Bethinking

Catalogue Launch Goodness

Thank you so much to all the lovely people who came along to my new Catalogue launch last Friday. It was heaps of fun preparing samples for you all to see, gifts to give away and make 'n takes for everyone to do!

This is how our lounge room looked, taken over by Stampin' Up! displays. I forgot to take photos during the night, but hopefully this gives you some idea of how things looked. I made a "prize tree" using the new Petite Pocket Big Shot die, and some of the Domestic Goddess paper. I think that might be my favourite paper range from the new catalogue. People who won the game of "Bingo" or who booked a workshop got an envelope with a prize voucher inside.

I tried to display some of the different Product Suites that are in the catalogue. This shot shows the Beau Chateau range, which is very me with blue, brown and pink. I used the Island Floral and Fun Flowers dies to make a bunch of flowers for each person to take home with them. I made them in a few different papers, so that people had a choice of colours. The next picture shows the Paisley Petals range.

We also stamped, of course! I'll be back later to show you pictures of some of the cards that we made. I had a fun night, so again, thanks to everyone who came along.

 

A Butterfly Rainbow

I've been wanting to try this rainbow butterfly idea out for a while - ever since I was inspired by the cover of that Martha Stewart {no relation!} magazine last year. However, it's a bit big to try out on a normal card front!

Then recently I needed to make a really big card as a thankyou & farewell card for Felicity's teacher. I asked Felicity what colours she thought I should use, and she suggested all the colours of the rainbow. And so the two ideas merged into one...

The card's made from 2 pieces of 12 x 12 cardstock, so seemed perfect to test out the butterfly spectrum. I stamped and embossed many of the butterflies, which makes them look shiny & textured in real life. The card was certainly big enough for everyone to sign, and Felicity thought it was perfect, so I guess it worked!

Swing

This picture of Annabelle is so typical of her - she loves to swing by lying with her tummy on the swing, so we often get this view of her gorgeous little nappy-covered bottom and grubby feet!

I based my layout for this page on the Case Study challenge for this week, CSC09. The card made by Barbara was beautiful, and I've used my photo as the focal point instead of her main stamped panel. I've also changed up the flower for a butterfly, but I think that it still works!

I think that this combination of Pretty in Pink, Marina Mist and Daffodil Delight {suggested to me by my Colour Coach!} will be getting a lot of use in my house - it satisfies Felicity's need for Pink, Emily's need for Yellow and my need for Blue.

Here's a close up of the butterflies, just in case you're interested in how they look!

Festivities!

I'm just getting ready for my "Christmas in July" class tonight. Hopefully some homemade decorations and yummy treats for my guests will help everyone feel festive!

Circle Scrapping!

I mentioned in my last post how inspiring I find Stampin' Up!'s Convention. All week I've had ideas buzzing around in my head that I've been wanting to try out.

This one is a page inspired by one of the presenters, Shannon West. She showed us some great ideas for using the Circle Scissor Plus tool, including this fantastic scrapbooking layout. So, I had to come home and make my own page. The colours and embellishments that I've used are different, but otherwise it's Shannon's design and layout! My daughters, of course, in the pictures.

Supplies Used

Stamps: Wonderful favourites, I Heart Hearts, Tiny Tags.

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot alphabet, Small heart punch, Heart punch, Jewellery punch, Sticky Cuts, Glitter, felt flowers, brads, buttons,"Hooray" designer hardware, Melon Mambo ribbon and linen thread. 

Stamp Club

Here's what we made at Stamp Club the other night... a straightforward looking card, using the "Rose is a Rose" stamp set, that can magically stand up by itself!

"Easel" cards like this are deceptively simple. Now that I've discovered that, I think I'll be making them a lot more! They'd be especially good for birthday party invitations, or photo cards... lots of possibilities.

I liked it so much that we each made two!

    

Pillow Boxes

I made these boxes as a thank you gift for people who came to my recent Card Buffet. They were so quick and easy to create! I cut the Pillow Box shape using the Big Shot, then embossed each box with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. Some cardstock and ribbon, in new colours of course, was tied around the middle of each one, with a tag from the Tiny Tags stamp set.

The Big Shot cut and scored each box shape in one go. No measuring or scoring was required on my part, so I think these really were the quickest boxes that I have every made!

Mulberry Season!

My girls love the Mulberry Season, and last year we had a great crop until the birds also discovered the tree! Still, I thought that the colours of these photos would be great with the new Cottage Wall paper, with its Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Orchid colour sceme.

I also used the new bird punch, and the Top Note die in my "Big Shot" as my journalling block. I'm loving the Autumn/ Winter mini catalogue!

Something Old, Something New...

It's hard to believe that we're into the last full week of March! Sadly, this means that Stampin' Up!'s Summer Mini Catalogue, and Sale-A-Bration, are coming to an end. If you haven't had a chance to take advantage of the fabulous Sale-A-Bration deal yet, then please contact me this week with your order!

The good, news, though, is that the Autmun/ Winter {larger than usual} Mini catalogue is just around the corner, and here's a card that gives you a sneak peek of some of the catalogue's goodness!

This Friday night I'm holding an "Out With the Old, In with the New" card buffet, where you'll have a chance to make some cards, place any last minute Summer Mini orSale-A-Bration orders, and check out the new Mini products for yourself. Please let me know if you'd like to come along.

In preparation for that, each day this week I'll post a card that shows something from the new catalogue, so make sure you check back to see what I've been creating.