Graceful Garden

Morning all,

How's your week going ? Must confess I'm still playing catch up after my busy weekend and I have 3 classes over the next 2 days and a Crafternoon Tea on Saturday so my fingers will constantly be inky lol !

Today's card uses the amazing new set Graceful Garden. The Petal Garden suite and particularly the papers caught my eye when I first saw them in Amsterdam and I love the colour combinations but I decided I would try the rose in a more dramatic combination.......

Well, what do you think ? It's certainly striking and my class ladies loved the red with a pop of Lemon Lime Twist. Not my usual 'pretty colours ' choice but it's always good to try something different and it does give the stamp set a different feel than the gorgeous vintage style in the papers.

I know I will be using this set a lot, so expect a whole array of colours !

Julie x

Birthday Wishes Challenge

Morning all,

Well what happened to the weekend ? It passed me by in a mad whirl of stamping - but it was all in a good cause !

I started at the end of last week stamping at Heath Hayes Library and then Saturday and Sunday I moved to Potsy Pamsy Paint a Pot Studio and stamped , stamped and then stamped some more !

A big thank you to everyone that joined me and made a card towards my total or just ensured I was fed and watered. I am delighted I have 172 cards to send off to the Ronald McDonald House Charity and I have requested my cards to go to the House attached to the Manchester Childrens Hospital which has been supporting the families involved in the Arena terrorist attack.

Here are a few of the cards made......

I decided to use up some of the retired papers I have been hoarding but teamed them up with some new stamps.

And here they are ready to package up for posting......

That brings the total cards I have made for good causes to almost 400 in the last month- I'm becoming quite well known at the Post Office lol !

Julie x

Label me Pretty

Friday again , nearly the weekend ! Although I am working both Saturday and Sunday, making cards at a local garden centre for the Ronald McDonald House Charity, a very worthwhile cause, so hopefully I will get some people coming to stamp with me.

Today's card uses the new Label me Pretty bundle. I love stamp sets with a matching punch and this card is very simple but effective , a bit of colouring and some DSP and it's done .....

More new Washi tape too - I'm determined to use it now , not just buy it and stroke it lol !

Have a good weekend 

Julie x

Happy Birthday Gorgeous

Morning all,

I'm a little tired today after another trip to Leeds on Monday with another lovely downline Angie. We made some lovely projects though and it was nice to catch up with some friends I'd not seen for a while.

Today's card is the same card I've made and shown you before but I've just changed the colour combination.....

Looks different doesn't it ? And more new Fresh Fig ribbon and Lemon Lime Washi tape. 

Need to get organised as I have the first of my Birthday Wishes Challenge events tomorrow to make cards for the Ronald McDonald House charity and I will be sending mine to the house attached to Manchester Childrens Hospital so hopefully helping families affected by the Arena tragedy again.

Julie x

Awesomely Artistic

Happy Monday to you !

And what a gorgeous weekend ! I  travelled up to Leeds on Saturday with my lovely downline Donna for team training and then spent most of Sunday sitting in the garden, with a bbq for tea, and some wine, very relaxing.

Today's card uses some stamps that have carried over from the old catalogue, Awesomely Artistic but I've given them a fresh look by using some new colours.

Colours are Fresh Fig, Lemon Lime Twist, Bermuda Bay and Smoky Slate, nice and fresh and zingy !

New Bermuda Bay ribbon too .....hope you like

Julie x

More thank you so

Hi all,

Today's cards are more of the special thank you s we have been sending as a team to the emergency services, this time in London. Hopefully they will have all been received today and will be distributed to the amazing staff.

I think the last few weeks has highlighted to the public more than ever, the dedication and bravery of the emergency services and NHS staff.

Although made initially in response to the London Bridge tragedy, of course our thoughts are with all those recently affected by the terrible fire too.

These are a few of the batch of cards I sent.....

Have a special weekend with those that matter to you most and let's hope there are no further tragedies any time soon

Julie x

Meditteranean Moments

What a beautiful day it has been here today !  Although I haven't had chance to see much of the sunshine as I have had classes all day, but I did get back and do a bit of tidying in the garden just to make the most of the nice weather.

And today's card is bright and sunny too ! It uses the Mediterranean Moments stamps with a bit of simple colouring with the watercolour pencils. The colour combination is Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede.......

I believe the nice weather is due to continue over the weekend so maybe there will be more 'Meditteranean Moments' - and at least it is drying my mountain of washing !

Julie x

Guy Greetings

Happy Monday to you !

Hope you had a nice weekend. I had a busy one, Saturday morning we travelled up to Sheffield, moved my daughter out of Uni and travelled home again, all before lunch. Since then I have been feeding the washer, non stop - 10 loads so far !!  But it is nice to see the shoes in the hall and dish up the Sunday roast for four again .....

Today's card uses the car image from Guy Greetings as Fresh Fig just shouted out vintage car colour to me and the tree and grass are from Sheltering Tree and the clouds from Lift me Up ......

Good job we didn't have to bring all her stuff back in that car though !!!

Julie x

Love Today Planner

Are you an organised person ? I like to think I am, although my craft room is probably described as organised chaos !

In general though, I like to be organised and LOVE lists..... I have a monthly list, weekly lists, a daily to do list etc and so was so excited when I knew Stampin' Up! were bringing out a new planner.

I saw it in Amsterdam and have been waiting not so patiently and yesterday it arrived !

It is so pretty !

And look at those cute little post it notes. Today, I've been making lists of the lists I need to include lol ..... but I haven't actually written in it yet !

Have a very organised weekend 

Julie x

Colour Challenge

Hello All,

Over on our demo team page we are having a colour challenge to celebrate the new In Colours and this is the combination this week ....

Lovely combination isn't it ?

And this was my take on it.....

Using the lovely flowers from the new Happy Birthday Gorgeous set, have used these stamps loads already !

And yesterday I received my first big delivery from the new catalogue .......

Always exciting, even if most of it isn't mine ! And there is a certain item I have been waiting for for ages that I hope will be arriving tomorrow.... more about that next time

Julie x

Thinking of you ....

Morning all, and firstly a very big thank you for all the messages I have received about my little card, both on here and privately. I have been touched by your lovely words and inspired to keep making a difference.

It was devastating to hear of further tragedies in London at the weekend and so today's card is dedicated to anyone affected.....

And yes, I am off to make some more thank you cards !

Julie x

One Little Card.....

Morning all and welcome to the Jems Blog Hop !

The card I want to show you today is very, very special to me although when you see it you will probably wonder why !
Yes, it does contain a new In Colour, new stamp set, new punch and new designer series paper but it's very small in size and very simple in design. However, it's not the actual card that is so important to me but the story behind it .......

Last week , like everyone else I was horrified by the tragic events at the Manchester Arena. I'm not from Manchester.....thankfully no one I know was affected.... but with 2 teenage daughters and having recently done a concert pick up ,it was something that really upset me.
Together with some of the Jems we decided to make and send some cards to show our appreciation to all the fantastic staff who had tended to those affected.

So many people were willing to give up their Bank Holiday weekend to join in and between us we managed to make 946 cards to be distributed to the Police, Fire and Ambulance services, the 8 hospitals involved and the staff at the Manchester Arena. A fantastic achievement by the team and one I am very proud to be part of !

So here is my little card, spreading the Stampin' Up! love.....

And I then repeated it in various other colourways.....

141 in total, to represent each person killed or injured . Then there was the little task of writing them all by hand - you can see why I mentioned Crafting forever, housework whenever in my last post lol !

But soon they were all packed up and ready to post and we tried to time it so that they would be received on 1st June 

The team has received some lovely emails and comments from some of the recipients so we know they are doing the job intended.

Manchester may have been a tragic event but it has also shown there is still a lot of kindness and compassion in the world. So many people across the country have pulled together to 'do their bit' and I am glad to have made a small contribution.

Enjoy the rest of the Hop, this is an amazing team

Julie x

Crafting forever ....

Morning all, 

So , the new catalogue went live yesterday and I was up bright and early to place my customers orders     and I've been notified today that they are already packed and ready to be shipped ! Amazing service at such a busy time

Today's card uses the fun Crafting Forever set which I was lucky enough to receive as a Silver Elite gift at OnStage. It has lots of crafty images and also features the Angel policy stamp so you can use it on any projects that you sell, but my favourite bit has to be the sentiment - Crafting forever, housework whenever !

This just about sums up my week perfectly, well most weeks actually lol, but especially this one !

Same colour combination as before Fresh Fig, Soft Sky, Crumb Cake and Tranquil Tide.

Pop back tomorrow as I am taking part in the Jems Blog Hop and have a very special little card to tell you about 

Julie x