So much excitement!

It has been a very exciting (and busy) weekend, so I apologise for the lateness in this posting. This weekend has seen the launch of the brand new 20-11-2012 Stampin' Up! catalogue on Saturday followed by my catalogue launch party on Sunday.

So, the eagerly awaited catalogue is now available for you to view online or purchase from me. Inside, there are

• over 41 new stamp sets




• lots of new roller stamps




• an extended single stamp range




• a new 'In-Colour' Collection




• 14 new designer paper collections




• and plethora of new punches, dies, embossing folders, ribbons, trims, fabrics, storage items and embellishments...

simply too much to list here is one go! I am so excited to bring you this new catalogue and hope you will enjoy seeing the many samples I will create with it over the coming months.

On top of that, there are new (and better) hostess rewards if you decide to book a party and an extra special offer if you decide to sign up as a demonstrator in the month of October. Please check out my links for further information or e-mail me to find out more.

I hosted my first catalogue launch party yesterday and due to the gorgeous Indian Summer weather, was able to present the entire event outside in the garden. We all had a lovely afternoon sipping refreshing 'lemon crush' and afternoon tea, enjoying homemade cupcakes and scones and exploring the new catalogue, along with some of the samples I had already made with the new products. Here are a few photos I took before everyone arrived.

Christmas in September?

Well, it was for 12 of us yesterday, as we spent a whole day immersed in red and green for a wonderful day of Christmas Stampin' Up! crafting.

Armed with the facts that it's now just 97 days left to Christmas (aghhh!) and the average person sends at about 49 Christmas cards (which is a lot if you make them), it seemed time to start our preparations and we spent the day making a big attack on our Christmas cardmaking.

Everyone received a fantastic kit of Jolly Holiday papers, Contempo Christmas stamps and plenty of card and trims to make all the 12 card projects, 3 other Christmas papercraft projects and much more at home.

It was a jam-packed day of festive fun too, with 'Christmas' treats for everyone who attended, Christmas decorations around the room, a tasty buffet, cakes and prizes to be won in the scavenger hunt and prize draw.

In fact, those who attended enjoyed themselves so much, they have asked for another Christmas workshop day before the big day, so if you missed this one and would like to join them for the next, please get in touch to find out more!

Here are just a few of the 15 lovely projects that were made on the day.

Punching to new heights...

Back with my punches again this last week and I have so enjoyed creating this cheeky little chap, Griff the Giraffe!

He's a great way to get lots of use from oval and circle punches and is sure to make anyone smile.

It's a very exciting time being a Stampin' Up! demo at the moment. September means goodbye to many old favourites as the list of products that will be discontinued is released, in order to make room for all the new goodies being released in the brand new catalogue for 2011-2012. This is the last chance to get a whole range of wonderful goodies including the Designer paper packs, many different stamp sets and even punches, ribbon and embellishments. If you would like to see the full list, click here . Many of the items are reduced in price too, so it's a great chance to get something you have always wanted at a bargain price!
You can order these products before 30th September with me but remember stocks are limited and when they are gone, they really are gone!

One for the road!

I've been playing with my punches again, this weekend. It never ceases to amaze me just how versatile they can be! This cute vintage car makes a great card for any man or boy and is made quickly and simply with punches. The main Stampin' Up! punches you will need are:

1 3/4" x 7/8" Large Oval punch

1 3/8" x 5/8" Large Oval punch

Large and medium circles from the Two-step Owl punch

Word Window punch

Here is a basic tutorial:

Feeling Sheepish?

I have been this weekend! I have making these delightful little 'Sian The Sheep' (a local Welsh sheep, of course!) card sets. Arn't they cute? Each box contains a set of four cards with envelopes and four matching gift tags.
To make your own, you will need the following Stampin' Up punches:
body: scallop circle extra large,
head: owl and cut off the feet,
hair: boho blossoms - the middle size flower,
legs: modern label and cut vertically into three bits use the centre for front legs and sides for back legs
eyes: Itty Bitty circle for the white part and use the small circles from your owl punch for the inner eyes.
The background is made using the Scallop Edge Border punch along green card and then sticking it onto a square of blue card.
Simple, quick and a great way to use up leftovers!

Create Flowers of the Season

If you think of flowers in summer, you will probably think of roses and what better way is there of bringing some seasonal colour to your creativity, than by making these lovely fabric roses from seam binding ribbon. They will add a great dimension to your cards/layouts and when teamed with stamped images, give a very elegant look to your work. They are also extremely satisfying to make!

In the sample card, the roses have been teamed with stamped images using the Greenhouse Garden two-step stamps and the paper is from the Springtime Vintage collection.
If you'd like to have a go at making them, we will be making them in some of our Caerphilly cardmaking and scrapbooking workshops throughout August, so if you don't want to miss out, book your place now!
The seam binding ribbon is available in four gorgeous colours: Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz (pictured in my card) and Rose Red. here is the colour chart from the catalogue.