Pocketful of Posies for Just Add Ink challenge

I interrupt the posting of the card I made for my A Klass Act challenge (as promised yesterday) to enter a card in this week's Just Add Ink challenge. It has been.....oh....I don't know....forever since I entered any challenges on the JAI website so I thought I would have a play this week.

The challenge this week was to CASE (Copy and Selectively Edit) one of the creations of  design team member, Delys Cram. I spent a good while last night scrolling through Delys' blog in order to choose something I would like to CASE. I can tell you it was hard to choose just one card and I actually have some of Delys' cards now filed away on my computer to go to for inspiration in the future.

Last month I was lucky enough to be a part of the Stampin' Up! 'Paper Party' when my good friend, Robyn, joined my team. The 'Paper Party' means that Robyn and I will now be able to choose and receive a pack of Designer series paper for the rest of this year for FREE- Yippppeeeee! (How great is this company I work for?). My first choice this month was the delightful 'Pocketful of Posies' paper. I have been dying to use it ever since it arrived on my doorstep yesterday. So using THIS card of Delys' as inspiration I created my card using this gorgeous paper:

The lighting is not so great in this photo- it is a gloomy old day in Perth today. Isn't that paper gorgeous though? The colours I have used to compliment the paper are Rich Razzleberry and Baja Breeze and there's just the teeniest bit of bling sneaking in there too.

Here is a little piccie of the original card by Delys too.

So I will be back later as promised with a cutesy bike card which I designed for my AKA challenge.

Yoohoooo I'm Back!

Eight months........eight blog posts.......and only four of them showing any form of creation on my part. Oh deary me!!!! What else can I say?

With that in mind I was shocked to learn that there are still lovely people out there checking in every now and again to see if a small miracle has occured and I have blogged any of the things I have been creating. So with those faithful few in my mind I am resoluting to get back to blogging.

Contrary to what you might have been led to believe by my blog silence I have indeed been creating as much as ever.  So I do have plenty to share with you. The question is where to start??? Way back at the start of the year and go forwards? Or start with what I have been up to this week and go back? Ummm.....ummmm.....ok executive decision made let me start with this week.................

A couple of weeks ago I took it upon myself to start setting challenges for the fabulous team of stampin' girls I am a part of. We are already a very sharing, caring group and I thought that setting challenges on our 'A Klass Act' Facebook page would encourage even more of the same, with the whole team getting to have a squizzy at each others gorgeous creations.

So last week I set a 3-2-1 challenge, an idea I came upon when taking part in UnConvention a couple of weeks ago (more about that in a few posts time). The challenge I have set for the girls is to create a card/layout/3D item that included 3 stamped images (including sentiments) or photos; 2 embellishments and 1 piece of DSP. Below are the examples I created for my challenge.

Firstly a card example using the very sweet 'Baby Bundle' stamp set, some masking, some watercolouring and lots of baby blues (the sentiments come from the retired, but still very loved, Nursery Necessities set).

Then a scrapbooking layout. I have been falling in love with scrapbooking again (it's been a long while since I have scrapped) and am getting so much enjoyment out of it. This layout features three photos of my beautiful smiling boy, some cute bunting and some very fun colours.

So there we are........I'm back and will be back again in the next couple of days with my example for the first challenge I set for the Klassy chicks----Promise!!!

Introducing the new Autumn-Winter Mini Catalogue

The brand new Autumn-Winter Mini catalogue has arrived and it is full to the brim with GORGEOUS new goodies. To have a look for yourself click on the banner below or on the catalogue image in the sidebar. Enjoy!!!!





 

I am hoping to pop back here very soon to give my much neglected blog some tlc and you never know share some of the many things I have been creating lately.

Sale-A-Bration 2012

 

Today marks the start of one of the most exciting, fun and rewarding times of the stamping year- Sale-A-Bration. From today until 31st March there are fantastic products available for customers, workshop hostesses and new demonstrators alike. This year Sale-A-Bration is even more exciting with the introduction of the gorgeous 'Everyday Enchantment' designer series paper (LOVE!!!); a ribbon and brads bundle (CUTE!!!) as well as the usual four stamp sets (ADORE them all).

You can get your little hands on these fabulous free products by being any (OR ALL) of the following:

 

There are no limits with this special so for every single $100 you spend on stamping goodies you can choose another Sale-A-Bration product. Yipppeeee!!!

 

Get together with family and friends and have me come run a workshop for you during Sale-A-Bration. As the hostess, if sales at your workshop reach $600 you will receive a FREE Sale-a-Bration product. This is in addition to all of the regular hostess benefits you always receive, and the Sale-A-Bration products you will earn if your own order is above $100. That is a lot of freebies!!!  

 

Join my team as a new demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration. Not only will you save $40 off the normal joining price, become part of my awesome team, and enjoy all the wonderful things that are a part of being a demonstrator - you will also receive ANY stamp set from the current catalogue for FREE. Wow!!!

For more details and a look at the catalogue click here or let me know if you would like me to pop your own copy in the post.

If you would like to Sale-A-Brate with me by placing an order, hosting your own workshop  or becoming a demonstrator yourself (best decision I ever made) then please contact me and I will be only too happy to help and get you some FREE goodies!!!

So much excitement!!!!

Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop

 

 

What is ESAD?

ESAD stands for "Extra Special Australasian Demonstrators" and it is an on-line group just for Australian and New Zealand Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

We so love what we do and not only do we love to share it with our customers, friends, and wonderful blog visitors, but we share our love for what we do with each other as demonstrators. We run swaps, challenges, tutorials, product know-how, and cyberstamps, and we are always there to help and support each other when it is needed.

So if you are a Stampin' Up! demonstrator located in Australia or New Zealand, then please feel free to click here to join our wonderful group.

 

It's finally Sale-A-Bration time and I'm excited to say that I am joining in my first ever blog hop to celebrate. If you are not sure what Sale-A-Bration is all about I will explain it all in my next post and if you are not sure what a blog hop is....well....... Myself and a group of super talented demonstrators from Australia and New Zealand have gotten together to showcase projects made with the new Sale-A-Bration goodies. The blog hop is designed so that you can 'hop' from one page to another. You may have come to me from Kelly Nelson's page and are already happily hopping along or have come straight to me and get to start your hop here. Now when you are done looking at my creation just click on the link at the bottom of the page and you will be taken to see Yvonne Walker's fabulous creation.

So without further ado here is my card for you. It is made using the 'Everyday Enchantment' designer series paper (LOVE!!!) and 'Fresh Vintage' stamp set and some of the current In-Colours (Pool Party; Lucky Limeade; Calypso Coral; Poppy Parade & Peach Parfait).

This card is known as a Marquee card or as I like to call it a "Ta-da" card. I first saw a "Ta-da" card when it was demo'ed by the fabulous Bonnie Thurber from Stampin' Up! USA at Convention last year and was well and truly "Wow-ed"!!! I have made one other before for one of our 'A Klass Act' team days and just love them so much. The following photos will show you just why I call it a "Ta-da" card.

 

 

This is a photo of the 'belly band' that holds the card together. I added a scallop circle and the butterfly on top made with the double cut shown to us by the gorgeous and super talented Kirsty Brown (if you are reading this Kirsty- hi!!!!). I used the gorgeous Sale-a-bration DSP for both of these.

 This is the card without the band showing off the little window inside. Now wait for it...........

 

 As you pull the card open the little window opens and "Ta-da"...................

 You see the beautiful stamped image from the 'Fresh Vintage' Sale-A-Bration set in the window. How snazzy is that?!?!?!?! (The sentiment below the window is from the 'Precious Butterflies' hostess set by the way).

So I hoped you enjoyed my Sale-A-Bration celebration card and now for some more SAB crafty fabulous-ness get hopping along to:

Yvonne Walker's blog  

And I will see you back here later today with all the Sale-A-Bration details,

Happy New Year- exciting times ahead.

Hello and Happy 2012!

Can we really be well and truly into the first month of the new year already? I hope this year doesn't zoom past as fast as last year did- 2011 was gone in the blink of an eye. I wish all of you lovely people that visit my blog a wonderfully happy, healthy and successful year ahead.

As I said in my post title there are exciting times ahead- both in my personal life and Stampin' Up!/inkyloulou life as well.......

In a couple of weeks my little Elliot (who seems to be growing up more every day) starts 3yo kindy twice a week for a couple of hours. This is his first adventure on his own away from home so is very exciting and also a bit emotional for Mummy. I am also contemplating a return to the long forgotten part of my life which is work as a nurse/midwife- very, very part-time but returning to work all the same- eeeeep!

Much excitement is also ahead in my crafty world. I'm looking forward to really working hard towards achieving my goals for my little business this year- with more workshops, classes, creating, selling, challenges and blog posts. 

There is no better way to get the new stamping year started with fun and excitement than with SALE-A-BRATION which starts on January 24th. If you haven't been around for a Sale-A-Bration before in a nutshell it is a 2 and a bit month festival of gorgeous FREEBIES. Wooooo hoooooo!!!!! There will be more details on it all next week. I am also participating in a Sale-A-Bration blog hop amongst Australian & New Zealand SU Demonstrators so make sure you pop back here next Tuesday to have a look at my creations and then hop through all the other demo's blogs too.

I can't leave you without a sneak peek of some of the gorgeous Sale-A-Bration products  though can I? Here are some invitations that I made using the 'Everyday Enchantment' designer series paper and Fresh Vintage stamp set (both available for FREE during Sale-A-Bration). These invites are CASEs of the card my lovely friend & upline, Sarah Klass, had us make at our team day gathering last weekend.

These invites are to my very special Sale-A-Bration evening that I am hosting on Feburary 9th. If you are in Perth and would like to come along please contact me and I will pop one of these invites in the post.

I couldn't say goodbye today without allowing this new little friend of mine to say hello. After seeing some gorgeous little fabric owls around blogland I decided I just HAD to make my own. I have not had much experience with sewing but with my new sewing machine (thanks Mum) and some beautiful Spice Cake Designer Fabric (from the current Summer Mini catalogue) I set about making this little 'Hooty'. The pattern for this little owl came from Toad's Treasures- a fantastic, easy pattern that even novices like me can follow. I have to say he turned out just a bit cute. I may just have to make him a little 'Hooty' girl friend out of the pretty Flirtacious fabric too.

Well I hope you all have a lovely day and weekend. I will see you back here next Tuesday for some Sale-A-Bration blog-hopping fun.

Two things to be excited about.......

The first of the two being Stampin' Up!'s new Summer Mini Catalogue packed with all the loveliness that can be expected from any SU catalogue. The gorgeous goodies in this catalogue are available from now through to 31st March 2012.

Click on the catalogue below to view or please let me know if you would like your very own copy mailed to you. Some of my favourites in this catalogue are the super sparkly glimmer paper, the gorgeous Spice Cake DSP and fabric, baker's twine and 'Marry Me' stamp set.

The second bit of excitement is Stampin' Up!'s 'December Frenzy'- with savings of up to 50% on selected items. Click on the picture below for more details.

If you haven't already got the 'Welcome Christmas' stamp set this is one of my great Christmas loves and a bargain at 50% off in December. I already own more than half of the stamp sets on sale- so I personally think Stampin' Up! has selected some fantastic sets for it's 'December Frenzy'- and I can see myself adding 'Clearly For You' to my collection seeing as it is a beautiful set and even more gorgeous at 50% off. I'll also be getting the Distressing kit which I have been eyeing for ages.

If there is anything you just absolutely love and have to have then don't hesitate to contact me and I can order it for you and have it shipped straight to your doorstep asap.

I have been a busy little bee just lately with lots of Christmas workshops, classes and orders. With things hopefully being a little quieter around here for the next week or so I am hoping to pop back on here and post some photos of all my Christmas creating.

Until then- Be good- you know who is making his list and checking it twice  :)