Merry Christmas to you all!

May your Christmas be a wonderous one, celebrating the birth of our Saviour and Lord.

I look forward to paper crafting with you throughout 2011!

Last Minute Chocolate Christmas Favours

Are you rushing to get last minute gifts ready for the morning? It's Christmas then, you know! Lol! Well, it is Christmas in Australia anyway. I know some people in the world have slmost another day to wait, and this idea may be good for them too.

I just spent about an hour making 36 of these little Chocolate Christmas Puddings and thought I would share the idea with you, just in case. A friend of mine told me how to make them (thank you, Kylie!) and I think they are just as cute as can be!

If you would like the instructions for how to make them, I put them on PaperCraftCentral for you.

Do let me know if you have any last minute ideas for special favours too, won't you!

Thoughts on decorative boxes

If you still have some special presents to wrap and you want to try something different from store-bought wrapping paper, here's a customised decorative box I made to inspire you. I added more views of the box (including what is inside the box!) and a few hints on how to make one of your own on PaperCraftCentral.com,

I made this little box in about an hour. It's not too late to make a really specially presented gift for Christmas!

Kit Kat Favours

Do you like Kit Kat chocolates? They are perfect for using inside a little surprise box like these to send a sweet treat to someone. I made this batch to mail out to my wonderful Stamp Club members last month and they have told me they happily ate their chocolates when they arrived!

It was fun decorating the boxes with tag punches and ribbon.

STAMPIN' UP! SUPPLIES LIST:

Ink and cardstock colours are Old Olive, Poppy Parade and Metallic Silver. I made the butterflies with the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die.I used some more Greenhouse Gala Designer Paper on the tags. The stamp set is a Hostess Benefit one, Cute By The Inch.

Cards, cards, cards! And a gift tag.

Today I am showing you the last of the cards I made with the same sketch and variations of the supplies used. I am also showing you a card I made by punching out my gift tags and using the punched cardstock as a stencil. The second card shown here was made by sponging gold ink over a bauble cut out, directly onto the surface of the card. I used a curved line to stencil in the garland,  then used Stampin' Write markers and gel pens to add the details to both the baubles and the garland. I punched a small stamped circle and popped it up on the main bauble to become my message. A dash of white on each bauble adds a bit of depth to them as it looks like light is reflecting off the sides.

Have you seen the Christmas Extra Large punch from the Ideas Book and Catalogue? I love it. It is so versatile. I no longer need to buy tags for my gifts at Christmas when I have that punch! Here I have shown you a little tag made by folding cardstock in half and punching the bauble shape so that the fold line becomes the hinge for the tag, and I can write my message inside the tag. Punch designer paper, a stamped image or both and add them to the front of your tag, punch a hole in the top of it and thread it with ribbon or cord, and you have a lovely little gift tag for someone special. I added a punched circle of Whisper White to the inside of this tag so I could write something that could easily be seen.

How are your Christmas preparations going in these last few days before the big event? I am sending out my last cards today and am wrapping some gifts to be delivered on Christmas Day itself. The it will be on to the baking, of course!

(PS: Our greatest Christmas gift has already been given to us from God. The whole reason for the Christmas season is to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour. I am so thankful  for the gift I already have from Him and hope you have it too. Merry Christmas!)

Still more cards!

Just giving you more looks you can achieve with basically the same idea and different designer papers :)

Chris, thank you so much for your nice comment. There is still time for if you want to make a few simple cards like these! I made 25 in one sitting using this idea :) And the people I gave them to reacted with pleasure. It really is the thought behind the giving sometimes, I think, and many people do appreciate handmade cards. I gave an older woman the card at the top and she thought it was beautiful.

Simplicity does it this close to Christmas, I am convinced! Lol!

More Cards

Today I have uploaded another two Christmas card ideas for you (see last post for a supply list). I love the colours in these, but imagine them made in different colour schemes - your favourites in fact! They really do look different when you make them using different designer papers and colours, but following the same basic design....

I will show you more of what I mean tomorrow :) I hope you are getting your cards done or have completely finished that pleasant task!

Busy Days!

Are you still making Christmas Cards? I am. I never seem to make enough during the year and am always making some at the last minute. Fortunately, many of the ones I am making will be hand delivered tomorrow when I see a number of friends at a church luncheon.

Here is a selection of cards I have been working on. Will post more in the next few days. I decided to use the same stamp sets, sketch, colours and supplies and see if I could come up with a couple of different designs. See what you think of them. All supplies are from Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Contempo Christmas, Delightful Decorations, Welcome Christmas, Heard from the Heart
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzaz, Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Gold
Ribbon: Poppy Parade Stitched Poly Ribbon, Old Olive Taffeta, gold cord (retired)
Designer Paper: Jolly Holiday, Christmas Cocoa
Extras: Crystal rhinestones, heart punch, Lattice border punch, Real Red Stampin' Write! marker

Christmas Crafting

I like to make card toppers. Do you? I love them because I can then choose a topper and make a card pretty quickly when I need one in a hurry. I made these for the girls in my Stamp Club this month in case they needed to have a topper on hand for that card you suddenly need but might have forgotten to make for somebody! I used a stamp from the Autumn Days set, coloured it in with Stampin' Write markers in Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive, then matted it to some Soft Suede Cardstock. I added a piece of Christmas Cocoa designer paper to some more Soft Suede cardstock, adhered some Old Olive Taffeta ribbon to that, then popped up my image with Stampin' Dimensionals. For extra pizazz I added three little rhinestones ot one corner.

I hope the girls like them!

Ohana Girls

I finally scrapped something! I made this layout using a photo of us girls on the last retreat we went to. It was in response to a Scrapchat challenge where I had to use bright colours (think spring vegetable colours) and had to incorporate a tree into it somehow. There needed to be some flowers on the layout too.  I cut the leaves freehand from paper that was already embossed and drew on them a little bit with my Stampin' Write markers to look like they were veined. It was fun to use some hardware with the ribbon and add in my flowers. I sanded the background paper and emphasised the 'ha' in Ohana because all we do is laugh wen we are together. I hope you enjoy looking!

Summer Mini Is Here!

Finally I can show you the new Summer Mini catalogue! I have already added to my Wish List again. Lol! If you live in Australia I can enable you by helping you order any of the items in this Mini, do send me your email address or contact me.
Oh and I thought I would mention there's also up to 50% off selected Stampin' Up! products this month. Just in time for Christmas!

Another Sneak Peek :)

Sneak Peek!

The Summer Mini is coming! The Summer Mini is coming! I already have a few little goodies from it to play with. As a demonstrator, I get that little privilege :) That way I can give you a couple of sneak peeks at what is coming from December 1st. This card has a few clues on it. What do you think about it?

I'll add another peek tomorrow for your viewing pleasure  :)

A Vintage Paper Wallet

Here's a glimpse of a paper wallet I made for the prettiest Vintage wedding I went to on the weekend. It was so much fun to make! I thought it made a nice change from a handmade wedding card as this wedding had a Wishing Well invitation. I also made up a way the newlyweds can continue to use the little walet over time, should they so choose. You can read all about it if you would like and see how I made the purse as well  :)

A glimpse of the card....

....I made for the box (see post below)

You can see more of the unboxed version and how I made this graduation greeting card at  PaperCraftCentral :)

Footlocker Idea

Here is a little box I call my Footlocker. It is based on an old footlocker my Dad used to take with him everywhere. Recently I had a reason to make a special graduation present for someone who has just completed his basic training in the Army, and naturally the footlocker sprang to mind! If you would like to see more of how I made this box and what I put in it, I have written about it for you on PaperCraftCentral.

Oh and I just had to show you something cute My little puppy is fast becoming very comfortable around his paper crafting owner! Here he is after falling asleep in my paper bin!! He had just woken up to give me an adoring look before going back to sleep. It must have been comfortable in there with all the paper. He he!

Altered Notebook

Have you ever bought a notebook or folder and then wanted to change the look of it? I do that now and then. I bought this notebook from a local supplier and it was plain lime green in its previous life. Lol! I wanted to spice it up so covered it in Stampin' Up! designer paper, ribbon, tag punched and stamped items, linen thread  and some extra bling I had here.

I would love to see some of your own altered notebooks or similar If you have one you could show me, here's where I would love to see them on PaperCraftCentral.com. When you upload you will also be helping out a young school student who asked me the same question about how to alter a notebook or folder!

Thanks in advance for sharing your own altered art with me!

A Congratulations Card

I', having a little trouble with Photobucket tnight and can't seem to centre this image, but I htink youwill get the idea of how it looks ;)

I made this card to congratulate a lady who opened a gym near me. She has two personal trainers who work with her, and while the card is in no way showing these ladies as they are in real life, I think they appreciated the symbolism!!! Lol! The gym's colours are bright pink and black so what other colour would have been appropriate, I ask you?

I used the All in the Family stamp set from Stampin' Up!, and all the cardstock, Stampin' Write  markers and ribbon are all from the same supplier. I used some little pink crystals as well.

And yes, I joined the gym! I'm hoping it does wonders for me to go lift weights and do some cardio training three times a week :)

Teddy's First Layout

Tonight I completed my first layout of Teddy, my new puppy. He is adorable and very time consuming, and I am so glad I have him to brighten my days, though I think he is fast preferring the company of my outside dog Trixie! Lol!

Here I used a piece of Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack put together by Stampin' Up! in this year's new catalogue (p177), sponging it with some Bordering Blue ink. I cut the flowers (not the 3d ones) from another designer series pack called Greenhouse Gala. I used a doily and sponged it with more Bordering Blue ink to lay the photo on, then added some non SU! flowers and a cute little doggie sticker and alphas. I stamped some images and sayings from the D is for Dog stamp set, punched some tags with the largest Tag punch, sponged the edges with Bordering Blue before adding some journaling with the Bordering Blue Stampin' Write! marker and added then some linen thread, drawing the threads together with a non SU! flower. There are strips of the Greenhouse Gala paper and some non SU! lace on the page as well.

Thanks to Caz at Papercraft Addictions for the sketch inspiration!

Make a Matchbook

I wanted to make a cute little gift for a special friend. I had a little book of Post-It notes and thought of making a matchbook of them using my new French Script and All A Flutter stamps from Stampin' Up!

I hope she liked it!

It was fun and easy to make. When I write down the instructions, I will post them here by editing my post for tonight :)

Birthday Easel Card

When you need a card to really make an impact, one of the ways I have found to do this is to make a special Easel Card. Have you ever made one with a shaped front? I tried making one with a star shape I cut out myself and was so pleased with the result. You could use other shapes too of course but I wanted my hubby to feel as though he was a star this year :) so I chose the obvious shape for that! Lol! 

It was fun to make and you can make one like this to be much more elaborate. One day maybe I'll get round to making a more eleborate card, but masculine cards just don' lend themselves to lots of flowers and frills, do they. He he!

New puppy

Just thought you might like to meet our newest little pet :) We brought him home today and he is tiny. He weights only 605gm and is full of fun.

Lighthouses

Lighthouses have always fascinated me. They evoke strength, solitude, steadfastness and power to me. They have a job to do that is important, and people at sea who ignore them do so at their own peril. I was able to attend a card class this week and Jen had this lovely image as one of her card class cards. I missed out on this set when it was first offered by Stampin' Up! unfortunately. I had fun using water colour pencils to bring t to life though :)

New Ideas Book and Catalogue from Stampin' Up!

Stampin' Up! has a new Ideas Book and Catalogue! And you can order from it, beginning TODAY! Can you tell I am rather pleased about that? Lol! I have a wish list as long as my arm so will definitely be ordering soon. If you live in Australia and would like to place an order too just go to SusanSalutations and contact me to organise your own parcel of goodies to be sent straight to your door :)

You can browse the catalogue online too. Click on the catalogue picture in the side bar and you will be taken straight to the PDF so you can start making your Wish List right away. Enjoy!

Faux Suede Flower

Have you tried out the Faux Suede Technique? It is really easy to make some paper that looks and feels like soft suede! I made this flower and placed it on a card recently. It makes people want to touch it and find out how the technique works. So I made a tutorial for you to see just how to make your own faux suede. Let me know if you try it!

Acrylic Stamp Assembly

Are you new to acrylic stamps? I made a little video showing you how to assemble the Stampin' Up! ones if you would like to see it. Sometimes a visual is better than reading instructions, hey.

A Birthday Hedge Hog

Isn't this little hedgehog cute? I think he is just right for birthday cards and love to use him that way. He's from the 'Fun and Fast Notes' stamp set form Stampin' Up! and I have given you a small sneak peek at one of the new paper sets coming out in the new Ideas Book and Catalogue on September 1st (you can order one by contacting me via SusanSalutations of you live in Australia)

I hope you enjoyed seeing this cheerful little guy :)

Bon Voyage!

These days there seem to be more and more people joining the Armed Forces. I had a need to make a card for just such a person recently, so I customised it for the occasion. I have listed all the 'ingredients' for this card on PaperCraftCentral for you, should you care to step on over and find them :) You will also find another idea for a Bon Voyage card on the same page.

The Next Page

I managed to get another page of the Wedding album finished and thought I would show it to you. I made it a bling-y page :) I started with a piece of Stampin' Up! Real Red cardstock and added some pieces of designer paper from other companies as I wanted to go with the black white and red theme. The little ribbon rose in the top right corner was hand made from Stampin' Up! Real Red grossgrain ribbon, a bit of tulle from the wedding dress and a hat pin. I ran some more ribbon down two sides of the layout and added bling to the ribbon. After I placed the photos I added in more crystal bling in the corners of the main photo. The lettering was added last and I used a ruler to guide me to make it straight.

It was a fun page to make. Maybe I should have added a ladybug or two, but it looked finished at the time without so I didn't. What do you think?

Easel Card

Easel Cards are such a nice way to display photos for a friend or relative. I made a few of these recently and just thought I would share this one with you. They are great for special occasions where you have taken a group photo, a portrait photo, for displaying scenery or just about anything really!

I hope you like this one of a Magpie Lark perching on the verandah rail.

Wedding Scrapbook has begun!

I got some photos developed yesterday and decided not to wait anymore with making a scrapbook of my daughter's wedding. Today the picture that inspired me was this one. My dear sister made the dress for her and her Grandma found the shoes. I loved the contrast of her everyday shoes with the wedding ones!

I made the dress embellishment from her actual dress material. The main word in the title has been hand stamped, then cut out and glitzed before gluing down. The rest of the words were stamped and embossed. There's a hidden journalling tag behind the wedding shoes.

I sure am rusty! It took me all morning to do this one, between putting loads of washing on and hanging them out! Lol!

Wedding Day

You may have wondered why there were no posts here for a time. The pictures may explain. I was caught up in the wonderful, hectic, indescribable series of events that led to my sweet daughter's wedding. She married the loveliest man who has really been part of our world for the past eight years! They married on the shores of a lake, while the rain held off just long enough to allow us some wonderful light for the photos. Her black and red theme was unusual, yes, but it was beautiful. Her bouquet was made up of perfect red roses intertwined with grape vines and wired-in, shiny black rocks. The Reception venue was at the Lake as well and had originally been a hunting lodge, so there were statues of wild beasts to surprise us. It was a beautifully appointed venue and the staff there treated us well, serving very tasty and original dishes to us afterward.

The crowd of friends and family who gathered to witness the event were relaxed, friendly and happy to provide some of the entertainment at the Reception, as many of them had musical or theatre skills.

It was a perfect day, worth all the long distance planning and problem solving!

Congratulations, my dears. May your life together be a long, contented road of joy to lighten any sorrows that may cross your paths.

Kids Cards

And now for another change of scene! I found these cute cards on Wendy's blog and as two of my grand children were having birthdays this month (They are now age 1 and 2! How fast time flies!) I decided to make these cute little cards. They are so easy to make especially if you have the Stampin' Up! Scallop Circle die and Big Shot. Cut a double scallop circle without cutting all the way through at the top of the fold, and you will have a basic face done along with your card body.

You can see the features are (mostly) circle punches though I made the mouth circle. All you do is draw a circle on black cardstock and cut it in half, then shape the mouth a little :) The cookie was made with a circle and a scallop punch and I drew the chocolate chips in with my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marking pen, of course!

The cards were a hit with the grandies. And some of the adults liked them too :)

Happy Birthday to the babies!

You're Never More than a Thought Away!

When I was at the Stampin' Up! Convention in Sydney, Bonny showed us how to make cards with towers of little cups. I had fun making one of these cards today for a friend who has been facing challenge after challenge lately with family members and health issues. I hope she likes it and feels encouraged!

You just mask the little stamp off as you build your tower of course ;)

I used the Earth Elements range of inks plus Tangerine Tango, designer paper from Patterns Pack II, the Share a Cup stamp form the winter Mini catalogue, a sentiment from a stamp set from the Sale-A-Bration catty, some Soft Suede polka dot ribbon, Whisper White, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I used the Scallop border punch and the paper piercing tool and also fringed the bottom of the main image by hand.

If you would like step by step instructions for making this card, I have provided details at PaperCraftCentral.com

A sad event

What can you do when a friend's mother dies? It is often hard to find a useful thing to do, one that satisfies the desire to do something significant for your friend. Sometimes the little things mean so much. You can listen, and hug, and cry with the person. You can pray with them and for them. You can be there for them even when they can't talk straight because of the fatigue and strain of being with their loved one. You can bring them food and comfort in the form of little things done for them.

And you can make a card for them, with love.

Rest in peace, Joy.

A Birthday Card

It's always fun playing with a new stamp set :) I recently got 'Big Bold Birthday' from Stampin' Up! and I like the 'Make a Wish' sentiment. Here I stamped those words in Kraft ink. I punched the hearts out, tore a strip of Designer Paper to mount on Metallic Silver cardstock, added some Polka Dot Grosgrain Rich Razzleberry ribbon and a couple of clear crystals to a backing of Chocolate Chip cardstock, doodled around the edges with a white Signo pen and it was done!

Daisy Mae

Daisy Mae takes the stage as the Hearty Lady of the day. She's a farm girl, or maybe a Woman of the West, though I think real Women of the West would probably not dress in pink so much. It's a little impractical and they would probably choose denim.

I made some more Hearty Ladies and have uploaded them to my Etsy shop. They seem to be getting a little attention anyway! And they are a lot of fun to make. (I added blush to her face after I posted this).

PS: Somebody please stop me if I am delusional and these are not worth putting on Etsy!!

More Hearty Ladies

Guess what I've been doing? Populating my craft desk with Hearty Ladies! Lol! I made several today and simply have to share. This young lady was trying to tell me how shy she was, not showing both eyes and all, so I named her Coy Glance. What do you think? Is she shy, or just foolin'?

Remember you can see how I make these at PaperCraftCentral or, if you would like one, you can see them all at my Etsy Shop and pick and choose there.

I will add more, I am sure, so keep an eye out! (Like Miss Coy! Lol!)

Shady Hearty Lady

These little punch art ladies have my attention again tonight :) I made this new Hearty Lady with her sunglasses and pout and also made a tutorial for you if you would like to know how I made her.

Have you made some punch art characters? If you have I would love you to show them to me at PaperCraftCentral.com!