I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, I promise....!

I've just been busy with Life stuff! Holiday, packing for holiday, unpacking from Holiday.....you know the drill.

I have a couple of things to show you. First, a card I made for my parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary (do you recognise the layout and colour scheme from page 21 of the IB&C?)

Congrats, Mum and Dad!

Ingredients: (All Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated)

Stamps: En Francais, Cheer & Wishes, Botanical Blooms (retired),

Paper: Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Regal Rose, Whisper White

Ink: Garden Green, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Certainly Celery

Accessories: Edge Distressing Tool, Pastels, Sponge Dauber, Nestabilities Oval and Scalloped Oval Dies, Cuttlebug Machine, pearls from Pretties Kit.

Next is a "Stepper Box" I saw on Sam Post's blog - the directions are from Stampin' Terri's blog here - it was quite easy, but looks hard. I'm going to make more of these, they are fun! I used Baja Breeze DSP, Baja Breeze cardstock, ribbon and felt flower, baja corduroy button, plus a flower from the Pretties Kit to decorate the lid.

Next is a double 12 x 12 page scrapbooking layout I did of our New Zealand holiday. It is based on a Becky Higgins' Sketch (from the US Magazine, Creating Keepsakes). I like using sketches on 12 x 12 pages, because I feel overwhelmed about where to start otherwise. Becky's sketches are usually for multiple photographs too, which I love, as I can never take less than 100 photos of any occasion. All paper and ink is Stampin' Up! Here's a detail of the accents and embellishments I used - a snowflake stamp from "Occasionally" and "Short & Sweet" with Kaisercraft adhesive rhinestones, and snowflakes I die cut out of vellum with my Cricut Expressions machine. I also used the Cricut to cut out the title.

Ingredients: Baja Breeze 12 x 12 Cardstock, vellum, Whisper White and Basic Black Cardstock, Stayzon Opaque White ink, Kaisercraft adhesive rhinestones, Accents and Elements Cartridge, Doodletype Cartridge, Cricut Expressions.

I have a few more things to show and tell, but that's for another post.

Have a wonderful week!

More New Aussie Catalogue Peeks

Here are a couple more cute new things featuring stamps from the NEW 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue. You might recognise some of the stamp sets from the 2008 Spring Mini or Summer Mini!

I used my Markers to ink up the pretty flower so the colours would echo the groovy "Good Morning Sunshine" DSP. I love the DSP in this new catalogue!

Here's a card using the pretty stem from Embrace Life which I stamped with Stazon then coloured with my blender pen using ink from the lid of the Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red ink pads, to match the PP and RHR cardstock. The sentiment is from Fresh Cuts, framed by some Styled Silver Hodgepodge (yes, it's in the new catalogue!) which perfectly matched the small oval punch. I have a few birthdays in the family this week, so I think this one will do the job.

This uses the tulip from Garden Whimsy, and the sentiment from Fresh Cuts. The background is En Francais. I used the new in colour Riding Hood Red and Chocolate chip ink and cardstock. Love this red! In fact, I have a large collection of red shoes, handbags and lipsticks - so it isn't really any surprise that I'm drawn to this colour.

This card is a CASE from the SALE-A BRATION catalogue - but I've used pink pirouette , Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red cardstock and changed the sentiment. The buttons are unfortunately retiring Earth Elements buttons. I've embossed the flowers in white and stamped the middle panel with Versamark. It is a little hard to tell that the pink panel also has a white embossed flower - in real life it is quite easy to see.

This is another CASE from the SALE-A-BRATION catalogue with Polka Dot Punches. I love the soft combination of So Saffron and Bashful Blue. Because I've made this card as a New Baby Card I also used the "Congratulations" set from Sale-a-Bration on the inside, as shown:

I sometimes forget that one of the best sources of ideas is in fact the catalogue - which is WHY it's called an "Idea Book and Catalogue". Duh.

Now to make some co-ordinating wrapping paper and mail out the birthday cards!

The Summer Mini Is Dead, Long Live the New Catalogue!

OK. not exactly dead - just in the last throes.   So is Sale-A-Bration.  SAB finishes at the end of this month (a week!).   Summer Mini finishes at the end of March.   In honour of both, here are a few recent creations featuring DSP/stamps from the Summer Mini and SAB.

Here's a gorgeous card box I made with the Bali Breeze DSP:  

I embellished it with the Felt Flower Fusion flowers (from the Mini) and a tempting tourquise brad.   I am not nearly clever enough to have invented this box; I found it  last year some time on Dannie's Designs - she has a fabulous video   This is the third one I've made so far, and not only am I better with practice, but I'm using better quality materials now, and  it really does make a difference.  The first two I made before I had a lot of SU! stuff and the quality was not so great.  Six months later those boxes have fallen apart because I just used ordinary double-sided tape instead of Sticky Strip.  Also I used cute DSP but didn't have co-ordinating cardstock so the end result wasn't as good as it could have been.  I am way too embarrassed to show them to you.  Chalk it up to experience!

Next I've got the card I made for my lovely MIL's birthday today (Happy Birthday Shirley!) using the SAB Botanical Blooms set again.  It's a completely different look from the other card I made.  This time I stamped the images on watercolour paper with black Stazon ink and watercoloured them with my aquapainter.  Such a soft look!  And completely co-ordinated with the card.  

The card co-ordinated with the present of course - a handmade card tote with about 16 or so cards in it!  

    

I  will post later with the directions for the card tote - I have adapted one I made earlier to fit a standard Australian C6 envelope.  The tote is made from Always Artichoke cardstock, with So Saffron and Soft sky ribbon.  The "for you" decorating the front is from the Say it With Scallops stamp set (Mini) and punched out with the square scallop punch (mini).  I also used the scalloped edge punch (mini) there too.  The big silver brads are from Styled Silver Hodgepodge (Mini).

Remember I posted recently about experimenting with One Sheet Wonders?  The cards in the tote are all made using a single 12 x 12 sheet of Le Jardin DSP.   Again, I didn't invent the concept; there are hundreds of different OSW recipes on the internet.  This one is by the fabulous Mae Collins - check her blog Mae's Cachet here.  (Edited to add I've fixed the link)

I used the palette of colours in the DSP as my guide - River Rock, Very Vanilla, Soft Sky.  They look so soft and elegant together I think.

From this:

To these:

Not a scrap of the gorgeous DSP wasted.  Pretty good value I'd say!

Makeesha's Challenge #4

Boy, do I have a lot to show you guys!

First, here's my submission for Makeesha's inspiration challenge (click on her name):

And here are the bookmarks in the nude!

Aren't they sweet? I CASE'd them from a talented lady by the name of Patti Lee - her blog Creations by Patti is a wonderful source of information and inspiration. Check it out!

I used Eastern Blooms on their kimonos, the round tab punch and 13/8 inch circle punch to make the bookmarks, and So Many Sayings (level 1 Hostess set) on the bookmarks.

Next I have to show you these cards from the Starter Swap I was involved in a couple of months ago - 6 new Demonstrators swapped cards. Here they are:

They are by: Melissa Sharp, Chantell Randall, Bronwen Cornish, Louise Sutton (ME!), Christie Wallace and Lisa Beard

Aren't they lovely? I think that we newbies are pretty darned clever!

Here's the card we made as a make and take at the workshop I did on Monday:

This was CASED from a card by the fabulous Stephanie Pike. I used Groovy Guava cardstock, ribbon and ink, Chocolate Chip cardstock and ink and Very Vanilla Cardstock. Mmmmm, anyone else hungry now? The flower stamp is one of the FREE SAB sets, Botanical Blooms. The background is the ever-faithful En Francais. (I use that a lot!)

Last of all is a card with matching wrapping paper for a little girl's 4th birthday last weekend, using Polka Dot Punches (FREE SAB set). I was trying to do the Bandanna Technique, but don't think I got it quite right. I still liked the effect, so I thought I'd include it - keeping it real, folks!

I've also been playing with some OSW (One Sheet Wonders) but I'll have to make that a post for another day as my children keep banging on the study door demanding my attention.