postcard from Paris

this morning I made this card by sponging. Normally when I sponge I use glossy paper but today I decided to use normal Whisper White which enables you to get darker colours. I masked out where the moon went and worked from the lightest colour to darkest. I used Pacific Point, Not Quiet Navy, Night Navy and Basic Black. The Eiffel Tower is from the awesome set Artistic Etchings and the back ground on the Basic Black card is from Notably Ornate. The 'post card' words are from the set called Winter Post which I don't have but I borrowed off the lovely Kate Tobeck http://katetobeck.blogspot.com/ . Kate and the awesome Bron Heslop http://bronheslop.wordpress.com/ came over this morning for a 'play date' hee hee! As Stampin' Up! demonstrators we LOVE getting together and creating - and it's great when you can share your tools (or toys as we call them) so it's fab to be able to use things that you haven't got. So THANK YOU Kate for the use of your set!

gifts for hostesses

these canisters are for anyone who hosts a workshop for me till the end of October.

They are made using some cool canisters that I found at a neat shop and I have decorated them. The canisters are very close to the new colour Early Espresso but we don't have a DSP (Design Series Paper) with Early Espresso so I made my own. The one of the right I used the Circle Circus stamp set and the Extreme Element set. The one on the left I used the wheel stamp Take a Sip and I coloured them in myself. The centre one is just the wonderful Medallion Stamp and the cute a la carte stamp So Many Thanks.

If you would like to have one of these (did I mention they are filled with 'treats'???s) contact me to book a Stampin' Up! workshop. Workshops are so much fun, get a few friends together to see some lovely products, watch me demo some tools and create something (which you as the hostess gets!) and then we all create a project together. There will be time to peruse the new Idea Book & Catalogue and do some shopping!! yippeee we all love shopping!! And the more your friends shop the more wonderful free stuff you as a hostess gets!!!!! So if you want to be the receiver of FREE stuff contact me NOW!!! julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

special card for a friend

a friend of mine had to put her beloved cat 'Sing' to sleep the other day. This is always a hard thing for any pet lover to day so I made her a card today to send to her. It's awesome that Stampin' Up! have such appropriate stamps in their catalogue like this one called 'C for Cat'. There is also a 'D for Dog' set too.

I used the cat stamp for the front and two other stamps for the message inside of the card.

To get the great effect around the cat I wet some watercolour paper and then stamped with Crumb Cake (was called Kraft) and as it's die based ink it bleed. Once I dried the paper with my trusty heat tool I then stamped over the top with Early Espresso - I love the result!

Finished the card with some paper piercing, a button and some ribbon and it's all done.

I hope Linda and her family are comforted by my card as I can't be there in person to give her a hug!.

RIP Sing.

Just Add more Sympathy

Unfortunately I needed to make another sympathy card today so this is my second this week I decided to do a tri-shutter card and used the beautiful Woodland Walk papers from the new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue as I thought it look peaceful, which is what you want to give people when they are morning the lost of family or a friend. I teamed the Crumb Cake up with Pear Pizzazz and Very Vanilla. The lilies are from Fifth Ave and the sentiment is again from Thoughts and Prayers. I added some Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon and there is even a small pearl on the petal of one of the flowers. I am loving these teeny tiny pearls.

I have entered this card as my second entry in this weeks Just Add Ink #35 challenge. There are some beautiful cards being created over there so go and have a look - www.just-add-ink.blogspot.com and I am sure you will be inspired and uplifted.

Just Add Sympathy - JAI #35

this week over on Just Add Ink (click on the blinkie on the right) the theme the current challenge is 'Just Add - Sympathy' so here is my entry. Unfortunately we need to send more of these than we would like so I usually have a few lying around but I wanted to make one using things that I have never used before. So it started by using some Bravo Burgundy card stock and ink. I think it was the first time my Bravo Burgundy stamp pad had ever been opened! I teamed it up some Almost Artichoke which is another colour I barely use which for both of these I don't know why! I think they go beautiful together especially with the Very Vanilla I have used.

The flowers that I have used are the new paper flowers the Stampin' Up! have in the new Idea Book & Catalogue. I sponged them with both the Bravo Burgundy and Almost Artichoke and added a wee pearl (another great new product). The bow is Very Vanilla taffeta and the heart is from the new Level 1 Hostess set called Punch Potpourri.

Did you notice the scallop trim along the bottom of the layered card? That is the new Scallop Trim boarder punch and I wheeled the new Music Notes wheel in Bravo Burgundy too.

The sentiment is from the absolutely must have set called Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

Thanks for visiting my blog and be sure to visit the Just Add Ink blog for lots of other amazing projects.

One of my new catalogue demonstration cards

this card was one I demonstrated yesterday at my new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue. It uses the vintage style stamp set Artistic Etchings. I stamped the circle stamp on our Brushed Gold card and the base of the card is also the Gold. The crown (turned upside down to create the bauble holder) was stamped on to the Brushed Silver. I used the Music Notes standard wheel stamped in Crumb Cake on to Very Vanilla. The DSP (design series paper) is Elegant Soiree - so yummy! I used one of the lovely new Antique Brads and the Modern Label punch - it's such a great elegant shape! A bit of paper tearing and distressing and its done!

This second picture is a close up of the yummy cup cakes that were part of the afternoon tea that we provided for those at the launch. As you can see I made cup cake holders by cutting card out, embossing it thru the Stampin' Up! Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and using the brand new Scallop Trim boarder punch. Again my talented 13yo daughter Kelly made and iced the cupcakes for me - didn't she do a great job!

If you missed out on my launch why not book a workshop at your place (or mine if it's easier for you) when I can demonstrate this card and might even be able to twist Kelly's arm to make some cup cakes that I can bring. Well actually we wont be twisting her arm as she fell off her Rollerblades last night and has her right arm in a cast (yes again!!) with a suspected fractured wrist! So like last school holidays when she had the same wrist in plaster after tearing a ligament in her thumb, she is spending the next two weeks in a cast. But I am sure we can still create something to bring! hehe

email me today julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz to book a date!

getting ready for Christmas!

these three cards I designed for a class I did yesterday at Bucklands Beach. They are all fairly simple in design but covered a few techniques which for most was the first time they had tried them.

The top one uses heat embossing on the two ornaments - one silver the other gold. The set we used is Contempo Christmas ($31.95 wood or $25.95 clear mount) for four stamps, there is a Christmas tree stamp and another sentiment which says "CHRISTMAS IS LOVE, WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS" - there's even a standard size wheel that co-ordinates with the whole set too. The gold card stock is part of a pack of three metallic card - gold, silver and bronze ($20.95 for 3 sheets of each colour). We used the new ornament punch to punch out the ornament - punches make life so much easier! (check out my owl punch art on a earlier post this week)

The middle card has a Night of Navy base. The stamp set we used is "Lovely as a Tree" ($58.95 wood only) which is SUCH a versatile set which you can use in all sorts of projects. We used the Stampin' Up! Big Shot Top Note die to create the stencil which we used to get the sponging in that shape. The cut out piece we placed inside the card to write your greeting on. We used Bashful Blue for the sponging and the background trees and Night of Navy for the sentiment and the single tree. Of cause we had to add 'bling' (Dazzling Diamonds) which makes the card glitter and look like snow.

The last card is using the lovely a' la carte stamp set called Dasher. This stamp is sold by itself for only $18.50. The card is Riding Hood Red and Old Olive - great Christmas colours! We used a crimper and the new scallop corner punch ($23.95) to create the lattice square - isn't it lovely! The sentiment is from the stamps set Perfect Punches ($48.95 wood, $36.95 clear mount) which has 6 stamps which fit perfectly with six different punches.

If you are interested in having a one off class at your home/craft group/church etc contact me to discuss options and costs etc. julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz