Happy Halloween

OK .... I know it is only July so a little early for Halloween ... however like the retail world the crafting world seems to be prepping months in advance for the upcoming season ... and well my new Holiday mini sneak peek came this week and got me all excited about the Fall!

Upsy Daisy Congratulations

I am back with the Mojo Monday Challenge inspired layout using a 'traditional' approach!

Using the same 'layout' inspiration as my MDS card from yesterday - this card features the Upsy Daisy stamp set, Eyelet punch to make my ribbon, the Modern Window punch. My background paper is made using the dragging a stamp pad across the paper technique and the bottom is the Polka Dot embossing folder.

Inside the card ... Occasional Quotes hostess set celebrating the new baby!

For All You Do MDS

Playing with My Digital Studio again today - creating a classic red, black and white card template .... which was inspired by the Mojo Monday card challenge!

Inside of the card

Thank you Cards for the Salsa Moms

I have had the wonderful opportunity to be asked to donate to the gift bags for some new mommies who are signed up to take the Salsa Babies classes here in London.

So I thought what better than some nice hand stamped thank you cards for a busy new mom - so she can thank everyone who has showered her and the new babe!

I opted for some Pear Pizazz as my colour theme - as the nice soft green is a neutral colour fun for both sexes!

My first card features the Medallion Stamp and the Think Happy Thoughts Stamp set punched out with a 1 1/4 circle punch.

The second card here is the Forest Friends stamp set sponged with some pumpkin pie sun and pear pizazz grass.

No card collection would be complete without an appearance from my favorite Upsy Daisy stamp set and the Teeny Tiny Wishes Thank you stamp.

Card number 4 features the Elements of Style stamp set and the little accompanying bird for the envelope - as no envelope should arrive to the party naked!

Last but not least the little Bird Punch came out to play with the Thank you stamp from Perfect Punches stamp set.

And all 5 thank you cards were wrapped up in a little plastic bag and topped off with the Big Shot Top Note stamped in Elements of Style and held together with a little brad!

Click the link for more information on Salsa Babies

Island Floral Easel Card

An Easel Card featuring the Cottage Garden stamp set, Island Floral Bigz Die, the Scallop Edge punch and of course more of our amazing In Colours of Pear Pizazz, Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight and Peach Parfait ... yummy!

Back to the Garden again

More fun with the Cottage Garden stamp set and the in colours! Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizazz with the Early Espresso ink for stamping and shading!

I love the butterfly fluttering off the page technique as well!

Another card featuring the Cottage Garden stamp set ... and the current in colours tangerine tango and pear pizazz papers! Also showcasing the Petals a Plenty Emboss Folder!

Cottage Wall

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Stamp for the Cure fundraiser presented by a fellow demo Caroline Locke ... a totally awesome event and for an amazing cause close to my heart - funding cancer research and finding a cure!

The event featured the Stamp set Cottage Wall and the coordinating designer series paper Sunny Garden from the current catalog .... of which the new wonderfully inspiring IN colours coordinate with!

Below is one of the projects we created at the event - a decorated DVD case which can be used to give as a CD album of photos to a loved one, a collection of music on CD or you can remove the insert and decorate both sides and use it as a memory or gift card box!

Inside of the DVD container ...

My Why ....

As a new demonstrator to Stampin' Up! I signed up for an extra training course to help ensure my new endeavor gets off to a bang up start - one of the challenges was to create and share your 'my why stampin up story' and to create a 'my why poster' for our own inspiration to keep us motivated in our task! I chose to use the My Digital Studio to capture mine!

It was lots of fun to create and I am looking forward to the next several months worth of challenges to stretch me and my passion for stampin to new levels!

My Open House - a 'business warming' party!

WOW ... I had an awesome busy weekend so my apologizes for not posting on the blog this weekend.

I had my first open house 'business warming party' and my thanks to everyone who was able to come out to support me I had an awesome time and hope everyone else did as well!

We made two cards this is the first one featuring the Because I Care hostess stamp and showcasing the corner punch and ornament punch and colour spritzer tool - which rocks for making a 'antiqued' looking paper depending on the colour choices!

Our second card features the Elements of Style stamp set and showcased the ease of the Big Shot and the Daisies 2 bigz die as well as the ticket corner punch.

I wasn't sure how I was going to fit everyone into my little living dining room while still creating an 'inviting space' but I hope I pulled it off!

Even carved out a little niche for a card and project display for people to peruse to get inspiration on how Stampin' Up! products can be used to create wonderful unique cards!

And well not social gathering will be complete without some yummy food for sharing over great conversation and card making .... thanks again to family and friends for making my open house a success ;-)

Black Magic ... under my spell

This technique is totally cool ... called Black Magic with a twist and is a combination of using white ink on a dark background and than colouring with Stampin Up Water colour pencils and a white gel pen for that extra magic pop factor!

The first card features the Watercolour Trio stamp set in the 2010 Summer mini catalog, the Top Note Bigz die and the scallop trim punch ... awesome combination inspired by Liz Goldhawk my up line mentor!

This section card is from the new catalog called Just Believe and is a cute little set!

Back with more Bloomin Beautiful

Unfortunately the Bloomin' Beautiful is a retired set ... but I just love it ... there is a current set in the new catalog called Happiness Shared that is very similar just has not made it into my stampin' closet yet.

This particular set is great for 'layering' to give the flower pop factor ... I think this one might be another card to make it into the Run for the Cure fund-raising collection!

In the Jungle ... the Mighty Jungle

Using the My Digital Studio for scrapbooking our recent trip to African Lion Safari was AMAZING fun ... just when I thought I could not love this product anymore watching how easy it was to organize my photos and make them pop off the page was just phenomenal! Having over 250 photos to 'choose from' felt overwhelming to start ... however after pruning the poor shots to trim down the quantity a bit combined with the ability to easily resize digital photos allowed for the 96, in my opinion, gorgeous memorable shots of the day to be captured in the 23 page scrapbook layout.