Random Creations

I have found it almost impossible to get any crafting done while John has been away! I usually get some things done once all the kids are in bed, but I've been soooo tired I haven't even bothered opening my stamp cupboard. Except to make these:

I managed to meet one of the Stampin' Up! goals for new demos, so I got to choose 3 free stamp sets!! I wanted to get the Jolly Bingo Bits set anyway, so that was the first on my list! The postie came earlier this week, so I just had to have a little play :)



I found the tutorial for the tea bag caddy a while ago on Andrea Walford's site, but hadn't gotten around to making it. My bestie is having her baby in a couple of weeks, and she just about lives on tea when in hospital, so I though I'd include this in her gift basket :)

I've got a workshop and Christmas workshop coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I'm going to be pretty busy getting everything ready! Thank goodness John is coming home on Saturday!

JAI #88

The challenge at Just Add Ink this week was "Just Add ...a Die Cut", so given how much I love my Big Shot.. I had to make something! One of my more recent additions is the Top Note die, and it is fabulous! There are so many things you can use it for.. one of the best being boxes. I'm starting to think about Christmassy things I can make.. to show at my Christmas workshop, and to give as gifts, and I think this box is pretty cute (yes, I know... I'm so very humble ;) ). All is needs are some yummy choccies or cookies inside, and it makes a lovely gift. It's sturdier than it looks, too, because I used some of the on-board sheets for the lid and base, then covered them in cardstock. The Big Shot had no trouble cutting them out because it's AWESOME!

Anyway, this will probably be the last thing I make until my darling husband returns... once the kids are in bed I don't think I'll be far behind :)

Stamp Sets: Baroque Motifs, Triple Treat Flower, Tags til Christmas
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Poppy Parade, Very Vanilla, Just Add Cake DSP
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Top Note Die, on board sheets, Wild Wasabi striped ribbon, fancy flower punch, 5 petal flower punch, 1/2" circle punch, heat & stick powder, dazzling diamonds, filigree brad, rhinestone brad, rhinestones

More brayering!

Just a quick post with my latest attempt at brayering...I'm not sure if I'm actually getting any better at it, but it's lots of fun trying :)

Hopefully my next post will be some instructions on how to make the mini folding scrapbook I posted a few days ago.. fingers crossed the children stop fighting long enough for me to get it done!

JAI #87

I have decided that I absolutely love the new in colours and am using them on almost everything at the moment! So when I saw the Just Add Ink colour challenge for this week, I had to have a go :)

My card is not exactly the way I want it, but I just haven't got the time to re-do it at the moment. I have a lot of things to prepare for this weekend with a playgroup fundraiser, a craft event for our local Christmas pageant, and getting my darling husband ready to leave on a 2 week business trip! Not to mention trying to mentally prepare for two weeks of being a single mother to a 6 year old, a 5 year old, and 18 month old twins! Some times I wonder how I ever get anything done ;)
Anyway.. enough of the drama, on to the card!!

Stamp Sets: Tiny Tags, Best of Everything, Pocket Silhouettes, Create a Cupcake
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo
Inks: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Versamark
Accessories: Top Note die, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Square Lattice ef, Chantilly Lace, Pearls, White ep, Jewelry Tag punch, Calypso Coral designer printed brad.



I quite like easel cards... they appeal to my love of the 3d projects.
Bronwyn Eastley makes amazing easel cards - she showed a few in her presentation at the Tassie regional using the two tags die, which is now on my wish list! I think I'll have to practice making some more, so stay tuned!!

Simply Stockings Promotion

Hello again, just dropping in to let everyone know about the awesome promotion happening in October.

Dates: 1–31 October
Promotion Details:
Purchase the Stitched Stocking Stamp Set and Stocking Tag Punch early--before the debut of the 2011 Summer Mini Catalogue.
and
Host a $450 workshop, and receive the Stitched Stocking Stamp Set and Stocking Tag Punch for free.

If you would like to view the set and punch, click here

This set is perfect for making gorgeous Christmas cards for your friends and family! If you want to get it FREE, let me host a workshop for you and your friends and we'll see what we can do to help ;)

It's photo time!

I've been a bit slack in taking pics of my recent creations, so as I have a bit of a quiet day today (thank goodness for childcare!) I thought I'd catch up.

Some of these are still works in progress.. I want to make a few tweaks here and there, but I figured I'd post them as much to remind myself as for you lovely people to make "oooohh" noises over :)

I'm planning to have a Christmas workshop thingy in early November where people can come along and make a few cards and other things, and a couple of these projects I thought I might use for that.
If you would be interested in booking a spot, please feel free to leave me a message and I'll post more details in a little while.

And now... on to the photos!

Bag in a Box

Cardstock: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Cheerful Treat DSP (Hostess only)
Accessories: Ruffled ribbon - Lucky Limeade, Scallop circle punch, round tab punch, dotted scallop ribbon border punch,  rhinestone

Bookmark Card

Stamp Sets:  Best of Everyting, Pocket Silhouettes
Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White
Inks: Bashful Blue, Calypso Coral, Perfect Plum, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: 2 step Bird punch, scallop circle punch, word window punch, modern label punch, 1" circle punch, Chantilly crochet trim.

Ornament Punch Window Gift Box

Stamp Sets: Tiny Tags
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Just Add Cake DSP
Inks: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Ornament punch, Jewelry Tag punch, linen thread, mini glue dots

Easy, peasy tutorial video here :)

Dasher Card

Stamp Sets: Dasher, Snow Swirled, Starburst Jumbo Wheel
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Inks: Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Silver embossing powder, decorative label punch,  Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

(sorry! I can't remember where I cased this one from.)

My first attempt at brayering!!

Mini folding scrapbook - closed

Mini folding scrapbook - open

Stamp Sets: Baroque Motifs
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Mocha Morning specialty DSP, Cheerful Treat DSP
Inks: Versamark, Soft Suede
Accessories: Modern label punch, Very Vanilla satin ribbon

This idea came from another demo - Belinda Neil, who I think was shown by a customer of hers.  It's so simple, but looks amazing! I don't think she has the instructions on her blog, so I'll do my best to get some up here soon!

Ornament Punch Decoration Card

This will be a gift plus card when I've finished tweaking... there will be a cute little ornament that you can take out of the card and hang on your tree! (similar to the one in pic below)

Stamp Sets: Delightful Decorations, Snow Swirled, Four The Seasons
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry
Inks: Versamark, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Ornament Punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz

Tree Ornament

Stamp Sets: Baroque Motifs
Cardstock: Very Vanilla
Inks: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Ornament punch, hemp twine

Pacman Topnote Bag

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die, 1 3/4" Circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, Owl builder punch, large oval punch

I CASED this retro delight from Jane Hignite's blog - she has some wonderful ideas!

Snow Swirled card

Stamp Sets: Snow Swirled, Baroque Motifs
Cardstock: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Inks: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Decorative Label punch, Dazzling Diamonds, Scallop Trim Border punch



So, that's it for today... if you've managed to make it this far down :) I'll try not to save everything up in future so there isn't so much to wade through. 

JAI #85

So I got all inspired to create a card for this weeks Just Add Ink challenge. One of my best friends is having a baby boy soon, so now I've started preparing for his arrival! Only another 10 things to finish making for him... and his big sister, so she doesn't feel left out :)

I was also *dying* to play with all my new toys, which arrived yesterday!! I almost hugged the postie when his van came up the driveway last night. Then I stayed up waaaay too late unpacking, checking and mounting my new stamps! One set I've been drooling over since I first saw it is the Baroque Motifs set. I know on it's own it doesn't scream "baby", but I think it works well just lifting up the background. I can't wait to use it on more cards... especially Christmas ones!

That's enough exclamation marks from me for one day... more on my first official workshop later!

I'm in luuurrrve...

with my Mini Milk Carton die!!

These little babies are so cute, and look pretty special with the little holder!

This set will be my hostess gift for my workshop this week, and I'll be making the matching carton as my 3D demo project in that workshop. I can't see many workshops where I won't be whipping out the Big Shot... it's just awesome! I have a huge wishlist of dies, embosslits and embossing folders, so I'd better start saving! Although given the awesome benefits of being a demonstrator, I won't have to save for long ;)

My first JAI entry!

I've been stalking the lovely creative ladies at Just Add Ink  for a while now, and I thought I should finally have a crack at a challenge myself.

 Ta-da!

This is a mini explosion box I made as the lucky door prize for my next workshop, and I kept the JAI #84 challenge theme in mind when making it. My lovely upline, Mae Collins set the challenge to use just Whisper White and one other colour, so I immediately thought it had to be Tempting Turquoise! It looks so bright and fresh with the Whisper White.
It's quite hard to see in the photo, but I used some of the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz on the flower to make it sparkle... it was the lovely gift we received at the recent SU Hobart regional convention.
I was quite happy with the way it turned out :) I hope the lucky winner at the workshop is pleased with it too!

Well, it's been a while folks!

It's been a while since my last post. Family things have kept me extremely busy (my 4 little ones and husband have been quite sick), and I had a lot to organise for the SU Hobart regionals! It was a great day, with lots of excellent presentations from fellow demos and SU staff. I have a list of new techniques to try out and a few new products to play with. I can't wait until I have the time to start! If the kids let me have some time over these school holidays, I'll be getting a few projects done :)