The Ship Song Project

OK, not at all stamping related, but I've just discovered the Ship Song Project, a tribute to the iconic landmark, The Sydney Opera House.  I love it.  You can download the video for free in iTunes at present.  I've been playing it over and over.

Don't Be Shocked...

But I'm posting again! LOL!

The kids are back at school, and I am determined to get better at posting regularly. Can you believe it is only a couple of weeks until we find out which things in the Catalogue are retiring, and only about six weeks until the new Idea Book & Catalogue? Can't wait!

In the meantime, here are some recent scrapbook pages to show you:

This is a very "clean and simple" one that I can't remember posting - my apologies if I have previously!
I loved how the card stock (Pacific Point) just went so well with the photos.

This one features a favorite photo of mine - I love the cheeky look on my baby's face! The flowers are all punched or die cut with the Big Shot, and some are then embossed as well. This is CASEd from our SU! Demo publication, I love it! I have also stamped various flower stamps there. Stamps: Printed Petals, Petal Pizzazz, Vintage Vogue. Big Shot dies: Floral Fusion, Flower Folds, Island Floral, and the Elegant Lines, Perfect Polka Dots, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. Punches: Fancy Flower Extra Large, Boho Blossoms Extra Large, Itty Bitty Shapes punch Trio. Other: brads, adhesive pearls. I added some dimension to the petals by curling them slightly with my bone folder.

While I was on a roll with the flowers, I did this page:

Big Shot Dies: Blossom Party. Other: Spiral border punch, tea stain ink (distressing kit), buttons, linen thread.

I finally broke down and purchased the Leaves die, I couldn't resist using it with this gorgeous paper from the current Mini ( it ends at the end of the month). I love these earthy colours.

I was supposed to go for a run today....it is now 9:30pm so I guess it isn't happening tonight! Maybe if I go to bed now I can get up early tomorrow? Hmm, we'll see how that pans out!

An Old Fave

I was fortunate enough to be invited to hold a workshop in Cherie's home yesterday, which was heaps of fun! Can you believe that one of her guests, Vanessa, used to work with me at Target when we were both fifteen doing Thursday nights and Saturday mornings? Brisbane has 2 degrees of separation.

I wanted to use a versatile stamp set which is an old fave but hasn't seen much love recently, so I picked Circle Circus.

This is the card we made, using Sahara Sand, Regal Rose, Rose Red, and Tempting Turquoise. I love that the circles coordinate with our punches and you can add interest without bulk by lifting some of them with Dimensionals.
The happy birthday is from Party This Way.

Here's the same card, with different colours: Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, and Tempting Turquoise.

Finally, here is a 8 x 8 scrapbook page I made using the same stamp set. Can you see that I stamped the bubbles in Versamark, then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder? The letters were cut out with the Big Shot and the adhesive sheets to make them easy to apply like stickers! I'll have to post more about the adhesive sheets another time.

Right now I have to tidy up for my Downline Day today!

Going to miss that kid.

My eldest is off to school camp today.   She's hardly slept, she is so excited.  I repacked her bag last night, LOL, insisting she take warmer clothes.  She's looking forward to spending time with her friends, doing canoeing, archery, the campfire, etc etc.  I know she'll have a brilliant time.  Just going to miss her.  On Monday I ended up in bed all day with a migraine, and she was the sweetest little nurse, keeping the little ones out of my room, making me cups of tea, checking on me.  She's not allowed to grow up and leave me.  I'll miss her too much.

In other news, I have the two youngest home sick today.  So they are having a great day lying on the couch watching tv.  Again, I kind of like having them around.

Did I tell you I have a new recruit in my downline?  The lovely Michelle!  Welcome to my team.  This girl is seriously creative and passionate about Stampin' Up!    I love her to bits too,  I'm so glad to have met her - only a year ago - as a customer.  Now she's a friend and my downline!  Can't wait for her blog, she'll knock your socks off with the gorgeous things she creates.

Finally, I must show you the gorgeous butterflies another friend and customer, Sarah P made recently to decorate her table for a special occasion she was hosting:

Aren't they divine?  She used her Big Shot with the  Bigz butterfly die (on page 154, $42.95.), called Beautiful Butterflies, and her embossing folders.


I think I should commission her to do more samples for me, don't  you?

Blogging from my iPad?

I have discovered a new (new to me, anyway) App for iPad called Blogsy which will allegedly make my blogging life easier. Let's test it, shall we?

Previously if I'm away from my computer I have had to email my blog posts to Blogger, which is ok, but a little klutzy. I can post photos, but can't edit my post and it is a bit hit-and-miss as to how much text goes with the photo, which can be frustrating!

For the purpose of this experiment I've uploaded some photos to Picasa (which is the photo sharing platform used by Blogger/Google).

This is one of the cards we'll be making at my Masculine Cards Class later this week, it is CASED from a card I saw on Splitcoast by a talented lady called Carrie Sampsel, she has a blog called Carrie's Scrapyard

Woo hoo I can make links from Blogsy! Yay!

I have a feeling Blogsy and I will be getting very well acquainted over the next few weeks!

Half of my children are back at school tomorrow, I'd best check they have uniforms, etc.

July Promotion: Free Gift with Purchase!

Close up of the free goodies:

Can't wait to start creating with mine!

It's Been a While

OK, I know I'm usually terrible at posting here during school holidays, but this is ridiculous!

What's been happening?  Well, my husband travelled overseas for 3 weeks for work, leaving me a pseudo-single parent of four children.   He ended up missing our baby's 4th birthday and our eldest son's First Communion.   Oh, and the day he left our computer died.  I was without email for almost a month!

Remember the Baby Shower from a few posts ago?  Our lovely niece had a beautiful, healthy baby boy named Louis one week ago.   Congratulations Chris and Nick!   Love the name, for obvious reasons!  I haven't been able to meet him yet due to viruses and things going around my kids at present - just couldn't risk getting a newborn sick.  Can't wait to give him a cuddle.  Horrifying to realize I'm officially a Great Aunt.

In the first week of the school holidays my eldest child had to have dental work done under general anaesthetic as day surgery, not fun.  Another child will need the same shortly.  Apart from that, we have had playdates, sleepovers, movies, a day in the Botanic Gardens, a day at the Gallery of Modern Art, plenty of Lego, Wii and Nintendo DS time, some sewing, some baking, and some sleep ins.

New Computer!

Now my husband is home, we have a new computer (but haven't got everything off the old computer yet) and school holidays are almost over.

I am still getting used to the new iMac (it was great to have FaceTime when my husband was in the US) and will have to do some fiddling to figure it all out.  It will be better when we get all the stuff from the old computer (such as Photoschop actions, digi scrap stuff I've purchased...etc).

On the upside, my family's Lifestyle Change is going well - the kids now eat multigrain bread without complaining and I'm up to week 7 on my Couch to 5K programme (learning to run on my treadmill).  I've also lost 13.5kgs since October last year, with more to go.  

From a Stampin' Up! viewpoint I've been busy too - I've had a few workshops lately, which was fun.  I've got another couple coming up and I'm getting to really enjoy them.  I'm free in August if anyone is thinking of hosting a Retirement Workshop (the Retirement List will be out next month).  I also have a new recruit!  Welcome to the team, Michelle!  I'll post a link to her blog as soon as she gets one.


Here are a few of my recent creations - a thank you note for one of my hostesses, and the tags I made for the recent workshop orders with the Big Shot.  Fun, aren't they?

Anyway, I haven't abandoned my blog, I've just had life get in the way.  Which happens.

I'll do another blog post about this month's promotion, too!