Destroying-it-ourselves

Afternoon all! I've been somewhat absent of late as we’ve been busy ripping our landing, hallway and stairs to pieces, we’ve yet to start putting them all back together, the house is a complete tip and I’ve had very limited inky time – I'm looking forward to it all being finished and getting back in my (very dusty) craft room. In the meantime I’ve got a card to share for you, it was designed for my team training session last week before the mayhem began, and uses the two new hostess sets from the mini catalogue, along with my new favourite ribbon – the baja breeze seam binding.

Now, I promised some blog candy to celebrate my first anniversary as a demo – I've assembled a prize, i just need to find my camera under the rubble to actually get a picture, so hopefully I’ll manage that tomorrow afternoon, along with some piccies of the beautiful projects that my downline Rebecca designed for our training session using the ‘because i care’ stamp set, be prepared to add it to your wishlists! Right, I'd better go and finish hovering the dust off the sofas so we can use them again, then hopefully I might get some time in my craft room this evening.

Baby Blossoms

Morning Folks
can anyone tell me where the weekend went please? I cant quite believe it's Monday again and we're racing towards the end of April.I had a fabulous day on Saturday, firstly with my class of lovely ladies, who were making the AR designs Haute Tote and coordinating notecards using the Springtime Vintage Suite from the new mini catalogue.

The notecards were made using the one-sheet wonder technique. the baby blossoms stamps were used to create an A5 sheet of custom designer paper, which was then cut into panels and used to decorate the card.the eagle-eyed of you may have spotted a new border on the front not-quite navy notecard - is it a new punch I hear you ask? Nope - i've simply used the curly label punch to add the decorative edge, as demonstrated by an Australian demo Alisa Tilsner here.

I can't quite believe it, but this was my 12th class since becoming a demonstrator - I'm not too sure where that time has raced away to, but to celebrate my 1st birthday as a demo, I think we'll have to have some blog candy this week, i'll have to go and have a rifle through some stash to find a prize, but check back later in the week to see what's up for grabs!

I'll also be celebrating with a 'Birthday Party' for my May class - all of the projects will be on a birthday theme and it'll be an all-day event including a party bag (with £25 of goodies), lunch, jelly & ice cream and possibly even 'pass the parcel' for £40. If you'd like to come along and join in the festivities then it'll be on Saturday 28th May from 10am-4pm, email me to book your place!

Speaking of parties, I followed class with my little friend Lydia's crafty birthday party for her & 12 friends - we used A LOT of glue, but they seemed to have fun and all went home with lots of hand-decorated goodies. I'll have to see if I can borrow some of Lydia's creations to photograph this week as I didn't get chance before the party. Yesterday was spent tidying up my craft room, which had got into quite a state last week with all of my preparations for the weekend, and then catching up on chores.

I've got several swaps to make for my team training session later this week, so I'll be back to share those later in the week, then I'm looking forward to starting the decorating, which will mean limited inky time over the next couple of weeks whilst we try and change the hallway landing and stairs from a shade of cherry cobbler to something more akin to crumb cake/sahara sand!

Baby Bloom Sneak Peek

Happy Friday all!!
i'm not too sure how it's got to Friday, but I'm hoping to get a chance to put my feet up for a little while tonight (after I've assembled 13 tote bags, cut out pillow boxes and assembled a birthday banner that is).

It's been rather manic this week as I've been preparing for my class tomorrow (the projects didn't even exist on Wednesday -  that's how far behind I was this month!) AND designing projects for little Lydia's birthday party tomorrow - which reminds me, I must add a birthday card to the to-do list.

So please excuse the fact that the sneak peeks for tomorrow's class are a little later than usual, but you cant photograph something that doesn't exist! The kit list for class is here and if you'd like to order a class kit so that you can play along at home, it will be available here shortly.

I'll be back tomorrow morning to reveal all!
Until then, hope you have a relaxing evening

MIA & New Product Shares

Morning All

and apologies for the silence since the launch of the new mini catalogue last week! I've been away for a few days, relaxing in sunny Vienna and sampling the local delicacies (aka CAKE) and then had a couple of days in the Yorkshire Dales with my lovely man. Unfortunately that's meant very little time for crafting, and I'm now back and raring to go, playing with all of the lovely new goodies from the mini catalogue. 

I've been designing items for my class this weekend - Blossoming with Beauty, where we'll be using the gorgeous new 'baby blossoms' stamp set and springtime vintage papers. Class runs this Saturday, if you're interested in finding out more about how to join us then please email me. Kits for those of you wishing to play along at home will be available here on Saturday.

Now then, having had a week to flick through the new catalogue, do you see so much that you love and you can't afford it all at once?  Then why not take part in my New Mini Catalogue Product Share? You will receive:

• 72 sheets pieces of 6 x6" patterned paper - 24 from Springtime Vintage (page 17), 24 from Botanical Gazette (page 23) and 24 from Sweet Stitches (page 26).
• 8 metres of the new Seam Binding ribbon - Page 17 (2 metres each of Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, 2 Pear Pizazz and Rose Red).
• 24 Big Designer Buttons - 12 Springtime Vintage buttons (4 colours, 3 different buttons - page 17) and 12 Sweet Stitches buttons (4 colours, 3 different buttons - page 29). 
• 16 Bitty Buttons (Four clear buttons in four shapes - page 21).

The cost of this share is £23 if you collect it from me and £25 posted.  I can accept payment by cheque, bank transfer or by using the Paypal button below.

New mini catalogue product share - collected £23.00 New mini catalogue product share - posted £25.00

Well that's all for today folks, I'll be back later in the week to share some sneak peeks of this weekends projects. I also need to show you what I've been up to for my little friend Lydia's 7th birthday party, which is also on Saturday, where we'll be doing all sorts of crafty things - I have a feeling I'll need a rest on Sunday!

Let’s do the hop……

Good morning again! If you've joined me as part of the blog hop, then welcome! Hopefully you've arrived here from the lovely Rachel's blog, if not then keep following the links and you'll end up back here via there!

This time I'm back to share some projects made with supplies from the all new mini catalogue - I've been playing for a couple of weeks now, and have been desperate to share some of it! First up, here's the make and take card that the ladies at my launch party made last night

It features the top note die (courtesy of my new favourite toy, the Big Shot), springtime vintage DSP, baja breeze seam binding ribbon and the gorgeous 'beautiful wings' embosslit. The sentiment is  from the Occasional Greetings stamp set, coloured with baja breeze and not quite navy markers. I'm loving the papers - I didn't think I'd like them at first as they seemed a little chintzy for my tastes, but having designed my next class using them they're fast becoming a firm favourite!

Staying with the springtime vintage collection, here is a card front that I made for a swap over on ILWS, organised by the lovely Pat (aka cupcake). The same colour scheme with an added hint of river rock, but this time featuring the 'four frames' stamp set and coordinating punch, which is a fantastic shape and size for fitting many of the existing SU sentiments - I can see this being one of my most used and abused stamp sets! The scalloped baja breeze layer is not a new border punch - instead I've used the curly label punch to create a different decorative edge.

And finally for this morning, a swap that I made for a recent training session, hosted by my lovely Stampin' Up! 'sister' Bekka. A completely different colour scheme and style for this one - I used the 'Summer Splash' stamp set to create a bold & bright beach scene. The colours are pacific point, real red, daffodil delight pumpkin pie, crumb cake and tempting turquoise.

That's all from me today, your next stop on the hop is Theresa's blog where there's lots more inspiration!

There are four hops in total running today - the first in the chain for each of them is listed below (this post is part of group one).

Group One - Erika

Group Two - Angela

Group Three - Rita

Group Four - Karen

Tomorrow's Mother's Day, so I'll be back to show you the cards I've made for that then!

Happy Birthday Darren!

Morning All!
Today my gorgeous boyfriend celebrates his birthday, so I thought I'd pop by to show you the card that I made for him - I would have shared yesterday, but I didn't want to risk him taking a sneak peek!! I've used some of the nursery suite DSP (proving it's not just for baby cards!) and used the colours in the paper: chocolate chip, pear pizzaz and baja breeze.

Right - I'm off to spoil him with his pressies now, then I guess we'll be out and about for the day, followed by a yummy meal at Gino's Italian restaurant this evening, so limited inky time for me. Be sure to visit after 10am though, as I'm taking part in the In Love With Stamping blog hop to celebrate the launch of the new mini catalogue, there'll be lots of ideas to tempt you into purchasing some of the lovely new goodies!

See you later!

NEW Mini Catalogue Launches Today!!!

Morning all, and what an exciting morning it is! Today sees the arrival of the all NEW mini catalogue, and perhaps the most requested accessory in the history of Stampin’ Up! UK – the Big Shot. I’m guessing you’re not even reading this waffle now as you’re so excited to get browsing, so here it is…….

If you’d like a paper copy of your own, then please email me your address and I’ll post a complimentary copy out to you. I’m off now to prepare for my launch party tonight – I hope to see several of you there, but be sure to pop back tomorrow as I’m taking part in a blog hop, organised by the lovely Erika (aka twintrouble) over on In Love With Stamping to celebrate the launch, so there’ll be lots of inspiration using the FAB new products.

In the meantime, a little something crafty to share with you. Last weekend I helped my little next door neighbour Lydia to make some invitations for her birthday party later this month, we went for a girly subtles colour scheme of pretty in pink, pink pirouette, bashful blue, certainly celery and so saffron.

We used the ‘Party This Way’ & ‘Cheer & Wishes’ stamp sets and a selection of punches (Lydia’s favourite!!). She’s requested a ‘crafty party’ for her and 13 friends, so I guess I’d better get cracking on designing the projects!

Speaking of birthdays, it’s Darren’s tomorrow, so I’ll have to remember to show you his card too…

Until then