Stampin' Up! Christmas Monday

I cannot believe how busy I am... and it's nearly October! Not long until Stampin' Up! On-Stage Live... the very first time ever! So if you want to come along you may want to join my team now as you only have 17 days before registration closes!

My classes are super busy - which is amazing as I have lots of lovely new lades! I went to my very first crop at the weekend with the Wycombe Scrappers - a lovely group of ladies - I just have to find time to go again! I did make a good start on my convention swaps!

So today it's just a quicky... and to let you know the Pinkies are doing another Blog Hop at the weekend so don't miss that!

This was something I tried out when I was designing for this months' classes.

Kinda cute - but what's so great I hear you ask!

These cuties - that's what!!!!!!!!! Can you see what it is yet?

 Yup - it's a Pop-Up card! If you would like a tutorial - leave a comment below and I'll try and record one to post next week!

It's the Snow Place stamp set and Snow Friends framelits!

It's getting late and I've been out all evening - so back soon and have a fabulous week!

Paula xxx

Thank You Gift

My poor dog was injured earlier in the year and has been having Hydrotherapy from the most lovely compassionate, gentle lady. So I wanted to say Thank You.

I made her a little gift and matching card.

It is a little box (that I made) containing some scented Tealights, I used Chalk Talk for the label and the Itty Bitty Accents flower punch. The leaves were from the Bird Punch. I love the Organza ribbon too - it's such a useful size!

The card was made using the Swallowtail butterfly, sentiment from Sassy Salutations, Apothecary Accents dies and flowers punched from Something to Say, Petite Petals and Flower Shop using the coordinating punches.

As well as a couple of Rhinestones I also added Dazzling Diamonds to one of the flowers... I do love that stuff!

Well tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I am heading to the airport for this years Stampin' Up! Convention in Brussels. There will be 700 of us all mingling, swapping, crafting and seeing new products and techniques. It's so exciting!

Tomorrow here I'll be sharing the Pillow Gift I have made for my room mate, this is a Stampin' Up! tradition, Friday I'll be sharing my swaps that are just for other members of the Pinkies (Over 70 of us will be there!) and on Saturday I'll be sharing the 'General' swaps I made.

The idea of swapping is to give and receive small items made with current products that you can use as inspiration or to share as samples with your customers. I'm sure I'll be sharing some of those next week! xxx

Pinkie Swaps for Convention

By the time you read this I will be waiting for my train to Manchester!

Yup the day has finally arrived and I am so excited! Nearly 1000 Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from across Europe will be coming together for this amazing event. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share next week!

Tonight at about 9pm after the early registration and Silver Reception, the Pinkies are meeting up. We're going to do some swapping and just really say Hi to each other.

I wanted to make exclusive Pinkie swaps but couldn't really think of what to make until a friend bought me a bag of 'Lifesavers' back from the US - for those of you who don't know they are fruit flavoured and about the same size as Polo's.

Well I figured, what could be more appropriate for Convention Goers than some Lifesavers? If nothing else it's something to suck whilst watching presentations.

I used the Labels Collection Framelits to make toppers for the bags and added Butterflies from Papillon PotPourri - punched with the Elegant Butterfly, and Flowers from Flower Shop, punched out with the Pansy Punch.

I hope my fellow Pinkies enjoy them!

Back soon with my other Convention Swap!

xxx

In the Pink

You know it is great being a Pink Lady - Michelle Last is a wonderful, inspirational up-line and at the training yesterday she really opened my eyes to something.

I have been feeling a little anxious lately that I am not recording the same achievements as some of the other Pinkies. But Michelle pointed out - I work full time, I have my pets and my husband and should be proud of my achievements. Whether people are Hobby Demo's just joining to purchase for themselves, or whether they want to run Stampin' Up! as a business, they are still loved and appreciated for themselves. So I can take a bit of the pressure off now - I don't HAVE to blog every day, just enjoy my crafting.

I will of course continue to run classes and parties, I shall support my down-line and participate in all the great, sociable, exciting events. I have just removed the pressure from myself that I had inflicted, to post every day, constantly advertise my 'business' and expecting record breaking sales.

Anyway - now I have got that off my chest I can chill and enjoy playing with my stash and sharing my creations. These are the swaps I made for our quarterly training - there were 30 of us there yesterday plus Michelle. We had a business talk, ate WAY too much cake and pastries, crafted, chatted and had a wonderful day.

 

 

I used Whisper White card stock, stamped the Flowering Flourish with Pistachio Pudding, then stamped lots of different coloured flowers in all the designs from the Flower Shop set, punching them out with the co-ordinating Pansy Punch.



 

 

You can see how the flourish goes to the back as well.







 

 

 

 

And inside was either a little sewing kit or a 'vanity pack'.

 

So simple but effective. I'll be back soon - so keep checking in!

 

 

Pxxxx

 

 

 

NEW Spring/Summer Mini catalogue! Stampin' Up!

Well - it's that time of year! The new Spring/Summer Mini is available tomorrow. You won't believe the gorgeous products available!

UPDATE- Stampin' Up! have added the new catalogue to their website so you can now view it via the link on the right hand side of this page!

I have been stroking the catalogue for some time now - though I have been very strong and only bought a small selection of products.

The Pinkies had a product share arranged by the lovely Nicky at Dexterous Designs so I do have lots of bits and pieces to play with.

We will also be holding a Blog Hop on the 9th of Febuary, showcasing lots of the new products. Unfortunately we are forbidden under threat of torture (well not really - but I do like a bit of drama!) from showing you the catalogue until the day of release. So I will put a link up tomorrow as soon as I get home from work.

In the mean time here is a little teaser of some of the products you'll see!

 



Did you spot that gorgeous ribbon? Mmmm just wonderful to work with! Available in two colour ways, you'll find it on page 13 of the catalogue!



 

 

Stampin' Up! have 7, yes SEVEN wonderful bundles in this catalogue, designed to co-ordinate and save you money. This card uses the Secret Garden Bundle on page 17. No more cutting out those fiddly but gorgeous flowers to embellish your projects, just whizz them through the Big Shot!

I really must get and do some more creating! Though at the moment I am just loving the challenges!

I will put a link to the catalogue on my sidebar when I get home from work tomorrow, but I won't have time to Blog as I am doing a party for 14 wonderful ladies!

Pxx

Pinkies Training

The great thing about joining Stampin' Up! as a Demonstrator is the social aspect.

22 Pinkies have just returned from the Annual European Stampin' Up! Convention in Mainz in Germany. 850 demonstrators from France, Germany and the UK got together to craft and share business ideas as well as some of the highest achievers being recognised during the awards ceremony.

Next year I will be attending too as it will be held in Manchester! Hopefully all the new Dutch and Austrian Demo's will come along too!

Well a few of us Pinkies also got together for our monthly training with the lovely Michelle Last and I thought I would share the creations we made.

The first is a really simple card that was demoed in Germany...

This is a great way of using up little scraps of Designer Series Paper and uses the Pennant Punch, Tiny Tag Punch, Small Oval and the star from the Merry Minis set in the Autumn Winter Catalogue.

Isn't it effective?

 

 



 The second project was this lovely little box - Ideal for small christmas gifts like Jewellery - And it took 10 minutes to make!

 



  Perhaps you would like to make something? If you haven't crafted before then Stampin' Up! products make it easy to co-ordinate. I can come to your house and do a demo for you and your friends and you will all get to make the project to keep.

Paula xxx

Bad Blogger!

I have failed - I'm so sorry!

I had all good intentions to take my camera and get lots of fantastic photo's at the Pinkies' Training on Sunday. Unfortunately my organisational skills didn't extend to remembering to put a memory card in the camera!

To make up for it I am showing you the most fantastic 'Make and Take' that we were able to make.

Now I am not the fastest crafter in the world so I completed it last night so I could show you all!

 

It is a stunning notecard holder with 4 notecards - Isn't it just beautiful!?

 

Here are the notecards to go inside...

 

 



 The design uses just one Stampset. Kindness Matters... Can you believe it is only £8.95 for the clear set! The colours are Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla and Whisper White.

There are a number of different Edgelits, Framelits and Embossing folders - I hope you agree it is a truly stunning set and would make a great gift!

The Paper used to make the folders is almost card stock thickness and is the Natural Composition Speciality Designer Series Paper. Not something I have really taken much notice of before but this little project highlighted it's versatility - I LOVE it!

Thank you to the lovely Nicky Dexter and Michelle Last who came up with this Make and Take - Very Happy!

Back soon so keep your eyes peeled for the next project I will be showing you - I can assure you it is something completely different!

Paula xxx





Pinkie Swaps

So - today I have scheduled this post as I am in Bicester having a fabulous time with my fellow Pinkies!

We will be playing with all the NEW Stampin' Up! products. Learning New Techniques, eating, drinking and having a great time!

As I promised here are pictures of the Swaps I created... I hope my fellow Pinkies like them.

I used You are Loved, Mixed Bunch, Need for Speed, The Open Sea and Stazon Ink to stamp on Shrink plastic and made these fun keyrings!

Just in case anyone didn't 'like' them I also made some edible swaps as they ALWAYS go down well!

Yup - Mint Crisps decorated using the Ornament Keepsake Bundle, What a fun idea for the Christmas Tree!!!

I'll hopefully be able to post some pictures from training tomorrow. Don't forget - if you would like to be part of this great team you can use the link above to contact me or become a Demonstrator.

Paula xxx