The Babyshower

I am pleased to report the Babyshower for our beautiful niece went off without a hitch.

I made the decorations (Baja Breeze and Riding Hood Red was the colour scheme) with the Pennant Die - what fun! I think they really made everything festive, don't you?

In case you were wondering, I also made some yummy vegetarian sausage rolls (in my trusty Thermomix), a fresh him hommus dip (again, Thermomix), an apple tart (recipe from The Pioneer Woman), and some mini caramel tarts. My fabulous sister-in-law (and Grandma-to-Be) made yummy mini Chicken Burgers, and my Mother-in-law made tasty sandwiches. We also had cupcakes, courtesy of our niece's best friend.

Our niece has a great bunch of beautiful girlfriends - such lovely "Aunties" for this lucky new bub!

I'm exhausted, but pleased that we were able to celebrate the newest member of the family with love. I love babies, and I love parties, so what could be better than combining the two?

Last Deal of the Week!

And it's a goody - wheels and rub-ons this week!

So contact me pronto if you want to take advantage of this sale!

I totally have 5,000 things to do today...so I'd best dash.  I'll have heaps to show you soon, promise.
In the meantime (because I'm a procastinator), I've changed blogger templates to reflect the season...finally a chill in the air!

What a week!

It started off so well. Monday, an old friend came around for a well overdue catch up, Tuesday I did a little laundry, some groceries, etc...then Wednesday. School Assembly day at my kids' primary school. That was the day my youngest would not listen to me when I told him to sit quietly. Instead he ran off playing and climbing and jumping around the concrete steps and just when the Assembly finished I heard The Cry that every mother knows immediately is her child, and she knows...it's bad. Sure enough, I found my baby crying with a bleeding gash to his head and a massive lump, getting bigger by the second.

Ice pack from the school first aid room, a quick trip to the GP and monitoring for concussion.

Thursday - little man's head a lot better ( no more lump!) and a busy day with cello, French horn and after school activities which mean we are only coming home from the school pickup at 5:00pm and catch peak hour traffic. And it is raining. Because of the rain, the young inexperienced driver behind me fails to leave enough room to stop, and ploughs his Toyota into the back of my car. We are shaken, but unhurt. The young man was unhurt, shocked and apologetic. His car was undrivable and will be written off. My big, safe Volvo was drivable and lost the bumper bar. We were so very lucky. Cars are just things. Insurance will cover the damage. My babies and that poor young fellow are ok.

Then to add to a big week, I took all four kids to the dentist. The sheer logistics involved in getting everyone from two different schools to our dentist in the city by 3:30pm was like a carefully choreographed ballet. I got there on time! By the time we finished, after hearing bad news about the state of two out of four children's teeth, it was again 5pm and peak hour traffic.

And the craft news: above is a picture of the cupcake picks a friend has commissioned for a special celebration. I think we are going with the lighter gold.   I'm also busy making decorations for my niece's baby shower next weekend, can't wait to show you!

Here's to a better week this week!

New Deal of the Week!

Ribbons & Bling!  What more could a girl want?

Convention, continued

I'm actually typing this at the airport on my way home! It has been a whirlwind couple of days, and I am tired, happy, inspired, creatively recharged and excited to apply all I've learned!

I must share these photos with you. You know the tv game show "Minute to Win It?". Well Stampin' Up! did their own version of it, and my roomie Lyanna qualified to become a co test ant! It was totally hilarious, and sadly she didn't win. However she did get $50 voucher and a card from Shelli Gardiner herself!

The other reason I come to Convention

Shell Gardiner, co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up! is so charming and warm in real life. She always does a stamping project on stage and always makes herself available or a photo and chat. Poor woman must find smiling so much exhausting, but you'd never know it. You cannot help but to reenergized and inspired by her. The other reason I come to Convention is the lovely Stampin' Sisters I have from allover Australia and NZ.  It is such a wonderful way to make new friends, catch up with old ones, share and get inspired by your peers.  Lyanna and I are both Brisbane girls, and we met up with and became friends with Leeanne and Zarna from Parkes NSW.  We went exploring Melbourne in search of food, and ended up at The Spaghetti Tree.  Such a great night!  We laughed and talked and ate too much.  

Momento Mall Goodies

Momento Mall

These photos show the gorgeous decorations made by some hardworking creative SU! artist using our DSP, etc. Recognize some of the cards? They are from the IB&C. The lighting in the room wasn't the best, sorry.

Convention Day 1, Part 2

Finally it was time to make our way through the Melbourne rain to the Convention & Exhibition Centre. I met up with my dear friend Zarna Gould, a Demonstrator from Parkes in NSW.

If you've never been to a Stampin' Up! Convention, let me tell you what goes on. First of all, there are swaps. Swaps are sample cards, which Demonstrators exchange with each other so we can get inspiration and ideas from each other. It is a lovely tradition which truly encapsulates the Stampin' Up! 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."

It is a fun way to break the ice and meet people from all over Australia and New Zealand, too!

I will post photos of some of the gorgeous swaps I received soon.

Swaps go on throughout the day, but mostly in the mor I g of the first day, while people line up to register and collect their fabulous Convention Bag. Convention Bags are always lovely, and they contain NEW stamps!!!! I can't show the stamps to you just yet, but I can show you the funky bag.

The next highlight of the first day is always Momento Mall, which is where Demonstrators can buy lots of cool stuff. Here I am with my friend Nikki Stalker, a Demo from NSW. See the cute bags she's holding?

More photos soon!

Convention, Day 1, Part 1

After days of preparing swaps, freezing school lunches so my wonderful Mum wouldn't have to make them (she's helping out with the kids while I'm away), finding and washing all my winter clothes, packing and unpacking then repacking my suitcase, I was finally ready to leave sunny Brisbane for Melbourne.

The day I arrived was the coldest May day Melbourne had seen in years, I've been told! It was even hailing!

I met up with my roomie Lyanna (Lyanna is in the same downline as me) and after we deposited our bags in the apartment, we set off to explore Melbourne on foot.

These photos are from my iPhone, so not fab, but give you an idea. Melbourne is famous for great shopping and great food. Heaven! We checked out iconic landmarks such as Flinders St Station, and Union Lane, famous for it's graffiti.

I'm emailing this blog post from my iPad and can only send 5 photos at a time, so this post will be broken into parts. See you after the jump!

Baby Shower!

I'm throwing a baby shower for my lovely niece at the end of the month, and I had a lot of fun makin the invitations. I used Baby Bundle and the colours are Baja Breeze and RidingHood Red. The photo isn't great, my apologies!

I'm going to have fun with decorations too so stay tuned!

New Deal of the week AND Convention!

If you click on my Stampin' Up! Website over in my sidebar, you'll see there is a new Deal of the Week - and it's a doozy! Big Shot dies!

If you needed to take advantage of the special between now and Sunday, drop me a line (louisetsutton@Gmail.com) because I'm in Melbourne away from my computer - but I have my trusty iPad with me, so I can blog, Tweet, etc and process your order while I'm away!

This will be my third Convention. It is a fun annual event run by Stampin' Up! for Demonstrators in Australia & New Zealand and I'm so glad I'm here. In previous years it was held in Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney. Also this year it has been extended by a day so it is the same length of time as our US cousins. Sweet!

I'll try to post photos, news, etc to this blog, my Facebook page, and Twitter, so stay tuned!

Louise Sutton
Ph: 0414 671 290

Sent from my iPad

May Deals of the Week! Week One

My Yellow Period, part 3

For some reason, my computer isn't speaking to me today.

Fortunately, my iPad is! So I'm emailing in this blog post from my iPad (not bragging, just impressed by techie stuff, as I'm a Luddite).

As you can see, my Yellow (and grey) Period continues.

Hopefully my computer will forgive me so we can get past all this not speaking nonsense, so I can edit this post with details of the stamps, etc!

Oh, by the way, I have a Handmade by Lou Facebook page I'd love you to "like". I will be updating it with Deals of the Week, promotions, etc too.