Late Blossom-er!

Well I can't say that I was a late blossom-er, in many aspects of my life, but sometimes things have passed me by and I have thought 'Hey! Why didn't that happen for me?' or maybe 'Hhhmmm! I wish I had taken advantage of that offer!'. So as we go in to the last few days of the fantastic 'Stampin' Up!' Promotion of 'Sale-A-Bration' please take my advice and dont forget to take part, you can.......

For every £45 you spend you can earn one of 17 different items for FREE

And this year you can select 6 different existing catalogue items - how fantastic is that!

You can view them HERE!

But more importantly the best offer during SAB is to....

 If you join my team during Sale-A-Bration

(22nd January - 22nd March)

You will get an extra 25% worth of product FREE,

in your Starter Kit!

This means £162.50 worth of product

for only £99!

AND you also get a free business pack

worth £45!

Its the best deal on the Starter Kit out there!

Over £200 worth of SU craft Stash of your choice for £99!!

To sign up all you have to do is click HERE and you can join my team online!

BUT ARE YOU A 'LATE BLOSSMER'????

Have you been waiting, contemplating, maybe holding back because you are a little nervous?

It is not too late!

And to make it even more worthwhile,

if you sign with me,

I will give you 3,

of the exclusive Sale-A-Bration Gifts

And an SU shopping bag to put them in!

If you would like any further info, about this then please send me an email:

sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk

And we can arrange a convenient time,

for me to call you.

Anyway..... in honour of the 'Late Blossm-er!' post title, I will leave you with the Scrapbook layout I created for my Daughter- Heathers Birthday the other weekend, I can't take credit for the lovely candid shot of  Heather and her Pony- Maggie, having a kiss in the show ring, it was taken by the lovely Beth Eastham- of Just Be Photography.

I have fallen in love with many things out of the SU Spring Seasonal, 

but the 'Feel Goods' sentiments work really well withmy annual cattie stash too!

A 'decorative label punch'and a 'Stamp & write marker' to add the time and date detail.

 A sentiment that 'Feels Good'!

  The gorgeous vintage chintz look with 'Stippled Blossoms' from the annual cattie and

some stitching from my old hand powered singer.

 A little background detail with the text & splatters from 'French Foliage'.

 Had to get a few hat pins in there!!

And here it is in my rummaged frame.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my ramblings,

thanks once again to Beth, for this charming picture,

and please dont leave it too late, get in touch and make it happen!

Love

Sally-Jo

xXXx

Whipped into action!!!

I have been led astray from the blogging world recently by a number of things, the biggest one being the end of an era as my daughter leaves primary school and gets ready for high school and the Summer holidays and entertaining two children, well one of the problems has been that they don't need entertaining just a mum to drive them here there and everywhere!!!


Another reason has to be also that I was led into the dark and mysterious world of 'Fifty Shades', I have to admit- I have read them all, even though I found them not to be of a great literary standard........ well she does use the word 'Flushed' 50 times in the first two chapters of the first book, but there was something there in all three that just had me turning the pages!!! Neither am I great writer, so hats off to her or rather whips out!!, that she has created the fastest selling book of all time, and will net herself  a pretty penny or two in sales and future TV & film rights.


Any way after a meet up- nearly a week ago with  my lovely SU daughter Tammy & the lovely Yvonne my SU friend & convention buddy- I said that I needed whipping into shape and need someone to nag me into getting back to blogging........ And Yvonne has been doing just that, every couple of days, she has sent me a text, sometimes in BIG SHOUTY LETTERS TOO!!!!

I am sharing with you the Card and wreath, I made for my SU mum Julie Kettlewells birthday, she loved it so much, that she used the design to create a Christmas card project for the recent training event she held. Forgive the photos but they were taken at night under a desk light, so the calypso coral looks a little brighter than in real life!! xx

The Diorama card is created by folding & sticking two sheets of A5 card. you score both sheets using the lovely SU 'Simply Scored Scoring Board' along the top side at 1/4", 6 1/4" & 7 1/4". Before sticking the two pieces together using the 1/4" flap. I die cut an aperture into the front panel, I using the 'Labels Collection; from the 'Stampin' Up!' Summer Mini Catalogue.

I went to town with the punches and created 3d flowers on top of the water coloured wreath- stamped from 'Apothecary Art' stamp set. The banner was stamped again on to extra card and the greeting added from the same set and raised up, you can also make out the 'On colour' stamping on the soft suede labels die cut, using the flourish, from the 'Creative elements' Stamp set. The same stamp was also used to decorate the panel behind the diecut, again with more 'On Colour' stamping. 

I added a 'Friend' label using a stamp from the 'For my Family' stamp set, and even more punched flowers!

The envelope got some stamping and craft TLC too......

Complete with more punched and spiral flowers and bird builder leaves.

I made lots of 3D flowers in Calypso Coral card stock, using the Bigz 'Fun Flowers' die and the 'Big Shot' to decorate the wreath, I made a video on how to do this check it out here:

http://stampin-sally.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/back-with-premier.html

The top got some simple long loop bows of 'Soft Suede' striped grosgrain & Ruffled 'Calypso Coral' ribbon, 

I love it that the SU products all co-ordinate!

To break up the calypso coral blooms, I added some flowers created with the new 'Blossom' punch, from the Summer Mini, using 'Newsprint DSP' and an 'Antique Brad' to hold them together.

To secure the blooms on to the wreath I used, a hot glue gun and whilst the glue was still drying pushed a pearl headed pin into the centre of each of the 'Calypso Coral' bloom. I also pushed in some leaves that I had die-cut using the 'Little Leaves' sizzlit die.

I promise that I will be back- sooner than last time with a blog post, thank you for sticking with me, like a trusty 'Tombow'!!!!

And if you are in the UK and would like to purchase some of the lovely 'Stampin' Up!' craft goods, or even become a demonstrator like myself, then please get in touch....

My email is: sally-johoughton@hotmail.co,uk

or you can call: 07891605129

Thanks for stopping by

xXXx

Getting it together- at the last minute!

You may not be one who believes in star signs. but as a 'Gemini' goes I am fairly true to the star sign attributes... Chatty, Bubbly, Out going- Personality, and as in the 'Old school' 'Cadbury's' egg adverts, I do bite it and lick it! But I also have the awful traits of- never being on time, juggling too much, and being unable to say 'NO!'..... but these could be traits of any mum...... from any star sign!

Gemini's are know to make plans and not act on them...... I do make plans- surprising as that may seem! Quite often, I write them down- the only problem with these ones is that they get hid under the clutter on my desk!

And sometimes no matter how much I plan and try, I can never get it together till the last minute!

Well this card is one of those, what with an eventful morning yesterday- time to craft went out the window till 1pm and it had to be envisaged in my head and created in time for the school run at 3pm!! It had to be a 'special' card too, for Matthew to give his Auntie, I had already made Heathers and one from me & farmer Johnnie......And once you start sending people your handmade cards they do notice when you send them shop bought, so my mojo was whipped into action!

I had been stroking the lovely 'Apothecary Art' stamp set from the 'Summer Mini', for inspiration for a large card, I had made some note-lets with it, but hadn't drummed up the courage for a larger card and this design popped into my head...well minus the ribbon and brad!! 

My colour scheme is- 'Pool Party', 'Wild Wasabi', 'Very Vanilla', 'Soft Suede' & 'Crumb Cake'....

A bit of a wild card- as this Auntie loves pinks and purples!!

 I stamped & layered up the large wreath from the 'Apothecary Art' stamp set, using the coordinating 'Framelits- Decorative label dies' & It was water coloured in, using an 'Aqua painter & some ink off the tops of my ink pads. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, I made another stamp of the wreath and then 'Stamp-A-Ma-Jigged' the greeting on to the banner, then I could cut it out and raise it up. I added some spiral flowers and some layered up punched 'Itty Bitties' & 'Boho Blossoms' in 'Pool Party' and some leaves, using the leaf from the 'Bird Builder' punch in 'Wild Wasabi' & 'Crumb Cake'

After I had made the large focal image, I felt the card looked a little bland, so I added some of the lovely striped grosgrain ribbon and fastened it with one of the antique brads. To add an 'Auntie' sentiment, I stamped and then die cut the small lined stamp from the set & added the  wording with a coordinating SU marker,  finished it with an 'Itty Bitty' bloom and a pearl and popped it under the brad and ribbon.

The inside need some TLC-  so I added a little stamping to the base using the flourish from 'Creative Elements'- I have forgotten to mention that I did this to the base of the front of the card too! I then had a root in my bits box and came across a 'Pool Party' die cut framelit, that was perfect to put under a vanilla one, to give somewhere nice for Matthew to put his own personal greeting.

I hope you like my getting it together at the last minute card, do you ever get yourself into situations like this? I would love to know.

Thanks for stopping by

Sally-Jo

xXx

Plain Sailing on 'The Open Sea'......

I didn't realise this weekend was a bank holiday, until everyone else had put in there request as to what they wanted to do with me- as either the chief ' Cook, Bottle washer, driver, Banker and dogsbody'!!! In between helping one child name his undies yesterday, well he's going on a school trip on Wednesday and if the list says 6 sets of underwear and that the clothing should be named- he won't be happy until it is done!!! And then driving Heather in the Horsebox, following her on a bike and falling off, trying to get on the bike, in the middle of the rode, by the time I had landed home after a tea with my mum & dad and then a call in at my Grans, posting a blog update had gone out the window.If only everything was plain sailing!!!!

Anyway in the middle of everything else yesterday, I did fit in some time to photograph some projects I had finished off, featuring a new stamp set from the 'Summer Mini' called 'The Open Sea'. This is a very different  style of stamp set to the rest. that is on offer in the mini, and perfect for those that love the altered/ distressed look for their craft projects.

The set contains 5 stamps  and is available as wood mounted (123030 £23.95)

or cling (123032 £18.95).

 For the small card I used the 'Compass' stamp and some punches to make a little embellishment.

 The inside of the card was decorated with a little simple on colour stamping.

 The large card, was created by folding an A4 sheet of 'Basic Grey' in half, and the decorative panel was cut from a 'One Sheet Wonder', that used all the stamps apart from the 'Ship'.

 The stamped the 'Ship' in 'Basic Grey' on to a scrap of 'Very Vanilla' and then cut it out using my 2nd smallest 'Framelit'- I am so in love with these xx

 I decorated another panel of 'Very Vanilla' around the edge, using the stamps and ink to add interest to the inside of the card too!

 With the left over piece of 'One Sheet Wonder' I made a little 'Cheese Box- Gift Box!'

I created a little video, just to show how easy these are to create with the new 'Simply Scored' !!

Heather helped me film this yesterday, and wasn't very pleased I had let you all in on what she calls the boxes, if I had videoed her- you will have seen her go bright red and start muttering that she hadn't called them that for ages!!

Now for the exciting bit........

As I am loving, my 'Simply Scored' so much,

I want to share this love with you & invite you to take part in........

For every person who purchases a- 

'Simply Scored' through me, 

between May 1st 2012 & June 30th, whether as a customer order or as a workshop order, they will receive a 'Ticket' for my 'Sensational 'Simply Scored' Lucky Draw'!!

For every 15 tickets, I will supply-

a totally superb SU branded prize to go into the draw!!

**The first prize, to go in the draw is-**

**a 'brand spanking' new 'Big Shot'**

to be followed by a

** A set of 'Stamp & Write Markers'**

& then a

** 'Colour Caddy' **

I can't wait to share with you many more projects and ideas for the 'Simply Scored' and I look forward to entering your ticket into the draw!xx

Please note: 

• The lucky tickets are only given to those who purchase the Simply Scored scoring tool(item 122334) through myself. 
It does not include Simply Scored accessories, such as:
Metric Plate, Stylus, Place Markers or Bone folder.

• The draw will take place on, Saturday July 1st.

• It is offered in good will and in thanks, by myself, for the continued loyalty of my many customers, if you I have any queries I welcome you to contact me via email: sally-johoughton@hotmail.co.uk