I am sitting here with a list as long as both my arms of things I need to do before my gals and I set off for an Easter long-weekend down south with my folks and nephew, one of them being to show you the Easter projects that I have busied myself with over the past couple of weeks, before Easter has come and gone and they have lost their significance entirely.

A couple of weeks ago I ran a class here at home where we made three projects (including chocolate) as ideas for sweet and simple Easter gift giving.

This little guy came about as a result of seeing a variety of different punch-art bunnies around the internet, all of them cute but not quite what I had envisaged in my class-planning brain, so I combined different elements of things that I saw and ultimately made him my own.  This was also the project that I did as a swap for my team stamping day last month, and the inspiration for the next two projects came from there also…

This gorgeous creation was the brainchild of Inky Lou-Lou (aka Louise Layton) from my team of lovely stampin’ gals.  We did a version of this at our Easter themed team stamping day in April, and if you click on where I have linked her blog above, you can see her original sweet design

This one was inspired by an Easter card by the lovely SJ (honorary A Klass Act team member Sarah Jane Kalé) at the same team day and features her much loved and perfect for the occasion faux suede effect.  I used the same technique and applied it to these cute little basket that I made up with the Top Note die and lashings of Pretty in Pink satin ribbon

The teachers at school also got these baskets as their Easter gift with a Lindt gold bunny each inside.

So there you have my selection of Easter themed projects that have been keeping me busy these past couple of weeks!

If you’re wondering why you didn’t see notification of this class before I ran it, it was because in my usual style, I was running a bit late with getting the word out, so chose to do so on my Facebook page and Twitter instead of putting in my customer newsletter.  Turns out that the class filled up with Facebook fans and Twitter followers alone, so if you want to make sure you don’t miss out on anything in the future, make sure to ‘Like” my Facebook page –>here<– or follow me on Twitter –>here<–!

Pop back tomorrow to see what the school classmates got as their little token gifts and also what my small girl wore on her head for the kindy Easter hat parade….

Friday night last week saw me dip my toes in the waters of a Stamp Club for the first time and I do have to wonder what took me so long….!

It was SO much fun!

A lovely group of 6 ladies and I hung out together stamping, chatting and eating homemade chocolate fudge brownies (thanks Bell!).  I daresay that a Friday evening couldn’t get much better than that…

Add in the fact that over the next 6 months, as well as getting together and stamping on a monthly basis, each of the 6 ladies in the club will take turns to choose the hostess benefits resulting from our gatherings and I’m pretty much CERTAIN that a Friday evening doesn’t get any better than that!

Here is a bit of a sneaky peek at what we created last week….

The best news is that I have almost filled a second group and there are THREE PLACES still available!

Here are the details…

• Each month for 6 months, we will get together at my house on the first Monday evening of the month (beginning July) where everyone will get to make a project that is created ESPECIALLY for stamp club members.

• Each member will place a minimum order of $50 each month

• Each month on a rotating basis (drawn randomly), one member will get to be the club hostess, and as such will earn the hostess benefits for that month. On your hostessing month, you can bring in outside orders or even host your own separate workshop to boost your workshops total if you like!

That’s pretty much all there is to it! Contact me today to register as a member stamp club!

OR….here are some other stamp club options…..

• Start your own! – If you have a group of stampin’ friends, rally the troops and we’ll organise your very own stamp club! You can come to me, or I will bring it to you, the choice is yours.  Contact me to start your own club today!

• Remote stamp club – if you are not local to me and are therefore unable to attend stamp club gatherings, or if you like the idea of the club but are not able to make the time to attend ‘in person’ get-togethers, contact me to arrange a spot in a remote stamp club. Members still place a minimum $50 order in the same way each month, and everyone still gets a shot at choosing the hostess benefits, but without pesky geography getting in the way!

I have today been editing a large batch of pictures in order to upload them to my blog, and making a list of posts to go with them and, well, it seems that I have a large batch of pictures and posts to upload to my blog!

I realised just how far behind I am when I discovered that I haven’t even put anything up here about the workshops that I ran to launch the new catalogue back in April!

Can anybody say ‘bad blogger’….?!

But I now have a list to work through and will be endeavouring to rectify this situation post haste!

In fact I have made large leaps toward rectifying the situation by scheduling daily weekday posts from now until the 18th of the month!  And I’m still not yet done with the list!

But back to the catalogue launch workshops.

Now I could have just let a post about this go, since the workshop themselves were such a long time ago, but they were good fun and I thought I’d share a couple of highlights…

I actually ran the workshops in three different sessions as my house is not much bigger than a large shoe box, and a lot of stampers it does not accommodate!

Everyone that came along got one of these….

It’s an idea that I originally got from Splitcoast Stampers and tweaked to my liking by taking different ideas from different ‘Survival Kits’ that I read about.

Here’s what was inside…

Clockwise from the left of screen:

• A wishlist – custom made for the Stampin’ Up! enthusiast.  This one just about reached the floor once completely unfurled
• Sticky notes – a great find by my team member Ali!  Pre-printed with perfectly apt slogans to stick all over your must-haves in the catalogue!
• Catalogue tabs – printed with the different index sections for organising your catalogue
• A pen – for filling up that mammoth wishlist of course!
• A lollipop – sugar for energy as you make your mammoth wishlist
• A bandaid – first aid for the inevitable paper cuts that result from frenzied thumbing of a new stamping catalogue!
• A highlighter – for highlighting the stuff that you already own

I had heaps of fun putting these together and even MORE fun witnessing the reactions of the ladies as we went through the contents together!

Here was one of the projects that I demonstrated…

A set of love notes (6 in total – 2 of each design) that all went into a little box made out of Good Morning Sunshine DSP.  I don’t have a picture of the actual box as I demonstrated it on the spot, then gave it away as one of the door-prizes, but I promise it was cute!

If you want to be among the first to know of upcoming events  like these that I offer, head on over to the sidebar there ——-> and sign up to receive my newsletter!

“Cheep Talk Love Note set”
Stamps: Cheep Talk
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun, Pacific Point
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Summer Sun, Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Stampin’ Dimensionals

If  you follow Stampin’ Up! in the same fanatical way that I and many others do, you will know that the CEO and co-founder of the company is Shelli, and Shelli is married to Sterling.

Perhaps, like my Aunty Mary (*waving* Aunty Mair!) you even know all the family’s names by heart and upon receiving a copy of the new catalogue, turn not to the sections bulging with new stamps, papers and accessories, but to the family photo in the front to see how everybody has grown and changed!

But that’s a whole other story…

Back to Sterling.  Imagine my surprise when I received a phone call around half an hour ago from a fellow with an American accent introducing himself as Sterling.  Actually nevermind my surprise, imagine my heart rate!

Turns out that the Sterling in question lives a few streets from here and had been delivered, along with some packages addressed to him, one that was meant to be delivered to me, containing none other than a stack of catalogues and other things that I ordered specifically for my catalogue launch workshops this coming weekend!  How’s that for an amazing coincidence?

Well I thought it was pretty amazing, after I picked myself up off the floor and regained my composure

Speaking of my catalogue launch workshops, I still have a place left this Friday evening and now only two on Sunday afternoon.  And now I am ALSO assured of having enough catalogues for everybody thanks to Sterling!

I am having SO much fun putting together the goodies for the workshops – they’re going to be a blast!  Contact me asap if you’d like to be included.

Here is another sneaky peek of the sorts of things you will see at the workshop….

“Window Dressing Flowers”
Stamps: Window Dressing, Polka Dot, Short & Sweet
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Going Grey, Tangerine Tango, Lovely Lilac, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: Aquapainter, Scallop Edge Punch

So if you are a bit of a fan of Stampin’ Up! and haven’t been living under a rock, chances are good that you know about the new catalogue just released a couple of weeks back.

Perhaps you are wondering whether it’s ME that has been living under a rock, since I shouted about the new catalogue from the rooftops on the day it was released, then haven’t been heard from since!

Well there is good reason for this, actually THREE good reasons – the new catalogue workshops that I have been busily planning and creating samples for since I got my hands on some of the new stuff!

Wanna come….?!

If you are signed up for my newsletter, you would have already received information about the sessions that I am running to launch the new catalogue, and some of you booked right in – the first session filled within the first couple of hours of the newsletter going out!

If you would like to come along and check out some of the new products in person, have a bit of a play yourself, take home your own copy of the catalogue (including discount coupons you can use all year) and join in the fun and frivolity AS WELL AS have a chance to win some great prizes, I still have very few places available.

Here are the details…

Friday 17 April 7.30pm – 1 place left
Sunday 19 April 1.30pm – 3 places left

The workshops will be held at my house in Bayswater, WA.  Address details will be provided upon booking.

The cost of the workshop will be $5 per person, and this includes your own copy of the catalogue to take home with you!

Oh, and here’s the card that the little guy above came from orginally

“Friendly Birdie”
Stamps: Good Friend
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Journaller, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Given that Sale-a-bration is a mere 3 days away from finishing (how quickly did THOSE two months fly?!) I figure it’s about time I got some stamped samples up here to show you some things I have been doing with the Sale-a-bration sets!

I have had a play with all of them, but my favourite by far has been Botanical Blooms.  So pretty and elegant.

I held a stamp-a stack a couple of nights ago, where we focussed on the Sale-a-bration sets and here are the eight cards that everybody made…

Sale-a-bration Stamp-a-stack Set 1
Stamps: Polka Dot Punches, Congrats, Circle of Friendship
Paper: Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose, Almost Amethyst
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch, 1-1/4″  and 1/2″ Circle Punches, Regal Rose wide grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals, 2-way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Sale-a-bration Stamp-a-stack Set 2
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Basic Phrases, Linen, Canvas (can’t really see these in the photo, but they add some nice texture to the cards IRL!)
Paper: Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Square Punch,  1-1/4″ Square Punch, Rose Red double stitched wide ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stamper’s Tool Kit

I had made the samples up some time in early January with a view to holding the class shortly afterwards, but have spent a good many nights these past few weeks trying to get my small (2.5 year old) girl back into some kind of sleeping pattern other than the current ‘go to bed at 7pm but spend an hour and a half shouting and trashing the bedroom before going to sleep on the wooden floor’ practice that is her routine of favour at the moment.  SO not fun, particularly with a room full of ladies trying to stamp just beyond her bedroom wall.  Thankfully on the evening in question, it wasn’t too bad – phew!

Another card that I made with Botanical Blooms a good few weeks back now is this one…

It was for the birthday of a longtime friend of mine that I very rarely get to catch up with these days due to both of us being busy with kids etc, but she is very much in my thoughts, so I sent her this card for her birthday.

The stamped images are kind of blurry as I first saturated the Naturals Ivory cardstock with water before stamping the images.  This made the ink run slightly, then I dried off the cardstock with my heat gun.  I quite like the effect, especially with this very sweet stamp set!

Botanical Blooms Birthday
Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Carte Postale
Paper: Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Rose Red, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Always Artichoke, Rose Red
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch,1/16″ Circle Punch , Rose Red double stitched wide ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I have a couple more cards that I still need to photograph and will endeavour to get those up shortly. In fact I have a fairly long list of blog posts to do, it’s just finding the time to do them that I’m having trouble with at the moment!

Speaking of time, it’s running out if you want to take advantage of the free stamps on offer for Sale-a-bration! Contact me asap to take advantage of this promotion before these gorgeous stamps are gone forever!

A couple of Wednesday evenings ago I had the good fortune of having a lounge room full of lovely ladies to stamp with!  They were participating in one of my stamp-a-stack classes and everybody made 8 cards with matching envelopes to take home.

Here are the cards that everybody made…….

Each set of four cards concentrates on one colours scheme and two main stamp sets.  I love doing classes like these that illustrate just how verstatile a single set of stamps (like Pick a Petal – my current fave!) can be

Do YOU want to come over to my house and play?!  If you haven’t done so already, pop your email address in the little sign up box over on the sidebar ———– > and start receiving my email newsletter!

“September Stamp-a-stack Cards”
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Short and Sweet, Garden Whimsy, Polka Dot, Basic Phrases, So Many Sayings
Paper: Old Olive, Pink Passion, So Saffron, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Regal Rose
Inks: Old Olive, Pink Passion, So Saffron, Versamark, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi Soft Sky, Regal Rose
Accessories: 1/2″ & 3/4″ Circle Punches, Old Olive wide grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals, 1-1/4″ & 1-3/8″ Square Punches, Word Window Punch, Regal Rose wide grosgrain

I had fun this month with a class that I ran to show how one simple template idea can yield a variety of different card results!  The template itself is not so much a sketch telling you exactly what layout you’ll end up with, more an idea of placement of different elements.  Let me show you – check out how these are the same but different…. (you can click on each picture to see the cards in full size)

You can see that the elements each card has in common is that there is a horizontal strip across approximately two thirds up, and then there is a central element on that strip.  In each case there is a variation on how the strip is created, from cardstock, to ribbon, or a combination of both and in the top left one, I simply crimped a portion of the background card to create the strip.

The central element is also different each time and I have incorporated a range of different techniques, form watercolouring using markers, to rock ‘n’ roll, pastels and punching.

If you’d like to find out more about the classes that I run and when they are happening, be sure to enter your email address into my newsletter sign up over there at the right! ——->

“Bodacious Rock ‘n’ Roll”
Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, So Many Sayings
Paper: Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Ruby Red, Summer Sun
Accessories: Crimper, Earth Elements brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Pastels Thank You”
Stamps: For a Friend, Polka Dot
Paper: Perfect Plum, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Mellow Moss, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Perfect Plum, Basic Black
Accessories: Pastels, Blender Pens, Moss gingham ribbon, Rich Regals brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Watercolour Jellyfish”
Stamps: Fishy Friends, Sweet Sampler
Paper: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Black, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Soft Subtles Makers, Aquapainters, Crop-a-dile, Stampin’ Dimensionals, White Gel Pen

“Dotted Ribbon Birthday”
Stamps: It’s All Good, On the Spot, Basic Phrases, Happiness
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pink Passion, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White Craft
Accessories: Scallop, 1-3/8″ & 1-1/4″ Circle Punches, Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I absolutely LOVE the Watercolour Wonder Crayons and this evening I conducted a class at my place on the various ways to use them. Here are the cards that we made:

I love the way they turned out and if you’d like to have a crack at making them (and you live in Perth, WA!) I am repeating the class later this month. Contact me to book your spot!