Merry Christmas!

Remember a little while ago I posted a Christmas card I'd made, saying it was fun to make, but a little too involved to mass produce?

I changed my mind *g*.

When I broke it down, it didn't really take so long at all. Cutting out the tree was a bit of a pain, but easy enough to do in front of the telly of an evening, and the rest was a snap to put together. I only made 20 so it wasn't too deadly.

And it saved me thinking of a new Christmas design when I'd already come up with this one!

I've used up some of my free Certainly Celery twill ribbon from the September promotion, as well - how serendipitous that this matched my colour scheme. Or did I choose the colour scheme to match the ribbon? Sometimes it's hard to tell which came first *g*.

I love how the Whisper White craft ink looks almost luminous when stamped on lighter coloured cardstocks (or even medium tone as shown here).

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamp/s: Season of Joy
Ink: Whisper White, Old Olive, Regal Rose
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Other: 5/8" Certainly Celery Twill Ribbon, Cutter Kit

More good news - Inventory Clearance Sale

Wow ... anyone would think it was Christmas around here *g*.

Stampin' Up! have released a list of extra-special specials, available from now until January 24, 2010.

Prices on selected catalogue items have been dropped to 75%, with some prices as low as 50% original price. The list includes such items as Jumbo Outline Alphabet stamp set for only $38.98, marked down from $77.95, and Rose Red or Chocolate Chip 1" double stitched grosgrain ribbon only $14.96 down from $19.95.

There is no minimum purchase requirement, and no limits on the number of items ordered, however the specials are only available while stocks last.

You can find out more, and download the specials list (in PDF format) from the Stampin' Up! website here.

If you want more information, please feel free to contact me.

Good news!

I've got some good news for you (and me!)

While in general, once a Mini Catalogue period is over the products are gone for good (unless they make the grade and are incorporated into the next main catalogue), this time around a few of the products from the recently ended Spring Mini Catalogue are still available for purchase, namely the following:

Item #	Item	Price
112534	Jumbo brads 5/16" Neutrals Assortment	$15.50
112533	Jumbo brads 5/8" Neutrals Assortment	$13.50
114889	Scallop Oval punch	$30.95
106960	StazOn ink pad (White pad and refill)	$22.95
109196	StazOn Cleaner	$9.95

So if you thought you'd missed your chance, it's not too late!

As a demonstrator, I tend to pack away things that have retired (there's not a lot of point promoting a product I can't sell to people, after all) so I'm glad that the Scallop Oval Punch is still available for purchase - this way I still get to use it for myself!

Birthday Butterflies

It was my friend (and downline) Pauline's birthday the other day (she has blogs - many of them - check one out here and another here). As always, I left my cardmaking to the last minute - it's not that I forget, it's more that I just don't remember.

Working quickly with materials I had on hand, I came up with this card for her. See, I stamped the butterflies from Butterfly Prints - now available from the new Summer Mini Catalogue) onto vellum this time, as I meant to do last time. It didn't work out quite like I had expected, but it's still nice.

The word "Create" down the side of the card was a happy accident. I had stamped the Tres Chic background onto a quarter sheet (A6 size) of Baja Breeze, then trimmed a centimetre off the bottom so it could be layered onto the Baja Breeze base - and voila, this word was trimmed to exactly the right height!

You can see I've sponged around the stamped Baja Breeze layer, just to bring it away from the base card a little.

And the butterflies are glued down the middle with the thinnest line of Tombow Multi Glue I could coax out of the little bottle, with the wings popped out to give the impression of a real butterfly landing on the card (if butterflies were made of vellum. And didn't have bodies or legs. Okay, so it's a lousy illusion).

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with this Tombow Multi stuff - the bottle is double ended, with one end being a super-fine nozzle, and the other being a broad tip for applying glue to a large area quickly; and it sticks brilliantly!

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamp/s: Butterfly Prints, Tres Chic
Ink: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Vellum Card
Other: Butterfly Punch

Stampin on Candles

I have to admit, the title of this post is something of a misnomer - but it's the easiest way of describing this technique.

You don't literally stamp "on" the candle, rather you stamp onto white tissue paper (the cheap gift wrapping kind), then use your heat gun to fuse it gently into the wax.

The result is effective and yes, you can still burn the candles, although I would recommend removing any paper, ribbon or "bling" that may be attached.

I was inspired by the lovely Simone Bartrum's presentation on "candle stamping" at the recent Melbourne regional Stampin' Up! seminar (as was just about everyone else in the room). She showed us some simply stunning projects using ideas I had never thought of before - check out her blog, she is super-talented.

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!®

Supplies used:

Stamp/s: Always, Priceless, Live Like You Mean It, Season of Joy
Ink: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Not Quite Navy
Other: Sweet Always DSP, 1/4" White Grosgrain Ribbon, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker

One Sheet Wonder

Ages ago, I posted this sneak peek of a One Sheet Wonder I made as part of a display for a craft show.

It just occurred to me the other night that I never actually posted the finished result.

So for those patient people who have been checking frantically every day to see if it's up yet (yes, I know you're out there *g*), ta-dah! Here it is!

The photos are a little dark - it was late, I was tired, and these darned low-energy lightbulbs just don't work as well as incandescent ones - but you can get the idea at least.







Here are a couple of closeups (because I've got a nice camera that does brilliant macros *g*).

Hot News! Summer is here!

Not only has summer started (although looking out the window here, you probably wouldn't know. In fact, in Melbourne, you might be forgiven for thinking that we've already used up our entire quota of summer in November *g*), but the new Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalogue has arrived!

Inside this tempting little booklet you will find such fun things as Butterfly Prints and matching punch (used in a project here), the Sweet Treats cups and matching stamp set Something Sweet (for creating interactive cards and projects incorporating sweets, treats or knick-knacks), Hello Again and the matching wheel Retro Remix (shown here) (note to self, must really finish some projects with the Hello Again set *g*), some cute little crocheted flowers, some new buttons, some gorgeous new ribbons and papers, and the Circle Scissor Plus for all those who love circles in their projects (like me! This item is on my wish list ... now if only there was a gift-giving season coming up ... LOL).

The items in this catalogue are only available until the end of March 2010.

Have a look at the Mini Catalogue online, download a PDF copy from this page, or contact me for your copy.

Oh, and don't forget the Christmas Extravaganza promotion on at the moment, whereby an order totalling $85 from a list of selected products will net you a FREE Square Scallop Punch (or, apparently, a FREE Boho Blossoms Punch, if you prefer).