Where has all the Christmas gone?

If you have been browsing the new 2013-14 Annual Catalogue, you might have noticed a distinct absence of all things Christmas-themed.  Never fear!  There are a range of stamps still available to order from the Autumn-Winter Catalogue (with the amazing ornament on the cover).  If you click on the image above, you will be taken to my Mediafire PDF page, just click the 'view' button, or choose 'download' to save to your computer for printing etc.  These will tide you over until we get our new Holiday Catalogue, which starts on August 29th, right in time for cranking up Christmas card production!

 There are two reasons for this move - firstly to make room in our main catalogue for a greater range of stamps and accessories for year round use, and secondly, to offer a wider selection of seasonal and holiday themed items in a separate catalogue.

There's more Halloween goodies inside, as we now have exactly the same selection as the USA.  Love it, or hate it, Halloween is growing in popularity here in Australia.  And, if you would rather make some cute treats hand-stamped with love rather than contribute to plastic commercialism and mass sugar overload, well now you can!  Hate it passionately?  No problem - many of the products make great masculine cards and gifts with a bit of a twist, which is always a good thing.

There's also a range of Thanksgiving-themed items.  I do wish that this tradition of being grateful for what we have, and gathering with friends and family to enjoy each others company WOULD take off in Australia!  It's a unifying occasion, something our multicultural society would benefit from.  We're also an agricultural nation, and would give us all an occasion to recognise the efforts of Australian farmers in providing us with such a bounty.  We're a lucky country, and a dedicated day to express our gratitude ahead of the avalanche of consumerism that Christmas has become would be welcome, in my opinion.  I also like the idea that Thanksgiving gifts, to friends, neighbours, volunteers etc are traditionally home-made, crafts of all kinds and baking.  I think we could all benefit from more of this!  Perhaps you'll join me, starting this year, in expressing our gratitude to those that fill our lives with happiness of all kinds.  Tell me what you think - I welcome your comments and observations below.

Thanksgiving is the great American unifier of holidays because unlike Christmas or Easter, it is something everyone can appreciate and participate in, precisely because it is not faith-based. It is also a holiday that has its roots in the acceptance of those with different religious views, as the settlers used the help of the non-Christian Native Americans in learning to work and harvest the land in this new country.  - See more at: http://secular.org/blogs/Lauren%20Youngblood?page=2#sthash.J2rOV9u5.dpuf

Thanksgiving is the great American unifier of holidays because unlike Christmas or Easter, it is something everyone can appreciate and participate in, precisely because it is not faith-based. It is also a holiday that has its roots in the acceptance of those with different religious views, as the settlers used the help of the non-Christian Native Americans in learning to work and harvest the land in this new country.  - See more at: http://secular.org/blogs/Lauren%20Youngblood?page=2#sthash.J2rOV9u5.dpuf

More Escape2Create goodness!

 I've had a shocker of a week, catching up from a fabulous trip to e2c, full on teaching and uni, and some assignments to stress over as well :(  It's nice to look at the pics and pretend to be back there, if just for the time it takes to write this post.  Some of the pictures have been borrowed from the escape2create blog...

The lolly buffet - complete with some memorabilia from e2cs past.  There were lovely big white bowls to scoop assortments into, and take back to the tables for the late night sugar hits needed to keep on stampin on!
  

 Just before the happy noises of guests arriving, we enjoyed a toast of Moet with the whole behind the scenes team and teachers.

Creative juices, captured in a glass - Amanda and Meredith's now famous Cosmo cocktails.  Chug-a-lug, there's a whole jug in the kitchen!

e2c blog borrowed pic of the hive of industry taking place!

 

The decorated shed, before the peeps filled it up!

 Kate Mason, artiste extraordinaire!  She would like this pic better without her in it, but I think this apron captures her quirky creativity best when she's holding it out for me!

L-R me, Nat, Amanda, Kate, Meredith, Andrew and Sue, with Mardi at centre front - the e2c organising team and teachers with interstate helpers!

The whole crew, early Sunday morning  - sunglasses might have been a good idea...

I've photographed the cards and Kate's canvas class products, more tomorrow maybe!

Escape2Create 2012

Just posting these pics makes me wish I was back in the shed, stamping and laughing, soaking up the creative vibes that were so thick in the air you could cut them!  As always, Amanda, Sue and Meredith (the main organising team) together with their wonderful teachers for the year, Nat May, Mardi Winen and Kate Mason made it an unforgettable trip.  I feel lucky that I get to stretch the experience out to nearly a week, because it's a fair way to go.  For the last two years, Andrew has been part of the incredible behind the scenes team making everything run smoothly, helping out in the kitchen with the wonderful Val Slater (my newly adopted physics and chemistry HS teacher mentor!), and this year's volunteer cooking trio of Leanne, Mel and Kym.  This year, following on from last year's "Man in Pink" tag, he scored the label of "Mr McGuyver" from Mardi.  Lucky me that he's made himself so indispensible that I get to be amongst the chosen few who have the pleasure of attending and helping out.  I'm so inspired, my buckets are flowing over with enthusiasm, now just to find the time needed to play!  A huge thank you to everyone who is so friendly and welcoming to us out-of-staters, if I ever feel the need to move to the country, the Eyre Peninsula would be top of my list I reckon!

Hi from a clifftop on the NSW South Coast!

Kim and I are enjoying a beach holiday with our families near Bawley Point, south of Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast. We have no phone coverage, and are currently perched on a clifftop where there is some wireless internet coverage! Ah, the wonders of modern technology! Then picture above shows the famous beach dwelling kangaroos at Pebbly Beach - we only saw one, not on the sand, but it was a pretty spot nonetheless.

We're off to the beach soon, just wanted to say HI, and remind you of our Summer Mini Catalogue Launch Party this SUNDAY 17th January, 2pm-5pm. Leave a message on (02) 9484 9447 or 0403 175 790 if you'd like to RSVP. Cost is $5 per person and includes your copy of the catalogue, light refreshments, make and takes, demonstrations and the chance to win prizes!

We've both been busy creating with the goodies in this catalogue, so promise to have lots to show you when we return!

We're baaaaaaacccckkkkk!

Gosh, I feel such a slacker for not posting here in so long, especially since Kim Tonnet has not only posted a few times since our return from Fiji but also managed a couple of updates while we were there!! We all had a fantastic time, although as Kim also mentions, holidays with kids are never quite the same as the 'good old days' BC! We packed in lots of activities, interspersed with cocktails by the pool and a beach massage. I even took some Stazon stamped images to colour with Watercolor Wonder Crayons and a blender pen, but didn't manage many!

It is good to be home though, travelling always makes me appreciate how good we have it here in Australia. One of the highlights was a village tour where we met some local children. Because it was a weekend, the tour of their school wasn't on, but the kids were around the village instead.
Just before leaving I was reading some reviews of various tours, and discovered that stationery supplies like exercise books, pencils, pens, textas etc are in very short supply in rural Fiji, and are beyond the budget of many village families. I raided my stash of school supplies and took a bag full of things with me to give the children. They were delighted, and I encourage anyone visiting similar places to do the same. One young girl was proudly telling me she wishes to become a nurse, so anything we can do to help them on their path will be greatly appreciated. I plan to stock up big when the 'back to school' sales are on and post a parcel with more supplies early in the new year. Many of the resorts have a village they sponsor, so a parcel addressed care of a major resort should see the items reach their intended destination.

Ah well, better get back to it, so many things on my to do list!
I leave you with a couple of photos taken by my 8 year old son, it's amazing what kind of genuine images you can capture when the photographer is a youngster! I think he did a great job. The top one is of a Firewalking Warrior, and the second one is of my son with some of his village friends.

I'm baaaaaacckkk! and Event Updates

Sorry to be away so long, I have been back from holidays a week now, but it has been a jam packed week, so no time to pop in here. I had a great time away with Kim (my newly adopted SU 'mum' and bestie) and various combinations of our families at Huskisson on the NSW south coast.

The weather was great for the days we were there, and the kids even braved a SWIM a couple of times. Well, if not full immersion in the ocean, a really good splash and dash which got them thoroughly wet and sandy. We also saw some (little bits of) whales off Pt Perpendicular and Cape St George, and I took some photos I'm pleased with, of the kids and scenery, not the whales!

Quite a bit of late nite crafting went on, Kim and I took advantage of the luxury of sleeping in while my hubby got up with kids each morning. I still haven't photographed everything I've made yet, and I've been flat out with workshops, swap making (and the inevitable holiday unpacking and washing) It's a lovely sunny day in Sydney today, so you never know your luck. Stay tuned....

Other happenings:

TOMORROW SATURDAY 25th July - Stampin' Crop Day - BOOKED OUT, sorry! - put your name down now for Saturday 22nd August.

SATURDAY 8th AUGUST - Spring Mini Launch Event - with Kim Tonnet and myself at my home in Cherrybrook

When: 2pm-8pm, come when you can, leave when you must!

What: We'll be show-casing items from the new Stampin' Up! Spring Mini. There will be make-and-takes, a WOW demonstration & give-aways to enjoy. Plus refreshments.

Cost: $5 including your copy of the Mini catalogue. This is fully redeemable if you place an order of $50 or more at the event.

RSVP: Friday 7 August 2009 by email or phones 02 9484 9447 / 0402 347 010.

I'll leave you with a photo or two from my break away. Back soon I hope!

Upsy Daisy Watercolor Crayon technique

I LOVE my Watercolor Wonder Crayons, they are probably my favourite method of colouring stamped images, because they are so versatile. (Well, I love my markers, blender pen and inkpad puddle methods too, but crayons are 'IT' at the moment!)

This card uses the "Upsy Daisy" set, from the main Idea Book and Catalogue. You can find it on page 75, and it's a bargain at just $33.95 (item code is 115898 for your wishlists)

It has been a very popular set, and there are loads and loads of examples you can find showing how it can be used, I think it is both because of the versatility of the sentiments, as well as the number of ways the large silhouette style flower stamp can be made to look.

Here I have used a watercolour painting effect, created with the water-soluble Watercolor Wonder Crayons (find those on page 127, go on, put them on that wishlist, they're FAB!). I have applied crayon directly to the surface of the rubber stamp, scribbling and blending. Because of the creamy texture of the crayon, you can build up layers of colour easily. I have used Summer Sun, Only Orange, Always Artichoke and Old Olive crayon colours.

The next step is to mist a piece of Confetti cardstock with a fine water spray, just enough to slightly dampen the surface. In this card I have used Confetti White, but you could also use Confetti Cream, Naturals Ivory or Watercolor Paper for this technique. In my water spray bottle (a Ranger Mini Mister) I added a few drops of reinker in Old Olive to give a light tint to the background of my image.

While the surface of the cardstock is still moist, take your crayon-coloured Upsy Daisy stamp and mist it very lightly with water, holding the spray some distance from the stamp. The aim is to dampen the surface enough to allow good transfer of colour to the paper, but without making it too wet, or else you will get the 'runs'.
Then stamp onto the moist Confetti cardstock piece and hold the stamp in contact with it for a few moments to get a good image. ta da! Your resulting piece should look somewhat like an abstract-style watercolour painted image of daisies. Purty, no?

To complete the rest of the card, I stamped the Sanded background in Always Artichoke onto a Mellow Moss card base. To pick up the bright colours in the stamped image, I used a mat of Summer Sun, but to avoid tooooo much brightness, I inked the edges with Always Artichoke and then overlaid this with a mat of Always Artichoke cardstock. I made it slightly asymmetric by using the Eyelet Border punch at one end, which allows the Summer Sun to peek through the holes.

The sentiment is stamped onto an oval punch (Whale of a Punch oval by EK success) which happens to co-ordinate with our new Wide Oval Stampin Up punch, made for us by EK. I'm hoping we get this size of oval punch, as it looks so much better than the Large Oval. I popped up the ovals on Stampin Dimensionals and it was all finished :) Hope it brightens your day just a little!

I'm off for a few days in Huskisson, on the South Coast of NSW, and I hope to create some more goodies to show you. Not sure about how I'll go with actually updating, but if I don't, perhaps you'll be inundated upon my return! Happy School Holidays to all my readers with kids in states starting winter hols this week, hope you can squeeze in some crafting time! Hint of the day - give the kids your scraps box, one stamp set and one (very important this bit) ONE!! ink colour, and challenge them to make a card or two. My 4 year old has been stamping now for a year or so, and it is quite interesting to see what she comes up with. My 8 year old makes quite an impressive card, I have a couple to show you next time. Ciao!