Stampers 6

This post will stay at the top until middle of Feb, please scroll down for more posts.

I have a new stampers 6 group starting in February. If you are interested here is the pitch

• There are 6 people with in the group, who commit to spending £25 per month (plus p+p) for 6 months.
• During these six months each person takes the role of being the hostess. This is the beauty of these groups, you DON'T have to have us all in your home. So when you become hostess you get to choose at least a level one gift plus £15 of FREE merchandise from the catalogue/mini/or sale leaflets that are availble to order from at that time.
• If you don't already have one you will get a catalogue and any mini brochures that come out within that 6 month period.
• Occassionally I pop a little something in with your parcel.

This is a fabulous way to increase your Stampin' Up! goodies without breaking the bank each month. If you are interested or have any questions please email me on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com

I look forward to hearing from you.

Queue up! Queue up!

I have recently took part in a scrapbook swap, so much so that I am really enjoying making this size. Anyhow as a little thank you I made a nice card to whom is hosting the swap. I could share with you until I knew she had received it.

As you can guess from the title I am using the set Queue Up. It is a hostess level 3 set, which you need to have sales of £500 or more. I know I would never reach that myself, so I was glad we had chance to buy the set to demo with. The cups are coloured in with the markers and I have hand drawn the little steam lines above the cups.

The sentiment on this one is from 'A bit of Birthday cheer', I think the one I sent was from 'Thank you Kindly'. I love both of these sets as I mainly send birthday cards or thank you's.

The paper is from Kaleidoscope, I love the brightness of these papers. I think you may see a lot of them.

Love you much!

Today I have three projects to share with you. All from the stamp set 'Love You Much', hence the title. I never know what to have as my titles for my posts. Anyway. Here is the first one we made

This is a shaker card in the middle, but by the photo it looks like the birds have some seeds. These are so easy to make. The circular window is made from the 1 3/4inch punch and I have used the window sheets for the glass so to speak.

The second project we made a treat pouch, this is called a diaper fold. I made this using a 6 x 6 inch piece of double sided paper. This was actually from one of the hostess gifts from the last catalogue, sorry you can't buy that one. We do have some fabulous other papers you know ;-)

The flower was from my own built up stash from years gone by. Trying to use stuff up to make room for new things I have coming this week.

This is the last project we made. 6 x 6inch scrapbook page. The reason why we made it this size, is so they can keep it as a sample layout in a folder that we may be making pretty soon. Well ok once I have worked out all the sizes for it. The photo corners are made using the eyelet border punch. I think it gives it a feminine look. Again the papers are from the hostess set from last catalogue. I just love those small clips too.

For each week, I am going to try and do a layout using what ever stamp set we are using in class. So if you are into scrapbooking or just wanting to learn, keep checking back each week.

Also if you are in the area and would like to attend a class, please get in touch and I can give you more details.

Off to quickly skim the house, so I can do some more crafting.

Haitian Disaster Relief

Hi everyone. I have something real important to share with you guys.

As most people know (unless you have been locked away in a cupboard), an earthquake struck Haiti with a mangitude of 7.0. Leaving in its wake devastation so overwhelming that the Haitian people can only look for help from the rest of the world. Stampin' Up! have been great in putting together this week 5,000 hygiene kits at their head office in the US. You can read the full story Here

In addition to this Stampin' Up! are donating £1 from each set of Greenhouse Garden that is sold from now until 28th February. This may not seem a lot to some but to those people every single penny donated is a penny to help them recover from this awful devastation.

In addition to this I will match it and donate a further £1 to the red cross.

Trendy Trees

Boy was that quick? I have three cards to show you. All using Trendy Trees and A Bit of Birthday Cheer.

This is the first card we made. I wanted to show how to make a recess window and I also wanted attempt the dreaded 'MEN's ' cards. I know we all struggle for men, so I think these would just do nicely. Not sure on the bow, maybe a knot next time.

The designer papers are Spiced cider. Which I think look far better in real life than in the catalogue. The shades for those papers are really rust, old olive, sahara sand (can only be bought in the neutrals pack), close to cocoa. I stuck with this colour theme and added Very vanilla cardstock for stamping onto. The buttons are from the earth elements set.

The second card again uses the same papers and colour theme for the additional cardstock. I have pricked in all four corners, not sure if you can make it out or not. Very basic, quick and simple.

The third card again was simple to make. Unfortunately the paper I used for the grass is now retired but I wanted something with lines on to give a nice effect and this was the only one I had. I punched out three circle scallops and stuck them to the bottom of the tree but rotated the stripe pattern. Then I trimmed down to the VV cardstock. The button is tied around the ribbon using linen thread, which I am soooooo loving at the moment.

I hope this gives you some ideas for men, I know they are difficult and can really challenge us from time to time. I am hoping to do more in the future, so keep watching.

Ok that is it for today, I am now off to do some scrapbooking for a swap I am doing with some other nice demo's. Keep watching as I will upload those when I receive them to show some alternatives to cardmaking.

Wet Day!

Morning peeps. Sorry for not posting this week, but its been another busy one.

I do have some projects from my Wednesday night class to show, but need to take some pictures when it brightens up a little. Its rather dull and miserable here today, but thankfully ALL our snow has now gone, yeah!

Just want to thank for all the comments on my injuries. I am recovering nicely, although still a few bruises but getting there. I have actually got a free day today. So I am going to spend it wisely and do some of my own crafting. But first I will go and set up the camera and take some pictures to share with you of the projects we made this week.

Will be back soon!

Black 'n' Red

Morning guys, sorry for being missing again. I had all intentions of blogging each day this week but I slipped and fell down the stairs on Tuesday evening and its left me with black bottom and being so sore I haven't been able to get comfortable. I am starting to feel much better now. Anyhow I have a couple of cards to share with you.

I have used Greenhouse Garden again, (I love this set at the moment), I used real red and basic black for the flowers. The designer papers is from Pink Flamingo, another of the bright papers. Which are totally scrummy in real life. The sentiment is actually from a retired set, seasonal wishes. The bow isn't actually tied either, its looped, then twisted round then the brad opened up and placed over the middle, then put through the hole where I wanted it and opened the pins out. Fabulous idea that I picked up from another demo 'Monica'. She does some awesome stuff.

The second card was way, way out of my comfort zone. I had printed off some sketches from several places to sit and just play around with. I don't normally do these because basically I never have the time to sit and play.

Why I used a black base card I don't know. Maybe because it was there on the table, so I built around this. I used the designer papers Nouveau Chic which has sage shadow and apricot appeal in the colours, along with basic black and gray. So as I liked bright colours, i picked out the Apricot appeal to use behind the papers, and the contrast sage shadow for the circle. The greeting is from the set Occassional Greetings. Can you believe I have had that stamp for over a year and have only just inked it. The flowers, well this is a great way to get them to match your project. I used a white flower from the pretties kit and inked it using a Stampin' Up! marker. The backing is punched using the petal punch, then put to gether with a fabulous gem brad.

For today I am hoping my cotton bump arrives so I can get on with anotehr project I have in the wings, its to do with sewing. I may share when its made, depends on how it turns out, lol. In the mean time I am going to go play with some paper and card. Bye for now!

SweetCake

Gosh can't believe I have managed to blgo three days in a row. I have yet another share for you peeps today. Another of my favourite size card, not quite 6 inches this one. Its like A5 square, if that makes sense. I have had this set for a while and it hadn't been used, so I thought it about time it was inked.

The stamp set is called 'On a Pedestal'. Isn't it nice. I inked this up using my SU markers, so that I could get different colours on one stamp. Then you huff on it before stamping. The designer paper is Kaleidoscope which is nice and bright, my kind of stuff. The sentiment is from circle of friendship.

This is the inside, which I think just finishes the card off. Colours used are Green Galore, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise and whisper white.

Can you believe we have had yet more snow over night, we are just so not used to all this. I haven't drove the car in such a long time. I am one of those drivers that just won't in this icy weather. I would rather walk. I do get in the car and let hubby drive but if anyone saw me, by the look on my face they would think I had been kidnapped, lol. I must look so funny. The kids have gone sledging today, so I will get a little peace while they are out. So I am off to go and play in my crafting corner. Hubby will be home tomorrow and we like to spend the day together, so there may not be anything to share tomorrow. Stay warm and safe everyone ;-)

Money, Money, Money

Oh don't ya just love that song. Now I will be singing it all day in my head, lol. I have a quick project for you today, something that I bought ages ago now but as my darling son got one too for Christmas. I decided to decorate mine. I have had to stand it on Chocolate chip card, so you can actually see it properly.

It is one of those money boxes that add up for you as you put in your cash. I decorated it with the Planter box rub ons. You get one sheet of white and one sheet of Chocolate chip flowers. I used the chocolate chip on my daughter box as she got a pink one. They are really striking and so simple to use. Unlike some rub ons I have had. You can use them on so many different things to jazz up a little, including tiles.

Well I am just about to go and walk in the cold cold snow. Don't know what the temperature is here today but we have had another 2 inches of snow throughout the night. Roll on summer if we get any. Catch you all later.

At last Blogger is playing nicely, I have two cards to share with you today, both using the Greenhouse Garden stamp set. This first one is nearly a 6inch square cards, which I must say are my favourite size at the moment. The background has been created using En Francais background stamp in Certainly celery and then the medallion in Apricot Appeal (my favourite colour, well I do like them all). I then sponged over some pumpkin pie on the edges and a little here and there. I have done similar over the strip across the centre but just used flowers instead of the medallion. I have also put a little glitter over the flowers, its does make them stand out in real life, I wish I could take better photo's.

This is the inside of the card too

I used a centiment from Oval All. The next card is an A6 in size, same as before.

Again the inside

Using the curvy verses set. I love this colour combo, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper white and Apricot Appeal. Hopefully blogger will let me play again tomorrow, so I can show you something altered. Until then have fun.

SNOW!!!!

BRRRRRRRR isn't it cold and I bet most of you in the UK have had some snow. I know we have had it for nearly three weeks now. It did start to go and then bang we got a load more this week. Fallon's school is closed but Jordon's isn't. He is one unhappy bunny.

Well I do have a couple of projects to share with you, well I actually had them on Monday but when I went to take some photo's I had run out of battery on my camera. So now I have some I will take some pictures later when it brightens up a bit. The sun is just coming out nice and strong now. (fingers crossed it will melt all the snow) Well I can dream can't I.

OK off to do a couple of job in the house and then I will get started with taking some pictures.

Back soon.

Just to let you know I haven't forgotten, blogger won't let me upload my photo's. I guess those who cannot make it into work today are all updating blogs, lol. I will try a little later to see if they will let me play.

Merry Christmas

Gosh where has the last couple of months gone too? I hope you hadn't thought I had fell off the face of the Earth, lol. Sorry for being absent, I am not the best blogger in the world, life can sometimes be very hectic here.

Just wanted to pop on and Wish all my friends, family and customers a Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a fabulous New Year.

Now that all the Christmas prep is out of the way I am starting to get organised a little on doing some more crafting projects. I know my blog has slid by the way side over the last couple of months, but I am going to make it a New Years resolution to blog a bit more, even if its just little ole me waffling away.

Also there is another reason why I am here today, to share with you one of the BEST offer's ever that Stampin' Up! do each year. That as some of you may know is Sale-A-Bration. Here are some details for you, and as normal if you want to know more or place an order you can contact me on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Here is how Sale-A-Bration works;-

SPEND - When you spend £45 on Stampin' Up! merchandise you get to choose a stamp set FREE, YEP you heard me, FREE. So if you spend £90 you would get to choose two FREE stamp sets.

HOST - Host a workshop of £300 net sales and choose one free set from the Sale-A-Bration(you don't have to have one in your home, you can also do a book party, if you want more info please email me and I will explain). All this is in addition to the hostess benefits.

JOIN - Join Stampin' Up! during Sale-a-Bration and choose a FREE stamp set (excluding hostess sets) from the idea book and catalogue (valued up to £38.95)

If you would like to see the Sale-A-Bration sets click Here to view them.

Its here!!!!!!

Well its finally here. The new catalogue. If you want to view please click on the picture of the catalogue to the left. I must warn you though there are some scrummy stamps and punches in there though. You may need a coffee or something stronger to sip while your browsing ;-)

I already have my wish list written and its VERY long!

If you would like to place an order with me, not a problem, I take cheques, postal orders, Paypal and even bank transfers. Please get in touch on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com

Enjoy your browsing!

LAST CHANCE ---- HURRY!!!

This will stay at the top so you can see what sells out. Please scroll down for new posts.

Before they all go. Stampin' Up! have released the last chance list which is basically what it says, last chance to buy retiring products while stocks last. Here to view the complete list. There have already been a few sell outs which I will try and keep updated the best I can:

All wrapped up, item number 104036

Happy Hearts, 100319

Be Happy, 107009

Mixed Bouquet, 105755

Flaky Friends, 101850

As much as I hate to see some sets go there are some gorgeous scrummy sets and also some fabulous new things coming up. Just watch this space for news on those. Also the NEW catalogue will be out 1st October, if you would like to reserve your copy please email me for price. Don't worry if you are in my stampers groups, your have been reserved for you.

Justice for Pleural Plaque Suffers - long post

Sorry this post is not really craft related but it is something that is so close to my heart. I believe these men involved should be treated fairly and the government should stand up and help these men. As some of you know I lost my brother 'Alan Clark' to this horrible disease. He was one that has campaigned for all those men out there and their families to get compensation. Please read on

'GMB has been at the heart of the campaign to get justice for the victims of the work related disease Pleural Plaques. I’m writing today because I need your help in getting justice for sufferers of this terrible disease. A petition has just been launched which calls for victims of Pleural Plaques to be fairly compensated for their injuries – you can sign it at: http://unionstogether.org.uk/justicePleural Plaques are scarring of the lungs caused by heavy and prolonged exposure to asbestos. Employers have long known about the dangers of asbestos. But instead of providing the protection required to safeguard their staff, many simply decided to turn their backs on their workers, and hope they could get away with it.Until a few years ago, workers with Pleural Plaques were able to claim compensation. Crucially it meant that a company had admitted liability to exposing a worker to asbestos. But in October 2007, the law lords outrageously scrapped this precedent – meaning that thousands of people with Pleural Plaques would not be entitled to a single penny, whilst insurers profited to the tune of £1.4BN. A truly disgusting decision and a real abdication of duty. Now thousands of working men and women suffer from entirely avoidable disease, and those who are diagnosed today aren’t even entitled to compensation. The petition calls on the Government to do the right thing for victims of Pleural Plaques and restore the compensation. The Law Lords decision that the lung scarring caused by asbestos isn’t worthy of compensation is clearly wrong. The whole process was dubious – one lawyer on the payroll of the employers’ insurance companies had the audacity to claim that Pleural Plaques were a “good thing.” As if a lawyer knows the reality of suffering from lung disease caused by asbestos. The reality is that Pleural plaques are a sign of deep scarring to the lungs. Real physical injury, caused by long-term exposure to asbestos. And it causes significant mental anguish as well. Pleural Plaques victims have a dramatically higher chance of developing Mesothelioma – a lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Many victims describe this as a ticking time bomb that infects their lives with fear – imagine living with the knowledge that your lungs had been irreversibly damaged by asbestos and you might be diagnosed with terminal cancer at any time. And tragically, I know of at least one sufferer who couldn’t live with the fear and took their own life. You can make a difference. We want the Government take action to reverse the Law Lords’ judgement and restore justice to those who deserve it – whose only ‘crime’ was to work with or near asbestos. The Scottish Parliament and the devolved administration in Northern Ireland have already done this – with your help we’ll get Whitehall to stop dragging their feet and get this sorted in England and Wales too. We are calling for justice for these working people who need our help. Please sign the petition http://unionstogether.org.uk/justice – and then ask your family and friends to sign it as well. Together we’ll send a powerful message to the Government – justice now.

Thank you for reading!