The Short Story
- My family consists of my husband, my two teenage sons and our rescue cat Teddy.
- I've been a demonstrator for over 14 years, joining the first year Stampin' Up! came to Australia.
- I am one of Australia's top demonstrators, one of the top 100 Demonstrators globally(out of 50 000+) and have consistently ranked for annual awards and earnt Incentive Trips from my first full year with Stampin' Up!.
- I now balance being creative, with leading and mentoring one of Australia's largest and most active Stampin' Up! teams, the Art With Heart team. We have a great group of ladies Australia wide (some running business, others just enjoying a personal discount) who chat and support each other in our super active online team forum, and get together whenever we can at OnStage events and team days.
- I was a scrapbooker on several design teams before I joined Stampin' Up! just for the discount (then it kind of grew, because people love these products!). Now I mix memory keeping of all sorts with cardmaking and stamping.
- I also love to garden (love Roses, Camelias, Hydrangeas, flowers to cut, veggie gardening, container plants and succulents), travel when I can, going to the movies, good coffee, food wine and conversation. I think my favourite days are days at home with the family though :)
- I live in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne, but thanks to the internet, run my online Stampin' Up! business right throughout Australia.
- My business has been a fabulous flexible supplement to our family income while my boys have attended primary and high school. Finding that balance was really important to me and my Stampin' Up! business has allowed that to happen and given me lots more too. I have consistently won sales, recruiting and leadership awards, earned Demonstrator of the Year on 2 occasions, and been on many exciting incentive trips (along with other members of my team).
- Now I'm passionate about continuing to make others happy by helping them to become creative, or save some money on their craft supplies for my hobby team members. My other passion is to help mentor other women who want a flexible home based business so they feel happier, can spend more time with those they love, and have less stress. This is my goal for my team members.
I hope that by spending a little time on my blog, I will be able to give you some quality time out and maybe even inspire you to enrich your life through scrapbooking, stamping and other paper-crafts. Most of all, enjoy your time here.
I'd love to hear from you if you are new to Stampin' Up!, looking for a new active demonstrator or looking to become a demonstrator yourself. You will love the friendship, support and feeling of being connected that you get as a member of our team. If you would prefer to order as a customer, I am committed to providing you with exceptional customer service and lots of VIP perks. Read about how to order, specials and what you can expect from me here.
Contact me anytime by email or phone / text on 0412 120 498.
Yours creatively,
Claire
The Long Story of My Creative Journey
Stampin' Up!'s 'Statement of the Heart' sits very nicely with the philosophy behind why I scrapbook and stamp. I first discovered scrapbooking just after I had my first child through IVF in 2002. I can't even begin to articulate how the opportunity to journal about those times through my scrapbooking has helped me. Since then my scrapbooking has turned into a wider love of papercrafts encompassing cardmaking, stamping off the page projects and lots more scrapbooking.
I am so passionate about this hobby. I love the fun and excitement of creating, the pleasure it brings to others, the relationships I have developed with other addicted papercrafters and also the 'time out' from being a busy Mum. It's also my creative therapy at times. It has helped me through another IVF pregnancy and the unexpected death of my father and brother. I guess you could sum my philosophy up best by saying it's not about the pretty papers, the latest products or the stamps. It's about the connections people develop with themselves and each other through using those products.
I am really passionate about spreading the word about how therapeutic and just plain good for your soul scrapbooking, card making and other papercrafts can be.In 2006 I co-authored an article on 'Scrap Therapy' in For Keeps magazine, and I have had many layouts published now. More often than not they tend to be about connections or published because of the heartfelt journalling. My very first published page was this one in which I journalled about the incredible experience of finally being able to breastfeed my gorgeous babies after what we had been through to conceive them. Even now this layout brings a tear to my eye. This is what it is all about for me.
Since that first layout I have had other layouts published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbooking Memories, Scrapbook Creations, For Keeps and For Keeps Creative Paper. I have also been on design teams for several Australian scrapbooking stores.
I had always dabbled in stamping as part of my scrapbooking, but just a little here and there. During 2006 I found myself more interested in stamping but still as a way to embellish scrapbook layouts. In late 2006, I discovered Stampin' Up! was in Australia and got hold of a catalogue. I made the decision to join as I sat devouring that beautiful catalogue for the first time. I made my first card the day my starter kit arrived and as you have seen from this blog, many more were to follow. I now divide my time pretty equally between scrapbooking and creating handmade cards. Stamping features very heavily in both crafts.
I love the quality of the Stampin' Up! products, the philosophy of the company and the way my association with the company has enriched my life in so many ways, and the lives of those I have had the chance to introduce it to.
I had always intended to go back to my part-time career as a health professional when my second child started school. While I continued to be a demonstrator during that time, I only lasted 12 months in my 'other part time job' because it couldn't measure up to the personal enjoyment, fun, feeling of doing something good for people and the flexibility that Stampin' Up! could give me. So in January 2012 I returned to work from home full time with Stampin' Up! and I continue to enjoy that to this day. It just fits our family needs perfectly as well as meeting my needs for contributing to the family income and doing something I love.
I think this Steve Jobs quote sums it up.