More notables

Two of my awesome customers, Ruth and Bonny, accompanied me along with one of my fabulous downlines, Joyce, to the Stampin' Up! Australia Sydney Regionals on Saturday.

Of course, I appreciate all of my customers (!) but Ruth and Bonny have been amazing as they have hosted and attended classes throughout the year and firmly refuse to be demonstrators even though they would have made stellar ones and saved quite a bit in the process...I'd almost be worried that they are reading this and change their minds but they know about the demonstrator opportunity already and I'd be grateful with them enjoying Stampin' Up! with me as either *beam happily* So to show my appreciation, I made the following notebooks for them:

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Baja Breeze
Basic Gray
Chocolate Chip
Kiwi Kiss

Stamp sets:
Defining alphabet
Gallery
One of a Kind

Paper:
Basic Gray CS
Walk in the Park DSP
Whisper White CS

Accessories:
Baja Breeze Corduroy buttons
Boho Blossoms punch
Button Latte
Brads Jumbo Neutrals
Brads Silver
Chocolate Chip Double-Stitched Grosgrain

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Baja Breeze
Chocolate Chip

Stamp sets:
Best Yet
Gallery
Lovely Letters alphabet

Paper:
Baja Breeze CS
Chocolate Chip CS
Walk in the Park DSP
Whisper White CS

Accessories:
Baja Breeze Corduroy buttons
Boho Blossoms punch
Brads Jumbo Neutrals
Chocolate Chip Grosgrain
Curly Label Punch Bundle
Flower Fusion Too
Heat Tool
White Embossing Powder

Thanks so much, Bonny and Ruth!

World Card Making Day 2009

World Card Making Day 2009 is on the 3rd of October but Stampin’ Up!® is celebrating all month long! From 1-31 October, when you purchase either Rock Star or Flower Power Simply Sent® Card Elements, you’ll get 20% off a co-ordinating stamp set.

Buy a Simply Sent Card Elements kit:

Item	Page	Description	Price
112028	140	Flower Power Card Elements	$30.95
112021	141	Rock Star Card Elements	$30.95

and get one of the following stamp sets at 20% off:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Discount Price
116779	140	Wow Flowers stamp set	$24.95	$19.96
116777	141	Starring You stamp set	$24.95	$19.96

Prices do not include standard Stampin' Up! shipping and handling charges of $5.95 or 5% of product total per order (whichever is greater).

I've been to Hell

to be exact, Cania, the icy eighth of the nine hells of Baator..and back! To be really exact, I've just finished playing Hordes of the Underdark, a computer role-playing game. Here's a Wikipedia definition for CRPG that'd put you through at least two levels of the nine should you choose to read the whole entry. After a near total immersion in the game as an epic² monk, travelling through tortuous freezing climes (fairly approximated by sitting at my computer during these cold days and nights), helping the wretched and battling evil with my bare fists³, on completion of those adventures, I am now suffering decompression.

I am sure many of you would have gone through this condition - it comes upon you lightly when you have watched a wonderfully absorbing movie or hits you like a freight train (or, for RPGers, a Heavy Flail + 10 wielded by a weapons master wearing a Belt of Storm Giant Strength) when you've finished reading the final instalment of a much loved fantasy series. It is particularly heart-wrenching if you've fallen in love with one of the characters. Twilight readers - you know what I'm talking about! Real life suddenly seems like just an opportunity to seek out ways to prolong the experience ... Google the characters, discuss the story to the nth degree with other passionate fans, relive moments in the adventure and, quite possibly, dream about the one that you are most attached too. In other words, do anything to defer the sadness that comes from the end of something that strangely felt special even though it existed only in our imaginations.

I guess it will take a little time for me to mentally pack away by my magical bags of holding and say farewell to my preferred One True Love after I ended up with two from alternate scenarios. Luckily, I had Hubby asking me to leave the computer to keep him company last night - an important reminder of the reality that was worth surfacing for.

Speaking of Hell, I designed the following card for a INKlings Card in a Box training session. A few of the team found making this card rather hellish since a standard wheel can be tough to control at times⁴. The card is deceptively difficult since there are no OFFERs (Opportunities-For-Further-Embellishment Recovery) - there are no layers or embellishments with which to hide a mistake! As the card featured my Marker Over technique, I made copies of it for Convention swaps *wave to Megan*

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Certainly Celery
Chocolate Chip

Stamp sets:
Funky Forest wheel
Occasional Greetings

Cardstock:
Whisper White

Accessories:
Earth Elements Markers
Mat Pack

---

1. Hordes of the Underdark^TM is an expansion pack for Neverwinter Nights.
2. Epic - a character that has reached the 21st level for those of you with some RPG interest.
3. Supplemented by the odd pair of magical gloves ... who am I kidding? Make it supplemented continually as soon as I got hold of the first pair...
4. Just like Valen suppressing his demonic taint while in Cania - I couldn't help slipping that in for anyone who has played Hordes of the Underdark.

Dashing to Stampin' Up! Australia Convention 2009

In an hour, Hubby and I will be heading off to Canberra for my first Stampin' Up! Australia Convention. I've managed to make 60 card fronts for swaps (unlike my paltry single digit attempt for Sydney Regionals last year). I haven't started packing anything yet, I know it is going to be freezing where we are heading and here I am writing a blog post. Where are my priorities?! Actually, I'm here to hang out my special purpose sign so that anyone wanting to contact me will know that I'll respond when we come back on Sunday. Have a great four days!

Aft Fest

CraftFest 2009 was great manic fun! We met lots of enthusiastic papercrafters and a few quilters who had their interest piqued on their way to the next fat quarter. We even had a few bead artisans drop by. Our visitors completed around 250 make and takes as mementos of their visit to our stand. Six lucky door prizes were drawn and given away...I mention this because of two serendipitous draws (one involved a little girl drawing her own name out of the bowl *claps excitedly* and another saw a lady bemoaning the fact that she never wins anything witness her name being drawn two minutes later *claps even more excitedly*). I hope that everyone enjoyed our technique demonstrations featuring the beautiful and versatile Embrace Life stamp set which is available until the end of this month through the current Stampin' Up! Australia Summer Mini.

The following card was displayed during my Crayon Resist demonstration so I thought why not post it with its supply list?

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Bashful Blue
Certainly Celery
Chocolate Chip
Tempting Turquoise

Stamp sets:
Embrace Life
En Français background

Cardstock:
Certainly Celery Textured
Glossy White
Whisper White

Accessories:
Chunky Glitter
Paper Snips
Sponge Daubers
Stampin' Dimensionals
Stampin' Write Marker in Old Olive
Tombow Liquid Adhesive
Word Window Punch

I'm now busily adding e-mail addresses to my mailing list to send out my next newsletter by the end of the week. If you visited us and didn't get a chance to fill out a lucky door prize form (or forgot to tick that you are interested in a monthly e-mail), just click on the Sign Me Up! link on the left to be added to my list.

A big wave to my lovely friends and customers for visiting me at the stand *WAVE*

CraftFest, Sydney 2009

This is a bag holding Stampin' Up! goodies for one of the lucky door prizes that we'll be giving away at CraftFest 2009. To know what is in it, enter our lucky door competition. It's free!

If you are coming to CraftFest, we'd love you to visit our stand. We'll be featuring technique demonstrations and doing make & takes. There'll be Pick-A-Prizes for bundle purchases too. We'll also have a large array of projects using Stampin' Up! products - if you are inspired by any of our work, you are most welcome to take pictures. We'd also be happy to answer any questions that you may have about Stampin' Up! products or the company itself. Hope to see you there!

When:	Friday March 6th to Sunday March 8th, 2009
Where:	The Dome, Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush
Time:	10am - 4.30pm
Admission:	Adult - $15* Seniors, Aged or Disability Pensioners - $13* Children under 5 - Free Children (5 to 16 Years) - $7 Family (2 adults and 2 children) - $35 Group (minimum 10 pre-booked) - $12 each

* If you register as part of the Craft Club, save $1 off the Adult and Seniors, Aged or Disability Pensioners rate.

My last post of 2008

Goodness! It is now 11pm and it is the last hour of 2008 for all of us in this timezone.

I've been away from Sydney for a short Christmas visit to Melbourne and it had been my excuse to let everything drop including posting this picture of the wonderful things that I received from Beth Stewart - my INKlings Secret Santa.


Beth fulfilled my Christmas wish for items from the Australian Summer Mini by bundling together some of the marvellous extra wide double-stitched Grograin Ribbon, a cute sampling of Flower Fusion and the versatile Carousel Notes (you can see that she has filled one with a few Lindor Lindt balls .... mmmmmmm chocolate). She also included my favourite Stampin' Up! bling in the form of rhinestone brads. The most amazing thing, though, was the little portable folder that she made out of Groovy Guava cardstock and the prettiest sheets from Ginger Blossom DSP. Everything was gorgeous and all most gratefully received. Thank you so very muchly, Santa Stewart!

I'm sure that I'll be looking back at 2008 in the next couple of days - it is always sad to see the end of any year as it marks the relentless passage of time. The new year also marks the beginning of a raft of resolutions that puts paid to all the excuses that I've had to drop the ball during the silly season... But it has been a great year for me - one in which I've started new endeavours, made some awesome friends and let go of past attachments including my previous career. I hope this year has been great in lots of ways for you too. See you in 2009!

A pinch and a punch...

...for missing a post for the first of the month. Yes! I missed posting properly yesterday due to duties at the Papercrafts Festival, which has been a whirlwind of preparation and activity. It has been great meeting so many crafty women over the past two days *big wave* - I can honestly say that I have yet to do a make and take with a man at the fair. Perhaps this is why women are called the fairer sex? Also, a special hello to belle for being so sweet to visit me at the stand.

Stampin' Up! promotions will be starting on the 10th this month - when you click on the Specials heading on the top of this blog, you'll see that markers will be offered for purchase as single items very soon! I'll update the blog with the promotions as soon as they are made public. Also, I'll be sending out my newsletter with all the details on that date too. So, please sign up if you are interested (check out the free subscriptions panel on the left right [don't know my left from my right!] of the page).

This is one of the cards that I have on display when I do my demonstration of the Poppin' Pastels technique at the fair. I can sneak this on now since some of you have seen it already.
Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
VersaMark

Stamps:
It's Beautiful wheel
Short & Sweet set

Cardstock:
Naturals Ivory

Accessories:
Mat Pack
Paper Piercer
Paper Snips
Sponge Daubers
Stampin' Dimensionals
Stampin' Pastels





Today is the last day of the Papercrafts Festival so poppin' I mean pop in if you can. We have an amazing array of papercraft samples (and I can say this because you should see everyone else's work) and you can even take a photo or two of your favourite pieces. There are also specials just for the show including a Pick-A-Prize for all bundles and if you are thinking of joining Stampin' Up!, you'd definitely want to ask us about it!

Lucky as a door

I've just been wondering what it is about doors that make them so lucky that they are associated through the term "Lucky Door Prize". Perhaps luck was associated with doors after a large number of people survived an earthquake by staying in doorways...

And, strangely, even though this term is widely used, the phrase "lucky as a door" hasn't quite made it into the vernacular. I suppose it is yet another mystery to add to my list of things to Google when there's nothing else to do and I remember what is actually on this list.

This post is really a little teaser for the Papercrafts Festival being held at Canterbury Park Racecourse which starts this Friday (October 31) and finishes on Sunday (November 2). I'll be there with four amazing Stampin' Up! demonstrators to show off Stampin' Up!'s tremendous products along with various useful papercraft techniques. There will be Christmas make and takes, Pick-A-Prize with every bundle purchase and, of course, the ubiquitous Lucky Door Prize (in fact, six all up, as we are giving away two each day)! The prize pictured above is the one that I'm contributing. Please come to visit us there and, if you are as lucky as a door, you could go home with something smashing for your stash.

Simply Sent: Naked!

Ever wondered what exactly was in a Simple Delights Simply Sent Kit? Wonder no longer as the following picture reveals the full contents of one such kit:



To help celebrate World Card Making Day, Stampin' Up! is offering 20% of all Simply Sent Kits for one week only. So make sure that you get your orders in to me between October 4-11 so that you don't miss out! Come to my WCMD event to see what is in the kits for yourself, along with a couple of alternate card designs using the kits plus some additional Stampin' Up! supplies.

Make Your Own on World Card Making Day 2008

It is less than two weeks to go until World Card Making Day on the 4th of October! For those of you thinking that you are too busy to retrieve your craft supplies from the many nooks in your house, sit down to design and make cards, why not join me on the day? I'll have prepared all the tools and stuff you need as well as cutting cardstock to size so that you can enjoy the fun part - the stamping and card making! As for the regular card makers, join me anyway, for an afternoon of card making fun - you know you don't have to do any of the hard work...

There may be somebody out there who wants to try out card making - give it a go at my place. If you find it as enjoyable as I do, you can start your stash with a Simply Sent Kit. Stampin' Up! will be offering 20% of all Simply Sent kits during that week (4-11 October). I'll be displaying the contents of a few of the kits and some of the things that you can make with them.

Here are the details:

Date:	Saturday, October 4th 2008
Time:	2pm
Where:	Broad Arrow Road, Riverwood, NSW
Cost:	$5 to attend and includes a Make & Take and refreshments. Stamp-A-Stack (including envelopes) is: ● $12 for 4 deluxe cards ● $12 for 6 standard cards
RSVP:	Wednesday, October 1st 2008 [My contact details] Booking is essential as I have to prepare supplies for the event.

Deluxe Cards
Two Christmas cards and two birthday and/or thank you cards featuring:
● Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware
● textured cardstock
● Designer Series Paper
● ribbon.

Standard Cards
Three Christmas cards and three greeting cards featuring:
● Designer Series Paper
● a range of sentiments to choose from
● all Stampin' Up! supplies.




If you can't make it to this event, and you know at least three other people who are interested in making these cards, please contact me and we can arrange a time and place to stamp your own stacks (because it is card making day just about every day for me!).

Buckle down

June has been very busy so far - perhaps a little too busy. But, as one of my English teachers used to say at the commencement of a test "Heads down, bums up!". Then, a little frisson of scandal would ripple through the class along with "Ah ma! Mrs. M. said "Bum!"". Now that I think about it, it was the worst position in which to complete an exam and I used to come out of them with a sore back. Really felt sorry for the girl behind me too... Oh yes! What I meant to write was that I've buckled down and completed a few things and life is looking a little easier.

Speaking of buckles, I made a formal invitation card with one, so here it is:

Stampin' Supplies
Ink:
Encore Gold

Stamps:
Itty Bitty Backgrounds set
Mostly Flowers set

Cardstock:
Basic Black
Real Red
Whisper White

Accessories:
Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware
Black Embossing Powder
Clear Embossing Powder
Heat Gun
Real Red Grosgrain


The buckle on the invitation was created using a Spellbinders Ladies Fashion Buckle die and the faux metal technique. The faux metal technique involves melting a few layers of metallic embossing powder onto a surface and a stamp primed with VersaMark is pressed into the molten surface to create an textured imprint. In the case of this buckle, I used black embossing powder (so it's not really faux metal as such) and when the buckle had cooled, I rubbed the surface lightly onto my Encore Gold pad to highlight the pattern. Followed up with lots of glossy fixative and it is done!

As for the sentiment, I used a Quickutz Party Theme Goosebumpz on Basic Black cardstock and pressed the imprint lightly in Encore Gold and set with matt fixative. Placed everything on top of Whisper White cardstock embossed with a Cuttlebug Diamonds in the Rough folder.

As to the purpose of this card, I'd like to say "You're Invited" to my eScape event! But, in the meantime, have a great weekend and "head up, bum down!". Oooh! I just said "Bum"! *blush* *giggle*

Make love notes not war

Did you ever send letters to those you love and wait in anticipation of its delivery and then a delighted reply in return for the connection that you maintained or re-established? I did...and sadly...was usually disappointed to find out many days/weeks later that while the missive did reach the recipients, they never bothered to let me know. This killed my desire to write letters because I never got the gratification that comes from knowing that the long letters I wrote from Uni were valued. And in the long tradition of abusees becoming abusers, I, in turn, engaged in the awful of practice of hardly ever returning the favour of a letter.

Well, now that I've faced my past, I'm ready to try again - this time without the expectation of a reply. I think that we all chronically busy and one of the greatest gifts that we can bestow to another is evidence that they are worthy of our most precious and continuously dwindling resource - our time. And it would be even more of a gift if we can give this without hoping for reciprocation ... enlightenment, anyone?

The really great thing for me now, though, is that I love making cards. So, by the time the card is put in the mail, I've already gotten something out of it. If the recipient appreciates the connection, all the more wonderful!

Would you like to try a session in the delightful craft of cardmaking? Make love notes with me on Stampin' Up!'s eScape day, June 25 at my home in Riverwood. I'll demonstrate how to make the cards above and you can play with a range of Stampin' Up! products to make 10 cards and a box custom sized to fit your new creations. And, afterwards, you may be able to bring yourself to give all the love notes away...but at least you'll have the box as a reminder.

The cost for this event is $20 and all materials are provided, as well as a selection of nibbles. Please contact me (call me on (02) 9533 3939 or e-mail me at LMYapStamps@gmail.com) to book as my table only fits 6 guests! I'm suggesting a tentative time of 2:30pm but this is negotiable with the first couple of people interested.