Deal of the Week #4 ... and it's a GOOD one!

I LOVE the Hodgepodge hardware! So naturally I was very excited to find out that this beauty is the Deal of the Week!! Regular price is $41.95, but you can buy it this week for only $26.99!!!!!!! AWESOME. Contact me to order yours now!!! I will for sure be stocking up on this one!! These are great additions to any type of card, but I can already for see my Holiday cards with a bit of hardware on them! YUM!

Cheers,

Decor Elements on my laptop!

Hey everyone!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend! I just have a quick one for you today. I have recently been pouring over our AWESOME new Decor Elements catalogue. What's that you ask? It is a separate catalogue from our main one that contains fabulous Vinyl Wall adhesives and stencils to brighten up your living space. Well, this time around the stuff is amazing!!! They even included some images for laptops!!! This is my work laptop with Rose Red daisys on it! I LOVE how this looks. I also put a different image on my home laptop, which I will show you another time. Oh, and there are even Hostess Decor Elements too!! For all 3 levels! Check out the new catalogue here. Don't forget to book a private class with me to find out how you can earn Decor Elements or Stamps!

Cheers,

Wanna know why I joined SU?

I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator since January of this year. Why did I choose to do it??? Well, I had recently returned to work after Mat leave, and was feeling the crunch of the loss of salary from the past year plus the added loss of money required to pay for daycare. I had also developed a nasty addiction to all things papercrafting and didn't want that to depleat my family's finances anymore.



When I was first introduced to SU it was love at first sight, and I instantly saw the potential of this as a business. And I had looked at some of the competion, so I was looking at things objectively. One of the big factors was that my Upline (the person who I signed up under) was a business builder. A person who works this business full time, and who is always growing it to make a profit as opposed to someone who is just doing it as a hobby, or to get the product discount (which, might I add is WONDERFUL). The fact that she was not only supporting her family by selling stamps etc, but that she earns 2 FREE trips a year!! One is the yearly incentive trip (which is usually a Cruise- and the cruise we are currently working towards is an Alaskan Cruise!!) and because she is in the Canadian top 10 she also earns a trip to Utah every fall for Leadership and stamping fun, and a whole lot of pampering!! The fact that she is doing it, is proof that these goals are attainable.



In my first six months with SU, I earn 50% of what I needed to earn the trip. If I had only started 6 months earlier, I would have earned a Caribean Cruise!! Ah well. Working on Alaska now!!!



So, by now you must be asking "But Blair, how do I become an SU demonstrator???". And my answer will be, "it's really quite simple, and there has never been a better time!!"



Starting today we have just launched 2 promotions for our Starter Kit.





Promo #1





$105 Mini Starter Kit!!

This is a smaller version of the Standard Kit and contains the following:

• For All You Do stamp set (or set of your choice)
• In Color Classic Stampin' Pads (6) (or your choice)
• Whisper White card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
• In Color assorted card stock (8-1/2" x 11") (or your choice)
• Business forms and tools

Promo #2

$269 Standard Starter Kit with In colour bonus Pack!

This is the full starter kit with 6 extra in colour ink pads and a pack of the in colour paper! The kit includes the following:

• Five stamp sets
• A Stampin' Around wheel, handle, and ink cartridge
• Stampin' Pastels
• Card stock
• Eastern Blooms Décor Elements and applicator tool
• Five Classic Stampin' Pads
• VersaMark Pad
• Stampin' Scrub and Mist
• Blender pens
• SNAIL
• Business forms and tools

Contact me ASAP to learn how you can join my team!

Cheers,

Happy Birthday to my Father-in-law & Deal of the Week #3...

First things first.... This weeks DEAL of the WEEK was released at noon today and is good until noon next Monday. And the deal is.....

Square Fire Rhinestone Brads for only $10.99!!!! That's $5 off the regular price! Wow!! Contact me now to order. This is a limited time offer!!! Don't delay!

Today is my Father-in-laws 65th!! So I made this card for him.... I cut the card using the Top Note Die for the Big Shot using Not Quite Navy paper. Then I cut a second top note and trimmed around the perforated edge of an Old Olive piece. I stamped the stars from the 'Starring You' set in Night of Navy. I then stamped the Happy Birthday from the same set in Night of Navy on Whisper White paper and mounted this to a scallop circle that I punched twice to form a starburst. Those who attended club this month learned how to do this for the Lion on our animal card. I was pleased how it turned out, and so was he. And I didn't even know that his favourite colour is green! Go me!!

Products used:
Stampin' Up "Starring You" stamp set
Stampin' Up Card stock- Not Quite Navy, Old Olive, Whisper White.
Stampin' Up Ink- Night of Navy.
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Dimensionals, Top Note Die, Big Shot.


Cheers,

A stamp set for the Hive

I had earned a bunch of free stamp sets during the Sale-a-bration Sales period (6 to be exact!) and waited until the new sneak peak stamp sets and the retiring list was launched to pick out my sets. Earning free stamp sets is just one of the many many perks of being a Stampin' Up! Demo!

One of the sets that I had my eye on from the previous catalogue was the "Just Buzzin' By" set. And the reason for that, was not only is is super cute (got to love those bees) but my Stampin' Up! team of fabulous downline Demonstrator's is called the Hive! So it just seemed like a set I NEEDED to have! So I brought it out for the first time yesterday to make a very belated Welcome card to one of my downline....

This was a really fun card to make. I had a blast colouring it with my Many Marvelous Markers and it goes wonderfully well with the new Crushed Curry cardstock.

I hope she likes it!

Speaking of Downline, in just 3 short days you too can become a member of my downline for only $105!!! Isn't that awesome!!! I will share more of the details with you as we get closer to the 15th. Want more info??? Contact me today!


Cheers,

Club cards for this month....

Sorry guys, just a quickie to show you the cards we are making for this months club. The team of the month is PUNCHES! And everyone knows how I love them!

Sorry for the picture quality, didn't have time to get out the real camera. Thank you iPhone for your ability to be there in a time of need! :)

The first card is using the Movers & Shapers die for the Big Shot and the NEW shapes! This is most obviously the scallop circle die. LOVE it. This is a beautifully simplistic card.

This next one is a card completely based on a card I once made at Caroline LeBel's studio. I changed up the colours, using Melon Mambo & Rich Razzleberry with the Razzleberry Lemonade paper! Yum! The punch is the 5 petal flower and the Large oval for the leaves.

The last and final card I had a ton of fun making. Lately I have noticed a ton of people making animals from our punches. I wanted to give it a try. The Lion and Horse were copies from others, and I could not begin to tell you who the originator is. The Hippo however is my own design as I loved the idea of doing a hippo but I didn't like the hippos that others were designing. I think he is adorable. And this is such a fun card for so many occations. Stick a party hat on one of these guys and you have a super fun Birthday card!

Interested in joining my club so you can come to my place once a month to make super fun projects? Contact me today!

Cheers,

Deal of the Week #2! Is there a Doctor in the house???

Do you have a Big Shot? I know so many of you do. Did you regret not buying the Starter Kit with the Doctor's Bag like I did??? Well now is you chance. Who's says that you never get a second chance???

You can purchase the Doctor's Bag this week for only $77.99!!!!! (Regular prices is $103.95).

Don't have a Big Shot but love the bag? This is a great bag for anything!!! Or contact me to purchase your very own Big Shot!

Hurry! The deal is only available until next Monday!!!


Cheers,

Do you Twitter???

I do! Follow me on Twitter to receive up to the minute promo's and specials exclusive to my Twitter followers!!

Visit Twitter now, and add me!!


Cheers,

Open House Winners!!!

There were a bunch of great prizes for people who came to my Open House yesterday! Again the picture is thanks to my new iPhone! :) Love'n it!

The prizes were:

1. Comfort Food stamp set
2. Flower Finesse Decor Element
3. Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper
4. Free shipping for an order in July

And the winners were..............................

Susan Platt- Comfort Food stamp set
Marg Cochrane- Flower Finesse Decor Element
Meredith Cochrane- Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper
Meredith Cochrane- Free shipping on an order in July

Congrats to everyone! I will be in touch with you to get you your winnings!! And thanks goes to my husband & father who drew the winning names!

Cheers,

iPhones & Open Houses

I was hoping to get this post out yesterday, but I was learning how to use my new iPhone!! I was determined to send the blog from there, but I couldn't get the pictures to work.... still need to figure some things out.

In the mean time however, I have a few projects to share with you from yesterday's New Catalogue Open House. My appologies because the pictures were taken with my iPhone so they aren't of the best quality but like I said, I was trying to figure out to work the thing! Love it though, love it emmensly, perhaps even more than I love my Big Shot... okay, well maybe not that much, but it's close! :)
We made 2 projects yesterday using some of the new stuff. The first one is a card using the VERY fabulous new Level 3 Hostess set called "The More the Merrier". I LOVE this set! It's awesome. I have already shown a card made with the line up of birds, and this time we used the line up of cupcakes! I will try and show you the rest of this awesome set over the next little while.

This card also uses the beautiful new Soft Suede as a card base! And we coloured the cupcakes with my Pencil crayons & blender pens. Oh and do you see the beautiful new Polka Dotted ribbon? LOVE this stuff!! And since the other side doesn't have any dots, you have a two sided ribbon. LOTS of variety with this stuff! And how could I forget the NEW Modern Label punch too! And the new sentiment set called "Teeny Tiny Wishes". Click on the image at the right to see this in all it's glory, there is truly a sentiment for ANY occasion. I really like this set a lot. I can tell right away that I will get lots of use.

Products used:
Stampin' Up "More the Merrier" Hostess Level 3 stamp set
Stampin' Up Card stock- Whisper White, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue.
Stampin' Up Ink- Basic Black, Soft Suede.
Accessories: Water colour pencil crayons, blender pen, Polka Dot ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Dimensionals.

The seond project is a "Bag-a-lope". It's a bag, made using an envelop! And it's sooo easy.
Once again, I am showing one of the new sets. This one is called "Circle Circus". Again a really really versatile set. It has a bunch of different circle designs that of course coordinate with our circle punches, and our scallop circle punch! I love when things go with punches. Click on the picture to see it better. I am sure you guys will be seeing this set in use a lot. I have a ton of ideas for it. And it will likely be featured at my "Meet the new In-colours class" on July 17th! Have you RSVP'd for it yet??

Okay, back to the bag-a-lope. I promised the women who were at my Open House that I would share the instructions. So here they are! If you use these instructions to make a bag, send me a picture! I might even post it here! :)

Circle Circus Bag-a-lope:

1. You will need an envelope, any size. Seal the envelope.
2. Stamp random circles using the Melon Mambo ink on both sides of the envelope.
3. Using the paper cutter as a guide & a bone folder, score the envelope on 3 sides (the 2 long sides, and one of the short ones) 1" in. You can change the amount you score it at, every different option will result in a different dimensioned bag.
4. Using the Scalloop Edge punch, add a scallop border to the side with out the score.
5. Tuck the sides in, and fold the bottom flaps in and adhere with Snail or Sticky strip.
6. Punch holes for ribbon near the top of the bag using the double rectangle punch.
7. Feed the Polka Dot Bermuda Bay ribbon through the holes and tie in a knot (paying attention to the side with the dots.)

I will be back later with the winners of my Open House Door prizes!!!!

Cheers,

Blair

Wanna see some of the new stuff????

Look at this beauty!! I made this for my Quarterly Hive Team Meeting. What's "The Hive" you ask? The Hive is my wonderful group of Stampin' Up Demonstrators! Want to join in the fun??? There is a New Demonstrator promotion starting on July 15th! Stick around to learn more in the days to come! :)

Now, back to the card. This card is made entirely using some of the NEW in-colours for 2009/2010! And 2 of the new stamp sets from the NEW catty! "Circle Circus" and "Teeny Tiny Wishes", oh and any one notice that awesome new punch?? That is the Designer Label punch, also new to this catty!!

Wanna see more??? Join me tomorrow at my New Catalogue Open House from 1pm to 5pm. Drop in anytime!!!! Contact me to RSVP!! I would hate to not have enough stuff ready for you to play with the new stuff!!

Products used:
Stampin' Up "Circle Circus" stamp set & "Teeny Tiny Wishes"
Stampin' Up Card stock- Whisper White, Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry
Stampin' Up Ink- Versamark, Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry
Accessories- Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1" circle punch, Designer Label punch, 2-way Glue pen, Dimensionals, Clear Embossing powder, embossing buddy, powder pals, Heat Tool.

Cheers,

Deal of the Week!

For the entire month of July, Stampin' Up! will be having a deal of the week! And this week's deal.....
The Scalloped Edge punch!! I know that many of you already have this very versitile punch, but if you don't, now is the perfect time to get it! It's only $15.99 (regular price $22.95) from now until July 5th!! Hurry because this offer is almost over!!

Contact me to order today!

Cheers,

Happy Canada Day, Happy new Catalogue Day!!!

Canada is 142 years old today!! Doesn't she look great for her age?? Happy Canada day to all! And mostly to those Canadian friends of mine who now live in far away places. I hope you manage to keep Canada in your heart & in your minds. We miss you!!

But, not only is today Canada Day, but it is also NEW Catalogue Day!! It was so nice of Stampin' Up! to celebrate Canada Day in this way!! Yeah SU!! :)

So, without further ado, I present to you the 2009/2010 Idea Book and Catalogue, and it is a beauty!! It is jam packed with all sorts of wonderful new products, and of course some old favorites. Some of the highlights include:

• more single stamp sets
• lots of Christmas & Halloween stuff
• new Dog & Cat sets
• Collections- Wedding, Xmas, Halloween etc.
• Birthday party kits (Princess & Pirate)
• Photo Xmas card kits
• New punches (snow flake & Butterfly)
• New dies for the BIG SHOT!
• and of course, new beautiful In-Colours!

I would like to provide all of my customers (Canadian's only) with a FREE catalogue ($12 value). Contact me with your email address, phone number and mailing address so that I can send one to you. Or contact me to pick it up at my place.

Or join me on Saturday, July 4th at my NEW Catalogue Open House!

Cheers,

Last day to order Retiring Stamp sets!!!

That's it, today is the very last day! Anything that is retiring will be gone FOREVER!

To view the list click here.

Contact me ASAP to place your order before it's too late!


Cheers,

Back to my roots.....

My paper crafting roots that is. For those of you who don't know my "story", it goes something like this.....

6 years ago my Husband, Daughter and I traveled to a tiny island in the Bay of Fundy called Grand Manan, New Brunswick (it's between Maine, USA and Nova Scotia, Canada). We had a fantastic vacation and all of the 7 rolls of film (yes, I said rolls, it was before I had a digital camera) turned out AMAZING! I wanted to do something with the pictures that was nicer than just putting them in a standard photo album.

I had heard about scrapbooking, but didn't have a clue what I was doing. I bought a book and started organizing my pictures in it. As I worked through the book I started wanting certain items to decorate it with, or an easier way to cut pictures, paper etc. I worked on the book very slowly, so slow in fact that it took about 3 years to complete it. But by the end I was hooked! With the birth of my son impending and a collection of thousands of pictures of my daughter, I looked to begin their books.

I contacted a local Creative Memories consultant to get my hands on some of their tools and books. I hosted a few parties for her, and even considered becoming a CM Consultant. And then my CM rep introducted me to Stampin' Up!. I joined a 10 month club with out even seeing the products first hand, and it was love at first sight! I couldn't get enough. That's why I decided to become an SU Demo. I needed to recoup some of the money I had spend!! Yikes!! And I had spent a LOT!

So, that brings us to the project of the day: That's right, I actually got a chance to do some scrapbooking this weekend!!!! It's a true novelty for me these days. Between working full-time, building my SU business and chasing after two kids, I rarely have the time. I think some friends of mine and I are going to try and do a Scrapbooking retreat later this year. Any one know any good ones in Southern Ontario??

Anyhow, I had been surfing on Splitcoast Stampers lately and found a gallery of what they were calling "Progressive" pages. I was instantly attracted to the concept.

You start with a 6x6 layout. That's it just concentrate on your 6x6 page. For that I built my title. It's hard to tell by the picture but I stamped the "bubble" image from the new "Circle Circus" stamp set all over the background using my soon to be retired Pacific Point ink. Once you are done with your 6x6, you then adhere that to a 81/2 x 11 page. And now you complete that as a layout. So, on that layer I added some pictures, my first "wave" strip and a few embelishments. Once you are done with that you then adhere this new layout to a 12x12 page and complete your layout! I LOVED making a page this way, and it was much much quicker than my usual way of starting with a 12x12 and spending the next 2 hours figuring out what I am going to do with it, and then another 2 hours putting it all together. This one page took me only about 45 minutes from start to finish!!! I was amazed! I loved it because at any one time you only need to focus on a small portion of paper. You arn't overwhelmed by too much blank space.

I will definately be building a class around this one in the future!

Oh, and by the way I am a cronological scrapbooker... my daughter is 1 in these pictures.... she's 10 now!! I am very very behind!! But that's okay... one day I will get caught up!

Oh, and speaking of becoming a Demonstrator, I became one when the starter kit was only $249 like it is right now. Guess what? The price is going up in the new catty. So..... if this is something you have been thinking about, contact me ASAP to join my fabulous team or visit this link to sign up directly and remember that the password is Canadian!!!

Products used: Cardstock, Punches, Ink & stamps- Stampin' Up!, Stickers- Making Memories, Scallop trim- Bazzil Basics, Metal Clips- Dollarama

Cheers,

Finally some stuff!!

I have a few things to share today. The first are the Monogrammed note cards I made for Kieran's teachers. I made two different designs. The one on the left uses the beautiful and now retired Baroque background stamp. I did it in two different combinations, Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip. If you like what you see, contact me ASAP to get yours before it is gone! And the second one uses the Boho Blooms background stamp which I did in Bashful Blue with Basic Grey, or Pretty in Pink with Basic Grey. I love making monogrammed note cards. I think it is such an elegant gift to give someone. I give them as hostess gifts when I am invited to someone's house for dinner, teacher gifts or gifts for those people who have everything! The letters are from the very beautiful "Lovely Letters" set which I am glad is sticking around. There is a beautiful new monogram alphabet set in the new Catalogue. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Well it looks like the baby is awake!! I will be back later with a scrapbooking layout I was able to put together in under an hour (a HUGE feat for me!) using a very fun technique!

Cheers,

It's been a busy few weeks!!

Schools out, Father's day, packing my daughter for her trip to PEI! I have been BUSY!! I will have some cards to share with you later, but for now I just wanted to let everyone know that I am alive, and well, just absent from posting as of late.

The new catalogues have arrived and I have them available for purchase. Please contact me if you wish to get one. They are $12 or FREE with a $50 purchase.

Only a few days remain to purchase stamp sets from the Last Chance List!!! Once they are gone, they are gone. And don't forget about my Big Shot promotion which ends on June 30th!

Stay tuned, I have lots of info on up coming promotions exclusively to me!!

Hope to see you next weekend at my NEW Catalogue Open House on July 4th. RSVP to me ASAP!

Cheers,

Big Shot Promotion!!!!! Exclusive to me!

Those of you who know me, know that I love my Big Shot Die cutting machine almost as much as I love my children! Okay, well maybe not that much, but I do love it a whole lot!! It is by far one of the most versatile tools on the market! It cuts (through a multitude of materials such as paper, chipboard, cork, fabric etc), it embosses, it uses a variety of dies (Stampin' Up! exclusive, Sizzix brand, Quickutz, Cuttlebug, Nessabilities and more!) And you have got to love all the delectable dies that Stampin' Up! carries to use in it. But, did you know that it will no longer be offered with a Starter Kit option in the new catalogue??? Say it ain't so!!! So, in order to let you get in before you can't any more, I thought I would sweeten the pot, cause I'm sweet like that!!

The Big Shot Starter Kit includes:

■ Big Shot machine
■ Multipurpose Platform and Standard Cutting Pads
■ 2 Stampin’ Up! Exclusive Bigz dies (Scallop Envelope and Top Note)
■ 1 Stampin’ Up! Exclusive Sizzlits 4-Pack (Birds & Blooms)
■ 1 Stampin’ Up! Exclusive Decorative Strip (Decorative Strip Billboard)
■ Decorative Strip Cutting Pads and Extended Spacer Platform

Plus you get the following bonuses:

• a level 1 Hostess set of your choice
• $20 in FREE products!!!

And as my special treat, I am going to throw in a FREE Sizzlits die from page 200 in the Catty (Go Go boots alphabet excluded) of your choice! That's an extra $5.95 value! And that's not all, if you order before June 21st I will pay the shipping!!!! That's another $23.30 value!!

You get $314 worth of Big Shot goodness and other great stuff for only $232.95 (plus applicable taxes, offer valid in Canada only and only from me directly, not on my Online ordering system)!!!!

There really has never been a better time to get a Big Shot, so contact me to orders yours today!!

To see projects I have made with the Big Shot visit this link.

Cheers,

Do you receive my Newsletter???

I just wanted to point out to everyone that I publish a monthly newsletter which contains promotions, contests and projects. Enter your email address in the Sign up box on the right side of my blog.

Newsletter recipients will also occasionally receive special bonus promotions available only to my subscribers!! Don't delay, sign up now!

Cheers,

Last Chance Sample #3

Products used:

Stamps: Pretty Petals Stamp Set Pretty Amazing Stamp Set	Paper: Card Stock Lovely Lilac 8 1/2X11 Card Stock Sage Shadow 8 1/2X11 Card Stock Whisper White 8 1/2X11
Inks: Classic Stampin Pad Lovely Lilac Classic Stampin Pad Basic Black Stampin Write Marker Bashful Blue Stampin Write Marker So Saffron Stampin Write Marker Ballet Blue	Accessories: Snail Adhesive Permant

Cheers,