As the post title would suggest, today is my thirty-something^th birthday (actually it’s ticked over to midnight since starting to write, so technically it isn’t anymore…) and after a lovely day having lunch and pottering at a garden centre with my handsome man this afternoon and hanging out with my girls this evening, this post is going up much later than I had planned, but I’m here now and have things to share!

Before I launch into the details of the delightful early birthday surprise that some of my stampin’ team members sprung on me exactly a week ago, I thought I’d expand on the second half of the post title…

As you are most likely aware, Sale-a-bration is coming to a close after two “enchanting” months and come March 31st it will be all over red rover for another year.  If you have yet to capitalise on the freebies available with this promotion, or you have capitalised and you rather feel like doing so again, then I have a great opportunity for you!

Here’s how it will go down…*

• 10 people each place a $100 order (before shipping)
• Everybody chooses a free Sale-a-bration item
• Drawn randomly, everybody shares in the hostess benefits amounts to spend as they choose on exclusive hostess stamp sets or catalogue merchandise as follows:

• One amount of $30
• Three amounts of $20
• Four amounts of $15
• One amount of $10
• One additional Sale-a-bration reward

In addition to the bonuses listed above, the person whose order total is the highest will also have the opportunity to purchase any catalogue item at half price**

DON’T FORGET: WITH THE NEW HOSTESS PLAN, THE HOSTESS DOLLARS ARE ABLE TO BE SPENT ON ANY COMBINATION OF EXCLUSIVE HOSTESS SETS AND CATALOGUE MERCHANDISE THAT YOU LIKE, SO ANY OF THE AMOUNTS LISTED ABOVE COULD GO TOWARDS GETTING YOUR HANDS ON ONE OF THE STUNNING HOSTESS-ONLY STAMP SETS AVAILABLE!

Contact me asap to reserve a spot in the last gasp virtual workshop!!

* hostess amounts may change according to the number of people and order totals submitted
** cannot form part of the initial $100 order

~~~~~~~~~~

Righto, the next fun order of business is to allow you a peek into what it’s like to have a crew of beautiful hearted stampin’ team members descend on your house of a Thursday evening to throw you a surprise birthday stampin’ session.

We had actually pre-planned a casual gathering to take our Autumn-Winter Mini catalogue pre-order purchases (hello demonstrator perk!) for a test run, so I knew that there would be eight of us at my place that night.  What I didn’t know was that they had been covertly messaging each other for almost a month with plans for a surprise birthday bash, and my suggestion of a play over at my house was all the encouragement needed to swing their delightful plans into action!

Cut to 7.30pm last Thursday night (after I had sufficiently shifted around every item of furniture in my teeny lounge room to make way for two trestle tables) when I heard a car door out the front.  After a little while without a knock at the door, I headed out to my porch to see if anybody needed help up my front steps with their stampin’ supplies.  The sight that greeted me still makes me giggle when I think of it now – picture six grown ladies, all carrying a varied array of stamping equipment, bags and plates of food all crouched in your front garden in an attempt to escape the glare of the motion-sensor security light that popped on as they all converged on my front door.  The sight of me up on the porch galvanized them into action, with Lou springing up to hold up the above birthday banner, SJ with her camera around her neck trying in vain to catch the frivolity on film and Michelle still crouched in the garden doing her best to hide in my hedge.  Bloody hilarious I tell you!

We all proceeded inside where I was informed that I need do nothing – everything was planned, from refreshments to make and takes and the most glorious array of gifts and cards.  Stunned is an understatement.  My face hurt from smiling and I’m pretty sure I spent much of the evening squirming and flapping with joy

Alrighty, enough talking, who wants to see some pictures…?!

Here is the party hat I was presented with at the start of the evening, and there is photographic evidence of it perched jauntily on my head, but it’s out of focus and blurry, quite likely due to the aforementioned squirming and flapping…

There are loads more to see – just hover over the thumbnails for a description and click on the thumbnails for the big picture:

Am I not the luckiest stamper in the world?  Such a fun night surrounded by some of the loveliest gals you could hope to meet, and all because one day six years or so ago, I thought to myself “That Stampin’ Up! thing looks like fun…”

So there I will leave you as it is now way past my bedtime and the birthday festivities continue tomorrow today, with a shopping trip into the city with my lovely mum.

Although I will say that if you like the idea of making new and gorgeous friends with a similar penchant for all things paper and ink, I would encourage you to consider the demonstrator opportunity, particularly since the Sale-a-bration promotion means the starter kit is discounted by $40 and you get an extra stamp set thrown in too!  But you’ll have to be quick, because the offer ends on March 31…

Feel free to contact me with any questions about the opportunity or have a browse of the Join My Team section of my blog

Today I’m back to share a couple of cards that I made recently for some of my stampin’ team members and to give you a sneaky peek of what you can expect to see here tomorrow…

This first card (inspired by FTL 172 from Clean and Simple Stamping) was for Sandi – a lovely gal in my team who is going through some pretty tough medical treatment at the moment, so at the instigation of another of the lovely gals in my team, a few of us banded together to purchase an Amazon Kindle and a download card so that she can cart all her favourite books to the hospital with her in a more convenient fashion.

See  the Poppy Parade scalloped mat?!   Bonus points if you can guess how I did it

Quick tip: When looking for a greeting to use on your cards, be sure to check all your stamp sets as the most suitable one might come from a most unexpected place!  The Thinking of You on Sandi’s card is from the Best Dad Ever set – you know the one with the row of little ties?!  It has four fantastic greetings using simple fonts, two of which don’t necessarily have anything to do with dads!

This next card was for the gal that instigated the Kindle idea for Sandi, as she had a birthday herself back in January and a few of us gathered at a playground and coffee shop to mark the occasion.  Love ya Mini!

The ‘inlaid embossing’ technique was all the rage last year or so and I was happy to revisit it in a way that I hadn’t previously, by cutting out the butterfly shape as a background for the technique.  Some previous cards that I created using this fun and funky technique can be found {HERE}

The colour combination was naturally lifted directly from the Everyday Enchantment DSP (I know, I know, I promise I’ll step away from the DSP soon…) and the flowers were made of various combinations of the Boho Blossoms, Itty Bitty and different sized Circle Punches.

Speaking of birthdays, I have one of my own tomorrow and I’ll be back then to show you the delights that were sprung on my by several stampin’ team members last Thursday night!

Here’s a tiny peek at some of the loveliness you can expect to see…

If you have any questions about any of the cards or techniques in today’s post, please give me a shout!

Stamps: Best Dad Ever
Paper: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Naturals Ivory, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories: Scallop Square Bigz Clear Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Big Shot, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, Everyday Enchantment Brads, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stamps: It’s Your Day
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories: Punches: Boho Blossom, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Two-step Owl, 1/2″ Circle, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Decorative Label; Beautiful Butterflies Die Bigshot, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

By far one of my favourite varieties of cards to make are ones for babies, and when I can incorporate my current favourite DSP crush, so much the better!

Back in January my cousin-in-law had a baby shower to celebrate the impending arrival of her sweet baby girl (who has since arrived and a sweetie she is!), and this is the card I made for the occasion.

I love all the designs on the Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-bration DSP, so to be able to use so many of them in a quilt like fashion made me a very happy stamper   It also goes a long way to illustrate the versatility of these papers, so if you don’t have any yet, I suggest you move to amend that state of affairs as soon as possible – definitely before March 31st.  Lucky for you, contacting me with your $100 order is all it takes to score your free pack

Vintage and cute play happily together on this card, with the vintage trim and sponging around the edges of the DSP squares and Decorative Label, combining with the oh-so-sweet little owly from Fox & Friends.

With a packet of Stampin’ Dimensionals never far from reach, I popped up both the Decorative Label and the little owl, plus added punched out white and tiny black circles to accentuate his (her?} eyes even more.

Then the only thing left to complete the vintage-y cute picture was the gift – a brown paper package tied up with *FREE* Calypso Coral organdy ribbon and a strip of laser cut doilies from the Flirtatious DSP.

Tune in some time next month for the card I made when the little love was actually born – I need the entire rest of this month to finish sharing the rest of my Sale-a-bration projects before the whole thing finishes!

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Naturals Ivory, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), Flirtatious DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade
Accessories: 1-1/4″ Square Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Two-Step Owl Punch (eyes), Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Emossing Folder, Victoria Vintage Trim, Neutrals Brads, Calypso Coral Marker, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon (SAB)

Following on from yesterday’s post where I showed you the make and take that I have been living off for the past couple of months, today I am going to share with you its companion project – the one that I have been demonstrating at most of those workshops as well!

I am rather a fan of cute packaging and cards as gifts, so when I can combine the two in something I can create with my own hands, I get rather excited!  It’s the little things…

Speaking of little things, here is my fun project:

It’s a simple little package (you will see just how simple once you get to the end of this post…) that opens up…

…to reveal a set of co-ordinated love notes and matching envelopes…

It’s the perfect little project to illustrate the fabulous product and colour co-ordination factor of Stampin’ Up! that set me all a-flutter almost six years ago, and still keeps me excited and motivated to create pretty things as often as possible   It’s also a great project to show how a little (or a lot!) of sponging can make a lovely vintage-y difference to what would otherwise be a piece of Naturals Ivory cardstock with a stamped image on it

And just for you, my lovely (patient, loyal and understanding) readers, if you would like to re-create the little package for yourselves, here is a quick and simple guide to doing so…

The little band that holds it closed is simply two strips of co-ordinating DSP – one 3.5cm wide and the other 3cm, with an embellishment popped on the top.

Of course, the combination of colours and stamps that I’ve used on this particular version of the project is just the tip of the iceberg as far as possibilities go   If you use the above template for your own set of matching love notes, do feel free to share – show and tell is always welcome!

And if you’d like to be the hostess of a workshop where you get to keep a little project just like this one that I will demonstrate for you and your friends, be sure to let me know…

Stamps: Fresh Vintage (SAB), Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment (SAB)
Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Markers – Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Decorative Label Punch, Scallop Square Punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Those of you who have inhabited the stamping world for a while (and isn’t it a fun place to inhabit?!) will be familiar with the term to “CASE”.  I have heard a couple of different definitions of the acronym – both Copy And Share Everything and Copy And Selectively Edit, but either way, it pretty much means to borrow ideas from other stamping projects that you see (with proper credit given to the original source, of course) and I do an awful lot of it myself.  Partly because I get a LOT of inspiration from other stampers and also because I figure there’s no point in re-inventing the wheel every time I’m at my stamping desk.  I also maintain that CASEing projects from other stampers has vastly improved my own stamping over these past several years, and if I were ever to allow you to see the cards that I had on offer at my very first workshops almost six years ago, no doubt you’d be nodding enthusiastically in agreement…

Recently I was looking for ideas for the Sale-a-bration set Sprinkled Expressions and came across this card, which I loved immediately!  Using the card layout and stamp set as inspiration, I changed the colours and came up with the following CASEd example:

Being the type of person that tends to stick to a good idea when I find one, I then went on to use the same layout to create a card for a birthday party that my small girl was invited to recently.  This one uses the free stamp set Topsy Turvy Celebration that I scored simply because I’m a demonstrator and I booked a workshop during a promotion.  Can’t complain about free rubber

And finally, because I am 100% in luuuurve with the Everyday Enchantment DSP from the current Sale-a-bration promotion, I CASEd the card for the third time and have inflicted it upon almost every workshop attendee as a make and take for the past (almost!) two months…

I wondered aloud recently on my Facebook page whether I might get away with using a single make and take design right up until the end of March and was greeted with requests for a photos, along with the assertion that I needed to provide “pics or it didn’t happen”!  So just for you Tracey Eaton, here is the photographic evidence that “it happened”

If you happen to be attending one of the workshops that I am doing before the end of March, you may well be in for a case of déjà vu when the make and take comes around.  Promise to smile, act surprised and exclaim over the design…?  Cheers

Speaking of workshops, I am pretty much out of opportunities to book in March, but am already taking bookings for workshops in April and May (can anyone say new mini catalogue…?!)  To grab yourself a date and be among the first to play some new and exciting products from the upcoming mini, be sure to get in touch soon!

Stamps: Sprinkled Expressions, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Cheerful Treat DSP (hostess)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Basic Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stamps: Topsy Turvy Celebration
Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush, Cheerful Treat DSP (hostess)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Markers  – Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Pink Pirouette, Melom Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight; Bitty Buttons, Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Brights and Subtles Brads, White Embossing Powder, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Everyday Enchantment (SAB)
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Bigshot Die, Everydat Enchantment Brads (SAB), Basic Rhinestones, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Last month, I was honoured and excited to be asked to present a workshop “wow” at the Stampin’ Up! Perth Regional Seminar – an experience that included being hooked up to a microphone, presenting on stage to an audience of over 200 of my stampin’ peers, all while having a dude with a camera hovering over my shoulder and projecting my stampin’ hands onto two big screens at the front of the room.

Five years ago, such an experience would have filled me with dread (and when I was asked to present for the very first time about three Regionals ago I truly was filled with dread and considered a polite “no thank you” response) but having had the opportunity to present at three Regional Seminars now, as well as once at the yearly national convention, I’m pleased to be able to say that I think I have conquered my long held and deeply ingrained fear of public speaking and can cross that one off my bucket list.

The projects that I presented this time around focused on the new Sticky Sheets and our range of fine Stampin’ Glitters.

The other star of the show – the one that allowed me to obtain the lacy, glittery look – was actually a length of doily, plastic-y, tablecloth-y type stuff that I got from my local haberdashery store.  That’s the only way I can think to describe it, and when I did so at the shop, the assistant knew exactly what I was talking about and took me right to it

The beauty of this stuff is that it’s reusable (the plastic-y nature of it peels right off the Sticky Sheet), it’s inexpensive and comes by the metre, so you can get as much or as little as you need, and because you’re effectively using it as a stencil, it doesn’t matter if it’s ugly gold trimmed like the one in the middle as it doesn’t actually feature in your end result.  Bonus!

The process of actually achieving this result is very simple.  Firstly you peel the backing sheet off the Sticky Sheet and adhere it to a piece of cardstock, the peel the top (red) layer off the Sticky Sheet and lay the tablecloth piece over it.  You don’t want to press it too hard, as the Sticky Sheet is super sticky and you want to be able to remove the tablecloth easily.  Pour your first colour of Stampin’ Glitter over the top and rub it gently with your finger to ensure it gets into all the tiny holes and sticks to the Sticky Sheet beneath.  Pour off the excess glitter, then peel off the tablecloth.  Now take your second (ideally, highly contrasting) colour of Stampin’ Glitter and pour it over the previous colour so that it sticks onto the exposed Sticky Sheet.  Pour off the excess again, then dust-bust your desk and fend off comments for the rest of the day about how you are covered in glitter (I did a couple of afternoon school runs after preparing my samples, so I can vouch for that from experience)

That’s all there really is to it, and the options as far as cutting shape with the Bigshot as in the butterfly example above are pretty much endless.

I had a second card sample that I handed in to Stampin’ Up! as an example of the technique that I showed and also a 12 x 12 scrapbooking layout that I created about/for my niece, so I will try and grab that back off her one of these days and snap a picture.

The fourth sample is my favourite and was created as a bit of an artwork feature for my girls’ bedroom…

This one was created using a 3D frame from the Happiest Place on Earth (Ikea for those of you unfamiliar with my Swedish furniture obsession) and this time I placed the tablecloth stencil right over the mat board and glittered directly onto it.

To keep the glitter as the star of the show and not make the whole effect too busy, I kept the centre very simple, with a chipboard butterfly from the new On Board Merry Medley set embossed with the new Melon Mambo Stampin’ Emboss Powder (let’s hear a big “YAY” for coloured embossing!!) and embossed the tiny stamped heart from the Create a Cupcake set over the top in Cherry Cobbler.

I hope you have enjoyed my samples as much as I enjoyed creating them, and that you can forgive the past two and a half months of deathly blog silence from me.  I will redeem myself, I promise

If you would like any further information on the technique I have described here, or to purchase any of the products required to achieve it, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

“Glitter Butterfly Card”
Stamps: Tiny Tags
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso,  Cherry Cobbler, 2010-11 In Color DSP Stack
Ink: Cherry Cobbler & Early Espresso (Stampin’ Write Markers)
Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Early Espresso 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon, Jewelry Tag Punch, Antique Brads, Sticky Sheet, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Finer Supernova Glitter (Chocolate)

“Glitter Frame with Embossed Butterfly”
Stamps: Create a Cupcake (small heart)
Paper: none
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: On Board Merry Medley, Melon Mambo and Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Sticky Sheet, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Fine Supernova Glitter (Olive)

Way back when I was in primary school, one of the games that was favoured at the time (although probably very un-PC these days and likely going by a different name) was Chinese Whispers.  The game where one person started by whispering a sentence to the person next to them, who in turn whispered to the next person and so on around the circle until it got back to the beginning, sometimes as a very different sentence to what it started out as.

“I went to the beach last week” could easily have become “I ate a peach with my beak” depending on the size of the circle and the listening skills (or not) of the small folk involved.

A more fun and current version of this game (at least as far as I’m concerned) is the one that transpired last week in my own circle of stampin’ friends and family involving a single card as the first inspiration that through the wonders of the internet and text messaging became a “same but different version” of the card once it has passed through several people a mere few days later.

The starting point was this lovely card…

…that my friend and A Klass Act team member Tracey used as inspiration for this card that she made as a swap for a stamping evening we had at her place last Friday night…

Not having seen the original inspiration card at the time, I used Tracey’s card as my starting point for this one that I set as the make and take in my workshop the following day…

…which I attached to a text message to send to my lovely Aunty Mair, who in turn used it (not having seen the original or Tracey’s card) as inspiration for this delightful creation that she posted to her friend that she had enjoyed lunch with the previous day…

Isn’t this FUN?!

It’s truly one of my favourite things about stamping and creating – the process of being inspired by fellow stampers in a large or small way, and thereby never having to reinvent the stampin’ wheel as it were.

Have you played any games of Stampin’ Chinese Whispers lately…?

“My Stampin’ Chinese Whispers card – Thinking of You”
Stamps: Silhouette Sentiments (L1 hostess)
Paper: Naturals Ivory
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories: Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade & Peach Parfait markers, Basic Pearls, Pear Pizzazz Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

These past few days, I have watched more daytime TV than could usually be considered healthy, thanks to a dose of shingles that started out in my right eyebrow and has made its was onto my eyelid as well as spreading its painful feelers across my forehead, temple and cheek.

Not to mention that its allowing me to do a very passable impression of the Elephant Man thanks to the swelling around my eye.

Yep, I’m smokin’ HOT right about now, let me tell you…

So I have been spending quite a bit of time inside, partly because I have been feeling so wretched and partly so as not to give nightmares to any small children that I might cross paths with on the street.

I thought it might be an ideal time to get on  here with some stamped creations that I made some time ago and have photographed, edited and all, just not managed to share.

This card was one that I made for a very special wedding back in January – one of the five weddings we went to between September last year and February this year (never have I been so very aware of a “wedding season” in my life..)

The gal getting married was someone I have known since she was about four years old and her dad used to coach my brother’s junior cricket team.  Her parents and mine are still the best of friends all these years later – wonderful people, all of them

With so many weddings to go to, I found myself with a go-to card design that I made for a couple of them, but for this one, I wanted to do something a bit different and special.

I started out (as I very often do) at the Clean and Simple Stamping blog and used this sketch as my starting point…

After changing the orientation, I set about deciding what to decorate my four squares with and hunted through  my stamp and embellishment collection for anything ‘”wedding-y”.

Here’s a closer look at the combination of elements I ended up with…

It was one of those times that I was happy to have a variety of embellishments on hand, as it was the little touches that finished if off I think.  Things like the Dazzling Diamonds glitter in the champagne glasses and the tiny heart-shaped clear button with a punched out Cherry Cobbler heart stuck on the top.

If you’d like more details on any of the products or techniques I’ve employed on this card, please don’t hestitate to get in touch.

And who knows, depending on what Brooke is up to these days on the Bold and the Beautiful, I may even be back later with more…  (Assuming that Brooke is still around that is – surely she’s not finished marrying every bloke on the show yet…?)

“Congrats Nat & Dave – Wedding card
Stamps: Cheers to You, Always, Simply Said, Occasional Greetings, Playful Pieces (L3 hostess), Basic Phrases
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White, In-Color Patterns DSP (Blushing Bride)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: 1-1/4 and 1-3/8 Square Punches, 1-1/4 Circle Punch, Two Step Owl Punch (heart), Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Early Espresso Marker, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin Dimensionals

These past few days, I have been giving my Create a Cupcake stamp set and matching Build a Cupcake punch from the brand spankin’ new Autumn/Winter mini a serious workout, and inspired by two different challenges this week, came up with this little card…

It was based on this Clean & Simple Fall-to Layout #134…

…which in and of itself is clean and simple indeed, but by the time I had finished stamping and punching all six cupcakes, white embossing all the “bows” deciding on each of their embellishments, putting them in order, sticking them down and wondering where on earth I was going to fit the sentiment (you will note that I went with a strip of vellum overlaying the bottom row of cupcakes so as not to obscure them too much…), well let’s just say that whoever gets this baby outta feel really loved.

Not that I have anybody in mind at the moment, I’m just sayin…

The colours were inspired by last weeks colourQ combination:

I took a bit of artistic licence with this, as technically the Cherry Cobbler that I used for my flower and cherry decorations and the So Saffron brads as the flower centres were not officially part of the line-up, but I’m pretty sure I can make out some So Saffron sprinkles on the bottom left cake in the above pic, as well as a couple of specks of Cherry Cobbler too.

At least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.  Just as well we’re not playing for sheep stations here…

The other little project I have been having fun with involving the cupcakes is the project I’m demonstrating at my workshops this month.  Super cute, it must be said

With several workshop dates already booked and Easter looming, I have limited workshop opportunities left this month, but if you want to see this gorgeous set of products put through its paces (AND keep the cute project for yourself!) contact me asap and we’ll work out a date!

“Challenge Chewsday Cupcakes!”
Stamps: Create a Cupcake
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Vellum cardstock
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Cherry Cobbler, Versamark
Accessories: Build a Cupcake punch, Subtles brads, White embossing powder, Colour Spritzer and Crumb Cake Marker, Crystal Effects, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I said earlier that I’d be back later with my workshop projects for this month, so being later, here I am!

I’m not long back from coaching at my girls’ gymnastics classes, which follows on from a 6am workout in the park, canteen duty at school, and some work in the afternoon, so if I stop making sense (you know, more so than usual) chances are my head has hit the keyboard, so forgive me.

I had an absolute blast with my workshops this month, all of them centered around the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set and matching Punch Pack and Bitty Buttons.  It’s such a totally cute stamp set and I was really happy with the projects I made with them and gave to my hostesses.

I was determined to work Poppy Parade into this month’s colour scheme and was happy to land on this combination, which actually includes four out of the five In-colours, plus Baja Breeze.  Bright and colourful and perfectly suited to the Itty Bitty range.

Here’s the first one…

This first example shows just the stamping aspect of the set – at least the ones that I demonstrated at the workshops did…  This sample of mine has a stuffed up Poppy Parade flower under the punched out one, but imagine if you will a Poppy Parade flower stamped directly onto the circle of Whisper White just like the other two.

Thanks

For the second sample, I busted out the co-ordinating Punch Pack for this, my favourite of the bunch…

Same colours as before, just in different proportions – something I have been doing in all my recent workshops to show the versatility of a combination of four or five colours

For the third sample, I popped on some of the delightful Bitty Buttons for some added cuteness and dimension…

Same colours again, a bit more of the polka dot theme that I seem to have going on, plus a Sale-a-bration set (last day to get yours tomorrow!!) for good measure

At $55.85* for a stamp set, pack of three co-ordinating punches and 64 buttons, you really can’t go wrong, unless of course you don’t act before tomorrow evening, as these sweet products are set to become unavailable as soon as the Summer Mini finishes its reign.

If you’d like to add this set of lovelies to your order of the Square Lattice embossing folder from earlier, you’ll need to get in touch asap to make sure you can get them!

Alternatively you can wait until tomorrow and order at the last minute, as I’ve got something to show you that might have you adding the Aviary stamp set as well…

* Cost for clear mount stamp set not including shipping.  The total of all the products inclusive of the stamp set in woodmount is $59.85

“Itty Bitty Bits of loveliness”
Stamps: Itty Bitty Bits, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, So Happy for You
Paper: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Blush Blossom, Whisper White, In-colour DSP stack,
Ink: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Blush Blossom, Peach Parfait
Accessories: Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Scallop Edge, 1-1/4″ Square, 1-3/4″ Circle & 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle Punches; Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlits, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Pear Pizzazz Stampin’ Write Marker, Blush Blossom Stitched Poly, Basic Rhinestones, Bitty Buttons