A gift for one of my Stampin' Up team

I joined Stampin' Up during Sale-a-bration and I'd recommend it! Why? Because on top of the great value starter kit, you get extra goodies of course! Whether you're interested in joining to get your Stampin' Up craft supplies at a discount or whether you'd like to set up a business that brings in a proper income, it's always good to get something for free! This year, you can choose your free products from two different options - read all about it here.

New demonstrators that join my team get a welcome pack from me - a pretty notebook, a handmade card, a swatch of current card stock, something yummy...! And as time goes on, and they achieve their goals and titles, they get celebratory cards and gifts from me too. One lovely lady recently received this little gift set through the post:

It was made with a beautiful paper from the Confetti Celebration pack and the hostess stamp set called I like You, which is brilliant for colouring with blendabilities markers.

This is a design I use often and it works particularly well with a background with strong horizontals like this one.

My team receive a charm bracelet and handmade charm when they achieve their first title and a new charm each time they gain another. I find the Gift Card thinlits die really useful for gift wrapping small gifts like jewellery as well as gift cards or money.

I love to surprise people with a sweet treat! This little box is just the right size for two mini bars of lush Green & Blacks chocolate. Click here for my video tutorial.

BUY SUPPLIES TO MAKE THIS PROJECT NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Confetti Celebration Designer Series Paper £9.95	I Like You Clear-Mount Stamp Set £9.00	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment £10.95
Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Daffodil Delight Assortment £10.95	Gift Card Envelope & Trims Thinlits Dies £29.95	Gift Box Punch Board £17.95

My shop is open 24/7 so you can buy Stampin' Up products from me any time, day or night.

If you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Despite my youngest son's hugby tackles and my puppy snuggles I'm still missing my daughter since she returned to uni on Sunday. And I think someone else misses her too...

Ahhh! My two favourite girls! They have so much in common too - naughtiness, a wicked sense of humour and the fact that they both 'borrow' my clothes!

See you tomorrow,

A Happy Hooray for a great big Stampin' Up box

Did I mention that as a member of Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team, I get a great big box of goodies delivered to my door every two minutes? (Okay, that may be a very slight exaggeration!) More about that later but first come and see what happened when I combined baby wipes and reinkers with my new A Happy Hooray stamp set!

This is what happened! I used the wipes and reinkers to make a multi-coloured ink pad.

It's such a simple technique: Fold up a baby wipe, add a few drops of reinker (I used Wisteria Wonder, Pink Pirouette and So Saffron) and use it to ink up your stamps! 

I embellished with a few of the in-colour sequins - I just can't get enough of these and the colours worked beautifully with my feathers!

This is a beautiful sentiment from the A Dozen Thoughts sentiment set. I stamped it in Smoky Slate ink which looks great with all the soft colours in Stampin' Up's Subtles colour family.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

A Happy Hooray Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134012]	A Happy Hooray Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134009]	A Dozen Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set [131059]	A Dozen Thoughts Wood-Mount Stamp Set [131056]
Card Stock A4 Smoky Slate [131291]	Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550]	Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad [131179]	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin Ink Refill [111843]
Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin Ink Refill [122931]	So Saffron Craft Stampin' Ink Refill [105151]	2013-2015 In Color Sequin Assortment [133631]	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig [101049]

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

I wonder what goes through a UPS delivery man's mind when he sees a half-crazed crafter open the door with ink smeared over her... I think I may have scared mine with the enthusiasm with which I grabbed my box!

Here I am rifling through my gorgeous goodies! Can you tell that I'm ever so slightly pleased ;)

See you tomorrow when the whole Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team will be out to inspire you with our weekly blog hop. Don't miss it!

Hearts and flowers and Something for Baby from Stampin' Up

I had so much fun making today's card! It's an unashamedly pretty and feminine baby card using sponging techniques and using some of my favourite Stampin' Up stamp sets. Come and see:

The background was made by holding a torn piece of scrap paper over the sky area and sponging Pistachio Pudding ink over the ground, and then holding the paper over the ground and using a mask to sponge in a cloudy sky with Soft Sky ink. TIP: Punch out different size circles and glue them together to make a cloud mask that you can use over and over again.

The floral branch from Hopeful Thoughts makes the prettiest frame for the pram and using markers directly on the rubber enables you to get a pretty multi-coloured image.

Once the frame was stamped I used a stamp-a-majig to position the pram. Stampin' Up has designed framelits to cut out the images from Something for Baby and you could cut the pram out and pop it up on the background if you wanted to. Better still, if you buy the stamp set and framelits together you get a cheeky 15% discount! Bargain!

I'll be linking this card up with ATCAS where the cue word is Sky.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Something for Baby wood or cling, Something for Baby stamps and framelits bundle at 15% discount wood or cling, Hopeful Thoughts wood or cling, A Dozen Thoughts wood or cling

Ink: Pistachio Pudding, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate classic inks,
plus in-colour markers, smoky slate marker

Card stock: Whisper White

Other: Basic pearls, Stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

My poor youngest son hit his front teeth while on a school trip at the weekend and broke one of the front ones, already weakened from an old injury, in half. Yesterday, I took him to our lovely dentist in Wendover to be put back together. While we were there, we walked past this sign.

I was immediately curious but my daughter, who had come along to keep us company, had already spotted that it was an aviation art gallery which is not her thing at all. "Come on," she said guiding me firmly past. "Some things were meant to be kept secret!"

See you tomorrow.

Stampin' Up catalogue 2014 sneak peek!

If you love Stampin' Up products, I really do encourage you to join Stampin' Up this month: There's a special offer until the end of June where you pay just £50 for your starter kit and get to choose £55 worth of products, with stationery, catalogues and postage included free! It's a great, no-risk way of seeing what it's like to join the Stampin' Up family and you're welcome to join as a hobby demonstrator or as a business demonstrator. Interested? Click here to find out more.

There are many perks to enjoy when you become a Stampin' Up demonstrator and just one of them is that you get your hands on new products before they're released! I've been playing with lots of gorgeous goodies from the upcoming new catalogue. See if you can spot any on this Fathers Day card:

Did you get them all?

There's this fabulous wavy paper. It's from a new paper stack called Moonlight, which features the five new in-colours. These stacks are always such brilliant value for card makers and for Project Life fans too (click here for details!) I've teamed the new paper with a contrasting piece from the Retro Fresh range in the summer catalogue.

The word 'DAD' is spelled out with a gorgeous new photopolymer alphabet called Metro Type. I wanted this for Project Life but I can see it's going to be pretty handy for personalising cards as well. The star and the sentiment are in a bright, zingy new orange called Tangelo Twist. I'll be doing a whole post on the new colours soon so don't miss that!

The star itself has been cut using one of the new punches from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack. There's a new style of heart in the pack as well as the prettiest little flower ever! You'll definitely be seeing a lot of these punches on my blog!

I'll be linking this card up with the Male Room where the theme is Father's Day and Make My Monday where the ladies are looking for male-themed cards.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Metro Type Alphabet (available 1st July) photopolymer,
A Dozen Thoughts wood or cling

Ink: Island Indigo, Tangelo Twist (available 1st July)

Card stock: Whisper White, Tangelo Twist (available 1st July)

Other: Apothecary Accents framelits, Big Shot, Retro Fresh designer paper (retiring), Moonlight designer paper stack (available 1st July), Itty Bitty Accents punch pack (available 1st July), stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

Some of the items in the annual catalogue are retiring to make way for new products. Don't miss out on your favourites! Some of these items have been discounted too - check the lists by clicking on the banners below:

So, the football World Cup has started and I joined my husband to watch a match yesterday evening:
Me: It's not so much fun this year - I don't know who they are any more.
DH: Well that's the Croatian manager. He's in a Roxy Music tribute band.
Me: REALLY?!
DH: No, I just made that up. I'm trying to make it more interesting for you.
Me: ?!
I continued to watch for a while but secretly I was thinking that it would be fun to make a card in the zingy colours of the Brazilian flag...

I have the quickest, simplest Father's Day card for you tomorrow - perfect for those (like me) that suddenly needs a card right now!

See you tomorrow,

Join SU for £50, Retirement Lists, free gifts!

Oh my goodness - where to start with the news today?!

Join Stampin' Up for just £50! 

No, it isn't a typo - you really can join the gang for just £50, with a starter kit containing your choice of £55 worth of goodies, plus free catalogues and stationery! Check here for more details.

Stampin' Up Retirement Lists 2014 are here!

At this time of year, selected stamp sets and accessories retire to make room for exciting new ones when the new catalogue is released. Some of these products are being sold at discounted prices so they won't be available for long - don't let your favourites go!

The quickest way to order your retiring items in my online shop and that way you can be sure that the item is still available. Happy shopping!

Get even MORE for your money!

When you place your order today or early tomorrow you'll still get to choose one of these photopolymer stamp sets as a free gift with every £60 you order! Go for it!

With all the buzz going on here today, I thought I'd better show you an appropriate card! Come and see:

The honeycomb panel is made by sanding back embossed core'dinations cardstock. I adore having core'dinations card stock in all the Stampin' Up colours, so I'll be stocking up before that goes. It's a sad goodbye to the sweet Bug Me stamp set too. This happy-looking bee from the set pairs rather nicely with the Honeycomb embossing folder and that fabulous sentiment (just beeeee-cause!) which are both staying.

TIP: To make a trail template, doodle on a piece of window sheet and pierce along it at regular intervals. You can use it again and again!

I'll be linking this card up with CASology where the cue word this week is Bee!

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO MAKE THIS CARD
(Click on each item to find it quickly in my shop) 

Stamps: Bug Me (retiring) wood or cling, A Dozen Thoughts wood or cling

Ink: Stazon black ink, Daffodil Delight marker

Card stock: Very Vanilla smooth, Daffoldil Delight core'dinations

Other: Honeycomb embossing folder, Squares framelits, Big Shot, window sheet, piercing tool and mat, paper snips, stamp-a-majig

Click above to place an order any time, day or night,

but if you have any queries, or prefer to speak to me, I'm always happy to help.

You can contact me by email or phone on 01280 820593.

CHOOSE ONE OF THESE PHOTOPOLYMER STAMP SETS WITH EVERY £60 YOU SPEND (excl. p&p)

This is what I've been feeling like for the last couple of days:

Ready to burst!

Talking of balloons, here's a top tip if you have small, bored boys in your house over half term: Sit the boys down, blow up a balloon solemnly and then let it loose - it should fly round the room making vulgar parping noises! Repeat this several times enjoying the sound of the boys shrieking with laughter and then let them take over. When the novelty wears off, you can tie a knot in the balloon and show them how to play balloon volleyball, using chairs as a net.

Sigh. Those days were much more fun than helping out with the GCSE chemistry revision!

Enjoy your weekend and I'll see you on Monday,