On the theme of Secret Sisters....

Lastly, I participated in a one-off swap over Easter and Kerri Donsky was my Secret Sister. I made her a monogram letter set with my fav DSP plus a little box of her fav chocies and matching card. I sent her some items on her wish list which included some embellishments such as ribbon and jewels. The card uses the Strength & Hope stamp set which is a fundraiser for the Breast Cancer Foundation. $2 from the sale of every set goes to the foundation. The 'K' comes from the Lovely Letters stamp set, one of my favourites. I hope Kerri has been able to make use of her stationery set.

Secret Sister - Final Month

Last month was the reveal for my secret sister but I think she had worked it out by then. I tried once again to incorporate some of her favourites again but also to use some of the new products. The first card I sent was made using her favourite stamp set Elements of Style and in her favourite colour but I had been dying to try out the new beveled window panes - what do you think? I used the dry embossing technique on this card. As the final month incorporated Easter, I decided to include some goodies for her daugheters too. Apparently they were destroyed fairly quickly - LOL. For this months creation I decided to make a desk set as I love these and used my favourite DSP - Elegant Soiree. The base is a pull out drawer which held some goodies for Sonia and then the top holder was made using two fancy favor boxes together also holding some more goodies. Her card was made using the top note die and the lattice embossing folder. Sonia mentioned that one of her interests was patchwork so I created this card with this in mind. Hope you have enjoyed seeing this collection of 3 months work as I know Sonia loved receiving them.

Secret Sister - Month 2

This month's task was to create something a little extra as it was Sonia's daughter's birthday so I got to work on creating two little packages, one for Sonia and one for little Ava. Ava's was lots of fun as I love creating anything PINK and 'girly' and Sonia's gift focused on another of her fav colours - Not Quite Navy, so the gorgeous Blueberry Crisp DSP was perfect for this collection. For Ava's gift I used the new Swet Stitches DSP from the Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue and made a top note holder for some cute little pens and used an old build-a-brad container and decorated it to hold some lollies. Her card is an easel card using the Scallop Circle die and the letters for the Big Shot. I finished it off with some of the new Pompom Trim. Sonia's gift included a little gift bag holding one of her wish list items, the Manhattan Embossing Folder, and I decorated an old brad container and filled it with a huge sample of all the brads and buttons in our range. I made another punch art card using the owl punch again and a cute little mini album made from the mini square envelopes much like the carousel purse I made some years ago. One month to go, stay tuned....

Secret Sister now revealed - Month 1

I have been participating in another round of Secret Sister this year and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Each month you send some cards and a gift to your secret sister (she does not know who you are) and someone else does the same for you. This round my Secret Sister was Sonia Garbutt and I had lots of fun creating projects to suit her interests, stamp sets and colour favourites. Here is what I created for the first month. Sonia said she liked Rich Razzleberry and the stamp set Elements of Style so off to work I went. With the gift for the first month I wanted to give her a clue of who I was and said I loved stationery. I made a little slider box using the top note die and decorated it with a flower made using the owl punch. I filled it with various stationery items and I was very grateful that Officeworks had 'Rich Razzleberry' items to fill it with. These included a pen, ruler, staples and stapler and a cute little post-it pad. The gift also included a pack of card candy and a little Lindt (these are her fav chocies) gift box using the large fancy flower punch. I had wanted to try one of these boxes for a while, you can too here. The cards were to satisfy Sonia's like for colour and stamp set. I love punch art too so that was another clue for her with the tulip card. As the first month was in February, this little package included a Valentine gift (a project I got from an earlier UStamp) It contains a heart chocolate inside. I will post the next couple of months worth soon.

Fundraiser Fun

On Friday night we had our Fundraiser Event for the Flood victims of Charlton in North Victoria. The night was a huge success and all that attended (over 20 people) had a really great night making projects, winning raffles, door prizes and eating yummy food. Here are two of the four projects that we did on the night. I will try and get pics of the others for you... I designed a fancy favour box and decorated it using one of the owl punch flowers (some of the guests had requested this technique earlier and wanted to learn how to make this cute little flower) and also a Mother's Day card using the Strength and Hope stamp set. I am very happy to report that we raised over $1400 on the night thanks to all that supported our cause and a big thank you to Denise, Gail, Chris and Nicky for their assistance on the night - we were a great team! The fancy favor box was made using Marina Mist and Night of Navy. The Mother's Day card was made using Pink Pirouette and Concord Crush with the new Tulips emobssing folder.

Baby Shower Invites

Yes here we go again.....but this time it's my turn! Thanks to my Mum, SIL and BFF, all 40 of my baby shower invites are done. We spent most of the day today in 'production mode'. I guess you can figure out what I am having.....LOL! I CASED the idea from this card. I have used Baja Breeze (I soooooo love this colour) and Very Vanilla combined with the Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper. Lots and lots of Big Shot on this card, the Clear Scallop Square, Top Note, Ovals, Button Embosslit and lots of punches, the 1/2", 1" & 1-3/8 Circle punches, Scallop Trim border, Large Oval, Scallop Oval, Decorative Label, and of course some embellishments using the pearls and the chantilly lace. Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Something different...

Kids cards are always a challenge for me, better improve on this since there will be many many kids parties in the years to come.... Anyway, I have wanted to make something like this for ages with the punches. I sought inspiration from this card. I have used Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Peach Parfait and combined it with the Birthday Party Rub-ons and the Short and Sweet and the Party Heart stamp sets. Of course many many punches have been used also, including; scallop circle, all the circle punches, small oval, plus a couple of retired ones. I made this for my nephew who is turning 2. I hope he likes it :)

Easter Bunny Swap

I recently participated in a swap organised on a group I belong to for Stampin' Up! Demo's. I sent off my package last week (will post some pics when she receives it) but mine arrived today from Juliette Chapman. She sent some really cute projects around the Easter theme and I received some great gifts including a stamp set, some dimensionals and a snail refill. The best part - a Lindt Gold Bunny - I luurrrrve these :) Juliette also made me a really cute twisted easel card, have been wanting to make one of these for ages, now will definitely make one, they look so easy but really effective. Thanks so much Juliette, I love it all.

Strength & Hope

Here is a project from the latest UStamp with Dawn & Friends called Big Shot Brilliance.....projects to DIE for!. I have not had as much time as I would like this round to make many of the projects but when I saw this I just had to make time. It is such a gorgeous set and the colours are fab! The stamp set is called Strength & Hope (set of 4) and is available in the New Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue (wood - $35.95, clear - $28.95) with $2 from the sale of each set going to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Plus I love butterflies so I love this set even more and I am still a PINK girl afterall.....

This project comes from the very talented Ilina Crouse. It uses the Fancy Favor die for the Big Shot as well as the Elegant Lines embossing folder. I have embellished with the Blushing bride ribbon and pearls. The box contains a collection of love notes with matching envelopes. I hope that you will all support this wonderful cause this season. Strength & Hope will only be available until 31st July 2011. If you would like a free copy of the latest Mini Catalogue and you currently don't have a Demonstrator of your own, please contact me and I will get one in the post to you.

Thanks for visiting my blog today......

More Paperific....

You are probably thinking to yourself - 3 posts in one day!!! Is she drinking too much coffee or something??? LOL No, it's none of that, it's just that now Paperific is here I can actually breathe a little better now that all the prep has been done and I have some more spare time again. Here are the two display posters that I put together for the show. The first one uses the new Sew Suite collection of products - sooooo cute and heaps of really gorgeous ideas for this set. I will have more pics of things made with this collection next week - they are on display at the show and I have not photographed them yet. The second poster uses the Just Believe stamp set and the Elegant Soiree DSP. I think these two go so well together. So make sure you get along to the show this weekend and check out all the other ladies gorgeous work too.

Paperific started today PLUS the new Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue!

Here is what I did for my Free Make & Take today at the show. It uses the cute little Mini Lunch Sacks (pack of 10 for $9.50), the Sweet Stitches DSP and the Sweet Buttons emblosslit ($21.95, if you love the Butterfly embosslit, you will looooove this too) all from the new mini. To learn how to make these cute little floral embellishments click here. Paperific runs tomorrow and Sunday so get along and check out our stand (no.22) and take advantage of some of the great specials we have on offer. I also demonstrated alternative ways to use the 2-step owl punch making the roses and the iris. You can click here to see video tutorials on how to make these.

Baby Shower time again....

One of my girlfriends at work (Hi Jess!) held her baby shower on the weekend and I kindly offered to make her baby shower favors and prizes for the games we played. Jess does not know what she is having so I had to keep it neutral so once again I went with the So Saffron and Certainly Celery colours similar to what I did for an earlier baby shower here for my SIL. Here I have included a picture of the baby shower card I made plus one of the favors and the milk carton prize filled with little lollies. I have used the Baby Bundle stamp set and matching wheel. The card is made similar to a set of invites I made a couple of years ago here and the favor uses the pillow box die and the prize uses the milk carton die both using the Big Shot.

More Sneak Peeks....

Today I have for you a project that was inspired by one on Inkspirations 4U Spring/Easter. This is the first time I have joined this group and there are some amazing projects on there. I have some more to come soon. You would never have guessed that these boxes were both made from the Big Shot Milk Carton Die - YEP!!! I had a ball making these and am really happy with how they turned out. I have used the stamp set Clearly for You which is in the soon-to-be-released Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue. There are some really gorgeous new products in the new mini and I can't wait to show you more in the coming weeks. I have always felt that the milk carton die was a little small but these boxes really innovate the die and create loads more space for various treats. Colours on the bigger box include Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso and Whisper White. I have used a techinque on the panels called 'emboss resist'. On the smaller box I have used Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla and some Elegant Soiree DSP. The punches used include; scallop oval, large scallop and the scallop trim border (love this punch). I have decorated the top with a subtles button and some cut butterflies. All stamped images on both boxes come from the same stamp set Clearly for You.

Anyone hungry?

You will be now after looking at all these cute little cupcakes.........Here is your first sneak peek at some of the new products in the soon to be released Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue. I have made a collection of easel cards using the Subtles colour family, the new Create-a-Cupcake stamp set with matching punch and the new Decorative Label punch. This is such a fun set to play with, with so many options. Other products include the 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch and elegant lines embossing folder, the subtles pattern DSP, modern label punch and word window punch, rhinestones and scallop trim border punch. I have also used the new big shot die Scallop Squares Duo (the smaller of the scallops) on the perfect plum card. All three card bases were made from one 12 x 12 piece of cardstock.

Birthday gift

My awesome upline Gail celebrated her birthday today and I took the opportunity to make her something. I hope she likes it. I have made a tea box copied from Andrea Walford's project and a card copied from Becky Roberts latest tutorial. I am so in love with the Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper and have been making lots of projects using it (more to come later) so thought it was a good choice for this combo. On the card I have used the Friends 24-7 stamp set along with the gorgeous butterflies embosslit. The sentiment comes from a new stamp set soon to be released called Create-a-cupcake (more on that later on). The top of the tea box has a flower made from the 2-step owl punch. To see a tutorial on how to make these, click here. The tea pot on the front comes from the Morning Cup stamp set and it is finished off using some of the pearl strips. Thanks for looking.

Wedding card

I am off to a wedding and thought I had better make the card. I have been wanting to use the Presto Patterns DSP for ages and thought this would be the perfect opportunity. This card is a shameless CASE from this one here. The wedding invites were close to Marina Mist so thought it would be a good option plus I like the monochromatic look. The 'congratulations' comes from the Well Scripted stamp set and the medallion comes from Artisitic Etchings stamp set. I have used some Whisper White satin ribbon and finished it off with a button from the subtles collection......and lots of sponging....you should see my fingers now LOL. Congrats to John and Bronwyn on the wedding. Thanks for looking.

Long time, no post......

Let me say that it's not through lack of creativity that's for sure! I have been busy making secret sister gifts (which I can't post here just yet for fear she may find me out - LOL!) plus prepping for a fundraiser for the flood victims at the end of the month, PLUS preparing for the upcoming Paperific Show in April which will showcase all the new fabulous things in the upcoming Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue - you are gonna LOVE it! More of that in a later post. But...........what I can post here is what I received from my Secret Sister for February. My package arrived today and I can't wait to show you - I love it, everything about it. First are the two cards I received earlier, one using my favourite stamp set Just Believe and the other using my favourite punch, ornament punch.

Then today I received my February gift which was totally what I wanted. I had requested some more ideas for scrapping as I don't do much of that but with a new baby on the way I am sure that will change....anyway my Secret Sister could not have got it more spot on, you see during the week I had my 20 week scan and these are the colours we were thinking for the nursery (can you guess what it is???) plus she used my favourite stamp set again, oh I just love it! It is a star book scrap album - totally kewl! Thanks secret sister, cant wait to find out who you are.