Ballon Bash

I love this birthday paper stack but check out the new goodies - can you see them? 

Balloon punch's yay and look at that sparkle on them ---- just add a Wink of Stella  ---- nice.

My bling 'need' is satisfied with this new upcoming product. The new catalogue has soooo many beautiful goodies that pre order has blown the Christmas to me budget. 

Sale-A-Bration starts on the 5th January 

Christmas is getting closer

Stampin Up have some beautiful DSP and this years Christmas offerings have not disappointed me. If you are anything like me I have to buy a 'spare' pack so I don't have to cut it all up and I don't feel so bad about using that pretty paper. Just between you and me that is also why my fabric stash is so huge.

The opportunity presented itself to make the boss a Christmas card on behalf of my Midwifery Colegues so out came mu pretty paper and this is what I came up with. 

It was a serious challenge and I will disclose I find upsizing cards hard - they just don't look right. It must be a proportional thing for me but I'm happy with how this one came out. 

It took me hrs of agonising to get it 'right' and I am so greatful for the thick Whisper White card.

How cute is that fussy cut Santa? If you love him you will love the deers on 2 of the other pages, being 12x12 that's a lot of Santa or Deer to cut out and love.

*quick note this DSP is only available till the 4th of January or while stocks last so don't miss out.

  

 

Spot Sale - who doesn't love a great bargain?

This sale is fantastic, but short. I can't believe it--Stampin' Up! has 17 stamp sets on sale at 20 percent off for just a few days. This rarely happens, so check it out here and get your stamps ordered!

Check out the PDF HERE for the full list.

Need some inspiration using our 20% off stamp sets - check out the Pinterest board set up by Stampin' Up! to inspire you.

Onstage Local New Zealand

Onstage Local November 2015 the decision was the big event in Brussels or a local event. I had the choice of Perth, Melbourne or Auckland. The decision between Melbourne with my team mates or Auckland with my hubby - mum offered to mind the munchkins so NZ it was!

Swaps are a big part of Stampin Up events so here are the 50 I did. 

I hope everyone likes them. 

Mojo Monday challenge MOJO422

Who has got their mojo happening?

Today's blog post is inspired by this challenge and can be found HERE

I needed a card for another of my daughters friends birthdays so this challeng made it easier for me - especially since she is a twin and I find it hard to make 2 completely different cards within the same hr or 2.

Christmas Joy - shake it up!

I have had some serious fun over the last few weeks with our Christmas Shaker Card kit.

3 classes, one workshop and a night with the local Girl Guides has seen me spread some glittery, noisy Christmas cheer. 

The kit is easy to put together (the Guides were aged 9-14) abet some bits fiddly but that made for more giggles. We got great results every time. 

Hostess sets coming up trumps

I am loving this hostes set at the moment - what is your favourite?

Teamed with the Blender Pens this card got my colouring passion going. It's hard to believe Melon Mambo could be subtle!

And a different colour combination 

Mojo Monday 416 challenge

My Aunts birthday card - 70 wow she has hit a milestone that not many in our family get to so it was super special.

She organized a surprise party for everyone - she knew but no guests were told the final destination. So the surprise was for 50 people instead of 1 like most surprise parties.

I gained my inspiration for this card from Mojo Monday - they have weekly card sketches that usually take me a little out of my comfort zone but help to stop my cards all looking the same. 

So this is Mojo Monday 416 and my Aunt loved it.

Here is the inspiration sketch.

I will link the goodies used in the showcase below but for ease the colour combination was Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry.

Oh and for those wondering about the surprise - we boarded a pink bus at Hornsby then headed west to Big Als world for an musical tour of my Aunts life including an Elvis Tribute show and let me say WOW Allen (the performer for the evening) was amazing. The Facebook page is HERE  and if you want to have a look at Al's business page it is HERE - they do some fab Karaoke nights.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Card Sketch Challenge FMS205

September is a big birthday month here in my family and although I had a few (translates to heaps and heaps) cards in my stash I could use I decided to do a special one for my cousin and Aunt that share birthdays - of course in this competitive family they both had to be different and with my Aunt also being a Stampin' Up! Demo hers had to be one she hadn't seen before.

Where did I find my inspiration firstly for my cousins card - well HERE at Freshly Made Sketches sketch FMS205

And the sketch.

To make your life easier for recreation the showcase below has all the Stamp sets, the DSP, glimmer paper and punch listed in it. I kept my colour family to those teamed up in the DSP Stack adding Tip Top Taupe as my base Card. 

Happy Stampin and check back soon to see my Aunts special card. 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Stampin' Up! Big News

Big News by Stampin' Up! has a heap of occasions covered and is such a big set that it takes up 2 cases. 

So a Hubby's birthday has arrived and since we stamped Guy Greetings within an inch of its life I steered away from it for his birthday and pulled out Big News.

Our Stampin' Up team is called Inksomniacs and we even have started a team board on Pinterest, my board is Bagsthatone so feel free to pop on over there for some more inspiration. This months team challenge is to create something using your favourite technique - I love to colour with the Stampin' Up! pens on our red rubber stamps. I love a card that floats 2 boats - card for a family occasion and an entry for the team challenge. 

Do you have a regular Demonstrator? You know you need one to purchase Stampin' Up! Products and the best bit with online shopping is you don't even have to actually know one or have been to a workshop. The Stampin' Up! Online store has a Demonstrator Finder and you can choose anyone anywhere in the country you live in. The order gets processed online and sent directly to you. 

Like my style and want to connect or purchase with me? Think you would like to change your online Stampin' Up! Store account to reflect that I am your Demonstrator? 

Here is how - 

This is for Australian Customers only.
1. Sign into your online store account as normal,
2. Click 'My Account' to bring up all your account info,
3. Click on the Tab 'My Demonstrator' to see who is listed as yours,
4. To change it to me click on the button 'Find A New Demonstrator' then follow the prompts.
You need to at least put in Court (Courtenay Heuston) and NSW for me to show up.

Guy Greetings Stamp Set

Guy Greetings wasn't a stamp set that made it to my wish list initially but recently with a plethora of male birthdays and a Fathers Day on the horizon I found myself looking more seriously at it.

Following a busy open house at my place I had a huge order to put in that netted me a half price item so perfect timing. I love our host rewards at the best of times but it's even better that Demonstrators  are also entitled to those same rewards along with other perks.

Enough of that I'm sure you want to see what I've done with this set since I've thought enough of it to write a whole blog post about it. 

Let's start with some Birthday love for the builder in the family - oh how I love the way silver foil comes up when going through the Big Shot.

Fathers Day for my Father In Law 

This kids wanted to get in on some of the stampin fun so here is a glimps into my life and my beautiful girls. Their father loved his cards and was a very good sport not peaking whilst the creating was taking place. 

The inside was completely written with these stamps - interesting as this kid is not usually very patient.

The front of Miss T's card

Next we move onto Miss M 

She loved the colouring with the markers - dad looks like he had a poor fake tan we decided.

It's fun to annoy the big sister whilst she is concentrating apparently!

Miss 16 wanted to be a little different so Sprinkles of life made an appearance.

So to sum it up Guy Greetings from Stampin' Up! Is a fun versatile set that comes in wood, clear and photopolymer. In Australa it is $89 wood, $61 clear or $45 pp. I am still to master the art of marker colouring on the photopolymer so my preference is for red rubber but how great is it that all varieties are available so all loves are catered for.

Kit of wonder - Tin of Cards

I am in kit love! 

They never really grabbed me but wow this catalogue has a lot of kit love to offer.

I hearby stand converted.

I ran the Tin Of Cards as a class this past week and my friends loved it also. 

The kit sells in Australia for $47 plus postage and has a divine stamp set to go with it. 

All the goodies can be seen on page 152 of the Australian Catalogue and the stamp set is on page 110 but here are some photos of my set.

The kit includes goodies to make 16 cards - 4 of each design. You will need ink, adhesive and the coordinating stamp set to complete it as per the instructions. 

Following the instructions here is a pic of the 4 cards - love them all and can't decide which is my favourite.

The stamp set that coordinates is also called Tin Of Cards code 138946 cost $30 au. I have used it heaps and the photopolymer is a lovely pink colour now because the font is so pretty.

Oh and you should see the new kits that have arrived with the Holiday Catalogue - I'm in love with the shaker cards in there. 

Drop me a line if you would like a catalogue.

 

Remember your manners

Always say thank you my mother said! 

What do you say to someone that's fine a great job over the last 2 years, changed the dynamics of his team and the charges they all look after Thank You doesn't really cut it but it's the best I had.

Our High School Principal is leaving and my hubby requested a card on behalf of the P&C to bid him a fond farewell.

My kids are devistated, his staff apprehensive of change but greatful for his presence over the last 2 years. 

Hope you like his card as much as he did.

Side note - I love the new patterns on the DSP stacks for the colour collections. 

Preorder Day for Demos

I am happy dancing I have put my preorder in and I came in under budget! Yes I still have a huge wish list but that will have to wait till I've done more demos.

I can show you the cover for the new #Stampinup #Holiday #Catalogue if the cover makes you smile let me tell you the inside is even better! 

All the goodies I picked are tucked neatly amongst the pages - they should have made the cover but it would have been so hard to decide what got pride of place since it's all so good.

Before I go here is a card from last weeks workshop - it met the brief supplied by my hostess.

*must use Big Shot to emboss - tick

*use the stamp set Beautiful Bunch - tick

*pop up slightly off the card front, not be 'flat' - tick

* have some ribbon on it - tick

I popped the greeting on the inside - just because I could.

Have a great one.

A smile is your best curve!

Laughing is good for the soul, contagious and feels wonderful. 

We don't laugh enough and it's often hard to capture it on film but I was blessed when my eldest daughter laughed so hard and I got great photos to scrap of this beautiful memory. 

The background to this page started after a long drive on Cristmas day 2014 to visit relatives. The kids jammed in the back of our car for said long drive when they would have rather been playing with new toys, watching new DVDs or just plain wishing they were not in a car listening to my choice of music. 

Eilish smiles but is usually reluctant to flash her braces because apparently it's just not cool! They cost me a lot of money I'd be happy for her to show everyone them! 

Her uncle - my brother in law said something funny as he does and I just happened to be in the right place with my camera ready.

These photos are precious and I say to all 3 of my little ladies that everyday your smile is the best thing you can put on your face. I hope this page makes you smile on what is a wonderful day.

I have used Stampin' Up! products only on this page - I wanted the photos to be the focus.

The black stripe is from the Neutrals DSP stack, the new Layered Letters Alphabet stamp set (yes I fussy cut those) the colour ink -Watermelon Wonder and the coordination new lace trim that I love.

The script is one off my computer and I just printed it on our Whisper White Cardstock because it prints on, stamps on and in general is such lovely quality card. 

Bundle & Save 2015-16 New Catalogue ESAD Blog Hop

Thank You for joining me if you joined me from Ria's Blog or you are starting here welcome. Foloow the hop to be inspired by myself and the other 19 Australian and New Zealand Stampin' Up! Demonstrators.
A New catalogue always brings new goodies that's what we expect - it was a great and welcome surprise to see all the new Bundle & Save options.
What is better than getting fabulous new Stampin' Up products?
2 Coordinating fabulous products bundled together and a 15% discount applied!
You will also be happy to find out that there is now 58 Bundle and Save options (wood and clear counted separately) covering Stamps and Punch bundles, Stamps and Framelits bundles, tools and even Project Life bundles. I am going to showcase a couple of my favorites but to see more head on over to the store there is even a direct link to all the bundle options in the quick find section on the right side.

So lets take a look at the Homemade for You Bundle - available in both wood (140212 - $82.25) and clear (140213 - $72.25). This is a stamp and Thinlit bundle

Side view 

We all love butterflies and I was so happy to see this set move into the new Annual Catalogue.

Butterfly Basics Stamp set and Thinlit Bundle is offered in all 3 of our stamp styles, wood (139322 - $105.25), clear (139323 - $88.25) and photoploymer (138865 - $70.50)

Just starting out then this bundle is for you. Petite Petals and Petite Petals punch available in both wood (140256 - $41.50) and clear (140257 - $36.50) 

Another favourite of mine Be The star stamp set and Star Framelits Bundle also available in both wood (140250 - $80.75) and clear (140251 - $68.75).

This is one versatile stamp set as stars can carry across a variety of card giving occasions. Check out Pinterest with this set and be inspired - birthdays, Christmas, baby and just because are all covered.

Don't forget if you are purchasing Clear or Photopolymer stamps you will need clear blocks. These are also have a Bundle and Save option.
Clear Block starter Bundle (blocks C,D,H) 129851 - $34.00
Clear Block Bundle (A-I) 118419 - $113.75

Starting out Check out the Pad and Card Kit available in both sets of In Colors. You get 20 sheets of Cardstock - 4 each of the 5 colours and 5 Classic Stampin pads one of each colour for $58.00.

*1. Rachael Lewsley - Bountiful Border

*2. Libby Dyson

*3. Keryn Campbel

*4. Rochelle Blok - 2015-17 In Colour

*5. Liv Ingle

*6. Lou Kitzelman

7. Jackie Noble  - Made with Love & Baby's First Framelits

*8. Monique Fielder Butterfly framelits and coordinating stamp sets.

9. Ria Kaire

*10. Courtenay Heuston - YOU ARE HERE

*11. Richelle Fletcher

*12. Kelly Kent

*13. Andrea Buckland

*14. Narelle Fasulo

*15. Leonie Schroder

16. Pauline Bennetts

*17. Kathryn Ruddick

18. Barbara Williams

*19.Cherie Davies

20. Chloe Evans