Test tube gifts

I have another little gift idea to share with you today. These are little plastic test tubes which I have filled with Hot Chocolate Drink and Marshmallows in the double holder and Raspberry Flavoured " Millions" chewy sweets in the Pink single one.

I made a simple acetate box with card top and bottom for the pink one. For the double one I used a template from over at Lisa Somerville's blog ( her work is incredible, go take a look at her creations here )

Christmas Welcome gift

Hi there

I thought I would share with you a little gift and card that I have made this morning. It is a very simple gift to make but I like the idea of matching card and bag.

Stampin'Up! makes this soooo easy with all the matching cardstock, ink pads and ribbons and it's one of the reasons I love their products.

Christmas Day table

I am feeling so pleased with myself today.

I hit upon the idea of these mini pillow boxes for on my dinner table on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. They are just the perfect size to hold an After Eight mint. I shall be having these instead of crackers this year.

Mini matchbox storage

I have seen lots of these matchbox storage towers used as advent calendars and set out to make one of my own. However once I had the basic tower built I decided that it was too nice to only use as an advent one so I have decided I am going to have it on my shelf in my craft room to store mini embellishments.

I made a folded origami box for the top ( I made the bottom of the box smaller than I usually do when I am making a gift box as I need the lid to lift off very easily so it does not pull the bottom of the box up off of the platform bit) This gives me an additional storage area for other little bits and bobs. Obviously I still have a few extra embellishments to add to the side panels for decoration but I just wanted to share it with you asap.

If anyone knows of a REALLY CHEAP blank and empty matchbox supplier here in the UK I would be thrilled if you would let me know. I paid £2.10 for the 24 matchboxes I needed and although this is not massively expensive for such a cute finished article, I am at a loss as to what to do with the 960 matches that were inside lol. I just know that I am going to want to make lots of these little drawer sets so any advice would be gratefully received.

Season of Joy Red version

And here is the Red version

Season of Joy

Hi there

I thought I would share this morning's creations with you . I fancied making some Z - Fold cards so have made 7 so far today.

I think these will all be for my neighbours ( I try to make all of my neighbours cards using the same stamp set and each year I make a note of which image I have used so the designs change every year)

I have got a couple of calendars to put together this afternoon so I am determined to have a productive day today.

Season of Joy

Well I have been on a roll again today. I made 12 Christmas cards (mainly just one design but different colourways) before lunchtime and then this evening I have made a further 8 Christmas cards in this design ( with added extra of white ribbon on the left side). Can you tell that I am now feeling quite desperate in my bid to get my cards made lol.

The only drawback of being a card maker is that everyone expects a handmade creation these days. I just KNOW that I would get looks of horror if I were to try and palm people off with shop bought cards now.

Oh well 20 cards completed today to go with my 10 mug gift sets I made yesterday.....now that is not a bad achievement for just two days

How many days do I have left ha ha ha.............................

Stocking filler gifts

Here is a picture of what I got up to last night. The inspiration came from various blogs and galleries on the Internet.

I went out yesterday and bought a selection of mugs in Asda. Last night I made 10 of these gift sets with chocolate drink, marshmallows, bar of chocolate and scallop covered Elizabeth Shaw chocolates. They are for my family and friends as stocking filler pressies but they would also be perfect as standby gifts for unexpected visitors.

Bright, white world today

Well we certainly have snow today. It all looks rather beautiful and I am just glad I don't need to go anywhere today.

I now have a perfect opportunity to get cracking with my christmas cards. I made some lovely stocking filler christmas gifts yesterday and will upload a picture later.

Silent Night

Thought I had better get a move on with some Christmas cards.......otherwise I can see I will be the one and only card maker who hasn't sent any handmade creations this year. I usually have ALL my 100+ cards made and posted by the end of November but time has got the better of me this year. This is a quickie card to start me off, using one of my all time favourite SU sets "Silent Night"

So for the rest of this week I will be frantically making all those that need posting and getting them in the mail by Monday next week. And then I will have to concentrate on the more intricate "Family and Close Friends" cards and gifts that are just ideas buzzing around in my brain at the moment.

Guess who is going to be up til midnight or later on Christmas Eve this year ?

Plain and Simple

Another red and white simple colour combination card.

The Z card design is one from a class I attended with Jenny over at Stamping Moments. I just changed the colours and the stamp set used. Her work always inspires me and her blog is full of great ideas, tips etc

A new creation at last

It has been a while since I last made a card but I have finally managed to put one together tonight. Hooray..... I thought my creativity had deserted me for good. This may not be the best card I have ever made but I am still pleased to have made it lol.

The border is the Stampin' Up! So Swirly wheel. I bought an un-inked cartridge and inked it using versamark liquid. I then stamped the design and embossed the design using white embossing powder. I am loving the "crisp" look of red and white at the moment so will certainly be using those colours on a few of my christmas cards this year.

Back from hols

Hi there

Sorry for my lack of posts in the last couple of weeks or so.

I have been away on holiday in Cornwall. I will hopefully get some time towards the end of this week to be creative and will post my creations as soon as I can. I need to get a move on with my christmas cards and to play around with some natty ideas I have for stocking filler pressies. Watch this space !

Halloween

Well 2008 has seen a 1st for me. I dressed up in fancy dress and went trick or treating with my Great Niece Jessica and lots of other kiddies. My friend Vikki arranged the trick or treating with a party to followand we all had a lovely time. Here is a picture of Jessica and I .

U Stamp Holidays 08

I am delighted to say that UStamp have now opened for their Holidays 08 online classes.

For amazing inspiration, fun projects, video tutorials, chat and to join in with other like minded crafters head off over to Ustamp (Just click on the UStamp banner to the right of my blog)

New Catalogue

Wow it's here....and it's gorgeous.

I am of course talking about the NEW Stampin' Up 2008/9 Ideas book and Catalogue which launched today.

There are lots of brand new stamp sets, designer papers and accessories. The ideas book is packed with so many beautiful samples, I guarantee your wish list will be as long as mine.

I am looking towards starting a Stampers 10 club shortly so if you want to know more about how this works and how you can qualify for Hostess Benefits AND Free Catalogue goodies please email me using the link on the right hand side of this page.

If you would like to purchase the New Catalogue please see my earlier post about the free gift I will send out as a special welcome from me to you.

Old Fashioned Christmas

I have been having a play today with Stampin' Up! Old Fashioned Christmas stamp set. I am pleased with how they look and I am even more pleased that I now have my FIRST 5 Christmas cards made for this year........I really do need to get myself more organised lol

New Catalogues...

Did I mention that the new Stampin'Up! catalogues are here ? I think I may have mentioned it lol.

My copy of the catalogue is already looking a wee bit dog eared as I have been through it soooo many times since it arrived. There are just so many things that you have to go back and look at again and my wish list grows bigger every day.

Well I thought I would share a sneaky peek of the goody bag I have put together for anyone who purchases the new catalogue from me. For £4.95 plus postage you get the scrummy new catalogue, the bag and gifts you see in the picture ( plus I do believe there are 2 or three other items still inside the bag which are a secret) All in all great value for money and your pack is just waiting for you.

Can you tell I am still loving the colour combination of Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla ?

Ooh I almost forgot to mention I got the goody bag template from the wonderful one I received on my birthday from Jenny over at Stamping Moments. I will post a picture of that one very soon....it was lovely.

Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip

Well ......

I have always had a soft spot for brown and pink together but my new favourite combination has got to be Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla....could this be something to do with the new catalogue inspiring me ?

This is a mini card I put together just to see how the colours worked together......and the answer is YES.

Well THEY DO for me !

Birthday Cards for Father in Law

I thought I would share with you the two cards I made for my Father in Law's birthday which was yesterday.

Heart to Heart Blog Candy

I have been blog browsing and wanted to tell you about the amazing thing that is going on over at this Cammies blog.

This lady lost her Grandmother to Alzheimers and as a way of marking National Alzheimer's Day she started a small blog candy giveaway. This small thing she started has now grown huge with donations from individual card makers and huge companies alike.

I have only just heard about this great thing she is achieving but it has truly moved me. I have my card made and as I personally do not know of anyone with this illness, my card will be in the mail today to the care home where Cammi's Grandmother was cared for.

There is not long left for you to do your bit but please take time out from your busy day to go and take a look. I am so glad I did that small thing today.

Here is my card.

New Catalogues are Right here waiting for YOU

Just a very quick post to let you know that I now have the new Stampin' Up! catalogues. I am very busy making up catalogue goody bags. The cost is £5 plus postage and for that you will receive the scruptious new catalogue plus additional gifts from me.

Please email me mariamitchell64@yahoo.co.uk and reserve your copy now. I have a limited number of the new catalogue until my next order arrives so act now to avoid delays. (I will email confirmation of your reserved catalogue on a first come first served basis)

I will be placing an order on 1st October so please feel free to contact me if you wish to place an order. Please remember that I am more than happy to take individual small orders too.

Ribbon Flower

Here is my creation from Jenny's technique tutorial . You can see her gorgeous version using the new "True Friend" stamp set over on her blog Here

Thank you again Jenny for sharing this technique

Paper Piecing

Hi there

This post is especially for Monica, you can visit her blog here

Over on UStamp chat last night she challenged those of us that have yet to try out Paper Piecing to give it a go. This is the first time I have tried this and here is my card.

I therefore thank Monica for inspiring me to give it a try. She also spoke about Heat and Stick last night and she has an amazing video demonstration of this technique over on her blog at the moment. Guess who will be trying that next lol

Gifts for Craft Fair

As I said in my last post I have a craft stall at a local community event this Thursday. I did already have a few bits and bobs made but nothing like the amount I need to fill a stall

That's a big problem with only 5 days left before the event.

With that in mind I have had somewhat a busy couple of nights but I have to say I am amazed at how much I have got done already since Friday afternoon. These pictures show the 3 inch gift boxes that I have made so far ( plain versions of these boxes are what the children will be making with me on Thursday)

The other photos show the Fall Flowers memo pad, photo holder and book mark and also the wicker basket I am using on the table for some of the small bits and bobs.

I will take more pictures throughout this week to show how my sale items are growing.

More Gift Bags

After making my first gift bag ( Lovely as a Tree set in earlier post) and with a craft stall to fill up for this Thursday ........yes that's right THIS Thursday I decided I had better get my finger out.

I came up with these gift bags for either the arrival of a new baby or for a baby's birthday or Christening gift. I was going to leave some bags plain white but after looking at the photos I have decided I will go back and stamp the bags with the tiny bird and flowers from the Wild About You set. They will only take a few minutes to do but they do look better I think)

I am really pleased with these bags and they are so easy to do ( original idea from Tutorial by Heather over a UStamp)

Thank you Jenny

Firstly I must say a really big Thank You to Jenny for featuring me as her Sunday stamper. I had such a lovely surprise this morning to see my gift bag and card shown there on her blog HERE

I visit Jenny's blog everyday as I find her work awesome and it never ceases to inspire me. I have no idea how Jenny keeps coming up with all her lovely new ideas but I am so glad she shares them with us.

So on to my creations..........this first photo shows those giant binder clips looking far prettier than they did in the stationery store. ( Thanks to Jenny for sharing this idea lol)

Lovely as A Tree Giftbag

Here is another Giftbag.........

I have made the bag topper as per the previous post and have made a matching A5 card. They do look rather nice when seen next to one another. I feel the need to make lots of these now so watch this space.

By the way if you pop over to Michelles Blog she is offering some lovely Stamping Up blog candy. I love her card ideas and she is already in my list of favourites under Michelle SU. Even if you don't want to enter her blog candy giveaway then you should pop over there just to see her work.

Gift bag for New Catalogue

I have recently aquired the Wild About You tutorial from Heather via her blog here

I was having a look through the tutorial and although I do have the Wild About You stamps set, and I do intend to make lots of gift bags with them I suddenly thought I would give it a try with the gorgeous "Roses in Winter" instead and see how one would turn out.

I am thinking along the lines of using this set and others for making these bags to sell my catalogues in (with maybe a tiny matching bagalope containing wish list / mini memo pad , little pencil and possibly an offer voucher of some sort for customers first order with me)

Thought they could also double up as Hostess Gift packs with maybe a small stamp in a matching tiny gift box.

What does anyone think ? All comments would be much appreciated be they positive or negative.

Missing in Action

Hi there
Sorry I have not been around for a while and that I haven't updated my blog. This has been due to some health issues but hopefully these can now be forgotten and I can move forward.

It is a good day to make that start as TODAY is the day that all of us Stampin'Up Demonstrators in the UK can start ordering our copies of the new catalogue. I have already been online and ordered mine....can't wait to see what they have in store for us.

Another positive is that UStamp is now up and running. I am sure this site will bring inspiration to us all. For registration for these exciting new online classes click here or follow the link on the right of my blog.

I was browsing around blogs the other day and discovered that Janette here has already made a brilliant start to her 2008 Christmas cards and they are so cute. She made me realise that it REALLY isn't that far away and that I need to get my finger out.

Now don't laugh.....but here is the sum of all the crafting I have done so far this week. I got the clip thingys from Staples and the inspiration from Jenny at Stamping Moments here Her cards and her creativity are awesome

Guess who is betting her SU Perfect Presents set out this weekend and definitely making some cards ?

Big thanks to both Jenny and Janette for helping me to get at least some of my creativity back.

Shelli and I at the Manchester tour event

Well here I am with Shelli Gardner Co- founder and CEO of Stampin'Up!This was taken on Tuesady night at the Manchester Stampin'Up! tour event. My guests and I had a fun time and it was lovely to meet Shelli and her sister Lesley and also Paula and Kelly from Stampin'Up! UK

I also got to try the Watercolour crayons....I am converted already. They were so easy to use and so versatile. They are now top of my own wishlist along with the markers.....

I will try and take a piccy of the projects we did at the event and post it here for you to see.

Garden Silhouettes

This is my first card using the Stampin Up Garden Silhouettes Hostess set. I adore these stamps and look forward to doing heaps of cards with this one set. The sentiment stamp is from Sincere Salutations and the dots were using the polka dot background stamp.

Be Happy

Here is one of the cards I have made for my Be Happy sample board.

I am not usually into bold bright colours but this stamp set just speaks " fun" to me so I automatically went for vibrant colours. I have made a couple of others too but will have to upload those later.

The ink and cardstock are Taken with Teal and Whisper White.

Stampin Up .........on candles

Well here it is.....

My first ever stamped candle.

I have been looking at samples of these for months over on Splitcoast and on other peoples blogs but have only just plucked up the courage to try it for myself.

I used SU set Lovely as a Tree, which I have to say I believe will always be one of my favourite sets. I actually stamped the trees twice to fit all the way around the candle so it was a bit tricky when I came to the ironing stage but just did it in two halves.

Can anyone out there answer a very important question for me regarding these stamped candles please. Are they still safe to burn or does attaching the stamped tissue paper design make them purely decorative ?

Stampin Up

Well I am back and with some exciting news. I have signed up with Stampin Up as a demonstrator and am just awaiting delivery of my starter kit. This should be with me next week sometime and I am like a child waiting for Christmas at the moment. I now need to get myself in gear and create the samples I will need for my first workshop.

Blog Candy at Funky Fairy

Hi there just to let you know that there is Blog Candy offered over at Funky Fairy Inspirations and you can find the link HERE

They will pick 3 winners on Saturday.

My first Bella card

I have just bought my first Bella stamps. There are hundreds to choose from and you can find them HERE They arrived yesterday and I finally managed to have a play with them around about 11pm last night. This is my first card using the Bella's and this one is called Savvyshoppabella.

Within my stamp collection I needed something which covers teens to young women and I think these images are perfect for that.

The papers are a download which I have printed off myself. These just three papers from the Preppy range, one of many sets available from Cuddly Buddly which you can view HERE

Off to do my chores now so that I can play again this afternoon.

Thanks for dropping by
Maria

Weekend fun

Hi there

I had fun this weekend creating these little card wallets. I saw them over on Jenny's Blog and was blown away by her example. Mine are not nearly as beautiful as Jenny's but I certainly had fun making them both. I decided to make my wallets as little gifts so will be including 4 cards and envelopes in each one.

The Unfrogettable wallet is the same size as Jenny's but the Heartfelt one is slightly bigger as I wanted it to hold standard C6 cards and envelopes (these were just a touch too big for the original sized wallet)

I loved the look of the fastener on Jenny's wallet but don't have any of those so I used ribbon instead. I just cut a slit in the two sides of my wallet, attached the ribbon inside and threaded it throughto tie at the front.

I don't usually do "Cute"

I do not usually do "cute" cards but thought I would share these three with you.

The first two are using Magnolia and Sugar Nellie stamps. I decided that I really needed something in my stamp collection that is perfect for really cute little girls cards and I think they will be perfect.

The third card is using a "Fluffles" Stampendous stamp. Janette is solely to blame for this purchase :-) She made me a gorgeous little Get Well card using this stamp, after my recent surgery and it cheered me up no end...... It was just one of those "must have" images

I need a lot more practice with watercolouring (not at all confident as yet) but I am sure I can learn if I practise enough.