TUESDAY TOP TIP

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Lots of people use their stamps to ink in black or grey and then colour in with their preferred colouring medium eg watercolour pencils, markers etc.

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Here are my supplies for today's TUESDAY TOP TIP.

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As you can see, we have a clear stamp mounted onto an acrylic block. I have Stampin' Write Markers in Rose Rose, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. The stamp in the photo has already been inked and ready to stamp.

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These are the 4 images I have stamped from that one inked image. For best results you will need to use Watercolour Paper #105019. In between each one, I have held the stamp, face upwards, mid air (away from the table) and spritzed lightly with a very fine water spray. Stamp again and repeat.

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Once you have finished stamping, take your Aqua Painter #103954 and gently pull in the colour already on your image. There is no need to add further ink. Take care to clean your brush on kitchen paper in between sections and when changing colours.

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Pop back later and I will post samples made at Saturdays Workshop using these images.

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Happy craftin'

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Sandra

TUESDAY TOP TIP

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When you are embossing, there are special little Embossing Buddies you can buy via me from Stampin' Up! They are neat little pouch that fits into a corner of your crafting caddy and do just the perfect job for preventing little speckles of embossing powder sticking to your project where you don't want it. They last for a very long time !!

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Simply wipe the little pouch over cardstock and a very fine layer of fine powder will be left on card. Stamp and emboss in the usual way and you will have a perfect image.

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If you haven't got round to getting one yet, as a temporary measure tip some talcum powder into a dish and use a paintbrush to dust powder over card instead. Not an ideal way but will help you get buy under you get the proper item !

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Pop back next week for another Top Tip Tuesday !!

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Happy craftin'

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Sandra

WHAT A SURPRISE !!!!!!

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Well I was chuffed to have had a visit from the lovely Peg who I met through Stampin Up training events. She left me this award at the weekend and I've had fun reading everyones 8 random facts. .

Well here are my random facts :-.

1. 
   
   I think, live and breathe CRAFTING and love every minute of it. When hubby puts TV onto the sport channel or boring documentaries, I am more than happy to go upstairs to my craft room. I enjoy getting inspiration from everyday moments in life. (Yes Grace, I am currently re-creating the decoration on your jumper from Saturday, LOL). Creating and sharing with my lovely class ladies (and gent) is a great way to spend an evening or Saturday.


2. 
   
   I am a GRADE VIII musician . I play Clarinet and Saxophone and whilst I do not play regularly any more (choosing to let craft take up more time), I still enjoy playing for amateur dramatic productions in Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal and will be playing in the pit for 'Crazy For You' from 21st-26th March.


3. 
   
   DAVID & I have both been married before and both used to play in RAF Honington and RAF Wyton Voluntary Band. He claims he only went out with me because Wyton needed another Clarinet player !!!! We kept our wedding secret at Cambridgshire Registry office and as, we got married a week before my birthday, we planned a birthday BBQ at home with 70 of our family and friends. It was lovely to see their faces as the penny gradually dropped !!


4. 
   
   I ride a HONDA GOLDWING 1800 TRIKE - well some of you will have noticed the picture on my Blog, but that is David driving. My first solo trip was last year whilst down in Cornwall for the Goldwing Treffen and I took off on my own to visit fellow demonstrator Abi for a few hours 'crafting fix'. Who would have thought that a motorbike would have a towbar .... yes, we tow a trailer making the outfit much bigger than a car. I also am now a seasoned camper ........ Cornwall in the wet, with broken tent zip, that was fun !!!!! We've bought a new one now.


5. 
   
   Sad I know but I check the Premium Bond website every 3rd working day of the month (or thereabouts) just to see if uncle E.R.N.I.E. has been kind to me this month. I would really like to pay off the mortgage so I can go part time and craft more ......... I keep dreaming !!


6. 
   
   I worked for Barclays Bank PLC for just under 25yrs before being made redundant in 2004. I now work for Priory Group, working in a school for children with challenging behaviours, still doing finance and budgets etc. My work life balance has been totally restored, working just 1 mile from home is simply wonderful.


7. 
   
   I have an adopted MUM ........... well unofficially. Pat worked for me in my team at Barclays Bank PLC and became a very close and dear friend and agony aunt, seeing me through many of lives troubles including divorce, moving house etc. She is also a talented crafter and we love spending time together whenever I have a day off work. I adopted her as my 'Mum' many years ago.


8. 
   
   I have a TWIN .......... well unofficially too. My latest downline Emily is so like me it is uncanny. There are so many things we do, think and share that are the same, I think we must be twins. (In real life I have one sister who is a Detective Sergeant for Norfolk Constabulary).

I would like to pass this lovely award on to the following :-

• Peg - http://pegcraftalot.com


• Abi - http://cornwallcraftystamper.blogspot.com


• Natalie - http://www.natalieoshea.co.uk/blog.html


• Zoe - http://stampingscene.blogspot.com


• Monica - http://monicas-passions.blogspot.com


• Kirsteen - http://www.creatinwithkirsteen.com


• Valita - http://valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com


• Andrea - http://creatingcardswithandrea.blogspot.com

Sorry but I've added a bonus honary award to Emily at - http://www.stampinmermaid.blogspot.com/. As a new demo she has only just started her blog but, not being a PC whizz, I am proud that she has mastered posting a photo and entry on her own. Keep an eye on more exciting things happening on here in the future.
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Well I've had fun creatin this post and hope you enjoyed reading.

Take care and happy crafting. I'm waiting some more crafting goodies to arrive which I cannot wait to try out.

Sandra

TUESDAY TOP TIP

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Hi crafters !
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Seems there has been a bit of a blip with my Top Tips - the dates have gone silly and one not posted. I had picked up a draft email I'd saved but was empty and typed one and of course, it dated the post on the date it had originally saved ! It wasn't really January's.

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Anyway, I've re-typed last Tuesday 8th February here and also got Tuesday 15th February scheduled for 7am!! Well hope it works OK.

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TOP TIP TUESDAY

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When I began crafting many years ago, I used to 'wipe' the ink pad along the edge of the card. For some time now I have been using a sponging technique which has become one of my favourites. It allows a small 'smoky' effect round the edge of cards.

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When I get home from holding classes, I have a bag of sponges and sponge daubers, sometimes in a variety of colours, which need cleaning ready for the next class.

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Up to now I have squeezed them through in the sink with a bit of washing up liquid. Recently one of my fellow crafters shared with me that they put in a net bag in the washing machine !!! I would just say, make sure it is a dark load and I would also just rinse excess out under the tap first.

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Here is a card that we made yesterday with the lovely ladies in Stamford.

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We have used the sponges to accent round edge of the Very Vanilla mat layer and also round the greeting. Everyone had fun creating the centre image, again sponging over our embossed image and then polishing off with kitchen roll which made our image 'pop'.

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My Bury St Edmunds and Norwich classes will be making a variation on this card as one of their card selection on 26th and 27th February respectively whilst crafting with Just Believe stamp set #116948 (W) and 120453 (C). The colour choice this month is the Neutrals collection and all attendees will receive half a pack of Neutrals cardstock #121699, a stash of wonderful Designer Series Paper in the Neutrals #117157 and a selection of ribbons and accesories in the same colour theme.

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Please contact me to reserve your place on 01366 728407 / 07806 616704.

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Please pop back soon.

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Happy crafting.

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Sandra

BIRTHDAY INSPIRATION

This weekend we have had my sister-in-law and her husband visiting from Shropshire for her birthday. David had asked some female colleagues what to buy a 'woman who has everything' and was suggested some Jo Malone perfume (he also got me some for my Valentine gift).

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As soon as I saw the clean and simple lines of the packaging, I knew I wanted to make her card along the same lines.

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He read all the write-ups about each fragrance and went with one of the most popular ones Pomegranate Noir. Not only did he choose a range she really liked, but also chose her favourite fragrance in the collection. Didn't he do well !!

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Here I have used Basic Black 5/8" Satin Ribbon with the Happy Birthday greeting from Party This Way stamp set on Basic Black and Very Vanilla cardstock. I hope you like my interpretation.

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Hope to see you back soon.

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Sandra

'TOP TIP TUESDAY'

TODAYS TOP TIP : How many times have you stuck cards together upside down or opening the wrong way ?

If this happens, please do not panic ! Providing you have used ordinary double sided tape (not the red sticky tape), simply heat gently from the back with a heat gun. This will warm the glue sufficiently to let you peel off and reapply correctly.

I've used this tip several times this week to help customers so thought it would be a good one to share for this weeks 'top tip'.

If you have used red sticky tape, all is not lost. Trim at the fold and mat and layer onto another card base !

See you again next week.

Sandra

'TOP TIP TUESDAY'

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Hi again, a bit later than usual !!

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Today's tip is using those fantastic MINI GLUE DOTS. There are various brands on the market but I prefer the Stampin' Up! ones - my regular customers know, I never recommend something just because it's SU unless I truely believe in it - this is one of those products. It took me a long while to become addicted to them but, for those of you who know how tacky the red sticky strip is, then these are just the same.

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They are great for attaching embellishments to cards. I especially like them for attaching small bows to projects. Simply push the back of the bow onto the glue dot on the roll and then gently peel off and then glue comes too !!

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If you have smaller embellishments, why not try rolling glue dot between your fingers to make even smaller !

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Hope to see you back again soon.

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Sandra

S-A-B BLOG HOP - Technique

Hi
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I promised to post another colour way of one of my Sale-A-Bration Blog Hop cards from yesterday.

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Here I have used Rich Razzleberry as a base card with Baja Breeze and Whisper White.

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Several people yesterday asked how I had done the colour panels. On these samples I masked off a square or rectangle with Post It notes (however I have now ordered both sizes of square punch so I can just punch out in classes).

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Simply sponge through the hole with the centre colour and then with a contrast either side. The shape can be any size or shape.

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The butterfly from Sale-A-Bration BLISS stamp set has been stamped in Basic Black ink and then stamped again onto scrap of Whisper White, card out by hand (sorry no punch for this one !) and attached just down the centre so that the wings are lose.

The greeting and small butterfly is from Sale-A-Bration SO HAPPY FOR YOU stamp set.

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I hope you enjoyed yesterdays 'blog hop' and have lots of inspiration for your stamp sets.

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Until next time.

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Happy Crafting

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Sandra

Welcome to our

SALE-A-BRATION Blog Hop

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Today, 42 Demonstrators have got together to organise four Blog Hop groups to share with you some inspiration using the 2011 SALE-A-BRATION stamp sets that you can get FREE with every £45 spent in the current Ideas Book & Catalogue, and there are FOUR sets to collect before 28th February 2011.

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Simply follow the links in each blog post, either forwards or backwards and you should start back at where you started. I have included the link to the start of each group at the bottom. So, make yourself a cuppa, forget the housework for a while and sit back and enjoy your tour. I'm sure that that you will soon be thumbing through the catalogue to make your next order and and choosing your FREE stamp sets. (If you don't have a copy there is a link at the top left of this blog).

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Providing all the links have been scheduled correctly for 10am today, you may have just joined me from Emma @ http://emma-daye.blogspot.com and hope you are enjoying all the inspiration your have seen so far on your tour. If you have already been round this loop you may wish to click on the start of one of the other groups listed at the bottom of this post.

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For our contribution today, my downline Emily and I started by designing this cute little set of five 10cm x 10cm cards, going out of our comfort zone and working with colours we wouldn't normally use. Here we used Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight with a Basic Black silhouette on each of the designs. We have used all 5 greetings from SO HAPPY FOR YOU stamp set for this collection, one on each card.

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This owl is from PUNCH BUNCH stamp set. Our cute little owl will also be available from 1st April 2011 as a punch in our Mini Catalogue. With one gentle squeeze, you punch all 9 component pieces to mix and match into some delightful characters. I love this little chap and can guarantee you will be seeing lots more of him !!!!

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This scalloped flower is also from PUNCH BUNCH. Every stamp in this set has a co-ordinating punch.

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This card uses Butterfly from BLISS stamp set. Pop back tomorrow to another version of this card in a different colour way that I am sharing in a demo swop today.

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Here again is a wonderful scroll from the BLISS stamp set. This also makes some wonderful background effects for your card.

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The last one in this little set comes from SWEET SUMMER stamp set and again is very versatile.

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We then continued out of our comfort zone to make this little quarter card with Cajun Craze cardstock and Designer Series Paper from the Regals collection. The centre greeting is from PUNCH BUNCH stamp set and has been punched with the Square Scallop punch.

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.... and finally, we continued with our Cajun Craze cardstock and Designer Series Paper to make an owl spinner card. The owl is from PUNCH BUNCH stamp set and greeting from SO HAPPY FOR YOU stamp set. I will show you how to make this spinner card in my all-day workshop in March. Please contact me for scheduled workshop dates for the whole of 2011 in Thetford, Bury St Edmunds, Norwich and Stamford - Tel. 01366 728407 / 07806 616704 or email sroberts07@btinternet.com.

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I hope you have enjoyed your blog hop tour so far and dont forget, you can have these stamp sets for FREE too. Click on this link to go to Gemma @ http://makedoandgem.blogspot.com/ for your next inspiration.

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Group 1 starts - http://sarastamper.blogspot.com/

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Group 2 starts - http://my-next-chapter.blogspot.com/ (I'm in this group)

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Group 3 starts - http://kerenbaker.wordpress.com/

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Group 4 starts - http://www.creatinwithkirsteen.com/

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Thanks for stopping by.
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Sandra

Sarah & Steph's Shaving Foam cards

Tuesday was my monthly girls get together with Sarah and Steph from here in the village.

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I refrained from the red wine as feeling groggy with cough, thumping head and taking medication etc. They had never tried shaving foam technique and I only like to do the 'messy' cards when in is my month to host.
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They enjoyed playing with the retired cardstock colours and re-inkers in Taken with Teal, Regal Rose and Ballet Blue.

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It's amazing the backgrounds that can be achieved. If you haven't tried .... give it a go !

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Sandra

Here's one of the cards Emily, Pat, Angie and I made yesterday at our team meeting.

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It was taking us all out of our comfort zone, using bright colours that we would not normally put together. It wasn't as painful as we all thought either !!

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Here we used Red Riding Hood, Daffodil Delight and Wild Wasabi. The tulips are from Garden Whimsy and were stamped and cut out free-hand, rasing the tulip head of Stampin' Dimensionals.

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Sandra

WOW .... WHAT A DAY !!

Take 2 crafters, add 13 hours, remove sleep (who needs it anyway), children and cats, retire one husband to bed and leave the other back home with baby and dogs and ...............

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That's the way to spend time with your Stampin' Up! downline, having huge amounts of fun and laughter whilst crafting of course !!

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Yesterday Emily came down to Norfolk for our first Krafty C.A.T.S. team meeting today. Unfortunately (!!!) Emily lives too far away to travel today so was forced to stay overnight. As I worked last Sunday, I took Friday as holiday so hey presto ........ instant Craft Marathon !!! Well perhaps half-marathon as 13 hours.

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After my bleary-eyed husband woke from his slumber to say "are you two staying up all night ?" we finally thought we had better retire to bed at 3am. Four hours kip and here we are again !!

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Haven't taken photos yet, but please pop back tomorrow to see some of our creations. Unfortunately many of them are for classes so will have to keep you in suspense a little longer so as not to spoil the surprise. Of course, if you book your classes, then you will be the first to see :-)

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See you tomorrow.

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ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

'TOP TIP TUESDAY'

Welcome to a regular little slot to pass on hints and tips to you all.

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TODAY's TIP : When punching small pieces, either from scrap or to re-punch perhaps for Punchart, use a Post-It note. Attach your piece of card to the sticky part of the Post It note to punch.

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At the weekend, I showed one of my classes how to cut a thin scrap of card neatly in half to make two long thin strips. Being too small to place in the Guilotine or paper trimmer on it's own, simply line up with the edge of the post it note and place in the guiltotine or paper trimmer. Because you have a larger piece it works a treat and leaves you with two straight pieces.

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I know I wouldn't be without Post It notes in my craft tote ! They have so many uses.

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Hope you find this useful and remember to pop back next Tuesday for another 'Top Tip'.

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Sandra

'TOP TIP' TUESDAY

Welcome to a regular little slot to pass on

hints and tips to you all.

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TODAY's TIP : I find especially helpful when working with small fiddly pieces of card, gems etc and sticking eyes & noses on cute little punchart creations!!

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Trim the pointed tip from a cocktail stick. Apply a large 'blob' of Tombow Multi-Purpose adhesive (available from me @ Stampin' Up!) and allow to dry. I insert the other pointed end of the cocktail stick into the top of my kitchen roll and then the sticky bit will dry without getting glue on everything else !

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Once dry, it will remain slightly tacky and is excellent for picking up the smallest crafting items. I use a Pringles lid to rest it in while using so that other materials do not get attached.

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Hope you find this useful and remember to pop back next Tuesday for another Top Tip!

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Sandra

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year !!!

Well didn't December go quickly !!! Every year I say I will have all my Christmas cards made, addressed and stamped ready for posting on 1st December .... and every year I fail, with many catching the last posting day !! However, I have a plan in place for 2011 ........ watch this space !

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Here is a picture of some of my Thetford Stampers 10 group enjoying their Christmas meal. Unfortunately not everyone could be there and of course we had the lovely Janet taking the photo. A lovely evening was had by all and the food was terrific.

Hopefully everyone has survived the bad snow falls and had an enjoyable Christmas with their families. David and I have just returned from Manchester having taken David's 83yr old Auntie back from her fortnight Christmas holiday in Norfolk. I must admit he was a real treasure, spending Christmas Eve putting together the new storeage units for my craft room !! DIY is not his strongest talent ..... hence the additional shelves that I put up, with some 'supervision' of course. He did admit that the only reason he did it then was because the delivery arrived at lunchtime on Christmas Eve and was filling our hall so no-one could move. Well, they did promise delivery before Christmas.

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So as we all prepare to see the New Year in, may I wish you all a very Happy New Year with lots of crafting !!

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Catch up again very soon.

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Sandra

HOW MUCH SNOW HAVE YOU STILL GOT ??

Well much as I love to see the countryside all white, it's now gradually disappearing. I should have been at the Stamp With Us day on Saturday near Crawley but unfortuantely the weather prevented us going - the thought of being stuck down there or on the motorway. Natalie reported 14" of snow and I know some areas were even worse.

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Being disappointed that my weekend didn't go as planned, at least I have something to look forward to tomorrow. Another day off work - this time to wait in for a delivery. My craftroom walls will not expand any further and so I have decided to invest in some wonderful new storage. If any of you have bought craft magazines lately, you may have seen full page adverts for crafts4storage and the Really Useful Boxes. The units themselves count as 'furniture' and therefore on a 21 day delivery, however the boxes themselves should be delivered tomorrow so I can start filling them and get organised. The units should be here by Christmas so I can get everything put away before the festivities begin in the Roberts' household. How's that for starting the Spring cleaning early !!

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Today I have put up some more shelving, the sort where you can adjust the height easily. Where I thought I could only get two shelves, I can now get another one so back to Focus this week when I pop into Thetford to get my hair cut.

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It's all so exciting as I love my craft room but so desperately needed that extra storage space. I was so pleased when Stampin' Up! introduced Clear Mount stamp sets in the NEW catalogue in October. This is a not only a great cost saving but more importantly so much lighter and smaller to store. Many of my customers prefer them as they can see where to place their images without using a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.

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Every year I aim to have all my Christmas preparation finished by 1st December but somehow it just never happens. Oh well there's always next year. Back to writing Christmas cards and sticking on stamps ready for posting.

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Bye for now, keep safe and warm.

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Sandra

1st DAY OF CHRISTMAS

Well, here we are on the 1st December and Christmas is approaching all too fast. I still have so much to do.

Firstly, a big thank you to all those who ventured out in the snowy conditions on Saturday to attend our Christmas Jingle workshop at the Anglian Sports & Social club with Angie and myself. Whilst the journey in was a little scary, I was pleased we had wonderful sunshine all day with no further snow fall, and hope you all got home safely.

With half of a Simply Scrappin' Christmas Jingle kit, plus some extras, there were 24 samples on display and attendees were able to use their materials plus additional stamps, punches etc to make whichever designs they chose and also to vary as they wished. Here are a few of samples :-

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In addition to this, our class had a CD calendar to make and decorate. This was a project that Angie and myself completed when we attended a 'Stamp With Us' weekend earlier in the year. Apologies no picture but I need to find my sample which is buried in my overflowing craft room. I have ordered some new storage and will hopefully be starting to re-organise soon, so will keep you updated in another blog post later. Will add photo as soon as I find. Weather permitting, we are off to another 'Stamp With Us' day on Saturday, so pop back here next week to see what we got up to.

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Secondly, I would like to share the birthday card I made for Julie and Sarah who both had birthdays last week. I have seen this flower created by several different people but this is a slight twist on a variation.

My December Workshop is Bury St Edmunds is a further Punchart class, learning how to make fun creatures with punches but also alternative ways to use those punches that you may not have thought of. This will be completely different projects to a similar class earlier this year.

If you are interested in attending on Saturday 11th December, 10am-4pm at the Moreton Hall Community Centre in Bury, please give me a call on 07806 616704 to reserve the last few spaces. I look forward to you joining us.

Please keep safe and warm in this snowy weather.

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Sandra

Stampin' Up! goes to Disneyland Paris

I would like to just share with the fantastic time I had at the begining of November at Stampin' Up! European Convention.

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Following on from the first European event in Frankfurt last year, it was lovely to meet up with Shelli, Eileen and other SU staff again, together with friends both old and new, at Addington Palace near London, our venue for 2010.

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When Demonstrators get together at any events, they always like to 'Inspire, Create and Share' and this means swopping card designs with each other. Here is my card design, unfortunately the photo does not do it justice but I have used the Cherry Cobler and Whisper White cardstock, Sparkling roller with Whisper White Kraft ink, Contempo Christmas stamp set with Cherry Cobler ink and Ornament punch. The bauble hangers were from Tree Trimmings, stamped in basic Black ink and the finished background was sprayed with SU Champagne shimmer paint mixed with isopropanol alcohol to create a lovely sparkle.

At the end of the event, not only were we given the dates for next years Convention on 18th and 19th November 2011 but also the announcement that the 2011 event will be held at ................ Disneyland Paris !! .The roar of excitement from the 300 Demonstrators from UK, France and Germany who attended this year, was fantastic. Everyone is so excited and many, including myself, are already planning to stay for a few days longer.
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ALL Stampin' Up! Demonstrators are able to attend, so if you fancy becoming part of my team, and joining me on a trip to Disneyland next Autumn, then please contact me to find out more about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. Whether you wish to purchase products for yourself and close friends at a discount price, whether you like to meet people and demonstrate at a few parties/workshops or whether you wish to pursue career propects within Stampin' Up!, there is always a place for you.

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Please do not be put off by thinking there may already be a demonstrator in your area. There are no territories or boundaries, as we all know different circles of friends and acquantancies and share different ideas. Remember, Stampin' Up! does not just have to be limited to your immediate local area but can be shared across the whole of the UK.

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Our low cost starter kit has been reduced even further to £119 and contains over £230 of product, which you can tailor to suit yourself. With a small quarterly minimum to remain active, there really is nothing to lose. Even if you only wish to buy products for yourself, a few friends or your local craft club, there are many savings and free products to benefit from.

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For those of you who attended the recent show in Bury St Edmunds, I have been busy firming up dates for the whole of 2011 which I hope to publish very shortly and mail to you. This will also include details of an Opportunity Event to find out more about benefits of becoming a Demonstrator and a Special Recruitment offer which I will be launching for January 2011.

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In addition to regular classes in Thetford, Bury St Edmunds, Norwich and Stamford, I would like to hear from anyone interested in attending FREE monthly evening classes. My Stamper's 10 group in Thetford has been very popular and I am now looking to start additional groups at locations near you. Please contact me for further information.

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Happy Crafting

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Sandra

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Tel : 07806 616704 or Email to : sroberts07@btinternet.com

BUNDLE UP FOR CHRISTMAS PROMOTION

November & December 2010

This Christmas season get an exclusive package of ribbon for FREE when you purchase a Christmas gift-giving bundle!
Choose from :-

Gifted Bundle
Gifted set and Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper £35.70 Wood / £30.70 Clear Mount

Welcome Christmas Bundle
Welcome Christmas Set and Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Series Paper £36.90 Wood / £31.90 Clear Mount

Season of Joy Bundle
Season of Joy Set and So Swirly Stampin' Around Wheel £36.45

Delightful Decorations Bundle
Delightful Decorations Set and Ornament Punch £37.45

Then choose one package of ribbon absolutely FREE worth up to £11.50.

Unfortunatley I have not been able to get the image large and clear enough to show here, but if you are interested, please drop me an email and I will forward by return.

Remember this offer runs until 29th December.

Whilst the ribbons are in our festive colours, they do not contain Christmas images and can therefore be used all year round.

Contact me today to place your order or schedule your Christmas Workshop.

Sandra

Tel : 01366 728407 / 07806 616704 / sroberts07@btinternet.com

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NOVEMBER SPECIAL OFFERS .....

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Just popped onto the Stampin' Up! demo website and seen they have just released some fab Special Offers for Christmas bundles during November.

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Sorry must dash for work but will update on here later.

SUFFOLK PAPERCRAFT EVENT

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One of our local craft shops, Stamp Hut in Bury St Edmunds, organised a large craft event yesterday (similar to the regular Sincerely Yours events held in Bury St Edmunds / Thetford) and I was invited to have a Stampin' Up! stand at their Suffolk Papercraft event.

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As always, it was extremely busy but having done two similar events, we were well organised and prepared !!! I was so grateful to have Emily, to help me. She is a lovely lady who also recently signed up as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator having attended her first all day workshop with me in Stamford !! She has just moved to Mablethorpe so if you have any family or friends in that area who may be interested in learning more about Stampin' Up! or classes/workshops, please let me know and I will put you in touch with her.

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Here is the Make & Take that everyone made at the event. Due to the sheer volume of visitors to our stand, it was a slightly easier adaptation of my swops for the Convention this weekend. These ones were made in the gorgeous Rich Razzleberry colour and using the baubles from Delightful Decorations and Contempo Christmas. Everyone was impressed by how quickly they could make such a wonderful Christmas card. Our youngest participant was 4yrs old, the oldest was 90yrs old and yes .... we did encourage some of the men too !!!!!!

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Our Free Prize Draw was won

by Frances from Cambridge

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She was absolutely delighted when I telephoned that evening to give her the good news and will be dropping off her prize on Thursday morning on my way to Convention.

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We thoroughly enjoyed seeing so many new faces and to be able to have the opportunity to introduce you to the fantastic Stampin' Up! products available. There was lots of interest in classes I run locally and I will be contacting everyone that entered our draw in the next couple of weeks, just as soon as dates and venues for my 2011 classes & workshops have been finalised. For the ladies out of this area, I will be doing my best to contact demonstrators local to you so that you don't miss out.

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In the meantime please do not hesitate to contact me for further information. My husband will tell you that since January I have been glued to my iPhone as I love the convenience of being able to collect emails 'on the run' so to speak.

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Email : sroberts07@btinternet.com

Mobile : 07806 616704

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So ....... please feel free to pop back over the weekend to see photos and details of the swops I am sharing this weekend in London.

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Happy stamping !

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Sandra

CAROUSEL ... the Musical

Hi folks,

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Well, what a busy couple of weeks ..... I played Clarinet in the Orchestra pit in Bury St Edmunds for the Bury St Edmunds Amateur Dramatic Society production of the Musical 'Carousel'. Sight reading Monday evening for Dress rehearsal and then the show ran Tuesday to Saturday, plus a Saturday matinee. I wasn't able to help them Thursday evening because of my Stampers 10 and Saturday Matinee as I had another fun day running a Stampin' Up! Workshop for in Weeting, so, five performances of the same show and I can't get the tunes out of my head !!

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Friday and Saturday this week is Stampin' Up! Annual European Convention, this year being held at Addington Palace in Surrey. I so was pleased and proud to have been able to attend their 1st Euopean Convention in Germany last year. It doesn't seem possible that a year has flown by.

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Last week I was on a mission to finish my 250 swops for the event, which I'm pleased to say I achieved. As of today, it's now only 3 days before Angie and I leave and still quite a bit to do. I had a day off work last Friday and spent the whole day crafting with my dear friend Pat, who I refer to as my 'adopted' Mum and is also one of my Stampin' Up! downline. We always have so much news to catch up on and so much crafting to enjoy, that we don't want waste time to stop for lunch.

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I'm pleased to say that we finalised my design for my CMC swop (90 now all made just the photos to add) and also my Card Candy Swop (10 of these to make). The designs are scheduled to appear here on my blog over the weekend so I can keep the surprise for the other demonstrators receiving them this weekend. I have never done a Card Candy swop before and we had lots of fun creating some masterpieces. Pop back at the weekend to see these explained in more detail.

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Happy crafting

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Sandra

SOUTH LOPHAM CRAFT FAIR

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This weekend I will be back to the village where I grew up for their Annual craft fair. Unfortunately I was unable to make last year as, due to the renovations, the venue and date were changed.

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Typically in the past there has been wood-turning, spinning wool, terrific plant and cake stalls together with lots of individual arts and crafts stalls.

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ST ANDREW's CHURCH, SOUTH LOPHAM

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Saturday 16th October, 10am-5pm

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Sunday 17th October, 11am-4pm

(not 10am as originally posted)

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Here is one the boxes we made at my last workshop, Boxes, Bags and Tags. I have made a few different variations but adapted the size to fit a small bottle of wine to make an ideal small gift. I'm hoping these will be popular Christmas gifts over the weekend.

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Everyone is falling in love with this new colour 'Cherry Cobbler'. Here the Stampin' Up! white Craft ink looks stunning against the dark card. Of course you can add Dazzling Diamonds to give it a bit of sparkle too. This is a great way to use up all your non-Stampin Up card to make space for the wonderful new selecton of colours.

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As always, time has run away with me and haven't had the time to make as much as I would like for the fair and tonight I have more candles to make. These have both been going down a storm at recent Workshops, everyone is so proud of what they have achieved.

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This weekend is always a good opportunity for me to spend 2 days actually crafting at the table and demonstrating. When it is quieter I may try and put together my 250 Make & Takes for the Stampin' Up! Convention in 3 weeks time. I then have 90 beer mat (mini scrapbook album pages) swops to make and 10 other Card Candy swops.
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Look forward to seeing you at the weekend if you are popping by.
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Sandra

HOSTESS GIFT

This is the swop that I made for High Wycombe training event in September using the new Hostess level 1 gift, Punch Potpourri. The colours on the photo are not too clear but this is using the NEW Pear Pizzazz and Early Expresso.

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.YOU COULD EARN THIS SET

**** FREE ****

My favourite Hostess gift as all four images have a corresponding punch. Simply stamp, punch and create.

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If you would like me to come and demonstrate a workshop in your home or local community venue, please contact me. Let me talk you through the benefits you could earn being a hostess or even have a 'virtual party' yourself. I can provide a catalogue and order forms for you and providing orders are a minimum of £150, you can earn a FREE hostess gift and minimum of £15 of FREE product of your choice to spend in the catalogue.

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Pop back later for some more ideas.
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Sandra

WHOOOOPPPPEEEEE !!!!

THE NEW CATALOGUE IS HERE !!!!

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Hi crafters

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For those of you who couldn't join me on Friday or Saturday, please click on link to browse through the new catty in a lovely page turning format, so you really think you have the real thing in your hands. Please let me know if you wish to purchase a copy, it's bigger and better than before !!

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There are some fab new things to point out to you all.

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Firstly, we now have CLEAR STAMPS. Many of you will realise these work out much cheaper. I know many crafters already have clear blocks but I really do like what I've seen of the new Stampin' Up! ones. They have a finger groove all the way round, nice ronded corners and light which make them very comfortable to use. Of course, being clear they help you position exactly where you want to.

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Secondly, the 14 NEW PUNCHES, turn to pages 104-106.

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Thirdly, well if I said there were 64 NEW RIBBONS you would just have to jump to pages 96-97.

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Last but not least, the wonderful 16 NEW CORE-COLOURS and 5 NEW IN-COLOURS. Turn to pages 80-85 to browse these.

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There are loads more fab items but I'm still browsing through myself.

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I have some lovely new samples to show you that have been under wraps as we were not allowed to show on our blogs until the official launch date. Pop back later and I will be adding some through the day.

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One happy crafter !!!!

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Sandra