with love from Down Under!

Well what an absolute thrill it was when Max asked if I'd like to be a regular contributor to this blog and what a great idea to have this blog to share and encourage each other in our creativity and its my pleasure to hopefully inspire you all the way from Sydney Australia!

I will be here every Wednesday (well as long as Max allows me to - although I do believe I have to pay her in Cadbury's chocolate!) to share and get those creative juices flowing. Now for a little about me ... I am Leonie and am a mum to 2 girls & wife to Neil and we live about an hours drive south west of Sydney Australia. I have been with UDI for about 6 months I think and was introduced to it by the lovely Maggie (my Aussie SU Sister!). I have been with Stampin' Up!® now for 17 months and its done nothing but bless me since I've started!

I thought I'd start off with sharing a set of goodies that are easy to make and in time for Valentine's Day which is next week Thursday (girls send the link to this post to your hubbies/boyfriends to remind them!!)

Now Stampin' Up!® has only been in Australia for just under 2 years so we have a lot of catching up to do!

We are currently have a gorgeous Summer (yes its summer here) mini catalogue which I've used papers from the "Loves Me" Designer Series Paper pack - well there was nothing better for Valentine's day! The set consists of a Coaster Gift Box, 'Gluggie' (Sour Cream Container) and a Clip stand Calender which I adapted from several I saw on Split Coast Stampers. You can find the tutorials for the gift box and sour cream container at Split Coast Stampers Projects page.

These items were all easy to make and would make a great workshop for your customers if you're a demo and if you're a customer see your local demo or email me for the instructions.

The supplies I used:
Stamp set: Lots of Thoughts (Sale-a-bration set), Wonderful Words
Paper: Loves Me Designer Series Paper, Chocolate Chip cardstock
Accessories: Coasters, On-board Chipboard, ribbon, silver cord, Pretty in Pink Brads, scissors, scalloped circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Crop-a-dile, sticky strip, Crystal Effects, Paper Piercing Mat, Anywhere Glue Stick, Large Paper Clip, paper trimmer, sanding block and pencil

Now remember I called the 'sour cream container' a 'Gluggie'?? well I'll tell you why .... when I went to school (surely it wasnt that long ago ... mmm well maybe) we had these frozen ice blocks in containers that exact shape and they were called Glugs (cola flavour), Razz (Raspberry flavour) and Sunny Boys (orange flavour) and these were the things I bought the most from the canteen at school! Hmm ... should I say I started school very early??

Our sour cream here in Australia comes in a round tub or in a small milk carton shaped container. So there you go - thats your cultural lesson for the day!

Have a great Wednesday everyone and dont forget to take some time out for YOU!