It's time!

Phew, you won't believe me, but my computer completely packed up at 9 o'clock and my husband has spent the last 2 and a half hour's trying to get me a make shift pc to work on. Of course I have been fretting like mad. Anyway, seems we are up and running. Fingers crossed.

So without further ado, here goes.

The contents of the box looked like this ... yum!

And then I set about crafting like there was no tomorrow. I added some Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa cardstock to the mix, as well as a few extra punches. I don't have time now, but after the prize draw tomorrow I will go into more detail of what I used, techniques etc.,

This then is what I came up with. I managed to make 5 cards and one small layout, an all time record for me as I am usually painfully slow.

The white scallops above are not a border punch, I simply used the edges of the punched ovals, but I will share more about that later.

Just look at those brads, aren't they to die for! The white paper is not a patterned paper, but the swirl stamped several times. Iwas amazed at how well that worked.

Another little scallop cheat here with the small brown borders above. They are actually the SU square scallop punch with the edges cut off and used as a border trim.

And finally, a small 8x8 layout - the perfect size to use with these gorgeous stamps!

 Hope you enjoyed what I have made, and that this has inspired you for your own crafting. Thank you for joining me - I shall now go and have a long bubble bath.

EDITED TO ADD: I never did say where to comment for the blog candy, and a few people are not sure. Leave your comment here on this post, but don't worry if you have commented on the candy post. Any comments made during the right time will be put in the draw, whether it is in this post or the previous two announcement posts.

Ready ... steady ... GO!

The box is here, are beautifully wrapped with some ribbon. I have just opened it to find some fabulous 12x12 papers, two lovely punches, more beautiful ribbon, some cardstock, a pack of gorgeous brads and a fabulous stamp set.

Let the crafting begin ....

...and now for the details

There will be two prizes, each one consisting of a punch, a stamp set and an ink pad ... does that sound good or what!

The first prize will be an early bird prize. To qualify you need to visit this blog between midnight tonight and 1am - only one hour ladies, so this one has good odds indeed. Leave a comment, and if you are also a blogger we ask that you mention the challenge on your own blog, link through to here and then paste your blog link in your comment.

Don't worry if you are not a blogger, simply leaving a comment will still put you in the running for winning the prize.

Second prize will run from 1am until 12 midday on Thursday, so if you missed the early bird or shall I say night owl draw, you still have a chance of winning a prize.

Same rules apply, leave a comment, bloggers leave a link ... and then I wil choose the winners later tomorrow evening using a random number generator.

This is just getting better isn't it.

Remember, both Suzanne and Jenny will also be giving away two prizes each, that is six in total, so be sure to come along and play.

Good luck everyone, I will talk to you later.

Oooh, only one more day to go

The Stampin' Up! blog hop challenge is getting closer and closer by the second, and I am getting more and more excited (translate nervous). I am a notoriously slow crafter, so to try and ease my nerves while I await the arrival of my box tomorrow, I have been sketching. As I have no idea what stamp set I will be getting I am covering all bases. Sketches for big stamps, small stamps and in between stamps ... and then just some nervous sketches to fill in the blanks.

That is the only way I work - I sketch. The plonk pfaff and stick method is not good for my compartmetalised brain, and I simply need to get a pencil in my hand before I can think. I usually start off with the stamps, mull them over in my head for a bit and then get down with my bits of scrap paper.

I guess sketching to pass the time beats eating slabs of Green & Black chocolate ... almond ... drool. I would not be the same if Green & Black ever decided to stop making chocolate. Thankfully, so far today I have shown considerable restraint. But the day is still young and a trip to the shops way to easy!

Okay, yes ... I am just toying with you, talking about random stuff. I know why you are here.

Could this be it?

YES, I thought so. I can now reveal that Stampin' Up! have been so kind as to offer blog candy for some very lucky blog reader. I cannot divulge exact details just yet, but I am going to burst if I don't let this out. Suffice it to say that it will be worth your while to drop by for the big reveal tomorrow night. YOU could be the one walking away with a lovely prize.

More details to follow some time before tomorrow night.

Woo Hoo!

And on other fronts... guess where I will be going this weekend. The Artisan show in Leamington Spa. Craft Stamper magazine and their sister title Beads and Beyond are sponsors at this event. As a contributor to Craft Stamper I have been invited to go... very nice indeed. I so love the opportunity to part with my husband's money and aquire new stash. It is only a two and a half hour drive, but I have managed to convince my family to come along for the ride and stay for the whole weekend. The lure of staying at a B&B on a working farm was just too much temptation for my girls, and my husband loves driving ... anywhere, it doesn't matter. He is such a boy. Put him behind the steering wheel of a car and he is blissfully happy (men are so nice and uncomplicated).

Where am I going with this you wonder. Well, I am working my way up to a picture. I shall be taking an ATC or two or three with me to trade with readers of the magazine. Slight problem though, I have never made an ATC before. I know, don't judge me, I just have not.

I thus set to work on the smallest canvas I have ever worked on. I am not sure it is particularly good, but I made this.

And a few more too. So if you are going to be at the artisan show on Sunday, stop by the Craft Stamper stall and if you see a woman with grey hair that would be me.

I have also gone digging through some older cards to see what else I could put up on here and came across this.

It is a card I made, quite a while back I might add, for a class I taught at the now closed Creative Pastimes shop. It seemed fitting as Christmas is coming closer and many of us are starting on those Christmas cards. This is a Bella stamp - those Bella's are adorable aren't they.

I have two words for you

BLOG and CANDY

Hmmmmm ... sounds good hey. Check back soon to find out more.

More bloggers for the SU blog hop

Another update on the SU Blog hop. There will be 3 of us joining in, so I will not be alone in going through the emotions on Wednesday which I think will go something like this. Anticipation waiting for the box, excitiment opening the box and then more than likely sheer panic to come up with something great to inspire and tempt everyone. I will need a lot of chocolate ... this is SO not going to be good for my diet!

But I digress, the other two super talented ladies, both of who have been in the scrapping, cardmaking and crafting industry for many years are

ta da .... Jenny Cocks. You can find her blog here

and Suzanne Torr, or Fruitysuet as she is known to many of us. Her blog can be found here

A bit more about Stampin' Up!

Okay, so I mentioned Stampin' Up in my first post, just assuming everyone knew who I was talking about. If you are into stamping, I would venture that you probably do.

But yesterday as I was sitting at my daughters school fund raising bike ride ... for 3 hours ... watching kids go round and round and round .... and round again on their bicycles, I came to realise two things. One, being a parent involves sacrificing a LOT of your time and Two, maybe not everybody knows who Stampin' Up! is.

I was first introduced to this company by my good friend Paula several years ago, a good few years before they had a presence in the UK. Truth be told I was never all that much into rubber stamping. For me rubber stamping automatically meant collage, lots of ink, and very arty or altered type of creations. Don't get me wrong, I worship the ground that Tim Holtz walks on, but when I try to go down that route it just looks like an abominable mess. Paula, with her clean and simple stamping style, completely changed that perception for me and I was introduced to a style of stamping that was more in line with what I do. Good for me, not so good for my husband, who at the time was funding my crafty spending.

At that time Stampin' Up was only available in America, so we merely had to look on from afar. That all changed in 2007 though, and now we can buy their stamps right here in the good old UK! They sell trough a network of demonstrators and you can find all the info right here on their website.

Again ... a lot of talking and not enough pictures.

I can show you this.

During the summer SU ran a competition where you had to create something summery using only their products. I love competitions, so I created this with the few stamps and other SU bits and bobs that I had.

A summery invitation for a garden party.

I didn't have any summery picture stamps, so text stamps it had to be.

I printed the inside details on Safmat - boy I love that stuff - and that was that. My entry done and dusted.

Something exciting to announce

Hello, and welcome to my brand spanking new crafty blog.

I have been blogging for the last two years, but so far it has been mostly about me, my husband, my kids and all the stuff we do - really boring, and mainly for the benefit of my family who stay far, far away.

... because, you know, family like all that boring stuff.

I have on many ocasions considered starting a crafting blog, but to date nothing has really given me the oomph I needed. That was until now of course. 

I am very excited to share with you that I will be joining in with the launch of the much anticipated, also brand new,
Stampin' Up! catalogue.

On the day before the launch, Wednesday the 30th of September, I shall be sitting at home biting my nails and eagerly awaiting the arrival of a box. Not just any old box, but a box containing a few of the brand new stamps from the "very much shrouded in secrecy" SU catalogue.

I will then have a mere few hours to stroke, drool over and ultimately use the products to craft my heart out. Then, at the strike of midnight, and not a minute before (I'll sit on my hands if I have to), I shall post my creations, right here, sharing with you an exciting first glimpse of what you can expect to find in the catalogue for the year to come. Cool hey! 

Phew, now that I have got that off my chest, let me introduce myself. Some of you might know me from crafting forums, but for those of you who simply followed a link from another blog, and are by this time thinking "Just who the heck is this person?" ... well this is for you.

My name is Lousette and I have been crafting for ... gosh, I am not sure now, probably about 10 years or so. Before that I used to design offices and office interiors, but that wasn't nearly as much fun as making stuff with paper - honestly. I know you understand.

I started off making cards, got converted to srapbooking and now I do a bit of both. I have been contributing freelance to various magazines over the last 5 or 6 years, and at the moment I contribute to Craft Stamper magazine. I have also taught classes, demonstrated products and spent more than my fair share of time on crafting and scrapping forums.

I am mostly a clean and simple crafter, meaning that even if I try I cannot do collage or get my work particularly inky. I sit and marvel at the creations of those who can, but somehow I always go back to a more graphic style.

Okay, I think that is just about enough about me.

I do however realise that it is very boring to read a blog post with no pictures, us crafty people are visual creatures after all, so I will add a few pictures to give you an idea of what I do. Everything has been shared on the web somewhere before, but hopefully there is something you have not seen.

A card I did for the HeroArts blog challenge. The stamps used here are all HeroArts, look out for more projects using these stamps and others from this set in the next issue of Craft Stamper (out next Friday).

Don't you just love this flourish. It has to be one of my favourites and is from Fancy Pants. With Christmas coming up (I am reminded of that every time I walk past the reindeer chocolates in Sainsbury's) I have started slowly but surely to make the odd Christmas card. This is a variation of a card I made 2 years ago for the Simply Cards and papercraft magazine Christmas edition. When I am lazy I come back to old designs, and this is one of my favourites.

Lastly, because somehow it is already 1:30 in the morning and I really need to get to bed now, a simple card I made for a friend a while back.