STAMPIN UP IN THE UK

TODAY'S THE DAY STAMPIN UP'S NEW UK CATALOGUE CAN BE VIEWED ON LINE

I'VE JUST HAD CONFIRMATION THAT MY APPLICATION FOR BECOMING A DEMONSTRATOR HAS BEEN APPROVED AND MY GOODIES WILL BE HERE WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK.

ANYONE WANTING TO PLACE AN ORDER FOR STAMPIN UP CAN DO SO THROUGH ME IF YOU CAN'T FIND A DEMONSTRATOR NEAR YOU. EMAIL ME IF YOU ARE NEEDING SOME SU SUPPLIES OR FANCY HOSTING A PARTY AND YOU ARE IN THE HAMPSHIRE/WILTSHIRE/BERKSHIRE AREA. DON'T FORGET THAT WHEN YOU HOST A PARTY YOU GET HOSTESS POINTS WHICH CAN BE TURNED INTO RUBBER STAMPS.

EMAIL ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE FURTHER INFORMATION ON STAMPIN UP PRODUCTS

ARTY GIRLZ HEARTS CHALLENGE

Arty Girlz challenge this week is to include hearts on your artwork. This is a card made with Stampin Up stamps

CMU's CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE

There is a Christmas Challenge going on over at CMU http://cardmakersunited.com/forum/index.php?topic=209.0 to design a Christmas bauble. Here's my first attempt though I'm not greatly happy with it - I may have to tweak it somewhat! LOL It looks like a hot air balloon rather than a lantern!

Ratty Tatty's Giveaway

Ratty Tatty is doing it again - giving away some fabulous samps from Tanda on her blog and all you need to do is add a comment. You'll find her here www.rattytattysblog.blogspot.com

Sisterhood of Scrap - Texas Hold Em

I'm hoping this will be suitable for the Sisterhood of Scrap Challenge - I used to live in Texas and this was a layout of our pool that we had built when we lived there - can you believe we left there to come back to England! Were we mad or what!!!!!

STAMPIN UP - TODAY'S THE DAY

Today's the day we can send in our applications for becoming a Stampin Up Demonstrator and mine has been entrusted to the Royal Mail - gulp!





I'm lucky enough to have last year's catalogue and could change some of the goodies I wanted for my start up kit - but there are some things in there I can't wait to get and have a play with.



This is an example of a SU card I made with a great versatile set called Love Without End.

One of the things I love about Stampin Up is that you buy sets of stamps which all go together really well and offer you thousands of ways of using them. Added to the fact that they all come in handy cases so no loose stamps about the place, they are easy to find and easy to use.

Do you get the idea I'm a fan! LOL!!!!

BLOG CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHECK OUT MY CHALLENGE SITE FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE AND THE CHANCE TO WIN SOME BLOG CANDY.


HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARDMAKERS UNITED CHALLENGE

Just in case you don't know

There is a challenge on the Cardmakers United forum that is finishing on November 11th. There is a small prize for the winner, so get your entries in!

Here is the challenge:The title is Mr & Mrs. You can make a card for any occasion, but it must feature a Mr & Mrs in some way. I'm thinking Weddings, Anniversaries, Christmas ..... the crafting world is your oyster!

Come on over and join in the fun. There is also a Monthly Card Competition - all you need to do is send in your card entries to win a fab prize! No themes, no rules, just send in your lovely cards.

TMTA - BIRDS

Birds are the subject of TMTA this week - someone mentioned the lack of robins on any stamps and it reminded me of the stamp I have with a Red Cardinal on it - I loved these birds when we lived in Texas and used to have one come and visit me in the garden. He looks very Christmassy too, just like our robins, so I've used him on this ATC.

ALPHABET CHALLENGE - R

The alphabet challenge has been running for two weeks, luckily, so I still have time to include my entry. I chose to do Rudolph, some of you know I love my Rudolph don't I Storm? LOL! and he's red too so lots of R's here!

4 x 4 Stamper - Faux Postage

Finally I'm back doing some challenges again - I liked the idea of this one from 4 x 4 Stampers of Faux Postage.

ARTY GIRLZ BLING CHALLENGE

Arty Girlz have challenged us to use some Bling on our art work this week - I hope this is suitable. The cat has a fabulous Bling Collar on her!

Stampin Up stamps!

Wednesday Stamper - Wild West

Wednesday Stampers have the Wild West as their theme.

I lived in Texas for three years so had a small taste of the Wild!

CARDMAKERS UNITED, MONTHLY CHALLENGE

I've just found out one of my cards has been chosen as Cardmakersunited's card of the month.

Anyone can join in with the competition - all you have to do is become a member of the forum. So come on all you card makers, come along and join in the fun.

There is a prize too - which is a great bonus!

CHANCE TO WIN A SET OF CHERRY PIE ART STAMPS

THERE IS A COMPETITION RUNNING OVER AT AUNTY'S FORUM http://www.auntysforum.com/ SPONSORED BY ME TO WIN ONE OF THE ABOVE SETS OF CHERRY PIE ART STAMPS.

IT IS A CLOSED AUCTION AND THE HIGHEST BIDDER WINS THE STAMPS. QUITE SIMPLE REALLY.

THE MAIN THING IS THE PROCEEDS ARE GOING TO MY FRIEND'S CHARITY - ROSIE'S BUDDY BUS FUND - A LOT YOU MAY KNOW ROSIE AND VISIT HER BLOG http://alteredartandstuff.blogspot.com/ SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP CONTRIBUTE TO THIS WORTHWHILE CAUSE GET YOURSELF OVER TO AUNTY'S AND BECOME A MEMBER.

YOU'LL FIND THE COMPETITION HERE http://www.auntysforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=6023.0

A BIG THANK YOU TO TANDA STAMPS

Tanda Stamps held a Halloween competition over on Aunty's forum http://www.blogger.com/www.auntysforum.comand it was a very well deserved win by Rosie for her Mooning card. LOL!

But Tanda Stamps were very generous and gave all of us who entered a chance to choose some of their mini stamps. I received mine today - here they are - can't wait to go and have a play - thanks to Alex and all at Tanda Stamps for their generosity.

GREAT NEWS FOR ME

I'M SO EXCITED - MUST SHARE MY GREAT NEWS WITH YOU ALL -

I'VE BEEN CHOSEN AS A DESIGN TEAM MEMBER OF CARDMAKERS UNITED - I CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED.

COME ON OVER AND CHECK US OUT AND JOIN IN WITH SOME OF THE CHALLENGES.
http://www.cardmakersunited.com/

OH NO, I'M STILL NOT CRAFTING YET

Well I'm back from my audition in London and have no idea how it went - she cut me off "mid-Aria"!!!! Everyone knows arias don't get going until the end! LOL! It cost us £300 on the train to get down there and I was all done within 2 minutes! She asked me loads of questions and being a mum may go against me! Still, at least I plucked up the courage and did it! I can relax a bit more now - had a terrible headache/migraine when I got back last night and went to bed early.





That's not the reason though why I can't craft - We've had no heating or hot water since Sunday as our boiler broke down. The room where I usually craft is the coldest in the house - I suppose I could get a few things and move into the kitchen where the aga is trying to keep us all warm. Brrr!!!!!! The gas man is supposed to be here first thing to fix it - don't know what time first thing is but he's not here yet.





Got to go and get a few things ready for Hallowe'en this evening -





HAPPY SAMHAIN to all of us who celebrate this festival. I will be laying out my table for all our loved ones who are no longer with us so they can come and be with us in spirit. As the years go by there seem to be more and more places laid - main places of honour will be my sister and my husband's sister who we miss every year, and my father and father in law. Anyway, enough melancholy from me - off to do some jogging to warm up - NOT!!! LOL!

WHY HAVEN'T I BEEN BLOGGING THIS WEEK?

Sorry I've not been around as much this week, mostly its because its half term and its been a bit busier with the children around, but also I've had to spend my time doing some singing practice!


GULP - I have an audition to go to in London on Tuesday for .........wait for it..........Britain's Got Talent! So I've been dusting off the old vocal chords, getting my opera back up to scratch and gathering up my courage to actually go through with the audition. With no music!!! Aarrgh - they don't provide any backing music and its very hard to get opera arias as backing tapes - So I'll be warbling all on my own. I'll let you all know how it goes!

NEW HEADER

DO YOU LIKE MY FAB NEW HEADER?

BIG THANKS TO MY DAUGHTER EMMA FOR PRODUCING THIS FAB WORK OF ART FOR ME. SHE HAS TRIED TO INCORPORATE ALL MY LOVES AND INTERESTS AND PRODUCED AN AUTUMN FEEL TO IT FOR ME.

THANKS EMMA xxx

WOW - I WON!!!!!

WOW! I'm so excited - I won Challenge no 10 over on papercraft junkies http://www.papercraftjunkies.com/forum/index.php for my Autumn layout. I've never won anything before for my crafts - its a great feeling!

I'm off to see what goodies I can get with my winning discount. Thanks to all their Design Team members who voted for my layout.

WEDNESDAY STAMPER - CHILDREN

Wednesday Stampers wanted to celebrate Children this week - here is a layout showing how close my two children are - they have their off days like all children but they have a great friendship.

Stamps used are Stampin Up

DARING CARDMAKERS - CHRISTMAS TREES

The extra challenge on Daring Cardmakers is Christmas Trees - Woohoo - Christmas! Any excuse to make some Christmas cards! Don't think I scanned this quite straight - I must have been at the sherry already! LOL!

DARING CARDMAKERS CHALLENGE -BEASTS

Daring Cardmakers want to see cards with beasts on. This polar bear is more cuddly than ferocious! LOL!

Reminds me of that old joke about the baby polar bear where he goes to his mum and asks "Mum, are you sure I'm not a panda?" and she says "No Son, you're a polar bear" "Mum", he asks again "Are you sure I'm not a grizzly bear?" "No Son, you're a polar bear", "Mum", he asks again "Are you sure I'm not a teddy bear?" "No Son" she says getting annoyed "You're a polar bear - why do you keep asking?" "Cause I'm bloody freezing mum!"

He He!

TMTA - MASK CHALLENGE

Last week was Mask challenge over at TMTA - I'm over the moon to see that they've chosen my ATC as one of the samples. Woohoo - a great honour!

SLEEPLESS SATURDAY

Never mind Sleepless in Seattle!!!! Sleepless in our bloomin household last night for DH and I - not because of little Mischief who was as good as gold but because of our bloomin dog who wouldn't settle all night and wanted to be where the new kitten was. She's driving us mad - she's not quite trustworthy enough to leave her on her own with the kitten yet, but she just wants to play with it and be with it and she's more stressed than the kitten is.

Older cat (14) Felix just sniffed her and walked off. Younger cat (9) Megan had a real hissy fit and then started hissing at Felix who just looked at her as if to say "What's your problem? I was here first before the lot of you!"

DH kept asking me "And why did you want another cat?" It seemed a good idea at the time! LOL!!!

Got loads of scrapbooking to try and finish today - doing this commission is great fun but its on your mind that you need to get it done and finished!

I'm also still poorly and got a friend coming down today who is a reflexologist and she's going to see what she can do for me. Put me on the scrapheap to be honest, the body seems to be giving way - I'm only 45!

HERE'S MISCHIEF

Here she is - looking wide eyed to begin with and now all snuggled down with DS watching TV.

The dog is running around like a mad thing trying to get at it - the older cat just showed great disdain and the other cat hasn't met Mischief yet. Should be a busy night for us all!

What a sweety though - I feel lots of scrapbooking pages coming on! LOL!

WHATS HAPPENING FRIDAY?

Well, nothing much craft related - BUT we do have a new addition to our brood coming this evening - she is a very tiny smoky grey kitten and is going to be for my DS(but she's mine really) I've wanted a smoky grey kitten ever since I saw one in one of the pet shops in the States but I couldn't have her. It would have meant more money to ship her back from there when we finally came home and I don't like that they de-claw their cats.

So its taken me three years to find another one. I'd given up the search for a grey one, the cat protection homes couldn't help me, and then she just fell into my lap. I think my request to the universe had a lot to do with it.

When we moved the horse to his new stables - the woman's cat had just had kittens and she had one grey one that no-body wanted. I wanted her!!! I jumped up and down, well not really, not at my age! LOL! So she's arriving tonight - but DS thinks he's just going to see her tonight not that she's coming home with us! What the other two cats and our dog are going to think I have no idea - should be a bit hectic around here for the next few weeks, and here's me laid up with a bad back!

DS wanted to call the kitten Master Chief after something he was reading in his book but I explained she was a she and that wouldn't be a very good name so DD came up with Mischief - what a great name - so Mischief she is!

I'll post a piccy on here once we get here so you can all say AAA!