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Today is the birthday of a wonderfully talented stamper and friend who I’m very proud to say is one of my team members. I wanted to make her a special card, but I took so long making it that I didn’t send it early enough and I suspect it got caught up in all the Christmas mail. Happy Birthday Maureen! On this card I’ve used the Infinite Goodness stamp set (free Level 2 hostess set) and Curvy Verses, watercolour paper and the Rose Red Prints Designer Series paper. The new 1" wide double-stitched Rose Red ribbon features here, which is only available in the current Summer mini catalogue (p20). I love using Rose Red so it’s wonderful to have a ribbon that matches the cardstock, paper and ink perfectly. Layered on top is the moss tafetta ribbon, which unfortunately doesn’t photograph too well but looks great in real life. The large scallop rectangle was made with the Scallop Edge punch. I followed this great tutorial to match up the scallops so there is one in each corner of the layer. It was fun to make something non-Christmasy, even though I looooove this festive time of year. Two more sleeps until Santa’s here!  

Well, the cards are (finally!) done and sent, pressies bought and wrapped so now it’s time to sit back and enjoy Christmas.  Yaaaay.

Yesterday I spent the day cooking with the kids. They got to pick all their favourite foods and we had so much fun – and made a huuuuuge mess, but hey that was half the fun.  Cupcakes, fruit pies, choc-dipped fruit and more.

I even found some time to decorate this little ‘double-pocket bag’ that my friend Keah showed me how to make. I decorated the front with the ‘roo from Happy Christmas Mate, using Real Red and Old Olive cardstock and ink to tie in with the stripes on the Dashing designer series paper. It’s the perfect size for a gift voucher and matching gift card.

Hope you have a safe and very merry Christmas, and enjoy the festive time spent with those we don’t see often but especially those we see and love every day.

Ho ho ho,

It’s that time of year when the kids are finishing up school and kinder, and all their other activities, and there are lots of people to thank. This year I’ve had fun making Christmas Tree ornaments out of the wonderful scallop punch, a couple of circle punches and yummy peppermint cream chocolates from Cadbury’s sandwiched in the middle. They make fun little treats and look great when done up in a gift box.

These are acetate ‘matchboxes’ I made for the girls in my Stampin’ Up! group at the recent Melbourne Regional training day. They perfectly fit 3 of the Peppermint Cream Sandwiches inside. The slide-off ‘lid’ is made from clear acetate sheets (similar to overhead transparency sheets) which are available from office supply shops.

This one (above) features the Level 2 Free Hostess Set Spring Solitude – now that is one understated stamp set! When I first saw it I thought ‘not me’, but it has really grown on me. With any of the 2 Step stamp sets it takes a little more effort to see their potential, because it’s not immediately obvious what you can do with it, but let me tell you this is one great little versatile set! Colours: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum.

Better get back to the chocolate, oops I mean stamping…

Here are some more projects using beautiful new stamps and Designer Series Paper from the Summer Mini Catalogue. Above is Ginger Blossom DSP and the lovely Embrace Life stamp set (p19).  We made these popular little “Bags in a Box” at Stamp Club this month.

 The card above is my submission for this month’s EurekaStampers challenge. Juliana challenged us to make a project with a stamp set and coordinating Designer Series Paper from the Summer Mini Catalogue. My version uses Eastern Blooms stamp set with Regal Rose and Choc Chip ink, and the Bali Breeze paper. The card base is Old Olive.

This final card was another of our December Stamp Club projects. The ladies loved Stampin’ Up!’s beautiful watercolour paper – it’s divine to work with, and almost impossibe to make a ‘mistake’. But hey, as I always say there’s no such thing as a mistake, only an opportunity for embellishment.

The card features the For Father stamp set, coloured with markers and a blender pen. Colours include Bordering Blue, Rose Red, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Choc Chip and a couple of shades of gray!

Till next time,

During these crazy December days, it’s nice to stop and take a minute out for you! Sometimes it seems that all we do is race around after other people! Believe me, I know.

I was thinking of this when I made these pocket cards for some stamping friends. They feature stamps from the sweet new Time For You set (p12 Summer Mini catalogue).

Inside are some foam dimensionals, but you could just as easily pop a gift card in there.  The scallop edge along the strip of Dashing designer series paper is made with the great new Scallop Edge punch, straight out of the brand new Summer Mini catalogue. Very handy indeed!!

Two lots of super-duper exciting news to share with you today.

Stampin’ Up! has just announced some great discounts on a stack of goodies to help you prepare for Christmas. Half the fun in gift giving is preparing the cute packaging, so check out the 20% discount on festive stamps and accessories! I’ll be back with more on this later, but for now you can check out my Specials page for all the details.

December also marks the release of a brand new Summer Mini Catalogue. The  gorgeous new stamp sets and accessories are available from now until the end of March. There are so many stamp sets I love in here… like Eastern Blooms and Embrace Life. Oh and I love love love watercoloring with the For Father set - perfect for the men! 

Request a copy of the new Summer Mini Catalogue, and I’ll pop one in the post for you. If you are a past customer, chances are there’s a copy waiting for you in your letterbox

All the stamp sets are die-cut to make it even easier to start creating. This means you don’t have to trim away the excess rubber, but you still get the opportunity to position it exactly where you want on the wooden block. 

I just adore the new Designer Series papers. And of course, like all of Stampin’ Up!’s products, they co-ordinate with the existing colours.

To help you plan for your projects, here are the matching colours for each of the new packs of 12×12 double-sided papers.

Afternoon Tea: Choc Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi

Ginger Blossom: Cameo Coral, Groovy Guava, River Rock, Ruby Red

Bali Breeze: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Taken With Teal

I’ve been busy making projects with some of these new toys and will share them in future posts. Hope you enjoy the inspiration, and don’t forget to say “Hi” by leaving a comment at the end of the post.

This card uses quite a few new toys: Say It With Scallops stamp set, square scallop punch, All Scallops stamp set (which co-ordinates with the much-anticipated scallop edge punch!), and Afternoon Tea designer series paper. Also: Wasabi & Sahara Sand cardstock, double-stitched Wasabi ribbon, and clear embossing powder/versamark for the butterflies which are from the Live Your Dream stamp set.

Happy crafting!