August 1st is almost here which means it is almost time for the Stampin' Up Australia Last Chance List to be released, with all the items that will be retiring at the end of August from our main Idea Book and Catalogue.  Keep an eye out here on Sunday for the list and further details.

More Stampin' Pastels Cards

This time I combined my Stampin' Pastels with Fox and Friends stamp set  and a circle punch for some quick and easy kids cards.

The Recipe:

Colours: Pumpkin Pie, Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip

Stamp Set: Fox and Friends

DSP: Sweet Always

Punches: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Eyelet Border Punch

Other: Versamark, Stampin' Pastels, Cotton Balls, Snail adhesive

Stay Tuned!

We have a very exciting event to tell you about very soon. 

It kicks off on Sunday August 1st.  

Think tutorials, tutorials, tutorials.  Tons of inspiring tutorials.

Hmmm what other clues can I give?  Christmas, Masculine, Boxes and Bags.  Challenges. Prizes.   Giveaways.  

And all for a wonderful wonderful cause.  

Curious??  Come back here on Sunday August 1st for all the details.   

While I am at my Stampin' Up stand at Milleara Shopping Centre one Sunday each month, I like to use the time between chatting with lovely locals to make a batch of cards. 

I'm sure sometimes it takes me longer to decide what I'm going to make and what tools and equipment to take along for my card making than it does to pack the rest of my display!  

This month I decided I'd like to use my Stampin' Pastels as they'd been gathering dust on my shelf for a little while. 

Here's a couple of the cards I finished.

Both of today's cards feature the Level 2 Hostess Set ' Asian Artistry.'  (Page 5 of the Autumn Winter Mini.)  I love this set.   Both use the Poppin' Pastels technique. 

For this card I've stamped the 2 images using Versamark then used cotton balls to apply the pastels/chalks.  Rub the cotton ball onto the pastel to pick up the colour, then dab onto the Versamark image - you can build up the colour gradually depending on what depth of colour you are wanting for your finished project. 

I love the soft colour that the Stampin' Pastels give.  Colours on this card are Old Olive, Night of Navy and Real Red.  I added a tiny scrap of Real Red grosgrain ribbon as a little finishing touch.  This is a nifty way to use very small offcuts of ribbon like those bits you snip off once you've tied a knot or bow.

Here's card number 2 using another of the images from Asian Artistry.

This time I've used Old Olive, Real Red and Basic Black.  I did the bird using Brilliant Blue then toned it down a little with some black pastel/chalk.  (This was to make it tone in with the black matting since I'd forgotten to bring any Brilliant Blue cardstock with me.) 

I like the look of different colours blended for a soft background.  Stampin' Pastels are a great medium to have a play with and experiment to get different blends of colour.  I had fun digging mine out for a play.  What piece of craft equipment have you got on your shelf that hasn't been used for a while?  Perhaps it is time to dig it out and get creating.   Have fun!

Cheers, Sue

Hello, July is rapidly coming to a close.  Just a reminder that the Two Step Stamping special ends July 31st. 

There are several stamp sets at 20% off until then.   You can see the list here:  2 Step Stamp Special

The starter kit special ends July 31st too.  Check here (or get in touch) for more details:  Starter Kit Special

I went to the Craft and Quilt Show yesterday with my daughter (7) and sister.  We had a lovely afternoon.  (Hello Gail and the girls who were on the Stampin' Up stand.  They had some gorgeous projects on display.)

Hannah and I ended up at a facepainting workshop run by Michelle from Moz Theatre (click for link - she has an online shop with the fabulous facepainting gear.)  Here's what we looked like by the time we'd finished!  (We were running out of skin to practise on!)

I bought home some colourful face painting supplies and had a fun time trying them out with the kids this afternoon after I got back from Milleara Market.  (Hello to all the lovely ladies I met today!)

Here's lavender Hannah:

.... and Rainbow Lion Jack:

What fun!  Hmmm, better be bath night tonight I guess!!

Back with some cards very soon.  I made a bunch today at the market using Stampin' Pastels so will grab my camera out soon for those.

Hope you've had a colourful weekend.

Cheers, Sue   

I love the butterfly from All A Flutter.  This single stamp can be found on the inside back cover of the Stampin' Up Autumn/Winter mini catalogue.   It is $12.95 and looks good stamped or embossed or watercoloured.  Lots of lovely things you can do with it.  I must say I'm a bit of a sucker for anything with butterflies and dragonflies and can't resist these stamps. 

Here's a card my newsletter crew will recognise from my July email newsletter.

The Recipe:

Note: Based on a lovely sketch by Genna Gifford for a recent team challenge.

Colours: Perfect Plum, Silver (from Metallics pack)

Tools: Embossing gear including heat gun, Versamark and silver embossing powder, Sponge daubers

Stamp Sets: All A Flutter, En Francais back ground stamp and Basic Phrases elegant greeting set

I did a plain version too - I love simple, clean lines sometimes.

I had quite a few people to congratulate so made a bunch.  Don't you find when you have your things out and all set up, it is just as easy to make a few as to make one?  Once you have a design in mind and your equipment ready you're half way there I find.

Time to let this butterfly wave his wings bye for today.  Catch you another day.

Cheers, Sue

Here's a sneak peek at my StampAMemory post.

Head on over to the StampAMemory website if you'd like to see the whole layout.  You can find it here  Riding Hood Red Boys Layout.

This layout is my final one as a member of the StampAMemory team.  I have so enjoyed being part of the crew and the inspiration and ideas I've gotten from those talented ladies has been fabulous.  

Our To Do Lists can get a bit full some days and I regretfully came to realise I was going to have to let this role go.  I look forward to continuing to be a regular visitor to StampAMemory and highly highly recommend it to anyone after some ideas for ways to use Stampin' Up products in their scrapbooking, or to anyone just wanting to recharge those scrapping batteries. 

Remember - the girls feature guest designers regularly.  There's information on the site if you've got some layouts to share and would like to apply.

Cheers, Sue

Now there's a recipe for some fun.  Hannah had some Grade 2 friends over on the school holidays and they spent a part of the day getting creative.  Some pics below.

First though I thought I'd show you another of the little gift card and tealight candle combinations.  I can't believe I wasn't going to get the ExtraLarge Two Step Bird Punch - have been having lots of fun with it since I plonked it on the end of an order last month!

I've used Sweet Slumber DSP here.  This paper has now sold out which is little reminder to us all to have a bit of a browse through the Idea Book and Catalogue before it finishes at the end of August, or before stocks of particular items are gone.    

The card and envelope are from the Love Notes pack on page 131.  You get 10 Vanilla and 10 White cards and envelopes for $13.50.  The cards are 7.6cm square - just perfect for a little gift card. 

OK back to Hannah and her friends.  For some school holiday fun I put these things out on the table - the bird punch, the scallop circle punch, some glue sticks and some card/paper scraps.   The girls had lots of fun turning this ....

..... into these lovely creations. 

Didn't they do a great job.  Nice to have some open ended, creative fun (and use up some scraps at the same time!)

Well that better be all for today.  Have a lovely week and stay warm! 

Cheers, Sue
   

Hello and a warm welcome to you from this part of blogland.  Today I have some baby cards to share.  Someone I know recently had twins - a boy and a girl, and I wanted to make a card to help celebrate this special event.  I decided to make two and to go with pastel blue and pastel pink (or in Stampin' Up lingo that'd be Bashful Blue and Pink Pirouette.)

To make these cards I used the Small Heart Punch from the Autumn Winter Mini (pg 15) to punch my row of hearts.  I added a half pearl from the Pretties Kit to each heart, attached with a glue dot.  I love the look of these pearls.

Now I was going to add something else and tried out a few different options - tags and little animals and what not.  In the end I decided that I liked the clean, simple version the best. 

 
  
I hope all of you living in chilly parts of the world are staying warm.  We're rugged up here in lots of layers as our heater has picked this frosty week to not start.  Fortunately we have the wood heater too so might be putting a bit of a dent in the woodpile before the heater repair guy comes in a week! 

Class Update: Christmas In July

Looks like lots of people want to get an early start on their Christmas cards.  Two dates for my Christmas In July classes have booked out.  There are 6 spots still left for the third date:  Wednesday July 28th at 7.30pm.  More details here.  Phone or email to book your space at the table.

Cheers,  Sue

It is the first Saturday of the month which means it is blog hop time!  This month we're getting an early start on the festive season preparations and our theme is Christmas In July so grab a cuppa (or perhaps some egg nog would be more fitting!) and get set for some Christmas inspiration. 

Previous Blog Hop Stop:

You may have arrived here from the gorgeous creation of Kathryn Ruddick, or perhaps you are starting your hop from here.   Let's launch off.

Quilted Top Note Christmas Card

I've been seeing lots of the gorgeous quilted cards done with squares of patterned paper and the Big Shot Top Note die.  I decided to grab out a pack of DSP, my 1 1/4" square punch and give it a go. 

Here's my festive version ....

Now a confession!  I grabbed a pack of patterned paper from my stash and it wasn't until I'd finished making the card, taken the pics and was writing this up that I realised - uh oh!  I'd grabbed Ski Slope DSP which has retired.    Oops!  To make this project yourself, you could substitute any of the DSP that has Baja Breeze patterned paper, or you could make your own by stamping a swirly pattern on some Baja Breeze cardstock. 

Some Steps:

For those of you who like the step by step instructions - here goes.  I punched squares from the patterned paper then sponged the edges of each square with Baja Breeze ink.  I coated a piece of cardstock with glue (the Anywhere Glue Stick pg 154 makes this easy) and glued on the 12 squares.  Then cut out my shape using the Top Note Die.  I sponged the edges and added some snowflakes from the Snow Swirled stamp set - once again using Baja Breeze ink.

I embossed the greeting - Heard From The Heart stamp set and white embossing powder.  I also embossed the dove from A Wish For Peace stamp set onto vellum cardstock and cut that out.   I attached him with glue dots.

I stamped the base card with some more snowflakes using white craft ink, then added some dots of glitter using the 2 Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds.  Popped some white taffeta ribbon on and added the Top Note shape and all done.

I did another one with another piece of Ski Slope DSP, this time in Old Olive colouring.  I used gold embossing powder and it doesn't quite stand out enough against the green so back to the drawing board for this one I think!   Thought I'd show you anyway for those of you who prefer your Christmas cards in greens!  The base card is Confetti Cream.  I sponged the edges in Kiwi Kiss and stamped the edge of the smallest snowflake in gold ink as a border.

Thanks for visiting my patch of blogland.  Hope you enjoy the hop today. 

Blog Hop Details:

This month our blog hop has 12 stops.  There's a blog candy draw (non demonstrators eligible for prize.) Leave a comment at each stop before Tuesday morning 6am.  Email Nikki at [email protected] to let her know and she'll put your name in the hat.

Next Blog Hop Stop:

Now you are off to the blog of the talented Claire Daly who has a beautiful Christmas project to share. 

By the time you make your way around the blog hop you'll be brimming with ideas for Christmas creations, and still 6 months left to get working on them.   That will fly by if the first 6 months is any guide!  Each year in the December rush I promise myself that next year I'll start earlier!  Let's hope the blog hop ideas get us all into gear nice and early this year.

Happy Hopping!   Cheers, Sue

During July Stampin' Up Australia are taking 20% off these two step stamp sets.

Here's the details:

*From 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue
**Retiring stamp sets!

Some gorgeous sets there.  Have a lovely day. 

Cheers, Sue