Rubbah-dultery

When I saw the term

"rubbah-adultery" on a blog it made me smile - how apt is the term!?!?! As a Stampin Up Demonstrat-or I feel I should only showcase our own wonderful stamps - but what can I say - there are other lovely stamps out there and this one (Daisybella) from Stamping Bella was just perfect for what I had in mind.

Since I had seen the term rubbah-dultery used on several blogs I decided I could use it to show off these cards I made for 2 gorgeous girls who are about to sit their year 12 exams - GOOD LUCK JACINTA AND DAISY - not that that you'll need it!!!

The cardstock I used was Stampin Up's YoYo Yellow, Carbon Black and Brilliant Blue. I also used Dazzling Diamonds on the t-shirt and Crystal Effects on the flower. Some Cuttlebug embossing and black rhinestones finished off the cards.

A Cake, a Card and a Wedding

Anyone who has read my previous posts may have an idea that we had a family wedding coming up - it all happened yesterday and it was a fabulous day. The bride and groom are such a wonderful couple that there was no way the day couldn't be great. Everyone looked gorgeous and the venue was terrific. We got to bed rather late last night and it was up and off to work and school this morning. I made it through with only the occasional cup of coffee!!!! Anyhow - here are some pics of the wedding cake I made, the card and the day.....

The cake was a stacked 3 tiered mud cake with chocolate ganache frosting and fresh red roses. Being a lover of "bling" - and what wedding doesn't need bling?? - the roses were glittered up with fine gold glitter. A few extra scattered rose petals finished off the table. I was really pleased with how well it suited the elegant yet rustic style of the day.

I also tried to incorporate the elegance and colour scheme into the card I made. You can't see it here, but there is a subtle pattern on the black cardstock which I made by rollering Versamark on the top and bottom edges using the Illuminated Wheel. The Stamp set is of course Always, this is a perfect set for this occasion. All of the white stamping was embossed with white embossing powder - it adds such a lovely rich texture to the card. The red flower was also embossed.

This is what I did with the inside of the card - often this part is basically ignored - but when my dear hubby asked what the "Everything" meant on the front of the card I decided this was a great way of making the meaning clearer.

Now here is a picture of me and my gorgeous kids - we didn't scrub up too badly if I do say so myself! Although my shoes were killing me by the end of the night - am just NOT used to stiletto heels anymore - I enjoyed getting back into my flatties for work today - aaaagh!

And what post about a wedding would be complete without at least one photo of the bridal group. My apologies to the Best Man and Groomsmen for not getting them in the photo too - my view of them was blocked by the people sitting in front of me. As you can see - everyone looked absolutely stunning - and I'm not biased at all - LOL

Bag, Tags and Cards

I recently held a couple of classes teaching this little set - and it's really rewarding to see people leave your house happy with what they've achieved. On a previous post I put the links down for making these cute little bags so check it out there. This stamp set does have the added tags and I just couldn't resist using them as individuals. The stamp set I used was Festive Favorites - they are such cute stamps. They were subtly coloured using blender pens (aren't these the BEST!) and a mix of watercolor pencils, markers and inks. The tag holder was made using a 4 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of Purely Pomegranate cardstock. The actual pocket was made by cutting a piece of River Rock card to 4 1/2" x 4". I then scored at 1 1/2" with the card in landscape position, and folded it up to form a pocket. I was in a bit of a rush the day I made this and stapled the edges together - most of the ladies in my classes opted for using brads instead once I showed them the difference.

Colours - Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla and River Rock


DP - Holiday Harmony

The Sun's Out!

We've had a few lovely sunny days here in Melbourne recently - and it coincided with me receiving the Oh, So Lovely hostess set. These are simple and elegant stamps and look great with a little bit of colour. I had some Blue Bayou cardstock cut to card size, and some leftover Sky Blue and Old Olive card from a class I had run recently. I didn't want the colour scheme to be the same as the one on "My First Card!" so I hopped on the Colour Combos website and plugged in my 3 colours. There were lots of combinations to choose but I was intrigued by the use of Pumpkin Pie so off I went - and this is what I came up with. I really like the way the Pumpkin Pie makes the card look vibrant - just right for those sunny days. The white butterflies from the Sprinkles stamp set just add to the feel of Spring. I stamped the sentiment from the Short and Sweet set - I originally used white but thought it looked a little lost. I was going to re-stamp in Blue Bayou but wanted to see if it would stand out better so I stamped it near the white to compare. I managed to just offset the colours and really liked the look - so no more stamping was needed! The Sky Blue cardstock was run through the crimper to add a little texture - I do like texture!

Card Organisers

There are just way too many talented people out there - I really need to find time to come up with my own designs but at the moment I'm enjoying CASEing lots of other fabulous ideas! I first saw these on Yvonne Campbell's blog and follwed the link she gave to Dannie's Designs where Dannie has put together an easy to follow video tutorial to make the boxes. Here it is for you to try it out -http://danniesdesigns.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/04/card-keeper-tut.html

Then Yvonne adapted the design to include dividers - wow these two lovely ladies make a great team! Since I had several cards poked into shoe boxes I thought it would be a great idea to make one to take to workshops - not that I needed any excuse apart from the fact I wanted one too!!!! I didn't have any twine to hold the pleats in place - so I used some 3mm wide ribbon I found at home instead. The extra bonus was I could use a co-ordinating colour and , since it's flat, it sat nicely under the "covers".

I also found I had to remove the bottom corners of the dividers so they would sit nicely around the ribbon. I cut the dividers at 4 3/4" x 7" and used the 1 1/4' hole punch to remove the corners.

The colours I used were Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink. The designer paper was from the Berry Bliss set. The emblem on the front was made using a Round Tab Punch laid flat and then layering 2 circles with a little stamping and a stick on pearl to finish. I then used the Slot Punch to make the holes for the ribbon

I showed the finished box to a group of ladies at my class and we were talking about all of the fabulous uses for it. One of the ideas was to make one for storing any special cards you have received - and of course my nephew's wedding is this coming weekend so I thought I'd make one in their colour scheme so they can pop all of their wedding cards in - I should do one for myself - my wedding cards are in a drawer somewhere - pretty sad after nearly 25 years!

Anyhow - here's the one I made for them.

Candy Cane Card

After making all the little felt candy cane holders for the fete I still had several candy canes left - and since I'd mentioned maybe making a paper holder I thought I'd give it a go! I know - it's not a tag holder it's a card - but it just seemed to end up this way! I did have a couple of worries about whether the weight of the candy cane would stop the card standing up - but with not too much care it was standing fine - I think the bottom of the candy cane resting on the table was the key to good balance!

Here's a picture to prove it actually stands - LOL. It's a shame you can't see this "in the flesh" as my photography doesn't show how well these colours go together and how the "bling" just sets it off.

The candy cane holder was made from a piece of card the same colour as my embossed background - Old Olive. It measured 2 1/2"x 1 1/2" and was scored in a landscape position at 1/4", 3/4", 1 3/4" and 2 1/4". I then used the slot punch to punch holes for the candy cane in the 1/2" section on each side - I had to punch 2 holes slightly overlapping each other to allow for a tight fit. The holes were slightly offset to allow the candy cane to lean slightly to the left. The 1/4" tabs on each end were used to stick the little holder to the card.

I also glittered up the "Merry Christmas" with Heat and Stick Powder and Dazzling Diamonds. The snowflake was also glittered using the 2 Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds. The cardstock was embossed using a snowflake folder in my Cuttlebug.

Cardstock - Old Olive, Real Red, Whisper White

Stamp Set - Season of Joy

Ink - Real Red, Old Olive

And now for something a little different

As I mentioned in a previous post my son's primary school is having a fete next month and I thought I'd show you these - I know they're not made of paper or stamped - but their claim to fame is that they have taken up the time when I should have been playing with all of my gorgeous new stamp sets and inks! I still have to thread all of the candy canes onto the rest - a great job while relaxing in front of the telly and having a nice glass of red!

These little characters are machine embroidered in felt - and they look very sweet hanging on the tree! If you are lucky enough to have an embroidery machine, I got the pattern for these online at http://www.emblibrary.com/ - they have some wonderful things on this site and offer video tutorials too. One of the great things about embroidering them yourself is that you can adapt the colours to suit your needs - the joy of making things yourself! Last year I made several of the polar bears and gave them purple scarves - these were presents for my daughter's synchronised skating team as their team colour is purple - the kids loved them!

I was thinking of trying to adapt the idea to paper - maybe hanging stamped tags with candy canes??? I'll try and give the idea a go soon - and will post the results if they are any good - LOL.

A Couple of Card Sets

Anyone who knows me well knows I love "sets" of things. I also love boxes or containers - so you put the 2 things together and add some cardstock, rubber stamps and ink - this is the sort of thing you end up with!

This set was made before I joined the Stampin' Up team. I had ordered the Rich Regals mixed cardstock and the Garden Whimsy stamp set. I had also found a great little tutorial for this 3"x3" Note Card Box on Splitcoaststampers. I decided to challenge myself with colours I wouldn't usually use together - Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard and Old Olive. I inked the box with Versamark and decided it was a little too light - so used the only other inkpad I had for the cards that was a close match - Really Rust! A bit of cuttlebug embossing, a few pearl stick on embellisments and some punching with the scallop punch and circle punch and I was done. I wasn't completely sure if I liked the combination at first so I put it away for a bit before I decided it wasn't too bad!http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/3x3notecardbox/

This next set is one of several I have made over the past few weeks. Firstly because I just love the little Double Pocket Bag, and secondly because my son's school is having a fete next month and 2 of my dear friends are running the craft stall. The Double Pocket Bag tutorial comes from the Spiltcoaststampers website and the cards are cut at 4"x width of A4, and then folded in half. You can easily fit 6 to a bag - I first saw the idea to pop the cards in the bag when Yvonne Campbell showed her version at the workshop she was doing for me before I joined her team. I used the Season of Joy stamp set with the Holiday Harmony DP. The colours are Always Artichoke, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla and River Rock.

I'll post pictures of another set soon using the Festive Favorites stamp set and the Holiday Harmony DP again.

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/double_pocket_bag/

Back pack

I just can't tell you how cute I thought this little backpack was when I first saw it on the very talented Nicole Stalker's blog - I just HAD to make one. I tracked down a video tutorial at Stamp Happens (click on the link below if you want to make one of these too!) Beware though - this will become another of your favourite blogs!

My daughter was watching me put all the bits together - she was fascinated to see what I was up to and loved the result. I also made a matching card to pop in the front pocket. My plan is to make one in Christmas colors and fill it with yummy chocolates or homemade fudge for my children's teachers.

I used Pink Passion cardstock and Berry Bliss DP. The little accents used Boho Blossoms and Choc Chip Cardstock.

I also have a great recipe for Bailey's Fudge - which is what I might make to fill these little bags up - here's the recipe if you want to try it out yourself, I'm not exactly sure where it came from - I pulled it out of a magazine ages ago. I'd recommend wrapping the pieces individually and keeping them in the fridge until you need to put them in the box. I'm also planning to include a copy of the recipe with the gift - it's always nice to be able to make it yourself if you like it!

Baileys Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
1 x 395g can sweetened condensed milk
100g butter, cubed
255g (1 ¼ cups firmly packed) brown sugar
2 tblsp glucose syrup
150g finely chopped dark chocolate (not cooking choc)
¼ cup Baileys

Method
Brush a 20cm square cake pan with melted butter. Line base and 2 opposite sides with non-stick baking paper allowing it to overhang.
Combine the condensed milk, butter, sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves (~ 3min). Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, for ~15mins or until mixtures thickens and turns a deep caramel colour. Remove from heat.
Add the chocolate and liqueur, stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Set aside to cool.
Remove fudge from pan and cut into portions – you may need to keep fudge refrigerated.
Enjoy!

http://www.stamphappens.com/stamp_happens/2008/08/mini-backpack-v.html

Guest Book

Hi Guys - Well here is something a little different to show you. I have my nephew's wedding in a couple of weeks and asked if they would like me to put a Guest Book together for them, and they said Yes! They are both avid photographers so I added a few pages of their favourite photos at the start - in a scrapbook/gallery theme. Their colours are red, black and white. I used the Always stamp set on several of the pages, especially the sentiments - it is such a classic stamp set and sooo right for a wedding!

I also must credit doing the book as the incentive for me finding out about Stampin' Up. I was at my local Srapbooking shop (a recent addition to my list of crafts!), and one of the ladies was showing us an album she had done and she had used these wonderful tabs - I just had to ask her where she got them as I knew they would be great for the book!! They were made using the Stampin' Up Round Tab Punch!! After this I looked into having a workshop so I could get one, had the lovely and very talented Yvonne Campbell come and do my workshop - and ended up joining her team!!!

It was sooo much fun to work on the book and I know both Adam and Naomi appreciated which makes me feel great. My next job for them is their wedding cake - my house will be smelling of chocolate mud cake very soon - YUM!!! I really need to give up my day job and concentrate on CRAFT!!!

Origami Tree Card

When I first saw this little origami tree on a card on Sam Post's blog, Ryemilan's Stamping and Scrapbooking, I knew I would have to try it out. She very kindly posted the link to the tutorial from Pixie Shire so it was very easy to locate. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - but think I'll have to work on the points for the next one!

http://pixieshire.blogspot.com/2007/10/origami-tree-tutorial.html

Stamps - Season of Joy

Cardstock - Very Vanilla, Purely Pomegranate, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Holiday Harmony DP

Inks - Purely Pomengranate, River Rock

Accessories - 1/2" Circle Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, SNAIL adhesive, Antique Brass Brads, Dazzling Diamonds, 2 way Glue Pen

A Couple of Birthday Cards

Last month not only saw me joining Stampin' Up, it also saw me making cards for a couple of birthdays using my wonderful new stamps and cardstock. I discovered I REALLY liked the One of a Kind 3 blossom stamp teamed with the Boho Blossoms Punch from the Spring Mini. I stamped a couple of sets in each colour stamp pad I had onto a sheet of A4 Whisper White and punched away - I didn't have too many colours then! I ended up with a little bowl of flowers that I could reach into to create little gardens on my cards. I have several new stamp pads now and am going to spend an evening stamping and punching out all my new flowers.

This first card was for my friend Deb A. I love texture on card so I used a crimped piece of Whisper White for the background. I then popped some of the Boho Blossoms up on Dimensionals and left some flat. If you use 2 Dimensionals under some of the flowers you can get 3 different levels.

This second card I made for my mum's Birthday. We made last minute plans for dinner and I only had a few hours to buy her present and make a card. I delved into my bowl of blossoms and Voila - and my mum loved it! The whisper White background was also stamped using another favourite of mine - the Jumbo So Swirly Wheel. I rollered on Versamark and then used a glittery embossing powder I've had in the cupboard for years. It just gave the card the right amount of Bling. This piece of card was actually a leftover piece from the boxes I made for my daughter and her friends to celebrate their Debutante Ball.

My First Card!

Well here it is - my First Card posted - and look how it matches the colours I've chosen for my blog - must be "me" colors!!!! I used an idea for this card from a similar one designed by Stephanie Pike - hers was gorgeous in gray, red and black. The leaves are coloured in using a blender pen and inks, and the Not Quite Navy circle is set on Dimesionals to "give it a lift". I also textured the edges of my rectangular pieces by roughing them up with my thumbnail - a very hand tool, and cheap - lol!!!

Stamps - Artfully Asian, Think Happy Thought, Watercolor Vine Jumbo Wheel, Always (small flower)

Cardstock - Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Sky Blue, Whisper White and, by mistake!, the 3/4" circle was cut from Not Quite Navy instead of Blue Bayou - but I like the look!
Ink - Blue Bayou
Punches - Scallop, 1/2" Circle, 3/4" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle and 1 3/8" Circle
Accessories - SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, Blender Pen

Many Thanx

How special do I feel - the answer is Very! I recently held my first workshop in my home and my dear friend Deb A brought along a cake with this little trophy on top - Aaww. My wonderful friends have been very supportive of my decision to join Stampin' Up and have been terrific first customers -lol. I just wanted to publicly thank them for their support and friendship - luvya guys!

Happy 20th Birthday Stampin' Up

It's our birthday, and we're throwing a party!

Dates: 1-31 October 2008

Promotion Details:
Spend $20 on regular catalogue merchandise and qualify to purchase any preselected birthday/celebration stamp sets at 20% off.


Page __ Description ________ 20% Off Price

37 _____ Big Bold Birthday _______ $43.16
38 _____ Pretty Princess _________ $36.76
51 _____ Birthday Best __________ $20.76
55 _____ Crab & Company ________ $42.36
118 ____ Short & Sweet __________ $23.96

Please contact me if are interested in taking part in this wonderful promotion!

WOW - I have my own Blog!

Welcome to Debbie P's Place. I am an Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator based in Melbourne, Australia. I joined the Stampin' Up team in September '08 and have become addicted very quickly - the quality of the stamps and accessories has impressed me, and the wonderful support and ideas generously shared by other demonstrators has fired my imagination. Over the next few days I hope to set my blog up properly and start posting some fun things to look at! Please be patient with me while I learn how to work a blog properly - think I'll need some help from my tech savvy kids! Maybe I should pass the blog to them and get back to what I enjoy doing - stamping and crafting - LOL!