Thursday 30 September 2010

On a countdown...

It's getting a bit exciting here in the Crafty House! it's nearly release date for the new catalogue, so I can get it up there and show you all the fantastic goodies on offer.. I'm pretty sure you're going to love everything in it - I know I do!!

Anyway.. before I get carried away with SU again, I thought I'd show you a couple more Christmas cards from my recent demo's.

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this one is made using the free embossing folder that was on the front of the magasine. A border punch adds a bit of decoration, and the glitter ribbon is just lush!

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Again, this one is self explanatory.. a little bit of embossing from the Stars PM embossing folder and stamps from the PM Silent Night set.

Hope you like them.. don't forget to check back tomorrow when I will give you a link to see the brand new Stampin' Up Catalogue. To celebrate its release, I am giving a 10% discount on all orders recieved for one week,  upto midnight on the 7th October 2010.And don't forget my Stampers groups - there are still places available if you'd like to take one.

Happy Crafting!

Christmas is a comin'

Hi again..

Just thought I'd drop by today to post a card or two from my demo's this past weekend. This one is a die cut Papermania card blank, and I just love the designs on these packs. This one is a poinsettia - a favourite of mine.

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They are all die cut ready to be backed with a beautiful piece of card - which I have done with Glitter card, I chose pink to keep the colour quite contemporary, then coloured the poinsettia with watercolour pencils to give it a little bit of colour.

Such easy cards, but yet they look so elegant.

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This little Christmas pudding was made with the shape cutters. I used glitter card again to dress this one up, and I think it looks sooo cute! So easy and actually, quite popular!

I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more for you.

Happy Crafting!

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Stampin' Up New Catalogue Stampers groups

Hi everyone!

Just a very quick post today as I'm busy making up some swaps for the Stampin' Up Convention here in London later this year.. not too long now!

But I thought with the release of the new catalogue in a couple of days time - YES... a couple of days!!! - that I would get a new Stampers 6 and Stampers 10 club up and running.

If you would like to join me, then just contact me - joaustin22@aol.com - and I'll send you the details. The clubs will start as soon as they are full, but hopefully by the end of October. I always keep a place for my craft club and order things that I'll need for the Workshops through that. Maybe you'd like to do the same thing?

You will also get a FREE catalogue sent to your door, and if there are any mini's about whilst you have your place, you will receive these too. You will also get FREE postage on your orders if it's your month as the hostess and also a FREE inkpad of your choice if your order is over £30.  - as well as the Hostess Benefits on your month....  What else could you want? Lots of freebies!!

If you are still wanting something from the Last Chance List, then there still a couple of days for me to get the order in for you. So again, if you can let me know what you'd like as soon as you can.

Right.. must crack on with some samples from the new catalogue and also my swaps for the Convention!

Happy Crafting everyone!

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Tuesday 28 September 2010

Out, about and having fun!

Morning all..

At last things outside seem like they're a little drier today. Hasn't it been awful this weekend?? So cold too! The heating has come back on over the weekend as it has been bitter, that's the first time since around April or May. It's all snuggly warm again at the minute and it's great.

So. What have I been upto this weekend? Well, I had a couple of days full of demonstrations - first one in Brigg and the second in Derby, and we had a great time. But on Friday, I was at the Copthorne Hotel up in Manchester with a load of ladies for an evening of fun.

It was the Regional Training for Stampin' Up and I think there were around 30-40 SU demonstrators there.

The drive up there was awful - very busy, so was a bit late arriving, and left early as I wasn't feeling the best. But in between was great. I had made my swaps for the evening and they were these little cards here -

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..... and all of them together ....

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I recieved so many cards back that it would take an age to upload them.. so I've made a little slideshow (no music!) of the ones I got.


The video is a couple of minutes long - still fiddling with the editing program to try to speed it up.. but that'll come later!

Now the best thing about the evening was, after I'd left I won a place to attend Stampin' Up Convention later this year! So hopefully I'll get sorted and will manage to book somewhere..... !

How would you like to have fun with the girls doing crafty things and having a laugh? With the new launch of the 2010 - 2011 catalogue, there isn't a better time to sign up to be a demonstrator. The catalogue this time is fantastic, and the kit has changed too. From the 1st October it will be a slightly lower price with more variety of product. If you'd like to know more, then just get in touch.

Here are a couple of photos of the great people I spent some fun time with!

Firstly, Monica. My Stampin' Up Mummy. Top demonstrator in the UK for 2009-2010, and what a lovely lady she is. She's such a tonic sometimes.
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And this wonderful person is Jane.

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It is Jane that I have to thank for pulling my name out to win the convention prize. Thank you so much Jane.

These are the funny ladies on the rest of my table -

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I hope you all had a great weekend, whatever you were upto. And I'll be back later to show you some cards - and maybe a tutorial or two - from the demo's this week.

see ya later!

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Thursday 23 September 2010

Happy Birthday Tilly!

As I said the other day, it was my lovely Sister in Law's birthday the other day. I forgot to post the card as I had been working all weekend and had set off at some ungodly hour on Saturday morning to get to County Durham.

Anyway, here is the card that I made. I can show you now as she should have had her birthday card and gift. (I hope!)

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I used a few new bits of stash for this card, the stamps are new and so is the paper. But the colours went so well together. The cardstock and ribbon is Stampin' Up.

I have used copics to colour, and brush blended the pink and yellow on her dress. I'm sure there's a name for this technique, but not sure what it's called.

Here she is in more detail.

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Isn't she sweet? I have rather a large (!!) collection of these LOTV stamps - they are just so cute and lovely!

I hope you had a great birthday Tilly and sorry for the lateness of your card and gift. I bet I know what you'll be doing this next weekend... I bet you're making a start on your Christmas cards! lol.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Manchester for my Stampin' Up regional training.. so I've got all my swaps made, sorted and ready to go.. and will share those over the weekend if I get chance to come back online before then!

Love to all for now, Happy Crafting!

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Wednesday 22 September 2010

Happy haunting ....

Spooky cards today as promised.

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to make some Invitations for a little girls 5th Birthday party, which is at the end of October, so a Halloween themed Fancy dress birthday party is the order of the day.

These are the samples that I made.

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This little Ghosty image is so cute isn't it?The white fluffy stuff behind the image is some new material I bought on Sunday. I was at my demo when a lady came over to watch. We were talking together with the other ladies, when she mentioned about this fabric that she'd bought from the textile section. Another one of my lovely ladies went and bought some and as soon as she showed me, I knew I needed some! Isn't it fab??

Here it is again on this card below -

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I've added some glitter glue underneath to give it a bit of shine. Isn't it lovely? And at only £1.50 per metre, you get absolutely loads!

I love the little images that are on these cards too. They are downloads that I purchased (and I don't really do digi downloads, but needs must!) This one above must be my favouritest.. but then, I like all of them as much as each other really.

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I coloured all my images with copics. With this last image, I made her little dress look fluffy with a simple copic colouring technique I came up with. It makes it looked flocked.

Well, I'll leave you with these cards today. I have a quite a bit of work to get done today, so I should get started really.

Hope you visit again soon!

Jo x




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Tuesday 21 September 2010

What a weekend..

Yep. It was really busy.

My demo on Saturday was changed to Sunday because the store had double booked, but just as I was starting to think of all the nice things I could do on my day off, I got a call to ask if I could cover a demo up in County Durham.. well, I could have said no, but as I love my job I said yes. So. A very long drive upto County Durham I had. I even took my camera but there wasn't anything to photograph on the way which in itself was quite funny.

I had a really lovely day with the staff and customers. They were all so very lovely. And I promise that the tutorials will be coming this week!

Sunday was my rearranged demo, but suprisingly it was quite busy all day. Thank you to those ladies that took the time to come back again to see me. You're all truly special people and it was lovely to see you all!

Monday was just a nice relaxing day - and was my Sister in Law's birthday! But.. as I had been unexpectedly busy at the weekend, forgot to post the card. So I promise it'll be in the post today with your present. And I am sure you're going to love it, Tilly!

Carley was also back home yesterday, she's having a week off work getting ready or a few days away with her fella. She flew out this morning from East Midlands and I'm sure that she's going to have a lovely time. But I sure will miss her even if it is only for 3 days I'm not going to see her! I spent the day making Hallowe'en invitations for an order I had. I will show you some samples tomorrow.

For today, I'm at home again just finishing off some samples for the weekend. I'm over in Brigg on Saturday, and a repeat demo in Derby on Sunday.. so another busy weekend.

The card I have to show you today is one that I made for the Docrafts website quite a while ago. I was sent on some quilling sets, and this is one of them..

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I was completely flummoxed as to what to do with it so racked my little brain, and this is what I came up with.. and I love it!

I have made a few more projects for the site too, including a flowery hat, and I have more to do as soon as I can.

Quilling is one of the things that I love doing. I can't sit and do decoupage in front of the TV, but quilling I can.. time consuming, but I enjoy it. In fact, I have just finished a luvverly collection of projects for the next Creativity magasine.. but obviously I can't share those at the minute. But as soon as I'm able, I will. They are a completely new item that I've used... and they're stunning!

Anyway.

Today, I will leave you with this little photo of my lovely Mr Scoobs.. isn't he just beautiful. I'm sure he's like a good whisky - improving with each year.

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And finally, a funny little photo of him.. Honestly, he's so daft sometimes!

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Carley was at an Evening wedding reception the other day, and the bride works at Specsavers.. so everyone was given a pair of glasses.. and these were hers.

Right. That's me off for now.. Happy Crafting everyone!


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Friday 17 September 2010

Further reductions... grab a bargain!!!!

WOW!!!!

I was just checking out the Stampin' Up site this morning, and putting through a collection of orders that have arrived, and I couldn't believe it!

Stampin' Up has only gone and released another list with even MORE reductions!

If you want to check it out, click HERE and see if there is anything you fancy. I am ordering every day through to the end of September, so just let me know if you'd like anything.

It's also a great time to pick up your everyday items like cardstock, inks and ribbons because in the new catalogue from the 1st October, there will be a slight price increase on most things... so grab them quick whilst they are cheaper.
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Wednesday 15 September 2010

Has it been that long?

Morning everyone!

It seems like ages since I last managed to get online to post on here, but here I am at last. Things have been really busy of late, and work has just got in the way. Not that I'm complaining in the least, but sometimes it's nice to take a break I think.

I did have a nice weekend though. I was working up in Southport on Saturday (**waves** to all the ladies!) and we had a brilliant day. It was Christmas all the way, but the product was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed the company of everyone who came along.

On Sunday, I had a girly day out up at Harrogate. It was fab! Better still, there was a SU stand! Monica and Jo were working their socks off as I strolled past. I had been asked if I wanted to do it too, but work had got in the way and with one thing or another I couldn't. Here's a pic of the stand (courtesy of Monica's blog). Take a peek over there to see other bits and pieces.



Doesn't it look fab? And all that colour.. just wonderful. I hope you both had a lovely day.

I had gone up to the show with my friend Sheila, and we had a lovely time indeed. We had a wonder round, saw some friends along the way, and were more or less done and dusted in an hour or so. Afterwards, we decided to go for dinner at the restaraunt on the Yorkshire Showground - Fodder. It was absolutely delicious. I bought home two of the most gigantic meringues you ever saw! They were so big that Martina's eyes nearly popped out of her head - she loves meringue!!!

I do have a card to show you, but the photo isn't that brilliant (taken on my phone - and it must have the worst camera in the world! Note to self - must charge up my camera battery!)




The card was made for Carley who needed a wedding card for work, so inside there are three sheets for everyone at work to sign. I finished it with a diamante heart through the voile ribbon (love this stuff!) and a little hat pin with swarovski crystal and pearls. I wish my photo was a bit clearer as it looks alot better in real life. I cut and decoupaged the little couple, and although you can't see too much from the photograph, the card was based around a caramel, cream and gold colourway.

Right.. that's all from me this morning. I'm just awaiting a delivery from Mr Ben, my UPS guy, who is bringing lots of new goodies from Stampin' Up. So.. must fly and get up and ready.

I hope you all have a lovely day, and I'll be back later to upload photographs from our workshop last night.

Happy Crafting!



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Wednesday 8 September 2010

A little Congratulations ...

Yesterday was a very special day for a very special friend.

I have known Sandra for quite a few years now after meeting her at a Business Course we were doing. We became quite good friends, and I was absolutely delighted for her when her dream of opening a Bridal Boutique reached fruition.

She has now been in business for a few years, well, around five, and had decided to move premises for one reason or another. Sandra now has an absolutely beautiful shop in an area that she loves, and I am sooooo happy for her. Things haven't been too good for her this year with her health, so I am delighted that she's finally achieved her dream.

So, whilst I was visiting her yesterday for the open day, I took her this little card -

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I love this stamp set, and I am so pleased that it's made it into the new Stampin' Up catalogue again (if you want a copy, order it below). So, I thought it was the perfect set to give her a personal card.

I also got her some flowers, and a Duck Egg. Yep. A duck egg. I like to give presents that are a little quirky, and when I was getting the flowers my mind sorta went off on a tangent, and I started thinking of what else I could give to celebrate New Beginnings. So. I bought an Egg. It's a real duck egg, and my thoughts behind it were to make her laugh (we love to laugh!!) and to celebrate her new beginning in her shop, something that she will cherish and nurture and make her own - just like an egg needs to be nurtured, cherished and loved to make a duck!

Well.. she just howled with laughter - so my job was done. We had a laugh, and a cuddle or two, and I told her how proud I was of her.

Well done Sandy, you're a real treasure and we all love you and are glad things are working out! xx

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Where dey gone??

My wooflets have disappeared from the top of my blog - not a good start to the day!!

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Tuesday 7 September 2010

A few more ......

Well, here we are for the last few samples from this weekend. As soon as I get to photograph the other ones I took with me, then I'll upload them for you.

Anyway.. here's my first for today.

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I used metallic cards to emboss the designs on this one, because if you file them down, you will get to the white core of the card. The photo isn't brilliant as it was from my mobile.

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Oh I love these cards!!! They are laser cut so they don't need much doing to them really. With this one, I've watercoloured the design a little bit to give it a bit of colour. The lovely glitter card adds a little sparkle.

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A very simple design using the embossing folders. Again, this was taken with my mobile, so the photo isn't brilliant.. but the shading was done using the new metal paints that have just come out. These are fab. The more I use them, the more I love 'em!

That's my current set of sample pics, but I'll get some more photographed soon.
I'm still trudging through my mag work, but what I'm working with is fantastic. Love the product, but its a shame I can't share.. I will do as soon as I can.

In the meantime, why not check out the Retired list from Stampin' Up and see if there's anything you'd like? The updated list is at the top of the page under my header, and the list is on the sidebar (little orange label).

And if you'd like to preorder your new catalogue for this next year, then click on the link below.

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Monday 6 September 2010

Just a few samples

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was working down in Derby this past weekend, and we had a fantastic time. So, I thought I'd come on here and upload a few of the sample cards I had on the day.

This is the first one -

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Jackie had wanted me to feature this stamp on my samples, so I duly obliged - not hard as I really love this stamp from last year!

I have used a simple theme of black and white, with a dash of red, and the papers actually aren't christmas papers.. but they work just as well! I love my little tag too.

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Now.. with this - isn't Skype great?? The star was Nikki's star, and she showed me how to make it over skype one day, and don't you think that it looks lovely? The background flourish is stamped using the Christmas stamp above.

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Now this card is one of my favourite techniques - using the embossing folders.. but in a different way. I'll do a video at some point this week when I get a chance. I used the hot foils to decorate the card.

I'll upload a few more for you tomorrow so you don't get too inundated all at once. But for the rest of today, I'm working hard on some magasine commissions so I'd better get a move on.


Until tomorrow xx

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