Long Time - No Post...Sorry!

Hi there, I'm back! Sorry it's been so long between posts but I've had a lot going on.

Thank you so much to all my loyal readers especially those that have left me such nice comments lately - I really appreciate it. I was especially chuffed to find that the extremely talented Nerine has awarded me the "I love your blog award"!! Wow!! Thanks so much Nerine. I'm going to do as Nerine did and bask in the glory for a couple of days whilst deciding who to pass it on to - so stay tuned!

Now I couldn't very well make a come back without a card for you, so here's one I made a little while back preparing for my mini caty workshop (I think I cased it but cant for the life of me remember who or where from, sorry)...

Stamps: True Friend, Party Punch

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Taken With Teal, Whisper White

Other: Stampin Write Markers (Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Taken with Teal), Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon, Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware

I plan to be back over the weekend with some more creations from the True Friend set. See you then...

Yes, You're in the right place!

I was a bit bored of my old blog template and thought it was time for a change! What do you think? The banner is a section of a scrapbook page I did about 12 months ago using Scribble This. You can see it in full here.

Bloomin' Beautiful!

Hi again, you might remember back in my spring Mini class post I mentioned that I had made 'heaps' of cards using Bloomin' with Beauty practicing for the workshop...well here is just a few of them:

The pink cocoa version...
Amethyst rose...
beautiful bronze...
purely pomegranate...and last but not least...

Another Amethyst rose - this one was for Dannie's Birthday.

If you'd like the recipes or any more details please leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Have a great day!

Kaz x

Happy Stampers Watercolour Swap

I mentioned a while back that I was hosting a team swap featuring water colouring. This was my contribution. This photo doesn't really do it justice - its much much nicer IRL!

Stamps: Natural Beauty, Carte Postale (for the greeting - Mon Amie - it really is there!)
Inks: Black Stazon
Paper: Rose Red, Apricot Appeal, Prints DSP (Rose Red), Watercolour Paper
Other: Stampin Write Markers (Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Certainly Celery), Aqua Painter, Brads (Apricot Appeal), Hodgepodge hardware (Antique Brass)

Thumped Paisleys...

Mel's current technique challenge is "Thumping" and it has to be used on a Fathers Day card! I thought of doing Lovely as a Tree, but then Mel did it as an example and I really do use it a bit too much for men stuff! So I thought the paisley background stamp would be nice to 'thump', and I'd been planning a Fathers Day card from Breanna using All in the Family - so I combined the two and this is what eventuated...

Isn't it cute? I'm posting this now thinking - I hope Rick doesn't check out my blog before the day (Rick - if you do, act surprised ok!). The colours were inspired by the Spring Break DSPs. Here's the recipe...

Stamps: Paisley Background, All in the Family, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Expressive Flexible Phrases

Ink: Soft Sky, Pumpkin Pie, Blue Bayou, Basic Black

Paper: Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Spring Break DSP (paper pieced clothes)

Other: Markers (Pumpkin pie, old olive), blender pen (to thump the blue bayou ink), Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches, dimensionals

So what do you think? Is it too girly?

I really like the thumping technique. It gives colour, but its more interesting and and random than just colouring the rubber neatly with markers.

Hope you like it Mel. Sorry its not a great photo (I couldn't wait for natural light tomorrow!!) If you need a better shot I'll take another. Thanks so much for hosting these great challenges to keep us on our toes!!

Always...Engagement, Swap & Challenge...

The stamp set I fell most in love with when I first saw the new Spring Mini Caty was Always. In particular I couldn't wait to get my hands on that love heart and the bird! Luckily for me my cousin had his engagement party a couple of weekends ago, that was the perfect excuse to break it out! This is the card I made:

StampsStamps: Always, All Year Cheer (retired)
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Pretty n Pink. Purely Pomegranate
Other: Silver embossing powder, satin ribbon (purely pomegranate), stampin dimensionals

Then, I loved the card so much I thought this is what I'll do for Mel's Mini Caty swap, I had to change it a little, this is what the swap card looked like in the end:

Stamps: Always,
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Pretty n Pink. Purely Pomegranate
Other: Silver embossing powder, satin ribbon (purely pomegranate), stampin dimensionals, silver brad

Then after making up all my swaps I had 3 embossed hearts left over. SO I thought - Yay, I'll make a card for Nerine's basics challenge, and I did (but I just forgot to send it to Nerine before the deadline!) You can see all the other entries here and details on the challenge here. Here's my (non) entry:

Stamps: Always, Short & Sweet (little heart)
Ink: Basic Grey, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Pretty n Pink. Purely Pomegranate
Other: Silver embossing powder, stampin dimensionals

And The Winners Are...

I was a little later than I planned doing my random number draw for the blog candy (Breanna's bedtime didn't go to plan tonight!) Anyway, I jumped onto Random.org and generated a random number...the first one out was:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:4
Timestamp: 2008-08-04 11:08:10 UTC

So congrats to number 4 who was Natasha Murray!!! Yay Tash!!! for those who don't know Tash is one of my wonderful "Happy Stampers", and being a demo was ineligible to win the stamp set, but she does have some lovely handmade candy headed her way!!

So back to random.org for another draw:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:5
Timestamp: 2008-08-04 11:09:59 UTC

The next number out was lucky number 5 - Congratulations to Kylie Crossley!! It's great to see the candy go to such a lovely customer! The stamps will be in your hands very soon Kylie - enjoy!!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, an thanks again for reading my blog!

Cheers, Kaz

Spring Mini Catalogue Launch

Hi there! Well it's that time of year again - time for the launch of Stampin' Up!'s Spring Mini Catalogue!! Here's picture of the cover...

And it gets even better on the inside!! You can browse it online here or if you'd like me to send you a copy please email me your mailing address.

So to celebrate the excitement of all new rubber! I held a mini caty launch party compete with gifts and chocolate cake!! It was a small party but we had fun (Thanks for coming Jackie, Kylie, Lyn & Mum!). These are the cards we made...

I love how this card turned out, its simple but so effective. Its a "Joy Fold" card - they are so cute - I'm going to be making a lot more of those! Here's the recipe for this one:

Stamps: True Friend
Inks: Really Rust, Wild Wasabi
Papers: River Rock (textured), Really Rust, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider DSP
Assessories: Stampin Write Markers (Really Rust & Chocolate Chip), Circle Punches 1 1/4 & 1 3/8, Stampin Dimensionals

At the risk of sounding a bit happy with myself (lol!!!!) I love this card too! I was going for a bit of a shabby chic look with all that distressing and unevenness! The photo doesn't really do it justice, but we added some silver metallic ink refill to the almost amethyst before water colouring to give the flower a bit of shimmer. I made HEAPS of these cards (the same but different) practicing before the class - I'll put these up on my blog too - next time!

Stamps: Bloomin with Beauty

Inks: Almost Amethyst, Always Artichoke
Papers: Elegant Eggplant, Always Artichoke, Prints DSP (Almost Amethyst- retired), Watercolour paper
Accessories: Almost Amethyst Ribbon (Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals)

The other card we made was an Orange "Scratch n Sniff". None of the cards pictured are actually it - but close enough! Here's the recipe... If you want to know how to do the scratch n sniff technique Mel as a great tutorial on her blog here

Stamps: Tart & Tangy
Inks: Pumpin Pie, Versamark
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Picnic DSP
Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Striped Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, 'Tang' orange drink powder, circle punches and scallop circle punch.

The mini caty was a great excuse for me to make some of these "Sunnyboy" containers. These are so much fun - and so easy! The one in the back with the Thank U is the one I made for all the guests, inside was a sample of the new satin ribbons and a little chocky.

I unashamedly CASED this next idea from my team member Nerine. As soon as I saw her cute strawberry punnet I had to make one! Isn't it gorgeous! It was the lucky door prize and Kylie (who loves strawberries was stoked to win it!). Inside was 4 cute little love notes featuring the four different fruits in the Tart & Tangy set. The papers are from the Summer Picnic DSP.

I hope you liked some of my mini caty projects - I've lots more to show so stay tuned!

And just quick reminder - if you'd like to be in the draw my blog candy - get your comments in quick - I'll be drawing the winner tomorrow night at 8pm AEST. For more details see the blog candy post below.