Stampin Up Independent Demonstrator Dawn Howard

CandleLight Christmas   I've been saving up my Candlelight Christmas papers as they are so lovely - in particular this flocked acetate - and almost too good to use. However they are no good in the box so here is the card I've made for my Mum and Dad which also uses early expresso tuille,an antique brad, greetings of the season stamp set and apothecary accents framelits.   One of the huge advantages of Stampin Up products is the colour co-ordination and this card showcases that perfectly with just 3 colours - real red, very vanilla and early expresso.   I've been pretty busy this week making lots of things. Last Friday I went to my first ever WI meeting. It was great and we made bath bombs so I came home and made lots more plus pretty boxes to put them in. I do have a tendancy to get obsessed by making different things and buying all the supplies necessry for a new craft so I am trying very hard to restrain myself from getting every essential oil going. That

Happy Hour Gift Tags             This evening my husband announces "oh I need a secret Santa present for tomorrow " and " have you any spare cards for my team" plus " I thought I'd give me team wine - but I don't like bottle bags - can you make anything? So we picked up the secret santa and wine while doing the weekly shop and I have just made these wine bottle tags pretty quickly. They were very easy and you get 3 of the bases from 1 sheet of A4 card. I've used my happy hour stamp set, Be of Good Cheer paper and punches, framelits. So perhaps after all my endeavours I deserve a glass of something sparkly myself. (I got the broad idea from a post on pinterest from a US demo called Susan Horn.)                        

SANTA AND PENGUIN CARDS   These are 2 very simple cards that I used for a make and take at my local primary school. I got the idea from one of the many similar ones on the internet - there are some very talented people out there.     I still have a few sets left so if you are interested please email me. They cost £3 for a pack of 4 and thats includes postage within the UK. dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk .  

 Christmas is coming !   Hooray - it's one of my favourite times of the year and for once I'm well ahead and have made 40 cards, 3 paper wreaths. lots of lovely gift packages and a partridge in a pear tree ! (well perhaps not that one)   So I've gone AWOL lately but I do have a couple of great excuses. First I was booked in for surgery on 29th October, I was all ready for 6 weeks of gentle recuperation that involved lots of crafting and reading. Then on 27th October we came home after a beautiful autumnal walk to find several fire engines parked outsde. Our neighbours have suffered a catastrophic loss and their house needs a lot of rebuilding. We "only" suffered smoke damage but it mainly affected my craft room so I have spent a few days going through everrything,throwing away all the smelly stuff and taking everything that was in cellophane out of it so I could keep it. It was a rather sobering experience and I found things I couldn't even remember

I'm having an Open House on Friday to showcase the new Annual catalogue from Stampin up. If you are based in North Staffordshire/South Cheshire please contact me for details if you would like to attend. The picture shows mini handbags that we will be making. These are very cute and made from a piece  of 6 x 6 in paper, 4 brads and some scraps of card. They would make perfect stocking fillers with a lip balm or small sweet treat inside. I am offering a kit with full instructions and all the paper.card, and brads you need to make 48 of these handbags yourself for  £17.50 including UK postage. Contact me if you are interested. Snow swirled is a new set this year and very versatile as it is great with contemporary colours or more classic ones. The set includes 2 greeting, 3 snowflakes and a lacy tree and costs  £17.95 in clear mount or £21.95 in wood mount. Here is another example using the new midnight muse in colour.

I had wonderful intentions last night to make a cascade card ... and then my daughter announced it was her friend's birthday and I had promised a set of tags to use on a photoboard. So that was my evening gone and although I was quite impressed to complete 6 double sided chipboard tags in about an hour I was less impressed with the mess I made! I had stamp sets, ink pads, paper, cardstock and dies liberally sprayed over 2 tables and the floor ! I am sure many of you are used to this, it takes twice as long to tidy up as to make the thing in the first place. So this is my offering for you today - a pretty quick and smple card. It uses lots of my new goodies though - the new papillon potpourri stamp set and matching punch, fancy fan folder, and teeny tiny sentiments. The colour is raspberry ripple with pink pirouette brayered onto the fancy fan folder. I have been eyeing teeny tiny sentiments up for a long time and  choose this as one of my free sets for achieving my stampin star

NEW PETITE PURSE DIE I was so excited this morning to know that my delivery of brand new Stampin Up goodies were due to arrive. In addition to this I had 3 FREE sets that I had earned during my first few months as a demonstrator. So here are a couple of pictures showing the little handbags I made , mainly with summer smooches paper but I had to sneak a twitterpated one in as that is my favourite paper. Hope you like them - they are very simple to make using the big shot and a sizzix die which is excluive to Stampin Up.  If you are interested in this or any other products look at my BUY PRODUCTS page - I'm currently offering FREE post and packing on orders over £45. email me on dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk to place your order. If you want to know more about the advantages of being a demonstrator please let me know.

I am indeed feeling very happy - I've been making a lot of boxes and candy wrappers - it is so satisfying! The boxes come together very quickly and I also made 20 Halloween candy wrappers in no time. I will just need to find some recipients for everything I've made. Here's the picture showing several samples of the new christmas paper, be of good cheer, that will be in the Annual Catalogue that launches tomorrow.

Twitterpated boxes Here are the 4 boxes that we made at my first ever class on Tuesday night. I love this combination of colours. The boxes went down very well with their families when the ladies got home. I'm currently working on my class list from now until Christmas but I will certainly be adding some different bags and boxes for use as gift wrapping. Tonight I'm going to have a play with soem new paper from the NEW ANNUAL CATALOGUE that's due out on Monday - so if you are very lucky there will be sneak peak tomorrow.

Great Day at Misummer Mayhem I had a stall today at the previously postponed midsummer mayhem. Here's a photo of my stall - the display board in the background holds lots of samples to inspire people. It was great to meet up with lots of new people and to show off some Stampin Up sets. Everyone enjoyed trying out Delightful Decorations and Googly Ghouls.     Details to follow soon of my October Open House ...

STAMPIN UP OPEN HOUSE   Saturday 15th September 11am - 4pm   Come along and see the latest releases from Stampin Up. Eat a yummy cookie made with the brand new cookie stamps, make 2 -3 small items and chat to friends old and new. No craft expereince necessary   email me now on dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk to reserve your FREE place.   I am also at midsummer mayhem at Lyme Valley Parkway on Sunday 16th October. Promises to be  a great family day out with lots to do for everyone.

THE EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING - 2012 HERE WE COME ! I feel as if I have just won the 100 metres myself - I have finally and after hours spent over each allocation release FINALLY got Olympic tickets - and for the orbit as well Just needed to share that with as many people as possible

TWITTERPATED CLASS - Tuesday 17th July at 7.30pm The class costs £10 and includes 6 sheets of 12 x 12 inch papers, everything you need to make 6 small cards and a gift bag to keep them in plus refreshments. You can see from the photos that it only needs a small amount of designer paper to make a card effective so you will have lots of paper left after the class to play with at home. I need to know attendees by the 15th July please so I can prepare our pcks. Please email me on dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk .

STAMP A STACK CLASS - Tuesday 3rd July Here is a selection of cards on offer at my stamp a stack class. There are still spaces of anyone wants to book a last minute place. We'll be  using a variety of stamps, papers, ribbons, brads and gems to make a total of 10 cards, withoptions availble for the beginner or more experienced crafter . Happy Crafting Everyone

STAMPIN UP JULY OFFER - EVERYDAY ENCHANTMENT Spend £45 and receive an enchanting pack of 2 rolls of ribbon and 30 brads - click on link to see more http://www2.stampinup.com/gb/eng/8165.asp contact me on dawnssunrosestamping@hotmail.co.uk  to place an order for this or any other stamping up prodicts

LIST OF CLASSES Here is a list of new classes I plan to run These are all based on a Tuesday evening - if this time is inconvenient let me know and then I can consider arranging differnt days /times. After the summer I also plan to run a monthly coffee and craft session where you will just pay for the materials used. July 3rd  Stamp a Stack - make 2 cards each of 5 designs -  using summer themed stamps and papers July 17th Everyday Encchantment - make 6 cards  - class includes ribbon,brads and 6 12x12 papers August 7th - Twitterpated/Tea Shoppe - 4 cards and a gift bag September 11th - Halloween Horrors - a selection of treat bags and boxes  all classes run from 7.30pm to 10pm and include refreshments Please email me to reserve your place.   

PAPER PARTY ENDS SOON We only have until the end of the month to get 1 free paper pack with every 3 sets purchased. See the right hand side for a link that lists all the papers on offer. I'm at Ellison Primary School Summer Fayre on Saturday from 2 till 4 so that's a good opportunity to come along and place your order. I'll be doing make and takes with a 50p charge with all monies raised going towards the PTFA.  This PTFA is pretty close to my heart as for many many years I was on the committee and then Chairman and have spent many hours of blood, sweat and even tears in organising events in the past. So Saturday will be a real treat for me being able to craft and hopefully introduce the joy of crafting to others, rather than running around manically making sure everything is running smoothly.

Thank You cards Here are a couple of very simple Thank You card that I used to send for the organisers of the Jubilee street party that we attended. My husband is a very keen photographer so he was asked to take photos so these cards accompanied the cds he sent with all the photos to the 2 main organisers. Pennant Parade is a great punch for these quick and simple cards - in fact it will be featuring in my first ever stamp a stack class - dates to follow soon.                         

JOLLY JUBILEE  We've had a pretty busy jubilee holiday. On Sunday we waited in the rain for 5 hours to see the flotilla. It was great as we managed to find a good spot just downriver of Vauxhall bridge and we were on the second row back so got an excellent view. We did bailout before the whole flotilla had passed as it started to absolutely bucket it down and we got too cold. All in all a good day - although the children were not as impressed as i had hoped.  Then on Monday we attended my father in laws street party - very well organised, lots of games and food so another great day. My favourite was the giant sized connect 4 game - I am the family champion !!! may well be because Mike is totally hopeless  though.  Yesterday saw is in more rain this time at Thorpe Park where me an the children got very very wet on a ride appropriately named Tidal Wave.  Mike had decided to cycle to Brighton and back and he got even wetted than us! I keep hoping to fit a bit of cra

GREAT NEWS FOR CUSTOMERS - PAPER PARTY IN JUNE Buy 3  packs of Designer series paper at £9.95 each and get a fourth free 

HOSTESS BENEFITS LINK

A GREAT REASON TO HOST A PARTY IN JUNE AND JULY  Hostess benefits just got better !  If you host a party with a sales total of £325 you will receive a massive £80  in hostess benefits as well as 1 item at half price.  All other hostess benefits above this amount are increased by £30 as well   contact me to discuss workshops and to arrange a date. My email is dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk Full flyer to follow once I have mastered the apple computer I am currently on! You can all join my children in laughing at how technologically challenged I am! Tomorrow I'll tell you about other great benefits in June for all customers.    

ANOTHER QUICK CARD ... and it smells wonderful - I have used the new cherry scented embossing powder. You'll notice a theme on my latest cards - I've just bought the modern label punch so it will be on lots of things I make for the next week or so.   Again some lucky ladies will be making this at one of my forthcoming events. If you would like to host a party/workshop that provides an evening of fun for you and your friends and gives you the opportunity to earn FREE hostess benefits please get in touch via dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk

                                                        MIXED BUNCH MAKE AND TAKES Here are 3 versions of the same design  - I'm getting ready for 2 workshops and an open house so lots of you will be making these over the coming days. This is a great set and it has a matching punch which makes everything so easy. The set itself was a giveaway at the recent regional training I attended - that's one thing with Stampin Up there are lots of different ways to earn/receive free craft goodies. Another of my favourites at the moment is apothecary art and that was another freebie for me as I had achieved my Stampin Start targets within the first 3 months. Ask me for more details if any of you are interested in signing up as a demonstrator. So looking forward to a feast of crafting - and I do hope you all stick things on a little straighter than I have done!

Mum .... we need a pinata for next Monday ! At my daughter's guides they were allocating who would bring what to their jubilee party - and Anna decided that, as she has never had one before,  her contribution would be a pinata.  You can imagine my joy at being told that - we could have baked cakes, or bought napkins - but no - we're making a pinata! When I told her it was made of paper mache and would take all week she did not look happy and just asked if we could buy one instead. At our house we MAKE things we don't buy them. So that will be me - and her - busy with newspaper and glue for the rest of the week. If you're lucky I will show you the finished item - but be warned if I have to paint the thing it will not be as pretty as my Stampin Up cards.

              OPEN HOUSE Saturday 26th May 11 - 4 Come along to see and try out lots of the new Stampin Up goodies from the Summer mini catalogue. There will be demonstrations, make and takes, raffle, refreshments and the opportunity to purchase your favourites. I'm based in Newcastle, Staffordsshire so if you live close by please email me on dawnssunrisestamping@hotmail.co.uk for details and to reserve your free place. Pictures of the make and takes to follow soon !

Many apologies for my lack of posts. So in the last couple of weeks we have had a serious family illness but the news is getting better everyday now so that a huge relief. On the Stampin Up front I attended my first ever regional training session. It was great fun, I learnt loads, met some great people and got some fantastic ideas. If only I had enough time to put them all into practice, The card above was going to be my swap for the event. However the evening before I realised I had been too ambitious and in the end did a pared down version on white. Still really pretty though - this is one of my favourite sets at the moment( apothecary art) and I just love the new framelits dies. Rich razzleberry is one of my favourite colours too, Add a comment to let me know your favourites.

Another sneak peak ! Card made with lots from the new catty - I have made several in diffferent colourways so watch out for them being posted over the next couple of days. My hubby gave me a very basic lesson on photoshop yesterday so I can now crop them to full size. He also tried to tell me how to use the camera - WB for this, AV for that,  F9 for the other ! I sad I needed a list - and I don't normally do lists - if I was ever to set it up on my own. Time for bed now - just had a wonderful evening running a workshop - while i'm still new to this I love sharing the products and my ideas with every one. Happy Crafting

    More Balloons - this time stamped in real red, pacific point, pumpkin pie and so saffron with pacific point DSP, so saffron taffeta ribbon and a trim of pumpkin pie dotted scallop ribbon border.  Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with something different/ I have a workshop tomorrow evening and am still deciding on the make and take - I'm thinking jubilee colours with the pennant parade stamp set and matching punch.  The big top papers might go well with this - sort of a cross with the 4th July and our royalty. I was planning what we will do over the jubilee bank holiday weekend and got quite excited about going to see the flotilla! A canal barge left Stoke on Trent earlier in the week on its very long journey down for the parade.  I'm sad to say I have pretty strong memories of the silver jubilee and our street party - lots of jelly and silly games.

We have Lift Off ! I have been missing for a while as I waited for the cards I had made to be posted back to me. So now I have lots of new goodies to share with you. This is one of the new stamp sets from the summer mini that will be available on the 1st May. I'm planning an open house in mid May to showcase all the products and allow customers to play and do some make and takes - details to follow. This card is also using paper from the brights DSP pack and the orange spotty one is from Flirtateous and it's all topped off with a little real red satin ribbon.

Quick & Simple Here's a quick and easy card made a couple of weeks ago. I've just discovered that I have left all the cards I made using the new summer mini stamps at my father in laws - so that is a disaster !  So I will need to find a bit of spare time in the next day or two to start all over again. Today we've had a busy day at the Safari Park - the baboons are hilarious and very naughty indeed - they managed to jump up and over our mini bus and hung onto the rear windscreen wipers - at least they didn't pinch anything. Happy Stamping

Happy Easter We've been away over Easter with my husband's extended family - 20 people made up of Danes, Greeks, Swiss and a Norwegian - so it's been a very busy time with me in charge of catering.  I asked everyone to bring a cake to help with the catering ... but they all brought 2! so we now have a huge pile still to eat. The Swiss contingent brought the most fantastic Spunglii handmade egg/chocolates so with that and all the mini lindt eggs I bought I think we may all need a diet by the end of the week. I had my craft stuff with me and did a demo/workshop for the Danish ladies - they were so excited as it was the first time any of them had ever made a card - and the youngest is touching 70. It was quite a challenge as I have no Danish and their Engish is a little limited - especially with words like glue, emboss, tap the stamp to the ink etc.  Today's card  is a very simple one using pretty in pink, rich razzleberry, newsprint DSP and cottage gaden stamps.

Bakers Twine OR Gardeners String ?? Well one of the latest trends in card making is bakers twine - but i haven't got any of that. So imagine my delight when in the garden centre to see a packet of 7 rolls of string that were almost perfect matches to some of the stamping up colours. So on today's cards I am showcasing my string , the newsprint DSP and simply soft. It all fits in perfectly with my activites over the last few days as I have been beavering away at the allotment to make the most of the fantastic weather. Later in the year I will be able to use the rest of the string to tie up all my beans - and hopefully have the prettiest allotment there.     Hope you like the cards colour combos are so saffron/pumpkin pie  and concord crush/wisteria wonder

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU Here's my husband's birthday card - rustled up this morning while crafting with a friend - nice and simple - lots of balloons from crazy for cupcakes stamped on glossy paper and coloured in using stampin write markers. The sentiment is from one of the FREE sale-a-bration stamp sets. It's getting close to your last chance now to get your freebies with an order of £45. So please get in touch if you want to know more. I have been trying to add the Stampin up idea book and mini catalogues and have decided I need some IT help ! So mid afternoon I was in the middle of making the cake when another friend dropped in , then Mike came home much earlier than possible so we have no birthday cake - but I have had a marvellous day of chatting !  You will see over time that I pretty much always deliver on time but do often cut it rather fine - it all adds to the excitement of life.

Today's card was made for the 50th wedding anniversary of my husband's aunt and uncle. I hope they had a wonderful day and that there are many more happy years to come. I got the idea from a similar card on stampin connection and have used the "i heart heart" stamp set, baroque border wheel and lots of cherry cobbler and gold embossing powder.  I am a bit short on sentiments and numbers so had to rumage through a lot of very old and unused peel offs to find the figures to use here for the 50. Somehow I have managed to "misplace" the scallop border punch that I was using - now I wouldn't say that I am untidy but...... anyway I have cleared my table and it isn't there - now I need to start on the shelves ! I also need a bit of a frantic craft room clear up as a friend is coming to craft on Thursday and it really is beyond the pale at the moment. We had originally planned to go to the craft show at the NEC but have decided to save our pennies

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY Here is the card I've sent for my mum, She's a very lucky lady this year and won't have opened the card yet as her and dad are currently cruising back from Los Angeles via the Panama Canal and New York on the Queen Victoria. This card uses the 2011-2013 In Colours and I have used the emboss resist technique with the Love Blossoms wheel from the Spring Mini catalogue. My big shot has been out for the scallop circle and precious butterflies die. It's finished off with lucky limeade ruffled ribbon. Tying bows has always been a bit of a challenge for me - I only ever learnt the bunny rabbit ears way as a child ! Hope you like the card. So this is my first blog post and it's certainly all new to me - I need to quickly learn how to add side bar and options so I can keep you all up to date, make this a more interactive experience and hopefully provide some crafting inspiration.