Happy Birthday Kieran

It's my boy's twelfth birthday today!  Well it was on Friday but there have been some gremlins living in my blog and this post has just refused to appear!

So lets pretend it is really the 18th of June .... just for five minutes ..... please!

Of course, being that it is the soccer world cup and I have a soccer addict for a son when I saw this card at Convention I just knew that somehow I had to make it for KP.

I emailed Shannon West - at the home office of Stampin' Up! in Utah and she very kindly wrote out the following instructions for me .... how lovely is that.

So here we go:

• Make the background:  Cut out a black circle for the card (mine is a little over 12 cm) with the Circle Pius. You could do a double layer or single layer and then put an invitation panel on the back instead of inside.
  


• Punch out several 1-3/4" circles in Whisper White (I used 8 on the card and you need at least one more for the pattern). 
  


• Make a pattern:  Select one circle and fold it so that you have 6 even sides (trickiest part...fold straight across first, then an X across the first fold. I think I even used a ruler to check and make sure the sides were pretty even).
  


• Use the pattern to make at least 8 white hexagons. Use some dotto or a tiny bit of snail to keep them from moving. Just layer the pattern on top and trim the sides w/snips.
  


• Layer the pieces on the black circle. I just looked up an image of a soccer ball so I could follow that. The tricky thing is on real soccer balls, the black spaces only have 5 sides and the white have six--I think that is because the ball is round so they have to be different to match up properly. For our purposes, all pieces (black and white) will have 6 sides.
  


• Since you are layering on black card stock, you just let the black show through.
  


• Trim.  Once all the white pieces are layered on the black, just trim the excess off.

So there you have it ... it really is quite easy and very effective - KP loves it - its hard to see it is actually a card from the photo but it is quite cute.

Now I have to also show you KP and his birthday cake.  About two years ago Olivia took up the official role of birthday cake maker .... and this is this year's creation for KP ... she's quite adventurous and if you viewed it from above it was a soccer ball.  

Check out that cheeky grin!

Isn't she a clever little chicken - a mini me!

So Happy Birthday to our lovely lad ... may you have heaps of fun with your new XBox 360 - enjoy your day.

Love Mum, Dad, Olivia, Max and Spencer

xxxxxx

okay you can all go back to Tuesday the 22nd now .... LOL

Happy Birthday Chloe

It's birthday time again - Happy Birthday to my beautiful niece Chloe - we hope that you have a brilliant day.

I am really enjoying using the Pick A Petal set - it is a new addition to my collection and I can see the possibilities for all those beautiful petals will be endless.

The sentiment is from the Curly Labels set - I've used a Real Red marker pen to create just an image of the words so that they fit neatly inside a 1 1/4" circle punch.

There is a bit of sparkly on this card (not sure if I caught it with the camera) and of course a bit of bling - every girl has got to have some bling on her card right?

So happy birthday Chloe - we love and miss you.

Auntie Nikki, Uncle Paul, Olivia, Kieran, Max and Spencer xxxxx

Happy Birthday Indi

Indi our nephew is celebrating his birthday today - making cool cards for teenagers is a hard task ... not sure I got it quite right but Kieran loved the bike so I might be on the right track ... almost!

This is the Just Riding set and I was going for a grungy look ... I have a scrapbooking page in my head using this set ... with faux tiling ... hoping to get the time to make it happen one night this week.

Happy Birthday Indi - we hope you have a great day.

Love from Uncle Paul, Auntie Nikki, Olivia and Kieran xxxx

Tick Tock ... time is running out ...

Another set I have used over and over again .... I love this set ... I {Heart} Hearts (117715 $42.95).

And here are some reminders just how beautiful these lovely hearts are ...

Real Red and Whisper White .... my favourite.

And another with Real Red, Whisper White and Black.  The trio of hearts fits the Heart to Heart punch perfectly - makes cutting around the little heart shape a breeze.   

Remember, you only have until next Wednesday 31st March to order this lovely set ... call me on 0428 254 952 or email nikki@inkyart.com.au if you'd like to place an order.

Back tomorrow with another reminder.

 

Happy Mother's Day to Our Mums!

Okay for my Australian and American friends you can breath ... it's okay ... it's Mother's Day in the UK this weekend!

And to celebrate here is another Sweet Treat creation.

Now I have CASE'd this 'sort of' and I was hoping that by the time you read this I would have found the original owner .... but as usual I didn't write down the lady's name - if you know who you are can you me know.

I thought the idea of a butterfly underneath a magnifying glass was so brilliant I had to make one myself ... hence that call to Sue Madex to ask her to stamp the handles from the Sweet Something stamp set.

The butterfly is from the Butterfly Prints set and I've used the matching punch - I can't believe that I will only be demoing this for another couple of weeks - I have a sneaky suspicion that it will be back in the new Ideas Book and Catalogue in September.

I've used Upsy Daisy and Pocket Silhouettes to create the flowers and Whimsical Words for the sentiment.

The ribbon technique at the bottom is so simple .... if you check this post over at the Stamp-a-Memory site you'll find my easy instructions - have a go ... it looks really effective.

Well that's it for the Sweet Treat creations for a little while - I hope you have enjoyed them.

Happy Mother's day to my Mum and and to my mother-in-law Pauline - we all hope you are having a lovely day.

 

Sweet Treat Flower Cups

When I saw this post on the lovely Mary Fish's blog,  I knew that I would have to CASE it ... it is just so cute.  

Chocolate Chip with More Mustard and Whisper White, such a great combination.  I have a workshop this Saturday for a friend of mine and she requested a card using the Sweet Treat Cups and some little Bo-Peep lollies from Darryl Lea - so here is the version to match the cute little lollies ... I hope her workshop guests are going to like it.

The colours of this one are Regal Rose and Whisper White, the paper is from the Hostess Level 1 set and the sentiment from the Sale-a-Bration set Whimsical Words.

The flowers are so easy to make, just punch ten of the large and small oval punches and sponge the edges for depth.  Then clip the base of each petal with a circle punch so that they sit nicely around the end of the Sweet Treat Cup.  

The little flower on the side of the sentiment is from the Boho Blossoms - again sponged to add depth and I've used the neutral brads for the centres.

If you'd like a workshop to make one of these lovely cards call me ... I have one date left during March if you want to qualify for a Sale-A-Bration bargain too and one date in April where you will get to be one of the first to view the new Autumn Mini.

 

Is this the last one?

I think it might be!  Another colour combination from the colour selector, Regal Rose, Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue and Almost Amethyst.

The scallop edge has been created using circle punches - the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" - I've just matted the DSP (again from the Hostess Level I selection) with some matching cardstock. Finished off with some Bashful Blue 1" double stitched grosgrain ribbon and a rhinestone brad.

I do hope that you have enjoyed the last few cards - just goes to show what you can make with just one stamp set ... I should be back home from sunny Queensland now so I'll be back in a few days with something from the Summer Mini, some holiday snaps, scrapbooking, another ATC swap .... gee I do wish I had taken some of my stamps away with me .... I only just got away with taking the laptop :o)

Stop Press: Don't forget the Catalogue Inventory Clearance! Three stamp sets are now SOLD OUT at the discounted price - 'Jumbo Outline Alphabet', 'Just Riding' and now the Wild West Alphabet. The others are still available, but only for a limited time! Remember that the die-cut sets are still available but at the usual catalogue price.

Until next time ...  

 

 

Yes ... More Party Hearty!

 The cupcake takes centre stage again ... I love this stamp ... so very now!

I used the colour selector tool to come up with this combination - would have never thought to put these colours together myself ... it's an easy tool to use ... click on the icon on the right hand side and have a play.

I've stamped the cupcake twice, once in So Saffron and then again in Pacific Point.  I've then cut the 'cake' part out of the So Saffron one and adhered it to the other impression with dimensionals - hey presto a 3D cake!  The candle has been stamped using the markers.

The sentiment stamp fits perfectly inside the large oval, and I've layered it with scallop oval and wide oval and teamed it up with some striped grosgrain Tangarine Tango ribbon.  

The papers are from the Hostess Level I selection ... hold a workshop or place an order for more than $300 to qualify.

Back with more in a day or two ... yes I do have more!

Stop Press: Don't forget the Catalogue Inventory Clearance! Two stamp sets are now SOLD OUT at the discounted price - 'Jumbo Outline Alphabet' and 'Just Riding'. The others are still available, but only for a limited time!

 

 

Anyone for Cake?

Oops I forgot it is still January and I'm not supposed to be eating cake!  This card is made with some Pink PIroutte, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White cardstocks.  Rose Red ink and ribbon and a bit of Dazzling Diamonds make this a very girlie card.  This time I've used the Party Hearty sentiment which fits well inside the Tag Window punch.

Hope you are enjoying the look through my Party Hearty samples - I thought it was going to be a challenge to make so many cards from one set but it wasn't - once I got started the ideas kept flowing.

Back soon with more.