eScape with Priceless

Well today was the last day of the eScape promo for June so home class was only half price to all attendees. Priceless is a very versatile set: hearts, flowers, butterflies, circles, flourishes & words great value at $57.95 for 11 stamps. My mum kindly bought me this set for my birthday this year - lucky me!

The first card I cased from MissBoo on SCS - love the login name - so she must have awesome taste.


Stamp set: Priceless
Card stock: Chocolate chip, Groovy Guava, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate chip, Groovy Guava
Other: Wide grosgrain chocolate chip ribbon, dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, mat pack, chocolate chip marker for faux-stitching.

Cutting dimensions:

• Chocolate chip 4 1/8" x 8 1/4" (i.e. 4 1/8 x 4 1/8") + 3 x 3"
• Groovy guava 3 7/8 x 3 7/8"
• Whisper white 2 3/4 x 2 3/4"

The second card was inspired by Debbie Airey's card for Jacque which I loved.

Stamp set: Priceless
Card stock: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Old Olive
Other: Pink brads, dimensionals, 1" circle punch

Cutting dimensions:

• Pretty in Pink 4 1/8 x 11 11/16" - i.e. cut A4 cardstock in the middle vertically
• Regal Rose 5 3/8 x 3 5/8"
• Old Olive 4 7/8 x 3 1/8"
• Whisper White 4 3/4 x 3"
  

The Venetian - a few scrapbook pages from me

Well I don't seem to have much time for scrapbooking lately but these are a few pages I started at a National Scrapbook Day workshop. The blown glass flowers are magnificent in real life & the garden sculptures made out of fresh flowers daily are also amazing. I was sent to Las Vegas in 2006 to a Focus on Fungal Infections meeting. Everything you've heard about the place is true - it's kinda unbelievable the sheer decadence & opulence in the casinos. These glass flowers are twice the size of me - unbelievable!

For those that know me I not a fussy scrap booker; I'd rather the pictures speak for themselves with a few embellishments to enhance (rather than them being the focus of the page). So I black embossed a few stamped images, used my blender pen to colour up & cut them out.

Personally I also think it's easy to do a title with stamps - so quick & easy.

Stamp set/s: Unfroggetable, Winged Things (retired), In Full Bloom (retired), Warm Words, Collage alphabet & numbers (retired)
Other: Black embossing powder, dimensionals, blender pen, various inks

Garden Whimsy in Pink

Yes this is my favourite stamp set at the moment.

Just a simple card as my mum needs one & I'm too poorly to be bothered with much. I need to get a stack of birthday cards made as I never seem to have one when someone asks me for one.

Stamp set/s: Garden Whimsy, It's Your Birthday
Ink: Pixie Pink, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray
Card stock: Pixie Pink, Whisper White
Other: Scallop & 1 3/8" circle punches, 1/2" circle punch, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, dimensionals, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon

Update 27 June: My mum tells me Aunty June loves her card & was commenting she'd never seen such a pretty card before - she couldn't believe that I'd made it!

I'm nearly over my head cold so may have to make her a really beautiful card if she think that simple card is stunning but it is pretty.

RAK from Rachael - The Knight Inker

Rachael very kindly made me this awesome wee note book - her covered notebooks are gorgeous & a wee card as a thank you present for starting up a blog for her - Impressions of a Knight Inker.

Aren't I a lucky girl - I'm sure it took me less time to set up the blog than create the goodies. If you want to know how she did them I'd suggest you contact her directly from her blog.

Thanks Rachael I love them.

Stamp-A-Stack Saturday

Well the mission was for those that chose to accept it to stamp 10 cards in 2 hours (well as we know that it can be hard to stamp 2 cards in 2 hours). So my mission was to create/find/case cards that had a bit of wow with very little effort. So Tracee Jones & Anabel Welch (from my team) provided me inspiration for two of the cards & the very talented Sarah Gough for the boho one.

So in reality 5 cards had to be made in duplicate (this was at the request of my dear friend Judy who's a bit like me & hates to give away the cards she's made in class - this way you could keep one & give one away).

Happy to report it can be done! The newest stamper Lee actually finished first too.

Stamp set/s: Garden Whimsy

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou

Card stock: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, River Rock

Other: Blue Bayou DS ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Technique: Rock n' Roll (yes loving that large butterfly rocked)

Stamp set/s: Boho Backgrounds

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Other: Scallop punch, 1" circle, 1 1/4" circle punch and dimensionals

Stamp set/s: Simply Said
Ink: Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray

Card stock: Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Other: Scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Dimensionals, Blender pen & Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Stamp set/s: Heartfelt Thanks

Ink: Almost Amethyst or Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip

Card Stock: Almost Amethyst or Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Other: 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch, chocolate grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Technique: 2-step stamping

Stamp set/s: Wanted, It's Your Birthday

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Real Rust, Close to Cocoa

Card stock: Close to Cocoa, Natural Ivory

Designer Paper: Outlaw

Other: sponging

Demo Swap time again - "kiddies"

Well it's been a few months since our last swap & the theme was suitable for children. Rereading the forum it seemed to me that glitter was expected, well I didn't add any so was slightly concerned - but happy to report that I wasn't alone - the cards were great & so much FUN.

Stamp set/s: In the Wild, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Real Rust, Old Olive

Card stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Real Rust

Designer Paper: Fall Flowers

Other: Crystal effects (to make the faux-pebble embellishment, Scallop punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1/2" punch, Spring Flower Bouquet punch, sponge, cutting tool (for distressing)

I love the striped paper & spotted paper with the wee giraffe - so adorable (even if I say so myself).

Check out some of the other team members efforts on their blogs: Anne-Marie, Rachael, Jacque & Dianne. Here's a wee pick of most of the team out after training with Dianne from the deep south eating & drinking.

Garden Whimsy pops up

We also created a card using Garden Whimsy & found a delightful card at SCS which Miss Minx has created which had a little something extra inside - a pop-up butterfly which had been rock n' rolled. The pop-up is a mountain fold: mark with a pencil 2" either side of the centre fold & 2" down the centre fold. Fold in half & using your ruler run a bone folder from the top 2" mark to the mark 2" down the centre fold. If necessary repeat for the other side. See pictures below.

I thought this was a perfect card as quite simple stamping & the one wee mountain fold was the only tricky piece. It also meant we could look at stamping with markers and as only two were involved it was easy to comprehend no matter what your stamping ability.

Front of Card:

Inside Card:

Stamp/s: Garden whimsy, Small Script

Card stock: Ruby Red, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Designer Paper: Certainly Celery DP series

Other: Earth Elements markers, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Look at how easy it is to make a wee thank you card

Look at this delightful wee card I received in the post with a Trade Me purchase. Yes Stampin' Up! is being discovered by New Zealand. Thanks Lynette it's lovely & a great colour combo.

Petal Prints is one of my favourite stamp sets as it's perfect for 2-step stamping. I think I'll be casing this one for sure.

Stamps: Petal Prints
Card stock: Whisper white
Ink: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomengranate

Garden Whimsy all boxed up

I had a lovely night with 19 ladies of Orewa Baptist Church last night (I wonder if their men planned it so they could enjoy the rugby in peace). So a special thanks to Alice, Tina, Linda, Tracey & Val who made me very welcome & to all of you for making it such a FUN night - didn't time fly!

This was the first project a 2,5,7,10 box, which is my favourite box. Take one sheet of cardstock, wheel & embellish it, plus a few scores & cuts & you have a little gift box with very little effort.



Stamps: Scribble or Basics Outline (both jumbo wheels), Garden Whimsy, Short & Sweet
Card stock: Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate
Other: Purely Pomegranate DS ribbon, HPH spiral clips, scallop punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, corner rounder (for scalloped edge on the lid), SNAIL adhesive, Sticky strip, 2-way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

Jacque I love my layout from last night - thank you

My very talented upline Jacque at class last night created a beautiful page layout - I just love it as it works beautifully with this lovely picture of my mum Noleen as a young girl, I can see where my sister Faye got her good looks from! Mum tells me she was 10 years old here & yes the dress was hand-made. I think I remember her making me dresses like this too!

Stamp: Leaves a la Carte (jumbo wheel)
Ink: So Saffron, River Rock
Designer paper: Le Jardin
Card stock: So Saffron
Other: Jumbo eyelets, hodgepodge hardware, rhinestone brad, crop-a-dile, soft sky DS ribbon, always artichoke grosgrain ribbon, very vanilla tafetta ribbon, always artichoke marker

Dunkley's Craft Fair North Shore

It's been a busy few weeks but who needs sleep? Some of my team & myself manned or should that be womanned a stand at the Dunkley's Craft Show, it was a lot of fun meeting so many like-minded craft people & there were lots of bargains to be had from the booths that were selling. It was hard to tell what was most popular with us girls, fudge or chocolate liquorice or raspberry liquorice but personally I managed to pick up 2 birthday presents; so a bonus for me.

We had a wee make n' take - a wee journaling tag as we were trying to show people how they could use the stamps & the simply divine designer papers that are in the SU! range in their scrapbooking. Yes we have it ALL!

Anyone who popped in to the stand over the weekend & is now visiting my blog for the first time; welcome. Below is my design; various colours & designer papers were prepared by each team member.


Stamp Set: Short & Sweet
Card stock: Perfect plum, pale plum, mellow moss, natural ivory
Ink: Perfect plum, pale plum, mellow moss
Designer paper: Enchante (retired)
Other: Round tab punch, spiral punch, word window punch, anywhere glue stick

Priceless goes spinning

I had a lovely Friday night doing a mother & daughter's evening workshop. As children were involved I thought it would be fun to make a spinner card. As it was quite a big group I made it as simple as possible using a wheel for the the background & used the very versatile punches to punch out the stamped image. It was great especially as the children added quite a lot of glitter to their butterflies & they dazzled all right as they spun.

Tracee Jones from my team very kindly told me that a 10c piece worked as well as the American penny (amazingly that's what they call their 1c piece!)

Stamp sets: Priceless, So Swirly jumbo wheel
Card stock: Bashful Blue, Ruby Red, Whisper White
Ink: Bashful Blue, Ruby Red
Punches: Word window, Scallop, 1 3/8" circle
Other: Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 10c pieces