Hi there! Isn't the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve a great time? We've had beautiful weather and the kids have loved playing outside on the trampoline, bikes and scooters. Everyone's relaxed and most of us are on holidays… not hubby unfortunately. An urgent job came up so he's been working hard but the rest of us sure have been enjoying every minute of it!

Inside the house we are in the midst of organised chaos though. Aaarghh! My daughters (4 and 7) have decided it's time they have their own bedrooms so I'm moving my craft gear out of the 'spare room' and into the 'other room' out the back. We never really did have a good name for that room. Apparently previous owners used it for pottery and it even had a kiln out there – so I'm told – but we just loosely call it the playroom (well, in my head I think of it as the junk room… have you got one of those too?!  *wink* ). So anyway, junk room no more!!! We are measuring and painting and decluttering – yes FlyLady would be proud. I'm actually getting very excited about what's ahead for us all.

I did manage to sneak in some fun projects using the fabulous heart treat cups that are part of this month's promotion. They are a real hoot to use!! You can see some of my past sweet treat cup projects here and there and probably elsewhere too. See, I'm in holiday mode!!

I made this card for my darling hubby. You can find it and other projects in the January newsletter which I'll be sending out soon. If you don't already have a demonstrator in Australia and haven't yet signed up for the NEW & IMPROVED Newsletter Service it's not too late! Just enter your email address in the top right-hand corner of this blog and an info-packed newsletter will be winging its way through cyberspace to you each and every month. Exclusive projects, technique tutorials, product spotlights – you name it. You will LOVE this month's technique tip too.

Alrighty, back to my measuring tape and the Ikea catalogue…

Best wishes to you all for a very Happy New Year

xx

Happy stamping,

Safe and happy Christmas to all,

Tags are quick and easy projects to make with few supplies. Best of all, any leftover tags can easily be converted into full cards!

To do this, simply decorate a base card made from a colour that coordinates with your tag (here we've used Stampin' Up!'s Soft Suede). Then all you have to do is adhere the tag to the card. You could even make it a removable tag (gift and card in one!) by adhering it with repositionable adhesive or sliding the tag corners into slots cut with a craft knife.

We're now in the home stretch leading up to Christmas… less than a week to go! Hope you are enjoying this special time, and can take a few minutes out for some quiet rest & relaxation.

Happy stamping,

One of my favourite times of the year is when we get the Christmas decorations out of the dark depths of storage and set up the tree. Our youngest two girls seem to enjoy it as much as me! I've got some really old Christmas decorations that my 96 year old grandmother used to hang on her tree, the foam bauble kind that are wrapped in shiny thread. Well, they're looking pretty old and daggy now but I'm such a sentimentalist I can't throw them out. We had to laugh at DD4's reaction to those old baubles. Her eyes filled with wonder and she said 'oooooh they're beeee-eautiful!'. So precious.

Around this time last year I was making lots of decorated candles using the rubber stamp and ink/ tissue paper technique. You can see more about them here, here and here. While we were unpacking the Christmas decorations I came across  the candle you can see at the top of this post. The silver embossed images are from the Snow Swirled set (p28 Idea Book & Catalogue), with a Hodgepodge Hardware frame around the sentiment. The brads push straight into the candle wax!

I'd nearly forgotten all the fab things you can do with Hodgepodge Hardware. Here are some other projects I've shared here on my blog that use the silver hardware.

These ribbon slides make great bookmarks or ribbon ends.

Many of the metal frames in the Hodgepodge Hardware tin coordinate with our punches.

Recognise this card? Jessica Williams made one for me a little while back, and it was such a hit that we did this version at Stamp Club this month. I added the Hodgepodge piece afterwards – it fits beautifully. I just snipped the sides off where the brads normally go.

You get 50 frames in the tin, 10 ribbon slides and well over 100 brads, some of them with decorative designs on the head. Love this stuff! And best of all it's currently 50% off as part of the December Frenzy promotion, bringing it down to only $28.98 for a tin. What a BRILLIANT Christmas present for a friend who loves to craft. Let me know if you want some because there's just enough time to sneek in an order before the big man in the red suit comes to visit.

It even comes in a great metal tin which can be decorated/altered when the tin is empty!

Are you ready for Christmas yet? Only two weeks to go (eek!) – I know I've got a few more presents to buy and cards to make, but what a great time of the year. Hope you are enjoying it too.

The Aviary stamp set is one of my faves from the brand new Summer Mini Catalogue. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, and have hardly put it down since!
I chose the clear mount version for this set even though I often go for wood (I'm a traditionalist at heart) and it's been so easy to line up the stands, birds and cages. Great for those moments when you want to whip up a quick card like this no-layer version.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I was in a homewares shop today and I caught sight of this….

It's a "peg bag and plastic bag saver" set, with an uncanny resemblance to the Aviary stamp set!

My 7yo daughter asked me how they made the bag with 'Mum's Stampin' Up! stamps'. LOL. Freaky, isn't it?

But the moment I saw this I had a flash of inspiration (how could you not!) and thought of the tree from Thoughts & Prayers (p108 IB&C) or even the beautiful flourish from Baroque Motifs (p100) or Scribble This (p67). Will have to try hanging the birdcages from them! See, we can find inspiration from anywhere – even laundry accessories. Stay tuned for the finished version.

Download the Summer Mini Catalogue (5MB) or
view it online HERE.

NEW! Download the list of SUPPLIES
used in the Mini Catalogue HERE.

Happy stamping,