Dog Scrapbook Page

Two scrapbook pages in two days - what's going on! This page was done for a class that will be taught next week (so if you are interested in attending the class - you can see my website for details or email me). Anyway back to my page - it was done using the lovely D is for Dog stamp set and I decided to use photographs from our lovely farm dog Dinny, who sadly after +14 years of being a cattle dog died in July this year. These photographs were taken in January 2010 when we visited the farm, our son loved sitting on the dog bed patting and chatting to him, not realising that Dinny was completely deaf!

I wanted to give the effect of having a dog collar on the page, so used the circle scissors plus to cut a 5" circle an then used a sponge to age it and a chocolate chip marker to draw on faux stitching. The dog tag was made using the stamps from the set and held on using a loop of card stock and hemp twine.

There is journaling room on a pull out sheet behind the main photograph - I used the same dog stamp image on the journaling area as in the centre of the dog collar. I also thought of adding a few bone stamps on the page, but as Dinny has an "i" in it - I used it on the title instead along with letters cut from the Junior Timeless Type alphabet.

I sponged all of the edges of the 12"x12" page with chocolate chip ink as well. The random paw prints going across the page were originally just going to be a tidy border, but as Dinny had a mind and personality all of his own, I figured he wouldn't have just staying walking in one straight line! The punch art puppy dog is not my design, it is from Valita's blog, isn't he cute?

Stamps: D is for Dog, Just Believe

Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Basic Black

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Scallop square punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, small oval punch, large oval punch, 1/16" handheld punch, hemp twine, Dimensionals, SNAIL, Chocolate Chip marker pen, white gel pen, stamping sponge, paper snips, round tab punch, Junior Timeless Type Alphabet, circle scissors plus

Non SU: single hole punch

Spring Scrapbook Page

Well spring has sprung with a vengence - to be honest it felt like we had skipped spring and gone straight to summer this week with a 37'C day - thank goodness for airconditioning & photo voltaic panels is all I can say! However I digress, I made a scrapbook page (I know so unlike me), actually I was asked to do a "yellow" page for a class and found it a bit challenging so it metamorphasised into a "spring" page with yellow daffodils! What do you think?

 The orange photo matt area opens out to reveal another area for journalling and a second 6"x4" photograph.

The daffodils are very simple punch art using the five petal flower punch and one of the flowers in boho blossoms, the stems and leaves are just hand cut and the dots drawn on in white gel pen. The small daffodils on the foled out page for journalling were made using one of the boho blossom flowers and the centre was a single hole punch circle.

I LOVE the embosslits buttefly die so they get included on lots of my items now, as are the basic pearls! The sun was cut with the circle scissors and sponged with ink.

Stamps: Cute as a Bug

Ink: Pumpkin Pie & Basic Black

Card stock: Daffodil yellow, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Certainly Celery & Bashful Blue

Accessories: Embosslits Beautiful Butterfly, Circle Scissors plus, basic pearls, white gel pen, SNAIL, boho blossoms punch, round tab punch,  Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, 2 way glue pen, stampin sponges, bone folder, mat pack.

Non SU: single hole punch

Overall I liked the finished page and think I might make a matching one for a 2 page layout (I'm not a fan of single pages). I'm thinking of making the Jonquil daffodils on the second page, similar to those on the fold out journalling page - what do you think? Now I just have to sort out some photos to suit the layout theme. If you would like to do this as a class for a double layout let me know - if you want to do it as a single page then you can join us on Friday next week as I am teaching it then!

Lovely as a Tree Snow Scene

I recently had an interstate trip and whilst there we experienced some unseasonal weather - snow just 20 minutes away from where I was staying in October - unheard of! However it did remind me of the wintertime snow we used to get at Christmas when I was growing up in the northern hemisphere. So when I got back, I dug out one of my favourite stamp sets - Lovely As A Tree and made the following card........sadly the glitter in the trees didn't show up, fortunately I'm a paper crafter not a photographer!.

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree
Card stock: Night of Navy, Whisper White & White Gloss
Ink: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy & Black Stazon
Accessories: 2-way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, embossing buddy, white wax crayon (non SU), stamping sponge, SNAIL.

It's actually a very simple and super fast technique, stamp the image with Stazon ink on the gloss card stock, use the white crayon to highlight bits of the trees and grass areas and then sponge over with the Bashful Blue ink. Add additional highlights to the tree with the glitter and then layer it up, stamp a greeting and you're done - a perfect card for mass production - what do you think?

Jolly Holiday Dasher

I am so loving the new Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper - it has all my favourite colours in it & best of all even though it is sort of Christmas themed, the patterns are suitable for all year around - how versatile is that! Anyway here is a card I made using the new a la carte stamp Dasher - isn't he gorgeous? Sadly for some reason my copyright went right over the snowflake just to the left of his antlers that I highlighted with a single basic rhinestone, but it does add a nice touch of "bling" to the card!

Stamps: Dasher, Tiny Tags
Cardstock: Jolly Holiday DSP, Old Olive, Very Vanilla & Cherry Cobbler
Ink: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler & Old Olive
Accessories: Linen thread, 1/16" circle punch, jewelery tag punch, Sizzix Scallop Circle die, paper piercer, SNAIL, basic rhinestone

Okay more Christmas ideas coming soon - how are your Christmas items shaping up?

Classic Season of Joy

Here is the second card we made in a recent class using the stamp set Season of Joy. It has a nicer finish in real life as the glitter on the tree and rhinestone at the tree top didn't seem to photograph well - or perhaps it's just my photography skills! 

Stamps: Season of Joy

Card stock: Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla

Ink: Always Artichoke, Riding Hood red

Accessories: 1/4" Old Olive Grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Trim Border punch, Oval XL punch, Oval 1 3/4" large punch, Stampin' Sponges, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 2-way glue pen, basic rhinestone,  SNAIL.

So you can see Christmas card production is starting to increase of late, I do have some more plus the Breast Cancer Fundraiser updates to share with you, so hopefully I'll get those posted in the next few days. What do you think - do you prefer the classic Christmas colours and stamps or different colour combinations and maximising the use of non Christmas stamps for all occasions?

Distressed Season of Joy

Well since it is only just over 9 weeks until Christmas I thought it was time to start posting some more of the cards I have been making. I thought I would use one of the sets that is being featured in the current "Dress Up Christmas" promotion and chose the Season of Joy set to make a couple of cards in a recent Christmas card class (if you are interested in attending or hosting a class contact me).

The first is a distressed card, I aged this using sponges, the paper cutter and some faux stitching using the paper piercer and a white gel pen.

Stamps: Season of Joy
Card stock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White & Old Olive
Ink: Old Olive, Real Red & Crumb Cake
Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Paper cutter, paper snips, Basic Pearls, Hemp Twine, Dimensional, paper piercer, white gel pen

I love the new basic pearls - don't you? Fantastic value and they add real class to a card in my opinion. I'll post the second card I made using Season of Joy tomorrow, if you want more Christmas ideas sign up to my monthly newsletter by emailing me, as there will be more ideas in there as well as what is here on my blog.

Dress Up Your Christmas!

December 25 is rapidly approaching and there is no better time to get organised for making Christmas cards, table decorations and gifts and the current special from Stampin’ Up! makes it an even better time to start your Christmas crafting!

From now until November 30th , you can score yourself some FREE, exclusive and not-available-in-the-catalogue rolls of ribbon in one of two ways (or both!)

The first way is to purchase one of the Christmas Gift-Giving Bundles below…

Description	Wood-Mount Item/Price	Clear-Mount Item/Price
Gifted Bundle Gifted Set and Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper	124041; $66.90	124042; $56.90
Welcome Christmas Bundle Welcome Christmas Set and Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper	124045; $69.90	124046; $59.90
Season of Joy Bundle Season of Joy Set and So Swirly Stampin’ Around Wheel	124043; $67.90	—
Delightful Decorations Bundle Delightful Decorations Set and Ornament Punch	124044; $72.90	—

and for each bundle you purchase, a roll of ribbon is yours for the choosing for FREE!

The second way you can score yourself your choice of these gorgeous ribbons is to host a workshop of $550 or more during the promotion period.

If you’re wondering about the Christmas Cocoa Specialty DSP listed in the second bundle and are not sure where to find it here is a closer look at it - what you can't see is that the top two designs has the extra special dimension of being flocked! Those two are single-sided designs and the rest are double sided.

Contact me today to place your Christmas bundle order, make a booking for a party workshop or book a Christmas Class for either card making or 3D items. 

ARRRR Beware Pirates!

Ever since I first got hold of the new catalogue I have been waiting impatiently to use the stamp set Beware Pirates - not everyone's cup of tea I know - but I love it! I had my first opportunity to ink it up recently and made a relatively simple card for a sketch challenge. I love how well it comes up with the black embossing powder and I think for male cards and for the teenagers this will be a very useful set. You can't quite see from the photography but the dotted line and "x" marks the spot behind the skull are actually coloured in real red as well.

Stamps: Beware Pirates
Ink: Real Red, Versamark, Basic Black
Card Stock: Basic Gray, Basic Black, Whisper White & Real Red
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Stamping Sponges, SNAIL

Rated 18+ Bra & Panties Card

From babies to well umm boobs!!! Apologies if this card offends it was made in jest as we had a friends 45th birthday to go to recently and I wanted to make him a stand out card that would definitely get a laugh so I found some inspiration on Vanessa Webb's blog.

It was an interesting card to make as it was double sided - I free cut the pattern onto blush blossom card stock (retired - sorry it was made in the hiatus between blush blossom retiring, but my new blushing bride card stock not having arrived) so the back was suitably decorated as well - although his wife did tell me the heart tattoo was on the other cheek!!!!!!!!!!! After seeing how well the Baroque Motifs came out on the card stock, I am thinking Stampin' Up! should release a lingerie line!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs

Ink: Versamark

Card stock: Real Red, blush blossom (retired), basic black

Accessories: Heart to heart punch, Paper snips, Black embossing powder, heat gun, powder pal, SNAIL, Boho blossom punch, Scallop edge punch, 1/16" handheld punch, basic black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, clear rhinestone brad.

Pink Baby Butterfly Card - Big Shot style!

Well my friends babies are all coming thick and fast at the moment - one gorgeous little boy and three adorable girls in the last fortnight (all to separate parents I should add - not quads!). I made a card using the Big Shot and the new Beautiful Wings embosslit die - it's so nice, it cuts and embosses 5 butterflies all in one go. So thus inspired I made a clean and simple card using them.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Paper: Very Vanilla & Pretty in Pink

Ink: Elegant Eggplant & Pretty in Pink

Accessories: Big Shot, Textured embossing folder Perfect Polka Dots, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, Scallop Oval punch, Window Word punch, Basic Pearls, SNAIL, Dimensionals, Stamping sponges

I don't own the modern label punch (yet) so I cut the scallop oval punch down on either side to create a boarder for the window word punch. Here's a close up of the very cute embossed butterflies:

Doesn't the embossing on the card stock make it look fantastic? I only adhered the centre of the butterflies down as I wanted to leave the wings free to give the impression of flight.