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

I can’t remember when or where I first saw the inlaid embossing technique, aside from it being some time in the past couple of months and on any one of several blogs and forums that I may have visited during that time.

It seems to be the “it” technique of the moment and it’s no wonder as far as I’m concerned as it doesn’t happen very often that I see a technique that I haven’t seen at any point prior and that literally makes my jaw drop.

I made it the focus of my workshops last month, so that all my February hostesses and workshop guests got to see this fabulous technique in action and the hostesses got to keep the cards that I made.

Want to see what has me in such a spin?!

This…!

See the image panel there with the Little Leaves die and the Itty Bitty Bits flowers that’s also embossed?  That there is the inlaid embossing technique – sticking some punched or die cut shapes onto a background the whacking the whole lot through the Bigshot inside an embossing folder with a nice and closely repeated pattern (the Square Lattice folder from the Summer Mini is perfect).

That is quite literally, all there is to it and of course I was immediately bustling about my craft room, excitedly trying out all combinations of shapes and colours and giving my Square Lattice embossing folder the workout of its life!

Here is my second workshop sample…

I loved this one the most as the number background – easily replaced with alphabet letters from the same Timeless Type Sizzlits set for a fabulous teacher card or in pastels for a baby card or just some gorgeous brights for a school aged birthday party (somebody stop me!!) – is as simple as cutting out a bunch of numbers in your choice of colours and sticking them randomly to make a background.

I started in the bottom left corner and stuck alternating numbers and colours to fill in the space before popping it all through the Bigshot.  Easy peasy!

Here’s the third one…

For this one, I stuck to the same colour scheme as before and this time cut out an assortment of flowers using my Blossom Party Originals Die and some different sized circles using my punches.

I also wanted to play with this technique from a scrapbooking perspective, so I got out every circle punch I own (also known as every circle punch in the catalogue…) and made myself a range of different sized and coloured circles and rings, which I stuck in no particular order onto Whisper White before embossing it and coming up with this…

…which may lead you to ask how I embossed such long pieces of cardstock when the embossing folder is only around the size of a card front, the answer to which is that I embossed one end first, then put the other end of the cardstock in the folder, being careful to line up the pattern on the folder with the previously embossed part and Robert’s your mother’s brother

As you can see, when I get excited about a particular new technique or idea, I do it to the extreme, but you can see how amazingly versatile and impressive but incredibly simple this technique is, and how the sky is the limit as far as what you can do with it.

Pivotal to the whole idea though is the Square Lattice embossing folder – the one that I think gives it the best outcome, and being that this folder is in the Summer Mini catalogue (page 17 for those of you playing along at home) you have only until tomorrow evening to secure yourself this fabulous little tool and have yourself hours of fun coming up with your own combinations of shape and colour!

Although you may want to wait until later to contact me for yours, as I’m going to show you what else I’ve been doing with Itty Bitty Bits and the co-ordinating Punch Pack and Bitty Buttons at this month’s workshops, and you might want to grab them at the same time.

Just a thought…

Inlaid embossing technique”
Stamps: Occasional Greetings, Perfect Punches, A to Z, Itty Bitty Bits
Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Brights DSP stack, Play Date DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Edge, Eyelet and Scallop Trim border punches, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Wide Oval PunchTimeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlits, Blossom Party originals die, Top Note die,  Little Leaves Sizzlit, Daffodil Delight 1/4″ grosgrain, Pear Pizzazz Stitched Poly, Brights brads

This week’s challenge over at Just Add Ink seemed like a bit of a no-brainer at first glance….

Just add stamps.  Okay, so that’s what I would have been doing anyway, where’s the challenge in that..?!

Then of course once I took the time to read past the title of the post, I realised that the emphasis was on the just.  As in nothing but stamps.

No DSP, no ribbon, no buttons or brads, no punches or die cuts, no fancy schmancy techniques, just stamps and the cardstock they are placed upon.

Once I got going with my idea (and managed to bust it out in no more than three and a half  minutes) I realised that the JAI gals might be onto something…

While I love nothing more than getting a swag of new products and things to play with (got some just last week from the upcoming Autumn-Winter mini catalogue in fact – ssshhhhhhhh!!) there’s something to be said for heading back to the bare basics of stamps, ink and cardstock.

And the time factor – or lack of time taken – is a definite bonus!  I’m heading off to make some more of this particular design to send out randomly in the next week or so.

Check back over the next couple of days, as I just realised how close we’re coming to the end of March, and therefore the end of Sale-a-bration AND the Summer Mini!  I think this may just have been my favourite ever mini and I have some things to show you that I haven’t managed to get up here yet, so tune in for a last minute flurry of Summer Mini activity in the coming days…

“Just Add Ink #61 – Just Add Stamps!”
Stamps: Growing Green, Apple Blossoms
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Accessories: Stampin’ Sponge (hope that’s allowed!!)

So I’m a whole day – almost two – late with my Challenge Chewsday entries, and although I had them all stamped and photographed yesterday, falling asleep on the couch at 8pm won out over editing and uploading them.

I’m here now though, albeit after another busy day, but I’m determined to get these up (preferably before the opening bars of Farmer Wants a Wife) so let’s get this show on the road…

This week’s challenge over at Just Add Ink is to case the two gorgeous and talented stampers who started the site a year ago now and have just stepped down (handing the reins to two equally gorgeous and talented stampers, I will add).  The most challenging part of this challenge was deciding which of their amazing creations to case!

But decide I did, and here’s what I came up with.  This card is based on this beauty from Danielle’s blog…

And the next one is based on this little bit of delight from Amanda’s blog…

If you want to play along, you’d better be quick as I’m pretty sure the challenge is only open for another hour or so, and if you live over here in the West, there’s less than half an hour 15 minutes ’til Farmer, so you have even less time

Even if you don’t play along, I’d encourage you to head on over to Danielle and Amanda’s blogs to check out their wonderful talents and to say hi

“CASEing Danielle”
Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Woodgrain, Apple Blossoms
Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Whisper White
Ink: Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride (Marker), So Saffron (Marker)
Accessories: 5/8″ Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Top Note Die, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“CASEing Amanda”
Stamps: Sweet Summer (Sale-a-bration), Tiny Tags
Paper: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Black, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist
Accessories: Aquapainter, White Gel Pen, Two Step Bird Punch (stem), Stampin’ Dimensionals

Right off the bat, I’m going to need to ask you to be kind to me today.

Firstly because I’m not at all sure of the card that I’ve made, but if I take the time to make another one, Challenge Chewsday will turn into Where the Heck Have You Been Wednesday and that’s just not in the rules.

Secondly, I have found a picture online that I rather like so have turned it into a bit of a challenge of my own – the first I have ever thrown out there, so make of THAT what you will.

And thirdly, I have just spent waaaaay longer than usual with the process of uploading and editing my photo as our hard drive packed it in on Saturday morning, presenting me with an error message that I simply could not decipher when I switched it on, so I have had no computer all weekend, got it back yesterday afternoon and have spent a goodly chunk of this evening re-loading my programs, trying and failing to locate the disc that came with our camera in order to load photo’s onto the computer (I managed a work-around), re-doing my watermark in Photoshop and getting myself all hot and bothered in the process in this incessantly humid Perth weather.

Whinge over.  Moving on…

This is the challenge that I set for myself this week…

The image comes from a blog I love to look at and have stashed away in my Google Reader in a file I call Gorgeous Inspiration.  I’m sure when you check out A Creative Mint for yourself, you will agree that it has been aptly filed

Here is the card that I based on the colours above and am still unsure of, but we’ve been over that, so here you go…

I just received the Sale-a-bration set So Happy for You last week, and this was its first foray out of the box.  I did plan to keep the card simple, but I think I may have erred too much on the side of simplicity as it turns out…

This stamp set is one of the four that is available to you for FREE with a purchase of over $100 during the Sale-a-bration period, which finishes up at the end of the month.

Check out all of the available freebie stamp sets –>HERE<– then contact me to place your order!

“Challenge Chewsday – One of my own”
Stamps: So Happy for You
Paper: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Brights DSP Paper Stack
Ink: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Whisper White 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon

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

Right on the tail of the previous post, here comes the next one with my entry for Helping Hudson challenge #5!

This time it was a sketch…

And here’s my entry…

I just love the big flower from Petal Pizzazz and paired it on this occasion with the gorgeous big flower filled circle from Circle Circus.

The colour combination is from nowhere in particular, I just wanted something bright and funky and kept pulling ink pads out of my cabinet until I was happy with the look

Right, that’s me for the evening.  I am off to scan my new catalogue for  the 178th time to see if there is anything I have neglected to add to my wishlist.

You just can’t be too careful with some things….

Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, Circle Circus, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Cottage Garden DSP
Ink: Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Tempting Turquoise, StazOn Jet Black
Accessories: 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Whisper White 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Right, let’s get this show back on the road and back into chronological order!

With a mere couple of hours until this week’s challenges close over at Helping Hudson, I have just managed to scraped in with challenges four and five.

At least I will scrape in if I can manage to keep the waffle to a minimum, so without further ado (or waffle), here is the colour challenge for the week…

And here is what I did with it…

A nice simple card – the best kind when the recipient is a bloke, as I can be close to certain that they’re not going to treasure it for the remainder of their days like the gals in my life are more likely to do

Usually I watercolour this stamp set, but I had a bit of a brainwave and paper pieced it with some scraps of DSP that I think can pass quite well for the amber fluid, complete with rising bubbles…

If you’re a super quick stamper, photographer and blog poster, chances are you still have time to whip up an entry into Helping Hudson Challenge #4 for yourself, but you’ll have to be quick…

HURRY!

Then pop back here, as I’m about to upload challenge #5…

“Helping Hudson Challenge #4 – Colour”
Stamps: Cheers to You, Basic Phrases
Paper: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Confetti White, Bella Rose DSP, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: StazOn Black, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Chocolate Chip Double Stitched Grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals

First up, name that movie!

Here’s the final – for now – challenge that’s currently happening over at the Helping Hudson blog.  It’s a technique challenge, the technique being Rock and Roll.

It’s a fun and simple technique that is achieved by choosing two colours and first inking your stamp in the lighter one.  Then before stamping, you “rock and roll” (mostly roll!) your stamp around in the darker colour so that just the edges of the stamp get the second colour on them.

Here’s what I did with this challenge, a much brighter and funkier challenge card than the previous two…

Can you see what I mean about the graduation of colour on the outside of the dandelion-ish bits?

This retiring stamp set is Good Friend, which has only been around for this last catalogue year.  I went nutty with it when I first got it and love that it’s such a versatile set.

In the background you will also notice Polka Dot – a delightful background stamp that is also taking its final bow this month…

So there you have three posts in a very quick row featuring some fantastic challenges from the Helping Hudson blog!

I hope you can join in the challenge fun too!

“Helping Hudson Technique Challenge #1″
Stamps: Good Friend, Polka Dot
Paper: Melon Mambo, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Pacific Point Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Round Tab Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals