Another treat pull box.

I guess you might of realised that I'm a little partial to these here treat pull boxes. Well this one which is with out ribbon and it's most important ingredient... Chocolate, was made using the beautiful Touch of Nature set which was stamped with Old Olive ink onto Very vanilla CS. I coloured the butterfly in with Earth Elements markers and then mounted it onto a piece of Old Olive CS before attaching it to the belly band. I must put some chocolate in this empty box and give it to someone special. I really ought to be stamping right now but I can't seem to get off this computer lately! Hmmmm. Oh well thank you for visting with me and take care, lots of inky hugs from...

Baroque gift sets

Hello all, this is a couple of pictures of the gift sets which were made at my last class here. Everyone enjoyed making these and even managed not to eat their chocolate blocks. The little card works on the same ribbon pull mechanism as the choc pull treat box. The gift card holder in the back has two pouches inside, one to hold a gift card or scratchies etc., the other to hold your card to write on. These were all made using Baroque Motifs set and Choc Chip ink on Very Vanilla card stock. I used Choc Chip taffeta ribbon on both the little cards, the scalloping was done by using the corner rounder with the guard removed. Other punches that were used on this project were the scallop circle,the round tab, the spiral (behind the word KIND)the slot, (for the ribbon to thread through)and both the square punches. I love the rich colour combination of choc chip and very vanilla. The middle image on the gift card has some dazling diamonds on it for a bit of bling. Thanks for visiting with me, lots of inky hugs from...

Paris

Hello all, It's a sunny day day here in Perth and all is well. I made this 8x8 page for a demo which I did last week. The lady who had booked the party had not long returned from a trip to Paris so I thought I would make her a page that she could pop one of her photos into. I had been to Paris last year and had a suitable photo to put in mine too. I used some glossy cardstock to stamp the En Francais background onto, I then sanded it back in fisrt horizontal then vertical strokes, this gives the glosy card a linen look. I then sponged River rock and some Old live ink across it to age it. I tore the edge and then moounted the PARIS letters which were from the Lovely letters set and had been stamped in Choc chip onto RR one 1/4 circles, then dimensionals and onto one and 3/8 cicles, I sponged all the edges of everything in River rock ink. The paper was from Brocade backgrounds. I used the photo corner punch and brads for embellishments. The words are from one of my fav sets called Life definitions. You can't see very well in the photo, but in the middle of the page I stamped some Baroque motifs in RR , if you click on the photo it will enlarge it and you can see more detail. I hope you like it, the lady who booked the party did. Lots of inky hugs from ....

A little pick up for my dad.

Hi All, I know I broke my promise and didn't post any new pictures for a couple of days, so I'm very sorry! I had fun on Tuesday just chating and stampin with some good friends, I made this card with the Loads of Love set and the accesories set that goes with it. I love colouring in this set and it always seems to relax me. I used Old live, Chocolate chip, Close to coco and Bashful Blue ink pads to water colour this one. I stamped the image with black stazon ink first. I mounted the pick up on some Old live card stock which I did some faux stitch marks with the mat pack . I used the tag punch and the slot punch for the double stitched River rock ribbon to go through, all this was mounted onto some River rock card stock. I hope my dad likes it and it gives him a smile. I spoke to him tonight and he is doing a lot better, he is looking forward to seeing me in October when I fly back to give him a hug. My daughter is doing fine and is just feeling a bit sore around her ribs now. Thank you to all the people who have been wishing us well and sending up prayers for us all. The stamping community is so full of wonderful people with big hearts. Take care all and stay inky, lots of inky hugs from ......

One more box

Hello All, Well it's been a week of bad experiences and I don't want to bore you all with details but lets just say Last Friday was quite possibly the worst day of my life so far. My daughter had a car crash but is now home from Hospital and fine other than some bruises and very sore ribs, neck and back. Her car is another story! My brother had a car crash in the UK on Monday with my dear dad in the car with him, my brother is fine but my dad is quite unwell, so I may need to return to the UK fairly soon. He was in the pasenger seat and was hit hard by the air bag. My aunt had two vistors from Australia staying with her for a while in the UK, she lost her son to a very bad motor bike accident a couple of years ago and last week was the anv. of his death. Her visitors hired a motor bike to tour England and were killed in an accident the same day, they left a ten year old son in Australia. Things just couldn't get any worse for our family right now, so we appreciate all prayers and kind thoughts that you have been offering and it has been such a blessing to know you are all there thinking of us, so thank you so much for your support.
Now enough of all the doom and gloom, here is the fabulous box which my friend Marg made last week on Wed. Isn't it classy, I love the colours that she chose and I am officially addicted to River Rock now. I don't know what I'm going to do when it is retired from the catalogue at the end of the SU year in April 09. I have already got my reinker for my stamp pad and a good supply of ribbon, I might need to buy some more soon though! I do love the Tafetta ribbon which was used here as well, this one is called Choc chip and the green ribbon is Mellow moss. The strip of designer paper is from the Brocade background pack, it's another of my current favourites. Oh well I promise to put some more pictures up tomorrow and no more doom and gloom. Take care all, lots of inky hugs from....

Garden Whimsy!

Good evening all, well it certainly has turned mighty cold and wet! I was sent a picture from a friend who wanted to know how to recreate this card. I found the original on SCS by a lady called Dawn Mercedes, so this is as close a CASE as possible, I didn't have all the same stamps as her but did what I could with what I had. I actually only got the Garden Whimsy set a couple of weeks ago so it was a good excuse to put it to ink.I used my very special Touch of Nature stamp set for the leaves and the Canvas background stamp on Creamy Caramel card stock. Some old olive and a piece of Groovy Guava adorned with some paper piercing, the slit punch was used with two brads for the closure of this card. I hope I did it justice. It was a fun little card to make and I think I'm going to like this set. I will put up one more little love note box soon, thanks for visiting. Inky hugs from ...

Boxes for love notes

Good morning campers! I am still unwinding from the worshop a friend of mine hosted for me tonight "or should I say last night" I't's now 1:15 am. I thought I would take this opportunity to load up those little boxes which go with the little love notes for you, well the green one which is made with one of the in-colours called Wild Wasabi was made by Ingrid and I think it turned out really well, the other one is one that I had made at a meeting with my very talented and famous upline. I used another in-colour called Purely Pomegranate, I love the names names! To embellish them we used Berry Bliss double sided designer paper and in-colour ribbons along with a bit of stamping using the Priceless set. I down loaded the template for these cute little boxes from our wonderful Stampin'Up! demonstrators web.site. It really is a great site full of resources and helpful information, it's well worth joining up just to get access to all the goodies that us lucky demonstartors are privy to. So don't forget the special on for the starter kits at the moment $25.00 off, if you need more info just ping me an e-mail charmaineblck@yahoo.com Have a great day and I'll put the other boxes up next week, lots of inky hugs from....

Three more love notes..

Hi All, Well as promised here are the other three little love notes. I will post the matching gift box tomorrow along with a few photos of my friend's creations. The Leaves and the cake are from the Greetings Galore set, I don't know if you can see well enough but the cake has some crystal effects on the icing to make it shiny. The shell is from one of my favourite sets which is called Sea Side.

It's still cold up here in the hills and I've just sent DH out to brave the winter for some take away, I have to get on with some more prep for tomorrow's class. So take care all and stay warm, lots of inky hugs from....

Love notes

Hi everyone, I hope you are all keeping warm. It's sooo cold up here in the hills at night, we have our wood burner on and it keeps us warm and cosy. I have a group of wonderful ladies coming to play on Wed. and they will be making a box and six little love notes with matching envelopes, so I thought you might like a sneak peak at three of them. The fisrt one is using the Artfully Asian set, the second one is a thank you note from the Greetings Galore set and the third is a card which my upline designed for a swap which we did, it's using the Natural Beauty set. They have all been stamped onto water colour paper. I love these little cards and I hope my friends enjoy making them. I'll put the other three and their box on here tomorrow.

I don't know if you noticed or not but my counter reached 1000 today, I know that's not much for a lot of you guys but I'm amazed and I'm so grateful to you all for visiting my blog and leaving nice comments, when it reaches 2000, I'll have to give away some blog candy so keep visiting. Stay warm, lots of inky hugs from ...

Flowers for Elysia's 18th

I just had to show you all the flowers that my dear friend ViVi put together for my daughter on her eighteenth birthday last week. My friend has a rose farm and also does wedding arangements etc. Isn't she clever. I love the colours and the matting which she arranged around the bottom of the bouquet. I was told that these were the last of the season and that they may not last too long, but they are still going a week later. Oh well that's it for today, I'm off to se all my fellow stamping friends at our monthly meeting tonight...YAY! Catch ya on the rebound...

Cards made at one of the eScape open days.

I thought you might like to see what some of my guests got up to when they came along to one of my eScape open days. So here are a few cards that were made by those very talented ladies using the eScape bundle. We all had great fun with this set and it was amazing to see just how differently everyone's cards finished up. I put out all the ink pads and various card stock all pre-cut and ready to use. Thanks for looking, inky hugs from...

Hi everyone, I'd like to let you know who the lucky winner of the basket of goodies was, it was a lady who came to the Tuesday eScape open day, Marie and she was absolutely thrilled with all her goodies and her gift certificate "which she has already spent" . The Choc pull treat was won by a young lady who came to the Wed. night one and the ribbon jar was won by another Tuesday Lady, Ingrid. Various other prizes were won and the little container with ribbons and brads etc. went to Kerry who is in this photo. So well done to all those people and a very big thank you to all who attended my eScape open days. I really enjoyed having you all here and I hope you had fun making your little cards. I can't quite remember what it was I was showing you all here but it must of been interesting because you were all very intently watching! Thanks again for your support and friendship, inky hugs from..

Water colour class number card number three

Hi All, Well here's number three for you. This one was inspired by my very clever upline on her return from the SU convention. We were shown how to use the markers with a water brush to make this effect. A very quick and easy card using the "Fishy Friends" set and the "Canvas" background stamp as well as the "Fishy" wheel for the bottom half of the card. The ink used was "Bashful Blue" and the markers were 'Not quite navy' and 'Bashful blue', I also used a bit of 'Blush Blossom' for his cheeks. Cardstock used was Whisper white, Blue Bayou and Bashful Blue and it was embellished with a little bashful blue brad and some Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon. I used the slit punch where the brad is attached. The sentiment 'Be Happy' was from one of the free level one stamp sets called 'So many sayings'. I hope you like this little jelly fish, I think he's cute! Inky hugs from ....

Water colour class number card number two

Hello fellow blog surfers, I thought you might like to see one of the other cards I did with my lovely ladies for the water colour class. This one is using the Stampin'Up! ink pads for the colouring medium. You just take your classic ink pad and squeeze it in the middle enough to make the ink pad transfer some ink onto the inner casing of the cover, this becomes your palette when you open your ink pad. Using your water colouring paint brush, "I use a medium Zig H20 brush" you pick up the ink and paint your image. I used the stamp called"From the Garden". It is one of the great level one free hostess gifts you can earn when having a party. I used Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Apricot Appeal, Barely Banana and More mustard ink pads to colour the flower along with the use of a Choc Chip marker for some depth. I used Old Olive and Always Artichoke to colour the leaves. I stamped the image with Stazon Jet Black ink onto water colour paper, which was then mounted onto Chocolate Chip and finally onto some Pumpkin Pie card stock. I finished this card at three in the morning so I'm a little over it! Thanks for visiting and come back soon, lots of inky hugs from ....

Now's the time!

Have you been thinking of becoming a Stampin'UpDemonstrator or maybe you would just like to take advantage of the wonderful starter kit and use the amazing resources available to demonstrators such as the special web site full of ideas and templates, not to mention the 20% off everything you would like to add to your stamping collection. There is a fantastic oppotunity until the 15th of August 08, for anyone joining the Stampin'Up! family. From the first of July through to the 15th of August, when you become a demonstrator, you'll recieve $25.00 off the already low priced Starter kit! That means you'll start out with over $560. of Stampin'Up!'s high quality, one of a kind stamping products and business supplies for just $299! So what are you waiting for? contact me today to get Super Starter Kit Savings! I would be happy to tell you about all the different ways you can take advantage of this promotion without ever having to do a party or hold a workshop, if you just want to have the discounts and use the products for your own hobby you can do that too. Just e-mail me for more info any time : charmaineblck@yahoo.com.au Don't leave it too late! :-)

Water colour class

Hello All, Here's a picture of one of the cards that were made in my water colour technique class, we made three cards using different mediums and this one used the Stampin'Up! ® Wonder water colour crayons. I really love using these crayons as they are so easy to blend with and very forgiving if you want to add or take colour away. I was a Lyra crayon girl for many years and never thought I would take to any other water colour crayon untill I was introduced to these, their pigment is really strong and of course they match all the SU colour families with card stock, ribbons, brads etc. which makes them even nicer to use. The set used is called "Natural Beauty" it's one of my favourites. The backgound stamp is called "En Frances" I used Certainly celery, Choc chip and very vanilla card stock. I will post the other two cards soon. Inspiration for this one came from SCS. Thanks for looking and visit again soon. :-)

Move over T!m Holtz!

You'll never believe who did this one. All day while we were playing with our paint and making a mess all over the family room table my DH Grant would occasionally come in and see what we were all up to, he seemed interested in the creations we were making and would make little comments about them. He printed out some weird and wonderful pictures for us to use but we obviously just weren't ARTY enough to put them to good use and found them a bit strange! Anyhooo, after a hard morning of creating we became very hungry so we hightailed it up to Araluen for some lunch and a glass of wine or two in some cases "I won't mention any names". Grant stayed at home in the mess which I had promised to clean up on my return. But he had decide to have a play with some of the left over bits and pieces, and created this little master piece! He even sharpied (is that a word?) all the edges and found a bit of bling from my embellishment box as well as the left over bits of German scrap. I am sooooo impressed and I just had to show you all what he did. So if ever you want a lesson on the rinse aid technique you know where to come. I knew he couldn't resist having a play forever!

More ATC's

These very beautiful creations below were made by my talented friends except for the first one on the left which was one of mine. but wait till you see whats coming up next............

Non SU

Hi All, I just can't wait to tell you all what a wonderful day I've had today. First my very good friends arrived for coffee and a play day, so we got out some paints, canvas and some rinse aid. Yes rinse aid! this was a technique which I had learnt from the very uba talented Kelsey last year and it was made famous by another uba talented lady Claudine Hellmuth. You take a canvas and paint it with thin or runny acrylic paint, while it's still wet you swoosh some rinse aid over it. We chose to do this part with a tooth brush dipped into the bottle of rinse aid then splatter it over the canvas. Then we dried that layer and with a damp rag we then wiped"or scrubbed" away untill the area with the rinse aid came up lightened. Then we applied another coat of paint in a complementing colour and repeated the first process. When all this was looking rather yummy we then stamped some images onto our gorgeous backgrounds, after which we then added some printed images or some very beautiful pictures from the Collections pack which I got out of my stash.."no of course I hadn't been hoarding it". We found some nice bits of German scrap and other embellishments to finish of our wonderful little works of art.

Pull treat

Hi All, Well I've just completed my swap cards for tomorrow's meeting at my uplines house. I must admit I'm not in love with them but I have one of my nasty headaches on it's way so they're as good as they are going to get I'm afraid. I'll post them up here soon. This is photo of the pull treat box that a couple of my clases are going to be making along with a matching card and a gift bag designed to hold a gift card from Myers or Target etc. I've stamped my fav. Baroque Motifs with some Chocolate Chip ink onto some Very Vanilla card stock, I used the corner rounder for the scallop edging under the belly band and attached the embellishment with a choc coloured brad. These are great to give as a small gift to thank you etc. and they really surprise people when they see how they work. You pull the ribbon bow and it pulls up the choc bar, how cool is that! I love doing anything 3D and this was shown to me by my very talented upline after her return from this years convention, where she won the "Heart of Stampin' Up! " award. What can I say I'm learning from the best! I have a class to prepare for and a big night out tomorrow so I better get some sleep. Inky hugs :-)

A piece of cake!

Here is my "Book To Look" cake, inside each piece of cake is a piece of paper with a different prize on it, so ten prizes including things like packs of card stock, ink pads, punches, gel pen, two way glue pen, packs of designer paper etc. If you book a party then you can choose a piece of calorie free cake to see what gift is inside. When your party order goes in I will add to your usual hostess benefits and gifts with the prize you chose from the cake, I hope that makes sense. I saw the idea on ....Of course SCS. I intend to put the same little embellishment from the middle on each piece of cake "when I get time!" I used the Baroque Motifs set with Chocolate Chip and Pretty in pink ink. The centre image was done with Regal Rose. I love cake and this ones OK to have in the house because it's fat free!