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!

With Many Thanks

Good Morning All! hopefully you’ve all been enjoying the sunshine of late. Being the pale and pasty creature that I am, who burns at the sight of the sun (no I'm not a vampire!) I've taken the opportunity to hide in my craft room and make lots of projects in advance – it was too hot to do much else. So, I've managed to get myself a little bit ahead, sneak peeks of July’s class projects will be appearing here shortly, but firstly I’ve had a thank you card on my ‘to do’ list for a little while now. A lovely lady in the US recently helped me get hold of some CD folders, which I couldn't find over here for any love nor money. So I wanted to send her a card and a little something to say thank you for her kindness. Here’s the card….

which uses the vine and sentiment from the vintage vogue stamp set, the ‘thanks’ is from the afterthoughts stamp set. I’ve used a colour combination of rose red, whisper white and basic black. the papers are the sweet and sour specialty DSP and I've embossed the vine using clear embossing powder on the base cardstock – you can just about see it in the photo. I’ll have to post a picture of the gift box later – the box was still drying when I left for work. I have to admit the DSP wasn't initially high on my list of things to buy from this catalogue, but some of the patterns are so elegant and pretty that I can’t believe I overlooked them!

Tomorrow I'll be taking part in a blog hop, organised by the lovely Anthea over on In Love With Stamping. We’ll be featuring colour combinations from the colour coach, be sure to pop by and join in the hops for lots of fabulous inspiration.

The Longest Day….

Hey folks, it’s Tuesday already and the longest day of the year, which means it must be Dawn’s birthday . Dawn is one of my lovely customers who has become a good friend. To celebrate her birthday I’ve made her a card using her favourite colours, chocolate chip and old olive, and I've added a dash of regal rose to make it a more feminine combination. the stamp set is Vintage Vogue – one of my all time favourites as its so versatile. so here’s the finished card, along with a coordinating gift bag made using instructions on Amy Celona’s blog.

I hope you have a fabulous birthday Dawn! and that today at work doesn’t feel like the longest day…..

I'll be back soon with some more cards that I managed to finish at the weekend.

Birthday Fox & Congratulations

Morning All! and Happy Birthday to one of my Crafty Foxes, Nicola, who celebrates her birthday today. Here’s the card that will hopefully have arrived on her doorstep before she sees this post!

I've gone for a vintagey look with a crumb cake base, newsprint DSP, a riding hood red layer and basic black satin ribbon. I've stamped the vine image from Vintage Vogue in the background of each panel using the corresponding ink colour, then cut out some of the flowers from the set and popped them onto the very vanilla panel and finished with some basic pearls. I have to admit that by the time I’d finished prepping my class this week, my mojo had up and left me with a heap of things still to do. At which point I reached for my idea book and CASE’d this gorgeous creation by an Australian demo Teneale Williams – this lady has SOOO much talent and her blog is well worth a visit if you have a few days to spare drooling!

Now – why the congratulations I hear you ask? Well one of my downlines, Rebecca, just achieved her second ‘Stampin Start’ – a huge achievement and I’m very proud of her . For those of you who haven’t heard of Stampin’ Start, new demonstrators get the opportunity to earn FREE stamps based on sales and recruiting in their first 6 months as a demo – up to a maximum of 12 sets. So to recognise her achievements I made her this card

The colour combination is Perfect Plum, Pear Pizzazz and Bashful Blue. the whisper white panel is stamped with the flowers from the Growing Green stamp set. The DSP in the background is from the subtles paper stack – which I must say is fantastic value for money – I'm barely half way through mine and I’ve used it loads! I’ve finished with a pear pizzazz twill ribbon and a sentiment from the Perfect Punches set stamped in pear pizzazz and cut out using the modern label punch. I CASE’d myself this time – altering this card that I made back in December.

Right, enough nattering, I’ve got to get my nose back to the grindstone now as I’ve still got a few preparations to make for tomorrow’s class. Have a great weekend

Exhausted but on a high!

Happy Tuesday all!
I cant quite believe it, but after all the frantic preparation over the few weeks, it's been nearly a month since convention and i'm back down to earth and busy with class and Christmas preparations! I had an absolutely fantastic time meeting my fellow demonstrators from around the UK, France & Germany in Addington Palace and came back with lots of new ideas and inspiration - now I just need to find some time to implement them all - roll on the 8th day in the week :)

We found some crafty time too, and there were a number of fantastic demonstrations up on stage - I could have sat there all day watching Pam and Shelli making pretty things with our products! The awards night was a truly glitzy affair, although I had to be on my best behaviour as I was sitting next to the new SU president Rich Jutkins. I had the pleasure of seeing my Stampin' Up! mum walk up on stage to claim third place in the 'Demonstrator of the Year' award - congratulations Monica!!

There were a couple of very exciting announcements, including details of our promotions for January/February. I can't reveal any details as yet, but suffice to say it's worth getting your workshop bookings in for January/February as there are additional rewards for both customers & hostesses. Contact me to book your workshop and beat the January blues.

We were also given details of the location for next year's convention - we're going to Disneyland Paris!!!!!!!!! So, do you fancy coming along and joining in the fun? To register for convention you need to be a Stampin' Up! demo, read here for more details, or feel free to contact me for a chat about the opportunity to join my team!

So enough waffle - I'm guessing you'd like to see some piccies! Unfortunately I didn't take too many photos as the lighting was really poor, but I have some good ones of the swaps I made, and more to follow of the lovely cards I got back - there are some truly talented ladies out there. The first is the 'general swap' which I made 200 of (with thanks to Pat, Rebecca, my mum & Darren who were helping me with the frantic preparations)

Then there was the 'gift item swap' organised by Karin - the challenge was to make a gift for five of my fellow demos, and I came up with a convention memory scrapbook in a tin, here's the finished item

I'll be back later in the week with some more pictures when I've had a chance to photograph the gift items that I received in the swap. I also need to show you my samples for the design team challenges on In Love With Stamping this month.

Until then, have a great week.
Linz
x

Happy Birthday Mum!

Hey Folks, well we're once again half way through the week, and I don't quite know where time is going to! My mum celebrated her birthday last Tuesday, and last-minute.com I was making her card, before heading out for a family meal.  I played with one of the new SU colours, Rich Razzleberry (one of my favourites so far) and the vintage vogue stamp set, and this is what I came up with.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, with preparation for a craft fayre last Saturday, and making swaps for our team training in Peterborough on the Sunday (piccies to follow). This week I need to finish preparing for my class this coming Saturday, and finally I have a couple of design team challenge cards to complete and upload - so hopefully lots more crafty pictures to come soon!

Until the next installment, have a fab week!

L
x

Vintage Vogue

Hey folks, well another couple of weeks have passed, and unfortunatley they've been rather expensive as I've had to get a new car (poor Esther the fiesta catastrophically failed her MOT) and ended up having to spend a fortune at the dentist having root canal treatment - not good!

On a more positive note, I've just about moved back into my 'K'raft room - I'm just awaiting the delivery of my new desk and then it'll be finished and fully functioning.  The shelves are now installed and full!! Pictures to follow soon!

In the meantime I've been having a big sort out of my stash and have earmarked a number of items to get rid of on ebay - necessitated by the large parcels of stampin' up goodies which keep arriving with the UPS man (whoops!).

I actually have something crafty to share for what seems like the first week in ages!  This is the set of cards that we'll be making at my class this coming Saturday.  It's a set of 3 cards and a matching holder (courtesy of Jo) featuring the Vintage Vogue stamp set and 'Night and Day' specialty designer papers.

I still have a few places available if you're interested in attending.  The details are below, please contact me to book so that I can make sure there's enough lemon drizzle cake!!

Vintage Vogue Class, £10,

Saturday 22nd May, 1pm-4pm,

Mountsorrel Library, Church House, The Green, Mountsorrel, Leics, LE12 7AF.

Well, that's all for today, I'll hopefully be back early next week with some creations featuring my new stash (I have so many stamps uninked at the moment, I really need to play!!).

Linz