Remember me?……

Yeah just when you were wondering where I had gotten myself off to, here I pop up again. I would like to call it popping up for air, cuz that just about sums up how I am feeling right about now! LOL

I have hit the ground running this week, completely not literally ( I only wish) but have had all sorts of events, like doctors appointments, tests, birthday lunches, and unpacking etc…. It has been good and bad. I had some lovely birthday suprises, which of course made me feel so very loved, and I had some bad news about my ankle, which wasn’t so pleasant. It seems that I have Fractured my heel, and torn a ligament that decided to take some bone with it, along with other injured ligaments as well. They have had to refer me to a Orthopedic Surgeon to see if I need surgery to re-attach the ligament, as well as to get it casted. The earliest appointment I could get was for Tuesday, so I am being taught the art of patience! By the time I see the Surgeon, it will be a 3 week old injury too, so it will be interesting to see what they can do with it etc. I am just hoping that it will heal nice and quickly and I can be back on my feet asap!

With all this going on, i have had very little energy to stamp, or even think about stamping, which is really sad. With taking time to rest, it has also allowed me to catch my breath a little, as life has been very busy of late. It has also given me time to reflect and meditate on the things that are important to me, and about the things that I realise are not so important etc…. I hope to make a few changes with my website soon, which I think will be a great step in the right direction, but more on that later!

You will also notice there was no new challenge up on Friday. We have taken a weeks break, so that I can recover, and also prepare for the new Design Team member etc. It is always nice to have a break now and then and I am sure the DT have enjoyed it too.  We still have lots in store, SO do be prepared for lots of upcoming fun this September!

I have now seen all the amazing creations for the fun Sketch challenge from this week, and wow there are some amazing creations as you will see in the Slide show. Once again it was hard to pick a winner, but I was really amazing by this creation from Susannah Iredale.

I just love this different colour combo, and how Susannah has used the crimper to dress up the strip, as well as all those gorgeous pearls! Fabulous creation Susannah!!!

 For the Honourable Mention, I picked this card by the talented Shelley Starkis. I think this is so very clever, and love the simplistic look Shelley created. I am sure it was work, but don’t those works in the circle work beautifully as well! So very elegant.

So here is the Slide show, enjoy!

I promise to be back with more Incentive Trip news asap, as well as I am very much look forward to sharing with you some of the amazing birthday cards I recieved as well~

Have a great night,

All my love,

Keesh x

I have so much to tell you about the amazing Incentive Trip I have just been on with my hubby Rod and other recipients from Stampin’Up! OH LA LA, where to begin??? I think it will be best to break it down into a post for each day, as it is going to take me a few hours to get it all out there. And I am sure you don’t want to miss out on details, so expect each post to be LONG! LOL!

So here we are setting out for day one. Us Perthians, have the furthest to travel to Noosa, so our trip began with the midnight flight to Sydney. We then had a 5 hour layover in Sydney so we enjoyed some breakfast there.  I was surprised that the time went by quickly enough. It was great to greet the Sydney Demonstrators when they arrived ready to catch the next flight.

We then took a flight to Maroochydoore which is in the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, and then was transported by a bus to the Sheraton Hotel in Noosa. We were wonderfully greeted by Shelli and Sterling, and the wonderful Stampin’Up IT co-ordinators, Janiel and Angie with some tropical coconut punch drinks. I was on my crutches, and Shelli was telling me I seriously needed to get a wheelchair! ~ Just like Stampin’Up, they managed to find one somewhere within 3 hours for me! Like I said earlier, a wheelchair is not how i planned to be moving around on the Incentive trip, but hey, it really was the best for me, so I am very grateful indeed!

Rod and I headed up to our hotel room, and actually took a nap as we were sooooooexhausted! AARRRGGGHHH….. a king size bed, total bliss! After some needed rest we went off to catch up with my dear friend Yvonne Campbell and hubby Martin from Melbourne! Yvonne has become a very dear friend and we love to chat on the phone. Since we don’t get to see each other often, we couldn’t wait to catch up. We got to their room, and was blown away by the view from their balcony! From ours you could only see a carpark, but get a load of this amazing view!

This is the pool area and in the far distance you can see the ocean. That is a swim up bar in the building partial in the pool area.

We had some photos together on the balcony too, along with a lovely glass of wine.

Yvonne is on the left.

I was also spoilt with this gorgeous gift from Yvonne, which was so very sweet of her! Sweet being the operative word…..LOL!

Next on the agenda was the Welcome dinner, which was to be held in the Ballroom. We had delicious hor devours  and then went into the main room for dinner! Oh the room was so beautifully decorated! We had table placements and at each ladies spot was a beautiful Gerbra flower, here is mine:

And the the food was AMAZING!!! The tables were so beautifully decorated and had these stunning flowers in the centre of the tables:

We had the wonderful company of Linda Higgins, Georgina Martin, Steph and Neil Pike (my dear friend from Brissy) and Nicki and Dave Tidbold.

The lovely Linda Higgins, and Georgina Martin.

Stephanie and Neil Pike (love this couple!)

Unfortunately I didn’t capture a photo of Nicki and Dave from our table That was such a shame!

And then there is Rod and I as well

Then it was time for dessert…….and wow what a fabulous spread that was!!!

DELICIOUS!!!!

It was so lovely to see some familiar faces, and to also see the husbands as well. We all had a lovely time together after the dinner. When we went back to our rooms that night, in true Stampin’Up tradition, we had a pillow gift on our beds……wait till you see what it was! (we apparently needed these for the next mornings event!)

An adorable apron with wee lil cherrys all over it, and a chef’s hat. You know I have wanted one of those all my life, so I was beyond delighted to get that one, and with Stampin’Up buttons attached, it was sooooo exciting! We also received a beautiful hand stamped card from Shelli herself, with a personal message as well. Here is the card:

My message said:

” Dear Makeesha, Congratulations on making the Incentive trip, and thank you for being a part of the Stampin’Up Family. I hope you have a wonderful holiday even if it is on crutches Love Shelli x”

That was such a special touch, and I will definitely cherish it for a long time to come!

So there you have the Day 1 round up from Incentive Trip……sound good? Trust me, it even gets better! I look forward to telling you more of our adventures.

Have a great night!

 Hi there!

Oh it feels so good to be back at home and once again in my little nook, yabbering onto all my friends in Cyberland! I know you are all anxious to see all the fun photos from the Incentive trip, and yes I am working on that post right now for you!

The past 24 hours have been a bit of a whirlwind……yesterday was my BIRTHDAY….yup, 29 again! No actually the big 32 for me. It is amazing how you dread turning thirty and before you know it, two years have passed! And we also travelled home from the Incentive trip (great way to spend you b’day in airports….:(  ) It was a long way home, and being transported from one wheelchair to the next was a bit tiring. Nothing beats coming home to your own bed though, and I have a very deep sleep!!!

I have so much to catch up on, some more unpacking, emails galore, and yet I still have to rest my ankle as well. I went back to the doctors today to get it looked at again, and now I have to go for an ultrasound and another x-ray, to get it further investigated. I still can’t weight bare on it yet, and so we need to see how much ligament damage I have actualy done. I tell ya spending the Incentive Trip in a wheelchair wasn’t what I planned, but it really did help me to totally rest it which is good. Rod and my friends did a fabulous job of wheeling me around! I have it all on Thursday so I will keep you posted on that one. But I thought I would show you a quick pic of what my foot was looking like from the wheelchair (hope you aren’t too grossed out!!!)

I hope that hasn’t freaked you out!

Coming home has been great to see the kids again! They get more adorable each trip we take…..LOL! They all did so well without us, and enjoyed the places that they stayed which is always encouraging.

Anyway I just wanted to pop in and firstly say HI, and thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes you have sent. I am off to work on those Incentive Trip posts for you all!

Have a goodie! 

 Greetings from Noosa!!!

I am having the absolute best time here at the Stampin’Up’s Incentive Trip! We are once again getting spoilt rotten, and having a blast!!!! It is just so wonderful to catch up with my stamping friends and to spend time with Rod as well. I have so many fabulous photos to share along with plenty of fun stories to tell as well. I brought the laptop with intentions of giving you a daily update but we have been go, go, going every minute, and haven’t had the chance. Hopefully tonight I will get a chance.

But it is that time of week again for the newest challenge. It is great to see so many of you work with the Inspiration challenge as I thought you may find that one a bit tricky! I am yet to view them all, and will, definitely finish that when I get home, so will announce the winner on Monday for you!

Here is this weeks sketch to work with. I don’t have a sample for you right now But promise to do one for you as soon as I get home! Normally I would have pre-prepared one for just now, but with my ankle injury, I just couldn’t manage to stamp at all. It has been difficult to cope with at times, but it certainly has slowed me down and now and then that is nice too! I have been seeing all the sights of Noosa in a wheelchair that SU kindly arranged for me! Certainly different being an invalid, and gives you a new perspective for those that deal with that on a daily basis for sure! Very humbling indeed!

On another note, I know that wont stop you, as the Design Team girls will have a wondeful array of Inspiration for you I am sure! So go check theirs out, be inspired and get ready to play along!

So here is your sketch for this week:

 Please visit the Design Team, and be sure to give them some Comment Love!

Cindy

Kirsty

Amy

Renee

Debbie - Guest designer

Want to play along? - here are some guidelines.

If you would like to play along, all you need to do is follow the directions:

1. Make your creation following the challenge ie, sketch, colour, or inspiration image.

2. Load your creation up onto your blog or a public viewing forum like Splitcoast Stampers, with a direct link back to the post on this website, so that others viewing the post will know where the challenge has come from, and it is courtesy to do so.

3. Then come back to this post so that you can add your name and link in the Mr. Linky!

You have until the Thursday the 27th August midnight to get your entries linked.

I will be annoucing the winner and honourable mention on Friday the 28th August

I hope you are all well, and I will be back shortly to fill you in on all the Incentive Trip adventures!!!

With everything that has happened this week, i had two happy days with Happy mail…….certainly helps to cheer one up!

First I received the Incentive trip tickets, agenda, and tags etc….. Stampin’Up really know how to spoil their Demonstrators, so I am sure we will all be in for a real treat. It certainly will be a different kind of trip, now that I have my injured ankle! I think I will be spending more time by the pool this year! LOL! But on an up note, my Credit card won’t be getting a bashing as I defintely won’t be perusing the shops

It is getting pretty exciting to know we are taking off in 2 days time! Hopefully i manage to get the kids and myself sorted before we take off (that includes making 35 swap cards, and having a class!) Oh and fitting in a shopping trip as well. I really need summer clothes and since it is meant to be warm there, I thought I better get at least a few things to wear. I have booked a wheelchair for tomorrow at my favourite shopping centre (yes hideous I know) and I will have my gorgeous friend Louise, to wheel me around, like a true invalid that I am! I hope I don’t have to buy pants because I just don’t know how I will work that one! Might have to get Lou to help there, and I am sure two women going into the change rooms together, just won’t look right! Wish me luck on that one!

Then the other delightful mail I recieved was this gorgeous parcel from the super talented Kim Badelt! Kim was our wonderful Guest Designer for June, and she certainly spoilt me! This is what Kim made and sent to me:

Oh Kim knows me well, as this is my all time fave colour combo!!! Isn’t it all just beautiful! I received a post it note holder, and gorgeous gift wallet that had chocolates in there, and that amazing card as well! Thank you so very much Kim, it arrived just at the right time and definitely put a smile on my face for sure!

So that is about all for now. I do have another post to share tomorrow before we are all packed up and ready for Incentive trip.

Have a great nite!