Masculine Cards (Dont forget Father's Day this Sunday!)

Tonight was our latest "Cyberstamp" on the Demonstrator forum that I am a member of. What's a cyberstamp? Where all of us SU girls get "together" via the internet and make some cards. One person is the "host" and posts challenges from time to time on the night. Tonight it was Marelle's turn, and she gave us 4 wonderful challenges. The final challenge was to create a masculine card using only word/alphabet or sentiment stamps, and besides that we werent allowed to use any other stamps (!!!) We were also to use Patterened Paper and any other non-stamp embellishments that we wished to use.
The hardest thing for me about this challenge was resisting the urge to use more stamps than allowed. I so badly wanted to stamp backgrounds and other images. So.. the resulting card is quite simple, but you know what? I actually really like it. I also used hodgepodge, ribbon and gel pen. It's all SU of course! If you would like any further information about any of the products used, please contact me on higgiz@bigpond.com.

Thank you Marelle for the wonderful challenges tonight!

Happy Father's Day on Sunday to all you dads out there!

Altered Brads

Images Copyright 1990-2007 Stampin’ Up!

Sometimes you create a project, and then, at the last minute, you realize that you just dont have the right [insert item here] to finish it off. This happened to me last night as I was finishing off a card for a workshop tonight. The hostess wanted to see reverse embossing (one of my favourite techniques) at her workshop so I designed the card above. It's really simple and features the Gold encore inkpad for the stars, the new Cranberry Stitched Grosgrain, the main reverse embossed image sponged with True Thyme ink, and a Brad in the punched half circle at the top. Problem was that I couldnt find a brad to match the Gold stars. I have the Vintage Brads, but those come in black, copper, silver and brass - but not gold. So I chose the colour I use the least (copper at the moment), dipped my copper brad into the gold ink pad, then embossed it with clear embossing powder - voila! A brad that perfectly matches my Gold Stars.
IMPORTANT NOTE! Just be careful if you are embossing brads - hold on to your brad with a pair of tweezers... you dont want to give yourself 3rd degree burns!
Have fun with this one guys. It's a great technique and gets a wow every time! If you would like to host a workshop using this technique just let me know... it is really popular for Christmas cards. You can email me at higgiz@bigpond.com if you would like more information.

Linda

Scribble This...

Copyright 1990-2007 Stampin’ Up!

Well...

I think it has become quite obvious that I am completely in love with this stamp set. And I'm going through a bit of a Green stage at the moment. So when I received a beautiful card the other day from the lovely Miss Angela it inspired me to create my own card using some of her ideas. (The white gel pen on the doodly bits in the background and the central flower motif are copied from Angela's card) Didnt it come up nicely? We did this card at a workshop on Friday and it was a big hit.

Enjoy!

Getting to Grips with Glitter

I've always loved using little bits of glitter - both on my cards and on my Scrapbook layouts. This thing with glitter though is that a little goes a long way... You only need to use such a small amount to make an impact.

It's a bit hard to get the full impact of the glitter on the card above because I find that glitter doesnt come up particularly well in scans. But I hope you can get the idea. I used the Snowflake wheel in white on the Bashful Blue cardstock, and then while it was wet, I applied Heat and Stick powder and heated it with my heat tool. While it was sticky I poured on the glitter, and tapped off the excess. And what you end up with is lovely glittery snowflakes. I've used the Snow Flurries out of the new Mini Catalogue punched out with our new 1/2" circle punch to complete the card. Really simple.

The beauty of Heat and Stick Powder is that it goes on perfectly over Craft or Pigment inks, or versamark, which means that you end up with a glittery image that you have stamped, rather than trying to apply glitter with a glue pen or other adhesive. Neither of which is very precise. This way, the glitter will adhere perfectly in the shape that you want it. If anyone would like to see Heat and Stick powder in action, please contact me at higgiz@bigpond.com I can either do a workshop with you and your friends, or if there is enough interest, this would also make a great class that I would be happy to schedule in the coming months. It's such a cool technique.

Hope you like the card!

Tag Time

Copyright 1990-2007 Stampin’ Up!

See, I dont always just make cards...

Sometimes I get inspired to create other stuff. This is a tag that we did as a project at the recent Mini Launch. It's a really simple little thing, but it was fun to do, and I just love these colours together. I've used a few different pieces to pull it all together. The colours are Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Buckaroo Blue, Cranberry Crisp and Very Vanilla. And I've used both the "Wishing You" and "Scribble This" stamp sets out of the New Mini catalogue. And wheeled on the Rough texture wheel to make the background cardstock look more interesting. There's a bit of punch work in there too. Notice the ribbon? It's the new Cranberry Crisp stitched Grosgrain... how nice is that? I am soooo loving all the new stuff in the new catty, and have enjoyed playing with it even more than I thought I would.

Dont forget that if there's anything I can help you with dont hesitate to email me on higgiz@bigpond.com. All Stampin'Up or papercraft questions happily accepted.

Enjoy creating some lovely new stuff this week. If you dont have the time, try to carve out just a little for yourself. I know it's hard, but it makes you feel so good to honour yourself in this way. You do need to make time for you.

Otherwise we might all go just a little bit crazy!

Linda

Today's the Day...

Yay!!!!!!

Today's the day that the New Mini Catalogue products become available. There's already been so much excitement surrounding the mini, and last night some of the demonstrators in my team and myself got together to have a "little" product launch. We had about 50 wonderful customers and friends who joined us to make several projects using items from the new catalogue. I've had some great feedback from so many different people already... everyone seemed to have a great time, and they all made some great items that they were really happy with.

This Mini catalogue will run from today until the end of November, so anytime you wish to order these products over the next 4 months you can do that by contacting me at higgiz@bigpond.com Or of course you can hold a workshop at your place and I'll come and help everyone to make a couple of projects of their own.

Also this month's promotion has been announced and it will be that anyone who hosts a workshop that has sales of over $600 will not only receive their normal hostess benefits, but you will also receive an additional Stamp set valued at $53.95. The 3 stamp sets that you can choose from for this promo are:

Petal Prints
Nice and Easy Notes
All about you

These 3 sets are all found in the 2007/08 Idea Book and Catalogue... if you need one of these please contact me. The promotion continues until September 15.

Finally, I hope you enjoy this card... It's using the "Scribbe This" set from the Mini Catalogue. This is one of the cards we made at our launch last night. The card also featured the matching wheel, and the Round Tab punch, also from the new Mini. I was inspired to make this card after seeing something similar on a US website, so I changed the design around a bit, and the changed the colours, and Im really happy with the result. I hope you like it too!

Have a wonderful day out there!

Linda