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.....