Christmas in July!

The instructions for the projects we made are all ready in PDF format.  If you'd like a FREE copy become a follower and email me I will then send you the file.

I'll be back soon with more crafty fun!

BOGOF EVENT

EXCITING NEWS!

I am holding a craft and cake evening at my house in Northampton on Friday 29th July at 7.30pm
During this event I am offering a But One Get One Free offer on all my retired stamp sets.  Here's how it works, you buy a retired stamp set and you get to choose items to the same value from the current Idea Book and Catalogue or the mini catalogue. How fabulous is that?!

We will also of course have some scrummy cakes and I will demonstrate some of the fantastic products that Stampin' Up! offers.  Finally you will all get a chance to get a bit crafty yourself with the free make and take project that you will get to take away with you.

picture © Stampin' Up!
And that's not all, you will get the chance of more FREEBIES as I'm also raffling off the hostess benefits from the night and there are lots of ways of getting tickets for that raffle. You can of course buy raffle tickets but there are ways of getting them FREE too! Bring a friend I don't know, book your own home workshop or even become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.


What are you waiting for? Email me by the end of Wednesday 27th July to let me know you are coming.

Inspiration from Training

I posted yesterday about the swaps that I made to give to people at the training event.  Another really great thing about these events is that there are so many samples of other peoples work for us to look at.  There were 'inspiration stations' and workshop wow's and so many ideas to take in.  Today I am going to share a few of my favourite.  I will credit people where I can remember but apologies if I miss someone, if it's your work or you know who it is please let me know!

Firstly I want to share one of the amazing items that Claire made usinf the owl punch.  I think that it almost looks like an owl family tree!

Next two items made by the very talented Dawn.  First are some beautiful bag/boxes, I love the vibrant colours in the one on the left!



The second pic from Dawn's table is a beautiful paper lilly - I must try this out very soon!  Dawn had also made roses using the ornament punch and you can just see one of these too.

Next for one of the workshop wows we were shown how to get more out of the Scallop Envelope die for the BigShot, I am sorry but I didn't catch the lady's name.  I love this idea as initially the size of the finished box seems a bit limiting - so many more ideas now though!

Finally another workshop wow and again I missed this lady's name, I think I was too excited by all the WOW'S!  This technique produces a fake patent crocodile skin effect and it looks so fantastic!  I hope you can see the detail on the black section of this cute little purse.  I will be playing with this technique as it looked like lots of fun!

That's all for today, I hope that you are feeling as inspired as I was.  I will be back soon and will share the projects that we got to make at the training event, I just have a few bits to finish up :)

Bye for now

Vicky x

Swaps for Training

I have just spent a lovely day in Bicester at Michelle Last's quarterly training event.  I love that everyone in this company is so welcoming, I feel very priveliged to be allowed to join in this training as I am not actually a part of Michelle's team.  I have also been to other teams events in the past too and always feel so welcome.  These days are always so much fun and one of my favourite parts of the day is swapping.  We make a card front or small 3d item and swap these with other demonstrators.  It's a great way to get some inspiration!  This time I decided that I wanted to have a go at some of the patchwork style embellishment that I have seen a lot of recently, I've stepped it up a bit by also using the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.

Start with a piece of whisper white cardstock and a pile of pre cut (or punched) squares.  I used the 1 1/4" square punch as it's great for speed and accuracy!  On my swap I've used Greenhouse Gala designer paper.  Adhere the squares in a patchwork pattern to the white card, you don't need to follow a pattern.  I just played with what 'looked good'.  You then run this through the BigShot with the Top Note die and then run the Top Note shape through the BigShot again using the embossing folder of your choice.

I've only used half of each Top Note shape and I've added a strip of pear Pizzazz cardstock as an accent.  The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations.  I hope you like it! I'll try and be back later in the week to share more crafty goodies with you.

Bye for now

Vicky x

BLOG HOP

Good morning!  I am actually up very late on Thursday night scheduling this.  I'm using Hubby's work laptop as mine is still looking quite dead - I hope my brother can rescue my piccies at least!

Anyhow today's post is a blog hop based on the Stampin' Up! Colour Coach.  This is a fab bit of kit that suggests colour combinations - I love it, especially for those moments when the creative juices just aren't flowing.

You should have come here from Karin's blog.  If not pop over and take a look, Karin is a very talented lady!  I've chosen Real Red, Crumb Cake and Bashful Blue.  I made a card for my son's 6th Birthday today.  (Big birthday kisses xxxx)  The stamp sets are Party This Way and Just Perfect Alphabet.  I've kept it really simple as I've had 12 birthday cards to make over this week!  When I have more time with the computer I will try and get more posted.

I hope you like my offering.  Next it's time to hop on over to Jan's lovely blog to see what she's been upto.