Merry Christmas

Well, my technological problems never did get sorted, so here's hoping Santa brings me a new digital camera - or at least a new battery charger for the old one! Ont he plus side, that means I have a HEAP of projects ready to go in the new year, so I will spend the holiday trying to get it all sorted!!
In the mean time, I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, and a fantastic start to 2009!

grrrr... technology!

ok.. so i didn;t make t back with the reindeer punch card - my camera is just NOT my friend at the moment. I have lost my charger, and other batteries just aren't working! I have a camera I can borrow from tomorrow, so this is just me checking in - coz the NZSUblog makes you feel guilty if you leave it too long without a post!!

the mini is dead.. long live the mini!!

hehe.. ok, so it's more about royalty, but the quote has been going through my head all day!!



The Spring Mini finished yesterday (goodbye Seasons of Joy! I will remember our time together fondly! - and keep all my digits crossed that you come back to me in April!) (OK>> weird drama bit over!!)



BUT today, the summer mini starts, and there are some VERY yummy things in there! I have been playing with my stash a lot these last few weeks, but my camera is still on the blink (Santa, are you listening??) so I will take the stash to work tomorrow, and use one of theirs!!



In the meantime, Stampin' Up (who obviously haven't given us enough awesome deals this year!) have got another promotion running all through December.



There are 12 different products - something for stampers and scrapbookers alike.



Check it out at http://www.stampinup.co.nz/ or email me for more information.

another that is not what it seems

This card is another from pick a petal made to look like something else. This card is perfect for males - uses masculine colours but not too dark and foreboding! (is it just me that finds most masculine cards look really dark and brooding??) CASEd from here almost exactly, but I changed the colours of my base card.

This one I have made up my own patterend paper, using little flower stamps from eastern blooms (from the new summer mini) and short and sweet, in the same colours as I have used on the card, then just cut it into strips to fit my layout. base card is soft sky, with wild wasabi and real red.

CASEd Santa

Here is another card I first saw on splitcoast, and was always planning on using it for my daughter's cards for her friends. Then a few days ago on my upline's blog, I saw it again, and I thought it was about time I got my a into g and made them with Jordan. I just love how cute and simple this card is, and the real red says Santa to me completely! 'Scuse the dark picture!

my christmas presents

I have lots of family in the UK, and it is really hard every year to think of things to buy that a) they don;t have already, b) they can't get themselves cheaper over there and c) that don't cost three times as much to mail as they do to buy!!

So this year, after searchign the internet and stalking a few blogs, I found these awesome desk calendars on Angie Juda's blog. They use a CD case as the holder, and then have 6 double sided sheets for the months. The calendar is printed from a template I got off splitcoast (can't remember where - just search for claendar template! there are hundreds!!) and then I used my SU colour coach to find complimentary colours to use for the back ground and the scallop edge of the feature picture. Real simple, but I think different - and you can personalise it too. you could use photos, or kids drawings or anything really.

Priceless

this is a very cool card with a very unique fold/opening style. I have NO idea what it's called, but here it is!

bonus post!

Ok this is a bonus post coz it needs to go on today for tomorrow.

A friend at work is from the US and as it is Thanksgiving there tomorrow (Thursday) I made her this little acetate gift box with a turkey on the front. Please excuse the terrible pictures - they were taken with my cellphone. The acetate gift box I saw here and the turkey - actually I'm not sure now - I think it might have been Heather Summers - she has a lot of videos on youtube, so check there! She also has an awesome reindeer one that I will be doing in the next couple of days!

So the acetate box uses regular acetate (or OHT, OHP whatever you wanna call it) from Warehouse Stationery, Real Rust Cardstock, eyelets (not SU, coz I have NO CLUE where those have got to - so I raided my daughter's stash!!), and whisper white grosgrain ribbon. The turkey is stick ont o a basic black tag, then made up of scallop circles cut from real red, summer sun and pumpkin pie, with a close to cocoa 1 3/8 inch circle body, and a 1 1/4 face. Googly eyes, summer sun beak and real red dangly bit!!

So cute, so easy and so fun!

So, anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, and for my part, I am so grateful for all the amazing people I have "met" so far through my stamping - you are all an inspiration and please ....when I blatantly copy your stuff without giving you credit, take it as a compliment and let me know I nicked it!! I would love to give credit where it's due!

Gift card holder

This is from understandblue and is almost an exact copy - except different stamps and paper!!

It is a gift card holder that can fit a .... well, a gift card!! Duh!! you know the credit card type ones?? yeah, well, those!

This one used dashing DSP as the tree, and the bird is from live the dream.

another christmas card

OK, don't fall over from shock, but yes, this is a Christmas card with no seasons of joy in sight! Oh, well ok.... the Merry Christmas is Seasons of Joy - but when I made this card, it was the only sentiment I had! This is Lovely as a Tree, and I have not seen a card made with this set that I didn't like. It's gorgeous!

This card is Kraft, and old olive cardstock, with whisper white ink. And the pic doesn't seem to shoe it, but there are dazzling diamonds on the tree.

oops missed one :(

I was going so well!!

Oh, well, back on the horse!! lol

Here is another oldie that we did back in october using big bold birthday.

This uses the in colour card stock. I love those colours! Going to be so sad when they go.

yet another Seasons of Joy

This is another Splitcoast creation. This template is found in the resources section of the site. It's called a free standing pop up card, and is so simple. This one needs a bit more decoration but you ge tthe idea!

SCS sketch challenge

Spiltcoaststampers has daily challenges, and one of them is a sketch challenge - this card uses Big Bold Birthday, and was CASEd (again I'm sorry, I can't remember where from) but I changed the colours around a bit. Isn't this the coolest layout though?? There are flowers in the smaller squares, and it says make a wish in the bottom right hand corner but the ink was not very juicey!

not what it seems!

When you sign up with Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator they give you awesome incentives for selling and recruiting in your first 6 months. These incentives take the form of free stamp sets. (you can earn up to 15 free sets! YES 15!! ask me how!)

This is one of my free sets - it's called pick a petal. And you'd think that would be flowers, right? well it is, but some incredibly talented people (not me!) looked at the petals and decided they could be other things! And this is one of them!



The words are from the level one hostess set "so many sayings". If you haven't seen this set, take another look - it comes as three stamps to be mounted on three blocks, but no one anywhere says that is what you have to do with them! Mine all got cut up (the beauty of being able to mount your own stamps!) and stuck on to lego blocks! So three stamps which were "kind of ok", became 35 stamps that are totally awesome and usable for all sorts of different occasions, without the need for markers and the stamp a ma jig (not that there is anything wrong with using those for sentiments, but sometimes you just want a quickie!) And this was a quickie - hence the smudge! lucky it's just a sample! ;) oh- how slow, I should have said - my ten year old did it! lol

Regional training

yes, I know these are so out of order and so late, but I am posting in the order that the pictures showed up on my computer!

Regional training was held in New Pymouth in September, and we all got a free stamp set - Live your dream. It's in the new summer mini - and we got to play with it :)

Here is the card we made.

It also uses afternoon tea DSP - also in the new mini. These are available from 1 December to 31 March 2009. Let me know if you want to see a catalogue.

by the way - that ribbon does NOT sit like that in real life!! I donlt know WHY it looks like that!! It sits flat to the paper - and this bugs me, because my ribbon normally looks skewiff and weird, but this one turned out ok!! Typical that i can't get it on camera!

20th birthday specials cards

October was the 20th anniversary of Stampin' Up! and we got special discounts on some of the stamp sets. Here are some cards Marjorie (another local demo) and I made using Big Bold Birthday.

New Zealand - obviously!

My sideline Megan first introduced me to these gorgeous little creatures!

They are so easy to make - it's a just a white scallop, and a black or brown 5 petal punch, with white eyes.

This one is on old olive.

Simple - and with just a bit of tweaking, a cute tag for a Christmas present from New Zealand to the other side of the world, I think.

another tart and tangy

This is a CASE from Splitcoast. The original used scrapbook/patterned paper from a LSS, but I wanted it to be as close to tart and tangy as I could, plus I wanted to use SU only, so I created my own DSP.

I used a plain piece of whisper white card, and used the three markers I was using for the citrus stamp colours as my line colours, then literally just drew lines with a ruler using the markers. voila snazzy, easy co-ordinating DSP :) Well, I think I'm clever! lol

more seasons of joy

here's another card we did.

This one is so simple.

River rock and real red cardstock, again with dashing. I'm seeing a pattern!

punch santa

this cute little fella has been doing the rounds of the blogs lately. So simple. I added a little bobble to the bottom of his hat. :)

to see the tutorial, go here

tart and tangy paperclip

we also did a tart and tangy class. I saw this set in splitcoast and was so hoping we would get it, and yay, we did!

this is a bookmark made using a giant paperclip from OfficePlan

long time no post - bad blogger award!

Ok .. in my other life as a school librarian, I check out lots of blogs on children's literature, and book reviews and stuff like that (no, seriously, it's work related!) Anyway... there is a comment challenge going on, and a daily post challenge also so I decided seeign as I don't have a book review blog, this was the next best thing! In fact, it was the better than best thing! So, I am going to post every day for the rest of November - at least! Longer hopefully!! So, for my first post....

I held some classes last weekend with another local demo, and while not many people came, we had lots of fun.

One of the classes was using Saesons of Joy - I LOVE this set!! It;s in the spring mini, which ends on 30th of this month - no guarantees it will be back! So if you want it, drop me a line.

So, here's a pic of one of the projects

It uses old olive and real red cardstock with dashing designer paper. totally CASEd. I think it's an Angie Juda one but not 100%.

$2 cards

So, Marjorie and I held a $2 cards event on Sunday, and met some very cool ladies - two of whom come from South America, and so spent considerable time teaching my daughter Spanish! She can now hold a fluent conversation, as long as you are in a rubber stamping shop ;) lol
Here are some of the cards we made ..
ok compter not playing the game.
Will get them up soon :)

Seasons of joy

This is my favourite set at the moment (ok I say that A LOT!! but in my defence, I just CAN'T choose!!) It is so versatile and lovely :)

Here's a couple of pics of cards I have made lately. They are all CASE'd (some pretty much exactly) but I swapped computers about a month ago, and I lost all my computer back ups, just had my hard copies. So, if it's yours, please let me know so I can link you in :)

So, because I love it so much, another demo and I are going to be running a class using this set - showing 6 projects that can be made - not jujst Christmas ones either.

It will be on the 8th November from 1 til 4.

Email me for more details

play time!

Ok, so i have had lots of time to play lately!

I spent last weekend up in New Plymouth at the Regional Seminar, and then ended up playing until late at night and started again early the next morning! That's the beauty of going away without your kids!!

So, my camera batteries are flat, so i can't show you the gorgeous stuff we made but I can show you some of the bits I have done in the days before I went.

This is a blatant CASE from another demo here who doesn't have a blog, so I will claim it for my own just for now!! :) It uses scribble this and wild wasabi and purely pomegranate - I LOVE those colours! The two are exactly the same except the colours are reversed.

This is one my daughter did while I was busy :) She LOVES pink!! She used Loads of Love, and a sketch from SCS. Im pretty impressed actually! I helped with layout - but she probably would have done a better job alone!! Straight lines are NOT my forte!

TFL!

Happy Stampin'

Jenny

Happy Birthday Stampin' Up!

Well, it's Stampin' Up!'s 20th Birthday this month, and WE are the ones who get the presents!! Yay!!

For the whole of October, spend $20 on regular catalogue merchandise, and you can buy the following sets for 20% off! And yes, you can buy them all! There is no limit - how cool is that??

page set regular 20% off
37 Big Bold Birthday $63.95 $51.16
38 Pretty Princess $53.95 $43.16
51 Birthday Best $29.95 $23.96
55 Crab & Company $62.95 $50.36
118 Short & Sweet $35.95 $28.76

(yes, ok! I couldn't work out how to get the link in!! I'm still learning!)

I am getting together with another local demonstrator to bring you soe ideas with one of these sets. On Sunday 19th October join us to make 6 projects using the Big Bold Birthday set, for only $15. If you buy a stamp set on or before the class, we will discount your class to only $5!! So tha's 6 projects for $5!! And a stamp set for 20% off*. Venue to be determined, but it is from 1-4pm on Sunday October 19th. Call or email me for more information!





*20% off if you purchase $20 or more in the same order.

shoes shoes and more shoes!

Ok, so after making my shoes from the other day, I was blurfing, and on Trudi's blog, came across a baby booty, and I just couldn't resist! How gorgeous is this?? The pattern is here. It's pretty fiddly, but easy to do. I have a friend who is pregnant with a boy right now, so will fill it with goodies and leave it on her desk :) (and by "fill" I mean pop maybe two chocolates in it!! It's not big!! lol)

uses DSP from brilliant blue pack.

woah, two in one day!!

I know I know!!
How slack am I??
Extremely would be the answer to that!
However - i have an excuse! (no, really I do!)
I have been trying to work out how to put Stampin' Up stuff on here. I still need to work on it, but I kinda found a way to do it.
So here, only two weeks later than everyone else (!!) is the September special.

Free Wheelin'

Purchase any of the following stamp sets, and receive the co-ordinating Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel for free! Yes FREE!!!! And there are no limits! You can have one of each!

Merry, Merry Bundle (includes Merry, Merry stamp set and All about Christmas jumbo wheel)
$53.95

Artfully Asian Bundle (includes Artfully Asian stamp set and Watercolor Vine jumbo wheel)
$53.95

Nursery Necessities Bundle (includes Nursery Necessities stamp set and Nursery Letters jumbo wheel)
$66.95

Bodacious Bouquet Bundle (includes Bodacious Bouquet stamp set and Bodacious jumbo wheel)
$68.95

Carte Postale Bundle (includes Carte Postale stamp set and Leaves à la Carte jumbo wheel)
$57.95

Priceless Bundle (includes Priceless stamp set and So Swirly jumbo wheel)
$57.95

How cool is that?? So if you want one (or all!!) drop me a line :)

the latest craze...

Ok, you have probably seen these elsewhere, but they are just SOOO adorable.

These shoes are made out of one sheet on A4 paper, and so simple to make. Simply cut around the template and score the other lines, and stick together. Ta da! One amazingly cute gift for anyone you like :) Just add chocolate or other bits.

my picture is not the best, but they are hard to photograph!

supplies used:
Summer Picnic DSP
gold brads

swap cards

In one of my first posts, I told you about a swap I was doing - the biggest swap ever - all international - and I got my two swaps from the Netherlands the other day :) The theme was summer or flowers, and I think these two cards are very summery in flavour :)

These cards are from two very talented ladies.

This one is from Margot Zwegers in the the south of the Netherlands. Thanks Margot - I love orange and green together :) Sounds like such an odd combination, but looks so good :)

And this one is from Inge Groot, who I am sooooo jealous of!! Look at that colouring!! It's amazing!! And I love Matilda's. They are so girly :) Unlike me!!

second time lucky!

Ok, so my first "thanks a latte" card was not exactly how I wanted it to be. Luckily, the other day I had the perfect opportunity to have another go!

I work in a primary school, and part of my job is to keep the staff room stocked with milk, tea, coffee etc. (really important job - have you SEEN a primary school teacher who hasn't had her morning coffee??? Not a pretty sight!) So, anyway, this particular day, HORROR!!!! No coffee!!!! So we had to run over to the kindy next door and grab some of theirs (phew! thank goodness kindy teachers aren't so dependent on their caffeine - must be coz they get to play with playdough all day!! Who needs caffeine when you can pound your frustrations out??)

So, anyway, as a thank you, when I reapklced their coffee, I made this card. And I think it's a lot better than my first effort! (Sorry Sonia!! I'll make you another one day!)

So, still simple, coz that's how I like 'em, but a major improvement!

woah.. time flies!

Well, my kit arrived, and I dived straight in.. and now I need to place another order!! Coz I've used all my paper, and I've realised I really *must* have this .. and that....ooh and one of those too.. and seeing as I'm getting that, I might as well get one of those because it matches!

I have a couple of bookings for workshops and I am soooooo nervous!! As I've said before, I'm not creative, and these ladies are so crafty, and have been stamping for years - they should probably be demo'ing to me! But my upline (Hi Sharlene!!) told me to keep it simple, so that's the plan!! :) I tend to overanalyse things!!!

But in the meantime, I have been cruising around Splitcoaststampers (what do you mean what's that??? Where have you been??? Go immediately and check it out!! don't forget to come back tho!!) and have ahd my fingers crossed for weeks that some of the stamps in the mini catalgue in the US will be in ours, and it arrived today, and I am glad!! Can't tell ya much (or anything in fact!!) but I am a very happy chicky!! (My bank account might not be so pleased!)

So.. no pics today, but just a check in and a drive on!

SU! Demo

OK. So I did it - I signed up with SU! And I am so excited, and can't wait to get started. Why? (well I know you know why - coz the products are so fantastic and amazing and beautiful etc etc!!) but no, there is another reason! I am NOT at all creative. You will be hard pushed to find an original card made by me that I haven't CASE'd from someone somewhere. But that is the beauty of SU! You don't have to rely on your own creativity, because it is all done for you! The catalogue has lots of ideas, the website has more, the Demo part of the wesbite has idea sheets and then of course there is the incomparable SCS - with resources like these, my workshops will last for years without a double up!! On top of that, because the stamps come in sets, they easy to create with :) I also think (hope!) that this will be a major selling point for me with my customers - If I can do it, so can you!!
So now I just have to wait for my kit (Please Mr Postman - hurry up!!!)

hmm... second thoughts

You know that feeling you get when you KNOW you could have done better, but you are SO over it you just shove it in the envelope and move on? Well, that is how I feel about that last card. I love the stamps, I love the colours, but it is so wrong on so many levels :) But I was in a major hurry, (like 5 minutes!! - yeah, i know all you seasoned stampers could get 5 or 6 cards done in that time! - it takes me that long to fold the cardstock!!)

So anyway, I decided to ease my suffering and went to SCS so that next time I will have a layout up my sleeve for a quickie :)

This one however, I have no such thoughts about :) I love it! I know it is simple, and for that reason some people will dismiss it, but I like simple. I went to a stamp camp here hosted by Stamp Effects from Auckland, and we did 20 cards in a day. This was my favourite by far. I will post the others on different posts later on :) I can't give the recipe coz everything was supplied by them.

And another...

While I'm on a roll....

It's a bit blurry, but this card idea I got from a blog I visited, and I thought I had it saved but my favourites obviously aren't as well-labelled as I thought! So I am very sorry to the person whose idea I used but I loved it! Her card was way better too but my paper supply was limited!!

When I find it again, I will post here whose it is :)

Stamps: Thanks a Latte from MFT

Card: generic

Coloured using watercolour pencils

brads

Finally a card - i hope!

Ok ..... finally I think I have it.

Here is a picture of a card I did for a colleague who finished her degree last year, but graduation isn't until May (weird, I know!). Actually, this isn't it. Hers had red accents, but my camera wasn't being very nice that day, so this one is one I was asked to do for the niece of another colleague who saw that first one, and wanted it too!! The layout for this kind of came from the very talented Dorothy who takes the cardmaking classes at my LSS. Hers was a wedding card with lace and all sorts all over it (she is very into lace!) but I'm not, so mine is very plain. I still giggle at my little pun though "Con-GRAD-ulations" !! Well, my ten year old thought it was hilarious! Most people just think it's cute - which of course it is :)

Recipe:
Stamps: Diplomabella from Stampingbella
Card: generic
Sentiment: computer generated (font is Kristen)

One week later....

Well, here I am again, one week later, and I am still trying to get my head around this blogging thing.
I now have stuff to share, and places to link to and pictures to put up, and I have no idea how to do it!!

So.... today's sharing, is a swap I signed up for on this blog that I can't link, but I can copy and paste - haha!!
http://first-swap-blog.blogspot.com/
so this is Karin's blog, and she is in the Netherlands and wants to set up the biggest swap ever, with people from ALL over the world.

And I know no one knows about my blog yet, so the chances of me getting anyone else to go there are pretty slim - but in the future when people DO read me, they will know where it came from :)

Ok, so I chickened out tonight, and copied and pasted, but - later in the week, I will try and post a picture!! Woohoo - exciting stuff! Stay tuned :)

Jen

First Post :)

Well hello everyone!! (or no one at this point in time!)

I have been toying with the idea of a blog, and of becoming a Stampin Up demonstrator, and so I finally decided what the hey! In the immortal words of Nike "Just DO It!!" So I did!!
And this is the result: Stampin by the seat of my pants!
Why that name? Well, I am pretty new to the stamping world, and am pretty much learning on the hop, or flying by the seat of my pants as it were - so hence my blog name! :)
I hope to get photos up here soon of the stuff I am doing, and will apologise now and in advance because (as newbies often do!!) I CASE a lot of stuff, and so if you see your work up here, and I haven't given your name or your blog address, PLEASE don't be offended. It just means I found your lovely work before I had a place to link to, and you are currently in my "must copy this it's gorgeous!" folder, and I am very new to blogging and have NO CLUE as to how to link. So if you do see and recognise your stuff, let me know, and I will (TRY!!) and link you :)

So.. here's to a long and happy and stampin; future for me and my blog, and I look forward to sharing my creations and CASEments with you all :)

Arohanui

Jenny