Today is the first day of Week 3 of Deal of the Week and here’s this week’s special promotion

This promotion ends on the evening of Tuesday 22nd June 2010

Email me today if you’d like to grab a bargain.

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It’s so tempting to use browns with all masculine cards but I had to make a birthday card for a friend who I think would suit something a bit more of a clean and trendy in style rather than rugged.  And do you notice something? Ribbon and rhinestone on a masculine card, yeah I’m really living on the wild side now aren’t I?  Yep, I made the executive decision that it was perfectly fine to use ribbon as long as there were no bows and fine to use a rhinestone tastefully    I think that embellishment looks like a nice cufflink anyway.

Here’s something else too… I usually reserve gingham paper for feminine cards like this one but in this case I think it goes well with the stripes and fits in fine with the masculine look.  I find it interesting that the same paper can be used on a woman’s card and a masculine card and still fit in well – gotta love versatility.

So do you think this card is still masculine despite the ribbon, rhinestone and gingham?

Here’s a list of the Stampin’ Up! products I’ve used in this card

Rubber Stamps:
Birthday Block (single stamp!)

Inkpads:
Baja Breeze

Cardstock & Paper:
Baja Breeze
Kiwi Kiss
Basic Gray textured
Urban Garden
Sweet Slumber Textured Designer Series Paper
Whisper White

Accessories:
Hooray Designer Hardware (Autumn/Winter 2010 Mini catalogue)
Clear Rhinestone Brad

Tools:
Crop-a-dile (for the jumbo eyelet)

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals

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I don’t know what to call this style.  It seems so different for me and I can’t put my finger on it.  Maybe shabby sweet? Feel free to enlighten me on what I’ve made here. LOL.

I started this card based on the patterned paper rather than the stamp which is a bit different for me too – since the Sweet Slumber paper promotion started yesterday I remembered how much I oohed and ahhed over the paper when I opened it so I decided I should cut into it.  I’m pretty good about cutting into paper these days rather than hoarding it but for some reason this one escaped my clutches for a while.  I wanted to make a birthday card for my 2 year old niece so I thought the dotty paper would work well, the colour scheme for the card came straight from the patterned paper – very handy that.  Then out of all the birthday stamps I decided to go with the cupcakes simply because I love this image so much.  By the way, the scalloped strip of card at the bottom that’s gingham – that’s the other side of the dotty paper, so I just used a strip of the same paper but used the other side of it.

The main image on the card was stamped in Stazon and then coloured in with the ink from my inkpads and a blender pen.  The oval looked a bit to crisp and bland for the card so I sponged some So Saffron ink around the edges of the oval and also added some tiny dots around the oval using the fine end of a pink marker.

So that’s it.  I’m really happy with the way this card has turned out so I might take the plunge and make some more cards using the rest of that Sweet Slumber paper.

As usual, if you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear them

All products used in this card are by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through me.

Rubber Stamps:
Crazy for Cupcakes

Inkpads/Markers:
Pink Pirouette
Baja Breeze
So Saffron
Riding Hood Red
Pretty in Pink marker

Cardstock & Paper:
Pink Pirouette Textured cardstock
Riding Hood Red cardstock
Sweet Slumber Textured Designer Series Paper (on sale
Very Vanilla

Accessories:
Button Bouquet
Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon
Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain Ribbon

Tools:
1/2″ circle punch (to punch out the circles stuck behind the main image which look like scalloping)
Blender Pen
Big Shot
Ovals Die (to work with Big Shot)
Eyelet Border Punch
Sponge Daubers (for sponging around the dotty paper and around the oval shape)

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Glue Dot (to adhere the buttons)

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I don’t know about you but I have a bit of a weakness for patterned paper so this week’s Deal of the Week is very exciting.

One week discount on these selected patterned papers:

Want some inspiration? Check out this card I made using the Raspberry Tart papers and this card using some Haiku paper.

Email me now to order your favourite papers at these awesome prices.

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So what do you do when you have a card to make for a 10 year old girl and you don’t know much about her?  I decided to go with glitter, flowers, a butterfly, ribbon and a rhinestone.  I’m hoping somewhere there I’ve hit on something she likes!  Actually a little trick I use when I don’t know the likes & dislikes of of someone I’m making a birthday card for is to either use their name or age as the main image on the card.  Maybe this idea will help you out too.

I like to keep a stash of chipboard and Sticky Cuts for these sorts of cards.  With this birthday card I used Stampin’ Up!’s Sticky Cuts – so easy, I just peeled the numbers 1 and 0 off the sheet and placed them onto some white cardstock then peeled off the protective covering and dumped the glitter on to it.  You need to make sure you press down the glitter firmly with your fingers and then pour off the excess glitter – the Sticky Cuts are super strong so the glitter stays put.  Because I’ve used Chunky Glitter here I also dumped some ultra fine glitter (Dazzling Diamonds) over the top to fill in any gaps.  I could have left it as it was because the gaps really aren’t noticeable but I think it gives an nice extra sparkle to the card.  The butterfly on the card was done by using Stampin’ Up!’s Butterfly Punch, I just punched out two butterflies – one in Melon Mambo and the other in Pink Pirouette textured cardstock then attached them to each other with the Rhinestone brad.

Time to pack this card up now and get ready for the party

All products used in this card are by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through Angela Sargeant

Rubber Stamps:
Daisy Dash Stampin’ Around Wheel

Inkpads/Markers:
Certainly Celery inkpad

Cardstock & Paper:
Melon Mambo cardstock
Certainly Celery cardstock
Whisper White cardstock
Pink Pirouette textured cardstock

Accessories:
Letters Sticky Cuts
Melon Mambo Polka Dot Ribbon
Chunky Green Glitter
Clear Rhinestone Brad

Tools:
Butterfly Punch

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals

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I’ve had a few people ask me for card sketches so I drew one up yesterday and later in the evening I made a card from it.

A simple sketch but you can jazz it up with extra layers and textures.

And here’s the card that I made from the sketch.

I think my favourite part of this card is the idea that I had first and that’s the little squirrels that have been made into a brad.  So stinkin’ cute! (as my American friends say).  The squirrels are part of a stamp that’s a little larger, they’re actually sitting on a park bench, so I stamped them then punched them out and popped them into the Build-a-Brad to make a cute coordinating accessory for my card.  The Build-a-brad is super easy, you just add a little adhesive on the back of your image that you’ve punched (or patterned paper or whatever you want to put there), then you just place the self-adhesive clear bubble over it and there you have your coordinating brad.

The main image of the tree was inked up with Always Artichoke and then I traced over some of the branches with a Chocolate Chip marker (directly onto the rubber), then stamped it on the Vanilla cardstock.  Tucked just behind the main image is part of a Scalllop Circle that I cut out on the Big Shot then embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder – just a bit of a different way of using that Scallop Circle rather than having it as the base of a card or the focal point.

Well I like this card quite a bit so I’m off to make another 9 of them so that I can mail them off to some of my Stampin’ Up! team members this week.

If you have any questions on this card or would like to purchase any Stampin’ Up! products please feel free to email me.

Rubber Stamps:
Pendant Park

Inkpads/Markers:
Always Artichoke
Not Quite Navy
Chocolate Chip Marker

Cardstock & Paper:
Kraft (soon to be renamed “Crumb Cake”)
Not Quite Navy
Naturals Ivory (for the Scallop Circle)
Very Vanilla
Chocolate Chip
Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper

Accessories:
Antique Brass Build-a-Brad

Tools:
1/2″ Circle Punch
Word Window Punch
Big Shot die-cutting machine
Scallop Circle Die (used with Big Shot)
Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder (used with Big Shot)

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals

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What an exciting stamping month it’s going to be in June!  Stampin’ Up! have announced their “Deal of the Week” promotion for Australia for the whole of June.

Starting today, Tuesday 1st June 2010 until Tuesday 8th June 2010, Stampin’ Up! are taking a whopping 30% off these selected punches

The Boho Blossoms Punch, Square Scallop Punch, Oval Scallop Punch and Trio Flower Punch are all now $20.12, only for one week.  This special ends Tuesday 8th June 2010.

Don’t miss out on this great offer, email me today to place your order.

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Do you find yourself a little stumped at making cards for the men in your life?  Attend my Masculine Card Class to learn how to create these cards and also pick up tips along the way to help you make cards for all the men in your life.

Class to be held on the Lower North Shore of Sydney on 4th June 2010, 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

Email me now for further details and to secure your spot.

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The cherry tree is one of my favourite trees and I just love those gorgeous Cherry Blossoms when they bloom.  I took a bit of a break from trying to reorganise my craft room (yet again!) and made this card today.

It’s a very simple design and I did toy with adding ribbon and other layers but I liked the background way too much to cover it up.  The background is very simply done by stamping the Medallion and script images in the same colour as the cardstock, in this case I used Rose Red cardstock and Rose Red inkpad.  The main image was watercoloured with crayons.  I like to watercolour with a variety of products including inkpads but I do find that watercolour crayons give a much deeper and richer colour than any other type of colouring tool used in cardmaking.

If you have any questions about this card or anything to do with cardmaking or stamping please feel free to email me.

All products used to make this card are by Stampin’ Up! and available for purchase through me.

Rubber Stamps:
Eastern Influences
Medallion
En Francais

Inkpads & Colouring:
Rose Red inkpad
StazOn Jet Black inkpad
Basic Brown inkpad
Regal Rose inkpad (for sponging only)
Watercolour Crayons (Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Always Artichoke)

Cardstock & Paper:
Watercolour Paper
Always Artichoke
Regal Rose
Rose Red
Chocolate Chip

Accessories:
Small cream flat backed pearls (Pretties Kit)

Tools:
Sponge Dauber
Aquapainter

Adhesives:
SNAIL Adhesive
Stampin’ Dimensionals
Glue Dots

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Wow! I’ve just come back from Stampin’ Up! Australia’s annual Convention in Sydney and it was amazing!  I just want to publicly thank Stampin’ Up! staff for putting on an incredible Convention for us – everything was just perfect

Lots of exciting news!  First things first… Stampin’ Up! have an awesome promotion on right now – Join Stampin’ Up! and start your own papercraft business from home for only $259.  An incredible deal, considering the usual $324 cost is already discounted.  If you’d like a free information pack on Stampin’ Up!, email me now and I’ll get one in the mail to you asap.

Back to Convention: other than all the great sessions we attended, we also had a beautiful awards night dinner on the Saturday night, complete with red carpet in the entrance, ‘paparazzi’ and screaming fans to welcome us to dinner!  I’m super super excited to announced I came 2nd Demonstrator of the Year out of all the Stampin’ Up! demonstrators in Australia.  Even more exciting news is that 4 out of the 5 top Demonstrators of the year are member of my team, the Elite Stampers – and more than half of the Top 25 are also members of the Elite Stampers Team.  Go Team!!!!

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