Christmas Bag Toppers using MDS

This year I have been helping at the boys Primary School to make craft items for the Christmas Stall and the Twilight Markets.  It started off a small affair with a couple of eager ladies coming along to help and get crafty.  It has turned in to a full on production line and was beginning to get a little out of hand.  It soon became clear that we were not going to be able to make enough items for the stalls by making everything by hand.  Then I remembered we have MDS.   What a wonderful tool.  I was able to design bag toppers and then simply have them printed onto card stock and then cut out using dies with out Big Shot.  So much easier and quicker than the traditional way.

Here you can see I've Lined up the card stock and cut out the label using one of our framelits.  So easy using the Magnetic Platform as well to hold it all in place.

When designing the label I made a template the size of a quarter of a sheet of A4 knowing that I would be printing 4 to a page.  I then went about choosing background papers and fonts then finally the stamp image.  I had so much fun choosing all the elements.  Lots of fiddling but I'm really getting the hang of it now.

We also wanted to make these tubes of jellybeans.  The bag toppers were again used making MDS.  I started with a blank A4 template and then added the scallop punch to the page.  I then added the circle punch and centred it ontop of the scallop punch.  Then I added a matt to the circle and made it thicker to look like a second circle.   I then chose an image from the Jolly Bingo Bits and coloured it in.  That was FUN.  If it didn't like it I just stared again.  Once i had designed my topper I copied it and pasted it on the same page.  Changed the colours and image and then copied it again.  Once I had 4 images I centred them across the top of the page and spaced them evenly.  I then copied the 4 images and pasted them down the page until the page was full.   I also made sure when printing them that the image was printing at 100% so that the scallop punch would cut precisely.  Unfortunately, a friend printed these for me and I think she printed them at 97% as they were slightly smaller but they still look good.  So much easier than making them individually by hand - especially when we had 100 to make.

We also made some Elf Legs.  I designed the pants using MDS so it was quicker to get 60 made.  I added stitching and pockets using a Tag Punch shape.  Adding a bit of shadow also creates depth and makes them look very professional.  Then I printed 4 to a page and cut them out using the Top Note Die.

A few of our children saw us making these during their lunch break at school and all wanted one.  I think these will be a hit.  Maybe we should have made more than 60.   There's always next year.

You can simply download a 30 day trial version of MDS for yourself to have a play with it.  WARNING - its totally addictive and very easy to use.  The programme is only $24.95 and comes with heaps of content ready for you to start playing.

Visit my shop to download MDS today and any of the other products I've mentioned for that matter.  Products get sent straight to your door (for Australian residents only).

Festive Flurry Gift Set

Last night I had another card class and we made this lovely little set using the Festive Flurry Stamp Set and Dies together with an assortment of punches glitter paper  and the new Envelope Punch Board.

The Card is made using just the one piece of card stock with a false back behind the cutout circle.  I stamped the large snowflake first and then using the 2 1/2" circle punch I cut the centre of it out but didn't throw it away.  Then I used the small Festive Flurry Framelit Die to cut out the small snowflake shape that was left in the centre.  (not the same as the small snowflake stamp mind you).

Then you use the 3/4" circle punch to cut out the centre of the small snowflake.   I used the 1 3/4" circle punch to punch out a champagne glitter circle and the 1" circle punch to cut the centre of that circle out.  No wasted pieces in this card.

Once you have all your pieces you can start layering them staring with the large gold circle stuck flat to the false backing piece then I stuck the next gold circle to the snowflake before mounting the snowflake to the bottom circle using two dimensionals stuck on top of each other.  Finally added the small snowflake circle to the top with one dimensional and added a rhinestone.

The box was made using the Envelope Punch Board.  I started with a  card base of 21 x 21 cm (8x8") and used the scoring line at 2 3/8".   I added a length of Burlap ribbon around the box, tied some silver ribbon around that and made a large bow on top.  Once it was tied I cut the loops to make three lengths of ribbon fall either side of the box.  I made a second snow flake much like the one on the card but added another snowflake layer behind the large gold circle.  I also used the smallest snowflake and cut the centre of it out for the top circle.

Here is a quick overview of the Envelope punch board that you can buy through my shop and have shipped to your door anywhere in Australia.  Remember it makes much more than just envelopes.

I think they came together really nicely and all the ladies were very happy with their creations.

Santa's List

Santa was definitely a challenge for me.  It took a while for me to like him.  Then I had a play around with him and came up with this.  I stamped him in Soft Suede onto watercolour paper and then coloured him in with a water pen using Cherry Cobbler Ink.  I then just used the water pen to smudge the Soft Suede ink on his List and on the shadows of his gloves and face.  I then used the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write marker to make the shadows even darker.  The larger circle is Baked Brown Sugar ended with the Gold Metalic Ink Pad and then the smaller circle is edged the same.  A second layer of Cherry Cobbler card stock was run through the Big Shot using the Decorative Stripes Embossing Folder.  I made a bow using the thick Cherry Cobbler Grossgrain ribbon and embossed the sentiment using gold embossing powder.

He looks rather Jolly I think.

Fancy a day of Christmas Crafting

MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS SIMPLY CREATED CARD KIT - ONLINE CLASS

Our Holiday Catalogue has lots of Kits for us to make our Christmas Card making super easy.  They have all the products we need to make eight cards with matching envelopes, twine, buttons and Designer Series Paper.  

Purchase the Merry Little Christmas Simply Created Kit Bundle online through my ONLINE STORE  at www.tinawhite.stampinup.net  or simply click on the SHOP NOW button in the column and I will email you instructions to make four different variety of cards using the contents of the Kit.

HOLIDAY CATALOGUE IS HERE

Chock a block full of great Festive products for the upcoming holiday season.  To have a look at the catalogue online, just click on the image above.

A Cheery Get Well

One of my friends has been in hospital recently.  This is my first Get Well card and I was pretty chuffed at how this turned out.  It is not my own design.  I did find something very similar on Pinterest.  I just loved the rainbow colours and it was a bit different to what I normally do.

I used a few different punches here.  The four petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes pack and the Boho Blossom Punch.   Layering some of the flowers is the key to making this look really good.  Lots of glueing and very fiddly but worth the effort I think.  To make the flowers curve up I put them on a bit of hard foam and used the end of my Piercing tool to rub the centre of each flower.  This helps the petals to curl up and look more lifelike.

Ok, the colours I used are in order from left to right - So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Raspberry Ripple, Real Red, Melon Mambo, Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist and Pool Party.  The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen and fits in so well in that little space.  Can you see the specks of Blue made with the Gorgeous Grunge splatters again LOL.  The base card is  Crumb Cake then a layer of Night of Navy then the good old Whisper White.

Inside I stamped some stripes of colour to match the flowers on the front working from left to right and overlapping the colours as I went.

 I used the stripes stamp from (you guessed it) Gorgeous Grunge and I loved how they turned out.  Not too thick but thick enough to give the rainbow colour effect.

A very Cheery Card.

MDS Labels

This year at school a few mums got together and with my help we came up with a few items suitable as gifts for the Father's Day Stall.   Because we were making so many of these little treat holders we needed something quick and simple to decorate them with.  

It was great timing that last weekend we had our MDS (My Digital Studio) workshop at the Brisbane Covention Centre.  I am pretty up on most computer things but doing this course was great to pick up on little things I had no idea about.   After learning these new tricks I was able to come up with some great little labels that I could mass produce in minutes.  It helps if you have a good printer at home.

These are little boxes made using the No. 2 Box die (retired).  You make two of them and stick them back to back to make a double sided box with the handle in the middle.  We put Chocolate Chip Cookies in one side and a Coffee Sachet in the other.  Very simple and cheap for the kids to buy with their pocket money.

We also made these other treat cups.  Disposable coffee mugs filled with marshmallows, Hot Chocolate  and Coffee Sachets, and finished with a Freddo Frog.   I simply designed the labels using MDS, copied multiple times on a page and then printed them out on A4 paper.  Easy Peasy.......

Father's Day Tape It

Woah!  Where have I been.  Can't believe my last post was July.  So sorry to anyone who's been waiting for a new one from me.   Father's Day is fast approaching and I have been making a few things ready for the occasion.  

First up I have this one made with Washi Tape (again LOL) and a few new goodies from the Annual Catalogue.

I have here the Epic Day Washi Tape (love the orange one), the Father's Day sentiment from Delightful Dozen Stamp Set, Chalk Talk Framelits and the Off the Grid Stamp which is a small background stamp and I absolutely love it.  So versatile and fills in lots of blank spaces.  This card took me no more than 10 mintues to put together.  Simple.  I added a bit of Bakers Twine and some silver glitter paper to finish it off.  The splatters are from the Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set (another favourite).....

The next card I made using a new Stamp Set called Tape It.  Shannon West showed us some WOW projects at Convention using this set and then it was up for grabs as a Prize Patrol.  I so wanted this set and was lucky enough to win it WooHooo.  It is very easy to use and looks so real it isn't funny.
It looks like washi tape and what makes it great is you can pick from all our wonderful colours to stamp with.    Again I used Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set to fill in the white spaces.  Love It.

I'll be back later this week with another Fathers' Day Post.  A Double Slider Card - Stay Tuned..........

Washi Tape!

Washi tape has been around for a little while now but it is finally in our new catalogue and I love it.  What is it?  Well it is like a paper sticky tape that has a pattern on it, slightly see through and tears quite easily making it a great embellishment for any card, scrapbooking page or 3D project.   In a few posts back I showed you some photos from convention and there were some gorgeous projects made with washi tape.  I have had a play with the wash tape recently and may I say, these were the two quickest cards I've ever made.

For this card I've used the new stamp set called "Gorgeous Grunge" and I think I am going to be using this a lot for boys cards.

For this card all I used was a few strips of Washi Tape, half a paper doily a small piece of Baker's Twine tied in a bow around one of our new Paper Clips and a simple sentiment stamped in the middle of the doily.  Finished off with a simple punched out butterfly using both of our butterfly punches.  So simple and quick.

This is a card my mum has made for my eldest son's birthday.  Washi tape, glimmer paper and simple sentiment and our new Date Stamp.

I'm so looking forward to showing you what I've come up with for my Stamp-a-Stack next Friday so keep checking in to see what's new.

NEW CATALOGUE FROM STAMPIN' UP! - YAY!!!

It's here and jammed pack full of wonderful things (products, stamp sets, projects and savings).  That's right, this year they have bundles to help us save on products that work together.  Over the next few weeks I hope to bring you some of the projects I make using the bundles.

There is also a great promotion on this month for Greetings Stamps.

If you head over to my online store you can grab yourself one of these sets and a great saving.

Last week I had a group of young ladies and their mums come over and make a name banner for their bedrooms.  They had a wonderful time and so did the mums.  I had asked them what their favourite colour was and worked from their making up the kits and all they had to do was put them together.

I'll be back again soon with some more projects to share.......

Stampin' Up! Convention Brisbane 2013

Hi everyone, as most of you would know, I have just attended the Brisbane Stampin' Up Convention for this year and I had an absolute ball of a time.  My convention started off with a wonderful surprise at Leadership on the Wednesday afternoon.  I was greeted with two Award Pins for my recruiting and Leadership efforts through the past year.

Then in the evening we had a wonderful Managers' Reception sit down dinner with a few of my fellow Demonstrator Friends.  My upline Kim set us a challenge to see how many signatures we could get from Aaron (Australian Stampin' Up Manager).  I went one better (well actually 3) and got Rich's, Dave's and then Shelli's.  It was a bit of Convention Fun and we all had a laugh when I told them it was for a dare.....

Here are a couple of my team friends, Deb and Karen waiting for the General Session to start

and my Mum, Sue, Stella, Leanne and Erica down the line

We also had a team photo taken with Shelli - "Shades of White".  It was quite special for my team as it was the first convention for all of them and my whole team was there.  Shelli loved our team badges.

We have (left to right) Jackie, Karen, Me, Shelli, Leanne, Lorraine (my mum) Erica, Debbie, Sue and in the front row is Daphne and Stella

Team Badge designed by the girls late one night after a class.  Amazing what you can do in the wee hours isn't it.

Mum and I waiting for another General Session.

Shelli's samples.  I just love her style and the things she comes up with.

These  were beautiful samples made by a fellow Demonstrator using DSP and Washi Tape.  She was amazing.  Unfortunately I can't remember her name but her work is amazing.

I also had a photo taken with one of my favourite ladies from the US office, Shannon West.  She is such a beautiful woman and her samples were fantastic.  I also got to swap with her which is always a thrill.

And here is the swap I made this year.  I wanted to make something with the Blackboard Technique and I had not seen too many male cards using this so I came up with something a bit blingy but still masculine I think.

I have so many more photos but I won't bore you with the details..... 

So much happening at the moment both in my life and in Stampin' Up!  I'll be back soon with some fantastic promotions that are running at the moment.