Wrapping up my Christmas Card Making ....

I'm feeling very virtuous. I have finished my hand stamped Christmas cards and it's just past mid November! Here they are all stacked up with their matching stamped envelopes ready to be written in. Have you ever stamped on a Stampin' Up! envelope? They are such amazing quality to stamp and really finish off the card presentation.

This weekend thanks to a lovely day of inspired stamping with my stamping friend Sharon (who REALLY needs to become a demonstrator!), I finished nearly 60 more cards, mainly in 3 designs. As many of my fellow demonstrators will be receiving those I will keep those ones a surprise for now. I did do a few more one off cards' with ideas or bits and pieces I had left from other projects and I can show these ones.

This one has been going around in my head ever since we got the pennant punch. It's definitely not a 'make a lot at a time' card, but I do love how it turned out.

Everything is Stampin' Up! except the lace as I was right out of my Stampin' Up! Victorian lace which I love. The banner is made using the Stampin' Up! Petite Pennants Builder Punch, and also the Perfect Pennants Big Shot Die. The letters are from the Stampin' Up! Welcome Christmas stamp set. The greeting is from Contemp Christmas. My colours are Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke seam binding (yummm), along with Vintage Brads, lace and the First Edition DSP are also used.

The best bit about finishing my cards earlier than I usually do is I get to really relax and enjoy December. I love the lead up to Christmas and I really want to soak in the traditions, the excitement and the day to day enjoyment. This year for the first time I want to try and complete a December Daily album as inspired by Ali Edwards  to catch all these memories. The trick is getting the foundation of the album completed in November so it is just about the words and photos in December, so that will be my project for this week.

If you are looking for lots more Christmas crafting ideas, be sure to pick up a copy of this months Scrapbook Creations. There are lots of Christmas projects to make and I have a vintage Christmas banner and also a baby's first Christmas mini album featured in there. The cover looks like this:

Just a couple of other housekeeping announcements!

New Summer Mini Catalogue

We have a new mini catalalogue which starts seling on December 1st. If you would like a copy sent out email me and I will pop one in the mail for you soon (Please note: if you already have a regular demonstrator please ask them as they will also have copies available). For my regular customers, your copy and my complimentary tutorial CD update will be in the mail to you soon!

Great Time to Join my Team

Don't forget the fabulous offer I mentioned in the last post - now is a fabulous time to sign up as a demonstrator!  Join by November 27th and you get at least one extra free sets as a welcome gift, plus the first person will get 2 as I have an extra set I won at Regionals that I already had pre-ordered. Just call me on 0412120498 or email me for an obligation free chat. It's easy and quick to join online!

See you back here again soon,

Claire

Stampin' Up! Melbourne Regionals Weekend Wrap Up ....

Had a fabulous weekend at regionals last weekend :) Stampin' Up! events are always fabulous and this one was no exception. It was lovely to catch up with my team girls, other fellow demonstrators and the SU team from the office in Sydney.

I was a bit spoilt these regionals as I decided to make an extra day of it and stay in the City Friday night at the Grand Hyatt :). The hotel has recently been refurbished and since we only decided to stay in on the Thursday before the weekend, we got a great deal thru www.wotif.com. Our room was quite high up and overlooked the city (which was beautiful at night) and there was a lovely view of the river and beyond from the lift lobby. I didn't get a picture of the lobby, but WOW - it's amazing with this huge water feature. Very handy to everywhere I had to go Friday as well. I do love a bit of luxury :)

I went into the city earlier in the day (thanks to Paul's Mum picked the boys up from school for a sleepover) and had a look around the shops. The refurbished David Jones and Myer are gorgeous and it had been a while since I had a chance to wander around shops in the city! A highlight was seeing the Myer Christmas Windows, which had recently been unveiled. This year the theme is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

After my little shop I relaxed at the hotel and then met Paul and his workmates for drinks after work which was only a blocks from where we were staying. That was so nice as it's not something I get to do with school pick ups! Paul and his workmates then carried on as I had been asked out to tea with a couple of lovely people Friday night and we were spoilt with dinner at Taxi restaurant at Federation Square, overlooking the Yarra and Southbank.The restaurant has a Japanese themed menu, but there was quite a variety of food. It was totally delicious - amazing fresh flavours and combinations. The service was great too. I felt very spesh and would totally recommend Taxi if you are after a special meal in the Melbourne!

Saturday morning I left Paul to sleep in while I wandered down Flinders Lane to Degraves St for coffee and breakfast. This is a great little lane between Flinders Lane and Flinders St and is packed with great coffee shops. Fresh scrambled eggs tossed with avocado, feta, smoked salmon and spinach. Yumm! Then it was onto the tram and along the Yarra to the Convention Centre. Beautiful morning in Melbourne as you can see.

Then the fun really started with Regionals! This year I had a couple of new team members along for their first regionals, Jeanne from Moorolbark and Anthea from Belgrave. I think they had a fun time!Here they are with the lovely Rach.

Always great to catch up with my buddy and team mate Sue Madex. Sue inspires me on many levels, and we have shared lots of scrapbooking chat this year which I have really enjoyed. Here she is (centre) with some members of her ever growing team (and it even looks like they are colour coordinated!). If you are out Avondale Heights way and are looking for a great team to join give Sue a call.

Sue must have also been onto head office about colour coordination as here she is with the lovely Cate from the SU office again colour coordinated. As well as rocking her colours, Cate inspired us with some fancy stamping using the Stampin' around wheels which had all the demonstrators ordering these after regionals!

Here's another table of girls from the team with Kathryn Ruddick, and Di Dunk  and some of the newer members of Kathryn's team (another two busy growing teams if you are out Croydon way for Kathryn and Healesville for Di).

As usual the presentations were amazing and there were lots of inspiring ideas to take away. Also lots of freebies with our free stamp set, a free Vanilla Smooch Spritz because we reached capacity in numbers, free Champagne Glass Glitter (just because Aaron felt like it!) and I won a great new set from the upcoming Summer Mini Catalogue too. Talk about spoiled! The day ran so smoothly, thanks to the fabulous events manager in SU head office in Sydney, Amanda. While she wasn't making things happen she even showed us how to tie a bow with a garden fork and I am hooked on her method now. Thanks Amanda!

We had 5 different presentations from head office staff, and on top of that 5 WOW demonstrator presentations. Aaron (the Australian boss) even had some preprepared cards to illustrate his presentation - all with fancy folds. This was my favourite:

Sophie (the training coordinator for SU in Sydney) went one step further and  made her outfit out of SU supplies - well her skirt anyway! Here she is (far right) with the demonstrator WOW presenters, in her circle skirt made from the Stampin' Up! Candy Cane Designer Fabric. The demonstrator presenters are from left to right: Kathryn Ruddick, Janine Rawlins, Tracey Penn, Miriam Spiess and Brenda Fry.

In addition to the skirt, Sophie also showed us some fabulous projects using Stampin' Up! fabric and here is just a sample:

I don't want to show projects from the demonstrator WOW presentations, except a couple of snippets to entice you over to the blogs of at least two of the presenters who really wow'd me! I love what Kathryn Ruddick  did with the SU Petal Cone Big Shot die. Her embellishing of these cute little boxes was amazing! Make sure you head over to her blog  to check them out.

Likewise you must head over to the blog of Miriam Spiess, who showed us how to make the most gorgeous paper flowers! They were totally unbelievable, and as well as beautiful cherry cobbler dahlia like flowers there were bright Gerberas and even Orchids! Check out Miriam's blog  here.

Well I hope that's given you a taste of the fun and inspiration we get to be a part of as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Now Join in the Fun and get some Extra Freebies!

We are always looking for new people to join the team and thanks to winning a new stamp set I already had preordered, and a couple of Stampin Up! promotions I am a part of, you can get one or even a couple of brand new Summer Mini stamp sets if you join my team by the 27th November! That's in addition to the already amazing value in the starter kit ($289 for over $610 value).

Now is a great time to join with Saleabration just around the corner. Just give me a call this week on 041 212 0498 or email me  and I will answer any questions you have and show you how easy it is to join up online.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Claire

In my garden and tales of my OCD dog....

Just a few pictures of the springtime loveliness in my garden.

Josh was very excited to pick the first strawberry off his strawberry plants and even had enough to take to school for his snack yesterday.

The hydrangeas are covered in forming flower heads with still a little way to go. It must take a lot of energy to build those flowers as I find myself having to feed them with the seaweed plant boosters regularly so the leaves don't start to yellow from nutrient deficiencies!

and then there's the roses! They are such beautiful flowers aren't they? I have a favourite bright pink one near the front door which has had masses of blooms. They start out like this:

and then look like this against a backdrop of dark green glossy leaves.

I have also loved the Seduction bush roses especially when they have the creamy light green and pink tinges when they are first opening.

I think that's it for the moment. I will have some more garden pics soon when I get my tomatoes settled and Oscar-proofed!

Speaking of Oscar, he continues to entertain and will be 1 year old in a couple of weeks. His latest trick is to steal the table tennis ball when Sam and I are playing table tennis. He waits until our hand is about 6 inches from picking it up and then he grabs it and runs!

He has also enjoyed the rain this year, but we are slightly worried about his mental state and that he might have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Dog??) as he only runs EXACTLY the same way to get from the steps to the corner of the yard and has made quite a path that became quite a big puddle when it rains. No offence intended to anyone who does have OCD, as it must be very debillitating.

He liked the idea of becoming a black and white German Shepherd by splashing in the mud. Here he is giving me a "'what do you mean what I am doing isn't this completely normal behaviour?" look! Time for the mobile doggy wash!

Happy Thursday friends :)

Claire xx

Updating a few One Little Word pages .....

You may have remembered earlier in the year I talked about how I was doing a One Little Word album inspired by Ali Edwards year long project. My word for the year is Nourish. It's been a fabulous word and I have really surprised myself how much of an influence it has had on me day to day. I went off on a bit of a tangent from Ali's monthly class, and I thought I would forget about my word for big periods of time but that hasn't been the case at all. I feel in such a great place compared to this time last year. Calmer, more balanced in both my own life but more importantly family life, just more content. I think I have my word to thank for much of that. It has been in my mind and I think influenced my day to day so much. Thank you Ali, and thank you little word Nourish. I am already tossing around ideas for my next years word. Stay tuned!

I thought you would like to see a few of my recent pages that are going into this album. I love doing these pages that look within and record the real you, my fave type of scrapbooking and I like the thought I have a little bit of me recorded. Excuse the quality of the photos - some of these were hard to photograph in divided page protectors!

This ones about how I've gone a little bit vego this year - not completely as I still eat meat, but I have had a preference for and enjoyed lots more vegetarian meals too. Who would have thought this from a girl who grew up on a farm where we raised our own lamb and chicken and beef!

This one is about my mid year retreat. Nourishing from start to end. These people are so special, as is the place.

and this one is just documenting all the different things that nourish me: my relationships, surroundings, inner me and beyond - such a huge list when you look at it and a great activity for anyone to do!

Hope to get some more OLW pages happening soon,

Claire xx

Some Christmas card inspiration ...

Have made a bit of a move on the Christmas cards over the last few weeks. My newsletter girls would have seen these already, but for all else, here's what I have been up to :)

This one is using the Stampin' Up! sets Snow Swirled and Tags Til Christmas. Love how that greeting from Snow Swirled fits so well in the Stampin' Up! Decorative Label Punch :)

This one uses a design that's been around ever since the Stampin' Up! Top Note die. It's great for using up DSP scraps, as each square is punched with the Stampin' Up! 1 1/4" square punch. To make this you start with a piece of cardstock 5" wide x 3 3/4" high and adhere 12 assorted squares then put through the Big Shot with Top Note die (watch you don't nip the pointy bits off!). Love the Baja Breeze seam binding and the Blush Blossom cardstock with this Stampin' Up! Letters to Santa DSP.

This one is one of my favourites for so many reasons. I love to watercolour, I just find it so relaxing. This Stampin' Up!set Beautiful Season is perfect for watercolouring. I have used Pear pizazz, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede inks to watercolour with and sponged Baja Breeze around the edges. Love how that contrasts with the Always Artichoke (my favourite green!) of the cardstock and seam binding. Decided to give this one a bit of extra bling too - a glimmer brad, a vintage brad and a spray of vanilla Smooch Spritz (LOVE this stuff and the great transparent shimmer it produces).

Bit of embossing on this next one, and it's a great time to try this with our fabulous Big Shot special on this month (see below for more information). I have made the layer below the image using the Petals a Plenty Textured Impressions Embossing folder which is perfect fro Christmas with it's (what I think is) Poinsettias. The image for this one is Jolly Bingo Bits - a VERY versatile set with 24 fabulous Christmas images. My boys love this set too! Love these colours of Rose Red, Early Espresso and Old Olive together.

Finally a cute little hanging lolly holder for the tree using the Stampin' Up! Petal cone die. The cute little lolly image is from Jolly Bingo Bits and the perfect greeting 'Christmas greeting with something for eating' is from Tags Til Christmas.

Hope that's given you a few ideas for Christmas cards. If any of them involve the Big Shot - then it's good news!

This month you can get 10% off a range of Big Shot dies and Textured Impressions embossing folders, PLUS if you don't already have a Big Shot, there's a fabulous discounted bundle to purchase it with. Just pop on over to my Stampin' Up! business page  and see exactly what's on special.

Thanks for visiting and see you back here soon. Have a happy week. We have regional training here in melbourne this weekend so my weekend is sure to be fabulous! Can't wait to catch up with my stamping friends, swap and be inspired!

Claire