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

time for a morning cuppa?

I love this new set called Morning Cup. It covers both coffee and tea drinkers. So far this is the only project I have made with it. The backing card is Early Espresso, then I have layered it with the green - Wild Wasabi, and stamped directly on to River Rock. I used a Wasabi, Bashful Blue and Peach Partait to colour with a blender pen. I think it has a retro look. The thin ribbon usually has a light (cream or silver we can't work out yet LOL) edge to it which didn't suit the card so I ran it under my Early Espresso marker pen which took the harshness away.

I used the scallop oval and boarder punch to give it some more detail.

As you can see I haven't been able to use my stone background I usually take my photos on - we have had some really BAD unseasonal spring weather of late so no outside photography! At the moment we are being hit by the biggest storm in the world - it's about the size of Australia!! So hopefully it wont keep keen crafters away from the two events I have this weekend. I have a big class/workshop where 18 crafters are making three Christmas Cards today and tomorrow I have my new Stampin' Up! catalogue launch. I still have room for a few more people on Sunday for the launch (a FREE event) so if you are lost for something to do on Sunday afternoon and are in the Auckland, New Zealand area email me - julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

my guitar hero

the first photo is a photo of my sons first gig last year (blonde on the far right) - he's now in a different band (The Third System) and is lead guitarist now so when I saw the new stamp 'Extreme Guitar' I KNEW I had to have it! This is the first card I have made using it - the base is Basic Black, and the ribbon is cream and black. The image is stamped on glossy white card after I had sponged it with Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait (man those names are so similar!) which are two of the new "In Colors" introduced in the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue.

The sentiment is from a fabulous stamp set called Word Play - it is a wonderful set full of lots of different sentiments like this one. I was luckily enough to earn this set for free because I did a presentation at my local Regional Training. Awesome eh!

That's the great thing with Stampin' Up! they always offering to up skill you and organise excellent events - so why not contact me to learn more about being a Stampin' Up! demo. There is still a great special available where you can get over $100 worth of brand new products FREE when you sign up. julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

By the way - to get the shape on the card you place the card in the Top Note Big Shot Die and after it's cut once you turn it 90o and cut it again. Thanks to Brenda McLeish for telling me about this idea. To see more that you can do with this technique go to Kirsteen Gill's blog www.creatinwithkirsteen.com

I LOVE THE NEW OWL PUNCH!!!!!!

as you can probably tell - so we made up this display. 'We' is my 13yo daughter Kelly and me. Yesterday while the secondary school teachers were on strike and both my kids were home we made this. Well - Kelly made half of them and I made the other half. Kelly even invented the baby chicken herself and I invented the little dress on the coat hanger but the others were are all versions of other amazing designs that I found on the web. I am sure that there are plenty more critters out there to make!
It just goes to show how - you can use your Stampin' Up! punches for so many different things other than the original intention! I would love to see what you have seen or even made up yourself - so leave a comment with a link to some punchy goodness!

Mini Milk Cartons

aren't these the cutest things you have ever seen?? this is one of the new Big Shot dies from our brand new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue. I am having a FREE launch party this Sunday and I am giving one of these to every guest - and of cause they have chocolate in them!! hehe

The lovely OWL punch is also new and there is a fabulous stamp set that goes really well with the milk cartons - it has the OPEN and arrow you can see on them.

So if you would like to know more about my launch email me on julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

thanks for visiting my blog - have a great Wednesday!

tent card

this card is called a tent card - I am guessing because from the side it looks a bit like a tent! LOL
I used the set Printed Petals which is new in the Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue this year. I used a colour that I don't often get out - More Mustard. Sometimes you forget about some colours cause you are besotted with another - More Mustard often doesn't get to come out to play. Teamed with Whisper White (I used textured card stock for this) and a bit of So Saffron it isn't too bad. Sometimes it's good to create with colours or tools or even stamp sets that aren't your favourite. This particular set I got while I was at on Convention in Sydney so I have had it since May but hardly used it. Only fair it finally got a turn!
The other colour I haven't played with (at all I think) is Bravo Burgundy - so may that might be a challenge for me or you - I would love to see some creations with this colour!!

NOW don't forget I have my FREE launch for the new catalogue on Sunday 19th September @1.30 - come along and see all the great new products, have a play and enjoy some yummy refreshments with some other crafters. Just let me know that you can make it so I can ensure I have enough munches and FREE BEES!!!!!!!
Also I have class this Wednesday and we are making acetate cards. Classes are 12.30-2.30pm and 7.30-9.30pm $15.
Email me to reserve your spot at either events. julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

something for the man in your life

Last Sunday was Father's Day in New Zealand and this is what I made for my father in law. He was a builder so it was really appropriate. I silver embossed the tools (from Totally Tools stamp set) and then using a Versamark pen to colour the inside of the stamped image and embossed in silver to make them look like metal. The paper that they are wrapped in is the lovely Newsprint DSP that has just been released in the new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue.

To get the textured background I just scored the card at 1cm intervals. The original idea of tools wrapped to a bouquet was by a fellow Stampin' Up! demo Tania Cordie from Queensland.

Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great weekend!

Shopping Helps!!

Like the card says - "Life Happens, Shopping Helps" !!! and that's often the case with us so what better thing to do than to go shopping for crafts. This is a quick card I made up with one of the new Hostess stamp sets out of the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue (have you got yours yet?) called Playful Pieces. It has 30 (yes 30) stamps and you can get it for FREE!! with qualifying sales at any workshop or order. It is made up of lots of shapes and you can create lots of things from these shopping bags to cakes and Christmas trees and LOTS MORE.
To get the coloured embossing on the shopping bags I first put Versamark on my stamp and pressed once on to the coloured stamp pad and then straight onto the card. I quickly put clear embossing powder over it and heated it with my heat tool. The key is not to rub off the Versamark when you put the colour on. To make the handles you first punch out a small oval from a piece of card (which you can use for another project) and then place your large oval punch around the small oval hole and you get the oval ring. You can do it to any shape that you have two different size punches - round, square etc.
So contact me today to order your catalogue or to start shopping from it! I am happy to show you how to get this stamp set for free. email me at julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

Just Add Ink #33 entry

here is the cool sketch that the team over on www.just-add-ink.blogspot.com have set for this week and here is my interpretation of it. Go and visit the site to see all the wonderful ideas people have come up with.

I used Jet Black Stazon ink with the Very Vintage Jumbo wheel to create the pattern on the thick window sheet (acetate). Did you know Stampin' Up! have these in the Idea Book and Catalogue? I then used my most favourite Stampin' Up!'s Big Shot die - Top Note and also the Sizzlites dies - leaves and lots of tags. The flowers are from Vintage Vogue, stamped with the Jet Black stazon again. The words are from the set - Thoughts and Prayers. I finished it with a but of Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon and stick on pearls.

I love the combination of Basic Black and Very Vanilla - they are made for each other. I was inspired to create this card after hearing about the continuation of the aftershocks in the South Island following Saturdays big quake. My thoughts are with all my friends down in that area.

For prices or for ordering any of these products email me at julia.leece@slingshot.co.nz

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

birds with no feathers?

hee hee these sweet birds are made from Designer Series Paper (DSP), I used the Greenhouse Gala DSP from the new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue that has just been released. To make these yourself, go to Gretchen Barron's blog- here is the link http://gretchenbarron.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/08/decorative-dsp-bird-free-tutorial.html here is a link to a video on how to do them. http://www.stampinpretty.com/diary-of-the-stampin-pretty-zone.html
The birds are also featured in the catalogue on page 125. I found the smaller one was actually easier to make than the bigger one, although it could of been just because I had made one already! LOL

PS - sorry no stones in the background today - ITS RAINING here now!

now for something completely different

I get an email every day or so which a fellow crafter called Kelly Mayou http://weekendstamper.blogspot.com/ who puts together a list of great crafting blogs to visit and get inspiration from http://blogfindsoftheday.blogspot.com/ and the other day she had given this information which I thought was really interesting. So today I thought I would share you this while I worked on some cards to send to some fellow crafty friends who yesterday got their lives turned upside with a HUGE earthquake. The quake struck at 4.30 am and was a magnitude 7.1 earthquake which was about the same size as the Haiti quake. Many have lost there houses but amazingly no one lost their lives! So my thoughts are with you all in Christchurch and the Canterbury area.

The History of Greeting Cards(from the Postcard and Greeting Card Museum - www.emotionscards.com) Sending greeting cards to friends and family is a tradition that goes back about 200 years. They were mostly sent by the elite and wealthy in the early to mid 1800's. Most of the early greeting cards were hand delivered and many were quite expensive, but they soon gained mass popularity with the introduction of the world's first postage stamp issued in 1840 and a few ambitious printer's and manufacturer's perfecting printing methods, hiring artists and designed both elaborate expensive cards as well as simple affordable ones by the 1850's.As you visit our galleries you will see that cards of the past were fine pieces of art. Manufacturer's used quality artists and many of the large manufacturer's held "art" competitions to generate interest and to get new ideas for cards. Some of these competitions awarded as much as $1,000.00 to the winner!The oldest known greeting card in existence is a Valentine made in the 1400's and is in the British Museum. New Year's cards can be dated back to this period as well, but the New Year greeting didn't gain popularity until the late 1700's. The Valentine and Christmas Card were the most popular cards, with Valentine's offering us the most "mechanical", "pop-up" and filigree cards, followed by Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Cards gained their highest popularity in the late 1800's and early 1900's offering us cards with some of the most unusual art. The Victorian age give us the most prolific cards. Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, when lovers said or sang their Valentines. Written Valentines began to appear after 1400. Paper Valentines were exchanged in Europe where they were given in place of Valentine gifts. Handmade paper Valentines were especially popular in England. In the mid to early 1800's, Valentines began to be assembled in factories. Early manufactured Valentines were black and white pictures painted by workers in a factory. Esther Howland (see below) known as the Mother of the Valentine made fancy Valentines with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". She introduced the Paper Lace Valentine in the mid 1800's. By the end of the 1800's, Valentines were being made entirely by machine.Christmas cards were introduced and popularized by John Calcott Horsley, the artist of what is known as the world's first Christmas Card and Louis Prang, known as the Father of the American Christmas Card.The rest is History. With the exchange of New Year's, Valentine's, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Birthday Cards, just to name a few, there is probably no occasion that doesn't have its own greeting card!

little card set

Isn't this cute!!! This is what we did this week at my class. I made the hearts with the solid heart

punch but I "kissed" it with another stamp before stamping it on the Very Vanilla card. The first one I inked up the wood grain stamp and then "kissed" the heart stamp to it and the result is the wood grain lines within the heart shape. The other one I inked up the heart stamp with Real Red and then "kissed" it with the clean wood grain stamp giving a different look again. You can kiss lots of stamps - it seems best to have a stamp that is solid so the patterned stamp (or wheel) can leave a good image.

The little "magazine holder" was inspired by a swap I got last weekend at the Stampin' Up! Hamilton Regional Seminar. Karen Williamson kwilli@ihug.co.nz from Tauranga made them as her swap and was lovely enough to include the template for them with her swap - thanks SO MUCH Karen!!! I did alter the measurements but isn't it a neat way to present a little card set like this or a small chocolate like Karen did with her swap - I LOVE CHOCOLATE in swaps! Actually I LOVE CHOCOLATE anywhere and anytime!! LOL

The lovely Designer Series Paper (DSP) is the awesome Newsprint one from the new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book and Catalogue 2010-2011. Only $20.50 for 12 sheets of double sided sheets 12" x12" in size. There are some BEAUTIFUL DSP's in the new catalogue - I can't wait till my first order arrives with them in it!!!!

Thanks again for visiting - have a awesome weekend!

TIME for a change!

The new Stampin' Up! Ideas Book & Catalogue goes live today!!! whooooaaaa
There is so many lovely things in it - like this Designer Series Paper (DSP) I have cut up some of the sheets and put them together on the clock, even the sheets with numbers are in the pack. I sponged the edges with Basic Black ink and then covered it all with Crystal Effects which seals it. There are 12 sheets (2 of each design) in each packet of DSP and they are double sided and are Basic Black and Very Vanilla. Isn't it a great pack for just $20.50.
(order number 117166 page 127)

If you haven't got your catalogue they are $10 (RRP $15.95) or FREE if you hold a workshop with me. Contact me today to book a date!