My Husband's Birthday

Well for the couple of weeks leading up to Andrew's 40th Birthday he was a little, shall we say "in denial"...So I decided not to put a big 40 on the front of his card, but I couldn't resist making it look "aged". Since we had already celebrated Birthdays in Port Douglas the actual day of his birthday was some what low key (just the way he wanted!). We had a most pleasant afternoon with a long lunch at Jack Rabbit Winery. The kids had a great time running around while we enjoyed delicious food and wine on a rare sunny winters day!!

Stamp Sets: Lovely as a Tree, Teeny Tiny Sentiments and Woodgrain (difficult to see in photo - background on Early Espresso)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Early Espresso
Ink and Markers: Early Espresso and Old Olive, Tea Stain (from disressing kit).
Accesories: Distressing kit, Satin Ribbon, Brad, Oval and Word Window Punches.

New Stuff

My sneak peak preorder and the brand new 2011-2012 Ideas Book and Catalogue arrived on Monday....all I can say is wow!! Whenever a new catalogue is launched I sit down and write a first instinct wish list. This year it is quite a long list which suprised me. I honestly thought since it is my 4th new catalogue as a demonstrator (and I have lots of stuff) there wouldn't be too much must have new stamps and accessories. Well I was wrong!!! There are some great new stamp sets and I think I love nearly all the new Designer Series Papers and as for the ribbons....I could go on and on. So if you want to see what I am all excited about contact me to order your very own copy of the new catalogue which goes live on September 1st.

Unfortunately I am working (in my real job) extra hours at the moment and so I haven't had much time to play with my new stuff, but I managed to get these 2 cards made on Monday night.
This first one I made using the new In Colors.

Stamp sets: Pennant Parade
Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo and Whisper White
Ink: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Luck Limeade, Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo
Accessories: Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Itty Bitty Punch, Hemp Twine and Basic Jewel Rhinestones

The second card was a set I saw at convention and knew I would have to have it, so it was a definate on my preorder.
Stamp Sets: Forever Young, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock: Lucky Limeade, Whisper White and Early Espresso DSP
Ink: Lucky Limeade and Early Espresso
Accessories: Scallops Dot Ribbon (Chocolate Chip), Large Oval and Word Window Punches, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die and Basic Jewel Pearls.

Hopefully I will get time to play more over the coming weeks so check back to see more new products.

Also our next Stampathon is on Saturday 22nd October 2011. It will be a Christmas theme so keep the date free and look out for more info soon.

Sneak Peak

It is a very exciting time of year for Stampin' Up! The retiring list has been released (click on the link on the side to check it out) and August is your last chance to order anything on this list. Because on the 1st September our brand new 2011-2012 Ideas Book and Catalogue is available.

One of the fantastic benefits of being a demonstrator is we get sneak peaks at new products and are able to preorder select items from the new catalogue. I have already placed my preorder and am hoping it will arrive soon!!!
When I attended convention in May we were given this new set which will be available in September so this is my first sneak peak.

Stamp Sets: Creative Elements, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point and Whisper White
Ink and markers: Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Real Red and Pacific Point
Accessories: Basic Pearls, crimper and spritzer.

As soon as my preorder arrives I will make some more sneak peak samples to show you, including the new in colors!!

Monsters and Weddings

I have two projects to share with you today. The first one is a Monster Birthday Card made by my 7 year old son Hamish. He had lots of fun creating this and was so very proud of the end result.

Stamp sets: Make a Monster, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock: Real Red, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight and Whisper White
Ink (and markers): Basic Gray, Real Red, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise and Tangerine Tango.

This next card is a wedding card I made for a girl at work (she is getting married next week).
As you can see I am loving my lastest edition (Elements of Style).

Stamp Sets: Elements of Style, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock: Very Vanilla and Riding Hood Red
Ink (and Markers): Going Gray, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds

Port Douglas

1971 was a good year!! And since both Andrew and I, and quite a few of our close friends were born that year we decided to celebrate in style!!! So at the start of the year we began planning a holiday. It ended up with 3 couples going away (5 out of the 6 turn 40 this year) with no children to Port Douglas. As the birthdays are scattered throughout the year we settled on the middle. As you can see from the photos below we had a wonderful time and certainly did celebrate in style!!
Now that we are back there will be more stamping to come - I promise.....

Wedding Invitations

This post has been a long time coming due to computer difficulties, for some unknown reason blogger just didn't want to upload my photos, it took several attempts over the past week and now as I type this it is having trouble with the autosave and telling me to reload so here goes again!! All seems to be working for now.

This is one of the projects I had been working on, but had to wait until the invitations had been sent out to post.
These are invitations I designed and made for my best friends up coming Wedding. You can't really tell from the photos, but they have a lovely shimmer from the champagne mist shimmer paint (made into a spray with Isocol)




Stamp Sets: Thoughts and Prayers, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Very Vanilla and Riding Hood Red
Ink: Basic Grey and Riding Hood Red
Accessories: Big Shot and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, basic pearls and rhinestones, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint and the little hearts are made using itty bitty flower punch cut into quaters.

Elements of Style

Not sure what took me so long to get this stamp set. It has been on my wish list for a long time, but just never made it to the top. Until the Stampin' Up! Convention in May. There were so many beautiful swaps and demonstrations using it I came away having to buy it.
This card I made for a friend's birthday recently and I am sure there will be plenty more samples using this set as it has fast become a favourite.

Stamp Sets: Elements of Style, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Cardstock: Marina Mist, Old Olive and Real Red
Stamp pads: Early Espresso, Real Red (and marker) Marina Mist (marker)
Accessories: Big Shot with Beautiful Butterfly Bigz Die, Red Glitter (bit hard to see in photo).