Lalaloopsy birthday

As the Mum of a brand new highschooler, I realise how quickly you get out of touch with the 'in' things for younger kids. One craze I'd totally missed was Lalaloopsy dollsTM until I saw the ones my friend's daughter B had. So, when it came to making a birthday card for her, I thought it would be fun to make a her a Lalaloopsy card. There were lots of characters to choose from, but the one I chose was Bea Spells-a-lotTM. I googled for ideas, but couldn't find anything suitable, so I went to work on my own version. It took me a couple of hours, but this is what I came up with:

The card front is about 20 x 10cm from memory. Most pieces are made with punches & a little hand-cutting. I hope I can remember everything I used, as this was definitely a one off. Here's another view, so that you can hopefully see the popped layers better. Bea is completely raised off the page.

 

Here's the inside of the card - simple, with some repeated elements from the front.

 

Punches used to make Bea ... from memory!
Head - 1 3/4 inch circle
Eyes - owl (largest eye circle) lashes - hand cut
Cheeks - 1/2 inch circle
Hair - word window
Headband - oval, owl - heart, 1/4 inch circle
T-shirt & apple - cupcake
Skirt - hand cut & scored a small concertina, buttons - owl (medium eye circle), underskirt - cupcake
Arms - hand cut
Spotty legs - hand cut
Socks - cupcake base
Boots - stocking punch (retired) - cut down to make narrower.

She took a bit of time to work out & make, but I was really happy how she turned out. I hope you like her too. Please leave me a comment if you'd like any more info, or just to say hi. Thanks for visiting.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired)
Card/Paper: Pink pirouette, whisper white, retired DSP
Ink: melon mambo ink pad, black journalling marker, white gel pen (laces)
Accessories: basic rhinestones, wild wasabi stitched ribbon
Tools: Punches as noted above plus - 1 1/4 inch scallop circle, 1 inch circle, boho blossoms, itty bitty pack, scallop border punch

Sycamore Street SAB Birthday

I have something brand new to share with you today - a birthday card I made for a lovely friend, using some new Sale-a-bration freebies & a little sneak peek from our upcoming Seasonal Catalogue.

I've used 3 free sale-a-bration goodies - Sycamore Street DSP, Pretty Petites stamp set &  co-ordinating Petite Curly Label punch. I love the funky colour combination in these papers. I've also used a die from a new framelits set....coming 1 Feb. The card base is made with the Scallop square bigz die. You already know that one's a fave of mine. If you'd like to know anything else, just leave me a comment.

How you can Sale-a-brate too...
Sale-a-bration runs from22 January until 22 March. There are an amazing 19 different free Sale-a-bration items you can choose from this year - the biggest ever. 13 items are exclusive to Sale-a-bration & 6 are from our Annual Catalogue. How do you get your hands on these goodies? You can...

Every $100 you spend (excl s&h) earns you 1 SAB freebie of your choice.

You can see a simple list of all the available items here, OR the printed catalogue version here.

Contact me if you'd like a paper copy of the SAB catalogue....& a new Seasonal Catalogue too.

Do you have the stamping friend or two? Host an in-home or virtual catalogue party, or simply combine orders with a friend & you'll receive even more benefits. Total orders (excl s&h) over $300 will earn you hostess benefits, plus SAB freebies based on each $100 spent.

A $300 order will give you:

• $50 in regular hostess benefits to spend on any Annual or Seasonal Catalogue products
• Up to 3 SAB freebies (one for each $100 order per customer).
• PLUS a free pack of silver glimmer paper.

A $600 order will give you:

• $100 in regular hostess benefits to spend on any Annual or Seasonal Catalogue products
• 1 half price item of your choice.
• Up to 6 SAB freebies (one for each $100 order per customer).
•  A free pack of silver glimmer paper.
• PLUS a special SAB product bundle containing 3 SAB items (Sycamore Street DSP, Sycamore Street ribbon & button pack & Madison Avenue stamp set).

Got a large wishlist....I know, who doesn't? Then SAB is a fantastic time for you to join Stampin Up!
You'll get to choose 25% more in your Starter Kit - that's $294 of goodies of your choice for just $169 & that's just the start of the benefits.


Thanks very much for visiting & contact me if you'd like more info on SAB or anything else. Until next time...
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies:
Stamps: Pretty Petites
Card: tangerine tango, pool party, crumb cake patterns DSP, Sycamore Street DSP (SAB)
Ink: island indigo ink pad
Tools: Petite Curly Label punch (SAB), Big Shot, Scallop Square Bigz die, woodgrain embossing folder, Hearts a Flutter Framelits dies (new Seasonal Catalogue - coming Feb)

One more Christmas post

First a confession - I'm sad to say that that life & time got in the way of me getting my own Christmas cards done... & lots of other cards last year. So, in the spirit of new beginnings, one of my goals this year is to make & most importantly send & share more paper love. I haven't blogged a lot either, so I do have some projects that I'd like to share here - both as a reference & hopefully to provide some inspiration to the one or two of you still visiting. I hope you'll humour me for one more Christmassy post & I promise no more Christmas until maybe Christmas in July. Here goes anyway.

Scentsational Gingerbread 

The gingerbread stamp from Scentsational Season always makes me smile - he's just so cheery & cute. Cutting him out with the matching framelit die also makes me smile too. I showed you this card already, but here's a couple of other Gingy projects. First, a card.

 

Here's a close up of Gingy, so you can see his raised eyes & buttons - made with the eyes on the owl punch.

 Next, some little little treat bags for a lovely friend's 2 cute kidlets.

 

Before you ask, no I didn't make the cookies. I got them from Cookie Crazy Cookies at Menai Community Markets. I can confirm that they're totally delicious though ;0). The topper is cut with the newish Oval Accent Bigz die & just  folded over a cello bag. I attached it to the back of the bag with sticky strip & the front with a dimensional, so it could be easily opened (I hope). Here's a closer view:

Important: The Scentsational Season stamp set & matching framelits are only available until 31 January, when the Holiday Catalogue ends. They are NOT on the list of items that will carry over to the next seasonal catalogue. Contact me ASAP if you'd like to order.

Snow Festival Tags
When I saw the Snow Festival tag packs in the Holiday Catalogue, I knew I had to get some. At just $6.95 for 25 double sided tags, they're super cute, very easy to use & cheap to buy.  Of course, I used mine as gift tags, but also as gift card folders like this one.

As you can see below, this one was also a Stampin' Up! gift voucher. Did you know I could provide gift vouchers? You can also use them to send a family photo or message, as many do for Christmas.

While Christmas is well over, I'll still be able to use the tags as shaped mats on cards etc, as the reverse sides have lovely non-Christmassy patterns. You can see all the tag designs here in the Holiday Catalogue. 

Availability: Snow Festival Tag packs are only available until 31 January, so stock up now for next Christmas... or all year round.

Ornament Tag

Here's a simple, elegant tag I made to match my Christmas wrapping paper. It's made with the Ornament framelit dies & Lacy Brocade embossing folder. I got the idea for the sparkly silhouette shape from a card made by Marelle Taylor for Heartfelt & really liked how it turned out.

 

Well, that's Christmas officially over for me for now. I hope you've enjoyed seeing my projects & hope you come back soon to see what else I've been making.
Until then, sending inky wishes from me.
Di 

Supplies
Gingerbread card
Stamps - Scentsational season, Greetings of the Season
Card/Paper: real red, whisper white, crumb cake, retired DSP
Ink: real red, soft suede ink pad
Accessories: cherry cobbler baking twine
Tools: Big Shot, Two Tags die, Holiday Collection Framelits, owl punch
Gingerbread treat bag

Stamps - Scentsational season
Card/Paper: Summer Smooches DSP, gumball green, whisper white card
Ink: soft suede, gumball green ink pads
Accessories: cherry cobbler baking twine, basic rhinestones
Tools: Big Shot, Oval Accent clear die, Holiday Collection Framelits, owl punch, 1 3/4 circle punch
Snow Festival Pocket Card
Stamps -More Merry Messages
Card/Paper: gumball green, Summer Smooches DSP, Snow Festival Designer tags
Ink: gumball green, ink pad
Accessories: real red 1/8 in taffeta ribbon, garden green flower button, linen thread
Tools: Big Shot, Two Tags die, Holiday Collection Framelits, owl punch
Ornament Tag
Card/Paper: whisper white card, silver glimmer paper
Tools: Big Shot, Ornament Framelits, Lacy Brocade embosisng folder, owl punch, merry mini punch pack, 1 inch circle punch, 1 1/4 scallop circle punch

Flower Christmas wreath

Happy Australia Day! Hope you've got a fun day planned.
While today's project is not Australia Day themed, I thought you might like to know a bit more info about the flower wreath I shared on Christmas Day. My fab friend Kellie & I spent a great day making them together, which made it even more fun. Here's a pic of my final wreath:

We started off by covering a flat backed polystyrene ring with the brown paper that comes with our SU orders. Then we die cut lots of flowers in card & DSP using a combination of flower dies & punches & glued them together. We pinned the flowers onto the ring to get them placed how we wanted, then used Tombow Mono glue to permanently attach them to the ring - it's very strong. Once they dried, we attached buttons to the flower centres. This details really finished them off beautifully I think.
I used a whole pack of Naturals Designer Buttons (3 sizes included) & about 5 large Brushed Bronze buttons (Holiday Catalogue) & die cut cardstock buttons using the Sweet Buttons embosslit die to use as centres on the remaining flowers. Here's a closer shot:

I attached some ribbon to the ring to hang it up on a hook. You can't see the ribbon when hung. Kellie used some cherry cobbler tulle to make a visible hanging bow for hers, which looked fab too. All up, it took about 5 hours for us to complere both wreaths (with lots of chatting & lunch in-between) & we were pretty thrilled with the result.
Thanks for visiting & if you have any questions about the wreath, just leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies
Card/Paper: cherry cobbler coredinations & smooth card, lucky limeade, crumb cake & vanilla card, Festival of Prints, Be of Good Cheer & other retired DSP
Accessories: Naturals Designer Buttons, Brushed Bronze buttons, pins (non SU), Tombow Mono adhesive
Tools: Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Blossom Party die, Sweet Buttons embosslit die, Blossom punch

SU Heartfelt event projects - part 2

Yay, I've made it back to share part 2 of my Heartfelt projects. This will be another loooong post, so lets go!

Peace Banner
This was the first display project I made & I think is still my favourite, as I love the colours & clean lines, with those sparkly stars. It was originally going to read 'Peace on Earth' but I didn't think it would fit the board, so stopped with Peace.....but I might make a full one for home this year.

It's completely cut with the Big Shot. The large Two Tags die made a perfect base for the glittery Snow Flurry die star/snowflake, which is placed over a large baja circle (largest circles #2 die or our largest circle punch). I really liked the almost flower like effect the circle gave to the star. You can see it better here:

 Here's a final close pic of the 2 different coloured tags together:

Note: the snow flurry die will NOT be available after the Holiday Catalogue ends on 31 January.

Mr Snowman Stand-Up card

If the peace banner was my favourite project, the peeking Mr Snowman card is the one that makes me smile. I really had a ball putting him together.

I got the instructions for the stand-up card here, from the ingenious Connie Stewart. Thanks Connie!
The card is very sparkly IRL, as the whole base & inside is sprayed with champagne shimmer mist. Here are some over views, so you can see it better....even though it doesn't look sparkly.

The snowman is made with a combination of dies & punches, so I decided to cut out the guess work for everyone & made this info sheet. Note too - my Mr Snowman had to stand up in the window, so I strengthened the body & arms with multiple die cut pieces glued together.

Extra Tip: Can you see that the piece left over from making the snowman arms makes perfect reindeer ears for a punched owl. Just stick this piece behind his head!

This final shot of Mr Snowman helps to show the layers for his nose...& his cute little fringed scarf.

I think this project includes the most Big Shot dies & folders of any project I've made, as you'll see in the supply list at the end.

More Heartfelt Inspiration
Well that's it for my projects, but I thought you might like to see all of the projects at the Big Shot table, made by Joanna Wassens, Michelle Dyson & myself.

 

I also wanted to share a few other fab Big Shot ideas I saw on the day....that I got decent pics of.  If I was to share everything, I'd be here all day again...so just a few.

These super cute Christmas puddings (& fabulous hanging ornaments - not shown) by the truly fabulous Teresa Dabrowski were the cause of every Demo immediately purchasing the Lattice die when they returned home. I've never laughed so much during any demonstration  than when listening to Teresa. She's so hilarious.

Then, we of course have the crazy talented Sophie Zadeh & her beautiful wreath...which inspired me to make this one. The flowers are mainly made using the Fun Flowers & Blossom Party dies.

Sophie also showed this cute double sided hanging ornaments made with the rosette & snow flurry dies.She showed so much more that I didn't get a good pic of.

 

Last, but certainly not least, I had to show you this beautiful double sided banner made by my lovely friend Kim. You can find out more about the banner here on Kim's blog.

Well I really must finish here, as I need to get started on dinner. Thanks for visiting & I hope you enjoyed my little look into Heartfelt in Sydney. Until next time.

Inky wishes, Di

Supplies
Peace banner
Card: midnight muse, baja breeze, silver glimmer paper
Accessories: midnight muse stitched satin ribbon, linen thread
Big Shot: Two Tags die, Snow Flurry die, Typeset alphabet dies, Circles#2 dies (largest circle)
Mr Snowman card
Stamps: More Merry Messages
Card: midnight muse, baja breeze, whisper white, basic black, chocolate chip, pumpkin pie
Ink: midnight muse ink pad
Accessories: midnight muse stitched satin ribbon, googlie eyes (only available until 31 Jan)
Punches: cupcake & owl punches
Big Shot: Labels framelits dies, Ornaments Framelits dies, snow flurry die, Delicate Designs & Northern Flurry embossing folders

Going back in time...SU Heartfelt event projects - part 1

Today, I'm going back in time to share about the fabulous day I spent at the Stampin' Up! Heartfelt Christmas event in November at Darling Harbour. This may seem sooo long ago & most of you are probably over Christmas. But if like me, you're determined to be much better prepared for Christmas this year, I hope you find some early inspiration here.
Stampin' Up! events are always packed with fabulous ideas & inspiration, but the best part is sharing all this with friends. I was very fortunate to share Heartfelt with my lovely friends Kellie, Kim, Sam & Cathy. I was also surprised, honoured, thrilled & terrified to be asked to help with the Big Shot table at Product Playground & make projects to display there too. I had a brilliant time making my projects with lots of new goodies - you all know that how much I love my Big Shot. I shared the Big Shot table with fellow Demos, Joanna Wassens & Michelle Dyson & was wowed by the lovely projects they came up with too.
Looking now at all my pics, I'm going to have to keep descriptions at a minimum, or I'll be here for days. Today's projects are made mainly with the Ornament Keepsakes stamps & dies, teamed with other dies. Click on the pics to see a larger version & leave a comment if you have any q's.
 
Scallop Square Cards
Shimmery baubles, stamped with champagne shimmer mist, mixed with cherry cobbler re-inker. Card base & mats made with scallop square bigz dies. Love the new piercing templates too - yay!

 

 

Merry Banner

 I love decorating our house for Christmas, so I came up with this idea for a banner, again using the scallop square dies & inlaid embossing technique with die cut DSP. Hard to photograph though!

 

This close-up of the 'M' shows the inlaid embossing layers better..& some pretty pearls.

Here's a bigger view of each letter:

Paper pieced Hanging Ornament 
Can you tell I really like the scallop square dies? The paper layers of the ornament were cut  from the Festival Prints DSP using the large scallop edge die & paper pieced together to form a patterned ornament inside the ornament window. The whole ornament was sprayed with shimmer paint mist to make it super sparkly...all better seen IRL.

  

This is the back of the ornament. I thought this would make a sweet Christmas gift.

 

Tag Box 

Matchbox style box with window & 8 matching tags. The acetate window has been pierced with a piercing template.

Each tag is made of 2 die cuts, held together with a mini brad. One more pic of the empty box, so you can see the window better. 

That's all for tonight. Hope you've enjoyed seeing my projects. Leave a comment if you have any q's or just want to say hi. Back hopefully tomorrow with part 2.

Inky wishes, Di 
Supplies

Stamps: Ornament Keepsakes, Petite Pairs (hanging ornament), Delightful Decorations (tags), Fabulous Phrases (tags)

Card & Paper: cherry cobbler, riding hood red, gumball green, lucky limeade, very vanilla card
Be of Good Cheer DSP, Festival Prints DSP

Ink: cherry cobbler, riding hood red, gumball green, lucky limeade ink pads, champagne mist shimmer paint, cherry cobbler reinker

Accessories: cherry cobbler bakers twine, victoria lace, vanilla seam binding, cherry cobbler dotted scallop ribbon, basic pearls, large basic pearls, linen thread, mini brads

Tools: Festive piercing template, punches - 1 inch circle, 3/4 inch, jewellery tag (for tags)

Big Shot: Big Shot, Ornaments framelit, Scallop Square Bigz die, Scallop Square Duo bigz die, Typeset alphabet dies, Square Lattice embossing folder, large scallop border edgelit die