** Stampers Club **

I already have a Stampers 6 club on the go but have had a couple of more enquiries with joining in on the next one. I am aiming to start the next ones in January but if I fill another 6 places, I will start as soon as possible.
With a Stampers 6 club we have 6 members
It runs for 6 months
Each month every member commits to ordering a minimum of £25 worth of product plus P&P
Each month one of the members is selected as a "virtual" hostess and received the hostess benefits which will be a minimum of a Level 1 hostess stamp set and £15 worth of free products. This is guaranteed but it could be more.
You will receive a free copy of the catalogue.

Stampers 6 is a great way of building up your stash each month without
breaking the bank.

If you would like more information, please mail me on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com

I would like to say at the moment all those that have been in the stampers 6 have gained a level 2 in the hostess sets and also had £35 to spend in merchandise FREE for that one month.

This is all without having to hold a party at home.

Nothing Crafty....

...... this week. I am sorry but we are now laying the new floor and everything has had to be boxed up and moved to other rooms. This is a total nightmare for me, not just my goodies are packed away but the mess too. Plus we choose the week the kids where on half term, how much bad planning is that? But so far they are keeping out of the way and amusing themselves. They are pretty good like that. My knees are going to be sore tomorrow and I am only a few rows done. We can't do it all in one go as we don't have the room to move the furniture to. That is the downside of these old terraced houses. Hubby is mixing the plaster for the adhesive and I have the short straw of laying the things, grrrr, if they are not straight, guess who gets the blame? Yep me! But so far, I have done some skimming and got them straight, so I am well chuffed on that. One for the ladies, none for the men, lol.

New Stash and life

Thought I had better do a post to say why I am really quiet lately. Last week I have the children off sick, one at a time. Then I have managed to get an ear infection, just when one starts to clear up the other one has flared up. So I am now on not only drops, but antibiotics and also nurofen for the intense pain and swelling. Its not nice at all. In the meantime I have had a lovely delivery of new stash,

My hubby has bought all this for me for Christmas and him being so nice he has let me have it ALL now!

I am currently trying to work on my Christmas scedule too, some new classes and also learning how to use my camera. As I don't use it to even have its potential. I am hoping to have some Christmas events at my evening class on a Wednesday and there are some fab ideas that are coming into shape. Won't say too much just yet. I have quite a few swaps that I am working on this week too, been waiting for new stuff to arrive, not all Stampin' Up! I am afraid to say, but we don't have any halloween stamps in our catalogue this year, which was very disappointing being a demo. So I have had to buy some from elsewhere to do my halloween projects for the kids.

Talking of which they break up at the end of the week for half term. Can you believe it. So we are hoping for some nicer weather to get out and about. I will try and show some cards this week when I get some time to myself. Until then have a nice day!

Shoe Box Appeal

As promised I have taken some photo's of the items I have made and also altered. I have used up some old stock of papers, that I thought would be appropriate for little girls and boys. We have also found out where they will be going and this year it will be Romania.

One for the boys and one for the girls.

Included in the boxes are decorated notebooks, decorated pencils, colouring book, box of crayons and some lolly pops. The sweets have to be boiled so I thought they would be nice to be decorated, giving that special touch.

This is a box made and decorated to hold the crayons. I bought a big pack from the £1 shop and split it into 2 giving 40 crayons per pack.

Next where the colouring books I made using my BIA.

Out side and inside. I know how much my own children love to colour in and they love the stamped images I have of children. The children these go to can colour them in and make little scenes around them. We are not allowed to put any words on any of the projects with them going over seas. So I thought these would be really appropriate.

I would so love to be a fly on the wall when the children who get these receive them, just to see their faces light up with joy. Just like both of my own children did when I showed them what I had done.

Just for Fun!

The Recipe For Melanie

3 parts Sweetness 2 parts Friendship 1 part Imagination Splash of Playfulness Finish off with an olive

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

October Offers from Stampin' Up!

Whoops I forgot to add these to my blog at the beginning of the month. There are two offers that are availble this month. One runs out on the 11th, this was to celebrate World card making day. Which was last Saturday.

If you buy the Simply sent card elements you get them for £10 instead of £12.50, also the simply sent card making kits are now £31.96 instead of £39.95

The second one is to celebrate Stampin' Up! 20th Birthday.

If you spend £20 you can choose one of the following sets at 20% off

111618 - Crazy for Cupcakes - page 32 - £16.76

105455 - Birthday Best - page 33 - £8.76

110524 - Cheer and wishes - page 58 - £11.96

Sorry for the delay in posting these offers up.

!!! OFFER !!!

**For the month of October only.**

If you would like to purchase any of the following, I am offering a discount of 10% on selected items only.

This offer is my own offer and NOT one from Stampin' Up!

Silent Night Stamp set @ £14.36

Ink pads - Basic gray, bashful blue, ballet blue, Apricot Appeal, Barely banana, Night of navy @ £3.83 Each

If you are interested in purchasing any of these products or any from the current catalogue, please email me on melanie.reid2@ntlworld.com

Postage is £3.95 on orders up to £80

Silent Night

1. Stamp your image (church stamp from Silent Night), using basic gray ink pad. I choose gray as its not as bold as black.

2. Colour in your image. I used a mixture of ink pads and markers. A little white gel pen on the trees to indicate a little snow, brrrrrrr.

3. Dry off using your heat gun. Using a versamark pen, go all around your image and colour it in. Don’t do the open trees in the background.

4. Pour over clear embossing powder. With it being clear it’s hard to show in a photo. Heat using your heat tool. Don’t worry if you miss bits you can over with your pen and repeat the embossing process. Put to one side for now.

5. For the moon you need to either punch out a circle or cut your shape out. I am going to use my moon stamp to show how it’s used but it’s the same for a punched out circle.
At the top of the post it note (where the sticky is on the reverse), stamp your image. (Or punch out your circle). Cut it out.

6. Place the mask where you want it on your project. Using your second colour (bashful blue) and a piece of kitchen sponge. Stipple the colour around the moon.

7. Remove the mask and sponge on your first colour (barely banana). Just go outside of the moon shape to give a natural glare coming from the moon.

8. Keeping the moon clean, re place the mask back over the moon. Using your third colour (ballet blue), sponge around the edge and blend into the bashful blue as you go.

9. Cut down your image, so that it is ready for matting and layering. Now using the Night of navy ink, place colour all around the edges of the sky section only.

10. Remove the mask and sponge a little of the Apricot Appeal in the centre. This will give the moon a little more depth.

11. If you have a moon stamp, you can stamp it now using your stamp-a-ma-jig. If you have just used a punched out circle, leave as it is. Both versions look just as good. Mat and layer onto your cardstock. I choose Apricot appeal, basic black and night of navy.

First sample showing a plain moon the second with a stamp. Enjoy!

Inspirational!

Most days when I have a coffee, I tend to go blog hopping. I normally skim through a lot of blogs and never leave many comments. I know shame on me for not telling others how GREAT their work is. But there is one particular blog that has caught my eye this week. You may of already been a fan, but I have only just discovered Michelle's fantastic work. So much so I wanted to have a go at one of her tutorials. Check it out Here. Don't you agree how fab it is. There are many more tutorials on using brayers etc

I have stamped and water coloured the church stamp from Silent night. I then used a versamark PEN, not ink pad. Coloured all over the image with it and clear embossed it. I then choose a few ink pads, barely banana, bashful blue, ballet blue, night of navy and apricot appeal. I tore up a kitchen household sponge and used that to stipple on the colours where I wanted them. to build up the colour of the sky. I then used my stamp-a-ma-jig and a stamp from Magnolia to create the image over the moon. Cardstock is Apricot Appeal and Night of Navy. I hope you like it.

New catalogue

Whoa the new catalogue is finally launched today and there are some fabulous stamp sets in there. Plus loads of other surprises.

If you haven't yet got yours, you can either click on the catalogue and it will take you to an online viewing of it. Or you can purchase a copy direct from me for £4 including postage. £3 will be refundable off an order of £50 or more.

I will also be starting another stampers 6 soon, so if you are interested please drop me a line and I will explain how it works.

I am working on some new projects at the moment in between seeing builders and running as a taxi service for my children. So please keep checking back.