In my last post I talked about how having a card kit on hand can be helpful when you want to create but are needing some inspiration.  This week I was reminded by a new friend and fellow demonstrator, Tristan Dawes, how great card challenges can be for this, too!  She's a member of the design team for the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge, so after checking it out I decided to play along.

The theme for this week's challenge is "Masculine Anything Goes,"  As we card crafters know, it's more challenging to come up with cards that the guys will really like, so it's great to have them in our stash.

For this card I wanted to use the Enjoy Life stamp set by Stampin' Up!  I really like doing silhouette stamps against a watercolored background and played around making a couple until I got one I really liked with this stamp.  My favorite technique is to smoosh ink pads onto a clear block, then spritz with water before pressing it onto a piece of Whisper White card stock.   Once it was dry I stamped the image 3 or 4 times with Memento Tuxedo Black using my Stamparatus. I love how I can get a really opaque image this way.  The sentiment only needed one stamping to come out nice and crisp and dark.  I kept everything simple by mounting the image directly to a Cajun Craze card base.

Why don't you play along, too?  Don' have a blog to link? Please send me a picture of your creation:nhoetker@mac.com.

If you live in Australia and would like to purchase any of the supplies I used to make this card, click on the image below and go straight to my online store.

1) You want to make cards, but don't have a lot of supplies.
    This could be because you're just getting started with card crafting. Or because you're traveling/moving.  Either way, an all-inclusive card kit is the perfect solution because along with a bit of adhesive and some paper snips you have everything you need to create a small stash of cards.  Plus, you then have another stamp set and Stampin' Spot ink pad to add to your stash - double win!

2) You feel like crafting, but are out of ideas.
    Pull out a card kit and make a couple just like the directions say.  Then challenge yourself to mix it up on a couple...be a rule-breaker!  The cards shown in this post are are a combination of by-the-book and alternative designs, based on my personal needs.

3) It's a great activity to do with family and friends.
    Family visiting?  Rainy day?  School holiday and the kids are bored?  Sit down with a card kit and some yummy snacks and connect in a new and creative way.  Challenge each other to make creative use of your kit's supplies and have fun!

4) Makes a great gift.
    Whether you're an advance-planner type or looking for something at the last minute, card kits can be a great go-to gift for friends and family.  In addition to the kit, you can include a note that offers to host a crafting get-together!

5) You want to make a lot of cards in a short amount of time.
    I confess, I am determined to send handmade Christmas cards to all 150 people on my list each year, but often run short of time...fortunately Stampin' Up! has a great card kit to help boost my card count!  Likewise, a more general kit (with alternative designs) can generate a nice collection of thank-you cards if needed.  Bonus: most of our kits now come with refills - so you can make even more of a good thing!

The cards shown in this post are from the Soft Sayings Card Kit.  I brought it with me during my move to Australia, and while all of my crafting supplies were either jumbled into one suitcase or still in my shipping container crossing the Pacific, this was how I got my crafting fix.  I have used many of the cards already to thank various people who have been helpful in our transition to our new life, or to reach out to friends back in the U.S.

(note: the first 3 card kits are all-inclusive, while the last 3 project kits require you to purchase the stamp set and ink separately)

When we arrived in Melbourne we were booked in to a "Serviced Apartment Hotel," or what we would call an extended stay hotel in the U.S.  It was very conveniently located close to Glenn's office and just off Lygon Street, which is the very popular dining street of Little Italy.  These days there are a few other cuisines sprinkled in, but definitely no shortage of choice for eating options from early morning to late night.

Our apartment had 2 bedrooms each with a king-sized bed and barely room for 2 people, a bathroom, and a compact living area with a kitchen, stacked washer & dryer, loveseat, armchair, desk, table and chairs.  Plus our 7 large suitcases, 3 small suitcases, 3 people, and 1 dog.  It was cramped, but livable, and we did remarkably well at not irritating each other.  Soon after arrival, however, it became apparent that finding a long-term rental needed to be high on the to-do list.

In Australia one doesn't work with a real estate agent who puts together a list of properties and takes one around to view them.  Instead, one looks online and contacts the listing agent to ask to inspect if there isn't a public inspection already posted (or if that time won't work).  The agent then posts a public inspection time and one gets 10 minutes to walk through and decide if it's suitable...along with whoever else decided to look it over, too, At some we were the only ones, at others we were one of 3-6 parties inspecting at the same time.

If one likes a property then one submits an application.  We had registered with the online rental application that stored all of our details so it was easy to make a few clicks and apply right away if we were interested.  The property manager/rental agent reviews the applications and decides which one to put forward to the landlord.  We wound up applying to 4 properties, and we were selected to be put forward on 3 of them.  Our first choice property's landlord wound up approving us before we submitted the last 2 to landlords, so we had a quick process!

If you didn't follow along on my personal Facebook page, here's the one we chose:

Our unit is on the 18th floor - the 2nd one from the top.  It runs the entire West side of the building from the curved corner on the left to the end of the balcony on the right.  Right above us is a tenant's indoor/outdoor lounge area with 2 barbecues, and on the other side of the building is a gym.

We've got 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths (unheard of!).  We got Nicole set up with a bed and desk right away from Ikea, her previous ones not being worth shipping. The 3rd bedroom is my craft room/office/guest room, though it's waiting on our shipping container for most of the furniture.  Glenn and I are sleeping on an air mattress until our bed arrives.  We're doing pretty well on it considering it's been a long time since we've shared a bed smaller than a King for more than a couple of nights.

Since we didn't ship our previous sofa or dining table & chairs we went ahead and purchased new ones.  They all arrived the day we took possession of the unit (1 week after signing the lease) except the table.  Thanks to the kindness of strangers met through Facebook, we were loaned a folding table to tide us over.  Now that our purchased table has arrived the loaner has moved into the craft room.

So far we're enjoying our new, urban lifestyle, a complete change from the previous 30 years together!  We're eager to share our adventure with visitors, so start making plans for 2019!

p.s. -  Glenn can see North and East sides of our building from his office: 

Here in Australia I've had to re-sign up as an SU! demonstrator, and after some research I chose to sign up under Kylie Bertucci.  Her high energy and enthusiasm, strong training and support programs and style of crafting were all very attractive to me.  

One of her workshops earlier this year was about the Designer Series Paper (DSP) we all love, and tend to hoard.  She called this workshop, "Love It, Chop It!"  It was meant to have one dive in and cut up a pack of DSP into pieces that are ready to just layer onto a card front, add a sentiment, maybe an embellishment or image and you've got a card.

A few days ago I was able to move our borrowed table out of our dining area and into my craft room, and also unpacked my stamping supplies.  So naturally I had to sit down and play.  

The biggest adjustment I'm going to have to paper crafting here in Oz is switching from inches to centimeters.  So I figured I'd start with something simple like a Love It, Chop It card or two, and I used the retired Bubble & Fizz DSP along with the coordinating Bubble Over stamp set (still available in the Annual Catalog).

I used a base of Bermuda Bay, and added a mat of Calypso Coral beneath the DSP and the sentiment strips.  

I've got a poll going over on my Nancy's Nifty Notes Facebook page: which version do you like better?  Pop over and play along!
​

I have had limited opportunity for some creative time outside of home furnishings, but I have done some paper crafting.  My new Aussie upline, Kylie Bertucci and her SU-demo husband, Bruno, adore Peanut Butter M&Ms, which are hard to find here.  I brought a couple of packets with me, and spent a morning dressing them up before sending them off.

Yes, one of those 7 large suitcases became my crafting "studio".  About ⅓ of this stuff I brought from Arizona, the rest I ordered through SU! Australia and had shipped to Glenn's office or our serviced apartment.  

I decided to use some of my remaining stash of Sweet Soiree DSP (the Old Olive with Silver stripes) and Share What You Love DSP to make a version of a 2-5-7-10 (or 2-4-6-8) Box to hold the treats.  There's a good picture tutorial for 2-5-7-10 here, and a words-only tutorial for 2-4-5-8 here.  I can't remember my exact measurements to make these, but I laid the packets on my paper trimmer to get the width and height and guesstimated how deep they needed to be to accommodate the candy, and scored accordingly.  Then rotate the paper and went down one side 1" from the edge to be able to make the flaps for the bottom.

I made tags from the Rooted in Nature (L) and Country Home (R) stamp sets. I finished them off with Braided Linen Trim and Nature's Twine.

I just love Kylie's unbridled enthusiasm for everything...she posted this right away on her business FB page.

Nice to feel appreciated all around, isn't it?  #makeacardsendacard...or treats...or something!

If you're wanting something as quaint as a mailing address, here it is:
1801/151 Berkeley Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Australia

I can still be reached at my same email addresses: nhoetker@mac.com or nhoetker@ iCloud.com.  If you have an Apple device you can also message/text or FaceTime me at those addresses.  Don't worry about what time it is here, I've got do not disturb turned on for when I'm sleeping.  Would love to keep up with what you're doing, too!

Until next time....

I have been doing very little card-making in the last 6 weeks.  Instead I've been sorting through various belongings, discarding what I can as we get ready to move to Melbourne, Australia.

 I did prep a couple of cards for the class I co-taught with Nickie this week, and I'll get around to showing you those soon.  Today I'd like to share a project that I added on at the last minute, thanks to my dad.  He sent me a link to an article about Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois visiting kids in Chicago making cards of support and encouragement to send to immigrant children being detained apart from their parents, which included an address to which people could send cards.

So I offered class participants the opportunity to make a card and I am sending them in for distribution.  I gave them limited supplies:  Very Vanilla Note Cards & Envelopes, Pretty Kitty, Bella & Friends, and Party Pandas stamp sets, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pens.  Here's what we made:

I used Google Translate to come up with 3 sentiments in Spanish:
"Thinking of you."
"The Americans are with you".
"Hope your family is reunited soon."

If you'd like to send a/some card(s) here's the address:
UAC/ORR Program
ATTN: Cards for Kids
330 C Street, SW
5th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20201

Last Friday I hosted a gathering for my customers and team members.  I think everyone had a fund time making 3 cards, chatting, and eating an "afternoon tea".  As usual, I forgot to get pictures until towards the end.

Here are the cards we made:

This one featured a returning stamp set, Happy Birthday, Gorgeous.  The wreath of flowers and leaves was made using the Stamparatus stamp positioning tool and a template for positioning the card stock to stamp in multiple rotations.  I CASE'd it from Dawn Olchefske.  We used Coastal Cabana, the lovely aqua color that is making its return from a few years ago, as well as Flirty Flamingo that transitioned from being an InColor the last two years to a member of the Brights family.  Also, the leaf is in Lemon Lime Twist, which we get to enjoy as an InColor for another year.

This card features the fabulous new stamp set, Lilypad Lake.  Love the images and the matching Framelits!  I CASE'd it from Windy Ellard, who CASE'd it from another artist, LOL!  The colors on this card are Pool Party (Subtles), with Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist (both 2017-19 InColors), along with Memento Tuxedo Black.

And last, but not least, this card shows off the new Rooted in Nature set.  I love the textures in the different leaves and tree ring!  It also features a returning InColor, Mint Macaron, as well as 2 new shades of purple:  Gorgeous Grape (Brights) and Highland Heather (Subtles).  Crumb Cake continues to be a great Neutral, and the circle of Early Espresso adds just the right balance of a deep Neutral.  This one is CASE'd from Carolina Evans, though she did a neat fancy fold with hers!

Click on any of the images below to go straight to my Stampin' Up! online store to purchase what you need to make any of these cards!  If you're ordering less than $150 please use this Host Code:  9S3JPTNV.

Due to my upcoming move I'm not certain how many more classes I'll be holding...don't miss your chance to take this one!

Make 5 projects featuring a variety of techniques and great Stampin' Up! products. Perfect for experienced and novice crafters!
​$20 - all supplies included

RSVP Deadline:  Sunday, June 10

Tuesday, June 12
6:30 - 9:00 pm in the NW Valley - Address TBA

Wednesday, June 13
9:30 - noon in Nancy's Craft Room in Scottsdale
6:30 - 9:00 pm in Nancy's Craft Room in Scottsdale

Before I get to my personal news, here's a few reminders about Stampin' Up!:

• Retiring Products are still available to order through 11:59 pm on Thursday, May 31.  
• The 2018-19 Annual Catalog goes live on Friday, June 1, no later than noon, MT. You can place your orders at my online store.
• Don't forget - the Paper Pumpkin kit will coordinate with a suite debuting in the new catalog...get your order in by June 10!

I'm both excited and sad to announce that I will be moving to Melbourne, Australia later this year, probably by the end of August.  My husband has accepted a position on the faculty of the Melbourne Business School, which is affiliated with the University of Melbourne.  

I'm excited because it is an amazing city, with a very vibrant arts community and many interesting things to do.  I'm sad, because I will be leaving many wonderful friends and customers behind.  

Some of you have known this was a possibility/probability for a while now.  Since it only became a definite thing once our immigration visas were granted earlier this week, I haven't posted it in writing on my blog or social media.

While my plan is to continue to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, company rules mean that I will have to resign my U.S. demonstratorship and re-join as an Australian one.  I fully intend to keep blogging, with both card- and Australia-related posts, so I hope you'll keep following along. I'll also keep my email address and Facebook accounts, so you might not even notice that I'm on the other side of the world, LOL!

If you'd like to learn more about Melbourne, click here to read a great article.
If you're not sure where Melbourne is located, here's a map:

Since I've know this was a probability for about 6 months now, I've been working with a member of my team, Nickie Liddy, to step up and become your go-to person.  She's already been team-teaching classes with me, and we're working together to get her all set to handle your orders and questions.  Look for more info about Nickie and how to contact her in the coming weeks.

I've had a few people join my team in the last few months...but instead of leaving them "orphaned" when I move, I had them join under Nickie.  I still consider them part of my team until I'm gone, and work with Nickie to support them fully.  Need more info?  Just let me know.

Since I am moving to the other side of the world,
I've dug even deeper than usual into my crafting stash for my
Rubber Rummage Sale on Saturday!  
Stop by between 8 am - 1 pm to get at least 50% off SU! catalog prices.
12083 E Wethersfield Dr, Scottsdale

Not in town but looking for some treasures?
Send me your shopping list
 I'll let you know what I've got and give you a shipping quote.

Yes, today is the 5th anniversary of my blog.  To celebrate, I've got pictures of my recent visit to Stampin' Up!'s manufacturing facility in Kanab, UT.  Also, there's some blog candy at the end of this post.

This rock sign is almost identical to the one found at the Home Office in Riverton, UT.  Unlike the time I visited there, I was alone at the Kanab facility (my family declined to accompany me) so I don't have a picture of me with the rock.  

The front of the facility is quite inviting...very mountain-lodge feeling.  There is a 30th anniversary flag flying, as well as decals on the doors.  I'd love to get my hands on those flower decals!

The reception area has a lot of samples made from Stampin' Up! products...though they are all several years old, LOL!

Unfortunately, I can't show you any pictures of the manufacturing sections of the facility...I wasn't allowed to take pictures there.  I did see the rubber "burning" process, where the rubber sheets are matched with the molds and heated in an oven/press to make 4 sets of stamps. The large sheets of rubber are then cut into rectangles, and then each set is die-cut.  The off-cuts of rubber are collected and shredded.  Look below to see how those shreds are used!  

I also saw the process for making the photopolymer stamps.  The stamp molds are a very large plastic sheet (maybe 5' x 3.5' to make 6-8 sets at a time?) laid on a table.  An arm sweeps over it to fill it with photopolymer "goo" (really - the technical term my guide used), then a mask is laid over it, and then a lid is closed and light is shined onto the goo.  Think a tanning bed for stamps!  Then they get washed in a separate machine, and more light curing before being cut.  

The day I was visiting there were 2 women working in the ink department filling ink bottles.  I had always envisioned a long, mechanized assembly line with hundreds of bottles of ink running through at a time.  In reality, there is a nice bit of automated machinery for filling a precise amount of ink, and for putting labels on, but bottles are hand-placed into the machines 2 at a time, and the nozzles and caps are put on by hand.  As it happened, ink pads weren't being worked on while I was there.

I did get to see some cardstock being cut on a huge, machine-powered (but human-aligned) paper cutter...all of us would love to have that machine for class prep!  I also saw the automated paper counting/stacking line that makes our paper packs in operation.  

As I love both Stampin' Up! and industrial tours of all kinds this was right up my alley!  I really enjoyed getting to meet several of the people who make our products, and to see the processes.  If you're ever passing through southern Utah I encourage you to stop in and see if you can get a tour!  

Comment on today's post no later than Wednesday, May 23 and be entered in a drawing for a mystery box of retired goodies!  Stamps, ribbon, embellishments, Designer Series Paper...who knows what assortment of stamping yumminess will show up?

Saturday, June 2
8:00 am - 1:00 pm
Nancy's Craft Room in Scottsdale

Stamps, dies, ribbon, embellishments, cardstock, Designer Series Paper, ink pads/refills/markers and more!  Shop early for best selection.  Cash and credit card/debit cards only.