Celebrations Birthday Card

Hi!

Today's card is one I whipped up in a bit of a rush for a birthday party Ada was going to that afternoon.  Don't you hate it when you have all the time in the world to do something, and then promptly forget about getting it done until the last minute?

It was quite lucky that the boy who the card was for was turning 6 and the piece of DSP I selected just happened to have a 6 in the bottom right corner.  Couldn't have planned it better if I'd tried!  I punched a ring using 2 circle punches and popped it up on dimensionals to highlight the 6.  A banner also popped up on dimensionals and the card was done!

Stamps: Curly Cute
Ink: Real Red
DSP/ Card Stock: Celebrations DSP, Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Other: Dimensionals, Circle Punches, Paper Snips

Catch you later,

Tina

Helping Hudson Thank You Cards

Hi!

I thought it was about time I showed you the cards I sent out to the wonderful ladies who contributed tutorials to the Helping Hudson fundraiser.  As I had  lot to make I needed to keep the design fairly simple but still very pretty.  I based the design on the card on page 111 of the current Idea Book and Catalogue.

I liked the idea of all the thank you's on the front of the card, I feel like I can't say thank you enough!

I made a One Sheet Wonder of Blushing Bride card stock stamped with the All A Flutter and Dreams De Jour butterflies which I then spritzed with my favourite Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint mixed with Isocol.  I love the subtle shimmery effect.

Stamps: Curly Cute, Basic Phrases, Happy Moments (2010 SAB set), Just Believe, All a Flutter, Dreams De Jour
Ink: Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz
Other: Stamp Positioner, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint

Catch you later,

Tina

Layout 9: So Sweet

Hi!

Today's layout is one of my two eldest children Alex and Ada on their first day of school for Term 4 last year.  I love the photo and have had it on my desk for ages waiting to be scrapped but have never found the inspiration to scrap it.  Nothing I tried looked right!

In the end I took inspiration from the outdoor setting and tried the photo with the Woodland Walk DSP.  I added subtle touches of Marina Mist and Whisper White to the main colour scheme of Garden Green and Crumb Cake.  It really helps bring out the blue in the photo.

Ink: Crumb Cake Marker
DSP/Card Stock: Woodland Walk DSP, Crumb Cake, Garden Green
Other: Marina Mist Satin ribbon, Whisper White brads, Marina Mist brad, Big Shot, Timeless Type Alphabet Die, Top Note Die, Paper Snips


Catch you later,

Tina

Layouts 5 to 8: Christmas 2010 Mini Album

Hi!

Today's project is another mini album I made to capture the holiday we had to visit my family over the Christmas break.  It's quite a large mini album - 14 double sided pages, each page being half of an A4 sheet of card stock.  I'm not going to show you every page - just a selected few.

The front cover.  I need something else for the top right corner - I just can't think what!

A trip to the library with the kids.



Playing with presents on Christmas Day.  Yes, that's me attemping to play a Bop It. 

Lots of fun, but I'm not very good at it!

After Christmas lunch we had a play in the pool.

Relaxing by the pool.

More water fun on NYE with the Slip 'n' Slide.

My family on New Years Day.



I had lots of fun making this album.  There are a couple of pages that are pockets to hold some memorabilia.  We went to the National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra and the kids got Dinosaur Hunting licences, so of course I had to include them in the album.

The album was also a fantastic way of using up my left over Jolly Holiday DSP scraps.  On the pages that looked a little bare I used my colour spritzer to spritz the pages with the same colour ink as the base card stock.  You might be able to see the spritzing on the last page.

Catch you later,

Tina

Mini Catalogue Blog Hop

Hi!

Welcome back to another blog hop.  Today's hop showcases some of the products you can find in the new Summer Mini Catalogue.  I have chosen some of the products in the Travel Suite range, which you can find on pages 16 and 17 on the Mini.  The blog before mine is the wonderful Nikki Sadler's.  Just keep hopping til you get back to where you started.

I have made two very similar cards that would be suitable for an older male's birthday.  This can be a tricky age group to make cards for!

 All that's really different is the placement of the DSP behind the main panel of the card.  Here's each card individually:

A closer look at the side.  I raised three sections of the cards on dimensionals: the first layer, the main panel and the plane image.

Finally, a look at the inside of the cards.  As the base card was Night of Navy card stock it was essential to add something to the middle so that the card could be written on.  I love the tone on tone Crumb Cake effect.

And that's all from me.  Now you're off to see what fabulous creations Amy Buchanan has come up with.  Happy Hopping!

Stamps: Sentimental Journey, Curly Cute, A Word For You
Ink: Night Of Navy, Crumb Cake
DSP/Card Stock: Travel Journal DSP, Night Of Navy, Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue
Other: Paper Snips, Dimensionals, Hemp Twine, Stamp Positioner

Catch you later,

Tina

Hudson in his KidWalk

Hi!

Today I have a video for you - my first blog video ever!  There are so many people out there who supported us in our Helping Hudson fundraiser and I wanted to show you Hudson in his KidWalk.

But first I want to tell you about how much of a difference it has made to Hudson's life.  For starters, he is much happier in the KidWalk than he has ever been in any of the other walkers we trialled or borrowed.  Just the fact that he is happy and not frustrated means that he wants to try to walk rather than fight to get out of the walker.

He has a new perspective on life - literally!  I took him to a park in the KidWalk and he was able to get right up close to some bushes and see and touch the flowers on them.  He hasn't been able to do that previously.

There have even been benefits when he hasn't been in his KidWalk.  He is starting to cruise around the furniture, which he wasn't able to do before the KidWalk.

Hudson received his KidWalk at the end of November.  At first he was only able to go backwards, but that is normal for kids as it is much easier form them.  We took the walker with us on our Christmas holiday so that Hudson could still have time in it.  Within about 6 weeks of getting his KidWalk he has started to walk forwards and has even worked out how to move the wheels to get himself unstuck if he backs himself into an obstacle. 

Hudson's movement trauma doctor is confident that given time, Hudson will eventually walk on his own.  Every step he takes on the way forward I am reminded of the Helping Hudson fundraiser.

I never could have imagined that he would benefit so much, and I can never thank everyone enough for all the love and support you have shown me and my family over the past 6 months.  Thank you to everyone who purchased the tutorials or entered the challenges.  Thanks to everyone who donated money to the fundraiser, or who sold cards and scraps, or collected donations from their craft ladies.  Thank you to the very talented ladies who donated their time and tutorials to the fundraiser.

And finally, a very big thank you to the Helping Hudson team.  Christine, Gardenia, Genna, Jo, Nikki and Sue - I am so grateful to everything you have done to help Hudson get his KidWalk.  I am still amazed at how much we were able to achieve.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Thank you all so very much,

Tina, Rob, Alex, Ada and Hudson Gillespie.

Layouts 3 and 4: Zoe's Mini Album

Hi!

Today I have a mini album to show you.  Even though it has 12 pages, I am just going to show you 4 of the pages.  I have also decided that the album is at least the equivalent of two 12x12 layouts, so I am adding them to my goal of 100 layouts this year.  Four down, 96 to go!

I made this album over 6 months ago for my niece Zoe, who had been a flower girl at the local Debutant Ball. When I made the album I didn't have any photos, so I just made each page fairly plain with Cottage Wall DSP.  Zoe and I ran out of time over the Christmas break to decorate the album, so I did it over the weekend.  Here's the front of the album.

Isn't she stunning (I do mean Zoe)!  The butterflies and letters are all spritzed with Champagne Mist Shimmer paint for a lovely glittery effect.  I also used some rhinestones for a bit of extra bling.

Here's a 3 page spread.  I kept the look uniform by using the same DSP as both backing and to highlight the photos, but to highlight the centre photo I matted it a little wider than the others and added more butterflies.

Here's a closer look at the centre page:

Again the butterflies are shimmery and embellished with a touch of bling.

I'm very pleased with how the album turned out - I hope Zoe is too!

Catch you later,

Tina

Fox and Friends Christening Card

Hi!

Another custom order today.  This one was to be for a christening for a little girl.  I decided to use Fox and Friends in some lovely girly colours.  I took inspiration from the colours in the Sweet and Sour Speciality DSP.

 I cut out the giraffe and raised it on dimensionals to add a bit of interest to the front of the card.  The circle with the sentiment 'baby' is also raised.

Stamps: Fox and Friends, A Word For You
Ink: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie
DSP/Card Stock: Sweet and Sour Speciality DSP, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Very Vanilla
Other: Various circle punches, Scallop Circle punch, Dimensionals, Paper Snips, 1/4" Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon

Catch you later,

Tina

Rolled Roses

Hi!

Today's card was also a custom order.  I was asked to make a card for a wedding, so I wanted to make an elegant card.  I have seen a lot of rolled roses on projects lately and wanted to have a go at making some, so this card seemed the perfect opportunity.  Here's how it turned out:

 Once again I used the Love Letter DSP and kept to the colour combination.  I stamped En Francais on the card and then heat embossed the word 'cherish' over the top in black embossing powder.

A little hard to see, but I spritzed the roses with Champagne Mist shimmer paint for a touch of glitz.

Stamps: En Francais Background, Baroque Motifs
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Versamark
DSP/Card Stock: Love Letter DSP, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black
Other: Paper Snips, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Crystal Effects, Stamp Positioner, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Black Embossing Powder

Catch you later,

Tina

Layout #2 - Oh Christmas Tree

Hi!

Today's layout doesn't use much Stampin' Up! product.  I used some things that I had purchased before I became a SU Demonstrator.  The photograph I have used is of my children with Santa.  It was nice to be able to have a Santa photo taken this year without any of the usual tears and tantrums!

 This was a simple, quick layout to complete.  All I needed to do was matt the photo with Cherry Cobbler card stock and paint the chipboard title and adhere them to the page.  Easy!

I used Stampin' Up!'s new Platinum shimmer paint to paint the chipboard title.  It gave a lovely glittery effect.  I love the way the title frames the star on the top of the tree.

Catch you later,

Tina

Layout #1 - School Photos

Hi!

I was on Facebook earlier today and noticed that my granny upline, Claire Daly, was musing about challenging herself to complete 100 layouts this year.  I thought - yeah, that sounds like a good plan - and decided I would try it too.  Then it hit me - that's at least 2 layouts a week.  Yikes!  And I'm already 2 weeks behind as I haven't scrapped yet this year.  Double yikes!

So I sat at my desk and the first photos I thought of were my eldest children's school photos from 2010.

 I kept the page very simple as I think the photos say it all.  I laugh every time I look at the photo of Alex and Ada together as it reminds me of the Cadbury ad.  Do you remember the one with the two kids who moved their eyebrows in time with the music?  Cracks me up!

DSP/Card Stock: Celebrations DSP, Pear Pizzazz 12 x 12 Textured, Pacific Point, Real Red, Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Timeless Type Alphabet Die, Real Red Designer Buttons

Catch you later,

Tina

A Well Scripted Love Letter

Hi!

Today's card is another custom order.  The request was for a birthday card for my customer's mother.  I wanted to use the new Love Letter DSP, so I used the colours in the paper as the basis for the card.

I like using black in cards like this - I think it is elegant.  However, too much black is not a good thing so I softened it with a large piece of DSP framed by torn card stock edges.  The satin ribbon, black flower and pearl also add small touches to the overall look of the card.

Stamps: Well Scripted
Ink: Riding Hood Red
DSP/Card Stock: Love Letter DSP, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla
Other: Big Shot, Lots Of Tags Sizzlet Die,Oval XL Punch, Pearl, 5/8" Basic Black Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals, Black Flower

Catch you later,

Tina

Happy New Year!

Hi!

I hope everyone had a fantastic festive season - I know I did! I have also been embracing the New Year - New Start philosophy and have taken the opportunity to have a massive sort and declutter of my house.  My sister has come to visit us and she has been a wonderful motivator and helper.  It's been great having someone who doesn't have the emotional attachment to the stuff I have been culling.

Anyway, today's card was a custom order.  A friend requested a card to give to a couple who are expecting another child.  Here's what I came up with based on the card on page 18 of the new Summer Mini Catalogue.

I used my new colour spritzer on the base card to provide a little extra interest. The butterflies are also new.

A bit hard to see in the photo, but I used some shimmer paint on the scalloped piece above the main panel.  I love the shimmery effect it gives.

Stamps: Well Scripted
Ink: Crumb Cake (formerly Kraft), Blushing Bride Marker
DSP/Card Stock: Hostess In Colour DSP, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Other: Rhinestones, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint (made into a shimmer mist), Scallop Edge Border Punch, Colour Spritzer

Catch you later,

Tina