Bethinking

Spring Mini Scrapbooking

I've really been enjoying my scrapbooking lately, and I've been using various sketches to make designing some layouts even faster. I also find that colours and patterns come together pretty quickly when I'm using coordinating products.

This page uses a few coordinating products from the Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue. I haven't used any patterned paper on this layout, but have stamped the patterned squares with images from the "A Beautiful Thing" stamp set, and the matching "It's Beautiful" wheel. I've then added some extra dimension with some images from the "Eastern Elegance" rub-ons, which also coordinate with the stamp set. Too easy!

The title was made using our "Lots of Letters" chipboard, which I've sponged with Pink Passion ink then glittered. The "e" letter has been coated with Crystal Effects to give it that shiny, epoxy look. The colours I've used are Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and So Saffron. Some buttons and some flowers from the Pretties kit, dyed to match the other colours, complete the layout!

Happy Birthday

It's my Mum's birthday today, so this card is for her! It uses the new "Bloomin' with Beauty" stamp set from the Spring Mini Catalogue. This set has beautiful images for watercolouring, so I've used it on Watercolour paper with StazOn, then coloured it with Regal Rose, Rose Red, So Saffron and Certainly Celery inkpads and an Aqua Painter.

The background paper is Rose Red prints paper, with some Barely Banana underneath that's stamped with the flourish from Baroque Motifs in So Saffron. I hope my Mum likes it and has a good birthday!

Spring Mini Open House

It still feels cold to me, but apparently Spring is just around the corner! Stampin' Up! have released a new Spring Mini Catalogue, with some gorgeous new stamp sets and accessories. These products are available to purchase from August 1st.

On Friday, 8th August, I'll be having an Open House stamping night at my place in Turramurra, to give you a chance to play with some of the new products. There'll be make 'n takes, prizes and gifts. If you'd like to come along, then please RSVP by August 3rd.

The card on the left uses the "It's Beautiful" wheel, the Always stamp set and the Celebrate Everyday stamp set. I'll post some more samples using the Spring Mini sets over the next few days.

Happily Ever After

Last weekend we we fortunate enough to be invited to the wedding of the lovely Kate and Duncan. Weddings are such a significant occasion, so I always feel like it's a great privilege to be invited to share in them!

Obviously, I needed to make a Wedding card. Luckily I had received some preview stamps from the new Stampin' Up! Spring Mini Catalogue, which begins in August. This stamp set, Always, seemed perfect for the occasion. I made up a few different cards because I couldn't get them to look exactly as I wanted, so I kept experimenting.

To get the overlapping heart images, I stamped and embossed one heart, then masked it with a post-it note, and stamped the second heart. I wanted to keep the colour scheme classic and elegant, so went with Whisper White, Soft Sky and silver embossing powder. The white half pearls are from the pretties kit, and the "always" greeting is layered using the circle punches and scallop circle punch.

The second card is similar, but also uses the Linen background stamp and the word "Cherish" (sorry, it's a bit obscured down the bottom!) from the Warm Words set. I popped up the little flowers on dimensionals to add some depth to the card.

Which one do you like best? Leave a comment to let me know, then in a couple of days I'll tell you which one I decided to give to the bride and groom!

More Festive Cheer

I thought I'd share with you the other projects that are involved in my Christmas in July night tonight. The second card that everyone makes uses some of the "Dashing" designer series paper, and the "Time for a Tree" wheel, with a greeting and snowflake from the Short and Sweet set. It's so easy to choose colours with this great patterned paper - the paper uses Real Red, River Rock and Old Olive, so that's what the card uses. Simple!

I also found instructions for these great little treat boxes on Shelley Hopp's  blog, so I've made some of those as a thank you to the people who are coming tonight - it's a Christmas event, after all, so there needs to be a little gift! Now I just need to work out what yummy things I can put inside...

Christmas in July

Despite the fact that the Calender on the left has been saying "No upcoming events" for a while now, that's not actually true! There are lots of things coming up - I just need to get around to entering them in the Calender!

This Thursday, July 17th at 7:30pm is my first Christmas Card stamping session for the year - Christmas in July. I know it seems early to start Christmas cards, but if you want to make a lot, then 10 a month from now is a good way to do it.

At the class on Thursday you'll make 10 cards, 5 each of two different designs. The card on the left uses the 'Emboss Resist' technique, so you'll also learn how to do that if you're not already an expert!

The class cost is $20. Please let me know ASAP if you'd like me to reserve you a spot!

Happy 1st Birthday!

This card is for sweet little Jemima who is turning 1 today. I hope that she doesn't check out the card here before I have a chance to give it to her in person!

The elephant image is stamped from Nursery Necessities, and the greeting is from Family Phrases, which is made to match the All in the Family stamp set, but is so versatile that it can be used with heaps of different cards. I've used some Berry Bliss DSP to cover the chipboard 1, and added some glitter to the number, although that's a bit tricky to see in the photo.

I chose the colours of the card based on the paper - Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink and Purely Pomegranate, which is definitely my most used colour at the moment. Happy Birthday, Jemima!

Embossing

Way back when I was a really beginner stamper, embossing was one of the techniques I learnt that really wowed me. I love the magical way the heat fuses the embossing powder together to make the image raised and shiny. I still love embossing, and so on this card I embossed the So Swirly wheel in silver, by using VersaMark to stamp the image, then sprinkling silver embossing powder over it. I also embossed the image from Snow Flurries to use as the flower centre, using the "Faux Metal" technique, which is basically layers of embossing.

The colours used for this card are Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White and Basic Black, with silver. The flower petals are from Pick a Petal. If you're keen to learn more about embossing or faux metal, then let me know and I can organise a class or workshop for you!

Celebrate Page

On Saturday night, the Demonstrator team that I'm part of, The Inklings, held a "Cyberstamp" night. One of the challenges was to make a project based on a sketch, so I came up with this 12x12 scrapbook page. I'm trying to get lots of scrapbooking done at the moment so that I've made a decent attempt at my 18 month old daughter's baby album before our new baby arrives in a few weeks!

Kari set the challenges, and found this sketch from Lauren Mead. I used the Big Bold Birthday stamp set, some Fall Flowers paper, the Big Deal Alphabet and the colours Really Rust, Old Olive, Soft Sky and Pretty in Pink to complete the sketch challenge. Thanks for setting great challenges, Kari!

Starter Kit Super Savings!

Stampin' Up! have just announced a great special for July. If you're interested in joining the Stampin' Up! family by becoming a demonstrator, then you can purchase the Starter Kit at $25 off! That makes it $299 for over $560 worth of Stampin' Up! products. The best thing about the Starter Kit is that you can customise it for yourself by choosing the stamp sets and ink colours that you want. Check out this link for more details.

July is also a great time to join because it's the start of a new financial quarter. Meeting quotas as a Demonstrator is really easy, as you only have to sell (or buy for yourself!) $500 worth of products every 3 months. Stampin' Up! even gives you your first quarter for free, so if you join now, then you'll have until December 31st to make your $500 quota.

Whether you're interested in joining just for the 20% discount on products for yourself, or whether you want to start a flexible business that fits around your family, now's the time to join! This special offer runs until 15th August, so please contact me, mail@elisabethstewart.com or 0412 008 027 if you'd like me to send you some more information about joining.