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Ah yes it was more than time for my annual clean-out of my craft room. Between my Stampin' Up! supplies and sewing school . . . it was yet again an abomination.
Oh and it gets worse . . .
And I've even spilled out into the garage:
Well . . . it is hard to be creative in such a mess. And every year I promise it will never get that bad again. Alas ~
But a couple of days sorting and cleaning and throwing out, we are back again in a happy place:
I didn't get to every single drawer this year, but did most of them - the ones I use anyway.
and spluged and got one of those manequins I've been wanting my whole life:
Sooo much easier to live in!! Designing our next Auckland Extravaganza project this weekend! Book in your place asap to assure a spot.
Receive a free SAB item when your workshop or group order totals are $700 or more!
Join us!
1. The starter kit has now been discounted $50 during SaleABration time!
2. In addition, you will receive a FREE stamp set of your choice to include in your kit!!
3. PLUS there are a few more extra special benefits with the career plan change coming April 1st that you will LOVE and make starting your business even easier - email me for details and I will give you a call -
I took a lovely six weeks off which went waaaay too fast as holidays always do. Many of you know I went to Perth for a very special trip - and all went well. I am sending out my newsletter tomorrow or very late tonight after class and will share some pics and things there, too.
In the Meantime . . .
Its SAle A Bration time! As demonstrators, this is our most favorite time of the year!! Awesome and generous benefits for customers, hostesses, new recruits, and for us!! Doesn't get better than this and I mean that!!
Earn free stamp sets when you purchase, when you hostess and when you join my team!
And this year we get not only four stamp sets from which to chose, but also a pack of papers and a set of ribbons & brads.
Aren't they just beautiful??! You'll be seeing a lot of these papers in classes and on the blog - they are probably my most favorite SU has come out with yet!
The butterfly is embossed with the new Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder - I just LOVE it.
I just spend the afternoon/morning setting up my new calendar for the upcoming year, and I'm getting booked up already. Please if you'd like to take advantage of the SaleABration promotion for your own purchases or as a hostess, please contact me straight away. and if you'd like to book far in advance as well, that's perfect!
I've been quiet the last week or so because I have been heads down preparing trainings and gifts for my team for yesterday's breakfast.
Being a seamstress for many many years, I wanted to utilize those skills this year now that Stampin' Up! offers fabric AND die cuts! I had some ideas in my head of what to make for my lovely ladies, and started with making hanging craft bags:
AFter making 26 of these . . . .we decided to do the remaining gifts something else!! So we started making stockings!
We made up a selection and my friend Janine had the great idea of putting them on this trolley:
Excuse the very very messy craft room . . . the entire house looks something like that at the moment. I'll have to do a serious shovel out again this year.
Many many thanks to Janine Pearce and my daughter, Madeleine, for helping me get this project done in time.
Sofie and cat Custard later played the rest of the day with the trolley - they were playing shopkeeper and bus driver.
Another aspect to our party was my official invitation to Rob on the Incentive Trip next year to Broome!! We had lots of fun on the team forum coming up with fun ideas for inviting him. In the end Madeleine set up a treasure hunt around the house, ending with a card inviting him.
And thank you, Stampin' Up!, for a fabulous new nautical range!
I started out with the idea of using the new Open Sea stamp set and doing a real vintage layout, but the photos just didn't flow with it. It's great out layouts evolve as the emotions behind the photos come to play. And the look of the photos themselves too.
So, I found some different ways to add texture other than inking and sponging. We've using sanding blocks on some of the edges here as well as added the new Baker's Twine and roughed up other edges.
Do you recognize where the inspiration for these tags came from? I had to change it up a bit to fit the layout and the punches I had. The cool thing, too, is each person in the class could change these up to fit their colour choices and preferences. I loved seeing each one come out with a slightly different personality.
We also used every single stamp in the set, which to me signals great value and versatility. Not only that, but it is masculine-appropriate! (and doing the guy-oriented stuff is growing on me these days . . . )
The two stamps from Fabulous Phrases here stamped directly onto the photo is the whole of my title for this page. It's small and subtle, but I like it. And perfect for the photo here of Robert putting the slimy bait on for me.
And also, just wanted to show that yes, you can stamp direclty onto your photos! It's a great look.
Next scrapbooking class is Thursday February 9th and we will do a love-themed page, suited for anniversaries or parent/child photos or any photos really of someone you love. Might even be able to sneak in a few flowers or something on that one. LOL
Thanks for looking! Please contact me with any queries or orders!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Open Sea, Fabulous Phrases
Colours: Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Basic Grey, Early Espresso
Other: Bakers Twine, Vintage Brads, 1" Square Punch, Neutrals Buttons, Hemp Twine, Large Tag Punch, Regals Brads, 3/4 inch circle Punch, Heart to Heart Punch
My favourite product suite in the new Summer Mini - the Spiced Paisley series.
This Altered Milk Carton Box is made with two of the Milk Carton dies put together to make a six sided box. Once you make one, they are easy:
This is one of the projects I got to make on the trip to Fiji in October, along with a card and one of those awesome necklaces in the mini. I'll put those up next.
The top of the box is folded just like if you were making a standard milk carton, just done six times, and then threaded together to keep it closed.
I'm loving the new Spiced Paisley stamps and the Spice Cake papers - you'll be seeing a lot more of the papers in particular in classes before the mini runs out!
Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day, and please feel free to contact me with any queries or orders!
Monday dec 5 New Mini Catalogue Launch! Make a card and a box tonight using some of the latest and greatest products from the new Summer Mini Catalogue! 7:30pm $15 Birkenhead area
Thursday December 8th Scrapbooking Class! We will do a 12x12 layout using all the newest Nautical products from the Summer Mini! 7:30 pm $15 Bucklands Beach area
I've taught this one over and over and over this season. If you've done a class with me, then you have seen it! Because I love it - a cool technique, easy to achieve, and quick to do. Meets all my Christmas card requirements!
This project was taken from a lovely swap given to me a year or maybe two years ago by Kristine McNickle. She did hers in blues, which was lovely too.
Yesterday I posted using this same single stamp done in colours - today done in just monochromatic browns. Which do you prefer?
This stamp is just $24.95 - great value for an image with both motifs and words! And I haven't met a customer yet who doesn't love these Mocha Specialty papers - between the metallic accents and the flocked papers, it's just gorgeous!!
This is a project I do almost every year - and it's a super one! Great for gift vouchers or small gifts or photos, this template can be adapted to any occasion.
Made with a standard Stampin' Up! envelope inside makes the pockets super easy to do.
I've enjoyed using this Something for Christmas set this year - one of the few stamps we sell as individual stamps. On this sample I've coloured it with markers to get all the different colours. My next post will be a sample with this one stamped all in one colour - also effective.
Would you like a Stampin' Up! voucher for Christmas or to give to a friend this season? contact me to arrange!
It was lovely to have my team over yesterday for Thanksgiving. Not many could make it, but we had 19 here in the end between team and friends.
Bayley and Sofie the night before making Pumpkin Pie:
Not exactly the Herculean effort my mother used to put in, but I'm happy to have help in the kitchen!
This is the lounge before everyone arrived:
And the table settings. This is the girls' favorite part. Good thing we had three tables to do . . .
And gosh, you just never know what little tiny thing the kids will remember. I'm sure it's this box of cranberries and the string of fake pearls we put on the tables that the girls will vividly remember. Sometimes it's those small $2 shop items and the memories behind them. Traditions are so important.
And then the guests arrived! And so much food!
Thanks everyone for a lovely day! The sun was shining and everyone chatting - it was the real spirit of Thanksgiving (minus the sun but it was lovely)
Thank you all for attending and making the day special. xxxx
There are just a few days left of our Big Shot Promotion! Grab some of those dies on your wish list at 10% off before Wednesday!
And if the Big Shot has been on your list or is on your Christmas list, now is a great time to pick it up at a 10% off bundle including the Scallop Heart Embosslits and the Manhatten Flower Embossing Folder. (If you already have those items, they make nice Christmas presents too)
Place your order here. And each email order between now and November 30 receives a little chocolate gift included!
Dates: November 1-30, 2011
Promotion Details: During November, receive 10 percent off select Big Shot dies—no other purchase necessary!
pg 156 Scallop Hearts Embosslits $23.85
pg 156 Flower Burst Embosslits $23.85
pg 157 Manhatten Flower Embossing Folder $16.15
pg 157 Petals a Plenty Embossing Folder $16.15
pg 157 Elegant Lines Embossing Folder $16.15
pg 158 Buttons #5 Sizzlits Die $11.02
pg 159 Pillow Box Die $40.95
pg 159 Beautiful Butterflies Die $43.65
pg 159 Scallop Square Duo Die $43.65
pg 160 Movers and Shapers Punch Windows $60.75
pg 160 Tasteful Trim $76.45
pg 160 Petal Cone Bigz Die $65.65
Don’t have a Big Shot? Get 10 percent off the exclusive Big Shot Bundle! The Big Shot Bundle (item 128944) includes the following:
This is a neat and quick project shown to my by friend and customer, Kathe O. Thank you so much for sharing! This is the ornament closed:
And open:
I chose to use the Mocha Specialty papers because one I love them and two because they have a bit of metallic shimmer to the prints.
The label on the front is just the same stamp layered up with punches. Turned out nice and so quick. Perfect Punches is one of those stamp sets I don't pull out often enough.
Email me with any questions or to have this shown to you in a class!
supplies Used:
Stamps: Perfect Punches $38.95
Colours: Brushed Gold, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Other: Mocha Specialty Papers, Pearl Bead, Embroidery thread or a fine ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, Gold Brads, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
I have really enjoyed teaching this card to my classes - I think most everyone has seen it now!
I took this idea off of a swap board at one of our events; I don't know who the original artist is but it sure is good one!
Beautiful Season isn't an expensive set as it's just the four stamps. They are rather large and quite detailed though, so it's great value for money.
I used a water pen and quickly coloured in the image. The great thing about watercolouring is you can be a little sloppy and it still looks great. OR you can take your time and make something really amazing. But when doing mass production like Christmas cards, sloppy passes.
The project also uses very few supplies - just one colour cardstock and some pieces of Naturals Ivory cardstock. No ribbon even. Instead, we've used a piece of the ribbon border punch here. You do need this one; it's absolutely gorgeous.
You do still have time to make some Christmas cards, especially if you choose a quick one like this. Order your supplies today and I will make sure it gets to you as quickly as possible!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Beautiful Season set of four $40.95, En Francais $40.95
Colours: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Old Olive
Other: Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Black Staz-On, sponges, water pen, Modern Label PUnch, Hemp Twine
I was so impressed when I saw a little box like this at the Hamilton Extravaganza! Sorry I don't recall who had it made, but it was one of my lovely team members.
I was teaching the Petal Cone Box (posted last week), and I was struck by how clever somebody out there was to make such a cute box out of the very same die!!
The tip of the cone is cut off and the ends folded under to make the bottom. The flaps are folded in like a box top and done!
I wanted to wrap the belly band around the box, but the unique noodle box shape makes that more difficult that it's worth, so around the top it went!
Love how this flower turned out - simple punches and die cut stickers finished it off. And the glimmer brads sure are popular amongst my customers! Have you seen them in real life? They are pretty cool.
You're all wondering where that dsp came from, I'm sure. It's from the same place as the die cut sticker flower: the Tickets and Tags Scrapping kit. I had it sitting here on my desk with full intentions of becoming thank you cards. Well, it just called to me to be used for this wee box.
The good news is the Petal Cone Die is 10% off for a few more days! Order yours at the special $65.65 price!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Paisley Petals
Colours: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake
This is an awesome little box with sooooo much potential! AND this die is on special this month too!
This box is done with two die cuts - you can make a flat pouch using just one die. I taught this project at our three team extravaganzas and really enjoyed it. It was easy to do and so effective! The photo doesn't do these gorgeous colours justice, really.
These make a very cute box to hang on the Christmas tree or on a doorknob. So cute! Of all the Christmas sets, I've used this one Tags Till Christmas the most this year.
Last night was an awesome scrapbooking class! Thank you ladies for making it fun!
I took a layout idea from PageMaps (best scrapbooking site ever), and ran with the materials I knew I wanted to use. In this case, it was the Stocking Punch:
I hadn't really thought of using printed paper as the border, but it's a good look. Here I've used the Letters to Santa series. I had to give my ladies a quick disclaimer that although I did my layout in Blushing Bride, they could choose Old Olive, Marina Mist, or Riding Hood Red (which they sure did!) I'm the only one who has girls. And these Letters to Santa papers have all those colours, so it was no problem and neat to see how differently they all turned out.
These stockings are so darn cute! Anb who doesn't love a stamp set that comes with a matching punch? Quick and easy!
I did it the hard way, but it's quite simple to put the ribbon loops on these and then string them through string and away you go! A small diamond finishes it off nicely. The cool thing, too, about stamps is you can make these stockings in any colour you want - matching perfectly to the palette at hand.
The Timeless Type Alphabet also includes numbers, giving us the year here. The rest is a very simple layer of punched shapes, including the Triple Layer Doily.
The words were perfect for this - photos of my girls making tags for our annual Christmas plates. A very American tradition, I know, but a good one. We enjoy delivering treats and good wishes to friends and those who might not have a big Christmas.
I'd love to see your Christmas layouts!
Next scrapbooking is December 8th (Thursday) with a nautical theme in Bucklands Beach area. Join us!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Heard from the Heart, Baroque Motifs, Stitched Stockings
Colours: Blushing Bride, Old Olive, Early Espresso
Other: Ribbon Border Punch, Timeless Type Alphabet, Xl Scallop Circle, 2 1/2 inch Circle Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Heart to Heart Punch, Letters to Santa DSP, Stocking Punch, 1/4 taffeta ribbon
Thursday November 3rd Scrapbooking Class! Christmas themed layout and learn some new techniques! 7:30 pm $15 Bucklands Beach Auckland
Saturday November 5th Tauranga Stamp Day! We will be doing a variety of projects, most aimed at beginners and Christmas ideas. $30 Five projects. 10 am to about 3pm
Sunday November 6th Tauranga Extravaganza! Make Five beautiful Christmas projects! $35 includes a $10 voucher to spend on the day. 1pm start
This is a relatively quick layout to do that I demonstrated at the Hamilton Quilt and Craft fair in September. Dianne can tell on me that I was finishing putting this one together on the floor before the show started!! It's that easy . . .
I've used the new, beautiful set called Creative Elements, which is another one of those sets that seem to have random, mismatched images in it. However, upon having a play, they do work together quite beautifully.
I've included an additional border using the Little Leaves die, cut into bits and placed behind my photo mat:
I sure like that flourish included in the stamp set too.
The embellishments along the side are using the Beau Chateau papers and the beautiful Lace Ribbon Border Punch.
The clusters of embellishments are the Frames Embossing Folder, the butterfly from the Creative Elements stamp set, a small heart punch (of course), and an Antique Brad (also of course - cursed be the day these are deleted).
Simple and Effective. We have a scrapbooking class THIS Thursday November 3rd at 7:30pm in Bucklands Beach. Join us!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Creative Elements set, Very Vintage wheel
Colours: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Rose Red
Other: Lace Ribbon Border Punch, Satin Ribbon, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Frames Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones, Antique Brads, Heart to Heart PUnch, Large Oval Punch
During the school holidays, the girls and I are inspired to do something extra special for the significant other in our lives. In July we made the Moroccan Restaurant for him downstairs, and this time we spent a good part of a day making 40 Love Notes.
We just used bits and pieces - stickers and die cuts and stamps to make up some simple ideas. My younger two daughters LOVED the coloring in bit.
I then wrote in all of them, some sentimental, some silly, some naughty, and some appreciative. Kjristi and Sofie wrote a couple and also wrote on all the envelopes and sealed them up.
Our super secret plan was to go over to his house and hide them all over, some in easy places to he'd find them right away and some really really hard so he'd find them continually for a long time.
The four of us were sooo excited. Melinda, Kjristi, Sofie and myself all jumped into the car with 39 cards (the 40th I saved back and stole his car keys and hid it on his car seat while he was over for dinner thanking him for being cool about melinda going to Fiji with me).
We decided to call him along the way to make sure he wasn't home or on his way home. I decided it might be a good idea to have a reason we were in his house . .just in case . . . so I offered to move his laundry along.
Boy did we race around!! We only had 15 minutes before I had to go pick up daughter #3 AND now I had to do the laundry!! We hid them in some good spots. The girls were fantastic.
So, he found the one on his seat right away of course when he left my house late that night. (this was the night before Melinda and I left for Fiji). He thought that was nice and drove off. Then he got home and found one in his washing machine, then another in the bathroom, and then caught onto our game . . . .
He texted me about 40 minutes later and told me he'd found them all - he'd found 11. He still doesn't know how many there are, but I think to date he's found about 20 or so.
We also disovered that the Stampin Up journaler - the permanent black marker pen - that its ink goes through the dishwasher remarkably well.
It was a small thing really, but it was a fun, bonding activity for my girls and myself. And I hope Robert feels special and thought of and cherished. And I also hope that he finds one just right when he needs one.
xxxx Love you Rob
** Love Notes Envelopes set of 40 $14.50 pg 126 (mini squares)
Hi All! Finally home again and have a moment to write up a nice recap of the wonderful wonderful trip to Fiji.
(Ahh I have finally worked out why I could not upload . . . I had the settings changed on my camera and the pics were way too dense. Phew)
The above is our place setting for the first night's dinner. I was stoked with this as purple is my favourite and seahorses are what I'd pick out for myself too. It was perfect! These are handpainted on local wood. Such a cool souvenir.
These are the wonderful young men and women who performed some native dances for us before dinner that first night. It was an big welcome!
Our room. They were great to keep the rooms very cool and to leave us drinking water every day. All our needs were catered for - it was a lovely resort and such a nice place to lounge. I spent as much time as possible in that bed . . . which wasnt' much really . . .
And every night we receive pillow gifts, which is possibly everyone's favorite part of these trips. The first night I received this very cool beach bag, perfect for the adventure the next day. I used and used this and will continue to do so. Thank you Shelli!
Soo, the next morning, we were up before the sun ready to go on a white water rafting adventure. We had no idea the ride there was four and a half hours by bus and van.
Some of the countryside along the way between snoozes.
Melinda and myself at the halfway point. Stopping to have morning tea and a walk around. It was getting hot by then.
Here we are in our gear and helmets after a 20 minute hike through the forest to get to the boats. At this stage we were ready to get wet. We were absolutely melting. But the safety talk freaked us out a bit, so we had a healthy fear of what we were getting into at this stage.
SU was so thoughtful and had a photographer sitting downstream at various points snapping photos of all of us at no charge to us. That was such a NEAT gift!!
It began to rain at some point during the day (all of us had lost track of time between the early morning and the jet lag), and it got cold off and on. The best moment of the trip was in a peaceful part - the scenery was exotic and stunning and birds were singing. Our guide, Abraham, began to sing to us in his language. It was amazing. The four of us were silent and touched by the moment.
I'll add a few of those after I finish this bit.
Friday morning was make and takes and swaps. We have some fantastic product coming up! Might be buying that entire mini catalogue myself to be honest. It was fun to sit and chat with friends from home and australia and craft the morning away.
Delys Cram, Patrice Halliday-Larson, and myself
We mucked around the rest of the day, kayaking and sleeping and shopping. And walking around. I bought some neat little things for christmas stockings and a carving to keep in my lounge as a souvenir.
well I can't remember what we did on the saturday except the kayaking and shopping and lounging about. It was wonderful. Oh yes, melinda treated me to a couple hours at the spa! Lovely!!! I could get used to that . . .
This is us at the farewell dinner, which came all too quickly.
One of the many many stunning flower pieces in the hotel.
I love this. This was our place card for the last dinner - our little teaser for Broome next year. I am so pleased it made it through customs! I enhoy having his on my piano at the moment.
We were treated during dinner to a talented group of local singers who presented to us some native songs. It was beautiful - very high class. They then came through us and shook our hands. They were shy.
a last photo with shelli and sage before we went back to the room and packed.
Thank you so much to all my team and my customers for making something like this possible for me. Melinda and I commented several times that who would have thought . . . two ten year old girls in Montana and best friends for life would one day meet up in Fiji. I feel so blessed and loved and happy. thank you all for being in my life.
Sorry it's taken me a couple days to get to this; the internet connnection at this hotel is not only slow and expensive, but charged by data rather than time and uploading was just a pain. I think I have figured out how to do this now without costing hundreds of dollars, and I will continue to post as I can!!
The trip started with a bit of stress as the plane was cancelled and then the charter one was overbooked, but we got here in the end, a few hours late, but they moved the welcome dinner back a bit to accomodate.
We were greeted with refreshing drinks and smiling faces, as per usual on these wonderful trips. We had some local entertainment by some young, talented dancers.
The dinner was a lovely, local food, buffet. Melinda was not feeling so well and the food was even more unfamiliar to her than it was to me, so she didn't get much down. It was fun to try so many different items, like coconut marinated fish, plantains, and bread fruit.
Shelli welcomed us all there with love. She's arrived with her fourth daughter, Sage, who's been a lot of fun to hang out with (more on that later - day two).
. . . . okay I cant get any more pictures to upload at the moment. grumpy face. So I will post this and see if I can at least stick up more pictures later.
Last Tuesday's Scrapbooking class was a challenge for me - the request was Masculine. Lucky I had these nice photos of Rob and Bayley in my stash! The boys made efforts to come to church with us in August when Madeleine was giving a talk, so they were all dressed up and clean shaven. I wonder if men realize how amazingly handsome they look in church attire . . .
I was taking terribly photos last night!! I think I was ready for bed about 530!
First of all, the layout was taken from October's Pagemaps, a most useful website for any scrapbooker! I knew I wanted to use these pictures and I knew I wanted to use the new Mocha Specialty papers. So then it was just flipping through the catalogue and choosing which images and accessories would coordinate.
Most of the images are from the Forever Young stamp set - LOVE these pale tree images along the bottom of the page! I put two hearts on the Antique Tag - one for each of the boys. The little one is for Bayley with just a bit of glitter to the page. He's the type of boy who doesn't mind a bit of sparkle. None for his dad, though . . .
Now the words turned out quite cool. Very very pleased with how that worked out. They are from my favorite word set Word Play, but I've used a marker and omitted half the words. Have a look and see what it originally said and what it says now - a great and easy technique to manipulate and get more mileage out of your saying stamps.
When I asked Rob what sort of images to include on his page, he said "TOOLS". Well . . . . this antique clock will have to do.
I got the layering concept from my team mate and friend Paula Dobson from one of her really cool cards she shared at our last training day. All the layers were a little confusing for my class, but the finished effect is cool. Thanks Paula!
This paper from the Mocha Specialties is flocked, which gives a very rich look to the layout. Hated to cover any of it up! It's hard to tell in the photo, but the striped black and white ribbon is frayed on the edges and then inked in crumb cake. The fraying is another technique we learned at training in August. wow, I keep saying that . . must have been a great day!!
Hope you've enjoyed!
Next scrapbooking class has been moved to a Thursday November 3rd. Our theme will be Christmas. Come along and join us!
Supplies Used:
Stamps: Forever Young set of five $48.95, Word Play set of twelve $74.95
Colours: Basic Black, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Other: Metallic Brads, Circle Punches, Window Sheets, Antique Tags, Heart to Heart Punch, Owl Punch, Black and White Striped Ribbon, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
