birthday card for Mother-in-law

in a few weeks it's my mother in laws birthday so I wanted to make a card just for her. His card uses the new DSP pack - Fan Fare - which is my current favourite! All the different textures and layers all mean something on this. She is a good cook and sewed all her three sons clothes. She also worked in the office of a few company's as a typist so that had to appear too. She isn't into 'pretty' things - her favourite colours are quite masculine so I just added a touch of pink to keep it feminine.
I dry embossed some of the papers to give it some more texture and even stamped directly on to cotton ribbon and directly onto the DSP. Lots of sponging too to keep the colours simular and aged.
see you soon!

golden dove

Last weekend I had a workshop and I made this for the Hostess gift. It's made using our Elegant Bird Die and the new 'champagne' glimmer card. I put it on a florist stick so the hostess could wind it on anything - be it her Christmas tree or from a light etc. To make it you need to cut 2 bodies in opposite directions and 4 wings (as they are glimmery from the bottom too) again 2 in one direction and 2 mirrored. Stick the wings together (leaving the tab at the end without adhesive and then work out where on the body you want the wings to come from then cut the body a small bit, long enough to pop the tab of the wings in the fold each piece in different directions and adhere to the inside of the bird. Then attach you wire or ribbon if you want to hang it from something and then glue the two parts of the bird together. Work out where you want the eye to go and fix a pearl. EASY PEASY!! I hung a tag around my doves neck which has a Christmas greeting on it. I first saw this at the Stampin' Up! Heartfelt event and Barbara Bicknall had it on her display items.
Have a fab day - I will be away for a week (holiday in Cairns, Australia with the kids - yipppeee) and if I get a chance I will preload some posts otherwise I won't be posting again till the 7th of October!

Pinterest Tuesday - my first 'gap' card

Every Tuesday we do a 'Pinterest Tuesday' challenge on our Crafters Anonymous Facebook page. I spied a card that was called a 'gap' card and thought I could have a go. Since it's my brother in laws birthday shortly I thought I would make him one. I have wanted to get into my new DSP since it arrived and this is from the Fan Fare pack. I did wheel the 'travel journal' build a wheel on some of the DSP to give it more details. I love stamping directly onto DSP, you can alter it to the colours or designs you want. The ruler strip was part of the DSP same with the sentiment "c'est la vie' which means 'that's life' according to Google Translate! hehe To get the name I used the new Typeset Alphebet which are all in capitals which makes doing this type of thing PERFECT!!! I did cut 2 of each letter so there is one on the front and one on the back of it to give it the strength to hold it all together.
This card is an oversize card so I made my own envelope using the Simply Scored Diagonal Plate - it make making envelopes SO easy!!!
Hope you Wednesday is a good one!

cute and easy bookmark

 Last night on Crafters Anonymous I took the weekly online class and we made this book mark. It is REALLY easy and makes for a great workshop 'extra' or something special to add to a birthday or Christmas card.

It sits on the corner of the page of a book (yes that is a Stampin' Up! catalogue hee hee) to save where you are up to and......................................

and so when you shut the book it looks like this. When decorating you have to be careful not to use anything to lumpy or scratchy as you don't want your precious books to be damaged. And if you are like many people I know who do all your reading on a eBook or Kindle then you could use them to hang your Christmas cards up when you receive them in the post. Just add a dot of glue or a dot of blue-tac on the corner of the card and slip it into the pocket on the bookmark and then hang them from a ribbon or string. Or you could just hang them from the Christmas tree as decorations!! Love to here any more suggestions as to what we can use it for other than a bookmark???? chat soon!!

KELLY scrapbook page

Believe it or not I was a scrapbook WAY before I started making cards lol! But I seem to only do a few pages a year now - so so so sad as I do LOVE scrapping. This page is of my daughter when she was only 18mths old. The photo was taken by my photographer brother at his place when we were staying down their in Gisborne. I used the Comfort Cafe DSP and lots of new toys to create this. I started with a sheet of the new Core-ordinates textured card (in Early Espresso) and sanded the edges to reveal the inside colour of the core.

 Lots of die cutting to make the layers and ending with some hand sewing with the plain white bakers twine. I used the new piercing mats to get the eveness (yip just made that word up!) of the stitching.

 I even stamped on the new cotton ribbon and I coloured some plain white bakers twine with the Summer Starfruit marker pen to get the colour I wanted for the feature on the button.

 These flowers are made using the new 1/14" scallop circle - such a neat little punch!
Ok it's Monday morning here in New Zealand so I have a pile of domesticated duties to do :( but the sooner I get them done the sooner I can go to work in my craft room!!!
Have a great week!

I LOVE Stampin' Up! Fabric!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Here are two projects I made using new Stampin' Up! fabric. The first is a padded coathanger that I made out of the Orchard Harvest fabric. I love how the stripes and checks go togerher.

The second is a lunch bag I made using the Comfort Cafe fabric. It is lined with plastic and I used blackboard fabric cut out with one of our Framelits. This was you can use a piece of chalk to write a name or sentiment to whoevers lunch it is! so cute and fun!!! Have a GREAT day! xx

This is one of my favourite of my BAMBOO books. I think the simplicity of it makes it stands out. I kept the spine free of a cover so you can see how it looks when done. The stamp set I used for the picture on the cover is a Hostess set in the new Annual Catalogue called Summer Afternoon. I stamped it in Basic Black directly on to the Crumb Cake card and coloured it in with my white gel pen - gotta love that pen! The sentiment "Cherish the Moments" is from the baby set "Baby Prints" - the sentiment was PERFECT for the lazy reflective image of the swing set. I love looking at stamps individually and seeing how the can be used outside the 'obvious'!

This book is covered with Stampin' Up! fabric Candlelight Christmas. I did put a layer of padding between the cardboard of the cover and the fabric - I LOVE patting this one! lol The fabric was adhered to the card with the Fabric Adhesive we sell.
It's Friday night here in New Zealand and so we are looking forward to a great weekend! I have a workshop tomorrow morning so something really good to look forward too. I LOVE sharing what I do with others!!!
Happy weekend!!

some more bamboo books

Here is another two books - all made with my glue free bamboo sticks method. This particular one was SO easy! I have put a picture of the inside of one page to show the method a bit better. I WILL (eventually) put up a tutorial how to do it. I have been flat tack since the weekend and between classes and workshops I haven't had much spare time. Not to mention putting my back out at some stage on Sunday so the sciatica down my right leg is sooooo annoying!
This last one is another one that I demo'ed at the Heartfelt events with the 'clashing' colours.
Hope you all have a great day!!

Stef's card and an eventful day!

On Monday I went out to lunch with a close friend to celebrate her upcoming birthday. The lunch was an interesting one, starting with a HUGE traffic Jam, then we couldn't find the cafe, and then when we got their we couldn't stand being in the cafe cause it was SO noisy. We ended up sitting outside for the mean which was really tasty! Then we went inside to have a hot drink after the meal. After that I looked at another diner and thought he looked really unwell. I mentioned this to my friend who was a nurse years ago. She jumped into 'nurse' mode and got him down on the ground as he passed out and the ambos said that she probably saved his life as the way he was sitting on his chair his airways would of been 'compromised'! It was quite an eventful day!

This is the card that I made for her - I wanted to try out some new stamps and embossing folders.
This is the inside of the card - it's always nice to have the inside of the card decorated.

Let's hope next time I am out with Stef she doesn't have to put on the floor show like we had on Monday!!!

Have a good and safe day! xx
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MORE ITEMS FOR SALE AT DISCOUNTED PRICES!!!

I have finally been able to list the last of the products that have now retired. If you live in New Zealand and want a bargain have a look. These prices DO NOT include postage.

PUNCHES FOR SALE

Doily Triple Layer Punch 122465 $27

Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch 122646 $27

Pinking Hearts Corner Punch 118072 $12

Pinking Hearts Boarder Punch 117649 $18

Eyelet Boarder Punch 119853 $18

Eyelet Boarder Punch Old Black Style 119853 $15

BIG SHOT DIES FOR SALE

Merry Details Sizzlits $6

Swirls Scribbles Sizzlits 113441 $6

Many Thanks Sizzlits 115972 $6

Clear Circle Bigz Clear Die 114533 $23

Island Floral Bigz Die 118871 $24

Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die 113469 $23

Simple Numbers Bigz Dies (set of 2) 115968 $48

Simple Letters Alphabet Bigz Dies (set of 4) $97

Ovals Original Die 114525 $18

Leaves #2 Original Die 113459 $18

STANDARD WHEELS

Soft Holly 112968 $10

P is for Paw 115620 $8

Egg Hunt 113833 $8

Funky Forest 114695 $8

Contempo 120324 $10

Love Blossoms 123838 $8

Cupcakes 113121 $8

Spring Floral 115166 $8

Vine & Blossoms 120328

Solitude $8

Baroque Boarder $5

Cheers $8

Fast Flower $5

Celebration $8

Super Sport $8

Gym Shoe $8

JUMBO WHEELS

Friendly Words 114696 $10

Dotted Lines 111256 $12

Petite Petals 120322 $12

Classic Stars $10

Spot On $10

Lazy Days $10

It's Beautiful $10

BELOW is all NEW product in ORIGINAL packaging.

RIBBON (FULL REELS)

Melon Mambo Grosgrain Striped 125057 $8

Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Seam Binding 122330 $8

Soft Suede Grosgrain Polka Dot 115612

Pleated Satin:

Riding Hood Red 125569 $10

Blushing Bride 125570 $10

Pear Pizzazz 125568 $10

Baja Breeze 125571 $10

Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack 127279 $15

Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack 127279 (does not include Calypso reel) $10

Ice Cream Parlor Ribbon & Button Pack 123613 $10

Ice Cream Parlor Ribbon & Button Pack 123613 $10

DESIGNER FABRIC

Deck the Halls 121716 $6

Sweet Swatches 121818 $10

OTHER:

Basic Black Journaler $5

Pinterest Tuesday - Butterfly Rainbow

Yes today is Pinterest Tuesday on the Crafters Anonymous Facebook page and the above is pretty much a direct case to the original here - http://pinterest.com/pin/76420524898253848/

I started with the Baja Breeze cardstock and sponge clouds with White Craft ink on it with a scallop circle punched cloud template. It gives a nice subtle effect that really doesn't show well on the photo. Then I stamped some butterflies from the new set Papillon Potpourri and punched them out with the new Butterfly Punch - I just LOVE both the set and the punch. It has the real life like butter like the bottom red one and then stylised ones like the green one with 4 blingys on it and the florally purple one up near the top on the left. The other butterflies were cut and embossed with the Big Shot and the Beautiful Wings Embosslit - so pretty!
This book is the one I demonstrated at the Auckland Heartfelt event which I used Pinterest for the Betsy's Blossom placement. That one I traced back to the website here - http://nanceleedy.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/making-my-own-edgelit.html

I was asked as part of my brief to put together some things that people wouldn't normal use - and to be honest these two colours are me LEAST favourites of all the Stampin' Up!s range. These are Gumball Green and Primrose Petals. I used the contrasting colours to show how my books worked as the bamboo sticks are woven thru the tabs and it was easy to show them. But when you add So Saffron to the mix the two contrasting colours go together!
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Heartfelt

here is another book I made. This one I died the bamboo sticks and organza ribbon Midnight Muse. To create the sentiment I stamped the one stamp 3 times in different colours. I fussy cut around them and layered it up. The DSP is Comfort Cafe which I LOVE! and of cause the Early Espresso tulle which is just awesome to use.

see you tomorrow with another book!

Homemade Book with Bamboo Sticks????

I was privileged to be asked to present at both New Zealand Stampin' Up! Heartfelt Events. The first was on the 1st of September in Christchurch and the second was yesterday in Auckland. The main thing I showed was how to make this book - I have about 6 samples to show so I will show them all this week, following with a tutorial on how to do.

We had two amazing days - part of the amazement was seeing all the new products and PLAYING with them all - the second part was sharing and being with with fellow crafts - both other demos but also their guests.

The first book is made using Summer Starfruit (although at the first event I called it Summer Starfish - WHOOPS! lol) and Midnight Muse. I personal LOVE Summer Starfruit, but it's not everyones cup of tea - but it looks AWESOME with Midnight Muse. I used Papaya Collage for the stamp on this cover.
Here you can see how I turn one sheet of cardstock to make two pages. I made a spine on the book and scored them to create the ribbed part you see on lots of old books.

Believe it or not there are 6 bamboo stick in this book - so come back over the next week to see the other samples made with this technique and the tutorial for it.

Thanks for visiting!!

a simple thanks

two weeks ago I went down to Christchurch for a special Stampin' Up! Heartfelt event. I first went down to met up with some of my team that I hadn't actually met face to face! But when the New Zealand Manager for Stampin' Up! heard I was going down she asked me to present - eek! lol And on an aside I'm presenting again tomorrow in front of more than twice as many people!!! (double eek!).

One thing that really helped while I was down there (and some before I got there) was the support that some close friends gave me. I had a sudden dip in my confidence before the event and wasn't sure my project was good enough but these wonderful woman helped keep me centered and strong. SO when I got back home I made them each this card to say simply say THANKS! I used Betsy's Blossom to start with. I wanted a card that was all about the sentiment - and simple and basic.

SO thanks ladies - I couldn't of done it with out you - FRIENDS are great!xx

Christmas Tags

These are three tags that were part of the 'make & take' at my new Stampin' Up! Annual & Holiday catalogue launch on Sunday. They are made from Raspberry Ripple card stock and this one above has Whisper White and Early Espresso. We used the Sentsational Seasons stamp set that has a matching die to cut out the elements. For the first tag we used the new Early Espresso embossing powder.
For the gingerbread man we used the new Summer Starfruit stamp pad and stamped on Soft Suede then sprinkled with the new and VERY YUMMY Sugar & Spice scented embossing powder - it is DIVINE!! We used the white gel pen to bring out the features on little man!
This last one uses the Raspberry Ripple ink and the other new scented embossing powder of Peppermint Sticks - I am not 100% sure on this one - as it didn't seem to hold it's scent once heated as well as the Sugar & Spice one did BUT if you sprinkled a "little" bit in an envelope containing something with this on the smell will penetrate much better.

They were fun to make and you can use them as a tag on a gift of add them to a card.

It's a cold cold day in Auckland, New Zealand today but the sun is shining and will start to thaw us out - a good day to keep busy in my craft room! Hope your day is a good one too!

WHAT A MESS!!!!

OK THIS is what my craft room looks like after a MAD couple of weeks of full on events etc. New products came in and got dumped, displays got made and then returned - yip dumped! lol Between sewing projects and paper crafting it was a MESS in my room. So I spent a couple of hours sorting it out and I now present my TIDIER room! I was surprised it didn't take long to do!! I do still need to put my new catalogue stamps in my system but they are still sitting on the shelves. I do need to sell off lots of retired stuff - so if you haven't checked out my GARAGE SALE please do so - I need to keep clearing it all out! lol