New addition to the family

I knew that when I joined Stampin' Up! I'd make lots of new friends and do plenty of crafting, but I never imagined I'd be getting a new kitty from signing up as a demonstrator!  A few weeks ago, I saw this picture on Shazza Barraclough's Facebook page (a fellow demonstrator), and left a comment about how cute he was and he could come and lie on my craft desk.

 A few days later, I opened my messages to see a comment left for me asking me if I'd like to take him in.  I went to see him last Sunday, and fell in love with him straight away.  He's settling in nicely now, and my other cat Rusty, is starting to get used to him, although there's still some hissing and growling!  I'd forgotten how energetic kittens are, and he's certainly providing lots of entertainment.  He likes crafting too, which is clearly a good thing in my house!  I've called him Hugo.

Here he is meeting Rusty - they look like they are getting on, but you can't see what happened next on this picture! I'm sure they'll get on eventually.

No doubt he'll sneak into future blog posts with his antics!

All Day Training

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an all day Stampin' Up! training session with Julie Kettlewell and 33 other members of her team.  It was my second one, and I had a great day. We made five cards with the Create a Cupcake stamps and punch, I ran out of time on the day, and haven't finished them yet, oops! We also did some workshop training, and learnt lots of good tips. I'm looking forward to putting them into practise.  There were some fantastic creations there by Sally Jo & Julie, on the Inspiration Stations. 

Everyone that attended had to make and bring swaps, the idea of this was to share ideas, and everyone gets samples of products they might not have purchased yet.  We didn't do this at my first training, so was really excited to see what everyone made. I now have even more products on my wish list!  These are the lovely swaps I received. 

This is what I made for my swaps, using the Aviary Stamp Set, and a colour combination of Melon Mambo and Old Olive, inspired by the Colour Coach.  The Top Note Die was used to cut Whisper White card stock.  Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig, the owls were stamped, and then the cages were stamped and then heat embossed with the Stampin' Emboss Powder.  It's been ages since I did any heat embossing, I'll have to experiment with it a bit more often.  The For My Family Stamp Set was used for the greeting, and then to finish it off, an Old Olive taffeta ribbon was tied around the card.  Miraculously I had exactly enough for the 35 cards I made, with none spare!

I hope everyone liked them!

Card - Melon Mambo, Whisper White
Papers -
Stamp Set - For My Family, Aviary
Embellishments - Old Olive 1/8" (3.2mm) Taffeta Ribbon

Tools - Big Shot, Top Note Die, Heat Tool, Stampin' Emboss Powder

Inks / Markers - Melon Mambo, Old Olive

Cheers to You

Evening!

Thought I'd share with you a card I made this evening. Unfortunately, the stamp set Cheers To You and the papers Elegant Soirée are retired, but I'd been asked to make a card by a colleague for his brother, and this set seemed perfect. In the inside, I've put a panel of Very Vanilla cardstock, as the Soft Suede can be dark to write on.
I hope he's pleased with it.

Card / Papers - Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Elegant Soirée (retired)
Stamp Set - Cheers To You (retired)
Embellishments - Linen Thread, Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter
Tools - Spiral Border Punch (retired), Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch
Inks / Markers - More Mustard, Basic Grey

Owl Punch & Petite Pennants Punch Magnets

How cute it this!?  I was browsing in my local craft shop recently, and spotted some magnetic photo paper.  I decided to buy some to have a play with.  I knew it could be die cut with the Big Shot, and I was really pleased when I found it was just thin enough to be punched.  I looked at all the punches I have, and of course the Owl Punch just jumped out at me! I punched the magnetic sheet, and then punched the owl shapes in card/paper and then stuck them together.

Once I had tried it with the Owl Punch, I wanted to make more! I thought the Petite Pennants Builder Punch would be good too, and I think it turned out well.  I used the Just Perfect Alphabet Stamp Set to do the letters and the Pennant Parade Stamp Set for the flags. 

I'm looking forward to trying this with more dies and punches, I think it would look great with some of the flower dies, Fun Flowers, or the Blossom Party from the new Spring Mini Catalogue. 

Team Training

A few weeks ago, I attended a team training session at Julie Kettlewell's house.  We got to see a few sneak previews of items from the Mini Catalogue that had arrived already on the pre-orders, and this is the card and gift we made, using the My Friend set.  That's one of the benefits of being a hostess, we get to see and order the products to play with before they are released in the catalogues.

Both the cards and the gift bag used the colour combination of Lucky Limeade and Concord Crush. The butterflies were cut with the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die.  The little flowers were punched with the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch.  We made two cards, same design, but with one showing what a difference a few extras make to it, by adding the rhinestones jewels and the Scallop Dots Ribbon, it does make it look that bit more special I think.

The gift bag was made with two Scallop Circles using the Bigz die, and contains a cello bag inside which could be used for sweets or other small gifts.

Card Stock - Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush, Whisper White

Papers -

Stamp Set - My Friend

Embellishments - Rhinestone Brads, Scallop Dot Ribbon, Ruffled Ribbon

Tools - Big Shot, Crop-A-Dile, Decorative Label Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch

Inks/Markers - Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush

Pay It Forward

Hello

Inspired by a blog post by a fellow crafter, Lisa (http://lisasew.co.uk/2011/12/new-year-new-blog-new-name/) I have signed up to take part in Pay It Forward.  The rules are -

"Pay it forward 2012: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They in turn must post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2012."

If any of you reading would like to receive some handmade Stampin' Up! goodies, please leave me a comment or email me and tell me a bit about yourself.  You don't need to have a blog yourself to take part, you could post on Facebook or Twitter.

Aviary Candle

Last Saturday, I tried a new technique that I've been meaning to try for a few years. Inspired by my friend Kylie (and soon to join my team as a demonstrator!) who had tried this out at Christmas, I wanted to try decorating a candle with stamped images. It was really easy, and just look how it's turned out. I used the Aviary Stamp Set, and used Basic Grey ink for the cages, and Baja Breeze for the owls. The images were stamped into tissue paper, and then using a heat gun, applied them to the candle. I added a Rhinestone jewel for a bit of bling. I can't wait to experiment with this using different sized candles, colours and stamp sets.

If you'd like to learn how to do this, please contact me to book a class.

The Spring Mini Catalogue has arrived

Hello!

Here's something to brighten up your New Year, with the bad weather we've had this week, we all need something to look forward to at this time of the year.  The new Spring Mini Catalogue has arrived!

If you'd like a copy of the mini catalogue posted to your home, please let me know. It's only £1.00 including postage, or check it out online by clicking on the image below or on the right hand side of this page.

Click Here to view the catalogue online

It's full of new products, papers, fabric, stamp sets, punches, and loads more.  I was lucky enough to receive the Charming stamp set, and the Create a Cupcake set for free after the recent Worldwide Week of Workshops Bookathon, and as an early Christmas present to myself I treated myself to the Cupcake builder punch.  There's a new product line called Simply Adorned, with co-ordinating stamp sets, baubles, and chains to make jewellery and charms.

Simply Adorned

Create A Cupcake Stamp Set and Builder Punch

Please contact me if you'd like to have a workshop to get your hands on these new products - they are available for a limited amount of time only, between the 4th January to 30th April.

New Year's Resolution & Christmas Catch Up

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year, and that Santa brought you lots of crafty goodies.  I received a few sewing books that I've had my eye on for a while, and my friend Kylie let me choose a Stampin' Up! set of my choice - so I picked Aviary, I can't wait to get started playing with it.  With my last order, I also received the Charming and the Create a Cupcake stamp sets from the new Spring Mini Catalogue (blog post to follow) for free, as well as a set of the Brights Brads, as a reward for getting two workshops booked during the recent Worldwide Week of Workshops Bookathon.  13,887 workshops were booked across the world that day! How good is that! It's not too late to book a workshop, so if you are interested, please contact me.  Or if you are interested in becoming a demonstrator, to receive great benefits like has just been offered, let me know.



Charming & Create A Cupcake stamp sets and Brights Brads

Aviary Stamp Set

I've not been very good at keeping myblog updated recently! Christmas took over, and I was so busy making all my cards and a few gifts, many at the last minute, that I forgot to take pictures of all my creations! I also didn't want to spoil any surprises by posting pictures on here before I sent cards.  I managed to sell quite a few cards at work this year, which was very exciting, two colleagues saw samples I had brought in and asked for 6 each.  Another friend wanted a 21st birthday card, and ended up buying 3 others too.  It got me motivated to try to do more this year, and have confidence that people do like and want to buy my creations.  My New Year's Resolution is most definitely to do more blog posts, and generally, do more crafting! Or at least be more organised with it! I've noticed a lot of crafty plans being made through Twitter recently, and I'm looking forward to making a few more friends through the various groups that are popping up around Leeds.

The first step to this organisation, will be getting my craft room in some sort of order! Even though I have a room where I can keep everything, I still end up bringing it all downstairs to the lounge and spreading out there in front of the TV.  After I had finished my cards, I then took it all back upstairs, and just put it on the floor, so I can barely get in and around the room now. It all needs taking out, sorting through, and putting back in so I know where everything is.  I also need a clear out, and I need to be brutal! So keep an eye out, there may be some sales and bargains available soon.

On a down note, my New Year didn't start off too well, by dropping my iPhone! So just incase any of you are trying to place orders or get hold of me or through Facebook, Twitter, email or good old phone calls, please be patient! It still works but is pretty difficult to see, as you can see from the picture below.  The "A" key on my laptop is playing up too, so please excuse any funny spellings! Why do these things all happen at once eh!