A sneak peek and a new product

This time of year is always good for creativity I find. It feels good to put aside the Christmassy colours and bringing out a fresh new palette. I'm giving you a sneak peek of a fresh new stamp set today too - it's not available yet but you'll be able to get it for free during the upcoming Sale-a-bration promotion...  Yes, I know, aren't I a tease! Come and see what I made:

This fascinating tweedy looking paper from the Comfort Cafe designer paper range makes a lovely base for some zingy Summer Starfruit flowers. I stamped the flowers and leaves from the Bloomin' Marvellous Sale-a-bration freebie onto some scrap card stock and cut them out and arranged them around the sentiment label, topping them with punched flowers and Crumb Cake brads.

I made my sentiment out of a mixture of sentiment stamps and handwriting. It made me giggle and since I made it for some friends of ours who'd laid on a wonderful pre-Christmas meal for us, I hope it gave them a laugh too!

The colours I used today are very close to the fab challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches although since I used Cajun Craze for my sentiment I'm not going to be able to link it up (I actually made my card before Christmas, before I'd seen the challenge!) I love this combination - why not pop over and enter a card yourself?!


Making it personal with your smartphone
Before I go away, I must just let you know about Talking Tag, an amazing new product which you can use with your smartphone to record your own message onto a tag for a truly personal card or gift.

Here's how Talking Tag works:
• Buy the tags (they come in sheets of 10 for £7.25) and download the TalkingTag App FREE from talkingtag.mobi, iTunes or Google Play onto your smartphone
• Fix the tag onto a flat surface on your card or gift
• Open the TalkingTag App and scan the code
• Record your message (it starts recording immediately so be prepared!)
• To hear your message, recipients download the free App and scan the code

If you'd like to order some Talking Tag sheets or would like more information about Talking Tags, just let me know. I'd be delighted to order these, or any other Stampin' Up items for you and have them delivered straight to your address in the UK. I'm committed to providing excellent customer service and am always happy to offer help and advice. To place your order, just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593.

• I still have a few places available for my Stampers 6 club in February and you'd be welcome to join in. With the Sale-a-bration promotion coming up and a new mini catalogue coming out soon, it's a great way to buy your wish list gradually and get lots of freebies too! Let me know if you'd like more information or to reserve your place.

Today is the last day of the holidays for my children before they all return to school and their busy schedules. Yesterday we ate the last of the Christmas treats - a box of extraordinary Japanese sweets given to the children by their uncle. What a brilliant gift idea! The sweets were quite different from anything we'd ever tasted before and although my youngest son is horrified at the idea of trying new savoury foods, this rule appears to go out of the window when it comes to sweets!

I'll be back tomorrow with an idea for gift wrapping. Hope to see you then,