Well, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, ’cause I surely did!  I was in stamper’s heaven … at Stampin’ Up!’s Sydney Regional training.

Now, I won’t confess the dire hour I stayed up until making my 32 swaps.  And if you’re not sure what a swap is, post a comment so you can learn about the fun.  But … these were the swaps I made:

And these were the swaps I received in return:

For my swap, I used the stamp sets Boho Backgrounds and Think Happy Thoughts.  The colours are Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand and Riding Hood Red.  I used LOTS of punches on the card for all the circles.  Plus, I used the masking technique for the flowers down the side.  Naturally, there has to be a little bit of bling SOMEWHERE on my cards, and this card had two rhinestone brads.

Now, these were three of the four gorgeous make-and-take projects we all made:

We made these with the stamp set Hello Again and the wheel Retro Remix, both new and upcoming in the Summer Mini Catalogue (beginning 1 December – yeah!).  As part of the cost of the day, each attendee received a brand new Hello Again and Retro Remix … and a new handle and a new Old Olive ink cartridge for our handle.  I was pretty stoked!  Stampin’ Up! is so generous, honest!  And did you see the beautiful ribbons we used on our projects?  They are stunning IRL!

Thanks for looking

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween.  This was the first year my kids went Trick or Treating … very cute!

These were the treats I made for our Trick or Treaters and friends.

I had a really old cobweb stamp, (like at least 15 years!), that I used to stamp in Staz On Black on SU cellophane bags.  I then was inspired by Jayne Mercer here, with the railway track like a fence and the punches used to make a scary face on the pumpkin, and Jenn here (A New Ink on Life), with the oval punches for my pumpkin.  Awesome ideas!  Thanks, ladies

I used Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa and black cardstock.  I sponged the edges of my Pumpkin Pie oval punches with Close to Cocoa ink.  I rolled the Right on Track wheel across the Elegant Eggplant, stamped the cobweb on the side and stuck my pumpkin on top.  I love the Halloween colours!

Thanks for looking

This is a sweet little sour cream container that we made at a recent workshop.  Just in time for Christmas!  Pop a few wrapped chocolates inside and it’s a perfect gift for friends at work!

I used the Ski Slope DSP to make the container.  We stamped the circle “Joy” stamp from Spotlight on Christmas in Baja Breeze ink.  We punched out the “Joy” with the 1-1/4″ circle punch.  Then layered it with Baja Breeze card stock punched out with the 1-3/8″ circle punch.  The final circles were layered on red card stock punched out with the Scallop circle punch.

The “Joy” was then tied on with white taffeta ribbon and silver cord (retired).

Thanks for looking  

This is the third layout for my step-Nan’s 90th album. 

I loved putting this layout together because each page has a theme based on the photo.  The spotty page is all spotty theme because all the ladies in the photo have spotty dresses on.  And the second theme is obvious, because there is snow in the photo!

For the spotty theme, I used Parisian Breeze DSP for the base page, as well as for the thick Baja Breeze strip.  I’ve stamped the heart from Priceless and cut it out and stuck it above “DJs”.  The “DJs” was stamped from Defining Alphabet and cut out and layered over squares punched from Stampin’ Up!’s square punches.  The ladies in the photo love to shop at David Jones … hence, the “DJs”.

There is a strip of Baja Breeze 1″ wide grosgrain across the page and the stamped “R” is from Defining Alphabet, which has the definition for “Remember” next to it, stamped from Life Definitions (also known as Define Your Life).

The base for this layout is from Ski Slope DSP.  The “SNOW” has been stamped from Lovely Letters Alphabet and then cut out and layered over punched out squares from Stampin’ Up!’s square punches.  Again, the stamped “F” is from Defining Alphabet, which has the definition for “Favourite” next to it, stamped from Life Definitions.

And these are the layouts with photos on them …

It’s hard to see the spotty dresses with my night-time photography

Thanks for looking

My next scrapbook layout for my step-Nan’s 90th album was entirely inspired by the Spring Mini Catalogue.  Page 4, to be precise.  Of course, the scrapbook page in the Spring Mini is 6 x 6 and mine is 12 x 12, so there are differences!

I’ve used textured card stock – Baja Breeze and Basic Grey – as my base colours.

I’ve then punched a thin strip of Basic Grey Textured card stock with my Eyelet Border punch, layered it with a wider strip of Walk in the Park DSP and then embellished with 1″ Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon.  A little bit of white tafetta ribbon is tied to the Baja Breeze ribbon.

On the facing page, I then punched a thin strip of Parisian Breeze DSP with my Eyelet Border punch, layered it with a wider strip of Walk in the Park DSP and then embellished with So Saffron grosgrain ribbon (from last month’s promo).  A little bit of Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon is tied to the So Saffron ribbon

The inside of each layout was stamped in Basic Grey with the flower from Friends 24-7.  I stamped and cut out the butterfly from the stamp set Great Friend in Baja Breeze and So Saffron.  I also stamped and cut out the frame from Great Friend.  The oval punch images came from the Summer Love Rub Ons, available in the Spring Mini.  Finally, corduroy buttons finished off each page.

And this is the layout with photos …

Thanks for looking