Claire Daly - Stampin Up Demonstrator in Melbourne, Australia

Stampin' Up! Snow Swirled in Baja Breeze ...

Break in school holiday happenings to post again to my blog. I'm actually finding myself sitting up after the boys have gone to bed so am getting more creating done than usual.

This is the last of the series of Stampin' Up! Snow Swirled cards I will be doing for the moment. It's been fun focusing on this set over the last month and my regular customers have loved all the cards I have sent through to them. Only a few have made it to my blog, but there's lots more coming over the next few weeks.

I've really enjoyed playing with the non-traditional Christmas colours here. I just love Kraft and Baja Breeze together.

This tree was so easy! I just inked it up in Baja Breeze and then coloured right over the top of each of the starbursts with a Chocolate Chip Stampin Write Marker. I then gave it a huff and a Puff to re-moisten and then stamped onto Very Vanilla.

The Pewter Build a Brad has Chocolate Chip (again I used the marker) on Very Vanilla, and I have also added some brads to the centre of the starbursts. The background starburst on the kraft is stamped with Versmark, and the greeting from Snow Swirled is inked up with the Chocolate Chip marker again. I've use Ski Slope patterned paper for the bit under the image (which has been edged with the Eyelet border) but you could easily use Baja Breeze cardstock or Baja Breeze patterns Designer Series Paper for this step as well. I hope you like this card.

If you would like to purchase any of the supplies to make some of these cards yourself. Just give me a call on 03 97352946 or email me and I can get these supplies delivered to you anywhere in Australia.

Stampin' Up! Snow Swirled Stamp Set - $45.95 (115868)

Pewter Build a Brad $18.95 (109128)

Baja Breeze Cardstock A4 24 sheets $10.50 (116207)

Kraft Cardstock A4 40 sheets $13.50 (106554)

Very Vanilla Cardstock A4 40 sheets $13.50 (106550)

Baja Breeze Classic Stamp Pad $11.95 (111833)

Versamark Stamp Pad $13.95 (102283)

Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker $5.95 (100071)

I also wanted to let you know about a couple of very worthy causes coming up. Jayne Mercer is collecting punched shapes for the play therapists at Westmead Children's Hospital. You read all about this and where to send your punched shapes on Jayne's blog here.

A delightful stamper from South Australia, Kathryn Mangelsdorf is holding an even that I have supported along with Stampin' Up!. If you live near Kathryn in Woodside, South Australia, please consider heading along to Kathryn's event to have some stamping fun and to raise some funds for women's cancer prevention and treatment, a cause that is very close to many of us. You can read all about Kathryn's event here.

Thanks for stopping by. Please spare a thought for the people of Samoa and the tourists impacted upon by the Tsunami today. I have been watching the news tonight as I type this and the devastation is horrible.

Claire xx

Snow Swirled bauble ....

I've found myself needing to do some stamping over the last few days after the boys have gone to sleep from their busy school holidays filled days. I find this me tome so important to balancing my days, and to remind myself of the enjoyment of creating 'just because'.

The idea for the design of this card actually came to me from the lovely Sarah Klass, who gave me a similar card in a Christmas card swap last year. Sarah's card used Baroque Motifs and was lovely. I will see if she minds me posting it here later :)

My card uses the Stampin' Up! set Snow Swirled, with some Ski Slope Designer Series Paper and a white embossed bauble. The colours are Baja Blue, Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip. This is SUCH a simple card to make. My choc chip piece is just 6x10cm and the 1 3/8" punch is the one I have used for the bauble. Tie the ribbon around the choc chip piece before you adhere the embossed cardstock on the back (don't punch this out as a circle or there will be nothing left to adhere!). My greeting comes from the versatile Stampin' Up! greeting set Occasional Greetings.

I hope you enjoy this cards. lets give Sarah a big thanks for her inspiration too!

Snow Swirled ...

Brrrrrr great stamping weather in Melbourne this weekend - freezing cold and lots of lovely rain. It's been a busy weekend with the AFL grandfinal and 2 of my nieces birthday celebrations today, but I still managed to get a little stamping done. I'm glad there's another week of school holidays to look forward to with no early morning school routine to negotiate!

Time for a Christmas Card don't you think? This one features the Stampin' Up! set Snow Swirled. How gorgeous is that swirly tree?

The colour combination here is Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Real Red. I am seriously loving using the Build a Brads and I think they are perfect for sitting on top of this tree. I also really love the Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon. Just perfect for Christmas cards.

The tree has been embossed in white onto the Old Olive cardstock. The smaller brads are Ruby Red, and the Build a Brad centre is the small stamp from Snow Swirled stamped in Real Red onto Whisper White. I have used the colour spritz tool to give the area around the tree some interest (my current Marker Club girls will be getting a tutorial about using the colour spritzer this week). The Real Red panel is stamped in Riding Hood Red ink to tone in with the brown a little.

I hope you like it and I hope you have a fabulous and happy week,

Claire xx

Thoughts and Prayers .......

I had the need to make a sympathy card this week which is never easy is it. This was for a very close friend of my Mum's who lost her husband, so I wanted to make it special. As I was making it I was reminded so much that it's not just about the finished card is it? At times like this the very choice of the stamp set and colours and greeting was very meaningful for me. What a fabulous thing we do when we send a card to someone we care about.

I have used Stampin' Up! Thoughts and Prayers, which is perfect for sympathy and get well cards. I used the markers direct to rubber for the tree and added Crystal Effects to highlight the blossoms. I also repeated the pattern in a Build a Brad (LOVE those things!). The sentiment was perfect for what I wanted to say and was one of the sentiments in the same Thought and Prayers set.

I also posted a layout on the new Stampamemory blog about my favourite things. I love how it turned out with all my handwritten journaling. Here's a sneak peek, but head on over to Stampamemory to check out the whole layout and some of my journaling.

If you are in Melbourne I hope you are enjoying the school holidays. I took the boys to the movies to see Up yesterday which was lots of fun for Sam's first movie. It was a home day today, but Josh has big plans for me tomorrow I'm sure!

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you back here soon,

Claire xx

Seasons of Joy, Great Friend and a New Stampin' Up! Stampin' Write Marker Club with tutorials ....

Remember me? Lol. I'm back with some cards. I had a huge clean out in my craft room yesterday and that always makes me want to make stuff! Combine that with the school holidays and lots of time to create and you should be seeing some creations over the next few weeks.

Last night I revisited the Stampin' Up! Christmas favourite, Seasons of Joy. I just love this stamp set and will be using it on lots of my cards again this year. I added the Eyelet Border punch for a little extra something and used my favourite Christmas colour combination of Riding Hood Red, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip(if you love these colours you will love my Winter Post Instructions or bundle). Bit of bling and some Crystal Effects and we're done.

Next up I wanted to show you one of the cards from my Marker Club tutorials. Those lucky people in the marker club get these with the other goodies from the marker club. I have a new one starting soon, so check out the details below if you are interested. This card features Great Friendstamp set from the 2009 Spring Mini Catalogue, and the colours Regal Rose and So Saffron.

Now onto the Stampin' Write Marker club information. I have a new club starting in October. I have been doing these clubs for nearly 2 years now and my customers love them. It saves them money and they end up all the colours, lots of freebies and tutorials showing them how these markers can be used in so many different ways.

Who wouldn't love the opportunity to pay a monthly fee to make a monthly payment, and end up with:

• all 48 colour family Stampin' Write marker
• 4 neutral markers in their own holder
• the awesome carry case with perspex insert to store them in horizontally (which is how we recommend)
• $70 worth of free merchandise of your choice on the month you are hostess
• a FREE level one hostess set on the month you are hostess
• FREE tutorials each month

I have both an 8 month and a 4 month club starting in October. Monthly payment can be made via credit card or direct deposit. The cost will be:

• 8 month club: $40 per month over 8 month
• 4 month club: $79 per month over 4 months

This represents a saving of $22 if you purchased the markers and merchandise in the sets of 12 (and you wouldn't get the FREE hostess set, carry case or tutorials so you are saving heaps more value in that) and a whopping $82 if you bought the markers individually (still missing out on the free tutorials, hostess set and carry case). As you can see this is a fabulous bargain that you won't want to miss out on this time round. Numbers are strictly limited so email me now or call 03 97352946 to get your names down for these clubs.

That's all for now. Hope to make some more things this afternoon and to do some relaxing. Speaking of relaxing, our white German Shepherd Monty has taking a liking to the boys old Bob the Builder bean bag and I snapped this shot of him last night. He looks comfortable doesn't he?

Hope you are having a relaxing day too,

Claire xx

Where I have been ....introducing StampaMemory

I have to apologise for being missing in action a little over the last few weeks. I have a nice reason though.

Quite a few months ago, when I was missing my scrapbooking a little, the idea for StampaMemory came to me.

We have lots of passionate scrapbookers in my team, so I wanted to bring together some of that talent in the form of a website that would just showcase and celebrate scrapbooking using the fabulous range of Stampin' Up! products.

I thought we needed to shout it from the rooftops a bit more that Stampin' Up! wasn't just about rubber stamps and cardmaking. We have fabulous products for scrapbooking. I have been constantly amazed at the gorgeous creations the girls in my team come up with using these products, so I wanted to show these to you all as well.

There will be featured layouts (there are already heaps in the gallery), articles about using our products, competitions and challenges. We have also put together a free e-book that if you sign up for our mailing list (Demonstrators are welcome too) you can automatically download. This is a completely different mailing list to our blog mailings lists, so if you are interested in scrapbooking you will need to sign up for that one too separately.

I already love the site, but after many hours I might be a little biased! Why don't you head over there, have a look around, sign up for the free e-book and leave a comment to tell us what you think?

(PS I'll still be posting here of course, looking forward to just sitting and making some cards now that the site is up and running)

New Product Bundle and Tutorials featuring Tea Party Designer Series Paper ....

As soon as this months ribbon bundle special was announced I just knew I would work this months tutorials around the beautiful Tea Party Designer Series Paper. As well as being soft and pretty for Spring, the colours used in the paper include both So Saffron and Certainly Celery, the colours of the free ribbon.

I wanted to go for something with a tea party theme, so I came up with 3 of my own templates for off the page projects, including two different gift boxes for cupcakes or muffins.

          

I'll think you will love this months bunlde and instructions. As usual you can purchase just the instructions for $16.00 (I had to put the price up $1 as PayPal doubled their fees). This option is available to anyone worldwide including other demonstrators. If you live in Australia you can also purchase the bundle of products which coordinate with these instrcutions, and get the instructions, ribbon bundle and postage for FREE.

To find out more information, just click on this image below. Muffins not included (in fact I just ate one of those pictured in the box above).

 

Woohoo - FREE gifts this month with a qualifying purchase or workshop!

It feels like Saleabration again today as Stampin' Up! are giving away FREE ribbon (and 2 whole rolls of it and it's not in the catalogue!) with a $100 order, or a $600 workshop. How cool is that.

The colours are gorgeous too - So Saffron (which goes with SO MANY DSP's and Simply Scrappin Kits) and Certainly Celery. Certainly Celery is a great ribbon to use on Christmas cards with the cool colours, such as this one where I have used Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery.

I'll be placing orders as soon as they come in for this special and having the product sent directly from the warehouse to you (unless you're very close for a home delivery)  so email me if you "need" any great Stampin' Up! products to get the ribbon. You can also call me on 03 97352946.

I'm off to the post office and then I'll be back home to choose my own order. I NEED that ribbon! You have fun choosing too :)

Claire xx