Tuesday 15 August 2017

Buy One Get One Free

Good evening,

Here's details of the retired Stampin' Up! products that I have left from my recent sale, which I am doing a Buy One Get One Free promotion on. 

For every product you purchase, you will get to choose products from the current Annual Catalogue for FREE! 

For example, if you choose £15 worth of retired product, you get to spend £15 on anything you want from the Annual Catalogue. 

For local collection/pickup, postage will just be an additional £1.00 and for further afield in the U.K., postage will be £3.50 to cover postage and packaging to your home. 

Please email me at mycardsandcrafts@hotmail.co.uk or contact me on Facebook at 
www.facebook.com/mycardsandcrafts












Thursday 27 July 2017

Embroidery Cake

Good morning


Here's another card that we made at the Cards and Sewing workshop on Monday. This one included showing the ladies the different technique of doing one round of stitching and then doing another round over the same stitches. I love this technique as the messier the better in my opinion!


The fabric is from a retired collection from Stampin' Up!, and the sentiment is from Lift Me Up. 


Sewing On Card

Free Motion Embroidery





Monday 24 July 2017

Machine Embroidery - Bird Card

Good morning,

I've been having a play recently combining my two passions for card making and sewing. I was approached by a fellow local crafter Emma Jennings, who runs Material Girl Horbury (website) at the possibilities of running a joint class. I jumped at the opportunity and started to think that simple projects we could do. 

This card is quite a leap for me. I like to copy, CASE (copy and share everything!) and use templates. I'm get stuck when I have to come up with my own designs and I use Pinterest ALL the time! I don't have the time or energy to play around with my stamps, I just want to create cute projects that someone else has had the creativity to produce.   This card was made with scissors, no template and I just went freestyle and cut out something that vaguely looked like a bird. The fabric is a retired fabric from Stampin' Up! from a few years ago that I still had in my stash. I double stitched around the bird twice, using my fabulous Janome TXL607.  I like the effect it gives and it doesn't have to look too perfect.

Free Motion Embroidery

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Retiring Project Life Card Collections

Good evening,

I've got half an hour to kill before setting off to my Watercolour Pencils workshop so I thought I'd do a quick blog post about the retiring Project Life card collections and Accessory Packs. 

These are only available until the end of the month, so you may wish to stock up if you already own one if the collections, so you can continue your albums with the same cards, or if you fancy a change, why not try out a new collection before they have gone forever. 

The cards are so easy to use, just choose what design you want, the cards come in both landscape or portrait and they come in various sizes depending on which collection you choose. Just slip them in the pocket pages to add colour, design or journaling space to record your memories. 

Here's the selection of card collections and accessory packs still available. 

 

 
 
  
 
 
Please get in touch if there's any that you'd like to order before they retire. 

x

 

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Why I run Project Life workshops

Good evening,

I hope you've had a lovely day. I've just climbed into bed, after a long day at work, and then home to preparing for a Watercolour Pencils workshop tomorrow evening. 

My post today is to share with you why I love holding Project Life and Memory Keeping workshops. It's made a big difference to my business, and also to the friendships I have made with the ladies who come along. It also allows non crafters to join in, and get involved with something that anyone can do. 

Business
As I mentioned above, running memory keeping workshops has increased sales, and also attracted new customers to my classes. What really matters to me when I receive an order form is that I have inspired someone to buy a product that they want to have themselves, that they think they can use and will produce beautiful creations. I'm really excited to share with people the many different ways that they can use their products, and love seeing their Project Life albums come to life over time. 

Friendships 
When ladies bring their photos to a Project Life workshop, they are not just bringing an image. They are bringing stories and tales, memories and names. I always look at their photos and ask about the event or moment, and sit back to listen. We've had laughs, giggles and even tears! One of my ladies on Saturday was talking about her beloved dog, who passed away. It's important that these memories are recorded and kept, and written down to pass to future generations, or for ourselves when we are older and memories are hard to recall. 

Crafters and Non Crafters
Memory Keeping can be what ever you want it to be. I bring along all my inks, dies and a selection of stamps for the ladies to use in their pages. They can do as much or as little crafting and embellishing as they choose. There's no right or wrong way to do it, it's their pages to keep simple or glam up to their liking. It's a perfect hobby for non-crafters, as all you need is some photos, pocket pages and a card collection. 

 

Don't forget that the Project Life products will no longer be available after the end of this month so please head to 
www.alexspence.stampinup.net to place your order. 

Please call back tomorrow, I'm going to be sharing the card collections and accessory packs. x

Monday 1 May 2017

Project Life

Good afternoon,

Don't you just love Bank Holiday weekends? That extra day off really makes a difference. In my "proper" job, I get up around 05:30 each morning, so it takes its toll! I don't have as much time for crafting in the evenings, I'm too knackered! This is one of the reasons why I love pocket scrapbooking, as it's so simple to sit for half an hour and achieve something memorable. 

This week I am going to blog everyday (that's right, I've written it down so I'll have to stick to it!) about why I love Project Life, memory keeping and pocket scrapbooking. Stampin' Up! are ending their partnership with Becky Higgins and Project Life at the end of May, so there's only a month left to purchase the lovely products that are still on sale. 

I went to see my sister, her boyfriend and niece yesterday, and my Mum and Step-Dad came up from Bedfordshire too. I brought my Project Life album to show them my pages, and I had recently started one of my niece. For me, the most important thing is getting photos printed off, and the important memories written down. My niece loved flicking through the pages, touching things and in years to come, she'll love hearing the stories over and over again. 

 

 

 

Later on we went to the park, and for the first time I got to push her on the swings, and she had a great time! I took lots of photos and I can't wait to get these printed off to put in my album. 

 

As I said earlier, the Project Life products from Stampin' Up! are retiring at the end of this month, so please do get in touch if you'd like to order any of them before they are gone forever. 

Come back tomorrow to read all about why I love running memory keeping workshops. X

Saturday 15 April 2017

Balloons and more balloons

This is one of the cards that my ladies made at the recent Crafternoon Tea at Rich and Fancy tea rooms in Horbury, Wakefield. The two stamp sets used were Balloon Celebration and Balloon Adventures (this is on the retirement list and is reduced to just £19.20 from £24.00). To purchase either of these stamp sets please visit this link

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