Razzle Dazzle, Circle Scissor and a side serve of Rubons

Hi everyone,
Here's a card I made using lots of products from the Summer Mini cataloge. Razzle Dazzle is my most favourite set from the entire mini, and I will be sad sad sad if it doesn't make a reappearance in the new Idea Book and Catalogue this September. So will you, so make sure it's on your list and get your order to me before March 31st!

The first step was to create a half-wall effect with the border stripe stamp, stamping in Chocolate Chip on Chocolate Chip cardstock, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line the images up across the base.

For the 'dado rail' (continuing with the wall theme) I took a strip of Riding Hood Red cardstock and applied one of the beautiful Dots and Designs rubon panels to it.

For the 'pictures' hanging on the wall, I used a series of circle punches and the Circle Scissor. I inked up the large motif stamp using markers, and stamped onto Whisper White. I did this twice, and selected a smaller section to punch out.

I mounted some of the circles using Stampin' Dimensionals to give some lift, and used a piece of Hodgepodge Hardware and the large oval punch for the sentiment.
I've also sponged the edges of all of the sections.

Sweet Somethings, Sweet Treats and Fleurettes, mmmmm!

Here's a card that was a collaborative effort between Kim Tonnet and myself at our beach holiday in January. I had a spark of inspiration to put one of the crochet flower embellishments in the Summer Mini, Fleurettes into one of the Sweet Treat cup plastic bubbles.

There is a button from the Sherbet Button collection sewn onto the flower. Kim practiced her new found sewing skills there, very neat it was too!

Kim then selected a perfect colour combo of Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery, as well as Whisper White to complete the card with the Sweet Somethings set.

But it's not a gumball machine I hear you say? Have a closer look at the other stamps in the set and you can see that you can also turn it into a fishbowl or a flower too! Very versatile, particularly with the selection of greetings included.

We also played with the fantastic Circle Scissor to make the nested circles on the card, and the co-ordinating 1 3/4" punch to create the hole in the circle for the cup.

To complete the card, Kim selected some Striped Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon. Noice!! ( I think anyway!)

Employment Advertisment - 3 Positions Available

Are you the candidate I'm looking for?

I'm searching for three or more creative and independent individuals to join my small dynamic team, StampInkPaper Inc.

Selection Criteria:

Essential: An interest in papercrafts, enthusiastic attitude. The desire to work in a fun, rewards-based environment.

Desirable: Experience in stamping and scrapbooking, or a desire to learn.

Working Hours: Flexible, will suit anyone with a spare few hours to 30+ hours per week to build your own customer base.

Job Description: Create cards, scrapbook pages and off the page projects with the fabulous range of stamps, cardstock, inks and accessories in the Stampin' Up! range. Share your love of stamping with others, teaching people about this rewarding and constructive hobby. Extensive and ongoing training is available, both from Stampin' Up! and myself as your team leader.

Salary: Commensurate with effort dedicated to the job. Earn a generous commission starting at 20% instantly, rising to 32% of your personal monthly sales. Other rewards include free and discounted products, early access to new releases, and a fulfilling sense of camaraderie with members of my own team and wider team. Operate at varying levels to suit your life circumstances, with full support.

Start up costs: Purchase the Starter Kit for just $324 including postage and handling. You can extensively customise the kit to suit your tastes in stamp sets and colours. A pack of business materials including catalogues and order forms is included, as well as a comprehensive training CD-ROM. The kit contents are valued at $564, a saving of over 40%. Until March 31st 2010, you can select an additional stamp set worth up to $79.95 for no additional cost.

Click here to learn more, and contact me to discuss your new career.

Applications close: When you're ready to start having fun with Stampin' Up! !! Don't miss the fabulous extra value until March 31st!

Butterfly Prints and Sweet Slumber are a great pair!

This card is one my guests made at the recent Summer Mini Launch. It has lots and lots of panels, but was still quite easy to make in mass production. The colour selection was as always, easy, by selecting the colours used in the DSP - Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron and Very Vanilla. The heavy weight felty texture of the paper is also lovely to work with. And one of the patterns is fluffy blue clouds on a white polka dot background, so it just yelled out for using with Butterfly Prints. I also popped some Sahara Sand in there as a subtle background layer. The matching punch is so easy to use with the butterfly stamp, To finish I used some So Saffron ribbon from the Ribbon Bundle promotion a few months back. But! This pretty set, just $25.95, may not be around for much longer, so make sure to order in time - Summer Mini ends on March 31st...

Natures Nest turtle, isn't he cute!

Here is another in the series of cards I made with the Natures Nest set of stamps from the Summer Mini catalogue. As with the Shell card, I stamped onto Watercolor paper using Stazon black ink and then used a selection of markers and a blender pen to build up colours, mixing and layering them to achieve a look of depth and reality. There's Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Mellow Moss, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand. More maybe, I lost count! I ruffled up the edges with the Edge Distressing tool from the Cutter Kit, and then matted it onto a piece of Kraft cardstock. Then we have a sponged layer of Mellow Moss that I have punched with the Spiral punch and distressed a bit to make it look like a torn page from a notebook. The base layer is Chocolate Chip, stamped with the "Sanded" background in Chocolate Chip ink. To finish, I used a piece of Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon, and tied short lengths of Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla taffeta around it. The greeting is from the exclusive Hostess set, Best Yet. Want it? It's easy! Give me a call and book your workshop, and take advantage of the great Sale-a-bration promotion too for even more benefits.

A card For Everything , including Friendship

This card is another that I made on my beach holiday. It uses the Summer Mini set "For Everything" along with several other bits and bobs from the Mini. The base card is Pretty In Pink, and the upper panel is Whisper White that I have edged with the Scallop border punch and sponged with Pretty in Pink ink.

The colours I have used in the stamped panel were chosen very easily, by looking at the colours in the adorable "Kaleidoscope" designer series paper - Green Galore, Pink Passion, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise and Pixie Pink.

I stamped the images on the base card, and then stamped again on scrap cardstock before cutting out and layering using Stampin' Dimensionals. The leaves were stamped in Green Galore onto Gable Green cardstock and cut out before sticking against the stem. I also used the Rock n Roll technique to add layers of colour to the flower images.

The bottom panel of Kaleidoscope paper is matted with Tempting Turquoise, and I glued down a thin sliver of Pink Passion cardstock using 2-way glue pen to form a border. I have used a piece of the wide Pink Pirouette grosgrain ribbon, and made it into a bow by stitching across the centre with sewing thread. I added a beautiful crochet flower from the Fleurettes pack (also in the Summer Mini) and centred it with a button from the Sherbet button collection (again from the mini - so much cool stuff in there hey!) The greeting was done by inking up the Friendship stamp with markers in several colours, and I cut around it so that the large oval punch formed a good mat for the trimmed piece. It was nice to work with really pretty colours for a change!

Natures Nest - great fun with watercolouring!

The card above is one that I made on my recent beach holiday, using Summer Mini stamp sets. "Natures Nest" is a set of 5 stamps with beatifully detailed lines, which makes them a wonderful choice for quick and easy watercolouring. For the Shell card, I scribbled patches of multiple marker colours, mostly from the Earth Elements colour family, onto a plastic plate. I used my blender pen to pick up dots of colour, and applied them to the image. I stamped the shell in Jet Black Stazon ink, onto our lovely SU Watercolor paper. I was trying to achieve the look of the real scallop shells we'd been finding on our beach walks, and I think it turned out quite nicely! The base card is Chocolate Chip, stamped in Chocolate Chip ink using the "Sanded" background. Then we have some more layers of Creamy Caramel, Ruby Red, Cameo Coral and Chocolate Chip, sponged, stamped or distressed. To finish I added a tie of wide double stitched Chocolate Chip Grosgrain.

Friday Evening Classes

It's the end of the week, and the weekend lies ahead... Why not take a couple of hours to relax and learn with one of my Friday Evening Classes?

We'll be concentrating on one style or technique in each class, and you'll make at least two projects to take home with you. You'll also receive some printed notes with samples you make to keep for reference so you can repeat and practice at home.

When: Third Friday of the month, 7.30 pm for 8pm-10pm class

Where: Cherrybrook, North Western Sydney - location advised on booking

Cost: $20, includes tuition, printed notes and all materials required to complete projects, tea, coffee and light supper.

What to bring: Your own paper trimmer, bone folder, paper snips and a selection of adhesive types (such as Two way glue, SNAIL adhesive, Tombow Multi glue, Sticky Strip tape, Dimensionals, these are available to order from me if you wish)

How to book: Places are strictly limited to 4 people, to ensure individual attention. Please call me on (02) 9484 9447 to reserve your seat, or email me at michelle.dyson@bigpond.com

Upcoming classes:

Friday 19th February - Watercolouring. Learn how to colour stamped images using several methods, including blender pens, aquapainters, watercolor wonder crayons, markers and more.

Friday 19th March - 3D boxes. Construct several styles and sizes of boxes, and take home templates to make them over and over.

Friday 16th April - Embossing. Use several heat embossing techniques to decorate your papercrafting projects in glossy style.

Friday 14th May - Using Punches. Learn how versatile your punches really are, and create some punch art projects.

Got a burning desire to learn about a particular technique? Please feel welcome to make a suggestion or two and I'll endeavour to include it in a future class.