three wise men

Here is a card I made my mum for Christmas - the photo I used is a print of some artwork my grandfather did about 50 years ago. He was an amazing artist and did a lot in the New Zealand advertising industry in the 30's, 40's & 50's. This piece he actually did while working in New York (for Hallmark I think??). 

We have recently been reconnected to his work through two great books that have been written by Peter Alsop and Gary Stewart (& Dave Bamford-first book only) - first one was called "Selling The Dream - The Art of Early New Zealand Tourism" (available HERE) and here is one of the posters my grandfather, Gilbert Meadows, drew.

 The second one is called "Promoting Prosperity - The Art of Early New Zealand Advertising" (available HERE) and below are two from that book. My grandfather did a lot of ads for Anchor and one of them included a painting of my father - I need to get a copy of that one! 

Hope you enjoy checking out these books (published by Craig Cotton Publishing) and maybe buy yourself one for Christmas! hee hee

It's Christmas time.....

for something a bit different I thought I would share our Christmas tree at home. Every year we do a 'theme' and this year it's GREEN! It started when I found those tiny coats at a French shop in Albany - so thought as a sewer I would put things on the tree that represent us - well me and my mini me as hubby's into FORD (blue) and son HOLDEN (red) and neither of those would look good on my tree!!!! hee hee. SO I had a big box of Christmas cookie cutters and thought why not put those on the tree - the reflect the lights and colours of the tree really well!

Now.... mmmmmm what to do next year???? hee hee

Hoot Hoot - it's Holle's birthday!!

Well it was on Monday - she turned 3 (she's the daughter of a friend of mine). AND she (and her mum!!!) are ADDICTED to owls so I HAD to make a big owl using punches - and yes there is a retired punch for the face but I am NEVER selling that one! hee hee. 

The rest is fairly obvious what punches I used - but the hat was hand cut. I find sponging the edges of the cut punched pieces helps the 'character' to POP off the page! lol

Can I confess something - I have not sent ANY Christmas cards this year! whoops! I sold a heap last week and haven't had time to restock (I couldn't send bought cards could I!!!) so I'm sorry to my friends, family and customers - I may try and send New Year ones instead?????? lol

super quick birthday card

it was one of my girlfriends birthday the other day and I made her this super quick card. It was two stamps, I cut the two banners out at the same time and punched a 1/4 circle in each corner and placed on some bling and a triple bow! I love using background stamps like this one just to create a interesting feature. 

CLEARANCE BLITZ

is on NOW so be sure to check out what's available HERE - you can order online directly (you get your order directly from Stampin' Up! or email me at julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz to add to my orders. You can order non Clearance Blitz items at the same time! Items are selling out and new items are being added to the list so keep checking it!!!

Thankful for a few days away

Last weekend as I mentioned in my last post we snuck away for a few days at a friends beach house. I wanted to send him a card to say how thankful we were to be able to stay at his place at the beautiful Whangapoua on the Coromandel. SO I decided to make a card to match his house (pictured below). IT was fun (and frustrating as well as some things just WOULDN'T go straight! lol). Isn't it a beautiful place to stay! Thanks again Jason! :)

25th Anniversary

Yesterday was my (and my husbands of cause! hee hee) 25th wedding anniversary and we went away for a few days. This is the card I made him - HE on the other hand gave me diamond ear rings!!! whoops! I used the card kits from the Annual Catalogue on page 161 called Simply Fabulous Simply Sent kit. I mounted it on Brushed Silver card stock. 

PAPER STRAWS AND MILK BOTTLES

This is the card I made my niece for her 19th birthday. I just LOVE this stamp from the Cycle Celebration - which is the very first stamp set in the Annual Catalogue. 

I use our white gel pen to hightlight the ribbon on the bottle. Just gives it some POW! Below is an EASY card I made with the bottle I stamped to 'practice' my white gel pen colouring! hehe Since it came out ok I thought I would use it! I love the Crumb Cake, Basic Black and Whisper White combo. 

Christmas Printers Tray

I was delighted to find this wooden printers tray shaped like a Christmas Tree on Trade Me a few months ago. It was a fun project to do using the Season of Style Designer Series Paper which includes Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive and Whisper White. Each little space is decorated with different ideas that could easily look great on a Christmas card. Below is a close up of each of the boxes.

I used the Ticket Duo punch to create the bricks on the fireplace.

The 'bows' are just circles with or without a bit punched out of the middle

I heat embossed our Pearls with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder and used Gumball Green on the poinsettia 

these are from the Owl punch

I used SO MANY different stamp sets it would be a long list to type out! lol but I had fun!!

Spongebob Squarepants Thinlits Swing Card

I saw a card like this on Pinterest and just HAD to make one. HERE is the blog of the original card.

it was an easy card to make except for the pants and belt! lol I ended up using the tiny stamp punch and then weaved the black card through. I used So Saffron and Crushed Curry and lots of circle punches! 

I'M BACK!!!

So sorry for not posting for so long - LIFE just got in the way! But one of the things that happened was my daughter got top scholar for her year at Senior High which was really amazing! So pleased for all her hard work!

BUT back to paper crafting ..... since I haven't had a chance to blog for a bit I would share 3 projects today! these are ALL using the new thinlits that cut the swinging part but I've adjusted the way I cut it so there is a longer 'flap' that gives a private part where you can write on. 

this one I made a pocket for a gift card.

have a great day!!! xx

Create Pretty Packages

Item	Description	Price	Includes
135811	Holiday Tag It Decorative Box Bundle	$34.95 AUD /$42.95 NZD	Stamp a Tag Kit Cherry Cobbler 1" Stitched Edge Grosgrain Ribbon (10 yards) Decorative Window Gift Boxes (6 boxes)
135812	Holiday Tag It Extra-Large Box Bundle	$32.95 AUD /$40.95 NZD	Stamp a Tag Kit Cherry Cobbler 1" Stitched Edge Grosgrain Ribbon (10 yards) Extra-Large Gift Boxes (3 boxes)

I LOVE gift giving and I LOVE wrapping them up just as much! And Stampin' Up! are offering two bundles with 20% off. What great value! just imagine what goodies you can put inside these boxes! Cookies, smellies AWESOME!!!!

Envelope Punch Board is now available

YES Stampin' Up! have brought out a punch board. It's original purpose is for making envelopes but there are HEAPS of other things you can make from it. These include boxes, tabs and many many more. There are lots of videos and tutorials about on how to do things - HERE is the Stampin' Up! one

Here is a card I made using the punch board to make the tabs at the top of it. This idea I got from a swap from Rachael Knight. I used the new embossing folder - Stylish Stripes - and then added 1cm strips on five of the stripes.

The board costs only $38.95 which is very competitive! Don't forget it of cause any purchase can go towards Hostess dollars and my own 'chocolate treats' loyalty cards. Email me to place your order and I will throw in some Designer Series Paper so you can start making pretty envelopes straight away! julia.leece@vodafone.co.nz

There are other great promos happening at mo so I will post those over the next few days!