Ryn Scraps

Pretty-ness

2011-11-27T10:45:00.001+11:00

Fiddling about with this colour combo from Beau Chateau I made this card for a friend (which still hasn't found its way to her, I don't think!). The hummingbird has a dazzling diamonds/clear embossing powder mix which I added after adding some lines with a versamark pen. Love the effect and love the spots of pink amongst the blue. Enjoy!

Not at all idle...

2011-09-26T15:42:00.001+10:00

Apologies once again for the long gap between posts, but I have been busy! Firstly there's the advent tree - which I've had to wash and haven't yet sent to the winner of the bloghop because it was very sticky/tacky on the front. I used always artichoke to make the background cloth. I'm not sure what more I can do except iron the whole thing once again and cross fingers.

The next thing is a little bag I've been meaning to make for my nephew Terrence since Easter. I made my kids and the Gibbs' cousins little bags for collecting their Easter eggs at an Easter hunt at our place. I had promised to make a little bag for my brother's kids as well. Terrence loves biplanes and I found a cartoon biplane online which I printed out and translated to fabric.

Lastly a bit of recycling (upcycling?)... Many towels in my linen cupboard are developing holes for various reasons. It seems a pity to just ditch them, especially as I do need bathmats. It occurred to me today that there's no reason I can't chop them up with my lovely bigshot and make new from old. This one is an old towel that has a velvety side and a loop side, so I've chopped it up into lots of squares with my scallop square and made a new mat. If it frays I'm not too concerned as it will add character. I'll do the same with other old bath-mats and make something slightly more colourful next time. Considering I whipped this up in just under an hour, I'm slightly pleased with myself. And now I know my bigshot dies will cut TOWELS!!!

More sewing

2011-08-29T07:14:00.004+10:00

I finally finished the skirt I started at the Inklings team weekend away - strips of Flirtatious fabric sewn together (and overlocked and top-stitched - took FOREVER) and simply hemmed and a top hem with waistband-elastic. One happy little girl!
For these, I searched for a free pattern for pin-cushions. After discounting most of the animal patterns because I hate the idea of sticking pins into cute little defenceless pin-cushions, I found these fabulous Toadstool Cottage and Mushroom House by a Kiwi lass who publishes a great crafty blog called "The Little House by the Sea". She has a template/pattern for these mushies and although she uses felt and embroidery, I adapted them quite successfully for scraps of Flirtatious and Beau Château fabrics. And look, not a rooster in sight! For the stems, I used the inside of a wide-ribbon reel gently eased into the stem, stuffed toy-fill between the fabric and reel, put some barley inside of the reel and stitched it together. Well, actually, I stuffed the stems full of toy-fill first and they wouldn't stand up properly. Hubby suggested putting something firm in the bottom - the ribbon reel insides are perfect because they have a lip on one end which acts as a stopper for the stuffing, and makes it very stable on the bottom.

Hope you like!

A taste...

2011-08-22T16:01:00.005+10:00

Very soon now Stampin' Up Australia launches its 2011/12 catalogue. One of the marvellous things that will be available in the new catalogue is FABRIC. The fabric patters coordinate with stamp sets and papers as well as using the delicious colour ranges only available with Stampin' Up products. Happily, I attended a team weekend retreat where everyone played with new products. The following picture features a bag I made based on card-bag pattern demonstrated by Joanna Wassens (not sure where Jo discovered the pattern). I am so glad I took my sewing machine along to the team weekend. I had loads of fun doing this bag - although some refinements are required. When I tackle the bag once again, I'll post instructions for how I made it.

Inklings Christmas in July Bloghop

2011-07-25T12:00:00.009+10:00

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Michelle's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 15 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email clare@crafty-cow.com (subject Inklings Bloghop) and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 15 handmade items plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

Here's the start of my idea. I took some plain calico fabric and used the Scallop Envelope die to cut out 24 envelopes (2 at a time). I then mixed some Cherry Cobbler (and Always Artichoke) ink with textile medium and rolled the mix with a brayer onto the raised part of the Vintage Wallpaper textured impression folder and ran it through the big shot. When I did this, I left the flap hanging outside the edge of the folder (could get two on the textured impression folder this way!). It all looked to plain, so I mixed some gold smooch in with the textile medium and spritzed it across the envelope flap. Ironed everything to set the colours. The idea is to make an advent calendar with each of these little pockets stitched onto a backing fabric. I'm working on this! The background in this picture is my ironing board. This is also my blog candy - will update this when I've finished the project. I've laid out the envelopes in straight lines 5 rows with 5 envelopes (4 on bottom row), or tried a Christmas tree pattern. What do you think would work better?

Well that’s all from me. Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is the lovely
Fiona Brown. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

If for any reason you find a missing link on the blog hop I've included a list below of all the members taking part.

1. Clare www.crafty-cow.com
2. Janice www.janicespencer.blogspot.com
3. Christie www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com
4. Kari www.karigail.wordpress.com
5. Joanna www.joannawassens.com
6. Michelle stampinground.wordpress.com
7. Alana www.alanagalagher.blogspot.com
8. Carol www.inkantations-and-inkarnations.blogspot.com
9. Cath cathdeanpapercraft.blogspot.com
10. Amy amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com
11. Vanessa stampness.blogspot.com
12. Michelle D stampinkpaper.blogspot.com
13. Ryn rynscraps.blogspot.com
14. Fiona B fionajanestamping.blogspot.com
15. Liz Halbisch lizhalbisch.blogspot.com

Sudoku Cushion

2011-05-01T15:44:00.002+10:00

Wow! Interest in my cushion... Here's a better picture of the cushion. Essentially, I picked out 9 contrasting fabrics from a Moda "Sultry" Layer Cake and cut 9 x 2.5" squares from each pattern. I then did a Sudoku in the newspaper and used it as a template to make the cushion top. When I stitched it together there was a little too much brown. Creative Opportunity! I used the Stampin' Up! heart punch to make my heart shape, made some appliqué pieces and stitched them on top. As I love a good Sudoku, I also enjoyed the whimsy of including the heart in the pattern.

Easter

2011-04-26T21:59:00.004+10:00

Invitation out to the Gibbs' side of the family for an egg-hunt at ours on Sunday. Hunting eggs duly purchased and I searched for likely items for a basket for the kids. I couldn't find anything that appealed, so went to the fabric store and bought some calico. In the interests of environmental responsibility, I decided to make six little bags for the munchkins to use to collect eggs. Girls had flowers stitched on, Ryan and Toby had stars and elephants respectively. I took the photo seconds before the hunt happened and obviously didn't focus it at all. To one side you'll also see I finished my sudoku cushion - didn't come out quite as expected.
The Hunt is On! Here's the kids towards the end of the egg hunt. Kids loved their bags! And, of course, once Easter is over, they can be re-used!

Zoo Friends

2011-04-17T18:31:00.003+10:00

We made our second visit to Taronga Zoo today. This time we visited the little penguins (which is where we lost Number Two Son last time), seals, elephants, meerkats, pygmy hippos, lions, tigers, snow leopard, gorillas, and platypus (in the platypus house this time). We also found a couple of waddling Echidna, a couple of brush-tailed rock wallabies, crocodiles, alligators, giant tortoise, a sleepy wombat, some extremely frolicking feathertail gliders (because they'd just been fed), bilbies, potaroos, and a tawny frogmouth too. Despite the gloomy weather, we had moments of sunshine, not terribly many crowds to contend with, BYO lunch and Zoo Friends discounts in the giftshop and for parking. The highlight was a visit to the elephants, catching the keeper talk and play session and seeing Luk Chai (Son), Pathi Harn (Miracle) and Tukta (Doll) playing in the water for what seemed like an age!

The other highlight for me was the news that the platypus at Taronga have puggles! Puggle is the name for a baby platypus. Apparently, Mum won't let them out of the burrow until they're the same size as she is. Its awesome that they are breeding in captivity! And I felt so lucky to be able to see the platypus swimming around inside; I'm afraid my family had to drag me away. I can't wait to see more of the platypus when we next visit. Joining zoo friends was the best idea! It will be fun to visit again before December this year.

Easter Bilby punch-art

2011-04-03T13:36:00.004+10:00

In recent years for Easter in Australia there has been a campaign to raise awareness of one of our cuter endangered species, the Bilby. An Australian chocolate manufacturer, Darrell Lea, started making chocolate Bilbies for easter in 1994. From 1999, Darrell Lea has donated part of the proceeds from chocolate bilby sales to the "Save the Bilby" fund. So in celebration of Easter in Australia, I've designed a punch-art Bilby! They're nocturnal little guys so I started out putting them on a night of navy background. Didn't look right though. They're mostly in semi-arid areas of Australia and burrow in our dry-dry orange-golden dirt. So this is what I came up with based on a recent birthday card for a class using the "Autumn Days" stamp set...
I took a few photos along the way to show how I put this together. These bilbies are actually refinement number 3 - the first two were not-quite-right. And my daughter added her two cents saying just one looked "lonely" so I should make another for the card. The image below shows the bits I used and very simple instructions. Print this and the card above and I'm sure clever people can figure it out!
Happy punching!

Sadly...

2011-03-30T16:54:00.002+11:00

... I received a letter today saying "your application was unsuccessful." No Canberra job to go to. Will have to apply for more. Very deflated.

A special card

2011-03-06T17:43:00.006+11:00

So I was recently commissioned to create a card for a very special birthday - a 100th. I was time poor but had been given the brief that Hilda is very active in the Welsh Society and so the colours of Wales (Red, White and Blue) or the Welsh flower, a Daffodil should be incorporated somehow. I immediately thought of the "Just Believe" set. I then racked my brains trying to make something super-special - nothing was springing to mind and time was marching on! Finally, I did the rounds of the blogs I read regularly and have tagged in my blog Reader. Inspiration came from Teneale Williams, a most talented and frequently published card-maker. I can't think of anyone who makes cards more special and her attention to detail is meticulous. As you can see, I've copied Teneale's structure within the limits of my available resources. I did use different colours and then popped the flowers with dimensionals. I also stamped an inside very similar to Teneale's, but didn't take a good enough picture of it to show. So thanks very much to Teneale for the inspiration in creating this very special 100th birthday card. I don't imagine I'll have the opportunity to make any more very soon!

And for those wondering, it will be six weeks since my interview in Canberra next Tuesday. I'm seriously hoping for some kind of feedback by then, but still have not heard anything at all to date. The website states:

As a Department, we are well aware that the selection process should be efficient and prompt – to this effect, we are encouraging and supporting our Divisions to complete their recruitment processes within a six-week timeframe. Regrettably, this is not always possible with every position vacancy, but it is a firm goal of the Department.

Understandably, I'm no longer holding my breath. :) But keep watching - you'll know when I know, lovely readers!

Interview excitement

2011-02-02T08:48:00.003+11:00

Big news! I had an interview for a position at the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research in Canberra. Keeping everything crossed as the job is JUST my cup of tea! I'm so excited because the interview went really well, I thought. I just sent a thank you email off to the panel members and hope that I hear from them with some positive news in the next week or so. If its not so positive news, I'll feel quite happy to ask for constructive feedback on the interview. I hope to receive some "tea"riffic news!

We went to the Zoo!

2011-01-21T19:36:00.004+11:00

We went to Taronga Zoo today and collected our Zoo Passes. For a family of five, we only have to use the passes twice in the next year to cover the cost of the passes. We visited Tukta, Pathi Harn and Luk Chai: the baby elephants, saw the seal show and lost Toby necessitating an announcement throughout the zoo. He turned up in the central giftshop (near the elephants) helping put giraffe toys in order and telling the shop manager all about his birthday in February. Future visits will require better planning. Below is a picture of Tukta, the newest baby girl, and her mother Pak Boon. It was so much fun to see the youngsters playing! Next time, though, I think I'd like to go when its either raining or a bit cooler!

Cool Yule!

2010-12-25T14:55:00.003+11:00

So its Christmas day and one of the gifts the kids received was this enormous spring-free trampoline. It took hubby and I a good few hours to put it together (with many cool-water breaks and a lunch break). Finally at 2.30pm it was time to give it a go. Caitlyn's face says it all really...Wee bit proud of myself and hubby for managing to get this together on our own. Saved ourselves an additional $140 due to DIY.

Happy Christmas, Cool Yule and Merry Solstice to everyone!

Christmas Busy

2010-12-01T10:32:00.006+11:00

I wanted to reassure readers that I've not been idle behind the scenes here in blogland. Busy busy making loads of things for our school Christmas stall. These tealights are made from an Ikea set of 12 plain glass holders (Glimma) onto which I've painted a mix of Crystal Effects and a drop or two of Cherry Cobbler ink. The decoration on the candle and the tag are using the Perfect Punches Christmas sentiment stamped in Cherry Cobbler with a decorative Artistic Etchings in Pear Pizzazz behind. Think they've come up a treat! Hindsight, I'd try and either make the consistency of the crystal effects a bit thicker, or do more thin layers... Food for thought next year! A few simple cards for the stall too. The two on the left are made with Cajan Craze and Cherry Cobbler card stock (run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder) with a touch of Pear Pizzazz. The sentiments are stamped from Christmas Classics and Word Play. I used Contempo Christmas for the bright coloured baubles on the card on the right. Thanks muchly for the creative assistance from Clare, Michelle, Malyn and Caz at our team Christmas get-together.
So, you see, I've not been idle! I'm also working on hand quilting my patchwork. I'll post a picture when I'm nearer completion of the panels.

un-post

2010-11-05T07:46:00.001+11:00

Well, my dear younger boy has cared and shared his dreaded lurgy with me despite assuring me it wasn't him. I'm feeling a bit poorly, so please excuse the lack of quilting and stamping progress happening in this corner of cyberspace. Hoping to knock this on its head over the weekend as there's a busy week coming up including my kids' school P&C AGM. And yes, I'll be putting my hand up for a bunch of jobs once more... Its all part and parcel of being a Primary Parent, really!

Quilt progress

2010-10-17T11:45:00.003+11:00

So here's the progress on my quilt. Going to be a bit smaller than I thought - but that's okay. The white border is going to have more pink ribbon sewn on top - haven't quite got there yet. I'm quite happy with it despite all the little mistakes in it - No one will know when its all put together!

Not exactly sure how I'll quilt it - might need to see if I can beg/borrow a hand quilting hoop from someone so I can give that a go. I'm sure my stitching will need work! Anyway, its progressing.

Been a bit topsy-turvy in the emotion department - very concerned about Grumpy-George's heart failure (this is the diagnosis finally). I'm worrying more because Mum is worried, but it also occurred to me yesterday that I just don't want him to die just yet. He's been my step-dad/Dad for 27 years now. I only had 16 with my biological Dad with about 4 years estrangement. Anyway, I love him and don't want him going and dying any time soon - he's 67 and gets a bit stroppy when people try to tell him what to do - including doctors regardless of his best interests at heart. So excuse any teary-ness observed - its sometimes hard for a leopard to change his shorts.

R U OK? day

2010-10-07T12:29:00.002+11:00

Are you okay? day is an inititive by the sons of Barry Larkin, an Australian management consultant who took his own life in 1995. What a great idea! I've been there - persistent thoughts of self-harm involving sharp objects - resulting in an inability to enter our kitchen. The very next day I was admitted to St John of God hospital in Burwood with my youngest son, Toby. Below is a fab video from Aussie footballer, Nathan Thompson. Remember to ask often, not just the once.

Visit the R U OK website for more info.

Brayered sunset

2010-10-02T09:57:00.002+10:00

Apologies for the poor image quality - taken with my phone. I was inspired by Michelle Zindorf's brayering instructions to work on this card using the new Stampin' Up colours. Cajan Craze is becoming a favourite - such a rich and delicious spicy colour!

This sunset uses Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Cajan Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. I think I may have used a touch of Poppy Parade too. The silhouette of flowers is repeated stamping of the main image from Just Believe. The sentiment I did originally with Marina Mist and Tangerine Tango, but I've gone over the leaves with Pear Pizzazz, flowers outlined with Concord Crush and the berries with Blushing Bride markers. Its added a depth that I felt was needed to help the card along. I'm not entirely happy with my setting sun, but I'll work on that in the future!

A little bit different

2010-10-01T17:23:00.002+10:00

Quilting/Patchwork has long been on my "to do" list as something I'd like to try. Stephanie, a lovely, lovely former manager of our school canteen, who I used to help on a more or less monthly basis gave me a gorgeous Moda fabric "Blush" charm pack just before she moved to greener pastures. Its been calling me for ages and this morning I went and found this fabulous website: www.modabakeshop.com which inspired me to finally drag out the sewing machine and create.
Don't pay attention to how off-square this is - this is my very first attempt at patchwork. I pieced together nine-squares and then cut them in half vertically and horizontally to make the squares. I then laid them out on the table and moved them around til I was happy with the pattern. Then I wanted to expand the whole thing a bit - after finding no joy in my fabric scraps, I delved into my Stampin' stash and pulled out the 1 1/4" pink pirouette grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up's Autumn mini. I cut the ribbon and singed the edges using a candle to stop them fraying. I've now had to order more fabric so I'll be able to make this a decent size. The fabrics are just delicious and some of the "recipes" on the ModaBakeshop website are sweet! I'll be making at least one more quilt once I get better at making things square!!

Morning Cup

2010-09-26T09:34:00.003+10:00

Some of my test pieces for Michelle's launch - there were some really terrible ones - these are the ones that worked best... Wonderfully worn in the background here with loads of masking and reverse-masking. Tea for two!As you can see, I was rather obsessed with the Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz and Peach Parfait colour combination. Here's Perk Up using the same colour combo and the Retro Remix wheel.

So breaking free a little, I did this as a sampler of all the new SU In Colors. Poppy Parade stamped with Wonderfully Worn once more, some Concord Crush as matting and some masking to keep the stack of cups going. Lots of fun to do, but couldn't manage to find a sentiment. I keep thinking of the Manhattan Transfer version of Java Jive "A cup, a cup, a cup, a cup - yeah"...

Launch at Michelle's

2010-09-19T07:35:00.007+10:00

Long time between posts, I know. I had trouble finding the charger for our camera! Necessity made me find it so I could print up instructions for Michelle's 2010-2011 Catalogue Launch yesterday. I was a guest/helper and I demonstrated this card using an adapted technique from a video tutorial at Valita's Fresh Folds blog. Hydrangea's are one of my favourite flowers and are so pretty in various colours! The flowers are created using Valita's technique with the new Fancy Flower XL punch rather than the heart punch (which I don't own - yet!). I've added the sentiment from Garden Whimsy together with an antique brad - another new product. The flower centres are a dot of Multipurpose Liquid Glue with Olive supernova glitter. I used the same technique for the flowers to make the leaves with the scallop oval punch.
I also helped with this make-and-take card using the new Morning Cup stamp set and Take a Sip wheel. I have the clearmount version so it was a great opportunity to show off how easily the images assemble without having to use a stamp-a-majig. I love my clearmount stamps and especially love the Stampin' Up! clear blocks - they are a beautiful weight with a lovely rounded finger-hold edge all the way around. This card was made using reverse-masking to sponge colour into the different areas of the teapot and cup. I used a craft knife to cut away the area to be coloured from an image stamped in the middle of a post-it. Its a great technique for adding even colour to an image and it was so much fun to do with these little tea-cups! The guests all thought I was a bit bonkers for cutting around the little flowers on the teacup. We also used the new Stampin' Write markers now available in the In Colors! WOW! Its so lovely to get detail through with a fine-tip instead of using a blender pen or aquabrush loaded with In Color ink!
I'm thrilled with the new In Colors. This card uses Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait and Blushing Bride. Lovely colours!

Christmas in July projects

2010-08-07T20:48:00.005+10:00

Its been a long time between posts, I know... My boss went away for the entire school term, which meant I started working 4 days a week. Pat and I are struggling a little in the office. Its now only 6 weeks and 5 days until the end of term! Not that we're counting down!! LOL
As my 4 day week started earlier than expected, I asked Michelle to substitute for me at a workshop and she kindly accepted. Apparently she made a good substitute teacher and she was a font of knowledge about many things for my lovely ladies!

These are the cards I designed for the workshop. This first one is inked using a sponge on the Medallion stamp. I masked the inside with a circle punched from a post-it and sponged ink first with Garden Green, then Old Olive and finally Kiwi Kiss around the outside. When I'd stamped the image, I thought it looked a bit plain, so I went back with markers to rubber on the holly from Christmas Classics. I used alternated Old Olive and Garden green holly around the Medallion. I then used Real Red to draw over the berries again as they weren't "popping" enough for me! After that a few drops of crystal effects (which I then stuck my finger in before dry!!) on each berry to make them gleam! Oh, and I used the sponge I'd inked the stamp with to decorate the edges of the card. I'm so pleased with the result! The Medallion stamp has to be the most versatile and EASY stamp to use, creating a beautiful single layer card in seconds!
The next card was meant to be a CASE of one of Jayne Mercer's cards. In the end, apart from the layout and using Kraft and Pale Plum, it looks very little like her original! But similar enough to see where the CASE came from.
Because I see the same group of ladies every month, I find it difficult to come up with new box designs with which to WOW them. This one is an adapted "Sevens" box - score at 7 cm all around an A4 card and fold in this complicated way! Once closed, you can fit a chocolate or two inside. When open, the card folds right out so you can put quite a large message inside. Its very cute and quite easy to do. Considering I threw this together, I'm very pleased with the results. I'm going to miss using Kiwi Kiss at the beginning of September!

Which nicely leads to the following information. Stampin' Up! Australia's 2010/2011 catalogue! Its coming! I will have copies in my hot little hands towards the end of this month and ordering from the 2010/2011 catalogue begins on 1 September. There are quite a lot of discounted items and here is part of the Last Chance list. I've sorted this list for the discounted items only first by catalogue page, then alphabetically. Please don't use this PDF without permission. I will post more information in the next couple of weeks. Don't panic about some of these "Last Chance" items. Many of the punches are being re-configured to a new flatter style punch which is great for storage. However, the old style punches will be available until 31 August (or while stocks last).

Quick post

2010-07-08T19:30:00.002+10:00

I've had to head down to Canberra a bit earlier than expected as my step-dad had a mild heart-attack on Monday. He's fine and was delighting in pulling the oxygen saturation monitor off his finger to make the wiggly lines on his monitor go berserk for the kids. Far too big a grin considering he's in hospital hooked up to machines and oxygen and how much of a scare he gave my Mum!

Plans for updating my blog and card-making are on hold while we are visiting. It was also my niece's first birthday yesterday and the tribe and I went over for a quick visit yesterday evening. Claire is walking, a chatty sociable little person who warmed to me rather quicker than I expected and I was BESOTTED! I fell in baby-love again. She reached up and gave me cuddles and sat on my lap quite content for a nice while. So miss seeing both Claire and her big brother day-to-day as they grow.

Just in case the Inklings Christmas in July blog-hop lands here, I'm popping the list in here... Apologies for not being more organised!
Bloghop for Inklings team "Christmas in July"
1. Christie http://www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com
2. Dani H http://daniholland.wordpress.com/
3. Carol http://inkantations-and-inkarnations.blogspot.com/
4. Michelle D http://www.stampinkpaper.blogspot.com
5. Jayne http://www.jaynemercer.com/blogs
6. Kylie http://kraftykylie.typepad.com/blossom_designs/
7. Kari http:// www.karigail.wordpress.com
8. Dani F - http://danifender.blogspot.com
9. Beth - http://www.elisabethstewart.com/bethinking/
10. Nicky A http://www.nickyadamson.blogspot.com
11. clare http://www.crafty-cow.com
12. Ryn http://rynscraps.blogspot.com
13. Amy http://amyandersonsblog.blogspot.com
14. Fiona B. http://www.fionajanestamping.blogspot.com
15 . Michelle Frost-Stevenson http://www.stampinground.wordpress.com
16. Fiona Poirier http://fionapoirier.blogspot.com/
17. Divya Rao - http://www.creadivya.blogspot.com/
18. Rachel Jackson http://havefunstamping.blogspot.com/

Deals of the week #4

2010-06-23T09:45:00.003+10:00

This week's deals are available until 11pm on Tuesday 30 June. Great savings!

Square Ice Rhinestone brads (109113) were $19.95 NOW $11.97
Circle Ice Rhinestone brads (109111) were $19.95 NOW $11.97
Square Fire Rhinestone brads (109112) were $19.95 NOW $11.97
Bashful Blue 1” double-stitched grosgrain ribbon (111848) was $19.95 NOW $10.97
Certainly Celery 5/8” grosgrain ribbon (109050) was $14.95 NOW $8.97

Contact me for orders!

Deals of the week #3

2010-06-16T16:13:00.006+10:00

This week's deals (and I didn't put up the last two weeks, sorry!) are discounted stamp sets. Here's the list and the discounts. Order before 9pm on Tuesday 22 June! You can view images of the sets on the Stampin' Up! Customer website catalogue.

Très Chic!

2010-06-01T15:51:00.003+10:00

Oo La la! So for various reasons I challenged myself to think beyond the 'Cutsy' square for punch art... What's not cute? Sophisticated! Chic! French fashion, Chanel, etc! So I went searching for some images online with "Chic" silhouettes... And the rest, as they say, is history! Here's what I came up with:
I liked the bold red and black theme for this lady. The original image showed her walking a dog, but I kinda like the bag too. And the shoes! And the legs and the skirt!
Among the pictures I found the 1920's fashion... Hats say chic fashion to me.
Next on my list to try is an Audrey Hepburn look. I adored her in her movies... Sabrina, My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Funny Face and Roman Holiday. And she was the quintessential stylish, graceful and poised lady. One of my favourite quotes of hers is:

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
-- Audrey Hepburn

Mother's Day card catchup

2010-05-26T07:38:00.004+10:00

So here's a sample of the cards I constructed for the Mother's Day stall at my kids' school... First was super easy to pump out using the Manhattan flower embossing folder only available from Stampin' Up! I've used Melon Mambo ink on both the envelope and sentiment. This is a longways half A4 to allow the ribbon to wrap around the top. It was super easy to make 20 of these cards! I used the "my Mum" sentiment from "Occasionally" together with a little heart from "Tiny Tags".

Next, I made these Fifth Avenue Floral cards. Actually quite time intensive as there are three ink colours, but effective and popular with the kids! 10 at a time in assorted colours - also easy to construct.
And lastly (or should that be "firstly" cos I did these ones first!) the inspired by nature daisy silhouette in various colours with a spot of crystal effects and some chunky sprinkles for a bit of interest. These work with almost any sentiment (possibly not Father's Day!!) and I used my much loved Occasional Greetings for "Happy Mother's Day".
Hope that's inspiring!

Guess who came to visit?

2010-05-15T18:37:00.005+10:00

For quite some time I've been toying with the idea of a TARDIS card. Obviously fairly simple as its simply a series of straight lines and boxes etc. Well, today I did it!!! The base colour of the card stock is Not Quite Navy with a Night of Navy inkpad swiped across it (faux wood-grain style) and MANY layers! Here's my DL (99mm x 210mm) TARDIS Card!
The writing on the top I printed out in Word using white bold Century Gothic font expanded by 125% in a black background table with three columns, no spacing and fonts re-sized to fit and look like the TARDIS. The text on the door-panel is just pencil scritchings made to look similar to the writing that's on the police box. As last week's BBC episode involved one of the "cracks" being observed through the keyhole of the TARDIS door, I had to include the lock complete with black for the keyhole. Note this is the most recent TARDIS, including the St John's Ambulance round white emblem. When the family had a look at the card, they immediately opened it to look inside. Well, I thought, I really need to go the whole nine yards. So, here's the punch-art I made for inside:
Don't ask for instructions at this point! I spent about 4-5 hours on this today and it was a case of punching, re-punching, shaping, re-shaping to get the look I wanted. The Doctor's and Amy's hair, the Doctor's braces, Amy's shirt are made using various parts of the Extra Large Two-Step Bird currently available in the Autumn Winter Stampin' Up! mini catalogue. The Doctor was going to be holding his sonic screwdriver, but it looked a bit rude when I put it in a hand, so I tucked it in his jacket. His jacket flicks out hugely because I built him from shirt outwards and had gone to the trouble of adding his red braces, so had to make sure they could be seen! There is actually another one under his jacket on his left as well. The picture itself was inspired by a drawn picture by Kinky-Chichi. I find it much easier to work from a drawn picture for these things - someone else has done the hard stuff, simplifying colours and structures down to more basic elements. I'm quite pleased with the results! Feel free to comment!

Inklings Team Bloghop!

2010-05-13T20:00:00.009+10:00

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s first ever blog hop. You may have arrived here from Christie's Creative Corner or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member.

What style of cards do we frequently get asked for inspiration for? More often than not it’s masculine cards, be it little boys or grandfathers everyone seems to struggle with cards for the males in our lives. So as a team we thought we’d help you out by providing you with 20 team members’ fantastic blogs that you can hop through and get lots of fantastic ideas from.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Michelle D and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 20 handmade cards plus other goodies. Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

Now to the meat in the sandwich! Here's my contribution, a punch art up-sized version of the little "Get well soon" robot in Lots of Bots. I had loads of Kraft cardstock left over after doing those many many pillow boxes for Mother's Day, so I've used up some scraps to make Mr Bot here. He's so forlorn and sweet! Anyway, I've repaired his arm so he's not looking quite so broken...

The pieces I used:

Well that’s all from me. Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is my fellow Children's Hospital volunteer, Fiona Brown. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

Anything but Mother's Day cards

2010-05-11T13:48:00.004+10:00

So I was looking for inspiration for a card the other day and wondered if any Elite Challenges had been posted. I'm a member of Angela Sargeant's downline and every month Carol Dunstan posts challenges in which any member of the Elite team can participate. So here's my answer to the May colour challenge, Razzleberry Breeze, and also to the stamp set challenge. I was so glad to be making something other than Mother's Day cards, and other than chocolate boxes!
So here's the reason I wanted to do something different - these are the chocolate pillow-boxes I made for my children's school Mother's Day stall last week. All the tags have the "One of a Kind" (c) Stampin' Up! stamp on the back, which I find endlessly amusing when I'm stamping out 300 Mother's Day items!
These are bath salts I put together at the last minute. Neroli, Lavendar, Rose and Patchouli. I should have done Lime for the last lot - Patchouli didn't sell well! The labels were printed up on the computer.
While I was sitting selling raffle tickets with my leg up and an ice pack on my ankle (short version: I sprained it on the way into the school while carrying the box of chocolate things), I made some more tags. I'd already stamped them out and run some tape along the back of the card-strip, so it was just a matter of punching them out. We sold them 2 for 50 cents and they were quite popular. I have stacks left over though.
I didn't manage to take a picture of the 100 Mother's Day cards I pumped out. The camera battery went flat! They were all single layer cards without embellishment and with matching envelopes. They sold reasonably well too - I've some leftovers, so I'll post the results when I've taken photos!

Pillow box bird house

2010-04-24T20:07:00.005+10:00

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?

2010-04-15T16:17:00.001+10:00

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

2010-04-11T13:41:00.002+10:00

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!

2010-04-07T08:09:00.008+10:00

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!

I need a challenge

2010-03-22T17:30:00.004+11:00

So I need a challenge! What would you like to challenge me to make as Punch art? Quick re-cap, I've done Wall-E and Eve...
Yoda...

Marvin...

Asian dolls...

And of course Mr Bump...

So, offer me a challenge of something you think might be far too hard for me to do! ;) Or a favourite character that you'd like to see done as punch art! I'm up for it! Suggest in my comment section and I'll do my best to come up with something.

A little bit of history

2010-03-05T19:44:00.002+11:00

Ryan turned 9 today. In fact, just a few minutes ago he turned 9. Here is a picture of him just moments after he was born. I'd been having contractions for most of the day and was put on a drip to augment the labour. He was born at 36weeks and 6 days. I remember saying to my Mum that I hadn't got my step-dad, George, a birthday present. She said she didn't think he'd mind; Ryan was a pretty good present.
Here he is just a few minutes ago being a silly-billy.
And here he is blowing out his 3+6(=9) candles.
His birth started a long and winding road which included the inception of my blogging as an "Optimist with PND". Much work has been done to reach this point including large amounts of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), psychiatric help, DoCS early intervention, an invaluable family stay at Coral Tree Family Service, medication, creating a post-natal depression support group, a hospital admission for PND right through to beginning to wean myself off medication. Ryan, I'm so glad you are a part of my life. Its been a hard road for me to grow into motherhood and you have helped me learn patience, understanding, resilience and most of all the deep connection between a mother and son. I love you, darling boy!

Wall-E Punch Art

2010-02-20T09:54:00.004+11:00

So it's Toby's 5th birthday tomorrow. Here's the card I made for him very surreptitiously last night. Cardstock colours used are Creamy Caramel, More Mustard, Going Gray, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White. Ink is Close to Cocoa, Chocolate chip, Certainly Celery and Green Galore. Punches I've used are Word Window, Small Oval, 1 & 3/8" Square (or bottom of the Tag as the box is a little shortened), Star (to notch the small oval for Wall-E's eyes), Spiral and Wide Oval. I've used a regular hole-punch or the retired 1/8" circle punch for the eyes. I've also crimped a piece of Going Gray before punching. Can you guess which stamp I used to create Eve's little plant? Post your answer in the comment section!

Failing eyesight...

2010-02-17T17:43:00.002+11:00

So its started... I've now procured reading glasses. Hoping they don't make me look too much like my Mum, and REALLY hoping I don't look like my brother!

Of course, Caitlyn needed to be in on the whole photo thing. After I stopped her from doing rabbit ears behind me, it was not too bad. She's poised in mid kiss in this one.
So, what do you think? More distinguished?? ;)

After Toby's first week

2010-02-10T11:02:00.003+11:00

Toby: sound asleep after his first school week... Plum tuckered out.

Toby's First Day

2010-02-01T09:40:00.002+11:00

YAY! I'm doing the happy dance today cos Toby started school today!! Here he is near his bag hook. His hat is hanging in the background. My baby!! So ready to learn reading and writing and everything! <- sure sign of an insane mind all these exclamation marks!

To the Zoo!

2010-01-26T10:17:00.004+11:00

We went to the Zoo last Wednesday! We walked to Hornsby station, rode the ferry across to Taronga. Here's the kids on the ferry:
The main reason for our visit was to go and see Luk Chai, the new baby. Here he is with his Mum Thong Dee. It was so great to see Toby's face - he LOVES elephants!
And a super special treat was seeing this platypus at play. We stayed for ages watching it swim around - for such a shy creature, it was almost gregarious! And, of course, Caitlyn loved the long-neck turtle in here with the platypus.

New projects!

2010-01-07T08:47:00.000+11:00

Recently I updated my Stampin' Up site with a couple of new projects from the Summer Mini catalogue. I'd love for anyone reading my blog to stop by and let me know what you think!

Nature's Nest

2010-01-04T20:03:00.005+11:00

Stampin' Up! has a summer mini catalogue out now and is about to launch into Sale-A-Bration where customers (and demonstrators) are given, yes given, free stamp sets with each $100 (not including postage) spent on items from the main or summer catalogues. I had to get the set in the title because it contained this gorgeous little turtle and Caitlyn's my Turtle girl. Here's a card using the critter along with another recent purchase of mine - "Inspired by Nature". I have to say I did seek inspiration from SplitCoastStampers to create this card... Enjoy!

(Almost) a month between posts!

2009-12-19T19:05:00.001+11:00

oops! So the juggling isn't really happening at the moment. 2010's new year's resolution - be organised!! Off to Canberra tomorrow until next Saturday. Christmas with my brother and his in-laws will be educational!

Whirlwind!

2009-11-30T07:09:00.002+11:00

Well, after 7 months of no luck in the employment area, hubby has been offered 4 more positions or interviews. Serious Murphy's Law happening in this household! I've been offered a teaching spot at my local craft store and will start in January. I'm also going to be continuing as a casual at a nearby primary school weekly on Thursday and Friday next year. Both my kids and husband are thrilled with this prospect of regular additional income which means we can all stop panicking about money. It also makes it just that little bit easier to run my Stampin' Up business as a hobby demonstrator, indulging myself when I want to! I'm also now secretary for our kids' P&C and will be serving on the canteen committee and the fundraising committee too. Of course, with Toby starting school, its also an attempt to keep myself involved 5 days a week. So all in all, I think I'll be (happily) busy next year! Wish me luck!

He got it!

2009-11-05T19:36:00.000+11:00

Hubby got the job! Next week he'll start at Fox Sports in IT. And he'll be catching the train in and walking over to the office!! Good for his self-esteem to get the job and good for his fitness to be doing the walking!!!

Soooooo happy!

Thoughts and Prayers

2009-10-31T11:07:00.002+11:00

But not the stamp set!! I'm asking for some special thoughts and prayers for hubby's second interview for a permanent job next week. Would make the best Christmas gift for our little family!

Work in progress, demo website

2009-10-24T12:24:00.000+11:00

I've started setting up my demonstrator website hosted through Stampin' Up. Very basic so far, but will endeavour to keep it up to date. Please visit!

http://ryn.stampinup.net

Classic Alien Punch Art

2009-10-19T16:42:00.004+11:00

I've now got an alien bug in my bonnet about Alien punch art. More research and the ideas kept buzzing and popping and fizzing in my brain. I'm a long term Star Wars and particularly Yoda fan - "Do or do not. There is no try." - hence the following card which was SOOO much fun to make!
And of course, who could forget dear old Marvin the Martian. "Where's the Kaboom? There's supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom!"

Enjoy!

aliens among us!

2009-10-15T10:23:00.000+11:00

Punch art Aliens created for my SU sister Clare. She lamented the lack of alien punch art online and this is something like what I came up with yesterday. The only thing they're lacking is some punny or catchy alien message... I was thinking they are perfect for boys birthdays but can't think of a good message. Drop me a note and let me know what you'd suggest!

China Dolls

2009-10-07T18:03:00.003+11:00

I was so happy with my little punch-art Asian dolls, I suggested to Caitlyn that we make another similar card for her best friend Bronte who celebrates her birthday this weekend. Bronte is Chinese and her favourite colour is red so we made this little dolls to represent Bronte and Caitlyn. Aren't they cute?

Inklings Cyberstamp Punch Art Challenge

2009-10-05T19:48:00.002+11:00

My final challenge for the evening is a Punch Art Challenge. Like my Russian doll last cyberstamp I hosted, this is inspired by images that Stampin' Up! Australia currently doesn't include in the Idea Book Catalogue. There's no reason why we can't create punch art of images we demonstrators might wish were in the catalogue, is there?? So here's my Asian Dolls card:

Inklings Cyberstamp Colour Challenge

2009-10-05T19:35:00.002+11:00

The second challenge for tonight's cyberstamp is a colour challenge. I picked the colours and then used the ColorCombo picker to create this image. Its a great resource! Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Riding Hood Red and Perfect Plum

I set myself the additional challenge of creating an Aussie Christmas card with this colour combo, so here's my sample:

Inklings Cybercrop Sketch Challenge

2009-10-05T19:30:00.004+11:00

The first challenge tonight is a sketch challenge. Here is my sample:

The sketch is the first of Becky Fleck's September CardMaps

I love using sketches as a starting point when I'm stuck for ideas and Becky Fleck's sketches include quite a bit of detail so you can use as much or as little of the sketch as you like!

Caitlyn's birthday

2009-09-28T07:25:00.003+10:00

At the specific request of the birthday girl, we made her a rather large chocolate cake which ended up rising quite a lot in the middle. Since she wanted a rainbow in smarties, it turned out quite well. Everyone enjoyed it!

Here's the card I made for Caitlyn's birthday. She loves purple and she liked the flower-pot card I made for Alana's cyberstamp so the decision was quite easy! The photo is quite speckled with shadows because my favourite picture window is covered in dust streaks from the dust storms we've had in Sydney this week - so apologies!

Alana's Cyberstamp

2009-09-13T08:57:00.005+10:00

Alana set the challenges for our most recent Inklings Cyberstamp. The first challenge was to use embellishments we've been hoarding. This one started out really simple but kind of grew... I even used one of Alana's tricks adding tiny strips of paper to the buttonholes.
The second challenge was to create a flowerpot card. I was going to make a really tiny one using the Boho Blossoms punch again, but this one evolved in my mind based on a recent card by Tessa. She's so clever - embossing in white on vellum and then shading underneath - Tessa's version is much softer with the shading just touching the centre of the flowers. Would you believe the colour under the vellum flowers is Only Orange? Love how this turned out! Its so soft and pretty and the Bashful Blue and orange go so well together!
Lastly, I'd like to show a picture of some of my Father's Day stall creations - little phone message fridge magnets. The phone is from "Taking Care of Business" set and I added the letters "note" to the bottom of the pegs using "Calendar Alphabet and Numbers" set. Very happy with how they turned out, but ended up with 8 left over from the stall. Still, I can change the sentiment and sell them elsewhere.
That's all for now! Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!

Wow! Followers!

2009-09-09T08:09:00.001+10:00

Wow! I just noticed I've got Followers! WOOHOO!

I just gotta post a link back to Tessa's amazing interpretation of my snowflake/ornament card using Tree Trimmings. She's a clever chick-a-dee! And a constant source of inspiration for me!

Okay, best dash away - its Darren's birthday today - 09/09/09. A bit auspicious! Reads the same in either date format too! ;) So, Happy Birthday my love! Its going to be a lovely day!

Project "just chuck it"

2009-08-30T12:00:00.002+10:00

I don't have cards to show just now; I wanted to share that I've been working slowly at getting a few things in order. Darren lost his job in April and is still going to interviews trying to find somewhere he won't "be bored". *sigh* That's employer speak for "we don't really want you". Anyway, I've been rather glum about it all and been a particularly sad person to be around until I started going out to Westmead Children's Hospital as a volunteer with Play Therapy. Fellow Inkling Fiona and I travelled out two weeks in a row and sorted out our parking, volunteer badges, etc, as well as sat and created with some children having chemotherapy in both outpatients and the Oncology ward. After all my crappy behaviour for the last few months, I'm finally snapping out of it. I don't have anything to be gloomy about. I don't need to be an Eeyore. These kids and their families are going through so much more.

So I'm grateful that Darren is around so much. I've started running "Fun Friday" every week at my place (in an effort to get the housework going!!) and went and did some planned spending at Ikea buying some much needed storage, drawers for Ryan and desks for Ryan and Caitlyn. We have also started "chucking" with a couple of loads to the dump, scoping out neighbours recycling bins every second week to get rid of our overflow (we always overflow our recycling bin!), and a bit of tree surgery to get the yard starting to look a bit more friendly. Little steps and I'm getting there slowly - focussing on the accomplishments not the bunch of stuff left to do.

Okay, Universe, I'm now ready for Darren to get a job! Please? Pretty please? Wouldn't mind one myself - we'll see how that goes...

Footy Fascination

2009-08-23T11:47:00.003+10:00

So attempting to find something fascinating about the footy the other week while hubby was watching and seeking a cuddle, I started messing with SU colours to find out what his favourite team colours would be. Yo-yo Yellow and Pacific Point are the answers - can you guess the team? Here's the card which made my footy watching much more enjoyable!
And here's a card that has been floating around my ~~mess~~ scrapbooking spot for a couple of weeks. Its a cyberstamp challenge from fellow Inkling Alison (will try and track down a blog). She posted a colour challenge using her curtains of Pumpkin Pie, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point and Basic Black (or gold). Inspired by both the striped curtain theme and the colour combo, here's my take on it using Faux Woodgrain which Jayne showed us at the team weekend. Oh, and Colleen, my bestie, suggested the puppies and sentiment cos she's a star!

Spring Mini due 1 August

2009-07-28T09:27:00.004+10:00

So there's a new mini catalogue for Stampin' Up! due out on 1 August. Here's a card using the stamp set "Tree Trimmings" and Ski Slope designer series paper as well as a 5/16" jumbo brad from the mini. The colour combination is also from the Ski Slope DSP - a great cheat to making great colour combinations is to use colours already mixed up in scrapbook papers! Anyway, hope you enjoy this card. Very simple and I think its a bit nice.

Cyberstamp 10 July Challenge 2 & 3

2009-07-10T20:37:00.003+10:00

So here's Challenge 2, a colour challenge... The colour palette:

And my sample:

Challenge 3 is a sketch from Becky Fleck Pagemaps. I love using these as a starting point when I'm having trouble coming up with something on my own. I've been pretty faithful to this one - but I usually use sketches to start me off and get the juices going.

And here's my sample...

Hope you enjoy my first Inklings Cyberstamp!

Cyberstamp 10 July Challenge 1

2009-07-10T19:29:00.003+10:00

Here's my first challenge for the Inklings Cyberstamp...

Stamps: Heartfelt thanks, Season of Joy, Trendy trees, Basic Phrases
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: So saffron, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Basic Black, Blush blossom
Accessories: Scallop edge punch, Felt Fusions I, Rhinestone brads

Elite challenges

2009-07-02T12:23:00.005+10:00

Couple of challenges from the Elite team challenge blog. I love the colour combination Carol chose for this month's challenges, hence the hasty completion of the challenges! :) The first card covers Challenges 1 & 2, using the stamp set Circle Circus and the colour combination of Not Quite Navy, Kraft and Very Vanilla. I really like this card! :)

This second card is based on a sketch made from a card on page 31 of the current Australia/New Zealand Idea Book Catalogue from Stampin' Up! I was a bit caught on the blue and vanilla theme. Used the Fresh Cuts stamp set and some Bashful Blue instead of Kraft card. I'm quite happy with the result!

Happy new home

2009-06-21T11:49:00.004+10:00

Something I've been thinking of ever since receiving my Neighbourhood wheel and have had these little houses cut out individually for a while. Teamed up with some of my autumn Trendy Trees, I'm so pleased with the result. It looks so friendly!

Mr Bump

2009-06-19T18:48:00.002+10:00

Had a bit of fun with my spinner cards - I've been making loads of Elmo, Grover, and Cookie Monster spinner cards lately. This one turned up in my head while watching the Mr Men Show with the kids the other day. How would Mr Bump look on a spinner card? I think this would lend itself well to Mr Messy, Little Miss Sunshine and Mr Bounce as well! Don't you?

Happy Thoughts

2009-06-10T14:02:00.004+10:00

This is a card I threw together for this month's Elite Challenge and is a combination of the Breezy Pirouette colour challenge and the sketch challenge. I kept both in mind while creating this card. Loads of distressing on this card too - isn't a fingernail a wonderfully handy tool?

Designer Series Paper sampler

2009-04-28T19:06:00.005+10:00

My DSP sampler for 2009/2010 is made up of 3" square segments of each of the DSP appearing in the Australian 2009/2010 Stampin' Up! catalogue. I've used my tab punch after carefully measuring the size of the punch and making a template in Word to print the name and code number of each type of paper on an Avery A4 sheet. I used Avery labels because they tend to be a heavier weight label and I wanted the tabs to be fairly strong. I punched using a standard hole-punch and threaded the papers onto a 50mm hinged ring which I bought at my local newsagent.
We have some good news at the Gibbs' household - my husband has an interview on Friday. Keeping everything crossed that it goes well. And only two more sleeps til I head down to Canberra for my first Stampin' Up! convention. I'm SO nervous! The excitement about the convention ALMOST eclipses the THRILL of the children returning to school tomorrow. HALLELUJAH!

"And the walls came tumbling down"

2009-04-21T18:58:00.002+10:00

At least we have a roof over our heads and will manage for a while. But the rug has been pulled and we're swept off our feet. Hubby lost his job today - another victim of the "technical" recession. Our home is feeling very very sad today.

You (still) float my boat...

2009-04-20T13:08:00.005+10:00

Its been 10 years of wedded bliss... Well, okay its not exactly been blissful all the way, but there's been better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health... And we're not dead yet, though I'm sure there have been occasions... ;)
Here's the card I threw together last night for my beloved. I realised on Saturday evening that I hadn't yet made one for him. So as soon as the kids were in bed last night, I started. About one and a half programs (watching telly) later, this was done. Quite pleased with it myself! :) All 'In Colors', Boatloads of Love (my sale-a-bration gift) and much use of the beloved scallop edge punch.

Team cyberstamp cards

2009-04-14T19:28:00.002+10:00

I think I needed a distraction on Sunday - I made these two cards for the team cyberstamp which was actually held on Wednesday. The first card, below, is based on a card featured on p113 of the 2009/2010 Idea Book & Catalogue. I've used some of the new DSP "Urban Garden", cutting out the flowers and sticking them to Baja Breeze + Basic Gray card. For a bit of interest I pleated the Basic Gray and scalloped the edge. Looking at it now I think it needs one less Baja Breeze flower - the one under the staple, so I'll pull it off. Kiwi Kiss ribbon, pleated again with staples to hold. Corner is the reverse side of the same "Urban Garden" sheet with a filligree brad to hold it.

This card uses "Fresh Cuts" a lovely versatile set and was for Dani's colour challenge of Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery and Taken with Teal. I had stamped the Baja Breeze some time ago and simply tore it out of the sheet, scrunched and flattened the paper. The teal piece was one I'd scallopped some time ago too, and the celery I'd used for something else, tore it up and placed the stamped side face down. Bit of ribbon, word window punch, added some choc-chip stamping and Voila!

Hope you enjoy!

On a somber note, Grace's funeral is tomorrow and I'm praying that we all get through it okay. I'm also wishing I could be of more help and use to Tab and Michael, Grace's Mum and Dad. Rest well little one.

Sad news...

2009-04-09T14:56:00.003+10:00

Our family grew a little on Monday with the arrival of Grace Rosemary Gibbs thanks to Tabitha and Michael (Darren's brother & partner). She never stabilised enough to have the operation she needed and despite struggling for 45 hours, she passed away early yesterday morning. This is the card I made for her family using a set borrowed from my upline Jayne.
Rest in peace little angel.

You're a Blast!

2009-04-07T15:40:00.003+10:00

Super cute little card. Took minutes to create with the most time taken drawing more stars and dots around the space-ship! :) The set is Pun Fun and I used Night of Navy cardstock with the spaceship stamped on Whisper White in Night of Navy ink. White gel pen to extend the star field.

Don't fall off your seat...

2009-04-06T12:05:00.004+10:00

I scrapped!!!

Here's one using 2 year old SU In Colors, Dazzling Diamonds and the "Everything" from the Always set + a Basic Grey rub-on.

This one is of my darling hubby with his 2nd newest niece, Emma. I just had news that there's another one this morning: Grace Rosemary. Anyway, this was a couple of weekends ago and Emma is 1 1/2 weeks.

And this is using my absolute favourite paper brand, Basic Grey. This layout fell together so easily! Just adore it.

Sunny Boy box with a twist (excuse the pun!)

2009-03-27T15:56:00.004+11:00

The box below contains the incentive stamp for my hostess at tomorrow's workshop. I designed this box when looking for something simple to do for our school Mother's Day stall. This will hold 3-4 heart foil choccies and have some kind of SU tag on the end. This one is made with Afternoon Tea designer series paper, a price-tag bought from a newsagent (sold in lots of 100 for about $6) and a scrap of ribbon. I think the scallop edge punch just adds a tiny touch of "special", don't you?
Thanks muchly to Kylie for her much needed inspiration to make this card work! Yeah, I cheat and visit OTHER DEMONSTRATORS blogs to get inspiration!! SHHH! Don't tell anyone! ;) Its crayon resist, a technique I hadn't mastered until now! Pale colours are very forgiving for this technique, so I've used Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze as my jump points. Easy to add some Pacific Point and Baja Breeze cardstock at the other end. Stamp sets are Embrace Life and Say it with Scallops.
My new favourite stamp set - Bloom Away is coming from 1 April in the 2009/2010 Stampin' Up! catalogue. A lovely lovely stamp set for Aussies! I've stamped on Naturals Ivory card, water-coloured with Riding Hood Red and Always Artichoke and mounted it on Sage Shadow and Always Artichoke cardstock. Kraft is the base card, and choc chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon. Simple but immensely satisfying to do!

Gorgeous colours - beautiful stamps!

2009-03-23T10:28:00.007+11:00

The new "In Color" set from Stampin' Up! is just totally gorgeous! I'm addicted to the Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss colour combo. But I just can't seem to stop myself including Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red to make it a full set of all colours! Here I've used "Window Dressing", a new hostess level 3 set (party sales of $1000). Its quite addictive - and I just adore the little pussy cat and girl - the second image is (of course) Caitlyn and Mishka in the window.
I'm also enjoying the pretty "Bloom Away" stamp set, here coloured in Pink Pirouette and Always Artichoke on Naturals Ivory, matting Sage Shadow, Always Artichoke with Kraft backgound.

These new colours and stamps have revitalised my interest and enthusiasm! Hope they do yours too!

A myriad of things...

2009-03-13T07:24:00.002+11:00

Maybe it was my birthday (this week), maybe it was the very helpful government handout, maybe it was any number of things. Or maybe it was just articulating on my blog how I felt and accepting it was a blip and be ready to move on. Anyway, I feel so much better. I think getting to SU! training at Jayne Mercer's place also helped. Everything is much easier when its put into perspective. Its also better when I'm able to break down the "insurmountable" into small tasks which are really much more achievable. Don't expect too much, and don't be so hard on myself. As long as I get there in the end. Setting goals, whether it be personal, financial, family or house-work (my HUGEST "insurmountable") related!!

New In Colors

2009-03-10T14:10:00.006+11:00

Stampin' Up!'s In Color range is changing as of 1 April, and there are also some new stamp sets due out. Here's a sample of some cards using these new colours: Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Red Riding Hood, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss. I have to say that I really love these new colours - I was dubious at first, but they are all just gorgeous to work with. And those who watch far too much television will notice that Freedom Furniture features three of the colours in their logo! I've also used Fresh Cuts, a lovely new stamp set which will also be available from 1 April.

When I started making these cards, it wasn't my initial intention to include every colour in every card, they just kind of built up into these images. My favourite would have to be the fishie. His scales are done with the feather part of the owl image from "Love Owl-ways".

A better day

2009-03-05T14:34:00.002+11:00

I'm not counting chickens yet: today's been a better day. Perhaps because its Ryan's 8th birthday today. And I found a few jobs in the paper to apply for. I've been finding it hard since my kids' new school principal decided to stop using me as a casual in the office. Kicking myself for not trying harder to get the permanent two day a week spot that I interviewed for last year. Lost the plot just before the interview and didn't get it. Going from working almost full time last year to absolutely nothing this year has been hard - more so than going on maternity leave because at least then I had a bundle to look forward to. So, socks are being pulled a little further up and the black dog has shrunk back down to a more manageable size. Thanks for the concern from Jesse and Jody... Was lovely to receive your comments, ladies!

Black dog

2009-03-04T14:52:00.002+11:00

There's been this little black dog at my heels lately. Its gotten just a wee bit bigger over the last few weeks. Despite knowing this is just a "blip" in my life and it will get better, I'm struggling. I keep starting emails to send to people to appeal for help and then closing the messages down, not knowing what to say. It used to help to write it on my blog, so I'm back here just before collecting the children at school and typing furiously in my last few minutes with a couple of tears rolling down my cheeks.

This blog used to be called "Optimist with PND". My youngest son just turned four, so I'm guessing that I'm a wee bit past PND. Anyway, I'm struggling at the moment. I'm finding it hard to be motivated to do anything much - clean the house, wash my hair... The bigger things seem insurmountable - clearing up my scrap stuff so I can actually scrap or make cards. I feel helpless much of the time and "what's the point?"

Okay, its out there now. I do know this is a blip and things are going to get better. I'm searching for the motivation to start...

In the Garden

2009-02-23T18:54:00.002+11:00

I made these cards today when stuck for something to do for a watercolour workshop tomorrow. I'm so pleased with the blue/purple one! Stamped with the Hostess background "In the Garden" in Stazon ink, I used Stampin' Up's watercolour crayons in Bold Brights colours to colour the images. Actually, I scribbled over the images and used my aquabrush to tidy it all up afterwards. The effect is gorgeous, I think!

Stampin' Christmas

2009-01-18T17:09:00.005+11:00

A very Stampin' Christmas was had in our house. I recycled all the packing paper from my orders and sat the kids and hubby down with my stamp sets. Here are some of the results:
Recently had a demonstration and my hostess wished to see Time for You, so I did this card for the workshop:
And one of my regular ladies is an owl enthusiast so I had to show this set off "Love Owl-ways":
All Stampin' Up! products and the owl card is SO simple to make but looks great, I think!

Okay, back in my box for now as my two older kids have chicken pox. Just waiting for number 3 to get it too. :(

Kylie's Challenge

2008-12-26T11:13:00.003+11:00

So, at our Inklings Christmas gathering, I was having a bit of a whinge about how the phrase "Always time for you" didn't really seem to fit with the bicycle (which I love, by the way). I said, at least if it were a tandem bike, it would make a little more sense! So fellow Inkling Kylie challenged me to create a tandem bike (with a frog on it, but I haven't got that far yet!!). Here's the result:
Took loads of trials with various techniques, including masking which just didn't work well. Ended up just inking the parts of the image I wanted with a Stampin' Write brush, used my Stamp-a-majig to line everything up, then used the fine tip to connect the bits that needed connecting. I'm pretty pleased with the result!

Next step will be one with frogs. ;) Hopefully before new year!

obsession: scallop edge punch

2008-12-02T17:38:00.002+11:00

"Time for you" stamp set was always on the top of my list when I received my copy of the summer mini. But when it came time to use it, I was stumped at how the "Always Time for You" phrase worked with the bicycle? So this is my solution - the "friend" bit from "For a Friend".
As you can see there's a theme to my cards of late - most of them have a scallop edge! I'm totally obsessed with the scallop edge punch and have had countless applications of it over the last weeks including trimming the top and bottom of chocolate slider covers. Must take some photos! Anyway this next card is another set from the Summer mini - "Embrace Life" which is also delicious water coloured. My upline, Angela Sargeant , created an embossed version of this flower which is simply divine.
Hope you feel as inspired as I do!

New: Summer Mini

2008-12-01T21:26:00.004+11:00

A new Summer Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue started today! Here's one of my favourite stamps out of the lot - "A happy heart". Its meant for Valentine's Day, and typically I've jumped to the last pages and used these stamps first! But this little dandelion fluff with flying hearts is just darling! I felt so inspired! So here's two variations of the same stamp. Also I've used the Scallop Edge punch and a touch of the 1" Double Stitched Grosgrain in Chocolate Chip for the first card with Earth Elements colours.
For the second, I've used an offcut of card to make a scallop shape to glue around and then sprinkled loads of Dazzling Diamonds over the edges of a very simple Purely Pommegranate card with a vellum window. I've also used a little Crystal Effects in the centre of the puff and used a pin to tease out lines before it dried, also dusted with Crystal Effects. Isn't it divine? I've touched the bottom corner of the window with Orchid Opulance cardstock stamped in Purely Pommegranate with a Faux Rhinestone in the middle (made using a drop of Crystal Effects in the middle of an eyelet. Brilliant idea I've stolen from another SU demo - will update with who it was when I have a moment to ferret through!).

I've experimented with a few of the other stamps - I'll post more over the next few days.

Christmas Pop-out & Elite Challenge

2008-11-08T08:52:00.003+11:00

One of the three designs I've made for Christmas Cards to sell at Normanhurst West Public School Christmas Markets... Simple template which I found here decorated with Season of Joy Stampin' Up set. Printed out two on a page and folded the template around my folded card, cut, followed the instructions and Voila!
This one combines 2 of 3 of the Elite Challenges for November - I don't have the stamp set for the third challenge! So I combined the colour and sketch challenges to make one card. Easy-peasy!

some more cards I've played with...

2008-10-07T17:54:00.006+11:00

The first image is a card for a challenge at Elite Stampers, part of Angela Sargeant's group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators. I think it was the September challenge, so I'm a bit late, but having never done any of the challenges before, I wanted to give it a try!
Card: So Saffron, Old Olive, Blue Bayou, white scrap
Stamps: Priceless, One of a Kind
Inks: So Saffron, Old Olive, Blue Bayou
Accessories: silver hodgepodge and Rhinestone brads

So this next card combines the colour and sketch challenges for Elite Stampers for October. The challenge was set by Carol Dunston, who does some fabulous work!
Card: Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Stamps: Garden Whimsy
Inks: Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White
Accessories: scallop circle punch, horizontal slot punch, circle punch, watercolour brush, Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon, silver hodgepodge, chalks

This last one has been burning in my brain after seeing the results of Alana Galagher's participation in the Kwerner Design colour challenges. My inspiration is a Sheridan sheet pattern from a pillowcase of my grandmother's. It's got to be over 40 years old and loads of swirly floral shapes:
I matched the colours from the pillowcase to the cardstock in the SU range and then pieced this card together using the Boho Blossom's punch, Scallop Circle punch and various circle punches. Added some pearls and there you are... Pleased with the result and may have to scale it up!
Card: Creamy Caramel, Apricot Appeal, Blush Blossom, Sage Shadow, Groovy Guava, Naturals Ivory
Stamps: One of a Kind, Expressive Flexible Phrases
Inks: Apricot Appeal, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Pretties Pearls, Boho Blossoms punch, Scallop Circle punch, Circle punches.

Super quick cards

2008-09-27T19:52:00.003+10:00

Okay - the thing that took the longest time for these cards was choosing the colours - the top one was a no-brainer - just went with colours from the Stampin' Up! Apple Cider Designer Series Patterned Paper...
This one wasn't too hard either - started with the Night of Navy cardstock and used the "chalk board" technique to dab chalk on a Season of Joy stamp in white craft ink. Then punched it out and punched the middles out of the double layer of cardstock which is actually Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst even though it looks quite blue. The Groovy Guava acted as a bit of a pick me up to give a contrast - love this colour combination! The Priceless word is from the Priceless stamp set in the main idea book and catalogue.
And this one was too easy in terms of making, but I had the devil of a time figuring out colour combos until I found this website: www.scraptitude.com/colorcombo/ which is an amazing way to get Stampin' Up! colours that go together!! This is Pale Plum with Bravo Burgundy ink using the It's Beautiful wheel from the SU! Spring Mini. It is just a divine wheel and looks so amazing like this on a card. The strip is a Purely Pomegranate scrap I had in lieu of ribbon. The flower is from "One of a Kind" Perfectly Plum cardstock and ink with Perfectly Plum daubed in the centre of the flower (which I think makes it look all fuzzy and so touchable!). Bloom is from "Bloomin' with beauty" my latest indulgence. Some of my ladies used the "for You" from "One of a Kind" instead.
So that's my contributions to the world of stamping for the moment. I need to do a serious tidy-up of my scrap/card space to be able to find everything and have a spot to actually make cards!! Looks like a whirly-whirly has gone to town on it at the moment!

under a rock

2008-09-11T08:47:00.003+10:00

Well, I've been under a rock for some weeks now - life is always busy in September - leaving not much time for blogging, scrapping or card-making! Father's Day followed very quickly by hubby's birthday followed by Caitlyn's birthday make it a busy month. So nothing to show at the moment.

There's a couple of promotions current for Stampin' Up! - one is the Spring Mini Catalogue (last orders by 30 November) and the other is Free Wheelin' where you receive a free matching jumbo wheel with selected stamp sets (finishes 30 September). Check out the Stampin' Up! website for details.

another workshop!

2008-08-25T15:17:00.001+10:00

Big workshop on Saturday - this one had 10 people!! So I did a colour variation on one of the cards and demonstrated "kissing".

Workshop cards

2008-08-10T16:16:00.003+10:00

Next workshop is now all packed up for tomorrow - these are the cards we'll be making. Using a couple of sets from the Stampin' Up! Spring Mini:

Playing with Polymer Clay

2008-08-07T14:43:00.003+10:00

This had to be the highlight of my weekend at the Stampin' Up! INKlings weekend away... Photo by my upline Michelle and with my Stampin' Sister Clare:

Did loads of stuff and I still haven't managed to photograph it all - time in front of the 'puter is scarce at the moment. Here's the jewellery I created courtesy of Clare. Yet another thing I can do with stamps!!! LOL

Cybercrop at EB

2008-07-20T15:21:00.003+10:00

I actually scrapped! For the Green with Envy cybercrop happening over at EB. Love this tin - so simple but elegant!

And based on a sketch - too easy!

a few cards!

2008-07-15T15:42:00.004+10:00

Having a play around with some of my sets - getting geared up for a number of father's day cards for our school stall in September:

Playing with some new cardstock and stamps I recently bought:

Set myself the challenge of doing SUMMER type Christmas cards. Like how they've turned out! :)

Layout in Scrapbooking Memories Vol10 Issue4

2008-07-10T08:08:00.004+10:00

Finally!! This was my second ever layout accepted for publication. Just love it!

Caitlyn has a new lamp-shade

2008-06-15T13:58:00.001+10:00

Gotta love the new low-energy light bulbs! This is Caitlyn's repaired and girl-ified. So pleased I want to do something similar for the boys!

Final guest design team page

2008-05-27T18:37:00.002+10:00

Title to this bit says it all really... Here it is!

Card Album

2008-05-22T19:18:00.003+10:00

Album to hold my card samples for display at workshops. Wanted something heavy duty that would withstand loads of knocks and bumps. Painted, sanded, white ink with clear embossing over the top. I'm really pleased with it!

Toby you can drive my car...

2008-05-20T18:35:00.002+10:00

Basic Grey Corderoy papers on a Kaisercraft car album for Design Team OTP at 3 Angels Scrapping:

Couple more DT things

2008-05-14T07:05:00.002+10:00

Altered CD - tough to do as the kids were being ratbags the day I did it!!

Saw this wording on a "welcome" door-hanger and thought it was a bit appropriate for our place!