Less is More Challenge

I hope you have recovered from yesterdays excitement! My diary is ready and waiting for you to book your parties.

I sometimes suffer with insomnia and despite all the exercise yesterday I only slept for about 40 minutes last night! I walked another 6 miles today so hopefully come bedtime I'll sleep... If anyone has any tips I would really appreciate them. My general 'sleep hygiene' is good - No TV in the bedroom, chilling before bed, even tried staying up until I was ready to drop and that didn't work...

Anyway - I promised you another challenge entry and this is for Less Is More's sketch challenge.

I like to think outside the box a bit - so rather than put a stamp in a shape.... I decided the stamp design would completely replace the circle - mainly because I have this gorgeous stamp - Love and Joy and want to use it all the time!

What I did was to stamp the image in Versamark, then pour on Heat and Stick powder, shook off the excess and heated it, I then poured on the new gold Stampin' Glitter, shook off the excess and Voila - re-heated and set.

The little sentiment is from Petite Pairs and cut using the Bitty Banner Framelits.

Hope you like it - have a good evening and I'll be back soon!

Pxx

They've done it again!

Firstly let me apologise for being out of breath! I have just walked 7 miles along The Ridgeway with the dogs, from my home in Princes Risborough all the way to Wendover... 8 miles in total in just 2 hours.

Surprisingly the dogs are sleeping! I wanted to do the walk whilst it wasn't too hot and whilst the ground was still hard and not a load of churned up mud!

It was a beautiful walk and I loved it - but I am a little tired now!

Today Stampin' Up! have given me 3 yes THREE things to announce - so first things first...

From the 7th to the 21st of October ONLY as a one off special deal you can join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator for just £25... however you only get to choose £25 worth of goods for your starter kit - BUT you still get a whopping 30% off your first order over £150 in the first 45 days. So this means the £75 you save on the starter kit can go towards the £150 order.

You still get the full complement of business supplies, including order forms and catalogues... if you are unsure then call me and I can discuss the options with you...

Secondly...

Yup for all qualifying orders or parties of £250... rather than 'just' £40 worth of freebies you will get an extra £25 to spend! Yup £65 FREE pounds to spend on absolutely anything you want!!!!!!!!! How awesome is that? SO get in touch NOW to book your October parties - alternatively this month is the month to blow the budget and treat yourself to the things on your wishlist - let's face it - that £65 worth of freebies equates to nearly a whopping 20% discount!

That still counts for On-Line orders - just go to my on line shop and spend... you will be prompted to redeem your rewards - that is your free spend - so don't forget to do it - just make sure my name is displayed when you are placing your order - or get in touch and I can load the order for you.

Finally - and there is more!

The October 'Best of' set... It's the Best of Sale-a-bration.

That's all from me for today - I have a challenge entry for tomorrow - in the meantime I'm retiring to watch Holby with a large glass of something rich, red and fruity!

Pxxx

Double Challenge Entry

Now I'm back in the crafting swing of things, I thought I would enter a few challenges again. Today's card is for 2 challenges, Dynamic Duo's #72 Here and CAS Colours and Sketches blog Here.

It's a really simple take on the CAS sketch using the Dynamic Duo of Blushing Bride and Primrose Petals.

The sentiment is from Blooming with Kindness, the card stock was cut using the Large Scallop edgelit and embossed with the Delicate Designs embossing folder.

As you can see I dressed it up with a few little pearls.

Pop back soon for another challenge entry.

Paula x

Simply CASEd

Most Crafters will recognise the phrase to CASE - it means to Copy And Share Everything. For me, I would be so proud if someone CASEd something of mine!

Today's post is a card I made using inspiration from a German Stampin' Up! Demo, Jenni Paulie.

The Dutch and German Demo's had an event last week to get together similar to the UK ones, and one of our lovely Dutch Pinkies posted a picture of the swap she received from Jenni, I loved it but it is a style I've never mastered - each time I try it ends up looking like the contents of my scraps box.

Jenni's swap though inspired this card, and I am really pleased with it!

I used a Crumb Cake base, a Perfect Plum mat, a layer of DSP from the Season of Style Paper Stack, I added a doily and then on top a punched circle from Perfect Plum card stock embossed with the Chevron embossing folder.

I wrapped a few turns of Bakers Twine around, then tied a short length of Linen Thread and placed it on top, punched out some chevrons with the Chevron Punch, Stamped a design from Label Love using Perfect Plum and punched it out using the Artisan Label, you'll see there is a Crumb Cake label behind that I punched, cut in half and offset at each end. The Congratulations Sentiment is from Love and Laughter and cut out using the Bitty Banners framelits. Curled slightly with my bone folder.

I added a few little pearls and love the result! I would love to hear what you think and hope you'll pop back soon!

Paula xxx

I'm Home!

Hi folks, although it is lovely to be home with the animals and my crafting I will really miss Agistri and the lovely friends we have there.

I checked with the owner of the hotel who was happy for me to put some of my cards attached to little bookmarks I had made, in the hotel Library... I am so happy to say they were a huge hit and I got some blog views whilst I was there - So I hope those people will continue to follow me!

Remember you can shop from my on-line store by following the link to my Stampin' Up! website on the right where it says, 'Shop Now'.

Whilst I was away Stampin' Up! made two fantastic announcements. Firstly that a new set of Single Stamps is now available featuring Christmas stamps.

You can buy these from my On-Line shop or from me direct.

Also... and this is the MOST amazing thing! Stampin' Up! have set up a UK Clearance Rack... they are selling off, brand new, retired items at up to 80% discount! Once it is gone it's gone - so it is better to buy from my On-Line store to get real time stock.

Items are added on a regular basis so keep checking back to see if there is anything new you must have and take advantage of the great deals!

Now I am mega excited to be off to the Stampin' Up! creative tour this afternoon, and as you can imagine I have loads to do having been away, so I'll leave you with those two fab announcements and will be back soon!

I'll have some holiday pics to show you too at some point!

P xxx

Candle Box Video Tutorial with Chalk Talk

Today's is the last of my scheduled posts, as I get back from Greece tomorrow. Hopefully it hasn't rained on me for the whole week or I'll be in a foul mood!

Wednesday evening I'm off to Wokingham for the Stampin' Up! Creative Tour - it's the first year they have held this event so I am really excited to find out what is going to happen! Stampin' Up! really organise some fantastic events, unfortunately this time I haven't had a chance to make any swaps so it will be interesting to see what everyone has made - hopefully some people will let me photograph their swaps as I won't be bringing any home. If you would like to join my team - please get in touch and I can explain everything to you. You get £130 worth of product for just £99! And never have to sell a thing if you don't want to. Just use your Demo status to get great discounts and to attend the Stampin' Up! events and Michelle Last's amazing Pinkie training.

Anyhow, here is a lovely little box I made for some tealight candles. You'll notice I stamped the Window Sheet with Stazon - I think it's beautiful! As is that Chalk Talk stamp set with co-ordinating framelits.

Finally the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding makes beautiful bows!

Well without further ado - here is the video - Enjoy watching and hopefully I'll get a chance to update you later in the week!

Blooming With Kindness

Here is my second Scheduled post to keep you entertained whilst I'm sunning myself on a remote Greek Island!

This is a 3 card example of different colourways of a Thank You card I made using Blooming With Kindness.

Again - they are simple cards, so you don't need any special tools. Don't forget you can order On-Line wherever I am in the world as Stampin' Up! distribute directly to you!

I'm not sure if I've posted this one before - but I used the masking technique to partially stamp the same stamp set on this card...

And finally - whilst I'm focusing on this set, here is something a little more complex, though dead simple to make.

The bottom of the card was trimmed off using the Large Scallop Framelit and my Big Shot, a further piece of cardstock was cut with the same framelit then embossed using the Big Shot and the Delicate Designs embossing folder. I added the Pink Pirouette Taffeta ribbon, then stamped the flower on an offcut of card stock, added the sentiment and punched it out using the Large Oval Punch.

I hope you are inspired by what I have shown you today, don't forget if you have any question on using any products or would like to see a demonstration, just let me know and I'll help as soon as I can.