Tuesday 31 March 2009

Blog Candy Winner...

The Winner of the Forest Friends Blog Candy is.....
Louise Molesworth (via email)
***Congratulations Louise!***
Please could you email me your address so I can get it in the post to you asap.
Thank you to everyone for dropping by my blog and I'm sorry you couldn't all be winners.
Forest Friends is just one of the new sets available to buy from the New Mini Catalogue at £12.95 plus p&p from 1st April.
Orders placed until 7th April of £45 or more qualify for free postage worth £3.95.
You can email me at jodumbleton@aol.co.uk for more info.

A little Blog Candy

***This Candy has now Closed***
Wednesday night I went to a Stampin'Up! Field Training event at Newbury. Helen and I went together and met up with lots of other Demonstrators for a fabulous evening. Honestly the talent of these ladies is amazing.....I only managed to make 10 swaps which was no where near enough, there were 20 odd people there! I did however receive some absolutely amazing cards in return and I will get round to showing you in a future post. Anyway, at the training session we did a couple of Make 'n Takes, and this is what we all created.

The set we used was Forest Friends from the new Mini which is available to order from 1st April. Aren't these cards so cute! I especially love the technique used to make Bambi's reflection in the water - I've seen this on Donna's blog and she has a fabulous video tutorial here. It's so easy to do and the effect is fantastic.

Right then, we are only days away now from being able to start placing orders from the new Mini and as I stated at the beginning if the month, orders placed of £45 or more will qualify for FREE POSTAGE worth £3.95 until 7th April. (This offer is from me to you and NOT from Stampin' Up!) If you haven't got a mini catalogue and would like one sent, please email with your details and I will put one in the post to you. So on to the blog candy....... we were all given a Free Stamp Set of Forest Friends at Field Training, but as I already have this set in my inky mitts I thought it would be a good idea to give it away to a good home. So who would like Bambi and Friends??? To be entered into the draw for this Blog Candy and be one of the first to own this adorable stamp set, please leave a comment here and put a link on your blog to Stampin 'n Stuff telling everyone about the candy*. If you don't have a blog, please email me and I will still enter you into the giveaway. The closing date will be Tues 31st March at 6pm (GMT) so please pop back to see if you have won. The winner will be picked randomly and only one entry per person please. This post will stay at the top of my blog until then. *Sorry but this Candy will only be available to visitors in Europe. Good Luck!!

Monday 30 March 2009

And something even more different...

Kate has tagged me on a fun photo tag game. I have to show you the fourth photo in my fourth folder in my photos. There was definately no cheating here, but this is what I found.... ...my Chaz! He was but a few weeks old and strangely enough the photo was taken a year ago. He was sooo tiny...well in comparison to his size now anyway. He's only about a foot tall now! *chuckle, chuckle* So now I have to tag 4 other peeps... Karen Jules Janet Linda

Sunday 29 March 2009

Now for something completely different....

I went to the Craft Obsessions crop yesterday. I'm really a scrapbooker more than a cardmaker but since my discovery of Stampin' Up! cardmaking has grasped my attention and I haven't done as much scrapbooking as I'd like. This week though I've been having a little sort out of my scrapbooking stash and found lots of things that I'd fogotten about, so decided to do a layout for my Mother in Law. It's actually one I was meaning to do a year ago but never got round to. For her birthday last year we bought her a 12x12 frame, which I think was from Creative Memories. It's a beautiful white frame with a linen background but behind the linen it's a magnetic board. The layout is then held in place with six magnetic, decorative white buttons to match - it's really gorgeous. Anyway, being that I'm a little overdue for giving her a new page to put in it, this is what I made....

The colours look a bit washed out but in real life they're slightly more vibrant. The papers are Provincial Fare from Tinkering Ink.

This next page is of my lovely Chaz...he's such a poser! A very simple page, but I like.

tfl, Jo :)

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Fancy a bargain??

Would you like over £240 worth of Stampin'Up! products for a mere £125?

Until 25th March if you sign up to be a Demonstrator, the Starter Kit is ONLY £125! (usually £139) Now I'm sure you're all thinking 'oh no here she goes again trying to sell us something' and you're right (lol) but don't stop reading just yet and I'll explain a little about Demonstratorship and what it entails in case you would like to get your crafty hands on this glorious stash. Confession time, I am an SU! Demonstrator because.. firstly I love my crafting, secondly I absolutely love the quality and colour co-ordination of the products and thirdly because I thoroughly enjoy doing workshops and classes with like minded people and showing them what they can achieve. I've been a serious crafter for five years now and since I found Stampin'Up! a year ago all the other products on the market have taken a back seat. As well as offering beautiful quality Stamp Sets which are deeply etched and give spot on results, Stampin'Up! has a Unique Selling Point of having the most amazing colour co-ordination in all it's product lines. From paper, cardstock, ribbon and inks, they all come in 48 gorgeous colours plus the basic black & white and neutral colour schemes, and because everything co-ordinates a simple card looks stunning with very little effort. I have made hundreds of cards in the past and taken hours searching for the right ribbon or whatever to match everything else on my card, and I've also spent a fortune in the process to find I'm disappointed at the end result. Nowadays I tend to stick with Stampin'Up! Don't get me wrong I do still buy other brands, I'm not a total SU! freak but it is the main product base for my crafting as I know I can't fail especially when time is at a premium and I need to make a card or two quickly. Anyway, just because I treat Stampin'Up! as a little p/t business (and a fantastic one it is too) it doesn't mean it's for everyone, but that doesn't matter you CAN still become a Demonstrator. You're also probably thinking you dont' know enough people that craft or that you wouldn't be able to stand in front of loads of people, or that you simply are not a sales person - that was me a year ago. I treat this more as a hobby than a part time job and I really do love it. You can too and you don't have to do the workshops unless you really want to - but it is fun.

So what about becoming a Hobby Demo? This is basically someone who buys the products for themselves to take advantage of the discount as a Demonstrator - which is 20% (before VAT). Plus with your FIRST order the discount is 30%!! Hobby Demos also pass on the discount to friends and family who buy from them. Other benefits of being a Demonstrator include pre-orders on new items like the new Mini Catalogue which also has a further discounted rate, advanced noticed of Special Offers, Holiday incentives, Rewards for sales and also a chance to go to the Annual Convention which is being held in Frankfurt in November this year. These are just a few of the benefits and for £125 you get alot more for your money than you think. I totted up the contents of the Starter Kit myself last night and it most certainly is over the £240 - excellent value! You don't even have to have what they've put in the kit, you can change the stamp sets to whatever you like up to the same value, and also choose the colours you prefer. And then at the end of the day if it doesn't work out, you've gained some fantastic stamping goodies which nobody can take away and you've saved yourself a bob or two in getting them.

So if you're interested in the above offer or would like more information, please email me at jodumbleton@aol.co.uk It's a great offer, go on...treat yourself! thanks for reading. Jo :)

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Sidetracked...again!

Aren't they so cute!?!? I was blog hopping instead of working last night (pesky t'internet!) and ended up making a couple of these after seeing a video on Lauren Meaders blog (addicted to that ladies templates!) Off out to buy some mini easter eggs to fill them now!
tfl, Jo :)

Saturday 14 March 2009

Another from Playful Petals

Sorry about the lack of posts this week - what with being busy at work then I was sick for two days, I just haven't had the time. Also on Thursday evening i was teaching the Crazy for Cupcakes Class with Julie, Helen, Becky, Ellen & Fleur. It's proving to be a winner that class, and I love it! I think they did too. *thumbs up* Anyway, it's MIL's birthday today and I needed a card so last night I had a play with the Playful Petals set along with the Tea Party papers that are in the new Mini. Haven't had the time for any of the other sets but they will come over the next few weeks I promise. So this is what I created. I have to say it took awhile cutting out each layer of flower but it was well worth it. When I showed my hubbie this morning he was VERY impressed. Said it looked like a shop bought one - Ha! I take that to mean I can treat myself to more stamps sets, that's right isn't it??? Just finishing the wrapping now so must get on. Tfl and be back soon, Jo :)

Monday 9 March 2009

Playful Petals

This is Playful Petals from the New Mini, isn't it beautiful?! I do like to add dimension to my cards and this set is perfect for that because you can colour and decoupage it. There's some matching papers to go with this called Tea Party and they're gorgeous too. The colours on this card are the same as the papers - Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Almost Amythyst and So Saffron and for a change I've used SU! textured cardstock for the base card. Yum!
Sorry for the very quick post but I should be working so shhhhh... don't tell hubby!
Be back soon!
Jo :)

Monday 2 March 2009

Are you Crazy for Cupcakes?

At the weekend I took my first class using the Crazy for Cupcakes set. Karen & Rachel were my guinea pigs (Lou was poorly so couldn't make it) and they both made masterpieces of this gorgeous set. Here's more detail of the class. One of the cards is missing though as I somehow managed to delete it when editing - oops! This is the box to hold your cards & envelopes...
...how gorgeous is that dazzling diamonds on the balloon...
...good enough to eat....
....with a cherry on top....
.... and lastly the finishing touches to the envelopes.
I'm doing more classes over the next two months so if you live in the BH21 area and would like to come along, contact me at jodumbleton@aol.co.uk for more details.
I'm also offering a 'Free Class by email' with orders placed of £25 or more, please quote'Crazy for Cupcakes' when you place your order. (The Free Class is for instructions only.)
These classes are not available for purchase to other Stampin' Up! demonstrators. If you are a demonstrator and are interested in this class, please email me directly.
tfl,
Jo :)

Want to see the new Mini??????

Click on the Mini Catalogue image on my sidebar and all will be revealed! Enjoy, and remember FREE postage for all orders over £45 during 1st - 7th April when the catalogue goes live! Jo :)

Sunday 1 March 2009

There's something new and exciting on the horizon...

All my shares are done for now so THANK YOU to everyone who took part. For those that were in the first share - I hope you are enjoying those beautiful papers and ribbon, and those that are awaiting the second & third Paper & Ribbon Shares, and the Hodgepodge share - they will be with you asap. In total there were twelve free sets given away - not bad going considering the shares were a bargain anyway. Now I've probably bored the pants off you all with them and I will resume normal service from now on especially as there are some very exciting things happening in the very near future..... So what's the exciting news I hear you ask? For the first time in Europe, Stampin' Up! have given us a Mini Catalogue!!! Yaay!

On Thursday my complimentory copy arrived on the doorstep and I haven't stopped looking at it since. There's some really lovely sets in this new addition including Forest Friends (think owls and bambie) Golden Oldies - ahem! (you will either love them or hate them) Choo Choo (trains of course but very sweet and great for kids cards) and Just Beachy (a really fun summer set with some very amusing fishies). These are only a few of the newest sets but there is also some fantastic new Oval punches (a new scalloped one) and matching stamps plus gorgeous, gorgeous striped grosgrain ribbon in a choice of three colours. Of course I have to have everything (I wish) and although I can't show you any creations just yet, the cover picture above gives you a sneak of what's to come.

The mini catalogues will be on there way to me very soon so if you'd like one sent to you (uk only I'm afraid), email me at jodumbleton@aol.co.uk. And during the first week of April when the Mini goes live, I will give free shipping (worth £3.95) for all orders placed over £45. It's all so exciting - there's bound to be something in there that you like. Products from the mini are only available to purchase for a limited period - 1st April 2009 to 30th September 2009. However, Stampin'Up! may carry some products over into the New Idea Book & Catalogue 2009-2010 which will be out on 1st October 2009.

Jo :)