01.27.09
Sale-a-Bration creation
I know that I said I would pop back in yesterday with some of my sale-a-bration creations but we decided to take the kids to Frankston to see “Dinostory” – sculptured dinosaur sandcastles. By the time we returned, after walking the pier, swimming at the beach and picnicing (is there such a word, well there is now) in the park I was way too tired to fire up the computer.
Today has been a much gentler pace.
I saw this gorgeous little purse the other day when I was blogsurfing and just had to make one for myself and a matching card to go with it.
The purse uses the new Bali Breeze Designer paper from the Summer Mini Catalogue, I just love the bright colours they remind me of bikinis in all those delicious tropical colours. The front embellishment is from the Sale-a-Bration set “Polka Dot Punches” which cordinates perfectly with the 5 petal punch. I have also used a rhinestone brad to add that ”bling” that every purse should have.
The template for the purse can be downloaded from here and printed directly onto your patterned paper.
I used the same paper for the matching card and another stamp from “Polka Dot Punches”. I have embossed the image with white embossing powder then punched it out with the scalloped circle punch. I tried mounting the image directly on the patterned paper but it seemed to get a bit lost so I created a circle in my top layer using the round tab punch so that some of the white base card would show around the edge of my stamped image. The sentiment is a rub-on from the “Hidden Garden” set in the Summer Mini catalogue.
I think this Sale-a-Bration set is my favourite, but I do love them all expecially when they are free! Just like you I get a free set of my choice when I spend a $100 on regular merchandise.
01.24.09
Back to Scrappin
Just dropping in for a quick post before I take the boys of to the skate park for the afternoon. I have been trying to do a bit of scrapbooking over the holidays, I have so many photos piling up I will be consumed by them soon. This is a 12 x 12 layout using elements from the Winter Bright Scrappin Kit, some of the retired xmas chipboadrd plus a few other odds and ends thrown in. The photo is from Xmas 2006 (see how behind I am). I think the boys might be getting just a bit big for Santa’s lap, don’t you think.
It’s hard to see in the photo but the chipboard snowflake is covered in dazzling diamonds and is really sparkly IRL.
The photo doesn’t really do it justice, I really struggle to get good shots of my work. I mean how hard can it be, my camera’s fully automatic so it just should be a matter of point and shoot but I always end up with a crooked shot or strange colours. I think I need to go off and do one of those sort courses on how to get the most out of my digital camera.
Hope you all enjoy the Australia Day weekend and I will drop by tomorrow with some creations featuring the new Sale-a-Bration sets which you can get for free during January and February.
01.14.09
Mini Calendars
Good morning to everyone
Is it hot where you are today? I’m away with the kids at the moment for a short break before they go back to school. We are staying at my Dad’s and honestly it is beyond hot here. It’s just before 11am and it’s already 38 celcius predicted to reach 42 but I reckon it’s going to be more like 44. Thank goodness for air-conditioning and the pool.
Now I didn’t bring any of my stamping stuff with me as we will only be here a week but boy am I missing it. I have been doing a bit of blog surfing on my laptop and am feeling majorly inspired by all the fantastic work I’ve seen. I just can’t wait to get back to my stamps.
I thought I would post some photos of the mini calendar the girls made at stamp club last week. Calendar projects are a great way to start the New Year and also make wonderful gifts for friends and family. I was first inspired by the ones I saw here and thought they would be a great way to highlight some of the new Designer papers from the Summer Mini catalogue.
This page features papers the beautiful bright colours from the “Bali Breeze” range which I thought worked well for the summer months. I used some of the new “Felt Fusion” flowers which coordinate perfectly with the paper to embellish the top of the page.
For the autumn months I used papers from the “Ginger Blossom” range. I stamped the large flower from ”Embrace Life” on to patterned paper and then cut it out and finished it off with a half back pearl from my Pretties Kit. I’m a bit of a hoarder and don’t use my embellishments for fear of running out so I have promised myself this year to use them and buy more if I need to (don’t know why I never thought of this before LOL).
For the winter pages I used the “Wintergreen” papers from the 08-09 Idea Book and Catalogue, these had the cool feel that I was looking for. The image is from my ‘Lovely as a Tree” set and uses a technique called ‘thumping”. I just took the long stamp with the five trees on it, inked up the four that I wanted using my Soft sky inkpad and them literally thumped an Always Artichoke marker randomly over the trees. The trunks were coloured with a “chocolate chip” marker. Don’t worry about your ink drying on your stamp simply give the image a quick “huff” before stamping and the moisture in your breath will be enough to re-activate the inks. I added some dazzling diamonds glitter with my glue pen toadd some sparkle.
The final page covered the spring months and I have used papers from the “Afternoon Tea” range which are lovely and soft and remind me of the new growth of spring. The flowers, butterly and bird are from the “Live your Dream” set and I just inked the images using a combination of inkpads and markers to give the detail I wanted. There is a little bit of cutting out required on this one but it’s not too detailed.
Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give you a little detail about each page. Now that I’ve done that I realise that I don’t have a photo of the whole calendar so that you can see what it looks like all put together. But basically you cut and score a piece of Kraft cardstock as if you were going to make a standard A2 card and them you adhere your prepared pages to all four sides in any order that you like. When I return from my holiday I will post a picture of the completed calendar so you can see for yourself.
Talk to you soon.
01.12.09
It’s time to Sale-A-Brate
January sees the start of another favourite Stampin’ Up! promotion – Sale-A-Bration. For those of you who haven ‘t experienced Sale-A-Bration before it’s all about “free” stamp sets. In this catalogue you will find 4 gorgoeous exclusive stamp sets available between 1 January and 28 February 2009. You cannot purchase these sets they are only available when:
Customers: you spend $100 on Stampin’ Up! merchandise, you’ll receive one of the the four gorgeous stamp sets for free (your choice). There’s no limit so for every $100 you spend, you can select another free Sale-A-Bration reward!
Recruits: anyone who wants to become a demonstrator can choose an extra stamp set (from the current Idea Book and Catalogue) to the value of $79.95, in addition to the huge discount you already receive on the starter kit.
If you would like to take advantage of any of these options or would like a brochure posted to you then contact me michellegrech@netspace.net.au and I will post one to you.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to you all.
I can’t believe it has been so long since I posted – my apologies. November and December were exceptionally busy months in our household this year, especially since I pushed a lot of things into early November to accommodate our trip to Queensland in late October. Between end of school and kinder festivities, the odd class/workshop and getting ready for the christmas festivities I found myself falling into bed way past my bedtime without having been near my computer, despite all best intentions.
But enough of that 2009 is a new year. Now did you all make resolutions for this year? I don’t normally participate in this practice because mine are always unrealistic and broken before January’s over and then I feel like I’ve failed before the year’s even got going. But this year I found myself talking (could of been on New Year’s Eve) about working on my fitness and posting to my blog more often. Now I don’t want to mozz myself so I’m not calling them “resolutions” but they are things that are important to me and I will try to honour them in 2009.
I’m holidaying at my Dad’s right now but when I return I intend to join the gym and begin to work on my fitness (goodness I’m making excuses already, I should start tomorrow). But I have made my first card for 2009 and even photographed it so I can post while I’m away. It’s a start.
One of the other things that I promised myself was to do more challenges. It’s a great way to spark your creativity and the feeling of accomplishment when your finished is so much better knowing that it’s all your own work. For ages now I’ve admired the work of Julee Tilman and her Mojo Monday sketches. She has just moved her sketches to a blog of their own and you will find them here. So here is the sketch:
and here is my take on it!
I have used two of the new Sale-A-Bration stamp sets Polka Dot Punches and Yummy as well as the new Designer Series Paper “Bali Breeze” from the current Summer Mini Catalogue. I can’t believe you can pick up these beautiful sets for free during Sale-A-Bration. The colours I used were Rose Red and Whisper White with some white taffeta ribbon and some pearls from the “Pretties” kit to finish off.
Have a go yourself, pick a challenge, there are heaps of them available and you may be surprised at what you can do.
