I'm going in...

..... to my craft room that is and I may be some time lol!!!

This year was our turn to have a delayed Christmas as my girls went to their Dads for the actual day and we had our Christmas day yesterday. My parents came to stay for a few days and so the den, which is currently my craft room, has slowly filled up with boxes, wrapping paper and general stuff.

It's time to enter the room of gloom and clean it all up again so I can actually do some stampin!!!

I promised pics of my favourite projects of 2011 and Santa was very kind to me this year and left an all singing, all dancing digital camera under the tree which will make taking pics a much more enjoyable process than before.

As long as the room doesnt eat me alive I promise to be back later with pics of projects and who knows maybe even a before and after shot of the disgraceful den.

I just want to wish you all a Happy New Year and may all your resolutions be crafty ones!!

Bloggy Hugs

Kindness and pity lol

Many of you who know me know that I am a blonde through and through... and for my fav American this Englishism means I often do dumb things!!

My blondness really showed through in my last post as no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the photos the right way up and my usual go to guy was busy braving the North sea on the local Lifeboat!!!

However some kind soul, namely Michelle, took pity on me and emailed me the photos the right way up and cropped to boot so you can all see them in their glory. My ladies worked really hard on these most of saturday so they really do deserve to be seen properly...
This is the one Cathy made....

and this one by Anne

I hope you enjoyed looking at these the right way round and no-one has sore necks lol.

Bloggy Hugs to you all and a very Merry Christmas

Last class of 2011....

WOW, time flies when you're having fun...
I cannot believe the last class of 2011 was yesterday. Being a seaside town it gets pretty quiet here out of season but two of my lovely ladies braved the damp and chilly air to come along.

Cathy became a Grandma in Feb this year and Anne has her first Grandson due Feb next year so it seemed only right that we abandon all things Christmassy (well apart from the lovely mince pies) in favour of some lovely baby goodness.

I first saw the box frames we made here on Victoria's Blog. They are absolutely gorgeous and I just knew they would be perfect.

Cathy chose Marina Mist and So Saffron for hers and this is how it turned out...

 Aploogies for the crick in your neck as you try to look at it but blogger is steadfastly refusing to rotate photos and I'm all out of ideas (being the technophobe I am!!!)

Anne chose Certainly Celery and So Saffron too match the eagerly awaited arrivals nursery.

I'm sure you will agree, once you have your head the right way up again, that both ladies did a sterling job and have gifts to be very proud of.

I hope to be back soon with round up of favourite projects this year.

Till then Bloggy Hugs to you all and have a very Merry Christmas and a Stampin New Year!

Its begining to look a lot like Christmas...

or as my gorgeous little boy says Chrimmis!!!

Finally after an hour and a half wrestling with putting the tree up and a futher hour decorating our monster tree (8ft) is now up!

Now I just need to do the rest!!!

The tree was done at the weekend but its been one of those weeks with most of the house suffering from the sniffles so I've only just got round to taking a pic.
Also done a little while ago (at our retreat weekend) were these cards. I have decided they will be my Christmas cards for friends and extended family this year.

Both of these cards were made using the new Tags til Christmas set along with embossing folders. I used Cherry cobbler and Always Artichoke to keep with my vintage feel and the Cherry Cobbler seam binding certainly adds to that feel.

Finally I just had to show you a parcel of goodies which arrived at my door yesterday sparking the same level of excitement as when Mr UPS turns up with my lovely SU goodies. It was the medicine i needed yesterday and certainly made the sniffles much easier to bear lol.
 This was sent all the way from Italy by the lovely Jeannie after a conversation at convention about how much I missed the American sweets I ate as a child while living in Berlin with my Dad who was in the RAF.
Jeannie ( http://happy-jeannie.blogspot.com/ ) is currently living in Italy with her husband who is in the US Army and creates the most wonderful cards so pop on by and have a look.
I'm just hoping my parcel of English goodies arrives with her in time for Christmas.

I hope you are getting in the festive mood too and enjoying the lead up to the big day.

Hugs

Life gets in the way again....

OMG... I just realised how long it's been since I last posted (hangs head in shame!) I'm hoping to find more time for blogging now that family issues have settled down a bit.

It's been a crazy couple of months but in amongst all the chaos I found myself with the most fantastic bunch of people on this planet (apart from my OH and kids that is).

Early Nov saw me heading off to Paris for Stampin Up's annual convention. What a great couple of days and soooooo many talented and friendly people all in one place. We spent 2 days swapping, training, laughing, eating, drinking and of course stamping, all in the lovely surroundings of Euro Disney.

A better bunch of crazy crafters you could not meet!

I will upload more convention photos soon but just have to show you this one of a wonderful, funny and very genuine woman who I now have the privilege of calling friend.

You can just see me on the right hand side of this pic. Jeannie is behind the blue napkin and is crying with laughter at some of our English words. Jeannie is an American demo who is currently living in Italy as her husband is in the United States Forces. As such Jeannie is allowed to attend Eurpoean convention and we had been messaging for a while beforehand and met up at convention. We quickly became good friends and I know we will stay that way.

Please come back soon for the rest of the photos from Convention and some of the many gorgeous swaps I got while I was there.

Hugs

A New Kitten!!!

No not the fluffy, miow kind......

I am happy to welcome Lou to my my team and as such she is now a K.I.T.T.E.N (Kreatively Inspired To Try Every New Stamp).

Lou is a lovely lady who has the most fabulous talent for kreating the most wonderful cards and projects as well as being a fab friend.

Lou signed with me on Oct 1st which you will all be aware is a very exciting time for all of us at Stampin Up! Our new catalouge full of lovely new stamps, papers, punches and ideas was released!

If you would like to get your hands on a catalogue then email me at stampinmermaid.blogspot.com

For more information on how to become a K.I.T.T.E.N and how to get your hands on the fabulous starter kit with added surprise for all recruits signing in Oct then email the above address

Just when

ARGHHHH......

Hello bloggers and an apology for being absent so long. Just when I had my blog how I liked it my laptop died and is still away being repaired. I have borrowed the Nutty ones for now but hopefully mine will be back soon....

Its been a busy couple of weeks in the Stampin Up world with the Retirement List coming out on Sept 1st (contact me if you would like a copy). Retirement items are only available till Sept 30th and are only available while stocks last.

As a Demo we are allowed a sneak peak of the new Catalouge on Sept 1st, with the actual catalouge being available to all on Oct 1st. Again contact me if you would like a copy and I will post out to you.

Work is underway on some projects using the new products so please pop back soon. I can promise you some gorgeousness!!!

EXCLUSIVE FREEBIES!!!

This post will stay at the top till 31 August so please scroll down for new posts
WOW........

August is usually a quiet month in the Stampin Up calender as we gear up for the new Catalouge Launch in October.

To cheer us up while we wait, Stampin Up are offering this lovely cosmetic bag, striped grosgrain ribbon and clips assortment ABSOLUTELY FREE to anyone who places an order of £75 or who holds a party which achieves sales of £250 or more.

This bag is not available to buy, so why not join me and be the envy of all your friends with an exclusive bag, and the best part is its FREE!!!

Bye for now as I dash of to place my order and get my free gift

Blog overhaul.....

What do you think?????

I've been unhappy with my blog since I first started and being a technophobe didn't know quite what to do but finally I've managed to sort it out and now I'm happier with the design I will be posting more.... You know what it's like when you're not 100% happy with something you are reluctant to use it and thats how its been for me.

I hope you all like the new, fresh look and agree with me it has a little bit more of the seaside about it.

Hope to see you all soon in blogland with lots of new posts.

Colour Coach Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to Group 2 of the Colour Coach Blog Hop. I hope you are enjoying your tour of the blogs and getting some fab ideas.
You may have joined me here from Group 1 but if not you can always hop on over to them by clicking on this link http://stampin-divas.blogspot.com/

If you didn't join from Group 1 then you will have come here from Jan at http://jan-crippin.blogspot.com/ who had some lovely ideas.

I'm sure you will have a great time hopping round but first let me show you my cards. I reached for the colour coach but found myself choosing colours that I knew were easy to work with so I decided to ask my SU mummy to pick a colour for me that would be more of a challenge.... Boy did she lol!

Elegant Eggplant.... Not a colour I have worked with so far. This is teamed with Melon Mambo and River Rock. I wanted to keep this one very simple so used very little stamping but lots of Big-Shot action along with a couple of punches.
Next I decided to get the inks out and teamed it with Hostess Set 'Because I Care' The flower was inked up using the markers and stamped onto Naturals Ivory. I layered this onto Garden Green and then onto Elegant Eggplant. Finally this was layered onto a More Mustard A6 card base.

I'm glad I decided to challenge myself and I'm sure I'll be reaching for the Colour Coach again in the future to prompt me into using combinations I wouldn't normally.

Now its time to hop on over to http://teriscraftspot.blogspot.com/ for some more lovely creations.

HAPPY HOPPING and be sure to visit again soon

What a Weekend!!!

Wow...

Talk about a busy weekend. On Fri I travelled down to see my lovely ladies in Stamford for our monthly Stampers 10 get together. We had a fab morning and this months hostess took full advantage of the wonderful promotion Stampin up are offering at the moment and with some outside orders which were added onto the Stampers 10 this month she managed to earn the extra £20 you get if party sales are over £250.... Well done Jean and enjoy all your goodies x

Saturday saw me(well my DH lol) load up the car with tables, display boards and lots of goodies to show as I stepped in for my SU Mummy and had a stand at a Craft Fair in Bury St Edmonds. The show was on sun but as I live a couple of hours away we decided to combine the show with a visit to friends and stay with them,

Sun came far too soon and at 7am I headed out to the leisure centre to meet up with my downline Debbie who had kindly offered to help out. DH helped to set everything up and showed he does have an artistic side with the displays....
We had a busy but fab day with a free prize draw and make and take.
Class instructions and retreat weekend leaflets were flying out of the door as well as interest from some poss new demos...

Although I came away totally shattered it was a fantastic day and we met lots of lovely new people. Thank you if you were one of those and I hope to see you again next time....

I will get some photos up from the show soon so pop back soon x

Like Mother like Son

Apologies for the lack of posts recently - how does life manage to get in the way so much???

Todays post is only a quick one but I wanted to share with you all a special moment in my little boys life.

Caiden is now 15mths and at the lovely age of learning to walk and talk. I had always said just how much he is the double of his Daddy but today he surprised us all with his first 'proper' word. For ages he has been saying Dada and occasionally Muma so we were all excitedly waiting for something new.

Would it be dog(we have 2), would it be one if his sisters names(he has 3) or would it be ball(he has 100's).........................

........................................................no it was COLOUR!!! Now I know he is my child as my life is dominated by all the wonderful colours we have at our disposale from Stampin Up.

I wonder how long it will be before he utters STAMPIN UP?????


For more on Caidens Crafting Capers head on over to my Su mummys blog http://www.kraftybiker.blogspot.com to find out what he gets up to when I'm crafting at one of her all day classes in Stamford.

Watch this space......

Retreat Weekends


The dates for our first retreat weekends will be announced soon so make sure you check out our blogs and get the dates marked in your diarys. Bookings will be on a first come first served basis.
We are able to accommodate 10 people each weekend and already have people who have shown interest so if you would like to join us for a weekend packed full of crafting and laughter then get in touch with Sandra(http://www.kraftybiker.blogspot.com) or myself and book your place.

FULL DETAILS TO BE RELEASED ON MON 16th MAY 2011

HEROES.....

Morning from a very sunny Mablethorpe.....

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Todays post has been inspired by my other half and his collegues who are embarking on a 24 hr climb of 3 peaks. The challenge is to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in just 24 hrs!!! To climb all 3 is a feat in itself but in 24 hrs is just amazing.

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I wanted to show my support for the lads who are all doing this to raise money for http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk. Each of the lads has faced or faces the prospect of being sent to a war zone and know only too well how things could turn out. Raising funds to look after the guys and girls who in risking their lives for our country, come back injured and needing so much support is so important to the lads.

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I wanted to show my support and so came up with this Good Luck card. I sponged the mountains using a torn paper mask and then covered this up to sponge the sky. I then used our trusty Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the letters. Colours used are Night of Navy, Real Red and Baja Breeeze. These colours match the HELP for HEROES colours almost perfectly.

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Thank you for looking and any messages of support for the lads will be passed on.

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HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE

Hop on over to my place........

Hello and welcome to my fairly new(ish) blog. This is my very first blog-hop and what a better way to start. I had such a hard time deciding what to use as I love so much of what is in the mini. . You will have joined me here from the very talented http://kraftybiker.blogspot.com/. I just know you will love her designs. I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek last week as Sandra is my SU mummy and I went to stay for a few days so we could craft till the wee hours with all the new goodies from the fab mini. . My cards use Plane and Simple, which I think may well be my favourite set so far. I was soooooooo happy to see more 'male' orientated sets in the new mini as I'm sure I'm not alone when it comes to struggling with mens cards. . I used Not Quite Navy and Marina Mist for this card and sponged a sky full of clouds to set the Bi-plane off. For my next card using Plane and Simple. I teemed it with Always Artichoke, Old Olive and Sahara Sand. A band of Early Espresso striped grosgrain gives the card that little extra something. . I just love this set and being a true blue(RAF not football) it will come in soooooo handy and could well be my favourite set from the MINI.

Well I hope you enjoyed your little stop by my blog and keep hopping with http://sarastamper.blogspot.com/ who I'm sure will have something lovely to give us all inspiration.

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This one's for you Pat.....

My lovely SU sister Pat yesterday told me that she looks in on my blog everyday so this one is for her.

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I was in a local seaside store (the kind that sell everything!!!) and found these A6 sized canvas packs for a ridiculous price and immediately thought SU. I think it helped that they were card sized so designing something wasn't too daunting.

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As we are in the process of doing up our house I thought about something for Daughter no 2's bedroom... Trouble is she is a fantastic artist at aged 11 so no pressure there then!!!

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In the end I plumped for Vintage Vogue combined with my favourite punch, Two Step Bird (I love how versitile this punch is) .

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Pat, I hope you like this and Thank You for looking in everyday. I promise to try and blog more often x

An English Country Garden.....

I have waited to share this card with you as I wanted to make sure my SU mummy, KraftyBiker, had received hers.
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I made this card after seeing something similar in a mag. At first I mistook their image to be this one from "Because I Care" (a level 1 hostess gift).
I decided to CASE the card anyway but use the SU image.
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I made KraftyBikers in Soft Suede as it reminded me of her two cats but the card above is done in River Rock..... Is there a better colour at the mo???
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Once I had done this one I just couldn't stop and ended up making a futher 5 designs using the same stamp set. This is going to be the set for my first all day class in Louth on March 5th.
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If you would like to join me for this class or would like the opportunity to earn this stamp set free for yourself then email me at: nuttysgirl@sky.com or call 07917631483

LOVE LETTER.....

Before my move to Mablethorpe I lived near Stamford and this is where I signed up to be a Demo. I left many good friends down there who are also part of my Stampers 10. Every now and again (ok, more often than not!) I head on down there for a get together with the girls.

Last time I went they asked me to bring a little something to do and this was it.





This is a design I saw following a link on ILWS. I thought I'd saved the details in my fav folder but can't for the life of me find it now. I will link back just as soon as I find it. The original was done in blue and held school photos. I wanted something a little more vintage and romantic so played around and this is the result.

I hope you like and will be back with more soon

Emily

What a class.....

WED 9th FEB - LOUTH

Setting out with nerves more like jelly than steel I took myself of to Louth to face my first class since moving up here.

I should have known better, crafters are a friendly bunch no matter where in the world you are and these guys (ok 5 ladies and 1 bloke) were no exception.

Not having a clue as to their levels of ability and with Valentines fast approaching I decided on the card and box above. It has the ability to be as simple or as complex as you wish so fit the bill for a first class. I have to say everyone did a fantastic job, even Chris who has never made a card in his life and turned up armed with just 2 pairs of scissors and a willingness to have a go. I wish I had that confidence some days!!!

Now I've had a few more reminders about how to get photos from camera to computer I hope to show some more of my recent projects over the next few days.

Hope you all had a good Valentines x

TA DA........

Well here it is... My first blog photo and a cute little one it is too! Firstly I have to say Thanks to Sandra(Kraftybiker) for her superb tech helpline and The Nutty one for his photography skills and support.

This is a cute little "no cut bagalope"(there are many templates out there for this, mine if I remember rightly came from SCS) and set of 6 10x10 cards.

Who knew this technology thing could really be so simples!!!

Look out for more photos coming this way soon.

Emily

Who Needs Sleep......

At last....... With a little (ok a lot) of help from my Stampin Up upline Sandra (aka Kraftybiker) I am making headway with this technology malarky!!!

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I travelled down to Sandra's on Fri for our first Team meeting as I live too far away to do the journey in one day(what a fab excuse to fit in some extra crafting time!). After a lovely lunch, by Sandra's husband David, we settled down in the newly organised craft room and set to work.

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13hrs later we looked at the clock to realise it was nearly 3am! We had made an impressive 23 cards and 4 punch art pages (for our resource file) between us!!! The only thing stopping us was knowing we had to be up in the morning for the team meeting. For photos of some of our designs pop over to Sandra at KraftyBiker.blogspot.com.

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Must catch up on being a Mummy but will be back soon x