Stamping Day!

Here are some pics from a day of stamping with my and Tania's downlines & friends. We each took in turns to show a techique to our little group and of course we made swaps for our card stash. Lots of laughs and great company! Thanks Tania for organsing and hosting this fun day!

This is for my fellow Harry Potter/JK Rowling fans. (I know who you are). I just finished watching the "A Year in the Life of JK Rowling" on TV tonight and thought I'd post up a couple other items of interest. Jo wrote an 800 word Harry Potter prequel and it was up for auction in June, which sold for $25,000 lbs and all proceeds are for charity. You can read it here, as well as many other short stories from well known authors. (You need to click on "Read our Authors Stories", then on JK Rowlings name). When this story card went up on the internet, it received approx 70,000 hits in the first 20 hours. The card is written in her handwriting, so its a little tricky in parts....but its good! The characters are James & Sirius, 3 years before Harry was born.

The other REALLY good link to give you is here, where JK Rowling is giving the Harvard University commencement address last month. Jo gives such an inspiring speech about the fringe benefits of failure and the power of imagination. I hold a soft spot for Jo as she started writing when she was a single mum, living alone in London. The applause at the end is very moving........

7 Random Things You May Not Know

Ok...I've been tagged. Not once but twice now, by Margaret first, then Tanya. So I've been thinking about what 7 random things about myself that are interesting for you to read about.

1. I was the grand prize winner in a Paper Salon/Self-Addressed contest in the USA at the end of 2005. (Paper Salon is another rubber stamping company). I won lots of goodies from them. You can see my creation when you click here.

2. I spent 2 of my teenage years living in Hawaii. So many good memories of watching "green flash" type sunsets every night (see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to see what I'm talking about), the volcano blowing once a month (again bringing some of the most beautiful sunsets you'll ever see), great friends who I'm now reconnecting with via Facebook, cliff jumping, body surfing, eating Mud Pie at the Kona Inn.....the best place in the world for that!......and I could go on and on and on.

3. I did a bit of volunteer medical work in a Bangkok handicapped children's orphanage when I was 21. It had the worst living conditions you could imagine (children chained to the wall and locked in cages). One of the more life changing/eye opening experiences for me that I'll never forget.

4. I had the priveledge of getting to know some girls in the hill tribes of Northern Thailand (right on the very remote Thai/Burmese boarder - thick opium area) - who were taken out of prostitution. These girls were aged 8-18. Again, another life changing experience that stays with me to this day.

5. I helped build a preschool in Manilla Philippines for the resident children who lived on "Smoky Mountain", one of Manilla's largest dumps. A few times a week I was able to visit homes on the dump and deliver food to the families that lived there. And other times I joined the medical teams and did basic first aid. This was my first exposure to extreme poverty and desparation. I was 15 years old.

6. I'm a CKU (Creating Keepsakes University) graduate from San Jose in 2004. A scrapbookers dream!

7. I have sun bathed (fully clothed) on one of the most beautiful, untouched beaches of the world, Banda Aceh, Indonesia (the Boxing Day Tsunami had a direct hit on this place in 2004). It is a STRONG muslim area where Islamic law is upheld, so yes, I kept all my clothes on and just wiggles my toes in the sand.

A Piece of Heaven

I escaped to this little piece of heaven this week. My son is visiting his dad in New Zealand at the moment, so for the first time in 14 months, I had more than 36 hours to myself. Being an introvert, the dream of getting away by myself was just too enticing. My friends and family made sure I had enough to take with me to keep me occupied and pampered: a lovely scented candle (which I burned for the entire time, thank you Ainslee!), cookies (thanks Carol from NLPC), warm snuggly socks (thank you Steph and Ainslee), good DVDs to watch (thanks mom & dad, Mary & Joe and Chris & Carol!), some new scrapbooking supplies (thanks Steph), chocolate (thanks Ainslee) and some good reading (thanks Gab!). It did help that my birthday was a few days prior to my holiday!

July Newsletter and Stampin' Up! Special

This newsletter is just a quick note to let you know what is happening in the world of Stampin' Up! in the month of July. School holidays are upon us again.....which means we have passed the half way mark to Christmas. This year is flying by! Yes I've started thinking about Christmas already, as several of you have booked "Christmas in July" theme workshops, which are always tons of fun. And personally, I'd like to be a little more prepared this year, if I can.

July's special is perfect for those of you who have been thinking of joining Stampin Up. The starter kit is reduced in price from now until August 15th. You receive $560 worth of stamping goodies for the price of $299. Click here to have a look at the flyer for more details. If you find the stamps in the starter kit are not your style, then you are free to customise your own starter kit with stamps of your choice, as long as they are of equal value. The same goes for the colours. If you're not a Bold Brights kind of gal, then you can choose your favourite colours instead. Please give me call or drop me an email if you have any questions. I'd love for you to join my team!

My son is in New Zealand for the school holidays, so I'm taking advantage of some child free time and going to the coast for this coming week. I want to recharge my creative batteries and catch up on some sleep! (my son is a very early riser). So, please know that if I don't reply to your emails until Friday, then that just means I'm sitting in front of a fire reading a good book, or wiggling my toes in some cold sand. I won't be near a computer for this week.

Looking ahead to August......there are more fun products arriving on our shores! As well as another technique class to attend. I look forward to sharing these things with you then!