Vintage Friends for You Ali

After posting my last card one of my very best friends, Ali, told me that she was a teeny bit disappointed when she saw that the 'Wonderful Friend' card wasn't for her. So I thought it was only fitting, seeing as we have been friends for almost twenty (!!!!) years and she is such a very important and special part of mine and Elliot's life, that this next card be for her. So here it is for you Ali xxx. You will get the real life one in the next couple of days x

The very talented Paula Dobson over at Just Add Ink set a clever little challenge this week.....Just add fussy cutting. Now I am known for my tendency to cut. I love the extra dimension that cutting gives to projects. I think my craziest fussy cutting moment was when I cut 80 little lions, 80 little monkeys and 80 little turtles for birth announcements I made for a friend's newborn little boy. So......needless to say I was excited about this challenge.


I had seen a swing card made by my wonderful friend and upline, Sarah Klass, and wanted to give one a go. So after much googling, reading of instructions, scoring, cutting, three failed attempts and far too many hours here is my card. This is it standing. You can see the flip flop swingy bit. Each of the flowers are all fussy cut as is the "F" which is popped up on dimensionals (you can't see this in the photo). I used the colour combination from Just Add Ink Challenge 54- Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Rose Red, Regal Rose and Very Vanilla.

Here is the card lying flat- front up. You can see here that the back of the swing section has the spot to write your message. 

Here is the back of the card. I found that the lattice embossed Early Espresso card wasn't sturdy enough for my liking so added the Rose Red to the back and stamped with flourishes. I don't love it but it served the purpose and adds a pretty contrast.

Project Recipe

Stamps:   Vintage Vogue 

Ink:           Early Espresso; Rose Red; Soft Suede; Regal Rose

Card:        Early Espresso; Soft Suede; Rose Red; Very Vanilla

Accessories: Big Shot; Lattice Embossing Folder; Soft Suede Polka Dot ribbon (retired)

I would love to know what you think of my card. Now I have lots and lots of creative bits and bobs on the go which I am VERY excited about. More about that later.......

Bye for now,

Extra! Extra! Hostess Promotion......... Don't Miss Out!!!

A completely fabulous promotion was announced at Convention this year and has just gotten under way. For those of you that haven't seen it advertised on my inkyloulou Facebook site already I will let the following flyer do the explaining:

 There is no better time to be a hostess and earn yourself a mini Stampin' Up! shopping spree. If this sounds as fabulous to you as it does to me then get in touch with me HERE.

For My Wonderful Friend- Inkspirations Challenge 70

Here is my second card for the evening. As the title of this post states this card is for my wonderful friend. Elliot and I are so very lucky to have her in our lives. I need to pop this in her letterbox tomorrow but am pretty sure she won't look here and spoil the surprise. Just in case though, this card is for you Shannon, just for being you and also for lending me half your winter wardrobe so I would be warm and toasty in Melbourne. Love you xx

I used the colours from this week's Inkspirations Challenge. So pretty.

Here is my card:

Project Recipe
Stamp Sets:    Bliss; Occasional Greeting
Card/Paper:    Perfect Plum; Sahara Sand; Very Vanilla
Ink:                  Perfect Plum; Blushing Bride; Sahara Sand; Versamark
Accessories:  Circle Scissors Plus; Clear Embossing Powder; Sponges

I am not quite ready to say goodbye to the oh so lovely Bliss (Sale-A-Bration) set yet. I love the flourish, flowers and butterflies....oh you know I love it all!!!! I clear embossed the flourishes onto the middle Perfect Plum panel. The butterfly is also clear embossed. I stamped the flourish behind the sentiment in Blushing Bride and then embossed the sentiment on top of it. All of the Sahara Sand and Very Vanilla cardstock are sponged in Sahara Sand ink.

I hope you like this card as much as I do.

See you back here soon.....I promise.

 

Awash with some Baja, Plum and Pear Pizzazz

Soooo....I have been creating.....yep that's right creating!!!! Lots of it too. I guess that's what Convention does to you- gets those creative sparks firing and makes you want to create just for the love and joy of it.
My first card that I am posting tonight I created with the colour challenge set by the fabulous Tania Gould of Just Add Ink. Really lovely colours too. Here they are:

And here is my card:

Project Recipe
Stamp Sets:     Awash with Flowers; Vintage Labels (retired)
Card/Paper:    Perfect Plum; Baja Breeze; Whisper White; Pear Pizzazz DSP
Ink:                    Baja Breeze; Pear Pizzazz; Perfect Plum; Versamark
Accessories:    Oval Nestabilities; Scallop Edge punch; Clear Embossing Powder; Dazzling Diamonds; Baja Breeze striped grosgrain (retired) 

  I have wanted this stamp set 'Awash with Flowers'for such a long time and it is finally mine. I really LOVE it and I am having such fun playing with it. I hope you can see how sparkly the big tulip is. I used a 50/50 mix of clear embossing powder and Dazzling Diamonds to make it shiny and sparkly all at once. My bow is of course a Teneale Williams bow- these little babies are going to be popping up all over the place after her amazing Workshop WOW at Convention. It looks a lot fuller in real life.


You won't quite believe it but I have another card to show you in my next post. I'm on fire- hahahaha.

Melbourne- Convention 2011

I have to tell you about the AMAZING time I had last week at the 2011 Stampin' Up! Convention in Melbourne. There wasn't a single millisecond of the trip that I didn't love- even if I did miss my Elliot lots. 

Sydney, last year, was fabulous but Melbourne was more than fabulous. Lots of things made it amazing........ This year eleven us from our Klass Act team (including honourable members) made the trip which made for one fantastically girly get away- lots of fun, laughs, chats and the occasional brimming over of emotion. I LOVE Melbourne- even though it was freezing and wet- so the Convention being there was lovely. Then there was the Convention itself.......hundreds of super talented demos; swaps; Memneto Mall; amazingly Wowee workshop Wows; fabulous Stampin' Up! presentations, stage set-up, staff; completely exciting sneak peeks; lovely Awards night........I could go on and on.....but I won't. Instead I will show you a few (ok more than a few) photos.

 My hooty owl box swap. The box is a three-sided acetate box with a slide out box inside contain some little treats. When you pull on the ribbon the drawer slides out. I made them in two different colour schemes- Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie, and Baja Breeze and Early Espresso. There they are all packed up ready for their journey to Melbourne for swapping.

 My gorgeous friends and Klass Act team mates (and honourary members) from left:
Lee; Sarah-Jane; Tracey; Jan and Sarah. Love you girls xxx

Another Klassy chick and fabbo friend Michelle (aka Ministamper) with THE Shelli Gardner. Michelle made Shelli the most gorgeous pressie (which I teased her about) and it was lovely to see Shelli's reaction when Michelle gave it to her and again when she opened it to find 3 gorgeous little brooches inside.

 Here I am, on the first day of Convention, with all three of my Stampin' Up! bags. Last year's convention bag, this years and the gorgeous Greenhouse Gala tote that I (and every other demonstrator there) just HAD to have.

 Main stage complete with giant stamp blocks on stage and huge border punch decorations up the sides and along the bottom.

 

Fabulous Klassy chicks out for dinner in Melbourne. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to see the very lovely Fiona again (there she is at the top left of the table in the top pic). I met Fi last year at Convention and she is just one of the loveliest people you could ever meet and a fellow midwife too, so we always have lots to chat about (Hi Fi xxx)

 My beautiful friend and very talented upline Sarah Klass and I at the Awards Night Dinner.

Delicious dessert (**ok Michelle you can laugh at me again for taking pictures of my food**) at Awards Night dinner- topped with a chocolate '5' to celebrate SU's 5th birthday in Australia.

The one thing I just HAD to do when visiting Melbourne was go visit the cake shops on Acland Street in St. Kilda. How lucky was I to have these gorgeous girls come with me to eat some scrummy yummy cakes (oh and that was after we had eaten an equally yummy breakfast.

All in all it was the most amazing trip away- something I will never forget. I'm already wondering if I will be lucky enough to do it all again next year in Canberra.

I have a huge back log of photos of cards and projects to show you so watch this space for more coming soon.