End of Year Gifts for the class teachers!

The Silly Season is upon us and it appears that I have been neglecting you, my loyal blog followers. Don't feel alone, the washing machine is feeling pretty lonely too! I am sorry and although I will endeavour to be back definitely sooner than later, I can't make any promises.

Well as you know I moved recently and my DD had to change schools in the middle of the year. She was lucky enough to have two wonderful teachers for this last term of the year. I couldn't help but make them some homemade pressies to say thanks for taking my precious one under their wings and helping her catch up on schoolwork and fit in to the new school environment.

Now I am sure that you all know that I am a fan of candle stamping.... gotta love the name! So I thought that some cheery candles would make a great start to the gift pack. Click here to find quick instructions on how to do this. It is a very quick and economical gift!

Ink: Pacific Point, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Stazon Black and assorted blue and red markers.
Tools: Heat Gun, 3/16" Circle Punch
Non-SU: Candles, Baking Paper
Stamp Sets: Snow Swirled, Holiday Lineup, Curly Cute

I have some exciting news, so make sure you come back and visit soon.

Till next time, happy stamping...

I love this set!

In case you haven't read my previous posts, you may not know! But I LOVE this set! It's so stylish!

Here I have used my favourite new Christmas colour combo - Marina Mist and Cherry Cobbler!


Today I am showing you two variations of the one card. I don't particularly have a favourite as they are both so damn good! LOL!

Anyway I coloured the tree using my markers. I think it you can only afford inks in one delivery method, i.e. stamp pads, spots or markers, I would go for markers every time. It is perhaps a little more time consuming inking up a single colour stamp, but chances are you'll want to do multicoloured images anyway!


Card: Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink: Marina Mist, Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy
Ribbon: 3/8' Whisper White Taffeta
Embellishments: Basic Rhinestone Jewels
Stamp Set: Snow Swirled

On a side note, I am having some computer issues, so please bear with me if I don't post for a few days.

Till next time, happy stamping...

This set is a must!

Well if I was asked what my favourite Christmas Stamp set that Stampin' Up!® has, it would have to Snow Swirled!

Since I got my internet access back last week, I was doing some blurfing and came across this gorgeous card at Cards by Mistreez. I just had to case it, but did a few variations. I am not really sure which card is my favourite.


I have to apologise for the lighting of my photo's. I am still trying to work out the best way to getting natural light for my card photography. Please bear with me while I work this out! It doesn't help that we've had overcast and rainy days.


This card down the bottom I used Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist, which are both new colours! I love them and decided straight away that I would be using them together on my Christmas cards this year!

I gently rolled the brayer, inked up in Marina Mist, over the top of my embossed Whisper White, in order to highlight the embossing. I did this as it looked a little plan without the decorative edging like the other two.


I'll list all the ingredients together and I am sure that you'll be able to work out which ones I used on each card (aside from the dodgy camera work).

Card: Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Ink: Blusing Bride, Perfect Plum, Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Versamark
Punch: Scallop Trim Border
Tools: Big Shot, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Heat Tool, Silver Embossing Powder
Embellishments: Basic Rhinestones, Basic Pearls
Stamp Set: Snow Swirled

Till next time, happy stamping...

It started as a CASE...

and grew!

Well hello and sorry for taking a few days to get back online... but I have honestly been having too much fun in my craft room!

This card started with the little tree which is on page 15 of the Idea Book and Catalogue. It is done using the kissing technique. It was a little difficult as I found that the 'present' stamped better than the squat 'obelisk' shape after kissing, so trying to line them up was near impossible as I couldn't use my trusty Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.

I didn't want to make a tag, so thought I'd build on this and create a card. Isn't this Cherry Cobbler just perfect for Christmas?

Card: Cherry Cobbler, Brocade Blue (retired), Whisper White, Old Olive
Ink:Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Soft Suede, More Mustard
DSP: Jolly Holiday
Punches:Scallop Trim Border, Designer Label, Modern Label
Ribbon: 1 1/4" Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain (retired)
Embellishments: Bold Brights Brads(retired)
Stamp Sets: Playful Pieces (hostess set), Snow Swirled

Till next time, happy stamping...

ESAD Christmas in July Blog Hop

I hope you’re ready for the ESAD Christmas in July Blog Hop!

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!

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 its needed.

So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

My blog may be the first stop in the blog or you could have come from the lovely Vicki's blog! Remember that a blog hop is a bit like a circle, it really has no beginning or end. You can keep going round and round.

The photo above shows the two projects I am going to be sharing with you today.

Firstly we have this cute little box, with the recessed window in the lid. I love how the Designer Series Paper that I have used, Candy Lane, is not a Christmas designed one - but it fits perfectly.

And here is the inside. You could fill it with whatever you wanted. It fits four pots of chunky glitter in it perfectly. I think some Rocky Road or White Christmas would go perfectly in there as well.

This photo is the inside of the card. It actually has a pocket which you put a satchet of cocoa or tea etc in it. It is very cute!

Here is a photo with the top folded down! I just love the Holiday Lineup stamp set. I makes the cutest cards.

And here is the front of the card. Now I wish I could say that I designed this pocket card..... but alas I didn't. This is actually a Madeline Morcelo design for the upcoming Inkspirations 4U class, which starts on 2nd August 2010. Now I am a guest designer for this and if you'd like the opportunity to win a FREE pass, check out this post!

Anyway I hope that I have inspired you today and that you've enjoyed your stop here at my blog.

Your next stop is to the fantastic Sharlene's blog.

Till next time, happy stamping...

Cyberstamp Christmas Challenge

So things have been plodding along nicely for me last weekend. I was slowly getting through all the projects. I had made it my personal challenge to try join in EVERY challenge for the weekend. And boy, did I achieve a lot!

Tanya Kitto was in charge of the Christmas card challenge. She decided to ask us to make a Christmas card without using a stamp set designed for Christmas. Although we were allowed to use the greetings from a Christmas stamp set.




I love the Lovely As A Tree stamp set and haven't really had an opportunity to make all the things that I want to with it. I had been meaning to try this shadow look for a little while, so I thought this was a perfect time to try it out. I had to have a couple of goes before I got it right. I didn't have a tutorial or anything, so had to work through this on my own. Finally I came up with the look I was after.

Card: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Punches: 1" Circle, 1/2" Circle
Tools: Heat Gun, Clear Embossing Powder, Sponges
Stamp Sets: Lovely As A Tree, Snow Swirled

Till next time, happy stamping...

Easy Christmas card

Are you shocked like me? Have you suddenly realised that it's November and you haven't started on your christmas cards yet? Well I hadn't really either, so here is card number 1. I am running a christmas card making workshop this month, click here for more details.

I love the Ski Slope DSP, which is only available to end of this month. I know that I normally use DSP as a background filler, but I thought that this gorgeous DSP was begging to be embossed on. It certainly turned out better than I expected.


Card: Not Quite Navy
Ink: Versamark, Not Quite Navy
DSP: Ski Slope
Ribbon: Whisper White Taffeta
Tools: Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Silver Embossing Powder
Embellishments: Pretties Kit
Stamp Set: Snow Swirled

Till next time, happy stamping...

An easy gift to post!

Okay it's getting close to Christmas and my attention is turning towards what to do for the grandparents. I am not sure about your family, but our grand kids are adored in ours. Grandma and Nanny are often talking about what the kids have been up to or in the case of my kids chatting to them on the phone, or listening to them read stories. Unfortunately for us we live too far away to be able to spend each Christmas with our extended families. So I thought this year I would case a gift that was given to me by my previous Secret Sister, Dianne Spies.

This is a little brag book - I am sure that given a few weeks in granny's purse it may not look the same and be like that favourite book we all used to read over and over again as kids.


So the picture above is the closed version and below is the fully opened view.

Now as you can see it has three sections and a slip for each one. The sections fold out, so you can put a photo on either side of the slips, holders and one on the red section behind the holders. All in all this little beauty will hold 15 photo's.


This was really easy to make and didn't take very long at all. I love the simplicity of it!

Card: Real Red
Ink: Baja Breeze, Real Red
DSP: Ski Slope
Punches: Eyelet Border, 1" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Round Tab
Ribbon: Whisper White Taffeta
Envelopes: Note card
Stamp Sets: Season Of Joy, Snow Swirled

Till next time, happy stamping...

Twisted Christmas

Again I have decided to try and make a card for Marelle's July Christmas challenge. This time I haven't cased the card and have made it up all by myself.


Of course, this didn't turn out as I expected. I was planning on doing a night time christmas tree, but the background stamp ended up looking like snow instead of stars.

I don't seem to be posting as regularly as I would like. I am still making cards and doing workshops and the like, but either it's for my secret sister or you've seen it all before. I will try and make some more new creations soon for you.

Card: Whisper White, Ballet Blue, Sage Shadow, Riding Hood Red
Ink: Sage Shadow, Versamark, Ballet Blue, Not Quite Navy, Blue Bayou (retired)
Tools: Clear embossing powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Brayer, Sponge Daubers
Punch: 1" circle
Stamp sets: Lovely As A Tree, Itty Bitty Backgrounds (retired), Snow Swirled

Till next time, Happy stamping

Getting ready for Christmas - already!

Well hello again. Bubs asleep and the big girl is off with Daddy, so I had a couple of free minutes - couldn't possibly clean as it would be too noisy - lol. So I have got a head start on Christmas. I saw these Christmas cards on my upline, Vicky Dean's, blog and had to case them.



These cards were created using the masking technique. I just punched a couple of 1" circles out of my masking sheet and then held these over my card, while I stamped and sponged.


I love this idea as you don't have to have a heap of Christmas stamps. In fact, aside from the greeting the rest of the card is made using non christmas stamps.

I used my co-ordinating markers to draw the strings for them to hang on. Quite simple!

I'll include all the ingredients together as it would get awfully long to write each one out.

Card: Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Ink: Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Taken With Teal, Apricot Appeal
Punch: 1" Circle
Stamp sets: Snow Swirled, Priceless, Rustic Rooster, Circle Circus, Always in Bloom Wheel

Till next time, happy stamping...