Son's 16th birthday card

Making a card for a teenage boy can often be the hardest type to make. I knew I wanted to use the Extreme Guitar stamp as my son is a guitar mad rocker! lol But how to make the rest of the card was the hard part. OK I knew I could use the music wheel as he is so into music but what then??? I went through ALL my Stampin' Up! DSP and was rapt when I found this zig-zaggy paper and then remembered the Bday Party Rub-ons had the same colours as this DSP so I thought they would make the card look like it was covered in graffiti!. Finally the ribbon was just enough to finish off the card, to help balance with the 2 brads on the right.

I really enjoy making these 'messy' type of card - hopefully son will enjoy it too!!

SO Happy 16th Birthday Aaron!! xx

my brothers birthday

this week is manic at our place - I have LOTS of family birthdays. It started yesterday with my uncles birthday and today is my brothers birthday (I only have two brothers). It carries on for a few more days like this so you will have to keep visiting to see who's birthday is next.

So here is my brothers card - he is 46yo bachelors if anyone is wondering! lol

I used the new a la carte stamp 'sail away' which is a nice masculine stamp. I have teamed it up with the Newsprint DSP layered on Riding Hood Red and Basic Black. A bit of sponging and a few eyelets, a sentiment and a punched black tag and it's done. The colours of the layers are repeated on the inside of the card too. It's always nice to ensure the inside of a card is just as complete as the front.

SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kevin!

this weeks class on Crafters Anonymous

Tia took a fantastic class on Monday for a spinner card. This is my version of it. I used the Punch Potpourri stamp set for the butterfly and punched it out with the matching butterfly punch. I stamped both the butterflies and the card with the vine from Vintage Vogue. The sentiment is also from Vintage Vogue. The DSP is Elegant Soiree which uses Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede.

Easter Cards in last weeks NZ Woman's Weekly

I was lucky to have some cards in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly dated 25 April which I showed you the cover last week. These are the two cards that they featured.

The bunny is punch art (I just LOVE punch art!!) and a stepper card.

This card is based on the 'flower pot' card but I changed it to a basket by scoring the base and putting a handle on it. The eggs were hand cut and decorated in beautiful bling!!

I had a lovely chocolatey Easter and hope you all did.

xx

Love beyond measure

I am a sewer (feel like I am confessing a sin! lol) and so when Stampin' Up! introduced this wonderful set in the latest mini catalogue I knew I would LOVE IT!! and of cause I just had to have it! The stamp set doesn't have any words so I went through all my stamps to find a sentiment that would work and found this one in Totally Tools! It is perfect for it!

I made this card as a quick swap for a meeting I went to last weekend. The card base is Cherry Cobbler, then the tulip embossing folder is on So Saffron - don't these two go so well together! I stamped the tape with Crumb Cake ink on to Very Vanilla and the button backing on to Crumb Cake (aka kraft). The buttons themselves I cut using the Big Shot embosslet die out of Woodland Walk DSP and raised them on dimentionals. The sentiment and button backing were both stamped in Early Espresso.

Since we are going away for a few days over Easter I won't be posting over the long weekend. I am not computer savvy enough yet to pre load post so I will see you all next week. Hope you all have a safe and chocolaty Easter, and remember the reason for the season.

xx

Julia

Fluffy Punch Art Bunnies!!!

Aren't these the cutest things to add to any Easter projects??

Thank you to Deb Speijers who first showed the to me on Crafters Anonymous. They are all punch art, here's the list:

Ears - large oval, small oval (inners)

Face - ornament (head), 1" circle (cheeks), bird wings (eyes), circle from itty bitty set (eyes and nose)

Body - wide oval, bird wings (arms)

Legs - large oval

Basket - round tag, large oval & small oval for handles (hint: punch a small oval out of some card and then punch the large oval around the hole, creating an oval ring)

Eggs - small oval

The key to making them look realistic is to sponge the edges, which gives them some dimension. Deb sponged hers in Whisper White which on the Chocolate Chip makes the bunnies look so cuddly!! The addition of the white on the nose and the eyes makes them look glossy - a perfect finish to punch art projects.

I think I will add these to cellophane bags of mini Easter eggs for my nieces.

embellishmentless card

every now and then it's fun to set yourself some challenges when crafting. A few weeks ago on www.just-add-ink.blogspot.com they had a challenge to produce a project that only is made from paper or card - NO EMBELLISHMENTS AT ALL. So since I didn't get a chance to enter that particular challenge I decided I would make a card using that idea.

SO here is my card - I used the lovely DSP called 'Love Letter' which is only Riding Hood Red, Basic Black and Very Vanilla. I just cut strips of the DSP and layered them on some Basic Black which I embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper Big Shot embossing folder. The mannequin is from the lovely new set - Sew Sweet and the sentiment is from Perfect Punches. I only wanted the words not the oval frame so I used my Stampin' Up! marker pens and just inked up the words.

This will be sent to one of my customers 21st birthday next week - Happy Birthday Stef!

New Zealand Woman's Weekly

I am SOOOOO pleased to announce that I have two cards featuring in the New Zealand Woman's Weekly dated 25 April but on sale now! So go and grab yourself a copy and flick to page 49 you will see my two Easter cards. I am so excited about it as it's the first time I have been published - pity it doesn't actually have my name in the magazine but - trust me - they are mine! lol

Have a great Monday!!

a fat free cup cake!

just to have a break from the altering of dies I have been showing you over the last few days I have a FAT FREE cupcake to show you. I made this on Monday night at the Crafter's Anonymous on-line class that Dee Sturgen took.

It is a box with a lid that opens with the ribbon ruffles on to stuck to the lid. It could hold chocolates (of cause!) or jewelery or anything small. The box is the same size as a normal cup cake.

I used Pretty in Pink card stock and satin ribbon, with Marina Mist ink and striped ribbon and finally a bit of Real Red ink for the cherries (from the new Cupcake stamp set). I used my crimper to do the detail on the case.

Will have some more alternations tomorrow - I will be show casing the Milk Carton die!

SEE YOU THEN

xx

pillow box easter egg stand tutorial

Isn't this just the sweetest way to present a YUMMY Easter egg??

Again it's made with the Stampin' Up! Pillow Box Big Shot die. I have taken photos of how to do it - but again I have used my faux die to make it easier to see the blades on the die.

Start off with a piece card - you don't need to waste card so cut it wide enough to just cover the blades on the left and only up to the lines on the right.

It should come out like this.

Now this is where you need to be careful. You can move the piece of card along the die to get a small box or one a bit longer BUT you must ensure that you keep the card straight on the die as you will be going over the die so ensure your lines all match up, not like how it is placed on the above picture! lol

Now to get the hole in the middle of the box rule lines from corner to corner as per pic.

Now using the 1" circle punch line up the cross inside the punch and punch out.

It should end up like this.

Now put it all together and it will look like this. you could use it for place names for a special Easter meal or just a cute way to present a yummy egg. And it goes SOOOOO well with the awesome new stamp set "EAT CHOCOLATE" which I used on the top picture! This set is from the new Autumn/Winter mini catalogue.

Happy crafting!!!

an extra long pillow box

On Saturday I attended the Stampin' Up! Regional Seminar in Hamilton (New Zealand) which was an awesome day! I was priviaged to be asked to do a presentation and this was one of the items that I showed how to do. It's done with one cut thru the Big Shot. The key is to fold a piece of card stock in half and place it on the die with the fold as close to the score lines on the die.

Start with a piece of card or DSP like I have used here measuring 19cm x 13.5cm and fold it in half like this. You just want to take the fold up to but never touching the score lines - do you like my faux die! hehe I thought it would be easier to see where the score lines are on it.

Once it's thru the Big Shot it will look like this.

Unfolded it looks like this

and then once you adhere the long edge it will end up like this. Although it's a bit hard to see you will of cause have a fold line in it about where my horrible finger is! lol

The best idea is to cover the fold with a ribbon, a belly band or whatever you like.

Tomorrow I will have another version of the pillow box die!

whoops we mucked up!!

yesterday we had an AWESOME day at Hamilton at the Stampin' Up! regionals. I will post photos and instruction of my projects I demonstrated this coming week but I wanted to apologise to anyone who were (rightfully) upset with the weird way the 'swaps' went down!!

All of the 'Creative Inkers' team who had made up a list within their team are DEEPLY sorry if our actions upset and annoyed anyone. I would of been annoyed if it was the other way around. It was a situation that no one had thought thru well enough and you can guarantee that NOBODY will ever repeat it!!

SO if you went the event I would LOVE to make some more swaps to send you. No return swap is expected, I just want to give some goodwill back and to do what Stampin' Up! really stands for - Inspire, Create and SHARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

email me directly julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz if you were one of the demos that were effected by this.

chocolate tilled acetate treat boxes

Tomorrow I am spending the day in Hamilton at a Stampin' Up! Regional Training Seminar. Last month I went to the Seminar in Auckland but I have some team members in Hamilton and Tauranga so have decided to go with them to it. Actually I am now doing a presentation there now too! lol

So for the ladies on my team (and my car mates for the trip down) I have made these long pillow boxes. They are made out of acetate and most of them are embossed with our Big Shot Embossing folders - I used EVERY embossing folder that we have and they all gave different results. You can stamp on acetate too with Stazon ink - Stampin' Up! sell black and white. With the white you can make coloured Stazon but that will be another post another time! lol

Back to the boxes - I filled these with pineapple lumps - so yummy!! I believe chocolate pineapple lumps are a very New Zealand lollie (candy) so if you aren't in New Zealand and have never tried them you don't know what you are missing!!!!!!! I tied some of the wide stripped ribbon around them with a bit of twine and added the stamped image. To get the stamped image I used a marker pen to ink up just the outline of the stamp from 'Eat Chocolate' as I didn't want the words that were inside the actual stamp. Once I stamped the out line then I inked up the 'so much CHOCOLATE so little time' stamp and placed it within the frame (using my Stampin'-ma-gig) and then punched it out with the new label punch. These items are all new in the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue so if you would like to have some these beautiful products email me julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz to find out how. If you host a workshop you might be able to get some for FREE!!

another cracked glass project

This is using the 'sense of time' stamp set and a non Stampin' Up! embossing folder. The Sentiment is from 'word play' and I stamped it then punched out the word 'remember' only as it had 'remember when' on the stamp but I didn't want the 'when' part. Then I restamped it again and cut out just the 'R' and mounted it on dimensionals to give it more texture. The base of the card is Soft Suede and the cream is actually Confetti Cream - it is a flecky card stock (made from recycled paper I think) and it's slightly thicker than Very Vanilla.

The eyelets are applied with the coolest toy in the Stampin' Up! catalogue. It's called a 'CROP-A-DILE' and it makes small and larger holes and and then you can set four different types of eyelets. These ones that I have used are Jumbo Antique Brass eyelets. They are available in Pewter as well. While this tool looks very impressive it is VERY easy to use. You don't need big strong hands to operate it, if I can use it then ANYONE can! It can put holes in just about everything, from card stock and paper to tin and canvas - yes I fixed our tent with it! hee hee

Contact me if you would like to know more about this cool as toy, whoops I mean tool!

cracked glass technique

today at my class I showed the ladies how to do the cracked glass technique and they loved it!! It was a bit messy as they managed to blow embossing powder EVERYWHERE! lol

I think the best part is the final stage when you crack up the picture.

I used two of the Stampin' Up! embossing folders for the frame and the card base. The stamp is a al la carte one (like yesterdays one) in the new Autumn/Winter min catalogue and it's only $17.95NZ!!

Contact me if you would like to learn how to do this cool technique or you would like to order this stamp or any other items email today julia.leeece@slingshot.co.nz

new masculine stamps

In the new Autumn-Winter mini catalogue there are some 'al la carte' stamps (sold as a single stamp) that are great for making those always hard masculine cards. This one is the motorbike stamp. The guitar, diamond background and greeting are from the Grunge set from the last mini which means unfortunately it's not available to purchase. You have to ensure you order from the current catalogues so you don't MISS OUT! lol I am hoping in makes it back into the next big Ideas Book & Catalogue cause it is a great set.

Anyway back to the card - to create the background I made a stencil out of thick card and then sponged the red and blue to create the Union Jack. I added the detail of the small bit of crimping just cause I could! lol

The 'Happy Birthday' is stamped on to thick vellum and I added some brads. This card was made for my neighbours birthday -he is English and loves guitars and motorbikes so it went down well!.

Just a reminder that tomorrow (the 6th April) is the 1st Wednesday in the month so it's class time. We are doing a very cool technique - cracked glass. If you need to know more email me julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

thanks for visiting

Blanket made using the Big Shot!

This babies blanket I made last week using some scraps of polar fleece I found when going through all my material. I decided it needed to be used up cause you don't really make clothes these days out of polar fleece - well not for teenage kids! lol

I first cut the scraps into 6inch strips with a rotary wheel cutter and quilting ruler. You can of cause use scissors to make strips. Then I cut 4 layers at a time through the Stampin' Up! Big Shot with the scallop square die. It took like 10 minutes to cut the strips and 10 minutes to cut all 88 pieces I need for the cot blanket. It is THAT quick with the Big Shot!

Then I place all the pieces on the floor in the order that I wanted them, then stacked them in rows ensuring the top piece was the far left piece of each row - I had 11 rows with 8 pieces in each. It was then just a matter of sewing the pieces into strips, then the strips into the whole blanket. I finished the sewing with a line of sewing around the whole of the outside.

I then tied off all my knots (probably the longest part of the whole project!), and cut the scallops to within 1/8th inch of the sewing line. This helps give the scallops a more 'petal' type look.

Finally to make it more girlie I cut little flowers out of the remaining bits and hand stitched them randomly around the blanket.

Isn't it great that Stampin' Up! toys (whoops tools) can be so versatile!!

Thanks for visiting my blog on this sunny warm autumn day.

combining stamp sets

This card is a combination of two new stamp sets - the pattern block stamp again and a set called Hope & Strength which Stampin' Up! has put out as a Breast Cancer fundraiser. $2 from every set sold will go to looking for cures/treatments for breast cancer - a very important thing indeed!!

I used the Newsprint DSP which is one of my favourites and teamed it up with Bravo Burgundy card stock, another go to colour for vintage looking projects and of cause you have to use the Vintage Brads and lace ribbon.

With the new mini catalogue there are a number of items from the past mini that 'carry forward' which means you can still order them. Click HERE to download the PDF with the carry over items on it which the lace ribbon is one of them (thank goodness! lol)

SEW CUTE!!!

I LOVE everything in the new Stampin' Up! Autumn Winter Mini Catalogue!!!!! to start with there are some cool 'sewing theme' stamps and accessories! Here is a background stamp that is pattern pieces. I stamp the stamp on the Pretty in Pink card to create the background. Then I stamped it on paper from Lap of Luxury and cut out the pieces. I then 'made' the pattern up and this dress is it! isn't it sweet?? One of the accessories is a new Embosslit that is Buttons!! The die not only cuts them out but embosses them - aren't they CUTE!!! The sentiment is from Totally Tess - so perfect for this type of card.

Keep visiting for more samples of products from the new mini!!

more bleaching cards

this card is bleach on Soft Suede in it's raw colour. It's almost a So Saffron which is what I used to make the card base and mounts. (Isn't the tea stamp set cute!!)

and this is the same card but after I painted on the bleach and dried it I recoloured it with Stampin' Up! markers again. This time I mounted it on Wild Wasbi - I love the 'retro' look of these colours!

Today is the first day of the new Autumn/Winter mini catalogue. If you would like a copy email me on julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz and I can post one out. It is FULL of some AWESOME stuff - nature, sewing, cup cakes and CHOCOLATE!!! this mini was made for ME!!! lol

see you tomorrow!!