Easter is not that far away and I am gearing up for the occasion with fun ideas to hold Easter Eggs. This cute Easter Basket was enlarged and adapted from Vicky Hayes design and easily holds two marshmallow Easter Eggs, seated snuggly in some Sweet Soirée Ready Shreddie...

Generally, there are two cards that we can never have enough of, Birthday and (unfortunately) Sympathy Cards. The need for a Sympathy Card can come unexpectedly and, often, we are not in the right space to create a card to express our heartfelt thoughts. So, with that in mind, I create Sympathy Cards at times when I don't need them, to keep on standby. If you choose your sentiment carefully, these cards can also be used for sharing handwritten messages with those who are having a difficult time too, not just in times of loss.

On Sunday we held the Hamilton Extravaganza, which focussed on a selection of the gorgeous products from the 2018 Occasions Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration. Despite the heat, the whole day had a lovely, relaxing atmosphere and everyone enjoyed the creative inspiration.

One of the most popular Sale-A-Bration products is the Heartfelt Blooms stamp set. This set contains a patent-pending stamp production process that creates photo-realistic style stamps, which Stampin' Up! have called "Distinktive". This process allows you to lay down the ink at different opacities, giving the finished image more depth. To create the gorgeous Distinktive stamp in the Heartfelt Blooms set, Stampin' Up! artists styled a bouquet of flowers, photographed it, and then the manufacturing facility turned that photographed image into a rubber stamp. Here it is stamped in Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride and Calypso Coral...

You can't have a birthday card without a gift! Check out this cute gift bag that coordinates with the Double-Opening Shaker Birthday Card I shared last week, both using the fabulous Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set and both with fun shaker windows...

The "CUE THE CONFETTI" sentiment in the Picture Perfect Birthday stamp set was the inspiration for this bright and fun Birthday shaker card...

When you check your letterbox, do you open the handwritten envelopes first and savour the personal letters and cards?

Happy Valentine's Day