The wait is over - it's June 1st and the new 2016-17 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is here! I have updated my links on the right hand side of my blog and you will find a permanent link to the new catalogue there, but for today you need look no further than the picture below which will take you straight to the new catalogue:

The catalogue is fantastic, with so many great new products to choose from. The new catalogue is posted above and will be permanently linked via my blog on the right hand side if you don’t have a paper copy and wish to browse. If you have your paper copy and just want to go straight to the shop to place your order, click here. Don't forget to add the hostess code for June B3C3DUB6 if your order is less than £150 and ensure your preferences are set to 'contactable' to receive a thank you in the post from me.

I'll be sharing my favourite items in a blog post later this week, but for now I have news of another very important promotion to share with you:

• Earn Additional Stampin' Rewards with a single order or qualifying party sales  You can earn an additional £30 in Stampin' Rewards when you place an individual order for or reach qualifying party sales of £300 or more during the month of June. Here is a reminder of the rewards you can earn when you host a party, along with the details of the promotion:

Don't forget these Stampin' Rewards can also be used towards a starter kit if you choose to join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator - making the starter kit even better value! I still have some calendar dates free in June so if you would like to host your own Stampin' Up! party and take full advantage of the extra rewards, then please do get in touch! 

• Want To Get Hands On With New Products? Save The Date - I will be holding my Annual Catalogue Open House Launch next week on Thursday 8th June - if you live in or around Northampton this is a great opportunity for you to see some of the products up close, take advantage of my BOGOF sale of retired stamp sets, do a make and take and more! If you would like to put your name down for this exclusive event then do get in touch!

That's a lot of information for one post; if I were you I would put the kettle on, put your feet up and get comfy and settle down with your new catalogue for a browse and start creating that all-important wish list!

Back tomorrow with a new project; until then, happy shopping!

Wednesday already - this week is flying by! Today I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch:

This is one of those sketches with so many possibilities. I decided to use one of my favourite hostess stamp sets in the new catalogue for my fun card today - take a look:

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

Feathery Friends - One of the best things about getting a new catalogue is that it always contains a new set of exclusive hostess stamp sets - stamp sets that can only be purchased with Stampin' Rewards earned as a result of hosting a Stampin' Up! party (or placing a qualifying individual order of £150 or more). I love stamps that I can colour - with pencils, markers or inks and my trusty aquapainter - so this set with its quirky bird and flower images is perfect for me. Here I simply stamped two of the images in Archival Black ink onto watercolour paper and coloured it with my ink pads and an aquapainter. 

There's Never Been A Better Time To Host A Stampin' Up! Party - Hosting a party is a great way to earn free product and is a fun thing to do at any time. Great news: to coincide with the launch of the the new Stampin' Up! 2017-18 Annual Catalogue, there is a host promotion starting 1st June that means hostesses can earn an extra £30 Stampin' Rewards with qualifying party sales. There will be more details to follow nearer the time, however if you want to book your slot in my diary, feel free to get in touch now and be sure of those rewards - there's never been a better time to host a Stampin' Up! party! 

A Fresh Colour Combo - I chose to pair two colours from the Subtles family - Pool Party and Wild Wasabi - with a pop of bright Melon Mambo pink for today's card and added a single pink candy dot by way of embellishment to one of my flowers. Here is my colour combo if you would like to save it for future use:

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:

Feathery Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad	Aqua Painters	Watercolor Paper	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock
Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad	Wild Wasabi Classic Stampin' Pad	Brights Enamel Shapes

Good morning and welcome to another week! Mine is going to be a busy one so without further ado I'm sharing a card for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches:

These ladies have some great sketches and this one from Jen M is no exception - I love the layering of the panels. I went bright today - take a look:

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

Get A Vase of Flowers For Hosting A Stampin' Up! Party - Yes, that's right - today's card features the vase of flowers from the hostess set in the Spring-Summer seasonal catalogue, 'Thankful Life', a set available to purchase exclusively to customers who host a Stampin' Up! party or place a single order of £150 or more. Extra Stampin' Rewards during Sale-A-Bration make this an excellent time to host, although stamp sets like this one make it worth hosting a party all year round. The stamps are photopolymer and so easy to line up to create a vase of colourful blooms that will last so much longer than fresh ones! This set will be available to hostesses until the Spring-Summer catalogue ends on 31st May, so if it's a set you would like to own, do get in touch with me to arrange a night for your crafty night in with friends. 

You Brighten My Day - The 'Thankful Life' hostess set does come with two sentiments of its own, however both were too too big for the embellishment 'button' that I wanted to create. I opted instead for this one from 'Sunshine Sayings' that seemed particularly appropriate given my colour choices for today's card.  

A Fiesta Of Colour - I took the inspiration for my colour combination straight from the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper that I used for my background panel - as a brights girl these colours really appeal to me and I just love the mix of patterns they contain: 

Here is the colour combination if you would like to save it to use on your projects too:

What a great combination of bold and bright colours - guaranteed to cheer!

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:

Thankful Life Photopolymer Stamp Set	Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper	Crushed Curry A4 Cardstock	Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad	Tempting Turquoise A4 Cardstock	Emerald Envy Classic Stampin' Pad	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies
Layering Circle Framelits Dies	Sunburst Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set

It's time to 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 and from 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, join or host:

Earn a free Sale-A-Bration product for every £45 you spend between 4 January and 31 March. It's the perfect time to purchase those products you've had on your wish list and earn more products for free! 

It’s the best time of year to join Stampin’ Up! During Sale-A-Bration, you can become a demonstrator for just £99 and choose £30 more of FREE products for your Starter Kit. Plus, the kit ships for free! There is plenty of choice and flexibility, whether you want to be a hobby demonstrator and just use your 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. In addition, you can choose two free stamp sets of your choice - that could be worth as much as another £93 to you!

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 £40 of Stampin' Rewards - more freebies! What's more, you can even apply your Stampin' Rewards to a Starter Kit and become a demonstrator yourself - I would love to welcome you to my team!

If you would like to host a party, real or virtual, please do get in touch; my diary is filling up but there are still lots of slots available 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 and the benefits.

As if that wasn't enough, today also sees the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue - full of gorgeous new products:

Just click on the image above or 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 and you don't already have a demonstrator. 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! Back tomorrow with a project showcasing some of the products from the new catalogue. Until then, happy shopping!

Hurrah for the weekend and what's more, the start of the half term holiday for the James juniors! They each have at least a week off (one has two!) so we are looking forward to a rest from our full-on daily routine. I managed to get some time this afternoon to make a card for this week's sketch challenge over at The Global Design Project:

I decided to add another Christmas card to my stash - here's my card:

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

Presents and Pinecones - For my background I used a piece of the Presents and Pinecones Designer Series Papers, another of the packs that is available with the 'Buy 3, get 1 free' offer this month - you can read all about it here. This is a great sketch to really make a feature of a piece of designer series paper; check out the Global Design Team's creations for some inspiring examples of this.

It's That Time of Year - I used the large sentiment from 'Time of Year', one of the sets exclusively available to hostesses from the annual catalogue, for my focal point, stamped using the Emerald Envy ombre ink pad to co-ordinate with the lovely greens of the DSP. I also stamped the holly from this set on a piece of Whisper White and fussy cut it before adding to the edge of the rectangle to balance my sentiment and banner. This is such a great set with options to create a number of sentiment combinations for different occasions and great if you want your sentiment to make a statement on a card.

All That Glitters -  I decided to use a piece of red glimmer paper for the panel behind the sentiment to add a little sparkle to my project. I then cut a few different banners, but was struggling with the fact that they were masking out too much of the lower portion of my main sentiment. I decided to stamp onto acetate to allow for some transparency to the sentiment below and decide to use some red glitter embossing powder for a final glittery pizzazz - job done!

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. 

That's all from me; I'll be back tomorrow with this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Presents & Pinecones Designer Series Paper	Emerald Envy Ombre Stampin' Pad	Time Of Year Photopolymer Stamp Set	Red Glimmer Paper	Real Red Glitter Stampin' Emboss Powder
Embossing Buddy	Versamark Pad	Window Sheets	Bunch Of Banners Framelits Dies	Emerald Envy A4 Cardstock
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock

Happy Monday everyone! No creative post from me today; with only 4 days left this month, I thought it was a good time to remind you of the two offers that will finish at the end of this month:

• Earn Additional Stampin' Rewards with a single order or qualifying party sales  You can earn an additional £25 in Stampin' Rewards when you place an individual order for or reach qualifying party sales of £250 or more during the month of June. Don't forget these Stampin' Rewards can also be used towards a starter kit if you choose to join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator - making the starter kit even better value! If you would like to host your own Stampin' Up! party and take full advantage of the extra rewards, then please do get in touch! 

• Earn Free Stamps in June’s Promotion for New SU! Joiners.  As a demonstrator on my team, you will belong to a friendly team where you get to be the first to see and order products from upcoming catalogues. You also get to earn a discount on the products you already love – with no risks or penalties if you don't meet your quarterly minimum.  During the month of June when you join, you also earn two free stamp sets of your choice (they’ll be added to your starter kit). These can be any stamps at all from the new catalogue - so if you choose wisely (think alphabets and large sentiment sets!) these two stamp sets alone could be worth £91 or more. The Starter Kit is £99 for £130 of free product of your choice. My team is a mix of both hobby stampers and business demonstrators and I love and appreciate them all.  If you would like to take to me about becoming a demonstrator and joining us, please do get in touch for a no obligation chat about the benefits. Alternatively if you know this is the deal for you, don't delay and click here to join today!

Back tomorrow with a new card project; until then, happy stampin'!

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a sketch for you:

For my card today I decided to use one of the new hostess sets, 'Pun Intended', along with some new paper from the Playful Palette Designer Series Paper Stack:

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

News Flash - You Are Awesome - ... and so are the extra Stampin' Rewards you could get if you hosted a Stampin' Up! party in June! The 'Pun Intended' stamp set has lots of fun images, including a bee, a light bulb and some super-punny sentiments. This set is exclusive to hostesses - and with an extra £25 of Stampin' Rewards for all party sales of £250 or more, you will have more than enough rewards for to get your hands on this stamp set or any of the other fabulous new hostess sets or other new catalogue goodies. I'm in love with this retro camera; here I've stamped it in black and punched out two circles to give a 3D look to the lens - I have lots more ideas for it though, so stay tuned!

Playful Palette - The Playful Palette suite contains lots of lovely products, including a designer series paper stack that includes papers with three of five of the new in-colours. It also contains some great black and vanilla patterns, such as the one I've used to create the background panel for my card today.

Watermelon Wonder-ful - When deciding what colour to choose to compliment my black/vanilla colour combo, I decided I would highlight the heart on my sentiment banner and wanted a red that was not too 'red', so happened upon Watermelon Wonder, one of my in-colour favourites from last year. It was the perfect colour for my card base and flagged banner too. I also added a little epoxy heart to add shine and subtle dimension to my heart, along with the final trio of rhinestones for sparkle.

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see what they did with this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

The wait is over - it's June 1st and the new 2016-17 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue is here! I have updated my links on the right hand side of my blog and you will find a permanent link to the new catalogue there, but for today you need look no further than the picture below which will take you straight to the new catalogue:

The catalogue is fantastic, with so many great new products to choose from. The new catalogue is posted above and will be permanently linked via my blog if you don’t have a paper copy. If you have your paper copy and just want to go straight to the shop to place your order, click here. Don't forget to add the hostess code for June R2QV9WE6 if your order is less than £150 and ensure your preferences are set to 'contactable' to receive a thank you in the post from me.

As if that wasn't enough though, there are also two fantastic promotions that make this catalogue launch even sweeter:

• Earn Additional Stampin' Rewards with a single order or qualifying party sales  You can earn an additional £25 in Stampin' Rewards when you place an individual order for or reach qualifying party sales of £250 or more during the month of June. Don't forget these Stampin' Rewards can also be used towards a starter kit if you choose to join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator - making the starter kit even better value! I still have some calendar dates free in June so if you would like to host your own Stampin' Up! party and take full advantage of the extra rewards, then please do get in touch! Which brings me on to the next 'big news' item for today:

• Earn Free Stamps in June’s Promotion for New SU! Joiners.  June 1 also kicks off a new promotion for customers to become demonstrators.  As a demonstrator on my team, you will belong to a friendly team where you get to be the first to see and order products from upcoming catalogues. You also get to earn a discount on the products you already love – with no risks or penalties if you don't meet your quarterly minimum.  Starting today when you join, you also earn two free stamp sets of your choice (they’ll be added to your starter kit). These can be any stamps at all from the new catalogue - so if you choose wisely (think alphabets and large sentiment sets!) these two stamp sets alone could be worth £91 or more. The Starter Kit is £99 for £130 of free product of your choice. My team is a mix of both hobby stampers and business demonstrators and I love and appreciate them all.  If you would like to take to me about becoming a demonstrator and joining us, please do get in touch for a no obligation chat about the benefits or call in at my open house event next week. Alternatively if you know this is the deal for you, don't delay and click here to join today!

• Save The Date - I will be holding my Annual Catalogue Open House Launch next week on Friday 10th June - if you live in or around Northampton this is a great opportunity for you to see some of the products up close, take advantage of my BOGOF sale of retired stamp sets, do a make and take and more! More details to follow in a separate post but if you would like to put your name down for this exclusive event then do get in touch!

That's a lot of information for one post; if I were you I would put the kettle on, put your feet up and get comfy and settle down with your new catalogue for a browse and start creating that all-important wish list!

Back tomorrow with a new project; until then, happy shopping!

Today it's time for a new challenge over at Create With Connie and Mary and this week we have a great sketch for you:

So after everything I said about Delightful Dijon on my CCMC card last week, this week I've gone and used it again - out of choice! My card this week is all about our current in-colours, the 2015-17 In Colours to be exact:

I decided to create a washi tape striped inset background for my white butterfly, using the In Colour Designer Washi Tape that is an exclusive hostess gift which you can purchase with Stampin' Rewards when you host a Stampin' Up! party. I then chose the remaining elements of my card from there: a strip of white corrugated card for texture, a strip of watermelon wonder wide 1" stitched satin ribbon and for the back panel a piece of Colour Me Irresistible Specialty Designer Series Paper - I went with the Delightful Dijon because this is the only uncut piece in my pack! I finished my butterfly with a Mint Macaron  In-Colour Blossom Accent, finished with a rhinestone. I haven't added a sentiment to my card today as I wanted to add it to my stash of 'all purpose' cards, so will probably add one as I'm ready to send it.

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. 

Do visit the other Design Team members to see how they interpreted this week's sketch; there's lots of inspiration over on their blogs too!

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

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Today I have another clean and simple card for you, this time for this week's challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch. I love playing along with their sketches, which can sometimes leave me lost at first glance but then often take me in an unexpected direction. This week's sketch is definitely one of those! Here is the sketch:

I spent considerable time thinking about how I was going to interpret this sketch and then ended up with not one but two very different creations! Here is the first one:

There are a number of key elements that make up this deceptively simple card:

A Cut Above - This great sentiment comes for the current hostess set in the Spring-Summer catalogue 'Love You Sew'. This exclusive set can only be purchased with Stampin' Rewards that are earned with qualifying party sales when you host your own Stampin' Up! party or place an individual order of £150 or more. Perfect for crafters, it includes a number of fun sentiments and craft-themed stamps and has been very popular with party hostesses throughout Sale-A-Bration. It is still available until the seasonal catalogue ends on May 31st, so if you would like to earn it for free then do get in touch to earn yours.

It's My Party - I love the bold and sassy colours and patterns of the It's My Party Suite and this card was perfect for a busy pattern, due to its simple design. What's more, the decision on which side to use was made easy - for today's card, both patterns are visible. Score! I simply cut a line across my DSP with my Stampin' Trimmer, then folded back the sides to create a 'v' in which to stamp my sentiment on the layer below.

Snip, Snip - The scissors stamp can be found in the 'Love You Sew' stamp set too and were the perfect embellishment for my split card front. I coloured them in with my Stampin' Write markers so that I could colour the handles and blades separately and positioned them'in action'.

Sew easy, sew simple! I just love this set and this sentiment makes for a perfect crafty congratulations - I shall probably make a few of these to keep on standby to celebrate my team members' achievements!

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. 

I've had a day of hair braiding, manicures and baking in addition to a few household chores today. I'm sure tomorrow will be equally fun! Back tomorrow with another very different interpretation of the same sketch; until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used: 

Love You Sew Clear-Mount Stamp Set	It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Many Marvelous Markers
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad