Endings...

Well the camper disappeared from the driveway at lunchtime. I hope the new owner has as much fun in it as I did. It seems strange, with both vans gone and only 2 cars, the driveway looks naked! We need to have some visitors! My calculations estimate we could get at least 3 more cars in!

I have had to pull off the design team for the CAS Colours and Sketches blog as I need a bit of a break from commitments... but I did prepare a few cards for a couple of challenges and hope you will still support the lovely ladies running it! It's quite a commitment and there's no reward apart from seeing all the fabulous submissions.

Pop over and join in the fun and get some inspiration!

Here is the card I did for this weeks challenge. Visit here... CAS

If you would like to buy Stampin' Up! products, would like a party or would like to become a demo... Give me a call or send me an e-mail... If nothing else, I love to talk!

I hope to get some crafting done today... I hope a week off has got the creative juices going!

Paula xxx

Carry on Camping...

Sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog. I'm not having a good week!

Had a great time at Wallingford Agility Show last weekend, even if I was working the whole weekend! The lovely Alan Score captured a couple of pictures of Blaze in his Agility class on Sunday! Clear round... Good Boy!

I shall really miss the camping at shows, it was a chance to not only socialise but to have some time alone with the dogs and not be worrying about cleaning the house or any other chores.

The camper is completely ready now to be collected by it's new owner at the weekend. A sad time for me but hopefully the new owner will have some fabulous times in it, as I have. There's a lot of memories that will trundle off up the road when it's driven away.

Distinctive isn't it!

As I said, I've not had a good week so far, in fact the year has been pretty rubbish so I am taking the rest of the week off from blogging. I may be back on Saturday when hopefully my mood will have lifted and my mojo returned!

Have a great week!

Pxxxx

Keep on Drumming!

Today's card is one I made for a friend of ours... he inspired Chris to take up drumming again after about 20 years of abstinence. I'm still not sure whether it was a good thing or not!!! (We have lovely neighbours!)

The great thing is we have met lots of fabulous new friends through Chris's music including the members of his band... King Loud. Check out their Facebook page!

Anyhow - Roy had a special birthday on Wednesday and so I wanted to make him a special card... those of you who know me know I struggle with inspiration but I was pleased with my endeavour... and Roy loved it!

Can you guess how I made the symbols? Yup you've got it! It's the Labels Collection Framelits with the Gold Glimmer Paper. I was so chuffed!!! Yeah, I know! It's highly unlikely anyone else will want to make a symbol... but if you ever do...

I'm spending the weekend at my last Agility show in my camper van, she goes to a new home next weekend. I'll miss her and the camaraderie (and alcohol) that I have enjoyed camping at shows through the summer. I'll still do a little competing. But it won't be the same. It pains me to say it, but I am not looking forward to being a 'day' competitor at all.

Hopefully we'll get a couple of rosettes this weekend... a trophy would be nice but as it is our club show I shan't have time to concentrate on my dog as I'll be helping run the rings I'm on each day.

I shan't be posting for the next couple of days at least as I'll be at Newbury Showground... 'nestled' between the M4 and the A34 - such a calming rural retreat!

Pxxxxxx

CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge Inspiration

It's Thursday again! Nearly another week over!

This weeks challenge is a colour challenge. I have punched out a butterfly from Whisper White, embossed the mat with the Framed Tulips embossing folder and used a small off cut of Primrose Petals behind the aperture.

The sentiment was stamped with Rich Razzleberry using a stamp from Bring on the Cake.

All matted on a Pool Party card base.

I hope you like it! Those punches are just so versatile!!!!!

Do join us here and enter your own creations!

Hope to see lots of gorgeous creations this week with this lovely colour combo!

Paula xxx

Embossing - Simply lovely

I love adding texture to my cards and this card uses two techniques, heat embossing and 'dry' embossing.

The floral flourishes are embossed with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder and the butterflies are matted together and run through the big shot in an Adorning Accent embossing folder.

The sentiment is also heat embossed and is from the Curly Cute set.

I hope you like it! I'm going to do some more crafting after work... Hopefully you'll join us at CAS Colours and Sketches tomorrow... I'll be loading my 'inspiration' first thing in the morning!

See you tomorrow!

Paula xxx

Two Challenge Tuesday!

Well I don't know about you but I'm feeling a lot more positive having had a couple of days of half decent weather! The sunshine really cheers me up.

Yesterdays news was so exciting! Even more freebies to be earned whether you join my team and the Pink Ladies or if you just want to earn lots of FREE goodies with your party orders.

Today I am sharing with you a card I have entered in two challenges. Simply Less is More is a one layer challenge - visit the blog here. Secondly it is the Dynamic Duos challenge here.

My card uses the Elegant Butterfly punch, I punched out the image from a scrap piece of card, then pressed a Sponge Dauber in my Tangerine Tango ink pad, using the cut out as a stencil I sponged the image on the Bashful Blue card base. I started at the bottom moving up, without re-inking, to get a graduated colour intensity. The sentiment is from Bring on the Cake and I added a few gems. You'll notice the card stock has a lovely embossed border running up each side - these were created using my Borders Scoring Plate for my Simply Scored. 

Such a simple but effective card I hope you'll have a play with this technique!

Hope to be back with something for you tomorrow! Have a great day and hope you are feeling inspired!

Paula xxx

Get more with Stampin' Up!

So, the offer we've all been waiting for! And there's more for everyone!

As you know from my previous posts this year. Stampin' Up! are celebrating their 25th anniversary and five years in the UK.

If you join as a demonstrator between now and the 30th of May you will get an EXTRA £25 of product absolutely FREE, so for £99 you get to choose £155 worth of products for your starter kit instead of £130.

Whether you choose to be a hobby demo and take advantage of the benefits for yourself or you choose to develop a business, the starter kit is yours to keep. There is no further obligation, though the benefits of being a demonstrator are way too many to mention! You get sneak peeks and preview bundles as well as your 20% discount and other incentives.

Joining my team you will get a welcome gift and all the support you need to get your business off the ground - if you are joining as a hobby demo there is no pressure from me to purchase further. I can help you get the most from offers and discounts and as part of the Pink Ladies you get to join in all the great events that Michelle Last runs. Monthly and quarterly training (including all sorts of technique training, raffles, swaps etc), the support of all the Pinkies via our exclusive Facebook community and so much more! Not forgetting the option to attend Stampin' Up! events across the UK and Europe. I mean, how many opportunities do you get to have a weekend away and craft!

Just click on the tab above to join or call me for a chat!

It doesn't stop there!!! Customers and Hostesses can also earn an extra £25 worth of FREE goods on orders/parties where sales exceed £250 - so you could earn £65 worth to spend!

If you place an order exceeding £150 - I will personally pay the shipping cost until the 30th of May - WHEREVER you are in the country!

Everyone is a winner! So why not get in touch now.

Back tomorrow with another challenge entry and in the meantime... Have a GREAT day!

Paula xxx

Sunday Sunshine

I'm sorry I'm so late posting today. I have been out enjoying the gorgeous sunshine with the dogs!

I managed to get the house cleaned from top to bottom yesterday, including wiping down all the doors, skirting, radiators and a few walls. I love that feeling of having cleaned everything, that brief pleasure of everything being clean and tidy... then your husband gets home! Love him really! Particularly as he is responsible for the smell of roast lamb emanating from our kitchen!

Today's card is a challenge entry. Freshly Made Sketches challenge #81, you can view the blog here.

I have used the gorgeous, but sadly retiring Bashful Blue, made a layer by embossing a mat of the same colour with my Chevrons embossing folder, the quad bike was stamped using the Need for Speed stamp set and Midnight Muse ink - then fussy cut and mounted on a dimensional. I used the sentiment from Bring on the Cake and added 3 Mini Brads.

A great card for a petrolhead!

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine, fingers crossed it's here to stay! for a short time at least!

I'm looking forward to sharing some exciting news from Stampin' Up! tomorrow so stay tuned! (Are you old enough to remember a phrase like that from the days before computers!!!)

Pxxx

Floral Fantasy

Yup - It's Saturday! Today is the big housework blitz, then I only have 3 days at work next week as I am off to Newbury Showground for an Agility Competition.

Poor old hubby gets left at home to look after the rest of the animals!! I need to make the most of my last weekend away in the camper - though it will be mega busy as it is our (Wallingford Agility Club) show so I'll be working hard all weekend!

Today's little floral fantasy uses Secret Garden again.. I have stamped them on Vellum and coloured them using my Blender Pens. Finally to give them a little shape and texture I 'embossed' them using my Simply Scored tool, with the flowers rested on my Piercing Mat.

Sooo - What do you think? Likey Lighty, no Likey no Lighty!  I was able to give the leaves some definition... I like that a lot!

I may not have a chance to post tomorrow with all my household chores I might not get time to craft tonight, either way, pop back and check - and have a great weekend!

Pxx

Lime & Black

I was going to post something else today but it can wait until tomorrow. Why? Well I saw the Less is More challenge to use Lime and Black and couldn't resist!

You can visit the challenge page here.

My card used Lucky Limeade and Basic Black... my last challenge entry lacked any 'space', so I hope this meets the brief a little more accurately!

I used the Love & Sympathy stamp set and the two butterfly punches. I used the technique I mentioned the other day of adhering the two butterflies with Tombow and running them through the Big Shot.

Well back tomorrow - Thank goodness it's the weekend!

Pxx

CAS Colours and Sketches #20

Here is my card for this weeks challenge, Hopefully it will give you a little inspiration to come along and join us at CAS Colours and Sketches this week.

My base card is So Saffron and I stamped the Flowering Flourishes with Lucky Limeade. The purple is Perfect Plum and the flowers were punched using my Boho Blossoms and Itty Bitty Shapes punches.

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments and punched using the Word Window, mounted on the Modern Label.

Off to Agility Training tonight as there is no training next week.

I'll be back tomorrow though with another challenge entry hopefully!

See you then!

Pxx

Peek a boo owl...

Can you believe it's Wednesday already? I'm already looking forward to the weekend though. I need to get the house spick and span as I am off away in the camper for the last time ever next Friday. She goes to her new home the following weekend so I'll need to get her completely cleared out and ready to go too. It'll be a sad day and I may shed some tears!

Today's card was a bit of an experiment... I would really appreciate your comments! I cut the card base so I could fold back the card and stick on the owl... I used the Ovals Collection Framelits, Cored'inations Card stock and the Woodgrain Embossing Folder.

How cute are those owls?

Well I'll be back tomorrow with some inspiration for the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge this week.

Pxx

Secret Garden and Dry Embossed Butterfly

I saw 3 butterflies flying around in the sunshine on Saturday, so I was inspired with the (finally) spring like weather to make something really bright.

I used Summer Starfruit card stock for the base, repeatedly stamping the flower from Secret Garden... you get the different tones by not re-inking after each stamp. The sentiment is Beautiful Birthday, a single stamp so really affordable if you are on a budget.

Finally I added the little butterfly...

How did you make that I hear you ask (or not!) - well I punched the Elegant Butterfly out of Raspberry Ripple, then a Bitty Butterfly out of Primrose Petals. I then used Tombow to stick them together. Once stuck I put the butterfly in the Delicate Designs embossing folder and ran it through the Big Shot. Gorgeous isn't it!

That's it from me for today. I'm off to work then watching Holby tonight! LOL - my little vice.

Come back tomorrow... I'm having a play with owls!

Pxx

Double Challenge Entry

I have so many lovely cards to share with you this week, that apart from my CAS Design Team entry for Thursday, this may be my only challenge card this week.

I have combined challenges from Freshly Made Sketches and Pals Paper Arts...

 I used the Marina Mist as the base card, used the Stippled Blossoms Stamp Set for the flower and leaves, fussy cutting the flower and mounting it with a dimensional. The stamp set is a 2 part set, so you stamp the base colour first and use the Stamp-a-majig to overlay the darker colour. As there was only one green in the colour challenge I stamped the base once on scrap - so I had a fainter image to over stamp... then I used the Certainly Celery ribbon. The sentiment was a Sale-a-Bration set. Although it is no longer available, it isn't officially retired until next year.

 I hope you like today's card and will join me tomorrow for something really simple that I created with my favourite products...

Pxxx

Promises Kept...

Well I'm typing this on Saturday as I will be out on Sunday - Taking my amazing Grandmother out for a meal for her 90th birthday! Bless her. I hope she's still with us for a few years!

Here is the other Stepper card I promised... hopefully yesterdays news has sunk in! This card is made with one of the retiring colours. Bravo Burgundy.

The stamp sets are Curly Cute and Flowering Flourishes and those cute little flowers are made with the Floral Fusion Sizzlits.

I decided to keep it simple and just heat emboss the Flowering Flourishes with clear embossing powder... I just love the way they turned out!

Hopefully you are enjoying the weekend and thinking about all the purchases you need to make! Remember - wherever you are I can take your order and Stampin' Up! will deliver direct for just £4.95.

Why not get in touch and book a party... we'll make one of these fabulous cards!

Pxxx

How Refreshing!

Today the sun is shining, I am still smiling after a lovely evening out with some fabulous friends, the washing is on the line and although I wanted to share a beautiful card with you today I am sharing some exciting news with you instead!

We have had a few hints that Stampin' Up! were planning to refresh the colour families in the new catalogue in July... and it has been confirmed. Although we say a sad goodbye to some old favourites... it is a BIG "Hello" to the permanent addition of some of the In-Colours to the colour families and some shiny new colours too!

Here are the details of what is changing!

So - if any of your favourites will be leaving us, remember to order them now... Once the current stocks are depleted, Stampin' Up! will not be manufacturing any more. That includes Ink Pads, Re-Inkers, Card Stock, Ribbon, Brads etc.

I'm so excited I really can't believe I'll have to wait for the new catalogue in July to get the fabby new colours!!!!!!

The next bit of great news is that if you missed the opportunity to claim your free Petite Curly Label Punch during Sale-a-Bration... you can buy it now for just £11.50.

Well I think that's just about enough excitement for one day! So I'll post that gorgeous stepper card tomorrow... You'll just have to pop back then to see it!

Have a great day and a relaxing and crafty weekend!

Pxx

Birthdays and Anniversaries!

We have a busy few days as not only is it our TENTH (and he hasn't killed me yet) anniversary today, it is also my Grandmothers 90th birthday on Monday so we are off out for a meal on Sunday.

I have lots of pics to show you today as I have been playing with the Stepper style of card. I am entering one for the Less is More  challenge this week which is to use scallops... I am hoping the card isn't too fussy!

What the heck - I love it and really enjoyed making it!

I have used 3 sizes of scallop circle punch, 3 sizes of circle punch, the scallop oval, oval and both butterfly punches... it is a real Punch Fest! The stamp sets are Papillon Potpourri, Flowering Flourishes and Pretty Petites and the papers are from Print Poetry.

Don't you just love it?

The next card is using my old favourite Secret Garden and a sentiment from Bring on the Cake...

If you would like to make a stepper card - then book a party in April and you and your guests can have a 'play'.

Hope to be back tomorrow with another of these cards... in a slightly different design! Want to know what I have planned??? Come back and see!

Have a fab weekend!

Paula xx

CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge

Today's challenge is a colour challenge. I made a really simple card using Mixed Bunch and Bring on the Cake stamp sets.

Here is the card -

And here are the colours -

Remember you don't have to use Stampin' Up! colours if you don't have them. We just like to see clean and simple cards made using a similar colour scheme.

Pop over to the challenge blog here and join in!

Hope to be back tomorrow with something else for you!

Pxxx

Something Simple

Yesterday I made a really simple card using one of my Stampin' Wheel Stamps.

I used Lucky Limeade to ink my Bella Boutique wheel, ran it along one side of my card, I cut a single flower from the Flower Trim available from the Stampin' Up! Spring/Summer mini catalogue. I dabbed the flower on my Calypso Coral stamp pad and used one of the Curly Cute sentiments.

The tiny leaves were made by punching a circle from card stock, sticking it on a Post-It note and re-punching to create the ovals.

A really quick and simple card, I hope you like it!

Don't forget tomorrow is the day for the new challenge on CAS Colours and Sketches so I hope you'll join us this week!

Paula xxx

Well earned day off!

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter. I am getting the weekends washing done today and doing the chores I usually get done over the weekend.

I took Blaze my Border Collie to an Agility Show this weekend. It was run by the lovely Bretford Agility Club, held at Solihull Riding Club. Due to the awful weather this year the show was held in the covered arenas so it wasn't as cold as it could have been though it was a lot colder there than down here in Buckinghamshire.

Due to the fact there were still several inches of lying snow the hardy amongst us who were still daft enough to camp were set up in the car park. To indicate how cold it was the dogs water froze INSIDE my camper! Needless to say it was nice to get home yesterday and have a hot bath!

Today I'm sharing a card I made using a Window Sheet. I stamped the Secret Garden image using Staz On and then mounted it between the white card base and red border cut using my Ovals Collection Framelits. I then added two flowers stamped on Real Red.

I have left it blank so I can add a sentiment... not sure what I'm going to use the card for yet so I'll hold off until the occasion presents itself.

I'm off to do a little trawl of the challenge blogs now to see if I can find some more inspiration to share.

Have a fabulous short (whoohoo) week and hopefully I'll be back tomorrow!

Pxxx