{Me}

Not your usual birthday card for a 6 year old!

After catching my boys checking out the new catalogue back in 2007 (read about it here) I now make sure that every new catalogue I ask them to tell me their favourite stamp set. I don't always purchase it, but it's good to see whether I can guess what they'd like.

For the Spring Mini I thought Xander would choose Something Sweet or Animal Stories. I was no where near! Xander chose Nature's Nest for his favourite set. It hadn't even been on my 'must' have wishlist (very different to the 'like' wishlist!). So I asked him why and he said that he liked the turtle and the feather and added that the nest with the eggs was nice too! So I added this set to my 'must' have list!

For this card I stuck with traditional colours for the turtle and the card and added a glittered number 6.

Tomorrow I'll share a card using the nest image.

Over the last few days I've had many customers and fellow demonstrators ask me if I've made the 2010 Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip this year. The answer is not yet - but I'm working on it!

The year end finishes at the end of this month - March 31st - so that gives me just over 3 weeks to make it. At this point there are two ways I can achieve it, either through my team members promoting further or through aiming for the next level of sales this month.

Those of you who know me personally, know I'm a big believer in positive thinking and looking for the opportunities in every situation. So I have decided that to achieve the trip I'm going to think positively and be proactive so that I have an amazing March in terms of sales.

I have been very humbled by the wonderful hostesses who responded to an earlier email I sent that have offered to host a workshop before the end of the month to try and get me over the line. To my friends, fellow demonstrators and wonderful customers who are cheering me on I am so grateful.

4 years ago I never dreamt that I'd make one Incentive Trip let alone be so close to achieving my 4th. When I look at just the conversations I've had today with people that have come into my life because of Stampin' Up! there's no shortage of supportive, generous and uplifting people - with all that positive thinking I can already see myself getting excited about achieving the trip! Thanks everyone. I'll keep you all updated on my Incentive Trip Scramble!

This gift voucher is for one of my lovely customers to give to a friend for her birthday. It uses both the Happy Moments and Vintage Labels Sale-A-Bration stamp sets as well as For Everything.

I stamped the present stack onto Tea Party Designer Series paper twice, one on each side, and cut out the 6 presents. I used 3 of them on the inside for the gift voucher and 3 on the envelope. The Vintage Labels set provided the greeting on the outside and also the stamped image in the centre. I used the 1 3/8" circle to punch it out rather than the scallop circle.

Place an order for $100 before the end of March and you can choose one of the Sale-A-Bration sets for free.

What else has been happening. Renovations still progressing well, please think positive thoughts for dry weather for a few weeks! Joshua is home this week with suspected chickenpox. He's feeling lots better but has to spend the rest of the week home! Might have to put him to work for me when he starts to moan that he's bored!

Here's a couple of photos of the latest stage of the renovations - we've can now start to get an idea of the size of it all and where the doors and windows will be!

The second challenge of the night was to use 3 different coloured bits of left over ribbon. I decided I'd use the tree rub on so selected ribbon based on the colour of the tree. I have a drawer with all my bits of left over ribbon in and I always check there first before cutting new ribbon. Even the tiniest bits can be useful like the Kiwi Kiss tab on the top right of this card.

This card came together in my head much quicker than it did in real life. I'm still not sure it's what I wanted it to look like but it's growing on me!

What do you think?

Last night was an INKlings team cyberstamp and Kari www.karigail.wordpress.com was hosting. I haven't done much creating since the renovations started so it was a good way to get me started again. Working in about a square foot of desk space and having to get up and down to fetch everything I needed was a challenge to start with!

Kari's first challenge was to use the colours Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White or Very Vanilla and another colour of our choice. As soon as I read the colours I knew that I wanted to use the Urban Garden papers so Not Quite Navy became my third choice.

I needed to make a baby card so I added the baby's name using the Outline Alphabet and the greeting is a rub on added to a Ribbon Originals ribbon. That cute little rattle is from the very versatile Occassionally set.

I'll try to take a photo of the renovations tomorrow. We've now got a fair bit of woodwork up and we're starting to see the shape of the rooms and roof. They're aiming for 12 weeks and this is the end of week 4 so still a way to go yet!

Thought I should quickly update what's happening. We're probably at the most difficult point of the renovation now as we've had to move out of the study and living room whilst they move doorways and brick up openings we no longer want. So we're living in the two boys bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and most importantly hallway - my desk has moved to the hallway! It's cramped living for the next few days. Hopefully once the bricklayer has finished on Friday we'll be able to have our living room back for the weekend!

The two torrential downpours we had over the last two weeks didn't help! We didn't leak but the holes dug for concrete filled and then once the concrete was poured it rained again and washed dirt all over the new concrete!

Concrete after it had been poured.

Concrete the next morning after it had rained!

This is the view from the kitchen towards my study - I've got in and out doors at the moment!

This was the back of the house at the start of this week.

I have still been creating in my small space! Joshua went to an overnight school camp earlier this week so I made this card and post-it note holder to send with some chocolates as a thank you to his teacher. Joshua has a male teacher this year so I'll be challenging myself to make more masculine cards and gifts in 2010!

Excuse the muddy builders footprints in the background!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks in the Mercer household. Back to school for Joshua, starting school for Xander and then on the 3rd day back at school the builders arrived to start our renovations! They'll be here for up to 12 weeks. Whilst it's exciting for the boys I'm just looking forward to the end result - a family room, new deck, laundry, ensuite and bedroom. It's one of those jobs that whilst it's not a huge renovation it's impacting almost all the house in one way or another.

At the moment I still have my study. Here's the view out from the door!

Here's what it used to look like looking back the other way.

I don't tend to check out the view too often but sit with my door shut and old towels across the gap to try and reduce the dust! That's a temporary wall you can see straight ahead allowing us to use our kitchen still. It's been noisy in here! Have to make phone calls during the builders breaks! It will also get worse before it gets better as we're relocating the door in my study so I'll have to move out whilst that happens.

I'm very grateful to lovely friends and their washing machines! 12 weeks with no washing machine is a long time!

Here's a view into what will be the laundry, ensuite and bedroom. It's no where near finished as the walls you can see in there have to come down so the room can be extended.

With all the decisions that have had to be made with regard to colours, fittings, lighting etc I've not been creating as much. I'm also not able to run classes from home but am more than happy to come to you.

Here's a card I made tonight using the Butterfly Prints set from the Summer Mini.

It's actually a gift card for one of my lovely customers to give to a friend of hers. Inside is the actual voucher.

Let me know if you're interested in seeing more pictures of our renovations as they progress. I love looking at other people's renovations but I'm not sure how many others feel the same way!

The last challenge I set for my team cyberstamp was to use the picture below for a sketch insipiration.

It's a brochure front from Reece bathrooms (with renovations starting this morning we've been through way to many bathroom, tile and furniture showrooms in the last few weeks!).

Here's my card. I decided to stick with the colour scheme too.

The second challenge of the evening was a colour challenge. I gave the team the picture above for inspiration. It's taken from Alfresco Emporium's website.

Other than the colour restrictions everyone was free to create what they wanted.

Here's mine.

I've used the new Fleurettes from the Summer Mini and placed some Kaleidoscope paper inside the Build a Brad and added a rub on for the greeting.

That's two cards in two days with no stamping! Although yesterdays did have a little ink around the edges of the white cardstock!

Last night was my team's monthly cyberstamp. This time I was hosting. The first challenge was to use punches to produce a flower and use it on a card, scrapbook page or 3D item.

I decided to make my flower using 5 scallop circles. I fastened them altogether with a brad and then scrumpled them up. I got the idea from Dawn McVey. I added a button to the middle. The patterned papers are from the Kaleidoscope Designer Series paper.

You can't tell on this photo but the white card has vertical lines embossed on it. I emboss the lines using the scoring tool in the paper trimmer. It's a great way to add interest to a flat piece of cardstock.

It's finished off with some ribbon and a rub on greeting.

Check back over the next couple of days to see what I created for the other challenges last night.