'Lively Leaves' Leaving

'Gone - flitted away,

Taken from the night and the sun

From the day!

Gone, and a cloud in my heart.'

Alfred Tennyson

Continuing with my March theme of showcasing retiring stamp sets, we bid farewell on March 31st to 'Lively Leaves' (108861 $29.95 AUD), which may be found on page 86 of the 2007/2008 Australian Idea Book & Catalogue. This is a great little set, with individual stamps 'standing alone as in the above sample or used as a two step stamping technique. I really like this stamp set, beacause it works for either male or female cards. In fact the card featured above was made by myself, at the request of my husband as he required some thank you cards that he could send.

The card base is simply Chocolate Chip, with two thirds of the front face torn off. I have then mounted a Confetti White liner stamped with leaves overlayed with vellum paper, under the torn flap. I find that the vellum overlay works well to soften stamped images. Circle of Friendship (108767 $33.95AUD), which is not being retired has been used to stamp a jumbo brad.

If you would like any further information on these projects, or would like to order these stamp sets, please contact me at liz@nb.com.au or alternately phone me on 07 3348 9456 or 0448 896 001. I am offering 2 special bonuses to customers who spend $100 this month, so don't miss out on your last opportunity to secure retiring sets.

Images © Stampin' Up!

Goodbye 'Mixed Bouquet'

'How lucky I am to have something

that makes saying goodbye so hard'

Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

Fortunately we do not have to say goodbye to chocolate, however, we must farewell two beautiful stamps on March 31st to make way for new catalogue stamp sets and accessories. Mixed Bouquet (108871 $68.95AUD) and Bouquet Jumbo Wheel (105750 $15.95 AUD) are both to be found on page 74 of the 2007/2008 Australian Idea Book & Catalogue. I am particularly fond of these stamps and have used them at many workshops, including my February workshops where we made a 'Pull Treat Pouch'. This project was inspired by a workshop by Beate Johns on Split Coast Stampers Web Site www.splitcoaststampers.com and altered to accomodate our Australian Darrel Lea chocolate bars and the stamps sets that I had available. It was great fun making this project as it was quite straightforward, requiring no template, with a fantastic result. The only hard part was making sure workshop participants did not eat their chocolate bar, before completing the project!

Images @ Stampin' Up!

Farewell 'Flower Fest'

'Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending'

Lazurus Long

Whilst we look forward to the release of our new Australian 2008/2009 Catalogue in April, we must also say farewell to a huge number of stamp sets and accessories that we love. Stampin' Up! have released the 'retired list', which may be viewed on www.stampinup.com . These items will not be availble after the 31st of March and in fact are only available whilst stocks last.

I have featured two retiring stamp sets in the matching scrapbook page and card above. 'Flower Fest' (108812 $69.95 AUD) includes 12 coordinated floral and leaf stamps and may be found on page 71 of the 2007/2008 catalogue. 'Simple Sayings 11' (108911 $39.95 AUD), includes 4 very useful word stamps perfect for both cards and scrapbooking, and may be found on page 114 of the 2007/2008 catalogue.

Featured cardstock and ink colours are Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Confetti White and Whisper White. I have stamped the background flower with Rose Red Ink on Regal Rose Cardstock, followed by the flower outline in embossed white craft ink. I have then smothered 2 of the flowers in Versamark Ink, covered entirely with clear embossing powder and used a heat gun to achieve the glassy surface. This technique provides texture and variation on the scrapbook page.

If you would like any further information on these projects, or would like to order these stamp sets, please contact me at liz@nb.com.au or alternately phone me on 07 3348 9456 or 0448 896 001. I am offering 2 special bonuses to customers who spend $100 this month, so don't miss out on your last opportunity to secure retiring sets.

Images © Stampin' Up!

Demonstrator Group Card Swaps

Each month our demonstrator group, Paper Angels, gets together for a meeting. Our meetings focus on creative ideas and we usually do a 'make & take' project. Often demonstrators will bring along project ideas to share or in the case of this month, we organised a card swap. This is of course quite voluntary and this time we had 8 participants. Above are the samples that were made. I really appreciated all the talent that the demonstrators bring, along with fresh ideas for composition and colour combinations. It is also a wonderful way to accumulate some samples for workshops that I would not otherwise make, because I don't have the stamp set or simply had not thought of the idea.

If you are interested in finding out more about joining as a Personal/Discount, Hobby or Career Demonstrator; please contact me on 07 3348 9456 0448 896 001 liz@nb.com.au

Images © Stampin' Up! 1990 - 2007

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