An Old Fave

I was fortunate enough to be invited to hold a workshop in Cherie's home yesterday, which was heaps of fun! Can you believe that one of her guests, Vanessa, used to work with me at Target when we were both fifteen doing Thursday nights and Saturday mornings? Brisbane has 2 degrees of separation.

I wanted to use a versatile stamp set which is an old fave but hasn't seen much love recently, so I picked Circle Circus.

This is the card we made, using Sahara Sand, Regal Rose, Rose Red, and Tempting Turquoise. I love that the circles coordinate with our punches and you can add interest without bulk by lifting some of them with Dimensionals.
The happy birthday is from Party This Way.

Here's the same card, with different colours: Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, and Tempting Turquoise.

Finally, here is a 8 x 8 scrapbook page I made using the same stamp set. Can you see that I stamped the bubbles in Versamark, then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder? The letters were cut out with the Big Shot and the adhesive sheets to make them easy to apply like stickers! I'll have to post more about the adhesive sheets another time.

Right now I have to tidy up for my Downline Day today!

What you missed...

If you missed our Launch Day, you missed a great day out!  Here are the projects we made, in no particular order:

This was designed by the lovely Rebecca O'Gorman, and it uses the NEW  Flower punch, and a new stamp, called For You. 

This one was designed by me, and it uses the new Party This Way set.  

Bec's work again, with the new baby Bundle set and Jumbo Wheel, Baby Tees.  It was a little tricky - it is a suspension card, but heaps of fun.  

Mine again, this time using Artistic Etchings in a collage.  I love the Vintage look this stamp set gives!

Steph's work, using the Polka Dot Embossing folder (we inked up the folder, then ran it through the Big Shot to get this cool polka dot DSP effect!) using the new Contempo Christmas set and matching punch.

If it is pink, it must be Linda's!  This card used the divine Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, and the Friends Never Fade stamp set.

Linda called this card the "Underbelly" male card, because of the dark colours.  The greeting was heat embossed using black embossing powder, which some people had never tried before.  They were experts after this!

Finally, Steph's pretty card using Printed Petals and the greeting from Party This Way.  The little label the greeting was stamped on is actually made from the scalloped oval punch.  There is a new punch that looks similar called the Modern Label Punch, but our new orders had not arrived in time to use it at the Launch.

Apologies for the photos - left it too late in the day to take them in good light - but as you can see, there was something for everyone!

We had a fun day, at the scenic Virginia Golf Club, with door prizes, a raffle and a mega-huge sale of our retired stamps and accessories.   We are planning to have another big day in a few months to tie in with the Summer Mini (which will be here in December I think?), so I'll keep you posted about that.

In the meantime, I have scheduled a class this Thursday - but that will depend on whether my order of new products arrives tomorrow!  If not, we'll move it back a week.  The poor Warehouse people who pack our orders are working overtime trying to keep up with the rush of orders since the new Catty started, so it is taking a little longer than usual for my packages to arrive.

Happy Birthday Father In Law! (2010)

We went to a casual dinner at Sizzlers last night for my dear FIL's  birthday - which meant I had to whip up a quick card (though I should have had one already prepared, seeing as how his birthday is the same day every year!).    Because I was under some time pressure, I kept it very simple:

The background is from Circle Circus - I think it would look great on a scrapbook page too, must try that!

The main image is that good old standard, Party Hearty.  The image was coloured with Old Olive and Not Quite Navy Markers.  The matching eyelets are retired (boo hoo!) and I used my trusty Crop-A_Dile to set them.  Looks a bit crooked, now that I study the photo!    Finally to make the card a little more masculine, I distressed the edges with the tool from the cutter kit.  Love that nifty edge distresser!

More One Sheet Wonders and oodles of cards!

I know it has been a little while since I've posted any projects, but I've been hard at work, honest!  First school holidays, then prepping for the Big World Cardmaking Day Event on the 31st, and prepping for the OSW class I did today.  We made 9 cards and a box to put them in.

Here is the first one I did (the OSW Template I used is by Mae Collins, click her name to go to her blog) using Petal Pizzaz and and unusual (for me) combo of colours.  I had a pack of Apricot Appeal cardstock and used the colour wheel to find more colours to use:  Gable Green, Pixie Pink and Cameo Coral.  Not my fave combo, but it ended up looking much better than I expected.  I like challenging myself like this!

I made up my own template for the box, and once I've prettied it up I'll post the instructions.

The second one I made was based on the colours in the Raspberry Tart DSP - Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, Rose Red and Pretty in Pink.  I used the Circle Circus stamp set again.

The ladies who did the class with me used Circle Circus in Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point and Baja Breeze, and their creations looked great!  Sadly I didn't think to photograph them until after everyone had left.

Sweet Baby Girl

An old friend recently had her first baby - I'm so pleased for her!  LOL after four babies of my own you'd think I would have had enough, but no, I love new babies!

I made her a card, of course:

Stamps:  Nursery Necessities
Paper:  Sweet Always DSP, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, chocolate chip
Other:  white grosgrain, soft subtles brads, scallop edge punch


I also forgot to show you the bag and gift tag I made for my Dad on Father's Day, so here it is:

a close up of the tag:

Stamps: Circle Circus, Best Yet

Paper:  Kiwi Kiss, Kraft, White Paper Bag (non SU)

Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss

Other:  Scallop Circle Punch, 13/8 inch circle punch, jumbo pewter eyelet, Crop-A-Dile, hemp twine, tangerine tango ribbon

It was very quick and easy to make, and used up some scraps I had lying around.  Looks effective though, don't you think?

Father's Day is coming soon

...so I got me a head start with these cards! I am playing around with some ideas for my upcoming Stamp-A-Stack, and thought I'd do something other than the traditional blue or brown card that one usually associates with a Father's Day card.

While I was at it, I used the scraps to make a birthday card for a lovely young man who will be 8 years old shortly.

I LOVE Circle Circus; I think it is one of the most versatile sets in the entire catalogue.

Materials used:

Paper: Kraft, Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, Real Red cardstock

Ink: Versamark, Kiwi Kiss, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red

Stamps: Occasional Greetings, Circle Circus

Other: Twine, Spiral punch, Earth Elements Eyelets (retired), Bold Bright Eyelets (retired), Crop-A-Dile

I'm sad about the eyelets being retired; but I had a stack of them that I needed to use up since I can't use them in workshops anymore. I like the look! I can see a scrapbook page featuring the eyelets....hmmmm.

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....

More Boy Cards

Forgot to show you this card I made today - for my Dad's birthday (next month). I made another very similar to this one for a little boy in my son's class at school. I used Circle Circus, similar layout to my earlier card, but with Pacific Point and Riding Hood Red as the main colours. What do you think?

Circle Circus Congrats

Just a quick post to show the card I made for a friend's graduation from her Nursing Degree recently. I made it out of scraps I had left from prepping the Stamp A Stack, and it came together relatively easilly! The sentiment is from this year's Sale-A-Bration set. The Pink DSP is from Sweet Always. Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Circle Circus, Congratulations

Paper: Sweet Always DSP, Old Olice, Kraft, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Old Olive, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Whisper White Craft ink

Other: Regal Rose ribbon, White embossing powder, dazzling diamonds glitter, 2- way glue, snail adhesive, dimensionals, punches.

Convention Make & Takes

Part of the materials I received at Convention was 2 stamp sets - "Circle Circus" and "Trendy Trees." I was very excited about that because they were on my wish list, yay! One of the sessions was a Make & Take session, where we received packets with the instructions and materials for 4 projects using these stamp sets. Of course, I spent most of this time chatting, and had to finish the projects when I got home!

Here they are:

First there is a card made with Trendy Trees: I LOVE this stamp set, but I would advise anyone who purchases it to get the Stamp-a-ma-jig as well so it is easy to line up the little tree trunks and leafy bits. One of the reasons I love this card is that in Canberra, all the leaves were changing colour - a beautiful sight we just don't see in subtropical Brisbane!

Here are the real trees:

Next there is a pack of gift cards, ideal as a little present for someone!

Then there is a card with Circle Circus - LOVE how they co-ordinate with so many of our punches. I think this is a really versatile stamp set - could be used for any occasion, male/female, any age group.

Last of all there is a gorgeous little fold out scrapbook page!

Here is is, folded up:

slip off the ribbon and open it out and you get:

Cute, huh? Would make a sweet present for Grandma, or a keepsake for a special trip. This was also the first time I had used the metal-edged tags - fun! I had to then buy some for myself, which arrived today. The little flowers are from the Three for You punch and have silver brads in the middle.

While I was all inspired this week I thought I'd "CASE the CATTY" ie Copy And Share Everything from a card in the Idea Book & Catalogue.

Here's the page from the Catty: (the project is the cover of a Journal)

Here's how I turned it into a card: