Monday 31 May 2010

Birdie Joy for Mothers Day

Today's card is one I made for my wee Mum & Mother-in-Law Shirley for Mothers Day & was also one of my Mother's Day class projects. I wanted to do a fancy fold card, so thought a joy fold card would be fun.
The goodies I've used are some of my favourites from the Autumn/Winter Mini – cute new 2 step birdie punch, 'Cottage Garden' stamp set & gorgeous matching 'Cottage Wall' DSP, a greeting from the 'Teeny Tiny Sentiments' stamp set, not to mention new rich razzleberry ink & grosgrain ribbon.

'Cottage Garden' is a 2 step set, with the flowers having both a solid & outline image. These can match up perfectly, especially if you use a stamp-a-ma-jig, but unusually for me, I really liked seeing some of the white when it's not stamped exactly...as it is here. The base is pale plum card, which I think works so well with the Cottage Wall DSP. So sad this colour will be retiring in August.

Here's another view of the card, so you can see the joy fold better.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing this project. I'll be back to show you the second Mother's Day class project next time. Just drop me a line or leave some comment love if you have any questions. Thanks again for visiting.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: You can also see another joy fold using the Eastern Blooms set here.

Supplies:
Stamps:, Cottage Garden (clear mount), Teeny Tiny Sentiments (clear mount)
Card/Paper: pale plum, certainly celery & whisper white card, Cottage Wall DSP
Ink: rich razzleberry & pale plum ink pads
Accessories: rich razzleberry polka dot grosgrain ribbon
Tools: xl 2 step birdie punch

Join the fun & save

As I mentioned in my last post, Stampin' Up! announced at Convention that from May 21 to July 31, you can purchase our Starter Kit for an amazing 20% off. This means you'll receive over $560 of Stampin' Up! products for just $259, as well as saving $65 off the regular starter kit price.

You can choose to include the items Stampin' Up! recommends in your kit, or change many items to suit you (ie stamp sets, ink pads, cardstock etc). What a great way to get lots of goodies on your wishlist.

That's just the start of the benefits you'll receive as a Demonstrator. You'll:
  • Receive a great discount on everything you buy after you join.
  • Get to pre-order new catalogue goodies before they're available to customers.
  • Receive a monthly Demonstrator magazine & have access to Stampin' Up!'s brand new online Demonstrator Community – Stampin' Connection, for tons of ideas & inspiration.
  • Be able to share with other demonstrators in person, online & at Stampin' Up! events like Convention & Regional training.
  • Have the choice to do workshops & build a business, or do it just for you!
Sign up with me & you'll be part of my Diamonds Stampers team, which means I'll be here to support you. You'll also have access to my online team site, where we can share projects, ideas or just chat.

Ready to join...
You don't even have to wait for paper documents, as you can sign up online on my Stampin Up! Demonstrator Website by clicking the Join Now button. You'll just need the following info ready:
  • Australian Business Number (ABN).....which you get here
  • Your personal details
  • Payment Details (Mastercard or Visa)
  • Recruiter Password: my password is "happystamping"
  • Your choice of starter kit products.
Sound great? If you'd like more information check out the info on my Stampin Up! Demonstrator Website & contact me for a chat.
Inky wishes, Di

PS: Keep your eyes on my website from tomorrow morning & you'll see some great June deals for everyone.

Saturday 29 May 2010

Top notes & my convention adventure

Howdy again! I've decided to start showing you my newest project & work backwards, so here's my swap for last weekend's awesome Stampin' Up! annual Convention in Sydney. It's a gift card folder made with my favourite Big Shot die, the SU Top Note. 
Inside the folder, there are two pockets made with folded DSP - one section holds a gift card & one holds a card to write a message to the recipient. The back of the folder is decorated too. The white & kraft panel is actually cut at the base, as it was too bulky to fold. The flowers are sponged in the centre with a sponge dauber & baja breeze ink - a quick & effective way to add subtle colour.
The folder was inspired by a gift card folder made as a convention swap made by Sharon Turnbull in 2008 (I don't think Sharon has a blog). You can see my version of her swap here.
To make the cover, I folded a piece of baja breeze card & laid it just inside one of the cutting edges of the Top Note die, so that one side wouldn't be cut. On a few of the swaps, I made the pouches with a note card envelope, as I didn't have enough DSP. The envelope was more in keeping with Sharon's original swap. If you'd like to know anything else about the swap or would like to come to a class to make your own, just drop me an e-mail, or just leave me a comment to say hi! I do love hearing from you.

Talkin' about convention...
This was my third convention & always, it was an amazing experience from start to finish. It's hard to describe the atmosphere, but imagine almost 500 super excited Demonstrators in one place, swapping, laughing, chatting & sometimes squealing in delight as you find friends, team members, online buddies or someone you've admired for ages. That's before you even get to our inspirational leader Shelli Gardner, the fantastic presentations from the US Stampin' Up! staff & a crew of very talented Aussie Demonstrators. Getting the picture?
Even though Convention was in my home town of Sydney, my fab friends Kellie, Leanne & I decided to stay at the Oaks Hotel near the Convention Centre for a bit more spoiling (it didn't necessarily turn out that way thanks to 2 fire alarm evacuations in the wee small hours of Friday, but that's another story). Our little group was completed with Cathy, one of my lovely Diamond Stampers team members & Anamaria, from Leanne's team, both of whom had their first convention experience. Here we all are with Shelli & new friend, Kim (l-r: Kim, me, Cathy, Shelli, Leanne, Anamaria & Kellie)...this was on Saturday arvo - boy I look tired!

Of course, a big part of the fun is meeting up & swapping with old & new Demo friends from all over Australia & New Zealand, & this year was no exception. I was very excited to catch up again with the gorgeous Sarah Klass, Karen Rogers& Chrissie Allen & meet some new & lovely ladies too, including, Kim & Krysta & Sarah Jane. I would have liked to find so many more Demonstrators I admire, but there were so many people, it was a little hard to find everyone.

There were so many fantastic swap ideas shared, many of which were displayed on idea boards. Even better, pics of all the swaps submitted to SU will also be available on our new online Demonstrator Community - Stampin' Connection, so Demonstrators who can't make it to Convention can see them too.

Oh, & did I mention we received 3 brand new stamp sets from our new  upcoming Idea Book & Catalogue which is coming in September & saw some sneak peeks of some more new goodies, I can't show you any pics of the new goodies for quite a while yet, but I'm sure you'll love them! I'm also looking forward to trying lots of the ideas we were shown for our current goodies & sharing them with you.

After all the day sessions on Friday & Saturday, the finale was our Awards Dinner, which was such a lovely way to end the our experience. It was an extra special night for Leanne too as she earned a sales award this year, which was fabulous. Go Lea! Here we are again all dressed up.
The food looked & tasted delicious & the room looked so beautiful too - I have to show you the centrepiece that was on each table.
So, as you can imagine, it's been a bit hard getting back to the day to day this week after all this excitement.
I've started counting down already to next year's convention though, which will be 3 fabulous days in Melbourne from May 12-14 next year (with maybe an extra shopping day... or two Kellie?). There will also be Regional Training days over Australia between September & November (including Sydney on November 20) to keep us going until then. So all I have left to say is, who wants to come with me?

Not a Demonstrator yet? - no problem! Stampin' Up! announced a fabulous offer at Convention just for you & I'll be back to tell you about it... or check out the link at the top right of my side bar if you can't wait.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my swap & hearing about my convention adventures. This could be my longest post ever, so if you've gotten this far, well done & thanks a lot for visiting & persevering.
Inky wishes, Di

Supplies: Convention Swap
Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Best Yet (Hostess L1)
Card/Paper: baja breeze, whisper white, kraft cardstock, Baja Breeze Patterns DSP (or note card envelope)
Ink: baja breeze ink pad
Accessories: kraft taffeta ribbon,
Tools: Top note die, punches – scallop oval, large oval, sponge dauber

Thursday 27 May 2010

Thanks so much

Well, it's been a while, certainly a lot longer than I planned, but before I get into showing you some projects, I really want to acknowledge the kindness of 3 lovely women. In the last couple of weeks, I've been given this Beautiful Blogger Award...
by...
Karen Rogers, who I'm sending a huge toot toot to - she was named no.7 NZ Demonstrator of the year at Convention. You rock Karen!
Andrea Karadimos, who I'm so proud to say is a fabulous member of my SU Diamond Stampers team, not to mention a fab scrapper & card maker.
Val West, whose cool blog I've just discovered.
Please check out these great ladies' blog if you haven't already.

The rules of the award are that I must pass on the award to 5 more beautiful bloggers & tell you 10 things about me. Well, it's hard to narrow it down to 5 bloggers, as I'm so inspired by so many people, but here goes....

Kellie – Convention roomie, friend extraordinaire & fab papercrafter, all in one package!
Leanne –Stamping technique queen & inspiring friend.
Cathy – Diamond Stampers team member, new blogger & fab card maker.
Sam –What can I say? I don't think there's anything creative this girl can't do fabulously.
Kim – Super talented papercrafter & new convention buddy. So glad we met, Kim.
If you're after even more inspiration, please also check out the blogs on the right column, as they're all so inspiring.

And 10 things about me...try to stay awake if you can.
  1. A good description of me is 'disorganised perfectionist'. I saw it on a notebook & thought it was perfect!
  2. One of my favourite things to do is go to the movies with my gorgeous husband, even though it doesn't happen so often now.
  3. I'm a Twilight fan who's totally team Jacob...even before Taylor Lautner was cast.
  4. I have a habit of using quotes from movies in general conversation... which is fine when people realise it's a quote, but I can get some strange looks otherwise.
  5. I'm generally quite shy & quiet when I meet new people, but very talkative when you get to know me – just ask Kellie.
  6. I'm very passionate about the people & things I love....which sometimes helps the shyness.
  7. I really love new shoes, but can't justify as many gorgeous high heel purchases since I left the corporate world behind.
  8. I'm a bit of a gadget girl & looove my laptop, ipod & iphone.
  9. Talking about my iphone, my favourite ringtones are 'New Shoes' by Paulo Nutini, Soul Bossa Nova (theme from Austin Powers), Ordinary World by Duran Duran & Supermassive Black Hole by Muse
  10. My life is full of many, many more blessings than I can possibly count & I'm so thankful for.
Well, that took a while.....especially since Word crashed while I was writing & didn't recover the info! (grrr!)Thanks for hanging in there & I'll be back with my convention swap & round-up.
Inky wishes, Di :0)