Pine Rivers Christmas Card Workshop

I can hardly believe this is our 4th Christmas card Workshop. With the lovely Rebecca Ross as our hostess/coordinator, we all had a lovely time. We were especially thrilled at all the entries in the card competition and would have loved to have rewarded everyone with a prize. Raffles were again popular, with well over $400 raised for our charity. Perhaps tempting fate, I decided to climb on a chair to take this photo of my table.

The day was great and the function room lovely, with all the participants enjoying the smaller group environments with a demonstrator on each table.

All the card competition entries were spectacular.

Here is Bec and her table.

The lovely Fiona, who will sadly be moving to Townsville at the end of the year, and her table.

Jen, who also brought her daughter Keira who was a great help to us all - thank you!

Orrell and her table.

One of my lovely customers, Mary, won one of the raffle prizes and is being presented with her goodies by Bec.

Carina Christmas Card Workshop

OK as far as I am aware this is my youngest customer! Isn't she just gorgeous. Her mum, Fiona, was one of the ladies on my table at the carina Leagues Club. Notice how intently she is studying the Stampin' Up! catalogue - so beautiful and doesn't she have great taste! Wow, was this a great day! We raised $767 from the raffle and card competitions alone, with the ordering percentage yet to be calculated. Thank you to all the demonstrators in our group, who did a spectacular job preparing and conducting our largest of 6 events.

This is the table that I 'taught'. Whilst I guided them through our 6 cards, they were very independent - they had to be with my developing a growing attraction to the microphone - who would have ever guessed - not me! Even our newest cardmaker in this group did a wonderful job - I didn't even guess it was her first time making cards! I just love how we can show people how easy it is to create something beautiful.

Here is our lovely Jen Fraser's table. Jen also had one of her newest demonstrators, Jerry, assisting us all with raffle ticket sales as well as judging the card competition with Orrell. We are very appreciative of both their efforts.

Jen Wells was busy again and can probably now teach our 6 beautiful cards with her eyes closed, having taught a large table at the Paddington Event! Well done Jen - Thank You.

Kate did an awesome job with her table, and also kindly looked after a lovely customer of mine also.

Multitalented and Mutitasking Amanda did a wonderful job, whilst her husband Nathan held the fort with the children, ,discovering the wonders of the Carina Leagues Club Kid's Room.

Felicity and Megan did a great job with their lovely table.

Robyn did a sterling job, holding the fort after out lovely Loren had a rather unfortunate accident on the way to our event. With a brace and crutches, Loren thought about coming on later! Thankfully she did decide to rest up - we certainly missed her and were terribly worried, however, Robyn worked wonderfully to look after her own plus Loren's lovely friend.

Here is Bec and her table. Next week Bec is the hostess of the event at Pine Rivers Bowls Club! We are really looking forward to it and if you have not yet been to this event, please do contact me urgently as whilst we are at capacity, we may be able to squeeze you in! One of Bec's demonstrator team members, Orrell, generously helped us on the day, and we are very grateful for her efforts also.

Fiona and her lovely table, with Elaine and Diana scoring 2 fantastic product hampers in our raffle. I am missing some photos of lovely Kathy and Ursula's table - so keep posted - i will send some through, as I am hoping Bec might have some.

A sincere thank you to all the customers who have supported and enjoyed our 3 events to date. We have really enjoyed bringing you these events and are thrilled to be part of a great project at the Mater - without your help, this would not be possible.

Paddington Christmas Card Workshop

Congratulations to Donna Benjamin; a demonstrator from the North side, for coordinating a great day at Paddington for our second Paper Angels Christmas Card Workshop. Held at the Ithaca Presbyterian Church Hall, we all had a great time using our 'Season of Joy' Stamp Set to create the 6 cards designed by our demonstrators. We raised $152 alone from the raffles, with product sales and related donations yet to be calculated. This donation alone helped us to complete one memory box kit for the Mater Mother's Bereavement Support Program as described in our group blog www.paperangels.blogspot.com

Here is our lovely Jenny Wells, with her ladies busy creating their masterpieces. I was just amazed at the organisation of this group of ladies, who are clearly experienced craft retreat people - the tools, the lunch esky and snacks were impressive!

Karen did a great job teaching her group of ladies and it was lovely to have them all there to share a great day.

Here is my group of ladies, who had a great time and made their cards beautifully.
Lastly, here is Donna (left) busy teaching. You did a great job Donna - thank you.

Chipboard Ornaments

Handmade Christmas Ornaments are lots of fun to make and give the opportunity to experiment with your creativity. Not only do they look beautiful, but are far more economical than many decorations found in retail stores. I love the 'Holiday Harmony' Designer Series Paper that is currently available in our Australian Spring Mini Catalogue (page 19), and used it to cover the chipboard star from the 'On Board' Trimmings Chipboard on page 18. Accessories, such as the 'Styled Silver Hardware' and Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon complete the look. The stamp is from 'Many Merry Messages' (try saying that fast!) from the 2008-2009 Idea Book & Catalogue.

You can see why I love Stampin' Up! Products so much! Did you notice how the Grosgrain Ribbon perfectly matches the Artichoke Brads! There is no way this would be possible from a random stash of craft materials, no matter how huge.

If you would like any further information on how I made this ornament, please email me at liz@danichbe.com

Christmas Card Season

Well there is exciting news! We have just started our series of 6 Christmas Card Workshops. Our first workshop was held at Victoria point Sharks Sporting Club, with customers and demonstrators having a great time. Everyone completed 6 beautiful cards; designed by Rebecca Ross, Loren Rennie and myself; using the most wonderful stamp set 'Season of Joy'. We had some wonderful feedback from both beginner and experienced stampers, with one of my 'pupils' declaring 6 out of 6 winners! We have been running our Christmas card Workshops since 2006 and we have learnt a thing or two about what makes a great day! One of those things is spectacular prizes and with the assistance from Stampin' Up's Sydney Office, we were able to offer some fabulous raffle prizes, with 100% of proceeds going to the Mater Mother's Bereavement Program. Pictured are Catrina, Kate (accepting for Renee) and Glynn. We are very grateful to Stampin' Up! for their generosity in assisting us with raffle prizes for what is an extremely worthwhile cause.

My friend and fellow demonstrator, Robyn, had great fun teaching the cards to a very talented and enthusiastic group of ladies.

Kate did a marvellous job, although I had to go check regularly to make sure she wasn't getting up to any mischief! Just in case you are reading this Kate, I am joking!

I love being behind the camera as it offers protection from me being in the photo. However, since I was splashing everyone elses photo on my blog, it was only fair to appear in one photo with my lovely group of ladies - thank you for making it such a great day!

We still have 5 more workshops to go and there are limited places available in all, except for Carina

Saturday 11th October - Paddington

Sunday 19th October - Carina

Sunday 26th October - Pine Rivers

Saturday 1st November - Macleay Island

Sunday 9th November - Cleveland

Do not miss out and be very dissapointed! call me on 07 3348 9456 or mobile 0448 896 001 or new email liz@danichbe.com if you wish to book.

Simply Sent

World Cardmaking Day was on Saturday the 4th of October, which I celebrated with a workshop with some lovely ladies. To celebrate World cardmaking Day, Stampin' Up! have taken 20% off all 5 beautiful Simply Sent Kits from the 4 till the 11th of October. As the group of ladies are experienced cardmakers, I took along an assortment of embellishments and tools to allow them to experiment altering the designs. We used the Pretties Kit, Rub Ons, Brads & Eyelets, Distessing Tool, Crystal Effects and the Crop a Dile. Deanne made a really cute distessed mini card from the 'Friendly Notes' Simply Sent Card Kit. As we didn't have the 1/4 inch ribbon on hand, Deanne split the wider grosgrain ribbon in half, before knotting it in the centre of a Pretties Kit flower.

Another of Deanne's cards was made from the 'Simple Delights' Simply Sent Card Kit. Look at how the 'Cherished Memories' Rub Ons have added to the texture of the card. Deanne has also coloured the Pretties Kit flower with a Bashful Blue Marker and spread the colour using an Aqua Painter.

The Simply Sent Kits are already terrific value, because they contain everything you need to create your cards, including pre cut cardstock, inks, adhesives and tools such as Stampin' Write Markers and 2 way Glue Pens (the tools vary according to the kit purchased). These kits make a great gift and definitely now is the best time to buy with 20% off. I have listed the new prices below, which are valid till October 11th.

Lifelong Notes normally $79.95 NOW $63.96

Sending Happy Thoughts normally $101.95 NOW $81.56

Friendly Notes normally $101.95 NOW $81.56

Simple Delights normally $79.95 NOW $63.96

Three Thoughts normally $79.95 NOW $63.96

Please remember your order needs to be placed before October 11th to receive the discount. You can check out the designs on pages 12 to 14 of your 2008-2009 Idea Book and Catalogue or online using the PDF Catalogue, which you will find at www.stampinup.com

You may contact me either by phone 07 3348 9456 mobile 0448 896 001 or new email liz@danichbe.com

What better way to finish off this post by showing you the lovely cakes that my hostess Rae made for the workshop. Don't they look gorgeous in white - I can let you know that they tasted delicious too! Keep posted for some more clever ways to get 'double duty' from your Stampin' Up! products.