The 12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 5

Well, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me, I’ve been on a training course for my new job all week this week, which means that the house is somewhat of a tip and needs some TLC. so, food shopping, tidying and cleaning are the order of the day, although I’m itching to get some inky time too – particularly as a big box of new goodies has arrived – wohooo, Merry Christmas to me . SO, here’s my card for today, a very simple card with minimal layers, featuring the majestic dasher. This was one of the cards I used for my recent Christmas club.

Dasher is stamped using Soft Suede ink onto Shimmer cardstock. I’ve used a red sharpie to colour in a Rhinestone and add it to the end of his nose. The sentiment, again stamped in Soft Suede, is from Season of Joy. I've layered the panel onto Soft Suede cardstock and the horizontal panel is a strip of DSP from the retired Christmas Cocoa DSP stack. I’ve finished the card with a Real Red satin ribbon. This is based on a design I found somewhere in blog land, but I’ve been searching and can’t find where I originally found it – don’t you hate it when that happens?

Right, the washing pile and Dyson are calling me, so I guess I’ll be seeing you soon!

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 4

Morning Folks – welcome back! I’ve got another Christmas card today – this one was inspired by my treat pouch from my last class, and is a cute little Christmas Pudding.

The base card is a folded circle, with the base cut off to help the card stand up. I’ve then cut a circle from Chocolate Chip cardstock, embossed using the polka dot embossing folder and decorated with ‘icing’ which was a Whisper White circle cut using the scalloped circle die. The holly was made using the large oval punch and 3/4” circle punch. The sentiment, taken from Perfect Pairs, was stamped using Real Red ink onto Whisper White cardstock, punched using the small oval punch and then layered onto a small Real Red oval. I’ve got another card tomorrow – see you then!45

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 3

Only 9 more days until Christmas Eve and 10 more sleeps until Santa! I’m back with one of my Christmas cards for this year, which features the sledging silhouette from Welcome Christmas in a side step scene.

I’ve used a colour scheme of Night of Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper White. The background trees are from Lovely as a Tree and the sentiment from Curly Cute embossed using white embossing powder. I’ve finished the side panel with a few die cut snowflakes. That’s all for today, I’ve got another of this year’s Christmas cards for you tomorrow.

12 Days ‘til Christmas–Day 2

Morning folks! I’m back with another Christmas themed project. Today I’ve got the gift boxes which I’ve made to hold some Hotel Chocolat chocolates – yum.

The box is another template by Lauren Meader, which perfectly holds one of the trays of 6 chocolates. I’ve used Real Red and Wild Wasabi cardstock to make the boxes and topped them with Holly Berry Bouquet DSP.

The tags have been embossed using the oval designer frames embossing folder. I’ve then stamped the pine cone image from the Pines and Poinsettias stamp set onto Very Vanilla cardstock, punched it out using the extra large oval punch and layered it inside the frame. The boxes are finished with a length of Real Red satin ribbon.

I’ve got a meal out tonight with a number of my downline – I’ll have to share the gifts which I’ve made for them later in the week (assuming I get them finished in time, as I’m on a training course for the rest of today!) I’ll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card or two.

Long time no see…Tags ‘til Christmas

Hey folks! sorry, I’ve been MIA a little again lately. Things have been somewhat hectic, and my energies have been focussed on getting ready for convention, and prepping my class for today. I’ll get some piccies of my card candy and swaps from convention over the weekend whilst I have some daylight. In the meantime i thought I'd better post something crafty, so I’m sharing some sneak peeks for class today, hopefully to whet the appetite of the class attendees! We’re using the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set along with the Holly Berry Bouquet papers.

I’ll be back tomorrow to show you what we made in full, and the tutorial will then be available in my sidebar. I’ve got some exciting new to come later this month, so stay tuned!!

Happy Saturday!

hey folks, I know, twice in two days, you’ll soon be sick of the sight of me! As promised, I have piccies of another couple of cards from Christmas Club to show you, and I’m hoping for some decent daylight today to photograph the remaining 5, then I can post them tomorrow! Both cards feature the Contempo Christmas stamp set and the now retired Jolly Holiday designer papers in a reverse gatefold.

I’m planning a day in the craft room today, after painting the front door that is, and I’ll hopefully have my next class designed so I can give you some sneaky peeks before I disappear off to Paris for convention. The next class will be my last for this year, and is on Saturday 26th November from 1-4pm, when we’ll be making a couple of cards and some useful gift packaging! If you’d like to join us, be sure to email me to reserve your place – the link is in the sidebar.

Well, back to the painting and the ink, see you soon.

only me…..

Hey folks, well I’ve finally escaped! that mountain of junk has been moved and sorted and I found the room hiding underneath it! I have a couple more bits to put away and then I’ll take some piccies to prove that I haven't just pushed it to one side of the room and ignored it.

In the meantime I’ve been a busy busy bee preparing swaps and card candy for THE event in the Stampin’ Up! year - convention, which is next week in Disneyland Paris!!!! this time next week we’ll be there, getting ready for the awards dinner. Miraculously I have finished my swaps and card candy, and my roommate gift is in hand, so I’m now feeling somewhat chilled, just wondering what I’ve forgotten to do!! I realised that I never shared any of the cards which we made in my recent ‘Christmas Club’ marathon. Over two days we made 50 cards each, 5 each of 10 designs. there were a minimum of 9 ladies on each day, which meant a heck of a lot of prep last month, believe me!! so here’s the first card, a simple design using Serene Snowflakes in a colour combination of Night of Navy, Marina Mist and Whisper White. the sentiment is heat embossed in white, and some of the snowflakes have been stamped in frost shimmer paint to add a glistening effect.

The second used the Season of Joy stamp set, with the now retired Jolly Holiday DSP in a twisted easel card – the poinsettia is stamped, cut out and used to create a latch for the easel.

And finally for today, a centre stair fold card in Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Not Quite Navy featuring Winter Post, Lovely as a Tree and Heard From the Heart stamp sets.

Please excuse the lighting in the photos – would you believe that it’s practically twilight at 3pm now? I’m hoping to finish the design of my final class of the year tomorrow, which uses the Tags ‘til Christmas stamp set, so sneak peeks should follow early next week. I’ll pop back tomorrow with more of the samples from Christmas Club.

Have a fantastic evening!

Happy Friday!!

Morning all, well it’s the weekend at last. The week at work has dragged and yet the evenings seem to have flown by in a haze of paint – my walls are now a shade of crumb cake just the touch-ups and then the doors left to paint and we’re done – whoppeee! I can have some time back in my craft room then.

Not much inky going on around here this week – hence the lack of posts. However I have got my mini album from last week to show you. It’s a fold-out mini album as designed by the US demo Patty Bennett and I’ve used the Christmas Jingle scrap kit to decorate it.

If you’d like to have a go at making one, I have a few kits available. The kit contains everything you need to make and decorate the album and it would make a perfect gift for Christmas. The kits are £12 collected or £14 including P&P. you can purchase one using the buy it now button in the sidebar on the right.

I’ll be back early next week with another example of the album using the ‘One Great Year’ scrapping kit.

Have a great weekend!

Saturday at last – time to Welcome Christmas

Morning all, boy am I glad last week is over – not that there is any rest for the wicked, as I have classes all day today! today we’re beginning our Christmas preparations, this morning I’ve got a mini-album class (photos of that to follow tomorrow) and this afternoon I have my usual card class based on the ‘Welcome Christmas’ stamp set. So, enough babble, here are the projects

I really enjoyed, playing with this stamp set, and have tonnes more ideas floating around in my head now, so I guess I need to get inky . For those of you unable to join us, the instructions will be up for sale in the sidebar later today. So in a little more detail:

We’ll be making twisted easel, centre stair and window cards, and a matching star-shaped box.

Right, I’d better go and get everything in the car and set off. Hope you have a relaxing day!

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!

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.

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

The 12th Day of Christmas.....

Well, that's it folks, Christmas is well and truly over. My tree and decorations are down and packed away until December, and I'm gradually finding homes for things in my craft room for all my lovely new stash that I received for Christmas and my birthday. At this rate I'm going to have to have a major sale to get rid of some stash that I no longer use!!

Being as it's the last day of Christmas, I thought I'd share some of the cards, bags and boxes that I didn't get time to post in the run-up, and I've resolved this year to make some throughout the year so that I don't end up with everything being so last minute this year (we'll see how long that resolution lasts!!).

Here are some of the gift packages that I made this year, the first is for my Secret Santa over on ILWS, a tote in Soft Suede with matching card, and the lovely goodies that it contained

And then some gift boxes containing yummy belgian truffles from Truffles of Stamford,  made using the 'back to basics' template from Papertrey Ink.

And finally the gift packaging for my downline's gifts, the larger tote contains some chocolates and the smaller one a colour coach.

I'm currently putting together some samples for my January Valentine class on the 22nd, some sneak peeks will be coming in the next few days. There are still a few places left, so if you'd like to join us, drop me an email to confirm your place.

See you soon!

Linz

x

Christmas Preparations....

Morning all
it's been a busy weekend as I had my last class for the year, where we were making a calendar for the new year and two matching cards. Here is the set we were making, the instructions and class kits are now available to purchase here.

Then on Sunday I braved the shops to take my Dad Christmas shopping, the good news is that I'm now finished, I just have to wrap it all and write my cards!! Speaking of cards, I managed to get a couple of pictures in semi-daylight this morning, so here are two of the cards that I'll be sending this year, both using the Serene Snowflakes stamp set and a neutrals colour scheme.
The first is an easel card with the large snowflake embossed using white powder on chocolate chip, layered on soft suede and then onto crumb cake. the paper is from the Christmas Cocoa speciality DSP which is still available in the Christmas Bundle offer until 29th December.

The second is a standard C6 card with a whisper white panel stamped in crumb cake, chocolate chip, sahara sand and soft suede, layered onto chocolate chip and then onto a soft suede base card. the greeting from curly cute is again heat embossed using white powder. the card is finished with a white satin knot and a few of the very sparkly rhinestones. 

Well, that's all for today - I've got a some more Christmas cards to photograph and upload later this week, and I guess I should get on with wrapping some pressies!!

Have a good week

Linz

x

December Design Team Challenges

Morning all
just popping by to share a couple of my entries for this month's design team over on ILWS. The first for this month was the colour combo challenge of real red, tempting turquoise & old olive, my colleague's daughter turns 18 later this month, so I combined the two to make this stand-up card, using my craftROBO, the playdate papers and the funky four stamp set.

The next challenge which I attempted was the technique challenge, which this month was to create an entry with no layers, although some embellishments were allowed. I have to admit struggling with this one as I'm a matting and layering kind of girl and adore using papers, but back to basics I went, creating these two cards with little more than 4 rubber stamps, versamark ink and embossing powder - it just goes to show that we dont NEED lots of stash - we just want it!!

Well, that's all I've got time for today I'm afraid, but if you fancy playing along, then why not hop on over to ILWS and then leave me a comment here sharing your entries! I'll be back tomorrow with my last three submissions.

Linz
x

He's Making a List and Checking it Twice!

Happy Friday all - it's nearly the weekend again! and I've just realised that it's less than a month to Christmas, so I guess I'd better get my skates on and start making some Christmas cards! (normally I'd have them finished and written by now, but no such luck!!)

 Well, with Christmas just around the corner, I'm guessing your thoughts are going towards the gifts you need to buy and wrap and the other preparations you need to make, but have you stopped to think about what YOU would like for Christmas?

Are you tired of receiving the same gifts year after year? Would you like a surprise, or a gift that you haven't had to buy for yourself? Well why not send me you Stampin' Up! wishlist, then pass my details to your family and friends and when they contact me I'll help them to select some gifts for you. I'll even gift wrap them and deliver them in advance so that it's a surprise on the big day! Simply email me and I'll send you a wishlist to fill in, then I'll take care of the rest.


Alternatively, I'm also offering the option of gift vouchers, which will enable you to choose your own goodies in January. They'll come presented in a handmade gift wallet and are available in a range of denominations. Email me for more details.

Hopefully you'll all be receiving lots of lovely crafty stash under your trees!

Linz
x

All Day Christmas Class Projects

Morning All
well it's been a busy week here, I'm frantically trying to finish all of the projects I need to have completed before going to the Stampin' Up! convention next week, i have a lovely group of ladies coming to help me with some swaps on Sunday, but before then I have 6 design team samples to finish before Sunday, and 6 gift items.  in the meantime I thought I'd better pop by and show you some of what we got up to last weekend at my Christmas class.  We had a full day session, and I for one was exhausted by the end of it! in the morning the ladies made six cards using the one sheet wonder technique and Serene Snowflakes stamp set

 

We used a slightly unusual colour combo for Christmas cards - cherry cobbler, marina mist, crumb cake and whisper white. For those of you who'd like to give it a try at home, there is an instruction download and a class kit purchase option available - just click here for more details.   we then made a couple of 'make and take' style projects, unfortunately I don't have any photos of these at the moment, so I'll have to share those at a later date. in the afternoon, following a yummy lunch (including of course mince pies!), we went on to make a flip album to record our Christmas memories using half a Christmas Jingle scrap kit.

 

That's all for now, thank you to the lovely ladies who came and took part in the class. The next one for your diaries is Saturday 20th November from 1pm-4pm, and we'll be making some last-minute Christmas cards using Contempo Christmas. Please call or email me to book your place - the class cost is £10 for the class only or £20 for the class plus the stamp set (RRP £15.95).

I'll be back at some point over the weekend with pictures of my design team projects for this month, and a sneak peek of my swaps for convention.

Linz

x

Merry Tree Trimmings

evening folks!
just a quickie to share the details of this months card class - we're featuring the 'tree trimmings' stamp set and the soon to be retired Merry Moments DSP. We're making a gift box and four Christmas cards featuring fancy folds - apologies for the bad photo, I was taking them at night rather than in daylight.

The class runs this Saturday, 25th September, from 1pm-4pm. there is still time to book your place if you're interested - email me for further info.

On a really exciting note - my order of new SU catalogues has arrived, and I've been busy stroking them and drooling over them (i dried them off afterwards!!) and have been getting LOTS of ideas for my next few classes, convention swaps and of course Christmas cards - would you believe that I haven't started making them yet? (looks like it'll be the usual last minute panic there then!!)

If you'd like a copy of the new catalogue then I can send you one for £3.95, postage to you included - email me to reserve your copy!

well, that's all for tonight - I've got a few more crafty bits to share with you later in the week!

L
x

brrr...so cold

Well, I thought the weather was bad in the UK, until I landed in Ottawa where it's currently -15 degrees!!!  I thought I might walk to Michaels craft store to stretch my legs after the flight as it's only 5 miles away, by the time I'd walked the first mile I was completely frozen through, despite the thermals and 3 layers + winter coat, so I've trudged back to the hotel, cup of coffee and donut in hand courtesy of Tim Hortons, to do some blogging, before setting off in an hour or so in the car (i.e. once I've thawed out).  I've been a bad blogger - didn't realise until I looked that it had been nearly 2 months since I'd posted, but things got somewhat hectic in the run-up to christmas.  Needless to say, I got plenty of crafting done, so have lots of piccies to share over the next few days, which i've finally edited in photoshop ready for upload.  First off, here's my two Christmas Card designs for 2009

This design was inspired by my card created for the challenges over on SWUS winter, recipe below.  Secondly, I used my new favourite colour cardstock - kraft to create the following:

as part of the ILWS secret santa swap, I also made a matching gift bag for the recipient of my gift:

Recipes:

aerial snowman

Stamps: snowman rubber (rubber soul),  "Merry Christmas" (AMuse), assorted snowflake stamps (Hero Arts and Butterfly Kisses)

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Bordering Blue and Whisper White (Stampin' Up! - SU!) clear cardstock (Elzybells), scraps of black and orange from stash

Ink: white pigment (Elzybells), cotton white and black (stazon) Not Quite Navy (SU!)

Other: Not Quite Navy ribbon (SU!), foam pads, 1/4" circle and ticket corner punches (SU!)

deck the halls card & gift bag

Stamps: fancy holly outline by Hero Arts, 'Deck the Halls' and 'Secret Santa' from the stocking prints set and layer outline from vintage labels both by Papertrey Ink (PTI), 'Merry Christmas' background stamp from Stamp It! Australia

Cardstock: Kraft, Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy and Ripe Avacado (PTI) Dark green from stash

Ink: white (elzybells) black (stazon) and versamark

Other: ribbon from stash, white embossing powder (SU!), pure poppy buttons (PTI), labels 1 nestabilities, linen thread (SU!) Large Oval and Scalloped Oval punches (SU!)

Well, that's all for now folks, but I'll post my entries for last weekend's ILWS challenge cup later

Keep warm!

L