Love, Family & Friendship.

We had such a special occasion the other week that it has even made me blog, which as you have no doubt noticed, doesn’t happen that often!  Our fabulous leader Jacque married her dream man Robert & they joined their 2 families together.  It was such a lovely day at Wenderholm where the ceremony & celebration were held & many of us had a tear in our eyes.  What made it so special was the inclusion of both of their children.  Rob gave Jacque’s daughters Maddy, Kjristi & Sofie a ring & Jacque gave Rob’s son Bayley a ring.

They were married by another one of our team members, the fabulous Bron Heslop in her Naval whites.  Of course there were Stampin’ Up! touches everywhere.  The flowers were tied with SU ribbon, the girls dresses were  trimmed with SU Crumb Cake tulle & even the cup cakes had toppers made with SU product.

With so many creative people at the wedding, I had to make sure that the present & card from my team was the best it could be.  We were told no presents but I just wanted to do something special for them.  It was time to think outside the square & out of my comfort zone.  As it happened the colours & vintage style I chose matched the style of the wedding perfectly.

I used one of our new Kraft Gift Boxes as the base.  I love these boxes & at $5.95 for 4 they are great value.  The panels on the sides & lids were created using the “faux patina” technique with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder & then layered on Early Espresso CS.

While I was playing around with some of the Crumb Cake Tulle  the other day, I accidently discovered that it melts & scrunches up when heated.  It looked a little bit like a butterfly in flight then when I looked again I realised that it also looked like a Bridal veil or train.  So after a bit of playing around, this is what I came up with.

I have used Gold Card Stock for the base card & embossed the edge with the Delicate Designs folder which I love.  For the top panel I used the same technique as I did for the box but used the Lacy Brocade folder from the Holiday Mini instead.  The finishing touch was the addition of small hearts punched for our yummy Champagne Glimmer Paper. 

Happy Stamping

Ann

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Loving the New Catalogues!

Wow, every year Stampin’ Up! seems to get better & better!  This year not only to we have our annual catalogue but also an amazing Holiday Catalogue!
You can find links to both of them on the side bar, or if you would like your own copies, please Email me.
We had lots of fun at the Catalogue Launch Parties – one of the most popular projects was the Christmas Decoration.  A girl just has to lover her bling, so we went all out with our beautiful new Champaign Glimmer Paper snowflake.



This decoration is super quick to make, all you need to do is run the Champaign Glimmer Paper & Cherry Cobbler card stock  through the Big Shot with the new Snow Flurry die.  They were then layered with Stampin’ Dimensionals & finally finished with my favourite Seam Binding Ribbon in Cherry Cobbler.
If this doesn’t suit your Christmas decor, don’t worry, with our huge range of coloured card stock there is bound to be a colour just for you.  The Glimmer Paper also comes in Red & Silver.  Why not get some friends together & create your own designer decorations this Christmas!
Contact me now to arrange your own Christmas decorating workshop!

Happy Stamping
Ann

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Birthday Bear

I had to make a birthday card for a 1 year old girl the other day & really had to put my thinking cap on.  With mainly boys in the family, I don’t have many “girly” stamps.  While I was hunting through my stamps I came across a set that I never really liked & thought I would give it a try.  Well, it turned out that it was one of those cards that just “fell together”.  That is often the way when you step out of your comfort zone!

Unfortunately the photo doesn’t look as good as the real thing.  I used the dancing bear from the  Under the Big Top stamp set & water coloured it.  The cardstock is Blushing Bride & Wisteria Wonder which has become one of my favourite colour combo’s.  I love how they compliment each other as they both have a grey undertone.  Now no little girls card would be complete without a bit of bling, so I dotted Dazzling Diamonds around the scallop circle & on the number 1.  Both this stamp set & Blushing Bride will be retiring on 31 August, so if you don’t have them in your collection, Email me now!

Happy Stamping
Ann

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NZSU Scrap Challenge

How many of you have boxes full of “scraps” that you will use “one day”?!  I know I do.  It is so hard to through out all of those pretty little bits!  This week http://nzsublog.blogspot.co.nz/ has come up with a challenge to make a project using scraps.  NZSU is a blog with links to lots of New Zealand Stampin’ Up! demonstrators blogs.  If you haven’t visited the NZSU site before, be sure to pop on by.

To make this card I punched 9 squares out of scraps of Twitterpated DSP using the 1” Square Punch & adhered them to Riding Hood Red squares that I have punched out using the Postage Stamp Punch & mounted them all on a square of Baja Breeze card stock.  More little scraps were used to make the rolled roses & the swirls which were made with the Swirls Scribbles die.  To finish off the card I added a greeting & a few score lines using our Simply Scored tool.

Happy Stamping

Ann

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Roar! (That Means Happy Birthday in Dinosaur)

Technorati Tags: Dinoroar,Kids cards,boys,dinosaurs

This is a card I made for my nephew James’ birthday.  He is 10 & loves Stampin’ Up!.  He has a pretty good knowledge of our product too, especially which adhesive to use for what & the Big Shot. 

I used Old Olive & Perfectly Plum card stock & DSP.  I put the DSP through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.  I love how this folder adds texture & a bit of distressing, completely changing the look of the polka dot DSP.  I stamped the dinosaurs from the Dinoroar stamp set with Black Staz-On & then coloured them with Watercolour Wonder Crayons.  Now, even boys need a bit of bling in their life so I added a touch of Dazzling Diamonds to highlight the dinosaurs.

Happy Stamping

Ann

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A Bird in the Bush

I just love our A La Carte range.  They are just perfect for those who are new to stamping & don’t want to invest to much until they become addicted (as we know they will!)  One of my favourites is Young Vermillion.

I stamped the bird on watercolour paper & then used an assortment of reds, oranges & yellow Stampin’ Write Markers to add depth to the colour of the bird.  I then used an aquapainter to add a wash of Baja Breeze to the background. 

To make the mini flowers use a bone folder to “break” the paper fibres by pulling the paper against the bone folder. 

• Do this a few times on both sides until the paper is soft. 
• Now peel apart the paper so you have 2 layers that will feel a bit like suede on one side.
• Punch out the flowers using the flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.
• Place flowers on a sheet of foam & use a bone folder in the centre of each to make a hollow
• Use a Blender Pen & ink of your choice to add colour to the flower centre, then add a pearl.

I used DSP from the Neutrals Paper Stack for the background.  This was run through the Big
Shot using the Square Lattice Embossing Folder which has made the paper look like it is two-toned.

Happy Stamping

Ann

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All That Glitters is Not Silver!

I just love our Glimmer Paper, it allows you to add glitter to a project with none of the mess!  At only $10.95 for 2 12” x 12” sheets, it is great value too.  It is available in red & silver, but what if you would like a different colour?

Easy!  You just colour it yourself.  After much trial & error & many psychedelic results, I have found the best method is to use a combination of isopropyl alcohol (no, don’t drink it) & re-inkers.  I used some empty, divided Stack & Store containers.  Add a few drops of alcohol to each quarter then add a few drops of re-inkers of your chosen colours to each one.  You can vary the intensity of the colour by the amount of re-inker you add.  I then used an Aquapainter to “spread” the colour over the butterfly.

You can use water instead of alcohol but it will take longer to dry.  You can also add some alcohol straight into your Aquapainter & then pick up ink from the lid of your ink pad.  Note that in all methods, the colour will lighten as it dries.

I used the Crop-a-dile to punch out the holes in the wings of the butterfly & then “recycled” them to make the “flight path” & for the final bit of bling, I added a Neutral Glimmer Brad.

Happy Stamping

Ann

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