Vintage November Card Class

I am finishing my monthly Christmas Card Classes this month, with a vintage feel. The Stamp set I have used is the Welcome Christmas Set, although Lovely as a Tree does feature again!!! Colour themes are Cherry Cobbler, River Rock and Very Vanilla, and then Baja Breeze, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla.  I have used some of the new lace ribbon, and also the Cherry Cobbler and Baja Breeze Seam binding ribbon.  PS Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I will try again in daylight I think!!!!

Hope you like them ! Bye for now

Everything Eleanor...and a 90th birthday!

Good Morning, its been a busy weekend, as my daughter is flying out to China this week with school on a Music Tour! Unfortunately a bad back and a chaotic weekend meant I was unable to treat myself to the quarterly Team meeting down in Peterborough that my Stampin' Up! 'Mummy' Monica hosts with Bekka. I love going to this as we all have a great time, and swap ideas, and learn new techniques.  I hope all the 'Passionettes' had a fab time, and I look forward to reading their blogs!
However, I have had the chance to use a wonderful stamp set from the new catalogue, ' Everything Eleanor' is going to be one of my favourites. It is a really beautiful set and also has a fabulous swirl stamp in it which is so versatile.  My Dad's eldest sister is 90 this week, and I made a card for him to send.

I used 3 colours from the 2010-2012 colours, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz and Concord Crush.

Happy Birthday sentiment taken from Hostess Set Happiest Birthday Wishes, although I have placed a 90 in the centre using some rub ons that I had left over.

Some small pearls then just gave a bit of dimension.  Background mat of whisper white embossed using the elegant vintage wallpaper embossing folder.

October Christmas Card pictures...

Better late than never, my poor ladies have booked in good faith this month for my class,  as I was waiting for the new gold and silver cardstock from the new catalogue.  It is gorgeous, a super quality and double sided!!  They will be making 8 cards, 2 each of the following designs, all fit in a 4" x 4" envelope. 

 Dasher makes his 1st appearance in 2011 teamed with black and gold and very vanilla.

Season of Joy combined with gold and vanilla, real red and old olive cardstock and some ribbon to accent.

A new colour to me and I love it - Elegant Eggplant, teamed with silver and white, stamp set is serene snowflakes.   Picture does not show this well but stamped snowflakes with elegant eggplant and perfect plum on white card, and then with elegant eggplant and the frost white shimmer on the base card stock.  I had adhered a dazzling diamond in the centre of the large snowflake, but think I have lost it somewhere!!

I hope to spend more time over the next week playing with my new goodies which were delivered yesterday so hopefully will have some more projects soon!

2011 - 2012 NEW CATALOGUE....its fabulous!!!

Well, after what seems a long wait, the new catalogue is finally here and is full of wonderful new products, even fabric!!!  I have to apologise for not blogging recently, I have been busy getting ready for my son going to University, actively trying to find a new job and have not been well !! However the good news is I have placed my order from the new catalogue and I am eagerly awaiting delivery so I can start crafting and share some new projects with you.  Please take time to look at the catalogue online, including the change in hostess benefits, if you want the hardcopy for your bedtime reading, please order from the link on my blog.

Retired List.....whilst stocks last!!

Wow, 1st September has come around a bit too quickly for me, as I have lots to organise for Alex going off to Uni, and India starting 6th form, let alone the job hunting!!!  However, it is a very welcome date for 2 other reasons, firstly as demonstrators we get a sneek peak at the new catalogue to be launched on the 1st October (you are going to love it!!!) and secondly we have announced the retired list!  It is sad to see some favourites go, but there has to be room for more gorgeous goodies, this is your last chance to buy these, 'whilst stocks last', some of them at great discounts too!  Click on this link on my blog to browse and if you are interested in buying anything, please email me at alisonwilkins656@yahoo.co.uk. Please remember as well that the mini catalogue is retiring too at the end of this month.

September Christmas Card Making Class

First of all, apologies for not posting for a while, stress levels in our house have been at an all time high over the last 2 weeks with 'A' Level and GCSE results.....however we are very proud parents....Alex did really well and will be heading off to University of East Anglia to study Law, India achieved superb results in 11 GCSEs so is now set to study Spanish/Chemistry/History and Maths at 'A' Level.....and me...well I finish work on the 29th September, which will be very sad after 13 wonderful years, and along with 200+ others I am actively look for another job!!

In between though I enjoyed 3 crafty evenings with my ladies making cards from the August Christmas Class, and have also worked with India designing Septembers class.  A few ladies asked for more tips on Stamping so this is what we will be making in our September class.

 All the cards use 'Lovely as a Tree' set and the colours used are Crumb Cake/Early Espresso/Night of Navy/Bashful Blue and Whisper White.

 Stamped in Versamark and embossed in white with dazzling diamonds....

 Direct to paper technique for the blue background and dazzling diamonds added...........

 Direct to paper and embossing.......

This card was cased from a talented demo called Julie McCartney and again dazzling diamonds have been used - sorry my photography isn;t better....  Dates to be confirmed, but will be during September, please email me on alisonwilkins656@yahoo.co.uk if you are interested in attending......

Finally less than a week to the 'RETIRED LIST' watch this space for info on which products will be going from the catalogue and grab that last chance to get them at a bargain price!

Happy Birthday!!......Dad

Today is my Dads birthday, and I am hoping he will have a lovely day, I am sure it will involve going out for Fish and Chips with my Mum...a firm favourite!!!  This week was also my nephew Chris's birthday, he was 25 and is a super lad and always looks great!  As I mentioned earlier I can sometimes struggle with male cards and I have made and sent these lovely 2 men the same card....which shows some versatility as there are 54 years separating them!  I found the idea on You Tube ForLoveofPaper

Cardstock used is Basic Grey, Marina Mist Designer Series Paper and Marine Mist 5/8" satin ribbon. The buttons were made using the Embosslits Buttons Die from the mini catalogue. Hope you like it!

Stampin' Up! August Promotion..

Well, Stampin' Up! continues to amaze, surprise and excite me.....back from my hols, logged into the website and another promotion, this one running from 1-31 August.  If you place an order with me for £75 or host a workshop with sales of £250 you will receive this fabulous free gift

Your gift includes a beautiful, exclusively-designed cosmetic bag, along with Rich Razzleberry 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, and a 24-piece Clip Assortment. (the ribbon and clips alone would cost £18.20 without the free bag!)

In addition to this as a special offer from me, I will pay your postage on any order over £75 - worth an additional £4.95 . Please contact me at alisonwilkins656@yahoo.co.uk to place your order and receive this fabulous freebie!!

Back from Holiday...and lots of cards to make!

Hi, Sorry for the delay in posting, we have just returned from a sunny and very hot week in Spain! It was great to have some family time with us all together for once, and very relaxing.  I loved all the colours around us and hopefully may be inspired in the near future to use some in a colour combo for a card.  This is the view from our roof top.  The resort was called Desert Springs in Andalucia.

Back to reality now and I have suddenly realised that I have 3 cards to make for the next few days, the first being a '21st' for our close friends son James.  I struggle with male cards and of course all the ones for the week are for men....this is what I designed for James, keeping it very simple, using Crumb Cake, very Vanilla, Night of Navy and Riding Hood Red cardstock, and the square lattice embossing folders. Numbers cut using the Sizzix Alphabet set from the Mini Catalogue, and sentiment stamped from the Perfect punches set ( a real favourite of mine!). Linen thread used as an accent.  Hope you have a wonderful day James!

Back soon with news of Stampin' Up!s fabulous August promotion

Christmas Card Making Class

Crafters start planning for Christmas early......so you could say I am a bit behind with it nearly being August!!However, inspired by my Stampin'Up! colleagues I am running a monthly Christmas Card Making class this August, then in September, October and November.  In each class we will be making 8 Christmas Cards ( 2 each of 4 designs plus envelopes) so if you want to attend all 4 you would have 32 handmade cards by November.   Each class is £10 to include materials and refreshments.   These are the cards we will be making in August using the Delightful Decorations and Contempo Christmas Sets

 I will use different stamp sets for each class. Please email me if interested and I can let you know times/venue , my lovely crafty ladies are booking up fast!

Christmas Training Swaps...in July!

Yesterday was our quarterly Team Meeting in Peterborough, and our theme as it's July was Christmas!!  As daft as it may sound to non crafters, if you are making all your Christmas Cards, it is nice to have an early start to them.  I really look forward to these meetings where I meet up with fellow demonstrators who are so inspiring and lovely, and so very generous in allowing you to share their ideas. We take with us 'swaps' so that we can share our projects and as promised I would like to share mine with you.

 I made 43 like these, using the Jolly Holiday Designer Papers, and Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive Card Stock , the stamp used on the outside is from the 'Winter Post' Set.

 A closer peak at the little card holder...........

Opened up, you will see the slot, punched with the 'Word Window' punch, measured to take a standard gift card.  Decorations on the inside stamped from the 'Winter Post' and 'Season of Joy' set.
I had such fun making these, and they can easily be adapted for any other special occasion or birthday whether it be male/female or childrens.   I am now inspired by other ideas which I will hope to incorporate into my Christmas classes.....hope to be back soon.

Multi-pocket envelope scrapbook!!....

Hi I have had a few comments asking for the You Tube Link.....simply type Multi Pocket Envelope Scrapbook in You Tube and the video I followed was by FollowThePaperTrail..Apologies for not including this before - Enjoy! x
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Hi, Sorry for the delay in posting...I have been busy preparing class kits and then my swaps for our up and coming 'Passionettes' meeting in Peterborough!  I am really looking forward to seeing my fellow demos and swapping ideas, our theme is Christmas in July, so that should be fun.  In the meantime a very quick post with a little scrapbook that I have made using the lovely SpringtimeVintage papers from the current mini, teamed with the seam binding ribbon and some jumbo eyelets. Card stock is Rose Red and Certainly Celery. The idea was cased from You Tube, so credit goes to the lovely Laura who came up with the original. However here is my quick version.

I love the fact that it will take 4 tags that you could put photos or messages on, yet still fit in an envelope!

Fathers Day....

Today, I want to share with you the card and small gift holder that I have made for Fathers Day....I have had the Sail Away stamp from the mini catalogue since April, and confess this is its first use....I stamped it using Staz On Ink and then watercoloured with ink and an aqua blender. I used the square lattice folder to emboss the crumb cake layer and card stock is Pacific Point, Real Red and a touch of Night of Navy. Jumbo Eyelets and twill tape is my attempt to add a nautical feel to the card, and finally the Happy Fathers Day sentiment is from the 'Plane and Simple' set.

                                                

The gift holder is a Chocolate Bar Slider and again base colour is Pacific Point, I have stamped a self coloured pattern using a pattern stamp from 'A Good Egg' set, the belly band is made using real red card stock with some Pacific Point designer paper and a thin strip of Night of Navy and Crumb Cake. Fathers Day message is from the 'Occasional Greetings' set.  The small tag is made from the Designer Label Large punch, and I finished by attaching using linen thread and eyelets. The chocolate bar slides out and is wrapped around using twill tape. I used the instructions from the following link on You Tube to make my gift,  Chocolate Slider   I am hoping the 'Dads' enjoy......I will certainly be adapting the Slider Bar, for future projects!