Stampin' Up! Punch Art Fun

Cor check out the weather in the UK yesterday, wet doesn't quite hit the mark! At one point we couldn't even see through the rain to the middle of our garden. I should have had a stall at Zac's pre-school in the afternoon selling handmade gifts but the fair had to be cancelled due to flooding etc. Such a shame, I hope we get to re-schedule it before the school year ends. So, in preparation I'd made quite a few Stampin' Up! punch art bookmarks and thought I'd share them with you today.

Firstly cheesburgers and fries - had so much fun making these. I've mainly used the Large Oval Punch and made use of the Postage Punch which was in the Spring Mini. Always worth hanging on to these things in my opinion!

Next some ice cream cones, I hope so much both the Cupcake Builder Punch and the 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punches make a return in our next main catalogue.

For Thomas the Tank Engine fans, my take on Thomas himself. Blake wanted to keep all of these for himself.

And to distract him I made some of Thomas' friend James:

To finish with some bears which I have made before:

Looking forward to my Crafternoon Tea class tomorrow now. I do have two kits spare so if you would like to join us and can pay me £10 tomorrow, please drop me an email at bluejellystampin@sky.com

Hugs

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Stampin' Up! Vienna Incentive Trip Swap Time

After a fab night at the Gala Dinner, Saturday came round very quickly. All the achieving demos were to meet at 10 in the hospitality suite to do some hardcore swapping. Ahem, there may have been a 'few' delays at breakfast for a certain table of 6 hidden away in a corner which made myself and Natalie late and when we walked into the room, everyone was standing around in a circle waiting for us. *Blushes*! So, this is what swapping is all about:

Everyone poised and ready with their swaps, taking it in turn to them walk around the group and handing out each others swaps. Of course there was much excitement to be had too - oh and yet another chance to spin that wheel - go Natalie!

I just had to borrow this photo from Monica's blog as it shows me handing out my swaps with Shelli and Jenni wondering what I've just given them!

And here are the beautiful swaps themselves. Left to right, a gorgeous necklace from Steffi, a pretty decorated tub and bracelet from Jenni which you can see spells out inspire, create, share and my ring box.

Next a tea coaster from Monica (it's a no sew project!), a scented bag from Jules and a cute chipboard book and pen from Kerry.

Here a cute gate fold card from Bekka, a post it holder and pen from Michelle (one day I will master those flowers!), a stacker box with chocolate in from Ilonka and a lip balm holder from Jeanette.

I love journals so was thrilled to get these from Moira, Valerie, Dorothee and Doris. The second photo shows them opened up.

More beautiful swaps with hidden surprises from Zoë, Vanou and Silvia. Zoë made everyone Vienna decorations from air dried clay, Vanou made personalised photo albums for each demo and Silvia made this sweet clutch. Sylvia doesn't have a blog so no link here.

A gorgeous decorated notepad from Natalie, sweet painted card from Jo, a cookie bag from Paula and a fab journal from Hayley. The plan was a page for each demo to write a message to each other but we ran out of time - such a shame. Below two 6"x6" layouts from Shelli.

Below is a folder made from envelopes with note cards in from Amanda, a sweet chocolate holder from Axel's wife Sabrina I think and a fold out desk top notebook and calendar from Nicole.

Finally more boxes with treats inside! A fold out survival kit from Ute, some scrummy chocolate from Irene and more yummy chocolates from Daniela.

What a talented bunch of ladies! I feel honoured to receive each and everyone of these swaps.

Must go now, I'm home alone with Commander Chaos and it's gone quiet downstairs which is never a good thing. It's also Major Mayhem's sports day at nursery today - hope he manages to stay upright!

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Stampin' Up! Jelly's Adventures in Vienna - Gala Night

Wow - what can I tell you about Gala night? It was incredible, awesome, breathtaking...I have so many photos to show you of this amazing night so please stay a while and enjoy. If you want to see larger version of the photos, just click on them. Our itinerary said to meet in the hotel lobby at 6.30 in cocktail dress where we were to be collected and taken to the Vienna Museum of Fine Arts. Can you believe our transport?

Fifteen horse drawn carriages to take us through the streets of Vienna to our destination. Myself and Tracy shared a carriage with Dave Baum and his wife Jen. Isn't the museum beautiful? It houses paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Dürer, Raphael, Titian and Velazquez, as well as the most comprehensive collection of Bruegel's paintings in the world. It was number one on my list of things to see in Vienna as I studied many of these artists including Gustav Klimt at college and university too.

It was lovely to see the carriage being drawn behind us and then the one in front as it arrived at the museum.

Here is the outside of the museum. It was closed to the public and on the ground floor there was a string trio as well as lots of lovely mocktails and canopies being served for us. On the right you can see me and my Stampin' up! Great Gran (even though she's younger than me) Natalie.

 It was amazing to see everyone so dressed up in beautiful outfits. Below I managed to get Mon, Bekka and Zoe having a natter and a posed pic of us together too. Top right a photo of the UK achievers but oh wait, who's missing??? Is Monica!!! She made it for the next photo!

This next photo shows all the achievers from the UK, France and Germany. What an amazing bunch. I felt so lucky to get to spend time with these amazing women.

Then we were called upstairs by our Master of Ceremonies:

Wow the table settings were gorgeous. The beautiful white framed chalk board - and we got to keep them! The menu was mouthwatering and the food delicious too. Lovely pic below of Bekka and Tracy.

Look how they'd created a restaurant for us in the gallery area (thanks for the photo Monica)

I loved this statue and what a beautiful photo of Shelli.

My place setting not only had a hand crafted menu but a gift too, a signed CD of the Vienna Boys Choir. Any guesses what our next special treat was? A twenty minute performance from the boys themselves - I got goosebumps and shed a tear too, it was wonderful.

Love this photo of Monica and Pete, such a lovely couple to spend time with. As you may know, I have a bit of a thing for shoes so the photo below shows you Bekka's, Jules' and my own footwear for the evening! Cor - look at that starter, yummy!

Poor Bekka had the sun in her eyes for the first part of the evening so I lent her my fan to grab some shade. Got to love Monica for letting me post this photo of her. She stood up after the meal and the chain strap of her purse had caught on her skirt. I think it's better than walking out of the ladies with loo roll hanging out of your skirt though!

Finally back to the hotel and after a few nightcaps up to the room. A fabulous pillow gift awaited me and here are some cards I made with the stamp set when I got home:

Phew - lots of photos there. I still have more to come, but please pop back tomorrow as I will have photos of all the swaps I received - yum!

Hugs

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Stampin' Up! Jelly's Adventures in Vienna - Day 3 Part 1

Wow day three - what a day to remember and save for the rest of my life! So much so that I'm going to have to blog it in two parts. Sadly my roomie Tracy wasn't feeling up to venturing out during the day so I tagged along with some of the other UK demos and their guests.

Firstly we explored a few of the shops in the immediate vicinity of our hotel. Top left, myself with the smashing Jo posing outside a VERY expensive shoe shop (sighs). The next shop sign made me giggle, not spelt the same way as my Zac but had to snap it anyhoo. Then a view of the main shopping area and Jules and Zoe chatting with Jules' hubby Robin in the background.

Next a group shot: Julie, Pete, Natalie, Zoe, Monica and Robin. I honestly have no idea where Jules disappeared to here! Although I was tempted by the yummy looking cakes in this shop, I held back. And good job too because after a spot of sightseeing and a lot of getting lost whilst the others went off on their segways, myself and the fabby Zoe found Zanoni and Zanoni - an ice cream shop that had been recommended by family Tant! Bonus when you find something you weren't actually looking for. In fact we were looking for sparkly hair clips which we did find and ended up with some hair too. More about that later!

Some of the buildings in Vienna are just out of this world, I spent most of my time walking looking up instead of where I was going. Luckily for me, Zoe was looking ahead. Below is the incredible Gothic St Stephen's Cathedral. Oh and in the centre Pete and Robin. Weren't they lucky to get to accompany 6 ladies viewing the shops? On the right the beautiful Secession Art Nouveau Gallery.

Now isn't it funny that no matter where you end up on your travels you always manage to find something so familiar?

Whilst Zoe got her camera at the ready after having double dared me to leap into the back of the oh so familiar UPS truck, I risked life and limb to cross the road and attempt my dare. I failed - not one but three Mr UPS men unloading and not a single Stampin' Up! parcel in the van. Gutted! Still I managed to pose for a quick pic.

I soon cheered up when we stumbled across aforementioned ice cream lushness of Zanoni and Zanoni:

Zoe had a chocolate, vanilla and strawberry cup whilst I went all out with a Cherry Brandy Sundae. I may not have been able to walk straight afterwards but hey it was worth it!

After exploring Vienna some more I decided we were in fact lost. Zoe was not of the same opinion and told me she knew exactly where we were (yeah righto Mrs Wonka!). About 2 hours later my confidence in her navigation skills started to fade and I worried I wouldn't get back to the hotel to shower and change and generally tart self up for evening ahead. Even more so when we asked some locals how to get back to the Grand Hotel Wien and they could not answer! Our 5th victim / advisor finally suggested we get in a taxi. We were only 3km from the hotel.........my advice folks - carry a map at all times!

Next, back to the hotel for more spin the wheel and a sugar fix in the hospitality room. I didn't take a photo in here for some reason so have pinched these from Mon's blog!

Back tomorrow with photos from the Gala night.

Hugs

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Stampin' Up! Jelly's Adventure's in Vienna Day 2

After my daft post yesterday, I'm going to share day two of Jelly's wild tour of Vienna! So many photos to share so I have condensed them a bit for you. Grab a cuppa and the obligatory chocolate and take the weight off your paws for a while.

Firstly we stopped off at the Grand Cafe in the hotel for a delicious breakfast and then we were collected by coach to go an a guided tour of the Schönbrunn Palace. We were not permitted to take photos inside so here are some of the outside:

Our tour guide Elizabeth was superb, as well as being so knowledgeable and passionate she was also incredibly funny. Below you can see us all enjoying the tour. The monkey snuggling between me and Amanda and me and Zoë is Fr'o'nk Manoo the UK mascot.

Following the fabulous tour we were led on a walk to another part of the palace to a special surprise, an apple strudel making class! Here you can see Fr'o'nk having a bash, Mon eyeing up the canopies (and my word they were scrummy), Mon and Jules showing us all how it's done and myself, Bekka and Zoë popping our finished strudels in the basket ready to be baked.

Of course it wasn't so easy to make - for some more than others. Yep, Jelly made such a mess (my friend Fluffy would have been on the floor crying at me at this point). Top left strudels in order....Tracy, erm mine, Dave, Frank, Steffi. How did mine go so wrong? At least there is a good photo of me showing the chef how it's done - ahem!

Michelle looks like she's having waaay too much fun doesn't she? Below are Hayley, Nat, Kerry. Zoë, Shelli and Sterling.

Here I am before it all went horribly wrong and my fist went straight through - there was no coming back from that. Whilst are strudels went off to be baked we got a tour of the beautiful gardens. Fab shot of George Clueknee with Zoë and Mr and Mrs Monica with Fr'o'nk.

The rose garden was beautiful and I love this photo. Left to right; Kerry, Amanda, Paula, me, Zoë and Mon.

Then it was off to cafe to collect our baked goods. The smell was yummy. the strudels had all been cut up (that's my excuse for the fact mine looks like an accident waiting to happen). Then back to the hotel to the hospitality suite again.

Had to include this shot of Zoë in the hotel gardens too - classy bird isn't she? Now I mentioned spin the wheel before and we are so lucky to have got to spin the wheel for Stampin' Up! goodies each day, now as an incentive trip achiever newbie it seemed more than once I was the victim of the well travelled and repeat achievers pranks. This was my favourite though. I went to spin the wheel and Monica said I needed to get the pin to stop on brown flowers to win two prizes. I admit whole hearted that I attempted to cheat not once but twice but was spotted by Kelliesue. So on my actual attempt, I failed to hit the brown flowers triangle. Everyone laughed at me as you won both prizes whatever you landed on. I'll remember that ladies!

After a busy day, Tracy was in a lot of pain and needed to rest so I met with some of the others and went to a restaurant recommended by Elizabeth and it was great fun with great food too. Let's see if I can get this right: Paul, Dave, Jen, Martin, me, Julie, Natalie, Julie, Zoë, Monica, Pete, Paula, Paul.

 Bottom pics: Jules, Brian, Bekka, Kerry, Jason, Simon, Michelle, Joe, Amanda, Robin. Phew. Then it was back to the hotel for a few nightcaps and then bed for a very sleepy Jelly. How nice to find this pillow gift when I got back to my room:

 Actually this one isn't mine as I may have been a bit too wobbly to take a photo so for a change I grabbed this pic off Jo's blog!

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