Happy Mail

Posted in Cards, Fifth Avenue Floral by

As many of you know, I belong to a group of stampers who are all Stampin’ Up! demonstrators from around Australia and New Zealand, called the ESAD group.  The group often runs swaps, which I am generally keen to take part in, as I am able to use many of the ideas in my own classes etc.
At the moment I am taking part in a kind of swap, that we call “Secret Sisters”.  As a very brief explanation, I am a sister to another person who I send things to, I know her name, but she doesn’t know mine.  I also have a “Secret Sister” who sends things to me.  She knows my name, but I don’t know hers.  Ok?  Clear as mud?
Well, anyway, my Secret Sister (who ever she may be), sent me this gorgeous card last week, using lots of my favourite things, and I just wanted to share it with you.  And….. you will also get to see a bit of a peek of one stamp from one of the great greeting sets from the Autumn / Winter mini Catalogue (and yes, there a few in there).
Now, I hear some of you other demonstrators and customers saying “oh, but you can’t do that!”, so I just want to clear that one up. Not all that long ago, there were some changes to the demonstrator agreement, which means we are now allowed to show items that have been made with things out of the upcoming catalogue.  I can’t let you see the catalogue,  I can’t show the stamp sets etc and I can’t sell you anything before the 1st April,  but I can show you the cards, scrapbook pages etc that I make using those things.  So guess what?  I am going to show you lots! 🙂
Anyway, lets get on with it!  I absolutely adore the colours of Sage Shadow and Elegant Eggplant, and don’t they just look great in this beautiful card.  So, thank you Secret Sister, for my “happy mail” 🙂

Stamp Sets: Fifth Avenue Floral, Heard from the Heart (available from me on the 1st April, and not before!! 🙂 )

I have to admit that the Heard from the Heart Stamp Set was not on my wish list, that is, until I received this card, but now it is, along with lots of other stuff 🙂

Happy Stampin everyone,
Chris

New Clear Mount Stamps are coming!

Posted in Clear Mount Stamps by

This is just one of the many new things I am thrilled, and excited about. 
There has been a huge demand from Demonstrators and customers, for re-positionable stamps and the clear mount blocks to go with them.  And I am so excited to be able to tell you that, once again, Stampin’ Up! have delivered exactly what has been asked of them.  As of 1st April 2010, Stampin’ Up! will release most of it’s stamp sets in both wood mount and clear mount sets.  So yes, those of you who love your wood mount stamps, don’t worry, they will still be available.  But now there is also the option of the same high quality stamps that Stampin’ Up! is so well known for, in a clear mount option.  These stamps will still be made of rubber, in the same way as the tradition stamps, and with the same deep cut, but in a re-positionable system using clear blocks.
So, what is the advantage and some of the features of the Clear Mount Stamps?

  • Stamps store easily in standard, DVD-type cases with artwork on front and spine, making organisation easy.
  • Blocks have ergonomic grooves on all four sides for easy grip and traditional wood-mount feel.
  • Stamps and blocks are durable and easy to clean with your Stampin’ Scrub and Stampin’ Mist.
  • Optional image labels on stamp backs let you decide if you want to see the image through the block or not.
  • Tight die-cutting for easy image positioning.
  • Large clear blocks can be used to create collages or spell words with alphabet sets.
  • Nine different sizes of clear blocks available individually or as a discounted bundle.

I will be running some classes on how to use the clear mount stamps in the coming months, and will also have some for you to see at my Autumn / Winter Mini Catalogue Launch party on Wed 31st March at 7.30pm.  This is a free event, but you must let me know if you want to come along.  There will be demonstrations and displays of many of the new goodies, as well as a make and take or two, so come along and see what all the fuss is about!

I am still here…

Posted in Cards, Heartfelt Thanks, Lovely as a Tree, On Your Birthday, Seeing Spots by

… but phew, what a week… or two!
Some of those dreaded “change of season” bugs hit our household full force over the last couple of weeks.  My poor husband had a week off work (totally unheard of) and my son was sick with it as well – at the same time, of course.  And then just when they were starting to get over it, I got sick with a very nasty tummy bug that saw me visiting the emergency unit of the local hospital.  Fortunately it was only a short stay, and I managed to escape the hospital the same day that went in.  But recovery has been a bit of a slow process, and I am now on some medication which seems to be helping, although not quick enough for my liking.  Being unwell is just soooo not me, especially when my mind is willing but my body just isn’t.
So, needless to say, I have a million more ideas running around in my head, but have only had the energy to make a few of them.

I did promise to share some more of the cards I made using the Seeing Spots Stamp Set, which I will do shortly.  And I also have to share some of the excitement of the amazing new Autumn /Winter Mini Catalogue which goes live on the 1st of April, but as a demonstrator, I have been lucky enough to see.  Actually, I have spent quite a few hours with it firmly adhered to my forehead!  It is gorgeous!!!!!  I desperately need the lotto gods to bless me with very large amounts of cash that I can spend on all of the mini catalogue, because to honest, I think I could buy every single thing in it.
I will come back with another post with some details on the new clear mount stamp sets, but in the meantime, some cards.

As well as Seeing Spots, this one uses the lovely Nature’s Nest Stamp Set which is only available until the end of this month.  And the greeting is from the Sale-a-Bration set Vintage Labels, again only available until the end of the month.
Cardstock is Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip and Whispers White.

This second card uses the Heartfelt Thanks Stamp Set, in the colours of  Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip.

And this last card using an all time favourite of mine, Lovely as a Tree, along with On Your Birthday for the greeting.  The colours are Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White.

Hope you are getting lots of stampin done, and for those of you in Canberra, enjoy your long weekend!
Chris

Seeing Spots!

Posted in Cards, Seeing Spots by

What a great stamp set!  On Sunday I held a Stamp-a-stack using the Seeing Spots Stamp Set, which we combined with Wow Flowers and Starring You, and the soft subtle colours of Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue, with a little Chocolate Chip.  I cut the cardstock into kits, but then we mixed up the colours and changed things around and ended up with lots of different cards in different colour combinations.  It was lots of fun.  Here are a couple of the possibilities, but trust me, there were plenty of other ideas too.

For both cards, I have used:

Stamp Sets: Seeing Spots, Wow Flowers.

Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana.

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink.

Accessories: Soft Subtle Brads, Silver Brads, Large and Small Oval Punches, 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch.

While they were all busy making these, I made some different designs using Seeing Spots as a background, so I will be back shortly to show you how some of those worked out.
Until then,
Happy Stamping
Chris

Slack blogger…. again!

Posted in Cards, Wonderful Favourites by

I have been, I know, a very slack blogger!  I will try to be better, as I have soooo much to show you.  Yes, while I haven’t been here putting up posts, I have been doing a lot of stamping, so I will post them one at a time so you can see what I have been up to. 
First up, I will share with you the Valentine’s card I made for my husband.  I am quite pleased with how it turned out, and he liked it, which is the main thing! 🙂

Stamp Set: Wonderful Favourite

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red.

Inks: Basic Black, Versamark.

Accessories: Heart Punch, Slit Punch, Embossing Buddy, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool.

Stay tuned for the next installment soon!
Keep stamping,
Chris

I’ve been published!!

Posted in Published Work by

How exciting! 🙂 I came home to find my copy of the latest Australian Cardmaking, Stamping and Papercraft, and on Page 91 in the Reader’s Gallery, is one of my cards.
Mine is the blue Patchwork card, and it features some of my all time favourites – lots of paper piercing (of course! 🙂 ), the most beautiful of all of the Designer Series Papers, Bella Bleu, and hodgepodge hardware, which I love but don’t use nearly enough of.
So here it is!

Why don’t you pop out and buy yourself a copy, Volume 15 No 11.  There are some gorgeous and inspirational ideas in this one (and I am not just talking about Page 91 🙂 ).

Enjoy your day, and do lots of stamping!
Chris

Finally…. some stamping!

Posted in Cards, Heartfelt Thanks, Three Thoughts by

I have had so much going on over the past couple of weeks that I have had no time to do any stamping at all.  So yesterday I got up earlier and actually had time to make a card! Yayyyy….. 🙂
One of the reason I have been so busy, is that Jamie had his very first day at pre-school on Friday.  He really loved it, and had just so much fun. So here are a couple of photos, the first one just as we were leaving to walk down to pre-school, and in the second one he is sat right up the front near the teacher.  I will definitely be making a scrapbook page out of these 🙂

And now to my card.  The ESAD group for Stampin’ Up! demonstrators often runs challenges, and the latest challenge was to use the layout of one of the cards on Page 13 of the Summer Mini Catalogue (the orange card) and make our own version. I also had a few of my own personal challenges that I wanted to add to this, which were, to use some colours that I don’t use very often, and to use a stamp set that I haven’t used for a long time.  And here is what I came up with:

Stamp Sets: Heartfelt Thanks, Three Thoughts.

Cardstock: Whisper White, Gable Green, Orchid Opulence.

Inks: Basic Black, Orchid Opulence, Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise.

Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Paper piercing tool and Mat Pack, White Gel Pen, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Paper snips, sponges.

The idea for the colour combination came from a recent post on Gretchen Barron’s blog.  It is not a combination I would have thought of, but it is stunning, and I will definitely be using more bold bright combinations in my cards from now on.  So, thank you for the inspiration Gretchen.

I am sure we all have stamp sets that are sitting up the back of the cupboard, unused and collecting dust.  So set yourself a challenge to get one of them out, and stamp with it again.  Stampin’ Up!bring us so many new, gorgeous sets, that sometimes it is easy to forget about some of the old favourites.
Here’s to more stamping time,
Chris

Ferris Wheel Scrapbook Page

Posted in Scrap Pages, Uncategorized by

Just a very short post today, but I wanted to share with you a scrapbook page uses some of the elements from one of Stampin’ Ups fantastic Simply Sent kits.  The kits are designed for making cards with, but it’s always good to see a different way of using things.  The Simply Sent kits are a wonderful way to get started in cardmaking if you are a beginner, or if you like to have things pre-cut and ready to make into cards.  So just send me an email if you would like to order one, (they are on Page 141 of the IB&C) and don’t forget that if you place an order of $100 or more between now and 31st March, you can have your choice of one of four limited edition stamp sets FREE. It’s a good time to build up some stamping supplies.

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Whisper White.

Accessories: Rock Star Simply Sent Card Elements Kit, Corner Rounder Punch, computer and printer for journalling.

And that’s it! Pretty easy, huh?

Artwork copyright Chris Parker-Barnes
Images copyright 1990-2010 Stampin’ Up!

Half Sheet Wonder Part 2

Posted in Cards, Hello Again by

Here is the fourth card in the series of Half Sheet Wonder cards, following on from the three cards I posted up yesterday.  The main flower has four layers of cardstock with a “Build a Brad” in the centre.  The leaves have been cut to shape by hand and then I have used the edge of the ink pad for the veins of the leaves.

Stamp Sets: Retro Remix Wheel, Hello Again, For Everything, On Your Birthday.

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum.

Ink: Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Barely Banana, Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow.

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Paper Snips, Build-a-Brad, Circle Scissors.

Artwork copyright Chris Parker-Barnes
Images copyright 1990-2010 Stampin’ Up!

Sorry this is such a short post today, but my lovely little boy has been quite unwell over the past two days and just wants to sit next to me and have a snuggle!
Have a good day.
Chris

Half Sheet Wonder

Posted in Butterfly Prints, Cards, For Everything, Hello Again, One Sheet Wonder by

If you spend any time browsing the internet, and the many wonderful stamping blogs and websites out there, you will most probably have heard of a “One Sheet Wonder”.  The idea is to take a sheet of patterned paper, or stamped cardstock, and use it to create as many cards as possible.
I came across a post on the blog of a fellow Stampin’ Up Demostrator, the lovely and talented Claire Daly, who had a challenge to do a “Half Sheet Wonder”.  I think I might be too late to enter her challenge, but thought I would share it with you anyway.  And it is such a great idea.
I have taken a sheet of A4  Whisper White Cardstock, and I have used my Retro Remix Stampin Around Wheel up and down the page a few times, and then stamped in between and around it using the cute Hello Again stamp set. 
Here are three of the cards I have made (there is a fourth one which is only half finished), and I still have the other half of my A4 sheet left to use for some other ideas.

Materials for all three cards are:

Stamp Sets:Hello Again, Retro Remix Wheel,  Best Yet, Vintage Labels (Sale-a-bration Set), For Everything, Butterfly Prints.

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum.

Inks: Perfect Plum,Pale Plum, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow, Barely Banana.

Accessories: Paper piercing tool and Mat Pack, Markers, Scallop Circle Punch, 3/4inch Circle Punch, Boho Blossoms Punch, Butterfly Punch, Slit Punch, Metal Edge Tag, Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Circle Scissors, Paper snips, Two-way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds.

Artwork copyright Chris Parker-Barnes
Images copyright 1990-2010 Stampin’ Up!

I will try to bring you the 4th card tomorrow, and maybe some more examples later in the week.  But why don’t you give it a go too, you can use any patterned paper in any sort of layout, just have fun, and happy stamping!
Chris