It’s so very nearly the weekend…

Happy Friday all! It’s been a testing week to get through – work’s been very busy and we’re still trying to find time to finish off the mammoth project that is the redecoration of the landing, hallway and stairs at home. I’ve managed to find precisely zero time for crafting this week, so I'm desperately hoping I'll get an opportunity to do some this weekend!

In the meantime, here is the swap which I created for my last team training session – the theme was ‘the colour coach’ – we all randomly picked a colour combination and then had to create a shoebox swap sample based upon it. Mine was certainly celery, soft suede and pink pirouette.

I used the elegant bouquet embossing folder to add texture to the certainly celery layer, and created the flower using pink pirouette DSP from the subtles stack and the fun flowers die, following the tutorial created by the fabulous Sarah-Jane. The sentiment comes from the hostess set Afterthoughts, coloured using the soft suede marker.

Next up we have Bec’s sample, which uses pear pizzazz, rich razzleberry and tempting turquoise. She’s also used the vintage wallpaper embossing folder, pocket silhouettes and the little butterfly is from the flight of the butterfly stamp set.

And finally Elaine’s sample, which features a combination of pretty in pink, wild wasabi and early espresso.

She’s used the square lattice embossing folder to add texture to the pretty in pink layers, which are stamped using the greenhouse garden stamp set and edged with the eyelet border punch. the butterfly is punched from some confetti white cardstock and coloured using a sponge dauber and a little pretty in pink ink.

Well, I'd better stop blabbering and go and get ready for the last working day of the week – see you soon!

Birthday Fox

Hey folks, we’re past the middle of the week already, and I've barely made an impression on my ‘to-do’ list. the decorating is still rumbling on at home, meaning that I’ve got limited inky time at present, although i did manage a MAJOR tidy up of my craft room on Sunday (believe me, it needed it!). My lovely downline Rebecca celebrated her birthday on Sunday, so now that she’s received it I can show you her card and pressie.

I was playing around with some of my ‘other’ stash the other weekends and broke out my Papertrey Ink anniversary set for this one. A very simple colour combination of Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White and Real Red, the paper is also from PTI. and I made a matching gift ‘picnic basket’ using the ‘pack a picnic’ template. I hope you had a fab birthday Bec and liked your pressie .

I need to take some more piccies this week – then I can share our shoebox swaps from last week’s team training session, and I’ve got another downline birthday card to make too – it’s all happening in July! Not to mention, I need to design the samples for my August class – where we’re beginning our Christmas preparations using the ‘Welcome Christmas’ stamp set.

I guess I’ll be seeing you soon!

Plane & Simple

Fantastic – it’s Saturday, which means that it’s the weekend, not that I can see much inky time looming nor the opportunity for R&R unfortunately! Today I’ll be busy with my ‘Cards for Dads and Lads’ class, which features the plane and simple stamp set from the mini catalogue. Here’s the group shot of the projects which we’ll be making – 3 cards and a gift box.

the colour combination is very simple and looks fab for masculine cards – Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake, with some newsprint DSP. Here are the projects in a little more detail

hopefully the ladies will enjoy making them! I’ll be back next week with some sneak peeks of the projects for my first session of ‘The Christmas Club’.

The Christmas Club – Revised Dates

Morning all! In response to customer feedback, I’ve decided to change the format of my Christmas Club this year. Instead of five evenings, we’ll run over two Saturdays in October – making 25 cards per day.

Join us for both of the sessions and you'll have 50 cards completed by 29th October, ready for the post, leaving you time to finish your 'special' cards and preparations.

The sessions are suitable for non-crafters as well as 'old-hands' bring a friend along and you'll receive a £10 gift voucher to spend in the Stampin' Up! catalogue (see below for terms and conditions).

• Each session will run for 6 hours, and costs £35.00 which includes all of the materials and envelopes for 25 cards.
• Light refreshments will be provided, but you will need to provide your own lunch. Lunch can be ordered at an additional £5 per session.
• Early bird offer – book both sessions for £60 (pay £35 for the first and £25 at the second)

Club Dates
Both sessions will run on a Saturday, starting at 10am and finishing at 4pm.

• 1st October
• 29th October

email me or call 07764815797 to book your place. We will be in the usual class venue in Quorn.

Refer a friend gift voucher T&Cs - limited to one voucher per friend brought. The individual can not be on my current mailing list nor previously have attended my classes. Gift vouchers must be used within 30 days of issue.

Happy Birthday Mum!

Morning all! It’s a week since my Mum celebrated her birthday and I’ve just realised that I completely forgot to show you her card.

I have to admit that when I got a spare 5 minutes to sit down at my desk last week, my mind went completely blank, and my mojo left the building. So I cased a thank you card which I made earlier this month, using vintage vogue, added a sentiment from curly cute and some of the gorgeous beautiful wings embosslits. It’s a simple colour combination of Basic Black, Whisper White and Rose Red, with the vine heat embossed using white embossing powder. The paper is the sweet and sour specialty DSP – one that still hasn't left my desk yet, so it’s likely that you’ll see some more creations with it fairly soon. In the meantime though I’ve got the kits to make for my class this weekend, the ceilings to paint and then the designs to finish for my first ‘Christmas Club’ session. Busy busy busy!

Papertrey Day…

Happy Tuesday Folks! apologies for the lack of posts over the weekend, things became somewhat hectic as we’re trying desperately to finish the decorating, I had some prep to finish for my class this weekend, and then I was busy on Sunday with my lovely friend Vannessa, playing with Papertrey Ink goodies. We were taking part in a day hosted by Vannessa, where we made lots of projects using other people’s stash this was the card which I designed for the event

featuring possibly my favourite colour combination of Melon Mamabo, Old Olive & Rich Razzleberry. If you’d like to see some of the other projects we were making, then pop back later in the week when I’ve hopefully had a chance to take some piccies – dust levels in the house permitting!

A Quick Reminder

Happy Friday folks! Just a quick reminder that bookings for my ‘Cards for Dads and Lads’ class close today. If you haven’t already booked your space and would like to attend, please email me ASAP to book your space.

Training Swaps

Hey folks, I hope you all had a relaxing weekend and a great start to the week – i really can’t believe it’s Thursday already, it’s been a busy one at our house. On Sunday I was in Peterborough for our team’s quarterly training session with my SU mummy Monica and sister Bekka. We had a Christmas theme I know – it’s only July, but you can never be too prepared! A couple of weeks ago I got busy and made all of my swaps in advance, so I thought I’d share those with you now.

I’ve used the ‘Welcome Christmas’ stamp set and a colour combination of Whisper White, Old Olive and Cherry Cobbler. The design features the top note die and polka dot embossing folder – which really helped to speed the production process up! I’ll share the swaps that I received back at some point later this week, i need to photograph them first!

It was my mum’s birthday yesterday – Happy Birthday mummy! I’ll be back soon to share the cards I’ve made for her too, once she’s received it that is, as i don't want her getting a sneak peek before I see her on Saturday! Speaking of birthdays, I’d best be getting a shuffle on and make some more cards – 2 of my team celebrate their birthdays later this month, so plenty to be doing!

See you all soon

Sneak Peeks

Hey folks – it’s Monday in already, I’m not too sure where the weekend got to. Once again we’re in decorating mode, trying to complete the work we started over Easter on the landing, hallway and stairs – so much for a week’s leave! It’ll mean limited inky time this week, although I’ve got a workshop on Saturday and then a training event organised by my Stampin’ Up! mummy at Peterborough, and for once I've already made my swaps. I’ll share those next week along with some of the ideas that I receive back. In the meantime, here are the sneak peeks of my forthcoming class, which features the plane and simple stamp set. we’re focussing on one of the most difficult genres (in my opinion) – masculine cards.

If you’d like to join us, the class will be on Saturday 23rd July from 1-4pm. there are spaces still available, but you need to pre-book by emailing me. There are three options – class only (£12.50), class & clear mount stamp set (£26) or class & wood mount stamp set (£29). Class kits and instructions will be available here shortly. Well, that’s all for this morning – the sander and filler are calling. See you later in the week!

Hopping by…

Morning all and welcome to my stop on the ILWS colour coach blog hop. If you’ve started from the beginning (Anthea's Blog)  then hopefully you’ve arrived from Jane’s blog. However If you’ve started here, then simply follow the link at the end of my post to Val’s blog, then continue on around the loop, and you’ll eventually end up back here! There is also a second loop running which starts with Emily.

For my samples I chose a simple masculine colour combination of Whisper White, Marina Mist and Night of Navy – all of which are from our ‘getting started’ colour collection. I used the circle circus stamp set to create a one sheet wonder on A4 whisper white cardstock in my two ink colours, and then cut the panel into lots of smaller pieces to make the following collection of cards.

It’s a really simple technique for generating a number of cards on a theme with a limited selection of supplies, and can be used with lots of our stamp sets – I’ve used it previously with greenhouse garden and serene snowflakes. Here are the cards in a little more detail.

Hopefully you’ve reached this far! Now it’s time to hop on over to my lovely friend Val’s blog and discover what she’s been creating with Rich Razzleberry – yum!

I’ll be back soon with some sneak peeks of my upcoming ‘Plane & Simple’ class.

Until then