What? 4 days in a row? Unheard of!

Well yes, unbelievable, but true. Blogging for a fourth day straight. You know you have been hanging out at the computer too much when the cat sits on the keyboard! It's true, she is actually sitting on some of the keys!
Today I have decided to share some photos of our travels during these school holidays, there are actually many perks to living on the far north coast, but one of my favourite things to do at this time of year is to go whale watching. I am definately a fan of most animals and these creatures absolutely fascinate me. They seem to perform beautifully; breaching & playing in the balmy north coast waters as they travel north to warmer waters (and who could blame them, it's soooooo cold down south!). So, although I do not have any actual pictures of the breaching, playful BIG and little (way too cute!) whales we spotted (my super zoom camera is broken - BOO HOO!), I do have some photos of the magnificent places we visited to see them - Lennox Head and Byron Bay.

Lennox Head

Byron Bay

We went for a beautiful (though very tiring) 4km walk along Byron coast land & up to the lighthouse & the most Easterly point of Australia. There were SOOOOOOOO many stairs! But well worth the walk - well I thought so anyway, some of my children would not agree!  I did actually have a fantastic photo of the Byron Bay Lighthouse, but for some reason my computer didn't want to comply with the pic rotate function tonight, so after six VERY slow loading (internet speed is shocking here! - very similar to dial up speed - YUK!) attempts I am giving up. Check out those beautiful north coast days though - hard to believe it is the middle of winter. I do have more to show you, but I am leaving it at that tonight, I have spent far too much time with my computer lately (trying to create my own banners and graphic art for my stall, storefront & blog!).
My little owl eyes are tiredy tired,
Yours in inky claws,

Joelle

P.S I promise to upload some more crafty shots really soon.
P.P.S.S Ok so, I didn't take this, it is actually from the National Parks website, but these are the gorgeous creatures I was telling you about. We actually saw little ones breaching and spurting water from their blowholes - FASCINATING creatures aren't they! Got to love humpback migration season on the Far North Coast of NSW.

Humpback Whale Breaching

More Show & Tell

Well here I am back again. Today I have something I had planned to run as a class, but I just had way too many ideas running around in my head, that I replaced the class with another creation. I am sharing a little gift card box with matching gifts cards (funny that!). Anyway here it is:

 

Once again I have used one of my favourite colour combos - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive & Very Vanilla. There are six gift cards with 6 matching envelopes. The idea came from my gorgeous upline Marelle Taylor. Many people have been asking for gift cards at my market stall, so I think this will be one way to keep them happy. As per usual my brain runs at a million miles per hour when it comes to craft ideas, so this is just one of the gift card sets I will be planning to sell.

Stampin' Up! Products used: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive & Very Vanilla cardstock, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive inkpads, Pocket Silhouettes, Vintage Vogue & Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp sets, Scallop envelope die, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" circle punches, 1 3/4" scallop circle punch, Paper piercer, Snail, Stampin' Dimensionals.

I love these little sets, they make great little gifts, I hope you like my creation too.

Yours in inky claws,

Joelle 

Told You I'd Be Back!

Well, yes, I am back & blogging at last! I have a couple of things to show you today. Firstly is the "stepped up" version of the card I designed for my make & take at the party. By adding a couple of gorgeous products I have "lifted" the card to an elegant level (well I think so anyway!) Here it is:

By adding some of that GORGEOUS baja breeze pleated ribbon (in the current mini catalogue - I LOVE these ribbons), baja breeze seam binding, an extra dimensional layer, word window punch and some pearls - voila! A new look for the card, yet same design.
Today I have also got some watercolouring using one of my favourite sets Fifth Avenue Floral:

Stampin' Up! Products used: Fifth Ave Floral, Short & Sweet, Teeny Tiny Sentiments stamp sets. Basic Grey, Baja Breeze, Pretty In Pink, Very Vanilla Cardstock, Stampin' Up Watercolour paper, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Pretty In Pink, Rose Red, Versamark & Staz On inkpads, Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Word window, Decorative Label, 1/2" Circle & Lace Ribbon Border punches, Pearls, Snail, Stampin' Dimensionals, glue pen & Dazzling Diamonds.
Well that's all for today,
I'll be back soon . . .I promise!
Yours in ink,
Joelle

Time to Party!

Well, I was finally able to have a Stampin' Up! party in my home a couple of weekends ago. I had a lovely group of ladies to share my love of papercrafting and enjoy a scrummy afternoon tea. We had lots of fun, I did a demonstration using the new Stampin' Up! Scorepal, Big Shot and beautiful Twitterpated designer series paper to created a lovely Fancy Favour box with a gorgeous embellished rosette ( I forgot to take some photos - silly me!). Jade was the lucky door prize winner of the demo box which was filled with some yummy treats.
The ladies also had a chance to make their own card using some of my favourite products from the current mini catalogue; the new blossom punch and Mixed bunch stamp set, I think they had lots of fun. Here's the card I designed for the make and take:

 

Ohhhhhhh, I so love the new mixed bunch set & matching punch!

Products used: Sahara Sand, Baja Breeze & Very Vanilla cardstock, Crumb cake, Island Indigo stampin' Pads,  Blossom & Modern Label Punches, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions embossing folder, Snail, stampin' dimensionals.

I promise to blog again really soon, I have been creating soooooo many things lately for my upcoming classes. Stay tuned!
Yours in inky claws,

Joelle

FINALLY! I hear you say!

Hello there,
Yes, I am FINALLY posting! I am so sorry that I have not blogged for a while. I have had to see some specialists in Qld in regard to my health and I have been put on some new medications that are making me super tired and to be honest, I hadn't been feeling myself. But I am finally back! I am a little sad because a couple of weeks ago my camera broke (naturally right before my kids race at district cross country!), so it's going to take me a while to get all my craft pickies up.

I thought I should let you know about our Stampin' Up SUPER SPECIALS for this month. I call them SUPER because one of them involves FREE stamps and the other FREE products!
What more could a stamper ask for?

Reason to Smile Promotion

Promotion dates: 1-30 June 2012
Promotion Details: During June, you have the opportunity to purchase-or earn for FREE-an exclusive stamp set, available only through this special offer!
Get the Reason to Smile Set FREE when you spend $125 on any Stampin' Up! products. Or purchase it at the regular retail price $35.95 wood-mount or $28.95 clear-mount plus shipping costs.

And the other Special for both June & July:

We {Heart} Hostesses Promotion

Dates: 1 June - 31 July 2012
Details: During June and July, hostesses who hold a minimum $650 workshop will receive an additional $90 in hostess FREE merchandise dollars-that's in addition to the $100 they already receive for a $650 workshop!

Your Hostess' Party Sales*	Regular Hostess Benefits	Additional Hostess Dollars	Total Hostess Benefits
$650	$100 plus 1 item at 50% off	$90	$190 plus 1 item at 50% off
$800	$130 plus 2 items at 50% off	$90	$220 plus 2 items at 50% off
$1,000	$160 plus 3 items at 50% off	$90	$250 plus 3 items at 50% off
$1,250	$200 plus 15% of amount over $1,250 plus 4 items at 50% off	$90	$290 plus 15% of amount over $1,250 plus 4 items at 50% off

Wow! Unbelievable two great  promotions on offer!
Contact me if you'd like to place an order or hold a party.

Other News: 
I have just had a FANTASTIC weekend spent with a gorgeous friend who came up from Sydney, stayed for a few days and on the weekend we went to the Papercraft show in Brisbane.
Now me trying to navigate my way around Brisbane. . . lets just say I may as well be in a foreign country! Anyway, we finally reached our destination and could smell that paper and product from a mile away, so as you can imagine, we kinda went crazy! There was so much to see, do and drool over!
Tim Holtz (famous in the papercrafting world) was there demonstrating, but unfortunately he wasn't miked up so it was more a case of lip reading from where I stood, though I did manage to get a couple of photos of him demonstrating just to prove I was there!
I also bumped in to two of my Stamp Camp buddies from Sydney, who also made the trek for the fabulous show. It was so lovely to see them & can't wait to catch up in August.

I must tell you about the wonderful Stampin' Up! Brisbane ladies who had a Stampin' Up! Stall with an amazing display of talent. I was delighted to meet the very talented Kim Gavarra  and some of her team.Kim is just as lovely as she appears in her blog - check it out if you get a chance.
Yours in ink,
Joelle