miss piggy & kermit!!!!

I made a heap of these book marks for my team training on Saturday - all characters from Sesame Street and the Muppets. These two I made completely from scratch as I couldn't find a Google image of them as punch art anywhere!! I used the ornament punch for kermit's face and I HAD to have real pearls on miss piggy!! lol

Come back tomorrow for more characters.

lovely flocked swap card

I recently made this card for a swap in America - I had to make 3 cards the same but forgot to make an extra one for me! lol I used the LOVELY specialty DSP Mocha Morning. I used punches to create the tag end (a square on a angle) and the modern label punch for the 'claws' holding the tag. Also I used circle punches to nip the corners on the layers as well as for the circles that the ribbon flowers are sitting on. I LOVE using the new seem binding tape and it rolls beautifully to create the elegant flowers.

it's always nice to match the inside of the card and the envelope to the front of the card- ties it all together! The colours for the card is Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede.

thanks for visiting my blog, I am sorry it's been over a week since last post - LIFE just gets in the way sometimes! hehe

luscious trifold stepper card

I LOVE my new Specialty DSP Mocha Morning - with its luscious flocked paper! I just sit a pat it a lot but the other day I took the plunge and cut some! We made the trifold stepper card on Monday night at the Crafters Anonymous online class taken by Bek Kaberry.

I also used the First Addition Specialty DSP too - for both the flower and the big panels. The flower petals I rolled my brayer over them covered with Crumb Cake ink. I also stamped the matching flourish from Elements of Style which is the same as on the flocked DSP.

There is ALWAYS a place for a few pearls or rhinestones...................

and also a bit of ribbon!

awesome Secret Sister Swap!!

over on Crafters Anonymous we held our first ever secret sister swap. This is were you are given a name and you make some gifts personal to that person and send them off. I will show you what I sent to my secret sister but this is what I received from my secret sister - Helen Williams. I guessed it right straight away as there are limited crafters on the site that sew this amazingly and Helen has a really character to her card making. Also she knew about my obsession with chocolate 'Pineapple Lumps' - these are a New Zealand sweet that I ADORE!!

The amazing bag is made from the new Stampin' Up! fabric - Timeless Portrait and it is REVERSIBLE!!! she even put the same amazing clasp on both sides! My favourite colour combo is red, black and white and this bag just ROCKS!!!!

the card is just so styley!!!! I don't have this set so it's awesome to have a sample to show my customers - and what a sample it is!!!

So THANK YOU Helen Williams - you are an awesome secret sister. Here is the link to her blog - Crafty Helen

test tubes of yumminess

I just got my hands on some test tubes to craft with and this is the first project made from them. I decided to fill them with three different types of sprinkles for cupcakes or big cakes - chocolate hail, 100s & 1000s and mini hearts. As I wanted to keep this a fun project I went for the bright colours of Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise. I love using the BIG SHOT to make the embellishments which was a Crafters Anonymous fortnightly challenge - so always pleased to participate in these challenges.

The words are from 'Bring on the Cake' stamp set and the cup cake is from 'Create a Cupcake' and matching punch. The box itself I designed to fit the three test tubes in - I LOVE working things like that out! This is such a quick project you would be surprised how quick! Why not contact me to have a workshop at your place (or mine if easier) with a few friends and we can make this project and you can see all the WONDERFUL products Stampin' Up! has and how easy it is to put projects like this together.

Email - julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz

another year another 1st place!!!

I know this isn't my paper crafting but something else we are passionate about - and that is our 1967 Ford Mustang Notch Top. My hubby imported it 5 years ago and spent about 18 months restoring it. We have showed it over the last few years and every year so far we have won first place for his category. Each year they have different trophy's and this year we have this lovely rimu one. That is our car that is etched into the wood.

The awards night was a great night out - with the theme of 'back to school' and here is a picture of us dressed up.

I wore my fathers black gown and I hired the graduation cap - funny thing I never did have a graduation so it was cool to pretend for a while! hehe. Craig wore my fathers Kings College tie and boater hat. You can't see his knees but he had shorts on with long socks and black shoes! It was great to see everyone dressed up and all the different ways they interpreted the theme.

And it was awesome to sit a table with two lovely ladies who LOVE Stampin' Up! So hi to Mary and Jackie - looking forward to club events even more now!

santa can be an owl made from a pillow box can't it??? lol

this wee fellow is a version of an owl that was taught to us on Crafters Anonymous by Deb Speijers a few weeks ago. I made this guy for our first level team training yesterday as the theme was 'Christmas'. I LOVE working with punches and this one was no exception. We had the best set of swaps from all the demos at the meeting - lots of inspiration and ideas! That's the cool thing about swapping. We make an amount of swaps (13 for this one) and so we come home with 13 different samples.

I hope my fellow demo's enjoy this little fellow as much as I did making them!

would love to go shopping in this shop!

I saw a card using these awesome style dresses at a shop run by a fellow Stampin' Up! demo Barbara Bicknell and she kindly let me case it from her.

They are so fun to make - like playing dress-ups! If you would like to learn how to make these contact me to arrange a class for it.

a bouquet of tools

I first saw these bouquets over on Tania Cordie's blog and have made them before (click here for my last version over a year ago). But Stampin' Up! have released a new background stamp called Tool Shed and so I HAD to make another one! I started with a piece of DSP from the Well Worn pack (my current favourite) and I stamped the whole image on to that. Then I stamped it again on Very Vanilla and coloured them in using a blender pen to get lighter colours. Then I cut them all out which took longer than expected! hehe

The new First Edition Specialty paper is great for the 'wrapping' around the bouquet as it is thinner and easier to shape than normal DSP and GREAT value as you get 24 sheets for the $29.95!!

Do you like the 'nail' that I included on the greeting? I accidentally dropped something on it after the card was finished and it left a mark so rather than re stamping the whole thing I thought an additional embellishment won't go a miss! My mantra for crafting is 'there is no such thing as a mistake but a new way of creating!'

Finally - go the Warriors!! (that's for all the Aussies and Kiwi's) :)

happy stampin'!

oh wow - FREE stuff from Stampin' Up!!

Stampin' Up! have done it again - they are offering a cool as stamp set called Stitched Stocking and the matching stocking punch FREE with all orders or workshops (party) with sales over $500!!! That's worth over $100 But wait - there's more - (I have always wanted to say that! hehe) you will still receive the normal hostess benefits as well - which is $70 hostess dollars to spend on ANYTHING in the Ideas Book & Catalogue!!! There is a special section in the front of the book that ONLY hostesses can purchase exclusive items at a greatly reduced prices. Check it all out in all it's yumminess on pages 8 - 12!!

Below is a wee pic of what's in the stamp set and the punch. It's not just limited to Christmas stocking projects - I have used it to make a cool hobby horse on the baby card above. I have seen it being used as baby booties as well!! You could make cupcake toppers look like horses or wait - what about looking like rein deers!! I saw Mel Davies create some cute as ones here I can't wait to have a play to see what else we can make with them!!

But if you can't wait to have a workshop you can purchase this set for $64.95 for wood mount or $51.95 for clear mount, and the punch is $41.50. This offer is only available for October - it is NOT for sale in November - so contact me today to either book a get together with a few friends or to order the stamp set or punch.

Happy crafting!