Co-ordinating Our Christmas

For my colour theme this year I was going for the peacock colours... I like to make sure that everything coordinates!!! So I went all out.. This was our Tree with all the pressies under it..

Then I had to make Tags to put on the pressies.. Like this one.... My writing is not too good but the tag is nice…. this is a resist technique on white glossy card stock... I used my Brayer and some Ink refills on a wet one... I will have to do a tute to help people understand how I did it... It's hard to explain…I made our Christmas cards 3 or so days before Christmas this year.. I really was not organised... It seemed that everything was happening all at once… Chaos all around!!! ... I only made a few this year... The snow in the background is our glue pen & Dazling Diamonds glitter sprinkled on.

On Christmas Eve (day) I went to Liz's.. Our kids played while we had some grown up time to 'Play'... we made some cute boxes to put under the tree for each family member... Of course I had to make it all match.. So this is what I came up with.. I really loved it.. It was very fussy-la-la... but so worth it.... I would never make lots of these for a wedding or something... arghh.. think the design would have to be much more simple to mass produce!!!

I use the new chunky glitter in the Spring Mini Catalogue.. And some rhinestone brads from the round ice collection in our 08-09 Idea Cat....

Kids Punching Out the Christmas Crafts

My boys were playing with me in the shed over Christmas.. I gave them the punches and they had a blast... then my 6 year old got really creative.... He looked at our tag punch and said that it looked like a body.. so he set out to make a person.... Then they coloured it in like Elves and Santa.. and a Snow man too!!!

I was so impressed that I thought that I would make a copy of one of the designs out of Stampin' UP! card stock etc... How cool is this??? Heheheh...

Organisation

I have been busy over the last month trying to organise my Shed along with Christmas etc!!... I've been trying to make all of my ribbons and punches and Stamp sets more accessible to me while I am crafting on my table...
Oh do I love my new organised... set up!!!!

I love Council Collections... When people in your neighbourhood put their discarded things out for the collection.... Talk about "one mans TRASH being another's TREASURE" I picked this 'home made' spice rack up from a Neighbours... How PERFECT is it??? My Punches sit on the lip and I can see them all perfectly!!! Yeah...

This is a great way to store all your Stampin' UP! stamp sets.... I can read them all and just lean back on my chair to grab another set.. (only don't tell my children I swing on the chair...hehehe else I will never be able to stop them from doing it!)

I picked up this peg board form a girlfriend who was redecorating her office... I thought ... well it may come in handy one day.. not sure what for but I will take it... So far it has been great I have made many display boards from it and now I have a great small ribbon storage area in a otherwise quite useless little space.... I bought some metal tray baskets from Bunnings Hardware and hung them on the board.. They lean forward so you can get to the ribbons really easily.... Oh yeah you can see my witches broom on the side too.. I parked it there for the day.. hehehe...I needed another space for ribbons as well... because I have my ribbons from Stampin' Up! and Ribbons from floral arranging and Ribbons coming out of the wahzoo!!! So on the side of the shelving unit I rigged up another slightly bigger storage unit.. This one has the 2 lengths of wood with long screws at intervals to hold each wire basket... The wire baskets were $3 or $4 each and the wood was $2.... so it is really affordable... Couple of zip ties makes the extension detachable if I decide it would be no longer needed in the future...

As you can see I need another row.. Next time I am at Bunnings I will purchase another tray...

With each improvement it makes creating so much more pleasurable!!! If you have any ideas please let me know or send me a photo of how you organise your creative space..... I would love to post it on here...

Happy New Year!!!! Jan 2009 Newsletter

To all of you!!!! I hope you had a Wonderful Christmas break and that you didn’t party too hard to as you saw the New Year in….
My goal is to be a little more organised this year… I will endeavor to have at least 4 newsletters this year… this being my
first!! Firstly I wanted to remind you all about January… Wahoo!!!!! Good stuff happening…

Sale-a-Bration!
1st January – 28th February 2009
Sale-A-Bration… Stampin Up’s favourite time of the year! During Sale-A-Bration customers, hostesses, and recruits can earn free stamp sets…and this year they are just beautiful. I’ve attached the brochure of free stamps (PDF format) for you to drool over!!! Heheheh.
The best part is… the sets offered during Sale-A-Bration are exclusive to this time only… they will NOT appear in upcoming catalogues, so that makes them very special, this is your only time ever to own one of the sets available, how exciting!

Customers can select any one of the sets in the Sale-A-Bration brochure free with a purchase of $100. There’s no limit – for every $100 you spend, you can choose a free Sale-A-Bration set! Don’t miss the opportunity to own these exclusive sets!
Hostesses, when you host a workshop of at least $600, you will receive a free Sale-A-Bration set in addition to the already generous hostess benefits! Ask me to book a date in for you to invite some friends around to your place, to make a card or scrap page, and take advantage of this great time of year with Stampin Up and Sale-A-Brate!
Recruits, join Stampin Up during this promotional period and you will earn yourself FREE any stamp set of your choice up to the value of $79.95 from the 2008-2009 Idea Book & Catalogue.

What a great time to become a demonstrator, or simply to take advantage for yourself of Stampin Up’s great products at a discounted price! Please ask me if you would like to know more.

Ok Time to announce the Workshops that I have planed so far for 2009!!!
But be sure to keep popping back here just in case I Plan more activities and neglect to inform everyone..… Or ring me… or email me… If there is something that you would love to learn let me know and I will plan a class around YOU!!

Sat …. 31st January …1pm…. Birthday Bash. We will be making 6 cards and a Lovely paper bag organiser to file all your Years Birthday cards in… Say it With Scallops stamp set (pg 16 in Summer Mini Catalogue$31.95) will be included in the price of the class. As well as all the Card and paper bag file instructions…. so you can go home and mass produce the years birthday cards and have a great time making presents for Christmas this year with the File for your friends… So you will all be prepared and organised!! (price to be finalised approx $40 to $45ish)
Sat… 7th March first session …. Techniques class Come along and learn some techniques… we will be making little ring bound reference cards to help you remember the techniques.. I will offer this one 3 times next year and each time we will be doing 10 reference cards.. so by the end of the year you will have 30 cards to jog your memory and instruct you how to use these skills and techniques you learn…
Sat… 23rd May 2nd Session …. Techniques class (refer above…)
Sat….18th July….Christmas in July… It just wouldn’t be right without the Christmas in July….
Sat… 5th September 3rd Session …. Techniques class

I have so many others being formed in my mind!!! It’s all a little Crazy!!!

October November… register your interest in our BIG Paper Angels Christmas Card Workshop!!!!
If you missed attending our fabulous Christmas Card work shop.. get in early next year and register your interest… When we receive the new 09-10 Ideas Catalogue we will be selecting the Christmas set right away and we will be letting you know which set so that you can reserve purchasing it till the Christmas Workshop… Great idea hey???

As you may know in 2009 I will be attempting to make my own U Tube tutorials… My plan is to have them out there for you to access…I’ll post links on this Blog … And if you would like to have a disk so you don’t have to download them every time you want to refer back to them I will be making some available for purchase… on the disk will also be Printable instructions… So if you would like to have a hard copy that option will be available too. I will be doing short “tips” and “how to” instructions…
(I filmed my first demo tute last month.. and I think it went well now I just have to learn how to edit it and post it on U Tube… and to link it on here!!! ;)

Please Take Care and be safe!!! Call me to register your interest in this years classes… Looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Love Ursula

Chocky Purse... & Raindear Candy Cane

I thought this was a great idea...I searched everywhere for a rectangular individually wrapped chocolate!!! It was a labor of love!!! but eventually Aldies came to the rescue for Christmas... yeah!!!....

So it was made with a 11.5cm x 4.25cm strip of cardboard... then I scored it at 2.5, 2, 2.5, and 2cm intervals... punched holes in the top and tied a ribbon through... then i could slip the chockie in... It fitted really nicely... I wanted to give a candy cane with them and I discovered that there was enough room to add my cute Reindeer Candy Canes.... yeah.. how perfect!!! I mass produced these to give to all our Paper Angels Team that came to our last 2008 meeting of the year...

Merry Christmas!!!

(Perhaps this will be the boys pressie for their friends next year!!! If I can find the chockies again!!!)

Bag-A-Lope...

Made with an envelope.. Love these ones.. they make wrapping your pressies so personal!!! And now that I have the scallop punch.. watch out world!!! Love this tool!!!

It really is nice to personalise the wrapping... No one will ever get a pressie like this... So simple.. you can bang one of these out in about 5 to 10 mins... and how effective is it???

I love it... Dressed for success!!! let's hope the inside is as impressive as the outside!!! heheh

Kids Chrissy Cards

The boys wanted to make some Christmas cards to give to their friends with a candy cane this year... so we modified a design that Liz made a little while ago so it fitted with the little candy canes we bought....

So easy!!! The boys could do it without any trouble... I did have to stick them on.... as that part was a little fiddly... We did it as a family project... because we figured that doing 25 each the boys would lose interest... They wrote on the back of them their friends names and signed them...

The Challenge..... To make jewellery out of Stampin' Up! Products... I'll take it!!!!!!!

Yes it was given to me a month or so ago... And I am sad to report that I have not been prompt in rising to the challenge... However... I went to Liz's during this week and she had been over to her friend who makes beads.. (very talented lady!!! ^-^ I so want to make stuff with her!!!) Anyway Liz told her of her Challenge and Olgar made a WONDERFUL necklace and lovely key ring... I told Liz that I was inspired and felt that I should whip my BUTT into shape by meeting the challenge... so I would go home and make a necklace of my own!!!

And that I did.. Like a woman possessed!!!! I stayed up till 1am in the morning.... I got blisters from beading.. I wrapped all the beads!!! and made them all individual... then I used the Designer Label punch on some small Black and White photos I had of my 2 boys and punched out some OHT to cover and protect the photos.. then I glued the Hodge Podge together (using 5 min Araldite.... If you try this DO NOT use superglue... it's vapers will cloud the metal and the plastic!!!) and joined it with a jump ring to the chain on the necklace.... Can you believe it looks sooooooooo good!!! I love it!!! And I have been wanting to make a black and white necklace for sooo long!!! I wore it to the Craft Showcase on the weekend and I got so many compliments.. Quite a few ladies who knew about Stampin' UP! commented on it too.. and thought it was such a lovely idea... Yeah again for Liz... Challenges.. and Inspiration... AND GREAT FRIENDS!!!

(This photo is not the best... I will take another when the sun is shining again.. come back in a couple of days to check on it)

Now you really know you are obsessed with stamping when you start wearing your paper crafts!!! hehehe...

One side has Ethan-----------------------and the other has Izra

Jar Decorating

I have been looking at the catalogue for ages now and admiring the lovely stamp Jar that is pictured on page 109 of our Aust/NS 07/08 Ideas Catalogue... And wondering what can I make up to warrant owing and decorating a lovely jar that way...??? Well I was over Liz's the other day and she has a jar with stamps that she has saved (form retired sets) that mean something.... like a set of wings.. (paper angels) another one that we use for the Think Pink fund raisers we have participated in.. It's a pic of a Bra.. and says 'thanks for your support'.. so I thought well there is my reason.. I will do a jar with stamps.. I want to be like Liz!!! hehe.. So I have started my collection... It has one lonely stamp so far... time will only make less room for more!!! (does that even make sense???)
As you can see I took my inspiration from page 109!!!! Love the "Ideas" Catalogue...

Also I was thinking that this would be yet another great pressie for people... The Jar I got from the bargain shop.. bout $6 I think.. and then you could make it like a "choc cake in a jar' pressie.. where you put all the dry ingredients in and put instructions to add wet stuff and bake for temp and time... you could even go all out and spend another 40cents on a wooden spoon and tie it on with ribbon... too cute!!!

Christmas Card Peg Sets

I whipped these up for the showcase I was doing on the weekend... I thought that a set would be nice for a simple present.. You really can go all out with Paper Crafts!! Deck the House out with bells and Holly... hehehe...

Babies Card using Punches

I have been looking at our punches in a totally different way these days.. It all started with the dream about the Christmas "Babies First" decoration... (Link http://stampinwithu.blogspot.com/2008/10/3rd-annual-paper-angels-christmas-card.html)
So this is what I have come up with to use it on a card.... Again using the punches....

The bib is made out of the Scallop Circle punch .. with a pleat and chopped with the Oval Punch to make the neck shape... I didn't want the 'happy' on the New BABY stamp so I inked up the BABY with my Stampin' Write Markers and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to make the new in the center...

Peg Paper Clips

I thought this would be a great idea for Christmas card lines.. You know when people send you one and you want to look popular.. so you hang them on a line in the lounge room for everyone to see.... (Don't worry I am soooooooooo guilty of wanting to look Popular!!!)

You could also put a magnet on the back to use it as a note holder for the fridge... SOOOOOOOOOOO easy that my 6 year old can make it!!!!!!!!

All you need is scrap decorative paper... snail runner.. Scallop Circle Punch... Left over ribbon... White card stock to stamp image on and wahoo!!! More inexpensive gift or ideas... I am just soooooooo full of it!!! opps them I mean... hehe.. My bad...

Small Note Pads

Again inspired by watching a tutorial on You Tube.... But I changed it up to suit what I had at home..

Years ago my Husband worked for a printer... so he would bring me home all sorts of goodies that they would through out... I have a pile of thick cardboard.. that was used to package the BULK orders of paper at the printers... (Did you know paper arrives at the printers in 1000mm x 765mm or some crazy measurement like that...!!!) So anyway I had this card board form that... I had them cut into coaster size... for something... didn't know what exactly at the time.. but I have been saving it for years... and guess what..???? It finally came in handy... who says hording is BAD???? It saved money!!! And I was able to use a whole bunch of left over papers to cover the board... I picked up 25 clips form the bargain shop for $2... And I used off cuts of ribbon.. again saved for something... Frugality comes in handy... I used my Tag punch... and wallah!!! Another lovely inexpensive pressie for people...

I mass produce some.... for a Craft Show case I am doing on the 14th and 15th of November... If there are any left you can buy them form me!!! ;)

If you would like them to be note pads that you can stick on the fridge you can stick a magnet on the back, and tie a pencil covered in the same paper... now wouldn't that be nice?!!

Cardboard Box Gift Bags

I was watching a tutorial on You Tube last week and loved this idea... It was different measurements and didn't have a handle on it... but I loved it so much I thought I would go to my Art Studio (Shed) and create... I wanted to give a few friends a little something to let them know I was thinking of them.. They are going through tough times... so i put some Bananas in side.. and when I presented them to my friends.. I said... "When you are going Bananas remember you have a friend!"....Not only was it fun and easy to create but also nice again to have a purpose to give it away to someone and make them feel special!!

Ok so the secret is... Card stock... 2 x A5 size.. score down 3 sides @ 3cm... and sticking together is a little difficult to describe.. so I will do some instructions with pictures.. maybe my first video tutorial... wahoo!!

Candles make great pressies

If you what something cheep but nice to give to someone... I'm thinking school teachers... You can always get a nice candle.. from the bargain shop... and decorate it... with these ones i have used the 5-Petal Flower punch and the small flower from the Spring Flower Bouquet punch and layered them so they looked like water lilies.. Inspired by Orelle from Bec's Team!! Thanks!!! And i tied a ribbon around just to give it something else to stick to... simple and easy...

Close Up...

I also decorated these glass cup candles... they would make a lovely gift! A nice set...

Close Up.....

The Cent Auction...

There were 14 prizes!!! With 80 Ladies at Carina we raised over $700 in the auction alone.. What a wonderful day!!! Who wouldn't want to win one of these???? I so wanted to win one... But alas we as demonstrators are not allowed to enter... oh well...

The first picture is of the top 3 prizes.... they were HUGE!!!















This is the awesome sight of the all the 14 prizes lined up... in the cent auction














And the winners are these lovely ladies!! yeah... Well done.. the lady on the right is one of my customers.. yeah.. Well done Jodie!!!! Score!!! I'm so coming to your house to use your stuff!!! hehehe...

Christmas Card Table Decorations

These are some photos of the lovely decorations that some of our demonstrators made for the day... We really do have a talented bunch of women... (and one man now).

3rd Annual Paper Angels Christmas Card Workshop 2008

It was such a great success!!! Thanks to all those who came!!! We had a wonderful day.. And thanks to the fact that we are into our 3rd one we (Paper Angels) have so much more sorted out!!! The normal stress that comes along with such a HUGE event was like not even there!!! can you believe it??? It felt weird at the end of the day.. We had some free time at the end and we cleaned up so quickly... and there was no scuffling demonstrators trying to find lost stamp pad or stamp sets... It was WEIRD!!! Something was wrong.. But everything was perfect!!!! ARHHHH (*sigh*)... Next years one will be A...May....Zing!!!! We will be letting everyone know next year which stamp set will be chosen as soon as we get the New 09-10 Ideas Catalogue!!! and preparations will begin right away!!! With over 200 ladies attending this years event.. We are sure we will grow next year and we will definitely need to outsource a lot more... Now we have the plans in place we are soooooooo much more organised... I am sure this year we will raise at least $3000!!! What a wonderful contribution!!! How beautiful is it to be able to support such a worthy cause!! The Marter Mothers Bereavement Program!! I was honored to tell the ladies a little about the cause.. And I couldn't help but get a emotional... It is such a marvolous honor to be a woman in this day and age... to be able to support other women and their families in such a special way... What a blessing it is for US as Paper Angels to be able to help in this very small physical (for us) but Huge, emotional and spiritual journy for all concerned.... We are blessed to have stumbled upon this cause and been able to raise funds in such a unique way... I am sure it is all in the Plan.... We are the "Paper Angels".... And we are supporting thes beatuiful little baby 'Angels'.....

We know not why the Lord takes these baby's home to his arms..... but we know that their existence impacts our life journey immensely!! Their tiny feet WILL leave a mark on every ones heart!!! God Bless them.. And their families!!! And the staff that assist at this tender moment in time!!

We were asked if we had time to make some decorations for our little Chrissy trees that were to go in the centre of the tables... I took some photos of them... This was mine... I had so much fun making these.. I love to be challenged.. If anyone wants to do some decos for their trees let me know.. I could run a class!!!

Close up's of Individual decorations .....

This one here ('Baby's First) I dreamed about.. Talk about psycho!!! and obsessed!!! I woke in the morning and had to venture down to the art studio to make it.. I created the Dummy with our punches.. using the lg and small Oval, the Word Window & the 1/2" Circle punches... I didn’t have any number stamps so what I did was used the O & B from my Rough Edges Mini Alphabet... I masked the B's straight edge and turned it around and masked it again to get the 8 look....

This has to be my FAV!!!! I love the BLING!!! I used my Crystal Effects and sprinkling some chunky silver glitter on it... then I used some silver eyelets to put the beads on the bottom with thin silver cord... I threaded on one side of the beads then put it through the eyelet and threaded some more beads on so that when I tied the ribbon on it made the tassel nice and neat... no knots... you can use our Pretties Kit beads to do this exact design!!!

This one I stamped the background with my Paisley background stamp.. then I used Sticky Strip with some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter... and lastly some more blingage by using our Rhinestone Brads... I also tied some ribbon around the silver string to add a little more to the top... This was really simple.. Kids could do it!!! Great Chrissie decoration for school projects.. If my kids bought this one home for our Chrissie tree I would put it up.. even if it did not go with my colour theme that year!!!

I wrapped this polystyrene ball with some thick Grosgrain ribbon... by cutting it in 5 strips that were just long enough to overlap I pinned it down with tiny tacking pins to one end.. then I fanned them out starting with the one that was closest to the ball and pinned it down on the bottom... I then stamped the flowers and cut them out and used a pretty little sequin flower and a seed bead with the tacking pins to pierced the ball.. behind I uses a little clear nail polish to make sure it stays in place... I also used our Rhinestone Brads to add a littlemore blingage...

This one was REALLY REALLY Simple... using Crystal Effects again I drew the lines making sure they fanned out from the top and bottom.. to give the impression that the ball is 3D... and then I stuck some of the half pearls form my Pretties Kit on with Glue Dots... How easy?!!! I didn't have any ribbon to match so I just used my Tempting Turquoise ink spot to colour my white grosgrain ribbon.. This is done by turning the ink spot upside down and placing the ribbon on some plastic and pulling the ribbon to get the colour on it... Then you have to hang it for a while to dry...

TIP:- if you would like to keep the ends of your ribbon always looking nice paint them with some clear nail polish... and to keep the knots together again paint with clear nail polish!!! I picked this up from somewhere.. I can't remember where so "Thank You" to someone else for sharing that little bit of knowledge with me!!!

Thank You Card - From Us ALL!!

I made this card for someone at church for at least 25 people to sign.. The lady that I made it for is very sentimental... She loves to hang on to things.. Sooooo... I thought that if I made the card a normal size but put it together like a booklet she would be able to hang onto it a little more easily.. I had a lovely time making it!!! It really wasn't that hard when I got into it... I stamped all the images with Versamark and coloured them with Chalks... I gave it the antique look by rubbing a stamping spot around the edges... I tore out all the sections for people to write their messages on, and sign...I used some nice words and phrases to make more accents... And I used the oval punches to make other embellishments... I also used my Crop-A-dile... (Cropping tool with a dile to make holes exactly the same distance in) It's new (to me).. And I love it!!! It cuts through tin and thick card so easy!!! I cut at least 4 cards at once...

As you can see here I made the front of the card very 3D... by using Dimentionals.. either single or double layered... then I bent the ferns to give them the 3D look as well...

Here are pictures of what the inside of each page looks like... As I said.. I was really happy with the results!!! I may even do it again!

Storage Inspiration

One of our Paper Angels Team sent me this email the other day... It is lovely to get feed back... And great to see what your ideas inspire in others!!! Well Done Leonie!!! And Thank You!!!

Opps i accidentally deleted the photo.. will get it back sorry

"Hi Ursula,
I was reading your blog and saw your idea about using the colours from the old catalogue to help organise your stuff. I loved the idea... what a fantastic way of being organised. So you inspired me to organise my card stock using the same idea. I was up late cutting out the tabs... and this was the result. I'm very happy. Thanks you so much for your great idea!Leonie"

Now I was wondering what the little stamp was that Leonie had used on the tabs in front of the colour swatches.. but then I discovered as i zoomed in... that it was letters.. hehe.. "BB" for Bold Brights etc... Dats cool!!!

Paper Angels 3rd Christmas Card Workshop

Double Click on image to read more clearly the details... Be sure to book ASAP.. as it is filling up.. Carina is already FULL!!!


MORE FABULOUS THINGS- to look forward to on the day...

Wonderful raffle prizes, including hundreds of dollars worth of wonderful Stampin’ Up! Product – 100% of all these proceeds will support our charity.

Customer Card Competition – Bring along a stash of your favourite cards that you have made and for $1 per card entry you are invited to share them with other card enthusiasts. 1st prize is a hamper of Stampin’ Up! Products – 100% of all these proceeds will support our charity.

Learn new designs and techniques, whilst enjoying the company of friends.

Some of our venues operate well-catered bistros, which will be available for you to purchase lunch. How about “An Island Escape” to Macleay Island with the opportunity to dine at The Blue Parrot Cafe as featured on the Great South East – all food venues and the hall are easy walking distance from the water taxi, there is also the option to BYO lunch and have it on the beach.
The Paddington venue is BYO lunch.

Displays will be available to photograph, including great home décor and Scrapbooking projects.

We will also display the memorabilia that we are creating to support the Mater Mothers’ Bereavement Program and if you are a speedy card maker, we will have a DIY station set up, where you can help us construct some pages and name cards for the Mater to use.

Ordering Opportunities will be available at all venues and dates, with 10% of all product sales supporting our charity.

Springwood Carnival

I had a stall at the Springwood Carnival in Late August... It was a lovely day.. not particularly busy.. but... I took some things with me to do... and soon i will be putting on here what i have been up to... It's a lovely little scrapbook for the boys..

This is a picture of the set up for the stand... Thanks to Liz again.. it looked really professional...

Sophisticated Canvas Stamping

This is another one that I put together for the ladies to have a choice... It's something a little more sophisticated .... but they loved the Butterfly one so much that we went with that... As this was my first try at being all 'grown up'... it was not quite right.. I messed up the colour on the brown part so I had to paint over it.. then the gold needed touching up... so it looks a little messy.. but it's another idea of how to use your stamps... All embellishments were bought from the bargin shop... the black on the flowers is Over Head Transparencies (OHT's) stamped with Stayz On... they are then attached with a blingy brad from the Prettys Kit... through the canvas..

Canvas Stamping Class

Today was the canvas stamping class... It was a lovely little class.. we were able to spend more time creating another canvas to go with the one I had originally planed for the class...

We ended up making them white boards for Family messages and Birthdays...

Missy and Sandra did a great job too.. We all did something a little different... It was a great day..

Missy's

Sandra's