Cutting it awfully fine for this challenge, but I hope you will agree it was worth the wait!

Stamp With Us had a challenge running to follow a recipe of 3 Brads, 2 Papers and 1 Stamp. Well as there were 3 items to use, I thought I would make 3 projects!

There is a Card with an origami embellishment, A Gift bag and a cute cookie bouquet!

The card features an Origami Heart made from Stampin’ Up! Designer series paper, more designer paper for layering, a speckle effect on the background cardstock, the brads and a simple Christmas message! Its unconventional, but I like it! And the recipe is completed on the card!

The gift bag is a pre-made plain black bag, I stamped on it with white craft ink, added 3 brads (one with a gorgeous flower) above the handle, and a handmade ‘german star’ gift bow, the star is made from 2 Stampin’ Up! Designer series papers and once you get the hang of it, they are quite easy and fun to make! Everything for the recipe is on here!

And finally the cookie bouquet – again so simple, but fun and really cute! I stuck a coffee stirrer stick (new of course!) between two cookies using squeezy icing, more icing on the top of the biscuit and tons of sprinkles pressed in! Stampin’ Up! Cellophane bags were put over the top and tied with grosgrain ribbon and the ‘cookie flowers’ were pushed into dough in the flowerpot, and tidies up with some tissue paper on the top. I used everything for the recipe on this project too!

So there we go, my entry to the SWU challenge! I hope you like it!

Quiet day Oh and the dog found the candy corn and ate it!

I did make a German Star today,

Sooo cute and really easy to make, have a look on google vids or youtube, it took a few attempts before I found a video I understood!!
You’ll get to see this whole project real soon, just pop back before Sunday!

Other than that, today was a quiet day!

Now obviously I cant blog my daily stuff until the day is done, soooo its going to be running at least a day behind!

Yesterday evening we went to the German market in Birmingham and had a lovely time!  The sights, smells and sounds were amazing!

    And we even found a little time to ride the carousel too!

Well, today starts December, we get the advent calendars out, and the countdown to a visit from the big man in red begins!

It also means the start of the December journal. Now this year mine is going to be a mixture of Ali Edwards 'December Daily', Jessica Spragues 'holidays in hand', Shimelles 'Journal your Christmas' and any others that take my fancy along the way!

During December (to ease the pressure a bit) I am going to jot down notes, and hopefully a blog post or two! then when I get the chance I will do some digital or hybrid scrapping of the season!

Today I am doing something new, I have just tried Candy Corn for the first time, and its a hit!

So this is what ‘S’ will get for her first little advent box this year! I have made the box using a Lauren Meader template, and was struggling for what to fill it with, she is going to LOVE these!

The box is made from everything Stampin’ Up! Striped Grosgrain, Naturals Ivory cardstock, Darling Dots stamp set with old olive ink, Merry Moments papers and Stampin’ Up! adhesive. To order any of these items, please use the contact me form below!

And show me your December journal for FREE postage! (only valid until 31st December)

Well its time to get hopping! Where did you start?

Did you come from Carolynnes Blog? Or are you starting here?
All you need to do today is make your way around the blogs in the loop, once you come back here you are all done, and hopefully inspired for some great Christmas projects.

My project for you today is a card design and matching gift box. But better yet, if you go to our Ning site, Craft Academy, you will find a fabulous FREE sample tutorial to make the project. Everyone who joins the Ning site (and the free class group) will be entered into a prize draw, you could win one of 3 Fabulous gifts! The prizes will be drawn on December 1st, with the announcement being made on 2nd December.

So lets get onto the project.

The box is made from a single 12x12 sheet of cardstock, and the cards are made using an offcut from the box and another 12x12 sheet.

This is a really simple and stylish set that is great to use, but better to give as a gift! Use the same box design with a different front panel and card for different seasons, how lovely would this be to give a set of Thank you notes!

Go and join the Ning site to download the project (there may be a slight delay as we have to manually approve you, but we will get onto it as soon as we can) Remember the Prize Draw is on 1st December so tell everyone you know about it! (and look out here for more details of the prizes!)

But before you disappear, whats the point of a blog hop if you dont do some hopping, Go and see the lovely Bekka and her Christmas Project.

I hope you enjoyed the card design and matching box, Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! (it’ll be an extra credit for the prize draw if you do!)

Here is a simple ‘1 page’ minibook, it uses just 1 sheet of 12x12 and you can use scraps to decorate!

The book is made from Kraft cardstock, with a choc chip strip and the flourished paper on the top is the Bride speciality paper. It is white paper with white foil, and what i have done here is brayered it with Really Rust ink! Give it a polish with a paper towel and its like magic, the foil repels the ink and it gives a fabulous effect!
Over the top I have tied some twill tape and frayed it, the wording is stencilled on.

To make the book, you need to fold the cardstock in half, turn it and fold again, then cut down one of these lines from the top to the centre, you can now fold the piece into a minibook and decorate it.

Inside I have simply used some choc chip cardstock, a little of the bride paper and some photographs. The lettering is stencilled on, and kept in a straight line with decorative score lines on the journalling piece.

If you would like a kit to make these please contact me, I can supply the Bride paper, Cardstock and some punched pieces to decorate your book! To purchase any Stampin’ Up! products, please contact me using the button in the sidebar!

Did I tell you about the Christmas Extravaganza?

If you purchase £45 worth of goodies from this leaflet, you get a FREE tag punch, we have 2 sizes in the catalogue that layer up perfectly! So if you want to make some cute, quick and easy tags for your Christmas gifts this year, and get some fabulous goodies for yourself at the same time (all in the name of art of course!!) Then just contact me using the button in the sidebar and i can arrange it for you! Oh and if you spend £90 . . . . . you get 2 punches! Come back tomorrow for some Tag examples using Stampin’ Up! Tag Punches and some of the gorgeous Christmassy stamps.

This Saturday, there is a 12 Blogs of Christmas blog hop!

You can join us on this hop, with 2 projects on each blog and get all of the inspiration you need for this Christmas!!

All of the projects will go live at approx 10am, links will be completed to make the hop easier for you as soon as possible after that.

Do you want to win a fabulous prize? Then pop back here on Saturday to find out how you can win it! There may be other prizes along the blog hop too, but you’ll have to check it out to find out!

Contact me to purchase any of these items!

Wow, convention was amazing, so much fun! Unfortunately I couldnt post any pictures from there as there was no wireless internet at the hotel (and I was planning on using my phone) although I did manage to put a post on from the computer in the hotel lobby, there was no way to put a pic on too.

Going to make up for that now though!

The first night started with a bit of a party! The Passionettes got together in Monica and Zoe’s room for some pre-convention fun! There was drink, nibbles and the BEST company!

Next morning saw convention registration in the conference centre, Here we picked up our badges, bags and info for the weekend. It was also a great place to see people we hadn’t seen in a while, meet up with the German & French (and lets not forget the fabulous American military demo’s too!) It was also a great place to start swapping card fronts and other projects with each other.

We also got a glimpse of our first memento mall! Where we can purchase Stampin’ Up! branded products like pens, key holders, blouses, tote bags, water bottles . . . .

Met up with my lovely upline, Monica at various points throughout the day, this girl didn’t stop all weekend, especially on awards night!!

When the doors opened there was a ripple of excitement, although some got more excited than others!! The atmosphere was amazing in the room, we were all wondering what the weekend had in store for us.

Check back later for more!