Friday, May 30, 2008

A Quiet Week?

Well, the party was lots of fun on Saturday (Makayla loved the jumping castle)! Unfortunately, I didn't pull my camera out to take any photos (shame on me)! I've been a bit quiet this week on the blog front but not anywhere else!

We've had sewerage issues, the cladding being replaced and a dose of the flu, so no time to blog, sorry! I did do some scrapbooking for a workshop I'm doing on Sunday, so I'll post those when I take some photos!

Keep well and happy stamping!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Wild Birthday

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

It's my nephew's son's first birthday party this weekend (yes, you have read that correctly) and this is the card I have made for him. I hope he likes it! This card was quite simple to stamp and construct (even with my toddler's help) and would be well suited to making a stack of cards in a single session. All you would have to do is stamp the animal images all over an A4 sheet of Whisper White and then cut that into pieces to adhere to multiple cards, for the greeting, just stamp a few of them on Whisper White cardstock, colour and cut up.

Recipe
Stamps: Wild About You (pg. 66) and For a Friend hostess set (pg. 18)
Inks: Stazon® Jet Black, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence, Gable Green and More Mustard
Cardstock: Whisper White, More Mustard, Real Red and Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Blender pens, Stampin' Pastels, Stampin' Dimensionals

During this session of card making my beautiful daughter tipped out my Stampin' Pastels, anyone who has done this could imagine my despair! Thankfully, I had a team meeting that night and was able to get help to put them back in order again!

Monday, May 19, 2008

More Bud Basics

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

I CASEd this card from the demonstrator website. Just one of the many advantages of being a Stampin' Up!® demonstrator is access to the demonstrator website. As well as business tools like online ordering and forms, this site has an abundance of tips, techniques and ideas to draw from, so you don't really ever have to come up with an original idea!

This card uses the Basics Outline wheel (pg. 78) and Bud Basics stamp set (pg. 78). The colours are Cameo Coral, Creamy Caramel, Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip (I only just realised they all start with 'c'! This wasn't deliberate but does give me an idea for team challenges.) I've used the tearing technique on the bottoms of the Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip cardstock to add texture, as well as some wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. The flower at the bottom of the card has the small flower image layered over the large flower image (using Stampin' Dimensionals), a pewter brad for the flower centre and some leaves adhered to the Cameo Coral card.

I'm really happy with this card, I used a different colour combination to the one on the website and I have to say Cameo Coral has moved up a notch in my books!

(I'm sorry for the poor quality photo, I'm still working on my photography skills!)

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Wild Little Gifts

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

I made these little gift containers (sour cream/sunny boy containers) for a workshop a few weeks ago. Marelle has a fantastic tutorial for how to put them together, here. These little containers are great for chocolates, lollies or even jewellery. For these two I've used the Wild About You stamp set (pg 66), this set is really good for children and babies (and big kids too!). You can use the images on their own (as I have done for the Tempting Turquoise one), or you can group them together (as I've done for the Whisper White one).

Once I stamped the cardstock and a scrap piece for the tag, and assembled the container (following Marelle's instructions), I punched out the tag (using the tag punch, pg 142) and attached it to the containers in two different ways. For the Tempting Turquoise one, I've punched a slit in the the top of the tag (using the double rectangle punch, pg 142) and threaded a small piece of Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon through the slit. Finally, I secured this with a staple (only use this method if you have already put your gift in the container!). For the second one, I've used some of the Hodgepodge Hardware (pg 144) to secure the tag and the end of the container.

Have fun with these easy little gift containers! You can personalise them with any of the stamp sets, wheels or even designer series paper!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Mothers Day

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

Here is one of the cards I made for Mothers Day. I love it when a card just happens on it's own! I used Bud Basics (pg 78) and Basics Outline wheel (pg 78) for this one. I fell in love with this set at a class that Marelle had a while ago. I used the wheel with a Basic Black cartridge to create the outlines for the flowers and leaves on Whisper White cardstock. Another thing I love is how well the In Colors coordinate with each other! I've used Wild Wasabi for the leaves, Soft Sky for the large flowers and Blue Bayou for the small flowers, don't they look like they were made for each other! I tied Whisper White grosgrain ribbon around the Whisper White cardstock and then mounted that onto Blue Bayou cardstock using my SNAIL adhesive™. I stamped the sentiment from the Heartfelt Thanks set (pg 82) in Blue Bayou ink and used the Mat Pack to do the paper piercing and faux stitching. Finally, I stamped the flowers and leaves onto my envelope.


Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

I had quite a nice Mothers day; church in the morning, help from my husband with the washing, a new jacket and a picnic lunch with friends. I hope you all had a wonderful Mothers Day too!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

All in the Family

Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

I made this card using the All in the Family set (pg 61), I love this set, it's so versatile! For this card I stamped the legs, dress, head and arms on the Whisper White cardstock using the Stamp-a-ma-jig (pg 149). The Stamp-a-ma-jig allows you to stamp your image exactly where you want it, no guess work (an absolute must if you want your family's heads to be connected to their bodies)! I then also stamped the dress image onto some of the Petals and Paisleys designer series paper (pg 134) and cut it out to create a pretty patterned dress (I adhered this to the Whisper White cardstock over the first stamped dress image using SNAIL adhesive™). I used my Blender Pens and Stampin' Pastels to colour the image (Blush Blossom for the cheeks of course!) and created some ground with a little bit of Going Gray. Here's a closer look;


Images © 1990-2008 Stampin' Up!®

(I do apologise for the blurry picture!) I mounted this onto Tempting Turquoise cardstock. I used another piece of the Petals and Paisleys Designer Series Paper on Pretty in Pink cardstock and adhered the girl image onto that. I stamped the greeting onto Whisper White cardstock with Tempting Turquoise ink (using a stamp from the Greetings Galore set, pg 56) and mounted this onto Tempting Turquoise cardstock before adhering to the card. The final touch is some Tempting Turquoise ribbon. Voila! A cute birthday card!

Also check out the coordinating sets, Family Favourites and Family Phrases (pg 61)! The possibilities are endless!!!

Monday, May 5, 2008

I've been tagged!!!

How exciting! My upline Kirrily has tagged me!

http://kirrilymatthews.blogspot.com/


The rules are...

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

My 7 facts;
  1. There are 16 years between my sister and myself.
  2. I love the smell of coffee but can't stand the taste.
  3. I have a perfectionist personality and get very frustrated because I just don't make it! (Like Kirrily, I'm also a frustrated disorganised person, unlike Kirrily I have to follow the rules!)
  4. Psalm 139 is my favourite.
  5. I learnt ballet for 9 years (and now I have a bunion!)
  6. I wear 'Curious' by Britney Spears (love the scent not the label)
  7. My husband and I will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary this year!!!
Now for those I've tagged;

Marelle (my up-up-upline). http://www.marelletaylor.blogspot.com/
Megan (a friend and fellow SU! demo). http://www.stampwithcraft.blogspot.com/

Two top demos I met at convention;
Alisa http://www.alisatilsner.com/blog/
Sarah http://www.sarahklass.com/

Three others I haven't actually met yet!
Nicole http://www.nicolestalker.blogspot.com/
Beth http://www.elisabethstewart.com
Yvonne http://www.campbellcreations.net/

Thanks Kirrily!