Following on from the overwhelmingly popular Deals of the Week last month (you guys sure do like a deal..!), this month, there’s another great offer from Stampin’ Up!

*From 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue
**Retiring stamp sets!

What a fabulous opportunity to grab some gorgeous sets at gorgeous prices!

Contact me to get yours today!

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!

Inspired by the current Deal of the Week and also by my quest to use some of my recently lesser-used stamp sets, I pulled out Bella’s Bloom a couple of days ago and realised that I should have done so a lot more frequently these past months.

It’s so pretty!

I’m really loving this colour combination too – Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink – and although I am excited about the upcoming colour renovation, I have to admit that I will miss The Moss.

If you have a favourite colour or 17 that will disappear in the renovation, I encourage you to lay claim to some cardstock, inkpads, re-inkers and ribbon while there is still currently stock available.

Retiring colour stock is now available only on a ‘while stocks last’ basis, so it’s a good idea to grab some while you can!

Contact me today to place your order for any retiring colours, and also any of the current Deal of the Week stamp sets that strike your fancy…

Some extra stampin’ tips for you to try…

• Use the 1/16″ hand held Circle Punch or a paper piercer to poke some holes through the scallops of the border punch for prettier detail

• The Wide Oval Punch is the perfect size and shape to layer between the outer die shape and the inner perforated oval of the tag from the Lots of Tags set of Big Shot dies that I have used here as the focal point

“Bella’s Bloom card”
Stamps: Bella’s Bloom
Paper: Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Versamark, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, BigShot, Lots of Tags die, 1-1/6th” Circle Punch, Wide Oval Punch; Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink Markers; Always Artichoke 1/4″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

This week’s deal is a bit of a cracker – it’s STAMPS!  At up to 50% off! Here’s what you can get…

Click on the name of the stamp set to go to the relevant page of the online catalogue and view the stamp set images, then contact me to place your order for a massive bargain or five!

It’s not super often that I stamp just for fun and without a specific reason or recipient in mind, but this afternoon I did just that and had SO much fun!

I had received the gorgeous Asian Artistry Level 2 hostess set from the Autumn/Winter mini a good few weeks ago, and hadn’t even got around to mounting it, so I rectified that today, pulled out some of the very small amount of Haiku DSP that I have remaining in my stash and made this…

The next thing I plan on rectifying is the amount of Haiku DSP that I have in my stash, which coincides nicely with the fact that it’s part of the current Deal of the Week, but only until tomorrow night, so if you’d also like to build your stash of DSP to the tune of more Haiku, Raspberry Tart, Pink Flamingo, Tea Party or Sweet Slumber, then you’d best be contacting me asap to make sure you get it at its current awesome price!

Here’s another Haiku creation that I don’t believe I have shared here yet…

This one also uses the awesome Two-Step Bird Punch, which is such good fun and has loads of possibilities for use.

The thing I think I love best about Haiku is the colour combination.  It’s not one that I would likely have come up with on my own, but it works so well and has become a bit of a fave.

It’s Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, So Saffron and More Mustard for those of you wishing to play along at home

If I haven’t managed to sway you in the direction of Haiku yet, check out some more projects I have posted previously –>HERE<– and –>HERE<–, then make sure to order yours before the Deal finishes tomorrow night!

Asian Artistry Haiku Card”
Stamps: Asian Artistry
Paper: Haiku DSP, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Aquapainter, Old Olive 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon, Horizontal Slot Punch, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Haiku Bird Card”
Stamps: Sanded, Trendy Trees (greeting)
Paper: Haiku DSP, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Ink: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Two Step Bird Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 3/4″ Circle Punch, Big Shot, Top Note die, Tangerine Tango Striped Grosgrain, Clear Buttons, Stampin’ Sponges, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Well the first deal of the week was an absolute cracker with LOADS of punches being snapped up for just over $20 each!

Ready for the next one…?!

This week it’s time to stock up on Designer Series Paper, with up to 40% off five of the stunning designs!

But it’s only for THIS WEEK, which means that if you want to take advantage of this great offer, you’ll need to contact me before Tuesday June 15th!

In the last few weeks, Stampin’ Up! announced a colour renovation, whereby based on long and extensive research, they are revamping the current colour families into four new colour collections. This means that there will be some exciting new colours to play with, but also that some of your favourite colours will be no longer once the change takes place.

Just this morning on the demonstrator website, Stampin’ Up! posted an announcement that the retiring colours are selling out quite quickly and from today, all retiring colour products are only available while stocks last.

If some of your favourite colours are due to retire with the colour renovation, I recommend that you act quickly to ensure availability of the inks, papers, refills and ribbons that you’d like.

I have just this minute sent out an email update to my newsletter subscribers with a special offer on retiring colour product that is available only until Wednesday June 9th.

If you’re not currently on my mailing list, I encourage you to sign up –>HERE<– and I will forward you the special offer too.

Throughout the month of June, Stampin’ Up! will bring you a Deal of the Week, which means a selection of products on sale each week at 30% off or more!

This week, the deal is on these four designs of the large punches…

Clockwise from top left: Scallop Square (#112081), Scallop Oval (#114889), Trio Flower (#109183) and Boho Blossom (#110711)

Normally priced at $30.95, this week you can score one or all of them for just $20.21!

This represents a saving of over $10 per punch off the regular catalogue price.

But it’s only for THIS WEEK, which means that if you want to take advantage of this great offer, you’ll need to contact me before Tuesday June 8th!

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!

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