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,

If you thought the past couple of Deals of the Week were great, then this one is going to blow your socks off!!

Check it out! Up to 50% off the following stamp sets… Seriously!

Quick, go grab your Idea Book & Catalogue and check out what the stamp sets are (the page numbers are listed in the table above). I think you'll be pretty darn impressed with these sets.

My 'take' on these stamps….

Enjoy Every Moment is one of those sets that are really popular with scrapbookers as well as cardmarkers. The images are big and bold, perfect on a 12×12, with a handy journaling block in there too. I always love a set that works well with punches – especially circle punches – so this set definitely fits the bill there!

A Happy Heart is a set that's really sweet, and don't be mistaken into thinking it's just for Valentines projects! This is a surprisingly versatile set (think baby card, wedding, birthday, pick-me-up card), and don't forget that it's perfectly co-ordinated with the Simply Scrappin' Kit on p138 of the IB&C called Love Sparkles.

Greetings Eight has been popular with beginner stampers and also the more experienced stampers who want to fill some gaps in their collection. It really covers loads of occasions and don't forget that you can use your markers to ink up only certain parts of each stamp if you want (this is called the 'omitting technique'), which makes this set even more versatile!

Bella's Bloom is a simple little set at a fab price! I have this set, and often use the 'from our home to yours' stamp. The classic looking flower looks great inked up with markers, or in versamark as a subtle background on the base card. (See card above)

All Scallops is a set that I bought the moment it was available, because I love how it works with the scallop edge punch (yep, my thing about punches again). I definitely need to use my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, that miracle stamp positioner, to line the image up in the parts that are punched out, but it is really effective once you get the hang of it. It looks great when two or more stamps are used together from this set (2-Step Stamping) for an overlay effect, and again you'd be wanting the stamp positioner handy.  

Remember orders for any of these sets need to be given to me by Tuesday 22nd June 2010.

Happy stamping,