Pillow box bird house

So the specifications were to make something "Ryn-ish" to demonstrate at my upline Michelle's Stampin' Up! Autumn/Winter Mini catalogue launch today. This is what I came up with this morning using the pillow box die:Train of thought was "little bird houses are neat, how could I make one?" followed closely by "How could I make one demonstrating the Big Shot and using my available Sizzix dies?". So, is it decidedly Ryn-like? Michelle thought so and I'm hoping she loved the choccie eggs inside.

Full instructions are available at my demonstrator site.

What? You want INSTRUCTIONS?

Just kidding! ;)

So, Tina has asked for instructions in the comments to my last post. I guess this means I gotta start taking pictures of the elements of my punch art!! Thing is, most of my creations are a one off and involve piecing together as I go to get the look. However, just because you asked, worthy minions (argh, channelling Ming the Merciless for a moment), I will see how I go. Might be another couple of days before something pops up on my blog, but I guess most people who read it are "followers" so will pop up when it happens. I'm assuming that you, Tina, are particularly interested in the Bakugan version.

Ah, it gives me a chance to finish off the dragon card and make a slightly happier one too. Thanks peoples!

Challenges addressed

Carol's challenge was for me to do a punch-art dragon. As she went ahead and did one herself, I was a bit stumped as to what type of dragon I could do... I have a few very gorgeous little ceramic figurines called Pocket Dragons and one of my favourite little characters is one called "I Didn't Mean To". So this card is based on that dragon. I "borrowed" Carol's cave idea and the line of red under his bottom is sticky strip ready to pop chunky glitter on. Didn't quite finish it...

t_lockhart5 suggested I make a card with Bakugan and waved a red flag at me by suggesting it possibly couldn't be done. Well, here's one! Perhaps not terribly refined yet, but I've printed a few images to work from. Also, both my darling sons enjoy playing (arguing, fighting, shouting?) with bakugan so I can borrow some to use as templates.

Finally I did a very simple Google search on Cartoons... Woodstock and snoopy are two of my favourite peanuts characters. And the sentiment fit perfectly with this image! I think I need to do Snoopy's head again - I wasn't careful enough with drawing his eye and mouth. Would love to do one of these with him lying on the roof, or one with him being the Red Baron!
Thanks for the challenges everyone! I'll continue working through the excellent suggestions!

I'm in LERV!

So, the last Stampin' Up! mini catalogue really didn't rock my socks as much as I'd hoped. The Sale-a-bration sets had me humming and ha-ing about whether I really needed any of them. And along came the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue...

Oh. My. God! I'm in LERV again! I didn't think it was possible for Stampin' Up! to blow my socks clean off my feet again - but they did! Here's why I'm in love... The Clear Mount Blocks... Well, as you can see in this picture, the stamp sets themselves are foam mounted as usual - storage is in slim DVD style containers with not only an index of the stamp name, but teeny images of each stamp that's in the set! No more photocopying the sticker sheet for the wood mounted blocks, no more searching to see whether one of the stamps is missing! And storage? well, how many more sets can I hide from my husband in these skinny boxes! :) The acrylic blocks, well, I dived in and bought the lot. With a saving of just over $13 by purchasing the "set" of blocks, I felt it was well worth it. And when I received them, I was NOT disappointed. They are gorgeous to hold, smooth edges, weighted beautifully and very easy to see through (with a teeny bit of magnification for my tired eyes!).

BUT WAIT! There's MORE! New punches in a slimline design. And matching stamps to go with them. The cutest has got to be the little bird which can be pieced together. Again, a sleeker storage solution to one of my bulkiest crafting items. I love the little locking mechanism that keeps them closed. I love the reference image on the edge of the punch too - again, easy to store AND pick out the one you need quickly.

Lastly, but certainly not the least, is the Big Shot with exclusive Stampin' Up! dies and embossing. The other day I trawled through the Sizzix website searching for a small envelope die similar to the one available through Stampin' Up. Well, I couldn't find one! In my travels, I was distracted/attracted by a number of other dies and every time I clicked on them, I found they were Stampin' Up! exclusive!

So, all in all, the Autumn/Winter 2010 mini has proved an expensive exercise for me, but I am LOVING every inch of it. Two new hostess sets available, three of the US in colors (Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Soft Suede, YUM) and very cool new products! This is why I love Stampin' Up! And this is why I love being a demonstrator. Now, to nail those socks onto my feet for the next Idea Book Catalogue!

Oh, PS! I am intrigued by the ideas offered for punch-art, thanks everyone, and am currently working on some designs. I'll post my creations soon!