Melbourne Convention 2014 - Inspire Create Share Event

I had an absolute ball at Convention this year with 5 of my team members and my Mum.  The fun started at Leadership on Wednesday afternoon hanging out with other demos who I've met over the years at Stampin' Up! events and have gotten to know through Facebook and Stampin' Connection.

That night we were all treated to a magnificent evening at the Myer Murall Hall, built in the 1930 by Sidney Myer to commemorate and celebrate Women and all their endeavours.  Very fitting for a Managers' Reception don't you think.

We received a beautiful gift box which contained a lace scarf and a new background Stamp that looks like lace.

 Here are all the Leaders lined up on the staircase.  Can you see me in the front right hand side :)

We had Sarah Douglass join us for the first time this year and I just had to get a photo with her.  She is such a lovely, genuine lady.  We spoke about our families, holidays, Stamping (of course) and how she was loving Australia.

Here was my swap.  I only had a chance to make 25 this year but I received lots of great ideas in return.

 First General Session

Workshop Make-and-Take was fantastic.  First time I actually finished one at Convention LOL.

 Sneak Peek!!

Demonstrator Booth Projects.  Amazing Stuff.

Awards Evening and After Party was a hoot.

 Bjorn Again were fantastic.  Pumping out those Abba tunes all night.

 That's me and my friend Amity dancing the night away.  Don't you love Selfies…..

 Aaron showing off his moves with two of his friends.

Brian Pilling looking hot in his Pumpkin Pie Suit.

Can't wait till next year now.  Gold Coast, here we come.

Retirement List and Joining Special

It's that time of year at Stampin' Up! in Australia where we say good-bye to some of our favourites to make way for all the new goodies we have coming our way.  Head on over to my website to check out what's going and what's on special.  Some items are up to 40% off.  

We also have a joining special where you only have to pay $85 to join this wonderful company and my great team of women.  I'd love to have you onboard and joining in on the fun.  You receive $90 worth of product of your choice including new exclusive products from the upcoming catalogue only available to demonstrators.  You can still join for $169 and receive $235 worth of product, the choice is yours.  Stamps, New In-colours, Punches, Ribbons, Blendabilities - how can you resist……..

If you have any questions at all, please call or email me.  I'm only too happy to help…

Double Embossing Mothers' Day Card

Hi everyone.  Today I have some cards I made for a recent class.  We used different embossing techniques and the one in particular that I was asked to show was the Double Embossing Technique.  This is where you use two embossing folders to create a textured finish.

I will post a tutorial how to achieve this effect over the next week or so.  The stamp sets used were Flower Shop with Petite Petals from the celebrations catalogue from Stampin' Up!  The sentiment is from the Chalk Talk Stamp Set (one of my favourites).

The colour theme for all these cards was Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, Primrose Petals and Crumb Cake.  Here is the whole set of 4 cards from my class with close ups of the invididuals.

This card has only had the bottom half of the card stock embossed with the Fancy Fan embossing folder.

This card has had the Hexagon Hive Die Cut piece of card stock embossed using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.

The card stock was stamped first with the Off the Grid Stamp Set and the Petite Petals flowers before running the card through the Big Shot using the Rectangular Frame Embossing Folder.

I hope you can get some inspiration for your own cards and try some of these embossing techniques for yourself.  Keep an eye out for my tutorial soon.

LEGO BIRTHDAY CARD

My youngest son was invited to a Lego Party the other week.  It wasn't hard for me to work out what kind of card to make the 7 year old.  I know there are a lot of these types of cards out there and this is my version.  Hope you like it.

So for this card I used Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight and Gumball Green (I'll be sad when this colour goes).  I used the Dotted Embossing folder from the Sale-a-Brations Collection as a base plate.

The blocks were punched out using the 1" Square Punch and the circle punch from the Itty Bitty pack.  I made two layers of circles to give dimension and then I used the white Gel Pen to add highlights and more dimension.  I just glued the dots on using a liquid glue which makes it easier to centre them against each other by moving them around till they look right.

The Birthday Boy absolutely loved it and I was pretty pleased too.  So easy and fairly quick to make as well.

CARDS WITH FRAMES

Hi everyone.  I have finally got back into the swing of things and today I have for you the cards I made for my recent "Frames Class".  There are a few different ways we can make frames these days and especially with the new "On Film"  Framelits Dies $49.95 (aus)  in the Occasions Catalogue.

My favourite was this one using the "Perfect Pennants" stamp set, gold sequins, Gold Baker's Twine,  the Bitty Banner Punch from the Sale-a-bration Catalogue (free when you spend $90 or more) and the "On Film Framelits Dies".  The DSP is from the In-Colour Paper Stack and I used Strawberry Slush.

This next card also uses the "On Film" framelits dies and the special Valentines Stamp Set promoted earlier in the year.  I've never had an Eiffel  Tower but now I do.  Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set along with some Washi Tape and the  New Silver Baker's Twine.

I love this colour combination, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay and Smoky Slate with a  bit of Silver thrown in the mix.  Again I used Gorgeous Grunge and Flower Shop Stamp Sets and the Rectangular Embossing Frame

The last of the set was this gorgeous Shaker Frame Card made using the Chalk Talk Bundle and the Shaker Frame Sticky Mounts.  I thought it was about time I bought these little gems and give them a go.

You will also need a window sheet and some chunky silver glitter to complete the shaker frame.  I cut out the leaves using the Silver Foil Card with the leaves from the Bird Punch.  

I hope you have enjoyed these and have a go at making them yourselves.  Of course you can purchase all of these products online from my Online Store and have them shipped straight to your door (within Australia only).

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.