As the post title would suggest, today is my thirty-something^th birthday (actually it’s ticked over to midnight since starting to write, so technically it isn’t anymore…) and after a lovely day having lunch and pottering at a garden centre with my handsome man this afternoon and hanging out with my girls this evening, this post is going up much later than I had planned, but I’m here now and have things to share!

Before I launch into the details of the delightful early birthday surprise that some of my stampin’ team members sprung on me exactly a week ago, I thought I’d expand on the second half of the post title…

As you are most likely aware, Sale-a-bration is coming to a close after two “enchanting” months and come March 31st it will be all over red rover for another year.  If you have yet to capitalise on the freebies available with this promotion, or you have capitalised and you rather feel like doing so again, then I have a great opportunity for you!

Here’s how it will go down…*

• 10 people each place a $100 order (before shipping)
• Everybody chooses a free Sale-a-bration item
• Drawn randomly, everybody shares in the hostess benefits amounts to spend as they choose on exclusive hostess stamp sets or catalogue merchandise as follows:

• One amount of $30
• Three amounts of $20
• Four amounts of $15
• One amount of $10
• One additional Sale-a-bration reward

In addition to the bonuses listed above, the person whose order total is the highest will also have the opportunity to purchase any catalogue item at half price**

DON’T FORGET: WITH THE NEW HOSTESS PLAN, THE HOSTESS DOLLARS ARE ABLE TO BE SPENT ON ANY COMBINATION OF EXCLUSIVE HOSTESS SETS AND CATALOGUE MERCHANDISE THAT YOU LIKE, SO ANY OF THE AMOUNTS LISTED ABOVE COULD GO TOWARDS GETTING YOUR HANDS ON ONE OF THE STUNNING HOSTESS-ONLY STAMP SETS AVAILABLE!

Contact me asap to reserve a spot in the last gasp virtual workshop!!

* hostess amounts may change according to the number of people and order totals submitted
** cannot form part of the initial $100 order

~~~~~~~~~~

Righto, the next fun order of business is to allow you a peek into what it’s like to have a crew of beautiful hearted stampin’ team members descend on your house of a Thursday evening to throw you a surprise birthday stampin’ session.

We had actually pre-planned a casual gathering to take our Autumn-Winter Mini catalogue pre-order purchases (hello demonstrator perk!) for a test run, so I knew that there would be eight of us at my place that night.  What I didn’t know was that they had been covertly messaging each other for almost a month with plans for a surprise birthday bash, and my suggestion of a play over at my house was all the encouragement needed to swing their delightful plans into action!

Cut to 7.30pm last Thursday night (after I had sufficiently shifted around every item of furniture in my teeny lounge room to make way for two trestle tables) when I heard a car door out the front.  After a little while without a knock at the door, I headed out to my porch to see if anybody needed help up my front steps with their stampin’ supplies.  The sight that greeted me still makes me giggle when I think of it now – picture six grown ladies, all carrying a varied array of stamping equipment, bags and plates of food all crouched in your front garden in an attempt to escape the glare of the motion-sensor security light that popped on as they all converged on my front door.  The sight of me up on the porch galvanized them into action, with Lou springing up to hold up the above birthday banner, SJ with her camera around her neck trying in vain to catch the frivolity on film and Michelle still crouched in the garden doing her best to hide in my hedge.  Bloody hilarious I tell you!

We all proceeded inside where I was informed that I need do nothing – everything was planned, from refreshments to make and takes and the most glorious array of gifts and cards.  Stunned is an understatement.  My face hurt from smiling and I’m pretty sure I spent much of the evening squirming and flapping with joy

Alrighty, enough talking, who wants to see some pictures…?!

Here is the party hat I was presented with at the start of the evening, and there is photographic evidence of it perched jauntily on my head, but it’s out of focus and blurry, quite likely due to the aforementioned squirming and flapping…

There are loads more to see – just hover over the thumbnails for a description and click on the thumbnails for the big picture:

Am I not the luckiest stamper in the world?  Such a fun night surrounded by some of the loveliest gals you could hope to meet, and all because one day six years or so ago, I thought to myself “That Stampin’ Up! thing looks like fun…”

So there I will leave you as it is now way past my bedtime and the birthday festivities continue tomorrow today, with a shopping trip into the city with my lovely mum.

Although I will say that if you like the idea of making new and gorgeous friends with a similar penchant for all things paper and ink, I would encourage you to consider the demonstrator opportunity, particularly since the Sale-a-bration promotion means the starter kit is discounted by $40 and you get an extra stamp set thrown in too!  But you’ll have to be quick, because the offer ends on March 31…

Feel free to contact me with any questions about the opportunity or have a browse of the Join My Team section of my blog

Today I’m back to share a couple of cards that I made recently for some of my stampin’ team members and to give you a sneaky peek of what you can expect to see here tomorrow…

This first card (inspired by FTL 172 from Clean and Simple Stamping) was for Sandi – a lovely gal in my team who is going through some pretty tough medical treatment at the moment, so at the instigation of another of the lovely gals in my team, a few of us banded together to purchase an Amazon Kindle and a download card so that she can cart all her favourite books to the hospital with her in a more convenient fashion.

See  the Poppy Parade scalloped mat?!   Bonus points if you can guess how I did it

Quick tip: When looking for a greeting to use on your cards, be sure to check all your stamp sets as the most suitable one might come from a most unexpected place!  The Thinking of You on Sandi’s card is from the Best Dad Ever set – you know the one with the row of little ties?!  It has four fantastic greetings using simple fonts, two of which don’t necessarily have anything to do with dads!

This next card was for the gal that instigated the Kindle idea for Sandi, as she had a birthday herself back in January and a few of us gathered at a playground and coffee shop to mark the occasion.  Love ya Mini!

The ‘inlaid embossing’ technique was all the rage last year or so and I was happy to revisit it in a way that I hadn’t previously, by cutting out the butterfly shape as a background for the technique.  Some previous cards that I created using this fun and funky technique can be found {HERE}

The colour combination was naturally lifted directly from the Everyday Enchantment DSP (I know, I know, I promise I’ll step away from the DSP soon…) and the flowers were made of various combinations of the Boho Blossoms, Itty Bitty and different sized Circle Punches.

Speaking of birthdays, I have one of my own tomorrow and I’ll be back then to show you the delights that were sprung on my by several stampin’ team members last Thursday night!

Here’s a tiny peek at some of the loveliness you can expect to see…

If you have any questions about any of the cards or techniques in today’s post, please give me a shout!

Stamps: Best Dad Ever
Paper: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Naturals Ivory, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories: Scallop Square Bigz Clear Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Big Shot, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, Everyday Enchantment Brads, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stamps: It’s Your Day
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories: Punches: Boho Blossom, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Two-step Owl, 1/2″ Circle, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, Decorative Label; Beautiful Butterflies Die Bigshot, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad Pack, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

By far one of my favourite varieties of cards to make are ones for babies, and when I can incorporate my current favourite DSP crush, so much the better!

Back in January my cousin-in-law had a baby shower to celebrate the impending arrival of her sweet baby girl (who has since arrived and a sweetie she is!), and this is the card I made for the occasion.

I love all the designs on the Everyday Enchantment Sale-a-bration DSP, so to be able to use so many of them in a quilt like fashion made me a very happy stamper   It also goes a long way to illustrate the versatility of these papers, so if you don’t have any yet, I suggest you move to amend that state of affairs as soon as possible – definitely before March 31st.  Lucky for you, contacting me with your $100 order is all it takes to score your free pack

Vintage and cute play happily together on this card, with the vintage trim and sponging around the edges of the DSP squares and Decorative Label, combining with the oh-so-sweet little owly from Fox & Friends.

With a packet of Stampin’ Dimensionals never far from reach, I popped up both the Decorative Label and the little owl, plus added punched out white and tiny black circles to accentuate his (her?} eyes even more.

Then the only thing left to complete the vintage-y cute picture was the gift – a brown paper package tied up with *FREE* Calypso Coral organdy ribbon and a strip of laser cut doilies from the Flirtatious DSP.

Tune in some time next month for the card I made when the little love was actually born – I need the entire rest of this month to finish sharing the rest of my Sale-a-bration projects before the whole thing finishes!

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Naturals Ivory, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), Flirtatious DSP
Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade
Accessories: 1-1/4″ Square Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Two-Step Owl Punch (eyes), Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Emossing Folder, Victoria Vintage Trim, Neutrals Brads, Calypso Coral Marker, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Calypso Coral Organdy Ribbon (SAB)

Following on from yesterday’s post where I showed you the make and take that I have been living off for the past couple of months, today I am going to share with you its companion project – the one that I have been demonstrating at most of those workshops as well!

I am rather a fan of cute packaging and cards as gifts, so when I can combine the two in something I can create with my own hands, I get rather excited!  It’s the little things…

Speaking of little things, here is my fun project:

It’s a simple little package (you will see just how simple once you get to the end of this post…) that opens up…

…to reveal a set of co-ordinated love notes and matching envelopes…

It’s the perfect little project to illustrate the fabulous product and colour co-ordination factor of Stampin’ Up! that set me all a-flutter almost six years ago, and still keeps me excited and motivated to create pretty things as often as possible   It’s also a great project to show how a little (or a lot!) of sponging can make a lovely vintage-y difference to what would otherwise be a piece of Naturals Ivory cardstock with a stamped image on it

And just for you, my lovely (patient, loyal and understanding) readers, if you would like to re-create the little package for yourselves, here is a quick and simple guide to doing so…

The little band that holds it closed is simply two strips of co-ordinating DSP – one 3.5cm wide and the other 3cm, with an embellishment popped on the top.

Of course, the combination of colours and stamps that I’ve used on this particular version of the project is just the tip of the iceberg as far as possibilities go   If you use the above template for your own set of matching love notes, do feel free to share – show and tell is always welcome!

And if you’d like to be the hostess of a workshop where you get to keep a little project just like this one that I will demonstrate for you and your friends, be sure to let me know…

Stamps: Fresh Vintage (SAB), Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment (SAB)
Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Markers – Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Decorative Label Punch, Scallop Square Punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Those of you who have inhabited the stamping world for a while (and isn’t it a fun place to inhabit?!) will be familiar with the term to “CASE”.  I have heard a couple of different definitions of the acronym – both Copy And Share Everything and Copy And Selectively Edit, but either way, it pretty much means to borrow ideas from other stamping projects that you see (with proper credit given to the original source, of course) and I do an awful lot of it myself.  Partly because I get a LOT of inspiration from other stampers and also because I figure there’s no point in re-inventing the wheel every time I’m at my stamping desk.  I also maintain that CASEing projects from other stampers has vastly improved my own stamping over these past several years, and if I were ever to allow you to see the cards that I had on offer at my very first workshops almost six years ago, no doubt you’d be nodding enthusiastically in agreement…

Recently I was looking for ideas for the Sale-a-bration set Sprinkled Expressions and came across this card, which I loved immediately!  Using the card layout and stamp set as inspiration, I changed the colours and came up with the following CASEd example:

Being the type of person that tends to stick to a good idea when I find one, I then went on to use the same layout to create a card for a birthday party that my small girl was invited to recently.  This one uses the free stamp set Topsy Turvy Celebration that I scored simply because I’m a demonstrator and I booked a workshop during a promotion.  Can’t complain about free rubber

And finally, because I am 100% in luuuurve with the Everyday Enchantment DSP from the current Sale-a-bration promotion, I CASEd the card for the third time and have inflicted it upon almost every workshop attendee as a make and take for the past (almost!) two months…

I wondered aloud recently on my Facebook page whether I might get away with using a single make and take design right up until the end of March and was greeted with requests for a photos, along with the assertion that I needed to provide “pics or it didn’t happen”!  So just for you Tracey Eaton, here is the photographic evidence that “it happened”

If you happen to be attending one of the workshops that I am doing before the end of March, you may well be in for a case of déjà vu when the make and take comes around.  Promise to smile, act surprised and exclaim over the design…?  Cheers

Speaking of workshops, I am pretty much out of opportunities to book in March, but am already taking bookings for workshops in April and May (can anyone say new mini catalogue…?!)  To grab yourself a date and be among the first to play some new and exciting products from the upcoming mini, be sure to get in touch soon!

Stamps: Sprinkled Expressions, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Cheerful Treat DSP (hostess)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Lucky Limeade Ruffled Ribbon, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Basic Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stamps: Topsy Turvy Celebration
Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush, Cheerful Treat DSP (hostess)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Markers  – Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush, Pink Pirouette, Melom Mambo, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight; Bitty Buttons, Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Brights and Subtles Brads, White Embossing Powder, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Wisteria Wonder Ruffled Ribbon, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Everyday Enchantment (SAB)
Ink: Soft Suede
Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Bigshot Die, Everydat Enchantment Brads (SAB), Basic Rhinestones, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

It’s T-minus three and a bit hours until the launch of the happiest time of the stampin’ year, and boy is there some fun stuff in store until March 31!

If you’re familiar with Sale-a-brations past, you will be aware that by simply spending $100 during the promotion period, you get to choose a gorgeous, exclusive and limited edition stamp set for F.R.E.E.

You may also be aware that by spending multiples of $100, you get to choose multiples of freebies and in addition to any of those freebies that you earn as a customer, by simply hosting your own workshop, your freebies can also be added to should your workshop total hit $600 or more (and that’s in addition to all the awesomeness that is the standard hostess plan…)

Perhaps you are also aware that in addition to the freebie fest on offer as a customer or hostess, it is also the single best time to join as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, due to the fact that on top of the amazing value of your kit, you get an extra free stamp from the Idea Book and Catalogue or current Mini Catalogue, plus all the usual benefits of joining the fun as a demonstrator.

In case that’s not enough to get your stampin’ juices flowing, here are a couple of peeks of the absolutely *stunning* Designer Series Paper that is one of the freebies available for your Sale-a-brating pleasure this year.  It’s called Everyday Enchantment, and it is nothing short of enchanting.  If you’re super eagle-eyed, you might even notice that the brads are not part of the usual catalogue range… *yet another new freebie alert*…

These were the two designs that I made as thank you cards for the Kindy teacher and teacher’s aides in my small girl’s class last year.

Yes, I have had the DSP since December, that’s one of the many perks of being a demonstrator – new product pre-orders an entire month before everybody else   If you’re interested in any of the other perks, be sure to let me know!

Stamps: For Everything
Paper: Everyday Enchantent DSP, First Edition Specialty DSP, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Soft Suede, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Lucky Limeade & Pool Party Ruffled Ribbon, Beautiful Butterflies die, Everyday Enchantment brads

There are several stamp sets that really made my stomach drop when I saw them show up on the retiring list, one in particular being Petal Pizzazz.

The beautiful, big, bold flowers lend themselves to beautiful, big, bold projects and I have used them SO very much these past couple of years!

Today I have another pizzazz-y project to share – one that I created recently as a gift for one of the mums from my small girl’s kindy class at school.  She is currently going through chemotherapy treatment and one of the other lovely mums organised a meal roster for the family, so for the past several weeks, the vast majority of the family’s weekday evening meals have been delivered to their doorstep.

I took a turn to take them my Grandma’s meat pie a couple of weeks ago (recipe below for those of you after a fabulously simple but hearty family meal!) and took the opportunity to include an extra little something to hopefully bring a smile to her face in the midst of such a turbulent and scary time for a mum with young children.

I wanted the front to be bright and cheery, so Petal Pizzazz combined with some gorgeous colours and lashings of stripey Old Olive ribbon did the trick perfectly   I also added some embossed Perfect Polka Dots onto the largest flower for some added whimsical texture, and some pearls and a button, well, because I like them

Inside I tucked a beautiful teal coloured scarf that I hoped would add some colour to some less than colourful days, and also a voucher for a massage that I hoped might provide some relaxing time too.

As I promised earlier in the post, here is the recipe for the at-least-three-generations-old recipe for my Grandma’s famous (at least in my family!) meat pie:

Ingredients:
500g beef mince
1 onion
1 potato
1 carrot
1 turnip
salt and pepper to taste
1 quantity of shortcrust pastry (I used to use the ready made frozen stuff, but now I returned to making my own as Grandma would have done – only she didn’t have a Thermomix, bless her )

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C

2. Line the base of a slice tin with two thirds of your rolled out shortcrust pastry, making sure that it extends beyond the top edges of the tin a bit (it will fold over the top layer at the end)

2. Chop the onion finely and grate the other vegetables. Or if you happen to own a Thermomix, whack all the vegies in and whiz them for three seconds at speed 5

3. Mix in the mince and combine well with the vegetables, adding salt and pepper to taste.

4. Place the mince/vegetable mixture on the pastry layer and spread out to all edges of the tin, pressing with a fork to flatten and smooth.

5. Take the remaining pastry and roll it out so that it covers the mince/vegetable mixture, place it on the top, then fold the underneath layer of pastry up and over the top layer, pressing lightly to seal the pie.

6. Bake for approximately one hour.

7. Serve with lashings of tomato sauce and additional vegies if you like!  It also makes a great picnic food, served cold (but complete with the lashings of sauce!)

If there is anything on the retiring list that has caught your eye, make sure to contact me to order it asap so you don’t miss out!

Oh, and if you make Grandma’s pie, be sure to let me know how it turned out, and if it becomes a staple in your house as it has in mine

REMINDER: My 2011-12 catalogue launch is coming in a couple of short weeks from now, so make sure to book your spot asap by contacting me!  It promises to be a fabulous event, with loads of new product inspiration..!

” Petal Pizzazz Gift Box”
Stamps: Petal Pizzazz
Paper: Old Olive, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Autumn Spice Specialty DSP (retired with Autumn/Winter Mini)
Ink: Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder, Old Olive Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, 3/4″ and 1″ Circle Punch, Small Star Punch (retired), Icecream Parlor Buttons (July Promotion), Basic Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Way back when I was in primary school, one of the games that was favoured at the time (although probably very un-PC these days and likely going by a different name) was Chinese Whispers.  The game where one person started by whispering a sentence to the person next to them, who in turn whispered to the next person and so on around the circle until it got back to the beginning, sometimes as a very different sentence to what it started out as.

“I went to the beach last week” could easily have become “I ate a peach with my beak” depending on the size of the circle and the listening skills (or not) of the small folk involved.

A more fun and current version of this game (at least as far as I’m concerned) is the one that transpired last week in my own circle of stampin’ friends and family involving a single card as the first inspiration that through the wonders of the internet and text messaging became a “same but different version” of the card once it has passed through several people a mere few days later.

The starting point was this lovely card…

…that my friend and A Klass Act team member Tracey used as inspiration for this card that she made as a swap for a stamping evening we had at her place last Friday night…

Not having seen the original inspiration card at the time, I used Tracey’s card as my starting point for this one that I set as the make and take in my workshop the following day…

…which I attached to a text message to send to my lovely Aunty Mair, who in turn used it (not having seen the original or Tracey’s card) as inspiration for this delightful creation that she posted to her friend that she had enjoyed lunch with the previous day…

Isn’t this FUN?!

It’s truly one of my favourite things about stamping and creating – the process of being inspired by fellow stampers in a large or small way, and thereby never having to reinvent the stampin’ wheel as it were.

Have you played any games of Stampin’ Chinese Whispers lately…?

“My Stampin’ Chinese Whispers card – Thinking of You”
Stamps: Silhouette Sentiments (L1 hostess)
Paper: Naturals Ivory
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Accessories: Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade & Peach Parfait markers, Basic Pearls, Pear Pizzazz Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

These past few days, I have been giving my Create a Cupcake stamp set and matching Build a Cupcake punch from the brand spankin’ new Autumn/Winter mini a serious workout, and inspired by two different challenges this week, came up with this little card…

It was based on this Clean & Simple Fall-to Layout #134…

…which in and of itself is clean and simple indeed, but by the time I had finished stamping and punching all six cupcakes, white embossing all the “bows” deciding on each of their embellishments, putting them in order, sticking them down and wondering where on earth I was going to fit the sentiment (you will note that I went with a strip of vellum overlaying the bottom row of cupcakes so as not to obscure them too much…), well let’s just say that whoever gets this baby outta feel really loved.

Not that I have anybody in mind at the moment, I’m just sayin…

The colours were inspired by last weeks colourQ combination:

I took a bit of artistic licence with this, as technically the Cherry Cobbler that I used for my flower and cherry decorations and the So Saffron brads as the flower centres were not officially part of the line-up, but I’m pretty sure I can make out some So Saffron sprinkles on the bottom left cake in the above pic, as well as a couple of specks of Cherry Cobbler too.

At least that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.  Just as well we’re not playing for sheep stations here…

The other little project I have been having fun with involving the cupcakes is the project I’m demonstrating at my workshops this month.  Super cute, it must be said

With several workshop dates already booked and Easter looming, I have limited workshop opportunities left this month, but if you want to see this gorgeous set of products put through its paces (AND keep the cute project for yourself!) contact me asap and we’ll work out a date!

“Challenge Chewsday Cupcakes!”
Stamps: Create a Cupcake
Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Whisper White, Vellum cardstock
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Cherry Cobbler, Versamark
Accessories: Build a Cupcake punch, Subtles brads, White embossing powder, Colour Spritzer and Crumb Cake Marker, Crystal Effects, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Nothing like leaving things to the last minute but we’re at the final day of the Summer Mini and Sale-a-bration and I just had to pop in and show you this little idea (from last November no less!) that I put together using the Aviary stamp set that is available for only another 10 hours!

Aviary was the stand out stamp set for me as soon as I saw the Summer Mini (Itty Bitty Bits carved its own spot in my heart about five minutes later) and I jumped on the opportunity to grab it during the demonstrator pre-order period in November (just one of the many perks available to you as a Stampin’ Up! demo…)

I put it to work immediately for a project I created for our A Klass Act team Christmas dinner.  About 20 of us got together at a local restaurant, exchanged handmade gifts, chatted endlessly and filled our bellies with festive fare.

For my gift (we each put one in and received one created by another team member) I created a 2011 desk calendar in a CD case, which I also created a matching outer cover for…

The inside looked like this…

The beauty of the Aviary stamp set is that with a selection of four different bird cages and four little birdies, you have an almost endless supply of different variations and ways to use them!

Below are the individual month pages – click on the thumbnails to see them in full size.

I had so much fun putting this little project together, not least because once I had formatted the months and printed the pages, it was all one layer stamping with my chosen colour combination and came together very quickly.

I haven’t been able to decide on my favourite…   I do like the little dude in the Santa hat in December, but the stack of birdies in May is also fun.  Then there’s the cheeky fella in September who’s managed to make an escape, leaving his buddy behind

Which is your favourite?

As much as it was rushed and totally last minute, I hope you’ve enjoyed the last few posts highlighting some of my favourite things about the Summer Mini.  It really has been a favourite of mine.

As a special last minute offer, if you purchase all of the products I’ve highlighted in this and the previous two posts (Aviary, Itty Bitty Bits, Punch Pack, Bitty Buttons and the Square Lattice embossing folder) I will add the following as bonuses:

• a clear CD case – the kind that open right up to stand up on a desk plus information on where you can get more
• a template and tutorial for the calendar, including a formatted 2012 calendar all ready for you to print to give you a head start on some Christmas gifts for this year
• free shipping to your door – a saving of $5.95
• AND you get to choose a Sale-a-bration stamp set of your choice as well!

The wood mount option for the above products comes to $120.75 and the clear mount* option comes to $107.75.

Contact me asap – that is in the next few hours – if you would like to take advantage of this offer and snare yourself these fabulous products while they’re still available!

Already have one or all of the products in the special offer…?  Just because it’s the last day of Sale-a-bration and Summer Mini goodness, place a $100 order of anything from the Idea Book & Catalogue or Mini today and I will send you the template and tutorial as well, PLUS waive your shipping and of course you get to choose your favourite Sale-a-bration set too

Hurry!

* Clear blocks sold separately – if you don’t have any I can hook you up with those as well

“A bunch of birdies – CD case calendar”
Stamps: Aviary
Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Real Red
Accessories: Pear Pizzazz Stitched Poly, Basic Rhinestones