Celebrating Stampin' Up! OnStage@Home

 These past few days I have enjoyed spending time with fellow demonstrators around the globe virtually, with Stampin' Up!'s annual OnStage event.

You may have noticed this little badge that I had on my page...

 This is usually a large, "in person" gathering (like a convention or similar) that is held in several locations around the globe, to celebrate the past year together. We also get to look ahead and preview some of the new products that will be coming in the next catalogue.

With everything that has happened this year, the event was held online with some pre-recorded, and some live virtual presentations.

It was still so much fun! I spent yesterday with one of my team, and we watched the sessions together, and crafted together.

We celebrated our achievements, and planned for things ahead.

Here are some of the cards we made as part of yesterdays "Stamp & Share Experience". We had been given the option of pre purchasing some new products to use, or we could choose existing products from out stash. We were then given instructions of what to cut & have prepared.

Here are my cards....

It was great to see how different everyone's cards turned out! 

Now I have plenty of inspiration to get some new ideas happening....

Stay tuned!

Lots of Happy for a Sad Occasion

My family has had some bad news this week with my Aunt losing her 5 year battle with "Multiple Myeloma" which is a type of blood cancer.
Mum's family immigrated to Australia when my Mum was young, and the family has stayed close, with regular "Family Days" and get thogethers for weddings, birthdays, and more as we were growing up. My older sister and I are the oldest of the cousins, and got to spend time at different Aunties houses through many school holidays. Still now, with the cousins being adults and spread all over the world, those of us close enough in distance still get together when we can.
This particular Aunt was my Mum's youngest sister, and the usually the one who invited the whole extended family around.
Making a sympathy or "bad news" card of any kind is not my favourite reason or need for a card, but of course, making any card brings happiness to my heart, and in turn I hope, some happiness to the receiver.
In the process of finding suitable inspiration, I came across a refill pack I bought last year for the Lots of Happy card kit (unfortunately refills are no longer available, but the kit still is).

I have had the kit before and made all cards as per the instructions (as pictured above), so this time I thought I'd play around with it a little more & use some different sentiments.

The following cards came together first; everything is still from the kit, however I have used the Parcels & Petals Cling Stamp Set for the sentiments.

This got my creative juices flowing and paved the way to making this card for my Uncle, this time with additions from the Well Said Cling Stamp Set and Well Written Dies.

The Funeral was yesterday which was a gorgeous sunny day to farewell and celebrate her and her beautiful life. It was lovely to see extended family and share our memories together.
It was also comforting that we as cousins have resolved to continue the "Family Days" in the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas (or now with the Aussie "St Nicks" Day) at the beginning of December each year.

Thanks for taking time to stop by
Natasha

WELCOME - A Bit About Me

Well, where do I start?!

I have ALWAYS had a love of stationery, paper, crafting and making.
If you'd like to find out a little bit more about my story, you can find it in the "About Me" page of this blog.

I hope I can inspire you and share my love of making cards for those around you.

If you'd like to Join Me and be a part of my Paper Hugs team and the greater Stampin' Up!® family, we would LOVE to have you! See my Join My Team page.

You can find PDF copies of all current catalogues down the right side of the page.

And of course you can SHOP with me anytime! Make sure you look for the current Host Code to use in your order!

December Host Code: E44EKNCC
Use this on any order for a small gift from me

Thanks for stopping my, and hope to share with you again soon.

Natasha Bagge,
Independent Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator, Australia