A Thank You Gift for Sophie

Sophie Zadeh is the Stampin' Up! South Pacific Demonstrator Liaison and Training Manager and is always full of enthusiasm and good ideas ~ which she is always quick to share with the demonstrators Down Under.  I wanted to make her a small gift as a token of my appreciation, so came up with the following:

Given how feminine the Twitterpated designer series papers are I just know that Sophie will love this floral paper and hopefully enjoy the Riding Hood Red roses and Pleated Satin Ribbon which is so luxurious!

I have covered a King Island cheese box with two different sheets of the Twitterpated DSP.  The edging on this box is done in Baja Breeze card stock and I have daubed in the same colour ink to give the project a more vintage feel.

The roses are made using the Blossom Party Original Die and Big Shot in Riding Hood Red and the leaves are made with Little Leaves Sizzlet die in Pear Pizzazz.  I added diamantes for extra bling and hope that they add to the "rich" tone of the trinket box.

I added Crystal Effects as dew droplets and stuck all the flowers down with Tom Bow which is an amazing adhesive - love the way that Sophie says this word so just had to include it!

Enjoying Convention,
Shanni x

A Reason to Smile

June is going to be a fabulous month for Stampin' Up! customers - the company is giving everyone A Reason to Smile.  This is a beautiful floral Two Step Stampin' set that is absolutely free with any $125 order or it can be purchased for just $35.95!*

Featuring two gorgeous gerberas and fill flowers this set will be perfect for every project.  I have to admit that Stampin' Up! could not have chosen a better flower to feature as gerberas are my favourites and I could not wait to get my hands on this set.  I will upload some of my projects in the coming weeks.   

The beauty of the stamp designs in the set are that they can be used in at least three different methods that I can instantly think of including Two Step Stampin' images (where you stamp the shaded image and the detailed outline), as outline images which can be shaded and coloured using inks, pens, watercolour pencils and wonder crayons and the shadow images stamps can be used as background stamps for every scrapping and card project.

Contact me today to place your order or alternatively why not book an in-home workshop and I will teach you and your friends how to make two lovely projects using this delightful stamp set.

Shanni xx

*This offer is open to Australian residents only 

Paper Belles Rosettes

So Convention is upon us and I am posting this just as I fly south for three days of conferencing and a day and a bit of sight-seeing.  I am excited but a little sleep deprived and looking forward to all of the amazing things I am going to see, learn and feel. 

These are the gifts that I have done up for the galz in or group whom I will be spending the next four days with. . .

There are twelve of us Paper Belles heading to Canberra and I wanted us to each have something that tied us together without being OTT.  I have made some rosettes for the girls to wear on their jackets, lanyards or bags - in fact some may prefer never to let these little guys see the light of day. . . but what the heck?

The Extra Large Pillow Boxes at the rear of the rosettes contain the Bag Tags which have been featured over the last month - the rear of each Bag Tag has the name of the attendee and I have customised little aspects - added owls for The Night Owls and other little bits and pieces for the chics. Some girls did not have official name badges (and I like to give my down lines a badge that they can wear to Stampin' Up!events) so that is the little attachment you can see on 2-3 of the packages as well.

The rosettes are made using the Bigz XL Flower Fold Die with Spice Cake Designer Fabric which is just beautiful as it manages to straddle earthy and brighter tones easily.  The primary colour combination is More Mustard, Pool Party and Soft Suede. I made the button in the centre - printed The Paper Belles in script on Very Vanilla card stock and then stamped over it with the flourish out of Creative Elements in Crumb Cake and daubed the edge with More Mustard and covered the whole 3/4" punch out with Crystal Effects. 

Each rosette has about twelve layers of fabric - the last or bottom layer is the largest flower from the die - it's made with rubber backed curtain material as I wanted something a bit sturdy so that the whole rosette didn't collapse.  I have also glued a brooch clip to the back of each rosette.

I attached each rosette to a piece of card stock which I had embossed with the mini heart embossing folder from the Adorning Accents Textured Impressions set in the Autumn Winter Mini Catalogue.  I punched out two heart shapes one from the Owl Builder Punch and the other (in Pool Party) using the Small Heart Punch.  I wrote my messages to the glaz on the back.

This rosette is made with a slightly different combination of colours to highlight the earthier tones in the Spice Cake Designer Fabric.  Each of the fourteen rosettes that I made are slightly different and are unique in their own way just like the members in our Paper Belles team.

Having fun in Canberra now and will report back post Convention.

Shanni xx



Roomie Gift

Three more sleeps for me before I am off to the big smoke!

I have put together a small gift for my room mate at Canberra Convention - it is always difficult to decide what to give to people who are crafty. . . you want to make them something to show your understanding of their passion and also you want them to be wow'd by your creativity.  But the hassel is that usually they can do everything that you can do and often do it ten times better!

This year I am sharing with my friend Amanda.  we usually get to catch up once or twice a year, she writes and crafts in her spare time just as I do so we have a lot in common.  Her tastes lean towards vintage and shabby chic and mine do too - but whilst she has exemplary taste, I am a little more thrown together. . . so I always worry that she will like what I give her.

So this is a little On Board Journal that I have covered with some vintage newspaper that has random roses printed through it.  I daubed the edges with Soft Suede ink to tie the whole project together.

The larger rose is made using the Fancy Flower Punch from the same papers, the smaller flower is made with the new Blossom Punch in the Autumn Winter Mini and Very Vanilla card stock which I tinted with a damp tea bag and the smallest flower I have made with the retired Trio Flower Punch and retired Creamy Caramel card stock which I have also tinted with a damp tea bag.

The second part of the gift is an old style tin port or lunch box which I have covered with the same paper series.  I sanded the edges to make sure that they don't run the risk of lifting and daubed them with Soft Suede ink.

The pattern on the paper is quite busy so I kept the tag on the handle simple.  The letter "a" is from the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet.  I used Cherry Cobbler card stock and applied Crystal Effects to make it pop.  The ribbon is Soft Suede Taffeta Ribbon which I think is so rick looking and silky to touch.

The final part of the treat is that I filled the tin with hand made flowers from retired designer series papers such as Love Letter and Raspberry Tart - both of which I adore. 

Hope she likes them!

Shanni xx

Tickled Pink!

I love joining my friend Michelle's Make It Monday linky party each week (although I missed this week because my back was not co-operative) - ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com.  I have been joining for about three months now and finally feeling more confident about what to link up - the bloggers who frequent Michelle's site are connoisseurs .

I was the winning commenter last week, not only did I link at position 1 but I was selected by random.org for leaving a message on Sandy's blog Lonely Cards.

If you are looking to build your blogging presence or to force yourself to blog regularly and visit other like sites then linky parties are the way to go.  Always remember that it is good blogging etiquette to leave comments and to follow up on comments that are left for you.

Thanks to Meljen Design Digital Stamps for sponsoring the linky party - you rock!

I'm excited!

Shanni

Stampin' Up! Convention 2012 - Canberra

People are probably wondering what I have been going on about for the past month. . . Stampin' Up! Convention in Canberra that's what!. . . This huge annual event is almost upon us. . . in fact four more sleeps and we will be making our way south to the national capital to join with other mad and enthusiastic Stampin' Up! demonstrators from all around Australia and New Zealand for a celebration of all things Stampin' Up!.

We have three days packed with creativity, fun, games, give aways and inspiration and the best part about it is sharing it with other members of the Paper Belles team.  This year there are a dozen of us heading to Convention (although we have also adopted a couple more), we have a few different things planned in addition to the official Stampin' Up! Convention activities - Virginia from Canberra Guided Tours has been awesome and organised a wine tour of three wineries in the Murrambateman area, we are going to take in the sights of the country side surrounding Canberra and visit a great scrapping and craft shop to whet our appetite for the convention events.

This years Convention is themed "I Am" and it seems to be geared to inspiring Stampin' Up! demonstrators to manage their demonstratorships their way, to be creative in their own individual fashion and to share that independence and inspiration with everyone in their world. . . I look forward to being inspired and energised by the presenters and other demonstrators from the South Pacific.

I am getting a vintage feel from the Convention logo and look forward to seeing the sneak peeks of the upcoming catalogue stamp sets and products.  Customers will have to wait until September to see the things that demonstrators get to see a little earlier.

This year for the first time Stampin' Up! are offering an additional class on the Friday night of Convention - usually this would be free time in the busy convention schedule.  The I Am Creative Class is going to be amazing - all of the products (including the stamp set) are supplied for the three hour class.  The project is an advent calendar and we have been given a peek at part of it.

The colours of the new Christmas designer series papers look exciting - and I love anything with bling so I am going to be delighted with this project.  I only hope that I can keep up with the class as I am a bit of a perfectionist in the way that I create so it will be interesting on so many levels!

I would love it if you could join me for next year's Convention.  "How?" you may ask.  Easy - simply get your own account with Stampin' Up! by joining the Paper Belles Team and you can register for the event from February 2013. . . and the best part is that there has never been a better time to join, especially during the May Paper Party Promotion.  You can join for just $169, tailor the products that you receive as your starter kit and receive a pack of designer series papers every month for the next six months!  Check out my Stampin' Up! website for more information - there is a link over on the right hand margin right at the top.

Sharing the love

Shanni xx

Last Bag Tag for Convention

Wow - I have five days until I am off to Canberra Convention and I am a tad excited!  I have finished all of my bag tags and other little creations.  Here is the last one:

So same recipe as the others Two Tags Bigz Die - chipboard base, the reverse side of this has Basic Black card stock and Cherry Cobbler lettering using the Timeless Type Junior Alphabet.  For this tag however I have used Timeless Portrait Designer Fabric - this is such a rich looking material - the deep black tones and the vibrant Cherry Cobbler red is hard to resist.

I used Adhesive Sheets with the fabric and it went onto the chipboard so smoothly. I then daubed the edges with Basic Black ink.  The flower is made using Cherry Cobbler card stock and the largest flower from the Blossom Party Original Die - I cut out four with the shottie and twisted them around to make the 3D flower shape.  Crystal Effects for the dew droplets and Always Artichoke card stock for the leaves.

The ribbons on this tag are Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black Scalloped Dots Ribbon, Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon which I simply adore and Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon.  The jewellery hanging from the chain are the Crown Trinkets and Key Trinkets which are just so gorgeous in real life that I cannot resist adding them to this type of project.

You can see where I made a slight boo-boo with the Crystal Effects in the throat of the flower - but you get the good with the bad and I am sure that it will all be overlooked at the end of the day.

Am going to finish packing now. . .

Back soon

Shanni xx