Well this is embarrassing… I missed my blog’s birthday!  So happy belated birthday to my blog which turned 6 a few days ago on Friday .  Funny thing is that before I started blogging someone had suggested blogging to me and I said “why on earth would I do that, who would read it?”.  So it turns out that there are people out there who read my blog and it’s always wonderful to get emails from readers who tell me they enjoy my blog – many times I’ll meet people at tradeshows and other events who also tell me they visit.  So now here’s your chance to say ‘hi’ and at the same time go in the running to win some fabulous Stampin’ Up! products.

Would you like to win this fun Stampin’ Up! Accessories Prize Pack?

Prize pack includes:

Pink Pirouette Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
Everyday Enchantment Brads
Brights Designer Buttons
Island Indigo Bakers Twine
Fleurettes II (crocheted flowers)

For your chance to win, just leave a comment at the end of this post telling me about your favourite Stampin’ Up! product.  Make sure you leave a comment by this Saturday the 25th of August 2012 to be in the running to win the prize.  The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Sunday here on my blog.

Please Note: Products can only be shipped within Australia.  Winner needs to email me their name and mailing address within a week to receive the prizes so please check back to see if you’ve won.

Phew, what a crazy couple of weeks it’s been!  I’ve had three children sick with the flu at different stages.  Parent/teacher interviews, a flat car battery (while at school of course), an extra school run to deliver a forgotten item on excursion day.  I’m so thankful I work from home – I have no idea what mothers who work out of home do in these situations and I’m amazed they manage to stay sane.

In all this it’s been excitement plus with Stampin’ Up!, the end of a mini catalogue, the Retirement List being released, and for us Demonstrators – a pre-order for some awesome new products.  My pre-order products and catalogues should be arriving tomorrow and I’ve been trying to make room in my already-bulging craft room to make way for new goodies.  By the way, orders for retiring products have been coming through thick and fast and these are the items that have now sold out completely:

Stampin’ Scrub Replacement Pads
Peach Parfait ink refill
Dotto refill
Concord Crush ink refill
More Mustard Marker
3/16″ Gold Brads
Pear Pizzazz ink refill
Poppy Parade ink refill
Stack & Store Containers
Circle cutter replacement blades
Christmas Greetings stamp
Confetti White CS A4

Before I go, thank you to everyone on my mailing list who have emailed me so far entering my newsletter competition, it’s been great reading your responses.  If you haven’t signed up for my newsletter just fill your details in the box at the top right hand side of my blog and I’ll get a newsletter out to you.

So! Hopefully my Aussie Post guy will turn up tomorrow with a heap of boxes.  Look out on my Facebook page for an update

It’s a gorgeous sunny Sunday today here in Sydney and although the sun streaming into my craft room is very inviting, I’m taking a bit of a crafting break today to take some photos.  I’m doing an online photography course at Jessica Sprague to try and improve my photographs of my family and of course for my blog.  Plus I feel super guilty using my SLR camera on auto all the time *blush*.

This is a photo of my gorgeous little man, Ralph (named after Ralph Wiggum of the Simpsons).  Ralph is my little buddy and keeps me company all day while I craft, blog and whatever else I’m doing around the house – he’s always by my side

I was trying to get a photo of Ralph running (practicing photographing movement).  For those who are interested, Ralph is King Charles Cavalier x Shih Tzu – also known as a Shavalier, Cavatzu or as my husband suggested, King Shihtz. LOL

So I’ve just noticed all those weeds in my garden – how did they get there?

I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend and I’ll be back tomorrow with more crafting.

Just jumping in quickly today to invite you to my Facebook page.  If you’re on Facebook and want to catch up with me there go on over and ‘like’ me.  I add extra tips and ideas on my Facebook page so it’s not always just links to my blog.

This week I have a little competition going on at my Facebook page so come on over and join in the fun

Well I announced this on my personal Facebook page but I haven’t done a formal thank you so I thought I’d share it with the world here…. I’m going to Fiji! Yay! Thanks to all my wonderful customers and to my amazing team, last week I achieved Stampin’ Up! Australia‘s Incentive Trip – and so in October my husband and I will be joining other Stampin’ Up! Incentive Trip winners and staff in Fiji for a luxurious week staying at the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa on Denarau Island.

A huge huge thank you to all my wonderful customers for allowing me to be of service to you. I appreciate each and every one of you and love being your Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

Anything I say about my gorgeous team members will not be enough.  Thank you to all of you! You all inspire me daily – your creativity, your enthusiasm and the way you run your businesses makes me so very proud.

Getting sentimental now so I’d better wrap it up and go stamp some cards!

Wow, I think this is the longest I haven’t blogged for since I started blogging over 2 years ago.  To be truthful I don’t know why… but I’ll make a list of things that have been going on around here which might give us both an idea of where my time has gone.

• Christmas shopping for the whole family.  I started so late this year that I was in a panic a week before Christmas.  Never again! (please remind me of this next November?)  My biggest issue is keeping things even between my three children… I buy one extra cute thing for one child then realise everything is off-balance and I have to go and buy something else for the other two children.  Surely I’m not the only one that does this???

• Wrapping and mailing presents for my Stampin’ Up! team members.

• The usual running children around to their ‘end of school year’ parties.  (For those of you in the US, the Australian school year ends some time in December and begins again around the 1st of February).

• Helped my husband shovel three truckloads of dirt in the front and back yard on the 23rd of December because a tonne of new grass was being delivered on Christmas Eve.  Nothing like leaving things to the last minute!

• Spent time with our family who arrived from New York for a few weeks holiday here in Australia.

• Became hopelessly addicted to WiiFit.  Truly the lounge-lizard’s ultimate form of exercise.

• Spent much time relieving sore and stiff muscles in the spa (see point above for explanation of sore muscles).

• Read Beedle The Bard.  I was sooooo disappointed in this.  I’m a huge Harry Potter fan but I really didn’t enjoy this book.  I’m glad the money for the book goes to charity – although you can save time and send the money straight to charity instead.

• Played a heap of new boardgames with my children which they received for Christmas.

• Hmmm, thought I didn’t do any ‘work’ but now that I remember, yes… I made 6 cards that were commissioned of me for an Australian cardmaking magazine called Creative Cardmaking and Papercraft (issue with my cards will be out in 2009… not sure which issue but it’ll include Mother’s Day cards so maybe April?).

• Watched The Devil Wears Prada (which a very sweet friend of mine bought me for Christmas), watched it once as normal then second time with Director/Producer commentary.

• Spent Boxing Day on the beach with family.  Boxing Day (for my US readers) is the day after Christmas.  So Boxing Day was spent on Narrabeen beach (Sydney) eating, drinking and watching my children, their cousins and friends have an ‘ice cream cake eating competition’ without cutlery. LOL.

I’m sure I’ve done a lot more than that over the past few weeks but that gives you a glimpse of my life.

I hope you had a beautiful and relaxing Christmas

It’s raining here today in Sydney but it’s a beautiful day and life is just perfect.

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that my blog may be ‘down’ for a little while sometime this week while some upgrading is taking place.  I’m very excited to say that Gabbie, who originally set up my blog and did my banner, etc., is giving my blog a make over.  I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for 2 years now!  Anyway, time for a spruce up so that’s what’s happening this week.

Decluttering has always been an ongoing process for me but after watching the TV show “Neat” week after week I’ve been inspired to do a massive declutter of the whole house. It’s taken me a while but I finally realised that no amount of organising or sorting or buying of storage boxes helps unless you get rid of stuff you don’t need anymore. Gulp! This isn’t something for the feint-hearted. Admittedly I haven’t done it like they do on the TV show which is to empty out a whole room then sort through what gets thrown out and what’s kept all in the space of 2 days, but I have gone through dumping out one drawer at a time or one shelf at a time and then sorting out what stays and what’s going to the Salvation Army for donation. Last week I took 4 large boxes of kids toys and clothes to the Salvos and this week I have boxed-up some more things to donate.

One thing I have decided to ebay instead of donate is some stamps that I don’t use anymore or have never used. Wow, I never thought I’d sell any of my personal collection but there you go. Deep breath, this is a big step for me. Although I will admit I have not (and probably will not) declutter my books. I think that would be the end of me. LOL. So anyway, if any of you are interested in any stamps – my ebay id is “anj88″. I only put them up there for 3 days as I don’t see the use in having them on ebay for longer so you’ll need to be quick if you want any.

By the way, my daughter (9 years old) really got into the swing of decluttering recently (actually she’s a lot more ruthless with it than I am) and was thrilled to find $20 that she had stashed away and had forgotten. LOL. Any of you out there found anything interesting/fun/forgotten while decluttering?

I’ve been tagged again! This time by Kristine, you should check out her blog she has an amazing layered cake on it made completely from cardstock.

So, not sure there’s enough to say about me really but here goes… 7 things about me.

1. My favourite groups are The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles, Aerosmith and The Eagles
2. I love reading biographies and probably have hundreds of them
3. Andy Warhol is one of my favourite artists
4. Two of my favourite movies are Love Actually and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. (Bueller, Bueller, Bueller)
5. I played the piano for a radio station once when I was younger (live! eek!)
6. I have a storage fetish. Just love Tupperware and office/home storage stuff.
7. I bought an iMac a few months ago and will never go back to a PC again.

Hmmm, who to tag now that I haven’t before?

Maggie

Linda
Sue

Coby

Leonie

Tamara

Madonna