Good enough to eat

Here’s a card made by my talented friend, Kelly. I asked her to help me make samples for my Summer Mini launch and this is one of her creations. She’s teamed the older stamp set, Crazy for Cupcakes with the newer products from the Summer Mini – and don’t they go together well?

The image is embossed using the vanilla-scented embossing powder, which gives a very subtle aroma when used on an outline image like this one. I believe it’s coloured with ink pad lids and blender pens.

Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Soft Suede, Whisper White

Paper: Sweet Shop

Ink: Versamark, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Calypso Coral

Accessories: Jelly Bean Brads, Ruffled Ribbon – Calypso Coral, Blender Pens, Big Shot, Edgelits Dies – Adorning Accents

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Totally tabby

Caturday again! And today’s lovely lady is a gorgeous tabby and white. Margo is a resident of rural Oxfordshire and one of two beloved pets of our friends, Kate, Dave and Ruby B, with whom we spent a lovely couple of days over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Margo and her sister, Barbara, are both real crowd-pleasers – happy to oblige by sitting on knees and purring contentedly.

No prizes but a sense of satisfaction is up for grabs if you can tell me the inspiration behind their names!

Sweet birthday

And now for something a bit different – this card showcases some of the products in the Sweet Shop product suite. I love how Stampin’ Up!® creates product suites for us, so that it’s even easier to make fully co-ordinating projects.

This suite features a stamp set called Mouthwatering, which I don’t have (yet!?), along with this beautiful Sweet Shop Designer Series Paper. This has fun cakes and ice creams and sweets , as well as some funky patterns, too. Two of the designs are embossed, which adds an extra dimension.

The suite also features other really fun products which I couldn’t resist: the baker’s twine which you saw on the last project plus scented embossing powder. How fun is that? I chose the Vanilla, which I’ve used to emboss the greeting on this card. It’s clear powder so these are the steps you take make a coloured embossed image:

1. Ink stamp in Versamark
2. Ink stamp in coloured ink – don’t worry, the Versamark won’t harm your coloured ink pad
3. Stamp on cardstock (even better if you’ve swiped it with our Embossing Buddy® first)
4. Sprinkle on powder and shake off the excess
5. Heat

You’ll smell the powder as you’re using it – the strength of the scent on the finished product will depend on the size of the area embossed. This one’s pleasant but not overpowering.

Finally, check out the fun brad – I LOVE these. They are called Sweet Shop Jelly Bean Brads and they are really, really cool. The cake is perfect for this card but you calso get some with hearts, and a lovely Lucky Limeade swirly thing. Check them out on page 20 of the Summer Mini.

Stamps: Happies of Birthdays (hostess)

Cardstock: Pool Party, Calypso Cora, Soft Suede, Whisper White

Paper: Sweet Shop

Ink: Soft Suede, Versamark

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Heat tool, Vanilla scented embossing powder, Sweet Shop Jelly Bean Brads, Calypso Coral ruffled ribbon

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Flying the flag for crafters everywhere

Did you enjoy the Bank Holiday? We were away for the weekend, visiting friends in Oxfordshire. They have two cats, so we could collect some more photos for Caturdays of the future!

Next Bank Holiday is, of course, the Jubilee weekend, which brings me almost too neatly to today’s projects. Having a really busy April, I recently called on my talented friend, Kelly, to help me make some samples for my Summer Mini Catalogue launch. The flag is one of her inspired creations – I love the patchwork effect using the Twitterpated papers.

This, in turn, inspired me to start creating projects on a Jubilee theme, and I came up with this bunting. It’s not the best picture in the world but it looked great draped across my samples table.

That led on to the ill-fated blue cupcakes. But that’s another story...

NB: The blue in this Twitterpated paper is Island Indigo but I had completely run out so used Not Quite Navy. It works quite well as a substitute and I like the vintage patriotic feel.

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Not Quite Navy, Confetti White

Paper: Twitterpated

Accessories: Perfect Pennants die, Big Shot, Twitterpated Buttons, Baker’s Twine – Island Indigo, ½” Circle punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Happy Caturday everyone!

Another early picture - this was the very first time this particular Ginger Ninja visited us. Intrigued by an unusual sound, he was standing on his hind legs to get a better look at next door's conservatory, where our neighbour was opening one of the rooflights.

He was extremely timid at first but soon warmed to daughter, the Cat Whisperer and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Mostly masculine

Here’s another masculine card made using The Open Sea. I love this stamp set! This card is really simple but I think the score lines make it quite striking. Yes, you’ve guessed: I made them with my new Simply Scored tool!

The ship is stamped separately, cut out and popped up.

Stamps: The Open Sea, Curly Cute

Cardstock: Confetti White, Very Vanilla

Ink: Basic Gray, Island Indigo, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Simply Scored

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

For the men in your life...

While much of the new Summer Mini is pretty, pretty, pretty, the more masculine side of cardmaking is not neglected. There’s a gorgeous set called The Open Sea which I really love.

This is the card we made at my Mini Catalogue launch on Saturday – I love how it incorporates Twitterpated paper which, on the face of it, seems very girlie. Turn some of those pretty papers over and you have some lovely geometric designs in masculine colours. I thought people would like to make a Father’s Day card but left out the set For My Family so they could change to another relative if necessary.

Check out the scalloped edge; this isn’t made with the Scallop Edge Punch. Look closer, each individual scallop is scalloped, too! It’s made with some fab new dies called Edgelits; you get two of them at a bargain £8.95. I just had to have those – especially when I noticed that you can get co-ordinating embossing folders, too! More about those another day.

Hanging from the anchor is a piece of Baker’s Twine. We demonstrators are REALLY excited about the Baker’s Twine! Why? Because it’s fab! It’s really versatile and it’s really really good value – so much that you can use it on packaging without thinking twice. And seriously, you know how tight I can be. It’s £2.50 for 22.9 metres and comes in all the 2011-2013 In Colors, as well as white. For those moments when you want something as thin as linen thread but linen is a bit too rustic, this twin will be perfect!

Sorry, will stop banging on about Baker’s Twine and give you the recipe:

Stamps: The Open Sea, For My Family

Cardstock: Basic Gray, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

Paper: Twitterpated

Ink: Basic Gray, Island Indigo

Accessories: Adorning Accents edgelits, Big Shot, Baker’s Twine – Island Indigo, Curly Label Punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

So much news!

Wow, with so much happening today I completely forgot to update my blog! And yet there’s so much to tell you! So much that I’m going to have to use separate headings!

Summer Mini

First of all, the Mini catalogue went live today, which means you can now view it online and place your orders. One product which is causing a stir is the new Simply Scored tool, which I have to say is fabulous! I used it to make these birthday rosettes. I demoed a similar rosette at my Summer Mini launch on Saturday and the general comment was “you make it look so easy”. Er, that’s because it IS! The tool does the hard work for you.

The rosette on the left uses the Cheerful Treat hostess paper - that was my practice rosette. The one on the right uses the gorgeous new Sweet Shop paper from the new Mini. It's lovely and features sweets, cakes and ice  creams, as well as some lovely embossed dots which you'll see soon. 

But back to the Simply Scored tool. It has grooves at every 1/8” inch and slots along the top to place markers so that you can see where to score at a glance. It’s laid out in inches but there is a metric plate available as an add-on if you prefer to work in centimetres.

This brings me to an exciting product which doesn’t feature in the Mini but which IS available from today: the Diagonal Scoring Plate. This will make envelope-making a breeze and it’s also useful for loads of other 3D projects. It’s £10.95 and the item number is 125586.

New Starter Kit

The other big news is that we have a brand new Starter Kit! What’s in it? That’s entirely up to you! The new kit is at the reduced price of £99 and it’s fully customisable, which means you can choose any catalogue items and don’t have to duplicate anything you already have. You can choose anything up to the value of £130... and you’ll also get business supplies to the value of £45 on top of that. That’s an offer that’s too good to refuse, but I would say that, wouldn’t I? If you’d like to find out more, please email me or give me a call for a no-obligation chat.

Join me in Germany!

Today was an extra exciting day for demonstrators because we can now register for the Stampin’ Up!® Convention, which this year will be held in Mainz, Germany, on 2^nd and 3^rd November. This is why I’ve been busy – I came home from work and my friend and downline Alison came round so that we could book our flights to Frankfurt!

But enough about us... how would you like to join us? This offer is amazing; if you join Stampin’ Up! during May, you will get a FREE ticket to Convention worth £149! You will still  be responsible for travel and accommodation costs but it’s well worth it – take a look at my post from last year to see how much fun we had! 

Summer Mini sneak peek

So, it’s nearly May! Which means you only have until the end of Monday to order from the Spring Mini catalogue. If you would like to place an order, shipping is £4.95 and I can have it sent to any UK address.

But if you’d rather wait for the Summer Mini, here’s a sneak peek for you. It was my Summer Mini launch on Saturday and it seems that everyone loves our new catalogue... even those who were initially sceptical! I watched a couple of U-turns in action over the course of the morning!

Big thanks to my friend Kelly, who made lots of beautiful samples for my display table - and also to everyone who washed up or helped tidy up and the end. I feel very lucky to have such helpful customers and team members.

As a Silver 2 demonstrator, I was lucky enough to receive a whole bundle of goodies from Stampin’ Up!® for free. Always exciting to get freebies! I don’t have a project showing off all of the freebies I received, but this one comes pretty close.

You’ll see the Bordering on Romance stamp set – which features beautiful flowers and a couple of pretty borders. I’ve stamped it in Basic Grey and coloured the images using blender pens and ink pad lids. There’s also the gorgeous Twitterpated Designer Series Paper, which features some lovely floral designs, as well as geometric patterns and these lovely stripes. Check out the cute buttons! These come in a mixed pack of Baja Breeze and Blushing Bride; some are little flowers and these ones are amazingly detailed. Finally, the ribbon is Pleated Satin – my bundle contained Blushing Bride but here I’ve used Riding Hood Red. There are two other  great colours available, too!

If you couldn’t make it to my launch to collect your catalogue, or aren’t in my Virtual Hostess Club (club members get their catalogues early – and got to come to my launch party for free!), you can see it online on Tuesday. Don’t worry, I’ll post the link.

Stamps: Bordering on Romance, Perfect Punches

Cardstock: Lucky Limeade, Whisper White

Paper: Twitterpated

Ink: Basic Grey, Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Twitterpated buttons, Pleated Satin ribbon – Riding Hood Red, Curly Label Punch

All products by Stampin’ Up!®

Caturday already?

Wow, Caturday came around quickly this week! It’s been a busy week, preparing samples for my Summer Mini Catalogue Launch this morning. It’s not normally this frantic but April has been really busy with the school holidays, a couple of weekends away and some Canadian visitors!

In my hurry to prepare for my launch party, I completely forgot about Caturday, but here’s one from the archives. We don’t know the name of this cat but daughter found him (I’m pretty sure it was a he) at a B&B we stayed at in France in 2010. Perhaps this should be chat-urday? We stayed at four different places on a mammoth trip – and fortuitously found a cat at each one!

This one was most obliging and happy to have his photo taken over and over and over again. I just love tongue-out cat pictures... and check out the little beads of saliva on his chin!

Better dash - have about a million boxes to pack in the car and I always underestimate how long it takes to load up.