Good evening to you blog readers! I'm having a catch up this evening, since in addition to it being MDS Weekly Download Day I have another two fantastic offers to share with you this week. The first of this week's new offers is perfect for personalised packaging with minimum fuss and maximum convenience and impact:

There are 2 separate bundles available:

Bundle 1 - Holiday Tag It Extra Large Box Bundle at £16.95, comprising:

• a Stamp A Tag Kit
• 3 Extra Large Gift Boxes
• a 9.1m roll of Cherry Cobbler 1" (2.5cm) Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

Bundle 2 - Holiday Tag It Decorative Box Bundle at £17.95, comprising:

• a Stamp A Tag Kit
• 6 Decorative Window Gift Boxes
• a 9.1m roll of Cherry Cobbler 1" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

Both of these bundles represent a 20% saving on the individual prices, so now there's no excuse for every parcel to be packaged with the hand-finished touch. This offer is valid until 30th November, so if you would like to order either click on either of the above pictures to go straight to my online store or contact me to add to a local order today!

Back shortly with an MDS Offers post; until then, happy stampin!

For my second post today, I am delighted to announce that the new Thinlit Card Dies are here and available in my online store NOW! If you've ever made a 'flip' card the long way, you will love these new framelit dies - they make making cards like this a breeze!

Here's one made by one of Stampin' Up!'s designers:

This is how it opens ...

The whole thing can be created in minutes by running your chosen cardstock through the Big Shot with the Thinlit layout of your choice - there is both a circle and label layout to choose from. Both sets come with a variety of additional pieces to add to your creativity, either on your flip cards or can be used separately with other cards and projects - this is what they look like:

Stampin' Up have produced a great video showing the Thinlits in action; take a look:

Aren't they great? I'm looking forward to sharing some of my creations with you in the coming days and weeks; if you can't wait and need to order either of the framelit sets now, then pop along to my online store or give me a call today - at only £29.95 they are great value and offer endless possibilities!

I'll be back tomorrow with a card to share; until then, happy stampin'!

 As promised lovely blog readers, there is lots of news and information today, so there are few posts to cover it all!

The first news today is that as you now this year is Stampin' Up's 25th Anniversary and whilst it has been celebrating all year round, this week is the week of the actual birthday, 25th October - so there is a fantastic offer to celebrate: a sale on stamps, 25% off 25 sets to be exact!

Check out the stamp sets included in the sale offer below (both wood and clear mount are included, and English, French and German language sets, although the links below will take you to the English language clear-mount sets in my online store):

These stamps are available at this price for one week only, until 28th October; afterwards they will return to their standard catalogue price. As always, you can order directly from my online store by clicking on any of the images above. Don't forget to use this month's Hostess Code -  4DS9WR2Q - in order to go into the draw for this month's hostess benefits. Alternatively, if you live local to me and would like to add you items to my order and collect from me, then give me a call or email your order through and you will save on postage.

25 great savings to be had - which one (or two!) will you be treating yourself to?

Back shortly with more news; until then, happy stampin'!

Another busy day today with the first of this week's card classes. I will share some 'makes' tomorrow - meanwhile, I have a fantastic offer to share with you today. As part of Stampin' Up's 25th anniversary celebrations, there is an amazing sign up offer: for 2 weeks only, you can become a Stampin' Up demonstrator for only £25!

Key facts about this deal are as follows:

• The starter kit will be £25 and includes products of your choice up to the value of £26.95 (kit value must be more than £25 but less than £26.95)
• You will also receive a business supplies pack including annual and seasonal catalogues, with free p&p
• You will receive a 20% discount on every order you place
• You will also receive a 30% discount on the first order you place over £150 within the first 30 days of sign up and a free stamp set of your choice from the 2013-14 Annual Catalogue
• You will receive 2 free months of Demonstrator Web Services
• If you reach £225 sales within the first quarter (ending 31st March 2014), you will maintain your demonstrator status until 30th June. If you don't, your demonstrator status will lapse, but without penalty; you have no obligation to purchase anything other than your starter kit if you don't want to.
• If you join my growing team, you will get to benefit from my knowledge, help and support in addition to that of one of the UK's most successful teams of demonstrators and the considerable resources provided by Stampin' Up itself.

Whether you want to feed your own crafting habit by having access to discounted craft supplies, or would like to earn a little (or a lot!) extra income and run your own business, I am here to support you in any way I can.

Remember, this offer is valid for 2 weeks only (the £99 starter kit will not be available during this time) until 21st October; contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like to know more or alternatively sign up here today!

Back tomorrow with a project; meanwhile, I look forward to hearing from you!

Great news party go-ers: as Stampin' Up! continues to celebrate its 25th birthday, there is a great hostess benefit offer this month: for anyone who hosts a party during the month of October and has qualifying sales of £250, you will earn an extra £25 worth of hostess credits to spend on any items in the current catalogue - so £65 of free products, instead of the usual £40.

In addition to hostess benefits, you and your guests have fun and get to make a lovely 'make and take' card each and the hostess receives a gift for hosting - suitably festive themed!

So if you live in or around Northampton, text your friends and give me a call on 07773 421446 to book your party today!

Online orders this month will also qualify for the additional hostess credits, so if you don't have time for a party, but would like to place an order, make sure you use this month's hostess code 4DS9WR2Q when placing an order in my online store to ensure you benefit.

So not only is it the first of the month, but it's Tuesday, which is also Digital Download Day for the latest My Digital Studio (MDS) Releases. Here is the linky button to the new downloads in my online store:

I've also included the pictures below of this week's downloads just to whet your appetite for what's available - lots of Christmas-themed items to choose from:

These pictures are not clickable - for full details, click on the date icon above which will take you directly to the online store.

For those of you who have taken advantage of the 30 day free trial of the MDS software, I hope you are enjoying exploring the opportunities that MDS has to offer. For those of you that haven't, what are you waiting for?! I have a few projects on the go which I will share with you in future posts, but today I thought I would share a simple postcard I made in MDS just to show you how easy it is. At the recent Stampin' Up! creative tour event I attended in Loughborough, we were challenged to create a postcard in MDS and complete the sentence "I love Stampin' Up! because..."

I used the basic stamps, punches and papers that come with the full £13.95 version of MDS - there are lots and lots to choose from! - and took my inspiration from my answer to the sentence. So here's the front of my postcard: 

I incorporated a number of tricks and techniques that I have picked up following the many learning video tutorials that are available online and just generally having a play. This was the reverse of my postcard:

So what do you think? I don't profess to be an expert, but honestly I really don't think you have to be to create great things. I have been using it to create scrapbook and photo book pages and this appeals to me much more than traditional scrapbooking. It's also a good way to display the many thousands of family photographs I have that just sit on my hard drive and never get seen by anyone but me!

If you would like to explore MDS, go to my online store and download either the 30 day free trial or the full version for just £13.95. For everyone that purchases MDS through my online store, I am happy to provide an 'Introduction to MDS' either in person, by phone or online, to enable you to get started. I will be sharing more of my creations as I complete them and would love to see your makes as you explore MDS too.

Back shortly with yet another post; until then, happy stampin'!

Well readers, it's the first of the month and there is lots of news, so there will be a few posts from me today, but you're going to want to read them all as there is lots of great product and promotional information, so bear with me and stay tuned! I promise I will also do a creative post too, as I have a fabulous autumnal card to share with you today. So first up - there is a new 'Best of' anniversary set this month; this time it's the turn of 'Best of Sale-A-Bration', featuring some beautiful flower images:

If you would like to order this stamp set, then either give me a call in the conventional way and I would be happy to place an order for you or hop over to my online store and place your order today. Don't forget, the other 'Best of' sets are also still available - you can see these by searching under the 'Promotions' category in the box to the right of my blog page.

From today, I will be issuing a mystery hostess code at the start of each month for my online store; if you add this code to your online orders, you will be entered into a draw at the end of the month to win the total hostess credits for all orders placed online during that month. So make a note - this month's hostess code is as follows (valid until 30th October):

4DS9WR2Q

So tell all your friends, as the more orders placed, the more hostess credits that will be accumulated - it's like hosting a party, without having to invite your friends round!

Please check the 'Party More, Get More' blog post today to see another special 25th anniversary offer for hosting a party this month. The additional hostess credits will also apply to online orders, so October is a great month to start accumulating some great benefits.

Back soon with a creative project; until then, happy stampin'!

My second post of the day today, so a quick creative one this time! I just wanted to share some thank you cards I made recently for some customers to pop into the bags with their orders. I made quite a few, so needed something that was quick to execute. I decided to use a selection of the butterflies in the Papillion Potpourri stamp set to create this simple one layer card:

I used the lovely pre-cut and scored Stampin' Up! notelets and the colour scheme was inspired by the Birthday Basics DSP that I also had out on my desk to make the card I'm going to share with you tomorrow. A simple sentiment and a co-ordinating stamped envelope and voila - a pretty card set in no time at all!

Don't forget, the Papillion Potpourri stamp set and co-ordinating Bitty Butterfly punch bundle is available to order at a 15% discount during the month of September, so you have just under a week to take advantage of this offer. If you live local to me, I will be placing an order later this week so if you would like to save on p&p contact me to add you order to it. Otherwise just go to my online store to place your order by clicking on the supplies links below or for the bundle on the right hand side of my blog page.

Also, if you haven't yet checked out the Clearance Rack in my online store, go take a look! There are some great bargains to be had, with some items as much as 80% off.

Back tomorrow with another card; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

This is the first of two posts today: I thought my lovely crafty readers might appreciate a quick business update post to cover off some important news, offers and MDS information that I'm sure will be of interest to you.

Firstly, big news - The Clearance Rack is here!

You can get great discounts on retired product and add fantastic products to your collection. The Clearance Rack can only be viewed through my online store by clicking on the image above or via the link on the right hand side of my web page to start shopping. Only discontinued products will be listed and stocks will be available only whilst supplies last, so will be added to and removed on an ongoing basis. If you haven't already created an online account, it's really easy to do - check out my post here for more details.

Secondly, the Envelope Liners Framelits Dies have been discounted by 25% until further notice!

There are three dies in every pack of Envelope Liners Framelits (132218). Stampin' Up! have announced that they are going to make a small modification to the largest of the dies, to ensure that the corners are more rounded to co-ordinate with the Stampin' Up! C6 envelopes. In the meantime, the existing dies will be discounted by 25% until the new framelits are ready to go on sale (at the original price of £22.95). So if you fancy a bargain, the existing liners can be purchased for £16.95 until the new framelits are available.

Thirdly, here is the link to this week's MDS digital downloads:

If you haven't downloaded it already, there is a 30 day free trial for you to try if you would like to have a play before committing to the full version. Just go to my online store to download.

Back later with a quick creative post of the day; until then, happy stampin'!

A busy day today in more ways than one: both James Juniors returned to start a new school year today, but also some big news from Stampin' Up!:

Firstly, you can now shop with me online! 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; so if you have an urgent need for a roll of ribbon, or are awake in the early hours and have a sudden urge to start planning your next craft project, just click the 'Order Online' button on the right hand side of my page and start shopping. No need to change out of your pyjamas :-)

In addition to the button on the right, here is the link to my online shop for you to copy and save to your 'Favourites' bar:

http://joannejames.stampinup.net

All you need to do is go to my page, click on the 'Shop' button in the top right hand corner, then click on 'Create Account' on the left hand side, then you are ready to go. There is a flat fee delivery charge of £4.95 no matter how much you order, and your goodies will be delivered to your door by UPS within 3-5 days.

Secondly, for all of you who have been waiting since you saw the teaser on the back cover of this year's annual catalogue and have been waiting patiently - My Digital Studio (MDS) is here!

MDS allows you to embrace digital design the Stampin' Up! way: it's really easy to use with tons of fonts, stamps, punches and backgrounds included in the package. These, coupled with regular easy digital downloads will allow you to create and print your own custom-designed scrapbook pages, cards, invitations and other products with ease. Here's a link to an introductory video by Paula Gorry from Stampin' Up! UK showing you just how easy it is to create a tag in minutes:

I'll be sharing some of my own creations in due course, but if you can't wait to start using it yourself, you'll be excited to know that there is a 30 Day FREE MDS TRIAL available for you to download NOW! All you need to do is go to my online shop, create an account and look for the 'My Digital Studio' link on the left hand side and order it for immediate download (item number 130910). If this gets you hooked and you want to download the full version, this is available for the bargain price of just £13.95! Simply order MDS, item 130646, again for immediate download at £13.95. There are new digital downloads released every week, which I will share with you via my blog and Facebook pages.

That's all for now - any questions, please get in touch. Until next time, happy stampin'!