Well, after doing SO well for a couple of weeks, I fell off the blogging bandwagon yet AGAIN! I have heaps to tell you about Convention, and classes and product shares, but this post is just a quickie - to tell you all about a Papercraft show I’ll be part of this weekend….

Here are the details,

FROM PICTURE TO PAGE -papercrafters show 2009

Traders, product demonstrations, make-and-takes, FREE raffle, FREE parking,
FREE kids card-making area, drinks, snacks,light lunches, bar available.
Make-n-Takes, Classes

Why do people love this show?

Our traders and customers all mention:
* show specials
* the friendly atmosphere
* fantastic demonstrations
* helpful knowledgeable traders
* value-for-money tasty lunches & snacks
* traders with unique products that you will not see at other shows
* the free area for the kids to have fun while you enjoy yourself shopping

The Whitehorse Club
298-336 Burwood Hwy
East Burwood Reserve,

East Burwood Mel Ref: 62 C7

Sat 16th May 9.00am-4.30pm

Sun 17th May 10.00am - 4.30pm

 Entry fee $8.50 adults
Kids under 12 free entry

I’d love to see you there, so pop past on the Sunday and say hello! If you’re there today, say hello to the fabulous demonstrators manning the stall, and enjoy a free make and take!

I’ve made a heap of samples for the show, so there’s at least a month worth of blogging taken care of when I get them back - hooray!!!!!!!

Yes, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…… the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue is here!! We have some really REALLY nice stuff in this one, and I’ve actually found time for some creating as well, which is a bonus!

So… just in time for Easter, here’s the first cab off the rank…

I LOVE this little rabbit from Greetings Eight! So cute to colour - I used my blender pens and inkpads for this one. The Apricot Appeal box is wheeled with the It’s Beautiful jumbo wheel (yay it made it to the big catty!). The other colours are Cameo Coral and Certainly Celery for the box, and some Tempting Turquoise and Taken With Teal added in for the little eggs in the image. The box itself is just a variation of the old 2-4-6-8 box - I love how you can change the measurements and end up with something different.

Thanks for looking, and don’t forget - I can show you how to make these in a fun workshop if you’d like to book one… you get a free copy of the Idea Book & Catalogue too when you host a demonstration!!

If you don’t already have a demonstrator, and would like a copy of the all new 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue, contact me and I can organise to have one sent out to you - it’s FULL of great idea’s for cards, scrapbook pages and other projects, as well as containing all our fab Stampin’ Up! goodies!

To help those victims of the bushfires that have ravaged Victoria, Stampin’ Up! have launched a Bushfire Appeal.

Here are the details:

From 12 February through 31 March 2009, Stampin’ Up! will donate 50 percent of the retail value of all sales from a select group of 10 stamp sets to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfires 2009 Appeal. 

Here is a list of the Bushfire Appeal sets:

*These sets will appear on the upcoming list of retiring products, so they will only be available for the Bushfire Appeal–while supplies last.

I will also be donating any commissions I earn this month from sales - so if there’s anything on the list that takes your fancy, in particular the retiring sets, please think about ordering them now - and help Stampin’ Up! help those who lost their homes and loved ones in the recent fires.

Don’t forget, you can order from me, from anywhere in Australia, and Stampin’ Up! will deliver to your door!

As of 20th February, the total raised was $15,744.85 !! Lets see how much more we can raise!

Thanks for your help!

I’m on fire!!

(Kidding! The kids go back to school on Monday though, so I should have a heap more time to post here and keep things updated.)

I can’t believe I haven’t even told you about Sale-A-Bration yet - I’ve posted catalogues to my customers, but if you’re out there and don’t have a catalogue or your own demonstrator, drop me a line and I’ll get one in the mail for you.

Sale-A-Bration is my favourite time of the Stampin’ Up! year - when everyone gets a chance to earn a free stamp set for spending just $100 on Stampin’ Up! goodies. How easy is that!! The Sale-A-Bration freebie sets can be seen here, along with all the details on how you can earn more free goodies.

One of the other benefits of Sale-A-Bration is for new recruits…. you get to choose an extra set (up to $79.95 in value) from our delicous catalogue for FREE to add to your kit during Sale-A-Bration. It’s already a really good deal, but this makes it even better! Let me know if you’d like a recruit pack and I’ll get it in the mail.

Now I didn’t make the effort to come on here to blather away about Sale-A-Bration (although I could go on!). I have actually made a tiny space on my craft desk to create a card for a friend of David’s birthday. I struggle with male cards like a lot of people do, and I don’t really have any blokey stamp sets either *gasp!*.

Here’s my effort, copied shamelessly from the current Summer Mini Catalogue, and using the Friendly Flowers stamp set (yes, Friendly Flowers, for a blokey card!).

I swapped the Guava for Soft Sky, and the Friend greeting for Happy Birthday from Eat Cake, otherwise, it’s exactly the same! I do hope my creative juices start flowing once the kids go back to school, but for now it’s fantastic that Stampin’ Up! provides me with such great samples to use!!

Now when I say exactly the same… I will confess that I made a bit of a boo boo when I scored my base card. The back of the card was 5mm shorter than the front! How the heck…. never mind, I fixed it anyway …..

I trimmed even MORE off the inside of the card, then used the Scallop Edge punch to scallop the Choc Chip cardstock. Then I placed a piece of Textured Soft Sky cardstock over the whole back of the card, like I had designed it that way in the first place. Muahahahahahaaaaaa! It’s not a mistake - it’s a design feature! Hoopla!

And as if the guy was going to notice anyway!

So I used…. Friendly Flowers, Eat Cake and the new Lots of Dots Jumbo wheel, a piece of Afternoon Tea DSP, Choc Chip, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky and Whisper White cardstock. Stampin’ Dimensionals of course, and a Pewter brad from my Hodgepodge hardware.

Thanks for looking, I’m going to go back and finish my prep for my Stamp-A-Stack this Saturday. I’ll pop back later today if I get finished, and show you what we’re making. More cards using OTHER cards as inspiration (told you my creative juices had jammed up during the school hols!)

OK so it was ME who went to Dubbo! And ME who did the layouts!! Hooray for me!!

Anyone who knows the slightest thing about me knows that scrapbooking does not come easily to me… which may explain why, nine years later, our wedding photo’s are still in a little $2 flip folder…. oops.

We went on a bit of a short road trip after Christmas, and met up with some of our Queensland friends - Dubbo was the middle point on the map, so that’s where we headed. Thank GOODNESS I had the presence of mind to pack the photo’s and a Simply Scrappin’ kit, because it was like Hell’s inferno SO DARNED HOT up there. I sat in the cool of the airconditioning and made these 7 pages in about an hour. (I had to kill some time waiting for an acceptable time to go down to the pool for a swim and a little drinkie, tee hee)

I haven’t really used the Scrappin’ kits before, but everything came together so easily - I grabbed some coordinating ribbons, and scissors and adhesives, and it was all I really needed for the job! Oh and it helped that we were married on the island of Erakor in Vanuatu, so the Secret Garden kit was perfect….

The photo’s of the layouts aren’t brilliant, and I haven’t done any journalling or titles or whatever other things you are supposed to do with scrapbooking, but I have left the photo unadhered along the top (look Ma! I made up a word!!) so that I can slip journalling behind the photo if I want to later, and use some of those cool tab things that come in the kit.

Note how young and innocent we look, now we’re old and jaded…. sigh.

OK so they’re only 6 x 6 pages, but it’s a start people!!

And Gabbie, I am so not hooked LOL!

Thanks for looking, now to finish my customer and downline newsletters….. oops!

Yahoo! Santa is only three sleeps away, and I can’t wait! I love Christmas morning when the wrapping paper goes flying and the kids are all squealing with excitement over what they’ve found under the tree for themselves -  must remember to charge the video camera up to capture it all!

I thought I should try and get at least one more card up here before the big day, and I’m rapidly running out of time to achieve everything I should!

This is one that I made for Yvonne’s Summer Mini Launch - The base card is Pumpkin Pie, and I’ve used Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon. That big flower is trimmed from the Bali Breeze DSP, and I used some of our circle punches to layer the centre of the flower, using some of the rest of that sheet of DSP. Wonderful Friend is from the set Wonderful Favourites, and I used the Paisley background in Pumpkin Pie on the base card.

It certainly stands out in a crowd, so I recommend viewing with sunglasses on

Hoorah!

I’ve just been sifting through the dreaded spam list, and deleted 246 spam messages for delightful medications that can assist with bedroom drama’s, or help me advertise my business, or even help me out should I be inclined to be on the ‘different’ side when it comes to activities that are not stamping related .

Sigh.

I wish the spamsters would get a life!!!

Any old hoo, I have been frantic with work, and getting ready for Christmas, so I hope my absence is excused!

Here are is a card I made using a brand new Summer Mini Catalogue set, called Big on Spring. The colours are Cameo Coral, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise. This is a favourite colour combo of mine. I’ve also used the new Lots Of Dots jumbo wheel in the background, which I think will come in handy for lots of stuff!

Hope you like it!

Hopefully I ‘ll be back soon with another creation, but no promises made…. I have a date with the image consultant…… I’ll tell you more next time!!

How exciting, it’s getting close now!

Hope to see you there, come and say hello!

Oh dear, this seems to be happening a bit now that I’ve discovered Rub-Ons! Never mind, they make for quick easy cards, and would make the beginner cardmakers creativity flow, and get them hooked into cardmaking quicker, whereupon they would expand into stamping as well, and I would have created another addict! Muahahahahahaaaa!

Oops. Did I think it, or did I type it?

Doh!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand - another card I finished at my team play day on Saturday…

Gosh it came up HUGE! Never mind, you can see the detail better - pretend I made it big on purpose.

Yep - still using up the ol’ Blooms Diecuts, and Summer Picnic DSP. The Rub-On is from the Cherished set, and I’ve finally almost used it all up, with the help of my downlines on Saturday. The Blooms diecuts on the other hand are still going strong! I’m tellin’ ya, if you haven’t got yourself a pack yet you will KICK yourself for missing out at the end of November, they’re only $16.50!

Cardstock colours are Old Olive, Real Red, and Bashful Blue - and that’s the 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon there too, in Old Olive.

Phew another one down, back again tomorrow!

Yes, it’s another one - and you’re all probably amazed that I’m keeping up with posting once a day. Well my little secret is that I learnt how to schedule my posts in advance, muahahahahahaaa! Now I can sit and write a few posts in a row, but it seems like I’ve been updating each day. Hoopla!

Ok, here it is….

Again, it’s really a simple card, poshed up with the Rub-On’s and a bit of ribbon!

I used the same technique on this orange image from the Tart & Tangy set, as yesterdays card - I stamped off once, and then reinked the rubber with my Pumpkin Pie marker around the orange’s rind. It’s a great way to get two tones with the one marker don’t you think?

I tore the edges of my Summer Picnic DSP to add a bit of texture too, and layered the orange image with Real Red, and Pumpkin Pie, using the 1 3/8 circle punch and scallop circle punch. That Real Red flower underneath it all is from the Blooms diecuts. You know, you can keep the diecut sheet once all the flowers and shapes are pushed out, and use it as a template to cut even MORE flowers and shapes. How cool is that!

Again, the Tart & Tangy stamp set is only going to be available for purchase until the end of November, as are the Blooms diecuts, and Summer Picnic DSP. Check out my bundle offer in the previous post!!