Vanessa Webb – Independent Stampin’Up! Demonstrator

Mac……..short for “Macchiato” (the latte version of my favourite coffee………milk with a dash of strong espresso!!) arrived just in time for Christmas. He has settled in very well……although he has developed a bad habit of chewing on scraps of paper and cardstock!! Hmmmmmm………just as well he’s cute!!!!

Warmest wishes to you all for a happy and safe Christmas and a fabulous 2009!!!

Now here’s a stamp set I haven’t inked up in a while!  I received Loads of Love in my Starter Kit box of goodies when I first joined Stampin’ Up and used it mainly with the water-colouring technique. I think the card I made recently (above) gives this line-art stamp set a totally new look. I’ve used a technique called Paper Piecing (not to be confused with paper- piercing). First stamping the truck image onto some of the lovely stripe patterned paper from the new Afternoon Tea DSP. I then cut out the body of the truck and the inside of the wheels, stamped the truck again on a piece of Whisper White cardstock, water-coloured the tyres in Basic Grey then stuck the patterned paper piece over the top. I stamped the truck a third time and cut out the window to stick over the top of the striped paper and shaded that in too.

I’m so used to using this set with Bold Bright colours, it took a while to work out the colour scheme……..but I’m pretty happy with the way this combination  turned out!

Stamps : Loads of Love stamp set
Ink :  Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava Classic Ink Pads

Paper : Soft Sky textured cardstock, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper

Accessories : Soft Sky Double Stitched Grosgrain, Chocolate Chip Wide Grosgrain, Cutter Kit, Hodgepodge Hardware (Aged Copper), Stampin Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Crafters Tool Kit.

The school year ended for us on Friday- Yay! I love the school holidays with sleep-ins, jammie days, reading books all day in the cubby with the kids. Even though I’m well and truly ready for them to return to school again at the end of the 6 weeks……..I look forward to this longer break every year.

Here’s what we made for the kids’ teachers this year to thank them for all their hard work (I know they well and truly deserve this holiday too!)

The pattern for this is called “Bag-In-A-Box” and you can find it in a video tutorial here. I love using Stampin’ Up!’s double -sided papers for these because you can still see the inside of the boxes when you fasten them at the top……the contrasting patterns look great!

We filled these with treats for our wonderful teachers and the kids are enjoying delivering them this week and next as our activities wind down for the year.

Here’s what I’ve used for the boxes above:

Stamps : Say it With Scallops

Ink : Real Red

Paper : Designer series Double sided Paper – Dashing, Real Red card stock

Accessories : Scallop Square Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Round Tab Punch, Cropadile, Sticky Strip, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Old Olive Wide Grosgrain Ribbon.

Here are some cards I made for our recent team swap. One of the best things about being a demonstrator is that I get to share and swap ideas with some very talented card makers and scrappers that I’ve come to know since joining Stampin’ Up! I often think it’s a  bit like being part of a “papercraft renaissance” lol.

For these cards I’ve used the gorgeous Live your Dream (p. 3 of the new Summer Mini Catalogue) set that we each received at our last Stampin’ Up! regional Training day in Sydney. I’ve had lots of time now to play with this set……..and I think it has become a favourite because of all the different things you can do with it. It’s great for either scrapbooking or card making and would make a great gift for a beginner crafter too (*hint hint* for those of us who still have a bit of Christmas shopping to do……..I’m putting in my last order to be delivered before Christmas on the 15th DEC!)

Anywayyyy……..the technique I’ve used here is called Ghosting or Vitalised Vellum.

The image is created by inking up a piece of vellum cardstock in Purely Pomegranate ink with a Brayer and then using a clean dry stamp to remove some of the ink before it dries. I had a lot of fun with this technique and I’ll be posting some more Vitalised Vellum cards soon.

Here’s what I used if you want to recreate these cards at home (all supplies available from Stampin’ Up! through me:

Stamps : Live your Dream stampset

Ink : Purely pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie.

Paper : Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, Confetti White, Purely Pomegranate, White Vellum cardstock.

Accessories :  Brayer, Silver Brad, Pumpkin Pie Grossgrain Ribbon, Sponge Daubers, Anywhere Gluestick, Paper Piercer and foam mat (from Crafters Tool Kit)

Here’s a close up of one of the cards:

Enjoy!