Is it really only Tuesday?

Yesterday felt like it went on forever, well for a whole 17 hours in fact & most of those were spent on my feet, I finally sat down at 11.45pm last night & for anyone that knows me I don't do late nights very well.
My day started at 5.19 yesterday morning when the alarm clock didn't go off, Problem number one Paul was being picked up for a week of working away at 5.30.
6.30 am The alarm does go off for me to get up, To make an exam breakfast for Abi & to get ready for work myself. Abi had the last of her three English exams, despite making breakfast & smoothies & sandwiches & wash everything up I managed to leave in time to walk to work. When I arrived at work there was no lighting in the locker room, I couldn't find a thing. 
8.45 I went up to my floor & my boss was having Hysterics, she went into her office & when she turned the light on she got dive bombed by a pigeon, Nobody was available to catch it as they were all trying to sort the electrical fault, the rest of the day ran fairly smoothly despite spending a lot of it on my own.
When I got home I found a pile of clothes that should have been in Paul's bag....Oooop's
Very quick dinner & lay up for my new stampers 6/7.
Fortunately that went without a hitch, 11.45pm I finally reacquainted myself with the sofa.


One of tonights cards was a shameless case of a card my Upline Michelle had made, Can you spot the differences?
Michelles card

My Card

Did you spot the main difference?

My Flower

Michelle's Flower

Yes I used different flowers.
To make this card I used.
Cardstock
Cherry Cobbler
Tangerine Tango
Wild Wasabi
Very Vanilla
Inks
Peach Parfait ( Tangerine tango was too bright for this project )
Cherry Cobbler
Wild Wasabi
Stamps
Baby Blossoms
Sincere Salutations
Tools
Boho Blossoms Punch
5 petal flower punch
Fancy Flower Extra Large punch
Piercing tool
Mat Pack
Big Shot
Perfect Polka dots embossing Folder
Little leaves Sizzlit die
Extra Large oval punch
Pretties
Brad ( Any colour as its not seen )
Shimmer mist made from shimmer paint


The second card we made is also using The baby Blossoms set

This card Uses

Cardstock

Chocolate Chip

Pumpkin Pie

Daffodil delight

Very Vanilla

Ink

Wild Wasabi

Daffodil Delight

Pumpkin Pie

Versamark

Soft Suede

Stamps

Basic Phrases

Baby Blossoms

Sense of time

Fine Flourish

Tools

Big shot

Top note die

Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Stamp a ma jig

Heat embossing tool

Sponge Daubers

Pretties

Rhinestone Brads

White embossing Powder 

Dusty Stamp set

Own up, We all have them, Dusty stamp sets that often get put on a shelf as something new comes along, I know this to be true as I talk to crafter's of every age group everyday. We are stash~a~holics, as soon as our favourite brand brings out some lovely new stash we NEED it!!
I am no different from crafter reading this blog, only in my case as a demonstrator I NEED to demonstrate all of the lovely new stash so I feel justified making every Stampin' Up purchase. Well the stamp set in question is Sense of time, I originally bought this as soon as it became available, I had some scrapbook layouts in mind for this set, I don't remember if I every got round to making the layouts, {Mental note to self check scrapbooks & add to my to do list.}


Whilst I has hopping around blog land I found a card using this set that inspired me to ink up my stamps. I was actually looking for inspiration for the Baby blossoms set when I first mounted it & I came across this blog by Cherie Franklin & this card is a case of one of her beautiful cards, Thank you for inspiring me to dust of a sense of time.

The card is so pretty & girly, {but mental note to self, look for inspiration for masculine cards, you currently have none in your stash.}

Close up of the beautiful Sense of time clock face over stamped with Baby blossoms

Inside of the card

What do you put on the inside of your cards?

I would love you to share with me the inside secrets of your cards.

At the moment I have been decorating all of the insides of my cards, I think that it is a nice finishing touch.

Do you stamp your envelopes? Thats something I have been thinking about trying as well.

To make this card I have used.

Ink

Soft suede

Pretty In pink

Rose Red

Pear Pizzaz

Certainly celery

Whisper white

Cardstock

Pretty In Pink

Confetti White

Rose Red

Stamps

Fine flourish

Basic Phrases

Baby Blossoms

Sense of Time

Tools

Top Note Die

Perfect polka dots embossing folder

Big shot Die cutting machine

White embossing powder

Heat embossing tool

Stamp~a~ma~jig

Paper piercing tool

Mat pack

Pretties

Brad from Hodgepodge hardware

Oversized pearl {from retired Stampin' Up stash}

Whisper white Organza ribbon

Everything to make these cards is from Stampin' Up & If you would like further information about products or business opportunities please contact me.

Baby Blossoms Pinwheel

I have spent the day preparing samples for our forthcoming all day event, The event is going to be centered around the mini catalogue & a colour family, I can share this card with you as I got sidetracked from my prepping & distracted about the colour family idea & came up with this beautiful card.  
Baby blossoms is so versatile, every blog that I look on at the moment is show casing the versatility of these beautiful set. I have teamed the set with the beautiful Springtime Vintage Designer series papers.

Close up of the pinwheel

For this card I Used

Stamps

Baby Blossoms

Basic Phrases

Ink

Rose red

Regal Rose

Old Olive

Tools

1 1/4" Circle punch

1 3/8" Circle punch

Word Window punch

Cardstock

Chocolate chip

Very vanilla

Regal rose

Shimmery White

Pretties

Dazzling Diamonds

DSP Springtime Vintage

I now love to decorate the insides of the cards

For the inside I used

Top note { Exclusive to Stampin' Up } die

Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder { Exclusive to Stampin' Up }

Very Vanilla Cardstock.

Everything you need to make this card is available from Stampin' Up & can be purchased through me.

More Recycling

As promised some more recycled kits, well the parts are all new but the kits never got used at my stampers 10 meeting. I now find that every time I sit down in the craft room I reach for my colour coach for some colour inspiration.

Stamps

Itty Bitty bits

Cardstock

Poppy Parade

Whisper White

Peach Parfait

Pretty in Pink

Daffodil Delight

In colour DSP Paper stack

Ink

Peach Parfait

Tools

Itty Bitty Paper punches ( Set of 3 )

Butterfly punch

1 3/8" square punch

Pretties

Basic pearls

Stamps

Itty Bitty bits

Cardstock

Poppy Parade

Whisper White

Peach Parfait

Ink

So Saffron

Baja Breeze

Poppy Parade

Tools

Word Window punch

Scallop border punch

Itty Bitty punches ( Set of 3 )

Modern label punch

Pretties

1/2" Stitched Poly Ribbon in Poppy Parade

This is so simple & great for using up leftovers

Cardstock

Pacific point

Whisper White

Ink

Rich Razzleberry

So Saffron

Tools

1 3/8" Circle punch

Itty Bitty punches { 3 pack }

Pretties

Basic Rhinestones

Dont forget that you can now order from the new mini catalogue, If you haven't got a copy then please drop me a line & I will get you a complimentary copy in the post.

Sharing

v.  shar·ing,

v.tr.

1. To divide and parcel out in shares; apportion.

2. To participate in, use, enjoy, or experience jointly or in turns.

3. To relate (a secret or experience, for example) to another or others.

4. To accord a share in (something) to another or others: shared her chocolate bar with a friend.

As the words of the Stampin' Up song go "Share what you love & Love what you do"

On Sunday Myself, Sharon & Michelle attended a Passionettes training event in Peterborough. The whole day whilst Business training based is an opportunity to Share. Firstly a big thank you to Monica ( Head Passionette ) & Bekka for opening up your training events to everyone, it was so much fun.

We shared business tips as well as card making tips, we laughed & also swapped cards another way of sharing information at a gathering of Stampin' Up Demo's.

I think we should have a collective noun for a gathering of demo's. I was thinking a 'kindness' of SU demo's, what do you think I am open to suggestions of a suitable collective noun.

Well as last week had it's highs & Low's I didn't start my cards swaps until 4.30pm on the Saturday afternoon, so it had to something fairly simple and easy to mass produce. The theme was New Beginnings. I managed to make 30 swaps by midnight.

My Swap

So here it is ' The first Ice cream of Summer'

Cardstock

Whisper white

Crumb cake

Pink pirouette

Ink

Crumb cake

Rose Red

Melon mambo

Tools

Scallop circle punch

Mat pack & embossing tool ( texture on the ice cream )

Sponge daubers

Embossing board or the channel in the paper trimmer

We also had the chance to make 6 make & take projects, see demonstrations from talented fellow demo's.

I will post some pictures of my make & takes tomorrow 

The excitement is building

Well it is finally hear the last day of the current Stampin' up catalogue & mini catalogue. There are still some bargains to be had, but I will need the order by 4pm today to get it processed before the deadline this evening. But the best news is the beautiful new catalogue will be available online & you can order from it from tomorrow 1st October.

The card uses two stamp sets that aren't being retired Garden Whimsy & Basic phrases, both are going to be in the new catalogue.

The cardstock colours are Old olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White & Real red. The inks are Old olive & Real red. The accessories that also feature on this card are Spiral punch, Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch & Stamp a ma jig.

All of the items that I have used on this card are not being retired so you can loo forward to seeing them in the new catalogue tomorrow.

Good friend Day 2

This masculine looking card would look great in a variety of colour combinations, I have chosen Kraft card to make the card base. The Whisper white layer was stamped with three images from the same stamp. I used More Mustard, Ruby red & Night of Navy a colour combination that looks better than it sounds.

That was matted onto chocolate Chip card, but not centrally matted but aligning the bottom left corners. The Ruby Red band was embossed using a dotty embossing folder to add texture to this simple card.

The greeting is stamped directly onto the card in Night of Navy Ink, the greeting is from Basic Phrases a set that I always have on hand now. To finish the card off I used the Star punch & chocolate chip cardstock to make the star embellishment The button in the middle comes from the Earth elements collection & is tied with Linen thread.

Check back tomorrow to see which retired set I will dust off for an inking.

Slider cards with garden Whimsey

Don't panic garden Whimsey isn't retiring but I thought I would use it with the retiring papers from the Sweet Pea paper stack.

The card stock used is Melon mambo, Rich razzleberry & Whisper White

The greeting on the card is from basic phrases.

I cannot believe that I am Mum to a 19 year old

I really cannot believe that I am Mum to a 19 year old, where does the time go? Happy Birthday Dan I hope you have a wonderful 20th year.

It has been quite a week in our household, starting with A level results & Dan got 'A' levels in Photography & psychology which means he now has 13 GCSE's & 6 'A' Levels which meant that he had the grades he needed to get into his first choice university at Nottingham Trent. Then Came GCSE results for Abi who got 4 B's & 5 C's which is a very good start on the exams she has taken & she is already looking towards year 11. 

Last week my website went live which Dan & Paul have designed for me to advertise my new venture a bunting hire company, so if you need to decorate an event then take a look www.lavenderbunting.co.uk so I have been working hard during the evenings and weekends making the beautiful bunting. Last week I was making some beautiful boy bunting & dying the cotton tape turquoise I had a mishap & too many things on my mind, I went to fish the cotton tape out of the dye & instead of using the wooden spoon that was sat next to the bowl I plunged my hands in. Much to my family's amusement I spent the next few days looking like a smurf.

I made Dan a card for his birthday using some Scrapbook papers that I had for a layout with a photographic theme.

The words on the card are stamped with Basic phrases set & 'Dan' is stamped with the Just perfect alphabet also from Stampin' Up.

Something simple

Time & time again when doing demonstrations I get such positive feedback, but something that always comes out of the feedback is that people want cards & projects that are achievable at home & without guidance. They love the complex projects that take 3 hours+ to complete but would never dream of trying it on their own at home. So I have been looking at ways to simplify some projects & this one is a direct case from the mini catalogue.

The stamps used in this project are All of a flutter, Framed with love & Basic phrases

Last nights Stampers 10 ~ yumminess & creative punching

Last night was the penultimate meeting of my current stampers 10 group & Alice was my very creative hostess. Alice made us Stampin' Up cupcakes, like she made for her wedding.

Total yumminess with edible rice paper butterfliesA tip from Alice melt some white chocolate & dip the middle of the butterfly into it to attach it too the cake & it prevents the brown icing running into the butterfly.

The butterfly punch is from Stampin' Up 117404
Have you been creative with your punches?
Send me a link & let me know what you've been using your punches for.

After much hilarity & catching up we finally managed to make some cards.
Alice's chosen set was Trendy tree's

Card 1 has two different versions
Cardstock
Old Olive
Whisper white
Ink
Close to cocoa
Really rust
Apricot appealRose red
Papers
Designer series in Old Olive 113646
Stamps
Trendy trees 113258
Basic Phrases 110530
Tools
Stamp a ma jig
Cutter tool

Card 1 version 2
Cardstock
Old Olive
Whisper white
Ink
Close to cocoa
Old Olive
Papers
Designer series in Old Olive 113646
So saffron 113645
Rose red 113647
Pumpkin pie 113644
Stamps
Trendy trees 113258
Basic Phrases 110530
Tools
Stamp a ma jig
Cutter tool
Boho blossoms punch

The second card of the evening was using the funky forest Stampin' Up wheel
Cardstock
Tempting Turquoise
Whisper white
Cameo Cotal
Taken with teal
So saffron
Ink
Close to cocoa
Certainly celery
So saffron
Rose red
Cameo Coral
Stamps
Trendy trees 113258
Basic Phrases 110530
Funky forest wheel 114695
Tools
Stamp a ma jig
Scallop border punch

All of the above projects have used products from the Stampin' Up range & are available to purchase through me.