Given that today is all about the start of Sale-A-Bration and the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue, today's card had to celebrate that! You can read the full scoop on my previous post here, but right now I'm sharing a card made with 2 of the 3 co-ordinating products that can be yours free with each £45 purchase and a new punch from the Spring-Summer catalogue that is sure to be a hit! I used the sketch layout over at As You See It for my card today:

Here is my rather 3-dimensional card today - check out those bows:

A simple card base of Sahara Sand, stamped with the 'Best Day Ever' stamp from the stamp set of the same name (the hearts are also from the same set) and decorated with some ribbons from the 'Best Year Ever' accessories pack. Instead of tying bows with this lovely silky ribbon, I decided to finish this otherwise simple card with some overstated punched bows, made using the new Bow Builder punch - how cute are they?! These are just perfect for decorating little treat boxes and gifts and are made in a jiffy - check out this video from Stampin' Up! that shows you just how easy they are to make:

How clever and easy is that?! I can see us all getting through a whole bunch of glue dots with these - don't forget to add those to your order!!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Best Day Ever Photopolymer Stamp Set	Best Year Ever Accessory Pack	Bow Builder Punch	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad
Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock
Mini Glue Dots

Shake off the January blues, today is THE day - yes, the highlight of the Stampin' Up! calendar, Sale-A-Bration is here! No more sneak peeks - the catalogue is available, the shop is live andfrom now until 31st March the benefits are yours for the taking. You can click on the icon above or the catalogue on the right hand side of my blog page to access the Sale-A-Bration leaflet to download a copy or go directly to my online shop to place an order - we are LIVE!

So what is Sale-A-Bration? For anyone who hasn't come across it before, it's Stampin' Up!'s annual promotion that is loaded with offers whether you shop, party or join:

Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 6 January and 31 March. This includes the Blendabilities assortments in the annual catalogue -woohoo!

Earn an additional £20 in hostess credits when you host a party and have party sales of £200 or more (this also applies to individual orders). So for party sales of £200, that makes a whopping £50 of hostess credits - more freebies!

Sale-A-Bration is a great time to join Stampin' Up! In addition to your £99 starter kit and additional £31 of free product, you can choose one of the following options: either one of the great new project kits from the Spring-Summer catalogue or 2 of the Sale-A-Bration promotional items. Plenty of choice and flexilibity, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your 20% discount to enable you to purchase craft supplies more cheaply, or alternatively would like to build a flourishing direct sales business and sell supplies to others - it's entirely up to you.

If you would like to host a party, real or virtual, please do get in touch; my diary is filling up fast and I would love to share these great benefits with you. If you've ever thought about becoming an SU! demonstrator, now is a great time to do so - I would love to have a no-obligation chat with you about joining my team.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue - full of gorgeous new products, including the bunch of flowers on the front cover, which is one of the new kits:

How gorgeous is that?! Just click on the image above on in the sidebar on the right to browse the catalogue online, or contact me on 07773 421446 if you would like a paper copy posted out to you. If you are as excited as me and just can't wait, here's the link to my online store - everything is available to purchase from today!

Thanks so much for popping by today - it's always nice to share good news! Check out today's creative post to see a card made with some of the gorgeous new Sale-A-Bration products - click here for more details!

Welcome to my Sunday posting for The Paper Players where today Anne-Marie has a fun challenge to kick start us into the new year:

I also used Narelle's sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches for the layout of today's card. So "Everything Old is New Again" - use a recycled or re-purposed item on your project. So many possibilities! Here is my card for this week's challenge - can you see what my re-purposed item is?

I used the lovely bird stamp from one of the exclusive 2015 Sale-A-Bration stamp sets called 'A Happy Thing' which is perfect for colouring with Stampin' Up! Blendabilities. I'm not sure what bird this is supposed to be, but to me it looks like a kingfisher, hence my colouring with Pumpkin Pie and Bermuda Bay (yes, I know - a new colour coming in the Spring-Summer catalogue) Blendabilities. I cut my coloured image out with one of my circle framelits and mounted it on a window frame in Island Indigo. Did you identify my re-purposed item yet? It's my 'designer series paper' - the patterned paper is actually the inside cover of the Sale-A-Bration promotional wrapper that is attached to the outside of the new 2015 Stampin' Up! Spring-Summer catalogue! Take a look at the photo below and you'll see what I mean:

The moment I saw this paper I thought it would make a useful 'DSP' and it was perfect for the large expanse of background for today's card as the subtle pattern wouldn't detract from my stamped image and the blue-green colourway was perfect to suggest a watery scene for my bird. So not only does the new Spring-Summer catalogue have a ton of great new products for you, it comes with some free 'DSP' too! I have started distributing catalogues to my customers in readiness for this week's launch; if you are reading this and you don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like to be added to my customer mailing list, then please do get in touch.

I'm off to start de-Christmas-ing the house; before you go off in search of items that you can recycle on your projects this week, do visit the other design team members to see what interesting ideas they've had this week:

I look forward to seeing your projects featuring recycled and repurposed items in the gallery this week. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* 'A Happy Thing' stamp set - available 6th January - 31st March during Sale-A-Bration. Bermuda Bay Blendabilties - available 6th January.

Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Window Frames Collection Framelits Dies	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Pumpkin Pie Assortment
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Alcohol Marker Color Lifter	Island Indigo A4 Card Stock	Card Stock A4 Soft Sky	Pumpkin Pie A4 Card Stock
Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Smokey Slate Assortment

I've had a fun day today, amongst other things transforming my kitchen table into a table tennis court and hosting a craft party for an enthusiastic group of ten year olds this afternoon. But enough about my day; I managed to make a quick card yesterday for the current challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

This is such a simple sketch layout with so many possibilities and it was perfect for a simple 'I love you' card featuring one of the stamps from Pictogram Punches:

I used a Whisper White card base and created my bottom panel from a piece of Real Red cardstock edged with the Hearts border punch and overlaid this with a piece of Crisp Cantaloupe cardstock that I first dry embossed with the new Happy Heart Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, coming shortly in a few days time with the new Spring-Summer catalogue (I fussy cut the edge following the line of the hearts). I stamped my sentiment in Crisp Cantaloupe above the layered section, then using Real Red ink I overlaid a new 'love' stamp onto the heart - this stamp is from an exclusive Sale-A-Bration set called 'You Brighten My Day', available free with every order of £45 or more between January 6th - March 31st. It fits perfectly and makes the heart 'pop' a little. To finish, I added a thick baker's twine bow. 

I hope you like today's card. Back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Happy Heart TIEF and You Brighten My Day Stamp set available 6th January.

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad	Real Red A4 Card Stock	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Hearts Border Punch	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad
Card Stock A4 Crisp Cantaloupe	Crisp Cantaloupe Thick Baker's Twine	Pictogram Punches Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Today it's a special day: the Colour Me...! challenge is celebrating its first birthday and so the co-creators, the lovely Hayley and Tara, are hosting a party to celebrate! As one of the outgoing designers, I was invited to choose any previous challenge colour combination and create a card for this week's showcase. I decided to go with the creative choice from week 5, which enabled me to use some of the gorgeous new 'Best Year Ever' DSP from the 2015 Sale-A-Bration offering; I also used this week's sketch layout over at Create With Connie and Mary, as this layout was perfect for what I had in mind: 

As much as I've enjoyed making Christmas cards these past few months, I am so ready for a change! The colours of the promotional designer series paper and co-ordinating embellishment packs are like a breath of spring air - take a look:

I based the colour scheme for my card on the feature colours of the Best Day Ever papers - Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Soft Suede and Sahara Sand, with white as my neutral - isn't it a gorgeous colour combination for Spring? I used two pieces of the same paper for my card, paired with a couple of blocks of solid colour, as the background for my card, then used another Sale-A-Bration promotional item, the 'Big Day' stamp set to create my focal point. What better than a birthday cake with a single candle for a first birthday?! The sentiment is from the same set. I stamped them both in Soft Suede, before colouring with my Calypso Coral and Coastal Cabana Blendabilities. Did you know that Stampin' Up! Blendabilities work with many of the standard Stampin' Up! coloured ink pads, in addition to Memento Black? Sometimes an alternative colour outline works really well and can give a different effect. I decided to create a little 'badge' to anchor my sentiment, using a punched circle, a number 1 cut with my retired Typeset alphabet Bigz Die (you could use the Perfect Print Bigz Number Die as an alternative) and a punched gold glimmer star. I coloured the envelope to match and I even created a fancy sentiment inside my card:

Both the Best Day Ever DSP and the Big Day stamp set are items that could be yours free with a purchase of £45 or more during Sale-A-Bration; Slae-A-Bration starts early this year on 6th January, so not long to wait now! I made this card to congratulate Hayley and Tara on their first Colour Me...! anniversary, however it would work just as well for a child's first birthday I think in this colour scheme.

That's all from me today; do pop by the Colour Me...! challenge blog and see what other birthday delights are in store. I hope you have a fun New Year's Eve planned - mine will be a quiet one - and I'll be back tomorrow with another project; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

* Best Day Ever Designer Series Paper and Big Day stamp set available 6th January.

Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Calypso Coral Assortment	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana	Stampin' Blendabilities™ Markers Coastal Cabana Assortment	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry
Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch
1-1/4 Inch Circle Punch	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack	Gold Glimmer Paper	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

A quick (and late!) post from me today - I have one of the busiest weekends ever today and tomorrow. I've been putting the final touches to my class preparation for next week today and have spent the evening at the swimming pool with Rebecca as she was participating in a swimming gala. We are having a real 'girls versus boys' weekend; we each went to our separate swimming pools today (and Granny came along to watch Rebecca for the first time today too) and tomorrow Rebecca and I are travelling to London so that she can take part in an inter-school music festival with the rest of her school choir, whilst the boys have a fun day doing their own thing at home.

Anyway, with all that in mind there will be a couple of quick posts from me over the next couple of days. Today I'm sharing a gift I made for one of my customers who celebrated her birthday recently. If you follow me on Facebook, you will have see this photograph I posted yesterday of a lovely box I made using the Sweet Sorbet papers (yours free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration - only 2 more days to go to plae a Sale-A-Bration order!)and my Box Buster tool and Envelope Punch Board:

Today I thought I would share what was inside - a sweet little box frame:

Just a simple stamped sentiment, decorated with a punched butterfly and a few flowers stamped and punched using the Petite Petals stamp set and co-ordinating punch. A decorated frame makes a lovely gift.

Back tomorrow with a card (or two!); until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper	Chalk Talk	Spiral Flower Originals Die	Calypso Coral A4 Card Stock	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad
Whisper White 5/8 Inch Organza Ribbon	Envelope Punch Board	Perfect Pennants	Petite Petals Clear-Mount Bundle	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock	Brights Stampin' Write Markers	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad	Tangerine Tango Classic Stampin' Pad	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
Subtles Stampin' Write Markers	Bitty Butterfly Punch	Basic Pearls Jewel Accents

There are 10 days left until the end of Sale-A-Bration. Lots of you have taken advantage of the extra hostess benefits on offer to host a party or received one or more of the great free gifts on offer with every £45 spend. Today I thought I would take the opportunity to remind you of the benefits of joining Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration:

• The starter kit will be £99 and includes products of your choice up to the value of £150 - this is a whopping £51 of extra product!
• You will also receive a business supplies pack including annual and seasonal catalogues, order forms, etc.
• 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
• You will receive 2 free months of Demonstrator Web Services
• If you reach £225 sales within the first quarter (ending 30th June 2014), you will maintain your demonstrator status until 30th September. 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. You will receive your own team welcome pack from me, along with your own complimentary copy of my demonstrator software Product Table Builder worth £35 

Here's part of the welcome pack I sent to one of the lovely ladies who joined my team recently, designed to co-ordinate with a card I made for the Mojo Monday challenge recently (you can read more about how I made the card here):

In addition she also received a handbook and other items that will be useful as she grows her Stampin' Up! business. 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.

You have just 10 days to take advantage of the enhanced Sale-A-Bration sign up offer: contact me on 07773 421446 or joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk if you would like to know more or alternatively sign up here today!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies used:

Simply Celebrate	Kaleidoscope Designer Series Paper	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Stamp-A-Ma-Jig	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
Magnetic Platform	Perfect Pennants	Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay	Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry	Card Stock A4 Strawberry Slush
Strawberry Slush Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black A4 Card Stock	Circles Collection Framelits Dies	Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder	Squares Collection Framelits Dies
Versamark Pad	Black Stampin' Emboss Powder	Heat Tool - Uk Plug

So, who's loving Sale-A-Bration 2014? All my customers are for sure - it's the best time of the Stampin' Up! year, with a free gift each and every time you spend £45 and so much to choose from. You can click on the 'Sale-A-Bration' icon on the right of my home page for a complete overview of all the gifts on offer, however today I'm going to share with you one of my favourites if you are short on time, but still want cards that are high on impact: the Good As Gold card kit. The kit comes complete with everything you need to make 8 cards with co-ordinating gold-lined envelopes, even pre-stamped sentiments; here's what the finished cards will look like straight out of the kit:

Pretty, right? As is often the way though with Stampin' Up! card kits, the packs are very generous and include lots of bits and pieces, but with a few extra envelopes and card bases, you can make your card kit go even further. Here's an example of a slightly altered version of the basic kit card:

I simply cut the card in half and used it as a piece of DSP, picking out one of the feature colours (in this case Tangerine Tango) and using it for a card base. The pre-stamped tags in the kit come in 3 different languages and you could simply stamp your own additional tags, but since I think everyone is familiar with 'thanks' in both French and German, I figured I would just use the additional pennants in the kit. The stars are those punched out from the gold pennants that come in the pack and the gold banner is cut from an offcut of gold foil and you can even cut down the envelope liners and make two from one, to insert into a standard SU! notecard envelope. I also added some leftover baker's twine from a Tag a Box kit.

I made 10 cards out of my kit, but if you really wanted to stretch your kit, you could easily make 16 cards with a few extra bits and pieces. Here's my full collection of completed cards: 

I'm using my cards as thank yous to pop in with my next customer orders; when I went to make my carrier bag labels too, I decided to create my tags using the same colour scheme: 

If you would like to get your hands on a Good As Gold card kit, you have only 13 more days to place a £45 order to get this or one of the other Sale-A-Bration items free. So what are you waiting for? Follow the links below to place an order in my online store or contact me if you live locally - I'm always on hand to help.

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Good As Gold Card Kit

Angled Tag Topper Punch

Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay

Tangerine Tango A4 Card Stock

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

Firstly, I would like to say thank you to everyone who left comments on my blog and Facebook pages in the last couple of days about my new Box Buster from The Crafty Owl tool - I'm so glad that you are all finding this tool useful. Please feel free to share with anyone and everyone you know who likes box making and has an Envelope Punch Board; it takes all the guesswork out of box making! I have another Box Buster video tutorial for you tomorrow, but meanwhile I want to share my card for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players, where Ann's theme challenge this week is to make a 'Thankful for Spring' thank you card. I decided to combine the challenge with the one over at the Fusion Card Challenge, where I used the colours in the photo and the unusual sketch layout as the inspiration for my card:

I've invested in a few new sets of flower stamps lately, so was a little spoilt for choice, but decided that the lovely Sale-A-Bration Petal Parade stamp set would work perfectly with the sketch layout. Lots of my customers have chosen this item as their free Sale-A-Bration gift so I'm keen to share ideas with them on how to use it. Here's my card:

I chose a base od Summer Starfruit, then added a Whisper White layer that I had stamped with the Petal Parade flowers. I then added a top layer in Pool Party with a circle cut using my Circle Framelits to reveal the flowers beneath. I added my simple 'thanks' sentiment to the white layer beneath the curved edge of the top layer and added the Petal Parade border stamp for definition. To finish, I added some of the Summer Starfruit Sale-A-Bration baker's twine, first punching some little notches out of the Pool Party layer with the point of my mosaic punch to ensure the twine sits flat and evenly across the front of my card.

I hope you like my card; check out the links above to see what the respective design teams have created for these challenges for some great inspiration and ideas. Back tomorrow with another Box Buster video tutorial; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Petal Parade Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack	Lots Of Thanks	Whisper White A4 Card Stock	Summer Starfruit Classic Stampin' Pad
Summer Starfruit A4 Card Stock	Pistachio Pudding Classic Stampin' Pad	Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party A4 Card Stock
Mosaic Punch	Magnetic Platform	Big Shot Die-Cut Machine	Circles Collection Framelits Dies

Good morning blog readers and crafters! Back nice and early this morning with the second of my video tutorial posts showing you how to make any size box using your Envelope Punch Board and my new Box Buster tool. I've started early on my Easter treat boxes, so today's box shows you how to make this cute box:

The finished dimensions of today's box are 100mm x 75mm x 15mm. It was designed to fit a specific Easter treat - but you'll have to watch the video below to find out what it was! My new Box Buster from The Crafty Owl tool is just great for that - you can easily create a box to fit your chosen contents, without any hassle or wasted paper - you just measure the thing you want to put in the box, input the dimensions into the Box Buster tool and it does all the hard work for you: it will tell you exactly what size paper you need and where to make your first and second punch markings.

Today's project was worked out in millimetres, but the Box Buster tool will let you construct your box in either millimetres or inches - you choose! Here's the link to today's video tutorial:

Wasn't that SOOO easy?! Keep following this week as there are more box tutorials to come, showcasing a variety of box types with handy hints and tips for making the most of your Envelope Punch Board and my new Box Buster tool.

Back soon with another project; until then, happy stampin' (and box making!)

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: