happy birthday Stef

My good friend (and cousin in law if there is such a thing) Stef had her birthday last week and this is the card I made for her. It's made using the new scrummy DSP called Mocha Specialty Designer Paper. The black images are flocked - you just want to sit there and pat the card (then the little men come and wrap you in a white coat that ties up in the back and take you away! lol).

The card itself is quite plain letting the texture of the paper stand out. The ribbon is the new seam binding ribbon (in Very Vanilla). I have teamed it up with Very Vanilla card. I even lined the envelope to add to the luxury feel of the whole project.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEF!

welcome to your new home

this is the card that I made for a friend Bron when she shifted house last week. I CASed it off Dee Sturgeon as she sent me a similar card when I shifted - you can see her card here

I changed the colours right up to make it different - I used the wood background stamp to create the weather boards and the flower box. The roof and the shutters are made using the scallop boarder. The windows are just hand cut but the flowers are from the Boho punch and the leaves from the two step bird punch. As you can see from the below punch the roof pulls off to show the card where a greeting is written. I used the retired Good Neighbours 'Sale-a-bration' stamp for the house stamp - that's one retired stamp set I am KEEPING! lol

can you see how TINY the brads I used on the flowers? they are the new TINY brads - they are so cute and so fun and EASY to use!!

adding something a little extra

the other day I was out shopping with another demo and we found these stationary kits and thought we would challenge ourselves to do something to 'swish' it up. SO here is my take. I took it out of a clear acetate box that had yucky stickers all over it. But the items were held in a strong plastic container/tray so I thought I could cover the tray with a lid.

I wrapped some matching card around the side of the tray ......

and added some embellishments to some of the items. I matched the bright pink of the stationary items with Old Olive and Melon Mambo. It was fun to do something like this - I am waiting to see what the other demo does with hers! hehe

If you would like this set be the first person to put in an order over $100 and it's yours!!!

email me at julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz - I am putting in an order on Wednesday night which will be the last one for this month. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

happy 25th anniversary

25 years ago on Tuesday I was a bridesmaid for my friend Chrissy and her hubby Rogan. Over the years we lost contact until recently when we bumped into each other at a shop! I knew it would be their 25th anniversary this year and had been looking for their address as I wanted to at least send them a card. So it was awesome to catch up with her over a couple of lunch dates already and I was able to send them a card after all!

I love the fact now with Stampin' Up! that you can purchase whole packets of silver card as I LOVE the silver. I used silver embossing powder for the sentiment. The flowers are made using the triple layer doily punch. The happy couple are off today to spend a week in Raratonga to celebrate their milestone! So cool to see such a happy pair.

highlighting with sweet treat cups

the sweet treat cup has the new glass glitter in it making it a 'shaker' card. I wanted to highlight the girl swinging - and thought it would look like snow - hence the sponged 'snow' back ground. Sometimes I make a card cause I have a purpose (i.e. birthday, Christmas etc) but sometimes just cause I want to try out an technique - like this one!! I have NO idea what I would use this card for - happy to hear your ideas on that one! hehe

another zig zag card

This is another one of my zigzag cards - this one made for the Stampin' Up! Big Day Out. It is using the new DSP (Designer Series Paper) called Timeless Portrait. It is so pretty - Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla.

The flower is made using the new Doily Triple Layer punch. I have blogged about these before on the post relating to the 3D Frame that I have for sale. A full tutorial for the flower is included in the tutorial for the 3D Frame (only $5NZ!)

the edge around the sentiment is made with just the eyelet boarder punch - punch out a strip and make small snips along the flat edge and then run through a crimper - then you can bend it around the oval - easy peasy!

Happy Crafting!

hows this for CUTE!!!

last nights class on Crafters Anonymous was taken by guest teacher Deb Speijers

Isn't he a little cutie!! It's made from the Stampin' Up! pillow box die and a few Stampin' Up! punches. I used the triple heart punch for the feet and beak - and lots of circles!!

I can see a few of these being made!

LOTS TO SELL CHEAP!!!!

I have just listed all my retired stamps I have for sale on my page above. Just click over to the other page of my blog to see the EXTENSIVE list! There are MANY bargains to be had!!

HAPPY SHOPPING!!

GO THE ALL BLACKS!!!

Last Sunday I had my new catalogue launch party and I made a few take home goodies. As New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup at the moment I thought it was fun to include the theme into my take home gifts and door prizes.

This is the door prize and it's black and white jelly beans in a bag in a box made from the scallop envelop die. I wrapped a belly band of white around it after I stamped 'Celebrate Today' stamp from the 'Well Penned' stamp set. I made the 'sparklers' out of the triple layer doily punch.

Everyone who came to the event took home one of these. I couldn't believe my luck when I found black lolly pops! They came from the same lolly shop as the black and white jelly beans! Apparently they are blackberry flavour! I used two different scallop circles on the back and the small Stampin' Up! alphabet to cut the 'nz' out - finishing off with a bit of black ribbon.

I used the alphabet dies to make the 'GO ALL BLACKS' too. The box is the box our Stampin' Up! catalogues come in which I covered in the brown wrapping paper that is packed into our boxes to protect all our lovely goodies in transit! Finished off with a sheet of Whisper White and there you have a lolly pop stand!

It was a great day and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I will show you the project they made tomorrow :)

thanks for visiting!

my hubby's fathers day card

Here is the card I made for my kids to give their dad for Father's Day last Sunday. My husband collects guitars which means between him and the kids we have 8 guitars (plus a ukulele) and they all like rock music (both kids are in rock bands) so we went for a rock themed card.

I did the guitar on white card with black heat embossing powder. The ribbon I sponged to get the red in it - and take the vanilla out of it! lol

The back ground image was a HEAP of different stamps that I stamped with Versamark and then embossed it with silver embossing powder. I did each stamp one at a time but it all melted into one piece which is great!.

I love texture and so I used a scrap piece of acetate and put it thru the Big Shot and the lattice embossing folder then wiped the Stazon Black ink pad over it (see below pic). I was really pleased how these things went together. and he side the card was 'cool'. A man of few words is my man! hee hee

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Last Sunday was Father's Day down here in New Zealand and this is what I made my Father-in-law. It is a tool bag that has pockets - with one big one that holds a gift card (bottom photo) and lots of room in the bag for lollies!!!

The bag itself is an version of my handbag which is a tutorial I give for free when you purchase my Top Note Stepper Card tutorial. It's a 'tic-tac-toe' type of bag and it's SO easy to change it to suit what you want to achieve. Mind you my FIL didn't realise it was a tool bag - maybe he should wear his glasses more!!!! LOL

I used Soft Suede card and DSP from the patterns pack and just the Soft Suede marker to do the faux stitching. The tools are from the Totally Tools stamp set which are SOOOOOO handy!!.

thanks for visiting!

layered vintage card

This is one of my favourite cards made from the Timeless Portrait DSP. The back two sides of DSP I was worried how I was going to use them as they are very heavily printed - one with cameo heads and the other is hand writing of a Shakespeare story! But I think I managed to work them ok by layering them up with Basic Black panels and a plainer DSP on the last layer before the greeting to help calm the eyes. The scalloped ribbon helps to tie it all together. Rather than tie a bow I made life easy on myself by just creating two loops and tie them together with the legs of a brad! And I STILL love the antique brads the Stampin' Up! sell! Just GORGEOUS!!!!

As the front of this card is fairly heavy (with eight layers!) I needed to add weight to the inside of it - not just to tie it together with the front but also to balance it so the card could stand up hee hee!

fabric on canvas

this is another project using the new Stampin' Up! fabric. These are my parents on their wedding day - 28th January 1961.

I just covered a normal canvas - it wasn't even a new one, just one that I got tired of looking at - always recycling! hehe

The flowers are made with the big Trims dies, I even sponged some of the fabric to get more red showing. The letters are from the new On Board chipboard collect which have been sponged and covered in Crystal Effects. I used the new boarder punch for the lovely lacy bit too. LOTs of great products all available now in the new Ideas Book & Catalogue.

Become a Stampin' Up! demo for just $189

Isn't this an awesome promotion!!! Here is what you get for the $189

$189 Starter Kit (item 127499)
Contains over $340 in products and business supplies—including new products from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue! All items below are recommended, but a new demonstrator can substitute a similar item of equal or lesser value.

Page	Item	Description
37	125012	Pennant Parade Wood-Mount Set*
40	123225	Easy Events Clear-Mount Set*
121	121698	A4 Smooth Card Stock Assortment
121	102277	Old Olive Classic Stampin’ Pad
121	105216	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin’ Pad
121	103133	Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad
124	101179	Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad
126	107311	Whisper White Note Cards (20)
129	124339	Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper*
139	124142	Chocolate Chip 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon*
144	104332	SNAIL Adhesive
147	122129	Blender Pen (1)
163	118486	Clear-Mount Block C

*New to the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue!

as you can see you can change the items for a different colour or a different stamp set valued at the same or lesser.

There are many reasons why to join - discounted product, exclusive Demo only offers and products, opportunity to meet amazing people!! You can share what you love and have customers who order so you can get your product for free!! Or just be a hobby demo. There are A LOT of reasons to join! Email or phone me TODAY for more details - there is even a freebee that Stampin! Up! are offering if you join before the 15th!! Plus be part of my team which is full of support and sharing!