On my team Facebook page we have a different segment most days to get everyone inspired and active, and Monday is Mail-A-Card day, because after all, we make so many cards, why shouldn't we actually write on some of them and put them in the post to let someone know we are thinking of them!

Today I am posting a birthday card to someone special - I'll share photos of that, and other similar cards we made at Stamp Club a bit later on - after the birthday has been and gone. But in the mean time, I did promise to tell you a little more about our On Stage event in Sydney.

On Stage is the new name for our Stampin' Up! get togethers that are a combined training day and usually catalogue premiere. It's a time for rewards and recognition for achieving demonstrators, an opportunity to try new products and a wonderful time to catch up with people face to face who we mostly just see on the internet.

In April, many of us went to Sydney for the event which was also the Product Premiere for our new Annual Catalogue which starts in just over a week from now. It is such an exciting time to see the new products and to be able to order a tiny selection of them before anyone else can. Can you tell by the bent spine on my catalogue that it's almost worn out already?

I volunteered to help set up the displays and hand out Prize Patrol and be part of the entertainment while people were queuing at registration this year - this was an immense amount of fun, besides a really great way to catch up with lots and lots of people.

And do you have any idea how HARD it was setting up the displays on Friday and not being able to say one word to my team members about what I was seeing or doing? My team are like family and the whole time I was setting up products and samples I was thinking how excited they are going to be and who was going to love which items the most! It was SO much fun! And I couldn't wait to see their faces the next day!

On Friday evening a small group of us participated in Centre Stage - a special Leadership training and dinner for those who have attained Silver Elite level in our career plan. We had a fun, interactive leadership session and then a gorgeous sit down dinner.

On Saturday we had the main event with all our friends, including several Live crosses to the global event in Utah, make and take projects, the catalogue launch and lots of giveaways. We learned to LOVE the five new In Colours and took home a colour chart we had made and some sample cards.

Of course, as soon as I could get my hands on more ink and card, I had to make some more samples with the new In Colours and I created a quick and easy set of five cards inspired by one of the demonstrations from On Stage, by the very talented and lovely Sarah Klass from WA, and using the Every Occasion stamp set which is a brand new set I received in Prize Patrol.

And of course I had to round out the weekend with a lovely run on Sunday morning - to counter all the hours off sitting on Saturday - so I went out early and got a big dose of all the sights which make Sydney so special, and followed that up with brunch at the Rocks and a leisurely trip home in the late afternoon.

Our next On Stage Event is in Brisbane in November - and it's the global one where demonstrators from all over the world are welcome to attend. I would love, love, love more of my stamping friends to come to these events with us - you do have to be a demonstrator though to attend. Have you ever thought about what that would be like?

Can you picture yourself surrounded by crazy stamping ladies, all having an amazing, exciting, inspiring time, being the first to see the new catalogue in real life and get your hands on new goodies a couple of months before anyone else?

You could be there!

You'd be very welcome and we'd make sure you are looked after. If you can see yourself being a part of this, ask me today about being part of our fun, crazy, caring Stampin' Up! team.

So, I DID promise to tell you a bit about where on earth I have been since late March, and why I haven't been on here telling you all about the end of Sale-a-bration, and the end of the Weekly Deals as we know it, and the Retiring Products and end of our 2016 catalogue.

Well, in the lead up to my husband's first full Ironman event, we decided to take a long weekend and head across the ditch to catch up with some family. Since his dad passed, we have felt it more and more important to stay in touch with the New Zealand side of his family and re-connect with his roots.

And the Kiwi's are SO hospitable!

It was very much a flying visit, but I think we caught up with about 30 relatives in under four days!

And we managed to fit in some recreation and inspiration at the same time.

We went with his gorgeous cousin and dear aunt to a garden centre for lunch - and I have to say, I was REALLY, REALLY taken with this beautiful wall art!

How stunning is that? And SO many Stampin' Up! colours in there! I can't wait to make something inspired by it!

After our lunch, we had a wander through the garden centre shop and OMG! Look what the heck I found!

Now, for some reason I seem to have collected a few of those exciting new adult colouring in books, but I've never coloured in any of them, however, this got me really excited! Ha ha! Have you done any colouring yet?

We managed to find a time slot to have a swim in the stunning new Millenium Swimming Pool, which was quite a miracle since every amazing swimmer in New Zealand was there trying to qualify for the Rio Olympics. We also got to see Tony's young cousin play a couple of awe-inspiring water polo matches in the same pool on the Saturday.

We wanted to fit in a long run (for the Ironman training) while we were away, so we headed north to the Orewa Lagoon and did a lap of the lagoon and half a dozen laps of the gorgeous beach, clocking up 23kms in the stunning conditions. If you're ever in the area, the beach is lovely and a walk around the lagoon would be a beautiful way to pass a couple of hours!

When we arrived back in Melbourne, I really wanted to make a thank you card for each of the households who hosted us or went out of their way to catch up with us over that weekend. I had a bit of a search on Pinterest and found some punch art Kiwi cards, which I thought were very cute, so I decided to create a handful of similar ones.

To start with, that's a lot of circle punches, and lots of "eyes" from the Owl Builder Punch.

There's also a little bit of guess work in cutting the beaks from Word Window Punch shapes.

I used the "A World Of Thanks" stamp for the background and the grass image from "Wetlands" stamp set.

Each card was just ever so slightly different, depending on the placement of the eyes and beaks of the kiwis. So much fun and I love how they came up!

I got some lovely response from over the ditch too, so how nice is that - to have ones creations appreciated!

I felt we were no sooner back from Auckland than I headed to Sydney for a long weekend for the Stampin' Up! On Stage event where we had our Product Premiere and new Catalogue Launch. I'll be back to share some of that excitement with you in a day or so!

Kathryn

One of the exciting things that happened on our wider (local) Stampin' Up! team in the past couple of months was a Platinum promotion. Now if you are not a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, that probably means zero, zip, zilch to you. But to my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators, it means an awful lot.

Since our "career plan" changed in October last year, this was the very first promotion to Platinum level in Australia and it was our very own Claire Daly from Lilydale who promoted. I think this promotion is a big deal, and obviously all our Stampin' Sisters / cousins / grandmas etc across Australia thought the same, because when I suggested creating a special handmade Platinum gift for Claire to commemorate her promotion, lots of people jumped on board.

I suggested each person cut out and decorate a scallop circle and include their name and that somehow I would assemble them all into some sort of frame or album. Kathryn Mangelsdorf from Adelaide suggested we stick to a colour scheme - obviously the silver for platinum, but also Mint Macaron and Blushing Bride. Before I knew it, all sorts of gorgeous scallop circles were arriving!

I got far too many to fit into a frame, so I decided to use the Lots of Labels Framelits and make an accordion book with a black base to mount them all onto.

This "banner" ended up being 2.7 metres long! So of course it then had to have a gorgeous box to keep it in. I felt a black base, with silver lining, and an acetate lid would do just the trick. so I measured up my folded banner to see what size I would need to make, and constructed a box with separate lid.

I was heading off to Auckland for 4 days in late March, so in the end it was a real rush to pull all this together, but for such a special promotion, I was glad to spend the time and make a really special gift, and the look on Claire's face when she received it, along with a ginormous arrangement of flowers and a bottle of bubbly, was definitely worth the effort!

Congratulations again Claire for setting a benchmark and achieving your goals as a Stampin' Up! team leader and business builder!

#likeaboss #likeagirl #tickingboxes #gogetthosegoals #platinumpromotion #artwithheart #stampinup 

Hi Everyone!

Did you miss me? I said back in mid-March that it seemed like I was going to be away for most of the following 6 weeks, and it sure feels like that now I am back! I have hardly been home from late March, right up until last week!

I have done some great things and been to some lovely places, and I will share that with you in another blog post later, but for now, I really wanted to share my project from the latest "We Stamp For Lara" Fundraiser.

The Fundraiser involved fifteen Stampin' Up! demonstrators producing 15 project tutorials and sharing them over 15 days. Today is the last day, however, the tutorials are on the Facebook group for as long as Facebook exists, so if you are keen to help out a gorgeous family with a beautiful little girl, for just $15, you can have access to the group and all 15 tutorials too. 

So what project did I come up with for the fundraiser?

We were focussing on the fantastic Numbers of Years stamp set and matching Framelits set and I straight away thought of a baby sampler.

Here are some close-ups of the details :

The full instructions for how to create a sampler like this, along with instructions for 14 other projects using the Numbers Of Years Bundle are all available in the We Stamp For Lara Fundraiser, for just $15 (AUS).

Please support this wonderful cause - we are hoping to raise enough funds so a proper permanent ramp can be built at the entrance to Lara's home, to make it easier for her to come and go. At the moment they have a temporary ramp, and it takes two people to manoeuvre her chair so she doesn't get tipped out.

Payments are being made to Pauline Bennetts who will then give you access to the group. You can private message Pauline for payment details on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pauline.bennetts?fref=ts.

I'll be back in a day or two to share with you what else I have been doing over the last 6 weeks or so! Have a lovely evening!

Kathryn