Shaz's Card Table

 

 

I had a baby shower to attend and after having a look through the catalogue I decided on a card that I wanted to copy.  I  made this card which is found on page 60 of the Current Annual Catalogue. It is using the stamp Two by Two.

I took my hand to some water colouring which I don't do very often at all. I used So Saffron as the base card and then some Real Red as the trim on the side with some Pool Party card embossed with dots.

 

You can now order all these items online at my shop. 24 hours a day of shopping. How great is that? You can pay for it with your credit card and then get it delivered straight to your door. All you need to do is click on the "Shop Now" link on the right hand side of my blog or go to sharonwilson.stampinup.net and click on the shop now button on my Demonstrator site.

However, if you'd like the personal touch, please don't hesitate to contact me and I am more than happy to discuss your needs regarding crafting supplies.

I wanted to share this reasonably quick card for men.  Only a very small amount of stamping and you could even replace the stamping with some writing.

I saw this on Pinterest?

I made this card for my Father in Law for his birthday. It uses the Pennant Punch and the small circle punch.

 

 

I have had some great days doing cards lately and I wanted to share this card

I decided to get the creativeness going and did a layout challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. I'm really happy with the results. It came together really quickly too.

Today I want to show you the decoration I made for Marelle.  Every year we try to make or do something for Marelle, our fabulous team leader and this year one of the ladies had a plan for us all to make a decoration for Marelle and drop it off secretly so that she doesn't know who they are from until the Christmas party.  I wasn't able to be there this year as my DH was away.

I dropped off my creation to Marelle's place on Thursday afternoon.

I saw this on our Stampin' Up! forum and wanted to have a go at it and when we were asked to make a decoration I knew I wanted to do this for Marelle.

 

 

If you'd like to make one of these for Christmas (we do have a couple of weeks left), let me know and I can show you. It's fairly easy to do and used some framelits dies.

 

The Sydeny Heartfelt Event that Stampin' Up! was held at Darling Harbour this past saturday. I went along with my downline, Carolyn. It was a fantastic opportunity to get away from the kids :) It was a great day. We received a stamp set to complete our make and takes which we also received all the bits and pieces to make them up.

SU had changed up the event from previous years, not that I've attended in previous years. This year it was more about crafting. There were fabulous demonstrations in the main hall from some great demonstrators. Things demonstrated were things like the Naturals collection specialty papers, the lattice die and so many more. There was also a tools playground where you could have a play with some tools including the heat tool, the brayer and so many more.

One of the best things about the Sydney Heartfelt event for me was that they announced that their paper trimmer will be available for us VERY SOON. I have been waiting since convention to put an order in for that fabulous tool. I have quite a few trimmers but this one looks so good. SU have designed it, I believe, and as they are crafters they know what they want and have put all those features into this trimmer. It will cut a 12" piece of DSP without having to take out the scoring blade, and that is just one of the features that is great.

I loved all the creative ideas that these ladies have. So many good ideas it gets you so inspired to create. Since I've been home I've made some christmas cards and another card. I don't feel like I've crafted for weeks so it was great to get inspired once again. Thank you Stampin' Up! for hosting a great Sydney Heartfelt event!

 

 

I was have a look online as I do to get some inspiration and I came across a blog from the US that has some great projects.  The one I want to share with you today is the making the Top Note Die into a bit of a base for a flower.  The website is this one.

Here is the box I made using this technique.  The Certainly Celery is the Top Note.

 

I love this for a teachers gift or even if you decorate your table at Christmas you could put some chocolates in it and have one at each place setting for each guest. If you'd like to come and do a class with me on how to make the whole project, just email me and I can organise a class with you.

 

 

I've been playing with some new products this week along with some other scrapbooking but the 3D projects is what I'd like to show you today.

On the front of the Holiday Catalogue is a lovely Christmas ornament using the Ornament Keepsakes Bundle (129949 $87.95 Wood OR 129950 $77.95 Clear).  A friend has asked me to do a class for this and so I decided while my husband has been away this week that I would have a go and see how hard it is to make.

I did have to practice on something that would be a bit quicker and also get used to using my glue gun.  So made this ornament using the Ornament Punch (119847 $29.95).

 

Here is the side view and you can see that I've used 4 punch outs on each.

 

And here is the front view.  I was quite happy with the result. I've used retired DSP as I didn't want to make a mistake with current products. It's always good to practise!

So once I was confident using my glue gun I tried the big project.  The Large Christmas Ornament!

 

 

If you'd like to learn how to make either or both of these, just email me and I can organise a time that would suit.

 

During the July School holidays we went for a visit to my in-laws for a bit of a break away from the norm.  My husband had been away in Seattle for 2 weeks and so it was nice to have the time to get away from Sydney.

Whenever we go away I always try to take some crafting with me in the hopes of being able to get some things done.  It helps me relax and escape a bit. I decided that I was wanting to do some classes on scrapbooking using 1 pack of Designer paper so I did  search online and found Club Scrap.  They sell kits but also post online the layouts and directions so I printed off one of these and decided to use Twitterpated DSP (125406 - $18.95) from Stampin' Up! and adapt the directions to suit the materials I had to use.

I created 3 double page layouts.  As you can see it is just the basics, no embellishments or journalling yet.

If you'd like to do a class on these scrapbook pages, please contact me and I can organise it with you.

 

 

 

Here is a really quick card to make and use up those extra bits of ribbon you always have floating around.

I've made two versions of this card. One is with Pool Party Card.

 

 

 

 

Here is a special card for a very good friend of mine.  It is for my Sister in Law, Luella, who turned 40 last month.  A lot of the time I make cards and have them in my card box ready for when I need them but this card I had Luella in mind when I was making it.  I am so happy with the results.

I used the Mixed Bunch stamp set (127516) and the coordinating Blossom Punch (125603) from the current mini which finishes on the 31st July.

 

 

I used Concord Crush as the base of the card with Very Vanilla card embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper Emossing Folder (120175) which I then cut into thirds.

I learnt a few tricks at convention which I have used on this card.  Instead of just using one ribbon I uesd 4 different types.  I used the Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon (122973) as the base, then tied together the Pear Pizzaz Pleated Satin Ribbon (125568) along with the Victoria Trim (118481) with some Linen Thread (104199).  I love the colours together and incorporating these 4 types of ribbon just makes the card stepped up.  I also used the Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246) to accentuate the flowers on the embossed vanilla card.  The leaves are from the Blossom Petals Builder Punch (121808) which I just scored down the centre of the leaf to make it look a little more like a leaf.

The one thing I would change on this card would be to add another Rhinestone to the centre of the flower.

 

 

 

The third and final day of Convention!  I can't believe that it is the final day of convention.

The day started with three training sessions.  We had lunch and then onto our last General Session with the last few Prize Patrols & an all attendee prize patrol.

Lorna, Lynda & I all raced back to the hotel so that we could get changed for the big night of our Awards & Recognition Dinner.  It was a lovely meal where we received another stamp.

We got to see our leader, Marelle Taylor, walk across the stage as the 8th Demonstrator of the year!  It was very exciting to see someone we know walk across the stage and receive her award.  We were also very excited to see her receive her incentive trip.  She worked hard to get it this year.

There were lots of announcements including where the "Grand Vacation" will be next year and it will be to the home office in Utah!  That was a very exciting announcement and although I don't have much of a chance to get there it would be cool to be able to go to.

They also announced that convention will be in Brisbane next year so I might try to save up for that and go on a road trip with my cousin.

At the end of the night we headed back to our hotel.

It was a great night and a great first convention!

 

 

 

Day 2 started with some cheap breakfast in the hotel, Special K & milk! I met the girls at 8am and we left for convention.

Once we arrived we stood in line to get our seats for general session. During general session there were more sneak peaks and Prize Patrol again. This time Lynda won a prize and to say she was excited is an understatement. We had another guest speaker and that was John Holloway from the Demonstrator Association of Australia. He spoke about statistics mainly of the “party plan” businesses etc and he gave us all a free book.

We then headed off to our seminars. We had two in a row and then we had lunch. Momento Mall was also during lunch and as they took the limits off what you could buy we thought we should rush up there and grab what we wanted before it was all gone so that is what we did. I grabbed a few things as giveaways for my future hostesses and also for my cousin who signed up as a demo the other day. I also picked up a couple of items for a fellow demo. I then waited in line, and waited and waited. The queue was quite long! But during that time I got to meet a few more demos and chat and laugh with them.  So all in all it was still positive even though we waited.

Lorna and I headed down to grab our lunch and take a seat ready for our next session which was make takes. We also grabbed lunch for Lynda as she was a fair way back in the queue. The make and take session was fairly full on really. They had all the bits and pieces we needed and so I tried my hardest to use all the things I needed that I didn’t have but in the end I failed to use 1 thing in particular but I’ll just have to wing it at home. Thankfully I now have the two stamp sets that I needed to make these 4 projects and should be able to complete them at home.

After Make & takes it was back into another general session where there were soooo many more new things to take in. The first of which was a big change to our catalogues and the timing of those catalogues. Then there were the product changes which include a product that will be very hard for me to resist once it becomes available. Shelly presented her Stamping and we all really felt for her as she made some very minor mistakes but once you start making a few little mistakes they usually continue throughout the presentation.

During general session there was another prize patrol. We then had to rush off to grab something for dinner as we had to be back within an hour for our additional “I am Creative” class of our advent calendar. Let me say that this calendar is yummy. It mainly uses the Fancy Favour box die which I own. It also uses two new dies that we don’t have. We received in our package our stamp set along with lots of products to make it included ribbon, rhinestones & sticky strip, plus lots more. I’m hoping that I can make this into a class sometime soon.

During the Creative class I did as much as I could without assembling the boxes as I didn’t want them to get squashed on the trip home. I did make up 1 box completely so I could say that I had finished 1 box. I did try to make up the fronts of as many as I could. We did leave about 20 minutes early as we were all tired. We came back and I called my husband and heard about my families day and went to bed. I am now awake at 2.39am with a headache which is going and finishing off this post in a word document so I can just copy and paste straight into my blog when I get a chance next.

 

Well I had my first day in Canberra for Convention. I got up very early, 5.15am and left by 6am to drive down to Canberra by myself. I arrived at the Convention centre and received my bag and then stopped. There were a lot of women all doing swaps (Swaps are cards that you make to swap with other people that have also made cards. The idea is to get new and different ideas and to meet new friends in the stamping community.) I suddenly got very overwhelmed. There were dozens of women that I didn’t know. I stood off to the side since I wasn’t sure how you actually go about swapping as I’ve never done it before. A lovely lady came over to me and said that I looked overwhelmed, I agreed. I got myself more organised and got out my box of swaps. She realised that I had some and asked if she’d like to swap. She suddenly realised she was the first one that I was swapping with. I wish I now remembered her name! Once the first swap was done it took me only about 45 minutes to swap all my other 51 cards that I had. I received some absolutely lovely cards and 3D items. I feel like I didn’t put a lot of effort into mine but I received many comments on them.

I found a familiar face in Juliette Chapman who is a lady in Marelle’s team and I started feeling a lot more calmer. Always good to find a familiar face.

We moved into the Resource room which has hundreds and hundreds of ideas and even some sneak peaks of the new In colors. We finally found Momento Mall which is where you get to buy Stampin’ Up! merchandise. I spent a bit of money but not as much as I thought I would have. They do have limits on first so it gives everyone a chance to buy at least 1 of each item if they want it. The second day they open up the limits so people can buy as many as they like. Some women go mad and just want to buy up ALL the bags or whatever else. There are great things to give to hostesses as well so I have that in mind for my next trip up there.

We had our first main session on from 2pm and we lined up and got into the 3rd row. I still wasn’t getting excited at that stage but once Shelly got on stage the excitement started building. Then the presentations started. Shelly Gardner is fabulous! She is gorgeous and really inspires you to do more with the business. We also heard from a guy who spoke mainly about Generation Y. It was interesting… Then the stamping started. We had a couple of presentations and workshop wows. Then the exciting Prize Patrol. We all have a wrist band with different patterns and colours and depending on what band you had on was whether you received the free products. Then it was time to go home but we did get a stamp set on our way out as the All attendee giveaway because we reached their first goal of 450 Demonstrators or guests attending. So that was fun. Lynda, Lorna and I all headed back to our hotel the Pavillion on Northbourne and worked out a time to meet up to then go get dinner. I’m very thankful for these lovely ladies as it has meant that I haven’t spent much time by myself except for in my hotel room and having the time in my room by myself has been lovely, not having to wait for someone else to use the bathroom etc etc.

And that concludes day 1.

 

 

 

Our eldest turned 5 this past Tuesday 1st May. She was so excited. We held her birthday party yesterday and I had a bit of fun with making things.

I have seen a lot of tables decorated for parties with the little glass milk bottles and wanted to get some of them so finally found out that you can buy them from Woolworths in the deli section. They are Santa Vittoria drinks with pear or peach nectar in them. They are so cute.

Here is the banner I made using the Pennants Bigz Die from Stampin' Up!

 

Here is the birthday table all decorated. My husband printed off the sentiment in the frame and included a photo for every year Lizzie was.

 

 

These are the handbags I made as the gift bag. I decided not to do lollies in the bag and just do a little notepad that I decorated, a pen, a pencil, some bubbles in a little champagne flute and a necklace. I think a couple of kids were disappointed that there weren't any lollies ... oh well.

 

 

And here is the birthday girl all dressed up and ready for her party.

 

 

Finally .... here is the cake I made. Usually my husband and I make the cake together but this year he was away for a few days leading up to the party so I made the cake. I think if he was around it would have turned out a lot better. He's better at rolling out dough and icing than me. But I didn't think it was too bad for a first try of rolling out the ready made stuff..

Lizzie had a great day with her school and church friends so that was the main aim of the day.

 

 

How would you like to win a One Year Subscription to Paper Crafter's Library. Well I certainly would. I've been a member for over a year now and love it. It is a one stop place to get information on how to use products and loads of techniques, video tutorials and so much more.

Why not go and have a look at their blog and see what its all about and how you can win and you too could win a One year Subscription!

 

 

 

The other week a good friend of ours was needing to take some portraits for her photography course & I, of course, volunteered my girls for her to practice on. I mean, who wouldn't love to have gorgeous photos taken of their children by a photographer? We met out at Fagan Park & had some photos taken. My very good friend Megan has her own blog and I would highly recommend her for any photographing needs that you have. Here are only a few photos that she took of my girls.

 

Here is a photo of our little 2 year old Hannah

 

 

Here is a photo of our big 4 year old Elizabeth (Lizzie)

 

 

And finally here is a photo of both our little girls Lizzie & Hannah.

 

Again, Megan's blog is Megan-Bennett.com

 

 

 

The team that I'm in is having a Christmas Dinner on the 9th December and we're also doing a Secret Santa.  We post out a card to our recipient before the party as a taste of what they will recieve in their christmas present. Here is the card that I received a couple of days ago and I've only just had a chance to put this up on my blog.  It is made with some new Designer paper from the new Summer Mini due out on the 1st December.  If you'd like your own copy of the summer mini, email me and I'll post it out to you so that you will receive it on the 1st December.

 

 

This is Christmas shopping made easy, and makes a perfect gift for anyone crafty (that's you!). The best thing about it is that you'll have some $$ to spend during Sale-a-Bration in January, February and March, when you can earn stamp sets for free for every $100 you spend! Just get your loved ones to send me an email with Gift Certificate in the subject line, and I'll take care of the rest! Or do your own Christmas shopping right now, and get one for someone you love.

 

 

We used Basic Black  & Whisper White card by Stampin Up but they didn't have the ribbon that we wanted but I was able to track some down fairly easily & it was fairly cheap too so we used it on the invitation (in the middle) on the Orders of Service (on the left) & on the place cards (on the right).  The place cards were very easy as well as we just used the top note die by Stampin' Up! to cut them out & just scored them.  Megan had a friend do the writing.  The invitations & orders of service were all just the Manhattan Flower embossing folder by Stampin' Up!

I hope you like them as much as I do.  If only I had my wedding invitations to do over...