CONVENTION - ROOMIE GIFTS

Just wanted to share our Roomie gifts from Convention with you. One of my downline, Emily, Emma and I all shared a room and exchanged gifts.

I made Emily and Emma these boxes using the new Morning Mocha Designer Series Papers. One contains a Terrys chocolate orange and the other contain a mini bottle of Asti.

Emily gave us these lovely wooden decorated gift box and plaque.

Emma made these wonderful gifts. Such a lot of work went in to these, they are simply gorgeous.Thank you once again for some be beautiful gifts. Thanks again for sharing with me.

Sandra

EMILY & SANDRA - Paris Pre-Convention

Neither Emily or I have ever been to Paris so when Stampin' Up! announced their European Convention 2011 would be held at EuroDisney we booked a few extra days to explore a few sights of Paris.

Thanks to Tesco vouchers and Airmiles, we were able to enjoy 2 tickets to Paris via Eurostar and 3 nights in Paris FREE OF CHARGE. I recommend getting a Tesco Visa card as I put as much as I can through here, especially my Stampin' Up! orders. I never use the quarterly vouchers at face value in the store as they are worth much more converted into vouchers.

This is Emily on the first leg of the journey from Downham Market ...... recognise the crafty bits as we begin assembling my swaps.

Our 1st sightseeing day we took a bus tour of Paris, travelling as the only passengers on the top of a double decker bus, with fabulous views, taking in all the popular well known tourist attractions. Just by the Arc De Triomphe look what Emily spotted ......... 'Le French Monsieur Brown'. I wonder if there were any Stampin' Up! parcels in there ??

Next a trip up the Eifel Tower was an absolute 'must' for me. The views from the top were wonderful although a bit cloudy to one side. Once down at the bottom we realised we hadn't had lunch and at 4pm were getting quite peckish. Another absolute 'must' for Emily was a crepe and she recommended the banana and chocolate spread .... delicious. She didn't really eat two but I had to take the photo quickly so she didn't try !

Our 2nd day browsing at leisure, took us to a station on the Metro called 4th September. At the coffee shop enjoying a proper hot chocolate, Emily tried out her French to ask the lady next to us if she spoke English ........ Only Emily could ask an English lady whether she spoke English !! We all had a good giggle and she was flattered that her French was so convincing.

Emily had searched the Internet and discovered there was a craft shop called UltraMod (well truly mad crafters have to find crafting opportunities wherever we go, don't we !!). Well this was more like a haberdashery and was a very old fashioned shop cram packed with buttons, braids and ribbons etc in every nook and cranny. A wonderful shop ..... and they allowed us to take photos !!

Having made an unwise meal choice the previous evening, Emily was keen to have some good quality food and we certainly couldn't complain here at the Royal Opera. A wonderful Croque Monsieur with generous portion of french fries.

The evening brought the 2nd half of our tour, this time an evening cruise along the River. Our guide was very fluent in English and pointed out all the sites (so much better than the taped recording on the bus yesterday)

The Eifel Tower at night

On arrival at EuroDisney and walking round village deciding on where to eat, we visited the many shops and of course the obligatory trying on of silly hats !!!

Well we had arrived and tomorrow Convention starts properly ... next post tomorrow.

Sandra

Convention Swap & Tutorial

Last year, Stampin' Up! announced their European Convention 2011 would be held at EuroDisney Paris. Here is my swap that I repeated 300 times !!!!! Yes, 300 swaps as I like to swap with as many people as possible to share many, many ideas. I have a lovely big box of swaps to share with customers and give me inspiration for my creations.

Several people asked me how this was made so here are a few pictures showing you step by step, so here is a very simple tutorial to show how it was created.

Firstly, ink up the fir cone from Autumn Days stamp set using Basic Black ink.

There is no need to draw a circle, post-it, mask or anything. My card here was 9cm square. Simply line up the edge of the wooden stamp with the edge of the card, and, with the stalks pointing inwards, stamp in the centre of the bottom of card.

Turn card and repeat at North, South, East and West positions.

Now stamp across the corner - I did mine freehand but if you prefer, use the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig. Don't be afraid of it - with a bit of practice, it'll be much quicker without ... trust me, 300 swaps, each one stamped 8 times, I was not going to use the SAMJ !!!! LOL

.... and this is the finished wreath shape. See how it makes a circle without the need for a guide !!

Next I used the berries and just dipped the tip onto the ink pad and stamped the tip randomly round the edge.

Finally punch stamp and punch out greeting using a range of Stampin' Up! circle punches as you prefer. Here I used Cherry Cobbler to bring in the colour of the berries.

A huge thanks to Emily for helping me assemble all the component pieces on the train from Downham Market to London and then on Eurostar to Paris. It was a good way to pass the journey. October and November were such busy months for me but I intend having started much earlier in the year for 2012 Convention.

Well, I hope you like this mini tutorial and enjoy creating yourself. For your Stampin' Up! supplies please contact me.

Regards till next time.

Sandra

Weekend Retreat in Mablethorpe

WOW, what a fantastic weekend !!!!

Emily and I have just held our first Stampin' Up! Craft Retreat Weekend with a lovely bunch of ladies, including a car load travelling from Suffolk who took a slight detour to a craft shop, some of my Stampers 10 group from Thetford, plus others from Wellingborough and Branston in Lincolnshire.

Using Emily's large house, kept our costs lower which of course benefitted our crafters in keeping the cost low. The 5* guest house next door provided accomodation for some of our guests, plus full English breakfasts and buffet lunches for everyone.

Those sleeping at Emily's were lucky (or not so lucky given they helped with her Convention swaps) to enjoy extra crafting time, being made to feel at home by Emily. I am an early bird but even I was surprised to go to the kitchen at 6:40am to find two of our ladies in their PJs catching up on unfinished projects from the day before.

Everyone had a fantastic time and we were really pleased with the feedback received. I think everyone will be back in October 2012 for another Retreat.

Emily's son Caiden enjoyed all the fuss from the ladies !!
Unfortunately I can't share details of the projects we made as we have a repeat of the Retreat Weekend on 3rd - 5th February 2012 and need to keep the surprise for another group of ladies who we are looking forward to spending a fun-filled weekend with us. I'm sure some of our projects will make it on here later in February.

If you are interested in attending a future Stampin' Up! Craft Retreat Weekend, please get in touch with me - my contact details have been updated on the tab at the top.

Many thanks for popping by and look forward to catching up again soon.

Sandra