Some Specials For You

Hiya Everyone - Apologies for having nothing new to show you at the moment - life has been pretty hectic with all my Christmas entertaining and I've just finished making a tiramisu torte for my niece's 21st today - it's all go go go - LOL.

I wanted to share some specials from the company's I'm currently designing for - hope you enjoy!

Just INKlined have a special over Christmas & New Year, they are offering you HALF PRICE Digital Stamps when you buy any 10

Get your HALF PRICE Digi Stamps HERE

Just put any 10 Just Inklined Digital Stamps in your shopping basket and you will automatically receive 50% discount

And over at La La Land Crafts they have a SURPRISE for you over at the La-La Land Blog!! It's a very SPECIAL OFFER..just for you!! Darling Marci, is one of the first sitting image stamps from La-La Land Craft's Valentine's Day Collection!! Irina has a gorgeous card to share with you showcasing this sweet little darling..so check it out right here!!

"DARLING MARCI"

From now until 11:30 pm PST on December 31st receive a FREE GIFT ~Darling Marci digi ~ with ANY purchase of $50!!!

You can even combine rubber stamps from our online store with digi stamps from our blog!! As long as you spend $50 (before taxes), Darling Marci digi is yours FREE*!!! And don't forget that SHIPPING is always FREE** on any order of over $50!!

*please include CODE - DARLING in the comments section upon check out.

**US orders only, International customers will receive a shipping discount.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wishing ALL my blogging friends an AWESOME Christmas Season and a 2011 full of Designer Papers, Rubber Stamps, Ink and Embossing Powders - just for starters - LOL.

Seriously - have a super safe and happy 2011....

xXx

Who Loves a Good Party?

I love this guy - he looks like he's been to one too many office Christmas partys - LOL. This is Dick Van Duck Party from Just INKlined - available HERE. I've used this week's sketch from Sketch Saturday for the layout and kept it fairly plain after realising how few men's cards I had in my stash!

This is only a short post today as I'm hosting a party myself - we invite our neighbours over for drinks every year on Christmas Eve Eve - and I think I look a little more excited about it than this party animal - LOL.

xXx

Alice at Christmas

This just may just be my last Christmas card for 2010!!!! I've used the gorgeous "Alice with Present" from Mo Manning - availabe HERE. She's not only for Christmas though - she'd be great for birthdays too! I wanted to make another Christmas card because my Tim Holtz Snow Flurries die FINALLY arrived and I just couldn't WAIT to play. It serves me right for thinking I hadn't NEEDED it earlier and I blame my talented friend Debbie Dolphin for making me realise I DID with all of her gorgeous inspiration with it - LOL. I glittered it up and then layered a sheer white polka dotted ribbon over the straight edge.

My DPs are from my Basic Grey - Figgy paper pad - this was last year's design and it's alomost gone - noooooooooo! The sentiment and metal frame are from Stampin' Up.

Hoping you are all ready for the BIG DAY and are feeling relaxed and stress free to enjoy it - I know I'm TRYING too - LOL

xXx

Tickled Pink Stamps Sponsoring Cupcake Craft Challenges

Today sees the start of Tickled Pink Stamps' association with Cupcake Craft Challenges - TPS will be a regular sponsor as we head into 2011. The Pink Ladies always love to join in the fun so some of them have had a play with this week's theme too - which is THANK YOU. You can check out the rest of the Pink Lady's creations for this challenge on our blog HERE.

For my card I decided to use our current, but very last Tickled Pink Stamps Monthly Challenges sketch again - and don't forget there are some fabulous prizes on offer both for THIS challenge AND over at our new challenge blog HERE. The new challenges aren't starting until January but there's a chance to win some fabulous things before we even start!

I also used the TPS Christmas sentiment set and matching die to create a frame around my computer generated sentiment and I used the gorgeous Willow - available HERE. The DPs are from Memory Box.

xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #77 - A Gift For You

WOW I can't believe it - this is our last Magnolia Down Under Challenge for 2010!!! Because of this we are giving you extra time to enter - with our next challenge not starting until January 9th, 2011. This challenge is...

 "A Gift For You"

Now this can be a gift for ANY occasion and isn't limited to being for Christmas - especially as we are heading into the New Year with the challenge. But we are asking for something that is NOT a card!

I used Lauren Meader's "Home Made" template from Papertrey Ink, along with the matching stamp set, to create a little Christmas Gift Box. The finished size is 5 1/2" high by 4 3/4" wide so it's a perfect fit for the mini Tilda's. I popped mine onto a fence I cut using my Magnolia Doohickey die - I bent back a section and drew in some 'hinges" to create a gateway to the front door.

On the back of the roof I added in my tag greeting and some more decoration. This was soooo much fun to make and now all I have to do is fill it with something yummy - but not until just before it's given away or it may not be as full as it should be - LOL.

Don't forget to stop by the MDUC blog for some more AMAZING inspiration from this bunch of talented girls - I'm sooo honoured to have "worked" with each and every one this year - as well as the fabulous guest DTs we've had on board!

I'm entering this over at Magnolia-Licious Challenges where they have this wonderful Christmas scene as an inspiration piece - I hope my little cottage fits the bill!

xXx

We're Feeling a Little Chilly!

Like I mentioned yesterday Melbourne has NOT had a terribly warm start to Summer! In fact there is even talk the mountain areas may get SNOW!!! A White Christmas in Australia - who knows when or IF that has ever happened?!?!?!

Anyway - I decided to stamp up Winter Marci from La La Land Crafts as I'm in the mood for rugging up and wrapping my hands around a hot cocoa! I've used some Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage DPs to create the background and a doily to add in some softness. I had made the tiny tags double sided by popping the sentiment on both sides and then glueing them together with the thread in the middle - but I discovered wet stickles on red flowers REALLY messes up computer generated words when they fly up and hit it!!! If you pulled the tags off their dimensionals and turned them over you would see what I mean - LOL.

Remember if you create something with any La-La stamps or digis, please share with us in the customer gallery HERE! Once a month we have a Customer Appreciation Day and one of you will win a prize! And don't forget the LLLC blog is updated daily with DT work to inspire you!

xXx

It's BBQ Time at Just INKlined

It's supposed to be Summer here in Melbourne - but I'm sitting here with it pouring with rain outside and I'm contemplating turning on the heater - it's totally crazy weather here for December! But Summer in Melbourne is usually BBQ time so I thought it the perfect time to colour up this fun image from Just INKlined called "BBQ" - available HERE.

I've used this week's Sketch Saturday sketch #133 to help me with my layout. I've kept it fairly CAS - which is very hard for me to do - but this one is off to a young man who doesn't like too many frills and flowers - LOL. The sentiment is a digi ticket from Bizzy Becs.

And don't forget to pop over to our blog HERE to pick up your limited release freebie.

xXx

Mo's Dream Team Blog Hop

This month our theme for our Mo's Dream Team Blog Hop is "Let it Snow", hosted by the fabulous Peri, who's blog is the starting point HERE. Apologies for the quality of my photos - it's very hard to get a clear shot of a rounded object without light reflecting somewhere!!!

A few weeks ago I found some fabulous little gift ideas at my local KMart - clear plastic "baubles" filled with bottles of lip gloss. They were only $3 and I managed to pop the lip glosses into some gifts because all I really wanted was the plastic case they came in - LOL. As soon as I saw this DT challenge I knew I was going to use one to create a snowy ornament. I used Mo's gorgeous Christmas Fairy Holly - available HERE. I printed her out twice - once in reverse - so I could colour her in and attach her back to back to make the ornament reversable. She's glued in place at her feet and the tip of her longest "wing".  I added some "snow" (glitter and flower soft) to the ornament before I sealed it - and then used some snowflake ribbon to hide the seal. A bow and a couple of glittery plastic snowflakes and she was ready for my tree.

Your next snowy stop on the hop is Heidy's blog - but the full list is below if you get lost along the way - with links in my left sidebar under Mo's logo.

Peri, Debbie, Heidy, Mina, Elaine, Arielle, Lori, Kerttu, Shirly, Jak

xXx

Tickled Pink Stamps 12 Days of Christmas GIVEAWAY

Have you seen over at the Tickled Pink Stamps blog that Kellie is being super generous and having a 12 days of Christmas stamp giveaway? I'm a bit late posting this, so we're into day four already (oops, sorry!!), but it is not to late to enter.... head over to Tickled Pink Stamps NOW to see what you what you have to do to win!!

xXx

My House

I have been such a BAD blogger lately and for that I must apologise. I really miss visiting other blogs but this time of year things just get a little crazy. It's also the end of the school year on Friday as we head into our Summer holidays. It's a big event in my house this year with my son heading off to High School in February. We have class parties and gradution to get through this week! 

I've been missing playing in my craft room too - but I have been getting my home ready for Christmas so thought I'd share a few pictures with you. As it IS Summer here I decided to clean out my fireplace and use it too. Although the weather turned nasty the other day and my hubby mentioned an open fire - grrrrrrr. Several of the pieces in and around the fire were made by yours truly - I think my hubby wonders WHY I keep on making things for Christmas but I just LOVE it!!! Most of these and the 2 wall hangings were made in my life before papercrafting though - LOL. I have other things tucked all over the house - it's a massive job getting the house ready - sometimes I wish it was JUST a tree - oh OK - not really ; )

My present shopping is almost done - most of my cards are on their way and my pantry is starting to fill with all the fixin's for our family dinner. Now just to get all the presents out of their hidey holes and wrapped! Phew - life will start settling a bit now and I hope to pop around some blogs for a visit!

xXx

How Much is that Doggy in the Window?

This week over at La-La Land Crafts we are showcasing the uber cute Tuffy! This little guy often gets overlooked in favour of Marci and Luka, but if you check out the AMAZING creations the LLLC DT have come up with over on the LLLC blog you'll wonder why???? He comes in a set of 4 fabulous poses along with some sentiments and other doggy related images - available HERE.

Now I couldn't decide WHICH Tuffy to use so I masked them all together for a bit of "pet shop" fun. I've always loved the song that inspired my sentiment - especially when I come home and see my own pooch sitting in my front window waiting for me. I used some more of the gorgeous papers Betty from Simply Betty Stamps sent me - they are a mix of 2 brands - My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup (music notes) and Bella Road Everybody Loves Christmas (stripes). 

Remember if you create something with any La-La stamps or digis, please share with us in the customer gallery HERE! Once a month we have a Customer Appreciation Day and one of you will win a prize!

.......NEWS......

If you live in Southern California, here is your chance to meet Irina and Eric Berry from LLLC!! Next weekend they will be in So Cal for not one, but TWO TRUNK SHOWS!!!

(And boy do I wish I was gonna be in the neighbourhood!!!!)

Go and see them at Debra's Cottage in Costa Mesa, CA on Saturday, December 18th, 12 pm to 3 pm. This event is hosted by the amazing Eva, aka StampinEJ!! Then on Sunday, December 19th she will be at Collective Journey in Redlands, CA from 1 pm to 4 pm!!

Your $10 ticket will entitle you to:

- an EXCLUSIVE preview of our NEWEST stamps!!

- Meet both artists (Eric Berry and Irina) and have your stamps autographed!! ;-)

- Make-and-Take projects

- a Goodie Bag with a FREE stamp included!!

- Refreshments

- a chance to win a GRAND PRIZE valued $100

To purchase your tickets for December 18th at Debra's Cottage please call the store at 714-662-5828 or purchase your tickets online, HERE is the link.

To purchase your tickets for December 19th at Collective Journey please call the store at (949) 793-2200. On a personal note this was one of the stores I visited during my trip to LA in September - and it's well worth the visit!!!

xXx

A Shy Little Gal From Mo

I've always loved the innocence Mo Manning captures in her images of children - this little cutie is called "Shy" and is available instore HERE. I used this week's Sketch Saturday sketch for the layout - a good sketch is always a fabulous place to start when you have your image coloured up but your mojo got left behind amongst the Christmas shopping crowds - LOL. I must say it was fun having a break from Christmas cards but I know I'll miss them once Christmas is over!

The DPs are Alphabet Soup by My Minds Eye. My generous blogging friend Betty from Simply Betty Stamps sent me them to play with - along with some other fun papers I haven't seen here in Australia. Betty has the whole range and more in her store HERE - and they are on sale at the moment too!!!

Once again I used my Whiff of Joy banner die and cuttlebug alphas to create my sentiment and glittered them up with some stickles. Some prima blossoms and paper roses finish off the embellishments.

xXx

Tickled Pink Stamps Monthly Challenge #8

OMG I can't believe this is out VERY LAST TPS Monthly Challenge - the blog will be shutting down soon to make way for the NEW and IMPROVED TPS Challenge Blog HERE which will kicking off with our first challenge in January 2011 - but don't forget to check out the AMAZING prizes Kellie has up for grabs before all the challenges begin!!!

Anyhow - onto this month's fabulous sketch - another Boss Lady design! I used the gorgeous Christmas Willow - as well as the Christmas sentiment set and die from Tickled Pink Stamps. This time I inked up the frame and sentiment using versamark so I could emboss them - the frame has a glittery gold embossing powder on and I used a glittery black powder on the words. Some lace, an embossed panel and my Basic Grey Jovial pad finish off the layers. I used my red spica pen on all the red parts of Willow's dress so she has a fabulous seasonal shimmer from the top of her head to the tips of her boots!

We'd love to see you join us for our very last monthly challenge - so pop over HERE and check out what the rest of the DT has done with Kellie's sketch - you can't help but be inspired!!!

xXx

Just INKlined DT Monthly Blog Hop

This month for our Just INKlined DT Blog Hop I'm hosting the hop and I chose the theme "All stitched up" for the gals to create to. They could use faux or real stitching somewhere on their project. I chose this technique because I love to sew but don't often use my sewing machine on my cards and I thought this would get me going! Funnily enough my last card used sewing too!

I used the hilariously fun image "Maude, Merry Christmas" for my card - you gotta love this gal! After all - there aren't many of us with a perfect figure and I for one admire anyone who enjoys being who they are! Maude is available from Just INKlined HERE.

I used gold filament to stitch with and my DPs are from one of my current favourite Christmas paper pads from Basic Grey - the Jovial range. I gave Maude's glasses a Christmas lift with my Spica pen on the frames and some lenses out of crystal effects. I also helped Maude out with a branch of mistletoe cut using my Magnolia die - I hope she can persuade some handsome guy to meet her under it!

Your next stop on the hop is the gorgeous Jak's blog - I have a feeling she's got something special to show us!

In case you get lost along the way the order of the hop is:

Me, Jak, Mina, Peri, Cathy, Joyce, Toni, Karen, Jeni and Lydia

- you can find all of the links to their blogs on my left sidebar under the Just INKlined logo.

And don't forget to check out our DT blog HERE for continuing inspiration from the team and news about new releases etc.

xXx

Magnolia Down Under Challenge #75 - Patchwork

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR MY PINK CHRISTMAS MINI BLOG HOP CARD

This week over at Magnolia Down Under Challenges we have something fun for you to try out - Patchwork!!! One of my other crafting loves is patchwork and quilting - I have soo many fabrics stashed in my craft room that I need to find time to use - this papercrafting gig seems to take up all my time these days - LOL.

I cut 1" squares from 3 different pages from my Basic Grey Jovial paper pad and stuck them to some scrap paper before using a gold thread to stitch the 'seams' in a zig zag. The gold thread adds such a fabulous rich sheen to the whole thing - perfect for some Christmas glitz.  Now I'm REALLY annoyed with myself - these pages have tiny words written on them and I made sure they were all facing the same way - and then after I went and stitched the image background and stuck Tilda down I realised I had it sideways : (

I 'sugared' up the candy cane with some glitter - and did the same with the cuttlebug letters on my WoJ die cut banner. It was really hard NOT to cover up too much of my background with flowers after all my work though - LOL.

Don't forget to pop over to the MDUC blog for some amazing inspiration from the rest of DT gals!

xXx

Pink Christmas Mini Blog Hop

A few of the gals from Tickled Pink Stamps decided to have a little Christmas blog hop just for fun - as well as being a way to wish YOU - our loyal followers - a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and all the best for 2011.

You should have arrived here from the gorgeous Boss Lady's Blog - Kellie is also the starting point so head back there if you need to. It's only a short hop so I hope you take the time to visit all the gals!

I've used the gorgeous Kellita (she holds a special place in my heart) and Christmas Luca to create a romantic Christmas portrait. I have a feeling my daughter has claimed this card to give to her boyfriend - LOL.

DP - Websters

Dies - Nesties Frame and label, Magnolia doohickey poinsettia and mistletoe

Punches - McGill Leaf punch

Now to thank you all for supporting me through this past year - I have a little bit of candy to offer one of you. If  you leave me a comment you have a chance to win a AU$20 gift voucher for the Tickled Pink Stamps Store - one of my favourite places to shop!

EDIT - the winner has been drawn! Congratulations go to #3 Renkata

And don't forget there's a chance to win some amazing TPS stamps over at our new challenge blog HERE , just for becoming a follower and adding your name to the linky.

Now it's time to send you on your way to the fabulous Emma's blog - I'm sure there will be something delicious over there for you!

xXx

Caroling Luka from La La Land Crafts

I just HAD to get this little guy stamped off and coloured up before Christmas came and went - he's just soooo darn CUTE! And doesn't he make you just start humming carols in your head?!?!?! His name is Caroling Luka and you can find him over at La-La Land Crafts HERE. And if you're looking for more fabulous ideas with this guy check out the LLLC DT blog - those gals have some talent and some AMAZING ideas to inspire!

I didn't want poor Luka to look too girly - especially as I used this fabulous Websters Christmas DP with flowers on - so I added in some black elements and a cobweb ribbon. I used some liquid applique to add dimension to the 'fur' on his jacket - but then applied some star dust stickles over it - just to add some Christmas sparkle - I couldn't help myself - LOL. I also 'blinged' up the holly berries on the wreath with some red stickles.

And if you have some LLLC cards made why not link them in our customer gallery HERE for a chance to win a prize!

xXx

It's a La La Land Birthday Blog Hop

Welcome to our LaLa Birthday Party Blog Hop! It was our DT sister Lisa's birthday this week and we're celebrating her with virtual birthday party in the form of a blog hop! Let's play a game called "Lisa's Favorite Things" Some of the DT brought "gifts" to the party (some of Lisa's favorite things!) ... all you have to do is hop to our blogs, leave a comment and collect the "virtual gifts" along the way (write 'em down). At the end of the hop (you'll have til Sunday night), you'll want to email Irina at irina_ca@msn.com with 5 "gifts" that you found on the hop. At the end of the hop, we will have a GIFT for one of you!

This is the fabulous prize pack on offer

Including:

- Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper pad

- Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses layered stickers

- BoBunny Chunky Charms

- Santa Marci

- 2 Digi stamps of winner's choice!

You should have arrived here from the La La Land Crafts Blog which is where all the fun is beginning. There's a full hop list there is you get lost along the way!

I brought Lisa's favorite colour the party - can you guess what it is by looking at my card!??!!? I'll give you a hint - it's MY favourite too. Do you need another hint???? It's....GREEN! I coloured up the gorgeous Marci with Rose in a fabulous shade of Summery green (remember it's Summer where I live and I thought I'd inject a little sunshine into Lisa'a day - LOL). My DP's are from Memory Box - LOVE these papers!

Now off you hop along to Kim's blog next. And don't forget to stop by Lisa's blog too and leave her some birthday greetings =)

xXx

Tickled Pink Stamps SALE TIME!!!

Well I guess this says it all - so make sure you pop over and check out Kellie's AMAZING Christmas sale - HERE.

I also want to take this opportunity to introduce you to the new TICKLED PINK STAMPS CHALLENGE BLOG!!!! We are starting our first challenge on 7th of January 2011. Be sure to mark your calendars, as we'll have lots of inspiration, prizes and FUN.

But for now Kellie's starting with a give away that will be going till 6th January 2011 and the winner/s will be announced on our first challenge. You can check out the prizes and rules on the blog.

xXx