A long one today with lots of news since posts have been a bit sparse lately!  (But I can now see the floor and the surface of my desk in my study/craft room, and have 'de stamping stuff'ed the rest of the house ..... for a week or so anyway!)

First a card to share ....

This card uses one of my favourite patterned paper packs Urban Oasis.  Love the colours in this pack.

The Recipe:

Stamp Set: Best Yet   (Hostess Set - book a workshop for the chance to earn this stamp set free)

Colours: Not Quite Navy - actually I alway call this colour - Nothing Like Navy :-) and Baja Breeze and Basic Gray

Inks: Basic Gray for the greeting and some sponging around the patterned paper squares - hmmm not actually sponged, I just ran the sides of the squares of paper over my inkpad

Other: Urban Oasis patterned papers, 1 1/4 inch Square Punch, Felt Flowers from Flower Fusion Too (pg 144) and my favourite metal embellishment lately - Filigree Brads (pg 148)

May Scrapbooking Promotions

Buy 3 Patt Paper Packs, Get a 4th Free plus Join Stampin' Up for $150

And now some exciting news to share about the May Scrapbooking Promotion. 

The first part of the promotion is for those of you who LOVE our new range of patterned papers.   During May, buy 3 packs of Designer Series Paper from the list below, and get a fourth pack free.  Goody!

Buy 3, Get a 4th Free List

Select from these packs:   Urban Garden, Haiku, Pink Flamingo, Sweet Always, Tea Party, Raspberry Tart, Good Morning Sunshine, Holiday Treasures, Bella Rose, Bella Bleu, Urban Oasis, Washington Apple, Windsor Knot and Candy Lane.  Yum!

You can find all these papers on pages132 - 135 of your catalogue.  (Or check out our catalogue online here.)

Become a Demonstrator for $150

The second part of the May Scrapbooking Promotion is a limited time offer to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator for just $150 with the Scrapbooking Starter Kit. 

The Scrapbooking Starter Kit includes ....

Schoolbook Serif Alphabet Stamp Set (or choose an alternative set up to $77.95)

Classic Stampin' Pad (choose your colour)

Textured Cardstock Pack (12" x 12")  (Choose your colour family)

Craft and Rubber Scissors

Business supplies to get you started including catalogues, order forms etc

There's heaps of great things about joining the crew.  When I joined Stampin' Up a bit over a year ago, one of the benefits I hadn't expected was that a lovely part of being a demonstrator is all the nice OTHER demonstrators I'd meet and get to know. (Apologies, think I'm a tad gramatically challenged in that sentence!)

If you'd like to become a demonstrator, I'd love to welcome you to my friendly Think Ink team.  My team has a mix of girls - some who buy for themselves and perhaps have a few friends and family who purchase from them too, and some who are keenly building thriving papercrafts businesses.  Whatever your goals are, you'll be warmly welcomed. 

If you'd like me to send you an info pack with more details, phone or email me and I can pop one in the post. I'm happy to have a chat too if you have any questions, or would like to get to know me a little better as you decide if its for you. 

If you've been thinking about it, May is a great opportunity to jump on deck for $150 with the Scrapbooking Starter Kit.  It's also a good option if you've already got a ton of Stampin' Up! goodies and tools and don't need all the items in the regular starter kit.

And A Farewell ....

Well, just for a few days!  I'm just about all packed and am heading off on Thursday for the annual Stampin' Up! Convention in Canberra.  I can't wait to meet heaps of other mad Stampin' Up girls, and put faces to all the friendly folk I've met via blogland and our online forums.  My sister Lisa is coming along with me for a great girls crafty weekend.  Did I mention I CAN'T WAIT!

I've made about 40 swaps so far - so girls who come along to my classes, I'll have at least 40 spiffy new cards to show you when I return.  How exciting!  Plus a TON of photos of course to share.

Anyone needing to reach me, I head off Thursday arvo and will be back Sunday evening.  I'll have my mobile with me of course so leave a message.

Now that also means my May newsletter will be a little later than usual this month.  I plan to send it out Monday or Tuesday, so keep an eye on the inboxes early next week.

I'm sure John and the kids will be having heaps of fun at home too while I'm away.  I'll miss my snuggles and story time but am SOOOOO looking forward to a few days away just being me, not MUUUUUUMMMMM!  Hee hee.

Perhaps they'll be having a musical weekend, thanks to something that has made it's way from Maddy and Poppy's shed to our lounge room and is already a hit with the kids. (Thanks mum and dad!)  You should see Jack - he cracks us up.  Tapping away madly at the keyboard singing 'You can change the world, you can change the world, you can change the WOOOORRRRRLLLLD.'  Pause.    'Now CLAP.'  Rather demanding concert performer there!   (He's a big Muse fan and I think the words are Jack's version of one of their songs.)

Anyway, better get back to the last of the packing.  See you all when I get back from Canberra!   Cheers, Sue

Are you a super keen Stampin' Up! obsessed person (like me!?)  Love to use our products for your papercrafts.  You might be interested in my latest 'invention' ....

Cardstock Colour Sampler Cards and Punch Guides

I've had lots of people ask me about colours - which is the most vivid red, what green is best for Christmas - and I think colours are hard to describe, everyone has their own idea.  So I came up with these.

This is a set of 6 colour charts - all card sized 10cm x 14cm approx - with a little punched sample of each Stampin' Up! cardstock colour.  There is a chart for each of the four colour families, one for the neutrals which also includes some specialty papers and one for our current In Colours.

The set also includes 2 Punch guides - a template for 12 of our Stampin' Up! punches.

What do you do with a punch guide??   Handy for checking through the catalogue to see what punch fits a particular stamp set.  (Thanks to my lovely customer and guest card maker Mary for this idea.)

Punches included are: 1 3/8 circle and square, 1 1/4 circle and square, designer label, word window, large and small oval, 1" circle, scallop square and scallop circle and tag punch.

The full set of 8 cards is $15 including postage (Australia only.) 

Payment can be made by direct deposit, or cheque.  

(Or cash, in person only.)

Phone or email to order your set. 

(The ring is not included to make mailing easier but I can use my cropadile to make the little hole in each corner if you'd like to put them on your own ring.)

Phone: 0417 377 057

Email: smadex@bigpond.com

Note for demonstrators: The template file for these cards is not available to email at this time. 

Designer Series Patterned Paper Display Templates

My fellow demonstrators - While the template for the colour samplers is not available at this time, I do have 2 other templates I've put together that I'm happy to email to anyone interested.

The first is for people wanting to put together a DSP Display Book, with a double page for each paper pack.

The DSP is cut to 3" x 3" squares and I punched the matching cardstock with the 1 1/4 inch punch. You need 2 squares of each design to complete a double page book.  A fellow team member came up with an innovation - you can just print one page of the template per pack and cut the 3" x 3" square into 2 triangles to display both sides on the one square.

I will have a couple of sets of 3 x 3 inch squares of our current DSP left from a team share I'm currently running.  Email me for the details if you'd like to put a book together and would like to purchase a set or 2 of the DSP swatches.

I love the range of patterned papers this year.

Another template I put together this year is for those wanting to display their DSP on a ring.

I've used 3" x 3" squares of DSP again.  I printed my template on Whisper White and cut it into 3" x 3" squares, and punched circles of matching cardstock colours to put on the dividers with the name of each pack.  You can see the divider cards here.

If you'd like the templates for either of these DSP display ideas, or would like more details about the cost of a set of 3" x 3" squares of the papers, please email me smadex@bigpond.com

Cheers,  Sue

What a lovely message in this stamp.  The greeting is one of the many birthday messages in 'On Your Birthday' stamp set. (Pg 113.)

I really like some of the cards I've seen around with Fifth Avenue Floral (pg 82) but haven't added it to my collection .... yet!

I used the paper from Urban Oasis pack (pg 135) to create a similar look.  I cut around some of the flowers and then placed that piece on top of another coordinating paper from the set.  One of my favourite papers I think.

The base card is textured Basic Gray (from a neutrals textured pack (pg 127.) Have got a thing for textured cardstock happening at the moment!  The greeting is inked in Basic Gray too.

I've also used Baja Breeze cardstock and the 1" Double Stitched Baja Breeze Ribbon (pg 150.)

Back soon with more.

Milleara Market on Sunday

If you are a local reader and would like to see the new catalogue, some new products and some new samples in real life instead of on screen - I'll be setting up my table at Milleara Craft Market again this Sunday. 

Sunday 26th April, 9.00 am - 3.00 pm

Milleara Shopping Centre

Cnr Buckley St and Milleara Rd

Avondale Heights (in Melbourne's west.) 

Hope to see you there. Be sure to put an entry into the prize draw if you pop by to say hi.

Cheers, Sue

I tried out a few of my new catalogue goodies on this baby card.

The Recipe:

Stamps: Punches Three (Pg 17 - A hostess set)

Colours: The very pretty Pink Pirouette cardstock (pg 126) and Patterned Paper (pg 135), Rose Red cardstock and ink (pg 129)

Other: The new wide oval punch and the gorgeous eyelet border punch (pg 152/3) and some ribbon - White Taffeta and Pretty In Pink Taffeta (pg 151.)

A super quick card to put together.  My two munchkins are excited about a new cousin arriving in July when John's sister and her hubby have their first bub.  Perhaps it will be a girl and we can use this card.  Might have to make a blue one too and we'll be set either way then!

Now I am off to have a mega craft room clean out before the urge wears off.  I started in January but never quite got finished and it looks like a bomb has hit it now!  I may regret this later but I think I'm going to empty the room (into the rest of the house - ye gads!) and start from scratch. 

Wish me luck! 

Cheers, Sue 

My rather cute assistant Jack has been busy drawing 8 names from my big box of prize entries.  (OK actually his attention span ran out at 7 so I drew the last name!)

(Edited to add:  Oops miscounted, there are 10 prizes so just back to add the last 2 now!)

And since everyone picked out what they would like if they were drawn I can tell you what the prize winners have selected too.  Surnames listed if there were more than one of your first name.

Drum roll please ....... Congratulations to the following lucky ladies.

Hostess Level 1 Set Winners:

Margaret - Margaret chose Live Like You Mean It

Cecile - Cecile chose Organic Grace

Carol Cassidy - Carol chose Organic Grace

Lyn - Lyn chose Organic Grace too - a popular set there!

And Sandra - Sandra chose Best Yet

Hostess $$ Winners:

Sheryl - Sheryl chose a jumbo handle and Classic Stars wheel

Bianca - Bianca chose $30 towards Fresh Cuts stamp set

Ann Ward - Ann chose $30 towards 3 In Colour Ink Pads

and lucky last ....

Claire Frigo - Claire chose the Scallop Square Punch

and extra lucky last once I added up properly and realised there were 10 prizes!

Michelle - Michelle chose a Circle Punch

Congratulations ladies.  I'll let everyone know when the launch orders arrive.  Goodness my postie better eat his weetbix that morning!

If you missed out and would like a hostess set, you might like to host a workshop.  Lots of fun for your guests, a great way to try out some of our stamps and tools and spend an afternoon or evening stamping and making a card.  Phone or email to find out more or book a date.

Cheers, Sue

A big hi to all the ladies who joined in the New Catalogue Launch fun on either Thursday evening or today.  Here's that slice recipe ...

Black Forest Cheesecake Slice Recipe

1 packet of Chocolate Ripple biscuits

125g butter

500g cream cheese (softened)

3/4 cup caster sugar

3 tsp gelatin

1/2 cup hot water

250g block of Cadbury Black Forest Chocolate (I couldn't find any this time so used a block of Cadbury Rocky Road  Chocolate instead - both of these have those nice little jelly bits inside.)

300ml cream

1 Flake (or chocolate to grate)

Method:

Crush the choc ripple biscuits and add 125g melted butter.

Press into a lined slice tin and refrigerate. 

Beat the cream, the cream cheese and the caster sugar together (I popped them all into a blender)

Melt the block of Black Forest chocolate. 

Dissolve the gelatin in the hot water. 

Now put your cream mixture, your melted block of choc and your dissolved gelatin/water into a bowl and give a good stir til combined. 

Spread this over the biscuit base.    Grate some choc or sprinkle a crushed up Flake over the top and refrigerate to set.  (I popped it in the fridge overnight.)

Thanks to my sister in law Kristin for this yummy recipe.  She brought some along at Christmas and it was a hit.  If I can make it then it must be idiot proof, so anyone can!

Note:   I think its a gazillion points per slice.  Hmm - might have to send the leftovers to work with John!

Hostess Prize Draw Winners - coming soon

We have 4 hostess sets and 4 lots of hostess $$ to draw.  Just waiting on one more order to be finalised then I'll draw the names and let you know.   Good luck everyone and thanks for joining in all the fun of the new catalogue buzz. 

Cheers, Sue

Our special guest card maker today is Mary.  I love this card she made for an 80th birthday recently.  You might recognise the Outlaw Paper and star stamp set, recently retired from our range.  Looks like a lot of work has gone into this card.   What a great addition to the birthday festivities.  Thanks for letting me share it Mary. 

You can see another of Mary's creations on this post - a great concertina card. 

Back to launch preparations!  See you tomorrow if you're one of the people coming along.  I'll be back Sunday evening with names of the lucky Hostess Prize Draw winners.   Oops - make that Monday lunchtime!

Cheers, Sue

John and the kids are just about to start making home made lasagne - mmmm!  They've even dragged out the pasta maker thingy (you know - looks a bit like a cuttlebug but for pasta!)  I can't wait, its delicious.  Being married to a great cook is a pretty nifty thing on Saturday evenings!

Ever find yourself happily creating something crafty only to have an 'oops' moment.  OK, sometimes its not salvageable and ends up on the floor in the bin.   But occasionally I find I end up with quite an original creation from an OOPS moment.

I quite like this one.  I'd been happily watercolouring and my first attempt went all to plan.

(Here's that one. Details on this post if you need them.)

Next I got cracking on that Waratah.  All was going well with my aquapainter, ink from the ink pad lid and watercolour paper then OOPS.  I splotched some red from the flower onto the background - dabbled away trying to remove or blend it until bleaugh - wrecked. 

Now since I can be a tad stingy thrifty and I just HATE to waste any of that gorgeous watercolour paper, I decided to see if I could do anything with the unsplotched parts.  Out came the punches, one thing led to another and I ended up with a card that was nothing like what I'd planned. 

Ever find that??

The Recipe:

Stamp Set: Bloom Away

Colours: Old Olive, Close To Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Choc Chip

Cardstock: As above.  Includes some lovely Old Olive textured card for the green layer and our watercolour paper for the flower.

Punches: Large Oval and 3.5cm circle.

Other: Crystal Effects on the flower and my aquapainter.  Some Stampin' Dimensionals to raise a few ovals (and because I just can't seem to make a card without them!)

Launch Night

A big hi to all the lovely ladies who came along and joined in the fun of New Catalogue Launch Night last night.  Hope you enjoyed it - I had a ball.  I always love spending time with other people who have read their catalogue as often as me and don't think I'm a lunatic for carting it around in my handbag!  Looking forward to Launch Day Two on Sunday then I'll post pics of some of the cards.  As requested I'll have that Black Forest Cheesecake Slice Recipe on my blog in the next few days too.  (Recipe courtesy of my super slice making sister in law Kristin!)

My two munchkins thought it was quite fun yesterday getting ready for the launch.  They even helped out with the dishes!  We'd been eating in the lounge room all week as I'd taken over the dining table with my tornado of Stampin' Up supplies.  Yesterday I evicted them from the loungeroom too (once I'd vacuumed up a ton of crumbs and Easter Egg droppings and assorted other confetti of the week) and we ate our lunch and dinner out on the balcony.  The simplest things can be an adventure for kids - we should all remember that really hey and enjoy those little moments!

Here's one photo of a favourite of mine from last night's displays (tucked over in the corner on the wine rack.)  As soon as I saw this card on Angela Sargeant's blog I just HAD to make it.  Inspired by the Twilight Series - you know, vampires, werewolfs and all that.  I just finished reading the 4 books last month in a marathon week and a half where not much housework got done!  This card just cracked me up.  Check the link above for a close up of Angela's original.

More guest card makers coming soon so stay tuned for a super 80th card from the talented Mary. 

Prize Draw

I'll list the lucky winners of my Hostess Rewards Prize Draw too on Sunday evening.  So far the prize pool includes three Level 1 hostess sets and three $30 hostess $$ to spend so 6 prizes in total and we may add to that on Sunday.  If you'd like to be entered in the draw, you get one ticket for each $20 of product ordered.  Orders must be placed by noon this Sunday (or at the launch if you're coming along) and need to be picked up from me once they arrive so just my lovely locals for this one.  Winners will be drawn at the end of Sunday's launch.  Good luck ladies!

Cheers,

Sue

I've been trying out some of Stampin' Up's new punches this week.  The wide oval punch was perfect for making these In Colour Samplers.  I made a stack last night to add to my New Catalogue Launch Showbags.  My Cropadile made setting the jumbo pewter eyelets so easy. 

Once I was done I had some scraps that looked like they had some crafty potential so I headed over to grab some more supplies for some cardmaking.  I thought it'd be a great chance to make use of some of our new designer series patterned paper.  Here's what I came up with.

This one uses Sweet Slumber Specialty Paper (pg 133) for the base.  Its a cover weight, textured cardstock so perfect for use as a base card.  I can't wait to try some boxes with it.  The ovals are filled in with the matching in colour Patterns Paper (pg 135) - in Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss.  Some felt flowers (pg 144) and brads (pg 149) just to finish.

Here's another card, this time one in Riding Hood Red. 

I've used the eyelet border punch for this one - my new favourite tool I think!  (Pg 153.)

Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain ribbon and 3 patterns from the Riding Hood Red Patterned Paper Pack too.

The base card is textured white cardstock from a neutrals pack  (pg 127.)  I really love the textured cardstock.  I've made some cards I love using Basic Gray from the same pack.  I'll show you those next week after my launch.

Launch Details - You're Invited

Its not too late to join the fun at my New Catalogue Launch.  2 dates to choose from.

Thursday 16th April, 7.30pm or Sunday 19th April, 2pm

Entry: $10

Entry fee includes your new catalogue, some make and take projects plus the chance to win a heap of door prizes.  See heaps of the new stamps, papers, tools and embellishments from the new catalogue as well as lots of new samples.

Where: At my place in Avondale Heights, Melbourne.

Phone or email me to book your spot and for directions to my place.

Ph:  0417 377 057  Email:  smadex@bigpond.com

Back to sample making for me!

Cheers,

Sue

Some Family Snaps ...

Oh, before I go - some pics I took over Easter.  We headed off to Murtoa for a couple of nights on the farm.   The kids LOVE to visit their Uncle Steven and Aunty Kristin.  Tractors, trucks, chooks, eggs, sheep, heaps of space to run about - heaps of school holiday fun. 

John took some clubs and a bag of golf balls along and the whole family had a bit of a hit.

Then it was time to go on a golf ball hunt! (Good practice for Easter egg hunts!)

Two of my favourite pics for the weekend.

See you again soon with some more cards!

Something very unique today from our guest card maker - Anne-Marie.  

Anne-Marie creates cards from old book covers.  I was thrilled to get this one in the mail a few days after we'd been chatting about them on the phone.  It really shows how a book cover can be transformed into a one of a kind, vintage style piece of art.

Inking, painting, papers, photos, tearing and a touch of sparkle.  Weren't the dresses in that era so graceful and flowing?

This view shows the back cover too.

And there's space inside to write your message.

Thanks Anne-Marie for giving permission for me to take some photos and share your creation with all of us out there in blogland!  Much appreciated.

If you'd like to see some other cards and creations featured in my 'Special Guest Card Maker' posts, check down the left column for Categories and click on 'Special Guests.' 

Then scroll through the posts to see what creative people there are amongst us all. 

Be sure to leave a comment to tell the ladies how much you enjoyed their work. 

Back soon,

Sue