Christmas Bundle Offer

This post will stay at the top until 29th December. Please scroll down to view new posts.

Yet another fantastic offer from Stampin' Up!

Receive one of four exclusive packages of ribbon when you purchase one of the "Christmas gift-giving bundles" on offer. There are four gift bundles to choose from and four different ribbons available.

The offer runs from 1st November through 'til 29th December 2010 whilst stocks last and as the ribbon packs are not available for purchase contact me today to place your orders asap to ensure you are not disappointed.

For more information see HERE

Family Christmas Cards

After battling with a flu type cold all week I was finally able to get my family cards made yesterday which was a big relief. I don't have that many to do but it certainly took me a while to decide what I wanted for this year's card. I used to make all totally different cards but last year I decided that I would stick with a common theme for all cards and just change something oneach one slightly so it is still quite unique. So as Dasher is my family's favourite all rounder stamp this year he had to figure on my family cards. I do still have 2 more "special" cards to make and he will likely feature on those too but they will have to wait until after tomorrow as I have my last two classes tonight and tomorrow and I have not prepped the photos OR the notes even for those as yet.

In addition to the family cards I also managed to decorate a gift bag and make a matching card for my lovely UPS delivery man . He always manages to get my SU parcels to me and even goes out of his way to go to my Mum's to drop them off on those odd times when I am not in or if they arrive when we are away. He is great and I like to make an effort to say thank you for all you do. Hope he appreciates the packaging as much as the contents lol

Craft Club Christmas Party Meeting

Hi there

Last Monday was the final Craft Club meeting for 2010 so I held a Christmas party rather than our usual format. I created tent cards for everyone and a little gift box containing 3 Ferrero Rocher chocolates (I think they went down well but then who doesn't love those little choccies? )I love the Cherry Cobbler, Early Expresso and Old Olive combination in the Holiday papers and have used it a lot for my Christmas cards (well the odd few I have managed to get done this year)
Instead of my usual Card Buffet cards I decided to treat everyone to a couple of free Make and Takes. I decided to use the gorgeous Welcome Christmas stamp set and I cased a card from the lovely Jenny at Stamping Moments HERE I changed the card colours to Baja Breeze and Soft Suede and simplified it a wee bit as there were quite a few ladies sharing my one stamp set. I also added a little matching gift box for everyone to make and all who attended made a great job with theirs. For those of you who know I don't "do" glitter very often please note that there were Dazzling Diamonds in abundance that night.........what a lift this glitter brings to a project, note to myself I WILL use it more often hee hee

I soooooooooooo wish I had got this Welcome Christmas as soon as we got the new Catalogue in October instead of only purchasing it a couple of weeks ago!!!!!! I absolutely adore it and feel like I just haven't given myself enough time to thoroughly explore the potential this set has.

However next year, beginning in January I am going to be starting a monthly "Christmas Theme" class whereby I make solely Christmas items, ie cards, gifts, boxes etc. My reasoning behind this is that I will no longer be chasing my tail come December as I will already have at least 11 sets of Christmas items made before then. If anyone is interested please get in touch and I will work on some dates for each month.

So here are the pictures of my little gifts and the make and take projects, hope you like them as much as my Craft Club ladies did on Monday

Post in Note Holder Take 2

Whilst doing my post it note class packs up earlier in the week I decided to do a couple in black and grey and although that may seem a bit of a weird colour choice to some of you it worked really well and they looked stunning when they were made up. Two ladies chose to do that colour combo on the night and two other ordered extra packs to take home in that colour. The one I am sharing with you today is my very plain version and most amazingly for me there isn't a sign of any stamping (that must be a first) but stamping aside I love how clean cut and simple it looks.

I have to say our Basic Black cardstock looks totally amazing when punched into flowers, scrunched and seperated into two layers, the suede effect you get from splitting the cardstock is lovely in all our colour range but these black ones actually look that rich, they are more like crushed velvet in texture.

I can see me making more of these little gifts as they are quick and simple to make but look so pretty.

Post it Note Holder

Just a very quick post for today as my nephew has just arrived and is taking me shopping as I am not willing to attempt the drive myself in these weather conditions. Oh for the confidence that young people have ! ! ! !

The project I am sharing with you today was the 3-D item I made for our team swap at Convention. Once my class ladies saw this they wanted to make one too so I had a small class on Monday and they chose their own colour scheme and decorated 2 each of these. We used the designer paper stacks and I have to say they are fantastic value at just £15.50 ( per colour family) and brilliant for my type of classes when I give my regular ladies a choice of colour to make their project individual.
Hope you like this little Post it Note Holder.

Ummm Anyone for a little Snow ??????

Well no cards to share with you today as nothing I can create could possibly compete with the pictures I AM sharing . How gorgeous is this beautiful valley today ? I am so glad I can now enjoy this view everyday when I am working in my new craft space. Admittedly it is a wee bit distracting but I am so lucky to be able to see all of this in the middle of winter whilst being as snug as a bug in my conservatory.

I am busy today making some little gifts and a make and take project for my Craft Club ladies for our last 2010 meeting on Monday night. I have planned a mini Christmas party and looking outside today I am hoping they will be able to get there on Monday. I am staying positive and need to get them finished. I will try to remember to take photos when I have them all done.

Clocks with a difference

Hi there

I thought I would share something a little different with you again today. This time I am featuring cute little clocks and matching gift boxes that my class created on Saturday. This was my first all day event in my new classroom and along with the crafting we also had cake on demand ( thank you Jenny and Sheila for your gorgeous contributions) and we did stop for lunch too.

These are totally OTT and very quirky but everyone loves them, they remind all of us of the little character clock in one of the Disney films. I wanted them to have the real vintage feel and they certainly have that along with heaps of character lol

The original clock idea came from a tutorial (still available) I bought from an amazing US demo, Sandi MacIver. I love her work and was totally smitten when I first saw her creations. You can go and view her work HERE so go and be inspired

I gave my ladies a small selection of colours to choose from and it was really amusing that I had two ladies do each of the four colours I offered. The colour mixes were a) Pink and Brown b) Purple and Vanilla c) Green and Brown d) Neutrals ( crumb cake, expresso and soft suede)I was a wee bit apprehensive about this class as my ladies have not really been exposed to paint, sanding, distressing, drilling etc before but I was thrilled to see each and every one of them thoroughly enjoy making their own individual creation from scratch.

Every clock and every box was different and they looked amazing. Unfortunately the light was fading a bit by the time we had all finished so the photos are not fantastic but I did promise my ladies I would pop them all on my blog for you to see. I have just noticed that here is one of the Green ones missing and that one is Vanessa's so apologies to her....she must have put hers away before the photo shoot.She is making others as presents so I will photograph one of those at a later date to show you.

Every person enjoyed what they made and a few of them are already planning their next clock to give as presents. So do you like them or are they just that bit too quirky and OTT ?

Love 'em or hate 'em..........I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Christmas Colour change

I thought I would share my newest Christmas card designs with you today.

I personally love traditional Red and green for Christmas cards and MOST ESPECIALLY our brand new Cherry Cobbler red with Old Olive but as I have used Cherry Cobbler to death lately I decided that I needed to move away from that combination and try something completely different.

One of my other new "favourite" colours from the colour renovation is Baja Breeze and I have gone through packs of this cardstock since the new catalogue launch on October 1st. I have been teaming it mainly with browns ie Soft Suede and Early Expresson but I decided I needed to do something different with it. have now fallen in love with the refreshing combination of Baja Breeze, Real Red and Whisper White and these are the cards I came up with for my Jaunty Ladies to make as part of their Christmas Card stack we have been working on over the past couple of weeks. I love the totally different look I have achieved with this combo and they seem crisp and fresh to me, almost frosty if that makes sense. I now just need to add some Dazzling Diamonds to add to that icy feel I think.

So what do you think, do you like them or have I lost the plot with this combo ?

First Christmas Cards

I have had a manic time since I got back from Convention as I have had a backlog of classes I simply had to prepare for so I apologise for the delay in posting.

The four cards I am sharing with you today were the cards my Jaunty Ladies made on Friday afternoon. I used the beautiful Welcome Christmas stamp set along with the ever popular "Dasher" stamp ( I love both of these) and went with traditional green and red with a touch of Early Expresso ( how gorgeous is this new brown? )

Hope you like this selection and I will try and post some of the others tomorrow or Friday.

Convention 2010

I am finally back from our 2010 Stampin' Up! Convention. I did get back yesterday afternoon but was simply too tired to do anything much than veg out on the sofa........boy did our team have a wonderful (but exhausting) time. I think it may have been something to do with the very late nights and even earlier mornings. This was the first time that many of us had met as a team and we wanted to make the most of every moment. Our team leader is the amazing Jenny Moors and although we are one of the smaller UK teams I know I speak for each and every one of us when I say we are so proud to be part of her team. She is one of the kindest and loveliest people you could ever wish to meet and is an inspiration to us all with her amazing creative talent. We love you Jenny and thank you for making Convention 2010 a place of special memories for all of us to cherish.

Hand on heart I have to say that although I was proud to be part of the first ever European Convention last year the 2010 Convention here in London was made even more special with so many more of our team members present. When they announced that next year's Convention will take place in Disneyland Paris there was pandemonium. I am sure the venue will mean that even more people will want to go.............I see decorated savings tins appearing in every demo's craft space over the next week or so.

If you would like to be part of that unique Stampin' Up! experience in Disneyland, Paris next November contact me today to learn more about coming a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and becoming part of my team.

For now I will leave you with a photo of our team on the main stage

2nd Anniversary card

Here is the 2nd Anniversary card I had to make for yesterday. This one was for my nephew Daniel and his wife Barbara, who were celebrating their 7th Anniversary and they both loved the card so I was very pleased.

I also managed to get my Mum's birthday card made but I cannot show that one until after today when I give it to her.

At last a card to share

Well at last.......................... my new craft room is now at that stage where I can actually sit in here and craft so here is my first creation.

This is a Wedding Anniversary card that I have made this morning and it is for my Sister and Brother in Law for tomorrow. I have used the gorgeous Wedding Sweet set of stamps and teamed it with Baja Breeze, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla inks and cardstock. I have also used our brand new border punch which is beautiful. Can you tell I am TOTALLY in love with the products in our new catalogue lol.

I must dash now as I have still to make another anniversary card for later on today for my nephew and his wife and also a Birthday card for my Mum for her birthday tomorrow..............can you tell that my family like to try and fit all the events into one week ha ha ha

New Craft Space

Just a quick apology for the lack of posts again.

I have had a really busy fortnight making samples etc for my New Catalogue Launch party and I have also been trying to get my new craft space organised. As you can see from these pictures it is coming along nicely but there is still quite a way to go before I can say it is a finished project. So far I have only moved in the basic furniture and a few essentials needed for this weeks classes so I have an awful lot of sorting out to do before I move the rest of my craft stash in there.

I am 100% determined that every single box in my existing craft room will be inspected and sorted before it comes anywhere near my wonderful new space. Anything I haven't used in ages or things I look at and have to think about how I can use it will be rehomed to another crafter who WILL make good use of it.

My new craft room may be a lovely big room but there is going to be no place in there for clutter of any form. I am spending this weekend trying to get the move completed so I will hopefully be back early next week to show you all a beautiful new TIDY room.

NEW Catalogue, NEW stamps AND NEW Colours

Hi there I am back as promised to show you the first card I have made with items from the New Catalogue.

This card uses one of our gorgeous new colours "Cherry Cobbler" which is the most stunning deep rich red that you can imagine. It goes perfectly with so many of the old colours as well as the new ones. It is a brilliant backdrop for the gold embossing I have used on this card and I can see me using it lots, especially for my Christmas cards as it gives a beautiful expensive feel to a card.

The card also uses one of the brand new stamp sets on offer in the new catalogue. The set is called Contempo Christmas and the really exciting news is that we now also have the matching punch for the bauble , so simply stamp your baubles in all the colours you want and punch them out....so easy and just perfect for those people who do struggle with cutting out with scissors.



I am still getting samples ready for my Catalogue Launch party on Thurs and also trying desperately to get my new craft room finished in time................who needs sleep anyway hee hee

I will try and get back again tomorrow to show off a couple more samples.

New Catalogue is here

So what is the date today ?

Of course .......it's 1st October so that means just one thing.

New

Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue goes live

TODAY

I have to say that I believe that the 2010/2011 Catalogue is our best yet. As you will know from the huge Last Chance list a huge amount of old sets have been retired so this meant just one thing........it made room for lots of new and exciting stamp sets.

In addition to a fantastic new selection of stamps we also have the total Colour Renovation. So there are now 40 new core colours for you to work with and for the first time ever we now have "In Colours" in cardstock, inks, accessories and papers.

I am delighted with the new catalogue and very excited about all the new things I will be able to play with over the coming 12 months. If you are free on Thursday next week please feel free to join me at my catalogue launch party to see samples made with some of the new products. If you cannot make that date but would like your own copy of the Idea Book and Catalogue please either purchase it via my tool bar or contact me to arrange collection.

Don't forget to pop back tomorrow to see my first examples.

Dorset and Father in Law's Birthday

I am finally back from my holiday in my home county Dorset and thought you might like to share one of the gorgeous sunsets I saw one evening. We were blessed with fantastic weather whilst we were down there and I even managed to catch a very slight tan. This was a family holiday as we took my parents and mainly a nostalgia trip for my Mum as she has been homesick for Dorset just lately.

Whilst we were there I also managed to meet up with my lovely upline Jenny and two other members of her team Val and Jane. We had a crafting morning which flew by far too quickly but we did have fun and it was a lovely taster of the riot we are going to have at Convention in November ( when even more of the team will be gathered) Thanks girls for a brilliant morning.

In addition it was my Father in Law's birthday on the 26th so here is the card I made for him, I hope he liked it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Well I have to say there may be a lack of posts for this next week as we are frantically trying to get my new craft space finished in time for my New Catalogue Launch Party which is on Thursday afternoon and evening. I have all the furniture arriving tomorrow and the blinds on Tuesday so it is going to be a really close shave to get it all done in time.......I am so glad my hubby is a STAR for working so hard since we got back from our hols. In addition to the actually room design jobs, I have also been frantically working on all new samples for my display boards etc so hopefully my ladies will enjoy seeing some of the new designs from the BRAND NEW CATALOGUE that goes live tomorrow.

All of my existing customers should have received their personal invitation by now so if you have not had a card from me then please get in touch asap. If you are not yet a customer but would like to join in the fun on Thursday then please email me to arrange this.

New classes added to the sidebar

New Classes

Hi there

Just to let you know I have prepared my next three classes and am taking place bookings now.

The first class is for Thur 30th September and the other two are 14th and 28th October.

All classes will take place here and start at 10am prompt. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you require more information.

I am considering offering an evening class once a month (subject to enough interest) so please let me know if this is something that you would be interested in.

Lots of Scallops

At last I actually do have a card I can share with you. (I have been working on a number of samples in this past week but I will not be able to share those with you until after 1st October when our new SU Catalogue goes live)

My upline Jenny sets her team a mini challenge each month and this is my entry for her September challenge. It is so quick to re-create as it is simply 6 strips of cardstock decorateded with the scallop border punch and 3 tiny flowers made with the Boho Blossoms punch. Add a sentiment, tiny bit of ribbon and a silver clip. Voila it's done !

I will be back tomorrow when I hope to be able to show you a sneak peak of my next class for October

Developing new Craft Space

Hi there
I am sooooo sorry that yet again I find myself apologising for lack of blog posts.

I have not had the best 6 weeks of the year and all my creative thoughts sort of flew out the window and I wasn't able to come up with anything worth sharing with you...

Although I do not have a card to show you today I do have something amazingly creative to share with you. This is my whole new craft space in the making and by that I mean it is going to be my new classroom AND my office, all in the same spot. I needed to bring all my craft areas together and also have it separate to our actual living area and the conservatory will deliver exactly that. My regular class ladies have been watching the progress each week and I think some of them are as excited as I am about the new space, especially as it looks huge at the moment until I start moving in my new cupboards etc and I am sure that it will feel 100% smaller once my Stamping Up stash moves in too.

The builder finished the plastering this week and it is now ready for painting so we need to get a move on with that. DH also then has 22 boxes of tiles to fit and I need to get on and get the window blinds sorted.......and then just a few more finishing touches and it will be ready.

Realistically speaking it is now going to be October when I shall be ready for my first classes in this beautiful new craft room. What better time to move in and increase my classes when the SU new catty also goes live on the 1st October. I am planning lots of new and fresh classes and will now have room to fit up to 10 ladies at a time. If you are interested in my up and coming classes for October and November please get in contact and get your name on my mailing list. I will then let you know as soon as I am posting details of the new classes on a regular basis.

Anyway hope you like the look of my new crafting space and don't forget to pop back to see how it is coming on. I cannot wait until I can show you the completed project and hopefully it will not be too long .

Retirement Last Chance List

Today sees the launch of the Stampin' Up! Last Chance List. This is a list of ALL the items that are NOT going to be in the new 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalogue. Many items are reduced by 25% or 50% so there are fantastic bargains to be had BUT YOU WILL NEED TO BE QUICK as they are only available whilst stocks last.
Have you been thinking about a particular stamp set for a while ? Check to see if it is on the list and contact me today to place your order................. Don't take a chance on it going out of stock whilst you are making up your mind.


You can view the Last Chance List HERE

August Promotion

This post will remain at the top of my blog until 31st August.

Please scroll down to view more recent posts.

Fantastic August Offer from Stampin' Up!

From 1st - 31st August Stampin'Up are giving you the chance to save a fantastic 20% off of the following "Two- Step Stamping" stamp sets

• 104606 Loads of Love was £18.95 NOW ONLY £15.16
• 109439 Big Bold Birthday was £23.95 NOW ONLY £19.16
• 113258 Trendy Trees was £12.95 NOW ONLY £10.36
• 113824 Greenhouse Garden was £22.95 NOW ONLY £18.36
• 117688 Something Sweet was £23.95 NOW ONLY £19.16
• 118091 Tiny Tags was £18.98 NOW ONLY £15.16
• 113266 Bird on a Branch was £14.95 NOW ONLY £11.96

Please note that this very special offer is for the month of August only so if you have been thinking about purchasing any of these sets don't miss out on this great discount. Contact me today to place your order.

More Cupcakes

Hi there

Today I am hosting a Cupcakes class by specific request.

Two of my ladies Lynn and Karen wanted to do something a little different with their children and grandchild as a summer holidays activity. I have therefore come up with a class designed especially for the 5 of them using the Big Bold Birthday stamp-set and Cupcake Wheel. The children are all girls and all love pink so we are using the gorgeous bright Melon Mambo and I have teamed this with Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Pretty in Pink.

We are making these 4 mini cards and the little bag to pop them in so I do hope everyone will enjoy themselves.

Big Bold Birthday Jessica's cards

Hi there

Today I am sharing something a little different with you as these cards are not my creations. We have had my Great Niece Jessica( who is 6 yrs old) staying with us this weekend whilst Mummy and Daddy had a well deserved mini break to Paris.

Jessica asked if we could make cards and do some baking amongst other things so here is the card set she made and the box we made to pop the cards in. Jessica did the stamping, glittering and card designs and I just helped out with the cutting out and making the base cards for her. She loves making cards, is a very neat crafter and I think she has a great eye for design already......what do you all think ?

We also made a card for her Mummy's birthday but we cannot show that one until after next weekend.

These cards were all made using the Big Bold Birthday stamp set which is one of those on special offer this month. This set is reduced to £19.15 instead of the usual £23.95 for August only. This amounts to a huge 20% reduction and this set actually has 13 stamps in it so if you would like to grab yourself a bargain contact me to order.

Special Thanks again

I am sharing two cards with you today (the first I have been able to create for almost a month). They are not necessarily my best card creations but the sentiments were very sincere and both of these cards were needed to say special thanks to two lovely ladies who helped me out on my Christmas in July Event day.

The first lady is Jenny (down the lane) and she worked her socks off to make ALL of the homemade cakes this time for this event. Jenny did me an excellent selection and every one of my ladies enjoyed their little bit of naughtiness that day.

The second thank you goes to the lovely Stephanie. She is the daughter of one of my regular class ladies and she kindly stepped in at the last minute to help my Mum with the serving of all the teas, coffees and juices throughout the day.

Both of these ladies were stars, as was my Mum, and I was so glad of all their help.

AWOL

Apologies for being AWOL for such an extended period. I can only say that family matters have meant I have had no time or inclination for blogging in the past three weeks.

I have wanted to share with you the projects from my Christmas in July event and will do so now. I had six projects for my ladies to make at this event and with hindsight I think I could have possibly done one or two projects less as my poor guests had to work their fingers to the bone to complete all of them.

Thank you to all the ladies who attended and I look forward to having you at my next event. Please let me know if you wish to be on my mailing list in order that details of the next one will be automatically posted out / emailed to you

SPECIAL THANKS to every one of my regular ladies who helped me make this day possible in extreme circumstances (YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE) ...... I couldn't have gone ahead without each and every one of you and I am so grateful to you all for the love and support.

Not quite good enough

Hi there

I have been really busy this week with classes and playing around with ideas for projects for my Christmas in July event.

Although I have already made a decision on a number of the projects we will be doing, I am still working on the rest. In the selection process I play around with ideas, make the samples and then decide if I like them enough for them to go through as definites.

SO..............todays card is one of those samples I made, using the gorgeous Serene Snowflakes stamp set and the oh so lovely Dasher stamp. The card is "ok" I suppose but it just doesn't have enough wow factor to make it through for my ladies to create on 31st July. So back to the drawing board for me to come up with something better lol

At this moment in time there are only 4 places left for my Christmas in July event and I will need to allocate those last 4 places on a strictly first come first served basis.

The event takes place at the AB & D Centre in Bacup on Saturday 31st July 10am -4pm (Registration at 9.45am) The cost is £25 to include packed lunch, refreshments and all materials needed to create the 6 projects. There will also be spot prizes throughout the day and a grand raffle before we finish.

More Rich Razzleberry

Hi there

Today I am sharing the last couple of cards I've made with the all new Cottage Wall papers and Rich Razzleberry cardstock and inks. I kept with the same colour scheme as the box set I am making with my class ladies tomorrow so these cards will fit in the box with the three from the class, therefore making 6 in total.

Well must dash today as I have STILL not done my class notes and photos and as class is at 10am I do not have a massive lot of time left.

I will be back tomorrow to show you a pretty little card I have made using the baby wipe and re-inkers technique.