Someone slow down the year! Party Time fun and some new Catalogues to browse

Hooley dooley!  Between kids school stuff, Rural Fire Brigade stuff and an unexpected bonus of full-time teaching work for this term, I was well and truly ready for a weekend away stamping with friends!

I visited scenic Canberra for the Party Time Event on Saturday just gone, it was held at the luxurious Hyatt Hotel.  I drove down with a couple of fellow demos and we had a great time!

We played with a few tools and techniques that I haven't worked with much on my own, so it was a nice opportunity to try something new.

One of the cards used Blendabilities, the new Stampin' Up! Alcohol ink markers.  They work in a very similar way to the Copic markers you may be more familiar with, but with colour trios carefully matched to our cardstock and water-based ink colours.  I now have the confidence to dig in and have a play with these amazing tools.  They can be used for colouring images like the flower above, but did you know they can also be used to colour pearls, buttons, rhinestones etc to  match your project?  Amazing!

And, you might notice I have put up links and cover images to the current Occasions Catalogue and Sale-a-bration catalogues (at long last, my bad!) - inside you can find new colours (in addition to the colours in the main catalogue) and there are a range of colours you can choose for FREE with any $90 spend in any catalogue.

Clicking the cover images to the catalogue will send you to my Mediafire account where you can download them.  Or, give me a call or drop me a message and I can post out hard copies.  Or, if you want to try the fabulous online shop, click the square 'shop now' button.  Don't forget to check the Weekly Deals and Clearance Rack sections for some super bargains.

Convention, Stampin' Crop and a massive Stampin' Garage Sale!

Oh. My. Goodness!  Wow!  I am back from convention 2011 in Melbourne, and re-immersed in uni, kids and family life.  Sorry for the longer than usual gap between posts, but I have heaps of fun things to show you over the next little while.  If you ever get a chance to go to convention, as a guest or as a demo (in my cute little team of course!), I highly recommend it.  It runs for three days now, and the whole road trip, convention, shopping and more felt like a luxurious break than a conference!  Stampin' Up! events are always great, but this particular convention (my third) was the best yet.  Sneak peeks, prizes, delicious food and great company, what more could you want??  Next year's convention will be held in Canberra from May 31st to June 2nd, so if you're keen to attend, ring me for a chat about becoming a demo yourself.  There is lots more background info in the 'become a demonstrator' page right here on my blog. 

For lots more pics and goss, take a look at Shelli Gardner's blog, So Shelli.  Here's just a couple of my pics, the first of the stupendous Bonnie Thurber cracking us all up with her enthusiasm and great sense of fun.  This is a fascinator, a la Princess Beatrice, made from the scrap strips on Nursery Suite Quick Accents.  There was more, lots more, but I may have been laughing too hard to take a good pic...

Next up is just one of the 10 or so display boards holding the swaps made by the ~500 demos who attended.  I'll be carefully looking at the cards in detail later, but you can also see my own collection if you come along to my Stampin' Crop days, or book a workshop with me!

Onto other stuff!

Firstly, THIS SATURDAY 21st May is my monthly Stampin' Crop Day from 10am -5pm.  The cost for the day is $15 per person, and this includes use of my stamps and tools, casual instruction, bottomless tea and coffee, and a light snack style lunch.  Spaces are limited, and new ladies are always welcome, so give me a call on 9484 9447 to book a place.  Bring along your basic papercraft tools such as trimmer and any projects or ideas you are keen to play with.  It's a great casual crafting day, no pressure, just lots of laughs and great company.

And, starting this Saturday, guests at my Stampin' Crop day will get first dibs on purchasing items from my mega-clear out Stampin' GARAGE SALE!  I have heaps and heaps of stamp sets, and have finally decided to part with my retired inkpads, markers, reinkers and cardstock.  I'm still clearing out my studio, so there will undoubtedly be more to add!  After Saturday, I'll be loading stuff onto Ebay, and will share a link here once there is stuff to browse.

There is a new batch of discounted goodies available for "Deal of the Week", check out the list here for deals on ribbon and rhinestone brads!

Um, what else??  OH!!!  Grab those diaries ladies, because it's time to host a workshop with me!  You'll see some great new products, innovative ways to use them, share a happy few hours with some friends, and, best of all, earn lots and lots of  free stuff!  There's a special new promotion running between Monday May 23rd to Thursday 30th June, called "Extra Extra".  For a workshop reaching $450 or more in sales, (INCLUDING shipping!!) you will receive your usual Hostess Benefits of dollars to spend in the catalogue, and exclusive Hostess stamp sets.  But, then you will receive an ADDITIONAL $70 to spend in the catalogue!

so, say your workshop sales including the postage and handling amount reach $465.  As you can see from the table here you earn a level 1 hostess set and $40 as your usual entitlements, but during this promotion you will have a total of $110 to spend!  How cool is that?  Please give me a call or contact me via email, I am able to offer catalogue parties as well as traditional in-home workshops, so you needn't be nearby.  I do have uni assignment and exam commitments in June, so please be quick for best choice of dates and times.

Nature's Nest - Pretty as a Peacock

I haven't seen many cards made with this beautiful feather stamp from the "Nature's Nest" set from the Summer Mini catalogue, and it's a shame! When I looked at it, I knew instantly that I would like to try colouring it as if it were a peacock feather, hence the colour combination of this card. Where we were staying at Bawley Point, there was a number of peacocks, so I was able to work from real life in choosing the colours.

The base is Night of Navy, and the mats are layered Baja Breeze, Taken with Teal and Brushed Gold metallic cardstock, for that bit of irridescent shimmer!

The feather I played around with a few methods of colouring, and settled on inking up with Baja Breeze and then using the Marker Thumping technique to add accent layers of colour. I didn't have my Encore Gold inkpad with me, or I would have "Rock n Rolled" the final inked up feather.

The ribbon is from Valet Ribbon Originals, a gorgeous satin Baja Breeze, and the greeting is from the must have "Best Yet" Level 1 hostess set.

Speaking of Hostess benefits, why not get a group of three friends together for coffee before March 31st, and browse the main IB&C and Summer Mini before it's gone? Spend $100 each, and you'll not only have some lovely products to use, you'll also be able to choose a Sale-a-bration stamp set each! And, you can receive the usual Hostess Benefits for a $300 order and share them amongst yourselves, "Best Yet" included if you choose it. Many of my customers craft with friends and have been steadily growing their library of stamps and inkpads in this way, give it a try! Just contact me for a "Catalogue Party" kit that you can use to make things easy peasy :) Ph 9484 9447 or email michelle.dyson@bigpond.com