October Promotion September 30, 2007

So, tomorrow hearlds the start of Stampin’ Up!’s new promotion, ‘Spring Is In The Air’. During the month of October if you purchase the Looks Like Spring Stamp Set and the coordinating Spring Bouquet Punch you receive either Spring Flowers or Spring Showers Double Sided Designer Paper absolutely FREE!

Now, I’d love to show some samples of cards I’ve made with this set, however, I think I must be the only demonstrator in Australia who does NOT have it! Am I going to get it during the promotion? – well, I’m still deciding. I just recived my lastest order on Friday and there are another couple of sets that I REALLY, REALLY want (that I didn’t order and am now kicking myself). I figure that if I really wanted it, I probably would have got it by now. So for those of you interested in the promotion, here’s a link to Stampin’ Up!’s site.

I have actually done a little stamping over the last week, I just need to take photos, a task that is determined by the amount of sunlight that comes in my kitchen window. It has been a bit overcast this week and the only day it was kind of sunny, I was rushing out of the house for a job interview. Hopefully, the sun will be shining brightly tomorrow.

Instead I’ll leave you with a photo of my gorgeous little boy. It’s hard to believe a year has passed since he brightened our lives! His personality is really starting to bloom. He’s learnt to wave and say ‘bye bye’ and now, when he’s tired, he’ll wave at us and say ‘bye bye’ and take himself into his room and laydown, ready for us to put him to bed. It is SO CUTE! This photo was taken at this 1st birthday party – he just loves cupcakes, not so keen on the sponge cake!

Warning – I’ve Been Enabled! September 22, 2007

And I’m here to enable you TOO!

A couple of days, my friend and fellow M.U.D.D.Y. Girl, Naomi let it be known that Spotlight were having a special on the Crop In Style XXL Rolling Tote. Now, I’d see this little beauty in action, since Naomi has one herself. Naomi got hers when she lived in Canada and the ones I’d seen here were nothing like hers. I figured it would just be another of those things that I could dream about getting. That was until yesterday, when that dream turned into a reality, LOL!

Here’s a photo from the outside, all closed up. It has a big handle and wheels that make it really easy to pull along behind you. It has really large front and side pockets and what I think is the best feature – ALL the pockets are LOCKABLE. Excellent for keeping little fingers out!

This is a view with the front pocket open. The 1st pocket in the top row contains all my embossing powders and embossing buddy, the 2nd pocket, Stampin’ Dimensionals and Sticky Strip.

The 2nd Row has my Heat & Stick Powder, SNAILS and the 3rd pocket has my Craft & Rubber Scissors, Paper Snips, Cutter Kit, Bone Folder and a couple of small rulers.

The bottom row has my SU Corner Rounder punch, my stapler and the 1/16″and 1/8″ hand held punches. There’s also a storage pocket on the side that flips down!

This is the view with one of the side pockets open. In the pen loops are my B/Black Stampin’ Write Marker, B/Black Journaler, White Gel Pen, Blender Pens and then some contraband, VersaMarker, another ‘cheapie’ white gel pen, X-Acto Knife, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen and Sakura Gelly Roller Pen in sparkly silver.

In the pockets on the right are some Sponge Daubers and Brads in Soft Subtles and Silver. Bottom row has a few Aquabrush pens, Scoring Blade and a pack of spare blades for paper trimmer. Other pocket contains a couple of Glue Sticks, 2-Way Glue and Stampin’ Mist.

This is a view with the top open. The pocket holds my 12″ Paper Trimmer, my smaller paper trimmer and a 30 cm Inch/Metric ruler!

This is the interior view. All the dividers are completely removable or you can adjust to your liking.

From L – R, the first pocket holds my expanding folder in which I keep spare order forms, my catalogue, current & previous minis, recruit info, door prize forms, wishlists, etc. Also have the plastic folders I use at workshops to hold order forms, pens, door prize forms, wishlists etc.

2nd pocket is holding my Stampin’ Scrub, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig and Crafter’s Tool Kit. Once my new order arrives, the brayer will also find a home here.

3rd pocket is holding Stampin’ Pastels, 4 colour families of Stampin’ Write Markers, 5 colour families of Wonderful Watercolour Crayons. This pocket also divided up and in that area is my standard and jumbo Stampin’ Around Handles.

Last pocket contains 8 catalogues and pens. LOVE IT!

This picture contains all of the above items but now shows the 5 stamp sets I have packed in there and my SU apron. There is STILL enough room to add more on top of this, and I think you could easily add another 5 sets. The sets I have included are Heartfelt Thanks, Linen Background, It’s Your Birthday, Simply Said and Mostly Flowers.

I took all this stuff to a workshop on Thursday and I needed 4 bags to hold it all in. It now all fits into 1. How cool is that?!?

I also purchased this CIS 12 x 12 Paper Sorter. It has 3 main interior dividers and then 9 separate plastic dividers that slip inside. I needed something to store all my SU 12×12 stuff in. Not that I have that much but I needed something all the same.

This is what’s inside: On Board Accents Chipboard, W/White 12×12 Cardstock, S/Sand 12x 12 Cardstock, Earth Elements 12×12 Cardstock, Treehouse 12×12 DS Designer Paper, Notations 12×12 DS Designer Paper, Recollections 12×12 Designer Paper and Pool Party 12×12 Designer Paper. There is room for more but that’s all I have.

Here’s what the divider looks like. It has this cool 1/2 pocket in the front so you can store your scraps in it. You can also buy additional dividers too. LOVE IT!

Another thing, the paper holder can slip over the handles of the tote so you don’t have to carry it. Not that I think I’ll be taking it anywhere, but it’s cool that it does it none the less.

So my advice is, if you have a heap of stuff you need to cart around on a regular basis, you need to get yourself to Spotlight and snap one of these up for yourself!

A Bit of Fun – It’s going to be a long one September 18, 2007

When visiting Simone’s blog the other day, she had a post re a Album of Me challenge she’s participating in. One of the challenges was to put together a listing of what would be on your ‘Ultimate Mix Tape’. Now, apart from stamping and my horse (and now my child), one of my other obsessions is music. A couple of Christmases ago, we decided to splurge and get the biggest & bestest IPOD we could to put all our, well OK, all my music on, LOL. I still haven’t loaded everything yet – it doesn’t take that long but it’s time consuming, IYKWIM, it’s on my ever growing list of things to do.
So to cut a long story shorter, I’ve decided to start of book of me too! My SU order will be going in tomorrow to get my Art Journal – hey, I may as well promote my business at the same time. My IPOD (yes, I’ve claimed it) has nearly 3,000 songs & counting, so I decided to limit my ultimate mix to 10% of that. I figured that my handwriting would look absolutely crap after writing all of them out, so I exported them out of ITunes and I’m going to print and cut them up, ransom note style for my page. I love reading about other people’s favourite songs so I thought I’d share mine with you! Now I give you fair warning before going any further, Jarrod thinks I have questionable taste when it comes to music and also thinks that I have songs on the IPOD that no one else has ever heard of.

Here’s my list, I tried to pick just my favourite song from each artist, but in some cases it was just too hard. I also grew up in the disco era, hence the disco songs and I also used to hit the clubs pretty hard in my early – mid 20′s (I so miss this), which accounts for the dance floor anthems. I’d love to hear your comments – BE NICE. Oh, by the way, there’s a story behind why I’ve selected each and every one of these songs too – I will elaborate if anyone’s interested in any in particular

Voulez-Vous – ABBA
Tears Are Not Enough- ABC
Antmusic (Album Version) – Adam & The Ants
Killer – Adamski
Warning! – Adeva
Dirty Cash (Todd Terry Radio Mix) – Adventures Of Stevie V Featuring Nazlyn
If I Ain’t Got You – Alicia Keys
Mr Damage – The Angels
Wish I Didn’t Miss You – Angie Stone
Obsession – Animotion
Paranomia (Max Headroom) – Art of Noise
Found A Cure – Ashford & Simpson
Bang Bang (Shot You Down) – Audio Bullys
Lakeside – Australian Crawl
Since I Left You – The Avalanches
Give Me Back My Man – The B-52′s
Private Idaho – The B-52′s
Summer Of Love – The B-52′s
Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland – The B-52′s
Isn’t It Time – The Babys
Yes Sir, I Can Boogie – Baccara
Robert De Niro’s Waiting – Bananarama
Romeo – Basement Jaxx
Rok Da House – The Beatmasters
You Should Be Dancing – Bee Gees
Sex (I’m a…) – Extended Version – Berlin
Crazy In Love – Beyonce
The Globe – Big Audio Dynamite
Breakaway – Big Pig
Sweet Sixteen – Billy Idol
Playing With Knives – Bizarre Inc.
Ride on Time – Black Box
Shut Up – The Black Eyed Peas
Rapture – Blondie
Atomic – Blondie
Jackie – Blue Zone
Ebony Eyes – Bob Welch
Daddy Cool – Boney M
More Than A Feeling – Boston
Smalltown Boy – Bronski Beat
Such A Good Feeling (Inspirational Delight Mix) – Brothers In Rhythm
Stomp – Brothers Johnson
The Bomb Kenny Dope Gonalez Presents… – The Bucketheads
Video Killed The Radio Star – Buggles
Jesse – Carly Simon
I Feel For You – Chaka Chan
Out Of Control – The Chemical Brothers
Le Freak – Chic
He’s My Number One – Christie Allen
Almost With You – The Church
Rock The Casbah – The Clash
Doctorin’ The House (Feat Yazz And The Plastic Population) – Coldcut
Fascinated – Company B
Round Here – Counting Crows
Time To Party – Craig David
She Sells Sanctuary -The Cult
Miss Me Blind – Culture Club
Why Can’t I Be You? – The Cure
Baby, Do You Feel Me? – Danny Tenaglia
Turn Me On – Danny Tenaglia
Golden Years – David Bowie
China Girl – David Bowie
Needin U – David Morales
My Heart Goes Bang – Dead Or Alive
Deeper Water – Deadstar
Get The Balance Right – Depeche Mode
Behind The Wheel – Depeche Mode
Nasty Girl – Destiny’s Child
Beautiful World – Devo
Hunter – Dido
Boys in Town -Divinyls
Bad Girls – Donna Summer
No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) – Donna Summer
Planet Earth – Duran Duran
I Can’t Tell You Why – The Eagles
Boogie Wonderland – Earth Wind & Fire
Tender Years – Eddie & The Cruisers
Getting Away With It – Electronic
Watching The Detectives – Elvis Costello
What’s It Gonna Be – En Vogue
Who Needs Love (Like That) – Erasure
Saving Myself – Eria Fachin
I Can’t Stand The Rain – Eruption
Don’t Ask Me Why – Eurythmics
Kiss You All Over – Exile
Insomnia – Faithless
One Step Too Far feat.Dido – Faithless
Chinese Eyes – Fancy
Slice Me Nice – Fancy
Love Can’t Turn Around (Featuring Darryl Pandy) – Farley Jackmaster Funk & Darryl Pandy
Johnny Come Home – Fine Young Cannibals
So Long – Fischer Z
One Thing Leads To Another – The Fixx
Tusk – Fleetwood Mac
I Ran (So Far Away) – A Flock Of Seagulls
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Breakout – Foo Fighters
Aurora – Foo Fighters
Urgent – Foreigner
S-S-S-Single Bed – Fox
Rich In Paradise -FPI Project
Baby Wants To Ride – Frankie Knuckles
IOU (Original) – Freez
Sounds of Then (This is Australia) – GANGgajang
Vow – Garbage
Outside – George Michael
Salsoul Nugget (If U Wanna) – Girl Next Door
I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor
We Got The Beat (Single Mix) – Go-Go’s
Pull Up To The Bumper – Grace Jones
The Message – Grand Master Flash
White Lines – Grandmaster Flash
Superstylin’ – Groove Armada
Ain’t Nothing Going On But The Rent – Gwen Guthrie
Hollaback Girl – Gwen Stefani
Love Plus One – Haircut 100
Out Of Touch – Hall & Oates
Searchin’ – Hazell Dean
Magic Man – Heart
Temptation (Original Version) – Heaven 17
Malibu – Hole
Love Action (I Believe In Love) – The Human League
Walls – Icehouse
Candy – Iggy Pop
Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (12″ Mix) – Indeep
Good Life – Inner City
Big Fun (Original 12” Mix) – Inner City
To Look At You – INXS
Fame – Irene Cara
Town Called Malice – The Jam
Soul Education – Jamiroquai
What Have You Done For Me Lately – Janet Jackson
When I Think Of You – Janet Jackson
Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley
Real Thing – Jellybean
Somebody Else’s Guy – Jocelyn Brown
Looking For A New Love – Jody Watley
The Floor – Johnny Gill
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake
I’m Your Boogie Man – K.C. & The Sunshine Band
Constant Craving – k.d. lang
Too Shy – Kajagoogoo
Gold Digger – Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
Let Me Love You For Tonight – Kariya
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
Babooshka – Kate Bush
Strings Of Life (Stronger On My Own) (Full Length Vocal) – Kathy Brown, Soul Central
Hey Hey Guy (Extended Mix) – Ken Lazlo
All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers
View From A Bridge – Kim Wilde
My Sharona – The Knack
She’s Fresh – Kool & The Gang
Hungry – Kosheen
The Breaks – Kurtis Blow
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head – Kylie Minogue
Better The Devil You Know – Kylie Minogue
Confide In Me – Kylie Minogue
Lady Marmalade – Labelle
Fantastic Voyage – Lakeside
French Kiss – Lil’Louis & The World
Running With the Night – Lionel Richie
Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
People Hold On (feat. Coldcut) – Lisa Stansfield
All Around The World – Lisa Stansfield
Never Too Much – Luther Vandross
Popmuzik – M
Don’t Call Me Baby (Original Mix – Edit) – Madison Avenue
Our House – Madness
Deeper And Deeper – Madonna
Rescue Me – Madonna
Causing A Commotion – Madonna
Buffalo Gals – Malcolm Mclaren
Double Dutch – Malcolm Mclaren
Madam Butterfly – Malcolm McLaren
If You Tolerate This – Manic Street Preachers
Got To Have Your Love – Mantronix
Echo Beach – Martha And The Muffins
Unfinished Sympathy – Massive Attack
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Read About It – Midnight Oil
US Forces – Midnight Oil
Midas Touch – Midnight Star
Go – Moby
I’ll Melt With You – Modern English
Total Control (Single Version) – The Motels
60 Miles An Hour – New Order
Temptation – New Order
Thieves Like Us – New Order
The Perfect Kiss – New Order
Sub-Culture – New Order
World In Motion – New Order
Enola Gay – OMD
Forget Me Nots – Patrice Rushen
Born To Be Alive (Extended Version) – Patrick Hernandez
Because The Night – Patty Smyth
Love Comes Quickly – Pet Shop Boys
Heart – Pet Shop Boys
My Happiness – Powderfinger
Talk Of The Town – The Pretenders
Controversy – Prince
Erotic City – Prince
Baby, I’m A Star – Prince
Baby It’s You – Promises
Dr. Mabuse – Propaganda
Love My Way – Psychadelic Furs
Creep – Radiohead
Break 4 Love – Raze
Strings Of Life [Piano Mix] – Rhythim Is Rhythim
You Used To Salsa [12"] – Richie Rich’s Salsa House Feat. Ralphi Rosario
Superfreak – Rick James
I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred
Johnny & Mary – Robert Palmer
Uprock – Rock Steady Crew
Maggie May – Rod Stewart
Everybody’s Free – Rozalla
Theme From S Express (Overture) – S’Express
Stop – Sam Brown
Emotion – Samantha Sang
Comfortably Numb – Scissor Sisters
Stay – Shakespears Sister
He’s A Dream – Shandi (from Flashdance soundtrack)
Let The Music Play – Shannon
Barbarism Begins At Home – The Smiths
This Charming Man – The Smiths
How Soon Is Now? – The Smiths
Panic – The Smiths
Ask – The Smiths
You Got The Love – Source Feat. Candi Staton (played on the closing credits for the final episode of Sex In The City)
Chant No. 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) – Spandau Ballet
Cool for Cats – Squeeze
Edge Of Seventeen – Stevie Nicks
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around – Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Promised Land – The Style Council
Rapper’s Delight (Old School Mix) – Sugarhill Gang
Alone With You Tonight – Sunny Boys
Perfect Motion – Sunscreem
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – Sylvester
It’s My Life – Talk Talk
Girlfriend Is Better – Talking Heads
Do you want it right now – Taylor Dayne
Change – Tears For Fears
Pump Up The Jam – Technotronic
Lovergirl – Teena Marie
Dance Little Lady Dance – Tina Charles
Weekend – Todd Terry Project
Genius of Love – Tom Tom Club
Mickey – Toni Basil
Cornflake Girl – Tori Amos
Living on Video – Trans X
Two Hearts Beat As One – U2
Sister Havanna – Urge Overkill
Seether – Veruca Salt
Macho Man – Village People
Gone Daddy Gone – Violent Femmes
Fade To Grey – Visage
Here Comes September – Waikiki
It’s Raining Men – Weather Girls
Wham Rap – Wham!
If I Told You That – Whitney Houston & George Michael
Teardrops – Womack & Womack
Senses Working Overtime – XTC
If I Can’t Have You – Yvonne Elliman
Hey Mr DJ – Zhane
Touch Me – 49ers
Pacific 707 – 808 State

Congratulations if you made it all the way to the end! I’ll try and publish this on ITunes as an IMix so you can have a listen for your self. Failing that, I can always burn you an Ultimate Mix CD of your very own.

Will have some crafty projects to post in the next few days – just need to get photos taken

Also, a big thank you for all the lovely, supporting comments I received about my last post – it’s greatly appreaciated. THANK YOU ALL!

I Know, It’s Been Ages September 11, 2007

since I’ve last posted. I’ve got to tell you, blogging has been the last thing on my mind. I apologise for my general lack of enthusiasm.

So what have I got to show you tonight I bet you’re wondering. Well, nothing creative AT ALL. I’ve decided to share my frustrations about searching for work with you. I thought I’d give you a bit of warning before I got started so you can ‘turn off’ cause it’s not going to be a warm and fuzzy post.

Some of you may be aware that I recently lost my job that I had been in for 10 years. I had been on unpaid maternity leave since August last year and in June, when I rang to say ‘Hey, I’m ready to come back to work’ I was told ‘Sorry, got no work for you’. Since then, I have been looking for a new full time job. We did the sums and going back full time is really the only way that we’d get enough money to make it worthwile. Anyway, I’m hoping that by venting some of the frustrations I’m experiencing, it will help me with this process, cause quite frankly, it’s taking its toll on me. I’m finding it to be the most soul destroying, confidence shattering experience I have had to date.

Here’s the most recent one. Applied for a position that sounded really good – in the CBD so a bit of travelling, nothing in the role that I haven’t done in the past. Get an interview – I think it goes pretty well. As I’m getting ready to leave, the HR lady I’d met with says, ‘We’ll be in touch if we want to go any further in the process with you’. Cool. Well less than 15 minutes later, I get a phone call, ‘We’d like you to come back to do some psych testing next week and if that goes well then meet with CEO as she likes to meet all prospective employees.’ No problem, can do. Do the testing, obviously goes well cause next day get phone call to make appointment to meet with CEO. Very excited at this point. HR lady that I’d been speaking to had really pumped up the job and my confidence, was told the job had a lot of flexibility, could work from home if kids were sick etc, etc. Really good to hear considering some other responses I’ve gotten due to the fact I have a young child. Ah, discrimination – good to know it’s still out there! Anyway, meet with CEO, I think it all goes well. Apparently it’s between myself and another girl who wasn’t meeting with CEO until the Monday (my interview was on the Friday). Was told that they would be in touch on Monday.

Well, Monday comes & goes – no phone call. I’ve since decided that NO NEWS IS DEFINATELY NOT GOOD NEWS. Wait till the mail arrives Tuesday to see if the ‘rejection letter’ is in mail – it’s not, so I give them a call. Total change in demeanour with HR lady. SO NOT GOOD. Apparently CEO was concerned with my ‘limited experience in one field’. I was SO SHOCKED that I couldn’t even get a reply out to ask her to elaborate! They obviously weren’t happy with either of us because I then was told that they were interviewing a 3rd (and possibily a 4th – I couldn’t take it all in at that stage) candidate and that they would get back to me. Well, it’s been a week since I made that phone call, and still nothing.

Then on the other had you get this. Apply for a position that is about 10 mins from home and really good money. Job is advertised as Bookkeeper to learn all about importing. This position is being advertised by an agency that had advertised another job that I’d applied for (that fell through), so my resume got sent directly down to the client. After about a week, I still hadn’t got an interview, so made some enquiries. Apparently, client wants to go with someone who has importing experience. HELLO, nearly everything we sold at my last job was imported from either the US (most), UK, Europe or Taiwan. Have got a little bit of experience with this. However, still can’t get interview. See the position advertised again and again and decide enough is enough. I emailed the agency, explaining my frustrations about seeing job advertised again & again and not being able to even get an interview! Well, it turns out the client who had seen my resume thought that I would think that the job would be beneath me and that I would get bored and look for something else. ALL WITHOUT EVEN MEETING OR TALKING TO ME! Let me tell you, after all this, the LAST thing I’d want to be doing is looking for another job. It’s one of the reasons I stayed in my last job for so long. It’s just too hard to start again with a new employer.

So, sorry if this has brought you down, I’ve still got some more to tell you about, but this has got really long.

Hope you all have a good day/night, and hopefully we’ll return to the scheduled programming soon!