Introducing: The Hallmark Challenge #1

I am SO EXCITED to be launching this new challenge series. It is something I have had in the works for a couple of months now. I've been collecting ideas, and figuring out just how would go about it, and then the fun part - designing & creating! Here is the run down of how it works: 

Once a month I will feature an over priced store bought card. Oh wait, let me rephrase that. I will feature an over priced card in the store, because it is far to over priced for me to purchase it for the challenge! Yes, I go into the store and take pictures of the card on the shelves! Then comes the fun part. Using what I have in my personal stash, I recreate the card and share it with you. The card will then be available for purchase after each challenge. 

But here is where you come in! I will be extending each of the Hallmark Challenges to you too! I will provide a Linkup Party below for you to add your blog links to once you have made your version of the Challenge card. 

So let me kick off this first challenge and present to you our very first Hallmark Challenge!! 

And here is my version of this card!! 

I had some fun with some beautiful DSP, baker's twine & of course some rhinestones! I decided to drop the "Cake" sentiment because I thought it looked a little unusual. The Hallmark card I felt wasn't co-ordinated very well. There was a mix of patterns and flourishes that didn't work together, so I wanted to make sure my version of the card worked well together in that way. I'm loving how it turned out and think it could so easily be a beautiful wedding card, because that cake looks more like a wedding cake than a birthday cake!

So there you have it. Hallmark's version for just shy of $10, and my card which is now up for sale for just $4 and comes with a free co-ordinating envelope. 

If you'd like to join in on the Hallmark Challenge fun, please go ahead and create your own version of this card, and add it to our Linkup Party below! 

An InLinkz Link-up

A Box of Cards for Christmas!

For the past two Christmases I have made my grand mother's a box of cards as their gift. They LOVE getting this as a gift as they are both the awesomely old fashioned type of grand mother's who like to send cards to friends and family for birthdays, thank you's and or to cheer someone up and let them know they are thinking of them.

Grand mother's are so difficult to buy a gift for aren't they? I would definitely put them in the same category as the men when it comes to gift shopping. They don't need anything, and what they might need is out of the budget, they can be a little fussy on what they like because they're set in their ways, and all that FUN stuff! 

So when I stumbled upon this idea two years ago for Christmas and gave them their boxes of cards for Christmas, and after hearing they were happy with the cards, I thought that this could become the gift I give them each year.

So this year I spent a day in December whipping up some beautiful, elegant card designs. I came up with 6 different designs, and made 2 of each design so there would be 12 cards all up for each grand mother. 

I would have liked to have made more for them, but I did run out of time a little! I had a nice mix of greetings including birthdays, thank you, thinking of you and a couple of blank cards to be used for whatever purpose necessary. 

I packaged them up with a co-ordinating envelope and they were placed inside a cupcake kit box which is covered in brown wrapping paper! You wouldn't know it would you? A little bit of recycling fun :)

I got the exact same reaction and comments from each grand mother when they opened their gifts as I saw them on different days around Christmas. Here is what I heard:

"Oh is this another box of cards?"

"Perfect timing, I just sent my last card to a friend last week"

"These are my special cards and I only give them to special people"

"Whenever I give out one of these cards I always tell them that my grand daughter Christy made this card"

And just for fun, one of my grand mother's jumped up in excitement when she opened the gift. I was laughing so hard I almost cried.

If you would like to order a box of cards for your "hard-to-buy-for" grand mother, let me know! 

Sketch Layout "Love" Challenge #4

This challenge wasn't so much of a layout challenge, but more so a themed challenge. Kristy (my upline) selected this challenge with Valentine's Day approaching us in mind. So here they are!

These first two projects were made by Inky Ingrid. The first just being a simple but really effective & pretty card, and the second a fun decorated heart shaped lolly pop. 

This LOVEly card was made by Kristy Coromandel. I really like the use of the small heart embossing folder as the background. It is so cute! 

These two cards were made by one of the newest members in our group Kymberly. She is making some REALLY beautiful things and these two cards are no exception. I really love the first one with the love bunting!

And last but not least is my creation! I wanted my card to be suitable to give to a male or female so I purposely avoided pink with my design! I used the label card thinlit dies which creates a trifold design. I love how it turned out. 

If you would love to join into our next sketch layout challenge (which we just got today and it is amazing) just send me a quick email and I can send it through to you. Your design will be featured on my blog with a link to your crafy business page (if you have one). I would love for this challenge group to grow! 

Catalogue Launch Party Part 3 - the display projects!

To read about Part 1 - the setup, click here. 

To read about Part 2 - the food table, click here.

As part of our main display area I had lots of beautiful projects I made using the new products. I tried to use as many of the new products as I could so that everyone could see how versatile & gorgeous they looked in action. I won't go into every single detail of what I used to make each project, but I will point you in the direction of which catalogue they are from and the page number under each photo so you can have a little looksie yourself. Online catalogues can be viewed here if you don't have a paper copy.  

NOTE: The Mini Occasions Catalogue is the orange one which says "Celebrate the everyday".

Mini Catalogue. Pages 26 & 27.

Mini Catalogue. Page 27.

Mini Catalogue. Pages 26 & 27.

Mini Catalogue. Pages 26 & 27.

Mini Catalogue. Pages 26 & 27.

These 5 projects I made using the Kaleidoscope Suite. It is my favourite suite in the new Mini Catalogue. There are 2 stamp sets, 3 Big Shot accessories, a punch, some embellishments & a set of DSP in the suite that all co-ordinate beautifully together. When you don't have much to spend sometimes going with a suite is a great way to go because everything was designed to go together well.

Mini Catalogue. Page 19.

Mini Catalogue. Pages 18, 19, 26 & 36. 

These last two cards are also made using products from a suite. This suite is called Retro Fresh and there are again stamp sets, embellishments and DSP included.

Mini Catalogue. Page 36. 

Mini Catalogue. Page 22.

Mini Catalogue. Page 23.
SAB Catalogue. Page 13.

How cute is the new mini bunting punch?  

Mini Catalogue. Page 26.
SAB Catalogue. Page 11.

Mini Catalogue. Page 35.
SAB Catalogue. Pages 11 & 12.

SAB Catalogue. Page 11.

I hope you like all these projects. Most of them will make their way into the album of cards I have for sale on my Facebook page here. If you have any questions about how I made any of the designs, send me a message and I'd be glad to help you out!

Catalogue Launch Party Part 2 - the food table!

To read about Part 1 - the setup, click here.
To read about Part 3 - the display projects, click here. 

The food table is actually my favourite thing to create for when it comes to having events. Making all my little skewers and toothpicks and food signs etc matching perfectly makes me all giddy inside. For this event I used the new SAB DSP Sweet Sorbet as my colour scheme and I loved it. It was such a funky mix of colours. As you go through the photos you'll notice my tablecloth. It's brown paper! I think it looked fab and I'll be using this idea again in the future I think! Enjoy the pictures. 

These dip cups were absolutely the favourite food item on the night. There was not one left and everyone was asking if I had more bread sticks and veggies left so they could scrape out every morsel of dip from the bottom. It was the Herb & Garlic Dip made in the Thermomix. Anyone that has the Everyday Cookbook will know which dip I am talking about. It is so delicious! The cups were easily decorated with some DSP & cardstock used as cup cuffs, and then I used the new Spiral Flower Die to make the cute flowers on the front in co-ordinating colours. 

Now these guys. Let's just say the execution was much different from the visual. They were delicious but lets me honest. They look like poop. So we were joking around that we should rename them "Poop Pops", or "Mallow Poops". It was rather hilarious. But let's not focus on my cooking abilities, that is missing the whole point of what I'm showing you here people! It's about the skewers!!! How cool do they look? Such a simple idea and so easy to make.

I think it's just wrong to not have spring rolls at an event. They are just SO YUM. I would eat spring rolls every day if the thighs would allow it. And I love my new double pronged toothpicks. They are a more appealing take on a toothpick especially if you are using them with a larger food item. They are alot sturdier. I used my new SAB Banner Blast Stamp Set & Punch to make this super sweet bunting which was the perfect size for these toothpicks. 

These skewers we YU-MMY. They had vintage cheese, salami, artichoke heart, boccocini and sundried tomato on each skewer. All I had to do to dress up these plain bamboo skewers was tied a mix of co-ordinating twines & ribbons on the top. Such a quick, simple & effective way to tie them into the colour scheme of the table. 

On the night I had a friend attending who has a gluten intolerance so I made sure that there were options of food for her to be able to eat. I adapted everything except for the spring rolls so that it would be gluten free. I had originally planned a different slice but changed it up for her and I must say I am glad I did because this slice. Oh my! Let's just say there is condensed milk involved which I'm sure contributed to the amazing-ness. Because the icing was a little runny on these guys I popped them in patty cases at the last minute so the icing didn't go everywhere. Decorated with a sweet & simple bunting washi tape toothpick. They are once again so fast and easy to make and you can create them in any shape you fancy. I did straight cut, diagonal cut, flag cut & a rounded cut. They all looked so fun. 

For drinks I just kept it simple We had chilled water in our water dispenser and everyone got a cute decorated bottle to drink from. I made sure all the bottles were a different colour so no one mixed up who's was who's bottle once they were all sitting at the table. Decorated with a strip of cardstock, DSP & some twine. How easy is that? Straws are from Lille Parti.

I had something planned for the backdrop of this table but the plans fell through at the last moment so I had to whip something up. So I made this bunting! Super cute & fun. I just pegged on all the bunting pieces to the jute. 

And here is everything all together! What do you think? 

If you are interested in co-ordinating event food table items such as food signs, toothpicks, skewers, cup cuffs, bottle decorations or bunting, you have come to the right place! Please shoot me an email and I will be able to come up with a quote for you.