Craft Classroom

Thursday, 22 July 2010

Florist Ribbon Bows

I have been asked many times, how the Paper Angels make our gorgeous bows on our charity event raffle prizes. Having been taught by the lovely Ursula, I thought I would share what I have learned in a technique video.

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Scrapbooking Quadrangle Design

This is a really simple, yet effective design that you can use whenever it is possible to trim photos down to 4 inch squares.

1. Divide a 12x12 base into quadrangles and add four mats. measuring 5 3/4 inches square.
2. Cut the photo mats to 4 1/2 inch squares.
3. Adhere the top right and bottom left photos to the mats and raise with dimensionals.
4. Adhere the top left and bottom right photo mats directly to the base.

The sky is the limit in terms of choosing your colour scheme and embellishing the lower right quadrant. I used 'Friends 24-7' Stamp Set to create the first two layouts and then for the third layout, I used 4 photos so I popped an embellishment in the middle - easy!

I have used 'Haiku' Designer Series Paper with some Rich Razzleberry thrown in to create a layout for Jeanette, who is one of our Demonstrator Support Agents in Sydney. Jeanette is pictured with Leonie at our recent Convention in Sydney - as you can see, they had lots of fun playing to the camera.

My daughter Dana and her friend Jess had fun goofing around on the weekend, with Jess trying her hardest to correct Dana's 'Wallace & Grommit' style smile! I think it was the braces that encouraged her to draw back her mouth to the outside of the wire - it's kind of scary sometimes! Jess helped me out with the colour scheme, which I borrowed from her shirt - Orchid Opulence, Basic Grey & Basic Black.

This recently posted layout, showcases the quadrant layout too. The scallop border was added to this layout using strips of glitter cardstock, which were edged with the scallop border punch and jigsawed back together. The first two layouts were accented with scallop square punched out pieces of cardstock jigsawed back together.

Happy Scrapbooking!

Monday, 12 July 2010

Coorparoo Christmas in July Card Event

This year saw our first 'Christmas in July' Card Making Event at Canossa Kindergarten in Coorparoo. Sister Belen kindly offered us the use of this most beautiful venue, when she learnt we were struggling to secure a suitable venue in the area. This generous offer certainly made it more viable to run a charity event, which supports our 'Footprint & Name Cards' for the Mater Mother's Bereavement Programme. You can see I caught Sister at a crucial moment as she concentrated intently to use the paper piercer with the stitching guide. I had to share a snapshot of our yummy afternoon tea - the Caramel Torte was a particular stand out. I'll admit I took a full slice which I was enjoying until Bec informed me she had only taken 1/2 a slice of the mudcake, so she could fit into her bathers at Hamilton Island which is the Stampin Up Incentive Trip which we have both earned. Possibly seeing the look of horror on my face, as I realised I was not paying attention to this imminent event, she tried very hard to make me feel better by pointing out that my torte was way fluffier & lighter than her mudcake choice - oh, I do hope so!

Here is the lovely Jenny Wells, who exceeded herself when she rolled up with 180 Christmas Card Donations for the 'Cards for Troops', which will be sent to Australian Troops serving overseas to send back to their families. Sister Belen and many others contributed cards and we are really excited that by August 1st, we should be able to make a real difference in ensuring that soldiers will not be short on cards to send home to loved ones. If you'd like to read another fabulous entry on this subject, check out Leonie's blog http://stampandscrapinheaven.blogspot.com/2010/07/cards-for-troops.html

Every year, we work really hard to make sure our display boards are full of inspiring samples and we encourage you to photograph, copy & share our creations

Seven demonstrators capably led all the customers through 8 projects, which are designed to get your 'Creative Mojo' going. Don't we always need ideas & inspiration when it comes to Christmas, especially when we want to make something lovely that we can make multiples of in a reasonable time space. My choice of card to make will be the Herringbone Card, which is a super clever creation of Leonie's. Believe me, you will want to learn how to make this card as it is impressive but oh so easy - the perfect card! Special mention must go to Amanda, one of our lovely demonstrators who speaks Japanese fluently and was able to give instruction to one of our newer guest who is relatively new to cardmaking - I was extremely impressed!

Thank you to Jenny, Bec, Keren, Kate, Amanda & Felicity for their dedication & skill in leading their tables. We had so much fun and the day was really lovely! Also thank you to Dianna, who very kindly came and helped Kate & I set up the day before.

One of the highlights of our events is the Card Competition, kindly sponsored with generous prizes donated by Stampin' Up! We all enjoyed looking at the almost 50 cards entered and voting on 3 winners. The Card Competition raised $24, with each entry costing 50 cents.

Here are our lovely Card Competition Winners, proudly displaying their prizes!

A spectacular $610 was raised through our raffle, which will be used to fund our 'Footprint & Name Cards' for the Mater Mother's Bereavement Programme. Check out all those happy smiles!

Again a big thank you to Sister Belen, but also to the staff & friends of Canossa who allowed us to use their lovely facility. Thank you to Pat, Rachael, Teresa, Catherine, Lucile and a number of husbands/fathers who helped make this day such a success.

If you are reading this and wish you could have come, it is not too late! I have some places available this Saturday 17th at Victoria Point or Sunday 18th at Pine Rivers. Please do ring me urgently on 3348 9456 or 0448 896 001. We'd love you to come and share a great day with us.

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

10 Great Reasons

Bookings are closing very soon for our much anticipated Christmas Card Workshops. Whilst there are still limited places available, we need to close off bookings, so that we can ensure that the materials that we need to order for you arrive in time. I thought I would take the opportunity to remind you of all the fabulous reasons that you will want to come to one of these events.

1.
Number one reason to come to the Christmas Card Workshops
is the wonderful, creative & fun PEOPLE that you will find there.

2.
The PROJECTS have been designed to be elegant, simple & repeatable,
using a great stash of Stampin' Up! papers, dies, tools, ribbon & bling.

3.
If you have been to a Christmas Card Workshop, you will know we always have
great prizes. This year Stampin' Up! have been extremely generous in their support
and we have well over $1000 of product to give away at each event. Pictured below
are the RAFFLE PRIZES for the Coorparoo Event.

The proceeds from these fabulous raffle prizes ensures we continue to support the Mater Mothers Bereavement Footprints Programme.

4.
There is always a great supply of DISPLAY PROJECTS that you are welcome to photograph.

5.
The CARD COMPETITION costs 50 cents per card to enter. We would like to see Christmas Cards created primarily with Stampin' Up! Product. Participants in the Workshop will then
vote and 3 lucky winners will share in $250 in prizes!

6.
Of course, we always have a lovely AFTERNOON TEA to enjoy together.

7.
This year we will have a special box at all our Christmas Workshops. We will be collecting Christmas Card Donations for our Australian Troops serving overseas as part of a
'CARDS FOR TROOPS' program. These cards will ensure soldiers are able to send a card home at Christmas to their loved ones. This project is being coordinated for the Paper Angels by the lovely Anna Wheaton who is in turn helping 2 NSW Stampin Up Demonstrators who initiated this idea. So please, do bring along any cards you did not use from last year and we ask please if you can provide envelopes with the cards.

8.
We will have SPOT PRIZES during the course of the day

9.
COLOR INSTRUCTIONS will ensure you can recreate
your favourite workshop projects at home

10.
Get your CREATIVE MOJO working

NEWS FLASH
Due to popular demand, I am now committing to tables at the Victoria Point & Springwood Venues. If you wish to transfer your booking to either of these venues, please contact me as a matter of urgency by phone 0448 896 001 or email liz@danichbe.com

Sunday 11th July | Coorparoo | Canossa Kindergarten
Saturday 17th July | Victoria Point | Sharks Sporting Club
Sunday 18th July | Pine Rivers | Pine Rivers Bowls Club
Saturday 31st July | Rochedale | Springwood Bowls Club
Sunday 1st August | Wellington Point | Redlands Sporting Club

To book, either phone with credit card details OR use the PayPal option below

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

My Stampin' Up! Story

Well, I guess this is well overdue and I hope some of you find this interesting to read, albeit a bit long. At our recent Stampin' Up! 2010 Convention in Sydney, we were encouraged as Demonstrators to share our Stampin' Up! story with others. Telling my story via a blog post seems the best idea, because honestly people would kill me if I repeated this at each workshop.

Lets go back a few years to 2005. My family had finally 'crawled' its way back to Brisbane after spending 5 years in Melbourne & Canberra. To be honest we thought we'd be gone from Brisbane for 1-2 years, so 5 years absent was not our original plan. Of course this extended absence was 'meant to be' because we met the most lovely people, making some treasured friends and having experiences that have shaped us. Having left Brisbane at the end of 2000 for Melbourne, we then relocated to Canberra in 2002. It was in Canberra that my paper-craft hobby became my work also. I was offered a teaching role at a Scrapbooking Store as well as a contracting role at an Australian Wholesaler called Aussie Scrap Source. I primarily taught heritage scrap-booking using Anna Griffin products at the store and designed samples for paper-craft magazine advertising at the wholesaler. I also was a bit of a multi tasker - aren't all women this - at Aussie Scrap Source, filling orders, answering the phone and attending trade shows. I loved this job and I also loved the people who I worked with, Cheryl Durey being my boss. I had more or less given up on returning to Brisbane and had thrown myself fully into Canberra, my friends and my wonderful jobs. But then as you know, life doesn't stay constant and changes when you least expect it to. Work had dried up for my husband in Canberra and we went through a time of financial & family/marital turmoil. Interestingly, my paper-craft gave me the release I needed from the stress I was suffering - I honestly think it saved my sanity. Things got a bit exciting when Cheryl asked if I would like to go to CHA, which is the Craft & Hobby Association Show for businesses/wholesalers in the US. My goodness - this was a dream come true. I never imagined Cheryl would ask me to go with her and I was very excited.

But then, my husband got work in Brisbane! OK, this was good on one front, but as it was a contracting role the longevity is always in question. So I limped along with 4 children by myself in Canberra for about 6 months until we could be sure it was worth relocating permanently. Time came to relocate and telling my boss Cheryl I was moving was really hard as we got along so well and I was looking forward to continuing to see & be a part of her business growing, as well as also going to CHA. Cheryl was very understanding and even offered that I still travel to CHA with her even once I had moved to Brisbane. Sadly I had to refuse this offer as my husband contracts, so no work means no pay and that just wasn't an option with the huge relocation costs we were facing. Still, I was lucky enough to still be on the Aussie Scrap Source Design Team, which meant I was working on innovative cutting edge ideas & projects designed by Cheryl such as the 'A-Z album', 'Everyday Moments' and wholesale class program. Even once I was back in Brisbane, every month I would create scrap-booking layouts using product that was sent to me. How neat was this! Free products to create layouts for magazines. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? However there were two problems. Firstly the person who had replaced me when I left Aussie Scrap Source was obsessed with punctuation amongst other things, and quite frankly it used to really annoy me how I would receive critical & curt emails addressing my supposed lack of punctuation and slackness at not having the latest publishing software! This did not help my creative mojo at all! But first and foremost, there was something really important missing and that was 'human contact'! Really, it doesn't matter how much product you have, if you are paper-crafting alone, it is pretty lonely and somewhat meaningless. I missed teaching classes and sharing the fun of paper-craft with others.

So in 2006, I dragged myself along to a Papercrafts Festival in Brisbane. I wasn't particularly sure why I had gone as I sort of figured I'd seen it all and trust me the ridiculously long 45 minute wait in the hot sun whilst I waited in a ticket queue where only 2 people were serving, almost had me turning on my heels - I actually got sunburnt that day! However, there most certainly a glowing silver lining in that day - Stampin' Up! were there and I had definitely heard of them previously. Not only had I seen them in the US magazines, but I had also heard about them first hand by a US citizen who was also a colleague of my husband's whilst in Canberra. She had come along to my classes whilst visiting Canberra on assignment from her software company. She came to dinner one night and said to me, I should be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! How funny is that? I have lost contact with this lovely lady but I'd sure like to catch up with her again and let her know what has since happened! (Stampin' Up! wasn't in Australia when she made this comment)

That very day I took the paperwork at the Papercrafts Festival and then went on to attend the Brisbane information evening. Fate then intervened for a while and a rather painful condition called Chostochondritis had me in extraordinary pain and unable to really fulfill my role as a Design team Member for Aussie Scrap Source. Ultimately, I resigned from the design team and became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

My only 'reservations' were that I did not consider myself a 'direct sales person'. However, this did not matter at all because I love the Stampin Up Products but more importantly I love sharing my love of all things papercraft with other people. Basically if you love what you do, it truly does not matter about the rest. I have learnt to present more confidently in front of new people to the point that people mistake me for a confident person! I'm not that at all, just someone who was lucky enough to find the right 'vehicle'.

The next 4 years as demonstrator really require another essay, so lets save that for another post. Suffice to say, I am so happy I decided to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator because I am a firm believer in the philosophies (Statement of the heart) of Stampin' Up! and it has been responsible for me meeting the most wonderful people & having the privilege of making a difference in other people's lives. I do not speak often of what I have 'achieved' in the past 4 years as I am always looking forward and not back. However, I will share with you that I have achieved the (top 25) Demonstrator of the Year for 4 years running (2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010), as well as the last 3 Incentive Trips & the 'Heart of Stampin' Up!' Award in 2009 which is given to one demonstrator in Australia. These achievements would not have been possible without the wonderful team of demonstrators, to which I belong - the 'Paper Angels'. Belonging to a fun, cohesive group of creative souls, has made all the difference in my life and I am grateful to each & every one of our team, whether they are discount, hobby or career demonstrators.

Pictured above is Rebecca Ross, Shelli Gardner (Co Founder & CEO of Stampin' Up! and myself). If you have any questions about my story, I would be happy to answer them.

NEW Stampin' Connection

Stampin’ Connection is Stampin’ Up!’s NEW online discussion and social forum and is available as an exclusive benefit of signing up to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.. In this resource, you’ll find mediums for sharing business questions, concerns, ideas, and suggestions. You’ll also find great resources like projects and videos. Additionally, Stampin’ Connection is a place where you can go to receive or to give help—it’s a true online community just for demonstrators.

Additionally we have set up a sub forum within Stampin Connection for the 'Paper Angels' which is our team of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators. Already we have loaded up 15 class instructions ready for you to print and use in your own workshops,classes & get togethers. Several conversation threads are also yielding inspiring advice and ideas. Whether you might be thinking about being a hobby/discount demonstrator or a business demonstrator, you will find this FREE service informative & inspiring.

Imagine receiving a discount on all your papercraft purchases, belonging to a fun group of ladies who love to share ideas, making a difference in other peoples lives, and many many more benifits. Save 20% when you join as a Stampin Up Demonstrator before July 31st. Learn more about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

Deal of the Week #4

Save up to almost 50% in the last week of Stampin' Up's Deal of the Week. In this fourth and final week, specials include selected rhinestone brads and grosgrain ribbon as pictured below. Imagine the difference a little bling or some gorgeous ribbon will make to your project. This deal closes Tuesday 29th of June, however, I would ask that I could close orders on the Monday evening the 28th of June. As usual you will find a PayPal option for ordering these accessories at the bottom of this posting. You are also welcome to phone me and use credit card over the phone or direct deposit into my bank account.