Clear mounted stamp sets...

Hi There,
I told you there was more news coming about some groovy new items in our mini catty, well here's the scoop on the wonderful new clear mounted stamp sets and thier very ergonomic clear acrylic blocks....

Over the past few years, there has been enormous demand from demonstrators and customers alike for a line of repositionable clear-mount rubber stamps. Well, you asked for it, and now you have it! Starting with stamps in the 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue, Stampin' Up! now offers our exclusive stamp art in both traditional wood-mount, and the new clear-mount option. Our new clear-mount rubber stamps are the result of extensive research with the intent to maintain the very best image quality in the stamping industry, while at the same time offering the ease-of-use and storability inherent in repositionable clear-mount rubber stamps. Clear-Mount Rubber Stamp Features
Nine different sizes of clear blocks available individually or as a discounted bundle.
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.
Stamps store easily in standard, DVD-type cases with artwork on front and spine, making organization easy.

There's a new Big Shot in town....

There's a new big shot in town--the Sizzix Big Shot for Stampin' Up! The Big Shot is a sturdy manual die cutting machine used to die cut materials for use on crafts, home décor projects, and even clothing--it's a big deal! You'll love what the Big Shot machine--a six-time winner of Creating Keepsakes Reader's Choice Award for best die cutting equipment and dies--can do for you.
Design your own custom pillow appliqués using the Scallop Circle Bigz die or make custom fabric flowers to embellish a quilt. From sewing to quilting to home décor, the Big Shot is the perfect tool for many types of crafting. The wide appeal to various types of crafters will help you expand your business in new circles. The Big Shot makes incorporating paper crafting into these customers' hobby an easy progression. Use our Stampin' Up! exclusive dies to create die cuts and stencils with our artwork and designs for all your craft needs.
Cut out eight of the same chipboard letter or 20 scalloped pennants in just a few minutes. You'll be able to cut and score 3-D items in seconds, and the projects will be ready for you to enjoy. Or create embellishments for cards, scrapbook pages, or any other type of project by cutting multiple images at once. The Big Shot works with ALL competitive dies, and the steel rule dies can cut through an impressive list of 50 different materials, including fabric, foil, and chipboard.

I will be showing some different projects that I have made using this incredible machine in the next few days, including some made with fabric. I'd love to show you some of the amazing things the Big shot is capable of doing, so why not book a work shop with some friends and I'll pop over to wow! you all. Contact me here to make a date to have some Stmapin'Up!® fun.

Stay tuned for more information on some more new arrivals in the Stampin'Up! family. Inky hugs from .......

Colour renovations....

Hi There, I hope you are enjoying your blog browse. I thought you might like to know about some pretty special Stampin'Up! news. We are having a colour renovation to meet up with all the new colour trends that can be found in our everyday lives, such as textiles, fashion, house furnishings etc. Stampin'Up! wants us to keep up with all the modern trends of today's society and to do this they have devised a wonderful new colour family for us. We will be keeping 24 current colours and saying hello to 5 brand new colours, as well as bringing back 10 well loved in-colours from the past. One of our Neutral colours Kraft has been given a new name and will be known as Crumb Cake.

Every year we will be given 5 new in colours and these gorgeous colours will stay with us for two years, so 5 this year (In Sept) then 5 next year which means after this year, we will have 10 in-colours to work with. What joy! I always hated saying goodbye to the in-colours just when I was starting to love them.

There will be lots more info about this colour change in the near future, but none of these changes will take place for us here in Australia until our new annual catalogue arrives in September. So start collecting any of the leaving colours that you love, along with their re-inkers and any other coordinating accessories before September this year.
If you would like to view the new colour charts which show these changes please click on the charts above.

Some flowers for you...

Hello there,
I hope this finds you all well and for those of you who are not "Get well soon". I made this card with the lovely Sale-a-bration set Happy moments, I've also used some Bella Rose dsp and some gorgeous Pink Pirouette ribbon, also some Riding hood red taffeta ribbon. I coloured the image in with an aqua brush and ink pads, which I then punched out with the 1 1/4 square punch, this sat inside the card through the punched out 1 3/8 square hole. Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by. Lots of inky hugs from....

The Ferrymen...

Hello there fellow blog surfers,

I wonder if my regular visitors have noticed a new button on the left hand side of my blog, well I'm proud to say that my hubby's band have now got themselves a web site to show case a bit of their music. The Ferrymen are a trio consisting of my hubby who plays the mandolin, banjo and guitar and also sings, Chris who is a very talented flute, tin whistle and Irish bodhran (a hand held drum) player and last but not least is Ian, who plays guitar and is the lead singer. The band plays Irish and Scottish folk music. They are in the process of recording another CD and hope to have it finished soon, my DH has written and composed some new songs for them and hopes to add these to the new CD as well. So if you would like to hear a sample of their music please pop over to the Ferrymen web site by clicking on the logo above or the one which is now permanently on the left hand side pf my blog and click on the music box to listen to some of the songs they play at their gigs, don't forget to put on your sound. Have fun and let me know what you think, lots of inky and musical hugs from....

A beautiful lantern...

Hello there paper crafters,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and you found time to get inky. I didn't get inky, but I did have a wonderful weekend. I thought I would upload this picture of a card that I made some time ago with the gorgeous set called Eastern Influences. The paper is from the Bella Bleu pack, I stamped the images onto the Whisper white card stock and then put the card stock through the paper crimper (what a wonderful, yet very under used tool). The blossom was coloured in with an aqua brush and the ink pads as palettes. I sponged the edges with some pretty in pink.

Hope you like it, thanks for visiting me, lots of inky hugs from ......

Duck, Duck Goose!

Hello and happy Friday to ya, I know what you're thinking...Charmaine's got into scrapbooking! Well I must admit I'm certainly enjoying exploring with scrapbooking at the moment and I'm getting a bit better with the help of the very talented scrapbookers like Andrea Walford for this one above. I made this one for a demo at a party I did a while back. I really enjoyed putting this one together, of course it was fun because of the cute duck from the Wagon full of fun set. I love to water colour and that duck just lends himself to be coloured in that way. Instead of inking him up the usual way on an ink pad, I used my choc chip marker and missed out his feet, so as to give the illusion he is swimming on a pond. I used the circle scissors plus to make the circles of card stock in the middle of the page and the sentiment is from the curvy verses set. I hope you like it.
Thanks so much for stopping by, take care and enjoy you're weekend. Lots of inky hugs from ....