Strawberry Delight

DD12 has a birthday party to attend at the weekend and asked for a card. I was told the birthday girl is "fun and bubbly, likes mid-tone pinks and bright colours". Then she picked a paper from my stash and that gave me colours, stamp set and sentiment right away! After that, it all came together very quickly and easily - I wish all my cards did that, LOL!

It's non SU paper but it goes so well with SU colours that you'd think it was theirs.

Of course I stamped a strawberry on the inside and on the envelope too.

Materials used:

• stamps - Tart and Tangy, Something Sweet
• card - pink pirouette, regal rose, wild wasabi, whisper white, non SU paper (stash)
• punches - 32 mm circle, 35 mm circle, scallop circle, decorative label
• other - regal rose ribbon, dimensionals, markers, dazzling diamonds, two way glue pen

Thanks for calling in.

Cheers

Kez

Jelly Beans and Life Savers

This card is something quite different from my usual, but there is a special reason for that. Today is World Diabetes Day and my younger daughter (DD12) has Type 1 Diabetes (previously known as Juvenile Diabetes or Insulin Dependent Diabetes).

Unlike the more common Type 2 diabetes, Type 1 is not lifestyle related and cannot be prevented. It is an autoimmune disease that is triggered by a virus and causes the body's immune system to attack cells in the pancreas where sugar from food is turned into energy.

DD12 has to check her blood sugar levels around 6 times a day and must inject herself with insulin every time she eats and at regular intervals throughout the day 24/7, 365 days a year. There are around 140,000 Australians living with Type 1 Diabetes, most of them children or young people.

If her blood sugar levels go low that is known as Hypoglycaemia and DD12 eats jelly beans to bring her sugar levels back up to a normal level quickly. That's the reason for the design of my card, a bunch of jelly beans arranged to spell the word CURE. And the reason for my header, because jelly beans can literally be a life saver to a type 1 diabetic.

As her favourite colour jelly bean is black, I've used the gorgeous striped grosgrain ribbon in black - plus I think it looks like a licorice strap, another good thing for a hypo! I used my Versamark pen to clear emboss the jelly beans to give them that sugar-coated candy look.

I'd like to also dedicate this card in spirit to all Type 1 diabetics out there, and especially Kim and Lynda.

Thanks for calling in today.

Cheers
Kez

Summer Mini Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampers Anonymous Summer Mini blog hop! I am number two on the tour, so if you want to start at the beginning, pop over to Marelle's blog and then come back, or you can start here and still make the complete circuit just by following the links at the end of each post. There are 14 stops along the way and we hope you will visit each one to see the GORJUS creations we have to show you!

We are featuring the beautiful new products in the Summer Mini, available to you from tomorrow, 1st December. Feel free to “share the love” and leave a comment! So sit back, relax and enjoy!

My first item is a gift for my SIL, who is a very keen gardener. How cute is this little watering can?!!! As soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect for my project. The stamps I have used are Hello Again and the matching wheel called Retro Remix.

Materials:

• stamps - Hello Again, Retro Remix wheel
• card & paper - certainly celery, whisper white

Next are two cards using a set called Razzle Dazzle. The first card uses a lot of direct to rubber technique and was inspired by a card by Melissa Aggie.

Materials for both cards:

• stamps - Razzle Dazzle, Best Yet, Polka Dot
• card & paper - Pacific point, whisper white, basic black, elegant eggplant, old olive, rose red patterns paper
• punches - eyelet border, large oval, scalloped oval
• ribbon - Pacific point, old olive
• other - SU markers and inks, dimensionals

My last offering today is a scrapbook layout that I knew I would do the instant I saw this set in the catalogue. As regular visitors know, DD11 has Type 1 Diabetes (that's the auto-immune type, not the lifestyle type) and part of her management plan is treating episodes of hypoglycaemia. To bring her blood sugar levels back on track she eats some jelly beans and always has them with her - hence the theme of this layout. The photo was taken the day she was diagnosed and admitted to The Children's Hospital and I have written some journalling and tucked it under the photo, with a punched tab for easy access.

Here's a close up of the gumball machine. I clear embossed it to give it that shiny, metal finish and used crystal effects on some of the jelly beans for dimension. They look good enough to eat!

Materials:

• stamps - Something Sweet
• card & paper - basic black textured card, Pink Flamingo DSP, whisper white card
• rub on - Bright Delight
• punch - round tab
• other - clear embossing powder, versarmark ink, crystal effects, lettering

The totally cute stamps are from a set called Something Sweet and you can also get a co-ordinating punch and some treat cups to use for real sweets or other goodies (they have literally a hundred uses!); I'm sure you will see some of these somewhere along the blog hop.

Thanks for coming by today; I hope these ideas may help inspire you and that you enjoy the rest of the tour. Now just click on her name to see what wonderful creations Noreen has for you.

Cheers

Kez