Banksia - Bloom Away

I made this card for a Stampin' Up! Demo friend who is just the best....thanks again Di :-):


The base card measures 6 x 6 inches square. I know you can't see it in this photo, but I have brushed Crystal Effects onto the Banksia flower using a small paint brush.

Ingredients (all available from Stampin' Up!):

Stamps: Bloom Away, Sanded and Sincere Salutations;
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip (textured), Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss and Kraft;
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa, Always Artichoke and Summer Sun;
Accessories: 5/8 inch and 1/4 inch chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, watercolour paper, Stazon ink, aquapainter, crystal effects, mini glue dots, sticky strip, SNAIL, dimensionals, Stampin' sponges and Crimper.

Ok, gonna go back to Bones now...have a good one!

Sam.

Bizzy Bec's Lilly

Hey there Stampers!

I have a little card to show you that I have made using Bizzy Bec's lovely Lilly stamp:


Ingredients used:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip and Tangerine Tango, Light Brown cardstock supplied by Bizzy Bec's;
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, So Saffron and Blush Blossom Classic Inks and Black Stazon;
Stamps: Lilly by Bizzy Bec's and En Francais by Stampin' Up!;
Accessories: Designer paper and paper flowers supplied by Bizzy Bec's, Chocolate Chip 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon, Linen thread and Button Latte by Stampin' Up!, SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, mini glue dots, watercolour paper and aquapainter.

Thanks for dropping by!
Sam.

40K Blog Candy...

First up, thanks so much for all your lovely comments on my 40,000 hits post...you guys are the best :-)!

I've just done the Random Number thing at RANDOM.ORG...

-------------------------------------------------
True Random Number Service
Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

10

Timestamp: 2009-03-29 08:28:57 UTC

© 1998-2009 Mads Haahr
-------------------------------------------------

Congratulations Jocelyn! I'll email you for your mailing address.

Hope you all had a nice weekend,
Sam.

Good Morning Good Friend

I got the Good Friend stamp set from the 2009 - 2010 Idea Book and Catalogue Sneak Peek in the mail today. I've been looking forward to it arriving, as I wanted to use it with the coordinating Good Morning Sunshine DSP:


Ingredients (all available from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Pacific Point plain cardstock and Textured Chocolate Chip cardstock
Stamps: Good Friend
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip and Tangerine Tango Classic Ink
Paper: Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Accessories: Hidden Garden Rub-ons, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals, Fire Circle Rhinestone Brads.

I think you can see that I have stamped the Bluebird's body in Baja Breeze first, then rock n'rolled it in Pacific Point before stamping it onto the Whisper White. I have also stamped a copy of the Bluebird's body on pacific Point cardstock and then cut out his wing and mounted it up on Dimensionals. The base card is a 6 x 6 inch square of textured Chocolate Chip.

Okay...better go do something about dinner I guess.

Have a good rest-of-the-week!

Sam.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

I have not participated in a Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge for quite some time now, but when I saw what this week's movie was...I thought I'd give it a go!


I remember reading this story as a kid. Wow...I could see that chocolate river so clearly in my head! But you don't want to know about my 'issues' here ;-).

The challenge also includes the use of bright colours on your card...not so challenging hey? I love bright colours!!

Here is my card:


Here is a list of the ingredients I have used (all available from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Pink Passion and Textured Whisper White
Stamps: All Wrapped Up Accessories (retired)
Ink: Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet and Melon Berry
Accessories: Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz Luxe Satin Ribbon, Crimper, Hidden Garden Rubo-ons, sticky strip, SNAIL, mini glue dots.

I also have a couple of happy snaps to share. On the weekend we took the kids down to Lake Tuggeranong for a picnic dinner and we took along their bikes too. It was the first time they've ridden anywhere other than our small backyard...and to say that they were pleased to be out would be putting it mildly ;-).




Using your eyes to assist in the steering process is obviously OPTIONAL (they both have their eyes firmly closed)! Luckily they didn't mow anyone down. The other riders and pedestrians seemed to be giving them a very wide berth. Funny that!

Grandma and Grandpa were also visiting from Sydney, and Grandma turned one and a half balls of this:


...into this fabulous scarf for me...


...in just one day! I barely got 10 rows of '50 x knit one perl one' done in the same time (and you should see the mess that is...actually, NO...you should not). I think I'm beyond hope in the knitting department. (ETA...I did make the fringe though....woo hoo huh?).

Thanks for visiting :-)
Sam.

PS. Don't forget, the SCS Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009, closes today. Head on over to SCS to be in the draw for some wonderful crafting goodies!

PPS. I keep meaning to ask you guys...Do you feed your kids enough? I, apparently...do NOT!:

40,000 Hits Blog Candy

Hey there Stampers!

I just wanted to announce a little Blog Candy.

I've just made it to 40,000 hits...so in celebration I have put together a little pack of goodies.

The pack includes:

- Six 6" x 6" squares of the new Stampin' Up! Goodmorning Sunshine Designer Series Paper (one each of the six patterned double-sided sheets);

- Six 6" x 6" squares of textured Stampin' Up! cardstock (one of each of the six new In Colours for 2009-2010: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette and Tangerine Tango)

and

- Twelve A5 rectangles of plain Stampin' Up! cardstock (two of each of the six new In Colours for 2009-2010 - please note that A5 equates to half an A4 sheet of cardstock).

All you need to do to be entered into this blog candy competition is leave a comment here stating what you love about new catalogue time with Stampin' Up!. Is it the anticipation? Is it the beautiful new catalogue cover? Maybe you are hoping for a particular stamp set or accessory...just leave a comment and let me know. I don't mind if you are a demo or not, or where you are from.

Comments need to be left here prior to 5 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time on Sunday 29th March 2009, and I will post the winner on my blog shortly therafter. Please make sure you have left some way that I can contact you, either log in to leave your comment (So I can see your details) or leave your email address in the comment.

Thanks for visiting :-).
Sam.

Beautiful Autumn...

I've just been thinking what a GLORIOUS Autumn day it is here in our Nation's capital, and I was moved to make an Autumn-looking card, and take some Autumn-ish happy snaps...so here they all are:


(Just briefly, we've got Kiwi Kiss plain cardstock, Chocolate Chip textured cardstock, Goodmorning Sunshine DSP, Chit Chat Rubons, Choc Chip Poly-Twill ribbon and I've also used the crimper).

Now for the happy snaps...a gorgeous Banskia in flower:




...and a Protea:


...and while I was taking those snaps my kids waltzed out, having undertaken an identity switch. Miss almost-5 has his clothes on and Mr almost-3 has her clothes on.


They are kooky kids!

Hope you are having a lovely Autumn (or Spring) day too!

Cheers,
Sam.

More Good Morning Sunshine DSP

...just a few more cards made with the lovely Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper, and some Pacific Point textured cardstock too:




I love Pacific Point already!

I also wanted to show you this awesome sculpture I saw yesterday at the Canberra International Arboretum and Gardens (CIAG) Open Day:


It is by Richard Moffatt and is located on top of Dairy Farmer's Hill. There is a fabulous view out over Canberra from up there too:


You can see part of the CIAG grounds in the middle-ground of the image..and from there you can probably tell that this is a very new attraction. It will be some time until the trees reach maturity (the Pinus Radiata in the foreground are apparently considered a noxious weed and will be removed). This site used to be part of a pine plantation until the fires of January 2003 came through.

Thanks for stopping by...sorry for the lack of text, Preschool pick up time soon :-).

Sam.

Card Coo-ture...

I was playing about last night with some new Designer Series Papers from our 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalogue (a few items have been released to us already in a sneak peek...a little something to whet our appetite ;-).

This DSP set is so pretty and it is called Good Morning Sunshine. This is the Card Coo-ture that I made with some of it:






oooh, and this is what she is wearing underneath that last coat (I haven't quite finished it yet, I am going to hide those uneven hem and necklines, but I got too carried away watching Prince Caspian :-):


Ingredients (all from Stampin' Up!):

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss and Whisper White
Paper: Good Morning Sunshine
Stamps: Polka Dot Background
Ink: Pacific Point Classic Ink
Accessories: Rich Regals brads, 1 1/4 inch circle punch, scallop circle punch, scallop edge punch, SNAIL adhesive and sticky strip.

What do you think? Does it look like a little fashion show? I watched Raising Helen the other night, and The Devil Wears Parada a week or two ago, so I've kinda had fashion shows on the mind.

I hope that you are having a nice weekend!

Sam.

A Perfect Pair...

On the weekend I stumbled across THIS beautiful card by Dana Grothaus. I loved the design so much I could hardly wait to CASE it, so I did just that...twice in fact!


Ingredients:

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White and Pink Pirouette
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Butterfly Kisses
Ink: Whisper White Craft Ink
Accessories: Cuttlebug Wood Grain, Stampin' Up! Chit Chat Rub-ons, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Wireworks (retired), SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals and Glue Dots.


Ingredients:

Cardstock: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Butterfly Kisses
Ink: Whisper White Craft Ink
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Backgrounds I Texturz Plates, Papertrey Ink Black Double Stitched Ribbon, Stampin' Up! A Perfect Day Rub-ons, Wireworks (retired), SNAIL adhesive, Dimensionals and Glue Dots.

Thanks so much for the inspiration Dana! I love this design.

Sam.