Yep another one! I was challenged to create a card using a technique I hadn’t tried before, and after seeing Yvonne’s version on her blog, I gave the diorama a go!

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And on a slightly different angle so you can see past the girls head LOL! 

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Images copyright Stampin’ Up! 1990-2007, artwork by Jenni Oliver.

I’ve used Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, All through the year, and Happy Everything to create this card. Loads of Love was perfect for this, as it’s small enough to create a tiny 3D scene within the card. Those circular holes are made with the 1 3/8 circle punch, and the 1 1/4 inch circle punch.

It was a really fun card to make, and it pushes flat for posting as well! Thanks for the challenge Ang!

Ok. You all know that the Stampin’ Up! Catalogue is called the ‘Idea Book and Catalogue’. I’m always pointing out that there are heap of idea’s in it (over 300) for cards and layouts, but I’ve never actually done anything with those idea’s myself.

I was challenged recently, to make a card from the catalogue using EXACTLY the same colours and stamps, and then make my own version using the same ’sketch’, but different colours and stamps. 

Here it is….

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Images Copyright Stampin’ Up! 1990-2007, Artwork by Jenni Oliver.

I’ve copied exactly the card on page 8 of the 2007-2008 Idea Book & Catalogue, and then used completely different colours and stamps to create my version.

And now you know why they call it an IDEA book and Catalogue! Try it yourself!!!

Wow about time I posted these photo’s! This is a little card holder compendium thing I made for my Mum for Mother’s day this year (Don’t worry Rikki there’s one coming for you too )

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I’ve used our gorgeous new On Board Chipboard for the M, and used pastels on it for decoration. The stamp set outside is Finest Flourishes and Dream Come True. The cards inside use a Level 2 Hostess set called Both Way Blossoms.

I’m thinking of holding a workshop/class at my house to make one of these - they make great gifts. Hands up if anyone’s interested??

The other day, one of our dogs, Olly, was barking his head off out in the backyard. When I went out to investigate (ie. yell at him to shutup because there’s never anything to be actually barking at), I found he had a pretty good reason to be excited!

These photo’s were taken near the steps that lead up to our clothes line and kids trampoline…

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:O I have no idea how the echidna got into our backyard, or any idea how it got out again during the night!

But how cool is that! We live in a country town sure, but we’re just on a quarter acre one block from the centre of town! I’ve seen my share of possums and rabbits, but an echidna - that’s pretty special!

This Scrapbooking and Paper Show is on this weekend, and I’ll be there with some fellow Stampin’ Up! buddies - we’ll have make and takes on offer, and be demonstrating different techniques throughout the two days of the show. We also have a bunch of Stampin’ Up! goodies to give away in a prize draw, so come on over if you’ve nothing on this weekend. Heck cancel whatever you DID have on, and come and visit us instead!!

Sat 19th May 9am - 4.30pm

Sunday 20th May 10am - 4.30pm

The Whitehorse Club

298-336 Burwood Highway

East Burwood Reserve, East Burwood.

Melways Ref. 62 C7

Entry is $8.50 for adults, kids under 12 are free.

There are 34 traders in all coming along, so there will be plenty to see and do, there is a free kids card-making area, snacks, drinks and a bar available (hey hey, maybe the hubbies will come along? ) Free parking too!

Make sure you say hello while you’re there - I would love to meet my reader! (no that is not a spelling mistake LOL!)

OK bear in mind I have been up since 5.20am when Quinn woke me with a gentle shake and whispered ‘can you get this boogie out of my nose please Mum?’ I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up and pottered around, made a couple of cards - you know, to fill in the time till sunrise. So I’m tired. And I might have to edit this post so everything is right, once I’ve read it again. (Incidentally, it was an absolute ripper of a boogie, he has talent that boy.)

OK so Day 2 of Convention started bright and early. 5.30am early. I don’t want to harp on about that, but really. 5.30am!!

The venga bus trip was not quite as much torture, because I had cleverly limited my fluid intake in the morning. See! Planning ahead even on 5 hours sleep!

Convention itself started at 9am, and we were straight into hands on technique learning! We got to play with the new On Board Chipboard with the Stampin’ Pastels, we did a quick masking lesson, and learnt a cool way to get that ’shaving cream technique look’ without the mess of the shaving cream. There were even markers so we could use those to ink directly to rubber.

This is the little ‘technique ring’ we all ended up with…

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Cute hey.

The next session was a really informative and motivational one, giving us tips to lead, train and motivate our own downlines to success. This guy was funny - he did an awesome fairy penguin imitation!

Then there was a lovely looong lunch break. Lunch was delish, packed in a really groovy container that I wish I had kept for school lunches now, but c’est la vie and all that. We went for a wander over to the shopping centre nearby after that, I had been freezing in the convention, and needed to get a jacket or something to wear over the dress I’d bought up for the Awards Ceremony & Dinner. I got a gorgeous silk throw/wrap thing from one of the lingerie type shops in the centre. Just gorgeous.

After lunch we were split into four groups, according to our nametag colour. I was HOT PINK baby! Our group first went to a lecture on workshops by the lovely Pam. All about using hostess and guest incentives when necessary, to keep our calendars full and booked with workshops, and some great idea’s on what to use as gifts and incentives too. Second was a class on recruiting, which I need to work on I know! We had Bonnie for that one, she is an absolute scream of a woman. I met her in Sydney last year at training, and she has you in stitches, no matter what she’s talking about. Next was my favourite, the make and take session. We’d been given the supplies for these in our Convention bags at the start of yesterday, and we finally got to do some more stamping! I LOVE the card and layout (yep layout, who would have thought it from old non-scrapper me huh?) we made, and would love to show you….. but I’m thinking of using them in workshops so I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Our final session was more demonstrations - this time by Liz and Naomi, fellow Aussie demonstrators! I would have been having a heart attack myself, up there in front of  us all, but they did really really well. Naomi did some cute things with the Dazzling Diamonds glitter and Heat & Stick powder, and Liz showed us how to add impact to our images, by colouring OUTSIDE the image. Very cool.

Lastly Shelli herself demonstrated the brand new Simply Sent kits, showing how easily they can be used to create so many more cards and items than are suggested in the kit themselves. You are really only limited by your own creativity here. I was most impressed by her stamp cleaning method actually. She looked around for something to clean it on, couldn’t find anything, so gave it a big LICK! We all cracked up, it was hilarious to see the co-founder and CEO of the company do something like that (something I would only do in the privacy of my own home lol!).

We were all free to go then, to get ourselves spruced up for the Awards Dinner. And we needed some sprucing, I can tell you! Maggie kindly offered to let all of us Venga Bus crew get changed in her room, which I think came as quite a shock to her roomie Kylie, who was in the shower when all six of us arrived in their small hotel room. Still, we squeezed in and got to it. Speaking of squeezing in, that is a nice segue into the hot topic of the night. My undies. Yep. Undies. I drew some funny stares when I whipped the Trim and Lift panties out of my bag I can tell you. They are a weird looking thing, about 6 inches wide and about 16 inches long before you put them on. It’s a bit of a contortionist act to get them on, but by gosh it’s worth it! They suck in your stomach and lift up your butt, and are amazing! I have not had so many people feel my butt in one night since….. well….. never really! But once word got around my Trim and Lifted butt was a free for all. (I am imagining sales skyrocketing as I type )

Anyhoo, once they were on and we were all ready, it was a mad dash down to the Convention again for some quick photo’s of us in our finery (haven’t got permission to show them yet, but I’ll be doing that), and over to the nearest bar where we ordered and downed a couple of quick drinks. No alcohol at Convention - eeek!

The dinner was delicious, and once I find the menu I filched, I will type it up in all it’s glory, but there was lobster tail, chicken something or other, and an ’interesting’ phallic desert made of meringue which was the cause of much mirth amongst the less sophisticated of us. Tee hee, imagine a meringue like a….. oh. Ooops ok so I was one of the not so sophisticated ones :)) Oh and there was a little gift on the table for each of us too, in Certainly Celery no less

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Dinner over, it was time for the awards. There were awards for recruiting certain numbers of downlines, and awards for sales over certain amounts. But the award I was in…… drum roll please…… Top 25 Demonstrators in Australia! I kept thinking someone was going to tap me on the shoulder and say ‘look, terribly sorry, it’s awfully embarrassing, but we’ve made a bit of a mistake….’ but NO! It was really truly my name they called out ‘Number 23… Jenni Oliver!’. How exciting! I had to walk on stage and accept a hug and a single red rose from Shelli, all the while hoping my clumsy streak would not take this opportunity to show itself and my Trim and Lift, in all our glory.

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OK so you can’t tell it was me, but I promise it is! And my amazing downline Kerri was Number 16!

The official night finished there, but we traipsed back to the bar outside and shared a few bottles of champers between a large group of us, it was a nice balmy night, and sitting by the harbour was just divine. I think it was about 2am when the last person felt my butt and we could get on our way home again. 

My rose…

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Aaaah. Thankyou again to Eliza for the early morning wake up call so we would not miss our flight home!

The last of my exploits was at the airport in Sydney when I realised my camera was missing. EEEEK it is only new and David will kill me! I searched high and low through all the pockets on my SU bag, which I KNEW I’d put it in. Nope. Nowhere to be seen. I texted Tracey to get her to look in the car boot when Andrew got home, but when we landed in Melbourne I got the text I was dreading. ‘Sorry, haven’t found it yet, will keep looking’.  Arrrgh. I was just standing there with a frantic mental conversation with myself whizzing through my head ‘OMG should I tell him now no wait till we’re in the car or even at home how long can I hide it he is going to want to see photo’s I am a dead woman…’ when I glimpsed the camera tag hanging out of KERRI’s bag. The relief was unbelievable. I had packed it in her bag instead of mine. Derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So whisked away home and back to reality. It already seems like a dream, but I know it was true, and I have the pin to prove it (it’s on my apron and will stay there forever LOL!).

Next year is in Brisbane… anyone want to come?????

After a shower, two cups of tea, a quick brekky and a mini Bounty Bar (thanks Kerri!), we were off to the big smoke in Sharon’s 8-seater ‘Venga Bus’. We were all truly regretting taking our thermos cups of tea for the trip in after about half an hour of jiggling and bouncing around in the back of the van. And there was still half an hour to go!!

It is sad to admit, but I was really more excited about finding the toilets in the Convention Centre, than going to Convention itself at that point! Still, we all made it, dry panties intact. (Three cheers for my pelvic floor which has seen me through three births and did not let me down on this occasion! )

Feeling much relieved we went to register next. We were checked in by Shelli Gardener’s husband Sterling (Shelli and her sister founded the Stampin’ Up! company 19 years ago), and I have been told the look on my face was hilarious, when he said I had achieved an award! I really was gobsmacked, as I knew I hadn’t made enough sales OR recruited enough downlines, but yes, it was my name on that bag! You will find out later (or now if you skim ahead lol!) what the award was. Even more exciting was that my downline Kerri got the same surprise!

But for now, here is a pic of the bags we got at Convention, along with all the goodies that were inside…

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It’s actually a really, really nice bag, with lots of pockets and zippered bit inside, and great quality too - far better than the cotton type bag I was expecting (hoopla, it also fits in 12 x 12 cardstock!!).

Next was a trip to Memento Mall. Now I had looked at the list we’d been given, and been a bit disappointed in what we were going to be able to choose from. What a surprise then, that in real life all the products were fabbo, and I naturally had to have one or more of everything *blush*. I’ve got a new pink Stampin’ Up! shirt to wear to demo’s, I bought some pens for downlines who couldn’t come along, some cute little phone jewellery thingo’s, a calculator, money bag, gorgeous keyrings (had promised the kids a present from Sydney ). Thank goodness it all went on the credit card :))

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It’s not all there of course, I’ve handed some stuff around already

Swap time!!!

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All images © Stampin’ Up!® 1990-2007

These are the fantastic cards and other items I received in exchange for my swaps. There are so many great idea’s and colour combinations here, they will keep me inspired for months and months. What was even better was meeting in real life some of the people I have only spoken to online - that part was fantastic! It’s really nice to be able to put a face to a name now.

The first part of the actual Convention started at 3pm, with an introduction by Shelli herself. She was so excited to be here in Australia! Part of the speech was reading out some Australian demonstrators testimonials on how Stampin’ Up! had changed their lives, she got all choked up after one of them, and had to stop to compose herself before she could go on. We were all really touched at that.

Stampin’ Up! the company, has a mission statement. They call it the Statement of the Heart…. “To love what we do and share what we love, as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments…in this we make a difference!”  Now before meeting Shelli I had just thought it was a nice sentiment, but she really lives that Statement of the Heart. It’s really what Stampin’ Up! is all about, and she truly believes it, which comes through clearly in the way that demonstrators and customers are really appreciated and treasured by the company. She was so gracious and beautiful, and well, normal! Not like the aloof company directors I expect at the head of a huge company spanning the globe!

Enough of the mushy stuff!

We had a demonstration of the cool ways to use the new On Board Chipboard products next, and once that was finished, they surprised us all by announcing that after any demonstrations, there would be a ‘Prize Patrol’ handing out prizes to randomly selected demonstrators. Whhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa hoooooooooooooooooooo I was in the first 6 names to be shown up on the screen!!!! I got a pack of the On Board Accents, and also a pack of the Treehouse Designer Series Double Sided Paper, which is totally gorgeous in real life.

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This first session ended at 5pm, and as the traffic out of Sydney was going to be a nightmare, we stayed and chatted at the Convention Centre for a while, and had the opportunity to have our photo’s taken with Shelli! Have a look, she’s just gorgeous, and a Grandma too!

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We wandered outside and were drawn magnetically against our will to a bar just outside the Convention Centre, so we felt obliged to have a drink. It was a gorgeous balmy night, so we sat outside and drank and soaked up the ‘Sydney at night’ atmosphere. Unfortunately the bar shut at 7pm, and when they started removing chairs around us, and turning off the lights, we figured they were trying to tell us something!

Back at Tracey’s place we all inspected each other’s swaps and got started mounting our brand new stamp sets that were in our Convention bags - I think it was about 10pm when we got around to having dinner! There MAY have been some alcohol consumed, I really can’t remember *looking awfully innocent here*. An early night hoorah! We were all asleep by 12 midnight I’d say, and thank goodness……. that Eliza girl was up at FIVE THIRTY!!! Ah well, we had to leave at 7am so we should have been thankful. Ahem. I say SHOULD HAVE for a reason! I’ve never felt so bleary eyed in my life!

Gosh it feels like I’ve been writing for DAYS now, and I’m sure you, dear reader, are exhausted, perhaps I will write about the last day and Awards Dinner and Ceremony next month when you’ve all recovered from this bout of verbal diarrhoea? Yep? OK, sounds like a plan! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ok Thursday before Convention was spent dashing around like a chook with it’s head cut off!  I had to finish my swaps, make sure there was something to eat in the house for the poor abandoned family , prepare for the next days school uniforms, and make sure everything was in preparation for my sister looking after the kids on Saturday. But phew, it was eventually time to leave!!!!!!!

David and the kids drove me over to Bacchus Marsh, where we met my lovely downline Kerri and her husband at Macca’s. There were hugs all round and then we were off to Avalon airport, while David and the kids got a Happy Meal and went home. Far out it is so much further to Avalon than I thought it would be! Next time I’ll spend the extra $20 and go from Tullamarine LOL!

The flight was quick, and was made that much more interesting by Kerri saying stuff like ‘what’s that burning smell?’ and ‘that noise doesn’t sound good hey?’ most of the way!

Before we knew it, it was 8.30pm and we were being picked up at Sydney airport by our fab friend and hostess Tracey’s charming husband, and whisked home where a bottle of Omni, and another friend and demonstrator, Carol, awaited. Ok it was more than one bottle but who’s counting??

We had hardly had time to even chat (hehe) when someone said ‘OMG it’s quarter to two!’ It still took another hour to get calm enough to actually sleep, so I will admit the sound of Tracey’s two year old daughter Eliza waking up at 6am was not the most welcome thing I have ever heard!

Still it was the first day of Convention, so who could sleep anyway???

These are the swaps I made for Convention - I would have liked to make more, but just ran out of time. Some of you will recognise these as Stamp-A-Stack cards or Make and Take cards!

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All images © Stampin’ Up!® 1990-2007

All artwork by Jenni Oliver unless otherwise noted

What will happen next to our intrepid Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators? Will Sharon remember to pick them up in the Venga Bus? Did Jenni remember her deodorant? How many chocolate bars DID Kerri bring up as payment for accommodation?

These answers and more in the next exciting episode of ‘Convention Capers’……..

OK so I am really tired and just got in from work and really need my beauty sleep as the next lot of photo’s is sure to show! More coming tomorrow I promise!

What an awesome experience! I loved every minute of the Stampin’ Up! Convention, and wish it could have gone on and on and on.

I would love to have already updated you all on what happened up there, but I had so much to do when I got back - including some instructions for a magazine article which were WAY overdue, so I’ve spent today catching up on that.

Over the next few days I’ll post my Convention journal, and hopefully you will all feel the buzz I felt while I was there! You can expect photo’s as well - I just need to take some pic’s of the goodies we received in the daylight, and upload the photo’s I took while I was away.

It was great to be back though, and I realised how much I had missed my family when Amy nearly bowled me over with a big hug as I walked into the terminal - they all looked like they’d grown so much, and it was only three nights I was away!

Check back tomorrow for the lowdown on the hightlight of my year so far!!

……on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again…. c’mon everybody sing along! (OK I do know when I’ll be back, Sunday afternoon, but it didn’t fit into the tune so well

IT’S STAMPIN’ UP! CONVENTION TIME!!!!

OK you picked it, I’m excited!

We’re going to have an absolute ball, I can’t wait to meet those fellow demonstrators that I’ve only chatted to online till now, plus of course the techniques classes and business information. Oh and the TWO FREE stamp sets are high on my list of exciting events to come LOL! 

Time’s a wasting, and I leave in 30 mins for the airport so this is just a quickie to say I’m off, but I’ll leave you with this Baptism card I made for a friends cute little girl last weekend. Colours are Pretty in Pink, and the sparkle comes from the Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Stamp sets are Bold Butterfly, Weathered and Big Deal Alphabet.

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All images © Stampin’ Up!® 1990-2007

All artwork by Jenni Oliver unless otherwise noted