Team Weekend Away Swaps

Hi guys,

I've been quiet this month cos I've been really busy working weird hours and vegging out with the kids which I haven't been giving myself time to do, I really believe you need to though. Anywho, last weekend I was lucky enough to have the best birthday present ever. I got to go away with The Inklings for the last Inklings Team Weekend Away. I have heaps to share with you over the next few weeks from the weekend. Tonight I thought I'd share with you my Swap Card. I really like how it came together but let me tell you I was sick of SAMJ-ing those damn cages by the end of it. I did two colours, let me know which you like best

Here's Marina Mist



And Cherry Cobbler



Stamp Set: Aviary, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, French Foliage
Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler/Marina Mist
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler/Marina Mist
Accessories: SAMJ, Basic Black Satin Ribbon

I'm also entering these cards in this weeks JAI Challenge. This week is Just Add... Something from your stash. I must admit when Aviary came into the spring mini I had to have it and I mounted it and never used it. These cards were the first time it saw ink which I'm really ashamed of cos I love love love it and am so excited it will be in the new catalogue which is released really soon.

Thanks for looking and be back soon for more creations from the weekend away

Dani

6X6 Scrapbook Page Swap

WOW 3 posts in 4 days, I'm on fire!!!! And theres lots more to come too! I'm so proud of myself!

I just had the opportunity to participate in a 6x6 Scrapbook Page Swap with my fellow Inklings. The theme was 'HOME.' I struggled at first cos I don't have many photos of my current house and all my ones of my old place are on another computer. I then thought about what my meaning of Home really is. For me home is a sense of belonging, of love and somewhere you go and feel comfortable. My family makes where I live feel like home so I thought to incorporate them into my page. Here's what I came up with...



The top note pulls out from behind the photo to reveal journalling and looks like this



I apologise about the photos. I find it so difficult to take photos of scrapbook pages without making them look all odd shaped.

Stamp Set: Priceless
Ink: Versamark, Melon Mambo
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Kraft, Basic Black, Ballet Blue
Accessories: Black grosgrain, White Gel Pen, Black Stampin' Write, Dimensionals, Big Shot, Top Note Dye

Thanks for looking
Dani

All About ME!!!

A couple of months ago the wonderfully talented and newly published Alana Galagher who is a member of the Inklings team proposed a 6x6 page swap. I was very excited as I am desperate to fill up my album. This swap however came with a slight twist though. The page had to be about you the creator of the page. I needed to be in the photo in some way. Thinking it was fun I signed u for the challenge. I don't know about you but I hate photo's of myself and prefer to be behind the camera.

Just before my birthday my boyfriend through me a surprise party (which I picked up on a few days before hand) so I thought what a perfect opportunity to get some photo's taken with my mates and use one of those. Needless to say like any traditional birthday bash there was some alcohol involved and I was as crissed as a picket after 2 glasses of wine and... This is where the fun pictures began. I got home and analysed the photo's taken and although there were some great ones of me and my mates I couldn't go past these two that are rather silly but extremly captulating of my personality.

Picture Number 1 (I think I was singing and dancing in my seat either that or I was trying to massage my frontal lobes a little)

Picture Number Two (Can everyone say "huh???" I promise I was not posing in this photo and it was just sort of luck of the snap... Or unlucky which ever way you look at it)

I ended up deciding on the least unflattering of the two (Although I just put the other one on the web for the world to see) for my page. I must say I am so happy with how the page turned out and I think it is me all over. I am a real kid at heart, I don't mind making a fool of myself and I laugh at my own jokes.

The page was also so fun to make as I wasn't trying to capture the feeling of the photo of someone else it was something that was all me. So without further ado I show you the finished page...

Stamp Sets: Looks Like Spring, Big deal Alphabet

Cardstock: Summer picnic DSP, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive

Inks: Bashful Blue, Real Red, Old Olive

Accessories: Mat Pack, Real Red Eyelets, Whisper White Ribbon, Old Olive Marker, Sponge Danber, Luggage Tag (Non SU!), Fiscars Stencil for the arrow shape (Non SU!)

Technique: Kissing

Behind the picture there is a tag which is non SU! It slides in and out and it has some info about me.

Thanks for looking! I hope you love the page as much as I do!

Happy Stamping!

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 :)

ATC Swaps - Bleaching

Here is my next installment of ATC swaps. This month we had to do a swap using the bleaching technique, which is an extremly versatile technique. What you do is you apply bleach your cardstock to actually change the colour of the cardstock you are using to give you a cool new affect. It especially works well on Old Olive Cardstock as it changes it to a beautiful bright yellow colour rather than a faded white colour like alot of the other card stocks do.

TIP WHEN USING THIS TECHNIQUE: Do not apply the bleach using a paint brush as it tends to eat away at the brizzles. The first time I used the technique I didn't realise this and I ended up with no brizzles on my paint brush... Whoops! I find a cotton tip works well and you can throw it out when your finished. That's what I used on my ATC's.

For mine this month I must admit I'm not 100% happy with them and could have put in alot more effort had I actually started them before they were due. I still like them. I think they are sweet looking and the colours are so stunning together but could have done better.

Here is also a picture of another card I did at a card class using bleaching. I really like the colours and how the dripping of the bleach made the rest of the card look

Have a great evening! Happy Stampin'

Dani

ATC Swaps

ATC Swaps are another type of swap I do with The Inklings (The demonstrator group I'm apart of). ATC stands for "Artist Trading Card" and they are cards made 3 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches in size, which is the size of a football card or a baseball card. Each month we are given a technique to do on our trading card and make 9 of them, 1 which we keep and the other 8 we swap with other demonstrators in the team so we then end up with 9 little trading cards which show the versatility of one technique with a range of different stamp sets.

This month we were given a technique called "Faux Metal." This technique is done by embossing on card stock layers of embossing powder on top of each other until you have the desired thickness and then you in print you stamp into the hot powder to make a metal looking embellishment to use on your project. You can get more details steps on split coast. I will upload the link when I'm not so sleepy.

The technique is quiet easy once you get used to it and gives a lovely effect. It is however very messy and you can tend to get embossing powder everywhere if your not super careful which i found out the hardway and now have embossing powder embossed to my tablecloth! Whoops.

Here are some photo's of my ATC's for this month with some close up's of the "Faux Metal" so you can get an idea of what it looks like close up. I will post photo's of the swaps I get back to show you some of the talent I have within my demonstrator group and so you can see the versatility of the technique.

Happy Stampin' and Have a great night!

Dani

And going live in 5,4,3,2,1!

Hi everybody and welcome to my blog!

I have been wanting to make a blog dedicated entirely to my love and passion for card making, scrapbooking, craft and Stampin' Up! for a long time now and have never felt I have had the time with my busy lifestyle and I decided on my sick day off work, Today is a good day if any!

As mentioned I am an Independant Stampin' Up Demonstrator and have been since September 2007. I am a member of a online forum with other demonstrators called "The Inklings" led by a very talented women Jayne where I often participate in online challenges and swaps and will aim to post some of the things we do on this blog.

I am have set myself a goal to try and post something new on my blog every Sunday/Monday (if not more often) and noted it in my diary so I don't forget. So please watch this space on those days for regular updates

Please post me comments on my artworks and let me know of any areas I can improve, afterall this is not just my blog, It is for all of you to enjoy also.

Above I have posted a picture of the swaps I am doing with other members of The Inklings and it is also the 'make and take' for this months In home demonstrations, So if you like this card and would like to know how to make it, contact me today to have an in-home demonstration.

To make these cards I used the following:

Stamp Sets: Priceless (My new favourite set), Short & Sweet

Paper : Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Blush Blossom

Inks: Pretty in Pink, Blush Blossom, Barely Banana, So Saffron, Regal Rose

Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Corner Rounder, Soft Subtles Brads, Pink 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Sponges

Technique: Embossing Resist

Thanks for reading and happy stamping,

Dani