Keep on Creating

ESAD Summer Mini Catalogue Blog Hop

2011-11-30T23:56:00.007+11:00

Goes live at 10am (Sydney time) tomorrow.

Be sure to come back then to check out the amazing projects made by 25 talented Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

See you then!

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

ESAD Summer Mini Catalogue Blog Hop

2011-11-30T11:57:00.016+11:00

Welcome to the ESAD New Catalogue Blog Hop!

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin Up demonstrators.We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group

Now on to the Blog Hop!

You may have arrived here from the very talented Jacinta Argent, or perhaps you were just browsing. However you found me I am glad you are here!

Today I am showcasing four new products from the summer mini catalogue, the Marry Me stamp set, Candy Wrapper die for the bigshot, silver glimmer paper and velvet ribbon. I have made two cards and a wedding favour/gift tower to share with you, all using the colour combination of soft suede, pink pirouette and very vanilla, along with the Beau Chateau dsp.

Here is the first card.

For this card I punched out a scallop circle from the silver glimmer paper and coloured it pink with a sponge dauber and inkpad. How cool is that, you can have glimmer paper in any colour you want. I think I had better order some more, as I have already used half of my pre-order!

Here is a close up of the scallop circle.

Next up is another card which uses the same image from the marry me stamp set. On this card I have coloured the velvet ribbon with a dauber and the soft suede inkpad. I stamped En Francais on the background pink layer before running it through the big shot with the striped textured empressions folder. Some sponging around the edges of all the layers and I was happy with the end result.

For my final project I decided to make a tower out of the candy wrapper dies, which are held together with a belly band. When I brought the candy wrapper die I was a little disapppointed with the size of it, but then I saw a u-tube video of how to make it triple the size and thought how cool. While playing around a couple of weeks ago, I worked out how to also make it double the size, so from one little die, I can make three different size boxes. How awesome - three for the price of one!

Here is a shot of them all stacked up.

And a shot of the ends of them.

And finally a shot of all my projects together.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I have created, and should you require any information, please email me.

The next stop on the blog hop is the very talented Pauline Bennetts Barns. Click here to be
taken to her blog and continue following the hop!

I hope you all have a great Friday afternoon and fun and fabulous weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

PS Here is a list of people participating in the blog hop, in case you get lost.

1. Michelle Halling

www.michellehcreations.blogspot.com

2. Tayna Bell

www.stampingt.com.au

3. Yvonne Walker

www.yvonnescreativecorner.blogspot.com

4. Tracey McDonald Old

www.astamperstouch.blogspot.com

5. Keryn Campbell

www.kerynscards.blogspot.com

6. Sherylee Tutt

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/sherylee/blog

7. Nicole Derendorf

www.nicolederendorf.com

8. Corina Beyer

www.beyondinkstamper.com

9. Sharlene Meyer

www.magpiecreates.com

10. Kelly Nelson

www.kellysstampinspot.wordpress.com

11. Ann Gerlach

www.discover-ink.blogspot.com

12. Jane Norrish

www.janenorrish.com

13. Richelle Fletcher

www.stampingwithrichelle.blogspot.com

14. Jacinta Argent

www.jacintascreations.blogspot.com

15. Nicky Adamson - you are here

www.nickyadamson.blogspot.com

16. Pauline Bennetts Barns

www.paulinebennetts.com/stampede

17. Elizabeth Dyson

www.libbystampz.blogspot.com

18. Monique Fielder

www.stamping-with-moni-q.blogspot.com

19. Ruth Clarke

www.ruthyclarke.blogspot.com

20. Joanne Kechagias

www.joannekechagias.blogspot.com

21. Christie Kunkel

www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com

22. Felicity Fernandez

www.stampinwithflick.blogspot.com

23. Jenny Hayward

www.astampingjourney.wordpress.com

24. Theresa "Tess" Schirmer

www.stampinandstuffwithtess.wordpress.com

25. Andrea Buckland

www.creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com

Baby boy card

2011-10-02T12:36:00.000+11:00

Wow look at this card ... I just love it. I don't own this baby stamp set but you know what ... I am thinking that I might just have to buy it! I have seen some amazing cards made with it, and not your normal kind of card, but beautiful scene ones. Oh well I will procrastinate a tad longer and see whether it ends up on my next order!
In case you can't work it out, it is supposed to be a chest of drawers. The bottom was cut out with the top note die and then I just put blocks of card on top with dimensionals and scattered the items over the three drawers. The drawer handles were punched out with the small scallop in the trio punch and a brad was put through the centre.

I was very excited when I was finished it as it ended up just as I wanted it to. Thanks Kylie for the idea.

We are off iceskating this afternoon, lets hope there are no injuries this time, Sam managed to stab himself in the hand with his skate last time we went.

Have a great long weekend, I hope you manage to fit some crafting time in.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Button Buddies

2011-09-28T19:12:00.003+10:00

One of the great things about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is that every year we get to attend Convention. It is three days of hanging out with your stamping friends, being blown away by the amazing work of your fellow demos, attending fantastic seminars and having heaps of fun. Another benefit is receiving new stamp sets before the catalogue is released. Button Buddies is a stamp set we received in Melbourne this year.

It is designed to be used with the Stampin' Up! buttons, but can also be used with circles or flowers, or just left as it is.

Today I have a card to share with you that I made for my friend Susan's birthday earlier this year. Her favourite colour is pink, so I used the gorgeous sweet and sour specialty dsp (which has now retired). Here is the card...
And a close up of the flower panel with the buttons ...I would love to hear what you think of it.

It is the last weekend of the school holidays and I am at karate with Sam. It feels so wrong to be up so early on a Saturday morning in the holidays, oh the things you do for your children. I am very sad the holidays are over as the kids and I have had a blast hanging out together.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Don't you love the school holidays...

2011-09-28T12:35:00.001+10:00

I do. Love the pyjama mornings and hanging out with my kids. For the most part they are lots of fun to be around and we have a blast doing fun things together when they are on holiday. This afternoon we are going to see The Smurfs and to Max Brenner for a chocolate fix. Max Brenner is one of our favourite places to go, it seems my children have inherited my love of chocolate!

Enough chit chat, onto the card I have to share today.

When the catalogue came out one of the stamp sets we could pre-order was the delicate doillies set. I wasn't sure about it as I had the circle circus set and had hardly used it, but after going on the INKlings weekend away I just HAD to buy it.

I CASE'd this card from my good friend Amy.

I don't normally make cards this shape, but it worked well for this design. The colours were also ones that I would not think of putting together, basic gray, old olive and really rust. We got the combo from the colour coach (one of my favourite tools). It's good to challenge yourself every now and then.

I hope you are having a great week.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Forever Young

2011-09-26T12:34:00.001+10:00

Being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator you can pre-order certain products before a new catalogue goes "live". This is one of the stamp sets I pre-ordered. It is called Forever Young and I loved it from the moment I saw it.

The card I have to share with you today is one that I made for a swap on the INKlings annual weekend away in August.

It uses one of the new in-colours wisteria wonder and also the parlor prints background stamp.

The style is a bit different from the cards I normally make, but I was really happy with how it turned out.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Boy''s birthday card

2011-09-22T12:32:00.002+10:00

Today I have a card I made for one of Sam's friends to show you. I always struggle a little with small boys cards, so I decided to do a card with his name on it. I started off by placing small stars all over the base and then mounted the letters on top with dimensionals.

The letters have been cut out with the big shot simple letters alphabet. I purchased the alphabet a couple of months ago and I love it. Jess has even used it a couple of times on school projects.

It was a very bright fun card and super quick to make.

Til next time...

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

The new catalogue is here ...

2011-09-19T10:41:00.006+10:00

If you would like to view the new catalogue - click on the image on the right. Or if you are like me and want your very own copy to look at again and again and put sticky notes on what you "must" have then email me at nickyadamson@ymail.com and I will let you know how much it will be to have one posted to you.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Plane birthday card

2011-08-31T12:40:00.008+10:00

What do you think of the birthday card I made for my nephew? It was another of the cards that I made at the weekend away. The plane is out of the new hostess stamp set Ain't Love Grand. It has a banner on it, but I decided to go one bigger and make a large banner with all three planes towing it.

I was happy with how it turned out and it went down a treat with my nephew.

Today is the 1st of November, and all Stampin' Up! demos can pre-order items from the summer mini catalogue which goes live on 1 December. My list is rather long, so I think I may have to attempt to cull it!

Hope you are having a great Melbourne Cup Day.

Keep on Creating.

xx Nicky

Doilies #2

2011-08-31T12:36:00.009+10:00

Another card to share today made with the delicate doilies stamp set. This was cased off my good friend Amy. It was a really fun card to make, very quick and easy and really dimensional. I used melon mambo which I admit I have hardly used. It is a really bright colour and with the white, seems even brighter. I used the embosslits butterfly die for the Big Shot and some melon mambo buttons. A bit of bling and it was all finished.

My sister-in-law loves pink, so I made two cards the same and sent one to her. I do this quite often as since you have all the supplies out, it is just as easy to make two rather than one.

Hope you are having a great week.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Rock Guitar

2011-08-31T12:34:00.008+10:00

Wow it has been another long time between posts ... if I don't sit down on a Monday morning and do it, time gets away on me. I haven't been creating a lot of late, all I seem to be doing is driving children around to activities and by the time the evening comes around, I am ready to blob in front of the tv. This time of year is exhausting. I can't believe there are only three more weeks left of school. I can't wait. No more getting up early and I really enjoy spending time with my kids, hopefully we may even get away these holidays.

Well enough chatter, on to my card for today. It is uses concord crush, more mustard and very vanilla. I made it while I was at Michelle's house about a month ago. I borrowed her extreme elements and grunge rock stamp sets. The more I use extreme elements, the more I think I am going to "have" to buy it LOL.
I stamped the background vanilla piece of card all over with the dotty stamp from extreme elements and used the music roller wheel for the background behind the guitars. If you have any questions about this card, drop me an email and I will gladly fill you in.

Hope your week is going well, only one more day til the weekend - woohoo.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

60th birthday card & box

2011-08-31T12:26:00.007+10:00

Well where have I been you may ask .. the answer would be nowhere. I have been extremely tired and lost all my motivation and ooph over the past few months. Unfortunately updating my blog has become something that was just too hard to do. I went and saw my Dr last week and she is testing my blood for all manner of things, to see if it is something medical (lets hope so), so I can get back to feeling "normal" again.

I have a special birthday card and box to share with you today. I made these for my dear friend Sandra's 60th birthday. The card is a centre-step card. I love making these cards, they are so easy and look WOW.

I used the Flirtatious specialty papers and the elements of style stamp set from the new catalogue. Here is the card ...

Here is a side view...
This is the box I made for the present. It is made with the mini milk carton die.

And here is a picture of the two together.

I was really pleased with how they turned out and I know Sandrá loved them.

If you would like any details on how to made either the card or the box, let me know.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

The retirement list is here ...

2011-08-01T13:09:00.004+10:00

There are only 30 days left of the existing Idea Book & Catalogue, so that means it is time to say goodbye to hundreds of products. To view a copy of the retirement list click here.

All products are on a "while stocks last" basis, so if there is something you absolutely love, please do not hesitate to contact me to place your order. If you do, you may miss out!

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Weeks that don't go the way you planned ...

2011-07-08T20:22:00.002+10:00

Does this happen to anyone else? In the past 3 weeks I have had Sam in hospital with a mystery leg problem that left him unable to walk, I have managed to get a cold and conjunctivitous and it is now school holidays, and we all know that nothing gets done during the school holiday!

I thought I would do a quick post to let you know I am still around and will resume regular posting after the holidays.

We have had a very busy week this week but I am hoping I may get some card making done next week.

If you have children on holiday, enjoy your sleep ins (I definately am) and have fun with the kids.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Birthday Card #2

2011-06-17T09:36:00.001+10:00

This is the card that Kylie made me for my birthday - it is so me, all white, bright and sparkly. If you would like to see some more of her creations, take a look at her blog here.She too used an orange base, and one of the new stamp sets we received at convention. It is a fabulous set which has some really awesome stamps in it.

She has used dazzling diamonds on the embossed piece to make it all sparkly - there seems to a theme going on here LOL.

Next time, a thank you card I received, which surprisingly is also very sparkly.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Birthday Card #1

2011-06-15T09:35:00.001+10:00

I received this stunning card from a very good friend and fellow demonstrator, Michelle Dyson. She too has a blog, so pop over and check out her latest creations here. In case any of you didn't already know, my favourite colour is orange. I know that's kind of strange since I was a 70s baby and my bedroom when I was a kid was orange and white, but over the past 10 years it has become my all-time favourite colour. It is such a happy vibrant colour.

Michelle of course knows of my love of orange, so she made me an orange card. She used a WOW technique we were shown at Convention in Melbourne last month, which involved ripping the middle out of the centre of the card to make a frame. She also used gold spritz all over the card and it is fabulously sparkly. I tried to photograph it, but of course I couldn't get a photo that showed it.

Thank you so much Michelle, I love it.

Next time, a card made by Kylie Swain, which also shows a sneek peak of a new stamp set we will be getting in our next catalogue, so be sure to check back in a couple of days.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Growing Green Birthday Card

2011-06-13T09:34:00.009+10:00

Are any of you as sick of the rain as I am? My kids have been home sick for half of last week, and they are going absolutely crazy today. Please please please can the rain stop as I think we all need to get outside and I would like to get some washing done!

Now on to something far more interesting ... One of my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators had her birthday last week and this is the card I made for her. I used the Growing Green stamp set, and managed to whip this card up in half an hour. It came together exactly how I had imagined it, and believe me that doesn't happen too often.

Here is a close up of the flower, which I coloured with my blender pen and ink pad.

I was very happy with how it turned out.

I have a couple of birthday cards I received to share with you over the next week, so be sure to come back and check them out.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Time has got away on me again...

2011-06-06T08:00:00.004+10:00

I am having trouble fitting everything in these days ... I don't know about you, but life seems to be so busy at the moment ... what with kids appointments and my appointments, the days are just flying by.

I haven't even had a chance to sit at my desk and create anything for so long ... however I have most of this week free, so plan on doing just that. The house is clean and tidy, so there is no guilt about what I "should" be doing LOL.

I will give myself all week to create and will do a post on Friday to show you what I have been up to. If anyone is still reading my blog PLEASE leave me a comment.

Have a great week.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Final Deals of the Week

2011-05-26T07:53:00.003+10:00

Here are this weeks specials.

Item 113838 Page 62 Right on Track Stampin' Around Wheel Was $11.95 NOW $8.37

Item 115619 Page 68 Retro Remix Stampin Around Wheel Was $11.95 NOW $8.37

Item 119975 Page 134 Vintage Type Rub-Ons Was $15.95 NOW $11.17

Item 118760 Page 134 Play Date Rub-Ons Was $16.95 NOW $11.87

This is the final deals of the week, so if there is anything you would like listed above please email me or phone your order through (0407-418-063) no later than 9pm Tuesday 31st May.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Deals of the Week are back ...

2011-05-04T19:39:00.007+10:00

Remember last year when Stampin' Up! had their Deals of the Week promotion ... well they are doing it again. Every Wednesday in May they will be releasing deals on selected products from the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue (with up to 40% off).

The deals are available until Tuesday evening (or when they sell out). Make sure you get your order to me quickly so you don't miss out.

There are no limits to the number of Deals of the Week you can purchase and no minimum purchase is required.

This weeks deals are:

Next weeks deal starts on Wednesday, 11 May, so be sure to check back then to see what fabulous specials are available.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Eat Chocolate #2

2011-04-08T21:13:00.010+10:00

Here is another card I made for a swap. This one was for a team training swap for the new mini catalogue.

This one also uses the eat chocolate stamp set and the tasteful trim die for the Big Shot - which I think is fantastic. It makes a full 12"strip that you can use for scrapbook pages or cut up and use on two card fronts. Here is a close up of the stamped panel. To get the shaded bit on the top and bottom I have simply punched the label out again on brown cardstock, cut it in half and adhered it to the top and bottom.

It has been raining here in Sydney since we came back from NZ and I am sick of it. It is cold, wet and miserable. On a brighter note though, the kids went back at school today so at least I finally have some peace and quiet. Hopefully I can do some creating ... I have to make my swap cards for convention, which is in less than 2 weeks!.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Eat Chocolate

2011-04-08T21:13:00.007+10:00

I'm not sure what happened to the scheduling of the posts while I was away, but apparently they didn't go through, so I will do the first one manually now.

First though I will update you on our holiday to New Zealand. The kids and I had the best time. The weather was cool and crisp but not as cold as I had anticipated, which was great. I managed to read three books while there and let Nana and Grandad do breakfast so I got to sleep in a little every day. I ate everything I can't get here - bluff oysters, green onion potato chips and yummy cheese rolls. I have come home feeling very relaxed and more than a little homesick.

Now for my post I had scheduled. This card is one I made for a team swap for the new mini catalogue. It uses the fabulous Eat Chocolate stamp set which I knew I had to have as soon as I saw it - as I am a chocoholic.

For the colour scheme I went to the Cadbury colours of espresso, concord crush and white. I used the inlaid embossing technique on the background. It is such a cool technique and adds heaps of texture to the card with little effort. The sentiment was punched out with the new label punch, which I punched twice to make it a little smaller.

I was really pleased with how it turned out - just like I had imagined in my head - which to be quite honest, doesn't happen too often.

I have another Eat Chocolate card to share with you next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Happy Birthday Jess

2011-04-08T11:06:00.006+10:00

I can hardly believe it, but today was Jess' 7th birthday - my how time flies. Carrying on with the bear theme from her party last week, I made her a bear card. Unfortunately I couldn't find the bear stamp I wanted to use - heck I'm not even sure whether I own it or was just dreaming I owned it - so I used the same bear that I used on her invitations. I made an easel card in purple and white (to match the Hannah Montana bear she got at her party). Here is the front of the card: I covered the bear in dazzling diamonds and it looks amazing in real life (but I can't seem to get a good picture of it). Anyway here is a close up of the bear:And finally a picture of the card opened up.Jess really loved it. We have had a very busy day with the last day of school, the easter hat parade and her birthday. Tomorrow we have to be at the airport at 5.15am to fly to NZ to see my parents for the holidays, which we are all really looking forward to. I will be checking emails while I am gone and have done a couple of posts to pop up next week and the week after. I am still having problems with getting paragraphs in my posts (they show up on the post but get lost in the preview and when I publish the post), if anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated. Hope you all have a great weekend and I will be back to regular blogging on my return. Keep on creating. xx Nicky

Jess' birthday invitations

2011-04-05T02:34:00.000+10:00

Wah-hoo I am back - and feeling so much better than the other day, the extreme tiredness seems to have disappeared and I am left with a lingering cough. As promised, I have Jess' birthday goodies to share with you. Having a Build-A-Bear party obviously meant that the invitation had to have a bear on it, so I used the first rubber stamp I ever brought (over 10 years ago) - who knew that this one stamp would create a monster! Jess chose the colour scheme of brown and orange and after looking through my dsp stash I decided to use the retired sweet always papers. I used my favourite new technique on the background. Cutting strips of cardstock, placing them on card and then running them through the big shot with the square lattice embossing folder. I just love the interest and texture it gives to a card ... here is a close up:

I also made goodie bags with the fancy favour big shot die in matching colours.

Here they are side by side, I was extremely happy with the result, what do you think? Finally, a picture of the birthday girl with her brand new Hannah Montana bear, aptly named "Miley".

Have a great day. Keep on creating. xx Nicky

Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue is here ...

2011-04-02T02:11:00.000+11:00

It has been a very busy week at our house and I have been ill for the past 10 days. I hope I get better soon as I am tired of being exhausted! I have done no creating at all and was supposed to participate in the INKlings blog hop on Friday, but on Thursday evening I had to realise my limitations (well my tiredness) and pull out. On a much brighter note, the new autumn-winter mini catalogue is here ... and it has some fantastic new products in it. I have added a link to my side-bar so if you would like to download it, just click over there. If you are like me and would like to have one in your hand to look at, mark everything you want to purchase and generally make it all dog-eared and tatty, drop me an email and I will put one in the post to you. Jess is turning 7 next week and we had a party for her today over at Build-A-Bear. It was a blast and all the kids had so much fun. I will be back on Monday to share her birthday invitations and party bags, along with a gorgeous photo of the birthday girl. I hope the rest of your weekend is fun and relaxing. Keep on creating. xx Nicky (PS the formatting for this post has gone funny and I can't seem to fix it - hopefully it will be better on Monday xxN)

Punch Bunch Owl notecard

2011-03-28T11:46:00.001+11:00

When people order Stampin' Up! products off me I like to include a "thank you card" with their order. It is normally just a notecard size, but has a thank you note stuck to the inside with sticky dots, which can then be thrown out and they can use the card to give to someone special.

This is the most recent card I made. It is 3 1/2" inches square and uses the owl image out of the Punch Bunch Sale-A-Bration free stamp set.

The scallop circle image behind the owl is actually the homemade stamp set from the a-la-carte range at the back of the summer mini catalogue, and I just covered the "homemade and to die for" image in the centre with a 1 3/4"circle punched out of the same coloured cardstock.

I was happy with how it turned out and hope the ladies who are receiving it like it.

Til next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Bliss make-n-take

2011-03-26T11:34:00.002+11:00

I have had a couple of workshops this month, and this is the make-n-take we have made. It uses the fabulous FREE Sale-A-Bration stamp set, Bliss. To receive this wonderful stamp set for free, all you need to do is spend $100 on product from the catalogue (before postage) and it can be yours.
I used an early espresso and crumb cake colour scheme and was really pleased with the results. The cream panel has been spritzed with champagne shimmer mist mixed with isocol. It has a great shimmer to it (unfortunately you can't see it in the photo).

The card was finished off with a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp set. Althought this stamp set is expensive, there are so many sentiments and I have used it so much that I think it is definately worth the cost.

Next time I have an owl notecard to share with you, so be sure to check back in a few days.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Easter Blossom Swap Card

2011-03-23T11:17:00.005+11:00

Well what a start to the week I have had, what with all the rain we have had in the past 5 days, and then I came down with a bug on Monday and literally slept for about 40 hours out of the 48 hours to last night. However I am feeling better now, so onto the card I promised.

This card was one I made for the summer mini catalogue swap. It uses the Easter Blossoms stamp set. Orginally when I saw the stamp set I wasn't that impressed as obviously our Easter is in autumn, not spring, but when I played around with the stamp and omitted certain parts of it, I realised it was really versatile.

For this card I omitted the basket of eggs the little girl is carrying and made it a birthday card.
The background was embossed with the foliage stamp.

I think it is a really sweet card - what do you think?

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

AWOL again!

2011-03-17T08:19:00.001+11:00

I didn't plan on this break from blogging, but an important job came up a couple of weeks ago, and I am still trying to get it finished. I think I have finally got my head around it so hope to have it all tied up today or tomorrow.

I have lots of swap cards to make which use new products from the winter mini catalogue as well as some thank you cards for a workshop I had last week. I am going to make those over the weekend and resume blogging again on Monday.

Hope you have a great weekend and see you next week.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Guest Stamper

2011-03-07T10:50:00.001+11:00

How cute is this card? My friend Sandra called in on Sunday and brought some cards to show me. I absolutely loved this one, it is based on one she saw on the net and is a wedding card for her new neighbours. Here is a close up of the owls.

Be sure to stop by later in the week to check out another swap card I made using the Eastern Blossoms stamp set.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Hostess Gift

2011-03-04T10:45:00.000+11:00

This is the hostess gift I made for a workshop I had last weekend. I made 9 cards to go in it, using the stamps from the level 1 hostess set, punch potpourri. I kept them all together with some black striped ribbon tied with some twine, a button and tag from the tiny tags stamp set.One of the demos at the Stampin Up Regional event in Sydney had used this idea as a hostess gift, and I thought it was a great one. You just make a 4" square card, stamp the image on the bottom right of the front cover, colour it in and punch it out. Once punched out, close the card and adhere the punched images in the holes with dimensionals.

Card design #1 -

Carde design #2:

Card design #3:

The only image you can't use in this stamp set is the bird. I was really pleased with how it turned out, it was so quick and easy to do.

Have a great weekend, I have a stamp-a-stack on tomorrow, so I'm off to prepare for that.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Punch Bunch swap card

2011-03-02T10:43:00.003+11:00

Today I have a swap card to share with you. This card uses one of the free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, Punch Bunch. I wanted the stamp to pop so I used a whisper white card base, which I sprayed with champagne shimmer mist to give it a soft shimmer. Here is a close up.
It looks really effective.

I hope you are having a good week, I will be back on Friday to share a hostess gift with you.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Happy Birthday Dad

2011-02-25T22:11:00.003+11:00

Well ok his birthday was on Boxing Day and when I sent his present I forgot to include the card (Jess had been looking at it and I didn't realise it wasn't in the parcel until I got home from the Post Office) but he did receive it a couple of days after his birthday.

I made the card while at the INKlings christmas dinner and was extremely happy with how it turned out. I don't actually own this stamp set, but was able to borrow it from Michelle on the night, and I must say I like it a lot.
I knew I would be buying the Well Scripted stamp set as soon as I saw the mini catalogue because I loved that it had father and mother sentiments in it. Here is a close up of the boat.

And a picture of the layers. I used the crimper on the baja breeze strip and sponged around the edges of all the layers.

What do you think?

Next time I will have some swap cards to share with you. Have a great weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Thinking of You card

2011-02-21T22:09:00.004+11:00

One of my friends had to have an operation in December, this is the card I made for her:

It uses the fabulous Growing Green stamp set, which went to the top of my wish list as soon as I saw the new catalogue.

A close up of the flower which I coloured with my blender pen and ink pads.

If you have any questions on how it was made, please leave me a comment or email me.

Well I'm off to tidy up and clean out my children's bedroom. It is a job that unfortunately can't be done while they are here, because everything I try to throw out, they want to keep! Have a great day.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

A few Christmas gifts ...

2011-02-21T21:51:00.006+11:00

I know it is ages since Christmas, but since I didn't do any blogging I thought I would show you some gifts I made this year. First up is the mini milk cartons for all Jess and Sam's classmates. These are the ones for Jess' class: And a close up of the image which I coloured in with my trusty blender pen while on holiday in New Zealand 18 months ago - I never quite got around to sending christmas cards last year with moving. I was really pleased with how they turned out and using the mini milk carton die was so easy and it took no time to make them all. We put a christmas rubber and chocolates in each carton.Next is a homemade portion of a gift I gave to a friend. The package at the back is a packet of cake mix and the round one at the front it a tub of Betty Crocker ready made icing. This is the second one of these I have made. These are pretty easy to make and look really great when they are completed.And finally some bags of truffles I made for my scrapbooking friends on our christmas dinner night out. Of course I left it until the last minute to do and ended up having to dip 90 truffles on the day of the dinner!

Well that's all from me today, be sure to check back later in the week to see a card I made with one of my new stamp sets.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T08:50:00.001+11:00

Well it sure has been a long time since I last posted. With being on holidays, school starting and Sam heading off to school, blogging has taken a back seat. I have done a little creating in the last week, but I need to organise my time better and get into a routine for posting.

I was lucky enough to receive a flash new camera for christmas, and I also purchased a photo tent to take my photos in, so hopefully you will notice a difference in the quality of the photos on my blog.

As it is Valentine's Day I thought I would share the card I made for David. It was adapted off one I saved onto my computer over the holidays, but unfortunately I didn't note who had made the original one. If it was yours, please let me know and I will credit you.

I used the new love defined stamp set out of the summer mini catalogue. The colours used were very vanilla and cherry cobbler.

Here is a picture of the inside.I stamped the valentine sentiment in pretty in pink and then stamped the flamingos over the top in cherry cobbler.

I hope David likes it, let me know what you think.

Til next time ...

Keep on creating

xx Nicky

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T09:54:00.002+11:00

I can't believe it is so long since I updated my blog. Life has definately got in the way over the past month, what with Jess' dancing concert, Sam's graduation from preschool, school finishing and all the catching up with friends for christmas, not to mention gift buying and generally getting ready for the big day, I haven't had much time to get onto the computer.

So I have decided to cut myself some slack and take a break from blogging until school goes back at the end of January. I mean seriously, do I think I am going to get 10 mins to myself in peace and quiet to update my blog with a 6.5 and 5 year old in the house - you must be kidding. David also starts his holiday today as well, so I can imagine it is going to be somewhat hectic around here.

I would like to wish all my wonderful blog readers a very Merry Christmas. I hope Santa brings you everything on your wish list. Have a great festive season and Iwill see you back here at the end of January.

Happy Holidays.

xx Nicky

Just believe birthday set

2010-11-28T09:23:00.003+11:00

Hi all, we have a very busy day today with Jess' dance concert this afternoon so it will be a quick post, before hair and makeup must be attempted. Trying to get a child to sit still while putting eye makeup on - not an easy job!

Today I am sharing a card and bag I made for a special friend. It uses the just believe stamp set which I inked up using my markers. I have used the top note squared technique to make the white base for the stamped image. It is a really easy technique, but very effective. If you would like to know how to do it, drop me an email and I will be more than happy to share. Next up is the bag, which I made with the fancy favour box for the big shot - love this as it is so very versatile, think children's party goody bags, friends birthday presents, easter baskets and lots more. I have made a handle for it and attached it to the side of the box with a medium brad.

Here is a picture of the two together. I was really happy with how they turned out. What do you think?

Well that's all for me today, I will be back later this week to share some more gift sets which I have made. Have a fabulous Sunday.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Sam's birthday

2010-11-22T20:50:00.004+11:00

As promised, I am back to share some of Sam's birthday goodies with you.

I am very fortunate to have made friend through Stampin' Up! who just happens to run her own cake decorating business on the Central Coast of NSW, so when I mentioned I was having a pirate party for Sam, she kindly offered me the use of her cake tin. Well how easy was that - she even gave me her scrummy "no fail" chocolate brownie cake recipe - thanks so much Amy. If you want to order a cake, or even have a look at her creations, this is her website.

I can't believe my baby is 5 already - I'm not sure where the last 5 years have gone. Here is a photo of him with his cake. I also made "pirate goody bags". This is what they looked like.

And a close up of the topper I put on the cello bag.

All the kids were very excited when they received them, I think it was the chocolate coins in there.

Thanks for stopping by, til next time ...

Keep on Creating.

xx Nicky

MIA

2010-11-17T11:48:00.003+11:00

Wow I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post, things have been CRAZY around here and doesn't seem to be looking any better until December rolls around. In the next week and a half I have Stampin' Up! regional training, Jess' dancing rehearsal and concert, not to mention 3 birthdays!

I have "misplaced" my camera cord so I am not able to share any new projects with you today, but I am going to turn the house upside down this weekend and try and find it.

I will be back next week with regular posts, including Sam's birthday cake, some birthday cards and gift packaging I made for some special friends, and (hopefully) my swap card for regionals. Although since I haven't even designed it yet, I'm not sure whether it is going to be even remotely achievable between now and Saturday. I will see how I go.

I hope the rest of your week goes quickly and you all have a fabulous weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Sam's Pirate Birthday Invitation

2010-10-16T19:30:00.000+11:00

As promised I have Sam's birthday invitation to show you today. I let Sam choose the colours for his invitation and much to my delight he chose marina mist and wild wasabi. I am loving both of these colours, they are so clean and crisp when teamed with white. Here is the invitation. I knew I wanted to make a pull out invitation so started off by making the cover. I stamped the treasure chest and pirate on scrap card and coloured them with my blender pen and markers before attaching. I ended up printing off the invitation in matching colours and attached these pieces to a piece of marina mist card and placed the pirate on top of that. You just pull on the pirate and the invitation piece comes out.

Here is a picture of the cover.

I was really pleased with how they turned out and Sam loved them. I have made a pirate cake today and just have to ice it tomorrow and make some goodie bags (oh and I guess I should make him a card!).

We have a whole weekend of celebrations planned so I will be back next week to share the goodie bags, cake and card.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: Ahoy matey (retired)
Card: Marina mist, wild wasabi, whisper white
Ink: Marina mist, wild wasabi

Other: blender pen

Pirate # 1

2010-10-14T19:26:00.005+11:00

Sam had to go to a pirate party for one of his friends last week. It must be a popular theme for 5 year old boys from his daycare because when given the choice of cowboy, superhero or pirate for his party which is on Saturday, he chose Pirate. I was overjoyed as I knew I had the ahoy matey stamp set in the cupboard and doing invitations was going to be oh so easy.

This is the card I made for Sam's friend.
I used not quite navy, real red and baja breeze for the colour scheme. I used the matching wheel with versamark on the background and stamped the ship on a scrap piece of card and then coloured it and cut it out. The number 5 was cut out with my big shot alphabet.

Here is a close up of the boat.

Next time I will show you Sam's birthday invitation.

Til then, keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Ahoy Matey (retired) with matching wheel (not sure of it's name)
Card: Not quite navy, baja breeze, real red, whisper white
Ink: Stazon, versamark, not quite navy, baja breeze, real red
Punches: Scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle
Big Shot: Timeless type junior alphabet
Other: blender pen, dimensionals

Elmo

2010-10-11T20:51:00.000+11:00

My nephew Joshua turned 2 a couple of months ago, so I decided to make him a big Elmo card. I had made a smaller version a while ago, and after i saw the bigshot scallop circle, I thought there was no reason I couldn't make a bigger version. Here is what I came up with. It uses all punches. The 1 3/8" circle for the eyes and nose, a 1/2" circle for the eyeballs and the extra large oval cut in half for the mouth.

I made the card out of confetti white card as it is a bit more sturdy than whisper white and stamped a no 2 all over it, then just pieced Elmo's face together and the card was finished. I was really pleased when Joshua actually recognised it as Elmo!

Well the school holidays are over now, so hopefully things will get back to normal around here. It has been lovely having the kids at home, but very noisy, and I do love my quiet time.

Til next time, keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: unknown number
Card: confetti white, real red, pumpkin pie, basic black
Big shot: scallop circle die
Punches: 1 3/8" circle, 1/2" circle, extra large oval

Cute by the Inch swap card

2010-10-09T20:49:00.000+11:00

Today I have my latest swap card to share with you. I designed this card for a new catalogue swap with my INKlings team-mates. I loved the new level 2 hostess set cute by the inch as soon as I saw it and decided to use it with the matching punch as the starting point for this card.

To decide what colours to use, I used the new colour coach. It has some fabulous colour combos on it. This card uses marina mist, early espresso, tangerine tango and whisper white.
I stamped the marina mist piece with the new french filigree background stamp and embossed the tangerine tango piece with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder.

Having markers for all the Stampin' Up! colours is just fabulous, it means you can ink up all your stamps with whichever colour you need. I used the early espresso, marina mist and tangerine tango markers directly onto the stamp and then stamped it onto a piece of whisper white. I cut it out and then used the matching petal card punch to punch out some early espresso to make the flower piece.

Here is a close up of the flower piece.

If you fold the petals up, it looks really good. This is what it looks like from the side.

I was really happy with how my card turned out and will definately be using this colour combination again.

Next time I have my 2 year old nephew's elmo card to show you.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: french filigree, cute by the inch (level 2 hostess)
Cardstock: early espresso, tangerine tango, marina mist, whisper white
Ink/markers: early espresso, tangerine tango, marina mist
Punches: petal card extra large double
Big shot: vintage wallpaper embossing folder

Christmas Card #3

2010-10-06T20:47:00.001+11:00

After my last card didn't turn out anything like I had imagined, this was the total opposite and is exactly what I imagined. It has a card base of bravo burgundy with basic black and very vanilla. I started off by tying a knot in the gorgeous new 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon and then hung the bauble off that with linen thread.
The sentiment at the bottom is from the new christmas greetings stamp set. There are two stamps in the set, the merry christmas and a really lovely saying for the inside of your card as well. Here is a close up of the bauble which I have matted on a cut out of the ornament from the holiday window movers and shapers moveable pieces. As this is a brand new solid stamp, the ink coverage isn't the best at the moment, and that is why it is a little blotchy, but after a bit more use it will stamp perfectly.
I am liking this version a lot and I think it is a front runner in my christmas card selection at the moment, I will have to see what else I can come up with, before I make my final decision.

Next time, I have my latest swap card to share with you.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: delightful decorations, christmas greetings
Card: bravo burgundy, basic black, very vanilla
Ink: bravo burgundy
Big Shot: holiday windows moveable pieces
Other: 1 1/4" black striped grosgrain, linen thread, ornament punch

kimono kids

2010-10-03T20:43:00.004+11:00

My very good friend Kylie's baby girl Emily turned one last week and she had a party for her on Saturday. Of course I had to make her a card, so I used the new Kimono Kids stamp set with some new in-colours. The card ended up being completely different to what I had designed in my head, but sometimes that it just how things work out. I used the new concord crush, peach parfait and pear pizazz for the card base and coloured the images with all the new in-colours and my blender pen.
Here is a close up of the lanterns. I stamped a "1" and placed it on the middle lantern.

And a close up of the girls.

I was really happy with how the card turned out and had a lot of fun making it, as it had everything I love, cutting out and colouring! This was the first time I had used the new in-colours and I think I will be using them a lot more.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: kimono kids
Card: concord crush, peach parfait, pear pizazz, whisper white
Ink: black stazon, concord crush, peach parfait, pear pizazz, blushing bride, poppy parade
Other: paper snips, snail

No cards to share today ...

2010-09-27T18:35:00.002+10:00

I have made quite a few cards in the last couple of weeks but when I sat down today to do a post I realised that I haven't photographed any of them. I don't even have them in the house to photograph as I left my display board at my last workshop, which had to be split over two nights. OOPS. However, I will have my board back tomorrow night and promise to do a post on Wednesday.

xx Nicky

Christmas Card #2

2010-09-20T12:18:00.001+10:00

As promised, I am back with the christmas card we are making in my workshops this month. It is another really easy card to make, but looks like you have spent ages on it. I have used heaps of new items on this card, as I had just received my order from the new catalogue and was itching to play with everything. The stamp set is the fabulous delightful decorations which is just great. It has four ornaments in it, including one that you could use for gift tags on your presents and the best thing about it, it has a matching punch! Cardmaking is so much quicker when you can just punch the shapes out.

The colour scheme is wild wasabi, rich razzleberry and whisper white. I stamped the french filigree background stamp in versamark on the wild wasabi base, used the scallop trim border to punch out either side of the rich razzleberry piece and ran the whisper white piece through my big shot with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder. I stamped the ornament in rich razzleberry ink and then punched it out and attached it to the card with dimensionals.

This would be a great card to make in bulk if you are like me and have a lot of christmas cards to make.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies: delightful decorations, french filigree
Card: wild wasabi, rich razzleberry, whisper white
Ink: versamark, rich razzleberry
Big Shot: vintage wallpaper embossing folder
Punches: ornament extra large, scallop trim border
Other: dimensionals

Birthday BMX

2010-09-18T11:50:00.000+10:00

When I saw the BMX stamp set was retiring, I decided I should probably buy it as we have a lot of little boys to make cards for, and I thought it was a little more "grown up" than the ones I currently have. Boy am I glad I did, as we have had a rush of bike park parties the last couple of weeks.

I made this card for a very special little boy who turned 5 a couple of weeks ago. I started off with a brocade blue base, which I stamped with the sanded background stamp and then randomly stamped "happy birthday" and the number "5" all over it. I cut out a square in chocolate chip, so saffron and pumpkin pie and used the sanded background on them too. I then added brads to the corners and adhered them all to the card front.

I cut out an oval with my big shot and then used my best friend (my stamp-a-ma-jig) to place the bmx in the middle of the oval. I then placed the oval onto some chocolate chip card and cut around it with my scissors to make a mat and adhered it to the card with dimensionals.

Next time I have another christmas card to share with you. It is the make and take I am doing in my workshops this month. If you would like some great ideas for christmas cards, why not get some friends together and have a workshop .. I still have some spaces left.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: sanded background, teeny tiny sentiments, bmx (now retired) unknown number
Cardstock: brocade blue, chocolate chip, pumpkin pie, so saffron, whisper white
Ink: brocade blue, chocolate chip, pumpkin pie, so saffron
Big Shot: ovals original die
Other: silver brads, stamp-a-ma-jig, dimensionals

Perfect Punches

2010-09-15T11:37:00.000+10:00

This was another of the cards we made at the catalogue launch. It uses the new stamp set perfect punches. There are six stamps in it and each of them fits one of our punches. It is a great set.I wanted to use some new colours for the cards, but I hadn't received any of them so I had to make do with what I already had (so saffron and not quite navy). I ran the so saffron piece through the big shot with the perfect polka dots embossing folder and then sponged the edge with not quite navy ink. For the sentiment I inked it up with so saffron first and then used my not quite navy marker to colour in the blue bits.

I love using my big shot embossing folders, they add another level of dimension to a card.

Next time I will have a bmx card to share with you.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: upsy daisy, perfect punches
Cardstock: not quite navy, so saffron, whisper white
Ink: not quite navy, so saffron
Big Shot: perfect polka dots embossing folder
Other: dimensionals, sponge

For you

2010-09-13T11:26:00.002+10:00

This was one of the cards we made at a recent catalogue launch.It uses the new for you flower and matching punch together with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder. With all the punches it was a really quick card to make and is really pretty.

Til next time,

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamps: for you flower
Cardstock: black, regal rose, whisper white
Ink: black, regal rose
Big shot: vintage wallpaper embossing folder
Punches: 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle, fancy flower extra large
Other: dimensionals

Join my Team

2010-09-08T22:49:00.003+10:00

If you have ever thought about becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, now is the time to do it.

The demonstrator starter kit has been reduced in the new catalogue to only $289 and if you join between now and 15 October, you will receive for FREE a complete set of InColours - that's ink pads, markers and an assortment of cardstock - all absolutely FREE. The starter kit has over $515 worth of stamping and business supplies. Add to that the 30% discount you receive on your first $300 order placed within 45 days of joining and there really is no better time to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

If you would like to learn more about becoming part of my team, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Happy Father's Day

2010-09-05T11:41:00.001+10:00

I hope all you fathers out there are having a fabulous day.

This card is another case from Amy. As soon as I saw it I knew it would perfect for my Dad's fathers day card.

It uses the lovely as a tree stamp set, which has been inked up using old olive, garden green and chocolate chip markers. I have inked stamps with markers before but had never thought of doing it with this stamp set. I think the result is stunning.

We used baja breeze, bashful blue, certainly celery and old olive to sponge the background. A few buttons along the bottom tied with linen thread, a piece of ribbon and the happy fathers day sentiment and it was finished.

I was really happy with it and hope Dad likes it too.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: lovely as a tree, teeny tiny sentiments

Card: crumb cake (kraft), chocolate chip, garden green, whisper white
Ink: garden green, old olive, certainly celery, bashful blue, baja breeze, chocolate chip
Punch: word window

Other: chocolate chip ribbon, linen thread, sponges, buttons

Christmas Card #1

2010-09-02T11:13:00.001+10:00

There were so many very talented people with amazing cards at our weekend away that I case'd quite a few cards. I found I got a lot more done and it was a great way of getting heaps of samples together for new catalogue products. Here is a card I case'd from Amy Anderson, you can check our her blog here.

This card uses the new stamp set called Contempo Christmas. It has this beautiful bauble in it, which has a matching punch - how easy is that!

We used rich razzleberry and the new (old) wild wasabi. Some of you might remember wild wasabi was an incolour from our 2008-2009 catalogue. There is a new punch used behind the merry christmas, it is called the modern label punch and I love it too. It layers beautifully with the word window punch. This card was so quick and easy to make, I think it would be a great one to mass produce.

Amy is such a "bling" girl that most of the cards she made on the weekend away had dazzling diamonds on them somewhere, with this one being no exception. It has a fine (well mine was a little thicker than hers) line of dazzling diamonds along the top of the wild wasabi piece.

Thanks Amy for a fabulous design.

Next time, the Father's Day card I made for my Dad.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: contempo christmas, teeny tiny sentiments

Card: rich razzleberry, wild wasabi, whisper white

Ink: rich razzleberry, wild wasabi
Punches: ornament, modern label, word window

Big Shot: perfect polka dot embossing folder

Other: 2 way glue pen, stampin' dimensionals, dazzling diamonds, mat pack

The much longed for new catalogue is here ...

2010-09-01T10:48:00.002+10:00

And what a beauty it is. There are heaps of new products including 60 new stamp sets, 7 new punches, all new scrapbooking kits, card kits, ribbons, accessories and so much more. If you would like to view the new catalogue, please click on the image to the right of this post, or if you are like me and need one to hold in your hands for $15.00 I can post one out to you, just drop me an email.

I have already placed my first order and I can't wait for the Australia Post man to come knocking on my door so I can play with all the new goodies.

I have another card to share with you tomorrow, so until then ...

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Father's Day #1

2010-08-31T15:53:00.001+10:00

I am back, as promised! The new catalogue has so many amazing cards in it that when I saw this one, I knew it would be perfect for David's card. It was really simple to do, and uses the star jumbo wheel. I rolled it out in pumpkin pie and then did a so saffron, real red and garden green one, cut the stars out and mounted them on dimensionals.

The sentiment is from the teeny tiny sentiments stamp set (which I love) punched out with the word window punch.

Our new catalogue goes "live" tomorrow and I can't wait. I have my "must have" list all written out and I will be placing my order as soon as I can. If you would like to receive one of the new catalogues please email me at nickyadamson@ymail.com.

I have a christmas card to share with you next time ... using a brand new christmas stamp set.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Wheel: Star jumbo
Card: Tempting turquoise, whisper white, real red, so saffron, garden green
Ink: Tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie, real red, so saffron, garden green
Other: Large and small star punches, word window punch, stampin dimensionals

New wheel...

2010-08-29T20:27:00.004+10:00

Well I have been home a whole week but trying to find time to take photos of all the cards I made while I was away, edit them and blog them has been difficult. Life seems to be so busy at the moment.

What a fantastic weekend it was. There were 27 amazingly talented ladies, loads of inspiration, new goodies to play with, great food and not much sleep!

First up is a sneak peak of a new jumbo wheel that is in the new catalogue which is released on Wednesday. I had seen it in the US catalogue and fell in love with it then, so when it was included in our pre-order, it was at the top of my wish list.

For this card I used pretty in pink, pink pirouette and chocolate chip. I inked the wheel with stazon ink and then rolled out two images, the first I cut to fit the card front then coloured it and the second I just coloured the duck jumpsuit. I cut it out and mounted it onto the first one. Here is a close up of the duck suit.

For the sentiment I stamped the outline from tiny tags and stamped the baby in the middle then used the matching punch to punch it out - gotta love that, so quick and easy. I then used linen thread to tie it onto the coathanger. Here is a close up.

I have a father's day card to show you next, so be sure to check back in a couple of days to see it.

Til next time,

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamps: Tiny tags
Wheel: Baby Tees jumbo wheel
Card: Chocolate chip, pretty in pink, pink pirouette, whisper white

Ink: Chocolate chip, pretty in pink, pink pirouette, so saffron

Big Shot: Perfect polka dots embossing folder
Other: Jewellery tag punch, stampin dimensionals, blender pen, linen thread

Weekend away

2010-08-19T17:14:00.002+10:00

We have our annual INKlings weekend away this weekend and I cannot wait! My mojo seems to be taking a break at the moment, so I am hoping that a whole weekend away with some like minded crafty people will bring it flooding back! I will be back early next week to start sharing some of the amazing creations I have made ... not to mention the swap card I made.

Til next week.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

2010-08-11T20:13:00.003+10:00

It has been a bad week in our house. David's Nan passed away at the grand old age of 98. What a fantastic lady she was. She was still living by herself and was fit and active right up until the last few months. I wish I had half the energy she seemed to have. I remember her telling me a story a few years ago about the people she was delivering meals on wheels to, and how they were 20 years younger than her! We will miss her so much, especially christmas with the whole extended family at her house.
I have also had Jess off school this week with a really bad bout of conjunctivitous. The noise and mess has been out of this world. Unfortunately Jess likes talking as much as me, and she has constant conversations with imaginary people!

So.... not surprisingly I haven't felt like creating much ... hopefully my blue mood will lift soon and I will get back to my craft desk. I have a few projects I want to get done and new pre-order stamp sets to play with ... I will see how I go.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

New Medallion stamp

2010-08-04T13:27:00.002+10:00

When I first got the new mini catalogue, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to buy the large medallion stamp, but I have seen some amazing things done with it, so of course I just had to get it! For this card I stamped the medallion in regal rose ink on the white card and then inked up the en francais stamp with a dauber in mellow moss ink, making it darker in patches and very light in others. I then stamped it over the top of the medallion. I used the dauber to put some ink around the edge of the white block. I then mounted it onto mellow moss card, and mounted that onto an always artichoke card base.

I used the vintage vogue flowers and a sentiment from the sincere salutations set for the main panel.

I stamped the background of the main panel with the en francais again (only this time I stamped off the ink twice before stamping on my panel). I cut the flowers out and then adhered them with a brad.

For the block through the centre of the card, I had a go at the "suede" technique. It is an awesome technique and one I am sure I am going to use a lot. You rough the paper up a lot and then peel it apart, using the inside fluffy portion as the "suede" panel. Here is a close up:Well that's it from me today, I will be back in a couple of days to share more.

Til next time, keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp set: Medallion, en francais, very vintage, sincere salutations
Ink: Mellow moss, always artichoke, regal rose
Card: Always artichoke, mellow moss, whisper white
Other: Silver brad, sponge dauber

It's your last chance...

2010-08-03T10:16:00.002+10:00

to get hold of some fabulous products that are being retired and will not be in Stampin' Up!'s new catalogue which is released next month. With the colour renovation and new punch body shape, the last chance list is a whopping 8 pages long, which is the biggest ever. To view the list, click on the link here.

Products in the last chance list are only available until 31 August or while stocks last, whichever occurs first.

Demonstrators have been advised that some items have very low stock levels, so if there are any items you absolutely cannot live without, please email me or call me on 0407-418-063 with your order as soon as possible, so you don't miss out.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Best Wishes

2010-07-30T14:32:00.002+10:00

I told you I would be back!

The card I have to share with you today is one a fellow INKlings team-mate made at a recent get together. Ryn was making them for a school fete. If you want to check out some of her other amazing creations, view her blog here.

This card is so easy and very effective when finished. All you do is make a card base out of whisper white card, stamp the medallion stamp in the top left hand corner, use the curly label punch on the bottom of the right hand side and then stamp the sentiment in the hole. I used my stamp-a-ma-jig for this to ensure it was perfectly placed. The last thing I did was use some tombow glue on the middle of the medallion and put some dazzling diamonds on top.

Here is a close up of the sentiment window.

I made mine in rich razzleberry ink, but Ryn was making all different colours and they looked fabulous.

These cards are so quick to make and not something I would normally do, as I end up with lots of layers on my cards, but I loved making it and will definately be making lots more. Thank's Ryn for the inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: Medallion, curly label punch bundle
Ink: Rich razzleberry
Cardstock: Whisper white
Punches: Curly label
Other: Tombow glue, dazzling diamonds, stamp-a-ma-jig

I'm back!

2010-07-28T13:40:00.004+10:00

Well it's been a long time between posts. We have had school holidays here for two weeks, with me having a cold for the first week. We were supposed to go away for the second week, but decided to stay home and do some fun stuff in Sydney. We had a ball and went iceskating, to the Australian Museum, to Imax, the bike park and lots more. I even managed to get in some crafting with my friends.

My Auntie arrived to stay from New Zealand this week and last week I decided to finally finish off unpacking and sorting the kids room and my craft room. I have attempted this a couple of times but every time I have been to Ikea to buy the bookcases they haven't had them in stock. However this time I went they did have them, so I have had a major cleanout and unpacked all the boxes we had left from when we moved. Unfortunately when I do these major clean outs, I have more mess than ever and it seemed as if it was never going to get tidy again, but fortunately by 2.30pm on Monday afternoon it was all sorted (which was lucky as I had to leave home at 2.50pm to collect Jess from school and then go straight to the airport!).

Sam is home sick today, he woke me up at 4am this morning and has been vomitting every 20 mins. Poor little thing, but he seems to be on the mend now. It is a cold miserable rainy day here in Sydney, so it has been nice to be curled up on the couch with him watching a movie.

The card I have to share with you today is one I made for a friend who recently took possession of her newly built home. It was case'd from one I saw on the convention swap board, but unfortunately I have no idea who to credit for it.

I started off by stamping the neighbourhood jumbo wheel across a piece of basic gray cardstock and another one across some barely banana card (you only need to cut a window out of the banana one). I then cut around the buildings and adhered them onto a piece of basic black card. I punched out a moon from the barely banana card and stamped the owl wih basic gray ink onto whisper white card and cut it out. I used the Big Shot and cut out two of the little leaves dies and stuck it all together. The last thing I did was stamp "congratulations" from the teeny tiny sentiment stamp set and punch it out with the word window punch and adhered that.

Next time I have a very simple single layer card to share with you. I have already done the post and it is scheduled to come up on Friday, so don't forget to stop by and check it out.

Til next time, keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Fox and Friends, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Neighbourhood jumbo roller wheel
Ink: Basic Gray, Stazon
Cardstock: Basic black, basic gray, whisper white, barely banana
Big Shot: Little leaves die
Punches: 1" circle, word window

INKlings Christmas In July Blog Hop

2010-07-08T19:30:00.012+10:00

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Beth Stewart's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 19 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Christie Wallace HERE and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 19 handmade cards plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

When I was trying to decide what to do for this blog hop I had a look through my stash for some inspiration. First up I decided on the holiday lineup stamp set. I love this set because as you may already know I love colouring in! Unfortunately I don't have much dsp left, and I am trying not to buy any more before the new catalogue comes out, so when I came across the ski skope paper I decided to use that. The ski slope paper really appeals to me as I love papers with white in them. I love the freshness that white adds to any project.

These are my creations:

For the card I stamped the image onto some whisper white cardstock and coloured it with my inkpads and blender pen. I cut the image panel out and then mounted it onto some real red card, added some ribbon and then mounted it onto the card front.
My next project is a fantasy box. I made one of these for my Mum's birthday last year and really enjoyed making it. They are great for putting small presents in.
Here is a picture of the inside and the lid:
Last up is some reindeer food. A couple of years ago when we were in New Zealand for Christmas Jess and Sam were very concerned that Santa wouldn't know where to stop to leave their presents. We sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn and have done it every year since. I made some and placed it in a plastic bag, then put a topper on the bag.

Well that’s all from me. Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is Clare McIllhatton. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

Til next time.

Keep on Creating

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp sets: Holiday Lineup
Ink: Black stazon, close to cocoa, creamy caramel, real red
Card: Real red, baja breeze, whisper white
DSP: Ski Slope(R)
Punches: Scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle
Big Shot: Top note die
Other: Corduroy button(R), baja breeze ribbon, chocolate chip ribbon, staple

Sesame St inspired card

2010-07-03T20:05:00.000+10:00

Paula and Brent's daughter turned 2 in January this year and since we were on holiday I completely missed her birthday. When I found out about their wedding, I decided to take Diaz a belated birthday present.

I made these Sesame Street characters a while ago, so decided to use them on her card. They are all really easy to make, as they are made using Stampin' Up! punches.

And a close up of Big Bird (Diaz loved playing with his beak!).

School holidays start this week in New South Wales and we have lots of activites planned. I hope to get some blogging done too. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Wedding Card

2010-06-30T20:01:00.008+10:00

David and I have just been to Hamilton Island for one of my best friends' wedding. Paula and Brent won their wedding through a radio station competition in New Zealand! How lucky were they... What an awesome time we had. Unfortunately the break away without the kids was way too short, but nice to get away and recharge the batteries.

This is the card I made for Paula. It uses the for the bride stamp set. I wanted an elegant card, so I used a cream and gold colour scheme.

I stamped the image with a gold inkpad and then made a mixture of clear embossing powder and dazzling diamonds, to give it some bling. This is what the embossed image looks like (unfortunately the bling didn't photograph very well).

As Brent and Paula were staying for a few days after the weeking, we decided to give them some AUS$ for their present. This is the money wallet I made.

And finally, a photo of the happy couple.

Til next time,

Keep on Creating.

xx Nicky

Swap card

2010-06-17T13:35:00.001+10:00

Our team, the INKlings, regularly have training days and at these training days we quite often exchange swap cards. The card I have to share with you today, was one that I designed for our most recent swap. I knew what I wanted to do, but was unsure of what colours to make the card with. After a quick flick through my dsp stash to see what papers I had enough of, I had three choices, and in the end I chose this paper from the Bella Rose paper pack. Here is my card. It is made using one of my favourite colour combinations, riding hood red and pirouette pink. The design is a Mojo Monday sketch from a while ago that I had saved onto my computer. Using sketches are great, as it takes all the thinking out of designing your cards.

For the white panels, I stamped the Birthday Cheer and Wishes sentiment first and then put them through the Big Shot with the perfect polka dots embossing folder. The top panel was done by punching out a 1 1/4" circle and placing it over the end of the panel. I then had to use the crop-a-dile to punch some small holes to put the ribbon through.

The cocktail glass was stamped in stazon on some whisper white card and then coloured with my blender pen and inkpads. I used the 1 1/4" circle punch to punch it out, and mounted it onto a 1 3/8" pirouette pink circle and a riding hood red scallop circle. To give it a little dimension, I stamped the umbrella again on a scrap of card, coloured it in, cut it out and then mounted it over the original with dimensionals. Here is a close up of the cocktail glass.

I should have used some crystal effects or dazzling diamonds on the glass, but as I was running out of time to get them finished, this had to do. What do you think I would love to hear your comments.

Wow I have done a good job posting this week - three posts - maybe I am back on track again - here's hoping!

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: Cheers to You, Cheer and Wishes
Card: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink

DSP: Bella Rose

Ink: Black stazon, Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point

Punches: Scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle

Other: Big Shot Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Crop-A-Dile, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blender Pen

6x6 scrapbook page

2010-06-15T13:16:00.000+10:00

I recently joined a 6x6 scrapbook page swap with some of my INKlings team-mates. I admit I struggle making 12x12 pages and since I don't print photos, I don't complete that many layouts. However I found the 6x6 page much easier to put together. Here is my page.

I used the Urban Garden dsp as my starting point and designed the page using not quite navy and kiwi kiss.

I background stamped the grass from the Inspired by Nature stamp set all over the not quite navy base with versamark ink, and used the outline alphabet stamp set to do my title. I cut around it and then mounted it with dimensionals. Here is a close up of the title.

I was really happy with my page and it came together really quickly. I think I might be going to make a lot more 6x6 scrapbook pages.

Next time, I have a swap card to share, so make sure you call back in a couple of days.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: Inspired by Nature, Jumbo Outline Alphabet
Card: Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
DSP: Urban Garden, Bella Rose
Big Shot dies: Little leaves
Other: Scallop edge punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Birthday Riley

2010-06-11T17:05:00.008+10:00

My best friend's little boy Riley turned 2 a few weeks ago. He is a very special little boy and since we share a birthday, I had to make sure he got a very special card. They had his party at the Train shed and all the kids got to ride the Thomas the Tank Engine trains. Unfortunately his party was on during convention so I couldn't go, but Jess and Sam went and had a ball. When I found out what they were doing for his party, it didn't take long for me to decide what I wanted to do for his card. This is what I came up with. I used the Choo Choo stamp set and the people from All in the Family. The presents are from the Loads of Love Accessories stamp set. I was unsure of what colours to use, but Jess suggested tempting turquoise as it is the same colour as Thomas.

I started by using the track roller wheel and then sponged some kiwi kiss and bashful blue lightly over it to make it look like a field. I stamped the people and presents on scrap card then coloured them with my blender pens and inks and cut them out. I mounted them with dimensionals. Here is a close up of "Jess" and the presents.

I wrote Riley's name in white gel pen in the smoke to personalise the card. Here is a close up of "Sam" and the smoke. I was really happy with how it turned out and Belinda loved it.

Thanks for stopping by. Til next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: Choo Choo, All in the Family, Loads of Love Accessories, It's Your Birthday, Track roller wheel
Card: Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Black Stazon, Kiwi Kiss, Bashful Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Riding Hood Red, Basic Grey

Other: Stampin dimensionals

I'm back ....

2010-06-04T14:01:00.007+10:00

Well my break from blogging was a little longer than I had anticipated, but the cold I have had has just wiped me out, and I have been absolutely exhausted. However I am on the mend now, and have a new card to share with you.

This is the card I have been doing in my workshops this month. It uses lots of new products from the Autumn/Winter mini catalogue.The card base is rich razzleberry, which I have teamed up with the new cottage wall dsp, the vintage vogue stamp set and the very vintage wheel. I love the very vintage wheel. It has a beautiful butterfly in it, which was a surprise when I used it the first time, as it is not shown in the catalogue.

Here is a close up of the friends panel.
I stamped the image twice and then cut out one of the "Fs" and mounted it over the other with dimensionals. A very simple card, but I like it.

I will have another card to show you in a couple of days (I promise!).

Keep on creating

xx Nicky

Supplies

Stamp set: vintage vogue
Ink: Rich razzleberry
Card: Rich razzleberry
DSP: Cottage wall
Other: Very vintage wheel, stampin dimensionals

AWOL

2010-05-20T14:34:00.003+10:00

As many of you may have noticed, I have not been posting much in the past couple of weeks. Things have been extremely hectic as I have had my Mum visiting from New Zealand and have been ill with a very bad cold. The annual Stampin' Up! Convention starts tomorrow and I have also been furiously trying to get swaps made for this.

I have now made 75 swaps, put my Mum on a plane at 6.15am this morning and am feeling slightly more human than I was a couple of days ago!

So...I will be back with regular posts from next week, and I am sure I will get plenty of inspiration at Convention.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

xx Nicky

The INKlings blog hop

2010-05-13T20:00:00.001+10:00

Welcome to The INKlings' Team's first ever blog hop. You may have arrived from Beth's blog, or you may just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you have checked out my creations, you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post, to the next team member.

What style of cards do we frequently get asked for inspiration for? More often than not it's masculine cards, be it little boys or grandfathers, everyone seems to struggle with cards for the males in our lives. So, as a team, we thought we'd help you out by providing you with 20 team members' fantastic blogs that you can hop through and get lots of fantastic ideas from.

We also have some Blog Candy to give away. All you need to do is leave a comment on each blog in the hop and then email Michelle Dyson and let her know you've done so. You will be in the running for a fantastic prize of 20 handmade cards plus other goodies. (Sorry blog candy is not available to SU! demonstrators).

Now onto my project ... when masculine cards were first mentioned, I immediately thought of the Owl Together Now stamp set, which I think is a good one for male cards. Colour wise, I went for my favourite male colours, chocolate chip (of course), always artichoke and mellow moss. Here is what I created:

For the first card I stamped the branch and the owls on a scrap of white card. I coloured them with my blender pens, cut the owls out and adhered them, with the middle one being on dimensionals. I used the weathered background stamp over all the background layers and used a dauber to ink around all the edges. The sentiment is from the fantastic new set from the autumn/winter mini catalogue, Teeny Tiny Sentiments.

For the next card I punched out three squares and mounted an owl on each one, again coloured with my blender pens. I paper pieced the middle owl into three layers.

The last project I made was a money wallet. I have made quite a few of these over the past couple of years. They are very simple, but are a nice way of giving cash to someone.

The belly band keeps it all closed, and this is what it looks like open.

Well that's all from me. Next stop on the INKlings' Team Blog Hop is Dani Fender who I'm sure will have something fabulous to show you. Don't forget to leave a comment to win our awesome blog candy.

Til next time,

Keep on creating
xx Nicky
Supplies:

Stamp sets: Owl Together Now, Weathered Background, Teeny Tiny Sentiments

Card: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss

Ink: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Brillian Blue

Other: Choc Chip 1" ribbon, stampin dimensionals, blender pens, dauber

Are you ready for another blog hop?

2010-05-12T10:02:00.003+10:00

Time seems to be getting away on me this week and I have so much I need to be doing ... but my motivation is somewhat lacking.

I thought I would drop by and let you know that I am participating in another blog hop which starts at 8pm tomorrow night. The theme for this blog hop is masculine, as I'm sure most of us struggle with what to do for the males in our lives. If you get a chance, call back tomorrow night, as I am sure there will be some fabulous projects, and with 20 people participating, a lot of inspiration.

Keep on creating

xx Nicky

Welcome Baby Micah

2010-05-06T10:48:00.000+10:00

My brother-in-law Andy and his partner Jade have welcomed another little boy into their family, a little brother for Joshua. This is the card I made for them.
I used the wash day wheel (which I borrowed off my good friend Kylie ages ago). I really like the simplicity of this wheel, and since I love colouring in, it was the obvious choice. I made the card base from brilliant blue card, and used some bashful blue with it. I stamped the baby's name with my jumbo outline stamp set and mounted it along the bottom of the card with dimensionals. I double stamped the overalls image and mounted it up on dimensionals too. Here is a close up.

I left the inside blank, just adding a strip of bashful blue cardstock along the bottom, and an all-in-one suit.

I was really happy with how the card turned out, and Jade and Andy loved it too.

Just a short post today as I have some first birthday invitations I am trying to get done. Hope you all have a fabulous day.

Til next time, keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: Jumbo outline alphabet, wash day wheel (R), polka dot background, nursery necessitites

Ink: black stazon, certainly celery, bashful blue, blush blossom, barely banana, almost amethyst, versamark

Card: Brilliant blue, bashful blue, whisper white

Accessories: blender pens, stampin dimensionals

Pony Party birthday invitations and Crown cake

2010-05-03T22:03:00.009+10:00

Finally, Jessica's birthday celebrations are over. With her birthday being during the school holidays, and me being somewhat disorganised when it came to sorting out her party, the celebrations have been stretched out over a month! However, we had her party on Sunday, and it was a fabulous day, with lots of friends, great food and some very tired children at the end of the day.

We had a look through my stamp sets and Jess picked out the pony party set for her invitations. I decided to make a gate fold card, but kept it pretty simple as I had to make 20 of them. Here it is.

Jess wanted to design the card herself and of course she wanted the card to be pink. As I was running extremely low on cardstock, we didn't have too many colours to pick from - it was regal rose or regal rose! When we were discussing what other colour to put with it she said "orange mummy, because that's your favourite colour" - bless her. So regal rose and pumpkin pie it was.

Jess knew exactly what she wanted the image on the card to look like, and when she caught me trying to add more grass, she wasn't very happy. I decided it wasn't worth the agro, so just did what she wanted me to do, it was her party invitation after all. I stamped the card base with the polka dot background stamp in versamark, then stamped the pony image in stazon and coloured it with my blender pens. A small mat of pumpkin pie and then I adhered it to the left hand side of the card. I stamped the party hat out on some scrap card, and once I had coloured it, mounted it on the pony's head with some dimensionals.

Here is a close up of the pony:

On the inside I did another sheet of whisper white card and used the stamps from the cheer and wishes set, to put the details in. Here is a picture of the inside:

We have a few children's cake books and after much deliberation Jess decided she wanted a crown cake. I had a bit of a disaster with the first cake I made, it broke into three (well disintegrated more like) when I took it out of my roasting dish, so I had to make another one before the decorating could begin. Here is a picture of the finished cake.

And one of Jess with the cake-

Well that's it from me today. I have the card I made for my new nephew to show you next time.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Pony Party, Polka Dot background, Cheer and Wishes

Ink: Black stazon, pumpkin pie, regal rose, certainly celery

Card: Regal rose, pumpkin pie, whisper white

Accessories: blender pen, stampin' dimensionals

My very first Blog Hop

2010-04-29T07:50:00.020+10:00

Good Morning everyone! I hope you’re ready for the ESAD Blog Hop! Better go grab yourself a cuppa as you’ll be hopping for a while!

What is ESAD you say?

ESAD stands for Extra Special Australian (and New Zealand) Demonstrators and it is an online group just for Australian and New Zealand demonstrators for Stampin’ Up!

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends and wonderful blog visitors but we share our love for what we do with each other as Demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know how and cyberstamps and we are always there to help and support each other when its needed.

So if you are a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

You should have just come from Rachel Jackson's blog , what fantastic creations.

The theme for this blog hop was Mother's Day, as it is Mother's Day here in Australia next weekend. We also had to use Big Shot products in our projects. I decided to use the scallop circle die. These are my creations.

I have seen a few scallop circle purses on blogs, but since I couldn't find a tutorial, I designed my own. It wasn't that difficult, it just took a little thinking and adding (which I am not too good at!). I started off by making the box for the inside and then decorated the scallop circles to go on the front and back and stuck them on with sticky strip and used some pewter jumbo eyelets to thread the ribbon handles through. Here is a photo of the box inside.Next up was the card. I had a vision, but when I had made it, it didn't look that great so I had a play around with it, and this is what I came up with. It is called a tent card and is very simple to make. You just make your base card with the fold at the top and then stick the scallop circle on the top of it.
Here is a close up of the scallop circle. I stamped the "Happy Mother's Day" first and then stamped the vine image in pink pirouette all over the rest of the circle. To make the flowers two toned, I inked them with regal rose ink first and then used a dauber to put a little pumpkin pie around the edges. I also stamped three small flowers with pumpkin pie ink and adhered them together with a clear rhinestone.
And now a picture of the inside. I kept it very simple so there was plenty of room to write a message.

Kari Hughes is next on our blog hop, and I am sure she will have something fabulous to show you.

If you make it around all the blogs on this blog hop, and leave comments on them, you could win some blog candy! Yes we have blog candy! There will be two winners, one from New Zealand and one from Australia. All you have to do is visit and leave a comment on each of the blogs in today's blog hop and then send an email to the lovely Sharlene and advise her that you have commented on all the blogs, and give her your name, email address and tell her whether you are from New Zealand or Australia.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit, please come back soon to see what I have been creating.

Til next time, Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp set: Vintage Vogue, Occasional Greeting
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie
Card: Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
DSP: Sweet Always
Accessories: Scallop circle die, Big Shot, Circle Scissor Plus, 1/4" chocolate chip grosgain ribbon, linen thread, clear rhinestones, dauber, button, stamp-a-ma-jig, pewter jumbo eyelets

Happy Birthday Kylie

2010-04-26T20:22:00.005+10:00

My very good friend Kylie had her birthday last Friday, and this is the card I made for her. When I asked her what she liked, she said anything pink with plenty of bling! I chose the sweet always dsp (my all-time favourite paper pack) and based the colour scheme of regal rose and pumpkin pie on that.

I had just received the new level 2 hostess stamp set, Asian Artistry in the mail, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to have a play with it. I think it is a fabulous stamp set, with some very versatile images, that could be used for a number of different occassions.

I started the card by stamping the image with stazon and then colouring with my blender pen and the pink pirouette, regal rose and pumpkin pie inkpads. I coloured the leaves with kiwi kiss. It looked nice, but a little flat for my liking, so I decided to stamp it again and use dimensionals to paper piece the large flower.

As the image was more oval than round, I used my oval nestabilities to cut out the image and the mats. I used two different pieces of the sweet always paper, one of which I used the eyelet border punch on, to give it a nice finish. I covered the join in the papers with a piece of pumpkin pie ribbon and added three pearls from the pretties kit in the top left hand corner.

On the inside I stamped a couple of sentiments from the retired It's Your Birthday stamp set and then placed another strip of dsp along the bottom, which I matted with more regal rose card.

Once the card was finished, I decided there wasn't enough bling on it, and what better way to add bling than to add some dazzling diamonds over the top of all the flowers. I did this by applying some tombow glue and just sprinkling the dazzling diamonds over the top. I just love the tombow glue, once you put it on, nothing comes off it. Here is a close up of the flowers.

I was very pleased with the end result, a nice girly card with plenty of bling!

If you would like to have this fabulous stamp set in your collection, all you need to do is host a workshop in your own home, or have a catalogue party and it could be yours.

Til next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp sets: Asian Artistry, It's Your Birthday

Ink: Stazon, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss

Card: Confetti White, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie

DSP: Sweet Always

Other: Stampin' dimensionals, eyelet border punch, oval and scallop oval nestabilities, pumpkin pie 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, dazzling diamonds, tombow multi liquid glue, pearls from pretties kit.

Fun & Fast Notes Stamp A Stack

2010-04-22T15:56:00.006+10:00

I can't believe it has been almost a week since my last post. School went back on Tuesday this week and I have found it very difficult to get back into the "swing" of things. We spent a lot of time sleeping late and just cruising the past two weeks, so trying to get out the door has been somewhat of a challenge all week.

I have the stamp-a-stack cards for my classes this month to share with you. I decided to use the Fun & Fast Notes stamp set. It is one that I like but I haven't used a great deal. I think what appeals to me most about this set is that there are eight different stamps in the set and they cover a wide range of different occasions (well and the fact that you can colour them in!).

I decided to make my cards all 4" by 4" so the stamped image takes up a lot of the front of the card. I wanted to use a colour scheme that went with all the greetings, so decided on the Holiday Treasures dsp, which uses chocolate chip, baja breeze, kiwi kiss and riding hood red.

I started off by making the card bases and then cut a strip of dsp, which I mounted on chocolate chip card. I stamped the image in stazon onto whisper white card and coloured with my blender pens and ink pads. I then rounded the corners, used the slit punch to punch the semi-circle from the right hand side, tied ribbon around and then mounted it all onto more chocolate chip card. I mounted the stamped panel onto the card with dimensionals.

Here are the baja breeze cards:

the confetti white:

the kiwi kiss:

and finally, the riding hood red.

I was really pleased with how they turned out, and think I might make a box to put them in and give them away as a gift.

I'm off to finish off a special birthday card, which I will be able to share with you soon.

Til next time...

Keep on creating

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Fun & Fast Notes

Ink: Black Stazon, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip

Card: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Confetti White

DSP: Holiday Treasures

Accessories: Corner rounder and slit punch, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, kiwi kiss and baja breeze 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon, whisper white 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, blender pens

Congratulations

2010-04-16T10:32:00.001+10:00

A very special couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago, and this is the card I made for them.

I wanted an elegant colour palette and while flicking through my card sample box I came across a card that I had received from Carol Dunstan, which was just the colours I was looking for. She had used champagne glasses on her card and I thought they were perfect. I changed the card around a bit to make it my own, and this is what it ended up looking like. I started off with the going gray card base and stamped En Francais all over it with versamark ink. I stamped the congratulations sentiment in basic gray ink, cut it out and then used my slit punch to make the rounded pieces on the four corners. I mounted it onto a piece of basic gray cardstock and then placed some pearls in each corner.

The strip of paper comes from the bella bleu dsp. which I also mounted onto basic gray card. I stamped the champagne glasses in stazon ink, coloured the champagne with my barely banana marker and then placed two way glue on top and sprinkled dazzling diamonds over it. I then used the 1 1/4" circle punch to punch it out, did a 1 3/8" circle out of basic gray and mounted them both together.

I tied a piece of whisper white 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the block and did one of Teneale's special bows with taffeta ribbon, finishing it off with a button from the button latte pack.

Here is a close up of the champagne glasses and bow.

I stamped "Happy Anniversary" on the inside as well. I was really pleased with the card, and I am sure Noni and John loved it too.

Til next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Cheers to you, cheer and wishes, En Francais

Ink: Black stazon, basic gray, barely banana

Card: Basic gray, going gray, whisper white

DSP: Bella bleu

Accessories: 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon, white taffeta ribbon, button latte button, slit punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, pearls, two way glue, dazzling diamonds, stampin' dimensionals

Cheers to you

2010-04-13T10:02:00.001+10:00

This is the card I made for my brother-in-law's 40th birthday this week. It was a no-brainer as to what stamp set to use - Mark loves beer - well most males do!

I had a quick flick though my papers looking for something that had a yellow/cream in it about the colour of beer and came up with this one from the windsor knot paper pack.

I used chocolate chip for the card base (I am going to challenge myself not to use chocolate chip on my next card, as I seem to use it on just about every card I make!).

I put the paper on the base and then did a strip of sage shadow with chocolate chip on top. I ran a piece of vanilla taffeta ribbon around the block and placed one of the large cream grommets over the top of the ribbon and tied in a knot in the centre of it. I stamped 8 of the beer mugs onto some whisper white card and coloured them in with my blender pens and so saffron and more mustard ink. I then cut them all out and mounted 7 of them onto the block with some dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment (using my stamp-a-ma-jig) in chocolate chip ink, stamped it out with the large oval punch and then cut it off just under the sentiment, before adhering it to the card front.

Here is a close up of the beer mugs.

I finished off the inside of the card too. I was doing this a lot last year, but I guess have just been a bit lazy lately, so haven't been doing it so much.

This is the inside. I just stamped "happy 40th birthday" across the middle, with my stamp-a-ma-jig for perfect placement, did a strip of card and dsp along the bottom and adhered the last beer mug with a dimensional.

I hope Mark likes it.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: Cheers to You, It's your birthday(R), unknown numerical

Ink: Black stazon, more mustard, so saffron

Card: Whisper white, chocolate Chip, sage shadow

DSP: Windsor knot

Accessories: Vanilla large grommit(R), vanilla taffeta ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, blender pens, large oval punch, stamp-a-ma-jig

Tealight gift box

2010-04-11T09:32:00.005+10:00

I made this beautiful tealight box for a thank you present this week. It is really easy to make, and I think it is a stunning gift. What do you think?I used chocolate chip for the base and inside and rich razzleberry for the lid. I stamped the outline flower from cottage garden all over the lid with rich razzleberry ink before I adhered the acetate to the inside of the lid. A piece of the gorgeous new rich razzleberry ribbon tied around and the tag from the cottage garden stamp set, and the box was ready to fill up.

This is what the inside looks like.

The tealights fit perfectly in the middle of the scallop circles.

I tried to stamp on the candles with the little butterfly stamp, and wasn't too successful, however I have received further instructions on how to make a better job, so will try it out and get back to you with how it goes.

Here is a close up of one of the candles sitting inside the scallop circle.

I hope the person who is going to receive it likes it.

Next time, I have a birthday card I made for my brother-in-law.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Cottage Garden

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip

Card: Rich Razzleberry, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Scallop circle punch, sticky strip, rich razzleberry polka dot ribbon, hemp twine, acetate, tealights

Happy Birthday Jess

2010-04-08T09:11:00.007+10:00

Well it is Jess' 6th birthday today and there is so much excitement in our house. We are off to the Easter Show for the day, so fingers crossed it doesn't rain.

I ordered the Pony Party stamp set to make Jess' card and then realised last weekend that it wasn't going to be here in time, so after making a couple of phone calls I managed to borrow one from Christie (thank you so much Christie).

I had so much fun making this card, the stamp set is a fabulous one for little girls' cards, especially if you like paper piecing and colouring as much as me!

I had Jess pick her favourite dsp, so I had a starting point. I stamped the image twice in stazon ink and coloured it with my blender pen, then paper pieced it so it had lots of dimension. I did lots of layering and finished the card off with a faux bow (the instructions for which came from the ultra talented Teneale Williams). I used lots of two way glue and dazzling diamonds to give the card some "bling".

This is the inside. And a close up of the pony.
Just a short post today as the kids are itching to get going. Hope you all have a fabulous day.

Til next time.

Keep on Creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Pony Party, It's Your Birthday(R)
Ink: Black Stazon, Pirouette Pink, Riding Hood Red
Card: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink
DSP: Bella Rose
Accessories: Eyelet border punch, stampin' dimensionals, riding hood red taffeta ribbon, sherbet button(R), two way glue, dazzling diamonds, blender pens

Swap cards

2010-04-07T08:52:00.000+10:00

Today I have a couple of swap cards to share with you. The first I received from my good friend Kylie Swain. Her blog address is http://www.kraftykylie.typepad.com if you would like to go and check out some more of her fabulous creations.
Kylie used Rich Razzleberry for her card, the matching polka-dot ribbon, the new top note die for the big shot and the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set. She has mounted the large flower on dimensionals. A gorgeous card Kylie.

The next card was made by Christie Wallace. When I received it I thought WOW. It is so cute and I do so love cute cards. Check out Christie's blog at www.christiescreativecorner.blogspot.com for more amazing creations.
Christie has used the new Fox and Friends stamp set. She has stamped each of the images and then mounted them on a matching piece of cardstock before placing on the card front with dimensionals. The chocolate chip, pumpkin pie and old olive colour scheme are fabulous together. I love the card Christie and am definately going to have to CASE it.

I am off to do some creating of my own, so check back soon and I will have more to share with you.

Til next time,

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

The new Autumn/Winter Mini is Here

2010-04-05T08:22:00.008+10:00

I am super excited, there are so many fabulous new products in this bigger than usual mini catalogue, including:

* The Sizzix Big Shot machine with fabulous Stampin' Up! exclusive dies
* Clear-mount rubber stamps using the same high-quality rubber and foam we all love
* A new punch style with a sleeker body
* Three brand new in-colour colours
* Two new designer series papers and matching stamp sets
* Not to mention all the new stamp sets.

If you would like me to mail you a copy of the new mini catalogue, please email me at nickyadamson@aol.com and I will "pop one in the post", or if you can't wait, click on the catalogue on the right and it will download direct to your computer.

Now I have some projects to show you, using new products from the mini catalogue. We made the following cards at our team training day, with all being designed by the super-talented Jayne Mercer.

This card uses the new polka dot textured impressions embossing folder, together with the little leaves die, thanks embosslits die and cottage wall designer series paper. You may have noticed a new colour, it is one of the new in-colours and is called Rich Razzleberry.

This card also uses the new dsp and polka dot embossing folder, together with the extra large two step bird punch, rich razzleberry polka-dot grosgrain ribbon, medium jewellery tag punch and the matching stamp set tiny tags.

This card was made using another new in-colour Soft Suede and the new Manhattan Flower textured impressions embossing folder, a little soft suede polka-dot grosgrain ribboon and another sentiment from the tiny tags stamp set and this card was finished.

We made swap cards for the training day and this was my swap card. I designed it before I realised there were 40 people going, and that I would need to cut out 240 flowers! Needless to say I took a bag of flowers and scissors with me everywhere I went the week before the training day, but managed to get them all done.

For my card I used the cottage garden stamp set. I started by using the polka dot embossing folder on a chocolate chip card and cut out the largest oval from the ovals die for the big shot. I sponged around the edge with chocolate chip ink, and then stamped the sentiment in the middle. I stamped the flowers in rich razzleberry and melon mambo (the other new in-colour), cut them out and mounted them with dimensionals around the oval. I was going to put some bling on it, but ran out of time.

I hope you have enjoyed looking, I will have some more new catalogue cards to show you next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Happy Easter #2

2010-04-03T09:47:00.001+11:00

As promised I am back with the easter card I sent to my Nana last week. I think this card is called a sidestep card, however I didn't have any instructions I just adapted the double stair step card until it looked the way I wanted it to.

As I still had the tea party paper out on my desk from my previous card, I decided to use that for this card also. I started off stamping the egg from the good egg stamp set onto the green dsp and cut them out and put them together and played around with the various colour combinations until I found one I liked. This is the result.

I had the chicken sitting on a plain white background but found that was too stark, so I ended up using a sponge and sponged pretty in pink ink all over the background. I wasn't extremely happy with the left hand side of the card but I couldn't work out what else to do, and as it had to be mailed to New Zealand, I decided to just send it as it was. A good decision as Nana absolutely loved it.

This is a picture of the side of the card.

I have some new winter mini catalogue projects to share with you next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp Set: A good egg
Ink: Black stazon, pretty in pink, summer sun, pumpkin pie
Card: Whisper white, certainly celery, so saffron, pretty in pink
DSP: Tea party
Accessories: Word window punch, sponges, blender pens, dimensionals

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T09:17:00.006+11:00

A good eggCan you believe it is Easter already? I'm not really sure where the first three months of this year have gone. I have an easter card to share with you today. It is a CASE from one I saw on the extremely talented Jenny Moors' blog a couple of months back. It was just so stunning I knew I had to make one to send to my parents.

It is a double stair step card, which looks very complicated, but I was surprised at how easy it was to make. It uses the good egg stamp set and tea party designer series paper. I put my own mark on it by using the mat pack to pierce holes around the block that has the eggs on it and then did some faux stitching with my white gel pen.

Here is a picture of the side of the card. It has an extra strip of cardstock added to the back "step" so the eggs can sit on it.

If you would like instructions on how to make this card, or a double stair step card, please email and I will be more than happy to share them.

I have another easter card to show you tomorrow, this time the one I sent to my Nana.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp set: A Good Egg

Ink: Black stazon, summer sun, pumpkin pie, pretty in pink

Cardstock: Whisper white, almost amythest, pretty in pink,

DSP: Tea party

Accessories Soft subtle brads, scallop circle and 1 3/8" punches, blender pens, mat pack,

white gel pen

Inspired by Nature

2010-03-25T21:36:00.000+11:00

This is a card I made for one of the girls in my upline who recently had a birthday. I decided to use the beautiful Inspired by Nature stamp set. I started off by colouring the image with tangerine tango, rose red and always artichoke. I used a sponge dauber to blend the colours on the flowers so there wasn't such a line between them. I then stamped the image onto whisper white cardstock. After I had stamped the main image I stamped the grass in the background using the same always artichoke ink, which I stamped off first, so it was a more subtle colour.

I made the card base out of tangerine tango cardstock and then stamped the En Francais stamp onto the rose red cardstock with versamark ink. I matted everything with more white cardstock and then tied a piece of the tangerine tango ribbon around the bottom.

The card looked ok but I thought it needed a little something extra on it, so I coloured in the top of the flowers with my two way glue pen and sprinkled some dazzling diamonds over the top to give it a little bling.

This stamp set is so easy and quick to use as there is no colouring in and it takes up just about the whole card front.

I will have an easter card to share with you next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamps: Inspired by Nature, En Francais
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Versamark
Card: Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Rose Red
Accessories: Tangerine Tango ribbon, two way glue pen, dazzling diamonds

Hello

2010-03-23T20:53:00.005+11:00

Today I have a nice bright happy card to share with you. This one uses the Kaleidoscope paper from the summer mini. I have really been enjoying using this paper, as it uses bold bright colours, which I don't use that often, I am more an earth elements kind of girl.

I used the Happy Moments stamp set (again!) and stamped it out twice and popped the coloured flowers up on stampin' dimensionals. I really love the simplicity of this stamp. The hello sentiment is from the Hello Again stamp set (also from the summer mini). I cut the circle out with my circle scissor.

I made a z-fold card in pink passion and used the two different types of dsp to cover both the first and last sections of the card. I then mounted the scallop circle on the front. This is a picture taken looking down on the card, so you can see why it is called a "z-fold" card.

If you would like the instructions on how to make a z-fold card, please email me at nickyadamson@aol.com.

As you are probably aware the summer mini finishes on 31 March, so if you are thinking of ordering anything from the catalogue, please call me as soon as possible to place an order.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp Sets: Happy Moments, Hello Again

Ink: Black Stazon, Pink Passion, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Pixie Pink, Green Galore

Card: Pink Passion, Whisper White

DSP: Kaleidoscope

Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Circle Scissor and Glass Mat

Happy Grandparents Day

2010-03-20T09:20:00.006+11:00

As all my family live in New Zealand and it is Grandparents Day tomorrow, I have a special post just for my Mum and Dad. Unfortunately they don't get to see the kids as much as they would like, but they are never far from our thoughts and we talk to them frequently on the phone.

To celebrate Grandparents Day Jess' school had a special assembly yesterday. Earlier in the week her teacher asked her to draw a picture of her Grandad, which would be put in the hall on display with all the other pictures from her class. This is her picture.

She sat at the table for ages drawing and then brought it in to show me. With a slightly confused look on her face she said to me "Grandad does wear glasses doesn't he Mummy". I had a bit of a giggle and reassured her that yes he does, which immediately put a huge smile back on her face.

The assembly was great with heaps of people coming to support the day. I was so proud when Jess received a special teacher's award for her artwork and then the Student of the Week award for her class.

I will leave you with this beautiful picture of the kids I took this week and we all hope you have a great Grandparents Day tomorrow Mum and Dad. We miss you, but will see you soon.

xx N

Easel card

2010-03-10T11:57:00.001+11:00

I have seen a lot of easel cards on blogs lately and wanted to give one a go myself. I thought they may have been quite fiddly to make, but boy was I wrong. It only took me about 20 minutes to make this card.

I used the raspberry tart designer series paper and my favourite stamp set at the moment, Happy Moments, which is a set you can earn for FREE during sale-a-bration.

I stamped the flowers onto a piece of whisper white card and then stamped them again on a scrap, coloured them in with my blender pens and inkpads and cut them out and mounted them on dimensionals. I cut the circles out with my circle scissor plus and then used one of my nestabilities to make the scallop circle around the outside.

Once I had made the main part of the card I set about making the base to place it on. This is what it looks like when it is opened up. I used one of the kiwi kiss corduroy buttons from the spring mini catalogue to hold the card open.

This is a side view of the card.

The beauty of these cards is they look amazing when they are sitting open, but fold down flat to be posted. I think I may have found the card design for my mother's day cards this year.

If you would like to know how to make an easel card, please email me and I will happily share the measurements with you.

Keep on creating

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp set: Happy Moments
Cardstock: Kiwi kiss, whisper white, real red
Designer Series Paper: Raspberry Tart
Ink: Black stazon, cameo coral, kiwi kiss, real red
Other: Circle scissor plus, nestabilities, dimensionals, kiwi kiss corduroy button

Animal Stories

2010-03-07T09:39:00.005+11:00

One of my good friends ordered the Animal Stories stamp set out of the Summer Mini Catalogue and was kind enough to lend it to me to have a "play" with. It is a great set if you have children to make cards for. I think it is especially well suited for boys cards.

This is the card I came up with.
I wanted to use the designer series paper that goes with this stamp set, Tall Tales, and after picking the patterns I wanted to use, I chose some cardstock that complemented the papers. It is a very simple card, but I was very happy with how it turned out..

I used the chocolate chip 1" double stitched grosgrain ribbon to cover the join in the two patterned papers and then mounted the papers onto some chocolate chip card, before placing on a so saffron card base. I punched out a so saffron scallop circle and cut a 1 1/2" circle out of whisper white card with my circle scissor plus. I stamped the elephant in chocolate chip ink on a scrap piece of card, cut it out and mounted it on the card with dimensionals.

It looked a little plain, so I stamped the "wish big" sentiment from the Short & Sweet stamp set and punched it out with the word window punch, and my card was done.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamp set: Animal Stories
Card: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Tall Tales
Ink: Chocolate chip
Other: Scallop circle and word window punches, circle scissor plus, chocolate chip 1" double stitched grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Happy Birthday

2010-02-27T22:28:00.002+11:00

Wow – I did come back as promised.

Today I have the birthday version of the card I showed you in my last post.

The card layout and colour scheme is the same as the previous post, the only things I changed were the width of the strip of dsp across the middle, the sentiment at the top and bottom and the image in the centre of the card.

For this card I used the Happy Moments stamp set, which is one of the FREE sale-a-bration stamp sets this year. While I love all the sale-a- bration stamp sets, this one has to be my favourite. It has four images and three sentiments, with three of the images being perfect for colouring in – which I am really enjoying at the moment.

I stamped the image in black stazon ink and then coloured it with my blender pen and ink pads. I really like the effect you get when you use a blender pen to colour in as it provides a far softer colour and I find it is really easy to control where the colour goes.

If you would like to own this set (or any of the other Sale-A-Bration sets) all you have to do is purchase $100 of product from me before the end of March, and you are able to pick one of the exclusive stamp sets for FREE.

Til next time.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp set: A happy heart
Card: Close to cocoa, riding hood red, very vanilla
Designer Series Paper: Candy Lane
Ink: Black stazon, riding hood red, close to cocoa, pink pirouette, pumpkin pie
Other: Dimensionals, mat pack and paper piercer

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-25T12:06:00.004+11:00

I know Valentine's Day was a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never ... this is the card I have been doing in workshops this month. I made two versions, a valentine’s day one and a birthday one.

I started by picking the dsp that I wanted to use, what better paper for Valentine's Day than Candy Lane with it’s beautiful colour scheme of riding hood red, pink pirouette and close to cocoa. The card itself came together quite quickly after that. I cut the blocks for the background and made a mat for everything with close to cocoa card. I stamped the “happy valentine’s day” and “I {heart} you” at the top and bottom of the card, and then used my mat pack and paper piercer to make a row of holes along the top and bottom.

I stamped the large heart with riding hood red onto a scrap of card and then cut it out and mounted it on the card with dimensionals. Lastly I decided that the sentiment at the bottom needed something a little extra, so I restamped the image on a scrap of card with riding hood red and punched the circle out and mounted it on dimensionals too.

I hope you like this card, and I will have the birthday version to show you in a couple of days.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamp set: A happy heart
Card: Close to cocoa, riding hood red, very vanilla
Designer Series Paper: Candy Lane
Ink: Riding hood red, close to cocoa
Other: Dimensionals, mat pack and paper piercer, ½” circle punch

Another baby card

2010-02-21T14:17:00.003+11:00

This is the card I made for my friend Kylie when she had her gorgeous little girl Emily. Ok so it was a couple of months late, but better late than never I say.

I started off by choosing the pram out of Fun and Fast Notes and then decided to use the Bella Rose paper. It all fell into place after that - well until I went to get my Jumbo Outline Alphabet to put Emily's name on the bottom of the card - and realised Kylie had borrowed it, so I went with option two - which was white ribbon tied in a bow.

I did a lot of layering with chocolate chip card (my favourite). I stamped the pram onto some dsp and then cut it out and paper pieced it. This is a shot of all the layers on the pram.
I was really pleased with it once it was finished and Kylie liked it too.

If you would like to order this stamp set, or any other Stampin' Up! products, please email me.

Keep on Creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies :
Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes
Cardstock: Pirouette Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White,
DSP: Bella Rose
Ink: Black stazon, Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red
Other: Blender pen, dimensionals, white grosgrain and pirouette pink ribbon,
scallop border punch, circle scissor

Sale-A-Bration is here

2010-02-04T20:02:00.004+11:00

What is Sale-A-Bration some of you may be asking, well it is simply the best time to buy some of the items on your wish-list as until the 31 March you can earn FREE stamp sets. That's right FREE stamp sets. There are three easy ways to earn free stamp sets:

1. Place an order. For every order over $100.00 you can choose one free Sale-A Bration stamp set of your choice. The more you spend, the more free stamp sets you could get.

2. Host a workshop. If your workshop sales are over $600 you earn one free Sale-A-Bration stamp set of your choice, in addition to the already generous hostess benefits.

3. Join. If you join Stampin' Up! during Sale-A-Bration you can choose a free stamp set from the Idea Book & Catalogue (valued up to $79.95).

So what are you waiting for, grab your catalogue and email me today with your order - there's no better time to buy some fabulous new stamps than now.

Keep on Creating

xx Nicky

A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2010-01-11T11:01:00.003+11:00

I hope you all had a fantastic festive season. We had a lovely christmas, with everyone coming to us this year for christmas lunch and then we went to Wollongong to celebrate with David's Nan (who is 97!). It is a good chance to catch up with everyone all at once.

New Years was pretty quiet. We went into Darling Harbour and watched the 9pm fireworks with the kids. It was really fun because we haven't been in Sydney for New Years for ages and they had never seen the fireworks before, so they really enjoyed it. We recorded the midnight ones and they watched them the following morning.

I haven't had a chance to get on the computer much over the last 3 weeks, what with David being on holiday and having both kids around, the day seems to fly by.

We are heading off to Queensland today for a couple of weeks, so I will not be back blogging until the start of February. Please be sure to check in with me then, because I have lots of really cool stuff to show you.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

School teacher card

2009-12-20T23:22:00.003+11:00

As promised, I am back with the card I made for Jess' school teacher. All the parents decided to put in and get Mrs M a gift voucher instead of giving a lot of small gifts. I volunteered to make the card - because "that's what I do" - make cards!.

I knew I wanted to use the Holiday Lineup stamp set (which was kindly leant to me by my good friend Sandra). I really couldn't decide what image I liked the best, and since it was to be from the whole class, I thought a large card would be good. After a little deliberation I decided to make a tri-fold card out of a full sheet of A4 cardstock. The reason behind this was that I could use all three images and we could write our message on the inside middle panel and all the kids could write their names on the two panels on either side.

This is what the card ended up looking like.
I was really pleased with how it turned out. I used the polka dot background stamp with versamark ink all over the front and coloured the images with a blender pen and my inkpads. I mounted the images on different sides of the card, this is what it looked like when opening it.

I was initially going to make a gift card wallet to go with the card, but was really happy with the card and realised there was more than enough room on the middle panel inside to fit a gift card. To place the gift card inside, I used the slit punch to make slits on three sides at the bottom, and then slid the gift card inside them. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the inside when it was all done!

It was gratefully received by Mrs M and I am sure that she will enjoy some retail therapy during the school holidays.

Next time ... mmm not sure yet, but hopefully will have time to post something else this week, before Christmas is upon us.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Stamps: Holiday Lineup, Polkadot background

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

Ink: Black stazon, Versmark, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie

A very long time between posts

2009-12-15T20:59:00.004+11:00

Well things have taken a little longer than I had planned to get back to blogging, what with moving, being sick and all the end of year Christmas stuff going on ... I just haven't had time to sit down at the computer (oh and having lost the camera cable for the past 3 weeks sure didn't help, but I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I opened a box and there it was!).

With christmas fast approaching I have been forced to do quite a bit of creating over the past week, so I have plenty of new things to show you.

The first is the cute little christmas cards we made to put on the candy canes for everyone at school and daycare (57 in total!).

They were very simple to make, but looked really effective. I just made a little 2 3/4" card and stamped the christmas tree and Merry Christmas sentiment from Season of Joy onto it. I then used the slit punch on each end of the back of the card and made a slit, which we then threaded the candy cane through (sorry I forgot to take a photo of that part). The kids then wrote their message on the inside of the front cover and voila, a cute little gift for everyone.

Here is a picture of the pile for Jessica's classmates.

Next time I will show you a card I made for Jessica's teacher using the new Holiday Lineup stamp set.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

We are moving!

2009-11-14T07:49:00.003+11:00

Very exciting news at our house - we are moving. I am very busy packing and trying to purge unwanted items, not to mention all the crazy end of year committments we have, so things may be a bit quiet on the blog front over the next 3 weeks, but I will try and post as often as I can.

The card below is one I made for a friend who had to have an operation recently.

I used my new inspired by nature stamp set. I just love this set. It is so easy to make a quick card, as it is a very large image, which takes up most of the card front. For this card I inked the stamp with my markers, then used a sponge dauber to blend where the colours joined and then stamped it. Afterwards I used tombow adhesive on the top of the flowers and applied dazzling diamonds to make it sparkle. A quick couple of punches and a sentiment and the card was ready to send.

Here's a list of the products I've used. If you would like to purchase any Stampin' Up! products, please email me.

Keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:
Stamps: inspired by nature, sincere salutations
Ink: old olive, elegant eggplant, lavender lace, so saffron
Card: elegant eggplant, so saffron, whisper white
Accessories: designer label punch, large oval punch, eyelet border punch, stampin' dimensionals

Happy 60th Mum

2009-11-08T17:19:00.005+11:00

We have recently returned from a quick trip to New Zealand to spend my Mum's 60th birthday with her. We had a fantastic time, catching up with family and friends, it was just a pity that the weather was so cold and miserable.

This is the card I made for Mum.

It is a tri-shutter card. I used the Raspberry Tart paper as my starting point and then used all the matching colours to construct the card. I couldn't find a button that would match the colours of the card so I used the build a brad on the ribbon at the front, so everything matched. The design is CASE'd from one I saw on the very talented Marelle Taylor's blog.

We gave Mum a pandora bracelet and three charms for her birthday, so when I came across a picture of a fantasy box on the internet, I knew that it would be the perfect packaging for the present. This is what a fantasy box looks like.

This is the second fantasy box I have made, and while they look very complicated, I found it much easier the second time around.

If you would like to know how to make a tri-shutter card, or fantasy box, please email me.

Til next time, keep on creating.

xx Nicky

Supplies:

Card:

Stamps: great friend, sincere salutations

Ink: cameo coral, real red, kiwi kiss

Card: cameo coral textured 12x12 cardstock, whisper white, raspberry tart dsp

Accessories: pewter build a brad, 1/2" circle punch, kiwi kiss ribbon

Fantasy box:

Card: raspberry tart dsp, cameo coral textured 12x12 cardstock, kiwi kiss cardstock

Accessories: scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, kiwi kiss corduroy

buttons, kiwi kiss 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon