REGIONAL TRAINING @ TELFORD

Yesterday, I spent the day with 330 other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators at Telford, for our 2013 Regional Training event.

 

As always, a Stampin' Up! event is always the time to re-charge the battteries to get back in the swing again.  Sadly, dear little blog is always the last area to get some attention :-(

 

Friday, I collected two of my team, Laura and Elaina, and we took a relaxing trip, stopping off at a craft goody supplier on the way, of course.  Once there, we met with up with another teamie Alison and some other fellow demonstrators from another team who travelled with her from north of the county.

 

I made 100 swaps which were the design I created for the Suffolk Papercraft Show in Bury St Edmunds last week.

 

Part punched but still more to go .....



 

Half of these were in Pink Pirouette which will sadly retire at the end of June.  The other half were in Blushing Bride, a previous In-Colour that will be returning from 1st July.

 

 

 ..... and finally all completed .....

As numbers of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators has grown considerably, we are now often asked to be creative and make our own name badges.  Elaina kindly offered to make mine while I was at work Thursday, which saved me having a late night making after class.  HUGE thank you, E :-)
 

 

 

At training, we were privvy to updates on lots of new and exciting things coming from Stampin' Up! soon but all remain under very tight wraps until they release full details to us shortly.

 

If you want to be among the first to find out about these changes then why not join my team ?  With Stampin' Up! celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year, we once again have a special offer for all recruits until 30th May 2013, receiving an extra £25 in their starter kit for FREE.  (See seperate tab at top of my blog for details).

 

Be sure to pop back and visit me again soon.

 

Happy Craftin'

 

Sandra

:-)

 

 

 

 

BACK BLOGGING ........

Well, here I am, back blogging again. 

 

As always, my life has been moving at a fast pace with work and other life's events. Dad has been staying with us now since the end of June last year and has just moved into his new bungalow last week. I have had two periods of sickness from work recently, having a bad attack of Tonsilitis at Easter, which left me with a really deep, hacking cough.  Being thoroughly tired and washed out, not sleeping well, a 3rd lot of anti-biotics finally got me back to feeling human again.

 

Some of you may have noticed that I have been playing around with my blog over the last few weeks, as I've tried to create a clearer and more user friendly layout. It's still a 'work in progress' project but at least the ball is rolling again.

 

At the same time, I have gradually been moving more towards social media with Facebook and have now added a Facebook Business page which can be found at

https://www.facebook.com/sandra.roberts.921?ref=tn_tnmn#!/StampinUpDemoKraftyBikerCrafts?bookmark_t=page

Please come over and have a look and 'like' my page.  Pop back soon for an update on Stampin' Up! training event I attend in Telford this weekend.

Happy Craftin'

Sandra

SUFFOLK PAPERCRAFT SHOW

Here is photo of Laura and myself, set up and ready for the doors to open at Suffolk Papercraft show on Sunday 28th April, taken by my dear friends from AJs Card Craft, Stamford on the stand next door.

 

As always, we met many crafting friends, both old and new, and enjoyed talking to them about Stampin' Up!

Our visitors all had the opportunity to complete a 'Make & Take' card. My design for this will also be my swap for a Stampin' Up! Regional Training event on Saturday 11th May, so I will post photo later.

Our Prize Draw for a bundle of Stampin' Up! goodies from the recent Sale-A-Bration promotion, was won by Bev Knights from Norwich.
 

I heard that some of the stall holders let the organisers down at the last minute but the crowds were steady and kept us busy all day.
 

Another huge thank you to Laura and Tracy for helping me doing half the day each.  These events cannot be done without another pair of hands.  Much appreciated as always.

 

Happy Craftin'

Sandra

:-)

GET WELL - Punchart

Hello fellow crafters

 

Would you believe we are nearly 3-months into 2013 already. With all this snow, it seems like Chrstmas was only yesterday. 

 

This is a card I made for my boss who had been very poorly. 

 

The owl punchart 'nurse' I have made before but liked the idea of doctor and nurse for a masculine 'get well' card. Thanks to fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrators for sharing the punchart images on Split Coast Stampers. 

 

The owl punch and greeting from Curvy Verses are all from Stampin' Up!  Every owl punch purchased from me will receive a copy of my owl class tutorial. 

Happy craftin'

Sandra

BABY CONGRATULATIONS

Hi fellow crafters

This is a card I enjoyed making for a colleague at work who had just become a new Dad. Quite proud of the compliments when other colleagues signing their congratulation messages. 

 

When David and I were away on a cruise in Hawaii a few years ago, I took part in all the craft activities available on board ship whilst at sea.  We made a bear similar to this use thin wooden circles and so for this card I punched lots of circles using Stampin' Up! Punches, some same colour ink sponged round the edge of each piece (yes, some were very fiddly).  I have also seen a similar image on Pinterest using coudroy covered buttons. 

The balloon strings were made from Stampin' Up! White Bakers Twine, pulling strings all together after mounting on card and rolling a glue dot to keep all strings together, before tucking under bears 'paw'.

 

I can't wait to make a pink version and some more for my stock box. 

 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing this project and feel inspired to create yourselves. 

 

Bye for now, happy crafting :-)

 

Sandra

SALE A BRATION BLOG HOP

Morning fellow crafters !!

Welcome to my most favourite time in the Stampin' Up! Year ........ our Annual SALE-A-BRATION. This promotion is running from 22nd January to 22nd March with one free gift to choose for every £45 spent. There are even some items from the main catalogue included on the list !!

Today, I have joined in a blog hop from 10am with several of my fellow Demonstrators, to share projects made using items from Sale-A-Bation that you can earn for FREE or items from the NEW Spring / Summer catalogue which launches TODAY !!!!!

So why not grab yourself a cuppa and a notepad then sit back and enjoy a tour of our blogs. I'm sure you will have a long wish list by the end, I'm sure I will have more things I want to order too.

You may have joined me from Joanne's blog HERE and seen her lovely inspiration.

My project today is a gift box and selection of 6 cards. My dear 'adopted Mum' Pat and I snatched a long overdue craft day together after Christmas and enjoyed playing with some of my Sale-A-Bration pre-order items.

We started by creating a template in scratch paper then decorated our final project using the bright and colourful Sycamore Street Designer Series Papers #127540. The ribbon and centre button are from the Sycamore Street Ribbon Button pack #130812, which includes 3 spools or co-ordinations ribbon and 36 co-ordinations buttons.

This is the inside of the box that I have decorated with strips of the same DSP.

Here is my selection of cards using several of the stamp sets available to earn for FREE during Sale-A-Bration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed your stop with me today. I am pleased to say I am really sticking to my New Years Resolution and blogging at least minimum once a week, if not more. Please pop back and see me again. Why not click to follow me as I will have some exciting offers to share with you during Sale-A-Bration.

If you fancy finding out more about how you can take advantage of the many offers during Stampin' Up! Promotion, please feel free to contact me and I can email or post you information.   If you fancy receiving an extra £62.50 products totally FREE, then why not ask about joining my team.  In the first 3 days of Sale-A-Bration, three of my lovely ladies took advantage .... would you like to be the next ?  Please see my earlier post on all the advantages.

Enjoy continuing your blog tour by clicking HERE and taking a look at Emma's projects.

As I'm half way through, I've inserted all the links in case the loop breaks anywhere along the way :-

 

1.  ALISON P - http://craftyalisoninlyon.blogspot.com.

2.  SARAH K - http://esellek.typepad.com/my-blog/

3.  EMMA - www.devotiontothedream.blogspot.com

4.  CLAIRE - www.stampinupscrapper.blogspot.com

5.  ANNE-MARIE - http://classycrafters.blogspot.co.uk/

6.  KATIE - http://stamping-katie.blogspot.com

7.  JANE - http://www.janeiowcraftycreations.blogspot.co.uk

8.  MARGARET K - http://makingpapercrafts.blogspot.co.uk/

9.  ELAINE - http://thesassystampers.blogspot.co.uk/

10. JOANNE - www.frenchiejo.blogspot.com

11. SANDRA - www.kraftybiker.blogspot.com

12. EMMA - www.emma-daye.blogspot.co.uk

13. VICKY - www.vickylouscorner.blogspot.com

14. ALISON - www.craftingalison.blogspot.com

15. MICHELLE - http://stampwithbluebell.blogspot.co.uk/

16. SARAH - www.stampinsarahiow.blogspot.com

17. SPARKLE - www.sparklecrafts.blogspot.com

18. LEANIE - www.beautifulimpressions.co.uk

19. DONNA - www.head-over-heels-by-dlm.blogspot.com

20. BECKIE - www.bextiesandstickytape.blogspot.com

 

 

Have fun and happy craftin' !!

Sandra

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY TERRY

Last weekend I took advantage of being stuck home with all the snow to make a couple of golfing cards for brother-in-law who is 60 today. One was from us and one was for my sister to give him. He has family visiting from Australia who had a sharp shock getting often plane at Heathrow, having left in 42degree heat and land in our snow !!!

I love punchart and these are CASEs of ones I had seen somewhere online. Unfortunately, I had captured screen shots for inspiration but had no got the website at the top. Some very talented people have made several variations around same theme.

 

 

 

If you are interested in creating cute designs using Stampin' Up! Punches, please get in touch with me (details on contact tab stage top) as I will be scheduling a coupe of punchart classes in 2013, one enteral and one purely for the festive season.

The rain has washed away all our snow now so life will hopefully return to normal for everyone very soon.

Take care Happy craftin'

Sandra

TINSEL TUESDAY - week 4

There's still lots and lots of snow here in Northwold, Norfolk. The snow that fell last week hadn't melted at all and then had lots more on top !! Had to get my ski boots out but kept toes really toasty :-)

I'm still feeling Christmassy for Catherine's challenge this week HERE with so much snow around. Last year, I really fell in love with the Stampin' Up! Jolly Bingo Bits and think it works really well for this sketch, on my favourite little 10x10cm cards.

The silver glimmer card pack i've used to accent here, is an extra FREE gift for hostesses booking a Stampin' Up! party or virtual party with sales of £150 from today until 22nd March plus Sale-A-Bation FREE gifts available for everybody.

These cards were so quick and easy, I had to make a set of three. It feels so good using up some scrap strips off my craft desk !!

Happy craftin' and keep safe in these winters conditions.

Sandra

 

SALE-A-BRATION IS HERE !!!!!!

The wait is over and once again we can all enjoy the benefits of Sale-A-Bration from Stampin' Up!

 

22nd January - 22nd March 2013

 

This is even more special as Stampin' Up! have spent the last 25-years making a difference in the lives of it's demonstrators, customers and countless others through sharing creativity, encouraging and honouring demonstrators accomplishments.

 

To celebrate their 25th Anniversary, this year is even bigger and better than ever ...... and everyone is a winner.

 

1. CUSTOMERS - For every £45 spent, choose a fantastic Sale-A-Bration FREE gift from a whopping 17 items. 
2. HOSTESSES - Invite friends and family for a fun evening crafting with like minded people.  Hold a party/workshop or collect orders of £150 or more and you will earn a FREE pack of Silver Glimmer paper in addition to all the usual hostess benefits.
3. NEW DEMONSTRATORS - Got a long wish list ?  Love Stampin' Up! products ? Then why not join my team and sign up as an Independent Stampin' Up!  Demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration and get an amazing extra 25% FREE in your starter kit.  Yes, you heard me right ..... pay just £99 and you will now be able to order £162.50 of your own shopping list (usually £130).  Whether you want to be a hobby Demonstrator just for yourself and a few friends, or to hold your own parties/workshops, or build a small business of your own, then Stampin' Up! can offer you that flexibility to do as much or as little as you wish.  What have you got to lose - take the Starter kit for a test drive with no obligation but fantastic offers and a whopping 30% discount of your first order.

If you fancy joining in the Sale-A-Bration fun then please contact me for more details.

 

For anyone who contacts me about any of the above Special Offers before I contact you, will receive an additional special handmade gift at your event or when you sign up.

 

So what are you waiting for - I'm waiting for your call :-)

Happy Craftin'

 

Sandra

Tel : 01366 728407 or 07806 616704
Email : sroberts07@btinternet.com
 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY - Michelle

......and yet another birthday this week, celebrating my upline Michelle's birthday with this bright floral deign.

My SU10 hostess last Thursday evening I knew was a great fan of punchart. So whilst browsing through my notebooks, I found this design that I had sketched to adapt using our wonderful Stampin' Up! range of punches. The Full Heart punch made the 'petals' with 1-3/4" circle punch for flower centre, Bird Builder punch wing for leaves and Teeny Tiny Sentiments for greeting. This was great for birthdays or any occasion.

I found that punching a 1-3/4" circle in paper, folding into half and half again then snipping the tiny centre, helped make a template to find the centre of a circle and mark on the card punched out. I then drew round a 1/2" circle and used this to line up the points of the hearts evenly (as in the photo). The greeting was then stamped and punched and mounted on Stampin' Dimensional 3D foam pads.

 

 

 

I really enjoyed preparing this one and continued to make several more using Stampin Up! 2012-2014 In-Colours. With a variety of different greetings, I now have several in stock for more birthdays later in the month.

I had to send my apologies to Michelle for then leaving the card on my desk at work when we got sent home early Friday afternoon because of the snow. What can a girl do when sent home from work early, other than craft some more and pop another one in the post.

The subsequent ones I made, had a little added embellishment with a flower made using Boho Blossoms punch, a clear Itty Bitty Button with DSP backing, tied with Bakers Twine.

 

Hope you like, I know the ladies and I certainly did.

Bye for now.

Sandra

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA

….. and the 3rd day of consecutive birthdays this week !!!

 

Today was the turn of Laura, one of my lovely Stampin’ Up! downline. For her card I have been playing with some of the Sycamore Street Designer Series Paper with Feeling Sentimental Stamp set – both of which will be available FREE from 22nd November.

If you fancy getting your hands on some of these free items, get in touch.

Bye for now,

Sandra

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE

The 2nd consecutive birthday this week !!!

Using a CASE of a swap I received from a fellow demonstrator, this bright and colourful design uses Up, up and away stamp set.

 

Pop back tomorrow for the next birthday creation this week.  I wonder who that could be ???

Until next time… happy craftin’.

Sandra

COLOUR Q challenge #172

Last week I stumbled upon another weekly challenge and was getting all ready to assemble my cardstock for the colour combination, only to discover that a new challenge was added today !!  This challenge can be found HERE.

 

This weeks challenge was to use Melon Mambo, Summer Starfruit, Basic Gray, Poppy Parade (now retired) and Whisper White.

I have added another little sneak peak - the Honeycombe Textured Embossing Folder and new Petite Butterfly punch will be available in the Spring / Summer catalogue from 1st February, together with the butterfly stamp from one of the Sale-A-Bration stamp sets from 22nd January.

Until next time… happy craftin’.

Sandra

TINSEL TUESDAY - week 3

Here is Catherine's weekly 'Tuesday Tinsel' challenge HERE.

 

Here I have used greeting from Teeny Tiny Sentiments #129579 (W) #120024 (C) with Primrose Petals and Raspberry Ripple Designer Series Paper. The present is a small piece of DSP, mounted on to Whisper White card stock and tied as a parcel sing Bakers Twine.

 

Bye for now and Happy Craftin'

Sandra

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANE

This is a popular week for birthdays !!!  

I’ve recently chosen to do some work recently with card sketches.  By having an idea of which stamp set I would like to use, selecting a nice colour combination and then a couple of sketches to work around.

Today is the first of 3 birthdays this week, helping Jane from Bardwell, celebrate her birthday.

The lighting wasn’t terribly good here but I’ve used the new In-Colour Summer Startfruit together with DSP and stamp set available from Sale-A-Bration from 22nd January.

Pop back tomorrow for the next birthday creation this week.

Until next time… happy craftin’.

Sandra

TINSEL TUESDAY - week 2

Continuing with Catherine’s weekly blog challenge’  HERE , this was her ‘Tinsel Tuesday' sketch this week. 

 

 

Here is my interpretation to this weeks challenge. I've used the Christmas stamp from the 'For The Birds' stamp set, using Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White.

 

This challenge feels a bit odd with all the Christmas decorations down and packed away since last weekend, but is such a good way to get cards made in really good time for December.  Just think ....... if you made two each week of the same design, you would have over 100 by Christmas, three each week 150 made etc.

 

Catch up again soon, happy craftin'.

 

Sandra

SHARING SWAPS

Today, several of my team and I are meeting up with some fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrators at a training event in Peterborough, to share ideas for Sale-A-Bration which starts 22nd January.

Here is a quick look at my first design sample for swap I made with the Two-Tags die, together with the SAB Blooming' Marvellous stamp set, which you can earn for FREE with a £45 order. The final design changed slightly to add some 'bling' !!

 

Pop back tomorrow to see what else we got up to ......

Happy crafting'

Sandra

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAHAM

Today's post features a card made for Graham's birthday today.

 

Prior to finding Stampin' Up! Products, my crafting led me to fall in love with the cute animals of Penny Blacks range of stamps, whist enabling me to relax with my subtle water colouring.

 

Graham is the Bandmaster at RAF Wyton Voluntary Band where David and I used to play. We were both made Honorary members when we left, due to the 100 mile round trip, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. Rising cost of fuel and other commitments made the decision but we enjoy keeping in touch with our friends ad enjoyed a lovely Christmas meal in December.

Pop back tomorrow when I hope Week 2 of Tinsel challenge will have been released.

Apologies if this post looks a bit different but it's a first test of the new Blogger App downloaded and created via my iPad.

Happy craftin'

Sandra

TINSEL TUESDAY – week 1

This year I was hoping to find time to join in some online craft challenges.

I was so pleased to stumble across Catherine’s blog, setting a ‘Tinsel Tuesday Challenge’ over HERE .  As it is linked to Christmas, it also ties in with one of my New Years Resolutions, so seemed like a must.

Week 1 sketch

 

Inspired by stack of trees on a swap I received from a fellow demonstrator at Convention 2012, I have used one of the Merry Mini punch trio and greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The tub is made from the bottom section of the tree, upside down !!!

 

The ‘faux gold leaf’ was discovered by a happy accident, having given out Ferrero Rocher chocolates to my Christmas card club crafters.

  

Carefully remove the sticker on the top without tearing the foil if possible.

Smooth out most of the creases with finger tip.

 

 

 Cover the entire back of the foil with Tombow adhesive, using a scrap of card to spread.

Attach to piece of Whisper White cardstock.

 

Punch row of trees.  Cut off strip wide enough for two rows back to back.

I managed 39 trees from just one wrapper !!!!

Have fun eating up all the leftover choccies before the diets start.  Why not try with scrunched up kitchen foil or any other coloured foil from other brands of chocolates too. 

 

Happy Crafting

Sandra

HAPPY NEW YEAR & NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

Here’s wishing all my friends, family and customers a fantastic New Year 2013.

I have a number of New Years Resolutions and also Goals that I want to achieve this year.

So that you can all help keep me on track, I am publicly sharing the main ones with you :-

1.  To lose a minimum of 3-stone by Stampin’ Up! Convention in November 2013.

2.  To have all my Christmas cards made and ready for posting by 30th November 2013.

3.  To blog at least once a week !!!!

Updating my blog is a huge challenge for me, as this is always bottom of my list of jobs to do when time is short.  As several of you know, last year brought many new challenges which took up incredible amount of time when not at work.  This year, my blog will take more priority and I’m hoping that my new iPad will help being able to do ‘on the hoof’ so to speak :-)

My list of goals will be kept with me in my planner and updated regularly if any of you are interested to see how I am doing.

 

Happy Crafting and Happy 2013.

Catch up soon,

 

Sandra