Tales of interest

I had some good crafty time yesterday and decided to make some little sample pages. I had started out with the intention of doing a bit of scrapbooking, but as I have no photos it was a bit tricky. So instead I am creating a notebook of ideas and samples and bits and bobs.
This is the first piece for it, using the beautiful Newsprint DSP and Broadsheet Alphabet. The butterfly is All A Flutter, which comes on its own so is great if you're just starting out. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

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A challenge card

This evening I decided to do a bit of stamping and made this card for a challenge set by a fellow demo called Helen in Warrington. You can see the details on her blog http://helending.blogspot.com/2010/10/challenge-1.html and join in yourself!
I really like these colours - Daffodil Delight, Marina Mist and Regal Rose. The background stamp on the pink section is the beautiful Bella Toile and the flowers were stamped with the Punch Potpourri hostess set and punched with Boho Blossoms punch. Other punches here are Scallop Oval and Scallop Square and the sentiment is from Oval All. I pierced the scallops too for added effect.
I also managed to prep for most of a class I'm doing for Chapel Pie WI a week on Monday, so am finishing off my mega busy day with a brew before bed!

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B is for ...

BUSY! Will it ever end?! Not that I'm complaining! Today I headed up to the West Yorkshire WI Federation Office for a dat of crafting and nattering. It was really lovely and I made good progress on a Christmas biscornu I'm stitching for a swap over at www.crossstitchforum.com. I arrived home to lots of work emails, leading to a mad hour of quick-catch up and meaning I have muchos to do over the weekend and early next week before I head down to Croydon for the SU Convention!
And with that thought, I'm off to get started!
*EDIT* D'oh! I forgot to tell you about the card! I am still in love with the Newsprint DSP, Broadsheet Alphabet and Music Notes Wheel so made this to combine them. I have also used these for some of my convention swaps, but you can't see those until next week!

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Buns & Roses WI

Here's a lovely pic of me and some of the Buns & Roses WI girls. We met up for a little tea party/photoshoot at our new venue (Leeds Deaf Social Club). We always have lots of giggles. In this photo we're laughing at Gloria's weird hand. You can find out more at www.bunsandroses.co.uk. Please do come and see us, it's always lovely to meet new people.

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Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree ...

I tried something a bit different the other day and made this little Christmas tree. It's just a polystyrene cone, with squares of paper taped together corner to corner to make little cones and pinned in. The star has a cocktail stick in the middle which is pushed in the top. The papers are from the Jolly Holiday and Regals DSP stacks. I'm ALMOST thinking properly about Christmas now, but still too much to do before then!

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Bauble barmy

I am loving the Stampin' Up! Contempo Christmas stamp set and matching Ornament punch. They are ideal for quick and fun cards. We made one of these cards at team training at Julie's the other week and I decided to make more. As well as the stamp set I used the Jolly Holiday DSP for some of the baubles. I love this stack - it is red, green, vanilla and pink with spots and stripes and good for other occassions as well as Christmas.
Today I'll be doing more crafty things and watching the F1 so expect more goodies in the week.
PS Bodd now has his own blog, please check it out www.busyboddcat.blogspot.com. He reckons he can get more followers than me!

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A very special thank you card

This evening we had our last Buns & Roses WI meeting at Mojo. The group was formed there 18 months ago but is now way too big so we're moving to a new venue. It's sad as Mojo plays awesome music and serves fab cocktails, but will be good to have more room for workshops (including my card making one next February!).
So, to say thanks to Mojo, I made a card.


This was really easy to do. The stamp set is Cheers To You, which is fab for celebrations of any kind for anybody! I stamped them randomly on to strips of card and coloured in using the Blender Pens. The sentiment was punched with the Scallop Square and I pierced the four corners for added effect.
It went down well. As did the cocktails and cake!

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Crafting craziness

I ended up having a really good crafting session last night with all my yummy new Stampin' Up! products. The creative juices were really flowing and I made some lovely cards, am so pleased with them all!
Today's is a cute little card to let someone know you are thinking of them. It was really easy to make and is just 9cmx9cm.
The background is the gorgeous Bella Toile stamp, which is massive! Then I used the two sizes of Heart punches and Scallop Oval and the sentiment is from Sincere Salutations.
I did several variations in different shades of pink but this is my favourite combination - Rose Red and Pretty In Pink.
I will be back with more tomorrow!

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Buy Stampin' Up! products using credit and debit cards!

As of today you can now buy Stampin' Up! products through me using Visa and Mastercard credit cards and Visa debit cards. Hurrah!
This makes it really easy and safe to pay for all your crafting goodies, and there are loads of great things to choose from in the new catalogue!
Just drop me a line if you would like anything and before you know it the UPS van will bring you some new stash to play with.

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Bits and bobs

This afternoon I am annoyed as the UPS man came while I was giving Bodd a bath so I won't get my new goodies until tomorrow now. At least I got a lot of work done this morning and the cat is nice and clean!
Anyway, here are two more pics from the craft fair at the Cross Keys last weekend.


The other girl is Hayley, our treasurer at Buns & Roses WI. We already have one fair booked for next year so could be millionnaires soon!
Right now I'm going to brave the rain to buy something for tea then an evening of stitching. Am working on my mum's Christmas present at the moment, hope she will like it!
*EDIT*
Just as I was going out the nice UPS man came back! So now I can play this evening.

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A crafty weekend

Yesterday I was at the Cross Keys for their Autumn Fair, which was cold but good fun all the same! I went with Hayley (Buns & Roses WI treasurer and fellow craft nut) to sell cards and other goodies. There were eight stalls and all were fab (especially the cake ones!) but the rain was rather annoying! We had lots of giggles and were visited by my SU sister Lynda and some WI people.
Here is me on the stall ...

This morning my lovely dresser arrived so all my SU goodies are now properly organised! It makes the living room look much better as well and I'm really pleased with it - eBay bargain at £35 and delivered free!


This afternoon I will be watching the MotoGP and prepping for my class tomorrow where I get to share the joy of Stampin' Up! once more.

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No rest for the wicked

Things are still very busy round here and don't look like stopping for at least another month!
Tomorrow I have a stall at a fair in Leeds so desperately making a few Christmas cards to sell.

Here is one. We did this at my class on Monday. It features the fab Contempo Christmas and the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel and, the best colour ever, Cherry Cobbler!
If you're in town tomorrow please do come along to the fair. It's at the Cross Keys on Water Lane from 12-4pm.
In among all this I'm also trying to write lots of stories and make Christmas presents!

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Mad busy

The fun never stops round here!
Today I have had lots of work on, and not the bits I had planned to do, so still loads more to plough through! Luckily I managed to fit in a bit of crafting as well as Hayley, who is the Buns & Roses WI treasurer, came round to play.
She made some gift tags and I did my bag tags for Convention.


I used some little wooden tags and stuck on my name using the Broadsheet Alphabet stamped on to Very Vanilla card and layered on Basic Black, both torn to give a vintage effect. The background paper is Newsprint DSP. I totally adore these new Stampin' Up! products, they're right up my street. I added a bit of 3mm Taffeta Ribbon and attached on a button with Linen Thread.
I'm now going to tidy up the living room as it is a complete mess! Have bought a Welsh dresser off eBay to help organise my stuff better - can't wait to have a proper place for everything!

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Xmas bits

Last night I had a card class at my house and six lovely friends came round to get crafty. We made several cards, as well as these Christmas decorations and tags. And drank plenty of tea. I am in love with the Contempo Christmas stamp set and matching Ornament punch and the So Swirly wheel, still! They work so well together so I'll be cracking on with my Christmas cards soon.
Today I got a big box of Stampin' Up! goodies so I have sorted all my swaps for Convention 2010. I have to keep them a secret for now though, so tomorrow I'll make some other things to show you in the meantime!

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Rrraaarrrrr! Monster card for a little monster

Here is a scary little card! This is the awesome new Make A Monster stamp set. You get 15 bits in the set - three bodies, five pairs of eyes and seven mouths and ears/horns/hair. You can build tons of creatures and make great cards for your little monsters. My lovely upline Julie kindly pre-made me this monster and gave me some card, ribbon and a bit of paper from the Celebrations stack so I coloured him in and stuck it all together. The sentiment is from Tiny Tags and the riboon is Old Olive. I think this will be my nephew's birthday card next month.

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Dashing towards Christmas

It's not really that long until Christmas now so I have made a start on some cards and gifts. This reindeer stamp is called Dasher and I think he's fantastic! I stamped him using the Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad. I am also loving the colours used - Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip and Crumb Cake - and of course, the cutesy Tiny Tags as well.
I have a box of SU goodies due to be delivered today so should have more exciting things to show you over the weekend!

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A new take on stamping

Today I tried a little experiment. At this year's Stampin' Up! Convention (held in Croydon next month with hundreds of demonstrators getting together for two whole days of FUN!) I am taking some special gift and 3D swap items for fellow demos. So I got my thinking cap on and remembered how I used to use shrink plastic to make funky jewellery and keyrings.
So, here's today's take on this magic craft!

I got some Shrinkies plastic in black and stamped on to it using the Whisper White Craft pad. Then cut or punched the shapes out (and punched a hole) and popped them in the oven for a few minutes. They shrink and get thicker and solid just like magic!
They're soooo cute and tiny and will be great for what I have in mind. Unfortunately I won't be able to show you the finished products until after Convention, but I will do some other things as well as I'm now in love with shrink plastic!

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Cutie pie baby card

Today's card is a really cute and simple baby card. The image is the Baby Tees Jumbo Wheel, coloured in using ink pads and Blender Pens. The border is created with the Eyelet Border Punch and I added a bit of Certainly Celery Ribbon. Nice and easy to make, cute and effective.

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Clear mount SU stamps

So, here's the lowdown on the new Stampin' Up! Clear Mount stamps.
Many sets in the new catalogue come in this option now, as well as the traditional maple wood blocks.
The clear mount ones are made of the same great rubber and foam so the images are superb quality still. These sets are generally a few quid cheaper than the wood mounts and they all come in DVD storage cases so you save money and space.
Rather than having the stamps permanently stuck on to a wooden block they stay loose, so you then attach them to one of the lovely SU Acrylic Blocks when you want to use them. The blocks come in all sorts of sizes so you can arrange more than one on the same block and build up an image without having to keep changing stamps. And as you can see exactly where the image is going it's easier to get everything lined up correctly.
This is how they look. You stick the sticker directly on to the back of the stamp, instead of sticking one to the back of the wooden block.

And here is a little pouch I made for keeping my one block in.

It was really easy to do with just a couple of pieces of felt and some ribbon. I stitched my initial on but you could monogram the letter of the block (each size is given a corresponding letter) so you know which one is in each bag.
Hope that all makes sense!

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Cutie cards

Here are a couple of cards using my favourite new stamp set Cute By The Inch. There are nine gorgeous little stamps and I just can't put them down! This is one of the new hostess sets so it can't be bought but you can get it FREE if you hold a workshop with sales of £300. Get all your friends round for an evening of crafty fun and earn yourself some freebies!

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Christmas is coming!

It will soon be here! Twelve weeks today it will be Christmas Day! Really need to start making all my cards and presents!

Luckily, we did a couple of things at the Stampin' Up! regional training in Manchester. We used the lovely new stamp set Contempo Christmas, which we got FREE! One of the perks of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. This set is available in the traditional wood mount or the new clear mount. We got the clear mount, which means the usual red rubber and foam stamp can be placed on to an acrylic block each time you want to use it, saving storage space and cost! There is a matching punch for the bauble as well, so you can make 3D bits too!
This is the card we made. The red is Cherry Cobbler and is simply beautiful. It really does look good enough to eat.


And here it is with a bag tag as well.


That's Christmas started then!

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Become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator

Looking for a new job? Need some extra cash to pay for your craft habit? Then become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator! Not only is it a great way to make money and get your hands on some fantastic goodies at a discount, you will also make loads of new friends and have great fun.
With the launch of the Stampin' Up! 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalogue the Starter Kit has been revamped. It now costs just £119 and includes everyhing you need, including stamp sets, ink pads, card, markers and glue. Plus, there is a £50 scrapbooking add on available as well.
Read more about the Starter Kit or drop me a line for an informal chat.

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A new baby card

Here's my first card using new Stampin' Up! goodies! This is the Baby Tees Jumbo Wheel. I just love the wheels, they're really easy and fun to use and look awesome. I simply wheeled across the card as the background then again on to a piece of Whisper White. This was coloured in using Stampin' Pads and Blender Pens and chopped up into random squares. The sentiment is from On A Pedestal. Voila!

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New Stampin' Up! catalogue OUT NOW!

Oh wow, I am so excited today because THE NEW STAMPIN' UP! IDEA BOOK & CATALOGUE IS OUT NOW!! The 2010-2011 IB&C is bigger and better than ever, with loads of fantastic new products and loads of old favourites too. What are you waiting for, go have a look NOW!! Stampin' Up! catalogue

You will just love the fantastic new colour collections, which make it even easier to coordinate your projects with matching ribbons, brads and buttons. There are tons of great ideas in the catalogue so it's also great if you're stuck for inspiration. And, of course, the stamps are just beautiful. One of my favourite new sets is Contempo Christmas, which has a matching punch for the ornament shape and will be well-used for all my holiday cards this year! I am also in love with the Oriental sets For Everything and Kimono Kids and the funky Make A Monster. Oh, and the new range of Designer Series Papers are just stunning and we have even more scrapbooking goodies!

If you would like to order a copy of the IB&C (it's even better in real life - really glossy and bright) or any of the new products please just give me a shout. There are brand new hostess sets as well for those who hold a qualifying party so if you would like to invite your friends round and have fun making a project please let me know.

Phew. Exciting! Also, this afternoon I have a BIG box of Stampin' Up! goodies arriving so eagerly awaiting the UPS man knocking on my door! I will have lots of projects with new products to show you over the next few days so please keep coming back.

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