The love affair with Beautiful You continues for me

I'm still trying to work out how I have so many birthdays in the next 10 days. I'm not sure what was going on in NZ many years ago about 9 months ago but I know it's mid-winter, so maybe I should say no more. I'll blame the stars as Arians get on really well with Aquarians! But enough digressing this is a card making blog!!!

Below is a quick collage of the cards I've created using up retired DSP from SU! which is just lying in a drawer. I think the DSP umbrellas are just too adorable and of course the beautiful girl stamp.

The DSP I used came in packs, so after I had die-cut out a mat there was more than enough to stamp the umbrella again & then fussy cut it out. I have used my Zig Real Color water brushes to colour the girl up.

I had bought myself a pad of Strathmore Bristol smooth surface card stock as quite a few bloggers had commented that this was their favourite paper for using with the Zig brushes. I'm not sure how you all colour with the Zig brushes but normally I lay down a bit of colour & then use my aquapainter to blend - whoa that don't work on this paper, as it seemed to be impervious to water & I had big puddles sitting on top which were  all mopped up real fast with one of my dry baby wipes that I have handy. Saying that once I knew I couldn't use water the markers blend well with each other  & also with the clear Wink of Stella brush. The end result is a much more vibrant look than my norm with the Zigs and water.

I used my Misti & a scrap of paper to work out the placement of the girl & words as the stamp set is a rubber stamp set. Once I was happy I stamped up 8 images real fast. I used Versafine black ink & then clear embossed as my original plan was to use water for blending.

Once I had my stamped image I used the 2nd largest stitched rectangle die to cut out the girl & saying. I used the largest stitched rectangle die for the DSP.

My favourite umbrella is the wee butterfly one, I decided the paper which is adorable was too dark which is why I made a mat out of Calypso Coral.

I only have the 36 set of the Zig real colour brushes so I chose colours I thought worked best with the DSP, it's not a perfect match but they are so easy to colour with making mass production a breeze.

Here's the cards all by themselves to see them a wee bit better.

My favourite umbrella, the small butterfly image is just perfect!

Who would ever think that this DSP which I have always gulped at before would look so lovely as a mat & also on the umbrella.

There's 3 delightful girl images in this set, so looking forward to creating some cards with the 2 other girl images real soon.

Recipe:
Stamp set: Beautiful You (SU!)
Ink: Versafine Black
Paper: Bristol Smooth (Strathmore), Fresh Prints (SU!), Pretty Petals (SU!), White (SSS), Calypso Coral (SU!)
ZIG brushes: Pale pink, light carmine, carmine red, mid green, olive green, persian blue, blue, flesh colour, oatmeal, blue gray
Other: Clear embossing powder, clear Wink of Stella brush, dimensionals, stitched rectangle dies (SSS)

I've used SSS white card stock which is a lovely heavy weight card & is sized appropriately for the rectangle dies. It doesn't matter who's die you use they all "American-sized" as that is the biggest market & yes I could cut my A4 card stock into 11" long by 4-¼" wide but it's easier to just take a piece of 11" x 8-½" card stock & chop in half. Even when making mats without a die it's easier to work in inches in my opinion but that maybe my age showing.

So happy birthday Debbie, Donna, Faye, Sally, Jo & Tracey I hope you all had a very lovely day when it was your day.


Karen ✿

Transforming scraps of DSP into a quilt

Paula at NZSU Sites blog challenged us to use up scraps of DSP on a card or a 3D object - per usual I'm a day late for the challenge but love my card!!!! So thanks Paula I've always wanted to make a top note quilt card.

I've used my DSP sampler (3" squares) from not this SU! year but the last one plus also used the soon to be retired in-colours from 2010-2012.

To make the quilt with your Top Note die punch out 12 squares from a co-ordinating paper with your 1-¼" square punch & I used my Anywhere glue stick so I could wiggle them when I was butting the squares together on another piece of card stock (5" x 4'') - make sure the middle points of the Top Note are pointing between the 2nd & 3rd square before you run through it through your Big Shot. The rest of the card is up to your imagination.

Stamp sets: Cottage Garden, Teeny Weeny Sentiments
Ink: Poppy Parade (I have stamped off once for the flowers), Pear Pizzazz
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Whisper White, Sunny Garden DSP (retired)
Punches: Word Window, Modern Label, 1-¼" square punch
Other: Top Note die, Little Leaves Sizzlit die, Beautiful Wings embosslit die, basic pearls, Pear Pizzazz stitched poly ribbon, dimensionals, mat pack, sponge dauber.

I must admit when I lay out the 12 squares (see my collage picture) I was thinking hmmm maybe I should choose something more vibrant but it sure was transformed by the Top Note into a quilt, with a bit of sponging & going over the "stitching" with my Pear Pizzazz marker; it transformed from an ugly duckling to a beautiful swan.

Well if you're like me & you think I'll make one of those one day - DO IT - I love it & will make more, especially as  I have a whole DSP sampler to use up :)

Happy stampin'

Circles of Sweet Shop DSP

Sure make a pretty effective card - imagine my delight to receive this in the post from my fabulous upline Jacque Pedersen the other day - it was a lovely surprise to cheer me up on a dreary Winter's day & yes it does look good enough to eat!

Santa Gift Bag in a Box

This idea is totally cased from one of my fellow demos Lisa Bullock AKA Daffy Scrapper, this is one of the coolest things about being a demonstrator that being part of a team you almost have too many ideas and projects to do & the day isn't long enough! If you'd like to join in on the fun & being part of our team you can check out some FAQs HERE.

Back to the fabulous Santa that we KReated at class this week.

Card Stock: Real red 1 piece 4-½" x 4-½", Whisper white 1 piece 1-½ " x 11" and Basic black 1 piece ~ 1" x ¼"
 Yoyo yellow, basic black & whisper white scraps
Paper: Ski Slope Designer Series double sided paper - 1 piece 5-½" x 11"
Punches: Eyelet border, ½" & ¾" circle; double rectangle, round tab, Crop-a-dile
Other: Real red striped grosgrain

Box Base Instructions:
1. Using scoring blade and a paper cutter (or a bone folder and ruler) score your 4-½" square real red card 1 inch in from all four sides. Crease all your score lines.

2. Using scissors, cut up to the 1-inch line on TWO of the four sides.

3. Assemble your box base. Stick the 'flaps' to the outside of the box, so they will be hidden when the base is covered.

Making the 'Bag':
1. Attach double-sided adhesive to one long side, and one short side of your designer paper.  Take care to attach to the 'wrong side' of your paper - that is the pattern that you want to be on the inside of your bag.

2. Position so the bottom edge of the paper is level with the bottom of the box, and the end of the paper is midway along one of the box edges. Attach paper to box base.

3. You may need to put one hand inside the bag to help get the seams smooth. The side with the paper join will be the back of your bag.

Hopefully the rest is self-explanatory looking at the picture - any questions drop me a line.

Parisian Breeze

This is the name of the 2nd specialty designer series paper to be introduced to NZ (the other is Sweet Slumber in the main IB+C). The first thing you probably notice is the difference in price between it & the other designer series paper ($27.95 cf. to $19.95) - that's because it's card stock weight which makes it perfect for creating boxes (as well as embellishing cards). If you click on the picture it will enlarge it so you can fully enjoy how beautiful it is!

My team this week have been having a bit of a cyber-swap on our team demo forum and you may have seen some increased blog activity out here as well because of this - I certainly have really enjoyed it.

One of the challenges was to Try a New Technique - so I finally downloaded one of the many templates SU! provides for us demonstrators & attempted to recreate the cute wee handbag box on page 5 of the new Spring Mini. I'd also just recently purchased Dotto ( & I'm totally hooked so this may not be my last post using templates). The Dotto (which is a removable adhesive) holds the template firmly in place whilst you cut around it and then you can peel it off & use it again - how fantastic is that!


This is my wee handbag box using Parisian Breeze DSP & the Great Friend stamp set. If you'd like the template to have a go yourself contact me or your demonstrator.

I could learn to love Tangerine Tango??

Well I must admit this is not my favourite in-colour but much prefer it to Only Orange (which kinda screams at my sensibilities) so when my attempts to remember how a never-ending card works weren't working and more and more of my 12x12" Pacific Point card stock was going into the bin. I thought stop wasting it & use that yucky colour to practice with. What a laugh next one in TT worked perfectly & I do love the card I created with it & Haiku DSP & Eastern Blooms stamp set - so good I had to share it with you.

This is the first opening:
This is the 2nd opening (lift the large panels to flip them):
This is the 3rd opening & the back of the card (lift the middle panels apart):

Bella's fantasy box revealed

This is also known as a stepper box & it was one of those projects that I bookmarked nearly 2 years to go & never did make one. So when I had to come up with ideas for classes for SENZ this was top of my wish list for a project with a bit of wow.

I think everyone that did the class would agree it is WOW. It was really nice as they were obviously showing people at the show their boxes after the class & then they came down to say how cool - which as you can imagine is very pleasing. It's really simple & I followed this amazingly great tutorial of Terri Digness


My only advice is we/I used textured card stock as it's much easier to fold the small origami boxes or "steps". As well as using sticky strip to hold the boxes to the walls - use it to hold down the last folds of the box too; works best adding to the side of the walls - thanks Bernie from Whangarei (I think) who came up with this tip at the class.

The pretties flower was hand dyed by putting your hand inside a plastic bag & then rubbing the bag on the ink pad. Turn the bag inside out & spray a few times with a water mist bottle, throw in the pretties flower & scrunch it all up until the colour is even.

I think that's the last post from me regarding SENZ projects though I have a few kits left over for this, so think you'll see a few different colour combos appearing.

Well it's just on a week to the launch of the Spring Mini catalogue so don't forget I have an open home Friday August 7th 7pm onwards - you'll get to play with the new stamps, pick up a mini, and have supper on me, plus an opportunity to win stuff & it's all FREE. So RSVP your spot today as my house isn't that big so numbers are limited!

A wee handbag perfect for a small gift

Isn't this just gorgeous! Debbie Lamb from my team taught us all how to make one on Friday night at team training - must admit I was the least dexterous at creating it but the final project is just lovely. I do think Tea Party DSP is so yummy. I've coloured my pretties flower up with Almost Amethyst & So Saffron markers - even if I say so myself it matches the paper perfectly. Thanks Debbie for lots of hilarity & fun.

2 days to go...

till the next team swap & I haven't even shared my last team swap. The last theme was Designer Series Paper (DSP) and I really liked this one by Sally Williams which is really simple but effective. I love the saying too - this set is probably my favourite level 1 hostess set in the new catalogues. You can earn it for FREE by having a workshop or a catalogue party with qualifying sales or submitting a $350 order yourself. Contact ME to learn more.

Stamp set/s: Live Like You Mean It, Baroque Motifs
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Bella Rose DSP

Pull here

to see the butterfly fly!!

WOW I've been wanting to make a Waterfall Card for ages & my fabulous upline Jacque showed us how on Wednesday. It was so easy but I do love what she chose for us to create with.

Before this I wouldn't have said I was a Bella Rose DSP fan but have totally changed my mind, so I'll be ordering some of this before the free designer paper promo runs out in 7 days time!

I hope you can visualise those butterflies flying.

My swap for convention

Just a brief post as when you read this I'll be in Canberra hopefully having survived the cold & my day at convention with 450 other attendees.

My demo swap was designed as I thought it would be quick & easy & I had hoped to make 80-100, well I've had to settle on 70 & 30 of them are being finished off on the plane to Sydney!

My timing was impeccable unbeknown to me as it showcases Sweet Always one of the DSP that are part of the May Promotion.

I love the cheeriness of my wee card (4" square) & I hope my fellow attendees at conference feel the same way.


Stamp: Say it with Scallops
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose
Other: Dimensionals, 1/2" circle punch, scallop square punch, 1-1/4" square punch, cutter kit

Tea party anyone?

This card has been created by Debbie Lamb for a recent demo swap using designer series paper - here Tea Party. I just love the softness of this card & layout & it all works wonderfully with Upsy Daisy - definitely a stamp set on my wish list. Don't forget in May buy 3 packs of DSP get the 4th one FREE - see this post for the full details of the promotion.

Stamp set: Upsy Daisy
Paper: So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Tea Party DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Other: PIP grosgrain ribbon

Well I'm just about to hit the sack as an early flight to Sydney & onwards to Canberra for our Stampin' Up! convention. So I'll be back with lots of great ideas early next week, until then happy stampin' Guess who's baby wants to come too & he's lying on my black skirt for the convention dinner!

A gift for mum or anyone?

Well it's just a few weeks to Mother's day. I fell in love with the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set & it's matching designer series paper Urban Oasis when I saw the new catalogue and after stamping with the set I'm even more in love with it.

One of my clever blogging friends in cyberland Diane Barnes AKA Colour Me Happy has being making gorgeous stationary holders - I hope I've done her proud with my effort but the cards inside are sensational as I cheated and signed up for one of Andrea Walford's virtual card classes. She certainly makes it easy for us poor demos with all the cutting measurements for everything, the only downside is we have different sizes card stock than the States and Canada which takes a wee bit of time to adjust everything and unfortunately as yet we don't have the delicious corduray buttons that they have but I used equally gorgeous felt flowers.

Stamp set: Fifth Avenue Floral, Fresh Cuts (for you)
Paper: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Kraft, Basic Gray, Urban Oasis DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Basic Gray
Other: Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon, wide oval punch, vintage brads, gray tafetta, dimensionals, Flower Fusion Too

This is a snapshot of Andrea's class project which I'll be using in my class this Friday for creating the 4 cards to go in the box with just a few changes. (The gorgeous acetate box I'll use another time).

Photograph © Andrea Walford Artwork © Stampin' Up!

So I hope my mum enjoys her set but she's requested tonight that I make her 4 Mothers Days cards for the nurses in her ward so will make her another set that uses Happy Mother's Day instead of all the "thank yous".

Good morning Tart and Tangy!

Now that post title probably got your attention. My favourite set from the spring mini is back - yes T n' T and the only designer series paper I was allowed to buy in my pre-order was Good Morning Sunshine. At first I wasn't too sure what to make of this DSP - but loving it on the cards - it's fun & bright & definitely a ray of sunshine or in this case Summer Sun!

Don't you just love how our new IB+C has the co-ordinating colours with each DSP listed.

This is my swap for my team training tomorrow & thought it showed off T n' T for the new demos & it really showcases the new in-colours.


Stamp/s: Tart and Tangy, Short and Sweet
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Red Riding Hood, Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip
Other: 1" circle punch (to punch out the middle of the "lemon", dimensionals, Crystal Effects (check out the apple pips)


Cutting dimensions:
Kiwi Kiss: A5 card stock
Whisper White: 4" x 2"
Chocolate Chip: 4-1/8" x 2-1/8", plus a thin strip (A5 width)
DSP: 5-7/8" x 2-3/8"

I just love the fruity nature of these 2 sheets of the DSP. Can't wait to see the other girls efforts!

More Outlaw bags for the boys

Here's everyone efforts from class last night. The instructions on "how to" can be viewed on my original post HERE.

The attendees were very nervous about the imprecision of the folding & scoring & were all totally amazed at how fantastic they all turned out.