Inspiring Inkin'

The last of the Christmas cards for now, by the time this posts I should be back home safe and sound.  No doubt catching up with a mountain of calls and emails and maybe even some sleep!

This first card is the lovely dasher, his antlers are scattered with pearls and I’ve even coloured a tiny pearl to make his nose red, so really he is Rudolph!!!  The woodgrain background stamp is certainly becoming a firm favourite too!

No series of Christmas cards would be complete without a snowflake card, I have partnered the new Pool Party with Night of Navy, it looks fabulous together.  A few pearls and the stamp from Perfect Punches and another quick card.

Happy Stampin’

And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !  Today is my Mum and Dad’s wedding anniversary, I hope they have a wonderful day xxxx

Traditional Christmas cards today, one bright and one vintage looking.

This first vintage style card uses the Skaters from Winter post and teams them up with the Medallion background stamp, it would look great in lots of colours and it would also be easy to make lots!  The brad goes either side of the ribbon to make a flat embellishment, with just enough sparkle!

Now this card is using Real Red and Old Olive ink, a perfect match for Christmas. I have just used one stamp set for this card, Season of Joy.

Happy Stampin’

Today is all about swaps and team goodies.  Today is the first day of the Stampin’ Up! European convention, it’s the 3rd one we have had and in case I didn’t mention it before we are in DISNEYLAND Paris !!!!

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’

One of my favourite Stampin’ Up! Big Shot dies is the Top Note.  It is exclusive to Stampin’ Up! and really versatile, for cards, scrapbook pages and 3D items.

Today it takes centre stage on Christmas cards.  The first card is completely flat, so no postage worries, it uses the new colour Pool Party a soft aqua, perfect for Christmas cards, the sentiment is from Petite pairs.

The next card also uses Winter Post but adds in the fir tree from Lovely as a Tree.  Everyone NEEDS Lovely as a Tree it is a fabulous set! You can cut off the Top note if you wish, but I just wrap it over the top score line and glue it down.

This final card takes the Top Note die and cuts it a second time to give this stylish square mat.  A stamp and punch from Contempo Christmas and a small bow and the card is finished.

Happy Stampin’

Well I’m packed, I think !!!!

It’s an early night for me tonight as we the flight is a little after 7am.  To be fair I didn’t need to get such an early flight as Convention doesn’t start until Friday morning, but I have a bit of Disney to fit in too!  I love the rides and I am pleased to say some of my team do too, so when we are not at convention we will be zooming along, flipped upside down and generally sprinkled with pixie dust !

I promised more Christmas cards, so here you are, today’s cards all focus on the brand new Stampin’ Up! set Polar Party, the penguins are sooooooo cute!

I’m not sure what has happened to the colours on this photo, they are Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry and Baja Breeze, really vibrant in real life!  The glimmer brads in the right hand colour are very sparkly too.

The card below is so quick to make, you could sit in front of your favourite program and emboss lots of card, colour the images in another evening and cut out and assemble.  Christmas cards are best made production line style!

This card showcases the other major image in the stamp set, and all the little ones too.

Happy Stampin’

Till Christmas 2011 !  I haven’t actually counted, I have a new ap for my iphone, It’s called Sleeps till Christmas, it plays Christmas songs and when you shake the phone it sounds like jingle bells, I’m such a big kid when it comes to Christmas !!!

I really think a few days of Christmas card inspiration is what is needed so I shall post lots of Christmas card ideas over the next few days, most of them will be flat so they will post at standard rate.  The Stampin’ Up! UK shipping times are less than a week at the moment so if you haven’t got all the products you need for your cards place your order with me and you will have time to get them made before the last posting day.

I’m away from Thursday till Monday at Disneyland Paris for the 3rd Stampin’ Up! Europe convention so I will have some swaps and goodies I have made for my team to share too.  This is always an exciting time so I am sure I will have lots of news to share when I get back!  So do expect lots of blog posts from me………!

These first few cards focus on the Wreath from Welcome Christmas.

The background is made using the Delicate Doilies stamp set, and I have coloured the pearls using a red sharpie marker.  It’s a square card!!!!!  I am so pleased we now have square envelopes in the Stampin’ Up! catalogue.

This second card I love, it’s so straightforward to do, but you can change it up too.  We made this at my last card club in November and several of the ladies sponged the edges of the frame, or the panels, you could also use the fabulous woodgrain stamp too.  that is the most amazing thing about crafting you take one idea and it grows into so much more!

The top square panels are punched using the 1 1/4″ square punch and the longer panels are cut.  This time I have used a maker pen to colour the berries on the wreath.

Well I must run, I have to finish packing !

Happy Stampin’

Stampin’ Up! UK have just announced a brand new promotion for all hostesses of Stampin’ Up! parties between the 1st November and the 15th December 2011.

The new Paisley Petals stamp set and coordinating Paisley Petals designer series papers will be yours when your party total exceeds £300, in addition to the usual hostess benefits, that’s more than £33 of extra goodies !!!!

If your party sales total reaches £300, then you will receive:

* £50 hostess pounds to spend in the exclusive hostess section or anywhere else in the catalogue
* 1 item (any item) from the catalogue for half price
* Paisley Petals stamp set and Paisley Petals designer series paper pack

Let’s get a party booked and we can enjoy an evening of fun, laughter, stamping and free goodies!!

Happy Stampin’

I hope you are having a lovely day. I am in the middle of a busy week, Tuesday was the restart after our summer break of one of my technique clubs, yesterday I was with Clare for her launch party, today I’m off to do a workshop for Joyce and Carolyn and then another workshop tomorrow with Jane.  Now that is a busy week, but that is because I’m taking most of next week off!  The children are on half term so I think we will be off out and about most days.  I love that I have a job that means I have the flexibility to set my own hours.

I have 2 cards for you today, both using my favourite stamping style ‘random’ it makes super quick cards that look as though it’s a patterned paper you have cut rather than stamped images.

This card is using Vintage Vogue, nice and bright and cheerful !

Now I mentioned earlier I was with Clare for her launch party yesterday, Clare has just joined my team of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and now is a wonderful time to join.  I work at my business full time, and within my team I have other demonstrators who also work full-time at their business, but I also have demonstrators who combine their love of stamping with families, full and part-time jobs and even retirement too!  The beauty of this business is YOU decide how to run YOUR business, I’m here to support you on your journey!

Right now you, until the end of October as well as receiving more than £250 of products for your starter kit fee of £119 you also receive 5 in colour ink pads and a pack of matching card stock that’s an additional £27.95 !!!!  You can keep all of the products even if you decide at a later date that you no longer wish to be a demonstrator.  You can find lots of information here and here.

Email me and I will call you for a no obiligation chat, what have you got to lose?