My Digital Studio Has Landed - FREE Options!

Hello World!

I am so excited today as My Digital Studio has officially arrived in Australia! Stampin' Up! announced on line shopping last night and today you can purchase the My Digital Studio software on line for the amazing price of $24.95! There are also lots of FREE add ons.

How awesome is that?

I can't wait to stop and have a play with this amazing digital publishing software. Watch this Space!

If you have used PhotoShop, Picassa and Publisher previously you are gonna LOVE this software because it is so easy! Because it is so intuitive and it is so versatile. . .

I know. . . I am so excited that I want everyone to check it out.  Click on my Shop Online link on the right hand column or check it out via my Stampin' Up! website www.stampingshanni.stampinup.net ~ the great part is that you can have a 30 day trial for FREE!

Let me know what you think and if you have any questions drop me a line.

Wish you could see the jig I am dancin' right now.
Shanni xx

Shimmery Secret Garden

Love the new Secret Garden stamp set for lots of reasons. The first reason is that the set comes with matching framelit dies so there is no need to fussy cut stamped images. . . another reason is that there is such a variety of flowers (styles, sizes and shapes) and another reason is that there are outlined and solid images in the set!

Here is one of my recent creations:

I heat embossed the stamped images in white embossing powder and then coloured the flowers with inks using an aqua painter.  I used Melon Mambo, Rose Red and Pretty in Pink inks. The base card is Crumb Cake double mounted on Melon Mambo card stock.

 

The filler flowers are stamped in craft white ink and Rose Red.

The ribbon is the new Two Tone in Pink Pirouette/Rose Red from the Seasonal Making a Difference Mini catalogue. It is so shimmery, soft and pliable - easy to tie. I attached the sentiments from Bloomin Marvelous (a Sale-a-Bration set) with white bakers twine after I had punched them with the Ticket Duo Builder punch.

Last but not least I sprayed the whole card with diluted Frost White Shimmer Paint (and isocol rubbing alcohol) to give the whole card a shimmery look.

Thanks for popping by!
Shanni xx

Feeling Sentimental & Needing Inspiration

Everyone loves FREE and with Stampin' Up!'s biggest sale of the year Sale-a-Bration currently afoot there are some amazing products to choose from including the awesome and very versatile Feeling Sentimental stamp set.

Feeling Sentimental has three images and the word "celebrate" as its sentiment.  The images include a Penny Farthing Bicycle, a Ferris Wheel and a traditional English style Telephone Booth. They have hatching and shading around the images which means they are ready to go for any project.

I thought that I would simply share my creations from this week with you (they are all very straight forward):

This card is made with Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple and Very Vanilla Cardstock, First Edition Specialty DSP and stamped in Midnight Muse. I used the Feeling Sentimental and That's the Ticket stamp sets along with the Take a Ticket Wheel.

This card uses Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake and Raspeberry Ripple card stock along with First Edition Specialty DSP. The stamped images are in Mignight Muse ink and the sentiment is stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock. I have daubed the edges with Crumb Cake ink.

The Basic Black and Crumb Cake card stocks contrast nicely especially with the black stamped on Very Vanilla.  I embossed the background of the card base with the Argyle Embossing Folder. 

The same colour scheme but with the background embossed with the Chevron embossing folder gives a slightly different effect.

Simple black and white always holds appeal and gives the impression that this is a vintage card.

By centering the sentiment it changes the theme of the card to have a more formal appeal.

I wanted this card to feel as if I was taking a snap shot of interesting architecturally appealing things. Once again the black and white colour scheme provides vivid contrast. I daubed the edges of the images with Basic Gray ink to soften the card a little.

If you are an Australian resident and you would like to take advantage of Sale-a-Bration and earn some free products with your purchase contact me today - shannean@completeba.com.au - I would be happy to help.

That is this week's ideas for Feeling Sentimental. . . I hope it leaves you feeling creative.

Chat soon

Shanni

Tea For Two DSP & Flower Trim

My favourite Designer Series Paper at the moment is Tea for Two in the Seasonal Making a Difference Mini. . . it has floral images, type, retro patterns and so much more and there is a vintage treatment that makes it look older. . . it appeals to the romance in me.

I have been playing with it heaps in the past week and will share some of my creations in posts to inspire you with it too!

The background is the Distressed Dots stamp and I have simply cut pennants from the Tea for Two DSP and some Rose Red card stock.  I included some Tango Tangerine satin ribbon that is FREE with the Sale-a-Bration promotion and tied around the card with Calypso Coral Bakers Twine. 

The butterflies were punched with the Elegant Butterfly and the Bitty Butterfly punches from Tea for Two DSP and decorated with a punched flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes punches and some rhinestones for added bling.

You will see that I also attached three individually cut flowers from the Flower Trim in the Making a Difference Mini. . . I can't get enough of this trim and the flowers colour up really nicely as you will see from the next card.

I have simply rubbed the flowers over the Rose Red ink pad to add a dash of colour and dimension.

Next a card that is a little bit more formal using the Tea for Two DSP and Swallowtail stamp. The base card is Sahara Sand and the butterfly is stamped in that ink too.  The rose patterned paper has hatching and faux stitching which perfectly matches Sahara Sand.

The flowers were coloured up with the Primrose Petals ink and the ribbon is the Primrose Petals Stitched Satin. The little leaves under the flowers are from the Oh Hello stamp set and have been fussy cut to contrast with the DSP and flowers.

The sentiment is Just for You stamped in olive green and I cut both ovals with the Framelit Oval dies in Very Vanilla and Primrose Petal.

Hope that you like how I have used the Tea for Two papers so far, stay tuned for more in the next few weeks. . .

Shanni xx 

Bless You Tissue Paper!

I am loving so many things from the Seasonal Making a Difference Catalogue and seem to be discovering new things every time I page through it. . . one of the items that I wanted to "play" with is the Creped Filter Paper.

This Creped Filter Paper looks as fine as tissue paper but is as strong as card stock and can be used for all the purposes that card stock can be.  Stay tuned over the coming weeks for some projects incorporating this versatile new paper.

Not content to leave the Creped Filter Paper white I wanted to add some colour so I spritzed a page with water then added a few drops of reinker in Pool Party, Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy. I then re-spritzed in order that the colours leached into each other. It was amazing how quickly the filter paper dried. Do not panic if the colours seem very dark ~ they will dry off a lot lighter.

I then stamped with Versamark using the stem stamp from Field Flowers and the two flower stamps from Fabulous Florets and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I was stunned at how quickly and evenly the image glossed up. I then mounted the stamped image on Whisper White cardstock and again on Not Quite Navy card stock

 

Stampin' Up! has introduced this beautiful Delicate Details Lace Tape which is a bit like washi tape but stronger. I am loving it as well - this is the smaller of the two sizes of tape that we have. I have also snuck in a piece of Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper as the pennant at the rear and a Designer Builder Brad which I made with some of the Creped Filter Paper ~ I wanted it to look a bit like a moonstone. I also snuck in a piece of doilie to add to the feeling of luxury.

The Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper has a great combo of colours and designs in the selection ~ Island Indigo, Pool Party, Rich Razzleberry and Tangerine Tango just to name a few. This paper is an exclusive gift when you spend $100 or more on Stampin' Up! products until 22 March.

If you would like to book a party or host a class let me know as soon as possible to take advantage of all the FREE stuff that you can earn during Sale-a-Bration.  Of course as always this offer is limited to Australian residents and obviously it is essential that you live in the Cairns region.

So the next little creation I came up with using the same style of image is this one:

I simply cut the stamped image out using the Ovals Collection Framelit Dies.  I also cut a "frame" using the same dies (two sizes apart) in Not Quite Navy card stock and then ran it through the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder and Big Shot.

The base card looked a bit plain so I rounded the corners to fit the "oval" theme and then because I wanted to jazz it up a little I ran it through the Big Shot with the Holiday Frame Textured Embossing Folder.

I then sprayed the whole project with Stamping Perfume - Frost White Shimmer Paint diluted with rubbing alcohol! Perfect.

I am always surprised at how the same stamped image can be treated differently and change the entire outcome of what the project looks like!

Until next time
Shanni xx

Another Artisan Creation

I am in love! I know you are wondering what I am in love with ~  the Artisan Embellishment Kit and the Primrose Petals Core'dination card stock - it's hard to pick what I like most!

Here is my latest creation with both of these products and a few others

I love the effect of the Honeycomb textured impressions embossing folder on Core'dinations card stock. I have paired it here with the Tea for Two DSP and Basic Gray/Basic Black Two Tone Ribbon.

The image was stamped in Primrose Petals and Old Olive ink using the flower from the Oh, Hello stamp set from the Making a Difference Mini catalogue. I then cut the image out with the Ovals Framelit Dies. I also stamped the chevron arrows in Primrose Petals and Basic Gray on First Edition Specialty DSP and fussy cut them out. I love the paisley images and how they all complement the DSP and colour scheme.

Next I cut two flowers from the Vanilla Flower Trim that is just divine and so versatile to use. I added a tiny rose from the Artisan Embellishment Kit to balance the arrangement. Those little roses are to die for they are soooooo quaint!

The Designer Builder Brad adds a little bit of bling to the project. I punched a 1/2' circle of Tea for Two DSP and tied a matching piece of Bakers Twine (in Lucky Limeade) on the edge to marry in the colour scheme.

The sentiment is from the Made for You stamp set and I thought that the pennant shape would fit the card well.

I should mention that if you would like to purchase anything from the Making a Difference Mini you can email or phone me with orders. Obviously this offer is only open to Australian residents.  We have less than a month left of the Sale-a-Bration promotion and there are so many goodies to choose from this year.  I would love to help you select an item that suits your crafting needs.

Ciao for now
Shanni xx

Liebster Award

Wow! - one of my blogging buddies whom I started following after visiting regularly on Make it Monday has nominated me for the Liebster Award. . .

A massive thanks to Shari from Shari's Cards and PaperCrafts for this nomination. It really warmed the cockles of my heart. What a lovely lady!

So here is the badge:

And here is a little about what the award is all about:

This award was designed to be a blog award in the "pay it forward" fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to five blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these blogs.


The rules for accepting this award are:

You need to thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

Next you need to PAY IT FORWARD

So here are five awesome blogs that I think you should check out:

1. Pia's Paper for her great colour combinations and inspiration;

2. Keti's Projects for her amazing creations and stamina;

3. Loz at Laurel's Crafty Retreat for her awesome colouring, cards and projects;

4. Susan Smit at Sussi Poppins because of her amazing scrap booking and hand made embellishments;

5. Carole at Carole's Own for her delightful colouring and card creations;

I hope you'll visit each of these blogs and check out all the wonderful projects they have posted. Thanks again Shari for the nomination

I hope you will all pay it forward
Shanni xx