Only 3 days left for FREE P & H offer!

Just a reminder that if you preorder your Summer Mini purchases with me before Dec 1 you will receive FREE postage and handling to anywhere in Australia.

I will be placing all preorders on Dec 1st, so get in quick!

Special Sunday - a pocket notes giveaway...

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay - yours truly managed a sleep in this morning - Yay!

Today's giveaway is 2x pocket notes with envelopes. Another preview to the mini catty!

First five Australian residents who are not already part of the SU! family.

Cass

My mouth hurts and I'll whinge if I want to!!

Hiya,

I am getting braces put on for the THIRD time tomorrow, and yesterday I got the spacers put in in preparation. My mouth hurts, and I just really wanted to let out a whinge about it, so you are my unwitting audience - OOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for that :)

Cass

Special Sunday - a Holiday Thyme DSP giveaway!

Good morning all,

As I write this there are 5 very noisy children running around my house - quite a wake up on a Sunday morning!

Hope as many of you as possible are enjoying this fine morning too.

Today's giveaway is a sample of Holiday Thyme Designer Series Paper.

Usual rules - offer open to first five Australian residents to reply here who are not already part of the SU! family.

Off to feed the troops!

Cass

How cute is this!

Lesley came over this morning, and gave me this gorgeous little pocket note she had made.

Sshhh...this is a sneak preview of a stamp and paper product that you will see in the new summer mini...

FRONT

INSIDE

The calendar has been made on the computer, and there is a page for each month.

Neat, huh?

Again, please forgive me for the awful photography, it is SO much better in real life!

Look what I found!!!

A BLUE tongue lizard!!

My mistake, it's only Jack ;)

Christmas Swaps are out!!

How excitement!

Below are the pics of the swaps which you will be receiving in a short time. A huge thanks to everyone who participated.

Just to let you know, Kim's cards will be posted to you individually.

Also, some notes for future when participating in swaps...

- Unless otherwise noted by swap organiser, please write or stamp 'handmade by...' on the back of your cards. Your hard work deserves recognition!

- Please include envelopes with your cards. Many of you didn't, so I have donated some to the cause, but etiquette dictates that you would usually send envelopes with your swaps. The exception to this is if you are participating in a 'card front' swap, where the card fronts will be used for display or inspiration only.

Now, the fun part....

GROUP ONE

GROUP TWO

Some housekeeping...

Hi everyone,

Just to let my Sunday girls know that ALL past samples are now out. If you don't receive them after a time, please let me know. I don't think I have forgotten anyone, but you just never know!

Also, for those of you who participated in the christmas card swap, they will be going out this week too. I am still waiting on one lot from someone, but I will send them out with or without those ones and forward them on when they arrive.

I will be putting the cards up on the blog soon so we can ooh and aah over what each other made - I was very impressed!

Hope you are all having a great stampin' day!

Cass

Swell News

This is a retired set, but I love it, so I decided it was perfect for a card I made today for someone I know who is having a baby (I don't want to give it away in case she is reading!)

Heartfelt Thanks

YAY! I've been stamping!!

I have made three cards this morning with the stamp set Heartfelt Thanks that I borrowed from my downline Lesley. I now love this set and have just arranged to swap it with one I have with another demonstrator.

You can't really see it in the pic, but I embossed the top image on the pink card so that the leaves and stalk look 'real'.

The second card is so quick and easy. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere -if you are the original designer, can you please let me know so I can give you credit? I used only one colour inkpad (choc chip) and very vanilla and choc chip cardstock. I stamped off the french script background to make it lighter before stamping it onto my base cardstock and coloured the flower using an aqua painter and choc chip inkpad. I then sponged around the edge of the very vanilla cardstock using a sponge dauber and...you guessed it...choc chip ink! I love its simplicity.

On the third card I roughed up the edge of 'oval' (dubiously hand cut) using the sanding block and my fingernail to curl the edge up. I also stamped in barely banana ink on the barely banana cardstock, but that hasn't shown up. That photography course is looking better and better...

I have a whole afternoon of stamping ahead too, as I have Lesley and Gina coming round - yay!

Special Sunday

Hi everyone,

Today's giveaway is a mystery to me lol

Tell me what you want, make it reasonable and it is yours!

Open to first five Australian residents who are not already part of the SU! family.

Also, a note on past SS giveaways:

I want to thank you all for being very patient with me in recent weeks. I have not sent out the last few Sundays as yet (as you are aware if you are a participant!) as Mum has recently been back in hospital (though she is out again now). Much of my time is taken up with that situation, and much of what is left is taken up by my children and getting the odd wink of sleep.

I will be sending out ALL outstanding SS giveaways today, so if you have not received yours by Friday please let me know - I'll try not to forget anyone ;)

I really appreciate you all taking the time to stop by, and I do cherish all my readers. Your support over the last few months has meant alot.

Cass

One Sheet Wonder

A One Sheet Wonder is basically a pre-stamped sheet of cardstock, or a patterned piece of paper that you cut a certain way to make several card fronts.

I experimented with a template I found on Splitcoast Stampers (if you have not yet been there make sure you have several free hours before visiting for the first time!) and used a piece of 12x12 DSP and some ribbons from the new summer mini (sneak preview for you all!) to make 10 cards...

Another photo of the same cards (I couldn't decide which was worse that the other! Maybe I should be taking photography lessons lol)

A bit of a twist on the Manic Mondays of old!

I am IN LOVE with this paper and ribbon pack, and that is all I can say lol

To get your own copy of the summer mini catalogue, email me dmin@cassandragrambau.com.au and I will get a copy out to you.

Can you spare $3.50?

Hi all,

This is not my usual practice, but something has come to my attention that I cannot ignore.

Did you know that in Russia terry towelling nappies and nappy covers (pilchers) are unavailable to buy? Most Russian mothers use old rags around their babies' bottoms, and cover the nappies with old plastic bags to make them more waterproof. These are hardly suitable for the job.

Unfortunately disposable nappies have just become available, but with many families wondering where their next meal will come from, hardly anyone can afford to use disposables full time. Sadly, many poor mothers are buying these disposables anyway, but as they cannot afford to throw them away, they simply scrape the faeces off the nappy and re-use them. Eventually, they remove the whole inner of the nappy and fasten the outer on with scotch tape. These are re-used time and again.

Naturally with this occuring, most babies have terrible nappy rash. While a little rash might not sound too bad, many of the babies are suffering from HIV and hepatitis, so they are severely immunocompromised. In this situation, what started out as a little rash can quickly take hold and become a full blown infection, ulcer or abcess.

Imagine how much it would hurt a mother's spirit to see her baby in this condition. Imagine how the orphanage workers feel with children suffering like this in their care.

This is why I feel compelled to help. We need to provide these mothers with quality, reusable, washable nappies and accessories so that they can provide their children with safer hygeine solutions and to help prevent practices that are encouraging nappy rash and disease. Will you help me? (This story is taken from the Nappies for Russia website. I have left it verbatim, as it represents the story and how I feel perfectly).

So, why $3.50? This is how much it costs us here in Australia to purchase a tub of nappy cream, and it is my goal to purchase as many tubs as possible to donate to the Nappies for Russia cause.

If you choose to donate, I will be pooling the money to buy the cream in bulk, and will deliver it to the Brisbane drop off site in 2 weeks. It will then be included in nappy packs and sent to Russia.

As a mother, I cannot imagine using a plastic bag to keep my child clean and dry, which is why I have chosen to become involved in this cause (I am a drop off/collection point for the Gold Coast).

If you can spare $3.50, please email me admin@cassandragrambau.com.au or phone 07 55942308. The $3.50 can be sent via the mail, or transferred to my bank account.

Please feel free to ignore this if you choose, there is no obligation, it is just something I am passionate about, and chose to include on my blog.

Cass

TODAY ONLY - FREE P&H ON ALL ORDERS PLACED!!

Hi everyone,

A special for you all -

Place an order with me today (however big or small) and you will receive FREE POSTAGE AND HANDLING on your order. This means you pay for product only, and your order will be shipped directly to your door.

To take advantage of this offer email me admin@cassandragrambau.com.au or phone 07 5594 2308.

Cass

Special Sunday - a template giveaway!

Hi everyone,

This week's giveaway is a bit different. It will be distributed by email and is a pattern for a mini gable box. This is usually only available to demonstrators, and has been such a big hit at my workshops recently, I thought I would share it with 5 of you as well!

To make, you simply print off the template onto cardstock, score, stamp and fold. They make great little gift boxes. I'll put a sample up of a christmas box I have been doing at my workshops later on.

This one is open worldwide - first five people only!

A random giveaway x2!

A bit slow on the giveaways this week!

First two to reply TODAY (sat) will receive an incentive stamp, available only to demonstrators.

Australia only...

Cass

Just In Thyme promotion!

I am LOVING this!

From the 1-15th December Stampin' Up! have released a range of Holiday Thyme double-sided Designer Series paper.

There is no limit to how many packs you can order, and each pack of twelve 12x12 sheets is only $14.95 (rrp $16.95)

As a bonus, when you order your Holiday Thyme papers, I will include a pattern for you to make your very own christmas crackers!

Get in QUICK - offer only valid until the 15th December, and then they will be gone................

*please note. Images are copywrite Stampin' Up! 2007, and are not actual size, only an indication of the papers you will be receiving.

All in the family

It is with sadness that I tell you all that Stampin' Up! Australia's General Manager Dave Abbott passed away in October after a long battle with a rare blood disease.

As I have said before, which is never more true than now, at Stampin' Up!, we're like family. This is why Stampin' Up! have released the All in the Family stamp set to help honour Dave, and to aid a fund that has been set up for Dave's wife and three young children. Every cent from the sale of this stamp set worldwide in November will be donated to this fund.

I am asking all of you to purchase this stamp set. Not only will you benefit from it (the set if really cute and very versatile!), but so will Dave's wife and three small children.

This set is available from 1-30 November. It will appear in the IB&C released next year, however it is only during November that the money will be donated to the fund.

Please visit my specials page (click on the 'my website' link on the RHS of the page) to see the stamp set.