and a partidge in a pear tree....

This card is mostly Stampin' Up!, but when I saw how well the tree stamp went with our Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Papers, I couldn't resist borrowing it from a friend and giving it a go at a recent scrapbooking gathering.  The card base is Old Olive, and I sponged the edges with Old Olive ink, and stamped the Medallion background all over in Old Olive too.

I wanted to use a piece of Good Morning Sunshine paper that has a very similar  pear print to the main image, but as luck would have it (not!), that particular pattern was not in my crop stash.  Ahhh, never mind!  The beauty of the Stampin' Up! colour system is that because the colours match so well between paper, card and ink, you can get away with it (and if I didn't tell you you'd probably not even think about it!)

 Anyway, I matted a piece of the Designer Series paper with Chocolate Chip cardstock and attached to the left side of the card.  I inked up the tree stamp with my markers, in Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Summer Sun, which was a technique not seen before by quite a few people at our table, so it was nice to be able to share that knowledge.

I stamped the image onto a piece of Whisper White and matted it with a piece of Summer Sun with sponged edges for definition.  This panel was popped up over the DSP panel with Stampin' Dimensionals.  For finishing touches I used a scrap of Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain with a "Fire"circle rhinestone brad through a Felt Fusion flower, and drew a border around the panels with the fine point of my Chocolate Chip marker.

There were a few oohs and ahhhs at the table, so I hope you like it too! 

* Don't forget, today is the last day to get your orders in for the final "Deal of the Week" on selected rhinestone brads and ribbon - last order to make the deadline will be submitted after I have got the kids tucked into bed tonight. 

* We've also had our first completely sold out item in the retiring colours announced, Close to Cocoa cardstock is no longer available to order.  I expect there are a number of other items that will join Cocoa shortly, so if you haven't done so already, it's high time for that inventory of your stash! Call or email me with your requirements and beat the panic...

Seaworthy for Masculine cards

Here's another blokey card for you - I seem to be on a distressed theme with my cards at the moment, so the design for this one came easily to mind.  It uses the "Seaworthy" set, which has 3 image stamps - a sailboat, a motor cruiser and a surfing dude, with a great quote as well.

The card base is Kraft, stamped with the "Sanded" Background in Soft Suede ink.  The next layer is Soft Suede, and has been crumpled up, edge distressed with the Cutter Kit, inked direct to paper from the Soft Suede pad, and the Spiral Punch used on the bottom edge.  I've stamped the sail boat image using Stazon Black ink onto Confetti Cream cardstock, and added some colour using the blender pen and inkpad puddle method.  The quote is stamped in Soft Suede ink onto a separate panel of Confetti Cream.  To finish I added a couple of snips of ribbon, stapled to the side - a piece of Polka Dot Soft Suede ribbon and a piece of twill tape.

There's not much time left to get your orders in for this week's "Deal of the Week" - Certainly Celery 5/8" ribbon, Bashful Blue double stitched 1" ribbon, and selected coloured rhinestone packs (see the next post down for full details)  Call or email ASAP to place your order!

June Deal of the Week - Four - ribbon and bling!

Week 4 of the June Deal of the Week promotion is all about the pretty things!

Purchase selected ribbons and rhinestone brads for 40 to 45% off their normal price!

Here are the goodies on offer:

Bashful Blue 1" double stitched grosgrain ribbon - 9.1 metres of highest quality ribbon, perfect for adding bands and tabs to your card and scrapping projects.  Was $19.95, now $10.97, save 46%

Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon - 10.9 metres of 16mm wide ribbon, was $14.95, now $8.97, save 40%

Rhinestone Brads -choose from Circle Ice, Square Ice and Square Fire colour/shape assortments, each reusable container includes approximately 80 brads, in four colours per pack.  Were $19.95, now $11.97, save 40%

Can't choose?  Why not stock up at these great prices - think ahead for Christmas cards!  Or, treat a friend with an affordable surprise.

These deals are available only until next Wednesday 30th June, so check out pages 149 to 151 in your catalogue or click the cover image at right to view online.  Please get your orders to me by 8pm on Wed 30/6 to ensure I have time to place them.  I can have orders delivered anywhere in Australia, postage cost is just $5.95 for up to $119 product total, or 5% thereafter.

Week 3 - Selected Stamp sets at up to 50% off!

Week 3 of "Deals of the Week" is off and running!  This is my favourite so far, being a Stamp Collector at heart!

Here's the list:

114263  p34 A Happy Heart stamp set was $41.95 now $20.98
115792  p57 Greetings Eight stamp set was $49.95 now $24.98
116330 p78  Bella's Bloom stamp set was $24.95 now $14.97
113009 p97 Enjoy Every Moment stamp set was $53.95 now $26.98
114283 p105 All Scallops stamp set was $55.95 now $27.98

These prices are available only until next Tuesday night, 22nd June, so have a look at the catalogue to see if you *need* any (or all!) of these sets in your collection.  All of these sets have appeared on the US Retirement list, so it is quite likely they will NOT be in the next Australian Idea Book.  Grab 'em while you can!  Last orders by 8pm on 22/6 please, to give me time to get them placed.

Above are a couple of cards I have made with "A Happy Heart" - this set has so many great stamps, and I think it's a Must Have for the dandelion stamp alone!

Here's a simply elegant card made by a friend of mine, Kylie Couper, using the "All Scallops" set:

This set co-ordinates beautifully with the Scallop border punch, and combines several styles of stamp designed to add that special touch to your borders.

Mucking around with settings and pages

You've probably noticed that things are looking a little bit different (and in some cases a little bit wonky!) around here!  I am in the process of giving my blog a facelift, adding pages to take some of the reference information out of the sidebar and onto a separate clickable pagetabs.  I also tried a new template, and I'm still ironing out the wrinkles in font and layout.  If you spot something that doesn't work, please do let me know and I'll endeavour to fix it.  Stay tuned for the final unveilling!

Week 2 - Up to 40% off selected 12x12 Patterned Paper

Deals of the Week:  Week 2

  Haiku Designer Series paper        was $16.95 now  $10.17

 Pink Flamingo Designer Series paper   was $16.95 now  $11.02

Tea Party Designer Series paper  was $16.95  now  $10.17

 Raspberry Tart Designer Series paper     was $16.95 now  $11.02

  Sweet Slumber Specialty Designer Series paper    was $22.95  now  $14.92



This week's great special offer is a selected range of our gorgeous Double Sided Patterned Papers at 35 to 40% off!  Each pack contains 12 sheets of heavy weight paper, 2 sheets of each double sided design as shown in the images above (top to bottom:  Haiku, Pink Flamingo, Tea party, Raspberry Tart and Sweet Slumber Specialty). My two most favourite papers are in this list, being Raspberry Tart and Sweet Slumber Specialty.  The Sweet Slumber is a textured cardstock weight, and is wonderfully perfect for scrapping pages and cards as well as 3D boxes and gift packaging (mmm, a class is coming up on that topic...)

Each of the packs co-ordinates with our coloured cardstocks in the following colours:
Haiku:   Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, More Mustard, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Pink Flamingo: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Cameo Coral, Whisper White
Tea Party: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron,Whisper White
Raspberry Tart:  Real Red, Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Sweet Slumber: Ruby Red, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla

Colours I have bolded in RED are retiring at the end of this current Catalogue, and are available in Inkpad, reinker, marker, crayon, cardstock, ribbon (etc) only while stocks last so if you'd like to stock up on these papers, check your cardstock stash at the same time!

Postage on these items is 5% of the order total for local pickup or delivery, and 5% + most economical postage to my non-local customers - I am happy to hold multiple "June Deal of the Week" orders and post together at the end of the month.
If you'd like to order, just call me on (02) 9484 9447 or email today!  This offer expires next Tuesday night, 15th June, all orders to be received by 8pm please


Have a great day!

Vintage Razzleberry

Sounds delicious, doesn't it?  I am in love with this combination of Rich Razzleberry and Soft Suede, and can hardly wait to combine them with Crumb Cake and Early Espresso come September!  LOL, it's not hard to tell I am a coffee and cake girl, is it?

This is the companion card I made for a Workshop Make and Take recently, modelled on the card just a couple of posts down here.

I had aimed to simplify it, and it was much faster and easier, although it still looks like it is an involved creation.  The card base is Soft Suede, simply sponged around the edges. Next we have a layer of Confetti Cream, stamped with the Very Vintage wheel in Sahara Sand, spritzed with water, scrunched and scrunched, and dabbed with a sponge wedge with some Creamy Caramel ink to highlight some of the creases.  I smoothed it out, and tore away one side, rolling the torn edge.  Behind this panel I mounted a piece of Kraft cardstock, which was run through the BigShot machine with the Polka Dot textured impressions folder.  I dabbed Soft Suede ink over the top to highlight the bumps and give it a slightly distressed look.

The flowers were stamped in Rich Razzleberry ink onto Confetti Cream and Rich Razzleberry cardstock, and trimmed out before mounting.  An Antique Brass Build a Brad was used for the centre, and a strip of Razzleberry ribbon placed at the bottom. The sentiment is probably the most different thing about this card compared with the other one, and I can see myself using this 'banner' style again - very easy and effective I think!  The sentiment was stamped in Soft Suede ink onto a strip of Confetti Cream, and a point cut into one end, before mounting on Stampin Dimensionals. Done!  (except for a bit of linen thread to finish)  Good enough to eat almost?

Deals of the Week Promotion - Week One - Selected Punches

Woohoo!!  Discounted goodies!

Stampin' Up! is offering a new group of specials for each week in June,  You can view the current special deal in several places: 
Here on the Stampin' Up! Website
Here on my Demonstrator Business Web Site Promotions page
and, maybe not as snappy as the above two sources, but right here on my blog

How does it work?  With the Deals of the Week, you'll get up to 50 percent off a selection of products from the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue!

Each Deal will only be available for the specified time period, before and after the allocated week the price will be the normal catalogue price.  And no, we as demonstrators don't know in advance what the deals are, so check back each week and phone or email your order to me ASAP.  Offers cannot be combined into a single order, as the time periods do not overlap.  However,  I will be placing at least one group order weekly, so if you wish to purchase from more than one Deal during June, I can offer you 5% postage and handling for local customers, and deliver your combined purchases together.  For non-local customers, I can collate your purchases and send in one batch using the most economical postage method.

This week's deals:
Scallop Square Punch - usual price $30.95, Deal of the Week Price $20.12 (+ 5% p/h)

Trio Flower Punch - usual price $30.95, Deal of the Week Price $20.12 (+ 5% p/h)

Boho Blossom Punch - usual price $30.95, Deal of the Week Price $20.12 (+ 5% p/h)

Scallop Oval Punch - usual price $30.95, Deal of the Week Price $20.12 (+ 5% p/h)

Order one of them, order ALLLL of of them!  There are no limits, so you could buy a gift or two for a Stampin' Friend.

Stay tuned for next week's offer, but don't delay sending me your list if you're keen on the current promo!
Schedule of times:
•Deal #1: Tuesday, 1 June 2010; 12:01 AM  Australian Eastern Standard time
•Deal #2: Wednesday, 9 June 2010; 12:01 AM
•Deal #3: Wednesday, 16 June 2010; 12:01 AM
•Deal #4: Wednesday, 23 June 2010; 12:01 AM

Each weekly offer concludes at till 11:50 PM on the following Tuesday, 10 minutes before the next weekly offer starts.  Enjoy!