Thank you so much for all your kind wishes about my injured collarbone and shoulder, I am improving day by day and hopefully will be back at full speed by the New Year.  I have managed to do a little stamping using my new goodies to share with my team at team training last week.

All the projects are made using the Spice Cake suite, Designer series paper, stamps and fabric, it is wonderful and such a beautiful colour combination.  One of the very best things about being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator is that you can order new products a month earlier than customers, this gives us time to prepare projects and samples for when the new catalogues go live.

New catalogue, who said new catalogue? ………………Yes that’s right we will be having not one but two mini catalogues during 2012.  The first starts on the 4th January and runs until the end of April, the second from the 1st May to the end of August.

The card below uses a really lovely new stamp set called Proud Peacock, I love this stamp set so much I have designed a class around it, and included in the price of the class is your own stamp set. You can check out all of  my classes by clicking here, I have just completed a new list that takes us through till the end of April.  I love using the fabric to make matching patterned ribbons.

The inside is decorated too.

Now this second card is a super speedy card using the Spice Cake designer series paper with just a tiny bit of sponge daubing around the edges.  The flower is made with a brand new Big shot die called Blossom Party, it’s really versatile.

A little piece of patterned paper just finishes off the inside.

I found these fun shaker frames at my local Asda on special offer.  They are designed to have photos inside them but I have decorated it very simply with a small piece of designer series paper, some lovely new Velvet ribbon and just cut out one of the flowers from the same designer series paper.

The team love the projects and we had a really fun evening too!

Well that is all for me, I am finishing typing this on Christmas eve so have a wonderful Christmas and I will be back soon.

Happy Stampin’

Today’s card is the last one from my vintage class, it was so big it needed a box!

I have used both Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler seam binding which has a lovely vintagy sheen and style.  Don’t the vintage tags look great, they are slightly rusty !

The card is a square easel, very straightforward to make but looks impressive.

We used Everything Eleanor and scrumpled, stamped, embossed, heat embossed and used Champagne Shimmer paint all over.  The flowers are make layering up the doily punch onto the scallop circle punch, scrumpling, stamping and topping off with a pearl.  The ribbon bow is attached using glue dots it keeps the swags looking lovely.

I am currently working on my class list for next year, do sign up for my email newsletter (link is on the right) and you will get to see the list as soon as it is finished.

Happy Stampin’

Today is a full day, doors open at 8am  with a jam packed program until 5pm and then it’s off for a quick shower and change for the awards dinner.  I am so excited about the awards, last year 5 of us from the Inspiring Inkin’ team where in the top 25, Stampin’ Up! have changed the ranking system this year and I am hoping for more of my team to be recognised for their amazing achievements !  I will give you a full report when I am home.

So when ever we get together we always swap cards and 3D items, this is my general swap card I have made about 85 of these. I have used the Take a Sip Wheel, Everything Eleanor, Sprizter and Posy Punch too.  The designer series paper is called Well Worn and that along with Cajun Craze and River Rock are the themed colours running throughout the projects.

There are 14 of us from the team attending so these are the goodies I have made for them.

Bag Charm, everyone needs these there are 300+ demo’s at convention and we will all have the same bag so you need something to  show that the bag is yours, their name is on the back.

Each person has a notebook, very important, the inspiration and information we receive at convention is amazing, and so much that you have to write it down because you will never remember it all!

I have up scaled the swap card a little just for my team, by adding a different colour mug and some Crystal effects.

and finally this 3D item was inspired by one of my lovely new team members Clair.  I ran her launch workshop for her last week, and this was the project she demonstrated, it’s a fab paper purse and the perfect size to gift wrap an Inspiring Inkin’ convention tradition, a dragonfly.  This year they are brooches, and in the back of the purse are some after eight mints !

 Happy Stampin’

This is the first time we have met since the launch of the new Idea Book and Catalogue so I think there was even more excitement than usual!

I am always so busy during the day I never really get chance to take any photos, perhaps the team needs an official photographer? any offers? I did manage to sneak a few of one of the make and take sessions.

Hayley, Jane and Brigitte did an amazing job on our inspiration stations, they make a table of display projects that are themed and the also share tips and ideas in demonstrations too, we had home decor, bows and the Pennant Parade stamp set.

We also have the opportunity for everyone to bring a project to showcase, I didn’t manage to get pictures of all of them but here are 2 using the wonderful NEW Stampin’ Up! fabric, thank you to Em and Catherine for sharing them with us.

Congratulations to Teri for winning the challenge too!

So after a fun filled day, I packed up the car, dashed home unpacked, repacked and drove to Nottingham to celebrate my Dad’s 70th Birthday !  There were over 30 family and friends gathered and it was a huge surprise for Dad, fantastic!

We stayed over and had a quiet lunch with my gorgeous nephews, brother Ric and sister in-law Vicky and Mum and Dad too, a great end to a fabulous weekend.

Happy Stampin’

This is a stepper box, it stands 6″ high and holds a lovely surprise.

The inside opens out to reveal 4 stepped sections, perfect for chocolates, jewellery, make-up, or perhaps all of them!

This stepper box is part of the bunting and boxes class and you can choose either a Christmas themed paper or Mocha Morning, which is a lovely neutral collection of browns and creams. I hope to see you at a class soon.

Happy Stampin’

I will be sharing some sneak peeks of the projects, this sneak peek is for the Great Gifts class on the 26th November.  One of the gifts will be a packaged set of cards, using a DVD case………

Now because we will be using all new products for the classes, the papers and colours are not the same on the pictures below as the ones we will be using, the cards will be different too but I hope you will get the idea of the gift.

Depending on the thickness of the embellishments used you can fit 2-3 cards on each side.

It’s a perfect gift, for those really difficult people to buy for!

Happy Stampin’

Both children are safely on their way to school and college I am back working my Stampin’ Up! business full time in my office (also known as the lounge!).  It’s just me and the dog and it’s soooooo peaceful!

I do have lots to do, you are loving the retired list, so much so that lots of things have gone already.  I will have an order going in this evening so if you want to add something to it, please call or email me, if you can collect from me there will be no postage to pay.

The following items are no longer available

Today’s projects both feature the milk carton die for the big shot.  The die will be found in the new catalogue but the papers I have decorated the projects with are from Botanical Gazette, they are going.  The hexagonal box is made by cutting one of the 4 panels off two mini cartons and then sticking them together.  Quite simple and it makes a really good sized box.

Here is the view from the top, super cute!

Happy Stampin’

I haven’t changed a thing!

Tonight I’m off to Joiners in Southampton for Connor’s band Fools and Scissors latest gig, very exciting!

Happy Stampin’

Sharon has focused on Sparkly and Bright and the Delightful Decorations stamp sets to make cards and packaging, keeping to the same colours throughout Old Olive, Real Red and Chocolate Chip has given a really co-ordinated feel to these projects.

Sharon has also made the cute window decorations, fabulous, I’m going to have to give that a go this year!

Happy Stampin’

The box below is big, 9 inches tall and is made using a combination of 12″x12″ and A4 cardstock.  I must say thank you to Hayley and Elizabeth two of my wonderful team, the box pattern is an adaptation of theirs and they are so lovely to share!

How about this for a neat idea, a double pillow box, for long presents.  In fact I have just perfected a triple one that is just right for Curly Wurlies !

Finally a cello bag that is great for all sorts of different Christmas treats, it uses the Top-Note die and our small cello bags.  Stampin’ Up! is so clever the TopNote die will also top the medium cello bags just score it the other way!

A special tip for you shared by a fellow Stampin’ Up! demonstrator Sara, if you use sticky strip to attach the cello bag to the back of the topnote, then use Tombow glue on the inside front and allow it to dry, you end up with an easy lift off opening for your treat bag so the topper isn’t damaged whilst you get the goodies out!

Well that’s all from me today, I hope you have a great weekend.

Happy Stampin’

It’s an opportunity to have some ‘me’ time and craft all day, you can bring along your unfinished projects, make cards, scrapbook pages, knit, sew, bead what ever you would like to do!  I will be on hand to help and advise if you need me.

Each person will have a minimum of half a 6ft table to work at,  the hall is bright and airy with plenty of room to move about.  Hot and cold drinks are provided along with biscuits and of course afternoon cupcakes!

If you are a scrapbooker you may recognise this as a Scrapbook crop, but I want it to be much more than that, so many of my customer friends are super talented in many crafts and I want you to bring along whatever projects you are wanting to work on.

You will recieve a goody bag that includes a variety of products 12″x12″ and A4 cardstock, 12″x12″ designer series patterned papers, ribbons and co-ordinating embellishments worth a minimum of £15. There will be samples of projects you can make with your goody bag for you to copy and a make and take project for you to complete if you wish. Below is a picture of a sample goody bag .

I have been asked repeatedly to provide this type of event and I am so pleased to be able to do this for you.  I will be running this type of day 3-4 times a year.  Payment for this needs to be made by 13th August 2011 cash or cheques only please, I cannot take cards for class fees.

As a special offer if you book on the August Craft Away Day you can add on a Diecut Diva Class or Scrapbook sisters class for just £8.  For more details of these classes see below.

Diecut Divas and Scrapbook Sisters

Diecut Divas 10am – 12noon

There are 1,000′s of things you can do with your Big Shot machine!! Come and learn and make 5 different projects every month. Even if you don’t own the Big Shot, but hope to someday, do come to the class and see what this amazing machine can do!  Make 5 awesome projects! Boxes, bags, cards, and more!

Cost: £15 or FREE with a minimum of a £20 order on the day

Every customer who buys a Big Shot from me will get a pass to attend one Diecut Diva Class for FREE.

Scrapbook Sisters 1pm – 3pm

Whether you’re an experienced scrapper or have never scrapbooked in your life, the Scrapbook Sisters class is for you.  Each month you will make THREE 12″x12″Scrapbook Pages, a double page spread and a single page.  You will learn different layouts and rubber-stamping techniques to make beautiful pages.

Each month will have a theme, August 2011 is “Christmas” if you would like to bring along some appropriate photo’s please do or you can add the photo’s later at home.

Make three  12″ x 12″ pages!

Cost: £15 or FREE with a minimum of a £20 order on the day

Venue :    St. John’s Church Centre, 7 Church Road, Locks Heath, Southampton SO31 6LW

Happy Stampin’

36 of my team and guests had a wonderful day, of stamping, crafting, chatting, training, sharing business tips and tricks and of course eating cake too!  A big thank you to Kerry, Michele and Elizabeth who did some fantastic demonstrations and projects to wow us!

We made 6 projects, using a goody bag of products, Chipboard alphabets, satin ribbon and yummy Jolly Holiday designer series paper. We always make a technique card too for our 6×6 album, you can see some of them here.

The first 2 projects are quick and easy cards, perfect for mass production.

The 3rd card takes a bit longer as you cover the chipboard with designer paper, to get a nice finish use an emery board to distress the edge of the paper, always sand downwards or you will lift the paper off the chipboard.

We made a cute snowman box, using the topnote die.

A gift card holder again using the Topnote die, you really need this one……….!

I will be demonstrating this at my workshops in the next few weeks.

and finally a NOEL bunting, I love this and it will be part of my Christmas decorations and gift class on the 29th October.

Here are a few close up shots, I tied that bow !!!!!!

We decorated the back too

So if this sounds like fun, I’d love you to join us next time!  My next quarterly meeting is on the 15th October at Locks Heath, Hampshire, email me to find out more!

Happy Stampin’

It’s a scrapbook made from paper bags, you can see the dimension in the next photo, it is huge !

Every page is decorated differently, it is absolutely stunning !

Pages made of acetate and glass glitter.

And another mini book inside.

It’s going to be a while before I will be able to put any pictures in it, it’s too pretty!

If you would like to see more of the lovely Hayley’s work who made this you can find her blog here.

Happy Stampin’

We arrived at our hotel and where whisked to the hospitality room where we where hugged and welcomed by Shelli and Pam.  The hospitality room was a favourite haunt, lots of sweets and snacks, drinks and lovely sofas to sit and chat. Each day we had the opportunity to spin the wheel,for prizes of Stampin’ Up! products a game that you couldn’t lose at……..fantastic !

A quick stop to drop off bags in our rooms before a wander into town.

Here is my lovely room, now I must introduce Frank Manu, he is a monkey and the UK demonstrator’s mascot and travels with us to each incentive trip, you will see him in a variety of photos!

The bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom, and at least twice a day I drowned myself under the shower that was as big as a dinner plate!

Every room was different, some looked over an amazing courtyard, others had little sitting rooms, or steps up to the bathrooms, stunning!

We had a walk into town and a sit in a cafe watching the world go by, one of my favourite things to do in a new city.  Then it was back to the hotel for wash and brush up and to the ballroom for dinner.

Don’t we brush up well !  From left to right, me, Michelle, Jo, Natalie, Paula and Shelli.

Dinner was lovely,we shared stories of childhood memories, we laughed and cried. My favourite course was the dessert, probably no surprise there……….Coconut and caramalised pineapple, Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmmm!

Then back to our rooms, to find a lovely gift.  A Stampin’ Up! bag, the pattern will look familiar it is from the Springtime Vintage paper, and a lovely hand decorated journal.

After a quick night cap it was off to bed, ready for our next adventure! Do pop back tomorrow for the next instalment!

Happy Stampin’

My swaps are a variation of the ribbon brooch you can see here.

I have used manmade fabric and cut scallop circles and fun flowers using my bigshot and then melted each layer.  I need to say thank you to Clare who helped with both cutting and the first set of melting.  Each brooch has been melted about 4 times, not a quick process but I love the effect.

Then the flowers have been hot glued together topped with a big button, some with seam binding decoration others with rhinestones so each one is unique.  I have tied them to a topnote which has been stamped with French Foliage.

I have put a brooch back covered with felt on the reverse again hot glued……..I can’t sew!!!

I hope they like them……I am so looking forward to sharing with the the swaps I get in return.

Happy Stampin’

Am I very excited?  YES !

But I did remember to schedule some posts whilst I am away as I know I won’t have time to post till Monday.  If you do want snippets of information all about my trip, please do check out my facebook page here. You will need to add me as a friend. I will update that as often as I can.

Now if you are one of my amazing customers you would have received an email about my special offer whilst I am away, if you are not on my mailing list you need to join quickly because this is a once a year only offer!!!  You can join my mailing list but clicking here or clicking the link in my right hand bar and follow the directions.

I do have some projects for you to look at today, these are from my Big shot class I held at the end of May, it’s called Die cut divas and runs every month, click the Monthly clubs tab at the top of this page and you will find out all the details.

I have used Not Quite Navy and Poppy Parade for this card and bag combo, Red, White and Blue very patriotic, I designed it whilst watching the Royal Wedding in April!  The bag is made using Scallop envelopes, I will do a tutorial about this in a couple of weeks.

Happy Stampin’

All is well in the Fowler household, Connor just has 2 more Maths exams to do, then he has the whole summer off, till the middle of September!  Kimberley’s ankle is healing so she should be back playing netball next week.  It’s Brian’s birthday on Saturday so hopefully we will make it into the New Forest for a walk and a yummy afternoon tea!

Meantime I have 35 swaps to make for Prague I fly next week, 4 events to prepare for the week I get back, and the small matter of packing!  Best get busy then!

Happy Stampin’

Last Saturday was a day of classes, lots of lovely ladies, lots of crafting, laughing, chatting and cupcake eating!

One of the classes was based around the 2 Step Owl punch, we made so many different things, here are 2 of them.

A penguin bookmark

and a Lion notebook.

I haven’t forgotten to show my birthday cards from last week, I need to get them all photographed, they are lovely and they will be on here very soon.  Have a great weekend.

Happy Stampin’

I think that’s enough motor racing for now…….

I promised to draw 3 names for a handmade brooch today, several of you had 2 entries as you linked to your websites, thank you so much for all your comments.

Here are the 3 winners

Julie said:

So pretty, will definitely have a go at making these once the cast comes off!! Thank you for sharing x If I’m lucky would like any colour as I love them all!

Taniaj said:

great brooch i would love the marina mist if I were lucky. Thanks for sharing the idea Tx

Sharon said:

WOW! Fab easy to follow tutorial, with clear step by step photos. Brooch is stunning.

Sharon and Julie please can you let me know which colour you would like and I’ll get busy making them !

I have some notebooks to show you today, a few weeks ago we attended a Stampin’ Up! regional training with more than 20 of my team attending I wanted to make them something lovely.

I have used the in colour designer series paper stack, Pear Pizzazz ribbon and decorated them with punched flowers.

Since we now have a gentleman in our team, Trevor I made his notebook a little differently.

Happy Stampin’

To make up for my absence I have a tutorial for you today, these ribbon brooches have been a huge hit with my customers and team during February and March, I hope you love them too!  In fact I have a giveaway for you too, so read on until the end of this post to find out how to enter.

Ribbon Rose Brooch

I made these originally as I was inspired by a brooch I bought for my Mum at Christmas, I was made of chiffon circles that where scorched on the edges, actually that doesn’t sound so nice does it?  I promise it was!

Now Stampin’ Up! UK doesn’t currently sell fabric so I had to settle with ribbon, I tried all different types and  the satin ribbon is best as it gave the effect I was looking for. This tutorial is mainly pictures, it is very straightforward to do.

You will need

1-2m of Stampin’ Up! satin ribbon

1 3/8″ circle of card in a matching colour

Sticky Strip

Brooch Back and strong glue to attach it to the card

Heat gun

Sharp Scissors

1. First cut a length of satin ribbon, the more ribbon the more dimension your brooch will have, don’t worry if it’s not long enough it is easy to join.  Cut as shown below from one side of the ribbon, almost through to the other edge. The cuts need to be about 3/4″ to 1″ apart, I don’t measure them and prefer to have a variety of sizes, as this gives more interest to the brooch as you can see from the picture below.

2. Then you need to cut each section of the ribbon in a curve, it is very important to ensure you cut the bound edge off the top of the ribbon as this will help with the scorching. It takes a bit of time but it is well worth it.

3.Then you need to get your heat tool and melt the ribbon.  Several words of warning, make sure you do this on a heat proof surface and in a well ventilated area.  You will need something to hold down the ribbon as it tends to dance all over the place.  You also need to be patient, you want the cut edges to melt as shown below, a little bit of scorching is okay too.

4. The more you heat the ribbon, the more texture and curves will form, it’s very exciting to watch!

5. Once your ribbon is ready, prepare the brooch back, punch out a 1 3/8″ circle of matching card and cover the whole of one side in Sticky Strip as shown.

6. Peel off the tape liner and stick the ribbon to the brooch back, I have used a contrasting circle to make the pictures easier to see, it will look better if you use a matching colour of card.  You start at the outside edge and work inwards.

7. Continue around the edge, pleat the ribbon gently to make it curve and look more flower shaped.

8. Start a second row and continue around, press the ribbon down hard onto the sticky strip to make sure it is stuck well. Repeat until all the card is covered in ribbon.

9.  Finish in the centre, trim off the excess ribbon if necessary.

10.  Then attach Pearls and Rhinestones to the centre and stick the brooch back to the reverse.  Wear with pride.

I promised a giveaway.  In fact I have 3 brooches to giveaway, and you can choose the colour of ribbon you would like, so get out your Stampin’ Up! UK catalogues and pick a colour.  I will make them for you once the draw is complete.

To enter the draw please leave me a comment (the comment section is at the top of this post) telling me which colour of Satin ribbon you would like your brooch to be made from, to get an extra ticket in the draw mention my giveaway on your blog and put the link in your comment too!

I will do the draw after the Austrailian Grand Prix on Sunday 27th March 2011.  Good luck.

Happy Stampin’