In the mood for a blog hop?!  Well, grab a cuppa and head around the 11 stops on this SaleABration themed blog hop that some of my stamping buddies and I are having today. 

Let's Get Hopping!

You might have arrived here from the blog of the always lovely and very talented Christine Blain - Happy Heart Cards, or perhaps you're starting out from here. 

Punch Bunch: Masculine Card

I've used the happy birthday stamp from the SaleABration set Punch Bunch for my masculine card.

This stamp fits the Scallop Square punch.  Punch and stamp combos make card making so easy I think!  I've stamped it in Wild Wasabi ink on Naturals Ivory cardstock. 

Base card: Wild Wasabi spritzed with Early Espresso using a marker and spritzer.  This card is 4 3/4" square and fits inside the Stampin Up medium square envelopes on page 123.

Feature:  Chocolate Chip cardstock cut with the Scallop Square die and embossed with the Square Lattice embossing folder (both from the Summer Mini) plus a piece of the woodgrain patterned paper from the Woodland Walk DSP (pg 125.)  A couple of loops of hemp twine to give a masculine finishing touch.

And a nice super simple inside - just a few extra spritzes of ink plus another punched Happy Birthday scallop square.

Do you ever find you're using the same colours a lot?  The colour scheme for this card was from the Woodland Walk DSP.  Check out the coordinating colours for each pack of Designer Series Paper in the catalogue - a great way to find some new colour schemes to try out if you find yourself in a bit of a colour rut. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have lots of fun on the rest of the hop and get all inspired for some crafting happiness this weekend. 

Next Blog Hop Stop:

Now on to your next stop  to check out the lovely creations by the gorgeous Di Dunk from over in Healesville.  Her blog is Stamp Art By Di.

Have fun!  Happy SaleABration.

Cheers,  Sue

PS If you get lost along the way, or if you're visiting after blog hop day, you can see all the lovely SaleABration creations by clicking on these links.   Di Dunk, Tina Gillespie, Kathryn Manglesdorf, Judy May, Amy Buchanan, Kathryn Ruddick, Alisha Watson, Ros Davidson, Nikki Sadler, and Christine Blain.

Not sure about at your place, but here my two munchkins seems to produce rather a LOT of drawings, stories and other assorted paper creations.  I've been working on some  ways to store them, then to sort and display the ones we want to keep longer term.

I found these 2 cheap tubs at the supermarket and used my Timeless Type sizzlits and Big Shot, along with a box of cardstock scraps to cut letters for their names.  I used contact to attach them to the tub.

Plan is to use these to quickly and easily pack up current papers, projects, drawings, stories and what not.   Then when the tub is getting full we'll have a bit of a sort and pick out some treasures to put into plastic pockets in a folder.

Here's a couple of folders I decorated on the weekend using Island Oasis DSP, and some alphabet stamps - Lovely Letters for Hannah and Just Perfect alphabet for Jack.

Circle punches came in handy too - 1" and 1 1/4".

So we'll see how this plan goes for keeping our papers in a little more order!    Hmmm - should get onto my craft area and set a better example shouldn't I!!

Cheers, Sue

A spritzer is one of those tools isn't it - once you get it out you spritz everything in sight. This card needed a little something and my spritzer seemed just the thing.

Colours: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla.

Stamp Sets: Fifth Avenue Floral and Sincere Salutations

Other: Choc Chip ribbon, some of that lovely antique lace from the Summer mini and some pearls.

And a little bit of tizzying for the inside of the card.

Cheers, Sue

I wanted to make a nice simple Valentine's card for John - a) because that's the sort of card he'd like best, and b) because being the organised card maker that I am, I only had about 10 minutes or we'd have no Valentine's dinner! 

I've used Crumb Cake cardstock with some scraps of Riding Hood Red, Night of Navy and Sahara Sand and 2 punches to make the little feature.  Some hemp twine and some (retired, sob) Kraft taffeta ribbon were the only other embellishments.

I love the Square Lattice embossing folder - so versatile and perfect for masculine cards.

A couple of leftover hearts for the envelope ....

....  and it made a nice addition to a box of Favourites and a nice candlelit dinner for four.   Seemed just the occasion to remind me to be thankful for all the wonderful things John does.

Cheers,  Sue

I quite like making little 10cm square cards.  Actually if you make them 9.9cm square then you can get 3 out of an A4 sheet of cardstock.  Here's one featuring the SaleABration stamp set Bliss and a colour I love - Rich Razzleberry.

I used my Colour Coach for the colour scheme - Rich Razzleberry, Blushing Bride and Early Espresso.  The Curly Label punch is one of my most used punches lately.  I stamped a panel of white cardstock then picked out 2 parts I liked with my punch.   This card also has some DSP from the In Colour Patterns Stack, some self adhesive pearls and I've added a bit of spritzing with a Stampin' Write Marker and spritzer. 

Still spaces left this Wednesday 16th and also Wednesday 23rd at 7.30pm if you'd like to try a spritzing class.  We're making one masculine card, one Bliss card and one soft feminine card and trying two types of spritzing.  You'll get a Mini Mister to take home too.  More details here.

Cheers, Sue

Just a quick couple of pics today. 

Here's some little brad containers being recycled with some help from the Sale-A-Bration set Punch Bunch.

I've used my Stampin' Write Markers and a circle of coordinating patterned paper from the Brights Patterns Stack.  The one on the left was part of the hostess gift bag for a workshop last weekend and the one on the right was a door prize for a lucky guest.  They hold some felt flowers and an assortment of brads.

I used the Tropical Party stamp set and a colour scheme I found using the Colour Coach to make this little gift bag of goodies for Gail, the hostess.  (Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo - what a happy colour combination.)

I hope you're all set for a bright and happy weekend.

Cheers, Sue

The scrapbooking bug has hit here over January.  One evening instead of our usual books from the book basket, the kids and I spent half an hour reading back over some of the scrapbooks I'd made.  They laughed like mad at the one with a bunch of funny things Hannah used to say when she was 3 or 4.  So I decided to find all the little quotes I'd jotted down about Jack and make one for him too.

I've been using these divided page pockets.  (I forget the brand - will edit to add it in later.)  I've got some with six 4 x 6 spaces, and some with a 6 x 12 space and three 4 x 6 pockets.  Plus more variations.  Quite handy for quick and easy scrapbooking I'm finding. 

For these pages I've used some supplies from the back of my cupboard - Basic Grey, I think it is called School Room or Recess or something like that. 

These Stampin' Up products were very handy putting these layouts together.

I used this stamp set "Notes and Details" from the Summer Mini - a great set for scrapbookers.

Specifically I used this stamp for my journalling lines ...

 
Stamped in Crumb Cake ink on Crumb Cake cardstock (which tied in nicely with the patterned paper I was using.  Thank you thank you Stampin' Up for including Kraft (Crumb Cake) ink in the range - love it!

My circle and corner rounding punches were most useful too.  (Shown here in the older style.)

 

I also used my spritzer and an Early Espresso Marker.  A bit of a spritz of ink just seemed to soften the stark cardstock and tie it in with the grungier looking patterned paper.  If you'd like to try a spritzer check out my February classes:  Class Page. 

 
 So Saffron cardstock here for this journaling card.

I love this style of scrapbooking.  I can intersperse with regular 12 x 12 layouts as well, such as this double page with a bunch of pics of the kids being creative.  Hoping to work my way through a big box of 2009 2010 photos with this method!

If your scrapbooking energies have been depleted, getting out some older albums is a great way to recharge the batteries.  It certainly reminded my why I love this hobby. 

Hope you're having a great weekend.  For many, the weather would not be making this possible - I recognise the names of towns of quite a few friends and customers in the inundated lists. Wishing all affected by the rain, storms and cyclone all the best.  Thinking of you.

Cheers, Sue

Just a quick card for you today, a variation on one I showed you last week. This time round I've used Marina Mist - my favourite blue, plus the Sale A Bration set Bliss.

We'll be using this set in my February Spritzing classes.  The Thursdays are filling up fast but there's plenty of room left for the Wednesday dates.  Check out the details here:  Class Page

Back to school day tomorrow.  We've had a lovely relaxing lazy holiday but  I think we're all about ready to get back into the routine again now.  (Except for that bit where the alarm goes off in the morning!)   For those of you with kids going back to school this week - I hope they enjoy the first weeks of term (and that you do too!) 

Cheers, Sue