Toolboxes for Dad!

While at Camp Cypress the clever Kerryl taught us how to make these gorgeous toolboxes & matching card using the Totally Tools stampset. Here is everyones toolboxes after the class

Closeup of one of the great toolboxes

& here is my card! If you check out the top picture you can see that everyone made thier cards a little different - depending on what sentiment they wanted to use. I had seen this idea on SCS using the tape measure from Totally Tools to spell out 'dad' & just had to use it (especially since it was the main reason I bought the stamp set!!)

Flowerpot Card

Last Thursday I hosted the INKlings Cyberstamp & one of the challenges I set was to make a flowerpot card. I've seen afew of these around the place & they are lots of fun to make. There were some other great flowerpot cards made by Ryn, Ariane & Karen, thanks for playing along :-)

I used the Petal Pizazz stamp set to make my flowers & buttons from Button Bouquet & Button Latte for the centres

I have also used the gorgeous new Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain ribbon & used some Hemp Twine to tie on another button.

I also taught this as a class at Camp Cypress - here are everyones gorgeous flowerpots, don't they look gorgeous!

Camp Cypress Retreat

Last weekend I held the 2nd Stamping & Scrapbooking Retreat at Camp Cypress in Baradine. 11 lovely ladies joined me for a fun weekend of crafting & we had a fabulous time creating until all hours of the night. I thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the great location, in the heart of the Pilliga forest.

Here is our accomodation - each cabin has four rooms, each with there own ensuite. The rooms can sleep up to six on three bunk beds, however we only used the bottom bunks, so there was only three in each room.

The next retreat is set for the first weekend in March 2010, so if you'd enjoy a weekend of fun & crafting, mark it in your diary - I'll have more info available soon & hope to share our creations with you over the coming days.

Choo Choo

I made this card last month for an INKlings card swap. It uses a fun new set from the Spring Mini Catalogue - Choo Choo & the matching Stampin' around wheel - Right On Track.

To create the cloud background I punched out a scallop circle, placed it on the card base & sponged baja ink over the top.

Stampsets: Choo Choo, Loads of Love Accessories, On Your Birthday

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Bella Rose & Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP

Ink: Baja Breeze, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango

Accessories: Old Olive, Summer Sun, Real Red & Choc Chip Markers

Marelle's Sevens Box

How cute are these boxes! You can find a great tutorial on how to make them on Marelle's blog. I made these for my Mini Catalogue Launch last weekend - everyone who attended got one containing a sample of In Colour Stitched Ribbon.

Stampset: Great Friend

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White

Ink: Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Pink Pirouette Stitched Grosgrain, Rhinestone Brad, Scallop Oval Punch

Elite Sketch Challenge

Every month over on the Elite Challenges Blog, Carol sets a sketch, colour & stamp set challenge. This is a little sneak peek of my card for the August sketch - to check out my full card & list of supplies used click here

Ribbon Tags

I first saw these cute little ribbon embellishments here. I have posted a card using them before, but thought I'd give them a rerun & add some of the gorgeous new corduroy buttons A fun thing to do is dye your corduroy buttons. I used a sponge dauber & then touched up the buttons using my markers. You will need to make sure the button you want to dye is lighter than the colour you want to change it to - I have dyed a gray button Choc Chip & a Baja Breeze button Rose Red.

Stampsets: On Your Birthday, Trendy Trees, Fresh Cuts

Cardstock: Whisper White

Inks: Choc Chip, Baja Breeze, Rose Red

Accessories: 1" Stitched Grosgrain, Hemp Twine, Corduroy Buttons

Corduroy Button Share

Have you seen the new corduroy buttons in the Spring Mini Catalogue? They are just gorgeous & really add a special touch to any project. If you would like a sample of all three colours that are available, then join in my corduroy botton share - for $15 you will recieve 18 buttons, 2 of each design in three colours, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss & Basic Gray.

I have used the gorgeous Baja Breeze corduroy buttons on this card - it is a sketch challenge from a recent cyberstamp I joined in.

Stampset: Great Friend, Cute & Curly

Cardstock: Kraft, Baja Breeze, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White

Ink: Baja Breeze, Pretty In Pink, Close to Cocoa

Accessories: Pink Striped Grosgrain, Baja Corduroy Buttons, Designer Flower Brad, Curly Label & Eyelet Border Punch

Stampin' Up! Spring Mini available now!

You can download a PDF file by clicking here, or send me an email with your addres & I'll pop a hard copy in the post - stamping@alanagalagher.com

Cyberstamp Colour Challenge

Last weekend a demonstrator group that I am a member of held a cyberstamp. It was great fun to chat with some lovely demonstrators around Australia & also participate in some fun challenges. One of the challenges was a colour challenge of So Saffron, Basic Gray & Whisper White, so I thought I'd break out some more goodies from the upcoming Spring Mini Catalogue to create this card...

There is some new DSP - Walk in the Park, new stampset - Oval All & the latest punch - scallop oval, it is a perfect match for our large oval punch. I've used my scallop edge punch to make the scallop square mat, you can see a tutorial here if you would like to make one too.

Here is a closeup of the scallop oval. I have used my inkpad & a blender pen to colour in the birds chest & the flower.

Stampsets: Oval All, Friends 24-7
Cardstock: So Saffron, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Walk In The Park DSP
Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron
Accessories: Scallop Oval, Large Oval & Scallop Edge Punch, Soft Subtle Brads, Dress Up Ribbon Originals

I will post some more of my cyberstamp creations over the next few days.

Spring Mini catalogue is almost here!

The Stampin' Up! 2009 Spring Mini Catalogue goes live on Sat August 1st. It has some really lovely stamp sets in it & my fav - gorgeous corduroy buttons. Another favourite of mine is the Great Friends stampset, I just love the butterfly.

Stampset: Great Friend

Cardstock: Basic Gray, Whisper White, Bella Rose & Urban Oasis DSP

Ink: Basic Gray, Regal Rose

Accesssories: Gray Taffeta, Kiwi Kiss Corduroy Button, Eyelet Border Punch

Scrapbooking Just Rugby

I got the Just Rugby stamp set specifically to use on scrap pages of my son playing football & finally I have made one - it's only taken about 12 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made this for a challenge on one of the demonstrator groups I am a member of, it uses a great sketch from Page Maps that I have been wanting to try out since I saw it.

I've used some elements from the Hoppy Memories Scrappin' Kit to try & add some interest. I also peirced holes in the ball & threaded some twine through them to imitate the stitching.

Stampsets: Just Rugby, Jumbo Outline Alpha

Cardstock: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie Textured, Pink Flamingo DSP

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black

Accessories: Hoppy Memories Scrappin Kit, Black Hemp Twine, Black Brads

Camp Cypress

Grab your kit and escape from your busy life with a fun weekend of stamping & scrapbooking at Camp Cypress in the peaceful Outback of NSW.

When: From 1pm Thursday 3rd September to 3pm Sunday 6th September 2009

Where: Camp Cypress is situated at Baradine in North West NSW - approximately 497kms from Sydney, and 45kms north-west of Coonabarabran. From Baradine it is only a 3½ hours' drive to the famous opal mining town of Lightning Ridge, via Coonamble and Walgett.

Cost: $200 from Thursday night (includes 3 nights accommodation, a light supper on Thursday evening & all meals until Sunday lunch) or $180 from Friday (includes 2 nights accommodation & all meals from Friday lunch until Sunday lunch).

• Accommodation will be 3 share, in fully air-conditioned cabins with ensuites
• All meals provided – breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning & afternoon tea
• Challenges & competitions – there will be some great prizes on offer
• Free classes & information sessions
• Extra workshops available for an additional cost
• Plenty of FUN!

You can see some of the fun projects we made last camp by clicking here.

Send me an email if you would like a registration form or more information - stamping@alanagalagher.com

Ooops........it's been awhile!

Gosh, the time just seems to slip away lately & before I know it almost a month has passed & my poor little blog has been left neglected :-(

The INKlings seem to have abit of a baby boom going on at the moment with Dani, Clare & Mel all welcoming little girls into the world over the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd break out my new Build-A-Roo stamp set.

Stampset: Build-a-Roo
Card: Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Watercolour Paper, Pink Flamingo & Bella Rose DSP
Ink: Black Staz On
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Button Latte

Stampset: Build-a-Roo
Card: Regal Rose, Riding Hood Red, Pink Flamingo DSP, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Black Staz On, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Cutter Kit, Button Bouquet


I've seen afew of these cute crocheted flowers around the internet lately, so bought a book & followed this tutorial along with another video tutorial I now can't find & taught myself how to make them. The first few were abit rough, but I think I'm getting the hang of them now :-)

I still have one card to make & also have to get them sent out........soon :-)

More Raspberry Tart

I've been having more fun using the gorgeous Raspberry Tart papers - they are so bright & fun.

Stampset: Trendy Trees

Card: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Raspberry Tart DSP

Ink: Rose Red

Accessories: Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain, Button Bouquet, Eyelet Border Punch

I made the corner decoration by layering one of the photo corner punch outs onto a scallop square punch out & hand cutting off the bits of the scallop square that I didn't want.

Stampset: Define Your Life

Card: Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, Rose Red

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss

Accessories: Rose Red Brad, Eyelet Border Punch, Scallop Square Punch Photo Corner Punch

Raspberry Tart

Did anyone even notice my HUGE error ...... I said in a previous post that I was using Urban Garden DSP when in actual fact it was Urban Oasis DSP - what a twit! Anyway, I've now moved onto Raspberry Tart!

Stampsets: Eastern Blooms, Upsy Daisy

Card: Rose Red, Regak Rose, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart DSP

Inks: Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Regal Rose

Accessories: Kiwi Satin Ribbon, Fire Circle Rhinstone Brads, Flower Fusion

Ounches: Whise Oval, Designer Label, Large Oval

INKling Cyberstamp

I made this card for the latest INKling Cyberstamp. The challenge was to use Kraft, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss & Basic Gray - I think I failed as I didn't include any Kraft, although Fiona, who hosted the evening, kindly said I could count the twine as Kraft!

It was abit tedious cutting out these tiny flowers, but I think it was well worth the effort as they look great & are just the right size to fit on a mini glue dot!

Stampset: Thoughts & Prayers

Card: Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Urban Garden DSP

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray

Accessories: Pewter Brads, Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain, Twine, Button Bouquet

I also want to send out a huge thanks to the lovely Marelle Taylor, for sharing a great tutorial she found on getting rid of the 'grey gloom'. I need all the help I can get as I'm not a real good photographer & as you can see by the comparison below, the one on the right has been adjusted & looks much brighter.