A biscuit tin full of cards

I have a brother who lives in Tasmania and it is always difficult figuring out what to send his family for Christmas. My sis-in-law is also studying at the moment so I know she is limited for time so I decided to send them a biscuit tin but I took out the biscuits and filled it with cards. Cards that they can use for Christmas and birthdays and friends etc. I hope they like it......

This is the lovely biscuit tin

inside it fits two piles of cards neatly side by side

I had 6 different cards with matching envelopes, 3 of each design except for the Christmas cards and they were 5 of each design.

Hopefully they won't feel ripped off that they didn't get the biscuits!!!

My baby turns 3

This month my baby girl turned 3. Her birthday was in the school holidays just after we went away for a couple of days to Mooloolaba so timing was a bit off. I had seen this fabulous Rainbow Cake on one of my favourite blogs The Idea Room and I thought it was so cute I just HAD to make it! Well I did, (I didn't put as much effort or icing for that matter, into mine as she did!) after staying up late the night before her birthday, I only have one cake tin so it took a while to finish. Each layer only cooked for 10 mins but then I had to wait for it to cool, turn it out, wash the tin and start again!!! I was really excited about the finished product and I was so excited for my daughter.

HOWEVER......little Miss M wasn't feeling too great when she went to bed and woke several times in the night, then she woke in the morning with a temperature. By the time we planned to have her cake with some family friends after lunch, she had to be woken up from her nap and she was not interested in eating cake at all...didn't even taste it!!! Poor darling, I couldn't stop loving it though and the bright colours just looked so fun.

How cool does this look?

Be IN it to WIN it....

Thanks to all who placed an order to go in the draw to win this FAB stamp set

and the winner is.......Jillian W. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!

For everyone else who placed an order you will receive this cute little post-it-note book

I hope you love it, I sure do especially that beautiful new In Colour - Concord Crush.

Keep checking back here for new offers and specials!!

5 fab New IN COLOURS

Have you checked out the NEW IN COLOURS? Don't forget, IN COLOURS hang around for 2 years now and you can get exciting DSP to match. Stampin' Up! also offers great value for money if you buy the card stock and classic ink pad colour kit for $56.95 - thats 5 classic ink pad and 20 sheets of matching card stock in the 5 fabulous In Colours. If you bought these items individually it would cost you $73.70 that's a saving of $16.75!!!!

But if you would like join Stampin' Up! and be a part of my fab and fun team and expand your creativity you will get all the IN COLOURS for FREE as well as 5 matching stampin' write markers - but hurry you only have until October 15. Call me or email me TODAY.

Stampin' Retreat

It's been a while since I blogged....sorry!! I just checked my dates and it was almost 5 weeks ago that I went on the Retreat, wow time flies! My upline Stephanie Pike organised a fabulous weekend away at Caloundra, fully catered, lovely apartment rooms at the Shearwater Resort and stamping and crafting all day and for some all night! I went with my good friend Jennis with whom I had to share a bed....lucky we are good friends, I think I scared her a little when I told her I usually like to snuggle in bed LOL and by the way a note to Jennis' husband, she does NOT snore!!!

It was so nice to have a weekend away and doing what we love without being interrupted by kids and husbands!!! Make sure you all save up for next year - well worth it.

This is Jennis with our luggage for a 2 night stay LOL 2 smaller bags were clothes, 3 large bags were our crafting supplies!!! We were a bit embarrassed by how much we brought until we saw how much everyone else brought!

We stayed in a unit for 4 people, this is one of our roomies Kerry, she was a barrel of laughs.

This is what the conference room of the Hotel looked like filled up with all of us mad crafting sisters (and one brother)!

Here is Jennis and myself, second night:pajama night!

This was the AMAZING stamp library courtesy of a combination of demonstrators who pooled their supplies. We were able to borrow stamps or big shot dies over the whole weekend. It was so good using stamps that I don't have (and making me want them LOL)!

Sneak Peak

So as you know the "Last Chance List" from SU is out, these are items that are retiring from the current catalogue they will NOT be returning in the new catalogue which comes out 1 September 2010. Have a look at the list here and see if your favourite stamps are going or staying. It will be your last chance this month to purchase any of these items and some are going for great discounts too!!!!

I have been very sick this week with pneumonia so no crafting for me just lying in bed most of the day, but I did find these photos that I took a while ago and didn't post....so here is a little inspiration for you. This is a mini photo/journal album I made for friends of ours who had a little boy named Finnion or Finn for short. I used the 'Bugs & Kisses' stamp set - one of my favourites and yeehaa it isn't retiring!! Thanks for looking....

Front cover

Open left side

Open right side

Open left side again (another layer)

Open right side again

Open top and bottom flaps to reveal middle with pull out cards

Christmas in July

I really loved doing the Christmas in July workshop. I cased these designs that I found on the Splitcoast Stampers gallery. It was so nice to create Christmas cards, gifts and decorations without the pressure of Christmas!! Way to go to get organised for Christmas! At the Stamp-a-stack workshop we made 6 cards: 2 each of 3 designs.......

CARD 1

I love the images in the Holiday Lineup stamp set they are so comical, it puts a little fun into Christmas.... but who has ever seen a thin Santa? Why are all these Santa's thin??

Materials used:

cardstock - whisper white, real red, basic black

stamps - Holiday lineup, Spotlight on Christmas, polka dot background

ink - jet black stazon and real red stampin' write marker

extras - black eyelets, large oval and scallop oval punches, red gingham ribbon, in this photo I used white embossing powder on the santa's pom poms and collars, but at the workshop we used dazzling diamonds glitter and I think that was nicer!

CARD 2

Isn't this pretty? This one makes me think of my mum - she loves poinsettias. It is a quick card using the Big Shot and the 5-petal flower punch - gotta love stamps that match/fit the punches an the "Spotlight on Christmas" stamp set has 6 stamps that all fit different punches and since I am a punch addict I had to get this stamp set to make quick and cute cards!!

Materials used:

cardstock: very vanilla, real red, glorious green (retiring)

stamps: Spotlight on Christmas, Best Yet (hostess)

ink: real red

extras: Top Note die for the big shot, 5-petal flower punch, gold shimmer spray (can't see it on this photo but it gives a lovely light shine/shimmer to your card/page **not a SU product**)

CARD 3

How cute are these reindeer? I love my traditional Christmas colours, but I also enjoy experimenting with non traditional colours.

Materials used:

cardstock: certainly celery, kraft, whisper white, soft suede

stamps: Holiday Lineup, Spotlight on Christmas

ink: certainly celery, soft suede, jet black stazon, chocolate chip, real red

extras: certainly celery5/8" wide ribbon, large oval punch to cut the corners, circle punches 1-3/8" and 1-1/4", crystal effects.

Variation to card 3

Here are a few other cards I made in preparation for Christmas in July.......

How cute are these little mice? (**not a SU image**) Normally I HATE mice, discussting little rodents LOL, but these ones are safe and they are not going to get into my food storage!!! I love how this stamp can be used for either birthday or Christmas, jut by changing the way you colour the gifts - my 8 year old daughter coloured this image and I put the card together.

I had lots of fun doing this card, I cased it from the Splitcoast Stampers gallery, took ages though, but I am sure next time it will be a lot quicker since I won't have to work out all the measurements. Do you love the little owl in the tree, there is a little blue bird in the other branch too but it didn't come out so good. These came from the the hostess set 'Picture This' in the autumn-winter mini. If you want to earn this set and get free stamps, email me today to arrange your own Stampin' Up! party - you won't be disappointed :)

Thanks for looking, come back again soon and be sure to pass on this link to all your crafty friends!!!!

No birthday cards can you believe it?????

My daughter was invited to a birthday party and me being me left it to the last minute to buy a present and I thought I would just grab a card from my stack of cards..........well to my great amazement I had no suitable birthday cards!!!!!!!! Plenty of 'friend' cards or 'happiness' cards or 'christmas' cards or even birthday cards for older people but nothing suitable for a little girl. So I had to buy a birthday card (being rushed and all I had not time to whip one up), it was a simple sweet card that I thought shouldn't cost that much........$4.95 later I decided then and there I was going to go home and make a stack of both boy and girl birthday cards. I chose a simple design that I could just run off lots of and I used a 1/4 of an A4 to make it even quicker and more cost effective - especially for kids.

Here is the boy card using my favourite "Bugs & Kisses" stamp set, Kraft, Whisper White and Soft Suede cardstock and Soft Suede Classic Ink Pad.

Here is the girl card using the Butterfly Punch (which, by the way you can still purchase even though it was in the last mini catalogue - contact me if you would like to know more) with 'Cottage Wall' Designer Series Paper and Pale Plum cardstock and the 'happy birthday' stamp comes from Teeny Tiny Sentiment p.26 in the current mini catalogue and stamped in Rich Razzleberry. I cased this design from Amy Waters, I loved how she sewed down the middle of her butterflies so I did a quick version!!!

I hope this inspires you to go and make a stack of birthday cards and never pay $4.95 for 1 card again!! (just think...that's almost half the price of a classic ink pad, or half the price of a pkt of 24 sheets of cardstock in which you could make 48 cards this size, or the cost of a giant block of cadbury chocolate from Big W......the possibilities are endless LOL)

The technique of MASKING

This is an oldy but a goody, you overlap the stamps so that it looks like the 2nd image is sitting behind the 1st. It looks great with solid stamps, but also looks amazing with flowers or people/animals. We used this technique at the last workshop in June and you can find step by step instructions at the Stampin' Up! website here. I used the 'I {heart} Hearts' stamp set to create this card. Just remember to cut your image on the post-it note inside the lines (smaller) so as to not get that gap between the images like on mine below LOL!!!

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Sweet little paper handbags

At my last workshop in June we made these sweet little paper handbags that are a perfect size to pop in some choccy's or a small gift to give to someone. They would also be great for a little girls birthday party bag with treats to give away to her guests. I promised to give you the link to the instructions so you can go and make a bunch of them so click here to go to the very talented Makeesha Byl's pdf instructions that you can print out and have handy whilst making.

Here are a few of the ones I made (in a rush to photograph before the sun went down and I didn't iron the sheet in the background-doesn't look the best!!!)

Deals of the Week #4

The last Deal of the Week is here......

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
109113	149	Square Ice Rhinestone brads	$19.95	$11.97
109111	149	Circle Ice Rhinestone brads	$19.95	$11.97
109112	149	Square Fire Rhinestone brads	$19.95	$11.97
111848	150	Bashful Blue 1” double-stitched grosgrain ribbon	$19.95	$11.97
109050	151	Certainly Celery 5/8” grosgrain ribbon	$14.95	$8.97

You have until Tuesday 29th June to place your order and grab a bargain then you can 'bling' up your cards or scrapbooking pages with these deals. I love the rhinestone brads they really add a new dimension to your paper craft, especially when you can colour co-ordinate them with your papers.

Deals of the Week #3

Wow this is a great one, huge reductions on price. If you don't have a catalogue to see what these stamp sets look like let me know I can arrange one for you or you can view it online at the Stampin' Up! customer home page Enjoy looking.......but remember you only have until next Tuesday 22nd to take advantage of this deal.

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
114263	34	A Happy Heart stamp set	$41.95	$20.98
115792	57	Greetings Eight stamp set	$49.95	$24.98
116330	78	Bella’s Bloom stamp set	$24.95	$14.97
113009	97	Enjoy Every Moment stamp set	$53.95	$26.98
114283	105	All Scallops stamp set	$55.95	$27.98

World's Biggest Morning Tea

I recently went to a 'World's Biggest Morning Tea' party that one of my friends from my kids school put together. I must say they did a fantastic job. All money raised gets donated to the research for cancer. They asked lots of people to donate things for lucky door prizes, or items for people to buy etc. I was asked to donate 'something'! I made these cute little love note boxes (a love note is a small card measuring 3inches square) and put 3 love notes in each. I used Washington Apple DSP.

Inkspirations Challenge

I decided to try another challenge, I have found it's a great way to start creating outside your comfort zone. This time I followed Makeesha Byl's Inkspirations Challenge #26 it was a colour challenge, some colours I would not normally put together - but I think it actually works really well. Let me know what you think?



Here is my card:


And here is a close up of the flower:

Do you like that button? I made it using a small circle punch, punched out the basic grey card about 5-6 times, glued them together, pierced two holes then covered in crystal effects. Now you can make a button to match any of your designs...try it with some DSP

Deals of the Week #2

Here we are with Deals of the Week no. 2…….wooo hooo Designer Series Paper!!!!!! I love love love Rasberry Tart, and Tea Party, oh and Haiku and Pink Flamingo LOL I'll have to try Sweet Slumber, it's a textured cover-weight card stock, and all for such a steal!!!! Let me know ASAP as you only have a week grab this bargain - offer ends 15-06-10. I will wait until 14th to place any orders to save on postage.

Rasberry Tart DSP was $16.95 now $11.02:


Tea Party DSP was $16.95 now $10.17:


Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP was: $22.95 now $14.92


Haiku DSP was $16.95 now $10.17:


Pink Flamingo DSP was $16.95 now $11.02:

Retiring Colours....an Update!

Recently Stampin’ Up! announced the upcoming colour renovation and just the other day on our demonstrator website there was the following up date……

“With our recent Colour Renovation announcement, we have experienced an increase in demand for some of our retiring colours. We need to clarify that beginning now, all retiring colour products are available only while supplies last. As we run out of retiring items, you may notice that they are no longer available in OEX. This does not refer to items that go on backorder; these orders will be fulfilled. While our Australian and New Zealand markets have not run out of any retiring products, we may before the new catalogue begins on 1 September.”

So this means, if you have a colour that you simply must have, you had better start stocking up now - don't wait until the end of August. This applies to cardstock, ink pads, ink refills, stampin' writes, ribbon etc. (New catalogue and new colours arrive 1 September). Check out the list of retiring colours below........

Sketch Challenge...

Hi everyone, The wonderful Stampin' Up! demonstrators of Australia and NZ have put together a fabulous website/forum to communicate with each other and to share ideas and inspiration for what we do. They have regular challenges for all sorts of card making to 3D items to scrap pages. Last week I entered my very first challenge.....and I won!!! There was a small entry I must admit, but non the less, I am pretty chuffed LOL.

This was the 'Sketch' that you had to get inspiration from:



and this was my entry:



Let me know what you think. If you are interested in looking at or competing in more challenges, Makeesha Byl's Inkspirations are are fantastic starting point. Have fun.

JUNE - Deals of the Week

Hi everyone, Stampin' Up! is doing a fantastic promo this month, it starts TODAY! Each week we will be introduced to a "Deals of the Week" list. These list items will sell for up to 50% off current catalogue price. I won't know what they are until you do......this weeks deals are:

Item Page Description Regular Price Sale Price
112081 152 Scallop Square punch $30.95 $20.12
109183 153 Trio Flower punch $30.95 $20.12
110711 153 Boho Blossoms punch $30.95 $20.12
114889 n/a* Scallop Oval punch $30.95 $20.12
*From Carryover flyer


Well you know how much of a punch freak I am, I have tonnes of them, but I don't have the Boho Blossoms.....and as this was on my list, I can't resist this price. The reason I love SU's punches is because they are still sharp after all my use of them, they are comfortable to use, they co-ordinate with heaps of stamp sets and other punches and most especially because they make card making and scrapbooking so much faster. So SU punches have my 'stamp' of approval....sorry I couldn't resist!!

You have 1 week to place your order for these deals (Tue 8th June last day). There is no minimum order and you can order as many as you like. The next weeks deals will come out Wed 9th, you can keep updated on the Stampin' Up! Customer Webpage or check it out again here next week. Call me or email me to place an order.

It's going to be lots of fun, I hope you can benefit from these deals.

Embossing Workshop last week

Thanks everyone who came to the emobssing workshop on Wednesday night. I hope the rest of you get well soon. Our first card used gloss paper and we embossed a white tree onto the gloss paper then using a sponge and 'going gray' ink, rubbed over the image, the image doesn't take the ink, only the paper. This technique is called embossing resist. We created the scalloped edge on the black circle using a corner rounder click here to see a tutorial. I love this card if I do say so myself!! My darling husband who pretends to take an interest in my cards actually said this card was the best I've ever made! and he was serious and not just saying that so he could get back to whatever he was doing before I asked for his opinion LOL!!! Well I don't know if it is the best I've ever made, but thanks hon!

Here is a close up of the tree. We finished the tree with red dots from 'real red' stamp and write marker then covered each dot with crystal effects so now the tree looks like it has blossoms or fruit.


Here is the second card we made. We used the "Manhattan Flower" embossing folder and using a brayer you need to put ink directly onto the embossing folder, put the card in the folder and then run it through your die/embossing machine. We then hand cut around the flower. Try this technique using 2 different inks blending together!! Nice and simple yet very effective.