I'm Still Around ...

I thought I should pop by and do a quick post to let you know that I am still around, and have been doing a little bit of creating, but haven't had the time to update my blog.

I was actually a little horrified that it hasn't been updated since 7th April!!!!  

While I don't have any pictures to share with you right now I thought I might let you know some of the things I have been up to lately.I have been busily applying for jobs and am happy to say I was successful and recently started a new position which will keep my very busy but that I am very excited about. 

On top of that I have taken my husband to Sydney for the first of his two cararact replacement surgeries - the first went very well with a good outcome which he is very pleased about! I am also pleased as he can now drive again - another thing keeping me busy was being the only driver in the house I was "mum's taxi" far more than usual.

Currently I am in Melbourne at the International Council of Nurses 25th Quadrennial Congress.  Some of you may know that I am a nurse by profession and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend the Congress in my home country.  It has been lovely to hear from nurses across the globe on the issue of Access and Equity to Health Care, and highlights to me how lucky we are in Australia to have the health care system we do. 

The other thing that has kept me busy lately is preparing swaps for the Stampin' Up! Convention.  As it happens I will fly directly from Melbourne to Brisbane - from nursing to crafting! Then I will take a short visit to my family in Central Queensland before heading home ... for some much needed rest lol.

I don't think I will get to post again before then, so please be patient as I will have lots to post then including my swaps for Convention as well as some sneak peeks of products from the new Annual Catalogue.

Happy Stamping

ESAD Seasonal Blog Hop 2013

Welcome to another Blog Hop brought to you by the talented ladies at ESAD, you might have started at my blog or you might have hopped on over from the talented Jenny at Stampin by the Seat of my Pants. To hop to the next blog just follow the link at the bottom of my post and enjoy the creations featuring items from the latest Seasonal catalogue.

For my creations I wanted to prepare a set of cards using the same basic elements and layout, but with some minor differences, the main feature in all of these cards is the a la carte stamps "Just Thinking" (p 21). I hope you enjoy my creations and are inspired to try some of these techniques yourself.

I love this stamp as it is really quite versatile.  In this card I have stamped onto another product in the new catalogue the white Canvas Creations (p 21), these sheets have a lovely textured surface and are just wonderful with this stamp.  After stamping with Early Espresso I allowed it to dry before colouring the outer textured portion with my Stampin' Write Markers, the canvas surface takes the colour really well.  I have also used the new Borders Scoring Plate (p 26) to create the scallop embossed images.

For the next three cards I have substituted the sentiment in the centre of the stamp with stamps from a range of different Stampin' Up! sets.  For this one I used the lovely flower branch from Elements of Style.  After stamping and colouring the image I then ran it through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice folder which gives it, and the other following images, a tapestry look that fits so beautifully with this stamp.

This card uses the same technique but with the stand of flowers from Just Believe.  I have also added to all of these cards one of the Delicate Doilies (p 5), they are so economical at just $4.95 for a packet of 24! I have used some distressing on both the doily and the base card to give a more aged look, I was very happy with the way this one turned out.  

 For my last card I have used Serene Silhouettes, again cutting the centre piece from Very Vanilla and running through the embossing folder. I have also used the Borders Scoring Plate on the top of this card, however this time I have used the 'valley' of the embossing and highlighted it with small pearls.  On all of the cards you might also have noticed the Flower Trim and added a pearl to the centre of each to give more of a vintage feel to them.  You may have noticed that the flower on the first card was smaller than the rest, this is achieved by using your heat tool on the flower to gently shrink it. Again this Flower Trim is very economical and very versatile as they come on a strip of netting that allows you to either use in a row or individually  the 1.8m of flowers gives you approximately 90 flowers for only $11.95 (p 5), with that many you will be adding them to all your projects!  They are also very easy to colour using markers or re-inkers to match any project. 

I hope you have enjoyed these creations if you don't have a current demonstrator and would like to purchase any of these, or other Stampin' Up! products you can do so through my on-line store by following the link on the top left of this blog.

Now it is time to hop on over to see what lovely creations Narelle has for you at Simply Stampin. Then keep hopping around all of the lovely creations the ESAD ladies have created to showcase the wonderful products in the Seasonal Catalogue.

What is ESAD?
 ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin' Up! demonstrators. We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed. So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to contact me for an invitation to this wonderful group.

Happy Stamping

Hello Honeycomb

I was just playing around with some of my new stamps and the lovely Honeycomb embossing folder, it is a bit simple and could do with some extra embellishment but I wasn't sure what to add - maybe a layer of colour around the stamped oval.  I used Island Indigo and River Rock, a colour I don't use often, and used the pen to rubber technique on both the sentiment and the flower. 

Happy Stamping

Easter Gifts - Part 2

When our daughter was younger we used to do Easter egg hunts around the house,  however she is now a bit older, and we also now own two cats who I am sure would do the egg hunting for us given half the chance. My husband, newly diagnosed with bad cataracts, also thought that an egg hunt would have him at a severe disadvantage! So now I make little Easter baskets for putting the hunting eggs in.

This year I made each of us a little basket using the Fancy Favour die, trimmed to 6cm tall.  I just love Everybunny so had to use that stamp set, and chose the little girl bunny for our daughter, my mother and myself, and the little boy bunny for my father and husband.

Here you can see the side of the boxes.  To make these is very easy and while I don't have photos to show you of the steps I can tell you exactly how they were made.

• Trim a Fancy Favour box to be 6cm tall (not counting the bottom flaps)
• Cut a piece of DSP 3" x 12"  
• Score the DSP at 4 7/8"  and again at 7 1/8"
• Before adhering to the Fancy Favour box hold the two ends together and punch out the 'handle' using the Large Oval Punch. I found by positioning a piece of punched out Post-It note I was able to have the handles exactly where I wanted them.
• Then simply adhere the DSP around the box (I used Tombow glue), fill with Easter eggs, and tie the handles with ribbon. 

I realised as I wrote this that I have combined metric and imperial measurements - something I do quite regularly with projects lol.  For those who like the inches - the Fancy Favour is trimmed at 2 3/8".

Happy Stamping

Easter Gifts - Part 1

This Easter has been a special one for me as my parents were able to visit, not only for Easter, but for my birthday as well.  I wanted to make them something a little special and so came up with these cute little card boxes.  

This one is the one I made for my father, I wanted to use some masculine colours and textures so chose the lovely Natural Trim Ribbon, it matches perfectly with Crumb Cake and is inspired by Hessian so has a lovely rough texture.  Just the thing when you want to add a ribbon but keep the masculine feel to the project.  Some masking with the Everybunny stamp set created the cute little scene.

This is the inside of the 'card', and as you can see the base of the card is actually a box that holds a block of Cadburry's chocolate.  My father had Old Gold Rum and Raisin in his.

 This is the front of the box I made for my mum.  I wanted it to be far more feminine and so used some retired DSP and carried the colours through to the flowers from Bordering on Romance.  I just adore the sentiment, an a la carte stamp called Easter Blessings (well named lol).  In the box for mum I put a big block of Peppermint chocolate which she also loved.  

I love being able to create special gifts for people, and I know my parents appreciate the extra care that goes into a gift like this.  I will post again tomorrow to show off the cute little Easter baskets I made for everyone too.

Happy Stamping

Dynamic Doily

Today I was due to do some work on some assignments, but I just couldn't focus so decided to take advantage of an afternoon to myself and create a card just for fun.  I am entering this one in the Dynamic Duos Challenge "Primrose Petals & Your Choice" - my choice was Gumball Green.

I received a new box of toys the other day but had terrible back spasm and wasn't really able to create so took the opportunity to use them on this card.  I chose Oh, Hello stamp and teamed it with a Perfectly Penned sentiment.  To get the doily to better match the oval I cut a section from the centre of a doily and then ran the ribbon over the seam.  I had also used my brayer to colour the doily to match the colour scheme.

Happy Stamping

Liebster Award

I have been wanting to write this post for a while now (since 11th March), but as I keep saying I have been quite busy lately on a number of fronts and that has meant my blogging has taken a bit of a back seat.  I am a little sad as my parents have just left after a lovely visit over Easter and my birthday, and even though I will see them again at the end of next month after Convention, I don't see them very often as they live so far away.  So to help cheer me up I am taking a moment to write this post and share with you that on 11th March Angie from Angie's Craft Fusion awarded me a Liebster Award!

Liebster Awards are given to encourage people to visit new blogs and "meet" new creators, and the only requirements of accepting a Liebster Award is that you must pass it onto 5 blogs that inspire you.  So, as they say, without any further ado, and in no particular order ...

• Shirley @ Stamping Elephants
• Alison @ Gothdove Designs
• Vanessa @ Vanessa Webb
• Sharlene @ Magpie Creates
• Paula @ Paw Prints

 Please take some time to visit Angie as well as these five ladies who inspire me on a regular basis.

Happy Stamping

A Special Gift

This week was a pretty tough week for me, on Monday I managed to pull a muscle in my back and by Tuesday I could barely get out of bed because of the pain and spasm.  I also found out on Tuesday morning that I wasn't successful at a job I had applied for, so all in all a rotten sort of morning.  I was on Facebook having a chat to a dear friend who did her best to cheer me up which did really help.  After a while she had to go do some shopping, and as often happens she asked if I wanted anything while she was out, I jokingly replied "Tim Tams :)"

The very next day an express post parcel arrived in the post and when I opened it there was this cute little card and two little packaged up items. The words in this card put a smile on my face and tears in my eyes "Cheer up Charlie!  You are Wonderful!"  Just the words I needed to hear!

This is one of the little packages that I opened up before photographing - inside the wrapper is a packet of ... you guessed it Tim Tams!!! It seems that the lovely Shirley had in fact picked me up some while she was at the shops and had decorated and packaged them up just for me!

This is the second packet also decorated but still un-opened ... but not for long lol.  Even more special is the suite of papers and stamps that Shirley used is called "Sent With Love"!

It is at times like these that I don't love living in such a big country, but even with such physical distance between us, I felt such love and support!  So a bit thank you to Shirley for taking the time to show her care of me so sweetly (no pun intended).  You can check out some of Shirley's other amazing work at Stamping Elephants.

Happy Stamping

Exciting Announcements

Two exciting announcements today ...

 Firstly My Digital Studio is now available in Australia/New Zealand!  MDS is a program used to create digital cards and scrapbooks, but can also be used to create some elements before printing out and adding embellishments or layers.  There are some great training videos available which I will be accessing as this is a totally new way of creating for me!

There is a free 30 day trial for you to give it a go and is available at the on-line store, which leads nicely into my next announcement .....  On-line ordering is here!!!!

What does this mean for you?  Well if you live anywhere in Australia you can click on the icon on the top of my left widget bar and it will take you to my on-line store.  You can choose any of the current Stampin' Up! products to put in your order.  If your order qualifies for hostess benefits you also get to choose these as part of that process!

When you get to the on-line ordering page you can look up products by category off the list on the left hand side.  You can also look up products that are associated with a particular suite - making it super easy for you to choose products that will coordinate perfectly with each other!  How easy is that!

I am still really happy for you to contact me directly to place an order the way we have always done, but if you live a little further away on-line ordering is great as the items will be shipped directly to you.  

Happy Stamping

Sale-A-Bration One Sheet Wonder

I have looked for a long time at One Sheet Wonders (OSW) and found one that I quite liked the look of but unfortunately it was in imperial measurements which is usually fine, but didn't look quite right on our A5 cards so I did a bit of a re-work using similar shapes.  The original OWS can be found at Joyfully Made Designs.

Firstly here is the full set of cards.  I used a single piece of DSP measuring 19cm x 18.5cm. I chose this sheet because one side had lots of lovely colours while the other was Island Indigo and Whisper White allowing me to have two different colour pallets.

Card 1: I made this set of cards while I was away at a craft retreat and didn't have a flourish stamp with me, so I borrowed the one from last year's Sale-A-Bration set Fresh Vintange, covering the main flower with the panel and the button from SAB this year!  The sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Card 2: For this card I used the Bloomin' Marvellous for the flowers, leaves and sentiment.  I just love these colours, so bright and cheerful.

Card 3: I flipped the DSP over to use the Island Indigo and to mute it down a little I brayered it with Pool Party.  I some fun with this one, sponging the flowers and the doily and adding lots of pearls!  The cute little bow I learned off the very lovely Andrea from EnchantINK.  After following Andrea's blog for years and being inspired by her creations it was wonderful to be able to meet her in person!  Thanks Andrea.

Card 4: I fiddled and faddled with this card for some time before I was happy with it, but am happy with the result.  the sentiment is from the SAB set Vintage Verses. It was the addition of the three little butterflies that had me happy with the balance of the card.

Card 5:  I wanted to do something a little different with this card so used my two butterfly punches and paper piercing pack then slid the strip of DSP behind so that pattern shows.  Sentiment from Perfectly Penned and the ribbon from the Sycamore Street Ribbon & Buttons Pack.

Card 6:  Keeping fairly simple on this one I added a glimmer brad and some brushed gold card stock behind the DSP panels and sentiment.  Sentiment from Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

Card 7: I love this card, I think it is my favourite of the set.  I fairly closely followed the sample on the original page of the OSW.  I love that the a la carte sentiment is so flourishy and that it ties in so well with the flourish from Everything Eleanor. 

Card 8: This is another one I struggled with just a little.  I had the basic layout in my head but it wasn't quite right.  It took a coming back after a lunch break to realise the butterflies were needed to add balance. The embossing folder used is also available for free during Sale-A-Bration - Vine Street.

Card 9: I used the Postage Stamp Punch to layer the small pieces of DSP and stamped the Whisper White with images from Bloomin' Marvellous and Petite Pairs. I love the ribbon available for free as part of SAB as well, such a lustre and so easy to make bows with.

Finally here is the layout for the One Sheet Wonder in metric.  All 9 cards made from just one piece of DSP!  If you are thinking of doing one of these, my suggestion would be to choose a DSP with a reasonably small pattern or it will get lost on the smaller pieces.  One with lots of colour also gives you lots of options for colours in your card.

Happy Stamping