One more sleep until Spring Mini!

Last two sneak peeks for you:

Two totally different looks with the same stamp set. I've used Great Friend from the new Mini - love it!

The first card has a layer of vellum which I've edged with the Eyelet Border Punch. It reminds me of lace, so pretty. Tricky to punch through I must admit - I used a post it note for extra heft when punching the vellum. I think I saw the idea on Claire Daly's blog? I'll come back later and edit with a link when I check.

The second card is a CASE of one I saw on Splitcoasters (again I'll edit later to link to the original artist). It has emboss resist (the white flourish) and a lot of sponging, plus a subtle use of the En Francais background stamp.

I have to put children to bed now, so I'll be back later.

CHRISTMAS IN JULAUGUST CLASS DATE CHANGE

Please note I am cancelling the class I had previously advertised for Thursday 6th August - I will be holding it later in August (watch this space) and will let you know the date ASAP. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Another Spring Mini tease!

Here's a cute set for anyone out there with a little boy - it's called Choo Choo:

It also has a new stamp used on it - Birthday Wish, which you can purchase individually! Bargain!

And this card has 3 new things on it: my current new fave stamp set Great Friend, the scallop oval punch, and matching stamp set Oval All. Swooon. I've mentioned already how much I love that everything matches, haven't I?

More new Mini stuff!

What's new here? If you look closely at the Vellum layer, it has white bubbles stamped with WHITE STAYZON!

I'll be back later with some more....

Happy Birthday Bec!

Yesterday I had the loveliest day with my sister demo Rebecca and our upline Linda at Bec's house chatting, drinking coffee and doing some cardmaking while our toddlers destroyed Bec's lovely home. It is Bec's birthday next week (Tuesday), so make sure you hop over to her blog

Heart and Craft to wish her a happy day!

Here is the lovely Bec and her baby Zane:

And here is the birthday card I made for her:

It's my second attempt at the Dawn McVey flowers, and I'm much happier with this card. Notice the corduroy brads in the flowers? New in the Spring Mini!

I'll be posting a few more sneak peeks at the mini in the next few days. Enjoy!

Next Class: Punch Pals Christmas in Julaugust!

LOL! Yes, I've run out of available time to do a Christmas in July class, but I CAN offer a Christmas class the first week of August!

This is what we'll be making a cute box plus six cards:

Wouldn't that make a cute gift for someone special? Or a great way to start off your own Christmas cards.

I'm planning on a daytime class (10:30am on Thursday 6th August 2009) for up to 10 people and a night time class (7:30pm Thursday 6th August 2009) for up to 10 people.

If there is more demand, I'll run the class again. Please email me to secure your spot! Cost will be $30. You will need to bring your own basic kit (adhesives) and you will be able to purchase SNAIL refills and SNAIL on the day, if you need to. Make sure you let me know if you will need me to order them for you when you RSVP.

We will be going to the snow with the kids from Saturday 8th August to Saturday 16th August, so any other classes will be held after that week.

Please feel free to email me or leave a comment with any questions or concerns. Beginners are welcome!

A guest star and a start on Christmas!

Well, not so much a guest to my blog as me showing off a card I didn't make! My friend Barbara recently had an extremely gorgeous baby girl, and she was the baby I made my Butterfly Collage for not long ago. Barb is a very creative and talented girl herself, so naturally she handmade Thank You cards for the baby gifts she received. She and I spent a fun day together the other week designing the cards, and cutting out cardstock and this is the card she sent me:

I'm experimenting with outside photography given the horrible dark photos I've been taking, so apologies for the shadows and things. Didn't Barb do a great job? She used Regal Rose Cardstock and Raspberry Tart DSP. The R was made with my Cricut Expressions, and the circles were cut by hand I think. The photo just doesn't do it justice; it's truly a gorgeous card.

Last night I was supposed to be preparing for a workshop I'm doing at Barb's later this week, but I got inspired to use a stamp set I haven't inked up yet, called "A Holly, Jolly, Christmas." I guess the Christmas In July theme is still in my mind although it may end up being "Christmas in August" by the time it happens, LOL.

So these are two gift tags I made - such a fun idea, I can see me making a few packs of these to give as presents. The thing I hate about the little gift tags that you find at the shops is that you often don't have enough room to write the names of the people giving/receiving the gift. That won't be an issue with these tags!

Happy Birthday CASE

OK, as promised, I did unthaw and do some creating yesterday!

My friend Ingrid is a bibliophile (as am I), and of course, my gift to her was a book. I was really struck by the artwork on the cover and used it as my starting point for the card and wrapping paper I made.

Here's the book:

I thought the colours more or less approximated to Tangerine Tango, Elegant Eggplant and Pale Plum. Very bright and bold! A combination I'd never have thought to use but somehow it works.

I also looked through my stamps and decided - yes, AGAIN! - to use Fifth Avenue Floral. I also decided to CASE a card I've often admired from the cover of the 2009-10 Idea Book & Catalogue.

So here's how it turned out:

I am afraid this photograph isn't the best, but believe me when I say it looked fantastic in real life! It has faux stitching and the rose is popped up on Dimensionals. A scrap of tangerine tango ribbon, and it was all done. I think the white really tones down the brightness of the orange and purple, and balances it. I did change it slightly so it would fit into an envelope more easilly than the card on the Catty.

Then I made some co-ordinating wrapping paper:

And with the scraps I made an extra card for my niece's birthday next week. I added glitter to the centre of the popped up flower, and it looks gorgeous.

The sentiment is a sneak peek at the new Spring Mini which starts on 1st August. If you'd like to make sure you receive one, drop me a line!

Too cold to create!

I know Brisbane isn't exactly known for freezing weather, but we have had quite a cold snap this week. And as a result, instead of me going downstairs to my little craft lair and creating things until midnight, I've been holed up in my bed, reading, with the heater on.

As a result, I'll be doing a few things today - a 40th birthday party for a dear friend (need to make wrapping paper and card), a niece's birthday next week, etc.

Hopefully, that means I'll have some fun things to show you tomorrow!

xx L

Continuing with the male card theme....

I've been playing with some Father's Day ideas using this cute stamp from Eight Great Greetings. I used Pacific Point - I hardly ever use this colour, but I like how it looks in this combination! The first card is quite simple, just lots of layers:

The second is a slightly stepped up version of the first with brads, ribbon and some playing with markers and cutting out:

Then with the leftover Kiwi kiss I made this:

I used markers to colour the stamp and I really should have made them darker, but I'm happy with the way the branches worked out. This idea has been floating in my head for a while.

I have a few more cards that I don' think I'm allowed to show yet, because they are using some NEW stamps from the NEW Spring Mini, which runs from 1st August - 30th November. Stay tuned kids!

The Ultimate Aussie Male Card????

I'll let you be the judge.

I used Cheers to You and I die cut the "40" and the red splodgey thing with my Cricut Expressions. I coloured the beer with my blender pen and More Mustard ink.

School holidays + four children = no free time for stamping!

I had grand plans of doing a lot of prep for upcoming classes over these school holidays, but I have achieved nothing!

I'll get onto it ASAP. I'm late with my newsletter too!

On the upside, we've had playdates, rides on the Citycat, movies, and sleep ins.

I'll update with card stuff soon.

My attempt at a Dawn McVey.....

.....not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but I'm keeping it real here and putting up a couple of cards that maybe aren't my best work.

I was going for this look (a CASE of the fabulous Dawn McVey's work) but wanted to use the colours set down by Makeesha in her challenge: Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Whisper White and Ruby Red. I'm not entirely sure I pulled it off. I think I will try this technique again with different colours.

The first card I did I was OK with until I realised I had used Kiwi Kiss (not in the colour challenge), so I scrounged through my leftover cardstock and came up with this for Makeesha.

Unfortunately I was too late! Keesh's challenge has closed! Nevermind. Make sure to check out the winner's gorgeous card - maybe I can get the next challenge done on time!

Let me know what you think. Love it? Hate it?