Florist Ribbon Bows

I have been asked many times, how the Paper Angels make our gorgeous bows on our charity event raffle prizes. Having been taught by the lovely Ursula, I thought I would share what I have learned in a technique video.

Scrapbooking Quadrangle Design

This is a really simple, yet effective design that you can use whenever it is possible to trim photos down to 4 inch squares.

1. Divide a 12x12 base into quadrangles and add four mats. measuring 5 3/4 inches square.
2. Cut the photo mats to 4 1/2 inch squares.
3. Adhere the top right and bottom left photos to the mats and raise with dimensionals.
4. Adhere the top left and bottom right photo mats directly to the base.

The sky is the limit in terms of choosing your colour scheme and embellishing the lower right quadrant. I used 'Friends 24-7' Stamp Set to create the first two layouts and then for the third layout, I used 4 photos so I popped an embellishment in the middle - easy!

I have used 'Haiku' Designer Series Paper with some Rich Razzleberry thrown in to create a layout for Jeanette, who is one of our Demonstrator Support Agents in Sydney. Jeanette is pictured with Leonie at our recent Convention in Sydney - as you can see, they had lots of fun playing to the camera.

My daughter Dana and her friend Jess had fun goofing around on the weekend, with Jess trying her hardest to correct Dana's 'Wallace & Grommit' style smile! I think it was the braces that encouraged her to draw back her mouth to the outside of the wire - it's kind of scary sometimes! Jess helped me out with the colour scheme, which I borrowed from her shirt - Orchid Opulence, Basic Grey & Basic Black.

This recently posted layout, showcases the quadrant layout too. The scallop border was added to this layout using strips of glitter cardstock, which were edged with the scallop border punch and jigsawed back together. The first two layouts were accented with scallop square punched out pieces of cardstock jigsawed back together.

Happy Scrapbooking!

Coorparoo Christmas in July Card Event

This year saw our first 'Christmas in July' Card Making Event at Canossa Kindergarten in Coorparoo. Sister Belen kindly offered us the use of this most beautiful venue, when she learnt we were struggling to secure a suitable venue in the area. This generous offer certainly made it more viable to run a charity event, which supports our 'Footprint & Name Cards' for the Mater Mother's Bereavement Programme. You can see I caught Sister at a crucial moment as she concentrated intently to use the paper piercer with the stitching guide. I had to share a snapshot of our yummy afternoon tea - the Caramel Torte was a particular stand out. I'll admit I took a full slice which I was enjoying until Bec informed me she had only taken 1/2 a slice of the mudcake, so she could fit into her bathers at Hamilton Island which is the Stampin Up Incentive Trip which we have both earned. Possibly seeing the look of horror on my face, as I realised I was not paying attention to this imminent event, she tried very hard to make me feel better by pointing out that my torte was way fluffier & lighter than her mudcake choice - oh, I do hope so!

Here is the lovely Jenny Wells, who exceeded herself when she rolled up with 180 Christmas Card Donations for the 'Cards for Troops', which will be sent to Australian Troops serving overseas to send back to their families. Sister Belen and many others contributed cards and we are really excited that by August 1st, we should be able to make a real difference in ensuring that soldiers will not be short on cards to send home to loved ones. If you'd like to read another fabulous entry on this subject, check out Leonie's blog http://stampandscrapinheaven.blogspot.com/2010/07/cards-for-troops.html

Every year, we work really hard to make sure our display boards are full of inspiring samples and we encourage you to photograph, copy & share our creations

Seven demonstrators capably led all the customers through 8 projects, which are designed to get your 'Creative Mojo' going. Don't we always need ideas & inspiration when it comes to Christmas, especially when we want to make something lovely that we can make multiples of in a reasonable time space. My choice of card to make will be the Herringbone Card, which is a super clever creation of Leonie's. Believe me, you will want to learn how to make this card as it is impressive but oh so easy - the perfect card! Special mention must go to Amanda, one of our lovely demonstrators who speaks Japanese fluently and was able to give instruction to one of our newer guest who is relatively new to cardmaking - I was extremely impressed!

Thank you to Jenny, Bec, Keren, Kate, Amanda & Felicity for their dedication & skill in leading their tables. We had so much fun and the day was really lovely! Also thank you to Dianna, who very kindly came and helped Kate & I set up the day before.

One of the highlights of our events is the Card Competition, kindly sponsored with generous prizes donated by Stampin' Up! We all enjoyed looking at the almost 50 cards entered and voting on 3 winners. The Card Competition raised $24, with each entry costing 50 cents.

Here are our lovely Card Competition Winners, proudly displaying their prizes!

A spectacular $610 was raised through our raffle, which will be used to fund our 'Footprint & Name Cards' for the Mater Mother's Bereavement Programme. Check out all those happy smiles!

Again a big thank you to Sister Belen, but also to the staff & friends of Canossa who allowed us to use their lovely facility. Thank you to Pat, Rachael, Teresa, Catherine, Lucile and a number of husbands/fathers who helped make this day such a success.

If you are reading this and wish you could have come, it is not too late! I have some places available this Saturday 17th at Victoria Point or Sunday 18th at Pine Rivers. Please do ring me urgently on 3348 9456 or 0448 896 001. We'd love you to come and share a great day with us.