Dichroic Glass Pendant with a 'Touch of Spring'

Now you do not get much more 'Beyond the Page' than using a Stampin' Up! punch to create beautiful accents within a Dichroic Glass Pendant. Towards the end of last year a lovely friend of mine, Fiona, asked me if I would like to do a class with her at a local Art Studio. Having admired her beautiful pendants, I was keen to go. We had a great time as there ended up being a group of us, and so, like a Stampin' Up! Workshop, we had the added pleasure of each other's company. Once I was over the nervousness of cutting glass, I had a great time. By a sheer stoke of good fortune, I was delivering my friend Fiona's Stampin' Up! order that same day and she graciously allowed my friend Kathy (also a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator) and I use to use her 'Spring Flower' Punch to cut some Dichroic Paper to create accents within our pendants. How thrilled we were to make such an especially meaningful project - we had no idea that we would be able to use paper punches in such a class. Kathy also made a beautiful pendant (better than mine, I might say) so we may get to photograph and show that too.

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

Display your Creativity

Smaller wooden letters are the perfect palette to display your favourite photos. Why tuck all your work away in albums, when you can coordinate a few simple products; such as Stampin' Up's 'Loves Me' Designer Series Double Sided Paper, 'Be Happy' Stamp Set and 'Flirty' Ribbon Originals. As per my previous entry, I mounted the wooden letters onto a strip of wood, so that they could then be displayed easily on a shelf. Finishing touches include a touch of bling, mini clips, snowball trim and white paint to mask the edges of the letters and base. My daughter, Dana, is now enjoying her new photo decor in her room!

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

Enchanté Love Letters

Having packed away our family's Nativity Figurines, I decided it was time to make something new for the front entrance sideboard. I already had the wooden letters, which I had previously covered in papers I was not particularly fond of during a class in Sydney. Rather than start a new project, I thought I would simply renovate and finish a half finished project - good idea I think for the new year! So, I went about covering the wooden letters in Stampin' Up's beautiful Enchantré Designer Series Double Sided Paper and embellishing with various chipboard elements, ribbons, stamped images and photographs. Next came ther tricky bit! As we are unable to mount items on the wall, I had to find a way to make the letters freestanding. I achieved this by purchasing a strip of timber from Bunnings and using a combination of woodworking glue and nails to secure the letters. I then painted the base strip and edges of the letters in Jo Sonja's 'Soft White' Acrylic Paint, which looks just fabulous with the Enchantré Colour Range. I am thrilled with my 'Love Letters' and can feel a bit of a 'craze' coming on, so don't be surprised if you see some more decorated letters up on the blog soon. Naturally, not everything goes smoothly! Gremlins seem to have prevented the 'O' letter phtograph from being featured below - 'shhh', don't tell my daughter Nicole, who I am sure would be miffed, if she realised it was her letter missing. I will endeavour to photograph again tomorrow, so if you would like this missing photograph, please email me on liz@nb.com.au and I will send it through to you.

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

Fabulous Folds

Stampin' Up's 'Loves Me' Designer Series Double Sided Paper, provides an easy starting point to create beautiful cards with ease. Teamed with the beautiful 'Flirty' Ribbon Originals and the 'Lots of Thoughts' Sale-A-Bration Stamp Set, I was able to create 5 card designs that showcase basic folding techniques to add dimension to your cards, such as pleating and fold backs.

I am looking forward to sharing these samples at workshops during January and February and would be happy to share the instructions with you if you would like to make them at home. Alternately, I will be starting 2008 classes soon, so keep posted for the class schedule.

The Imaginative Mind

On Christmas Eve, our family took Grandma Beth out for breakfast at Sirromet. Although it was the day before Christmas Day, we had Christmas Crakers, made of course with Stampin' Up's beautiful Designer Series Paper. Including the crackers I made for Christmas Day, I made 21 of these Mini Masterpieces and although they were a lot of work, they were well worth the effort. Filling each persons crackers with personally chosen items really was wonderful, and were in fact a present in themselves. Making so many means that I have the formula 'down pat' for next year, although, I may not wait that long! A good friend of mine has pointed out that crackers are great at any time of year and why not make birthday crackers.

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Anyway, as you can see from the photograph, the artistic merit of the cracker was not on my 5 year old son's mind. Benjamin quickly turned his emptied cracker into a telescope! How imaginative and wonderful.

I can do that!

Make these 8 (4 each of 2 designs) beautifully simple cards using only 4 x A4 pieces of coloured Stampin' Up! Cardstock (2 x Chocolate Chip and 2 x Pretty in Pink) and 1 1/2 A4 sheets of Stampin' Up! Whisper White Cardstock.

Simply stamp all over the Whisper White Cardstock, using the Big Pieces and Little Pieces Sets; in So Saffron, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip. Cut the full sheet of A4 into 4 equal rectangles 148 x 105mm. Cut the half sheet into 4 equal 50 x 148mm strips.

Cut 2 A4 sheets of Chocolate Chip Cardstock in half to create 4 cards. Fold each card to form the card and then tear the front two thirds of the card away, making sure not to discard it.

Secure White Organdy Ribbon around the upper section of the card as pictured and then adhere the stamped rectangle under the flap, thereby hiding the ends of the ribbon.

Complete the look by stamping 'thankyou' from Wonderful Words Stamp Set in the bottom right hand corner of the card in Chocolate Chip Ink.

To complete the matching set of cards, simply cut 2 Pretty in Pink A4 sheets in half to create 4 cards. Adhere the leftover Chocolate Chip 'ripped' section across the card as pictured. Complete the look by adhering the stamped strips across the brown cardstock and stamp 'thankyou' with the same set. Additional extras may be added, such as the clear button, simply adhered with a mini glue dot over one of the flowers to create texture and interest.

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

Simple alterations to the 'process' of this card will result in a completely different look. Instead of 'stamping out' the entire sheet of A4 Whisper White, try cutting it into 4 first. Then you can compose your design elements, so that they do not appear randomly.

Mini Album Continues

'Because I am 4, who needs a reason to dress up'

By now you will have realised that there is another theme throughout this album and that is the journalling. Journalling can be a real stumbling block and when you are making an entire album in a few days, steamlining your journalling can help. Each of my pages starts with the statement 'Because I am 4' and this statement is finished with the featured photos in mind.

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

'Because I am 4, I like to experiment tasting lemons'

Lucky I caught this shot on camera, because I don't think Ben will be doing this anytime soon! I remember going to Primary School with a boy who regularly sucked lemons and he was a bit weird! So glad Ben decided the taste did not live up to his expectations! Notice in this double page that I have used the spiral punch in the top left and bottom right edges to draw your eyes diagonally accross the page.

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

'Because I am 4, I am super cute'

'Because I am 4, I pick up every stick I find'

So, not every page must be a double page. Colourwise, I thought these 2 pages compatible so have paired them up. Note to self - next album, I think I will use black ink for the alphabet stramps in the little grey boxes cut with the Fiskars mini square punch. You can actually see them in real life with grey on grey - something to think about.

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007