confessions of a craftaholic

Sale-a-bration is here!!

2012-01-24T07:16:00.000Z

Exciting news folks, sale-a-bration starts TODAY!!

For those of you who haven't heard of the promotion before, it means FREEBIES for EVERYONE. There is a selection of four stamp sets and a beautiful pack of papers up for grab, for every £45 you spend you can claim a free set (spend £90 and claim 2 sets etc).

These are in addition to any hostess benefits that you might earn with your order. Host a workshop with sales of £300 and you'll qualify for an additional set - I've got a wishlist from the mini to purchase so that I can earn them all ;) If you'd like to take advantage of the wonderful offer, then please do contact me to place your order/book your workshop, I only have one date left in February! The projects below feature products from Sale-a-bration, and I'll be listing some bundle suggestions using them on my blog next week. A copy of the promotion leaflet is available to view online here. And here’s some eye candy featuring the SAB products.

Sorry for the lack of posts of late – my new job has started, which I’m spending lots of time travelling and adjusting to my new role and full-time work in general. Something’s had to give and for now blogging is it.

I’m aiming to post once a week from here on in, although I’ll be back at the weekend to showcase some projects using the fab SAB products which I made as samples for a recent training event – I cant get enough of the yummy papers!!

In answer to some of the emails I’ve had recently, yes, I am still an active demonstrator, so do feel free to contact me with your extensive wish lists and I’ll be happy to place your orders and run workshops for you. A class programme should follow later in the year when I’ve worked out how to balance it all!

Passionettes Spring Mini Blog Hop

2011-12-30T10:00:00.000Z

Morning All! and welcome to my stop on the Passionettes' Spring Mini blog hop. Hopefully you've arrived here from the lovely Debbie's blog. Today I've got a card which was actually made by my friend Sarah the other week when we had a playday. She was playing with some of the fabulous new goodies which had arrived that day whilst I was still trying to finish my Christmas projects - I WILL be more organised next year, so that I can play with new stuff in December too! Anyways, enough of the babble, here's the card she made using one of the fabby new sets which will be released on 4th January!!

Isn't it beautiful? It's intended for a Ruby wedding anniversary. I can't publish the name of the sets yet, but here are the details for the items I can publish. All supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated :

PAPER: Cherry Cobbler, Brushed Gold & Whisper White cardstock.

INK: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake & Cherry Cobbler ink and markers

STAMPS: New Mini Catalogue set and retired level 2 hostess set ‘Occasional Quotes’.

TOOLS: Timeless Type Junior Alphabet dies, Small Heart Punch & Corner Rounder Punch.

ACCESSORIES: Antique Brads, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Basic Pearls.

That's all I have for you for the moment, I might get another card photographed and uploaded today, but then I'm on with some samples for next month. In the meantime I'll leave you in Claire's capable hands - pop on over and see what she's been up to with some of the new goodies, and be sure to follow on the rest of the blog tour!

The 12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 5

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000Z

Well, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me, I’ve been on a training course for my new job all week this week, which means that the house is somewhat of a tip and needs some TLC. so, food shopping, tidying and cleaning are the order of the day, although I’m itching to get some inky time too – particularly as a big box of new goodies has arrived – wohooo, Merry Christmas to me . SO, here’s my card for today, a very simple card with minimal layers, featuring the majestic dasher. This was one of the cards I used for my recent Christmas club.

Dasher is stamped using Soft Suede ink onto Shimmer cardstock. I’ve used a red sharpie to colour in a Rhinestone and add it to the end of his nose. The sentiment, again stamped in Soft Suede, is from Season of Joy. I've layered the panel onto Soft Suede cardstock and the horizontal panel is a strip of DSP from the retired Christmas Cocoa DSP stack. I’ve finished the card with a Real Red satin ribbon. This is based on a design I found somewhere in blog land, but I’ve been searching and can’t find where I originally found it – don’t you hate it when that happens?

Right, the washing pile and Dyson are calling me, so I guess I’ll be seeing you soon!

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 4

2011-12-15T08:45:00.000Z

Morning Folks – welcome back! I’ve got another Christmas card today – this one was inspired by my treat pouch from my last class, and is a cute little Christmas Pudding.

The base card is a folded circle, with the base cut off to help the card stand up. I’ve then cut a circle from Chocolate Chip cardstock, embossed using the polka dot embossing folder and decorated with ‘icing’ which was a Whisper White circle cut using the scalloped circle die. The holly was made using the large oval punch and 3/4” circle punch. The sentiment, taken from Perfect Pairs, was stamped using Real Red ink onto Whisper White cardstock, punched using the small oval punch and then layered onto a small Real Red oval. I’ve got another card tomorrow – see you then!45

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 3

2011-12-14T08:45:00.000Z

Only 9 more days until Christmas Eve and 10 more sleeps until Santa! I’m back with one of my Christmas cards for this year, which features the sledging silhouette from Welcome Christmas in a side step scene.

I’ve used a colour scheme of Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper White. The background trees are from Lovely as a Tree and the sentiment from Curly Cute embossed using white embossing powder. I’ve finished the side panel with a few die cut snowflakes. That’s all for today, I’ve got another of this year’s Christmas cards for you tomorrow.

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 2

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000Z

Morning folks! I’m back with another Christmas themed project. Today I’ve got the gift boxes which I’ve made to hold some Hotel Chocolat chocolates – yum.

The box is another template by Lauren Meader, which perfectly holds one of the trays of 6 chocolates. I’ve used Real Red and Wild Wasabi cardstock to make the boxes and topped them with Holly Berry Bouquet DSP.

The tags have been embossed using the oval designer frames embossing folder. I’ve then stamped the pine cone image from the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set onto Very Vanilla cardstock, punched it out using the extra large oval punch and layered it inside the frame. The boxes are finished with a length of Real Red satin ribbon.

I’ve got a meal out tonight with a number of my downline – I’ll have to share the gifts which I’ve made for them later in the week (assuming I get them finished in time, as I’m on a training course for the rest of today!) I’ll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card or two.

12 Days ‘til Christmas – Day 1

2011-12-12T11:20:00.000Z

Morning all! Well here I am with the first of my projects for the 12 days ‘til Christmas. I’m not sure how we’ve got to the 12th December already, but I’ve been busy beavering away in my craft room trying to get everything ready for Christmas day. The present shopping was finished a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been in full swing making 100 cards, 20 gift boxes plus tags and wrapping paper. So I’ll start today with the projects we made in class a couple of weeks ago, featuring the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set. I wanted to demonstrate to the ladies that the set doesn’t just have to be used to create gift tags.

We used the Holly Berry Bouquet DSP and a colour palette of Real Red, Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip. The first project was a Christmas Pudding treat pouch.

It’s a simple 5-sided box inside made from Chocolate Chip cardstock and sandwiched between two puddings, which were circles cut from Chocolate Chip cardstock, embossed using the polka dot embossing folder and decorated with ‘icing’ which was cut using the scalloped circle die. The holly was made using the large oval punch and 3/4” circle punch. The sentiment, taken from Tags ‘til Christmas, was coloured using markers and stamped onto Whisper White cardstock. It was then layered on to a scalloped square punched from Holly Berry Bouquet DSP. The handle is a length of Real Red satin ribbon, secured with two mini brads.

The second project was a design I found whilst browsing google images, there are a number of variants out there, but I CASEd this one from Cindy Lawrence.

The card has a blushing bride base, with a Whisper White beard embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper EF. His moustache is made using two birds from the bird builder punch.

I used a side plate as a template for the curvature of his hat. I’ve added a line of dazzling diamonds around his hat using tombow. The holly was again created using the oval and 3/4” circle punches and I completed the design with the sentiment from Tags ‘til Christmas, stamped onto Real Red cardstock using Whisper White ink and punched out using the curly label punch. The nose is punched from blushing bride cardstock using the small oval punch and his eyes punched using the various small circle punches from Whisper White, Marina Mist and Basic Black.

The third project was borrowed from my lovely friend Val Moody. It’s a gift box made from Wild Wasabi cardstock using the petal cone die. Decorated with a belly band made from Chocolate Chip cardstock, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP and Real Red grosgrain ribbon. The tag from Tags ‘til Christmas was coloured using markers, stamped onto Whisper White cardstock and punched using the decorative label punch, then attached to the belly band using dimensionals.

The snowman ornament card was made using the snowman tag stamp, selectively coloured using markers and then layered in a treat cup. The branch is from Lovely as a Tree, and the sentiment from Season of Joy.

And finally the gift card holder, which is always a useful project to have on hand at this time of year! I CASEd this design by Heather Summers, and adjusted the measurements slightly for UK card stock, then adjusted the colour scheme.

Well, that was one mammoth post! I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos of the gift boxes which I’ve been making. Until then

Happy Birthday Pops!

2011-12-11T23:00:00.000Z

Evening All! Just popping by to share the cards and present packaging which I made for my Dad’s birthday, which he celebrated today. We’re just back from a family meal, and I’m hoping he’s opened it all by now, so I’ll be safe in showing it to you all. You might spot a couple of products in here that you’re not familiar with, but more about those later! First up, here’s his card from myself and Darren.

I’ve used the hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes from the 2011/12 IBC to create the decorated more mustard panel, along with a focal birthday sentiment from Delightful Dozen. I coloured the sentiment using Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pool Party and Pear Pizzazz markers, stamped onto Very Vanilla cardstock and layered onto a Pear Pizzazz oval.

I’ve used some soft suede taffeta ribbon and finally, layered it all onto some brand spanking new DSP, which will be available in the NEW MINI CATALOGUE, which launches on 4th January – be sure to contact me if you’d like a copy posting to you!

I made a coordinating gift card box using more mustard cardstock, pear pizzazz ribbon and DSP, and decorated it with the tag from Happiest Birthday Wishes. The box is a template by Lauren Meader, cut using my trusty CraftROBO, which has been taking a hammering this last week!

My brother texted me this morning to ask me to bring along a card from him too, so I popped back into the craft room and knocked this one up, using the Petite Pennants stamp set and co-ordinating punch and the Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set. I’ve used the Just Add Cake designer papers and used the colour scheme from those papers to create the card.

Happy Birthday Pops! I hope you liked your cards and pressies, only a few more years and I’ll have to make one covered in BIG numbers .

I’ll be starting my ‘12 Days to Christmas’ tomorrow – with a project a day up until the big day. Until then…

Long time no see…Tags ‘til Christmas

2011-11-26T11:00:00.000Z

Hey folks! sorry, I’ve been MIA a little again lately. Things have been somewhat hectic, and my energies have been focussed on getting ready for convention, and prepping my class for today. I’ll get some piccies of my card candy and swaps from convention over the weekend whilst I have some daylight. In the meantime i thought I'd better post something crafty, so I’m sharing some sneak peeks for class today, hopefully to whet the appetite of the class attendees! We’re using the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set along with the Holly Berry Bouquet papers.

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you what we made in full, and the tutorial will then be available in my sidebar. I’ve got some exciting new to come later this month, so stay tuned!!

Happy Saturday!

2011-11-12T08:00:00.000Z

hey folks, I know, twice in two days, you’ll soon be sick of the sight of me! As promised, I have piccies of another couple of cards from Christmas Club to show you, and I’m hoping for some decent daylight today to photograph the remaining 5, then I can post them tomorrow! Both cards feature the Contempo Christmas stamp set and the now retired Jolly Holiday designer papers in a reverse gatefold.

I’m planning a day in the craft room today, after painting the front door that is, and I’ll hopefully have my next class designed so I can give you some sneaky peeks before I disappear off to Paris for convention. The next class will be my last for this year, and is on Saturday 26th November from 1-4pm, when we’ll be making a couple of cards and some useful gift packaging! If you’d like to join us, be sure to email me to reserve your place – the link is in the sidebar.

Well, back to the painting and the ink, see you soon.

only me…..

2011-11-11T16:00:00.000Z

Hey folks, well I’ve finally escaped! that mountain of junk has been moved and sorted and I found the room hiding underneath it! I have a couple more bits to put away and then I’ll take some piccies to prove that I haven't just pushed it to one side of the room and ignored it.

In the meantime I’ve been a busy busy bee preparing swaps and card candy for THE event in the Stampin’ Up! year - convention, which is next week in Disneyland Paris!!!! this time next week we’ll be there, getting ready for the awards dinner. Miraculously I have finished my swaps and card candy, and my roommate gift is in hand, so I’m now feeling somewhat chilled, just wondering what I’ve forgotten to do!! I realised that I never shared any of the cards which we made in my recent ‘Christmas Club’ marathon. Over two days we made 50 cards each, 5 each of 10 designs. there were a minimum of 9 ladies on each day, which meant a heck of a lot of prep last month, believe me!! so here’s the first card, a simple design using Serene Snowflakes in a colour combination of Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Whisper White. the sentiment is heat embossed in white, and some of the snowflakes have been stamped in frost shimmer paint to add a glistening effect.

The second used the Season of Joy stamp set, with the now retired Jolly Holiday DSP in a twisted easel card – the poinsettia is stamped, cut out and used to create a latch for the easel.

And finally for today, a centre stair fold card in Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy featuring Winter Post, Lovely as a Tree and Heard From the Heart stamp sets.

Please excuse the lighting in the photos – would you believe that it’s practically twilight at 3pm now? I’m hoping to finish the design of my final class of the year tomorrow, which uses the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set, so sneak peeks should follow early next week. I’ll pop back tomorrow with more of the samples from Christmas Club.

Have a fantastic evening!

Buried Alive…

2011-10-28T12:45:00.000+01:00

Hello, hello lovely blog readers! long time no see… thank you to all of you who have emailed/texted to see if I’m ok, and in fact still alive. I finished work two weeks ago, and instead of having lots of time on my hands, I'm wondering when on earth i ever found time to go to work! I’ve started the mammoth task of ‘spring cleaning’ the house – which has included a massive sort out of all of the cupboards, cleaning the oven, defrosting the freezer and cleaning out all of the kitchen cupboards and appliances. Next on my list to tackle is my craft room, which at this moment in time resembles a complete hovel…..

my usually very tidy and organised room has turned into a complete bombsite, thanks to a number of back to back events, my week away in Canada and then my efforts being focussed elsewhere!

I’ve just finished prepping my all-day Christmas Club class for tomorrow, so my plan is to try and tidy up this disaster zone this afternoon, then take some photos of the completed projects which are amongst it, and get back on top of my blog updates has anyone got a rope the can lend me to tie around my waist before i venture in there??

I’ll try and get back later to share some sneak peeks of Christmas Club tomorrow, if you don't see me back here by 7pm, please send the search party around!

I’m not dead, just absent

2011-10-11T11:41:00.001+01:00

Hey folks! thought I'd better pop along and explain the reason for my silence, despite all of the yummy new products! I’m in Canada this week for work, and in the rush of preparing for my new catalogue launch last week, and packing, I completely forgot to take any pictures to upload this week. So never fear, I’ll return next Monday (once I know what day of the week I’m on!) with some piccies of projects using the fabulous new products in the new IBC. in the meantime, I must go and get some breakfast and then get to work!

See you soon

New Product Shares

2011-10-04T10:08:00.000+01:00

Papers

So, you've had a chance to look at the yummy new catalogue, and if you're like me - you want ALL of the fantastic new designer papers, but can't afford them all, so which do you choose? How about every single design?? For £32 (+£2 p&p) receive 180 sheets of 6"x6" designer papers from the new collections. The papers in this selection will include 2 pieces of every paper measuring 6"x6" from the following collections:

Mocha Morning (12 pieces)
Flirtatious (12 pieces)
First Edition (24 pieces)
Holly Berry Bouquet (12 pieces)
Paisley Petals (12 pieces)
Beau Chateau (12 pieces)
Beyond the Garden (12 pieces)
Domestic Goddess (12 pieces)
Frightful Sight (12 pieces)
Timeless Portrait (12 pieces)
Just add Cake (12 pieces)
Nursery Nest (12 pieces)
Big Top Birthday (12 pieces)
Well Worn (12 pieces)

If you wish to purchase 2 shares, then you will be sent whole 12x12 sheets of each paper. Please note: this share does NOT include the colour family DSP stacks.

New Product Shares - Ribbons

And now you've picked the papers, what about the accessories? We have a whopping 45 new ribbons in the new catalogue!

I'm offering 1m of EVERY NEW ribbon For £33 (+£1 p&p - free if you've had papers too) receive 45m of ribbons from the new collections (you can identify what's new by the 'n' in the catalogue).

The following are included:

5 metres ruffled ribbon

7 metres of 3/8" taffeta

2 metres of denim jean ribbon

4 metres of 1/4" grosgrain

2 metres of 1/8" taffeta

3 metres of seam binding

7 metres 1 1/4" striped grosgrain

1 metre chantilly crochet lace

1 metre Victoria crochet lace

10 metres of scallop dot

3 metres of 5/8" satin

To order Paper and/or ribbon shares you can email me, OR pay via paypal (the buttons are in the sidebar).

It’s Here!!

2011-10-01T08:00:00.000+01:00

Morning all! As you might have sensed from the title, I'm a little excited about our new arrival - the all NEW idea book and catalogue from Stampin' Up! packed full of new stamp sets, papers and accessories (sigh!). You can see it online here.

If you have yet to get your hands on a paper copy, then please feel free to email me and I can arrange to post one to you. Alternatively you can use the order buttons in the sidebar.

My launch event for the new book is this Saturday, 8th October from 10am-12pm and costs £3.50, which will include a copy of the new catalogue, 2 make and takes, a free prize draw, treasure hunt and light refreshments. There will of course also be the opportunity to see some of the new merchandise in the flesh.

I'm also offering a number of product shares to enable you to get your mitts on the fabulous new papers and ribbons, without the cost of purchasing them all.

Please note that the closing date for bookings for the second instalment of my Christmas Club is on Friday 21st October. Please email or phone me (07764815797) to reserve your space for any of the events.

I look forward to bringing you lots of exciting new products and samples soon.

Birthday Wishes…

2011-09-26T07:45:00.000+01:00

Morning! here’s my final post using lots of retiring products. I’ve got two cards for you today, the first uses the motorcycle, which those of you who struggle with masculine cards will be pleased to hear is staying (whoop) in the new book. I’ve covered a marina mist cardstock base with the classic stars jumbo wheel in marina mist ink. I’ve added a strip of Newsprint DSP (I don’t know what I'll do when we lose this one, it’s one of my all time favourites!) which has been edged using the spiral border punch. I’ve added layers of night of navy and basic black cardstock and the motorcycle is coloured with night of navy and marina mist markers. The sentiment is from the level 1 hostess set Afterthoughts inked using a night of navy marker. I’ve added an embellishment using the star punch and a brad from the hodgepodge hardware.

The second card features the funky four stamp set and play date papers. I’ve used the colour scheme in the papers to create my card – real red, so saffron, tempting turquoise, chocolate chip and old olive. The sentiment is from the level 2 hostess set something to celebrate.

That’s the end of my retiring products cards, I'll start with some sneak peeks from the new catalogue on Wednesday, and I’ll have some sneak peeks for Christmas Club later today.

Thanks Sew Much

2011-09-24T09:30:00.000+01:00

Howdy! It’s Saturday at last – I’m looking forward to a fairly chilled weekend, finishing off the odds and ends on the decorating, and hopefully playing with some of my new stash in preparation for my new catalogue launch event – more details on that one coming soon! In the meantime I’ve got a couple more cards featuring retiring products to share. the first one uses the Sew Lovely and the coordinating Sweet Stitches DSP.

I’ve created a stair fold card base using tempting turquoise DSP and stamped the cotton reel image over in the same coloured ink. The measuring tape is made from daffodil delight satin ribbon stamped with stazon. the end of the tape is made from some chocolate chip cardstock and an eyelet. The large button comes from the coordinating designer button pack. None of these items will be available in the NEW idea book and catalogue, so if you’d like to get your hands on them let me know ASAP! The card also features the tiny tags stamp set and jewellery tag punch, which are staying in the new catalogue .

Moving on to my second card today, it features more products from the mini catalogue – Baby Blossoms and Springtime Vintage DSP. The sentiment is from Occasional Greetings.

I’ve cut a freehand curved edge on the DSP and used it as a guideline for the flowers which are stamped in baja breeze, not quite navy, night of navy, pretty in pink, rose red, cherry cobbler, always artichoke and pear pizzazz. The sentiment was inked using baja breeze and pear pizzazz markers. I've added a length of ruffled baja breeze seam binding ribbon along the join between the cardstock and DSP.

That’s all for today, I have two more to show you on Monday, along with sneak peeks for the Christmas Club which starts next Saturday, 1st October. There are still a couple of spaces left, so if you’d like to join us then email me to book your place.

Because I Care…

2011-09-23T07:58:00.000+01:00

Morning All! I’m back with yet more cards featuring retiring projects – I know, it’s a famine and then a feast . This card is based on some designs that my fantastic downline Rebecca came up with for one of our team training sessions. The papers are from the Springtime Vintage collection and I’ve used the colours which are in them – pear pizzazz and baja breeze. The focal hydrangea image is from the beautiful level 1 hostess set Because I Care, which I believe is now no longer available in the wood mount option.

I’ve stamped the image on naturals ivory cardstock and used the Stampin’ Pastels to add colour. I’ve then stamped over the image using the French Foliage stamp set in river rock. the card base has been stamped using the hydrangea in versamark ink and then a ruffle of baja breeze seam binding and some pearls finish it off. I’ve just noticed there are only 2 pearls in the picture – one must have fallen off somewhere along the way as there were 3 previously! The sentiment is stamped in early espresso ink, and I’ve used the scallop trim border punch to add a decorative edge under the DSP.
My pre-order goodies have arrived, so I’m hoping I’ll get some time this weekend to make a few samples to whet your appetites next week in anticipation of the NEW catalogue launch. Don’t forget to get in touch if you’d like your personal copy posting out to you!

A Tree-mendous Birthday

2011-09-21T07:45:00.001+01:00

Hey folks! I’m back with another project featuring retiring products. Don’t worry – it’s not Lovely as a Tree that’s leaving us (thank goodness – I think this was the first SU set I ever bought, and I hope it never goes!). Instead I’m focussing again on the accessories which are retiring.

We have the Woodland Walk DSP, early espresso satin ribbon and a brad from the Hodgepodge Hardware set. The colours are garden green, early espresso and the cream cardstock is actually the naturals ivory cardstock, which is a fantastic weight for card bases. The tree was stamped in early espresso and then watercoloured using early espresso and garden green inks.

The sentiment is from Plane & Simple which will also be retiring on 30th September. I’ve stamped it onto naturals ivory using early espresso and punched using the word window, then layered onto a modern label punch in early espresso. I’ve again used the distressing kit and French Foliage on this card.

I can’t claim this one as an original idea though, my mojo left the building last week when I was in the thick of everything else, so I CASED this one from the fantastic Teneale Williams.
Well, that’s one thing off my to-do list this week anyway, as it’s Darren’s Dad’s birthday next week and he requested a card, voila – one masculine card at the ready! I’ll see you on Friday with another card featuring retiring products, until then I hope you find some inky time!

Last Chance Saloon…

2011-09-20T08:15:00.000+01:00

Morning folks – long time no see!

Sorry for the lack of posts of late, unfortunately I’ve not had much time for crafting as my energy has been focussed on finding a new job.

But, I’m back now and over the next few days I’ve got some projects from my stamp-a-stack retirement class last Saturday to share with you. The class featured products which were retiring to make way for all of the exciting stash coming in the NEW idea book and catalogue, which is released on 1st October (believe me it’s well worth the wait!! there is a link in the sidebar where you can purchase a copy now, and I’ll get it in the post to you).

Here’s the first card, which features probably my favourite paper from the current catalogue, Love Letter, it’s one that I’m going to miss. I’ve paired it with the Artistic Etchings and French Foliage stamp sets to create a vintage anniversary card. A simple colour combination of Riding Hood Red, Basic Black and Very Vanilla, aged using the distressing kit.

The sentiment is from the Level 2 hostess set Something to Celebrate and I’ve finished it with a length of the Basic Black wide striped grosgrain ribbon and a French filigree brad.

We made 6 more cards during the session, I’ll be back tomorrow with another. In the meantime I’ll be painting the front door step and 2 internal doors and trying to clean up the bombsite that is my craft room – I’ve pulled out all of my retiring goodies to make way for new stash, and they’re all over the floor!

A copy of the retiring list can be found here. If there’s something in particular that you’d like, be sure to contact me soon as many items have already sold out, including: Jolly Holiday DSP, Choo Choo & the Right on Track wheel, Antique Brass & Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Sense of time, Star Punch, Sanded, Spiral Border Punch, Forest Friends & Christmas Jingle simply scrappin’ kit.

See you soon

Going, Going, Gone

2011-09-08T12:27:00.001+01:00

Hi all sorry for the late postings. I’ve been on holiday for a few days – climbing mountains in gale force winds! Back to business now though and there’s quite a bit to share.

First and foremost the ‘last chance list’ - in order to make way for some of the lovely new goodies we need to retire some of the existing accessories and sets. You can see the most up to date version of the list here, please be advised that these items are available whilst stocks last, be sure to order your favourites soon! The last date which they will be available for purchase is 30th September, and all orders must be placed by 9pm. After this date they’ll be deleted from the system and will no longer be available to order.

The new catalogue launches on 1st October. There are over 45 new stamp sets available along with a fantastic new ribbon and paper selection. You can pre-order your new copy now for £4.50, which will be delivered to your home address by the launch date. Details of my catalogue launch event will follow shortly.

I'll be back over the weekend with some retiring list projects.

Happy Friday!!

2011-08-26T08:45:00.000+01:00

Morning all, well it’s the weekend at last. The week at work has dragged and yet the evenings seem to have flown by in a haze of paint – my walls are now a shade of crumb cake just the touch-ups and then the doors left to paint and we’re done – whoppeee! I can have some time back in my craft room then.

Not much inky going on around here this week – hence the lack of posts. However I have got my mini album from last week to show you. It’s a fold-out mini album as designed by the US demo Patty Bennett and I’ve used the Christmas Jingle scrap kit to decorate it.

If you’d like to have a go at making one, I have a few kits available. The kit contains everything you need to make and decorate the album and it would make a perfect gift for Christmas. The kits are £12 collected or £14 including P&P. you can purchase one using the buy it now button in the sidebar on the right.

I’ll be back early next week with another example of the album using the ‘One Great Year’ scrapping kit.

Have a great weekend!

Saturday at last – time to Welcome Christmas

2011-08-20T08:15:00.000+01:00

Morning all, boy am I glad last week is over – not that there is any rest for the wicked, as I have classes all day today! today we’re beginning our Christmas preparations, this morning I’ve got a mini-album class (photos of that to follow tomorrow) and this afternoon I have my usual card class based on the ‘Welcome Christmas’ stamp set. So, enough babble, here are the projects

I really enjoyed, playing with this stamp set, and have tonnes more ideas floating around in my head now, so I guess I need to get inky . For those of you unable to join us, the instructions will be up for sale in the sidebar later today. So in a little more detail:

We’ll be making twisted easel, centre stair and window cards, and a matching star-shaped box.

Right, I’d better go and get everything in the car and set off. Hope you have a relaxing day!

Almost the weekend–time for some peeks!!

2011-08-18T08:30:00.000+01:00

Morning all, and thank goodness it’s Thursday. This week really seems to be dragging, and I can be sure that the weekend will fly by! I was supposed to be here yesterday, but ‘stuff’ got in the way, so here I am this morning with sneak peaks for my class this Saturday.

We’re using the Welcome Christmas stamp set with a vintage colour combination of Soft Suede, Real Red and Always Artichoke. The kit list for attendees wishing to bring their own tools is here.

I'll be back on Saturday to reveal the projects in full, in the meantime I’ve got decorating to finish!

See you soon.

Death by DIY…

2011-08-15T07:50:00.000+01:00

Monday already?? but what happened to the weekend? and last week for that matter? I hope you all had a good week, unfortunately I barely made it out of our stairwell as I was painting all of the woodwork with 3 coats of satinwood - it looks ever so bright now though. I’m hoping we might actually finish in there at some point in the next couple of weeks!

Given the never-ending DIY and housework I’ve had very little inky time of late, but I thought I’d pop by and show you the card and gift box which I made for my downline Elaine, who celebrated her birthday on 31st July.

I used the ‘Because I Care’ level 1 hostess set with a colour combination of concord crush and pear pizzazz. The concord crush layer is stamped with the head of the hydrangea from the set using concord crush ink. The box is a modified version of Lauren Meader’s ‘Disc-covered’ template, the papers are from the level 1 hostess paper stack.

That’s all I’ve got to share for today – I have the sneak peeks of the projects for this weekend’s classes coming on Wednesday, and the reveal on Saturday. I’m hoping for a little more time in my craft room later this week so that I can start inking up some of my lesser used sets!

Until Wednesday….

A Gift for You…

2011-08-01T07:30:00.000+01:00

Morning All! just a quick post this morning to let you know the details of this month’s Stampin’ Up! promotion, where you can earn MORE FREE STUFF!

When you place a £75 order, or host a £250 workshop, you’ll also receive a free gift from Stampin’ Up!

Your gift includes a beautiful, exclusively-designed cosmetic bag, along with Rich Razzleberry 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, and a 24-piece Clip Assortment.

This offer is only available during the month of August, so contact me today to place your order or to book your Stampin’ Up! workshop!

I’ll be back later in the week with some crafting. Until then…

It’s so very nearly the weekend…

2011-07-29T07:30:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday all! It’s been a testing week to get through – work’s been very busy and we’re still trying to find time to finish off the mammoth project that is the redecoration of the landing, hallway and stairs at home. I’ve managed to find precisely zero time for crafting this week, so I'm desperately hoping I'll get an opportunity to do some this weekend!

In the meantime, here is the swap which I created for my last team training session – the theme was ‘the colour coach’ – we all randomly picked a colour combination and then had to create a shoebox swap sample based upon it. Mine was certainly celery, soft suede and pink pirouette.

I used the elegant bouquet embossing folder to add texture to the certainly celery layer, and created the flower using pink pirouette DSP from the subtles stack and the fun flowers die, following the tutorial created by the fabulous Sarah-Jane. The sentiment comes from the hostess set Afterthoughts, coloured using the soft suede marker.

Next up we have Bec’s sample, which uses pear pizzazz, rich razzleberry and tempting turquoise. She’s also used the vintage wallpaper embossing folder, pocket silhouettes and the little butterfly is from the flight of the butterfly stamp set.

And finally Elaine’s sample, which features a combination of pretty in pink, wild wasabi and early espresso.

She’s used the square lattice embossing folder to add texture to the pretty in pink layers, which are stamped using the greenhouse garden stamp set and edged with the eyelet border punch. the butterfly is punched from some confetti white cardstock and coloured using a sponge dauber and a little pretty in pink ink.

Well, I'd better stop blabbering and go and get ready for the last working day of the week – see you soon!

Birthday Fox

2011-07-28T07:50:00.000+01:00

Hey folks, we’re past the middle of the week already, and I've barely made an impression on my ‘to-do’ list. the decorating is still rumbling on at home, meaning that I’ve got limited inky time at present, although i did manage a MAJOR tidy up of my craft room on Sunday (believe me, it needed it!). My lovely downline Rebecca celebrated her birthday on Sunday, so now that she’s received it I can show you her card and pressie.

I was playing around with some of my ‘other’ stash the other weekends and broke out my Papertrey Ink anniversary set for this one. A very simple colour combination of Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White and Real Red, the paper is also from PTI. and I made a matching gift ‘picnic basket’ using the ‘pack a picnic’ template. I hope you had a fab birthday Bec and liked your pressie .

I need to take some more piccies this week – then I can share our shoebox swaps from last week’s team training session, and I’ve got another downline birthday card to make too – it’s all happening in July! Not to mention, I need to design the samples for my August class – where we’re beginning our Christmas preparations using the ‘Welcome Christmas’ stamp set.

I guess I’ll be seeing you soon!

Plane & Simple

2011-07-23T10:00:00.000+01:00

Fantastic – it’s Saturday, which means that it’s the weekend, not that I can see much inky time looming nor the opportunity for R&R unfortunately! Today I’ll be busy with my ‘Cards for Dads and Lads’ class, which features the plane and simple stamp set from the mini catalogue. Here’s the group shot of the projects which we’ll be making – 3 cards and a gift box.

the colour combination is very simple and looks fab for masculine cards – Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake, with some newsprint DSP. Here are the projects in a little more detail

hopefully the ladies will enjoy making them! I’ll be back next week with some sneak peeks of the projects for my first session of ‘The Christmas Club’.

The Christmas Club – Revised Dates

2011-07-21T07:50:00.000+01:00

Morning all! In response to customer feedback, I’ve decided to change the format of my Christmas Club this year. Instead of five evenings, we’ll run over two Saturdays in October – making 25 cards per day.

Join us for both of the sessions and you'll have 50 cards completed by 29th October, ready for the post, leaving you time to finish your 'special' cards and preparations.

The sessions are suitable for non-crafters as well as 'old-hands' bring a friend along and you'll receive a £10 gift voucher to spend in the Stampin' Up! catalogue (see below for terms and conditions).

Each session will run for 6 hours, and costs £35.00 which includes all of the materials and envelopes for 25 cards.
Light refreshments will be provided, but you will need to provide your own lunch. Lunch can be ordered at an additional £5 per session.
Early bird offer – book both sessions for £60 (pay £35 for the first and £25 at the second)

Club Dates
Both sessions will run on a Saturday, starting at 10am and finishing at 4pm.

1st October
29th October

email me or call 07764815797 to book your place. We will be in the usual class venue in Quorn.

Refer a friend gift voucher T&Cs - limited to one voucher per friend brought. The individual can not be on my current mailing list nor previously have attended my classes. Gift vouchers must be used within 30 days of issue.

Happy Birthday Mum!

2011-07-20T07:58:00.000+01:00

Morning all! It’s a week since my Mum celebrated her birthday and I’ve just realised that I completely forgot to show you her card.

I have to admit that when I got a spare 5 minutes to sit down at my desk last week, my mind went completely blank, and my mojo left the building. So I cased a thank you card which I made earlier this month, using vintage vogue, added a sentiment from curly cute and some of the gorgeous beautiful wings embosslits. It’s a simple colour combination of Basic Black, Whisper White and Rose Red, with the vine heat embossed using white embossing powder. The paper is the sweet and sour specialty DSP – one that still hasn't left my desk yet, so it’s likely that you’ll see some more creations with it fairly soon. In the meantime though I’ve got the kits to make for my class this weekend, the ceilings to paint and then the designs to finish for my first ‘Christmas Club’ session. Busy busy busy!

Papertrey Day…

2011-07-19T13:43:00.001+01:00

Happy Tuesday Folks! apologies for the lack of posts over the weekend, things became somewhat hectic as we’re trying desperately to finish the decorating, I had some prep to finish for my class this weekend, and then I was busy on Sunday with my lovely friend Vannessa, playing with Papertrey Ink goodies. We were taking part in a day hosted by Vannessa, where we made lots of projects using other people’s stash this was the card which I designed for the event

featuring possibly my favourite colour combination of Melon Mamabo, Old Olive & Rich Razzleberry. If you’d like to see some of the other projects we were making, then pop back later in the week when I’ve hopefully had a chance to take some piccies – dust levels in the house permitting!

A Quick Reminder

2011-07-15T08:30:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday folks! Just a quick reminder that bookings for my ‘Cards for Dads and Lads’ class close today. If you haven’t already booked your space and would like to attend, please email me ASAP to book your space.

Training Swaps

2011-07-14T09:00:00.000+01:00

Hey folks, I hope you all had a relaxing weekend and a great start to the week – i really can’t believe it’s Thursday already, it’s been a busy one at our house. On Sunday I was in Peterborough for our team’s quarterly training session with my SU mummy Monica and sister Bekka. We had a Christmas theme I know – it’s only July, but you can never be too prepared! A couple of weeks ago I got busy and made all of my swaps in advance, so I thought I’d share those with you now.

I’ve used the ‘Welcome Christmas’ stamp set and a colour combination of Whisper White, Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler. The design features the top note die and polka dot embossing folder – which really helped to speed the production process up! I’ll share the swaps that I received back at some point later this week, i need to photograph them first!

It was my mum’s birthday yesterday – Happy Birthday mummy! I’ll be back soon to share the cards I’ve made for her too, once she’s received it that is, as i don't want her getting a sneak peek before I see her on Saturday! Speaking of birthdays, I’d best be getting a shuffle on and make some more cards – 2 of my team celebrate their birthdays later this month, so plenty to be doing!

See you all soon

Sneak Peeks

2011-07-04T08:30:00.000+01:00

Hey folks – it’s Monday in already, I’m not too sure where the weekend got to. Once again we’re in decorating mode, trying to complete the work we started over Easter on the landing, hallway and stairs – so much for a week’s leave! It’ll mean limited inky time this week, although I’ve got a workshop on Saturday and then a training event organised by my Stampin’ Up! mummy at Peterborough, and for once I've already made my swaps. I’ll share those next week along with some of the ideas that I receive back. In the meantime, here are the sneak peeks of my forthcoming class, which features the plane and simple stamp set. we’re focussing on one of the most difficult genres (in my opinion) – masculine cards.

If you’d like to join us, the class will be on Saturday 23rd July from 1-4pm. there are spaces still available, but you need to pre-book by emailing me. There are three options – class only (£12.50), class & clear mount stamp set (£26) or class & wood mount stamp set (£29). Class kits and instructions will be available here shortly. Well, that’s all for this morning – the sander and filler are calling. See you later in the week!

Hopping by…

2011-07-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

Morning all and welcome to my stop on the ILWS colour coach blog hop. If you’ve started from the beginning (Anthea's Blog) then hopefully you’ve arrived from Jane’s blog. However If you’ve started here, then simply follow the link at the end of my post to Val’s blog, then continue on around the loop, and you’ll eventually end up back here! There is also a second loop running which starts with Emily.

For my samples I chose a simple masculine colour combination of Whisper White, Marina Mist and Night of Navy – all of which are from our ‘getting started’ colour collection. I used the circle circus stamp set to create a one sheet wonder on A4 whisper white cardstock in my two ink colours, and then cut the panel into lots of smaller pieces to make the following collection of cards.

It’s a really simple technique for generating a number of cards on a theme with a limited selection of supplies, and can be used with lots of our stamp sets – I’ve used it previously with greenhouse garden and serene snowflakes. Here are the cards in a little more detail.

Hopefully you’ve reached this far! Now it’s time to hop on over to my lovely friend Val’s blog and discover what she’s been creating with Rich Razzleberry – yum!

I’ll be back soon with some sneak peeks of my upcoming ‘Plane & Simple’ class.

Until then

With Many Thanks

2011-06-30T08:35:00.000+01:00

Good Morning All! hopefully you’ve all been enjoying the sunshine of late. Being the pale and pasty creature that I am, who burns at the sight of the sun (no I'm not a vampire!) I've taken the opportunity to hide in my craft room and make lots of projects in advance – it was too hot to do much else. So, I've managed to get myself a little bit ahead, sneak peeks of July’s class projects will be appearing here shortly, but firstly I’ve had a thank you card on my ‘to do’ list for a little while now. A lovely lady in the US recently helped me get hold of some CD folders, which I couldn't find over here for any love nor money. So I wanted to send her a card and a little something to say thank you for her kindness. Here’s the card….

which uses the vine and sentiment from the vintage vogue stamp set, the ‘thanks’ is from the afterthoughts stamp set. I’ve used a colour combination of rose red, whisper white and basic black. the papers are the sweet and sour specialty DSP and I've embossed the vine using clear embossing powder on the base cardstock – you can just about see it in the photo. I’ll have to post a picture of the gift box later – the box was still drying when I left for work. I have to admit the DSP wasn't initially high on my list of things to buy from this catalogue, but some of the patterns are so elegant and pretty that I can’t believe I overlooked them!

Tomorrow I'll be taking part in a blog hop, organised by the lovely Anthea over on In Love With Stamping. We’ll be featuring colour combinations from the colour coach, be sure to pop by and join in the hops for lots of fabulous inspiration.

Happy Birthday Ellie!

2011-06-22T07:45:00.000+01:00

Morning all, yesterday was our friend’s little girl Ellie’s 3rd birthday. I’m not so sure where the three years have gone – I remember holding her at 3 days old – she’s certainly grown since then! As with many little girls, Ellie’s favourite colour is pink, pink and more pink. I dug out my crazy for cupcakes stamp set, which is the perfect choice for girly cards, and used a colour combination of pretty in pink, pink pirouette and so saffron to create a card and matching gift bag.

the top note gift bag is made using a tutorial over on Becky Roberts’ blog, using the top note die, so saffron cardstock and pretty in pink DSP from the subtles DSP stack. I also used my new ‘daisies’ die for the first time since buying it 2 months ago! hopefully it fulfilled Ellie’s criteria of being girly and pink.

Right, from girly to masculine. This evening I’m focussing on the design of my next class which is ‘Cards for Dads and Lads’ – the most difficult kind in my opinion. Class is on Saturday 23rd July, and further details can be found here - be sure to email me to reserve your place.

The Longest Day….

2011-06-21T07:56:00.000+01:00

Hey folks, it’s Tuesday already and the longest day of the year, which means it must be Dawn’s birthday . Dawn is one of my lovely customers who has become a good friend. To celebrate her birthday I’ve made her a card using her favourite colours, chocolate chip and old olive, and I've added a dash of regal rose to make it a more feminine combination. the stamp set is Vintage Vogue – one of my all time favourites as its so versatile. so here’s the finished card, along with a coordinating gift bag made using instructions on Amy Celona’s blog.

I hope you have a fabulous birthday Dawn! and that today at work doesn’t feel like the longest day…..

I'll be back soon with some more cards that I managed to finish at the weekend.

For Pops…..

2011-06-20T21:26:00.000+01:00

Evening All. I completely forgot to post this yesterday – fortunately the same can’t be said about the cards! I made 2 cards for my dad this year – one from me and one from my little brother. The first features the motorcycle stamp – perfect for my dad who is mad about all things mechanical and used to have a red Triumph Bonneville when I was little. you’ll have to excuse the quality of the photo – the crystal effects was still drying when i took the piccie (lastminute.com as usual!) and it bubbled just as i pressed the button, but I didn't realise until I was post processing the picture just now. I’ve also used the square lattice embossing folder on the Riding Hood Red cardstock, newsprint DSP, some twill tape and the star punch.

The second card was a case of Darren’s birthday card from April – I was in a hurry and needed a quick card, and this fitted the bill.

A Marina Mist cardstock base, with the ‘classic stars’ wheel on the base in marina mist ink. the paper is a piece of pacific point DSP from the brights collection stack, some choc chip stars and marina mist wide striped grosgrain complete the card and the sentiment is from the level 2 hostess set ‘something to celebrate’.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some birthday mentions…..

It’s the weekend!

2011-06-17T19:00:00.000+01:00

Happy Friday folks. apologies for the silence here in blog land, and no I didn’t get lost and trapped in the pigsty that was the conservatory. It’s been a hectic one at work and i haven’t had any inky time all week, hence nothing to photograph and therefore no posts . However, I’ve got my occasional greetings class tomorrow, so i thought I'd pop by and share the projects for that. We’ll be making a set of 3 cards and a card storage tote using the Occasional Greetings stamp set (plus a few others) and the gorgeous ‘Elegant Soiree’ papers, here’s a piccie of the ensemble. The kit list for class attendees is here.

well, that’s all for tonight. I need to get in the craft room now and make a card for my dad for Father’s Day (so much for getting ahead this month!).

Have a fab weekend.

Get Well Gitti

2011-06-10T16:00:00.000+01:00

Friday at last! and leading the glamorous lifestyle that I do (canned laughter here) this weekend I'll mostly be clearing out my conservatory and cleaning it from top to bottom, as it’s become a junk room of late. But before I rush off to don the rubber gloves I have a card to share. One of my regular class attendees, Gitti, has been ill of late and unable to attend classes which she was rather upset about, so to let her know we were thinking of her I made this bright and sunny card, and got the rest of the class to sign it for her – hopefully it’s got to her before she sees this post! So, get well soon Gitti, we’re all thinking of you and we hope to see you back at class in the near future!

I’ve used a Wild Wasabi base along with papers from the subtles stack and teamed it with some melon mambo spotty ribbon (sadly now retired) and the ‘Hopeful Thoughts’ stamp set inked in Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight markers. It’s finished with a row of rhinestones and a couple of flower buttons from the Brights collection.

There’s still time to book in for my class next Saturday, I’ll hopefully get some time to make up the class kits on Sunday, so email me soon to book your space. Right, enough prattling on, now for the dreaded conservatory, have a great weekend folks!

A week into June…

2011-06-08T18:46:00.002+01:00

Happy Wednesday folks! It’s past the middle of the week already, which means it’ll soon be the weekend I’m actually wondering what I’ve forgotten to do this month, as I’m feeling scarily ahead. I finished my class samples on Monday and have been catching up with various bits of admin all week – still have a tax return to fill in, but other than that I’m all up to date. So, somewhat earlier than usual, here are the sneak peeks for this month’s class which features the ‘Occasional Greetings’ stamp set and Elegant Soiree papers.

If you’d like to join us and haven’t booked your place, then email me. Class kit details will be here by the end of next week. Right, following on in the spirit of getting ahead with things, I’ve got a couple of Birthday cards to make for later this week, so I’m going to head into the craft room for some inky time! I’ll pop back later in the week to show you some of what I’ve been up to.

Order thank you gifts

2011-06-03T07:00:00.000+01:00

Morning all, it’s nearly the weekend again! A quick post from me today to share some of the ‘thank you’ gifts which I made recently for my customers. The idea is one I found whilst blog-hopping, on Brenda Quintana’s blog, and it’s a fab one for using up scraps of DSP.

I pulled out some of my ‘love letters’ paper, which has to be one of my favourites from the current Stampin’ Up catalogue and teamed it with the heart punch in Riding Hood Red and a section of the ‘Thank You Kindly’ stamp, which I inked in Basic Black on Very Vanilla cardstock and sampled using the modern label punch. The handle is made from a length of Basic Black satin ribbon, and the contents are some individual wrapped chocolate squares.

I'm hoping to get some time to finish designing my next class this weekend which features the Occasional Greetings stamp set and the Elegant Soiree papers, then I might be able to share some sneak peeks early next week. Other than that, it’ll hopefully be a bit of a restful one!

Stampin’ Up! June Promotion

2011-06-01T09:00:00.001+01:00

Morning All! I know, I know, twice in one day, first a famine and then a feast! I’m here to let you know about the fabulous promotion from Stampin’ Up! for this month and July. Host a workshop and if it totals £250 in sales you’ll get an additional £20 benefits to spend in the catalogue! So what are you waiting for? Contact me to book your workshop today.

Sail Away for Father’s Day

2011-06-01T07:20:00.000+01:00

Morning All! It’s Wednesday already, we’re in June and another week’s simply flying by – I'll be onto Christmas prep before I know it (at least I should be now that we’re in June and I have an all day Christmas class in August!).

However, before I start unwrapping the baubles and playing the Christmas CDs, there is Father’s Day on the calendar. Some of the ladies at a recent workshop asked me to demonstrate ‘male’ cards. The new mini catalogue has provided us with a number of new masculine images, so I dug out ‘Sail Away’ and had a play with a nautical colour theme of Not Quite Navy, Riding Hood Red and Crumb Cake.

The ‘waves’ were created with the curly label punch, the background textured using the square lattice embossing folder and the sentiment is taken from the level 2 hostess set ‘something to celebrate’. I added some gold brads and some bakers twine from my stash. Masculine cards are normally something I struggle with, but I quite enjoyed playing with this one, so I might dig out the motorcycle stamp this week and have a play with that too.

Blog Candy Winner!!!

2011-05-31T08:06:00.000+01:00

Morning Folks! I’m looking forward to it only being a four day week this week, then I can have more crafty time this weekend as the diary is clear We spent yesterday visiting Darren’s grandma, then I managed a little inky time in the evening (after clearing up the tip that had arrived in my craft room – I don’t know where all the mess came from, honest!) but I can’t share what I was up to as yet. I meant to post this yesterday, but time just skipped away, so here is the draw for the blog candy

The winner is commenter number 3 – Dawn, email me your address and I’ll get your prize in the post to you.
That’s all for today folks, but I’ve got some crafty bits to share later in the week.

Birthday Bash with Fox & Friends

2011-05-28T09:30:00.002+01:00

It’s the weekend – hooray! and better still, it’s a BANK HOLIDAY weekend, which hopefully means an extra day in my craft room this weekend, that is if Darren doesn’t make me do some more DIY….
In the meantime, I’ve got my ‘Birthday Bash’ class today, where we’re making a selection of kid’s birthday cards using ‘Fox & Friends’ and ‘Party This Way’ in bright bold colours using a few funky folds, so here they are…..

The second project of the day features ‘crazy for cupcakes’ and we’re making a card reminiscent of a cake shop window, and a matching cupcake box, which, if everything goes to plan, will contain cupcakes that is assuming I don't munch them all on the way to class….

And finally we’re making a flip album to record birthday party memories, using Celebrations DSP.

After all that I think I’m going to need a large tub of jelly and ice cream and perhaps even some fizzy pop I’ll hopefully be back later with some photos of the lovely ladies in my class – if they’ll agree to pose for some!
Tomorrow I’ll be starting my samples for my next class, which is on 18th June and features the ‘Occasional Greetings’ stamp set – we’ll be making cards for all occasions. If you fancy joining us for that one, be sure to email me to book your place.

Birthday Fox & Congratulations

2011-05-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

Morning All! and Happy Birthday to one of my Crafty Foxes, Nicola, who celebrates her birthday today. Here’s the card that will hopefully have arrived on her doorstep before she sees this post!

I've gone for a vintagey look with a crumb cake base, newsprint DSP, a riding hood red layer and basic black satin ribbon. I've stamped the vine image from Vintage Vogue in the background of each panel using the corresponding ink colour, then cut out some of the flowers from the set and popped them onto the very vanilla panel and finished with some basic pearls. I have to admit that by the time I’d finished prepping my class this week, my mojo had up and left me with a heap of things still to do. At which point I reached for my idea book and CASE’d this gorgeous creation by an Australian demo Teneale Williams – this lady has SOOO much talent and her blog is well worth a visit if you have a few days to spare drooling!

Now – why the congratulations I hear you ask? Well one of my downlines, Rebecca, just achieved her second ‘Stampin Start’ – a huge achievement and I’m very proud of her . For those of you who haven’t heard of Stampin’ Start, new demonstrators get the opportunity to earn FREE stamps based on sales and recruiting in their first 6 months as a demo – up to a maximum of 12 sets. So to recognise her achievements I made her this card

The colour combination is Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz and Bashful Blue. the whisper white panel is stamped with the flowers from the Growing Green stamp set. The DSP in the background is from the subtles paper stack – which I must say is fantastic value for money – I'm barely half way through mine and I’ve used it loads! I’ve finished with a pear pizzazz twill ribbon and a sentiment from the Perfect Punches set stamped in pear pizzazz and cut out using the modern label punch. I CASE’d myself this time – altering this card that I made back in December.

Right, enough nattering, I’ve got to get my nose back to the grindstone now as I’ve still got a few preparations to make for tomorrow’s class. Have a great weekend

Strength & Hope - time out with friends

2011-05-26T07:00:00.002+01:00

Blimey, it’s nearly the end of the week already! I’m in the midst of preparing my class for this weekend, but I thought I’d pop by in the meantime and share a project that I made this weekend, when my lovely friend and fellow demonstrator Val came over for some inky playtime - we had a fab time nattering and crafting.

She brought with her some plain white frames from IKEA, and challenged me to work outside of my comfort zone with the ‘Strength & Hope’ charity stamp set. Now, if you visit me reasonably regularly, you’ll know I'm not really a ‘vintage’ or ‘distressed’ kind of girl, but I broke out my distressing kit, and my neutral ink pads, and here are the results….

It’s a mix of soft suede, crumb cake, early espresso and pretty in pink inks with a piece of pretty in pink satin ribbon. I’m in the process of planning an event for later in the summer, which will feature this stamp set and all proceeds will go to the local breast cancer unit. If you fancy joining in, then watch this space as details will be appearing in the next few weeks. who knows, this frame may yet make a reappearance!

Birthday Bash Sneak Peeks!

2011-05-25T08:30:00.000+01:00

Morning all! Just a quick post to share the sneak peeks of my projects for this weekends class, featuring fox & friends, party this way and celebrations DSP.

I’ve really been enjoying using all of the bright colours – I'd usually consider myself to be a ‘neutrals’ girl, but Pacific Point is fast becoming a favourite! I’m awaiting the delivery of my new alphabet and numbers dies from the catalogue, so that I can put the finishing touches to some of the projects, then I’ll be on to class prep for the rest of the week. Be sure to pop by on Saturday for the ‘reveal’! And don’t forget, if you haven’t already done so, please enter my blog candy competition for a chance to win some goodies.

See you soon!

Team Training & Blog Candy

2011-05-23T13:38:00.002+01:00

Happy Monday folks!
Apologies for the silence of late, things have been somewhat hectic and things have been compounded by me being unwell. On top of that, unfortunately Darren’s gran, Phyllis, had a fall last week, which has put her in hospital (much to her distaste!) with a broken leg. So in short, things haven’t quite gone to plan! Anyways, enough of my babble, I promised some pictures of the samples that my lovely downline Rebecca had prepared for our team training session back in April, using chalks and the ‘Because I Care’ level 1 hostess set, so here are the results. The technique’s had me reaching for my Stampin' Pastels, and actually inking up this stamp set for the first time.

Such fantastic results with a relatively small selection of projects. If you fancy recreating the technique, then have a look at my blog candy below, where you’ll find a lot of what you need to recreate the samples! (Just add chalks and ink).

So, to be in with a chance of winning the blog candy, all you have to do is leave me a comment, and if you have a blog then please link to this post so that others can join in too . I’ll randomly draw the winner next Monday (30th May) and post the winner’s name here on my blog. Good luck!
Well, that’s all for today, I’ll be back later in the week with some sneak peeks of my all-day ‘Birthday Bash’ class which is running this weekend – lots of projects on a birthday theme – complete with jelly and ice cream!

bad blogger....

2011-05-16T10:56:00.000+01:00

hey folks, just a quick post to say that I'm still around! as you may have seen on some other blogs, there were problems with blogger last week which meant i couldn't get on to generate my posts. I'll be back later today with the samples from our team training evening and some long promised blog candy.

Destroying-it-ourselves

2011-04-30T17:30:00.001+01:00

Afternoon all! I've been somewhat absent of late as we’ve been busy ripping our landing, hallway and stairs to pieces, we’ve yet to start putting them all back together, the house is a complete tip and I’ve had very limited inky time – I'm looking forward to it all being finished and getting back in my (very dusty) craft room. In the meantime I’ve got a card to share for you, it was designed for my team training session last week before the mayhem began, and uses the two new hostess sets from the mini catalogue, along with my new favourite ribbon – the baja breeze seam binding.

Now, I promised some blog candy to celebrate my first anniversary as a demo – I've assembled a prize, i just need to find my camera under the rubble to actually get a picture, so hopefully I’ll manage that tomorrow afternoon, along with some piccies of the beautiful projects that my downline Rebecca designed for our training session using the ‘because i care’ stamp set, be prepared to add it to your wishlists! Right, I'd better go and finish hovering the dust off the sofas so we can use them again, then hopefully I might get some time in my craft room this evening.

Baby Blossoms

2011-04-18T11:57:00.001+01:00

Morning Folks
can anyone tell me where the weekend went please? I cant quite believe it's Monday again and we're racing towards the end of April.I had a fabulous day on Saturday, firstly with my class of lovely ladies, who were making the AR designs Haute Tote and coordinating notecards using the Springtime Vintage Suite from the new mini catalogue.

The notecards were made using the one-sheet wonder technique. the baby blossoms stamps were used to create an A5 sheet of custom designer paper, which was then cut into panels and used to decorate the card.the eagle-eyed of you may have spotted a new border on the front not-quite navy notecard - is it a new punch I hear you ask? Nope - i've simply used the curly label punch to add the decorative edge, as demonstrated by an Australian demo Alisa Tilsner here.

I can't quite believe it, but this was my 12th class since becoming a demonstrator - I'm not too sure where that time has raced away to, but to celebrate my 1st birthday as a demo, I think we'll have to have some blog candy this week, i'll have to go and have a rifle through some stash to find a prize, but check back later in the week to see what's up for grabs!

I'll also be celebrating with a 'Birthday Party' for my May class - all of the projects will be on a birthday theme and it'll be an all-day event including a party bag (with £25 of goodies), lunch, jelly & ice cream and possibly even 'pass the parcel' for £40. If you'd like to come along and join in the festivities then it'll be on Saturday 28th May from 10am-4pm, email me to book your place!

Speaking of parties, I followed class with my little friend Lydia's crafty birthday party for her & 12 friends - we used A LOT of glue, but they seemed to have fun and all went home with lots of hand-decorated goodies. I'll have to see if I can borrow some of Lydia's creations to photograph this week as I didn't get chance before the party. Yesterday was spent tidying up my craft room, which had got into quite a state last week with all of my preparations for the weekend, and then catching up on chores.

I've got several swaps to make for my team training session later this week, so I'll be back to share those later in the week, then I'm looking forward to starting the decorating, which will mean limited inky time over the next couple of weeks whilst we try and change the hallway landing and stairs from a shade of cherry cobbler to something more akin to crumb cake/sahara sand!

Baby Bloom Sneak Peek

2011-04-15T14:57:00.001+01:00

Happy Friday all!!
i'm not too sure how it's got to Friday, but I'm hoping to get a chance to put my feet up for a little while tonight (after I've assembled 13 tote bags, cut out pillow boxes and assembled a birthday banner that is).

It's been rather manic this week as I've been preparing for my class tomorrow (the projects didn't even exist on Wednesday - that's how far behind I was this month!) AND designing projects for little Lydia's birthday party tomorrow - which reminds me, I must add a birthday card to the to-do list.

So please excuse the fact that the sneak peeks for tomorrow's class are a little later than usual, but you cant photograph something that doesn't exist! The kit list for class is here and if you'd like to order a class kit so that you can play along at home, it will be available here shortly.

I'll be back tomorrow morning to reveal all!
Until then, hope you have a relaxing evening

MIA & New Product Shares

2011-04-13T09:40:00.002+01:00

Morning All

and apologies for the silence since the launch of the new mini catalogue last week! I've been away for a few days, relaxing in sunny Vienna and sampling the local delicacies (aka CAKE) and then had a couple of days in the Yorkshire Dales with my lovely man. Unfortunately that's meant very little time for crafting, and I'm now back and raring to go, playing with all of the lovely new goodies from the mini catalogue.

I've been designing items for my class this weekend - Blossoming with Beauty, where we'll be using the gorgeous new 'baby blossoms' stamp set and springtime vintage papers. Class runs this Saturday, if you're interested in finding out more about how to join us then please email me. Kits for those of you wishing to play along at home will be available here on Saturday.

Now then, having had a week to flick through the new catalogue, do you see so much that you love and you can't afford it all at once? Then why not take part in my New Mini Catalogue Product Share? You will receive:

72 sheets pieces of 6 x6" patterned paper - 24 from Springtime Vintage (page 17), 24 from Botanical Gazette (page 23) and 24 from Sweet Stitches (page 26).
8 metres of the new Seam Binding ribbon - Page 17 (2 metres each of Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, 2 Pear Pizazz and Rose Red).
24 Big Designer Buttons - 12 Springtime Vintage buttons (4 colours, 3 different buttons - page 17) and 12 Sweet Stitches buttons (4 colours, 3 different buttons - page 29).
16 Bitty Buttons (Four clear buttons in four shapes - page 21).

The cost of this share is £23 if you collect it from me and £25 posted. I can accept payment by cheque, bank transfer or by using the Paypal button below.

Well that's all for today folks, I'll be back later in the week to share some sneak peeks of this weekends projects. I also need to show you what I've been up to for my little friend Lydia's 7th birthday party, which is also on Saturday, where we'll be doing all sorts of crafty things - I have a feeling I'll need a rest on Sunday!

Let’s do the hop……

2011-04-02T09:50:00.000+01:00

Good morning again! If you've joined me as part of the blog hop, then welcome! Hopefully you've arrived here from the lovely Rachel's blog, if not then keep following the links and you'll end up back here via there!

This time I'm back to share some projects made with supplies from the all new mini catalogue - I've been playing for a couple of weeks now, and have been desperate to share some of it! First up, here's the make and take card that the ladies at my launch party made last night

It features the top note die (courtesy of my new favourite toy, the Big Shot), springtime vintage DSP, baja breeze seam binding ribbon and the gorgeous 'beautiful wings' embosslit. The sentiment is from the Occasional Greetings stamp set, coloured with baja breeze and not quite navy markers. I'm loving the papers - I didn't think I'd like them at first as they seemed a little chintzy for my tastes, but having designed my next class using them they're fast becoming a firm favourite!

Staying with the springtime vintage collection, here is a card front that I made for a swap over on ILWS, organised by the lovely Pat (aka cupcake). The same colour scheme with an added hint of river rock, but this time featuring the 'four frames' stamp set and coordinating punch, which is a fantastic shape and size for fitting many of the existing SU sentiments - I can see this being one of my most used and abused stamp sets! The scalloped baja breeze layer is not a new border punch - instead I've used the curly label punch to create a different decorative edge.

And finally for this morning, a swap that I made for a recent training session, hosted by my lovely Stampin' Up! 'sister' Bekka. A completely different colour scheme and style for this one - I used the 'Summer Splash' stamp set to create a bold & bright beach scene. The colours are pacific point, real red, daffodil delight pumpkin pie, crumb cake and tempting turquoise.

That's all from me today, your next stop on the hop is Theresa's blog where there's lots more inspiration!

There are four hops in total running today - the first in the chain for each of them is listed below (this post is part of group one).

Tomorrow's Mother's Day, so I'll be back to show you the cards I've made for that then!

Happy Birthday Darren!

2011-04-02T08:00:00.001+01:00

Morning All!
Today my gorgeous boyfriend celebrates his birthday, so I thought I'd pop by to show you the card that I made for him - I would have shared yesterday, but I didn't want to risk him taking a sneak peek!! I've used some of the nursery suite DSP (proving it's not just for baby cards!) and used the colours in the paper: chocolate chip, pear pizzaz and baja breeze.

Right - I'm off to spoil him with his pressies now, then I guess we'll be out and about for the day, followed by a yummy meal at Gino's Italian restaurant this evening, so limited inky time for me. Be sure to visit after 10am though, as I'm taking part in the In Love With Stamping blog hop to celebrate the launch of the new mini catalogue, there'll be lots of ideas to tempt you into purchasing some of the lovely new goodies!

See you later!

NEW Mini Catalogue Launches Today!!!

2011-04-01T09:03:00.000+01:00

Morning all, and what an exciting morning it is! Today sees the arrival of the all NEW mini catalogue, and perhaps the most requested accessory in the history of Stampin’ Up! UK – the Big Shot. I’m guessing you’re not even reading this waffle now as you’re so excited to get browsing, so here it is…….

If you’d like a paper copy of your own, then please email me your address and I’ll post a complimentary copy out to you. I’m off now to prepare for my launch party tonight – I hope to see several of you there, but be sure to pop back tomorrow as I’m taking part in a blog hop, organised by the lovely Erika (aka twintrouble) over on In Love With Stamping to celebrate the launch, so there’ll be lots of inspiration using the FAB new products.

In the meantime, a little something crafty to share with you. Last weekend I helped my little next door neighbour Lydia to make some invitations for her birthday party later this month, we went for a girly subtles colour scheme of pretty in pink, pink pirouette, bashful blue, certainly celery and so saffron.

We used the ‘Party This Way’ & ‘Cheer & Wishes’ stamp sets and a selection of punches (Lydia’s favourite!!). She’s requested a ‘crafty party’ for her and 13 friends, so I guess I’d better get cracking on designing the projects!

Speaking of birthdays, it’s Darren’s tomorrow, so I’ll have to remember to show you his card too…

Until then

Have a cracking weekend!

2011-03-25T16:30:00.003Z

Well, that's it, work is over for the week and it's officially the weekend! just a quick post to show you the projects that we'll be making at class tomorrow We're making three cards and a cute egg-shaped Easter basket using the 'A Good Egg' stamp set and the springtime colours in the Nursery Suite designer papers.

So in a little more detail, we'll be making a twisted easel

A 'spring' card

a flowerpot card

and the egg-shaped basket which will hold some cream eggs (assuming I haven't eaten them in the meantime)

The kit list for those attending class and wishing to bring their own tools can be found here. This evening I'm busy helping to make birthday party invites for my little friend Lydia - then I'm itching to get playing with my pre-order from the NEW MINI catalogue, which launches next Friday. If you'd like a copy then be sure to email me and I'll post one out to you.

GNPE & NEC!

2011-03-25T07:00:00.000Z

Morning all - happy Friday!!
sorry it's been so quiet around, I've been trying to catch up this week as I was away at GNPE in Harrogate last weekend. It was a very busy weekend with lots of lovely customers and many new faces coming to see us and take a peek at our stand. Our stand - complete with tree (!) looked like this

I was at the event with fellow demonstrators Ali, Jo and our SU mummy Monica - we had a great laugh and even found a little time to relax and munch an ice cream (yum!)

On Sunday I'll be on our stall at NEC, so if you're at the show be sure to pop by and say hello! we have free make & takes and a prize draw, as well as another fab looking stand stuffed full of samples and inspiration.

We'll hopefully see you there!

Tuesday already??

2011-03-15T18:12:00.002Z

Afternoon all, I’m not too sure how a week and a half has passed since my last post! Things have been somewhat hectic what with preparing swaps for the Stampin’ Up! regional training, designing classes and playing with some new products that have arrived recently, which unfortunately I can’t share with you yet. I do however have some sneak peeks of my forthcoming March class – Easter Egg-stravaganza which features the ‘A Good Egg’ stamp set. There are still a few spaces for the next class, which runs on Saturday 26th March from 1-4pm.

If you’d like to join us then please email me to reserve your place.
That’s all for now – I’ll be back later in the week to share some of the creations we were making at the weekend. In the meantime I’m off to finish making some decorations for our stall at the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza at Harrogate this weekend, if you’re visiting the show then be sure to pop by and say hi & sign up for the make & take.

Regional Training Swaps

2011-03-05T07:19:00.014Z

Morning All!
as promised, I'm back to share the swaps that I made for today's Stampin' Up! training session in Leeds. For those of you who are wondering what swaps are, when demonstrators get together we tend to make a batch of card fronts (generally all the same) and then swap them with other demos, such that you go home with a batch of samples showcasing new ideas & techniques and potentially stamp sets to add to your wishlist!!

I have to admit that I get bored when making these as it's a tad repetitive (particularly when you're making 40 of them!) and reasonably time consuming, but I think the end result is pretty and very feminine. I've used the same colour combination as on the card I shared yesterday and added the whisper white organza ribbon instead of the blushing bride twill.

Recipe

stamp sets: happiness shared, perfect punches cardstock: whisper white, blushing bride & pear pizzazz

ink: black stazon, pear pizazz & blushing bride accessories: basic pearls, whisper white organza ribbon

I'm looking forward to catching up with all of the other demonstrators going to the event (70 in total) and also getting my hands on some of the new goodies from the forthcoming mini catalogue!

Tomorrow I'll be busying myself with designing this month's 'Easter Egg-stravaganza' class. If you'd like to come along there are still a few places left , it's on Saturday 26th March from 1pm-4pm, email me to book your place. Sneak peeks of the class will follow next week. Well, that's all for today, no doubt I'll be buzzing with ideas when I return this evening. See you soon!

Happiness Shared

2011-03-04T10:18:00.001Z

Morning All!
apologies for the lack of crafty posts this week, I've been consumed with making lots of projects, which unfortunately I can't share just yet! However, I can share this card, which was a commission I made last week for a birthday. I used an 'in colour' combination of blushing bride and pear pizazz, together with the 'happiness shared' stamp set. I have to admit overlooking this set originally in the catalogue, but it's such a pretty & delicate image, that I think it may become one of my favourites for female cards. The flower has been stamped in stazon and then watercoloured using inkpads and a waterbrush, the leaves on the front panel of the card were stamped using pear pizazz ink. The 'happy birthday' sentiment is the centre of the perfect punches stamp inked with a black marker.

well, that's all I have for today - i'll be back tomorrow with the swaps I've made for the Stampin' Up! training session in Leeds tomorrow - I've used the same colour combo and stamp set, but changed the layout somewhat. In the meantime I'll be trying to finish my design team challenges for this month, which are a little late - whoops!
Until tomorrow....

March Frenzy!!

2011-03-01T10:46:00.002Z

Morning All!
well, as with all good things sale-a-bration has come to end for this year and we're starting to think about the lighter evenings, warmer days and the new mini catalogue which will be appearing in April. In the meantime, the lovely people at Stampin' Up! have sent us a new promotion for March - March Frenzy, which gives you up to 30% off selected products for orders placed by 30th March (whilst stocks last). The following products are included in the promotion:

Item	Page	Description	Discount	Retail Price	Sale Price
109679	40	Fast Flowers Stampin’ Around Wheel	20 %	£6.50	£5.20
109685	48	Neighborhood Stampin’ Around Jumbo Wheel	30%	£8.50	£5.95
110528	61	Friendly Set	30%	£16.95	£11.87
107559	69	Spot On Stampin’ Around Jumbo Wheel	20%	£8.50	£6.80
109675	70	Baroque Border Stampin’ Around Wheel	30%	£6.50	£4.55
110524	75	Cheer & Wishes Set	30%	£16.95	£11.87
121717	87	A4 Shimmery White Card Stock	30%	£7.50	£5.25
106555	87	A4 Glossy White Card Stock	20%	£6.25	£5.00
117167	89	Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper	20%	£8.75	£7.00
113659	93	Hidden Garden Blossoms Rub-Ons	30%	£8.50	£5.95
111325	99	Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware	20%	£25.95	£20.76
120963	102	Stampin’ Pastels New Color Kit	30%	£11.25	£7.88
102845	102	Blender Pens	20%	£7.95	£6.36

Email me to place your order.

Sale-a-bration ends 28th February

2011-02-24T16:50:00.000Z

Happy Thursday folks!
apologies - I hadn't realised that it was nearly a week since I'd last posted. I'm looking forward to another crafty weekend, finishing swaps and preparing my next class (which is on 26th March). I thought I'd better pop by and remind you that there are only 4 days left of the current SAB promotion, so if you're hoping to complete your collections, you need to get your skates on and let me know what you'd like to order! Further details of the offer can be found here.

EVEN MORE FREEBIES!!

And for those of you considering becoming a Stampin Up! demo, the offer of an additional FREE stamp set of any value from the current catalogue is available for applications processed by COB on Monday - the forms need to be with demonstrator support before then to be eligible for the offer. For anyone signing up with me between now and Monday, I'm offering another bonus of a colour coach (worth £13.50) - an invaluable tool for your business! Further information on becoming a demonstrator can be found here, alternatively you can email me and we'll arrange to have a chat.

Finally for today, a warm welcome to the latest member of the crafty foxes, Nic, who joined the team this week, I'm looking forward to watching your business and team grow!!

I'll be back over the weekend to share some piccies of swaps and hopefully some other projects (assuming that I get them finished!)

Just Believe Class

2011-02-18T16:22:00.000Z

It's the weekend!!! Happy Friday everyone!
it's been a mammoth effort to get through the week this week, particularly with another migraine hitting on Wednesday. Still it's Friday, my class for tomorrow is prepared, so I've just got to pack the car up, and then I suppose I ought to consider doing some housework - eeeuuughhh! Still it means I'll be able to spend all day Sunday playing in my craft room - yippeee!!

My head's buzzing with ideas for projects for the Easter class on Saturday 26th March, but I need to finish some swaps first (a small matter of 40 for SU regional training at Leeds - I have at least designed them and stamped & cut the layers, now I just need to colour them all in). In the meantime, I thought I'd better share the class projects for tomorrow, using one of my favourite sets from the current IBC - Just Believe. I've stuck with three colours across the projects, and whilst I wasn't immediately drawn to Wild Wasabi, it teams beautifully with Rich Razzleberry. So here's the 'group shot'

and in a little more detail, a centre stair-step with a shadow-stamp effect on the centre panel (thanks to crafty squirrel Ann for teaching me that little trick!)

A faux-silk effect C6 card, featuring the gorgeous spotty paper from the woodland walk DSP

my new favourite fold - the twisted easel, featuring a watercoloured panel, and a butterfly from the gorgeous 'Bliss' SAB set (which is still available with a qualifying order placed before 28th February).

and finally, a little peek-a-boo box, perfect for holding some Belgian chocolates for Mother's Day (unless I get peckish first)

well, that's all for now I'm afraid - I'm off to find my Dyson and duster unfortunately, but I'll be back soon with some piccies of my creations on Sunday (or at least the ones I can share!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T14:45:00.000Z

Afternoon all!
well it's Monday again and the weekend flashed by as usual. Saturday was busy as I delivered a class to a lovely group of ladies at my local WI - thank you all for making me feel very welcome, and I hope you enjoyed making your projects! Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the event to share, as I forgot to get my camera from the car. Then on Saturday afternoon the lovely Nic came over and we did a little bit of crafting together (once I'd managed to clear Darren's side of the desk, which he wasn't too impressed about!) We had a go at making a masculine twisted easel card for our repsective partners for Valentines Day, and here it is

We've used the I {heart} hearts stamp set and a colour combination of cherry cobbler, early espresso and crumb cake. The woodgrain paper is from Woodland Walk and we punched the hearts out from scraps of Cherry Cobbler using the 'heart to heart' punch and mounted them on dimensionals to create the latch for the easel. We finished it with a length of ruffled early espresso satin ribbon and a few rhinestones.

Yesterday unfortunately was somewhat of a washout, I'd intended to get a head start on my swaps for the SU regional training event at the beginning of March, but once I'd done the usual household chores a migraine set in, so I ended up curled up in bed for the entire evening - not good. Still it's disappeared today, so I'll hopefully get a sneaky couple of hours in my craft room before his nibs appears home from work!

It's FRIDAY!!!!!

2011-02-11T12:28:00.001Z

Hey folks!
blimey, Friday already, it's been a hive of activity in my craft room this week, preparing a class for this weekend and then my usual monthly class next weekend! I've had the chance to catch up with some lovely new customers (waves madly at you all!). On Sunday I was in Peterborough for a training session run by my SU mummy Monica and SU sister Bekka. I was accompanied by the other Crafty Foxes, Elaine & Rebecca - here's a piccie of us after doing our make & takes and raiding our goody bags!

I'll hopefully get a chance to photograph the swaps this weekend - lots of lovely ideas around the theme of 'new beginnings' but in the meantime, here's a teaser of what we'll be making in class next week, there are still a couple of spaces left if you'd like to join us - email me to book your place.

well, that's all for now I'm afraid - until next time

Happy Thursday!

2011-02-03T09:23:00.001Z

Morning!
well it's Thursday for most, but effectively Friday for me as I'm on leave tomorrow (unfortunately to see the dentist) but then I'm going to see my friend Val and her lovely twin girls, so the day should improve massively!! A big box of Stampin' Up goodies is about to arrive, so that'll need dividing into orders too, but then it'll be a chance to play with some stash and hopefully come up with some ideas for my next class - that way I can provide you all with sneak peeks next week. I'm gradually crossing things off my to-do list, fortunately my 50(!) swaps for Sunday's training session are nowready to go, though I must remember to get a piccie of them before then. But in the meantime, here are the remainder of my challenge entries for this month's design team. Karin challenged us to use fabic (and that didnt include ribbon), so I dug out my favor dies from PTI and had a play with some felt that was languishing in my cupboard - I just need to find some easter eggs to fit it now, and that's one project ready!

and then finally for this month was the sketch challenge, which was a door hanger. I changed the template slightly to create a treat pouch, and then used the nursery suite papers with 'A Good Egg' to create an Easter treat holder - perfect for my little friends next door.

well, that's all for now folks, I'm off to locate some bleach for use in my next project....but I'll be back on Monday to show you some piccies of the swaps from training. Have a great weekend

Design Team Challenges - Part 1

2011-02-02T15:18:00.001Z

Afternoon all
I had intended it to be morning, but unfortunately I've been busy at work and didn't get chance to add the photos in! I've got a couple of design team samples to share today, the rest should follow tomorrow.
The first is my entry for the colour combination challenge - Pear Pizzazz, Bashful Blue & Perfect Plum, and my current go-to Sale-a-bration set 'Sweet Summer' - I've made tons of these little thank-you notelets in the last week, as I kept making them and then using them before I remembered to photograph them. The soft colouring of the flowers is achieved using a waterbrush with my inkpads.

The second project is for the DT choice challenge - I chose to create an item of packaging, it uses 'Just Believe' to create a peek-a-boo box, as I said earlier in the week, I'm loving wild wasabi and rich razzleberry at the moment! So here's the box closed...

...and here it is opened, it doesn't show particularly well in the photo, but the window sheet is stamped with the frame image in black stazon. Now I just need to find something yummy to put inside.....

Tonight's going to be a busy one, making swaps for a team training session with my SU mummy Monica on Sunday - I have everything stamped, punched and cut, so tonight is the boring assembly-line part. Then it'll be on with the design of my 'Just Believe' class for later this month.

Until tomorrow

February Already?

2011-02-01T14:08:00.000Z

Afternoon all!
well, once again it's the start of a new week and my to-do list is growing ever longer! I spent Saturday afternoon at a workshop with a lovely group of ladies who fancied playing with 'Just Believe' - one of my favourite sets from the current catalogue. we reached a fab total and the hostess got an opportunity to choose lots of freebies. If you fancy hosting a workshop, then why not contact me to book - it's a great time to do it thanks to the Sale-a-bration promotion this month. Here's what we made during the make & take

We had a play with the watercolour paper and spray misting the image with a little water - one lady commented that she found it very therapeutic, and was going to go home and convince her husband that she'd painted it by hand! The paper in the background is Woodland Walk DSP, layered on rich razzleberry cardstock - I love this colour combo, so expect to see more of it over the next few weeks!

If you fancy having a play with this set, then why not come along to my next class? The details are here - email me to book your place.

I'll be back tomorrow to share some of my creations for this months design team challenges over on in love with stamping. Until then....

Sale-a-bration Blog Hop

2011-01-23T10:14:00.002Z

Morning All!
and welcome to my stop on the Sale-a-bration blog hop. Hopefully you've just landed from Kara's fab blog post - i'm loving the colours she's used! Owing to technical difficulties (i.e. a flat camera battery!) I currently only have two cards to post this morning. So here's my first for this morning, a simple thank you card featuring the 'punch bunch' stamp set.

You'd be forgiven for thinking it seems similar to something you've seen before - I've CASEd my convention swap as I was struggling to find my mojo after my card class yesterday. The colours I've used were suggested by the fabby colour coach - I picked so saffron and it suggested a combination of wild wasabi and rose red.

and here's my second card, again a case of a previous design, this time using the sweet summer SAB set - the yummy polka dot paper in the background is from the Woodland Walk designer paper series, and the ribbon is coloured with a wild wasabi marker.

Well that's all from me for this minute I'm afraid, unfortunately the lovely Debbi is unwell so can't participate, so the next stop on this particular tour is Val - keep following the links and you should end up back here.

If you'd like to join the other three hops then they start with Theresa, Keren and Kirsteen.

enjoy the inspiration!

I {heart} hearts class

2011-01-22T07:00:00.003Z

Happy Saturday morning everyone!
and thank heavens it's the weekend, which means a little lie in for yours truly, followed by frantic preparations for this afternoon's class. Speaking of which, here's what the lovely ladies will be making this afternoon

The set features the I {heart} hearts stamp set, which is perfect for so many occasions - including of course Valentines day. I know we're a few weeks early, but it already seems a distant memory given that I'm currently designing Easter projects as crafty people have to constantly be an occasion ahead to give time to send things by snail mail! So here are the projects in a bit closer detail, first we have the easel fold with hearts stamped in riding hood red ink and the easel prop is made from lots of hearts punched out of riding hood red cardstock using the heart to heart punch. The 'amour' greeting is from the artistic etchings stamp set.

Secondly we'll be making a card featuring the heart treat cups filled with red Jelly Belly beans (assuming there are any left by the time we get to class, as I keep munching them!!). The crumb cake background is inked with the en francais background stamp and the rounded tab uses the 'love' sentiment from tiny tags. the 'be mine' border around the heart is from the sweetheart stamp set.

The third card is a simple C6 fold, using the broadsheet alphabet used to spell 'Love'. Then lots of punched hearts, from love letter DSP and a mini envelope made from the petal card punch. I've gone a bit mad with the ribbon ruffling this month - but I love the effect that the satin ribbon gives!

And finally a little origami treat box with a belly band, made from crumb cake cardstock with a little liner box in basic black. the belly band is decorated with punched hearts and tags, and the sides of the box use the scalloped heart from the sweetheart stamp set along with the 'amour' greeting from artistic etchings.

The instructions and a class kit are now available to purchase here if you'd like to have a go at making this set. The next class is on Saturday 19th February if you fancy joining us - details are here.

Sale-a-bration blog hop, Sunday 23rd January

2011-01-21T10:47:00.000Z

Hey folks!

no crafty pictures to share this morning, but just a quick post to let you know that on Sunday morning I'm joining in the Stampin' Up! Sale-a-bration blog hop. There are 4 seperate hops running with lots of inspirational projects to help you with ideas and inspiration on making the most of your FREE Sale-a-bration sets.

I'll be using 'Sweet Summer' in my sample, at the end of my post on Sunday you'll find a link to the lovely Debbi's blog, follow that and continue to follow them and it'll take you in a ring back to my blog, via lots of yummy projects! I'll also post the links to the start of the other hops.

I'll be back in the morning to show you the valentine's class which i'm running tomorrow afternoon, and then I'll hopefully see you all on Sunday morning!

Pay it Forward

2011-01-20T16:29:00.000Z

I popped by the lovely AuroraDawn's blog the other day and found this:

I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must repost this status, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade (or homemade) by you and it must be sent to your 5 people some time in 2011. Ready, set, GO!

I loved the idea of sending a little handmade something to someone else, for no reason, so I added a comment.
So, here’s the challenge. I will send something handmade to the first five people who leave a comment to this post. Then it will be up to you to pay it forward to five other people this year. Use your blog to find your payees and then of course let us see what you made!

that'll teach me for playing with settings!!

2011-01-19T00:14:00.003Z

Morning all!
Well, I had a bit of a whoopsy yesterday, when I decided that my blog needed a 'new look' for the new year. so in I launched, downloading kits, customising images, changing bits of code - and then nothing worked!!! I'm slowly restoring settings (the wonderful backup I did prior to embarking on the 'quick overhaul' didn't restore everything - aagghh!!) and hopefully things will be tickety-boo by the weekend.

In the meantime, I've just about finished faffing with the finishing touches on this month's class, so here's a sneek peak.

For those of you unable to join us this weekend, instructions and class kits/bundles will be available to buy here on Sunday.

Please excuse the mess!

2011-01-18T16:15:00.002Z

a supposedly 'simple' blog makeover has gone somewhat awry, and i'm left with a bit of a mess!! hopefully I'll get everything restored back to a reasonable state today.

January Design Team Entries

2011-01-13T22:15:00.004Z

Hey folks

thought I'd better pop by as promised this week and share the remainder of this month's design team entries as I'd completely neglected to do so - i cant believe it's almost Friday already, and my to do list is still as long as it was on Monday!!

The first card is for the colour challenge that I set this month - melon mambo, daffodil delight, pumpkin pie and chocolate chip, I needed a combo to kick-start my mojo as I was kind of stuck in a Christmas rut still! This card features the 'just believe' stamp set, which I have to say is becoming a firm favourite of mine, and I've combined it with the 'framed' set from waltzingmouse stamps. It's a very simple card, no ribbon buttons brads or pearls in sight but I love it!

The second is also a colour combination entry, which is currently winging its way to Darren's mum as it's her birthday early next week. A slightly more fussy design featuring flowers from the 'growing green' stamp set, heat embossed using white powder on coloured cardstock and then cut out and layered around the frame, which is a stamp from waltzingmouse stamps. The sentiment is from curly cute, which i've masked to make 2 lines instead of one. Sadly the polka dot melon mambo ribbon which i've ruffled is now retired, and my stash is running low!! I'm hoping for some new ribbon colours in the new mini catalogue in April!!

the next entry was using the following sketch for inspiration

I fancied playing with a swinging z-fold base card for this one, and as the labels 4 nesties were still on my desk, this is what I came up with, using the sunny garden DSP and co-ordinating cottage garden stamp set

and here's a view of the inside, the colours are daffodil delight, pear pizzazz, peach parfait and pure poppy.

Finally Karin set us the challenge of making a scrapbook page. I have to admit I'm not the strongest scrapper, so I stretched the challenge slightly and made a tri-shutter album, which will soon be on its way to my friend Clare who's recently had a baby boy, for her to pop some piccies of his first month in. The papers are from the nursery suite collection, and the colours used are pear pizzazz, baja breeze, bashful blue and marina mist. I've also used the tag from the saleabration punch bunch set, the baby tees wheel and tiny tags on the inside.

That's all I have for now, I'm just putting the finishing touches to my valentines class, which hopefully I'll be able to photograph in daylight on Saturday, then I'll be back to share some sneak peeks early next week! Have a great weekend

The 12th Day of Christmas.....

2011-01-06T18:50:00.002Z

Well, that's it folks, Christmas is well and truly over. My tree and decorations are down and packed away until December, and I'm gradually finding homes for things in my craft room for all my lovely new stash that I received for Christmas and my birthday. At this rate I'm going to have to have a major sale to get rid of some stash that I no longer use!!

Being as it's the last day of Christmas, I thought I'd share some of the cards, bags and boxes that I didn't get time to post in the run-up, and I've resolved this year to make some throughout the year so that I don't end up with everything being so last minute this year (we'll see how long that resolution lasts!!).

Here are some of the gift packages that I made this year, the first is for my Secret Santa over on ILWS, a tote in Soft Suede with matching card, and the lovely goodies that it contained

And then some gift boxes containing yummy belgian truffles from Truffles of Stamford, made using the 'back to basics' template from Papertrey Ink.

And finally the gift packaging for my downline's gifts, the larger tote contains some chocolates and the smaller one a colour coach.

I'm currently putting together some samples for my January Valentine class on the 22nd, some sneak peeks will be coming in the next few days. There are still a few places left, so if you'd like to join us, drop me an email to confirm your place.

See you soon!

Linz

SALE-A-BRATE The New Year

2011-01-03T19:05:00.001Z

Hey folks
I'm back, albeit a couple of days later than originally intended due to a stinking cold and blogger going on strike on me and refusing to post those that I'd scheduled. I hope you all had a fabby Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year!

Of course the start of the new year means a new promotion from Stampin' Up! in the form of sale-a-bration, which effectively means EXTRA FREE STAMPS. You can earn freebies in one of three ways:

1. Spend £45 (product sales before shipping and handling) and earn one free Sale-A-Bration set of your choice. For every £45 you spend you can choose one set.

2. Host a workshop of at least £300 (product sales before shipping and handling), and earn one free Sale-A-Bration set in addition to the generous hostess benefits.

3. Join Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration and choose a free stamp set (excluding hostess sets) from the Idea Book & Catalogue (valued up to £44.95).

The stamp sets which you can choose from are shown below

And here are a couple of samples using the bliss and sweet summer stamp sets, which I made for the ILWS design team challenges this month.

I've got a few more samples to share over the next couple of days - and some exciting news to announce later in the week, so stay posted!!

Linz
x

Christmas Again!

2010-12-15T16:27:00.000Z

Happy Wednesday folks!
Well, half way through the week again, which means it'll soon be the weekend!! I've just about finished making Christmas cards for this year, and here are two more to show you. The first features stocking prints from papertrey ink and the lovely Christmas Coca DSP in a joy fold. The second uses the wreath from 'Welcome Christmas' in an easel card with real red and old olive, the gorgeous red flocked paper on the base is again from Christmas Cocoa DSP - which is still available to buy in the 'Bundle up for Christmas' promotion until December 29th.

Lots of boxes keep appearing with backorder items for me to get inky with over the Christmas break, when I'll be busy designing classes for January, February and March next year. The next class dates are January 22nd, February 19th and March 19th - details and sneak peeks to follow soon. It'll be nice to make something other than Christmas stuff for a change. However, I've still got a couple more Christmas designs to share, so I'll be back later in the week with those. I'm hoping the weather holds in the meantime so that my cards and pressies will get to their destinations quickly - I'm thinking that there's little chance of that though!!

Well, see you later in the week
Linz
x

Christmas Preparations....

2010-12-14T10:19:00.001Z

Morning all
it's been a busy weekend as I had my last class for the year, where we were making a calendar for the new year and two matching cards. Here is the set we were making, the instructions and class kits are now available to purchase here.

Then on Sunday I braved the shops to take my Dad Christmas shopping, the good news is that I'm now finished, I just have to wrap it all and write my cards!! Speaking of cards, I managed to get a couple of pictures in semi-daylight this morning, so here are two of the cards that I'll be sending this year, both using the Serene Snowflakes stamp set and a neutrals colour scheme.
The first is an easel card with the large snowflake embossed using white powder on chocolate chip, layered on soft suede and then onto crumb cake. the paper is from the Christmas Cocoa speciality DSP which is still available in the Christmas Bundle offer until 29th December.

The second is a standard C6 card with a whisper white panel stamped in crumb cake, chocolate chip, sahara sand and soft suede, layered onto chocolate chip and then onto a soft suede base card. the greeting from curly cute is again heat embossed using white powder. the card is finished with a white satin knot and a few of the very sparkly rhinestones.

Well, that's all for today - I've got a some more Christmas cards to photograph and upload later this week, and I guess I should get on with wrapping some pressies!!

Have a good week

Linz

Ornate Flowers - Sneak Peek

2010-12-09T16:16:00.001Z

Afternoon all, can someone please tell me how did we get to Thursday already??

I had a fab day on Monday as I had a day off work making Christmas cards - I've a few more left to finish and then I'll begin the mammoth task of writing all of them and wrapping gifts! I'm ready now for a change to something non-Christmassy. Speaking of which, I have a class this Saturday where we're making a calendar and a couple of cards using the Ornate Flowers stamp set and Greenhouse Gala DSP, which is really summery and bright. Here's a little sneak peek

Instructions and class kits will be available to purchase on my blog after the class on Saturday. And hopefully I'll get a chance to take some piccies of my Christmas cards in daylight before I write and send them all!
Until then I hope you're all keeping warm.
Linz

ILWS Design Team Challenges

2010-12-04T07:00:00.000Z

Morning All,
I'm back again, this time with my design team entries for November on ILWS, I'd completely forgotten to post them last month, despite having completed them on time and uploaded them!

The first challenge was to create some gift packaging. I used the Lauren Meader 'catch all' template to make a gift box for my convention room-mate's pillow gift, which was a pamper kit of some yummy molton brown toiletries, a fluffy flannel, face packs and nail file. I used another of her templates to make a door hanger for some choccies for Val's birthday.

I combined the packaging challenge with the colour challenge to make a matching gift set in red, orange and yellow. I embossed the roses from growing green using white powder on coloured cardstock and cut them out to embellish the box, and I used some of the in colour ribbon in peach parfait to complete the ensemble. the sentiment is taken from the hostess set 'afterthoughts'.

My final colour challenge entry doubled as a birthday card for my friend's son - I'm loving playing with the make a monster set from the new catalogue, its a really fun one to use and I loved the bright colours.
I've got another couple to share when I manage to locate the photos and upload them!!

see you soon
Linz

Challenges part 2

2010-12-03T07:22:00.001Z

Hey folks,
as promised, I'm back to show you my final three submissions for the design team challenges over on ILWS this month. the third challenge was 'ornaments' I'd been playing with 'Contempo Christmas' and 'Delightful Decorations' quite a lot recently, so decided to try something a bit different. I got my craftROBO doing some of the work for me, making hanging tealight holders. Here are the two designs I came up with - both featuring a stamp from serene snowflakes and containing battery tealights. The templates are available to purchase from the silhouette website.

the final challenge for this month was a sketch, and this is what we were given:

And here's my take on it, featuring the 'make a monster' set which I'm loving using (and thank you to the wonderful Darren for sketching the shadow for me as I can stamp but cant draw for toffee!!)

Well, that's all of this months entries, and I've just realised that I didn't blog any of last month's, so I'll try and post those tomorrow! In the meantime I'd better go and get on with making some more projects.

ttfn

Linz

December Design Team Challenges

2010-12-02T07:10:00.000Z

Morning all
just popping by to share a couple of my entries for this month's design team over on ILWS. The first for this month was the colour combo challenge of real red, tempting turquoise & old olive, my colleague's daughter turns 18 later this month, so I combined the two to make this stand-up card, using my craftROBO, the playdate papers and the funky four stamp set.

The next challenge which I attempted was the technique challenge, which this month was to create an entry with no layers, although some embellishments were allowed. I have to admit struggling with this one as I'm a matting and layering kind of girl and adore using papers, but back to basics I went, creating these two cards with little more than 4 rubber stamps, versamark ink and embossing powder - it just goes to show that we dont NEED lots of stash - we just want it!!

Well, that's all I've got time for today I'm afraid, but if you fancy playing along, then why not hop on over to ILWS and then leave me a comment here sharing your entries! I'll be back tomorrow with my last three submissions.

Linz
x

Ornate Flowers Class - Saturday 11th December

2010-12-01T17:46:00.000Z

Evening all
just popping on with a quick reminder that my next class is a week on Saturday (11th December) and we'll be focussing on the new year, making a calendar and a few cards using the 'Ornate Flowers' stamp set and greenhouse gala papers. I'll be back later in the week with a sneak peek of the projects.

There are still a few spaces left if you'd like to come along then please email me to reserve your place. The cost is £21 for the stamp set and class or £10 for the class only.

I'll hopefully see you there!
Linz
x

Contempo Christmas Creations

2010-12-01T07:00:00.011Z

Morning All!
Gosh, I hadn't realised how long it had been since I last posted - mainly because I've been waiting for some daylight to try and take some decent photos for my posts! It's been a busy few weeks, what with the frantic preparations of swaps for convention, then class preparations and of course starting to get ready for Christmas! There's been lots of crafting going on behind the scenes, so I'll have to try and share some of it over the next week or so, to make up for the recent drought!

Last Saturday I held my last Christmas themed class of the year, and we were creating cards and tags with the Contempo Christmas stamp set.this is the set we made

And here are the cards in more detail

and finally a divided matchbox-style gift tag box.

The instructions will be available to buy here.
until later
me
x

Exhausted but on a high!

2010-11-30T14:46:00.003Z

Happy Tuesday all!
I cant quite believe it, but after all the frantic preparation over the few weeks, it's been nearly a month since convention and i'm back down to earth and busy with class and Christmas preparations! I had an absolutely fantastic time meeting my fellow demonstrators from around the UK, France & Germany in Addington Palace and came back with lots of new ideas and inspiration - now I just need to find some time to implement them all - roll on the 8th day in the week :)

We found some crafty time too, and there were a number of fantastic demonstrations up on stage - I could have sat there all day watching Pam and Shelli making pretty things with our products! The awards night was a truly glitzy affair, although I had to be on my best behaviour as I was sitting next to the new SU president Rich Jutkins. I had the pleasure of seeing my Stampin' Up! mum walk up on stage to claim third place in the 'Demonstrator of the Year' award - congratulations Monica!!

There were a couple of very exciting announcements, including details of our promotions for January/February. I can't reveal any details as yet, but suffice to say it's worth getting your workshop bookings in for January/February as there are additional rewards for both customers & hostesses. Contact me to book your workshop and beat the January blues.

We were also given details of the location for next year's convention - we're going to Disneyland Paris!!!!!!!!! So, do you fancy coming along and joining in the fun? To register for convention you need to be a Stampin' Up! demo, read here for more details, or feel free to contact me for a chat about the opportunity to join my team!

So enough waffle - I'm guessing you'd like to see some piccies! Unfortunately I didn't take too many photos as the lighting was really poor, but I have some good ones of the swaps I made, and more to follow of the lovely cards I got back - there are some truly talented ladies out there. The first is the 'general swap' which I made 200 of (with thanks to Pat, Rebecca, my mum & Darren who were helping me with the frantic preparations)

Then there was the 'gift item swap' organised by Karin - the challenge was to make a gift for five of my fellow demos, and I came up with a convention memory scrapbook in a tin, here's the finished item

I'll be back later in the week with some more pictures when I've had a chance to photograph the gift items that I received in the swap. I also need to show you my samples for the design team challenges on In Love With Stamping this month.

Until then, have a great week.
Linz
x

He's Making a List and Checking it Twice!

2010-11-25T12:17:00.000Z

Happy Friday all - it's nearly the weekend again! and I've just realised that it's less than a month to Christmas, so I guess I'd better get my skates on and start making some Christmas cards! (normally I'd have them finished and written by now, but no such luck!!)

Well, with Christmas just around the corner, I'm guessing your thoughts are going towards the gifts you need to buy and wrap and the other preparations you need to make, but have you stopped to think about what YOU would like for Christmas?

Are you tired of receiving the same gifts year after year? Would you like a surprise, or a gift that you haven't had to buy for yourself? Well why not send me you Stampin' Up! wishlist, then pass my details to your family and friends and when they contact me I'll help them to select some gifts for you. I'll even gift wrap them and deliver them in advance so that it's a surprise on the big day! Simply email me and I'll send you a wishlist to fill in, then I'll take care of the rest.

Alternatively, I'm also offering the option of gift vouchers, which will enable you to choose your own goodies in January. They'll come presented in a handmade gift wallet and are available in a range of denominations. Email me for more details.

Hopefully you'll all be receiving lots of lovely crafty stash under your trees!

Linz
x

Bundle up For Christmas

2010-11-02T12:00:00.000Z

Morning all!
just popping by to share the latest promotion from Stampin' Up. Between 1st November and 29th December, we've got some fantastic bundles to help you with your Christmas preparations, including a new speciality designer paper - and the opportunity to earn some gorgeous free ribbons! Host a qualifying workshop/place a qualifying order (£150 or more not including p&p) and you'll also get to choose a free spool.

Here are the bundles you can choose from:

	Description	Wood Mount	Price	Clear Mount	Price
Gifted Bundle	Gifted Set and Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper	124051	£35.70	124052	£30.70
Welcome Christmas Bundle	Welcome Christmas Set and Christmas Cocoa Speciality Designer Series Paper	124063	£36.90	124064	£31.90
Season of Joy Bundle	Season of Joy Set and So Swirly Stampin’ Around Wheel	124055	£36.45	---	---
Delightful Decorations Bundle	Delightful Decorations Set and Ornament Punch	124058	£37.45	---	---

Here's the gorgeous Christmas Cocoa Speciality designer paper included in the Christmas Bundle - 12 Sheets total: 2 ea. of 2 single-sided, flocked designs: 2 ea of 4 double- sided designs. This one's on my wishlist!!

And when you purchase one of the bundles above, you can choose from these ribbons:

Picture	Description	Item	Retail Value
	Mistletoe Ribbon Originals	116792	£11.50
	Sleigh Bells Ribbon	116795	£8.50
	Riding Hood Red 1-1/4” Striped Grosgrain Ribbon	113099	£10.25
	Real Red 3/4” Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon	115608	£10.25

Bundles and ribbons are available while supplies last, there is no limit to the number of bundles and free ribbons you can order.

Contact me to place your order!
Linz
x

All Day Christmas Class Projects

2010-10-29T09:53:00.000+01:00

Morning All
well it's been a busy week here, I'm frantically trying to finish all of the projects I need to have completed before going to the Stampin' Up! convention next week, i have a lovely group of ladies coming to help me with some swaps on Sunday, but before then I have 6 design team samples to finish before Sunday, and 6 gift items. in the meantime I thought I'd better pop by and show you some of what we got up to last weekend at my Christmas class. We had a full day session, and I for one was exhausted by the end of it! in the morning the ladies made six cards using the one sheet wonder technique and Serene Snowflakes stamp set

We used a slightly unusual colour combo for Christmas cards - cherry cobbler, marina mist, crumb cake and whisper white. For those of you who'd like to give it a try at home, there is an instruction download and a class kit purchase option available - just click here for more details. we then made a couple of 'make and take' style projects, unfortunately I don't have any photos of these at the moment, so I'll have to share those at a later date. in the afternoon, following a yummy lunch (including of course mince pies!), we went on to make a flip album to record our Christmas memories using half a Christmas Jingle scrap kit.

That's all for now, thank you to the lovely ladies who came and took part in the class. The next one for your diaries is Saturday 20th November from 1pm-4pm, and we'll be making some last-minute Christmas cards using Contempo Christmas. Please call or email me to book your place - the class cost is £10 for the class only or £20 for the class plus the stamp set (RRP £15.95).

I'll be back at some point over the weekend with pictures of my design team projects for this month, and a sneak peek of my swaps for convention.

Linz

Join My Team and Earn Free Stamps

2010-10-26T13:00:00.001+01:00

Have you been considering signing up as a demonstrator?
Well there's never been a better time, as well as the fantastic benefits and the reduced price starter kit offered by Stampin' Up! I myself am offering an extra bonus of a free stamp set, to anyone signing up as my downline between now and Friday 29th October. If you've been considering it, there's further information here

Please do get in touch for a chat!
Linz
x

And the winners are...

2010-10-25T22:43:00.001+01:00

Thank you all for your orders, the winners of the prize draw were as follows:

Ladies, if I could ask the winners to contact me ASAP with their product choices please and I'll place the order first thing in the morning.

Many thanks
Linz

New Catalogue Celebrations!!!

2010-10-25T18:00:00.000+01:00

OFFER CLOSES AT 5PM TODAY - PLEASE ENSURE YOU HAVE SENT YOUR ORDER TO ME BY THEN IF YOU WISH TO BE INCLUDED IN THE DRAW.

Well folks,

it's been out for a couple of weeks now, so hopefully you've had a chance to get inspired, compose your wish-lists and decide which of the yummy new products you'd like to get your mitts on!

If you place an order of £45 or more with me between now and the 25th October, you'll get a chance to win even more goodies. For every five orders I receive, there will be a draw for the following prizes:

1st prize

£45 towards a stamp set and punch of your choice from the new catalogue (or merchandise to this value)

2nd prize

a level one hostess set

3rd Prize

£15 to spend in the catalogue

if you spend £90, then you get two entries, and if I receive 10 orders then there will be two prize draws, each with the same prizes etc.

Please note, prizes are in addition to your order and cannot be subtracted from it. the draw will be filmed and posted on my blog the day after orders close, and you will have 24 hours to make your selections - winners will also be notified by email. This is an offer from me personally, and is not part of any current promotion from Stampin' Up, it cannot be combined with any other offer, and previous orders/class kits can not count towards it.

Linz

Peterborough Training

2010-10-25T16:11:00.000+01:00

Happy Monday all!

apologies, I meant to share some more crafty items with you last week, but before I knew it, Saturday morning was upon me and I was busy with my all-day Christmas class, I'll share some photos of the projects from that later in the week. In the meantime however, I realised that I hadn't shared any photos of the projects I made for our demonstrator training event last weekend in Peterborough. My lovely upline Monica asked me to make and demonstrate some samples using a selection of our products. Given the fantastic range of new punches that we have in our catalogue, I opted for punch art, and here are some of my creations

(thanks to Monica for the photos - I completely forgot to take any!!) my favourites have to be the reindeer in the treat box and the singing reindeer, and the best of it is, they can all be created using SU punches. I'll try and prepare some tutorials in the next couple of weeks - once I've managed to complete a mountain of swaps!

I'll be back shortly with my prize draw for qualifying orders.

Pretty Post!!

2010-10-21T09:51:00.000+01:00

Morning all
once again the weeks are whizzing by, and seem to pick up speed as we're approaching the end of the year! I've been busy designing swaps for our demo training session in Peterborough last weekend, I'll share a piccie of those as soon as I have chance to take one! In the meantime I wanted to share a thank you present that another demo, the lovely Vannessa, made for me

Isn't it gorgeous? Thank you sweetie!! I keep opening it, taking out the yummy contents and then popping them back in, and I'm simply in love with the colour combo and papers.

I'm in the midst of preparing for my all day Christmas class, so I'll have a few more projects to share over the next few days, and then the fun of making 200 swaps will be looming on me, not to mention Christmas preparations!

Well, that's all for now folks
See you soon!
L
x

Challenges Part Deux

2010-10-07T07:58:00.002+01:00

Hello Again
Twice in one week! I'm back with the second instalment of my entries for the ILWS design team this month. The lovely Karin set us a 'Halloween' theme challenge - to make an item/card for Halloween, which I know isn't massive over here, but I think she's missing home in Canada where it's a big thing. Well i went off blog hopping, itching to do something a bit different, and found triangle treat pouches decorated as scary halloween characters, and so batty was born.

And finally, Sara set the challenge to make a project which didn't use any card. Circle circus was sitting on my desk, still inky from Jim's birthday card, so I decided to have a go at melting wax and decorating a candle (it's fiddly, but quite easy to achieve!) so here is entry number one

Then I used up some scraps of the sweet peas DSP stack to create a treat pouch cover, ran a glassine bag through an embossing folder, and used it to make a co-ordinating ribbon gift pouch, decorated with felt sweet pea flowers, which are now sadly retired.

Well, that's all I have to share today - be sure to pop over to the design team gallery and have a peek at what the other lovely ladies have been up to!

until next time
me
x