Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to pop in and wish each and every one of my blog readers a very Merry Christmas! I hope that tomorrow brings you everything you hoped for from Santa, but more importantly a fun and relaxing day spent enjoying time with your loved ones.

If you still have a To Do list a mile long for tomorrow, don't forget to take a few minutes for yourself to just sit and have a rest - and delegate tasks where ever possible!

Thank you all for supporting me and my blog over the last year - I love to read your comments or receive your emails with comments/suggestions/ideas so please keep them coming! I love sharing my projects with you and hope that you find them inspiring, or at the very least that they bring a smile to your face.

I will leave you with my absolutely LAST Christmas project for this year. My husband and I had a lovely dinner with our neighbours last weekend and I made these little boxes for each of them as a little xmas gift. The boxes were filled with some lovely chocolates.

Materials

Stamps: Winter Post

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White, I Wish Simply Scrapping Kit

Ink: Real Red, Old Olive. Chocolate Chip

Other: Rhinestone Brads, 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag Punch, Hemp Twine

Animal Stories Gift Bag

Sorry for the lack of posts the last day or 2. My family are all on holiday now so I am enjoying spending time with them - picnic lunches, trips to the beach/park etc!

Here is the other Make n Take project that we made at our Stampin' Up! Field Training a couple of months ago. It features the cute little owl from the Animal Stories set:

Materials

Stamps: Animal Stories

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pacific Point

Ink: Baja Breeze, Versamark

Other: Jumbo Eyelets, Double Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool

Sweet Flower

I am just loving our Sweet Treat Cups! They are so fun, and add a great touch to cards - especially for children! Here is a birthday card I have made for my niece who turns 6 in January.

Every time I use this colour scheme I love it even more - a bit different, but still so girly! There is also a secret little 'trap door' on this card for my niece to be able to get the treats out without destroying the card!

Materials

Stamps: Something Sweet

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, DSP

Ink: Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip

Other: 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Sweet Treat Cup, Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Circle Scissors Plus, Tab Punch, Small Oval Punch

Thoughts & Prayers

I recently had to send a sympathy card to a lovely lady and customer of mine who unexpectedly lost her husband. I always find sympathy cards the hardest to make, but from personal experience I know just how much those thoughts are appreciated by the recipient.

Materials

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Sincere Salutations (retired)

Cardstock: Real Rust, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Ink: Real Rust, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel

Other: Grommet, 5/8" Old Olive Grosgrain, 1/8" Circle Punch, Stamping Sponges

Who wants HALF PRICE stamps??

Stampin' Up! is holding an Inventory Clearance Sale with some sets up to 50% off!! There are also a few accessories available - but only while stocks last! View the full list here

Offer runs from 15 December until 24 January, or while stocks last so get in quick. Email your order NOW!

The final fishy installment!

Today my little girl is a big 3 year old! She is currently sitting watching video of herself as a baby - I can't believe she was ever that small!

Yesterday we had her party, and she had a great time. You may remember these invites, and the little gifts for her guests that I shared here. Well I thought it only fair that I also share the birthday card I made her:

I had so much fun making this card, and really love the finished result. I used one of the cool new Sweet Treat Cups from the Summer Mini catalogue, along with it's co-ordinating stamp set. The rest of the card is put together using various punches. I filled the cup with coloured sugar crystals. Miss 3 LOVES her shaker card!

And totally un-related to stamping, but I thought you might also like to see the cake I made her, which finished off the whole party theme:

Materials

Stamps: Something Sweet, Touch of Nature, Rough Edges Alpha (retired)

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Only Orange, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Going Green, Only Orange, Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip

Other: 3 Heart Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, 1/16" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Sponges,

Kindy Teacher Gifts

I suddenly realised yesterday that I hadn't made anything for my little girl to give to her Kindy teachers when term ends next week. So using this great tutorial by Marelle, I whipped up one of these boxes for each teacher.

Be sure to keep an eye out next week, as I have been having fun playing with the Sweet Treat Cups from the Summer Mini and have a few cards to share with you all!

Materials

Stamps: Winter Post, Cute & Curly

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Real Red, Whisper White, Acetate

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Real Red, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Stazon White

Other: Curly Label Punch, Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain, Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Linen Thread

Elephant Parade

A few months ago Stampin' Up! held a demonstrator training in Wellington. We were lucky enough to be given one of the stamp sets from the Summer Mini to use for our Make n Takes on the evening. Here is one of the projects we completed, using the cute Animal Stories Stamp Set.

What you can't see in the picture is that the middle elephant has been heat embossed to give him a lovely shine!

Materials

Stamps: Animal Stories

Cardstock: Riding hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White,

Ink: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Versamark

Other: Pacific Point Grosgrain Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Chit Chat Rub-ons

Last of the Team Swaps

Here are the last few cards from my teams shoebox swap.

Designed by Julie. I love the fold of this card!

Designed by Keryn

Designed by Broni

BREAKING NEWS!!

Stampin' Up! have advised that several items from the Spring Mini Catalogue are still available for purchase!

The following items are available to order:

112534	Jumbo brads 5/16" Neutrals Assortment	$18.50
112533	Jumbo brads 5/8" Neutrals Assortment	$16.25
114889	Scallop Oval punch	$35.95
106960	StazOn ink pad (White pad and refill)	$26.95
109196	StazOn Cleaner	$11.75

So if you missed out while the Spring Mini was current, you can play catch up now! Email me to place your order.

Team Shoebox Swap

My Stampin' Up! team had our last stamping day of the year last weekend, and once again we participated in a shoebox swap - we have all agreed these are the best fun! The only 'rule' for the swap was that we had to use product from the new Summer Mini. Here are a few of the cards we made - I will share the rest next week!

Card designed by Liz

Card Designed by Lynette. Can you believe that the stitching on this is done using cardstock strips NOT thread!!

Card Designed by Dianna

Card Designed by Judith. Doesn't the white on white embossing look really effective!

December Project of the Month

As promised, here is a fresh, summery card using the great Butterfly Prints Stamp Set and it's coordinating Butterfly Punch from the NEW Summer Mini Catalogue. I designed this card for the shoe box swap my team participated in at our latest stamping day.

The butterfly was achieved by simply stamping and punching out the butterfly multiple times and then layering them up. The punch makes this job so quick and easy! Here is a closer look

Materials

Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Polka Dot, Best yet

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Regal Rose, Old Olive, Basic Grey

Other: Butterfly Punch, Eyelet Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch

The promised Bump pic!

We finally remembered to take a pic of my bump at the weekend, so for all of those that have requested one - here it is

This is at just under 32 weeks - not too huge yet, but that will change over the next few weeks!

Summer Mini is Here!!

The NEW Summer Mini catalogue is finally here!

Packed full of gorgeous new products, including new stamp sets, ribbons, buttons, punches, Designer Series Papers and new tools! A few of my favourites are:

* Circle Scissors Plus - a fabulous tool that lets you cut circles any size from 1" up to 6"

* Butterfly Prints Stamp Set - and matching Punch

* Fleurettes - Gorgeous crocheted flowers that can be dyed any colour to match your project

* Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon - Double-sided so you can have the polka dots or not

* For Everything Stamp Set - Cute, bright and fun for summer!

Sweet Treat Cups and Something Sweet Stamp Set - my absolute favourite! A fun and cute way to add lollies or other treats to your cards!

You can view the Summer Mini on-line HERE, then Email me with your order! I will be back with a project using the gorgeous Butterfly Prints Stamp Set tomorrow!