A birthday card for a special friend

Here is a card I made for a friend turning the BIG 40!! Happy Birthday Nicky! Nicky's birthday is also Christmas day, but her family went to a very special effort to make a separate celebration for this very special birthday!!

It uses the cake stamp from the Pretty Princess set. The card base is Purely Pomegranate, stamped in Basic Black with the Polka Dot background. I ran a strip of black cardstock through my crimper, and mounted this on some whisper white to give it 'pop' from the background.
I used Watercolour Wonder Crayons in Bold Brights and an Aquapainter brush to colour the Stazon stamped image on Whisper White. It's easy to get an authentic watercolour effect by drawing fine lines of colour with dry crayon onto the image, then blending and 'melting' the crayon with the water brush, spreading out the colour as desired.
The panel was mounted on black to match the dots and crimped panel. The Happy Birthday sentiment is exactly the right size to go into the Square Scallop punch in the Summer Mini. I finished it off with a tie of the Pomegranate wide satin ribbon that was in the Spring Mini. I'd been lovingly holding onto my remaining piece until the right project came along, and this was it!

Off to photograph some more projects with my NEW CAMERA!!!! I'd been dropping hints for a while, and had been using my pretty nice point and shoot digital camera for over three years, but have been longing for a proper digital SLR camera to replace my Pentax film SLR, retired due to the cost of feeding it!

When Kim expressed interest in shopping for a new camera for her Africa trip, DH decided that it would be a nice 'surprise' for me to have one too. So, we are now both proud owners of a Canon 450D DSLR! I am still very much on auto settings, but at least being digital, I can play and experiment without undue expense! Back soon with some results I hope (says she who has not yet downloaded from the new camera...)

Sale-a-bration is here!

Sale-a-bration is a great promotion held every year in January and February, and there's lots on offer for guests, hostesses, and new demonstrators as well!

How does it work??

*For customers, you can choose a special limited edition Sale-a-bration set for each $100 spent on catalogue merchandise. There are four to choose from, and you can view them here in the online catalogue. There is no limit, so if you have a big wishlist, you could earn them all!

*For Hostesses, it's a great time to hold a workshop. Your guests will love the opportunity to earn free sets, which is great for your sales totals. In addition, when your workshop reaches $600, Hostesses receive an EXTRA Sale-a-bration set of their choice, as well as the normal, generous benefits. Reach $1200 in sales and earn 2 extra SAB sets! With the Summer Mini running as well, there's lots of new things to look at, so ring today to book a date.

*For new demonstrators, signing now is a great idea! In addition to the already heavily discounted Starter Kit, you can choose an additional set from the Idea Book and Catalogue, valued at up to $79.95, FREE! There is also a special offer for new demonstrators signing between January 1st and January 21st, so contact me today for a no-obligation chat and to be sent an information pack. I'd love to have you join my team, whether you're interested in the discount products, or if you want to build a successful business, or anything in between!

A warm welcome to Kim's blog visitors!

Hello to you all, and welcome to my blog! Kim has just left for the trip of a lifetime to Africa, I haven't heard from her yet but I can imagine her having a wonderful time! I did enquire about squeezing into her handluggage, but alas it was not to be - this time at least!! Kim hopes to get online a couple of times, to post on her blog, send emails etc, so I'll keep you updated here also.

As she will be away for much of the great Sale-a-bration promotion, in her absence, Kim has asked me to look after you with any Stampin Up needs or just plain crafting questions, and I'm delighted to be able to help her out! So, if you would like to place an order, have a product question, would like to host a Sale-a-bration workshop, please don't hesitate to call me on (02) 9484 9447, or email me and I'll endeavour to provide the same excellence in customer service that Kim does.

Now, as she has challenged me to provide inspiration, I'd better hop to it and do some creating!
I spent the entire week while my children were holidaying with Grandma and Grandpa painting their rooms - Pixie Pink and Apricot Appeal would be the closest SU colours , Pinkie Pie pink for my Pony obsessed daughter, and a subtle gelato orange for my orange mad son. I had to keep reminding myself it's just paint and can be covered over when bright and colourful is no longer in style!! The kids were delighted, especially my little boy, as he was unaware HIS room was being painted too. However, I didn't get to play with my new Summer Mini sets as much as I'd liked, so stand by for some samples and inspiration!