Hi everyone. It's great to be back on the 'puter and blogging again. I've been stuck in my own little time warp after being knocked for a six with a v-e-r-y nasty chest infection. I actually spent 2 days in bed! But on the mend now and itching to get all inky again.

I've got heaps of great projects to share in the coming days and weeks, but thought for now I'd quickly show you this card I made for my brother-in-law's birthday, yes a big Doctor Who fan. I actually went googling for ideas and low-and-behold stumbled upon this card that the amazingly talented Valita designed. Valita recently joined up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator under one of the girls in my group, so I'm very proud to say she is in my team now! It really is a small world, isn't it?

I'm having a bit of trouble getting used to Matt Smith as the new Doctor. What do you think? Time will tell, I guess

Happy stamping,

Today's Easter project is a mini treat holder. It has a little chocolate bilby inside!

For our international visitors,  the bilby is an endangered Australian marsupial. Some people say that the Easter Bilby brings chocolate eggs to Aussie kids, instead of the Easter bunny! lol

I added this fun little project to my March workshops, and it's been really popular. Would you like to have a go?

I made my first attempt at a YouTube video. It's only 1 1/2 minutes long but will give you a 'visual' on how to make the closing device! Oh, and you might want to click on it to view the enlarged picture because I made the text a bit too small! As I said, it's my first one so I'd love some feedback (be gentle!) and don't forget to leave me some comment love.

1. Cut cardstock 20cm x 7.5cm (you can get 4 from an A4 sheet, with one of them being a teeny bit narrower than the others).

2. Score at 6cm, 7cm, 13cm, 14cm. Burnish the score lines.

3. Grab your Curly Label punch and just slip one corner of the front flap into the punch, then squeeze! Do the same for the opposite side.

4. Now, grab your Word Window punch and push the bottom flap in as far as it'll go. then Punch!

5. You have now created a closure.

6. Decorate the front as desired, and don't forget to attach your chocolate treat I used Mini Glue Dots (gotta love those things!).

I've made a few of these little yummy treats… would you like one? Anyone who puts in an order via email before 12noon on Wednesday 31st March  will get a  complimentary  Easter Bilby treat in the mail next week! These are the final days of the Summer Mini and  Sale-a-bration catalogues so don't delay.

Happy stamping,

Only a week until Easter, so we're kicking off with some Easter projects over the next few days. Special thanks to today's featured stamper Lorinda Penn for this delightful triangle box. This was Lorinda's swap at a recent team event, and it's such a fun, bright design – and a good size too! Perfect for holding some yummy chocolate eggs.

These boxes are so easy to make. You just need a rectangle of cardstock (this one is 29cm x 10.5cm) and score in half along the long side. Then just find the mid points of each side and create a score line between the four points. This creates a diamond shape. All you need do is fold along the score lines to close up the box, and add a closure (such as ribbon). Clear as mud? LOL. Well if you need better instructions or to place an order before the end of Sale-a-bration, just let me know!

Stamps: A Good Egg

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Lovely Lilac, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Chocolate Chip, Gable Green.

Happy stamping,

The long-awaited Stampin’ Up! Pop-Up Cards Class is on this Sunday 28th February and I’m really looking forward to it – talk about FUN! The class is booked out, but I’d be happy to run it again if you have a group of friends who are interested. Next month’s "All Occasions" class is also booked out, but I’m looking to add some extra dates to the Class Schedule. Contact me if you’d like to be notified of extra classes.

I thought I’d share some of the projects we’ll be making. You know, pop-up cards can get pretty complicated – but they can also be really simple.

And the real magic happens when you open them up!

This spiral card might look a bit familiar to some of my stamping buddies, because the colours and layout are based on a swap I made for our Stampin’ Up! Convention last year in Canberra. The pop-up part is new though!

I’ve done LOADS of research into pop-up cards lately (and I call this work?? LOL) and I’m blown away with the amazing creations that some talented papercrafters have concocted!

I do like the Pop-up Slider though. I’ve made a few lately, but I like this one which was based on a Make & Take project we did at our Stampin’ Up! Regional Training Day last year.

I’ll share more Pop-up Slider Cards next week.

And of course we couldn’t miss out on a pop-up card with butterflies…. here’s a little sneak peek for now.

So there you go!

I’ve had some lovely emails this week from my stamping buddies asking why I wasn’t blogging (thanks guys xx). I had one of the lurgies going ’round but started feeling much better when my DD3 presented me with this card – made from my scraps and a glue stick! How creative  

To make life easier I’ve added a new tool to the top right sidebar, did you notice? You now have the option of subscribing to this blog so you can be notified when I’ve updated it or posted a new message. You have the choice of getting the notification by email, or straight to your feedreader. Cool, huh?

Happy stamping,