A busy week ...

It has been a busy week or two ... re-establishing the school and activities routine, and finding time to schedule all the must-dos into each day.
Funny enough though, you can always make time to do what you love, if you give yourself permission to.
During the month of February I signed up for a Digital photo challenge at where else?
Crafters Anonymous...
Where you take a photo a day on a given topic and post it.
I am hoping it might inspire me to scrapbook some more (maybe, if I have time)
I will show you what I mean: My View.

My View today - feeding the Noisy Mynas.

 The next day was Words:

 I was actually looking for a DrSeuss poem but happened upon the words to Brahms lullaby.

 And a peom by William Blake (think "Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright... in the forests of the night")

On the 8th the challenge was the sun.

As you all know we have had a very grey, wet Summer and so I had toget up early to get the sun as it rose and before the rain clouds obliterated it's shine for the day.

Here's my picture of Sun.

Sun rise 7am.

Oh HAPPY Mail !

There is nothing quite like a parcel in the post.

Filled with a handmade card, coffee and chocolate ...

This gorgeous card and gifts are from Felicity

You can see some of her other beautiful projects at: Felicity's craft corner.

The card is made with the Beautiful colours: Marina mist, Perfect Plum and Rose red with some Wisteria Wonder ruffled ribbon .

 How lovely is the fussy cutting of the Established elegance seamstress doll?

The layers of texture are very lush: expecially the vintage wallpaper embossing and the oval frame.

The gifts were wrapped and tied with a handmade clay medallion (texture stamped with an Artistic Etchings stamp). Is it time for another cup of coffee yet?

A Fabulous Floret Scrapbooking page

 Summer time at the Beach playing in the shade in the sand.

It must be one of the best childhood memories I had as a child.

I've chosen the Fabulous Florets stampset to embellish my scrapbook page.

The line art and solid stamp flowers fit nicely into circle and oval punches.

I have rock and rolled the flowers in both Wisteria Wonder and Elegant eggplant inks and thrown on a rhinestone jewel for the flower centre. 

 The "photo-corners" are made with the curly label punch.

 Simply punch out the curly label and using your craft knife or rotary cutter slice a slit into the corner of the cardstock and voila!

 you have ready made photo corners.

On the right of the page I have embossed the Big shot textured impression Flower Garden direct to the background page.

It creates a delightfully deep impression as a contrast to the stamping and photo.

The words: the earth laughs in flowers is stamped on an elongated punch of the Modern label punch.

You can make this as long as you like by putting the ends of a 1.4cm strip of card through the punch one end at a time.

Happy 9th Birthday and Bring on the cake!

A Boy's birthday card for you today!

We went by train and we went by Ferry to visit the

 Powerhouse Museum

 and had chocolate cake for afternoon tea.

Jess decorated the inside with watercolouring and circus stamps.

Card Recipe:

Stampsets:

 Bring on the cake

Zoo Review

Under the big top.

Cardstock: Marina Mist and whisper white

Stampin Write Markers.

Aquapainter pen for colouring.

Thank you Note cards

I have some Thank you cards for you to day.

While I wait for my next Sale-a-bration order to arrive I have been playing with the Everyday Enchantment paper pack and a few punches.

 The in-colour "pool party" is a lovely minty blue and is one of the main colours in my cards here.

You can see I have used some pool party ruffled ribbon right down the centre for texture.

 

I have used the Curly label punch of patterned paper and a cut-down postage stamp punch for my stamped "thanks" raised on dimensionals.

 I love how the punch gives you the window on the back so that you can see what image you are punching out exactly, which enables you to centre the flower and crown in the shape.

 The tiny butterfly is one of the images from "Kindness Matters", it also has the word "thanks" stamp.

Have you noticed this little stampset yet?

Its on page 71 of the Idea Book and catalogue.

Five stamps for $17.95 That is a bargain.

There you are:

 Only a few hours early this morning to make and now all I need is the stampin' up parcel to go with them.

A Morning cup to "perk" you up

 When you are feeling a little bit down or a little tired and emotional what's the perfect pick me up?

A card from a friend, of course.

Aren't these little take-away cup cards just perfect?

They would make lovely Thank you cards, Invites, Thinking of you or, Random acts of kindness cards.

The tutorial for these is at: Lorri Heiling's stampaddict blog.

 I made a few changes with the measurements.

These are made using half an A5 card. which is 10.5cm high.

I just cut a normal card in half then trimmed a diagonal off each side, making the bottom 2.5 cm narrower than the top. If that doesn't make sense ask me for directions.

The band around the centre is crimped with my crimp tool to look like the belly band of an insulated cup.

 The whole cup was also crimped for that realistic texture and this belly band is from Mocha Morning Specialty paper. I've stamped the Tea cups from the A la carte stamp and raised them with dimensionals.

 The top of the cup (mmm I think they call it the lid) has a 3D white strip on it.

Now if I had the SWAK lip stamp I could put a bit of lipstick on the edge for realism... but as I don't we will have to suffice with a "poppy parade" love heart punched with the Small heart punch.

The last one needed to have some purple on it as it was for a friend who likes the purples...
I think the "kindness matters" butterflies are also a happy perk-me-up stamp with Boho Blossom flowers and a touch of Concord crush ribbon.

Scrapbooking the days of Summer

During the holidays we managed to get out into the bush a couple of times for walks, even though it threatened rain with overcast skies. One of the days we visited Girrakool National Park. We walked as far as the caves, crossing stepping stones over rain-filled creeks and had some good conversations along the way.

I really like this stampset: "Kindness matters" because it has butterflies designed to go with vintage style pages. It seems to match a lot of my stampsets at the moment. 

 For a small 6 x 6" page there is a lot going on starting with some

 "flower garden" embossing on the Elegant Eggplant cardstock.

Distressed edges on the patterned paper

Punched flowers from the Boho Blossom punch with added PEARLS

Embossed vellum butterflies (Beautiful wings embosslit)

 and of course the photo that has been cut out with the Beautiful butterflies die.
And the corner has been sprayed with shimmer paint mist for added sparkle.

Its appropriate that I have used the kindness matters stampset from Shelli Gardner's collection as the layout was inspired by one of her gorgeous vintage cards.

Sale-a-bration has started...

Such an exciting time of year... children tucked safely back in school, the usual pattern of our days resume and there is time for blogging, stamping, scrapbooking, cardmaking and workshop planning!
It may be the best time to join as a demonstrator with Stampin' up! to get your discounts all year 'round ...

 On the weekend I demoed at my first workshop for the year.

There is nothing more fun than stamping and creating with friends, a lovely afternoon tea and catching up with what we've missed.

On our first card we used the "Fabulous Florets" stampset combined with the Flower garden embossing  folder which makes a quick base for assembling a card on Concord crush.

 We made an elongated sentiment  using the "modern label punch" and the words from the Fabulous Florets stampset... I was intrigued by the quote:

"the earth laughs in flowers"

it is a little controversial as it is attributed to the poet ee.cummings but,

it seems the author is actually Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Correct me if I'm wrong. 

The second card is made using the delicious "Everyday Enchantment" designer series paper.

It coordinates with the Fresh Vintage and the Elegant Elements stampsets.

 (Both FREE from the Sale-a-bration catalogue).

We punched out the patterned papers with a new postage stamp punch - so easy!

Did I mention that I love the colours: Pool Party and Poppy Parade together.

And Lucky Limeade was made to be rock and rolled with Pool party on this stamp.

My calendar is open for February and March workshop bookings...

You can send me a text, email or give me a call to plan an afternoon together with friends.

Nerida on my Mobile: 0468 887 125

Sale-a-bration 2012 starts today!

 Sale-a-bration is one of the most exciting times of the Stampin' Up! year.

Because ...

From 24 January to 31 March everytime you spend $100 (in one transaction) you get to choose a Free stampset, or a free pack of patterned papers or free brads and ribbon bundle!

We love free products and whats more when you and your friends get together for a workshop (that reaches $600) you get to choose another free product...As well as the usual FREE hostess gifts and hostess dollars to spend on anything out of the current catalogues.

Today's card is a lovely simple one which uses some of the pretty "Fresh Vintage" patterned paper and the Fresh vintage stampset.

I have used several different coloured markers direct to the rubber stamp.

I just love Calypso coral and Melon mambo pink together

 with Marina Mist, Pool party and Lucky limeade.

The "Happy Birthday" is stamped in Marina Mist ink and is from the "Perfectly Penned" stampset.

Fabulous Florets

 Fabulous Florets is a stampset on page 14 of the Summer mini catalogue and it forms part of the totally coordinated "Beyond the garden" Product Suite.
I am never quite sure how a card will come together when I make it from scratch...
But if I use products from the same "suite" of products, I atleast get a coordinated image and style that works well together.
I"d probably be a lot more productive if I stamped more and thought less about the whole thing...
but there you go, it all turns out fine in the end.

Card Recipe:
Stampset: Fabulous Florets (set of 6 stamps)
"Flower Garden" Textured Impressions embossing folder.
Cardstock: Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder and whisper white.
Ink: Melon Mambo, Island Indigo, Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder.
Tools: Modern label punch, Circle and oval punches, Big shot.

Stamping Joy Sale Table...

I have been cleaning out my shelves of any stamps that I haven't used over the last 6 months...

 And I  found quite a few retired stampsets needing new homes.

 Some of them date back to last year's Sale-a-bration.

Send me an email or post a comment if you want me to set any of these aside for you.

Bliss, clear mount, stampset $20

Punch Bunch, clear mount stampset $20

So Happy for you, clear mount, new $20



Sweet little Sentiments Wood mount, new $20

 

Happy moments, wood mount, new $22



Warm words, wood, new, unmounted $20



Warm words, wood, gently used $15

Bodacious Bouquet, wood, gently used $30

Happy Everything, gently used, wood $15

Wishing you, Peace Hope Love, Wood $25

One of a kind, stampset $20
Boho blossom (whale style) punch $20

Boho Backgrounds, wood, gently used $15

Whimsical words, new, unmounted $20

Fresh cuts, gently used, Wood $20

Punches Three, wood, gently used $15

I can post anywhere ( for the minimal postage fee to you) or we can arrange pick up or delivery if you live locally. These are my private sets and do not form part of any Stampin' Up Special offers.