I can’t believe it’s already three weeks on from convention – although having said that, it feels a whole lot longer ago – and if you’re into reading stampin’ blogs at all, there’s a very good chance that you’ve already found out all the good bits about Sydney 2010!

I’ve finally had a chance to edit some photos from our time away, having received our camera back in the mail last week (thanks again Mr Businessman!), so if you’re at all inclined to know what goes on at a Stampin’ Up! convention (and don’t mind wading through some happy snaps from the family holiday that followed…), read on for my version of Sydney 2010!

We decided that we would make this year another family holiday/convention extravaganza, the last one being Brisbane two years ago and let me tell you, the two years difference between travelling with an 18 month old as opposed to a 3.5 year is vast.

In a very good way!

The customary pre-flight photo. Daddy and his girls

The first day of convention – in fact the first five minutes – is quite often the most fun for me, as it’s when I get to see many of my gorgeous stampin’ friends again for the first time in a year.  I am so lucky to have expanded my circle of friends by huge amounts through nothing other than a mutual association with Stampin’ Up! and for that, I will be forever thankful.

This year, convention kind of started the evening before the official beginning, at the Managers’ Reception.  It’s a chance for a number of demonstrators titled Manager and above to get together in a smaller setting with each other and also with Shelli.

Following a brief talk from Shelli herself, we were ushered into a room where there was a table filled with fish bowl sized mugs adorned with the sweet Share a Cup stamp image from the Autumn/Winter mini.

Alongside the table were several convention centre staff ladling melted chocolate and warm milk into the fish bowl sized mugs and handing them out to us all…

Despite the fact that the cup posed a couple of social issues in that taking a sip from it obscured the immediate area and any conversation partners from view, as well as the more cosmetic concern of having chocolate deposited across one’s forehead and through one’s eyebrows, the number one topic of conversation in the room was how we could lick them clean enough to tuck in our bags to take home…

Thankfully, this conundrum was solved upon leaving the room where there was another table filled with the mugs, this time gift wrapped in cellophane and with the matching stamp tucked inside

The first official day of convention started with the usual throng of demonstrators lining up to register, as well as mad swapping, hugging, chatting, photographing and general merriment.

The gorgeous Sarah-Jane Kalé was there for her first convention and it was great to hang out with her all weekend.  I’m lucky enough to live just a couple of suburbs from SJ in Perth, so we have got together on several occasions, kids and all.  During convention weekend she was without her own precious poppets, so mine were happy stand in whenever SJ felt the need for some poppet love

SJ was an honourary member of my A Klass Act team for the weekend, speaking of which, here are the rest of the team gals that came along….

Clockwise from left: Barb, Me, Hayley, Natalie, Louise

Louise is holding one of the little bags that I made up for my girls that attended convention this year – sort of a convention survival kit – something I love to do as a little token.

Here’s what was inside:

Tissues; Mentos & Fruit Tingles; lip balm; a nail file; a bag tag - a necessity with 500 other demonstrators walking around with a bag JUST like yours!

The two days of convention went by in a blur of fun and informative classes, fantastic presentations by both the home office staff and our local star demonstrators, gorgeous make and takes (that I can’t actually show you as they involve stamp sets from the  upcoming Idea Book & Catalogue!) and more than a smattering of wonderful new friendships formed.

The weekend culminated in the awards dinner which is always a highlight and a great opportunity to get into a bit of finery and celebrate some amazing achievements by Australian and New Zealand Demonstrators.

One of the things that I love about convention is how much of a production it is, with a theme running through the whole weekend, and sound, lighting, video and photography all professionally taken care of.

The awards dinner was no exception and was set up as an Oscars type event, complete with a red carpet, paparazzi and screaming fans (aka Stampin’ Up! staff) upon our arrival.

A paparazzo caught at his own game...

With SJ in our finery

With the gorgeous (and still blog-less) Teresa!

Sitting with Marelle at dinner

Of course, no Stampin’ Up! event would be complete without a photo opportunity with the ever gracious and smiling Shelli…

And not to be outdone, Tim simply wouldn’t rest until he had managed to get ‘Sterlo’ in a picture…

By the end of the awards, I was hoarse from screaming and my hands were raw from clapping – there were some amazing achievements.

My dear friend Marelle Taylor stormed the stage on at least five occasions, one of which saw her named the number four demonstrator in Australia, and the wonderfully talented and all-around lovely Claire Daly was popularly announced as number one!

Go Claire!

I was equal parts surprised and delighted to have been called out at number 13.

At the end of the night, we hit the stage for a shot of our whole posse, including Fiona at the far left, who was SJ’s roomie and part of our crew for the weekend.

After the awards dinner, we headed out into Darling Harbour, which was for the most part uneventful, aside from SJ being picked up at a bar, but that’s a story for another time

Here we are doing our best Sex and the City movie poster impersonation…

As ever, it was over far too quickly, so the news that next year’s convention would be three days instead of two was met with rapturous applause!

Do YOU want to join me for three days of stampin’ fun in Melbourne next year?!

There’s a FANTABULOUS promotion on at the moment with 20% off the Starter Kit, which is great value considering what you get in the kit, and better yet, what you get out of being a demonstrator.

Head to the Join My Team section , or contact me for more information!

Alrighty, if you’re still with me, still conscious, and vaguely interested here are a few snaps of what my family and I got up to once the stampin’ was done…

Hannah had been entranced by the Jessica Watson story, so was delighted to have a photo with Ella's Pink Lady. Truth be told, she doesn't actually look all that delighted - possibly due to a look of concentration as she plans her own circumnavigation of the world in nine years time...

The girls and Nanny after hitting the Sydney aquarium gift store. They each chose a furry manatee, having been quite taken with the real ones in the aquarium, but Sophie kept getting mixed up and calling them 'panadols'!

Having a ride on the gorgeous carousel in Darling Harbour

I love this pic that Tim took of the ferris wheel, also in Darling Harbour

Just one of a great many snaps of our mini tourists..

Taronga scored itself some new inmates...

The girls in my uncle's beautiful 'secret garden' in the Blue Mountains

...and again

As a stained glass window artist, the way my uncle Rod stores his sheets of glass...

..is quite interestingly similar to the way I store my paper...

...the only difference is the resulting art work. This is one of the many beautiful windows in the Queen Victoria Building that my uncle created.

With each day jam packed with adventures of all varieties, this is how each evening ended for my angels...

... and this photo of me with my beautiful big girl is included for no other reason than because I love it. So there.

And here ends my not so quick account of what was a wonderful week in Sydney!

If you’re still with me, I commend you on your stamina and hope you enjoyed reading my account of our Sydney 2010 adventures

I am so flippin’ excited as tomorrow morning I’m heading off to Sydney for the annual Stampin’ Up! convention!

There is nothing quite like being in a large room filled to capacity with 500 other chicks who are as mad about stamps and ink as oneself…

I have completed my convention swaps and am currently in the process of writing lists, checking them twice and doing the myriad other things that require one’s attention just prior to a trip away.

I just wanted to pop in quickly to let you know that if you’re interested in following the action in Sydney, I’ll be sending updates via Twitter, so you can either follow me there, or check in over there —–> at my sidebar where the action will be posted.

Having said that, I’m not super proficient at the ol’ thumb action required to send tweets from my phone, so be prepared for some typos.

Oh, and there will be no tweeting whilst I’m hunting down the likes of Marelle Taylor, Teneale Williams, Claire Daly and Kirsty Brown for one of their swap cards either.  I’m simply not prepared to miss out on any of these for the sake of keeping you all updated, so as long as we understand each other in this regard, we’re going to get along just fine

Speaking of swaps, here a sneaky peek at the three different designs I’m taking along to swap….

Right, I’m off to pack and check my lists thrice, so thanks for stopping by and I look forward to updating you all on the stampin’ fun and games from Sydney

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Well school’s back in for term two and I feel as though my feet are touching the ground again for the first time in a long time!

I will need to get my blogging back on track again now as there has been a lot of stampin’ a-happenin’ ’round these parts, but today I had to pop in and show you some little pieces of delight that landed in my mailbox today.

A happy mail-day for me usually involves no mail at all, as that means there are no utility or other such companies requiring the attention of my credit card, but today, not only did I NOT have mail of the window-fronted variety, but two, yes TWO hand stamped cards addressed to me!

This first beautiful creation is from Amanda and Danielle, the two girls who set up the Just Add Ink challenge blog that I am honoured to be on the design team for.

If you have had the chance to visit JAI at all, you would have to agree that the girls do an amazing job of putting together inspiring challenges and fabulous articles.

If you haven’t visited yet, then I highly recommend that you take a moment to pop on over.  The next challenge is due up tomorrow and the variety of DT projects for this one is mind-blowing….

Then there was this…..

My sweet friend and fellow stamper SJ (aka Sarah Jane Kalé) sent me this stunning work of cardmanship (!!) and the beautiful design of the card was overshadowed only slightly by the gorgeous words on the inside.

To think that I only know these wonderful chicks because of my involvement in Stampin’ Up! is one of the main reasons that I love what I do so very much.

Thank you sweet friends for being so thoughtful in thinking of me and making my day

Undoubtedly the most exciting time of the Stampin’ Up! year is the release of the new Idea Book & Catalogue, and those of you who’ve been along for the stampin’ ride for a while would recall that in previous years, the beginning of April meant exactly that.

This year however, things are a little different, as the IB&C release date has been pushed back to September to bring the Australian product offering and release more in line with that of the US (is that cheering I hear….?!).

This has left a neat little space between now and September for the oh so amazing Autumn/Winter Mini catalogue…

Here is just a taste of what you will find inside.  Click on the images for further information.

This first one needs no introduction I’m sure.  Perhaps just an accompanying sound effect…

I am personally beside myself with excitement about all the new things this mini brings.

I am throwing little party of sorts in its honour the weekend after Easter, so if you’re not already on my mailing list, you might want to make sure you get on it, as the details for the launch are being sent out tomorrow!

Get to it!

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.

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…

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…

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

“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

In case I haven’t mentioned how much I am enjoying being part of a design team, I am SO enjoying being part of a design team!

The girls running the show, Danielle and Amanda are super organised and the team as a whole is so friendly and so flippin’ talented!

And I have been stamping much more than usual these past couple of weeks, also partly due to having a brand new kickin’ morning routine that leaves more than five minutes here and there for stamping.

Gotta love routines

The other reason I have been loving stamping so much this past week in particular, is because of the AWESOME challenge the girls came up with for Just Add Ink Challenge #3!

I ended up creating three cards – all completely different- using this sketch and no doubt I will be going back to it again and again, due in no small part to the fact that it lets me use my fabulous Circle Scissors Plus!

LOVING this tool!

Here is my first card, and the one that is also up at Just Add Ink, along with the jaw dropping creations of the rest of the design team…

I have a number of baby cards to make at the moment – four for girls and one baby boy card, plus I have several that I made towards the end of last year that I must show you too.

I think I feel another Baby Card Parade coming on….!

This card was inspired by a thank you card I received from one of the mums at school who had a gorgeous baby girl at the end of the last school term.

I’ll show you the card and gift that I made for her later in the week, once I have got through the other versions of this sketch that I made.

They’re up tomorrow and Sunday!  Stay tuned…

Oh, and don’t forget to have a go at this sketch yourself and enter it over at Just Add Ink.

And one other thing….  when you get tired of tracing around various sized plates, bowls, CD’s and another other circular paraphernalia you have around the house, contact me to get yourself some Circle Scissors.

I promise you won’t be sorry!

“Just Add Ink Challenge #3″
Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Kraft, Pink Pirouette Patterns DSP
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White Craft
Accessories: Circle Scissors Plus, Pink Pirouette Striped Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Aaarghhhh!  I’m late!

And I’m exhausted due to my big girl having started back at school today and all the fun and frivolity and fresh new stationery (mmmmmmm!) that comes with the last week of the summer holidays.

But mostly I’m late.  To show you my card for the current Just Add Ink challenge (that kicked off …….last Thursday!)

Chances are you have already seen my card on the JAI blog itself, and I suspect that a good many of you have judging by the many, many challenge entries that are flooding in!

The challenge this week….?  Just add HEARTS!

This theme suited me perfectly as we had an engagement party to go to last weekend, so this card was created, photographed, emailed to the Just Add Ink girls and given away, all in the blink of an eye!

‘Tis a pity that it wasn’t blogged with such speed and frightening efficiency…

I’m not sure if you can quite make out the detail of the heart image, so here’s a bit of a closer look…

The heart image from Simply Said was stamped onto Vellum Cardstock in Whisper White Craft Ink and embossed with White Embossing Powder.

Then I coloured onto the back of the vellum using markers to create the stained glass window type effect.

Then with the two different sized square punches and a goodly amount of stuffing about to get the layers to line up, I created the little see through window-ish type thingamy that you can see in the above photo.

Then some background stamping, ribbon and a rub-on completed the job!

If you’re keen to join the challenge for this week and you have a window of stampin’ opportunity to do so between now and midnight on Wednesday, I’d encourage you to jump on in!

“Just Add Hearts Engagement Card”
Stamps: Simply Said, Sanded background
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Vellum cardstock
Ink: Whisper White craft, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Rose Red Wide Double Stitched Ribbon, White Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin’ Write Markers, Chit Chat Rub-ons, 1-3/8″ and 1-1/4″ Square Punches, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Sponges

Just a quick post tonight and I promise faithfully that I will be back with something in the way of stampin’ goodness soon, but I must alert you to the very exciting fact that the Stampin’ Up! Regional Seminar is coming to Perth next month, and guest registration opened TODAY!

So what does that mean?

It means that it’s your opportunity to come along to a Stampin’ Up! event and discover first hand what I and a good many other demonstrators around the country and the world get so excited about!

There is nothing quite like a Stampin’ Up! event and whether you’ve toyed with the idea of becoming a demonstrator yourself, or you’d just like to spend a Saturday stamping and witnessing wonderful demonstrations and presentations in a large roomful of fellow mad (in the nicest possible way!) papercrafters, then this may just be the event for you!

If you’d like further details, please be sure to get in touch and I’d love to discuss the possibility of taking YOU to Regionals with me…!