Well, it sure has been a while!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your loved ones and I hope you're all geared up for the New Year. May 2009 be a safe & happy year for us all.

One thing I know is that 2009 will be a busy year right from the start. We have at least ten birthdays, weddings and other parties that come to mind, in January alone! Help! And here are some cards to start us off...

Firstly, we have a birthday card for one of Mia's school friends made using the Garden Whimsy, Think Happy Thoughts and Live Your Dream sets, and the now retired Summer Picnic papers. Also used were Whisper White and Black cardstock, Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black ink, circle punches, and a non-SU number stamp set and non-SU half-pearls.

Secondly, is a card for another of Mia's school friends. This card was made using the Just Cricket and So Many Sayings stamp sets, Basic Black ink, and Whisper White, Sahara Sand and Basic Black cardstock. Also used were the window punch, silver brads, circle punches and a non-SU number stamp set.

More "Live Your Dream"

I recently bought some of the "In Colour" ink pads & cardstock to go with the new Afternoon Tea 12 x 12 papers, and I just had to use them! And I had to use them with my favourite Live Your Dream stamp set.

Firstly, I made this one using River Rock and Soft Sky.

For this next one I used River Rock with Groovy Guava.

My verdict? I love the In Colours!

Congratulations Mia!!!

What a proud day we had yesterday. Not only did Mia win a trophy for "Most Improved Swimmer" during the school swimming program, but she also brought home the most amazing school report.

Well done to my gorgeous girl. She has worked very hard during her first year of school so it was all very well deserved.

I can't believe Mia has just about finished Kindy and Demi will be starting preschool in a few weeks! Where has the year gone?

Live Your Dream - Double Scrapbooking Layout

As promised, I have completed another scrapbooking layout.

Left side...


Right side...

This layout was completed using the Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper (loooove it!) and the Live Your Dream stamp set (loooove it even more!) from the new Summer Mini Catalogue. Some stamp sets are perfect for scrapbooking and this is definitely one of them. Also used were Chocolate Chip and Whisper White cardstock, Chocolate Chip ink, Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, twine, large tag punch and silver brads. I think that's everything.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Our 2008 Christmas Card

After um-ing and ahh-ing about whether to make our Christmas cards or ot this year, I finally just bit the bullet, got the photos developed, and made them - well twenty of them. Some hand written ones snuck in there too. Anyway, here they are....

Not much stamping on them - just the Polkadot background. The colours used were Sahara Sand and Real Red. I printed the little messages on my computer, punched them out with the small oval punch and mounted them onto large punched out ovals. The flowers are non-SU flowers that I had in my stash. I didn't have enough red flowers to make all the cards with so I used white ones on some cards. One regret - I should have printed the year on them. Oh, well.

If you received one, let me know what you think.

Bye for now.

Summer Picnic Scrapbooking Layout.

I've had a whole bunch of photos developed lately so expect a few scrapbooking layouts over the coming weeks. I always do double page layouts, as opposed to single pages. That's just the habit I got into and I like the way they look in an album. Here is the first one of Mia's dancing concert...

I used Summer Picnic papers from the now retired Spring Mini Catalogue and the Hostess Stamp set, In the Spotlight with Bashful Blue and Old Olive cardstock and inks. I purchased two lots of these papers and now I regret not having bought more. They are so lovely. I hope they make a re-appearance in next year's catalogue.

Little Creations

I haven't had a chance to make anything lately, what with a school mass, dancing concert, Christmas shopping, etc, etc, etc, but I did get my 'fix' by helping Mia and Victoria make some cute little cards. Here they are...

...and here are their creations...

Demi joined in too!


She started off with all the same materials as Victoria and Mia, but somehow she ended up with...well...er...this...

Too cute!

From the Garden

Can you tell how good I am at this Blogging stuff? - NOT! I just found an old post that in actual fact, I never posted! Well, here it is now.

These are some cards I made with the hostess set, From the Garden.

Enjoy!

As if all these special offers and promotions weren't enough, the The Single Stampin' Up! Marker promotion has been extended until 14th December!

Purchase individual markers for just $4.95 each! Click here to view details.

Contact me at arthur_andrea@optusnet.com.au for more details to to place an order.

The Summer Mini Catalogue is Here!

That's right! The Summer Mini Catalogue is here and it's filled with some wonderful products on offer until 31st March 2009.

Contact me to obtain a catalogue or click here to view the catalogue online.

Click on the links below to view projects made with items from the Summer Mini Catalogue:

Ocean Commotion

Time For You

Live Your Dream

Take care!

Tying up Christmas!

Tie up your Christmas shopping with 20% off 12 selected items when you spend $20 on any catalogue items!!! Wow!

Click here to see a list of the reduced items.

Be quick as this offer is only valid from 1st to 31st December. Email me at arthur_andrea@optusnet.com.au to place an order.

So Swirly, So Versatile.

I just love my So Swirly jumbo wheel, simply because it is just so versatile. You really don't need much else when you use it and you can create so many different moods just by changing colours. Take a look...

Firstly, is a birthday card made using the wheel with Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Sahara Sand, Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbbon, the butterfly from the new Live Your Dream stamp set and three little half pearls on the butterfly. The sentiment is from the So Many Sayings hostess set, punched out with the window punch. I also used the piercing tool.

Next is a Christmas card made using Whisper White, Ruby Red, the flower from the In the Spotlight hostess set. Again, the sentiment is from the So Many Sayings hostess set and has been punched out with the window punch. The piercing tool was usedin the bottom right-hand corner.

By the way, if you love any of the hostess sets, ask me how you can earn them.

Lots to Show You!

Well, I have lots to show you today!

Firstly, my bad habit has kicked in again, so here you have three cards which I have made with the Live Your Dream set. They are all pretty much the same with just some subtle differences. The colours I used were Old Olive with So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy and Pumpkin Pie. I also used half pearls or brads as embellishments, and the piercing tool.

Next are some cute little tags that I made to embellish some Christmas pencils that Mia gave out as Christmas presents to her Kindy classmates. They were made using Real Red Ink, Real Red and Always Artichoke cardstock, the snowflake from the In the Spotlight hostess stamp set, the small circle punch, the two sized tag punches, and either white or Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon.

Mia loved them & so did her little friends.

And finally, I have a little note card made using the Dashing Designer Paper, the Priceless and Think Happy Thoughts stamp sets, and circle punches. I also snuck in a non-SU number '6.'

Quick and easy!

Thanks for visiting!

More Commotion

When I make a card that I like, I have a bad habit of making multiples of it. Here is my bad habit in action, using the Ocean Commotion set:

Again, the seahorse and seashell have been heat embossed using Versamark & Chocolate Chip inks. The background seaweed was stamped using Versamark ink & the seaweed behind the seahorse was stamped in Bashful Blue.

Live Your Dream!

Another card = another post. This time a card using the Live Your Dream set, again, from the the so-to-be-released Summer Mini Catalogue. This is one of my favourite sets. I know I say that often, but this set is truly gorgeous. Love it, love it, love it!


Colours used were Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Whisper White. The flowers, butterfly and bird were cut out and popped onto the card with dimensionals. The flower and sentiments were embellished with gold brads. But I couldn't stop there! I covered a little note book to match. Beautiful little gift set, me thinks. You?

Andrea.

This is a card I made for my Upline, Di Barnes for all that she has done for me since joining SU! in August. She is wonderful and so is her work.

The card was made using the Ocean Commotion set and the sentiment from the Live Your Dream set, both coming really soon!

The background was stamped with Versamark ink, the seaweed in Bashful Blue, and the seahorse and shell in Versamark, followed by Chocolate Chip & then heat embossed using clear powder. I must say that I'm really happy with it and I hope Di really likes it. Just quietly, I felt a bit of pressure to impress - ha ha!

Well, take care and enjoy your afternoon.

Andrea.

Always Time For You

Another card using a set from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalogue. This time, Always Time For You.

I used black pigment ink to stamp onto watercolour paper, then heat embossed with clear powder and coloured with watercolour pencils using Blender Pens. You like?

Ocean Commotion

Another card using the new Ocean Commotion set from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalogue. This time I embossed the seaweed and the fish by firstly stamping onto Versamark ink, then stamping straight onto the coloured Classic Ink Pad, and embossing with clear powder.

Just Cricket and Ocean Commotion

Another opportunity to use some of my new goodies! Here is a card for a little boy in Mia's class...

I used the new Ocean Commotion stamp set (isn't it gorgeous?) from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalogue. Colours used were Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue and So Saffron.

And here is a card using the Just Cricket set, a set which I have noticed, does not receive much mention, but I think it's great as it can easily be used for men and boys.

Colours used were Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip and Ruby Red.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your week.

Christmas cards galore!

Hi everyone!

Some of us girls got together last night for a Christmas card "jamming" session - is that the right term? Well, whatever the correct term is, we had a fun time. I made these five cards yesterday (while Demi napped) to inspire the girls, and to satisfy my urge to use most of my new goodies that had arrived in my order the day before. They replicated the origami tree card (tutorial can be found here http://flowerbug.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/11/origami-christmas-tree.html) and then used different concepts from the other cards to create their own card.





Thanks to Anna S, Sandra & Helen!

Lovely and Wild!

Two more creations this morning - one featuring the fun Wild About You set, and the other featuring the hostess set, Oh, So Lovely.

Supplies:
Stamps: Wild About You, Short and Sweet, Big Bold Birthday (background spots)
Cardstock: Lavender Lace, So Saffron, Very Vanilla
Ink: Lavender Lace
Tools: Oval punches

Supplies:

Stamps: Oh, So Lovely, In the Spotlight, Rough Texture Wheel

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla

Ink: Always Artichoke (stamped off)

Accessories: Brads

Tools: Circle punch

Christmas Card Class

A big THANK YOU to all of you who attended the Card Making Class yesterday - Alex, Anna, Helen, Kylie and last but not least, Sandra. Thanks for your enthusiasm and can't wait for the next one.

Here are the projects we made:

Any questions, please ask.