Stampin Up! Heartfelt Event Sydney

Last Saturday I went to the Stampin Up Heartfelt Event in Sydney. It was the first Stampin Up event I'd been to, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
It was a great day. There were two demonstration booths, with demonstrations running all day, showing nifty tips and tricks.

This photo is from a demonstration on making little gift bags (I will be making lots of these for teachers gifts - stay tuned).

  

Above is a quilt made with Stampin Up fabrics, and using Stampin Up dies with the Big Shot to cut out the flowers and butterflies. Below is a quilted Christmas table runner, again made using Stampin Up designer series fabric. The flowers were cut out with the Big Shot. So much beautiful work in these.  

There was a "product playground" - various tables set up with demonstrators giving hands on advice on techniques and products. I really enjoyed sitting down and trying out products.  

Scattered around the room were display boards where people had made cards and decorations and put them up for display.  I took so many photos! 

Upstairs there were demonstrations as well - I really liked the Christmas decorations by Sophie Zadeh. I can't wait to have a go at making these. In fact I ordered quite a bit of Stampin Up product last night, ready to make lots of Christmas decorations and cards and gift tags....

 This is from the front of the Holiday Catalogue. Note to self: buy a hot glue gun!















This looks so much better in real life - it is actually embossed and the tag shimmers.







Can't wait to share all the crafty Christmas things I make!

A weekend at the beach

I had the day off on Friday so we decided to make the most of it, and go camping.

We headed off Friday morning to Port Macquarie, then took the ferry across the Hastings River. We could either drive on the beach or on Point Plomer "Road", but since we hadn't gotten a beach permit nor had we checked the tides (small oversight), we decided to take the road.  At first I was disappointed as it was just a well graded gravel road but after a while it deteriorated and it was great fun - driving on sand, rocks, and very uneven and bumpy.

Our plan was to camp at Point Plomer (the boiling billy book said it was good) but when we got there it was packed, blowing a gale and there was no shade! No thanks.

We kept going and arrived at Delicate Nobby Campground. It too was packed but the sites were separated by bush / trees and it also had real toilets and hot showers. 

Not the cheapest campground - $50/night for the 5 of us but by now it was 2pm and we wanted to set up camp.

The beach was right across the road and we had a fire each night. The only drawback was the bus load of foreign backpackers that were SO LOUD! so much for the campground rules about curfews! Also having to queue for 45 minutes to get into the shower.

We visited Crescent Head and climbed to the top of the heads and I saw some whales. 

We also investigated a couple of other campgrounds nearby - Racecourse and Goolawah National Park - both looked to have brand new toilets and outdoor cold showers. Both were packed but had some shaded spots, and easy access right onto the beach. The beach was really nice - very flat and safe looking for the kids.

Overall it was a nice little get away - the boys enjoyed the beach, playing in the sand and we went for a really long walk and they met some super cute dogs.

There were plenty of interesting pools of water to splash in (if it had been warmer).

The boys enjoyed climbing on the rocks.

These dogs were on a walk too, they were so cute I couldn't resist taking a photo.

Christmas card with a twist

I have been very neglectful of my crafts lately - I just seem to be so busy that I haven't had time to do anything.  This week I made an effort to do some cardmaking.  Over at the Stampin Up group, Linda posted a challenge: make a Christmas card using non-traditional colours. I decided to use completely different colours to those I would normally choose.  

Here is my finished card:

I used the following Stampin Up products:

Summer Starburst, Night of Navy and Very Vanilla cardstock; Summer Starburst ink; Baja Breeze ribbon, Tiny Tags stamp set, Easy Events stamp set, Big Shot, Egelits die, Apothecary Accents framelits die and Window Frames framelits die. 

I also made a couple of birthday cards, including this one:

I've used the Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching punch and the same edgelits die (I quite like it) - very quick and easy but very effective I think.

To order any of the products or a catalogue delivered to your door, email me at bestml@bigpond.net.au.

Stampin Up Retirements List

Well it's that time of year again...time to say goodbye to heaps of stamp sets and accessories that are retiring for good from the Stampin Up catalogue. The bad news is that these stamp sets and accessories won't be available after 31st August.  The good news is that until then, many are significantly discounted.

Items sell out quickly, so if there is something you've been wanting, you'd better order quickly to avoid disappointment.

Click on the links below to download the retiring stamps and retiring accessories lists.  Contact me on bestml@bigpond.net.au  or 0414 529 950 to place your order to have your goodies delivered to your door (Australia wide).

Click HERE to see the retiring stamps list.

Click HERE to see the retiring accessories list.

Book review - Before I go to sleep

I am a big fan of our local library! I can browse the catalogue on line, reserve a book and when it comes in they email me to collect it. It's great. I used to buy books all the time but one day I realised that a) I don't have enough room for all those books, and
b) it's not good value to buy a book for $20 - $30 and read it maybe twice if I'm lucky.  So, now I just (usually) only buy books by my favourite author and borrow all the rest. On Monday I borrowed "Before I go to sleep" and I finished it last night (Tuesday). Seriously, I could not put it down. I started reading in my lunch break Monday then after putting the boys to bed that night, instead of watching Revenge, I sat by the fire and read...and read...and then I went to bed and read some more! I read more at lunch on Tuesday then finished off the last 50 or so pages last night (sorry kids - dinner will be late!). I definitely falls into the thriller category. Needless to say I enjoyed it!!  Now I need a new book to read - any suggestions?

June is Cake Month

After a successful Self Saucing Pudding Month in May, we have declared June to be Cake Month.  We started off with a delicious chocolate cake with jam and cream in the middle and whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top which Josh made with his friend Corey's help. We used a recipe from Merle Parrish which was super easy and delicious. This week we are going to try a blueberry and orange tea cake.