Tuesday 31 May 2011

Bleach Cards

I am running a class this Friday night on the "Bleaching" technique. At convention a Queensland demo - Kirsty Brown did a workshop WOW on bleach at one of the General Sessions. I had already scheduled my class but it was great to see a few extra ideas for this technique. The first card I've used the stampset "Just Believe" and have stamped onto 'More Mustard' cardstock.
The second card I have used the "Fine Flourish" stamped and embossed the image with black embossing powder on Rose Red cardstock and then with an aqua painter filled with bleach I have painted selected sections of the Fine Flourish image.

The third card I have stamped "Upsy Daisy" with bleach onto 'Pretty in Pink' cardstock. I then layered the stamped image on to 'Melon Mambo' inside the 'Framed Tulips' embossing folder that I ran through on 'whisper white' card, then layered it all on to 'Melon Mambo' A5 card.



Cards for Matthew

If you read my blog, you will know that my son Matthew turned 17 in March and got his P's. The first card celebrated Matt getting his P's and is a 'happy' card. Matt is very happy to be driving and I'm 'happy' too that I don't have to do the 4.30am swim squads runs any more (now I just worry about him on the roads).


The second card was to celebrate his 17th birthday. If any of you know Matt, he is a keen sportsman. He played club cricket and representative cricket in his early teens and made a tough decision to give it up to focus on his swimming. He still loves his cricket though. Both these cards were made by my sister, Narelle.

Saturday 28 May 2011

More of Mark's Birthday cards

The above card Olivia made for her Dad. The stamped "Sail Away" image I wasn't too happy with so it was in my little rubbish box. Olivia came into my craft room and asked me why I was throwing it out. I told her I wasn't happy with it, she asked if she could have it, which of course she could. Have a look at what she did with it. She sponged over the image creating the sea and the horizon and sky (this covered up the bit I wasn't happy with) she then borrowed my Big Shot and cut out a top note die, sponged the edges and layered it onto some cardstock. Stamped "Wish Big" from "Short & Sweet" and punched it out with the Word Window punch. Just goes to show how even images you're not happy with can still come up looking very lovely.
This card for Mark was from my sister, Narelle.
She used the "Sense of Time" stamp set, Cajun Craze cardstock and ink. She stamped the clock in versamark then cajun craze and clear embossed it (can't really see that in the photo). She has used a non SU embossing folder to some cardstock and then attach the clock and gears and sentiment. A couple of eyelets and square brad and some twine, also the spritzer tool I think. Very nice masculine card. Got the seal of approval from this household (that means both Matt and Olivia thought it was good) they are the toughest critics. Mark also liked it very much.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Thank You Melbourne Card

This is the card I made for Narelle, to thank her for such a good week we had in Melbourne together. The stamped images are not SU product they were in my stash from pre SU days! They just seemed to be perfect for this card. The cardstock and ribbon are SU.

Mark's Birthday Card - Motorcycle







This was the card I made for Mark's birthday. It is a copy from a swap at convention. I can't give credit to the demo as I don't know who it was that created it. A lot of the swaps go up on display boards for us all to look at and take photos of and of course the names are on the backs of the cards.






I used the "Woodgrain" background stamp (retired), lattice embossing folder which I dry embossed with the Soft Suede ink and brayer before placing cardstock in the folder and running it through the Big Shot. I stamped the motorcycle image in versamark and black ink then clear embossed it with the heat gun. I then coloured the bike with an aqua painter and Soft Suede ink. The finishing touches of a jumbo eyelet and small eyelet on the tag and the black stitching line. This wasn't done with my sewing machine, just with a black marker pen. The inside was just stamped and restamped without reinking the image.


Mark loved the card!

Strength & Hope - Biggest Morning Tea

"Strength & Hope" is a new stamp set in the Autumn/Winter Mini catalogue. $2 from every sale of this stamp set is being donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. It seemed only right to use this stamp set for my "Biggest Morning Tea" tomorrow to raise money for the Cancer Council.


As well as the morning tea, you will get to make one of the following two cards.


The first card is using the "Strength & Hope" stamp set and the alternative card is using "Butterfly Prints layered on a Top Note Die embossed with the perfect polkadots embossing folder.

This card is a CASEd straight from the mini catalogue.



I'm not real happy with these images, I have scanned them rather than taking photographs. I will have to perfect this technique by asking hubby how to improve the quality!


Make and Takes from Convention

These 'Make and Takes" were done at convention. They have been made using a new stamp set that will be coming out in the next IB&C in September. The "Happpy Birthday" card is interesting in that we distressed the 'Not quite Navy' cardstock under the flower image, then applied some shimmer paint and spritzed the image using the spritzer tool , we attached some ribbon in using sticky strip before layering the stamped image onto the card.
This "Just Because" card was another make and take from convetion. We coloured the butterfly using markers, stamped the flourish image on to the cardstock then crimped the cardstock with the crimper. The envelope is from the current IB&C, they are Whisper White Small Open-Ended envelopes. I must admit I had never really noticed them before but they are quite nice if you're wanting a different look. There were 2 other make and takes but I haven't quite finished them off yet, so will show them at a later date.

Saturday 21 May 2011

Inspiration from Anything



At Stamp Club on Friday night we made the famous "no cutting card"!We got inspiration from 2 coffee mugs I own.This was to show how you can get ideas and inspiration from any number of things you just have to look around you.These cards are very simple to make and look quite effective.


Thursday 19 May 2011

Earn $110 of FREE product

Yes, you read that correctly. Extra Extra Hostess Promotion.

Host a workshop with $450 in sales from 23rd May - 30th June and you will receive an extra $70 to spend on anything in our current catalogues. That is on top of the already generous benefits of $40 to spend and a hostess stamp set. So that means, you get the stamp set plus $110 worth of product, of your choice, for FREE!

Contact me ASAP to book a workshop.

Convention 2011 - Melbourne

Momento Mall purchases, a wonderful new craft tote for me for workshops and demonstrations, a laptop bag which can double as a business bag with my catalogue, order forms etc and some smart shopping bags. Free stamp sets! As part of attending convention we receive free stamps sets from the upcoming new catalogue that will be released in September. There is also "Prize Patrol" and for the first time I was lucky enough to win a couple of stamps sets from the current Autumn Mini Catalogue. Just love free stamps, and it's alwasy a bonus when they're ones you don't own.
All the swaps I received from other demonstrators. Some fantastic ideas in amongst this lot. Can't wait till I can lock myself in my craft room and play with some new ideas and techniques. I will be back again, perhaps on the weekend to show you some more photos from my week in Melbourne.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Convention 2011 - Melbourne

Some photos of Melbourne and fine dining at its best!




Flinders Street Station
City Tram - best way to get around town.


Scrumptious dinner - Monday night.



Cupcake Shop - photo taken for Olivia, queen of Cupcakes!



Dessert Monday night - photo for Olivia - Junior Masterchef extraordinaire.



What a great week I had in Melbourne with Narelle. We arrived on the Monday, dropped off our luggage and then hit the shops in the afternoon. A splendid dinner Monday evening by the Yarra River. Tuesday we went to the King Tutankhamun exhibition - wow, very interesting and well worth seeing if you are venturing to Melbourne before the beginning of November when the exhibition will finish. Then we went to Victoria Markets in the afternoon, another wonderful meal by the Yarra River. By Wednesday I was really in the shopping mode and we hit the shops once again for a full day of shopping, Bourke Street Mall and all other little shops, such a great city for shopping. Wednesday night we went and saw Dr Zhivago with Anthony Warlow - just love him, the show was truely splendid with dinner in China Town close by the theatre. Thursday saw the start of the Stampin' Up Convention, with registration, Momento Mall, swaps with other demos, the first General Session and the evening was another lovely dinner by the Yarra. Friday was more of SU Convention, workshop Wows!, classes, make and takes and yes another gorgeous meal by the Yarra with Narelle and Gemma. Saturday were more classes and General sessions with workshop Wows! and Saturday finished up with the SU Banquet Dinner and Awards presentation. It was a fantastic week and it sounds like all I did was eat!! but I think Narelle would say all I did was "Shop"!!! Convention 2012 is in Canberra - how good is that, Narelle lives in Canberra, no airfare, no accommodation costs - perhaps more money for shopping!!!! I will be back tomorrow to show you some other photos from convention.


Saturday 7 May 2011

Wedded Bliss!

It's our wedding anniversary today, 28 years! OMG a lifetime! So much has happend in those 28 years, the first few years Mark studied at TAFE 4 nights a week to get his Electronic Engineering Certificate, we went to England & Europe for a 4 week holiday, we built our first home in Kariong, I got very sick with Lupus, we had trouble starting our family, we moved to Emerald - Queensland for Mark's work, we had Matthew, we came back from Emerald, we had Olivia, we sold at Kariong and built again at Lisarow, the years raced by consumed with many swimming carnivals and dance eisteddfods and concerts and the kids are now teenagers with Matty driving everywhere on his P's, Mark is travelling OS to countries he never dreamed of going to....and here we are 28 years later. It has been an interesting time, good times and bad but we are still here, together!

Mark asked Olivia to make him a card for our anniversary (let me say he didn't give her much notice) and the above card is what she came up with. Beautiful isn't it. The flowers are scallop circle flowers using white cardstock which she sponged with red ink, the photo doesn't do the card justice. I guess we will be a funny old pair in another 28 years time!

Just Believe from Felicity

My good friend Felicity sent me this card this week, wishing my sister and I to have a great time in Melbourne and at the SU convention. Felicity is unable to come to convention this year as family committments and activities prevent her from doing so. I am looking forward to catching up with her after convention and showing her my swaps.

Cupcakes, Birds and trees

Haven't had a lot of time to do any creating this week, so I thought I'd show you some cards that I made ages ago, back when I first started out with Stampin' Up! They are quite simple cards, but sometimes simple is good.The first card is using the "Cupcake" standard wheel. The second card is using "Fast & Fun Notes".
and the third card was made using the Scallop Circle punch.

Hope you've enjoyed these cards.


Sunday 1 May 2011

Qld Flood Victims

At the beginning of the year here in Australia, Queensland was devastated by floods. The Toowoomba and Grantham area experienced flash flooding that ripped through the valley with incredible speed and ferrocity. The Lockyer Valley was a place of destruction and devastation not only the landscape but people's lives were shattered and changed forever.

I put a post on the Stampin' Up forum to see if there were any demonstrators who had been affected and if I could send them some retired stamp sets and stock that I was going to ebay. I received a reply from one demonstrator telling me that a good customer and friend had lost everything in the floods. With a few more emails I found out that this lady had lost her home, her husband and her daughter and she was shattered and had a long road to recovery.

Some of my customers donated stamp sets they were finished with. I was able to donate some new SAB stamp sets and Hostess sets, along with the retired stamp sets I had. A box with 11 stamp sets, cardstock, marker pens, ink pads, DSP papers was posted off last week.



I received this email from the SU demonstrator

Hi Denise,

Just letting you know that the wonderful box of goodies has arrived for Catherine. I have been away and haven't spoken to her for a couple of weeks, I will get them to her asap. I know she will be absolutely delighted. Thank you so very much for your generosity. It is reassuring to know that people are so willing to help those less fortunate than themselves. I can't say thank you enough.
Thank you to those who made a donation, I hope Catherine gets some pleasure from her box of goodies.

Stamp-a-Stack - Vintage Vogue patchwork

These are the 2 cards we will be making in May's S-A-S on Saturday 28th at 2pm. We will be making 8 cards, 4 of each design. This is a great patchwork design and can be used with multiple colours and stamp sets. This S-A-S we will be using "Vintage Vogue" stamp set if you'd like to use "Cottage Garden" stamp set, this also works with this design.



This design I originally saw on Marelle Taylor's blog but more recently on my sister, Narelle's blog.



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