New Autumn mini catalogue

Playing with some new toys from the 2012 Autumn Mini catalogue from Stampin' Up! I've created this card using the clearmount set "Rue Des Fleurs", rather appropriately whilst watching Dr Who "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon"... Love the pun.

Stepped up version of the same card. I think I used Pink Pirouette and Pretty in Pink to do the shading of the parasol. Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede were also involved. I quite like the result, but the intimacy of the message means it will only be given to a very close person or people.

I do love the pun involved in this one too, as well as loving the corset. Its a great idea, possibly, for recycling some of my corsets as vases too, although they'd require a massive bouquet to fill them. Working on fitting into them once more. With the amount of computer time I've been spending, I'd be grateful of the support too!

Lastly, colours inspired by the new paper available in the mini catalogue called Twitterpated. Twitterpated fabric brightly combines Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo, Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, which is what I've used on this card. See ryn.stampinup.net to download your copy of the mini catalogue.

I'm enjoying this catalogue so much! And even though I'm in Canberra until June 30, I can still place orders for you and have them delivered right to your door.

Easter

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!

Easter Bilby punch-art

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!