Christmas is coming

By | October 12, 2012

Hi there

Well it is now just over 10 weeks till Christmas!  Where has 2012 gone?

Here is a Christmas card I made to showcase at my launch back in September.  I really like the scallop medallion and that by creating different sizes squares you can layer it for a cool effect.

Supplies:
Stamp – Delightful Decorations
Card Stock – Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler
Ink – Cherry Cobbler
Other – Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Gumball Green Stitched Satin Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Ornament Punch

Need a Cuppa?

By | October 10, 2012

Hi there

Do you own a stamp set that you really wanted to buy and then haven’t used it much?  Well this is my set.  I’d seen so many cool cards using it but I just haven’t got round to recreating them or creating my own ideas.  So my plan is to let this set see more ink over the coming months.

Supplies:
Stamp – Morning Cup, Take a Sip (Roller)
Card Stock – So Saffron, Perfect Plum, Whisper White
Ink – More Mustard
Other – various markers and coloured pencils

Welcome New Baby

By | October 7, 2012

Hi there

One of the guys at work has become a dad again to a beautiful little girl.  I’m so glad I bought this set when it was in the Autumn/Winter mini – it’s had a bit of ink time but will see a lot more soon as I have at least another 4 baby cards to make.

Supplies:
Stamp – Baby Prints
Card Stock – Pretty In Pink, Whisper White
Ink – Pretty In Pink
Other – Labels Collection Framelits, Pretty In Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots Folder, Dimensionals

French Foliage

By | October 4, 2012

Hi there

I know we’re heading into Spring but I love this autumn colour combo.

 I love all the layers on this card and the mix of textures.

Supplies:
Stamp – French Foliage
Card Stock – Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
DSP – Regals Designer Series Paper Stack – More Mustard
Ink – Old Olive, Soft Suede, Bravo Burgundy, More Mustard
Other – 3/4″ Circle Punch, Linen Thread, Dimensionals

Supplies:
Stamps – French Foliage, A Word for You
Card Stock – Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink – Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard
Other – Regal Buttons – Cajun Craze, Modern Label Punch, Linen Thread, Dimensionals

Another Double Gate Fold card

By | October 1, 2012

Hi there

Here’s another Double Gate Fold card – I’m loving this style of card.  This time I’ve used Bordering on Romance with Regal Rose.  I was really pleased with my shading on this one – practise makes perfect!

This is one of my most used word stamps – it just seems to go with so many card styles.

Supplies:
Stamps – Bordering on Romance, Bring on the Cake
Card Stock – Regal Rose, Confetti White
DSP – Brights Designer Series Paper Stack – Regal Rose
Other – Watercolour Crayons. Labels Collection Framelits

Team Training Make and Takes

By | September 28, 2012

Hi there

I am fortunate to be part of a wonderful team headed up by Jacque Pedersen (soon to be Williams).  Each month we have team training and this get-together is invaluable.  It’s a great time to share new ideas, encourage each other as demo’s and hear what has worked well (and not so well) in our workshops and classes.  We have heaps of fun and there is always a lot of laughter.

Here are two projects we made recently using new products:

The first ones uses the new set – Make a Cake and the co-ordinating DSP Patio Party.  Don’t you just love this colour combo?

The cake is make up of two stamps – one of which we stamped onto DSP then cut out.  This one uses the Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon.  We’ve also used the hearts Adorning Accents Folder.  These are great value – you get three narrow embossing folders in one pack.
Supplies:
Stamp – Make a Cake, Curly Cute
Card Stock – Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink – Midnight Muse
Other – Summer Starfruit Ribbon, 1 3/4″ Circle Punch, 2 3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, Mini Brad, Dimensionals

The second card uses the new set Blooming with Kindness (this is now on my wishlist after making this card!)  It comes with five sentiments plus the flower stamp.

Supplies:
Stamp – Blooming with Kindness
Card Stock – Whisper White
Ink – Certainly Celery, Primrose Petals, Pink Pirouette
Other – Raspberry Ripple Ribbon, White Embossing Powder, VersaMark, Daubers, Dimensionals

Happy Birthday Jacque

By | September 25, 2012

Hi there

Today is my friend and upline’s birthday – Happy Birthday Jacque.  I hope you have a really special day and are spoilt by family and friends.

I’m glad that Apothecary Art carried over into the new catalogue – it’s another great colouring in set.

This is a fancy fold card called a Double Gate Fold.  I first saw this on Dawn Olchefske’s blog – check out her video tutorial.
Supplies:
Stamp – Apothecary Art, A Word for You
Card Stock – Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla
DSP – Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack – Perfect Plum
Other – Watercolour Crayons, Labels Collection Framelits, Dimensionals

Baby Shower

By | September 22, 2012

Hi there

My best friend’s daughter is having her baby shower today.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend (I’m in the US) but I have made a card and left a gift for the day.

I’ve used the rattle stamp from the Button Buddies set except I didn’t want to hide the ‘rattle’ part of the stamp with a button so went with Crystal Effects for some depth.  I love using the Polka Dot Embossing Folder when there is a bit of ‘white’ space on a card.

Supplies:
Stamp – Button Buddies, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Card Stock – Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink – Pretty in Pink
Other – Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Crystal Effects

Happy Birthday Tracey

By | September 19, 2012

Hi there

Another fellow demo is having a birthday today – Happy Birthday Tracey – I hope you get spoilt by the family:)

I do love the Bordering on Romance set – it’s so versatile.

I’ve used the aqua painter to blend the watercolour crayons of this card.  The first time I used the aqua painter I found it hard to get an even blend so kept to my blender pens for ages.  Recently I watched a video where they had put a bit of sponge in the barrel of the aqua painter – it makes it so much easier to control the water flow.
Supplies:
Stamp – Bordering on Romance
Card Stock – Certainly Celery, Confetti White (retired)
DSP – Twitterpated
Other – Labels Collection Framelits, Adoring Accents Edgelits, Certainly Celery Taffeta Ribbon

Mixed Bunch In Colours

By | September 16, 2012

Hi there

Today’s card uses three of the new in colours.  I cased this from one of my favourite US demo’s Mary Fish – her work is amazing.  I’ve changed the colours around a bit as I only had Gumball Green ribbon.

I really like this colour combo and will try it again when I get more of this gorgeous new in colour ribbon.  The ribbon is SO soft and ties beautifully for bows.  As I had limited supplies when I made this I used the Be of Good Cheer DSP for my background flower.  Running the card stock through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder adds great texture to the card.

Wish Big birthday

By | September 13, 2012

Hi there

I cased this card from Tamara Bertram who cased it from Becky Roberts!  When I saw Tamara’s card I knew I had to re-create it – I loved her colour combo and it was a super fast card to re-create.  My base squares are 1 3/8″ and the DSP are 1 1/4″ squares.

Supplies:
Stamp – Word Play
Card Stock – Poppy Parade (retired), Early Espresso, Baja Breeze
DSP – Just Add Cake (retired)
Ink – Early Espresso
Other – 1 1/4″ Square Punch, Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch (retired), Rhinestones

Happy Birthday Heather

By | September 10, 2012

Hi there

Today is a fellow demo’s birthday – Happy Birthday Heather and I hope you have a great day:)

This card uses the lovely set Bordering on Romance.  I have also used the matching Edgelits die and Embossing Folder – I love how these all work together.

I wanted some more depth to the flowers so I add Crystal Effects.
Supplies:
Stamp – Bordering on Romance, Bring on the Cake
Card Stock – Old Olive, Real Red, Watercolour Paper
Ink – Old Olive and Real Red, Black Stazon
Other – Old Olive and Real Red Watercolour Crayons, Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Adorning Accents Folders
Well today’s the last day of work for 5 weeks!  The bags are all packed and I’m ready to go.

Ice Cream anyone?

By | September 8, 2012

Hi there

I am getting REALLY excited – only 3 more sleeps till we go on holiday 🙂

I have been doing a bit of a clean up of my photos and found I hadn’t blogged some cards I made last month so here they are.  They all use the now retired Sweet Shop DSP:

I’ve used Petite Pennants Builder and Cupcake Builder punches to create my ice creams.  To get the ‘waffle’ effect I used the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  My sentiments are from Bring on the Cake and Word Play – very useful sets to have.
I plan to schedule some posts for while I’m away.  I will also try and do some ‘live’ posts of our travels so keep an eye out for me and Yellow Bear in the US 🙂

A busy stamping weekend

By | September 2, 2012

Hi there

I’ve had a yuck week this week (hence no blog posts) – my sore throat & head cold got worse so I went back to the doctor on Friday afternoon.  She gave me some more antibiotics (Sudomyl) and they have sent everything packing 🙂  So now I am feeling like myself again.  I was getting a bit worried as we fly out to the States on the 11th of September and I didn’t want to be taking the head cold with me.

I’ve had a busy weekend – launch of two new catalogues, turning one as a demonstrator, a workshop and then a launch party.  I have thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Here are the cards we made.

First up is the card we made at the workshop which uses the emboss resist technique.  I think I have fallen in love with the new In Colours satin ribbon – it’s so soft and great for tying bows (see last card).

This card uses a number of new products from the main catalogue – two of the new In Colours – Midnight Muse and Gumball Green (ink, ribbon and card stock) plus a new framelit – Apothecary Accents Framelits.  The framelit has cut out the Whisper White card then we traced around the outside of the Framelit and manually cut it to create the mat.  The ladies did really well with their re-creations of this.
Then today at my launch party we made two cards – the first one uses the In Colours and showcases the card stock and ink plus the Gumball Green ribbon.  In the past I haven’t used black card stock as a base but am loving the effect it gives.
The last card we made uses the Be of Good Cheer DSP and the Gumball Green Ribbon.
I took this photo before the party but at the party we then embossed both layers of the Top Note with the Square Lattice Folder.  I wanted to show the ladies the difference that embossing gives to a project (I will try and take a photo in the daytime).
Well that was my weekend – a great time was had by all.
Catch you back soon.

Congratulations Rob & Jacque

By | August 26, 2012

Hi there

Over at NZSU this last week I set another challenge – showcase a retiring product.  I almost forgot to post my own creation!  I will be sad to see this stamp set retire at the end of the month so I just had to use it again to create an engagement card for Jacque (my upline) and Rob.  They make a wonderful couple and we are all so happy for them.

I was hunting through my DSP and found just the right size leftover from Sweet Shop range that went perfectly with the ‘love’ theme.  One of my favourite word sets is A Word for You and I’m glad it will still be around for another year.  It’s such a versatile set.
Supplies:
Stamps – Loads of Love, A Word for You
Card Stock – Pool Party, Watercolour Paper
DSP – Sweet Shop (retired)
Ink – Stazon, Pacific Point, Real Red
Crayons – Brights, Neutrals
Other – Pool Party Ribbon, 1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ Circle Punch, Dimensionals
Well not many more sleeps until the new catalogues are here but my biggest excitement is that it is now only 16 sleeps till we go on our big holiday to the States – I can’t wait 🙂
Catch you back soon