My very first challenge.

Hi all,
I have been watching a few of the challenges that go on in blog land and I finally decided to play along, so when I logged on to Alisa's Blog and discovered that she had posted a challenge...well I just had to give it a go!!
At first I thought that these colours would be difficult but once I got started it all just flowed and this is what I ended up with.
Click on the image for a closer look.
Hope that you like it :o)

Stamps: Time Well Spent, All Year Cheer.
Inks: Basic Black, Chocolate Chip.
Cardstock: Old Olive, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie.
Accessories: Soft Subtles Brads, Dimentionals.

DRY EMBOSSING.

I made this first card at one of our team meetings a fair while ago and it is a small miracle that I actually made a complete card at a team meeting because I would usually spend the whole time gossiping and eating chocolate!
I really like the technique that was used to make this card "Dry Embossing" because I think that it gives the card interest but still remains simple and elegant.

I also managed to make a few templates at the team meeting so that I could try my hand at the Dry Embossing thing at home and the second card is the result of doing just that.
I really hope that you like them.

CARD NO.1
Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, Warmest Regards.
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Confetti Cream.
Inks: Soft Subtles Markers.
Accessories: Celery Grosgrain Ribbon.


CARD NO.2
Stamps: Seeing Spots, Wonderful Words.
Inks: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue.
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Confetti Cream.
Accessories: Soft Subtles Brads.

TIME FOR SOME GLITTER.

I have been going through a real glitter stage lately. I think the last four cards that I have made have all had glitter on them in one way or another. I will be posting some of them in the coming days.
I really like sparkly things...what girl doesn't?....and suprising as it may be, I don't yet own the Hodgepodge Hardware or the Pretties Kit so I use the glitter to give the cards a bit of *bling*.
I plan to buy both Hardware sets and the Pretties Kit at tax time.....hehehe....already spending our tax return before we even have it!!
Anyway, this is a glitter window card that I made. Hope that you like it.




Stamps: Seeing Spots, All Year Cheer.
Cardstock: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana.
Accessories: Light Blue Gingham Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds.
Tools: Circle punches: 1 1/4 inch, 3/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch and packing tape.

BLOG MAINTENANCE.

I am having a bit of a play around with the settings and format of my blog today, so please bear with me if things change while you are visiting. The disturbance won't last for very long.
Thanks for your patience,

Time to post!

I have got a little bit of time up my sleeve so I decided to do a quick post to the blog.

The twins still have an afternoon sleep, usually for around 2 hours, baby Hayley is also fast asleep and little miss 4 (Miah) is playing on the swings in the backyard. This is one of those rare moments when our house is lovely and quiet!!!

It won't be long before they are all awake and the house becomes chaotic again and I will need to get back to doing the laundry and dinner!

Anyway, I can not remember where I got the inspiration for this card or if I cased it from someone (because it was made quite a while ago) but I do know that I have used this one as a make and take for a workshop. Hope you like it.

Stamps: Simply Said, It's your birthday.

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue.

Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Old Olive, Kraft.

Accessories: Soft Subtles Brads.

Embossing!

This card is the first card that I made using Designer Series Paper and I also tried my hand at embossing with this one!

This was a really easy card to make and I didn't get inspiration from anywhere else, it just developed on it's own. A lot of my friends really like this card, which is baffling to me since it is a really simple one but maybe that is what makes it so nice. Don't they say that the simplest things are often the best?!?!

Stamps: Mostly Flowers.

Ink: Versa Mark.

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Pool Party DSP (retired), Old Olive, Bashful Blue.

Accessories: Light Blue Gingham Ribbon.

Tool: White embossing powder, Heat gun.

Warmest Wishes.

This card was inspired by the one on page 3 of the 2006/07 Stampin' Up! Catalogue.

I was just starting out as a Demonstrator and I didn't have a lot of stamps, etc... but this is what I came up with what I had at the time. It was used as the Make and Take for a workshop.

The good thing about this card is that it gave the girls an opportunity to play with the Stamp-a-ma-jig and to have a go at tearing.

Stamps: All Year Cheer, Flower Filled.

Inks: Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue.

Cardstock: Confetti Cream, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery.

Accessories: Chocolate Grossgrain Ribbon.

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig.

First card I made completely on my own!!

So after that first workshop had bitten me with the stamping bug, I signed up to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.
This is the very first card that I made on my own and I am quite pleased with the way that it turned out.
My upline, Sarah, gave us ("her team") a card layout (is the correct term a "sketch"?) to work with and this is what I came up with. I recieved heaps of positive feedback from the other team members about my card which gave me the confidence to start doing workshops and it cemented to me that the decision that I had made to become a Demonstrator was the right one.

Stamps: Mixed Bouquet, Much Appreciated, Floral.
Inks: Ruby Red, Old Olive.
Papers: Old Olive, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla.
Accessories: Very Vanilla Grossgrain Ribbon.
Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Stampin' Pastels.

Where it all began.....

OK, so this card takes us back to the beginning of my Stampin' Up! journey.

This was the first card that I made at the first workshop that I hosted, demonstrated by my friend and now upline, Sarah Klass.

There are a couple of the tips missing from the leaves but seeing as though I had never even handled a stamp before this I am resonably pleased with the way that it turned out.

I don't even know what this set is called because it is before my time as a Demonstrator. If anyone knows the name of this set, please leave me a comment because I would love to know what it is called. Also, let me know if it was from the catalogue at the time or if it was from a mini catalogue.

Stamps: Unknown?!?

Paper: Kraft, Old Olive, Very Vanilla.

Inks: Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Old Olive.

Accessories: Caramel Gingham Ribbon.

Tools: Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Yay....my first card uploaded!!!

My dear friend recently celebrated her birthday, (Hi Paula!), and this is the card that I made for her. Well, this is really a copy of the card that I made for her! I gave her the card I had made without taking a photo of it so I whipped up this one to post to my blog. My intention was to start the blog with some of the very first cards that I ever made but somehow I have ended up posting this card first because it was photographed and ready to go. (I will post the others in the coming days).

Please forgive me if I jump back and forth a bit with the order of the cards that get posted but once some initial cards are up on the blog I am sure that I will settle into a nice rhythm.

To create the card I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped petals from Pick a Petal in chocolate chip and pretty in pink ink to make the flower look like a "Gerbra". The centre of the flower is the spotted petal from Pick a Petal stamped onto Whisper White C/S in close to cocoa, then I stamped the "3 ring" circle stamp from the same set in chocolate chip and stamped that onto the spotted petal. Then I cut it out and glued it into the centre of the flower. I then put Crystal Effects onto the centre piece and sprinkled it with a bit of Dazzling Diamonds to give it a bit of *bling*. The edges of the Whisper White C/S are sponged with cocoa and the word "Celebrate" is from Wonderful Words and is stamped in chocolate chip. Add pink brads to the top left and right corners and a bit of chocolate chip grossgrain ribbon...and you are done!


Stamps: Pick a Petal, Wonderful Words.
Inks: Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip.
Papers: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White.
Accessories: Chrystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds, Soft Subtles Brads, C/Chip Grossgrain ribbon.
Tools: Mat Pack (to pierce holes for brads).

Same...but banana this time.

I can't believe that I have managed to get 2 cards up onto my blog...this is just so much fun!!!!

This is the same design as the previous card but I wanted to see what it looked like if I mixed barely banana to the chocolate chip and close to cocoa combo. I'm not sure which one I prefer.... I think that I like the way that they both turned out. Which one do you like?

Please feel free to leave me a comment because I would love to hear from you! Your comments will help me to decide what will feature on the blog and also the comments will motivate me to continue to create cards and post them for you all to see. :)


Stamps: Pick a Petal, Wonderful Words.
Inks: Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa.
Papers: Whisper White, Barely Banana.
Accessories: Crystal Effects, Soft Subtles Brads, Dazzling Diamonds, Chocolate Chip Grossgrain Ribbon.

My First Post!

Hi everyone,

This all feels so familiar!!!

I tried to embark on this blogging journey nearly a year ago but just as I seemed to get it off the ground I found out that I was pregnent with my 4th baby!! The pregnancy was extremely unplanned (definitely not unwanted) but it did send our world into a bit of a spin until we were used to the idea of having another baby.

I have been very lucky with my past pregnancies because I haven't had any major comlaints (thanks Mum for the great genes!!) but this time I did feel a bit off colour, I was very tired and my legs really ached, so the stamping and blogging thing were all put on hold.

I am happy to say that my DH and I were blessed with another beautiful baby girl (that makes 4 girls!!) on the 12th of April and now that we are two months on, I am back into my stamping and ready to try this blogging thing again that everyone is doing.

My intentions haven't changed.....they are to have a little space on the web where my family, friends and customers can see what I am up to and where I can share with you what I have been stamping and making. I will also post images of projects, details of classes and any other Stampin' Up! related news on here.

I am still learning about this blog so please be patient and I hope that you will enjoy taking the blogging journey with me.


Danneil.