Yeah - its that most fabulous time of the year - Stampin' Up! Sale-a-Bration 2015 is almost here!!!!

HI all

well I am sure, like me, you  have all been inspired and bowled over by the absolutely amazing designs and ideas on today's  'Pinkies' blog hop.
 
The blog hop  to showcase all that is fabulous about the forthcoming 'Stampin' Up'
Sale-a-bration 2015, beginning with the lovely Michelle Last's web-site.

In short,  for every £45 you spend,  you earn free products from the special Sale-a-Bration catalogue. .. and with the imminent launch of the new Spring/summer 2015 catalogue - there's even more chances and choices from which to earn your free products.

There's a wealth of lovely items to chose from, to suit all tastes. Whether your interest is card making, gift making/wrapping, memory keeping or 'just because' - there's something for everyone.

The count down is on - and in common parlance - its only a few more sleeps! yeah.

...but herewith my own little sneaky peak from one of the sets you can earn for free, just for you to be going on with.

I teamed my new stamp set, (its called 'Simply Wonderful') -  with the little banner punch, and made use of some paper scraps left over as a result of my Christmas makes and thank yous!

Very cleverly,  the stamp I chose from the set, co-ordinates perfectly with the Decorative label punch, as you can see from the outline piercing!.

Stampin' Up! supplies for this card:

Card stock/ Designer Series Paper :  Whisper white,  All Is Calm DSP
Inks: Lost Lagoon
Stamp sets: New - Simply Wonderful from Sale-a-Bration 2015 - 
just one of the free items you can earn with every £45 spent
 Punches : Banner Punch
 Other Essentials:  Snail adhesive.  stamping sponges

Just click on the items to easily access them and buy in my on line store  and just pay £4:95 to have  them shipped straight to your address, however many items you order.

Am happy to answer any questions you may have. If you would like to find out more,  or would like me to place an order for you, you can email me or contact me on 01438 820829 if you would rather.

and don't forget- there's only a few days left to grab your self a bargain at Stampin' Up!'s end of season sale.

You can also still stock up on items from the current seasonal catalogue - but only til the January 5th as the new Spring/summer 2015 catalogue launches straight after that,  on the 6th.

very best wishes all, til next time.
Jan x

Birthday wishes from 'The Open Sea'

hi all

well - I am very late posting for last weekend - seeing as it is now Thursday - but all for a good reason -
Last weekend we were away at my Mum's celebrating himself's birthday.

She had arranged a surprise family get together buffet for him  - and I think to be honest he was quite stunned.

My niece made this amazing cake resembling a piece of cheese,  being attacked by a little grey mouse, whilst Mum mouse in her apron strings, stood with 'arms' on hips looking at him disappearing into the cheese!  grapes and a bottle of wine on the cake board to complete it all - it looked brilliant.. almost a shame to cut into it.

but back to today's card - or more correctly 'last Sunday's card'  which I can now post as of course he has opened it!

Being a bit thin on the ground as regards the makings for  'male' themed cards -  I opted for 'The Open Sea' stamp set, full of its nautical related stamps.

This is what I came up with... apologies for the colour cast though - what looks like black ink here,  was actually 'Midnight Muse'!  Truly.! but apart from the colour malfunction,  what do you think?

I used Midnight Muse cardstock, topped with Very Vanilla for my sponged topper and card insert,  and stamped off images from both the Open sea and Mosaic Madness stamp sets. apart from Midnight Muse, the only other colour I used was Marina Mist for one of the mosaic stamps - (well, it sounded sea-like to me!)
and for a bit of interest I used my corner rounder on 2 of the corners for my topper, to tie in with all those round shapes I was busy stamping.

The sentiment is from the Label love stamp set and the co-coordinating Artisan punch. Popped up on dimensionals, set on top of a piece of toning bakers twine which I 'anchored' by punching out small snips using the little 'cross' punch from the 'Itty Bitty shapes Punch pack.

  and inside.. I used MDS to generate the little verse, punched it out with the Decorative label punch, again sponging the edges and finished this all off with one further inking of the little compass stamp from 'The Open sea' set.

















and with lots of  paper to use up (both retired as well as current) -  making a toning envelope using my must have 'Envelope punch board'  is just a matter of minutes.

Stampin' Up recipe for this card:

Stamp Sets:The Open Sea, Mosaic Madness, (MDS for inner sentiment)

Inks: Midnight Muse, Marina Mist

Cardstock/Paper: Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla, Piece of toning DSP for envelope

Punches:Mosaic Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Artisan Label Punch, 
Itty bitty punch pack, Corner Rounder Punch

Other Essentials: Stampin' Up dimensionals,  sponge daubers, 

.Envelope Punch board, Bakers twine,

I can order Stampin' Up Products for you, shipped straight to your address and am happy to answer any questions you may have - if you would like to find out more or would like to place an order you can email me or contact me on 01438 820829

or why not visit my online store 

 (currently, for every £45 spent, choose a free sale-a-bration gift)

  

well am off again on my travels this weekend - off up to Nottingham, for a course at my sewing machine dealers. Four workshops, all the tuition, and the chance to play with lots of new goodies - am looking forward to it. So apologies as this Sunday's posting will be late again - must really get to grips with scheduling ,my posts, am thinking... but a task for another day...

have a lovely weekend all and bye for now

Jan

x

All things - well almost! 'Baby'

hi all and its the weekend - Yeah..

well I don't know about anyone else - but do you feel as if this week has flown past.. am sure the last time I looked I was at my evening class on Tuesday and somehow in between it got to be Friday evening - am really not too sure how that happened!

but just got time for this week's Mojo Monday Sketch (MOJO329) - its what I needed to get me thinking a little and  after all my endeavours also decided to  enter this in the current Less is More challenge - week 155,  where the theme there is 'New Baby' 

I matted up a piece of Stampin Up lovely white card stock embossed  with the Chevron EF, sponged it for a bit of interest and used particular offcuts of some of the Nursery Nest,  (sadly now retired) designer series paper for the centre strip to compliment the embossing.

I coupled this with my take on the bottom section - where I stamped my sentiment, punched it out using the decorative punch, yet more sponging the edges,  then promptly decided to chop it in half.

I guess I should have taken more care with it's positioning - as the tip of the punch out could so have easily have lined up with the tip of one of chevrons

ah well... a lesson learnt for me for next time - look at what I am doing!

The scalloped centre circle,  I punched out 5 times, sticking them all together to create one fairly substantial whole.... and with even more sponging - my element of the moment - all finished off with a couple of toning candy dots for the wheels.

and inside...well,  they say necessity is the mother of invention..

I had stamped the {Baby} perfectly - with the aid of my stamp-a majig. All fine,  til I promptly stamped the rest of wording upside down!.

With  instant remedial work called for, I just covered up my mistake with a duplicate punched label, again sponging those edges to tie in with the rest. and used another strip of the same paper to create my scalloped ribbon border at the bottom of the card.

Apologies for the poor photography - it would  help if I knew how to drive his camera! Am thinking, (that's a lot of thinking I have done today!) a lesson for another day perhaps.

Stampin Up recipe for this card:
Stamp sets: Sweetest Gift, Embellished events
Inks: Blushing Bride
Cardstock:/ Paper;  Whisper White, Nursery Nest DSP (retired)
Punches: Decorative Label Punch,  Scallop circle punch, scallop ribbon border punch
Other Essentials : Chevron Embossing folder,  Stampin  Up dimensionals, Candy dots 

I can order Stampin' Up products for you, shipped straight to your address and am
happy to answer any questions you have  - if you would like to find out more or would like to place an order you can email me or phone me on 01438 820829

or why not visit my on-line store

...and as I have been sewing up a storm for things for my sewing tutor over the last few weeks  nice to say that is all finished now. However no chance for a relax, as will have a house full tomorrow, but  nicely though, as its my mum and sister. So am really looking forward to lots of girly chat and am sure, some retail therapy.

til next time have a nice week and don't forget if you have the time, check out the Sale-a-bration blog hop currently going on over at the 'Pinkies' -  am off to have a really good look myself!

Jan
x

My No. 1 Dad!

hi all

Well  as I have delivered this,  just thought I would share and have so many people to thank for the original idea as again this is not my own,  but I am working on that.!

... and looking at this I have decided that perhaps I also need to start working on my photography skills. This card just looks like its only a card front, but honest,  it does have an inside, wording and all.

... but back to the card - I made use of some of my scraps from the soon to be retired 'Twitterpated' DSP pack  to make some banners along with a matt of Very Vanilla and Basic Grey card stock and used my square punch to easily notch out the ends.

I also had a go at making a rosette as thought this would fit the bill for my 'No.1 Dad' and I finished it off with a toning button from the neutrals colour family, seemingly sewn with a a thin strip of the same Basic Grey cardstock.

The sentiment was generated on the computer and I used the decorative label punch to cut this out,  matting it onto a layer of the same paper from the Designer Series Paper pack I used for the rosette.

So to all Fathers out there - hope you are are having a lovely day ...

Things you will need to make this card:

Cardstock : Basic Grey and Very Vanilla , Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
Punch: Decorative Label Punch, Square Punch
Other Essentials: Scoring board for the rosette, basic grey toning button and some rhinestones for trimming.

I can order Stampin Up products for you, shipped straight to your address and am
happy to answer any questions you have  - if you would like to find out more or would like to place an order you can email me or phone me on 01438 820829

..til next time..

very best wishes all
Jan
x