New Weekly Deals are UP from Stampin''Up Australia

Here they are guys... this week's "Weekly Deals"... to purchase visit the Online store by clicking the "Shop Now" button.. or click HERE.

Enjoy!

Pink and Black for a special birthday

Last weekend I was invited to a friend's 70th birthday celebrations.  It was actually a surprise party... but WE were the ones getting the surprise and no one actually knew where we were going (except the party girl of course).  We were collected on the bus and away we went.... we ended up at Big Al's Elvis World!  Goodness.. I didn't know such places existed!  And I have never seen so much Elvis memorabilia in all my life!  It was certainly impressive and not something I've ever done before!

It was a fun night with great company and I will be sure to Project Life my photos at some point!

Of course I needed to make a special card, and I decided to hand-make the gift as well.  I thought you'd like to see them. My birthday lady has a thing for hot pink and Black so that made the colour scheme easy to pick! The stamp is one of our background stamps.. its called "Definitely Dahlia".  I embossed it in white embossing powder on both the black and pink backgrounds.

I hope she enjoyed them and i hope you do too!

Christmas Dove of Peace in Red and Gold

I love this Dove of Peace stamp from Stampin'Up!  And how good does it look in bright red and shiny gold?  I stamped both the dove and the sentiment in Versamark, and then embossed it with gold embossing powder.  Added a little gold washi tape and some cording trim. If you are looking for a quick Christmas card to make with few supplies.. this could be it!

I've included a carousel product list below so you can see what you need to recreate this card for yourself!

Enjoy!

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Masking Tape Technique

Yesterday I sent out my monthly newsletter to those on the newsletter list and I also updated my class schedule.  Which of course means starting to think about which I'll be making for class projects over the next couple of months.  One of the techniques I have chosen to teach is the "Masking Tape Technique"... this is October's technique.

Its a really simple but fun technique... for this "Thanks" card today I used 3 colours as my background.. Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and Night of Navy.  The main image is from the "Serene Silouhettes" stamp set and the sentiment is from the "Cottage Greeting" set... both were stamped in Basic Basic Archival ink.  I love how solid and black the archival inks stamp!

Pop back again to see more of my creations.... or if you'd like to see more of what I get up to more often, visit and my "like" my Facebook Business page by clicking HERE.

Or to see the full class schedule, click HERE.

Have a great weekend!

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Welcome to this month's Instalment of the Grand Vacation Achievers blog Hop

And we're back for another month! I hope you are enjoying the hop this month! If you've come from another blog in the hop list you will already know that this month's theme is "Remember to Give thanks".  For a while now I've been going to start a "gratitude journal"... and I wanted to use one of the smaller 6x8 albums for that purpose.  But its in my "I'll get around to that" pile..... next week I have a few craft days planned and I might actually get time to get a start on it!

In the meantime, I haven't let that stop me from feeling grateful or expressing that.  Gratitude is a powerful thing! And you can feel grateful for all kinds of things. Something about me that you might not know is that I try to think of a least one thing to be thankful for every morning when I get up.  Its a great way to start the day!





As you can see, I decided to do a Project Life page for this month's project!  You nearly ended up with a card, but I thought I'd change it up a little.

Some might think it strange that I dedicated this Project Life page to my gratitude for a kitchen appliance!  But I truly am thankful for my Slow Cooker! It saves me time, it nearly always gives a perfect result and it quietly goes about its task while I am busy doing other things (like creating!)  Its the star of my kitchen, and i truly love it.  My customers love it too... my soups are very popular, especially in the cooler months, and I have my slow cooker to thank for that. I pop everything in the night before as Im heading to bed, and the next morning there is a beautiful meal all ready to go.

What I LOVE about Project Life is that you need so little to get started! Which means that you don't need to purchase a lot of products to create a fantastic result.  I did add some glimmer paper out of my collection, but very little... everything else is in the Seasonal Snapshot card kit and accessory pack.  And really the glimmer paper is optional... just a little touch that I added at the end.

So here are some closeups for you:

So I've compiled a product showcase below so that you can see what products I used to put this page together.  To place an order through my Online Store, you just need to be in Australia. Items can be shipped to your door for a low postage charge. And don't forget about my thank you gift for online orders over $50... to read more about that deal click HERE.

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This week's Weekly Deals from Stampin'Up Australia

Here they are: This week's Weekly Deals from Stampin'Up!  Making a purchase is easy... just click HERE to visit the Online Store. If your online order in September is over $50 (but under $250) then make sure you use the Hostess Code CP9ZW94M so that you will receive a thank you gift from me after the order is finalised at the end of September.

There will be a new Hostess Code announced at the beginning of October.

To read more about the Hostess Code and the Thank you gift system click HERE

Here are the deals: (I've got my eye on those pegs and sequins)

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2 step stamping with Garden in Bloom from Stampin'Up

Hello everyone!

Even though its Spring here in Australia this week the weather has been cooler and so when I was creating today's Spring-inspired card it made me feel more cheery!  Sometimes when its cold outside your window its fun to create something in spite of that!

I used the "Garden in Bloom" stamp set to create this simple card.  Its a 2-step stamp set... So I first stamped the outlines of the flowers (with Island indigo ink) and then filled them in my stamping with the matching solid stamp.. this time in Pool Party ink. The leaves are created with Cucumber Crush and Mint Macaron, and the little butterflies are inked with Bermuda Bay.  The "thank you" sentiment is from the "Tin of Cards" stamp set.. and I edged it with Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper.

I've included a carousel of products below should you wish to purchase any of these products for yourself. Or visit the Online Store and take a peek at this week's "Weekly Deals".

And here is a heads-up for all my followers.... we are running the Grand Vacation Achievers Blog Hop again this week... so make sure you check back here on Thursday to follow the hop and see all the gorgeous creations by some of this year's trip achievers! The hop will go live at 7am on Thursday 24th September 2015... don't miss it!

Here's a closeup of today's card for you:

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A Peaceful Christmas with Grey and Silver

Last night I sat down to make a card, and just wanted something calming and simple. For me, neutral palettes evoke that feeling of calmness. Cream and Gold is one of my favourites, and white and silver, like the one you see here.

I used the "Sleigh Ride" framelits again... this time creating the foreground in silver, and making a smoky slate background. I added some stars from the "Jingle all the Way" stamp set (and a few punched confetti stars too).  The background is embossed with the "Softly Falling" embossing folder, and the word "Peace" below is cut out with the Christmas Greetings thinnest and my Big Shot.  The silver sequins are from the "Love Story" Project Life accessory pack.

Hopefully you'll have a peaceful day too :-)

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Project Life by Stampin'Up is not just for Albums!

I love Project Life as you know.  I love the simplicity of it, and the ease with which a scrapbook comes together.  But I have a confession... when it comes to Project Life Im a bit of a collector. And one of the reasons for this is that there is nothing that compares to the feeling of having your new Project Life kits delivered.  All those little pieces and shiny pretty things. In particular I am addicted to the Accessory kits... I cant wait to open them and spread them out on the table and "ooh" and "aaah" over all the pretty things.

The Project Life card kits and accessory packs in the latest HOLIDAY CATALOGUE do not disappoint!  In fast these are some of my favourite ones ever.  But even when you aren't using them to do wonderful things with your photos in albums, you can also use them to create other beautiful paper projects!  And here I've used them to create a lovely Christmas card.  Seriously... how could that much glittery reindeer on a card be bad??  The greeting is a sticker and so are the red sticky dots I used for an accent... these are also from the same accessory kit.

I've added a few elements from our range, but have made a product carousel below to show you exactly what you would need if you wanted to duplicate this card for yourself.  As you can see, not many supplies at all are required to make this card. And there's no stamping either!

Even if you don't make Project Life albums, don't discount Project Life for all the other things you can do with it!

To make purchases for yourself click HERE to visit my Online Store.  Orders are delivered to anywhere in Australia for a low postage cost.  Who wouldn't like to receive some of these awesome kits of pretty things in their mailbox?

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Jingle All the Way to a beautiful Christmas with Stampin'Up Australia

Here in Australia we enjoy a Summer Christmas...  so there's no snow, snowflakes, snowmen or other Winter-related celebrations.    But there is lots of fun to be had in a Summertime Christmas too :-)  And we certainly appreciate the beauty and nostalgia of a cold Christmas... one of my bucket list items is to experience a "White Christmas"... even just once, I think that would be nice!

One of the things I love about our latest Holiday catalogue with Stampin'Up is that there are products to suit all kinds of Christmas celebrations.. Summer OR Winter!  Today's card is an example of this... the framelits that create those gorgeous houses on a hill create a beautiful Christmas scene are as timeless as they are "non-seasonal".

I brayered the background sky behind the houses and I love how it turned out.  I've uploaded a product list below so you can see the products I used... if you want to order them for yourself, just visit the ONLINE STORE.  This month we are using a Hostess code so that everyone who places an order over $50 through my store (and uses the code) will receive a thank you gift from me.  To find out more about how to claim your gift click HERE.

If you live anywhere in Australia, orders placed through the Online Store will be delivered directly to your door for a low postage cost.

I hope you enjoy the card today!

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Stampin'Up's "Best Thoughts" stamp set makes lovely Watercoloured cards

Sometimes it's nice to make something soft and pretty... and that's what I did today with the "Best Thoughts" stamp set from Stampin'Up.  This is probably the easiest way to watercolour... you can use any cardstock, and you heat emboss a line-drawing stamp with White embossing powder.  Once embossed you can take your aquapen and watercolour with any colour of your choice.  The colours here are Wild Wasabi and Blushing Bride, and I added just small amounts of Rose Red for more contrast.

"Best Thoughts" is actually one of our beautiful hostess sets this year... so if you are placing an order of $250 or more (or hosting a workshop) this is one of many things you can select to spend your hostess dollars on!  

I love the soft result!  I've added a full list of products below in case you'd like to purchase any of these products to create a similar look. 

Here's a closeup for you:

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Today's a great day to go Shopping - Weekly Deals Sept 16 - Sept 22 2015

If you live in Australia, and you love Stampin'Up products you will love my post today :-) Not only do we have Weekly Deals to tempt you, but today lots more  has been added to the Clearance Rack!  So visit the Online Store and grab some bargains!

If you need to contact me or ask questions click HERE.

Watercoloured Backgrounds with Emboss Resist...introducing the Flurry of Wishes set!

Emboss resist has long been one of my favourite techniques.  And its easy to do!  I used the snowflakes from the "Flurry of Wishes" stamp set (available in our Holiday catalogue) to create a great background here. I embossed them in white (or clear will work too) and then got to work with some inks and Aqua Pens. I started with Mint Macaron, and then washed over in Lost Lagoon.  Lastly I used a sponge to apply Night of Navy ink here and there... the contast of the white snowflakes made them "pop"!

Make sure you check out these snowflakes and lots of other gorgeous Holiday products in the Online Store! Alternatively, you can have a hard copy of the Holiday delivered to you anywhere in Australia... just CONTACT ME and let me know and I'll pop it in the post for you!

Come back again soon!

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Sneak Peek at my September Stamp club projects

I thought you might like to have a little "sneak peek" at my September stamp club projects.  I have two clubs this month, and this is a look at the outside of the projects we'll be making together. I decided to combine the "Mini Treat Bag" die with the new Window framelit from the "Hearth and Home" set to create a "peek-a-boo" card.  This would make a very special one-off gift/card for someone special.

Of course the window die opens up so many possibilities (did you catch that pun?)!  In this case I couldn't choose between a purple and a blue colour scheme so I've decided to offer them the choice of either one. (I'll be sure to pop back and show you the inside - including the blue colour scheme - after our club dates.)  I used a piece of acetate behind the window for the "glass" and the card inside slides behind the window to provide the view of the trees. :-)

I hope the club girls like them! Actually this is a good time for me to mention that I'll be starting up new stamp clubs not too far from now, so if you are in driving distance to the Central Coast and would like to be part of a bi-monthly stamp club that makes some really special projects... let me know and I'll add your name to the list of interested parties!

You can contact me by clicking HERE.

Have a great day!

Vintage Leaves make the perfect Thank You card

You need a card, and quickly.  So for me, that means very simple.... no fussy cutting or layers of cardstock.  Just some stamping and glimmer to get your point across.

In my opinion, "no layer" or 1-layer cards can be difficult to pull off. But over the years I have come to the conclusion that they are possible to do... but usually involve some kind of "trick".  By "trick" I mean, that you need to add a distraction or a little clever something. This could be almost anything.  For today's card, I used the baby wipe technique to make my leaves multicoloured (so they almost jump off the cardstock) and i also added a small strip of gold glimmer paper and some perfectly coloured sequins from the "Seasonal Snapshot" project life accessory pack.

It was quite literally a 5 minute card. And sometimes thats just what you want!

Have a lovely day today guys... wherever you may be :-)

Brayered Wonderland again.... such an Elegant Christmas stamp set!

Yep, I've been playing with the Wonderland stamp set again..... last night I asked the question (on my Instagram page) "Is it even possible to make a bad card with this set??"  I'm beginning to doubt it!  And I love brayering a beautiful background for these trees to sit against... its a winner every time!

And when you use this set this way it means that you don't need to do much else... a sentiment and maybe some bling and you are DONE.

Reminds me of that Madden Brothers song.....

Yep, now I've got that song in my head.

As always... I'll be back with more soon. But if you cant wait that long.. you can always visit my Facebook Business Page as I post there even more frequently and often I post things there that don't appear here.too :-)

Don't forget to "Like" the page so you can come back and visit again whenever you like.

This week's Weekly Deals - September 9th to September 15th.

And here they are for another week... the Weekly Deals. If you are using the ONLINE STORE and shopping for your favourite products be sure too to check out the Clearance rack which has some great deals on no-longer-available products....  and up to 80% off!

AND DONT FORGET to use the hostess code if you are ordering over $50 worth of product... for every Online Order over $50 I am giving away a gift (these are sent out in October) BUT if your order is over $250 DONT use the code because your $250+ order will automatically receive free Hostess benefits! (Which is even better than my thank you gift!) To read more about how this works click HERE.

Here again is the September Hostess code:

CP9ZW94M

(There will be a new code allocated in October.)

Enjoy the deals...

Using the Baby Wipe Technique for gorgeous Multi-coloured cards

Here's a technique that has been around for a very long time!  And yet, until this week, I've never shown it in a technique class before. I'm wondering why I waited so long!

It works best with more solid stamps, and here I used the background-type stamp from the "I think you're great" stamp set to create it.  For those wondering, the colours in this card are Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi and Tempting Turquoise.

Here's a close up for you:



Don't forget to visit the ONLINE STORE and place your orders using the HOSTESS CODE. For more details click HERE.   There are new Weekly Deals out TODAY!

Lighthearted Leaves for my Swap cards

Last month I was part of a team swap with some other demonstrators and the theme was new Holiday catalogue products.  I love swaps like this, because it means you end up with projects made with products you don't yet own, and I have more samples to show at workshops and other events.   And this particular group of demonstrators are so clever... so when my swaps arrived today I was overwhelmed at how beautiful they were!

Of course I contributed a card myself and you can see the full card at the top of this post. This was actually a really simple card to make.  I'm really loving colouring with white ink and blender pens lately, and thats the technique I employed for this card. This time i used Lost Lagoon cardstock and stamped the leaves in Night of Navy ink. Then coloured parts of the image with my blender pen. Added some bling, and TA-DA!

I hope you enjoy these cards too... they were fun to create.  I've included a list of products in the carousel below if you wish to purchase any of these items for yourself.

Here's a closer pic for you:

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Happy Father's Day!

I know its not celebrated on the same day all over the world but here in Australia it is Father's Day today.  Happy Father's Day to all the Dads, step-dads and grand-dads out there... wherever you may be.

So of course the occasion means that I made a Father's Day card.  I decided to go for a "Retro" feel, and created a 3d Masked background and used the Bohemian Chic DSP across the card. The gold touches make it look a little "richer". Overall I was happy with how this turned out.  What do you think??

I've included the products below in case you would like to purchase them for yourself.  Or just visit the ONLINE STORE to choose your goodies. The gorgeous Holiday catalogue has been so popular... you can check that out in the store or by clicking HERE.  Or contact me so I can send you one! (You need to be in Australia of course)

Here's a closer pic:

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Creating cards for next weeks "Baby Wipe Technique class"... how gorgeous are these butterflies??

Here's a technique that has been around for YEARS. But would you believe I have never done a class with this technique?  So today's work has involved creating some card designs for next week's Baby Wipe technique class.... and for this design I was inspired by this week's Mojo Monday sketch. 

Here's the sketch I used for my design:

I'm actually wondering why I waiting so long to try this technique... its fabulous!  

If' you'd like to come and learn this technique for yourself... here are the dates and details:

Dates:

Tuesday 8th September @ 7.30pm

or

Wednesday 9th September @ 11am

Cost is $25 and includes everything to make 3 projects and refreshments.  To book in, click HERE and let me know you are coming. I run classes on the NSW Central Coast from my home, and all level of paper crafters are welcome... from beginners and up! :-)  There is always something you can learn!

 Here's a close up of the butterflies on the card for you:

Delicate Ornaments in Silver with Embossed Vellum... so elegant!

Sometimes you don't need to be a creative genius to create a gorgeous card... you just need the right products and tools!  So even though the card design might be straightforward... these gorgeous products make it extra special with not a lot of effort!

I mounted the silver embossed vellum onto a piece of white cardstock with glue dots.  And then cut the largest ornament in my Delicate Ornaments framelit set out of silver foil with my Big Shot, and added some Silver cord to hand it from the top of the page. I added the "Silent Night" sentiment from the "Wonderland" stamp set. Mounted the whole thing on Smoky Slate cardstock and called it done!

I've popped the product list in the carousel below... almost all these products are available in our new Holiday Catalogue that was released this week!  Its FULL of Holiday celebration products... and you will love it!  To order, visit the Online Store and have your products delivered to your door anywhere in Australia!  And don't forget to use the hostess code if your order is under $250 to receive your thank you gift!  Read more about that HERE.

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This week's Weekly Deals plus a "Flurry of Wishes" for an easy Christmas card :-)

As if the new Holiday catalogue wasn't enough to get excited about, we also have a new set of Weekly deals from now until Tuesday 8th September.  You can see them in the picture below OR if you wish to order you can visit the ONLINE STORE.  Personally I plan to stock up on Fast Fuse refills and more Candy dots which I LOVE!  And for those people that have recently asked me again about the Minion Flip card... the Circle Card thinlit dies are on special this week too!

 

You can combine the Weekly Deals with orders from the Holiday catalogue too... so this is a great week to jump into the ONLINE STORE and get what you need delivered to your door.

Today in class we made some beautiful Christmas cards including the one at the top of this post.  Here's a closer pic for you too:

I love the blue and silver combination for Christmas!


And guess what! I'm almost on 500 likes over on my Facebook Business page!  So go pay me a visit over there and hit the 'like' button so you can see what else I get up to!  I'll look forward to seeing you there!

The new Holiday catalogue from Stampin'Up is out TODAY

Good morning! It's a gorgeous morning here on the Central Coast and of course a perfect day to launch a brand new Holiday Catalogue!

To see it, just click the "Our Catalogues" button.  Its full of lovely shiny things to play with!

To order online, go to the Online Store.  Orders can be delivered straight to your door anywhere within Australia!  And when you place your order don't forget to use the Hostess Code CP9ZW94M as this will ensure that any order you place over $50 gets you a Thank You gift from me!

(To read more about how the Online Thank you Gift works, click HERE)

Today's card is one we created at the Launch I held on the weekend. The background is silver foil, and I embossed one of the Delicate Ornament dies into the foil. I was inspired by the clever Shannean Moncrieff who created a similar idea on last month's GV Achievers Blog Hop.  I did mine a little differently though. I used the cutting edge of the die towards the paper, but used a crease pad underneath so that it didn't cut through.  I added the red ornament made from our new Red Foil.  And of course the wonderful silver cording trim was used to create the strings and bows. I couldnt resist adding a little of the red stripey foil vellum too.

Im looking forward to sharing more of what you can create with our new catalogue products and I know you are going to love it!

PS... I still have spots available at tonight's Christmas Stamp-a-Stack if you would like to come along?  And yes, we'll be using new catalogue products..... Click HERE to RSVP.