*** Edited to add:  You haven't missed out - you can start anytime during the month and catch up on what you've missed.  ***

We Stamp For Lara starts Nov 1st.  Have you heard about it yet?  Let me show you where you can find out more.   

You can meet Lara here and read her story:  Madonna's post about Lara

And here's where you can sign up:  Madonna's "We Stamp For Lara" page

I'm delighted to be one of the tutorial contributors for this fabulous event.   Mine is on embossing with markers.  Here's what I used for my project ...

......  Head on over to join the fun and over 30 days you'll see what I came up with with that collection of goodies, along with a whole swag of other doses of creative inspiration from the talented contributors.

If you'd like 30 tutorials for fabulous papercraft projects and techniques then you'll love being part of We Stamp For Lara.    

Cheers,   Sue

A scrapbooking bug hit me yesterday so last night I grabbed out a bunch of photos I'd taken last year of the kids getting stuck into some cooking and put this simple layout together.  Just cardstock, photos, and a touch of ribbon.

 
Here's a closer look at the left side.  I had a tiny gap at the bottom where one lot of photos was a touch shorter than the ones on the right of the page so I used our new very narrow taffeta to square the bottom up, and popped some more here and there to coordinate ...

 
... and here's a closer look at the right side ...

 
I love the look of concentration on Jack's face in that shot where he's brushing the pie with egg. 

This layout was a bit like doing a jigsaw.  I trimmed down the photos to feature certain portions, then arranged and rearranged until it worked on the 12" Kraft (oops Crumb Cake) base.  I popped some scraps of cardstock into the gaps, picking out some colours from the photos - Poppy Parade, Real Red and Melon Mambo. 

My Big Shot and Timeless Type alphabet die came in handy for making a coordinating title.  Love this alphabet.  Was a bit of an investment but I've used it a lot so quite worth it I think.  Decided the photos spoke for themselves really so no written journalling on this one apart from the title "We love to COOK." 

I popped the date on the right hand subtitle - just the year since the photos were a mix taken over last year.  Can you see the '2009' jotted in there on the 'o'?

 
We've been watching Junior Masterchef quite avidly in our house, so quite a timely layout!

Off to Harvey Norman in a tic to pick up another great batch of photos from the last 6 months, so hopefully a bit more scrapbooking for me in the next few months.  I've missed it with all the busy busy of the last few months.  Time to get back into it.  I always feel happy when I've recorded some of those funny little everyday snippets of life.  Such a satisfying hobby.

Cheers, Sue

This week is birthday week in our house with John's birthday yesterday and Hannah's today.  We did think they were going to share a birthday at one stage there at the hospital 8 years ago, but Hannah had other ideas - she must have wanted a day all to herself to celebrate! 

Thought I'd share the cards I made them with you.  Quite quick and simple ones really but they liked them.  (Note:  Both of these cards are bigger than usual, they both use an A4 sheet of cardstock folded in half as the base card.)

Here's John's card - featuring Newsprint DSP, Cherry Cobbler cardstock and Party This Way stamp set for the candle and greeting stamp.  (Pg 35 if you're looking for that one.)  Plus some crimped black cardstock and the very narrow black taffeta ribbon.  I'm enjoying using this super thin ribbon. 

This year his present was a dinner at a restaurant we'd been wanting to go to for a while.  I made up a little voucher using Publisher and popped it into a little envelope made with the Scallop Envelope die and some more Newsprint DSP.    (Took a pic before I wrote the greeting up the top.)

What is the second envelope for??  Well being the organised person that I am this week (doh!) I didn't book the restaurant until a few days ago.  The next available Saturday night is not til January!  So I made up another little voucher for 'a wine and cheese supper at our place'  - slightly more timely!  

(I've blanked out our street name and the date for blogland.) 

Now for Hannah's card.  This year her present was wrapped in some Disney Princess paper so I decided to make the card to match using some leftover gift wrap and my wide oval punch.  Grabbed out a collection of her favourite colour cardstock - all shades of pink! - and the Scallop Trim Border Punch and White Organza Ribbon and we were all set.  Some pearls to finish. 

Simple but just the thing for our very girly 8 year old. 

November Classes

Bookings are coming in for my last classes of the year - there are 4 dates to choose from in November.  Catch all the details here:  Class Page.   Give a holler (or phone/email)  if you'd like to join the fun.  Suitable for beginners and experienced stampers. 

Have a lovely weekend and I'll catch you again soon with some more cards. 

Cheers, Sue

OK camera unloaded and trip snippets all done!  If you'd like to catch up with some news and pics from our Stampin' Up Incentive Trip, check out my travel diary here:   Incentive Trip Wrap.

We'll get back to regular programming soon so watch out for some cards.

Just popping in to quickly let you know about the latest Stampin' Up special.  This one is just in time for Christmas.  (I won't even mention how many weeks away that is - who has started their Christmas card making?)

Purchase one of four different Christmas gift giving bundles, or host a $550 workshop and you'll have 4 gorgeous ribbons to choose from free.  Check out all the details here:  Dress Up Christmas Special

Look what we found at the airport last night - clean, shiny, happy children....

 And then we got home to a nice clean house, all the washing done, shirts and uniforms ironed, even a sparkly clean fish tank - wow, thanks mum and dad and sis!  

Just catching up on some cuddles with the kids then will be back with some great pics and all the Hamilton Island news for anyone interested. 

Cheers, Sue

Thought I'd check in and say a quick hi.   I'm still away on Hamilton Island enjoying the Stampin' Up! 2010 Incentive Trip.  John and some of the other hubbies are off playing golf on Dent Island.   By now we girls will have had fun swapping cards and doing some make and take projects - what's a Stampin' Up trip without a little bit of stamping!   So thought I'd share my IT swap card with you today.  I decided to use Dasher - I just love that funky reindeer.   Plus a few more of my favourite products from the new catalogue ...

..... Cherry Cobbler.  Just LOVE that colour.  Goes so well with Old Olive - an old favourite.

.... Antique Brads.   Yum.  I'm going to use stacks of these I can see!

..... Shimmer Paint.  I dabbed it onto Dasher with a sponge dauber then stamped it.  Nice sheen.

.....Embossing folders.  I just can't get enough of these.  This one is Petals-A-Plenty.

..... Shimmery White cardstock.  A hint of sparkle and shine to this cardstock.  Subtle but gorgeous.

..... Stripy ribbon.  This is the Old Olive one.  Didn't grab me in the catalogue but got some in a ribbon share and loving it.

I got off to a good start with my swaps and made all the bases nice and early, and had a good collection of Dasher's happening.  Then of course finished the last bits in the wee hours the night before we left!  I did wear my sunhat to help get in the Hamilton Island mood.  (John thought that was rather amusing and took a snap.)

 
See you when I get back, and will share lots of pics with you.  John and I are booked in for a water's edge dinner tonight so keep those fingers crossed for no showers! 

Cheers from Hamilton Island and have a lovely weekend,

Sue

Hello Everyone,

We're having a ball here on Hamilton Island for the 2010 Stampin' Up Incentive trip.  Thought I'd share a few little snippets.  (And some pics from John's phone!)

Our room is great ...

 
 ......with some nice deck chairs on the balcony.  (Here's me settling in for some relax time!)

Do you like our view of the sea?

John and I headed out the first day for some exploring, lunch and managed to fit in a cocktail!

Our welcome dinner on the first night was lovely.  ...

 
Our group was about to head over for dinner when some fireworks on the beach started - nice way to kick off dinner.  (They were for another event so nice little bonus for us!)

Today we've been for a reef tour as a group.  Fabulous fabulous fun snorkelling out at ReefWorld.   (Well perhaps not quite so much fun for some of our  party getting out there with rather a bumpy seasick inducing ride!)   Our pillow gift last night was a wet bag with water, oranges, and a couple of underwater cameras.  Perfect for our Thursday activities. 

Well that's the end of our phone photos.  I'd better be off to get a bit less windswept for dinner tonight!

Check back tomorrow after lunch and I've got my Incentive Trip swap card to share.

Cheers, Sue

Thought I'd share a bit of the excitement of the last few days with you. 

A group of my stamping buddies, some of my lovely Think Inkers and myself have spent a terrific four days at CraftExpo meeting lots of craft lovers and sharing some stamping and papercraft tips, ideas and inspiration. 

A warm hello if you are one of the people who stopped by our stand, and are visiting my blog for the first time.  (And to all the people who visit this patch of blogland regularly too of course!)

Here's some pics of our stand.  Didn't the girls do a wonderful job of the display posters.

And despite popping my camera in my pocket each day, I only managed to get this shot on Sunday with the team!   The Sunday crew here are Kristine, Nikki, myself and Genna.

I had a lovely day on the stand on Friday too with my Think Ink girls - Kylie, Deb and Caren.   Pop by their blogs to see what they are up to.

CONGRATULATIONS PRIZE WINNERS

Congratulations to Michelle of North Watsonia and Libby from Edithvale who were the lucky winners of our fabulous door prize baskets.  A box of papercrafting goodies will be on its way to you both very soon.  Have fun!

HEADING OFF TO HAMILTON ISLAND!

Getting excited now - only 2 more sleeps til John and I head off on the 2010 Stampin' Up Incentive Trip to Hamilton Island.  This wallet arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago with the gorgeous teal bag tags, travel info and itinerary, a little badge since it is my first incentive trip and some tickets to spin the lucky wheel each day while we're away.  They're sitting on my case in the pic. 

Actually it is still an empty case and there's RATHER a lot of packing and tidying up to here now that CraftExpo is over, so I'd best go.  I'm charging up the camera batteries and will bring back lots of pics to share with you.  

A big thank you to all my lovely customers, class gals and to my fabulous team who have helped me earn this trip, and to all my stamping buddies who share ideas, support and friendship.  And I'm feeling quite like Stampin' Up is one of the most fabulous companies to be involved with so big big thanks to Shelli and all the staff.  :-)  While I'm in a thank you sort of mood - wow, big thanks to mum and dad for minding my two munchkins so we can head off on this trip, and to my sister Lisa who helps out so much with my classes.   Wish I could fit you all in my case!

Anyway, we get back Sunday night so if you've got any Stampin' Up questions - I'd love to help you with them next week when we return. 

Have a great week.  OK, off to pack!  And finish swaps!

Cheers, Sue

Back again to show you the other card design I found when looking for some inspiration for how to use the Flower Burst Embosslit.   This card by Dawn Olchefske is just gorgeous so had to give it a go.  Here's my very similar version.  Love Rich Razzleberry with Concord Crush!

Don't the Flower Bursts look lovely as a background?  I'll definitely be trying this idea again.  I've added in some of the leaves cut with my Big Shot and the Little Leaves sizzlit - just because it is one of my favourites right now. 

Project Colours:  Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Concord Crush

The patterned paper is from the In Colour Patterns Stack DSP on page 127.  I love the satin ribbon and having ribbon and cardstock colours that coordinate so well makes such a difference to the finished project.

Like Dawn, I've used the hostess set 'Cute By The Inch.'  I coloured it with the matching markers - Concord Crush, Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive.    (If you're interested in building up a marker collection, I've got space left in my Marker Club - due to kick off later this month.  Details here.)

I'm looking forward to a day on the Stampin' Up stand at CraftExpo tomorrow and again on Sunday.   Kathryn, Simone, Jo and Rachel are there today, and we've got lots more friendly faces there on the other days.  You can meet us here:   Try Some Stamping.

If you're heading along to CraftExpo at Royal Exhibition Buildings in Carlton - stop by and say hello.    Oct 7, 8, 9 and 10.   10am - 4.30pm.

Cheers,  Sue