Ooops, this year is whizzing by..

I have been really busy lately so I thought I would share some of the things I have been up to since my last post in January????  This is the time of year where I catch up with my accounts, de-cluttering & a lot of hospital appointments with Philip - all done now!!

There has been some crafting happening, last month I held my first class of the year the ladies all took home a beautiful spring wreath to decorate their homes.

I have almost finished preparing the samples & kits for my next class later this month, a little sneak peak of the pretty colours we will be using.

I have had a few cards commissioned to celebrate those big milestone birthdays - 30th 40th 50th & today I'm starting on a 60th & a wedding card.

I have also completed a pretty crochet blanket for my sister. I haven't done any knitting or crochet for quite a while & I have really enjoyed making something  different, this is quite a large blanket & I finished it in around 3 weeks.

After 8 months of searching finally Darran found the "car" he was looking for, although much bigger than anything I have driven before I do LOVE it!!  So there has been a lot of cleaning & polishing going on as it seems to have been a little un-loved by it's previous owners?! Hopefully we will be off to the beach on Sunday morning to enjoy some of this nice weather as Darran has one of those weeks where he isn't home very much.

The lovely spring weather has been nice to make a start clearing the garden & generally tidying up outside - I love iris's & found these amongst some little snowdrops that have started to spread out nicely.

Time to get on with those commissioned card and plan some Easter makes for Lucy & Philip's friends.

Angela x

Simply Created Album Kit

Although I still have a few finishing touches to add to my album I thought I would share my progress so far. The new Spring & Summer catalogue contains several project kits, making the album really quick & easy to put together.

I decided to put the photos from our trip to Bristol last Summer in this album - we followed part of the trail around the city for Gromit Unleashed - 80 sculptures decorated by famous people and large companies to support the Bristol Children's Hospital - we managed to find 33 over the 3 days we spent in the area.

I'm planning to add some stamped flowers to match my front cover - hopefully later this week when my order arrives as I have ordered a few more new products from the NEW Spring & Summer catalogue, along with the kits for my next class! I added some crochet trim and ruffled ribbon to the book rings, just to add some colour to the front cover.

I first found out about the trail of Gromit Unleashed through the Kath Kidston web site - this is the Gromit that they created!

We always cram in as much as possible while we are away - so I added this photo of Lucy trying to be "cool" at the back of the album - it was a really hot day perfect for a day at the beach! 

I plan to fill the pockets with a few more of the photos of Gromit that didn't make it on to an album page and the "passport" that was stamped as you followed the trail.

Angela x

It's time for Sale-a-bration

It's one of the busiest times of the year at Stampin' Up! - Sale-a-bration for every £45 you spend you can choose one of the exclusive Sale-a-bration products FREE. The products available this year are fabulous and they have certainly been very popular with my customers - the colours are on trend for the upcoming season perfect for all of your crafting projects - the banner punch and matching stamps are proving very popular.

Click on the photo for more information.

The Spring and Summer catalogue has also launched this week filled with some gorgeous new products.

Click on the photo for more information.

I will be back soon with one of my first projects from the new seasonal catalogue.

Angela x

Valentine Gifts

I love a bargain and I found these lip glosses with perfume in the other end in M&S reduced from £5 to just £1 !!  I thought they had potential to make cute small gifts for Lucy to give to some of her friends, so I set to work and made some pretty packaging for them.

I used Strawberry Slush card, ribbon and designer paper, along with some Smokey Slate card and a little silver glimmer card for the punched heart, the sentiment is from the Chalk Talk stamp set. They were really quick to make, I cut the card into strips & scored it I used a 1/2" circle punch to make the hole for the lip gloss to sit inside, the banner behind the sentiment is made using a fabulous new punch that will be available next week during Sale-a-bration!

It's been another very busy week here with a spur of the moment trip to Halifax on Monday - finally we found a car Darran has spent 6 months looking for?! Today we are going to be driving back to Halifax to collect it after our weekly drive to Durham for Philip to continue with his conductive education at Heel and Toe. Now where to park my new car, ah yes the back of the car park where there is plenty of space, as it's much bigger than the 7 seater I currently drive???

A trip to Newcastle on Wednesday for an appointment with Philip with a quick visit to the Disney store at the Metrocentre. Then Philip spent a lovely afternoon visiting his old friends and teachers at his previous primary school - we decided the time was right to move Philip to a new school in the summer where he can continue mainstream education but with the additional support he requires for his disability and although it was heart wrenching at the time things have worked out well. Lucy left at the same time to move up to secondary school so there were a lot of tears shed but more about that another day as I have some lovely photos I would like to scrap.

Angela x

Is anyone there?

I know it has been a long time since I last did anything with my blog but I needed to take a break, re-evaluate how I was using my time and decide where I wanted to go.

Since I started my blog many things have changed and I needed to accept that sometimes it is OK to admit that I can't do everything, no matter how I tried many days I felt like I was going around in circles getting no where - today as I looked up a tutorial I made for a project I created last year I realised why I wrote this blog, it was my love of beautiful craft projects.

So where are they I hear you ask?!  I have been continuing with my Stampin' Up! business and classes although on a much smaller scale than before and I have done some crafting but mostly without taking time to photograph projects before they were given away as often they were for commissioned orders. I have now completed almost everything that was outstanding and spent some time using some fabulous new products available soon from Stampin' Up! so I plan to share some projects again later this week as I already have a basket full on my desk!

I'm not sure how often I will be posting yet but I do plan to keep my blog updated on a regular basis with inspiring projects too and I will be sharing the dates for my up-coming classes, so if you are local contact me and come along - if you are too far away, why not order a class kit with full instructions included to make the projects at home.

Angela x

Another special Birthday

This week my lovely Stampin' Up! "mum" celebrated a "special" birthday - NEW Coastal Cabana & Bermuda Bay colours from Stampin' Up! were a perfect choice for Julie's card.  I used Mosaic Madness stamp set & punch again for this card and of course the Memorable Moments stamp set - perfect for special celebrations!!

• Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
• Memorable Moments and Mosaic Madness stamp stets
• Labels framelits
• Mosaic punch, Itty Bitty punches
• Hearts embossing folder
• Vintage Glass Button, Basic Rhinestones, White Bakers Twine

Tonight Julie will be partying with her family and friends as the Birthday celebrations continue - unfortunately I can't be with her as I am looking forward to picking up a very tired and no doubt dirty Lucy after a school trip this week to the Lake District for an activity holiday, I've really missed her and I know Philip has too!!

Angela x

NEW 2013-2014 ANNUAL CATALOGUE

The new catalogue is now available on-line to view CLICK HERE

If you would prefer a "paper" copy contact me - £5.00 posted directly to you.

One of my favourite sets from the NEW catalogue is Mosaic Madness which has a matching punch and embossing folder!!!!!! 

I LOVE the NEW Baked Brown Sugar colour and now you can buy Core d'inations card stock in EVERY Stampin' Up! colour!!!! 

Baked Brown Sugar, Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple.

There are so many gorgeous NEW products in the catalogue, the new colour up-date is fabulous, so many gorgeous new pastel shades.

LOVE Pistachio Pudding & Crisp Cantaloupe from the In Colour collection.

Soft Sky with Strawberry Slush and Midnight Muse.

Perfect for making boarders for scrapbook pages.

Pink Pirouette, Strawberry Slush and Raspberry Ripple.

I know you will see a lot more projects made using this set as it is so quick and easy to use and perfect for all occasions too!!

If you would like to place an order from the new catalogue delivery is just £4.95 direct to your door.

Angela x

Best of Butterflies

Released today a NEW stamp set Best of Butterflies £13.95

Available to order in clear mount only.

Angela x

A Week to Celebrate

It has been another very busy week for me as my Mum celebrated her 70th Birthday yesterday, a birthday tea with family and friends with of course lots of presents and a lovely cake!!

This is the special card I made for my Mum, the Memorable Moments stamp set is a "must have" as it is perfect for special birthdays and anniversaries. I made some bunting to match this card but I didn't manage to take a photo yesterday - I will try & take one over the weekend when I'm there. I used the Pistachio Pudding re-inker to dye some Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon to match my project.

I have used some of the gorgeous NEW Stampin' Up! colours, Pistachio Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe, not long to wait until the new Stampin' Up! catalogue launches on 2nd July!!!!!!!!

Another celebration this week was for my lovely Lucy - I nominated her for an award through The Children's Foundation and we took her to Newcastle on Wednesday to collect her award.  Lucy is always very patient and helpful with Philip and she always plays with him, even when I know she would rather do something else. I never wanted Lucy to have so much responsibility for Philip but the sad fact of life is that she does and she does a great job of taking care of him.

Lucy also came home today from school with a "Star of the Week" award for "being a wonderful and caring member of her class".  I'm really proud of her, she is growing up so fast and will soon be leaving primary school.  

We had a letter to inform us that her new school has been chosen to be filmed for a documentary for CBBC following the transition from primary to secondary school - when she visited Conyers yesterday the children were  interviewed & had their photographs taken. This is a long term project filming over several months with fixed cameras around school and it will be shown next summer to help children to feel more confident about moving schools.

• Stippled Blossom stamp set
• Memorable Moments stamp set
• Pistachio Pudding Crisp Cantaloupe Whisper White
• Labels Framelits
• Polka Dots embossing folder
• Seam Binding ribbon

I'm having a "crafty" afternoon tomorrow and a catch up with friends, sharing a project each in a shoebox style swap. I will share the card I have made soon.

Angela x

New Product Sneak Peak

I'm here with a sneak peak from the new up-coming catalogue from Stampin' Up! that will be released on 2nd July!!!  New catalogues are available next week £5 including p&p!!!   I am holding a new catalogue launch party & new catalogues are included for those attending - 13th July  1- 4pm £15 including everything you will need to make 3 projects using NEW products and colours, contact me to book your place.

I have used the fabulous new Mosaic Madness stamp set with the matching embossing folder and punch and the gorgeous new Artisan label punch that is designed to fit the Label Love stamp set - all products will be available to order 2nd July.

• Mosaic Madness, Label Love stamp sets
• Mosaic Embossing Folder
• Mosaic, Artisan Label Punches
• Basic Grey, Smoky Slate, Summer Starfruit, Crushed Curry, Whisper White

I have been missing again as I'm now trying to finish a mini album and candy buffet decorations for an 18th Birthday in a "Tiffany" theme and make some samples for my new catalogue launch party on 13th July - the new colours Stampin' Up! have produced are beautiful, I know I'm going to enjoy working with them!!

Angela x