Before I start regaling you with tales from the wild ride that was Stampin’ Up! convention this year, I would love to take a moment to thank those of you who left a comment or got in touch with me after my previous blog post.  It’s so gratifying to be among friends when you’re feeling less than dandy, so thank you friends xo

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Right, so with the weather over in the West this week being a tad on the chilly side and the wind chill factor and rain this week being much more reminiscent of Melbourne than Perth, I figured it was a perfect time to properly relive the events of this year’s convention.

See, I just needed to get myself into the zone.  Or something…

This year was my fifth Stampin’ Up! convention and after attending the first one waaaay back in Sydney in 2007, I was determined never to miss one and so far have managed to keep up that determination.

I’ve said it many times before, but there truly is nothing like being surrounded by 450 fellow stamp crazed, ink affected chicks (and the very occasional bloke – yes really) for three days in a convention centre.  Not to mention meeting up with those same folk sporting the exact same orange and pink polka dot convention bag as you on the streets around the convention centre and sharing a knowing smile or a friendly wave.

Yep, Stampin’ Up! demonstrators are certainly a breed unto themselves and I’m grateful every day to be one of them!

Here I am with two of them now, just as we were checking in at the airport- the gorgeous gals that I shared row 18 with on the plane over to Melbourne and back again…

Sarah Jane Kalé on the left (affectionately known as SJ) is such a lovely friend and I’m so glad that I got to cross paths with her as a result of this stampin’ thing!  Lee Pelosi (aka Lulla) on the right is another gorgeous gal that I was so happy to get to know better during our time in Melbourne.

Having left behind the balmy Perth weather to arrive in Melbourne on their coldest day in a millionty squillion or so years (which was compounded by waiting for over an hour for the transfer to our hotel), we arrived just in time to drop our bags and head off at a cracking pace to the Crown Casino complex for dinner with our team mates Lou and Jan who had arrived earlier.

Who should I meet on the way there but the gorgeous Teresa Dabrowksi – my hug-buddy for every convention that we’ve ever been to.  Our squeals of excitement and disbelief at our chance meeting on the street had some nearby bar patrons on a pavement cigarette break likely wondering if they needed to intervene for the safety of all in the immediate surrounds, but we assured them that it was a friendly meeting and after a brief chat and promise to catch up in the coming days, we continued on our separate ways.

Here’s Teresa on the occasion of one of our many hug intervals throughout the weekend.  Gosh I love this chick!  We were at Manager’s Reception at the time, a special event for demonstrators titled Manager and above to meet as a smaller group, eat yummy food and get extra special gifts from Stampin’ Up!

An event worth going to for sure

Also at Manager’s Reception were one of my SU! besties and all-round gorgeous person Marelle…

…the effervescent and ever so slightly deranged but delightful Madonna (at one point during the weekend, Mads took it upon herself to come up beside me and blow into my ear, hence the slightly deranged reference, but I do love her )…

Then there was the lovely Claire, who I just love to catch up with each year…

Manager’s Reception followed the first day of convention proceedings, which had begun with with frantic swapping, old friendships re-kindled, new friendships started and of course, the first appearance of the lady herself, Shelli Gardner…

As always, there were no details left out in the setting up of the stage, with giant sized stamps and enormous “papercrafted” bits and pieces adorning the set.  Shelli herself was divine as usual, with her amazing style, ever-present smile and calm grace.

Oh, aside from her reference to tweezers and forests, but that’s a story for another time (and perhaps another blog…!)

The first day saw us taking in some fabulous demonstrations, checking out the new and upcoming In-colors for 2012/13 (YUM!) and trying out for a Minute to Win It style game show that was to be held on stage in the following days.   I was terrible at the try outs, but was happy to cheer on the fabulous Meges as she took to the stage for the various challenges and ended up taking out the whole thing! Woo hoo!

One of the most exciting things about convention (other than catching up with new and old friends, watching amazing demonstrations, stamping with new and never seen before stamp sets, swapping, laughing, shopping and general merriment), is the opportunity to win additional new and never seen before stamp sets and prizes.

This year, Prize Patrol was bigger than ever, with products being given out as bundles, and as luck would have it, the second day of convention saw my wrist band design being flashed up on the screen announcing that I was one of several winners.

I can’t show you what I got (it’s coming in September!), but I can show you how delighted I was to GET it, and let you know that it was a stamp set and matching Designer Series Paper that is nothing short of STUNNING!

It ended up being one of six new stamp sets that came home with me – two from our convention check in bags, two from awards night, one from Manager’s Reception and another one that was handed out on the last day to every single person at convention, along with a new Simply Sent Card Kit.  Amazing!!

Here is another familiar face (and name!) that I was delighted to rub shoulders with on the very first morning at check in.  The super talented and  just plain lovely Kirsty Brown.  She did a fabulous demonstration up on stage on the last day, which we whooped and hollered for – mostly because her demo was amazing but also partly because it can be slightly terrifying to be on stage in front of so many of your peers, so we wanted her to know she was among friends

One of the fabulous things about being in Melbourne was the food factor.  We had some amazing breakfasts and some fabulous dinners, but almost all were overshadowed by the fact that there was a Krispy Kreme outlet just around the corner from our hotel.  There is no such thing as Krispy Kreme in Perth, so on the evening after convention day 2, we headed there to procure ourselves a couple of donuts and a hot drink each.

Can you see how excited I was to have one in my possession…?!

Not quite as excited as Lulla, who posed delightedly in front of the entire display

After making our selections, we all hopped into our jammies and gathered in mine and Tracey’s room to devour our donuts and watch The Notebook – a perfectly timed chick flick.

I updated my Facebook status to this effect:

Sarah Klass…is wearing jammies in a Melbourne hotel room, drinking hot chocolate and eating Krispy Kremes with my best stampin’ buddies and watching The Notebook. Hello perfect Friday evening…!

I am eating a steak and watching the Ultimate Fighter …..we are so in sync my darling.

Indeed…

I am suddenly aware that there’s not an awful lot more I can actually show you about convention, being that so very much of it was sneaky peeks of products from our upcoming September Idea Book & Catalogue.  So if it’s ok with you, I’m going to continue in the vein of friends and food…

The final evening of convention was set aside for the Awards Dinner, which is always a highlight and a fabulous opportunity to frock up.

SJ looked a treat in her enormous flower head-piece, which was also practical in that it made her easy to spot across the crowded room when I first arrived

I absolutely adore this photo of Lou and I, almost as much as I adore that girl herself.  She is an absolute treasure and I love her to bits and pieces.

Speaking of treasures, here are a couple more of the gals from my team – Michelle (aka Ministamper) and Jan (of Stamping Elegance) looking stunning at dinner.

I don’t have a photo of our team as a whole from my own camera, but we were advised during convention that the professional photo’s that were taken would be available for us to download for free after the event, so knowing that he had one of us that would be far superior to anything from my camera, I’m patiently awaiting that, plus any others that I can get my hands on!

After dinner we headed back to the theatre where that fabulous stage was all set up and got ready to cheer on our fellow stampers that received awards for the stampin’ year.  Having found a Demonstrator of the Year pin in my check in bag indicating that I had earned a place in the Top 25 demonstrators, I was surprised and so very happy to be called out at number 16.

I have such an amazing team of stampers and wonderful customers (who have also become friends), plus my beautiful and supportive family, without all of whom, such an exciting award would never come in my direction, so thank you to all of you for making this “job” so fun and rewarding

One of the announcements that is always keenly anticipated is where the Incentive Trip for the following year would take the demonstrators who were lucky and hardworking enough to achieve it.  The announcement itself is always more of a sideshow than a plain old statement and this year was no exception…

Aaron and Emma, the Australian and New Zealand country managers appeared aboard camels to advise us that next year’s trip would be to Broome!  Being that Broome itself is in my home state and only a few hours flight in a northerly direction from home, it might be assumed that us Perthites would find it not such an exotic location for an Incentive Trip.

Personally, I would camp in my own backyard if it meant I got to spend time with Shelli and the amazing bunch of stampers that achieve the trip each year, so I will certainly be trying my hardest to get there.  I’ll have to see how I go

Once the festivities were over, a few of us had an extra day to play tourists, which was great since the preceding days had been so completely scheduled with activities.

On Sunday morning, SJ, Lulla, Lou and I jumped on a tram and headed to St Kilda, where Lou knew of a whole street of cake shops “just like Birthday Bakery“!  We started out with breakfast, with plans to hit the cake shops later on.

Quite ridiculously, my camera came home with more than a handful of food photo’s on it, one of them being this particularly pretty coffee from breakfast that morning…

After breakfast, we hit the St Kilda markets and froze our bits and pieces off in the windy seaside location.  Lulla looked particularly fetching in this hat and we all thought she should buy it, but she didn’t, so the photo will have to suffice…

My absolute favourite stall was one called two green pears, were I could happily have purchased one of everything…

In contrast, my least favourite stall was one that was run by a lady who asked me not to take pictures of her stall, when in fact I was lining up a similar shot to this one of a lovely clock tower…

I don’t have any recollection of what she even had at her stall, but I can tell you I didn’t like it

After perusing the stalls and managing not to buy a cute fabric owl in every available colour, we headed to Acland Street, where the cake shops awaited…

The entire street was lined with windows like this, so it was particularly difficult to decide which one to grace with our custom.  Which was also decided by which one we could actually get a table at.  We stalked a group of four until they left (no, not really, I’m pretty sure they were leaving anyway.  I think…) and ordered ourselves more coffee and some sugary delicacies.  Amazingly enough, none of which I have pictures of, possibly as they didn’t last long enough to be photographed..

Lou’s flight was later that afternoon, so post coffee and cake, we headed back on the tram to see her off, after which SJ, Lee and I continued to play tourists…

We walked around all afternoon and evening, finishing up at Chinatown for a delicious dinner, followed by Max Brenner’s for an amazing chocolatey experience.

Our flight was the following day, so we settled back into row 18 for our early afternoon flight, arriving home to excited small folk fresh out of school and wondering quietly what delights might be contained in my bulging suitcase for them (a tiny treat each!)

So here ends my Melbourne convention adventure, a good long time after the adventure itself, but hopefully mildly entertaining anyway.

I hope to be back in a much shorter time span with things to show you that I have been creating in recent (and not so recent!) times…

I said earlier that I’d be back later with my workshop projects for this month, so being later, here I am!

I’m not long back from coaching at my girls’ gymnastics classes, which follows on from a 6am workout in the park, canteen duty at school, and some work in the afternoon, so if I stop making sense (you know, more so than usual) chances are my head has hit the keyboard, so forgive me.

I had an absolute blast with my workshops this month, all of them centered around the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set and matching Punch Pack and Bitty Buttons.  It’s such a totally cute stamp set and I was really happy with the projects I made with them and gave to my hostesses.

I was determined to work Poppy Parade into this month’s colour scheme and was happy to land on this combination, which actually includes four out of the five In-colours, plus Baja Breeze.  Bright and colourful and perfectly suited to the Itty Bitty range.

Here’s the first one…

This first example shows just the stamping aspect of the set – at least the ones that I demonstrated at the workshops did…  This sample of mine has a stuffed up Poppy Parade flower under the punched out one, but imagine if you will a Poppy Parade flower stamped directly onto the circle of Whisper White just like the other two.

Thanks

For the second sample, I busted out the co-ordinating Punch Pack for this, my favourite of the bunch…

Same colours as before, just in different proportions – something I have been doing in all my recent workshops to show the versatility of a combination of four or five colours

For the third sample, I popped on some of the delightful Bitty Buttons for some added cuteness and dimension…

Same colours again, a bit more of the polka dot theme that I seem to have going on, plus a Sale-a-bration set (last day to get yours tomorrow!!) for good measure

At $55.85* for a stamp set, pack of three co-ordinating punches and 64 buttons, you really can’t go wrong, unless of course you don’t act before tomorrow evening, as these sweet products are set to become unavailable as soon as the Summer Mini finishes its reign.

If you’d like to add this set of lovelies to your order of the Square Lattice embossing folder from earlier, you’ll need to get in touch asap to make sure you can get them!

Alternatively you can wait until tomorrow and order at the last minute, as I’ve got something to show you that might have you adding the Aviary stamp set as well…

* Cost for clear mount stamp set not including shipping.  The total of all the products inclusive of the stamp set in woodmount is $59.85

“Itty Bitty Bits of loveliness”
Stamps: Itty Bitty Bits, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, So Happy for You
Paper: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Blush Blossom, Whisper White, In-colour DSP stack,
Ink: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Blush Blossom, Peach Parfait
Accessories: Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Scallop Edge, 1-1/4″ Square, 1-3/4″ Circle & 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle Punches; Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlits, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Pear Pizzazz Stampin’ Write Marker, Blush Blossom Stitched Poly, Basic Rhinestones, Bitty Buttons

This week’s challenge over at Just Add Ink seemed like a bit of a no-brainer at first glance….

Just add stamps.  Okay, so that’s what I would have been doing anyway, where’s the challenge in that..?!

Then of course once I took the time to read past the title of the post, I realised that the emphasis was on the just.  As in nothing but stamps.

No DSP, no ribbon, no buttons or brads, no punches or die cuts, no fancy schmancy techniques, just stamps and the cardstock they are placed upon.

Once I got going with my idea (and managed to bust it out in no more than three and a half  minutes) I realised that the JAI gals might be onto something…

While I love nothing more than getting a swag of new products and things to play with (got some just last week from the upcoming Autumn-Winter mini catalogue in fact – ssshhhhhhhh!!) there’s something to be said for heading back to the bare basics of stamps, ink and cardstock.

And the time factor – or lack of time taken – is a definite bonus!  I’m heading off to make some more of this particular design to send out randomly in the next week or so.

Check back over the next couple of days, as I just realised how close we’re coming to the end of March, and therefore the end of Sale-a-bration AND the Summer Mini!  I think this may just have been my favourite ever mini and I have some things to show you that I haven’t managed to get up here yet, so tune in for a last minute flurry of Summer Mini activity in the coming days…

“Just Add Ink #61 – Just Add Stamps!”
Stamps: Growing Green, Apple Blossoms
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Accessories: Stampin’ Sponge (hope that’s allowed!!)

There’s still an hour or so left of Chewsday – at least there are over here in the West, so amazing as it might be, I’m on time with my post this week!

This week my challenge was to make something more impressive and amazing than the paper flower that my handsome man left on our coffee table for me this morning, wrapped around a note he wrote to wish me a happy birthday.

It’s a challenge I am never going to meet and once you see it for yourself, I’m sure you will agree, so let’s go with Tim’s Perfect Paper Posy as the Challenge Chewsday entry for this week.

Check it out…

It accompanied the early hours Facebook message that he left me:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGEL! I tried not to use your good cardstock this year!

I have said to him recently that I would like to involve him more in my Stampin’ Up! business and having clapped eyes on this baby this morning, I may well start sending him out to do workshops

Do let me know if you’d be interested in having my handsome man come and show you how to create this delightful 3D rose embellishment.  Although judging by the state of my desk this morning, I can’t guarantee he won’t leave a trail of destruction in his wake.

Wait, that could be my left over trail of destruction, scratch that…

I have had the most wonderful day, with a constant stream of phone calls and messages, lunch with my man and my small girl plus an impromptu shopping spree at the happiest place on earth (Ikea – thanks to vouchers from Nanny & Poppop aka my gorgeous folks) and a lovely catch up and cuppa with my aunty  this evening *waving Aunty Mair*

Not to mention the handmade cards that have been arriving since last week and the shiny new camera lens that was my (much coveted) gift from Tim and the girls.

So it’s a very happy 30-something gal who is headed to bed to sleep the sleep of one who has just spent a chunk of the afternoon assembling Ikea furniture.

If you’re at all inclined, leave a comment to let my handsome fella know what you think of his paper crafting efforts, because you know as well as I do he’ll be popping in here to check

So I’m a whole day – almost two – late with my Challenge Chewsday entries, and although I had them all stamped and photographed yesterday, falling asleep on the couch at 8pm won out over editing and uploading them.

I’m here now though, albeit after another busy day, but I’m determined to get these up (preferably before the opening bars of Farmer Wants a Wife) so let’s get this show on the road…

This week’s challenge over at Just Add Ink is to case the two gorgeous and talented stampers who started the site a year ago now and have just stepped down (handing the reins to two equally gorgeous and talented stampers, I will add).  The most challenging part of this challenge was deciding which of their amazing creations to case!

But decide I did, and here’s what I came up with.  This card is based on this beauty from Danielle’s blog…

And the next one is based on this little bit of delight from Amanda’s blog…

If you want to play along, you’d better be quick as I’m pretty sure the challenge is only open for another hour or so, and if you live over here in the West, there’s less than half an hour 15 minutes ’til Farmer, so you have even less time

Even if you don’t play along, I’d encourage you to head on over to Danielle and Amanda’s blogs to check out their wonderful talents and to say hi

“CASEing Danielle”
Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Woodgrain, Apple Blossoms
Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Whisper White
Ink: Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride (Marker), So Saffron (Marker)
Accessories: 5/8″ Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Top Note Die, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Stampin’ Dimensionals

“CASEing Amanda”
Stamps: Sweet Summer (Sale-a-bration), Tiny Tags
Paper: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Watercolour Paper
Ink: StazOn Black, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist
Accessories: Aquapainter, White Gel Pen, Two Step Bird Punch (stem), Stampin’ Dimensionals

So I’m wrapping up the bonanza – brief as it has been – with a card that I made for the little man of some dear friends of ours who turned one at the end of December.

I wanted to do something bright and funky, and I also wanted to make use of the Party Hearty stamp set.  Inspired by this card that I found on Splitcoast Stampers, which in turn had been inspired by this card by my lovely friend SJ (gotta love the inspiration merry-go-round that makes up the creative process!), this was the result…

I was super happy with how it turned out, and you’ll note that I added some Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso to my go-to boy colour combination of Blue, Red and Green

I’m off to enjoy this lovely long weekend that stretches before us in WA, starting today in fact, with a pupil free day for my gals at school, followed by a workshop with a great bunch on Saturday afternoon, and some serious chillin’ on Sunday and Monday.

Let me know if there’s anything you want/need to know about how this card went together, and I’ll see if I can delve into the recesses of my memory from late December to help you out!

“Happy 1st Birthday Richie”
Stamps: Party Hearty
Paper: Pacific Point, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Ink: Pacific Point, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight (Markers)
Accessories: 3/4″ Circle Punch, Small Tag Punch, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, 1/4″ Daffodil Delight Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Right off the bat, I’m going to need to ask you to be kind to me today.

Firstly because I’m not at all sure of the card that I’ve made, but if I take the time to make another one, Challenge Chewsday will turn into Where the Heck Have You Been Wednesday and that’s just not in the rules.

Secondly, I have found a picture online that I rather like so have turned it into a bit of a challenge of my own – the first I have ever thrown out there, so make of THAT what you will.

And thirdly, I have just spent waaaaay longer than usual with the process of uploading and editing my photo as our hard drive packed it in on Saturday morning, presenting me with an error message that I simply could not decipher when I switched it on, so I have had no computer all weekend, got it back yesterday afternoon and have spent a goodly chunk of this evening re-loading my programs, trying and failing to locate the disc that came with our camera in order to load photo’s onto the computer (I managed a work-around), re-doing my watermark in Photoshop and getting myself all hot and bothered in the process in this incessantly humid Perth weather.

Whinge over.  Moving on…

This is the challenge that I set for myself this week…

The image comes from a blog I love to look at and have stashed away in my Google Reader in a file I call Gorgeous Inspiration.  I’m sure when you check out A Creative Mint for yourself, you will agree that it has been aptly filed

Here is the card that I based on the colours above and am still unsure of, but we’ve been over that, so here you go…

I just received the Sale-a-bration set So Happy for You last week, and this was its first foray out of the box.  I did plan to keep the card simple, but I think I may have erred too much on the side of simplicity as it turns out…

This stamp set is one of the four that is available to you for FREE with a purchase of over $100 during the Sale-a-bration period, which finishes up at the end of the month.

Check out all of the available freebie stamp sets –>HERE<– then contact me to place your order!

“Challenge Chewsday – One of my own”
Stamps: So Happy for You
Paper: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Brights DSP Paper Stack
Ink: Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Whisper White 5/8″ Grosgrain Ribbon

I‘m a little bit later than usual with my challenge post today – ‘usual’ being based on only the two Challenge Chewsday entries that there have been prior to this one, however….

I’ve had a busy weekend with a workshop, a team stamping day and last night a scrapbooking class – my first ever (and hopefully the first of many!), so I haven’t had a great deal of time to stamp and photograph my card and then schedule the accompanying post, but with my small girl out on adventures with Daddy, other than being constantly distracted by my absolute favourite YouTube video of the moment (I’ll tell you about that in a minute…) my time for an hour or so is my own, so here I am.

This week I took on Just Add Ink #56 – a sketch challenge that looks like this…

…and turned it into this little card (the operative word being “little” – it’s only 7 x 10.5 cm)…

The card is a tribute to my favourite season, and I am so very ready for Autumn on a so many levels!  We have had the most unrelenting spell of hot and humid weather here in Perth these past weeks and quite frankly I’m ready for a bit of a break from it!  So is my lawn, at least what is left of it.

The other thing about Autumn that is rather exciting and just over the horizon now, is that it brings with it a brand new mini catalogue!  I’m stalking my postie for my copy, which should be here any day now, but I’ve seen a preview online and oh lordy, what a treat we’re in for

If you’d like to reserve a copy to be posted out next month in readiness for the mini to go live in April, please fill out –>this form<– with your details and I’ll be sure to get one in the post for you!

In the meantime, we still have the delightful Summer Mini in all its goodness, which I have been demonstrating lots of this past month.  If you haven’t already, check it out and make sure to grab anything that you want/need before the sales period ends on March 31, not forgetting that until then a $100 order will also score you a free Sale-a-bration stamp set!

Contact me to place your order

And before I sign off, as promised, here is the video that’s been on high rotation on my computer since I was alerted to it last week.  I have not been able to stop watching/listening to it, so from me (and those spunky tenors) to you….ENJOY!

“Challenge Chewsday – JAI #56 -Ready for Autumn”
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Woodgrain, Tiny Tags
Paper: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Whisper White, In-color DSP stack
Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Cajun Craze
Accessories: Soft Suede, Old Olive, More Mustard & Cajun Craze Markers, Lots of Tags Sizzlits, Old Olive 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon, Scallop Trim Border Punch

Two weeks in a row – I’m on a roll folks!  And you’ll note that Challenge Chewsday got the nod from the majority of commenters (commentators?!) on the last post – not that I was taking a poll or anything, but since you offered your opinions, let’s go with it!

This week I headed back to Inkspirations HQ and used the fabulous sketch on offer there…

Combined with this PRETTY colour combination from ColourQ…

And this is what I turned them into…

On Thursday just gone, our gorgeous across-the-road neighbours added a beautiful baby girl to their already sweet and lovely family, so as a heartfelt thank you for giving me a brand new baby to sniff, with a little bit of congratulations thrown in, this is the card I made for baby Lily, that we headed over this afternoon to give them.

I also made a little matching gift tag to hang from the bag…

So there you have my challenge entry for this Chewsday!  Hope you’re enjoying my new blog feature – I certainly am!

• An oldie but a goodie – sponge the edges of your cardstock and paper for a lovely vintage look
• Punch a strip of cardstock with a border punch, feed it through the Crimper, then concertina the straight edge together and stick it behind an oval or circle shape for a pretty border
• Use a White Gel Pen in conjunction with watercolouring for some great highlights

“Happy Birth-Day Lily!”
Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Paper: Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Watercolour Paper, Cherry Cobbler, In-color DSP stack,
Ink: Versamark, Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Ovals die, Eyelet Border Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Neutrals Brads, Crimper, 2-3/8″ Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/4″ Circle Punch, Bitty Buttons, Owl Punch (heart), Blushing Bride Stitched Poly Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Stampin’ Sponges

I have a couple of layouts that I did way back in September last year, around the time of my new catalogue launch, and I thought it was about time I shared them here…

This one was based on a layout I found in a magazine and loved, but do you think I can – for the life of me – find it now?!  It’s very likely to have been from the pages of a Scrapbook Trends mag (rather a fave!) and if I can track down the actual issue, I will be sure to edit this post with the info.

The oldy-worldy map paper from the Newsprint DSP was perfect for this layout about the little girl from Ethiopia that we started sponsoring last year.  The story of how it came about is written in the background of the layout and reads like this…

“For the past few months, every time the World Vision commercial came onto the TV, you would stop everything you were doing to watch.  And every time the commercial was over, you would ask “Mummy can we sponsor a child..?”  We would talk about all the things we have – simple things that we don’t even think about, like clothes, food, clean water – and how some people in the world don’t have those things. Last week the ad came on TV again, and this time, as I waited for the question to come, I thought to myself that this time when you asked, the answer would be YES.  I love the way you are so thoughtful and sensitive to the needs of others and I love that you are always looking for ways to help.  We went onto the World Vision website and found Biftu – a seven year old girl in Ethiopia, who is born on the exact same day as you.  We completed all the sponsorship details and read how the little bit of money that it costs can help Biftu with her education and her family with food and water.  When the information came in the mail, you opened it up to read all about Biftu and you put her picture by your bed.  Thank you, my angel, for having such a big, beautiful heart…”

Next week I’ll show you the other layout that is also very close to my heart

Speaking of scrapbooking, with the poppets now happily back at school, or off to school for the first time, as is the case with my small girl, I’m dipping my toes back into the waters of the stamping class!

If you get my newsletter, you will have seen in last month’s edition that I am offering two classes this month, one of which is a scrapbooking class next Monday night.

I have three places left in this class and am SO excited about the layout, so would love you to join me if you can!

Here’s a peek at the layout we’ll be doing…

I used a pic of my scrumptious baby nephew for my layout, but it’s not specifically designed as a baby layout – any pic that will fit with the delicious colours of the Elegant Soiree DSP will do the job!

The class is $15, with all materials provided and will be held at my house in Perth next Monday, 21 February at 7.30pm.  Be sure to let me know if you’d like to nab one of the remaining places!

And don’t forget to pop back here tomorrow for the latest installment of Challenge Chewsday…!

“One World 12×12 Layout”
Stamps: Circle Circus
Paper: Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Old Olive, Newsprint DSP
Ink: Garden Green
Accessories: 1-3/8″ Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet Sizzlits, Cropadile