraps.blogspot.com/
3 Sally Williams http://www.sallycancraft.com/
4 Julia Leece - http://www.juliascards.blogspot.com/
5 Amy http://ladybugsanddaisychains.blogspot.com/
6 Melissa Davies http://beedevinedesigns.blogspot.com/
7 Michelle Dyson http://www.stampinkpaper.blogspot.com/
8 Clare Mcilhatton http://craftycowcreations.blogspot.com/
9 Lisa Bullock http://daffyscrapper.wordpress.com/
10 Pauline Bennetts - http://paulinebennetts.com/stampede/
11 Tia Routledge http://craftingwithtia.weebly.com/my-blog.html
12 Emma Kirton http://www.emmakirton.blogspot.com/
13 Angie Jones http://angiescraftfusion.blogspot.com/
14 Andrea Buckland http://creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com/
15 Steph Gray http://stampinsteph.wordpress.com/

 

Favourites TEN!!!

The last day of favourites...Number TEN. This stamp set was available in the last catalogue, although I have only recently purchased it. I absolutely Love, Love, Love this stamp set!!! It is the Flight of the Butterfly Stamp Set. It also has a matching butterfly punch (note, the punch in the photo is the old style...if you ordered it now, the punch would come in the new design which is much easier to store and use).

There are so many options with this stamp set. The butterflies can be used for a little girls card, a sympathy card, a birthday card, a thank you card...and the list goes on. Even without the matching punch, you can still make amazing cards with the stamps. They also come in handy as an element on a scrapbook page.

As for the actual card I made, this would have to be one of my favourites. I've used Kraft, Confetti White, Baja Breeze, Chocolate, Cajun Craze and Certainly Celery cardstocks (and ink). I've used Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon. Plus I've added a cute button tied with linen thread. Just a note here on the button...the new button packs are absolutely adorable and come in lots of colours. They only just missed my favourites list - if I'd been doing 11, they would have made it!

The Flight of the Butterfly Stamp Set can be found on page 88 of the Catalogue and is $53.95 (Item #115798).

If you would like to order this or any products, you can drop me an email. I can have the products shipped directly to you if you are not in my area. Credit Card payments are accepted.

Well that is it...my 10 Favourite Items from the New Idea Book & Catalogue. I really hope you have enjoyed reading my posts and I hope it has inspired you to get creating!  I will leave comments open for the prize draw until Monday. I will be back then to announce the winners. Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to comment.

I will be back with more scrapbook layouts and cards in the next few days.

Have a great weekend.

Favourites NINE

So today's favourite is very high up on my list and its lots and lots of fun. It is the Make a Monster Stamp Set and I can tell you that the kids (even the girls) love this stamp set!

I highly recommend this stamp set in the Clear Mount version as it really helps to be able to see where you are stamping each part of the monster. The stamp set comes with all the different Monster "parts" to make a variety of different Monsters. There are many different combinations.

My kids LOVE this stamp set and find it quite easy to use as well. The combinations we have come up with are amazing and it really is lots of fun. The perfect set to be able to make cards for boys (I always find boys cards a challenge!).

I've also used some patterned paper from the Greenhouse Gala Pack and I've used Chocolate, Baja Breeze and Real Red Cardstocks.

This stamp set is on page 62 of the catalogue and is $33.95 for Clear Mount (Item # 120606) and $41.95 for the Wood Mount (Item #121837).

Only one day left and I have a lovely stamp set to show you tomorrow. Don't forget to leave a comment so that you have a chance to win one of the great prizes I have to give one of you.

As always, thanks for stopping by.