And they're off... to Stampin' Up! On-Stage Live!

I am so excited - the first ever On-Stage Live event in Belgium!

I'm off in the morning to Heathrow leaving hubby at home alone (what mess will I come home to?)!

I'll take lots of piccies but may not be able to share straight away as we're getting lots of sneak peeks for the new seasonal catalogue! I'll also eat lots of chocolate!

Here's a little experiment, I like to try things I've seen elsewhere -

This is the lattice effect using the Chevron Punch

It's a Gate Fold card and I decorated the inside and the envelope too using Flower Shop and Kinda Eclectic.

Well I'm off to pack now! See you in a week!

P xxx

Butterfly Thinlits - Stampin' Up!

I know - I should have posted yesterday but I've been feeling a bit 'off'... I actually fell asleep in the studio making a card yesterday! So I had an early night.

I've been getting a few commissions lately - not that I'm seeking them out but people keep coming to find me. This was for a colleague at work for her mother.

Lovely isn't it? I love the Butterfly Thinlits, I've used 3 punches for the flowers, Petite Petals, Pansy and Fun Flower with the co-ordinating Petite Petals, Flower Shop and Beautiful Bunch stamp sets. Lots of pearls, the Heart Border punch and the Deco Labels Framelits.

You don't need lots of equipment to make fabulous cards and I'll be posting some simple cards that are stunning. Here I even decorated the envelope!

Hubby is out at band practice so I'm off for a sneaky craft now! Back soon! xxx

Celebrating Flowers with Stampin' Up!

I seem to apologise a lot for not posting... I have been so busy!

Firstly the County Council have tried to sneak in permit parking under the radar, although it won't directly affect me, I have been campaigning against it... it has been poorly thought out and I felt I needed to add my voice... and have been attending meetings round my classes.

Secondly, I went to my first craft show, in Esher, at the weekend! It was awesome! The trouble is I'm a sucker for trying new things! So as well as the paper cutting I was introduced to last week, I am now dabbling in Encaustic Art. (Painting with wax.) I'll show you some examples soon!

Thirdly I am getting ready for my birthday on Friday and our family holiday on Sunday.

Last night I had a class and had a 2 week old baby along - I do believe in starting them young and little Olivia was a treasure!

I also gave one of my customers her birthday and wedding anniversary cards!

This was the anniversary card.

I used Petite Petals, Flower Shop, Beautiful Bunch and the Bold Butterfly Framelits.

I think she liked it and I loved the sentiment from Cottage Greetings.

Well I'm off to bed. That's the trouble with starting work at 6:30am... I need my sleep!

Back soon!

Paula xxx

All White Again

Some time ago I designed and blogged a couple of cards that were 'all white'. The new studio has given me loads of inspiration and so I have 3 cards on the same theme.

I'm just posting one tonight - but it is one I absolutely adore, I have a few weddings going on at the moment so this is for one.

It's predominantly white on white with accents of Sahara Sand and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter, I used the Deco Labels framelits and sentiment from the Tin of Cards stamp set.

Butterfly from Bold Butterfly framelits,

The leaves were from the Bird Builder punch, flowers punched using the Fun Flower, Pansy and Petite Petals punches. The stamp sets were Beautiful Bunch, Flower Shop and Petite Petals.

 I'll not be around tomorrow as I have a class - though I might get to share this on Facebook!

Have a great Friday... and weekend!

One of those moments...

I woke up this morning to overcast skies and drizzle... but I don't know if it happens to you but I often wake in the night with ideas for cards.

Last week I had a few of those, and for many years now I have kept a pad and pen by the bed as there's nothing more frustrating that getting up in the morning having forgotten what it was you had thought of in the night!

This is one of the outcomes and I'll be sharing more in the next few days - each with a video tutorial.

I call it the Arcing Slider Card... see how the butterfly flies up the card? Simply done with the Circles Collection Framelits.

How cute is that? The flowers are stamped using Flower Shop cut out with the matching Pansy punch, the butterfly is from Papillon Pot Pourri, cut with the Elegant Butterfly punch.

Both styles of leaves are cut using the Bird Builder punch. All the supplies are Stampin' Up! and available from my on-line shop.

Here is the video for you if you would like to have a go yourself. Have fun and I'll be back later with another post... The next card I'll be showing features owls...

Year End... Flower Shop

Year end in the Finance world is a busy time, so I haven't posted for a few days. I've had lots of classes recently and will post some pictures of what we've made, or will be making...

Starting with the cards we're making in Thame on Monday!

This is a Spinner Card... as you tilt the card the flower spins and 'rolls' along the little window.

It's so clever I just LOVE these cards and will share some more with you... I promise!

All our cards on Monday use the Flower Shop set and the ladies will be able to choose one of four sentiments... I use Thank You as I get through a lot of thank you cards as I send them to my customers when they place an order.

For these cards I have used the 2013-15 In colours that will be retiring shortly - so if you LOVE these pastel shades as much as I do, order them, and re-inkers, now as they won't be available after May.

Lastly, and only if we have time, we'll also make this simple card, this uses the Gorgeous Grunge set too...

So that's all for today. I will be back soon!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Paula xxx

Are we nearly there yet?

Oh yes we are! I am so excited that the days are getting longer and it will be light in the evenings again!

Please excuse me if I ramble on a bit but I made a spaghetti bolognese this evening and there was a bottle of red wine in the cupboard... and, well, it would have been rude not to!

I wanted to share the cards we made in our March classes. The last class of the month is tomorrow. But I do have spaces available in April and have four spaces available for the class in The Swan Hotel, Thame on the 13th of April at 7pm... so book now to save your space!

These were the cards we made this month...

This one used Gorgeous Grunge and Flower Shop with the Pansy Punch

In addition we used Petite Petals with the co-ordinating punch on this one.

The background on this one is Something Lacy and the sentiment from Petite Pairs

The sponging on these flowers is so effective! And the leaves were made using the Bird Builder punch

I'm off to make some thank you cards now for this months orders... Have a great week!

Paula xxx

Beautiful Bokeh

The Bokeh effect on yesterdays cards was quite subtle on the pastels... so I wanted to see how it was on some darker shades... Oh My! I promised you something beautiful...

What do you think of this? I am so pleased with it and feeling all inspired!

I used Perfect Plum and Marina Mist. The stamp sets were Petite Petals, Flower Shop, Papillon Potpourri and Crazy About You. 

I just adore it and the picture doesn't really do it justice.

Check out yesterdays blog post for the video tutorial for this technique.

I'm looking to expand my team of demonstrators, so if you think you might be interested. Send me an e-mail! mailme@paulaknall.co.uk It costs you just £99 for £130 of product PLUS during Saleabration (just 1 month to go) you get to choose a kit from the Spring/Summer catalogue or 2 Saleabration items.

A Thing of Beauty

First I have a confession! I CASE'd the flower 'design' using the 3 layers from another Demo... I did warn her I would forget who... so she replied to me on Facebook and I kept the notification in my Inbox so I would remember...

... Yeah, Right! I must have deleted it! So if you are that demo - add a message so I can give you credit!

So on to the good stuff - here is the card...

Don't the Pink Pirouette and Crumb Cake make a nice combination?

I used 3 stamp sets with coordinating punches and the Pink Pirouette Blendabilities to make the flower. The new Petal Potpourri stamps and Flower Medallion punch, the Flower Shop stamps and Pansy Punch and the Petite Petals stamps and punch.

I added a Candy Dot to the middle. The sentiment is unfortunately retired and the feathers are from Four Feathers and cut out with the corresponding framelits then the floral element is accented with a little Seam Binding.

Hope you're having a good weekend! We had snow here briefly this morning... but it's gone now.

Paula xxx

Flower Shop Wood

£21.95

Flower Shop Clear

£17.95

Papillon Potpourri

£16.95

Papillon Potpourri Clear-Mount Stamp Set

£13.95

Petite Petals

£13.95

Petite Petals Clear

£10.95

Pansy Punch

£14.25

Petite Petals Punch

£11.50

Bitty Butterfly Punch

£14.25

Petal Potpourri Wood Stamp Set

£24.95

Petal Potpourri Clear Stamp Set

£17.95

Petal Potpourri Wood Bundle

£34.25

Petal Potpourri Clear Stamp Set

£17.95

Flower Medallion Punch

£15.50

Four Feathers Wood-Mount Stamp Set

£12.95

Four Feathers Clear-Mount Stamp Set

£9.95

Feathers Framelits Dies

£11.95

Ovals Collection Framelits Dies

£22.95

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