I don’t think I have shared this page with you yet! Last August we had our Gr8 Southern INKers (my downline group) Retreat at “The Cove” in Denmark, and we made a beautiful scrapbook page with Sharon Tunbridge from Katanning using a vintage music sheet she had photocopied onto cardstock. Well, I came home and found some old music sheets I had bought yonks ago with the intention of using them for decoupage, and ran them through the photocopier. This one has a little colour on the cover, so I thought it would be ideal to match the colours to the cardstock! Out came the old black and white photographs again – this one is of my parents when they were first married – I love this shot! Thanks Sharon for your wonderful inspiration!

Happy New Year! I’m back into the swing of things after a much needed break over Christmas and New Year, and well, yes, a bit of an extended break into January! My classes and Stamp Club list is up for January and February – you can find it here. This is one of the pages we did at my monthly Scrapbooking Night back in November – if you visited our stand at the Albany Show you may remember seeing this one on our display. It rather simple but has a stunning result! The circles are made by masing and sponging, and then stamping before removing the mask. The colours are Pool Party and Island Indigo on Very Vanilla cardstock. And of course a black and white photo can be added to just about any colour combination! Lovely couple aren’t they?!

Well, today’s the 23rd January and that means SALE-A-BRATION BEGINS TOMORROW!!! For every $100 that you spend during Sale-a-Bration (24 January – 31 March) you can choose one of four Sale-a-Bration stamp sets, or one of the matching Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper or Ribbon & Brad Pack (matches Fresh Vintage stamp set). I am loving this stamp set and the DSP and let me tell you the matching ribbon and brad pack is so sweet! Stay tuned tomorrow morning for a sneak peak of two cards we made at my Stamp Club on Friday night. I’ll post the whole pictures after next week – can’t spoil it for the other Stamp Club girls who will have their turn at making them next week!

 I’ll try and get the brochure up tomorrow as soon as I get home from work in the morning, or you can visit the Stampin’ Up! website at www.stampinup.com and view it there. I also have plenty of spares, so let me know if you’d like one and I will pop one in the post for you.

Here’s one of the pages we completed at out last Scrapbooking Night – well, I’ve not quite completed mine, it still needs a title and some journaling! The frame is made by masking an area and overstamping with assorted stamps. The DSP is the hostess only “Cheerful Treat”, and the featured flower are from the Array of Sunshine stamp set (again a hostess only set). I just love the bright colour combination! This page won first place in the Papercraft Section of this year’s Albany Show! My next scrapbooking night will be held on Friday 16th December at 7pm – contact me if you would like to come along!

Would you like to own the Array of Sunshine or Cheerful Treat DSP? These could be yours when you host your in-home demonstration! And with Sale-a-Bration just around the corner (24 January to 31 March 2012) there’s no better time to be a hostess! Contact me today for more information or to discuss a time suitable for you.

Wow, today’s the 1st November already - where did October go? I had an extremely busy month preparing for our annual Stamp ’n’ Scrap Retreat which was held at The Cove in Denmark the weekend before last. I promised I would post photos of the projects we made – everything was based around the Beau Chateau collection….

 Friday night we covered an on board journal with Beau Chateau fabric. This one is based on one made for our demonstrator retreat by one of my downline Sharon Tunbridge (thanks Sharon!) To cover this one we opened the spiral and removed the covers and pages.

Saturday morning we spent creating a double page scrapbooking layout using Beau Chateau DSP and the Creative Elements stamp set. The concealed journaling tag is made using the scallop ended tag from the Two Tags Die.

This is the second page of the double layout. We cut an extended tag using the folded tag from the Two Tags die, to enlarge the tag so a small photo could be added with journaling inside the tag. These photographs are copies taken of my maternal grandparents taken during WWI and also on their wedding day in 1921. The shoes are my grandmother’s which she wore on her wedding day – I can remember trying them on when I was little! We are fortunate enough to still have them in safe keeping. I am yet to add titles and journaling to my pages.

Next on the agenda to make was the Beau Chateau and Creative Elements Card & Envelope Compendium. I love how there are so many different uses for this stamp set – it’s just so versatile!

The pocket holds an assortment of tags made using Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamped onto Very Vanilla  card and punched out with the Word Window Punch and adhered to a Modern Label punched in Soft Suede card. A label can be chosen according to the occasion and can be adhered across the oval on the face of a card.

An assortment of cards made using Beau Chateau DSP and Creative Elements.

One of the Saturday afternoon/night projects was the Card Organiser made using the Elisabeth stamp.

The pages are made from 12×12 card and folded to make pockets to hold finsihed cards to give.

Scraps of Beau Chateau DSP were then used to decorate a Tri-Shutter card.

I just love the coordination in the DSP!

One of the last projects to make was a Drawer Box Easel Card. We made 3D flowers using the new Lace Doiley Layering punch.

Last but not least to make was the 3D frame – stamped with Creative Elements, embossed in gold and gently watercoloured. Elegant! Thank you to everyone who came on the retreat!

Our Stampin’ Up! Regional Training was held in Perth last Saturday, and I was privileged to be asked to present a Workshop Wow again this year!  Last month you may remember I made a cute little chocolate box (and it still holds the chocolates – uneaten!) and a centre step card stamped with the Dreams Du Jour stamp set ? I made some cute little scrunched up flowers to decorate the box and the card. I also used the same technique to make a flower to decorate a 3D frame, of which I  made another 10 to give to each of my downline as a thank you gift for attending our demonstrator retreat last month. I initially came across this technique by Joanne Leddy for making the flowers, and wondered what they would look like made with other punches. So, I just had to experiment! I got some stunning results with the new layering punches and the Fun Flowers Bigz L die, so decided I just had to share my Spring flower fest at regionals! 

This is my 3D frame on display at regionals, made with the Creative Elements stamp set .

I also made this gift box using the scruptious Mocha Morning DSP. The middle sized flowers are made by using the new Doiley layering punch, and the tiny ones are made by using the little pointy flower on the Boho Blossoms punch. I love the vintage look with the Antique brads! I’ll have to buy a truck load if ever they look like retiring!

I also made a heap of assorted flowers – all shapes, colours and sizes, but Sophie asked if she could take them back to Sydney with her and I didn’t get a chance to take a photo! I did however make this one, which reminds me of anemones which I once grew when I had a flower garden on the farm. This flower inspired me to make a poppy using Poppy Parade cardstock, and so inspired this scrap book page…..

The Crumb Cake page is stamped with Creative Elements and Baroque Motifs stamp sets, and I have watercoloured the Creative Elements image. I think I am addicted to that stamp set! The page also features the new Swirls Scribbles Sizzlits die and the the new Lace Ribbon Border punch. The photo is a copy of an original taken of my great uncle in France in WWI. I used the distressing kit (sanding block and inks) to “antique” and distress the photo.

At the end of my presentation Aaron presented me with this gorgeous card and voucher for a stamp set (I’m still deciding which set to order!) A huge thank you to Stampin’ Up! for another fabulous Regional Training!

Oh, and just a reminder – there are only 3 days remaining to order the Mini Starter Kit for $169, or the regular Starter Kit with 20% discount! Did you know that you now don’t need to have an ABN to join?  If you have been thinking about joining the Stampin’ Up! family – don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Contact me today for more information!

I’m still here! Just been busy of late, but still keeping busy with my stamp clubs and monthly scrapbooking night! This is one of the pages we did at this month’s scrapbooking night. It’s a Sahara Sand background, with Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzaz and Blushing Bride for the coordinating colours. The stamps I used are French Script, Baroque Motifs and the butterfly stamp from Dreams Du Jour which is about to retire! Now I know you’re wondering who the little cherub is -the one with the long black hair is me -all those years ago – being held by my beloved maternal Nan! Here’s a close up of the flowers and the photo mount:

I just realised I was going to trim the page dopwn a bit and add a double mount to draw the colours I used in the centre of the page to the outside to give it a stunning border! Too many things on the go at the moment! I’ll try and get that done during the week and post another photo of it finished to show you the difference! In the meantime, I’m getting organised for our demonstrator retreat in Denmark this weekend! Yes, my downline and I are sneaking off to a secret hide-away in Denmark – we’re going to stamp and scrap and create all weekend! And I don’t think we’re going to go hungry by the looks of the amount of food being taken by everyone!  Anyway, must dash, have heaps to do…..

Don’t forget the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue ends on the 31st August – so only 6 days remaining to order any of the retiring product before they are gone for good! Click on the Last Chance button in the blue column on the left hand side of my blog to view the Retiring List. Contact me before Wednesday to place your order – but be quick, as some items have already gone!

I’ve been hoping to get back into doing scrapbooking classes for a while now, and finally decided to set aside one night per month (the second Friday night of every month) for anyone who would like to come along and get back into scrapbooking! The pages will be set designs, and at the moment they are two 6×6 pages for $10, with the option of upgrading to 12 x 12. If you feel inspired and would like to come along, the next get-together is on Friday 12th August at 7pm. Also, keep an eye on my Classes and Events page, as I’m planning some weekday afternoon classes!

This page is one of two we made this month, and is inspired by a 12×12 page shown in our monthly Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator newsletter (and yes, the chubby one in the photo is me at almost 2 years of age!) One of the best things about being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is the endless source of inspiration, whether it be from our SU! newsletters, demonstrations and samples at SU! events, our SU! website and Stampin’ Connection, or swaps from other demonstrators. If you have been thinking about joining the Stampin’ Up! family, if you join now there’s no minimum sales required until the end of December! Join my team, and come with us next month for a weekend away in Denmark WA on our first ever Gr8 Southern INKers Demo Retreat! A weekend jam packed full of stamping, scrapping and papercraft! Interested? Contact me today if you would like more information on the benefits of joining Stampin’ Up!

Sorry for the long delay in posting the pics of our Retreat as promised. For some reason the online pix resizer I was using wasn’t loading properly, and I have just had to search for another one! Anyway, here’s a pic of the lovely A Frame chalet at The Cove where we held our Stamp ‘n’ Scrap Retreat last month! 

Friday night Scap Mat Challenge at the long table!

 The beautiful Wilson Inlet. A few of us ventured out for a walk on the Saturday afternoon - the inlet looked so pretty with the late afternoon light; Lorinda and I became quite camera happy!

On our walk we came across this very picturesque rock - lovely and warm in the afternoon sun!

And finally, a view from one of the upstairs bedrooms! I think I took this one morning after breakfast  - some of the girls are eagerly waiting to begin their projects for the day!  

I demonstrated this page a couple of weekends ago at a workshop. I wanted to experiment with one of my SES photos which always incorporates the colour orange, so I chose Sweet Always Designer Series Paper! I used Pretty in Pink as the base colour for the page, and stamped the background in VersaMark using a stamp from the Always stamp set. I mounted the DSP and photo onto Pumpkin Pie, added some Chocolate Chip Double-Stitched Grosgrain ribbon, and a flower I made using the scallop circle punch. For the journalling tag, I punched an extended tag using the small tag punch. Here’s how it’s done….

Measure across the width of the tag. It’s easier if you measure across a punch out of the tag, rather than the punch itself. It should be about 3cm for the small tag punch. Cut a strip of cardstock to the same width of 3cm. Insert one end into the shaped end of the punch, as shown. Punch the end of the tag. Trim the extended tag to the desired length.

Just a quick one to thank everyone who has visited my blog in the last few days, and to those wonderful people who have left lovely comments! It’s encouraged me to branch out and balance my card making with more scrapbooking! I think I opt to make cards more because they are quicker to complete – but the truth is my scrapbook page didn’t take very long to put together at all! I owe it all to the products -gotta love Stampin’ Up!