Summery Thanks

Alrighty, dinner is in the crock pot, brownies are baking slowly, and the dishes are done - so here's the card I made last night! I needed a thank you card for Shan's parents and using a sketch and colour challenge meant this one came together super quick while I listened to my ipod.

I've been meaning to do Mercy's sketch all week - I love this one! The colour combo of Ruby Red, Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White came from Color Dare 57.

I stamped the girl from Summer by the Sea in Stazon and watercoloured her VERY quickly with inkpads. You can't go over and over normal cardstock the way you can with watercolour paper - it pills. So this quick colour wash probably took all of 60 seconds. The circle layers were cut with the Circle Scissor Plus. I used some retired designer paper for my background and the Trio Flower punch flowers. I gently shape these using the thick end of my piercing tool and the foam mat from the mat pack.

For the inside I used a sentiment from the SAB Whimsical Words set and repeated some elements from the front of the card. This is the last month to earn this, or any other Sale-A-Bration set for free!


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March Calender Page

Hey there creative peeps! I was up bright and early this morning so I thought I'd quickly share something pretty before getting dinner in the crock pot. I'll probably be back later on with a card I made last night - I have so much creative energy at the moment, I'm not even blogging everything I'm making! It's great to be enjoying my craft room.

So here's my calender page for this month....

I went with quite a different design from last month, elongating the entire panel so I could use some of my favourite Raspberry Tart designer paper. The colour combo is pulled from the paper - Real Red, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss and Rose Red. I love this Butterfly Prints stamp set and punch!

To get the graduated effect on the butterfly, I inked with Cameo Coral, then sponged directly on the rubber with Rose Red before stamping. I used the gorgeous swirl from Baroque Motifs as a background. I love the Calender sets already - it's so relaxing stamping the grid, then all the numbers, it's a fun way to spend some time!

Happy Stamping,


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March Madness

Hi everyone. Can you believe it's March already? February just ends so abruptly! Happy Birthday to my Dad!!! I can't show you his card yet either (we have a lot of birthdays this time of year) but I love how it turned out, so will show you later in the week. We have a busy couple of months coming up, I feel like I might blink and it will be Winter already!

I just got done making this gift card holder for Project Tuesday, a little bit of a different style from last time. I've used the colours from CCEE1008, Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red and Basic Black.

I felt like pulling out a lot of inks, so no designer paper on this one! I've used the Stem Silhouettes and Basic Phrases stamp sets. I've done lots of sponging, sanding, distressing the edges and piercing to create an aged look. The hardware is Antique Brass.

The Word Window and a Circle punch are used to create the opening to slip in a gift card. Quick, simple and a great way to spruce up a gift!

I'll be back tomorrow, and I'll probably share the calendar I made for this month.

Have a great week,


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Wishing you....

It's a gorgeous day here in Wellington, lots of sun and blue sky, so I'm running out the door on my way to a picnic, but I thought I'd quickly leave you some clean and simple eye candy...

Love this stamp from A Happy Heart! I've inked it with Basic Gray and Real Red Markers. The paper is Basic Grey Ambrosia and the ribbon is SU Basic Gray Taffeta.

Wishing you a wonderful day!


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Inspired by Challenges....

I have a busy day coming up, so thought I'd blog nice and early. This is a card I whipped up last night - it was fun to do some straight stamping - no colouring this time. I'm enjoying my silhouette stamps at the moment.

Before I move on - Happy Birthday Michelle! (I'm not sure you'll see this as you're busy with the move, but if you do, love ya) I can't wait to show you what I've done for my little sister - it won't be until March though after I've hand delivered her present.

I love challenges - it's great to have a colour combo, sketch or inspiration piece to jump off from. This card uses two challenges, SCS Sketch 269 and Color Throwdown 81. My specific colours are Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette and Old Olive.

I've used the Inspired by Nature flower stamp - I inked it with Pink Pirouette first, sponged on some Pretty in Pink, sponged on Chocolate Chip then finished with an Old Olive marker. You can get great effects combining inking techniques like this!

I think this sentiment from Occasional Greetings might be my fav ever. It's so fun to ink it up with markers and get this beautiful result.

To embellish I've used some discount store ribbon, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip designer paper, the Polka Dot background stamp and some grommets/jumbo brads. This is my newest embellisment addiction! I wanted to further decorate something I'd used grommets on last week and found that jumbo brads sit beautifully in the middle! I think I've made three cards doing this already - I'll have to share the others soon.

Here's the inside. I love all the sentiments in On Your Birthday. It's one of those large sentiment sets you can use again and again forever.

Have a wonderful day!


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Triangle Heart Box

Stampin' Up! have released more details about the Haiti relief effort...

"Until 28 February, 2010, Stampin′ Up! is setting aside $2 from the sale of select stamp sets to be donated to the Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. So far, demonstrators around the world have sold 11,895 sets, which equates to over $20,000 to be donated to this fund"

What a great response! You still have time to order the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, or the February Beautiful Bundle to help add your contribution to this campaign.

In light of the update, I thought it was time to share another project with this set!

These Triangle boxes look complicated, but follow this tutorial and they are really simple. I added a window to mine using the Circle Scissors Plus. The window is covered with acetate so the kisses don't fall out! The papers on my box are from the Bella Bleu pack.

I've used a Valentin-ey sentiment, but change it to "thanks" or "for you" and you have a great general gift...or perhaps wedding favor?



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Embrace Life

It's Mojo Monday time again! For this week's sketch, I used an old Carousel Note as my card base, and one of my favourite stamp set and paper combos - Embrace Life and Ginger Blossom. It's been awhile since I used this stamp set, I'd forgotten how nice it is!

I had some extra time (while I played a poker tournament at Full Tilt! I love online poker) so I cut out more flowers while I played and made a matching envelope.

Here's the card. This is just the card front, there is a square card base glued underneath. I used a bunch of the Ginger Blossom paper as well as Ruby Red & Groovy Guava card. The circle layers were cut with the Circle Scissors plus - I love this tool! The glitter is copper stickles.

Here's the inside. I've used ink pads and a blender pen to quickly colour the images for a bit of pop.

The envelope features a Very Vanilla label and a couple of the same cut-out flowers from the card. Simple, but oh so pretty!

Happy Stampin'


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Giftcard Holder

Happy Monday everyone! I have a few projects made over the weekend and today that I'll be sharing as soon as I get the photos taken, but in the meantime, here's a little giftcard holder I made last week.

The colour combo is Lavender Lace, Summer Sun and Regal Rose. I've used stamps from the SAB set Happy Moments. The sentiment is from It's Your Birthday. I coloured the image with markers on watercolour paper. The background "happy birthday" was stamped with Versamark.

Here's a rushed shot of the inside - I put my Spotlight card there just so you can see what it looks like when filled, but I obviously didn't check to see if it was straight first! I use the Slit punch primarily to make large scallops, but it's nice to use it the way it was intended every now and then!

Have a great week!


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Anniversary Heart

Hi everyone. I've just been doing some clean and simple stamping, and remembered this card I made last week and needed to share with you. I told you I {Heart} Hearts was great for things other than Valentines! I've used it here for an elegant Anniversary Card.

The colour combo here is Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. The heart image was stamped twice, once on the square layer and once on a scrap for cutting out. After stamping the solid image, I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the dotted heart, which is sized as a perfect border.

Both the square layer and heart are popped up on dimensionals. I've used the Eyelet Border punch for the focal border. The sentiment is from Cheer and Wishes - I love this simple font. I added the dots underneath with a Chocolate Chip marker and the piercing template from the mat pack.

Right, time to go pop some popcorn and watch a DVD!

Have a great weekend,


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You're a Blast!

Yesterday when I had some inkpads out to colour an image, I saw these three colours together - Real Red, Tempting Turqoise and Apricot Appeal. Love them!! I put aside what I was doing and got to work on this card. I pulled out lots of new goodies - and love the result.

Pun Fun (I'm sure I've said this before - deja vu) is one of my favourite sets ever. The images are SO cute. This is my first time using the adorable rocket, and it was lots of fun to colour with inkpads and glitter. I made the background paper using an embossed image and my brayer. The sketch is Mojo 126.

I used lots of punches on this one - Scalloped Circle, Word Window, and the Slit punch for the large scallops. I love these new Playground buttons, they're a great finishing touch for any card, as is the Real Red Polka dot ribbon.

I've repeated the colours and shapes from the card on this inside - but no sentiment yet as I'm not sure what I'll use this for. I've used my white gel pen for a bit of faux stitching here too.

Whatever you're doing, have a blast today!


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February Calendar

I thought today I better share with you my simple hanging calendar for February, before anymore of the month ticks away! In my last SU! order I grabbed the sets to make my own calenders, knowing I'll get a lot of use out of them personally and when making gifts.

I wanted a simple reference I could hang on my stamping desk and I'm really pleased with how well it works for me.

Cute right? It's just the right size for a small wall calender or desk calender. I stamped the grid on Candy Lane paper and layered it on Riding Hood Red. After stamping the month and dates in Riding Hood Red, I decorated it simply with stamps from this month's Beautiful Bundle - I {Heart} Hearts, making sure to denote Valentine's Day of course!

I added hanging ribbon tabs with the Pink Pirouette grosgrain ribbon from the Summer Mini and silver brads from the Hodgepodge Hardware kit.

To create the hanger, I sponged a bamboo skewer with Riding Hood Red, blunted the sharp end, attached a mini glue dot to each end and added a wide hole silver bead from my jewellery making stash. Because I don't usually plan my projects from start to finish before I begin, I love it when I can find the perfect embellishment solution lurking somewhere in my craft room!

The clip is from the Clips Assortment pack, and I've just stuck it to the door with a pop-up glue dot. I'll probably use this same configuration every month - recycling the hardware each time.

Have a great afternoon,


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Simple Spring Thanks

Here's a quick wee note card I whipped up this afternoon with the A Flower For All Seasons set. I love using smaller images on mini cards like this, and the stamps in this set are adorable.

Very simple card - I coloured the image with markers and a waterbrush. The windows in the Bashful Blue and Pretty in Pink layers were cut with square punches. The sentiment, stamped in Bashful Blue is from the Happy Moments SAB set. I've also got another card I made today with that set (so much fun for colouring!) that I'll share soon.

Happy Stampin'


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Some Yummy Valentine Treats!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a relaxing weekend. The weather was pretty wild here in Wellington, a lot of wind and rain, so I was able to get a lot of crafting done! I'll have lots to show you over the coming weeks.

Tonight I thought I'd share my other Valentine's crafting project....

Cupcakes! I've been making and decorating cupcakes for years now, I have a shelf in my craft room dedicated to all my supplies. This Valentines though, I decided to pair my love of cupcake decorating with my love of papercrafting for a special surprise treat for Shanan!

Here they are...chocolate cupcakes with a soft chocolate buttercream icing. What's Valentine's Day without a little chocolate? Yup, they taste as good as they look!

I've used the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set from the February Beautiful Bundle! This is the first of many projects I have to show with this bundle - trust me, you are going to want this set! I love it, and I promise, it's not just for Valentine's Day.

For the toppers, I've used the Scallop Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Candy Lane Paper, Riding Hood Red Card and Ink, White Gel Pen, Pretty in Pink ribbon and Dimensionals. The sentiment is from the So Many Sayings stamp set (retired - but I do have a brand new one I should get around to finding a new home for!)

The best thing is I was able to take the decorated part of the topper to use on some cute cards. In fact, I have four - so the first four people to purchase the I {Heart} Hearts bundle will receive a pretty card from me, in addition to all the great things in the bundle!

Have a wonderful evening,


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