New blog - check it out!

Hi - yes finally I have set up my new blog, it's been a long process for a myriad of reasons - but if you want to continue following my Stampin' Up! adventures please go to my new blog here!

Bandana Technique Baroque Motifs

Well one set that I will be sad to see go in the retirement list is Baroque Motifs, but I know that Stampin' Up! are going to bring out lots of lovely new stamp sets so I refuse to be sad about it! I did this technique a while ago at one of my classes and it's a simple combination emboss resist and detail work with the white gel pen.

So I started off by embossing whisper white card stock with Versamark and black embossing powder

Then using stamping sponges cut into wedges I sponged a third of the area with Poppy Parade

I repeated this with Peach Parfait to get even more coverage of the card stock

And then I added the final colour Daffodil Delight

Generally once I've finished sponging I wipe over the embossed areas with a dry tissue to remove any ink from the embossed areas to complete the emboss resist technique. Now to take it one step further to look like an indigenous bandana design I used the white gel pen to highlight the design by doodling over it - the pen goes over the embossed areas just fine as well as onto the sponged card stock.

Isn't that cute???? I love this as it's a combination of a few techniques to give a great result and no two cards are ever exactly the same! Here's a finished card with it - if they ever retire Teeny Tiny Sentiments I am going to be in trouble!!!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Teeny Tiny Sentiments
Ink: Versamark, Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait & Daffodil Delight
Card Stock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Modern Label punch, Word Window Punch, Dimensionals, White gel pen, stamping sponges.

A Dasher Christmas

There are always a couple of stamps that I am a bit sad about losing in the retirement lists (stamps and accessories) and Dasher is one of them....and you can get him for the rest of this month/or until he runs out for just $11.21 so a bargain!

If you want to order anything from the retirement lists contact me sooner rather than later as some items have already run out!

Stamps: Dasher, Contempo Christmas
Ink: Early Expresso & Cherry Cobbler
Card Stock: First Edition DSP, Early Expresso & Very Vanilla
Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Seam binding, Bird builder punch

Retirement Lists are Out!

Yes it's that time of the year when the retirement lists for Stampin' Up! catalogue has been released (only a month until we get the new catalogues now - contact me if you would like one when they arrive). I will be placing orders regularly during August so if there is anything you want off the lists I would advise to get it now as once the items are gone, they are GONE!

The lists are here

Awesome Result

Well no I haven't fallen off the blog world, we have had an awful lot of different things happening of late which culminated in chronic time anaemia, but I'll be back blogging again more frequently now.

Myleigh had a wonderful result for her Scrapbooking fundraiser for Fae and there has to be a massive thank you to everyone that attended, to Laurissa, Annette M. & Sharon for baking awesome goodies to eat; for St. James Anglican Church for providing the venue at a discount; Sumo Salad, Majestic India & Caffissimo at Gateways, Collins Bookstore at Gateways, Alisha Gaff for designing some terrific custom mugs, Laurilee for donating a wonderful digital photo frame, Stampin' Up! Australia for an amazing box of product, Michelle M. for the magazines and other product, Sawyer's Place for the Washi tape, personal donation from Vera, Lesley for Tupperware, Matischa for Nutrimetics, Jocie for the hammock, Jo for the amazing massages, Cheeky Charlies Not Just Nappy Cakes and probably a few others that I have forgotten to mention - most of all that you to all of the girls that came along and supported the event and also to everyone that bought raffle tickets, hundred number board tickets, massages and magazines. The final result was an amazing $2003.65!!!!!!!

Here are some other pictures from the day - hmmm cupcakes!



Custom mugs that got filled with a chocolate bar and coffee/tea sachet:



and here is myself and Myleigh getting everything ready for drawing the raffle!



Thanks again for all of your amazing support and generosity - if you want to participate in another super fun fundraising day - the next one is for the National Breast Cancer Foundation on Saturday November the 3rd - stay tuned for more details!

Crop for Fae Spearman raffle tickets

I'm currently in the middle helping a friend with a Crop for Charity for this Saturday. In addition to the crop sessions, there will be a raffle for which you can purchase tickets to help support Fae and her family. 


Regarding the raffle I have checked with our states gaming laws and I am allowed to sell tickets for it up to 8 days prior to the drawing of it (you can read the appropriate document here), we have written permission from the family to raise funds for them and also from Stampin' Up! Australia who have donated the most massive box of goodies to raffle off......so that means that anyone in Australia can buy tickets and we will happily mail you the prize(s) if you win (overseas readers - I can't mail the parcel overseas, however if you have an Australian mailing address I am happy to send it there). So no excuses for those who have said they have prior commitments this weekend and can't come and join in the fun!

Tickets are $2 each or 3 for $5 they are on sale from tonight until 8pm WST on Friday 30th June. The raffle draw will be drawn on Saturday evening during the event at ~9.30pm and results posted here and on the Face Book event page for the chance to win one of four terrific prizes pictured below get your tickets now!

How to purchase tickets:

1. Email me with your name, contact details and number of tickets you would like to purchase.

2. Make a deposit into the ANZ bank account BSB: 016016 Account: 476967137 under name Ann Gerlach. Please leave your SURNAME as reference for me OR pay via PayPal on the button below.

3. You will receive a confirmation email from me with your ticket numbers for your reference as soon as payment has been received.

Crop for Fae raffle tickets

single ticket$2.00 AUD 3 tickets$5.00 AUD 6 tickets$10.00 AUD 9 tickets$15.00 AUD 12 tickets$20.00 AUD

Prize 1: Includes over $450 worth of products, including: $30 voucher for Cheeky Charlies Not Just Nappy Cakes, wash tape, chipboard album, novel, adhesive, Stampin' Up! products include - pastels, 4 sets watercolour crayons, 8"x8" scrapbook album and refill, chipboard, designer series paper & specialty designer series paper, buttons, 5 rolls of ribbon, Simply Scrappin Kit and lots more!

Prize 2: Includes over $380 worth of products, including: $30 voucher for Cheeky Charlies Not Just Nappy Cakes, wash tape, chipboard album, novel, acrylic stamp, Stampin' Up! products include - pastels, 4 sets watercolour crayons, rub ons, designer series paper & specialty designer series paper, buttons, 4 rolls of ribbon, Simply Scrappin Kit, Quick Accents and lots more!

Prize 3: Includes over $300 worth of products, including: chipboard album, novel, Stampin' Up! products include - pastels, 4 sets watercolour crayons, rub ons, designer series paper & specialty designer series paper, buttons, 5 rolls of ribbon, Quick Accents and lots more!

Prize 4: Includes over $250 worth of products, including: novel, acrylic stamp, Stampin' Up! products include - pastels, 4 sets watercolour crayons, rub ons, designer series paper & specialty designer series paper, buttons, 4 rolls of ribbon, Simply Scrappin Kit and lots more!

Good luck and thank you for helping us add some happiness to the life of a very ill little girl and her family.

Get a FREE Stamp Set During June - lots of Reason to Smile!

Well June isn't just about rewarding wonderful hostesses with freebies (for details of how to get an extra $90 in hostess reward dollars in June/July check out the details here) June is also an awesome month for customers - as you can get this super gorgeous stamp set called Reason to Smile for FREE or you can purchase it.

If you don't want to get it FREE by placing a $125 order with me, you can purchase it for $28.95 in clear mount or $35.95 in wood mount. This two step stamp set makes some lovely cards, recently I got my embossing powder and bleach out and made this one with it - I love how Soft Suede card stock bleaches to almost the same colour as So Saffron. The 1" square punch & postage punches are still available from the Summer mini in the carry over flier section and I also used the square punch to create the fish tail flag ends on the sentiment banner.

Stamps: Reason To Smile, Loving Thoughts
Card stock: Soft Suede, So Saffron & Early Expresso
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: White embossing powder, 1" square punch, postage punch, Dimensionals, Aqua painter
Non SU!: bleach

Downline Training - Punch Selection Tool

Well last months downline training meeting was a lot of fun, after all the business chat and promotion celebrations, we made this handy punch selection tool:

It contained 38 different punch silhouettes with their names, codes and prices so that if you see an image in the catalogue(s) and don't want to cut it out by hand, or wonder if you can layer it you can do this and see that these stamps fit within the punch area:

but this one would cut part of the image off so you can't use this particular punch to punch out that stamp.

but I could move it so that the same size punch punches out each foot singly, but I just can't get both feet in this punch size without trimming some toes!

The girls all decided it was a pretty handy business tool, especially as not everyone has all the punches and it is good to be able to tell customers with confidence if something is the right size or not and also helps my downline know which punches they are likely to get the most use out of when they go to buy them as well. After laminating the card stock, we used the Crop-a-dile to punch a hole in each square and it all loops together on a handy clip that you can open to add more to when we get new punches in the future, or remove them as they retire.

My downline and I get together monthly for product training, business tips, general chat, swaps, making samples with new products, social dinners twice a year and more.....want to join my team click here.

Setting Goals

Well the National Stampin' Up! Convention has just finished in Australia for another year.......and no I didn't get to go, maybe one day I will, next year they are holding it in Brisbane, which no doubt will also be lovely! I am happy to settle for a one day Regional training event which will be in Perth on September 29th this year - who wants to come with me? A wonderful day of fun and you don't have to be a Stampin' Up! demo to come along - I'd be happy to take you as my guest. 

Tonight Stampin' Up! also announced all the annual demonstrator achievements for sales, recruiting, heart of Stampin' Up! and many others!! Stampin' Up! also announced who won the annual incentive trips (an all expenses paid holiday for the demonstrator and their partners to a wonderful destination for a week of pampering) and next year it's going to be in Utah - would I like to go? ABSOLUTELY!!! Will I achieve it hmm no idea, as I've never even made it 50% of the way towards a trip so far, but I made a resolution to keep track of my progress towards it from now on, and I may not achieve it this year, but one day I will........to keep track of my progress I have created a new widget on my sidebar towards achieving the trip......I'll try to remember to update it monthly - we're currently 2 months into the SU! year so I'm already behind my monthly points target, so we'll have to wait and see how I go - of course if you feel the need to help me achieve my goal either by ordering, hosting a party with friends or joining my group - I'd be more than happy to accept your assistance *grin*

Changes are coming & they are all GOOD!

Wow, it's currently the annual Stampin' Up! Convention and there are so many exciting things being announced........not the least of which is the fact we will be getting the diagonal score plate as of NOW! and also that there are some changes happening to our catalogues. The next main catalogue will be released this year on September 1st 2012 and only run for 10 months (until June 30th 2013) from then on our annual catalogues will follow the fiscal year (1st July - June 30th) and only be 1 month behind the US release! The summer mini will now run from Sept-Jan & the Autumn from Feb-Jun.........all the catalogues will be BIGGER (as in more pages) and the best part - if you register your details with me you can get them for FREE - yep, decided I love you all and I'll pay for your main catalogues as well now, not just the minis!

Get an extra $90 in hostess dollars for FREE in June/July!!!

What an exciting month - Stampin' Up! has just released two amazing offers for customers and hostesses! The first offer is amazing - if you host a workshop party during June/July you can get an extra $90 in hostess dollars! Yes for a party with sale cover $650 you get the normal free catalogue and ideas book RRP$12.95*, a free demonstration of your choice and a free make and take for you and your guests - plus you get the normal $100 in hostess reward dollars and one item at 50% off - and then as a winter bonus you get an additional $90 in hostess dollars free! Remember you can redeem your hostess dollars on anything in the current catalogues so if you want to shorten your wish list, contact me now to book a workshop party or place an order.

French Foliage CASE

I was part of an online fundraiser recently for Breast Cancer and one of the samples made was a CASE of a CASE and consequently now I have no idea who originally made this card - but I love it and wanted to share my card with you. It's sort of another variation on a faux layered card, it doesn't look like a card made just from Whisper White card stock does it?? 

Did I ever tell you that the best value item in the entire Stampin' Up! catalogue are the stamping sponges - $6.50 #101610 for 3 that I cut up and make into 18, topped with the round tab punch labels so they don't get mixed up when I am using them.........bargain!

Stamps: Loving Thoughts, French Foliage 

Ink: Early Expresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Card Stock: Whisper White
Accessories: Linen thread, mat pack, paper piercer, paper snips, Dimensionals, stamping sponges.
Non-SU! Post-it notes

Reason To Smile Sneek Peek!

I was so excited to hear that there are two awesome new Stampin' Up! offers coming for June - one of which involves FREE rubber! I also wanted to take part in this months sketch challenge on Craft Project Central and here's the sneak peak result.......

I combined making my own designer paper using the two step stamps with some fussy cutting and Twitterpated designer paper & Baker's twine. I love the look of the square lattice folder - what's your favourite embossing folder?

Stamps: Reason to Smile, Every Moment
Ink: Basic Gray, Cherry Cobbler, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzaz
Card Stock: Whisper White, Twitterpated designer paper, Basic Gray
Accessories: Dimensionals, Big Shot, Square Lattice Folder, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, blender pen, stamping sponge, paper snips.

Why should I pay so much for SNAIL when I can get 50m of double sided tape for $2?

Several people ask me which adhesive is the best to buy as SNAIL isn't the cheapest. In some classes I also use a different brand of double sided tape (Stylus) as I don't have 12 SNAIL dispensers and to be honest if we used SNAIL in class I would have to either ask people to BYO or pay an extra $5 a class as I find when it's not their adhesive they try to paint with the SNAIL rather than just using it as an adhesive! 

I am reluctant to get people to bring their own tape for two reasons, firstly if people start bringing their own stuff to class, it gets mixed up with my stuff and things might get accidentally put in the wrong bag during clean up time and if they run out or forget to bring it they'd end up using mine anyway. Secondly people chose different quality adhesives and honestly you do get what you pay for and I would hate for someone to look at a card made in one of my classes and judge it as being rubbish purely based on the quality of the tape chosen by the creator (not me) - see below for an example.

Here is a card I made using cheap tape a few years ago, I was making some samples up and ran out of my SNAIL adhesive so grabbed the nearest tape to finish it off which happened to be from my sons craft box.

Can you see the oily looking trails left by the tape along the whisper white Top Note? Well here's a closer look.............

Sort of ruins the look of all the lovely sponging along the edges doesn't it? Well look what happens when I apply some gentle pressure.......

The whole lot just came apart - the adhesive just doesn't stick well over time and leaves a papery trail and an oily residue.

Now not every card is designed to last forever, but for those special people whom you make a handmade card for and like to keep it for longer than just the week or so of the event or can you imagine making a scrapbook page with this tape?? Definitely not acid free and wouldn't create something that will last from generation to generation! I strongly recommend thinking twice before you chose which adhesive you will use to create your artworks with as it's a shame to spend all that time, effort and supplies only to have it all come apart or be ruined by oily residues........

SNAIL is refillable and comes in 12m rolls, it has a continuous dispenser and is acid free and you really do only need a small amount in each corner of a card to hold it together permanently. To order SNAIL click here #104332 12m SNAIL adhesive $12.95 #104331 SNAIL refill $8.50.

Faux Layering with Just Believe

In a recent techniques class we did faux layering - a fairly simple technique that combines sponging and masking techniques, some patience, lots of post-it notes and practise to create an awesome dimensional look on just one layer of card stock! I must confess though - the sentiment for this one was popped up as a separate layer, pearls were added as flower centres. The background was created using the Love Blossoms roller wheel that is a carryover item from the Summer mini catalogue and can still be ordered here.

Stamps: Love Blossoms roller wheel, Just Believe

Card stock: Basic Black & Whisper White

Ink: Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz & Basic Black

Accessories: Stamping sponges, basic pearls, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, dimensionals, window sheet.

Button Buddies Pig

This was a fun card I made recently for a class focused on the stamp set Button Buddies and designer paper, this month is the best time to get designer paper as for every 3 packs, you get one free!

Stamps: Button Buddies, On Your Birthday, Pennant Parade 

Ink: Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight

Card Stock: Big Top DSP, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose

Accessories: Big Shit, Tasteful Trim die, Perfect Pennants, 2.5" circle punch, Petite Pennants Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, stamping sponge, Basic rhinestones, subtles designer buttons. 

Birthday & Friends Scrapbook Pages

Here's another lost scrapbook layout from last year (I loved that DSP so pretty), from memory this was an aborted layout, that didn't make the cut into a class........although I like the chipboard flower embellishment that I made for it and the hidden journalling in the envelope......

although I like the chipboard flower embellishment that I made for it and the hidden journalling in the envelope......

I know I didn't finish the layout s it has no title on it - even though I am assuming it was done for a birthday because of the cake die cut! Then I morphed it into these pages.........

I love how the Stamp-a-ma-jig makes it so easy to line up elements like this part of Artistic Etchings....

Doesn't it make a great border for the photo mats & journalling components? The journalling was hidden inside this envelope.......I love the scallop envelope die......it has a perforated part (similar to the Top Note die, so you can trim things off and it gives it a perfect layer).

Inside the envelope, the stamping and sponging matched the rest of the layout (you can tell this was one of my finished layouts as it had sponging on it - unlike the one at the beginning of this post!).

Stamps: Artistic Etchings, Friends 24-7
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black
Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Love Letter DSP.
Accessories: Big Shot, Scallop envelope die, Tasteful trim die, Simple Letters alphabet, stamping sponges, blossom party die, chipboard sheet, 2 way glue pen, multi-purpose adhesive sheets, decorative label punch, round tab punch, Big Bold Cupcake die.

May Team Swaps

We had a lovely evening last week where we got to spend an evening chatting all about the latest Stampin' Up! news, swap cards and make a useful business tool. The swaps were a to of fun and they focused on the theme of the in-colours. Here's what we swapped......

Lovely use of lace and the Top Note die by Jocie:

Inlaid embossing after fussy cutting LOTS of Vintage Flowers by Tracy:

A very sweet card by Myleigh:

A funky fold opening card by Nikki:

Stunning layering of the Fun Flowers die by Marsha:

and mine - well I forgot to take a photo of it *grin* I'll re-create it and post it on here soon! Hope you got some ideas from the above swaps, I know I did!