With all the hype about Sale-a-bration, the Summer Mini catalogue was sort of in danger of being thought of as rather the red-headed step-child (absolutely no offense intended to red-headed step-children), but with so many lovely things contained within its 23 pages, it’s entirely unfair not to shine a bit of light on it, my particular favourite item being the Spice Cake Designer Fabric.

Here is a little (fully reversible) tote bag that I made up using a tutorial that I found {HERE}.  The original pattern for a full sized tote was a bit too large for the fat quarter sized pieces of fabric that make up the pack of Spice Cake, so I shrunk the pattern by half, which makes it just big enough for a wallet, phone, sunglasses and keys.

I know this first hand, as I was so excited when I finished it (which took a couple of hours one evening in front of the sewing machine and TV simultaneously) that I loaded it up the very next day and took it along when I dropped my girls to school

Here’s a peek at the fully lined inside…

And a closer look at the medallion-style embellishment…

I glued a pin onto the back of the embellishment, so that it can be removed and re-pinned in case I want to turn the bag inside out and use the other pattern, or even take it off entirely and pin it to a scarf or jacket

The plaid pattern in the very back is actually a pair of cotton shorts that I found in an op-shop for a couple of dollars and pounced on because the colours were exactly right to co-ordinate with the fabric.  Win!

The only other non Stampin’ Up! product is the circle of felt with notches cut out of it that you can see peeking out from under the jumbo Pear Pizzazz Designer Button.  If Stampin’ Up! had felt in colours that matched the colour collections, I’d be all over it in a second, but until they do (perhaps we can all work on them together ) I will have to source it elsewhere…

I’m SO very excited that Stampin’ Up! is now carrying Designer Fabrics (just WAIT until you see the one coming in the Autumn/Winter Mini *drool*) – it allows me to combine my love of all things Stampin’ Up! with my old and re-emerging love of sewing.

Can’t be unhappy with that

Have you experienced the Stampin’ Up! fabrics first hand yet?  Tell me what you’ve made, I’d love to know!

PS.  If you don’t get my newsletter, you would have missed this vitally important advertisement

There are several stamp sets that really made my stomach drop when I saw them show up on the retiring list, one in particular being Petal Pizzazz.

The beautiful, big, bold flowers lend themselves to beautiful, big, bold projects and I have used them SO very much these past couple of years!

Today I have another pizzazz-y project to share – one that I created recently as a gift for one of the mums from my small girl’s kindy class at school.  She is currently going through chemotherapy treatment and one of the other lovely mums organised a meal roster for the family, so for the past several weeks, the vast majority of the family’s weekday evening meals have been delivered to their doorstep.

I took a turn to take them my Grandma’s meat pie a couple of weeks ago (recipe below for those of you after a fabulously simple but hearty family meal!) and took the opportunity to include an extra little something to hopefully bring a smile to her face in the midst of such a turbulent and scary time for a mum with young children.

I wanted the front to be bright and cheery, so Petal Pizzazz combined with some gorgeous colours and lashings of stripey Old Olive ribbon did the trick perfectly   I also added some embossed Perfect Polka Dots onto the largest flower for some added whimsical texture, and some pearls and a button, well, because I like them

Inside I tucked a beautiful teal coloured scarf that I hoped would add some colour to some less than colourful days, and also a voucher for a massage that I hoped might provide some relaxing time too.

As I promised earlier in the post, here is the recipe for the at-least-three-generations-old recipe for my Grandma’s famous (at least in my family!) meat pie:

Ingredients:
500g beef mince
1 onion
1 potato
1 carrot
1 turnip
salt and pepper to taste
1 quantity of shortcrust pastry (I used to use the ready made frozen stuff, but now I returned to making my own as Grandma would have done – only she didn’t have a Thermomix, bless her )

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C

2. Line the base of a slice tin with two thirds of your rolled out shortcrust pastry, making sure that it extends beyond the top edges of the tin a bit (it will fold over the top layer at the end)

2. Chop the onion finely and grate the other vegetables. Or if you happen to own a Thermomix, whack all the vegies in and whiz them for three seconds at speed 5

3. Mix in the mince and combine well with the vegetables, adding salt and pepper to taste.

4. Place the mince/vegetable mixture on the pastry layer and spread out to all edges of the tin, pressing with a fork to flatten and smooth.

5. Take the remaining pastry and roll it out so that it covers the mince/vegetable mixture, place it on the top, then fold the underneath layer of pastry up and over the top layer, pressing lightly to seal the pie.

6. Bake for approximately one hour.

7. Serve with lashings of tomato sauce and additional vegies if you like!  It also makes a great picnic food, served cold (but complete with the lashings of sauce!)

If there is anything on the retiring list that has caught your eye, make sure to contact me to order it asap so you don’t miss out!

Oh, and if you make Grandma’s pie, be sure to let me know how it turned out, and if it becomes a staple in your house as it has in mine

REMINDER: My 2011-12 catalogue launch is coming in a couple of short weeks from now, so make sure to book your spot asap by contacting me!  It promises to be a fabulous event, with loads of new product inspiration..!

” Petal Pizzazz Gift Box”
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz
Paper: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Autumn Spice Specialty DSP (retired with Autumn/Winter Mini)
Ink: Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder, Old Olive Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 3/4″ and 1″ Circle Punch, Small Star Punch (retired), Icecream Parlor Buttons (July Promotion), Basic Pearls, 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

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

Two weeks in a row – I’m on a roll folks!  And you’ll note that Challenge Chewsday got the nod from the majority of commenters (commentators?!) on the last post – not that I was taking a poll or anything, but since you offered your opinions, let’s go with it!

This week I headed back to Inkspirations HQ and used the fabulous sketch on offer there…

Combined with this PRETTY colour combination from ColourQ…

And this is what I turned them into…

On Thursday just gone, our gorgeous across-the-road neighbours added a beautiful baby girl to their already sweet and lovely family, so as a heartfelt thank you for giving me a brand new baby to sniff, with a little bit of congratulations thrown in, this is the card I made for baby Lily, that we headed over this afternoon to give them.

I also made a little matching gift tag to hang from the bag…

So there you have my challenge entry for this Chewsday!  Hope you’re enjoying my new blog feature – I certainly am!

• An oldie but a goodie – sponge the edges of your cardstock and paper for a lovely vintage look
• Punch a strip of cardstock with a border punch, feed it through the Crimper, then concertina the straight edge together and stick it behind an oval or circle shape for a pretty border
• Use a White Gel Pen in conjunction with watercolouring for some great highlights

“Happy Birth-Day Lily!”
Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Watercolour Paper, Cherry Cobbler, In-color DSP stack,
Ink: Versamark, Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Ovals die, Eyelet Border Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Neutrals Brads, Crimper, 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Bitty Buttons, Owl Punch (heart), Blushing Bride Stitched Poly Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Stampin’ Sponges

Following on from my previous post about Frames with a Flourish, another of the stamps sets that I will find it very hard to see the back of will be Nursery Necessities.

It is such a perfect set for all things baby, with its variety of sweet images.

Here is a project from the depths of my picture archive that is almost a year old now, but has not yet seen the light of day here…

Just over a year ago we had some lovely neighbours move in across the street, and shortly after they arrived, so did their first baby – a gorgeous little man named Jacob.

I got him a set of cute little singlets and packaged them up in a little box to match the pictures on the front

Here’s the matching card…

This next gift is another long-ago project and also one that has never been blogged, but even worse, has never been given!

I made it for a girl that I worked with for a little while several years ago who had a baby boy – gosh, it would be well over a year ago now…  I don’t see her often and after I made it, time just slipped by until it got kind of pointless, especially as the gift was socks and feet tend to, well, grow.

Anyway, here it is along with its matching card (cased from one by the lovely Sarah Jane Kalé)…

The little box slides open to reveal the sock bounty within…

…and fits three pairs in total…

Can you see what I mean about the delight of Nursery Necessities..?

Here are some more cards using this gorgeous and to-be-missed set…

If you read my earlier post, then you will likely have a slight case of déjà vu, being that some of the cards in the round up above also contain Frames with a Flourish, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to show you them again

Wouldn’t you agree that there is indeed a vast array of possibilities with this delightful Nursery Necessities set?!

If having a versatile, gender-variable and let’s be honest, flippin’ cute baby stamp set is something you think would be a useful thing for your stampin’ collection, then you really can’t go past Nursery Necessities.

But if you don’t act by tomorrow, it will go past you, as it won’t be making a showing in the soon to be released 2010-11 Idea Book & Catalogue, so be sure to contact me if you want to nab yourself a set while you still can!

*retiring products in red*

“Baby Jacob Gift Set”
Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Paper: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Going Grey, Whisper White, Vellum cardstock, Patterns Pack II hostess DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Going Grey
Accessories: Word Window Punch, 1/2″ Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Baja Breeze Striped Ribbon, Baja Breeze 1″ Double Stitched Grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Socks in a Box Gift Set”
Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Polka Dot background
Paper: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Versamark
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Brocade Blue 5/8″ grosgrain, Clear Buttons, White Embossing Powder

This week, Just Add Ink brings you another colour challenge, and what a cracker it is!  The lovely Bronwyn Eastley – fellow DT gal – came up with this one…

I can honestly say that left to my own devices, I would likely never have combined these colours in a single project, but that’s why they call it a challenge, right?!

Here’s my contribution…

Saved by my DSP collection

All I did was punch out 1-1/4″ circles from whatever Designer Series Papers that I could find with the relevant colours.

A bit of embellishing here and there (quite literally) and I was all done.

Hop on over to Just Add Ink to check out some fabulous creations with this combo and while you’re there, have a go for yourself

Just Add Ink Challenge #22
Stamps: Seeing Spots
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP, Cottage Wall DSP
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Sunny Day Simply Scrappin’ Kit, 1-1/4″  and 1-3/8″ Circle Punches, Circle Ice Rhinestone Brads, Boho Blossom Punch, Button Bouquet, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon

It’s not super often that I stamp just for fun and without a specific reason or recipient in mind, but this afternoon I did just that and had SO much fun!

I had received the gorgeous Asian Artistry Level 2 hostess set from the Autumn/Winter mini a good few weeks ago, and hadn’t even got around to mounting it, so I rectified that today, pulled out some of the very small amount of Haiku DSP that I have remaining in my stash and made this…

The next thing I plan on rectifying is the amount of Haiku DSP that I have in my stash, which coincides nicely with the fact that it’s part of the current Deal of the Week, but only until tomorrow night, so if you’d also like to build your stash of DSP to the tune of more Haiku, Raspberry Tart, Pink Flamingo, Tea Party or Sweet Slumber, then you’d best be contacting me asap to make sure you get it at its current awesome price!

Here’s another Haiku creation that I don’t believe I have shared here yet…

This one also uses the awesome Two-Step Bird Punch, which is such good fun and has loads of possibilities for use.

The thing I think I love best about Haiku is the colour combination.  It’s not one that I would likely have come up with on my own, but it works so well and has become a bit of a fave.

It’s Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, So Saffron and More Mustard for those of you wishing to play along at home

If I haven’t managed to sway you in the direction of Haiku yet, check out some more projects I have posted previously –>HERE<– and –>HERE<–, then make sure to order yours before the Deal finishes tomorrow night!

Asian Artistry Haiku Card”
Stamps: Asian Artistry
Paper: Haiku DSP, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Aquapainter, Old Olive 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Haiku Bird Card”
Stamps: Sanded, Trendy Trees (greeting)
Paper: Haiku DSP, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Ink: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Two Step Bird Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Big Shot, Top Note die, Tangerine Tango Striped Grosgrain, Clear Buttons, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

This week over at Just Add Ink, we have a sketch challenge for you.  It’s a beauty of a sketch, with so many possibilities, two of which I discovered for myself when I wasn’t sure about the first card I made, so made a second.

Here’s the sketch…

And here’s my first go at it…

The colour combination is a bit left of centre, and came about as a result of having tidied my computer desk and finding a selection of cardstock under the various debris.

This brought about a vague recollection of having seen a picture online somewhere and taking inspiration from the colours in it, then being distracted by some other random cyber stampin’ sighting and forgetting about it until the long overdue desk clean up.

I wasn’t super happy with the result (that will teach me for tidying up!) so I made a second one…

The colours in this one are much more my speed

I also had fun with the scallops around the edge, wanting to something a little bit different.

In fact, let’s make a game of it – you tell me how I did it

And then tell me which card you like better, ’cause I’m still undecided…

“Just Add Ink #21 – Take 1″
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Summer Sun, Whisper White, Raspberry Tart (just $11.02 until Tuesday!)
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Rose Red
Accessories: Rose Red 1″ Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Clear Buttons, Soft Subtles brads, Scallop Border Punch, Crimper, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Just Add Ink #21 – Take 2″
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP, Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: 1/2″ Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Over at Just Add Ink this week, we have a colour challenge for you!  I chose to bust out my Aquapainter and Watercolour Paper this week, hence the title of my post.

Here are the colours…

And here is my card…

I had no idea where I was going with this, I just sat and watercoloured while my small girl played Dora games next to me on the computer.

Aside from the occasional utterance of some Spanish phrase or other from the little one, we sat mostly in companionable silence doing our thing.  Such a nice thing to be able to do

If I’m not back before Sunday, which at this stage is a fairly likely scenario, Happy Mother’s Day to all the lovely mums out there.  May your day be filled with lovely things that hopefully don’t include a bunch of kitchen appliances from the department store catalogues that always appear at this time of year.

Seriously, can we not have something frivolous and whimsical instead of white and practical for Mother’s Day?!

Although having said that, I’d change my tune quite happily for a Thermomix….

“Just Add Ink Challenge #16″
Stamps: Embrace Life, Trendy Trees
Paper: Watercolour Paper, Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Versamark
Accessories: Soft Suede Polka Dot Ribbon, Button Latte, White Embossing Powder, Corner Rounder Punch, Aquapainter, White Gel Pen, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Kitchen String