November 20, 2010
12 Days of Christmas Projects – Project #1
Where has the time gone? I can’t believe that we’ve just had Week 6 of school!! There are only 3 weeks of Term 4 left (GAH!!!). Did that scare you? Me too. I haven’t even started Christmas shopping yet and I’ll need to get my skates on because I’ll need to do most of it while the children are at school (don’t want them spying anything they shouldn’t!)
To help you get organised with cards and gift-giving this year, over the coming weeks until Christmas I’ll be posting 12 Christmas Projects to inspire and get you all ready for your Christmas Celebrations. I was going to call this the 12 Weeks of Christmas but considering that there are only FIVE (*gasps*) weeks left it would have been the condensed version LOL.
Each week until Christmas I will be sharing two Christmas projects with you until we have a total of 12 projects.
Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think of them!
Christmas Project #1 – Holly!
To kick things off, I’m sharing how you can make cute Holly leaves with your punches:
Holly. Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
To recreate the Holly – simply punch out 3 ovals with the Oval-Extra-Large (2″x 1 3/8″) punch in Old Olive cardstock. Next, take your 1″ circle punch and punch out “bites” from around the edge of the oval shape. You’ll soon get the knack for getting a nice pointy end. To make the Holly leaves look more realisitc, sponge the edges with Old Olive ink using a Sponge Dauber (great for getting into those small curves).
I also used my Bone Folder to create a vein down the centre of each Holly leaf. What I love about making these is that each leaf will be different because you’ll never punch out the “bites” in exactly the same way twice – this adds to the natural look of your Holly. I punched out three circles with my 1/2″ circle punch in Cherry Cobler cardstock (my FAVOURITE Christmas red!!!). If you have time, add a layer of Crystal Effects over the ‘berries’ and let them dry overnight.
To create the band along the length of the card, I took some Cherry Cobbler cardstock and adhered it to a strip of Jolly Holiday DSP (slightly longer than my card length). I then put the two strips through my Crimper. Pretty! The greeting is from the stamp set called Curly Cute and is indeed very cute (and curly LOL).
You can make different sizes of Holly simply by using smaller oval and circle punches:
How to make Holly. Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
Here are some other projects that I’ve made using my punched Holly leaves:
Holly Gift Boxes. Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
I hope this inspires you to make your own Holly leaves and be creative with them!
Thankyou for visiting!
November 17, 2010
Can’t get enough of my friends.
I am just loving watercolouring at the moment! This image is the cutest ever and is a really lovely size to spend a decent amount of time perfecting my watercolouring skills.
Friendship Card. Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
Again, this is a very simple design with little ‘fuss’ or ‘bling’ but I think it’s just right. I’m also LOVING the wide striped ribbons – they’re softer than you’d imagine and are really nice on cards. The simple knot doesn’t overpower the card, whereas I think if I’d tied a bow or fake knot (with loose ends etc), that it’d be a bit too much, don’t you think?
The cardstock is So Saffron, with watercolour paper (with a Scallop Trim edge). The ribbon is Marina Mist and I’ve added Marina Mist and So Saffron buttons – so cute!
Thankyou for visiting!
November 15, 2010
The Nicest things…
It was “Grandparents and Special Friends” Day at our children’s school today. My mum and dad were able to come up and visit the children and listen to them explaining their school work and showing them their special pieces of art. It was so lovely. Little Master 7 showed Poppa all his maths work and took great pride in explaining each page – he always says he’s a “Reading Machine” and now he’s a “Math’s Machine” (he must get his maths ‘genes’ from his dad ‘cos he sure doesn’t get them from me!!!LOL.) Little Miss 9 made a pottery pencil holder with Gran and showed her all around the computers and they played some maths challenge games together. My dear friend Linda surprised Little Miss 9 by arriving at 10.30am… Little Miss 9 had invited our friend Linda but as she lives in Bridgewater, I thought it would be a real stretch for her to make it (and so had prepared Little Miss 9 so as to avoid disappointment)… but I had secretly been TEXTing with Linda and knew she could make it afterall!! YAY!!!!!
Having a friend like Linda is such a special gift and I’m so thankful for knowing her… this card is in honour of friendships, even if distance keeps us apart, we are not apart in our hearts.
The Nicest Things. Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
The stamped image is from the set “The Nicest Things”, and I’ve watercoloured the image on Stampin’ Up! watercolour paper. This is a lovely simple design and very quick to put together. I ran a Stampin’ Up! paper daisy through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder which I had inked with Marina Mist ink. It’s a pretty effect, yes? I also punched a border with the Scallop Trim border and corner punches – I just adore these punches!!! (SPOILER ALERT….. You wait until the December Summer mini….. there is another GORGEOUS punch design – corner and matching edge- coming out!!!! OHhhhhhhh, soooo pretty!) But you’ll just have to wait, tee hee.
Thankyou for visiting.
November 9, 2010
Oh so delicate.
Here’s another sample card of one of my Demonstrations at the Regional Training Day . This one is of my Window Sheet Butterflies. I just LOVE this technique.
Delicate Butterflies
I used a Stampin’ Up! Window Sheet and ran it though the Big Shot on my Beautiful Butterflies die. The Window Sheets cut beautifully and have a very crisp edge. I then placed the larger butterfly in my Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and embossed it in the Big Shot. I felt that the butterflies needed a bit more definition (especially if you’re putting them on a light-coloured background), so I gently sponged the edges of the window sheet with my White StazOn ink. The StazOn will also help camoflage the mini glue dots that you’ll need to use to adhere the butterfly to your projects. You’ll find that the butterflies stand out better on darker coloured cardstock, but experiment and see how it looks on other colours! I then layered the smaller butterfly on the top of the larger one and finished them off with Basic Pearls. *sigh*
I’ve used Elegant Eggplant textured cardstock and embossed the corner of it with the same embossing folder (Elegant Bouquet). Oh, if you like the size of this card, it’s one of Stampin’ Up!’s Note Cards which is SOOOO cute. They are 8.9cm x 12.7cm and come with matching envelopes too.
I created a few more samples using this technique so stay tuned for more examples.
Enjoy.
Hello little Blog…
Oh my goodness me, I do apologise for such a long break between posts…. (you know what it’s like…. life *sigh*) but anyway, let’s get right back into things, shall we?
Last Saturday was the Adelaide Regional Seminar (training day) and I was lucky enough (hah! I drew the short straw I think!!!) to be asked to present a demonstration up on stage (oh the terror!). I had such a fun day meeting up with other Demonstrators (*waves to fellow demos I met on the day*), learning lots of fun techniques, playing with our stamp set for the FOUR Make & Takes and sitting with such a great bunch of friends. If you’d like to join me next year, contact me about how you can do it too!
Anyway, back to the fun stuff…. As many of you who know me, know…. I LOVE my Big Shot and so I decided to demonstrate some cute embellishments that you can create to adorn your cards and scrap pages. Here’s a sneak peek at what I demonstrated:
This technique is called “Ink to Embossing Folder” (or something similar. LOL.)
Bashful Blue Butterflies
The photo is a little bit fuzzy, but you can see the beautiful deep embossed areas. Want to know how I did it? It’s super easy and so much fun!
- Cut out your chosen shape (in this case, I used my Big Shot to cut out the butterflies with the Beuatiful Butterflies Bigz die)
- Choose an embossing folder (mine was Vintage Wallpaper)
- Choose a complimentary ink colour to your cardstock (mine is Marina Mist ink on Bashful Blue cardstock)
- Use a brayer to roll ink onto one side of your embossing folder (or you could just use an ink pad to swipe over the folder)
- Position your butterfly on the folder and run it through the Big Shot.
- Ta Daaaa! Oooh pretty.
- To clean, simply run your embossing folder under running water as Stampin’ Up!’s inks are water-based, they make cleaning up super dooper easy.
I love ths simplicity of this card design and there’s almost no stamping! I like to sponge the edges of my butterflies to give them some definition – it just “finishes them off” I think.
Enjoy.
Keep posted for more samples.
June 8, 2010
So Tweet.
Here’s a cute card I made for my niece’s birthday. I LOVE the On Board So Tweet chipboard pieces.
Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
Not much stamping here! I’ve used textured cardstock and Designer Series Paper to cover the chipboard – with Tombow Glue to glue it in place. The legs have been inked with Sponge Daubers in Chocolate Chip.
The colours are Regal Rose, Pink Pirourette, Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip.
I can’t wait to see what the Deal of the Week is for tomorrow!! I almost want to stay up late to find out, but alas… I’m too sleepy. A sick little kiddlywink had me up last night attending to coughs and splutters and I’m feeling it now!
)
April 22, 2010
Purple Pony!
Ah, this stamp set called Pony Party is very cute and brings back memories of the My Little Pony‘s of the 1980′s!!! However, like many great toys of the 80′s, My Little Pony is popular for our own children! I remember that my friend had a couple of My Little Pony’s … I never did, but was ALWAYS jealous! Now I can stamp my own!
Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
I’m not sure if you can make it out in the photo, but the cardstock with the saying at the bottom of the card has deliberately been curled and I’ve also curved it as I adhered it to the card.
Here’s a trick you can try next time you use a Roller Wheel… If you wheel your design diagonally across your cardstock you’ll end up with a better finish than if you roll your wheel horizontally (from left to right ) across your cardstock. It obviously works best with a random or swirly image rather than a wheel with writing on it (cos that would just be down-right weird and also slightly tricky to READ!!!)… give it a go! I think the reason is that it tricks the brain and you can’t “see” the join of the wheeled images – especially useful if your cardstock is wider than your wheel and you need to do two or more “runs” over the cardstock to cover it. You can see by the direction of the little cloud on my card above that I’ve wheeled it diagonally.
I showed some workshop guests the difference between covering a piece of cardstock by wheeling horizontally (left to right, parallel to the long edges of the cardstock) and then compared it to wheeling diagonally – the difference was huge! Naturally when you’re using a wheel there may be some wider gaps between each run of the wheel, so rolling diagonally tends to hide these small gaps a lot better than if you were to roll parallel to the cardstock. Again – I love finding ways to hide my mistakes!!!
Stamps: Pony Party, Dream standard wheel.
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Lovely Lilac, Pixie Pink, Whisper White.
Ink: Basic Black, Pixie Pink, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery.
Accessories: Blender Pens, Scallop Edge Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Elegant Eggplant Ribbon, 2 Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diaomnds Glitter.
Julia XX
April 20, 2010
Hello Human
Isn’t this robot the cutest? This set is called Lots of Bots and is available from the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue.
Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
I KNOW I’ve said it before, but I LOVE colouring in stamped images – I find it very relaxing and will often sit and stamp out a whole sheet of cardstock and then colour in the images while watching/listening to the telly when hubby is out on a Wednesday evening. I LUUUURVE *MY* Wednesday nights!!!! – Not ‘cos hubby is OUT but ‘cos of the stampin’-time – thought I’d clarify that! LOL.
Lots of Bots has this cute little stamp that has 3 nuts and bolts on it and I’ve randomly and repeatedly stamped that image over the Tangerine Tango cardstock to create a stamped background. If you look REALLY carefully you can just see it. I’ve also gone for texture, hardware and staples on this card as it adds to the whole technology/robotty theme.
Stamps: Lots of Bots
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, Pacigic Point, Whisper White.
Inks: Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Striped Ribbon, Blender Pens, Jumbo Eyelets, Crop-o-dile, staples, Big Shot, Polka Dot embossing folder, Corner Rounder Punch.
Julia XX
April 18, 2010
Procrastination…You VEX me!
I’m just popping on quickly to share a card with you, and then I really MUST get on with work. Because I have the luxury of being able to work from home, I can spread out my workload over the course of the week, however, I’ve put it off already and REALLY should be doing it RIGHT now… but you know what it’s like…cards are calling me!!! … I’m such a procrastinator!!!
If I can just share ONE card, then I’ll happily go and do my work. *nods* I will, honestly!!
Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
Ahhh, that’s better – I love my Vintage Vogue set and the matching Jumbo wheel; Very Vintage. I thought I’d age the card a little with some tearing and sponging… it just goes so well with this set.
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Jumbo Wheel – Very Vintage.
Cardstock and Paper: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla, Bella Rose Designer Series Paper.
Inks: Riding Hood Red (stamped image on lower portion of card), Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa (sponging around the edges of Very Vanilla cardstock).
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, button from own stash, Stampin’ Sponges.
NOW I can go and get on with my work ….. although, I *DO* have an Anniversary card I really need to make……………………. 
Julia XX
April 15, 2010
Flower Fancy.
Here’s a simple card with the Flower Fancy stamp set , Very Vanilla cardstock as my base card with Chocolate Chip cardstock, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip ink.
Design by Julia. Stamped Images © Stampin’ Up!
I LUUURVE these colours. If you have a Stampin’ Up! Idea Book & Catalogue, check out page 7 – I pretty much CASED the Pillow Box but made my version for a card.
Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip look so good together – even if I do say so myself. I’ve lightly coloured in the small flower with my Blender Pens and Baja Breeze ink. This is a Two-Step set and is so pretty.
Wow – this last week of the school holidays has flown by! (I had my birthday last Friday – which was lovely; will share some cards with you soon!) I convinced my husband what a good idea it would be for me to go to Officeworks on Saturday to get some storage drawers… and then spent a lot of this week sorting, storing, organising and then re-sorting and re-organising to get things “just right”! I think I have it how I like it now (I think?)
We met up with my cousin from England last Sunday… I was 14 years old when I saw her last – WOW it’s been 23 years since we moved to Australia!!! It just doesn’t seem that long ago to be honest. It was terrific meeting her again after so long – it was lovely to hear her accent and chat. She brought her 21 year old daughter with her (who is just adorable), and we had a lovely day with my mum & dad and my brother and his family… we had a picnic at Glenelg – and the weather stayed good!!!
We’ve caught up with friends during this week and will visit Linda and her son Tyler tomorrow with my friend Maria and her daughter for a play-date. *phew*.
AND…. I still need to take the children clothes-shopping before school. I have to take my daughter shopping with me now to try on trousers and jeans as she’s quite slim, but tall for her age – and the elastic/adjustable jeans just don’t fit right if I buy her the size as per her age. GRRR. It was always so much easier to be able to just buy off the rack (my choice of style – YAY!!) and know that the clothes would fit – now I have to take the children and that means we’re hitting the next stage of their growing up…Ahhh, now I’ll be getting her opinions about styles and designs *rollseyes* LOL. Fun, fun, fun.
I hope you’ve been enjoying your school holidays (if you have time off!!).
Julia XX
