3D Circle Flip Up Card Inspired by the beautiful Stampin' Up! Convention Anniversary Display

I haven't made a 3D circle flip up card for sometime (the tutorial is available on "splitcoaststampers" but was so inspired by the beautiful display at the Stampin' Up! Brisbane Convention of their "Celebrating 25 Years" that I decide to have a try at a more humble version. I was really happy with my result but it definitely is a "wolf in sheep's clothing" project, looks simple but requires alot of time, patience, fussy cutting, bigshotting and hand glitzing!!I wouldn't be making another one in a hurry and "hats off" to the creators of the Stampin' Up! original! Glad we just had a "long weekend" otherwise i probably would not have finished it, now I'd better get on with some other chores that I've been neglecting..........cheers for now Sue :)

Stampin' Up! More Convention Make & Takes - Mixed up my way!

Here's a few more Make & Takes from Stampin' Up! Convention Brisbane that I made at home "my way"! Actually the Christmas one was inspired from a card on one of the display boards at convention. I've played with three new stamp sets on these cards, Gorgeous Grunge, Tag It and Hello Lovely which will be available to all from July 2 (not too far away now!) I'm really liking the "grunge" which is a new style to try for me and "washi tape" is fun too! I've seen it around but haven't played with any till now and it's more fun playing with it than just looking at it! Lol ! I made extra sample copies of these too and sent them to some of my customers and team members that didn't go to convention, just to share the fun around! Well time to get on with my 'real job" and do some more creating later!.....................cheers Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Tag a Box sneak peek, ideas inspired by Brisbane Convention

This is another "Make & Take" new product sample we were given at Convention but my Tag a Box is "completely" changed from the original project. This was actually inspired from a demonstration given by Linda Higgins using vellum and also from another presentation Linda did at the Sydney Heartfelt event last October using White Stazon on window sheets. The "fringed leaves" was another convention inspiration and the "pearly strings" embellishment idea came from one of my customers. Clearly I have a head spinning with ideas now but I think these worked fine together in a mixed up kind of way! The new Tag a Box is a really nice, versatile size too, and "easy as" to assemble! Happily today is a cold, wet and windy Sunday so it's a perfect "crafting" day.....woohooo!.....Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Sneak Peeks - Convention Make & Takes, my way!

I love the inspirations from the Stampin' Up "Make & Takes" we get at convention but I always "Take'em and Make'em at home, "my way"! I start off making them as they are exampled but always end up taking my own creative direction and changing them somewhat or just completely different altogether! I really love the decorating brown paper bags idea and it's another great way to recycle some of the packing brown paper that comes with our Stampin' Up! order boxes. There are a few new catty "sneak peeks" on these projects, love playing with new goodies! I think our new "catty" is awesome this year and my wish list is soooo very long!.lol...........Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Convention Swaps I Received

Oh and whilst I'm sharing swaps I made I've got to share some of the lovely swaps I received! This is not all of them but there's inspiration enough in just these samples. Particulary liked the "male" card ideas which we never can have enough of, male cards are the hardest to create in my book and I gladly welcome any new inspiratons for these! Ok now I'm going to get off this PC and do some "real" creating..lol! Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Brisbane Convention My "Swaps"

Hi all, I'm back home from the Stampin' Up! Convention in Brisbane and as always was "Great"! I always come home with my head spinning with ideas and inspirations! Had a great time catching up with old friends and making some more new friends, that would have to be one of the best parts of convention! Stampin' Up! did another great job of spoiling us again and celebrated their 25th Anniversary with us by giving us lots of extra "all attendee" gifts and even gave us all a copy of the "New Catty"! Wooohoo...thank you Stampin' Up! The cards above are piccies of my "swaps" and am happy to say one of my favourite and longest running stamp set "Lovely as a Tree" is staying for another year! I decided to make these with the Stampin' Up! Brushed gold and Brushed Silver cardstock which are lovely but I never see these used very much but I love it! We received so many new goodies that there will be plenty of "sneak peeks" to share around with you all..........gonna start playing now! Cheers Sue :)

Applique "Swap" Bags made with Stampin' Up! for Convention in Brisbane

Had some fun the other day making up some "swap" bags with a friend for the Stampin' Up! Convention in Brisbane later this week! Soooo excited!! This year's convention theme is "Be The Difference" so quite a lot of Bigshotting letters was required (last year's theme was "I Am"...lol....only three letters!) All the shapes were cut out with various dies and framelits through the Bigshot and ironed on with applique suited adhesive. Getting excited now, only 2 more sleeps!!.........cheers Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Butterfly card ideas - Sympathy and Thank You

Here's a few cards I made over the weekend (two of which were inspired by Dawn Olchefske "DoStamping with Dawn, US Demo). Unfortunately the "Sympathy" cards were needed but I think butterflies are very appropriate for so many occasions and whilst I was creating those I also made a pretty "thank you" card for one of my customers. The Stampin' Up! butterfly punches are perfect for making quick,easy and pretty cards! I'm sooo excited to be going to the Stampin' Up! Convention in Brisbane in two days time but I'm not ready yet so I better get cracking with packing and my swaps!! :)

Mother's Day Card made by my DD with Stampin' Up!

Hi all....my blog posting has been a bit "all over the place" but that's how life can be at times! Have to share this very special Mother's Day card made for my by my DD! Sooo cute and meant the world to me because I know we all love to make and give cards etc but so very special when we get a hand made card that was hand made especially and given to me! ............thanks to my DD, it made my day so very special!  :)

Thank You and Happy Mail cards made with Stampin' Up!

Hi all! Hope everyone has had a nice week. The autumn weather here has been just perfect this week, blue skies, sunny days and not too hot! Today I decided to make some thank you cards and then decided to make a whole stack to send out to my team downline and customers. We all love to make cards for others but I decided that we also love to receive a hand made card, especially because we usually make a lot more than we get! These are bright and cheerful and were easy to make except that I hand-markered all the flowers which wasn't hard just a bit time consuming, but worth the effort! The flower is from the Stampin' Up! Button Buddies set which is on the US retired list which means it will be retiring here in Australia as well, unfortunately but we can't have exciting new products coming our way without saying goodbye to some as well! The sentiment on these cards (which I now realise you may be unable to read) is a retired one from "Totally Tess" that I love which says "The best things in life are made not bought" which is a favourite of mine and one us papercrafters can very much relate to!.......enjoy your weekend.............cheers Sue :)

Stampin' Up! "Sent With Love"

Hi all, hope everyone had a good weekend! It's still school holidays here so there isn't the usual Monday morning rush at my house today, still have jobs to do but just not on the hurry today. Stampin' Up! have a new "travel themed" special bundle available until June 15 called "Sent With Love" it includes a pack of themed designer series paper - mainly what I've used in the projects above - a matching stamp set and a pack of Calypso Coral bakers twine available in a "bundle" at 20% off for $46.25! They may be purchased separately at full price but who wouldn't want the bundle! It is very suitable for scrapbooking travel themed pages, I just haven't had time at the moment to scrap as well! Hope everyone's week is off to a great start........cheers Sue :)

Party Favour Purses made with Stampin' Up!

I was asked by a friend this week to help make party favours for two different occasions, one for a girls 18th birthday and the other for a "ladies luncheon" so this is what we came up with. The top photo are favours made easily with the Stampin' Up! Petitie Purse die and is fantastic for any age "girly" party! The pink purse is for the "ladies luncheon" which I have posted up before only just changed up the colour and embellishments again (original tutorial I purchased from Becky Roberts, US demo, Inking Idaho and her tutorials were in a Christmas theme) I love the idea and look of a 3D purse!! Well it's late now and time for shut eye.........cheers Sue :)

Stampin' up! By the Seashore card ideas

Here's a few card ideas that i put together over the weekend, I finally "inked up" my Stampin' Up! By the Seashore stamp set and had a play. This set works for male, female and other ocassions, it's a nice change from flowers etc. School holidays are upon us already, I have no idea where the first term went! I'm also busy making "swaps" for the Stampin' Up! Convention in Brisbane at the end of May, soo much I want to create and so little time! I'm also getting excited about the new catty that will be released on July 1 and that will be here before we know it! Hope everyone is having a good start to the week........cheers Sue :)

Post It Note holders made with Stampin' Up!

Hi all! Well today I made some pretty "Post It" note holders and they are "easy as"! I used lots of different Stampin' Up! products although mainly just some of my leftover bits and pieces laying around. I think they make a very handy little gift. I hunted around looking for some mini biro pens to go with them but then decided they would be probably be awkward to write with anyway so just popped in a standard size biro for practicality. Well daylight saving is now at an end even though it's only tea time I feel like it's closer to bedtime, I'm glad mornings will now be lighter when I get up! Hope everyone has a nice week ahead! ............cheers for now, Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Punch Art Robots - Boy & Girl Birthday

Funny where you can end up creating whilst on a creative tangent! I was pondering what I could create with the Stampin' Up! Soda Pop Tops - the little ones that is - and this is what I ended up making! Robots with soda pop top eyes...lol! The boy one just has punched cardstock circles but the girl one has some crystal effects over hers for a "dreamier" kind of look. It's fun to make something a bit different and the Stampin' Up! Blast Off set worked perfectly with these "bots"! Hope you're having a happy easter weekend.......cheers for now, Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Print Poetry DSP - tealight and birthday cards

Happy Easter all! I don't like leaving home at Easter because it's just far too busy everywhere so it's the perfect excuse for me to stay home and craft and eat chocolate eggs! I made the above cards for my Wednesday class this week with the idea of playing with the Stampin' Up! Print Poetry DSP which is in our current seasonal catty. Print Poetry comes in a pad of  6 1/2" by 4 1/2" size variety of patterned papers, 48 pages of double sided designs (4 of each) for just AU $11.95! It's great value and perfect when you just don't want to buy paper in 12" x 12". The designs are extremely versatile for all occasions, ages and gender.
The top "tealight" card was actually from a tutorial by Tami White (US demo) who did a great tealight christmas card but I decided to revamped it to suit a birthday or Mother's day card. Good news this week from Stampin' Up! is "My Digitial Studio" (MDS) software is now available in Australia! Great for people who love to create "digitally", I'm a bit "techno challenged" but I'm going to give it a go soon, I don't mind trying a new creative challenge!.....we'll see how I go with it anyway.......hope you're enjoying the holiday weekend.........Sue :)

Stampin' Up! "Blast Off" Stamp Set - Boys Birthday Cards

I finally "inked up" my Stampin' Up! Blast off stamp set over the weekend and had a bit of fun making some boys birthday cards. I think the Soda Pop Tops that Stampin' Up! have in their seasonal catty work well with this set too! I stamped the little astronaut and then used the 1" circle punch to punch out his head, popped it in a soda pop top (flattened out in my bigshot) then put a layer of Crystal Effects on it to give the effect of the little astronaut looking out of the spaceship window! The top photo does more justice than the bottom one which I had trouble photographing properly. I really like the little aliens too which I just had to add "googly eyes" to that I had left over from the previous seasonal catty. Well Sale-a-Bration is now finished for this year but being the 25th anniversary for Stampin' Up! this year will mean plenty of new and different specials and surprises instore for everyone I'm sure! So stay tuned.........cheers Sue :)

Stampin' Up! Oh, Hello Bundle - Vintage Style Wedding Invite and a Thank You Card

Hi all, hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend! I've been happy to have a free day today to create with my new Stampin' Up! Oh, Hello bundle which arrived at my door on Friday, perfect timing for the weekend. This is a stamp set with coordinating framelits and I decided to go vintage with it! I also bought a pack of Stampin' Up "brushed gold cardstock" which I've never actually used before but I am very happy with it and it comes up beautiful when it is embossed, as you can see in the top thank you card. Well Sale-a-Bration is coming to an end this week - March 22 - so if you missed out and would like to get an order in and take advantage of this promotion before it ends, please contact with me before Friday! (Within Australia only)..............enjoy whats left of your weekend, Sue

Stampin' Up! 3D Easter Gift Ideas - without the "chocolate overload"

Hi all! Who would believe Easter is nearly here? I've just got over the Christmas season! They say "time flies when you're having fun"...guess I must be having lots of fun...lol!! Well here are some of my easter gift ideas for the little ones in the family - "without the chocolate overload"! I wanted to come up with something other than buying a whole lot of chocolate, I think a lot of kids get plenty from the Easter bunny and other family members and usually end up with more chocolate than can be appreciated. So whilst I have put a "hunting size" egg and a few little ones for tradition, I have cellophaned up parcels of marshmallows to add as a filler and made little gold coin "money bags" as my gift to them. At least they can buy something other than chocolate for themselves or pop it into their money boxes, I would have spent the value of the gold coins on a larger chocolate option anyhow! The top picture of the "bunny butt" in pink is actually for my teenage daughter so I'll be putting in a bigger money note for her, a few gold coins won't "cut it" for a teenager, but the little ones will be happy with their little money bags!! That's me organised for easter at least! ..........cheers for now, Sue :)

Stampin' Up Soda Pop Top Wristwatches - Male Birthday Cards

As I said in my previous post I did see the "Soda Pop Top" watch idea somewhere on the internet but have to apologise to whoever the original creator was I just remember the actual watch idea. Anyhow thank you whoever you are for this great idea for male birthday cards!!  Just by flattening the pop top through your Bigshot and using the Stampin' Up! Clockworks and Collage Curios stamp sets you can make easy male cards! I'm a happy crafter when I can make something for a fella! lol..........enjoy the week, cheers Sue :)