Friday, July 30, 2010

Have You Two-Stepped into Fabulous Yet?

July Promo

The Two-Step Stampin' promotion ends tomorrow, 31 July. Don't let this opportunity to get 20% off select Two-Step Stampin' sets pass you by--place your order today! There's no limit, and no minimum purchase required!
Choose from the following stamp sets:

ItemPageDescriptionRegular PriceSale Price
11638639Loads of Love$39.95$31.96
11634242Big Bold Birthday** $53.95$43.16
11586078A Rose is a Rose** $66.95$53.56
11633286Playful Petals** $52.95$42.36
11577098Cheep Talk $47.95$38.36
115946115Wonderful Favourites $39.95$31.96
11918714*

Tiny Tags (wood-mount)

$38.95$31.16
11859214*Tiny Tags (clear-mount) $28.95$23.16
11916331*Cottage Garden (wood-mount) $32.95$26.36
12000331*Cottage Garden (clear-mount) $24.95$19.96

*From 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue
**Retiring stamp sets!


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Stamp Camp rundown

Warning - this is a long one. You might want to grab a cuppa!

I had the most amazing weekend at Stamp Camp. It was so worth all the time and effort and preparation. Myself and 33 team members and their guests all spent from 1pm Friday to 4pm Sunday stamping and scrapping to our heart's content. The whole weekend was an absolute delight. We had the loveliest bunch of people, all so generous and sharing of ideas and creativity.
I drove up with my stamping bestie, Teneale. I always feel like Thelma and Louise when we hop into her cute little car (that she insists isn't little) and hit the freeway. It was a big relief that everything fit in there (only because she took out the back seat!). I had all my punches, inks and ribbons, my Big Shot and dies and almost all my stamps....LOTS of stuff!
The Hunter Valley Retreat is the perfect stamping location...kangaroos grazing in the lovely leafy grounds, a giant hall to stamp in and a Dining Room with a fireplace and lounges to relax in.
The hall was set up for us when we arrived, so we just unpacked the stamping gear, and then grabbed a cuppa and sat in the sun, greeting people as they arrived...not a typical Friday afternoon for me, that's for sure!
This is what everyone received when they arrived, along with their room key and nametag:
Their first Challenge - a Mystery Box! All the MasterChef watchers out there will recognise the symbol (which I got from the Masterchef website and printed onto brown paper bags). On the weekend we were going to find out who was going to be crowned out Top MasterCrafter. I thought it would be a fun (and timely) theme to base the challenges around :o)

In the bag was some cardstock (Soft Suede, Kraft, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Very Vanilla), some ribbon and a Sweet Treat Cup. They could use all of it, or just some. They had until 11am Saturday to finish the Mystery Box challenge.

We also had 10 Shoebox swaps - 10 boxes each containing a card and all the supplies needed to make it. You could grab a box, take it to your table, make the card and then swap the box for another one when you were done. Each card was made using stamps from the new catalogue... I loaned my Convention award sets out to 10 lovely team members to have a play with. They are all so clever, and the cards were all fabulous. It was great to be able to be productive, and not have to think!

We had a yummy Gourmet BBQ dinner on Friday night - marinated chicken, steak, salads, potato bake, caramelised onions...yummo! The best bit was that we didn't have to cook OR wash up!

We all stamped until the wee hours on Friday night, and woke up to kookaburras, a yummy breakfast and a pressie on our tables, left by the Stamping Fairy:That stamping fairy sure is clever, finding classy black-capped water bottles, and dressing them up in their own little Stampin' Up! aprons...and how did she know we would all need chocolate and a sugar hit after our late night? ;o)

We voted for the Mystery Box winner at 11am, and the winner was Kari, with an amazing card that had a Sweet Treat Cup filled with teeny tiny handmade cupcakes made using the Boho Blossom punch. Kari very kindly gave us all an impromptu lesson on how she made them on Sunday. As the winner, Kari got to choose the Sketch that everyone had to work with for the Invention Test. For this challenge, they had to use the Sketch along with 1 stamp set, 2 punches and 3 colours from the "pantry". The challenge closed at 6:30 before dinner.

Lunch on Saturday was gourmet open sandwiches. Honestly, these were the best sandwiches I've ever had. The chicken and avocado on pumpkin bread was my favourite. Yum!

We had 4 Presentations throughout the day on Saturday. Nikki wowed us all with the Black Magic technique, then Kerry made us all long for the Ornament Punch. Liam showed us her amazing Waterfall Backpack, and Robyn demonstrated some gorgeous Traditional pop-up cards. Clever, clever, clever! I had to masquerade as Juliette, who was stuck in hospital with a broken ankle :o( and demonstrate her gorgeous Top Note purse.

Our dinner on Saturday night was a Christmas in July theme. I set an extra Challenge to bring something Christmassy along to the dinner, so we had a table full of gorgeous cards, tags, decorations and gift ideas. We had a yummy Roast Pork dinner with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pud, custard and ice cream.

In between dinner and dessert, it was the perfect opportunity to play some Stampin' Trivia. I had them stumped on some of the questions! Just when I was about to let everyone go back to the Hall, Joelle surprised (and embarrassed!) me by saying a big thank you on behalf of everyone and presenting me with a sash (complete with handmade rhinestone pin) and tiara. On the sash was written in sparkly silver glitter "Best Demonstrator in the Universe". Isn't she so sweet?! (if a little prone to exaggeration!!) And then, as if I wasn't embarrassed enough, they MADE me sashay up and down wearing my sash and tiara. You all know how much I love the limelight...NOT. Very red-faced, I was!

When we were all back in the hall, we voted on the Invention Test entries. The Top 2 would face off in a Pressure Test against a Celebrity Crafter! It was a close contest, but our Top 2 were Kari and Amanda. They had to immediately come up the front for the Pressure Test. Their Challenge was to recreate Teneale's gorgeous Convention swap...in 25 minutes. Quite a challenge, since one of them had never even embossed before! Add to that my impersonations of George, counting down the minutes (on a clock drawn on the Whiteboard) bouncing on my toes, yelling "Come on! Get something on the plate!" and it was heaps of fun. They both managed to do a really good job - in the allotted time too. I put their cards up on the stage, one marked "Blue" and one "Red" with Teneale's perfect one in the middle, and we went up and put a blue or red punched circle in the voting box.

To draw out the suspense, I did all the thankyous next, for the Presentations and Shoebox Swaps. They all got a voucher to use on New Catalogue goodies. Everyone who did a Christmas Challenge entry also got a cute little box filled with a chockie and some bits and bobs. Then I awarded the Mystery Box and Invention Test Prizes, and finally announced the Top MasterCrafter.....Amanda! Amanda was crowned, and given a Certificate and a voucher to spend on some new goodies, and she will also get a Guest Appearance on my Blog...so stay tuned for that!

After all that excitement, another late night followed. On Sunday morning the very busy Stamping Fairy had been again (where does she find the time??). These were on our tables:

She even made an escape hatch for the lollies:Sunday was a much more mellow day, spent finishing off projects, and with people leaving as they needed to. We had a farewell Morning tea. We had all brought along slices and cakes for the weekend and there were tons still left, so we had a feast on Sunday. It was Robyn's suggestion to do this, but little did I realise, she had an ulterior motive. While we were all chatting over a cuppa, Robyn presented me with a box of thank you cards made by everyone there, and what she said was a "small" gift. I opened it to find...to my shock..an Ipod nano!! How sneaky are they??? I was just gobsmacked (and a blubbering mess). I'm sitting here listening to my hot pink Ipod right now :o)

So, if you've made it this far, you can see why I said it was an amazing weekend. I'm still trying to catch up on my sleep, and they're already asking me when the next one is!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Butterfly Spirals

Where has July gone?? I really didn't mean for it to be this long between posts, but school holidays and then getting kids back to school, and then having sick kids, classes starting up again, and preparing for Stamp Camp this weekend has left me with NO free time for blogging. Today I still have about a million things to do to get ready for my Stamp Camp this weekend, so I'll have to keep this brief. I'm off to the Hunter Valley this weekend with 30 lovely team members and their guests and I can't wait! I've got so much planned and I don't think the weekend is going to be long enough!!

In last night's technique class, one of the cards we made was this Butterfly Spiral Pop-Up Card...aka Amy's Birthday card this year! Aren't I a bad Mum...I gave her the card (back in May) and then took it back again. I have now made an extra one, so she can have her original card back!
Amy chose the colours for this one. I always get her to give me a colour challenge for her Birthday cards.
Here is the front:
and inside views:

A tricky one to photograph. The butterflies are all sparkly in real life. I know Amy loved her card, and I think everyone at the class did too (even if they didn't like cutting out that spiral by hand!)


Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
stamps: Flight of the Butterfly
ink: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise
card: Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
other: Big Shot, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Scallop Circle Die, Alphabet Dies, Circle Scissor and Glass Mat, Dazzling Diamonds, 2-way Glue, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Tempting Turquoise Narrow Grosgrain Ribbon, Fine SuperNova Glitter

Monday, July 12, 2010

Scallop Circle Mini Album

As promised, here is the Mini Album we made in last month's project class. I thought this would make a nice gift at special birthday party, so all the guests could sign it, or a gift for someone in hospital, and visitors could write get well messages inside. It's also 6 card-front ideas - I've made these pages in a book, but each one could be turned into a card front by using a folded scallop circle instead of a flat one. I used the gorgeous Cottage Wall DSP from the Autumn/Winter Mini.

Here is the cover:

The layered frame for the sentiment is made using the Tags Die, Ovals Die and Wide Oval Punch.

Page 1:

I used the 5 Petal Flower punch (2 layered on top of eachother) and the Bird punch (the leaf is a bird wing). The sentiment is from Asian Artistry (level 2 Hostess set)
Page 3:

I used some white cotton thread for the butterfly's body and antennae.
Page 4:


A pansy made using the Butterfly punch, and 5 petal flower for the leaves
Page 5:


Little Leaves Die and Trio Flower punch
Page 6:

A simple one using the Heart to Heart punch

I typed this post this morning, and just as I was ready to hit send, we lost power! (thank goodness Blogger saves automatically!) A car accident knocked down a major power pole and the whole Valley had no power all day. So, all the things I was going to get done, didn't happen. Instead I used the time to sort through the spare room...which I'm embarrassed to say was still full of boxes since the Renovation. Now, you can see carpet...very exciting!

Friday, July 09, 2010

Pursue your Passion

We're all big Masterchef watchers in our house, and today we're all walking around like there's been a death in the family...devastated that Marion got eliminated last night *sniff*

Something about Masterchef has really struck a chord with me. I think it's because it's all about people working in day-to-day jobs that are just jobs and then being given the opportunity to pursue their true passion. That's what Craft is for me, and I'm so grateful for the day that I joined Stampin' Up! and that today my passion is my job.

If Craft is your passion, and you'd like nothing more than to immerse yourself in it, why not make a $259 investment? (that's 20% off!). You'll get over $560 worth of Stampin' Supplies, plus you'll immediately be part of a wonderful group of like-minded ladies....and no one will eliminate you because your card is not up to scratch!

July is a fantastic month to join, and here are just some of the reasons why:

  • It's the start of a quarter, so there are no sales quotas to meet until the end of December.
  • You will get your FREE Demonstrator copy of the catalogue mailed straight to you in August, with a chance to pre-order from it at 30% off!
  • The Retirement List and New Catalogue make it easy to meet your first quota, and earn 20% off all of your own purchases (and make some money to fund your hobby!)
  • Christmas is just around the corner, which is the perfect time to hold classes and workshops for your friends (if you want to)
  • You'll get the new Summer Mini Catalogue mailed directly to you in October, and you'll be able to pre-order in November.
  • When it's time to meet your second quota, it will be Sale-a-Bration time!

I have ladies on my team who are hobbyists, and others who run workshops and classes...the choice is up to you. We have regular team get-togethers, plus an Online chat-group too.

I'm having an Opportunity Night at my house, where you can find out more about what Stampin' Up! is all about. There's no obligation and definitely no pressure, just a fun night to chat over a cuppa and cake (and take home a little thankyou gift too!)

When: Sunday 18th July
Time: 7:30pm - 9pm
Where: 27 Ryan St Dundas Valley

Feel free to bring a friend! RSVP by Friday 16th July.

If you can't make it along but would like a free Information Pack, just email me

    Tuesday, July 06, 2010

    Scallop Circle Card

    Here's a nice simple card I made to go with my Scallop Circle Mini Album (Project Class for June). I'll show you the Mini Album next time. I'm loving my Scallop Circle Die, and finding new uses for it all the time! I held off buying it at first, and then when I realised it was only $7 more than a punch.....well, that was all the justification I needed! LOL
    On this card I've made my own Designer Series paper, using the Cottage Garden set (on special this month for only $19.96 clear mount option). This is one set where it's really handy to have clear blocks - it makes positioning the outline image really easy. Block "C" fits all the stamps in this set.
    I've also used Cheep Talk (also on special this month) for the leaves. I find myself pulling out this branch all the time...it makes a great vine for a monkey to climb on, a branch for owls and birds and the leaves work really well with any solid flowers.
    It's school holidays here, and I'm enjoying spending some family time. My kids are still of an age where they love to spend time with me, so I'm enjoying those precious moments while they last...and before the teen-angst sets in!

    TIP: if you can't find the perfect DSP to suit your project, just pull out your stamps and make your own!

    Materials (all Stampin' Up!)
    stamps: Cheep Talk, Cottage Garden, Best Yet
    ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum, Old Olive
    card: Kraft, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
    other: Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Rich Razzleberry Ribbon, Big Shot, Scallop Circle Die

    Thursday, July 01, 2010

    July Promotion!

    July Promo

    Stampin' Up! have a great promotion for us in July. From 1-31 July, you will get 20% off select Two-Step Stampin' sets from our current catalogues--no limit, no minimum purchase required!
    Choose from the following stamp sets:

    ItemPageDescriptionRegular PriceSale Price
    11638639Loads of Love$39.95$31.96
    11634242Big Bold Birthday** $53.95$43.16
    11586078A Rose is a Rose** $66.95$53.56
    11633286Playful Petals** $52.95$42.36
    11577098Cheep Talk $47.95$38.36
    115946115Wonderful Favourites $39.95$31.96
    11918714*

    Tiny Tags (wood-mount)

    $38.95$31.16
    11859214*Tiny Tags (clear-mount) $28.95$23.16
    11916331*Cottage Garden (wood-mount) $32.95$26.36
    12000331*Cottage Garden (clear-mount) $24.95$19.96

    *From 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue
    **Retiring stamp sets!


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