I’ve been having some major computer issues with the laptop refusing to up load photos, coupled with a really old camera (pleeeease get me the digi SLR I’ve been wanting for YEARS for Mother’s Day!) I’ve just had no luck with photos and blogging.

I’ve also been a bit time poor – or probably more poor in terms of my organisational skills.

I’m going to try and remedy that.

At the moment I’m working on creating lots of samples for my mini launch – which is this Saturday – 7:30pm at my place – if you want to come along, let me know.  So I’m not going to post any pictures today – but promise I will do that after the launch on Saturday.

Some dates for your calendar

We have a new mini catalogue coming out on December 1st – how exciting!

I will be holding a mini catalogue launch at my place to celebrate! I haven’t worked out the finer details yet, but those of you who came to my last mini catalogue party will remember we got to make 3 different projects using new product and there were lots of examples to inspire you, prizes and free postage!  And there is no cost!

This time will be similar. I’ve chosen a Saturday day time and 2 midweek evening times as I know December can be a very busy time of year for everyone. I hope you can find something that suits you!

The dates are listed below – please let me know asap if you want to come as places are limited.

Saturday December 5th 10am

Tuesday December 8th 7:30pm

Wednesday december 9th 7:30pm

Here are some of the cards I had on display at the last mini launch – these ones all use the stamp set ‘Great Friend’ – I must have forgotten to photograph the other cards – I will try and do that soon.

This one is a CASE of a card by Kirsty Brown – she makes the most gorgeous cards!

and this one was inspired by this card

This is one of my favourites.  It was inspired by this card – another card maker whose work I adore.

this one is a CASe of this card

and finally

Ok, so I’ve been very slack in the blogging department …

 

no excuse…

 

Well, aside from the fact that since the school holidays I felt like we’ve been so busy and when I have had free time I just want to flake on the couch.

 

Some of my regular customers know that I’ve been taking part in a 12 week challenge at my gym with the hope of losing some weight and getting fit before my brother’s wedding in december (yay!) – I feel like all my energies have been taken up with focusing on that and I haven’t really had anything left over in the tank.

 

The challenge officially ends in 3 weeks – so hopefully I can start to feel a bit more balanced.

 

However – just wanted to signal what I hope will be a return to normal programming.

 

I’m scheduling a Stamp-A-Stack class on November 6th – I’ll put the details on my class page – check it out and if you want to come let me know.

 

ALSO … the current spring mini catalogue ends on November 30th – so if there’s anything you’ve wanted to get make sure you do it before then.

 

To CELEBRATE my return to blogging I’m offering 20% off all orders from now until November 7th (plus standard p&h of 5%) – so this is an excellent time to get those items you’ve had on your wish list!

BUT … the most exciting news I have (and I know some of you have been

hanging out for this) is that SU! Australia is FINALLY giving us the

BIG SHOT!!!!!! WOO HOO!!

Head office told us just today that the Big Shot will be available in our winter mini (which is going to be a bumper mini to get us through this years extended catalogue period) which goes live April 1  2010.  We’ll also be getting exclusive SU! dies! can you tell I’m excited!!

Anyway, give me a call or send me an email if you’d like to order anything and stay tuned for more posting!

Baby Boy card

A good friend of mine had a baby boy yesterday so I sat down last night and made this card for them.

It uses a mixture of current and retired product.  The stamp set is ‘Bundle of Joy’ and was retired from the current catalogue – I’ve held on to mine because I love it for baby cards! The oval frame at the bottom is also retired hodge podge.

Card stock: Baja Breeze, Kraft

Stamps: Bundle of Joy, Short & Sweet

Ink: Baja Breeze, Stayzon Black

Other: Parisian Breeze Specialty paper (from the current mini – LOVE this stuff), watercolour paper, sponges, aquapainter, Baja Breeze wide ribbon, hemp twine, clear buttons, paper piercer and Mat Pack, small oval punch

A close up of the clear button for you – I love these and have been using them a lot lately.  The button is clear and I’ve used my 1″ circle punch to punch a sample from the parisian breeze papers and adhered it to the button with crystal effects. So you can make these any colour or pattern you like depending what you put behind them.

Thanks for looking!

Want FREE ribbon?

YES?! Of course you do, who wouldn’t?!! 🙂

For the month of September when you spend $100 or more on SU! products OR host $600 workshop you will get 18 metres of ribbon … FREE!!

Go HERE or click on the link in my sidebar for more info.

And if you come to my Spring Mini Party on September 11th or 12th and spend over $120 you’ll not only get the free ribbon, you’ll also get MY gift to you of free postage! Don’t forget to RSVP to me by the end of the week 🙂

subscribe by email

I’ve fixed the link in my sidebar.  If you want to subscribe to my blog and get updates to your email inbox when I write a new post, click on the link and put your email address in – too easy 🙂

Watercolour

Recently I bought myself my first Aqua Painters (page 156 of the catalogue) and I was really impressed with the job they make of water colouring.  I still have a long way to go with my water colouring skills, so I decided to have a bit of a play around last night with a technique I hadn’t used before – using SU! Pastels (chalks) and the Aqua Painters. I really liked the soft muted effect this technique gives to the colours.

You really need to have a paper that can withstand the water, otherwise the paper breaks down and goes ‘fluffy’ and you can’t blend your colours.  Stampin’ Up! sells water colour paper for $13.50 for a pack of 20 sheets – they’re not very big sheets (9.5 x 12.7cm) but I tend to be able to get 2 or 3 cards out of 1 sheet & the difference the paper makes to the end result is well worth the money in my opinion.

I made this card with a particular customer in mind (Hi Michelle!) – using the Echoes of Kindness set which is one of the Level 2 Hostess sets. You can earn this set for FREE by hosting a workshop and achieving a net workshop total of $600 or more.  It’s easier than you might think and FUN! Let me know if you’d like to book a workshop.

Materials

Stamps: Echoes of Kindness

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red & Apricot Appeal

Ink: Stayz on Black (A must have for water colouring) & Cameo Coral for sponging

Other: Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon (L O  V I N G this stuff at the moment!), Watercolour paper and Ruby Red, Cameo Coral and Apricot Appeal SU! Pastels, sponges

It’s hard to see in this photo, but the stamped image is outlined in Apricot Appeal.  This gives the image more depth and makes a big difference despite the subtlety.

I love that this card could be used for any occasion.  Inside I’ve also put a piece of Very Vanilla (because the watercolour paper isn’t quite ‘white white’ and stamped off my main image in close to cocoa and stamped a partial image of the flowers in the bottom right hand corner.  This means because the card base is quite dark that the sender will have no problem writing on the card and it also adds a final finishing personal touch.

And just to show you the beauty of handmade cards, that no 2 are exactly alike, here’s a 2nd card I made while I had all the stuff out – I find it helps me to make at least 2 of each card if and when I can because then I don’t mind so much giving them away!!!

I can see a difference, but maybe that’s just me – certainly in real life it’s more noticeable!! The 2nd one has a better bow if nothing else 😉 I know how much everyone loves tying bows!!

Thanks for stopping by – don’t forget to leave me a comment if you want to 🙂

Things I can’t show you

I’ve been busy stamping and creating, but I can’t show you any of it because it’s for my Spring Mini Party coming up in a couple of weeks 🙂

If you want to see what I’ve been busy doing, you need to RSVP and come along!!!

Don’t forget to let me know if you prefer the Friday night or the Saturday.

Sarah

Christmas Cards – this Saturday night

A sneak peek at the cards we’ll be making on Saturday night at the Christmas Cards Stamp-A-Stack.

There are a couple of places left – if you’d like to come along contact me asap to book a seat!

Spring Mini Catalgoue Party

I’m having a PARTY!!!

And YOU are invited!

I’m having a Spring Mini Catalogue Party. Come along and make projects using stamps and accessories from the Spring Mini, enjoy FREE postage and handling for individual orders over $120.00 placed at the event (orders can be from the mini or the regular catalogue) and chance you luck at a lucky door prize and other giveaways!

I am running this free event on both Friday 11th September at 7pm AND Saturday 12th September at 10am.

Don’t forget you can view the mini catalogue online by clicking on the link in my sidebar.

Contact me for more details or to RSVP!

See you there!! 🙂