Last day of Sale-a-Bration!

It's gone by so quickly, but I thought I'd show you one last owl before Sale-a-Bration is over. I'm just starting to love Cajun Craze lately. It's great on masculine cards. Here I've used it with Marina Mist, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso. This was a make-and-take at our team meeting last month, and also at some workshops during February and March. Email me by 9pm tonight if you have a last minute order from the Summer Mini or for Sale-a-Bration!

Punch Bunch Stamp-a-Stack

It's been a busy couple of days for me. I had 2 team meetings on Monday - lots of stamping, sharing, chatting and yummy food, and then my last Sale-a-Bration workshop today. Now I'll be spending the rest of the week getting ready for my launch party on Sunday. I have 50 lovely ladies coming to celebrate the start of the new Autumn-Winter Mini! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. We still have 2 more days to Sale-a-Brate! This was a Stamp-a-Stack I designed using the very popular Punch Bunch set. Bright colours from me for a change - Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Baja Breeze and Pear Pizzazz. Hope you're having a lovely week!

Love Defined

Another Stamp-a-Stack! This one was back in February, using the Love Defined set in the Summer Mini (less than a week to go! *gasp*) We made a set that can be used for many heartfelt occasions - anniversaries, weddings, engagements, Valentines or even birthdays. I love that this stamp set is not overly "saccharine sweet" because I'm just not that kind of person. These cards are actually all shimmery too. We spritzed with a Shimmer Paint and Alcohol solution after the cards were assembled. Love this colour combo - Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla. To get the lighter shade of Cherry Cobbler, I stamped off once and then added some full-strength Cherry Cobbler with a marker.
I just finished "Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova. Loved it, but I think I enjoyed her book "Still Alice" more.
I can feel winter in the air today. Have a great weekend!

A "Blissful" Top Note Set

I designed this Top Note box and this set of 6 cards to go inside it for my Project Class last month.

We used the Bliss set and also the Level 2 Hostess set Cute by the Inch. I used the Lap of Luxury DSP as my colour inspiration, and using DSP and a couple of punches on the cards made them super quick and easy.

Only a week left to Sale-a-Brate!

My Amazing Banner

First of all, I need you to all agree with me that Christmas wasn't that long ago, and it hasn't taken me that long to get these pictures on my blog. OK, great! Now that we've got that out of the way, let me show you what my lovely team did for me in November. It all started when I received one of these in the mail:Along with a mysterious riddle
"This is just one, there are 34 on the way
No clues shall we give, but look every day
For a piece of the puzzle to make you think
Who do you know that loves paper and ink?"
Of course, there was no return address and the writing was disguised! Every day through November I received more and more of these gorgeous creations, all the same size but with different letters.
And then, as if my brain wasn't being stretched enough, I started receiving more, with an extra clue:
"A few latecomers have joined in the fun
There was 34, there is now 41
Pieces of the Puzzle to make you think
Who do you know that loves paper and ink"
Much as I love crosswords and puzzles, it really was very tricky to solve. By the night of our Team Christmas Dinner on the 3rd December, I was pretty sure I had the "Merry Christmas" bit right, and I left the other letters spread out on the table and told everyone that if the letters "just happened" to get themselves in the right order, that would be great! And, what do you know, they did!
So, this is what I had hanging up in my lounge room throughout December (and most of January too, because I couldn't bear to take it down!)"

"Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho"

Here are some close-ups, so you can see the amazing detail:

And the rest of the message hung in our Big Room: "Thanks for a Great Year xo"

Aren't my team amazing?! I feel so lucky to know all of these lovely ladies. This banner will be gracing my home at Christmas time for many years to come.

The whole banner was organised by Robyn P of Posh Nosh fame (if you haven't tried any of her jams and relishes, you're definitely missing out!) and Robyn also took these photos for me (my camera was doing a lousy job!) Thanks Robyn!

Three Purples

I made this card for my Nana's birthday. I CASEd a card from our Demonstrator Newsletter, but changed the colours. I've used Rich Razzleberry, Concord Crush and Perfect Plum. The Perfect Plum is actually a piece of the Patterns Stack, which I've stamped the Bliss flourish on, and sponged the edges. I gave the flowers their watercolour look by stamping on Shimmery White cardstock in versamark and heat embossing with White Embossing Powder. I then spritzed with water and dropped on some drops of re-inker. As the colours dry, they blend beautifully. It comes out differently every time! The Old Olive leaves were cut using the Little Leaves die and my circle was cut using the Circle Scissor tool.
Hope you have a great weekend!

Sweet Summer Shimmer

This was my other Stamp-a-Stack design for this month. We used 2 gorgeous Sale-a-Bration sets on these cards - Sweet Summer and So Happy for You. They are both quite whimsical in style, so I think they work together really well. Can you believe this colour combo is all from the Subtles family? Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi and Rose Red. I love that the Subtles have much deeper colours now...they used to be a little too, well... subtle LOL.

We stamped all of the images in Black Stazon and then coloured them in with a 50-50 mix of re-inker and Platinum Shimmer Paint.

Here's a TIP for you - don't toss out your dried-out Blender Pens! They are perfect for applying colour to detailed images like these. I just rinsed the tips of mine out afterwards, and then they are ready to use with new colours next time.


Doesn't the Elegant Lines embossing folder and the Organza ribbon complement these cards nicely? :o) Very purty!

Neutral Bliss

This week was Stamp-a-Stack week on my class schedule, so I've had a busy week teaching classes. Lots of fun, but now I'm looking forward to a (relatively) quite weekend. Our last few weekends have been pretty busy!!
We made this set of cards using the Bliss Sale-a-Bration set. I've loved this set the more I've used it. I've gone a bit vintage with these, and done some distressing and spritzing. I also used a clear block on it's own as a stamp, to create a "shadow" frame for my images. And I'm loving this neutral colour palette - Sahara Sand, River Rock, Soft Suede and Early Espresso with Very Vanilla.
I can hardly believe we have only a few weeks of Sale-a-Bration left! How fast is the year going?!
Hope you have a great weekend, wherever you are!

A very late Sketch Challenge

Back in January Kez gave our team a Sketch Challenge. I was away on holidays, so I didn't get to participate in time. I really liked the sketch though, and finally got around to making a card. I used SAB sets Punch Bunch and So Happy for You. I gave my owl a bit more character by punching out a different coloured chest and some eyelids using the owl punch. I've also used a few products from the Summer Mini :

• The 2-3/8" Scallop Circle... I love having a Scallop Circle this big. It has much more impact than it's smaller cousin!
• The stamped frame inside the Scallop Circle is from the "Homemade" individual stamp. It makes it much more versatile when you know you can use it this way, without the sentiment inside. It makes that $14.95 even more of a bargain!
• The little speech bubble heart is from "Love Defined". I like adding this to all sorts of stamped or punched animals and people...sometimes it's just the right thing to say!
  

The colours I've used are Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait and So Saffron....reminds me of gelato....yum!

The Wedding Card

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I had a lovely weekend :o)
I thought you might like to see the card I made for the wedding. I kept it simple and elegant. I pulled out the Bliss Sale-a-Bration set and inked it up in Sahara Sand. I then stamped it off because I wanted the middle to be very pale. I then sponged Sahara Sand and then Rich Razzleberry ink around the outer part of the stamp and stamped it onto Very Vanilla cardstock. I stamped the sentiment inside in Rich Razzleberry ink (the sentiment is from a Level 3 Hostess set). I then sponged the edges of the cardstock in Sahara Sand, and layered it onto another piece of Very Vanilla. I made some embossed stripes on the Rich Razzleberry piece of cardstock using a Scoring Blade in my paper trimmer. Some ribbon and an antique brad just finishes it off.

By the way, I've had a few people asking how I was going towards earning the Fiji Incentive Trip, and I'm very happy to say that Dave and I will be enjoying an all-expenses paid holiday to Fiji in October :o) Thanks to my wonderful team, I earned the trip nice and early this year, so the pressure was off!