My big school boy

Well here he is, all dressed up for school! He was so happy on Wednesday morning as we got ready for his first school morning! It is quite a long drive to get to Ethan's new school and all along the way we had him saying, "I'm just so excited"!! Very cute.
When we arrived he found his spot on the bag rack and put his lunch into the fridge and promptly sat down and played with the 'tap tap' game (where they use little shaped wooden pieces and nails to hammer into a cork board). He was really happy so we didn't feel that we needed to stay too long. We had some hugs and said goodbye and he was all good! It all just went so well.
He was happy upon pick up at lunchtime and after a lot of prompting he shared that they'd had a little walk around the school and that he made a friend but couldn't remember his name! He also saw another little boy in year 1 (they share a playground) that he knows so that was nice. We took him out for sushi lunch (his favourite) after school! What a great day!!


We're just so proud of him *happy sigh*

Love, Claire

Just Add Ink Colour challenge 1!

This is what I came up with from the beautiful colour selection in the Just Add Ink colour challenge 1.

I just can't resist my Butterfly Prints stamp set at the moment with co-ordinating punch and am so loving these jumbo grommets from the Summer mini catalogue also - they are gorgeous and so so easy to use! All you need is the 1/2" circle punch and a bone folder to push down the little prongs on the back. Other stamp sets used were Sprinkles and the sentiment is from Upsy Daisy. I love this Double stitched Grosgrain ribbon also... it's so generous!

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

Just Add Ink

I have just discovered such a wonderful website - especially for fans of Stampin' Up! products. Just Add Ink is a design challenge website started up by Danielle Daws and Amanda Reddicliffe. The use of Stampin' Up! products in these challenges is encouraged so it is a great resource for some fresh ideas using our gorgeous products.
I have found lately that trying out a couple of challenges here and there is very inspiring. By starting with a colour palette, a layout or a technique you're challenged to try something different but given a framework to guide you. If you ever struggle with coming up with ideas (You might say, "I'm not creative") then give some challenges a go as they'll broaden your mind and teach you to be creative!
I am about to have a go at their current challenge of So saffron, Taken with teal, Rose red, Chocolate chip and Whisper white. Some of my favourite colours in there - it will be interesting to see what I come up with!!

Happy Stamping!
Love, Claire

Haiti Disaster relief promotion

Hi everyone,

In response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12 Stampin' Up are committing to donate $2 from the sale of every I {heart} hearts stamps set which is in the current mini catalogue. All donations from the sales will go towards the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. This money will be used for immediate relief as well as long term support through supplies technical assistance and other assistance to those in need.

This set of 8 stamps is $42.95 and co-ordinates with the heart to heart punch. It's a versatile set for friendship cards, wedding, engagement and Valentine's day as well as being perfect for scrapbooking. It can be found on page 6 of the Summer Mini Catalogue.

Please contact myself or your regular Stampin' Up demonstrator if you wish to purchase this lovely set and help the people of Haiti.

Love, Claire

A kind word for a birthday

Isn't this little girl sweet, just swinging away.... For my birthday one of my dear friends stamped a whole bunch of these girls for me to colour and I had some fun doing that last night! I have a few birthdays approaching so I thought I should make some birthday cards with these girls.


The card has a base of Perfect plum layered with Certainly Celery.
The designer series paper peaking out from below the punched eyelet border is from the Tea party pack. Such sweet, girly paper!


Here we have some punched flowers (Boho blossoms punch) adhered using a rhinestone brad. The Celery sentiment is from the Best yet set (hostess) and punched out with the Curly label punch from the Curly punch bundle. I sponge daubed the edge of the sentiment and it is backed by another curly label punched from more Tea party DSP.

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

Half a one sheet wonder!

Hello everyone!
Have you ever created a one sheet wonder? Well this is a half sheet wonder! I have been inspired by Claire Daly's post on this clever technique to make some quick cards. You simply take half an A4 sheet of cardstock and stamp it randomly with your stamps of choice. Then chop up that piece of cardstock and use it on cards with other embellishments etc. This is what I came up with.

So I made 6 cards using the half A4 sheet so you could potentially make 12 cards using this method with a whole A4 sheet. It only took about 1.5 hours to make these six cards. If you would like to learn this method first hand then let me know as I would be happy to incorporate this into your workshop.

Recipe:

Cardstock: Whisper white, Tempting turquoise, Real red, Pumpkin pie, Old olive.

Ink: Whisper white craft, Tempting Turquoise, Real red, Pumpking pie and Old olive.

Stamps: Butterfly prints, Eastern Blooms, Lovely labels, Embrace life and God's blessings.

Accessories:Punches: scallop circle, butterfly, large oval and 1 3/8"circle. Ribbon: 1/4 " grosgrain in Old olive, Real red and Tempting turquoise. 5/8" grosgrain in Old olive . Playground designer buttons (More mustard)

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

Hand made flower

I have found a new favourite colour - So saffron. It's a beautiful buttery yellow - and I felt it was the perfect background for this flowery card.
This is an idea that I picked up from Stampin' Up!s monthly magazine we receive as demonstrators. I love the ideas they give to us and this is my version of it. To make the flower you simply punch some scallop circles out of stamped cardstock. You curl the scalloped edges up using a dowel (I used a large needle) then you simply stack the flowers and pop a Designer button in the centre. I used the delightful new Playground buttons here from the Summer mini. I'll list all my ingredients below.
If you are keen to get your hands on these inspiring monthly magazines as well as a great discount on Stampin' Up! products then contact me about signing up as a demonstrator! It's great fun and you can be anything from a hobby demonstrator buying supplies for yourself and supplying your friends right up to making a career out of it with brilliant incentives... so drop me a line. We have a promotion coming up where you can receive a free stamp set when you sign up - so it's a great time to do it.

Cardstock: So saffron, Very vanilla, Old olive (stem), Chocolate chip.

Ink: Versamark and Tempting turquoise

Accessories: Playground button, 1/4" old olive grosgrain ribbon, linen thread, chit chat rubons

Tools: Scallop circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Snail adhesive, Mini glue dots

Stamps: Butterfly prints

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

For Everything

I had the chance for a play with a new stamp set called 'For Everything' the other day. This is a sweet little set from the Summer Mini catalogue which includes the sentiment "Thanks for everything you do"as well as a stamp that says, "friendship" in an oval frame. This is one of the Two step stamping sets as the stem is a separate stamp to the flowers and so you can mix and match them to suit your design. This is a card I have CASEd (Copy And Share Everything) from the Summer mini catalogue on page 13. I used the Stampin' write markers and the blender pens to colour the flowers. There is also a lovely little rub on sentiment from the Chit chat rubons, also in the Summer mini - I love how many different greetings are in this rub on set and it comes with a sheet of white and a sheet of choc chip rubons. Cardstock colours are So saffron and Certainly celery. Ink colours are versamark (at the bottom of the card), Certainly celery, Pink passion, Elegant eggplant, Pumpkin pie, Summer sun, Real red, Tempting turquoise and basic black.

As soon as I saw the For Everything set I thought about using one of the flowers as a tail for the bird to turn him into a peacock! I think he's quite cute! I played on the Turquoise colour here by using that as my main card colour to go with the little birds bright colour. Other cardstock is Certainly celery, So saffron and Lovely lilac. I used the Stampin write markers in Tempting turquoise, Glorious green, Pumpkin pie, Lovely lilac and Pink passion to colour the bird.

I hope this is a little inspiration for you. Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

Cheep talk

Just a quick post to share a couple of thank you cards made with the Cheep talk stamp set. We were shown so much hospitality and kindness when we visited Arnhem Land recently that I was inspired to make these cards for some people to say thank you.

Recipe for Baja Cheep talk:
CS: Baja Breeze, Kraft, Whisper white, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Old olive, Baja Breeze, pumpkin pie and Chocolate Chip.
Stamps: Cheep talk and Retro remix standard wheel.
Accessories: 1/4" Old olive grosgrain ribbon, stampamajig and Mat pack

Recipe for Pear cheep talk:
CS: Very vanilla, Kiwi kiss, Whisper white
Ink: Chocolate chip, Old olive
Stamps: Cheep talk
Accessories: 1" double stitched choc chip grosgrain ribbon, kiwi designer button, linen thread and stampamajig

I hope this is a little inspiration for you. Happy Stamping!
Love, Claire