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!!

Thanks Sew Much

Howdy! It’s Saturday at last – I’m looking forward to a fairly chilled weekend, finishing off the odds and ends on the decorating, and hopefully playing with some of my new stash in preparation for my new catalogue launch event – more details on that one coming soon! In the meantime I’ve got a couple more cards featuring retiring products to share. the first one uses the Sew Lovely and the coordinating Sweet Stitches DSP.

I’ve created a stair fold card base using tempting turquoise DSP and stamped the cotton reel image over in the same coloured ink. The measuring tape is made from daffodil delight satin ribbon stamped with stazon. the end of the tape is made from some chocolate chip cardstock and an eyelet. The large button comes from the coordinating designer button pack. None of these items will be available in the NEW idea book and catalogue, so if you’d like to get your hands on them let me know ASAP! The card also features the tiny tags stamp set and jewellery tag punch, which are staying in the new catalogue .

Moving on to my second card today, it features more products from the mini catalogue – Baby Blossoms and Springtime Vintage DSP. The sentiment is from Occasional Greetings.

I’ve cut a freehand curved edge on the DSP and used it as a guideline for the flowers which are stamped in baja breeze, not quite navy, night of navy, pretty in pink, rose red, cherry cobbler, always artichoke and pear pizzazz. The sentiment was inked using baja breeze and pear pizzazz markers. I've added a length of ruffled baja breeze seam binding ribbon along the join between the cardstock and DSP.

That’s all for today, I have two more to show you on Monday, along with sneak peeks for the Christmas Club which starts next Saturday, 1st October. There are still a couple of spaces left, so if you’d like to join us then email me to book your place.

Because I Care…

Morning All! I’m back with yet more cards featuring retiring projects – I know, it’s a famine and then a feast . This card is based on some designs that my fantastic downline Rebecca came up with for one of our team training sessions. The papers are from the Springtime Vintage collection and I’ve used the colours which are in them – pear pizzazz and baja breeze. The focal hydrangea image is from the beautiful level 1 hostess set Because I Care, which I believe is now no longer available in the wood mount option.

I’ve stamped the image on naturals ivory cardstock and used the Stampin’ Pastels to add colour. I’ve then stamped over the image using the French Foliage stamp set in river rock. the card base has been stamped using the hydrangea in versamark ink and then a ruffle of baja breeze seam binding and some pearls finish it off. I’ve just noticed there are only 2 pearls in the picture – one must have fallen off somewhere along the way as there were 3 previously! The sentiment is stamped in early espresso ink, and I’ve used the scallop trim border punch to add a decorative edge under the DSP.
My pre-order goodies have arrived, so I’m hoping I’ll get some time this weekend to make a few samples to whet your appetites next week in anticipation of the NEW catalogue launch. Don’t forget to get in touch if you’d like your personal copy posting out to you!

Last Chance Saloon…

Morning folks – long time no see!

Sorry for the lack of posts of late, unfortunately I’ve not had much time for crafting as my energy has been focussed on finding a new job.

But, I’m back now and over the next few days I’ve got some projects from my stamp-a-stack retirement class last Saturday to share with you. The class featured products which were retiring to make way for all of the exciting stash coming in the NEW idea book and catalogue, which is released on 1st October (believe me it’s well worth the wait!! there is a link in the sidebar where you can purchase a copy now, and I’ll get it in the post to you).

Here’s the first card, which features probably my favourite paper from the current catalogue, Love Letter, it’s one that I’m going to miss. I’ve paired it with the Artistic Etchings and French Foliage stamp sets to create a vintage anniversary card. A simple colour combination of Riding Hood Red, Basic Black and Very Vanilla, aged using the distressing kit.

The sentiment is from the Level 2 hostess set Something to Celebrate and I’ve finished it with a length of the Basic Black wide striped grosgrain ribbon and a French filigree brad.

We made 6 more cards during the session, I’ll be back tomorrow with another. In the meantime I’ll be painting the front door step and 2 internal doors and trying to clean up the bombsite that is my craft room – I’ve pulled out all of my retiring goodies to make way for new stash, and they’re all over the floor!

A copy of the retiring list can be found here. If there’s something in particular that you’d like, be sure to contact me soon as many items have already sold out, including: Jolly Holiday DSP, Choo Choo & the Right on Track wheel, Antique Brass & Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Sense of time, Star Punch, Sanded, Spiral Border Punch, Forest Friends & Christmas Jingle simply scrappin’ kit.

See you soon

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!

Almost the weekend–time for some peeks!!

Morning all, and thank goodness it’s Thursday. This week really seems to be dragging, and I can be sure that the weekend will fly by! I was supposed to be here yesterday, but ‘stuff’ got in the way, so here I am this morning with sneak peaks for my class this Saturday.

We’re using the Welcome Christmas stamp set with a vintage colour combination of Soft Suede, Real Red and Always Artichoke. The kit list for attendees wishing to bring their own tools is here.

I'll be back on Saturday to reveal the projects in full, in the meantime I’ve got decorating to finish!

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.

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.

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!

It’s the weekend!

Happy Friday folks. apologies for the silence here in blog land, and no I didn’t get lost and trapped in the pigsty that was the conservatory. It’s been a hectic one at work and i haven’t had any inky time all week, hence nothing to photograph and therefore no posts . However, I’ve got my occasional greetings class tomorrow, so i thought I'd pop by and share the projects for that. We’ll be making a set of 3 cards and a card storage tote using the Occasional Greetings stamp set (plus a few others) and the gorgeous ‘Elegant Soiree’ papers, here’s a piccie of the ensemble. The kit list for class attendees is here.

well, that’s all for tonight. I need to get in the craft room now and make a card for my dad for Father’s Day (so much for getting ahead this month!).

Have a fab weekend.

Get Well Gitti

Friday at last! and leading the glamorous lifestyle that I do (canned laughter here) this weekend I'll mostly be clearing out my conservatory and cleaning it from top to bottom, as it’s become a junk room of late. But before I rush off to don the rubber gloves I have a card to share. One of my regular class attendees, Gitti, has been ill of late and unable to attend classes which she was rather upset about, so to let her know we were thinking of her I made this bright and sunny card, and got the rest of the class to sign it for her – hopefully it’s got to her before she sees this post! So, get well soon Gitti, we’re all thinking of you and we hope to see you back at class in the near future!

I’ve used a Wild Wasabi base along with papers from the subtles stack and teamed it with some melon mambo spotty ribbon (sadly now retired) and the ‘Hopeful Thoughts’ stamp set inked in Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight markers. It’s finished with a row of rhinestones and a couple of flower buttons from the Brights collection.

There’s still time to book in for my class next Saturday, I’ll hopefully get some time to make up the class kits on Sunday, so email me soon to book your space. Right, enough prattling on, now for the dreaded conservatory, have a great weekend folks!

A week into June…

Happy Wednesday folks! It’s past the middle of the week already, which means it’ll soon be the weekend I’m actually wondering what I’ve forgotten to do this month, as I’m feeling scarily ahead. I finished my class samples on Monday and have been catching up with various bits of admin all week – still have a tax return to fill in, but other than that I’m all up to date. So, somewhat earlier than usual, here are the sneak peeks for this month’s class which features the ‘Occasional Greetings’ stamp set and Elegant Soiree papers.

If you’d like to join us and haven’t booked your place, then email me. Class kit details will be here by the end of next week. Right, following on in the spirit of getting ahead with things, I’ve got a couple of Birthday cards to make for later this week, so I’m going to head into the craft room for some inky time! I’ll pop back later in the week to show you some of what I’ve been up to.

Birthday Bash Sneak Peeks!

Morning all! Just a quick post to share the sneak peeks of my projects for this weekends class, featuring fox & friends, party this way and celebrations DSP.

I’ve really been enjoying using all of the bright colours – I'd usually consider myself to be a ‘neutrals’ girl, but Pacific Point is fast becoming a favourite! I’m awaiting the delivery of my new alphabet and numbers dies from the catalogue, so that I can put the finishing touches to some of the projects, then I’ll be on to class prep for the rest of the week. Be sure to pop by on Saturday for the ‘reveal’! And don’t forget, if you haven’t already done so, please enter my blog candy competition for a chance to win some goodies.

See you soon!

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!

Tuesday already??

Afternoon all, I’m not too sure how a week and a half has passed since my last post! Things have been somewhat hectic what with preparing swaps for the Stampin’ Up! regional training, designing classes and playing with some new products that have arrived recently, which unfortunately I can’t share with you yet. I do however have some sneak peeks of my forthcoming March class – Easter Egg-stravaganza which features the ‘A Good Egg’ stamp set. There are still a few spaces for the next class, which runs on Saturday 26th March from 1-4pm.

If you’d like to join us then please email me to reserve your place.
That’s all for now – I’ll be back later in the week to share some of the creations we were making at the weekend. In the meantime I’m off to finish making some decorations for our stall at the Great Northern Papercraft Extravaganza at Harrogate this weekend, if you’re visiting the show then be sure to pop by and say hi & sign up for the make & take.