Last day to order...

The June eScape bundle. For anyone who might have missed it, this special ends today. What's in it?

Here we go:

Circle of Friendship Stamp set
1&1/4" Circle Punch
Love notes (20 mini cards and envelopes in White and Vanilla)

All of this would normally cost you $78.40, but until close of business today (close of business is when I go to bed! So you can contact me up until about 9pm tonight ;-) these 3 items bundled together are only $58.80, which is a 25% saving. The stamp set by itself is normally $33.95, and the big size punches like this one retail for $30.95, so it's a really good deal. I can recommend this size punch. I use it a LOT.

You can see the stamps and love notes here.

Let me know today if you would like me to order one of these bundles for you.

Finally I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the girls who stopped by to make cards and baby tags at the eScape day that I held last week. It was lovely to have everyone come along and share a cuppa and a chat. I think I have the loveliest customers in the world and I am so grateful for your support. The baby tags will be going to North Gosford Private Hospital's special card unit for little bubbies, and I know they will be very well received.

Thank you so much.

Linda H
0412 375 552

Something Different

Hello everyone..

I've been mucking around with background a bit lately and thought I'd share this one with you. I stamped my image on glossy cardstock in black, and then sponged my colours (Soft Sky and Blue Bayou ink, with a little Pumpkin Pie to create a lit effect) over the top. How simple is that? But it looks quite atmospheric dont you think? I think I will play with this some more and see what I come up with.

Have a great day guys.

Linda H
0412 375 552

Just simple

Copyright 1990-2008 Stampin’ Up!



Lately I've been into cards that are quite simple... like this one. It's just one layer. I've "reverse masked" the wasabi background with a sponge dauber and then stamped the flower from the "Oh so Lovely" hostess set in Basic Brown. I coloured the petals of the flower with my SU watercolour pencils. The ribbon is the Chocolate Chip taffeta. Im really liking this look.

I have a workshop tomorrow and I was originally thinking of doing this card with them, but I think I might design something else tonight. The hostess is very into bright happy colours, and I think this might be a bit subtle? I love designing new cards... any excuse!

Hmmmm. I'll think about it.

Linda H
0412 375 552

Here we go again...

Copyright 1990-2008 Stampin’ Up!


Kristina Werner has issued her challenge #13, and this week it is inspired by the colours in the following picture:





How beautiful is that? Makes me want to dive in and have a great big long sleep.

So here is the card that I came up with using both the design and colours from the above picture as my inspiration. I was really surprised by how great these colours looked together... I had never considered them as a combination. (Although they do look much better in real life... the lighting is poor and the colours just havent come up as good in the photos) The card itself came together really quickly and if you look closely you will see that I used the cushion at the back left as the inspiration for the card. Its actually a very simple card. I wanted to get a feeling of "richness" to the card.. and the paisley background stamp seemed to work really well to achieve that. Thanks Kristina for another cool challenge.





Copyright 1990-2008 Stampin’ Up!
Here is the materials list for this card:

Cardstock - Purely Pomegranite, Regal Rosee, Wild Wasabi, River Rock and Whisper white
Ink - Regal Rose, Purely Pomegranite, River Rock
Punches - Round Scallop, Bouquet, 1&3/8 circle, Word Window
Dimensionals, Purely Pomegranite Double stitched ribbon

Hope you are enjoying my challenge efforts as much as I enjoy doing them!

Linda H

Class & Events Schedule June - July

I know, I know, I've been pretty slack on the posting of my upcoming events. But due to a ridiculously busy month in June, I decided not to over-commit myself with additional classes and events. So here are the few events and classes that I have coming up over the next few weeks. Hopefully there's something there that will be to your liking....

Tuesday 24th June - eScape day at my house at Narara, on the Central Coast, NSW. See the post below for further details. It's a casual "drop-in" day - come and make a card, have a cuppa and a chat, anytime between 10am and 2pm.

Thursday 3rd July - 7.30pm Christmas Stamp-a-stack. Make 6 Christmas Card for $15. 3 each of 2 different designs. All materials supplied.

Monday 21st July - 7.30pm Trifold Pocket Card Class $10. These are very classy and cute cards. Come along and see how its done and create your own card. All materials supplied. The picture at the start of this post shows you an example of this card, and the picture below shows the card when opened.






Classes are held at my home at Narara, on the Central Coast, NSW.

If you would like to attend please email me at higgiz@bigpond.com or call me on 0412 375 552. I will give you my address details when you book in.

Hope you can make it to one of the classes. Look forward to seeing you. :-)

Linda H
0412 375 552

Another challenge from Kristina

I have mentioned Kristina Werner's very cool challenges to you before, (you can find her site over on my sidebar) and now that I've finally fixed my computer problem (that didn't allow me to post comments on her site) I can submit stuff again!

So today I decided to do her most recent challenge inspired by this picture:





The challenge here is to use these colours:

Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White.

Here's what I came up with:






Hope you like it...

:-)

eScape Day on the 24th June

For those that might have missed it before, I am putting on a little 'Open House' at my place next Tuesday 24th June.

This month Stampin'Up! are promoting the eScape deal - the idea being that it's a lovely idea to send someone that you know a handmade card that you made yourself... rather than sending them a text message or an email for example. And isnt it true that we all love to receive a beautiful hand-made card in our own mailbox? I know that I do. With this in mind they are promoting the eScape bundle (read more about that here) at a 25% discount. And Im supporting the eScape idea by having a very casual "eScape day" - next Tuesday, between 10am and 2pm please feel free to come and join me for a cuppa. There is no fixed start time or finish time - come anytime during this period, make a card, chat and have a cuppa. I am guessing that most people will just pop in for an hour or so, and it will just be lovely to see you. There is no charge, I am just hoping to get together with some of my customers for a chat and a chance to make a card too. It will be a very casual affair!

There is a sideline that I have in mind to do this day too. Some of you will already know that I have been running a little program here on the Central Coast known as The Footprints project. It started a couple of years ago, and I have been assisted in this effort by some fabulous girls both here on the coast and in Sydney. We have previously made cards to go on to the end of the humidity cribs in the Special care unit at North Gosford Private Hospital, which have been well received. But currently the hospital has run out of cards, and I need to make some more. I am happy to go into more detail for anyone who is interested in taking part, but I was thinking it might be nice to make a few of these cards on the eScape day. I am going to make a couple myself, so if anyone would like to do this with me, I am happy to show you some examples and instructions.

If you have an hour or two free on the 24th, please feel free to join me. Send me an email if you are coming (so that I know how many choccy bikkies to buy) and I will send you my address.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Linda H
0412 375 552

New Toys

Well there's nothing like getting new toys to play with... especially when they are free! I was the lucky recipient of a $300 product bonus last month (you receive these kind of things for reaching sales and recruiting goals with SU) and I spent quite a bit of time choosing what I wanted most. In the end I chose:

Ink pad Caddy (I've been wanting one of those for ages! There's one on page 151 of our catalogue if you want to see what it looks like.)
Large Star Punch and Small star punch (to use with the Nursery Necessities set and for Christmas and boy cards)
Earth Elements Markers (can you believe that I've managed all this time with only the Rich Regals set? I finally have browns and Oranges... and Old Olive!)
Cutter Kit
Stem Sayings stamp set

I chose a few bigger things (you might as well when they are free) and I cant even begin to tell you how much I love my ink Pad caddy. No more scrabbling around in my drawer trying to find the right ink pad. Now I just spin my caddy around and pick my colour straight off the rack. And it looks good on my desk!

Just showing you a quick card that I made with a couple of these new toys...The curved white piece was made by free-handing with the cutter kit - I love how easy it is to get a curved shape. I've used my new markers on the boat to get the different colours, and I used the Stem Sayings stamp in white on the dark blue background. Looks cute doesn't it? Of course the Round Scallop punch has made it's usual appearance to cut out the boat. This is a card that literally takes just a few minutes to make.

Well I've got some more playing to do. For those of you who have already put your hands up for the ribbon swap I will be finalizing it shortly, so you will hear from me. Any extra people who are interested, just email me at higgiz@bigpond.com and let em know.

Have a great day!

Linda H
0412 375 552

Ribbon Swap Anyone?

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering whether anyone else out there shares my passion for beautiful ribbons? I use them on everything - cards, Layouts, 3D items and gifts, to be honest a lot of the time I just dont think it's quite finished without at least a little bit of ribbon peeping out from somewhere.

So here's an idea for you like-minded people. Who would like to share some ribbons with me so that we get a great variety of ribbons for a low price?

Im thinking of starting with the Double stitched ribbons which are currently available in the In-colour series. Each roll contains 13.7m of ribbon and so if we have 6 people interested, then each person pays the $16.95 for a roll and I will divide the rolls up so that each person ends up with 2.28m of each roll of the different coloured ribbons. I've put a couple of them in the picture at the top of this post so you can see how lovely they are. The colours are:
Purely Pomegranite, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, River Rock and Wild Wasabi. (The picture above just shows the Purely Pomegranite, Soft Sky and Wild Wasabi)

I wont be charging postage on this deal, so you save 5% doing it this way, and will end up with more of a variety of colours for less money that it would normally cost you for just one colour. But you'll get the same amount of ribbon.

If you are interested, please contact me at higgiz@bigpond.com or call me on 0412 375 552, or just leave a comment below on this post. If this swap goes really well, then I will do more in the future with other ribbon types.

It's open to the first 6 people to reply - so first in, best dressed. And it doesnt matter where you are in Australia - Im happy to mail the ribbons anywhere for you. I hope to hear from you soon.

:-)

Sketch Challenge result

I wanted to thank you all for your beautiful cards that were emailed to me as part of the sketch challenge that I offered last month. I was so impressed. Even better I was really pleased that almost everyone that sent one told me that they enjoyed taking part in it. I think this is partly because sketches provide you with a great starting point. Sometimes you can look at your supplies and wonder what direction you want to go in. But a sketch tells you which direction. Ultimately though you still get to create something uniquely your own, because the colours, materials and embellishments are still completely up to you.

Without further ado I would like to show you the card that stood out for me this month. Partly this is because of the stamps and colours used.. they are not stamps or colours that I have worked with myself, and I was so impressed with the way it came together. Congratulations go to Kerrie Crawford from NSW who entered the following beautiful card:

I dont own this stamp set Kerrie, and I loved what you did with it. I hope you enjoy seeing your card featured here, and you also have a $10 voucher to spend on SU products of your choice. Please contact me at higgiz@bigpond.com to claim your prize.

I hope you all enjoyed the challenge and I will do another one very soon.

Have a lovely long weekend coming up, and stay safe on the roads if you are going away. And have fun!

Linda H
0412 375 552

SU Specials for June (hostess special until Mid July)

Hooray! The first day of Winter is here. I wouldnt normally be celebrating as Winter is not my favourite season. But some great things are happening with SU at the moment, so that has cheered me up no end!

There are two great promotions happening during the month of June. And here they are:

1. eScape: Stampin'Up! are running a promotion to encourage people to get away from their computers and phones and emails (gettiing away from the "e" in your life) and actually take the opportunity to send a hand-made card to someone that you love. Or want to thank. Or want to let them know that you are thinking of them. When I was a little girl we lived on a farm and I still remember the excitement of getting a handwritten card or note in my mailbox. Our driveway was about 500m long... not that far, but I would hang out by the mailbox, just waiting for the mailman (actually we had a maillady) to arrive with hopefully an envelope with my name on it. And I worked out early that the best way to receive a letter or card from someone was to send a letter or card to someone and hope that they wrote back! Make someone's day and be part of the eScape promotion... send someone a card this month!
   
   To celebrate this promotion SU are offering the following bundle at 25% off:
   
   

• 20 LOVE NOTES mini-cards and matching envelopes (valued at $13.50)


• 1and1/4" Circle Punch (valued at $30.95)


• Circle of Friendship stamp set (valued at $33.95)

All this for $58.80, which is a great saving. This bundle would make a great starter pack if you are just getting going into stamping or card-making, and is a great addition to your collection. To see the stamps and for details click here. I'll putting up lots of card ideas for things you can do with these stamps over the next few weeks.

I've also planned an eScape day... Im running an open house at my place on Tuesday 24th June. Please feel free to come along and join me to make a card or two. You can arrive any time that suits you between 10am and 2pm... make a card or two, stay for a cuppa and a chat. Open houses tend to be very relaxed... so come at a time that suits you. Even if you dont have lots of time, that's ok! I will have packs made up for you, so all materials are supplied for the projects that we will be making. Just come along and bring yourself!

2. I did say that there are 2 promotions at the moment. Any hostess who holds a workshop with sales of $700 or more before July 15th will receive an additional $50 of free products! For a $700 workshop that means that you would receive a free Level 1 or 2 Hostess set, AND $130 worth of free products! Higher sales would mean even more free product... isnt that fantastic! Hostess benefits with SU are always great... but this is just a fabulous deal! For those who have workshops coming up please contact me to find out how you can encourage even better sales at your workshop.

To contact me to order or to book your workshop, you can email me at higgiz@bigpond.com or call me on my mobile 0412 375 552.

Have a great day!

Linda H