Creativity is...

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. ART is knowing which ones to keep." 

I like this quote and thought it was quite relevant to the card I'm showing you today. I really shouldn't have kept this one, but time was in short supply when I made it and hopefully the recipient is not as hard a critic as I am. 


Happy birthday Jo - Wishing you blue skies, green lights and a wonderful birthday celebrating with friends and family ♥ 

Stamp set: Upsy Daisy (retiring)
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Blushing Bride (retiring), Pear Pizzazz (retiring), Peach Parfait (retiring), Island Indigo
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder
Tools: Heat Tool

Don't forget to take a look at what is retiring if you haven't already. If there is something that you can't live without, best you order it today!  Upsy Daisy which is one of my all time favourites and is retiring, won't be available after the 31 August. This will be one set that I'll be hanging onto. 

Have  great week everyone!

Upsy Daisy Polished Stone Technique

This was one of the projects we made at class on Tuesday night. It's the Polished Stone technique and is really easy to do. First, we daubered some Champagne shimmer paint over  glossy card and allowed it to dry. Then, we tipped a little rubbing alcohol onto a cotton wool ball and added a drop of each re-inker (we used Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade and Calypso Coral). Then we pounced the cotton wool ball over the glossy card - cover as much or as little as you want. Set aside and allow to dry.

Stamp Set: Upsy Daisy
Card Stock: Peach Parfait, Basic Black, Whisper White, White Glossy Card
Ink: Versamark, Champagne Shimmer Paint, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Black Taffeta Ribbon
Tools: Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Dauber

I've cased this card from Kay Marini who is a demo in the States. You can check out her blog HERE! 


Yay - it's Friday tomorrow :-) 

Stationery Kit

At the school where I work, everyone is rostered to provide a prize for a raffle once a year.  I like to make something using my SU! goodies and this year was no exception.  I made a set of cards using Fifth Avenue Floral in a folded compendium and a little bag of choccies.  The initial idea came from Andrea Walford, but I've added a few extra cards and increased the size of the compendium, so they could all fit.  

The designer paper I used has  retired and fortunately I still had a piece of Kiwi Kiss ribbon to match. 

I didn't realise that I hadn't gotten around to photographing all of the cards, but you get the general idea anyway.  

Stamp Sets: Fifth Avenue Floral, Thank You Kindly, Upsy Daisy

Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Kiwi Kiss (retired), Whisper White, Baja Breeze
Designer Series Paper: Urban Oasis (retired)
Ink: Basic Grey, Kiwi Kiss (retired), Baja Breeze
Accessories: Blender Pen, Manhattan Embossing Folder, Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon, Silver Brads, Scallop Oval Punch, Scallop Punch, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain (retired), Flower Fusion Too (retired).


Check back in a day or two, because I'll have something to show you from my Vintage class which is on tomorrow.    


Enjoy  your weekend :)

Mere Males

We made two each of these cards, at my Masculine Stamp-a-Stack class over the weekend. Thanks ladies for making it a fun afternoon :)   The stamps we used are from the a la carte, single stamp range, available in the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue. These are phenomenal value and perfect for the men in your life. The products in the mini catalogue are only available until 31 July, so contact me today to put your order in - you won't want to miss out. 

The Sail Away card with the jumbo eyelets was one I cased from Denise Ibbett. I loved it as soon as I saw it and so did the ladies on Saturday. Thanks so much for sharing Denise.  


Stamp Sets: Sail Away, Motorbike, Short and Sweet, Upsy Daisy, Bring on the Cake
Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Ridinghood Red, Baja Breeze, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Ridinghood Red, Baja Breeze, Early Expresso
Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-o-Dile, Linen Thread, Twill Tape, Metallic Brads, Large Star Punch, Lattice Embossing Folder, Hemp Twine, Distressing Tool from Cutter Kit. 


I hope you're enjoying the school holidays - I know I am! 

Happy Birthday Baby!

My baby girl celebrated her 15th birthday on Wednesday which is unbelievable!  Where did that time go?  It only seemed like yesterday that she was born...{sigh}.

Bridgette is sporty and outgoing but she still loves all things girly including make up, jewellery and clothes. I was really stuck on what to make her until I came across this beautiful card from Teneale Williams. Teneale has a clean and elegant style which I love. I would have liked to have added a bit of vintage but with time restrictions, I ended up keeping it exactly the same. Why change something so gorgeous?  Bridgette loved her card - so, mission accomplished.

And, here's the inside...

Stamp Set: Butterfly Prints, Flight of the Butterfly, Upsy Daisy
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Fine Supernova Pink Glitter, Basic Pearls, Sticky Strip, Extra Large Butterfly Punch, Corner Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Circles #2 Originals Die, Dimensionals.

TGIF and the school holidays :)

Gorgeous Hawaiian Shirt!!

Isn't this card adorable!!  It looks so complicated but I'm assured it's not. The creator of this is Chrissy Graham from Australia and is another of my favourite swaps from Convention.  This card is vibrant, bright and beautiful!!  And, don't you love the lei ~ made from the Trio Flower Punch. The message is from the Upsy Daisy stamp set.

Deal of the Week #2

Just a quick post to announce Stampin' Up!s 2nd fantastic deal of the week.  It starts from today, Wed 9 June through to Tuesday 15 June.  All the papers feature in the 2009/10 Ideas Book and Catalogue.
Code       Page               Description                  Regular Price     Sale Price

112470   132   Haiku Designer Series paper        $19.95          $11.97
113976   132   Pink Flamingo Designer paper      $19.95          $12.97
113992   133   Tea Party Designer paper            $19.95          $11.97
113975   133   Raspberry Tart Designer paper     $19.95          $12.97
114037   133   Sweet Slumber Specialty Paper    $27.95          $18.17

Here's a simple card using the Tea Party Designer Paper and one of my favourite stamps - Upsy Daisy.

The links below also show you a few more projects I've done using some of the designer papers that are on sale this week.


Tea Party Designer Paper Link 1, Link 2  
Raspberry Tart Paper Link 3


Don't miss out on this great special, email me today to place your order.

Upsy Daisy Calendar

I've been back from Sydney for exactly a week as of this evening.  I stayed on for an extra week after Convention which was amazing and thoroughly enjoyable, but I feel as though I hit the ground running on my return. Thank goodness this has been a long weekend, because at least I've managed a bit of a catch up and feel as though I'm back to some kind of normality. 

Anyway, back to the task at hand.....I received this lovely calendar as one of my swaps from convention. It was made by Lana Harvey from Australia (check out her blog here) and was a favourite with my daughters, fellow demo's and myself.  I love the colours used which are Pink Pirouette, a touch of Pixie Pink on the tips of the flowers and Old Olive.  The little butterflies are from the Cottage Garden stamp set. Not sure if you can see the background which has been embossed with the Big Shot Manhatten Flower die. Totally gorgeous!!

Embossed Upsy Daisy

I made this card a very long time ago at a Creative Inkers Extravaganza and never blogged it..  Then I made it again with some ladies at a home class and it was very popular. Everyone loves embossing and it's such an effective technique. I especially love the embossed look on designer paper. It gives it a whole new dimension.  If you want to learn how to do this, let me know and we'll schedule a time to do so.

Easy Easels..

I thought that I would get on the bandwagon and make an easel card since they've been quite popular of late. This is what I came up with, which was inspired by fellow demo and friend, Sally.  It was just one of the cards that we made at the Fancy Fold class yesterday and I'm quite pleased with the end result. I love embossing and the white embossing with the solid image from the Upsy Daisy stamp, makes it really pop out.  I've used two rhinestone brads - one to wrap around the bow and the other to hold the filigree designer brad in place because I love sparkles and didn't want to use glitter on this occasion.

Upsy Daisy Birthday Card

This is a card I made for my sister's birthday. It took me longer than usual, because I'd started tidying out my craft room (as mentioned in my earlier post) and everything was in a state of disarray. It was quite a mission and I'd left it to the last minute, and so was pleased to finish it.  Fortunately she received it on her special day so that was good...

I've used my fave Kaleidoscope designer paper and have stamped the Upsy Daisy stamp in Tempting Turquoise. The picture doesn't show it very well, but I've glittered the tops of the daisies to add some sparkles. The ribbon was one of the ones in the bundle that we could earn a few months back.