Colourful Inspiration

Looking at my SU cardstock always makes me smile - aren't they so inspiring. I decided to not put them in their colour families but in corresponding shades and hues. Don't you just love all those greens! Great huh! :) :) :) :)

1st Regional Swap

These are most of the swap for the night. I particularly like Jacques card (first on the left below). Below the inset of her card is a piece of clear(OHP) plastic with the word 'friend' that added an unusual finishing touch to her work. Very nice!!! With her card I have displayed the other favourites of mine. Anyone interested in knowing more about SU productives please let me know at lissa.huysmans@gmail.com

1st Regional Meet

Just a few photos from last nights meeting at the Ibis Hotel. I would have liked to hear more of the business side of things. They covered a lot of ground. It was good. Some of the swaps were excellent. I think I would have to give Jacque the 'wow' today. More tomorrow . . . . . .

. . .and more

Made 15 extra cards for interested people that I asked to the Regional meeting. This was cased from page 54 of the catalogue. Card stock and inks: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. That red ribbon made the whole card pop!

SU SWAP

This is my swap for our first regional meeting in NZ - no one is sure what to expect but most of us in our group are making about 20 swaps to trade. I decided to use one of my latest buys - the All Natural set. I had not seen this set much so I decided to look up splitcoaststampers for an example and loved everything about this one I copied. There was one more step that they had which I didn't include and that was a band of old olive c/s at the bottom. I also stapled the tag. Colours are chocolate chip, creamy caramel, Old Olive, glorious green and pixie pink.

Tri-Fold

This tri-fold card we cased from Stamp with Heather (yep we are always over there drooling at her creations). Kirsten made this the challenge for this month. I used the 'Reflection' series again with the co-ordinating colours. The images in the middle are stamped and by the third try (middle card) I got an almost perfect match with the paper. Cool!

Tying a Perfect Bow

Want to know how to tie a perfect bow? Check out 'Stampin' with Gal Val' link on the left or her 'you tube' link below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yojsEtR4uZI

DELIGHTFUL

Joeleen made me this gorgeous tin for my birthday. She hand cut the big circles and the scallop in the middle as she did not yet have a punch. Her colours of whishper white and basic black are really stunning with the Delight for Life stamp set. She also made a matching card to go with it. I decided to store my extra special buttons that I have been collecting. Much AROHA Joeleen!

To Die for . . .

These dies are from the sizzix range and I couldn't stop using it when I first got it. I designed this for my sister who was going to Niue with a youth group and my koha (contribution), since my 16 year old was in the group, was making a ton of cards for them to use for 'thank yous' etc. This has a bit of everything - the background is a leaf set from Stampendous and my favourite for a long time. The dragon flies are from a Carl punch and the oval tag and sentiment are SU.

Bold Floral Pattern

These, I'm making for a lady in Helensville and I was trying to keep it simple. That was really hard to do. These lovely stamps are from Hero Arts and I am using them for the first time. I was also trying to recycle discarded card stock from other aborted projects that went wrong. My colours are Night of Navy, Elegant Eggplant and Orchid Opulence. I think this is the first time I've used Orchid Opulence. Not Bad. I hope she likes them coz I sure do.

Can't Live Without

These are retiring sets from the US catalogue that I ordered and arrived last week. Kewl!! I had been meaning to get them before SU launched here but now that they will not be in the next catalogue I just had to have them. Well I wanted at least nine other sets but I had to be sensible and just get the ones I really, really couldn't live without. I love that Lion and the Lamb stamp and can't wait for an excuse to use it. Tassel Time will always be useful - there is always someone getting their degree and Petite Patterns is the last of of those little background stamp sets that I've been collecting on page 166-167. I was so excited that I just had to mount the leaf pattern stamp to try out straight away. That is why it is on top of the box. Ha! I then went back to the catalogue and made a new list of 'must haves,' closed my eyes and sent it to Jacque who has the contacts. Cross my fingers, eyes and legs that it is not too late. Hope!

A Closer Look

Loved the detail of Rachael's pocket card. And such good workmanship too. Her colours were Regal Rose, Rose Red, Elegant Egglplant and she used 7 different punches. Wow! That's a lot of work. (Just waiting for her blog so I can case her ideas :) ha!

Three pink beads detail the top left of Ann's card and her colour combination was very eye catching. Almost Old Olive and Pretty in Pink don't you think? Mmm, it looks more Cameo Coral here though.

WoW!

Ok - got the 'wow' for the month but was close with Rachael who used the 'Look like Spring' set in the middle there. I chose the 4 little stamps as my prize. I won purely because of my recruit Ann, who is so new that she did not have any SU stamps to work with but turned up with her 12 cards to swap anyway. Her pretty in pink concoction is the one at the back, right. Isn't she great. Well done everyone!

Family Nite Activity

It was my turn to come up with a lesson for family night a few weeks back so I decided to teach everyone how to embellish a spaghetti tin. I used a special can opener that just breaks the manufacturing seal therefore no sharp edges. Here is everyone's effort. Stef's on the left, Pup's is on the right, LA's on the top and mine in the middle.

This idea was inspired from a Tupperware party I attended where I first saw the can opener but the idea didn't hit me until the next morning after I dreamt about it (I, know!! What is the world coming to if you are dreaming about tin cans and openers :) . . . so I just had to have one. I needed an idea for an art lesson at school but something unusual and fun for kids to do. I got them to bring in unopened cans of baked beans, spaghetti or fruit which they had straight from the can for lunch. It was novel for the first five minutes until they realized they had to throw most of it out. But they loved it, especially the girls. Most of them used the cans as desk top pencil holders. Unfortunately I didn't think of taking pictures at the time.

This is the inside. A hole was punched on the side to hold the lid in place. I used Elegant Egglplant, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink on creamy yellow card stock.

My First SU swap

This is my first SU (in NZ) swap for last month. I used Whisper White from my starter pack and the 'Take Ten sketch challenge from the Spring 2007 issue. The ink colours were Certainly Celery, Old Olive, More Mustard, Perfect and Pale Plum. The half circle was rolled with the Rough Around the Edges jumo wheel in Old Olive and daubed with the lighter Certainly Celery. The grosgrain ribbon was also white which I dragged through the More Mustard. I scored them at 'Ikes' one day when I was just going up for a look :) There were five white,18 meter roles for 25 cents per meter and I bought the lot - I was so excited about my find. Technically I shouldn't have used that Key Tag punch as it is not in the Australian and New Zealand catalogue and I was right - no one noticed. Ha - no wonder I didn't win the prize of 'wow' factor or most 'easy to assemble' catagory. I used the Bodacious Bouquet set and added some fun wool for effect. Maybe this month I'll get somewhere with my Old Olive and Cameo Coral concoction. The ladies did some lovely cards especially our up line Jacque who showed us the polished stone technique. Loved it.

Thanx for the Cookies

This sweet little card was left with some home made cookies from a couple of friends who dropped in one day when I wasn't home. My son happily passed them on to me minus a few cookies I'm sure, which of course he denied. :) Yummm - Thanx guys!

My first pop up

This was the first pop up I did with the Bodacious Bouquet set. Wasn't quite sure of the colours. Wanted also to use my new ribbon. I think I should get rid of the extra flower on the far right. I used Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy, Tempting Turquoise and Cranberry Crisp.

Pop Up

Cased this card from 'Stamp with Heather.' I used the Mixed Bouquet and Cherry Chat sets. Card stock: Whisper white, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Pixie pink and Cameo Coral with corresponding ink colours. I have just discovered Cameo Coral. It goes great with Old Olive. This is for a swap challenge next week. We had to use the SU punches and I've always loved the versatility of the window punch. It is not only used in the front of the card as an embellishment but also inside as the mechanism for the card to pop up. Love it!