More little Christmas cards

Just a quickie today, as I'm really trying to get my Christmas cards finished!

Here are a few cards I've been making over the last few days.

Again, I've used another Stampin Up Wheel - these are sooo easy to use and come in a wide range of designs that you can use on their own, or with the complementary stamp set.

This is the card in more detail. I've used the red Gingham ribbon to match the Real Red cardstock underneath the image. The wheel I used is Time for a Tree which I bought to go with my little truck!

The image was coloured with my Earth Elements Watercolour Wonder crayons - these are brilliant. They are just like little wax crayons until you add a little water or use a blender pen!

I finished off the card using some SU papers, Whisper White card, the scallop border punch and Mat Pack. The cardstock is Bashful Blue.

Two more little cards I made were these -

The stamp sets I used were Tree Trimmings and Autumn Days for the pine cones. The Stampin Up Cosmo glitters and Heat and Stick powder made an appearance on this card too.. love this glitter!

.... and in more detail -

I changed the colour way of this one to make it more contemporary. The little brads and metal embellishment are from the SU Filigree Designer Brad set.

I hope you like them.. see you again soon!

Training Event cards

Here they are as promised - the projects from Monica's Training Event.

This is our 3D box -

The card stock is Pink Passion. The wheel used was It's Beautiful with a Real Red cartridge. The topper was made using the A Beautiful Thing stamp set and the Two Step Stamping technique. The ribbon is the beautiful SU 9.5mm taffeta, the punch at the top is one of my favourites - the Round Tab.

This is our card -

The theme this month was Valentines, so we used the Simply Said stamp set, and the colours were Tempting Turquoise, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, and more of the beautiful taffeta ribbon.

And this is our Technique

This technique card used the colours Real Red, Whisper White and Bashful Blue (I think). The punch used is the Heart to Heart. If you haven't tried the SU range of punches - they are AMAZING!!! The ribbon is a light pink gingham ribbon - something I generally save for Baby cards, but after making this, will be used more often!

Doing a little training...

Nope - not of the exercise kind!! But of the Monica type.

As one of Monica's Stampin Up Passionettes, we are given one valuable evening per month where we can go to a training event, organised by our lovely Monica!

This month was really special for me - as I had promoted to Bronze 2 (took bloomin' long enough, but time hasn't been on my side!), so I got to wear the crown lol, and I also had a couple of lovely guests with me. Su came with me as she is hoping to be signing up with me in January, and then I took along Sheila too, who had signed up with me a week or so before. My own little downline!! I can't believe it. They are both absolutly wonderful ladies, who are going to be a delight to have in my team! I look forward to working with them more over the coming months.

Anyway, I did also have a suprise when I got over to Snaith where the meeting was.... our lovely Bekka was there! What  a suprise! Here she is -

We both didn't want our photographs taken, so we agreed to 'have' our photos taken, if you see what I mean. Funny moment.



At the beginning of the Training Session, we go through the 'who got what' and our lovely Bekka got the best sales. Here she is with her prize - a pretty necklace.

Did you see the crown? I got one of those too.. but no photo of me with mine on, oh no!

After this, we have a little couple of demo's or so, and then a few make and takes.. here's Monica just about to show us the projects we were making.. isn't she a beauty? I love my lickle Monica. Such a great source of inspiration. And she is Number 1 demo in the UK.. how proud are we of her??!!

Monica is such a wonderful, kind, warm lady who it is an absolute pleasure to know. A great sense of humour and cuddly too!

Then it was time to play (and a bit of fancy-schmancy photography here!) -

We all had a fantastic time - in fact, I didn't get home until around half eleven, so it really was good! It was supposed to finish at 9.30 lol.

These are the three little projects we made

We usually make one three dimensional project, a card and a technique card. 

More on these another day when I check out the products we used, then I can let you all know too in case you'd like to order anything.And if you are thinking of signing up with Stampin Up, or indeed with me (which would be fantastic!) then come along with me to our next meeting. We would make you feel most welcome. And there's tea and stickies - posh nosh you know!

Well, that's it from me for now.. have a great week!

Love Jo x

Technique Club starting in January

I will be starting a Techniques Hostess Club in January. 
Join in and learn new techniques to take your papercrafting to another level. As a member of the Technique club, you will agree to spend a minimum of £20 a month  and you will recieve FREE post and packing on your orders. As well as your FREE p & p, you will get a turn at being the 'virtual hostess' and get a FREE stamp set from the current Stampin Up catalogue. You will recieve written step by step instructions to try out your techniques at home and regular mini kits.  There are currently 10 places available starting at the end of January. 

Rudolphs got a bright new nose

Hi again everyone!

Two posts in two days... now that is a miracle these days!

I'm back though, to show you the card I made for this weeks challenge over at Rosie Dee's. The theme this week was 'Rudolph has got a bright new bell'.. and my first thought was to use a Rudolph stamp. However, I came up with this -

I have had these stamps for quite a while, and they've never been inked! So thought that this card would benefit using them lol.

I stuck to the words 'rudolph' and 'bell' and used my Stampin Up Earth elements inks. I used Chocolate Chip for the silhouette, and Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun and Not Quite Navy to colour in the sky and sunset.

The border was a SU wheel ( oh how I love thee, little wheels!!!) called Soft Holly. These are fantastic prices and make absolutely wonderful borders and backgrounds. I rolled it in my Old Olive ink pad as I don't have that ink refill. I finished off the border using my Mat Pack - a great addition to my Stampin Up cupboard I can tell you!!

I then glitzed it up with a bit of celery glitter from SU Fine Cosmos collection. The little red gems are from my stash.

I hope you like it!

Merry Jingleberries...

Helloooooo.

I meant to come back on here yesterday to post some bits that I've been making, but never got around to it.

Whilst I haven't been here, I've been making some christmas cards for customers, friends and for the girls to give out to their friends. I still haven't finished them, but will carry on with them next week. I've a few things to do over the weekend and the chrissy cards aren't needed until mid week.

I've also made a couple of thank you cards too. These were for Martyn and Dave from the program I was working on, but sssshhh.. don't tell them!

You will notice from my blog, that I've gone back to two columns.. I felt quite restricted after sorting things into three, and could never decide what to put in what column. (That must be the Gemini in me!) So.. two columns (which also means larger images!) and a new lovely colour scheme - what do you think?

Today, we've been into town to do the Christmas shopping for Carley. Last week was Martina, and next week is Leyton. Three children, three lots of no ideas what they want!

I got my present ordered, a stunning new ring from Samuels. It was not within the budget (nowhere near!!!) that me and Paul had set for each other, but he was insistent that I was to buy it... so what's a girl to do? He chose it, and liked it, so that's fine with me.

Anyway,now I've caught up on the chatter, here are the cards.

This is a small section of what I've made so far. The tree is from the Fun and Fast notes set. There are eight stamps in the set which cover every occasion you would probably need a stamp for. Out of all the stamps I have, this is probably the most used for a quick card or two.

This is the little tree in a little more detail. I used markers to colour the image.The sentiment is from the Circle of Friendship stamp set, and punched out using SU circle punches.

As you can see from the cards, I varied them a little. Some have a stamped greeting and some have a piece of Very Vanilla ribbon.

I just love the Old Olive and Chocolate Chip colours, but obviously needed to add a little Real Red for the bucket! Red buckets for christmas trees are definately a must have!

These are the two little Thank you cards that I made. The Trendy Trees set is another collection of stamps I love too! I've used colours from the Rich Regals. The background was stamped using the Trendy Trees set. Inks are Rich Regals. The sentiment was punched out with the word window punch.

Here is the detail -

I purposely didn't line up the tree trunks with the heads, as I thought it would look more whimsy, and add a subtle look of sunshine. I think it works! However, I did notice the blotch of white - lord knows what that is!

Guess what's around the corner?

I'll give you a clue.. it's crafty ....  it's rubber  .... it's Stampin' Up's Sale-a-Bration 2009!

This is such a fantastic promotion - and guess what? I've got a stamp set already! I am itching to have a play with it today, if time allows! So, if I get chance, I'll share a couple of projects - well, a sneaky peek anyway!

Can you see the numbers above? Well, I have a special offer to celebrate the SAB promotion..

If you spend £45 with me during the Sale A Bration  when the promotion starts (30th December), then I will give you FREE postage on your orders in addition to you earning your FREE stamp set. So TWO promotions for the price of ONE - how can you refuse that?

If you host a workshop through me, then I'll give you a FREE gift voucher to spend in the catalogue towards items of your choice. The value of the gift voucher will be dependant on the value of your sales within the workshop.

If you decide you'd like to become a demonstrator and sign up with me before the end of the SAB period, then you can also recieve my ''Join my team' Offers HERE. I have got a small team at the moment, but would love you to become a part of my team too!
  
**The above  are special offers from myself, not Stampin Up, because I am sooooo happy to be with SU for my first ever Sale A Bration!**

My Special Offers above will apply if you order online too. either as an individual or as a workshop order - so that's not to be missed!

And don't forget, we still have the Christmas Promotion running until 29th December - so there is still time to get your Christmas orders in for that too!

Now, if you're really careful, you can see the stamp sets on the leaflet above. They are really lovely! I know you'll love each and every one of them.

Well, that's all for now.. See ya later!

Ho Ho Ho

Hi everyone!

I have a little something you show you today! Yep.. a card! Go me lol.

I have in fact made loads of cards, but can't show them all to you, but last night, I sat and made this one - I bought this stamp set a while ago and have only just got around to inking it up, and the papers? Well, they are all Stampin Up - again, bought a while ago, and only just opened. I really must try to start using my papers and things more as I have quite a lovely collection now.

Here's the card -

and here are some of the details -

The little snowflakes are SU and I stamped them in Real Red. I finished them off with an Old Olive brad and then punched them out with a circle and scallop circle punch.

Now hasn't ol' Santa got a lovely face? I really love his lickle nose. I added some glitter to finish off the design.

In addition to finishing my card, I am now officially parcel-less until the beginning of January, when sorting and posting starts again. Now all the parcels have gone, I've had chance to do a bit of Christmas cleaning and got the Christmas Tree up.

I love doing the tree, but can't finish it with the fine angel hair like I usually do because of the dogs and cats. I swear they've all got a screw loose because they pull it off the tree and try eating it! Daft animals. lol.

So.. that's me all done for today. This evening, I'm going out with the girl's to Monica's Training Event over near Selby and won't be back until late, then tomorrow I'm out from 4am in the morning and dont get back until around 11am. If I get chance to post more, I will.

A few things to share..

Obviously, if you've read my previous post, you'll know I can't mention who's these are.. or where I was when I demo'd them.. but here are a few of what I was doing - when I was doing what I was doing where I was doing it .. has this confused anyone? lol.

I hope you like them...... normal service will resume shortly! I've got these bl**dy nails on and they're a right sod to type with.. lol.My job tomorrow will be to shorten them a little. They are quite nice, but a little too long for me really.

So this is what I was upto today, and on the other days that I've been missing in action, I've been trying to sort this lot out -

This wasn't half of what was in my storage unit. It was absolutely chocca-blok, but 100 parcels have now been sent and these will go in January/Feb.. or even right through the year. lol. These are the boxes that have been donated for the Support our Soldiers charity I work for, and last week I got a lovely bluey from one of the troops thanking me for the boxes that were recieved.

It isn't just me .. it's everyone in my area and round abouts, Grimsby, Pontefract, Doncaster, Goole, loads of folk who have made this years Christmas appeal so fantastic!

So.. thats me for now. Loads of cards to show when I get chance. Don't forget my Wish List service if you're looking for some Stampin Up goodies.

I have this week, just got my first Downline too - a wonderful lady called Sheila who is just like a complete breath of fresh air!... We clicked straight away and she is now a fully fledged SU demo! We have some fantastical things planned.. so watch this space.

What's the Buzz?

Oh it's been one of those weeks again!

So sorry I haven't had the chance to upload any projects on here for a while, things have just been so manic!

On Monday, I took a little trip over to Bradford to see a man! He was a man with a mission. He was the man who wants me to go on tv on Friday and Wednesday.. so I guess I could call him Man Friday. lol.

Actually, his name is Andrew, and he owns the company who I will be demoing for.

Obviously I cannot tell you what I'm working with, you'll have to tune in for that. But the products are really nice and it was lovely to sit yesterday and craft all day making samples for the shows. And... it made a change to make some cards for the fella's!

Anyway... I just wanted to update you, I will post a little more often I promise, but you know how it is.. shoeboxes and shows.. time just flies!

I've also added a little poll to my sidebar.. would you mind doing it for me? Research.. that's all..

**edited to say that names have been removed from this post as somebody who's got nothing better to do has contacted Stampin Up regarding who I was on TV for.. sad people! Now apparantly demo's can't even mention any other company even if they don't link!**