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.

At Last ! ! ! !

AT LAST !!!!!!!!I have finally managed to get something made that I am able to share with you. This combination of gift bag and card are using the brand new "Rich Razzleberry" cardstock and the Cottage Wall paper which is gorgeous. This project came about whilst I was making up the class packs for my box and card class for Tuesday. I was tidying away the offcuts and could not resist just having a little play......................an hour later and I had made this set and 3 other cards too but it was very naughty of me as I still have to do the photo's and class notes now.

I have not been idle whilst I have been away I have actually been ridiculously busy with the process of creating projects for my All Day Christmas in July. I have thought of nothing else but Christmas creations for the past couple of weeks and now have quite a nice collection of projects from which I will make my final selection. Obviously I cannot show any of those items as yet but I may show the ones that don't make it as projects for the day event once I have made my decision. I am planning to have 6 mini projects for the day so look out ladies you are going to be worked hard on 31st July.

I have just 4 places remaining for this event so if you are interested please contact me by the end of this month.

3x3 Love Notes and holder

Hi there

Just a quick post today as I am heading off up to Harrogate to help my downline with her first Stampin' Up! All Day Event. So Bournemouth last Saturday with my upline and Harrogate this Saturday with my downline....................it certainly keeps you busy but it's great to be part of this team.

Anyway my project today is a set of 3x3 LoveNotes and a cute little tote to house them. I have seen a few of these on the internet and never got round to trying one..........that was until Jenny challenged us this week to make a quick 3x3 set that could be used as a hostess gift. I made this one using the brand new Soft Suede cardstock and matching Ink Pad (this brown is so different to Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip but it's gorgeous) I added some Bridesmaid Speciality Paper and the Flutterby Butterfly Stamp. So there you have it. . .simple, quick, fun to make but a lovely end result.

My Upline and My Friend

Jenny and I

Jane, Val and myself

Jenny and Jo


Sorry I have not been around for a few days, I have been away to Bournemouth for a mini holiday. I travelled down to Dorset to help my SU Upline Jenny with her All Day Extravaganza Event.
Jenny held this event jointly with a fellow Stampin' Up Demonstrator Jo, who had her downline Helen to help out too. The 3 projects were all stunning and everyone seemed to have a lovely time.
I have been part of Jenny's team for 2 years and she has become my very good friend. She constantly inspires me with her work and strengthens me with her support. Making the special effort to travel down and help has enabled me to give something back and say "thanks for everything Jen"

I had an extra wonderful time as I also got to spend some time with two other members of our Stampin' Up team Jane and Val (like myself, they are Jenny's downline) This morning we have all just booked for the Stampin Up Convention event for November so will now be counting down the days til we are all together again. We may not be the biggest Stampin' Up team out there but we sure know how to have a ball when we get together and we are a "little" loud hee hee. It was lovely to see you girls and can't wait for our Hilton High Jinks hee hee

Class for June

Hi there

Do you like the look of these new designer papers teamed with Old Olive and the gorgeous new colour Rich Razzleberry ? Would you like to make this card box and matching cards ?

If the answer is yes then would you like to join me and my regular ladies for this morning class on Tuesday 22nd June. Please phone or email me asap to book your place. I have a limited number of extra places available on a first come first served basis but they will not be available for long. The class will start at 10am and a light lunch is included.

Stampin' Up! Convention 2010

Stampin' Up! have just announced that the 2010 European Convention is going to take place here in the UK at the stunning Addington Palace in Surrey on the 5th and 6th November.

Needless to say I will be booking my place asap when registration opens on 1st June. I cannot risk missing out as I had a totally amazing time at last year's event in Germany.
Convention is only open to Stampin' Up demonstrators so if you would like to be part of this event and are thinking of signing up as a demonstrator please contact me for more information on how you can join my team.

1st ever Class re-visited

As you know from previous posts I have had somewhat a busy couple of weeks and admit I have been quite weary this week. I did need a class idea in a hurry so I decided to look back over my old classes and lo and behold there was my first ever class that these new ladies had not done. It was actually quite nostalgic to go back to my first ever class, especially following on from my latest "first" with my all day event last weekend. It made me realise what a journey I have been on in the past 16months and how far I have come from that very first terrifying class.

So here is my samples of the class projects and you can see I have used some of the brand new Cottage Wall papers for the body of the box. I am totally and utterly in love with this set of papers and they will be featuring heavily in my class for June along with the gorgeous new Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry.

More images from my All Day Event

Much as I rarely show pictures of myself I had to share these with you. The first shows me with the beautiful bouquet and card that my ladies presented to me as their way of thanking me for their crafting day. You cannot see the true beauty of some of the flowers which were deep burgundy red roses with diamond crystals stuck in them, they are stunning. And the reason I am showing the 2nd pic is to give credit to Jill one of my downline team who looked after half of my ladies for me. She was a star and worked really hard so Thank You Jill.

These last two piccys are to show the TWO real stars of the day, namely my Mum and my nephew Matt who looked after ALL of the catering for the whole day. They served teas, coffees, juices throughout the day and ensured that my ladies wanted for nothing. I have received amazing praise from all my guests for both of them. You were both amazing ........huge thanks.

Better late than never

As promised here are a few pictures of my lovely ladies at my craft event last Saturday. As you can see they were all working hard. Back in a mo with a few more pictures.

I survived my first ever All Day Event !!!!!!!!

Well I am delighted to say that I have survived my first ever All Day Stamping Event.

I had 20 very special guests attend the event, namely my lovely ladies from my classes and craft club. I also had 4 ladies who are brand new to me and it was so nice to see my regular ladies welcome them and make them feel at home today.

We made three complete projects and although we worked hard from 10am to 4pm to fit them all in, every lady was very happy with their creations by the time we finished. We started with a decorative gift box with beautiful carnation style flowers, then on to a decorated card box containing 6 cards ( made from a One Sheet Wonder using Vintage Vogue) and finally onto a gift bag and matching card using the quirky and cute Sweet Pea stamp set and accessories.

There was a buzz about the room all day today and I think I can honestly say everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I was asked when I am doing the next "event" and majority were in favour when I tentatively suggested that my next event could be a Christmas projects party in July. If this is something that you may be interested in then please register your interest and email me so that I can contact you once I have worked out the finer details.

For now I will leave you with pictures of our 3 projects and come back tomorrow with photos from the day.

Card Buffet card

Hi there

I have decided not to show the other card my Jaunty ladies made on Friday as I want to use the design for someone who may visit my blog. Instead I will share one of my card buffet cards with you.

The card buffet is what I call my selection of card kits I have available for the members of my new craft club to make if they do not have a project of their own to work on. I had a starting number of 10 card designs for them to choose from and regularly add 5 brand new designs each month, so there is always going to be something new each time we meet. All the materials are provided in a pack and I bring all the stamps, tools, punches etc they need to complete their given cards. So far it has proved a great success and I am really glad I went along with this idea especially for those ladies new to crafting who as yet do not have a massive collection of stamps.

So this is just one of the designs and it has proved quite popular already ( my ladies are "pink" ladies like myself lol)

Wow Ladies........No need to wait until October ! ! !

Oh my goodness.................... Stampin' Up has made an incredible announcement today.

We do not have to wait until October 1st to lay our hands on three of the brand new colours. As of today 1st May, it is possible to order cardstock and inkpads in Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Soft Suede.

In addition there are Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbons to match all three colours (these are simply wonderful) and a brand new set of Designer Series Paper "Cottage Wall" to compliment the new colours perfectly. There is also a set of Printed Window sheets to match.

Needless to say my own order has gone in this morning as I cannot wait to get my hands on these new colours. If you too wish to order and play with these gorgeous new items please contact me and I will get yours ordered asap.

Cards for Men

Hi there
I have had a brief break from my event preparations today as I had my " Jaunty" Ladies for their class today.
They wanted to make a couple of cards for men this week and this is the first design I came up with. It uses one of my favourite colour combinations of Chocolate Chip and Sage Shadow and also a small amount of "Nouveau Chic designer paper. All four ladies enjoyed making this card and loved the colour combination as much as I do. I will be back tomorrow to show you the other card they made.

Papercrafting Event

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been busy getting all the materials packs ready for my All Day Event. There are now only a couple of remaining places available so if you are interested in joining us please contact me as soon as possible.

Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint

Well what can I say about the brand new product from Stampin'Up that is part of our new Mini Catalogue collection. I am talking about the new Shimmer Paint which is wonderful. I have had a very brief play with the Champagne Mist one ( it also comes Frost White and Platinum) and I am already in love with this product. Imagine being able to turn any colour of cardstock into a pearlescent finish cardstock as well as being able to use it as an ink by using a sponge dauber directly onto your rubber stamps. You can also add any of the 48 SU re-inkers to it and create a whole new colour palette. Priced at just £4.25 for each pot it is incredibly good value for money and trust me when I say just a few drops goes an awful long way.

This card is my first attempt and although you can see a hint of a sheen it does not allow you to really see just how intense the glimmer effect is in real life. Believe me this is going to be a definite addition to my Christmas cards this year and is guaranteed to give them the WOW factor.

If you would like to try them for yourself please email me for ordering details.

Oh my goodness do I have exciting news

Oh my goodness do I have some exciting news for you all today.

Stampin'Up! have decided they are renovating their whole colour structure. This means we are set to lose quite a number of our current colours but boy are they giving us some gorgeous ones to compensate. For the first time ever we will see USA colours here in the UK, like Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze and they will be part of the new 40 Core Colours so will be here to stay.

In addition, just like in the States we will also be getting 5 NEW "In Colours" each year and they will stay for 2 years at a time. So after this first year( when we will just get the first 5 in colours) we will always have 40 core colours plus 10 In Colours at any one time.



Some of you will no doubt see colours on the retiring list that you absolutely love so I would encourage you to gradually build up your own little stockpile. The new colours collections will be available from the 2010/2011 new catalogue which doesn't come out until October so you all have a good 6 months to collect your retiring colours.

As much as there are a couple of colours that I will miss, I am really excited about the changeand I will be first in the queue for getting all those delicious colours we have only dreamedabout until now. How many of you have looked at the USA "In Colours" over the years and wished we had even one set ? Just imagine....from October we will have 15 NEW BASIC / CORE COLOURS which will include those colours we have drooled over AND a brand new set of 5 "In Colours". I think I will be in heaven with all the new colours to choose from.

Pretties Flower and Bride Papers

Happy Easter weekend to everyone.

I am sharing this card with you today to showcase how easy it is to alter the colours of SU goodies. This card uses the gorgeous Bride Speciality papers and one of the Pretties Kit flowers and both have been coloured with SU inks. I used the brayer and the Chocolate Chip ink pad for the striped paper and Close to Cocoa for the swirly top section. I then used sponge daubers and the Close to Cocoa inkpad to lightly ink the large flower and then stamped onto it with the En Francais background stamp using the same inkpad. I then simply added a button from the Latte set and some of the beautiful new Chocolate Chip satin ribbon from the mini catalogue. All in all I like this card and I know I could reproduce it in any one of the 48 Stampin'Up! colours which is fantastic.



I hope you like it too.

Woooohhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooooo

The Stampin'Up! 2010 Mini Catalogue went live today so you can now order your goodies from me. Please email me if you require your own copy of this catalogue or view the online version HERE

I am totally in love with all the new products that Stampin'Up have given us, believe me I want ALL of it and I guarantee there is something for all tastes this year.

I will endeavour to make samples to share with you next week to showcase some of those gorgeous new items. Bear in mind though that there is an awful lot to choose from so it may take me a little while.

Team Challenge

This box set of cards uses Stampin' Up! tiny 3" x 3" Love Notes and envelopes. A fellow SU demonstrator (Amanda) showcased the box at the recent training day held in Reading. My upline challenged her team members to give it a try and this is my take on that box.

I have used a fabulous brand new Stampin' Up! stamp set which will be available in the mini catalogue which goes live on 1st April. The second I knew this set was coming I HAD to have it as it is such a striking set of images and so versatile. The set is called "Bird on a Branch" and if you NEED to have this set then just email me with your order asap ready to be added to the order I am placing on the 1st April.

I hope you like this teeny tiny cards as much as I do.