Spring Mini Launch

Hi everyone, my apologies for the gap in posts - things have been a bit hectic around here, and my modem is playing up so its proving a challenge to get on (and stay on) the net long enough to do anything!

The Spring Mini Catalogue launch night went well. I held it in conjunction with my normal Friday night technique class - this one was the Shaving Cream Technique, so all the projects were made using shaving cream background, new stamps from the mini catalogue and colours inspired by the mini cat cover - cool caribbean, certainly celery and pretty in pink. Here's some pictures of the cards we made:

This one and the next one both use the new Bundle of Joy set. The one below also uses the hostess set Riveting.
This next one is made with my new favorite set Scribble This...

My guests received one of the new Long Notes from the mini cat as a gift, it was a small group so we got through the other projects quicklyand decided to make a card using it on the night. We used the Scribble Stampin Around Jumbo wheel for this one...

The scalloped edge was done with the slit punch. Watercolouring was done with Watercolour Wonder Crayons and the cool caribbean ink pad (because it doesn't come in a crayon) using the Aquapainter and/or Blender Pen.

Here's a picture of what everyone got when they arrived...their kit, a copy of the mini caty, the long note and a gift box with a chocolate bar in it which I stamped with the new Petals Jumbo wheel. I attached a tag made with the new Round Tab Punch to the chocolate bar wrapper so it could be pulled out of the box. I also stamped the cello bags using stazon with stamps from the Scribble This set...

These photos aren't great - I'm sorry - I'm photographically challenged! This is why Rick usually takes all our photos. I must get him to show me how to do it better. All the cards really do look better IRL!!

New Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue

I've finally gotten my stash of Spring Mini Catalogues - I'm so excited and cant wait to share them. I'm having a mini caty launch at my house on Friday night, it's going to be great fun! All my guests will be receiving a gift from the catalogue and something I've made using the new products (I cant show you yet - cause some of them read this blog! but I will post a picture after Friday night.)

I will be sending copies of the caty to all my customers who aren't at the launch, but if your not on my customer list and would like one, just send me an email with your address details and I'll post it to you.

The Judges Verdict...

Well we just got home from a fun filled day at the Katherine Show, where I was most surprised to discover that my scrapbook page "Who's That Girl" won First prize!! WOW, that's sooo cool! And my Bodacious Bouquet card was awarded Third prize in the Other Greeting Cards section, YAY! I'm very happy!

I'd also like to say congratulations to Tammy who achieved a Second Prize for her entry in the Birthday Card section, and to Dianne who was awarded Third place in the Scrapbooking section - Well done girls!!

Here's a photo of Breanna having fun at the show, the shot is blurry (I didn't realise the camera was still set on Macro) but you can tell she's enjoying her boat ride, and yes that's a Dora showbag which had to go in the boat with her.

More Scrapbook Pages...

Today has been great, I've broken the news about the existence of my blog to my Mum and a few more friends today and received lots of positive feedback - thank you! So to celebrate I thought I'd post some more scrapbook pages completed in the last few months. They are all 12x12 and exclusively Stampin' Up!...

"Easter" this page uses papers from the Spring Showers Designer Series Double-Sided Paper collection, Bashful Blue card stock and ink, Naturals Ivory card stock, Twill Tape, Hodgepodge Hardware, On Board Simon Lower chipboard letter 'e' and some chipboard offcuts which I've used to mount the words 'cute' and 'sweet'. The stamp sets used were So Very and Classic Alphabet (both borrowed from Helene - thanks again!). Here's another:

"Beautiful Breanna Butterfly" I'm really proud of this one! This was my first ever 100% Stampin' Up! page. I created it as a demo for good friend Natasha's workshop back in March (my first workshop!) Because it was for demonstration I wanted it to be quick and easy but still effective. I think I achieved that - guests to date have seemed impressed. I still cant believe that this is only plain card stock stamps and ink! The card stock colours are Perfect Plum, Pale Plum & Whisper White and the ink is Perfect Plum. Stamp sets used are Bold Butterfly and Headline Alphabet and I have used the Flitting By Jumbo Wheel for the background. Journalling was done with the white gel pen.

This page layout was inspired by one in the Stampin' Up! catalogue (pg 72) with a few of my own added touches. The papers used are from the Recollections Designer Series (which are my favorite Stampin' Up! papers). The 12x12 card stock is Very Vanilla, other card stock is Mellow Moss and Chocolate Chip. Inks are Cranberry Crisp and Mellow Moss. Ive used some white grosgrain ribbon and coloured it with the inks and some Hodgepodge Hardware. Stamp sets used are Wild Rose and Headline Alphabet.

So what do you think of these three pages? I'd love to hear your comments.

Hi Helene & Dannie

Hi girls, thought I'd do a special post dedicated to the both of you - the first two people in the world that I've told about my blog! You are great friends and given that neither of you are in Katherine at the moment I am really missing you both. You are the first to know because you understand and share my obsession with pretty paper things!

Also I thought it a fitting place to show another of my recent scrapbook creations. This one is non- Stampin' Up!, I completed it a couple of Saturday nights ago at Lyn's (Hi Lyn!). The connection here is that I did it for Dannie's album about our night out for Helene's Birthday last year - Hope you both like it. Anyway, here's the finished page...sorry another crap photo - but you get the idea...

The striped paper on the left hand side is a flap which opens to show some hidden journalling about our 'eventful' night out. I sent the completed page off to Dannie last week and she got it today so it's safe to show this now...Dannie also got a card with her scrapbook page, this is it:

The card is all Stampin' Up! and uses the Looks Like Spring stamp set. The cardstock and ink colours are Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery and Orchid Opulence. Ive also used stampin dimensionals again and a brad from the Hodgepodge hardware set.

Scrapbook Pages on Show

OK as promised here are the two scrapbook pages I entered into the Katherine Show.

My apologies for the poor quality photo, I was in a hurry to take photos of them before dropping them off for judging. I promise to devise a more suitable place and way to take photos. OK now this page is a first for me on a number of levels - it has a white background for a start which is so not my style, and its about me! Even so I really enjoyed creating this page. I've used a new stamp set called Scribble This which is being released on 1st August in the Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue. Isn't it awesome - I absolutely love it, I'm already planning the next project to use it on. I've stamped with StazOn ink and then watercoloured using an Aquapainter. Ink colours used are Cameo Coral and Tempting Turquoise. The photo is matted on Cameo Coral card stock and everything else is Whisper White. I used dimensionals to raise the flowers. The journalling was done using the Black Stampin Write Journaler. As I didnt have an alphabet stamp set that I felt suited this page I have cheated and used Making Memories Rub-ons, I also added a little (non- Stampin Up!) bling on the flowers.

Here's the second page:

Also not a great photo, but anyway... I did this page back in May for a home business expo that I had a Stampin' Up! display at. It is a 100% Stampin' Up! page using the Looks Like Spring Stamp set, Spring Flowers designer series papers, and the Spring Bouquet Flower Punch - which as you can see all co-ordinate - which I love! The ink colours I used are Mellow Moss, So Saffron, Pretty In Pink and Chocolate Chip. I also used the Be Happy and So Very (thanks Helene)stamp sets for the words.

So hopefully the judges will like them, but that doesn't really matter in the end, I'm just glad I had the guts to have a go! The point was to get the Stampin' Up! products out there...

You can leave me a comment and let me know what you think, or if you'd like more info on purchasing any of the products featured just send me an email - my address is at the top of this page.

It's Show Time!

The Katherine Show that is...and I've entered 6 pieces of work in the craft section! I still cant believe I actually did it. Four cards and two scrapbook pages have been submitted for judging and public comment...ugh - that's a bit scary! So here are a couple of them:

This card is actually much nicer in RL. I've used the Bodacious Bouquet stamp set and the Paisley background stamp. The card stock and ink colours are Vintage Violet, Certainly Celery, Old Olive and Almost Amethyst. The flowers and leaves have been embossed using the Versamark and classic ink pads and then clear embossing powder. The background uses silver embossing detail power. Ive also used white grosgrain ribbon, the Slit punch (for the corners) and Chrystal effects for the fake brads. All of these products are available from Stampin Up! and can be purchased through me from anywhere in Australia, please email me if you'd like more information.

Again this card is much nicer in real life too!! I'm going to have to work out a better way to photograph my work. This card features the shaving cream technique (which I'm teaching at next weeks technique class) for the background - isn't it cool! The stamps used are Wild about You, Eat Cake, Its Your Birthday, and Riveting (hostess set). The colours are Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Lovely Lilac and Whisper White. Ive also used silver cord, Sparkling Diamonds Glitter and Stampin Dimensionals - all Stampin' Up! products.

So what do you think of these two show entries? I will post a couple more later and I will also let you know the judges verdict...

Hello World!

Wow, I cant beleive it's true - I've actually started my own blog! Now all I need to do is photograph my work and start posting it! Hang on... I also need to create a watermark, get a nice family photo, design a banner for the page and so on... Lots to do, so needless to say this will take some time, and I'm new to all this - so you'll have to be patient!