Day 2 from Sunny Noosa on the Australian Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip ....

OMG, I hardly know where to start on my day 2 run down. We are having THE best time!! 

The day started with a leisurely Early Grey on the balcony, followed by breaky with some of the girls. Here's Sue doing it very hard as you can see.

 

Next we boarded a ferry (in PERFECT weather) for a short sail down the river to Ricky's Restaurant. The ferry had a top deck so lots of oohing and ahhing and waving to the people on the balconies on the shore.

 

Here's Kim Gavarra and her husband (at the back) with Yvonne and Martin.

 

When we got to the restaurant we were divided into teams (by ribbon tied on cutlery!) and assigned a chef who walked us through making our course of the meal. The food was UNBELIEVABLE. I don't think I have ever had such an exquisite meal and that was even without the amazing ambiance. I'll post later about what we ate as I need to be somewhere soon, so just wanted to get some pics up of us doing the cooking.

 

 

 

 

Like I said - MUCH more to come about the restaurant - it was so awesome. We were ferried back to the hotel (and I mean right on their own jetty!) where we had a leisurely afternoon. I spent most of it chatting in the hospitality room again - today I won a roll of Baja ribbon, and had some great conversation to boot! The girls also put out some delicious US candy for us to try. They think of everything I tell you.

The night was so much fun! We all descended on the surf club where they had a Karaoke night! It was so much fun. I was up there numerous times doing all sorts of hits, and at one stage we even had Keesh out of her wheelchair and bopping along singing on one foot. She is such a fun girl that one! Aaron showed his head banging side and sung a few hits and we even had Dave Baugh up there singing solo. The boys got together for a Midnight Oil song too:

 

Here's Keesh doing some seat dancing:

 

and Vanessa and Marelle with their Abba hits:

 

SUCH a fun day. I'm off to make and takes and swapping now so be back soon!

Claire

(Disclaimer: less than 1% of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators make the Incentive Trip each year)

Hello from Sunny Noosa on the Australian Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip ...

Hi everyone! Logging in from Noosa to post some pics as promised! We had a fabulous day yesterday - so fabulous to see all these friendly faces again - lots of hugging and chatting and catching up yesterday! I had a very early start to the airport, but once we were on that plane it was all very relaxing. We were greeted by a beaming Angie from the US when we arrived at Maroochydore, and then a lovely 30 minute drive along the coast (in the bus with the psychedelic interior!) to the Sheraton. WOW! We were greeted by waiters holding welcome drinks carved out of coconut. Nice touch to start the proceedings. Shelli and Sterling greeted us in the lobby and then we were showed up to our room which is great - very large and spacious with double beds each and a balcony overlooking the pool. We are literally steps from Hastings St as well. Here's the view from our balcony:

The little hut in the middle of the pool is a swim up bar. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours lazing by the pool with a cocktail and chatting with some of the girls. Limechee crush cocktail which was very tangy and delicious!

We also got to spin the wheel and I bagged a free pack of Ski Slope paper. The wheel always turns into a big exciting squealing riot. It was very funny and Janelle and Angie (our orgainisers from Stampin Up in the US) are so much fun.

Last night we had the welcome dinner which was lovely. In fact the food is amazing! So delicious. We sat on a table with Dave Baugh and his wife Jeanette. It was so great to see Dave on his first Incentive Trip and his is Jeanette's first trip to Australia.Here's Shelli and Sterling at the dinner:

 

and Marelle and Kim from the noisy table:

 

and Linda and Georgina:

and of course the yummy food. I just had to photograph the sweets - how gorgeous do they look? The chocolate wafer even looked stamped!

 

 

and the meal was a delicious buffet of all sorts of yummy salads, vegetables and meat. Mmm are you seeing a pattern? I talk about the food a lot don't I!

 

There were lots of tired faces at the end of the day, so Sue and I headed back to our room and had room service hot chocolate and read our books. So relaxing. When we got in, there was a little surprise waiting for me - my outfit for the cooking competition down the Noosa river today (you might want to put your coffee down to look at this pic):

 

Nigella eat your heart out!

Above all that though was the best part of the day, just to hang out with everyone. I just love the opportunity to share this excitement and in a smaller intimate group we really get that chance to talk and get to know people. I feel like I really know people so much better this year and there was a whole lot of hugging and laughing going on let me tell you! Probably my most treasured  moment of yesterday though was this handwritten note from Shelli on my bed when I got back to the room. I know I rave on a lot about Shelli, but she is just such a warm beautiful person and I will treasure this card from her and her lovely words.

 

Off to have a shower and some breakky for the day ahead! Have a happy day,

Claire xx

(Disclaimer: less than 1% of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators make the Incentive Trip each year)

Making Merry Monday #13

Hi everyone, time for another Making Merry Monday card which I just happened to have ready to post on a Monday for a change! MMM was an idea of one of my downlines Anita Meade and I like to play along when I can. This card using the Spring Mini Tree Trimmings set also doubled as my swap for another team Christmas card share.

 

Here's the recipe:

• Stampin Up Stamps: Tree Trimmings, Snow Swirled, Baroque Motifs and Best Yet
• Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
• Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke
• Punches: Scalloped Oval and Large Oval
• Accessories: Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds (with 2 way glue pen)

I'm off to Noosa on Wednesday morning for the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip. I wish I could take all my team and my lovely customers along with me, because if it wasn't for you all I wouldn't be able to get this spoilt. Thankyou so much. I promise to make great use of the time and to bring back lots of inspiration and news! I'm really looking forward to the swaps (or at least I will be when I finish the 35 on my desk!) but most of all just the opportunity to reconnect with some fabulous friends, make some new ones and share the fun with my guest and downline (and fab friend!) Sue Madex.

My laptop is connected to my hip, so keep an eye out for some news and happy snaps! Between computer obsessed Sue and myself I am sure we will have some news for you!

Have a fabulous week as well,

Claire xx

Vintage Eastern Influence ...

I've had a fabulous day today. It's been very cold and wet and windy in Melbourne, but I have spent the day doing nice things so it didn't matter. First I got to drop off a card and some flowers and chocolates for my lovely friend Christine who has a birthday today. Happy Birthday lovely girl! Then I came home and was doing some stamping and the postie knocked on the door with the Itinerary for the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip which I will be going on in 12 days. This years trip is in Noosa and I am taking my lovely downline Sue Madex. I'm getting excited after seeing the fun Itinerary.

This afternoon I felt like making a vintage style card, so after being inspired during the week by this gorgeous card from Teneale, I pulled out Stampin' Up! Eastern Influence set. This is one of the first sets I bought from the new catalogue - I love it!

 

 

For the main image I stamped the flower branch, and then masked that and stamped the other blossom branch in the set using the Stampamajig for placement. I then stamped the birds in Sahara Sand (stamped off once) to add a bit on interest around the edges. I watercoloured using an Aquapainter and the ink pads (Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red and Bravo Burgundy) I have raised an additional flower up on Dimensionals and covered many of the coloured blossoms in Crystal Effects (a bit hard to see in the pic). The patterned paper at the top is from Bella Bleu DSP, and the bottom panel is Kraft Cardstock embossed with the Cuttlebug and then the Bravo Burgundy Ink pad wiped over the top.

Hope you like it, and get to create something for yourself this weekend. Have a lovely weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Claire xx

Great Friend Stamp Set and Great Friends at Dinner!

Hello lovelies :)

The Spring Mini Catalogue is now live and can be viewed online here. It's full of fabulous new goodies and I will be bringing you lots of samples in my newsletter and here on my blog. I have one embellishment product share happening which you can read about here. More importantly, here are some more creations using the products.

These two cards were made using the set Great Friend, which is designed to coordinate with the Walk in the Park Designer Series Paper which I have used here.

 

Aren't those butterflies just divine? There's also a set of coloured rub ons which match this paper and stamp set. If you don't have a demonstrator and would like to get a hard copy of the catalologue or chat to me about the products, just email me and I will pop it in the mail to you. I know you will love the new products!

Speaking of great friends, I had such a fabulous night out tonight. I went out to a Thai restaurant with some of the girls in my team for a girls night out.

Great food and great company with lots of chatting and laughing and sharing. If you're looking to meet a great group of crafty friends to chat with both online in our forum and in person, you would love being a member of our fun and friendly team. As well as having fun you will earn some extra cash and get a great discount on your own craft supplies, as well as the opportunity to earn free stamps and cash incentives. I've been a demonstrator for 2 and a half years now, and even still I was driving home tonight thinking how great it is to do something I love and meet these fabulous people to share it with. Warm fuzzy moment! You can find out more about becoming a demonstrator in my team here.

On that note I really should be off to bed. The boys will be up bright and early and ready for some Mum time! Have a great Sunday and thanks for stopping by,

Claire xx