Stampin Up Australia: Claire Daly Independent Demonstrator

Matching Stampin' Up! card for a little gift ....

Last week I challenged myself to make a matching card for this book of inspirational quotes I had purchased as a gift. I loved the colours in the book jacket, and wanted to replicate them in a card. Here's what I came up with:

 

and here's a closer look at the card:

 

The colours I have used are Soft Suede, Basic Black, Gold and Very Vanilla. The Soft Suede base piece has been clear embossed with the Belle Toile background stamp. I love the look this stamp gives clear embossed.

The other trick I did with this card was a variation of a trick they showed at Convention, to just emboss part of a piece of cardstock using the Framed Tulip Embossing Folder. I precut the piece of cardstock so that it fit in between the two shorter ends, but only covered one of the longer ends as shown here:

 

I'm sure some of you have been doing this trick for ages, but I was rather impressed with myself, lol.

Have had a couple of creative days putting together some tips and tricks and a new step by step card for my newsletter. It will be going out in the next day couple of days, so there is still time to subscribe for this month (sign up box is up there in the top right).

In other news, Oscar the puppy is no longer a puppy but a very active 6 month old dog, who happily greets us like this, regardless of what time of night or day we venture into the kitchen. It's play time 24 hours a day when you are a young energetic dog!

 

Now I know the girls who came to convention may struggle to believe it, but it was a glorious sunny day in Melbourne today, with not a cloud in the sky. I spent it chatting to my lovely downline Di Gill and admiring her gorgeous creations, and then had lunch with my lovely friend Leanne at the Kuranda Native Nursery in Mt Evelyn. It was absolutely beautiful and we had fun wandering around picking up some natives (of the plant variety!) after lunch. Such a lovely relaxing day.

Better get to it, things to do and places to be . Hope your week is happy :)

Claire xx

JAI 69 - Fussy Cutting

So lovely to catch up with lots of the Just Add Ink  girls at Convention. They inspired me to have some fun doing some more of their challenges. I had a creative streak on Friday night and actually managed to make 5 cards, including this one for JAI 69 - fussy cutting, using the bright and cheery Sweet Stitches DSP from the Stampin' Up! Autumn Winter Mini Catalogue.

 

The greeting is from one of my favourite stamp sets Great Friend. The ink and cardstock colours I have used here are the colours that are included in Sweet Stitches DSP, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight,  Very Vanilla. The other colours in this gorgeous bright DSP are Tangerine Tango, Tempting Turquoise, Wild Wasabi and Melon Mambo.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to get stuck into a couple more challenges this week. I'll definitely be back to post some of the cards I made last week though. I have been having lots of fun creating cards for friends and family. That's what it's all about right?

Have a happy week,

Claire xx

 

Another brighter Stampin' Up! Basic Gray combination .....

Now lets try a brighter Basic Gray colour combination shall we? This card is based on this weeks Sweet Sunday sketch number 118. This is one of my favourite sketches, always great designs and samples.

In this card I also wanted to try out a new way at ruffling ribbon that the fabulous Teneale showed us at Convention. You must check out her blog for the amazing way she works with ribbon. I haven't quite mastered it yet as my ruffle is a bit uneven, but it was fun trying something new.

My colours here are Basic Gray, Old Olive, Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight.

 

The flowers here are from Stampin' Up!'s Silhouette Sentiments hostess set. I used my markers direct to rubber, and also Melon mambo prints DSP and Daffodil Delight satin ribbon.

Hope you like the bright colours on this one! After all this brightness and boys colours, I think I feel a vintage card coming on!!

Happy stamping,

Claire xx

Stampin' Up! Basic Gray Colour Combinations ....

I was chatting to one of my lovely customers this week (waving Liz!) and she mentioned she doesn't use Basic Gray much, so I thought I would challenge myself to make a couple of cards using Basic Gray as the base colour, as it's a colour I really like.

My first card was based on this weeks Clean and Simple 141  card sketch. I love this single stamp from Stampin' Up! called Sail Away in the current Stampin' Up! Autumn Winter Mini (email me if you would like a free copy sent out). My colours here are Basic Gray, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze and Whisper White.

 

Other supplies used on this one are the Scallop Border Punch, 1" and 1 1/4" circle punch, Versamark, White Embossing Powder, Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Basic Gray ink and linen thread.

I hope you like this one! Back in a tic with a brighter colour combo for another challenge.

Claire xx

Stampin' Up! French Foliage ...

I loved this gorgeous French Foliage set as soon as I saw the Stampin' Up! Autumn Winter mini. I have seen some absolutely gorgeous cards made with this set. I finally inked my set up on the weekend to make a couple of birthday cards.

This set lends itself to lots of layering in autumn colours. I have used More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso and also a bit of Elegant Eggplant in the second card. I'm not sure I'm that keen on that version, but thought I would put them both up here anyway.

 

 

If you haven't got yourself this gorgeous Autumn inspird set - what are you waiting for? The clear version shown below is just $31.95 and you can grab yourself some cardstock weight Autumn Spic DSP for $22.95 for 12 double sided sheets. Just what a girl needs for some autumn crafting :)

Hope you are having a happy week,

Claire xx

Stampin' Up! Convention Australia 2011 - the rundown!

Just come back from the ultimate girls weekend, the Stampin' Up! Convention for 2011 which was held in Melbourne Australia. I may say this every year, but I can honestly say this was the most fun and enjoyable and exciting Stampin' Up! convention for me. I guess that really does go to show it's not about the stamps or the awards, but the fabulous people that make up the Stampin' Up! family. I had a quieter year this last 12 months in terms of my Stampin' Up! business, so no top 25 spot for me, but I had such a fun and social time and loved having the opportunity to share, catchup and congratulate my stamping friends. The content and excitement (and freebies!) from Stampin' Up! was also fantastic and inspiring so that all combined to make it the best one ever for me.

So here's a run down (in no particular order) on some of the things I loved about the Australian Stampin' Up! Convention 2011.

The theme. This Convention was about "Share What you Love" and as well as that being such a fabulous theme, it was supported by the most gorgeous set! The main stage had huge wood blocks, a huge embellished tag and these huge borders that matched our border punches. Upstairs there was another similar set, which we could stand in front of to have our photos taken (and the ever smiling Shelli sat to have her picture taken).

 

 

Catching Up! This is always the best part by far of Convention, sharing the fun and excitement with my stamping friends I have made over the last 4 years. I took millions of pictures, but here's just a few of the familiar faces at Convention:

My gorgeus friend Michelle Frost Stevenson who is my Melbourne movie buddy! I LOVE this photo of us together (thanks Sarah!).

 

The effervescent Sarah Klass and Madonna Dunn ...

 

Gorgeous Sharnee from Tasmania who did an awesome WOW presentation and shares my love of gardening and just being. Sharnee showed us all some fabulous vintage style using torn frames and I can't wait to have a play.

 

My lovely Tenterfield buddy Jacqui Crouch, who is a down to earth lovely lovely lady who keeps me sane during the year ...

 

Pam Jorgensen who I got to spend lots of time with last year at Hamilton Island. We shared a buggy journey and it's always lovely to catch up! Pam did some amazing projects using adhesive sheets for the big shot, so I look forward to having a play with those soon! 

 

Alisa and Teresa who I have got to know through Incentive Trips ...

 

Our gorgeous trainer Shannon from the US and demo extroadinaire Ngaire from Perth ...

 

Gorgeous Sarah Jane and her equally gorgeous flower ...
 

 

Catching up with my team. It was lovely to spend some time with the girls in my team and see them being rewarded for their hard work. I got to attend Managers Reception with Sue Madex (who came in at number 15 Demonstrator of the Year - woohoo Sue!!) and Genna Gifford, who was able to attend her very first Managers Convention which is always very special to see.  Here we are together on the night:

 

It was lovely to meet Sue's downline Tina for the first time too.

 

and catch up with my upline Jenni Oliver (who is all glammed up here for the awards night with Sue) ..

 
and who I affectionately like to call 'the 3 Amigos', Fiona, Jodie and Marlene from my team. This is a lovely story of friendship how these three have become such fabulously close friends and craft together most Thursday nights. It was lovely to spend some time with them on our table at the awards banquet (and Kerry, Elaine and Kathryn too!) ...

 

We had some more team shots taken on the night, so when we get those I will post a full team shot.

Then of course there were the amazing giveaways - 3 stamps sets and a card kit, plus make and takes and heaps of prize patrol chances for everyone!. Stampin' Up! are such a generous company and really look after their demonstrators. I also got some gorgeous goodies in Memento mall including the scarf you may see me wearing in some shots above, the Greenhous Gala tote which everyone was buying, and some other goodies. At Managers Reception, we also received another stamp set and the most gorgeous handmade note set. This was a really special gift. I hear it was made by Cate in head office (thankyou Cate!) and shelli had signed the first page of the note paper thanking us for "sharing what we love". How nice is that? There were also a cute couple of fortune cookies with the message "share what you love" in them, but they didn't last long so you only get to see the message!

 

There were other surprises too. Like when Cate and the other demo support girls from head office broke into song and danced on stage to the theme song "Share what you love", the big birthday cake for us all to sign (it was Stampin' Up!'s 5th birthday in Australia), and the LIVE camels walking accross stage on the last night ridden by Aaron and Emma  as a hint to tell us that  next years Incentive Trip will be in Broome, Western Australia.

 

 

 

 

The awards banquet is our farewell dinner after 3 fabulous days together. As usual the meal and settings were fantastic, as was the company! A cute touch was a chocoalte 5 to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 5th birthday on top of our white chocolate cheesecake dessert.

 

I found the awards night much more exciting this year (instead of being nervous knowing I was up for several awards the last few years) and really enjoyed celebrating the success of my team members and fabulous friends. I was in a great spot to high 5 people as they walked to the stage, and had purposely placed myslef close to some of my friends who were up for awards in the top 25. In our team Sue Madex got number 15 Demonstrator of the Year which was so very well earned as she is a fabulous supportive team person and very inspiring and supportive of me and other team members. Kylie Bertucci her downline also receievd the top Rising Star for Australia (best achievement among new demonstrators). We also had Elaine Hannam, myself, Sue Madex, Kylie Bertucci, Tanja Westwood and Miriam Thomas receive various awards for leadership, recruiting and sales. I'd like to say I had lots of photos of this part of the night but I was far too busy hugging people and cheering and high fiving that I didn't even use my camera! Big congrats to Angela Sargeant for her hard work in achieving number 1 demonstrator, and to my lovely friends Vanessa and Linda for their top 3 sales and leadership awards. I was so glad I was able to share a drink with you all at the end of the night.

After all that excitement, I was lucky enough to be spoilt with a night in the Hilton next door, thanks in part to a birthday gift voucher from my sister. It was so luxurious and I had a fabulous comfy bath and sleep, great views up the river and the most delicious room service Eggs Benedict the next morning. I even scored a midday checkout. Thankyou Deb!

 

After all that fun and rejuvenation, I was hanging out to get home to Paul and the boys. Josh was especially excited with lots of the bits and pieces I had bought home (including the tiny jar of tomato sauce from the hotel), but I should add he is DEFINITELY not getting my Greenhouse Gala tote!

 

I think my convention experience this year can be best summed up by this quote which Stampin' Up!'s President Rich Judkins used in his main presentation "At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lit the flame within us (Albert Schweitzer)"

 

Bring on Canberra in 2012!

Claire xx

(I'm aware I haven't even TOUCHED on the inspiration and creativity from thic Convention - trust me there was lots! I am hoping to try out some of the tricks I learnt and was inspired by and will tell you all about that side of things over the coming week)