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'!

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'!

This is the first of two posts today, as there's lots of news to share! Firstly, I'm excited to announce that there is a new series of never-before seen single stamps available from today, all with a Christmas theme:

These stamps are available as clear-mount only (blocks available separately) and won't be sent in typical SU! cases or packaging; they'll be packaged in cello bags. If you'd like a case for your stamp, you can buy Clear-Mount Stamp Cases that come in packs of four separately (these are available in the main catalogue).

There are 8 different stamps to choose from, starting from £4.50. These stamps are only available through 31 January 2014 and will be great for cards and tags during the festive season, so get them while you can! Choose one or collect all eight - the choice is yours.

Secondly, as today is Tuesday it's the day for this week's My Digital Studio (MDS) downloads - click on the date buttons below to link to my online store to view them in more detail and to purchase. I've also included the links to the downloads for the last two weeks in case you're new to all this and want to catch up!

This week's downloads include the new in-colour ribbons, the Thankful brush and tablescape kit and some of the Christmas stamps from the current seasonal catalogue. 

If you haven't already looked at MDS, you should really consider downloading the free trial version from my store: you get a really comprehensive trial version for 30 days absolutely free, to help you decide whether you would like to go ahead and purchase the full version for £13.95. I would urge you to download it and take a look: whatever your area of interest - scrapbook pages, photo albums, cards, home décor and more - you will be amazed at the things you can create.

I'll be sharing some of my own MDS projects here on my blog in coming weeks - if you've already downloaded and started creating, do share your creations with me - I would love to see them.

Back shortly with today's creative post; until then, happy stampin!

No post yesterday, but two today to make up for it! Here's the first one. Great news - the Big Shot Magnetic Platform is back and now available to order again!

This is one of the 'unsung heroes' of this year's annual catalogue, although clearly I am not the only one to think so - some 13 weeks worth of stock sold out in about 3 weeks! I'm happy to report that supplies have now been restored, so if you've been eagerly awaiting yours, now's the time to order!

The magnetic platform makes light work of cutting cardstock with framelits; no longer do you need to rely on post-it notes and hope that they hold everything in place. If you would like to see the magnetic platform in action, here's a great video from Stampin' Up that shows you how it works:

If you would like to order a magnetic platform, either contact me or pop over to my online store now to purchase.

Back shortly with another post; 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'!