Thursday, April 5, 2012

More Easter Fun

Firstly let me apologise for my post being late, not only did I have a very hectic week, I came home today ready to put up my post only to discover my computer had died! After a couple of hours of frustratingly trying to resuscitate it, I have given up and am working off my 10" Netbook!  Anyway enough of my frustrations and on with today's post ...

Another week flown past at amazing speed, where is this year going?  The good thing about another week gone past is that it is time for another Paper Lovin' Gals Inspirational Picture challenge.  What inspires you with this picture?  For me it was the general theme of Easter, and of course the eggs!

I knew I wanted to do a 3D item for this week's challenge this week and the Big Shot Box #2 Die was just perfect for the job.  I just had to use Everybunny stamp set again, I knew this little guy with his own Easter Egg would match the eggs visible through the window cut by the smallest Framelits Die.  It is so easy to use these dies to put a window anywhere that you want, and I just love the shape of them.  I chose the Happy Easter sentiment from Teeny Tiny Sentiments, inking up each word separately and punching them out with the Jewelry Tag Punch.

Pop on over and join in with Paper Lovin' Gals this week, and have a great Easter.

Happy Stamping

Sunday, April 1, 2012

ESAD Autumn/Winter Blog Hop

It is that time of the Stampin' Up! year again ... the release of a new Mini Catalogue, this one runs from 1st April until 31st July.  I have to say this is my very favourite mini catalogue ever, well since I joined Stampin' Up!  To showcase some of the great items now available for purchase the girls at ESAD have once again put their creative caps on and have made some wonderful projects to inspire you.


What is ESAD? ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.
We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.
So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group


You might be starting with my blog, or have come from looking at Narelle Hoggard's wonderful creations, it doesn't matter.  With a blog hop you just follow the link at the end of each post to take you to the next blog in the hop.  So grab a cuppa, sit back and enjoy ...

I have a few projects to show you today, I just couldn't choose which set to use or what to show!  This cute card and matching box set use a number of the new products. The card uses the Bordering on Romance stamp set which is so lovely and soft, and has two stamps that match perfectly with the Edgelits Dies.  You can see the scallop die used in this card, I love how each scallop has it's own little scallops.  The box on the right is made with the new Simply Scored Scoring Tool and the Framelits Labels Collections Die.

Here you can see how I have used the second largest label and folded (along dotted black lines) and cut (the small red lines) to make the top and base of the box.  The ribbon hides some of the flourish but it does look really cute.  I adhered the base onto the Window Sheet with sticky strip and the top fits over the top and the ribbon holds it on.

When new products are released I really like to use them with existing items to see how well they work together.  In this card, and the next one, I have used the Designer Frames with the Bordering on Romance stamps.  On both cards I have also used the new Pleated Satin Ribbon, and I have added some pearls onto the ribbon to give a richer feel to the cards.

Like the previous card this one has used the Pleated Satin Ribbon with the pearls, the difference with this is that I have used the second Edgelits die.  Isn't that a great shape?  The Edgelits are great to use, they are thin dies that are made to go through the Big Shot and even though they are quite thin they are very strong and cut beautifully.

These next few pictures are not so much about my creations as they are to share a couple of things with you that I have found useful with the new Framelits and Edgelits.  The first I came up with to help keep everythign steady when getting it lined up to go through the Big Shot.  I started out by buying a new set of Standard Cutting Plates.  On one side I used my quilting ruler to add paralel lines both vertically and horizontally.  On the other side I smeared TomBow glue along every second line and allowing it to dry, making it become tacky but not a permanent adhesive (you could also use Dotto in this step). Once it was dry I patted my hands over it to reduce the strength of the tackiness a little. As you can see it makes it much easier to line the edgelits up and hold everything steady as it gets run through the Big Shot.  

Finally I wanted to show you how I store my Framelits and Edgelits on my desk.  I have used two of the plastic photo frames and adhered magnet sheet to each one, then added some of the Twitterpated DSP to the front to make them look a little bit prettier.  The magnets are strong enough to work through the DSP and hold my dies in place ready for me to grab when I need them.  I also love this because it makes them so much easier to keep track of - I tend to have things all over my desk as I work and the little dies were at risk of going AWOL before I came up with this system.  I still keep the packets they came in for when I take them to workshops.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my creations, and hop on over to visit Nicole Derendorf and see what she has made.  As you hop around don't forget to leave comments to let everyone know what you think of their creations.

Here is a list of all the participants, just in case any of the links are not working:

Tanya Bell
Michelle Grech
Jane Norish 
Juliette Chapman
Pauline Bennets
Alison Barclay
Keryn Campbell
Sharlene Meyer
Theresa Schirmer
Caroline Cassidy
Michelle Halling
Leonie Schroder
Delys Cram
Libby Dyson
Tina Hewett
Kelly Nelson
Yvonne Walker
Alisa Tilsner
Nicole Stalker
Peggy Quarmby
Andrea Buckland
Carolyn Bennie
Narelle Hoggard
Monique Fielder - You are Here
Nicole Derendorf

Happy Stamping

New Mini Catalogue

It certainly is no April fool day trick, today marks the start of the new Autumn Winter Mini Catalogue.  This mini is filled with great new products including 

  • Framelits, Edgelits and Embossing Folders for the Big Shot; 
  • Simply Scored Scoring Tool - including a metric plate; 
  • Scented Embossing Powders; 
  • Pleated Satin Ribbon in 4 great colours that are to die for;
  • 3 new Designer Series Paper;
  • New Designer Fabric;
  • Blossom Punch with a matching Mixed Bunch stamp set;
  • Jelly Bean Brads
  • In-Colour Bakers Twine 

There are lots of new stamp sets and other exciting products as well!  If you are interested in placing an order or learning more about how you can earn these products for free (anywhere in Australia) please don't hesitate to contact me for more information.

Happy Stamping

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Almost Easter

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will know that I have had some fun recently with the Everybunny stamp set in preparation for Easter.  This week Paper Lovin' Gals have another great challenge that screamed out for me to use this cute set once again.

What does this picture inspire you to create? Something with an Easter theme or using the colours like I have, or will something else in the picture take your fancy - a basket, ribbons and bows, just the bunny or something completely different?  That is the great thing about the PLG challenges it doesn't matter what in the photo inspires you, just create away and join in! 

Usually at Easter time as a family we do an Easter Egg hunt, but this year with two cats (one of which will get into anything) I was a bit worried about leaving chocolate eggs lying around - especially as we routinely don't find all the eggs on Easter Sunday!  I decided to make this little door hanger to get around the problem of leaving chocolates out overnight.  The base is made from the Fancy Favour die, and I have added a panel of cardstock to the inside of the box and punched out a circle using the large circle punch.  I have created a window in the front of the box so that the eggs will be visable once the Easter Bunny has visited.  The cute little mushroom stamped image is of course from the Everybunny stamp set, as is the sentiment which I inked up part of and punched out.  I just love the mini brads on this punch, they seem just the right size to give a bit of pop without being over the top.

I hope I have helped to inspire you to join in with us this week, if you need a bit of extra inspiration pop on er to Paper Lovin' Gals blog to see what the other design team members have made.

I am also entering this item in Hand Stamped Sentiments and 4 Crafty Chicks Easter challenges.

Happy Stamping