Hi everyone!    I have some fantastic news for you!  Today I am super excited to announce details of the 4th annual Stamp-a-thon to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  

This year’s event will be held on  SATURDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER

Stamp-a-thon is a day of fun filled stamping activities where you will make 7 exciting projects and receive the brand new Ideas Book & Catalogue which launches on 1 Sept.  There will be loads of give aways, silent auctions, door prizes, etc and you will have the opportunity to be the first to see and play with some amazing new products from the long awaited new catalogue.  All proceeds from the day will go to the NBCF for breast cancer research.

I know those of you who attended last year, or missed out on a spot, are itching for the details, so help is at hand.  For those of you new to Stamp-a-thon, it was started three years ago by my gorgeous friend and fellow Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, the very talented Makeesha Byl, when I was diagnosed for a second time with breast cancer.  Keesh decided to do something proactive and embarked on raising money for breast cancer research by doing something that we all love – stamping! 

So,without further ado…

click here to view the details and obtain your registration form. 

Be quick because places are limited and fill extremely fast.  Come and join us in this great cause and have a fantastic day out doing something you love!

Each Stamp-a-thon event has grown tremendously and last year Keesh asked myself and fellow demonstrator Charmaine Black to assist her with the day, and of course we jumped at the chance!  This year, preparation will be a little different as Keesh is now living in Cairns but we are thrilled to say she’s coming home to head the show once again.  Woo hoo!  I can’t wait to see that girl and give her a big squeeze. 

You can read more about how Stamp-a-thon came about here and about last year’s event here.

We look foward to hearing from you soon and seeing you on the day!

Cheers 

These gorgeous little nugget boxes were designed by Keesh and one of Charmaine’s customers kindly made us 100 little thong soaps to go in.  Aren’t they gorgeous?! 

These were made using the thongs from the Just Beachy set which were also stamped around the edges of the baja box.  Colours used were Baja Breeze, Regal Rose, Not Quite Navy and some of the Walk in the Park DSP.

Keesh also prepared this Flowerpot card, which looks just like a little pot of flowers until you pull them out and it has the greeting on it.  Very cute and super popular at the moment.   Keesh has used the Petal Pizazz stamp set and punched and cut out various sizes of flowers together with the Three for You punch for the small centre flowers with gold brads. 

When the card slides out, it shows the greeting, in this case we used wording from Upsy Daisy.  

This gorgeous little mini bragbook was created by Charmaine and shows off our new Forest Friends stamp set just perfectly.  

Char has used some of the Walk in the Park DSP as well as the square scallop punch and gel pen to accent the pages.  Isn’t this just the cutest!!

Charmaine also designed this groovy spring card.  She’s used Pacific Point, Baja Breeze and Basic Gray and the new Just Beachy set to make this.  I just love how this car has come up on here and am very tempted by this set now!  It’s also a great way to show off your watercolouring skills without being too much of a chore as all the images are relatively small.  This would be great for male and young boy cards!

Last but not least is this simple but ever so cute and effective gift bag.  Keesh & Char worked together on these and have showcased the gorgeous new Parisian Breeze DSP papers, scallop oval punch and the Oval All stamp set.  The ladies on the day just loved these and I can see them all now scrounging through their cupboard for paper shopping bags to cover! 

So there you have it!  I hope you have enjoyed seeing these and I will be back soon with lots more card samples I prepared for Stamp-a-thon whenever I can upload pics again. 

Sorry about the photo sizing etc but after all the hoohah with Wordpress I just couldn’t get back in to fix up the sizes.  Arrrgghh!!

Well I must go now as I’ve just splashed a few samples of paint on my new craft room walls and off to see what they look like dry!  ooh how excitement!

Lou
xo

Here I have used the same criss-cross card template in a further two designs. 

I haven’t actually stamped anything on the outside of this card which I didn’t even realise until I came to write up the materials list. I just stamped one of my favourite greetings from the Level 1 Hostess set Best Yet in the bottom right hand corner of the insert (not photographed).

 Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Kraft, Whisper White
Accessories:  Parisian Breeze DSP Felt Fusion Too, Kraft taffeta ribbon, 5/16″ jumbo brads, curly label punch

I think this one is my favourite even though I am not a ‘rosy’ person, I just love the colours and it shows off the papers and our new scallop oval punch perfectly!

Stamp set:  Occasional Greetings
Inks:  Riding Hood Red
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Accessories:  Bella Rose DSP, round tab punch, scallop oval punch, large oval punch, small oval punch, rhinestone brads, Old Olive ribbon (oops – I didn’t have any Kiwi Kiss at the time and it looked fine).

 Here are my two other designs of the Xmas card fold. 

Stamp set:  Cheep Talk
Inks:  Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point
Cardstock:  Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Accessories: Pacific Point DSP, 5/16″ jumbo brads, mat pack and piercer, Pacific Point striped ribbon, crystal effects. 

Stamp set:  Always
Inks:  Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose
Cardstock:  Pumpkin Pie, Regal Rose, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Accessories:  Sweet Always DSP, 1/2″ circle punch

Last but not least are the other two bookmark designs. This one was super quick and easy, no stamping but nice and bright and cheery.

Cardstock:  Real Red, Pacific Point, Whisper White
Accessories:  Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8″ circle punch, 1 1/4″ circle punch, 5/16″ jumbo brads, Pacific Point DSP, Pacific Point ribbon. 

 Stamp set:  Circus Circle
Inks:  Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette
Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Accessories:  Felt Fusion Too, sponges, pink grosgrain ribbon, silver brads.

Well I think that just about wraps up Stamp-a-thon 2009 and I hope you’ve enjoyed viewing the projects and hearing about it as much as I’ve enjoyed being part of it.

I am so proud to have been involved in such a wonderful day, raising almost $4,500 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself (despite the paper cuts, headaches and RSI in my cutting/scoring hand) and cherish the time spent with Keesh and Char in preparing the event.  Who knows, we may be brave enough to do it all again next year!

Cheers

Keesh, Char and I had quite a few little get togethers during the course of the preparations for Stamp-a-thon and I have to say that apart from partaking in Charmaine’s scrumptious cinnamon muffins and Keesh’s homemade soup, the chatter and laughs, we did actually manage to get some work done too!  I think our time together was one of the biggest perks for me being involved in Stamp-a-thon – I couldn’t ask for better girls to work with! 

I don’t have photos of all the projects just yet but I do have the ones I put together.  The majority of our projects featured new stamp sets and accessories from the new Spring Mini catalogue. 

First off is a criss-cross card.

Stamp set:  Great Friend
Cardstock:  Cameo Coral, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Inks:  Baja Breeze, Cameo Coral
Accessories:  Walk in the Park DSP, Round Tab Punch, silver brads, stamp-a-ma-jig

A Christmas card: 

Stamp set:  Tree Trimmings, Best Yet
Cardstock:  Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Inks:  Olve Olive, Real Red
Accessories:  Ski Slope DSP, Silver brads, wide red grosgrain ribbon, mat pack and piercer (this pic shows Kiwi Kiss dsp in place of Ski Slope)

Next up was a corner bookmark:  The ladies actually made two of these, one being a feminine one using Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie & Choc Chip with the Circle Circus stamp set and one being a masculine one using Really Rust, Choc Chip & Creamy Caramel and the Wanted stamp set.

 In case you can’t quite gather how it works, this is it in action on our new Spring Mini Catalogue

I hope you like these – the ladies on the day sure did!  If you have any questions, let me know.  I hope to be back soon with the other projects and we also made triplicates of our projects so i have more to show you too!

The new Spring Mini catalogue is available now until 30 November so call or email me if you would like me to pop one in the mail to you!  You can of course view it online here.

Have a great day!

Lou

After a rather busy week of cutting, scoring and gathering supplies for our projects, Keesh, Char and myself headed to the hall on Friday afternoon to set things up.  As most of you know Keesh and Char are such livewires and we had many laughs and jokes whilst we went about our setting up.  With a little help from Grant (Char’s hubby) and Rod (Keesh’s hubby) and kids we set about blowing balloons, setting up chairs and tables, laying out supplies, and making up the goody bags.  A big job but a fun one too!  How could you not have a laugh with bubbly Charmaine on the scene!

After an early start on Saturday morning to collect the fresh warm scones I met Vick on the road and off we trotted to Armadale (my car makes it’s own way there now).  We were amazed to see that a whilst we were still unpacking the car, cars were turning up in car park at 8.30, half an hour before opening time!  Panic set in for me and Char as this was our first time helping with Stamp-a-thon.  After a few squeals and hugs between us we got on with the last minute preps and it was with great excitment that we opened the doors and greeted the 96 women who participated in the event.

Keesh welcomed everyone and explained a little about real reason we were gathering which was to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation to assist in research for this awful disease which affects one in 8 women in Australia.  I am a two time survivor of Breast Cancer and know first hand how this disease touches not only the person diagnosed but their family and friends also.  Anything we can do to support this cause is well worthwhile! 

With 8 projects to be completed throughout the day, ladies were asked to move from table to table to complete the projects.  We had 16 tables set up which meant that we had the same 8 projects duplicated throughout the room and they moved tables when asked by the lovely Keesh or Char (apparently I’m the quiet one and my voice did not carry – next year I’m taking my megaphone!) .  Here you can see all the girls hard at work enjoying all the fun projects.  

We were lucky enough to have some great helpers on hand and one of those was Ngaire Anderson, my wonderful friend and upline who helped us out with the ladies orders and product questions throughout the day.  It sure was a huge help having her there and left the three of us free to move around and make sure everyone was enjoying themselves! 

We also had some fantastic helpers in the kitchen (who managed to escape being captured by the lens) in my mum Helen, Keesh’s mum Penny, Kate (Keesh’s future sister-in-law) and the lovely Tiarne, Keesh’s eldest daugter.  We saw a constant spread of food all day long, starting off with devonshire tea, then a yummy lunch, followed by afternoon tea which was kindly donated by many of the ladies attending.  A big fat thank you to those of you who contributed.  My mum never ceases to amaze me and I am forever grateful that she is such a support to me at all times, whenever and wherever I need her! 

Stampin’ Up! kindly donated some products to be used in our Silect Auctions and together with the products Keesh, Char and myself put in, we managed to make up a good selection of prizes which went off really well!  A gorgeous basket of fantastic goodies was also kindly donated by Lee-Anne Barry, a fellow Perth demonstrator who is always up for a good cause.  Her basket caused a lot of chit-chat amongst the ladies on the day and I know it certainly helped us raise a fantastic amount on our silent auctions.  Lee-Anne and I met on an online stamping forum and went together to the very first Stampin’ Up! launch night here in Perth over 3 years ago and she is an amazing lady who is extremely talented and thoughtful.  She even popped in on Friday night and helped us set up the hall.  Thanks for your support Lee-Anne! 

Here is my sister Julie receiving her silent auction prize!  Thanks for your donation Jule!

Finally here is a pic of my Stamp Club ladies who were able to make it on the day.  My sister Julie, Janet, Vick, Sue and Julie.  Thanks ladies and I hope you come along next year!  

On a final note I would just like to add a few personal thank you’s.  I know this is when the music usually starts and I should be getting kicked off if I was accepting an award but too bad, you must take read on! 

To my big sister Julie who is always there for me whether it be a long chat, babysitting or getting together for cards, thanks for all your help on the day, afternoon tea and helping with the clean up. 

A big thank you to Vick for helping us out with packing the project bags and generally spurring me on – her specialty! Also for her contribution on the day with afternoon tea, helping set up and doing all those dishes afterwards!  Thanks again.

Also to my incredible shrinking friend Julie who is always quick to lend a hand with anything that is going on in my life.  I’m sure she won’t be using Choc Chip, Regal Rose or white cardstock for a while after cutting for the bookmark project but it was a huge help to me and much appreciated.  The cake and muffins went down a treat thank you and a great big thanks for sorting out all the supplies at the end of the day. 

Ok, now the drum roll please!!!  After a huge effort from everyone concerned we managed to raise the staggering amount of  $4,322.91 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation towards finding a cure for breast cancer. 

Thanks everyone for your support!  I’ll be back soon with the projects.

Cheers