My first Christmas cards!

    Unbelievably, we're heading rapidly toward Christmas.  I can't believe it's September (end
    of September) already!  

    I love Christmas.  And when I say I love Christmas, I mean I really really love Christmas.  
    I love the colours, the smells, the traditions, the food, the giving of presents (and of 
    course the receiving of presents too!)

    I've been a bit slow off the mark when it comes to Christmas Cards this year, but I have a     swap organised with the Demonstrator Team I belong to, and so I had to make cards this 
    weekend.  A swap is a great way to get different ideas - it's an excellent perk to being a 
    Demonstrator.

    I tried my hand at a small card this time - 3" x 3" cards to be precise.

   I love these cards - simple and quick to put together, but very cute.

   I'm afraid my measurements move between inches and centimeters.  On the Stampin' Up!

   trimmer that's available here in New Zealand, it has both measurements on it, so it's easy

   to move between the two. 

   Whisper White Card Stock - 3" x 6", scored along the 3" line. 

   Real Red and Garden Green cardstock - 7.1cm x 7.1cm

   Designer Series Paper (I've used Be Merry from the Holiday Catalogue) 6.6cm x 5.6cm

   I embossed the paper using the Softly Falling Embossing Folder

   I then stamped the sentiment (from the Star of Light stamp set in the Annual Catalogue) in

   Basic Black ink.

   The star and tree are made from felt, and are called Stitched Felt Embellishments (on 

   page 5 of the Holiday Catalogue). These are just gorgeous, and there are 15 pieces of 3

   designs - the star, tree, and holly berries and leaves. Best of all they're only $19.00. I

   adhered these to the card using quite a lot of Tombow glue - and I left something heavy on

   them over night. Some one suggested after that Glue Dots miught have worked better - so

   you could try them first.

   These cards will perfectly fit the Pizza Boxes for sale in the Holiday Catalogue at the

   moment, and will also fit the 3" x 3" Whisper White envelopes in the same catalogue

   If you want to buy  any of these goodies through my online store, click here

   That's all for now, I'd love if you left a message to let me know what you think, and feel 
   free to share with your crafty friends!     

Kylie Bertucci's International Highlights September 17

Thanks for coming to my blog today! We are being highlighted internationally by Kylie Bertucci and you are able to VOTE for my project. The top ten winners will get to be part of an international blog hop so please vote for my project. You can do that here - 
http://bit.ly/SeptemberHighlightsVoteforMe

Our theme for this highlight is Sympathy Cards. It is a really sad time when our friends and family lose someone they love in death. We have a wonderful gift of being able to let them know that we are thinking of them and have taken time to make them a very special card or project to show them we love them and are thinking of them during their difficult time. Share the special gift we have with those that need it the most.

Here is my entry:

Although it hasn't photographed the colour accurately, this is made from Very Vanilla card stock.  I find this a more gentle colour than the whisper white, and I wanted a gentle effect with this card.

The card front is 14.9cm x10.5cm (standard size for New Zealand).  I have used a Real Red mat at 14.4cm x 10cm, then another piece of Very Vanilla which is 13.9cm x 9.5cm.  These are my standard mat dimensions.

The tree and sentiment are stamped with Basic Black

I thought this needed a very small something extra, so I added a single heart, one of the Enamel Shapes, in Real Red.

I then repeated the heart embellishment on the inside of the card, and stamped the sentiment, again in Basic Black

Thanks for visiting my blog today! Make sure you head over to Kylie's blog - http://bit.ly/SeptemberHighlightsVoteforMe to vote for my project. I would love to be chosen to do an international blog hop.

Global Design Project #GDP104

This is my entry into the Global Design Project Challenge GDP#104.  This week we need to CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) the above design, from the very talented Allison Okamitsu.

My entry is a very simple card, but there is beauty in simplicity.

I used Lemon Lime Twist card stock, cut to 14.9cm x 21cm, folded in half at 10.5cm. I then used the Lemon Lime Twist pattern from the Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper.  I love this paper - different patterns in each of the 2017-2019 In Colours. The DSP was cut to 14.4cm x 10cm.

I then stamped the sentiment from Colourful seasons on Whisper White cardstock, stamped in Basic Black ink. This was cut out using Stitched Shapes Framelits. These are my go-to framelits at the moment, I just love the effect of the 'stitching'.

Lemon Lime Twist cardstock was then cut with one of the Layering Circles Framelits, and finally a single embellishment (Glitter Enamel Dots - Old Olive)

Thank you for looking at my creation - I hope you enjoyed it!

Here's a link back to the Global Design Project #GDP104 website

Dragonfly Dreams

I needed a quick and easy couple of cards to send - so I brought out a new favourite. This is a set that many other people have been using for quite some time - it first came out in the Occasions Catalogue at the beginning of 2017.  

I take my time deciding on new stamp sets, and I have to confess that dragonflies aren't my most favourite things.

I have discovered though after the last few months that cards made with the Dragonfly Dreams stamp set and Detailed Dragonfly Thinlet Dies are among my favourite cards. So I bit the bullet and purchased a set for myself.

I made these two cards with it - exactly the same card, made in Tranquil Tide and Powder Pink.

 The dragonflies on the Tranquil Tide one photographed better than the Powder Pink one, but you can see how easy the two cards are to make.

I started with my regular card base - 14.9cm x 21cm, folded in half along the 10.5cm line.

The coloured mat was 14.4cm x 10cm.  The piece of Designer Series Paper - Whole Lot of Lovely was 13.9cm x 9.5cm. These are my standard mat sizes - I think they look good together and so I keep using them!

I stamped the sentiment in Basic Black on a piece of either Tranquil Tide or Powder Pink, and adhered all the bits together with Snail.  I even used the snail to adhere the dragonflies on - I find if I just put a tiny amount on the 'thicker' parts of the dragonflies, it's enough to hold them.

Two Rhinestone Basic Jewels on each body of each dragonfly provided the final piece of the puzzle, and rounded off two lovely, simple and elegant cards.

There you have it - two quick and easy cards that my friends will be thrilled to receive.

Memories and More

I've decided I want to become better at Memory Keeping.  We take lots of photos, but they stay on my phone, or we put them on the external hard drive.  We don't actually do anything with them.

I've always been intrigued by Scrapbooking, but it's really not my thing.  Then I realised that Stampin' Up!'s Memories and More was more my type of scrapbooking.  Quick and easy!

So I bought a couple of packs of the Memories and More cards, and then I was stumped. They fitted in the box they came in (obviously), however that wasn't an easy way to store and be able to use them.

Then Kelly Kent had the most fantastic idea - use one of the full woodmount empty stamp boxes that we sell (Item number 127551, $14.50 NZD for 4 cases) , and she even made up the inserts so that we can set them up professionally. Here is the link to her blog - near the end of the page are the links to these documents 


Take a look:

Don't they look neat and tidy? Uniform? Lovely!

There's enough room to flick through them easily, and still keep them straight

I love them set up this way.  Now I just need to get on with getting some photos printed, and I'll show you some finished pages!