I hope you are enjoying some rest, good health, good company and much happiness for Christmas and the New Year.

We've had a lovely time catching up with both sides of the family over Christmas.  I'm taking a bit of a blogging break for a couple of weeks so things will be a bit slow here.  (Perhaps the odd post if I drink too much coffee in the evening again!)

We've had a super day out today at the Aquarium (you've gotta go see the new penguin exhibit - so cute!) and also stopped by at Ikea.  (A storage addicted girl's heaven!)  A load of bookcases arrive tomorrow for John to magically transform from flatpack to set up ready for me to have a big spring cleaning, sorting frenzy!  My blog is getting a makeover too so if Typepad and I cooperate well then hopefully the new look Madex Creations will make an appearance in early to mid Jan.  Stay tuned....

January Classes

Just a quick note for those who've enquired about Jan dates.  In January we'll be doing 2 Step Stamping and Emerging Colour at technique classes.  I'm running the class 3 times so hopefully there'll be a date that will suit you.  Jan 15th (only 1 spot left for this one though), January 22nd and January 29th - all starting at 7.30pm.  Class fee $15.   At my place in Avondale Heights.  Phone or email to book your spot at the table.

If you are wanting to place an order, book a workshop or class or ask any Stampin' Up questions I'm around - just taking a little holiday from blog posting.  

Have been having fun playing Pick Up Sticks, Connect 4, Thomas the Tank Engine and lots more other school holiday fun with the kidlets.  Hope you get a chance for some rest and relaxation this festive season too.

(Pics today are of some my favourite ornaments from mum and dad's Christmas tree - the ones I remember from when I was a kid.  Working on some scrapbook pages to go with them.)

Cheers for now,

Sue

We recently went to a birthday party for one of Hannah's good friends.   We were flicking through my patterned papers for some inspiration and Hannah picked a colourful design from the new papers - Bali Breeze.  I love the colours.  I'm sure I wouldn't have thought to put them together but they work well.  Here's the card ...

The Recipe

Stamp Set: Best Friend Alphabet Upper

Colours: Rose Red, Taken With Teal, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Bali Breeze papers

Accessories/Tools: Circle Punches, Flower Fusion (the felt flowers), Rhinestone Brads

I love the rhinestone brads through the felt flowers.  They really set them off. 

Happy birthday Olivia. 

We went to a birthday party for another of Hannah's good friends yesterday so will be back with a boy birthday card once I unload my camera.  Happy birthday Isaac.

We had a lovely time yesterday at the party until Hannah fell and landed awkwardly.  Her wrist was hurting and sympathetic mum here was saying, 'Stop crying, you'll be OK, there there, it'll be all better in a tic.'  Anyway seemed to be still hurting and looked a little swollen so decided to pop by emergency for a check up.  Xrays showed she'd cracked 2 of the bones! (The wrist end of the 2 arm bones.)  So she's now got a half cast on and we head back Monday for a full cast once the swelling has gone down.  Poor little thing.  Its been very painful by the sounds of it.  Seems to be a little better this afternoon so hopefully the worst of it is over now.  I wonder if you can stamp on a cast!   Anyway - better get back to snuggles on the couch! 

Cheers,

Sue

One of my blogland friends Sue Poile has just had her first card published in a magazine.  How exciting for her.  You can see her card here.  (or in the latest edition of Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft.)

Congratulations Sue!  Love the card.

Busy busy busy - it's a busy time of year isn't it.  I headed out to the shopping centre tonight for a spot of late night Christmas shopping to cross a few more things off my list.  Got a car park easily and the place wasn't too crowded so glad I decided on Tuesday night instead of Saturday afternoon!   Not much to go now.  How are you going with your Christmas preparations?

Hannah and I've been busy finishing off our cards.  I've been coming up with different ways to use my circle photos of the kids.  Here are a few of the options I've come up with so far.  (The first ones use Wintergreen Patterned Paper and the second ones use the now retired Holiday Harmony.  The Very Merry greeting is from Short and Sweet stamp set.)

Hannah (6) came up with these ones.  She's been quite busy!

She used Dashing paper and the tree from Greetings Galore.  She added a little KindyGlitz for some sparkle.

And really - its the sentiment behind the card isn't it that is most important so I should show the inside as well.  I like her message ....

Friends and family - that's what I love most about Christmas.

Cheers,

Sue

Are you a bit Christmassed out?  I'm having a break from Christmas today and posting a few other bits and pieces I found in my photo files!

Here's a birthday card for one of Hannah's classmates.   (Yes - you guessed it, used my trusty old Best Friend's Alphabet stamp set again. I think I've used that for every party she has attended this year.  6 year olds seem to like to see their names on their cards and I love the casual style of this lettering.)  If you have a boy birthday card to make, perhaps this design will come in handy.

I gathered up some leftover bits of Jersey Shore patterned paper, my tag punch, eyelets and cropadile, matching Bashful Blue and Pumpkin Pie cardstock and a birthday greeting from Eat Cake, then whipped this one up quite quickly.  (Remember to stamp the letters first, then flip the punch over so you can see what you're punching.)

I used another stamp from Eat Cake to add a little something to the inside before Hannah wrote her birthday greeting.  I used my markers to do the stars and dots in different colours.  (Remember the individual marker promotion ends Sunday if you were after some while they were still available singly.  Details here.)

December Classes

At my December classes this month we are decorating the front covers of our technique books.  I love seeing what people come up with when designing their own covers.  I just got out a stack of papers, stamp sets, tools and accessories and everyone got creative.  I took some snaps so will show you a few of the lovely covers over the next few weeks.

Here is Cecile's.

And here's Narelle's.

Aren't they great!  Thanks ladies for letting me share your creations here in blogland.  I'm looking forward to seeing what tonight's group come up with.

Well - I'd best be heading off.  Hannah has started school holidays today and we picked up some craft kits from Riot Art (in the $2 bin - bargain!)  Time to go get one out I think. 

The poor thing - I think I rediscovered my inner Prep teacher today!  We're using some of her leftover school scrapbooks to do some writing each day, and a few other literacy activities.  (OK and I might have tested her on her 100 word list and done a couple of running records ...lol...)She's always so tired after a day at school - I think I'm making up for not doing too much this year at home.  Just need to remind myself that we don't need to do everything in one day!  Hee hee.  The joys of having a temporarily retired primary school teacher for a mum hey!

Speaking of Prep - my friend Jen put together the most gorgeous collection of photos of her son's Prep year, put to music.  You can find it on her blog - here.  What a great idea! 

Take care,

Sue

Are you looking for some ideas for incorporating photos into your cards this Christmas? 

I've taken my Santa Hat photos of the kids, and picked them up from Harvey Norman and now I am busy cutting them into circles to add to my cards.   Here are a couple of different designs.

This one was for Jack's kinderplay/gymbaroo teacher.  He has had such a great time this year at these activities and his teacher is such a warm, caring person.  I thought a card with some warm Christmas colours was just the thing.

This is a super quick card.  (Being the organised girl that I am ... hee hee ... I made it at 9.45 this morning for our 10.15 session!  Mind you it did help that the supplies and tools were still spread all over the dining table from the weekend card making efforts.  I think I do exhibit a nice veneer of organised most times, but underneath there is definitely a good dash of 'skating along by the skin of my teeth!'  Hmm - did I mix a few metaphors there?) 

Anyway - back to the card. The greeting is from The Snowflake Spot stamp set.  I've cut circles from my Dashing paper - handy when there are lots of matching designs to choose from.  I added some punched circles of red to make them look like baubles, then trimmed to fit.  The base card and organza ribbon are from my craft stash.  The photo is cunningly captured from the 2 seconds that the Santa Hat actually stayed on Jack's head!

Here is another design using circles and photos. 

This time I prepared the Soft Sky cardstock first by stamping snowflakes in Soft Sky and Blue Bayou ink.  I added some embossed silver ones, plus some using heat and stick powder and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  I did a whole A4 sheet then I am cutting it into circles to use on a bunch of cards.

The Blue Bayou base card is stamped with Blue Bayou ink.  (Snowflakes from The Snowflake Spot stamp set again.)  I also stamped the Joy greeting, then pricked the holes with a paper piercer.  There's a white card inside behind it so they stand out.  (More in real life than you can see in this pic.)  Some Soft Sky Double Stitched ribbon, and some other ribbon kicking about in my craft box to finish it off.

Here are my little apprentice card makers and I in action on our very messy dining table over the weekend!

Jack is quite taken with this tree from Greetings Galore!

More photos left and heaps more cards to make so will be back again later this week with some more ideas for you.

Cheers,

Sue

This has become an annual event at my place.  Time to grab the Christmas crate, cross my fingers that the kids are feeling cooperative and attempt to capture a festive snap to add to my Christmas cards.  A zillion photos later I usually find one with that Christmas sparkle!

I've written a little about the process over at Aussie Scrapbooking today.  The article is here if you'd like a look.

And speaking of Christmas, finally made a dent in the Christmas shopping today.  (After a very lazy morning hanging about in our PJs.  Well, except for John who was out playing golf when the birds started chirping this morning.  Me - I could SOOOO not be an early morning golfer.  Yes aside from the fact that I have zero hand eye coordination ...lol... I could just not set the alarm that early on a Sunday!) 

Anyway - better get back to those Christmas cards.  Think I've made 3 today - hmmm was hoping for a zero at the end of that!

Cheers,

Sue

Oh - girls who were at my class on Thursday night - I have the pics and punch list for our special project ready to post here in case you need the details. Just waiting until after this Thursday's class so I don't spoil the surprise for that group.  Stay tuned!

Have I shown you this one?  I couldn't find it when I was hunting about on my blog so perhaps not.  (And yes - I think I should add some sort of search widget to this blog when it has its forthcoming makeover!) 

The Recipe

Stamp Set: The Snowflake Spot

Colours: Soft Sky and Blue Bayou - I love this combination of colours.  The matching double stitched Soft Sky ribbon looks gorgeous too.

Technique:  Emboss resist.  The snowflakes are embossed using white embossing powder then the blue inks are sponged over the top. 

I love this non traditional coloured Christmas card.   One of my favourites for this year.

The kids have been doing some stamping today.  Jack (2) likes the Christmas tree from Greetings Galore and had a ball stamping on some scrap paper.  'More ink mum!' he kept saying.   Hannah made a start on some Christmas cards for her friends.  (Will be back to post a pic once we add the glitter!)

Jack is getting quite into this stamping caper.  He was quite taken with the whole stamp conditioning process the other day and decided he wanted to have a turn with the adhesive remover too.

Have you got any solid stamps that are stamping a little blotchily??  Try giving the rubber a 'rub' with an eraser.  (An adhesive eraser works especially well.  Pg 148, $3.75.)  It takes off a layer of residue that sometimes remains from the manufacturing process.  A quick clean on your Stampin' Scrub afterwards and I'm sure you'll see a difference.

Well, I've taken over the dining table with my Christmas card making production line so I'd best get back to it or we'll be eating in the lounge room for the next week.  So far only about 3 people are getting cards, so quite a few more of the to do list!

Happy stamping and festivity preparing and end of year busy-ness surviving!

Cheers, Sue

Here are a couple of other Christmas cards I made while on my recent 'patterned paper using' crusade.  I seem to collect lots of it, then just sit and look at it     ...lol...    Time to break open those packs and use some!

This time I've used Wintergreen and the matching cardstock. (Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Soft Sky and Always Artichoke - yum!)

The new square scallop punch from the Summer Mini had a work out too as you can see.  I quite like this little combo of 3 of them with a gorgeous rhinestone through the middle.  (Another thing I collect then save for special occasions!  Breaking them out too!) 

Do you have craft supplies in your stash that you love but never seem to bring yourself to actually use!?  (Or perhaps its just me!)  See if you can dig something out you've been 'saving for a special occasion.'

Hmmm - I could change the papers and the greeting and use that design for some other occasion quite easily.  Might have to give that a go.

I think I forgot to mention the super new December promotion from Stampin' Up - oops.  Bit forgetful of me.   Details here!

Hope your week is going well.  My son (2) has been cracking me up this week.  He has been carting a calculator around with him everywhere.  He tells me, 'Mummy, this my DS' and sits there and pushes buttons. 

We were playing with a Goldilocks and the 3 Bears felt set the other day, acting out the story.  Got to the end and I said, 'Then Goldilocks woke up and said ....'

'Good morning!' chimed in Jack, before proceeding to take off all Goldilocks's clothes and announce that she was off to have a bath! 

Hmmm - don't remember that part of the story. 

Looking forward to school holidays.  School and various activities will all be finished for the year and we can hang out in our jammies til lunchtime.  Aaaahh, relaxing!  How many sleeps!?

Cheers, Sue

... which means it is time for the new Summer Mini catalogue to begin.  Have you seen it yet?

If you' d like me to post you a copy, contact me and I'll get one to you to flick through. 

Lots of lovely new things and lots of card ideas too.   

Here are a few of the goodies that were on my list.  (Demonstrators get to order a month earlier so I've been having a play!)

December Newsletter

I sent out my email newsletter and tutorial today so check your inbox if you are on my newsletter list.  If you're not and you'd like a copy, pop your email address in the registration box there at the left or just email me to let me know. 

This month I got a bit carried away (ye gads, surely not!) so its a nice long one - 10 pages in total - !!!  Including 3 pages of tips and tidbits on ink pads - heaps of things you might already know, and hopefully a few that you might not!

This month it includes a tutorial for these gift card holders.  Here are a couple that I made, and one that Hannah (my 6 year old) made too (using her new Stampin' Write Markers.)  She was most chuffed to have me asking to borrow her Stampin' Up supplies (to stamp my Christmas tree) instead of the other way round! 

Which reminds me - have I told you that the marker promo has been extended until the 14th December so you have an extra couple of weeks to buy some individually at $4.95?

Pretties Share

Lots of my lovely ladies who attend my classes loved this card I made, inspired by this one by the talented Teneale Williams, and were interested in the gorgeous hat pins and beads in the Pretties Kit. 

So by popular demand, I'm organising a Pretties Kit Share.   

Each share is $12.50 including postage.   

You will receive 1/5 of the Pretties Kit (pg 144) 

Your share will consist of 10 white flowers (range of sizes), 12 white and 12 cream halfback pearls (range of sizes), 9 white and 9 cream round pearls (range of sizes), 8 beads (asst shapes), 10 rhinestone brads (asst sizes), 6 spacer beads and 2 hatpins.  (Note: Tin not included.)

Contact me if you’re interested.  (smadex@bigpond.com or 0417 377 057)

When we have 5 people I’ll ask for payment by direct deposit and will place the order.  The first group is almost full already.

Classes

Goodness me - I thought nobody would be interested in December classes as it is such a hectic time of year so I only put 2 on the schedule!  It seems nothing gets in the way of our crafts though (..lol..) and both my December classes are chockas!   If you missed out, give me a buzz anyway and I can start a waiting list in case of cancellations, or if there's enough interest can squeeze another date in.

I have HEAPS of great ideas for the class timetable for 2009.  The hardest part is deciding which topic to do first!  Keep an eye out here for new listings, and be sure to book early!

Cheers, Sue