Monday 29 July 2013

My Special USA Adventure

Started with a 7 hours flight to Baltimore. I travelled with my fellow demo and friend Zoe and we stayed at her friends house for a few days while getting to know Washington DC a bit better.
It was a lovely trip but Oh My Goodness was it hot! everyone kept saying "You picked the hottest week to visit" thank Goodness everywhere had air con inside.
We did some shopping and we visited this beautiful city on Segways. After last year's tour in Vienna I think I will always choose to sight see a city on a Segway if there is an option for that. Its a fabulous way to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short space of time with the added benefit of a knowledgeable guide and a lovely breeze even if it was a hot breeze, it was still better than no breeze.
We saw 25 of the famous buildings in this fabulous city and I only wish I could have had at least another 2weeks to explore, there was just so much to see and do.
washington monument
The famous Washington Monument currently under repairs after some damage cause by an earthquake 2 years ago. Although surrounded by scaffolding is still impressive looking and its lit up so it looks spectacular at night.
capitol
The magnificent Capitol Building.
world war II World War II memorial, huge and very beautiful
wwII memorial
white house
And the most famous of them all of course , The White House. And as it was during the week the President was in his office working :)
I also managed to find my way into this famous shop, not sure exactly what I’m doing in this photo.
michaels
Didn’t actually buy any craft things as quite frankly I sell the best papercrafting products on the market but I did get some nice silk hydrangeas flowers for a few flower girl dresses I have to make for my cousin’s daughter’s wedding.
The other place we visited (which was stunning) was the home of George Washington, Mount Vernon.
mount vernon
Didn’t actually visit the main house but we had a look from not to far away, and we spent a fair amount of time in the gift shop :)   We also enjoyed a delicious dinner at the famous Mount Vernon Inn on the last night before heading to Salt Lake city for the US Convention.
Convention was off the scale amazing, nearly 6000 demonstrators choose to celebrate Stampin Up's 25 birthday.
The opening session was very emotional with Shelli taking to stage first then Sterling joined her then one by one  her five daughters, sons in law and grandkids joined the main stage. The crowds were going crazy, they are so very loved :)
family
We also listened to this year’s theme song which was performed live on stage by a famous *The Voice* contestant named  Ryan Innes.
Soon after we received our BAGS !!
bags
The convention bag is a big thing as each year we get a different one. Here are my lovely downline members with their bags. From left Bekka (hiding behind hers :) ), Teri, Julie and Ellie. Ellie was Julie’s guest for Convention and later the Incentive trip lovely girl and i loved getting to know her.people
Look at all these people!!!  I have to say it didn’t feel like there were 6000 people there, apart from maybe when we tried to get out the main hall after a session ended :) . But this time was spent talking with people and getting to know them a bit, everyone was so lovely, they really did make us feel welcomed, I love SU demos :) .expo
The main Expo area was huge with lots to do and see and i took 100’s of photos for you.
I didn’t take any swaps to this event apart from 21 needed for the incentive Trip. I never travel light so room in my suitcase was limited and decided against swapping plus with all the travelling they would have got squished and ended up a crumpled mess. That didn’t stop me coming home with some fabulous swaps from generous people I’ve had the pleasure meeting. I took many addresses and plan on mailing everyone who kindly offered me a swap a card back. I did warn them that it might take me 6 months to get to it though :)
look at them all here :)
swaps
You might not be able to see well but two projects that look like cards in the middle section of the photo (dress form with black label framelits and rolled up roses below) were not ready made cards but mini card candy kits. These demos had an example of the finished project for you to photograph or look at and all the bits to make the project were included in this mini kit. I really loved that idea and loved them for offering these cute kits to me :)
And my favourite gift I received was from my talented downline Teri,
IMG_0546
She made me this tag book with the wonderful Soho Subway papers.
tag book 1 tag book_
Each of the tags were decorated on both sides, labour involved for sure. You can visit Teri’s blog HERE.
Jenny Moors made one of these lovely tins for each of the UK attendees, she is so sweet and thoughtful, thank you Jenny :).
pin box  Isn’t that cute? or shall I say isn’t that super cute? I definitely got back home with a few famous American sayings under my belt, I LOVED every second of this trip and cannot wait to share more with you.
Till next time thank you for your visit and take care, hugs xxx



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Thursday 25 July 2013

My Convention Booth

Hello hello, how are you doing?

I was flabbergasted when Shannon West a Stampin’Up! employee in the Home Office called me at home one evening asking if i was willing to present a demo booth at Convention USA. Well you could have knocked me down with a feather :)

Of course I said YESS even though every single nerve in my body was telling me to say NOOO.

My booth and presentation had to be focused around weddings and brides and that’s what I prepared. I will share a few of the projects over the coming days.

As I write this I don’t know if I made a fool of myself or not but I will let you know for sure.

I started with a little help from my friend Sarah Berry was Makin. She is quite the wedding stationery expert :)

Here’s a sample set

Stampin'Up! wedding stationery

Pocket invitation, RSVP and various other bits of info all personalized and matching of course.

Coastal Cabana and Pumpkin Pie perfect Summer wedding combo I am sure I pinched it from pinterest :)

The stamp set is the glorious Happy Day and it is literally fabulous and soo perfect for stationery. I also used the Background Builder set and the new Sketched alphabet :)

And here’s a peek to the save the date card, it has a secret pocket at the front and a little tag is pulled to reveal the date :)

Stampin'Up! save the date

Oh yeah my pretend wedding is this weekend :)

The clay flowers was simply sponged and attached to a bit of baker’s twine. The bow on the front of the invite you can’t see in the picture but it was spritzed with vanilla smooch spray and it looks all shimmery like a piece of satin fabric :)

Chevron ribbon in Pumpkin Pie :) Oh my xx

Thank you so much for your visit hope it tickles. Hugs xxx

 

 

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Tuesday 23 July 2013

My Incentive Trip swaps

Aloha :)

I am sharing my swaps with you. Carol bless her, single handed prepared every bit of stamped and punched piece for me and we made nearly 50 of these  little notecards. I loved the design I came up with and used for my trainign swaps my thank you cards in july and my incentive trip swaps talk about getting extra miles out of a project :)

here they are

Stampin'Up! Mosaic madness swaps_

Mosaic Madness meets the Gorgeous Grunge :) HAPPY marriage let me tell you.

Strawberry Slush, Pumpkin Pie and Coastal Cabana makes for this bright colour combo.

And here s the close up

Stampin'Up! Mosaic madness swaps

Very dimensional and boy did we use lots of dimensionals for these cards, worth it I think. Simple but with plenty of interest hope everyone else liked them.

Thank you for your visit short and sweet today :)

Hugs xxx

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Sunday 21 July 2013

Venetian Romance by Issy

Hello again, I do apologise if these last few posts have sounded totally lifeless I am finding it difficult to schedule them ahead and come across like I’m in the present. I know I am waffling I am sure you come over to see the pretty projects. and I have some beauties for you today. They were made by Issy, a demonstrator in our team for our recent team training. She focused entirely on the venetian Romance suite and I have to say I have fallen in love with this suite, stunning and right up my alley :)

Here are some of the gorgeous works Issy displayed for us all.

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance

I love this little terracotta pot complete with coffee filter and designer paper flowers.

And a few more cards

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance Card

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance Card close

Love that sentiment :) how perfect is that?

One more?

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance Chalk talk

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance Chalk talk close

and a more masculine one , Issy was particularly fond of this one and I have to agree a little stunner.

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance masculine

Stampin'Up! Venetian Romance masculine close

She had  more items like this note book, a to die for perfume bottle and a really vintage frame (no photos sorry )it was yummy all of it.

Stampin'Up! Mosaic venetian note book

thank you Issy for sharing with us. You can see Issy’s blog HERE.

Thank you for your visit see you again soon.

Hugs xx

 

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Friday 19 July 2013

A Christmas Robin

Hello again, today i am sharing another card which we made at my Christmas Card Club this month. I love the Bird builder punch and used it consistently for my festive cards over the years. And with only a bit of ink it can be transformed into the most realistic robin look a like. Ok, ok maybe that is pushing it a bit but he doesn’t look a million miles apart from the real thing :)

Stampin'Up! Builder Bird Punch_

The colour combination is Early Espresso, Pool party and cherry cobbler. The embossing folder is called Vintage Wallpaper and the aperture was simply punched out with the 2 1/2” circle punch.

Here’s a little close up for you

Stampin'Up! Builder Bird Punch  close

The little flowers were punched out spare cherry cobbler card and embellished with tiny pearls.

A little strip of glimmer paper is all you need to give this card a bit of glamour For the robin I punched the bird in crumb cake then inked the belly part using tangerine tango in and the top using early espresso add a wing and a pearl for the eye and voila your red breast robin is ready before you know it !!!

Hope you enjoyed my post today thank you for stopping by. Hugs xx

 

 

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Wednesday 17 July 2013

My friends gifts

Hello there I am writing from the past so not sure if you heard from me yesterday,  is so funny writing like this, it almost doesn’t feel right :)

Today I am sharing some gifts I made for the lovely ladies that will travel with me on this trip :)

And this year there are three of them, Bekka ,Jules and the lovely Terri is joining us as well for Convention USA !!

I am soo looking forward spending some quality time with them, plus I get to see my friends from all over Europe not to mention get to meet and make new friends from  the USA. 

I LOVE MY JOB !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :)

As you can see I am from the past, pre travel and veeeery excited !!Back to my gifts

Stampin'Up! Flower Shop Tag a Box gift stack

Let’s call it a travel pack as you pretty much have everything you need for a pleasant long haul flight. Not sure about you but when I travel I fill my plastic bag with lotions and potions. I am the one with the clear bag filled to the brim with product ( all allowed though, I do not suffer embarrassing stops and confiscated product) going through security . I have really dry skin and I have to work hard to keep myself hydrated. Long flights are notorious for zapping moisture out of your body, so I moisturize and mist and moisturize and so on :)

For my gifts I connected three of the Tag a Bag gift boxes (such beautiful packaging ) and added goodies in each section. The top has a eye mask which I made from soft nubuck leather. They feel wonderful and luxurious, they  block out all the light and do not slip off your face, so should you need to catch up on your sleep you can.

Middle section is a Liz Earle sanctuary, face spritzer, moisturiser, lip balm, hand cream everything you will need to get to the destination radiant looking and not tired looking.

And the bottom layer, my favourite and probably the least likely to make the plane at all, sweet little petite fours with marzipan and almond biscuits encased in chocolate :)

I used sticky strip to connect the acetate lid then the boxes simply slide in to reveal the goodies inside.

Stampin'Up! Flower Shop Tag a Box gift stack close

I simply wrapped and secured a designer paper belly band around the whole package then added a handle at the top. Decorated it with the Flower Shop and matching punch a few leaves from the Bird Punch and a initial from the morning post alphabet.

I hope the girls found it useful :) Thank you for your visit do come back soon. Till then big hugs xx

 

 

 

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Monday 15 July 2013

Flower Shop Birthday :)

Hello there I hope you had a good weekend :). I spent the most amazing day yesterday with some of the most loveliest Stampin’Up! people whom I love with all my heart. It really warms my heart to see the support and friendships which have developed between this group. I am sharing a quick card today made for a special Birthday girl before I head out the door and be on my way to Heathrow airport ready for a adventure of a lifetime with Stampin’Up!.

Stampin'Up! Flower Shop, Happy Day, Chalk Talk

this card is sunny and happy just like the person who it was made for. Sorry for the bad photo though :(

It uses the Flower Shop stamp set that yet again I HAD to have. the fact that it has a matching punch made that purchase even more necessary.

Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry and a splash of strawberry slush.

The tag is stamped and cut with the Chalk Talk bundle and oh my, my you might as well know that I am in love with this one as well :)

Stampin'Up! Flower Shop, Happy Day, Chalk Talk close

And I got funky with the centre of the flowers. I simply wrapped some twine from the Tag a Bag gift bundle and secured it to the flowers with glue dots !!

Chevron ribbon is just YUM in this colour (crushed curry), actually chevron ribbon is yum and any colour.

and the card was presented in a lovely tag a bag instead of a normal envelope here’s the decorated outside’

Stampin'Up! Flower Shop, Happy Day, Chalk Talk bag

Ok so I have been a good girl and I scheduled some blog posts while I take a bit of a break in the good ol US of A for some very important events. I will see you on here at least every other day with projects then in between hopefully with some news of my travels so check back regularly.

Have you connected with me on Facebook yet? I will updating that page A LOT during this trip so if you want to follow my adventure pop over and LIKE ME HERE.

Righty oh thank you for the visit and see you soon I guess :)

Wish my luck and safe travels please, I am sooo excited xx

 

 

 

 

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Saturday 13 July 2013

Some Crisp Cantaloupe with some Pistachio Pudding

doesn’t my title sounds like a delicious dessert fit for a Summer’s day? That’s exactly what this card turned out to be-Delicious !!

Stampin 'Up! Wildflower Meadow Double embossing_

I made various colours in the same design over the last few weeks for my events and for my Passionettes birthdays this month this one was made for the lovely Tara who celebrated her Happy Day a few days ago :)

I seen a card on pinterest with the white embossed technique and I really liked the effect so I set off to re create it.

I was a bit slap dash and didn’t use my embossing buddy hence a few stray powder trails on there :(

Of course the new designer paper stacks match the colours of our ink and card perfectly and I added a little bit of lace tape. Instant pretty !!!

Stampin 'Up! Wildflower Meadow Double embossing close

I LOVE this stamp and the matching folder and its been very popular with my customers The matching folder gives the stamp extra dimension and interest plus you don’t need to add much else to end up with a pretty card.

I settled on a easel card this time but my rule still is to only ever send easel cards to crafters. If they are not crafters they will not manage to display the card properly. I have lost count how many people asked me after sending them the card how to stand it up including my sister :)

I hope you are enjoying your weekend and I hope you managed to enjoy a BBq or six this week :)

I am off now, tomorrow I will be spending a fabby crafty day with lots of my fellow demonstrators in Peterborough for our quarterly training. I cannot wait to see everyone again and swap!!! lots of yummy new catalogue swaps *grin*

Enjoy your evening and thank you for visiting me.

Big hugs xxx

 

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Wednesday 10 July 2013

The *C* word :D

Hello there, how is your week going? as soon as July hits I am afraid the word Christmas enters my world once again. Last Sunday I held the first Christmas Club of the year. It was a different kind of session (long story) but we all had a good time making a start with our festive cards. I even go to the trouble of writing mine straight after the club (I try and make a set or two along side my ladies so that I get mine done as well).
And here’s the first one  
Stampin 'Up! Evergreen meets Gorgeous Grunge_
I combine old with new again :), the beautiful set Evergreen is on a carryover along with a few other sets and available for you to order right now. To view the other Christmas sets available go HERE.
The new on this card is the drop dead gorgeous *Gorgeous Grunge*. I tell you something you will see me use this set A LOT !!!! Love it !!
This card was inspired by a lovely tag I received as a swap last Convention from a German demonstrator , sadly I cannot make out the name on the back of it but I loved it and turned into our 1st card of the club.
And here’s a shot of the close up
Stampin 'Up! Evergreen meets Gorgeous Grunge close The glorious glimmer paper in Champagne adds a touch of glamour to this card, that’s another product loves of mine. The colour scheme here is Cherry Cobbler, Crumb cake and Old Olive.
And before I go I would like to share with you a little accessory share. I only have a few shares left in the ruffled ribbon and these are ready to ship so if you fancy one please check this post HERE.

ACCESSORIES SHARE
£ 12 incl. p&p
Stampin 'Up! accesories share_ This is a lovely selection of some of the new lush accessories available this year in the New Catalogue. In each share you will receive the following:
Six Vintage Buttons- 2 each of 3 designs in a creamy white colour
Six Boutique Buttons – 2 each of the 5 in-colours (designs vary). Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Baked Brown Sugar
Six Essential Hardware Clips- 2 each of 3 designs
80 yummy candy dots- 2 each in all 40 colours collection we provide. They are just adorable, self adhesive and suitable for so many uses.



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Wednesday 3 July 2013

Something Old, something New…………..

Hello there :) i hope your week is going well. In spite my title I am not sharing a wedding card today rather a Special Birthday card for my downline Jules who celebrates a milestone Birthday today. I feel a bit guilty as I missed a few birthday this last month but I have plans :). Anyway back to the card here it is
Stampin 'Up! Beautifuly Baroque
I was lucky to have access to some new goodies from the New catalogue that were not on our demo preorder and I combined them with some old goodies to make Julie’s card.
This stamp I AODRE :) I love anything baroque , swirly and girly and this bigish background stamp fits me well. I stamped on a crumb Cake blank with the new Baked Brown Sugar ink. The numbers were cut out on the Big Shot machine using our Typeset Alphabet die set and the oval was cut using the Oval Framelits set then stamp with the same background this time in Strawberry Slush.
Stampin 'Up! Beautifuly Baroque close
The perfectly penned stamp set provided the sentiment and LOOK I rounded the corners instead of a fishtail !!! :)
Of course I couldn’t help myself using some of that wonderful new frilly ribbon in Strawberry Slush, it is simple wonderful and equally wonderful are the new Boutique Details seen here in Coastal Cabana.
I finished my card with a healthy dose of shimmer smooch spray. Hope Jules approves of her card and I hope she celebrates in style this Special Birthday :)
Thank you for joining me today but before I go I want to offer you a spot or teo in my NEW Catalogue Ribbon Share, see below
Till next time much love xxx

I am offering shares for the two new types of ribbon in the new Catalogue here they are.
RUFFLED IN COLOUR RIBBON SHARE
ruffled ribbon share
Receive TWO METERS (one will never be enough :) ) of each of the 5 colours
Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Baked Brown Sugar, Pistachio Pudding.
Price including postage £10.50
CHEVRON RIBBON SHARE
chevron share-001
Receive ONE METER of each of the 10 colours (one meter will not be enough so if you would like 2m of each please purchase 2 shares. They will come in continuous lengths of 2 m)
Colours are Cherry Cobbler, Marina mist, Island Indigo,Chocolate Chip, Smoky Slate, Blushing Bride, Crushed Curry,Pumpkin Pie,Calypso Coral,Pear Pizzaz, and Wisteria Wonder
Price including postage £10.50.
Only one set of postage will be applied if buying 2 shares please contact me for pricing.

Please select your share
I aim to post those share on Monday 8July 2013.



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Tuesday 2 July 2013

NEW CATALOGUEEEEEE…..

Squeeeel :)

Hello and welcome to my blog today. I am ready to share the new Annual Catalogue with you all what an exciting day this is. There are tons of yummy things in here and I cannot wait to explore them along side with you. You can start browsing straight away by clicking on the picture below.

new catty-001

And if that wasn’t enough excitement for one day you can now take advantage of a New Special Offer as well. You have a wonderful opportunity of buying some fabulously useful sentiments for your stamp collection at a cool 25  discount. Click the picture below to find out more.

greetings

I have already placed my order along with quite a few cusotmers orders so if there’s anything you would like me to help you acquire please get in touch.  I have tons of yummy projects to share with you and I cannot wait. But for now I want to share a very lovely video that features one of my most wanted sets from this catalogue. Watch Paula our country manager, hard at work  creating a cracking birthday card :)

Email me today to place your orders telemech01@aol.com

 

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