It's Father's Day today here in Australia, so today's tips are about one of our blokey stamp sets: Totally Tools. There are 5 stamps in this set, each with a different tool and witty sentiment.

Sometimes I like to use my image stamps separately from the words, and although there are a few techniques that enable you to do that quite easily (such as masking), sometimes I like to split-mount my stamps. GASP! Yes, I cut them! It's ok, they don't feel a thing.  

Split mounting simply means that you cut the image and the words apart, so you end up with 2 pieces of rubber stamp not one. The pieces are adhered to different parts of the wood block, so can be used separately.

And yes, I know it would seem like it won't work being stuck on the curvy edge of the block (I thought it wouldn't work too and it was kind of an experiment!),  but it does actually work and the words come out crystal clear. Where possible, I would normally adhere the word to the flat end of the block, but this particular set had very long sentiments.

So now we have 10 stamps for the price of 5!

How to make the tools:

1. Stamp tools with jet black Stazon ink.

2. Colour the images as desired. I used the Basic Gray and Real Red Stampin' Write Markers. Then apply Crystal Effects, our clear craft lacquer which you can find on p144 of the NEW Idea Book and Catalogue (it's only $11.95 for a bottle, and is acid free).

3. Leave your images overnight and then cut them out. Use as handy embellishments on your cards, scrap pages or OTP (off the page) projects.

Crystal Effects looks great on the buttons Sizzlits die-cuts (p152 IB&C), on vase and glass images, as dew drops on leaves and flowers and plenty of other uses too!

Happy stamping,

P.S. Non Stamping Related: A big thank you to so many of you – customers, team members and demonstrator friends – who've contacted me over the past 24 hours about the floods we've had here in our little town. We've very grateful that our house is on high ground so we are ok, but it was a surreal experience seeing our main street totally flooded and heartbreaking knowing that so many people here in our own community have lost everything. 

Woo Hoo! It's here! CLICK HERE to download the brand new 2010 – 2011 Idea Book & Catalogue from Stampin' Up!

CLICK HERE to download the supplies list.

Contact me to arrange for your very own copy of the IBC to be sent to you. There's nothing quite like snuggling up on the couch with a hot cuppa as you flick through the pages.

I'm taking bookings NOW for all Christmas Workshops. Dates are filling fast, so contact me to secure your chosen date.

And if you've been thinking about joining Stampin' Up! – "will I? won't I?" then oh my goodness you are going to be very excited about the Free Gift you'll get when joining us during September…. NEW 'IN COLOR' PRODUCTS (markers, ink and cardstock) to the value of $84.90. Seriously, wow. Click on the orange "Join Today" circle on the right sidebar for more info.

Happy stamping,

Well, this is it! Today is the very last day that any of us can order from the 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue.

We've all been blown away by the EXTRA 50% off bargains that were announced a few days ago. Not surprisingly these have been hugely popular and some items have already sold out. The good news is that there is still time to snap up some bargains but… you snooze, you lose! lol.

I've gone through the updated list with a fine-tooth comb, and my picks of the bargains (that are still available at the time of writing) are in the table below.

To order: Phone 5345 1592 or email me.

For a full list of retiring items please click HERE.

Remember that the following Stampin' Up colours will be unavailable after midnight tonight:

Rich Regals: Bordering Blue, Handsome Hunter, Brocade Blue, Ballet Blue, Taken with Teal.

Bold Brights: Pink Passion, Glorious Green, Pixie Pink, Yoyo Yellow, Orchid Opulence, Lovely Lilac, Brilliant Blue, Green Galore, Only Orange, Gable Green.

Soft Subtles: Almost Amethyst, Barely Banana, Pale Plum, Sage Shadow, Blush Blossom, Mellow Moss, Apricot Appeal, Lavender Lace.

Earth Elements: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust.

Edited: TABLE DELETED. SPECIALS EXPIRED at Midnight 31st AUGUST.

The rest of the family will be out tonight at the Fabulous Fathers Night (Dads and kids) at school, but I'll be home ready to lodge your last-minute orders.

It's a bit exciting, isn't it?!

Happy stamping,

Hi there! Just a couple of quick reminders…

• This month's special of 20% off selected two-step stamps finishes on Saturday 31st of July. If you want to place an order it might be best to phone me on 0411 642 038.
• The end of July is also the end of the discounted Starter Kit for anyone who wants to join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator and take advantage of the many benefits that being a 'demo' brings.

Also a quick NEWS FLASH that seriously exciting times are ahead! On the 1st of August the LAST CHANCE LIST will be released. This is a list of all the items that will be discontinued when our current Idea Book & Catalogue expires at the end of August, so it really will be your last chance to grab these items. I've been a demonstrator for a few years now, and I have seen first-hand how quickly some of the Last Chance List items sell out. Yep, very quickly. If there is anything you want off the list, contact me and I will place the order straight away. Check back here on the 1st of August for more information.

Today's card share is some happy mail I received from a lovely friend and team member, Maureen Crameri. Maureen and I are looking forward to going on a trip to Hamilton Island in a couple of months, with our hubbies and about 25 other demonstrators who earned the Incentive Trip this year. I suspect Maureen knows of my love for the Cottage Garden stamp set and this colour combo, don't you think? LOL.

Happy stamping,

Hi there. Hope you've found some time lately to be creative and enjoy some 'me time'. As I mentioned in my last newsletter… it's soooo important. I know I feel really stretched if I've been running around doing a million-and-one jobs, and sometimes I just need a couple of hours of quiet relaxation by stamping a card or scrapbooking a happy occasion.

If you're a regular to my blog you'll know that I have another hobby: patchworking and quilting (although it definitely takes second place to my love of paper!). After finishing my last big quilt I've only made a couple of small projects, so decided to spend the past week getting my next project organised. It's an applique quilt with lots of texture, and I'm using the Big Shot on it… so fun! I love how you can use so many different materials with the Big Shot, like vinyl, balsawood, felt, acetate, sponge, and plenty more. NO, I'm not putting those on the quilt! LOL

I think the hardest thing with quilting is getting everything set up, the blocks measured and cut, fabrics chosen, etc. Oh cardmaking is so much easier!

Anyway, I did have a great day on Saturday visiting the Craft and Quilt Show in Melbourne. It was my first craft show in ages where I wasn't working on a stand, so I took the chance to have a good look around. So many inspiring projects, and I couldn't help but notice the fresh use of colour. I recognised many of the new colours we'll be getting in September with Stampin' Up!'s Colour Renovation… they appeared everywhere in different fabrics and textiles, wool, stitcheries and clothes. It has made me more excited than ever about the freshening of our available colours.

Now, if you have a 'passion for papercraft' then you'll want to mark August 27 – 29 in your diary. Melbourne Paperific is on that weekend and I'll be there with other demonstrators sharing new techniques AND you'll get a chance to do Make & Takes. It will be a great time to visit being the end of one catalogue and the start of a new one. It's at the Melbourne Showgrounds (so it's very handy for those of us in regional areas). 

Today I thought I'd share one of our recent Stamp Club projects. Usually the afternoon and evening groups do the same projects, but not this past month. One group had done Waterfall Cards before, and the other group hadn't but I didn't want them to miss out. Our topic for both groups was Two-Step Stamping, of course, so everyone learned how to use the stamps that are 20% off this month, such as this one, "A Rose Is A Rose".

There are lots of great online tutorials if you want to learn how to make these cards (just look up "Waterfall Cards"). I learned how to do these from Keryn, one of the talented girls in my downline, at our last Team Day. I can't believe I hadn't made them before, because I thought they were too hard! Not at all, give them a try!

And here's the page all stamp club members made for their Technique Journal.

Happy stamping! I'm off to finish preparing for the arrival of a new family member. More details tomorrow!

Hi there Welcome, and thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I know I've gone on and on about this Cottage Garden stamp set here on my blog… but I just love this set! LOL

Today's card share is a really pretty yet simple layout using Cottage Garden and featuring the delicious Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum and Old Olive colours. A beautiful combo!

We're doing this card at a workshop this week (wave to Tanya and friends). Hmm, I think I might even add a touch of Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Yep, off to do that now.

Bargain Alert: Cottage Garden is 20% off until the end of July! How great is it that we can get this set for less than $20 for the unmounted version!

Happy stamping,

I love this little birdy from the Cheep Talk set. He's cute, and this stamp set is so easy to work with. And it's currently 20% off as part of this month's Two Step Stamp special! We are using this set at workshops during July (see cards below), and it's popular with everyone – beginners and experienced stampers alike. Here are a couple of simple cards perfect for beginners. They use the same supplies, but one is landscape layout and the other is portrait.

I love how this little guy even looks great as a simple no layer card…

I haven't had a chance to update you on our fab Team Day which was on Saturday. Our little country town didn't know what hit it. We had a lot of visitors that day all in the name on Stampin' Up! with team members coming from NSW, from the other side of Melbourne, and lots of other regional towns in Victoria. I'm so amazed that our 'little' group of EurekaStampers now number 50, and what a lovely group it is.

This is my fave photo, even though it cuts a few of us out ;( 
(but oh it was fun to watch Debbie jump up on the table to take this shot).

We did our own version of Prize Patrol (door prizes/lucky numbers), did Make & Takes using new stamps from the yet-to-be-released 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue, swapped and generally had a lovely time. My favourite was watching some of the girls in our team get up and do demonstrations and interesting techniques. Lots of "wows" there!

We don't often get the chance to see each other face to face so it's always special when that happens. Thanks girls for making it a great day.

Stop press: You still have time to join Stampin' Up! while the Starter Kit is only $259 (from 1st of August it will be back to $324, which is still a bargain mind you) More info here. Join up with me or one of the team members in my group and you can join us at our next team day!

We are nearly at the end of school holidays here in Victoria – and it's cold and freezing. We've got both our open fires crackling away and the central heating on too! It's been great to spend extra time with the kids although I think we're *all* ready for school to go back on Monday! I'll be back to regular blogging again from next week.

Happy stamping,

Click on the flyer above to download your own copy (remember to check that you're looking at AUS prices).

I LOVE doing the two step with Stampin' Up! stamps, so 20% off two step stamps sure sounds like a great deal to me! It's fantastic to see two images work together to create a whole new look. If you'd like to see how these work, just contact me today and we can book a workshop with a Two Step stamp theme!

Oooh and did you notice on the flyer the little asterisks? (**) They show you which of the discounted stamps are retiring in less than two months (which means they will NOT be available in the next catalogue). If these great stamps are on your wish list then now is the perfect time to place your order before they are no longer available.

*From 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue

**Retiring stamp sets!

Happy stamping,

Hi there!

Warning warning, very long post! But there is a project at the end of all this so feel free to skip ahead – lol.

Well it's been a while since I popped in for a chat, and I've missed the chance to say hi . June has been pretty full-on with our fab Deals of the Week, workshops, life and heaps of other great stuff.

I have to tell you something else that's been taking up my time lately and it's something I'm SO excited about: this weekend is my Stampin' Up! team's biannual get-together… and it's going to be HUGE! More about that later, but today I thought I'd share a little bit about why I love what I do.

When I first joined up as a demonstrator nearly 3 yrs ago I was focused totally on the craft of stamping. I'd always been 'crafty' having dabbled in cross-stitch, patchworking, glass painting and even latch-hooking (don't ask!!), but I've always loved papercrafting. I could happily spend hours (just ask my family!) browsing the stationery aisles and even as a kid I collected things like erasers/rubbers, cool pencils, scratch & sniff stickers – oh! the stickers I collected. My favourite thing was a giant pencil (as in, about a foot long) that had a little clear bag dangling off the end with 4 teeny tiny pencils in it. Soooo '70s, I know! lol. Check out a page from my very first scrapbook (I was 5 years old). It held… stickers, of course!

Ok, easily distracted. So I was saying about the early days of being a demonstrator. Well, I was new to stamping as such, so I spent hours and hours practicing and learning new techniques. Even now, I'm still amazed at the things you can do with ink, rubber, paper and glue and am constantly finding new ideas to try.

Anyway, joining Stampin' Up! has been a perfect fit for my life. We are tree-changers, having moved from the city to the country about 4 yrs ago and have so enjoyed a new relaxed pace of life. Being a demonstrator has given me the opportunity to meet sooo many people and make wonderful friends, which has been an unexpected and HUGE bonus. I couldn't imagine these special people not being in my life now.

So the team day on Saturday is something pretty important. Demonstrators who are in my downline will be coming from far and wide to spend the day together, and many I'll be meeting for the first time in person! If you have been thinking about joining as a demonstrator, now is the perfect time with the discounted starter kit and of course you'll also get yourself an invite to our team day! hehehe. Contact me for more details.

Our school holidays have just started so I've got all my lovely babies home at the moment. Yesterday was very special – it was the first time we took our youngest to the movies, which meant it was the very first time our WHOLE family went together We saw Toy Story 3 (oh how I laughed when Ken laid his eyes on Barbie and Dreamweaver started!) [To check out that scene click here and scroll down to the "Meet Ken" trailer].

So for something a bit different, here's a scrapbook page I made with one of my fave photos, taken during the last school holidays. I know, are you as shocked as me? Actually I do scrap but not often and have rarely (if ever!) posted my pages.

Happy stamping,

Throughout the month of June, we are bringing you a new deal every week! With the Deals of the Week, you'll get a great discount off a selection of products from the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue!

This week's special includes 40% off a great selection of gorgeous rhinestone brads and ribbons in two of our FAVE colours…

If you'd like to add some of these yummy accessories to your collection, just contact me before the end of June.

Happy stamping,