Charity Summer Ball

One of the things that has kept me so busy recently is organising a charity summer ball for the charity that I work for. It was a huge successful - and a huge amount of work! The creative part was fun though as a colleague and I laid and dressed 14 tables for 160 people!

These candles were beautifully decorated by someone else but aren't they pretty? So sophisticated.

And we laid ivy and sparkly confetti all around the candles. It really was like organising a wedding! We were very pleased with the outcome - the ball was a huge success, we raised lots of money and as well as everything else we did, the marquee looked stunning. Wahoo to us!

And this makes me realise that considering I am planning our wedding right now - I havent shared a single creative idea with you yet! I may be back with plenty!

Saturday's Craft Class

We had lots of fun on Saturday at my house - although I forgot to take any photos again until right near the end when the others had left! So here's my sister and her niece making the final touches to their projects.

I'm not sure if this photo sells this project in any better light but when my sister arrived and saw the finished layout we were making she said 'oh this looks much prettier in real life!'. I can't explain to you how pretty these papers are, and I only recently realised that they almost perfectly match my handbag with this design! I'll have to post a photo of that soon.

Here's a close up of the Vintage Springtime Collection papers and jumbo buttons from the mini catalogue - these are all available through me as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator don't forget. I might even be launching a 'class at home' with these soon for both cardmakers and scrapbookers!

Here's one made by my niece with a different selection of the papers used for hers. We had fun crumpling up the circles and flatterning them out again - we used a whole range of the Stampin' Up! circle punches and buttons.

In the other session we made cards using these fun 'Fox and Friends' animal stamps (From £13.95) - so cute! And of course the Big Shot embossing and die-cutting plates. The trailers are made using the 'Curly Label Extra Large' punches and then running the shape through the Big Shot machine with the spotted embossing place. We used Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight and Early Expresso cardstock and inks. This card wasn't actually one we used in the class (see Lisa Young as original designer of this project) but one I made when everyone had left - as I wanted to craft a little for myself!

This was one from the class, stamping the animal and then the greeting was punched out with the oval and scalloped oval punches.

This is another of the original projects - isn't it so cute? We've used the natural twine to give the effect it is being pulled along, with wheels punched using the circle punches too. A very cool project and one that everyone was very happy to take home with them! Come along and join us next time... I am due to be teaching some classes at Rainham Library soon!

Saturday's preparations

I have my next craft classes coming up on Saturday - and this time I'm using the Vintage Springtime kit - isn't it gorgeous? Sadly this photo is really quite poor in quality - taking photographs at night just doesn't seem to ever work well as this looks lovely in real life but not very bright or pretty in this darkness. It is -honestly!

I was originally using Sweet and Sour papers for this class but there was a bit of a mix up with my order so I changed at the last minute to this kit. I was actually quite pleased as it meant I finally got to play with my vintage papers, giant buttons and goegous seam binding from the new catalogue! I'm hoping to do a 'class at home' kit for this scrapbook double layout and also for a card kit so keep checking back for that!

I just love this kit!

Isn't this pretty?

Isn't this pretty? I don't think I've shared this card yet - it's a very pretty card that I received as a 'swap' at my stampin' up training. It's a lovely stamp set from the catalogue coloured in with the Stampin Up markers!

Rocky Road - hmmm...

Hmmm - someone passed me a rocky road recipe - and it's sooooo bad.... it's delicious! I think it might be the hummingbird recipe. So easy to make in a tray...

that I turned it into some gifts! (Not all of it of course!). There was so much left I made gifts, we ate lots and I took some into work too. I've simply used a bag that I store my handmade cards in to sell, folded a piece of Stampin' Up! card in half, stamped it with appropriate messages and then stapled it to the top of the bag. Voila!

I've decided these are literally just the perfect gift for everything! This bag I loved the Stampin' up! sentiment 'So Happy For You' as our friends had just announced they were having a baby. I then made another birthday pack using Stampin' Up! birthday stamps. See the theme? Perfect for everything, including Christmas!