Archive for the ‘general’ Category

Last week I did a workshop for some lovely ladies from my Church and as part of the Workshop I demonstrated the Simply Scrappin kits using the gorgeous Love Sparkles Simply Scrappin Kit.

I love this kit and all the elements it has and the colours and the papers – its just gorgeous! Especially for anyone doing scrapbook pages for little girls and one of my favourite little girls is my gorgeous Emily!

Emily has a huge love for anything little and particularly little furry things!

You should see her Littlest Pet Shop collection – I’m sure we have more here than you’d find in the local Toys R Us!  or Uncle Pete’s store!

Everything you see here has come from the kit – well except for the photo. The paper, cardstock, adhesive die-cuts and decorative strip were all in the kit

This is a very simple and easy 6×6 layout to do using the Simply Scrappin kit -  and it probably took 5 minutes to create.

The hardest part was working out what photo to use!

I hope you like this little layout … it was fun to make and you could get these kits to show your kids how to scrapbook too!  Its a great way to get them started!

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Thanks for stoppin by

Hello!!

Yes today is Saturday and I’m here with  not one but TWO challenges!! Well OK I’ve rolled two challenges into one card  so that counts does it not??

First – the Utah Diva’s Sketch Challenge

When I first saw this sketch I thought ‘how am I supposed to make something with that??”  (sorry Carol) but as I started working well I’ve had so many ideas through my head I’m dizzy!

I remembered the layered window cards I used to use a few years back and have noticed can you can still buy them but they cost more than regular card-stock so I figured I’ll make me own!!

So I just utilised my Stampin’ Up! square punches on the different layers.  You just need to remember to used the larger punch on the top layer and the smaller punch on the base layer – this gives you a little frame around your window.

Here’s my card with the window in it. The window is where the little bird is.  I am sorry about the picture – I had trouble getting a good image with all that white on the top level.

I have used one of the new sets in the Summer Mini Catalogue and its called For Everything and its a great set at just $47.95 for 11 stamps - that’s just $4.35 a stamp - what great value!!

Now for my second  card today ….

I’ve incorporated Carol’s above sketch with Makeesha’s Inkspirations Colour Challenge

and this is what I came up with ….

I am not a huge fan of Cameo Coral but I do quite like how this card turned out.

Can you believe that this card contains just one stamped image and NO ribbon!!!  Its just so unlike me.

This card is very quick and easy as the patterns and saying on the card are both rub ons! The patterns are from the lovely Dots and Designs rub ons and the sentiment is from the Chit Chat rubons and both are from the Summer Mini Catalogue.

The main image is from the Razzle Dazzle stamp set which I’ve coloured using my Stampin’ Write Markers.

If you would like to see more from the Summer Mini Catalogue and you’re free on 6th February, 2010 then call me today to reserve your seat at the Sale A Bration Spectacular I’m running with a couple of Stampin’  Up! demonstrators.  Its at the Ambarvale Re-Creation Centre from 11am to 4pm and costs just $25 – although if you book and pay before 21st January we’ll only charge you $20! Bargain – we’ll have raffles, door prizes, make n takes and lots of displays and demonstrations. Its going to be a wonderful day and I do hope you can come along and enjoy the fun too!

Thanks for stoppin by

Well its another chilly Sydney winter day here with the temperature just 7.5C (45.5F) so I hope its a little warmer where you are! No doubt my new little gas heater will be keeping me warm today!

As you may have noticed my blog looks a little different this morning and I hope you like the changes. I have been told that a change is as good as a holiday however I think I might like to try the holiday just once! I still have a little ‘tweaking’ to do so hopefully it wont take too long before I’m happy with it.

I know I havent posted in over a week and I apologise for that. I’ve had some health issues and been busy with classes and workshops and these two things have impacted on my time for creating and blogging. If anyone out there has some good time management tips then please feel free to share them with me!

Here is a card I cased from Splitcoast Stampers last week.

I do love how this card turned out and it really is very elegant and very easy to do. Its done using the Friends 24-7 Stamp set and the Friendly Words wheel and really could be given for any occasion at all. There is some sponging involved in this card and really it wouldnt be a card from me if it didnt involve some sponging or daubering somewhere!

Recipe
Stamps: Friends 24-7, Friendly Words Stampin round wheel
Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla
Inks: Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: Brocade Blue Stampin Write Marker, Pretties Kit (half pearl), Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Eyelet Border punch, mini glue dots, stampin sponges.

Here is another of the same card. This time I have included the bird stamp from Friends 24-7 which has been stamped and cut out and layered using dimensionals.

This is actually what the original cased card had however I find that leaving the bird off makes this card just as elegant and sometimes ‘less’ is ‘more’.

I do hope you like this card and would love to show you just how easy it is to make so why not email or ring me today to book your demonstration in? We still have the extra bonuses for Hostesses to the end of July so there’s still time to take advantage of this wonderful promotion from Stampin’ Up!®

This is the third card I’ve made using the new Bloom Away stamp set.

Its a stamp of our gorgeous Gum Blossoms which flower on the Eucalyptus trees – these are the trees native to Australia and which we get Eucalyptus oil from  Eucalyptus leaves contains compounds that are powerful natural disinfectants and which can be toxic in large quantities.The Eucalyptus is also the home of our beloved Koala’s and Possoms. Eucalyptus flowers produce a great abundance of nectar, providing food for many pollinators including insects, birds, bats and possums. Also, in summer when the temperatures rise the oil rises above the bush to create the characteristic distant blue haze of the Australian landscape – this is why we have what is called “The Blue Mountains” on the outskirts of Sydney. Eucalyptus oil is highly flammable (some trees have been known to explode⁾ and bush fires can travel easily through the oil-rich air of the tree crowns which was evident recently with the Victorian Bush Fires.

The Eucalyptus also has many different types so the colours in the flowers can vary from white to dark red and the bark on the trees vary from smooth to rough and some have what looks like coloured squiggles all over them. Some can grow to a height of over 80 metres and are an evergreen tree so always covered in leaves giving lots of shade and a continual food supply for those animals who live in them.

So there’s a bit of Aussie knowledge for you … and no I wont be doing a test later!

Back to the card ….

With this card I’ve stamped the image twice next to each other in the top right of the whisper white piece. I’ve then stamped this image again on another piece of whisper white, coloured & cut it out and layered it using Stampin’ Dimensionals over the other two images to give the effect of it being on a branch.

I’ve used Chocolate Chip for the base card then layered Pink Pirouette and Kiwi Kiss. The ribbon is the Mellow Moss Taffeta ribbon. The sentiment is from the God’s Blessings stamp set.

I do hope you like this card and have enjoyed the last couple of posts using the other stamps from the Bloom Away stamp set.  I’ve loved colouring these lovely images and sharing my creations with you. I know youre just going to love the new Idea Book & Catalogue and I am looking forward to sharing some more with you in the upcoming weeks.

Remember to email or ring me to reserve your copy and why not book in for a demonstration so you can get your copy for free!

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Many times before now I have told you how much I just love being a Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator. Well today I want to share with you why ‘now’ is the best time of the year to join … it’s Sale-A-Bration!

Not only do you get free stamp sets when you spend $100 or more or have a demo with $600 in sales but when you join Stampin’ Up!® as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration you not only get all the benefits of being a demonstrator but you get a bonus stamp set to the value of $79.95 for FREE! Which is pretty good considering there is only one stamp set over that price in the catalogue!

The earlier in Sale-A-Bration you join the better too – if you were to join this week you’d get your kit before the end of Sale-A-Bration and there for would be able to earn extra free stamps as a demonstrator and from the sales you accrue from now until the end of February.

Being a demonstrator is alot of fun and you get to meet such lovely people! I know I have and the majority of my customers have now become my good friends. Signing to be a demonstrator doesnt mean you need to go into the business side if you dont want to – you can join and just buy for yourself, family and friends if you want to – its all up to you how much or how little you do. There is no pressure from the Stampin’ Up!® to sell more or do workshops and you dont have to have 6 workshops arranged before joining either but they do reward you every step of the way if you do reach targets during your Stampin’ Start and they do reward generously!

Here we have the different types of demonstrators – maybe one describes you?7

• Discount Demonstrator … likes to be able to get stamps and supplies at a discount and will occasionally sell to family & friends
• Short Term Demonstrator … sells products for a short term to earn a set amount of money and quits when that particular goal is reached.
• Hobby Demonstrator … loves doing workshops for fun and earning extra money when it’s convenient. Works when time permits – does a lot some months and little other months. Likes to do workshops that are easy to book and doesn’t like to work too hard to book workshops.
• Career Demonstrator … Views her Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator ship as a viable business with long term benefits and goals; pursues management and wants to move up the career ladder; loves to attend Stampin’ Up!® events and develops long-standing friendships with other demonstrators and works at her business at a consistent and outgoing manner.

Now I do have to tell you that when I joined I was worried I wouldnt make the quarterly sales requirement but I figured I got value in the kit and if I only placed that first order I was ahead anyway – well that is now 2 1/2 years ago! I was blown away when I signed my first recruit (thanks Barb!) as she rang me! and now have a team of over 60 ladies! This amazes me to no end as I have tried other party plan and direct selling companies before and most I had problems booking parties let alone signing any up.

I am sure it has more to do with the products than me as Stampin’ Products just sell themselves. When someone opens one of our catalogues they just want it all regardless of whether they are a stamper or scrapbooker or not and when they get their products they are just over the moon! I am sure you can relate to this! lol

As I said before there are quarterly sales requirements to remain a demonstrator which is $500 per quarter. When you join you dont have to achieve this requirement until the end of your first full quarter so if you join now you dont have to achieve this sales requirement until 30th June – so that gives you 5 months to achieve your first $500 quota.

To make joining just that little bit sweeter and you place your first order within 45 days of joining Stampin’ Up!® will give you an extra 10% commission – so instead of the usual 20% instant income you will get 30% instant commission on this order – how sweet is that? So you can either get a larger discount on your first order or spend a little more for the same amount.

Also, if you join with me youre not only joining the bestest team but you will also recieve a free gift from me – it could be a stamp-a-majig, level 1 hostess set or a simply scrappin kit of your choice – you choose.

Being a demonstrator has given me opportunities that I otherwise wouldnt have had. In 2007 I was asked to do a demonstration at the Sydney Regional Training event. Now after I picked myself up off the floor and recovered from the shock I did ask if they’d rung the right number! Poor Bernadette didnt know what she’d done lol but I was totally honoured to do the presentation – mind you my stomach was full of knots and butterflies and think its the only time I couldnt eat lunch! lol

Here is a picture of yours truly just before I did my demonstration. I had asked Sharon to take a ‘glam shot’ so you wouldnt see just how  bad I was during the actual demonstration – I had asked one of my downlines to take some pictures but alas she forgot – she said she was so engrossed in what I was doing …. mmmmm.

Last year our Convention was held in Brisbane and I actually recieved a recruiting award – this too blew me away as I never thought I’d get any of these accolades and here is my photo when receiving the award and ‘walking the stage’ and who could resist having a photo take with the lovely Shelli Gardener – CEO & co-founder of Stampin Up!®

This woman is truly amazing and I’m sure every Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator will tell you the same thing. She has a heart for God, family and friends and treats everyone as a treasured freind. She attends ALL Stampin’ Up!® events and makes time for every person who wants to talk to her – this may differ in USA as they literally have thousands attend their events so I am glad I’m an Aussie and able to chat with her whenever she is here.

This year I will be receiving a Sales Award which I only realised last week – so yet again I’m amazed at what this company has done for me and I hope that I can help you to have them bless you too!

If you’d like to discuss the opportunities available to you with Stampin’ Up!® then I’d love to hear from you – even if you want me to ring you I will just click on my name below and send me an email with your contact details and a good time to call you and we’ll take it from there. You dont have to be local to me as I have girls all over Australia in my team and am happy to help you wherever and whenever I can.

Hope to be hearing from you soon.

I am really bad at accepting these awards and passing them on … after the initial shock of recieving them I think ‘yup I’ll do that & pass it on shortly’ then as usual one gets distracted with updating their blog, changing colours, stamping or that other thing called ‘real life’! So firstly my apologies for replying to those lovely ladies that have given me these awards and thank you soooo much for considering my blog worthy of such awards.

For our first award we have the Sparkling Blogger Award from the lovely Stacey in Texas. Now this is a super special award as its one that Stacey created herself so I’m rather touched to receive this one!

Now she wanted me to pass on my favourite christmas or winter recipe but since we have our Christmas in Summer we normally have alot of cold meats and salads and our favourite is Caesar Salad with any type of meat. So not much in the way of recipes needed for those.

So thanks so much Stacey and hope you have a totally blessed 2009 and no more headaches or illness!

I had this awarded to me yesterday by the very talented and very lovely Steph. I had also received this award from the very lovely Libby.

Libby is a wonderful friend and great promoter of my Stampin’ Up! business – not to mention a wonderful customer and forever friend. We’ve gone through a lot of trials during our friendship and always there for each other when needed.

Libby has also sent me these other two awards  ….

It is always a huge thrill to have people read and leave comments on my blog let alone give me these awards and I love each and every one of them!

Now to pass these awards on – I should be passing them on to five blogs but since there is more than one award I’ll award them to my top 10 blogs I love to visit and get inspiration from – now these are in no particular order – I just love them all ….

1. Makeesha Byl
2. Beate Johns
3. Patty Bennett
4. Kerri Hunter
5. Andrea Lowcock
6. Andrea Walford
7. Nicole Stalker
8. Libby Dyson
9. Stacey Aannestaad
10. Stephanie Pike

Now I know youre not supposed to give them back but Libby, Stacey and Steph really do have awesome blogs and are very talented with what they do and all the ladies in that list are very special friends and its a blessing to know them and have them as my friends.

I did make a card today but I’ll save that for tomorrow’s post.

Go grab yourself a latte and put your feet up …. until next time.

We left home Thursday morning for our holidays. We left at 9am and arrived at Echuca at 7pm and it really did feel at times that we’d never get to our destination!

We drove to Echuca which is on the NSW/Victorian border and it would have been nice to spend a little more time there learning about the history of the town. The cabin we booked was lovely with a decent bed which made for a good night’s sleep which is always a good thing when your travelling! It was great to sit and relax with my sister Jo, her hubby and a couple that are their friends.

Friday morning we breakfasted at McDonalds (as you do when travelling) and as I’d noticed some rather old churches as we drove in that was our first ‘to-do’ after breakfast – to get some photo’s of some old churches for a scrapbook I’ve wanted to make for a while now.

We then headed to the Old Port of Echuca where there was a thriving business up and down the river in the 1800′s. They still run some of the paddle steamers from that era and no doubt have spent a small fortune in their maintenance. Some of you may remember a mini series on TV called “All the Rivers Run” – it had John Waters and Sigrid Thornton in it to name a couple – well one of the steamers they had in that show was the “Emmy Lou” and is driven by a completely restored 1906 steam engine, and built to the highest world classification standards. She was built locally during 1980-82 in the style of the 19th century paddleboats, and is 30 metres long and 10 metres wide, steel hulled and timber decked.

The port is lovely and have set it so its like stepping back into the 1800′s with the sand roads and cobblestone footpaths. You can taste the local wine and fudge as well! You can stroll through and see how they did wood turning and the original tools the blacksmith used and all his gorgeous items for sale.

There is the stagecoach you can take for a ride through the town and these Clydesdale horses are just stunning animals and so well groomed.

They didnt budge when Caitie wanted to give them a pat and the handler was great and let her pat them but just asked her to stand beside them for their safety and hers!

Down at the old port they have these trees with the signs for the level particular floods got to. Its hard to imagine the water rising so high but it did.

These days the water is controlled from the Snow Mountains therefore they regulate the amount of water over flowing to the surrounding areas.

This photo shows you just how high the floods actually got in previous years. I got the girls to stand in front of the tree to give you an idea – have you noticed the one right up the top which happened in 1874?

We are now staying in Cobden with family till 8th October but plan to do a few ‘sight seeing’ trips while we are here.

Although I got a great picture of the Cathedral at Bendigo I need more photo’s of old churches and know there are a few in and around Warrnambool so no prizes for guessing where one of our trips will be to! Hopefully it will stop raining long enough to enjoy a couple of day trips while we are here!

I do hope the nephew is looking after my stamps and fish and they arent missing me too much!

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You know how bad it feels when you turn up somewhere wearing the same dress as someone else and bringing out your coffee mug to make a cuppa at a crop or meeting and finding that someone else has exactly the same coffee mug? Well those days are gone!!

With the 2008-2009 Catalogue Stampin’ Up!® introduced their rub ons to the Australian public. Yes I know we have had other brand rub ons here for quite some time I am very proud to say that the Stampin’ Up!® rub ons are of very high quality and I have not had one problem with them like I have with other (big) brand rub ons.

Before a recent demonstration where I thought I’d decorate a mug and give that to my hostess with a sachet of hot chocolate in there I would test them myself and I am very pleased to say they worked at home and the demonstration and my hostess (as well as her guests) were very impressed with it – I am sure that my hostess also enjoyed the hot chocolate!

So when I came across the new Financial Year diaries in Big W last week and found a lovely pastel pink one but thought it would have been nice with a pattern on it I figured I’d survive.

So as I was sitting down preparing for a class and glanced and my coffee mug and had one of those light bulb moments and wondered how they’d go on my diary. So what’s a girl to do? I applied the rubons and boy did they look good.

Then I remembered seeing them on Tracey’s laptop so yeah I put a couple on there too.

Now I do a fair bit of work on my laptop and they have shown no signs of wear yet and one is where my wrist sits when I type -but then again it has only been 4 days!

Bit snazzy hey??

Remember a while back I made a friend a pocket card for her birthday with no stamping? that one was using rub ons too – here’s the card as a reminder and to show you that you can use rub ons for just about anything!

This was the card that was highlighted in the Splitcoast Stampers Weekly Inkling – the regular newsletter you can get for free and it is full of great information, tutorials and challenges and well worth signing up for!

I just followed the tutorial for the Trifold Pocket card which was written by the very talented Beate Johns.

Beate does such stunning work and writes wonderful tutorials so that anyone can follow them & make lovely cards – if I can do it anyone can!!

Now can you believe there is NO INK and NO STAMPS on this card???? yes its true! A bit unlike me hey? Nearly fell off my chair when I realised but boy how much do I love the new Stampin’ Up!® rub ons?? they are wonderful and work first go unlike some others I know of from a major brand too – but we wont talk about thems.

Recipe:
Paper: Blue Bayou textured CS, Soft Sky textured CS, Fall Flowers DSP
Accessories: Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon, Cherished Memories Rub Ons, Tool Kit, circle punches, corner rounder, Pretties Kit.

I think it turned out a bit nice – just love the new In Colours and Designer Series Papers. I hope the recipient likes this card.

Now onto the tagging … I was tagged by my good friend and fellow demonstrator Nikki Stalker and the loverly Edie Bunting a fellow Diva from Erie PA in USA.

Rules of Tagging are …

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

So here are my 7 facts

1. I am married with 2 daughters and we have 3 angels in heaven.
2. We have a thing about birthdays … I share my birthday with my aunt & brother-in-law, My oldest daughter was born on my grandfathers birthday, my youngest was born on my hubbies grandmothers birthday, My mum’s birthday is 2 days after my father-in-law and my dad’s birthday is 2 days before my Mother-in-law. Weird huh?
3. I love watching the crime shows on TV especially, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI NY, NCIS, Without a Trace, Cold Case, Womens Murder Club, Law & Order, Law & Order Criminal Intent, Law & Order SVU, Criminal Minds, Numbers, Bones and I also like to watch Greys Anatomy, Stargate, Stargate Atlantis, Torchwood and ReGenesis.
4. I love to watch Aussie Rules Football and love my Sydney Swans
5. Looooove my coffee – but I think everyone knows that!
6. I have fibromyalgia and was diagnosed in 2004
7. I am a night owl and love to sit up in the wee hours of the morning making cards

Now onto tagging 7 more blogs I love to visit …

1. Maxine Conrad – Max runs Utah Divas International which is a group just for SU Demonstrators and a great resource so if you want to know more about this then just ask me.
2. Sharon Davis – a fellow demonstrator, lovely lady & friend and one very busy gal – I dont know how she does all she does!
3. Stacey – a great friend from Texas and wannabe Aussie
4. Creations by Adela – this lady does such lovely work and is a SU demo in USA
5. Kerri Hunter – lovely friend and another Aussie demo
6. Vanessa Webb – one of my very talented downlines
7. Tracey Eaton – my lovely upline & its about time she put up another post

Now its time for me to sign off and leave comments on all those blogs so they know they’ve been tagged.

Hope you are all very nice to your Mums tomorrow for Mother’s Day and for all the mums – Have a great day and dont do anything you dont wanna

I’m sure that you too have had all those email survey’s and one question that comes up a lot is the ‘Chocolate or Vanilla?’ So what happens if you’re like me and like both? There are days when one really needs Chocolate (bit like today!) and other days when Vanilla hits the spot.

I recently made this card for a swap for our Stampin’ Up! team. It was a swap where we had to use one of the new sets and I used the Occasional Greetings set.

Recipe:
Stamps: Occassional Greetings, Baroque Motifs
Cardstock: Berry Bliss DSP, Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink , Very Vanilla
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Versamark
Accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8″ grosgrain, gold brads, stampin dimensionals.

Now when I normally make swaps I figure I may as well make a couple extra cards to use for samples or to send to someone (as one does with a card). So when making up my spares I ran out of the Chocolate Chip ribbon and thought hmm … what to do. I did have some Vanilla wide grosgrain I could use and thought it may be a bit too light for the card.

Well I put it together and thought … mmmm I think I like this better!

So you see although we think that chocolate cures all there are some times that vanilla works just as well!

Time for a coffee – have a great day!