Convention is coming!

Well next weekend sees the biggest event in the Stampin' Up (Europe) year - the Annual Convention.

Convention is one of the biggest social events for all of us SU Demonstrators as we get to meet and/ or catch up with the rest of our teams, make lovely cards and projects, take lots of photos of the inspiration boards and generally have a blast.

This year, its the UK's turn to host it and its happening not far from me at Addington Palace near Croydon and at the moment I'm busy creating all the In Love with Stamping forum swaps I signed up for. So far I have made 90 CMC (Convention Memory Cards)  for a swap organised by one of the German Demos, 6 gift items, 10 3D swaps, and at the moment am just finishing off the business tool swap. I still have to make 10 sets of card candy, and then all the general swaps so I left those to the end as they are the ones I don't have to make a definite number.

Obvously everything is a big secret at the moment - but watch this space next week to see what I made - and more importantly what I got given in return!

Now off to consider the next big crisis - what do I wear to the awards dinner? Long? Short? Black? Colour?

Decisions! Decisions!

New Year, New Starter Kit!!

Have you ever thought about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator?

It's never been easier or cheaper to sign yourself up for a sizeable discount on everything in the Stampin' Up! catalogue, but if you do - no only do you get a discount on everything you buy (starting with the fantastic Starter Kit), but you have the opportunity to make yourself some cash by selling the fabulous products to your family and friends - and friends of friends - and friends of friends of friends... well you get the idea!

The picture above is the fabulous starter kit you get when you sign up - the fee is just £119 and the products in the kit are worth a stonking £230!!! Better still - you can personalise most of  the kit to include your own choice of inkpads, stamps, cardstock and paper so you can get a wonderful box of goodies you KNOW you will love at a fabulous price!!

and in the words of the dreadful comedian Jiminy Cricket...... "And there's more!"

If you sign up with me - when you put in your first order of £150 or more - I will give you a joining up gift of a stamp set of your choice (up to £30 value), an inkpad and  a pack of A4 cardstock!

Go on - get in touch for a chat - what do you have to lose??

ExStitch@aol.com/ 07973 969153

Launch night!!

Well, I had convinced myself that nobody was going to turn up for the event - but how wrong could I be?? In the end I had 11 lovely ladies turn up to get their new catalogues, do make and takes and put in some rather juicy orders.

Thanks to the High Wycombe training session last month I had a lovely display board showcasing lots of goodies made with the current stamp sets so a huge thank you to everyone who swapped with me then - your work was greatly admired by all who attended. That's the display up above, except the Serene Snowflakes card in the middle of the left hand board wasn't skew whiff on the night!

We did 2 make and takes that evening - a card and a little gift pouch. The gift pouch was based on an unnamed swap from someone else at High Wycombe, so thanks for that one!

The card was the training M&T but I changed the colours to the catalogue's suggested Christmas Suite of Old Olive, Very Vanilla and the lush new Cherry Cobbler.... My fabulous upline lent me her bauble punch for the evening (thanks Dawn!) as I was panicking. I had merrily planned to case the HW swap - little realising it would feature a punch that we in the UK couldn't even order until the 1st Oct, fortunately Dawn had got hold of it on one of her many trips to the US. This card was great to do as a M&T as it showcases the stamps and the matching punch and the matching ink and cardstock. This was also the first time the customers got to see the new Clear Mount stamps as we used the new Contempo Christmas set with the fabby new acrylic blocks!

The wee pouch featured the new Newsprint designer paper and taffeta ribbon, teamed with a Very Vanilla base and Cherry Cobbler again. It was only after I had put the pouch together that I realised I hadn't stamped the base card using the Artistic Etchings stamps as I intended. Never mind - the ladies all loved the idea of being able to make their own gift packaging from now on!!

On the subject of clear mount stamps - I looked at the new acrylic blocks which came out with the new catalogue and thought - Huh! Its just a lump of plastic why bother when I already have loads of acrylic blocks? Then I tried one for myself and I am hooked!! The SU blocks ARE different in that they have finger grooves all the way round which means they are really comfortable to hold - and not only that - they are much chunkier than my cheap and nasties. I for one can heartily recommend them to you!

I now have just ONE place left on the Stamper's 6 starting up this month - if you are interested please get in touch. Be a hostess and get the goodies without the hassle of a party!!

Well the "BIG REVEAL" is finally here!!

Well at long last the 1st October is finally here - and that means the UK Stampin' Up! demos are allowed to share the lushness that is the new catalogue!

This year we have 114 pages of lushness to share with you all - that's 16 more than last year - and with the colour renovation there is oodles and oodles of new stuff to tempt you!

Here is a large pic of the front cover and if you click on the little pic to your right - you will be taken direct to the browsable online catalogue.

However nice the online catalogue is though nothing beats having a nice big real catalogue to take to bed with you, pop into your bag to read on the bus or train, or just sit flicking through deciding on your wish list!

If you would like me to send you one, please get in touch and for £6 (including P&P) I will pop one in the post to you staright away. This charge is fully refundable on an order of £60 or more so go on... drop me a line on ExStitch@aol.com or ring me on 07973 969153 and it will be winging its way to you tomorrow ... you know you want to!!!

I am rushing to get everything ready for my launch evening tonight. If you are in the vicinity of Horsmonden in Kent between 6pm and 9pm tonight - please feel free to come and join the fun. Full details available below!