Stampin' Up! Convention 2011

In mid-May, I attended my first Stampin' Up! Convention in Melbourne. I learnt a lot and met some very lovely people. Approximately 450 demonstrators from all over Australia and NZ were there. As part of the Convention culture, people make swap card samples (just the card face) and swap their ideas with each other at Convention. I really like this form of idea exchange and it's really mind blowing how much effort the other demonstrators put into their swaps - particularly when some of them make 100 - 300 swaps! I only managed to get 50 made. Here's a variation of what I made - only a very slight change.

project recipe
stamps: Fine Flourish (WM 121833), Well Scripted (retired), Season of Joy (WM 113023)
ink: Classic Stampin' Pad - Garden Green (102272)

card stock: Garden Green (108605), Very Vanilla (106550

tools: Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die (118138), Blender Pen (2102845), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430), Stampin' Sponges (101610)

the added pizzaz: Antique Brads (117273) 

 cardessence tips

• to achieve the shading when colouring any part of the stamped image, I pick up the GG ink with my blender pen and scribbled lightly on a piece of scratch paper first to get the washed out colour;
• remember to not keep going over your card stock as this will saturate the card stock and the fibres will start to come off - ensure your coloured sections are dry before going over with a stronger shade of GG (don't scribble off ink uptake);
• it is completely your choice where you want to have the darker shading - whether you want to shade the tapered ends darker or vice-versa or randomly but always remember to feather your strokes to avoid harsh lines;
• I stamped the background with the swirly stamp from Season of Joy but any image will work - don't worry that it looks messy as the primary layer will cover it up;
• in my Convention swaps, I stuck a rhinestone on a small punched out circle in GG card stock and popped it in the middle of the image with a dimensional - a cheaper option than 50 Antique Brads; and I omitted the butterflies as well.

Thanks for stopping by, TTFN

Nature Walk

Well, who doesn't like colouring in?  I for one love using my Stampin' Markers and Blender Pen.

Here's a card I demonstrated as a Make & Take at my 2011 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue party. This botanical card was stamped with the very lovely Nature Walk set and I absolutely love it. I chose to use vivid colours but one could mute it down easily with neutral colours or not colour in at all.

project recipe
stamps: Nature Walk (WM 123559), Well Scripted (retired)

ink: Classic Stampin' Pad - Not Quite Navy (103008), Night of Navy (102977), Old Olive (102277), Pear Pizzazz (119784); Stampin' Write Marker - Cherry Cobbler (119681), So Saffron (10006), Jet Black StazOn Ink Pad (101406

card stock: Crumb Cake (121685), Cherry Cobbler (12168), Very Vanilla (106550), Watercolour Paper (105019)

tools: Scallop Border Punch (11988), Blender Pen (2102845), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430)

 cardessence tips

• there are 2 ways to achieve the 2 colours on the plant stamp - you can either use only markers or you can first ink up the whole plant in Old Olive or Pear Pizzaz and remove the ink where the flowers are with a cotton bud before inking them with the Cherry Cobbler marker.
• ink up the bird and butterfly with the StazOn Jet Black and stamp on the Watercolour Paper
• Bird: start with So Saffron marker first, colour around the eyes, a large area under the wing, beak and legs; use the blender pen and pick up Cherry Cobbler ink from the ink pad and apply a light "wash" on the bottom of the bird, blending into the SS colour; add a thin bold CC marker swatch at the base/upper legs before switching to the blender pen to pull and blend the darker colour into the SS part (this technique will give you the desired shading effect); pick up Not Quite Navy ink from pad with the blender pen and colour in the top half of the bird, blending into the SS around the eyes; add shading with Night of Navy.

• Butterfly: again start with SS marker; with the blender pen, pick up NQN and fill in the rest of the butterfly - blending into the SS areas; use NON to add a darker shading at the wing joints.
• always begin colouring with a light colour and progress to the darkest.
• to avoid a harsh line where the colour transitions into another, use feathery strokes.
• the Watercolour paper is 100% cotton, cold-pressed paper and is able to withstand 9 passes of colour; a worthwhile investment if you want to achieve proper colour saturation and vividness.

 TTFN

Happy May!

April roundup: I had a fabulous day at the Stamp Your Heart Out fundraiser on Saturday. I met some lovely people and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Lucky me, I even won a raffle (no, it wasn’t rigged). That night, I was so exhausted, I fell asleep on the couch watching TV and when I woke up to go to bed, I couldn’t get to sleep. So what did I do (you ask)? I stamped and made a card of course! It was play time for me as I had little of it with the lead up to the fundraiser. Before I go any further, I would like to give a Big Big Big Thank You to my wonderful friends, Ping, Karen, Elke, Yvonne, Cherie and Lisa for donating their precious time to help me prepare for the SYHO fundraiser. Your generosity, caring and community spirt is invaluable.

Anyway, May is turning out to be quite a busy month for me. I have to churn out 80-100 card fronts to swap at the Annual Stampin’ Up! Convention which begins Thursday next week. Apart from that, I’m having my SU 2011 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue party this Friday night, classes/workshops to organise and hold, attend the SU Convention, and a few birthday parties to attend.

2011 May Specials: Deals of the Week 

May is also the time to grab a bargain or more. Throughout May, SU is releasing weekly specials on items that are discounted up to 40% off their normal price. The first deal of the week began 1 May 2011 and the products listed will only be available at their discounted prices until midnight Tuesday 10 May 2011. Then from midnight 11 May, the 2nd Deal will begin. I will keep you updated each week but you can also check it out yourselves HERE every Wednesday of this month.

The card to your right was made with the lovely Cottage Garden stamp set that’s on sale this week. I made it for my husband’s aunt last year. The photo doesn’t show it but the large flowers were actually stamped separately, cut out, curled and stuck on the card with dimensionals to make the card “pop”. The ultra feminie ink colours are Rose Red, Pretty in Pink and Old Olive. Like it?

Don’t let the deals get away! Contact me to place your order.

May Events

Click here to view  My Events. Please note that classes are limited to 8 people, all materials are supplied and precut but colours may vary. Alternatively, if you prefer to arrange with a group of your friends to have your own private in-home classes, contact me.

2011 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue Party
Last week, I sent out invitations for this party. I do hope that you can and will come this Friday evening for a fun evening. You’ll get to use the Create a Cupcake and Nature Walk stamp sets for your Make & Takes. Please call me or email me that you are coming by Thursday.

 

Simply Said Cards (4 cards)

We will use the “Simply Said” stamp set (116414 p43 of IB&C), 2-Step Bird punch (117191 p146 IB&C) and Full Heart punch (119883 p146 IB&C) to create these 4 beautiful cards with a variety of sentiments to suit your purpose.











Punched Flower Scrapbook Box

Interested in creating something other than cards? Well come along and learn how to make the gorgeous flower and set it on the lid of a box. The box opens up as a scrapbook page where you can decorate with photos and embellishments. The flower is approximately 9cm in diameter and the box dimensions are 10cm x 10cm x 10.5cm. This is a stunning gift idea.

happy stamping

Stamp Your Heart Out Fundraiser

The little girl to your right is Mackenzie Miller. She has a brain stem tumour which is aggressive and inoperable. Mackenzie is only 6 years old.

Mackenzie and her family are friends with my good friend, Olivia Moore. Olivia has organised a special community fundraiser, sponsored by Stampin’ Up! called Stamp Your Heart Out to aid the Miller family and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Follow Mackenzie’s progress on  www.wishes4mack.com 

Please join us in aiding the Miller family by having an afternoon of creativity and making a difference within our community. Tickets are available for purchase for a great afternoon of stamping and sharing, raffles, games, prizes, displays, yummy treats to buy and so much more, whilst helping a family in need. 

 

  On the day, you will get:

- to make a set of 4 greeting cards of the same design and a 3D project as well;

- a Goodie bag with SU! samples and more;

- a chance to win door prizes;

- a chance to win raffles and competitions for over $100 worth of SU! products;

- to see craft displays;

- be able to purchase ready made handcrafted items;

- light refreshments; and

- to experience and enjoy much more crafting goodness.

For more information and tickets click here. This event is now on Facebook, so please share it with friends using this event link Stamp Your Heart Out.

Wishes4Mackenzie Cards
Mackenzie loves cupcakes. It is with this in mind that these cards were specially designed as appeal cards to support her.

Purchase a set of 4 handmade cards for $15

These cards come with envelopes and are blank inside for your own message. For Australian buyers, they will be shipped to you FREE. An additional postage will be charged for International buyers.

Other Ways to Help
Despite the school holidays, if you would like to give up some time to help create

• Mackenzie’s appeal cards, or
• items for the Stamp Your Heart Out event such as samples to fill the Goodie bags or the ready made items for sale eg. the Strength & Hope card I designed (this beautiful and meaningful stamp set is currently available in the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue).

Please contact me. Any help you can donate will be greatly appreciated. Also, please feel free to forward this blog page out to your network of friends to support this fundraiser and make it a resounding success for Mackenzie, her family, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Welcome

Welcome to my first blog. I've been procrastinating about this for months and I must admit that I irrationally, have butterflies in my tummy. However, I feel that I am ready for this next step - to share my love for this exquisite paper and rubber stamping craft form with more people.

A Good Egg

With Easter looming, it's the best time to showcase this very cute stamp set. These cards show you 2 different layouts. However, this set is much more versatile and should not be restricted for use as Easter cards. Can you also picture it on a card for a newborn baby?

In this card, I used the Daffodil Delight sheets from the Greenhouse Gala DSP range for the large egg and Sunny Garden DSP range for the background mat which I embossed with the Finial Press embossing folder.

I stamped the large egg and part of the chick's feet on DSP first, cut and embellished with WW grosgrain ribbon and rhinestones. Then I stamped the sentiment and attached a few dimensionals on the back. Lastly, I stamped the chick twice:

- once on a small piece of WW card stock, cut out the half shell, applied

  dazzling diamonds and dimensionals; and

- again on the large WW card stock and coloured only the chick
  with blender pen in Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin
  Pie before applying Crystal Effects.

When the Crystal Effects hardened, I adhered the cut out half shell to the bottom of the chick. Then I adhered the large egg to the WW card stock whilst making sure that the feet/legs line up.

Tip: I used Soft Suede to stamp the images but I think that it's best to use Black StazOn. If you compare the 1st (Soft Suede) and 2nd card (Black StazOn), you will see that the Crystal Effects softened the stamped outline of the first card too much .

This second card is shamelessly blingy (is this an actual word?). I used Black StazOn to stamp the images here. Although the picture doesn't show it, both halves of the egg were adhered onto the WW card stock with dimensionals. I used Stampin' Write Markers to colour in the circles but a blender pen and ink pads will give you similar results. Lastly, I stamped the chick onto the card stock and finished with the same process as the first card.

Tip: With both cards, be careful of where you stamp your chick. It's best to do this once you have all the other parts ready so that you can visually align all the parts together.

Stamp Set:  A Good Egg

Paper: Greenhouse Gala DSP, Sunny Garden DSP, Soft Suede, Pear Pizzaz, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Ink: Soft Suede, Pear Pizzaz, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin

Pie, Jet Black StazOn

Fab tools: Boho Blossoms Punch, Blender Pen

For that awesome finish: Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Basic Rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals, SNAIL Adhesive

         ~~ xoxo ~~