Last Month to Order From Spring Mini Catalogue

How cute is this? I made myself this little notebook entirely of gorgeous products from the Spring Mini Catalogue - it finishes on the 30th November, so if you want to get your hands on any of the great stamps or accessories featured in it, then you better hurry...email me now and I'll give you free shipping on all mini-cat purchases until 10th November - save 5%!

Here's some pic's of my book...

Here I started with the 5x5 On Board Art Journal, Covered it with the gorgeous Petals and Paisleys designer series double sided papers, added some die cut stickers from the Little Reminders Accents & Elements tin and added my monogram (On Board Simon Lower) which I also covered with the Petals & Paisleys Paper. I used the Tab Punch to make tabs for the inside (they are still blank because I'm not sure what I'm using the book for yet!), made the little paper clip and added lots of ribbons to finish (a great reason to join my ribbon club too!).

Join my Ribbon Club...

How would you like to have Grosgrain, Organdy AND Gingham ribbons in ALL the Stampin’ Up! Colours?

If you’d like to be sure to have the right ribbon for every project then consider joining my Ribbon Club. Here’s how it works:

As a member of the club you will receive 52 metres of ribbon made up of the following:
30 metres of Grosgrain ribbon – 2 metres of each of the 15 colours
6 metres of Gingham ribbon – 1 metre of each of the 6 colours
16 metres of Organdy ribbon – 2 metres of each of the 8 colours
The total cost is $30 per club member – membership is limited to 10 people.
Cost includes shipping, separating, packaging and delivery to anywhere in Australia
This is a one-off purchase with no ongoing commitment

If you’d like to join the club contact me asap. Offer closes and payment must be received by Monday 5th November. Payment to be made by cash, credit card or direct deposit.

You can view the ribbon colours on page 148 of the IB&C (if you don’t own one you can view it on-line (see link to SU website on left)

Christmas Bag-a-lopes

Here's a pic of some of the Christmas gift bags I've made lately. If you haven't been to one of my workshops you may not know these are made from an envelope! They are just so cute! The colours here are real red and handsome hunter. Email me if you'd like instructions on how to make one yourself.

Finally Some Scrapbooking!!

Ok, I'm excited I got some scrapbooking done but really bummed by how bad these photos are! Anyway, I decided to start an album of our recent holiday to Broome. As I've said before the colours of Broome are just soooo beautiful - I couldn't wait to scrap them! (never mind the thousands of older photos waiting for my attention!) So this first page is the title page, its non-SU (except the hodgepodge) and it really does look much nicer IRL.

This next one is a shocking photo - sorry, I didn't realise it was so bad till I uploaded it - I'll try getting a better one tomorrow. The page is about the Japanese Cemetery in Broome. I don't know what it is about these places (I remember feeling the same way when seeing the one on Thursday Is), I think it's the thought that so many lives were lost for the sake of a piece of jewellery, the fact that so many were used and abused and that so many of the deaths were preventable, and that they were so far from home. But anyway I felt I had to scrapbook it. This one is mostly SU with the exception of some ribbon and the white rub-ons for the title. I used the Artfully Asian and Symbols of Solitude stamp sets, cardstock colours are Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Confetti White.

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary!

Rick & I have been married Four years today! Wow how time flies! But on the other hand so much has changed since then that sometimes it feels more like 10 years! Notice we both look quite a bit older now than we do in our wedding photo - I'm blaming that on Breanna!!

I wanted to make a card for Rick and didn't really know where to start - flowers just weren't going to cut it and I don't have much in the way of 'love' type sets either. But then I remembered I'd just ordered one of the Simply Sent card Kits (Good Things) and thought that would be ideal (and oh so easy!!) I changed the design just a little and added the word 'Love' from the All About U stamp set. I'm very happy with how it turned out - sweet but not too soft and mushy!

A Spring Thank You

Here's a super quick and easy card using the Looks Like Spring stamp set, Spring Bouquet Punch and Co-ordinating DS Papers (Spring Showers). There's a great promotion this month where you receive a set of the DS 12x12 papers for free (save $16.95) when you purchase the stamps and punch together. This special is available until 31 October, email me and I can have them shipped directly to you.

Criss Cross Card

I'd been dying to make one of these cards since the tutorial on SCS, so Helene's birthday was the perfect excuse! Her favorite colour is green and she loves anything paisley (a girl after my own heart!) so the Petals & Paisleys double sided papers from the Spring mini were definitely in order here! I also used the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set and I couldn't help myself I managed to get Scribble This in there as well! I also used the Happy Birthday stamp from Its Your Birthday for the greeting. The colours are Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise & Whisper White. I also used the Round Tab Punch, paper piercer and Mat Pack and some Celery Grosgrain Ribbon (there's also 2 Prima flowers and a bling brad which are non-SU! ). Here's some pictures:

This last pic shows the matching bag-a-lope.

Cant wait to make my next criss cross card! So what do you think of this one?

Snappy Birthday Michael !!

My brother celebrated his 30th Birthday today. I made him a card using the Crab & Co stamp set from the mini catalogue. I don't own this set but was lucky enough to borrow it off Mel after WCMD. I ended up doing a case of Mel's WCMD design but changing it to a Birthday rather than Christmas theme. I made a little '30' sign for the crab to hold as well. Here it is...

I was worried Michael might not like the card but I talked to him tonight and he thought it was good! Phew! He also liked the one I stamped on the envelope that Breanna had "coloured in" for him!!

My dear friend (and new downline!) Helene also had her Birthday today - cant wait to show you her card but I have to wait till she gets it first - don't want to spoil the surprise!

WCMD Review

I know this is way overdue - I planned to post it last Thursday but illness intervened!!

Anyway...Our WCMD was a huge success, all the ladies had a great time and loved the cards they made. Natasha, Mel & I all have very different styles so there was a great mix of cards in the end. Here's a photo of all 6 cards we made...

The first two from the left are Mel's, middle two are mine, and the two on the right are Natasha's. Here's another photo of mine...

Unfortunately I cant take credit for these designs, they've both been done to death and I've no idea whose they were first! I decided to do the wreath card using the Looks like Spring stamp set and punch at the last minute because of the Spring promotion this month (where you receive the coordinating designer series papers for free when you purchase the stamp set and punch together). The greeting is from Many Merry Messages stamp set. The colours for that card are Cranberry crisp, True Thyme and Naturals Ivory.

The second card uses the beautiful fir tree from the Lovely as a Tree stamp set, which I've stamped in versamark and True Thyme ink then added Dazzling Diamonds Glitter with heat & stick powder (the photo doesn't show it but its a beautiful shimmering tree IRL). The greeting is from All Year Cheer I and the background was done with the Speckled wheel. Cardstock colours are Buckaroo Blue, True Thyme, Cranberry Crisp and Whisper White.

One last pic, these are some of the gift bags we made for all the guests. They had some Santa choccies, lollies and a stamp in them. The colours are Glorious Green, Real Red, Gable Green and Whisper White. The Stamp is from Greetings Galore.

Only Ornaments...

Here's a quick and easy Christmas card using the Only Ornaments Stampin Around wheel. I really like this colour combo too - its Old Olive, Cool Caribbean and Real Red. 'Seasons Greetings' is from the Many Merry Messages stamp set. Water colouring done with Watercolour Wonder Crayons and Aqua Painter.

Christmas Is Coming!

Can you believe its only 11 weeks till Christmas? Here's 2 different Triangle Trifold Christmas cards I've made lately...

Stamp sets used for this one are All Year Cheer I (front), Many Merry Messages (inside), Loads of Love (tree inside), and Stampin Around wheel Only Ornaments. Cardstock colours are Real Red, Handsome Hunter and Confetti White, Handsome Hunter and real red ink and red grosgrain ribbon.

This one uses the Scribble This stamp set (yes I cant get enough of it!) and Many Merry Messages (inside). Cardstock and ink colours are the same as the one above just reverse order.

What do you think of these? More Christmas cards to come soon so stay tuned!

One More Masked Card...

Here's another card I made when mucking around with the masking technique. This one uses different colours to what I'd normally pick - get your sunnies ready - its bright!!

Stamp sets are Scribble This and Simple Sayings II. Cardstock colours are YoYo Yellow, Pixie Pink & Confetti White. Ink is Stazon and Basic Black, water coloured with Watercolour Wonder Crayons and Aqua Painter, white gel pen for highlights on the background swirls.

Tomorrow I'll post the first of many Christmas Cards I've made lately and some of the projects from WCMD - which went really well - albeit over time! We had 13 ladies attend who all had a great time and loved the cards they made.

Masking Workshop Make & Take

As promised here is the card we did at my workshop this evening, the ladies all did a wonderful job of it too!
The colours for this one are Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Lavender Lace. The tulips are from Both Ways Blossoms, the background is French script and the greeting is from Greetings Galore. Blossoms stamped with Stazon and coloured with Watercolour Wonder Crayons. The ribbon is pink organdy.

Must go - lots of last minute preparations to do for our WCMD event tomorrow!! I will be posting more photos very soon though!

I've been Masking Blossoms...

I know its been a while since I've posted any of my creations for you guys - I've just been so busy making them! We'll that's about to change, I have made at least a dozen cards over the last week or so getting ready for WCMD tomorrow and my workshops. They've all been photographed and I will share them over the coming days.

To start off I thought I'd share some of the masking cards I've made in preparation for a workshop this afternoon...

This is the Level 2 Hostess stamp set Both Ways Blossoms I got this a couple of months ago and this was the first time I've used it! (all those holidays got in the way!) It's now one of my fav's!! The greeting stamp is from Warmest Regards (Level 1 Hostess set). Incidentally this card is to send to a Friend who was affected by the recent Bush Fires in Port Stephens (as were my parents). The cardstock colours here are Certainly Celery, Regal Rose & Confetti White (I use confetti white when I'm water colouring because its thicker than Whisper White and you get a nicer result). Blossoms were stamped in Stazon and water coloured with Watercolour Wonder Crayons and Aquapainter.

I like this one! It's relatively plain but I'm happy with the end result - very striking i think. Here instead of Stazon I coloured the blossoms with my Stampin Write Markers (Real Red & Glorious Green) and then spread the colour with my Aquapainter - this is a great way to achieve a water coloured effect. Cardstock colours are Creamy Caramel, Night of Navy, Real Red and Confetti White. The sentiment is from Riveting (Level 1 Hostess set) and there's also some linen thread on there.

That's all for now, but check back later - when I get home from this afternoons workshop I'll post the one we did as the make & take!

20% Off Sale - Simply Sent Card Kits

To help celebrate World Card Making Day, Stampin' Up! is offering you 20% off ALL Simply Sent Card Kits.
Simply Sent card kits offer a fast, easy way to create cards for a variety of occassions. The die-cut stamps and step-by-step instructions help you start creating beautiful projects in seconds! Each kit contains the supplies needed to create 10 cards (5 each of 2 styles).

Offer valid 4th-8th October only, email me now if you'd like to take advantage of this sale!

Spring is in the Air

We've bundled three of our most popular coordinating products for the easiest way to spread the joys of spring. For the price of the Looks Like Spring stamp set and the Spring Bouquet Flower punch, you'll get a free package of Spring Flowers or Spring Showers Designer Series paper (a $16.95 value).
Purchase the Spring Flowers Bundle or the Spring Showers Bundle during October, and discover how easy it is to make stunning projects inspired by spring.

Spring Flowers Bundle (item 111430, $88.90)Includes the Spring Bouquet Flower punch, Looks Like Spring stamp set, and Spring Flowers Designer Series paper (Pink)

Spring Showers Bundle (item 111429, $88.90) Includes the Spring Bouquet Flower punch, Looks Like Spring stamp set, and Spring Showers Designer Series paper (Blue)

Its easy to order just email me, pay by credit card or direct bank deposit and I can have it shipped directly to you anywhere in Australia.