Welcome to the major CASE squad...

The best craft designs are pursued by the detective of the Major CASE squad... This is her story (Insert Crappy Law and Order Sound Effect Here)

It all began 7 1/2 weeks ago whilst blog surfing to find some beautiful inspirations, designs and projects. Detective Dani stumbled across the pull treat design by the beautiful Carol. Thinking this idea was rather cool, Dani stewed over this idea while contiplating weather Carol needed to be interrogated for a few hours to get her measurements and design secrets or weather Dani will need to get a suppena to search her house and uncover her secrets.

A few weeks later on 4th June Detective Dani stumbled over another very talented lady Alana Galagher's blog to never the less find another stylish Pull Treat Design. Knowing Alana would give in under immense pressure and persuasion Detective Dani hounded her by black mail to expose her design secrets by posting the following comment on her blog:

"Hi Alana, I was just wondering where the best place is to locate the recipe for the pull treat? I really want to make them as Thank You gifts at my eScape event. Your colour combo look lovely. You can just send me an email back if you like. Thanks! Dani :)"

Giving into Dani's excellent blackmailing techniques Alana gave into Detective Dani's and handed over her complex technique - "I simply folded a A5 piece of cardstock around the treat." Dani stewed over these instructions could such a beautiful project be made so easily. Detective Dani tested the dimensions carefully and alas they were correct.

Now Dani didn't want to give up there and needed to make her treats extra special. Whilst vigorously searching high and low for a design idea Detective Dani landed the blog of the wonderful Kari Hughes whom had a gorgeous I like it a Latte inspired Pull Treat. Could this be the missing piece of the puzzle to make the ultimate design?

Dani sent the easy going Kari a post complimenting her on design and that Dani would love to re-create it despite not having the Latte stampin' sets. So overwhlemed by Dani's sneaky charm she got her PA (hubby) to send the set via express post from adelaide. This is where Dani's pursuit of the best design finally came to a fantastic end and the major CASE became completed by adding some of her own original flair (Very Vanilla cardstock due to lack of Kraft cardstock)

Thanks to the wonderful efforts of Detective Dani and her fantastic skills of Detective-ness the attendee's of Dani's eScape event now have a creamy hot chocolate to enjoy on a cold evening.

Ok before I end this post I must say that was the most fun I have ever had writting a post. Can you tell what one of my favourite TV shows is?? Thank you to Carol, Alana and Kari for sharing there designs and letting me CASE them and also for letting me write what I feel is a rather amusing blog which featured them. I hope you ladies are not offended by what I have written. Please let me know if you are.

Please stay tuned for another episode of Craft and Design. Can Detective Dani solve the next devilish case? You'll be on the edge of your seat.

Happy Stampin'

Dani

My Design Stalker, The Spotlight and crafty goodness!

Ok I haven't blogged much this week but that has meant my crafting has been on hold, it's more the latter. So with that said I must warn you in advance, This will be a long post. But the pictures will be plentiful!! Above is a picture of my July Make and Take project.

MY DESIGN STALKER

Firstly, as said in my last post I'm am getting quiet carried away with Kristina's challenges. The last one was no exception. After I completed the challenge I had this other idea floating through my head. I tried to leave it be but even when doing my eScape thank you gifts I couldn't kick this design that kept stalking me in my head. So yesterday during my eScape event I finally gave in and gave it a whirl. I must say, I AM SO HAPPY I DID! I am rather in love with what I came up with and even more so think this colour combo was just amazing.

To jog your memories the combo that was given to us was Purely Pomegrante, Regal Rose, River Rock, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White. Here is what I did with the colour combo and the design aspects of the bedding a second time around.

Stamp Sets: Think Happy thoughts, Baroque Border Standard Wheel

Cardstock: River Rock, Glossy White

Inks: Purely Pomegrante, Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi and Versamark

Accessories: Regal Rose Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, Ice Rhinestone Brads, White gel pen

Technique: Ghosting

THE SPOTLIGHT

No I'm not talking about the technique or the hostess set. I'm talking about a new feature to my blog. Each month I will be choosing a SU! product either Stamp Set, Accessories, Cardstock colour, etc or a technique which I will focus on for the month in addition to my other beautiful projects. The purpose of this is to:

1. Show my readers how versatile different SU! products can be and different ways of using them.

2. Show my readers how to use different techniques and there versatility.

3. Challenge myself to think outside the square and use some different products instead of going to my favourites all the time.

4. Be a good resource for others when selecting products they would like to purchase.

So when will all this great stuff happen? 1st July which happens to be this Tuesday. Have a check back to my blog then when I will reveal this months "Spotlighted" product/technique.

CRAFTY GOODNESS

As stated above I have been very busy. In fact I recieved a phone call from my relatives 2 weeks ago asking if we would make my cousin a scrapbook for his 21st. The album was completed and given to him yesterday! That was alot of fun considering not only did me and my mum have to throw together some scrapbook pages to fill an album in less than 2 weeks we also had to hunt down the photos, scan them, motidfy them, get them printed ready to be scrapbooked.

I did a few pages which I'm quiet happy with considering I don't really consider myself a scrapbooker. I do apologise in advance for the quality of the photographs. It was hard to get good light where a flash wasn't needed so therefore the photo's have a flash reflection.

I must admit for the first time ever I have featured a non SU! product on my blog. It is the striped blue paper. I couldn't help but add it onto the page as it coordinates so nicely with his outfit. Otherwise all other products are SU! Don't you just love the ribbon effect? Here's a close up:

Here is another page I have done. In the photo are my aunty, my brother Andrew is on the left in blue and my cousin Keagan who the scrapbook was done for.

Thanks heaps for bearing with me through this lengthy post. I wish you all a lovely Sunday evening whatever you get up to.

Dani :)

Kristina Werner's Colour Challenge #13

Ok so what can I say. I just can't help myself. All of Kristina's Challenges are just so fun and beautiful that I can't help but participate. I'm pretty sure my entry is WAY too late to get considered but I had so much fun again creating this card that I don't mind! Something about her challenges just make me think outside the square (which is ironic because I did a square card!) and I create something totally different to the norm!

Here is the colours and inspiration photo.

The colours consisted of Purely Pomegrante, Regal Rose, River Rock, Wild Wasabi amd Whisper White. I have actually never made anything successfully with river rock so this was a challenge in itself for me. I loved the challenge though that I may even use the colours again. I based my card on one of the pillows and went from there.

You can't see much wild wasabi but if you look closely at the swirls on the Pomegrante you can see I coloured some of the swirls in with the wild wasabi just to give it something extra.

I hope you like my Card!

I will post soon with some scrapbook pages and some treats :)

Happy Stampin'

Dani

Kristina Werner's Colour Challenge #12

Today I took part in Kristina Werner's Colour Inspriation Challenge # 12. I have never tackled one of these properly before by submitted it in to her blog. I have seen alot of fellow bloggers whom have been taking up her challenges and whilst blog surfing I thought I would take a look at her blog and low and behold she had posted her new challenge and it needed to be submitted today so I thought, why not!

The challenge was based on the above colours - So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White. Now these are colours out of my comfort zone but they gave me the opportunity to play with my new products that just arrived yesterday.

This card is quiet different to anything I usually do so it was quiet fun. I used the Bud Basics set along with the occasional greetings set. I set my very first eyelet which was fun in order to tie the ribbon around the end. I did however stuff up my paper peircing a little, you may notice it isn't straight. I was very annoyed as I didn't have any more sahara sand left so couldn't redo it. It does add character though! (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) My advice for when paper peircing will be to try not and do it through multiple layers of cardstock. It makes it alot more difficult.

I don't think my design will make it on Kristina's blog but I'm still very happy with it and it kept me entertained on a Saturday afternoon.

I hope you like it also!

Happy Stampin'

Dani

ATC Swaps

I just completed this months ATC Swaps and I must say I really struggled. The theme this month was In Colours/New Stamp Sets. Which gave me 6 beautiful colours to work with and an aray of gourgeous sets to use. And despite this... I just couldn't put something together. I had a few ideas which I wasn't very happy with. Below is one of me ideas which I didn't like but it very much showcases the In Colours. If you like it let me know by commenting at the end of this post and I will gladly send it to you.

Below are a picture of the ATC's I ended up going with. I used one of my favourite sets Scribble This along with Short & Sweet for the sentiment. Stamped in Stazon on Soft Sky In Colour Card Stock and then coloured in with blender pens and some of the In Colours including Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegrante and Blue Bayou. This was a great opportunity for me to have a little play with them and also showcase how beautiful the In Colours are.

I hope you enjoy looking at them and I hope all the lovely ladies who are lucky to recieve one enjoy them also.

Have a great night, I will it's NCIS night! :)

Dani

The Story of Purdy

Who is purdy you ponder? Well alot of you may not know this but I have 4 very interesting pets. Purdy is one of our dogs and she is a beautiful dalmatian whom is featured in a 6x6 scrapbook swap i did this month. But the story of how Purdy came to be our dog is not as simple as we bought her when she was a puppy or someone gave her to us, It's alot more complicated than that.

My Uncle's exwife and his daughter (my cousin) like to collect animals and a few years ago my aunty picked Purdy up from the pound after she had been taken from a house where the owner had passed away. My aunty then as she does got sick of the novelty of a dalmatian wore off and she passed Purdy onto her daughter, my cousin. She had her for about a year or so but there was issues with her connecting and fitting in with there rather large family of animals and small backyard. She then made a move onto my Uncles partners place which was rather perfect for her as they live on acrage and she could run around all she liked.

They had her for about 1 1/2 years when they got a new puppy. Purdy is very jealous and loves to be the centre of attention and that didn't mesh very well with her. It was also bad because my Uncle's partner and her daughters ignored Purdy and paid attention to the new puppy. My uncle's partner was then going on holidays for 2 weeks and didn't think the girls would feed Purdy whilst she was away so we said we would look after her for the 2 weeks. We didn't know how she would go with our little maltese x poodle but thought it was only two weeks.

Well... That was 3 years ago!!! Needless to say she meshed very well with our other dog and our cat and very well with our family. When she was picked up to go home she basically refused to leave even when being picked up by my father so we said we'd keep her a little longer until we sorted something out and she ended up staying and becoming a permanent resident of the Fender household.

Anyway enough waffling on about our dog. Here are is the photo I used of her for a 6x6 page swap I did just recently.

I couldn't decide what photo to use as I knew some people would get offended if I used photo's of them and gave them to complete strangers so my mum said I could use Purdy if I got her permission so I asked her to wag her tail to say yes I could use her photo. She wagged her tail so I took that as a yes (Even though I think she thought I was going to pat her) and I made this cute 6x6 page swap to swap with other Inklings.

Stamp Set: Priceless, Big Deal Alphabet, Short & Sweet, Seeing Spots, Snow Flurries

CardStock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Taken with Teal

Ink: Basic Black, Taken with Teal

Accessories: Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Black/White Gingham Ribbon

Techniques: Kissing

As a special side thing I am also giving away a small gift to demonstrators or customers who post a comment at the bottom of this post guessing the location that the photo of the 6x6 page was taken (As I usually take them in my house, that's a clue). The most accurate and/or silly/out there guess I recieve before 30th June will win something little from me.

Happy Guessing!

Dani :)

Flowers 2 you dot com dot au

Well it has been a very busy week for me. Not only work wise but stampin wise. I'm being making cards galore, doing swaps (Will post pics soon) and also making cards for a customer. This customer contacted me interested in either making cards herself or getting me to make cards for her. Needless to say I have agreed to make cards for her to put with her beautiful flowers and they are included in the price of a lovely bunch of flowers and are a much beautiful alternative to some of the cheap/dodgy cards you can get at a florist.

I have made a set of 4 cards each in the colours used in her logo and also tying in with the current lime and white range she is offering. Below is pictures of 2 of the designs I have currently done for her and they are also shown on her website http://www.flowers2you.com.au/ . She would like to possibly in the future go further and possibly outreached into her friends business which is cupcake and wedding cakes. This is such a big deal for me as 9 months ago I was just making cards for fun and never thought I would dream of expanding any further and never knew the opportunities that would come my way due to being a demonstrator. This is just the beginning of the things I want to start doing. If you need cards, invitations, gift boxes, etc made or would simply like to contact me about becoming a demonstrator or knowing more information please contact me.

Have a great rest of your weekend, Whatever your up to!

Dani

June Promotions

Ok so I have been really slack with getting the current June promotions up onto my blog. Well everyone is very lucky there is not one but TWO promotions.


The first is EXTRA EXTRA promotion! This Promotion runs from the 1st June until 15th June. Submit a $700 workshop/customer order (if you really want to) between 1 June -15 July, and earn an EXTRA $50 in hostess awards! This means you will get at least $130 worth of free merchandise as well as your free hostess set, How good is that??

The Second promotion is the eScape promotion. Feel like you only hear from friends via the internet, email or via mobile phone? Well this promotion gives you the unique opportunity to take a break free from the 'e' and eScape and get back to sending your friends handmade cards.

To celebrate stampin' up have put together there eScape Bundle it includes the following:

eScape Bundle (item 113705):
Description Page Number Price
Love Notes assortment p. 132 $13.50
Circle of Friendship stamp set p. 112 $33.95
1-1/4" Circle punch p. 142 $30.95

Total (non-bundled) $78.40
eScape Bundle price (25%) $58.80

To give you all the great opportunity to use this bundle to it's full potential I am holding my very own eScape event. Bring along your girlfriends, your stamp sets (which I don't own) and most importantly your own cardstock and finish off those creations that are half way through, start that scrapbook you've been meaning to start or just get some inspirations and ideas off other people.


I will be raffling off prizes, setting mini challenges and just providing a relaxing day away from all of lifes distractions. Interested?? Here's the details!!


When: Saturday 28th June 2008
Where: My place (Please rsvp to get my address as I don't want to post it over the internet)
Time: 11am - 3pm
Cost: $10 including light lunch and afternoon tea as well as everything else mentioned above.
Bring: A girlfriend whom hasn't previously attended a workshop and get for day half price.

Hurry RSVP soon as spaces are limited, registration essential. (To my email address or mobile)


Also as an extra bonus anyone who orders the eScape bundle or places an order at my eScape event gets there shipping costs for nothing! So why wait register today!


I look forward to seeing you all there


Dani

Challenge Night

On Tuesday this week we had another challenge night. I forgot all about it but fortunatly it has meant I've had something to keep me entertained the last few days. This time we had the lovely Carol Dunstan posting challenges.

Challenge #1

Challenge 1 was a colour challenge based on the colours in a photo of linen (Heburn Range by Linen House). As pretty as the picture is the colours that we were given based on this picture posed a challenge to put together. The colours we were given were Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Barocade Blue, Tempting Turqouise and Perfect Plum. Usually I can come up with something fairly quickly but this one had me really stumped. So after a few days of pondering and looking at other peoples creations for inspiration I came up with the following.
Stamps: Simply Said, Occasional Greetings
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Barocade Blue, Tempting Turqouise and Perfect Plum
Ink: Basic Black, Versamark
Accessories: Stampin' Pastels applied with a cotton tip, Round Tab Punch, Stapler, Mat Pack

Considering how intimidated I was by the challenge to begin with I am so happy and satisfied with the result. So much so that I may even use the combination again!

Challenge #2

The second Challenge was a layout challenge. The layout we were to base our card on can be found here. This one I used a customers stamp set that she has given me permission to use until she has the money to pay for. I am really happy with how my card turned out that I think I may purchase it for myself. Thanks Vicky for the use of your set :)

Stamp Set: Fun and Fast Notes
Paper: Very Vanilla Textured, Regal Rose, Blue Bayou, So Safron, Spring Fling DSP
Ink: Black Stazon, Pretty in pink, Regal Rose, Blue Bayou, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Blender Pen, Brads

Challenge #3

This Challenge was to make a box. This box I found very easy and fun to make and will be making more of these for gifts. They also hold the love notes perfectly which is great for this months promotion. I actually used no stamping on my box but had fun constructing my own ribbon decoration to place on top. I CASEd (nice work for stole) this idea from Lin Mei Yap But expanded on it a little. It was a little fiddly but I'm happy with how it turned out.













Paper: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Berry Bliss DSP
Accessories: Pretty in Pink Ribbon, Chocolate Chip Ribbon (Retired)
The belly around the middle helps keep the box closed and when you want to open it it just slips off.

I hope you all enjoy your long weekend whatever your up to.

Dani

I've been tagged...

That's right I have been tagged by the very lovely Lin Mei Yap. So for the blessed occasion... I made a 5 minute tag.

The rules for the tag game are as follows...

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are 7 random and interesting facts about me...

1. FACT: I used to do acting classes as a kid and was cased as an extra on a few shows including Heart Break High. The one time you actually saw me on camera I was walking behind the two actors in the scene and picked my shorts out from in between my legs!! BEAUTIFUL!!

2. FACT: I met my current boyfriend Karl singing "What I like about you" by the Romantics at Karaoke at my local RSL club.

3. FACT: I am a condiments freak and feel they should be part of the five daily food groups, Particularly gravy! Mmmm Gravy!

4. FACT: I love cows and collect cow items - Teddies, ordaments, bed spreads, etc. I often get given items and my best mate once made me a cow mobile which was affectionally called a "moobile." I have enough items that I could fill 3 rooms in a house and the bulk of my stuff is in the garage as it was taking over my parents place, where I live.

5. FACT: My name "Danielle" was given to after a house plan my parents saw when they were house hunting called "The Danielle."

6. FACT: I love acoustic music or anything that has a different sound or cool lyrics. However It's a known thing between friends that when a dodgy 80's song comes on I cannot help but dance crazy dance moves like the swim, the twist, the shopping trolley, the sprinkler and my favourite one arm bent pointing elbow and resting the hand on the head and the other arm holding the opposite ankle and then tilting the knee and elbow together!!

7. FACT: When I'm having a bad day or in a grumpy mood watching an episode 0f Law and Order SVU always cheers me up either if it's an episode I've seen more then once. Strange that a TV show about sex crimes, murder, rape and kids being abducted always makes me feel better.

I hope those facts have made you know a little more about who I am or scared you from ever reading my blog again.

Now for the people I am going to tag whom haven't already been tagged and I apologise if you have been already...

Kendall Joyce

Rebecca Munro

Carol Dunstan

Kellie Jupe

Ryn Gibbs

Thanks again for the challenge Lin Mei

Happy Stampin'

Dani :)