A Card for Asher (Warning: lots of proud Aunty moments coming up!!!)

My nephew Asher James Xavier Gould was born on 23 April 2011 at 10:20pm weighing in at 3.3kg or 8lb 5oz for those of us that only know baby weights as imperial measurements. He is beautiful and healthy and I'm in love!

So, what's the first thing a stamper needs to do when she finds out she's an Aunty? Make a card of course!! (well ok, it wasn't exactly the first thing, the first thing I did was wait until we got home from Orange - he had to be born the weekend we were away!! Then I had to meet him in person, BUT the next thing I had to do was make him a card lol)

This card was super easy to make using the new Tasteful Trim XL Bigz die in the Winter mini, I cut 3 layers at a time and only had to run the die through the bigshot twice! Then it was just a matter of gluing the strips down. I used all the Blues & Greens from the Soft Subtles Patterns Stack as well as sneaking in a little Yellow (Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi & So Saffron). The yellow is a bit of a dig at the new dad who doesn't think that yellow can be a colour for baby boys, Carmen & I love taking every chance to point out that yellow can be a perfectly boyish colour!

I CASEd this card from this online find, toning it down to suit the new baby look (but it's still on my list to recreate exactly as shown, it's such a beautiful card!):

Source: pinkbuckaroodesigns.blogspot.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Now for the proud aunty pics! (I had to steal these from facebook because I was too busy having cuddles that I forgot about taking any photos of my own! But I know that I will rectify this next time I visit!) 

Sucking his little thumb, isn't he the most adorable thing you've ever seen???

He has eyes!

Safely home!

Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould

Baby Shower for Carmen

My sister-in-law had her little boy Asher (proud Aunty post to come next time, I've got to give the card & gift to her before I can post it here)

One of the girls from work threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law Carmen but our mother-in-law and Nana-in-law couldn't make it so I threw another one for everyone who couldn't come to the first one, of course I couldn't help adding a bit of SU! style to the decorations!

A banner made with SU! products, I didn't use the pendant die because I didn't have it but after handmaking each of these little flags I'm really wishing I did have it!
I had to keep a gender neutral theme for the decorations which was hard because even though I knew that he was a boy there were people who didn't want to know what she was having. I think I went a bit overboard with pink trying to compensate for knowing he was a boy lol!

Close up of the banner, I used the Bigz alphabet dies (name escapes me right now) covered in a little crystal effects for some shine.

This little journal idea I stole from a friend who saw it at a baby shower she went to. It's a little journal of mummy tips & childhood stories for the mother to be, I covered a 5x5" On Board art journal with some Lap of Luxury DSP.

Close up of the ribbon covered spine, I had fun with this one, can you tell? ;p

I added a little tab for each category & her name using the Timeless Type Jnr Sizzlits dies.

Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould

Pinterest Eyecandy

A little something from my pinterest boards today

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Source: alisatilsner.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Source: danielledaws.blogspot.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Source: marciapringle.blogspot.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Source: cardalacarte.com via Zarna on Pinterest

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Just to be clear I'm not claiming this work as my own, just projects that inspire me in some way and I want to stamp like this when I grow up.

Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould

Some eyecandy for you

I've discovered pinterest lately and I've been using it to keep track of stamping projects that inspire me. I thought if I post some of my favourite "pins" you might forget that I haven't posted any of my own work on here all week...

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Source: stampwithheather.typepad.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Source: thinkingstamps.blogspot.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Source: kgiron.blogspot.com via Zarna on Pinterest

Source: acolourfulworld.blogspot.com via Zarna on Pinterest

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Just to be clear I'm not claiming this work as my own, just work that I think is fantastic and love and I want to stamp like these ladies when I grow up!

Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould

New video series - Quilting with the Bigshot

I have a new video series for you, here are the first 2 videos, I'll get the rest up once I edit them and as I finish the quilt.
Excuse the eyeshadow, it wasn't really that dodgy looking but I had trouble with lighting and it made it look darker. I hope you enjoy them, it's my first go at using iMovie as well as at filming myself so I have a bit to learn. I also don't know how to choose the exact point I want for the YouTube thumbnail so I can't get rid the dodgy ones of me for the pretty intro sequence I made...

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Introduction:


Link for quilt sizing: http://www.stargazey.com/downloads/sizingbedquilts.pdf

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Tools & Prep:



Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould

Baby Shower Card

I woke up sunday morning, the day of the baby shower and realised that I had a gift for the mother to be (see my quilt post from Wednesday) but that I hadn't made a card yet! So excuse the photo, & messy desk, I didn't have time to do my usual set up (I didn't even have time to get out my Daylight lamp that I use to make the colours look nice, thank goodness for iPhoto!)
I already had the Marina Mist Ribbon sitting out on my desk from when I'd made the quilt so straight away I decided that would have to go on the card, and after having a quick flick through my inspiration list bookmarks I found this cute card from Amanda Reddicliff and decided I loved how the DSP & Bigshot lettering were the main focal point of the card. I moved the lettering around (not because I put the DSP & ribbon too high on the card or anything like that lol) and added a cute little vintage tag held with the cute little Vintage Trinket safety pin ( both in the Summer mini, less than a month left to order!)

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Stamps: Medallion, Short & Sweet
Ink: Marina Mist
Cardstock: Subtles Patterns DSP Stack (Bashful Blue), Marina Mist
Bigshot: Timeless Type Jnr Sizzlits
Accessories: Marina Mist 1 1/4" Grosgrain, Vintage Trinkets, Vintage Tags

Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould

Bigshot quilt

I had my first go at quilting just recently and I finally finished the quilt so I thought I would post it here. It's not the most traditional of Stampin' Up! projects but I have used a couple of SU! products to show you some of the versatility in your stamping stuff that you already have lying around at home.

This is a little cot sized quilt that I made using the Scallop Square Bigz Die & my bigshot to cut all the squares.
If you're a quilter you've probably already spotted the main difference between my quilt and a normal rag quilt, however I'm not a quilter and I just started happily stitching along before I thought to check out any tutorials etc, so I didn't know that when you quilt a rag quilt you should quilt the backing, batting & front piece together all before you start assembly rather than assembling the front first then quilting the backing & batting together to the front at the end.
It wasn't until I took it to my friend (who is a quilter) and said "What do I do now?" that she told me all the things wrong I'd done (she was rather too helpful with that part lol!). But with a little creativity (mostly on her part) we were able to work around my mistake and find a way to make it work. Had I done it properly it would have just been a case of stitching around the border to keep the edge pieces together & the quilt would have been finished by that stage, but oh well, we live & learn right?

I attached a border around the edges, then cut the batting & back to size. I pinned it all together & stitched these little borders around the outside (I'm sure there is some technical quilting term but I'm happy with borders). Since there wasn't traditional quilting over the middle of the quilt to hold the pieces together I did have to add a few little hand stitches in amongst the ruffled edges to hold the 3 pieces together and make sure that it could be gentle machine washed.

To finish it off nicely I folded some Marina Mist Striped Grosgrain in half to make a sweet little border around the edge of the quilt. The extra wide grosgrain is soft enough that it was easy to handle and the edge of the quilt is still nice and flexible. I originally added this to hide yet another mistake I had made but I'm really glad it worked, I think the Marina Mist looks really good next to that baby blue flannelette.
I wish you could feel this quilt, it is all sof flannelette & so so soft! I didn't want to give it away at the baby shower, I wanted to cuddle up to it in my own bed instead!
I enjoyed making this quilt so much that I'm going to have another go at a rag quilt & this time I am going to make it properly, I will be in Bathurst today so I'm so excited to go to spotlight and pick out some fabric for Charlotte's quilt!!! It will be the first time in years that I will be making a beeline for the material section rather than the scrapbooking/crafts area!
Too bad SU! don't have their beautiful range of fabric available in Australia, I could be ordering right now from the comfort of my couch :) Speaking of ordering, if anyone needs anything I will be placing an order for myself  next week so if there's anything you want while you can still earn Sale-a-Bration freebies drop me a line and I might be able to save you a little on postage by combining your order with mine

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Bigshot: Scallop Square Clear Bigz Die
Accessories: Marina Mist 1 1/4" Grosgrain

Images © Stampin' Up!, Designs © Zarna Gould