All Dressed Up!

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This is the name of a fabulous Stamp Set in the current Stampin’ Up! Spring Catalog that co-ordinates with their Framelits Dies, Dressed Up. How cute is this (and goes without saying, there’s a Vanilla Flower Trim)?

Inkee Fiddlings - Poetry All Dressed Up

I love this Print Poetry DSP 4-1/2″x6-1/2″ Stack which can also be found in the Spring Catalog. There’s 4 each of 12 double-sided designs, just beautiful!

And what about this super-cute new coat-hanger? These are from the new set Hung Up Cute Clips, part of the new This & That collection that was available as a teaser last month in a bundle and will be available May 31 in the new annual catalog.

Card Recipe
Stamp Set: All Dressed Up
Card-Stock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake
Ink: Crumb Cake, Midnight Muse
DSP: Poetry Paper Stack
Punch: 3/16″ Corner
Embellishments: Hung Up Cute Clips, 5/8″ Crochet Trim,
5/8″ Vanilla Flower Trim, Antique Brads, Pearl Basic Jewels
Necessities: Stampin’ Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, Paper Snips,
Clear-mount Block H

And don’t forget, this Spring Catalog expires May 31st so get your orders in quickly… tick, tock… tick, tock!

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x


Is there such a thing as too much chocolate?!

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I never thought there could be but after making 12 dozen chocolate truffles on that one rare day of summer heat prior to Christmas, I found there was! Maybe that’s why they say don’t lick your fingers when cooking. as one can over indulge in chocolate.. who knows! 🙂 Anyways as a consequence I had to rethink just what I could put in my little boxes I was making for what I thought was going to our last Tuesday Chewings before Christmas.

The theme was, I thought, “Christmas with Attitude”. As it turned out the theme had become a technique  but that was okay as luck would have it my contribution was very Big Shot orientated so one could say my technique was… the Big Shot. It was… Big Shot, Big Shot, Big Shot, Stamp, Punch, Pierce, Cut and Construct. Oh, and add a little glitter if you are that way inclined!!!

It was one of those rare occasions when, unlike my chocolate truffles, overindulgence wasn’t a requirement, less is more, and the really big plus… what I had in mind was exactly what my hands created. And let me tell you, that in it’s self is a very, VERY rare occurrence! This was it… what do you think?

All I wanted was a little box to hold truffles. Nothing fussy and after playing with colour combinations such as pink and purple, I stuck with the traditional white, red, and green. During the Christmas ribbon promotion I had been lucky enough to receive a roll of the Christmas Real Red Polka Dot Ribbon, which is incredibly red I must say so wasn’t that easy to combine with any DSP but I think I got away with it with the wonderful Christmas DSP of Stampin’  Ups!

I love this DSP, Jolly Holiday, although at first I was extremely hesitant to purchase any. Have no idea why but ’twas, but on seeing a customers order of it I quickly changed my mind. The colours, although traditional, aren’t bright in the usual sense, and are slightly muted so even though they work brilliantly at Christmas, they can quite easily be adapted for projects at any time of the year!

You can’t see in this photo but the flower is being held together with one of my favourite antique brads (we won’t mention how many sets of these I’ve bought, suffice to sayA LOT) and once I’d secured the brad (and cut the wings off the brad with my Craft and Rubber Scissors from Stampin’ Up! Gosh I love this ability of these things, so much more civilised then my old pliers!) I spritzed the flower with water then gently scrunched it up before unfolding it into the shape I wanted.

The other thing I adore is this Big Shot Embosslit Die, although the Embosslit Die itself says THANKS, thanks to the new modern label punch, you can stamp and punch out whatever sentiment you prefer. Now, I ask you… how cool is that?!

PROJECT RECIPE
Stamp Set: Party Hearty
Cardstock: Whisper White, Old Olive
Classic Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Jolly Holiday DSP, Antique Brad,
Polka Dot Real Red Ribbon, Red Stampin’ Glitter, Dimensionals
Modern Label XL Punch, Sticky Strip, 2-Way Glue Pen, Big Shot,
SU Bigz XL Box #2,SU Bigz XL Flowers Folds, Embosslit Die Thanks,

Oh, and if you should be wondering what I finally decided on filling the box with, eventually I thought “outside” of the box, and filled it with something that would be useful for after Christmas… six strips of Panadol!!!


Maybe not as tasty as chocolate, but after Christmas, mighty handy let me tell you!

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x


You know you’re really, REALLY tired when…

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no matter where you stand, what setting you put the camera on, or no matter how many lights you put on you simply you just can’t get the camera to work... then after 15 minutes you realise the lens cap is still on!

And that my dear friend is a fairly good indication how things currently are at our house. I couldn’t tell you how many times of late I’ve stood there of a morning waiting for the shower to get hot only to realise, after what seems half a day, that I haven’t even turned the hot water on – how sad is that!

Anyways, back to some paper-play… this mini-scrapbook was going to be this month’s “Off-the-Page” class but  after much deliberation and soul-searching on my part, I’ve made the executive decision not to have any further classes until next year. There simply isn’t enough time so this will now become February’s “Off-the-Page” class. However I do hope to have a Christmas workshop so please stay tuned!

Now back to the Mini-Scrapbook… this was inspired by the extremely talented Dawn Olchefske. This has been something I’ve wanted to do for such a long time as it’s something I feel could be adapted to anyone’s style. Plus it’s small enough to “pop” into the post to family or friends filled with happy snaps.

And I’m sure after making one or two of these little gems you could even do one a month as a great keepsake (sure would be easier then the 12×12 albums I do for EACH child EACH year… that’s something else I need to complete before year’s end… for both this year and LAST… ugh!). Now bear with me as there are MANY photos to this project…

I’m so pleased that you can see the beautiful new Champagne Shimmer Paint on the Big Shot’s Vintage Wallpaper embossing finishing with an Antique Brad… love it all!

The DSP I’m using throughout this Mini Scrapbook is the delightful Greenhouse Gala which co-ordinates beautifully with the textured Wild Wasabi and Very Vanilla I’m using on each page and the base of Soft Suede.

Maybe, just maybe do you think, I’ve used a tad too much Champagne Shimmer Paint on the Two-Step Bird Punch and the Embosslits Beautiful Wings… I don’t think so but  then again the flash does make it appear that there is a LOT more then there really is 🙂

I’ve been loyal to my beloved Pumpkin Pie for the past 18 months but I have to say, the Tangerine Tango I’ve used on the various sentiments has really grown on me of late. What a shame we don’t celebrate Halloween in this neck of the woods otherwise I could have some reall fun with it 🙁

Project Recipe:
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Wild Wasabi (Textured), Very Vanilla, Tangerine Tango, Baza Breeze
Stamp Sets: Sense of Time, Word Play, Every Moment
Classic Inks: Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, Sahara Sand, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede
Accessories: Two-Step Bird Punch, Embosslit Beautiful Wings, Corner Punch,
Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Greenhouse Gala DSP, Antique Brads,
Champagne Shimmer Mist, Organza/Satin Ribbon, Sticky Strip, Scallop Trim Border


Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x


Why is it some days are just so much faster then others?!

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What an amazing it day it’s been today and here it is 11pm and I’m still going… not bad considering I only managed FOUR hours of sleeps last night… and the only thing I probably haven’t achieved was any time down in the Studio but hey, today I can live with that!

I’m still in disbelief as to what I’ve achieved all because of some plants! Yes, you read it correctly… plants! It’s always annoyed me that we inherited a front garden that wasn’t quite planted up correctly. I ask you, who in their right mind plants bromeliads into full sun… WHO? So this week-end, we’re righting a wrong!

Having put out an SOS to a dear friend, I was locked and loaded to collect what I thought was some mere cuttings mid-morning.  Preparations for school, returns made, and  a grocery shop and unpack were all made in record time before heading out for these cuttings.

CUTTINGS! Hello, I returned home with the back of my car looking like a nursery – 2B’s I can’t thank you enough. Of course, the majority of these plants needed to be in the ground TODAY so home I went but before I could get to the garden I needed to sort the cupboards under both vanities, reorganise the walk-in robe, vacuum the entire house, take some of our excess to the basement and get gardening gear sorted… that’s all… oh nearly forgot, we also have two extras for sleep-overs tonight!

After all this I didn’t get into the garden until almost 4pm but what I did in an hour impressed even ME. Although after all one side was dug up and planted up, I will admit I did feel a little bit of the dill standing their watering my new plantings… in the rain (lol). So Phase 1 of the full-sun area is complete, tomorrow we start on the shaded area… bring it on!

After all that I feel bad I haven’t a card now highlighting plants in some way. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll squeeze in a butterfly or two to celebrate our gardening achievement. In the meantime here’s a little deja vu as you’ve seen this card before but in one of the retired colours so I’ve redone it to bring it up to speed, so to speak.

This card uses the wonderful Medallion Background combined with Versamark and Stampin’ Pastels. Whenever I get the pastels out it alwasy leaves me wondering why I’m not using them more as the effects and depth of colour you get from them is just fabulous. And no card would be complete at present without an Antique Brad!


Card Recipe
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Stamp Set/s: Medallion Background, Dreams du Jour
Classic Ink: Old Olive
Accessories: Stampin’ Pastels, Antique Brads,
Deminsionals, Sponge Daubers, Versamark

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x


What a coming together of the world it was today!

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How wonderful was it to see all those Chilean miners returned safely to their families? And how wonderful was it to see  how happy not only their families were to see them, but everyone in their country and so many countries throughout the world? It truly was an inspiring story of faith. Makes ones own problems seem rather insignificant in comparison…

Below is the beginning of a mini scrapbook that I’ve been trying to start for the last couple of months. Today I took the plunge and was rather pleased with how things progressed. Sadly it looks so much better sitting beside me then on the screen.

The scan doesn’t show the Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint I’ve daubed (for some crazy reason the sound of that word even in my mind makes me smile 🙂 ) over the Vintage Wallpaper embossing. Nor does is show the sponging of the Wild Wasabi over it either. I’ve used one of the the brads from the Antique Brad collection (I simply adore these brads, using them whenever I can!) in the centre of this which to me adds to that old-world, “Remember When” feel…

Mini Scrapbook Front Page Recipe
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Whisper White
Classic Ink: Espresso, Wild Wasabi
Stamp Set: Word Play (Clear Mount)
Accessories: DSP-Greenhouse Gala, Antique Brads,
Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Dimensionals,
Sticky Strip, Organza/Satin Ribbon

Oh, and have yourself an... Inkee Fiddling Day!

Joanne x

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