Bethinking

Thanks!

I really had a great time last night at my Summer Mini Catalogue launch. Thanks to everyone who came along! I wanted to give everyone who was here a treat to say thanks for coming, so instead of giving chocolates or lollies I decided to give "Card Candy". Instead of a lolly bag it's a bag of pre-stamped images that you can use straight on your cards. All the images use new sets from the Summer Mini catalogue. I hope everyone has fun using their "Card Candy"!

You're Invited...

... to my Mini Catalogue launch! The new Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalogue sales period starts on Saturday, so this Thursday night, 29th November, at 7:30 pm I'm having an Open House at my place in Turramurra, to give people a chance to try out some of the new products. There'll be Make 'n Takes, Prizes, new techniques to learn and a surprise for everyone who attends. The pictures show the projects that we'll be making on the night. All of them use new products from the catalogue. Please send me an email (mail@elisabethstewart) and let me know if you would like to attend. If you would like to place an order from the new catalogue but can't make it on the night, then I'd be happy to put a catalogue in the post for you as well.

Spring Mini last chance!

The Stampin' Up! Spring Mini catalogue is fabulous, but Spring is almost over and so this week is your last chance to purchase products from this catalogue! My personal favourite sets that I'm going to be very sad to see go are "Scribble This", "Polka Dots and Petals" and "Office Accoutrement."

This card uses a few of those sets & their matching accessories. Polka Dots and Petals, Office Accoutrement and the matching Notations paper and Little Reminders Accents and Elements.

Please contact me (mail@elisabethstewart.com) this week if you'd like to place an order from the Spring Mini catalogue, or from the November specials - All in the Family and the Holiday Thyme paper. Thanks!

Big Blooms

This is another preview card! It's not long until the Summer Mini catalogue purchase period begins, and I know that some of you are already putting your wish lists together. This card is made with the new set called "Big Blooms". The colours I've used are Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise and Close to Cocoa. I put together the pieces for the big flower image then embossed the whole lot together with Versamark and clear embossing powder so that it's shiny. I liked it matted on a circle, and I punched holes in the circle and joined the holes with my white gel pen to give it a faux stitched look. I really love the new ribbon - this piece is from the "Flirty" ribbon originals pack, which is also from the Summer Mini.

If you'd like to see more of the Summer Mini catalogue products, you're very welcome to come to my Open House Catalogue launch next Thursday night. It's at 7:30pm at my place in Turramurra. There'll be techniques to learn, prizes, make and takes and of course a chance to see some of the new products in action. Please let me know if you'd like to come along by Monday, 26th November. mail@elisabethstewart.com  Alternatively, let me know if you'd like me to send a Mini Catalogue out to you and I'd be very happy to do that!

Watercolouring

One of the aspects of Stamping that I like best is watercolouring. I especially like the effect that you can get with Stampin' Up!'s watercolour paper. For this card, I've stamped the City of David image on watercolour paper with StazOn, then coloured it with an Aqua Painter and my Stampin' Write markers in the Earth Elements colours. The colours blend so nicely on the watercolour paper!

The card stock colours I've used here are Pumpkin Pie, with Really Rust and Not Quite Navy for the matting. I used the French Flair background stamp on the background card (That stamp is from the Summer Mini catalogue - ask me if you'd like to see a catalogue!) and inked the "Peaceful" part of the Peaceful Wishes stamp with my Not Quite Navy marker. The markers are great if you just want to stamp part of an image - you can just colour in the part of the stamp that you want! A little bit of cream organdy ribbon finished it off. Hope you like it. I'll be having another Christmas card class in December, so let me know if you'd like to come along to finish off your home made Christmas cards.

Preview!

Obviously I love Stampin' Up! products, so I'm pretty excited about the fact that the new Summer Mini Catalogue is coming out. As demonstrators we've been able to take a look at the products early, so I've made up a couple of samples to give you your own personal Preview of the Catalogue. These cards use the French Flair background stamp and the Carte Postale stamp set, as well as the matching "Enchante" designer series paper. (Are you picking up the "French" theme yet?)

The colours I've used are Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery and Sage Shadow, with Very Vanilla cardstock as well and a bit of Chocolate Chip thrown in for good measure.

If you would like to receive a copy of the new Summer Mini Catalogue at no charge, I'm happy to post one to you anywhere in Australia. Send me an email: mail@elisabethstewart and I'll put one in the post for you!

A Very Special Stamp Set

Stampin' Up! is running a very special promotion this month.

As many of you know, the Australian General Manager, Dave Abbott, recently passed away from a rare blood disease, at the age of 41, leaving behind his wife and 3 young children. Stampin' Up! being the incredible company they are have just released the stamp set called 'All In The Family' in Australia in order to raise money for Dave's family. 100% of the proceeds of the sale of this stamp set worldwide will be donated to Dave's young family - not just the profits but 100% of the sale price worldwide…. now that's a company with heart!
I would like as many of you as possible to be able to buy this set, so I will be passing my Demonstrator discount on to you. I won't make any money from it, but hopefully I can help raise some money for Dave's family.
You can see the stamp set, and a picture of Dave and his family here. The All in the Family stamp set will appear in the Idea Book & Catalogue 2008-2009 (which will be released in April), but has been pre-released to raise money for the Abbott family. The set will not be available again after 30 November until 1 April.

This Promotion runs from

1st - 30th November.
I am offering it to you at 20% off!

So, instead of $73.95, you'll pay only $59.15

(plus shipping and handling)

Email me (mail@elisabethstewart.com)  if you'd like to buy a very versatile stamp set, and help out a family in need at the same time. I can ship anywhere in Australia for just $5.95.

Another way to help is to contribute directly to the fund. You may make a deposit into the following bank account:
Westpac Kent Street (branch) 283-285 Kent Street Sydney 2000

BSB: 032134 Acc. No: 132523 Contact name: Brano Plesko

I've had a chance to make a couple of things with my set, and I love it! I made this tag to be on the cover of our 2007 family photo album. I stamped the image with StazOn black on Stampin' Up! Watercolour paper, then coloured it using inks and markers with my Aqua Painter.

I also made a birthday card for a party my daughter is going to tomorrow (Happy Birthday, Jack!). The set is so versatile - I've also got plans for a baby card, wedding card and more, so keep checking back here as I'll be posting more examples soon.

Email me (mail@elisabethstewart.com)  if you'd like to buy a very versatile stamp set, and help out a family in need at the same time.

Holiday Thyme

It's November already - better start thinking about those Christmas presents, cards and decorations! The Stampin' Up! special for this month is great - a pack of designer series double-sided paper. This Holiday Thyme paper is only available during November, and it's only $14.50 for 12 sheets.

I've already played a bit with mine, and made a few different things. A 6 x 6 scrapbook page, a Christmas cracker and a Pocket card - great as a classy way of giving a gift voucher or Christmas letter. The Pocket card uses the "Riveting" and "All About You" stamp sets, and the scrapbook page uses "In Any Event", a hostess set. There's not a lot of stamping on these projects - the patterned paper makes it really easy to get a great effect quickly. And of course, the paper colours coordinate with all the Stampin' Up! colours - Cranberry Crisp, True Thyme, Old Olive, Bashful Blue and Bravo Burgundy. For more information check out this  link then contact me to place your order: mail@elisabethstewart.com .

Still the favourite!

I did warn you that I love this stamp set! At the last team training session I went to, we learnt how to do a stamping technique called "Crayon Resist", so I've been practicing with my daughter's white crayon (she hasn't missed it yet!) and my Scribble This stamp set. I've used Glossy white cardstock, and the 4 colours are Cool Caribbean (current favourite colour), Certainly Celery, Regal Rose and Rose Red.

The layout of this card is based on a card idea from Alisa Tilsner. The "Thanks" stamp is from the set "Riveting", which is one of the sets that you can earn free when you host a Stampin' Up! workshop. I've punched it out and used some Crystal Effects on the centre flower to make it shiny.  I think I've still got some more practice to do, but I'm loving using this stamp set. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what your current favourite stamp set is!

My Favourite Stamp Set

My current favourite stamp set, although this does change fairly often, is "Scribble This". It's really my style, and I love the way it looks when it's coloured in using Stampin' Up!'s Watercolour Wonder crayons or Stampin' Write markers. It's really versatile, too. I've used it on heaps of cards and scrapbook pages. Another great thing about it is that it has a matching Stampin' Around wheel, (appropriately called "Scribble") which is fantastic to use with the big flowers from the stamp set. It's a really detailed wheel - rubber stamping is great for the detail it allows in the images.

The only problem with the "Scribble This" set, is that it's in the Spring Mini Catalogue, so it's only available to buy until the end of November! The same with the "Polka Dots and Paisleys" designer series paper that I've also used in this layout.

To create this scrapbook layout, I used the Scribble Wheel with Creamy Caramel ink and coloured it with inks and markers. I stamped the big flowers with black StazOn, and watercoloured them as well, then put Crystal Effects on top to give them a glossy finish. I've used White Craft ink for the title, with some glitter added, and also white for the background.

If you'd like to order anything from the  Spring Mini Catalogue   you can do that through me - I'm based in Turramurra, Sydney, but am happy to organise for orders to be shipped anywhere in Australia! Please contact me on mail@elisabethstewart.com .