Christmas Stamp-a-Stack 22nd November 2008

The next (and final) Stamp-a-Stacks for the year will be held at my home in Cherrybrook on Saturday 22nd November, 10am - 1pm. Come along and create 6 cards, 3 each of 2 different designs. All materials and comprehensive written instructions are included, as are light refreshments and home-baked goodies. I am happy to run either an afternoon 2pm-5pm or evening 7.30pm-10.30 pm session if there is sufficient interest - contact me with your preference ASAP and I'll decide which it will be. It's your last chance to get some great ideas for easily mass-produced, yet elegant cards, in perfect time to send them out. The designs above are the ones we made at our last session on 11th October. Thanks very much to Jayne Mercer for designing the Season of Joy card, it was our charity card of the month for Camp Quality.
As always, each class is $15.00, and when you place an order of $50 or more on the day of the class, the class cost is halved to $7.50. Bring a friend new to Stampin' Up! for a bonus gift for each of you. Ring now 9484 9447 to book, or email me at michelle.dyson@bigpond.com See you there!

Photos!

Pics finally downloaded, here are a selection from the day!
The room pics were taken at lunchtime, the first chance I had to catch my breath and grab the camera. It was lovely and spacious though, even when every seat had a busily crafting guest! My kids also had fun selecting their favourites from our challenges.
I'm trying a new watermark thingy in Picasa 3 - so, let's see how it turns out...

A great day was had by all!

I haven't downloaded the pics from my camera yet, but I am pretty confident in saying that everyone that was lucky to be able to attend our Christmas Craft day today had a wonderful time creating all manner of papercrafty things in an inspiring environment!! I am SOOOOO tired, after a couple of solid weeks of late nights preparing everything, as is Kim Tonnet, my co-host today! But, it was most definitely worth it to see all the happy smiling faces busily working away! Thanks SO much to everyone who came, and stand by for the date for next year - we'll be sorting venues, schedules etc as soon as we can, so you an all write it into your diaries!

I'll also be going through my calendar to schedule at least one more Christmas Stamp-a-Stack class between now and early December, stay tuned for the details very soon! Tomorrow hopefully, but I am hoping my kids will let me catch up on lost sleep with a decent lie-in tomorrow!! They were so great today, and it was certainly wonderful for one guest to meet my now 7yo son, as she was our ECHN back then! Hi Mia!! He most certainly HAS grown a bit!

And, as it's getting to the busy/nigh-on-inpossible time of the year to gather groups of friends together for a workshop, why not consider a January or February workshop booking? It's a fantastic time, with the Annual Sale-a-Bration promotion running - that means a free stamp set from a limited edition catalogue for each $100 in catalogue merchandise PLUS extra hostess benefits for level 2 workshops. It's not too early to book, my calendar is standing by, but the dates will tend to book fast, so grab your diaries and make plans now for first choice!

Having said that, if you're keen to arrange a get together of 4 or more friends, for a Christmas themed class or workshop, there are dates still available. Workshops or classes can be held at your home or mine, so contact me to make a date!

off to bed with this tired chook!

Sneak Peeks!!

Just a few days to go for the ones lucky enough to be able to make it to our Christmas Craft Day! To tease them, and hopefully NOT torture those less fortunate, here are some sneak peeks. I am still madly busy preparing, hence my terrible slackness posting here over the last couple of weeks - rest assured I am creating!! And, after Saturday, there will be a big PHEW!! and you'll probably be inundated again!

At the top we have one of the Make and Take projects, a 6x6 scrapbook page for Christmas. I also show you how easy it is to take this small page, and by adding some co-ordinating Designer Series Paper, turn it into a full sized 12x12 layout, with extra space for either more embellishment or journalling. The colours are the fabulous Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi, and the stamp set is Merry Merry.

The bottom picture shows an altered notebook, a great way to dress up an everyday necessity ( well, they are if you have my slightly frazzled brain!!) and use up some scraps at the same time. Quick Quick Quick, and who WOULDN'T like a personalised gift?

These are just a couple of the M&T's planned, and the best thing about them is that they will be raising money for the best possible cause for an October event - October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Monday 27th October is Pink Ribbon Day. Given that my co-host for the day, Kim Tonnet, is a breast cancer survivor, we hope everyone will support crucial research into prevention and cure by making a gold coin donation for each Make & Take completed on the day.

Back to the prep work!

Goodness! Only a week to go!!

That's right, just a week until our "Get Ready for Christmas" Craft day at Pennant Hills on Saturday 25th October, 9.15-4.45pm. Bookings have closed, but if you meant to RSVP and it slipped your radar, we might be able to squeak you in if you call NOW!! (Michelle 9484 9447 or Kim 0402 237 010) Scroll down a few posts for all the details of what we'll be up to...
I have been busy packing goody bag contents, designing and preparing Make and Takes, Challenges, prizes and more. It's going to be great!! See you there!

My creative children - part 2!

Back in August, I posted the results of my 3yo daughter's stamping and punching efforts (remember the technicolour 'Tart and Tangy' card and mountain of paper flower punchies?) Today it is my 7yo son's turn in the limelight! He was much inspired by my Chocolate pull treat posted just down below a bit, and took it on himself to recreate it, in his own style of course! My kids have a shoebox and tray full of scraps, old scrapping papers, dodgy diecuts, ribbon snips, wrapping paper and the like that I add to whenever I have a stash clear out. Aren't I a nice mummy?? Umm, yeah, but there is an ulterior motive... preservation of my good stuff!! - I rationalise that if there is enough cool/glittery stuff in there, they won't dare dip into my rhinestone brads supply ever again!!

He presented me with a block of Lindt from the pantry, and a sheet of 12x12, and asking for some string and a stapler. I helped him a bit by showing the places to crease the paper around the edges of the block, but the rest was his own work. I especially like the little wrapping paper pockets stapled to the outside, holding an attached tag and a rhinestone ribbon charm he found somewhere (not mine!!) He wrote 'bad' on the tag, cos it was for his dad (haven't conquered the letter reversals yet!) and very proudly presented it to him that afternoon. Awwwwww, proud mummy moment!!! There are other examples of his card making style, specialising in action and pop up/tag creations, with hidden pockets etc, must photograph them one day!

What's happening today?? Preparing for my Christmas Stamp-a-Stack tomorrow 10-1.30. I've had a couple of cancellations, so give me a call on 9484 9447 if you can squeeze in some sanity time this close to the end of the school hols!!

There is also ONLY TODAY AND TOMORROW to place your orders for Simply Sent kits at 20% off!! I keep saying it, but I think these make a gorgeous gift, and with the discount they are priced at just $67.16 or $85.64 depending on your selection including shipping to your door! Call or email to place your order before 6pm on Saturday

A spot of tweaking! And a card...

I spent a while early this morning having a bit of a play with the scarier part of blogging.... tweaking the actual code to see if I could make more room for my layout. So, with the old template firmly saved in case I stuffed it up, I jumped in to the depths of HTML gibberish. I'm so proud I managed to tick the right box to show every smidge of code so I could locate the pixel widths I wanted to play with in the sidebar. VOILA! It worked!! What a sense of accomplishment! I also added a calendar of events, where you will be able to see at a glance what is coming up, thanks to Lin Mei Yap for giving me the idea! It did take me till just now to realise that there was another option to select so that blog visitors could actually VIEW the calendar events, DOH! so if you visited earlier and were puzzled by the blank box, that's why! There is also more widthways room for my posts, so you won't have to scroll down quite so far when I get a bit carried away LOL!

Now, onto the card I made the other day, my first with the "Wild About You" set. I don't really know why it took me so long to get this set, it makes great fun cards and is a must for making kids cards. The little elephant has such a cheeky sideways grin on him, he never fails to make me smile. Along with the elephant and flower, the set also has a giraffe, crocodile, birdie, lion and penguin, and can be found on page 66 of the IBC I stamped the elephant twice, once 'normal' and again after "Kissing Off" some of the ink with the clean Paisley background stamp. I then cut out the ear from the 'paisley elephant' and mounted it as a second layer with Stampin' Dimensionals foam dots.
*Stamps: Wild About You (108958), Paisley Background (108887)
*Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Real Red, Whisper White
*Inks and Markers: Bordering Blue, Real Red, Green Galore
*Accessories: Real Red wide grosgrain ribbon
*Techniques: 'Kissing'

Cute isn't he! I hope you get a smile from him too :)

A trio of Blooms!

I loved the "Blooming with Beauty" set from the Spring Mini catalogue as soon as I saw it, and at our stamping retreat a couple of months back, I got to play with someone else's set - thus cementing it's place on my wish list!! I had stuck with traditional pansy-type colours until now, until my clever team member Carolyn Gibbs told me she'd discovered using it with the In Colors for 2008 with great effect.

With my newly arrived set, it dawned on me that this bunch of blooms could well be hydrangeas, which definitely allows scope for the blues! I still wasn't sure I'd heard her right when she said Soft Sky, Bayou Blue and River Rock, but here's the proof - I hope you'll agree this is a fine bunch of hydrangeas! Next time I'm going to try some lovely pinky/mauve shades, in an effort to re-create a pink hydrangea my mum grows. Thanks Ryn for the inspiration!

I have used Aquapainters and the inkpad puddle technique to colour these images, stamped on watercolour paper in Stazon Black ink. I first coloured all over the blossom area in Soft Sky, building the colour intensity until it was right, then I added Bayou Blue in the areas where the stamped image suggests depth, such as the shadowed areas at the centre of the florets. Wild Wasabi was just right for the leaves, and the River Rock pot makes a nice 'sandstone' alternative to traditional terracotta type colours. Having made the first card, I decided to play with the colour combinations to see what kind of variety of looks I could create with essentially the same image, by mounting on different coloured bases. I have used another recent aquisition, the lovely "Weathered" background, and I have stamped in the respective background colour - River Rock, Soft Sky or Bayou Blue. Different greetings and stitched grosgrain finish them off. The River Rock card is off today to some very special garden loving friends, hope they like it :)

All products available to purchase through me, CONTACT ME to order today! Remember the October promotions of 20% off Simply Sent Kits (ends Saturday) and 20% off 5 selected sets for the 20th Birthday celebrations make it a great time!

Christmas Stamp-a-Stack Saturday 11th October

Come along to my home in Cherrybrook for a great morning of stamping, and create 6 cards, 3 each of 2 different designs. All materials are supplied, pre-cut for speedy work! You will also receive step by step instructions for each card, so you can create as many more as you wish! With only 12 weeks till Christmas, it's time to get cracking, so give me a call on 9484 9447 to book a place, or email me at michelle.dyson@bigpond.com Class cost is $15.00 and includes all materials, written instructions, drinks and home-baked goodies. With a purchase of $50 or more from the Stampin' Up! catalogue your class fee is halved to $7.50 - in combination with the Stampin' Up! Birthday promotion and Simply Sent kit discounts, it's a great time to add to your stamping supplies. See you there!

12 weeks till Christmas!!

Yes! It's true! You will have noticed the decorations and Christmas goodies appearing in the supermarket and shops. I have already been conned into buying candy canes for my sweetpeas. My usual "but we have some at home" obviously wasn't going to work this time! Being 3.5 and 7 they are raring to go already... are you?

Picture this:
A room full of happily busy people, sharing ideas and resources, spending a blissful day crafting and achieving goals for Christmas...

This could be you, if you're within striking distance of Sydney's Pennant Hills on Saturday 25th October, when fellow SU demo Kim Tonnet and I host our "Get ready for Christmas" Craft Day at Pennant Hills Bowling Club, 52 Yarrara Rd Pennant Hills.

The cost is just $35, which covers room hire, morning and afternoon snacks, tea, coffee and water, plus a goody bag of Christmas craft projects and materials, use of our EXTENSIVE collection of stamps and tools, not to mention invaluable inspiration all around you!

There will be challenges to enter if you choose as well as prizes to win! The event runs all day from 9.15am till 4.45pm, come for as long as you like.

The venue is easily accessible by public transport, and there are many pleasant spots nearby for lunching at. CONTACT ME by email or phone (02) 9484 9447 for further details and to secure your place NOW!

Happy Birthday Stampin' Up!!

October 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Stampin' Up! And, it's time to celebrate with a great Promotion that runs throughout the month of October.

Here's how it works:

Simply spend $20 or more on regular catalogue products, and you then qualify to purchase as many of the 5 selected sets at 20% off as you wish!

The sets included in the Birthday Promotion are:

112594 Big Bold Birthday page 37 Usually $53.95 Special price $43.16

108894 Pretty Princess page 38 Usually $45.95 Special price $36.76

108753 Birthday Best page 51 Usually $25.95 Special price $20.76

110246 Crab & Company page 55 Usually $52.95 Special price $42.36

112318 Short & Sweet page 118 Usually $29.95 Special price $23.96

Yes! There's a bit of a birthday theme running through these great sets, but many are packed with images and phrases you can use for lots of occasions. If you don't already own my personal favourite, "Short & Sweet", don't miss it at this fabulous price! There's a variety of styles, and something for every budget. What a great idea for Christmas gifts too!

How to order? You can call me on (02) 9484 9447 or email me at michelle.dyson@bigpond.com with your order. Don't have a catalogue? You can view it online HERE

Happy Birthday Stampin' Up! Here's to the next 20 great years!