Owls

I love craft.  I am passionate about papercraft, especially making cards!  But I do like to dabble with other crafts too!  I enjoy sewing but don't seem to find time for longer or complex projects, so I am really enjoying creating my felties!!

One of my current projects are these cute owls in the current edition of the Notebook Magazine.  They are so cute!!  Here's a pic from the Notebook Magazine:

And here's my first owl to show - it's for one of my gorgeous nieces.  I'll leave it to my gorgeous nieces to pick their colours .... I'll just make them!!  I'm also making one for baby Jessica as well as my sister, so I've a few more to add to the collection!  And here's my purple owl!!

So how does this relate to Stampin' Up! you might ask?   Well, the new 2010-2011 SU Idea Book & Catalogue is due out in a few more sleeps (September 1, 2010).  And you'll be pleasantly surprised by their Oh So Cute owl punch.  I will be ordering one for myself in a few more sleeps.  I need cards and tags to match my feltie owls!!

And if you would like to make these owls, head on over to the Notebook Magazine website.

Butterflies take flight

Literally!!!  These butterflies are on their way overseas, taking flight from Australia to Holland!

I needed a card with very few layers, minimal bulk and that would last the journey!!  Not wanting to use too much pink, but staying with the girly theme, I went for the colours of Pale Plum, Pink Pirouette & Orchid Opulence.  Very pretty!

I made quite a few of them, you know, production line style!  Although it still amazes me how long a simple handmade card can take.  But so worth the effort!

Now these were really difficult to photograph!!  Mainly because of the vellum butterflies I had used.

I've taken a few closer up shots, but I'm not sure these make the best shots either, but hopefully you'll see what I was trying to do!

Here's what I used:


Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly & Baroque Motifs
Papers: Whisper White & Pale Plum CS, Vellum
Inks: Pink Pirouette, Pale Plum, Orchid Opulence and Whisper White Craft Ink
Other: Butterfly Punch, Sponge Daubers, Glue Dots & Kindy Glitz (non-SU)

My post-script for the day!!  I am waiting for my WH and my big boy Luke to get home ... any minute now...

They've been up at the snow (Luke was SO excited).  My two little ones were too little to go, so I stayed home and enjoyed the beautiful blue skies and Canberra winter warm sun.  Actually it was such a lovely warm wintery day that I was surprised to see so much snow on the local ranges.  Anyways, I'm excited too.  I finally get to make a scrap page with a snow theme.  Fingers crossed they're bringing home some great photos!!!

Last Chance DISCOUNTS!!

As you (hopefully!!) know, the Last Chance List is quickly coming to an end.  

SU have added a select number of additional discounted last-chance items for the final days of the promotion. Don't miss out on these heavily discounted items.  Once they sell out, they've sold out forever!

These are the items selected:

Item #	Page	Description	Discount	Discounted AUS Price	Discounted NZ Price
116342	42	Big Bold Birthday	50%	$     26.98	$    31.98
116408	100	Seeing Spots	50%	$     14.98	$    17.98
116344	121	Big Deal Alphabet	50%	$     38.98	$    45.98
116208	126	In Color card stock (A4)	50%	$        7.25	$      8.63
105538	127	Bold Brights Stampin' Write markers	25%	$     43.46	$    51.71
105537	127	Soft Subtles Stampin' Write markers	25%	$     43.46	$    51.71
105540	127	Rich Regals Stampin' Write markers	25%	$     43.46	$    51.71
105541	127	Many Marvelous Markers	25%	$   175.46	$  209.96
105550	128	Bold Brights Classic Stampin' Spots	25%	$     31.46	$    37.46
105551	128	Earth Elements Classic Stampin' Spots	25%	$     31.46	$    37.46
105539	128	Earth Elements Stampin' Write markers	25%	$     43.46	$    51.71
105552	129	Rich Regals Classic Stampin' Spots	25%	$     31.46	$    37.46
112042	132	Urban Garden Designer Series paper	50%	$        8.48	$      9.98
112041	134	Bella Rose Designer Series paper	50%	$        8.48	$      9.98
107305	152	Oval Large punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
113692	152	Eyelet border punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
109043	152	Scallop Circle punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
113694	152	Heart to Heart punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
112082	152	Wide Oval punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
112091	152	Scallop Edge punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
113693	152	Full Heart punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
104310	155	Crafters' Tool Kit	25%	$     58.46	$    68.96
112004	AW28*	1-3/4" Circle punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98
116629	CO*	Butterfly punch	50%	$     15.48	$    17.98

The Last Chance promotion ends 31 August, 2010. All items are only available while supplies last, and with these discounts, they won’t last long!

Get your orders in soon, before these products are gone forever!

Please note the following:

• The Last Chance List has been updated to reflect these recent changes. 
• SU are unable to offer refunds if you have previously ordered these items. 

Good Morning Sunshine!

We're almost at the end of winter here in Canberra but the weather doesn't seem to be getting much warmer.  Today it's a cold wind and rain, here and there.  Quite deceptive really when the sky is blue and full of fluffy white cards.  Oh well, I'll keep wishing for warmer weather but not until Sunday as my WH and my eldest are off to the snow on Saturday.

Anyways, I'm going somewhere with this .... I pulled out my 'Good Morning Sunshine' papers and had a play with the card and a 2010 Sale-a-Bration stamp set that unbelievably hadn't yet used.  Shame, shame! 

Hmmm, this card is a little bit plain but so easy to jazz up just a tad.  Add a bit of cream coloured organza ribbon to the Chocolate Chip grosgrain and then .....

Add some glitter to the bird in the bird cage and some pearls.  I think I like the pearls going up the side best.   It's just one way you can use up scraps of papers that are retiring VERY SOON and stamp sets that you've never used :o).

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Happy Moments (SAB retired set)
Inks: Chocolate Chip
Papers: Apricot Appeal, Whisper White & Chocolate Chip CS, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Other: Chocolate Chip 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch, Organza Ribbon, glitter & pearls

And this was also Case'd from another brilliant card maker, but I can't remember whom to give credit to.  Let me know if you know!!

Baby Baby Baby!

Don't you just love baby cards?  I do, and I have been the recipient of so many lately with the arrival of little Jessica!!  She's sure brought out the pink in me!  Babies are the in-thing at the moment with my extended family with three of my cousins also welcomed little ones into their family over the last couple of weeks.

Speaking of Jessica, I just had to show a photo of Jessica with the hat I crocheted for her.  Jessica is now 2 months old and boy has that time gone fast!!

Today I cased a baby card (you know .... CASE: Copy and share everything).  So I borrowed a few ideas from the card and created this (and I think it's super cute!!):

I told you it was cute!!  I have used Pink Pirouette as the card base with Whisper White and a hint of Pretty in Pink.  Here's what I used:

Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Inks: Pink Pirouette
Papers: Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette and Whisper White CS
Other: Circle Scissors, Scallop Edge Punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Large Star Punch & Small Star Punch, Scallop Oval Punch and Word Window Punch, Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon & white brad.
Big Shot: Polka Dot embossing folder

And before I forget, I case'd this card from Brenda Fry, a fellow SU Demonstrator.

Last Chance Items .... Update

To help you keep up to date on which retiring items are sold out, I've created a page on this blog for you to check before placing any items and keeping your wish list up to date.

So click here to visit the SU Colour Renovation Update page!

SU Colour Renovation Kits

With all the excitement of Stampin' Up!s colour renovation, you may be wondering how to best go about updating your existing Stampin’ Up! colour products.  Well look no further!!  Stampin' Up! have created some great new colour kits of products that will make it really easy for you to get just the colours you want (and need!) without having to duplicate anything you already have! 

Click  here to see the flyer

This is my favourite colour kit - it updates all your core colours/palettes with the 6 new core colours.  I'm thinking Daffodil Delight and Cherry Cobbler  have got to be my favourites!!

So for more info on these new Colour Renovation Kits, click here or contact me.  All of these new Colour kits will be available from 1 September 2010.

Cherry On Top Award

In this wonderful world of blogging, you make a lot of friends, visit a lot of amazing blogs and you can earn yourself some blogging awards along the way!

Today I received the 'Cherry on Top' Award from the lovely Kerri of Kerri D Designs.

There are a couple of things I have to share to keep this award:

1.  Three things you might not know about me ...
(1) I love to travel and hope to work in Europe one day, preferably Holland.
(2) I have a craft magazine addiction (it's quite serious actually) and getting difficult to maintain due to the lack of storage I have available to store my magazine stash.
(3) I'm a speed reader, hence my collection of magazines and books. 

2.  A favourite photo I have ...

A photo of a pinwheel (fire cracker).  Learning about digital photography is on my list of things to do.  I have figured out this one though (thankfully with the use of a tripod).

3.  And now I can pass this award on to five fabulous people and their wonderful blogs I enjoy visiting....

Michelle - Mishka's Crafty Creations
Steph - Stamping With Steph
Claire - Art with Heart
Sandi - Sandi MacIver Ink & Paper Artist
Amy - Ustamp4Fun

So go on, check these wonderful blogs and creations.  You won't be disappointed

And by the way, Kerri - right back at you with the award too!

Blurred....

Oops, I was in such a rush to get this card to its recipient that I didn't check for the quality of the photo.  So my humble apologies for the blurry photo.  But I wanted to show it anyway, as it demonstrates a fantastic background technique I saw on the Stampin Pretty website.  All by using the Curly Label punch!

Using your Curly Label punch, cut out a pile of 'curly labels' and then glue them onto your card base.  I then inked up my Totally Tool set and made a 'tool strip' and then coloured in some tools that I had cut out.  I originally wanted to make a tool pouch on the front but ran out of time and put my tools behind the greeting.  It's amazing what you'll do when you're trying to get things done on time!

But I am really going to miss Kiwi Kiss when this colour retires very soon :(

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Totally Tool & Birthday Wish (retired)
Inks: Basic Grey & Garden Green, Brocade Blue, Yoyo Yellow & Ruby Red (markers)
Papers: Kraft, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze & Going Grey
Other: Curly Label punch & Large Oval punch, eyelets

And seeing as this card is for a male, it has no bling, glitter or ribbon.  Perfect!

Male Cards

On a very wet and stormy night here in Canberra this week, I visited a friend (who happens to also be a SU Demonstrator) with baby Jessica in tow.  She hosted a card-making class especially for the males in your life.  If you're like me, you might find making cards and gifts for males often the most difficult and challenging.  Especially if you have a few rules like: no ribbon, no bling, no glitter!!  It was a wonderful class especially with all the help I got while trying to settle Jess!!

Here's what I made (using all SU products of course!!):

There are quite a few different techniques, elements and colour combo's which I just loved.  Over the next few days, I'll be updating my website with the monthly Stamp Class details for the next 3 months.  Of course, September will also be a male themed class, so look out for that one!! 

August - Another calendar month!

It's August already, and Friday the thirteenth at that!  So ignoring the 13th part, thought I would show you my latest monthly calendar page.  Not only do I like the colour combination, I'm happy this stamp set is making it's way into the new catalogue.  Yep I've seen it, and it's great.  Awesome.  Wonderful.  Inspiring.  I can't rave enough!!

Here's what I used:


Stamps: Butterfly Prints
Papers: Basic Grey (textured), Riding Hood Red & Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP
Inks: Riding Hood Red & Basic Grey
Other: Butterfly Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Rhinestones & Signo White Gel Ink pen

Now it's time to go and clear off my table.  It's girls night/craft night.  We're having a spontaneous one!!

Last Chance Items .... Update

There are so many items retiring ... sometimes we want to get them all (LOL!!).  With so many different items retiring, Stampin Up! have given us the 'AVAILABILITY LIST' to help us keep up to date with Stampin' Up! items selling out fast.

To check which items are going, going, gone - Click Here.  Look out for the little red cross, as those items are selling out quickly or sold out.  I'll keep this list up to date so be sure to check regularly!!

And of course, if you would like to place an order, contact me.  After 31 August 2010 these items are gone forever...

I'm still here!

Yep, I am still here!!!  I'm still adjusting to the general  hectic and chaos of family life with 3 kids!!  Happily I can report it's all going well and today was the first day my two little ones had an afternoon sleep at the same time.  Joy, Bliss, Rapture!!  I got some stamping done!!

But I am getting some crafting in.  I've been preparing kits, making jewellery, attending stamp classes and making thank you cards! Firstly, I wanted to show some gorgeous necklaces designed by a friend of mine.  I had been admiring them for some time and then she showed us how to make them.  How lucky am I!!  We made them a little while ago (try 2-3 months) and I've been meaning to show them off here rather than around my neck!!

The blue necklace on the left is the one I made. The one next to it, is the original necklace and my inspiration (it was also given as a gift to ME. Woohoo!).  The two necklaces on the right were made by my other two lovely crafting friends!!  A little tip for you, don't try to string/thread tiny seed beads after 11pm at night.  It makes for cross-eyes!!

I also wanted to share a wonderful blog and project with you too.  A few days ago, I showed a picture of a gorgeous Onesie gift made by my friend Kerri.  Click here to see the gorgeous pink one we received.  Well, I highly recommend you visit Kerri's blog to see how gorgeous this set looks in Yellow.  Cuteness to the power of 100!!

But dinner duty calls, so I'll be back tomorrow to show all the other stuff.  Woohoo!  What fun!

Canberra Craft Fair

If you were looking for me this weekend, you might have found me at the Canberra Quilt & Craft Fair or back at home, inspired by all the beautiful things I saw!!

Yep!!  I spent a whole day at the Craft Fair (baby Jessica came too) with a lovely friend and then meeting lots of new friends too!  Lots of shopping, stops for coffee, lunch and baby feeds.  Chatting & laughing, oohing and aahing.  Hooray!  A perfect way to spend the day!

We squeezed in one project (a non-SU one) and it was a fun & quick card to make too.  I look forward to converting it to an all Stampin' Up! product card but you'll have to wait for that one!  Here it is:

Isn't it beautiful!!

I bought lots of sewing things though this time around, so look out for projects using lace, buttons, fabric and other vintage inspired items!!

Old Favourites (continued)

Yesterday, I showed a couple of cards made with some of my favourite retired in-colours.  It's nice to look back and bring out some of those colours I used to use ALL the time!

Anyways, those colours reminded me of the stamp set 'Priceless' and a Stamp Class we held in March last year (2009).  So again, I combined and put them all to good use!!  Here's what I mean:

You can't really see it in these photos, but I used one of my Stampin' Up! embossing folders to the bottom right corners of each card to give some real interest.  I then adhered the focal piece to the opposite top left corner for complete contrast.  Maybe this photo shows it better ...

Here's what I used:

Stamps: Priceless & various sentiments
Papers: Basic Black, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava & River Rock
Inks: Black, Purely Pomegranate & River Rock
Other: Circle punches, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Vintage Brads, Dazzling Diamonds glitter & Purely Pomegranate Ribbon.
Big Shot: SU Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder

Old Favourites

Yes, I'm still on the Thank you card junket.  I have made over 20 cards now, addressed the envelopes, stamped them.  Now I just need to get to the mail box and post them.  Not as easy as you think when you're home with a 7 week old baby and a 2 1/2 yo toddler.  My life seems to be nappy changes, feeds and sleeps!!

Not that I'm complaining, as I still get to squeeze crafting in, here and there.  I do (however) look forward to when I can dedicate some real quality time to crafting.  I am dedicating all my quality time to my family at the moment!!

Anyway, I was going through my scraps box and found some old favourite colours from a year or so gone by.  Do the colours of Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava & Purely Pomegranate come to mind?  The good news is Wild Wasabi and the other favourite, River Rock are coming back with Stampin' Up!s colour renovation!  Woohoo!!

It's like looking back on old favourite memories!!  Here's what I used:

Stamps: Fresh Cuts & Butterfly Prints
Inks: Wild Wasabi & Close to Cocoa
Papers: Groovy Guava, Whisper White & Wild Wasabi CS
Other: Butterfly Punch, Large Oval & Scallop Oval Punch, Rhinestones, Kindy Gltiz & Black Gel Pen

Last chance ... and then they're gone

Last chance. Going, Going, Gone!

The 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue ends this month. To make way for all the new products coming in September and the new Colour Renovation, many items are retiring. And when they're all gone, they're all gone ... forever.

Click here to view the retiring list and contact me as soon as possible to make an order. Once these retiring items are sold out, they will no longer be available.

Some items are heavily discounted ... be sure to have a look!