Two things to be excited about.......

The first of the two being Stampin' Up!'s new Summer Mini Catalogue packed with all the loveliness that can be expected from any SU catalogue. The gorgeous goodies in this catalogue are available from now through to 31st March 2012.

Click on the catalogue below to view or please let me know if you would like your very own copy mailed to you. Some of my favourites in this catalogue are the super sparkly glimmer paper, the gorgeous Spice Cake DSP and fabric, baker's twine and 'Marry Me' stamp set.

The second bit of excitement is Stampin' Up!'s 'December Frenzy'- with savings of up to 50% on selected items. Click on the picture below for more details.

If you haven't already got the 'Welcome Christmas' stamp set this is one of my great Christmas loves and a bargain at 50% off in December. I already own more than half of the stamp sets on sale- so I personally think Stampin' Up! has selected some fantastic sets for it's 'December Frenzy'- and I can see myself adding 'Clearly For You' to my collection seeing as it is a beautiful set and even more gorgeous at 50% off. I'll also be getting the Distressing kit which I have been eyeing for ages.

If there is anything you just absolutely love and have to have then don't hesitate to contact me and I can order it for you and have it shipped straight to your doorstep asap.

I have been a busy little bee just lately with lots of Christmas workshops, classes and orders. With things hopefully being a little quieter around here for the next week or so I am hoping to pop back on here and post some photos of all my Christmas creating.

Until then- Be good- you know who is making his list and checking it twice  :)

inkyloulou Christmas Card Class Option 2

Christmas Stamp-A-Stack

In this class you will Stamp-A-Stack of Christmas cards get this years Christmas card list started. You will create 6 pretty cards of 3 different gorgeous designs.

Stamp-A-Stacks will be held Monday 28 November & Thursday 1 December at 7.30pm at my house (Innaloo, Perth). Drinks and yummy treats included.
 

Cost will be $20 per person.


I will need to know final numbers by Friday 18th November.

Please contact me at inkyloulou@live.com or on 0406 652 907.

**** If you don't live in Perth or can't make it to one of my classes I can also package up all the supplies you will need to make these cards along with detailed instructions and post them out to you*******

**** If you have your own group of friends who would love to make these cards at your place or theirs and you would like me to come to you I have dates available to do this too*****

inkyloulou Christmas Card Class Option 1

In this class we will make this gorgeous Waterfall card for you to send pictures of your precious ones to your loved ones this Christmas (we can make more tabs if you have more than 2 photos) and also 2 more simpler but equally gorgeous cards.

You will get to take home the cards you make and will also receive a pack with all the bits and pieces (pre-cut, folded & of varied design) for you to make 4 more of these beautiful waterfall cards at home.  

Dates for these classes are Tuesday 22nd November & Thursday 24th November at 7.30pm. Both will be held at my house in Innaloo, Perth. Drinks and yummy treats included.

Cost for the class is $25 per person.

I will need to know final numbers by Friday 18th November. 

Please contact me at inkyloulou@live.com or 0406 652 907.

**** If you don't live in Perth or can't make it to one of my classes I can also package up all the supplies you will need to make these cards along with detailed instructions and post them out to you*******

**** If you have your own group of friends who would love to make these cards at your place or theirs and you would like me to come to you I have dates available to do this too*****

A November Sale To "Die" For

This November it's time for a Stampin' deal to "Die" for...... 


10% off selected Big Shot Dies for the amazing (how did I ever craft before I had one of these?) Big Shot die-cutting machine as well as 10% off a fabulous Big Shot bundle (where you can own a Big Shot of your very own plus 2 dies to get you started).


Check out the flyer below or click here for more details:

If you are interested in taking advantage of this November special please don't hesitiate to contact me  and I can have these Stampin' goodies shipped straight to your doorstep.

Just off to play with my Big Shot and the fabulous Petal Cone Die (which is on special of course!!!!).

See you back here soon,

A bit of Blush & Cherry- JAI Colour Challenge 91

It's been a while but here I am with a card at last. I have so so many things I have been creating and am dying to show you but at the moment it's a case of what to do first- juggle, juggle, juggle- as I'm sure it is for most of us.

So here is my card that I created for this week's Just Add Ink challenge. When I saw these colours together they were just so lovely that I had to create something. I probably should be making a start on all things Christmassy but when I saw these colours I instantly thought girly, pretty, flowery and so a birthday card was created.

Here are the colours:

And here is my card:

Project Recipe

Stamp sets:   Creative Elements; Well scripted (retired)

Card/Paper:    Blush Blossom; Whisper White

Inks:              Cherry Cobbler; Blush Blossom

Accessories:  Big Shot; Designer Frames embossing folder; Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon; Scallop edge punch; Paper Piercer; Pearls; Sponges.

I haven't played with this Creative Elements stamp set, which we received at Convention this year, nearly as much as I would like because it really is lovely. Absolutely love the Designer Frames embossing folders for the Big Shot too- just add that extra 'something' to a card. These are definitely my sort of colours- so pretty and girly together.

Hope to be back soon with more to share.


Thanks for popping by for a look,

A Little Present......

Last week was Elliot's very last week at Gymbaroo. We have been going to Gymbaroo every week since he was a little six month old and we have had the same teacher, Natalie, the whole time. To thank her for the wonderful experience she has given us for the last two and a half years I made her a little gift.

A small divided gift box complete with four little 3x3" notecards and matching envelopes. I used the Button Buddies stamp set for these and used the colours Soft Suede, Melon Mambo and Blushing Bride. I closed it with an acetate lid and a Blushing Bride ribbon.

This is the Thank You card I made to go with the present. It is a CASE of a card from p57 of the Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue, I just changed some of the elements on the card.
 

I hope Natalie loved her little pressie and card as much as Elliot and I have loved our Gymbaroo experience.

Swap Card for Perth Regionals

Hello, just a quick post today- without too much of my usual waffling- to show you the card I made to swap with other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators at Perth Regionals last week.

I found it hard to really capture all the elements of this card in the photo so I will give you a brief description of how I created it. My original idea for this card was that I wanted to create a template using the butterflies from the Beautiful Butterflies Die and then sponge through the template to create the 3 subtle butterfly images. Here are the steps I took to create the centre panel of the card:

1. It was a bit tricky creating the template as I had to cut 3 individual butterflies from 3 individual pieces of acetate and then tape them together in the exact positions I wanted them in.
2. Clear emboss the intricate flouirishy image from Creative Elements SS onto the whole of the Whisper White layer.
3. Holding the pre-made template in place, sponge through the butterfly cut-outs in the acetate using Wisteria Wonder, Pretty in Pink and So Saffron. Rub any excess ink from sponged butterflies to make embossed flourishes show through.
4. Stamp butterly image from Creative Elements SS in Wisteria Wonder and cut out and adhere to the centre butterly.
5. Cut out 2 small butterlies from Flirtacious DSP using Beautiful Wings Die and adhere to centre of other two butterlies. Place diamantes in centre of all three smaller butterflies.

And there you go. As simple as.....well actually it took ages to make these cards and therefore I only got to swap with 15 other demos at Regionals- hahaha. I did love them though.

More to share with you soon,

Simply Stockings- October Promotion

Happy World Cardmaking Day everyone.

On this special day I have a very exciting promotion that Stampin' Up! have just announced. 

For the month of October get this very cute Stitched Stockings stamp set and matching Stocking Tag Punch before it disappears and is not available again until the Summer Mini Catalogue is released in December.

Even MORE EXCITING host a $450 workshop or place a $450 order in the month of October and you get both the stamp set and the punch absolutely FREE!!!!! As well as all the other amazing Hostess Benefits you normally receive. Wowwweeee!

What a super cute little bundle to create Christmas cards that are both stunning and so fast and simple to make.

Here is the flyer with all the details:

 
The stamp set costs $53.95 for wood mount or $42.95 for clear and the punch is $33.95 (plus postage and handling) but remember you can also get both of these for FREE by having me come to your house and run a fun stamping workshop for you.


Don't forget I can take orders from anywhere in Australia and have your stamping goodies shipped straight to your front door. Postage costs $5.95 or 5% of your order total, whichever is greater. Plus you still receive Hostess Benefits on any qualifying order. 
Contact me anytime to order this fabulous bundle or any other stamping supplies from the gorgeous Stampin' Up! catalogue.


Be sure to also contact me  if you would like me to come over to show you and a group of your friends how to make some really lovely and exciting projects using the amazing co-ordinating Stampin' Up! products. 


Back soon- I have lots of cards to show you as soon as I have them edited and ready to go.

A Card for a New Baby Boy

Clearly my popping back 'soon' is open to a lot of interpretation, with almost three weeks having past since my last post. Things have been busy as always and as a result being able to play along with my favourite challenges becomes something I just don't get time to do.

So this week I was super excited when I saw that Just Add Ink's weekly challenge is 'Just Add Baby' as my friend had asked me to make a very special baby card (***Hi Lee***). This card had to be very special as Lee's bestie and her hubby were about to meet their first born bundle of joy. We new that he was going to be of the boy variety (smile) and that his name would be Jack so with those most important bits of info I set about creating.

Now this card of mine is actually a sort-of CASE of the super talented and all around gorgeous Kirsty Brown who I was lucky enough to spend time with at Convention this year. I have had Kirsty's version of this card in my 'Fabulous Ideas' file for ages and knew this was the perfect chance to make it my own. I found the template for the onesie part of the card HERE. I changed the colours (I used Bashful Blue, Whisper White and Marina Mist) and the stamp set (Baby Bundle) and ta-da here is my card:

I find it so difficult to photograph my cards the way I would like them to be when the weather is not the best. Hmmmmm.....I'd LOVE one of those light boxes tht make your cards look amazing in any light.

Once I finished the onesie bit of the card I had to think of a way to get the card up and standing. It is quite a big card so creating a fold at the top or the side and having it open like a giant sized regular card just won't work unless you have a huge piece of card. Instead I made a normal sized 14.7x10.5cm card and adhered it to the back of the onesie and trimmed to fit the shape of the template and wah-laa a standy up onesie card. Here is a piccie of the inside of the card and also the envelope which I decorated using more of the cute images from the Baby Bundle stamp set:

 I was so so happy with this card- it was one of those ones that you can't stop looking at. I delivered it yesterday and am very happy to say that Lee LOVED it too and gave it to baby Jack's happy and proud new parents yesterday afternoon when she went to visit for her first snuggle.

Hope that you think it's as cute as I do.

Now I do have lots more things to show off but won't make any promises about when I'll be back to post them- maybe not promising to be back will mean I will be back sooner. We can only hope. 

It is Stampin' Up!'s Perth Regional event this Saturday and I am so, so excited. Will be heads down, bum up creating my swaps for the rest of this week. I also have a Baby Shower to plan and create things for, for a very special friend of mine . Exciting times!!!

Love,

It's Here. It's Here.......

The 2011-12 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue is here and it is FABULOUS. Gorgeous and fabulous all at the same time. Here is the stunning front cover:

If you click on the cover above you will be able to see the lovely catalogue in PDF form. If you would like your own real-life copy to spend hours pouring over with numerous coffees and biccies then send me an email and I will post it straight to your mailbox for just $15.

I don't want to think about how many hours I have already spent studying every little detail of the catalogue's loveliness- it's been worth every minute. Yesterday I placed my first BIG order from the catalogue and I can't wait to show you all the goodies I ordered and the things I'm going to create with them as soon as that big brown box arrives on my doorstep. I do have a few things I have created so far with some of my sneak peek products and promise to post them as soon as I've taken photos and edited them.

Another exciting thing I have to share with you is a fabulous new 'Joining' promotion that Stampin' Up! announced yesterday. Have a looky here:

Click HERE to find more details on what is inside this fabulous 'Mini Starter Kit' worth $310. Wow!!! Also dont forget that if you already have some of the things in this kit or want something different you can swap them for something of equal value.

If you find the 'Mini Starter Kit' is too small for you and you want more goodies to get you started on your Stampin' Up! Demonstrator adventure you can purchase the FULL STARTER KIT for just $231.20 which is a HUGE 20% off its usual price of $289. Woweeee!!!

This kit appears on p169 of the new catalogue and the product in this kit is worth $610.

For more details on all the wonderful benefits and fantastic things that come along with being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator click on the Join My Team tab at the top of my page. Please contact me for more info and with any questions about joining my stamping team.

Back soon with some of my latest creations.

Say hello to the new catalogue with our Launch Extravaganza...

A group of fabulous stamping girls and I have teamed together to bring you a LAUNCH EXTRAVAGANZA to welcome the brand new and SUPER FABULOUS 2011-12 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue. It is going to be one fantastic afternoon and we would love you all to come along (may be a bit harder if you're not in Perth though- **smile**). Everyone who comes gets a showbag with their own copy of the brand new catalogue and other goodies. There will be gorgeous displays and samples to give you lots of inspiration - so make sure you bring your cameras. Product demos, prizes, yummy food and SO SO SO much more.

The details again in not so snazzy a fashion:

Date: Sunday 28 August
Time: 1pm – 4pm
Venue: St Mary’s Anglican Church Hall, 9 Ridge Street, South Perth
Cost: $15 per person (includes your catalogue to take home!)

Places must be pre-booked and paid for, which needs to be done by August 21st to confirm your place.  With all the fun stuff we have in store, you’re not going to want to miss out, so hop to it!

Don’t forget to let any friends who might be interested in coming along with you know– every

friend that you bring along will earn you an extra ticket in the super duper prize draw on the day!

To book your spot(s), be sure to contact me asap.

Elements of Style- Just Add Ink Sketch

Back again- as promised- don't fall off your chair now- hahahaha. 


My card tonight is for this week's Just Add Ink sketch challenge. Here is the sketch designed by Bronwyn this week:

 

The card I came up with for this challenge was not the original one I had planned. It was one of those cards where I changed my mind constantly as I created it. I am not quite sure about the end result- I keep looking at it and thinking "Hmmmmm.....". Not a good "Hmmmm.." and not a bad "hmmmm.." just a hmmm.

I have had a play with the 'Elements of Style' set which I have wanted for the longest time and has just become mine. I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with it and have to resist the urge to use it on every card I make. I ended up using monochromatic blues which was not planned at all- I've used Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Whisper White. Here it is:

 The photo isn't fantastic as I had to take it inside because it's been so gloomy here in Perth but I hope you can still see the colours of the card. All of the flowers are embossed on this card. On the Baja Breeze card the flower pattern is clear embossed and then coloured with bleach in my aqua painter (my absolute fav technique at the moment- thanks Kirsty Brown xx). On the Whisper White cardstock the flower stamp was inked with versamark and then Baja Breeze ink and the clear embossed.  The bird is also embossed and lifted up on Dimensionals. I dyed some Whisper White taffeta ribbon with Not Quite Navy ink and secured it on top of the larger embossed square and under the smaller embossed square.

 

I also had a good old play with my Champagne Shimmer paint (can't stop using that either) and my newest toy- my colour spritzer. The sentiment is a sneek peek from the new IB&C- a little stamp set called 'It's Your Day'.

Thanks for popping by and having a look at my card. Hope to be back very soon with some more creative stuff.

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge 79

Finally a blog post!!!! It's been a while. Certainly doesn't feel like my last post was a month ago but it was.

I've been having a really fun time lately with lots of stamping and quite a few workshops. With my parents away all this has been thrown in with 24/7, no break, single parenting of my gorgeous little man; a ten day bout of flu; good times with friends; and keeping my house from turning into a complete mess. Good times!!!

I still have quite a few cards and things to post on my blog from my recent workshops and stamping get togethers. I will hopefully post them this week but tonight I have a card that I just HAD to make for this weeks Inskpirations Challenge. When I saw tthis week's sketch  an idea popped straight into my head (that hasn't been happening all that often) so I sat down to create it before my idea disappeared.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

 

I am super happy with how this card turned out. I have been wanting to have a play with one of these little dresses on the model ever since I saw this creation by my gorgeous friend Sarah-Jane Kalé. The dress model stamps are from the 'Sew Suite' stamp set and the sentiment is from 'Create A Cupcake'. The colours I have used are Baja Breeze; So Saffron; Perfect Plum and Regal Rose. The gorgeous ruffle ribbon is some retired Regal Rose from my stash.

*** I can't help but think of my Mum as I type this. My parents are currently visiting my youngest brother and his partner in London and this 'Sew Suite' stamp set is actually hers. When she sees this card (if she checks my blog or Facebook) she is going to know I have been borrowing from her craft room. I promise you Mum  I did listen to the  one thing you asked and haven't touched your newest stamps. hehehehehe ****

I feel abuzz with ideas tonight so am going to go back into my craft room and see if I can pull together another idea that is whirling around in my head. Watch this space tomorrow.

Nighty night,

'Because I Care' with Emboss Resist

As promised in my last post I am going to show you over the next couple of days some of the cards I demonstrated or created for make and takes at my workshops over the weekend.

I'm starting a bit topsy-turvy as these first set of cards were actually what I demonstrated at my last workshop of the weekend. 

On Saturday I was asked to run a workshop for a really lovely group of girls. I have only met most of them once before but they are so kind, friendly and welcoming that it really is like having a crafty afternoon with friends. Both the hostess and her sister are really experienced card makers (they could show me a thing or two I think) so I wanted to show the group a couple of a WOW techniques that they may not have seen before. I decided to demonstrate the emboss resist technique that Sharlene Meyer demonstrated at Convention. I also wanted to show how with just one stamp set (in this case 'Because I Care), a couple of colours of card and ink and some different techniques you can make a card that looks like you have spent hours on it, when in fact you haven't.

This is the card I demonstrated for the girls:

Funnily enough prior to preparing for these workshops I have not given this set much thought or use, but now I have to say I am quite taken with it. As you can see I used the emboss resist technique with the hyacinth on the main panel. After sponging on the Baja Breeze ink I also dabbed on some shimmer paint- so in real life it's got a lovely shimmer. As I said before I only wanted to use cardstock and ink on this card but wanted to show how even though no accessories are being used the card can still look anything but plain. To achieve this I used the hyacinth image as a background stamp too and stamped it tone on tone onto the Crumb Cake card stock. I also showed the girls the dry embossing technique on the bottom piece of Baja Breeze cardstock and how easy it is to achieve some texture just by scoring some lines. Instead of using ribbon to divide the Baja and Crumb Cake layers (my usual method) I created a thin strip that resembles ribbon by clear embossing  another of the stamps from this set and then emboss resisting with Early Espresso ink.

I was so taken with this card that I made a few more and gave them to the lovely hostess in a pretty card folder. Here are the others in Blushing Bride and Crumb Cake:

 I was really happy with how these cards turned out and will definately be trying more ways to create pretty cards without using lots of 'accessories' in the future.

See you back here tomorrow for some cupcake fun,

My Strength & Hope Biggest Morning Tea Party

Pheeewww.....have I been busy!!!! A morning tea party, more workshops in a week than I've held in a year, a nasty bout of gastro, catch-ups with friends and all the normal bits and pieces of being a Mummy to a two and a quarter year old.

Over the next few days I am going to show you the crafty evidence of my busy-ness. Some make and takes, demonstration projects and a couple of little gifts I have made. 

I'm starting today with photos from my Strength & Hope Biggest Morning Tea Party that I hosted on the 12th of June. This year the Mum of one of my oldest and bestest friends was diagnosed with cancer for the third!!!!! time. It is so just so awful for the person who gets this sort of diagnosis but also for the family and friends who care about them and who feel so helpless. I was one of those people who felt that I wanted to do something. So I decided that hosted a Biggest Morning Tea was a way of indirectly helping the Cancer Council in their mission to help those with cancer and find a cure. Wonderfully before I held my morning tea we got the news that all of Libby's (***Hi Libby***) cancer was removed in surgery. Fabulous news.

So on the 12th of June a dozen or so girls gathered at my house for my Morning Tea party. Mum baked and made all of the food- my Mum happens to be the very best cook around!!! The amazing company I am a part of, Stampin' Up!, had donated a mind-blowing box of stampin' goodies to be raffled and given as door prizes. I designed a make and take using the Strength and Hope set ($2 from the sale of every one of these sets is donated to Breast Cancer Research- so it was a very fitting set to use). I had made some cutey little cupcake picks to pop in the food on each of the plates using the new Create-A-Cupcake stamp set and the now retired 'Homemade' al-a-carte stamp. I had also made twenty or so Sweet Treat cup flowers to give as take-home gifts.

It was the most wonderful morning. There was such a lovely feeling in the room. I had the best of times and I am pretty sure everyone else did too. With donations on the day and from some lovely girls who couldn't attend plus the proceeds of the raffles (my Mum even ended up letting people take plates of the masses of food left over for a gold coin donation- hehehehe) I managed to raise close to $400 for the Cancer Council. I was so excited about being able to contribute in some way and felt so proud that the morning had been so lovely.

Here are some photos from the morning:

 Some of the yummy food my Mum made complete with cupcake picks

 Fabulous raffle prizes donated by Stampin' Up!

 Making the Strenght & Hope Make and Take

Ali and my Mum- so happy with her Simply Sent raffle prize

 

 Bec, Jaime and Kate enjoying the morning tea

 Make & Take using the Strength & Hope set- a CASE from mini catalogue

 Sweet Treat flower take home gift-a combo CASE of Cathy Clark & Nicole Derendorf

I hope you enjoyed my recount of this special day. Come back tomorrow to see some of the creations for my recent workshops.

 

 

A Circle Easel Hooty Card

Hello,
This week Bronwyn over at Just Add Ink has set a fun sketch challenge.

Exciting to have a round sketch. Quite a few of the Design Team girls had made scallop circle and circle easel cards and as I had never made one I decided this week was the perfect time to give one a go.


This card was inspired by this one I saw a long while ago made by Sharlene Meyer for her daughter's birthday. I loved the little banner made from the Party Hearty stamp set hats. I, of course, am still having a love affair with my owl punch so my little hooty made another appearance. Here is my card:

Cute or not??????!!!!!! The colours - Regal Rose; So Saffron; Baja Breeze; Pear Pizzazz and chocolate Chip are from Stampin' Up!'s current Nursery Suite and I love them. I threw some Pumpkin Pie in there for extra fun.

Here it is all closed up too. 

And here is the bottom part all stretched out.

Project Recipe
Stamp Sets:      Party Hearty; Well Scripted; Crazy for Cupcakes
Card/Paper:      Regal Rose; So Saffron; Baja Breeze; Pear Pizzazz; Whisper White; Chocolate Chip
Ink:                   Regal Rose; Baja Breeze; So Saffron; Pumpkin Pie; Pear Pizzazz
Accessories:    Circle Scissors Plus; Owl Punch; Scallop Edge Punch; Oval Nestabilities (non-SU); Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain (retired); Pink Diamantes (non-SU)
I love this card.... Well worth all the time it took to make........hope you love it too.


Oh and by the way when I had a look at my previous post today of the card I made for my friend Ali and for JAIChallenge 69 I was horrified by the state of the photos of my card. It rained for days this week and I just couldn't get good photos but today is lovely and clear so I took the photos again. If you would like to see what that card really looks like minus horrid photography click HERE.


Have a lovely Friday everyone.....