Pink Buds

Bud Basics is one of my favourite stamp sets from the Summer Mini. I seem to pull it out again and again. I love the way the Jumbo Wheel co-ordinates with the Stamp set. It makes it so quick and easy to decorate cards, bags and boxes.
The colours I've used here are Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose, with a dash of Celery. The ribbon is the "Flirty" ribbon from the Summer Mini. The flower has been popped up on Dimensionals, and I've added a pink brad to the centre.

Friendship Blooms Again!

Those of who who subscribe to my Newsletter would have seen this card already, but here it is for the rest of you! I've stamped the gorgeous swirl from "Friendship Blooms" in Basic Black ink on Cool Caribbean cardstock. The large flower has been stamped in Cool Caribbean ink and cut out. I've stamped the leaves in Certainly Celery and cut them out too. The centre of the flower is one of the flowers in the Flower trio stamped in black and cut out. If you're doing lots of cutting out, I can highly recommend the Paper Snips. Until I had these, I had no idea how much difference a good pair of scissors makes!
The bottom strip of Whisper White cardstock has been paper-pierced (using the Mat Pack) at the top, and scalloped (using the Corner Rounder - guard removed) at the bottom. The trio of flowers under the sentiment has been stamped in Cool Caribbean, stamped off once to make it lighter. And, much as I love the wide grosgrain ribbon, this time the narrow ribbon seemed to work better, in Certainly Celery of course ;-)

Rosehill Craft Show 15th-17th February

The Craft Show we all know and love has a new name.... The Stitches and Craft Show is now the Creative Living Expo, but there will still be every craft under the sun!
I'll be on the Stampin' Up! stand, and you'll be able to make a Maze Book like this one at our workshops. We'll also have a Free Make-and-Take, and lots of fantastic demonstrations happening too, so make sure you come and say Hi!

When: 15 -17 February 2008

Where: Rosehill Racecourse, Rosehill, Sydney

Entry: $15 adult, $12 concession (aged and student), Children up to 12 FREE.
But if you buy your ticket online, you can get it for only $10!
Check it out at http://www.creativelivingexpo.com.au/

Green Day

I must have been having a green day, the day I made this card, and a crooked photo day, the day I took the photo! LOL
It's the gorgeous 'Stem Silhouettes' set again, this time in Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla. I've used a stamp from 'Carte Postale' to stamp the bottom image in Old Olive ink on Old Olive cardstock. I then used my white Watercolour Crayon to highlight some areas, to make it look a bit like a stone carving. Here's a closer look:

More Friendship Blooms

When in doubt, turn to a tried and true colour combination.
If you have a Stampin’ Up! Colour wheel, you’ll notice Pale Plum & Perfect Plum are among the Dynamic Duos listed, so these 2 colours are always going to work well together. I've added some Elegant Eggplant for a bit more depth, and some Sage Shadow as a highlight. I masked the large flowers, so that the swirls would appear to be behind them, and I've inked the small flowers with my Markers so I could stamp them individually (on the stamp they are in a row of 3).
I'm really enjoying nesting the large and small oval punch at the moment, especially because the sentiments from "Lots of thoughts" fit so well in there! I've inked the smaller words in Pale Plum and stamped them in the bottom right-hand corner. The scallops are done with the Corner rounder punch (guard removed).

Simple Stems

I'm back! It was lovely to get away for a while, but it's even better to be back home. We got such an exuberant welcome from our dog Coco. He hasn't let me out of his sight since I walked in the door.
Here's a quick card before I fall into bed. I still haven't finished unpacking!
One thing I love about the "Stem Silhouettes" stamp set, is it really lends itself to simple, sophisticated card designs. You don't need to do anything too fussy with it. I love this colour Combination: Bordering Blue, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. It's so serene and peaceful. I don't know if you can see it clearly in the photo, but I've stamped the stem image on the right twice, once in Bordering Blue, and once in Sahara Sand (stamped off once to give just a pale shadow). The Bordering Blue panel has been popped up on Dimensionals. And of course, that wide ribbon has snuck in there again!
I promise I'll be posting more regularly now that I'm back!

Another Make-and-Take

The Computer Gods have been conspiring against me! I came away, all prepared with some updates stored on Blogger, but we've been unable to get our computer hooked up to the Internet. Apparently the laptop's modem has died. So here I am on the Resort's Reception computer! ($2.50 per 15 minutes, so I'm typing fast!!) Hopefully this will keep you going until I get back on Wednesday!

This was the second make-and-take at my Open House on the 1st January. I've used "Friendship Blooms" and "Lots of Thoughts". The colours are Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery and Ruby Red. I've stamped the flower on the top 2/3 of the card in Bashful Blue ink, and stamped the swirl on bottom 2/3 also in Bashful Blue ink. Then I've stamped a row of flowers in Certainly Celery ink on the Certainly Celery piece. I tore along the top edge of the Ruby Red cardstock, and attached it over the top of the Celery piece with SNAIL adhesive. I ran a piece of Wide Celery Grosgrain Ribbon over the top, and attached it behind with Sticky Strip. I tied a separate knot over the top. This gives you a knot that is easy to tie and can easily be positioned where you want it. It also uses less ribbon! The sentiment from “Lots of Thoughts” was inked in Bashful Blue ink, and then I inked the bottom sentiment only with my Ruby Red marker (the bashful blue is a light enough colour that you don't need to wipe any ink off). I stamped on Whisper White cardstock, and punched it out with the Tag Punch. I inked the row of 3 flowers in Celery ink, stamped off once onto scrap cardstock and then onto the tag. The tag has been attached with 2 Dimensionals.

New Year, New Baby!

A lovely customer of mine had a new baby just before Christmas, and this is the card I made for her. I used the "Loves Me" Paper from the current Summer Mini, and the lovely "Flirty" ribbon that co-ordinates with it. The colours I've used have been taken from the paper: Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Taken with Teal (stamped off once for the letter 'e'). The scalloped edge at the bottom has been made by just cutting along the swirly pattern on one of the papers. I also added to the circles at the top by punching out extra bits from the Patterned paper. The Alphabet is "Big Deal", and I've used "Riveting" for the sentiment.
I'm off to Port Macquarie for 10 days with my family, but I'm hoping to update here a few times, all going well with lap-tops and Internet Connections! I hope you are all having a lovely school holidays, wherever you are!

It's Time to Sale-a-Brate!

Happy New Year everyone! I can't wait to see what 2008 has in store! I never even dreamed of half of the fantastic things that happened in 2007, and I'm sure 2008 will be even better. Stampin' Up! has brought so much joy to my life over the past year with new friendships made, and the joy of sharing a little creativity with my corner of the world. I hope your 2008 has many happy moments.
The Sale-a-Bration brochure is now online here. And if you haven't participated in a Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration before, you can read about how it all works here. It's THE best promotion Stampin' Up! runs all year, because you can get lots of FREE STAMPS! :-)
I'm getting the Sale-a-Bration ball rolling at my Open House this afternoon. This is one of the make-and-takes that everyone will get to make. It's the lovely 'merci' set again, and the colours are Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant and Sage Shadow. I've used the small Oval Punch to punch out the Elegant Eggplant piece, and stamped the sentiment (from 'Lots of Thoughts') in Perfect Plum ink on a scarp of Very Vanilla cardstock and stuck it behind. The flower has been stamped in Very Vanilla, and the main image stamped in Stazon and then watercoloured with Aquapainters and Watercolour Wonder Crayons. There's also a little paper piercing in 2 of the corners, and the top edge has been distressed using the Cutter Kit distressing tool.
Now, I'd better get ready for the lovely ladies coming to Sale-a-Brate this afternoon!