IJust popping by with some advance notice that the Clearance Rack is due to update tomorrow (which may in fact be from 11pm tonight) and there will be lots of new items available at a discount. As is always the case, popular items will sell out quickly, so don't spend too long deliberating - get in there quick! There will undoubtedly be some great bargains - why not hop on over and take a look?

Click here to go the clearance rack in my online store and grab a bargain whilst stocks last! Don't forget to include the current hostess code 3XTNB243 and make sure that I am selected as your demonstrator in order that you receive a 'thank you' in the post from me. 

Race you to the shop - first one there gets the bargains! Happy shopping! 

I hope you are all enjoying the start of a long bank holiday weekend. We have already enjoyed a morning of fresh air, followed by an afternoon of chocolate and a movie to avoid the return of the rain here in the UK. I am so done with winter now!

Today I thought I would share with you the first of the projects that I made with the ladies that attended my recent luxury craft weekend earlier this month. I won't be sharing any instructions on how they were made - these are reserved for those that attended - however I am sharing lots of photos of the projects that I designed as it is a great way for my readers to get a flavour of what a residential crafting retreat with me is like and the kinds of projects included. With 4 classes spread over 2 days, it's a great opportunity to tackle a variety of projects and also some that are a little more time-consuming than can be completed in a class that is of a shorter duration.

Today I'm sharing one of my favourite projects: a mini album I made featuring the Sweet Soiree Memories and More cards that are one of the current Sale-A-Bration gifts that can be yours free with a purchase of £45 or more, for just over another 24 hours:

Berry Burst cardstock forms the base of this expandable album and in addition to the Sweet Soiree Memories and More card pack, the Sweet Soiree Embellishment Kit has been used to decorate the cover and inside. 

This is what album looks when you first open it:

Fully extended, the album is four panels wide:

Each side then expands further to include additional flaps and pockets on both sides:

The album includes lots of areas to add photographs and capture memories, including this neat waterfall feature:

This album was certainly the most challenging of the projects we tackled during the retreat and was not for the fainthearted! The feedback was really positive though and everyone was so pleased with their creations; some ladies reported feeling truly amazed and thrilled to have tackled something like this, which they would not have ever contemplated on their own. I was personally thrilled with how positively this was received, as I've never led a class quite like this before. I'm already taking the learns from this project to create another version that is equally 'wow' yet a little easier to recreate.

If you would like to make projects like this one at a future retreat, please sign up to my newsletter by clicking on the icon in the right-hand column to ensure you receive the information for future retreats as soon as it is released or click here for more information - details for my next retreat will be announced in the coming weeks!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your evening and I'll be back tomorrow with one last project featuring Sale-A-Bration item. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sweet Soirée Memories & More Card Pack (£0.00)

Sweet Soirée Embellishment Kit (£10.00)

Berry Burst A4 Cardstock (£7.25)

It's Wednesday already - happy hump day! Today I'm sharing a card that I made for a little challenge that I'm currently having with my team.

My team consists of people from all walks of life and each of them wants something different from their Stampin' Up! demonstratorship: whether they are actively running a business and using it as their main source of income, sellling to friends and family to provide family 'extras' or simply enjoying their hobby and enjoying a discount on their Stampin' Up! purchases, there is one thing that unites us all - a shared love of crafting! I like to set them challenges from time to time and one of our current ones is using the new 'Celebrate Every Day' Project Life memory keeping collection from Stampin' Up!

Each of my team were given a selection of cards in various sizes from the Celebrate Every Day card collection and one of the pockets from the 6" x 8" variety pocket pack and asked to come up with one or more projects that could be shared with the group, adding whatever additional accessories they had to hand. I love the bright, summery colours of this particular collection and so I couldn't wait to use some of mine to make a cheery card for a friend of mine who is going through a rough patch - take a look:

 Here's the low-down on today's card:

Celebrate The Every Day with Project Life - The Celebrate The Every Day Project Life set has some great sentiments to illustrate your Project Life pages and record those special times with loved ones. They can also work as the focal point for a card too: I've used one of the 3" x 4" cards that I cropped to focus on the sentiment, which is perfect for someone going through a rough patch to let them know you are thinking of them. I then backed this with one of the bright floral 3" x 4" cards for a burst of summer flowers and pop of colour. The final element to my card was a Watermelon Wonder Heart embellishment that I cropped out of one of my lined Project Life journalling cards with my circle Stitched Shape Framelit Dies. I love how these framelits add just the right amount of detail to frame a sentiment or image.

Co-ordinating Accessories - One of the great things about the Stampin' Up! project Life range is that it exclusively features Stampin' Up! colours. This makes it so easy to go to your craft supplies and instantly find other items that will co-ordinate. The colour palette for the Celebrate Every Day range looks like this, along with the addition of Basic Black and Whisper White as neutrals:

I chose to use some A4 Daffodil Delight cardstock for my base and mat, along with a punched circle of Watermelon Wonder and two pieces of Emerald Envy 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon on my card. Effortless co-ordination - one of the many reasons I love to craft with Stampin' Up! products!

I'm A Hoot And You Can Be Too - The Hoots are the lovely bunch that make up my Stampin' Up! team (The Crafty Owl - Hoots - get it?! ;-) ) and I would love to welcome you too. If you've ever thought about joining Stampin' Up!, now is a great time time to do so. During Sale-A-Bration, your starter kit is extra special as not only do you get your choice of £130/175 Euros worth of product for £99/129 Euros, but you get to choose an additional 2 stamp sets FOR FREE - that could be worth as much as an extra £93/126 Euros. There are so many ways in which you can benefit from being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator- please do give me a call on 07773 421446 or email me if you'd like to discuss further.

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Celebrate Every Day Project Life Card Collection

Ribbon Taffeta 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Emerald Envy

Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock

Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock

Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies

I hope you are enjoying the weekend! I managed to squeeze in a little crafting time this afternoon and made a card for this week's challenge over at Mojo Monday:

I had been sorting through some Project Life and was struck by the lovely natural florals and phrases in my Hello Lovely card box so decided to use one of them as the focal point for my card today. Take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Hello Lovely Project Life - The Hello Lovely Project Life set has some great sentiments to illustrate your Project Life pages and record those special times with loved ones. They can also work as the focal point for a card too: I've used one of the 3" x 4" cards that I cropped to focus on the sentiment. 

Mix It Up - I am always torn when it comes to using PL cards for something other than memory-keeping; I love to use them in my recording too much! I wanted to use the leaf pattern and black and white watercolour striped cards for the circle and background elements of my card, but they both had designs on the reverse that I wanted to use for memory-keeping. How did I solve my dilemma? I found some very similar patterned papers in the retired English Garden and Go Wild designer series papers that I could use instead - crisis averted!

Pool Party Blue - Black and white are the dominant colours on my card, but the hint of green and the blue Pool Party base picked out from flowers on the PL card, belly band, twine and sequin embellishment play a key role in lightening and brightening this otherwise monochromatic colour scheme. 

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

Enjoy your day and I'll be back tomorrow with this week's card for our new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Hello Lovely Project Life Card Collection

Hello Lovely Project Life Accessory Pack

Pool Party A4 Cardstock

It's Wednesday already? The week is zipping by! I'm sure that time moves quicker the nearer to Christmas we get! I have a great festive monochromatic Christmas card for you today: big on layers, easy to recreate - just what we like at this time of year! I made today's card with a couple of challenges in mind:

The sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch this week is a classic and I just love the inspiration photo at CanYouCaseIt - so much shine! I took my inspiration from the red and white elements and the shiny foil which I incorporated into the border frame for my card:

Isn't that striped Holiday vellum just gorgeous? I matted it on a piece of Whisper White cardstock before adhering to my Real Red base so that the red foil stripes would really stand out. For the focal point of my card, I used the sentiment from the 'Cheer All Year' stamp set - so versatile - and my little hot cocoa mugs are from the 'Project Life Hello December 2015' stamp set - another one of those sets that is useful for so much more than its designed purpose.

Are any of you out there joining in with the #decemberdaily project? I love to create a Project Life mini-album each December documenting the goings on in the James household during the festive season, so the above stamp set was a must for me to decorate this year's journalling, along with the Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection and Accessory Kit:

I'm mindful that I don't often share my Project Life documenting here on my blog - I just tend to get on with it! - but I'm trying to consciously change that, so throughout December I will be sharing some of the inspiration for my daily journalling and occasionally some of my completed pages in the hope that they will inspire you to get involved in active memory keeping too. Yesterday's page will feature the arrival of our Christmas Elf Charlie, who often gets up to mischief in the run up to Christmas and yesterday appeared with a fun piece of home decor I made to remind the James Juniors that good behaviour is important more now than ever since the elf will be reporting back to Santa on everything he sees and hears:

Isn't that fun? Surprisingly easy to create with the help of my e-cutter and some Stampin' Up! cardstock. Here's a picture of Charlie as he made his first appearance of the year:

This morning Ben was out of bed, up and dressed in record time and off on the hunt for Charlie to see what mischief he had got up to overnight; he eventually found him hiding in the basil pot amongst the herbs on the kitchen windowsill. Here's to more mayhem as the month progresses!

If you would like to join me in documenting your December, it's not too late to order the supplies to create your own album; just click on the links below to go to the online store or give me a call and I would be happy to place an order for you. More tips and Project Life #decemberdaily inspiration to come! Equally, if you would like to share your own #decemberdaily memories, feel free to upload them to my Facebook page here - I would love to feature them.

That's all from me today; I'll be back tomorrow with a festive card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary. until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set	Cheer All Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Holidays Fancy Foil Designer Vellum	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Cardstock
Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Project Life #dailydecember Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Project Life Hello December 2015 Photopolymer Stamp Set

Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection

Hello December 2015 Project Life Accessory Pack

Kraft 6" X 8" Project Life Album

Variety Pack 6" X 8" Project Life Photo Pocket Pages

Project Life Journaling Pens

It's Wednesday so that means a new collection of Wednesday Weekly Deals! This week's deals are included below - they will be available for one week only, before a new collection of deals is announced.

As always, if you want to take advantage of any of the deals on offer, you can support my business by placing your order online by clicking here or using the link to my store on the right hand side of my blog page where it says 'Shop Online' or with me in person. Don't forget to add the Hostess Code for March 4AHTZQVW and be sure to make sure that you don't check the 'no contact' box if you'd like to be kept updated with the progress of you order and receive a little thank you in the post from me. 

Here's a summary of this week's one-week only Wednesday deals - click on each item to go to the online store to purchase:

Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Card Stock A4 Pistachio Pudding	Envelope Punch Board
Gold Soiree Specialty Designer Series Paper	Regals Designer Series Paper Stack	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock

My all-time favourite product in there, the Envelope Punch Board - an absolute bargain at only £13.46 - and also some great offers on paper. I used the Gold Soiree paper on the card I shared on Monday - see it here - and you can stock up on A4 cardstock in two of the soon-to-be-retiring 2013-15 In-colours. Cardstock, along with markers, ink pads and re-inkers in Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar are all set to leave us at the end of May and are usually the first things to run out when the list of retiring products from the current catalogue are announced, so if these colours are favourites of yours, stock up now before it's too late.  

This is the last opportunity you will have this year to place an order where your Weekly Deals purchases can go towards earning a free Sale-A-Bration product with a spend of £45. There are a whole host of catalogue and exclusive products that you can receive free with a £45 order - see them all on the links in the side bar on the right hand side.

Here is a card I made with one of the free Sale-A-Bration stamp sets, called 'A Happy Thing':

This is a card I made a few weeks ago and haven't yet shared with you, which in addition to the lemon stamp also features one of the patterns in the Best Year Ever DSP pack, another exclusive Sale-A-Bration item. If these or any other Sale-A-Bration items are on your wish list, you have only 7 more days to acquire them. So what are you waiting for? I'll be back tomorrow with a card for this week's new challenge over at Create With Connie and Marie. Until then, happy shopping!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

A Happy Thing Clear Stamp Set	Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Ovals Collection Framelits Dies	Whisper White A4 Card Stock
Daffodil Delight A4 Card Stock	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi A4 Card Stock	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Blender Pens

Today I have something a little different to share with you, having take this week's sketch over at Pals Paper Arts and the colour palette over at Create with Connie and Mary this week as my starting point:

I decided I needed to feature a sentiment in the rectangle running across the front of the sketch and was about to go off in search of some nice DSP to use for the background, when I remembered an idea I had when perusing through my Project Life cards recently. I love Project Life and generally don't use my PL supplies to make cards, because I can't bare the thought of not having them to use in my album (weird, I know - I could just buy more, right?!), however I have a box of the PL Love Story cards that I won at Stampin' Up! Convention last November that I haven't used as I'm not even close to using them to PL my wedding (or anyone else's for that matter) and had been looking at recently to see what else I could use them for, particularly with Valentine's Day and my wedding anniversary coming up. I decided to take a couple of them and use them for my card today:

My card is quite an unusual size, as I wanted to use most of the 4" x 6" Project Life card on the central panel, so I shaved a little from the width and then measured my mat and base card from there. All of the cards in the Love Story PL set are in black, white and shades of grey, although as my card shows it's not tricky to introduce a little colour. I used my inks and sponge daubers to sponge in some colour around each of the flowers on the central panel, then for my sentiment cut the top off one of the square PL cards and used a cotton bud (cue tip, for my US readers!) to add a little colour to the flower head and used my Bermuda Bay marker to colour in the leaves. I then finished my card with three narrow flags, one in each of the challenge colours, and a piece of Calypso Coral ribbon from the Best Year Ever Sale-A-Bration accessory pack. 

So no stamping on my card today and quite a different use for my Project Life cards - the sentiment is sufficiently generic it could be used for a variety of occasions. Right - I'm off to the opticians again; I've been trialling new contact lenses this week and need a final fitting. Don't worry, I'm not about to change my look - they are for occasional use only as deep-down I'm a committed specs wearer. Vanity is just not my thing :-)

Back tomorrow with a new set of weekly deals and another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Love Story Project Life Card Collection	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Sponge Daubers	Best Year Ever Accessory Pack

DON'T FORGET: 4 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FREE PACK OF PAPER FOR 6 MONTHS SIGN UP DEAL ENDS - CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE AND JOIN MY STAMPIN' UP! TEAM TODAY!

I'm back from Convention and will have more news on that tomorrow. Today has been all about catching up with my family, but I wanted to write a quick post to let you know that today Stampin' Up! has launched a new supplement to the Autumn-Winter Seasonal catalogue with a handful of new products that are guaranteed to get you in the mood for the festive season: 

If you click on the above image, it will take you to the full supplement. There are two main great products that I would really like to highlight to you:

The Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit - everything you need to create 26 stars that can be used as home décor or boxes for festive packaging and the largest of which measures a whopping 38 cm in diameter and would make a lovely alternative to a wreath with the addition of some wide ribbon. Check out the picture below showing just some of what's included, as demonstrated by Pam Morgan at the European Convention in Brussels this past weekend:

There is a also the 'Hello December' Project Life kit - perfect if you like to keep a 'daily December' record during the festive season.

I will be offering classes using both of the above products - I already have a Many merry Stars class scheduled for 24th November so if you'd like to attend call or email me for more details, more details on additional classes to follow - but meanwhile, do take a look at the supplement as all the items contained within it are only available WHILE STOCKS LAST - if you want to get you hands on them, I suggest you hop on over to the online store or give me a call as soon as possible to add your order to the one I'm placing tomorrow.

Back tomorrow with more creativity and fun; until then, happy stampin'!

Many Merry Stars Simply Created Kit	Hello December Project Life Card Collection	Hello December Project Life Accessory Pack	Project Life December Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set
Many Merry Stars Photopolymer Stamp Set	12 Days Of Christmas Wood-Mount Stamp Set

The wait is over - the new 2014-15 Stampin' Up! catalogue is finally here!

Click on the link below to access and download your own pdf copy of the catalogue - there will be a permanent link to the online catalogue as always in the bar on the right-hand side of the screen:

There are so many great new products - your wish list will be a long one! As always, if you're placing an online order don't forget to add the hostess code found in the 'shop online' box on the right hand side. For today only, if you place an order using the hostess code SM3CS22V you'll get a little something extra from me! Make sure you check the box that enables me to keep in touch with you - lots of customers that place orders with me online select 'no contact' as the default option and what many people don't realise is that this means I can't even contact you to update you with progress on shipment of your order or check that everything is ok - all of which are an important part of me providing you with good customer service. Besides, I like to be able to send out thank you cards too and little gifts from time to time - you wouldn't want to miss out on that would you?!

Right, I'm off to get my order in - come back tomorrow for more news and a special card that I've created using lots of new products. until then, happy stampin!

At last - the much-anticipated launch of Project Life by Stampin' Up! is here! You may remember me telling you a while ago that Stampin' Up! had entered into partnership with Becky Higgins, creator of Project Life, to offer an exclusive range of Project Life scrapbooking and journaling products - you can refresh yourself on the content of my previous post here. I'm very excited about this new venture, as it totally suits me and my way of life - I take hundreds of photographs each year and really want to capture my thoughts along with them, but don't have the time to create beautiful and detailed 12" x 12" scrapbook layouts each time. Project Life was made for me - a busy mum of two - and you too!

This pocket-based system of scrapbooking with lots of pre-printed pocket cards and fun embellishments mean that it is really easy to put a page together in super quick time and the Project Life range is definitely leading the way as far as memory-keeping is concerned. As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I have been able to order these items in advance and whilst I haven't had the opportunity to put a page together yet, I have opened the box of cards and accessory kit already and take it from me, they are gorgeous - I can see lots of cardmaking possibilities with them too!

The new Stampin' Up! 2014 Annual Catalogue available here on 1st July will offer a complete Project Life product line with additional journaling card and accessory sets for every possible theme and life event you can imagine (weddings, babies, children, travel), but the range that has been pre-released today is as follows:

To get started

• Photo pocket pages - a pack of 12" x 12" pocket pages in a variety of layouts, but each with standard pocket sizes to enable easy construction. No cutting, scissors or glue required!
• Pre-printed designer journaling cards - can be used portrait or landscape and are double-sided; you can create 2 pages at the same time if you want to! They also come in a handy, rather sturdy box that can be used to keep your cards, journaling pens and accessories together and to hand - talk about scrapbooking 'to go'!Corner punch - you can leave your cards and photos square, or round them using the punch - it's entirely up to you
• Journalling pens - a pair of pens to capture your thoughts, notes and memories as you go - and lots more besides!

To really make your pages unique to you

• Accessory Pack - lots of stickers and co-ordinating embellishments to enable you to add a little something to your basic journaling layouts.
• Corner Punch - straight edges or rounded corners for your photos and journalling cards, or mix and match - it's up to you!
• Stamps - sets of photopolymer stamps that include days and dates and lots of useful shapes and icons to bring your pages to life.
• Framelits - a set of framelits to enable you to quickly and easily crop both photos, cards and labels in super-quick time.

The Project Life system works so well for young and old, novice or experienced scrapbooker and you can devote as much or as little time to it as you want and still be sure of great results: you can create quick and simple layouts or spend more time embellishing to your hearts content with the accessory packs or any other items from the Stampin' Up! range - because these ranges have been created exclusively for Stampin' Up!, you know they will fully co-ordinate with all your other Stampin' Up! crafting products - LOVE that!

I'm really looking forward to sharing my Project Life projects with you; if you can't wait to get started on your own, then click on the links below to purchase any of the pre-released items from my online store today. I've also included the links for a number of themed Project Life downloads that are available already in My Digital Studio. Watch this space for more details on my 'Introduction to Project Life' Classes that I will be running later in the year - you are not going to want to miss them!

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

Project Life by Stampin' Up! Products Now Available to Purchase - just click on the photo to go to my online store:

Variety Pack 12" X 12" Project Life Photo Pocket Pages	Everyday Adventure Project Life Card Collection	Project Life Journaling Pens	Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack
Project Life Corner Punch	Project Life Point & Click Photopolymer Stamp Set	Project Life Day To Day Photopolymer Stamp Set	Cards & Labels Project Life Framelits Dies
Everyday Adventure Digital Project Life Cards - Digital Download	Happiness Is Project Life Cards - Digital Download	Little Moments Project Life Cards - Digital Download	Playground Project Life Cards - Digital Download
Project Life Day To Day Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download	Project Life Point & Click Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download	Project Life Remember This Stamp Brush Set - Digital Download