How full is your petrol tank?

I am not sure if I have mentioned that the wider team I belong to is Julie's Jems (Julie Kettlewells team) the reason I mention this is Julie posted a video seminar  from Stampin' Up! Convention in America on our closed Jems page the other day. It was a young lady called Jenna Glover who was asking Do you live an energy efficient life? you can find it here https://goo.gl/30Mbbo I am not sure if its where I find myself in life at the moment but I found it really thought provoking and have been mulling it over all week! One of the things I would like to make more time for is creating just because! Every time I sit down to create lately its for something, it is never just because I fancy making this or that. Having said that here is a very simple card I did make just because I couldn't wait to crack open a new set called Boys will Be Boys (a boys set again sorry!)

I used the back ground stamp from You've Got This as it was on my desk and because it reminds me of static electricity! I stamped the robot and then coloured it in with a blender pen before cutting it out and adding it to my background. I think I am going to make a few of these with different vibrant colours ready for upcoming birthdays. I have yet to use the other stamps in the set but I will share them when I do. Right I am going to bid you goodnight and spend some time filling up my tank! In the meantime if you would like to purchase any of the stamp sets I have used you can visit my shop here http://goo.gl/dzdVV4. Thank you for your visit. Nic 

No Bones About It birthday card

Gosh the weather has been monsoon like here in Yorkshire! Not what we need for the second week of the school holidays. A friend told me it is due to stop on Thursday - fingers, toes and anything else I can is crossed for some sun! Anyway here is a bright and cheery card using the No Bones About It stamp set.

I used the Owl Builder Punch to make the balloon.I seem to have chopped off the bottom of this card in this photo, but I used the paw print stamp in this set to add a playful addition to this card.

I really do love this sentiment! and once again couldn't resist adding a bit of decoration to the bottom.It is bedtime here for little ones so I will bid you goodnight and go and read a chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, thank you for visiting.
                                                                      Nic

You've Got This! Box Frame Card For A Special Friend.

Yesterday was my very good friend Sam's birthday and it called for an extra, extra special card. There are two times a year when I feel I want to go the extra mile with my creations and those are when I am making a card for Sam - why? She makes the most amazing cards she spends hours on them and they are always stunning with lots of attention to detail. She informed me she had spent 35 hours on my birthday card this year - I will share that another day. I wanted to create something very special for her as I really appreciate the cards she creates for me, there is nothing like receiving a handmade card that you know was made especially for you. So this is what I came up with.

A full frontal view

The right hand panel in more detail.

and the left hand panel. 

and finally a picture of the way I assembled the back. This card was inspired by a beautiful card by the very talented Diana Gibbs - you can find it here http://goo.gl/CfBSEl who used You've Got This! stamp set to create her card. To make the frames I followed a tutorial from a very special lady's blog, she never fails to inspire me - Amanda Bates of The Craft Spa blog and you can find her tutorial here http://goo.gl/VsiGCQ and finally I have had this tutorial pinned for a while now but this shows how to add the joints details on the back http://goo.gl/BzAExD. I am pleased to announce Sam loved her card so I can relax now until Christmas! If you make one of these cards please do send me a link so I can see your creations.

 Until next time, take care. Nic

Gosh it has been a month to the day since I last posted, life took over I am afraid however I have been working on some creations to share so I will go ahead and do that now.

I really fancied this stamp set - No Bones About It - when the new catty came out but it didn't

make my final cut, boy did I regret that once I started to see everyone's creations with it. As you know I have a son so I suspect this set will get a lot of use when School starts again, Luke has already requested one for a very special friend. Here is a peak at the inside....

I really need to practice taking more photos. I love the sentiments that come with this set. I am also slightly smitten with the colour combo of Lost Lagoon and Mint Macaron. I love how bringing out some new in colours allows us to use colours we have overlooked for ages or never used. Thanks for visiting and hopefully I will be back much sooner this time round. Nic

Hello there - have you got wet today? Its hard to believe its June sometimes! I thought I would share with you a quite simple little bundle of makes  I designed for a recent class. I have been working with a small group of ladies who have additional needs and the projects below were what they made in their first workshop with me. We used glue to put them together and boy was everyone and everything sticky at the end, I think they were really proud of their makes though.

We used the Owl Builder punch to create a little gift that they could give away or keep. I rolled out the Berry Basket blanks in advance of the class and they stamped them with the Woodgrain Stamp then stuck them together. We also got to play with the Bow Builder Punch which we decorated our baskets with.

We made a couple of small note cards that fitted nicely into the basket along with a little book mark.

Which is your favorite? I really like the cheeky chappy on the Blackberry Bliss! If any of these products have taken your fancy you can visit my shop at http://nicbaker.stampinup.net/

Thank you for visiting me please do leave me a comment if you have time to tell me you have been. Good night. Nic 

Hi there - do you have a favorite stamp set yet from the new catalogue? High on the list for me is Sprinkles of Life and today I thought I would share with you a few makes I have made with this set and the Tree Builder punch. You may have noticed I used one of the little stamps from this set on yesterdays card, I think this set is  fast becoming one of my most used but will it beat Gorgeous Grunge? only time will tell!

I am also a big fan of the Cherry on Top papers and this card was the first one I made when I received my new goodies. It features the new in colours ink, card and lace ribbon, I think it was a case of how much new product can I use to make a card?!

This was one of the cards we made at one of the Card and Cuppa sessions I run, its quite basic as its a drop in session for people of all abilities .

Last but not least here is a little bag with a flap that we made at my Launch Class, I followed a tutorial by one of the  Stampin' Up! Artisan Team the very talented Teneale Williams. 

If you would like to find out more about how to buy Stampin' Up! products or even how to become a demonstator yourself then please do contact me.

Thanks for reading. Good night,

Hello - I thought I would pop in and share a card with you that I  started off casing from the annual catalogue but ended up adding a few extras! When I looked through the catalogue for the first time the Cherry On Top Cotton Paper Assortment jumped out at me straight away and said buy me!

I made this card to showcase the papers and to get a feel for them also to use as a sample at my Catalogue Launch class, On the day I displayed out all the new products I owned from the new catty and stood beside them a few samples I had made using the products. Normally when I run a class I place the items we are making on the table so the attendees can see what were making. However this time I decided to inject a bit of fun and left them to guess. When I announced this card was to be one of them I had a big cheer as they all loved it and said it reminded them of a Hula hoop skirt! Needless to say the papers ended up on their wish lists! Well I am going to go and get a well deserved rest now after a day spent on the sports field today at Luke's sports day oh and I am pleased to announce I didn't come last in the parents race! Good night.

Its a late one tonight! Phew its been a busy week, I thought I would just drop in and share a photo of a card I made before the new catalogue launched but during pre-order for demos. I was looking for inspiration for a card to make for a Card and Cuppa session I was helping to run and was flicking through the catalogue and came across one that I  thought was lovely plus I had most of the products as it was carrying over so I cased it. Here it is!

To make the card I have used the Six Sided Stamp, the matching punch, a bit of Gorgeous Grunge -this stamp keeps appearing on my cards its definitely one of my go to stamp sets thank goodness it   carried over! I have used Papillion Potpourri and the matching punch  to add the butterfly as I didn't have the  framelets they used in the catalogue  at the time. Have you got a catalogue yet? If not please do message me and I will arrange to get one to you. As some of our team members are fond of saying its a really great craft magazine as well as a catalogue its full of inspiration! Right I had better get some sleep as its Luke's Sports day tomorrow and I keep being told there is a Mummy's race - I think I will definitely come last! wish me luck!

Good intentions...... and a Brand New Catalogue!!

Good Evening.... As you can maybe guess from my post title I am perhaps a tad annoyed with myself! I started this blog with good intentions and told myself (and you guys!) I would blog three times a week however life happened and it got lost by the wayside. So I am here to tell you I have now made myself a weekly schedule which includes all the weekly tasks I need/ want to complete and I have allotted set days for each one so hopefully I wont miss a post again ....

So whilst I have been away lots has happened in the world of Stampin' Up! We had regional training in Telford which I attended with some fellow demos from the larger team that I belong to. Most of us traveled down for two nights as we like to make the most of it. On the Friday it was a fellow demos birthday and a few of us met up to have a most delicious afternoon tea in a really lovely Tea room where Julie is very fortunate to run her Card and Cuppa craft sessions. With very full bellies and a little squiffy as we all had some Prosecco too to celebrate, we checked into our hotel. We met again in the evening for more food and more prosecco. For those that know me I am sure that will read wrong as I generally don't drink alcohol. Needless to say when I mentioned a problem with my room and bed the next morning everyone's first reaction was 'are you sure it wasn't the Prosecco?' Hmm

We had a very uplifting, enjoyable, craft and action packed  day training at The Telford International centre. We got to try out and see lots of new products and just generally catch up with all things Stampin' Up! in advance of the new Catalogue launch. Later we all met up at a really lovely hotel for a beautiful meal it was quite special to sit round the table with sixteen other demos and enjoy each others company.Sunday came round all too soon and with very full bellies, hearts and minds bulging with ideas we traveled home to our loved ones.

As you will probably know we recently had a very big day in our calendar when the 2015 -2016 Annual Catalogue launched to take a look at what it has to offer please press the link over on the right of my page and the catty will open - warning - you may be gone a while as its even more gorgeous than ever! If you would like a paper copy of the catty please do contact me and I will get one to you.

Nic

PS - For those of you have visited me before you may have noticed the blog has a new look, its courtesy of my very talented friend Sam who I cant  thank enough!

Thank goodness its Friday! Phew! It has been a long action packed week and I have been eagerly looking forward to the weekend so we can just stop for a while and relax. Its always difficult when Luke returns to school after the holidays for him and me as we get used to the routine again of getting out of the house on time. I am pleased to announce though that we survived and were not even the tiniest bit late any morning this week (it is very rare that we are)

We have been really enjoying the sun this week, this morning was just lovely for a walk to school passing all the blossom trees on the way put me in the mood for a few summery cards which I will hopefully get to make over the weekend. One of the things which I have been up to this week is running my monthly card class at Angels and Butterflies in Garforth, Leeds. It was my first time in their new studio (they just relocated to new premises) so it was a lot of trial and error working out where to put my display and where to work. I had some lovely ladies join me for the class and I will share below some photos I took before we started along with one of the cards they made. The very talented Amanda from the thecraftspa.blogspot.com/ allowed me to use one of her tutorials to teach the ladies how to make a swing card. Amanda has very cleverly found a way to stop the card from just swinging without any structure and I feel this will be a design I will make a lot in the future now I have mastered it. The ladies struggled a little to begin with but all created lovely unique cards which they put their own stamp on so to speak!

As the ladies who attended my class are quite new to stamping I have been showing them different ways to use their inks and stamps. This week we learnt how to use a blender pen which we used to color in The lovely as Lace Back ground stamp.  It was an enjoyable morning. If you live close by and are interested in joining my class then please do get in touch. Finally before I go I will just mention that there are still lots of goodies available on the retirement list so if you have not placed your order yet then please do visit my shop at http://nicbaker.stampinup.net/ Thank you

Oooh Exciting times at the moment! As we prepare to say good bye to the 2014 - 2015 catalogue the Retirement list has been released and there are lots of bargains to be had! To see a full list and pictures of the products please do visit my online shop at http://nicbaker.stampinup.net/ these items are only available whilst stocks last so once they are gone, they are gone! I will be back on Friday with some of the projects the ladies at tomorrows class will be making. Until then take care. Nic

Exciting times!

Hi all - If you are reading this thank you so much for joining me! I have decided to take the slightly scary - slightly? who am I kidding? The extremely scary step of setting up a blog to share my creations made with Stampin' Up! Products as I am a Independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I do dabble in a few other crafts so from time to time I will share those too, I hope to blog around 3 times a week to begin with. I am not the sharpest knife in the block when it comes to technical things so I am also starting out on a very steep learning curve too! So please bear with me and feel free to throw any advice or suggestions my way. I think I will leave it there for now and go off and learn how I turn this into an actual blog post! So I guess if you are reading this then I succeeded - Yay go me! Thank you