Wendy Todd - Independent Stampin' Up!® Demonstrator

Yes, two posts in one day!

I've been creating today. Nichole Heady is running a HUGE promotion to celebrate Papertrey Ink's 2nd birthday and I decided to create a card to enter today's competition. There's a comp each day until the next product release on Feb 15th, so you'll be sure to see me there most days. I love PTI products. Like my other faves, Stampin' Up! and Kaisercraft, the quality of there products is outstanding and so many yummy things on offer that are just to die for! So, you can find the details of today's sketch challenge here on Nichole's blog. And here is my card;

Paper: Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Outlaw DSP, Watercolour Paper

Stamps: For Father, Wanted, Everyday Flexible Phrases

Ink: Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust

Accessories: Antique Brass Brads, Paper Crimper, Round Tab Punch

I'm on a bit of a masculine card bender right now. I'm trying to build up my stash of birthday cards for men, so I will always have plenty on hand, ready to go. I find mascuine cards the hardest to create, so having a stash on hand will be very useful! Hence, we'll be creating at least one "man card" at all of my Stamp-A-Stacks in the forseeable future!

If you would like to attend one of my classes, please email me or give me a call on 0402 120 972. 

A square card for a change

Sometimes it's nice to break away from the ordinary and create a card of a different shape. Today's card is square, but I'm thinking that I might soon try something a little different and play around with shapes a bit more. I'm thinking this card will be perfect for my niece's birthday in November (just around the corner, now!) The card is 5 inches square and was actually quite quick to make.

Stamps: Fun & Fast Notes, Bodacious Wheel

Ink: Regal Rose, Basic Black

Cardstock: Rose Red, Regal Rose,Whisper White

Accessries: Small Oval Punch, Sweet Shop Ribbon Originals (retired), Watercolour Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter, Pewter Hodgepodge

If you would like to order any of the supplies used to create this project, please Email Me

A Beautiful New Niece!

I am a proud aunty of all my nieces and nephews, so it is very exciting to tell you that I have a NEW neice! Amity Brielle arrived safely on Monday morning, 23rd June. A content, lovely little girl, she weighed in at a healthy 7lb, 12oz. Mummy, Daddy and big sister, Claudia are all very happy and settling in well as a family unit. Here's the special girl with her daddy and doting cousin, Sam, who just loves baby girls and is a bit of a charmer!

And here is the card I made for Amity. It was so nice to work with pretty pinks and sweet, girly designs for a change!

Stamps: Bundle of Joy, Curvy Verses, Polka Dots & Petals

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Whisper White

Ink: StazOn Black, Whisper White Craft

Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, Blender Pen, Corner Rounder Punch

If you would like to order any of the items used in this project, or to order a handmade card to send to your loved ones, please Email Me

Watercolouring Tutorial

Before joining Stampin' Up!, I had always admired the watercolured look on cards, but had never been brave enough to try it, thinking I just wasn't capable. After joining, I kept seeing all these great cards with people saying how easy it was, so I decided to get me some of the gorgeous SU! watercolour paper and give it a go. I'm so glad I did! It IS easy and the results always look great.

So, if you haven't tried it yet, get brave! Here's a tutorial for you to help get you started.

Step 1:

Stamp your image onto Stampin' Up! Watercolour paper in Basic Black or Staz On ink. It's important to use the watercolour paper, as it gives a much better result. The colours blend better and you don't get any pilling of the paper, as you sometimes can with standard cardstock.

Step 2:

Pick up your first colour with your aquapainter brush. You can use your aquapainter to watercolour with several mediums, including our watercolour crayons, pencils or even just our dye inks (just pick up the colour from the lid of the stamp pad). I prefer the watercolour crayons, myself.

Step 3:

Paint your colour along the lines of the image area you are colouring. For best results, start with the lines and then blend inwards. Don't worry if your colour is not darker along the lines when you blend in (as with the brown boat section in the picture), as you can come back and darken along the lines once that area is dry.

Step 4:

Continue to colour each area of your image, starting along the lines and blending in. Continue to pick up colour with your aquapainter as needed, but remember to start back at the lines each time you do, to keep the darkest areas near the lines of your image.

Step 5:

Once the image is dry, go back to the areas you want to add to. I went back to the brown boat area and the water area to darken the areas along the lines, as I wanted more definition there. Remember, it doesn't have to look perfect! In fact, I always think watercolouring looks better if it's less than perfect!

Now your image is ready to use on a card! Have fun!

A Cute Gift Set of Cards

I love Greetings Galore. It's such a great set for creating quick cards, and perfect for creating sets. As is the new set "Fun and Fast Notes" -such a cute set, definitely on my wish list! I was surfing the net the other day and saw a thumbnail of a card that inspired this set. When I clicked into the actual photo of the card, it was quite detailed with dry embossing and layers, but as a thumbnail it looked very simple and elegant -a look I preferred for this set I wanted to create.

So, here is my Greetings Galore gift set. I hope you like it!

 

Stamps: Greetings Galore

Cardstock: Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Pretty In Pink, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White

Ink: Black StazOn

Accessories: Soft Subtles Stampin' Write Markers, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch

If you would like to order any of the supplies used to create this set, please email me

A Simple Card for Baby

I made this card a little while ago for the daughter of a workmate who recently had a baby. We didn't know whether the baby would be a boy or girl, so I kept it quite neutral and I think it turned out to be quite cute. I just love the Bundle of Joy stamp set, and I was so thrilled to see it made it to this year's catalogue! 

Stamps: Bundle of Joy, All Year Cheer I Cardstock: Barely Banana, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Kraft Ink: StazOn Black Accessories: Barely Banana & Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Markers, Chocolate Wide Grosgrain, Distressing Tool

If you would like to order any of the products used to make these cards, please email me

You won't believe it... it's another card!

Making up for lost time, here's another card I made in February. This is one that we made at a workshop I did in early February, it was inspired by a card I saw on the official Stampin' Up! Demonstrator's website. This is such a fabulous resource, one of the many perks of becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! If you would like more information on becoming a demonstrator, please Email Me. I've changed the colour scheme and the stamp set from the card that inspired me, as well as a few other changes. I was quite pleased with how this card turned out.

Stamps: Paisley Background, Merci (Sale-A-Bration 2008 promotional set), Everyday Flexible Phrases

Cardstock: Regal Rose, Marigold Morning, Whisper White

Ink: Regal Rose, StazOn Black

Accessories: Blender Pens, Stampin' Pastels, Silver Brads, Word Window Punch

A Special Occasion

Today marks 20 years since my wonderful husband moved to Australia, from England, with his parents and brother. So I had a great excuse to make a card this morning! Here it is...   Stamps: Paisley Background, Both Way Blossoms (Level 2 Hostess Set), Greetings Galore Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Whisper White Ink: Night of Navy, StazOn Accessories: Blender Pen, Pastels, Paper Piercer, Silver Brads, Punches If you would like to order any of the supplies required to create this card, please email me.

I love Shelli Gardner!!!

What a beautiful lady! Shelli has sent EVERY demo in the world a Christmas gift! I am so excited! It's a beautiful stamp set called Time Well Spent and it is going to be a level 3 Hostess Set in our new Catalogue that will begin on April 1st next year. I love it. I've been playing today and this is what I came up with; This is my first venture into the use of Cameo Coral -such a vibrant colour! But I like it. I think I might have to play some more with vibrant colours! Stamps: Time Well Spent (not yet available) Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Taken With Teal, Rose Red, Watercolour Paper Ink: StazOn Black Accessories: Watercolour Wonder Crayons (Earth Elements, Rich Regals), Aquapainter If you would like to order any of the available products required to create this project, please email me. Thank-you, Shelli, and Stampin' Up! I love my Christmas present and I wouldn't have any other job in the world!!!

Monday... all day today!

And here is today's card: It's a CASE from Toni Lockyer -one of my fellow Elite Stampers. I love this card of Toni's and it was so quick -took me about 10-15 minutes! Thanks, Toni!

Cardstock: Whisper White, Regal Rose

Ink: Black Staz-On, Regal Rose

Stamps: Scribble This

Accessories: Aquapainter, Watercolour Wonder Crayons (Rich Regals)

It's Thursday

And here is today's card. We've been out all day and I have a big headache, so I'm glad today's card only took 30 minutes from start to finish! And that included getting out the stuff to make it!

Cardstock: Whisper White, Rose Red

Ink: Rose Red, Old Olive

Stamps: Both Way Blossoms (Level 2 Hostess Set)

Accessories: 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Aquapainter

Leonie's Birthday Card

I sent this card to one of my fellow Elite Stampers for her birthday the other week. I really enjoyed making this card, and it's another of my "branch out on my own" experiments that I have been increasingly trying since joining Stampin' Up!. I picked the stamp and the colour I wanted to use, then surfed the net for a while, looking at some ideas and inspiration, and this is what I came up with. I think it works. Was a lot of fun to make, too! Cardstock: Ballet Blue and Whisper White Ink: Black StazOn, Bashful Blue Stamps: Summer By The Sea and Paisley Background. Accessories: Garden Green, Bashful Blue and Elegant Eggplant Watercolour Wonder Crayons, Aquapainter and silver cord, which I adhered under another sheet of cardstock on the inside of the card.

Cute Cute Cute Tote Bag GSD

I created this file tonight to save myself having to cut and score totes with my trimmer. I love them and plan to make them all the time, so using my Quickutz Silhouette will save me literally hours! This file will work with any cutter that works on GSD files (Craft Robo and Silhouette both do).

I hope this helps others! I've test cut it and it's perfect. Fits the standard A6 cards like a glove!

This is my first GSD file creation, so I would really appreciate your feedback. If anyone has trouble with the file, please feel free to contact me and I will endeavour to help you.

You can download the file here. The password is "cardlover".

In sharing this file for free, I ask that you please DO NOT share it with others. Please direct them here to my blog where they can download it themselves. Whilst I did not come up with the idea to make card totes myself, I did spend hours creating this file. If you do download, please post a comment and let me know what you think of it!

Edited To Add: Here's a pic of a tote I made this morning. So happy with how it turned out!

A card for the Mr...

I had so much fun making this card for my husband. I used SU!'s fabulously gorgeous watercolour paper, and OMGoodness!!! I'm never going to watercolour on Whisper White again! The WC paper gives SUCH a beautiful finish. I am very much in love with it! I've always been apprehensive about watercolouring, being so NOT an artist myself, but with the WC paper, it just worked. Do yourself a favour and try it! I promise, you will not be disappointed! The card is a CASE from the IB&C, page 130.

Stamps: Summer By The Sea and Warm Words.