Convention 2010 Was Amazing!

Well, where do I start?!  I had soo many plans and ideas about blogging whilst we were away which were thwarted by my forgetfulness, left my phone charger at home so I was on limited battery for most of it.  I arrived at Croydon Park Hotel at around 2ish.  I decided to get there a day earlier as my upline, the lovely Amanda Fowler, had arranged a lovely team dinner for us. I went and had a drink and some late lunch in the bar with Jane, Kerry and Caroline.

People gradually started arriving, including this lovely lady:

Hayley Gillie was my very lovely roomie for Convention.  She has the patience of a saint, I am so disorganised!  I am sure that she has gone home a little crazy because of me.  Sorry Hayley!

So, on to our team dinner.  Amanda had her own little mini awards ceremony for all of us Inkee's which was lovely.  Here are some pics:

It was a fantastic evening, it was especially exciting when we saw that Shelli, Paula, Charlotte, Jerome Axel etc. were all staying in our hotel!  She came and said hello which was lovely of her considering how tired they all were.  If we thought we had to get up early for the coach it was nothing to the times that they had to be up and getting everything ready for us.

I will post pics from day 1 of convention tomorrow!

New Classes and Clubs!

I have just finished organizing my new monthly clubs and classes so pop over to my new pages to have a look!  I am happy to plan and run scrapbooking classes if you require them, just send me an e-mail and let me know.

Today's post is quite short but pop back tomorrow for some projects made with my goodies from the new catalogue, also for my blog candy competition!

Mini workshop

Well, had a busy busy weekend sorting the house, looked like there had been a craft explosion! Then, on sunday I had people over for a mini workshop which was lots of fun!  We made a couple of projects including a small treat pouch with some chocolate in and a mini cupcake gift card holder.  The workshop was postponed from last weekend so unfortunately one of the lovely papers we used is now retired, however, there are loads of fab new DSP designs in our new catalogue!

Bless my nan, she was so proud of being able to use our new crimper to seal her treat pouch!

If you are interested on getting your mitts on a copy of the new Idea Book and Catalogue then e-mail me to order one or get one free if you book a workshop with me.  I would love to hear from  you and now is an ideal time to get started on making those Christmas cards and gifts.

New Class Sneak Peaks

These are the projects that I did for an inspiration station at our quarterly team training.  They will also be some of the projects that I will be making at my October classes!

I will add individual pictures of each of the projects over the next few days!

NEW CATALOGUE!!!

Wow! It's so exciting to say this.... welcome to the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2010-2011! I have been stamping like a mad thing over the past month and have been dying to share my creations with you so here is a little peak at some projects that I created for our quarterly team training.  
 

There were 3 other VERY talented ladies Hayley, Liz and Jane who made some out of this world items but I won't put any pictures on here until they have shown them on their own personal blogs.

I used the fab new stamp set Artistic Etchings to create 7 projects using to colour combinations.  The first colour combination was Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.  The second is my new all time favourite combo and is Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.


I will add more pics of the individual projects later on when I release information on my NEW CLASSES! It's soo exciting!

I hate technology!

Well, I don't actually HATE it as such, I just can't use it!  As you may have noticed, I have been adding (rather unsuccessfully) pages to my blog.  It's not going too well.  So,  if you are willing to have a little hunt around, you will find my contact information and details of one of my new monthly card classes.  Unfortunately I have to leave for my 'day job' shortly so screaming at the computer will have to wait until later.  I will be posting details of some more classes and a couple of clubs that will be starting up soon so keep 'em peeled!

I will leave you with a couple of pics though, just to prove that I have actually still been crafting !  This first photo is a bit of a sneak peak from my July class, so, if you like what you see drop me a line and book a place :)

Next is the Father's Day card that I made for my Pop (Grandad).  I love this stamp set! (Fox & Friends)

This is a fab spinner card that is much easier to make than it first appears. My fab upline Amanda showed us how to make these a couple of months back but I have only just got around to trying it.
And finally, some of you may remember a while back that I had shown a photo of my Nan's first card-making attempt, well, she had another go on Sunday.  She wanted to make her own version of my monkey spinner card so here it is! I think it's fantastic. :)

You can't see it from the photo but the whale is actually raised using a dimensional. 

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely sunny weather and are having a great day wherever you are!

Oops!

Posted wrong box/card set for the Inspiring Inkin' Challenge-sorry! Will upload correct ones first thing tomorrow! x

Two in one day!

Well, whilst I have a spare couple of minutes I thought I would stick some pics on here.  The recipes will have to wait until later in the week I am afraid.  the first ones are of my other half Alastair making a card.  His mum Gina said that I would never get him to make anything so I took photos to prove that he did it!  This has been put away and will be sent up to Newcastle for mother's day.

 

  

 

The next couple of pics are from a little workshop I did for my Nan, some friends and family members. The first is a card we made and the second is a 'pop up' chocolate that I CASED from something Amanda showed us at our team meeting in december.  It's also something that I will be using for my easter classes!

 

  
 

The pictures below are my entry to this weeks Inspiring Inkin' Challenge.  You have to make a box and some cards to go in it.  I used some of the mellow moss dsp from the hostess paper pack to make the box and 3 vanilla love notes for the cards.  I made 2 very simple little cards and a mini easel card.  Sorry abut the quality of the pictures!

 

  

  

  

  

The last photo is related to my other job. I work at an after school club called the Hedgehogs.  We wanted to start a good behavior reward system. When the children do a good deed or are exceptionally well behaved they get a hedgehog stamp on their name card, once they get to 10 stamps they get to wear the hedgehog 'medal' for the day and also receive a little prize (notebook/pen or sweets).  I was searching for ideas for the 'medal' when I remembered the Fun & Fast Notes set! Below is what I created and the kids loved it! The only problem was that the circle punch that fits in the scallop circle was slightly smaller than the hedgehog image so the butterfly had to go! :(

 

Hope you haven't fallen asleep after looking at all of these photos!

Happy Crafting

Helen x

I've outdone myself...

Hello again!  Even I have been left stunned by the amount of time it has taken me to post on here!
Well, it has been a very busy few weeks.  We had an amazing shoe box swap evening and training day, organised by my lovely upline Amanda.  Honestly, I don't know where she finds the ideas or the time!  We completed colour sample sheets which have proved to be invaluble  to me over the last couple of days.  We also saw two fantastic demonstrations, 1 from Jane and 1 from Elaine.  I have had a go at making an easter version of the card that Elaine showed us but it is very much a work in progress at the moment :/

I also dipped my toe into unknown waters at the weekend when I attended Amanda's 'Year in a Day' scrapbook class.  I have customers and family members who are interested in scrapbooking and wanted me to do some classes/workshops for them but i have never really done any myself.  I definitely came away inspired and full of enthusiasm and I am now in the middle of organising a scrapbook class of my own.

My 8 month work in progress (craft room) should be finished this weekend! I have chopped and changed things about so much over the last few months that my poor other half develops an allergic reaction every time Ikea is mentioned!  I think I emptied B&Q out of all of their drawer units last weekend too!

Anyways, enough of my rambling, i'm just off to take the camera off charge and hopefully upload some photos of my recent creations!

helen x

A Mixed Bag

Have been massively busy due to starting a new part-time job and the fact that our house appears to be falling apart- luckily hasn't effected my craft room!

Have made a really mixed collection of cards today.  The first is this one using one of my new stamp sets "Simply Said".  I made this to take to home workshops to show customers some of the items that can be made using the hostess goodies that they could earn if they held their own workshop.

I used the Night Of Navy DSP from the patterns lll pack, this is a level 1 hostess reward.  I used a Whisper White card base and layered the DSP onto some Night Of Navy card stock before attaching it to the card base.  I then cut a smaller rectangular piece of Night Of Navy and Whisper White card stock, using the large flower stamp from the Simply Said set and Night of Navy ink stamped the image on the whisper white and attached it to the front of the card. I took a scrap piece of the DSP and punched out 2 of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch.

I turned the larger flower over to show the darker pattern on the reverse of the paper and layered the smaller flower on top. I then used the paper piercer and mat pack to make button-like holes in the center of the small flower and using a small piece of the silver elastic cord, i threaded the cord through and tied a knot joining the 2 flowers together.  You can use adhesive but I found that the cord works effectively, also the cord allows the flowers to stand out more and look more 3D.  I adhered the flower using a dimensional.  I debated using the silver cord to tie a bow around the spine of the card too but decided that I liked this design better. To finish it off I stamped one of the sentiments from the Simply Said stamp set in night of navy inside the card.

Recipe:

card stock/papers- whisper white, night of navy. night of navy dsp

ink- night of navy

punches- boho blossoms

accessories- silver elastic cord

equipment- paper piercing tool, mat pack, dimensional, trimmer, paper snips, snail adhesive

The second card is very simple and quick to make.

I made a Rose Red card blank. Cut a piece of So Saffron and used the scallop edge punch on the bottom. I then used the scallop circle and 1 3/8" circle punches  on some Rose Red and Very Vanilla card stock. I layered them then, using the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig and taking 2 of the stamps from Circle Circus, I used So Saffron and Rose Red ink to stamp onto the very vanilla card stock.  Just to highlight how useful the stamp-a-ma-jig is, I didn't use it on the first circle which came out very wonky, but I did use it on the other two. I attached the 3 circles to the So Saffron card stock and the card was done!

Recipe:

Card stock- Rose Red, Very Vanilla, So Saffron

Ink- Rose Red, So Saffron

Punches- scallop edge, scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle

Equipment- trimmer, snail adhesive

Will post more pics tomorrow as unfortunately the camera battery has just died!

Take care

H x

Oh dear

Ok so the link didn't work!

the Inspiring Inkin' Challenge Blog can be found at:
http://inspiringinkinchallenges.blogspot.com/

Go have a look!

Helen x

Inspring Inkin' Blog Challenge No.18

This is my first Inspiring Inkin' Challenge entry I hope you like it! This weeks challenge was to use the chalkboard technique.  The Inspiring Inkin' blog can be found here

Recipe

Card- Rose Red, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamps- Circle Circus, Whimsical Words (Sale-A-Bration set)
Ink- Whisper White, Stampin' Pastels (Rose Red,Certainly Celery, Yoyo Yellow, Ballet Blue and Taken With Teal)
Punches- scallop circle and 1 3/8" circle punch
Equipment- Paper trimmer, sponge daubers, dimensional

I made a card base using rose red cardstock, then cut a piece of basic black slightly smaller than the base.  Using whisper white ink and the circle circus stamp set I stamped a mixture of different circles onto the black card then used the sponge daubers to pounce the Stampin' Pastels onto the ink.

To finish it off I used rose red ink and the 'you're too kind' sentiment fro the Sale-A-Bration set Whimsical Words to stamp a sentiment on some whisper white cardstock before puching it out using one of our circle punches. I then punched a scalloped circle from rose red cardstock and attached the sentiment before attaching to the card using a dimensional.

Hope you like it!

helen x

A First Attempt

This is just a quickie.  This idea was CASED from a card that Amanda showed me during training in November.  My Nan has never made a card in her life and was so excited for me when I became a Stampin' Up! demo that she said she insisted that she wanted to try a card.  This is her attempt and she wanted me to apologise profusely to Amanda, so sorry Amanda! (she did try very hard)

Puppies and handbags

As promised I have photo's of my beloved Radley handbag and the 2 gorgeous puppies that I spent Christmas with.  I apologise now for the length of this post and for the lack of craft!

I was so excited when I got my bag that I have to admit that I didn't really look at everything inside, look at what I found when I did!

There is a tote bag inside, approx 13x13 inches! Perfect for scrapbooks/ designer papers,12x12 cardstock. There was also this sweet little purse

Then, I found this little leather envelope.  Guess who was inside...???

 

And now for the aww factor.

This is Peroni.....

and Mango

 

 

They are cute but have way too much energy.

I will be back later to post todays "A Good Egg" card and the candle/card that my hostesses will be receiving in January.

Bye for now!

xx

Easter Card

Okay, so I may be starting these a bit early but I got carried away with my new stamp set- "A Good Egg". It's so versatile and works really well with the colours in the Soft Subtles family.

 This card took approx 15-20 minutes to make and is one that I am going to be doing in my Easter class.  Although you can't see it in the picture, the bottom of the chick picture is actually 3D. I inked up just the shell part of the chick stamp, coloured it with a marker, then cut it out and attached using a dimensional.  If you wish to CASE it, feel free to contact me for instructions :)

Recipe

Card stock- Whisper White, Barely Banana, Certainly Celery

Ink-Black Staz-On, Certainly celery, Apricot Appeal.  Barely Banana and Certainly Celery Stampin' Write Markers from the Soft Subtles set

Stamps- A Good Egg- Chick, flower and sentiment

Ribbon- 1/4" Certainly Celery

Tools/adhesive- 1 dimensional, SNAIL tape pen, trimmer, scissors

How long ago..? Oops!

Honestly, I really didn't mean to leave it so long between blogs! I have been a busy bee though.  We have quite a few family birthdays in December, including mine, so we had family gatherings and pressies galore.  Unfortunately in between all the fun stuff we had holes in ceilings, collapsing floors, severed pipes,broken boilers and kidney stones!

We spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day at my aunties house, opening pressies, eating too much and playing with her 2 new Spinone pups (pics to follow!).  Oh, and for anyone who saw my facebook status about having found the perfect pressie before Christmas, it was something that my family agreed to buy for me.  It's green, it's lovely, it's a little on the huge side to hold all my junk - it's my new Radley handbag!!! (more pics to follow).

On the crafting front I have been creating a new website, holding my first workshop, planning clubs/classes and playing with my new stamps!  My "A Good Egg" set has just arrived and I'm amazed at how many non-Easter projects I have already used it for!  One of my New Year's resolutions is to be more organised so all being well I will have a post and new card to show you every day next week!  Fingers crossed for this resolution lasting longer than my usual 2 days of giving up chocolate!

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year and that you have a fantastic 2010!

Bye for now
Helen xxx