Last Chance & Party Favours!

LAST CHANCE!!!

Today is your last chance to order from the Spring Mini Catalogue! Don't miss out on all of your favourites like Corduroy Buttons, Good Friend Stamp Set, Tree Trimmings Stamp Set, Wide Striped Grosgrain Ribbon & so much more!!

To place your Spring Mini order, email me before 7pm!

Today I wanted to share with you one of the last projects I have made using items from the Spring Mini. You may remember these birthday invites I shared with you last week, and now here are the matching party favours I have made for all the young party guests. I wanted something different from the traditional loot bags that are usually given, so designed this little project.

These are how the gifts will look when given.

And here is what each child receives when they open it all up

I designed this little box myself to hold 8 crayons, and then the colouring in picture can be rolled up and placed through the hanger. Inside the rolled picture I have added a balloon and lollipop.

Here is a closer look at the box

I am really pleased with how these turned out, so really hope that my daughters friends will enjoy receiving them!

Materials

Stamps: Just Beachy

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Ink: Only Orange, Summer Sun

Other: Word Window Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, White Gel Pen

On the day he would be 5

Today my little man would have been turning 5. He would have been off to his first day of school - a pretty big milestone for all kids, and just one of the many that we have missed and will continue to miss in the future.

To some it may seem strange to make a birthday card each year for someone who is no longer with us, but for us it just seemed the right thing to do. It has also given us an ideal place to write our thoughts about him as each year passes. Here is his card for this year

As I didn't need to worry about posting this card (last time I checked NZ Post didn't deliver to heaven ;) ) I was able to make it any size I liked, so this card is about 22cm long - I really wanted to get 5 carriages on the train!

So what kinds on things will I be writing in his card this year....actually I don't really know yet, I just tend to let it flow as I write it. But things that have crossed my mind in recent days are wondering whether he would have enjoyed going to school, or whether he would have been one of those kids that have to be dragged out of bed each morning to go. I wonder if he would be as confident, and outgoing, and cheeky as his little sister. I wonder little things like how tall he would be, and which toys he would be in to, what things would have been on his birthday & Christmas wishlists . Would he and his sister be close, or would they squabble and fight? Questions that will never have answers, but I can't help asking them all the same...

Materials

Stamps: Choo Choo, On Track Stampin' Around Wheel

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Whisper White, Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP

Ink: Riding Hood Red, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey

Other: White Taffeta Ribbon, Styled Silver Hodgepodge, Chipboard, Acrylic Paint

One for the MIL

Todays card is for my Mother In Law's birthday. I love this image from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set, but don't have the set in my collection. Luckily, I have recently converted my Mum to stamping (she has been a sewer & quilter for many years), and her first order included this stamp set. Mum was kind enough to let me stamp off several images before I gave it to her!

This card is BIG (about 15cm square). I didn't set out to create a large card - it just kinda worked out that way as I went along! The sentiment in the centre is another sneak peak from the Summer Mini Catalogue - a great set of Rub-on sayings called Chit Chat.

Materials

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, So Saffron Patterns DSP

Ink: Old Olive, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst

Other: Old Olive 5/8" Ribbon, Chit Chat Rub-ons, Corner Rounder Punch

Bright Birthday!

It is coming into Birthday season for my family (there are 6 of us with birthdays in December!), so I will be sharing a few birthday cards this week! First up is this one for my brother

This card was super quick - taking only 20 minutes from start to finish! It uses the fun Party Hearty stamp set, and you will also see a little sneak peek of one of the new items coming in the Summer Mini (I'll let you guess what it is!).

Recently I have had a few people asking how my pregnancy is going and wondering if they can see a pic of my bump. All is going very well, and we only have 9 weeks left to go! I will try and get DH to take a bump pic later this week.

Materials

Stamps: Party Hearty

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Washington Apple DSP

Ink: Ruby Red, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Basic Grey

Other: Riding Hood Red Double Striped Ribbon, Jumbo Grommet

Fishes in the water,

Fishes in the sea, we all jump up with a 1,2,3! We hear this rhyme at least once a day from our little Miss, and currently Goldfish are the big thing for her! If we are at the pet shop she wants to look at the fish, if we are anywhere that has a pond/waterfeature then we have to check it for fish, and the ultimate in fish love has happened the last couple of weeks as we have been looking after a friends aquarium and fish!!

So when it came time to choose a theme for little Miss's upcoming birthday it was a pretty easy choice - here are the invites I designed:

These were great fun to make, and using a great new tool due to be released in the Summer Mini, they were pretty easy too! The background was achieved using several colours of marker and the colour spritzer tool for the 'stones' and then sponging for the water. The 'bubble ribbon' is Stampin' Up!'s narrow twill tape which I have stamped with Only Orange ink and one of the images from the Circle Circus stamp set.

The stamp set I used for the fish is this one:

It is called Just Beachy which appears in the current Spring Mini Catalogue. You still have just over a week to order from the Spring Mini, so don't miss out on the sets you love!

Materials

Stamps: Just Beachy, Pocket Silhouettes

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Acetate

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange, Summer Sun, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery

Other: Stamping Sponges, Designer Brads, Spritzer Tool, Circle Scissors Plus, White Gel Pen

Christmas Cards - Variations # 2

Here are the other variations for the same card layout featured in my previous post. This time I have used the Winter Post and Tree Trimmings sets.

Well that concludes all of my festive creations for this year! I have finished all my gifts/cards/decor items that I wanted to make, so time to move on to other things. Later in the week I will be sharing the birthday invites for my little ones 3rd birthday. Other projects that will be appearing soon are some projects I am working on for the new baby's room, as well as some sneak peeks for the new Summer Mini Catalogue!

Materials

Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Winter Post, Many Merry Messages

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Real Red, Baja Breeze, Old Olive

Other: Scallop Edge Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch, Mat Pack

Christmas Cards - Variations 1

This is the second style of Christmas card I mass-produced last week. The layout of these cards were inspired by a range of cards in the last Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft magazine. I took the sketch and then recreated the card 30 times using various DSP's and stamp sets. These are the first 2 variations using the Season of Joy Stamp Set.

Using the same sketch over and over allows you to quickly create all your Christmas cards with the minimum of stress! I will share some more variations with you tomorrow.

Materials

Stamps: Season of Joy, many Merry Messages

Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Basic Grey

Other: Scallop Edge Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch, Mat Pack

Parade of Reindeer

Here are some of the Christmas Cards I created last week. I was on a mission to make a whole bunch in just a couple of days so I chose a couple of basic layouts and then re-created them many times over in different colour-ways or with slight adjustments. I will share some of the variations over the next few posts. Heres the first installment

I am certain that I saw this card design on-line somewhere whilst blog-hopping and was sure it was by an OZ demo, but for the life of me I can't find it again now - if you are the original designer, or know who it is, please let me know so that I may give due credit.

Materials

Stamps: Winter Post, Many Merry Messages

Cardstock: Whisper White, Ski Slope DSP, Holiday Harmony DSP

Ink: Real Red, Riding Hood Red, Basic Grey

Other: Eyelet Edge Punch, Corduroy Buttons, Button Latte, Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain, Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain

Notecard Gift Box

I demonstrated this little notecard box and matching gift cards at a workshop at the weekend. Little boxes like these are so easy to make, but are a really great little gift for someone.

Materials

Stamps: Petal Pizzazz

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pixie Pink

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Pixie Pink

Other: White Gel Pen, Scallop Edge Punch, Corduroy Brad

Masculine Cheep Talk

This card was cased from one shown in Impressions (the Demonstrator magazine SU sends all it's demo's every month), but I changed it up a little to be more masculine in both colour and texture.

There was a fabulous presentation done at SU Convention in May by Nikki Tidbold with lots of great ideas for masculine cards. I incorporated several of her suggestions in this card - texture in the form of crimping, crumpling & distressing, a fun inkpad technique called Thump & Bump, plus some hardware in the form of jumbo brads (after all, show me a male who doesn't like hardware!)

Materials

Stamps: Cheep Talk

Cardstock: More Mustard, Old Olive, Choc Chip, Whisper White

Ink: More Mustard, Not Quite Navy

Other: Crimper, Jumbo Brads, Cutter Kit

Pretty 1st Birthday Gift

As promised here is the wee gift I made to match yesterday's card. We were actually asked not to take gifts, but I ignored that wee instruction and did it anyway - after all, what little girl doesn't need a few hairclips!

I used the left over scraps from the card to make this wee little folder to hold a little pack of hair clips.

Materials

Stamps: Priceless

Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White, Tea Party DSP, Acetate

Ink: Almost Amethyst, So Saffron, White Stazon

Other: Wide Oval Punch, Celery 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Filigree Flower Brad, Rhinestone Brad

Pretty 1st Birthday

A little friend of ours recently celebrated her first birthday, and she is such a pretty, sweet-natured girl that I wanted to make a card to match her personality.

As the starting point for my card I chose 2 papers from the Tea Party Designer Series Paper pack and let those set the colour and tone of the card. Some pretty butterflies and swirls, finished off with some rhinestones and I think it makes the perfect little girls card! Come back tomorrow and I will share the matching little gift I made.

Materials

Stamps: Priceless

Cardstock: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White, Tea Party DSP

Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst

Other: Eyelet Border Punch, Rhinestone Brads

Vintage Christmas Tree

This was the Project of the Month in my November newsletter which went out yesterday. I thought I would try my hand at a slightly vintage feel Christmas Card using one of Stampin' Up!'s most popular and versatile sets - Lovely as a Tree.

The piece of patterned paper was started as Very Vanilla cardstock and I built up the effect using both Lovely as a Tree and En Francais stamp sets. The rest of the effect was achieved using sponging and spritzing in a few different colours. It's not visible in the pic but I also added some Dazzling Diamonds to the main tree image for a little sparkle!

Materials

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, En Francais

Cardstock: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Very Vanilla

Ink: Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel

Other: Dazzling Diamonds, 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Brads, Stamping Sponges, Spritzer Tool

Earn yourself a FREE Christmas Gift!

Do your Christmas Shopping with Stampin' Up! this Christmas, and not only will you avoid the crowds, but you'll also earn yourself a fabulous FREE gift!

Stampin' Up! have created a great Christmas Gift- Giving Guide, so why not use it as your one-stop shop for all the special people in your life! Plus, from 1 November to 14 December, receive a FREE Scallop Square punch (valued at $35.95!) when you spend $105 on products from the gift-giving guide!

Download your copy of the Christmas Gift-Giving Guide here and then email me with your order!