No sewing pouch and Project Life mini album - Stampin' Up Artisan blog hop

Thursday has rolled around again and all the members of the Stampin' Up Artisan Design Team have been beavering away on more inspiring projects to show you! Are you ready for another fabulous blog hop?

THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES
I'd been looking through my photos from the Stampin' Up convention in Brussels. It was so much fun, not only to meet up with my Stampin' Up friends but also to have my lovely daughter along for the ride. She's returned to university now but I'll be sending her today's project as a little memento of our adventures together. Come and see:

The Simply Created Banner Refill pack is great for making your own banners to help set the scene at a celebration but, if you have any of the canvas pennants left over, how about making a little no-sewing-required pouch with two of them?

I've used mine to hold photos but you could put any small gift inside.

Before assembling the pouch, I stamped it with one of the houses from the Holiday Home stamp set using Stazon ink. The shape of this house really reminded me of the beautiful architecture in Brussels.

The large eyelets on the banners form the perfect place to thread a handle through. I made mine by plaiting some of the natural coloured twine from a Tag-a-Bag accessory set but ribbon would work well too.

Project Life makes it so quick and easy to record important events - you simply slide your photos and journalling cards into pockets. But I used my journalling cards to back my photos so I could pop them in the pouch like a pack of cards! Some of the cards had space for journalling so I could add a sentence or two to add to our memories too.

I've used the Love Story Project Life Card Collection from the annual catalogue - it was among the fabulous gifts we were lucky enough to receive at Convention! The small cards in the pack are 4" x 3" and guess what? Photo machines in the supermarkets print this size from a memory stick or directly from your mobile phone very cheaply and while you wait!

Once the photos were mounted, I rounded the corners and made the cover by stamping a card with the same house stamp as I used on the pouch. I added the dates of the trip with my Remember rotary stamp and a tiny heart. If you don't want to make the pouch, you could simply clip these together with a metal binder ring.

Edited to add: Do you want to know how to make the canvas pouch in today's project? Well here's a video to help you!



This is a great way to treasure your photos of Brussels and if you don't have any, what are you thinking? You need to book your trip to Brussels at once! Of course if that's not possible you can always hop over to Canada instead where the lovely Allison Okamitsu is waiting to inspire you with her Artisan project! Click the button below:

BUY THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE MY PHOTO POUCH NOW!
(Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!) 

Build A Banner Refill Kit ...	Holiday Home Photopolymer Stamp Set £13.95	Love Story Project Life Card Collection £13.50
Jet Black StazOn Pad £5.95	Tag A Bag Accessory Kit £7.25	Project Life Corner Punch £7.25

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.

I've put some funny photos in the pouch and this is one of my favourites:

My daughter and I spotted these fabulous boots in a shop in Brussels and, if they hadn't cost 265€, I would've bought them like a shot! For my birthday this year, my husband gave me a pair of yellow sandals that I had admired very loudly and at great length (gentle hints don't work with my husband!) My wicked children teased me about them. "Look! She's wearing The Yellow Shoes!" they would say whenever I wore them. "Nothing bad could EVER happen while you're wearing The Yellow Shoes!"

See you tomorrow when I'm planning to have a video tutorial for you!

New! Project Life with Stampin' Up - order today!

Are you as excited as I am about Stampin' Up's collaboration with Project Life? Well, today you get the chance to see some of the brand new Stampin' Up Project Life goodies before all the products are released on 1st July! And guess what? You can even order them today too! (Scroll down to find out what you can get your hands on today!)

EASY PEASY PAGES IN A BLINK

If you're wondering what on earth Project Life is about, let me explain: Project Life is like scrapbooking but much quicker and easier! We'd all love to organise our photos in a way that means more than just pictures but most of us don't have the time to plan layouts and find coordinating embellishments, so it's easy to become overwhelmed. With Project Life, you simply slot your photos into some of the pockets, pop the ready-made cards into the others and add journalling with coordinating stickers and embellishments if you like. How simple is that?!

• Project Life comes in easily transportable storage that keeps everything you need together
• There's no cutting or glue involved so it's easy to create Project Life pages on the move - even while you're on holiday!
• Everything comes in the gorgeous Stampin' Up colours and each collection coordinates beautifully!

HOW CAN YOU GET STARTED?

All you need besides your photos is a pack of photo pocket pages, some Project Life cards and journalling pens. If you want to get fancy, you'll find heaps of beautifully coordinated embellishments in the Accessory Pack; you can round corners with the new corner rounder; there are photopolymer stamp sets to add fabulous details if you choose and coordinating framelits if you want to add shaped labels.

ITEM 135294
Variety Pack 12" x 12" Project Life Photo
Pocket Pages
12 pages: 2 ea. of 6 designs.
£5.95

ITEM 135298
Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection
100 double-sided, color -coordinated cards in 3 sizes:
4" x 6", 4" x 4", and 3" x 4"
£13.50

ITEM 135304
Project Life Journaling Pens
2 pens (01 and 05)
£4.50

ITEM 135301
Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack
4 3" x 4" specialty cards; 8 sticker sheets;
1 acetate accents sheet; 8 wood accents;
2 epoxy stickers; 4 arrow paperclips;
1 roll washi tape (5 yds.)
£8.95

ITEM 135346
Project Life Corner Punch
£7.25

ITEM 135707
Cards & Labels Project Life Framelits Dies
5 dies
£20.95

ITEM 135785
Project Life Day to Day Photopolymer Stamp Set
42 stamps
£22.95

ITEM 135787
Project Life Point & Click Photopolymer Stamp Set
26 stamps
£13.95

Why not give Project Life a try?! Click here to contact me by email or give me a ring on 01280 820593 to order your sneak peek items today!

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 them here.

I can't wait to show you some of my Project Life creations - I'm a great one for documenting ordinary, everyday life as well as the high days and holidays. If I were to create pages of our lives at the moment though, they'd be full of photos of tense, irritable people, half hidden beneath piles of books and papers. Yes, it's exam time and we will all be very glad when it's over!

See you tomorrow,

A little bit of This and That...

It's no surprise that the Epic Day This and That bundle is flying off the shelves! A smash book style journal is such fun! I've got photos of the cover of mine to show you today:

The cover is a gorgeous neutral buff colour with hexagonal shapes debossed into it. There are two papers in the coordinating designer papers that feature hexagons and I opted to use the smaller ones to decorate mine. I love the colours and the subtle text and map designs!

I stamped the chevrons from Stampin' Up's Oh Hello set directly onto the cover using my stamp-a-majig to ensure it went where I wanted it. Some of the title is computer-generated but I added a stamped, fussy cut word 'just' (from a retired hostess set) which livened it up a little. A square punch was used to make an arrow head, designed to lead the reader into the journal, and I added three rhinestones for a bit of sparkle.

Are you wondering about the title? Well, my journal is about all the mundane things in my family life - getting up, having breakfast, going to the supermarket, putting out the bins... that sort of thing! Sounds riveting doesn't it?! But I always think that scrapbooks tend to be so busy featuring the highs of life that everyday life gets left undocumented.

Here's what you'll need for this project
Stamps: Oh Hello
Card stock: Crumb Cake (for the title)
Ink: Basic Grey
Other: Epic Day This and That journal and designer paper (these products available in a special-value bundle until 31st May), Basic rhinestones, square punch, paper snips, stamp-a-majig
I CAN ORDER 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 FIND OUT MORE OR TO PLACE YOUR ORDER, JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL OR GIVE ME A CALL ON 01280 820593.

• Get more for your money this month: Place an order for £250 and choose £65 worth of products free! Or join SU and get £155 worth of products for just £99! Offers end 30th May 2013

This past weekend was a bank holiday in the UK. On Saturday, my husband and I went for a walk to nearby woods to see the bluebells and my goodness, they were amazing - a blanket of the most glorious blue.

Here I am doing my best David Bellamy impression - but you can see those bluebells stretching off into the distance.

Thank you for popping in today - I do appreciate your visits. I'll be back tomorrow with a coordinated card and gift to show you. See you then,

Scrapbooking a golden wedding anniversary

I love scrapbooking and would love to do much more of it. The trouble is that it can be so absorbing that whole days go by in the making of a double page... so here's my solution: It's a rather beautiful 6" x 6" ring binder album! It contains ten page protectors and, because it's a ring binder, I won't feel I have to make double page spreads which is what takes me so long.

I had to prove to myself how quick a 6" x 6" page actually would be so I made this one:

Our wonderful weekend helping my husbands parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary was fresh in my mind, so I put together a page on that. I made the title on the computer and wrote my journaling before printing out onto Very Vanilla card stock and adding the photos.

Mindful of the 'golden' theme, I made this brushed gold card stock banner with my Petite Pennants punch and decorated it with piercing. Addicted To Stamps, a fabulous new challenge site, has a monthly scrapbook challenge as well as weekly card making challenges, and they want to see pages with banners this month, so I shall link up this page.

The little tab was made by printing onto More Mustard card stock and cutting out with my decorative label punch.

I stamped a leaf from my Bright Blossoms set three times and set a pretty flower on top to make this embellishment. The flower is my favourite from the Itty Bitty punch pack and I've cut it out of brushed gold card stock and decorated it with a rhinestone.

Here's what you'll need to make this page:

Stamps: Bright Blossoms

Ink: More Mustard

Card stock: Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Brushed Gold

Other: Decorative label, Petite Penant and Itty Bitty punches, Basic Rhinestones, paper piercer, Stamp-a-majig

I'd be delighted to order any of these items for you and can have them delivered 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.

It has been a frantically busy week here with so many extra activities that I don't know whether I'm coming or going! We've had parties and fashion shows, sports activities and music performances, there have been nail biting tennis fixtures not to mention football matches... but I think one of my highlights has to be a lovely moment at breakfast that saw me and the children playing grape football with finger people. Now that's my idea of sport!

And before I go, thank you to everyone who left a message on yesterday's post. As I sniffed my way through them I had to have another hunt for the tissues! Have a wonderful weekend won't you and I'll see very soon.

Hugs,

I miss you - Ain't Love Grand!

You MAY have noticed that there's a new Stampin' Up catalogue being released tomorrow... ! I'm only ever so SLIGHTLY excited (she says jumping up and down like a mad thing!) But I've also got another exciting announcement to make:

My Christmas House tutorial is ready! This beautifully detailed house-style mini album is designed to take your photographs on the inside, incorporates a roof that doubles as a card and folds flat for posting in a standard C5 envelope. It's the perfect 'more than a card' gift for all your relatives! I've lovingly prepared clearly-photographed, step-by-step instructions with measurements given in both imperial and metric. You can buy it today for just £2.50 by clicking on the paypal button in my sidebar!

Now, shall we have another sneak peek? Okay - come and see a card I made with a set that isn't my usual style at all:

Isn't that plane the cutest little thing?! I've fallen in love with the retro feel of it. There are five other gorgeous retro images in this hostess stamp set and I can't wait to show you the rest! And have you seen these gorgeous new colours?! The darker colour is Island Indigo and the lighter is Pool Party and they just go together so beautifully

I can imagine putting other messages in this banner but I thought the 'I miss you' message was appropriate for today because no matter how exciting all the fabulous new goodies are, there are some retiring items that will be very sadly missed. Today is the very last day for ordering retiring items from the Last Chance List and the mini catalogue!

I thought this little person, waving madly, would be the perfect companion to the 'miss you' plane! One of the things I love about getting new stamps is see how they combine with my existing collection.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamps: Ain't Love Grand (hostess set), All in the Family

Ink: Island Indigo, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Basic Grey

Card stock: Island Indigo, Pool Party, watercolour paper

Other: Stamp-a-majig, paper snips, blender pen

You can buy any of these supplies from me and I can have them delivered to your address in the UK. Just send me an email or give me a call on 01280 820593. Click here to view the Last Chance List - it's the last day to order from this list.

I'm not even going to start wittering on today - just in case I burst with excitement! But do pop back tomorrow and join the fun!

See you then!