{Me}

Here's the third card in the series. This time I've used three rub on flowers (they're in a row on the sheet) and some Tangerine Tango striped ribbon. Check back tomorrow for card #4.

Now you too can become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and make a difference! For every person who joins the Stampin' Up! family between 1 October and 31 December 2009, Stampin' Up! will donate $5 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (AU) or The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

Plus, until 31 December 2009, you'll also receive a FREE pack of Raspberry Tart Designer Series paper and a Pretty in Pink Classic Stampin' Pad to help you get started!

This is on top of the already great value starter kit. If you've been thinking about joining why not just do it? If you'd like to receive an obligation free information pack or a FAQ email just contact metoday.

Click on the image if you'd like to enlarge it.

Here's the next card in the series. For this one I've used the pear rub on and added some Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin ribbon down the side.

Do you ever get caught with a last minute card to make, or like me this week, a belated card to send?

Over the next few days I'll be sharing a series of cards that you can make in just a couple of minutes. They're all belated birthday cards as the last couple of weeks I've been very slack in getting cards to people on time. So this morning I sat down to make 5 cards and get them in the mail today!

All the cards will use the same cardstock base, Sahara Sand, and the Bright Delights Rub ons. At $21.95 for two sheets they're great value. I've made 5 cards and still have lots of rub ons left on the first sheet. The greeting is from the It's Your Birthday stamp set.

I've added a couple of the Designer Series Flower brads and pierced a row of holes along the bottom with the mat pack.

And there you have it a card in less than 5 minutes.

Check back tomorrow for another card in the series.

I'm sure that you didn't come to my blog today expecting to see photos of elephants!

However they help to explain the length in time since I last posted!

So why the elephants? Today we headed off to the zoo to meet Taronga Zoo's baby elephant Luk Chai. It's not often in your life that you get to see a baby elephant so we braved the gale force winds and headed to the zoo. In fact I think the last time I saw a baby elephant was when I was 7 and visited Chester Zoo in the UK!

As you can see from the photographs he was very cute!

Still confused with how it's relevant to updating my blog?

When I joined Stampin' Up! I wasn't really sure where it was going to take me or how long I'd stick with it. Now I can't imagine my life without what Stampin' Up! has given me. I often talk about the amazing people I've met and the events I've experienced so I thought I'd take time in this blog post to talk about the business side of it.

Over the last two weeks I've been busy with my Stampin' Up! business through workshops, classes, preparing projects, teleconferences with SU! and other business related activities but due to the flexibility of running my own business, I've also been able to spend a day helping out on a preschool excursion, take my youngest to his first school orientation for next year, get to a couple of classes at the gym and take my eldest son to two physio appointments. All of these activities being during the usual 9-5 hours.

Of course it's been busy and hard work but it's been possible, and I know that it's not something I could have done as easily had I had to return to my primary school teaching job. Running my own Stampin' Up! business means that I can set my own hours, take holidays when I want and fit it around what is most important to me, my family.

So the long gap between blog posts has been a combination of lots of family orientated events happening and my usual Stampin' Up! commitments meaning that I haven't created as much to post on my blog for the last couple of weeks.

If you've been thinking about becoming a demonstrator but haven't been able to take that last step, please give it a go, you've nothing to lose, you receive a heavily discounted starter kit and the opportunity to run your business to suit you. Contact me today to receive a completely obligation free information pack.

Over the next few days there will be a few more posts including a way for you to participate in a Girls' Night In online with me!

Here's one last photo from today of my two gorgeous boys (of course I'm biased). Joshua is currently in bed cuddling a toy baby elephant, bought with his own pocket money and of course he's named it Luk Chai! I think they'll both remember seeing their first baby elephant for a long time too.

The Bella Rose Designer Series paper is beautiful range of papers that, like all designer series papers, co-ordinate with each other. This makes it very easy to create Kusudama origami decorations. Instructions on how to make them can be found in this post.

I've finished this one off with a hat pin and beads from the Pretties Kit and some taffeta ribbon.

This technique was a recent tutorial on SplitCoastStampers and is a great way to add interest to a card. For this card I used the gorgeous Parisian Breeze Speciality paper, chipboard, supernova glitter, corduroy buttons and ribbon. Can you guess the challenge theme that this card was made for?

It was a 'use up your stash' challenge for our team cyberstamp last week! I'm sure there are many of you out there that, like myself, hoard embellishments for using on a special card only to find that they sit in their packets for so long that other new stuff comes out before you've used them!

I challenge you today to open a packet of something you've been hoarding for ages and use it. After all, once you've used something up you can justify going out and buying more lovely things!

I made this card a couple of weeks ago as a thank you card for a friend and completely forgot to upload it! It uses the Tea Party Designer Series papers, Pretties Kit flowers, rhinestone brads and the Great Friend stamp set. It's a fun way to show off the papers.

What do you normally do with the pile of scraps you can see in the left hand photograph? If you're like me you probably throw them out.

I would love it if you could help support the Play Therapists at Westmead Children's Hospital by turning them into punched shapes. My team has been volunteering at the hospital for a couple of months now and on my last visit one of the staff was punching out shapes for the children to use in art activities. I asked if they could make use of punched shapes and they said that they sure could.

So here's how you can help. Next time you're about to throw out a scrap, punch a shape and put it somewhere safe. When you've collected a few (or a lot!) send them on to me and I'll take them to the hospital. You can mail them to me at 29 Hazelmead Road, Asquith, NSW 2077 or hand them to me next time you see me. If you're a fellow demonstrator I'll be at the Sydney Regional Training event in November.

It would be wonderful if as many people as possible could get behind this great way to help. Any punch, any colour, any cardstock would be welcome. It doesn't have to be Stampin' Up! product.

If you have a blog and could promote this on your blog I would be very grateful.

Just by using the small scraps we normally throw out and taking a few seconds to punch out a shape we can make a difference.

Thank you to everyone.

This card is a great way to use up scraps of cardstock. The squares are punched out with the 32mm square. I've slightly trimmed the card to fit the punched squares. The greeting is from the versatile Only Ovals stamp set. It's finished off with the double stitched ribbon and hat pin.

Check back later today to find out how you can use your scraps of cardstock to help out a charity.

Hope all the dad's out there are having a lovely Father's Day. We're off to a Soccer Presentation day and then for a swim or more importantly for the boys - the waterslide and wave pool!

I've only recently purchased Outline Alphabet and I'm really enjoying making cards with it. For this card I stamped onto Kraft cardstock then cut the letters out. The little children are from All in the Family and the balls from the accessories set Family Favourites.

Spend $100 on product during September or host a $600 workshop and you'll receive an exclusive ribbon bundle. The bundle includes 9.1m of 5/8" grosgrain So Saffron ribbon and 9.1m of 5/8" poly-twill Certainly Celery 5/8" ribbon. That's 18m of ribbon for free.

Click on the image above to see the details.

Contact me today to place your order or book your own workshop.