Stampin' in New Zealand

2009-08-06T16:29:00.002+12:00

A Huge Challenge!

2009-06-29T09:24:00.004+12:00

Firstly, I do have a card challenge further down in this post ... just to keep it to stamping!

But first of all ... the huge challenge ... 6mths ago I started jogging, I could hardly run a minute without feeling like I was having a heart attack, my aim was to get to 5km and lose a few extra kilos. Well, I got to 5km, lost a few kilos and then aimed for 10km - I've now run a few 10km fun runs and yesterday ran the Harbour Capital Race, aiming to beat 65min - I ran it in 64min and was thrilled with just that! We went along to the prizegiving and you can just imagine my open mouthed, dropped jaw, stunned look when they read out my number and name as the big spot prize winner!

Yep - that says LONDON ... as David said when I rang him, you mean London, as in England?!

So the challenge? Well, the London Marathon is a huge event, and not that easy to gain entry so it looks like I'm going to have to attempt it ... whether by running or walking *gulp* ... whatever the case, I'm going to London - a much dreamed about, "one day" dream :) :)

Righty ... on to the purpose of this blog! I can't believe how busy I've been since I last posted, just before I went to Australia for Convention, which seems a long long time ago! I actually have a freeish week this week, so hopefully I might even post here a few times before my nutty couple of weeks of each month starts again.

Saturday night, I felt like stamping rather than knitting or stitching which is what I usually do while sitting my tired self in front of the TV, so I printed out a few challenges - hopefully I'll work on the others during this week - and did my ask one of my girls to choose for me so I don't have to think so hard, Charlotte chose Makeesha's Challenge and the new Flower Fancy stamp set. The hardest part of this challenge was the fact I'd looked at Karen Thoma's card earlier on and I couldn't get it out of my head, but didn't want to copy it! I think it is similar ... but different as well, thank you for the inspiration Karen - I think! LOL

Ugggg I have a new camera (okay not that new, but shows how long it is since I posted anything!) and can't work out how to rotate the image - so you'll have to look sideways for now! I might try and work it out later and change it around.

Hopefully you'll see more of me this week! Stay warm and enjoy all that crafting :)

Convention Swaps?

2009-04-27T09:52:00.003+12:00

Oh yeah, Convention ... oh yes, I'm excited, counting down the days ... and yes, I have my swap card sussed, I have some of them made, Rhiannon (my 10yo) helped me with a bit of a production line on Saturday, but I am no where near finished. So what do I do? I knit booties! LOL - one of my younger sisters is pregnant and just found out she is having a girl (she has two boys 11 and 13yo and has always wanted a girl), and she mentioned to me that I'm the only person she knows who knits so I should be knitting! ... well, doesn't take much, I haven't knitted cute little baby stuff for years ... so amongst the classes, workshops and supposedly making my convention swaps, I went and bought wool and just couldn't resist any longer.

I'm going to drop the little box on her doorstep sometime today ... I know she'll love it :)

Now, can you see the little pink buttons? (see, this IS related to convention swaps in a round-about way), I took a close up photo of them as well. That is the flower from the Always stamp set, stamped on shrinky stuff, holes punched, heated and shrunk - aren't they cute! ... I was supposed to buy some yesterday and never got near a button kind of shop. Then, as I was stamping about 60 of these flowers (okay, Rhiannon was stamping them), and thinking of the joys of cutting them all out, I thought 0h, button! and it worked! (love it when an idea works ;)).

Today ... I really have to get on to finishing those swaps ...

Cricket Thank You ... and Stefano

2009-04-20T16:14:00.002+12:00

End of the cricket year and that means thank you cards! Our HK Rep Team has done SO well this year, 11 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw - Horowhenua-Kapiti has never been the strongest Association, we usually struggle to put one good team together, whereas the likes of Manawatu, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki and others have a much bigger pool of players to choose from - it's been a great season, great group of kids, great parents :) Did I mention our Cameron is the Captain (just slightly proud Mama ;)).

Anyway - thank you cards! one of the parents got the job of taking some team photos, turns out her battery went flat and she got only one photo - eeekk! But it was the best photo - really captures their personalities. I went and got three printed and made cards out of them for the boys to sign and give to the Manager, Coach and Scorer. The Just Cricket set is probaby one not used a whole lot, but perfect for what I needed.

I used kraft card, folded a whole A4 in half, stamps red caps and versamarked the bat and ball over one whole side, folded that in half and centred the backed photo on top (that way it can be folded back and put in an album later on. Then stamped Thank You on the inside in red, and versamarked the caps, ball and bats again - so the boys could write over the top. Stamped out the cap, bats and ball on white and cut them out and added them to the front corner - actually a very simple card, but effective!

While David took the family to the cricket prizegiving and end of season BBQ, I met up with my sisters for a 10km run ... and look who we saw while we were there! My younger sisters are wayyy braver than me, they were quite happy to go on up to him and ask for a photo, we all had quite a nice chat too ... apparently Barbara is the one we should vote for ;)

(BTW, I had one other sister there too - she went off to her car to change and missed the photo op - she was gutted! LOL).

Right, off to tidy and prepare for a class tonight :)

Mojo Monday #81

2009-04-13T09:00:00.000+12:00

Slipping in just before the next Monday's challenge is up, once again! This is another one I did on Saturday afternoon, and another stamp set I got just as the Summer Mini was finishing ... and more old paper as I wait for my new stuff!

I've used my pens for the stamping, rather than inkpads, so I could use the two colours on two of the images ... I love how our stamp sets all co-ordinate so nicely!

Another day, another holiday :) ... I'm FINALLY sorting out my retired stuff today - I can hear some "about time" sighs out there ... so those people I've promised a preview list before our catalogue launch this weekend ... yes, I'm finally doing it and I'll have the list to you later!

Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration #49

2009-04-12T15:55:00.000+12:00

Love these colours! ... and I think I'd love the fabric too ;)

I got out my uninked Eastern Blooms for this, I got these at the end of the Summer Catalogue, I spent the whole three months after making myself choose just one flower set from the mini wishing I'd got this one too, so finally decided to just do it ... and then was doubly pleased that it made it into the new 2009/2010 Idea Catalogue.

Anyway - I had the hardest time making this card, this is nothing like I envisaged to start with! I've had the idea for the vase for quite a while ... and am hanging out for my new eyelet punch to try it with. As you can see from my old papers - I'm still waiting for my April 1st order *sniff sniff* it'll be Tuesday before it arrives now!

It's been a lovely long weekend so far - my husband's job this weekend is to rebuild our back fence that got blown over nearly a year ago by a mini twister that went through our yard, he spent Friday doing the hard work, putting posts in, concreting them etc - tomorrow he and a friend will nail the pailings up - it'll be nice to have an enclosed backyard again!

I ran the lovely Waikanae River track, down one side and up the other, on Friday (and then felt less guilty about eating lots of chocolate! LOL) and Charlotte and I made homemade hot-cross buns. Yesterday I had fun playing with my stamps - I've been doing a couple of challenges and just generally mucking around. Today we've been watching Mr 13yo play soccer in the annual local Easter Tournament, it's been a lovely sunny weekend for it! Tomorrow I need to get serious and tidy the house and get some classes ready.

I hope you're all having a great long weekend as well :)

Kwernerdesign Challenge #48

2009-04-07T10:14:00.000+12:00

I picked out an old favourite that I just don't use enough for this - Pick a Petal ... this was my "must have" from the last catalogue, and I'm pleased its made it back into the new one ... maybe I'll use it more this year!

I made this pretty quickly yesterday afternoon, I loved the colour combination and wanted to give it ago ... but had a workshop to pack up and get ready too! The rest of the day before the afternoon rush was spent with my two girls shopping and lunching - we had a lovely day :) The primary school had a teachers only day, the boys were still at school (at High School) ... so we decided to take advantage of the extra day and have a girls day out. The two girls now have boots and warmer clothes that fit them and are set up for the colder weather ... plus a few beads/crafty stuff that somehow found its way home from Spotlight, not sure how that happens - must be something genetic! LOL

Anyway, back to the card ... the paper is from the new pack "Good Morning Sunshine" which as demos we were lucky enough to be able to pre-order, I must admit to not liking it in the small photo we got ... but the real thing is SO much yummier, now I love it :) ... the rest is pretty self explanatory.

Righty, I think this is my last "freeish" day for a while, I need to spend it folding pamphletts and helping Rhiannon deliver them as DH is away on a work conference for a few days, so I get that lovely job this week. Then I really do need to start working on my Convention swaps!

Have a lovely day :)

An old Makeesha Inspiration (#5) Challenge

2009-04-03T18:00:00.000+13:00

Yep ... really behind! I think I did actually make this before the challenge ended, but then never got time to upload it onto my blog!

I used just about all retiring product for this one - I really liked the way it came out, very different from anything I usually do :)

I have a huge list written down of things to do, I'm hoping to actually cross off a few this morning! I wrote it down yesterday to try and organise myself and then didn't cross anything off, I hate that. However I did finally get a new printer ... just in time for important history assignments and such, but sheesh it takes a long time to install those things! (or maybe I just need a newer, faster, computer as well!).

Enjoy your Friday (one of my favourite days of the week!) ... and have a great weekend - mine involves running and cricket ... guess what one I'm doing and what one I'm watching? ... six months ago it would have been a definite NO! for both ...

Keryn's Colour Challenge No.13

2009-03-31T16:21:00.000+13:00

Keryn's Colour Challenges have been some that have been on my list to do for a while, I love all the challenges out there, and love how popular the overseas ones are - but sometimes its nice to support the local gals :)

Challenge No. 13 was Rose Red, Cameo Coral and Garden Green plus a neutral. I had to dig out some Garden Green, its one of those colours I just don't seem to use - not sure why, its not that I don't like it - I just never seem to have a need to use it!

The I've used two stamp sets from the set "Echoes of Kindness" a Level 2 set that will be available in the new catalogue - tomorrow! I water coloured the main image and then water spritzed the flower behind the words.

I'm hoping today is a MUCH better day than yesterday - I went to meet my friend for a walk, she wasn't there because she was sick, and I'd forgotten to check my phone before I left so missed her text. That was fine, I knew I was going to be biking/delivering for a few hours ... but that turned out to be an hour when I managed to come off my bike and completely mangle my basket in the process (not to mention the lovely scrapes and bruises on me) ... so I came home instead.

Sooooo basket is fixed, last of my deliveries of the month to do which will take a few hours along with yesterdays ... roll on tomorrow when I start my "quiet" couple of weeks ;)

Mojo Monday Week 79

2009-03-29T19:16:00.000+13:00

Nothing like the last minute! I made this up yesterday, not sure if I quite got the funky look I wanted ... but I'm loving the funky paper and new in-colours!

Very short and sweet sorry, just a quick upload before I go and pick up the kids from school :)

You know you are busy when ...

2009-03-29T09:41:00.000+13:00

You have an exciting box of pre-order SU! goodies that sit there for nearly two weeks before you have time to do anything with them!

I finally got time to sit at my craft table last night for a couple of hours ... I had to tidy it off first, it was a disaster area, so I cleaned it off, put things back where they should be and got my NEW stuff out and put that away ... ahhhhhhh ... better than ... well, better than the work and running around I've been doing the last couple of weeks for sure!

The KWerner Design challenge was perfect colours for the "Good Friends" set that is a new one in the new 2009/2010 Ideas Catalogue ... it didn't really come together as easily or as well as I'd like, but its a fun image, and fun colours.

Hopefully I'll have time later to have another play with a couple of other challenges I'd like to catch up on, I also have a "almost two weeks late" Mykeesha challenge to upload onto my blog!

I'm expecting a quieter week this week - so hopefully it won't take another two weeks to update here again :)

Mojo Monday Week 77 - a week late :)

2009-03-17T09:48:00.000+13:00

I actually had this finished yesterday, ready to upload before the week ended, but as usual the day just ran away from me and before I knew it I was in bed sleeping soundly!

I picked out this paper from my box of scraps - it is actually SU! paper from last year's catalogue, I liked the butterflies and colours, and worked from there. Once again it came together pretty easily - I love the Mojo Monday sketches that are so precise in their sketch - if you're really clever (and some people really are!) you can add, or alter and make it so much "more" but for a simple, I'm really tired, I'll follow the sketch and put it together ... it makes it much easier having a clear starting point.

I used the butterfly and swirls from my Priceless set which WILL be in the next catalogue, and seems to be my most used right now :)

Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration #45

2009-03-14T22:19:00.000+13:00

Did this pretty quickly tonight - and it's photographed tonight, so not the best photo either! I've used the ever handy, ever faithful Embrace Life set, again :) The flowers looked extremely stark just white, so I watercoloured them a wee bit with the grey, still wasn't happy, so then sponged them a bit - that seemed to do the trick, also added glitter, which you can't really see too well on the photo.

Sorry, short and sweet - busy (and early start) day tomorrow, so I need to get to bed and try and catch up on some sleep!

Mojo Monday # 76

2009-03-06T11:19:00.001+13:00

Two posts in one day! Be sure to look down for my Kwerner Design Challenge - it's one of my more favourites I've made :)

I used another Summer Catalogue set for this one (Live Your Dream) - one I'm really hoping will make the new big catalogue ... I've spied some lovely pink coloured matching paper in the US and UK catalogues, so I'm keeping fingers crossed for both :) BUT you can never be too sure, so if you really really want this one - be sure to order it before the end of the month, just to be sure you don't miss out!

Gosh this card had a lot of layers - I noticed it had fallen over when I came home for work last night - I'm sure because it was so front heavy! LOL

I used the matching Afternoon Tea paper for the paper, stamped the flowers with Soft Sky and then used my Chocolate Chip marker to colour in the centres. For the bow at the top I used my useful little double slot punch and punched it just under the ribbon wrapped around the card and used a separate piece of ribbon to tie the bow by threading it through the double holes that I'd punched out.

Yay to Friday today, I love Fridays :) It's the only day I'm not exercising at the moment so I get to sleep in an extra half hour, I start work at 3.00pm (earlier than the other two days) and take my time getting into the city, stop for a quiet lunch, stop and have a nosy at Spotlight and enjoy the downtime ... and then its the weekend! Hope you all have a good one :)

Kwerner Design Colour Inspiration #44

2009-03-06T10:57:00.000+13:00

Love, love these colours ... in fact I've ordered a few packs of Berry Bliss this week because I'd nearly run out and it's only available for the rest of this month!

This came together surprisingly easily - as I said above, I only had a couple of pieces of Berry Bliss left, being a couple of the sheet I've used (the white with brown dots and pink stars), I find with most of my packs of paper there are one or two sheets I don't use and always have left over .. this was one of them - but why I ask? The paper worked so well - I saw the stars and thought perfect opportunity to use the In the Stars stamp set from the Summer Catalogue - with all the hype of the retiring list, don't forget these are still available this month, and might never be seen again!

Pretty self explanatory - I've used Berry Bliss paper, Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip card, I've stamped the two stars in Pretty in Pink and Close to Cocoa, punched one out and cut the other and then stuck to them to contrasting card and cut around them again. Chocolate Chip wide grograin ribbon, and pink taffeta ribbon and then the stars stuck on with dimensionals. I also had the Mojo Monday sketch in front of me and liked the greeting with dots either side, so used that concept on this card as well.

... next post is Mojo Monday :)

KWernerDesigns - Colour Inspiration #43 + Retirement List

2009-03-03T09:31:00.000+13:00

I'm back! I did say I had a busy couple of weeks coming up - and yep, they were busy :) - busy including doing the Kapiti Womens Duathalon (biking/running) on Sunday, yay me! Back to quiet (ish) for the next couple though - so time to create, yay! First up was just managing to slip in the latest K Werner Colour Inspiration in - I was so pleased to see the deadline was Monday in the US so I had time to quickly put something together yesterday afternoon.

I've used one of my favourite sets that is retiring - Looks Like Spring. I actually stamped out four flowers with the idea of a having them over the whole card, but I just couldn't get it look right, I'm still not totally happy - but one definitely looked better than four.

... and the Retirement List - yes, it is out - my customers should have got an emailed newsletter from me last night with more explanation - if you didn't receive it, or want to know more - contact me and I will help you through it :)

Check back tomorrow - I'm hoping to do the Mojo Monday challenge with a set I'm hoping makes the new catalogue!

Homework Books

2009-02-18T10:35:00.000+13:00

Ahhhh ... it's homework time again! Year 5 and 6 at our school have to have a hard covered book to put in their homework sheets and written homework - Rhiannon was Year 5 last year and so, nice Mother that I am, I covered her book with special paper ... sucker that I am, I had to do it this year as well! Charlotte came home the other day very excited as at Year 3, she gets a "real" homework sheet each week this year (I hope she is just as excited for the rest of her homework years) ... so of course, she had to have a special book as well. I finally did them this past weekend - they picked the papers, Charlotte is a "blue" girl, Rhiannon went for a more elegant "older" look.

Rhiannon's I used the now retired Holiday Harmony set (still one of my favourites), I've gold embossed the swirls on hers and added Artichoke butterflies.

Charlotte picked out the only blue she could find - from the Bali Breeze set. For her's I added pink swirls and pink/blue butterflies.

I'm not sure that the butterflies will last long, anything raised that is pulled in and out of a box of books at school doesn't hold much hope really, if they come off I'll replace them and stick them flat and re modge podge the top :)

SCS Scrapbook Sketch Challenge #176

2009-02-17T10:23:00.000+13:00

Like the cardmaking, sometimes a sketch just helps those creative juices kick off. I'm trying to scrap some of our older photos, and these sketches are perfect for putting pages together.

I have to say, gosh, it is nostoligic looking through our older photos, and quite sad - time goes by so fast, it doesn't seem so long ago that our boys were little, that was such a big time of our lives that has just disappeared *sniff sniff*

This was the annual Kids Christmas Party that my work used to put on, so many of these kids still have parents that work there (I still work there!), and they're all grown up/teenagers now :) It's also funny looking at the date on the photo, 19 November 1999 - exactly two years before our surprise no.5 baby was born, its funny to think there we were with our four kids with no idea that two years later on that day we'd have another one!

Anyway, onto the actual scrapbooking - I've used Dashing DSP and based all the colours from the paper (makes easy scrapbooking!). I've used the Big Deal Alphabet and added glitter to the top of it. Then used the star punch to punch out the stars for the "SHOW" (and cuttlebugged those letters), and then glittered the smaller stamped out stars for a bit of bling in the middle. Josh who is being the Magician's Assistant tells me that all he remembers is the rope - nothing else! LOL

Kwerner Colour Inspiration #41

2009-02-16T09:58:00.000+13:00

I'm a bit late with this one - but, hey I did it!

This came together surprisingly fast! I used my favourite heart (one of my few hearts, I'm drooling over "A Happy Heart" in the Summer Mini though, not one that really caught my attention straight away, but as happens ... now I MUST have LOL). Anyway, I used the Heart from the Always set that was available in the Spring Mini - one set I'm really hoping will make it into the new big catalogue, definitely one of my favourite sets. I'm also looking forward to having the Riding Hood Red - I like the Real Red ... but I have a feeling Riding Hood Red is going to become one of my fast favourites :)

Onto the card ... I white embossed the heart image onto the red card and cut that out, stuck it onto the black card and cut it out again (actually I stuck it onto the grey and cut it, didn't like it and THEN stuck it onto the black). I stamped the Basic Grey card with one of the small flowers from the set with Basic Grey ink. I ran the black card through my cuttlebug to get the embossed image (I made two cards the same, one piece of black cuttlebugged card was enough for the two cards). Stuck the black onto the red, wrapped the Red grograin ribbon around, stuck all of that onto the grey and then the heart on top with dimensional dots, I then used rub-ons for the greeting - quite a basic, but effective, card :)

Now, the funny story. Josh (14yo) had his girlfriend here yesterday when I finished the two cards, so I called him out (of his bedroom that I'm continuously walking past and pushing the door open, or just happening to have to go in every now and again to ask something!) and gave him the card to give to Emma (cuz much to my disgust he hadn't done anything for Valentines ;)), so he gave it to her, and she handed it back and said well, you have to write in it too! LOL ... he's a romantic boy that one ...

I think reality really is going to set in this week ... it is the start of the two weeks/month I spend helping Dad with his delivering (he has a contract to deliver all the local power bills and I'm doing more and more of them as he slowly admits he IS getting older), my workshops/classes are taking off again for the year ... so it will be a busy week and I'm thinking the start of the usual years busyiness that always seems to happen no matter how I start every year saying THIS is the year we slow down a bit! Oh well, its busy, but I really enjoy everything I do so that is just the way it is, I plan to enjoy the ride :)

Always Time for You

2009-02-13T10:00:00.000+13:00

There are two of my favourite things from the summer catalogue used on this card - the bike from "Time for You" and the Scallop Edge Punch - these are available through until the end of March, so not much time left if you are wanting them!

Very simple card - the sketch is cased from the US Catalogue, nice and simple :) I water coloured the Bike image and added a wee bit of Dazzling Diamonds to add sparkle to the flowers. I've used some of the Fall Flowers DSP from my scrap box (can you tell I've been trying to work through some of those scraps lately?) and gone with the lovely two toned blue look of Soft Sky and Blue Bayou together, I love the look of the two blues and haven't used the combination nearly enough ... especially as these will only be available until end of March which is creeping up fast!

Scrapbook Page - 1st School Photo

2009-02-12T10:00:00.000+13:00

First scrapbook page I've done in a while! This is the cute little Rhiannon's first school photo - she's grown up so much since then! There is a mixture of Stampin' Up products and other bits and pieces on this one. I had the hardest time getting a title right so ended up with more journaling and less title. I'm hoping to get a little more scrapbooking done over the next year - trying to make more time for my crafting - we will see how that goes, I'm sure I say that every year!

Mojo Monday - Week 73

2009-02-11T09:50:00.000+13:00

Before I start Mojo'ing ... I have been shocked and saddened, as we all have I am sure, of the horrible bush fires and the trauma of them over in Victoria, Australia. Very good friends of my in-laws have lost everything - they had five minutes warning which wasn't enough time to grab all the special things we imagine we'll have time to take, they just had to get out - thankfully, unhurt - but it is hard to imagine the horror of being in that situation (as an aside, these friends were made when they were billeted with my husband's family to recover after surviving the Wahine Disaster, two disasters in one lifetime is definitely two too many).

There is a "Card Drive" happening - if you feel like helping in some little way, make a card that will be sent to victims so they know they are being thought of - I've just searched and searched for a direct email/address you can send these to and can't find one! But the NZSU Blog has an email address if you want to find out more details.

Right, onto Mojo Monday :)
I really enjoyed putting this one together, as soon as I saw the strip I knew I'd be using my double stitched Rose Red ribbon, so the rest of the card came together around that. I pulled out my Rose Red papers, and chose the poka dots image and then went to my colour wheel to find a complimentary colour to go with the Rose Red - it gave me Garden Green - a colour I very rarely use (I think because I just love the Old Olive and continuously use that) ... so Garden Green is what I went with - along with some white to go with the white stitches in the ribbon.

I fiddled for a while to get the scallops just right - and really they are "close to" just right ;) ... but I did manage to get a reasonable rectangle with my new favourite tool, the scallop edge punch. I actually put all the square etc together before deciding what stamp set I was going to use. Once I had all that together, the Priceless set just seemed the right one, so that is what I used! I've added a wee bit of Dazzling Diamonds to the butterflies and put one of the lovely silver brads from the Silver Hodge Podge set to hold down the ribbon. I've white embossed the "So Kind" words. And just for once, I love how this card came together and turned out!

US Catalogue CASE for Blair

2009-02-10T10:20:00.000+13:00

Okay, yesterday was Melanie's card ... today we have Blair's!

This is another CASE from the American Catalogue, had to change the colours slightly, as they had used the new in-colours, and I didn't have quite the same stamps ... but basically it was the same ... and worked well for a masculine card (although my delightful children tell me - after I'd made the card - that the Turquoise Blue is a girly blue, thanks darlings!).

I've used Tempting Turquoise for the base, a snowflake from the small snowflake set for the background stamp and Big Bold Birthday for the other images. Whisper White for the main images and So Saffron for backing the white. This was a nice straight forward one to make - but quite effective.

US Catalogue CASE for Melanie

2009-02-09T10:08:00.000+13:00

CASE = Copy and Share Everything

The new US catalogue has just come out, and not only is it full of goodies, but like ours, its full of great samples as well! I'm not sure whether its a sign of the times or just my style (I'm not sure I have a style quite honestly, but right now I am liking simple, clear lines) - but I went through the catalogue and founds lots and lots that I wanted to copy/try doing similar and Friday afternoon I had some time and cards that needed to be made to try a couple of them.

First up is Birthday card for Melanie, my niece who is turning 25yo in August, her partner was 25yo a week or so ago though, so they had a combined party :) (as an aside, how did I become old enough to have a 25yo niece??? having said that, my youngest brother just turned 28yo - so he must be wondering that even more! LOL).

Anyway, on to the card - the sample in the catalogue had a cute little vase and flowers, which we don't have so I used the flower from Embrace Life and just slightly water coloured it with Pale Plum. The main card is Sahara Sand, Confetti White for the flowers and other white accents, Chocolate Chip card and ink and Sage Shadow to back the image. I used my Happy Everything for the greeting ... not quite right, but the best I had!

Check back tomorrow for Blair's card :)

NZSU Sites February Challenge

2009-02-08T13:00:00.000+13:00

The lovely Trudi set us a challenge to try a Cami Fold Card ... I loved doing this one, and can see me doing more! I actually made three all the same, with two little girlie girls, we seem to need lots of girlie girl birthday cards! I used the last bits and pieces from the Crew Girls Simply Scrapping Kit (gosh, these kits really just go and go ... I've used half for a scrapbooking book, and the other half has been used for classes, and for other bits and pieces!) - I had one piece of the Regal Rose card left and one of the Wild Wasabi, so the pink was perfect to cut into three pieces and make three of the cards with. I had a last bit of paper left - just enough to cut out the squares for the fronts of the cards, and then used some of the last of the stickers to do some final decorating on them. I didn't add ribbon as per the instructions, I was being scroogy and knowing that the cards are on their way to birthday parties, I decided not to waste it (don't tell the darling little girls that though!).

I've put links to the NZSU blog and to the instructions on how to make the card below the photos.

NZ Stampin' Up Blog - Click here
Instructions for "Cami Fold Card" - Click here

Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration #40

2009-02-07T09:48:00.000+13:00

Ahhhhhh what a nice afternoon I had yesterday, very productive! This was the first card I made (and I actually made two of it), using Kristina's colour challenge. I asked Rhiannon to pick a stamp set out for me (sometimes, it's just all too hard to think of colours AND what stamp set to use!), and I was really pleased when she picked out Friendly Flowers, I love this set and just haven't used it enough - partly I think because it is such a big image. But, something else I've wanted to do is make a couple of cards to fit in the envelopes I've got left over from the Carousel Notes I've used for other creations ... so, perfect!

I hunted through my scraps of DSP and found a couple to match, and admit I also cut into a couple of whole pieces just for those small strips, well, just because the colour was right and I had to ;) I white embossed the first image of the flower onto Olive Green, and also the More Mustard last one. The middle one I have stamped Taken with Teal onto white and cut out. I think the rest is self-explanatory. I quite like the finished result - quite different, but a lot of fun to put together!

I also made Birthday cards for my niece and her partner, they are having a combined 25th birthday party today, so I needed a couple of cards for that - but while I was in such a productive mood, I also made doubles of those so I have a couple to put away for future birthdays. Check back over the next few days and I'll have those cards up, I love this being able to set entries to show up later! Tomorrow I have the NZSU Challenge Card ready to appear, and I'll set up the other two birthday cards to show after that ... it makes me look like I'm actually keeping up to date with my blog for a change!

I need to go make some yummy chocolate eclairs to take with me later ... have to make double, the rest of family don't want to drive all the way to Wanganui (and secretly, I'm quite pleased, I don't mind going on my own) to my niece's party, so I will leave them with some eclairs to sweeten them up, and take a batch with me :)

Mojo Monday #72

2009-02-06T12:07:00.000+13:00

Hmmmm as usual, i'm not sure I'm totally pleased with this, I couldn't get the Riverrock stamped part to look just right ... I think I suffer from always trying to finish things quickly before heading off somewhere else! I loved the sketch though, completely different and more busy than what I usually make, I like that these challenges push me out of my comfort zone :)

I used the Embrace Life set, and the Ginger Blossom papers ... again. these are definitely my two favourites at the moment! I also dug into my Pretties kit, I really do have to make myself use all those lovely goodies, I'm terrible at "saving" them ... it's not like I can't order more when I run out!

It's a holiday here in New Zealand, and one of the few to fall on one of the days I work (I work Wed, Thurs and Fri so I miss out on the Monday public holidays), so I plan to enjoy it by sitting at my craft table - the latest Kwernerdesign Color Inspiration is printed off and ready to go :) ... and I might just persuade my lovely children that the TV can be on the Rugby 7's and Cricket while I'm there (watch out for the strange dressed up animals ... one of them will be my nutty son!).

Hope everyone else is enjoying their day off :)

NZSU Blogs Challenge and First Day of School!

2009-02-05T09:36:00.001+13:00

This is for the NZSU Sites Blog Colour Challenge this month (http://nzsublog.blogspot.com/) - the colours for the challenge were Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Regal Rose and Whisper White. I was trying to go with the minimalistic look with more white showing, I'm really not sure I captured it well - it looks too top heavy and unbalanced to me. For those following from my newsletter - this is my example of paper piecing!

Card Stock and Inks: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Black and Rose Red
Stamp Sets: Scribble This, Short and Sweet
Other: DSP (from 6x6 promo earlier on in the year and scrap from Simply Scrapping Kit).

... and yesterday, ALL the kids were finally back at school (I think it was middle of November that the oldest finished school so its been a long time since they've all been out of the house!), so here is the annual "back to school" photo :) Hard to believe that my oldest is in his last year of High School, he is planning on leaving home next year, wow!

Have a nice day!

Inkspirations - Colour Challenge # 3 and Sketch # 3

2009-01-31T12:00:00.000+13:00

I combined these two (too late to be linked, again ;)) - It's certainly a card that took longer to put together than my usual rushed creations, and I'm not sure I really like it ... but it is what it is :) Funny enough the kids seemed to like it and they're usually pretty honest! I've used the Punch set from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue and Ginger Blossom DSP from the Summer Catalogue plus a few other bits and pieces. It's certainly a lot busier than I prefer my cards to look!

Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration #39

2009-01-30T12:00:00.000+13:00

Yep! Very late!

This was another one of those really quick cards ... I really wanted to try these colours and wasn't really sure what to do with them ... this isn't really what I had pictured but it kind of fell together, so I went with it. It's another small 4x4" card, I've used Petal Prints (once again, because it was out from doing a previous challenge), I went with the Green Galore and Black for the main colours and just added flowers with the other two colours. Pretty small and easy card, really!

Mojo Monday Week 71

2009-01-29T16:47:00.000+13:00

Love this sketch, I can see me using this again! I actually did this card pretty quickly, I had the stamp set out from using it for the pots the other day, and realised I had a couple of cut and coloured images so decided to take the quick road and use one of those. I'm a very a**l centred kind of gal, so I'm not sure I like that the small square makes my image look non-centred, but I think that might just be me!

I've used the lovely Afternoon Tea paper - love love this set of papers. The blues didn't exactly match what I used to colour the flowers in, but that's okay. Once again, I think most of it self explanatory - the card used is Blue Bayou, Soft Sky and Confetti White.

I'm just about to try and set up the other two cards I've made for a couple of other challenges (way to late for them to be offically linked to their appropriate challenges!) to publish over the next couple of days - about the only way I'll have any hope of keeping my blog reasonably updated!

Inkspirations Inspiration Challenge #3

2009-01-25T19:20:00.000+13:00

Yep, still enjoying those challenges. I did another couple of Makeesha's yesterday, but I will take photos and post those tomorrow - they have both missed the deadline, as I have with the Kwerner Challenge this week, but I plan to give that a go too - it's been a busy week, including being away at Waiterere Beach for a few days which was lovely, lots of sunshine and lots of relaxing!

Anyway, on to the challenge - I had a look at this in the morning, then went off on my bike to do my deliveries for a few hours so had some time to think about it! This is pretty much what I envisioned, which is always a bonus. The brown is supposed to look like a window with the flowers sitting on the window sill, I'm not sure I totally captured that idea.

The flowerpots are the pot of the Bloomin' Beautiful stampset, I used my black marker to colour the part of the stamp I wanted, and then used the journaling end to draw in the top of the pots ... I've never claimed to be a great drawer, so don't look too close ;) I then used old faithful Petal Prints for the flowers, I stamped them with Stazon on to Confetti White card and then watercoloured them in Real Red, Blue Bayou and Sage Shadow, trying to capture the colours from the Inspiration picture. I backed the window with Summer Sun card which hopefully captured the little bit of brightness peeking through at the back of the Inspiration picture.

I'm pretty pleased with this one - it took a couple of hours, so not one I'd want to make multiples of or use for my Stamp a Stack classes! But lots of fun :)

Check back tomorrow for the card I made using both Makeesha's colour challenge and sketch challenge!

Oh, and you can find Makeesha's blog here - it is one of my favourites, I love her Make it Monday, and the way she comes up with a few versions of each idea.

A lovely creating Saturday

2009-01-17T19:14:00.000+13:00

First up - one of the challenges I printed out sometime during the week, I'm going to try and keep up with a few of these this year, they make me leave my comfort zone and also keep my blog moving and updated more regularly! Having said that, reality has hit a bit this week, back to work, back to planning workshops and events, back to my biking delivery job ... and back to not a lot of spare time!

First up, Mojo Monday, a first time for me with one of these sketches!

The Time Flies stamp set from the Summer Catalogue caught my eye straight away, I'm on my bike quite a bit and just had to have it! Of course, this is the first time I've actually inked it, although it has been sitting on my craft table pleading with me to use it for quite a while ;) In restrospect looking at the card as a photo, I probably should have used black around the bike image and the wheels - too late now, I had to hand cut the big circles, so they're probably not as exact as I'd like! Also used up some of the red/cream papers from the Dashing series, this was always the sheet I had left at the end of the pack (and believe me I used quite a few packs of this paper before Christmas!). Rest is pretty much self explanatory, I watercoloured the bike using my Stampin' Write markers and aqua pen.

Next up - a thank you to Keryn first, I hadn't really taken any notice of this template/idea on the demo website until I saw hers made up, this afternoon I gave it a go - wow! What a lovely easy way to package a wee gift - I used my Boho Backgrounds set, and based the colours on the Berry Bliss papers. Also realised I only have a few sheets of this left *gasp* I'm going to have to stock up before it probably retires at the end of March!

As usual, thanks for looking ... I'm hoping this updating carries on beyond the school holidays (two weeks to go, they're going by wayyyyy too fast!).

~Lisa

Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration #38

2009-01-16T11:54:00.000+13:00

This was a very quick one - I know I'm busy tomorrow, and had about half an hour before I needed to get ready for work this morning, so I did a very quick card using my faithful Scribble This stampset - still one of my favourites!

All the white has been embossed and I finally used one of the felt flowers, I think for last two challenges I've pulled them out wanting to use them, but they just haven't been right - this time!

I think everything else is pretty self-explanatory :)

Now, the next photo probably should go into a separate post, but I uploaded both quickly before I left for work - and now I'm at work and I'm not sure I can pull it out and put it on to a separate post without losing it, probably - but it all seems too hard!

This is Miss Charlotte - I walk into the family room (aka my craft area which is slowly taking over more and more space ...).

Me: What are you doing?

Charlotte: Watching TV

Me: Why don't you sit on the couch (something I say often, believe me)

Charlotte: It's comfortable like this!

Sheesh if I sat like that I probably wouldn't be able to walk for a week! LOL

I thought it would make quite a good scrapbook page ... so keep checking back ...

Kwernerdesign Colour Inspiration #37

2009-01-09T19:26:00.000+13:00

This one was made much easier for me today, as I'd already been working with a couple of the colours on something else yesterday, so just kept the same papers out! Love these colours, and love the way my attempt turned out. I finally had time to ink and use one of the Sale-A-Bration sets, I don't have the matching flower punch, but they're pretty easy to cut out :)

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive
Ink: Chocolate Chip

Designer Paper: Petals and Paisley and Bali Breeze

Stamp Set: Polka Dot Punches (SAB)
Other: Rub-Ons, SNAIL, Dimensional Dots, Scallop Edge Punch, Earth Elements Brads

Wow! Two challenges, two weeks in a row ... can she keep it up???

~Lisa

Bali Breeze = Hippy?

2009-01-01T22:36:00.000+13:00

Happy New Year!!

My biggest resolution this year is to make resolutions, set goals to reach them and then plan those goals. One of those goals is to keep a Gratitude Journal. Now, I tried very hard to bring the rest of the family on board ... I had them with thinking positively, but when I started talking about gratitude breeding positivity, positivity bringing good things ... they started calling me a Hippy - oh well, I'll do the family gratitude recording, and I'll keep annoying them by asking what they are grateful for ;)

So, my husband passed on a company diary to me, and I had already decided to cover it - my family are calling it my "Hippy Diary" ... so Hippy Diary it is! The photo isn't the greatest, it's nighttime and the flash reflected on the modge podge covering - but you get the general idea. I'll cover my business diary next - maybe in something a little less bright :)

Materials:

Cardstock: Whisper White

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie

DSP: Bali Breeze (Summer Catalogue)

Stamp Set: Friendly Flowers (Summer Catalogue)

Accessories: Tempting Turquoise Ribbon. 1 1/4" round punch

Non SU: Modge Podge, Hippy Alphabet and Cuttlebug

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer break. We've done a lot of nothing, which has been very very nice. I think Cameron is back to cricket practice next week, but otherwise we don't have a lot else on for a few weeks. I'm definitely taking the time to enjoy it - before I know it, it will be back to school and insane busyiness!!

Take care -

~Lisa

Kwernerdesign Colour Challenge No. 36

2009-01-01T22:26:00.000+13:00

Short and sweet - Design Challenge, the joys of being on holiday, I actually have time to do it, AND do it on time! Thanks Kristina!

Cardstock: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

Stamp Set: Live Your Dream

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, DSP Rose Red, Stampin' Writers Old Olive, Rose Red and Pretty in Pink and Stampin' Glitter

Thanks for looking! More of an update to come in the next post :)

Gift Bags

2008-12-08T07:57:00.000+13:00

Howdy, howdy! ... It was definitely time to put a new post up here - the NZSUO blogs really gives you a guilt trip, last posted ... two months ago! It is probably two months since I had time to take a breath LOL

Anyway, as the year starts to wrap up, its also wrapping up time for lots of sports, school etc ... so it's also gifting time. Yesterday it was the end of year Gymnastics display for the two girls, and between them they have seven (yes, seven!) coaches/helpers. So what to give them that wasn't going to cost a fortune? Why, hand-made, using the last odd bits of papers from various DSP packs and a small bar of chocolate, economical and FUN to make ;)

Double pocketed hand bags - Thank you to Julie who showed our team how to make these, they are an awesome idea! I'm not going to put down exactly what I've used, there are too many variants - but basically each bag takes one sheet of 12x12 paper, and then I've used scraps and matching stamps to make the front picture and card to put inside, and then wrapped the bar of chocolate with a bit of matching paper (as matching as possible, some of the paper I used was a last sheet in a pack).

Enough talk - here they are -

Hopefully it won't take another two months to get another post done!

Gift Cards

2008-10-02T14:20:00.000+13:00

Don't you love School Holidays - I certainly do! A lot less running around, which gives me time to be much more organised than usual. The last few days I have been getting October's workshops all ready and prepped, its looking like being a busy month for me! Today I worked on my door-prizes, I found this gift card idea on Kwernerdesign's Blog, changed and adapted it to fit with what I wanted. I demo'd these last month, but using the Popping Pastels and Always set - I of course never thought to take a photo and they have all been given away.

What is actually after the Congratulations on the gift card is a surprise ... if you're coming to one of my workshops this month I've spoiled the surprise a wee bit, but not totally ...

Stamps: Scribble This
Card Stock: Soft Sky, Old Olive, Vanilla
Inks: Old Olive, Soft Sky (for watercolouring and stamping)
Extras: Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Snail, Fall Flowers DSP, Dimensionals, Aqua Painter

As I got the camera out to take a photo of the gift cards I noticed my kids, plus my two nephews all outside in deep discussion, I tried to get a quiet photo of them all ... ha!! Definitely wishful thinking ...

Two leaped up and away leaving four ...

... here is one of the escapees, sheesh - who'd have thought having your photo taken was that bad! ... and the other one disappeared around the back of the house. So much for a nice extended family "moment".

Hope everyone else is enjoying their holidays!

Today is ... Tuesday!

2008-09-30T10:08:00.000+13:00

... and lookee here, I caught up :) Only two challenges today as there was no KwernerDesign Colour Inspiration, I did think of finding another somewhere, but I had fun making the two, my kids are obviously fairly observant they wanted to know where the third card was! LOL

So just Splitcoast Sketch and Colour Challenges this week. I got out my Tart and Tangy stampset this time, a very popular one that I have to admit I hadn't used yet!

First up was the SCS Colour Challenge 184 (remember I got my weeks wrong!) The colours were Basic Grey, Always Artichoke and Real Red.

Of course, with Artichoke and Red - it had to be the strawberries! I did a lot "more" with this card than I normally would, obviously I had more time than normal ;) ... I used rub-ons which I've had for a while, but you know, once you use them, they are gone so I have trouble making myself use them - but lately have decided I need to, no point in buying things and just admiring them in their packets!! I like the way this turned out - busier than my usual, but a lot of fun to put together :)

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Basic Grey, Real Red
Others: Stampin' Write Markers, Rub-Ons, Half Pearls from Pretties set, 11/4" punch, Scallop punch, white gel pen, corner rounder punch, snail, dimensionals, Summer Picnic DSP

Then the sketch challenge - SCS Sketch Challenge 195

I picked out the cherry paper from the Summer Picnic DSP for this and worked from there - pretty self-explanatory I think. I liked this one too!

Cardstock: Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Real Red
Extras: Stampin' Write Markers, Bashful Blue Ribbon, Rub-Ons, Summer Picnic DSP, 11/38" punch, scallop punch, snail, dimensionals

I also started another project over the weekend, and carried on with it yesterday - I'm going to have to ignore it screaming at me to be finished while I work on workshops over the next couple of days, but it's looking really good - I'm looking forward to showing it off ...

Today, my 12yo personal trainer is nagging at me to do that walk I was supposed to do yesterday (making cards is SO much more fun), so the two girls are going to hop on their bikes and come along too - lets hope that horrible rain holds off!

A bit late ...

2008-09-29T11:54:00.000+13:00

A bit late - but here is my regular Tuesday update, on a Monday, nearly a week late! To say I had a busy week last week would be a slight understatement, any week that I don't have time to do any creating at all is a bad week for me :)

I finally had time to sit down on Saturday afternoon, and this week, picked out my Pick a Petal set - this is the set I fell in love with when the 2008/2009 Ideas Catalogue came out in April - I used it for a while, but its been sitting collecting dust for the last few months so I figured it was time to revive it.

I started backwards this week so I wasn't rushing the SCS Colour Challenge as I usually am. I obviously was rushing though, because I picked out the wrong week's colours (that's what happens when you're a week behind!). I'll have to do last weeks colours, this week. But that's okay.

CC185 - Breezy Vanilla Kisses

(Vanilla, Old Olive and Baja Breeze (I substituted this with Tempting Turquoise)).

Card Stock: Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Very Vanilla
Ink: Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise

Extras: DSP Old Olive, Very Vanilla Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Snail, Dimensional Dots

Next up - SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge 194

I have no idea what I was doing when I cut the card for this, but I cut it the wrong size - duh! So the sketch isn't quite the same as it should be - its shorter and squatter ;) I stuck with the Old Olive Designer Paper as I already had it out - checked out my faithful colour wheel and picked out the Elegant Eggplant to go with it.

Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive

Ink: Elegant Eggplant

Extras: Old Olive DSP, Elegant Eggplant Grosgrain Ribbon, Snail.

and lastly, the KwernerDesign Colour Inspiration No. 23

I had to finish this up yesterday - and it was a very quick one! I'd been enjoying the sunshine up in Levin while watching our 12yo play soccer - left David at home digging out a new vege garden with the girls helping him, I reckon I got the better deal ;) Anyway, I knew it was going to be difficult to fit so many colours onto one card, with such large images! So I used the rock and roll method to use a couple of colours on the petals and the middle of the flower ... and used the Old Olive DSP, again!

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, Very Vanilla
Inks: So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Bravo Burgundy
Extras: Old Olive DSP, Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Snail

Now, if you're lucky I'll have the usual Tuesday post after some creating this afternoon! It's school holidays which for me = more time, not nearly the usual running around!

Tuesday Again!

2008-09-16T10:37:00.000+12:00

I'm loving my Monday afternoon ... I'd been looking forward to it all week, a chance to just sit and create - not ideas for workshops, not cards for market, not samples ... just plain old me and creating :)

This week I used the very popular Priceless stamp set - this is one of the Free Wheelin' Bundle specials this month - and is proving very popular with my customers, the So Swirly wheel is so versitle!

First up, the KwernerDesign Challenge -

Once again, there was one colour that was a challenge to fit in - the Bravo Burgundy - I love the other colours in combination together, but the Burgundy just didn't want to fit. I broke into my Pretties Kit - I'm trying to make myself use all my lovely goodies, I'm terrible at not wanting to waste things, and then never using them (which is even more of a waste!). I coloured the flowers with my marker pens - love the way they came out.

Card Stock: Soft Sky, Regal Rose, Bravo Burgundy and Rose Red
Ink: Soft Sky, Rose Red, Bravo Burgundy
Extras: Stampin' Write Markers, Flowers from Pretty Kit, Half Pearl from Pretty Kit, Corner Rounder, Snail, Dimensionals

Next up, the Splitcoast Stampers Sketch - Sketch Challenge Number 193

Because I'd pulled out the colours for the Kwerner Design Challenge, I stayed with those (minus the Burgundy! LOL). This is my favourite of the three cards, must be something about the sketches, it was my favourite last week too.

Card Stock: Soft Sky, Regal Rose, Whisper White and Rose Red
Ink: Soft Sky, Rose Red, Regal Rose
Extras: Stampin' Write Markers, Rose Red DSP, Ribbon Originals (last years), Snail, Dimensionals

Then lastly, the Splitcoast Stampers Colour Challenge 183Challenge

Hmmmm, Read Red, Green Galore and Going Grey. Definitely not colours I use a lot, in fact Green Galore and Going Grey are both stamp pads I don't have, obviously never been on my "must have" list ... and plenty of the Green Galore card left over from the packs of Bold Brights ;) - but that's what it is all about, the challenge! Definitely not a card I'm in love with though, it was very rushed - it was almost time to put dinner on, and getting one to gym at 6.30pm (don't you hate that timing, do you quickly do dinner first, or write it off early and have it late ... the dilemmas of a Mum eh?).

Anyway - one of my ever faithful layouts, the good old strip with a bit added on -

Card Stock: Real Red, Going Grey, Green Galore
Ink: Real Red
Extras: Snail, Corner Rounder

Righty, time to do the never ending grocery shopping ... although we're down two big eaters this week as they are away at school ski camp - means I get to make "normal" size meals this week!

Happy stamping :)

~Lisa

Three for One Tuesday

2008-09-09T10:22:00.000+12:00

Ahhhh ... brilliant idea, I have some occasionally! I'm loving all the sketches around ... keep thinking I should do more of them, it helps those creative juices to flow a bit. BUT, I'm busy, things crop up, all the excuses in the world to say that I never keep up with sticking to doing one a week as they come out. That combined with all the excuses for not keeping my blog up to date, comes to the conclusion that I need structure :)

So ... here comes the idea, Three for One Tuesday - I'm challenging myself to use one stamp set to do three sketches every Monday. Monday is a quiet day for me, we have gym and soccer after school but they're more like evening times, than "after school" times. I don't rush off to work in the evening ... its one of the few afternoons I have to just "create".

Three sketches I love are the Kwernerdesign colour challenge, the Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge and the Splitcoaststampers colour challenge, so those are the three I plan to use.

This week I used my "dying to use, but haven't had time, hasn't been inked yet" Always set from the Spring Catalogue ... and here are the results!

KwernerDesign Design Challenge

I found putting the turquoise blue into this really hard! I think it came out okay :) I used the Popping Pastels method, one that has never been a favourite of mine - but with the heart, it is perfect, just made for it really!

Stamp Sets: Always
Card Stock: Turquoise Blue, Old Olive, Rose Red, Regal Rose and Wisper White
Inks: Old Olive, Versamark
Extras: Silver Hodge Podge, Snail, Rose Red DP, Dimensional Dots, corner punch

Splitcoast Stampers SC191

Love this one, I picked out the Certain Celery DP because I had it sitting on my desk waiting to be used, then picked the Ballet Blue from my pile of A5 leftovers, just because I liked the look of them together - no technical method at all! Used Popping Pastels again for the heart and added the Not Quite Navy just to make it pop, along with the matching ribbon.

Stamp Sets: Always
Card Stock: Ballet Blue, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Inks: Not Quite Navy, Ballet Blue and Versamark
Extras: Snail, Dimensional Dots, Pastels, Certain Celery Ribbon, Certain Celery DP

Splitcoast Stampers Colour Challenge - Monochromatic

Okay, I have to admit, I read the latest colour challenge, monochromatic, and thought maybe I should cheat and use the week before - but no, I'm going to do this right - its all about challenge, right? As it turns out, I really like the way this turned out! I have stamped the bird into versamark and then into the Basic Grey and then clear embossed it to make it stand out more.

Stamp Sets: Always
Card Stock: Basic Grey, Going Grey
Inks: Versamark, Basic Grey
Extras: Snail, Dimensional Dots, sponges

So there you have it, tune in next week to see if I manage two weeks in a row!!

Happy Father's Day

2008-09-05T09:41:00.000+12:00

Something a bit different from the usual paper and card!

Charlotte (6yo) wanted something for news, something they had to hide in a box, I'd been playing with tiles trying to get things to work, so we made this together - then she had her family in a box ;) ... it's also going to make a great Father's Day gift to put on Dad's desk - two jobs done in one go, I like that!

The photography is terrible, my micro thingee on my camera hasn't worked for a while, I could get it fixed, but what I really want is a NEW camera ... definitely on my Christmas list.

I stamped the tile using "All in the Family" and Stazon Black ink, popped it into the oven for a while to make sure the ink was totally set. While it was in the oven Charlotte and I picked out scraps of paper for everyone's clothes and stamped the images again, and then cut them out. Once the tile cooled off we glued the clothes on, and then sealed with the ever faithful Modge Podge :)

... and yes, this is our family - including the cat!

... and talking of family, remember the post a bit further down, with the fresh faced, big smiled 2yo on his first bike? Will that cute blonde kid is now 17yo and rides a motor scooter ... we got a call from A&E on Monday night to say he'd come off it. They were doing a fire exercise next to one of our main streets, a car decided to just stop and have a look, the car behind him slammed on her brakes, just as David turned to look - he saw in time to swerve, but still caught the corner of her car.

Lessons? Always make sure your helmet is *really* latched properly - his came off and he has a huge graze on his face along with a black eye (all pretty surface so not too serious) ... even bigger lesson? If you know anyone with a motor scooter be sure they check their insurance policy, don't just assume it is included under the house and contents ... it is, but you have to actually specifically tell them you have one. Luckily, the damage to the other car wasn't too bad and its not a huge bill, it could have been a lot worse! ... So make the most of those fresh face, cute pre-schoolers, they get bigger, and so do the scratches and bruises!!

Until next time ... happy stamping :)

Embossed Card

2008-08-31T09:47:00.001+12:00

The challenge over at NZ Stampin' Up Blogs is for an embossed card - I made this one yesterday, and then thought, oh! it actually matches the challenge, I'll actually be organised enough to participate this month ... even if it was by accident ;) LOL

This was pretty simple, I knew I wanted to use all black with an accent bright colour and just moved from there. I don't have any black embossing powder (and forgot to order it AGAIN in my last order ... oh well, any excuse to put in another one I suppose!), so I used clear - it came out pretty well. I've also embossed the orange butterfly, again with clear embossing powder.

Card Stock: Only Orange, Black

Inks: Versamark

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Priceless, Sincere Salutations

Extras: Clear embossing powder, Snail, Heat-tool

It's sunny ... hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!!

My First Bike

2008-06-16T10:33:00.000+12:00

Through my usual blog-hopping, one I look at and admire regularly is Alisa's (http://www.alisatilsner.com/blog/) (in fact, really, she was the extra push to me signing up with SU! - thanks again Alisa, I got to meet Alisa at convention and she is just as lovely in "real life" :)). Anyway, Alisa had a scrapbook page and link to a new Australian Scrapbooking site (http://www.aussiescrapbooking.com.au/), which has a "build-a-layout" challenge each week. I am definitely going to try and follow this once a week, I have lots of photos in boxes, and if I can keep up with a once a week page AND learn new ideas while I'm doing it - it has got to be all good. This one I did all at once, rather than one "mystery" step at a time, but I love the way it has turned out :) This is our oldest boy at 2.5yo - he's now nearly 17yo, boy does time fly!! .. he's still cute, but much much bigger LOL

I took a close-up of the embellishments, I love how they turned out - and I'm loving that scallop punch, I thought it was just a trendy "must have fuss", but I caved in and got one, and really couldn't do without it - it is so versitile!

Cardstock and Ink: Real Red, Summer Sun and Taken with Teal
DSP: Not SU, from my pile!
Stamp Sets: Seeing Spots, Big Deal Alphabet
Other: Glue stick, Snail, Dimensionals, 11/4" punch, Scallop punch, Corner Rounder punch, Photo Corner Punch, Rhinestone Brads.

Two posts in one day!

2008-05-08T17:03:00.000+12:00

I've been wanting to try scrapping a photo into a photo frame "box" for a while, since I saw a couple of pictures of them in the new catalogue. So Mothers Day is approaching, can't afford pearls, so a picture of the darling grandchildren it is!

I took the photo this morning while all the kids were actually there (doesn't seem to happen that often these days!) ... Charlotte (the youngest) wasn't happy because it was drizzling and she hadn't been awake long ... but she managed to sort of smile!

Anyway - I bought the frames from Farmers, there was only one of the one I really preferred (the bigger "box"), but anyone who knows my MIL knows that I won't be too worried that her one is in the smaller, not quite what I was looking for, frame! LOL

I've been dying to try the rub-ons, so I rubbed some onto the front glass of one, and the frame of the other - they're great!

Materials:
Stamps: Stem Silhouettes
DP: Old Olive
Card Stock: Night of Navy, Old Olive
Other: Rub-ons, Brads, Dimensional Dots, Vanilla Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

(I'll come back and edit the proper names, I'm at work and forgot my catalogue!)

Oh - and the quote says "Family is like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts" - that was pretty appropriate for our lot!

Awwwww ... True Love

2008-05-08T09:39:00.000+12:00

I have to start this with an apology ... there is no Stampin' Up product in these pictures! ... I obviously need to do something about that! LOL

Our 16 (nearly 17)yo has been going out with a lovely girl (Rebecca) for a whole year - yesterday was their one year anniversary! (that's a long time in 15/16yo land, I'm sure). Anyway, not only has Rebecca really settled our David down and made him a much nicer boy (well, he was always nice, but he was definitely "missing" something and she has filled that gap). So anyway, not only is she the best thing for him ... but she scrapbooks too! What more could a mother ask for? LOL

She surprised him with an album for their one year anniversary, and it is just lovely :) These are just a sampling, each page has a quote and a picture of them, so so sweet!

Isn't she clever? ... and yeah, no SU! in there - she has got some SU! stamps ... might need to have a wee chat to her ... LOLOL

I'm back!

2008-04-18T10:34:00.001+12:00

Actually, I've been back for a couple of days ... but you know, back home, back to reality ... but much more relaxed ;)

Convention was wonderful, I learnt so much, met so many lovely people and am back and inspired, motivated and ready to go! I sat and wrote out my notes yesterday so I could understand them, and not forget them. Also just *had* to try the mini-scrapbook that was demo'ed ... I have pictures of that further down.

I was very proud to be presented with two awards - a pin and stampset for a Recruiting Award (5-9 Recruits), and much to my delight, 9th Demostrator in New Zealand - that deserves a HUGE thank you to all those customers who have supported me, especially those in the beginning when I was nervous and shaky and really didn't know that much! LOL ... I can't say enough about what a wonderful company this is to work for - it was just confirmed at Convention, they are so down to earth and family orientated, things I try to be ... and well, its just wonderful :) ... enough with the gushing ...

I had my order arrive yesterday with my new goodies! One of the most exciting things in there was my Crop-a-dile ... it is SO easy to use (even for techno/tool phobic me!) - I'll definitely be bringing it along to workshops to show you how easy it is ... there were a few other goodies too, a couple of the new papers, the new colours ... am I serious deprived in life that I can get so excited over paper? LOL

Anyway - here is the little scrapbook I made yesterday, should have been doing housework, should have been doing lots of other things - but I just had to give it a go.

This uses my favourite stamp set and paper (again!), Looks Like Spring, I read on our website yesterday that this paper is indeed still available, but doesn't show in the catalogue - thank goodness, I love using it with the matching punches and flowers! ... and can you see? The eyelet at the top of pull out card? The wonderful Crop-a-dile, of course LOL It is basically made from one sheet of 12x12 cut and folded to make the little booklet, leaving a couple of openings for the pockets. If you want to know exactly how, let me know - I will hold a class if there is enough interest!

Stamp Sets: Looks like Spring, Life Definitions, Rough Edges Mini Alphabet
Designer Paper: Spring Flowers
Card Stock: Whisper White, Old Olive, So Saffron and Pretty in Pink
Ink: Old Olive, So Saffron and Pretty in Pink
Other: Spring Flower Bouquet punch, Round Punch, Snail, Eyelets, Crop-a-Dile

Don't forget my great special - 10% off your order if you host a workshop, on top of the other wonderful Hostess gifts!

Talk to you all soon ...

~Lisa

It's been a while!

2008-04-08T08:00:00.000+12:00

So ... 8th of April ... and I think about 100 demonstrators in New Zealand (and even more in Australia) are waiting ...

We, like all our customers, had to wait until 1st April to put in our first orders from the new catalogue, of course, with having to wait until the last minute to book my trip to Brisbane (I'm going to the SU! Convention - yay!), on 1st of April I wasn't flush enough to make the big order I would have liked anyway - I put my order in yesterday, a lot smaller than I was dreaming of ... but I'm now in the waiting club as well! I've ordered the new In-Colours, some new papers and other accessories - I can't wait to show you them in my workshops after I come back!

Meanwhile, I was lucky enough to have two stamp sets from the new catalogue that I could show people at my last two workshops, and the wonderful product that has moved from the old catalogue to the new one is still well and truly worth showing!

As part of the convention experience, I've been busy making 100 card tops - these will be swapped with other convention goers and I will come home with 100 different card tops, which makes for great ideas. However, yesterday I was bored with cutting out the same flower, and the same colours, so I had a play instead. The All in the Family set was brought out for a month last year as a special fund raiser and is now in the new catalogue, it looks like it will definitely be a favourite with my customers!

I had a play yesterday, I used water-colour crayons, water-colour pencils, Stampin' Write markers directly and Stampin' Write markers with my aqua painter ... then made them into very simple bright cards :) I have to say, my favourite look/way to colour these, are using my aqua painter with either the pens, or stamp pads!

Today ... I really have to finish those 100 card tops ...

10 Minute Birthday Cards

2008-02-24T09:31:00.001+13:00

Cardstock: Pixie Pink, Turquoise Blue, Whisper White
DP: Non SU
Ribbon: Light Pink Organdy
Stamp Set: All Year Cheer II

We had our usual Saturday morning yesterday, well, lets be honest, we had our usual busy week before that too!

I got home from watching Cameron's cricket at about 12.30, to find that we'd had a power problem with the computer/TV ... tried to sort that out, fed the kids ... and then "eeeeeek", had about 15min before Rhiannon was due at a Birthday party for two of her friends, and I hadn't made cards yet! ... so with some quick (*shhhhhh* Big Red Shed) Designer Paper, and the wonderful SU card, that always has a match for any paper, I made two very quick cards ... probably quicker (and cheaper!), than racing down to the shops, buying two cards, and coming home again :)

Look out for an email newsletter - I'm going to have some fun classes available and ready for you to book into!

Happy Stamping!

Mini Takeout Boxes

2008-02-08T12:41:00.000+13:00

Hmmmm, not the best photo, my photography skills (or camera!) definitely need updating ...

I made these for my door prize gifts this month ... nice and easy, and a lovely little gift.

Tiny Takeout Boxes
Jumbo Wheel: Leaves a la Carte
Jumbo Wheel Ink Cartridge: Olive Green
Stamp Set: Carte Postale
Ink pad: Perfect Plum
White Grosgrain Ribbon
Brads
White gel pen
Square punch

Before putting the boxes together I have rolled the Leaves a la Carte roller over the box, then highlighted parts of the stamping with the white gel pen (one of my favourite looks right now!). I've then put the boxes together, using a brad to hold the sides together. I've then stamped the Carte Postale image onto white card with Perfect Plum ink and punched it out with the square punch and put a brad through the middle, and then adhered it to the box with a dimensional dot. I made the tags using Perfect Plum ink again, I've stamped the squiggle once onto scrap paper and then onto the tag so it is slightly lighter, and then stamped "Mon Amie" over the top of that, and then sponged the tag. Lastly I've rolled the Leaves a la Carte over the Perfect Plum ink pad, and then rolled that over the white ribbon. I've then filled the boxes with chocolates and tied them up (... and hidden them!).

Scrapbooking Wanna-Be

2008-02-05T14:49:00.000+13:00

I've been a "scrapbooking wanna-be" for about 7-8 years, I went to a Creative Memories workshop about that long ago because I just "knew" that craft would take off in New Zealand eventually and I knew I wanted to part of it, but, you know, nothing against CM because I'm sure it is a personal taste thing, and as I say to a lot of people I think all different brands/makes etc all compliment each other ... it just depends what you want to bring to your page, card, or whatever at that time. Anyway - I just didn't fall in love with their product ... and the scrapbooking wanna be was put away at the back of my mind for a while, then I got busy with no.5 and lots of other things in my life ... until early last year when I discovered card making, and soon after discovered Stampin' Up and discovered it was coming to NZ! ... and I fell in love with their "style" straight away ... and here I am.

So on to my scrapbooking wanna-be ... I have five children, the oldest 16 years old ... that is a lot of time, a lot of memories ... and sadly, not as many photos as I'd like - when we started off good cameras were expensive, and definitely not digital ... you were frugal with what pictures you took, I mean $20 to develop a 24 film, you had to make sure you only took the photos you really thought you wanted.

So ... I'm slowly doing it - a page and photo at a time :) Trying to make the most of the photos I DO have, and you know, you only need one or two photos to tell a story. For now they all go into one album, eventually I'll hopefully have enough of each child that they can start filling their own separate albums, and the chronologly will start to happen. All in good time, and for now it's a lot of fun reliving the memories!

Here is the last couple of days effort (oh yeah, the kids are back at school - yay! One of my many goals this year is to be organised enough that I can spend 1-2hrs each afternoon working on scrapping and cardmaking ... 2 days, so far so good ...)

So here is "Toolman Cam" (Cameron is now 12yo, so this is a few years ago!)

I've used:

Cardstock: Real Red, More Mustard, Olive Green

Inks: More Mustard, Real Red, Olive Green

Stamp Set: Big Deal Alphabet

DP: Four Seasons

Jumbo Wheel: Rough Texture

(Bob the Builder printed out from the internet!)

Rhiannon's Choice

2008-01-04T10:03:00.000+13:00

I sat last night, and as often happens, couldn't get the creative juices flowing - I'd printed out the latest sketch challenge from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ and that's about as far as I'd got. One of the things I do when that happens is ask one of my girls (who are always wanting to help!) to pick out a stamp set for me. So I asked Rhiannon (my 9yo) to pick out a stamp set and pick out three colours. She picked out Big Blooms (from the Summer Catalogue) and Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise and Lovely Lilac card. Yippeee! NOW I could come up with something.

Stampsets – Big Blooms, Happy Everything
Cardstock – Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac and Whisper White
DSP – Petals & Paisleys
Ink – Basic Black (Stamp-pad)
Accessories – Stampin’ Write Markers (Tempting Turquoise and Lovely Lilac), Stampin’ Dimensionals, SNAIL
(Sketch from Splitcoast Stampers)

This also fits nicely with the January challenge (Polka Dots) from the newly formed blog for NZ Stampin' Up blogs (http://nzsublog.blogspot.com/) - a great resource for finding other like minded people and ideas!

Thanks again Rhiannon for the great choices!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T10:09:00.000+13:00

Happy New Year everyone! ... New Year = New Resolutions, one of mine is too keep this blogging thing going, both here and on my main blog that I have seriously neglected over the last six months or so.

As you can see from the post below, it's been nearly six months since I set this up, but then I got so busy I never really got it going properly! Roll on 2008 which I have down as my "get organised" year ... one of those organised things being this blog.

Keep checking back to see new ideas, classes, and current specials!

... and of course, every blog entry needs a picture, this is a very simple and quick card I made a couple of days ago - I just had to play with the new Sale-a-Bration stamp sets!

Your Friendship Makes my Heart Happy
Whisper White and Lovely Lilac card and ink
Sale-a-Bration "Friendship Blooms" Stamp Set
Flowers are stamped with Lovely Lilac ink, and then I've used an aqua painter with the LL ink (caught in the top tray of the ink pad) to shade in the stark whiteness of the flowers.

Once again, best wishes to you and yours for a healthy, happy and safe 2008 :)

Summer by the Sea

2007-06-29T20:18:00.000+12:00

Stamp Set: Summer by the Sea
Base Card: Lovely Lilac (Bold Brights) (I think!)
Image stamped onto Watercolour Paper
Image stamped with Basic Brown ink
Ribbon: Generic

Coloured with SU! Watercolour pencils and blender pen. Edges of watercolour paper run over the Basic Brown Inkpad to give an aged look.