WooooHOOOO!!!

Hellooo! Long time no post, I know. (Yes it is a post Brownwyn Eastley!)

I FINALLY find my mojo creeping back after an exremely long and frustrating absence, so I have a cute project to share with you.

Interestingly it also fits in beautifully with the Bah Humbug challenge over at Just Add Ink, so I am going to be doubly brave and enter that too!

The challenge was to make a Christmas project that does not use Christmas stamps or papers. A Christmas sentiment was allowed though.

My card was inspired by some of the wonderful creations shared on Holiday Card Boot Camp, by Jennifer Mc Guire and Kristina Werner. If you haven't checked out their online classes and you are in need of inspiration, I highly recommend you have a look.

Sooo, drum roll please.... Here it is, my first card posted in 18 months!

I made two different versions using two equally yummy patterned papers from Stampin' Up! The first uses the Mocha Morning Specialty Papers and the second the Spice Cake Papers from the upcoming mini catalogue. You can't see it in the pic but the circles are all shimmery and sparkly - sooo pretty. I think I like the Mocha one best - what do you think??

Supplies used: (all from Stampin' Up!)

Mocha Morning and Spice Cake DSP

Crumb Cake and Pear Pizzaz cardstock for card bases

Merry and Type Stamp Set for sentiments

Parlour Prints background stamp

Crumb Cake Seam binding ribbon and Chantilly Crochet Trim, Hemp Twine

Pearl Basic Jewels

Hope you like my cards, and I hope to be back a little more often now. :)

Thanks for stopping by.

It's finally here!!

Hooray, after weeks of planning, the ESAD Christmas in July blog hop is finally going live.





I hope you're ready for the ESAD Christmas in July Blog hop!

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin' Up!

We so love what we do, and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends and wonderful blog visitors, but we share out love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

You may have come to my blog from the super talented Paula Fuller or you may be starting with me. Either way WELCOME! I hope you enjoy the project I have to share. To continue on your way, just click on the link at the end of my post.

There are 25 very talented ladies on this hop, so grab yourself a cuppa, settle in and prepare to be inspired by wonderful cards, 3d projects and gift ideas. You will be so filled with inspiration that you will be dying to get started early on those Christmas projects.

The project I have to share with you today was a huge hit with my "Christmas Club" ladies last year - waving to you girls! It makes a perfect $5 KrisKringle gift for a workmate (or a gift for your child's teacher) and can be personalised to suit their tastes.

This idea came from a very talented US Stampin' Up! Demo - Amy Rysavy. You start with a clear glass bauble (they can be purchased from any large craft supplies store) and customise it using Stampin' Up! re-inkers and glitter. For my baubles I have used Chocolate Chip ink with the Chocolate Supernova glitter, Riding Hood Red ink with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and Kiwi Kiss ink with the Olive Supernova glitter. Don't they look gorgeous sparkling in the sunlight?

To complete the gift and make it easy to present, I needed a box. I discovered that the too clever and sooo easy to make 7's box, designed by the incredibly talented Marelle Taylor, (you can find the directions here). Fits these baubles beautifully! I have used Chocolate Chip cardstock and decorated it with DSP from the Bella Rose paper pack.

Here it is open:

And closed - ready to give as a gift:

I hope you liked the project I shared with you today. Pop back in the next few days and I will share a tutorial on how to customise the baubles. Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Now on to the creative musings of the inspiring Shelly Stewart. Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Cheers

Claire

Too cute!

Hello! A really cute project to share with you today.

I needed a special thank you gift for a freind that I stayed with in Sydney a little while back (waving to you Gerry!). I wanted the gift to be very special so it has taken me a fair while to decide what to do and then to put it all together. This friend of mine has a beautiful wee lad who will turn one later in the year. So I decided that an assortment of cards for little people may be the go!

I purchased Andrea Walford's gorgeous stationery purse class here. Then spent a fair bit of time customising it to suit Aussie card sizes. (These things do not come easily to someone as numerically challenged as I am - lol!) Then of course I had to decide on colours and stamps etc. Eventually I decided to use some of the leftovers from the flip flop album I made for my Secret Sister. (See my previous post) So I ended up using the too cute Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin' kit and the gorgeous Fox and Friends stamp set. I am thrilled with the results and I hope that Gerry will like it too!

Here is the purse closed:


And here, fully opened out:

Inside there are two little pockets on either end, one for gift tags


and one for gift cards or little 3x3 love notes

The colours used in the Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin' kit are Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red and Kiwi Kiss. I threw a little Melon Mambo in there so some of the cards etc would have a more "girly" feel.

The two centre pockets contain full sized cards and envelopes:


I love that this project is so bright and cheerful. I hope you like it too... Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Claire

More Secret Sister Gifts

My Secret Sister Linda had a birthday in April, so I made her a special card. I had seen lots of quilted top notes around, so I made my own version using the Cottage Wall Designer Series Papers (DSP) and the too cute new Bird Punch from the SU Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue. I also used a couple of the Designer Buttons I made from the same DSP. If you are interested in how I did this, there is a fab tutorial on Danielle Daws' blog - here


I also made and sent these gifts to Linda:
Linda loves to bake so I wrapped her gifts in these gorgeous tea towels for extra protection in the post, and also as useful wrapping paper! The card is inspired by a series of Heather Summers' from her Simply Stamping online classes. It uses the Friends 24-7 stamp set.

Inside the tea towels were a personalised mini album for each of her children.


Archie's uses the Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin' Kit and is a Flip Flop album, again designed by the oh so talented Heather Summers. Sophia's is a Paper Bag Album designed by the awesome Jan Tink (you can purchase the instructions here) and uses the Sunny Day Simply Scrappin' Kit from the Autumn/Winter mini.



Here is a pic of the inside of Archie's album. The centre flap and the left hand flap flip upwards to reveal more pages that flip downwards. It is very cool!



Here is the inside of Sophia's album - unfortunately the pic insists on turning itself sideways when I upload it (I have no idea why!!) but you get the idea lol!

I hope you like these projects, I certainly had a ball creating them. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Cheers

Claire

Secret Sisters Round 3

Well as you know from the few bits I have posted of the lovely gifts I received from the gorgeous Gardenia (check out her blog here), I have been taking part in a Secret Sister Swap with some other Aussie Stampin' Up! demos. The rules are that we need to make 2 cards and a small gift for our sister for the first 2 months, then in the 3rd month, two cards and a larger gift. Most of the items are to be Stampin' Up! related. So, whilst I was receiving all of the wonderful items Gardenia made for me, I was busily making gifts for Linda Craven. I was really lucky and got to meet Linda at convention and give her last gift in person. Here is a pic of us together at the Awards Dinner. (Linda is the gorgeous blonde on the left!)


Anyhoo, I thought I should share with you some of the projects that I made for Linda (I had so much fun doing this swap - you have no idea!)


This is the first card I made, using the fab Razzle Dazzle stamp set from the Summer mini, i sooo hope this one makes it into the new catty come September! My apologies for the photos, it was a *very* sunny day in Tassie, the day I took these pics... Roll on warmer weather I say!

This next card was one I made for Linda's son, as he turned 4 during the swap, so I got to ink up my brand new Lots of Bots and make a card for him. Again, the photo is not so great but there is lots of masking and embossing going on here!

I hope you like these projects. I know they were received with genuine delight, which makes it all worth while. I will be back again soon with some more of the goodies I received from Gardenia, and some more of the pressies I sent. Thanks for dropping by, leave a comment and let me know you were here!

Cheers

Claire

Convention Swaps Part 1

Helloooo! Here I am at last, back from convention and with piccys to share. I do have to say that I have been trying to write this post since last Sunday, but for some reason blogger was refusing to upload my pictures - and let's face it, what's a card blog if it doesn't have pictures of yummy cards on it? Before that, I had not had a second to blog as life has rather smacked me in the face since I got home from convention, but you know, it happens sometimes...

So, as variously requested by quite a few of you - here are the swap cards that I made for the Stampin' Up! convention in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. The first one (above) uses the Echoes of Kindness hostess stamp set and Baroque Motifs. The background was made by dragging Pretty in Pink and Sahara Sand ink pads across the cardstock and the flowers were coloured with a White Gel pen. I just love the effect it creates. I was really chuffed as this one ended up on a display board at convention too!

This next one has a really opulent feel IRL (in real life). The stamps from Asian Artistry are embossed in gold and then coloured with reinkers that have been mixed with Crystal Effects. The overall effect is a bit like stained glass.


This card uses the emerging colour technique. The Medallion background stamp was stamped first, then I clear embossed the solid image from Organic Outlines over the top, then brayered basic grey over the whole thing. This card was inspired by some bed linen I wanted to buy from a friend's linen party (hi Tracey!) but I couldn't afford to buy it and go to Sydney! So I made this card instead...

This one is my tribute to the vintage style, and uses the Very Vintage wheel and Vintage Vogue stamp set from the Autumn mini catalogue. There was lots of sponging and distressing to do for this one!

Finally, and I have to say I was losing the will to live after creating 20 each of the previous 4 styles, I had a go at a clean and simple card. This one is my prototype - I can assure you that the ones I gave out at convention were more evenly spaced and straight! (lol!)

OK, so those were my swap cards. I hope you like them. If you would like any more details, or if you would like me to demonstrate one of these cards at a workshop for you and your friends and family email me , I would be glad to help!

I will be back soon with pics of the swaps I received and also of some of the wonderful people I met. Until then take care, and thanks for stopping by.

Claire

Time Flies... and blog awards

Well here I am, finally back to chat to you after a whole month away from my blog - terrible blogging, my apologies. I have been flat out making things I can't share with you - gifts for my secret sister, I can't show you those until we have the "big reveal"later this month and swaps for Stampin' Up! convention in Sydney in a couple of weeks. However, it seems you love me still even when I neglect you for so long... In my inbox this week I have been delighted to receive not one but TWO blog awards - how excitement! But before I talk about those, I should probably show you the one thing I have made lately that is NOT a secret.

This is a photo of my little guy when he was about 18 months. We had some pics taken by a professional photographer who was looking for images for greeting cards. I loved this one, and it has only taken me 10 years to scrap it! The layout is a pagemaps sketch a wonderful source of inspiration, and the whole thing came together really quickly at the girls scrap night I try to get to each month (thanks for the inspiration lovely ladies!) I had trouble getting a good pic of it but hopefully you get the idea.


In this layout I have used a combination of the Urban Oasis, Sweet Slumber and Washington Apple Designer Series Papers, I also used the Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel and the Life Definitions stamp set. It's a really simple layout but I am thrilled with how it came together - as I say, the photo does not really do it justice. But I hope you like it.

Now onto the blog awards. The first one I received was a Beautiful Blog award


from my upline Mae Collins - thanks Mae. In accepting this award I need to nominate 10 other beautiful blogs and tell you ten things about myself. OK so here are 10 of my fave blogs to stalk for inspiration:

Tanya Kitto - Stamp n' Chat
Marelle Taylor
Nicole Derendorf - Stamping Down Under
Kirrily Matthews - KM Designs
Gardenia Pepworth - A Little Less Useless
Stamping with Steph
Rainbows by Robin
Bronwyn Eastley - addINKtive designs
Creating Cards with Andrea
Lynda Moss - StampINKins

Phew! That list took a while to compile. Now 10 things about myself hmmm

1. I am married to a chef I met whilst travelling in the UK
2. I have one brother.
3. I have one son.
4. My fave things to do include having lunch with my girlfriends, craft time with girlfriends and having lunch and/or crafting with my mum!
5. I LOVE elephants!
6. My husband thinks my elephant collection may eventually overrun the house and leave us nowhere to sit/sleep/etc (lol!)
7. The best thing about joining Stampin' Up! for me has been the wonderful people I have met both face to face and on line.
8. I am going to my first Stampin' Up! convention in 2 weeks!
9. I spent several months of my 20's backpacking overland from Kathmandu to London.
   
10. I have a pet dog called Snoopy.

Now the other award I received was from the lovely Leah click on her name to check out her gorgeous blog.

I need to nominate some recipients for this blog too - and link to their blogs so here we go:

Andrea Lowcock - EnchantInk
Stampin with Sonia
Susan Hogan - Time to Play
Ann Wills - Crafty Squirrel

Leonie Schroder - Stamp A Latte

Thanks to all of those listed above for the wonderful inspiration they share on their blogs. When my mojo a- go-gos, these are the places I head to so my creative ideas start to flow again!

Hopefully it won't be so long between posts this time - but I'm not promising!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Claire

ESAD Autumn/Winter Mini Blog Hop

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are ready for the ESAD Blog Hop! Better go grab yourself a cuppa as you'll be hopping for a while. You may have come to me from the blog of the super talented Charmaine Black if so Welcome. If you are starting with me, follow the link at the end of this post, and that will take you hopping merrily on your way.

What is ESAD you say?

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australian (and New Zealand) Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin' Up!

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends and wonderful blog visitors, we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

So what goodies do I have to share with you today? I have to confess, since it arrived I have had eyes only for my bigshot. It has been wonderful playing with it and working out what it can do! My projects today focus on the Bigshot Movers and Shapers Dies and also a card showcasing the Manhattan Flower Embossing folder.

This card is a Z fold card using the ornament from the Movers and Shapers Dies. The DSP is also from the new mini, Cottage Wall, it is soooo yummy!


Another card using the Movers and Shapers ornament die, this time I have cut two, but slightly offset, to create the focal point of the card. The sentiment is from Heard from the Heart, a new stamp set in the mini. I purchased the clear mount option for this set and it just makes positioning sentiments soooo easy!



OK, at this point you could be forgiven for thinking that I am a little mad, designing Christmas Cards in March/April. However, my sideline and I have a lovely group of ladies who join us to make Christmas cards once per month (waving to you girls!) so I am always on the lookout for ideas to share with them... For this card I used the dove from the Movers and Shapers and an idea I saw on Stamp with Heather for using up ribbon scraps. It makes a great Christmas card, but in different colours and with another sentiment, it could easily become a sympathy card.



OK, the last card I have to share with you uses once again the gorgeous Cottage Wall dsp, but this time I have teamed it with the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder to create a different kind of look. The stamp is also from the new mini, Share a cup.

I hope you like the creations I have shared with you today. I know that the blog hop will provide a great deal of inspiration to anyone looking for projects to create with the wonderful items available in the new Stampin' Up! Autumn/Winter mini catalogue. If you don't yet have one of these minis email me and I will send you one!

We are again offering Blog Candy for our Blog Hop. What you need to do is complete the blog hop until you get back to me. Once you've visited and commented on every blog then you will need to email Sharlene at stampwithsharlene@hotmail.com who will then put your name into the draw for the blog candy. There will be one winner from New Zealand and one winner from Australia.

So start hoppin by going to the next blog, the unique and fabulous stylings of Corinna Buchanan at PinkFlowers and Bling!

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the hop!

Claire

Testing!

Hi all,

Back again. The purpose of this post is to check and see if I can actually make a scheduled posting work! I have tried unsuccessfully in the past. Sooo, anyway, so that this post is not completely boring for you my lovely visitors. Here is a picture of the beautiful set of 3 cards I received from my lovely secret sister last week. There is a sneak preview of some of the gorgeous products from the upcoming Autumn/Winter mini in her cards, check out the fab new stamp set Cottage Garden, the scrumptious new colour Rich Razzleberry and the new to die for DSP, Cottage Wall.



Now if this preview whets your appetite for more deliciousness from the new Stampin' Up! mini catalogue, be sure and check back tomorrow. From tomorrow you can order these great new products and to showcase them all, there will be another ESAD bog hop! So come back tomorrow, check out my offerings and bunny hop around some treats for Easter that won't cause you to put on weight (lol!)

Thanks for dropping by, hope to hear from you tomorrow!

Claire

HAPPY DANCE!!

Hello again. Well as the post title suggests there was one day this week that called for a Happy Dance! I arrived home Wednesday to once again be disappointed that my pre-order of goodies from the new Stampin' Up! Autumn/Winter min had failed to appear. I consoled myself by getting on line and booking my spot at Stampin' Up! convention this year. Whilst I have been a demo for 3 years now, this is the first time I have been to convention and I am very much looking forward to it :)

So, whilst I am on the computer, there is a knock at the door and my parcel postie arrives with 2 big boxes of pre-order YAY! (He must have been working overtime this week). Perched on top of the two big boxes is an express post package - what could it be?

Master 11 insists that we open this one first and inside I find a completely gorgeous set of goodies from my new Secret Sister! Here is what I received:

Two gorgeous cards, this one using very clever masking and sponging


and this one using my absolute favourite Stampin' Up! colours, Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red and my favourite elephant from the Animal Stories stamp set. (I will be very sad when this one retires at the end of the month, I hope it will be ressurected in the new catalogue come September!)

There was also a beautiful pull out box (again decorated with elephants!) containing a box of curry for me to try - I looove a good curry!


closed ....
and open









But wait! That's not all! And I think by now you may notice the trend that is emerging here... There was also a too cute trinket box, decorated with... you guessed it - elephants!! I think my Secret sister took me seriously when I mentioned in my questionnaire
that " a girl can never have too many elephants"! Here it is closed, check out the fabulous rouched ribbons. And another pic with it open, inside you can see my secret sister's thoughtful gift of Jumbo rivets, jumbo eyelets, Twill tape and buttons.












So thanks so much Secret Sister for making an already fab day into an extra special Happy Dance day!

Thanks for stopping by. Till next time.

Claire

Just Add Ink 7 Re-Run!

Ok, so I had all the stuff on my desk still from yesterday's entry into the Just Add Ink colour challenge see here to enter. I wasn't completely happy with yesterday's effort, so I thought I would continue to play with the same sketch (Mojo Monday 128) and colours and see what I could come up with. So here is plan B (lol!)

The colours just "work" a little better for me this time.

Sorry the photo is not so great, it is bucketing rain here in Tassie today, after a very hot weekend, so I had to take the pic indoors with a flash. But you get the idea ...

Project Recipe:

Stamps: Razzle Dazzle (Summer mini)

Inks: Pink Passion, Versa Mark

Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Whisper White

Other: So Saffron ribbon, White Gel Pen, Markers

OK, so, leave me a comment and let me know which one you prefer!

Till next time, thanks for dropping by.

Claire

Out of my comfort zone!

Hello again! Making the most of the long weekend to grab a little extra crafty time. Today I pushed the envelope a little and took on this week's Just Add Ink 7 Challenge. It is a colour challenge, and the colours are definitely ones I find *scary*! See what you think, you can enter and check out the other entries here.

I just couldn't get my head around them. So I went looking for a sketch to inspire me, and happened upon the Mojo Monday sketch for this week 128. It's an incredibly popular challenge and you can check out the entries and challenge yourself here.

I love the Mojo sketches because they are so very detailed.

So, armed with my sketch and my colour scheme, it was then quite a simple task to choose an appropriate stamp set and come up with a card. Here it is - still a bit afraid of the colours, I keep wanting to reach for my sunnies lol! But then it wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy...

I would love to know whether you think I was successful in my trip into the "colour twilight zone" and my use of the sketch.

Project Recipe:

Stamps: Embrace Life

Inks: Basic Brown, Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Green Galore, Whisper White, Versa Mark

Cardstock: Green Galore, Pink Passion, Kraft, Tempting Turquoise, Windsor Knot DSP

Other: White Gel Pen, Aquapainter, Circle Scissor Plus (how easy is that thing to use!!), Bold Brights Brads

Technique: Watercolouring

Thanks for stopping by. See you next time!

Claire

Candy Lane Creation

Hiya! Back at last - where did that month go to?

I am in a fever of anticipation at the moment as my pre-order of products (including the wonderful bigshot) has left the Stampin' Up! warehouse in Sydney and is wending it's way painfully slowly (in my opinion, lol) to Tassie. For the first time in my life I am actually disappointed it is a public holiday on Monday (no mail - torture!)

Anyway, I have been keeping myself busy in the meantime so I have a too cute little box to share with you today. The inspiration for this box was provided by a fellow SU demo Sonia Garbutt, you can check out her fab creation here, don't forget to check out the rest of her creations whilst you are visiting. Sonia was also kind enough to provide a link to the instructions, so if you would like to try one of these gorgeous boxes yourself, visit Andrea Lowcock here and print out her template.

Here 'tis closed




And open


And a close up of the gorgeous Candy Lane Designer Series Paper flower on the belly band.





Project Recipe:

Stamps: Razzle Dazzle, Fresh Cuts

Inks: Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette

Other: Candy Lane DSP, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brad, Curly Label Punch

Hope you like my pretty little box. Leave me a comment, it's always great to know who stopped by.

Until next time,

Claire

A challenging latte

Don't faint! I'm back again...

I just had to scoot back and share with you a card I made for a challenge. I have been enjoying watching the growth of a brand new Aussie challenge blog Just Add Ink. They have an amazing design team - many of whom were already in my blog favourites. The best part (for me) is that two of the DT are Tassie girls - go Tassie! It's great to see girls from our little island attracting national and international attention.

I had a few thank you cards to make so I figured I would push myself a little and try this weeks's challenge in my card design. It is a sketch challenge, my favourite kind. I also went with a softer more girly colour combo than I do usually.

Here is my entry for JAI3

Project Recipe: (All items used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated)

Stamps: Sip by Sip

Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Versa Mark

Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Chocolate Chip Ribbon, Pink Pirouette Ribbon, Button Latte button, Hemp Twine, Sponge Daubers

Non SU: Versa Marker

Technique: Emboss Resist

Don't forget to get on over to Just Add Ink and check out the challenge yourself if you would like to enter. Otherwise soak up the inspiration on offer.

Thanks for stopping by, I would love to know what you think of my entry.

Cheers

Claire

A Fantastic Tall Tale!

Hi again.

I've just popped back to share the project that I made at a Workshop on Saturday - waving to you Christine! Christine and her pals have been with Stampin' Up! longer than I have, and I was so lucky they chose to find a local demo again, when theirs moved to Queensland. We have had some great fun crafting together in the last couple of years, so when Christine booked another workshop I knew I had to find something a little bit challenging for them to do!

I searched through my favourite resources and came across this box by Stampin' Terri, which I have been meaning to make for ages. I downloaded her fab tutorial and had a go, replacing her chipboard panels with ones cut from the heavy card you find in the backs of packs of Stampin' Up!'s designer series papers - waste nothing!

Here is the one I made with the ladies on Saturday. The first one I made I filled with goodies and gave to Christine as a hostess gift.

The inside

The outside

Project recipe: (All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated)

Stamps: Polka Dot background

Inks: Rose Red

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Rose Red Textured

Other: Tall Tales DSP, brad

Non SU: Tissue paper for flower embellishment on box top

Well, thanks for stopping by. If you like my Fantasy Box leave me a comment and let me know!

Cheers Claire