Time for another Blog Hop

What is a blog hop I hear you ask??

Well its where a group of bloggers link up and facilitate you on a tour round their blogs to look at lots of lovely things!

Well a group of UK Stampin' Up! demos are running not one but TWO blog hops during August to showcase the stamp sets which are going to be featured in the August stampin up promotion which is a whoppping 20% off "two step" stamp sets. Just for a change we are going to be featuring SCRAPBOOKING rather than cardmaking so come and see how you can use rubber stamps on your pages!

Here is the flyer for the promotion so you can see which sets we are featuring

See you back here on Sunday the 1st!

 

Glamorous Black and White Cards Class

Add a touch of elegance to any occasion with this gorgeous set of black and white cards created using the Bride & Groom Specialty Paper & Stampin’ Up!’s Pretties Kit. In this class you’ll create 8 cards in all – four black cards & four white cards – as well as a unique box to hold them.

Date: Wednesday 4th August 2010


Time: 7:30 pm


Cost: £20 (plus £18 if you would like your own set of the stamps used a saving of nearly £2 on the catalogue price)


Location: Horsmonden, Kent


Please email me to sign up for this class: (ExStitch@aol.com)


Supplies


• Stamps: Mr & Mrs (cat no 113518 £19.95),


• Ink: Basic Black Classic ink


• Paper: Bride and Groom Specialty Paper, Basic Gray CS, Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS, Small Open-End envelopes


• Accessories: Sticky Strip, Snail adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, mini glue dots, 2-way glue pen, Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon, Whisper White Organza ribbon, Pretties kit, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, grid paper, paper snips, mat pack, paper-piercing tool, bone folder, Stamp-a-ma-jig,  Scallop Edge punch, 1” Circle punch, hobby blade, craft mat, pencil, ruler, Velcro circles

Early ordering for new colours and some limited editions too!

Well you may remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that SU were bringing out some brand new (to Europe anyway) colours in October. They also tempted all of us Demos with the news that some of the new colours might be available from the 1st May....

Well they weren't kidding - and as of last Saturday - we have 3 fabulous new colours Rich Razzleberry (a gorgeous purply red....), Melon Mambo (a sort of guava pink colour) and Soft Suede (a soft creamy brown)to work with!!

There are inkpads, A4 cardstock, and a set of scrummy limited edition polka dot grosgrain ribbons (which it seems won't be going in the new catalogue so grab them quick!!). There are also 2 complementary products a gorgeous set of Designer Papers called Cottage Garden, and a set of printed window sheets. To see more detail and order numbers click on the pic below!!

As a special offer from me to you - if you order one of everything (it works out to just over £70!) - I will pay the P&P charges for you - a saving of £3.95! The free P&P also applies to anything else that may fall into your shopping baskets as well!

Discounted Starter kit time!!

Have you ever thought about becoming a Stampin' Up Demo yourself??

When you sign up, you receive a fabulous discounted starter kit of stamp sets, cardstock, inkpads, catalogues and a whole load of other goodies which enable you to start creating samples and running your workshops straight away. The kit usually costs £139, and the contents are worth nearly £250 at catalogue prices

Here's a pic of what you get in it!

 The great news about it though is that you can customise the starter kit to suit what YOU like! You can substitute the suggested stamp sets and the wheel for ones that YOU like (of the same or lower value), the inkpad and cardstock pack colours so you end up with a starter set that YOU can work with.

Now - to mark the fact that Stampin Up are running a stand at the Hobbycraft show at Aintree this weekend....and they will be offering a signing up incentive to the show visitors - I am happy to say that they have opened up the same offer to everyone else..... yes if you take the plunge in the next couple of weeks you will get a whopping 10% off the starter kit making it even better value!

Get in touch if you are interested in signing up and I will tell you all about the great add ons I offer my new recruits... shall we say that you will start off with even MORE goodies!

Drop me an email on ExStitch@aol.com or ring me on 07973 969153 for more details!

Hello and goodbye

Stampin' Up! has come up with some good news and some bad news this week.

The good news is that after a long period of consultation and reviewing of sales - Stampin' Up! has decided to completely renovate its colour palette. We have had the 48 main colours in their 4 colour families for many years but as of October 1 its going to be all change!

Instead of colour families, we will be having colour collections, and they will each contain only 10 colours rather than the 12 in each family that we have now. Below is the chart showing what will be in the new collections - and while there are some familiar names some old favourites will be missing. But the really good news - we are getting the fabulous new "IN COLOURS" which are limited edition colours which have been available in the other SU markets for a while, and they are finally coming to Europe! In colours usually only stayed for a year - but from October they will be here for 2 years - with 5 new colours coming each year.

So what will be missing from the new catalogues when they arrive on your doorsteps in late September?

Well - here's a chart showing the colours which will no longer be available (sob!! No more Taken with Teal or Handsome Hunter!!) - check to see if your favourite is staying or going - and don't leave it until the last minute to order any cardstock, inkpads or refills you may want as no doubt stocks of the retiring colours will soon run down!

As always - if I can help you, please get in touch!

The mini is here!!

Well its the first of April - but the Stampin' UP! new mini catalogue which launches today is no joke.

It has 24 pages of wonderful goodies to tempt you and if you can't wait for the real life paper copy, check out the online version on the Stampin' Up! website. If you would like a real catalogue to drool over please get in touch

Those of you who visited me over the weekend during the ILWS Blog hop will no doubt have seen loads of lovely ideas using the new goodies from my fellow UK Demos and now all of them are available for you to order

Did my offerings below inspire you? Would you like to recreate them yourself? Well here is a list of the products I used

Dasher Christmas card box

Dasher stamp - 116816 (£6.95) NEW!

Sincere salutations stamp set - 105156 (£18.95)

Whisper white A4 card - 109899 (£5.50 for 40 sheets!)

Basic grey A4 card - 110198 (£4.50 for 24 sheets in mixed colours)

Regal Rose cardstock - 110002 (£4.50 for 24 sheets)

Basic Grey Classic Inkpad - 110058 (£4.25)

Basic Black 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon - 117386 (£8.95)

Light Pink gingham ribbon - 110118 (£5.25)

Large and small tag punches - 110113(small) and 110114 (large) £12.50 each

Oval and scalloped oval punches - 115156 (oval) and 115429 (scalloped oval) £12.50 each

Night and Day gift box

Night and day speciality designer series paper - 116768 (£8.75) NEW!

Sincere salutations stamp set and tag punches as above

Basic black A4 card as basic grey card above

Scallop circle punch - 109877 £12.50)

Best wishes collapsible box

Old Olive A4 card - 109991 (£4.50)

Chocolate Chip A4 card - 109982 (£4.50)

Basic black classic inkpad - 110057 (4.25)

Sincere Salutations stamps and whisper white A4 card as before

Stitched Felt flowers - 117266 £6.50 for 52 pieces) NEW!

Vintage Vogue Card

Vintage Vogue stamp set - 117690 (£19.95) NEW!

Black, white and old olive cardstock, oval punches, sincere salutations stamps and black inkpad as before.

Real red A4 card - 109968 (£4.50)

Old Olive classic inkpad - 110076 (£4.25)

Real Red classic inkpad - 109924 (£4.25)

Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain ribbon - 110121 (£3.95)

Get in touch (ExStitch@aol.com or tel 07973 969153) if you would like to order any of the listed products or indeed any items from both the main and mini catalogues.

If you would like a real catalogue these will cost you £5.95 including first class postage - but the catalogue cost is fully refundable with your first order of £50 or more - just deduct it from your total!

Magical Mini Catalogue

Welcome to all my visitors today!

You may have arrived here from Elaine's blog as part of the In Love With Stamping Blog Hop, or you may just have surfed in - but here are my sneak peeks of the new goodies in the Mini Catalogue which launches here in the UK on the 1st April. There are so many lovely things in there - that when I sat down to create my project for the hop I couldn't stop at just one - and I kept on going! So let's get started shall we? Go and grab a cuppa and a pen and paper so you can write your wish list as we go.....

Here is a pic of all 4 projects I have made.........


......... now lets look close at them one by one!

I agreed to feature the brand new Dasher stamp for the hop. I don't know about the rest of you - but I have loved this little reindeer since he appeared on a sticker in the Christmas jingle scrapping kit last year. I knew he was a stamp in the US catalogue - and now he's arrived here!

Anyway - I chose to make a box of Christmas cards and tags with it (well what else do you do with a reindeer??) and just to be different - I toned down my beloved black red and white to a more muted grey, pink and white for this one - who says Christmas has to be red and green???


Dasher is mounted on the lid of a hand made box topped with a scrap of one of the lovely new Night and Day papers, the wide striped ribbon in black and white and a greeting from the Sincere Salutations stamp set punched out with the oval punch duo. open up the box and.....

I have created dividers insidefor the cards and envelopes, the matching tags and a section for a few of the Christmas stamps when they come out - with the dividers maybe the box could be used for trinkets after the cards and tags have been used...

Here's a close up of the card and tag for you....

Can you tell I love making boxes?? And black and white and red? Well here's another box based on one the lovely Monica made for Stamp With Us, and I've also pinched the gorgeous flowers from her too (she is one talented lady!). Black is never far away from my craft projects and here I have used Basic Black cardto create the box then added some of the gorgeous paper from the new Night and Day set (which includes 2 sheets of black spotty acetate!!) to decorate the box outside and in. The flowers are 6 layers of Whisper White and the paper dampened and scrunched before being pulled together by a brad, and the top is finished off wth a stamped and layered tag

Here's a side view - this was just one sheet of the night and day paper - as with all SU papers - its double sided!

.......and heres one showing the decorated interior

One of the new items this time is a gorgeous set of stitched and layered felt flowers and leaves which I just HAD to have..... and this box was featured on the lovely Chic n' Scratch's blog a while back (Angie is an American SU Demo who produces lovely stuff and does free videos to inspire us all - Thanks Angie - you provide a wonderful service for those of us who are less creative...

The beauty of this box is ..... it folds completely flat - until you open it - then it flips back into shape. I've used the felt as a topper and used one of the flower centres to cover the boring brad and cardstock circle used as a closure. as you can see in the second picture

Well I tried.... I honestly did.... I really really wasn't going to do anything black red and white this time...... but my fave colour combo just kept demanding to be used so here it is..... a card using the gorgeous new Vintage Vogue stamp set

This has to be one of the most beautiful stamp sets out there at the moment and I can see it (and the matching jumbo wheel) being a huge seller. If you look on the web - most of the projects you find feature the stamps used with vintage colour papers - and also feature the larger stamps in the set. I used the smaller flower and the vine to produce this one, along with some Old Olive grosgrain ribbon

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to my little blog today - now its time to move on to the lovely Lorraine's blog The Stampin' Grove to check out the goodies she has made!

After you have been round this loop of the Blog hop - why not nip back round to In Love with Stamping and find the other two loops ?