Bec's Baby Shower

One on my childhood friends is having a baby....Congratulations to Bec and Shane. They have found out that it is going to be a boy, and Bec is having her baby shower next weekend. So I thought I'd post the card that I've made to give her.

I've used Bashful Blue and Night of Navy and Whisper White. I've used elements from lots of stamp sets, namely

• All in the Family
• Short and Sweet
• Greetings Eight
• Tiny Tags

I've inked up the lil' baby in Night of Navy and coloured him in with the Bashful Blue stamp'n'write marker. Then I inked up the umbrella image from Greetings Eight, but I've not inked the handle and some of the post, so that the umbrella was the right size for the bub.

I used the Night of Navy marker to ink up the words. Here is a little tip that I use all the time - when I want to use another colour like this, keep some cotton buds handy. Dip one end into your stampin' mist bottle to clean the ink off the part that you want a different colour, and then use the other end of the cotton bud to dry the rubber. Then go ahead and use your marker to add the second colour. Simple!

For the tags, I've stamped the words from Tiny Tags, and then used one end of the word window punch to cut them out. I then attached them to my Bashful Blue striped grosgrain ribbon, with a little bit of silver cord.

Hope you like it......

Happy Stamping.....Manda

Casing Rebecca.

For the first time in a long time, I have had to make a wedding card. These are something that I find difficult, probably because I want the card to be extra special to celebrate an extra special occasion. This one I found quite easy, not sure if this is because I didn't personally know the people getting married, or if it was because I had some wonderful inspiration in the form of my fellow SU team member Rebecca O'Gorman. I saw Bec's creation and had it in mind when I made this one up.

Please excuse the awful night time photography, but I had to make it overnight to give to the wedding guest to take to the wedding the next day! Nothing like leaving it to the last minute. Colours are (believe it or not) Perfect Plum and Whisper White. I have used white embossing powder on the sentiment as well as the Always hearts. I stamped off the branch image to soften the colour and I've used some pearls from the Pretties Kit to make the buttons on the lady heart and some white ribbon with a silver brad for the bow tie on the man heart. Three silver brads at the bottom of the Perfect Plum section complete the card.

Happy Stamping......Manda

Happy Birthday DD1

Today is DD1's birthday. We had a lovely day opening presents, playing netball, and spending a long lunch together as a family. So in honour of her 9th birthday, I thought I'd share with you the party bags that I made for her friends to celebrate her birthday.

I have used the Fancy Favour Big Shot Die, and some retired 12x12 textured cardstock to make the bags, and then the girls helped me decorate the bags with the brand new 2 Step Bird punch. Complete the bags with some name tags for the invited guests, and there you have a quick and easy party bags.

Colours for the birds are Riding Hood Red and Pretty in Pink, branch is Certainly Celery.

Happy Stamping......Manda

It's a Revolution.....

A colour revolution! It is exciting.....trust me.

Stampin' Up! have just announced that when they release the 2010-2011 Idea's Book and Catalogue, they will be making changes to update and stay current and competitive with their colour families. It's revolutionary!!!

While some of our past favourites are going GASP!!! SOB!!! the good news is twofold. Firstly, we have until September to stock up on those 'I can't live without' colours, and secondly some of our past favourite In-Colours are returning.

Here is a list of the retiring colours......

And here is a list of the new arrangement of existing , returning and new colours.....

I hope you are exciting about this update from Stampin' Up! and I look forward to showing you some creations with the new colour collections soon.

Happy Stamping.......Manda

Last Minute Birthday Invite....

DD1 is about to have a birthday......normally I'm very organised about all these sorts of things, expecially if it means that I have a legitamate excuse to sit in my craft corner and stamp.

This time however, for a number of varying reasons, I didn't realise until the last minute, literally the night before school holidays began, that I had to have 8 invitations made for the next morning.....

After being told that the invites had to have blue (I got away with Tempting Turquoise) and a birthday cake, this is what I came up with.

Hope you like it......Happy Stamping........Manda

Bye Bye Jo.....

When I became a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, one of the unexpected benefits was the wonderful friendships that I have developed with people, through a mutal love of stamping and papercraft. One of those friendships is now going to be missed as Jo is moving to Melbourne. (Actually, she is already there as I was supposed to post this on Thursday, but due to illness, it didn't happen).

While we will continue to stay in touch with the wonders of modern technology, namely Skype, we will certainly miss her from around the dinning/craft table at technique and project classes.

I thought I'd share will you a little bit of the going away pressie that I gave to Jo at her farewell lunch.

Firstly, here is the gift bag....just a white bag, that I have decorated up with a roller and a topper, not difficult, but very effective.

And here is a close up of the topper.....

Inside, along with some other goodies, I included this version of my side by side presentation box.

To Jo and her family, I hope the move went smoothly, and that you all find your feet quickly in Melbourne, and that you all enjoy your time down there. Best of luck.

Happy Stamping......Manda

I'm sick.

Sorry....not really a stamping post tonight, but I felt the need to share....but not germs. I will be back soon with some cards and things that I've been making soon. I promise.