Hello,

I'm not really posting anything new here, just sharing a great tutorial I just found on my blog hopping this morning.  I love Lin Mei Yap's blog - she makes great cards and it always adds a bit of sunshine to the day reading her posts, she has such a great sense of humour.  Anyway recently she posted a great tutorial for how to make your own envelope for small square cards.  You can find it here.  And now she has added a table and formula so that if you want to adapt the instructions for different sizes you can do it in a snap.  How clever.  You can find that here!    I'm making some little square cards later so will have to give it a go.  Will be back with some pics.

Gotta go now - some fish that need a bit of a cleaner house! 

Cheers, Sue

Back again - here are my 2 little envelopes.  Aren't they gorgeous.  Watch out for the matching cards in my email newsletter tomorrow.

And while I'm here - Hannah (5) and I enjoyed some mother and daughter craft time together yesterday and she made her own card and matching envelope.  Here 'tis.

And I'm happy to report that my fish are much happier now that they got a splash of fresh water and a rearranged and cleaned tank.

Speaking of fish - for some strange reason I have a huge collection of photos of dinners or food at family occasions.  Anyone else do that?  Here are those dishes I was telling you about.

Yummy!  Gotta love Vic Market. 

Cheers,  Sue

Now why is it that all my good photos of my little boy lately are when he is in his high chair?  Probably because the rest of the time he is dashing about the place, and so is often a blur running out of the shot! 

Stamp Set:  Wild About You

Ink: So Saffron marker

Cardstock: So Saffron, Night of Navy, scrap of Spring Flowers patterned paper

Accessories: Very Vanilla wide grosgrain ribbon, Night of Navy narrow grosgrain ribbon (pg 146) and So Saffron brads from the Rich Regals set (pg 145)

Well, putting some finishing touches on Madex Creations July newsletter and gift pouch tutorial so better get back to it.  Keep an eye on your inbox at the start of July if you are a subscriber.  Pop your email address in the registration box there at the left if you'd like to join the group. 

Have a great weekend.  We've been to Vic Market again to stock up on some delicious fish, meat and vegies so its going to be a gourmet weekend here in Avondale Heights!  Yum.  John is cooking baby snapper and asian greens tonight and I'm doing something with some lamb shanks (and a bit of inspiration from Jamie Oliver) tomorrow night.  Mmmmmm.

Cheers, Sue

I was having some fun playing with my new brayer a few days ago.  (A brayer is a rubber roller that you can use to roll some ink onto your card. Pg 150 if you are looking for it.)  I rolled a mixture of blue inks onto my glossy cardstock then decided to stamp something onto it.  (Artfully Asian, pg 48.)  One step led to another, and with a few 'mistakes' to work with along the way (it'd be nice to have an 'undo' button in real life sometimes hey!) this is what I ended up with.

I quite like it and love the statement too so I think I'll just attach it to my display board at the back of my desk to remind me to appreciate the small moments in life that can so easily pass you by.  Thinking of Jane McGrath and having a reflective week.

Cheers,  Sue

I love the butterflies in the Garden Whimsy set.  I've made this card before but this time I used Purely Pomegranate for one, and Blue Bayou and Soft Sky for the other.  Some glued on rhinestones just give them that little extra sparkle.

(Stamped on Whisper White, matted with Basic Gray and the greeting is from Short and Sweet, also in Basic Gray.)

I sponged the edges of the white piece in this one with Soft Sky ink and I quite like that as a finishing touch.

Happy stamping!

Cheers,  Sue

OK that title should really read 'Playing with my newest stamp - In The Garden.'  It is the large flower from the Level 1 Hostess Sets.  (Pg 18 for those playing at home!)  And my two favourite colours this month - Blue Bayou and Soft Sky. 

This card design was inspired by a card by Viv Tomren. She did hers in Rose Red and used a strip of patterned paper down the left - it looked great.  Here is the recipe for my version.

Stamp Sets: In The Garden and Sincere Salutations

Ink:  Blue Bayou plus some Soft Sky for sponging on the greeting section

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Blue Bayou and Soft Sky

Other: Blue Bayou Double Stitched Ribbon and Stampin Dimensionals (foam tabs under the greeting.) It needed something to balance so also added 2 silver brads (from the vintage brads set.)

Off to work on that brayer card. 

Family News and Photos

Before I go some snaps of my little lad.  He was looking so grown up sitting in a regular chair doing a bit of drawing - just had to grab the camera.

Now this is the view we have more often been seeing of him lately!

Yes that's right.  Someone has learnt how to do somersaults off the little footstool.  He quite often does a solid 10 minutes of them!  I wish I had his get up and go!  (Hmmm maybe if I went to bed at 7.30pm instead of playing with inks and computers to the wee hours ......  naaah!)

Cheers and have a good weekend!

Sue

Have you ever noticed the cute gift bags on the front cover of the Stampin' Up! Idea Book/Catalogue?   I decided to try one on the weekend using a piece of Spring Flowers patterned paper.  (By the way: This paper is from the previous catalogue.  It and Spring Showers are not shown in the new one but you can still get them.)

I also used some Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon - the narrow and the wide rolls.  Just a simple version really without too much in the way of embellishments, but I really like that paper.

If you'd like to make one too, pop onto Splitcoast Stampers (www.splitcoaststampers.com) and check out the instructions for 2-5-7-10 boxes in the resources section.  That's what I followed to make mine. 

Cheers,  Sue

If there is I'm sure our kids have inherited it.  Both John and I love to read and so do our little munchkins.  Quite often our place seems to have been taken over by books and magazines and more books.  Jack's favourite at the moment is 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff' and he joins in with the trip trapping over the bridge and when the troll says 'I'm going to ...' he says in his loudest voice '...EAT YOU UP!' 

I have days when I don't think I get too many points in the 'Mum of the Year' stakes, but at least with fostering a love of books I feel like I do OK! 

I had a blissful morning today with breakfast in bed and a nice browse through Simple Scrapbooks magazine.  Love that mag.  Every second page I find myself saying 'Gotta try that, gotta try that.'  Saw a great layout done with photos cut into circles and thought I'd try that with this bunch I snapped of the kids reading together.

The dark blue base layer is Night of Navy and the lighter layer is Brocade Blue. The focal photo in the top corner is matted in Real Red.  I stamped the title (hidden under the journalling circle) with Night of Navy ink.  The alphabet stamp set is Best Friends Upper.  I used Vellum Cardstock for the circle and my white Signo gel pen for the journalling.  (Tip:  Write slowly so the ink flows well.)  Two red eyelets from the Basic Eyelets set balanced the red in the photos and photo mat.

Are you in a scrapbooking mood?  I find I do a whole string of pages over a few weeks, then put it all away til the mood hits again.  Got the bug at the moment so looking forward to completing a few more layouts before it wears off!  Watch out, its contagious .....

Cheers,  Sue

My mum was looking for some ideas on ways to use Stampin' Up! products in her scrapbooking so I put together these photos to illustrate a few simple ideas.  (My scrapbooking style tends to the simple, clean lines end of the spectrum most days.  I love looking at more elaborate styles that other people do though but even when I start with that as a plan, my pages often end up a little more on the minimalist side.)

Anyway here is my black and white photo with a simple black mat.

I always like the look of a series of mats so here I've added two more layers.  (Basic Gray and Basic Black.)

For a little more interest I've sponged the edges of the Basic Gray card with Basic Gray ink.

Now I can pop my matted photo in a frame or onto a scrapbook page.

I wanted to put this photo into an 8 x 8 album so I started again with an 8 x 8 inch piece of black card and popped my matted photo on a square of grey card.

Some options for dressing it up - hmm what about ribbon and eyelets.  Love the Basic Gray taffeta ribbon.

The cropadile makes eyelet setting so quick and easy.  Love it. 

Now if you are looking carefully you might notice that I rushed a bit and my third eyelet is not as evenly spaced as I would have liked so rather than discard it, I flipped that layer of grey card over and covered the eyelets with the photo! 

Now I needed another embellishment for the bottom right corner.  I borrowed one of the stamps from my sister's Simply Sent Kit (pg 14, I just love the stamps you get in this kit.)  Embossed it in silver onto black card, cut it out and added a rhinestone brad from the Pretties Kit in the centre.

I'm going to experiment and try some embossed flourishes on the black card so stay tuned for that addition (if it works!)

My sister, my mum, my daughter (5) and I spent a lovely morning together stamping and trying some different tools and techniques. 

Do you have some friends or family that like to do craft?? It is so much fun to get together and chat and share ideas.  Plus you can share stamp sets and tools and try a few different things without breaking the budget!  Maybe you would like to call some stamping buddies today and arrange a craft session.

My daughter Hannah decided to do a bit of 'demonstrating' herself today and showed Lisa, Maddy and I how to make a few things.

She enjoys making her own cards and creations.  Maddy brought her a set of little storage drawers so she can keep her growing stash of supplies sorted. 

Extra Extra Hostess Promotion

Quick reminder for those who want to be kept up to date on specials.  Only one month to go on the Extra Extra special.  If you've been thinking of hosting a workshop, this is a great time!  If your workshop reaches $700 you will receive an extra $50 in hostess benefits plus your stamp set from the lovely hostess sets on pages 18-24.  Imagine what you could select with $130 hostess $$ to spend!  Hmmm, decisions, decisions.  Give me a buzz (0417 377 057) if you'd like to book in for an afternoon or evening of stamping and creating with a group of friends or family.  Lots of fun.  Promotion ends 15 July.

Cheers,  Sue

Hope you had a great weekend.  We enjoyed a nice weekend away visiting family.  (Scroll down for some pics!)

I had a weekend away from my inks and papers too!  Quite enjoyed getting my pastels out last night for some therapeutic colouring while watching TV.  (Anyone else enjoy colouring or is it just me?  Must remind me of being a kid I think.)  Here is what I came up with.

Stamp Sets:  A Little Bit Of Happiness (Hostess Set) and Short and Sweet greeting set (pg 118)

Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Orchid Opulence and Gable Green (all from Bold Brights colour family) plus some Whisper White and Basic Black

Inks:  Black Stazon Ink and some Versamark.  (Hard to see in the photo but I added some flowers behind the greeting in Versamark - a watermark ink.)

Other:  Stampin' Pastels, Blender Pen, Scallop Punch, 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 inch Circle Punches, White grosgrain ribbon and Stampin Dimensional foam tabs.

Experiment with the pastels - they are lots of fun.  I added a tiny bit of blue to the tops of the sections and some green to the bottoms which looked quite effective I thought. I like my pastels because you get all 48 colours -12 each from the 4 colour famililes, plus some neutrals in the one pack.  Handy when you don't have many ink pads but want your colour to match your cardstock. Pg 150, $48.95.  Add a black ink pad, a pack of Whisper White cardstock and some blender pens, plus a pack of your favourite colour family cardstock and you are on your way to lots of colourful creations.

Family Snaps

We had such a great weekend.  We spent a night with John's mum in Horsham (about 3 hrs west of Melbourne) and restocked the grandma hugs!  Jack enjoyed checking out a box of cars, trucks and other toys his dad, uncles and aunts used to play with.

Then we had a night on the farm with John's sister and brother in law.  A bonfire, toasting marshmallows (yum I think I ate half the pack!) riding on the tractor, feeding chooks, playing in the mud, checking out the sheep, frog pond, what more could a city kid want??  We all had a great time.  Here's Hannah checking her marshmallow status, and my lads gathering sticks.

Hope you got to recharge the batteries on your weekend too.

Cheers,  Sue

Who loves roses?  The large rose stamp (Stipple Rose pg 74) has always caught my eye in our catalogue. I thought it would be great for some of the different colouring techniques and I was right.  Here is what I've been doing this evening.

I used my blender pen and Stampin' Pastels to shade the rose, building up the colour in some places.  There are some darker areas on the stamped image which I used to guide me to places to put some stronger colour.  The colours I used are Rose Red on the flower, and a base of Always Artichoke on the leaves with some Old Olive added.  I also did a touch of highlighting on the leaves with my white gel pen.  When I was done I added some Crystal Effects for a dewy finish. 

Check back next week to see what it looks like when I add it to a card.  I'm having a little break this weekend but your regular scheduled program will resume after the long weekend!

Cheers,  Sue