Heartfelt Thanks ....... from the Idea Book 2007 - 2008 and The Spreader of Love Award

I was looking for inspiration as I just wanted to 'play' quickly in between other jobs today - I looked thro' last years Idea Book and on p 20 I found what I needed - so this is a 'lift' just a slight colour change and orientation and my thanks to the design team at Stampin' Up!

I have to confess that before discovering Stampin' Up! my base cards where invariably white with the occasional cream/ivory addition - colour was something I tended to fight shy of - lack of confidence perhaps - but as you can see I am definitely dipping my toe in the world of colour - and where bolder to start than Real Red, a touch of Old Olive, So Saffron and a hint of Very Vanilla.

I think the design was carried out on a larger card so I changed the orientation to landscape and the proportions tended to work better for my 6 x 4 cardstock - I like the result - I finished by completing the envelope to match.

That's it - it was all done and dusted in no time - filed away in its little cellophane bag awaiting the right occasion to send it.

Thanks again to the Stampin' Up! Design Team - don't forget if you haven't got a catalogue yet have a look for inspiration by clicking on the front cover of the current catalogue over in my sidebar.

Also before I go I would like to share with you the fact that I have been awarded this gorgeous tag from my SU sister Emma - http://www.emma-daye.blogspot.com/ - and it is my pleasure to pass it on to another five blogs that I enjoy visiting - so if you haven't yet experienced the beautiful work that these favourites of mine do then you're in for a treat - don't hesitate, indulge in the pleasure of blog-hopping - but beware it's addictive.

Aimee - http://www.teenyaims.blogspot.com/

Anne - http://www.anne-ectdotes.blogspot.com/

Debbie - http://www.pinkpoppycraftbox.blogspot.com/

SallyB - http://www.sallybeescardsandchat.blogspot.com/

and finally, but by no means least - just alphabetically

Steph - http://www.stephmuchadoaboutnothing.blogspot.com/

Thank you again Emma - I hope I've managed to pass this cute award on successfully.

Thank you to all fellow blog-hoppers for stopping by - hope you can call back soon.

Bridgette

My First Stampin' Up Hostess Party ....

Wow, where did that week go - thank you so much for taking the time to keep checking on me - even my friends were beginning to wonder where I had disappeared to. Honestly I was not painting the town red - not even the very faintest rose pink - but I have, with the help of my dear friend Lou, got off the starting blocks with a Stampin' Up Hostess Party.

Although we were a small party I loved it - time to chat - play with the products - produce a card - watch me demo another - get to know some new faces and say hello again to some familiar ones - it was a blissful few hours and it comfortably produced a Level One Party for Lou even from the modest gathering and some pre-orders from those who couldn't make it - all very much appreciated and I hope they can make it next time as we plan to do it again it was such a relaxing few hours snatched from our otherwise busy schedules - as women we know what it is to juggle all the 'expectations' that come with the roles we fulfil each day and there is nothing like a girly giggle to de-stress!!

The Make and Take was the 'bloom' card with papers from the Sweet Always DSP with a colour theme of Regal Rose and Chocolate Chip - a chance to get hold of stamps and punches with a very basic card that is quick and simple to put together and easy to repeat using different sentiments.

My demo card was inspired by a layout at http://www.thedecoratedpage.blogspot.com/ using the Sale-a-bration stamp set Botanical Bloom - a set was also being given as the Door Prize today - which was simply a name in the hat for all those attending and those who had placed pre-orders - again the opportunity to demo the Stamp-a-ma-jig which you start out believing you don't need and find out that you can't live without it lol - myself included!!

And finally - as it is coming towards Easter - a few brightly coloured mini eggs - enough to indulge but not feel guilty - to take home - I have to confess this is my beautiful Sizzix die Top Note - I believe the Cricut has something similar on one of its cartridges - and the Yummy Sale-a-bration set which will be the door prize at Lou's next party - I told you she is lovely to me as are all my friends - what would I do without you all.

I do hope everyone had a good time - if you're reading this and were there - a big thank you and don't forget to try out my Favourite Blogs List you'll see some gorgeous work to inspire you.

Bridgette

Is this the right time for you?

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THE NEWEST POSTING

Is there ever a right time to do anything? Well, if you have been thinking about joining Stampin' Up! now is the right time. For my money the Starter Kit has always been good value at £139 but from 12 March through to 25 March there will be a further 10% discount which brings it down to an incredible £125.00.

Personally, I've never been one to rush a decision - but I do recognise good value for money when it comes along. The Stampin' Up! Starter Kit falls into that category - the total worth of the kit, if bought individually, would be approx £240 and the great thing about it is there is the flexibility to tailor it to your individual needs regarding stamp sets and the colours of inks and papers - I know, I changed my selection to reflect my taste in both stamp sets and colours, for instance, I chose the Rich Regals colour family rather than the Bold Brights.

So if you have been wondering about joining SU please give this offer serious consideration but do keep in mind that it is a limited offer which will not be available after 25 March - to help you here are some of the reasons that prompted me to join ahead of time - yes, I was 'thinking' about it too and on track to join on 1 April but I came in early to take advantage of the Sale-a-bration promotion in February - perhaps this promotion will be the one that helps you to make the decision I did - and come in early!!

Becoming a demonstrator has given me the opportunity to:

• craft with high quality products.
• benefit from a 20% discount on net sales made during workshops, those from direct customer sales and my own personal sales.
• receive an amazing 30% discount on my first qualifying order as it was made within 45 days of joining - this one really helped to boost my stash.
• share my hobby with others making new friends along the way.
• buy all the latest crafty products ahead of general release.
  

Stampin' Up! will give you these same benefits and more depending on the type of demo you would like to be - remember you can join as a hobby demo to simply enjoy your craft or as a career demo who sees Stampin' Up! as a way of tailoring a business to fit in with a busy home life - and there are many varied levels inbetween because, rest assured, Stampin' Up! can accommodate all of us no matter how modest or ambitious our individual dreams may be.

Thank you for reading this far - it perhaps seems a lot to take on board but it's all good - and there are bound to be questions that have not been addressed in this short post - so please contact me I'll always do my utmost to answer any queries you may have.

I'll keep this post at the top just to remind you what a fab opportunity this is - just scroll down a little further for the latest crafty offering!

Bridgette

Gosh More Awards & From Little Acorns ...

Well, I certainly feel very honoured when I am given an award - and these are from my friend Anne who has her gorgeous blog full of beautiful cards at http://www.anne-ectdotes.blogspot.com/ - take a peek at her craft room, seriously nice - I want those units lol.


My other nice news is that I have an outlet for my SU handmade cards at a friend's shop which will be a fab way of spreading the news about Stampin' Up! - I asked for a corner of her counter top and she very kindly said ' Why don't you use one of your card spinners and stand it near the window? ' - how sweet is that? - so I shall be busy making more and hopefully have enough to take it in next week.

I also have my first Hostess Party next week so I am preparing for that and I am attempting to compile a Demo Book - A4 format - with samples of all the Stampin' Up! products that I have so that potential customers can see what they are buying - so important with paper and ribbon etc - we just need to touch the stuff!! - so will be taking this with me.

Thank you for stopping by - hopefully you will visit me again - blog candy is on the way soon to help get me push past the 5000 mark - that would be so cool.

Bridgette

A Cute Notebook .......

In my last post I demonstrated how to get a little more from the fab circle scallop punch - what prompted that discovery was a cute notebook that Charlotte Harding had made and displayed on the Stampin' Up!/Crafts Beautiful Stand at the NEC - scroll down to see her design - I decided that I would have a play using the Rich Regals cardstock - Always Artichoke/Rose Red and Just Vanilla with the matching grosgrain ribbon and ink to see how easy it was to make - and the verdict is - very straightforward, nothing to trip you up.

You could chose your favourite colours and stamp set - One Of A Kind was my choice and as mentioned above the Rich Regals selection.

A variety of punches was used - Round Tab/Word Window*/Circle Scallop and Corner Rounder - *for a lesson on achieving the Word Window go to my upline's blog at http://www.sallys-daze.blogspot.com/ for a fab photo tutorial and search under November Archives - a friend very kindly got my word window punch for me but I am ever hopeful that these will find their way into our new catalogue in October - fingers crossed - but in the meantime Sally's method works perfectly too.

I can't recall exactly where I found the little notepad I used - probably somewhere like Tesco or Wilkinson's both a great source of stationery finds and just perfect for this sort of project.

As always thank you for stopping by - hopefully you will visit again.

Bridgette

Scallop Punch - A Trio of Options ...

Well, I mentioned in my last post that I would do my best to pass on the details given to me by Charlotte Harding of Stampin' Up! at the NEC for using the scallop punch - please forgive my excitement if you already are aware of this but it was news to me and stretches the possibilities even further for this super little piece of equipment.

Punch out a scallop circle and lightly adhere it to a piece of paper - place this back in the punch and give it a twist so that the teeth sit in the middle of each scallop - and punch again - voila, a dahlia - well, that's what it reminds me of - and as you can see it resembles the one that Charlotte Harding used on her little notepad - which, by the way, is seriously cute!!



Then I thought to myself what happens if I slightly offset the second time I punch - so again starting with a scallop circle adhered to some thin paper - I repunched but this time instead of placing the teeth squarely in the centre I just offset them a little - hey presto - another variation.

Great value for money - three shapes for the price of one. Hope you managed to understand what I was trying to convey - it's all about sharing ideas with one another - and below is the original - still fab, but it's always lovely to have a trick or two up ones sleeve.

And look!!! Speaking of sharing, Steph over at http://www.stephmuchadoaboutnothing.blogspot.com/ has very kindly given me an award which I shall pass onto other favourite blogs as soon as I have learnt how to do it - I shall consult my Google Blogger for Dummies book in the hope of finding the information I need - but in the meantime, thank you very much Steph, it is truly appreciated.

And to all who keep popping back to check what I am doing a big thank you to you too.

Bridgette

The NEC and a Stampin' Up! Scrapbook Page ........

I do hope lots of you managed to go along to the NEC - my friend Lou and I were there on the Friday - we headed straight for the SU stand and put our names in the prize draw - but I haven't heard anything yet lol. We then we had a good look around at all the other stands and I spotted one selling small storage and bought a couple of pieces which will be ideal for my desk once I have covered them with some SU Designer Papers. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at and gathering ideas from all that I saw but it was very hard to part me from my money - you see my SU Wish List is still very long and anything else has to be really exceptional to catch my eye.

Well, having completed our tour we headed back to the Crafts Beautiful Stand where Charlotte Harding from Stampin' Up! was demonstrating a 6 x 6 scrapbook page - and staying to chat with her at the end of her demo she very kindly gave me the page that she had worked on - which is photographed above for all to share - she demonstrated a technique using the Watercolour Wonder Crayons and the Aqua Painter - it is the 'splattered' effect in the top left hand corner of the page - and then went on to colour the flower using the crayons - I was amazed at the depth of the colour that could be achieved. The small tag is used for journalling and other little bits and pieces can be stored in the pocket too, a photograph can easily be tucked under the clip in the top right hand corner - the metal findings are from the retired Pewter HodgePodge Selection.

I also photographed one of her notelet examples that used what I thought was a new punch but it actually was the scallop circle punch with a twist - I'll try and do a series of photographs to show you what she demonstrated to Lou and myself - it was most impressive as I hadn't seen it done before - some of you may already know how to achieve this effect but it was new to me !!

I'm still playing with the new bits and bobs I bought from the mini catalogue and will show you my examples over the coming week - so please pop back if you have time.

Bridgette

Sally's Chipboard Challenge .......

As I mentioned in my last post, I've never really explored the many possibilities that exist when playing with chipboard - and I still haven't - but I do intend to, bet you can't guess how?

Well, at the moment it is so easy ...... I just took advantage of this month's offer of a whopping 25% discount on all the chipboard that SU offers, both current and retired ( while retired stock lasts ! ) - it's a fantastic saving that allows you to make loads of embellishments for your cards and scrapbook pages - I'll just mention that I'm really getting into the cute 6 x 6 scrapbook page size - I'll soon be ready to show you what I've been doing with this but I haven't quite finished yet!


So for now, I will show you my 'take' on the challenge that Sally set for her downline when she posted some of her chipboard elements to us to play with - it was so much easier than I thought to make my own embellishments and being able to match them perfectly to my papers was so great - if you notice I even managed to cover the teeny tiny chipboard dots with little flowers using the paper from the Sweet Always range of designer papers - ta-dahhhhh ..... my very own unique brads.


Thank you for stopping by - Bridgette

Kristina's Colour Challenge .......

I decided to draw inspiration from the SU Idea Book and Catalogue to attempt this challenge and used one of my favourite sets: Summer by the Sea.

You'll find my starting point on page 41 - I just simply changed the colours to match the challenge - watercoloured the image very lightly - no ribbon, just a few more brads and it was done.

As always I try to compliment the original but just make it more my own - I find that when I'm stuck for ideas the SU catalogue is just perfect and at £4.95 very reasonable when compared against the price of a monthly magazine that we look at once and then hardly refer to again - I keep going back to my catalogue time and time again.




If you haven't yet got a copy just find your nearest SU demo, we generally each have a good supply, and invest in one - if I happen to be your nearest please contact me - I'd be happy to help as would any of us.


You may also be hearing the news about a new mini catalogue - and you've heard right - it is full of fabulous stamp sets, papers, punches, buttons and ribbons - I am eagerly awaiting my pre-order parcel so that I can make samples to show you - and you will be able to order from it on 1 April 2009 - don't worry this one runs with the current catalogue until the end of September unlike the Sale-a-bration which had a very short time frame.

I'll be putting my chipboard challenge card on tomorrow - this was from Sally, my upline - which is quite timely as there is currently 25% off the range in the catalogue - having never worked with it before I was surprised how easy it was to change its appearance and if you want to see a brilliant video pop across to Sally's blog at http://www.sallysdaze.blogspot.com/ and be inspired.

Bridgette

A girlie gathering of a different sort .........

Well, these girlies were very young, full of life and hopefully future crafters lol. My friend, Kirsty, entrusted me with the 'entertainment' at her daughter's party today - Kirsty is a fellow scrapper and surrounds her daughters with her creativity so a crafty party was the order of the day.

The photo shows you my examples of what we were attempting to accomplish and I have to say they were brilliant, aged only 8 they were as attentive as 8 years allows any little body to be and we managed to complete four items - the named bookmark they made is not shown - and had cake inbetween. My projects were a mixture of SU products and crafty 'stash' - I think they worked very well together.

A big thank you to Kirsty for the opportunity to meet her family, and to Sue, another fellow scrapper, who helped to keep things running smoothly for me - I don't think I would have been as relaxed without their invaluable backup.

Note for Kirsty: The carrot cake is, opps was, delicious and the birthday cake I have left for John to enjoy - oh, and the chocolate brownies, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm lol

Bridgette

My Craft Room ......... Tess Update

I thought that I would tidy up my 'happy space' and take it a step closer to being fully SU - my target date is still 1 April so I have a little more time - but I can show you the progress so far with a 'before' and 'after' photo - I am very fortunate to have a small room so that I can close the door on it because I am not the tidiest of crafters - honestly the desk will not look like the 'after' picture for very long.

Hopefully you can recognise this as the 'before' photo and now - ta-dahhhhh ...........

........the 'after' photo - well, up to a point because I haven't tackled the drawers full of 'stash' under my desk - there is no chair as I always craft standing up looking out of the window hence the fact that my desk is raised up on chipboard panels either side.

I'm hoping that being tidier will help me be more productive and I'll step up my output lol.

Tess Update: Well, the stitches came out without a murmur - all the tablets have been taken and now the recovery continues - a big thank you for your kindness which will stay with me as I close the updates now as Tess is practically back to her old self - maybe some photos of her in the summer happily sitting amongst the flowers in the field next to our house ......... sniffing the air.

Bridgette

Accents and Elements ......

Firstly, I have to say I wish I had a fab reason for not posting, you know what I mean - a luxury weekend away, spa break or just long lazy days doing nothing - nope, just trying to catch up over the weekend and then the start of the week and Monday is always busy, but ............. I have to confess that today was nice - lovely SU parcel arrived - so I have been unpacking it and admiring the contents.

The card I have photographed to show you today was one that prompted me to buy the Accents and Elements kit - Sally, my upline, set her Stampers 10 a little challenge - she sent us some paper, a few brads and an embellishment or two and asked us to create a card - I have to say I really liked those little flowers - hence the reason I purchased the full tin - I have photographed them just to show you how many you get, the variety of shapes and the fact that they come in some of my favourite colours, Old Olive, Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie was just a bonus.

I have now taken mine from the tin and put them in their own little compartmentalised box - some unkind people say that's what should happen to me - that I should be compartmentalised or words to that effect - I don't know what they mean - I'm absolutely fine lol - sorry must dash just the brads and the buttons to do now ......

Tess Update: Wow, that little girl has amazing powers of recovery - I know she is on a cocktail of tablets but what a star - even the not nice antacid via the syringe is being tolerated by her - she really is the perfect patient - no wonder the vets thought she was so lovely - she doesn't fight to take her medicine at all it's as if she realises we are all on her side.

I will just share a memory I have of her from the walk today - she was sitting in the field, her favourite yellow ball in her mouth when she lifted her nose and really, and I mean really sniffed the air and I swear to goodness she was smiling and enjoying the wind on her fur - the doggy owners amongst us will perhaps recognise the pose - it's a classic perhaps a little like the cat that really stretches luxuriating in the warmth of the sun on her fur - are you with me now?

Tess is back to see the vet tomorrow - I hope she will be pleased with her progress. I'll let you know.

I will try not to be absent for so long again - it felt strange - but thank you if you've kept popping back - and yes, more blog candy on the way - maybe this time together we can break the 5000 barrier.

Bridgette