Faux Water Painting

There was a lovely card in the Summer Mini Catalogue featuring the Love and Care stamp set, I made the card using other stamps, but using the same layout and colours. I love what a useful resource the Catalogue and Ideas Book & mini catalogues that Stampin' Up! are and never throw them out after you can no longer purchase from them.

Faux water painting is such a fun technique, just ink, hold the spritz bottle filled with water about 20-25cm from the stamp and spritz the stamp with water spray, then stamp as normal, it gives a lovely and unique image every time. Isn't the Medallion stamp in Crumb Cake on the background just lovely as well, almost like a watermark.

Stamps: Medallion, Because I Care (hostess level 1), Heartfelt Thanks (retired), Sand roller wheel
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie DSP (retired)
Accessories: Spiral Punch, linen thread, Chocolate Chip button, Spritz tool.

Growing Green CASE

I saw a lovely card over on Utah Diva's by Leonie last month and knew I had to remake it as it was just lovely. It involves a lot of cutting, more than I thought when I started the card, but the final result was so totally worth it! Isn't that organza ribbon delicate - the bow is a faux one as they are easier to do and tend to sit nicer than the normal tied sort. 

Stamps: Oval Alls, Growing Green
Ink: Basic Black, Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo
Card Stock: Wild Wasabi, Baja Breeze, Water Colour paper, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Accessories: Fire Circle Rhinestones, Organza Ribbon, Scallop Trim Die, Water Colour Crayons, Aquapainter, scallop oval punch, large oval punch, Dimensionals

Hmmm Chocolate.............

Some stamp sets are cute, some are artistic and some are just plain fun and the Eat Chocolate stamp set is definitely that - FUN!!! This set makes so many different styles of cards - I love the bite out of the corner with the scallop circle punch on this one.

Stamps: Eat Chocolate

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler

Accessories: Real Red satin ribbon, scallop trim border punch, Decorative Label punch, scallop circle punch, Dimensionals.

Birds & Cupcake Clouds

I love using punches for other than the obvious shapes they punch out. The cupcake punch top part makes gorgeous clouds (instead of cupcake frosting), sorry the lighting for the photograph isn't the best, but you can see how awesome the clouds are, some are glued flat and another on a Dimensional and all are sponged, such a lovely effect don't you think?

Leave me a comment and let me know what your favourite punch shape is and why!

Stamp: Cheep Talk
Card Stock: Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, Whisper White, Early Expresso
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist, Rich Razzleberry & Early Expresso
Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jog, Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Scallop Trim Border punch, stamping sponges

Hints & Tips for Corner Rounder Punch

Do you have questions about using your 3/16" (0.5 cm) Corner Punch? Do you even know which one it is? Check page 147 of the current Australian/NZ Idea Book & Catalogue and it is number 23 #119871. Is it working the way you wanted it to? Or has it sat on the shelf never to be used? If you're having trouble achieving the results you want, try these tips: 

• Make sure that the corner of the paper you are trying to round is your cut square. Your paper should have straight sides for the punch to work properly. 
• Your paper should fit snugly into both edges of the guides and into the back of the punch. It is critical that you don't try to centre the paper by looking through the bottom of your punch;  instead, align your paper using the guides.
• Set the paper fully into both guides, as well as the back of the punch, almost pressing your paper down into the guides by curling the outside edge of the paper up. Push your paper flush against the guides as far as it will go into the back of the punch. If your paper isn't fully set against both guides, you will not get a good, clean punch. 
• If you don't get a perfect corner, try centring your paper in the guides and punching again; your design should punch correctly. Don't worry; sometimes it takes some practice.
• Cut only one sheet at a time. This punch is designed to cut only one sheet of card stock or Designer Series Paper at a time.

Here's a tag I made using the corner rounder punch recently with the stamp set Friends 24-7,  I find it just adds a nice finish to the project.

Do you have other questions about this punch? Please leave me a comment and I will endeavour to answer it!

Do Cupcakes Get Any Better Than This???

I first made this style cupcake last year, but of course promptly gave it away and forgot about it, until I was looking to make a super special gift voucher holder this week........

These are just so cute! It uses lots of gorgeous ribbon, paper punches flowers (Boho Blossom) and an awful lot of hot glue, but the results are fabulous. This one I also edged pieces with Crystal Effects and dusted with Dazzling Diamonds to make the entire thing sparkle.

I love making them and recipients love the way that the top comes off to reveal a gift voucher - either a commercial one or as in this case a custom made voucher. I took the colours for this one from the Elegant Soiree Designer Paper (Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake) and the greeting came from my super favourite birthday greetings set On Your Birthday.

Would you like to come and join in the fun and learn how to make this unique and very special gift card holder? I have a class coming up soon (click here for details via my Facebook page or here for my website calendar) which includes a cupcake gift holder similar to the above, a matching tag and card with envelope. Any questions please let me know.

Ice-Cream Anyone?

I am loving the new Cupcake punch from the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue - too much fun - of course there's a lot more to make with it than just cupcakes! I also love the new Tasteful Trim Big Shot die and the multi-purpose adhesive sheets in the new mini catalogue as well.

Stamps: Create A Cupcake & You're A Gem

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip & Real Red

Card Stock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip & Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Tasteful Trim die, Big Shot, Multi-purpose adhesive sheets, Polka Dot textured impressions embossing folder, Crystal Effects, Square Lattice textured impressions embossing folder, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Stamping Sponge, Dazzling Diamonds.

Sweetheart Layered Flower Card

This was made a while ago as part of a class based around the Sweetheart stamp set. This is a very simple card in terms of colours and elements, but multi-layers on the flower really make this card "pop".

Stamps: Sweetheart
Ink: Basic Black
Card Stock: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Love Letter DSP & Very Vanilla
Accessories: 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Trim border punch, scallop circle punch, Dimensionals & Neutrals Designer Buttons.

Pirate Party Hearty

Here is a card I CASEd from Kristy B. I adore this stamp set, when the new catalogue came out last year it was the first stamp set on my wish list and I still absolutely love it 9 months later, my only regret is not using it more often - which sets do you wish you used more often?

Stamps: Beware Pirates, Party Hearty
Ink: Basic Grey & Versamark
Card Stock: Real Red, Basic Grey, Very Vanilla & Newsprint DSP
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Cutter Kit, metallic brads, Stampin' Sponges, powder pal, embossing buddy, heat tool.

Dog Thanks

This is the thank you card that I made for the wonderfully generous donors and people who placed orders at the RSPCA fundraising afternoon in April. I love how fast roller wheels make gorgeous custom backgrounds and how the paper piercer and mat pack really add extra dimension to a card without any bulk!

Stamps: D is for Dog, Afterthoughts, P is for Paw (roller)
Ink: More Mustard & Early Expresso.
Card stock: More Mustard, Whisper White & Early Expresso.
Accessories: 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, stamping sponges, mat pack & paper piercer, roller wheel handle, Dimensionals.

Upcycled Tea Light Candle Holder

These tea light candle holders have been on my "to do" list for about a year........yes I know! Anyway I had the perfect excuse this month to make lots of them as a friend hosted an up-cycling Stampin' Up! Workshop. We made three items including the paper bags from this post and a fridge magnet that I will show you in a different post. Apart from being a wonderful afternoon, the hostess got LOTS of fantastic hostess rewards including the bonus $70 that is a super special being offered this month for workshops reaching $450 in sales, contact me if you'd like to host a party and not only have a lot of fun with friends, learn some new things, do a nice make and take and earn some wonderful rewards along the way.

The metal is from an aluminum can, that has had the top and bottom cut off with a large Stanley Trimmer knife and then slit down the middle to form a flat sheet (wear gloves for this). Wouldn't these be fabulous for a candle light dinner, wedding setting, Halloween party (maybe not embossed with flowers for the later though!) or other event?

Accessories: Big Shot, Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Petals A Plenty, Flower Folds die

Non SU!: Aluminum can, Stanley Trimmer, hot glue gun & Tea light candle

Vintage Owl Flowers

I was inspired by a card made by LeeAnn that I saw about a year ago to turn the body of the owl punch into a flower, so I remade it with the materials I had and this is how it turned out:

Pretty nice hey? I love those antique brads and the Love Letter designer paper. I'm not sure if you can see on the right hand side, basically I cut a 'v' shape out of the top of the owl body and then folded up each of the bottom sides to make each petal - the flower I made has six such petals with the brad in the centre. Then I added it to a card.

Stamps: Tiny Tags

Ink: Riding Hood Red & Basic Black

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Love Letter DSP & Basic Black

Accessories: Striped grosgrain ribbon, Victorian Lace, Vintage Trinkets, Jewelry tag punch, 1/16" handheld punch, Circle Scissors Plus, Dimensionals, Big Shot, Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Elegant Lines, Antique brad, SNAIL.

Daffodil Punch Art Box

We made this lovely punch art daffodil as another of the lovely virtual Breast Cancer craft day last month, manic day, but so much fun!! I chose to put the punch art on top of a pizza style box that I made with the Scallop Square die (a carry over item from the Summer Mini catalogue) and embellished the lid with the large Square Scallop die from the Scallop Square Duo die in the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue.

Stamps: Love & Care (hostess level 2)

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Card Stock: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories: Bog Shot, Scallop Square Die, Scallop Square Duo die, 1 1/4" circle punch, Tombow Glue, SNAIL, Sticky Strip, paper snips, Stamping Sponge.

Colour Challenge Folding Flat Box

This is another of the challenges from the virtual Breast Cancer Workshop day - I made it as my colour challenge piece. It's a box that also folds flat, which is good for storage and posting, the other bonus is that they are super cool and easy to make!

The flower is a lovely daisy made with the two size scallop circle punches and held in place with a rhinestone brad. The box closure is a brad from the Antique brads bordered with a 3/4" circle. As with all my 3D items, I used Sticky Strip to put the box together as it's absolutely the best adhesive for this type of project!

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point.

Card Stock: Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point & Whisper White

Accessories: Dimensionals, paper snips, Large Scallop circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop Circle punch, Antique brad, Circle Ice Rhinestone brad, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Organza Ribbon, 3/4" circle punch, Sticky Strip, Stamping Sponges.

Elements of Style Box

Here's another hostess box I made a while ago - for each hostess that books a party in addition to a number of other items, I also like to make them a little gift box with a stamp and some other goodies in it as a personal thank you, this is one I did during Sale-a-bration and here is another one. The Vintage Trinkets & Victorian lace - both got carried over from the summer mini and are still available for purchase. Would you like a gift like this? Contact me to book a party with some friends and take advantage of some super special offers that are happening at the moment, including an extra $70 in hostess rewards for parties over $450!

Stamps: Elements of Style
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Old Olive
Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Vintage Trinkets, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Top Note die, Big Shot, Fancy Favor box   die, Aquapainter, Stamping Sponges, Victorian Lace.

Create A Cupcake Hearts

I am loving the new Create A Cupcake punch - for a lot more than just making cupcakes! It's available in the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue and is so much fun to use. This was a CASE from Andrea G. that I modified a bit, the hearts also have Crystal Effects on them to make then all shiny!

Stamps: Create A Cupcake
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black & Bashful Blue
Card Stock: Real Red, Whisper White & Bashful Blue
Accessories: Crystal Effects, Create A Cupcake Punch, paper snips, Dimensionals, Bog Shot, Textured Impressions Polka Dots embossing folder, Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Last of the May Swaps!

Here are the last, but definitely not least of our May team swaps, all incorporating items from the new Autumn-Winter mini catalogue which runs until the 31st July 1011. Of course if you would like to earn some of these stamp sets and accessories for free why not take advantage of THE best hostess reward offer we have seen in the 5 years of Stampin' Up! being in Australia - from now until the 30th of June you can get a bonus $70 in hostess reward dollars, for every workshop party over $450 inclusive of GST & shipping (details are here).

Samantha has used the hostess level 1 In Color designer papers to make these super cute treat pillow boxes (yes they did contain chocolate - past tense as my boys got to it!). Gorgeous water colouring and the decorative label punch is so nice framing itself in a complimentary colour.

Cathie made the pillow box die into a little handbag - love the different ideas you can get from swapping - can't wait until the regional training day in September - for the first time I WILL be making swaps (if I start now I might beat the time anemia I normally suffer from!). The designer paper is from Sunny Garden and the Eat Chocolate stamp set and decorative punch (told you we all loved that punch and stamp set!).

This one was made by Michelle, using my favourite new Big Shot die - Tasteful Trim - so nice, it does a full 12" cut so perfect for scrapbooking, wrapping around boxes and of course on cards. This pattern on the die (there are four different ones) is also really cool as waves for beach themes. The flowers are all hand cut from Petal Pizzazz....thats a lot of cutting! Isn't the paper lovely - it's from the Play Date designer paper pack.

Love & Care Sketch

I joined in a sketch challenge recently for a Breast Cancer fundraiser over on Crafters Anonymous and this was the card I came up with. Do you like the bow - it's a fake - two separate pieces of ribbon held together with the rhinestone brad! Features the rock 'n roll technique for the flower and a glittery centre (which you can't see). It uses the new level two hostess set Love and Care which you can earn for free by hosting a workshop - of course host during June and you get an extra $70 in hostess rewards when your workshop goes over $450 - see here for details and give me a call now as dates are being snapped up!

Stamps: Love & Care (hostess level 2)

Ink: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy

Card Stock: Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White

Accessories: Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, corner rounder punch, paper piercer & mat pack, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, rhinestone brad, eyelet border punch, Dimensionals

I Got FREE Rubber!!!!!!!!

Yes I was just a little bit excited yesterday when I got home and found a parcel on my doorstep! Look what was inside.................................

Yes amidst all the pretty orange and brown tissue paper there was an envelope, my sale award pin for 2010-2011 and a FREE rubber stamp set from the new catalogue that won't be released until 1st of September!!!!! How awesome is that? Just one of the many perks of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator this is my 6th free stamp set this year alone (not including the Sale-a-bration sets - which were four different sets so I guess technically this could be my 10th free stamp set for this year and it's only June!!!). 

If you would like to know more about becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator contact me for a free information kit and chat, or you can click the "join now" button (top right) and with a credit card be joining my team in a very short time - there is no longer any need to have an ABN to join Stampin' Up!

Embossed Medallion

This card was from ages ago......from a techniques class I did on embossing. It uses one of my favourite background stamps, the medallion. It's such an elegant and versatile stamp, at first I was a bit intimidated by it's size, but now, well I just love it! This is a fairly simple card, that involves stamping the image with Versamark and clear embossing and then sponging over the top to make the image "pop".

Stamps: Medallion & Oval All

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Versamark & Regal Rose

Card Stock: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive &Whisper White.

Accessories: Stamping sponges, scallop oval punch, large oval punch, heat gun, clear embossing powder, Old Olive grosgrain ribbon.

Some more May swaps............

Here are some more swap cards from our demonstrator team from our May swap - the theme was anything from the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue.

This is a lovely 'A' from type card made by Katie that has a treat bag in the centre of it! I think we're all loving the Eat Chocolate stamp set & co-ordinating decorative label punch.

I adore this stamp set that Kathy used, it's called Strength & Hope and $2 from the sale of every stamp set goes to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation - so if you only buy one stamp set this year - this is the one to get! 

Tracy has used the Eat Chocolate stamp set to make a super cute texture embossed basket and filled it with yummy chocolates - my boys loved these! Lots of different ideas from one swap aren't there? One more post soon will show you the final cards from our May Swap - there won't be a June swap as we're going out for a social dinner catch up and to see how much chocolate we can consume for desert in one sitting!

Some May swaps............

Here are some of the swaps I received back from our demonstrator swap last month - the theme was anything from the new Autumn-Winter mini catalogue.

This first gorgeous card was made by Charmaine, using the new Motorbike stamp, the sentiment is from Word Play and the textured background is the carry over textured impressions folder square lattice. The accessories are the awesomely versatile basic rhinestones, a clip from the clip assortment and linen thread.

A very different motorbike by Maryanne, stunning isn't it? I have always loved this technique - simple using white and black embossing powders and also efficient as you automatically make two cards not one. The sentiment is from the hostess level 1 set, Afterthoughts. 

This card made me very happy - why? Because I demonstrated lots of Big Shot tips and ideas at our April demonstrator meeting and Tracie used one of the things I demonstrated for her swap card the following month. She has extended the tulip border embossing folder to make a square rather than the standard rectangle. The stamps are from a really nice set called Morning Cup.

Check back later in the week and I will share some more swaps from our May meeting......of course if you would like to join our team and be part of our monthly meetings which include swaps, training, business ideas and social chat, then contact me and of course you also get lots of other benefits like a permanent discount of your stamping and papercrafting supplies, incentives and other terrific benefits!

Cracked Glass Nature Walk

Well I was fortunate enough to be part of a wonderful event for raising funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation via Crafters Anonymous - for $20 we got to have a cyber event making 6 projects over the day (including written tutorials at the end of it all) plus tickets for an awesome raffle prize. So over the next few days I'll put up the projects that we made on the day - although everyones was different as for example this on was a technique, but the choice of image and the item we made from it was totally our own!

Coincidentally we were only talking about the cracked glass technique last week at our demonstrator meeting. I love this stamp set - you can't quite see from the photo, but the bird was water coloured in Baja Breeze and Early Expresso ink.

Stamps: Nature Walk

Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Expresso & Versamark

Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Early Expresso, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, stamping sponges, clear embossing powder, heat gun, powder pal, embossing buddy, Dimensionals, SNAIL, Aquapainter.