Stampin' With Michelle Pepper

On the sixth day of Christmas... Thought I'd better document on the blog what our Christmas card design was for 2014 so I don't embarrass myself sending a similar design next year, lol. I sent most of the cards out on the 19th Dec this year, one day earlier than last year. My goal is to have it in peep's letter box by 1 Dec so they can enjoy it and think of me (LOL) all of December. Next year maybe... Even though I have a small-ish list  (compared to some friends I know who sends out like 150 Christmas cards!) it is still large enough that a simple yet effective design is called for. It was a tough decision but in the end I have chosen to go with the Very Vanilla base because 1) last year's card was white on white, so this year's ought to be different and 2) it's easy to access white card stock in regular retail store, but a colour such as Very Vanilla is not so common, and somehow, seems higher end to me. The tree image is from the all dependable,

As we all know, trends come and go, and they return, much to the delight of some and not to others. Well, shaker cards and sequins have made a comeback it seems, so of course I have to make at least one this year :-) This card features the Endless Wishes stamp set - don't you love that you can bend photopolymer stamps to create a different look? Just for fun, I thought I'll do that to the "Christmas" part of the sentiment. Clear embossing the snowflakes also added interest to this card. (ps: I thought I had published this but I just found out tonight that it was flagged as draft. Have put it up anyway since technically it is still Christmas season...we're only on the 4th day of Christmas.)

Death is no respector of time or seasons :-( While many will enjoy the warmth and joy that is of the season of Christmas, unfortunately, many will be facing a Christmas without their lost loved ones. I don't think I am ever so aware of this as I am this year. I must be growing old, or just growing up. "Aunty Vera" lived to past the good ole age of 101. She will be remembered by me as the lovely kind lady who always made me and my boys feel so welcomed. And as an inspiration of maintaining youthfulness no matter how old you get.

Hosted my last 2014 Connect Through Stampin' Up! Craft evening last night - was so much fun. The reaction from the ladies when I presented this (Janine Tinklenberg inspired) card to them was priceless! "Wow!" "I am going to make this card tonight?" (as in, "you really think I am able to make this complicated looking card?") Yes, yes, YES! The ladies rose to the challenge and not only did they make their cards, they even put their own spin and design on it. So, I proudly present their work of art (except Irene's because I forgot to take a picture of hers before she left): Rachel's Block: Ana's Block: Margarita's Block: This is the side view of the side step card. Don't you think this Holiday Home stamp and die bundle (#137631) set is simply made for this kind of card? My classes resume again in January 2015: Friday 16th January, 2015 - 7.30pm $10 per person Saturday 17th January, 201

Click on the image above to shop from my online shop.  One of my top picks from this incredible Sale is the Under The Tree Specialty Designer Paper (p5, current Holiday Catalogue). Buy it here . These papers are cardstock weight kraft sheets with colour print on one side and white printed patterns on the other. Makes for nice sturdy gift boxes such as these: Aren't they just so adorable and functional for Christmas time? Besides, the patterns are quite neutral so they are suitable for both boys and girls. I don't think you can go wrong with this DSP.  Isn't it amazing that these boxes began life just like this: Under The Tree Specialty Designer Series Paper for $18.89 while stock lasts. 12 sheets of 12" x 12" cardstock weight.

These were quick to put together, thanks to Stampin' Up! Tiny Treat Boxes from the Holiday Catalogue. For just $14.50, I got 25 boxes all pre cut already so I just have to assemble together, no adhesive required. I already had a ton of red 1" circles cut out from another project I did with peeps several years ago (yup, I have kept them all these years, thinking I will put it to good use one day!). As it was pretty late at night on the 1 Dec when I put these together, I decided to just hand write the numbers in Chalkboard Pen. These boxes are all filled with 6 treats each for the 6 members of our family (sigh, little 3yr old gets them too, even though with my firstborn, he would not have been allowed sweet treats every day when he was 3 yrs old!) I think it is more exciting than the commercial advent chocolates because those are the same choccies each day. The kids get a surprise each day because the boxes are filled with different treats. The hard work is on my part,

Today's card features the Honeycomb Embossing Folder, and the "fall leaves" come from the Lovely As A Tree stamp set which often gets overlooked, by me anyway :-) The card again features the faux letterpress technique, where you ink up the embossing folder and then run your card stock sandwiched between the folder through the Big Shot. A button with twine through it and the thankful sentiment - that's all that is required to have a finished Thankful For You card, in time for today Thanksgiving Day. I know, it's not a Kiwi celebration traditionally, but there's no reason why I can't make it my tradition :-) So today, let me take a moment to say thank you all, my dear blog readers, near and far. And Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Today's card showcase the longest serving stamp set at Stampin' Up! - Lovely As a Tree. It is the same technique as described in my earlier post  For this particular card, I have also spritz on the gold glimmer mix, thus giving it an incredible sheen. Happy Stampin' folks.

I knew I haven't been on the ball and have neglected my blog and facebook page but I hadn't realised it has been 2 weeks! Did you know that it is quite a decision to know what to blog about first when one has been absent? Lol. You see, it's not that I have been idle and not crafted - in fact I have crafted up a storm. .. Well, since my beloved and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary today (25th November), to go with the anniversary theme, I am choosing to pick up here on the blog with this card. I made this for my upline manager, Penny Shivas. The Shivas recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary - wow!!!! That is quite a milestone, and I am so encouraged. I went with the neutral look as it is also a card for Nigel, not just Penny, and it had to have silver in it, of course! Now, I will just point out one little thing for you might find it helpful/useful to know. When you put vellum card stock through an Embossing Folder through the Big Shot, the raised embossed image is

With 6 weeks to go till Christmas, my calendar is fast filling up - how about you? As my to do list gets longer and the deadlines get shorter because there is more of an urgency at this time of the year, I see my blogging is suffering, for it's been more than a week since my last post! That won't do, so just a quick one today. I love this card - I hadn't planned for it to be a vintage card, but I love the end result! I was so impressed with the technique after watching Catherine Pooler's video that I couldn't wait to try the technique out myself. I experimented a bit with different Embossing folders, and different colour combinations so that eventually I found myself with a stack of background pieces. These have been so handy to have. As you can see from this card, it needs only very few embellishments and snap, you got a card all ready to go :-) Hope you are inspired by this technique too - have fun playing!

It is November, and today I am reminded that we are only 7 weeks away from Christmas - yay and yet yikes at the same time!!!! Of course, you will only share my latter expression if you too are feeling like you are not quite organized yet. Now, Thanksgiving day is of course celebrated in November. It isn't a big celebration in New Zealand, but I for one, just love the idea of celebrating it probably not for exactly the same reason as Americans. I just have so much to be thankful for, and so why not? Let's make it a celebration, especially with people you are thankful for. The Stampin' Up! kit featured in today's post would be an awesome way to prepare for Christmas. I have four young men in my life to nurture in each one a grateful heart. So, with this kit, I have thought of a plan to help me not get caught up in the busyness of preparing for Christmas Day, and for them to not be self focused and dream only of what they will get on Christmas Day. Starting from T

This card showcase a different way to use Embossing Folders. I have used the Woodgrain folder here as a stamp! Don't you love it when you realize what you have has multi purpose uses to it? First, sponge on the Whisper White layer any color combination you desire. I love the Coastal Cabana/Strawberry Slush/Daffodil Delight combo and I love the way it turned out in this card. Sponging is probably the coloring technique I fall back on time and time again. I'd love to show you how if you don't know what it is. Back to the card…next, you take the embossing folder of your choice and spritz water on the raised side. You want it fairly wet. Then lay your sponged piece on the side with no water, colored side up. Firmly press close the embossing folder together. Open the folder and voila, you will see the imprint of the folder's design on your sponged card. It gets more pronounced by the second, literally, as the card dries. With such a pretty background, you won&

I CASEd this card from Irene Wardlaw, a fellow member of the wider Creative Inkers team. My tweaks to the original card are: 1. using the Stampin' Up! water colour paper as the top layer - I love the texture of the water colour  paper and love the overall effect it added to the card. 2. substitute with aquapainters and ink as I don't yet own the Work of Art stamp set 3. I decided to omit the star 4. I used sentiments from Endless Wishes instead of Wondrous Wreath. Thanks for visiting! Now just a reminder that two promotions end on 31st October: 1) the free Hostess stamp set Good Greetings for hostess with qualifying order. 2) the Pick a Pack of Paper promotion for those who joins Stampin' Up! by 31st October. Click here for more details, or contact me peppertime123@gmail.com ***  Next Mum & Me class is Sat 1 November 2pm; and the evening Connect through Craft session is 14th November 7.30pm. RSVPs are open now. ***

A fun patterned paper, card stock, a single stamp, a die or framelit shape - these are all the basic supplies required for today's card. How easy it was to put together. And I needed easy since I was making this card at 1am, lol! I was determined for my boy to have a birthday card handmade by me on his birthday :-) The is a CASE of Brenda Quintana's card with my tweaks - not because her card needed any tweaking, but more because I don't have her supplies therefore had to substitute where possible. The patterned paper is from the retired Birthday Basics DSP, and the stamp is one of the seven stamps that are included in the Everyday Occasions Card Kit . I totally recommend the awesome card kits that Stampin' Up! offers. Click HERE  to view the various card kit options that are available. They are not just for beginners, because they are just so fun to put together and besides, everybody, experienced or not, need cards in a jiffy oftentimes. And with the holiday a

Stampin Up! introduces today for the first time a Holiday Supplement. Click on the picture above to link you to the supplement online. The new products introduced in this supplement are only available while supplies last so if you find something you like, don't delay, contact me asap so I can put an order in for you. My favourite item from the supplement has to be the Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit . This kit contains everything you need to create 26 three dimensional stars in a variety of sizes and patterns  - Christmas home decor all in a jiffy! Or use them as ornaments, place cards, tags, and more! Watch the video below from Stampin' Up! that shows you how you can quickly put together these boxes. I flipped when I realized that they come all with adhesive in place already - how amazing is that? Watch the video to see what I mean…especially at about 1:38minute :-) Incredible huh? Stampin' Up! has really thought through with this kit offering, I recko

Had a stamping bee here earlier this week to make these cards to go into the Welcome Packs. They are for a special event tomorrow - Gone Too Soon. This is a special free community event to acknowledge and remember babies and children gone from us too soon. The event will include a short talk from tv presenter & author Catherine Sylvester, reflection areas, remembrance crafts, resources, lantern & balloon release and more. Friends and family welcome. On the inside of the card is a beautiful poem by Kimberly McIntyre: A Mother's Love cannot be measured by increments of time... an entire lifetime of love can be squeezed into a few brief miraculous moments  A HUGE thanks to Stampin' Up! NZ for their generous support and contribution towards this community event. And a special thanks too to fellow SU demo Susan Wong for her time and support and encouragement.

This card was first inspired by the Faux Letterpress technique I saw demonstrated by my Stamp Nation sista Catherine Pooler . Then, Stamp Nation also celebrated World Card Making Day on October 4th with an incredible series of challenges, one of which I was inspired to use the different shade of blues. The eventual card, as pictured above, was what I then used for a shoebox swap in our team training session last Saturday. A swap is a lot of fun - you prepare one design and depending on the number of people in the swap, you get that many number of different cards in return. A shoebox swap simply is a variation in that you have the supplies all ready in a shoebox or any kind of suitable container for others to make the card, and in return you get to make cards that others have designed. I have had so much fun playing with this Faux Letterpress Technique - I have now made several cards with this technique that I will be sharing with you over the next few days. I would love to show y

These were inspired by Monica Gale, a UK demonstrator. You can see her card  here . Quite a few families in our local homeschool group are having new additions this year so I will be looking more closely at all the welcome baby stamp sets from Stampin Up. When I made these cards, I had no current baby stamp sets, hence I pulled out the retired Curvy Verses from storage. I love that sentiment: "One baby, many happy hearts." So true! Just a quick tip: while I like to use up every inch of the card stock, sometimes, when I punch out a shape, like the flower from the Blossom Punch, I keep in mind that I could use the "negative" side (see pic below) as well as the positive (the Blossom shape itself). For example, I could layer the negative over a piece of DSP or as in these baby cards, I used it as a matting layer. Thank you for visiting today.

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/michellepepper/promotions Stampin' Up! is excited about celebrating World Card Making Day on the 4th October 2014. And at Stampin' Up!, no celebration is complete without a fabulous promotion! From 1 October til 6 October, you can save 15% on all single ink pads, select paper, envelopes and adhesive PLUS a 20%  on select stamps. Now is the time to stock up! Place your order either by emailing me (peppertime123@gmail.com) or click here to see the discounted products . Remember these fantastic savings are only until 6 October. **** World Card Making Day : October 4th 2014 : Join me for a stamping fun session : Contact me now peppertime123@gmail.com for further details  ****

Wow, it's the end of the month already? Hmm, I can't let the month end without sharing about this stationery set which I was inspired to make for a friend.  Three convincing reasons for my making the effort to make this set: 1) My friend is American, and while the thing she loves about being in New Zealand is me (ok, ok, I am not the only reason - ha! - among many other reasons), I know she misses her family and her life in the States. So over there, her birthday would be in Autumn, not Spring as it is in New Zealand. Hence the reason I chose to use this retired (but right now on clearance, so you can either purchase through emailing me or click here ) Sweater Weather DSP which screams Autumn colors to me.  2) She's a fan of Charles Dickens, and I love, not only the friendship we have, but also the friendship between her children and mine. The perfect stamp for it therefore is one that is from the From My Heart stamp set.  3) She shares my love for pre

Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenges is celebrating their 1st birthday with Challenge #25 's theme being "Thanks". The challenge closes on September 29th, so there is still time for you to participate in the challenge too :-) I have just entered the challenge with this card, so join me! Click here to see more ideas, and to Like my entry (it is the 12th card you'll see on the list of thumbnails at the bottom of the page). I like to include a Thank You card in my customer's orders (although it sometimes doesn't happen due to life's busy-ness or maybe it's just because I am not organised enough). Moreover, I try to add value by customising the card to their order. For example, a new customer ordered the Tag Topper Scalloped Punch so I made this card to give her another idea for using the punch other than just for making tags with. The floral theme is my go-to theme when I don't know a person well, and Flower Patch  (with coordinating F

Does this card seem familiar? It is my CASE of one of the projects I got to make at the recent Auckland Party Time event. I haven't (yet) got the Choose Happiness stamp set, so I set about a challenge for myself to CASE the Kraft Grid line Journal cover (see below) with the stamp sets I already have. Original Make & Take from event: Well, I can't stop at just one card, so I also came up with the card below in a softer colour palette. It is also another excuse to use the Good Greetings stamp set, which, until the 31 October,  is the Hostess' when she host a party with the qualifying sales. What do you think?  I hope you found it helpful to see how a card can be CASED, using stamps that you already have. It's no guarantee though, that you will not crave (all the more even) for the very stamp set you don't have that was used in the original project :-) Oh, that was quite a mouthful, lol!

Look at these Make & Takes I got to make at the recent Stampin' Up!'s Party Time Auckland event. This is a regional training for demonstrators so it was awesome to meet the other demonstrators - so many talents out there! I am told these regionals are a little taste of what Convention is like ...hmm, maybe I will get to next year's event at the Gold Coast...anyone want to come with me? Back to the Make & Takes - can you see the versatility of this stamp set? It is called Choose Happiness . All three projects were made with only this one stamp set. Wow!  Choose Happiness Wood Mount $51.95 Choose Happiness Clear Mount $37.95 So, now that I have learned some tips at the Regional Training on running a workshop, I am rather keen to put it to practice! Contact me so we can plan a Stampin' Up! party you can host for your friends and family. It'll be fun, I promise :-) Also, don't forget until 31 October, as a host, y

As a demonstrator, we get the Impressions publication every two months from Stampin' Up. These are jam packed with ideas and training tips. This month I have been challenged by one of the articles about not neglecting the poor old envelope. It is so true that envelopes often take a back seat. The dear humble envelope can be so much more - just like the present itself is dressed up with a fancy package, so can the handmade card be dressed up with its envelope. It is another opportunity to say something about the recipient of your lovingly handmade card. So I made a special effort with the project for my "Connect through Creativity" class this month. What do you think? I would write the recipient's name on the heart die cut. The envelope can be re-used simply by removing the heart die cut which is only clipped to the clothespin. Then out comes the card from inside the envelope: The lighting is all funny but this next one is more true to the colours. Don