On Monday evening I emailed out my customer newsletter. 

It had a one off, special offer in it for this final week of Sale-a-bration.

I don't do special offers too often, but given that March is my birthday month, and given that the Occasional Catalogue and Sale-a-bration brochure have some truly gorgeous co-ordinating products, I wanted to give Sale-a-bration a lovely send-off.

Who can go past the Hot Air Balloons in the the Lift Me Up Bundle, matched with the stunning free Sale-a-bration paper?

Or the Dragonfly Bundle and the fun Inside the Lines Colouring Paper?

Here are some projects made by myself and a couple of my team members to show you how we've been using these amazing products.

There are several other bundles in the Occasions Catalogue which co-ordinate beautifully with items available FREE through Sale-a-bration, as a free gift with $90 product order.

But Sale-a-bration ends midnight this Friday.

In my newsletter there is an extra free gift, limited to the first 15 customers who place a Sale-a-bration order online before midnight Friday.

Australian Shoppers please use this Stampin' Rewards Code when placing your order On Line : AM3YZQ4S

Shop Online Here

If I normally place your orders for you, I will be doing so this Friday afternoon. You will need to have payment to me prior to that. If your order is $90, you will need to select a FREE Sale-a-bration item on top of that (pick two just in case your first preference is no longer available). And if you are within my first 15 buyers this week you will also get one of my special March Madness End of Month gifts.

A few years back, one of my lovely stamping friends Judy May was a feature designer on the Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge Blog.

It was a time when I was still working in the construction industry and commuting for up to (and sometimes in excess of) 3 hours a day for work, so I wasn't really blog surfing at the time or looking for design challenges to fill in my day.

However, I loved the idea of committing to make one or two Christmas Cards every single week, so that when you get to November / December, there is no panic.

Last November was one of those "bad years" when I joked several times about having to go to K-mart and buy a box of Christmas cards to send out, because the production line had just gotten away from me. And it was when we were away in Busselton in early December that I remembered about Judy doing Merry Monday and thought to myself, that would be a good thing to kick off again this year!

So, before we get too much later into the year, I think it's time!

Welcome to Making Merry Monday!

I'm not going to run this as a challenge per se, but intend each Monday for it just to be  a little reminder for you and for me, that we need to make a couple of Christmas cards this week, to take the pressure off later in the year!

I have cheated a little bit - you have to do what you have to do!! When the Holiday Catalogue was finishing, these gorgeous Stitched Greeting Card Kits were on sale and 50% off, so I grabbed a couple to get me underway.

I love the idea of the kits because I can keep all the supplies in one plastic tub that I can take with me wherever I am on a Monday and just progress my production line!

Who wants to play along? Will you make one or two Christmas cards each Monday and store them up for the year?

Leave a comment below and let me know you are keen!

Have you thought about joining the Stampin' Up! family during Sale-a-bration and taking advantage of that awesome Starter Kit deal?

Don't know where to start with choosing products?

I'm made a list of my favourite suggestions for someone just starting out who doesn't have many stamping tools yet. You select $235 worth of products, for which you only pay $169.00. Then as you're putting your starter kit order in, you will be prompted to enter two free stamp sets as well.

Here's my list - hope you find it helpful!

Starter Kit Suggestions

1.Stampin' Trimmer
	I've had a lot of trimmers in my life, and in the $50 range, this is the best one ever!
2.Brights Classic Stampin' Pads
	You'll want a good range of colours to start with, and this pack contains the perfect red and green for Christmas cards, along with plenty of brights for birthday and other occasion cards.
3.Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes
	20 prescored cards and envelopes to get you going.
4.Stampin' Scrub
	You'll want to keep those new stamps in tip top shape.
5.Stampin' Mist
	Condition the rubber as well as cleaning.
6.Banner Triple Punch
	Make all sorts of banners to layer on your cards.
Once you have selected no more than $235.00 worth of tools and accessories, then add on two awesome stamp sets like the ones below. 7.Better Together Wood-Mount Stamp Set
	This is such a versatile stamp set - so many different occasions.
8.Flourishing Phrases Wood-Mount Stamp Set
	Beautiful greetings, delightful font, so many occasions, versatile flourish image

If you've made your list and are ready to place your order, there is a "Join Stampin' Up! button right at the top of this blog, or you can click here.

I didn't mindfully plan any activities for International Women's Day today, but when I was getting breakfast and feeding the cat this morning, it occurred to me that I have planned one of the very best activities for such a day.

This morning I had some lovely ladies come over for a stamping class. Three of the ladies have never stamped with me before, so we did the classic "What is Stampin' Up?, how do you use the three different types of stamps? What other way can you ink up and use the stamps and the brush markers?, and then when we had nailed the basic techniques we learned how the Triple Time Stamping Technique works and each made a card.

It was such a lovely way to pass a couple of hours.

You might remember the Triple Time Stamping card I posted here at the start of February (click here to see it).

The ladies made very similar today, but I chose a different stamp set to try.

I've used a couple of the stamps from In The Meadow Stamp Set and added a light touch of colour with the Stampin' Up! Water Colour pencils and a blender pen.

The background layers are Cajun Craze - one of my favourite warm Stampin' Up! colours. Who was it who told me recently they didn't like that colour and never used it?? Gasp!!

Often with Triple Time Stamping, you'll find the card filled with images, but I really love how striking this one is with all the white space. You know that thought - when less is more?

The wonderful thing about today's class is it was completely tailored to the needs of the ladies. One of the ladies asked me about the technique, I was asked about different stamp sets to use for the technique, I was asked if I had a class planned where she could learn it. And on top of that she asked me about the different brands of ink pads because the ones she had were not giving her the result she expected.

I didn't have a class booked in my calendar to suit her request exactly, but I explained to her that if she could bring along 3-4 friends, we could go over all the basics of the SU! stamps and ink and then we could work on that technique and make a finished card. And she was even welcome to bring along her favourite butterfly stamp to see how that worked with the technique.

That's what I love about my SU! business - instead of just telling her how to make the card, I can invite her and her friends into my beautiful classroom, sit with them, answer their questions, show them some great tips for getting the most out of their stamps and ink and inspire them with a great project that they will be able to recreate in their own colours with their own stamps at home. It's a wonderful thing to be able to support someone's crafting in that way.

If you've never stamped, or if you've bought stamps and then been disappointed because "they don't love you",  then I warmly invite you along to one of my We Create Wednesday morning classes, or if that time slot doesn't work for you, please talk to me about booking in a class for you and your friends at a time that works for you.  I have a beautiful light-filled, airy classroom and if your guests end up ordering Stampin' Up! products totalling $250.0o or more, there will be free gifts for you for introducing them to me.

 Check my events calendar here for scheduled times, or comment below and I'll contact you to talk about booking your own tailored class, just for you and your best papercrafting buddies.