Sarah Klass

Things I love about my job #57

by Sarah on March 8, 2010

Not that I’ve written 56 previous posts detailing the various things I love about what I do, but I think if I were to add them all up, I could probably get to at least 57…

My big girl is at home from school with a cold today. Despite being in fairly high spirits considering the snot factor, I thought it best to keep her at home so as not to spread the joy around.

How is this something that I love about my job…?!

Any previous job that I have had would have required me to take the day off work myself, or alternatively send her to school laden with the aforementioned snot.

Today, and every day for the past almost four years since I started this stampin’ thing, I have had no such decision to make, as taking a day off for me now requires nothing more than stepping away from my stamping desk for a while, and truth be told, I don’t even really have to do that, as she’s sensible enough to take herself off for a rest when she feels she needs it, or play quietly or read when she feels up to it. And I’m right here with all the mummy love she needs, which is the thing that always got me through any childhood afflictions

Does that sound like a job that appeals to you?

As an added bonus, until the end of this month, all new demonstrators signing up have the opportunity to choose an additional stamp set for free on top of the already amazing value of the starter kit.

Head to the Join my Team section for more information on the demonstrator opportunity and feel free to contact me if you have any questions or queries.

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Tags: Life & Family, Stampin' Up! Business

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A challenging challenge for me!

by Sarah on March 5, 2010

in Cards, Colour Challenges, Design Team stuff, Stamping

It’s week seven over at Just Add Ink, and this time around it’s another colour challenge – a most challenging one for me that gave me a good old shove out of my comfort zone.

Here are the colours:

They look quite delightful and Springtime-ish here, but Bold Brights have never been a strong point for me, and having to create anything with such bright colours, quite frankly, ‘frightens my life out’ as my girls would say.

I will admit to a false start with this challenge that never made it into a complete card. I wasn’t happy with the stamped panel that I had created, so that was cast aside in favour of this…

jai-7-colour

The Flower Fancy stamp set that I have used here is usually one that I reserve for colours such as Rose Red and Always Artichoke, so inking up those flowers in Pink Passion and the leaves in Green Galore was quite a stretch.

The panel of Whisper White that you can see at the bottom of the card has been scored at random intervals using my bone scorer and paper trimmer.

To get this effect, you simply insert the cardstock into your paper trimmer as though you were going to cut it, but instead run the tip of the bone scorer down the cutting groove. It’s one of those great techniques that adds a little something extra to a project, but without requiring any fancy tools or equipment.

Not that I have anything against fancy tools or equipment – heck knows I own a lot of those (and have another en route as we speak….!) – but sometimes it’s nice to be able to achieve simple but effective results using nothing other than what you have in your basic stamping kit.

Don’t you agree?

I’d love to see what you can come up with using these colours – mostly so I can CASE some awesome ideas for myself – so make sure you head on over to Just Add Ink and play along!

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“Just Add Ink Challenge #7″
Stamps: Flower Fancy
Paper: Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Ink: Punk Passion, Green Galore
Accessories: So Saffron Marker, Large Oval Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Chit Chat Rubons, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Tags: Cards, Colour Challenges, Flower Fancy, Punches, Ribbon, Rub Ons, Stampin' Up!, Stamping

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Sale-a-brating {Happy Moments}

by Sarah on February 28, 2010

in Cards, SU! Business, SU! Promotions, Stamping, Techniques

Many of you would already be aware that we are smack bang in the middle of the most fun time of the Stampin’ Up! year – Sale-a-bration!

Other than put a little advertisement up to the top right there, I haven’t done much in the way of shouting it from the rooftops, so I hope to rectify that today by sharing a couple of cards I made with my favourite of the stamp selections available in the Sale-a-bration brochure.

I loved all the stamp sets on sight, but my favourite one is Happy Moments. I reckon you can’t go wrong with a stamp set that contains four images that could be used for pretty much any occasion, PLUS three greeting stamps into the bargain as well.

And it is a bargain, ’cause it’s free!

It – or any of the other three sets in the catalogue – can be yours for free with any order of $100. Spend $200, choose two sets. Spend $300, choose three sets plus the associated hostess benefits.

Spend more than that, and you and I need to have a serious chat about the Stampin’ Up! demonstrator opportunity… Oh and did I mention that if you take up that particular opportunity during Sale-a-bration you get to choose a free stamp set from the Idea Book & Catalogue too…?

Yep, you do.

See I told you Sale-a-bration was fun!

Ok, onto the cards. They both use the stack of gifts stamp from the Happy Moments stamp set, which I love because you can colour it all girly and pretty, or make it more boy-ish colours too – both of which I have done in the following examples…

madelen-7-bday

This first card was for a little school friend of my big girl, whose 7th birthday party was just this morning.

The cutest thing was that when Hannah gave her the card, as she was ripping into it, she said “I know what this is – this is a card that your mum made”.

They’re onto me…..!

Here’s a close up of the watercolouring on the stamped image, and I also wanted to point out something else about this part too.

See the scalloped border around the edge of the circle?

Well that circle is the 1-3/4″ Circle Punch and we don’t actually have a corresponding scallop circle punch in the catalogue. Check out this post on Marelle Taylor’s blog for a nifty little trick to get different sized circles out of your original Scallop Circle Punch…

“Happy 7th Birthday Madelen”
Stamps: Happy Moments
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron, Watercolour Paper, Regal Rose Patterns DSP (Level 1 Hostess)
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron, Regal Rose, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze
Accessories: 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Aquapainter, Tangerine Tango striped ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

The next card was for the principal at school after I noticed a couple of weeks ago that his birthday was listed in the school newsletter. It’s such a lovely school that my big girl goes to (and next year, so will the little one…!) with just one class for each year level and the teachers and the principal know each and every one of the kids by name.

Here’s his card…

mr-martin-bday

The image on this one is also watercoloured, but this time I first stamped and embossed with White Embossing Powder, so it gives the image quite a different look.

So that’s just two simple examples of the many different looks that you could get out of this one stamp, never mind that you have three other image stamps in the set to play around with as well.

Sale-a-bration runs until the end of March, so get in on the free stamps action by contacting me and letting me know what you’d like for your $100 (or $200 or $300!) order

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“Happy Birthday Mr Martin”
Stamps: Happy Moments, Short & Sweet
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory, Kiwi Kiss, Watercolour Paper, Urban Garden DSP
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Chocolate Chip side double stitched ribbon, Aquapainter, Stampin’ Sponges, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

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