Well, despite being absolutely snowed under with work, I just had to take some time to let you all know that today is the start of Sale-a-bration, one of the best times to stock up on Stampin’ Up! goodies as there are just so many offers on!!!!  Not only that, as this is Stampin’ Up!’s 25th anniversary year, Sale-a-bration is bigger and better than ever before!

You can view the Sale-a-bration brochure here.   Be warned though, its in pamphlet format, so you will need to scroll up and down and side to side and maybe even increased the size too!

This is an example of one of the gorgeous stamp sets on offer (though the “Just for you” is from the Just Believe stamp set):

So exactly what is on offer then?

AS A CUSTOMER, for every £45 that you spend, you get to pick a Limited Edition Sale-a-bration item for FREE.   This year’s offering includes exclusive stamp sets and accessories, as well as a selection of catalogue stamp sets, ribbon, buttons, and even an embossing folder! Now, more than ever, there’s something for everyone!   

But, not only do we get 11 gorgeous new products, Stampin’ Up! is also offering as part of Sale-a-bration an additional 6 items from the main catalogue!!!!  So you can also stock up on cardstock, stamp sets, buttons, the Simply Scored Diagonal plate or the Essentials Paper Piercing pack for free too!

But it gets better.  AS A PARTY HOSTESS you and all your guests get the same offer as a customer for every £45 spent. In addition to that, if your party order gets to £150, not only do you get the normal £25 of hostess pounds, but you will receive a free pack of Silver Glimmer paper too. If your party order is £300 or more, then you’ll also get a free product bundle which includes:

• Madison Avenue stamp set (wood- or clear-mount)
• Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper
• Sycamore Street Ribbon & Button Pack

Awesome!!!

And there’s more!!!  If you SIGN UP AS A DEMONSTRATOR during Sale-a-Bration (which runs from 22nd January to 22nd March), and become a Stampin’ Angel, you get to pick an additional 25% extra in your Starter Kit. That means you can choose £162.50 of products for just £99 – a bargain not to be missed!!!  Plus you get a business kit and all the support you require if you want to turn your hobby into a business! If I wasn’t already a demonstrator, I’d be signing up myself now!

If you want to know more about becoming a Stampin’ Angel and what it involves, then just get in touch with me (my contact details are in the header above). I’m happy to chat with you anytime to discuss the possibilities, but if you can’t wait to choose your kit, then just click here!

Happy Sale-a-bration!

Not only is Stampin’ Up! offering the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set bundles this month, but there is also an amazing offer for hostesses where the party order is £325 or more:

You can get a FREE COLLECTION of Classic Stampin’ Up! Pads  (you can choose from Brights, Subtles, or Regals—a £44.50 value!) plus the free ink is in addition to the regular hostess benefits:

• A hostess credit of £50 or more (depending on the total value of the orders) to buy hostess stamps or other goodies from the current annual and seasonal catalogues; plus
• at least one item at 50% off . 

INK-redible!

So if you fancy holding a party this month to make the most of this offer, just let me know and I’ll be only too pleased to book you in!  It really is an amazing offer that is too good to miss and when you combine this with the Christmas Ornaments bundle, then with a party order of £325 or more you could get all of the following:

• A free Festive Paper-Piercing Pack – worth £7.25;
• Free inks – worth £44.50
• Free stamps with your hostess credit of £50 or more;  plus
• At least one half price item.

Over £100 worth of free goodies! It’s time to stop just thinking about being a hostess, but to get out there and go for it!  There’s absolutely no obligation, so contact me today to take advantage of this ink-redible offer while it lasts!  You know you want to!!!

Have you seen the Christmas ornament on the front page of the Autumn/Winter catalogue?  Isn’t it gorgeous?  I have been longing to do this since I first saw it and have finally managed to get around to making one.  There are loads of tutorials on the internet for this, but an easy one to follow is that from another Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, Angie Kennedy Juda of chicnscratch which you can find here.

I didn’t make mine exactly the same, but this is what I ended up with:

I love this ornament.  It is so easy to make, although it did take me a couple of hours the first time around.  The trickiest part is die cutting the stamped images as you have to position the die just right, which takes time.  You need to stamp 20 of each of the two ornaments, so you can just imagine how long the die cutting of 40 stamped images took!

Here’s a close up of the ornament:

The glitter round the edges really sets this off.  then the rosette in the middle which was actually the very first one I have ever made and ok, yes, you can see the join in this photo, but this was my first ornament so I consider it to be a prototype which can only be improved upon!

I’m planning on making more using different colours and different stamps from the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set as this is a wonderful Christmas decoration.

Stampin’ Up! supplies used:
Ornament keepsakes bundle (wood mount 129949, clear mount 129950)
Classic stampin’ pads (Gumball green 126861. raspberry ripple 126859)
Linen thread  (104199)
Scalloped tulle ribbon (cherry cobbler 127841)
Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper Stack (126904)
Dazzling details (124117)
Pearl basic jewels (119247)
Vintage faceted buttons (127555) – I have to admit, I didn’t have any of these in at the time so used one from my stash

But stay tuned as tomorrow, I’ll be able to bring you news of an amazing offer from Stampin’ Up! for the Ornament Keepsakes bundle.  I’m just gutted that they have brought this out now when I already have the set!

Apologies for the delay in getting this up and running, but I have been away in Harrogate all week and didn’t get chance to set this up before I left.

I hope you’ve been enjoying the amazing creations using the goodies in the new catalogue – I know I can’t wait to start ordering everything on my wish list.  The only problem is, I don’t have an unlimited bank balance!!!

Anyhow, I was spoilt for choice when it came to deciding what to make for the blog hop, and I decided to go with a Christmas card.  I find that there are just not enough cards reflecting the true meaning of Christmas.  Oh, yes, there are lots of gorgeous cards with snowmen, gingerbread men, penguins, Christmas scenes and so on, but what about Jesus and the reason for Christmas?  I was so pleased to find that with the new catalogue, we got many of the faith stamps the US has had for ages, and this one was my first choice:

I love this stamp!  It’s “First Christmas” (127991) from the Autumn/Winter catalogue.  Pleas ego take a look at the Autumn/Winter catalogue (the link is in the side bar) as there are some really gorgeous stamps in there, especially if you are looking for Christmas or Harvest ones.

The background paper is from the Festival of Prints Designer Series Paper (126904).  It;s the perfect size for card making, being 4 1/2″ by 6 1/2″. I distressed the edges of the paper with Raspberry Ripple ink (126859).  This is one of the new 2012-14 In Colours and they are all really scrummy!  The red cardstock is Raspberry Ripple (127545), and I used Whisper White cardstock (124302) for the base of the card and the stamped image.   The manger was also stamped in Raspberry Rippple ink, and I used Summer Starfruit ink (126991) for the star.  I added crochet trim (118481) and Dazzling Details Silver Sparkle (127845) to finish it off.

This is the verse from the inside of the card:

Gorgeous!!

You should have found your way here from Sharon’s blog and the next blog is Emma’s. If you get lost on the tour, the complete list is:

1 – CreativeIdeas_Laura http://laura-creativeideas.blogspot.com
2 – Margaretk21 - http://makingpapercrafts.blogspot.com
3 – Angela www.sparklycards.blogspot.co.uk
4 – Leanie - www.beautifulimpressions.co.uk
5 – Alison - www.craftingalison.blogspot.com
6 – Beckie - www.bextiesandstickytape.blogspot.com
7 – Gill - http://lilybygilly.wordpress.com
8 – Diane - http://craftwithstyle.blogspot.com
9 – Dawn - www.tartanstamper.blogspot.com
10- Zoë http://www.stampingscene.blogspot.com
11- Fiona W - http://oakfieldcrafts.blogspot.com
12- Elaina - http://moulinrougestamps.blogspot.co.uk
13- Anne-Marie - http://classycrafters.blogspot.co.uk
14- Sarah - http://esellek.blogspot.co.uk
15- Vronnie - http://vronstampin.blogspot.co.uk
16- Christa - http://serendipity-stamping.blogspot.co.uk
17- RuthE - http://pearsonifiedcrafting.blogspot.co.uk
18- CarolynUK - http://stampaholix.blogspot.co.uk/
19- Amanda - http://thecraftspa.blogspot.com
20- Patricia - http://stampinbeckscraft.blogspot.com
21- Tara - http://ihaventgotacleverblogname.blogspot.co.uk
22- Emma (Citaborca) - http://cocktailofcard.blogspot.co.uk/
23- Emma H - http://www.emma-letsstamp.blogspot.co.uk
24- Sarah Scribbles - http://card-delights.blogspot.com
25- Sarnie - http://www.kraftybiker.blogspot.com/
26- Sharon - http://all-inked-up-sharon.blogspot.co.uk
27- Lynn - http://www.heavenlycrafts.com/stampinheaven/ <<<<<<You are here
28- Emma - http://www.emma-daye.blogspot.com
29- Erika - http://twintroublescreations.blogspot.co.uk/
30- Elaine - http://thesassystampers.blogspot.co.uk/
31- Nicky - http://nickyjohncock.blogspot.com
32- Jane - http://cheshiredesignhouse.blogspot.com/
33- Kara - http://karascraftycorner.blogspot.com/
34- Ally - http://www.serendipitypapercuts.blogspot.com
35- Clare (Sparkle) - http://www.sparklecrafts.blogspot.com
36- Julie H (craftybug) - http://www.the-crafty-bug.blogspot.com
37- Jane (browniow) - http://www.janeiowcraftycreations.blogspot.com/

Hopefully all the links should be working but let me know if there are any problems.  I have another card all ready, this time from the new 2012-13 catalogue and I will try and post that later this week sometime.

The new catalogue is available online, and the link is in the sidebar on the right.  If you click on the image, it should open up a pdf version of the catalogue in a new webpage if the technology and my html coding is working properly . 

Have fun on the blog tour!