Not to mention, sneak previews of new products, thousands of samples, hundreds of crazy stamping women to make friends with, an outlet for your creative streak that makes you look like an artistic genious - even if you can't draw a stick figure, the opportunity to earn a small amount of pocket money doing something you love, or throw yourself into it and build a great business with lots of bonuses and incentives and that fits around your family life?

From now until the 31st July, the awesome Stampin' Up! Starter Kit is on sale for only $259.00, that's a huge 20% saving on a kit that contains products worth over $560.00!  And it's so easy to become a member of the Stampin' Up! family.  See my specials page for more details by clicking here. 

If you have any questions about joining Stampin' Up! I have some free, no-obligation information packs which I can put in the post straight away for you.  Send me an email today : [email protected]

Today - Thursday 27th May is the nominated day for the 2010 Australia's Biggest Morning Tea for the Cancer Council of Australia.

Please come and join me for a cuppa at Bayswater Youth Centre, Pine Road, Bayswater, between 10am and 1pm.  Entry is by gold coin donation and there will be lots of market stalls and goodies.

Stop by and see me and make a very cute sheep bookmark to take home.

I also have a display of very bright cards made using the "Sunny Day" Simply Scrappin' Kit. The colours are so delicious!

If you aren't able to come today, perhaps you can make it on Saturday to the Woodbridge Preschool in Eltham, where I'll be doing a similar thing.  All the details for Saturday are in the message at the top of my blog.  Hope to see you in the next couple of days, raising money for a fundraising cause close to my heart. 

Have you had a play with the new Stampin' Up! Big Shot and Top Note Die yet?

I've been having a play with the brayer and the  truly gorgeous "Asian Artistry" hostess set from the Autumn / Winter mini catalogue and wanted to share a couple of cards with you. You'll have to excuse the colours a little, I took the photos at night without a flash, so they are little blurgh, but I am sure you'll agree, the stamp set and the cutting die are fabulous regardless.

I didn't make a whole pile of swaps for convention - too busy with weddings and all that other stuff, but I did want to take just one, to put in the Stampin' Up! swap box.  I love the Red Riding Hood colours in this card, which have blended so beautifully with Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink when I have brayered them onto the Whisper White card.

The Stampin' Pastels have been applied to this card using blender pens, just to give a little bit of depth to the flowers, such a lovely soft effect.

Well, that should keep you going until I have time to post some of the exciting news from convention. Be back to talk to you soon,

Kathryn. 
  

Woo Hoo!  I am very excited to once again be zooming off for a short break with my crazy stamping sisters for the 2010 Stampin' Up! Convention.  This year it's being held at Darling Harbour in Sydney and we will have make and takes, training talks, lots of goodies, demonstrations of lots of new projects and techniques and top it all off on Saturday night, with our Rewards & Recognition Dinner, where several of the Art with Heart Team (including your's truly) will be receiving recognition for their business achievements over the past 12 months.

By the time this post appears, I will already be in the Harbour City, perhaps cruising across to Manly on the Sydney Ferries or going up the river to Parramatta for a bit of sightseeing.  May have to try the Art Gallery of NSW again for a bit of inspiration too.

Here's some pictures from last years convention to give you a taste of what delights we have in store!  (These photos were taken by the official event photographer - I was too busy swapping and shopping!

Lots of ladies took part in the eagerly anticpated swaps, making up to 100 cards each!

Elaine and I in the Momento Mall checking out the Manhatten Flowers umbrellas!

Australia's Biggest ever Make & Take session - look at those industrious ladies stamping!

Ladies from the Art with Heart Team at the dinner on Saturday night - did we have fun?  YES!!

So, now you see why we are sooo excited about the next couple of days! and why we won't be answering our telephones or emails!  But I can't wait to get back and share some of the ideas with you.

Talk to you soon, Kathryn.
  
  
  

Back in December, the Art with Heart team had an ATC swap to really challenge us to use our punches differently. I have to confess, I am the first to use my punches for exactly what they were planned, and not see the endless variety of uses - ie, a flower, is a flower and a square is a square!  At that time, I combined a scallop circle punch with the Five Petal Flower Punch and made some very cute sheep. To be reminded, click here.

Since then, I have been trying to look at my punches in a different way, to see what other shapes they could be.  You're going to adore what else the scallop circle punch can do, and those of you who bought the five petal punch to make the sheep as well, are going to love the next little project which uses both!

If you'd like to see some close ups of some new punchie critters go to my Art Gallery. And if you'd like to order any of the punches to make these critters, please email me on [email protected]

Remember last week, when I talked about schoozing up a card in three easy lessons? It's here if you don't recall.

I had some left over flowers and I mumbled something about it being a good prospect for a scrapbook layout - given my unfulfilled promise to myself that I would do a layout a month this year . . .

Well, I finally printed out a photo that contained similar colours and put together a nifty little 6"x6" layout in order to use up those flowers - after all, it was a bit of work to cut them all out, then not use them!

But the even more exciting part about this is, I have stuck to all the main ingredients I used previously, so if you like, this layout is a schzoozed up version of the cards I made last week - or this is Step 4 of the series!

See, same Stampin' Round Wheel, same flowers, same rhinestone brad, same colours, same Top Note Die cut on the Bigshot - ooh it's so easy to create something when all the ingredients are already sorted, and you just have to put the puzzle together.

Mini album layouts are great because they are quick and easy, but it's hard to find a place to put any journalling.  That's where hidden journalling can be used, and I have done so here with a tag made from the same Top Note Die cut twice (thanks Tina Gillespie!!) and a piece of Kiwi Kiss ribbon for the tab. This slots in nicely behind the photo.

Printed journalling boxes do look lovely, but I guess it's a bit like a hand-written card, the receiver has no doubt as to who the author was of the sentiments written just for them.

Now, at some stage in the next 10 years, I must get on and scrapbook a few more of those wedding photos! 
  

The Stampin' Up! Simply Scrappin' Kits are just the perfect thing for making a series of gorgeous scrapbook pages, or even a whole pile of cards, without having to buy heaps of other products.

In the 2010 Autumn Winter mini catalogue, you will find the bright, playful, "Sunny Day" Simply Scrappin' kit which contains self-adhesive die-cuts, pattered paper & textured cardstock in delightful lively designs.

To support our fundraising efforts for Australia's Biggest Morningtea for the Cancer Council, I will donate $5.00 from the purchase of every Simply Scrappin' Kit ordered from me, between now and Friday 13th June 2010.

Kits are $42.90 (including postage to your preferred address) and can be paid for by direct deposit, credit card over the phone, or ordered at Josie's Biggest Afternoon Tea on Saturday 29th May. And the best part - you think a kit is an awesome idea, but you're not sure about this one?  There are seven others to choose from in the 2009-2010 Ideas Book & Catalogue. Click here to see them.

Email or phone me today to order your favourite Simply Scrappin' Kit and have $5.00 donated to the Cancer Council's Biggest Morning Tea on your behalf. [email protected]  0418 361 931

Simply Scrappin' Kits are perfect for making a whole heap of co-ordinated album pages or cards, and if you purchase any one of our EIGHT kits between now and 13th June, I will donate $5.00 from every purchase to Josie's Biggest Afternoon Tea for the Cancer Council.  See more information about the kits here.

If you'd like to attend a fantastic, fun Biggest Morning Tea Event, see our Afternoon Tea details here. 

The very cute new Scallop Envelope Bigz Die, which is available in the Stampin' Up! Autumn-Winter mini catalogue gives you more than just very sweet envelopes.  If you cut out four envelope pieces with this die, you can create a gorgeous gift box.

For this particular box, I have cut six pieces - four from Baja Breeze card, and two from Urban Garden Designer Series Paper to use for lining.

I found it best to remove the side flaps from two of the envelopes, and use the others to fix the box walls together on the inside with a layer of Sticky Strip. You can see the side flaps tucked inside, in the aerial view above.

This close up of the corner of the box shows how the envelope top flaps are folded to the outside of the box for decoration, and side flaps are tucked inside.  I put sticky strip under the top flaps on the side walls of the box to hold them down, and used two felt flowers with a rhinestone brad through them to hold the front flap down.  The flap on the back of the box doesn't get folded, as this forms the lovely backdrop for your intimate gift.

Would you like to watch this box made and then receive it for free?  Ask me how today by emailing [email protected] or phone 0418 361 931.

On the weekend, I was making a very basic card to go with a very basic pillow box, to use as the make and take for a workshop, with all new people who may not have stamped before.  I was quite happy with the very simple, elegant look of the card and pillow box for a beginner, using the extremely elegant Vintage Vogue set from the Stampin' Up! 2010 Autumn - Winter mini catalogue.

But I thought straight away, this is a card, that can easily be stepped up for someone who is more crafty and wants more of a challenge.  In fact, all I did to schzooz it up, was stamp some co-ordinating flowers from the same stamp set onto Whisper White card, cut them out with fine scissors, and mount them on the card front with Stampin' Dimensions so they sat up beautifully.

I thought this was a lovely addition to the card, and obviously the creative workshop guests did too, as they also decided to stamp extra flowers, then painstakingly cut them out (waiting patiently for the scissors) so they could also add them to the front of their cards.

Half the guests did the Baja Breeze and Not Quite Navy card you see above, the other half went for something even more feminine and pretty in Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss and Rose Red.

Oh, how divine are those colours, and the Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper used in the lower border, instead of the Very Vintage Jumbo Stampin' Round wheel which I used in the first card.

But, the following day, I had a moment of inspiration, and decided that I need to take this card even further, as the whole Vintage theme lends itself to lots of layers and added extras, and there are so many amazing new products in the Autumn-Winter mini, I just had to take it further.

I added more hand cut flowers, a touch of an extra colour with Kiwi Kiss & Old Olive, some bling in the form of a rhinestone brad and extra layers to the background with the help of the Big Shot and gorgeous Top Note Die.

I have also used my Old Olive, Mellow Moss, Not Quite Navy and Night of Navy markers to colour the "F" from the friends stamp to just use a bit more of that feature colour.

Hmmmm, don't you adore that delicious water colour effect?  Here's a close up of the flowers - and believe it or not, it only took me about half an hour to cut out heaps of them - I have quite a few left over, so I might have to add a project to this "series" . . .

So there you go, how to schzooz up a card in three easy lessons.  And with the popular Vintage and collage styles at the moment, you can't go wrong!