Monday, August 22, 2011

Regionals a great success

An entire day of stamping, crafting and hearing about or watching carfters. . . my definition of a good time! 55 of us gathered at the Sebel (Cairns International) on Saturday to take sneak peeks at the new catalogue, some terrific products and a heap of different techniques.

Staff from head office showed off their crafting skills: sewing, wheeling and playing with large cutlery were just some of the skills we enjoyed.  The new fabrics about to be released in Australia by Stampin' Up! are beautiful and will prove a versatile product for card makers, scrap bookers and quilters.  I can wait to be able to buy the full selection.

There were plenty of give aways on the day - vanilla smooch, champagne glass glitter and yet to be released stamp sets! Yay! I think that everyone was happy with their stash at the end of the day.  The make and takes were very cute and it was exciting to see the different spin people put on the same card creations.

It was nice to chat with people who only gather together once a year.  A lot of people travelled from afar to attend the event and it shows their love of the product and their joy in sharing it with others who love what they do and share what they love. . .

Watch this space - photos to come tomorrow. . .

Cheers
Shanni xx

Friday, August 19, 2011

Feeling guilty about my lack of blogging. . .

I know that people hear excuses all the time about how busy others are and why they haven't done what they undertook to do. . . so I will not bore you all with details.  Unfortunately for me (and I am sure that this applies to others), I agree to do too many things that I then prioritise before things in my own life. My own life being things like blogging and making sure that my name is in the market place. 

From this month on I am now diarising one day a week (with a goal to increase to two) for blogging about my Stampin' Up! passion.  I am making the promise to my followers that I will prioritise them in my schedule! Feel free to email me if you are at any time disappointed in my commitment or want to hear about or see something different.

June was a blur - I got back from Stampin' Up! Convention in Melbourne and put a heap of what I learned into play and also tried to achieve the monstrous number of demonstrations that I had committed to. 

July saw the Paper Belles exhibit at the Cairns Show and also saw a number of our creative girls placing in the papercrafting displays run by the association - congratulatins to Julie Seeto and Colleen Blakey.  I will upload some photos when I track them down to show you what the stall looked like and you could check out Julie and Colleen's blogs for photos of their beautiful entries.

August is nearly over - this month I have had classes and workshops and was back in Melbourne for the Romance Writers of Australia Conference - it's always a brilliant time. My friend Helene Young won Romance Book of the Year for her novel Wings of Fear (formerly published as Boarder Watch) - that is like the Oscar for Best Picture in the Australian Writing World; if you haven't read or bought a copy of the book or its sequel, rush and do so today. 

I am now home to complete my class timetable and prepare for Regionals which are on Saturday!  Yee-hah!  Very exciting. . . I love the creativity and inspiration that is shared at these events. . . and it is terrific that SU! travel to Cairns to bring this roadshow to us.

The new cattie starts on 1 September and is stunning!  I am so proud of this catalogue, the colours and layout are beautiful and the display of stamps, DSPs and embellishments are awesome. Let me know if you need a copy to drool over.

Also on the not too distant horizon is the annual Stamping Retreat at Tinaroo - let me know if you would like details.  We still have a limited number of spaces left.

Chat soon
Shanni