Global Design Project #028

Here we go again…it's time for another Global Design Project challenge, and this one is number 28. This is only the second time that I have participated, but I certainly do love taking part!

I used the opportunity to make my card do 'double duty', being that it would be a birthday card for my lovely mum (whose birthday this year falls on Easter Saturday) and be my entry into this weeks challenge over at the Global Design Project. Win-win I say!!!

So here it is…

I must admit that I did actually find this challenge quite…well…challenging. But overall I am happy with the result, and I hope my mum is too

I have used Stampin' Up! "Cottage Greetings" stamp set

and the "Pretty Petals" DSP stack, such a lovely combo in my book.

Have a great weekend!

xx Manda

Stampin' Up! fun….

Today I thought I would share with you some of my favourite creations from the last 12 months.

I must admit I had a ball making each and every one of them, and I always look forward to making more and more.

And I especially enjoy pushing myself to get the most our of my Stampin' Up products. 

They really are so very versatile and easy to use. Which makes it so very easy to make beautiful paper pieces which you can share with your friends and family.

A sweet little card for a special niece and god-daughter using the Sale-a-Bration stamp set "Honeycomb Happiness"

A pretty card with some water colouring using the "Birthday Blooms" stamp set

A fun and bright card for a boy using the "Amazing Birthday" stamp set

A little bit of fun with the "Curvy Keepsake" die

A fun little bag using the "Mini-treat bag" framelits

 A little christmas wreath, only about 15cm across (apologies for the poor photo quality)

A birthday set using the "Butterfly Basics" & the "Butterflies Thinlits dies"

detail of previous photo

Father's Day card…inspired by the lovely Teneale Williams, and using the "Tap, Tap, Tap" stamp set

12"x12" scrapbook page

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the things I have been creating in the last little while.

Don't forget to contact me if you would like to place an order, or even becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator….it really is SO much fun!

x Manda

Honeycomb Happiness…again

I have finally had the chance to participate in the Global Design Project Challenge of the week!

And I am SO excited to be able to join in. As each week I take a look and ooohh and aaahh at all the beautiful creations from the Global Design Project designers.

So here is my very first entry…

I have made use of a few of the Sale-a-Bration items:

- Honeycomb Happiness stamp set

- Metallics glitter tape

- Botanical Gardens designer vellum stack

I hope you like it, as I had fun designing and making it!

And here is a list of the other products I used:

- Daffodil Delight cardstock

- Whisper White cardstock

- Smoky Slate cardstock

- Basic Gray cardstock

- Mini Metallic clothespins

- Silver 1/8" ribbon

- Honeycomb Embellishments

- Basic Black archival ink pad

- Softly Falling embossing folder

- Ornate Tag Topper punch

- 2 1/2 inch circle punch

- Mini Treat Bag thin lit dies

- Tags & Labels Framelits dies

- Daffodil Delight ink refill

- Stampin' Spritzer

Don't forget to contact me if you would like to place an order, or have any question about becoming a demonstrator yourself or even hosting a party! Now is the time to do it, as you will get freebies, and everybody loves a freebie, right?!

xx Manda

Honeycomb Happiness : SALE-A-BRATION 2016

Well it's that time of year again…the best time in the Stampin' Up! calendar to pick yourself up a freebie! 

Yep, that's right…for every $90 you spend you get to select a freebie from a gorgeous range of stamp sets and accessories. So if you place a $90 order you get one freebie, but if you place a $180 order you get two freebies…and so on.

So if you have been thinking about placing a Stampin' Up! order, please contact me before the end of March so you can take advantage of this awesome offer!

Place an order today

And while I'm chatting about the gorgeousness of the stamp sets in Sale-a-Bration, I thought that I had better share with you one of my cards I made with the very cute "Honeycomb Happiness" stamp set.

I must admit, that when I first laid eyes on the new SAB brochure this stamp set was at the top of my list, and I hope you can see why!

Contact me to place your order today!

xx Manda

Fathers Day 2015

We spent Fathers Day this year down the South Coast, and had a lovely relaxing weekend.

I thought I would make some little tags for the serviettes which could then be used as bookmarks. The 2 dads, my hubby and my dad, both had "Best Dad Ever" stamped on their tag, and the rest of us had "celebrate" stamped on ours. 

I used the "And Many More" stamp set for both these sentiments. I love this stamp set, it is forever coming in handy, because it has SO many little words which fit so many occasions.

I also used the "Tap Tap Tap" stamp set on the card, which I stamped with Staz On onto our lovely watercolour paper and used my aqua painter and some basic gray ink to colour it in. The "alphabet rotary" stamp was given an outing, which I must say is lots of fun to use, as you can make any words you like with it and has a lovely retro look about it.

Hope your Fathers Day was great too, and maybe even involved a bit of stamping!

Until next time...

Manda xx

The March boys

When my son started kindergarten he had a core group of five friends, and three of those boys happen to have their birthdays in March. And the job of making the cards falls to me in March, as the other mum who makes cards in our group has her son as one of the three.

As with all other years, I made the same basic card, but just changed the colours around a bit. 

This year the boys are in Year 5, and I think that all us mums can't quite believe that our babies have grown so much!

I don't think that any of us are ready for them to go off to high school in a couple of years! Eeeek!

I have used the "Amazing Birthday" stamp set (134228), a circle punch, the "banner framelits die" (132173), a few embossing folders and the "Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die" (133726)

These cards were super simple and super quick to make.

x Manda

Best Birthday Ever!

Best Birthday Ever?

This class uses two of my favourite free stamp sets from Sale-A-Bration. "Best Day Ever" & "Big Day".

Come along to the class and see why they are such versatile stamp sets. In this class, we will be making  4 birthday cards...2 for the ladies, and 2 for the men. These will be great cards to have in your 'stash' for that next birthday occasion.

WHEN: Friday 20th March, 7.30pm
WHERE: my home studio (address will be provided upon booking)
COST: $15 (includes all you will need to make these cards & envelopes)

So if you'd like to come along and make these with me, just email me amandahiggins@exemail.com.au , or send me a message 0404 809 488

xo Manda

Best Year Ever!

Well Sale-A-Bration is in full swing. And until the 31st of March you are able to choose free goodies from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue. Yes...you heard it right...FREE!!! 

For every $90 you spend you can get a gorgeous freebie! Whether it be a stamp set, some 12 x 12 DSP, select Stampin' Up! Blendabilities Markers, or some gorgeous accessories. The hardest thing is deciding what to choose from the great selection on offer!

So for every $90 you spend you can choose an item from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue.

So if you spend $180...you get to choose two goodies, and so on.

Please feel free to contact me if you wish to place an order, I would be more than happy to help you with your stamping and papercraft addiction (oops...I actually meant) needs.

I am also holding classes this year, so feel free to contact me if you'd like to come along and join in the fun and meet some new friends. 

Classes are in my home studio, which is located in Baulkham Hills, Sydney.

amandahiggins@exemail.com.au

That brings me to my latest class....

Which...by the way...uses one of the Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, "Best Day Ever"and Sale-a-Bration 12 x 12 paper, "Best Year Ever". Both of which I totally adore!

I know we are already in February, but I figured that this little calendar we will be making, along with a post-it note holder, will be very handy as the year goes on.

I can see this sitting on a teachers desk, your office desk, or just beside the phone for those little notes and checking on what you have coming up.

Now this original idea for the calendar is not mine, but a gorgeous friend of mine, Marelle Taylor. (See her original post here)

Marelle's work is so beautiful, which by the way, matches her personality.

So if you'd like to come along and make these me, just email me amandahiggins@exemail.com.au , or send me a message 0404 809 488

WHEN: Friday 6th March, 7.30pm
WHERE: my home studio (address will be provided upon booking)
COST: $20 (includes all accessories & adhesives)

Big Day

 It was my niece's 2nd birthday last week, and a special girl called for special packaging, and a special card...but I totally forgot to photograph it before I sealed the envelope..whoops!

And being a big day...I knew that I needed to use the Big Day Stamp Set for this occasion.

I absolutely love this stamp set...and what I love about it even more, is that you can get it free, yes for FREE with a $90 order. But only during Sale-a-Bration which runs until 31st March.

So now is the best time to put in an order, as there are so many goodies in this years Sale-a-Bration catalogue, I am sure you will love it!

Contact me if you would like a catalogue posted out to you.

The list of ingredients that I used to make this are below.

Extra-Large Gift Boxes 132147 (AC)

Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim 137910 (Occasions Catalogue)

Strawberry Slush Cardstock 131300 (AC)

Daffodil Delight Cardstock 121680 (AC)

Confetti Celebration DSP 133692 (AC)

Clothespins 133764 (AC)

Birthday Bash Designer Washi Sheets 137788 (Occasions Catalogue)

Big Day Stamp Set 139109/139112 (SAB)

"Hello December" Christmas cards

So I finally bit the bullet....and admitted my love of all things paper. And as a consequence, I have signed up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator...which I am not so secretly excited about ;)

I have been going to classes held by other Stampin' Up! demonstrators for a few years now, and have been buying and having so much fun with their products that I thought that I may as well come out of the paper closet!

And since Stampin' Up! have joined in partnership with Becky Higgins from Project Life to bring easy memory keeping / scrapbooking to the Stampin' Up product line I was SOLD.

That brings me to these cards....which will be the first ever class I will hold (yep, I'm a bit nervous)

They are made using the Hello December Project Life Card Collection. And priced at only $12.95 for 70 cards!!!! A bargain in my eyes.

So they have very little stamping, so this is suited to the absolute beginner. You need absolutely NO experience to come along and make these cards, only the willingness to have some fun, a cuppa and a chat with some other ladies.

 We will be making all four cards that you see at the back of the pic, and two of each of the smaller ones you see at the front....so that makes a total of 12 cards.

The class will be held in my home studio in Baulkham Hills, Sydney (I will send you the address when you book in) on Monday 1st December and Tuesday 2nd December, 7pm for a 7.30 start.

(When you email me, please let me know which evening you would prefer to come)

The class is $25 which includes the Hello December Project Life Card Collection ($12.95 value), and everything else you see here, plus the envelopes.

If you are interested in coming along, please send me an email amandahiggins@exemail.com.au
and I will put your name on the list

looking forward to seeing you there!

xx Manda

Good to the Last Bite

Happy Halloween!

I made these little treat holders a couple of days ago for my kids to give out to their friends at our school movie night, which is being held outdoors in the schools grassed area on Halloween night.

They were super simple to make. I just stamped on Tangerine Tango cardstock, using the Merry Everything stamp set (which is available in the Stampin Up Holiday Catalogue)
I thought that this little vampire was too cute, and my kids think so too!
And then punched out the tag using the Note Tag Punch....too easy!!

I will let you in on a little secret....you know when you place an order with Stampin Up! and they send you a whole load of brown paper as filler?
Well...this is what I made the little treat bags out of.
A little bit of snail adhesive....a punch or two...a bit of twine and you are ready to roll.....but don't forget to add a little treat or two!


Hope your Halloween is fun...with a little bit of spooky thrown in for good measure.


xx Manda

Weekend round-up 1

Well there we go, another weekend has passed us by, and what a miserably wet weekend it was!

Hubby organised a skip to be delivered first thing on Saturday morning..and first thing it was...around 7am I think. For those of you that are early risers, that seems reasonable, right? But here in this little cottage, we aren't fans of the 'early to bed, early to rise' theory.

So, the kids had stayed over at my parents house the night before. As they, the grandparents that is...felt like they hadn't seen the kids 'for ages'. So we packed their over night bags, along with the obligatory cuddly toys and the odd bit of Lego and dolly, and headed to Nanny and Nonnos for dinner.
And really let's face it, no one quite cooks like your mum, don't you agree?

Then as Saturday rolled around, the kids and grandparents went on a little adventure to the Australian Museum. Hubby worked hard filling the skip bin, and I pottered about the house, tidying and getting as much of the dreaded washing done as I possibly could in all this wet weather we have been having here in Sydney.

The kids returned home late Saturday afternoon and normal transmission was resumed.

Dinner...showers...bed time (for the kids)...and a well earned glass of red for hubby and I.
So all was right in the world.

Sunday morning...Father's Day here in Australia...and I had already prepped the kids to remind them that daddy isn't an 'up and at 'em' kind of guy, and that being his special day, he would probably appreciate a sleep in. So some time after 8am the kids rolled into our room and hugs and present and card giving ensued.

Don't you just love the cards the kids make? Their drawings they always add are always my favourite.

And as usual, I made one for hubby too.


So how do you celebrate Father's Day?