New set, 'True Friend' or 'Amitiè Sincère'

I am so in love with this new stamp set, I've had such fun with it over the last week. As demonstrators we were allowed to pre-order it and I'm glad I did as it's so versatile. It's available for anyone to purchase as of 1st October which is the new catalogue launch date. The ribbon flower was inspired by Jenny's blog (again).

Birthday Surprise.

Wow did I get a surprise on Tuesday evening. I had a phone call during the day to say that my name had been picked out to go to Paris on the 6th Nov. to help out at the Stampin'Up! promotional stand. Anne was picked as well so I was happy that we could travel together etc., I was busy relaying this information to my husband and instead of being happy for me he said 'I don't want you to go'. I was gobsmacked and upset that he couldn't get excited about it for me. I said 'why not' and he kept saying 'just because, you can't'. Before it escalated into a row he had to tell me that he'd booked me a holiday for that week - one week with my friend Angie in America! The photo shows Angie with her son David, Neil was in the States in April to organise some ASM things for a training camp and that's when they first started cooking up this plan.

It was Angie who got me hooked into making cards when she lived in Clermont 5 years ago and since she moved back to Greenville in South Carolina I've been dreaming about going for a holiday there but never actually dreaming that it would ever happen. There are a lot of old Clermont friends in Greenville so it promises to be a social week and great fun.

This is an early birthday present, I hate to think about it but I'll be 40 in December, yuk, this holiday will certainly soften the blow and I'm very grateful for it. Thanks Neil for making it happen.

Cards and candles in Randan.

Yesterday I spent the day in a village called Randan which is about half an hour from Pont-du-Chateau. I was there with about 20 others from the forum ScrapAuvergne. We were there to chat and eat as well as do some scrap projects. My 'ateliers' were, as expected, based on cards but I also showed the technique of stamping on candles which is always great fun. I used 2 stamp sets from the new catalogue which are easy to work with but produce stunning results.

Because I was running the card and candle ateliers I didn't get a chance to do Delf and Pandora's mini albums but they looked like super projects. Unfortunately there has been some problems with the technical side of the ScrapAuvergne forum today so I can't show you any photos of us all hard at work!

I forgot to give credit to Jenny from Stamping Moments, her blog is where I found the inspiration to use the 'sage shadow and chocolate chip' colours together, it works!

Stampin'Up! (R) fete ses 20 ans!

Et oui, en octobre la Société Stampin'up fete ses 20 ans et pour l'occasion, nous propose du 1er au 31 octobre de feter l'evenement grace à une super promo :
Pour 20 € d'achats, vous bénéficiez de 20 % de remise sur l'achat des sets de tampons sélectionnés anniversaire / célébration.
Pour agrandir et enregistrer le prospectus, cliquez sur l'image





Ne cherchez pas dans votre catalogue actuel les pages et sets mentionnés, vous ne les trouverez pas !!! En effet, les pages correspondent à celle du nouveau catalogue qui sortira au 1er octobre !!!! Et la promo concerne quelques nouveautés !!!!!Vous allez donc etre obligée de patienter...... rageant non ??? ;)
Vous pouvez d'ors et déjà réserver une date pour profiter de cet atelier en m'écrivant ici : moira.mcilroy63@orange.fr Vous pouvez déjà pré-commander le catalogue au prix de 7.50€ (+ éventuellement 2.97 € de FDP si pas sur place)
Le mois d'octobre sera donc un mois intéressant en promotions étant donné que tout le mois vous pourrez bénéficier de cette promo mais qu'également du 4 au 11 octobre il y a également la promo concernant la journée mondiale de la carterie !!!! voir ici

Tagged or Taguée

Je viens de me faire Taguée par Aline
Je dois répondre à 6questions et taguées 6scrapcopines! le principe du tag :
-mettre le lien de la personne qui m'a taguée
-mettre le règlment sur mon blog
-répondre aux 6 questions suivantes
-tager 6 autres personnes à la fin de ce billet en mettant leur lien-avertir les personnes taguées directement sur leur blog Les 6 questions :

-1 aliment que je n'aime pas du tout (One food I don't like) : Choux des Bruxelles (Brussell Sprouts)
-Mes 3 aliments favoris (3 favourite dishes) : Curry au Poulet (Chicken curry), Crumble aux Pommes ou Rhubarbe (Apple or Rhubarb Crumble), Soupe maison (home made soup)
-Recette favorie (favourite recipe) : Truffade (Auvergnate dish made with potatoes, cheese and garlic)
-Ma boisson de prédilection (favourite drink) : Thé vert (green tea)
-Le plat que je rêve de réaliser et que je n'ai toujours pas fait (a dish which I'd like to but never have actually made) : Crème Brûlée
-Mon meilleur souvenir culinaire : Repas de Noël en Ecosse (any of the Christmas meals I've had in Scotland, except maybe the one where I set the table on fire with too many candles)

donc je tag :

Ma copine Val
Ma recrue Maud
Ma copine Julie qui fait des beaux bijoux
Stampin'Up! UK demonstrator Jenny who makes lovely cards

Allez à vous 4 de continue le tag culinare.

More for Christmas

The Stampin'Up! catalogue is not just a catalogue but a 'book of ideas'. I've been searching through some old American catalogues for ideas for Christmas and found this one using 'Cristaux de Neige'. My friend Muriel let me borrow the set, it's on the list to be retired when stock runs out and I might just have to buy it. I'm hoping to use Muriel's set a bit more tonight before I hand her it back on Tuesday

The second card is 'Une Joyeuse Saison' from the new catalogue which I got my hands on yesterday. There are so many gorgeous new sets which I can share with you in October. I'll do another message soon to tell you a bit more about it.

Fresh Cuts

Yesterday I had to have a break from my Christmas cards and I opened up a Stampin'Up! set my friend Angie in America lent to me.

The notecards already had the 5 point flower cut out of the middle. I used Stampin'Up!'s Mellow Moss and Bravo Burgundy for the first one then Perfect Plum and Pale Plum for the second. The taffeta ribbon in Mellow Moss is also from Stampin'Up! and is gorgeous to work with, I didn't have any Plum coloured ribbon so I used my ink pad to dye a piece of white grossgrain ribbon, it worked out an exact match.

If I get time today I'm going to try these cards in Chocolate Chip and Tempting Turquoise. It's my downline Anne's birthday today, Happy Birthday Anne, see you later (hope she doesn't see this message until later though as I'll probably give her one of these cards)!

Okay, I'd love your comments on this card? I think it's quite cool even though it's just very simple and coloured in with watercolour pencils. I'v e stamped 10 of them and have a busy day of colouring planned.

Yesterday we had torrential rain for about half an hour complete with hailstones. I was driving in Clermont when the storm started and it felt and sounded like someone was throwing golf balls at the car, I was sure the roof would be dented! This was some of the evidence in the garden half an hour afterwards.

Okay, off to my colouring pencils and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave me comments on the blog, it's a pleasure to read them and get your feedback.

More cards.

This morning I finished off another 10 Christmas cards in this heat, it must be at least 25° and not card making weather! Nicki came and made some cards from her Stampin'Up! 'Simply Sent kit, it was good to have some company for the boring assembly part of making 10 identical cards.

I also wanted to make some Sympathy cards for my stock, they are the only cards I don't enjoy making when somebody asks me for one after they've lost someone close.

The next Christmas design will be a Hanna stamps one I think, it may be a few days before they are posted mind you as they take a lot of colouring in and we've a busy few days ahead.

Flowers from Simply Sent kit (Stampin'Up!)

I made a few of these cards at the weekend after seeing the colour combination and design on Jenny's blog. If you haven't already looked at her blog then you are missing out as she is very talented at cardmaking! The link is on the left - 'Stampin Moments', I check it out nearly every day. I'm now off to go and ink up some other colours and try some different colour combinations. There is going to be an offer on this stamp kit next month, I'll give you the details soon.

Christmas card production is off and running!

Today I managed to finish off 10 Christmas cards, it's not been so sunny today so it's easier to think about colouring in Christmas trees, Santas and elves! I've decided to try and do my cards in batches of 10, some for an order and some for samples. The reindeer and sleigh is an old Stampin'Up! set I've had for a few years and never used. (Colleen, what do you think)?

After the reindeer I needed a change (I get bored too easily) so I played about with my Cuttlebug machine and some Stampin'Up! Chocolate Chip ink. I rubbed the ink pad over the Happy Birthday embossing folder and then added a layer of Chocolate Chip cardstock behind it. The ribbon is taffeta and actually looks too knobbly with the embossing so I hid it with a few brown buttons.

Okay, better get back to the Christmas cards, I'm challenging myself to creating 15 different designs before the end of the month, I'll let you know how I get on.

A change from cards.

A quick message to show a little cardigan I made for a friend's baby the other week. Now and again I get the urge to knit something and a baby's cardigan is usually enough to keep me happy as it doesn't take too long. I don't knit often as I can't make head nor tail of the French knitting patterns! They are nothing like the English ones. I did make the mistake of putting the button borders on the wrong side and it actually fastens as if it was for a boy but never mind, the baby won't care!

Trop trop mangé!

Yesterday we were invited by Seb to his family house in the country along with the other staff from ASM. I think there were 30 of us in total, 15 adults and 15 kids. I have never seen or eaten so much food.The photo is of the table laden with the cheese course and the 4 'pompe aux pommes' which had been hand prepared. We ate country paté and sausage made with potatoes and pork for starters then truffade and jambon with salad, delicious. Not exactly summer food (and certainly not for anybody on a diet) but then it was a few degrees cooler than in Pont-du-Chateau! The kids had a great time running about in the fields, picking blueberries and even milking cows and drinking the warm milk! No need for dinner when we got home, we had a great afternoon and were very well looked after and spoiled by Seb's family.

Retired List!!!

Today's the day Stampin'Up! have announced their list of products which won't be for sale in the new catalogue due out on October 1st. You can click on the link in my French message to see the list, these products will only be available until the end of September and will be on a first come first served basis.
If you need to organise a last minute workshop or want to make an individual order of any of these items before they're gone then please get in touch moira.mcilroy63@orange.fr I'm also taking orders now for the new catalogue.

Articles retirés!!!

Articles retirés !!!!
Ca y est la liste est publiée !!!
Alors si vous voulez acquérir ces articles là, dépêchez vous car il n'y en aura pas pour tout le monde
Voici là liste : a voir ici classé par ordre des pages du catalogueou à télécharger directement ici FR_Retired_List_07_08_alpha
Suite à l'arrêt de commercialisation pour certains produits du catalogue actuel pour faire place à des nouveautés dans le nouveau (à paraitre le 01/10/08)
Ces produits étant en quantités limitées, il faut faire vite pour vous les procurer. Ça sera les 1ères arrivées les 1ères servies !!!
A cet effet, je me tiens a votre disposition :
pour organiser rapidement un atelier
prendre vos commandes individuelles
prendre en pré-commande votre demande du nouveau catalogue
le tout à la même adresse : moira.mcilroy63@orange.fr
Démonstratrice Indépendante Stampin'Up ! en région Auvergne et adhérente de UStamp