No, not one of those up there. . . . One of these . . . .

I’ve punched this out from some of the DSP from the “I Wish” scrappin’ kit . .*sigh* such lovely papers! Anyway, back to the scallop flower.  So you can see here that I have punched and sponged it . .so far, not a flower. Okay next step, lets snip between every second scallop . .

So just in case you’re not sure how to snip – there’s a picture up there.  Now don’t snip right to the centre, that just wouldn’t make a flower!

Now for the next step, you take a mouse mat, or the squishy mat from your SU ‘Mat Pack’ (or in my case here a handful of folded paper towel – the previous two options were not close to hand when I was taking the pictures . .sorry) and also a tool with a round end . . . in this case it’s my White Gel Pen.  There is a paper tole tool that if you have one would be perfect.  But I didn’t have one here, needless to say the pen worked just fine So you ‘rub’ the petals out from the centre and then ’swirl’ the pen around, till it all starts to ‘raise’ (like a sunflower looking towards the sun).

Next you flip it over and press the middle of it down . .

 (note to self, moisturise hands more often!)

Now all we need to do is pop a small circle in the centre, and voilà, we have a flower . .  Notice the difference between the snipped & smooshed one and the not-snipped-&-smooshed one? It adds a little bit more oomph to your flowers, don’t you think?

I then used this flower on a book mark that was part of a card. . . more about that later . . .

Till next time,

Michelle

PS – Only 18 more sleeps . . !

You had grand plans in July to make cards for all your loved ones, family and friends and now you’re thinking that perhaps you may have left it a little late for the grand production number that you had sketched out in your head.  Okay, now it’s time to spring into action to make something simple, stylish and Christmassy.  How’s this for an idea ~

It’s pretty simple, but it lets you know it’s Christmas.  I’ve cut Riding Hood Red A4 length-ways with the fold at the top (so when it’s hanging up on those Christmas card-string-things it’s the right way up and everyone can see it and go “ooooh” ). I’ve then stamped it with the wonderful-oh-how-I-love-it ’En Francais’ background stamp and sponged the edges. A strip of DS Riding Hood Red Paper (with 6 patterns on 12 sheets, both sides can be used and there will be some variety amongst your cards too!) and then a Rudolph from ‘Winter Post’ punched out with the 1⅜” circle punch and layered on a Kiwi Kiss Scallop-punched circle.  Stick it all down, pop it up on dimensionals and voilà! ~ you have a Christmas card.  Very easy to replicate mass-production style, if you so desire. Swap the colours over for Baja Breeze, add some twinkling Dazzling diamonds for another option.

Come and join me at the Endeavour Hills Neighbourhood centre this Saturday to Stamp-a-Stack of  Christmas cards (1-4pm) or at Chelsea Heights Community Centre on Sunday (1-3pm) to make a card with a difference – Contact me & let me know you’re coming and I’ll have a kit all ready for you.

Hope to see you there,

Michelle

 .  .with a touch of white and Kraft too.  I’m not normally a ‘winter-scene-on-your-christmas-card’ type of person.  It’s the middle of Summer in Australia at Christmas (and those of you that live here know that ), where  is the sense in having glistening trees, snowflakes and Robin Red Breast adorning your Christmas cards? I mean, really? Other than the fact that they look so darn festive.  The “Winter Post” set that I have used for these cards really tickled my fancy more so because of their ‘arty/old fashioned’ style rather than their “It’s-a-chilly-ice-skating-christmas” theme. So what do you think?

This was another card that we did at a recent Stamp a Stack and the girls loved it! Especially the curly label punch “Merry Christmas” . I’ve kept with the glistening snow theme and used some Dazzling Diamonds to glitz it up ~ except you can’t see it in this photo (trust me, it’s there . .and in my hair and on the dog and in the carpet and in my eyebrows ~ you get the idea!).  And here’s the another interpretation of the same theme – this time featuring Rudolph (or is it Dancer, Prancer or Blitzen?)

You can just see it in this photo, but there is significantly more glitter on this card than the previous one and the “Season’s Greetings” was white embossed to make it ‘pop’.  I think I’m lovin’ a wintery christmas theme!

Off to stamp some more ~ till next time,

Michelle

The Stamp-a-Stack season is officially underway.  There have been 2 already at the Chelsea Heights Community Centre and the ‘regulars’ are well on the way to getting their Christmas cards done.  We do 10 cards in a session and I provide 4 (suggested designs), but they can be flipped and rotated in any which way, so we all end up with different cards and covered in glitter.  Here’s the first two suggested ideas:

These two are made out of the same components . . . . just arranged  and punched differently.  The double sided paper can be flipped so that each card can be different also.  The stamp set used was “Spolight on Christmas” with the Poinsettas being  punched out with the 5-petal punch and the “25 December”  fits inside the square scallop punch Goldilocks style ~ “just right”.

More stamp a stack cards to show off soon, so y’all come back now y’hear?

Michelle

I can’t believe that it’s suddenly November and I haven’t blogged for over a month. . . Sometimes life just gets a bit busy and some things have to be let loose . . . . . and as it seems the world doesn’t end if I don’t get around to blogging, it was the blog that missed out in October.

This is one of the reasons that I wasn’t blogging – I was in Western Australia – - and if you were enjoying this view from your bedroom, would you be inside on the computer? No, I didn’t think so!

The main reason I went way out west was to go to the wedding of a dear friend that I met half a lifetime ago, when we were girls in our early 20’s backpacking in Europe.  This is the card that I made for the happy couple.  The photo was taken with my phone about 5 minuets before I headed off to the wedding.  That’s my excuse for the poor quality! I used my favourite stamp set ~ “Always” ~ and ‘thumped’ it with my markers and then about 2 layers of clear embossing before cutting it out and mounting on Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant.  I really love the eyelet border punch to make the edges ‘frilly & pretty’. Not to mention the Hodgepodge Hardware and clear rhinestone. Yummy!

Time for some sleep now, but I shall return with other projects that kept me busy the last few weeks (hints: Christmas, Halloween and chocolate!)

Till next time,

Michelle

 This was another card that I made while I was away- Relaxation can be so inspiring! For this card I’ve used Kiwi Kiss, Bashful Blue, Riding Hood Red inks and used Holiday Treasures DSP and the wonderful eyelet punch. I think that this will feature at some card classes later in the month. It’s a little bit purdy, don’t you think?

It’s only 87 days till Christmas (check here) – Are you ready? I know it’s early, but you know and I know that before you know it, we’ll all be saying “I can’t believe it’s Christmas already!” Why don’t you book a Stamp-a-Stack today and we can all make some gorgeous Christmas Cards together! Drop me a line and we can organise a time.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Michelle

The lovely, lovely Leonie shared her beautiful tri-fold shutter card and I just had to try it. . .

There are so many gorgeous versions of this card out there in crafting cyber-land, I wasn’t sure if I could make a decent version, so  not wanting to “waste” any of my new papers, I used scraps of retired paper and didn’t go too overboard with the decorations, but then realised how much I really liked this card.  As per usual, once I’d made one, I had to make another FOUR!. It would have been easier if I’d printed out Leonie’s instructions, complete with all measurements, before I started.  These are all made from memory (I wish it was more photographic!), and I was pretty happy with them.  So happy in fact that we will be doing them at my class at Chelsea Heights Community Centre on September 20th. Contact me if you would like to book in. Classes are $20 and include all materials & tools, all you need to bring along is your pretty little self!

and here’s one I made for a little angel who is turning one later this month (OMG, our baby is turning ONE already! It seems like it was only a minute ago she arrived)

So this is what it looks like all closed up – and it fits onto a C6 envelope ever so neatly (that’s one of my neat knots holding the bow on the side too!) 

Till next time,

Michelle

I’m not sure why this card is called a Joy Fold card . . perhaps someone called Joy thought of it originally? Or maybe because they are simply a joy to make ~

I’ve used the Good Friend stamp set, Good Morning Sunshine DSP and some chipboard covered with SuperNova glitter . .spangly! Here’s how it looks opened up a little . . .

and here’s how it looks opened all the way up . .

If you’d like to make one yourself, head over to Beates blog and you’ll find it here.  Once you’ve got the general gist of it, it’s easy enough to alter to make it any size you want.  If you make one, I’d love to see it – if you have a blog, please leave a comment with a link or if you don’t have a blog, email me a picture and I’ll post it, ok?

Hope you’re having a great weekend,

Michelle

As you can see, all I’ve used on these great little cards is 2 pieces of paper. A 9.9cm x 19.8cm piece of cardstock and a piece of Urban Garden DS paper. Because it’s double sided, you can make your cards with a floral theme or flip them over and get a masculine stripe. Ohhhh and the oval scallop punch, I love . . . Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy

I’ve been working on a tutorial to do the knots that you see here – which I will post over the weekend – they are really very easy and so very simple (hello! I can do it, it must be simple!)

Till next time,

Michelle

This was the card we made at last weekend at my Sunday class at the Chelsea Heights Community Centre -  it’s a tri-fold card. 

 We got to play with the Circle Circus stamp set – I’ve stamped it in four colours and then punched the different layers with various punches (mmmm circle scallop, second favourite after Oval scallop punch!) then popped them up with dimensionals.  The background piece was embossed with white EP and the patterned paper is from the Tea Party designer series of 12″x12″ papers (pge 133 in the current catalogue).

Here’s another tri-fold card that I made using Raspberry Tart DS papers – Look Ma! No stamping! If you’d like to make one of these cards, check out the tutorial here at Splitcoast Stampers.

Till next time,

Michelle