The beauty of having a daughter who also loves papercrafts is that when I receive my new Stampin’ Up! catalogues I have someone right there with me to get excited and pour over all the new beautiful products.  When the Idea Book & Catalogue came out last September one of the stamp sets that my daughter chose as her favourite was the Up, Up & Away stamp set that features hot air balloons and she couldn’t wait for me to order it so she could get her hands on it.  So the other day when I was making her birthday card I knew exactly which set I’d use as a change from the usual flowers and butterflies.

Easy technique tip: You’re probably wondering already if I’ve used a punch to punch out those balloons – nope!  I cut them out super quickly with some small sharp scissors.  The trick to making your cutting look as neat as possible is to leave a thin border around your image.  So when when you adhere your image to the cardstock the edges fade into the background and your eye isn’t drawn to any dodgy cutting.  Also, if you’re new to all this – try keeping your scissors in the one place and move your cardstock around while you cut, this gives you a much smoother border

Happy 14th Birthday Jade!!!

Style tip:  I think this card would also work well for a masculine birthday card.  Simply change the ribbon to one that’s not ruffled and use some different brads or embellishments.  I’d probably also change the punched out shape behind the sentiment, maybe just stamp the sentiment straight onto an oval. I think you could even use the same papers/colours as the patterns are quite generic.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Up, Up & Away

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White
Pool Party
Everyday Enchantment Patterned Paper (free! out of the Sale-a-bration brochure)

Inkpads/Markers:
Lucky Limeade inkpad
Pool Party inkpad & matching marker (the fine point of the marker was used to make the dots around the sentiment)
Calypso Coral inkpad
Chocolate Chip inkpad

Tools:
1 1/4″ Square Punch
Decorative Label Punch

Accessories:
Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon
Everyday Enchantment Brads (free! out of the Sale-a-bration brochure)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals

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Sale-a-bration means gifts for you!

Gifts With Purchase

One FREE set of stamps or paper or brad/ribbon pack for every $100 spent

Two FREE sets of stamps or paper or brad/ribbon pack if you buy $200 in product

Three FREE sets of stamps or paper or brad/ribbon pack, PLUS you get another $50 of any product of your choice FREE for purchase of $300+

Click on the photo below to download your Sale-a-bration brochure or email me to receive a hardcopy in the mail.

Interested in Joining Stampin’ Up!?

Discounted Started Kit at only $249 (valued $610) only during Sale-a-bration.  PLUS! As an extra bonus,  choose any current stamp set for free.

Host a Party

Are you in Sydney?  Call me and earn free stamps for hosting a Stampin’ Up! Party

Contact me to ask any questions or to place your order

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So I’ve finally gotten over my issues with cutting into beautiful patterned paper only to now come up with the fear of running out of said beautiful paper.  Aaaahhh!  Can anyone relate?  The paper I’ve used here for this card was actually free (yes, you can get it free too, more info later) and so I’m thinking I’ll need to hoard several packets of it just so that I don’t run out too quick.

Have you ever had a little papercraft issue then solved it with a happy ending?  I did with this card.  I decided to stamp the main image using the same colours of the patterned paper (Lucky Limeade & Baja Breeze) but for the life of me I couldn’t find my Lucky Limeade marker.  What to do?  Easy, ink up the image with an inkpad (that I could find!) and then pick off the colour from the areas I wanted to colour blue with a blender pen, then colour those areas with my Baja Breeze marker.  In this case I decided I wanted the colouring a little more ‘blended’ so while I wiped off the green from the flowers with my blender pen, I didn’t do it so well that there was no colour at all – that way when I went over the flowers with the Baja Breeze marker, it came out a little mixed and looking like batik.

Technique Tip: picking off a colour with a blender pen to re-colour is great to do multi-colour stamping, but if you’re using a darker colour you don’t need to clean off the ink, simply go over the top of a light ink with your dark marker and it will cover it fine without messing up your marker.  You’ll want to make sure though that there is a significant difference between your shades.  I’ve done this very successfully with Stampin’ Up!’s Pool Party inkpad and Island Indigo markers.

So back to the free part… the patterned paper I’ve used here along with the stamp (which is part of the Fresh Vintage stamp set) is our of the new Sale-a-bration promotion which begins in Australia tomorrow.  More details tomorrow but the short story is that for every $100 purchased from Stampin’ Up! you can choose one Sale-a-bration product free.  In previous years we’ve only had stamps, this time there’s also patterned paper and a brad/ribbon pack available!

Inspiration strikes from anywhere!  Just jumping back in to edit this post… I forgot to add a photo of my inspiration for the layout of this card.

Photo from www.artforkids.net

The colour scheme of course is very different but you can see where the bow at the top with the vintage brad on my card was taken from the fabric/crown combo above the beds.  The centre section and then the strips at the bottom of my card taken from the ruffles from the bottom of the bed.  Maybe I’ll make another one but this time take inspiration from the gorgeous colour palette in this bedroom.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Fresh Vintage (free! out of the Sale-a-bration brochure)

Cardstock & Paper:
Baja Breeze
Lucky Limeade
Very Vanilla
Everyday Enchantment Patterned Paper (Sale-a-bration brochure)

Inkpads/Markers:
Lucky Limeade inkpad
Baja Breeze marker
Crumb Cake inkpad (for sponging edges)

Tools:
Big Shot
Scallop Square Duo Bigz Die (I used the larger of the two scalloped squares)
Sponge Dauber

Accessories:
Baja Breeze Seam Binding
Antique Brad
Designer buttons (Neutrals)
Linen Thread (threaded through the button)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimensionals

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I’ll admit, I didn’t send out all the Christmas cards I wanted.  In fact I mailed out very few… what is it with that? I made them but then got caught up with all the Christmas preparations that I didn’t end up writing/mailing them.  So I’ve made a bunch of Happy New Year cards to mail out to some friends and Stampin’ Up! team members.

Hmm, I just couldn’t photograph this card well due to the glitter paper but anyway…

So it’s simple but I think using the silver glitter paper and a little embellishment (notice the paperclip the ribbon is tied to and the rhinestone?) it’s enough because the patterned paper is just so lovely.  Watch out for a lot more cards from me using this glitter paper, it’s an absolute delight to use.

Try this tip:  Try making this same card in another theme.  I think it would look fantastic as it is but changing the ’2012′ to say ‘baby’ and making it a baby card.  Or maybe change the colours and change the ’2012′ to say ‘love’ for a Valentine’s Day card.  I think this card is flexible enough to be used for a variety of occasions.  What do you think?

Ribbon tip:  The ribbon I’ve used here is a wide striped grosgrain.  I know some people find they’re not sure how to use wide ribbon – personally I love wide ribbon.  A different way to use than doing the usual bows it is what I’ve done here: just cut the edges off a length of ribbon (that is, cut up the left and right of it) then pull the threads to create a fringe.  It only takes a few seconds to do and it’s a lovely effect and changes the look of ribbon.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
No rubber stamping on this card!

Cardstock & Paper:
Marina Mist
Early Espresso
Spice Cake Designer Series Paper (Australian Summer Mini Catalogue)
Silver Glitter Paper (Australian Summer Mini Catalogue)

Tools:
Big Shot
Simple Numbers Bigz Die (use the Simple Letters Alphabet if you want to make this card for other occasions like Valentine’s or Baby card)

Accessories:
Soft Suede Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
Clips Assortment (paperclip)
Basic Jewels (rhinestone)

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Tombow Multi (a thin outline to glue down the glitter numbers)
Stampin’ Dimensionals

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Have you seen Breaking Dawn yet? I imagine if Bella and Edward had Wedding Favours (Bonbonerie) then this box with the black & red theme would work well.  Although it seemed that in the movie a large number of guests colour-coordinated themselves in soft purple colours, red & black still screams Twilight to me.

And look at this… the pattern is also very reminiscent of Bella’s bedding from the Twilight movies

Photo from www.squidoo.com

And if you can see past that gorgeousness that is Edward Cullen you can see the bedding pattern in the background.

Photo from www.twilightlexicon.com

By now you’re probably thinking I’m a bit weird to notice all this.  But it’s just a “Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator” thing to notice things in the shops, movies and wherever you go that remind you of a particular stamp or colour.  I’m forever seeing t-shirts and cushions and other home items with Stampin’ Up! style images like bird cages, swirls and crowns and similar flower designs.  Of course it’s difficult to pass by clothes without saying “ooh, love that Cherry Cobbler top”, rather than “ooh love that red top”.

Aaaanyway.  The box that I created above was super super easy to make.  And not sure if it’s even possible to tell in the photo but the box is made of fabric so it’s really beautiful to hold and touch – but still very quick to make.

Gift Box Instructions:

1.  Take a piece of white cardstock and cut it to fit the Box #2 die (this will be a sheet of A4 cardstock cut down to be narrower).

2.  Cut a piece of Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet to measure the same as your white cardstock, peel off one side of the protective covering and place it over your cardstock.

3.  Peel off the other side of the protective covering from the Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet and place your fabric (cut to the same size) on top.

4.  Now you have your fabric backed by cardstock it’s easy to run through your Big Shot using the Box #2 die to cut out the box shape.

5.  The box comes out in one piece with scoring so simply fold and assemble your box – there’s only one place to add a little adhesive (Sticky Strip) to keep the box together.

6.  Decorate your box as you please.  I’ve tied some Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding around the box and stamped a frame, punched it out, wrote “for you” on it then adhered it to the box.

Easy! Done in less than 10 steps

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Four Frames

Cardstock & Paper:
Whisper White Cardstock

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Cherry Cobbler Inkpad
Black marker to write message

Tools:
Big Shot
Box #2 Die
Decorative Label Punch

Accessories:
Timeless Portrait Fabric
Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Adhesives:
Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets
Sticky Strip

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It’s lovely when family and friends appreciate the cards you make.  I find I’m always making a birthday card for my children’s friends and sometimes I wonder if they would prefer a store-bought card but I’ve been assured by my daughter that her friends look forward to receiving a handmade card.  Usually I try to make teen girl cards a bit funky and trendy  but this time the girl I was making the card for likes simple and elegant styles and the colours blue and purple.

I think I’m quite liking the Perfect Plum and Marina Mist colour combination.

So there’s really not much to explain with this card.  The oval in the centre was cut out using the Big Shot.  I didn’t want to do a whole lot of layers in the middle so I used the rhinestones to define the ‘Happy Birthday’.  The rhinestones were super quick to do actually because the packs of Stampin’ Up! rhinestones come with not just the single rhinestones but also two straight lines of them, so all I did was pick up a line of rhinestones and position the whole line around the oval then add whatever extras I needed.

The two butterflies at the top were cut out using Stampin’ Up!‘s Beautiful Butterflies die and the Big Shot.  I cut one butterfly with patterned paper and one with the purple cardstock – you can save time by putting the cardstock/paper on top of each other and cutting them out at the same time.

Style Tip: Add some pizzazz to simple cards by using pearls, rhinestones, satin – anything a bit more ‘formal’ to make an easy or plain card a little bit extra special for a birthday.

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Bring On The Cake

Cardstock & Paper:
Perfect Plum
Marina Mist
Beau Chateau Designer Series Paper

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Perfect Plum

Tools:
Big Shot
Beautiful Butterflies Die
Ovals die

Accessories:
Marina Mist Satin Ribbon
Basic Pearls
Basic Jewels (Rhinestones)
Silver cord (for the button centres) – retired

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Glue Dots (for the Buttons)

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It’s time for a sale!

There’s up to 50% off selected Stampin’ Up! products for the month of December.  Jump in and buy yourself a Christmas present that you’ll really use and buy it at a discount

Email me to ask any questions or to place your order.

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Oh how I love pairing red, black, cream and kraft together.  Somehow even with black and kraft, no Christmas paper and a non-Christmas accessory, this card still manages to look festive.

There’s really nothing to say about how this card was made as it’s really straighforward, but if you want to make a Christmas card to really stand out from the rest, try using some tactile paper and accessories.  The patterned paper I used for this card is so luscious (am I sounding like Nigella???) – the black pattern on the papers is velvety and feels so beautiful.  To go with the feel of the card I sponged around the circle with some Crumb Cake ink to soften it up and also used seam binding ribbon for a traditional/vintage look.

If you have any questions about how this card was made or about any of the products please ask!  Of course all comments are also very welcome

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Merry & Type

Cardstock & Paper:
Cherry Cobbler
Very Vanilla
Crumb Cake
Morning Mocha Designer Series Paper

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Cherry Cobbler inkpad
Crumb Cake inkpad

Tools:
Decorative Label Punch
2 1/2″ Circle Punch

Accessories:
Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding
Rhinestone Basic Pearls
Crown Trinket
Sponge Dauber

Adhesives:
SNAIL
Stampin’ Dimentionals

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Stampin’ Up! have pre-released the Stitched Stocking Punch & Stamps that are going to be in the new Summer 2011 Mini Catalogue as of today.

No need to wait until 1st December, you can now order your Stitched Stocking Punch and Stamps right now.

Here’s a sweet Christmas card that’s a little different from usual using this fun stamp and punch set.

Rubber Stamps:
Stitched Stocking
Welcome Christmas

Cardstock & Paper:
Melon Mambo cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Brights Patterned Designer Series Paper

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Lucky Limeade
Melon Mambo

Tools:
Scallop Edge Punch
Stocking Punch
1/16″ Hole Punch
Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack
Big Shot
Stripes Embossing Folder
Sponge Daubers

Accessories:
Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon
White Bakers Twine (available 1st December 2011)
Rhinestone Basic Jewels
Mini Library Clips
Green thread

Adhesives:
SNAIL

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Have you ever made a double opening card? It probably has some other technical name but since I’ve never seen one of these cards before I’m not sure what it would be officially called.  I just had the idea one day of making a regular card but then attaching another smaller card to the front that also opens.  I figure you could put a little photo in the small card which is attached to the front of the main card.  So when the recipient opens the card where it says ‘thanks’ they’d see a photo and then when they open the main card they would see your message.

I think this sort of card would be great if you’re doing thank you cards for an occasion like an engagement, wedding, wedding shower/baby shower/kitchen tea, Christening, special birthday – an endless list of occasions really.

Making one of these cards is super easy.  Just create a regular card with a background and then mount your centrepiece onto a card that opens and attach the back of that to your base card.

So here’s how I made this card:

1.  I started with a piece of Early Espresso cardstock which was folded in half so that it opens from the bottom rather than the side.  You can make a side opening card but I chose to have it open from the base.

2  Onto that I layered a piece of Pink Pirouette cardstock and then a piece of patterned paper which I sponged around the edges with a little bit of ink to soften it up and give it a more vintage look.

3.  Next thing I did was to create the little card that sits on top.  Again I started with a piece of Early Espresso cardstock and folded it in half (bottom opening again) as if I was going to make a smaller card.

4.  The piece of Very Vanilla at the bottom was put through the Big Shot with the “Designer Frames Embossing Folder” so that it embossed the oval at the top of the cardstock.

5.  The middle of the oval is the same size as the Stampin’ Up! Wide Oval Punch and so on a separate piece of vanilla cardstock I stamped the Fine Flourish stamp with Pink Pirouette then stamped the word “thanks” over the top of it with Early Espresso.  This was punched out with the Wide Oval Punch and then I sponged the edges of the oval with the pink inkpad and adhered it to the centre of the embossed oval.

6.  The bottom of the vanilla cardstock was stamped again with the Fine Flourish stamp, this time in Soft Suede  and the cardstock lightly sponged around the edges with Soft Suede ink.

7.  A couple of little extras were added with the ribbon and pearls and then I adhered the stamped vanilla cardstock to the folded Soft Suede card.

8.  The whole small card was then adhered to the centre of original larger card.

Hope you like this idea of creating a Double Opening Card.  By the way, I know you are all out there but keeping very quiet! LOL.  I met so many people the other week at the Penrith Papercraft Festival who said “Oh, I read your blog!” – so I know you’re there… please feel free to say ‘hi’

And here’s a list of Stampin’ Up! products that I used to create this card:

Rubber Stamps:
Fine Flourish
Thank You Kindly

Cardstock & Paper:
Early Espresso
Pink Pirouette
Very Vanilla
Beau Chateau

Inkpad and Other Colouring Items:
Pink Pirouette inkpad
Soft Suede inkpad
Crumb Cake inkpad
Early Espresso inkpad

Tools:
Big Shot
Designer Frames Embossing Folder
Wide Oval Punch
Sponge Daubers

Accessories:
Crumb Cake Seam Binding
Basic Pearls (self adhesive)

Adhesives:
SNAIL

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