Catalogue Launch 2012 at Bromley Hall ........

.................. It is the beginning of another Stampin' Up! year with the launch of the fabulous new catalogue - and amazing 205 pages - yes girls it's what we have been waiting for - we have the American catalogue.

Please come along to the launch of this new catalogue at my usual venue of Bromley Hall, Pode Hole on Saturday 6 October between 3.00pm - 5.00pm - there will be coffee and biscuits, door prizes and raffle prizes, make and takes and the not to be missed Retiring Table - my retired stamp sets and products at greatly reduced prices - a great opportunity to add a little something extra to your own Stampin' Up! stash.

Hope to see you there.

Bridgette

September is a busy month ...........................

................ Stampin' Up! is offering its Retiring List throughout the month of September - there are bargains to be had but you may need to move quickly to secure them - take a look in the side bar and click on the image to reveal the full list of items that we are saying goodbye to in order to be ready for the launch of the new catalogue at the beginning of October.

Amazingly we have a wonderful new look Autumn/Winter mini catalogue which complements the main catalogue brilliantly with on trend and up to the minute designs for you to chose from all the way through to the end of January 2012.  Look in the side bar and click on the image to be taken to the full catalogue where you can browse the pages at your leisure.

Please let me know if you would like a copy of the mini catalogue - I will be endeavouring to get copies to all my regular customers over the next week or so - but if I've missed you don't hesitate let me know and I will make sure that I get one to you as soon as possible

Bridgette

Need a reason to smile? ...............

........ well it's raining outside and there is a distant rumble of thunder so it's important to find something that makes us smile.  Well, I may just have the solution for you particularly if, like me, you love your Stampin' Up! products.

For the month of August, and only for August, there are two ways in which you can get your hands on a beautiful new stamp set called Reason to Smile - and it's daisies and I simply love daisies.

Firstly, you could buy the clear-mount version for just £14.95 to use with your clearmount blocks or, for the traditional girls like me, you can pay £18.95 and have them wood-mounted - remember this stamp set will just be available for the month of August.

How about getting it for FREE? - yes, that's right, for FREE!!  Spend £60 on Stampin' Up!product (not including p & p) during the month of August and it's yours for free in either clear-mount or wood-mount, you choose.

There, have I made you smile? - I do hope so. 

Bridgette

Green Views ......

...... I often wondered, seeing summer foliage unfurled,

why it was that God chose green in which to dress the world. 

I tried to picture to myself a background pink or gold,

and wondered if a dell of blue would thrill me to behold.

And, thinking thus, I knew that nothing could be so serene,

so calm, so fresh, so restful as the myriad tones of green. 

No other colour could appear so fragrant and so sweet,

so cool and so refreshing in the summer's sultry heat. 

So soothing in the evening when a spirit needs release. 

And in a world of turmoil so completely swathed with peace.

Kathleeen Partridge 1942

July Promotion

Hello again - my apologies for the absence, I am clearly 'pants' at blogging although here I am again having another go - so the best thing for me to do is share the July promo from Stampin' Up!

For a qualifying spend of £45.00 you can receive yummy brads and gorgeous organza ribbon in Limeade and Coral - and there's more - if you missed out, or have now run out, of the beautiful Saleabration designer papers then hurry, because there is limited stock to purchase at £9.95 per pack - so you can enjoy fab co-ordination, just what we Stamp-a-uppers love about Stampin' Up's products!!

I loved this set from our Saleabration Promotion this year so these have definitely got my name on them.

Bridgette

I am sailing, I am sailing ..................

................... I love this stamp set - and for this card used one of Julie's card layouts, check her blog Julie's Japes, and loved her clever anchor detail down the side of the card.

In order to try a new colour combination I checked my handy Colour Coach - and discovered the Cherry Cobbler/Marina Mist/River Rock mix and isn't the result nice?  I moved away from the traditional red,white and navy blue, patriotic I know, for a softer hue and was very pleased with the result. 

Seriously, if you haven't as yet discovered the joy of the Colour Coach you ought to take a look, it helps me to be a little more adventurous and tackle a colour combo that I wouldn't normally think of doing - why not give it a go?

Bridgette

Starting the Day ..................

...................... in a gentler way through the words of Kathleen Partridge (1942)

Wasted Worth

I wouldn't be a miser with a lonely

secret hoard and nobody to join with me in

spending what I'd stored. I wouldn't care

for treasures just to count what I possessed,

if nobody enjoyed them too and shared no

interest. For lovely things are lonely things

if wasted and unused, just tucked away in

cotton-wool for fear they should be bruised.

Not in having, but in sharing, does the

spice of life depend. The richest person in

the world is poor without a friend.

........having reconnected with two friends this week the words were very apt, it is so easy to let the weeks slip by and I am guilty of that and I'm working on it - and now seeing  a lovely group of crafters tomorrow makes our shared interests and time together so brilliant.

Have a lovely weekend, it promises to be a sunny one.

Bridgette

I've got the whole wide world ..................

.......................... in my hand - well, to be more precise, in my wonderful Open Sea stamp set !!!! to be found in the gorgeous new mini - remember you can take a peek just by clicking on the image in my sidebar.

This is a lovely stamp set and so many ways to use it - this is not my original design it was a layout I saw on Splitcoast Stampers from a fellow demonstrator - I simply changed papers, colourway and moved the embellishment to an alternative position - but it acted as a wonderful springboard for me.

Well Worn Designer Papers, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Lattice Embossing Folder, nice compass detail enhanced by a central black brad - the card base was Basic Grey - nice and masculine.

Bridgette

Slip sliding away ............................

.................... and that's just what the weekend has done!!!

I found a lovely little box for 99p - yes, 99p!! - and thought what a lovely little holder it would make for some 4" x 4" cards and envelopes - not quite sure how I'm going to decorate it but found one of my previous cards that fitted just perfectly - I particularly like the Sweetheart stamp set and it works in conjunction with the heart shaped treat cups - more of those mid-week - and such a springtime colour theme that I thought it was just what I needed to help demonstrate my point.

See you mid week - Bridgette



Wild Thing ...........

.......................... I think I love you - no doubt about it I love my scrapbooking - I am sharing one of the double page layouts that we made a little while ago at our monthly scrapbook group. 

The pages are 6" x 6" and are placed in one of Stampin' Up!'s adorable albums - the sentiment on the front cover expresses perfectly, for me, the reasoning behind scrapbooking our precious memories -

We do not remember days, we remember moments.

Cesare Pevese

I would read Where The Wild Things Are with John at home never dreaming that we would one day be able to visit an area dedicated to the book, a classic with American children, whilst visiting San Francisco - such lovely memories captured using rich warm tones from the Well Worn Designer Papers, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip cardstock, Twill Tape and the gorgeous retired large eyelets - I even used my own handwriting, something I advocate alot, to explain where we are - and I know not many of us are happy with our own writing but it is precious to our children - and even more so as the years race by.

Playing with a couple of crafty bits from the mini catalogue, I should have something ready to show you at the weekend.

Bridgette

Just Believe .................

.................. sometimes the most difficult cards to make are those we send to loved ones and friends expressing our sorrow at their pain - Hopeful Thoughts and Just Believe are two beautiful sets that I used to create this card - the colours are Elegant Eggplant and Perfect Plum - the soft mottled background is achieved by scrunching a tissue and dabbing it first onto the inkpad and then onto the surface of the cardstock - the main image was inked and then still using the tissue some of the ink on the surface of the image was gently removed to give a subtler look before stamping this image on top of the mottled background.

Bridgette

Angel Child

It is hard to be comforted - hard to forgive,

when Death steals a child too perfect to live.

Like a tiny flower that never grows -

like a beautiful rosebud never a rose, that

is plucked from a stem so sensitive that it

dies before it has time to live.

And thoughts always turn, 'til you long

to know how the child would have looked

if allowed to grow. You imagine her

voice 'til it almost seems as if she is calling

to you in her dreams. You think of the

touch of her hand and feel - that recollection

has made it real. The years pass on - and

still there is seen - a child at the age that

she might have been.

Kathleen Partridge

1942

It's definitely alright ............................

....................... with Everything Eleanor as it is a beautiful set of stamps that I have recently added to my collection and hopefully it will go through into Stampin' Up!'s next catalogue in October.

This is a classic combination of Always Artichoke and Not Quite Navy on a crisp white background - the flowers are given more depth by using a blender pen to bleed the ink onto the design and enhanced by the addition of a crystal - a simple sentiment from Perfect Punches offset by a cute diecut label is all that is required to add the finishing touch.

I think the background swirl is equally as nice as the one from Baroque Motifs and the flowers in Everything Eleanor are stunning and so simple to quickly cut around with our wonderful snips - I should think they would work well layered as well.

If you are looking for inspiration for your cardmaking don't forget to Google Stampin'Up! and click on the Images button - oodles to inspire you from our wonderful designers/demonstrators -  providing you with a fab jumping off point  -  change the colourway, embellishment and tweek the layout to make it more your own and a reflection of your particular Stampin' Up! Style.

Inspire - Create - Share

Bridgette

Get your motor running ..........

................... not quite 'heading out on the highway' - I've been to Tesco's does that count?, or come to that 'looking for some action' - I'm just chillin' this weekend - but felt it was quite apt for me following the last post I think!!!

This is just one of the many cards that formed part of a class that was offered to the lovely WI ladies of Tattershall and Coningsby last month - Lynne was my invaluable helper that day, thank you Lynne - we had such a brilliant time and hopefully gathered more into the Stampin' Up! fold.

I used lovely contemporary colours Not Quite Navy and River Rock together with a paper from the Well Worn pack with a cute taffetta ribbon piece and library clip embellishment enhanced by the fab Lattice embossing folder - I did succumb to dipping into my retired box ( those who know me know I don't keep very much from the previous catalogue ) for my Spiral Border punch and a 'lend' from a very dear friend for the Circle of Friendship stamp.

Inside a classic Thanks So Much from our lovely Basic Salutations Stamp set and just a section of the Motorcycle stamp - one of the A La Carte range of stamps Stampin' Up! offers.

Bridgette x

PS - I hope you all recognised the lyrics or you're all going to think that I've lost it slightly - not that I have ever been described as a rocker but some songs are just classic!!

Reflecting on life .....

............ it's never an easy thing to do, to admit that some aspects of your plan for 2012 are not turning out how you would have hoped and that you have failed to keep juggling the balls and they are now hitting you well and truly on the head !!!!

On some fronts it's fab - namely I have had a job since the beginning of the year working for a great company, with lovely work colleagues - so huge tick there!!

On the blog front not so fab - in fact pretty dismal - but this I can begin to rectify - it truly isn't that I no longer craft it's just that for the last few months I haven't put my projects on my blog for all to share.

On the Stampin' Up! crafting front again not so fab - I have scaled down my commitments and cancelled my stamping classes as my time is now not so flexible but I have managed to keep in touch with those crafty friends that I see thro' in-home workshops and my monthly scrapbook class but sadly some I haven't seen for such a long time and that is one huge regret.

So I am taking this Bank Holiday to rethink and reflect and make the necessary adjustments which I shall be working on over the next four months - these will hopefully see me more established in my new job ( yes, I'm studying again which I love) being able to report that I have an up-to-date blog and having reconnected with some dear friends that I have missed seeing very much - achievable aims I feel - and now that I have written them down they have become my on-going resolutions.

On the Stampin' Up! front I have put the lovely new Summer Mini on the sidebar - so do click on the cover and have a peek - I have the Open Sea stamp set and the gorgeous stamp set Apothecary Art that matches the framelits for the Big Shot - not managed to acquire those just yet - I'd like to attempt something with the material although I'm not really sure what just yet I'll have to put my thinking cap on!!

Bridgette x

I will share with you a passage from a little book by Kathleen Partridge, it would have cost one shilling and threepence to buy in 1942 and I love reading it very much for the gentle words of wisdom contained within its pages.

This particular passage is called Staying Power.

When enthusiasm flags, when early zest for work is stale, when inspiration wearies and when resolutions fail, as they are apt to do after the first fine glowing start, this is the hour for steady purpose and philosophy of heart.  All ventures rise with rosy dreams then wear a little thin and when the newness goes, the weakest think of giving in.  The veil has flown, here is the reality with glamour gone, the test of grit and courage proving who dare to carry on.

Kathleen Partridge 1942

Drum rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroll !!!!!! It's that time of the year again !!!!!

Yes, Sale.a.bration has arrived and it's an opportunity for us all to qualify for FREE crafty stash in the shape of stamp sets and Designer Series Paper - I do so love this time in the Stampin' Up! calendar.

Please go over to the sidebar on the right and click on the cover of the Sale.a.bration cover and you will discover the stamp sets on offer together with the gorgeous papers.

Remember - it is just a £45.00 spend, not including P & P, from either the main or mini catalogues and you are able to choose your favourite item for FREE - should you want to spend £90.00 then choose TWO FREE items ie a stamp set and the papers.

And there's more .......................... be a Hostess during the Sale.a.bration Promotion which runs from today, 24 January 2012 right through until 31 March 2012, and you will have the opportunity to claim a FREE set/papers if your party reaches the £300 level.

I am giving out Sale.a.bration brochures to all my customers but if I haven't got to you yet give me a nudge and I will send one to you asap.

As I mentioned earlier this is a fabulous time in the Stampin' Up! calendar of promotions so please don't miss out.

Indulge me if you will as I share a thought with you -

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.  Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lit the flame within us.

Albert Schweitzer

Thank you to you all, our crafting community is such a special one - Bridgette