Christmas in July …… Part Two.

Hello! Good Morning i am hoping that today it rains less than it did yesterday as it’s Milli’s Friends’ 4th Birthday today and is having a birthday party today so finger’s crossed it won’t be rained off!  (This is a scheduled post so i have no idea what the weather is doing i am just giving this scheduling lark a go! lol)

So down to business and Part two of the Peterborough Christmas in July Training day.

So at these training days we swap the swaps that we made for about 40 swaps that the other attendants have made.  This has to be one of my favourite bits of the training days as it often makes me look again at a stamp set that i have overlooked in the past.  Often adding to my wish list much to the dismay of Mr.C who already thinks i have too many stamp sets! lol Although i have a lot less than when we first met, as back then i have over 1000 before Mr.C gave up counting with two more boxes full left to count!!!  But as i am changing over to all SU i have slowly sold them all off and now only have a tiny amount, its like being a brand new crafter!  And i do feel that i have been revitalised!  However i digress! lol

So here are some photos of the fantastic swaps that i received in return for the ones that i made.

Firstly a traditional red and green coloured selection, a more modern colour selection of blue tones; 

Cor! My desk looks messy in these photos, i promise it is tidy sometimes lol Mr.C is VERY tidy so i have to clear up after myself each night otherwise he gets twitchy and i just no he is dying to go tidy it up!

I love to look at all the swaps and will often get them out to have a look when i am having a crafting block.  I keep them all in a box together on the shelves above my desk so that they are close at hand but i do want to put them safely into scrapbooks at some point.  Another task to add to my list, along with finishing a piece of lace i started long before little H was even conceived!

 

Another Fantastic Benefit of attending these days is that there is an inspiration area manned by lovely Independent Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators.  Lots of gorgeous projects are on display all on the same theme to which we are working to which this time is of course Christmas.

Here are a few photo’s from the booths one was manned by Marissa other by Ann (i think! i am terrible with names so sorry please correct me if i am wrong)

 

So i have a lovely album of photos to flick through now to draw on for inspiration.  I feel so lucky that i am allowed to take part in these events and that everyone is so welcoming even though i am not officially part of the team (yet! watch this space he he!) So thank you very much Monica and Bekka and all the team for being so welcoming and lovely.

And of course thank you to Caroline for introducing me into the Fantastic team that she is part of. 

Until next time

ttfn

Charlie.xx

Christmas in July ……Part One.

Evening all, i hope that this finds you well?  Sorry for the lack of posts last week.  I went to the Peterborough Training Day organised by Monica and Bekka on the Sunday and enjoyed myself immensely but came home completely shattered, which obviously was touch paper for a lurking bug that had been threatening me to pounce and wipe me out!  I spent most of last week feeling sorry for myself , whilst trying to carry on with a very busy week which included Milli’s last day a Pre-School (Sob!). but i did manage to fit in a few hours crafting this weekend which i will share with you later but first…….My Swaps!

I had more notice for this training day but that didn’t mean that making my swaps was any easier, in fact it was harder because i kept changing my mind on what i was going to do!  But that does mean that i will have some extra projects to share with you in the future.

So firstly i made a pouch for sweets using the Top Note die for the Big Shot and the SU Ornament Punch.  I chose an unusual colour way of Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink (partly because i had lots of these colours left over from my wedding invites earlier in the year, and partly because i like it! lol) even the sweet wrappers were pink and green!

   

But i only had enough sweets to make 6!! so i had to go back to the drawing board.  I asked my lovely friend Caroline if i could borrow her Pillow Box die for the Big Shot and kindly she agreed and even drove it all the way to me even though it is nearly an hours drive!!

SO……using the same colour way i sat myself in front of the TV with my Big Shot and cut 20 in each colour then using the bauble from the Contempo Christmas stamp set i stamped 20 of each in matching SU Ink.  I assembled them with a belly band of DSP from the Subtles Stack, and here they are;

 

I think that they look pretty good if i do say so myself! LOL  i shall be back soon with part two and the swaps that i received in return plus photos of the gorgeous items on display in the Inspiration Area.

Until next time

ttfn  

Charlie.xx

A Refresh.....

Hello, all hope you are well? I am currently typing this while wiggling my feet in my very lush wedding shoes, which i will post a pic of after the wedding as they are very out there and i want them to be a surprise!  Yes, the wedding is only TWO days away now and i shall be very busy so probably not blogging much or even getting near to the laptop.  Tomorrow is full of hair appointments and manicures and a massage, (ain't life hard eh?) and then Tuesday i shall be baking and icing 100 cupcakes!  Good job my gorgeous best friends are coming to help me!

Any who I've had a refresh on here after much swearing at the laptop i have managed to change the look of my blog, now it just had to be the bunting background as anyone who knows me, knows that i love an excuse to make bunting (even before it was so 'now') so i thought that it was very 'me'. 

Talking of making bunting, i made some the other Sunday night while Mr.C watched Britain Exploits the Mentally Challenged, to welcome members on arrival at the craft group i organise.  Here are some pictures;

All supplies are Stampin' Up!, i was using up the left overs from my wedding stationary which was also made with Stampin' Up! products and this is how i met my now lovely friend Caroline Skinner.

The colourways used are Certainly Celery, and Pretty in Pink, and the paper daises where stamped with the flourish stamp from the Wedding Sweet stamp set.  All buttons and ribbons etc are also from Stampin' Up!

This Welcome Bunting is going to have a permanent place over my desk when it is built because i love it that much!  I even made some little files in the off cuts which i will post as soon as i have 5mins to take the pictures!

Until next time

ttfn

Charlie.x

Peterborough Training, and meeting the lovely Monica!

hello all, hoping you are well? i am just recovering from my busy few days, saturday i managed to finish my swaps for the training day organised by monica.  sunday i went to peterborough to monica's team training which i was invited to by my stampin' up! demo caroline, and then monday night was the second meeting of the saffron walden craft group that i started last month.

so firstly my swaps, after many failed attempts that ended up in the bin my mojo completely failed me so i went off down the town with my nan and granddad and had a lovely lunch at ASK and then attempted to teach milli how to ride her bike for the afternoon.

with my head totally clear i sat down to make my swaps and asked Mr.C. his opinion and he said 'plain and simple' so i grabbed my 'trendy trees' stamp set and my stamp-a-ma-jig and got cracking here is what i came up with;

i think that they came out quite well but on the day the green ones where the most popular i only had 2 of those left!  i really love my stamp-a-ma-jig i wasn't too sure about it when i purchased it but couldnt see how i could use the 'trendy trees' without it, but now i really love it once i got my head round it its really simple and i always get my tree trunks in the right place which always helps! lol.

and so to training, i was invited to the team training event as i am thinking of joining stampin up! as a demo and caroline thought that coming to training would help in my decision, well it did! but also made my shopping list grow!! lol
we made some lovely 'make and take' projects and i met some lovely ladies including the rest of caroline's team of owls donna and helen.  and the swapping was lots of fun, it was lovely to see other stampers work and to get a small bit to take home and peruse at leisure.
here are some of the swaps that i received

and this photo is of the swaps made from left by helen, caroline and donna.

and so to the make and takes;

this was one of the projects we made with the 'nature's walk' stamp set.  i had originally overlooked this stamp set when looking through the mini catalogue as i wasnt sure what i would really do with it but after using it on sunday it is so on my wish list now!! lol

we also had some business talks from monica and bekka which i found really informative and helpful, they both speak and fill you with such inspiration that i had planned my launch party in my head before i've even signed my forms! lol

i met some really lovely and talented ladies who all welcomed me into their group for the day, had a lot of fun crafting for the whole day and seeing lots of others craft projects i have tons of photos but i think i may have rambled on far too long as it is now! lol
sorry for the long post and if you are still with me thank you for popping by until next time ttfn.

charlie.x

my first attempt at a double slider card

well yesterday after the school pick up i thought i had better get started on a card for Mr.C's friend who's wife had just had a baby. 

i thought i would try a double slider card that caroline had shown me the other night when she came to mine for a workshop.

so here it is;

i wish i could take all the credit for this card as it is so gorgeous and so easy once you have got it worked out!

i loved it so much that i had to make a different card for baby beatrix! lol

(you will see that i have used the owl from last months sale-a-bration offer with Stampin Up!, the card colours are very vanilla, certainly celery and pretty in pink, the ribbon is also pretty in pink and the pearls are also all from stampin up!)

i think you will notice that i have a new love.........Stampin Up! products they are great quality but seeing how i spent so much money on their products to produce my wedding invites, i really think i should get my money's worth!lol

plus the owl is just irresistible!

until next time ttfn

Charlie.x

4 giggling girlies and Mr.C. banished to the bedroom!

Monday just gone my oldest friend loopy lou was coming to stay so we thought we would have our obligatory 'bake and bitch' but we wanted to do something a bit different and as we both love to make cards we thought we'd ask caroline to do a workshop for us at mine.  so we made cakes and my friend amy who was a complete beginner joined us too and caroline didn't disappoint with her project.

i had asked caroline to bring us a 'movement' card and she brought us her 'surprise slider card'

(the instructions for which can be found on her blog as detailed on a previous post)

we had loads of fun and made a gorgeous card each, and a wish list as long as our arms, and for me a yearning to become a Stampin Up! demo.  this is the second card i've made with this little chicky stamp i am now thinking i may just have to invest in him cos he's so sweet.

caroline also demonstrated a penny spinner card which had a tumbling balloon on it (which i forgot to photograph)  and showed me another card which meant that no house work got done yesterday while i worked out how to make it! i shall post it later once i have made my apparently 'starving!!' 4 year old a sandwich. hmmm what will she want for lunch today??..............marmite sandwich o theres a surprise! lol.

until next time ttfn

Charlie.x

  

Crafty Moo

So about a year ago i moved house heavily pregnant to live in the town Mr.C worked in, this was hard for me as i knew no one here at all apart from my in laws, we was also downsizing from a house to a flat so my work desk and huge craft cupboard would have to be downsized :(

But most of all i was leaving behind my crafty friends, we used to get together and craft on a semi regular basis, i would also be too far away from my lace class so i would have to put that back on the back burner.

well once baby honey-may came along in July i set about finding a craft group in Saffron Walden. Yet no matter how hard i tried there was nothing so in July i decided to start my own group. i found premises that was willing to have a load of paper trimmings on their floor and never to be able to get rid of a fine coating of glitter! lol.

and the Crafty Moo craft group of Saffron Walden was born. our first meeting was march 7th 2011 and we had the lovely Caroline skinner in attendance.

Caroline brought some gorgeous make and takes all made with Stampin Up! products and a good night was had by all.

here is what we made; an Easter treat bag and a Easter card.

i think that a good night was had by all Caroline is a fantastic teacher and we all took away extremely professional looking projects even my mother in law Judy who had never done any form of crafting before!

Our next meeting is Monday April 11th 2011 and all are welcome just drop me a line at craftylittlemoo@hotmail.co.uk for more details.

if you would like to contact caroline skinner independant Stampin Up! demonstrator please pop over to her blog at http://www.stampinupandbranchingout.blogspot.com/

until next time ttfn

Charlie.x