Wishing you all a VERY Merry Christmas!

I am at the end of my Christmas preparations (well, once my Christmas Spice Chocolate Cake comes out of the oven soon!), and have even had time to enjoy a lovely relaxing lunch in the sun!

I wanted to wish each and every one of you a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and New Year period!  I hope you all get the opportunity to enjoy good food and fun times with family and friends.  If you are traveling, please take care on the roads!

I am going to take a little holiday from blogging for the next few weeks while I enjoy some fun in the sun with my family - camping, day trips, relaxing at home and working on our 'to do' list around the house!

To finish off the year on the blog, here are the little gift card holders I made to go with some gifts.  The holder idea came from Jo-Anne in my downline who shared the idea at our recent team day, and the front is a CASE of the Summer Mini Catalogue:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  See you all in the new year!!

Materials
Stamps: Merry & Type, Stitched Stockings
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Flirtatious Specialty DSP, Just add Cake DSP, Glimmer Paper
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Poppy Parade
Other: Stocking Builder Punch, Rhinestone

Quick Gifts from the kitchen

I'm finishing up the last of my Christmas gifts and tags today.  I love to bake at Christmas time - it really isn't Christmas for me until I have made my xmas mince pies, iced my Christmas cake (I baked it back in September), and put together some yummy treats as gifts.

This year I whipped together several of these super quick gift boxes to fill with baking for friends, neighbours etc

A sheet of cardstock, a sheet of Designer Series Paper and some of the gorgeous twine from the Summer Mini Catalogue - it really couldn't get any easier!

Materials
Stamps: Season of Joy
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Subtles Patterns DSP
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Other: Ornament Punch, Bakers Twine, Rhinestones

Team Thank You's

My team had our final team day of the year on Saturday.  We always enjoy a fun day of stamping, chatting & eating - we share ideas, do a shoe box card swap and get inspired and motivated!

At all of our team days I like to give everyone a small gift to thank them for being a member of my team and as Saturday was our xmas meet-up I gave them all a little extra Christmas present too!

You will see a little sneak peek at some of the FREE products you will be able to earn during Sale-a-Bration early next year - more on that in the new year!

Extended Candy Wrapper

I just love the Candy Wrapper die that is featured in the Summer Mini Catalogue, but it can sometimes be a little small for your needs.  So, you can extend it!  I created these longer versions packed with treats for my daughters Kindy teachers:

You could easily make it longer again, just by folding your cardstock cleverly before you cut it in the Big Shot!  I can see chocolate bars being wrapped in longer versions - a project for the new year, I think!

Materials
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Mocha Morning Specialty, Silver Glimmer Paper
Other: Big Shot, Candy Wrapper Die, Triple layer Doily Punch

Rainbow 5

I'm back today with the birthday card I made for my Miss 5.  She is very much into art and craft - painting, drawing, colouring, constructing things from paper - I wonder where she gets all of that from ;)  A recurring theme in her pictures is rainbows and so she often comes and asks me "What colour comes next in the rainbow?".  Now she won't need to ask, she can just look at her card!

I CASEd this card from one I saw on Pinterest a few weeks ago - I just knew it would be perfect for this occasion!

Materials
Cardstock: Whisper White, Rose Red, Perfect Plum, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Patterns DSP Stacks
Other: Big Shot, Tasteful Trims Bigz XL, White Taffeta Ribbon

Aliens Love Smelly Jelly

Sorry I am a bit late getting this post up - I have been battling a throat infection all week and have only just started to feel better!

Anyway, late last week I shared the invitations for my daughters 5th party, and I promised to share some of the details of the party!  We spent a couple of hours enjoying fun, games and food - one of the most popular games was 'Pin the Eye on the Alien':

My hubby did a great job of copying the stamped alien image on the invites to create our alien, and the eyes were created with just a couple of circle punches.

Then it was on to the food:

This was the only pic I got of the table before all the rest of the food was laid out.  The food was all based around what the aliens eat in the story Aliens Love Smelly Jelly, so we had biscuits all bendy & round, pizza that rises when you want it and hovers near your face, smelly jelly, and of course cake!  

I also made some Alien marshmallow pops for a bit of fun - these were by far the most popular item on the table!

And finally my attempt at the cake from the cover of the book - not my best cake effort, but Miss 5 loved it so that's the main thing!

 I made a little felt alien for each of the children to take home with them, sadly we forgot to get photos of all of them lined up!!  There were several different colours and a couple of different shapes.  I also tried to give them each a different look by changing the eyes, mouths and eyelashes for each alien.

 Lastly I put together a little tube of 'alien food' for everyone to take with them.

Materials
Stamps: Make a Monster
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, Whisper White, DSP
Ink: Stazon
Other: Circle Punches, Scallop Circle Punch

Shelli's 50th

I am still editing photos from my daughters 5th party, so I will share those with you later in the week.  In the meantime I will share this elegant wee 50th card I made way back in October for the co-founder & CEO of Stampin' Up!, Shelli Gardner.  Someone at head office in Utah had the great idea of getting as many birthday cards as possible sent in for Shelli, and they then packaged them all up in a giant gift for her!

She received 1200 cards!!  How cool is that - and she read each and every one of them!  You can read about it on her blog here.

Materials
Stamps: Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight, Mocha Morning Specialty DSP
Ink: Basic Grey
Other: Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Pearls, Antique Brads

Birthday Aliens

My eldest daughter turns 5 next week and tomorrow we are having a party for her.  Her favourite book for the last 6 months or so is one called Aliens Love Smelly Jelly by Tony Mitton and Guy Parker-Rees.  It is a great story about a group of aliens meeting on the planet Zum-Zee for a special picnic tea.  The story and illustrations are so fun that we decided to go with a Aliens Love Smelly Jelly theme for her 5th party!

Here is the invite I created using the Make a Monster stamp set (except that in this case I made an alien!)

I'll be back on Monday with pictures of all the bits I created for her party - including my attempt at that cake on the cover!!

Materials
Stamps: Make a Monster
Cardstock: Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Brights Patterns DSP, Cheerful Treat DSP
Ink: Stazon

Lace Ribbon Thanks

A simple card design that went out in several of my customers orders recently.  I just love the new Lace Ribbon Border Punch - easy to use, but so effective!

Materials

Stamps: Sincere Salutations

Cardstock: Island Indigo, Whisper White

Ink: Calypso Coral

Other: Fancy Label Punch, Lace Ribbon Border Punch

Baby Shower Booties

A very good friend had her baby shower this weekend, and I had a lovely time putting together a wee gift for her and baby.  Those of you who receive my monthly newsletter will have already seen the card as it was part of this months tutorial.

 The card uses the bleaching technique to achieve the white horse on the green medallion - a very easy but effective technique!  I also used one of my favourite new products from the Summer Mini Catalogue - the Bakers Twine.  I have used the Whisper White one on this project, but let me tell you, I have used all 3 colours for so many things!

These gorgeous paper baby shoes have been around for a while and I have been waiting so patiently for the occasion to make some!  They went down a real treat with the mum-to-be!

And here is the full gift ensemble together! It is so simple to dress up a plain white box with a belly band made from Designer Series Paper and Bakers Twine.

Materials
Stamps: Ain't Love Grand
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Subtles DSP
Ink: Versamark, Basic Black
Other: Big Shot, Polka Dot TE Folder, Pennants Bigz L Die, Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Scallop Edge Punch, Paper Crimper, Bakers Twine, Aquapainter, Bleach

Up to 50% off stamp sets and accessories!!

 Selected stamp sets and accessories at never-seen-before prices, but only until 31 December!  Check out these great deals:

To place your order, Email Me now!

Summer Mini Catalogue Blog Hop Time!

It is 1 December so that means it's not only the first day of our new Summer Mini Catalogue, but also time for another ESAD blog hop to showcase all of the wonderful new products from the mini!!  If you have been following the hop, then you will have just arrived from the lovely Corina Beyer's blog, but if this is your first encounter with the blog hop, then just follow the link at the bottom of this post and work your way around the other 24 fabulous blogs! 

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please fee free to click here to join our wonderful group.

I have created a little gift set for todays blog hop, showcasing the gorgeous new Spice Cake Designer Series Fabric and Spice Cake Buttons!

This cute sleeve stops your fingers from getting burnt holding on to a hot disposable cup. This is the perfect gift for any coffee-addict, and would look especially cute given with a re-usable cup filled with chocolate coated coffee-beans, which is what I have done here!

I am definitely not a sewer, but even I found this easy to make!  You can find the instructions and pattern here.

And here is a matching card to give with the gift.  As well as the new fabric and buttons, I have also used the new Charming stamp set - also available in the Summer Mini Catalogue.

I was particularly excited when I discovered that the medallion stamp from Charming fitted the 1 1/4" Circle Punch, and that the punch out nestled perfectly into the centre of the Spice Cake buttons!!


Well, that's it from me so now it's time to follow on with the hop, by heading over to check out the wonderful projects from Kelly Nelson!

Materials

Stamps: Charming, French Foliage
Cardstock: More Mustard, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, First Edition Specialty DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, More Mustard
Other: Spice Cake DS Fabric, Spice Cake Buttons, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Rhinestones, hair elastic, felt, thread