Please join me at 2.00pm on Saturday 9th May at Mitcham Community House, 19 Brunswick Road Mitcham, for an afternoon of casual stamping and delicious afternoon tea!

Cost : $10.00 donation to Australia's Biggest Morning Tea - Every attendee has the chance to win a $5,000.00 Holiday Voucher to be used anywhere in Australia.

Bring : All your own cardmaking / scrapbooking supplies. I will bring lots of stamps for you to borrow, please let me know if there's a particular set you'd like me to bring.

There will be a raffle, giveaways, technique demonstrations, lots of samples to look at fresh from the 2009 Stampin' Up! Convention which I am attending this weekend in Canberra, and best of all, great company and yummy afternoon tea!

Please let me know if you can make it [email protected] Hope to see you there!!

Like to get more for your stamping dollars?  Stamp Club gives members the opportunity to earn hostess benefits and free merchandise, just for being an active member.  How does it work?

Each Stamp Club has 6 members and runs for 6 months.  There is no joining fee or charge, but stamp club members are asked to place one $50.00 order by a set date each month.  Once in the 6 months, each Stamp Club member will receive the exclusive hostess set & free merchandise from at least a $300.00 workshop.

As a member, you might choose to host a workshop in your allocated month or collect outside orders from friends so that your  "workshop total" goes well in excess of the minimum $300.00 you are guaranteed, thus giving you lots more hostess benefits.

Stamp Club can also have a monthly get together (free) to either place orders, collect orders or just for some plain old stamping fun and inspiration.

If you're interested in being a part of the next Stamp Club (starting May or June), please email me [email protected] to register. 

Ask "Not what you can do for your stamping demonstrator, but what she can do for you!!"

I mentioned to a few people that starting in April, I would be doing a 50-50 card.  What is that? You may well ask.  A 50-50 card has 50 numbered squares on it, and for each $50.00 you spend, your name goes onto one of these squares.  When the 50-50 card is full, all the names are placed in a draw and the name that's pulled out receives a free stamp-set of your choice from the current Stampin' Up! 2009-2010 Ideas Book & Catalogue, up to the value of $50.00!!  The more times your name is on the card, the more chances you have to win.

Also, while the 50-50 card is current, there will be random draws of numbers and if your name is on that number, you will be the lucky recipient of a spot prize, which could be a pack of paper & card samples, embellishment samples, or other stamping goodies.  Everyone that has already placed an order worth $50 or more in April is already on the board.  Look out for further updates in future, as I will let you know when the card is filling up, and also the winning names of lucky draw prizes as we go along.

We've been having a bit of fun lately with pop-up cards - and after all, who doesn't love a card that you open and something bright and unexpected pops out?  On Easter Saturday I ran a small class to teach a couple of simple pop-up techniques.  We used the Stampin' Up! Die Cut Blossoms (to save on cutting out time) and "planter Box" rub-ons to make some simple but very gorgeous cards.

We also used a new stamp set "Inspired by Nature" and two new ink colours - Baja Breeze & Kiwi Kiss -to make these delightful daisy pop-up cards.

I love those new stamps! If you'd like to see them in person, and try them out, be sure to talk to me today about a free home workshop.

Talk to you again tomorrow!!

Kathryn.

Last week in our techniques class we learnt all number of tricks with Stampin' Round wheels, including embossing with them. The very last thing we did was to emboss on chocolate chip card with gold embossing powder.  The results were stunning and it later occurred to me, what a great Easter card you could do with this technique and the same products.

I don't have any Easter Stamps, so it was great for me to actually put some cards together using my favourite new colour combo - chocolate chip & Pink Pirouette to see how they turned out.  These are extremely simple cards - I literally whipped all three cards up in about 10 minutes, the box is a nifty little package we made at the techniques class last week - which would be perfect for a handful of those little easter eggs the bunny is bringing!!

Don't you love the colours and those gorgeous Stampin' Round Wheels?

Talk to you again soon.

In mid-February Stampin' Up! launched a Bushfire Appeal in response to the tragedy that affected so many lives in Victoria and across Australia. From then until the 31st March, 50% of the proceeds from the sales of 10 popular sets was reserved for the Australian Red Cross Bushfires 2009 Appeal.

This morning Stampin' Up! announced that the final donation amount from this appeal will be $77,889.63!!

That's a great effort, and I would just like to say again, a huge thank you to those of you who purchased one (or more) of these sets during the Appeal and for all the other things you have done on and since February 7th to assist those affected by this terrible event.

Your generousity knows no bounds and we can all be proud of the thoughtful, caring community spirit which lives on in our society despite our hectic lives and all the other things going on around us.

Kathryn.

Good Morning!!  Well at 6.15am one should feel fresh as a daisy so what better time to upload the most gorgeous fresh new thing!  Yesterday I said I would upload a photo of the lovely cards I have been making with the new Fresh Cut Stamp set (page 72 of new catalogue) and the co-ordinating Fresh-Cut Notes Cards (page 131). I absolutely adore these cards and they're so simple I made 7 cards in an hour!! Oh and for good measure I whipped up another one this morning - that would be the Choc Chip and Pink Pirouette number - oh how Strawberry & Chocolate Icecream does that look??

Ingredients : Fresh Cuts Stamp Set

Fresh-Cut Notes Cards

Pink Pirouette Card Stock

Chocolate Chip Card Stock

Close to Cocoa & Pink Pirouette Ink

Cameo Coral Card Stock

Rhinestone Brad - Fire

The other two cards are made with Pumpkin Pie Ink, Card & Striped Grosgrain ribbon and some gorgeous scraps of blue silk paper I have had for years, tucked away for just the right moment.

So there you have it - Have a nice day and catch you all again soon!!

Kathryn.

If you're scratching your head and wondering "Okay, what's here?" then you've definitely come to the right place!!  How excited am I to announce not only the arrival of the brand new 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalogue which we can start ordering from at 12 noon today, but I am also over the moon to launch my new means of communication with you - this blog!!

If you haven't received a copy of the new Ideas Book yet, please click on the link in the right column to take you straight to Stampin' Up!'s Australian website where you can view all the delicious goodies (as well as a few old favourites).  If you'd like a hard copy for your bedtime reading, please email me [email protected] so I can put your name on one of the shiny new copies I have stacked in boxes at home waiting for you.  Hmmmmmm, don't you love the smell of a new glossy print job?  The Ideas Book retails at $12.95 and for a limited time I am offering free postage to your door - this is a substantial saving as these gorgeous (heavy) books, weigh too much for "letter post". So don't hesitate, let me know today if you'd like one posted out. 

My blog - so proud of how it looks so far, but plenty of work to go still as clearly many of the pages are EMPTY!! Please check back regularly to see how it's growing, as I learn how to upload photos and stuff to my galleries, update class details, post photos of cool projects I have been working on etc.  This is a first for me, but I am really excited to get it off the ground - even though it needs a little more added - we'll get to that soon. In fact, I have some really gorgeous cards I have made using the brand new Fresh Cuts stamp set out of the new catalogue, so check back tomorrow to have a look at them - that's my little project for this evening - to get the photos loaded into a post so I can show off to you :o)

Well, that's probably enough for my first post - hope I see you lurking on here regularly and hope you love getting more regular updates and information. Talk to you soon!!

Kathryn