Where has the year gone???

Oh my - look at this - it is nearly the end of the year, and I'm STILL not up to date with everything!

Finally posted out my Christmas cards this morning - well maybe they are more "Happy New Years" cards now .... and of course, being the most organised person on the planet (NOT!)... well I forgot to take a photo of them to share . Yes slap me around now..... I made just over 100 of them, and I have to say - I HATE production line stuff. The card was really nice, but you know how it is, by the end of it, you are certainly "over it". It was inspired by some gorgeous cards that I've received in the mail this month, namely by Tina and Fleur mostly. Of course all the cards are gorgeous, it's just that I have taken elements from cards from these 2 and combined them - I love being inspired by others work, and the sharing attitude that so many of us have to this business. Oh well I'm sure there will be someone that I've missed, so I'll have to make some more....

But..... the cutting of the pieces was made soooo much easier (and quicker) by my new gadget that arrived last week - yes I am THE Gadget Queen.....
I finally got my DreamKuts!!! I've been umming and ahhing over getting one of these for a few months for some time - but finally found it at a price that I just couldn't refuse (yes I was in the middle of one of my infamous spending sprees too ). BUT oh boy! This baby is wonderful! I can see it being worth its weight in gold to me, not that it's heavy though - its so much fun, quick, simple to use, not to mention accurate! LOVE it......

Another update shortly, just waiting for the camera batteries to charge so I can post some pics of what we've been up to!

We're off to see the....

REGIONALS!!!! The wonderful regionals of OZ!

Ok now I have that song stuck in my head (remind me to share with you later what the final page of DH's PhD thesis said.....) - that's where I'm off to tomorrow, the first ever Sydney Regionals for Stampin' Up! We're the last of them for the year here - they've already had them in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne - looks like they are missing Adelaide, sorry girls - maybe next year

Really looking forward to this, and to meeting up once again with some of my sidelines, cousins and the big bad mumma of us all, Angela. Not to mention meeting some wonderful gals that I haven't had a chance to connect with in real life until now, even though we have shared some great conversations and kindled some wonderful friendships online - it's so exciting to meet people when you're already friends from this wonderful tool we have here!

It IS with some trepidation that I'm heading along though - I was looking forward to a stress-free day of socializing, learning and most of all laughing.... but now I have tons and tons of nerves happening. I've been asked by Stampin' Up! to be one of the 4 local demos to present - on stage! - a WOW..... OMG! I have agonised and agonised for some time over this, but I think - well I hope - that the girls all like what I have come up with. I can't take all the credit though, it was the fabulous Relsi that helped me out here and did a wonderful step by step for a groovy 3D swirly star last weekend - so I'm pinching that (with her blessing of course) and doing it in our wonderful Holiday Thyme papers that we have available until Dec15 - for the fabulous price of $14.50, normally $16.95, for 12 sheets (and click here to get the pattern for the cracker on the flyer!!!). I'm loving myself sick over what I've done though (oops, does that sound like I have a big head - truly I don't), and am thinking it may make a pretty cool class for the first week in December - some Christmas boxes, bows and decorations....stay tuned!

Plus I've been trawling the web for lots and lots of 3D ideas - pretty much anything that can be done in cardstock can also be done in our Double-sided papers since they are of a lovely 'almost cardstock' weight (truth be known they probably are of the same weight as some cardstocks!). I've had lots of fun putting together heaps of samples.... I'll post some pics later over the weekend - it's all packed away at the moment, ready to get going EARLY tomorrow morning!

So if you're reading this and you'll be there tomorrow, please pop over and say "hi!" - I'll be the one that is ghost-white and absolutely terrified....

I have to add though, I can't wait to see what the other Sydney gals do, so really looking forward to it all Lynn, Georgina (a fellow Elite stamper), and the wonderful Leonie (one of my fabulous team members)...... see you all bright and early tomorrow morning - I have to be at Leonie's at 6.30 AM - yes AM! to get to the convention centre by 8am! ACK!

Some scrapping!

Ok its been a long time since I've popped some work on here - and finally my camera is playing nicely - I think we're friends again

This layout here is of my baby girl (not really a baby anymore, but she was toddling around when this picture was taken!)... it was created for the sketch challenge we were given at the LSBS retreat - waaaaaaay back in August .















I really love how this one turned out - nothing like the sketch - but oh well! The papers are both from the Fancy Pants range, a bit of Bazzill matting the photo (sorry I don't know the specifics of any of these anymore), rub-on title, some Prima tigerlily's, and a few bits of metal! I've actually removed the rub-on in the bottom right corner - and changed it to a swirly girly quote rub-on from Autumn Leaves, one of the Rhonna Farrer tins - gorgeous little tin chocka full of amazing rub-ons.... when it stops raining here, I'll go and take a new photo!





Close up of the flowers - I love these.










And some of the hand cutting.





Yes I cut the pattern paper out and the swirls in the bottom corner - if I remember rightly it was during my Sat night all nighter there in the wee early hours of the morning. Actually I love what I created at that time while I was away - lack of sleep seems to be good for me creatively, especially when in such awesome company!

And just to prove that I DO scrap pictures of my boy - here is an old one of him. This is his "graduation" photo - from pre-school! Scary thing is though - he's going into Grade5 next year, so this was taken 6 years ago! He still looks much the same - just has a more sullen look on his face normally... I have no idea how I'm going to cope with teenage angst!
















This one was also created on the same retreat - for a challenge (that's all I got done all weekend - challenges!) This was the "time to reorder" challenge. We were given a random pack containing 2 co-ordinating papers - that had "TIME TO REORDER" splashed in the centre in great BIG letters, plus a 12x12 backing board from paper packs... and were told to create something... anything... but it HAD to use those papers and the chipboard in some way.

I'd stored this layout of PT's in my head for ages - so set about completely scraplifting it (how I remembered it anyway!) - figured it matched what I wanted to do perfectly. The hardest part about this whole layout was getting the darn colour just right on the chipboard brackets - I painted, and painted again, and then added some Iridescent medium and more paint, and then finally water-washed some ink on the top (all using the fabulous products supplied by the wonderful Michelle Roberts from Matisse - man I loved her tables, so much fun!).... and then I added Dimensional Magic on top and set them aside carefully to dry all night. I even resisted touching them during the night.. you know, just to check .














Well.... when I was finally allowed to get them, what did I find??? Yes they were dry - nicely too I might add.... but there was an added bonus..... of a bloody flying bug thingy stuck nicely inside the coating on one of them . Of course after absolutely no sleep, and only 3 hours sleep the night before, I had 2 choices, cry hysterically or laugh hysterically - I don't think I've ever found something so darn funny before!!!!

AND.... to top it off - the darn things had dried a touch too dark to match perfectly - AAAARGH!

No problems though - a few wonderful suggestions (and much mirth) later - some ribbons were nicely tied around the brackets (NO PT - I was NOT going to make the little bug a feature of the layout!), and a quick lesson once again from the wonderful Michelle Roberts and some Matisse ink was water-washed around the edges of the layout.... and no-one would have been any the wiser - except I've now blabbed it for the whole world to have a giggle!

All In The Family

It's been a long time, and I've been trying to write this post for a few weeks - but I have to admit that I tear-up whenever I have started to.

Last month the General Manager of the Australian branch of Stampin' Up!, Dave Abbott (41), lost his life after a battle with a rare blood disorder. It has hit the Stampin' Up! family quite hard, they are a company that truly values and loves their employees. It has also hit the Australian demos hard since Dave has been there for us since the arrival of SU! to our shores, and he was very much a 'hands-on' manager. I had many opportunities to talk with him, both on the phone and in person and he was always lovely, attentive and caring - with an astonishing memory for details, and always with our (the demos) best interests at heart. He had seemed to be on the mend - managing to be there for our first convention in May just gone, even though he did look frail he always had a smile on his face. And then he and his wife were able to join the 8 lucky (and hard working) Australian demonstrators that earned the Incentive Trip in August - I'm so glad that they were able to spend this time together.

Proving that Stampin' Up! is more than just a company, it truly is a family - they have released a stamp set for this month only here in Aus/NZ called All In The Family. This is already available to our US and Canadian cousins, and will be in our Idea Book & Catalogue next year.
The special thing with this, and with Stampin' Up!, is that they are donating ALL proceeds worldwide from sales of this set during November to a fund set up for Dave's widow Cathy and their 3 young children. That's correct, 100% of the sales worldwide - not just profit, every cent spent on this set will go directly to benefit Dave's family.
Price for our market has been set at $73.95 (plus P&H), but for the month of November I'm offering this set to anyone that would like to purchase it and help out a worthy young family for my demo price of $65 - this includes P&H to anywhere in Australia. Contact me to order this set. If you would prefer to contribute directly to the fund, again email me and I'll send you the details of the account that Stampin' Up! have set up specifically for the "Dave Abbott Family Fund".

Something that Stampin' Up! head office wrote recently regarding this has really resonated with me lately, and I'd like to share it with you:

"At times like this, we are reminded of what truly matters in life-relationships with family, friends, associates, and others who influence us and make us better people. Dave certainly fits that description. He developed many meaningful relationships, with both Stampin' Up! employees and demonstrators, and we are thankful we knew Dave. He will be deeply missed in many ways.

Life is much too short to lose sight of the things that matter most. One of our Eight Principles is balance. When we lose those we love, we are reminded how important it is to live a life with balance, prioritising our demands in a way that preserves time for people and things that bring us the greatest happiness and joy."

So go.... hug your kids and tell your husband/wife/partner that you love them dearly.

Greetings from....

FREEZING Melbourne!!!!

Yes I'm here in frosty Melb having a ball at Paperific and with my' gorge' host Jenni and her ADORABLE family..... this will be a quickie post!

Paperific.... well what can I say? What an awesome vibe and feel - its such a blast! It was sooooooo busy yesterday morning while I was working the make and takes at our Stampin' Up! stand - but I enjoyed every second of it (yes even Claire pointing a camera at me from afar and saying "You're so in your element Tracey!".... because truth be known - I really was!) I LOVE meeting everyone and chatting and playing - what an awesome 'job' it is that I have.....

Quick hello's to the gals that I caught up with on Friday - loved seeing you all again.... so Hi to Maggie, Sandie, LynS, Kerri, JenniH..... not to mention meeting so many dear friends for the first time ever, including Claire, Michelle, Christine..... oh and my TWIN Sarah - what a blast!

Looking forward to tomorrow when I get to be there All DAY - if you're reading this and are there on Sunday - be sure to stop by and say a BIG hi! And so looking forward to chatting more with Kerri and catching up again with Viv, Claire, Michelle and the rest of the SU gals!

Ok time for another wine with Jen and hubby - photos will be happening when I get home (be afraid, be very afraid! LOL)

Paperific!

Yes... come and say Hi to me at Melbourne's Paperific Expo! It's running from Friday Oct 12th, through to Sunday, October 14th.

I'll be there with a great bunch of Independent Stampin' Up!® demonstrators, and am so looking forward to catching up with a couple that I've met in real life before and can't wait to see again (Hi Jenni, Kerri, Viv and Fleur), and finally getting a chance to meet some gals that I've developed quite a close and sharing bond with. Details of who and how we'll be there are here!
We'll be having product demos, make and takes (continuously!), catalogue sales, be taking orders, 'show only' specials, plus of course a fabulous display of samples, inspirations, techniques all for you to check out! Not to mention some 'goodie bags' to hand out, PLUS a FANTABULOUS basket full to the BRIM with lots and lots of Stampin' Up! goodies.

I'll be there demoing and talking on Fri morning, and all day Sunday! I dare say Fri arvo will be spent having a looky-loo and soaking up all the great Paperific atmosphere that I've heard so much about! AND getting to catch up with all my online friends that are located south of the border - I'M SO EXCITED!

Missing once again

Wow - to all you faithful and loyal readers that have been visiting and getting frustrated - I'm oh so sorry (yes all 2 of you - hi Mum! ) - yes once again I have been the slackest blogger in all of blogging history, please be faithful and come back and check again soon... I promise there is lots of goodies to come!

Yes it has been busy here - but not too bad, I think my main problem lately is that my camera and I just don't get on well at the moment , or is it the computer and camera.....or the computer and me.... oh well, I'm sorting it all out anyway so that I can start to take pics of all the goodies that I have been doing lately. I've also had a couple of classes, so that has been exciting - I actually need to go and shower now and get ready for another today! But I have actually been doing a bit of papercrafting - some scrapping, some cards, some OTP projects.... as well as trying to get some stuff organised for Paperific in Oct down in Melb - YES I'll be there, with a few other Stampin' Up! gals from Elite Stampers - I'm soooo looking forward to this, not only will it be my first time to Paperific (THE premier papercrafting show in Aus), but also my first time south of the border to Melbourne!!!! More about that to come later.... I promise (really I do Claire)

As you may be able to tell I'm starting a bit of a face lift here too (finally!) so please let me know what you think - hints and tips on how to improve it would be awesome - I'm just learning all this HTML and hex-colour coding stuff so it may take me a little while - but I'm going to get there!

Anyway best go and rescue my cardstock and scissors from the 2 year old muncha - shes obsessed with cutting fringes in things lately - hmmmm, anyone want a really cute 2 year old??? LOL - only kidding, she IS adorable and makes us laugh every day (and cry sometimes too - but hey, isn't that what kids are for - to test and try us all the time?!)

Chat soon
Tracey

Some faux metal

This was such a quick and easy one to put together - and it gave me the chance to play with the faux metal technique - great for quick embellishments on those oh-so-hard masculine cards!

The stamp set used is the hostess set 'Riveting', one of the many benefits of hosting your own real-life or 'virtual' workshop - and this one fits our circle punches perfectly!

All I've done is covered some Very Vanilla cardstock with copper embossing powder and heated. I've done about 5 layers of this and then placed the stamp into the final layer while it was still warm. Lift it up, and voila! a faux metal image to use - punched out using SU! circle punches.

The rest of the card has used a paper from the Recollections pack, more Very Vanilla cardstock, choc chip ink and some grosgrain ribbons. The strip is popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals. All products used are Stampin' Up! and available through me at any time

Spring MINI Catalogue is all systems GO!

Yep dear patient kind wonderful readers - it's HERE! This is the cover for our wonderful Spring mini catalogue that is out - full of lots and lots of yummy stamp sets and accessories...the papers are just divine - and the punches *sigh* they are just SO useful!

If you don't yet have a copy of this and would like me to send you one - just email me, auntytraci@hotmail.com and I'll get one in the post to you that very same day - FREE!

The goodies in here are available for a limited time only - we can order them from now until the end of November - after that - they're gone

*sigh* it's just all so nice, I've had an awful time choosing what to get - I truly do want it all! And I thought I'd decided and then I start cruising blogs and galleries and find soooooo many more ideas for sets that I'm trying to resist!

Isn't she lovely?!

Yep - another 'little' layout from me - I'm actually starting to enjoy this scrapping lark - but shhh, don't tell the other stampers, I'll be voted off the island!


Yep - yet another one of my little cutie.... my poor son, all the pics of him from this age are old film ones, and they aren't very good either...and he's at that really awkward gangly age now, and anytime a camera is pointed at him he 'smiles' this grimace .... so another "rubba muncha" pic it is (I must tell you the story behind that nickname someday!)

The colours in this aren't very true - I'm kinda 'scanner-challenged' so hopefully will be able to take a pic and upload tomorrow that is better. This has been done using the new Office range that is in the MINI catalogue (available Aug1) - the background and torn edge section are from the Notations DS papers, and the "original" stamp is from the Office Accoutrements set - I'm loving these! I've also used a couple of the self adhesive die cuts from the Accents & Elements tin - this has a TON of these in it, and all in a cute little tin as well .

Cardstock colours used are Lavender Lace and So Saffron, the chipboard accents are from the On Board Accents pack in the main IB&C, and the quote on the vellum is from the Friendship Flowers set. And I've discovered the absolute BEST adhesive for vellum - it doesn't show through AT ALL.... it's the SU Anywhere Glue Stick!!! Yep a glue stick - the advantage to this one is its rectangular shape so it gets in all the corners without making a huge mess of your workspace.

And of course it wouldn't be complete without my fave tool of the moment - the snot sucker - oops, the Colour Spritzer! And yep - that's more spritzing that what I would like - but the kids 'helped' me with it, and I just couldn't redo it, especially after all the help that Patrick gave me.

All products used are Stampin' Up! and are available through me, just drop me an email at auntytraci@hotmail.com.

July Stampin' Up! promo

JUST ADD WATER

July's Promotion from Stampin' Up! is a fantastic one - I'm really excited.

For every $50 you spend with me this month, you can get 25% off a colour family of Watercolour Wonder Crayons, or the Watercolour Pencils. This brings the crayons back down to the price they were in the last catalogue, but in the individual colour family tins!

This means the price of the colour family tins of crayons with the discount comes down to $29.21, the neutral crayons to $14.21, and the Watercolour Pencils to $28.46!

What a great opportunity to get started on having some great colouring fun!

Contact me at auntytraci@hotmail.com, or leave a comment if you'd like some more information about this, or the Stampin' Up! opportunity. My newsletter will be coming out shortly too - so keep an eye on your inbox

Some cards

A girlfriend asked me to make her some thank you cards for an event she was attending over in the US - as usual I left it until the VERY last minute to get them done (yep, 10pm the night before she was flying out very early ). Since she's now been and gone and come home (Hi Karen - hope you had a ball!)... I figure I can show them on here now.

This was my very first attempt at a one-sheet-wonder - making 10 cards from one A4 stamped sheet of paper as the focal point on the cards! Wowee, what fun are these! I can see me making more of these - and smell a class in the making too .

Now I know this set is retired - but I really wanted to have one last splurge with it before I bite the bullet and sell it off on evil-bay! I think I shed tears when Toile Blossoms was on the retiring list here - I'd only had it for a couple of months so it has barely seen ink


This has used a simple colour scheme of Whisper White, Basic Black, with a hint of Bravo Burgundy - I think they came up OK! If you'd like a closer look leave me a comment and I'll post them all individually (have to get DS an after school 'snack' right now!). Oh and I had lots of fun playing with my new toy on these too - the Colour Spritzer (also affectionately known as the "snot sucker!")

Some scrapping!

I can share this layout with you all now since the competition I created it for is all done and dusted now!

I made this for the Little Book of Big Memories competition that was running over at The Little Scrapbook Shop.... unfortunately for me I think I was being extremely optimistic about how long it takes me to scrap! The comp involved having to scrap 12 layouts using various brands of products - ie, one brand per layout essentially, the sponsors for the comp - and scrapping some memorable events from 2006 for you. Cath managed to put together some great sponsors and the first prize was a HUGE pack worth $600 . But being the shocker at this scrapping lark that I am, I only managed to complete ONE layout - yep just one and that was even with an extension of time too . But in my defence I think its a kick-ass layout!!! ROFL!

Lots of the girls managed to complete this in time though.... they are all legends if you ask me! The winners were all extremely well deserved though, a huge bunch of fabulously talented scrappers - as well as the major prize, there were 'minor' prizes for each brand too.... you just had to complete all 12 to be in the running for anything

Anyway this was mine, and I have to say I'm really really happy with it. The photo was taken by a good friend of mine, and it just defined the moment that I understood my baby was totally growing up - far too quickly. There is journalling on the back of the layout - I might share it with you someday . The brand used here is Urban Lily with some assorted chipboard from other companies.


Thanks for looking - I have to say this is probably my favourite layout that I've ever done! (I'm really NOT a scrapper !!!)