Lavendar for Mother's Day

OK, just to tide us all over until I can sit down to make a few more cards (the assignment has really taken it out of me.... next one is due in June), here's a card I put together a few weeks ago.

I used reverse masking to create a panel down the middle of the card and used the leaves from Petal Prints. The greeting is gold embossed and from the retired set All Year Cheer II. Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Very Vanilla card was used, as well as Elegant Eggplant ink - stamped off for the bottom part of the lavendar (from Petal Prints too). Gold cord (retired) was used to tie the lavendar together.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and Paul really liked it too. The only thing is lavendar gives Mum a migraine, so maybe Mamma will score this one....

I've Been Tagged

Being new to the world of blogging, I had no idea this existed until I was tagged by two friends - Sharon (http://www.stampin-scrappin.blogspot.com) and Karen (http://www.karenmrobinson.blogspot.com). Thanks girls! You know I'm always up for learning something. In fact, I've just handed up a 23 page assignment, hence my lack of posting lately. Thanks to all of you who have asked how I am. It's nice to know I'm missed!

Anyways, here's the tagging stuff.....

The rules are:
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 are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok. 7 facts about Natasha:

- My numerology number is 3 and it suits me down to the ground.
- I came up to Katherine for a 4 month contract (that was over 3 years ago).
- I don't like mangoes. At all.
- I lived in Paraguay in South America as an exchange student after I finished school. We had no hot water, you couldn't flush toilet paper down the toilet and the streets were cobble stones, but it was one of the best experiences of my life.
- I felt more comfortable speaking Spanish than English when I came back. Actually, it took years before I stopped dreaming in Spanish and if I'm really tired or have had a few, don't be surprised if I'm not sure which language I'm speaking!
- I scored a 20 in Year 12 Biological Science, but almost failed Molecular & Cellular Biology in 1st year Science....
- I am studying my fourth University degree (I have more letters after my name than in it).

I don't actually know 7 bloggers personally, and most of them I do have already been tagged so check out their sites and their facts:
Karen http://www.karenmrobinson.blogspot.com/
Sharon http://www.stampin-scrappin.blogspot.com/
Mel http://www.melhanlon.blogspot.com/
Nerine http://www.stampinaddiction.blogspot.com/

Cheers!

Welcome Markus

Very good friends of ours welcomed a beautiful little boy into the world about 2 1/2 weeks ago, and we were finally able to meet him on the weekend! He is just beautiful (almost makes me want to have another....). As this adorable little man has 2 older sisters, it was only fitting that it's 'all about blue' for the moment. So, here's the card I made for him:

Of course, the main colour is Bashful Blue, as well as Certainly Celery and Barely Banana (I love these colours for babies). I also used Petals & Paisleys DSP for the squares the animals are mounted on. The very cute elephant and lion are from Wild About You, the alphabet is Defining Alphabet and the background stamps are from Classic Backgrounds. I first stamped the elephant in Bashful Blue and rock'n'rolled it with Brilliant Blue, and did the same with the lion with Barely Banana and Summer Sun (you can sort of see it in the picture). The ribbon has been discontinued, but I thought it suited the card well.

Welcome to the world little Markus!

Time to be Happy

I finally found some time on the weekend to have a play with my new stamp sets - and I needed to make a couple of cards too (any excuse!). My current favourite set is Garden Whimsy which I had to include on my first order, and playing with it just confirmed it's place as at the top! Here's a card based on the one I made for a friend of mine's birthday:
I decided to branch out a bit here and use Pretty in Pink as the card base (even though Luana wears a lot of light pink - it's not actually a colour I usually like). I also used Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss and Very Vanilla card. The patterned panels are using the background stamp Paisley with Pale Plum (you can't really see it, but the small square is 'thumped' with Mellow Moss Stampin' Write Marker). The background of the other two panels is 'dragged' with Mellow Moss ink. The tulip was coloured with Mellow Moss and Perfect Plum markers, and the phrase was also Perfect Plum. The little butterfly is Pretty in Pink 'thumped' with Mellow Moss and Perfect Plum.

This is something a bit different to what I have done before, so I hope you like it. I haven't given the other card (I used Enchante DSP from the Summer Mini instead of the Paisley panels) to my friend yet, so I don't know what she thinks of it!

Friends...

I made this card for my good friend Kylie based on the cards I made for my team for their fabulous efforts during Sale-a-Bration - I love the colours and how the flowers 'pop'.

Once again, thanks to the colour coach for the combo - Creamy Caramel and Really Rust card, and Tempting Turquoise and Chocolate Chip inks (and Versamark). I used Joseph's Coat technique for the main panel, using Tempting Turquoise underneath (instead of a spectrum pad)

and brayed over top with Chocolate Chip. I used the Sale-a-Bration set Friendship Blooms, and finished it with turquoise grosgrain ribbon. I will try and play with some of the new sets soon and let you know how they work out.

My Little Stamper

I couldn't resist sharing this photo with you:
Not a brilliant shot (Paul had to be quick), but I think you get the drift!! I need to be careful where I leave my supplies (especially my ink pads - she can open them!) and she already knows what to do with a stamp!

2008-09 Idea Book & Catalogue Launch

As predicted, I was rather busy last week and apologise for this belated posting. The good news is the new Idea Book & Catalogue in now in effect (check it out at http://www.stampinup.com/ and go to the Australia site) and I love it. I received my first order from it today and I can't wait to have a play!

To celebrate, I held a launch on the weekend with some lovely ladies. We made 2 projects and had a great time - here they are:

I used the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set with the coordinating Petals Jumbo wheel and Petals & Paisleys DSP. This card used Old Olive, So Saffron and Whisper White card with Taken with Teal and Old Olive ink (inspired by the DSP). A couple of the ladies who attended made their cards with Taken with Teal as the main card, and Old Olive 'happy' which also looked quite good.

Apologies for the not brilliant photo, but I thought we'd also try our hand at scrapbooking as I know I never have enough time for it. In fact, this is only the second ever page I have completed (yes Helene, Karen and Lyn, I still haven't finished those pages I started last year!), and I'm pretty pleased with it. The colour combo came from the Colour Coach (LOVE IT!!) - Basic Black, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red and a tiny bit of Garden Green. I used the Time Well Spent (Level 3 Hostess Gift) and All in the Family stamp sets from the new catalogue as well as Tidy Alphabet which is now retired. I cut out and layered the flowers from Time Well Spent and also randomly stamped them to create the larger patterned panel instead of using DSP. I used the Stampin' Pastels with the blender pen to colour in my little family, and used the round tab punch for the tab attached to my hidden journalling. Finally, I used the white gel pen for the little bit of journalling you can see. I tried to plan it so the 6x6 page and the A4 page can also be used independently if desired. The ladies liked the project - let me know what you think!!

Have a great day and enjoy looking at the new catalogue! Let me know if you would like to place an order or book a workshop and earn some fabulous hostess sets!