Orlando Roomie Gifts

Hi!

I'm back now from Orlando, and I had a wonderful time!

Today I have for you the gifts I made and had made for the ladies I shared a house with in Orlando. While on the hunt for Australian flag pencils for my swaps, I found these pens. Perfect!

I started with the same backing paper as I used for the pencils, but the only pieces I had left went sideways, not longways. I couldn't do a bag topper as I did for the pencils, so I went with a belly band instead.

I only had 6 to make, so I decided to stamp the kangaroos and colour them with my Blends. It was an extra special touch for some special people. I layered the kangaroos over a pair of Pool Party circles. I love the starry paper from the Twinkle Twinkle DSP pack, a bit of a nod to the American flag.

I wanted to make the gift extra special, and a little more personal, so I had some tote bags made up by Vistaprint to commemorate the trip.

Here's the tote. It's the perfect size for 12x12 papers, so I can see myself using it a lot - yes, I did have one made for me too. Hopefully the others find it just as useful!

Bye for now,

Tina

Orlando Swaps Part Two

Hi!

Today's post actually has my second and third swap items. I hadn't intended to make a third, but somehow I found it on the go before I'd even finished swaps one and two! Oops!

Let's start with swap two, which was actually my first idea. I had decided early on that I wanted to do something around an Australian flag pencil. Do you think I could find an Australian flag pencil without paying ridiculous prices? In the end I found these Aboriginal Art designs, which I think worked much better with my colour scheme.

I've used the Animal Expedition DSP again, as I wanted to use the large kangaroos this time. There are two leafy designs - this one with the frogs, and another with little birdies. I used a mix of the two as my backing piece. The bags are in the Annual Catalogue.

I used my Stamparatus to stamp the 'g'day mate' sentiment on the Stitched Circle. It's very cliche Australian, but I'm hoping that the American demos will love it! I made 24 of these swaps.

Finally, I have my last minute swap. I happened to be in Coles when my favourite Twinings Tea, Australian Afternoon, was half price. It was the smaller packs with individually wrapped bags. I grabbed two to take to the US, but when I realised they fit with the Australian theme of my swaps I decided to add them to the mix.

I didn't have enough Animal Expedition DSP left to use, so I decided to use some of my Garden Impressions DSP. I used my Envelope Punch Board to create a little tea bagged size envelope, which I topped with a Stitched Labels Framelit. I stamped a pair of sentiments from Balloon Celebration and then used part of the big floral die from Springtime Impressions for the little cluster of flowers. A few rhinestones finished off the design.

I wonder which of my swaps will be the most popular - the Tim Tam Slam, Pencil or Tea? What do you think?

Bye for now,

Tina

Orlando Swaps Part One

Hi!

How exciting - today is the first day of OnStage in Orlando. I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago, but still, I bet I'm going to be excited on the day!

Normally on a Friday I'd have the latest Just Add Ink post for you, but to cater for OnStage, last week's challenge actually runs for two weeks. Click on the link to check out the challenge details.

Instead I have for you one of the swaps I made to take to Orlando. Did you know that most Americans have never heard of the chocolatey goodness that is a Tim Tam? Did you also know that you can buy a box of 150 individually wrapped Tim Tams at Officeworks? What a perfect opportunity to educate some people on the delights of Tim Tams!

I started by working out how I was going to package the Tim Tam. I ended up deciding to use my Envelope Punch Board and the Crafty Owl's Box Buster to create a little box. This is the shape I ended up with, after starting with a 5 1/8" square piece of DSP.

I had to do some additional trimming on the bottom left and top right corners, as they wouldn't fold nicely into the box if I didn't. Once I'd folded along the score lines and snipped to create flaps, I turned the piece over and used my SNAIL to adhere some instructions to the inside of the box. Yep, I'm going to educate my fellow on how to do the Tim Tam Slam!

I then popped a Tim Tam into the box and folded the instructions over the top. I then started folding the box. I worked out that if I folded the larger long edge, followed buy the two short edges and finally the shorter long edge, I could get away with using one of my demo labels to hold the box closed.

If I tried folding in the short edges first there wouldn't be enough of the flaps exposed to stick to the label.

Here's the bottom of the box with my label attached. Now - how to decorate the top?

Aww, how cute! I made 40 of these swaps, as that's how many little kangaroos there are in two packs of the Animal Expedition DSP. I had very sore hands after hand cutting all 40 kangaroos and 80 branches! Thankfully, for the stamping I was able to use my Stamparatus for super quick production line stamping.

I'll be back on Monday with my other swap.

Bye for now,

Tina

Perth OnStage Swap

Hi!


I just realised that I haven't showed you the card I made as my swap while I was at OnStage in Perth last month. If you follow me on Fabebook, you probably would have seen a photo of me making them, but not the finished product. Well, here it is!

Yes, my love affair with the Sponge Brayers lives on! I used Sweet Sugarplum ink to create the ombre background, which went a lovely, deep, dusky pink. I loved the sentiment for this card, as I made it as a swap for my friends that were going to OnStage.

The Basic Black butterfly had a layer of Gold Foil paper behind it. I think it looks a little like a Monarch butterfly. The gold certainly added a bit of luxe to the card.

Most people only make a card front for swaps, but as I was only making 12 I decided to make a whole card.


Bye for now,


Tina

My Convention Swap

Hi!

I thought I'd sow you the card I made as a swap at Convention.  I didn't end up making many of them as there were quite involved and heavy on the layers.  I was really pleased with how they turned out though.

I tried to stick to products that were carrying over into the next Annual Catalogue as I wanted to be able to use the card as a display card in the future.

I really loved the touch of drama that the black matts add to the card.

As usual I decorated the inside too - which is unusual in a swap, but I wanted to do it anyway.  A card doesn't feel finished anymore unless I decorate the inside too.

Stamps: World Map, Dictionary, Gorgeous Grunge, Memorable Moments, Sassy Salutations
Ink: Jet Black Stazon, Pacific Point, Garden Green, Sahara Sand
Cardstock: Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Watercolour Paper
Other: Big Shot, Circles Framelits, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Banner Punch, Cotton Ribbon, Aqua Painter, Silver Mini Brads, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals

Bye for now,

Tina

Post Convention Swap

Hi!

After Convention this year I participated in a card swap.  The idea was that we should take something that inspired us at Convention and put our own spin on it.  The card I chose to CASE was one of the samples provided using the Daydreams Medallions stamp set that we all got at Convention.

I liked how this card is quite gender neutral, a handy card to have in your stash for emergencies!

I went for a different colour scheme of River Rock, Cherry Cobbler and Island Indigo.

All these Medallions are single stamps - I was very glad I only had to make 4 of these cards for the swap!  Even though I had the clear mount set I still used my stamp positioner.

I was a bit over it by the inside, so it was very simple!

Stamps: Daydream Medallions (upcoming), Memorable Moments (upcoming)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo
Cardstock: River Rock, Island Indigo, Very Vanilla
Other: Island Indigo Baker's Twine, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, Basic Jewel Pearls, Stamp Positioner

Bye for now,

Tina

Convention Swap

Hi!

Here I am, as promised, with the swap card I made for Convention.  I decided this year I was only going to do a closed swap with some of the Just Add Ink girls as I didn't have the time or energy to make a ton of swaps.  The swap had an Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue theme, so I chose to use the Bordering On Romance stamp set.

I watercoloured the flowers after first stamping them in Stazon Ink on watercolour paper.  I used my Riding Hood Red and Pear Pizzazz markers and a blender pen to colour.

I then trimmed the flowers and popped them up on Dimensionals over the corresponding part of the image on the base panel.  I used Rhinestones for the centres of the flowers.

As usual, I also stamped the inside of the card.

Stamps: Bordering On Romance, Just Believe
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Stazon
Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Watercolour Paper
Other: Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Bye for now,

Tina

Convention Swap 3

Hi!

Today I'm going to show you my third and final swap for the Stampin' Up! Convention I am attending as you read!  This swap was based on a technique demonstrated on the Melany Stamps blog.

Stamps: Just Believe

Ink: Garden Green, Concord Crush

Cardstock: Garden Green, Concord Crush, Whisper White

Other: Decorative Label Punch, Modern Label XL Punch, Word Window L Punch, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, Basic Rhinestone Jewels

Catch you later,

Tina

Convention Swap 2

Hi!

Today is day 2 of Stampin' Up!'s Convention, so here is my second swap design. I based it on a card I saw on Mary Fish's blog.  You can see her card here.

Stamps: Just Believe, Basic Phrases

Ink: Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz

Cardstock: Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla

Other: Basic Jewels Rhinestones, Paper Crimper, 1 3/8" x 5/8" Oval L Punch, 1 3/4" x 7/8" Oval L Punch, Dimensionals

Catch you later,

Tina

Convention Swap 1

Hi!

As you read this I'm in Melbourne having the time of my life at Stampin' Up!'s Annual Convention.  While I'm away I thought I'd show you the swaps I made for the event.  I made 3 different designs, so I'll show you one for each day of Convention.

This swap was based on a card I made recently for a friend's new baby.  You can see the original card here.

Stamps: All A Flutter, So Swirly Jumbo Wheel, Baroque Motifs
Ink: Pretty In Pink
Cardstock: Pretty In Pink, Whisper White
Other: Decorative Label Punch, Paper Snips, Dimensionals, Sponge Dauber

Catch you later,

Tina