The first of the June specials...

I'm so excited to let you all know about the June specials which Stampin'Up! are holding all throughout this month, every week there will be a new weekly special put up for you and this can only be ordered in that week for that price, then the following week there will be another one posted and so on. So to start this promotion off here is the first weeks special, which is punches, please feel free to contact me with an order here to make the most of these offers.

So for one week only these following punches are going out for the very low price of $20.12, that's a whopping 30% off their usual price of $30.95. Take your choice of the scallop oval punch (a carry over from our last mini), the scallop square punch, the trio flower punch or the Boho Blossoms punch, at this price why not make it all four??

Stay tuned for some more convention pics and some art work. I will of course put up next week's offer on the 9th of June. Lots of inky hugs from...

I've been gifted...

Hello everyone, I would like to firstly thank all those lovely people who popped over here to say happy birthday to me, thanks to the lovely Keesh who placed a happy birthday post to me on her gorgeous blog, I have had lots of beautiful birthday messages. I feel so blessed to be a part of this wonderful blogging community, all the great bloggers and visitors who take the time to write encouraging comments and share their amazing works of art with us all.

I was also awarded with the "Beautiful Blogger award a little while ago, by two very talented people, firstly Keesh who has the most amazing blog full of inspiration and beautiful art work and secondly the very talented lady Lee whom I met through Keesh at our team meetings, she has a beautiful blog here called "Lulla's Link" full of great works of art which she shares most generously with us all, so thank you to both of these very kind ladies for their gift of this award. I now have to divulge ten things about myself and then give you lucky people ten wonderful blogs to visit, so here goes.....

1) My husband proposed to me after two days and we bought our first house three months later and were married in the fourth month which was 25 years ago in Sept.

2)I was born in Sliema/Malta.

3) I was brought up on a boat and travelled all over the world, going to 8 different schools speaking in five different languages.

4) I don't eat cheese (I know, everyone thinks I'm missing out on something great!)

5)I have 9 siblings scattered all over the world and I'm the baby.

6)I was painfully shy and used to cry if I had to meet new people, before Stampin'Up® came into my life. (I bet loads of you are thinking "What the", but it's true).

7) I've had fifteen major surgeries and some people say I look like I've been attacked by a shark.

8)I went to a craft fair fourteen years ago to get some thread for my then hobby of cross stitch, saw someone heat embossing and got hooked on stamping. I never did finish that cross stitch project and it's still in my draw ;-}

9)It never ceases to amaze me how many beautiful friends I have made through this wonderful world of craft and I feel truly blessed having each and every one of you in my life.

10) Bert Reynolds fixed my bike chain once in Florida and when I asked him what his name was he replied with " you can just call me uncle Bert, honey" and Brigitte Bardot shared my ice cream in the South of France.

Well, I hope I didn't bore you too much and you are now ready to visit some of my beautiful friends at their blogs. These are in no particular order and it was very, very difficult to nominate just ten, I knew lots of you already had been given the award, so that made it a little easier, so here goes....

1) Margaret Knoops of Purple Buttons

2)Karen Thomas of Luv to stamp

3)Amanda Carr of Mandy's stampin spot

4)Samantha Fisher of Samantha's stamping studio

5)Ann Gerlach of Discover-ink (one of my very talented downline)

6)Trish Davies of Cody's nan's blog (another of my wonderful downline)

7)Nikki Pascoe of Perfect Paper

8)Mae Collins of Mae's Cachet

9)Tanya Kitto of Stamp n' chat (one very generous and kind lady)

10)Carl Marbach of Stuff by Carol (one of my lovely American blog frriends)

Have fun browsing those beautiful blogs, lots of inky hugs from ...

I'm home again.

Hi There everybody peeps,
As some of you already know I have been one of the lucky convention attendees again this year and what a fabulous time we all had. This picture is of me with our amazing cofounder and CEO Shelli Gardner. I felt so honoured to have a photo with this wonderful lady and I couldn't get the grin of my face for the rest of the day. We all had so much fun meeting fellow demonstrators and sharing swaps with each other. Spending up big in the momento mall where you can buy all the great Stampin'Up! merchandise such as shirts, cardigans, drink bottles and soooo much more.
We were all privy to some amazing work shop wows presented by some of our very own talented Australian demos as well as some New Zealand girls too. The make and takes we did were awesome, but you'll have to wait a while to see those, because we used some of our fabulous new stamp sets from the upcoming catalogue. We not only received two great stamp sets in our beautiful convention bag, we were also spoiled with an extra set from Shelli during a general session. The screams of delight were deafening when all the sets were being given out.
The awards ceremony was just stunning, we were treated like movie stars arriving at the Hollywood award nights. We walked down the red carpet to be greeted by paparazzi photographers who took our pictures in front of a Stampin'Up! back drop and the cheers came from all the head office staff who waited to see us all arrive in our very best dress up clothes.
The tables were adorned with beautiful flower arrangements of tulips which were entwined around the inside of a large glass bowl, in the center of the bowl was a candle to give off a shimmering light through the tulips. The food was amazing as always and just so beautifully presented, you almost didn't want to disturb it. I said ALMOST!
The dinner was finished and we were then ready to be called up for any awards we had earned throughout the year, as well as cheer very loudly for all those who received them. There were plenty of special announcements throughout the evening about the year ahead and our upcoming catalogue as well as the whereabouts of next year's convention which will be held in Melbourne. We were entertained by a really good jazz band with a Frank Sinatra sound alike, he was so good. The entertainment didn't stop there however, we were also captured by the wonderful Fiji native dancers and drummers, it was a to announce the incentive trip for next year which will be held in Fiji. Oh how I would love to win that one, the dancers were so amazing and got several participants from the audience to join in with them, one of whom was Sterling Gardner, Shelli's husband. The whole night was an affair not to be forgotten and will stay with me for ever.
Thanks to Stampin'Up! for the most fun filled weekend I have ever had and I look forward to the next one, which will be a three day convention instead of two, so even more fun!
If you like the sound of all this and the wonderful friendships you make along this amazing journey, you may be excited to hear about the wonderful join up opportunity that Stampin'Up! is holding until the 31st of July this year. There is 20% off the already fantastic value starter kit., that makes it $259. instead of the already low price of $324. for an incredible kit worth over $560. you get so many goodies in your kit which is interchangeable, making it just right for your needs. I will be posting more about this amazing offer soon, so stay tuned. or you can contact me for an obligation free information pack here.
Lots of inky hugs from ....

A note for you.

Hi There blog surfers, How's the waves today? It's pretty cold up here in the hills this morning and I think I might have to have a bowl of hot porridge for breakfast today. I was going through some old cards the other day and came across the little note card holder we made at regional convention a couple of years ago with the set called Live your dreams. So I thought I'd make the same set but with an up to date set from our current mini and this was the result:

I used the beautiful Kiwi kiss satin ribbon which has very vanilla on the other side to tie it up. I used the new in-colour Melon mambo which is very vibrant but matches up well with Kiwi kiss and I used the set called Vintage Vogue (Love it!).

Thanks for visiting, lots of inky hugs from...

Heritage scrapbook page.

Hello there, I hope this finds you all well, we had a great downfall of rain last night and it was such a shock to hear rain, it actually woke me up with a start. It's lovely to see everywhere begin to green up again, I love the winter months. This next page has been inspired by two very talented Stampin'Up!® demos, the first one is Teneale Williams who used this technique and stamp to make a lovely card for one of Makeesha's challenges, the other one is Sarah Klass who made this scrap page up to display a gorgeous photo of her little girl. It's one of those pages that you can change the look of with just a different colour or a bit of sponging, as I have done here to make it look oldy worldly. I have put in a photo pf the steam ship Marion and the journaling tells all about her. I've used a piece of very vanilla 12x12'' card stock and then added the kraft A4 and a five inch by A4 piece of Baja breeze to do the emboss resist technique on, there is a strip of very vanilla which I have used the eyelet border punch on and of course the two top note pieces, the little flower was made by punching out three scalloped circles from baja breeze, then putting them through the crimper several times (and I mean SEVERAL) til they start to break down and you can peal them aprt. Then scrunch them up and put a brad through the centre to hold them together. The big gorgeous stamp used for the tech part of the page is our wonderful new very versatile Medallion stamp from the mini and the little lacy bit around the topnote is from Vintage vogue. Soft Suede, Kraft and very vanilla cardstock surround the photo, I have sponged some creamy caramel and soft suede ink on the edges of the cardstock. You can click on the picture to have a more detailed look. Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by, take care, lots of inky hugs from...

Thank you card for vet.

Hello there, I hope this finds you all well, I thought you may like to see one of the cards I made for Polly's specialist. Some of you have very kindly been asking for an update on our dear little adopted fur baby. Well the day we were hoping wouldn't come happened last week on Tuesday, she had to have one of her eyes removed, hubby picked her up from the vets and brought her home with an Elizabethan collar on. This was of course to stop her scratching at and tearing her stitches, but you try telling that to her! She was so distraught and thrashing around the room, trying desperately to remove this cumbersome bucket from around her little head. I was trying very hard to calm her down but to no avail. So I told hubby to ring the vet and ask advice, to which he said 'give her fifteen minutes to calm down, if that hasn't happened bring her back in to be kept in over night and be sedated'. Thank goodness she did eventually calm down and settle in our bedroom on her soft bed. It was a very sleepless night, spent holding her in my arms all night, but when morning came, she was much better and ready to have a little food and water.
This was all happening just a week after our old boy Coubah (German Shepherd)had to have major surgery too, so you can imagine the vet bills! Anyhooo, Coubah needs to be kept inside and have wounds washed and betadine applied three times a day, antibiotics and ear wash and drops done twice a day, his mate Whiddy has to be kept away from him, because all he wants to do is clean his stitches for him, so we now have three animals who all need to be separated from each other. This past couple of weeks have been very stressful to say the least, but Coubah now has his stitches removed and is doing really well, Polly had her first post op check on Sat. and the vet is pleased with her wound. She will have her stitches out on the eighteenth, the day before I leave for Sydney Stampin'Up! convention. So I will get to see her without that stupid bucket on her head and all those awful looking stitches removed from her sweet little face. It seems all though that was the worst eye, it was the one with most sight in it, so she is now completely blind, but already knows her way around and plays with all her toys etc. She sleeps on our bed every night and wakes us up in the morning with sand paper kisses. I'll keep you informed of her progress and upload some more photos of her soon, take care and give your pet a hug for me, lots of inky hugs from....

Third and final part of mini scrap album.

Hello and a very Happy Mother's day to all the mums out there. I was very spoilt today and my daughters both made me feel very special. The eldest came over to visit and gave me the cutes little Eco bag with a cat on it and a lovely new top. My youngest got up early and made the most delicious roast dinner for all of us and my mother in law. I was so proud of her, she wouldn't let me any where near the kitchen and the end result was truly scrumptious! How appropriate to show you all this last collection of pages from Ingrid's cute little album on such a wonderful Mother's day. So please enjoy the pictures and come back soon for some more scrapbooking inspirations.

Take care, lots of inky hugs from ....

Rock-A-Bye-Girl part two...

Hello there, I hope this finds you all enjoying your weekend, especially all the mothers out there. Lets hope you all get something inky to play with tomorrow! Well as promised, here is part two of Ingrid's beautiful little scrap album. This little flip book is just the best design to show off your loved photos and the original design came from a very talented demonstrator in Canada called Andrea Walford. I taught Ingrid and some of our great stamping buddies how to make this book in one of my Saturday classes, we made it with the 'I Wish' scrapbooking kit from Stampin'Up!® Which is a Christmas based kit with lots of great decorations to put into the finished Christmas album, if you would like to learn how to make one of these little albums please feel free to contact me and we will arrange a class for you and some friends to make it. Now please enjoy viewing some more of Ingrid's pages and do come back for the last instalment.

Lots of inky hugs from....

A Sunshine award...

I feel very honoured today, as I have been awarded a beautiful Sunshine award from the very talented Sonia G . I was really quite shocked to find the message waiting for me saying she thought my little ol' blog was worthy of this sweet award, so thanks Sonia. I now have to pay it forward to some wonderful blogs which I visit on a regular basis, this is the hard bit, as I love soooo many! But here's a few to go and see. Make sure you leave some blog love in the comments from me :-)

1) Makeesha Byl

2)Louise Ryan

3)Monique Bruning

4)Nicole Derendorf

5)Leonie Shroder

6)Susan Joyce

7)Ann Gerlach (one of my lovely Paper Charmers team members)

Take care all and come back soon to see the rest of Ingrid's precious scrapbook. Lots of inky hugs from ....

Rock-A-Bye Girl...

Hello there,
As in my previous post I told you it was Scrapbooking month, I thought I'd better honour my promise of showing you some gorgeous scrapbooking and these next pictures are of a wonderful little flip album which was made by my very good friend Ingrid. She has put together this amazing display of pictures taken of her sweet little grand daughter. The album has been made using the 'Rock-a-bye Girl' scrapbooking kit. Have fun looking at these great photos set in this beautiful little album. Well done Ingrid and thanks for letting me show this on my blog.

There are more pictures to come of this little album, so stay tuned and be sure to visit here again to see the rest. Lots of inky hugs from...

Scrapbooking Month...

Hello there,

Did you know that the month of May is officially Scrapbooking Month?? So to celebrate this, I will be doing my utmost to show you some scrapbooking creations and believe me you are in for a treat, because some of these creations have been lovingly made by some of my very talented stamping buddies. This one above was made by me, it was to show some Stampin'Up! party goers how to make a mitred corner with our fabulous jumbo wheels. This wheel is very aptly named "So Swirly" isn't it gorgeous. I used a basic black ink cartridge in the wheel to make sure the ink didn't run out before I got to the end of this twelve by twelve page. The little flower was made with the scallop circle, I just spritzed the paper circles with water and scrunched them up, left them to one side until dry, then put a brad through the center to hold them all together and popped a pearl from our pretties kit in the middle to finish it off. The card stock used was Very Vanilla and Basic Black. The Stamp sets used to make the little embellishment in the bottom left hand side were "Life Definitions" and the "Defining Alphabet" I love using these two sets together, they're a real class act! I hope you liked the first instalment of scrapbooking month and you will be back to see the next one. Take care, lots of inky hugs from....

A pinch and a PUNCH for the first of the month!

Hello there, Did you like the pun about a punch for the first of the month?? I thought I was being quite clever for a change. But all joking apart, this post is about the wonderful new punch style that Stampin'Up!® have released in our new Autumn/Winter mini. I love the fact that we can now stack our punches and they look so darne kool :-)

Starting with the new 2010 Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue and continuing with all new punch designs going forward, Stampin' Up! has adopted a new body style for our punches! A few features of the new punch style:
Low-profile, rectangular punch body allows for easier stacking and storing
Punches lock shut for easier storage and transport
Dual labels on top and end allow for easy identification and selection when stored
Available in three sizes: small, medium, and extra-large
New punches allow for larger punched images and more intricate designs while providing greater ease of use.
Extra -large punch images also allow for two-step designs like the Two-Step Bird punch in the Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue
Larger, whole-hand handle design provides better leverage for easier use
Available in an exclusive Stampin' Up! colour
Part of Stampin' Up!'s commitment to providing demonstrators and customers with the very best crafting tools includes the belief in what we call continuous improvement. Essentially what this means is that even if something works very well, but we see a chance to improve it, we will work to make it even better. While new punch designs will be in the new body style, existing designs will remain in the existing body style for now. We will communicate any further changes as those decisions are made.