Time for {ME}

… or maybe I should retitle this - the year I really should try to forget.

2008 has been quite a struggle for me and my family - although they are truly the reason that I am still here, and that I am trying to find a way through this quagmire that my health and head have led me into. The only reason I am putting this out here is that many many people have let me know, both through here and privately, that they find blogging quite cathartic and almost therapeutic - so I guess it’s time for me to find out for myself how that goes. Well that, and I want to get the gorgeous Leonie to remodel and personalise my blog for me, and there’s absolutely no point to that if I’m not going to use it is there So this might be a long and rambling, more personal blog entry than is usual for a SU demo to post, but I’ve decided that I’d like to use this blog for both myself personally, as well as professionally - and you know what? That’s my decision to make, and I kinda feel good about it. WOW, it really does make a difference writing it down y’know!

OK - let’s start with the crap. 2008 has been an ongoing year of health problems for me - thankfully only for me, the rest of the family has been hideously healthy and relatively fit (well the kids only on that last part ) I am still having quite the extraordinary battle with the black bitch otherwise known as depression. Nothing me and my doc have tried this year has worked for very long before I started sinking back down into the depths. So in regards to this, I have been on and off an incredible number of different types of antidepressants, played around with increasing dosages, combinations, decreasing dosages, and quite frankly I’m not sure that anything is going to help at this stage. This medication merry-go-round has been going for 18months now, so you can understand if I’m getting quite dizzy, and well… despondent… for want of a better description. Am currently gradually increasing the dose of yet another - I’m amazed at the variety of drugs out there for this, and that they all work differently. My current ‘diagnosis’ from the shrink is severe depression coupled with bi-polar tendencies - this last part explains (to me anyway) some of the ups and downs I’ve had, along with the spending sprees, and some risk-taking behaviour that I really should know better than to do at the age of 38. I’m surprised that Andrew is still around considering a lot of what I have put him and the kids through this year - but he is, and he is my rock. People that love you unconditionally can make such a difference to your life, something I have discovered this year in my more lucid moments. Other than my husband and 2 children, friends like Jenni, Leonie and Deanne have been my saviours this year. These girls are truly amazing women, and I feel completely humbled that they have been so loving and accepting of me, and my ongoing problems- they have made me feel this year that somewhere under all this shit, that there IS a worthy and beautiful person - I just need to discover her again.

So on top of these ongoing mental health problems, another little problem that popped it’s head up this year was the dreaded “C” word. In May I discovered that the mole on my arm that had changed just a little was actually a malignant melanoma. Thankfully it was discovered early enough, but had still progressed past the initial stage so required some surgery to remove (rather than just the initial ‘remove the mole and hope all is OK’). My fabulous surgeon from the Sydney Melanoma Unit removed it all in this go-round though, so at this stage I have the all clear, with a follow up check in Feb. As you can imagine, I’m now quite vigilant to the point of paranoia about sun protection, especially for the kids. I’m sporting a rather large scar on my left forearm as a permanent reminder about the need to take sun protection seriously - especially in the Australian climate - we’re not the skin cancer capital of the world for no reason

THEN…. the MS decided to flare up a few times, meaning that I had to take this seriously now as well. Thankfully my Mum came to the party on this one and got the ball rolling. She’d been watching me struggle with the depression all this time, and I know that I had hurt her over and over - thankfully for me she made the decision to help me out of this hole in whatever way she could, rather than the easy route… which would have been to walk away. As you can imagine, when we had this conversation the tears flowed long and hard. Since my initial diagnosis 5 years ago, I hadn’t been back to a neurologist - the one I had that diagnosed me after a year of investigations said to me at the time “You have MS, there’s nothing we can do - live your life as best you can, you’ll slowly go downhill but it will take years and years, but we can’t do anything” ……. WTF…..

Thankfully we have a wonderful system here in Australia and an amazing MS Society. They have many systems in place to help and inform MS patients and their families, so this was Mum’s starting point. They were great, and incredibly helpful to her… and now to me as well. These people are amazing in what they do and what they provide for MS sufferers and their families, we’re indebted to them. So started the many, many trips into Sydney to visit the MS clinic that the Society runs, seeing an amazing neurologist, MS nurse, having many tests conducted (including a new MRI - YUK), MS Physiotherapist and lots and lots of information to absorb. As a result of these trips (which saw me get a fair bit of sock knitting done on the train trip in and out LOL) I am now on treatment to try and reduce/eliminate any further attacks or lesions. This requires a daily injection…. yeah I was horrified at first when they gave me a choice of 4 treatments and said to pick one myself, they ALL involved injections…. I picked this one for many reasons, one being less side effects than the interferon treatments, and another because I am terrible at remembering things so I figured each day was going to be easier to incorporate into a routine, and it has been. So far so good on these, and I’m back at the neurologists early in the New Year to do some more assessing etc….

WOW - that has been a bit doom and gloom hasn’t it? As you can see though it HAS been a full-on year for me medically and mentally. There have also been the usual family dramas as well - everyone has those. 11 year old son settled into a new school OK, there were some initial teething problems, and then some dramas towards the end of the year with bullying and teasing - which he thought a good way to eventually respond to this was to punch the kids when they went too far. Yeah that went down reeeeeeeeeeeel well as you can imagine :< He also took some time settling in to a class where much more was expected of them, he’s eventually found his groove though I think (hope) - Year 6 next year, and then onto high school…wow where have the years gone?

We had to say goodbye to a loved family member this year also - our dear Golden Retriever Rex had finally gone past the point of no return. He was loved by all of us for a good 10 years, and had been a loving, gentle, patient companion for us all in this time. We owed it to this gentle giant to give him a dignified exit from this world, so we had to make that awful decision to have him put to sleep. He has a special place in all our hearts, and it was truly heart-rending to have to do this - but he was in so much pain and there was nothing more that anyone could do for him. Our son was much stronger than I - he was there with Rex for his final moments. Rex and Patrick had such a special close bond, and I think that Pat is all the more complete because he’s had this. We’re all still grieving for our beloved Rex, and we all continue to share our thoughts and feelings with him in his special place under the Claret Ash in the backyard.

4 year old daughter is doing really well, she’s such a little ray of sunshine and just does her own thing. She makes me laugh.

Andrew (hubby) has settled in really well to his new school and new role as Head of Science. He’s enjoying the challenges that this has bought to him, and for the first time in years he has actually been happy and almost content in his job. He really is relishing the added responsibilities, and also enjoying the fact that this is a newer school and he is really able to put his own stamp on the department (as the first head that they’ve had). Andrew has always had great belief in himself, and this is really the kind of role that he excels in. So thats all good.

I have had some highlights and moments of happiness during this year (it’s not been all doom and gloom). My business as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is chugging along, obviously a lot had to be put on hold this year due to my own personal challenges, including the fact that I was so held down by the black bitch that I couldn’t even find any enjoyment in just ‘creating’ anymore. BUT I have an amazing team of girls who have helped me out and stuck with me for the most part - while also running and building their own businesses. Big THANK YOU to all the members of INKers Away! for their support and understanding during a year that I really haven’t been able to do much for them. I love that being a demostrator and team leader has given me the flexibility to be able to take time off as needed - I know that if I was still working as a drone at my previous place of employment that I wouldn’t have been given the time I needed to sort much of this out, much less any empathy. I think the empathy and knowing the friendships I have all throughout Australia have helped me also, especially the wonderfully supportive girls at the Elite Stampers forum, and at ESAD_SU Yahoo group - thanks and hugs to you all too.

My customers have been amazing also, very understanding as well - and the times that I have been doing workshops and classes I have LOVED. My son accompanied me to one in Nov, I was doing a kids class for some Christmas cards - at the urging and encouragement of one of my wonderful ladies I might add - and we had a ball. As we were driving home, Patrick said to me “You really love doing that don’t you Mum?”. Of course I answered YES I love it! He then said “You know, it really shows. And you’re really really good at it too”. He’s not a kid of too many words, well he does talk a lot but doesn’t tend to think too much before speaking - but he just melted me that day. And made me think. YES, I do LOVE what I do, and I LOVE to SHARE what I love. I truly am in the right place, I’ve found something that fits me perfectly. And I’m living Stampin’ Up!s statement of the heart. Thank you Patrick for showing that to me.

More on Stampin’ Up! personal news. Another highlight for me was being asked to present once again at the Sydney Regionals. Having done this in 2007 I never dreamt that they would ask me again to do it. Of course it came at one of my really black times, and I despaired of being able to get my presentation prepared and done on time. Once again I had an angel looking after me. The wonderful Leonie came to my rescue with both encouragement and ideas, and between us we managed to get this done for me. When the time came to do my presentation I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it - I love being on stage and just sharing what I love with others who love this as much as I do. I hope some of this love and passion came through. I immensely enjoyed seeing other demo friends up there doing their ‘thang’ too - thanks for sharing your ideas and successes with us Ness, Linda, Jayne, Angela and Marelle. Once I find my camera (yes it’s missing yet again!) I should be able to get some pics up - actually I think my next post might be mostly just pics

Not long after this ‘illustrious’ event we as a family went on a trek to Victoria to spend an amazing week with Jenni and her family. They were fabulous hosts, and even let us invade their camping holiday with the kids. Camping? Me? Well yes, and whats more I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it - despite not being able to shower for 3 days. Of course it helped that Jen and Dave did bloody everything - I have to apologise to them, once again my head sucked, and with it my energy levels. But I did love it all, and hope that we didn’t outstay our welcome. Would love to do it again sometime - Pat and Eliza have talked about it heaps. These are truly the best friends we could ever find, and their wonderful kids even put up quite well with Eliza (she’s a bit of a whirlwind that one!). Jenni and Davo - love you guys so much xxx

Something else that I did this year that would have to rate as a HUGE highlight was to attend our school reunion. It’s been 21 years since we left school, and for the most part it had been 21 years since I’d seen most of these people. What a great bunch of people they’ve turned out to be!!!! I had an absolute ball - of course I needed a ‘few’ fortifying drinks for some dutch courage before walking into the room… but it really wasn’t needed. The night flew by far too quickly, and I’m hoping to continue contact with many old friends I’ve now reconnected with. I’ve already had a few wonderful nights with Karin and the Lovely Drew, Richard H, and Deirdre. It’s been fantastic to forge new friendships after all this time with some amazing people. Thanks have to go out to Ross and Carol for organising such a fantastic night, and for finding so many people - the year group has definitely spanned the globe after all this time. I also have to extend a BIG personal thank you to RichardH for cheerleading me into going along, and also for his ongoing friendship and laughter. Pics from the night? Nah no chance of those being posted here (although there are some rotten ones floating around on Facebook) LOL.

The pictures from this night have finally given me the much-needed kick in the pants to get serious about losing some weight, for both health and appearance reasons. So in the past 8-9 weeks since the reunion I have managed to shed nearly 10kg - an important start. I still have a lot to go, but my head is finally in the right space for this personal challenge…. and I want to lose it slowly and surely so as to keep it off forever!

Well if you’ve gotten through allt his - a GOLD star to you. I did warn it would be wordy, but had no idea when I commenced this that it would be THIS wordy. That’s the year in a bit of a nutshell for us - here’s to a happier and healthier 2009.

Love

….yes that IS the question.

Obviously I have been struggling with this for some months now, and I guess I’m realising that I have lost all (if any in  the first place LOL) of my readers…. so tell me, should I still be blogging? Are my shares and internal thoughts worthy of being here on the WWW? I’ve had quite a few health struggles in the past few months, some of which have actually kept me away from here - and others that have left me not quite in the right frame of mind to be putting my thoughts out there. I’m slowly on the mend - still have some decisions to make, particularly regarding MS and treatments, but at least I’m finally getting some answers to some of the questions that have plagued me for the many months past.

So my question to those of you still out there - do you still have any interest in hearing from me in a  more regular manner? A mix of cardmaking/scrapping and personal thoughts still? What else would you like to see here? Leave me a comment, and I’ll have a random drawing for a parcel of goodies from me (open to Aus residents only - for postage reasons!) Depending on my response - well….. you may see another post from me sooner rather than later

…. thou art my muse……

Yep once again - I finally start creating again….and it took yet another Kristina colour challenge…. this time our colours to play with are Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky, Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla. Trust me, this is them LOL (am having some image issues, and wordpress woes at the moment….will pop the gorgeous graphic up once it all starts to play nice again for me - LOVE the Mac,

but still have problems troubleshooting at times!)

Anyway, this is my card - sorry about the cruddy photo - another issue to fix - just trying to get this up in time (I think I’m late after all my puta woes though :()

I’ve used the Petals & Paisley set from the current IB&C here in Aust - the background dots are in this set (look girls - CIRCLES LOL). I’ve used the corner rounder to make the scallop edge on both the Vanilla and Pumpkin Pie cardstock, and the ribbon is the Certainly Celery (NOT my favourite colour, but I’m liking it in this combo) wide grosgrain…..

Thanks for looking,

Cheers

Just thought I’d post a little update here, and let everyone know that between us (my family and Mum), we have managed to raise over $1500 for the MS Society.

So a BIG THANK YOU going out to all the marvelous generous people that I have met here on the internet, and friends that I have known for years. Without you all I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today, both in fundraising, and physically and spiritually.

You are all my rocks - THANK YOU

Time for another colour challenge over at Kristina Werner’s blog - I can see these being totally addictive. Not only does she get some great colour combinations happening, but her graphics and design are just awesome - i love checking out her blog - you should do yourself a favour and head over there sometime too.

Onto the card I made - it was quite a challenging combination - very neutral and sophisticated - VERY unlike me I have to admit I took the colours as my inspiration this time, rather than trying to incorporate the image as well - I just don’t DO circles - they dislike me intensely for some reason. Maybe that should have been my challenge LOL!

Stamps used: all SU! Wild Rose, Linen Background and Life Definitions

I started with a piece of Whisper White cardstock and stamped some of the roses using Sahara Sand ink. For the smaller roses I stamped-off onto a scrap of paper before stamping onto the White. I then stamped the second part of these 2-step roses using the first generation of ink, and the Stampamajig to line it up (love that thing!). I masked the roses, and stamped the leaves in Wild Wasabi, using the same method as the rose with the generations of ink.

Then to soften the starkness of the white, I inked the Linen BG stamp (I just adore this!) in So Saffron, and overstamped the whole piece. Some sponging of So Saffron ink on the edges, and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter in the centre finishes off the focal piece.

The “remember” panel is stamped in Wild Wasabi, and overstamped using the Linen background also. It is mounted on Dimensionals. Then some layering and voila - the card is done.

I actually knew who I was making this for as I was going, and sent a few “darters” her way (small prayers and thoughts sent as you go about your business). I’m hoping it brightens her day!

Cheers

Yep - finally, it’s happened! YAY me!!!

I’ve finally completed one of Kristina Werner’s Colour Challenges - and ON TIME! Holy moly!

This is her colour challenge - you can check out the post here…. and all the comments and entries - these are always bloody amazing - as is all of Kristina’s work - yep, I’m one of her many Aussie stalkers

Anyway, the colours are Whisper White, Rose Red, So Saffron, Only Olive and Going Gray - and I thought they’d be easy to work with (I love So Saffron), but it wasn’t quite as easy peasy as I though - but hey - I GOT IT DONE (yes I’m shouting, I’m so bloody pleased with myself LOL!)

OK I’ll work out in a minute how to rotate the pic, but i just want to get this up there LOL - ETA: done!

I discovered while making this that I’d never used Going Gray cardstock as I had a full pack there, and we don’t sell it in single packs anymore in Australia!.

Cardstock used: Whisper White, Rose Red, So Saffron and Going Gray

Stamp set used is Natural Beauty - an old favourite, and one of my ‘go to’ sets - still available here in Australia! Yay for us!

Flower is coloured using inkpads and an Aquapainter, in the colours, So Saffron, Rose Red and Old Olive.

And how did I get the Old Olive striped grosgrain? I took my narrow white grosgrain and ran my Old Olive marker over the ‘raised’ edges of the grosgrain - instant stripe!

The “inspire’ word in the Pewter Hodgepodge hardware frame has been inked using the Going Gray marker on its own from the word “background” stamp that is in the Natural Beauty set.

All products used to make this card are from Stampin’ Up! and are available through me at anytime!

I think thats it - hope you enjoy - and I’ll be back to explain my absence in another post in the next few days!

Cheers

xxx

As a family we are all participating in this years MS Walk/Run - first time ever in this one for us all. But it IS

a cause close to our hearts - I, and my family, have been living with a MS diagnosis for the past 5 years. So we are all doing this as a fundraising effort - the goal that I have set for us is $500 (not sure what Andrew has set - I don’t think he has yet - but I picked this, I think having a goal can make all the difference to your efforts - this applies to most things in life I reckon)- I’d LOVE to be able to help the MS Society out some - their help and advice has been invaluable to me so far. Hopefully I will never need more help than the phone advice and publications that they have sent me - but you never know…

Andrew and Patrick (10) will be doing the 8km run around Milsons Point, Mum, myself and Eliza (3) are doing the 9km walk around the other side of Sydney harbour - I’m hoping I hold out for the whole 9km otherwise we might need the pram for me!!! Last big walk I did was back in March and it was only 6km (The Mt Annan Challenge Walk)

Anyway, if you wanted to help us out with our fundraising efforts - all you need to do is click here
and follow the “Donate” button…. Andrew hasn’t started to update the page yet, might have to find out if I can have a button to go in my sidebar for an easy click! In the meantime though - we’d love it if you could help a little. Don’t forget that any donations above $2 are fully tax-deductible!

Thanks, and I’ll be back with some more creations over the weekend…. if you get a chance, check out the challenges for the Cybercrop on at LSBS…. they are great - and being a BIRTHDAY CC there is plenty of fun on offer! Tell em AT sent you ;)!

…into my craft space!

Now I don’t know about you - but I ADORE it when people post pics of their spaces online for us all to see. I crane my neck trying to see around the “corner” and squint and enlarge to see all the little details - it’s like being a voyeur, but being invited - so much fun!

So here are some pics, and some short descriptions of my little space.

I”m very lucky - I’ve extended the house, and this is the walk-through area that used to be the 3rd bedroom, it leads to the extension (main suite and the 4th bedroom). Now when we drew up the plans for this it was always meant to be a combined study space for me and my school-teacher husband (now Head of Science - yes I’m proud of him!)….. HAHAHAHA! I think he did have some inkling that that may not be how it would end up, but bless his little cotton socks, he never said a word (although I’m sure he did some internal eye-rolling)….

This is the view you get when you walk into the room - yeah I know it’s a mess, surprisingly it’s actually a little neater now that when I took this pic - but oh well. It doesn’t usually get much better than this - but its always a work in progress. I LOVE my tall desk - this is standing height for me, and Mum bought me the funky bar stool for when I need to plonk my bum down, it’s really comfortable. I love standing while stamping, and I find that it actually helps me put things away straight away, all I have to do is turn or take one step and its away! All my Stampin’ Up! cardstock (A4) is stored in the 2 filing cabinets under the desks. I did always have visions of this being one of those gorgeous, pristine rooms with a place for everything and everything in its place - unfortunately I just dont think my mind can work that way - I LOVE the look, but just cannot get my head around recreating it I might have to take some pics when I do finally work it all out though! That can be my challenge for the month - what do you reckon?

Hey I found another neater pic The desks were an absolute bargain, I got them when the BIG garden centre that my mum worked at closed down - these were a set of benches they used for display - I got 2 lots of 3 nested, so 6 tables all up, for a dirtcheap price through the online auction they had. This setup has used one of the large ones and one of the medium ones - the 2 smaller ones are outside for the kids to use.

Now if we turn around 180 degrees (remember we’re in a walk-thru hallway type of area), we can see this!

My wonderful IKEA Expedit shelves…. now I wasn’t actually “allowed” to have these - hubby really wanted to keep this wall clear of any furniture or bits that he could stub his toe on….but he was so darn smug about it, well I just had to have them didn’t I? Can you spell “pig headed”? LOL - yep thats me. I DID compromise for him though - isn’t that what marriage is about, and long term happiness - compromise? Instead of the BIG unit that I really wanted, I got this hip height number instead - and I hate to admit it, but he was kinda right - the big one I was talking about would have totally destroyed the flow of the house - at least this way you still get an unencumbered view to the rest of the house, while still having a practical and convenient storage solution! Oh and PS, I didn’t actually tell him about the unit, I just put it together one day while he was at work - and asked him to live with it for a month and if he still hated it, well then I would take it down. Teehee, 6months later it’s still there!!!!

Anyway….. this stores an array of goodies, from 12×12 papers from SU and cardstock, to a box of scrap kits waiting to be used, to forms and paperwork for my business, all my embossing gear in a box, watercolouring in another, my BindItAll and coils live in yet another of the boxes - I’m continually amazed at how much goes into this unit (and hope I never have to pull it down and find homes again - it’s amazing how we expand to fill the space we have, plus some, isn’t it?)

Now ABOVE this, is the newest addition to my craft area, and latest storage solution - and I have to say - I LOVE IT!

It’s my RIBBON WALL! It’s so textural and tactile, and I just have to touch them when I go past - it has that effect on most people - its very spectacular. AND it has the added bonus of being a “feature” on the wall - plus i can now see all my ribbons so easily, and I USE them now. *GASP* I know, shocking isn’t it???? If you check out my gallery tab at the top, I think you can see a larger pic of this….. and it truly is spectacular in real life, it just shimmers and sparkles…and ooooooh, I LOVE it - can you tell???

Now turn around a little more, and you are looking at the door you walked in through, and just to the right of there is this….

This is my inkpad storage, and again, I love having it on the wall. It frees up space on my fairly narrow desk - and also is only an arms reach away so is so easy to put them back when I’m done. These are once again a bargain find from IKEA - they are DVD holders, but unfortunately they no longer make them. I did need 2 more to hold some extras - and YAY for good friends - my mate (and partner in crime) Jen no longer needed hers since she bought the inkpad caddy, so she gifted them to me….love ya Jen! Doncha just LOVE good friends - I’d be lost without gems like Jen in this world!

And under the inkpad storage, are more IKEA gems - $35 each these DVD “bookcases” cost me - and they fit perfectly!

These were MUCH much fuller - our retirement list took out heaps from my shelves - good news is though, I’m selling them all - contact me by either email or call (02) 46476735 for a list and prices of what I have available, trust me there is HEAPS, and some fabulous bargains in there too… but they are a great size for storing our stamp sets - I’m really happy with these too.

So there you have it, a quick tour of my stamping space…. would love to hear what you all think, and if you have any fabbo storage ideas, let me know. I’m pretty happy with how most of it is panning out - but these things are always a work-in-progress are they not?

Yep, another 10minute wonder from me!

This one was for a baby shower for a dear friend of mine that I went to on Sunday - she’s having a very unexpected 3rd bub later this month…. and she’s having a GIRL! (which Charlene and her hubby were dearly hoping for), so I’m really happy that soon they are going to have their very own princess to spoil! Good luck Chaz and Peter, Charlene - remember it only hurts for a little while - you’re going to be a pro at this - what was it one of the girls said on Sunday?…. “Two coughs and you’ll be done!” I can’t wait to meet and cuddle and smell the new little darlin’ when she gets here

This time I have used some patterned paper for this one - using 2 of the designs from our Palette of Prints promotion for this month. It’s a great one, spend $35 and have the opportunity to purchase this exclusive paper pad with 48 6″ x 6″ sheets of double-sided designer series paper for only $12.95. The colours of papers in the pad are Rose Red, Certainly Celery, and the 2 I have used above (and they are EXCLUSIVE to this pad - not also available in the catalogue) - So Saffron and Almost Amethyst. I adore these two colours, especially together - and they make a lovely girly card, but not “too” girly - don’t you agree?

The little bubba on the card was stamped using the All In The Family set, and watercoloured using inkpads and aquapainter. Using 2 sizes of circle punches I then punched the bubba out and a co-ordinating Lovely Lilac circle out, and stuck it onto a So Saffron scallop punch. The patterned papers I cut into a freehand wave using the Cutter Kit - love this little tool - it comes with 4 different tools on it and there are many uses for them all. I then stamped some girly bubba words using both Expressive Flexible Phrases and Everyday Flexible Phrases along the wave line, and finished it off with some decorative ribbon from my ribbon wall!

I like this one so much, I think I may make a celery and blue one so I have a boy card on hand!

I just wanted to let those in the area know, that my son’s school, Camden South Public School, is having their school fete this Friday night, May 9 - from 3.30-8.30pm. There will be lots of fun for all and things for the whole family to see and do.

I’m having a Stampin’ Up! stall there and would love for you to come along and say Hi to me. I plan on having a few little bits and pieces for sale, and some great incentives available for you to book a workshop. But please do come and say a hello and let me know that you came from my blog… I’ll be demo’ing some techniques on the night, and hopefully chatting to lots of people. I also hope to have some of my retired stamps there for sale, so if there was a set you missed out on from the old catalogues - you never know, I may just have it for sale for a bargain. What I don’t take, and doesn’t sell prior will be offered at my May Madness date - more details about this coming later

My son is so excited about this fete - this is a new school for him, he only started there at the beginning of this year - he’s in Year 5, so it was hard for him to leave his friends at his old school at Narellan, but he’s made some great new friends, and still sees his other friends after school and some weekends. I think hes most excited about Fri night because he knows that he HAS to stay there the whole time, since I’ll be working there myself, so he can wander and get up to as much fun as he and his friends can make! He’s already planning on how many rides he can go on and how sick he can make himself…. sigh, boys!!!! LOL

Looking forward to seeing you there and saying HI!

Yes really! I finally did a 10-minute card (all my gals are snorting their coffees right about now - I am the sloooooooowest card maker ever!) - but seriously, this took all of 10minutes - well maybe a little more since I started “fiddling” to finish it off… but not much more! Honest!

This card has used 4 of the 6 new Incolours - River Rock, Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, and a touch of Wild Wasabi for the stems. The large tulip shaped flower from Bodacious Bouquet has been inked using the “Rock and Roll” technique. I first inked the flower using Groovy Guava, and then very carefully “rolled” the rubber around inking the edges in Purely Pomegranate. This is one of the cards we will be making in my next technique class - I’m going to concentrate on techniques using your inkpads and rubber - you will be amazed at what you can achieve. Contact me on (02) 46476735 if you are in the Narellan/Camden area and want to come along to this - class will be held on May14 at 10:30am. Address for the class is 6 Lodges Rd, Narellan, NSW 2567

I’ve fallen head over heels in love with this years InColours. Last year’s took some time to grow on me, but I haven’t stopped using these ones since they arrived. Do I have a favourite yet? I’m thinking it would have to be Groovy Guava - its a slightly toned down version of Cameo Coral and Im LOVING it! So what’s your favourite? Leave me a comment on this post, and I’ll draw a name at random next Tues to win a small SU prize from me! Unfortunately, SU demos are not in the running for this - but leave me a comment with your favourite anyway

OK for some reason I am having HUGE problems posting…. hoping this gets through - if the slideshow doesn’t - oh well - at least I will know I CAN post something! YAY…. now if someone can tell me how to centre the darn thing, I’ll be ECSTATIC!

Wow - its been a full week now since convention, and I’m soooo missing all my mates

I just want to share with you all how excited I was, for both myself and my team…. I managed to do a stage walk for a recruit Level1 award like I’ve already shared…. but that was only part of the excitement… some of my marvellous INKers Away! team members also made the stage walk with me…. So a HUGE congratulations to Leonie for her Recruit Level1 award, Ness for her Recruit level 2, Sales level 2, AND Incentive Trip and Anna for her Recruit level 1, and Sales Level 1. I also have to give an extra special mention to Ness for being amongst the TOP 25 DEMONSTRATORS in Australia - what an achievement - I’m so proud of you all! Seeing Ness get up over and over again has inspired me to be doing the same at next years awards - YOU ROCK!

Also HUGE congrats to all my other great, amazing and inspirational girls from my extended SU! family - especially to Jenni (love you honey), Marelle, Alisa, Linda, Roz, Fleur, Cheryl, Jayne, Jacqui, Mads (you crack me up chickie), Kerri, Yvonne, and Claire. You girls all make me so proud to call you friend and family…and maybe some of those shiny stars will rub off onto me too! I know they will - I love how we all support and help each other along our own individual paths - Stampin’ Up! has been such a great thing to have come into my life.

Wordpress isn’t playing nice with the uploading of photos since I upgraded… so will try again to add some pics later…. maybe a slideshow? Anyone got any ideas how I do one of them?

Keep on INKin’ Away!

…. from Convention 2008. DREAM BIG! I most definitely will now. What an awesome and inspiring few days - not only the classes and things that they put on for us for convention, but also just the pure joy and exhilaration from spending 3 days in the company of like-minded MAD addicts stampers!!!! What a BUZZ! If you think you’d like to join me on next years one (in Canberra this time girls!) email or call me for information on joining my growing team - INKers Away!

My dreams for the year … I’m still thinking of many of them, but here are a couple:

* To make Incentive Trip 2009 - it will be in Noosa, and I’ve never been anywhere nice, and next year will be mine and hubby’s 15th year wedding anniversary, I’d love to present him with a luxury trip courtesy of SU! - especially since we had a 2 day honeymoon in Jenolan Caves (it was all we could afford at the time!)

* To make a few more ’stage walks’ - I have to say being able to walk the stage last weekend as an award winner was one of the proudest moments of my life - I didn’t think it would affect me so much, but it really did…. oh and if someone out there has a picture of that walk I would LOVE you forever if you emailed it to me (my official photographer was too busy talking about LOST I do believe 8-))

* To find and achieve more of a balance in my life - to spend time on ME and my family, and have more balance happening between this and my business

* To make that paradigm shift and turn this into a business that contributes much much more to my family life, both monetary and personally.

* To meet the fabulous Mr Robbie Williams…. well i did say some of these were BIG dreams….ahhhhh, Robbie…..

Will post some pics from the weekend tomorrow when the camera is charged up again to download, and also some pics of my swaps…remind me in a years time girls - that I am NOT sitting up until 2am each night making swaps for the next day!

Keep smilin’

Aren’t they just GORGEOUS???? Yes folks, this is the cover of the NEW 2008-2009 Idea Book & Catalogue. All of those folks that have pre-ordered through me should have received theirs by now…. and if you don’t have your very own copy - well, email me and I’ll get one out to you at a special price (until the end of April) of $15 posted ANYWHERE in Australia to you. After this, they will be $12.95 plus $5.95 P&H to you. Trust me, you will want your own copy of this, it is a beautiful book - definitely a “coffee table book”. Until you have a copy there though, if you click on the pic, it should take you to the online version, for you to browse through.

This beauty caused such a commotion in the Stampin’ Up! warehouse on April1 - they had an unprecedented amount of orders placed on this first 12 hours of the catalogue being current, most of the stampede was from demos trying to get orders placed for new goodies to show to you all. The good news is that the warehouse, as of today, has mostly caught up on the backlog, and shipping times should be back to their usual speedy service very shortly. I still have a couple of dates left on my diary for April and May, so give me a call on (02) 46476735, or email me to book your workshop or class place. Don’t forget that all my hostesses receive their very own copy of the IB&C to keep. Or join my stamp club - again you will get a chance to be a hostess and you will receive straight away your own copy of the IB&C, I still have a couple of spaces left for my new club starting in May.

OK, best be off to pack - I leave tomorrow for Brisvegas, and the FUN and EXCITEMENT of the annual Stampin’ Up! convention….. I’M SO EXCITED!