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?

Birthday girl

I realised that I have forgotten to share with you all some of the piccys from my beautiful bubba's 3rd birthday. We all had so much fun. We celebrated on two occasions, once with grandparents and then again at her very first 'official' birthday party. It was pretty much an 'all girls' affair, aside from her every loving big brother, who played lolly distributor on the day,a much coveted job, which he adored.

xx mama

My spot for a cuppa

Thought I would share with you today a little pic of my favourite spot to have my morning cuppa. A little spot just off our bedroom, where I can watch the world go by and my little one can join me with her little chair too.
Do you have a favourite spot to have your cuppa? Let me know where it is, and what it is about that spot that makes it special for you.

xx mama

A beautiful day

Another beautiful day here in Sydney. The sun is shining and the autumn leaves are starting to turn golden and getting ready to fall from the trees. The mandarins are beginning to turn a beautiful colour and the autumn flowers are blooming.

But today is one of those days for me, where I really must get stuck into the washing and start putting the house back together. You know what it is like when all the general mess or everyday living just gets too much, and all I want to do is spruce it all up and bring some of the outside in by the way of whatever greenery and flowers I have in the garden. And maybe even a little bit of interior decorating, changing the little vignettes in my house around. For me, changing these little vignettes in my home around are a reward at the end of all the cleaning and washing. Can't wait!

But before I get started, I thought I would share with you some photos of my garden I took this morning. I just wanted to capture the lovely light and fresh crisp feel of an autumn morning.

Have a lovely day!

Sweet shop

My daughter had her first 'real' birthday party on the weekend, and I must say, that I had just as much fun making things for her party and planning it as the girls did on the day.

(I have to apologise for the quality of the photo, I was obviously having a bad photo day)
I had an absolute ball making these little cupcake boxes for each guest to take home, (with their choice of cupcake). I made them to look like a little patisserie, and each was labelled with a guests name. Too cute! (I found the idea for these little cuties online where they were a mass produced thing, but for the life of me, can't find where I saw them.)

An obsession

I have a confession...my name is Amanda and I am a paper addict. This is an addiction that has afflicted me since an early age. But it is only in the last 18 months that this addiction has truly reached its peak. One of my best friends, Juliette, is an amazing paper crafter, and a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. She has fuelled the fire that is my passion for all things paper, crafty and pretty. So my piccy to share with you today is one of my latest creations. This is a little gift card holder, such a good way to package that special gift card and birthday card into one.

Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Welcome..

...to the journey, the journey of a mama who must make.
I know that I can't be the only mama out there who has this affliction. The affliction of making. Come on ladies, own up...who out there is a mama or nanna or lady who must make?
Whether it be cooking, sewing, paper-crafting, decorating, or many other creative endeavours, speak up lovely ladies...are you also addicted to making?
Let me know who you are, where you are from and what you love to make.
Let's share and go on this journey together.