Hi everyone,

Well PHEW!!! What a busy (and exhausting) time it has been - but WHAT fun!

A team of eleven of us took turns on the Stampin' Up! stand at the Melbourne Craft & Sewing Show at Caulfield for 1, 2 or 3 days each over the last four days.  The show was great and we had stacks of visitors (thank you!!) to our stand, to check out the new Ideas Book & Catalogue and see all the lovely things we have been creating.

Several of our fellow demonstrators popped by to say "Hi" - hello Kim & Margaret - lovely to see that you were both able to make it to the show for a look.  And many of our favourite customers also stuck their heads in to see what we have been doing - Hi Marika, Sheila, Zoe, Vicki and our other friends who came by - we loved seeing you at the show!

What was popular on the stand this year?  Well, we sold several Big Shot die cutting machines, and a large number of our gorgeous Stampin' Up! punches in particular the Blossom Petals Builder Punch and the new Stocking Tag Punch which we were demonstrating with their co-ordinating stamp sets.

That's something that we love about Stampin' Up! - Stamped images that you don't have to cut out with scissors as there is a paper punch to do the job just right!

Have you tried our stamps and co-ordinating punches together yet?  If you haven't - you should! Why don't you ask me how today.

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, I have been extremely busy getting ready for this week's Melbourne Craft & Sewing Show which will be held at Caulfield Racecourse over the next 4 days.  Major craft shows are always a big deal for us.  We love getting out there and meeting so many creative people and showing of the fabulous Stampin' Up! products.

Just wanted to share a little sneak peak with you of what I will be doing on the stand.

I am going to be demonstrating the gorgeous new Stocking Punch and Stitched Stockings Stamp set. These co-ordinate beautifully and are such fun to work with.  Here's just a couple of the sample cards I made while we were away on our stamp camp over the weekend.

We are offering a special to our customers and visitors to the stand.  Order a punch and co-ordinating stamp set (minimum value $60.00 not including postage) and receive one of a whole selection of embellishments as a free gift. If you would like a copy of our flyer, please email me and I will send it to you. 

And did you know, the Stocking punch and Stamp set are ONLY available to purchase for a few more days in October, then we have to wait until the Summer Mini Catalogue comes out in December. So if you were thinking of doing some Christmas Cards with them, jump in now. Orders need to be placed by end of the day on Monday 31st October.

If you want to see these cute little products in action, then come by the Stampin' Up! stand at Caulfield over the next few days and say "hello!" 

Oh, AND I am also going to be on the "Discovery Desk" showing some more tricks with the Big Shot.  This is very exciting - I feel rather famous like my name is up in lights! Take a look at this link to the Craft Show web-page.

Isn't that a bit special? I wish my nan was on the internet, she'd be so proud! Well, I better get back to doing actual things instead of just babbling on here.  I hope you're all having a great week, and I look forward to seeing a few familiar faces at the show!

Kathryn (Celebrity) Ruddick

Well, have I made you wait long enough?  LOL! For those of you who popped by in our Blog Hop on Saturday, I promised a little bit more than the taste of what was in the background of my Stocking Card photo, and here it is!!

This very yummy little house was inspired by one on the cover of the latest Australian Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft Magazine which arrived in the mail last week. I couldn't wait to try it out using ALL Stampin' Up! products.

The stamped images are from Jolly Bingo Bits, a new stamp set which appears in our latest catalogue. The house is constructed mostly from Soft Suede and Whisper White card, with roof tiles of Wild Wasabi and Cherry Cobbler, punched out with the 3/4" circle punch.

Then, because I was in a gingerbread sort of mood, and inspired by that cute little gingerbread man stamp, I decided I would also make a larger gingerbread man.  But you know me, I can never stop at just one!!

These little guys are a double layer of Soft Suede - I cut one set of three and decorated it, then cut another set of three, embossed it with the Square Lattice embossing folder and attached it to the backs to cover over the backs of the brads, and hold the ribbon ends in place. It neatens it up beautifully, with the embossed texture actually hiding the lumps and bumps of the ribbon ends and brads under it, and not only that, the pattern actually looks a bit like the cake cooler rack the gingerbread would have been left to cool on!!

That was a lot of fun! We had a great time at our stamp camp and hope more of you can come along when we do it again next year!

Good morning from rainy, misty East Warburton where my stamping friends and I are staying at the totally gorgeous Hazelwood Cottage for a bit of a creative weekend!  It's so green and lovely up here - although the modern amenities (ie National Broadband Network) are pretty non-existant.

We have to wander over towards the donkey paddock to get mobile coverage, and I have had to drive down to the main highway to get 2 bars of Next G coverage - gotta love the country life!!

But, I digress! Today of course is Blog Hop day in staming land and a very small group of us have been creating using the Big Shot, to bring you some ideas and inspiration.  I have been inspired by cards made by Judy May (embossed Christmas Stocking) & Christine Blain (doily label), to create one card using both ideas, and I loved the embossing so much I added it to a bunch of ATC's I was creating. Take a look!!

Here's a closer view of the card - the embossed background has been brayered over, and the embossed stockings have been sponged with our Stampin' Up! daubers.

At the top right of my first photo there is a little tempter for you - if you want to see it close up with a few more details, be sure to check back here on Monday as I will give you a few more photos.

You may have arrived at the Blog Hop today from the blog of the delightful Sue Madex or you might be starting right here. Either way, the next blog hop in the journey is that of Judy May and I have no doubt she will have something totally gorgeous to show you - so click on the link (her name) and off you go.  You can complete the whole circuit by following the links at the bottom of each post.

Anyway, that's it from me, I am off back to the house to enjoy a hearty country breakfast overlooking the donkeys and the amazing English Garden, and then I am getting my sewing machine out for some Big Shot fabric creations - hope you have a lovely and creative weekend!!

A little friend who loves anything retro and ALSO loves getting into the kitchen to cook up just about anything, is having a birthday soon, and her dad asked for a suitable card.

I only had a tiny window of opportunity to get it done, so it had to be simple but also meet some pretty tough criteria, like having orange in it and being funky and fun and probably just a little bit quirky as well. I never ever thought I would use the Domestic Goddess Designer Series Paper, but wouldn't you know it? It ticked ALL the boxes!

So with a very simple layout, and few embellishments, I whipped up this little number!

How much fun is that paper!  And I am loving the new In Colour Ruffled Ribbon - this one is in Pool Party.  With a bit of extra punching with the Decorative Label Punch, this card is done!

This Saturday is Blog Hop Day in my stamping land, and this month we are featuring the Big Shot.  Be sure to pop back here over the weekend for a small journey through some creative blogs to learn more about what you can do with one of our favourite machines!

Friends of Tony have recently reached an amazing milestone, and of course we couldn't possibly go to the newsagent for such a special occasion!

Out came the Brushed Metallic Gold Card, gold embossing powder, a piece of lovely shimmery gold ribbon from my stash, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, the lovely name plaque stamp from "Creative Elements" stamp set, some pearls and an Antique Brad, to make this 15cm square card.

Don't you love how those half pearls fit into the centre of the embossing pattern?

Quite a simple but very elegant and effective card. I enjoyed the challenge!

Back in a day or two with a COMPLETELY different birthday card!

Wow, it sure does get busy this time of year!  I have been very conscious of not putting any new cards on my blog lately - I have been so busy at work, and getting ready for Stamp Camp next weekend and the Caulfield Craft & Sewing Show the week after, and now on top of that we have the World Wide Week of Workshops  in that Melbourne Cup week too - how did life get so busy?

I had promised you some Masculine Cards made with that gorgeous new "Well Worn" Designer Series Paper.  Well, they are still a work in progress, so you'll get them later, but there are a number of other projects I have been working on, so I'll start with some of those!

Do you remember the Wisteria Wonder 2-5-7-10 box my class girls made a couple of weeks back?

Well, one of those lovely ladies had a birthday recently, so using the same colours, and inspired by a VERY similar card made by Di Dunk, I made her a matching birthday card.  Hope you had a lovely day yesterday Shirley!

I just love the Flirtatious Designer Series Paper and how it co-ordinates so well with the Lace Border Punch - AND THOSE colours!! Yum!

You can see the very liberal dose of Champagne Mist shimmer paint spritzed all over the base card!

Thanks Di Dunk for the inspiration, and thanks Stampin' Up! for giving us such lovely colours!

I'll be back with a couple more cards this week!  See you then!

Secret Hostess Workshop!

See my class and event page for this awesome day time workshop coming soon - it's during the day while your kids are at school, so there's no excuse, write it in your diaries now!  Details click here.