The latest Stampin' Up offers and a look back

Stampin' Up has released its latest round of Weekly Deals and I do urge you to take a look because there are some of my favourite items in there! And remember, you'll still get to choose a free Sale-a-bration item with every £45 you spend even when you shop for special offers!

Here's a card I made last year with a background embossed with the Wildflower Meadow folder and featuring a butterfly cut with the Elegant Butterfly punch.

There are other great products on offer too - I love the Stampin' Up superfine gold glitter and every home should have bakers twine in all the Stampin' Up colours!

GO SHOPPING FOR THE WEEKLY DEALS NOW!
Click on any item to be transported to my online shop!
Don't forget you'll get a free Sale-a-bration item for every £45 you spend

Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine £2.50 £1.88	Elegant Butterfly Punch £14.25 £10.69	Gold Stampin' Glitter £3.75 £2.81	Old Olive Baker's Twine £2.50 £1.88
Smoky Slate 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon £5.25 £3.94	Wildflower Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set £12.95 £9.71	Wildflower Meadow Textured Impressions Embossing Folder £7.50 £5.63

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.

Don't forget that it's Mothers' Day on Sunday in the UK, the day that mothers everywhere are celebrated. Apparently I will be sitting down to a cordon bleu feast prepared by my two sons... I'll let you know how that goes!

Enjoy your weekend and I'll see you back here on Tuesday,

A Summer Silhouettes hello

I have so many new stamp sets to play with I'm as happy as a pig in clover (although hopefully just a little more elegant!) But sometimes you see a challenge, like the wonderful ColourQ palette this week, and a favourite set that you've had for ages immediately jumps into your mind. Summer Silhouettes is a real 'must have' stamp set in my opinion and I adore it in this colourway. Come and have a look:

This really is the simplest of cards: I stamped a border of leaves and flowers down the left of the front panel and added a tag from the Tag-a-Bag accessory kit...

... stamped with my favourite 'hello' from the new Four You sentiment set. The stamping and the label were linked with a fussy-cut flower, left over from another project, which I decorated with a black candy dot. The card was finished with some more black dots doodled with the fine end of my black marker.

I'm pleased with this layout which I shall definitely use again. I provided a sketch in case you fancy using it yourself.

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Wildflower Meadow, Four You
Ink: Gumball Green, Tangerine Tango, Summer Starfruit classic inks, Stazon black
Card stock: Whisper White
Other: Basic Black marker, Tag from Tag-a-Bag accessory kit,  Neutrals Candy Dots, 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.

We had a wonderful weekend in Cumbria at a large 'cottage' we'd hired and with family arriving from all over the country. We were back very late so there'll be no wittering today but I'll have photos tomorrow. See you then,

Wildflower Meadow meets Gorgeous Grunge

Did you see this set of note cards in yesterday's post? They were made with the bits left over when getting in a muddle making today's card... Come and see:

I've used Wildflower Meadow with a new stamp set called Gorgeous Grunge that sent me into a frenzy of excitement when I saw it in the new catalogue! It contains five images of splatters and scratches and 'tape' that are perfect for adding backgrounds or texture to projects and are a dream when it comes to male cards. Here it's used as a background to give a bit of 'edge' to my floral image.

To make the floral bit I stamped the image in Gumball Green, then again in Summer Starfruit. Then I changed my mind and inked up the image again with markers so that the flowers were yellow and the leaves and stems were green - that's why I had all the green left over for yesterday's project! I embossed the bi-coloured one with the coordinating embossing folder, cut out a section with my 2 1/2" circle punch and sponged the whole thing with Summer Starfruit ink to give a lovely glow. The yellow image was used to fussy-cut flowers from - I popped these up over the stamped ones on the circle.

The sentiment is from a brilliant new sentiment set called Four You. I adore this bold 'hello' almost as much as the 'Smile' from Happy Day! Or more...? I can't decide!

I added a strip of Gumball card stock to the panel and embellished with a strip of Epic Day washi tape and two black candy dots - I LOVE these! They're so much quicker than brads for a card, but if you need them as a brad to fasten something, you just attach them to one of Stampin' Up's new brad bases - genius!

I made this card for the gorgeous Dynamic Duos colour challenge this week - Gumball Green and Summer Starfruit and then completely missed the deadline... oops!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Wildflower Meadow, Gorgeous Grunge, Four You
Ink: Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit classic inks, Black Stazon
Card stock: Whisper White, Gumball Green
Other: Wildflower Meadow embossing folder, Big Shot, 2 1/2" circle punch, Neutrals Candy dots, Epic Day washi tape, paper snips
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.

Lots of people have asked about our trip to London last weekend. Well we did all sorts of things including visiting the Tate Modern, enjoying a walk along the South Bank and sampling the foodie delights at Borough Market. We took buses all over the place as the top of a double-decker makes a great viewing station. One of the highlights of the trip for me was when we passed the impressive Bush House, ex-home of the BBC world service:

When my husband pointed this out to the children my youngest son looked at the statues with approval. "Why are they holding a giant ice cream?" he asked.

We're continuing my husband's birthday celebrations this weekend with a big family get-together and I've got heaps of preparation to do... Hope you have a great weekend and I'll be back very soon.

Hugs,

A set of 3 minute Wildflower Meadow snippety cards

I'd been making a card with my Wildflower Meadow goodies involving stamping the background stamp in different colours, embossing, fussy-cutting, punching, sponging ... definitely not a three minute job! So I'll show you that one tomorrow and for Three Minute Thursday, we'll concentrate on the few minutes it took to rustle up this little notecard set out of the snippets left over!

Gumball Green is one of my favourite colours ever and I love the simplicity of these single-colour mini cards. It was fun finding interesting bits of the stamped image to cut down and use:

I liked the way the dots appear to fade out on this one for instance...

... and the way these flowers appear to be bursting out of their frame! All the cards were matted onto Gumball Green card stock and decorated with rhinestones.

The large flower in the Wildflower Meadow stamp is just beautiful and so delicate looking...

... and there are several different styles of flower too - it's like a whole stamp set in one stamp!

I shall link these up to Di's Snippets Playground where it's definitely paddling pool weather and although the diving board has been removed, we could play splashy canonballs if we jump off the tree house! (And if you don't know what they are, you must read Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester - a great favourite with my family and still quoted today!)

Here's what you'll need to make these cards
Stamps: Wildflower Meadow
Ink: Gumball Green
Card stock: Whisper White, Gumball Green
Other: Basic rhinestones
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.

Gumball Green is the colour of my youngest son's favourite t-shirt:

Minecraft, for those who are slightly bewildered, is a weird computer game based on lego-ish building blocks. It is highly addictive and if it weren't for his annoying old mother, my son would quite literally 'eat, sleep, Minecraft'! I gave the t-shirt to him on his birthday earlier in the year and to say he was delighted is a wild understatement. I practically have to wrestle him to the ground and tear it off his back if it needs washing. (Not really!) When we arrived in London at the weekend we saw a whole family wearing these t-shirts - I suppose they'd thought it was a good way of making sure none of them got lost in the crowd. We had to hang on to my son in case he drifted off with them!

See you tomorrow,

Wildflower Meadow to celebrate a special promotion

I work with a small (but beautifully formed!) group of Stampin' Up demonstrators called the Inkredibles. I feel so proud when one of my team celebrates an achievement and was recently delighted for Jacqueline whose hard work paid off with another promotion. To mark the occasion, I made her a little gift set using some of the new items from the brand new catalogue. Come and see:

I used the gorgeous new Wildflower Meadow embossing folder and matching stamp, my favourite Gingham Garden washi tape, some fabulous chevron designer paper and some core'dinations card stock - both of which now come in all the Stampin' Up colours! And if you're dying to get your hands on these items, they'll be available TOMORROW when the new catalogue goes live!

The retro-style card has a split background and the flower was stamped onto cardstock embossed with the coordinating folder, cut out and embellished with a length of bakers twine.

This little pouch is really easy to make - I must do a tutorial at some stage. I used the divine new Soft Sky for the base and decorated it with the chevron design from the new Patterns designer paper stack. I love this little tag from the Creatively Yours stamp set.

Inside the pouch is a little tag stamped with the a tree from Lovely as a Tree and accented with more chevron paper and an adorable little arrow clip from the new Essentials Hardware Clip collection. Suspended from a strip of card stock is a tiny balloon charm, made with the retiring Up, Up and Away stamp set, which Jacqueline can clip onto her Inkredibles charm bracelet. All my team members get one of these bracelets when they achieve their first promotion and each time they promote again, I make a new charm for them to add to it.

This little box was made with the same products as the card and pouch and contains...

... chocolate of course!  After all, it's hard work promoting and a girl has to keep her strength up!

• There's room for new members of the Inkredibles and I'd love it if you joined us. The starter kit costs only £99 and I am here to give you as much help as you need. Hobby demonstrators and business demonstrators are equally welcome in my team! Click here to find out more.

Here's what you'll need to make this set
Stamps: Wildflower Meadow (available tomorrow), Delightful Dozen, Creatively Yours, Up, Up and Away (retiring)
Ink: Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple
Card stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Core'dinations Early Espresso
Other: Markers, Wildflower Meadow embossing folder, big shot, Early Espresso bakers twine, Striped organdy ribbon (retiring), corner rounder, Colour Collection designer paper stack, Gingham Garden washi tape, Essential Hardware Clips, 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.

The weather was glorious at the weekend - perfect for the F1 Grand Prix held at Silverstone which isn't far from us. We're not huge motor racing fans in our family but we do love the Red Arrows display which kicks the event off each year. We go to a local vantage point to watch this and it's always incredible.

We were trying to work out what shapes the planes were making and at one point my youngest son thought they were making the Vodafone logo. "Yodaphone?" said my husband, mishearing much to our entertainment. Now how would that go? "Hello? Called you I have!" Yes - I think that could definitely catch on!

I'll be back tomorrow with a tour of my favourites from the new catalogue. Don't miss it!!!