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.

Well, today's the day you've all been waiting for: the new Stampin' Up! annual catalogue has arrived!

It is full of great new products, ranging from stamp sets, to designer papers, to embellishments and more besides - but don't just take my word for it; make yourself a cup of tea, then get comfy, check out the link in the bar on the right hand side of my page and browse for yourself!

As a demonstrator I've had the opportunity to browse the catalogue in advance and even order a selected number of new products that I've already had the opportunity to play with. That said, I have a VERY long shopping list of things I want (no, NEED!) from the new catalogue. I thought it would be fun to shoot a short video to give you a quick whistle-stop tour of the new catalogue and share with you my top 'wish list' items, so if you'd like to know what I think will be 'hot' this year, it's time to tune in:

As you can see, there's so much to choose from! If you have a long wish list of must-have items too, why not invite your friends round for an evening of crafty fun and host a Stampin' Up! party? You'll get the opportunity to create a great project, receive lots of crafty inspiration and earn free products that are beyond amazing; you can earn anything from £25 to £120 worth of free products and with party sales of £300 or more you will also be able to purchase one or more items at half price; this is a great way to reduce the cost of an investment purchase such as a Big Shot or a full marker set. So what are you waiting for? Contact me to book your Stampin' Up! party today!

Back tomorrow with a project; until then, enjoy browsing the new catalogue  !

There are a small number of catalogue corrections and initial supply issues that you need to be aware of, as follows:

Catalogue Corrections:

Two items were mistakenly given the same item number. Beautiful Butterflies Bigz and Lattice Bigz dies are both listed as 114507. The correct item numbers are: 
Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die - 114507
Lattice Bigz Die - 115958

The Ordering section incorrectly states that a customer has 10 days to cancel their order. Customers have 14 days to cancel their order.

Due to supply issues, the following items are currently unavailable; there will be an announcement to follow when they become available:

World Map Stamp (item 130342 for wood, 130345 for clear).

Label Pop ‘n Cuts (item 130160): Item will be available for order as of 12 July.

Wood-Mount Cases (item 127551 for full, 127552 for half).

Stampin’ Trimmer Rotary Addition (item 132986).

New Colour Cardstock and Pad Kit (item 132281).

A short departure from my love affair with my Spring Sampler set today to bring you a card made with the Spring stamp in the Four Seasons set. I know it's already officially British Summer Time, but the weather seems to have only reached Spring-like proportions this week, so I don't think I'm too tardy:

I used a So Saffron card base and used a section of one of the Print Poetry Designer Paper sheets as a background for interest, but only across half of the card so that it didn't overwhelm or detract from the stamp whihc is the focal point. The Print Poetry papers in the Spring-Summer catalogue are great value: 48 sheets of 11.4 x 16.5 cm paper, 4 each of 12 designs for just £6.25 and the perfect size for card making. To add depth to the Spring stamp, I firstly inked the centre circle with my marker pens and cut out using a 1 1/4" punch. Then I inked the stamp in Gumball Green and punched out with the Scalloped Circle punch, then removed the centre with the 1" punch and overlaid on the original nesting bird using Dimensionals.

I coloured this little bird blue as I'm hoping he will be a good omen: last year we had a family of blue tits nesting in the cavity wall of our house and as blue tits are known to return to nesting sites year after year, this year we mounted a nest box with bird cam over the hole in the wall. This week we have seen definite signs that the bird box has been visited, so here's hoping we get to see a blue tit family in the making - I'll keep you posted!

I'll be featuring the other stamps in the Four Seasons set in coming months; this set is exclusive to hostesses and is one of a number of products that can be yours free* if you host a party. So if you'd like to get you're hands on one, simply give me a call or contact me at joanne@thecraftyowl.co.uk and invite your friends round for a night of creativity, shopping and fun!

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

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Four Seasons: Spring (hostess set)

Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White, Print Poetry Designer Series Paper

Ink/Stampin' Write Markers: Gumball Green, Easrly Espresso, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi

Tools: 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch

*Hostess sets are products available exclusively to party hostesses. Hostess credits are awarded on a sliding scale based on overall party sales. See online catalogue for more details.

Today I thought I'd share with you the 'make and take' card that I made with all the lovely ladies who attended my first party recently (Hello ladies, if you're reading this!). It's similar to something I saw whilst browsing on Pinterest, but with my own twist and designed to make the most of some of the lovely goodies that are available free during Sale-A-Bration. It uses four of the possible 17 items on offer - see if you SU! fans can spot them all!

We stamped a greeting from Bloomin' Marvelous and a simple flower from the Madison Avenue stamp set onto Whisper White card stock, then layered this piece of card using dimensionals onto a Crumb Cake card base, having first adhered a couple of coordinating strips of Sycamore Street DSP along each of the vertical outer edges. The flower was finished with a button threaded with a piece of contrasting ribbon from the matching accessory pack. I sized the card to fit the new Crumb Cake medium envelopes and we stamped a flower onto the front of the envelope for a finishing touch.

A great night was had by all: thank you ladies for being kind to me on my first outing. If you love to craft, need a reason to get together with some like-minded friends and would like to host an evening to make this card or something similar, do get in touch - there are great additional hostess benefits during Sale-A-Bration too, the perfect way to grow your own craft stash!

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Bloomin' Marvelous

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Sycamore Street (DSP)

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Tangerine Tango

Finishing Touches: Sycamore Street Ribbon and Button Pack, Medium Crumb Cake Envelopes

Just a quick post from me today! Before I move on to the last stamp in this set, today I thought I would share with you another ferris wheel stamped using the rock and roll ink technique; this time an easel birthday card I made recently for a friend of mine, whihc also includes the 'Celebrate' stamp from the same set.

As you can see, this time I've used a trio of ink colours; I think it makes a lovely female birthday card and the easel card design just makes it a little bit different.

Remember, the 'Feeling Sentimental' stamp set is just one of the 17 items you can receive free with a £45 spend during Sale-A-Bration, so if it appeals to you just contact me to host a party or place an order before 22nd March and this set could be yours.

Until next time, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Feeling Sentimental

Cardstock: Whisper White, Primrose Petals

Ink: Primrose Petals, Perfect Plum, Regal Rose

Yesterday I held my first Stampin' Up party - thanks to all the lovely ladies who attended for being so kind to me on my first outing! I thought I would do a quick post today to share with you the gift I made for the hostess as a thank you.

It's a set of four notelets in a co-ordinating box, featuring the Madison Avenue and Vintage Verses stamp sets and the Sycamore Street designer series paper and designed by the lovely Monica Gale for our recent training event. You can check out her blog here - and spookily, as I've just gone to create the link I can see she has blogged her own set today; clearly great minds think alike!!!!

If you would like to receive a similar gift set, then all you have to do is get in touch with me and arrange to host your own Stampin' Up party - it's a great opportunity to get together with your crafty family and friends, make a project and receive lots of free goodies; in addition to free products of your choice depending on your party sales, you can also receive some of the lovely silver glimmer paper featured in the cards above with orders above £150. This is a great product - it doen't shed, like some glitter card, it can be coloured with the aid of ink and rubbing alcohol to match specific projects and a little goes a long way!

Come back tomorrow for some more cards on a Valentine's theme and the launch of the new Spring-Summer catalogue.

Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up Supplies:

Stamps: Madison Avenue, Vintage Verses

Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White, Sycamore Street (DSP), Silver Glimmer Paper

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit

Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch, Oval Punch, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Small Heart Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Apothocary Accents Framelits

Finishing Touches: 1/4" Rich Razzleberry Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon