Julie from Julie’s Japes came up with a gorgeous punch art monkey, and posted a very cool tutorial on her blog. Great one, Julie!

My daughters (DD2 and DD6) LOVE punch art so I knew this one would be a big hit with them. And it was!

We used the monkey as a feature on their daddy’s birthday card this week.

The girls decided the monkey should be flying a kite, although I’m not sure if you can tell by this pic.

The tree was stamped in versamark and then Heat & Stick powder added to allow the yummy chocolate Fine Supernova glitter (p144 Idea Book & Catalogue) to stick. It is very sparkly in real life! 

Also making an appearance: On Your Birthday, Garden Whimsy and Thoughts & Prayers stamp sets, and the Walk In The Park DSP. Plus, plenty of punches!

Speaking of punches, you may have noticed that I had to make a few changes to my last post, which outlined the fab special for this month.

Yep, now it’s even better!!!

With every $85 purchase from the Gift Giving Guide you can now choose from either the Square Scallop Punch OR the Boho Blossoms punch.  Contact me for more details.

Happy stamping,

Edited: 4th November

VERY exciting news from Stampin’ Up! this month. The November promotion has been announced, and it’s FABULOUS!

When you spend $85 on products in the Gift Giving Guide – the one-stop shop for all your Christmas needs – you’ll get a FREE punch….

BREAKING NEWS: You now have a choice of punches that you can claim for FREE.
Choose between the Square Scallop Punch or the Boho Blossoms punch!!!

Click on the image below to open the Gift Giving Guide. 

The Guide has: 

• necessary basics like A4 Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss and Bold Brights cardstock
• gift ideas for kids, teens, sisters, crafty friends and more
• On Board 5"x5" Art Journal – just embellish and you have the perfect gift
• Festive Real Red 12"x12" cardstock – perfect for bags and boxes, place cards and scrapbooking your favourite merry moments
• Simply Scrappin’ kits – just the thing to tuck away for your scrapping friends’ birthdays
• Simply Sent card kits which contain everything needed for the beginning papercrafter. This is a fantastic gift idea for your KK, your Mum or yourself!
• Ribbons, ribbons, ribbons… yum! Need we say more?
• and plenty of other great ideas.

Even better news, there is no limit to the number of free punches you can earn. For every $85 purchased from the Gift-Giving Guide, you can choose either the Square Scallop Punch or the Boho Blossoms punch. 

I LOVE my square scallop punch. Hope you enjoy the following projects made with it… can you identify a few of the ‘out of the box’ uses for the square scallop punch????

Check back soon for different ways to use the Boho Blossoms punch.

Layering, punch art, a delicate scallop edging, angled, trimmed… and the list of ways to use the Scallop Square Punch goes on. Soooo much fun!!!!

Get in touch with me to place your order and start punching soon. All email and phone orders will get an extra little something from me: a couple of handmade items like the ones above, so you’ll always have inspiration you can refer to.

Happy stamping,

This week I was the lucky recipient of some beautiful cards instead of the usual bills and junk mail in the letterbox. Many of them were cards from my stamping friends.

It is always such a buzz to receive handmade cards. You can’t help but think about the time the sender spent making that card as well as the care, thoughtfulness and generosity of the maker. It also reminded me of why I love cardmaking as a hobby – and that I *really* should send more cards. I do have a habit of making cards but not getting around to sending them! LOL

And for a little chuckle, below are some gorgeous works of art that my 3 cherubs made – yes even the 2 yr old stamped a birthday card for Mummy. My son’s card is in the middle… he designed his own spring/pop-up card. Not sure if the photo does it justice but when I open the card the pink heart bounces. He even did the writing on the left side of the card so it wouldn’t ‘get in the way’ of the heart. Awwww. Little stampers in the making!

Tomorrow I’ll be back with a very exciting post. A NEW special offer just in time for the festive season… and it’s GREAT!!!!

Happy stamping,

All images copyright Stampin’ Up!. Cards made by (from top, left to right) Jenny Adams, Jenny Myerscough, Lisa Beard, Janine Rawlins, Juliana Main, Tanya Kitto, Debbie Hand.

I LOVE making 3D papercraft projects like bags and boxes, totes and tags, ornaments and other objects! So… you can imagine how excited I was when I saw these projects at our recent Melbourne seminar for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators. They were created by some of the amazingly talented demonstrators in my team.

Juliana‘s Bug Wagon had me oohing and aaahing all day! Now, this was a one-off, she tells me (yes, I’ve already asked for the template!) but it just goes to show what you can create with a little imagination.

Here is Maureen‘s Christmas Box, complete with acetate window. Love it!

 And continuing along the chocolate theme (*mmm yum*) is Janine‘s very cute surprise Caramello Koala card. On the outside it looks like a cute card….

but open it up and…. "Surprise". A yummy treat peeking through the window.

And below is Shannon’s swap – where origami meets cardmaking. Very clever.

A big highlight at Regionals was meeting my Secret Sister in real life! Jenny Adams (yes, we had the big reveal at the start of October) is the mystery lady who sent me those beautiful hand-crafted works of art that I’ve been sharing here on my blog for the past few months.

And here is the final parcel that she sent me, revealing her identity (see below). It was waiting for us when we got home from the UK. There was even a covered Kikki K To Do list in there. How did she know I LOOOOOVE Kikki K stuff? Thanks Jenny!! You’re the best!

Wow, that was a big post. Hope you got some inspiration from looking at all these cute projects.

Don’t forget, it’s not too late to enrol in the Christmas Card class for this Friday, 30th October. Contact me for more details.

I’ve had lots of emails this week about a technique I demo’d at Regionals, where you create a matching pair of candles by mirror imaging. It seems I forgot to put them in the photo on the last post, so here it is today. Very very easy technique (gotta love that). The tissue paper is so thin that when you stamp on it the ink often goes right through onto the scrap paper! The advantage of this is that you can flip the tissue paper over and the reverse is just as clear as the front, with no loss of quality or colour intensity. Fun! I’ve finally finished the hints & tips sheet, so let me know if you want a copy.

There are still a few spots left in our Christmas Card class for next Friday evening, October 30th. And a new stamp club is starting on the 2nd Friday evening each month, from November 13th – very limited opportunity so get in quick if you are interested in joining a fun group of ladies each month for some R&R. It’s a great opportunity to learn new techniques, develop your stamping skills, have a laugh, and take some time out for you.

I’ll be back soon with some great project ideas that team members shared with me at Regionals, and also the Secret Sister final update! I’ve been taking lots of photos and have heaps of cute things to share.

Happy stamping,

 Hi stampers! Well we’re back home from our visit to Melbourne yesterday for the Stampin’ Up Regional training day, and as expected it was a real hoot. A big hello to all the gorgeous, friendly, generous ladies I met there!

I don’t remember much from the morning because I was a teeny bit nervous (okay, petrified) about getting up on stage to do a Workshop Wow but that turned out to be a lot of fun too. Hollie from SU had left a message on my answering machine when we were in the UK, asking if I’d do a presentation, so by the time I got the message it had been sitting there unanswered for about a week! We finally caught up with each other and discussed options for a Workshop Wow, and candles seemed to jump out at us.

Here are the projects I demonstrated and displayed:

I’m typing up the notes (tips and hints for SU demo’s) that I based my presentation on, so if you would like a copy just click here to send a request. General technique information can be sourced from various online references, include SplitcoastStampers.

Decorating candles really is surpringly easy. Try it out and see how you go. If you muck it up, use that candle as your pracitice one until you get the hang of heating it for just the right time.

Happy stamping,