Swap from Regional Conference

Here is the swap I made for the recent Stampin' Up! Regional Conference in Melbourne. I wanted to use some of the new products in the upcoming Mini Catalogue being released on December 1 (yes this is your sneak peek) and these include the new glimmer paper, and the Postage Stamp Punch. There are lots more beautiful things that you will love and great timing for Christmas. I also do gift vouchers if you would like them for friends and family. If you would like me to send you a FREE copy of the Summer Mini Catalogue, just drop me an email with your address to felic77@hotmail.com.
I wanted to have a Christmas theme for my swap and I thought the glimmer paper would be perfect for this. I have also used the top note die in the background as well as the itty bitty punches and triple layer bouquet punch for the bows on the presents. The presents are punched from the GORJUS Mocha Morning Specialty DSP, it has some beautiful papers in it that have flocking, not sure if you can tell from the pic (it's so nice to touch). Thanks for visiting today. There will be more sneak peeks coming next week PLUS I have a super surprise on December 1st so dont forget to come back and visit again soon.

Baby Mania

It seems I am surrounded by babies recently so I must make baby cards to keep up. Here is a boy and girl version of a card I CASED from cant remember where sorry. Some of these things are retired on the girl version but the boy one uses some cute images from the new Baby Bundle Stamp Set. I have used my Big Shot letters and large Scallop Circle Die. I used my Circle Scissor Plus to cut the inner circle and the Polka Dot Embossing Folder for the background.

November is a BIG DEAL!!!

If you glance over the pages of my blog, you would see evidence of the Big Shot on nearly every project. Why? Because I love it so much and am, dare I say, "addicted". If you have ever thought about taking the plunge and getting one of your own....now is the time. November is Big Shot specials month. There is a special starter bundle plus a great selection of dies and embossing folders all available at 10% off. PLUS the extra bonus from me is lots of creative ideas to use your machine once you get it. So dont think about it any longer, think of the all the gorgeous gifts for Christmas you could create for all your friends and family, and who doesnt love receiving a handmade gift? This special is only available until November 30. You can email me at felic77@hotmail.com or phone on 0414400841 if you would like to order your very own. Click here for more info.

Inkspirations4U project

I am very honoured to be a designer for Madeline and her team over at Inkspirations4U. This round had a Christmas theme and this time I decided to create a Christmas Card Organiser. I included a template for recording the cards sent and received over the years. It was super cute and had pockets made from full sheets of DSP to keep your cards in ready to send. I used the Big shot for the letters and decorated using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch and the new Vanilla Velvet Stitched Ribbon. Thanks for visiting today.

Creative Jenny

One of my Demo team is so talented but she doesnt have a blog so I asked her if she didnt mind if I posted the gorgeous card (and matching envelope) she made for my new baby boy on my blog. I love how she made the card to match the colours in the beautiful blanket she gave him. Super Cute Jenny, thanks so much.

Build-a-Bear Fun

Have been wanting to play with my Build-a-Bear dies for ages and it wasnt til my friend Denise had a go that then I was inspired....I loved her Pirate so much that I totally CASED it then I needed a girly one so made this one....you can see my FAV Wisteria Wonder in use again :)

Stamp Club September - New Products

Ok, now this post is WAY overdue (Sorry Roanne and Nikki). The focus for stamp club in September is always the release of the new catalogue and I thought these cards showcased some of the exciting newbies, including the new 'In Colors' and the new 'Mocha Specialty DSP'. I have also used some of the new stamps inlcuding Kindness Matters, Best of Everything, Forever Young and Four Frames. Cant forget those embellishments, I have also used the new Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border and the Lace Ribbon Border punches, and the GORJUS new Ruffled Ribbon in the new Wisteria Wonder (definitely my FAV new colour). Now to post last months stamp club......

I'm an Auntie again!

And another excuse to make cute baby cards. Our little William now has a cousin. My brother and his wife had a little girl on the weekend, little Ava Jessica. I have been wanting to make one of these telescope cards for ages. When I saw this, I just couldn't resist and what better way to show off the new Little Additions stamp set - I just love it! I used ALL but 2 of the 21 stamps in this set. So I got busy recreating just changing a few colours for a girl theme. Here is a link to the tutorial if you wanna make one, super easy but love the WOW factor. I really love the new Mini Silver Brads too - too cute!

Got my Mojo back....

Ok I know its been a while but I have a VERY VERY good excuse....I am happy to announce that our little baby William was born late July and hence I have been a little distracted of late. Motherhood is FULL ON! However, I am glad to be back in my craft room doing some creating. I have recreated this gorgeous cute box from one of the projects created by Martha Lucia Gomez over at the latest Inkspirations4U. I am a designer for this group that is run by the fabulous Madeline Morcelo. I put this project together to showcase some of the beautiful new Designer Series Papers, Stamp Sets and Big Shot Designer Frames as well as the gorgeous new seam binding all from the NEW Idea Book and Catalogue just released this month. The paper on the front panel is from the new Mocha Morning Specialty Papers, it has flocking on it and I soooooo love it! Can't go wrong with butterflies if you ask me, this little beauty comes from the new Creative Elements Stamp set. If you too would like to recreate this beautiful box, come join the Early Fall Edition of Inkspirations4U and enjoy many other great project ideas. Look forward to seeing you in there.

Baby Shower Thank-you Cards

I have finally got these finished -YAY! Now to get them in the post before the baby arrives.... I have been thinking and planning the announcements and got distracted with them but I forced myself to get these out of the way today and now my reward is to do the annoucements - yay more work LOL! I have stuck with the Baja Breeze theme but I have used some retired DSP. Everything else is current. I used the scallop trim border punch and matching corner punch to complete the frame. The sentiments come from Sincere Salutations and Tiny Tags. I have used my absolute favourite ribbon - the White Organza Ribbon and embossed the middle panel with the Polka dots embossing folder. Once again I can't complete a project without using my Big Shot. In the centre of the rattle you will see one of the button embosslits and I embossed the rattle handle with white embossing powder as well as as the 'baby' tag. Lots of work here but all worth it.

Stamp Club #5 - Bleaching

When Kirsty Brown demonstrated this technique at Convention in May I was so inspired and couldn't wait to give it a go. She called her presentation 'Bleaching and Butterflies', her two favourites apparently. Well I love butterflies too so she had my attention straight away. After stamping for nearly 15 years it sometimes takes a bit to get a 'WOW' out of me these days but this was so simple yet sooooooooo impressively effective. I made a special effort to make sure I taught my Stamp Club ladies on my last club meeting before I take a break to have my baby. I treated them plus made them work a little harder than normal and we did THREE fairly time consuming cards mainly cos I wont see them for a few months. The first card was the one Kirsty showed first as part of her presentation. I loved this instantly as anyone who knows me knows I LOVE PINK!!!! And.....I love the Elements of Style stamp set which is perfect for this technique The butterfly card she made was my absolute favourite. The ladies didnt make this one but I demonstrated it for them. Kirsty has a great little tutorial on her blog you can check out to make this too. I CASED a couple of other examples for them to make. The sail boat one was here. They always want masculine card ideas. We did this one as a Father's Day card as I wont see them until after Father's Day now and the beautiful Manhattan flower card was one of Frenchies here. Frenchie also has a great video tutorial for her card. Some tips if you decide to try this technique, I used White King regular bleach in my aqua painter (label your aqua painter as bleach and dont use it for anything else). I tried the lemon scented one but it didnt work as well. Also, if you are not going to use your aqua painter for a while empty it out and use fresh bleach each time you use it to maximise the effect. Always try on scrap paper first, each colour of cardstock bleaches differently so try several colours to see which bleaches the most vibrant.

Stamp Club #4 - Double Embossing

This technique has popped up a lot lately and I have seen it called 'Embossed Embossing' too. This is the technique my Stamp Club ladies did in May - yes I know took me a long time to post... Anyway I sought inspiration from my lovely Secret Sister from last year, Jane Norrish. Jane made a beautiful example that I couldn't resist to CASE. My ladies loved this example also. The first card uses the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and the second one uses the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder. For the first card we used Versamark ink and black embossing powder whereas on the second one (inspired by this card) we used the Versamarker and clear powder to show the two different options for this technique....

UStamp Blog Hop is here and it's FREE!!!

What a great way to spend the long weekend here crafting and creating. UStamp is having a FREE event this weekend. A lot of the talented designers have put together various projects for all of us to download. I fell in love with Lorri Heiling's project as soon as I saw it and I knew the perfect opportunity to use it. Two of my friends have recently moved into new places they bought and I thought these would make lovely housewarming cards.... Lots of punches used here plus my Little Leaves Sizzlit for the Big Shot. So get along to Lorri's blog and get hopping and you too can create these cute cards plus dont forget to check out all the other creative designers :)

Baby Shower fun....

On the weekend we had my baby shower and what a great day it was. It has taken me a couple of days to recover but it was so worth it. You may recall the invitations I made for the event, well in keeping with the theme I made the baby shower favors, the prizes, a banner and I am yet to do the thank you cards.... (now you know why I was so exhausted). Don't worry I had help....
My gorgeous Mum did all the food and my BFF organised all the games, we had a great day but it went so fast. Thanks also go to Jo for taking pics for me on the day.
The banner was made using the Pennant Die, the prizes made using the the Milk Carton Die and the favors made using the *NEW* Petal Cone Die (coming in the September Catalogue). I also used the Button Embosslit on all projects (love this cute little die). The prizes contained two Lindt Balls and the favors had a few Favourites Chocolates in them.
I was particulary happy with the cake and how it turned out. I took one of the invites to Oakleigh Cakes (best cake shop eva) and we drew up a sketch of what I wanted etc.. but you never really know how it will look til you see it, you just have to hope that they are on the same wave length as you are I guess......well check it out!!! They matched the colour perfectly. TOTALLY FAB HEY! And you should have tasted it...OMG!!! Thank you to everyone for my lovely presents, our little boy is gonna be the best dressed little bub :)

Accordion Album

Recently one of my friends from work (who is also in my Stamp Club) celebrated her 40th Birthday. I wanted to make her something special and I remembered that she mentioned earlier in the year that she wanted to learn how to make an Accordion Album like in the Current Stampin' Up! Catalogue and Idea Book on p.115. I thought I would try one out and make one for her instead. So I asked her what her favourite DSP was and away I went to work. I had lots of fun creating this and found Kylie O'Brien's tutorial on her blog very helpful. Colours used include Concord Crush, Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla and of course the Lap of Luxury DSP (her favourite). I also used some Big Shot products, cant really make much these days with using my Big Shot, I love it so much. I used the emblosslit buttons, the scallop envelope die, the beautiful wings bigz die, various embossing folders, top note bigz die, blossom party bigz die, scallop square punch, photo corner punch, itty bitty punches, and my letters sizzlits. Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Stamp Club Projects (Early May)

This month's project was a HUGE HIT! My stamp club ladies are still talking about this session. At the start of the year I took a wish list of what they would like to do during the year and a OSW (one sheet wonder) was one of the topics so I went to work and created this collection. I must direct you to Clare Daly's page as she has a great FREE tutorial for this project. I didnt have the stamp set that she used so I improvised and used Fifth Avenue Floral and used Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Rose Red for the colour combo. I must admit I was really happy with how these turned out. The sheet actually would make approx. 8 cards but we made only 4 on the day. The technique was crayon resist. This technique is lots of fun. All you need is a A4 sheet of glossy white card and a cheap white crayon (crayola) a Stazon ink pad, some ink pads and some sponges. The first thing you do is stamp your images at random all over your glossy white card in Stazon ink trying not to leave too many blank spaces, then outline parts of your image with your white crayon. Next you sponge various colours over your stamped images then buff the whole cardstock with some paper towel to take off any ink from the crayon, this will make your outlines really 'POP'. Then simply cut up accordingly and assemble on your cards.

Stamp Club Projects (April)

I know you are looking at the title and thinking 'April'? - it's nearly June! I have been slack in posting these (I have two for May to post too) mainly because there has just been so much going on the last couple of months but here they are....
In April we had a 'Punch Art' theme and although these cards were time consuming my stamp club ladies loved them. I sought ideas online for all of these cards on various sites, sorry can't remember where they all came from. I made these to show the versatility of not only the Build-a-Cupcake Punch but the matching Create a Cupcake stamp set too. Both of these are available in the current Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue. They each made these three cards but then I made two more as further ideas to show as samples. Thanks for looking.