Stampin' Up! Secret Santa

Hi everyone!

I just love my Stampin' up! team! And I love my upline, Paula and her wonderful ideas! This year Paula arranged a secret santa between our Stampin' up team which was lots of fun. We each answered a little questionnaire about our favourite colours, items and things about Christmas and then she matched us up with our secret santas who then got to read the answers on our questionnaire and make a few cards and 3-D items to send to each other.

My secret santa loves Cherry cobbler and Early espresso so I sort of worked with that colour combo plus I used some of the colours from the Comfort cafe DSP. This group of items was for the last parcel which had to include some 3-D items. I made a corner bookmark (top of photo), A little embossed envelope holding a coffee sachet using the Two tags die and new Lacy Brocade embossing folder plus a Cross over card.

I'm sorry about the photo not being up to scratch, I had to take it at night so the items could be express posted early the next morning. And we have downlights all through our house which are terrible for good photos!




It's lovely to finally be relaxing for Christmas after all the hustle and bustle of preparing. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas this year and enjoy your families and hopefully a chance to slow down and do what you love. For me, I hope that will mean a little stamping plus catching up with family and friends here in Melbourne. I also hope you will have the opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, the arrival of Jesus as a little baby - a human who was also fully God! Quite amazing when you stop and think on it. A verse that sums up my feelings on Christmas this year from the Christmas carol called "Mary's boy child" is: "Man will live forever more because of Christmas day!" Wow!
Happy Christmas!
Love, Claire

November special offers from Stampin' Up!

 

Hello my stamping friends!

Aah we finally have the internet connected in our new home so I just had to pop by and make sure you know about this months AMAZING specials!

Offer #1 Available til November 30

Merry Christmas from Stampin' Up!

It's only November, but Stampin' Claus is giving you an early Christmas present: a FREE Festive Paper-Piercing Pack when you buy the Ornament Keepsakes Stamp Set and Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper Bundle.Click here for more information on the Stampin' up! website.

Offer #2 Available til December 16

Ink-credible hostess promotion

From 1 November through 16 December, host a minimum $650 Stampin' Up! party and get a FREE collection of ink pads*-a $79.95 value-in addition to our other fantastic benefits! How amazing is this offer! As I have recently moved I'd like to remind all my existing customers in Queensland that I can arrange to have orders delivered straight to your door from only $5.95 postage (or 5% of product total, whichever is higher). If you have a few friends that are interested I can post a virtual workshop kit out including catalogues and order forms. Whoever co-ordinates the orders can take advantage of the hostess offers including this ink-credible promotion! Here is some more information.

Another quick announcement.... The long awaited new style Stampin' trimmer will be available in December! This is the clever new style pictured in our current catalogue that we have been waiting for! Contact me if you would like some more information.

I hope to get stamping soon so I can share some new creations and ideas with you! Until then, Happy stamping!

Love, Claire

A card for my love

Hi stampers!

It's my hubby's birthday today and I thought I would share with you the card I made for him.

For those that haven't caught up with the news, we are off to Melbourne (we arrived last night!) for a new job for my husband with an airline! He'll be flying a similar plane to the one in the Sentimental journey stamp set (sadly retired) so I thought this was the perfect image to use this year.

The sentiment comes from Bring on the cake (y'all must know how much I love this Birthday greeting set - it's so versatile!). The background text stamp is from Daring adventure, one of my new most favourite stamp sets and the papers come from the Floral district set of DSPs. This is a good example of how floral papers can be used in a men's card especially when the papers are double sided! The button is one of the gorgeous new Naturals desinger buttons and there is a little bit of the Midnight muse satin stitched ribbon in there too. I love trying to break the rules and sneak some ribbon onto mens cards!

A roll of this gorgeous satin stitched ribbon can be yours for free when you place a $60 order this month and you can choose from 5 different colours. Click here for more information and contact me if you'd like to order. You can also visit my facebook page for regular updates and message me on there.
Happy stamping!

Betsy's blossoms and butterflies for a birthday

Hi everyone!

Today I have a pretty little card to share with you that I made for a special friend.

The background is Elegant eggplant stamped with the flowers from a new stamp set called Betsy's blossoms. The other contrasting colour is Summer starfruit, one of the new In colours available from 2012-2014. It's kind of a bit more yellow than the old colour Kiwi kiss. This has been stamped with the large blossom flower stamp from Betsy's blossoms and then some lovely ruffled wisteria wonder ribbon has been added.

The greeting comes from Bring on the cake (a wonderful birthday greetings set) and those darling embossed butterflies are made using the Beautiful wings embosslit folder on the big shot. It cuts out the butterfly shape and embosses the patterns at the same time!

 

I hope this leaves you feeling inspired to create!

Happy Stamping!

love, Claire

A dinoroar birthday!

Hi my stamping friends!

Just a quick post today as I am about to rush off and ice a birthday cake! My middle son Levi turns 4 today! So I thought I would share the card I made for him with you all.

I have used the very cute stamp set called Dinoroar and the Bring on the cake stamp set which has loads of different birthday greetings.

 

At first I was just going to attach the dinosaurs on the Pumpkin pie piece at the top there by themselves but they sort of looked like they were talking so I gave them speech bubbles! Hehe, Levi thought it was funny at least!

 

It's all finished off with some square lattice embossing on the red and a bit of (retired) pacific point ribbon. I love how all of Stampin' up!'s products co-ordinate with the inks, cardstock, ribbons etc all matching. I was inspired to use this colour combo from my very handy Color coach. If you ever have trouble thinking of colour combos you will love this tool that gives you a swatch of each colour in the Stampin up range plus 2-3 suggested combos for each colour.

 

Don't forget this month when you spend $60 you will receive a free roll of our gorgeous new stitched satin ribbon in your choice of five of the new in colours! Click here for more info.

Contact me if you would like to place an order.

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

You are loved engagement card

Today I have a little engagement card to share with you. A lovely young couple at our church had their engagement party on Saturday night and this card kind of evolved in my head for a few days until I just had to sit down and make it before I forgot it all!

We bought them some towels in a similar colour to Stampin' up's Pool party so that is where the colour inspiration started from!

 

I am just loving this new Textured impression embossing folder called Lacy Brocade. It is a stunning backdrop to this card. It has such lovely fine details. The main heart image is from the You are loved stamp set and I used Stampin' write markers here in Pool party, Wisteria wonder, Calypso coral and Lucky limeade. I think its great how these in colours work together so nicely.

And that bow is actually a bit of a tricky fake bow, you wrap the ribbon around in a loop (like the breast cancer ribbon) and then pinch together and wrap the brad around the centre. Very effective and easy!

 

It is finished off with a little sentiment from my go to greeting set, Teeny tiny sentiments and of course a Rhinestone jewel for a tiny bit of bling!

 

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think!

Happy Stamping!

Love Claire

 

The farewells begin :(

It's the hardest part of moving a long distance, saying goodbyes.
It is something that I dread as I try to keep myself together in public and put on a brave face but goodbyes always undo me.
On Thursday last week we had Levi's last day of kindergarten. He has been attending a beautiful little kindy that is part of Ethan's school. I just love all his teachers, they are such a blessing and we love the way they have taught and cared for him. I wanted to get them a little something special to say thank you and of course, had to make them a sweet little thank you card too.
This sweet image of the boy is from a new stamp set called Lean on me which has four little sketched images with cute sayings. I decided to just use the image part of the stamp with some Early espresso marker ink and then coloured it using the Stampin' write markers in So saffron, Pool party and Island indigo and the blender pen. The greeting is from the Pretty postage stamp set and again uses the markers in Pool party, Baja breeze and Island indigo. 

Don't you just love that Dark brown woodgrain background? I have used the new Woodgrain textured impressions embossing folder on the also new Early Espresso Core'dinations Card stock. The Core'dinations cardstock has a light coloured core so when it is embossed and sanded it reveals that lighter colour.
 

Thanks for looking! Let me know what you think!
Happy Stamping, Love,
Claire.

Floral and feminine

 

 

Hi my stamping friends!

 

Sorry for the little blogging break there! I have been a tad busy as my hubby is in Melbourne now studying for his new job and I am sorting things and trying to get organised (and continue to live life with my three little people!) before we move in October. If you are a stamper in Melbourne - please stop by my facebook page and say 'hello' - it would be so lovely to know some stampers to meet up with once I am settled :-)

 

Today I have a couple of pretty cards to share with you from the last workshop I held here in Cairns. It was such a beautiful morning for a workshop and the hostess had the most amazing spread of yummy food and a great HUGE table so it was a fun time!

 

This first card was our make and take. Using my favourite blue, Baja breeze teamed with Island indigo ribbon, Very vanilla and Old olive for the greenery on the stamp.

We used marker to stamp for this image from 'Just believe', a stamp set I have had my eye on ever since it debuted last year. I finally ordered it in August! We stamped the image first and the sentiment and then cut that lovely label shape using our new framelits in the Big shot. Gosh, they are the handiest and most versatile tool I own yet! I love them :) And of course, like most of my cards I have managed to use that gorgeous Vintage wallpaper embossing folder! lol

 

 

The second card was one I demonstrated before our make and take. It is based on my favourite new in color, Raspberry ripple matched with Perfect plum and Crumb cake. This lovely colour combo was from the Color coach - such a fantastic tool to help you for those times when the perfect colour combo escapes you!
I started by running the pretty Love Blossoms standard wheel along the base of the card, using Raspberry ripple ink (note how the same colour ink stands out on the cardstock). The gorgeous floral image is from 'You are loved', again using markers to ink up the stamp in Raspberry ripple and Lucky limeade. I then ran the image through the big shot using the oval Designer frames folder and cut around the edge of it. The square lattice embossing folder added a little texture to the crumb cake card stock and the scallop trim border punch pretties up the edge.
 

 

This was sadly my last Cairns workshop :( I am going to have to have a little break from workshops as we move and settle in Melbourne and shall see where we go from there. I just love sharing this craft with others, it's such a joy to see people amazed at what they have created!

I can still place orders or have a catalogue sent directly to you so please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like me to do that for you.

 

I also have a couple of sales happening over on my facebook page - some Retired Stamps and some Hand made cards. Click on the links if you would like to have a look :-)

 

I hope you have enjoyed a little bit of pretty inspiration for your day... hoping you find some time to create soon!

 

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

A cool new feature!

Check out this cool feature of the new style Firm foam ink pads!
They have a little label you can attach to the front of them so you can see their name from the stand! And they are amazingly juicy and stamp beautifully! You will love them!

Oh and check out the new colours!!!

 

Happy Stamping!

Betsy's blossoms Sneak peak

Hi My Stamping Friends!

I just can't keep it all in - I have to share SOMETHING with you from the new catalogue. I have all these lovely goodies sitting here and I want to share!! 

 

Can you spot... a new stamp set... and a new colour?

 

Please contact me if you would like a new catalogue (due for release Sept 1st but you can look sooner). And please don't forget to place your orders for retired stamps by emailing me. Retired lists end August 31 but items are selling out quick!
Happy Stamping!
Love, Claire

Step it up cards

Hi My stamping friends!

Hope you are all well! We are busy here but always time for a little stamping (it keeps me sane!).

Today I want to share with you three cards, all similar but just to show you how you can use what you have to make a simple card but then how you can also step it up to something more if you have more tools available.
We made these cards at my recent get together with the girls from my Stampin up team who are based here in Cairns.  The girls adapted them to make the version they wanted to.

The first card uses stamps and markers only. I have used the Hello Blossoms stamp, Cottage garden stamp set (little background flowers), 4 markers - Rose red, Lucky limeade, Daffodil delight and Tempting turquoise and a sponge dauber for the background.

The second card also makes use of the Friendly words wheel and some 1/4" grosgrain ribbon in Rose red.

And card number 3 has used the Bigshot vintage wallpaper embossing folder for some texture. I would probably add a ribbon to this card if I was to do it again!

 A few of these lovely products are retiring, including the Hello blossoms stamp ($13.95), Friendly words jumbo wheel ($15.95) and the 1/4"grosgrain ribbons ($10.95)

If you would like to order any of these items or others that are retiring please email me
Happy stamping!
Love, Claire

My news

Hi my stamping friends!

It’s been so busy here lately! Lots of fun things are happening with Stampin’ up! plus we have some personal news that I need to share with you all! 

My very talented hubby has accepted a new job with Tiger Airways! It’s all very exciting but also a little daunting (and life-changing) as it involves our family relocating to Melbourne!! We are from Melbourne and love the place and all the wonderful friends and family we have there... but it means we have to leave all of our beautiful Cairns friends behind L We have had two of our three babies here in Cairns and also bought our first family home here, we love the boys school and kindy and will miss all the people from our church and of course you Stamping girls! It’s been a huge decision to make but we do feel it is where God is leading us at this time.

We will be moving in mid October and I have to just wait it out and see as to whether my Stampin’ up! business will continue. Of course I just love this job and all the perks but I know I will need to be 100% focussed on helping us all to settle into a new environment so just have to see how it all turns out. I am sad to say at this time I will not be taking on any further workshops as there is just too much to be organising at home base right now.

I have just one more class and workshop and then I will be packing up my stamps for a couple of months - that will be hard!

I am still planning to blog and who know what the future holds! I would be thrilled to keep you up to date with Stampin' up via my email newsletter. Just email me and I will happily add you to my list. 

That's all for now - I will be adding some more cards up on my blog soon.

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire

Vintage Apothecary Arts

Hi my stamping friends!

Time to share a card with you that is a little bit vintage. I am loving these Label shaped framelits and the Apothecary arts set. It's so simple to use them together for a beautiful effect. You just stamp your image and then place the frame over the image and run it through the big shot to cut it out.

Apothecary arts is a beautiful set for watercolouring. Here I have used a combination of Stampin' write markers and aquapainter to colour the image.

I have also embossed the Crumb cake cardstock with my favourite, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder and sponged it lightly with Whisper white craft ink. 

The ribbon is the Chantilly crochet trim, only available until August 31, 2012 and is finished off with a charming rhinestone brad.



Don't forget to place your order for retiring items. Some items have sold out already!

Happy Stamping!
Love,
Claire  

Leukaemia foundation fundraiser cards

Hi my stamping friends!

Here are the two pretty little cards we will be making on Saturday for my Leukaemia foundation fundraiser.
Looking forward to seeing you there! If you haven't RSVP'd yet, please let me know by this evening if you would like to come along.
There is going to be heaps of fun, giveaways, games, yummy morning tea and card making of course!

 

Happy stamping!
Love Claire

Leukaemia foundation fundraiser Silent auction

Hi my stamping friends!

A very exciting event is coming up this Saturday! It's my fundraiser workshop for the Leukaemia foundation. I am hoping we can raise much needed $$ for this fantastic foundation that practically assist Leukaemia patients and their familieis in so many ways.
At our fundraiser we will be having a silent auction. Below are the six bundles on offer. If you would like to bid but can't make it to the event, please let me know and I will get a bidding form out to you to fill in.
Please click on the pics to view a larger image.

 

 

 

 

There are two of this one available so it is bundle #4 and #5. The two top bidders will receive a bundle each.

We will be having lots of fun, making two cards, playing games, eating yummy morning tea and there will be lots of giveaways (for door prizes, bring a friend and donations made)! RSVP by this evening if you would like to come along!
Happy Stamping!
Love, Claire  

Dinoroar boys cards

Hi my stamping friends!

In keeping with the masculine theme of late, I thought I would share these boys birthday cards with you all. I have used the gorgeous Dinoroar stamp set from Stampin' up! and a really simple layout and a little colouring using the blender pens.

I love quick and simple kids cards because they are not always kept but even if they are then something like this still looks special as it is handmade :)

The scoring under the dinosaurs is a simple yet effective way to add a little extra effect to an otherwise simple card.

 

 

 

Happy Stamping!
Love, Claire 

Up, up and away for men

Hi my stamping friends!

Following on from my previous post about men's cards, I thought I would share another cute card made for a man using the Up, up and away stamp set. These colours are so great for a man. Here I have used: Crumb cake, Cajun craze, Not quite navy, Very vanilla, Baja breeze and a little Early espresso.

The cloud and bird stamps come in the set with the balloons and basket and the greetings are great for guys in this set too: ""miss you!", ""happy birthday to you!", "up in the air over you!" and "the sky's the limit". I love using the last two sentiments for cards for my hubby :)

Happy Stamping!
Love, Claire

Something "manly"

Hi my stamping friends :)

I truly used to fear making mens cards but over the years I have realised that they are actually quite easy! I have a few key tips for making mens cards:

• Rough it up a bit. Distress the edges using not too sharp scissors or our Cutter kit (p.149 of the Idea book and catalogue)
• Ink up the edges using a Stamping sponge or sponge dauber and the same colour ink as cardstock. This just gives a bit of an antique/aged look. 
• Add some metal. Stampin' up!s Metallic Brads are perfect! 
• Add some texture. I have to hold myself back from using my square lattice embossing folder on every mens card I make! 

The card pictured is one that we made on Friday evening at an in home workshop. The hostess asked for some ideas for mens cards and this one I felt was fairly neutral and could work for different ages. See, you can even make a man card without a car or a boat stamp in sight!

We used the super fun Grunge rock stamp set and some of the girls who knew guitar playing men decided to add a little stamped and hand cut guitar image from the same stamp set to their cards. I love seeing the creativity expressed at workshops! It's awesome.

If you'd like to host your own workshop (and request a theme) then please let me know as I would be thrilled to help you out! Don't forget until the end of July we are still showing our hostesses how much we love them by giving them an extra $90 to spend when sales reach $650!

Happy Stamping!
Love Claire

Lots of reasons to smile in June!

Hi my stamping friends! 

Stampin' up are spoiling everyone this month with lots of special offers! Firstly, because we LOVE our hostesses there is a special promotion just for those who host an in home workshop!

 All workshops with over $650 in sales this month will receive an additional $90 of credit to spend on any items in our Idea book and catalogue or Mini catalogue! So this means for a workshop with $650 in sales you will be entitled to $190 worth of free products! And as usual you are also able to select an item at 50% off!

 And then for our wonderful customers there is a further reason to smile because with every $125 purchase you will be able to receive for free a new stamp set called "A reason to smile"!

And don't forget all the usual benefits of in home workshops:

• They are free!
• You and your friends get to learn new ideas 
• I tailor the workshop to your interests and needs
• You will all get to make a card to take home with you
• And most of all it's a really fun way to spend a couple of hours together!

Please give me a call, email or message me on facebook if you would like to book a workshop with me this month! 

Happy Stamping!

Love, Claire