Makeesha’s handbag – urban garden style

I've finishing fiddling with my blog layout for the moment, so it's about time I showed you another lucky door prize from my open house. Now, you know I get a kick out of turning a flat piece of card or paper into a 3d project with just a few cuts & folds, so when Makeesha Byl demonstrated at Convention how to make a gorgeous patterned paper handbag, I thought "I sooooo have to make one". After Convention, Kellie showed me how she made them, based on Keesh's demo & that was it! I filled this one with choccies as a lucky door prize (but you could fit so many other things).....& doesn't it look fabulous made with this 'Urban Garden' paper?

I varied Makeesha's measurements (partly on purpose, partly by accident LOL) & the result was a slightly narrower, but deeper bag. I also used some not quite navy card for the bag sides, instead of the patterned paper. The bag handles are attached with turquoise rhinestone brads & another brad decorates the faux bag.

You can see this & more of Makeesha's wonderful projects here. (Just keep scrolling down for a while until you see it). Thanks so much Keesh for sharing your ideas at convention & daily on your blog.

Inky wishes
Di

Supplies:
Card: Urban garden DSP, not quite navy, kiwi kiss & baja breeze card
Accessories: turquoise rhinestone brads (ice pack)
Tools: punches – scallop circle, 1 3/8 circle, 1 ¼ inch circle, piercing tool & mat

You're not crazy - it keeps changing

Hi all
In case you've been wondering why the layout & colours on my blog keep changing, I'm just playing around to give it a bit of a freshen up. I used some very easy to follow instructions at thecutestblogontheblock.com to create a 3 column layout & am still fiddling with banners & colours etc. Anyway, leave a comment if you like anything, can't see the colours properly or anything else!
Inky wishes
Di

Return of the gift card folder

Helloooo again & hope you're having a happy weekend. I'm back with another project from my open house. Regular visitors will probably remember I Iove making gift card folders with patterned paper. Well, I hadn't made one for a while, so made this one, with a free class voucher inside as a lucky door prize.

The folder was made with a sheet of Haiku DS paper – I really love the colours & patterns in this pack. I decorated the front & card inserts with 'Trendy Trees' (one of my must have sets from the catalogue) in close to cocoa, so saffron, pumpkin pie & old olive inks.

This is definitely a set that I'd recommend using a stamp-a-ma-jig with, so you can easily line up the various trunks & tree tops in the set. The greeting is actually part of a baby one from 'Best Yet' (can you see this set is getting plenty of use), but I just inked up the "a little something" part with my old olive marker. The scrumptious ribbon is kiwi/vanilla satin.

Inside the folder, I made 2 card inserts with old olive & tangerine tango & vanilla card – one to write on & one to hold a gift card.I was really happy with how this one turned out. It's always fun to see how the two sides of the paper work together. You can see more of my gift folders here.

I probably won't have time to post tomorrow, as we'll be at a dance competition with Cara, but I'll see how it all goes.

EDIT Sept 2021: See & download my No Cut Patterned Paper Tutorial in this post

Supplies Stamps: Trendy Trees, Best Yet Card/paper: very vanilla, old olive & tangerine tango card, Haiku DSP Ink: close to cocoa, so saffron, pumpkin pie & old olive ink pads, old olive marker Accessories: kiwi/vanilla satin ribbon, gold brads Tools: piercing tool, mat pack, stamp-a-ma-jig

Urban Garden Treats

As promised in my last post, here I am with a very quick post about the last & my favourite of the lucky door treat bags. So, why is this one my favourite? - Well, it's because of this set of 4 Love notes I enclosed inside.... & of course what's not to love about celery & the oh so chic 'Urban Garden' DSP.The Love notes are very simple but elegant – vanilla love notes, DSP, celery grosgrain ribbon & some greetings from 'Fresh Cuts' & 'Best Yet'.

The celery bag base is stamped in celery ink with one of the 5^th Ave Florals stamps. Then I added some DSP & a basic grey eyelet punched border & a punched greeting. Done!
Here they are all bagged up ready to go. Hope you like 'em too. Back soon! In the meantime, hope you have a great weekend.
Inky wishes
Di

SuppliesStamps: 5th Ave Florals, Fresh Cuts
Card: vanilla love notes & envelopes, certainly celery & basic grey card, Urban Garden DSP
Ink: certainly celery, basic grey
Accessories: celery grosgrain ribbon, velcro dot
Tools: small & large oval punch, eyelet border punch, cropadile

Treats to share

One of the great things about SU Convention is seeing all the fab ideas that Demonstrators come up with & share with others. Today's projects are a matching card & treat bag, which are based on some convention swaps my demo friend Leanne Dixon was lucky to receive at this year's convention. The treat bag is based on a fab swap by Sue Wdowic & the card is based on Cath Dickens lovely fresh cuts notes swap. I made these ones as a thank you for one of my lovely & very patient customers ('waving' at you Kim). The card is a Fresh-Cuts note. These have a flower design die cut out of the card front. I scalloped the card edge, attached some regal rose 'Patterns' DSP to the side of the card (from the level 1 Hostess only pack), then added a cute little pink pirouette felt flower & retired pink button ('stitched' with a very thin strip of regal rose cardstock) to the front. The greeting is a fave from 'Best Yet'.

To decorate this bag, I used the 'Polka Dot' background stamp, added some 'Patterns' DSP & a punched greeting from the gorgeous 'Best Yet' hostess only stamp set. Inside, I included a ribbon sampler of colours to match some of the goodies I know Kim has.
After making this set, I thought the treat bags would be perfect for some lucky door prizes at my open house, so I made some more & filled them with choccies & either a ribbon or brad sampler.For this one, I stamped a motif from 'Circle Circus', punched it out. I mounted it on another motif made with the scallop circle punch, as I thought it looked good with the eyelet border punch. The last 2 are pretty similar but I thought I'd show you them anyway. Check the supply list below for all the goodies I used.
Hope you liked these swaps as much as I did. Thanks again Sue & Cath for sharing them.
Back tomorrow with my favourite one of the treat boxes I made.
Warm & inky wishes
Di
Supplies
Kim's card & Treat BagStamps: Best Yet, Polka Dot background
Card/Paper: Fresh Cuts note, regal rose & whisper white card, regal rose Patterns II DSP.
Ink: regal rose
Accessories: Flower Fusion 2 felt flowers (pink pirouette), pretty in pink button (retired)
Tools: circle scallop punch, scallop edge punch, 1 3/8 & 1 ¼ inch circle punch.Additional Supplies – 3 Treat bagsStamps: Circle Circus (bag 1), Fresh Cuts (bag 1)
Card brocade blue card, brocade blue Patterns II DSP (bag 2)
Ink: brocade blue

Bella & Sunshine notebooks

Ok, I know I'm a baaaaaaad blogger – enough said! Let's just move on & I'll show you some new things I made for last month's open house to celebrate the now not-so-new now catalogue. First up are some covered notebooks, which are so quick & fun to make, but I think look really good.This one was covered with some spotty 'Bella Rose' paper in riding hood red & pink pirouette. It has a co-ordinating belly band made with some pink pirouette & old olive card, more pretty 'Bella Rose' paper & a die Blooms in the centre. The brad in the centre is one of our new build a brads, customised with a punched circle of paper. Love em! You can see it better here:

Now, for a different look, here's a funky one made with paper from the 'Good Morning Sunshine' paper pack. On the belly band, I used more 'Sunshine' paper. Then I punched out a funky flower with the scallop circle punch, & made it into what I call 'faux chipboard' embellishment, by sticking it to about 5 more sandwiched choc chip scallop circles (can't check the number, as it was one of the lucky door prizes).

In case you're interested, the notebooks are the same size as a normal card front. Anyway, I hope you liked the notebooks. I have more open house goodies to show you, so I'll be back tomorrow hopefully.
Inky wishes
Di
Supplies:Notebook – bought in a pack of 3 from Officeworks
Bella Notebook
Card/Paper: pink pirouette & old olive car, Bella Rose DSP, Die cut Blooms
Accessories: Build a brad
Tools: ½ inch. 1 1/4 inch & 1 3/8 inch circle punchesSunshine NotebookCard/Paper: choc chip card, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Tools: Scallop circle punch

Inspired flowers & friends

As promised, I have more card ideas to show you using the Good Friend set, sans birdie (who was having a well earned rest).

First up, this is the second card I made at my church friends class last month. I was really happy with how the card turned out...not so much the picture though!The flower panel was stamped in kiwi kiss with the birdie leg/stem stamp & a little of the thin flower stem. The riding hood red flower has a punched flower & gold brad in the centre & is attached to the stem with dimensionals. I've also added 2 other punched flowers & brads. The panel is matted on kiwi kiss card, before being attached (with dimensionals) to a white base with panels of 'Washington Apple' paper, kiwi kiss strip & some gorgeous riding hood red taffeta ribbon. The greeting from the well named 'Best Yet' set is stamped in riding hood red ink.

For the next two cards, I took my inspiration from two extremely talented stampers who's work I always love to see:

LeAnne's Flower Trio

First is this happy flower trio card, which is a case of the second card in this post by LeAnne from Wee Inklings. If you haven't been over to Wee Inklings to check out LeAnne's awesome blog, go now!....well, at least when you finish reading this post!I loved the 3 flower & ribbon layout LeAnne used, so I had to try it for myself. The colours I used are riding hood red, so saffron, tangerine tango, bashful blue & white. The flowers are riding hood red, so saffron & tangerine tango. Like the previous card, I added punched flowers & brads in the centre & popped them with dimensionals onto some fab striped paper (again from the 'Washington Apple' pack). The ribbon is 1 inch bashful blue ribbon & the button is from the 'Button Bouquet' pack. The sweet 'happy-o-birthday' greeting is from 'On Your Birthday' pack.

Sarah's Wish Flowers

Last, but definitely not least, I'm sure many of you will realise this is case of the wonderful 5th card in this post by super lovely Sarah Klass. This one stopped me in my tracks when I saw it & I immediately had to make one for myself.Sarah has a knack of coming up with the coolest ideas & this card is a perfect example. I couldn't explain this card better than Sarah, who said "It was one of those 'came to me in the middle of the night' ideas - to use white ink for the 'puffy' stamp and thereby make them into dandelions. The last one has been blown away, hence the 'wish' greeting." Don't you just love it?! The colours are kraft, naturals ivory & baja breeze. I don't have the 'Definitions' set that Sarah used, so I substituted it with 'make a wish' from 'Big Bold Birthday' & added a ribbon knot using very vanilla taffeta ribbon. So go now & check out more from Sarah!

Before I go, I'd like to send big mwwwwaaaa's to Sarah & LeAnne again for so generously sharing their inspiration & ideas through their blogs. You totally rock ladies!

I think that's it for Good Friend for now, but I still have lots more projects to show you, so stay tuned. In the meantime, happy stamping & inky wishes from me.
Di

Supplies:
Good Friend flower stem
Stamps: Good Friend, Best Yet
Card/Paper: whisper white, kiwi kiss, Washington Apple DS paper
Ink: riding hood red, tangerine tango, so saffron, kiwi kiss
Accessories: gold brads, riding hood red taffeta ribbon
Tools: Trio flower punch

Flower Trio Case
Stamps: Good Friend, On Your Birthday Card/Paper: so saffron, tangerine tango, bashful blue, whisper white, Washington Apple DS paper; Ink: riding hood red, tangerine tango, so saffron; Accessories: gold brads, bashful blue stitched grosgrain ribbon, button bouquet buttonTools: word window punch, Trio flower punch

Sarah's wish flowers
Stamps: Good Friend, Big Bold Birthday;Card/Paper: kraft, naturals ivory, baja breeze;Ink: white craft ink, close to cocoa; Accessories: very vanilla taffeta ribbon

Good friend birdie confession

OK, here's the thing – when I first saw the Good Friend' set in our new catalogue pre-order, I didn't want to get it. Oh, I thought it was cute, but I wasn't sure of its flexibility & that I'd use it very much. In the end, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt & get it, as I needed another set I could use for kids cards. Then at convention, I saw lots of great ideas using it, including a cool project that Jill Kocherlans demonstrated which made me really glad I'd bought it. So, to get myself started with the set, I cased Jill's card with a couple of minor additions. This was the first one I made: The colours used here are so saffron, pacific point, tangerine tango & riding hood red & the little paper strip is from 'Good Morning Sunshine' (thanks again for the paper Sam). The birdie panel & mat is popped off the base, as is the flower with rhinestone brad. After making this one, I made one with Jean an hour before she left for the airport (true – you have to take your stamping time when you can, hey Jean? – sending hugs to you too!). Here's the evidence.

At this point, I decided that Mr birdie was just the cutest thing ever & chose to use him at my May class for friends from church. This was the final version I made with them.As you can see, I changed the colours around, & added a little stamped 3D wing & a black brad for his eye & used the Family Phrases set for the greeting (I think this set works perfectly with Mr Birdie & I think it's the only one in the current catty with an 'all of us' greeting).

I also used Good Friend for the second card we made at the class...no birdie this time though, but it's too late to show you tonight. I'll try to show you this one, plus some other Good Friend cards next time.
Inky wishes
Di
PS: Thanks for all the lovely comments about our new furry babies. They're settling in very nicely, despite having the trauma of their first bath & blow dry today....but don't they look cuter than ever?.....as does Damo too!Supplies:Stamps: Good Friend, Family Phrases
Card/paper: so saffron, riding hood red, whisper white, Good Morning Sunshine DS paper
Ink: pacific point, tangerine tango, so saffron, riding hood red
Accessories: rhinestone brads – Fire pack, black brad
Tools: 1/2 inch circle punch

Meet Harry & Jaz

Indulge me a no card post today, as I wanted to introduce you to our new furry family members, Harry (left) & Jaz.

They're two very cute & cuddly 15 week old Lhasa Apso pups, who came to us from the lovely Jenny of Amesen Lhasas. We've been wanting to get a dog for ages & finally brought Harry home on the 24^th. We then decided it would be good for him to have a doggy pal, so we brought home his sister Jaz last Saturday. Since then, they've had tons of fun getting to know their new home, playing & chasing one another around. As you can imagine, life with two new puppies is anything but dull, but they're generally very laid back little guys. We've had so much rain though & our backyard is really soggy, so we've become very good at towelling off little furry feet & bodies – especially since they discovered it's soooo much fun to run through puddles, roll in wet grass & dive through bushes.

Anyway, here are some solo pics. This one of Cara & Harry was taken the afternoon he came home. Harry is a cuddly & playful l litte boy & occassionally a little cheeky with Cara, so we're trying to teach her to be a calm & assertive pack leader just like the Dog Whisperer.& this is a very serious looking Jaz on her first night home (get used to that camera girl!) .....in between her watching tv – true! ... just the dog for Damien (hee hee). She's a very sweet & gentle girl...except when she pins down Harry in a rumble.Anyway, I've been trying to get this post finished for days, so I'm going now! I'll be back next time with some paper fun.
Inky wishes
Di