{Me}

I'm often asked where do I get my ideas from. The answer is lots of places. I'm always inspired by looking at other people's work, Stampin' Up! catalogues and magazines are a great source of inspiration too.

Sometimes an idea comes to me from something more random. Today our next door neighbour's daughter walked into our kitchen wearing this top.

As soon as I saw it an idea came into my head! It's not too hard to work out which stamp set jumped out at me! So I asked her if she'd mind me photographing her top and I'd make her a card using it as inspiration. It's not normally colours I'd put together but I love the result.

Have you ever been inspired to create a card or scrapbook page from a piece of clothing? I'd love to hear about it.

Apologies for the delay in updating my blog. I took my laptop away with me with the intention of posting during the trip but I was having such a fun and relaxing time that I didn't even turn it on! So here's my day by day run down on what was a fabulous 5 days.

Wednesday 19th August - Day 1

We left home after dropping the children to school and preschool. As Xander had moved his preschool bag and put it in his bedroom I had to make a mad dash home to collect his bag! We were finally on the way to the airport but a bit tight for time! We walked through security with just time to grab a bottle of water before boarding the plane - I must remember to never enter The Amazing Race TV show as I wouldn't cope well with the stress levels! This was the first year I was able to bring my husband Gareth and I must say a big thank you to all our friends who kindly offered to look after our two boys.

Also at the airport were NSW demonstrators, Linda, Marelle and Ness and their guests Georgina, Dave and Simon. Perth demos Ngaire, Makeesha and their guests Jane and Rod and ACT demo Teresa, and her guest Tanya. SU! staff also joined us, Aaron and his wife Karen, Emma and Dave and his wife Jennifer. Most of us were seated together so it was a chatty flight to Maroochydore.

We arrived to beautiful weather which stayed with us for the rest of the week. We had a welcome drink in the foyer and a chance to say hello to Shelli and Sterling before we checked in to our rooms.

On the table in our rooms was a lovely glass bottle etched with the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip logo and with a gorgeous orchid in it.

The hotel was lovely with generously sized rooms. The pool was great with a swim up bar.

I did make it into the pool on this first day too!

In the information pack we'd been sent we each had 4 tickets with our names on them. This allowed us to have a go at spinning the prize wheel and winning Stampin' Up! product. On Wednesday I won the Designer Series Paper Ski Slope.
After a relaxing afternoon round the pool and in the jacuzzi catching up with other demonstrators it was time to get ready for the welcome dinner.

Our seats at dinner each had a single flower with our name attached. We had the welcome speeches and then a buffet style dinner. There was lots of laughs over dinner with Vicki, Kim and Marelle and their partners. Some would say that we were the loudest table!

Desserts were buffet style too and here's just one serving!

After dinner we had a few drinks in the bar then, along with Kim, we headed to Marelle's room for tea and more chatting. Waiting in our rooms was a gift from Stampin' Up! A matching apron and chef's hat and a beautiful hand made card from Shelli. To know that Shelli took the time to make and write in a card for each of us was a very touching gesture.

After a fun day it was time to head off to bed and get some much needed rest.

Thursday 20th August - Day 2

Another sunny and warm day, so we met up with Marelle and her husband Dave and walked down the main street in Noosa to choose somewhere for breakfast. Georgina, Linda, Ness and Simon joined us as they walked by. Eating breakfast out in the sunshine with friends was such a lovely way to start the day.

It was back to the hotel for 10am to catch a ferry to our next activity.

This was the view from the ferry. Noosa is such a beautiful place and somewhere I hope to go back to soon.

The ferry took us on a short cruise before mooring at Ricky's restaurant. Of course we needed to wear our gifts from the night before.

At each table setting was a set of cutlery with ribbon tied round them and our name tags on them. The different colours indicated which team we would be on. Each team then met their chef and we headed outside to prepare different dishes. I was part of the Tangerine Tango team and we were in charge of croquettes. Here's our table busy at work and me grating the cheese!

A few more photos of people hard at work!

The Creme Brulee team.

Watching the chef in the kitchen.

Linda, me and Ness

The truffle team.

After everything was prepared it was time to eat - somehow I don't think what we prepared was what we actually ate! It was a fantastic meal with so much gorgeous food. Here's the lovely people I got to share lunch with.

A quick photo opportunity for us to take a photo of the chefs and it was time to head back to the ferry.

We'd been having so much fun that we ran out of time so we took our desserts back on the ferry with us for the trip back to the hotel.
After such a lovely meal all I could manage was to sit and relax. Gareth headed to the pool and I had an afternoon nap - such bliss!

Another spin of the prize wheel saw me win Jumbo brads from the Spring Mini.

The evening was a group trip to the local club for a Karaoke night. This wasn't organised by Stampin' Up! but a very large group of us went including Stampin' Up! staff. I've never done Karaoke before but I had the best time. In fact I think most of us were new to Karaoke!

Whilst I wasn't brave enough to sing a solo I did hop up on stage with small groups! Thanks Vicki for all the encouragement! After seeing the photos I've decided that singing isn't the best way to get a photo of yourself!

I still have Copacobana stook in my head!

We finished off the Karaoke with a group rendition of Stampin' Queen then back to the bar for a cocktail. Back in our room we found another red box this time filled with Stampin' Up! product. I can't show you the new product until closer to its release date but I can tell you it's lovely. We also got 5 ink pads, Stazon and two markers. The scallop edge punch was actually a gift from the make and take day but I popped it in here for the photos and to help hide the new product!

Friday 21st August - Day 3

After a sleep in I headed down to the Stampin' Up! hospitality area to join fellow demonstrators for our stamping projects and to swap our swap cards.

The projects were lovely and I think some of the best we've ever made at SU! events. We paused briefly to have our group photo shot.

Then it was back to stamping. Here are the lovely ladies I shared a table with for the make and takes.

Marelle, Rachel, Jacque and Patrice standing and myself and Ngaire seated.

The two wonderful USA Stampin' Up! staff, Angie and Janiel, put a lot of work into making our experience a wonderful one and the little extras are what makes it so special. Just as were finishing stamping a freezer was wheeled out and we got to help ourselves to an ice cream.

Make and takes finished just before lunch so we quickly dropped off our belongings and then headed out to lunch.

When we returned I decided to sit down in the hospitality room and chat with other demonstrators. My spin on the prize wheel won me a pack of the Baja Breeze corduroy buttons. I spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with who ever dropped in for a chat or a spin of the wheel. Didn't get hungry though as there were lolly jars full of yummy USA lollies to share!

A quick shower and change and it was time to head out to dinner. Dave and Marelle kindly shouted a group of us (Teresa, Linda and myself plus guests) cocktails at Ricky's. Dave had won a gift voucher to spend at Ricky’s after burning his fingers with the blow torch on the Creme Brulees. Then we moved next door for a group Mexican meal. It was a great meal - we couldn't decide on what we wanted so asked the waitress to choose and bring out lots of things to share and a couple of jugs of sangria.

To keep with the progressive meal theme we headed back to the hotel and bought a large tub of gelato to share back in Teresa's room. Nicki and Vicki dropped in for a chat and, as is usual for a Stampin' Up! gathering, there was lots of laughing. My sides and cheeks hurt by the end of the evening!

Another gift was waiting for us on our return to our room. This one too kept with the cooking theme.

Before heading off to bed I took the time to have a closer look through the fantastic swaps I had received. We'd also received the Forget-me-not-keeper at the make and takes too.

Saturday 22nd August - Day 4

Saturday was a free day to spend at our own leisure. After several days of rest and relaxation we joined up with 6 other couples and headed for a fun morning jetskiing. We all took double seaters and followed our guide out through the river to the sea.

Apparently it was quite choppy which made me feel a little better as I’d had to cling on very tight on the way out so I didn’t fall off!

Once out in the sea we were able to have free time heading in any direction we wanted. To be out on the ocean in August was great. For 80 minutes we managed to stay upright and then just as we were told to head back in behind the guide, Gareth managed to tip us both in!

Back on dry land we dried off and headed back to the hotel for a shower and a spin on the prize wheel. I won Fresh Cut Notes, Walk in the Park paper and a pair of paper snips. We all then headed out as a group for lunch. Lots more chances to chat and catch up with each other.

We had to be ready for the farewell dinner by 4:30pm. The only clue we'd been given was "Step back in time." There was lots of speculation about where we were going but no one got it right! A bus trip took us part of the way and as we pulled up there was a line up of vintage cars all waiting to take us the last part of the journey. We went in two halves with the other half having canapés and drinks whilst they waited.

The cars took us to The Plantation, a beautiful venue. The driveway was lit by lots of tea lights in paper bags.

We dined outside with every table set beautifully. Each demonstrator's place setting had a gift of a pashmina. There was the opportunity to check out stars, planets and the moon using fantastic telescopes that had been brought in.

Here's the jet ski group looking a little more glamorous!

Hubby and myself!

At the dinner we got to chat lots more, have a farewell speech from Shelli and thank Angie and Janiel for all their hard work. A bus trip returned us to the hotel.

With lots of yummy nibbles and wine left over a large group of us headed to Marelle's room. Harry Torres (Sharlene's hubby) entertained us with his card tricks and Dave demonstrated a few balloon animals - although Teresa wasn't too impressed he wouldn't make her a puppy!

The last night on a Stampin' Up! event, be it Convention or an Incentive Trip is always the night I don't want to go to bed early! Going to bed means that the day to return home is getting too close!

Back in our rooms we found our final gifts. Three chocolate cookies and a beautiful brown bag with the Stampin' Up! logo on it. Perfect for all the extra luggage we had to take back with us!

Sunday 23rd August - Day 5

Check out for the Sydney flight was at 9:30am. Hugs all round and then onto the bus to the airport. Our flight ended up being delayed so we got to see the next flight check in and sing Happy Birthday in the departure lounge to Makeesha!

So that's all - well done to those of you who managed to read right to the end. Hopefully it's given you an idea of what we got up to and what a fantastic company Stampin' Up! are. I've been very privileged to have attended each Incentive Trip and they've all been amazing experiences. This trip has probably been my favourite so far - over the last 3 years I've got to meet so many wonderful people and having 5 days to spend with them and catch up on their lives is such a great way to spend a holiday.

If there's anything you want to know about the trip (with the exception of what new product we got!) or Stampin’ Up! in general just ask away.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with some of the photos I was missing.

Above is my swap for the Incentive Trip. I decided to challenge myself to use the Just Surfing stamp set for the swaps and after a lot of trial and error I'm happy with the result. Swapping is a fun part of Stampin' Up! events and it's always great to see the fantastic ideas that everyone else has.

In a little under 7 hours I'll be heading off to the airport to start a fantastic 5 days of fun and laughter on the Stampin' Up! 2009 Incentive Trip to Noosa.

A big thank you to all my customers for your continued support and friendship and to my team members for all your hard work and friendship that helped me to earn the trip this year.

I should be in bed by now but there's always those last minute jobs that need doing! I've only just finished my swaps - OK they're not 100% done but I'll finish them off in Noosa!

I'm not sure if I'll be updating my blog whilst I'm away but I'll fill you all in on the details on my return.

This card is 12x12" in size. I've used this week's SplitCoastStampers technique to make a recessed window for the front of the card. I'm disappointed with this photograph of it. It was hard to photograph the recessed window late at night - I'll try to take a better photo of it and post it on my return from my weekend away.

Here's a close up of the window part.

The inside has room for us all to write our own messages.

Having two young boys I make a lot of boy birthday cards. My eldest is now 8 and fast growing out of pirates and cute images so I've started to look at the catalogue for the next age group of boys.

For this card I simply used the Outline Alphabet and cut out the birthday boy's name. Using the new speciality paper Parisian Breeze means that it's stiff enough to mount up on dimensionals. A bit of chipboard inked up in Chocolate Chip and one of the new brads and the card is finished.

Apologies for the photo quality. It's very late at night and I'm heading off tomorrow for a girls' weekend to celebrate a friend's 40th. Check back tomorrow to see the oversized card I made for us all to sign.

This was the card I made for my hubby for our anniversary. It uses Cheep Talk and some of the Bright Delights rub ons. Using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig I was able to position several branches and place the birds exactly where I wanted them.

This is the last of the 3 cards that we made at my Spring Mini launch night. I love the butterfly in this set. It's such a pretty butterfly and easy to cut out.

This card uses the new Only Ovals punch and the new scallop oval punch. It's a great quick card that you could make up lots of quite quickly. It was inspired by a card I saw somewhere and made a quick sketch of. If it was yours let me know and I can thank you and give you the credit for.

The paper is the new speciality paper, Parisian Breeze. I think this would have to be my favourire Stampin' Up! designer papers ever. The colours are colours I love and there are lots of papers suitable for boys in the pack.

On Friday night I had my Spring Mini Catalogue launch night. It was a fun night sharing the new product with everyone. The card above was one of three cards that everyone got to make on the night. The colour choice was inspired by the Ski Slope Designer Series Paper.

If you'd like to check out the catalogue just contact me and I'll put one in the post to you today.

Quite a few people have asked me what happens on my team weekends so I thought I'd give you all a brief run down.

The INKlings Team.

Team members arrive around 6pm on the Friday night and check into their accommodation. There's the option of single, twin or quad share rooms. Then everyone heads down to the room we're creating in. Friday night is a good night to start on the Card in a Box swap. This is optional and a great way to boost your card samples and try out new techniques. This year there were 24 people taking part so we made it 12 to swap and 12 to make up. Over the weekend there is an ongoing quiz and the first part was on Friday night.

Friday night also saw me do a quick demonstration on brayering.

Everyone is free to stay up as late as they like before heading off to bed.

Saturday morning after breakfast it's back to creating at your own pace.

Busy creating!

During Saturday morning there was the option to have a go at archery. About half the group chose to stretch out their legs and have a go. The new bows made our accuracy much better than the previous year!

Time to stretch our legs (and arms!) with an optional session of archery.

During Saturday there were a couple of great demonstrations by Margaret.

After even more food (prepared by someone else!) we had the evening to continue creating.

Sunday morning saw the last demonstration on faux woodgrain and the last team quiz. Prizes were handed out to the winning team.

In case anyone ran out of inspiration or wanted a challenge there were three optional colour and sketch challenges. The work produced was amazing. Below are just a couple of photos of the work from a distance. Last thing on Sunday afternoon we voted for our favourite colour and sketch challenge creations and presented them with their prizes.

Colour challenge entries.

Sketch challenge entries.

Sadly the weekend comes to an end at 3pm on the Sunday when we load up our cars and head off home. It's hard to return to normality after a weekend of creating and having someone else provide every meal from supper on Friday to lunch on Sunday!

The good news - we'll be doing it again next August. If you're interested in becoming part of The INKlings team and joining us next year just drop me a line.

Do you want to try out a sample of the Spring Mini catalogue embellishments and papers? Then join in my mini catalogue share.

1. Designer Brads Share $3.50 8 brads (4 colours, 2 of each colour) Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink and So Saffron.

2. Corduroy Buttons Share $15.30 18 buttons (three colours, six of each colour) Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and Basic Grey

3. Jumbo Brads Share $7.60 Twenty 5/16" and eight 5/8" brads in four colours Whisper White, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Silver

4. Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon Share $5.25 1/4 of a roll
(approximately 2.3m)

Join all 4 shares for just $30.

6"x 6" Paper Share $7.50 18 sheets (Walk in the Park, Parisian Breeze Speciality paper, Ski Slope).

Special offer To find out what special offer my newsletter customers are receiving for joining all of the shares simply subscribe to my newsletter over on the right hand side of the blog.

Sign up today for the shares you'd like to join. Once the group is full I will place the order. Postage to you will be actual cost and will be determined by the shares you participate in.

Every time a new catalogue is due I always think to myself that surely there can't be more stamps and accessories that I need. Then the catalogue arrives in the mail box! As a demonstrator we get to see the new mini catalogue early. In fact we've been able to preorder from this catalogue for a month.

So how did I go with this catalogue - let's just say that it's probably the mini catalogue that I've ordered most from ever! Click on the catalogue above to check out the mini for yourself. If you'd like a copy of your own just contact me today.

If you're local to me then come and join me on Friday night for a fun night of stamping to celebrate the launch of the mini catalogue. Bookings are essential.

At each INKlings function we always have a team quiz. Every time they always claim that I make it too hard! For the team weekend everyone was allocated into a team of 3. Questions were asked over the weekend and the winning team received one of the gifts above.

There's Designer Series Papers (Bella Rose of course!), cellophane bags, Designer buttons, a sample of sponge daubers, ribbon and Fresh Cut notecards. Prizes are also awarded to the winners of the Sketch and Colour challenges - chosen by team members.

Like last year we've got a 90 minute archery session booked for those that want to stretch their legs out between stamping and eating!

Thanks to Marelle Taylor for the great idea of embossing on the tins. These tins are empty Flower Fusion tins.

For my team weekend I like to make each team member attending a gift. This year I made the stationery holder above. It started out as 7 blank coasters that I covered in the Bella Rose designer series papers. I then used the crop-o-dile to punch holes and lace it all together using Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon.

To keep with the theme I also wrapped a glue stick, eraser, bull dog clip and packet of lollies in the papers. The cellophane bag contains some of the Clips Assortment and is finished off with a team weekend badge.