Cute Cupcake

When I made my first order from the current Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue, I somehow managed to overlook this adorable punch. It was on my list, and yet I still managed to leave it off my order.

Luckily I managed to correct that omission, and it arrived earlier this week.

Now, this is a particulary nifty punch, containing all the elements you need to create a whole cake shop of tasty cupcakes. Along with the basic cupcake and candle elements shown here, the punch also includes some little sprinkles and a cherry. And it also has a matching stamp set (which I haven't got ... yet).

It is a little fiddly to put together, I will admit, but I think the results are well worth it! I used my Tombow Multi glue for the little candle and flame - the bottle has applicators at each end, one for covering large areas and the other for very (very!) fine work.

And because I was going a little punch mad, I also used my two different scallop circle punches and the ever-so-swish Scallop Trim Border punch to finish it off.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pacific Point, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie
Other: Build A Cupcake Punch, 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch, 2-3/8 Scallop Circle Punch (still available as a carry over item, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Sneak Peek

A few weeks ago, I attended the annual Stampin' Up! Australia/New Zealand convention, held in sunny Melbourne (yes, I am being completely facetious when I use that word - it was actually held during our first real cold snap of 2011, much to the dismay of the visiting American SU staff).

Attending the convention is always fun - not just because I get to catch up with fellow demonstrators from all over this big country (and across the Tasman) but because we get a sneak peek at new products to be released with our next catalogue (to be released September 1) and are lucky enough to be given a few to take home and play with :-)

We were told that we were not allowed reveal any of our sneak peeks prior to June 1, and I have managed to keep to that - I didn't even show my closest friends! But now it's time to show you a couple of images from a new set called "Creative Elements" (a Shelli favourite!).

One of the SU Australia staff showed us a nifty little hidden message card, with a pull out slip of cardstock hidden by a small panel. Unfortunately I either wasn't paying attention or otherwise missed something because there was no way I could work out how she did it LOL. I even took a photograph of the instruction sheet, and followed it slavishly, and still couldn't get it to work.

So instead I just left the sliding panel out of the equation altogether, and to be honest I'm quite happy with the final design. Simple and effective.

If you have a look at the vine, you can see that I have watercoloured the leaves in using my Old Olive inkpad and an Aqua Painter, just for something a little different.

Supplies used:
Stamp(s): Creative Elements (sneak peek from 2011-12 Idea Book & Catalogue)
Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Confetti White, Old Olive
Other: Aqua Painter, Decorative Label Punch

Cherry Cobbler Butterflies

As you can see, I'm still playing around with my butterfly dies - this time the Beautiful Wings Embosslit, which cuts and embosses five gorgeous little butterflies at once.

I have made a card similar to this one before, but this time I just wanted to go with a really simple colour scheme. You might guess that I'm pretty happy with the result, and you'd be right!

Supplies used:
Stamp(s): Hello Again
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White
Other: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Scallop Oval Punch, 5 x 3.5cm Oval Punch, Basic Rhinestones

And I'm also having a lot of fun using the little self adhesive rhinestones on my butterflies lately - they turn a simple card into a special card with almost no effort whatsoever!

Deals of the Week May 25-31

And the final Deals of the Week are ...:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
113838	62	Right on Track Stampin' Around Wheel	$11.95	$8.37
115619	68	Retro Remix Stampin Around Wheel	$11.95	$8.37
119975	134	Vintage Type Rub-Ons	$15.95	$11.17
118760	134	Play Date Rub-Ons	$16.95	$11.87

Remember these items are only available at this price for orders placed between today and May 31 (final orders must be placed before close of business on the 31st).

Extra! Extra! Hostess Promotion

Good news! If you hold a workshop or place a qualifying order totalling $450 or more (including GST and shipping) from now till June 30, you can receive an additional $70 in hostess benefits on top of the $40 in free product already available - and, of course, the hostess stamp set.

Just think of all the goodies you can get with an extra $70 ...!

So grab your planner and give me a call to book your workshop before the end of June.

Butterfly Easel Cards

These are just so cute!

I was blog surfing the other night, looking for more ideas using my Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, and came across this by the talented Bronwyn Eastley. I was intrigued and investigated further - turns out she has a tutorial on her blog on making a slightly smaller version (there is a link at the end of the Faux Fabric Butterfly post).

So easy! So effective!

So naturally I made two *g*


Here's a close up of the Baja Breeze butterfly, which I made following Bronwyn's instructions.

The edges and embossed design are lightly sponged with matching Baja Breeze ink just to emphasise the texture a bit.

I think it probably needs some shimmer spritz ... might have to disassemble it and rectify that.

Do you like the centre? I bought a packet of the Designer Brads ages ago, but never found the right project to put them on until now. The Filigree brads (as shown here) are actually two parts - a small silver brad and a decorative hardware piece to put behind it (in two sizes - the small is shown here).

Supplies used:
Ink: Baja Breeze
Cardstock: Baja Breeze
Other: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Filigree Designer Brads

I was so encouraged by my success I tried my hand at making one of these easel cards using the largest butterfly on the die. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to get it to work.

Here is a closeup of the Pink Pirouette butterfly ... as you can see, I went a little further with the decorations on this one, by sparkling up the brad with some Dazzling Diamonds. To do this, I used tweezers to hold the prongs of the brad and smooshed it into my Versamark pad. Then I dipped it into Heat & Stick powder and heated it until the adhesive just melted. Then I dunked it straight into a tub of Dazzling Diamonds and voila! And that stuff is well glued down, too, I checked - it's not going to shed all over the place.

Still might need Shimmer Paint on this one though ...

Supplies used:
Stamp(s): Bella Toile
Ink: Pink Pirouette
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette
Other: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Filigree Designer Brads, Heat & Stick Powder, Dazzling Diamonds

Fabric Butterflies

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I recently attended the annual Stampin' Up! convention (held right here in Melbourne this year - very handy!). As always, we were treated to entertaining and informative presentations on different aspects of the business of Stampin' Up! as well as nifty crafting ideas to share with our customers.

One of the things that was highlighted was the use of the Big Shot as more than a papercrafting tool. Now I already knew this, in fact I made a little sample book of all the things I had laying about that I put through the Big Shot, just to see what it would cut.

But somehow over the past year I had forgotten. Seeing what people had created using the some of the SU exclusive Sizzix dies made me want to try my hand at something a little different from my usual cards.

And here they are:

Using the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, you can cut four different butterfly shapes. Here I have used the three smallest, cut out of felt scraps leftover from my daughter's Textiles project over the holidays (and was I kicking myself when I realised she could have used the Big Shot to help her out?!).

I dug out my old embroidery thread and did some simple backstitch and blanket stitching to edge the layers of wings, and then raided my beading supplies for the bodies. This is where the Rhinestone Brads (on special this week until May 24) would have been perfect, if I had any - I'll be adding them to my next order for sure!

Overall it only took a couple of hours to put these together, and that's including the time spent trying to a) find my beads and b) decide which ones to use. I still have to sift through all that jewellery stuff to find pin backs to turn these into brooches. Or perhaps I could sew them onto a ponytail holder or a headband?

For reference, the largest butterfly shown here is 7.6cm across.

And here's closeups of each ...

Supplies used:
Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die