One More Sleep!

Until the New Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue!  Woo-hoo!

That means you have only a few hours left if you wish to order any of the retiring products (check my Last Chance List for items that have sold out, as far as I know).  If  anyone wishes to order any retiring products from me tonight I will place an order - but you must phone or email me by 9:00pm or you will miss out!

Things have been crazy busy with me (when are they not?) because we have had a weekend of dancing for Daughter 1, and I've been prepping for our big New Catty Launch this weekend!  There are a few spots still available if you are keen to have a fun day of playing with new stuff - and remember, your new catalogue will be included in the price!

Here are a few sneak peeks to whet your appetite:

These are the cards Amada and I made recently, with new DSP and a new stamp set, Friends Never Fade.  The green cardstock is Wild Wasabi, which is part of the new colour renovation too!  We both set out to make the same card, but they look quite different, don't they?

This card uses a new embossing folder, and new stamp ser, Amour.  Gorgeous!  Oh, and there is also a new core colour there too - River Rock.

This one shows a new stamp  (available on it's own!) which matches a new punch!  You know how much I love matchy-matchy.  The card base is Wild Wasabi.  Love that colour!

Everything Must Go! Crazy Prices!

The Last Chance List has been further slashed - click here for the link.

And to put you in the mood, here is the Crazy Warehouse Song from the Chaser's War on Everything:







In other news, here is a quick reminder about our New Catalogue Launch on 4th September - it will be a fun day, and I'd love to see you there!

Watercolour Rose, Brayer Rose

At this week's class, we made two cards - they were both really fun, easy, and gave great results!  I focused on using tools from the back of the catalogue that many people overlook - the aquapainter and the brayer.

The first one, using the rose from Fifth Avenue Floral, was made using the technique shown here, on Patty's Stamping Spot blog:

In Patty's tutorial, she used shimmery white cardstock, which we don't have (yet).  It is in the new catalogue, and I'll be trying this technique out for sure!  In the meantime, I tried it with plain old Whisper White cardstock, and Watercolour paper - and it looked best on the Watercolour paper, hands down.

To do this technique, you need ink refillers in the colours of your choice, versamark or whisper white craft ink, white embossing powder, a heat gun (please don't try to heat emboss with a hairdrier!) and aquapainter (they come in packs of two for $19.95, which is a bargain) and a small water spritzer - I got mine from the travel section of the chemist.

To make these cards, I  first swiped the cardstock with my embossing buddy (this is a nifty tool that helps embossing powder stay where you want it to stay), stamped the rose in versamark on watercolour paper and then sprinkled white embossing powder over it, which I then melted with my heat gun.  That is the hard part - white on white is difficult to see!  Also, I tried this with clear embossing powder over versamark and it didn't turn out as well as when I used white embossing powder.

Next is the fun part - you spritz the stamped image with water until it pools over the image, then dip your aquapainter into a couple of drops of reinker (I used a saucer or a bit of plastic from packaging as a pallette)  and touch each "puddle" of water with it.  It is one of those techniques that is seriously fun to do, and impossible to mess up because the colours blend so easilly that if you don't like the intensity or shade on your image, you can keep working at it until you do.  It does take a while to dry however - you can blot parts of the wet image with paper towel, but you get lovely results when you let it dry naturally. The embossed lines resist the ink, so they stay white.

All the girls at Thursday's class loved this so much, they decided they would use this technique for everything!

The next one we tried used the gorgeous matching embossing folder Manhatten Flowers.

To make this, we simply ran a piece of Whisper White cardstock through the Big Shot in the folder, flipped it over so we were looking at the debossed (recessed) side, inked up the brayer (a brayer is exactly the same width as an ink pad.  How very convenient!)  and rolled it over the image until we were happy with the depth of colour achieved.  As you can see, it gived a striking result!

The card on the left here was made by running the brayer over the smooth side of the embossing folder itself, then running it through the Big Shot.  Cool, huh?  You can see they are mirror images.

I have made a couple of things with my preorder stamps so I'll be posting them during the week!  Tomorrow I'm making Father's Day Cards with my daughter's Prep class, so I'd better run so I can get them prepared ahead of time.

Happy stamping!

Maree's Launch Workshop

Hello!  I just had a lovely day yesterday in Dalby, doing my beautiful cousin Maree's Launch Party - Maree signed up under me to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.  I'm sure she will do very well.

What goes on at a workshop?  Well,  a bunch of friends get together and eat yummy food, drink tea, coffee, and  learn a fun new stamping technique.   Then they get to make a card themselves, laugh and chat, and browse through our catalogues.  Then they order some of the gorgeous Stampin' Up! products, decide whether they wish to hold a workshop themselves next time, and learn about the classes, etc offered by the Demonstrator.  If they are the Hostess, they get to pick some FREE products and an exclusive Stamp set if the orders from the party go over $300.    Sound like fun?

At Maree's workshop, we had 8 lovely ladies and I have to say, I had a really fun time.  The Dalby girls rock!   Next month, Maree will be doing her own workshops, so if you live in the area, look her up!  What did we make?

As many of the group are scrapbookers, I showed them how to make your own patterned paper from the Stars Jumbo roller - here is the finished Scrap Layout I gave to Maree as a Hostess thank you:

I used Riding Hood Red, Whisper White and Brilliant Blue (retiring colour) cardstock and ink, and I punched some stars with the Large Star punch (they perfectly fit the roller stamp) and put some on the page with Dimensionals for some texture and interest.  I used the Big Shot for the envelope (perfect for a little journalling card) and the letters BOY.  The layout is scraplifted (or CASE'd, LOL) from Andrea Walford.  (scroll down to the Nursery Necessities layout on the page I linked to)

Jeez I was feeling the pressure coming up with a scrap page for a bunch of scrapbookers, I can tell you!  They were all very kind to me as I reminded myself "it's just a very large card!"

Then the make and take was based around one of Maree's favourite stamp sets, Fifth Avenue Floral.  It is one of my favourites, as well, so I found it easy to come up with something!

I used confetti white for the card base, Melon Mambo for the scalloped strip and the ribbon, and Old Olive for the matting layer.  The scalloped edge punch, scalloped circle punch, and 11/4 " and 13/8" circle punches also got an outing, and last of all the hppy birthday stamp is from Think Happy Thoughts, which is on the Last Chance List.  The flowers were stamped in Old Olive and Melon Mambo, on Whisper White.  I really like the feminine, yet crisp and graphic images you get with this stamp set when you don't colour in the flowers.

So, if you live in Brisbane (I'm Northside), and would like to host your own workshop (and get a FREE copy of the new Catalogue for doing so) and make cute projects like these, be sure to contact me.  

Scrapbooking Circles

Not at all like Crop Circles.

I got this idea from a layout by Shannon West at Convention in May.  I used the circle scissors (the trick is to use plenty of Dotto (removable adhesive) when cutting!

A CASE of the Autumn-Winter Mini

You know what a CASE is don't you?  It is where you Copy And Share Everything.  This layout is one of my favourites, but it isn't an original idea - I CASE'd from page 29 of the Autumn-Mini Catalogue (which will finish at the end of August).    When I was editing the photo I realised I should have drawn a grid in pencil to help me line everything up straight, but hey,  I'm a slap-dash kind of girl.  I
 have also changed some aspects from the one in the Mini - I don't have the alpha stamp they used, so I went with the Big Shot alpha dies I do have.  I also would have killed myself if I had cut out all the little animals, so I didn't.    I also put dimensionals under the photos,  they look great in real life.  The Kraft 12 x 12 cardstock is just gorgeous.  Other colours used:  Certainly Celery, Pirouette Pink and Soft Suede with Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery ink.

This card is also a CASE, it features the Manhatten Flower embossing folder - just divine!  It uses Whisper White, textured Kiwi Kiss and some bashful blue cardstock, with the tiny tag in More Mustard.  Such an elegant card don't you think?  So simple.

And finally, here is my little helper who turned the Big Shot handle for me.  She made her own "scrapbook page" with my scraps while I was working.  I really like that picture!  Can you see the chocolate icecream around her mouth too?  LOL

Oh and I've updated the Last Chance Page with further info on stocks running low or run out.

Clever Manda

My lovely friend and fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Amanda  made me this lovely card when she visited the other day, isn't she clever?

She made this using the "Stained Glass" technique, using Crystal effects and drops of reinker mixed with glitter, painstakingly painted on the back of a piece of acetate stamped with Black Stayzon.  It is so sparkly and pretty in real life.   Sadly, this flower is part of the Playful Petals set which is retiring, so if you want it, you had better contact me soon, before it is gone for ever!

I'll post soon with a picture of the cards we made with NEW catalogue stamps and paper!

Fifth Avenue, Baby

I've been playing with some ideas using the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set (one of my favourites) and did a 12 x 12 scrapbooking layout, featuring a little of the matching Urban Garden DSP and Kiwi Kiss ribbon.  I quite like the way this turned out!  

Next is another baby card, for another beautiful little boy (what is in the water around here?  LOL) which I designed from scraps sitting on my table!   I've used the Fox and Friends giraffe, and the sentiment is from Nursery Neccessities (which will soon be gone, sob!).  The little label is from the Mini Catalogue - a Big Shot die,  cute, isn't it?

Housekeeping

I'm just letting you know I'm updating the Last Chance page (see above) with details of things that are running low or have run out.

I'm also planning to list all my retiring stamps and accessories for sale, so keep your eyes out for that shortly!

Tomorrow my baby goes to Daycare for the second time (sniff!) and my Stampin' Sista Amanda will be coming over to play and make some samples wth the new preorder stuff I have.  Can't wait!

Have a gentle Sunday, peeps.

How to get a new catalogue of your very own!

I was a bit excited to receive my new catalogue, so much so that I forgot all about telling you how you can get one yourself!

There are three ways:
1. If you attend the big catalogue launch we are holding on the 4th September, a new catty is included in the materials (contact me to book in);
2. You can purchase one from me for $12.95 plus postage if required (I can arrange for it to be mailed anywhere in Australia or you can collect it from me if you are local and would prefer);
3. You recieve one for FREE if you hostess a workshop!
Contact me to let me know how you want to order a lovely new catalogue of your very own!

It's here!

My demo copy of the new catalogue has arrived with my preorder! Looks like we will have takeaway tonight kids, Mum will be busy!

The Great Fete of 2010

As promised, I'm back to update about the Fete - you will remember I was part of a team of Mums who have been meeting every fortnight over 6 months to make things for the Gift & Greet Stall (which we renamed from the Craft Stall).  I manned the stall for 3 hours on the day, and it was pretty busy!  I discovered today that our little stall raised - wait for it - $6,200.00 for the school!!!!!!  WOW!!!!

Makes all the hard work worthwhile to achieve that result.

Here is a collage of photos I took at the Fete, including some of our products (my first Collage using Photoshop Elements, so it is pretty rough!):

As usual, I have just realised that my kids have a school holiday due to the Ekka (Royal Brisbane Exhibition) when I've scheduled my class next week, so I'll be re-scheduling.  D'oh!

In other exciting news, my box of pre-order NEW CATTY goodies is being shipped to me, so I should have it by the end of the week or early next week at the latest!   Squeeeee!

The Last Chance List

is now up on the Stampin' Up! Website - it is 8 pages long!!!!!!
I have made a new page/tab on my blog just for things related to the Last Chance List and will keep it updated when things start selling out.

The Last Chance List is HERE.

In other exciting news, we Demos have seen a PDF copy of the new catalogue, and it is GORGEOUS!  Very very close to the US catalogue (which you can see on the Stampin' Up! Website by clicking on the little globe in the upper right corner and changing Australia to US).

I have placed my orders for my boxes of new catalogues, and some new pre-order goodies so I can get creating some lovely samples for you all.

It is going to be so fun!

Got a million things to do today, the Fete was lovely yesterday, and I need to upload and edit some pictures to show you, so I'll sign off now for the moment.