Want Free ribbon?

What a silly question...Of course you do! Especially if it looks like this, and there's over 18 metres of it!

From 1-30 September, you can get an exclusive Ribbon Bundle* FREE when you spend $100 on any Stampin' Up! products or host a $600 workshop.

*Ribbon bundle includes 9.1 metres each Certainly Celery 5/8" poly-twill ribbon and So Saffron 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

Both of these ribbons aren't in our catalogue, so this will be your only opportunity to get them....let me know if you "need" to order a few bits and pieces so you can take part in this great offer ;o)

Team Meetings

One of my favourite gatherings are our team meetings. I hold them in my house, and it won't be long before we don't all fit, but I'm going to have them here for as long as I possibly can! We're planning a second storey renovation for early next year which will include knocking down a couple of walls downstairs to make a large dining room at the back of the house, so that will help! I'm going to put off hiring a hall for as long as possible because I just prefer a homey atmosphere. Our team meetings are always pretty informal. It's just a nice way to touch base with everyone, compare notes, and share what we've been up to. Of course there's always some stamping too. This was our most recent make-and-take. Everyone at the meeting made one, plus I like to mail one out to all those who couldn't make it on the day.

It's a super quick card that can easily be adjusted to suit almost any stamp set and punches, so it's a layout that I come back to again and again for workshops.

TIP: This card uses A4 cardstock very economically. The Kiwi Kiss piece is 10.5 x 7.4cm, so you can get 8 from an A4 sheet with no leftover bits. The Whisper White piece is 10.5 x 5.9cm so you can get 10 pieces from an A4 sheet with no leftovers. Super quick and easy for last-minute card emergencies!

This design also works well in workshops because although it is very simple, it has quite a few steps. So one person can be stamping butterflies (stamp 3 times in Riding Hood Red ink without re-inking the stamp), while another stamps the background stems in Pink Pirouette, and another stamps their sentiment in Kiwi Kiss. There's also some Paper piercing, faux stitching, edge distressing, sponging and punching to keep everyone busy, and give them some practise at various techniques and tools.
I couldn't resist making a stepped-up version....sometimes cards just beg to have their glad-rags on!Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Great Friend, Oval All
ink: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss
card: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
other: Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Mat pack, White Gel Pen, sponge daubers, Cutter Kit (Distressing Tool), Felt Fusion, Rhinestone brads, Pink Pirouette Striped ribbon, Horizontal Slot punch, dimensionals

Challenge reminder and extension!

Well, it looks like everyone's August has been as busy as mine. Either that or you don't find the Spring Mini very inspiring...and I KNOW that can't be true!! So far there is only one entry to my August challenge. While I would love to give Di the prize (and her card is gorgeous!) I would also love to see a few more entries, so I'm going to extend the challenge into September.
So, have a go and then leave your link HERE, so we can all see your work.
You have until September 15 to take part. The Challenge is open to anyone in Australia OR New Zealand (I had a few Kiwi entries last time, so I'd like to include you guys!)
Good luck!

Back down to earth!

It's been back down to earth with a thud this week! I haven't had a single present on my pillow, no one has whisked away my plate after I've finished eating, and I've even had to eat lunch alone!! It's been hard getting Noosa out of my system, I tell ya!

All that aside, I've had back-to-back classes the last few days, and it's been fun sharing all the Noosa news and swaps with so many of you. I haven't had a chance to do any creating since I've been back, so I thought I'd show you the other card we made in last month's technique class, on embossing:

We used the 'Fifth Avenue Floral' rose for the background, and embossed with clear powder. I love this effect of a raised shiny background. For the focal image, we stamped the rose again on watercolour paper and this time embossed with white powder. The colouring has been done with Patty Bennett's "Fool Proof Watercolouring" technique. So effective and easy to do!
Then some sponging, layering and paper piercing to finish off. The embellishment is Basic Grey Taffeta ribbon, a flower brad and a half pearl (I borrowed this genius idea from the very clever Teneale).
I'm hoping to get some creating time in tomorrow (fingers crossed!)



Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Fresh Cuts
ink: Versamark, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey
card: Basic Grey, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Watercolour paper
other: Flower brads, Pretties kit, White EP, Clear EP, Heat tool, Small oval Punch, Large Oval punch, Eyelet Border punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Basic Grey Taffeta Ribbon, Mat pack, sponge daubers, dimensionals

Incentive Trip Day 5

Our final day *sob!*

Most of us gathered for a final brekky in the Hotel restaurant, apart from the NZ girls who had an early flight. We sang a rousing Happy Birthday to Makeesha which she thoroughly enjoyed (not!)

Pop on over to her blog to wish her a happy belated birthday. I'm sure she'd like that a lot more!

Our flight was due to leave at 11:15, but I think SU! wanted to prolong our trip, as the flight was delayed, and delayed and delayed, and we ended up waiting at the airport for an extra couple of hours. It's lucky we had good company!
We even got to say another goodbye to the Perth girls, who were due to fly out much later than us, but ended up flying out at a similar time. And Makeesha was really glad we were still there, so we could get the whole airport singing her happy birthday!!We were all laden with much more stuff than we arrived with, thanks to all those wonderful pressies we were given. A couple of people were slightly more laden than the rest of us, as they thought the milk glasses with our cookies were part of the gift! (the glasses actually belonged to the Sheraton...oops!)
Now it's back to earth with a thud, and back to some regular posts. I hope you've enjoyed getting a taste of what Incentive Trip is all about.
Without my wonderful customers and team I wouldn't have even been there at all, so my heartfelt thanks to all of you! 2010's trip is to Hamilton Island, and I don't think I can bear to miss it, so I'd better get to work!

Incentive Trip Day 4

Warning...this post is a biggie, so you might want to grab a cuppa!
I'm back home now (great to be back, but I miss everyone too!), and I thought you all might like to hear all about the last couple of days of the trip. I hope you've enjoyed reading the updates. I know I used to when I wasn't on the trip myself.

Check out all the gorgeous swaps I received. It's great fun to spread them out on the bed and ooh and aah over them:

There's some amazing art there!
On Friday night we wandered down the road and spent our dinner voucher on some cocktails at Ricky's Restaurant. Here we are sipping on some yummy concoctions. Jayne, Linda, Teresa, me, Dave, Georgina, Gareth and Tanya:

Then we went to dinner next door to a Mexican Restaurant, where the lovely waitress brought us a mixture of all sorts of bits and pieces and 2 jugs of Sangria...perfect! Then we wandered back down the road and picked up some gelato which we took back to Teresa's room and chatted and laughed for hours. Nicki and Vicki joined us and there were some absolutely hilarious moments!
In our rooms waiting for us was a lovely wooden salad bowl filled with kitchen-y stuff (I think the dishwashing liquid is a present for our hubbies LOL)

The red tube is a Victoria's Secret body lotion (or dubbed by Teresa "undies in a bottle")

On Saturday we got to have a sleep in. It was a free day to do whatever we felt like. Some people headed off early for Fraser Island, and some went to Eumundi markets. We opted for jet skiing (or shall we say I was railroaded into jet skiing!!)
We had our last spin of the wheel. Here I am, with Janiel and Angie (note the jars of 'candy'!). It was bonus day on the wheel, and I won paper snips, build-a-brad and Fresh Cut notes. Woo Hoo!
Here's our jet skiing party Sean and Emma, Neil and Steph, me and Dave, Nicki and Dave, Vicki and Steve, Jayne and Gareth, Ngaire and Jane:
We had a blast. We were out for 1 1/2 hours and that was plenty for me! We went out in pairs and it was really choppy and windy. By the end I had a rash on my chin from holding on so tightly to Dave that my chin was rubbing on his life jacket, and I ripped the belt loops on the front of his jacket with the death grip I had on him!! I managed to stay on though (probably because I wouldn't let him go very fast...speed demon I am not!) Steph has photographic evidence on her camera that I actually did it.

The best bit was the lovely warm shower when we got back, and then we headed out for lunch at the Surf Club:

We did a spot of souvenir shopping for the kids and then went to our rooms to glam up. We had to meet in the foyer at 4:30pm for our surprise final night dinner. We were all on the coach trying to guess where we were headed. It was a 40 minute trip and the guesses ranged from castles to Silent movies. Our only clue was that we were "heading back in time". I think the whole bus went "ooooohhhhh" when we turned the corner and saw these lined up:
Don't ask me the name of the car we were in, but it was 1950's-looking! Here is me, Ngaire and Jane in the back seat, feeling pretty special!
We were driven to The Plantation, a gorgeous Function venue. It was all done up beautifully (SU! Really know how to make us feel special!)
At each of our place settings was a soft white pashmina scarf Here's our table - Kerri, Yvonne, me and Makeesha
And this is the gorgeous view that we got to gaze at...aren't those flowers divine?? (OK the guys are pretty cute too!) This is our jet ski crew looking a bit more glamorous!

There was also an astronomer there, and he had set up several telescopes so we could view the stars. We got to see Alpha Centuri and Jupiter...amazing!

Dave snapped a photo of me with Shelli just before it was time to go

Janiel had organised for the whole driveway to be lit up. It was hard to take a photo of, but each of those lights is a paper bag, with sand and a tea light in it. She had them spaced exactly evenly, and it looked amazing. It was a long driveway too, so I can't imagine how long it took them to do that.
...As if we hadn't had enough presents, when we returned to our room, this was on our beds:

A gorgeous (huge!) Chocolate brown bag with leather handles. There was also some milk and cookies in the third red hat box for us to enjoy.

I don't think anyone wanted the night to end, so we ended up with quite a few people in our room for drinks, nibblies, card tricks (by Harry Torres) and balloon animals (by Dave). Sooooo much fun!It was 1am before we got to bed, but it was worth it!

Incentive Trip Day 3

Oh my goodness..Karaoke. Never done it before, or sung in public before, but it was soooo much fun! There were about 40 of us Stampin' Uppers at the Surf club last night (I don't think they knew what had hit them!) including Shelli and Stirling, Aaron (Aus manager) and his wife Karen, Dave Baugh (US head office) and his wife Jennifer and Emma (NZ manager)and her husband Sean. Aaron, Karen, Dave and Sean all had a turn on stage. It was an evening full of laughs.
Ness and I did 3 ABBA numbers. We looked and sounded just like them (not!!). Here we are doing our Waterloo moves:We did some high kicks to Sean's number (Ness, me, Tanya, Vicki and Jane - Ngaire's sister): And all the girls got up for a couple of numbers too:

There were some priceless moments...Aaron and the boy's Peter Garrett impersonation to "Bed's are Burning"; singing "Stampin' Queens" with all the girls, Dave's "Blame it on the Boogie"; Dave and Gareth's duo to "Summer of '69"(Jayne and I had to rescue them); Karen rescuing Aaron from the groper.....like I said, it was a fun night!!
and then I came back to our room at 11pm to find a pressie on my bed!

oooh what could be inside?? A cute Ikea tea towel was used to wrap up some goodies...

....that I can't show you until November because some of them are going to be in our new mini.

We got 6 inkpads (black stazon, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, More Mustard and Tempting Turquoise) and 2 markers that we needed for our make-and-take session today, plus a BRAND NEW punch and a BRAND NEW cute, cute, cute stamp set. It's new to us AND not in the U.S. yet either! And then I had to try and get to sleep after that night of excitement!!!
This morning I just had a light brekky in our room (still full from the Ricky's restaurant cooking adventure) and then headed downstairs to swap and stamp.

Here's all the achievers assembled for a group pic:

Here we are chatting and swapping:

And here is my make-and-take group (Rachael Knight, Jacque Pedersen, Patrice Halliday-Larsen from NZ, Ngaire and Jayne):

I'm not allowed to show you the make-and-takes we did, but they are really cute! I can show you my swap card though:
All the swaps I received are just amazing. I'll have them out to show you all at my classes over the next month. It sure is a talented bunch of people here.

and I couldn't let a day go past without showing you another food photo. This is the ice cream buffet that we got to tuck into after our make-and-takes:

AMAZING! Actually that's only half of it...the other side has other flavours and more garnishes.

This afternoon we had a leisurely lunch with Jayne and Gareth (yes more food) and then we wandered around the shops for a bit. Tonight we are off to use our Ricky's Restaurant voucher.
I also spun the wheel today and won some 'Walk in the Park' papers. They have also set up a Candy bar, with pretty jars filled with different American candies....Reece's pieces, Peanut Butter Cups, Peanut Butter m&ms, and other weird flavoured things!

Incentive Trip Day 2

I'm back again! Firstly, some catch up news from Day 1...This is the card that Shelli made us. So gorgeous! And the writing inside has to be seen to be believed... I also forgot to tell you about spinning the wheel! Every day, we hand in a ticket for a chance to spin the Prize Wheel. Yesterday I spun and won a pack of Ski Slope paper, AND I got a bonus prize of a pack of Jumbo brads, just for my keen observation skills! The wheel has lots of red and blue segments, and just one green one. When I went in to have a spin, no one had yet spun a green, so no one knew what the green prize was. After I spun (blue) and they gave me my Ski Slope paper, I said to the SU! girls "Isn't green for Jumbo Brads? That's what you have written on the blackboard sign?" They cheered and I got the prize for noticing, because no one else had! Yay me! Today I won Baja breeze corduroy buttons (spun blue again) and the green prize wasn't on the blackboard, so I don't know what it is yet!
This morning we had a lovely brekky at a nearby cafe, with some lovely people:Jayne, Georgina, Ness, Linda and me.
There was a greedy bush turkey (I think that's what it was!) at the table next to us, enjoying some tea and jam!

Then we sailed down the river on a ferry to Ricky's Restaurant

and we were divided into our Masterchef teams. In our Pink Pirouette team were Geoff Hunter, Kerri Hunter, Shelli, Stirling, Nick Rawlins, Janine Rawlins and our chef Sam. Don't we look spiffy in our hats and aprons??

Our task was to cook Creme Brulee tarts. We made the custard from eggs, milk, vanilla pods, caster sugar and cream. And made the pastry from flour, butter and eggs. How cute are Shelli and Stirling getting their hands...errrr gloves dirty kneading the dough:

After the tarts were baked, we used a blow torch to caramelise sugar for the top. At first, they just had us hold the little tart in one gloved hand, and the blowtorch in the other, but then we discovered that it was better to do it on a metal tray. Here's Stirling doing it the proper way (with Shelli looking on somewhat anxiously):

Dave kindly demonstrated what not to do by setting his latex glove on fire and badly burning his finger. Ouch! It was almost impossible to see the flame in the sunlight, and he couldn't get his burning glove off quickly enough.

Makeesha is sporting an injury of a different kind. She is on crutches at the moment and her foot and ankle are all bandaged up. What you can see of her toes are swollen and all shades of blue and green. She isn't missing out on the fun though!

Every team made a different dish, and then we got to enjoy the fruits of our labour, with a leisurely 4-course lunch!

This was the entree - Stuffed and crumbed ceringola Olives, Hervey Bay Scallops wrapped with prosciutto and celery leaf, and Chorizo and Manchego croquettes.

The 2 mains were Wild Mushroom and Truffle Gnocchi and Braised Duck Raviolo. Desserts were Chocolate truffles and our Creme brulee tarts. And no, I didn't remember all those names...we were given recipe booklets to take home :o)

These were our lunch companions - Robyn, Sharon, me and Janine:

Here are the real Masterchefs (and the paparazzi taking photos!)

Awards were given for the best chef in each group. They each won a Pretties Kit. But the best "Masterchef" over all won a dinner voucher for 2 for $150. Guess who??? Dave and his burned finger!! So we get to go back and enjoy some more scrumptious food...but I've heard they do good cocktails, so I think a few of us might head down there for pre-dinner drinks tomorrow.

Tonight we're hitting the Surf Club for Karaoke. I might need a LOT of drinks before you'll see me up there with a microphone!