I used my new *favourite* stamp set Artistic Etchings to create my swaps for the day and I made two versions of the same design – one using Real Red & Basic Black and the other using Baja Breeze & Soft Suede:

I managed to make about 50 swaps and got busy madly swapping when I arrived at the Convention Centre, so I received around the same number of lovely swaps from other demonstrators! Here is a pic of all the amazing ideas I received:

It’s so lovely to enjoy a day where we get fantastic ideas and inspiration from a range of different people, and we get to catch up with other demonstrators and stamping frends and our fantastic team of girls!It’s always hard to get all the stamping done when we get to catch up with the girls – there’s always more chatting than stamping!!

Here’s a photo of our ‘Klass Act’ team:

Here is a pic of me with the amazing Sarah Klass – my upline and inspiration:

And here are some of my team and stamping friends – Jan, me and Michelle.

Plus one of my good friends – the lovely Louise:

I’ll be back soon with some more pics of the projects we made at Regionals with our new stamp set we received – Every Moment. Come back to see this beautiful stamp set and some great ideas for using it in a variety of projects!

“Regional Swaps”
Stamps: Artistic Etchings, En Francais
Paper: Riding Hood Red & Basic Black/ Soft Suede & Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Newsprint DSP
Ink: Riding Hood Red & Basic Black/ Soft Suede & Baja Breeze
Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die

I made an engagement card for a friend last week that featured the music sheet from the Newsprint DSP with a quote from the Hostess Level 3 Occasional Quotes stamp set.

The music notes are lovely for a romantic card and also rather appropriate for the couple who are both very musical! I added a flourish from Baroque Motifs in Riding Hood Red and then stamped it off on the background of the quote as well.

I have some more projects to show using new catalogue products so I’ll share those in the next few days!

If you haven’t seen the new catalogue, check it out online here or click here to find more info on getting your hands on one yourself!

“Engagement Card”
Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Occasional Quotes
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Newsprint DSP
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black
Accessories: Riding Hood Red Ribbon (retired)

The new catalogue is here! Yay!!

Check out the amazing new products, new colours and creative new ideas by clicking on the picture above to view on your computer. If y0u want to get a hard copy for yourself, you can:

- host a workshop and get one for FREE! (Contact me here)

- place an order over $100 to get your own complimentary copy

- or contact me to order one for $12.95

Need to update your Stampin’ Colour Collection? Click here to view the colour renovation kits available.

Stampin Up! has revamped the Colour Families and has some exciting new colours available!

Check out all the new colours, new colour families and have a play with them here!

Want to get new colours for FREE?!?!

Join Stampin’ Up! from now until 15 October and get a complete set of In Colors–that’s Classic Stampin’ Pads, Stampin’ Write Markers, and an assortment of card stock–completely FREE along with your demonstrator Starter Kit. The Starter Kit has over $515 worth of stamping and business supplies and is always a great deal at only $289. Add the value of the free In Colors ($84.90), and there is no better time to become a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator!

Contact me here for more details!

The NEW Autumn/ Winter Mini is here!

Yay!!

This jampacked mini is full of amazing new products and fantastic ideas!!

These include THREE new EXCITING products:

1. Big Shot – find out more here!

2. Clear Mount Stamps - check it out here!

3. New Punch Design – see it up close here!

Check out the catalogue online here, and to get your hands on your own copy, contact me here and I will pop one in the post!!

If your wishlist starts getting a bit long, get your products for FREE by hosting a workshop at your place! It’s a great way to see the products and have a play with them before you buy! Contact me here to book a date.

Here is the present/ birthday card:

Each of the cards feature a different image from the Happy Moments set which are stamped in Basic Black and watercoloured using my Aquapainters. I love this set because it has 4 great images that are useful for any occasion! And they are just begging to be watercoloured!!

Here is the birdcage card which could be a great “just because” card or to cheer someone up!

The main images are punched out using the 1 3/4″ Circle Punch and the large scalloped circle is created by punching out a Scallop Circle and then following this technique shown here on Marelle Taylor’s blog to spread it around the circle and make it even bigger!

Here is the birthday cake card:

And the last one is the flower card – a nice one for a “Thankyou” or “Thinking of you” card:

If you want to get one of these gorgeous FREE stamps – the Sale-a-Bration offer only has a few weeks to go! To find out how you can get your FREE stamp set before 31st March, check out more details here and then contact me here to place your order and choose your FREE stamps!!

“Happy Moments Card Set”
Stamps: Happy Moments, Whimsical Words
Paper: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Always DSP, Regal Rose Patterns DSP
Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Accessories: Rose Red Double Stitched Ribbon, Certainly Celery Ribbon (retired), 1 ¾ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch, Paper Piercer, Aquapainters

This was the first card I made and I wanted something elegant so I went for my Bella Bleu DSP and used this soft colour combo of Kraft, Not Quite Navy & Very Vanilla (with some Baja Breeze)  for my card. I used the heart stamp from the Always set and added some Kraft Taffeta ribbon and some Half Pearls.

For my second card, I went for something a little bit more fun and girly while still being a wedding card!

I featured the lovely Sweet Always DSP and the colour combo of Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip & Pink Pirouette. I used the Always heart again and coloured it with markers, and then put it together with some White Grosgrain Ribbon and Clear Rhinestones.

Sorry I havent been back with the Sale-a-Bration cards I promised! They are almost ready to go, but I have been so crazy busy that I haven’t had a chance to get them finished and ready for the blog! I will be back here soon to show them to you… I promise!

“Heart to Heart”
Stamps: Always, Sweet Little Sentiments
Paper: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kraft, Very Vanilla, Bella Bleu DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Half Pearls

“Hand in Hand”
Stamps: Always, Sweet Little Sentiments
Paper: Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Always DSP
Ink: Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch, Clear Rhinestones

I stamped a range of flowers onto Watercolour Paper and watercoloured them using Baja Breeze & Pacific Point inks. I cut out the large feature circle using my Circle Scissors Plus and cut out some separate flowers to use at the bottom of the card. I found a great technique on Sarah-Jane’s blog to make this Scalloped Circle around the outside of my large circle – it uses the Scallop Oval Punch to punch out some scallops and then you arrange these around the outside to create a large scallop circle. It was a little fiddly, but I think it gives a nice effect! I think my scallops still aren’t lined up as well as I would like, so I will have to work on this effect some more!

I also used the co-ordinating Urban Oasis DSP (love this paper!!) as a background, and it has the large rose from the Fifth Ave Floral stamp set which I think ties it altogether well! I added another strip of this DSP along the bottom, punched with my Eyelet Border Punch, and my sentiment is one of the beautiful ones from the Whimsical Words set from the Sale-a-Bration offer (to find out how to get this FREE stamp set, just click here!).

I’ll be back with some more Sale-a-Bration cards soon – I made a cute card set using the Happy Moments and Whimsical Words stamps! I’m just finishing editing the photos and they will be up here after that!

“Happiness on Fifth Ave”
Stamps: Fifth Ave Floral, Whimsical Words
Paper: Baja Breeze, Kraft, Whisper White, Urban Oasis DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Basic Black
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Large Oval Punch

What do you think?! Is it manly enough?!

Well, it did pass the test and was well received! This was inspired by a few different Totally Tool ideas I have seen around the internet and I combined them to create this toolbelt.

To create the background, I just stamped my Really Rust inkpad directly onto the Real Red cardstock and then repeated it, holding the inkpad in different directions. This gives a great rough look for something a bit fun! Then I stamped the different tools and watercoloured them using a range of different inks – Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie and a little silver (non SU).

To make the toolbelt, I cut some rectangles of Close to Cocoa, rounded the corners and sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip. I faux stitched the edges with my Paper Piercer and a Chocolate Chip marker.  I added some Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon to make the belt loops and a loop across the front and added some Vintage Brads to create another holder.

I thought the sentiment was funny too! This is from the bottom of one of the tool stamps and works well for someone who likes tools and tinkering around in the back shed!!

“Toolbelt Birthday”
Stamps: Totally Tools
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Silver (non SU)
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Aquapainter, Sponge Daubers, Antique Brads, Paper Piercer

I really like this sketch (I may even have another go at it!), but wanted to do something a little different with the 3 squares – rather than using 3 smaller images, I wanted to use one large image that was cut into 3 sections. I raided my stamp stash to find something that would work and came across my Pick a Petal stamp set (I was just saying to a friend that I haven’t used it in a while!). So I stamped a large half flower and used it as my main image on my large card (A5 size).

I used Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum & Kiwi Kiss for my colour combo – I really love purples, so I decided to break them out for this card! Plus it keeps it nice and fresh and fun! I cut the flower into 3 pieces and mounted them on Pale Plum card. I also used some Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP and tied a bow with my Elegant Eggplant ribbon. I added the sentiment from Whimsical Words (a gorgeous FREE Sale-a-Bration set) and finished with some scattered bling!!

Check out the other fantastic entries for the Challenge here and remember to leave some comment love for those involved!

“Happiness Flower”
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Whimsical Words
Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum, Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Elegant Eggplant Ribbon, Large Oval Punch, Clear Rhinestones