Upsy Daisy with a citrus and kiwi twist

Lots of people have said they are tired of this stamp set, because they have used it so much! But I think that is the mark of a GREAT stamp set to own! Not least because you are never, ever going to be stuck for ways to use it, there must be about a million google results for it! I like it because it is

* versatile - can be combined with pretty much any sentiment for any occasion

* simple bold image means it is a quick stamp to use

* suitable for lots of different techniques - shadowing, marker to rubber, crayon to rubber, bleaching and more!

This is a card I made for a friend of my uncle, who is visiting from PNG. She wove two fabulous traditional "Bilum" bags for my kids, after they commented on the one she had brought with her. I hope you like it Veronica!

The base of the card is Tangerine Tango, toned down a little by adding a layer of Kiwi Kiss Designer Series paper over the lower half. Over the join is a piece of Kiwi Kiss Striped grosgrain, and I have threaded it through a little treat from the Summer Mini - Designer Hardware Jumbo Grommets. These come in a mixed pack of neutral colours, including silver, white, vanilla and black, and add a great finishing touch.

The Upsy Daisy stamp was inked up using Markers direct to the rubber. I blended lots of different colours together, including Tangerine tango and Kiwi Kiss using a blender pen. I misted the surface of the stamp very lightly with a water spray before stamping onto a piece of Watercolor paper. A distressed Kiwi Kiss mat and a greeting from Sincere Salutations complete the card. It was a lot of fun, and could be adapted to lots of other colour schemes.

Hope you like it!

Summer Mini Make n Takes with Hello Again and Retro Remix

At the recent Stampin' Up! Regional Training day, we received the Summer Mini set "Hello Again" and the "Retro Remix" wheel as part of our registration. We used these stamps to create a number of projects in our Make n Takes for the day, and you can see the cute projects above.

At the left we have a card made from More Mustard cardstock, with a simple white stamped panel. This is set off by some stamping peeking from underneath the the panel, an extended mat of Old Olive, and a tie of the gorgeous Valet Ribbon Originals satin chocolate polka dot ribbon.

At right, we have a Certainly Celery trifold card, with a double window mat cut from Baja Breeze. Peeking out from the base is a row of Scallop edge Rose Red. Over the window are 4 1" punches, each stamped with a different coloured heart from the Hello Again set. It is finished off with a tie of Tangerine Tango striped grosgrain attached to a Hardware Clip.

At the front, behind a bit of sundapple shadow sorry! is a cute little box. This is the box that inspired the Pale Plum butterfly box a couple of posts down. It was so easy that I have no idea why I've never made one before! I have been asked to do a step-by-step tutorial on this little box, so hopefully I'll get to that this week. This particular box is made from Old Olive textured cardstock, and wheeled across with the Retro Remix wheel. It's wrapped with the fabulously retro orange ricrac from the Pigtails Ribbon Originals pack. A whisper white stamped panel finishes it off. It's a handy size for a few choccies, or a special gift (like that Pandora bracelet loaded up with gold charms perhaps?)

This set did not really jump out at me from the Mini catalogue when I first saw it, but it's on my list now that I've had a play and seen it's versatility in action.

And, if you're a ribbon addict like me, check out the Christmas Extravaganza brochure, as the Ribbon Originals packs are all on there. Yummy!

the BEST Stampin Studio is finished!

It has taken quite a while to sort everything out, but here is my new Stampin Studio! Ta Da!!
I moved all my stuff (well, most of it - there is still a fair chunk of other craft-type stuff left behind) from a small upstairs bedroom to the downstairs study. Andrew's computer gear and big workdesk units were somehow dissassembled and man+woman handled UP the stairs, where they fitted perfectly. Thank goodness for that, because I have no idea how we would have got them back out and down again if they didn't quite fit!!

The top photo shows my Ikea Expedit unit, which also survived the move downstairs intact. It houses my paper shelves, office/filing type stuff, sample card boxes, magazines and catalogues and some Trofast tubs with other bulky bits and bobs. This is pretty much the same as it was before (if you remember the original pics I posted a while back) but now I'm downstairs, my office stuff and craft stuff are together. The extra space was created in this shelf unit by...

My new BEST scrapbooking furniture!!! Woohoo!! I've been drooling over the ads in the mags and in various dream stamping studio blog posts for the last couple of years, and I finally have some of my own! I have started with the desk and a Double Mini unit. The desk is lovely and wide, and you have everything at your fingertips in the two side storage sections. The Double Mini fits a huge amount of storage into a compact space, and it is on castors, so you can move it around with ease. I decided to get just the drawers, in 1" and 2" sizes, rather than paper shelves, because I thought it would be more flexible. As it has turned out, 12x12 paper does fit inside the drawers in a neat yet snug fashion, so I have more options to move things around. My labelling machine went into overdrive as I found good homes for all sorts of bits and pieces that cluttered up my previous space, so it is nice and easy to find things.

My new, larger punch rack is up now too, and holds all except my small punches, which now fit neatly in a desk-side drawer. It's a great creating space, so I hope it gives you a little inspiration!