Stampin' Up Convention 2011 Disneyland Paris

Hi there

I am now back home from my 3rd Stampin' Up European Convention. As I told you in my previous post, this year's Convention venue was Disneyland, Paris and I have to say I am sooooo glad I went. I have never been to Disneyland and it was a lovely experience, well worth a visit. I will hopefully return there on a family trip in the future

Stampin' Up Convention is always an amazing experience and this year was made even more magical for me as I achieved placement in the top 25 of demonstrators from the UK. I had absolutely no idea that I was going to win an award until I collected my Convention bag at registration and received my Demonstrator of the Year pin which is awarded to all 25 demonstrators in the category. I was placed at no 20 and couldn't be more thrilled. As my regular ladies and my downline know this is really a massive achievement for me personally.

I don't think I came back down to earth thoughout our whole 4 days in Paris and Stampin' Up have told us about so many new things coming our way in 2011/2012 that I am still on cloud nine. I am going to be working on lots of new ideas over the coming months and cannot wait to share it all with you.

Right now would be a perfect time to join me and my team in this amazing Stampin' Up adventure. Sign up right now as a Stampin' Up demonstrator and learn all about the new and exciting things coming to our European markets ahead of everyone else. If you are interested please contact me for a no obligation chat.

I will leave you with a picture of the stage showing the theme of this year's event, one I hope I can be part of as I continue to "GROW" my little team.

Off toStampin' Up! Convention Disneyland, Paris

Just a quickie post today to say I am on my way to this year's Stampin' Up! Convention. I am off to my lovely uplines today and then we fly to Disneyland tomorrow. Swaps are all done, roomie gifts completed and bags all packed.

Looking forward to this annual gathering of craft mad Stampin' Up demonstrators from Germany, France and UK. I will be back with lots of pictures next week.

For now here are piccies of my roomie gifts

Everything Eleanor

Hi there

I cannot believe it is yet again over 2 weeks since I last posted. I have the best intentions in the world for updating my blog regularly but life seems to be making a habit of getting in the way lately and I don't manage to get on here as often as I would like. The card and gift bag that I am sharing with you today are from this week's Everything Eleanor class. Two of my ladies attended the class on Monday evening and hopefully another 6 ladies will be joining me tomorrow to make theirs. My card sample is stamped using Soft Suede ink but my class ladies will be gold embossing the swirls so the cards will be even more elegant looking.

This will be my last Thursday class for a fortnight as I will be away next week at our annual Stampin' Up Convention. This will be my 3rd Convention and the venue this year is Disneyland, Paris. I have always wanted to go to Disneyland and cannot believe that I will be there in just over a weeks time. I will travel to my lovely upline's next Wednesday and then onto Paris on Thursday to meet with others in our team and in time for Convention commencing on Friday morning bright and early. As we are flying I have had to limit the number of swaps due to baggage allowances but I have made all of my general swaps and also some small roomie gifts for the other girls in our team. I just need to print my recipe sheets for my swaps and my nephew is helping me bag them all and then package the roomie gifts and I am done. (of course that is so long as I do not decide to make more general swaps as I do really enjoy the swapping element to our Stampin' Up events)

Anyway I hope you like this week's class as much as I enjoyed creating it. I have to say the Everything Eleanor stamp set was my ultimate first choice in the 2011-2012 new catalogue and I adore using it.

Stampin' Up! Old and New Mum's 70th Birthday

Hi there

I am back today as promised to share with you my Mum's 70th Birthday card. I did feel it needed a tiny tweek after I had taken the photograph so using my SU Timeless Type Alphabet I die cut a "70" in Pink Pirouette and added it to the top right-hand corner. The design layout is not my own, I will have seen it somewhere on the internet and made a little sketch of it in my ideas/ inspiration book that travels everywhere with me.

The "old" of the card is some retired Stampin Up paper that I have had for about 3 years and not brought myself to use until now (come on ladies you know you all have papers stashed away that are for stroking not using) and the "new" is the oooohhhh soooooo gorgeous Antique Brads, Victoria crochet trim and my favourite stamp set from the whole new catalogue Everything Eleanor. The minute I saw all of these items in the new catalogue I knew I would simply HAVE to have them ALL. The part that is really staggering is that I have had these things for less than a fortnight and I have USED some already. Mind you who can be more special than your Mum to use precious things from your stash on ?

Anyway my Mum loved the card, the surprise meal with all the family present and she was also thrilled with the Kindle we all got for her. I get my love of reading from my Mum and knowing how much I have become addicted to my own Kindle which was a present a few months ago, I just knew it would be the perfect present for her. We have put a few books on it to get her going and I cannot wait to see how she gets on with it. We also got her a gorgeous Hot Pink cover for it so she won't lose it hee hee

Anyway off now to prep for my afternoon class. Hopefully I will be back to tomorrow to share a couple of samples from my launch party display.

New Catalogue

So sorry I have not been around and haven't updated my blog for such a long time. I am now back and hopefully will keep to my new resolution of updating at least twice a week from here on in. Whilst I have been away Stampin' Up have released the new catalogue and it is stuffed full of new stamp sets and new accessories including antique brads, mini brads, massive range of new ribbons oooh and last but not least FABRIC ! ! ! (how wonderful is it that we can now add fabric to our papercrafting creations) To view the New Catalogue on-line please click on the picture on the side bar

My launch party was a huge success and thank you to each and every one of you who made it that way. Special thanks to my downline Jean for travelling down from the lakes to stay over and for her's and Hilda's help with the refreshments. And I must not forget to say a big thank you to Jenny down the lane for providing beautiful cakes once again. Congratulations to winners of my main raffle and huge Congratulations to Barbara for winning on the Big Shot draw, hope you thoroughly enjoy your prize and it leads you on a new creative path.

I did make lots of new samples for the launch day so will try to find some time this week to take pictures and share those ideas with you.

It is my lovely Mum's 70th Birthday today so we are off out this evening and I'm really busy with bits and bobs for that. I also have a class this morning so feeling a little rushed although I will be far more settled once this evening has gone off successfully. I will share her birthday card with you tomorrow.

I currently have a couple of places free for my new Stampers 10 group so if you have a wish list as long as your arm and would like to spread the cost over 10 months and earn amazing freebies along the way then please do not hesitate to contact me for more information.

New Catalogue Launch Party

Hi there

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. I have been away on holiday, back to my home tome of Poole in Dorset. We had a lovely relaxing break spending time with family and I also managed to attend Jenny's team training day and craft with other Stampin Up addicts from our team ( always so inspiring)

I am now back home and working on samples for my New Catalogue Launch Party which takes place on Friday 7th October. There will be free Make and Take projects for you to play with some of the new products from the 2011/2012 Catalogue and also the option for you to create your own ink colour sampler featuring all 48 Stampin Up colours. There will be heaps of all new samples for you to browse, light refreshments, gifts and a prize raffle (you will need to bring your raffle ticket that was enclosed your invitation to enter)

I am having 2 drop-in sessions 1pm-3pm OR 6pm-9pm. I have posted out the invitations for all of those currently in my Stampers 6 and 10 Groups or on my mailing list. If you do not receive your invite within the next few days and would like to attend please let me know which session you would like to attend. I need to know asap in order to set aside a raffle ticket for you and to create the make and take packs you will require for the projects.

Here are the invitations that are winging their way out to everyone. The flower image is one from a brand new 2-step stamping hostess set ( I love these type of stamps as you can use them for 2-step technique or you can simply colour the outline image in as I have done) This particular stamp set is stunning and I just know I will be using it a lot this year. The card also features the brand new Lace Ribbon Border punch which is beautiful. I have simply layered the punched strip onto a piece of matching cardstock but you can also thread ribbon through which looks amazing.

Anyway must dash as I have 101 things to do this morning and need to clock off by lunchtime today as I need to go out with hubby this afternoon.

Stampin Up Baby Blossoms and Buttons

Hi there

The picture today is my Baby Blossoms and Buttons class. My ladies made three cards using the ooh so lovely Baby Blossoms stamp set and Vintage Suite buttons from the current Stampin' Up Mini catalogue. I used Not Quite Navy, Rose Red and Pear Pizzazz for all of the flower displays and these cards showcase how you can use repeat stamping to achieve a whole array of shades from each single ink pad. Just stamp off the first image onto scrap paper and then onto your project without re-inking for a beautiful pale effect. In the class we also ruffled the Seam Binding and everyone loved the look of the finished ribbons.

The mini catalogue expires on 30th September so you have one more month in which to order from it. There is no guarantee that items from this mini catalogue will have made it through to the new main catalogue which goes live on 1st October so if there are stamp sets or accessories that are "must haves" then you need to order them within the next month.

In addition tomorrow heralds the day that Stampin' Up releases our 2011 Retirement List so all items on this list will only be available "whilst stocks last" so you will need to order any of those items as briskly as possible too. I do still have a few items on my personal wish list from the current catalogue so I will be anxiously checking the Retirement List myself. Even though I am sure a few of my favourite stamp sets will be retiring and that will be sad, we need to make room for lots of new goodies so I cannot wait to see what Stampin' Up! will bring us this year.

I will be ordering my boxes of the new Idea Book and Catalogue tonight so please email me if you wish to reserve your copy . (If you are in my Stampers 6 or Stampers 10 Clubs your catalogue is a complimentary one) Check back tomorrow for a link to the Retirement List

Last 2 Classes

Hi there

For today I am sharing pictures of my last two classes with you. The Circle Circus set was such a lovely relaxed class and every one of my ladies has now looked at this stamp set in a different light. The colours I chose for the actual class were Baja Breeze, River Rock and Basic Black but I did make an additional sample set using Pink Pirouette and Sahara Sand with the Basic Black and it looked so different in those colours. There is hardly any cutting out with this stamp set as it matches lots of our circle punches perfectly and the card wallet uses just one sheet of A4 cardstock.

The other class was far more intense as I gave my ladies 4 cards to make and a couple of them were more intricate. This was a totally non-traditional Christmas Class as I used Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede as the colour combination. My ladies loved the use of very different colours and a few of them will be making some of their own cards in the same colours this year as a result. I used a mix of stamps including Dasher, Tree Trimmings, Medallion and Season Of Joy

If you are a group of ladies who like the look of this class then please do not hesitate to contact me to arrange a convenient date for your individual class

Stampin' Up Christmas Day Event

Today I am sharing with you the projects from my August All Day Christmas event.

I have a second group of ladies joining me for this event today and I know they will love these projects. Sadly two of my ladies are unable to come today as planned due to unforseen circumstances and they will be sorely missed. So Sandra and Vanessa I wanted you both to know am thinking of you today and I hope you both enjoy your project packs and gifts that are on their way to you

For this event I chose to use one set of colours and Designer paper throughout for that totally co-ordinated look that showcases Stampin' Up! at it's very best. The colours are Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive and Very Vanilla and this has been teamed up with Jolly Holiday Designer series papers. I have even matched the table gifts and spot prizes to this colour combination and Christmas theme so hopefully my ladies will be happy bunnies.

If you like the look of this event and would like to join me for a repeat of these projects please get in touch as I do have other ladies who would like to make this set. In addition, if you are a group of ladies who would like me to bring this event to your group venue then please also contact me for more details and to arrange a suitable date.

Vintage Vogue August Class

Hi there

I thought I would share this Thursday class with you even though it is soooooooo late and I should really be in bed. Occasionally my regular Thursday ladies do like to do a nice and simple class which gives them a chance to have a bit of a chat as well as the crafting and today was one such class. We used one of my favorite sets Vintage Vogue and although it has been around for quite a while it is still ALWAYS popular when I give it an airing (and the majority of my ladies do own this set) I decided to go with quite an unusual colour choice for me and that was Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie for the flowers with Old Olive for the leaves. We used the Rock and Roll technique to colour the flowers and everyone loved this way of making every stamped flower look so different. As always we had a fun class both this afternoon and this evening and I cannot wait until next week when I am having my first Christmas All Day sessions with my regulars.

If you like the look of this Vintage Vogue class and would like to make it for yourself please do not hesitate to give me a call to see if we can organise a repeat class for you and your friends. I am currently looking at the possibility of holding an additional sessions of my regular weekly class and this would take place on either a Monday morning or Monday evening. Please contact me if you would like to be part of this new group of ladies or if you would like to join my existing Thursday afternoon class (sorry no spaces on the Thursday evening class at present)

August Offer from Stampin' Up!

Today is the day we start our new special offer from Stampin' Up.

For the month of August every customer placing a £75 order and every hostess with sales over £250 will earn a gorgeous free products pack from Stampin' Up! This selection will include wide striped ribbon in Rich Razzleberry, a 24 piece clips selection and an exclusive Stampin' Up cosmetic bag (and this item only available with this offer and not in the catalogue)

If you have been planning on placing an order with me why not see if you can qualify for these extra freebies and if you are considering a home workshop why not get it booked with me for this month and reap the reward of this offer in addition to the already generous hostess benefits.

Email or call me today !

Latest Classes

Hi there

The pictures I am sharing with you today are from my latest 2 classes. This month I moved away from the blues and brights colours and went with very feminine Pinks, Purples and Green.

The first class was using the ever lovely Fast and Fabulous Level 2 Hostess set and we made three cards. I coloured our Stampin' Up Basic Pearls using Frost White Shimmer paint and Regal Rose re-inker and this created pearls to match the cardstock and ink in the card designs.The 2nd class was using the Nature Walk and Fresh Cuts stamp sets. In this class we made a card, gift bag and bookmark. If you would like to have a go at either of these classes please email me for details of a repeat class.

I am currently working on my next All Day event which is with a Christmas Theme. I have already filled two dates and there will be two Saturday over-flow dates in August available. Please email me asap if you wish to take part as I need to place an order this week for the correct amount of supplies. There will be a minimum of 5 projects, a raffle, table gifts and lunch is provided.

Earl's Birthday

As you all know I usually am 100% Stampin' Up! in my crafting supplies. However today I am sharing something different with you as I needed to make this birthday card and gift-wallet for a 60th Birthday gift for one of my friends husbands. I wanted to use my little Border Terrier stamp as Earl and Glynis have a pair of these lovely dogs and I know Earl will love it.

I made the card first and then made a large wallet to hold a brochure and gift card for our local gym which is a joint present from my family. Well must dash now I have completed these and now need to get ready to go to the actual party.

3-D Christmas Frame

Hi there

Today I am sharing with you my latest Christmas Class project. This class is not my own design, it comes as a complete copy of the frame I received as a gift from my lovely upline Jenny at last years Stampin' Up! Convention in London.

Jenny kindly agreed for me to case her idea and use it as my Christmas class for this month as all my ladies loved the original which was done in various shades of green. I wanted to show how different it could look just by changing the colour so I went with various shades of blue for this sample. Every one of my regular class ladies have signed up for this class so if you too would like to join them please get in touch.

New Craftroom helper

Introducing my new craft room assistant...............Sapphire

I set my table up this afternoon to take pictures for my Cottage Garden class notes and once I had done the first lot I moved over to my computer area to upload them and check they were okay. I was busy typing up the notes when I looked back over to the photo set there was Sapphire sat on the white cloth along with the cards and wallet. She had flicked a scrunched up piece of card onto the cloth and was sat there looking at me as though she expected me to take more pictures. Needless to say I couldn't resist as she did look very lovely so here is my little class addition

Father's Day

Today I am sharing with you the card I made for Father's Day for both of the very special men whom Gordon and I are proud to call Dad.

I decided that I wanted to use a nature style images for this year as my Father in Law works hard in his garden and it always looks amazing and my own Mum and Dad are currently having their garden landscaped and I just know their garden will soon mean a lot to them too.

I have always loved the Lovely as a Tree stamp set (in fact it is one of those sets that I bought before I was even a demonstrator) and I tend to use it a lot for male themed cards. I do have to admit that I tended to only use the row of trees image or the Christmas Tree one but this past few months I have begun to use the oak tree and leaves images too. I think I avoided those images in the past because I wasn't confident about my colouring abilities, however once I discovered the blender pen and ink pad technique I realised that even I can create a nice colouring effect with a bit of practice.

Well I hope they both enjoy their cards, I am now off to work on some ideas for my July classes

Afternoon Tea anyone ?

On Sunday afternoon I attended a wonderful craft event over in Hebden Bridge, thank you Sue for the invite. I met some lovely people so thanks to all of you who stopped by for a chat. (If you are reading this Elaine I will be in touch early next week)

I made this cake to take with me and I have to say that most of the ladies agreed with me that it was the best sort....no calories but still pretty ! My cake may not have the calories but it does have some hidden extras. Inside each slice is a ticket with details of an extra special free gift if you book a party with me during the months of June or July. This is a gift from me and is in addition to the already generous freebies you can achieve from Stampin' Up! As detailed in my previous post, during June and July you can earn a massive £20 of extra benefits if your party total reached £250 or more.

If you would like to host a fun workshop/party with your friends then please do not hesitate to contact me and make the most of the offers currently available.

Fantastic Stampin' Up offer for June

What a fantastic offer from Stampin' Up. See the flier HERE
Book a workshop anytime this month and if your sales total reaches £250 you will get to chose a free Level One stamp set and £45 of free product of your choice (this is a massive £20 extra for each qualifying workshop through June) Don't have time for a workshop evening ? you can always host your own virtual party, just put together an order for yourself and /or friends and send it to me. So long as you reach the qualifying figure, you too will earn the extra £20 of freebies.

Vintage Christmas

Hi there

Happy Bank Holiday weekend to you all.

Today I am sharing with you my Vintage Christmas gift box and card which was my class on Thursday. My ladies really liked this one and even those who don't usually like sponging/distressing liked the effect it created on this particular project and they also loved the Early Expresso and Cherry Cobbler combination. At my suggestion some ladies just added the sticky strip to the areas needed for putting the box and lid together but didn't actually remove the backing so the whole thing can be easily stored flat until Christmas when they will be ready to use it. This will work really well if you want to make a few of them and don't have an enormous storage area in your craft space.

The next Christmas class is a wooden shadow box picture and the class is on Thur 30th June. If you are interested in taking part in this class on that date or an alternative date please do get in touch as you will need to book your place in order for me to get your frame.

Gift Boxes

Hi there

Today I thought I would share one of the items I made for my recent church fete.

I had these papier mache boxes left over when I did the Clock and Gift Box class last year and have been meaning to do something with them ever since. When I decided that I WAS doing the fete I spent a day making up a couple of clocks and the rest of the time decorating these gift boxes. I used a different decorative paper and cardstock on each and did the stamped tag and flowers to match. Thanks must go to my downline Sheila who worked with me to get them all done in time.

I have had a couple of my ladies express an interest in my repeating the clock class as they didn't get to attend the class last time around so who knows if I do get enough interested parties for a full day class it may well convince me to offer it out. If you are interested please get in touch.

Challenge for May

As you know my upline Jenny offers up a challenge each month to all of us in her team. We don't have any pressure to play along but a growing number of us ARE joining in each month and I think it is a brilliant way to get us thinking creatively.

Some months Jenny's challenges have us all scratching our heads to come up with a card that fits the bill and other months it comes to me immediately. This month Jenny set us the task of doing a card with a different fold than a usual run of the mill opening. I had no hesitation in the fold I chose to do and it was lovely to re-visit one that I haven't even thought about for a year or so. I also wanted to use my new Wedding Wheels stamp ( I love the quirkiness of this image) I decided to keep the actual card design fairly simple so as to not distract from the unusual explosion card fold. I therefore used Vanilla and Crumb Cake papers from the Elegant Soiree set and Crumb Cake ink and I think it pulls the card together in a nice understated way.

Please let me know if you like this little card

Thank You cards for April and May

Hi Everyone

Yet again I find myself apologising for a lack of posts, sorry there has been nothing new to look at for a little while.

I had a stall at the church Summer Fete on Saturday and I have spent the last couple of weeks preparing goodies for that in addition to my usual weekly classes so I have not had a moment to spare for my blog. The fete went well, I had a lovely sociable day and a big thank you to those of my class ladies who called by to support the event. Hopefully I may have some pictures to show you later in the week if my nephew's photo's come out okay ( guess who forgot to take her camera with her)

The cards I am sharing with you today are the simple thank you cards that I make for any of my ladies who place an order with me each month. The tiny Baby Blossoms card was for April orders and the Stength and Hope Butterfly card is my card for those who order during May ( my Stampers 6 and 10 ladies have already received theirs) Rather than writing on the inside of the actual card I write on a post it note inside and this has proved popular with all my ladies as it gives them a little "usable" thank you card to pop away as a stand-by card in case they need one in a hurry.

Anyway I have Thursday's Greenhouse Garden class to prepare today so I had better get my finger out and get to work. I do still have a couple of places left for the afternoon session this week so if you are interested please give me a call or email me to prepare a class pack for you.

Last weeks Christmas Class

Here is a picture of my Christmas Card class from last Thursday.

My ladies wanted to use the gorgeous Stampin' Up set "Lovely as a Tree" and I decided to go for a fairly modern look using Basic Grey, Real Red and Whisper White. The Whisper White against the grey cards looked very crisp and with just a hint of Dazzling Diamonds glitter it finished off the frosty look perfectly.

The most important thing is that my ladies loved them, they thoroughly enjoyed this class and we have now already completed our first 4 months of Christmas Card classes this year and therefore have 4 very different sets of Christmas cards done ready for December.

The next Christmas class at the end of this month is in the Vintage Style so will be very different to last weeks. If you would like to take part in this class or any of my other weekly classes please contact me asap to book your place.

Springtime Vintage Suite with Baby Blossoms

As you know from previous posts, my lovely upline Jenny sets us a team challenge each month and this months challenge was to make something using products from one of the new "suites" in the Stampin' Up Mini Catalogue.
Well my absolute favourite has to be the "Springtime Vintage" so I knew I would be using the Baby Blossoms stamp set but I had none of the matching items from the suite.............. well that was until late last week when the lovely vintage papers arrived. They are gorgeous and the only difficulty I had was in deciding which ones to use first.
I decided to make a slider box containing 4 very simple cards which I have left blank so they can be used for any purpose. You would be able to make three of these sets using just one sheet of Designer Paper and I think they would make a lovely little gift set to give to a non-crafter.

Hope you like my simple offering for today.

New Classes on offer

Hi there Apologies for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks or so. I have been beavering away on a heap of new classes and they have taken all my attention. For such a long time my regular ladies have been asking for more classes and I have finally worked out a timetable that will allow me to do a regular Thursday class. I will be doing the class at 12.30pm and then again at 6.30pm for those ladies who cannot make the daytime class. The new timetable of classes commences on Thursday 28th April with my "Lovely as a Tree" class ( this is our regular Christmas Cards class which will now be set as the last Thursday of each month) Please book your places in good time as space is limited and places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please also advise if you would like to be at the afternoon or evening session.

The next 5 Classes are as follows;

28th April Lovely as a Tree Christmas Class

5th May Clearly for You Wallet and Cards

12th May Baby Blossoms Box and Cards

19th May Greenhouse Garden Fancy Folds

26th May Vintage Style Christmas Class

For those of you who have expressed an interest in classes for you and your own group of friends please contact me for further available dates. I am happy to discuss your individual requirements with you and I will seek to provide alternative dates where possible.

Spring All Day Event 2011

I have just realised tonight that owing to the excitement over the new mini catalogue I only showed you the card box from my recent Spring All Day event and not the contents. So I thought I would share a picture of the box AND the 6 cards that all my ladies had to create to go inside. I loved these flowers and most especially as I water-coloured them with "In Colours" markers and they just speak "spring" colours to me. Mind you here in Lancashire we have had awful gale force winds and rain and on top of that it is really cold tonight so it doesn't feel at all Spring -like.

(I have to say that my ladies were worn out with not only all the stamping and water-colouring but all the cutting out so perhaps a little less cutting out will be the order of the day for my next Event "Christmas in July")

I will hopefully be back soon with a few creations using the new goodies from the mini catalogue

Stampin' Up! 2011 Mini Catalogue

Well what can I say ???????

The new Mini Catalogue from Stampin'Up! goes live today and it is simply the best yet. The most exciting NEWS of all is that we now have the Big Shot die cutting machine and an amazing collection of dies which feature Stampin' Up! EXCLUSIVES including the best selling SU die of all time the "Top Note" In addition to the cutting dies we also have a range of textured impressions embossing folders, sizzlets, medium sizzlets and Embosslits dies. I have been waiting for the day when we could lay our hands on the wonderful Stampin Up Big Shot machine and accessories and I just know that it is going to open up a whole new world of creativity for all of us. I have not yet taken up ownership of my new machine but rest assured it will be with me shortly and then there will be no holding me back.

In addition to all the excitement surrounding the Stampin Up Bigshot launch here in the UK I have to say that the new mini catalogue is, in my opinion, the best we have ever been given. We have gorgeous new stamp sets, designer papers, ribbons, buttons and many other accessories. We also now have the oooohhhhhh sooooooooooo cute 2-step Owl Punch, a fantastic Blossoms Petal Punch with matching stamp set and a stunning Decorative Label frame punch with a set of 4 matching stamps too.

To sum it all up we now have a Mini Catalogue with 32 pages of goodies that are begging to find their way onto your wish lists as they have found their way onto mine.

I have not yet had time to play with my new goodies as I have just got back from a mini family break to Amsterdam but I shall endeavour to create a few samples over the weekend to show you next week. If you wish to place an order or have not received your catalogue from me then please do not hesitate to contact me. I am also gathering people for the start of another Stampers 6 group this month so if you are interested in joining in with one of my monthly groups then please get it touch asap.

Those Little Extras

As promised here is a picture of the little extras I made for my ladies who joined me for my Day Event on Saturday. The bag is simply what holds their packed lunch ( most ladies do keep these lol) the Bunny is their table place marker and the little notepad, ruler and pen is their door gift as they come in.

I also make sets of spot prizes that I dish out during the day and there is one gift for each attendee ( this ensures that everyone goes home with a prize even if they do not win in the main raffle)

Spring All Day Event

Well here I am, back at last and sharing with you pictures of my projects from my first Day Event of 2011 which took place yesterday. I had 20 wonderful ladies join me for the day and we made the two projects shown. "Spring" was my overall theme for this first event of the year so I decided to use only our current Stampin' Up! In Colours as they just speak of spring to me.

The morning was dedicated to creating a 12 month Card Organiser and we used the often overlooked "Cottage Garden" stamp set to decorate the covers. We then used the matching Sunny Garden papers for the inserts and again used the Cottage Garden stamp set to decorate the month cards on each page. The designer papers contain Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz and Peach Parfait so worked perfectly with the In Colours I had chosen to use throughout the day.

The project I designed for the afternoon was decorated cards storage box with 6 cards ( the box could easily fit 12 cards) I chose to use the very beautiful Growing Green stamp set along with Curly Cute for the card sentiments. For the colouring we used In Colour Markers and aqua brushes. My ladies were horrified when I told them they had to stamp, watercolour AND cut out almost 45 flowers, ferns and leaves for the box and all the cards but all agreed that it was worth the effort to create the finished project. It was so nice to see how unique everyone's creations looked just because each person water-colours differently.

Come back tomorrow when I will show you the little table gifts I made for each attendee along with their other little surprises.

Team Challenge for March

Once a month my fabulous upline Jenny challenges our team to create something using a particular Stampin' Up! product. This month her challenge is to use glitter somewhere in our creation.

I decided I would use my favourite of all our existing glitters and this meant I immediately reached for Dazzling Diamonds. I teamed the glitter with Heat and Stick powder and a Versamark Inkpad and this is the gorgeous effect I achieved. Although this does look sparkly in the picture nothing can really do justice to how fantastic this looks in real life, diamonds is exactly the word you need to use.

Please bear with me this week for a lack of posts. I am busy preparing for my Day Event for this coming Saturday and still have a few finishing touches to complete.

Happy Birthday card for my downline

Today one of my downline team celebrates her birthday so I need to say Happy Birthday Jill, hope it's a good one.

Here is the card I created for her birthday card. I have used one of the stamp sets that I know Jill loves and made sure I used her favourite colour blue in my design. I was very tempted to go totally mad and make her a real "girlie" card in every shade of pink I could imagine but she wouldn't have been at all impressed so I thought she would much prefer this one.

Stampin Up Artistic Etchings

I am sharing three cards with you today that I have made with my brand new SU set "Artistic Etchings" This was one of those stamp sets that you know you like but take a while before you succumb to buying it for yourself. I saw this one and had it on my wish list from October when our new cataloue came out but there were other sets that were just that bit higher on the (very long) list so I have only just aquired it. Now I know I should have bought it sooner as it is so lovely to use and so versatile. These three cards were all made within a couple of hours of opening the stamp set and that shows it is one of those sets I will love to work with. Some stamp sets just do not always work easily for me so I am always excited by those that inspire me immediately.

The black and vanilla card uses just that one image stamp but have you noticed that it is virtually the same image as one of the patterns on the Designer Paper Stacks so it would be a perfect stamp set to use with any of the colour families. I love simple don't you ?

On the Baja Breeze card I have used crystal effects on the tower image and this has made it look like a glazed sticker which really lifts this card.

Finally on the Cherry Cobbler and Early Expresso card I have used my new favourite tool from Stampin Up and that's the Spritzer tool. It is amazing and I am totally addicted to it already. I love how it softens the look of every single card you make with it. I will be using this lots lol

What creative ladies I have in my classes

I am sharing something totally different with you this evening.

A couple of weeks ago I did a class here which featured, amongst others a twisted easel card. One of my very talented ladies went home from that class and decided she wanted to go that little bit further with the twisted easel concept. So here is Vanessa's very, very clever adaptation of that card design. She has made a simple easel into a two winged version and I LOVE IT ! ! ! I was so thrilled when she brought it to show me and the other class ladies loved it too and want to copy her idea. I will hold my hands up and say that I would never have thought of adding another easel section to the other side of the card but I will be trying this now for sure.

I was so pleased with Vanessa's creativity and just had to take a photograph today to share it with you all. I hope you can find time to leave a comment if you like her card design too.

Team Swaps for Fareham Stampin' Up Training Day

Last Friday I travelled down to Bournemouth to join my upline Jenny and a few other ladies in our Bloomin' Buds team ready for our Stampin' Up Training Day event at Fareham.

As always swaps play a big part of any Stampin' Up event and in addition to our general swaps to share with other demonstrators at the event we also made several other swaps for our team meeting which took place afterwards. We all had a wonderful day in Fareham and I will endeavour to share some of the swaps I received with you later in the week. After the training finished we all flocked back to Jenny's for our team gathering which was a riot. Needless to say a somewhat late night followed but boy did we all have a lovely time together. Thank you Jen for making sure I got to Poole for my 8.30am train on Sunday morning to come home.

These are my three team swaps. (I added 3 clear rhinestone brads just under the sentiment on the little box but must have taken the photo beforehand)

March Frenzy is here

Stampin' Up have today announced a special offer for this month (but only while stocks last) There is a huge discount of up to 30% on selected items from the main Catalogue and Idea Book. If you would like to know more then please email me.

Sale-a-Bration 2011 is here ! ! ! !

This post will stay at the top until 28th February. Please scroll down for more recent posts

Bliss





Punch Bunch




So Happy for You








Sweet Summer

WOOOHOOO

I am so pleased to be able to tell you that the amazing Sale-a-Bration is here again which means you can earn any of the 4 stamp sets shown above completely for free. This is my own personal favourite of all the promotions that Stampin' Up! has to offer as it offers three different ways to earn rewards.

This promotion runs from now until the 28th February and the benefits are as follows:


Customers
For each £45 order you place ( before p&p) you may choose one free set and there are 4 different sets to choose from and all sets are available in either Wood or Clear Mount.


Hostesses
Host a £300 workshop ( before shipping and handling) and earn one free sale-a-bration set of your choice in addition to already generous hostess benefits.


Join Stampin'Up! as a demonstrator
If you join Stampin' Up! during the Sale-a-Bration promotion you may choose a free stamp set of your choice (excluding hostess sets) from the current Idea Book and Catalogue and that stamp set can be any value up to a whopping £44.95. There really is no better time to join so if you have any questions or if you are interested in joining my team then please do not hesitate to give me a call.