a VERY belated Christmas present!!!!

Do you ever start a project with the best intentions and never get it done and sit at it half done on your desk? Or do you start it and then by the time you finish it it's way to late to give it for what it's intended? I really hope someone who reads this is nodding along with me because that's what I have to share with you today. I started to make a gift for my grandma for Christmas (lucky it was only the one just gone haha). She always asks me to make her cards but always at the last minute so I thought I'd make her a card tin filled with 10 cards and envelopes so she always has a card at the last minute. I altered an old hodgepodge tin to fill. Anyway I made cards to go inside it but never got around to altering it so when I saw this weeks Friday Mash Up challenge I thought Yep lets alter the tin... Here's this weeks sketch

And the mashup was to use vintage/shabby chic combined with the sketch. Now the sketch I found a little challenging but I made it work. Vintage however has become one of my new loves and I thought it was perfect for a nana tin. Here's how the tin worked out

Stamp Set: French Foliage, Charming

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Marina Mist

Ink: Marina Mist, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Champagne Shimmer Paint, Scallop Circle Punch, 5 Petal flower punch, Pearls, Chantilly Lace, Sponge daubers, Brads, Big Shot, Top Note Die, Alphabet Die

You can't tell on the picture but the top note dye has been painted with Champagne Shimmer Paint. I tried to get a close up but you still couldn't really tell. It looks really lovely and shiny.

Thanks for looking and have a fabulous day

Dani :)

An Engagement Box

Hi guys,

WOW! I've been a bad blogger. I apologise, I've been finding the new adjustments made to Blogger a little hard when your in a hurry so until I master them it may be a little time between posts sorry. If you wanna keep up to date head over to my facebook page I am always keeping that up to date.

Anyway! I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and enjoying the warm weather we are finally getting. I've got some news to share along with some craft. My brother proposed to his girlfriend just before Christmas and she said YES of course! He asked me to make him a box toput the gift in and since she loves Owl's I decided to whip her up this cute little box. What do you think?? Super cute huh?

Stamp Set: Short and Sweet

Ink: Soft Suede

Cardstock: Real Red, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Real Red Prints DSP

Accessories: Owl Builder Punch, Small heart Punch, Tombow

I am also entering this project for the current Just Add Ink challenge which is... Just Add Fancy Packaging. Thought it was very fitting.

Have a great day

Dani

Thank you gifts

Hi guys,

Something I love doing is making little Thank you gifts for my hostesses for having a party. Last night I hosted a workshop for an old friend who I haven't seen in 8 (or so) yrs. She found me on Facebook and started looking at my blog through my facebook page. It was so great to rekindle the friendship and do a great party for her and her mum so I had to make them something extra special and beautiful.

Here's a card and double pillow box gift I made for them.



The beautiful card was made with Friends 24-7. I used one of my much loved colours which will be retiring in September (tear), Mellow Moss teamed up with the beautiful Rose Red and Choc Chip. Such a beautiful combination. Here's a close up of the goodies



The Pillow box was made as a double box by starting with an A5 halved and cut out in the bigshot leaving half of the top tab over lapping so it connects the box and doesn't fully cut it out. I then covered the middle with cardstock so you couldn't see the middle score lines of the box. (I hope that makes sense) Email me if you want more detail. I then put a hot chocolate sachet inside which fit perfectly.



Stamp Sets: Friends 24-7, Trendy Trees
Ink: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Timber Brown Stazon (Non SU!)
Cardstock: Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Watercolour Paper
Accessories: Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Aqua Painter, Rose Red Brad, Mini Glue dots, Sticky Strip (for pillow box)

Have a lovely and fun weekend
Dani

The Inklings Christmas In July Blog Hop

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Kari Hughes's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the link at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 17 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Christie Wallace and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 17 handmade cards plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

Well I don't know about you but I always have heaps of trouble at Christmas Time finding something to get for some people on my Christmas List who seem to already have everything. I then end up giving them chocolates or a gift card which is a little impersonal. So I thought this year it'd be great to give those people something from the heart. Something handmade. And something they can use. I made a Christmas Stationery Box. Which would be great to give as a gift a month before Christmas as a Getting Read for Christmas Stationery Box. You'll see why...

Here's the box closed with the lid on...



Take the lid off and you get... Oooh Pretty! Everything you could need for Christmas.



There is a bunch of Christmas Cards to give out... (I plan on making more but just didn't get the time this week)



Here's a pile of them



Next there's some cute little love note sized (3"x3") cards to add to presents



And a cute handmade notebook to write Christmas Present lists in, Card lists, Anything you like. I haven't secured it in properly so it can be removed to be written in or kept in your handbag. Please mind my handwritting!



There's also some little gift tags in there which I forgot to photograph, a little spot to put stamps to post your cards and there's also a Pen which wasn't attached when I took the photos. Yes it's been a really hectic week! If you are back on my blog in the next few days you'll find out why! I really hope you enjoy my project and get lots of inspiration to get you Christmas Projects started soon!

Well that’s all from me. Next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is Beth Stewart. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

Here is a list of all the blogs involved in the Hop just in case you loose your way

1. Christie
2. Dani H
3. Carol
4. Michelle D
5. Jayne
6. Kylie
7. Kari
8. Dani F
9. Beth
10. Nicky A
11. Clare
12. Amy
13. Fiona B
14. Michelle Frost-Stevenson
15. Fiona Poirier
16. Divya Rao
17. Rachel Jackson

Have Fun and hope you get lots of inspiration! And please (regardless of weather your a demo or not) give all the girls some comment love. They have all been working hard to give you some great projects.

Dani

The benefits of having a demonstration

One of the things I do as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator is in home demonstrations. It's great fun for me and great fun for you as a host. There are lots of benefits of having an in home demonstration.

Here are some of the great incentives:
* You get to learn about Stampin' Up.
* Look at, touch and play with our products.
* You get to invite some girlfriends over and have a fun night in.
* You get to make a card to take home with you.
* You get free stamp sets and money to spend depending on how much people order. The more orders, the more incentives.
* You get hands on advice about products and how to use them
* It costs you nothing
* You get a lovely handmade gift from me just for having the demonstartion.

Here is a picture of a handmade gift pack I gave to one of my customers last week for having a demonstration.



There's a handmade card, An altered notepad and a little gift pack filled with hodgepodge. Here they are up close.



Hand made card



Altered Notepad



Little gift pouch. You undo the ribbon and in the middle in a gift of hodgepodge. Silly me didn't take a photo of it opened. I will be making some more soon so will post what they look like inside soon.

I love making gifts like this and the best bit was they were all made from scraps of cardstock I had lying around from Riley's birthday invitations.

Stamp Sets: Polka Dot BG, Petal Pizzazz
Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette Prints DSP
Ink: Certainly Celery, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Certainly Celery Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Paper Snips

Thanks for looking
Dani

Partying on an easel

I have been making lots of easel cards lately. They are heaps of fun and really easy to make and give your card that extra 'pop'. I made one this week using Makeesha Byl's sketch challenge which looks like this...



I absolutely love this sketch and have a million other ideas of what I could have done with it if i had enough time this week. But due to the flu, gastro bug and a teething baby that wasn't feasible unfortunately! Here's what I did come up with....



I used the Party Hearty Stamp Set with some lovely masculine colours Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. I am so excited we are keeping Baja! How awesome does the card look standing up all on it's own! Here is a close up of the front of the card...



Stamp Set: Party Hearty
Card Stock: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: 1 3/8" and 1 1/2" circle punch, Scallop Edge punch, Word Window Punch, Black Brads

Thanks for looking!
Dani

Pen Holders - SU Style

Hi everyone!

Happy 2010 to everyone! I hope you are enjoying your year so far! Things have been hectic here and I haven't had time to scratch my nose! It really saddens me that I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like to so I've made a New Years Resolution to actually get my pictures uploaded and blog more often! I love sharing what I do so am resolving (I guess that's how you put it) to blog at least once per week! I really hope that I am able to do this and look forward to sharing my projects with you more often this year.

I know Christmas has passed but I thought I would share some of the things I made this Christmas for my family and friends. Firstly I made some pen holders out of tins from tinned goods! They are so simple to make and look so affective. All you do is cut your DSP to size, Stick it around the tin with double sided tape and then decorate! And how effective do they look??



Here's two of the ones I made using the ski slopes DSP from the Spring Mini. You could easily substitute this for other DSP.



Here's a close up of one on its own



And here is one filled with my favourite products! How lovely do they look? When I gave them out I filled cellophane bags of homemade shortbread biscuits and had them sitting in the tins! Unfortunately at time of taking the photos all the biscuits had been eaten... I wonder who was the culprit... Hmmmm...

Thanks for looking and I will be back in a few days with other projects :)

Dani

Magnet Christmas Calendars

I have been getting busy making and creating more stuff for Christmas including cards, gifts, wrapping paper, bags, etc. I have been making up these super cute Magnetic Calendars using Kaiser Craft wood. They are so simple and quick to make and they are such nice and practical gifts to give to a friend, relative, work colleague, loved one or someone you haven't seen in a while. Here are 2 of the ones I have made recently using Dashing DSP. I have used the same piece of DSP for each just flipped it over to showcase both designs! I have stuck an old fridge magent on the back of them so the calendar can be in the most practical spot in the house! Your fridge!



Here's a close up of each...



The one below I have taken a photo of it whilst it is a magnet on the fridge I got given on the weekend. Such a good pick up I think the lady who gave it to me will be getting more than just one of these!



Stamp Set and Ink: NONE!
Card Stock: Real Red, Old Olive, Dashing DSP
Accessories: Real Red and Old Olive Wide grosgrain, Sanding block, Mini Calendars, Kaiser Craft Wood

Now on a lighter note... While I was taking photo's out the back under the patio where my new fridge is residing temporarily Miss Purdy was watching me. She rarely makes alot of noise but she kept whinging as if to say "don't take photo's look at me I'm cute!" So because of that I got this rather cute photo of her snuggled up looking oh so comfortable! Oh the life of a dog!

Thanks for looking!

Dani

Thanks to all and some cute gifts!

They say in times of need you can always tell who your true friends are and who you can rely on. That has been evident throughout the last few weeks. They have been tough on me and a real challenge and really not anything I am used to coping with. I have been given so much support from my Stampin' Up! crew and so many people have offered there support and a shoulder if I need it. I want to thank each of you (You should know who you are) for your emails, messages, cards and support. It has really made me feel so loved and special by each of you, some of whom I have never met. None of you have asked me to explain my situation just given me the opportunity to talk if I need and I do thank you so much for that.

Apart from Stampin' Up! I must give a huge Thanks to my best mate in the whole world, Kris! If it wasn't for this girl I don't think I would have got through everything as quickly and as positively as I did. She has been my rock and I love her so much for this and everything else she has blessed me with. I know that what happens over the next few days, weeks, months and years I will be able to deal with it because of her. Thanks Kris you rock my bright, coloured, striped, odd socks! :)

To thank Kris for everything she has done I decided to make her a little thank you gift and made her a sweet little gift bag, gift cards and pull treat. She really is one for things matching so I decided to keep the same colours and design across all projects which she really appreciated. She loves Chocolate Browns so I very easily chose Chocolate Chip as one of the primary colours. I then teamed together a few other colours I wouldn't usually put together but think they look very complimentary. The names of the colours also sound like a yummy desert Vanilla Pomegrante and Chocolate... Mmmmm!

Here is a picture of all 3 projects together. Gift Bag on left, Pull Treat in the middle and sample of the gift cards on the right. There was a set of 5 cards in the bag.

Below is the Pull treat I made... Can you guess what's in it???

Mmmmmm... Dairy Milk! Nearly as good as a best friend, Not quiet though! My brother was selling these for a fundraiser for school and they fit perfect for pull treats. I think I'll be buying all of his next box lol!

Here is the gift bag I made her. It is quite little but so cute and it holds exactly 5 cards. You could make it larger if you want depending on what your putting in it. I made her an embellished K out of chipboard covered in Choc Chip Cardstock. She loved this and wanted to make it into a necklace lol! I told her I would if she wanted me too. Here's a close up...

Stamp Set: So Swirly Wheel, Think Happy Thoughts

Cardstock: Choc Chip, Purely Pomegrante, Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow

Ink: Purely Pomegrante, Sage Shadow

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" 1 1/2" and 3/4" circle punches, Corner Rounder Punch, Dimensionals, Brads, Jumbo Eyelets, Very Vanilla Ribbon, ChipBoard

I hope you like this cute and so simple projects as much as she did as we are making something simular in pink and black at my class on Sunday. I really hope you can make it along. Hurry because spaces are filling!

Have a great evening

Cheers,

Dani

Blog Winner!

I promised a few weeks ago that I would chose a winner at random for commenting on my blog which of two cards they preferred from this post. I have been a little slack and should have advertised the little something they would win AND who the winner is any earlier! I am sorry.

Here is the little bundle I made up at a demonstration recently that a lucky person could win!


Here's the quick and easy card... This card was made by simply rolling this months spotlight product, the trusty stampin' around wheel, diagonally across the card and then jazzed up with the small flower from the Priceless Set in Rose Red and Orchid Opulence. Then Finished with some wide ribbon across the top and a simple greeting from occassional greetings set!


The little gift box is a 2,4,6,8 box and has some ribbon in it for the lucky winner to use!


Stamp Set: Priceless and So Swirly Wheel - Quick only one day left to purchase this bundle! Occasional Greetings
Cardstock: Rose Red, Whisper White
Ink: Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Orchid Opulence
Accessories: 1 1/2 and 1 3/8 Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Wide and Thin Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, White Gel Pen

So without further ado I would like to annouce the winner...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 6
Timestamp: 2008-09-29 08:34:32 UTC

The winner is... Tegan!

Tegan your priceless card and box will be in the mail shortly.

Today I am 50... Number 50 post that is! Thanks to all for all the lovely comments. It really means a great deal to me that people read my rambeling and are inspired by my projects.

Happy Stampin'
Dani :)

Blue and Green SHOULD be seen

How would you feel if you got a pressie that looked like this for your birthday? My boyfriend, Karl thought this was impressive when I handed it over to him on Tuesday last week for his 26th birthday! Little did he know I had been BUSY!!

Here is a photo of all the wonderful things he got throughout the course of his birthday...




I had all his presents colour co ordinated in old olive, whisper white and tempting turquoise to match in with the beautiful petals DSP that Karl has always said he likes. Above is a picture of his wrapped present (X files DVD's), an altered notebook (Thanks Margaret), A giftboxed CD (John Mayer), and a beautiful brag book which I made on the team weekend away.

Below is a picture of the CD giftbox that I made using the beautiful Makeehsa Byl's Make it Monday #6 tutorial which can be found here. I saw this and just had to make one. It is so so so easy and so so so cute. I was so impressed with how it turned out.






Here it is opened. It fastens with velcro which I thought made it look even more sassy and schmick! As you can see the CD fits perfectly! I will be making more of these for Chrissy Presents! JB Hifi will love me!







Next here is the cute brag book I made. My SU! Great great grandmother (upline x4) Jayne showed us how to make these on the team weekend away. I'm telling you now they are so super simple and easy. I had so much fun putting it together.



Here is pictures of the pages! They are about 5 3/4" x 5 3/4" in size. How cute is that boyfriend of mine? He's such a spunk if I do say so myself! I've done good!







Awwwwwww....







Here's a photo of the book opened! As you can see each page has slots to put whatever you like in them.



I added some journalling in some slots as shown.





And I also added this gorgeous Michelle Zindorf style birthday card into one of the slots. Karl LOVES landscape and nature and I must say he ADORED this card. He thought it was the best of everything I gave him. I'm pretty happy with it for my first effort! I must get me a brayer.





I also added the altered notebook in one of the slots which is again shown in the photo below with some of the goodies... Aren't they so pretty??





I always say I am going to do something like this and I feel so proud that I was able to pull it off.

TFL!

Cheers Big Ears,

Dani

P.S. Be back tomorrow for next months spotlight project!

It's Challenge night!

Last Thursday night we had our monthly challenge night hosted by none other than yours truly. I set some rather difficult and different challenges to get peoples brains working. I wonder how you would go attempting them... Here they are



Challenge #1 - Create a card with the following colours - Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Elegant eggplant, Yoyo Yellow and Whisper White (optional)



Challenge #2 - Create a project using the following words as inspiration - Sweet, sassy and masculine



Challenge # 3 - Create this box originally created by Julie Buhler.



I have attempted all 3 challenges but have been crazy hectic busy and haven't had 10 minutes to stop and take a photo of them all so I just have Challenge #3 on display for today but please come back to visit in the next few days to see the other challenges.






Here is the box I made. I have used no stamping. I don't know what it is but I rarely use much stamping on 3d projects. I have no idea why and only just realised when typing this post. I changed the dimensions on the box to be 9" by 11" to fit normal sized cards so I can fill it with cards and send it to my grandfather for fathers day.








To ensure the lid wouldn't come off when you lifted it up by the handle I added velcro stripes to the front and back of the box. Gives it more of a professional look. I am so impressed with how it turned out I will definatly be making another one in the near future.








Paper: Close to cocoa, Sahara Sand, DSP paper
Accessories: Tab Punch, Jumbo pewter eyelets, Crop o dile, Scoring Blade, Choc Chip Grosgrain ribbon*, Rich Regals button in ballet blue.


I hope you have a lovely night. TFL!



Dani