YAY - presents......

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Our family had a great day - the kids got spoilt, as usual & we all ate too much!! I was lucky enough to be involved in 2 Secret Santa's & thought I'd show you pic's of my gorgeous goodies
First up is this dashing pressie from my INKling Secret Santa Carol! Thanks so much Carol, I can't wait to use the brayer, rhinestone brads & all those Ribbon Originals.

Next is this gorgeous parcel is from my Elite Secret Santa - Lisa R, thanks Lisa, it is beautiful!

Here it is opened up, I can't wait to use some of the new wide Grosgrain Ribbon & rhinestone brads. Isn't the contertina card awesome - it also included some For Father stamped images that I have aleady used, so check back tomorrow & I'll show you what I created.

I have just realised that I was actually involved in 3 Secret Santa's, as my family had one too - I just forgot about it as it didn't involve stamping stuff.........I got a new hairdryer :-)

Peaceful Wishes

I made quite afew of the following card this Christmas & I think it's fairly obvious why! I CASED this from Splitcoast Stampers & it was by far the simplest Christmas card I've made. Stampset: Peaceful Wishes
Cardstock: Whisper White
Ink: Always Artichoke, Real Red Marker, Basic Black
Accessories: 2 Way Glue, Glitter

While shopping the other day I was this little ornament & thought it would go perfectly in my Christmas project I showed you earlier this month (see here for a reminder)
It fits into one of the sections perfectly & the colours are quite a good match also.

Even though the donkey looks more like a cow, I still think it is pretty cute. There is only one sleep til Christmas Day - may the Peace & Joy of Christmas find your home!

Christmas Fun

I've been having lots of fun making these packets of poop to sell at a local Christmas Mardigras & also as a fun little gift for Chistmas Day Here they are all ready to sell

This is my Sultana Reindeer Poop - named so as they are choc covered sultanas

Snowman Poop - even though we don't get snow at Chirstmas here in Australia (or any snow at all where I live!) I thought these were cute

I also made some Nutty Reindeer Poop using choc covered nuts. Don't forget that by simply spending $20 you can get Festive Favourites at 20% off - the fun little reindeer fits perfectly into the small tag punch!

Stampsets: Festive Favourites, Tags for All (retired)

Cardstock: Old Olive, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Kraft

Inks: Basic Black

Accessories: Contraband Ribbon (I'm trying to use it all up!), Hemp Twine, Stampin Write Markers, Scallop Circle, Small & Large Tag Punches

More Christmas cards

I find Splitcoast Stampers a great place for inspiration - all Stampin' Up! stamp sets are listed alphabetically, making it really easy to find a fun way to use your stampsets. There are also lots of tutorials on techniques & projects.The card I CASEd this from was a small 3x3 card - I changed afew things & think is works well for a normal sized card too.
Stampsets: Lots of Dots Wheel, Party Punch (hostess set)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Dashing DSP
Inks: Certainly Celery
Accessories: Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Square Fire Rhinestone Brad, Real Red Stampin' Write Marker

I've seen this card around alot & it looks great in lots of different colour combinations too!
Stampset: Lovely as a Tree, Occasional Greeting
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Whisper White
Inks: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Artichoke Grosgrain

Merry Christmas Wanted!

Who doesn't want a Merry Christmas!! I've been having fun making Christmas cards using non-Christmas stamp sets. I think I actually used Apple Cider DSP which is not available any more - you could easily substitute spotted River Rock DSP from Dashing or the new Ginger Blossom papers if you wanted the same look.
Stampsets: Wanted, Party Punch (hostess set)
Cardstock: Real Red, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider DSP
Inks: Real Red
Accessories: River Rock Double-Stitched Grosgrain, Scallop Circle, 1" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches

I can't believe how many things can be made with a flower petal! I have seen butterflies, dragonflies & smiley faces all made using Pick a Petal - must get too it & make some myself. I first saw these candles on Splitcoast Stampers - they'd also look fab on a birthday card too & are a great way to use up some patterned paper scraps!

Stampsets: Pick a Petal, Occasional Greeting
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranite, Whisper White, Holiday Harmony DSP (retired)
Inks: So Saffron, Always Artichoke
Accessories: More Mustard & Basic Black Stampin' Write Markers, 2 Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds

Christmas CASEing

I'm back with some more of my Christmas cards, although I can't really call them mine, as I CASEd most of them. I found todays 2 cards on the blog of a talented Australian demonstrator - Nicki Tidbold. She is very clever & I've loved everything that I've seen on her blog - I liked these cards so much that I haven't changed them much at all!

I think this card was actually designed by another Aussie demo - Robyn Lawton. I can't believe I have only just bought Crab & Co, it is just soo cute & very versatile.
Stampset: Crab & Co
Cardstock: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Dashing DSP
Ink: Black Staz On, Real Red
Accessories: Blender Pen, Olive Grosgrain, Puff Paint & stapler

I loved Nicki's original card using Season of Joy, but since it is now retired (I hope it returns in next years Idea Book & Catalogue) I thought I'd use a current stampset
Stampsets: Occasional Greeting, In the Spotlight (hostess set)
Cardstock: Confetti White, Always Artichoke, Wintergreen DSP
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Rhinestone Brad (from Pretties Kit), Sponge Daubers, 1 3/8 Square, 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 Circle Punches

Christmas Cards

I thought it was about time that I tried to get organised for Christmas & made some cards - so here they are ....... ... about 97!! I've been using left over card packs from Workshops, Classes & Stamp-A-Stacks that I have been holding recently, which made it alot easier to get so many made quickly. Most of the cards have been CASEd from once place or another, so I thought I'd post them individually so you can see where I CASEd them from. Both these cards have come from a telented American demonstrator - Michele Force.

This card is pretty much an exact CASE, although I did change the stamp set used.

Stampset: City of David

Cardstock: So Saffron, More Mustard, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Inks: Night of Navy, More Mustard

Accessories: Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Square Fire Rhinestone Brad

I've changed the colours & stampsets for this card - although I did CASE the layout & the idea for the So Swirly Wheel down the right hand side.

Stampsets: So Swirly Wheel, Hung Up on the Holidays, Peaceful Wishes, Occasional Greeting

Cardstock: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranite, WildWasabi, Whisper White

Inks: Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranite, Basic Black

Accessories: Guava Double-Stitched Ribbon

I'll endevour to post the rest of the cards over the coming week - I also need to make time to write in & send the cards :-)

Boxes, Bags, Baubles & Bows

These are some of the projects I will be showing you how to make if you come along to my Boxes, Bags, Baubles & Bows class on Saturday morning - send me an email if you are planning on coming along - alana@aussiebroadband.com.au

Now for any overseas visitors who may not know what a 'sausage sizzle' is - it's just a sausage sandwich, usually cooked on a barbeque, hence the 'sizzle'. Quite an Aussie thing, especially in the summer - although I'm not too sure if it technically is a sandwich, as it usually only involves one piece of bread with a snag (sausage) that has been cooked on the barbie (barbeque, BBQ) slapped in the middle, with a good helping of tomato sauce (ketchup - we never use this word :-))

Fabulous Angels

Aren't these the cutest little Angels?? As soon as I saw this one, I had to make it straight away. They are made using the large flower from the Fabulous Flowers stampset.

Once I started I couldn't stop, so made afew colour variations. I can see there will be afew of these on my tree this year.

I was trying to use only Stampin' Up! producst, however I had to used some contraband silver cord. The beads are from the Pretties Kit & the halo is a ribbon slide from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge.

I added some glitter to this one & love how it turned out.

I can't believe there are only 4.5 weeks til Christmas & I have not posted a Christmas card on my blog yet!!! I hope the rectify this soon. In the mean time check out my kids with Santa. We went to our first Christmas party yesterday at the Cuttabri Wine Shanty & had a great time. Santa delivered presents that were kindly donated by the Salvo's & they also put on a free sausage sizzle.

Not sure what Santa is telling Sam here - I hope it was to behave!

This one of Josie cracks me up! She lent in for a cuddle & got abit excited - Santa doesn't look too impressed though.