Free punch with purchase!

Hi,

From now until 15th December, order any products totalling $85 from the Christmas Extravaganza brochure, which can be viewed on my Stampin' Up website and receive a free punch! Either the Scallop Square or the Boho Blossoms, both are worth $30.95. The gift giving guide contains some great products that you may have been planning to use for your Christmas cards anyway - I ordered the I Wish Simply Scrapping kit, some Kiwi Kiss cardstock, some Whisper White cardstock, some Old Olive grosgrain ribbon and there you go - free punch! So please go and visit my site and see if there are any goodies on the flyer that you might need/want/like!

Happy Halloween!

Saw this costume last night and couldn't resist! Can't say the lycra is very flattering on those puggy rolls lol! Siobhan is going out trick or treating later today with her friend and I am going to go along and bring Buffy too - good luck girls in beating her to the treats lol!

Hopefully I will have a couple of cards to post later. Have been laid up with a flu bug for the past week and still not feeling 100%. I thought it was just a little cough and cold but no, can't believe it's hung around so long but I've heard of a few people having a similar thing.

Regionals!

Wow! 4 posts in one day. I am on a roll lol! This will be the last one for today. Have had a very full on week with stamp clubs, the fundraiser and then yesterday we had our annual Regional Training day for Stampin' Up! or Regionals as we call it. I had to get up at 6am!!!! I never get up at 6am! It was held at the Crown Promenade hotel which is one of the places in the city that I actually do know how to get to! Registration started at 8am with the session starting at 9am and everyone knows you have to get their early to get a good table lol! This year it was just as well as there were so many demonstrators there, it was a great turn out. I still remember the very first one we had in October 2006 when there were about 20 of us! It's always nice to see "the originals" again each year too. This year I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to make any swaps but I ended up making 21 and then another 15 for the girls in my team. I used the set Sip by Sip and the ones for my team had a chocolate on them. I forgot to photograph them but will make a couple more as I owe a few people one and I also like to have copies for my own samples. Can you guess what was the predominant colour??? That's right, Chocolate Chip! I even pulled myself right out of my comfort zone and used Designer Series Paper on them as well. I swapped my cards very quickly and received some beautiful ones in return.






You can actually see mine here on the display board, the one with the cups on it - I made one for SU to keep.

We received a new stamp set and matching wheel (including the handle and ink cartridge) that have not been released yet - they will be in our next mini catalogue and made 4 projects using that set. I am always amazed at the ideas SU come up with, I probably would have overlooked the set but now love it! We have also got some exciting new business tools that will be implemented - can't wait for those! I was overjoyed to see Bonnie Thurber again who had travelled out from the home office in Utah. Unfortunately Bonnie's luggage got delayed :-( Due to this, she was not able to demonstrate her planned projects but did an amazing job of improvising with items she had found in her hotel room - yes, you heard me right! She is such a warm and funny person - her business talks are the best with really useful and sound advice. As well as working for Stampin' Up! she is also a demonstrator herself so has "been there" so to speak and knows the challenges we sometimes face. I met Bonnie at the very first opportunity day in Melbourne on 8th April 2006 (of course I remember the date!) when Stampin' Up! first came to Australia. It was quite surreal as there weren't very many of us there and Shelli Gardner and her husband Sterling were there along with the late Dave Abbott our 1st General Manager, Bonnie and 1 other presenter - I can't really remember who as I was too starstruck at Shelli being there lol! I chatted quite a bit with Bonnie on the day (they were all so open!) and her and Dave sat at our table to do the make and takes. Bonnie also attended the first convention we had in Sydney a year later and after one of her business classes I stayed behind to ask a few questions with some concerns that I had and she gave me some wonderful advice that helped me so much and I definately would not be where I am today with my wonderful growing team of Gail Force Stampers if it were not for her! Yesterday I was so happy to be able to tell her this in person :-)

Out of my comfort zone!

My friend and downline, Felicity, makes the most gorgeous 3D items - boxes, bags, interactive albums etc. I, however, do not lol! At our WCMD event Flick had set up a table with some of her 3D items on display and a few of my stamp club ladies who happened to be there noticed the stepper (or fantasy keepsake box as it's also known) box and asked if I could show them how to make one - eeeeek!!!! Felicity showed a few of our team how to make them a month or so ago but I decided to bring along some cards to finish off instead so now of course I was wishing I had joined in the class! Anyway, I had a play and I just could not believe how easy it was! So the Stamp Club ladies made them and were very happy with the results! They will be great for putting chocolates or small presents etc in as little gifts for Christmas. Siobhan has discovered that each box is the right size to hold a Littlest Pet Shop toy and was amusing herself by having her dragonfly LPS's flying up to "their bedrooms" where the mummy dragonfly LPS tucked them in and kissed them goodnight! So sweet :-)

and another fundraiser!

On Wednesday night myself and Chris (against her better judgement!) ran a fund raising cardmaking night for one of my daughter's friends who has type 1 juvenile diabetes. There were 24 ladies, most of whom had NEVER seen stamping before! I certainly created some glitter addicts that night! Everything was covered in glitter by the end. We made 8 cards and only 1 of them was actually 'supposed' to have glitter on it *g* It was a fun night, a bit crazy but a lot of fun :-) and we helped to raise lots of money :-) Myself and Chris each designed 4 cards and the ladies made them all in turn. Here are mine. You can click on the image to make it bigger to see the cards in better detail. I just did this and realised the cupcake one needs to go in a new cello bag - this one (being from my craft show display board) is looking a tad grubby!





Featuring Snow Swirled, Tree Trimmings and Crazy for Cupcakes. There was a 4th card featuring the Great Friend set but that seems to have gone missing...or I could have sent it someone!

WCMD

Hi


Well first of all just a note to thank the ladies that came along to the World Card Making day that myself, Felicity and Karen ran back on 3rd October - that seems so long ago now! Everyone had a great time and we certainly had fun. We made gorgeous projects and ate yummy food - what's not to love and on top of all that we raised money for a good cause! Thankyou to Felicity and Karen for your help in organising a great day!


Here are some photos (courtesy of Felicity)



Karen telling us a little about the Central Bayside Centre and the types of programs they have for child health and our display table




Me smirking as I yet again entrance another group into the wonders of glitter lol!



The projects that we made - 4 Christmas cards, a handbag card (the pink one) and a gift box (blue)

WORLD CARD MAKING DAY

World Card Making Day is a day designed to help celebrate the art of making and sending hand made cards. It's a day to get together with friends, have some fun and creativity and come away with some hand made cards or projects that you can send out to people to let them know you are thinking of them.

This is my 3rd year of being involved in WCMD and this year I am doing something a little different and have organised a slightly bigger event with 2 of the girls in my downline, Karen and Felicity. We started planning this last year and decided that we would run the event to benefit the Child Development Services at the Central Bayside Community Centre. The details are:

Saturday 3rd October from 1 pm - 5 pm
Central Bayside Community Centre, 335 Nepean Hwy, Parkdale (enter off Carrier Ave)
Cost $25 per person

You will make 3 stunning projects comprising of a gift box, handbag card and a set of 3 Christmas cards

Afternoon tea, a gift for each attendee and door prizes are included. We will also have a raffle of Stampin' Up! products as well as special offers.

Please RSVP via email or call me on 0402683325 to secure your spot - places are limited!