Beautiful festive flower

Hello there, are you all super busy trying to get everything sorted out before the big day?  I always feel like I have loads of time then realise I haven't and end up rushing everything!

Today I'm sharing another make from my last class which featured gift wrapping.  We used Stampin' Ups take out boxes, they come flat but are so easy to build up and they are a really good size. The beautiful flower on top was made using a large leaf out of the leaflets framelit dies, I cut out silver glimmer card and music note paper from the Home for Christmas dsp.  The smaller centre was made using the festive flower punch and finished off with a large pearl bead. I attached it using a silver mini peg so the recipient doesn't damage the flower when opening the gift.  It would look fab attached to a gift bag too.

I'll be back with another project from the class which was a great box that holds a mini bottle of wine or a nice Olive oil or vinegar so I hope you can come back to see that.  Good luck with the shopping!

Year-end Sale

Hi everyone, just a quick post to let you know that the year-end has started but be warned it is while stocks last and the most popular things will sell out FAST so don't hesitate if there is something you want! Click on the button "shop on-line" and this will take you to my shop, then you can click on the top right hand side for either the weekly deals or the year-end sale.

Thank you

Christmas thank you

Hi everyone, thought I would share my hostess club thank you. I created the blue and gold card using a sky blue card base then cut a strip from the lovely vellum papers in the Christmas catalogue and added the reindeer clip as a little extra. 

I like to give my loyal customers of my club a little extra at Christmas and this year they all received the metal rimmed pearls.  The square pillow box was the perfect size to hold them. I cut the two pieces for the box out and using the large Dots for Days stamp, I stamped in versamark and added gold embossing powder. The effect this created was lovely and glossy but unfortunately it doesn't show up so well in the photo. I also embossed the wooden Thanks and added it to the box with some seam binding ribbon and gold cord.

I'll be starting a new hostess club in 2016 and if you would be 
interested in hearing more about joining in please contact me, I 
would be delighted to have you join us.

I'll be back soon with some gift wrapping ideas from a recent class I held, please come back for that.

New twist using the Woodland Embossing Folder

Good morning everyone, I'm sure all you crafters are busy working away on all your Christmas projects. I have been busy designing all my Christmas classes and I have been loving the Woodland embossing folder, just can't stop using it! However today I wanted to share a card using it that is not for Christmas! 

My lovely downline, Gillian, recently promoted and I wanted to make her a really special card to celebrate all her hard work and here it is.

Would you like to know how I created all the sparkle and Shimmer? Great, it's so easy! Firstly I swiped my Versamark pad across the inside of the folder, on the side that has the writing on the front. Put my piece of Pink Pirouette card into it and ran it through the big shot then I sprinkle it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heated with my heat gun.  The little wooden congrats sentiment was also given the embossing treatment, I again used Versamark, I pressed the congrats into the pad this time, then I sprinkled it with our Heat & Stick powder and heated it. This makes the surface nice and stickly, so when I sprinkled the very sparkly silver glitter on it, it stuck really well. I  then finished it off with another blast of the heat gun to heat set the glitter so it doesn't fall off.

Hope you give this technique a try and see how easy but affective it is, try it using card in other colours! I'll be sharing my October thank you cards and gifts soon, please come back to see those.

Hide and Seek Christmas Elf

Good evening, I'm just back from a little break in sunny climes to set myself up before Winter here in Northern Ireland begins. Although at the minute it is still very nice, cooler but lovely bright and sunny days, long may they last!

I got the inspiration for today's card from some fellow American demos, don't know if they were shown this at their convention but it's a great idea, I'll be sharing a few other ideas soon. This one uses the Woodland Textured Impressions embossing folder (139673) and it is a large size folder too and only costs £7.75! A bargain because there is so much you can do with it, obviously it makes a great background but it can be used for so much more, watch this space!

Basically you stamp directly onto the embossing folder (on the side that has the writing on the front) pop in your piece of card, run it through your Big shot and the image comes out looking like it's behind the trees, easy, try it! I choose to use this wee Elf image as it looks like they are playing hide and seek amongst the trees.  I coloured them in afterwards and used sponge daubers to get colour on the trees and background. I used the new fine tipped glue pen around the branches and sprinkled on lots of glitter, sorry that doesn't show up well in the photo.

I'll share some more ideas soon, using this great embossing folder, so please come back and visit for that.

September thank you

Hello everyone, I am trying to get into the habit of posting more often, sorry it's not working, life just keeps getting in the way! I'll keep trying, I promise...

Today I'm sharing with you my September thank you cards and hostess club members little gifts.

Don't forget, everyone who places an order with me, gets a handmade thank you card, whether you order on line or directly from me.  To go to my shop just click on the link on the right side of this page.  Thanks in advance and I'll be back as soon as I can with more craft ideas.

A Pink and Gold Christmas

Thanks for visiting today. Thought I would share what I did this past weekend with you, on Saturday I met up with a lovely group of fellow demonstrators from all over Northern Ireland.  Our UK manager Paula Gorry come over especially to spend time here and chat with us all.

We had great fun doing a "shoebox swap", I'm sure many of you crafters out there know what that is but if not, we basically all designed a card, (we made Christmas cards) we then made packages up for everyone else and include everything in our box to make that card.  Each box is then past around so we all ended up with 18 different projects! Paula even joined in with that, in fact it was the first time she had been involved in one. It was a bit manic but we all laughed and enjoyed ourselves, drank coffee and ate cake too. It's always super fun when us crafters get together!

I decided to make mine a bit different so I chose to make a latch card in a very modern colour scheme, I thought it would make a nice style to send to a girlfriend or daughter. I just loved this peachy pink with the gold. What do you think?

Then on Sunday, fully inspired by all we did on Saturday I made the little matching lantern.  I made my little lantern out of the Bakers Box, it was quite a quick make using the die.  I plan on making a more traditional lantern using the same die, so come back soon to see that. Bye for now.

New Autumn/Winter Mini Catalogue

Yay! The new catalogue is now live. Click on the picture of the catalogue on the right to view.  If you would like a physical copy to pour over having a coffee (my favourite way) then contact me and I'll post one to you.

My favourite set this year is Home for Christmas, a very retro style, love the little deer!

If you're not ready for Christmas yet then there is the beautiful Autumn set Into the Woods.

Or how about getting ahead with Halloween with the fantastic Happy Haunting range. There is even a great Home Decor Witching Kit to make a great centre piece, check it our on page 7!

I'll be back soon with some of the projects I have made myself, see you soon.

August thank you cards

I have been busy working on Christmas projects, which I won't share yet, it is a little bit early! However Stampin' Up's new mini seasonal catalogue goes live on the 1st September and I am holding a couple of launch parties for my customers to let them see the new products. Being a demonstror I get the new catalogue early and to pre order lots of the new stuff! I can tell you that I am very excited about what we are offering this year, I think the best yet! Once my launch parties are over, I promise to share what I've made on here, so watch out for that.

In the meantime here are my thank you cards for August and the thank you gifts my hostess club members got.  When I was on holiday I spotted these metal letters so I picked up a bunch of them for everyone in my club, I made an envelope type wrapper for them.  Think they went down well, I could picture them hanging in everyone's craft space!

Thanks for visiting today, hope you all have a great week.

Two babies!

My neighbours lovely daughter give birth to twin boys while I was on holiday and they are gorgeous!  I didn't want to make the usual type of card with welcome twins on it, so I came up with these.

I can't remember where I got this original template from, sorry but I've had it for years. I resized it in my photo copier to get the size I wanted. Then I decorated it with Stampin' Up dsp and the cardstock colour is Soft Sky. I then doodled the stitching around the edges with a Night of Navy marker and used the Little Letters thinlits to cut out the babies initials in Night of Navy to match.

The new Mummy loved the cards and they will take pride of place in the nursery. Don't you just love the reaction you get from handmade items! 

I'll be back soon with some more cards I've made, I haven't been working on classes during the summer so everything I'm showing you is cards I've made for family and friends.


I'll be back soon with more. Thanks for stopping by today.

Watercolor Wishes Card Kit by Stampin’ Up!

Hello everyone, sorry I haven't posted on here for awhile but I've been on holiday. I had a great time but I missed crafting so I took advantage of a nice sunny afternoon when I got home and took the Watercolour Wishes card kit into the garden and had lots of fun making all the cards.  I really love this kit, think it is my all time favourite, you get everything to make twenty different cards, with lots of bits and pieces left over.  You also get a stamp set which is exclusive to this kit, it has a beautiful font and will be very useful for lots of other cards. You get two mini stamp pads and the clear block to put the stamps on and it comes in a lovely presentation box, so great to give as a gift too.

So if you are looking for a compact, on the go craft kit, this is the one for you. Take it into the garden, on a break away, to the caravan or just have a ready to use kit to make with a friend,children or grandchildren.  You get everything for only £31.50 and for a limited time I'm offering free postage (if you live locally to me) and a thank you card from me.

Have a look at Stampin' Ups video below to see everything that 
comes in the kit.
                                            

Thank Yous for June

Hello everyone, isn't this a busy time of year?! Here in Northern Ireland it is coming up to schools finishing for summer, colleges are already finished. I no longer have these things in my life, both my children are grown up but I have been busy anyway, winding up my own classes for summer and getting ready for summer holidays.  It will be nice to get the break from routine, helps recharge batteries and for me, lets me get a chance to just play around with my papercrafting and come up with new ideas. Is it the same with you?

I did make my June thank you cards and gifts this month and as everyone has now got theirs I thought I would share them with you.  The cards are similar to the ones I designed for our Stampin' Up training in Telford and the little bags I made using vellum paper from SAB and I made these using the Mini Treatbags Thinlits. This die made them super quick to do and I loved how they turned out, I popped some sachets of glasses wipes in them, perfect for your  sunglasses at this time of year.

Thanks for popping by today and I'll be back soon with the projects we made in my last class.

Sheltering Tree Screen Card

Good morning from a lovely sunny Northern Ireland where I think summer is finally making an appearance! Temperatures are not exactly warm but at least it's bright and sunny. Sorry I haven't been posting so much recently but life is busy with Catslogue launches, classes and generally just trying to get things cleared up before the summer break. 

Last week I held an evening class and we made this little screen card using the lovely Sheltering Tree stamp set (page 89 item no. 137163).  I had made a similar card for a Christmas version so I used the same measurements to make this seasonal one.  It went down well in the class but as it takes quite along time to make, the girls said they would only part with it to a very special person or perhaps just keep it for themselves!

I'll be back soon with a delightful little mini album so I hope you come back to see that.

New Catalogue!

Very exciting times for everyone who loves Stampin' Up, our new annual Catalogue is now live! I've already placed my own (large!) order and can't wait for it to arrive to get creating with all the lovely new products. If I haven't already sent you a paper copy of the catalogue you can view it by clicking on the image on the right side of this blog, I guarantee you will love it!  Yes it has everything we sell but it is also jamed packed with ideas and tips on how to create beautiful things so do check it out.

The cards I'm sharing with you today are "cased" from Stsmpin' Up and show three of our gorgeous new colours, Mint Macaroon - Watermelon Wonder - Cucumber Crush, even the names are lovely. As a demonstrator I get to pre-order some of the products before the catalogue is available and I made these cards for my launch parties to let my customers get a sneak peak of what was coming.

Really pretty, aren't they?

I'll be back soon with more ideas using new products.

Telford Make and Take

I have already told you that I attended a great training event arranged by Stampin' Up with over 300 other demonstrators, well these events are great fun and one of the things we did was play with some lovely new stamp sets and we made this card. I sat at a table with a group of girls I hadn't meet before to make the card below but we got chatting so much I ended up just stamping what I needed and took it home to finish off! However I did mange to finish it as you can see.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will be back on Monday, just in time for the new catalogue. Can't wait!
                                            

It's almost time!

Yes folks it's almost time for the new Stampin' Up catalogue to go live! Next Tuesday 2nd is the day, I have all my hostess club customers orders ready to go including my own long list! Can't wait....

In the meantime I'm going to share with you some lovely little bags I have made with a new punch board, it's called the Gift Bag Punch board and it's available from Tuesday.  I will have the link on this blog to the new catalogue next week so you can see for yourself all the great new products which will be available but if you would prefer a paper copy to flick through while you're having your coffee then please email me for details on how you can get one posted to you.

I'll be back soon with some more sneak peaks.

Stampin' Up training in Telford UK

Hello all, firstly I am sorry I haven't been around here for awhile but when I get busy my poor blog is the first to go! It is such a busy time for all Stampin' Up demonstrators at this time of year, firstly I was away to Telford last weekend with over 300 other demonstrators for a training day where we got to play with all the lovely new products and see inspiring displays. It was just wonderful.

We also like to swap ideas with each other at these events and I managed to make 50 of my swaps and received fantastic ideas in return. The first photo is my swap which was well received, I had masked off a circle in the centre and then stamped various flowers and leaves in a random way. I then removed the mask and stamped the centre, I love this sentiment, "do more of what makes you happy" totally agree!! Then I mounted this on black card which I thought really set it off then added some sequins and dazzling diamonds glitter for some sparkle. (it's more sparkly in real life)

.

The photos below are the swaps I received in return. Fabulous, aren't they!? Lots of lovely ideas for me to use in my classes.

The other reason I've been so busy is that Stampin' Up's new catalogue goes live next week! I've been having some launch parties at my home to let my customers see some of the lovely new products they will soon be able to get their hands on and of course get their shiny new catalogues. I've also been posting out catalogues to existing customers. If you are not currently a customer of mine but would like to be and would like a paper copy of the catalogue then please email me for details. Remember I send out a handmade thank you card for every order I receive. Come back soon for some projects I've made using new products.

A Tic Tac thank you

Hello there, every month I send out a thank you card to all my customers, so even if you order through my online shop and I have never met you I will still send you a thank you card (as long as you leave your address when ordering) So if you would like to receive a handmade card from me, you know what to do! 

I masked off the centre panel and stamped top and bottom of the card then when that was completely dry I stamped the sentiment in the middle with Versamark ink and heat embossed it as you can (hopefully) see in the close up photo. I just love these colours together.

If you are also a member of one of my hostess clubs you get a little gift too and this month I made these little holders for mini Tic Tacs which I picked up at an airport shop. Aren't they cute?!

Here are some of them lined up ready to go in the parcels.  They were very well received and everyone wanted to know where I got the mini Tic Tacs from.

Getting shirty!

Hi everyone, hope you are all looking forward to the weekend. I'm off on a wee trip tomorrow with thirty or so other girls for a day trip to Dublin so nice coffee in Bewleys and some shopping in Brown Thomas!

Sharing another project from the last class with you, it's a little slide out card with a shirt style envelope, great for guys for any occasion as it just says celebrate. This sentiment comes in the stamp set Celebrate Today, it's the set with the balloons but I love the curvy shape of the "celebrate" I've used it in so many cards. It's in the mini catalogue at the moment so I'm hoping it carries over to the new catalogue in June!

I'll be back next week with Mays thank you cards and gifts for my hostess club members so do come back to see those, I think you'll like them!

Beautiful covered notebooks

Hi there, sorry I am only doing the follow up on the projects from my last class now but I've been away on a little trip. However better late than never! 

Everyone got a pack of Birthday Bash designer series papers which were used in all the projects but everyone had lots left over to take home and make more. This is the lovely little notebook from the mini catalogue which I covered and decorated in my favourite paper from the pack.  Most notebooks ended up different as we all had our own personal favourites and picked those to cover our notebooks.

I will be back soon with the other projects, promise...