Festive Red Parcels

How I love fancy packaging!  This time I'm going with an entirely different colour/look. Lots of festive red instead of icy frost colours.

We are crafting at work this lunchtime so more pictures later!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Fancy Packaging

Every so often the local Stampin Up demos meet up for training, crafting and cake! This time we did a secret Santa thing and we were encouraged to dress is up prettily. So here's my little pressies:

Sorry for the winter sun light!

Fancy enough? Supplies I used below.

Hope you like it!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Year End Sale

Hi Everyone!

Stampin Up are having a fantastic year-end sale. Loads of bargains to be had but be quick as they are selling out fast! Or maybe have a word with Father Christmas and tell him to get in contact with me ;-).  If you order by December 13th you'll have your products before Christmas!

For me I'd say get the Wonderland stamp set if you don't already have it. It is a keeper! And also the Thankful Forest Friends with matching Into the Woods papers, cards and accessories are this season's favourites for me. Lots of beautiful ribbons too especially the glitter ribbon, and the cute reindeer paperclips!  Oh so many nice goodies. Let me know if you need any help ordering.  Just click on the images below to go to the shop if you are interested!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

20% off Selected Stampin’ Up! Stamps for 5 days ONLY!!

Stampin' Up! are giving us a treat - 5 days of selected stamps having 20% off! You can get a full set of stamps for as little as £9.60!  Do have a look in my shop

CLICK HERE TO SHOP

Some of my favourites are in there - Gorgeous Grunge (you really need this set!), Festival of Trees, Wild About Flowers... Go have a look and grab a bargain whilst you can!  It finishes Friday so be quick!

Also Stampin' Up! are getting ready to retire some of the products that are currently in the Autumn/Winter Occasions catalogue (click on the left if you want to see it). 

The list of products going on January 4th can be found here. Get them before they are gone for good! Or tell Father Christmas you'd really like them (I take orders from husbands, partners, children, parents, friends etc too!).

Helen x

Stamp sale

20% off selected Stampin Up stamps from tomorrow for a few days so check back tomorrow if you have your eye on something!

Helen x

Weekly deals

Some lovely weekly deals this week. Think I feel an order coming on....xx

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Crafternoon and Cake

Back in June I held a lovely event to raise some money for the charity I work for, and some wonderful friends and colleagues came to support me, to craft and to eat lots of yummy cake. Here are a few pics of the ladies and gent(!) busy at work and the projects we made:

 

As you can see the ink blocks got a bit 'melon mambo-ed' (SU pink ink!). But aren't the projects they made brilliant, especially for some first time crafters.  The little packet in the middle contains some after eights.

Book look at these delicious cakes! Rosie and Carolyn kept us well fed :-)

I loved every minute and can't wait to start regular craft classes in the coming months! I'll be using lots of products from the fantastic Stampin' Up! Autumn and Winter Catalogue. There are so many amazing things - festive stamps, flower punches, landscape dies, pretty papers, and fabulous new staples like an ultra-fine glue pen and new archival black and grey ink pads. If you'd like a paper copy of the new catalogue drop me a line and I'll pop one in the post to you.

Helen x

P.S. Thanks to Jill for the pics!

Happy Blooming Birthday

I'm loving the big blooms stamps at the moment!  How's this for a pretty birthday card?

I think it is a rhododendron, which I love. Reminds me of the ones we had in our garden as a kid (although I think we spent more time making dens underneath them than admiring the pretty flowers!). Coloured with inks and blender pens which gives such a delicate effect. I'm seriously into the Sahara Sand card I used for the base of the card. A really lovely base card which goes really well with the purples.

This was sent off to Nicky my 'upline' in Stampin Up who got me started on my Stampin Up journey and answered all of my many questions so patiently! Hope she likes it and I hope you like it too :-)

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Colourful Butterflies

 How gorgeous are these butterflies?  I love the Elegant Butterly punch. I resisted the urge to layer them up with the itty bitty punch (like I usually do) or to add bling or a sentiment.  It's so hard not to add more but this was enough...

The splats behind the butterflies is from my trusty Gorgeous Grunge set.  Seriously if you only ever buy one stamp set from Stampin Up get Gorgeous Grunge! I use it on nearly every project now - stripes, tiny splats, little dots like raindrops etc.

Love it! Hope you like the bright and beautiful card.

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Stamping on Vellum

 Hello everyone! At a recent SU training event I saw a technique that I just had to try and this is the result!

It was actually very simple.  I used the Butterfly Basics gorgeous flower stamp, and stamped in White Stazon ink on a piece of vellum.  Then I flipped it over to colour it with various inks (and the amazing SU blender pen!). When you flip it back you get the most gorgeous washed out colours and it doesn't matter if you smudge the lines.  Here's a little close up:

As you can see the glue through vellum I used washi tape to fix it to the card.  Such a pretty effect.  This one is going to a good friend who was such a support with my crafternoon. She really deserves it.

Hope you like it too and feel inspired to give it a go.

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

2015 New In-Colours

Every year Stampin Up brings out 5 new 'In-Colours' (and retires another 5) so we constantly have some fresh colours to go with the old faithfuls. This year they are particularly lush: Mint Macaron, Cucumber Crush, Delightful Dijon, Tip Top Taupe and Watermelon Wonder. We've been having a challenge on our demonstrators FB page to use the new colours and these are two of my creations:

Top is Cucumber Crush and then there is Tip Top Taupe. I love creating cards tone-on-tone, especially when the ink, cards, ribbons etc all match perfectly! Not sure who these are going to yet but they are definitely good to have the card box for those last-minute cards. Hope you are liking the new colours too. Here's the chart to see how they fit with the old colours:

Back soon!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

I love to ride my bicycle

For those who have read my blog in the past, you'll maybe remember me making a bicycle cake for one of my friends.  Well it's her birthday and the Sheltering Tree stamp set is the perfect set as it contains a little bicycle. This is the card I made:

Really easy to make a simple and bright card using the photopolymer stamps as it is super easy to line up the bike frame and wheels. And there's so much more to be done with this stamp set!

For the inside I used a new sentiment stamp that is perfect for inside the card or as a feature on the outside:

Really quite like the colours and composition of this card. Hope you too!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Beautiful cards for sad occasions

I definitely don't like the reasons why we have to send sympathy cards, but I know that in time it is so good to know someone was thinking of you. This is one I made with the hostess set from the previous catalogue, 'bloom with hope'. Such a lovely and versitile set that I won't be retiring anytime soon.

Such pretty colours too - Image stamped in perfect plum and coloured with Wisteria Wonder.

Love the flower image and the effects you can get with ink and blender pens.

Helen x

A little thank you box and card

How's this for a cutie of a box?

It's a very simple box to make, with a hinged lid. The white paper has been inked up using the Gorgeous Grunge stamps to make my own background. A couple of gorgeous butterflies and gems and there you go! I wanted something that would really stand. It's a little thank you for a colleague and look at the goodies inside:

A bag of delicious fudge and a teeny tiny card to match. Fudge is my favourite as my nephews now know.

I hope she likes it! What do you think?

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Thanks - one tiny word with one big meaning

How true is this sentiment?

So this week I've been having to ask for help alot when my usual trusty steed of a micra broke down. Asking for lifts and help doesn't come easy for me but I'm learning that I like to be asked so I should ask others. It's slow progress!  But what does help is acknowledging how thankful I am. It's so easy to pass on a little thank you card.

This is the card we made at the 'make and take' at the training day using some new stamps and the new 'in-colours' which are the new colours that are released each year to compliment the regular colours. I love the background colour which is called Mint Macaron.  Such a perfect colour for matching neutrals and to fit right in with my nature themed cards. A really easy way to get the new colours is to buy the stamps and card together, and it works out cheaper.

This stamp set is called 'Awesomely Artistic'. And we get a dragonfly stamp too! Yay!! I love watching the dragonflies dancing around my garden when they pop over from the canal next door to see me. What I don't like is when my naughty ginger tomcat catches them and then lets them loose in the house! Even my other cat runs for cover.( Life is never dull with cats!)

Anyway 'Awesomely Artistic' is definitely on my wishlist. How long can the wishlist get?!

Hope you like the dragonfly as much as me.

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

The new catalogue is here! How long is your wishlist?

I bet your wishlist isn't as long as mine! Too many lovely things to drool over. I mean just look at that tin of cards of the front cover:

I saw a sneak peek at the training event and it evens feels nice!  Us crafters are strange creatures :-).


Anyway, click over on the left if you want to have a look at the inside. If you would like your own paper catalogue to stroke and get inspiration from then drop me a line and I'll pop one in the post or drop it around if you are local. This time there are lots of bundles where you can get the stamp set with matching punch or die set for 15% off. Always a good option for a northern bargain hunter like me!  And if you do decide to place an order through my shop I'll pop you a little thank you in the post too.

Helen x

My first stampin up event

So on Saturday I headed north to Telford for a UK event. It was a fabulous day, full of helpful demonstrations, product shares, make-and-takes and some prizes (more about that tomorrow). One of the things we were asked to do was make our own name badges. There were some gorgeous ones out there. Here is mine:

My favourite daisies had to feature of course, along with a bit of pink and green :-).

We could also take along some swaps. Bit of a pressured week so I only managed 12 and they were simple, but probably what I would send. Couple of terrible pictures here...

What you can't see is that the stamped flowers are on vellum which was very subtle and very stroke-able. Well I liked them!

Tomorrow I'll show you the swaps I received and also the special goodies I came away with! 

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Gift bag and a seal of approval from Thomas

Who doesn't love a posh little bag as much as the presents inside?  Well I do! So when a friend requests 'no presents' at their birthday then it is really hard to obey orders. So I decided a small bag of thorntons and a hand cream didn't really count as a present and wanted to make it look a bit special. So how about this:

I was using up some free goodies from Stampin Up from the sale-a-bration event so that even more counts as 'no presents' :-). It was quite a tall bag, using a full sheet of 12x12 paper, with a simple ribbon tie and tag:

The beauty of the paper is that it also has a snazzy inside:

And one of my little friends had to come and give his seal of approval. Thanks Thomas x

Hope you like it as much as Thomas.


Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Swallowtail

I'm going to let this card and stamp just speak for itself.  The stamp is just stylishly stunning, and really quite huge!  Hence why I've barefly fit half of it on an A6 card.  And I didn't even stick a sentiment on it as I didn't want to distract from the beautiful image. But I still love it as it is...

Hope you like it too!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A little chocolate treat!

So how's this for a tiny little treat:

I've used the Butterfly Basics set again to tie in with the cards I've made - see here and here.  I get the little chocolate bars from Aldi - 5 in a pack for £1.25 and they have loads of different kinds. And it is really good chocolate.  What's not to love!

I'm thinking of having sotruemething like them as little thank-yous for my customers (just a few that I'm hugely grateful for - early days and no card classes yet so not a surprise yet really!  Need to be patient!).

Ooo I'm getting a chocolate craving now...  Until next time,

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Butterfly basics

Another stamp set I just had to buy, and you can get a matching 'framelets' set as part of a bundle with 15% off! I got this as part of my Stampin Up starter kit and have been dying to play with.

See the link the below if you are tempted!

I've picked up the theme and colourways of my previous card (and also the next project lined up for the blog will coordinate too- think chocolate!). I wanted to show how just a few paper colours and matching inks can be used in so many ways. As I've only recently started as a Stampin Up demonstrator I'm yet to build up a stock of items. But the versatility of the colour families can mean even crafting on a budget can produce some lovely projects. All three project just use the subtles colour family with a bit of crumb cake from the neutrals.

What's not to love about butterflies and pretty botanicals!

Hope you like it as much as I do!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sheltering Tree

Oh my, how much do I love this stamp set! It is from the spring/summer catalogue but I'm really pleased to share it's not going anywhere (hint hint look out for the new annual catalogue next month!).

The sentiments are just perfect and the tree fits right in with my nature obsession. This past month I've been minding my 2.5 year old nephew on and off and I'm pleased to say he's definitely inherited the love of nature. We've spent many an mindful minute listening to the leaves rustling, guessing which birds are singing or just admiring the fields of golden rape on our car rides! My mindfulness tutor will be pleased!

Anyway I've just whipped up this beauty using crumb cake, pink pirouette and wild wasabi colour combos and I think it is so pretty. It's all ready for when one of my fantastic friends is there for me when I really need them. I hate relying on people but having two pretty awful medical issues means I often have to, and their friendships and support really are a sheltering tree.

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Oyster catchers

One of my favourite places on this gorgeous planet is Anglesey (long before the Cambridges discovered it!), and one of my favourite places on the island is The Oystercatcher. Great restaurant with a great philosophy and also deliciously tasty local food. But enough about that, I also love the actual oystercatcher birds who visit Anglesey, with their busybody ways and constant chattering. So when I saw the Wetlands stamps (see below for link) they were ordered straight away...

I made my two sisters oystercatcher cards and one of them was even kind enough to frame it!  Here are some photos:

It was a simple watercoloured backgrounds using inks, and stamped in black ink but to be honest I kind of love it! Hope you like it too :-)

Helen x

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Stampin' Up! Retiring List

The 2014/2015 Stampin' Up! catalogue is about to come to an end so they have announced all the products that will not carry over into the 2015/2016 catalogue.  Lots of scrummy bargains to be had, and many at 50% off!  What's not to like?!

Retiring Stamps

Retiring Accessories (ribbons, papers, inks, dies, embellishments etc)

There were loads of technical difficulties with the website yesterday, but it is up and running today. And the products are definitely first-come-first-served so if you see something you like get it whilst you can.

I'll be sad to see some of the products go, especially some of the colours I love, but I guess it means we get lots of exciting new things to play with when the new catalogue comes out in June. Links to the two retiring lists are above.

Back soon with some new cards and boxes to show you.

Helen xx