SU! Help for Haiti

It would be hard not to be affected by the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti. Companies and individuals everywhere are helping in whatever way they can and Stampin' Up! is no exception. In the past SU! have made donations through designated stamp sets and from now until 28th February Stampin' Up! will donate £1 from the sale of every Greenhouse Gardens stamp set and donate that money to the Red Cross. This will be a worldwide effort, with demonstrators in the USA, Australia, Germany and France all having a similar offer.

You can see example cards made using this stamp set on page 43 of the catalogue. If you'd like to order either a catalogue or the stamp set, then please contact me. I will also be donating £2 for every Greenhouse Garden set sold to the Red Cross. If you want to find out how the Stampin' Up! headquarters are helping the relief effort for Haiti, please read Shelli's blog.

Stamp with Us Challenge

There is a lovely sketch challenge over on Stamp with Us this week and you can see my entry below.

Alas, there is no patterned paper in the SU! starter kit and I'm suffering slightly from withdrawal symptoms so I had to break into my non-SU! stash for this one. The paper is such fun and slightly mad that I thought it would look better if the lines were all out of kilt, but actually once you put the butterfly on, it just looks like I can't stick paper on straight! I've embossed the centre of the flower to give it a lovely shine. Sorry about the poor lighting, I will try and replace it with a better photo on Monday.

Cardstock: all from my scrap stash except the yellow & orange which are SU! Summer Sun & Pumpkin Pie. Similar SU! colours would be: Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise and Lovely Lilac.

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, greeting from Fun & Fast Notes

Inks: VersaColor: Boysenberry & Raspberry

Paper: Love Elsie

Time to play!

I've had great fun playing with all of the wonderful stamps that arrived in my starter kit. The first one that caught my eye was A Rose is a Rose. I have to confess that the rose is not my favourite flower and at first I didn't intend to purchase this stamp set, but when I saw all the gorgeous cards that had been made with it, I had to have it! I've made two cards to show how adaptable this stamp set is. The first one is quite grungy and I've aged the paper torn from a book with Choc Chip ink. The second one has a more contemporary feel to it, and is a gorgeous design that I CASEd from someone (who I need to go and search for so I can credit properly!).

Applogies for the poor photo setting, but the best light is from my son's bedroom window! I really do need to find somewhere more scenic to take photos from! Anyway, I hope you like them, and please leave a comment if you do. It's always nice to hear from you.

Ingredients: (all are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel

Patterned Paper: Doodlebug Designs

Stamp set: A Rose is a Rose

Inks: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Garden Green, Old Olive

Ribbon: from my stash

Ingredients: (all are from Stampin' Up!)

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Old Olive

Ribbon: 1/4 grosgrain ribbon in very vanilla, which I've coloured with my pens.

Stamps: A Rose is a Rose, It's Beautiful jumbo wheel

Inks: as per the previous card

Open House

I'll be holding my first Open House on 1st February! There will be lots of fun things happening as well as some lovely samples on show to get your creative juices flowing! Come along for:

• tasty nibbles & wine
• Makes & Takes
• door prize raffle
• a chance to get creative!

The night will be lots of fun and a chance to catch up with everyone for a good natter. I'll be posting some sneak peaks of some of the cards I've made in the next two weeks, so do check back if you want to see what will be on show.

Sale-a-bration 2010!

Hurray! I'm so pleased that I've already managed to fulfil one of my new year's resolutions - to craft more! I've just signed up to become an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator in Herts & Beds, and I'm really excited about it - after all, what could be better than working by making cards and scrapbook pages! And to top it all of, SU! have a great offer on this month.

Everyone likes a freebie and this month, Stampin' Up! are offering you the choice of three exclusive stamp sets when you spend £45 or more, before the 28 February. These yummy stamps are only available whilst the SAB offer is on, and are not in the main catalogue. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these lovely stamp sets - deciding which one is going to be the hard part!