I did say I was going to show you what that L bag was for didn't I.  

A large gaggle of Stampin' Up ladies is heading off to Sydney next week for the annual Stampin' Up Convention.  We can't wait and are all getting SOOOO excited.  We have an awards night on the Saturday night and I'm thrilled that two of my team achieved Stampin' Up! awards this year and look forward to clapping when their names appear on the stage display.  Well done Ange and Sue!!   More about that (with some pics)  in a couple of weeks. 

The Stampin' Up year runs from April 1st to the end of March.  This year I thought I'd have a few Sales and Team Building Awards of my own for my fabulous Think Ink girls.

Here's the goodies for our Think Ink Awards.  Next year I think we'll have to have our own awards night and make an evening of it! 

The girls picked out some Stampin' Up goodies and I made some award certificates too.  At the moment I'm playing with my Big Shot at any opportunity so made use of my Top Note die and Alphabet Sizzlits to make these little bag toppers too.

I found some cute little notebooks (that looked a bit Baja Breeze-ish, how handy!)  I liked the quote on the front.  " All the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of today."  And the funkiest little nail file kits that I couldn't resist.  (The notebooks and emery board kits are from the most fabulous gift shop - Red Bird in Keilor.  I love a browse through their beautiful things.)

So big big congrats to Angela, Sue, Kylie and Lydia for their awards and all their hard work and enthusiasm over the past year.   Well done ladies.

Some of the Think Ink ladies do classes and workshops,  and some enjoy being a demonstrator for the lovely demonstrator discount, the demonstrator friendships and other benefits.  Everyone is welcome in our team, whatever their goals are and whatever part Stampin' Up plays in the week.  We'd love to add some more friendly faces to the crew so get in touch with myself, or follow the links at the right in the Think Ink Blog List to find one of my team,  if you'd like more information about becoming a demonstrator. More info here too.

Happy Stamping!

Cheers, Sue

PS  If you are after ink pads, ink refills or cardstock in any of the colours we'll be farewelling at the end of August, I have a strong hunch you might want to do that sooner rather than later.   Colour renovation details here. 

Hello, hope your week is starting well and a happy Mothers' Day to all the mums out there.  Hope you had a lovely day yesterday.  I got very spoilt with a sleep in, breakfast in bed and a gorgeous collection of treasures made at kinder and school, mothers' day stall gifts (I love seeing what the kids pick - chocolate featured heavily in Hannah's selections!) and some comfy slippers.  Plus a nice relaxing day spent having fun with John and the kids.  Aaaahh, bliss. 

Stampin Up Scrapbooking

I've got a simple double scrapbook layout to share with you today over at StampAMemory - our scrapbooking website.  It features a bunch of photos I took last year of the back of Hannah's head as she headed out the door to school. 

Here's a sneak peek:

The Sizzlits Lots of Tags die is so handy for making little matching  journalling tags.  It is very handy for using up little scraps of cardstock too.  Click here to see the full post:   StampAMemory:  Hairstyles layout

Madex Creations May Newsletter

If you are part of my newsletter crew, your Madex Creations May Newsletter should have arrived in your inbox last week.  This edition has some step by step pics and instructions for making this baby card.

Here's 3 entries from my 'What to say while you press your cling stamp onto the clear block for 3 seconds' Competition from my April newsletter.  (That's quite a mouthful isn't it!)

Michelle:  Inspire, Create, Share!

Fiona:  Stampin' Up sticks!

Mary: Oh wow I can't wait to stamp this one up!

And the winner drawn from the hat .......

.... is the other entry from Fiona:   "Stick,  stick,  stuck."   

Thanks for taking part ladies.  I'll be in touch Fiona to see which pack of DSP (Designer Series Patterned Papers) you've selected as your prize. 

If you'd like to receive my email newsletter each month, just take a look up in the top right column here on my blog and you'll find the sign up box.  Type in your email address, hit go and follow the directions.  I'd love to welcome you to the crew and keep you up to date with specials, the latest product news, upcoming classes and lots of stamping and card ideas.

More Scallop Envelope Boxes

Thought I'd share the boxes the girls made at Thursday's class.  We've got one more group to go this coming Thursday.  There are one or two spots left.  Details here.

Here's Tracy and Sue's creations.

And here are the boxes from Selena and Anne-Marie ...

They look great in such a range of colours/DSP designs.  I'll be back at the end of the week with our final group of boxes from this last May class.  Thanks ladies for letting me share the pics with the blogland crew.

Happy stamping and have a great week,

Cheers,  Sue

Thought I'd duck in today and show you the boxes my lovely class ladies made last night at our Big Shot Class.   Thanks to Melissa, Denise, Maria and Lisa for letting me share a pic of their creations.

Here's a closer pic of Melissa's. 

Aren't they great!  Super job ladies (and thanks for helping tweak the design for this one.) 

 Two spots left tonight and 5 spots left next Thursday evening if you'd like to attend a Big Shot Class.  More details here.  

Cheers,  Sue

This month we're going to be having fun playing with the Big Shot Die Cutting Machine at my May classes.  We'll be making this gorgeous little box - perfect for popping some chocolates or some gift cards or some other little presents into.  You'll have a choice of colours for your creation.

We'll also be making a cellophane gift bag topper like this one.  We'll leave them unsealed so you can pop a gift in and give it to someone special.  You might like to think about who you're going to make it for as we're putting an initial on these ones.  (I'll be back another day to tell you who my L bag is for.)

If you haven't tried our Stampin' Around Wheels before we'll be using them for this project too.

We'll also be making a card at this class, so 3 projects in total - a box, a bag and a card.

Classes are held at my place (Avondale Heights, in Melbourne's west.) 

Class fee is $20 and all materials and tools are supplied.  Suitable for beginners and experienced stampers.

I've got 3 dates left for you to choose from.

This week: 

Wednesday 5th May, 7.30pm -  2 spots left

Thursday 6th May, 7.30pm - 3 spots left

Next week:

Wed May 12th - Sorry, this one is booked out.

Thursday 13th May, 7.30pm - 5 spots left for this one.

Phone me on 0417 377 057 or email me at [email protected] if you'd like to book your spot at the table.

Cheers,  Sue

It is challenge time again over at our scrapbooking site StampAMemory. 

This time Ros Davidson has set the challenge for us and it is to scrap a not so perfect photo.   We can use our photo editing skills to turn that not so perfect photo into something 'scrappable' and show the unedited version too.  The fabulous prize up for grabs for this challenge is a pack of your favourite Designer Series Patterned Paper and a pack of mixed A4 cardstock.  Mmmmmm. 

I love fiddling about with photo files so this one was right up my alley.  We had a big Madex reunion a few months ago, celebrating my great aunt's 80th birthday.  I had my camera with me and snapped this photo of two of my great aunts sharing a laugh and a hug. 

Bit of a busy background, bit dark, generally a bit of a rushed photo, but I love the expressions on their faces and I love that I captured a tender, happy, sisterly moment.  So I got to work with Photoshop Elements photo editing program.  Now I'm no expert at photo editing - I just fluff about experimenting until I get something I'm happy with.  Here's what I came up with this time.

And here are my lovely warm happy great aunts nicely featured in an 8" x 8"  scrapbook layout.

I've used Kraft cardstock as my base, with the Very Vintage wheel rolled across the top and bottom using Soft Suede ink.  The sponging around the page suits this wheel I think.   

Some Kraft taffeta ribbon and a couple of half pearls from the Pretties Kit frame the photo.  (And covers the bottom of the photo too where I went a bit awry with the photo editing magic lasso!)

I've used my Big Shot, Little Leaves Sizzlits and some scraps of Brilliant Blue to make the leaves.  You can find the butterfly tucked away on the last page of the autumn mini.  It is called All A Flutter and at $12.95 I just couldn't resist him.  I've stamped him onto watercolour paper then scribbled some colour onto a  lid with some markers (So Saffron, Bordering Blue and a touch of Brilliant Blue) then used an aquapainter to colour him in.

If you are doing some scrapbooking this fortnight, perhaps you'd like to enter the StampAMemory challenge.   If you don't have a blog, email one of us your pic and we'll link it up for you.

Happy Scrapping!
Cheers,

Sue