Last day for Sale-abration!

I have placed my last Sale a bration order today... I have ordered myself just a few more things: just a few late birthday presents for myself really!

We are waiting in anticipation for tomorrows retiring list of stamps.

... in the meantime, I am posting a card from my daughter to one of her 6 year old school friends. We like to share ideas and work together on a couple of cards at the same time.

Everytime I get out a stampset now, I think, is this going to retire next month?
I think the enfrancais background stamp will still be with us, but perhaps not the princess, who knows. Come back here in a day or two and you will know what is and what isnt!

Earth Elements Scrapbooking

Here is a little 6"x6" scrapbooking page I made for a stamping workshop recently.
The photo is of my daughter and I (captioned "love you").
What makes this page so easy to make is there is very little stamping. The designer Series paper is from Ginger Blossom which uses ruby red, cameo coral, groovy guava and River rock colours. The textured cardstock picks up the Ruby red and the square scallop punch used for the photo corners is in Cameo coral cardstock. Which all blends together beautifully because they are from the same colour family: Earth elements.
The ribbon used is from the current Summer mini catalogue in chocolate chip grosgrain.
I just love this lush quality ribbon ... I think I am going to get another roll it seems to go with everything.
There are a couple of punches used: Large Oval, square scallop, scallop edge, circle.
The butterfly used is from the Level 2 Hostess stamp set: Cause for Celebration.
The other two stampsets are: short and sweet, and Think happy thoughts.
I have mounted the photo on very vanilla cardstock.

Close to Cocoa, lavender and amethyst blooms

You might have guessed by now that I am a fan of Lavender Lace and Almost Amethyst?

When I went to the Newcastle Quilt and Craft Fair, on Sunday, I visited the Stampin' Up stand and saw a card very much like this one:

From memory anyway...

The amethyst looks blue in the photo, but in real life (IRL) it is so different.

Who would have thought to white emboss, then watercolour on to the amethyst cardstock!

Thanks Carol!!!!

***you can see Carol's version here: http://elitechallenges.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/card-by-carol-dunstan-36/

I just loved making this card.... I am going to make a scrapbook page to match!
Mine is in lavender lace and Old olive.

The ribbon is white tafetta ... I know the sample card I CASEd used blue bayoux ribbon and for the watercolouring on the leaves - it looked stunning .... but I didn't have that colour at hand.

So the next best thing (to me) is old olive and white tafetta.

Here is a close up of the embossing and watercolouring: It is so easy to keep within the lines, because the embossing resists the ink and it doesn't flow under it.

Materials:

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, almost amethyst, Lavender lace. Stampset: Botanical Blooms (SAB). Inks: White craft (for stamping), lavendar lace and Old Olive (for water colouring). Ribbon: white tafetta. Tools: white embossing powder, embossing buddy, large oval punch, horizontal slot punch, Dimensional adhesives and double sided tape.

Just a reminder: there is only three days left of the Sale-a-bration catalogue Free stamps offer ... You can get this stampset for free if you spend $100. Phone or email me if you are still wanting to buy yourself some stamping supplies ... I will be putting a last order in on the 28th Feb.

In the stars Page keeper !

Do you remember I made these Taken with teal and Elegant eggplant star cards to match a scrapbooking page?
Well, they were nice and I do love these colours together with Lavender lace. But wait there's more!
I was going to leave them as is, but... I haven't quite got those page keepers out of my system.
And I did promise to show you the cards I made once I'd finished! So here they are: (With the book mark on the card ...)

And the bookmark almost off, showing the stamped words.
The Stars were stamped using the "rock and roll" technique where they are inked with the Taken with Teal ink pad first, then the edges rolled on the elegant eggplant ink pad to get a two toned effect. Lots of different variations here:

The elegant eggplant ribbon is tied in a bow using the two hole punch and the ends tucked in underneath the cardtock and trimmed off.
We made these at a recent card making party...

they could be used as a birthday card for male or female I think, considering the colours :

or for a thank you card,
or just a nice I am thinking of you ...
hello card, too.

Dazzling bud basics.

Bud basics is a Two-step stamping set which means you stamp it once and then you overstamp with an outline stamp to get your finished image.

Of course you don't have to use them that way ...

I have stamped the pumpkin pie, creamy caramel and close to cocoa inks in the solid stamp then slightly overlapped the outline stamp in close to cocoa ... but the special part is the flower centres.

Simply a dimensional adhesive spot with dazzling diamonds glitter on top.

It is then wrapped and tied with some certainly celery wide grosgrain ribbon around the card and stamped with the thankyou greeting from short and sweet on the front.

I love how simple but special this card looks. I have given it to a bride and for a birthday and to say thanks for being kind to me ... changing the colours and ribbon to suit the occasion.

Bookmarks anonymous

Hi my name is ... and I have an obsession with bookmarking cards.

I am thinking of changing my blogspot to Bookmark Joy!

Truly I promise this is the last bookmark card I will make ( in the near future) I may find a niche market and go into selling these to book stores globally sometime soon ...

Actually, this one is not new at all. It is a direct CASE (copy and share everything) of a Linda Higgins card on her blogspot (you can visit her blog using the link on my side bar). I liked it so much I didn't change it at all, same stampset, same colours almost... mine are purely pomegranate,very vanilla and always artichoke.

My ribbon on this one is wild wasabi because I had just used the last of my purely pomegranate double stitched ribbon on the bookmark (on the right hand side) shown here below.

The stamping technique (on the second bookmark) I have used is 3D stamping with white and purely pomegranate ink and a well used stamp a ma jig. Ask me when you see me, how it is done and I can show you!

Wild Wasabi Dreams

This is a bookmark card that I made with a group of ladies on the weekend.

I have used the Mini Rotary-perforating tool on the Cutter kit. It allows you to make any kind of curve you like and your recipient can tear off the "bookmark" when they receive the card and voila! you have a card and a gift bookmark all in one.

Materials:
Cutter kit: We used the perforating tool, there is also a cutting blade and scoring blade and the distressing tool (pictured above).

"Live your dream" stampset, and matching Afternoon Tea Designer series double sided paper.

Wild wasabi and Soft sky blue ink pads.

Wild wasabi cardstock

Punches: Scallop circle, 1 1/4" circle, 1" circle, large oval and 1/2" circle, horizontal slot.

Ribbon: I used the white tafetta ribbon, on second and third versions I have used the double stitched wasabi and also the Striped wasabi grosgrain ribbon.

I love that little butterfly and the flowers, and the little bird ...

Here is another version using the wild wasabi butterfly side of the Afternoon Tea Paper.

I teamed it with Chocolate chip textured cardstock, Wide 1" choc chip double stitched ribbon and the tab punch for a dangly bit on the book mark side.

Botanical Blooms dazzle!

It is a grey old Monday morning here, the sun is trying to shine through the clouds ... so I thought I would share a little sparkle with you all ... and a reminder to be kind to yourself and others who are important to you.

I made this card on the weekend with the Saleabration Botanical Blooms stampset and the "curly-frame" stamp from the Yummy stampset.

I have used dazzling diamonds to highlight the centres of the flowers and the frame. ( I hope you can see it in the photo!)

It is a single layer card just to show how easy it is to create a very quick card using just one piece of cardstock, some ribbon, ink and a little bit of glitter.

Stampsets: Botanical Blooms (free offer until the end of February 2009) and Yummy.

Cardstock: Whisper white

Inks: lavender lace, perfect plum and certainly celery.

Accessories: dazzling diamonds, two way glue pen. Ribbon: Certainly celery wide grosgrain.

Looks like spring photo wallet

As part of the retiring stampset list has now been revealed, (see my previous post).
I thought I would begin enjoying our last months of these very special stampsets that I have loved and yet will be saying good bye to on April 1st. I will probably still be using them but they will no longer be available to buy through stampin' up catalogues.

The "Looks like spring stampset" has been a real favourite: I love the daisy image, it has a kind of distressed edge look and is great in purples and pinks ;) and gorgous in close to cocoa, creamy caramel and chocolate chip, too.

This photo wallet opens out with little flip flaps that you can stamp and journal on... and it is really easy to make.

The little flowers come with a triple flower punch for instant accents. It can hold up to 8 small cropped photos. A great gift for a close friend, sister, aunt, grandparent or for sending to overseas relatives.

Stampin' Up Specials to aid Australian Red Cross Bushfire Appeal

Since the news of the Bushfires in Victoria, Australian Demonstrators have appealed to Stampin' Up! to help us find a way to support our fellow Australians who have been affected by the fires.
Today Stampin' Up! have announced that from now until then end of March Stampin' Up! will be donating 50% of the retail value of ten stamp sets to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfires 2009 Appeal.

Join Australian and New Zealand Stampin' Up! demonstrators help those victims of the Victorian bushfires.
From 12 February through 31 March 2009, when you purchase any of a select group of 10 stamp sets, Stampin' Up! will donate 50 percent of the sales of these sets to the

Australia Red Cross Victorian Bushfires 2009 Appeal.

Stampset: page: Retail price:

Live Your Dream pg3 (Summer Mini) $55.95

Priceless pg105 $48.95

Seeing Spots pg89 $29.95

Baroque Motifs pg98 $39.95

Looks Like Spring* pg76 $58.95

The Snowflake Spot* pg27 $39.95

Bodacious Bouquet* pg80 $58.95

Polka Dots & Paisley* pg46 $35.95

G'day Mate* pg115 $35.95

Be Happy* pg51 $39.95

* These sets will appear on the upcoming list of retiring products, so they will only be available for the Bushfire Appeal--while supplies last.

This is a bit of a sneak peak of the Retirement List, and these sets will go quickly! If you would like to order any of these sets please email me and I will also donate an additional 20%, for this very worthy cause.

If you feel deeply about the situation in Victoria and want to do something then why not buy a stamp set today to help raise money for a cause that has touched so many of us.

http://www3.stampinup.com/au/documents/BushFire_flyer_0209.pdf

Embrace a Bali breeze Life ...

My stampin' up upline: Linda Higgins posed a challenge last week on her forum.

The challenge was to make a card inspired by a photo of a teenage bedroom with a close to cocoa wall, teal coloured bedspread with pink phone and throw cushion and a white bed head with lots of round circle patterns. I made this several days ago ... but with one thing and another didn't have a chance to photograph and upload it so, I am sharing with you now.

Materials:

Cardstock: Whisper white, Close to cocoa, Turquoise and Regal Rose. DS paper: Bali breeze, Scallop circle punch, scallop edge punch, circle punches, large oval. Ribbon: Regal rose wide grosgrain. Stampsets: Embrace life and Short and sweet. Ink: regal rose, Turquoise and close to cocoa. Other: Mat pack and scissors.

Origami Page keeper tutorial.

Now that I have been making these Page keepers and bookmarks... I just keep seeing them everywhere.

While browsing the local library for craft books, there was this cute little origami page holder that I found which you can make out of a single square of Double sided patterned paper. For a small diary you can make a very compact one out of a piece only 8cm square.

For a novel or decent sized book I prefer the size I have used here (15 cm square).

You will need:

A piece of 15 X 15 cm Double Sided paper. (6 inch x 6 inch for imperial measurers). A bone folder to make neat flat folds.

1. Fold the square paper in half diagonally.

2. Then fold it in quarters diagonally to make a half way point of the lower edge.

Open it out again.

3. Fold the top tip down to meet the lower edge

4. Fold the outer points also into the centre.

5. Unfold Right hand flap and fold it up to the top corner.

6. Mountain fold the point and tuck it into the pocket behind the horizontal edge created back in step 2.

Here is another view from a different angle.

7. Repeat with the Left hand side.

8. Fold the point up to the top

Creating a mountain fold upwards and into the pocket formed earlier.

Ta Dah!!! That's it!

This one really won't fall out of your book even if you shake it ... Ok, I am sure if you shake it very vigorously, it will fly out eventually...

Materials: Bone folder
Rose red double sided patterned Paper.

*** Did you make it to the end of this post? Origami I think is more fun doing than explaining!

My upside down card ... its all about balance.

Not sure if this layout works ... I have used the Botanical Blooms stampset and had a lovely time two-step stamping in orchid opulence and mellow moss ...then, spent just a little too long playing with the layout of the card elements... it was past midnight and my eyes weren't feeling the best. Eventually I just said what the heck it looks OK! stick it together and stop wasting all night on one project ... When I had a look at it in the cool light of day, I think it looks better upside down.
For me the design looks more balanced that way. When the Scallop edge was at the top it was top heavy and I think it works better at the bottom. So that's what I did (see the photo). I turned the whole card around and the sentiment too.

And, here is a close up of the cut out botanical bloom flower it now hangs down like this!

Materials: Cardstock: Eggplant, Orchid opulence, sage shadow, whisper white. Ink: Orchid opulence, sage shadow. Punches: scallop edge and Large oval. Ribbon: Eggplant grosgrain.

A couple of Lions for a Happy Birthday card

This "Couple of Lions" card is for a friend's 6 year old son. The lion's heads can turn left and right, a full 360 degrees ... I love an interactive card where the recipient can touch and play with it especially for children's birthday cards.

Just love these lions too from the Wild about You stampset in pumpkin pie and chocolate chip ink. The Cardstock colours are green galore, ballet blue, pumpkin pie and whisper white.


Stampsets: Wild about You and A Little Birthday Cheer.
I also used the stamp-a-ma-jig to get the word stamp straight.

Punches used: Star punch, large oval, Scallop circle and circle punches.

Thank you flower.

I have tried something different experimenting with punches on this card to make a folded flower.

It is a folding technique that is featured in the demonstrator's Impression magezine this month.

If you have the Tag punch you have to have a go at this, or if you are interested how it is done just ask me to show you how.

The Thank you card is made using:

Stampset: Circle of friendship (Used for the centre of the flower).

Ink: Old Olive. Cardstock: Taken with Teal, Pomegranate, whisper white.

Designer Series double sided paper: Bali Breeze.

Ribbon: Old Olive wide grosgrain.
Accessories: Tag Punch, 1 1/4 " Circle Punch, scallop-edge punch.