It still feels very far from Autumn over here in the West (although I was delighted to see mention of some upcoming rain in this week’s weather forecast..) but at least it’s Autumn/Winter as far as all things stampin’ are concerned!

The Autumn/Winter mini has arrived, bringing with it all manner of delights, including new stamp sets, Designer Series Papers, Punches, Embellishments and all new Big Shot accessories, PLUS two new and delightful hostess sets.

There really is something for everyone!

Click on the catalogue image below to browse the online version, or complete –>this form<– to have one sent to you in the old-fashioned way…

In my previous post, I made mention of the fact that I had recently held a catalogue launch for my lovely customers, to show them some of the gorgeous new products in the 2010/11 Idea Book & Catalogue  and to celebrate the arrival of this long awaited publication!

And celebrate we did, with demonstrations, displays, make and takes, special offers, prizes, freebies and best of all, a some baked delight from my dear friend Julie from Queen of Cakes.

Check THIS out…

Believe it or not, this “stack of catalogues” is actually a delicious white chocolate mud cake, complete with assorted icing buttons, stamps and embossed papers.

A couple of weeks earlier we had been at a dinner party of another dear friend of ours, and Julie had made a cake for his birthday featuring a photo of him that has long been the butt of jokes amongst that particular group of friends.

The “photo as cake decoration” idea got me started to thinking about doing a similar thing with the catalogue cover and so this idea sprouted wings, and in the capable and amazing hands of Julie, was turned into a creation that went beyond my wildest imaginings!

And it was SO delicious!

If you’d like to be informed of future events that I hold, be they classes, launch events, opportunity nights or anything else, be sure to sign up for my mailing list and you’ll be kept updated with any future offerings that may or may not involve an incredible baked creation

It is with much excitement (and rather bleary eyeballs – it’s way past my bedtime…) that I can tell you that the all new, delicious and delightful, gorgeous and stunning 2010-11 Idea Book and Catalogue is now live!

You can see the new catalogue and flick its virtual pages by clicking on the image above, at which point it will open in a groovy new Flash Player, which allows you to bookmark pages, take notes and zoom in for extra detail, all while providing you with a delightful page flipping sound effect, making it seem like the real thing but without the paper cuts and dog-earedness that usually accompanies a hard copy catalogue.

How fun is THAT?!

You can also save the entire catalogue as a pdf to your computer by clicking –>HERE<–

Then when you’re done flicking and perusing and salivating – likely some time next week – and you’re ready to tackle some of the gorgeous projects found within, you can download the Stampin’ Supplies list – otherwise known as the project ‘recipes’ – by clicking –>HERE<–

And then when you can’t stand it any longer and want, no need, your very own hard copy of the catalogue to place lovingly by your bed – the very best place for a Stampin’ Up! catalogue – then you can contact me to book into my catalogue launch party this coming Saturday where for the bargain price of $5 you can come along and join in the stampin’ fun and take your catalogue home at the end!

I have SO much more to tell you, including how you can join in with my new product shares and why now is a GREAT time to join the In-crowd (aka become a demonstrator) but if I don’t go to bed soon, I won’t be in the race to get my big girl to school before lunch time tomorrow, and that’s just not the responsible thing to do…

Bye for now!

Following on from my previous post about Frames with a Flourish, another of the stamps sets that I will find it very hard to see the back of will be Nursery Necessities.

It is such a perfect set for all things baby, with its variety of sweet images.

Here is a project from the depths of my picture archive that is almost a year old now, but has not yet seen the light of day here…

Just over a year ago we had some lovely neighbours move in across the street, and shortly after they arrived, so did their first baby – a gorgeous little man named Jacob.

I got him a set of cute little singlets and packaged them up in a little box to match the pictures on the front

Here’s the matching card…

This next gift is another long-ago project and also one that has never been blogged, but even worse, has never been given!

I made it for a girl that I worked with for a little while several years ago who had a baby boy – gosh, it would be well over a year ago now…  I don’t see her often and after I made it, time just slipped by until it got kind of pointless, especially as the gift was socks and feet tend to, well, grow.

Anyway, here it is along with its matching card (cased from one by the lovely Sarah Jane Kalé)…

The little box slides open to reveal the sock bounty within…

…and fits three pairs in total…

Can you see what I mean about the delight of Nursery Necessities..?

Here are some more cards using this gorgeous and to-be-missed set…

If you read my earlier post, then you will likely have a slight case of déjà vu, being that some of the cards in the round up above also contain Frames with a Flourish, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to show you them again

Wouldn’t you agree that there is indeed a vast array of possibilities with this delightful Nursery Necessities set?!

If having a versatile, gender-variable and let’s be honest, flippin’ cute baby stamp set is something you think would be a useful thing for your stampin’ collection, then you really can’t go past Nursery Necessities.

But if you don’t act by tomorrow, it will go past you, as it won’t be making a showing in the soon to be released 2010-11 Idea Book & Catalogue, so be sure to contact me if you want to nab yourself a set while you still can!

*retiring products in red*

“Baby Jacob Gift Set”
Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Paper: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Going Grey, Whisper White, Vellum cardstock, Patterns Pack II hostess DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Going Grey
Accessories: Word Window Punch, 1/2″ Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Baja Breeze Striped Ribbon, Baja Breeze 1″ Double Stitched Grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Socks in a Box Gift Set”
Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Polka Dot background
Paper: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Ink: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Versamark
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Brocade Blue 5/8″ grosgrain, Clear Buttons, White Embossing Powder

I‘m finding it hard to believe that we are a mere day away from the end of August, and I feel as though I haven’t done some of the retiring items justice.

There are some stamp sets that I have loved a lot and will really miss so I thought I would take a minute to show you some projects that I have made with some particular faves…

I loved Frames with a Flourish from the start and have pulled it out on many an occasion when I have needed a frame of some description in whatever project I was stamping at the time.

This one is a little box made with two Scallop Envelope die cut-outs and an extra strip of cardstock to form the base.  I have been demonstrating this at most of my workshops this past month, with a little set of four cards to go inside using the Frames plus Pocket Silhouettes as well.

This is a card that I made absolute ages ago after I had an idea to use the dotted swirly frame in the set as a background.  I made the card, was satisfied that I had got the idea out of my brain and onto paper and never did anything else with it, hence the delay in putting it up here

The smudgy effect of the stamping was achieved by first stamping onto Kraft (soon to be Crumb Cake) cardstock in Chocolate Chip ink, then running over the top of the image with an Aquapainter to soften the lines a bit.

Here are some previously blogged cards (and a couple of books!) that I have made using Frames with a Flourish too.

Click on the thumbnails to see them in full size and in their original posts…

So there was a little trip down Frames with a Flourish lane.  If you love this set as much as I do, I encourage you to get in touch with me before the end of tomorrow and I’d be happy to place an order for it, plus any other retiring products that you find yourself in need of

*Retiring products in red*

“Scallop Envelope Box”
Stamps: Frames with a Flourish, Pocket Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Kraft, Naturals Ivory
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand
Accessories: Scallop Envelope Die, Word Window Punch, Horizontal Slot Punch, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“Thank you card”
Stamps: Frames with a Flourish, Occasional Greetings
Paper: Baja Breeze, Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip, Kraft
Ink: Chocolate Chip, White craft ink
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Very Vanilla 5/8″ grosgrain, Aquapainter, Stampin’ Sponge

Just a quick post to let you know that if you’re local to Perth, have a couple of hours free in the afternoon of Saturday September 4th and have a vague interest in knowing what’s in the upcoming 2010-11 Idea Book & Catalogue AND the desire to own your very own copy, then you might might be interested to know about my catalogue launch party…

My last launch party for the Autumn-Winter mini catalogue was a very cosy affair -  cramped if you want to get technical – largely owing to the fact that I had it in my shoe-box sized house and was overwhelmed with people wanting to come!

This time I have hired a meeting room in a local Community Centre, so we can spread out a bit more, but places are still limited, so if you want to come along you’ll need to be quick!

Many places have already been taken by those on my customer mailing list – they get first go at everything that  I do in the way of events, so if you want to have first dibs on events, special offers and other fun stuff and you don’t already get my newsletter, then I suggest you rectify that immediately before moving on…

Here are the details for the launch…

When: Saturday September 4th
Time: 2 – 4.30pm
Where: Rivervale Community Centre
Cost: $5
What: A party in honour of the oh-so-beautiful 2010/11 Idea Book & Catalogue, inclusive of your own copy to take home, make and takes, fun novelties, chances to win prizes and an exciting (and YUMMY) surprise that I am super-duper excited about!

But if you want to come, you MUST book and pay for your place first, which you can do by emailing me and I will send you bank account details for transfer, or if you’d prefer to pay by credit card, hit the little button below and away you go!

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!

I mentioned a couple of posts ago how much I have loved working with the Walk in the Park DSP from the current (but only until the end of the day!!) Spring Mini.

Well here is a little more evidence of just how much I have enjoyed myself with this very pretty paper…

This card was for the first birthday of a sweet little poppet belonging to some gorgeous friends of ours.

The layout of the card was cased pretty much directly from page 11 of the Spring Mini, I have just changed the colours.

“Elsie’s First Birthday Card”
Stamps: Gallery
Paper: Old Olive, So Saffron, Whisper White, Walk in the Park DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Wide Double Stitched Baja Breeze grosgrain, Flower Fusion Too, Rich Regals brads, On Boards Lots of Letters, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Next we have a couple of cards that I made for some birthday parties that my big girl was invited to a couple of months back.

This one actually combines the Walk in the Park DSP with the Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP, so let’s call it Walk in a Parisian Park

“Ruby’s Walk in a Parisian Park 7th Birthday Card!”
Stamps: Cheep Talk
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Walk in the Park DSP, Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP, Pink Pirouette Patterns DSP (for the birdie’s wing!)
Ink: Rose Red, Basic Black
Accessories: Flower Fusion, Flower Fusion Too, Vintage brads, Scallop Edge Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

The next one also uses my favourite and most used stamp set from the mini – Great Friend

“Isobel’s 7th Birthday Card”
Stamps: Great Friend
Paper: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Whisper White, Walk in the Park DSP
Ink: Cameo Coral, Baja Breeze, So Saffron
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss striped grosgrain, Stampin’ Dimensionals

And finally in this very varied hodge-podge of a blog post, here is yet another occasion in which I have used the lovely combination of Walk in the Park and Great Friend…

These were the vouchers that I created for our team stamping day back in July to give to the girls in the team that provided our stamping projects and ‘wow’ demonstration.

What I love about the colours in the papers and the Stampin’ Up! product co-ordination feature in general is how a single idea can be changed around into a variety of slightly different ones just with a bit of good old mixing and matching as I’ve done with the vouchers here

“July Team Day Vouchers”
Stamps: Great Friend
Paper: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Cameo Coral, Walk in the Park
Ink: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Kiwi Kiss, Cameo Coral, Basic Grey
Accessories: Silver Brads, Corner Rounder Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I hope you’ve enjoyed what actually became rather a marathon in the park!

Next up, my sister (in-law) comes walking in the park with me…

Stay tuned!

Below you can see images of the retired stamp sets I currently have for sale.   These stamp sets are my own personal pre-loved stamp sets, some of which have been much loved and some which appear almost new.  Please keep this in mind  when you are selecting any of them to purchase.  And apologies in advance for some of the grainy images…!

To view the details of the stamp sets – image and price, simply click on the pictures and the details are shown below a larger image that will appear.

The price indicated does not include postage – this will be added on depending on the number of sets you would like to purchase.  I will be using Parcel Post satchels for sending out the sets – $6.00 for up to 500g or $10.30 for up to 3kg (space permitting in each case) so if you are interested in more than one stamp set, I will endeavour to save you as much postage as possible by combining the sets in the post satchels.

To purchase any of these sets, please contact me at sarah@sarahklass.com and let me know which ones you’re interested in.  Payments may be made by Paypal or bank deposit, or if you are local to Perth and would like to collect them from me, cash is also acceptable.

I will keep the gallery of stamp sets as updated as possible to reflect the sets that have been sold.

Thanks, and happy shopping!

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Mother’s Day came and went a good month ago now and I have yet to share the cards I made for my delightful mum and mum-in-law, so here they are!

My mum has always loved all things owl-related, looong before they became the next big thing in stamping and scrapbooking!  She is a setter of the trends rather than a follower, as you will read all about in an upcoming post about her brush with fame, Trinny and Susannah style, but that’s a WHOLE other story!

Back to the owl….

This guy is from the Level 3 hostess bundle Hand Drawn, more specifically he is one of the Loop to Loop rub-ons.  Isn’t he adorable?!

In order to incorporate the two different styles of Designer Series Paper, I carefully cut the wings away from the rest of the owl before I rubbed on the rub-on.

Then I applied the body portion to the pale pink spotty paper from the Candy Lane series of DSP, and the wings to a darker spotty piece from Raspberry Tart and popped the wings up on Stampin’ Dimensionals for some, well, dimension

“Nanny’s Happy Mother’s Day Card”
Stamps: None!
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Holiday Treasures, Candy Lane & Raspberry Tart DSP, Kiwi Kiss Patterns DSP
Ink: None!
Accessories: Loop to Loop rub-ons (Level 3 Hostess Bundle), Double-Stitched Rose Red Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

This next one was for for my dear MIL, beloved ‘Mama’ to my girls and amazing crafter too!  She is the most incredible quilter and has recently applied her crafty hand to papery pursuits, with large amounts of success I will add!

This one was inspired by the card on the back cover of the current Idea Book & Catalogue.  I am loving this colour combination and the Sweet Stems set is the sweetest!

“Mama’s Happy Mother’s Day Card”
Stamps: Sweet Stems, Occasional Greetings
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Watercolour Paper, Raspberry Tart DSP
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Chocolate Chip wide grosgrain, Aquapainter, White Gel Pen

The catalogue is such a wonderful place for inspiration, be it for a layout idea, or a colour combination as I have used it for here.  Make sure you make use of the wonderful resource that it is and save yourself the trouble of re-inventing the wheel every time you sit down to stamp!