This is the one-and-only Halloween card I made this year.  And I didn't even send it to anyone, LOL!  I really like the Spooky Bats Punch so I bought it bundled with the coordinating Spooky Sweets stamp set.  I also bought the Black Foil Sheets, which is what these bats are punched from, though it was hard to capture their glossiness in the picture.  That's all the Halloween stuff I bought this year.  No Designer Series Paper, no embellishments.  In large part this is because I knew I wouldn't be set up to hold classes yet, but also because Halloween is not widely celebrated here in Australia.  Shops are trying to get it going, but it's definitely a North American holiday!

So to make a card I had to be creative.  I used the starry background from the Bokeh Dots set and Basic Gray ink applied with a sponge dauber on Whisper White card stock.  I matted it on Basic Gray card stock and added the bats with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.  The sentiment from Spooky Sweets was stamped in Pumpkin Pie and cut with a Layering Circles Die, and mounted on Basic Black card stock cut with the next larger die and popped up with Dimensionals.  A Pumpkin Pie card base ties everything together.

So for all my friends and family in the States, here you go...may you get many more treats than tricks today!

Here are the products I used to make this card.  Click on any image below to go to my Online Store and order.

If you live in Australia and are not working with another Stampin' Up! demonstrator I'd love to be your creative coach!  Let me know and I'll send you both the Annual and Holiday Catalogues.  In the meantime, click on each cover to view online!

I am playing along with the CAS(e) This Sketch Challenge #295 this week.  I had fun with it, although I'm not sure it qualifies as a Clean-And-Simple design.

I started by cutting a piece of Joyous Noel Specialty Designer Series Paper on the diagonal to get my corner stripe element.  To make it simple I used one of my Layering Squares Framelits dies and then sliced it in half on my Paper Trimmer.  The sentiment is from the Timeless Tidings set.  For both it and the Dashing Deer images I used a Sponge Dauber to put Copper Shimmer Paint on the stamps.  This makes a softer image than VersaMark and Copper Embossing Powder, but works just fine (which is good because my embossing powders are still in my shipping container on the Pacific!).

The tree is from Winter Woods, stamped in Tranquil Tide, and is cut out with the coordinating die from Woods Framelits.  Everything is layered onto a rectangle of another piece of Joyous Noel DSP, and matted on Tranquil Tide card stock before being layered onto a Merry Merlot card base.

I'm loving these rich colour tones for the holidays...how about you?

Here are the products I used to make this card.  Click on any image below to go to my Online Store and order.

f you live in Australia and are not working with another Stampin' Up! demonstrator I'd love to be your creative coach!  Let me know and I'll send you both the Annual and Holiday Catalogues.  In the meantime, click on each cover to view online!

I'm playing along with the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge again this week!  The theme is "All About Holidays" and I've jumped into Christmas for the first time this year.

The playful Mr. Claus in the So Santa stamp set is too cute!  For the last 7 Christmases I've lived in a warm climate, but not at a beach.  Now it will be officially summer at Christmas, though perhaps not much warmer than Christmas in Arizona.  It will all depend on which way the breeze is coming from, I understand. Nevertheless, there is surfing at the beach in Melbourne even if it's not as well-known as at our warmer neighbours to the north,  

I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and then coloured with Stampin' Blends.  I chose a piece of the Tropical Escape Designer Series Paper to go with the beach-y theme.  The card is 10.5 cm square.  Here's the inside:

There are still a few days left to play along...why don't you give it a try?

Here are the products I used to make this card.  Click on any image below to go to my Online Store and order.

If you live in Australia and are not working with another Stampin' Up! demonstrator I'd love to be your creative coach!  Let me know and I'll send you both the Annual and Holiday Catalogues.

Before I get to today's card, I just wanted to pat myself on the back for a moment.  I was chosen as a Watercooler Rocker for this card that I made for the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge last week!  Very fun, and much appreciated..  Again, I urge you to play along with some challenges and see what you can do!

In the last couple of months before leaving the U.S. to move to Australia one of the hardest things was not getting to play with some new stamp sets.  I had a couple of boxes from Stampin' Up! awaiting my arrival in Melbourne, and in them was this great host set, Hand Delivered.

This photopolymer set is see-through, which makes lining up the elements a total snap.  I didn't have to use a Stamparatus or Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the balloons and arms to line up perfectly with the legs and skirt.  Likewise, the sentiment was easily positioned.  

I coloured in the picture with Stampin' Blends...not my best colouring jobs (use the bullet tip instead of the brush tip to go around the outline to avoid bleeding outside the line!), but still a cheerful card to send out.

Did you notice that I stamped the balloons in VersaMark on the Lovely Lipstick card base?  I could also have used Lovely Lipstick ink for a similar, but slightly darker, effect.

This set, or any of the other host sets, can be yours with purchase of AUD$250 or more.  You will receive 10% of your purchase in Stampin' Rewards which can be used to purchase anything in any catalogue...but the host sets can only be purchased with Stampin' Rewards.  Check out these sets on pages 226-229 of the Annual Catalogue, or pages 54-55 of the Holiday Catalogue.

Here are the products I used to make this card.  Click on any image below to go to my Online Store and order.

Did you know you can make a card that meets the requirement of multiple challenges?  While I was mulling over my design choices for the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge 192 "Masculine Anything Goes," I came across the CAS(e) This Sketch #294 Challenge.  CAS in this instance does double-duty for Clean-And-Simple and Copy-And-Share (everything).  Here's the sketch:

My card started with the Twinkle Twinkle Designer Series Paper, which I think works well for a masculine card.  I layered it on a piece of Whisper White that I ran through the Big Shot with the Subtle embossing folder.  The sentiment was cut with the Happy Birthday Thinlits Die out of both Whisper White and Night of Navy card stock, and snipped the words apart..  Tip: use the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets on the back of the card stock before cutting - makes it an easy-to-place sticker!  Add a Night of Navy card base and there is my clean-and-simple masculine birthday card.

Everything I used to make this card is listed below.  If you live in Australia and would like to purchase any or all of these items just click on one to go to my online store.

Speaking of my store, SU! has a 24 hour sale on tomorrow!  Click on the graphic below to get your copy of the list of stamp sets that are on sale.   Place your order in my online store and save 15% Tuesday only! 

In my last post I talked about how having a card kit on hand can be helpful when you want to create but are needing some inspiration.  This week I was reminded by a new friend and fellow demonstrator, Tristan Dawes, how great card challenges can be for this, too!  She's a member of the design team for the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge, so after checking it out I decided to play along.

The theme for this week's challenge is "Masculine Anything Goes,"  As we card crafters know, it's more challenging to come up with cards that the guys will really like, so it's great to have them in our stash.

For this card I wanted to use the Enjoy Life stamp set by Stampin' Up!  I really like doing silhouette stamps against a watercolored background and played around making a couple until I got one I really liked with this stamp.  My favorite technique is to smoosh ink pads onto a clear block, then spritz with water before pressing it onto a piece of Whisper White card stock.   Once it was dry I stamped the image 3 or 4 times with Memento Tuxedo Black using my Stamparatus. I love how I can get a really opaque image this way.  The sentiment only needed one stamping to come out nice and crisp and dark.  I kept everything simple by mounting the image directly to a Cajun Craze card base.

Why don't you play along, too?  Don' have a blog to link? Please send me a picture of your creation:nhoetker@mac.com.

If you live in Australia and would like to purchase any of the supplies I used to make this card, click on the image below and go straight to my online store.

1) You want to make cards, but don't have a lot of supplies.
    This could be because you're just getting started with card crafting. Or because you're traveling/moving.  Either way, an all-inclusive card kit is the perfect solution because along with a bit of adhesive and some paper snips you have everything you need to create a small stash of cards.  Plus, you then have another stamp set and Stampin' Spot ink pad to add to your stash - double win!

2) You feel like crafting, but are out of ideas.
    Pull out a card kit and make a couple just like the directions say.  Then challenge yourself to mix it up on a couple...be a rule-breaker!  The cards shown in this post are are a combination of by-the-book and alternative designs, based on my personal needs.

3) It's a great activity to do with family and friends.
    Family visiting?  Rainy day?  School holiday and the kids are bored?  Sit down with a card kit and some yummy snacks and connect in a new and creative way.  Challenge each other to make creative use of your kit's supplies and have fun!

4) Makes a great gift.
    Whether you're an advance-planner type or looking for something at the last minute, card kits can be a great go-to gift for friends and family.  In addition to the kit, you can include a note that offers to host a crafting get-together!

5) You want to make a lot of cards in a short amount of time.
    I confess, I am determined to send handmade Christmas cards to all 150 people on my list each year, but often run short of time...fortunately Stampin' Up! has a great card kit to help boost my card count!  Likewise, a more general kit (with alternative designs) can generate a nice collection of thank-you cards if needed.  Bonus: most of our kits now come with refills - so you can make even more of a good thing!

The cards shown in this post are from the Soft Sayings Card Kit.  I brought it with me during my move to Australia, and while all of my crafting supplies were either jumbled into one suitcase or still in my shipping container crossing the Pacific, this was how I got my crafting fix.  I have used many of the cards already to thank various people who have been helpful in our transition to our new life, or to reach out to friends back in the U.S.

(note: the first 3 card kits are all-inclusive, while the last 3 project kits require you to purchase the stamp set and ink separately)

When we arrived in Melbourne we were booked in to a "Serviced Apartment Hotel," or what we would call an extended stay hotel in the U.S.  It was very conveniently located close to Glenn's office and just off Lygon Street, which is the very popular dining street of Little Italy.  These days there are a few other cuisines sprinkled in, but definitely no shortage of choice for eating options from early morning to late night.

Our apartment had 2 bedrooms each with a king-sized bed and barely room for 2 people, a bathroom, and a compact living area with a kitchen, stacked washer & dryer, loveseat, armchair, desk, table and chairs.  Plus our 7 large suitcases, 3 small suitcases, 3 people, and 1 dog.  It was cramped, but livable, and we did remarkably well at not irritating each other.  Soon after arrival, however, it became apparent that finding a long-term rental needed to be high on the to-do list.

In Australia one doesn't work with a real estate agent who puts together a list of properties and takes one around to view them.  Instead, one looks online and contacts the listing agent to ask to inspect if there isn't a public inspection already posted (or if that time won't work).  The agent then posts a public inspection time and one gets 10 minutes to walk through and decide if it's suitable...along with whoever else decided to look it over, too, At some we were the only ones, at others we were one of 3-6 parties inspecting at the same time.

If one likes a property then one submits an application.  We had registered with the online rental application that stored all of our details so it was easy to make a few clicks and apply right away if we were interested.  The property manager/rental agent reviews the applications and decides which one to put forward to the landlord.  We wound up applying to 4 properties, and we were selected to be put forward on 3 of them.  Our first choice property's landlord wound up approving us before we submitted the last 2 to landlords, so we had a quick process!

If you didn't follow along on my personal Facebook page, here's the one we chose:

Our unit is on the 18th floor - the 2nd one from the top.  It runs the entire West side of the building from the curved corner on the left to the end of the balcony on the right.  Right above us is a tenant's indoor/outdoor lounge area with 2 barbecues, and on the other side of the building is a gym.

We've got 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths (unheard of!).  We got Nicole set up with a bed and desk right away from Ikea, her previous ones not being worth shipping. The 3rd bedroom is my craft room/office/guest room, though it's waiting on our shipping container for most of the furniture.  Glenn and I are sleeping on an air mattress until our bed arrives.  We're doing pretty well on it considering it's been a long time since we've shared a bed smaller than a King for more than a couple of nights.

Since we didn't ship our previous sofa or dining table & chairs we went ahead and purchased new ones.  They all arrived the day we took possession of the unit (1 week after signing the lease) except the table.  Thanks to the kindness of strangers met through Facebook, we were loaned a folding table to tide us over.  Now that our purchased table has arrived the loaner has moved into the craft room.

So far we're enjoying our new, urban lifestyle, a complete change from the previous 30 years together!  We're eager to share our adventure with visitors, so start making plans for 2019!

p.s. -  Glenn can see North and East sides of our building from his office: 

Here in Australia I've had to re-sign up as an SU! demonstrator, and after some research I chose to sign up under Kylie Bertucci.  Her high energy and enthusiasm, strong training and support programs and style of crafting were all very attractive to me.  

One of her workshops earlier this year was about the Designer Series Paper (DSP) we all love, and tend to hoard.  She called this workshop, "Love It, Chop It!"  It was meant to have one dive in and cut up a pack of DSP into pieces that are ready to just layer onto a card front, add a sentiment, maybe an embellishment or image and you've got a card.

A few days ago I was able to move our borrowed table out of our dining area and into my craft room, and also unpacked my stamping supplies.  So naturally I had to sit down and play.  

The biggest adjustment I'm going to have to paper crafting here in Oz is switching from inches to centimeters.  So I figured I'd start with something simple like a Love It, Chop It card or two, and I used the retired Bubble & Fizz DSP along with the coordinating Bubble Over stamp set (still available in the Annual Catalog).

I used a base of Bermuda Bay, and added a mat of Calypso Coral beneath the DSP and the sentiment strips.  

I've got a poll going over on my Nancy's Nifty Notes Facebook page: which version do you like better?  Pop over and play along!
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I have had limited opportunity for some creative time outside of home furnishings, but I have done some paper crafting.  My new Aussie upline, Kylie Bertucci and her SU-demo husband, Bruno, adore Peanut Butter M&Ms, which are hard to find here.  I brought a couple of packets with me, and spent a morning dressing them up before sending them off.

Yes, one of those 7 large suitcases became my crafting "studio".  About ⅓ of this stuff I brought from Arizona, the rest I ordered through SU! Australia and had shipped to Glenn's office or our serviced apartment.  

I decided to use some of my remaining stash of Sweet Soiree DSP (the Old Olive with Silver stripes) and Share What You Love DSP to make a version of a 2-5-7-10 (or 2-4-6-8) Box to hold the treats.  There's a good picture tutorial for 2-5-7-10 here, and a words-only tutorial for 2-4-5-8 here.  I can't remember my exact measurements to make these, but I laid the packets on my paper trimmer to get the width and height and guesstimated how deep they needed to be to accommodate the candy, and scored accordingly.  Then rotate the paper and went down one side 1" from the edge to be able to make the flaps for the bottom.

I made tags from the Rooted in Nature (L) and Country Home (R) stamp sets. I finished them off with Braided Linen Trim and Nature's Twine.

I just love Kylie's unbridled enthusiasm for everything...she posted this right away on her business FB page.

Nice to feel appreciated all around, isn't it?  #makeacardsendacard...or treats...or something!