Welcome back! Today is the last day of school holidays, and the end of a busy summer of camping, surfing, swimming, melting in the 45 C degree heat, playing with the kids, and getting a new puppy…. Phew. Definitely time to get back to normality and, well, I can’t wait to get back to business too!

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We’re kicking it off with THREE HUGE announcements today.

1. NEW PRODUCT: Texture Boutique

A brand new embossing machine is available from today. It’s smaller than the Big Shot, and its sole job is to emboss your beautiful projects! No die cutting through this one. And it’s only $49.95!

Check out the video below to see it in action….

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2. SALE-A-BRATION IS HERE

Yes it’s that time of year, our annual Sale-a-bration event. But this time it’s even better because you get free products with every $90 purchase (not $100, like last year!). It’s a great time to join up or host a party too. You can download the SAB catalogue HERE.

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3. NEW OCCASIONS CATALOGUE

And if Sale-a-bration isn’t exciting enough, we also have a new 40-page catalogue to inspire, delight and shop from!

Love the new tools and punches and gold sequin ribbon and… well, pretty much all of it.

If you prefer to flick through pages of a real catalogue, just ask and I’ll pop one in the post for you (Australia only).

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HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF SALE-A-BRATION & THE CATALOGUE.

* Purchases from this new catalogue and/or the annual catalogue ALL go towards you earning FREE product the Sale-a-bration bonus. Just spend $90 from any catalogue (or combination of current catalogues) and choose a free item.

*Ask your friends if they need to stock up on craft supplies, or are looking for hot new products – we can pool the orders to earn you more hostess dollars!

WHAT YOU WILL GET:

• * Spend (or gather orders of) $90 from any catalogue/s
  and choose 1 FREE Sale-a-bration item.
• * Spend (or gather orders of) $180 from any catalogue/s
  and choose 2 FREE Sale-a-bration items & handmade gift from me.
• * Spend (or gather orders of) $270 from any catalogue/s
  and choose 3 FREE Sale-a-bration items & handmade gift from me.
• * Spend (or gather orders of) $300 from any catalogue/s
  and choose 3 FREE Sale-a-bration items
  PLUS $50 in products of your choice FREE & handmade gift from me.
• * Spend (or gather orders of) $400 from any catalogue/s
  and choose 4 FREE Sale-a-bration items
  PLUS $60 in products of your choice FREE & handmade gift from me.

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BEST VALUE OF ALL:

• *Spend (or gather orders of) $500 and choose
  5 FREE Sale-a-bration items
  PLUS $130 in products of your choice FREE.Wow wow wow wow. Definitely time to stock up on cardstock, adhesives and envelopes, digital downloads, plus a wish list full of fun new products. You’ll all join my elite shopper/hostess club and will receive handmade gifts and more during February and March 2014.

Ok well that’s a lot to take in for one day, isn’t it? Nothing like hitting the ground running. 🙂

CLASS SCHEDULE UPDATE: For those who’ve asked, I am still working on a class schedule, and have tentatively booked Saturday 22nd Feb for the first class. It will be an all occasions card making class. Cost $15. Please email me to express interest, and choose between a morning and afternoon session. Or you can leave a comment on my Facebook page and I’ll let you know how we’re going. Classes limited to 5 participants.

Have a fabulous day!

The Sycamore Street suite is a fun inclusion in this year's Sale-a-bration offering. This exclusive suite includes coordinating patterned paper, ribbons and buttons.

So bright and striking! 

Today's card shares are from last month's team swap. Enjoy!

Jessica Williams

Melissa Mulcahy

Jenny Stewart

Delani Smith

Nicole Clare

Coordinating colors are Island Indigo, Pool Party, Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry, Sahara Sand and a touch of Summer Starfruit.

You can choose one of the Sycamore Street products for FREE with every $100 purchase from any current Stampin' Up! catalogue. There are 19 different gifts to choose from in total, though, so choosing which one is definitely the hard part.

Tip: Did you know that with a $300 order you choose 3 FREE Gifts and as a bonus Stampin' Up! will throw in a pack of Silver Glimmer paper? Cool! As well as this, you still get the usual benefits of $50 worth of additional free products to choose!!!

But only during Sale-a-bration… and that finishes in just over a month! Contact me for more info. 

Happy stamping,

Bottle tags are a nice way of dressing up a gift bottle… Think homemade sauce, bath salts, a bottle of wine, or fancy mixers.

The 'Celebrate' bottle tag above uses some of the lovely Sale-a-bration goodies, free with qualifying purchases until the end of March.

• Everyday Enchantment designer series paper
• Outlined Occasions stamp set
• Everyday Enchantment Ribbon & Brad pack

Bottle tags are surprisingly easy to make, and it's no trouble adapting them to different sized bottles. Don't they add a nice personal touch though?

This particular tag is 23cm x 9cm. The fold is scored at 8cm on the long side.

Want to make that scallop frame around the opening? Check out this post from a very long time ago. It uses the same concept of getting the 'middle' out of a shape.

Hope you have a great weekend! We're off to the Bendigo Picture To Page show this weekend. Come and stop by our stand if you're in the neighbourhood.

Happy stamping,

Happy Valentines Day!

There's so much to catch up on since my last post. Hope you've been enjoying your February as much as we have.

In short, we had a fabulous Sale-a-bration launch (more on that later), welcomed back our Stamp Clubs for 2012, and had our big summer Team Day.

On the home front, the kids are back at school after the long summer holidays.

We all had a bit of adjusting to do now that the 'baby' of the family is a big school girl. There might have been a few tears shed on the first day, just saying… (no, not from the kids). But now that we've settled into the new routines we're ALL loving the opportunity to spread our wings and do different things. 😉

For today, I'm sharing the love with Petal Cone Die loveheart pouches.

Here are pouches made by some of our talented Stamp Club members, embellished with the gorgeous Sale-a-bration products.

The versatile Petal Cone Die (AUD$59.95 +p/h, contact me to order)

The pouches are fun to make, and can be filled with anything you like.

HOW TO MAKE PETAL CONE POUCHES:

• Simply die cut 2 petal cone shapes using the Big Shot,
• emboss (we used the Houndstooth embossing folder),
• embellish,  and
• Sticky Strip the two pieces together using the attached tabs.

PETAL CONE POUCH GIVE-AWAY

I've got a few spare love-heart pouches, so in keeping with a Valentines theme for today I'm 'sharing the love'….

Simply place any Stampin' Up! order with me between now and Friday and I'll send you a fully embellished LoveHeart Pouch, made by me!

I might have to leave the choccy's out just in case they melt in transit, but I reckon I can find something else to put in there for you.

To place your order, just email stamps@simonebartrum.com, call me on 03 5345 1592 or send a text to 0411 642 038 and I'll call you back.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit – don't forget to leave some comment love to say hello.

Happy stamping,

UPCOMING CLASS: February 24th, 7pm – 9pm. All Occasions Stamp-a-Stack. $20 early bird price. Only 3 spots remaining. Want to join us? Click here to reserve your spot.

My favourite stamp from this year's great Sale-a-bration sets is the birdcage, from the Happy Moments set. If you've been to a class or workshop with me over the past few months, no doubt you've heard me raving about it… It's so cute!!

These cards were inspired by a few I saw on Splitcoaststampers, and in particular Petronella Hardy's lovely samples from her website. In these cards the birdcage is teamed with Baroque Motifs.

I'm able to take last minute orders from the Summer Mini Catalogue until 8pm Wednesday 31st March. You can choose a free Sale-a-bration stamp set – like Happy Moments, perhaps? – for every $100 order.

Contact Simone Bartrum, 0411 642038 or (03) 5345 1592

Email: stamps@simonebartrum.com

I'll be back with some more Easter projects soon, and of course from THURSDAY the very exciting launch of the brand new Autumn-Winter Mini catalogue. WooHooo!