More Bodacious!

Tracy commented that I'd had my money's worth out of this set and she is soooo right...especially because I didn't pay a cent for it! As Demonstrators, we get to earn a lot of our stamps for free. This year I'll be choosing 9 free sets from the new catalogue...which is a lot harder than it sounds!! If you would like to learn how you can earn free rubber, just email me with your snail mail address, and I can send you a free Information Pack about joining Stampin' Up!
These cards were for a Stamp-a-Stack I ran at the end of last year. The other design was a little time-consuming, so I made this one super-simple. We just stamped up a whole sheet of Whisper white with Bodacious Bouquet, cut it into quarters, and used the "no cutting" method to whip up 4 quick cards. (just fold your cardstock as normal, and then cut or tear off the front, and attach your quarter sheet behind the torn/cut edge) ...Easy Peasy!
Can you believe that I still have more Bodacious to show you? Stay tuned...

Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Bodacious Bouquet (retiring), Short & Sweet
ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Really Rust, Mellow Moss
card: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Really Rust, Mellow Moss, Whisper White
other: Designer Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Small Oval Punch, Large Tag Punch, Small Tag Punch, Mellow Moss Taffeta ribbon, Soft Sky Double-Stitched ribbon, Blue Bayou Double Stitched ribbon

It's Show Time! (and more Faux Tearing)

It's that time of year again! A group of us are getting together and having a stand at the Stitches and Craft Show. It's THE craft show of the year, so make sure you don't miss it!
I personally won't be there (I fly off on the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip next week), but some of my team will be there.

The Sydney Stitches and Craft Show has a huge variety of craft works and supplies on display. Look for us the Stampin' Up! stand, and come over and say hello! You can join in our Free Make-and-Take. There will be lots of ideas on display and fantastic demonstrations happening too...Crayon Resist, Faux Tearing, Chalkboard, Stamp Wheels, Scrapbooking and more!
When: Wed 20 -Sun 24 August 2008 (that's next week), 10am - 5pm daily
Where: Rosehill Racecourse, Unwin Street, Rosehill (Sydney) NSW
Entry: $15 adult, $12 concession (aged and student), Children (5-16 years) $7

Here's a sample of Faux Tearing to whet your appetite. You can come and see it being demonstrated at the show:

These are some cards that I had published in an Aussie magazine "For Keeps Creative Paper" a couple of months ago, and I never got around to showing you them on here. Alisa sent me a card with this colour combination, and inspired me to make more!
Here are the instructions. They are quite detailed as I had to send them into the mag with everything listed!

MATERIALS for all cards
Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, Paisley, It’s Your Birthday, Simple Sayings II (retired)
Card: Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence and Whisper White.
Ink pads: Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence, Certainly Celery
Embellishments: Celery Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware
Other tools: Paper Trimmer, scissors, sponge daubers, SNAIL adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, Scrap paper, Sticky note

Faux Tearing Instructions for all cards:
1. Tear a scrap of paper that is at least as long as your card. This will be your mask.
2. Lay the torn edge along your Orchid Opulence card where you would like your faux tear to be
3. Use sponge daubers to sponge along the torn edge in Orchid Opulence ink.
4. Move the mask up a few mm and stamp Paisley Background stamp in Orchid Opulence ink above the tear

Smile card
Trim a piece of Orchid Opulence Card to 14.3 x 10cm. Create Faux Tear as per above instructions. Attach a piece of Wide Celery Ribbon and Hodgepodge buckle to left hand side of card with Sticky Strip. Adhere to folded Elegant Eggplant A5 card with SNAIL adhesive. Ink Large Bodacious Flower design in Orchid Opulence ink. Use a sponge dauber to ink the edges of the petals in Elegant Eggplant ink. Stamp onto Whisper White cardstock. Stamp large flower again onto a Sticky note. Trim around flower carefully with scissors. Place on top of stamped flower as a mask. Stamp 4 leaves over the top of your mask in Certainly Celery ink. Remove mask. Trim Whisper White cardstock to 7.5 x 6.5cm. Adhere to 8 x 7cm piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock, and then to base card with SNAIL adhesive. Stamp the word ‘smile’ in Elegant Eggplant ink.

Someone like you card
Trim a piece of Orchid Opulence Card to 14.3 x 10cm. Create Faux Tear as per above instructions. Attach a piece of Wide Celery Ribbon across the front of the card, and adhere to the back with Sticky Strip. Tie a knot separately on top. Adhere to folded Elegant Eggplant A5 card with SNAIL adhesive. Ink Large Bodacious Flower design in Orchid Opulence ink. Use a sponge dauber to ink the edges of the petals in Elegant Eggplant ink. Stamp onto Whisper White cardstock. Stamp swirly stem in Certainly Celery ink. Trim Whisper White cardstock to 6.5 x 7cm. Adhere to 7 x 7.5cm piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock, and then to base card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Stamp the sentiment in Elegant Eggplant ink.

Long stem card
Trim a piece of Orchid Opulence Card to 14.3 x 10cm. Create Faux Tear as per above instructions. Adhere to folded Elegant Eggplant A5 card with SNAIL adhesive. Ink small bodacious Flower design in Orchid Opulence ink. Use a sponge dauber to ink the edges of the petals in Elegant Eggplant ink. Stamp onto Whisper White cardstock. Stamp stem in Certainly Celery ink. Stamp leaf in Certainly Celery ink. Trim Whisper White cardstock to 4.5 x 10.5cm. Adhere to 5 x 11cm piece of Elegant Eggplant cardstock. Attach a Hodgepodge ribbon charm and brad to bottom right hand corner. Knot a piece of Celery Wide Grosgrain ribbon to the Hodgepodge. Adhere to base card with SNAIL adhesive.

Featuring....Bodacious!

I'm pulling this card out of the archives. When I make a few cards I take photos of them all, and then when I write a blog post, I choose one to show you. For some reason, this one never made it to the blog. I can tell I made it a while ago because the ribbon on there retired last year!
Bodacious Bouquet is one of my all time favourite sets. I originally bought it to challenge myself, as it was a step outside my comfort zone (big and bold!). It's such an easy set to use, and I think I've converted a few people to it. You may have seen Teneale's gorgeous cards on the cover of Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft magazine this month.
I'm offering this set at 20% off as part of the Bushfire Appeal this month....until it sells out, that is!
You can see lots of other examples of cards I've made using this set by clicking HERE.
This card is pretty self-explanatory. I've added a couple of finishing touches - some paper piercing in the top right corner (using the Mat Pack), and some faux brads in the flower centres. TIP: To make a faux brad, just punch out a circle with the 1/4" circle punch (retiring). Adhere it to your card with 2-way glue, and then apply a drop of Crystal Effects to make it shiny. Make this the very last step of your card, so you can set it aside to dry. Great for when you don't have a brad in the right colour!

Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Bodacious Bouquet (retiring), It's Your Birthday(retiring)
ink: Rose Red, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery
card: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Whisper White
other: Retired ribbon, Celery brad, Crystal Effects, Dimensionals, 1/4" circle punch (retiring), Mat Pack

One last Fling!

I've been having one last fling with Bodacious Bouquet and Purely Pomegranate at this month's Stamp-a-stacks. I couldn't resist including the lovely Paisley background in some of these too. I'll be selling off my retired stamps after April 1st, but I just don't think I can bear to part with that one! ....that's a first for me!

I actually have some spots free this Tuesday night (17th), if you'd like to come and make these cards, plus 4 other more masculine designs. Email me to book in!
Can anyone spot the 2 tricks I have used with the Square Scallop punch on these cards?

Don't forget that you can purchase Bodacious Bouquet as part of the Bushfire Appeal until the end of March. I'm giving 20% off all 10 sets, so this one comes down to $47.16, with 50% of the proceeds going to the Appeal.

Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Bodacious Bouquet (retiring), So Many Sayings (Level 1 Hostess retiring), Paisley background (retiring), Polka Dot background
ink: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate
card: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
other: Scallop Square punch, Photo Corner Punch, Word Window Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Vintage brads, Purely Pomegranate Double-stitched ribbon

The Same, but Different

I'm back from camping! We had a lovely time. I have to say that camping really isn't my thing...too much dirt and too little sleep, but the kids love it and it's so good for us all as a family that I tolerate it (and then come home to a shower that's mine, and a renewed appreciation for my lovely clean sheets!)

It's been a while since I blogged anything with Bodacious Bouquet. I made these a while ago for two very special people. I started off making 2 identical cards, but then I was agonising over choice of background colours, so I made them each slightly different. I know which one I prefer! .....I'll tell you later ;-)

Bodacious #1:

Bodacious #2:

The large flowers have been made really sparkly with Heat-and-Stick Powder and Dazzling Diamonds glitter, and those are faux brads as the flower centres, with some Crystal Effects to make them shiny. I've wrapped the ribbon around the Rose Red piece and then used a brad to attach an extra little piece of ribbon as an accent. Some Paper Piercing finishes off the "empty" corner.

So, which one gets your vote?
Colours: Rose Red, Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White

Bushfire Appeal

Stampin Up! have just announced a Bushfire Appeal. You can read all about it HERE. They are donating 50% of the retail value of all sales from a select group of 10 stamp sets. In addition, I will be offering an extra 20% off these sets*:

Priceless pg105 was $48.95 NOW $39.16
Seeing Spots pg89 was $29.95 NOW $23.96
Baroque Motifs pg98 was $39.95 NOW $31.96
Live Your Dream pg3 (Summer Mini) was $55.95 NOW $44.76
Looks Like Spring* pg76 was $58.95 NOW $47.16
The Snowflake Spot* pg27 was $39.95 NOW $31.96
Bodacious Bouquet* pg80 was $58.95 NOW $47.16
Polka Dots & Paisley* pg46 was $35.95 NOW $28.76
G'day Mate* pg115 was $35.95 NOW $28.76
Be Happy* pg51 was $39.95 NOW $31.96

*These sets will appear on the upcoming list of retiring products, so they will only be available for the Bushfire Appeal--while supplies last.

This is a bit of a sneak peak of the Retirement List, and I expect these sets will go quickly!
So, if you ever needed an excuse to buy some stamps, this is it! Email me now if you would like to order any of these sets for a very worthy cause.

Here's a card I made for the Elite Challenges blog a while ago, using the Bodacious Bouquet set (an all time favourite, and one I will be so sad to say goodbye to):

You can see the full list of materials there. Anyone want to guess how I did the flower?

*Edited to Add: I have decided to offer 20% off these sets, in the hope that I will be able sell more for the Appeal.

Bodacious Rock'n'roll

I've been rock'n'rolling a lot lately...it's a great way to add extra colour and dimension to bold stamps. You just ink your stamp in the lightest colour, then "roll" the edges of your stamp on the darker colour inkpad. Then I've masked the flowers so I could stamp the swirly stem.
I made the "keytag" shape with my circle punch. I'm demonstrating how to do this at my Tuesday night classes this month, as well as lots of other punch tricks. There are still a couple of spots left if you'd like to book in!

Ingredients:
Bodacious Bouquet Stamp Set
All Year Cheer I Stamp Set
Elegant Eggplant cardstock and ink
Almost Amethyst cardstock and ink
Certainly Celery cardstock and ink
Whisper white cardstock
1 1/4" circle punch
1/8" handheld punch
White Organdy ribbon

....And they call this one Marelle's Famous No-Cutting Card!

LOL I've always wanted to be famous!
Some of my fellow-demonstrators have already seen this card, as have my customers who came along to Tuesday cardnights in June, but I thought it was time I shared it with the rest of you.
This is a great card design for those times when you need to make some cards and don't feel like cutting up loads of cardstock. It's a variation on the one-sheet wonder theme, and all you do is stamp up an A4 sheet (this will make 4 cards) and cut it into quarters. Then take your base A5 card, tear along the top, stamp your greeting and tie some ribbon, and stick down the flap! How easy, and even better (OK, I lied - there were 3 cuts) there's practically no cutting!
The colours I've used here are Marigold Morning, Vintage Violet and Old Olive. And the stamp set is Bodacious Bouquet.

Why did nobody tell me I NEEDED Watercolour Paper??
I was given a sample of Stampin' Up!'s watercolour paper to try. I love it! I used my watercolour crayons, and coloured the crayon directly onto the stamp, and then used my aquapainter to moisten it. Then stamp onto the watercolour paper. I'd tried this before with regular paper and always been disappointed with the muddy puddle that resulted, but the watercolour paper is much more absorbent, so it works a treat!
Yes, that's Bodacious Bouquet AGAIN, and Paisley AGAIN...can't help myself. You can do so much with them!
I also found another thing I NEED...silly me thought one set of Hodgepodge Hardware would be enough....until I was given a few bits and bobs of the Pewter Hardware (thanks Kirrily!). Well, duh! Of course one isn't enough! What was I thinking???

As promised...

I told you I'd have a card for you this afternoon!
Alisa gave us a Colour Challenge on the Elite Challenges blog: Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise and Cool Caribbean. My first thought was GREEN GALORE?? Yuk! After toying with the idea if sneakily substituting Certainly Celery instead , I rose to the challenge. You can see the card I made here. I used another one of Karen's crabbies. And then I liked the colours so much, that I made another one!

I used my beloved Paisley stamp inked in Cool Caribbean, stamped on Whisper White for the background. Then I stamped a flower, leaf and stem from Bodacious Bouquet in Tempting Turquoise and Green Galore onto Whisper White and rounded the edges with the Corner Rounder punch. I've stamped All in a Row along the bottom of the Cool Caribbean piece, tied some Apple Green Grosgrain ribbon above it, and paper pierced along the top edge. I used the corner rounder punch with the guard removed to make scalloped edges, and mounted the lot on Tempting Turquoise and then Green Galore.

It would look nice with Certainly Celery, don't you think??

The other cards made using these colours are here.

Kristina Challenge #13

Regal Rose, River Rock, Whisper White,

Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate

As soon as I saw this colour combo, I loved it, so I don't know why I struggled with it. My desk looks like a bomb site of rejected stamped images and uncleaned stamps!
In the end I did what I am always telling my customers to do...go to the catalogue and use it for inspiration. In this case, I used our new mini (page 4) for the layout, and that gave me the kick I needed.
I've used flowers and leaves from an old fave Bodacious Bouquet. I rock 'n' rolled the big flower, but blended the ink on the stamp with my aqua-painter before stamping it on Whisper White cardstock and cutting it out. The rest of the card is pretty simple...more cutting out, a Rhinestone brad, rub-ons, paper piercing, Wild Wasabi ribbon and Polka Dots (stamped in Versamark ink).

Now I'm going to take some of those poor rejected stamp images and make some cards with them (and I might even tidy my desk!)

We have Gumnuts!

I bet you didn't know that there's a gumleaf and gumnut stamp in the Stampin' Up! catalogue! Well, there's not really, but Bodacious Bouquet has saved the day again. My Aunt asked me to make some Australiana-themed thankyou cards for her to take overseas with her. My first thought was "Don't tell me I'll have to buy that ugly Australian animal set??", but then inspiration struck! So, do they look enough like gumnuts? And do you like my faux eyelets?

Too Boot Scootin'???
I was playing around with Bodacious Bouquet on the weekend, and decided to make a Mother's Day card for my Mum. I can put it on here because she has no idea what a blog is, and wouldn't even know how to get on the Internet! I had this colour combo written down to try (must have seen it somewhere, but I've no idea where... Vintage Violet, Pumpkin Pie and Bravo Burgundy). I decided to follow my own advice and make 2 cards at once, with a slight variation... Now I'm not sure I like either of them! They feel too "Boot Scootin'", or something (paisley, brass studs and belt buckles)! Let me know which one you prefer, or if you hate them too, and I should scrap them and make something new for my Mum!

A New Blog...and a Colour Challenge

Check this out:
http://elitechallenges.wordpress.com/

It's very exciting and very new!! My upline and our team "Elite Stampers" have a challenge blog. It's the brainchild of Very Talented Stamper Alisa Tilsner, and she's done all the hard work setting it all up. So, if you like the colours in the above card (Ruby Red, Apricot Appeal and Mellow Moss), or even if you don't ;-) go and check it out. There will be new challenges regularly.
I've used the brand new set "Bodacious Bouquet" for this card. The big flower is very glittery in real life (not sure if you can tell from the pic). I used heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds glitter on it.

This post comes with a warning...you're going to be seeing a lot more of this set!! I bought it as a bit of a challenge to myself. It was a step out of my comfort zone and a step away from my usual preference for delicate designs. It's called Bodacious Bouquet, and there's nothing delicate about it...it's bold and makes a real statement.

I just love this colour combo. Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery and Apricot Appeal. The mini tag is a word window cut in half, and matted on a tag made using the slit punch. The little word 'friend' is from Expressive Flexible Phrases.

Now here's a variation on that card:

So which one's the winner???

Internet Woes and the Rejects

Sorry for my absence...we somehow managed to use up all our Broadband quota for June (we're still not sure how, since we've never even come close before!), so I was unable to blog.
But, it's the start of a new month, so look forward to lots of catch-up entries!

You've probably noticed that I've been having fun doing Kristina Werner's challenges. Thankyou all for your comments on my challenge entries. It's exciting seeing so many people from overseas visiting my blog. It was even more exciting being in the Top 10 again. That's 5 in a row for me :o) I'm starting to get performance anxiety now LOL. It took me 3 goes to get my last entry to one that I was happy enough to submit. It's pretty rare for me to take so long to make a card.
I thought I'd show you my other 2 mediocre attempts (the Rejects):
I thought liked this layout, but then all that blank Purely Pomegranate was too much. Maybe I should have used one of the other colours for the background?

This one was too much pattern for me. It just feels too busy. I did like the flower on it though, which led me to my eventual entry.
I'd love to hear what you think of these (feel free to pick them to pieces!)
I'll be back later with some BLOG CANDY!

Recipes
Card 1
Stamps: Brocade Backgrounds
Inks: River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi
Cardstock: River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Accessories: Regal Rose Wide Grosgrain ribbon, Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon, 'Cherished Memories' rub-ons, Pretties Kit, Dimensionals
Card 2
Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, Basic Phrases
Inks: River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi
Cardstock: River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Accessories: Regal Rose Wide Grosgrain ribbon, 1/4" Circle Punch, Tag punch, Large Tag Punch, Corner-rounder Punch, Dimensionals

Convention Swap

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments to my last post! I've had a really busy day madly preparing for my New Catalogue Launch party tomorrow night, and it made my day to come and read all of your kind words!

As promised, I'm back to show you the swap card I made for Convention. I made 100 of these, and got 100 inspiring cards back!

To make this card, first I stamped the Paisley background in Versamark ink on Lovely Lilac cardstock. I find Versamark works best when using bold background stamps on coloured cardstock...it gives the most even image. My wrists started to hurt stamping such a large stamp 100 times, so by the end I was sitting on them instead! It worked a treat!!

The focal image has been stamped on Glossy cardstock. The stamps are from one of my all-time favourite sets, Bodacious Bouquet. I inked up the flower in Almost Amethyst ink, and then inked a sponge dauber in Lovely lilac ink, and sponged straight onto the stamp, before stamping it on the Glossy cardstock. This technique can also be done on Whisper white cardstock, but I really like how vibrant the colours look on the gloss. Next I stamped the leaves and stem in Certainly Celery ink. I made the centre of the flower by stamping the flower again in Elegant eggplant ink onto Glossy cardstock, and then punching out the centre with a 1/4" circle punch, and adhering with a mini glue dot. The whole Flower panel has been popped up on Dimensionals.

The "friendship" panel has been made by stamping linen background in Almost Amethyst ink on Almost Amethyst cardstock. I then stamped "friendship" from 'Wonderful Words' in Versamark ink, and heat embossed with White powder. It gives it a nice raised glossy finish, which complements the gloss cardstock well.

I attached the Celery ribbon by adhering a strip to the back of the Eggplant panel, and then tying the knot separately on top. This gives the flexibility to move the knot along the strip of ribbon, to sit where you would like it. To finish it off, I did some faux stitching with my white gel pen and Paper piercing mat pack.

I hope all my swap-ees liked it!

It's Up!

You can check out the new mini here

There's also a new promotion for August too, and it's just the excuse you've been looking for to have a Stampin' Up! workshop ;-)
Here's another card made using sets from the mini, and some In Colors: Bashful Blue, Vintage Violet and Marigold Morning. I've used Big pieces and the stem from Bodacious Bouquet to mimic a little stamp from Tagger's Dozen.
I "drew" the holes on the Vintage Violet flowerpot with my white gel pen and Paper Piercing Template.
I used my Blender Pen and Inkpad lids to colour the little Tagger's Dozen stamp, since there are no In Color markers. These little stamps are the perfect size, not only for tags, but for punching out squares and circles too!