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.

So Deliciously Swirly

You will never guess what I have done with my favourite Stampin' Around Wheel! Although, the above picture is a bit of a giveaway! Simply roll out your favourite 'plastic icing', be it Orchard or a more professional mix. Whilst it is rolled out flat on the benchtop, run your 'So Swirly' wheel firmly over the icing. I then used a champagne flute to cut circles, which I secured to the top of minature chocolate cakes with sugar syrup. To secure the pink cachous, I created an impression with the end of a wooden kebab stick dipped in sugar syrup. I just love the beautiful cachous, which I bought from 'Wheel & Barrow' in Fortitude Valley. My friend Loren, who made the beautiful 'Genie Bottle' in my last post, took me to James Street and showed me the most adorable little shops, including 'Wheel & Barrow' - I think I can feel a coloured cachous collection coming on! Which brings me to another idea I have for storing these gorgeous little decorations - but more about that on another post! If you would like to ask me any further information about the cake decorating, please email me on liz@nb.com.au

Fabulous Stampin' Up! Rub Ons

How blessed am I to have made such lovely friends in both my customers and fellow demonstrators. One lovely and very talented demonstrator from our 'Paper Angels' Group is Loren Rennie and look at the gift I received yesterday. A really beautiful 'Genie' Style Bottle, beautifully decorated with Stampin' Up's Rub Ons, 'Priceless' Stamp Set, Pretties Kit and Hodgepodge Hardware. Loren has a great eye for colour and arrangement, and using a bottle that she bought from the Reject Shop, she has created a true masterpiece. Imagine creating beautiful bottles for your friends for Christmas and filling them with personalised treats! This is just one of many samples we will have on display at our Annual Charity Christams Card Workshops, which this year are at Victoria Point, Carina, Paddington, Macleay Island, Pine Rivers and Cleveland. I shall be entrusted to deliver and display our demonstrator group's beautiful samples to each venue for you to look at, photograph etc. There are still limited places available, so please contact me urgently, either by email or telephone.

liz@nb.com.au 07 3348 9456

Final Evening at Palm Cove

Our last evening at Palm Cove was spent at a Safari Style Park in Kuranda, where we experienced 'Dinner on the Edge'. This was a fabulous affair and definitely a unique experience. After a coach trip, we arrived at the park and were treated to some delicious appetisers and drinks. Following this we were taken on a short walk, where a fire eater welcomed us with a performance before we entered the 'Lion's Den'.

Our experience also included a night tour of the park, where we saw this spectacular tiger. Let's just say he was not as sleepy as he looks as one of my friend's husbands will testify. After taking a few really close up pictures right up against the night cage, Vern turned his back resulting in the tiger launching itself against the cage, stretching to full hight on it's back legs. I nearly had a heart attack 2 meters back, whilst Vern (quote/unquote) classed it as the most awesome experience of his life! I now know all about how tigers attack when you turn your back.

'Dinner on the Edge' was a wonderful farewell dinner at the end of our Incentive Trip. We dined on a fabulous BBQ within a metre (sometimes less!) of a pride of lions. Naturally they were encouraged to position themselves in our area by being fed - thankfully not us! We were separated by a fence and hot wire, although the large holes enabled us to position our camera lenses so as to avoid the wire.

Swaps | Make & Takes at Palm Cove

The morning of our second last day at Palm Cove, was spent swapping with other achieving demonstrators, followed by a fabulous make & take session. My friend Robyn, who is an Ipswich Demonstrator, is happily displaying her stash of paper craft creations made by the Demonstrators especially for the Incentive Trip.

Pictured here are Aaron Scott, our Australian Business Development Manager, with Kim Gavarra. Yes, our Australian Manager put his creative skills to the test and came up with a terrific card.

Here are my swaps, which were very much a group effort. I had been planning to make 'cake slice boxes' decorated with stamps, but learnt they had featured on Split Coast, so decided to seek new inspiration. My friend and fellow demonstrator, Loren encouraged me to do the shoes which were created using a Coluzzle Template. To be honest the featured photo on the template packaging was not my style at all. Loren encoraged me that it would look good if I put my own style and creativity into it and voila, it did work out well. I created 3 different colours of shoes, beacuse we all like choices in shoes! Stampin' Up's Priceless Stamp Set and So Swirly Wheel enabled me to add the style! I then hunted for varieties of chocoolates that would not break the bank, settling on Ferrero Rocher avaiable from Big W in large packs. Again, help to complete so many swaps was given by Ursula and Robyn, so I was lucky to have all this assistance. Shelli Gardner (Stampin' Up's Co Founder and CEO), liked them so much she put them on her blog - check out links.

We were given some really cute little Stampin' Up! bags with a new Summer Mini Catalogue Stamp Set in it, along with 3 ink pads and all the materials and instructions to complete 3 lovely projects.

Finally, it was terrific to meet some fellow demonstrators. We became really good at smiling for photos - I have never had my photo taken so much, making up for all the time I happily spend on the other side of the lens! Pictured above are Jayne Mercer, myself and Kim Gavarra.

Kuranda Adventure

Day 2 of our fabulous Incentive Trip commenced with a wonderful buffet style cooked breakfast in the Far Horizons Restuarant at our resort. We then hopped on a bus, which took us to the Kuranda Railway. The train trip was lots of fun as we chatted, stopped for scenic views and enjoyed the delicious local macadamia nuts and orange juice. I am pictured above with Karen and Aaron Scott, whom it was lovely to meet.

Third is a picture I took of the Barron Falls. So lucky I recently completed an SLR course, and was able to make use of what I learnt. By increasing the 'time value' (keeping the shutter open for longer), I was able to capture the movement of the waterfall. No doubt it would have been better with a tripod, but I decided this was too big a handicap to have to carry for a day - Robyn was probably grateful of this too!

Not much explanation needed here. This shot was taken looking back as we crossed a 'significant' bridge on the Kuranda Railway - I was so busy talking, I think I missed why it was significant - I was just glad it held us up!

The Kuranda Butterfly house was lovely and really we could have spent much more time here, because believe me, you need to be patient to get shots of the butterflies. A few of us held our cameras mid air for long periods of time waiting for the beautiful blue Monarch Butterflies to open their wings. After a while a beautiful butterfly came in for the perfect shot - only problem was that it was right on top of my overhead flash - so everyone else got photos of that! Eventually one landed right on my jacket. It was worth the wait because it landed just like a brooch right above the Stampin' Up! Palm Cove Incentive Trip Logo - couldn't have planned it better - and no, I did not purchase a brooch from the shop, it is most definitely real!

Coming back down the mountain, we swapped the train for the Skyrail. Here is Robyn and I in one of the cabins capsules not sure what you call them really. Stampin' Up! looked after us so well and met us at the skyrail with our tickets - this was a real holiday where you didn't need to plan, stess, think, lose tickets - it was all taken care of for us. A funny note - Aaron purchased a didgeridoo and really it maust have been a bit awkward in the liitle skyrail cabin coming down - apparently it did fit though!

Welcome to Palm Cove

This is the Far Horizons Restuarant, which is part of Angsana Spa Resort, where I have just returned from spending 5 days - well, not in the restuarant but in Palm Cove! One of 25 Australians and New Zealanders to achieve the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip, I was treated a most memorable time. As I do not have a lap top, I was not able to update my blog whilst on the trip, however, I will now upload updates over the next 5 days featuring highlights of each day.

Upon arrival at Angsana, we were welcomed with iced tea and steaming towels.

This is the suite that my friend Robyn and I shared. We each had king size beds and our own bathrooms and the living area was huge.

On our first night we had a Welcome Dinner at the Far Horizons Restuarant. It was a spectacular BBQ, followed by a bowls party at the Marlin Coast Bowls Club. We all found out we are pretty hopeless bowlers, but we had a lot of fun.