Ooooh One day to go!!!!

Excitement is building over here in Oz - our very first retirement list is due to come out tomorrow!!!

This means the first year of Stampin' Up!® Australia is drawing to a close - and what a year its been! I've had so much fun, made lots and lots of new friends, gotten closer to some old ones, and learnt lots and lots of new and exciting things. Its been amazing!!!! I've also learnt a lot about myself, rediscovered some self confidence, and realised that there is a lot that I CAN do!

And not only do we have the retirement list coming - but that also means we have a NEW catalogue on the horizon.... I'm not sure which I'm more excited about! I can't wait to see what new stamp sets and accessories we're getting over here......

So keep your eyes peeled - the retirement list is coming soon... its oh-so-exciting - probably more so since we don't exactly know what to expect here LOL! If you live in the South west of Sydney and would like to have a 'retirement' workshop, or a 'New Catty' party contact me. If you don't live in this region but would still like a workshop please contact me and I'll be able to hook you up with someone from either mine or my sidelines teams - we cover pretty much all of Australia now *grin*.

It's just so fabulous being a Stampin' Up!® demonstrator - life is good!


All images ©Stampin' Up! 1990-2007
Stamp Sets used: Natural Beauty, French Script, Print Pattern
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White (thinking I should have used Very Vanilla - oh well!) and Apricot Appeal
Coloured using the inkpads and an Aquapainter

Hmmm, what to write?

This is my dilemma with the whole blog thing - I often have no idea of what to write... I think maybe I should share some of my life and the inner workings of my mind (such as it is LOL), and then I think, I have no idea if anyone is actually reading all this and what they want to read or see...

So if you're reading this and have some ideas for me and suggestions as to what you want here...leave me a comment and let me know! Hmmmm, maybe I should make this a bit more interesting..... OK, leave a comment and be in the random draw for one of the four Stampin' Up! SellABration sets (your choice) from the recent SellABration promotion. This isn't open to SU! demos! I'll close this on the 12th of March, and announce the winner here on my blog on the 13th March.

Oh and while you're leaving a comment - sign up to my RSS feed (box to your right here --------->
and get notification in your inbox when I've updated LOL!

Happy Valentine's Day

To all the lovers out there - Happy Valentines Day!

Now hubby and I are not the most romantic couple in the world (understatement of the year there! LOL)... but we DO make it a point each day to tell the other how much we love them. So Valentine's isn't really something we 'do' much. BUT we always get or make a card for each other.... and I try to have a nice 'special' meal that night too - with kids its a little hard to get out for dinner, so we have something 'spesh' at home.

This year though I've made him a little book filled with lots of quotes about love that truly say how I feel about him (altogether now - awwwwwwwww...). I used the step-by-step challenge that one of Cath's fabulous DT at LSBS supplied for her cybercrop last weekend, and it was so simple, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. So is hubby - he loved it - and has even taken it inot work to show all the teachers in the staff room *blush*

Anyway here it is..... will pop in as many pics as blogger will let me LOL!




This is the front cover....









The front 3 pages.....









The 'back' 2 pages.....









Close ups of the front 3.....








And these are the flipside pages!








I've used black and white Bazzill for the pages, and SU! Whisper White to stamp the SU! Floral background stamp on using Basic Black and Real Red inks to make the 'patterned paper'. The "love" on the front cover was using the Big Deal Alpha set (from the mini - sorry guys) and Real Red ink. And I've embellished with assorted red primas, retro flower punchies, and red and black brads. Plus a few rubons and the quote stickers - and 'voila' a mini book. I hope you like it - I know we were really happy with it ;)

Scrapping! LOL

Scrapping! Not something I do very often or well - but I have to say I quite like this page heaps!

I made this while at a scrap night at PT's place - under the watchful and insightful eyes of the afore-mentioned princess, Cath, Shelee and Nic. Pretty much everything on the page has been donated LOL! Except for the Opals on the chipboard hearts, and the Stampin' Up! alphabet set and ink used for the title. (If you're interested the alpha set is Whimsical Lower, and the ink is Lavender Lace) They even taught me to sand the edges of my photos! OMG how scary was that for a non-scrapper.

Anyway, I really do love this, I think Eliza looks very sweet, and its a beautiful big photo of her - she's growing up so quickly though, those baby curls are barely there now *sob*

SAB reminder

Just a quick reminder that Stampin' Up!®'s biggest promotion of the year, Sell-A-Bration is ending soon (on 26th February)!

All you have to do is spend $100 on fabulous Stampin' Up! products - you then get to choose one of four exclusive Sell-A-Bration sets that can be viewed online at Stampin' Up! . For each $100 you spend you get to pick a set.

They are fabulous, nice sizes and lots of fun to use!

There are lots of extra benefits for hostesses too, and also a GREAT incentive to sign up this month - an extra set of your choice in your Starter Kit. That's up to a $79.95 value!!! So don't miss out - contact me (auntytraci@hotmail.com) now!

This is just a quick card I made with one of my favourite sets from the Stampin' Up! catalogue , the Seaside Sketches set. I love this set because it's so easy to colour and looks just gorgeous watercoloured, the images are so sweet and pretty.


I've stamped the girls in Basic Black on Whisper White and coloured them using the Pastels and blender pens. A couple of layers of Lavender Lace and Mellow Moss - and I've distressed the edges of each layer for a bit of texture and movement. The card base is Pretty In Pink, with some Moss gingham ribbon to finish it off.

Images Copyright 1990-2007 Stampin’ Up! Created by Tracey Eaton

Big Clean Up!

A couple of weekends ago (man, has it been that long already!) my upline, Angela, had a cyberstamp/crop on her demonstrator forum for us all. We had an awesome time chatting, and Jayne set some GREAT challenges for everyone. I've been in a bit of a slump creative-wise for quite some time now, and that had extended over to most aspects of my life, culminating in a HUMUNGO mess in my craft area - so I didn't even have a place that was conducive to stamping, let alone actually THINK of something to do.

One of Jayne's challenges was to put 5 things away from your craft desk...when I complained that that wouldn't even touch the surface, she set me the personal challenge of cleaning stuff up every 15 minutes! I couldn't do that that night (due to a whingy child!), but the next day I got inspired.....

I'm about to post some pics of the mess before - if absolute chaos and disorder bothers you - *PLEASE DON'T LOOK*.... I'm really not kidding on this.... it's SHOCKING!!!!



This is the overall view of the desk.....close ups to follow..... note that the chair can't even be gotten at due to the stuff directly behind it - yes I LIKE to work standing up! LOL


This is the middle of the desk - directly to the right of where I sit, and things just get shoved to here..... and moved along....



.... to here! Until they fall onto the floor or the piles get so big they topple over LOL! Wait until you see the floor!


Yep - this is the desk and floor - where the heck did all those boxes come from????


This is a close up of the little area I had left to work on - and people wonder why I don't scrap very much! LOL! Can't fit a 12x12 sheet on there!


Yep its ALL a mess, I couldn't even close the cupboard doors due to all the stuff piled on the floor in front of them..... let alone IN them.....

Phew - now you see why FIVE things wasn't going to make a difference LOL! How embarrassing actually showing you all that...but it DOES get better - I promise!

The next day I got very very motivated (first time in ages actually) and went and took Jayne's challenge and tidied...... and tidied..... and tidied some more....


First thing I did was find these racks from IKEA that had been sitting there for 3 months - well I got the drill and screws out and mounted them - and popped all my SU! inks in them. That cleared out one of the drawers inside the cupboard so I was able to close the drawer....and then tidied all the "stuff" down there so the cupboard doors could close! Made a HUGE difference and inspired me to keep going!


This is as good as it gets people! Took most of the day - but I actually got it done...... found some more containers while I was cleaning so some supplies got a bit more organised while I was going too!


This is now the right end of the desk....... much better - I even found the sewing machine cover!


This is where the sewing machine cover was hiding - along with the rest of the CRAP that was there - found homes for everything, and even vacc'd the rug!!!! The boxes that are left down there are 12x12 kits and Urban Lily and Chatterbox patterned papers (my favs), and the box on top holds all the different size tins that I bought and never did anything with.... that changed the very next weekend!!!

Hmmmmm, so now you've seen my dirty little secret - LOL! I really do owe a big THANKS to Jayne for giving me the motivation to get this done - it has made a HUGE difference to how I feel, and has even gotten me playing again.....

Back in the Saddle

Woo Hoo!!!

I've finally managed to create something - I've had a very slow lean few months lately - haven't been in the 'brain space' to create much of anything..... but I've had a lovely couple of days getting out some stamps and inks and playing. I got a stack of swaps finished (will be posted today to those that are waiting on me)... only one more to go and then I'm done!

Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how this card turned out, this is the first time I've done this technique too.



The stamp set used is one of the four FREE sets that you can earn through SellAbration. This is the Delight in Life set.
The technique is emboss resist - and I've just discovered how easy it is! You stamp the images in Versamark onto gloss card and clear emboss them. Then sponge Classic inks over the top, and the embossed images will resist the ink. Thats IT! Easy peasy!
Colours used: Tempting Turquoise, Cameo Coral and So Saffron
Cardstock: as above plus confetti white
The corners are created with a little trick I learnt using the slit punch (thanks Alisa!) you just pop the corners in the centre of the semi circle, punch away and voila - little curved corners! I love this punch, there seems to be so many ways to use it! Great value for $9.50 I reckon.

Then the whole thing is finished off with a couple of contrasting strips of cardstock with some distressing and paper piercing.....the little holes seem to lift most things!

Sorry about the wonky photo, my scanner refuses to work at the moment, and I'm not sure of the technicalities of removing the 'bloat' from the centre of the photo.

I'll post in a little bit the main reason why I've been able to play.... I actually had a clean up!!! Will be showing you some before and after pics soon!

Also, keep an eye out - I'll be having a competition very soon.....