Hi Honey I'm Home

Yes we are home again. We had a wonderful holiday. We managed to get as far as Cape Tribulation in Qld with the caravan. We were away 10wks and I can now say it was not long enough. It would be nice to keep going until we were ready to come home. At least we have done it now and know what that side of the country looks like. Its so funny when you meet people from overseas and they say they are going to do from Cairns to Tasmania in 2 wks. They just dont understand how big Australia is. I was calculating all the time the amount of time left to make sure we were home in time for our niece's wedding.
While away I was checking out the new catalogue. Although I managed to see it, it was much better coming home to an actual book to browse through. I have done my wish list and as always it is quite long. Ha Ha! The catalogue is lovely with lots of interesting ideas. I have You to say that while away I did not do one bit of cardmaking although I did bring a whole lot of gear with me but never got to use it. Now that I am home I am into it again and getting my Christmas cards done. I am also getting ready for our Workshop which will be on Saturday 20th November at 12.00. We will be making a mini album and the only equipment you is yourself and of course a smile. Please let me know if you would like to attend the next Workshop. This will be the last one for the year unless you can talk me into another before Christmas.
Looking forward to seeing you all again. It really does not feel that long ago for me but it has been three months.
Also we have a special on which lasts until 30th November.
You will receive an exclusive pack of ribbon when you buy a Christmas gift-giving bundle or if you host a $550 workshop. If your wish list is a long one then perhaps you might like to host a Workshop to enable yourself to some free stamps, papers etc. Its a great way of receiving items that you have been wanting (for free). I remember when I was introduced to Stampin' Up! The demonstrator came to my house and I have about 6-8 ladies (cant recall how many). I was so surprised at how many products I received for free. I was so excited! I would like for you to feel that way too. Of course no pressure as I dont believe in pressuring people. I dont like being pressured myself.
Well I must go and get some more cards done and preps for workshop.
Thanks for popping by:)

Fantastic New July Specials

Hello everyone! I am so sorry I have not been on recently. Time has slipped by so quickly. I am pleased to say that Stampin' Up! have another fantastic special during the month of July. We have 20% discount on a selection of Two Step Stamp Sets from the current catalogues. There is no minimum purchase required and no limit to how many sets you would like. A great time to buy for Christmas presents. To find out which sets are on special please click on the Two Step Stampin' Promotion. Most of you know that my husband and I are going away for three months in our caravan over East. I am so looking forward to our trip which has been planned for some time now. Unfortunately Stampin' Up! have changed their date for the release of the new Catalogue. This happens to fall while we are away. Fear Not! I will be online the whole time while we are away so I will still be able to let you know of specials etc as they happen. My mum and her hubby will be minding our house while we are away. This means that if you need anything while I am away, I can still order and have them delivered to your door or to my home and will organise for you to get your goodies. I wish I was to be here for the release of the catalogue as I am so excited with the release of the new colour scheme and new stamps, discontinued stamp sets etc. Its an exciting time.
If you happen to like any of the Two Step Stamp Sets that are on special then please let me know by the third week of July so that I can order before the end of July. Those of you coming to our workshop on 24th July at 12.30 can let me know if there is anything they would like to order. Anyway, off you go and check out the specials. I am sure you will find something you like or have had your eye on. Take care all and thanks for popping by.

DEALS OF THE WEEK

During the month of June Stampin' Up! have decided to have DEALS OF THE WEEK specials.
Each special runs for one week. The first one runs from Tuesday 1st June to Tuesday the 8th June which includes four lovely punches from the range. Each of these punches are normally $30.95 each but are going out for this week at ONLY $20.12 each.
They include:

Scallop Square Punch
Trio Flower Punch
Boho Blossums Punch
Scallop Oval Punch

This is certainly a great deal so get in quick if there is one here that you have been eyeing off. Remember you only have till Tuesday to get in touch with me to order.

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb & Convention

I think I faced my biggest ever challenge while in Sydney. I was so nervous the day before and the day of our Bridge Climb. My heart was pounding leading up to the climb. I was not sure if I could go ahead with it or not. I was worried that I might have to have been brought back without the team. I have to admit that I felt faint a few times but managed to talk myself out of it. Probably about a quarter of the way up I started to feel better as we were no longer walking on mesh which can be seen through. My worry was how we were going to cross the bridge to the other side. I dont know how the workers managed to build this monster of a bridge in the early days with nothing to hold them up. Walking along the gerders with their tools etc.

When we reached the top it felt so surreal. I had to keep telling myself that we were actually on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Going down was a piece of cake. I thought this would have been the worst part but it was actually the easiest. Our tour guide and leader, John was marvellous. He was funny and full of interesting stories to tell of how the bridge was made and how the workers got on etc. I would recommend it to anyone. Before you chicken out I have to tell you that a lady at the age of 100 has even done the bridge climb.

Here are some of the swaps I received at Convention. The convention was fantastic. As usual Stampin' Up! did their very best to make sure we enjoyed every minute, and that we did. Next year we are actually having a three day convention which is exciting as it was sad to see the end of this one. Next years convention is to be held in Melbourne on May 12, 13 & 14th.

We were surprised when we entered the doors to dinner on Saturday night. Shelli, the Co-Founder of Stampin' Up! had organised that we enter like we would if arriving as a celebrity at the Grammy Awards. They had the red carpet, the papparazzi, lights, music etc. It was great! They even had the wall just like at the Grammy's only it had Stampin' Up! written all over it. Every table had a huge vase with pink tulips wrapped around the inside with a large lit candle in the centre. Here you can see just how beautiful it would have been with the black tablecloths. It just makes you wonder how they keep getting better each year. I wonder what is in store for us next year?

Well I had better get to bed as I have work tomorrow. I have been downloading photos all day today of our wonderful trip to disks for my fellow stampers that I had much pleasure in sharing our special few days with. Its bye for now and thanks for popping by.

SU! Convention 2010 this week

Only two more days for the annual Stampin' Up! Convention. This year it will be held in Sydney. The time has come around so quickly. I cant believe we are almost into June. It has been a very busy year for me and the last few nights have been dedicated to getting my swaps ready for Convention. I have only done 30 swaps this year as opposed to 60 last year. I just have not had the time to do anymore. My flight is tomorrow so I will have to pack sometime so unfortunately I have to try to veer away from my craft room.

This is one of the cards I have made for the swap. I was eating my dinner and trying to think of a design. I had my paper sitting next to me at dinner and when a thought came to my mind I quickly jotted it down. Of course they always turn out a little different to what you have in mind but I am happy with my final choice. I just love this Vintage Vogue set from the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue and of course the new colours I have chosen go well with the stamp set. I have chosen to use Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White.

Also from the mini is the Big Shot Die cut machine which I used to create my little leaves and that is exactly what the die is called (Little Leaves). I used the Eyelet Border Punch for around the outside of my circle which was cut out using the Circle Scissor Plus. I guess you could say that this card was almost all created using the new mini. If you have not already seen the new current mini it is a must as it full of so many beautiful items. I have used the Rich Razzleberry Refill ink to dye my Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon. Refills are available at present from the current mini. I used five drops of ink to three small sprays from my little spray bottle. I had about 10 pieces of ribbon per lot which did not leave any ink behind.

My other two swaps are masculine cards. One of them has already been featured on my blog using Circle Circus. It has been quite a hit so I thought I would do it one more time. I think we all have trouble with coming up with masculine card ideas.

Our May workshop was a lot of fun where we made a little gift box and two cards. One of the cards is shown in the Idea Book and Catalogue on page 72 using the Fresh Cuts stamp set and the Fresh-Cuts Notes. We used Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. I found the idea for the gift box online by the very talented Heather Summers, thank you Heather. This one can be made using the SU! Five in one Template. The original sizing was too big for what I wanted so I adjusted the sizing. The top of the box measures 7.5 x 7.5cm so it is a nice size for chocolates or other little trinklets you might like to give someone. Imagine it done up in Christmas colours and holly on the top. How gorgeous!

The other item we made was a little card that holds a teabag. I had one of these from the Swap at the Convention in Canberra last year. What a great idea and my ladies loved them. If you would like to join in on my workshops please dont hesitate to contact me. Remember if you have been eyeing off some of those goodies from the mini and there is too many decisions then you may like to hold your very own workshop and receive some of them as a gift for doing so. Its so easy to attain. I was amazed when I had my first workshop presented by Ngaire Anderson, my upline. I was so amazed at how quick and simple a card can be made up and how lovely they looked. I was impressed. So impressed that I decided to join Stampin' Up! From a very young age I wanted to open up a gift shop that sold cards. I have always loved the thought. Well now I have my own little shop right in my own home and I am loving it. It is great doing and sharing something you love to do. That is what Stampin' Up! is all about.

Anyway I must go and get some beauty sleep before my trip tomorrow. It will be a long day as we dont arrive until after 10pm and then we have to book into our room. On Thursday a group of us are climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I will admit I am quite nervous at this as I dont like heights but a challenge is good for you and that is why I am doing it. Hopefully I will be a proud one once I make it back to the bottom without chickening out. Wish me luck! I'll be back with some pics and to let you know how I went.

Thanks for popping by.

April Workshop

Peter and I arrived home last night from Broome after spending the long weekend relaxing. We actually went up for our nieces wedding. We had a really nice time and the first time I have spent so many hours by and in the pool at the resort. The wedding and reception was perfect. The bride looked gorgeous as they do and the new husband was very moved the whole way through.

The weekend before was our April Workshop where we made three Mothers Day/feminine cards. It was a workshop full of techniques. We did the faux leather card. (I got the idea from Jan White I think from one of our swaps. This is where you use masking tape and tear it into small pieces and place on cardstock, leaving no spaces. You then go over the cardstock with a Stamp Pad of your choice of colour. I have used Elegant Eggplant. Once you have done that then you will need to go over it with Clear Embossing Powder. There is no need to use Versamark as the embossing powder will adhere to the masking tape once heated with the Heat Gun. I used Pocket Silhouettes as my choice of stamp using a marker to colour (Elegant Eggplant, Green Galore) and then went over the buds with Crystal Effects.

I also made a masculine card prior to the workshop using a new stamp set from the Mini Catalogue, Autumn Days and then went over the pine cones with Crystal Effects. I may use this one as my Convention Swap. Not sure yet.

The idea for the other card came from Lee Ann Greff, a very talented lady. It is called Josephs Coat Inside Out. I have used the new Medallion stamp from the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue. First of all you will need to stamp using Black Staz On the En Francais stamp onto white cardstock. (Unfortunately I have not got that particular stamp so had to use another one). Then using your dauber, colour sections all over with Barely Banana, Tempting Turquoise and Rose Red in that order, leaving no white spaces. Stamp the Medallion using Versamark and then use Clear Embossing Powder and Heat gun. Using your brayer in a patchwork type system go over sections with Rose Red and Tempting Turquoise. This will bring out the Medallion clearer.

Convention is less than a month away. It only seems like yesterday that I was at the Canberra Convention and that was 12 months ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the last Convention and am looking forward to this one. We may get some sneak peaks from the new Catalogue which is due to be released in September. We already know that we are having a Colour Renovation. At first I was a bit sad to see some of the colours that we will be saying goodbye to but after watching Shelli's video (Colour Renovation) I felt better as the new colours are gorgeous. I think we are going to be in for a lot of surprises this September.

In the meantime we still have our beautiful current catalouge and the fantastic Autumn-Winter Mini Catalouge. I just love this new mini. If you have not had a chance to see the new mini then why dont you email me jenchi10@yahoo.com.au and I will send you a copy. Then you can be just as excited as I am about it.

Anyway I must go to bed as it is almost midnight and I have work tomorrow. Tomorrow night we are going out to celebrate my God-daughters 18th birthday. Katie is such a lovely fun loving young lady and I am so proud of her.

Bye for now and thanks for popping in. :)

Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue

Hello everyone! I am so excited! This mini catalogue is the best one I have seen. We have the Big Shot, dies, new colours, papers, stamp pads, stamp sets etc etc etc. Please click on the image on the right hand side to see what is in store for you. The new colours, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Soft Suede are just fabulous and the Stamp Pads, Ink Refills, Cardstock and Ribbon are all a part of the new colour scheme in the mini. The new Clear-mount rubber stamps are also available along with the lovely grooved blocks to pop them onto. This mini runs from 1 April to 31 August which is great as there are so many products available. Please email me if you have any queries or would like to order. Enjoy and thanks for popping by!