I am currently organising a ‘fundraiser’ for the family which will include raffle tickets, with prizes being offered by Stampin’ Up, myself, and a host of local businesses. Tickets will be $2 each, or 3 for $5 (email me andrea.eppingstall@gmail.com and I will send some to you). Alternatively, you can donated directly, by clicking on the ‘donate’ button below. The raffle will be drawn March 16, with winners notified that day, and announced in “The Courier” on Saturday 20 March.

For those ordering Stampin’ Up! goodies from me during the month of February, ALL my commissions will be directly going to the fundraiser. So contact me if you’d like to place an order, and know you are helping out a lovely family at the same time.

I know any sum of money won’t bring David back, but hopefully we may be able to ease the burden slightly.

Apparently we will be getting the Big Shot in the next mini catalogue (due 1 April). Here’s a card made with the ‘build a bear’ dies. How cute! You make a bear, and then there are ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ accessories that you can dress them up with! Don’t ask me where I got it.. it’s a secret! Hope you like the sneak peek!! Can’t wait to get my hands all of it!!!! Watch this space!

ESAD-SU is a very special group of Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators based in Australia/New Zealand, who support each other through a yahoo based group/forum, as well as a live ‘ning’ chat and special challenges. If you’re an Australian (or NZ) demo, simply click on this link and you can be part of the fun! If you’re interested in becoming a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up!, email me andrea.eppingstall@gmail.com or click on my Stampin’ Up! Website here.

My blog hop focuses on “Whimsical Words” stamp set from the new Sale-a-bration Mini. I think it is a fabulous ‘word’ set to have to finish off your card or scrap page.  The first card features one of our ‘heart’ punches (RRP $30.95) which is great for St Valentine’s Day. I have used real red, chocolate chip, individual real red and choc chip markers applied direct to rubber, and of course SU dimensionals, and choc chip ribbon. The ‘green tree’ card is made of old olive, chocolate chip colours. The leaves on the tree are close to cocoa. The tree is from the set ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ and the rabbit is from the set ‘Forest Friends’ which was from the spring mini catalogue. Punches include the ‘photo corners’ punch, and the designer label punch. Choc chip ribbon finishes it off. The grass was made by ‘ripping’ some old olive and then placing it under the tree.

The ‘You’re too kind’ stamp is set on close to cocoa, choc chip (yep, they’re my favourites in case you didn’t already guess!!), with a background stamp (which has french script writing) onto very vanilla cardstock.

The card with ‘the more candles, the bigger the wish’ is made with ruby red, choc chip, close to cocoa, choc chip ribbon, and ‘roughing’ up the edges with the SU distress tool. I’ve also popped some dazzlin diamonds on the flower (flower is from Razzle Dazzle stamp set), but it’s a little hard to see in the photo.

A small note card finishes up my samples. It’s sentiment ‘happiness always’, cardstock is close to cocoa, choc chip, cameo coral. I’ve also used some ‘twine’ to give a texture, and ripped the bottom choc chip cardstock. So quick… so easy!! This stamp set is truly a great one to choose, especially when it’s FREE when you order more than $100 in SU product!!

One of the many reasons to be a demonstrator and be part of our SU family, is that you get the opportunity to ‘pre-order’ some of the goodies, so we can play and share our creations before the products release date. Yep, this means you get to see what you can do with the product, instead of just looking at the samples in the mini catalogue (if you’d like one of these in your hands, or have some questions,  and don’t have a demonstrator, please email me at andrea.eppingstall@gmail.com and I’ll mail you one). 

 The next blog in the blog hop belongs to Ann G,  click here  to go to her blog.

From now until 28 February 2010, $22 from every I {Heart} Hearts stamp sold, will be donated to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Reflief and Development Fund, ($2 by Stampin’ Up and $20 from me when you buy the package for $110)!.  This stamp set also matches our two heart punches (both $30.95 each) – one punch is a large heart, the other punch is 3 hearts on the one punch that lines up on the top left image in the flyer.

The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. Product Name Item # Price I {Heart} Hearts 117715 $42.95.

In the past, when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers, when a tsunami struck Indonesia, when a hurricane destroyed New Orleans, and when wildfires ravaged Australia, Stampin’ Up! demonstrators have stepped forward and showed their commitment to making a difference in the lives of others. This time is no different.

Pick your free stamp set below:

Stamp set, 2 punches and ‘vintage labels’ free set $110.00 Stamp set, 2 punches and ‘whimsical words” free set $110.00 Stamp set, 2 punches and ‘good neighbours’ free set $110.00 Stamp set, 2 punches and ‘happy moments’ free set $110.00

Click the paypal link above to buy the coordinating package for $110, this includes postage directly to your door, the stamp set above ($42.95), the two punches that match some of the images ($30.95 x 2), and you will get a FREE sale-a-bration stamp set (you’ll need to click on the option to include the free stamp set you would like!!) Not only will SU donate $2 to the Haiti appeal, I will also donate my full commission from the package, all up around $22 each package sold! 

In my opinion, this is the best SU sale for the year! For EVERY $100 of product you order, you get a FREE stamp set from the ’sale-a-bration’ range. Host a workshop over $600 in sales and you get a free stamp set as well as the normal hostess benefits. Join my team and be part of the SU family, and you get a stamp set of your choice up to the value of $79.95!!!!

Here’s a sneak peek at one of my projects using ‘whimsical words’ sale-a-bration stamp set. If you don’t have a SU demonstrator, and would like to receive a free ‘hard copy’ of the sale-a-bration mini, email me at andrea.eppingstall@gmail.com and I’ll pop one in the mail to you today!

Already the jumbo outline alphabet has sold out!! It was one of the great bargains on the list. Have a look here if you want to see what’s on sale.  Sale price plus postage/shipping of 5% or $5.95, whichever is greater. Buy as little or as many as you like!

I’ve recently made a ‘kit by mail’ available for customers to purchase. We’re into month 2 of the four months of the kit by mail.
See here for the details.

I’m just finalising some more tutorials, and thought I’d share with you some of the cards and projects I have made with the kit. Some of these cards I’ve used the dots by design rub ons, which are pretty cool too. Love the combination of these colours!!

New Year’s Eve we had an awful fire, allegedly lit by two 11 and 12 yo boys. The wind was very strong before we got a huge storm. The fire burned for around 4 hours, and we were very thankful that 3 water bombers including Elvis, came up from Melbourne to help dowse the flames. Here’s a pic of Elvis between refueling with water. The fire was less than 1 km away, and if the wind turned the way it was supposed to, and we didn’t have any rain with the change, we could have been in danger. We decided to rehearse our ‘fire plan’ and get the heck out. Yes we received an sms and phone message telling us that the fire was in our area, and to enact our fire plans, so even though this has received bad press regionally, I think the system looks like it could work.
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Anyway, I digress.

A very good friend of mine lost her dear husband over the New Year period. Deepest sympathies to her and their 4 children (aged 4-15). Such a tragedy. I've been very distracted, thinking and praying for them. It's so hard to feel so useless when you know people are hurting and you can't fix it. Reminds us all that life is too short. RIP David.

I've also recently attended a family friend's wedding during the New Year. The bride was gorgeous, and the ceremony was lovely.

Anyway.. I thought I’d post some new stuff that I have been doing over the last 4 weeks, including projects from my ‘kit by mail’ tutorials.

Happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by and visiting my blog.

Here’s some of my creations. I’ve been playing in slideshow and can’t quite get it to work over there on the right of my website.