Monthly Archives: January 2012

Another Christmas card

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Back to the Christmas cards again ;-)  This was another card that participants made at a cardmaking night prior to Christmas.

I love the simple effective techniques.  People new to stamping just love the good old favourite stamping techniques such as using the Stampin’ Up! markers directly on the stamp.  I love how such a simple technique gives such an effective result- This multi-coloured image has been stamped using the single stamp called “Something for Christmas”  You will find it in the A la Carte section of the catalogue on page 14.

If you would like to give stamping a go I can show you and your friends this technique plus others at a workshop.   (Of course I can show you with a stamp set that isn’t Christmas related!) In a couple of days Sale-a-bration will begin and this is an awesome time to host a workshop because not only does the hostess receive FREE items- all guests receive FREE items for every $100 spent on merchandise!  If you’d like to book a workshop then please get in touch to book your date-  miriamthomas@westnet.com.au  OR 0419 947 047

Cheers!

Miriam

Keeping it simple

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I thought I’d take a break from the Christmas card sharing to show you this simple birthday card made the with the “Aviary” Stamp set (page 53 from the catalogue)  A cute stamp set + bright patterned paper + a fun greeting layered on a few punched shapes and Voila- a simple but fun birthday card!

Happy Holidays

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I whipped out a few different stamp sets for the following Christmas card.   Firstly “Elements of Style” which if you view on page 94 of the catalogue you will see is clearly NOT a Christmas stamp.   I couldn’t resist using the lovely flourish from this stamp set across the bottom and also on the top left hand corner.

The main Christmas sets I used were “Four the holidays“(pg 108) for the greeting and “Jolly Bingo Bits” (pg 21) I like that this stamp set has lots of fun Christmas images-24 in total!  This stamp set was designed to work with the Bingo background stamp set but can obviously be used in lots of different ways.   There are also a few little images that would suit cards for other occasions too- such as the bird, sweets, star, present and ice skates.  On this card I stamped the candy cane and gift and then punched out the images using a circle punch.

The final stamp set used on this card is the stamp set used to make the Christmas tree.  Again this stamp set- called “Pennant Parade“- is very versatile and can be used for other occasions too!  If you check out this stamp set on page 37 of the catalogue you will see the variety of images that can be punched out using the pennant punch. Pennants seem so popular at the moment and I’m looking forward to making some time to make some birthday cards using this stamp set and my pennant punch

Ornament punch Christmas card

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When I went searching for the photo of the Stocking Punch Christmas card from my previous post I stumbled across the following card sitting in the same folder.  It is one I made AGES ago but I don’t think I shared here on my blog.  Seeing as how I mentioned handy  punches for Christmas cards I thought I may as well share this one too!  Sorry I know it is only mid January :-)

Here’s a close up of the area featuring the ornament punched shapes glued to each other back to back and then adhered to the front of the card.

Warning- I might share a few more Christmas cards in upcoming posts!  I’m pretty sure I have a couple of other Christmas cards I wanted to share with you

Stocking punch

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On page 9 of the Summer Mini catalogue we have the super cute Stitched Stockings stamp set with a matching punch.  I’ve used this stamp set and punch to create the following Christmas card.  This was one of the cards participants made at cardmaking nights I held prior to Christmas.  Cute and simple!

Although I must confess I haven’t tried out the ideas myself- I can see loads of potential in this stocking punch. I’m sure I’ve shared these ideas with you before but they are worth repeating!  These stockings are the perfect size to add a great feature to a Christmas tag.  If you need to make lots of Christmas tags its easy to punch out as many as you need and it doesn’t take a long time to do! Although I really love the stamp set, you could use the punch on its own and punch out stocking shapes from lovely Christmas paper.  If you punched out the stocking in blue or pink cardstock and trimmed the top they would make perfect baby booties for a card welcoming a new addition.  Also if you punched out the stocking, flipped it over, drew on eyes and added ears then it would make a cute horse’s head.  Add a stick and it would look like a hobby horse! So many great ideas.

You’re probably wondering why I am showing you a Christmas card so soon before Christmas but I just wanted to give you the ‘head’s up’.   Demonstrators have been notified by Stampin’ Up that this Summer mini feature WILL NOT be available in the next main catalogue.  So when the new main catalogue is released in September you won’t see this stocking punch and stocking stamp set.   If you were thinking you might purchase these items later in the year for your 2012 Christmas cards then I urge you to purchase them sooner rather than later.  At the end of March they will no longer available.  If you’d like to try out some of the ideas then please contact me to order your stocking punch and stocking stamp set.  miriamthomas@westnet.com.au or 0419 947 047

Two quick cards

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I needed to whip up a couple of cards in a hurry so turned to a “Simply scrappin’ kit” and a “Quick accents kit” for a quick and easy solution.   Normally people who like scrapbooking are attracted to these because you can get 12 x 12 patterned paper and matching adhesive stickers.  Everything matches perfectly so it is easy to create scrapbook pages- but of course as I will show here, you can also use them for cards.

Here’s the card I created with a couple of stickers from the Tea Time Simply Scrappin’ Kit. This whole kit is $38.95 and contains 6 sheets of double sided patterned paper, 8 sheets of cardstock in matching colours and a huge assortment of self adhesive die cut stickers.   You can get A LOT of scrapbook pages and even more cards out of the pack.  All you would need to add is a sentiment stamp for your greeting.

Here’s the card I created using the “Big Top Birthday” Quick Accents.  This pack contains heavy weight self adhesive die cut stickers and there are 2 sheets each of 2 designs for $18.95.  The matching patterned paper can be purchase separately for $18.95 (12 double sided sheets)

There are a variety of different designs available.  Please check out pages 131-133 of the main catalogue to see what else is available!

Wine Bottle Tags

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A super simple idea for a gift! Add a wine bottle tag!  Imagine popping around to dinner with a friend and taking a bottle of wine.  Adding a wine tag adds a personal touch.    It makes it oh so easy to crack open that bottle of wine….AND you can sit and enjoy the tag while you finish the bottle together!

I used the “Two Tags die”  (page 159) with  my bigshot to cut out the tag.  I then used a circle punch so I could fit the tag over the neck of the wine bottle.  It is probably difficult to see the actual tag in the following photo- largely because I took the photo on my iphone (and I was in a hurry) but also because the colours blend so nicely into the colours on the wine bottle- but that’s the idea, right?

The tag could be decorated in any number of ways but I wanted to add a flower.  I simply punched out several shapes from a piece of blushing bride cardstock using my scallop circle punch.  I scrunched and distressed the pieces to break down the fibres.  The ‘blushing bride‘ colour is a lovely dusty pink but it is not quite the colour of the pink on this bottle of “Vintage Bella” so I spritzed the cardstock with Silver Foil Smooth Spritz (page 147)  Not only did this bring the colour closer to the pink colour in the label and add a touch of sparkle- but it also made the cardstock moist enough to scrunch and shape into a flower.  The smooth spritz didn’t take long to dry and helped to keep the shape of the flower.  A lovely vintage brad was all that was needed to hold the pieces together

TWO FUN CARDMAKING NIGHTS! COME ALONG

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I am offering TWO cardmaking nights next week
One on THURSDAY 12th of January and one on FRIDAY 13th January

Come and join me for a fun night of cardmaking. We will be making FOUR cards- pre-designed and prepared for you ready to make. The cards we will be making are a for a variety of different occasions and in some cases you will be able to select from a variety of greetings/ sentiments for your cards. All materials and tools supplied. No experience required.

  • WHEN? Thursday 12th January OR Friday 13th January (Please select a date OR attend BOTH dates if you don’t mind making the same cards twice!)
  • TIME? 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start
  • WHERE? Address supplied when you book your spot!
  • COST $20

OR

  • Purchase $120 worth of Stampin’ Up! products (must be ordered and paid for on the night) and you won’t need to pay the class fee.

Tea, Coffee, Water and light nibblies supplied (Feel free to bring alternative drink or food if you wish)

Please RSVP by Tuesday 10th January

It is absolutely essential that you RSVP as soon as possible. I LOVE sharing papercrafts with others but I am also a busy Mum of four. With four kids underfoot (during school holidays) I need as much warning as possible to allow me enough time to prepare all materials for participants and ensure there is enough seating place. Thank you for your understanding.

I will look forward to hearing from you!

miriamthomas@westnet.com.au    0419 947 047

You can also RSVP by visiting my facebook page.  The events are listed there.  Please click on ‘like’ and let me know whether you’d like to attend!

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Miriam-Thomas-Independent-Stampin-Up-Demonstrator/236429673045549

Extreme elements meets Need for speed

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One of my all time favourite stamp sets for boys cards and layouts is “EXTREME ELEMENTS” (page 60) It is so easy to use and has become a bit a of a ‘go to’ stamp set when I want to add a more masculine feel to a card or layout.

With the release of the new catalogue last September I fell head over heals in love with “NEED FOR SPEED”.  As soon as I saw the quad bike, racing car, speed boat and plane on page 61 I just HAD to buy it as I knew it would be perfect for my 3 boys and I knew it would look fabulous teamed with Extreme Elements.

Here are a couple of boy birthday cards I’ve made using these two stamp sets (Oh and the stamp set “Grunge Rock” also features here too- also on page 60 of the catalogue_