Monday 31 March 2014

Last Hurrah!

All good things must come to an end... and Saleabration is no exception.

Today is the last chance you have to join my team for £99 and get £150 worth of stuff instead of the usual £130

Today is the last chance to make a qualifying spend of a multiple of £45 to earn FREE products

Today is the last chance to earn an extra £25 worth of Freebies with a qualifying order!

So if you have a last minute panic and want to take advantage of any of these offers you have until 23.00hrs BST to place your order/join. Remember you can order online, completely securely, using the link on the right hand side.

I have loved the selection of products available for this years Saleabration, much more than the last two years actually! And I'll be totally honest and admit I would love for many more than the two items indicated, to go in the main catalogue. In fact... there's no way I can guarantee not to post more projects made with the items, which bodes well if you earned some of the products and would still like inspiration!

So I'm posting the last of the items I have made so far... just as a 'So Long' - not a 'Goodbye'!


Saleabration Stamp Set - See Ya Later



Saleabration Stamp Set - You're Lovely


Saleabration Stamp Set - You're Lovely

I don't know what amazing ideas Stampin' Up! will come up with for the new catalogue in July... the Autumn/Winter Seasonal or next years Saleabration. In the meantime I'm going to make the most of that Spring/Summer Seasonal, before the time disappears, and with it, the catalogue.

Keep crafting!

P xxx 

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Friendships

As a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator you forge some wonderful friendships and meet wonderful, like minded individuals.

I had an e-mail from a customer the other day to say she wouldn't be able to buy any more as she is very poorly and not going to recover.

I was moved to tears that she had felt she ought to explain why she hadn't placed an order - when, as far as I am concerned her health was more important... but it just goes to show how deep loyalty and friendship can be.

Her favourite thing is owls so I sent her a little card to hopefully make her smile.


The Owl Builder punch was one of the very first items I ever bought... and the Hardwood stamp and Perfect Pennant bundle are two of my most recent. It felt fitting to combine them in tribute to this brave and loyal lady!


A little sponging on the pennant gives it a rustic look to go with the Hardwood stamp.


You can just see the sheen of the black embossing powder here.

Please all say a little prayer for her. I will be thinking of her!

Paula xxx


Monday 24 March 2014

Now for something completely different!

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone for their lovely comments about my little bit of Topiary yesterday.

I promised I would share something else today and it highlights how flexible the Spiral Flower die really is!

My niece has a birthday coming up and I wanted to make her something and when I saw little silver Alice Band 'thingy's' (Yes that is a technical term!) I knew exactly what I was going to do... I went on a felt hunt and found some sparkly felt - little girls 'do' pink sparkly!

Here is what I made!




How cute is that? I just tacked the flowers with thread instead of gluing them...


Then sewed them to the band.


Now I'm off to spend the rest of my evening trying to think of something else to make for the next blog post!

Have a fabulous evening and I'll be back soon!

Don't forget there is just one week left of Saleabration so if you want to join and get £150 worth of product for just £99 get in touch. Alternatively if you want to get one of the FREE products place your £45 order now on-line or give me a call.

Paula xxx

Sunday 23 March 2014

Floral Home Decor

This weekend I have had a love affair with my Spiral Flower Die... I admit, when I started I had no idea how this would turn out... and now? I am so in love with this project and I have something completely different to show you tomorrow that involves sewing.

But for now this is what I made...


I coloured the dowel by simply rolling it on my Gumball Green ink pad!

The roses are made using Crushed Curry card stock and sponged on the edges with Tangerine Tango on a Sponge Dauber.


The butterflies are from Papillon Pot Pourri, I stamped them in Soft Suede and then coloured them using Blushing Bride and a Blender Pen. They were punched out with the Elegant Butterfly punch.


I hope you love this project as much as I do!

Back tomorrow with something completely different!

Pxxx

Saturday 22 March 2014

April Card Class

The sun is still shining and I have spent the morning planning the next card class!

I have been asked to focus on Gorgeous Grunge and we'll be using the In-Colour ink and card stock set.

You can come either - Friday 11th or Wednesday 16th of April @ 7pm


Venue -  Will be in Princes Risborough and will depend on numbers

Cost - £55.50 to include the wood mount stamp set and In-Colour card and ink set (£51.50 for Clear Mount or £33.55 without the stamp set - but you will not be eligible for the Free item unless you add something else to the value of £22 minimum)











Book before 6pm on Friday 28th March to choose a 
FREE Sale-a-bration item


You will need to bring a trimmer (if you have one) scissors, adhesive and a sentiment set. Alternatively you can buy the Sassy Salutation stamp set for £20.95 (Wood) or £16.95 (Clear) and Tombow Adhesive for £3.25, snail and refill for £9.25.



Payment is required at the time of booking. Final date to book is Weds 2nd April at 8pm.

Call 07786 860438 or e-mail mailme@paulaknall.co.uk


Wednesday 19 March 2014

Sliding Easter Treat Box - Video Tutorial

The trouble with me is I like to try and be unique... there are so many Demo's posting the most amazing videos and I hope this is something you haven't seen before. The measurements are all Metric I am afraid as they are quite specific it would be really hard to do them in Imperial... But basically as the little eggs vary in size from retailer to retailer - you would be better off 'tweaking' them yourself...

I started off by creating the egg holder then designing the rest of the box around it - if that helps.

So here is what I am talking about.


And you can decorate them however you want!


It's super simple! All you really need for the basic box is a trimmer that scores and a half inch circle punch!

Here's the video - I hope you enjoy it and please add links to your blog as comments if you make and post one. I love seeing how people adapt the designs.

P xxx


Sunday 16 March 2014

Scallop Tag Topper Spring Box Tutorial

Hello Crafters!

The weather (I know I keep going on about it but I am British and it's what we do! LOL) has been fabulous so I thought I would share a photo of last nights' sunset - How gorgeous is that?


I promised to do a video tutorial for you for today... and I procrastinated again last night so have done it this morning... If I am honest I was too busy oogling Ricky Wilson on the Voice - I have a serious crush on him - he just comes across as such a lovely man. (Sighs)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes video tutorial... here is what I made.


I designed them to hold a little gift I have made for the ladies attending my classes this week - I'll show you the little gifts next week. I just like to make a very little something for each attendee.

Anyhow - here is the video - You'll need a trimmer, scorer, Scallop Tag Topper Punch, Spiral Flower Die, Little Leaves Sizzlits, Sweet Sorbet (or any other) Designer Series Paper, Big Shot and adhesive.

I forgot to mention on the video that the offcut after you cut your 8.25" paper is just the right size to cut out your spiral flower so you can make two of these from each sheet of DSP. I have also given Metric and Imperial measurements.






Saturday 15 March 2014

It's the weekend!

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend! I extended mine by taking half a day holiday from work on Friday... that meant I got all my chores done, giving me the whole weekend to myself.

Today I couldn't get motivated! I did walk the dogs four miles and mow the grass though.

This is a card with one of the Saleabration sets, You're Lovely. I wasn't sure about this set at first but now I love it... I think this card clinched it for me. It's so simple and elegant.

What do you think?


The colour added to the stamped image across the middle was added using my blender pen... as was the colour added to the flowers and leaves. I think the silver glimmer card looks gorgeous as an accent here.


I'm thinking about sending it to my Mum for Mothers Day...

If you would like this stamp set for FREE then place an order for at least £45 and you can select this as your FREE Saleabration item... place an order for £90 and you can select another Saleabration item too! There are no limits on how many items you can have AND if you place an order for £150 you can choose 3 Saleabration items and get £25 to spend FREE.

I'm cooking supper tonight (I don't cook!) so have to go now... but I'll be back tomorrow with a little video tutorial for a little gift bag/box... See you tomorrow!

Paula xxx

Thursday 13 March 2014

Sad Times!

Firstly I cannot believe I haven't posted since Sunday... in honesty I can't believe it is Thursday! Where has the week gone? It may have something to do with the fact I work in finance and it was month end last week and we still had forecasts to submit this week. I think it's more likely that I have been spending so much longer outside in the gorgeous sunshine!

It hasn't been a great week for us, one of my husbands customers sadly passed away and we had to have one of our cats (the older one) put to sleep on Monday.

Ever the practical one I wanted to make a card for Chris' customers' husband and so I made this.


You can't really see from this but the image was stamped in Versamark on Vellum and then I used Black embossing powder.

The background was sponged on the Vellum from behind which you can see better on this photo where the light shines through.


Don't forget you can order all the products to make this card from my on-line shop by clicking on the link on the right hand side bar.

I have a few projects I've been working on and I'm just trying to find the time to shoot a short video!

Roll on the weekend!

Paula xxx

Sunday 9 March 2014

On-Line shopping available!

I don't know about you but I was reluctant to waste a second of the sunshine today so I'm afraid I haven't been crafting... or blogging. I've been outside doing jobs that just haven't been possible with the awful weather the last few months.

For those of you who just like to chill in front of the PC and make spontaneous purchases... without waiting for me to place an order... or having to email or call me... I am re-introducing my on-line store via Stampin' Up! I thought as I will be away a lot of weekends through the summer competing with the dog I ought to give you all an alternative way of ordering!

You can now order from me again 24 hours a day, seven days a week, securely, on-line using your debit or credit card and have your order delivered directly to you!

I stopped my on-line store last year as I didn't feel my customers used it - but with new customers every day I wanted to give you the opportunity to shop your way! So you can still get in touch to order or you can use the 'Shop Now' button on your right... or below, not forgetting I can ship anywhere in the UK!


Fingers crossed we'll have some lovely weather and summer is here early!

Yesterdays Dabble Day was a huge success with lots of ladies trying lots of new crafts - I was really pleased to receive comments like -

"I didn't expect it to be so relaxing"

"It's so much easier than I thought"

"Isn't it therapeutic"

I'll definitely do another!

Here is my table all set up -


And some of the ladies crafting -



I can dream! I'm off to craft now - back soon!

Paula xxx

Friday 7 March 2014

Spiral Flower Spring Wreath

Well I've had my Spiral Flower die for a couple of weeks now and since I saw it in the catalogue I knew what I was going to do with it! Today the weather was gorgeous and really spring like just like this wreath I made yesterday.

This is how I set out the flowers ready to glue on. I'm tempted to do something like this on a mirror...


Here is the finished product.


I think the So Saffron and Calypso Coral look lovely together.


This is much smaller than the wreath in the SU Burlap & Blooms wreath kit... but the Burlap Ribbon is the same and this little project has got me super fired up for the classes over the next couple of weeks!

I also used the Floral Fusions and the Little Leaves Sizzlit Dies. Everything got a hefty dose of sponging to the edges.

I'm off to prep for the craft day now I'm excited but nervous! Hope it all goes well and that you all have a lovely weekend!

Paula xxx

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Crafting Fest!

I am so busy at the moment and loving it - It's not leaving much time for crafting but I am meeting lots of lovely new ladies.

On Saturday I have a taster table at this event...


I will have 6 ladies every hour for 5 hours so am going to be super exhausted!

I wanted cards that looked fabulous but were simple to make. I also didn't want to have to take half of my craft room with me!

These are the 4 cards.





I do hope the ladies like them and you do too!

Paula xxx

Saturday 1 March 2014

More Tulips...

Well - today the sun has shone and what a blessed relief with all the rain we've been having. Mind you despite the sun the footpaths are still a quagmire!

The dogs have been walked, the housework and washing done, the animals cleaned out, hubby is out for the evening so I'm treating myself to an evening of pure crafting! I expect to have some lovely things to show you!

Speaking of lovely things - my love affair with Blessed Easter continues with this little lovely!


I heat embossed the flowers, colouring them with my Blender Pen... cutting the panels with the Squares Framelits, dry embossing the top one with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.



You can see more clearly here how I layered them.



Lastly I heat embossed the sentiment from Simply Sketched - the hostess set and punched it out using the Decorative Label punch before sponging the edges with white craft ink.

I'm really pleased with the result and now I'm off to hide away and craft to my hearts content... interruption free! I'm a little excited too as I'm making my first ever visit to Costco tomorrow... I'm thinking I should leave the credit cards at home!

Enjoy your weekend! xxxx