Video Tutorial: Stamping on Candles for Unique handmade gifts.

This past week I held my Mother's Day gift class and we made several projects together.  One of those projects was a stamped candle and those are always popular.  Its a completely different way of using your stamps.  I haven't stamped on candles for a couple of years so I thought it was time to drag that technique out again, and it would make a great video tutorial, just in time for Mother's Day. Or any other occasion you choose :-)

So without further adieu here is my video tutorial with some tips for candle stamping.  I hope you enjoy it.

White Ink Watercolour technique class (AKA Whitewash Technique)

Today I spent a little time working on projects for next week's class. I wanted to show you one of our projects we will be making. This technique is called "White Ink Watercoloring".... or sometimes "Whitewash" Technique.  It creates very softly coloured images for you to create with, and I was thinking this would make a lovely Mother's Day or feminine birthday card. (Just change the sentiment to suit).

Here are the details of the class if you wish to join us:

White Ink Watercolour Technique (AKA Whitewashing)

Cost is $25 and includes all materials and refreshments.
Dates:Tuesday 3rd May @ 7.30pmorWednesday 4th May @ 11am

If you would like to join us click HERE to book your spot!  

Mother's Day Gift class - a couple of spots left!

Next week I am running a Mother's Day gift class to make these cute projects.  Of course you don't have to make them for your Mum... maybe you have someone else in mind, or would like them for yourself!  It features a cute tea bag caddy and a stamped candle AND a matching card.  I really have a thing for acetate, and thought it would be a different take on a traditional card.  And how long is it since I ran a candle stamping class??  A VERY long time indeed!  If you've never done it, come and learn how.

I have the class scheduled for 2 different times, but am capping numbers on this one.  Here are the details:

Dates: 

Tuesday 26th April @ 7.30pm

or

Wednesday 27th April @ 11am

Cost is $30 and includes all materials and refreshments. 

Classes are held on the Central Coast and beginners are welcome as well as more experienced crafters!

To book your spot click HERE and let me know!

I look forward to seeing you!

Updated Retiring List and showing off a few of my favourites

So its only 3 days into the 2016 Annual Retiring List and already there has been a frenzy and some items have already sold out completely!  But don't worry, if you haven't placed your order yet, there is still plenty left.  As items do sell out they are updating the list by placing an "X" in the last column if those items are completely gone.  My tip: click on the list and go through it, making sure that there is nothing you need (or really want) in there.  Make sure it hasn't sold out, and then GET YOUR ORDER IN ASAP!  Every single year I have customers who end up disappointed because they held off ordering and then discovered they could no longer get what they wanted!  I'm hoping for a smaller number of those people this year!

Click HERE for the latest updated list as at the 21st April 2016.


In the meantime I have been posting a few of my favourite retiring products on my Facebook Business Page.  And today I am showing off one of the items we are making in next week's Mother's Day Gift Class - it's an acetate card showcasing the "A Nice Cuppa" stamp set and matching framelit dies. And yes this is one of this year's retiring products! I was saving it for Mother's Day projects, but it will be retired at the end of May so I only made it just in time!

If you would like to come along to the Gift Class next Wednesday I would love to see you there!  Time is 11am on Wednesday 27th April.  The class will cost $30 and you will make a complete gift set and matching card. (Like the card above!)  To book your spot click HERE.

Here are a few of my favourite retiring products today: (Yep they are all retiring!)

The 2016 Retirement List from Stampin'Up is up today!

Today is the day!  The latest Retiring Product List is out today! To see it all you need to do is to visit my ONLINE STORE and click on the Retiring Products link.

My advice is to go through the list and see if there are items you don't want to miss out on. Every year many items sell out quickly.. in particular the Incolor products (ink refills anyone?).  I will be updating the list as items sell out over the next couple of weeks, so check back here to see an updated list.

Alternatively you can click HERE to see a PDF document with the full list.  In the last column you will see an "X" if the item is already sold out.

And if you are ordering online and your order is between $50 and $250... don't forget to use the hostess code when prompted.  This month's hostess code is KCR9MYVV

My Team Gifts for my girls that went to Onstage today!

Today was a BIG day!  We had our twice yearly Stampin'Up training event, called Onstage, held in Sydney today.  I was so blessed to have 36 of my team members attending Onstage this time and we had such a great day of FUN!

So one of the things I wanted to do this time was to create team gifts for my group.  I didn't have loads of time so I kept them pretty simple.  I used the Fries Box die to create the boxes, decorated them up a little, and added an "I" for our team name (which is the Inksomniacs).  Inside I filled cello bags with white candy-covered chocolate balls.  I have to say they turned out pretty cute!

I didn't want to post these until the girls had received them, so now I can show them off. :-)  I love that its pretty easy to create gifts and tokens with lovely products.

Here is the box of them all ready to go :-)

If you are a demonstrator then do yourself a favour and MAKE SURE you get yourself to the next Stampin'Up Training event! They are SO worth it, and they are a real perk of being a demonstrator. I have attended every SU event over the last nearly 10 years, and I am so glad I did!

I hope your weekend is wonderful, wherever you are!

This is it... the last week of Weekly Deals... don't miss them!

Here they are guys... the very last week of Weekly Deals!  And there are some great bargains to be had with a list of 14 items marked down this week!   My personal favourites are the punches.. plus for butterfly fans the "Watercolor Wings" stamp set is on special... don't miss it if you don't have it... I've used it so many different ways!

To purchase visit the ONLINE STORE and choose "Weekly Deals".  Enjoy!

137415 $27.75	134586 $3.94	139683 $26.25	139732 $27.75
134583 $6.56	133755 $3.38	139444 $23.25	138293 $21.00
138392 $5.25	140386 $27.75	134548 $9.19	139424 $33.75
138416 $6.56	139440 $24.75

Memory Keeping with Project Life by Stampin'Up Blog Hop - April - Tips for Black and White Photographs

Another month and the MKPLSU blog hop is back! This month we are focusing on Black and White photographs and it made sense to me to work on more of my Wedding album.  This time I am working on the 12"'x12" album pages and I pulled out some of the professional Wedding photos that were done in black and white.

We used Shannon Smith from La Bella Vita Photography to snap our big day... and she did an AWESOME job.  Shannon's work is Central Coast and Hunter based, so if you are looking for a great photographer in our area, I would absolutely recommend her!

I love the romantic old-world feel of these photos. They are soft and dreamy... a bit like the occasion :-)  But I do have some tips for you when working with Black and White photos so here we go....

1. Use CONTRAST.
You want to add plenty of contrast to your pages when using black and white photos - it will keep your pages from looking boring or flat.  So think Dark and Light filler cards... in this case the Black and White (and sometimes grey) cards from the "Love Story" card kit work really well.
I also wanted an interesting contrast piece and so I used Black cardstock to make a chalkboard card... and then I added a silver design acetate piece over that.  I really like the chalkboard look so much I think I'll be using it again in my album.

Here is the chalkboard card before I added the overlay:

And then after the overlay:

2. Use METALLICS
Another way to add interest to your Black and White photo pages is to make use of glimmer or sparkle.  I added several splashes of silver glimmer paper and it immediately lifts the page and stops it looking too flat.

3. Use a POP OF COLOUR
Don't go overboard with colour as you may overwhelm your black and white photos... a little colour goes a long way.  Black and White photos are so soft and its nice to let them tell their story. But if you want to add colour choose one and work it into your page in a way that doesn't overwhelm the photos. In this case I chose to add teal blue as it was one of the wedding colours (those being grey, silver and teal) and so it brought a bit more life to the page.

4. Use DIFFERENT SIZED PHOTOS
I haven't really done this much on this page (apart from using one photo as a 3"x4") but one of my favourite tips for black and whites (and even coloured photos at times) is to use larger photos and chop them up! You need to be a little bit careful about the subject matter (as you don't want to cut up someone's face) but for scenery and other objects you will find that upsizing the photos and cutting to suit will really add interest to your pages. I'll pop up an example of this over the coming week or so.

I hope you've enjoyed this quick look at black and white photo tips!

Here are the other awesome Project Life Designers with their fabulous pages!

Julie Kettlewell

Sandra Korten

Constanze Wirtz

Elizabeth Richards Peterson

Anna Pickering

Vintage take on a Triple Layer card... Using Typeset DSP and Definitely Dahlia

If you've been following along you will know that I recently started a bit of a love affair with Triple Layer Cards, and have been showing off a few of my latest creations.  This one today further indulges my love of both embossing and vintage newsprint.  Mmmmmm

Actually my husband (who usually likes most of my work) was not taken with this card at all.  When I asked why, he said he's not keen on the newsprint background.  And sure, its probably not for everyone.  But I LOVE using newsprint and playing around with it on cards and scrapbook pages. This paper is from the Typeset Speciality paper pack... I love that you get 4 sheets of each design, so there are actually 24 sheets in total, which in my mind makes it a bit of a bargain!  And apart from the newsprint design, there are maps, stripes and all kinds of other vintagey-type designs.  Do yourself a favour and check it out!

For this one I cut my pieces and then embossed the "Definitely Dahlia" stamp with Cherry Cobbler Embossing powder.  I have also become obsessed with Wink of Stella and used the Gold pen to make my wooden word all gold and sparkly.. although that's hard to see in the photo.

Here's a list for you should you wish to purchase any of these awesome items for yourself! To purchase just click on the item you wish to buy below OR you can click HERE to visit my Online Store.  Thanks for being part of my awesome paper business!

Product List

Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $12.25	Typeset Specialty Designer Series Paper [133704] $22.75	Heat Tool [129056] $50.00	Versamark Pad [102283] $13.00
Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Emboss Powder [122949] $8.75	Expressions Natural Elements [138395] $8.75	Gold Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush [141898] $14.00	Gold Glimmer Paper [133719] $8.75
Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [126978] $11.50	Stamping Sponges [101610] $6.00	1-3/4" Circle Punch [119850] $31.00	2" Circle Punch [133782] $31.00

Over the top but this colour combination makes my heart happy!

It's no secret that I love sparkly stuff!  Gold, Silver or bling in some form ends up making its way into almost all my projects.  And right now I am LOVING this colour combination... Blackberry Bliss, Crumb Cake and Gold.  I decided to take it completely over the top with this card and add Gold Embossing around the edges.  The butterflies are die cut on my Big Shot with the Bold Butterfly framelits, and I edged the crumb cake cardstock with Soft Suede ink to give it more of an antique feel.

It's worth mentioning NOW that our retired list is coming very soon... and that means we will be saying goodbye to the 2014 - 2016 Incolor range... which includes Blackberry Bliss. The Incolor ranges are only ever around for 2 years, and sadly this current group will be coming to an end in May.  I've included a diagram of the colour components for you here so that you can check to make sure the you have the ones you need.  Apart from the ink and paper, you can also get ribbons, markers and other cool stuff in these colours!

My suggestion would be to get the Ink Refills for the colours you have so that you will get years of life out of your ink pads.  The refills have consistently been amongst the first items to sell out every year.... and they are a bargain at only $5.50 each!  You can not only use them for reinking, but they come in handy for all sorts of techniques.

Another Project for this week's Triple Layer Technique Class - a few spots left!

One thing that I love about running classes is the fact that I am constantly looking for new ideas and techniques to show off.  Turns out, even though Triple Layer Cards have been around for a very long time, I have never run a class with them.  So its about time right?  Here are the dates for this week's classes:

Tuesday 5th April @ 7.30pm
or
Wednesday 6th April @ 11am

Cost is $25 and you will make 3 projects that showcase this great technique!  All materials and refreshments provided... just come along and enjoy!

To book your spot click HERE to send me a message.  I hope to see you at a class soon!

Updated Class schedule - book your spots for April and May!

Just because SAB has now finished doesn't mean that there is nothing happening here at Stampin'Up Australia!  There is always something exciting on the horizon... and that is certainly true at this time of year.

Demonstrators have a very exciting training event to look forward to this month... and the big deal is that the new Annual Catalogue will be released to us at that event! I love being the first to see the catalogue and start planning projects and other exciting ideas from it's pages.  The actual release date of the new catalogue is the beginning of June... and that also means that we will have a retiring list to work with in May so stay tuned for that!

In the meantime my class schedule is still full of lots of different types of classes for you to come to.  I mostly run classes on Tuesday evenings or Wednesday daytimes, although there are other specialty classes run at different times from time to time. If you would like to see the list of what is coming up click HERE to visit the class schedule (or use the above "Class Schedule" tab)

There are also details there for Stamp Club spots if anyone is interested in these too.

In the meantime I've included a photo of one of my projects for next week's "Triple Layer Card Class" ... this class is on next week, and I'd love you to make it. Just email me to book your spot!