I hope you are enjoying the festive season.

Happy Stampin’

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’

However I am not, last week I hurt my collar bone……..a minor insignificant thing really, not sure when or how it happened, one minute I was fine, the next I had a lump and plenty of pain! A trip to the doctors so far hasn’t answered any questions and although the anti-inflammatories are helping I have been unable to do most of the things I want and need to do for over a week!

Stamping hurts, typing hurts, wrapping presents hurts, I think you are getting the message, everything I try and do hurts and it has made me more than a little cranky! Ask Brian and the kids…….!

So I’m making this a quick post using cards I made a few weeks ago and I will be back as soon as I can with some NEW things to share with you, I think that has been the hardest thing, I have new stamps and products that are still in the box because I can’t do anything with them, and they arrived last week!

So 2 quick cards today, both birthday cards, I love being able to use things in different ways, on the first card I have used the ornament punch and made it into a vase, simple, speedy and fabulous!

The second card uses the same sentiment from Curly Cute.  This time I have used an acrylic block to make a shadow background, looks like a stormy sky!

Now you have until Wednesday to place your orders with me to ensure you get them in time for the big day, I can of course send out gift vouchers for another week after that.

Advance warning, you need to make sure you are on my email – mailing list to hear first all of the information about the new products, catalogues and Sale-a-bration and perhaps a Boxing day surprise !!!!!!!  There is a link on the right hand side or email me and I will add you to the list.

That’s all for me for now, I’ll be back as soon as I can.

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’

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’

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’

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’

Today’s card is using the Nature Walk stamp set  I love the tone on tone effect on this card, very classy! But oh so simple!

Very short and sweet from me today, I have lots of ladies coming for Diecut Divas, Scrapbook sisters and Amanda’s Craft Away day so I need to get the car packed and on my way.

Happy Stampin’

Well in our house a Butterfly has been a Flutterby since I was small and for the past 22 years or so (blame my hubby Brian) Hedgehogs have been Hodgepigs !

Now quite often whilst I am talking at a home workshop ( stampin’ party) I can see by the glazed expression that I have used a word that perhaps I need to explain, the best one so far has been whilst using the Lovely as a Tree stamp set…………..you need to colour in the tree stalk…………..what do you mean you call it a tree trunk………!  Isn’t it a tree stalk ?

I am sure you can see where I am going with this, I never ever call a Hedgehog a Hedgehog, it’s a Hodgepig, so whilst explaining this card the other day I had the customers in fits because they had never heard of these 2 creatures………… A Flutterby on a Hodgepig……..!

Happy Stampin’

The clolours from the Blueberry Crisp paper designed the card really, clean lines and very quick to make.  My kind of card!

Happy Stampin’

I have a bigshot card for you today, we made this at one of the Diecut Divas classes, you can find out more information about them here.

Just one stamp on the topnote diecut, which was then embossed using Elegant Bouquet and decorated with a flower from the Fun Flowers die and little leaves.  Topped with a button, the stitching line is a simple white line using the Stampin’ Up! gel pen.

Remember tomorrow is the last day you can book for my Craft Away Day, you can find out all about it here.

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’

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’

So onto today’s card, it was my Brother Ric and lovely Sister in law Vicky’s wedding anniversary last week and I sent them this card.

If you came to card club in May you will recognise it as it was one of the 6 cards we made for FREE………to find out how check out all the details here.

Now I would love to say I came up with this design all by myself…….but I didn’t, it was inspired by a lovely swap I received from Sarah at my last team training. This is her card, isn’t it lovely! You can see more of her creations and cupcakes here.

Happy Stampin’

Yesterday not only did we eradicate every dust bunny in our bedroom, re-arrange all the cupboards and drawers clean out everything from under the bed, we managed to empty the loft too!  We have boxes of clothes and books to go to the charity shop, a boot full of rubbish for the tip and a huge sense of satisfaction!  I still have 5 boxes of paperwork to sort and shred and haven’t dared look into my wardrobe.  We did manage to eat lunch in the garden and stop for an occasional cold beverage, the loft was sooooo hot and dusty.

So today we have food shopping to look forward to, tip runs and lots of shredding and then I’m going to sit in my hammock the garden and read a book (one of the many I unearthed from under the bed!!!!)

I do have a card for you today, the last one in my Baby series, very cute and straightforward to make.  The ribbing around the neck and legs is made by punching out a 1 3/8″ circle and then over punching the hole with the scallop circle punch.

In other news I did have all my hair cut off on Thursday……. well not quite all of it, but certainly back to how it was 4 years ago, so once I’ve worked out how to use my new camera I’ll update my picture.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stampin’

2 Baby cards for you today, very similar in styles, using papers from the Nursery Suite speciality papers set and look another bow…….!

The watercolour paper and crayons makes me feel like an artist, not bad for a girl who can’t draw a stick man!  That’s why I’m a rubber stamper, Stampin’ Up! has amazing artists to do the drawing for us and we get to do the fun bit!!

Happy Stampin’

The colours papers and stamps are the same as the cards I made earlier this week with a few new additions……..

I couldn’t help but use my Big Shot on this card.

The Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder is such a quick and easy way of adding dimension to your cards.  How amazing are those butterflies?  The come from an Embosslit die called Beautiful Wings, these both cut and emboss your paper or card at the same time.  Both of these are exclusive to Stampin’ Up!

Enjoy your day !

Happy Stampin’

In fact it’s 32 pages and contains the BIG SHOT ! along with some amazing Stampin’ Up! exclusive dies, embossing folders and too many goodies to list here!

Now the best way to look at the mini catalogue is to turn the pages over in your hands, so email me to get your hands on a copy.  But if you can’t wait for the post to arrive you will find an online version here or you can download a PDF copy here.

So why exactly am I so excited?…………Drum roll please……….the Big Shot is a die cutting system that will revolutionise your crafting. It can cut over 50 types of materials, cut at least 4 sheets of card at once and gives such wonderful professional results.  I cut almost 200 flowers from our designer series paper yesterday in less than 5 minutes!  Not only is this going to be fabulous for paper crafting you can use the Big Shot with fabric and felt so all of my lovely customers who sew too, you really need this machine!

I am so excited to share this with you and would love to demonstrate how you can incorporate this into your crafting, do contact me to book a workshop or come along to one of my classes to see it in action!  We have a huge number of exclusive dies and embossing folders too!

The Top Note Die is an exclusive die to us in Stampin’ Up! and it has been hugely popular in the USA I’m sure you are going to love it too.  This is a wallet we made at our most recent Stampin’ Up! training.

I hope you can see the foam of the die, this is the part that both cuts and embosses the dotted line around the outside edge.

This is the inside of the wallet, space for money or itunes vouchers……and the back of the die, all the exclusive Stampin’ Up! dies are grey and they have the Stampin’ Up! logo on them too, cool !

So what else is in the mini catalogue?

Stamps for the boys, big buttons, teeny tiny clear shaped buttons, punches oh yes….. the owl punch is in there, Builder wheels, lots of scrummy papers, Glass Glitter and THE BIG SHOT !!!!!

There are so many things to show you, I will have some new projects every day but we are going to start with a cause very dear to my heart.

On page 31 is a stamp set that I believe you all need, not only is is a beautiful stamp set Stampin’ Up! is donating £1 from each purchase to the Breast Cancer Research foundation.

The stamp set is called Strength and Hope and is £15.95 in wood or £12.95 in clear mount.

I have a card for you today using this wonderful stamp set. See the pretty ribbon, it’s actually seam binding in Pear Pizzazz, the softest silkiest ribbon I have ever used, it is available in Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Rose Red you will be seeing a lot of this!!!!

So come back tomorrow for some more mini catalogue projects.

Happy Stampin’

I’m ploughing through my to do list and making some gorgeous things for you but I can’t share with you just yet…….and I’mn sure you know what it’s like when you have new goodies, you just want to play with them, not your favourite stamps from last week, we crafters are so fickle sometimes!

I do have a card to share with you today, it’s for my husbands Aunt and Uncle who celebrate their Diamond wedding anniversary this week, that’s 60 years of marriage.

I have used an old favourite style of card, it’s been around for years, but was really popular about 2-3 years ago and has now disappeared a bit.  I call it a cracker fold (as it looks like a Christmas cracker), it probably has a proper name!  The front is shaped like a diamond so very appropriate.

The papers and colours are the same as yesterday. Do you like the 3 layers of punched edging I think it looks like antique lace.

Come back tomorrow to see lots of new goodies.

If you are on my mailing list mini catalogues have gone out in the post yesterday along with my new class schedule, lots of new clubs and classes for you. Email me if you would like your own copy.

Happy Stampin’

Now one of the amazing things that Stampin’ Up! UK does is co-ordination.  The stamp set Growing Green, co-ordinates with the designer series paper Woodland Walk.  I have stamped the images in stazon onto watercolour paper and then coloured them in using my watercolour wonder crayons and an aqua painter.  I feel like a real artist when I do this, the truth is I can’t draw a stick person !  That is the reason I am a stamper!

The flowers are decorated with Dazzling diamonds glitter and pearls, here they are in close up.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a diamond card.

Happy Stampin’