Happy Birthday Ollie!

A quick birthday card share for you today.  We're off to a 3rd Birthday Party (Olivia will be so excited... she's a party girl!), and this is the card that I made for the birthday boy...

It's a simple card, but that's what I love about Animal Stories.  It really lends itself to adorable simple cards.  I'm thrilled it's making a come-back in the new catalogue!

Materials:

Stamp sets - Animal Stories, Short and Sweet

Cardstock - Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Inks - Old Olive, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - So Saffron ribbon, Dimensionals

Serene Snowflakes For UStamp

My latest UStamp project has been featured online, so I can finally share it here!  When we were told about this round, we were told we were to use a stamp set that's in the current US catalogue... this was before the Australian catalogue came out.  I chose Serene Snowflakes, desperately hoping it would be in our catalogue, but unfortunately it's not.  :-(  But here are my cards anyway!

For the tutorial, sign up for UStamp!

Just Add Material - JAI32

The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is to Just Add Material.  Those of you who visit my blog regularly will know that I love ribbon and bows, so I decided to go with that!  But make sure you check out the Design Team creations - they've been far more adventurous than me!

Anyway, here's my contribution.  I just love the quote from the new Level 3 Hostess set - Occasional Quotes!

Hope to see you over at Just Add Ink!

Materials:

Stamp sets - Fox and Friends, Occasional Quotes (level 3 hostess set)

Cardstock - Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Inks - Versamark, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Clear embossing powder, heat tool, Chocolate Chip ribbon, kitchen string, corner rounder

Last Chance List - Further Discounts!!

The Last Chance List only has days to go. However, before the new catalogue launch, Stampin' Up! need to make room in their warehouse by clearing out some high-inventory last-chance items. For the first (and probably last) time ever, a select number of additional discounted last-chance items have been added for the final days of the promotion. Below are the items selected.

The Last Chance promotion ends 31 August, 2010. All items are only available while supplies last, and with these discounts, they won’t last long!

Get your orders in soon, before these products are gone forever!

Please note the following:
· The Last Chance List has been updated to reflect these recent changes.
· No refunds if you have previously ordered these items - Sorry!

We Have A Deck! Well, Almost...

It's so close I can almost feel it...  lol.  Two and a half weeks to go!  Today I went to the house to see the electrician, and thought while I was there I'd take some pics of our nearly finished deck to share...

These photos are taken from behind the kitchen sink.  Yep, this is what I'll see while I'm doing the dishes... well, loading them into the dishwasher, anyway!

And out on the deck.  We were super clever and had a tap installed on the deck.  :-)

Ahhh... cocktail, anyone??

Helping Hudson - I Won A Challenge!!

Hi everyone!  Just a quick gloat... I'm thrilled to say I won a Helping Hudson challenge!  Woohoo!  :-)

I also wanted to let you all know that although the Helping Hudson live event has finished, the tutorial bundles will still be available for purchase through till the end of September.  They're fantastic value and so professional!  Just check out this free tutorial to see what I mean!

And, just because I can, here's my winning challenge card.  Even hubby declared his approval of it.  His exact words were...

*drum roll*

"I like this one." 

High praise indeed.  ;-)

StampAmemory Challenge For Helping Hudson

Scroll down to see finished page...

Originally posted on August 20th.

Okay.  I've got a page to enter into the StampAmemory Challenge for Helping Hudson.  I've been trying to get it together for over a week, but the darn thing just isn't cooperating.  So.  I'm posting what I have so far, even though letting you all see it is making me cringe...

So, back to the craft room I go... I have no idea how to make this page work!!


UPDATED August 21st

I've finished my page!  There are a few additions...

• I've continued the faux stitching around the entire page and under the scallops. 
• I stamped another row of the Friends Never Fade image in Versamark.
• I added 3 dots after Fix-It.
• I stamped the Friends Never Fade image in Chocolate Chip on the DSP.

  

  

 So, is it any better??

Materials:

Stamp sets - Friends Never Fade

Cardstock - Kraft, Greenhouse Gala DSP, Chocolate Chip

Inks - Versamark, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Big Shot, Timeless Type Alphabet Junior Set- medium Sizzlits die, corner rounder

We Have Tiles!

Time for a house update.  We're only 3 weeks away from the handover date.  So I'm excited... and stressed!  It's going to be a relief once it's all over.  Then I'll have nothing to bore people with... lol.

So, here are the latest pics.

The ensuite off the master bedroom...  Like the recessed shelf?  The floor tiles are going in today.

Master vanity.  I didn't want separate sinks, I wanted separate drawers...

This is the highlight of our ensuite...

Queue the Space Oddessy music...

A separate...

...TOILET!! 

Yeah, baby!  Now I just have to teach him to shut the door...

The main bathroom.

And I have a few views to show you.  First up is the view from the guest bedroom.  Not bad...

And the view from the rumpus room.  This is where I'll be holding my Stampin' Up! workshops.  Anyone want to book one?

Three weeks... and counting!

Just Add Ink #31 - A Colour Challenge

Wow,  I can't believe we're up to our 31st challenge at Just Add Ink!  That's incredible!  Thankyou to everyone who participates, who visits our blogs and especially those who leave me and the DT such lovely and uplifting comments!  I truly treasure them.

This week's challenge is a colour challenge.  So with the colours decided, and the stamp set HAD to be my current favourite - Friends Never Fade (yep, I got it out again!), all I had to work on was the layout.  So here it is...

So, what do you think?  The background was time consuming, but it's one of my favourite backgrounds to do - repetition using my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.  The double bow is quite easy to do.  I don't do mine in exactly the same way, but check out this tutorial by Ilina Crouse to see how you can do it.

And here's the colour challenge palette:

Make sure you visit Just Add Ink to see the fabulous Design Team work!



Materials:

Stamp sets - Friends Never Fade, Occasional Quotes (level 3 hostess set)

Cardstock - Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory

Inks - Versamark, Real Red, Chocolate Chip

Accessories - Clear embossing powder, heat tool, Real Red ribbon, Dimensionals

Friends Never Fade... Another One!

Yes, it's another Friends Never Fade card!  I started this one when I was working on my Helping Hudson entry, but decided to go a different way.  So I've finished this one off.  :-) 

I love this set. 

Materials:

Stamp sets - Friends Never Fade

Cardstock - So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Inks - Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories - Kitchen string, Dimensionals

Fluking It For Helping Hudson

I sat down tonight to try and make a card for one of the last three challenges at Helping Hudson.  I say try because usually it takes me quite a few attempts to get it right for a challenge card.  But tonight, somthing magical happened... I fluked it!  Not only did I do this card in one attempt (seriously, that's MAJOR for me!), but I also managed to meet the criteria for all three challenges in one card!  That never happens for me!

So the challenges are - a sketch, to use embossing and sponging, and to use one colour and one neutral.  Check it out...

I've also managed to impress myself in another way... by using Old Olive!  I know, I know, many will be gasping at that comment because it's such a popular colour.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that I dislike it, but I definitely don't reach for Old Olive willingly.  I feel better now that I've confessed that... lol

Here's the sketch:

Make sure you check out Helping Hudson and the challenges.  These are the last ones!


Materials:

Stamp sets - Asian Artistry

Cardstock - Cambric White Linen (non-SU!), Old Olive, Haiku DSP

Inks - Old Olive, Versamark

Accessories - White embossing powder, heat tool, sponge, Old Olive ribbon

Funky Forest Resist

On Friday I shared my DT card for this week's Just Add Ink Challenge for Helping Hudson, Just Add Wheels.  In my post, I mentioned that I'd originally been trying for a very different card, so today I'm sharing that card!  It's not exactly what I was hoping it would look like, but the effect is still pretty cool and really easy to do...

 

 

Like it?  This is how I did it:

• I applied Versamark to my Funky Forest wheel
• Wheeled it over some Urban Garden DSP
• Applied clear embossing powder and heat set it with my heat tool
• I used my brayer to cover the design with Basic Black ink (you need a few layers)
• Then I buffed the clear embossing with a tissue to remove the excess ink

Voila! 

 

TIP - make sure your Versamark pad is nice and juicy.  If it's not, you won't get enough embossing powder to stick to the image, and that means that more of the ink will get into the paper... right where your design should be!

 

 

 

 

You might remember seeing this technique on two cards I've done.  Check them out here and here.  It's a really effective technique!

 

Materials:

Stamp sets - Funky Forest Wheel, Sanded

Cardstock - Basic Black, Kraft, Urban Garden DSP

Inks - Versamark, Basic Black

Accessories - Clear embossing powder, heat tool, Brayer