Even Spies Have Birthdays

My boy Zac is turning 9 shortly.  He's having a small party with a few friends and it has to involve some spy work.  We did a great make and take at Convention in May using 'Party This Way', one of the free stamp sets we were given.  (This is a great little stamp set for kids' birthdays and costs just $26.95 for a set of five stamps.)  I adapted it for Zac's invite.  The arrow in the middle spins, using a brad and a dimensional. The spy picture is from the internet but if SU! had one, I'd love it!  The Number Nine is done with the Big Shot. (So often I type 'Big Shot' and look up to find I have typed 'Bog Shot'.  Hooray for proofreading!)

Stamps:  Party This Way (page 35)
Card: Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie
Tools:  Big Shot, 1 3/4" Square Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet

Night Owl

I love the new owl punch - it's really easy to put together a cute card.  Different colour combinations combined with different patterns of paper can give you a variety of 'characters'.

Here he is on a full sized card using Soft Suede and Baja Breeze.  By giving him a background of a Top Note, he is a picture of elegance.

Stamps:  none
Card:  Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Old Olive, Elegant Soiree DSP
Ink:  none
Tools:  Two-Step Owl Punch, Big Shot, Two-Step Bird Punch

Soft Suede

Soft Suede, one of the new colours teams with Engraved Greetings to create a simple card.

Stamps:  Engraved Greetings
Card:  Soft Suede, Whisper White
Ink:  Soft Suede
Accessories:  Dimensionals, Soft Suede Polka Dot ribbon (retired, though I don't know why!)

Medallion and Soft Suede - a great couple

Soft Suede is a beautiful new colour - from some angles it has a gold sheen to it and it suits masculine and feminine cards. 

Love the medallion stamp - even part of it looks good.  Use it as a background or the main feature.

Stamps:  Medallion

Card:  Whisper White, Soft Suede, Elegant Soiree DSP

Ink:  Soft Suede

Tools:  Word Window punch

Elegant Lines

The Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Embossing Folder co-ordinates with Elegant Soiree DSP and both, as their names suggest, are very elegant! 

Add some of Stampin' Up!s Basic Pearls and you have a beautiful combination.

Stamps:  None!

Card:  Crumb Cake, Elegant Soiree DSP

Tools:  Big Shot, Elegant Lines Textured Impressions Folder

Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon (retired)

Regionals

On Saturday I attended Regional Training at the Convention Centre.  I think they said there were over 200 demonstrators attending.  It was a great day to swap ideas with other demonstrators, hear talks on running your SU! business and seeing fantastic demonstrations of creativity.  The Make and Takes were so beautiful and creative.  I'll post those another day.

Remember my penguin swaps?  This is what I got in return.

Lots of great ideas!


Donna Griffith, one of the presenters from America gave every one of us a cute little pin.  She and her husband made hundreds of these!

All up, it was a fantastic day...to which guests are also invited.  Perhaps you'd like to come next year.

Anna

Regionals Tomorrow

Regional Training in Brisbane tomorrow.  It's a fun day where we learn new techniques and business ideas and catch up with other demonstrators.  One of the fun things to do is to prepare a whole bunch of swaps.  Make twenty swaps, you get twenty back.  Make 30 swaps, you get 30 back.  Make 100 swaps - you've got too much time on your hands!

I made a simple swap to show another use for the new owl punch.

Here is the owl as we know and love him.

He is perched on the branch from the Two-Step Bird Punch.

Here he is after a visit to the cosmetic surgeon.

Just a nip here and a tuck here and he becomes a penguin.  His trimmed off ears can become cute little wings or a tail.

Isn't he cute?

Birds' Butts/Rosebud

I made this card for my launch to demonstrate the versatility of the Two-Step Bird Punch.  My son looked at it for a few seconds then said, "Oh...that's the birds' butts sticking up!"  You can tell he'll be a romantic.

Here's the card.

This is not my design but I wanted to show it as it is a great example of ways to use the bird punch differently.  This is a CASE from Julia's Cards .  It uses all the parts of the Two-Step Bird punch and a little sponging around the edges of the pieces to give them depth.

Stamps:  None!
Card: Basic Black, Certain Celery, Pink Pirouette
Ink:  Certain Celery, Pink Pirouette
Tools:  Big Shot - Polka Dots Impressions Folder, Two-Step Bird Punch, Big Shot - Ovals Die, Stamping Sponges

Two-Step Bird Punch Christmas Wreath

This Christmas wreath is made using the branch from the Two-Step Bird Punch.  Wanna know how to get an even circle?

Christmas Wreath Tutorial

1. You will need Two-Way Glue, the Two-Step Bird Punch, Dotto (removeable adhesive) and a large circle punch:  I used the 1 3/4" punch.

2.  Using the circle punch, punch out a circle in contrasting scrap card. Adhere it to your card front, using Dotto.

3.  Punch out 8 branches in two colours of green - I used Old Olive and Certain Celery.  Using the Two-Way Glue Pen, adhere your first branch, lining it up with the edge of the circle.  See how the edge of the leaf and the edge of the branch are the same distance from the circle?  Make sure each branch you glue on has the same placement. (8 branches is my gestimate for this size circle.  You will need to experiment a bit to work out the spacing)

4. Continue using the circle as a guide as you line up each branch around it, using alternating colours.  Be consistent with where you place the top of your next branch in relation to the bottom of the one before.

5. When you add the last couple of branches, trim the stem so that they do not cover the leaves of the first branch.

6. Peel off your circle. Any Dotto that remains on your card can be rubbed off using your finger.

Your Christmas Wreath is now ready to decorate.  For the berries, I added small circles punched out using a 'school' hole punch and then adhered them with a Two-Way Glue Pen which allows really accurate placement of glue.  The sentiment is from Occasional Greetings.

Bird Punch CASE

Here's an example of a Bird Punch card, CASEd from the new catalogue.  Turn to Page 16 to see Stampin' Up!s version.  Check below to see mine.

Stamps:  Short and Sweet, Tiny Tags
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, River Rock, Old Olive
Inks:  Pink Pirouette, Old Olive
Tools:  Two Step Bird Punch, Mat Pack,  Paper Cutter
Accessories: Snail,  Dimensionals, 2-way glue pen

Keep checking in for more Two-Step Bird punch ideas.  Thanks!  Anna

Two Step Bird Punch

Stampin' Up offers a fantastic punch in the new punch style called the Two Step Bird Punch.  It's priced at $33.95 and is more versatile than you would imagine.

It punches out three cut outs - the bird's body, its wing and a delicate little branch.

These can be punches out of any of the colour selection or out of the beautiful range of Designer Series Papers.

Here he is punched out and assembled using a combination of cardstock and DSP.  You can face him either way.

Over the next few posts I'll show you a whole bunch of cards using this punch in a variety of ways.

Stay tuned! Thanks!  Anna

Pocket Silhouettes for my sister

It is my sister's birthday today - Happy Birthday to youuuuuu!

I made her a card and gift box using Pocket Silhouettes, a set which she owns.  I am happy with the way this design showcases many of the new Brights colours.

Card
Stamp Set:  Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Regal Rose, Old Olive and Real Red on Whisper White
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Regal Rose, Old Olive and Real Red
Accessories:  Scallop Edge Punch, Whisper White 1cm Taffeta Ribbon

Pillow Box
Stamp Set: Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: Regal Rose, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Ink:  Melon Mambo
Accessories:  Old Olive 1.6cm Grosgrain Ribbon, Big Shot, Pillow Box Bigz Die, Hemp Twine

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my dad and to my husband.  This is one of the projects we made at my Father's Day workshop.  One of the benefits of being a demonstrator is that I have access to Stampin' Connection where we can share ideas with other demonstrators.  Sharon Turnbull posted this design of a cardboard wallet for a Dad so I CASEd it.

Stamps Set:  Occasional Greetings

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Windsor Knot DSP (retired)

Inks: Chocolate Chip

Accessories:  Gold Brads, Word Window Punch, Corner Rounder punch