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

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

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 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

Thank you Secret Stampin' Santa!!

Back again - as promised, to share with you the wonderful treats I received from my ESAD Secret Stampin' Santa. This swap was amongst a group of Aussie Stampin' Up! demos who all belong to the ESAD forum. We committed to secretly sending a parcel of goodies to our sister demo, it was to contain handmade goodies and a gift to a set value. We then had to guess who our Secret Santa was - a very tricky proposition!

I was thoroughly spoilt by my Secret Santa - it was so exciting opening the wonderful box of goodies she sent me! Here are some pics of my gifts.

My goodies as they arrived - all co-ordinated beautifully using the Pink Flamingo DSP - so stunningly bright and breezy.

Inside the large parcel was a Pretties Kit! This has been on my wish list for sooo long, but never quite made it to the top. I am absolutely thrilled to have one and can't wait to make some gorgeous projects with it! I think the first one will be a thank you card to my Secret Santa!

Inside the box was a container of Yummy Chocolate - I have had to hide this one from hubby and Number 1 son!

A close up of the lunch pail - inside there are recipe cards, my Secret Santa even took the time and trouble to write a few of her own for me! It is beautifully decorated with some of the Styled Silver Hodge Podge (also on my wish list!) and the gorgeous red polka dot ribbon from the Summer Mini Catalogue.

Thanks again Secret Santa - I had a ball opening my goodies and will enjoy using them in the months to come.

Cheers

Claire

Happy Mail!

Hi all!

Since I joined ESAD (mentioned in my previous post), I have had the chance to join some really cool activities. One of them is a Secret Stampin' Sister Swap. I have been given a fellow Aussie demo to spoil - now I can't show you what I have sent her yet, we have not revealed who we are to our secret sisters. But I can show you the gorgeous happy mail I received in my letter box the other day.

My very clever Secret Sister made this beautiful Advent calendar for me, in my fave colours (choc chip and red). How gorgeous is this?! There is so much work and detail here, I am so spoiled. Inside the drawers (I have opened a few now), there are some sweet treats and fab Stampin' Up! goodies. So far I have found some Styled Silver Hodgepodge (from my wishlist), build-a-brads and other brads. It is very exciting looking to see what is in there each day!

She also made me this beautiful card.

I can't wait to find out who she is, so that I can thank her properly and get the instructions for this fab Advent Calendar. Soon I will go back and share the other lovely goodies I have received.

Thanks for dropping by. Leave me a comment and let me know how jealous you are that I have such a fab secret sister!!

Claire

ESAD-SU Blog Hop!

Hello Hoppers! For those who are visiting my blog for the first time WELCOME! I hope you like the fun projects that I have to share. To those loyal blog surfers who check back regularly to see if I am here THANKS! I'm back and hope to be a reformed blogger from now on ...

Welcome to the ESAD-SU Summer Mini Blog hop. ESAD-SU is a great forum for Aussie Stampin' Up! Demos and of course our lovely Kiwi cousins. It is a wonderful place to go for advice and inspiration, there are regular challenges and lots of sharing of ideas. If you are a Stampin' Up! Demo in Australia or New Zealand and would like to join this awesome group click here.

The purpose of this Blog Hop is to share the creations we have made with the incredibly yummy range of goodies in Stampin' Up's new Summer Mini catalogue. If you would like me to send you a copy of the new mini catalogue contact me and I will send you one.

So, enough chit chat here is the main event! The projects I am sharing were made with the gorgeous Animal Stories stamp set and the Tall Tales Designer Series Papers.

This project is a double scrapbook layout featuring the adorable new baby elephant at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney - Luk Chai. On the day we were visiting we watched the elephants come out for play time, whilst the older elephants were showing off their skills, Luk Chai stole the show, and the hearts of the crowd, by nicking the soccer ball from the bigger elephants, dribbling it out from under their feet with his head. Here is my layout "Luk Chai steals the show!"

Project Recipe:

• Stamps: Play Ball (Retired) Calendar Alphabet and Numbers




• Cardstock: Old Olive, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip




• Inks: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, White Craft Ink




• Accessories: Tall Tales DSP (Summer Mini catalogue) Jumbo Grommets (Summer Mini) On Board Timeless Type Chipboard Letters, Chololate Chip Double Stitched Ribbon, Signo White Gel Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Chocolate Chip Marker




• All Stamped Images are copyright Stampin' Up!

The next project is this adorable box with matching 3x3" gift cards and DSP envelopes.

Project Recipe:

• Stamps: Animal Stories (Summer Mini Catalogue), Really Retro (Ideas Book and Catalogue)
  




• Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White, So Saffron, Brilliant Blue, Old Olive
  




• Inks: Old Olive, Rose Red, Brilliant Blue, Chocolate Chip
  




• Accessories: Tall Tales DSP (Summer Mini Catalogue) White Gel Pen, So Saffron Marker, Mat Pack and Paper Piercing Tool, Build-a-brad, Flower Designer Brad, Playground Designer Buttons, Brilliant Blue brads, Stampin' Dimensionals.




• All stamped images are copyright Stampin' Up!

As an extra special treat - there is blog candy to be won! Anyone who visits every blog in the ESAD-SU Summer Mini blog hop and comments on each one (there are 30!) will have their name put in the draw to win some delicious Stampin' Up! blog candy. You have until midnight on Wednesday AEDST to comment and then email leonie@stamp-a-latte.com to get in the draw. So get that comment love happening and get your name in the draw!!

Now to move on to the next delectable offering in this feast of Stampin' Up! Summer Mini treats, click on the link to head over to the exceptionally talented and incredibly creative Corinna Buchan at her blog pinkflowersandbling

Thanks for dropping by, enjoy the rest of the hop.

Cheers

Claire

So many ways to Count the days!

I must be really losing the plot now! I am waxing poetic… Too much to do before Christmas and not enough time to do it in! Just popping in to share my latest project with you. My gorgeous girlfriend bought this craft wood tree from a Scrapping shop, it comes complete with the little tiles to count down the days until Christmas and the hooks to hang them on. My little guy and I have decorated it to give to his class teacher. Here it is …

We decorated both the tree and the tiles with the Stampin' Up! Dashing DSP. Projects like this are sooo easy with SU because everything co-ordinates so well, the inks, ribbons, papers etc. I didn't have to spend hours searching for just the right colour cardstock etc. The numbers on the tiles are from the On Board Lots of Letters, and are triple embossed with Gold EP. The star was from the On Board Trimmings that were in the Spring Mini catalogue, it is triple embossed with a rhinestone brad in the centre. "Days until Christmas" was stamped, using the retired Tidy Alphabet, in Versa Mark on co-ordinating cardstock and embossed with gold EP. Then cut out, remounted on a contrasting colour and cut out again. Finally we tied some gold and red cord through matching buttons and popped them up on dimensionals as "decorations" on our tree. I also made a little box (adapting the gift box from "Mainly Flowers") to keep the tiles in when they are not in use, as they will not all fit on the hooks at once.

Hope you like it, would love to know what you think!

Thanks for stopping by...

Claire

Christmas Candy!!

Hi again,

Yet another Christmas project to share with you! These are the little gifts my son and I made for his classmates at school. I have to say the idea is not mine, a friend made these with her boys a year or two ago, and the idea just stuck with me (TFS Lynda!)

We used the retired Merry Minis set and watercoloured the images to match the Designer Series Paper (DSP) we chose. Here are some pics for you.

A close up!

Project Recipe:

Fold a 16cm x 5cm piece of DSP in half and stick together near the open ends. We used Dashing, Wintergreen and Ginger Blossom. Punch at the open ends with the Scallop Edge punch (A great new punch available in the Summer Mini).

Push the folded edge of the DSP as far as it will go into the Double Slot or Double Circle punch, centre it, edge to edge and punch.

Stamp your image on scrap cardstock and colour as desired, here I used an Aqua Painter and Ink pads to colour.

Punch out your image with the 1 ¾ " circle punch, and mount on a piece of co-ordinating card stock. Here I punched the co-ordinating cardstock with the Scallop Circle punch.

Adhere to your DSP.

Slide the candy cane inside the folded edge of your DSP. Take an 8cm length of co-ordinating ribbon and feed through the holes from top to bottom with both ends. Cross over and feed back up through the opposite hole to form your bow. This will hold the candy cane firmly in place.

Too easy!!!

Hope you like them. Thanks for stopping by.

'Til next time …

Claire

Just Made It!!!!

Phew! Finished just in time! After 3 weeks spending every spare moment on this project, I just managed to finish it in time for my little guy to use it. His comment was "Wow that's Awesome Mum!" So, I thought I would share all that hard work with you.

This is my Advent Calandar. It was inspired by this one I saw on Butternut Sage Designs. There is even a video tutorial, if you would like to check it out. Obviously I had to make a few alterations, as we don't yet have the Bigshot here in our Australian Stampin' Up! catalogue. So here is a pic of mine, made using items we do have!

A bit closer

A close up of one of the boxes

A close up of the Faux Metal Star

Project Recipe: (All products used were Stampin' Up! except where stated)

Pre-stretched artist canvas from a discount shop (Chickenfeed for those of you in Tassie)

Craft boxes with lids from a discount shop (they have ovals and circles in Chickenfeed). I attached these to the canvas using Velcro dots so that I can remove them after Christmas and pack them away carefully

Oval cutters (I used Creative Memories ones) to cut the Designer Series paper for the lids, then glazed the lids with Crystal Effects (hopefully this will prevent the DSP from peeling off in the future)

Dashing Designer Series Paper, plus Old Olive, Real Red, Very Vanilla, River Rock and Chocolate Chip Cardstock

Chocolate Chip 5/8" ribbon, Real Red ¼" ribbon, Very Vanilla ¼" ribbon, Real Red striped Grosgrain ribbon, Chocolate Chip ¼" ribbon

Simple Serif Mini Alphabet and Numbers, to stamp the days until Christmas (thanks for lending them to me Lynda!) Merry Merry, Baroque Motifs and Seasons of Joy Stamp sets to decorate the boxes and for the faux metal embossing on the Star and the letters C and S of Christmas

Assorted punches, Rhinestone Brads and Hodgepodge Hardware for decorating the lids and displaying the numbers

On Board Loads of Letters and On Board Trimmings. The letters of "Days until" were painted with Real Red re-inker and a paintbrush then triple embossed with a mixture of White and Clear Embossing powders. The letters of "Christmas" were triple embossed with Gold Embossing powder.

Hope you like it, I would love to know what you think! Thanks for stopping by,

Claire

Another One for Christmas!

Hi again,

Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to. I found these pics on the blog of a very talented UK Stampin' Up! Demo, Crafty Squirrel. I had a go at recreating the box myself, but could not get the dimensions of the triangle quite right – I have always been spacially challenged, ask any of my maths teachers! Imagine my delight when Crafty Sqirrel posted the link to the templates. You can find them here along with heaps of others on Sara Sandberg's great site.

So, here is my attempt.

Project Recipe: (All products used are, of course, Stampin' Up!)

Stamps: Season of Joy (Spring Mini Catalogue), Illuminated (Standard Wheel)

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Very Vanilla, River Rock and Dashing Designer Series Paper

Inks: Real Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla (Craft Ink), Versa Mark

Acessories: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Fire Rhinestone Brads, 1 3/8 " and 1 ¼ " circle punches, Eyelets, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat tool, Stampin' Dimensionals

The red ponsiettas on the cover of the box were made by inking the stamp first in Versa Mark and then in Real Red ink. I then embossed them with clear embossing powder and cut them out. They are mounted on a dimensional with a red rhinestone brad through the centre, and then onto a circle of Old Olive cardstock.

I love this box because it is big enough to place a gift inside, such as jewellery or gourmet chocolates, but pretty enough to hang on the Christmas Tree. Hope you like it as much as I do. Let me know what you think!

Claire

Too Many Boxes!

Hello, again! Long time between posts even for me! Life rips along at it's usual pace and as usual I seem to have to peddle twice as fast as anyone else just to keep up, let alone get ahead of the game.

Today I have some cute little boxes to share with you. My Stampin' Up! upline, Mae, kindly shared a link she had found to a blog showing the directions for making these gorgeous boxes. You can find Shelly's blog by clicking here.

My gorgeous girlfriend had a sparkly party for her 5 year old coming up. Having only a son I rarely get the chance to play with girly stuff. So I offered to make these as party boxes for the guests. I re-sized Shelly's original template to fit in party goodies. They were a very big hit!

The little girl's boxes were made using the Perfect Princess stamp set (thanks Lynda for lending it to me!), colours from the Soft Subtles colour family and, of course, lots of glitter. The little boy's boxes were made using Stampin Up!'s East Coast Prep designer series paper and the co-ordinating cardstock colours Real Red, More Mustard and Wild Wasabi. For the three older children attending (2 big brothers and an older cousin) I used the Outlaw designer series paper, the Wanted stamp set and Sage Shadow, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla co-ordinating cardstock. Hope you like them. Thanks for stopping by.

Claire

Craft Fair and Gift Cards

Hi again. Well I have been flat chat getting ready for the Craft and Quilt Fair here in Hobart at the end of the month. My colleague and friend Lynda Moss and I have decided to run a Stampin' Up! stall at the fair. As Lynda is in the UK at the moment, I have been flying blind and missing her usual input as my "sounding board". Very glad she will be home soon!

At the Craft and Quilt fair Lynda and I will be running two classes each day. We hope that all our local Stampin' Up! friends will show us some support and come and join a class! You can register on the day to join a class, there will be one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It would be lovely to have some familiar faces there for some moral support! Drop by our stall and say Hi too, we would love to see you.

Anyway, as a break from the tons of One Sheet Wonders I have been making so that we have some stock on the stall and samples to show. Yesterday I decided to play with another of the Splitcoast Stamper's Challenges. This one was a Technique lover's challenge. We had to make 3, 3inch x 3inch cards, then use the templates provided to make co-ordinating envelopes and a little box to present them in. Here is a picture of mine.

I used the Wild About You stamp set primarily. With sentiments from the All Year Cheer 1 stamp set. So sad it has retired, it is such a useful set! I also used the new Dashing designer series paper, which I just love. The cardstock is in co-ordinating colours, Real Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla.

I really like this little collection and I think I will have to make some more to use as Hostess gifts. So, if you would like a little box of gift cards and you live in Southern Tassie, why not contact me – candpharrison@activ8.net.au – and you could receive one, along with all the other fabulous hostess benefits Stampin' Up! has to offer!

Leave a comment and let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by.