Bohemian Designer Series Paper Envelope Swaps from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Happy Monday lovelies. How was your weekend? Would you believe we were snowed on in Telford my Stampin' Up! weekend? We woke up Saturday morning to a settled layer of snow over everything. I definitely hadn't packed for snow. Luckily it all melted pretty quick and was replaced with lovely sunshine.

Today's crafty share is my choccie envelope swap I made for my teamies on Friday afternoon. My upline Michelle hosted a lovely crafty afternoon with a fab cream tea. We had games and a raffle (I was lucky enough to win a gorgeous SU handbag). We made a super lovely notecard set which I will share with you later in the week.

I created my teamie swap with the Bohemian Designer Series Paper cut in to 5" squares. I then created the smallest envelope (2" x 3") on the Envelope Punch Board. To create the pocket I simply didnt seal the top flap down.

I added the stamped heart and flower detail and wrapped my envelopes with Baker's Twine.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up!, or any of our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!).

-XXX-

Garden In Bloom Card from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Morning lovelies. How goes your week? I am super excited about Stampin' Up!'s onstage event this weekend.  We will be getting a little sneak peek of the new catalogue. I cannot wait. I was packing up my swaps for the event and came across all my gorgeous swaps from the last event in November. It was one of those swaps that inspired today's crafty make. I used the original swap to create my card. I must apologise to the Demo who made this card though as I don't have your name. Please let me know if you come across this and I will give full credit.

This is a beautiful card themed around Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss. The base card is embossed with the Elegant Dots Embossing Folder. The stamping is from the Garden in Blooms stamp set layered with the Hello from the Greetings Thinlits Dies.

The stamping is layered over Silver Glimmer Paper and a flower punched with the Itty Bitty Accent Punches was added to finish.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up!, or any of our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!).

-XXX-

Product List

Garden In Bloom Photopolymer Stamp Set

[139433]

£23.00

Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad

[133644]

£6.00

Lost Lagoon A4 Cardstock

[133686]

£6.50

Silver Glimmer Paper

[135314]

£4.50

Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad

[133642]

£6.00

Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock

[133682]

£6.50

Greetings Thinlits Dies

[138275]

£13.50

Silver Metallic Thread

[138402]

£2.75

Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack

[133787]

£15.50

Awesomely Artistic Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[139950]

£18.00

Elegant Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[138287]

£7.00

OnStage Event Swaps from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Happy Friday crafters.

Today I wanted to share the swaps I created for this years Stampin' Up! Convention called On Stage. I adapted one of the projects from my August Christmas Craft Day to create these altered stamped dominoes. I've hung them using Silver Corded trim so that they can be adapted for either a Christmas tree decoration or a necklace.

I used the White Christmas stamp set to create my embellished dominoes (matching the tree stamped label background).

I stamped my images in StazOn and coloured with alcohol permanent markers. Once I added Dazzling Details and embellishment I glazed with Crystal Effects.

Here are my swap instructions on the reverse.

Thank you for popping by today. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A Flower Patch Tic Tac Treat Bag from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

Good morning crafty friends. A very happy Friday to you!

I thought I would give you a little sneak peek of my Leadership swaps for our Stampin' Up! get together this weekend. I am so looking forward to catching up with all my lovely Stampin' Up! friends from across the country and maybe getting to have a play with some fab new Stampin' Up! products from the new catalogue.

This was made using the Flower Patch stamp set matched with the 1"x8" Cello Bags.

I filled the cello bags with green tic tacs to look like the flower stem. I stamped each large flower 3 times and cut the layers of each one. The leaves I stamped in Old Olive and Garden Green ink and then cut and glued to the flowers.

My favourite part of these swaps is the curled Pear Pizzazz cardstock which I wrapped around the tic tac stem and decorated with the little Melon Mambo flowers.

Thank you for popping by today. Have a great weekend doing whatever you have planned (and i hope you have time for some craftiness). Don't forget to check out this week's Weekly Deals. Please let me know if you have any questions about Stampin' Up! or our products. I would love to help. All items can be purchased online via my shop or get in touch directly and I can order them for you to be delivered direct to your door. I'd also love to Demo for you and your friends at a crafty party. As the hostess you earn lots of lovely freebies and you all get to make a fun crafty project too (no crafting experience necessary!)

 -XXX-

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

A quick Candy Cane December Wonder Tag Swap from Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Sarah Poulton

 Good morning from a sunny and crisp Isle of Wight. How was your crafty weekend?

We've returned from a lovely festive weekend away enjoying the Christmas festivities (such as the gorgeous Winchester Christmas Market) and meeting with old and new friends. And of course, the Sale-A-Bration sneak peek event on Thursday. I had a fab time chatting to fellow Demonstrators and looking at the inspiring projects on display. And I was lucky enough to win a prize patrol (a lovely Sale-A-Bration stamp set which you can exclusively add to your orders for free in January, February and March). Add to that the excitement of the Demonstrator pre-order sneak peek of the new Spring Summer catalogue and you have a perfectly crafty and super exciting Stampin' Up! weekend.

Today I wanted to share with you the swaps I made to share with my fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrators. Swapping is one of the best parts of Stampin' Up! events. I love the inspiration that can be gained from swapping as you see products used in new and exciting ways. I wanted to create something fun and festive so came up with these candy cane tags.

I used my Scallop Tag Topper Punch to create the basic tag (2" wide x length of your candy cane) from Crumb Cake cardstock. I then cut two slots (2cm between the two slits) to slip the Candy Cane through. To embellish I stamped the 'Hello December' from the December Wonder stamp set in Cherry Cobbler ink. I stamped the tree from the same set and doodled stitching with my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write marker around the edge.

To finish I tied the Candy Cane to the tag with 1/8" Real Red Taffeta Ribbon. Oh and I added a Champagne Glimmer Paper star to the top of the tree (any sparkly star embellishment or coloured glitter glue would look fab).

And now to share a few of my favourite swaps I received in return (apologies to my fellow Demonstrators as I don't have the swaps with me as I type so cannot give credit. Credit to follow).

I loved this neat little Merry Christmas wall hanging. Complete with curled wire to hang it up with:

I love the colours of this Wondrous Wreath swap:

And I was a bit conflicted by the Visions of Santa stamp set when I first saw it and it is not one I own. But I absolutely loved receiving this swap using the set.

Thanks for stopping by today and for sharing in my December crafty festivities.

Be sure not to miss the Year End Closeout bargains on the Clearance Rack. Some fantastic bargains to be had. But stock only available while supplies last so get your order in quick so as not to miss out! Click the image below to link straight through to the products available at great prices.

If you have any questions about today's project or the products I have used, please get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249. You can order online direct through my store by clicking the product links above or the pictures below. I also have availability in the next few months for your very own crafty party so drop me a line to find out more and get your date in the diary.

Happy Crafting

-X-

Scalloped Tag Topper Punch

£20.95

Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock

£6.25

Project Life December Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set

£13.95

Cherry Cobbler Stampin Write Marker

£2.95

Real Red 1/8 Inch Taffeta Ribbon

£5.25

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Telford Swap using Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio

Good morning and a very happy Saturday to you.

Now I don't normally post on a Saturday but I wanted to share a special project with you today. As you read this I will be swapping and sharing with fellow Demonstrators at our Regional Training Event in Telford.

I wanted to be able to participate in the swaps but have had very limited time recently with Sylvie arriving and Summer's birthday. So I decided to use My Digital Studio to design my 'Create' swap which I thought was perfect for a large group of creative Demonstrators.

For this swap I used two downloads:

• Walk in the Park II Designer Kit
• Define Your Life Stamp Brush Set

I then used the core kit elements:

• Top Note Die
• Creative Elements Stamp Brush Set

I specifically searched my online stores for downloads with the word 'Create'. I wanted to combine the fancy handwriting style Create from the Walk in the Park II kit with the definition from Define Your Life. I love how the elements combined with birds, hearts and butterflies to create this lovely little 4" x 6" postcard for fellow creators to frame or put on their craft space walls.

Once I had completed my design I exported my finished image and uploaded to a printing website (I used Snapfish for this) where I had my image professionally printed on to matte cardstock. If you look around at various printing service websites you can complete trials where they will offer free prints. I signed up and received 50 free prints with Snapfish.

If you pop over to Martin Lewis's website there is a tool there for seeing which sites are offering the best deals:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/free-photo-prints

Thank you for stopping by today. Please leave a comment to let me know if you swapped with me. I would love to hear from you.

You can order all Stampin' Up! products through my online store by click here or by clicking on any of the product links above. I will also happily order any products for you. Just drop me a line on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249 and I'll happily assist.

And don't forget to check out this weeks Weekly Deals to see what fab items are discounted for a limited time only (until Tuesday).

Happy Crafting

-XXX-

Home from Convention

Happy Monday Crafters ;0)

I am home from a crazy week away campervan-ing around Wales in the lead up to Convention in Manchester. Convention itself was crazy and HUGE. So many people to meet and chat to and swap with. I came home with the HUGEST bulging box of swaps (photos to follow very soon!). There is everything in there from wrapped chocolates to a Stampin' Up! necklace to lovely cards and cardfronts to brooches and even a paper crafted fascinator. It is always amazing to see the levels of creativity and the ideas people have. But, as I said, that's a whole post for another day......

I've come home and looked through my photos to realise I only took pictures of cards and samples. I havent a single picture of the stage, the fabulous presenters or any of my team mates. What a wally I am!! I got so caught up in the creativity that I forgot to take pictures I'd be able to share and scrapbook. I will be sharing some pictures over the upcoming days of the amazing swaps I received and share some crafty projects too. I have a super busy crafty week ahead and have lots of things to share.

It was announced that for the next 3 years Stampin' Up! Convention will be held in Brussels, Belgium. Next years event is being held from 16-18th October. I would love to welcome you to my Island Inkers team and have you join me and some current members of my team for a crazy weekend of crafty creativity. If you click on the 'Join My Team' tab above you can find out more information about joining Stampin' Up! either as a hobby demonstrator or to build yourself a creative business. I have a lovely team and we meet monthly to chat and craft. And the pic below shows the welcome pack I give to all new joiners to my team. 

And while we are chatting about exciting Stampin' Up! announcements. It was announced at Convention that Stampin' Up! are launching the FAB Undefined line in the UK (available now). If you click on the flyer below it will direct you through to my online store for more info. Undefined is a fantastic and new creative stamping product for carving your own images. The Carving Kit includes the tools and product needed to make your own stamp set. You are completely unlimited in what you carve and create.

We were given a sample kit at Convention and there was a devoted area for giving carving a go. I created a little stamp for Summer which I was actually really pleased with. And would you believe it, I cannot find it anywhere!? I'm going to have to have another look tomorrow and then I can share my stamp with you.

Please get in touch if you'd like any further information about Stampin' Up!, joining my team or the Undefined kit, please get in touch. I'd be happy to chat to you about anything crafty or Stampin' Up!: poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

 If you place an online order for any Stampin' Up! products through my online store remember to add the code below and I will add your name to the draw to win the hostess benefits for the month's combined orders (with a minimum of £25 in hostess freebies):

V99TUSS2

Happy Crafting

-X-

Stampin' Up! UK Convention Swap Special

Convention is here!! Woohoo! Hopefully as you read this I will be getting ready for my first full day of Convention fun (and *fingers crossed* a few sneak peaks of upcoming new products!)

Today I wanted to share the swaps I created for my fellow Demonstrators. It is one of the highlights of Stampin' Up! events, creating a unique card or creation, to swap with other Demonstrators. It is a brilliant way to gather new ideas and meet new people.

The picture above shows my swap box full with 90 swaps ready to meet new homes in Manchester. For this years main swap I created a fridge magnet inspired by a creation on Pinterest. For this you just need a pretty patterned paper (which Stampin' Up! has in plentiful supply) and those glass beads/pebbles you find with the candles and vases in the supermarket or garden centre (I found mine in Tesco!). I purchased some super strong magnets from Ebay and borrowed my Mum's glue gun.

I used the Blossom and Pansy punches with the Gingham Garden and Winter Frost Designer Series Paper to create these layered fridge magnets. The centre pebble pulls away to be used to hold papers or photos on your fridge.

The following pics give a bit closer view of the designs.

While I was in the swap creating mood I decided to make 50 separate swaps for the larger team I am a part of, the Pinkies. I had a bit of a brainwave and sent my sister, on one of her work trips to London, to the M&M store to purchase a HUGE bag of Pink M&Ms. 

I used the M&Ms with Stampin' Up!'s thin cello bags to create these little sweetie treat swaps. I am so looking forward to getting together with the Pinkies and meeting all the new faces and chatting to all the friends I have made since joining SU 4 years ago.

I hope you've enjoyed my swap shares today. I'll be back from my Convention adventures over the weekend and look forward to sharing lots of pictures of all our crafty antics. 

Pop back Monday for an update and news from Convention.

Happy Crafting and have a lovely weekend ;0)

-X-

Stampin' Up! UK WInter Frost Card Candy Convention Swap

Good morning Thursday crafters.

As Stampin' Up!'s Convention will be kicking off this evening with lots of over excited Stampin' Up! lovers all in one room, I thought I would share my Card Candy Swaps. I organised a swap of these little card toppers amongst the Pinkie team. There are 10 of us all signed up to make a set of card candy and we will all be meeting up tomorrow ready to swap.

I had seen a lovely card on Pinterest that used this idea of lots of little winter squares. I decided to use this as my punch art inspiration for my Convention Card Candy. I loved the excuse to get our all of my punches and have a play (as well as a good reason to use lots of lovely silver glimmer paper). You can't see too clearly in the picture, but the snowflake piece is actually a mini shaker with glitter in. Our shaker frames make creating these so easily (and they fit perfectly with our circle punches too).

To create each piece I used the following items:

• Bobble Hat: Large Oval Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punches, Word Window Punch
• Trees: Merry Minis Punch Pack (available to order through me for £15.50)
• Snowman: I layered up various sizes of scallop and normal circles finishing with 3/4" circle for the snowman face. I hand cut the hat from Basic Black.
• Snowflake: Snowflake Soiree stamp set, Shaker frames, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
• Coffee Cup: A Fitting Occasion stamp set, 1" Circle Punch
• Polar Bear: 1" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch

Here are all 10 waiting to be packed away and swapped.

To create the label for the title I created a customised project in My Digital Studio and used the stamps and papers within the digital software to create my little labels (that I printed on to normal office labels and cut to size and attached to my Winter Frost toppers).

I have included links to the products used for today's project either by clicking on the photos or the direct links above. If you place an online order for any Stampin' Up! products through my online store remember to add the code below and I will add your name to the draw to win the hostess benefits for the month's combined orders (with a minimum of £25 in hostess freebies):

V99TUSS2

Please get in touch if you have any questions about today's project or about placing an order or about Stampin' Up! in general. You can contact me on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 01983 609249.

I'll be back tomorrow for the last of my Convention excitement posts. I have the last of my swaps to share tomorrow (my general swaps and the swaps especially for Pinkies).

Happy Crafting

-X-

What's On Your Workdesk

I finally remembered to take a photo of my workdesk (read picnic table in my living room!) for WOYWW!! I've followed Julia's blog since meeting her at a retreat last year but not once have I remembered to take a photo. So here I am! I'm now a WOYWW-er ;0)

 Organised chaos as usual. And a few things on there I probably should have hidden (sneak peaks of lovely new things coming in the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue- come back next Friday April 1st for more info on those!). The journal is my '2011 Tales' project. I am working on Week 11's summary at the moment (as you can see from the blank page I havent gotten very far yet!). And to the left are a pile of swaps I created for a Mini Catalogue postal swap with the lovely ladies over on In Love With Stamping. Must try and tidy up before next week ;0)

While I am blogging, here are a couple more projects we created at this months card class. The first is a drawer box in Rose Red and Pumpkin Pie. This highlights the lovely Fancy Flower Punch which is now officially back in production. I also love those chunky Filigree Brads for the drawer pull.

 The second project is a card inspired by an Australian Demo Teneale Willams. I've only recently purchased the Lovely As A Tree set and couldnt wait to have a go at making this card when I came across it online. The colour combo is Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip & Old Olive. I've coloured the stamp with my marker pens and then lightly coloured over the image with my matching watercolour crayons. It gives such a lovely dimensional and textured effect to the leaves.

Right, hopefully i'll be back tomorrow with a completed Week 11 mini LO! in the meantime, happy crafting all ;0)

-XX-

Home from a crafty weekend ;0)

Well I made it back to the Isle safe and sound after a lovely weekend away visiting my friend Natalie in MK followed by a days crafting with some fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators in Bicester. My upline Michelle hosted a rewards day for us where we made the following beautiful project using the Stampin' Up! Elegant Soiree DSP and Wedding Sweet Stamp Set Flourish.

This first photo shows the tri shutter album shut.  Embellished with a stamped 'Flower Accent' image, Basic Pearls and Crystal Effects.

This is the album fully unfolded (this is actually the width of two and half pieces of 12x12 cardstock) and decorated with Elegant Soiree DSP.

This is a photo showing the first 'unfold' if you get my drift. It is a stunning album and I will certainly be making more in the future. Once I got my head around the measurements it was a simple but effective way to make a Mini Album.

Here is my new Swap Tree showing some of the lovely swaps I received from my fellow Demos at the training ;0) My cheeky cat Ella was desperate to get in the photos. You'll see her through the kitchen window behind the swaps.  I usually display my swaps on my fridge for my card class ladies. But when I saw this photo display tree I thought I would create a swap centre piece for my card class just for a change. Thank you to all the lovely demos I met yesterday who made such beautiful projects ;0)

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Any questions about Stampin' Up! please feel free to get in touch on poulton_sarah@yahoo.co.uk or 07830 343830. Hopefully I'll have a bit more time  this week to catch up on some long overdue crafting and update my blog with some new projects ;0)