Just last night I finished cutting up some ribbons for a recent ribbon share that I ran, and with them all bundled up and looking pretty, a photo opportunity presented itself that I found difficult to pass up…

How YOU doin’….?!

Ooooooh, pretty…

That’s what I’m talkin’ about….

Ribbon shares are a fabulous way to get yourself an array of styles and colours to play with, without the need to shell out for entire rolls of each.

This last share was just for the three varieties pictured, but I’m happy to run shares for any/all of the ribbons in the current catalogue, simply visit my Ribbon Share Page to check out the details on the various share opportunities available and soon you too could be taking staged and gratuitous ribbon photos…

‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the blog,
at the sight of a new post, the crowd were agog.
Though “crowd” is most likely too hopeful a noun,
since new posts around here are considerably down
from five posts in one day, believe it or not,
(on 6 August, ’07 for you disbelieving lot!)
to a single post (if you’re lucky) every month or two,
which I resolve to improve, I can assure you.

Next year, you see, the littler of my girls,
(the one with the brown eyes and gentle dark curls)
is heading to ‘big school’ – she’ll go every day,
which leaves mummy here with some more time to play.
And of course I will miss her – of that there’s no doubt,
but I figure it’s time to sort this ‘business’ out.

This ‘business’ that I started almost six years ago,
not realising back then quite how fast it would grow.
And therefore not doing it as ‘properly’ as I might,
had I foreseen the potential for it to take flight.
But soon with more time and opportunity to,
I look forward to starting it somewhat anew.

And I hope you will join me, both here and for real,
as I stamp and create with revitalised zeal.
For ‘to love what I do and share what I love”
is something I know that I’ll never tire of.
Huge thanks for your support of me, whether it be,
as someone already related to me,
or a person I’ve met on this stampin’ adventure,
so many of whom since became friends, I would venture.

So on this Boxing Day, I hope that it’s been
even better a Christmas than you had foreseen.
And here, from my family, best wishes to you,
and all our very best for a great New Year too!

…irritated?!

I must apologise for my extended absence from here.  Although I could almost justifiably claim that the Easter Hat in all its glory and over-the-top-ness had sapped my energy reserves for a whole month leaving me entirely unable to bash out even one blog post, I confess that that wasn’t the case.

What was the case, was that I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with ‘stuff’  and my coping mechanism when I feel that way is to withdraw from a lot of the peripheral things that claim my attention.  Blogging being one of them.  If you follow my Facebook page, you’ll have noticed me pop up over there from time to time, being that a Facebook update requires not much more than a lone sentence – something I felt was much more doable than whole cluster of sentences and accompanying pictures that make up a blog post.

I am still feeling a bit of a case of the “blahs” to be honest, but in the same way I would deal with one of my children when they are feeling less than co-operative and the toy room is a pig-sty, I have given myself a stern-ish talking to and set the timer for 15 minutes.  I love the productivity tool of setting a timer with the premise that “you can do anything for 15 minutes”, the idea being that once the 15 minutes is over, you will be knee-deep in whatever task you had been putting off and happy to continue.

And so I write this short explanatory post in the midst of editing photos from the recent Melbourne Stampin’ Up! convention.  My timer went off quite some time ago now, and I am still quite merrily cropping, brightening and saving.  My plan is that the pics and a bit of a convention write up will be up here shortly for your reading and viewing pleasure.  If indeed there are any of  “you” left

Back soon…

Photo by Getty Images

I had planned that my first blog post of 2011 might be something about my New Year’s resolutions – stamping ones and otherwise – and perhaps a bit about school holidays and what we’ve been up to.

Instead, rather than blogging about anything at all, I have been transfixed by the images of the devastation in Queensland, where three quarters of the state has been ravaged by extreme flooding in the past few days.

Sitting on the other side of the country, I am filled with feelings of helplessness at being so far away, mixed at the same time with almost guilty thankfulness at the very same thing.  When it all gets too much, I have the luxury of being able to walk away or switch it off.

I’m concerned for the many friends in the area – lots of them fellow Stampin’ Up! demonstrators – as well as some dear friends of ours who just before Christmas packed up their lives in Perth and headed across the Nullabor to start a new chapter of their lives in Brisbane.  They arrived at their new house two days before the floods hit the city, but thankfully they’re in a suburb that has not been directly affected.  A small mercy at least.

There are simply not enough words to describe the overwhelming images that are being flashed around the world and the stories that have emerged of people being swept away by raging waters.

The worst part is, that it’s still all happening and the clean up – the gargantuan, expensive task of the clean up – can not even begin until the water goes away.

No doubt you will be aware of ways in which you can donate to the appeal that has been set up to assist in the aftermath of these horrific events, and chances are you have already done so.  I know I have.

Because it can’t hurt to spread the word, –>HERE<– is the website for the Queensland Premier’s Appeal, where there is information on how you can help.

I have been trying to think of other ways that I can possibly contribute more to those who so desperately need it, and have decided that I will sell off my retired stamp sets – a job that has been put off for far too long already – and contribute the proceeds to the appeal.

There are a lot of stamp sets to be photographed and uploaded, and I will be getting that organised as soon as possible, so watch this space for how you can get yourself some hard-to-come-by retired sets and help out the flood victims at the same time.

Meet Hudson.

Hudson is 2 ½ but unlike most children his age, he has had a tough little life.  Doctors realised he had an incomplete brain before he was born and as a newborn he was discovered to be legally blind.  Hudson has also recently been diagnosed with both Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy.

His mobility has been hindered severely by his disabilities, however his family and friends wish nothing more than to give him the chance to get moving on his own.

Hudson needs a special Wheelchair/Walker, called a Kid Walker. This device will help get him mobile, allow him to play with his brother and sister, interact with other children his own age and give him independence in his day to day life.

Hudson’s story has touched so many people and for the past several months, a special crew of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators has been working really hard, securing support,  organising tutorials and gathering donations to get a fantastic event underway…

There is a HUGE online stamping event taking place, which you can find by clicking on the above banner.  There will be three weeks of stamping fun for you to join in– visit as often as you can, there will always be lots more to see, do and learn.

When you head on over to the blog you’ll find out all about Hudson, his family and his cause,  but more importantly, you can find out how you can help Hudson in his quest for greater mobility, at the same time as helping yourself learn how to make some great new paper craft projects.

How?

By purchasing bundles of tutorials kindly donated by Stampin’ Up! demonstrators the world over.

Each bundle has 10 fun-filled tutorials for just AU$10! And there are six themes to choose from – Bags & Boxes, Christmas, Kids’ Birthdays, Projects for Men & Boys, Punch Art & Scrapbooking.

There’s even a FREE bonus bundle if you buy four or more!

All proceeds go directly to help Hudson.

The Helping Hudson Crew will also be posting some awesome challenges throughout the three weeks.

For a small donation you can join in and be in the running for some FANTASTIC Stampin’ Up! prize packs, kindly donated by Stampin’ Up! Australia (Australian participants only)

Also keep your eyes peeled for challenges over at Just Add Ink and Stamp A Memory too.

For my small contribution, I wrote up a tutorial for the little bags that I made  as invitations for my big girl’s birthday recently.

This has been included in the Bags and Boxes category.

Personally, I plan on buying all of the bundles!  At $10 for ten tutorials, they’re an absolute steal and what a great cause they’re going to.  As a mum of two precious ones who have never been really challenged as far as their health is concerned, my heart goes out to Hudson and his family – it truly amazes me what some families are dealt and how they are able to be such a positive inspiration to us all.

If you’d love to help too, then be sure to head on over to the Helping Hudson blog and snap yourself up some fantastic tutorials.

If you love to help even more, then check out the Spread the Word section of the blog to see how you can help gather as much support as possible for this most worthy of causes.

I just realised that until now, I have completely neglected to advise what this week’s deal is….and it ends TONIGHT!

If you feel the need to stock up on some bling or gorgeous ribbon, it’s a great time to do so!

I’ll be placing my final deal order in the next couple of hours, so if you want to get in on the deal, contact me asap!

Just a quick note to say that I have had a moment of disquiet with my mailing list just now and it seems as though a number of names have been deleted.

If you have signed up to my mailing list from my sidebar in the last month or so, please do so again as I think you may have been accidentally deleted!

Thanks!

I am, as we speak, up to my armpits on my loungeroom floor with wrapping paper, sticky tape and Christmas tags, but I wanted to pop in super quickly to wish you all the very merriest of Christmases!

I have so much to share here including my Christmas cards, teacher gifts, some birthday cards for the number of December birthdays in my family plus rather a variety of other stuff and once the hustle and bustle of the season has settled down a bit I will be busting to come back and show it all to you.

In the meantime, thank you for your visits, your comments and your support of my li’l stampin’blog this past year.

Have a wonderful Christmas, how ever you will be celebrating and I’ll see you all back here soon!

Nothing like leaving things until the last minute, although as it’s my standard MO with pretty much everything, anything else would be out of character

Although in this case unfortunately, it means revealing a surprise that I haven’t yet managed to get into the post, as I’m pretty sure that the person it will eventually grace the mailbox of checks in here several times daily…

You may recall that I offered a little prize for the first person to correctly guess the multitude of stamp sets that I took greeting stamps from to create the anniversary card for my handsome man.

Well this is the prize that I made for them.

The Sweet Sunday Sketch that I based this project on finishes in about an hour 25 minutes from now, so I will be brief with the banter (is that cheering I hear?!), and get right to the point…

Here’s the sketch:

And here’s my version of it:

Instead of a card, I covered the front of a notebook with the sketch and am rather happy with the result.

Notice the sparkly brad?  I didn’t have any coloured brads that would work with the colour scheme that I chose, so I plonked a mini glue dot on the top of a silver brad and dipped it into Pink Fine Supernova Glitter.

See…?

As well as being a sneak peek for the intended recipient, it’s also a sneak peek of a couple of new products that will be arriving with the Summer Mini catalogue on December 1.

They’re not super obvious, but they’re there….!

So check your mailbox some time next week SJ and you’ll find this, along with some other goodies that I’ll pop in so you do get somewhat of a surprise

Or better yet, pop over for a coffee and I can hand it to you in person!

Cass, if you’re reading, I also have a little something for you but will post it here after you have received it 

“Sweet Sunday Notebook”
Stamps: Defining Alphabet, Baroque
Paper: Pink Passion, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Walk in the Park DSP
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Versamark
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Paper Piercer (Crafter’s Tool Kit), 3/4″ Circle Punch, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Circle Scissors Plus, Silver Brad, Pink Fine Supernova Glitter, Mini Glue Dots

Many of you will no doubt remember the jaw-droppingly amazing cake that I had made for my bestie’s baby shower.

Here it is again…

The creator of this sugary masterpiece – Julie – now has her very own website – Queen of Cakes – where you can see a vast gallery of her talents.

Prepare to be amazed friends.   Seriously amazed….

Then prepare to make a list of all of your upcoming celebratory occasions so you too can indulge in a truly wonderful cake that tastes every bit as good as it looks!