All Is Calm ....

well is it? all calm or are you acting like a swan at the moment? all graceful above the surface but legs paddling like crazy underneath to keep afloat? Well I hope not, and that you are all calm and moving into the Christmas season happily. Of course the last two weeks have been very busy, there is a lot to do, shopping, wrapping, decorating and catching up with friends left right and centre. I've also had the chimney sweep, and the burglar alarm service, so busy busy busy, but I have now reached the stage of, "it'll be reet" as we say in Yorkshire, or translation everything will be alright :) So I managed a bit of crafting on Monday, and then tried to finish this little project off this morning. I think I could have gone further with sequins and bling, but wanted to do a little post before a weekend of socializing, wish me luck, by for now, Caroline. :)

Nordic Noel Ornament ....

I did see this idea on Pinterest but just thought  I would give it a try and give it a tweak, I seem to have lost the original persons name so sorry about that. I was hoping to finish it off with some of that gorgeous cherry cobbler tulle we had last year but couldn't find it anywhere. So I improvised with these skeleton leaves I had in my craft stash. The original didn't have anything in between the papers but I felt it needed something, I finished it off with a generous spritz and some sequins :)

The Card With More Front! ....

well that's what Amanda calls it, my friend and fellow Stampin Up demo, Amanda Bates http://thecraftspa.blogspot.co.uk/  Amanda has taken this design to a whole new level and there are many examples on her blog, but I took up the challenge and just by following her instructions, I managed to make a sample "all by myself" LOL (well the instructions were great) :) Thanks Amanda.

Sign Up and Save ....

For One Week Only .....

 

Launching today there is an amazing offer for those of you who have been considering joining Stampin Up. From 25th November until 2nd December you can sign up for only £74.25 (usually £99 so a 25% saving). This could be an early Christmas present for you! You get to choose £130 of products from ANY of our catalogues and it ships to you for FREE all for £74.25.

Click on the tab at the top of the blog to sign up, or contact me at clovett450@hotmail.com

Even more exciting is that as well as the reduction in cost you also get a chance to earn an extra 5% back in December. So as well as earning your usual 20% commission (after VAT) you will also get 5% cash back on any orders in December. During December we have our pre-order for the Spring/Summer Catalogue so there will be new products to choose from as well!

So what are you waiting for? Sign up and save :)

 



White Christmas ....

The must have of the Autumn Winter seasonal, just makes me think of last years John Lewis Ad with Lilly Alan singing the Keane song "Somewhere Only we Know". I love that song, but had to admit I fell in love with it all over again last year with the Lilly Allen version. Julie came up with an idea for a class named "5,4,3,2,1" and one of the team Rebecca Deary helped design the cards for this class where you make 5 easy cards, then four a little harder and then three with a little more effort and so on, so that in the end you have made 15 cards.

Call me crazy, but I wanted to teach the class and use the stamp set so much. So after gathering dates that suited people, the date we had to choose was the Sunday as I returned from my holiday on the Saturday!

It went really well, I was prepared with my kits ready and everything I needed. I had also set out a display on my sideboard the night before I set off on holiday, so all I had to do was refresh my memory with the jist of how to make the cards, and wait for my guests to arrive :)

A Little Smile ....

I have been meaning to post this (well finish the card and post it) for ages. I fell in love with this single stamp when the annual catalogue was launched. It was the first thing I bought and I must have stamped the image at least three months ago. My friend Kathy coloured it in (she is so much better than me at colouring), and I just haven't got round to finishing it off. I thought I would give myself a break on Monday, we had just returned from our holiday, and we are almost always straight back to 100 miles per hour, but I needed a little time to make a name badge for an SU event in a few weeks, and also do a bit of crafting. The ironing pile will have to wait and I also know just the person who I want to send this card to today :) I hope you like it too.

Little Break ....

Happy to say we have just had a little break in the sunshine, boy was it needed, it seems to have been a long year. We haven't managed to get away since February and were both very tired, so although we didn't fancy the flight, it seemed to guarantee some sunshine, we had to go a little further afield and ended up in the Caribbean. Can't complain !!! It was lovely, relaxing and warm, unlike the Uk when we got back, ah well :) We just had one little hiccup, and that was that Craig got burnt on our second day, he was so annoyed with himself, he should know better as he is very fair. Because it was overcast, he sat without cream on for 15 minutes, that's all it took, and then he had to spend three days out of the sun :( It didn't spoil it for me, I don't sunbath. It just gave me more time relaxing and reading rather than trotting around .... bliss :)

By the way the ridiculous "Tash" is for Movember!

Endless Wishes ....

We had a lovely monthly training session with my upline Julie this week, where we made a workshop sample from this great set. Julie has put together an idea for a "bundle" where you buy the stamp set, three ink pads, ribbon and note cards. With this you can create 20 gorgeous Christmas cards, and you still have the stamp set and ink pads to keep :) I have managed to make a few cards to add to my sample from training, and wanted to showcase this stamp set that I have been coveting for a while. I'm afraid this is a night photo, so it may not be the best, but I wanted to get something posted :)

Pocket Scrapbooking ....

WHAT? I here you say, well for all of you who thought I had gone to the "dark side" and left behind my beloved scrapbooking, this is an alternative title for Project Life. Think of it as mini scrapbooking without the need for tons of supplies or space, and this is the hobby for you :) Following team training last month I was really inspired to reach out to a few of my friends and ask if they would be interested in a workshop or class of Project Life, Scrapbooking or Card Making, and I was so excited when my friend Lisa agreed to have a Project Life class. She has always shown a huge interest and admired my scrapbooks, but just doesn't have the time. On Friday Lisa, and four non crafting friends joined me for a class, and all made some fabulous Project Life layouts ....

Have you seen the Moo adverts that keep coming up in your facebook feeds? They advertise printing your Square Instagram photo's ..... Stampin Up! your a trend leader again, with square cards already included in the Project Life kits, they work brilliantly with the square photo's.

Nordic Noel ....

I was saying to my friend the other day, that we are all posting so many Christmas projects at the moment, what will we have to post in December? This has been due to the autumn/winter seasonal catalogue being launched in September, it has made us all forget the full annual catalogue that only came out in August, and jump ahead to Christmas :) It has been fun doing Christmas projects so early but I am going to try and make this my last one until the festive season really begins :) we did have fun trying to get our "angled" pieces of paper right. I thought the card candy across the top looked a little like Christmas lights :)

Moonlight ....

I don't know if you have noticed these paper stacks that Stampin Up have been doing for a while, they are a really handy size for card makers, but also easily cross over for Scrapbooking layouts and other projects. These few cards have been made from the Moonlight stack, and I am hoping to get around to scrapping with them soon.

The stamp set is an exclusive Hostess only set:)

Trim the Tree ....

Following on from my Santa Stache post, I managed to make a simple scrapbook layout with the Trim the Tree paper stack. I have had some real problems with my laptop lately and ended up wiping everything off it :( Love technology when it is working but as soon as something goes wrong I am a complete cabbage! Ah well, we can't be good at everything, but technology is supposed to make life easier and when it goes wrong it is the most frustrating thing in the world to me. at least I can retreat to paper and glue :)

Stamp, Stock and Save ....

                                                            

                                                  For 6 Days Only

To celebrate World Cardmaking Day, from 1 - 6th OCTOBER ONLY!!! Save 15% on ink pads, card stock, envelopes and some adhesive. Why not stock up on your favourites? Also we have 5 stamp sets with 20% off too!!!! These are available by ordering direct with me by email at clovett450@hotmail.com  Click on the photo below to see in more detail

Sign Up and Save ....

           Happy 1st October blog reader! We all love offers so here's the first of a few released for October by Stampin' Up!

First up we have a JOINING OFFER. LOVE PAPER? Well if you join up in October you can take advantage of a FREE PACK OF PAPER for 6 months!!!

You get a FREE pack of paper each month (starting November) for 6 months and the great thing is, I get it too - for being your upline! That's a Win, Win!

To take advantage of this offer you need to sign up via the page at the top of the blog "Joining" and follow the link to my personal I.d. from there it is simple, just follow the prompts. :) The papers are redeemable from November 2014 until April 2015.

• The paper must be ordered via a Demonstrator Order each month. If you are not ordering anything else at the same time then there will be a postage charge but this would still mean your papers were half price.
• You must remain an active demonstrator to redeem this paper. Signing up during October would mean that your first quarterly target spend of £270 in products would not need to be met until the end of March 2015! Lots of time to get sorted and how about Stampin Up Christmas presents for people? 
• No speciality papers, only the £9.95 packs
• The Starter Kit is £99 and you get to choose £130 worth of freebies. Any questions, just message me :) 

Team Training ....

Further samples from team training ....

Sam's was outstanding again :)

Wow it really was a good one this time, perhaps it's because so many people love Christmas and were really inspired to make their swaps special. I particularly loved these cards made by Sam Wilson, Sally Jo Houghton, Amanda Bates at the craft spa Harrogate and Alli Joliffe ....

Santa Stache ....

I have been to team training today and we had to make our swaps for each other out of new items from the seasonal catalogue, it has meant an awful lot of Christmas Projects, but you can never get enough Christmas right? For my swaps I have used the Santa Stache set and the Trim the Tree Paper Stack ....

Still practicing my        ......colouring :)

Holiday Home ....

Loving this little stamp set, it's the one Kathy used a few weeks ago to teach us how to make the Christmas Candle and card in a box (a few posts back). With it's extra stamps to create Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween themed cards, and then what ever comes to mind for instance New Home, I think it's a great addition to the collection. Just need to add the Happy Christmas sentiment to the first card and maybe a few glittery bits :)

Curvy Keepsake ....

Well I am trying not to go mad for everything in the new seasonal brochure, but it's hard! And I'm trying not to bombard my blog with loads and loads of Christmas projects, well not too soon anyway. It has been a bit strange this year, the seasonal seems to have arrived fast on the tails of the Annual catalogue launch, so I don't want to forget all the great products in the annual catalogue But, this one is a cutey page 11 of the new seasonal, Curvy Keepsake Die, excuse the photo quality, I will try to find a better one, but this is gonna be a winner :)

 Samples from Julie Kettlewell on Pintrest :)

Scrapping Time ....

Last week my friend Elaine came for a crafting day, well we normally meet between 10 - 3 and get a couple of layouts done in that time. I have normally designed something to teach, and then we do a layout of our own after lunch. Lisa tries to join us as often as she can, and I try to encourage others to come to any Saturday classes that i arrange. We did 2 very different layouts this time, one very bright and funky (which i had designed previously ready to teach) and the other more grunge. Elaine had brought the background paper with the gold print on it as she really wanted to use this in the afternoon. She was at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it, so i looked at it for a while and then thought, this needs toning down, so i grabbed some stencils and used a sponge to apply distress ink through the stencil, when i had finished i wasn't too keen on the blue that i had used, so i reached for a Bermuda Bay coloured ink pad and used the new Stampin Up heart stencil to add some more detail and to ink the edges of the full sheet. I then felt it was really to use as a background and started to build up on it, here's the result ....

another layer of paper to add behind the music paper and of course a photo ! and might be just about finished :)

Autumn Winter 2014 ....

It's arrived follow the link on the right or below :)

http://su-media.s3.amazonaws.com/media/catalogs/EU/2014_HolidayCatalog/HolidayCatalog_0714_GB.pdf

Holiday Home ....

Just had a fab few days crafting with friends. Craig has been away playing golf so Kathy came to babysit me and be my defender from Spiders, while Lesley called down in the day to join the crafting fun. We all decided to design a project and teach each other a mini class, and then spent time in between doing our own thing. It was great to have a "Mini Retreat" and catch up, lovely food and lots of laughs and of course our favourite pass time .... crafting

 
 I don't have my Stampin Up Christmas papers yet, so i may have to make another version when they arrive. The stamp set is Holiday Home, and i have seen some really cute cards designed with it. It is a sneak peak of a product that is available in the new seasonal brochure due to be launched on 28th August ......

The "lantern" is made with the Tim Holtz Lumiere die, and we have decorated it with graphic 45 papers. We have added a little battery operated tea light inside to give it a flickering candle effect. :)

Beautiful Bunch ....

Just a quick share of a project from our last team training, Julie (Kettlewell) made some gorgeous projects to showcase one of the products from the new annual catalogue and the combination of some of the new "In Colours" Blackberry Bliss and Lost Lagoon are a real wow, these are definitely my favourites....

I think the flower is a great all rounder and we used the Fun Flower punch for the large Lost Lagoon flower which was then embossed with the new Lovely Lace embossing folder. The sentiments are made using the Tag Talk stamp set.

Canterleaver Box .....

Well I feel quite a fraud sharing this post but it is just a quick one until i can get crafting and upload something recent :( A few weeks ago i had the pleasure of attending a class by a fellow Stampin Up demo Amanda Bates. We had a lovely day and made such a lot of projects in one day, it was untrue :) Amanda packed our time with projects, lunch and stash to take home and finish off, but my favorite had to be this very very clever box. You can read more about it on Amanda's blog, and i am even sharing her photo's as they are so much better than mine. Thanks for sharing Amanda, and thanks for such a wonderful day :) The project is covered in the new Lullaby papers and is made from the new Kraft Cardstock…. perfect for making boxes of all types.

To purchase the tutorial, go to email Amanda on thecraftspa@gmail.com to arrange your purchase.

Big Shot Bundles ....

And what better time than to buy a BIG SHOT..... while Stampin' Up are running this super promotion:)

Contact me for my own spin on this offer :)

Thinlet Card Dies ....

Here's a product that may have slipped under your radar, the Thinlet Card Die collection, you would need to own a Big Shot or other suitable die cutting machine to use these but the results are very impressive :)

Label Card Thinlits Die (item 133479):

• Happy Day Stamp Set (item 130294 W item 130297 C)

Circle Card Thinlits Die (item 133480):

• Worth the Wait Stamp (item 131091 W)
• Five-Way Flower Stamp (item 131088 W)

Both card dies pair well with:

• Oh, Hello Stamp Set (item 131931 W item 130733 C)
• Yippee-Skippee! Stamp Set (item 131341 W item 131344 C)
• Really Good Greetings Stamp Set (item 130330 W item 130333 C)
• Regarding Dahlias Stamp Set (item 130324 W item 130327 C)

Here's a link to the full PDF Leaflet with great photo's and pricing.....    http://www2.stampinup.com/gb/documents/thinlits_flyer_demo_10.13_UK.pdf

Sea Street ....

Still loving the Sea Street stamp set which was the only one I bought on Pre Order (the period when Demo's can order products just before the new catalogue launch) The card with the little shaker box was made at a team training event by my SU mummy Julie Kettlewell, and the other one is one i made today. I also ordered the papers to go with the stamps as I felt a scrapbook page coming on :) see what you think ....

I used a Project Life card to the right of the Scrapbook layout, and used the Itty Bitty sentiment set on the card :)

Blendabilities ....

They are here, Stampin Up have finally launched their own alcohol based markers. For all you colouring fanatics out there, you have to give these a try. The pens come in a pack of three, each pack containing 3 pens in the same colour but dark, medium and light shades. They are double ended with two nib types and come in a great range of colours all coordinating with existing SU colour range a perfect match for SU ink, ribbon, card etc. There are a few youtube tutorials out there, so I hope the link below will work for you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBXC7j9Mje0

Sam has used them on the card in my previous post :)

In This Together ....

Last Saturday was our team all day training event. When i say our team, I refer to the larger team that i belong to with my upline Julie Kettlewell. I did a demo in the morning of Project life, it was lovely to introduce some people to it for the first time, and inspire and encourage others. I think it went down well and after explaining some of the background of Scrapbooking, i think we have some converts :) As a team we all make swaps for each other, and my absolute favorite was by my team mate Sam Wilson. Sam is so talented and she is the lady who made me the 1D card in a box a few months ago. Sam has used the "In This Together" stamp set, and one of the new in colours for her card Blackberry bliss, she has also colored with the new Blendabilities Pens from Stampin Up, I will post more about these next time :)

Mini Break ....

well many apologies for my tardy blogging, I have had awful trouble with blogger and have been struggling to upload photo's for about a month now. I have been having to email photo's to work and add them to my posts from there, not ideal. Last week we went away for a few days to Lancaster, yes really Lancaster! Even my sister asked me "are you really going to Lancaster", well yes we did. We stayed in a log cabin on a lake and it was really lovely to not have to do all the hassle of the airport. Honestly (as many of us Brits say) if you could guarantee the weather in this country, we would stay here for our holidays more often.Upside of travelling in your own car with no wight restrictions ......

This was just the craft supplies lol

This was a photo i took at Morecombe .....   and result finally Blogger is working again Yay. :)

New Catalogue Launch ....

It's finally here the brand new 2014 / 2015 annual catalogue, follow the link on the right to view a flip book, and start creating your wish list .... happy browsing :)

check back for some sneak peak project uploads in the next few days :)

Project Life ....

I never thought I would be hooked by Project Life, you can achieve such a lot in a very short time. I must have a thousands photographs, my own, my husbands and his families photo's. I started scrapbooking ten years ago and have never stopped, it is my first love when it comes to crafting and I am passionate about it, but I can appreciate It’s pretty daunting to start to think about scrapbooking all your back catalogue of photo's. I love the whole process of scrapbooking and the textures and layering of layouts, to tell me to stop scrapbooking would be like telling you to stop cardmaking because you can buy cards cheaper in the shops!

I keep my scrapbook pages chronologically, but I don’t scrapbook in a chronological order, it would be too boring and restrictive for me. One day I might be scrapping a baby photo of Robyn and the next I might be scrapping a holiday we went on last month. The photo’s I have used for project life are from a trip to Australia 9 years ago. Honestly until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn’t scrapbooked or recorded one memory from that trip. Now 80% of the trip has been recorded and I did it in about 4 hours with Project Life. I have still made 12x12 scrapbook layouts of my favourite photo's but the rest, left over photo's from the event or holiday, i now "Project Life" them and add them into my scrapbooks along side the 12x12 layouts. With the fun cards and embellishments you can add to project life, and of course some journalling, you can make some really interesting scrapbooks :)

Kitchen Scrapbooking ....

Tuesday night was very exciting, Craig was watching the world cup and I unwrapped my little box of goodies that is Project Life. I didn't intend this post to be about PL (Project Life) but I wanted to explain that I had pulled out this huge carrier bag of photo's and memorabilia from our trip to Australia in 2005. I'll go back to PL in my next post but today after doing chores, I rummaged through said "Bag" of brochures, leaflets and tickets and decided to slap a scrapbook page together. I must have popped some papers in the bag over the years thinking "they will look nice with the Oz photo's" and getting no further. As I was pushed for time, I didn't want to go and get settled in my craft room, so I improvised and ended up distressing my papers with a nail, a cork mat, some blunt scissors and by running it under the tap to dampen it LOL .......