Caturday kitten... as promised

I'm back, with Caturday, as promised. Had a productive morning; picked up my new satchel, handmade in Derby to my specifications (More Mustard and Elegant Eggplant, more or less) and ordered a bed in the hope of putting an end to back pain misery.

So here's Max and isn't he a cutie? He's a feisty little kitten who isn't afraid to stand up to big bullies like Solo. Max came to the shelter with his mum. Maddie, and they are still there, so if you're interested, just give me a shout!

Online shopping update

Unfortunately, online shopping has been suspended while a few teething troubles are ironed out. I'll keep you posted on that one.

And I'll update with a kitten picture later, when daughter gets up. Letting her have a lie-in as, even though she's on study leave for her GCSEs, she has been in to school every day this week for revision sessions.

Back in a bit!

Criss-cross box template and online shopping

 

I’m here, honest, just finding everything that involves computers very difficult. Just had to reinstall my watermark programme, find my watermark etc… all takes time. In fact, there's a rogue watermark lurking on these pictures which I will have to deal with another time. 

I do have VERY exciting news to share, although I am a couple of days behind other demonstrators. But the great news is that now you can shop with me any time of day or night! No need to worry if I’m at work, in the bath, in bed, or on holiday (I wish!), just visit my online store and click away.

Now I haven’t had chance to test this properly yet, so I would be very interested to hear how it goes. But all you have to do to visit my all-new professional SU website and store, is click the “Shop Now” button on the left. Or here, that should work, too!

Apparently I can set up workshops so you can order as part of a workshop, but I haven’t looked into that yet, so watch this space.

Meanwhile, if you want to place and order, just go for it!

This month’s Virtual Hostess Club order is here and most orders are on their way or have been collected. Here’s a pic of this month’s gift – a little box of orange jelly beans.

I decided to force myself out of my comfort zone and use this season’s hot colour; Calypso Coral. I admit this is not one of my favourites, but it’s cropping up everywhere – and, of course, it’s one of the In Colors which is being saved from extinction and returning as a core colour with the new catalogue in July.

It’s also one of the colours of the Washi Tape you get with the This and That journal, so this was my first foray into using this fab little product. I simply stamped my words, laid a strip of tape underneath – which was easy because I could line it up nicely and reposition if necessary – and then die-cut the shape.

Recognise the flower? Thought not. It’s from a new set which is coming your way in June. I coloured them with a Calypso Coral marker (and blender pen), cut them out (yes, all 10 of them!) and toped them with an extra large rhinestone.

The box. Ah, I knew you’d be asking about that. I have adapted it from one designed by Nichole Heady so that I could make it from A4.

I began by cutting my A4 down to 8” x 11½” and then scored as shown in the image. I stamped just the triangles, using Whisper White on Midnight Muse. I think it goes rather well with Calypso Coral and can feel a U-turn coming on…

Stamps: Best of Flowers, Just Believe

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Whisper White

Paper: Tea Party

Ink: Midnight Muse

Accessories: Apothecary Accents dies, Calypso Coral marker, Blender pen, Epic Day Washi Tape, Large Rhinestones, Medium Cello Bags

Experiencing technical difficulties

Let's start today with a sad story. If you can't be bothered with my whining, skip to the important bit at the end. Otherwise, please indulge me for a few minutes.

Last night, my iMac died. :( I knew it was old and needed upgrading and it was on my "to do" list but you know how it is, I just hadn't got round to it. I even had my external hard drive on my desk ready to back up, but was busy deleting unused files in the name of streamlining. I've learned the hard way. I've had the Mac mended... BUT the hard drive is dead as a dodo and, due to my lax backing up, I have lost everything from the past 12 months.

On the up side:

• Photos ... not so bad, as the children won't let us take photos of them any more anyway, so we probably haven't lost too many of importance. Although all my albums seem to have disappeared and they are in random order.
• Calendar ... happily, I uploaded everybody's birthday to Birthdayalarm.com only a few weeks ago, so that's ok
• Emails ... I'll get over it I suppose. I was due for a clearout.
• Music... I don't download much music so most of that is there.
• Stampin' Up!® business resources... thankfully, I have been uploading lots of these to my new team forum. 
• Stampin' Up!® contacts... again, thankfully I use MailChimp for my newsletters so my mailing lists should be intact.
• The computer is now upgraded as far as its advancing years will allow. So my son is happy about that. 
• It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. 

On the down side:

• Email preferences ... still wading through these as it's definitely not one of my strengths. Struggling, if I'm honest.
• Calendar... all my plans and dates to remember have gone.
• Email contacts ... still not sure about these. I'm so used to typing the first two letters of somebody's name and having it appear automatically.
• The big one: my accounts. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Really wanted to put my tax return in early this year and now I have to start from scratch. I cannot begin to tell you how gutted I am about this. 
• It's soooooo time-consuming. 

The important bit:

Please be patient while I try to sort out this mess. I may well have lost your email address so please drop me a line to say hello. However, don't expect a reply in a hurry as I've not managed to configure that particular email account yet. 

Also, if you have emailed me in the last few days and are awaiting a reply, please send your message again. 

I have lost my calendar, so if you have a party booked, PLEASE let me know the date and time, just in case I don't have it written down on my paper calendar.

That's all I can think of right now. I have learned my lesson and will be backing up at least daily from now on. The new operating system will make it so much easier. 

And if you know anybody local who can work magic on Apple Macs, please let me know. Although the prognosis was dire, I live in hope. 

By The Tide Masculine Card class projects

Saturday was my quarterly team meeting in the morning and Father’s Day class in the afternoon – several of the team made a day of it and stayed for both, which is always nice.

I've been banging on about my Father's Day class for long enough, so let's get those projects out of the way and I’ll show you what we made in the morning another time.

These have evolved a little since I took the photos but you get the general idea.

The square card is a fancy fold, which is a bit bonkers but makes the fish pop out. The fish literally popped out on some of the cards made as some people coloured them, cut them out and covered them in Crystal Effects®, as I did on this project. Others didn’t like the effect or preferred to keep things simple, and went with the Midnight Muse.

I know what you’re thinking. “Why does it say ‘nephew’ on the card when it’s supposed to be for Father’s Day?” I just wanted to show a few options and give people the opportunity to make a card for somebody else in the family – some made cards for husbands, some for sons, some stamped a general “happy birthday”.

We also made the envelope out of Designer Series Paper which I’d like to say was because I wanted to make everything match but really was because I designed the square card before I realised that we no longer sell large square envelopes. Really should pay more attention to the catalogue!

The second card was a simple thank you card, stamped with sea horses. And the box was a criss-cross box, designed by Nichole Heady, which I found through the wonders of the internet.

This was the first class I’ve ever done when I’ve provided full sheets of cardstock for people to cut themselves and it was a steep learning curve! Some of the ladies found it stressful, which is definitely not what we want from an afternoon of crafting. I can’t go back to cutting everything up for individual kits, as I’ve done in the past, as that would mean I would have to cut back on events, but I have taken on board their suggestions for next time so things should be simpler.  Rest assured, though, that home parties will still have everything cut up and ready for speedy assembly.

My next event will be my Catalogue Launch Party. Check out the events button for more details.

Stamps: By The Tide, For My Family, Oh Hello

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Cajun Craze, Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla

Paper: Comfort Café DSP

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Pool Party

Accessories: Neutrals Buttons, Linen Thread, Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Apothecary Accents Dies, Cello Bags, ¾” circle punch

All products by Stampin' Up!® 

Caturday - Where's Winky?

Caturday comes round fast at the moment... so fast that I still don't have the kitten pictures from daughter's iPod. So here's a picture of Winky hiding in the ferns. He's not very good at hiding, as you can tell. Bless him.

Better dash - it's a big day today, with a team meeting this morning and Father's Day class this afternoon. How exciting!

By the Tide divided box of notecards

Again inspired by Monica’s retreat projects, I attempted something quite ambitious for me – a divided box with an acetate sleeve. I really don’t get on with acetate but I decided to go for it, even though I only had one piece left. The other challenge was to come up with my own measurements, as I wanted to include some notecards and a pen. The remaining section was really only big enough for some small tags, so that’s what I made.

Wish I’d used a different piece of DSP for the sleeve as I could have used this on the back of my journal. Never mind, I have a friend coming to the rescue.

 

I’m not going to give you the dimensions for the box as I don’t have them to hand and have loads to do today to prepare for the events of tomorrow. I have a team meeting in the morning, followed by my Father’s Day class in the afternoon. This evening it’s my daughter’s prom as she leaves school today. Can’t quite believe this, it’s all a bit scary and I’m feeling very old, so let’s skip straight to the recipe:

Stamps: By The Tide, Sweet Essentials, Just Believe, Itty Bitty Banners

Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Cajun Craze, Whisper White, Soft Suede

Paper: Comfort Café DSP

Ink: Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede

Accessories: Mini brads, Linen Thread, Scallop Oval Punch, Crystal Effects®, Stitched ribbon – Summer Starfruit, Bitty Banner framelits, ½” circle punch, ¾” circle punch, 1¾” circle punch, Corner rounder

All products by Stampin' Up!®