So do you want to know about the Stampin' Up! convention?!

Every year, Stampin' Up! organise a convention for all of their demonstrators. It's for Stampin' Up! Europe so last year was Germany, this year was the UK and next year is in France. It's basically a great time for demonstrators to get together, have a good laugh, make things, learn some business tips and generally have a ball! This year it was held in Addington Palace, Croydon.

On the Thursday night Natalie - my team leader (upline) and Monica who leads another team, held a pre-convention party in our hotel which was great fun! We received these lovely goodie bags filled with things, demonstrators 'swapped', there were some 'make 'n' take' sessions where we made a card and a mini scrapbook page, and there was a raffle. It was hard work so they deserve a lot of thanks - there were over 100 of us just at that! Swaps are where each person makes one item in multiple and they all go round swapping their own for a different item, to give you lots of new inspiration on what to use your stamps for.

Onto the next day and it was two early starts but on registration we were given this 'groovy' bag, with two lovely stamp sets in to use during convention.

Over the two days we had the chance to purchase items from 'Momento Mall' which is Stampin' Up! merchandise such as totes, aprons, rulers, bags etc. This was almost a sell out, there was nothing left at the end! It was decorated lovely.

There are inspiration boards around the venue too, packed full of hundreds of cards and scrapbook pages to give us all inspiration, here are just two made using the party stamp set that we were given in our registration bags.

Aren't they lovely?

On the Friday night came the awards night! This is where everyone gets dressed up and the highest achievers of the demonstrators are awarded for their hard work with various prizes etc, presented by Shelli over from the US, as she founded Stampin' Up!.

Natalie got number 5 top demonstrator of the year as well as other awards, well done Natalie! We had a bumper make n take session during the weekend of different cards and scrapbook pages which was fun. They also do a random 'prize patrol' which is where names flash up on the screen during the event and if yours is there, you win a prize!

This is our 'Stampin' Stars' team!

We finished with a group photo. They announced that next year's convention is in Disneyland Paris! And the only way you can go (and get yourself a permanent 20% discount on Stampin' Up! products!) is to become a demonstrator!

Fab new Christmas ribbon free!

It's that time of year for another fabulous offer from Stampin' Up - and this one is a good one! (Not that any of them aren't, but I love this project designed above). I have an obsession with ribbon and if you do too, order your Christmas stamp sets and patterned papers today and you can qualify to choose a whole reel of ribbon for free! Stampin' Up! ribbon reels hold ALOT too, so this will go a long way. I really want to wrap my presents like in this photo now, don't you?! To choose which rubber stamp sets and patterned papers you would like to buy from the list above, and also the wonderful choices of ribbon, click on the link for the Stampin’ Up! catalogue to the right hand side of this blog.

I'm also very excited to be off to the Stampin' Up! convention this weekend - wahoo! It is the highlight of the Stampin' Up year where all of us demonstrators get together, get free stamps to play with in our make 'n' take sessions, chat away to all the other paper craft obsessed demonstrator's and generally have a whale of a time. There is an awards night too on the Friday to recognise everyone who has made outstanding achievements in their business, so that will be a night to dress up and have fun. You have to be a demonstrator to attend though so if you want to attend next year and get a permanent 20% discount on your Stampin' Up orders, ask me for details!

Thank you card

Here's another card I made using a similar colour scheme to the last one, and mainly the same tools aswell! Sometimes I'm a little jealous of all the great crafters who manage to update their blogs so well, I can't fit that in or make the wonderful cards but I make what I can as I go along and this is one of those...

A simple stamped sentiment, aswell as the oval and scalloped oval punches. Of course the fab spiral punch too which gives the paper edge look. And as promised, here is a piccy of the tools I used as sometimes I long to see **exactly** what others have used! All Stampin' Up! items of course, what else?

I'm off to one of my best friend's weddings this weekend and I cannot wait! And then next week - Stampin' Up! European convention at Addington Palace! That is also going to be fab a rooney, I'll back with more details about that next week. If I have time I need to make some swaps for that between now and then!

Congrats

Here's a celebration card that I made recently using my new lovely stationery style punch - I love the notebook look! It's the Stampin' Up! punch coupled with some SU stripey ribbon and card. I've used a set of the SU sentiments with Chocolate Chip ink and then the oval and scalloped oval punches too. I sometimes look at other's cards and wonder what products they have used so next post, I'll show you the punches that I used for this card!

I had a table at a second hand craft sale on Saturday and managed to do reasonably well selling off some of my unwanted craft items! I have a ton left so I might hold an open house at mine at some point to see if I can clear some more, they are just too nice to give away!

**My new takeaway Christmas Craft Kit**

Perfect for those of you who cannot get to my classes. This Christmas Jingle kit contains all you need to create eight Christmas cards and a gift box from the comfort of your own home.

The kit comes complete with detailed instructions to guide you through the process of making each item – so what are you waiting for – get started on your Christmas crafting today! The kit is priced at £14.99 and P&P is £2.99. Order this festive Christmas Jingle kit by emailing me (address on the right).



From your own supplies you will need your own Christmas greeting word stamps (as many crafters already have their own), your own adhesives and cutting tools and an optional Big shot die cutting machine to create the red swirls (this is optional and can be omitted).


I still have a couple of places left on my Christmas Craft Day - Saturday November 13th. We will be making all these yummy items below including a scrapbook page, eight cards, a gift box, a gift bag and a note pad.

Details of this exciting event:

Location: Gidea Park, Essex
Time: 11-4 PM
Price: £30 per person
Learn new craft skills with like minded friends (no experience necessary)
Enter the raffle to win exciting craft prizes!

Email me if you would like one of those places left - it is £10 deposit per person.

x

Craft Sale - Saturday

If you fancy a little crafting shopping trip, get yourself down to St Francis Church Hall, Horley in Surrey this Saturday between 10am - 2pm for bargains galore! It will be worth the trip even if you live a little way as there will be lots of us crafters there with a stall selling off all manner of goodies, including me.

See you there!

Yesterday we crafted...

Yesterday was the first of my festive days for 2010, as a group attended my Christmas Craft Day! It was really good fun - this is how the table was set up...


Each person had a kit full of the Stampin' Up! Christmas Jingle kit, a brown gift bag, a notepad, brown ribbon, green ribbon, gold cord, brads, extra sheets of red, brown and green card and of course... some refreshments!

I borrowed this idea from Natalie O'Shea, my team leader for Stampin' Up! and decorated a water bottle and a muffin wrapped in celophane with some SU ribbon to tie it up.

This is a photograph of the kit up close - this is my favourite Christmas paper set in the catalogue as its so modern and lovely design of papers and die cut stickers.

And here are the lovely goodies we made! Eight square cards, a red gift box which holds the cards, a scrapbook page, a gift bag and a shopping list note pad. Would you like to join us in making these? I am running this class again in November (Saturday 13th) and I have just a few places left so if you would like to come along, just drop me a line!

Free Project Idea and New Take Away Class!

Do you want to make cards like this but are unable to attend my craft classes? Then you need my NEW take away Christmas Jingle class! Keep reading below for details. I still have some spaces available for the second date of my Christmas Craft Day on November 13th 2010 but you will have to be quick as they are filling up. This second date is a replica of my October date, the original details are here.

Dasher Project

Supplies:

• Brown, white and yellow card
• ‘Dasher’ stamp
• Swirl stamp from ‘Trendy Trees’ set
• Chocolate Chip stamp pad
• Whisper White craft stampin’ pad
• Square scallop punch
• Eyelet border punch
• Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon
• Stampin’ Dimensionals foam pads
  
  
  1. Stamp your Dasher stamp in Chocolate Chip ink onto white card. Punch out the design using the scallop punch.
  2. Use the swirl stamp with the white stamp pad to stamp the design repeatedly across the brown card blank.
  3. Trim a piece of yellow card to fit the width of your card blank and use the eyelet border punch to create the pretty edge. Tie brown ribbon into a knot around the yellow card.
  4. Attach the Dasher square to the top of the card blank using the foam pads and do the same with the yellow card to complete your creation.
  
  These stamps can be adapted to suit different cards – simply change the Dasher stamp for a birthday stamp or other design. All of these supplies are available from Stampin’ Up
  

New Christmas Take Away Class!

Perfect for those of you who cannot get to my classes! This Christmas Jingle kit contains all you need to create eight Christmas cards and a gift box from the comfort of your own home.

The kit comes complete with detailed instructions to guide you through the process of making each item – so what are you waiting for – get started on your Christmas crafting today! The kit is priced at £14.99 and P&P is £2.99. Order this festive Christmas Jingle kit by emailing me (address on the right).

From your own supplies you will need your own Christmas greeting word stamps (as many crafters already have their own), your own adhesives and cutting tools and an optional Big shot die cutting machine to create the red swirls (this is optional and can be omitted).

That’s all until next time – feel free to pass this free project idea onto friends and family.

Jenny

New card ideas

I have lots of new products from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue which I am desperate to play with! But no time. So for now, how do you like this card from the Stampin' Up! website?

Image curtesy of Stampin' Up!

I think it's a really versatile design which I could use for all kinds of occasions! Am going to add this to my to-do list as pretty much all I need to make a variation of this card is my circle punches, a piece of ribbon and a greeting stamp...

The new Idea Book and Catalogue is finally here!

October 1 is a big day in the Stampin’ Up! calendar as it is the official launch of the brand new Idea Book & Catalogue and there is so much to share! This is more than just a catalogue of products, it is one of my all time favourite places to find inspiration for my craft projects. There are so many ideas and items in it that I love and the colour combinations are amazing. I have kept my retired catalogues from the last few years and I still refer to them time and again, they are timeless.

If you love your crafts (or know someone else that does and want to buy them a present!) you should definitely take a look – you will see why I love these products so much. If you haven’t ordered a hard copy from me yet, you can take a look online here

There are so many things that are on my wish list already... It is officially out today and as demonstrator’s we have had the chance to see this for the last month and order a selection of the new products in advance to play with but we have not been allowed to share it with you – UNTIL TODAY!

Are you looking for gift ideas for your crafty friends for Christmas?
Are you familiar with Stampin’ Up! and already have a long list of things you have to have now from the new catalogue?

Then you will love my special Idea Book & Catalogue launch offer below!

Place an order of £45 or more with me between now and October 14 and you will get:
A Classic Stamp Pad (ink pad) in the colour of your choice FREE
PLUS
An entire reel of ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon in the colour of your choice FREE (That’s 13.7 metres!)
That’s FREE items worth £9.45!

If you order £90, you can have two of each and so on. Also, as many of you know with Stampin’ Up – if your order totals more than £150 you are ALSO entitled to receive the hostess benefits – which is a choice of a FREE hostess gift level one (see p9) PLUS a free £15 worth of goods to choose from the catalogue. So if you have your eye on lots of delicious goodies, or want to get ahead with your Christmas shopping ideas, there is no better time! For Christmas present orders, I will also wrap your items in pretty paper ready for you. You can take orders from friends and combine them to receive these free items too, orders just have to be above £150 and the higher your order, the more freebies you can earn.

Christmas Wish List service – coming soon!

If you have your eye on more items than you can afford, that will be a good email to forward on to your loved ones as you send me your ‘wish list’ from the catalogue and they contact me, telling me how much they would like to spend. To follow in the coming weeks.

There is so much to be excited about with the new catalogue:

Brand new stamp designs exclusive to Stampin’ Up – now offered as BOTH clear mounted and wooden stamps! Clear mounted stamps are new to Stampin’ Up. The clear mounted stamps are a great way of saving on storage space and are cheaper than the wooden mounted so you can buy more! But for those lovers of wooden stamps like me – they are still available and so easy to use as they are ready to pick up and stamp instantly.

There has been a complete colour relaunch in the new catalogue and with this means endless new colour combinations for your craft projects! There are some really lovely new colours and Stampin’ Up! really excels when it comes to colour, you will see that in the new catalogue. You can also find the brand new ‘colour coach’ which helps you choose colour combinations in a flash – this is a great tool, I’ve been playing with mine already.

There is also a wide choice of new lovely punches, patterned papers and ribbons – too much for me to share here so take a look yourself. With the introduction of a new flat rate postage charge of £4.95 per order, it means you can order as much as you like without incurring extra charges.

If you would like to order a brand new copy of the Idea Book & Catalogue for inspiration and reference click the button on the top right hand side of this blog. So place your orders with me by email (see right hand side) by 14 October 2010 and take advantage of this great launch offer!

This offer is from me as an Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, not from Stampin’ Up!, and is not available to be combined with any other offer. Thank you.