Spooky Halloween is almost here!!!

My Spooky Halloween Card Class is scheduled for Monday October 3rd and I had some great ideas for those cards. Finally this weekend I got the time to start working on the cards.

Well, I should have learned by now that the best way for me to create cards is to "go with the flow", not be fixed with a certain idea. So, yesterday I spent couple of hours trying to figure out how to corporate the "halloween" word into my card. Then I finally figured out a nice way to do it.

Then I also learned another lesson (well... I should have learned it already couple of times but no...)

REMEMBER:

Remove the retired products from your shelves!

First I made a great halloween card (idea cased from Stampin'Connection but unfortunately I don't have the name saved), but I didn't have all the products from the original project, so I decided to use what I have (which then ended up being retired products - not on purpose). So then I had to redo the card with the CURRENT products. But it turned out great :-)

But at the end I managed to create 4 great cards for my Spooky Halloween Card Class :-)

Halloween must be one of the most difficult holidays for me to create cards for - we don't celebrate Halloween in Finland so I have no real experience on this holiday. Another difficult one for me is Valentines Day as that also is a North American and English holiday. It has made it's appearance also in Finland in the past decade, but more as a Friend Day, without the romantic content.

We will see how much I cope with the Valentine's Day in the coming spring :-)
I'm pretty sure one of the cards then will have the "Be My Valentine" from the "Festive and Fun" set which is in the current Holiday Mini Catalogue.

Here are all the 4 cards for my Halloween Card Class:

Halloween - the strangest holiday ever...

I find Halloween always very strage time. Maybe I should explain why. Well, first of all, I don't like ghost stories or horror movies so to me the whole idea of tomb stones on our front yard seems very strage (and I won't put anything else than pumpkins and all sweet things in our yard!). Second, I'm from FInland - we don't do halloween in Finland, well, I don't think we do it in the entire European continent :-)
Actually, I have heard that some teen agers in Finland have started to have "halloween parties" but in my youth we did not do that.
What we did (and still do) is have Easter Wiches during the easter holidays. That's when kids dress up as easter wiches and go from door to door with decorated willow brances and wish good luck to the house and are given treats or money as a reward - kind of what your trick or treating in North America.

So for me to do Halloween crafts is very strange. Every year I'm getting a bit better and this year I'm determined to send out my first Halloween cards :-)

I was so excited designing my cards! I cannot wait to hear what you think of my samples
We are using these also in my Spooky Halloween card class on Monday, October 3rd (7pm - 9pm)

Fall Classes, starting with Thanks Giving and fall

I love fall!!! The cool mornings, the colours in the trees! And I LOVE crafting with fall colours. All the different yellows, oranges, greens and browns!

And crafting with Stampin' Up! colours is even better - they have so creative and tasty names :-) like: "Pumpkin Pie", Lucky Limeade", "Tangerine Tango" and you cannot live without "Crumb Cake".

For my fall class "Falling leaves and giving thanks" I wanted to use my basic fall colours "More Mustard", "Chocholate Chip", "Crumb Cake" and I had to add a bit of the InColours like "Pool Party".

In each catalogue Stampin'Up! has managed to come up with something (a paper, ribbon, fabric) that I just HAVE to have :-)
This fall's Holiday Mini has one that I just LOVE and I want to use it on everything: "Spice Cake" both the paper and the fabrics are just to die for! They carry all my favourite fall colours and they are very retro, but still very classic in style.

The Classes Are Here! The Classes Are Here!

My August Class samples

Well, I actually posted this already earlier in August on my Stampin'Up! Demonstrator web-site, but as I decided to start a separate blog and feed it to the Stampin'Up! Demonstrator Web-site, all my old posts sort of vanished :)

So, you can see my class schedule at www.tanja.stampinup.net



The way I run my classes is this:

In average, the cost of the class is 20 cad (usually 4 cards, or 2 scrapbook pages AND 2 cards). Sometimes a class might involve more work/supplies and the cost would be higher (not over 30 cad). You don't have to sign up for a set of classes, you can take the ones you like.

Here is the twist: The class (and the samples) are FREE, if you place an order of 25 cad from the current Stampin' Up! catalogues the same night! This way you don't only get the class and samples free, but also get to build on your own supplies! However, if you don't want to place an order, you pay for the regular fee.

 

 

Also, bring a new friend to class, and you get to do a second set FREE!!

So here is the schedule:

• Monday, September 12th (7pm - 9pm): Falling Leaves and Giving Thanks
• Monday, October 3rd (7pm - 9pm): Spooky Halloween!
• Monday, Noveber 7th (7pm - 9pm): Xmas Cards
• Monday, December 5th (7pm - 9pm): Last minute Christmas Gifts

Email me for details (RSVP by previous Friday!) Tanja.Neuvonen@gmail.com

 

 

Falling Leaves and Giving Thanks class teaser

So where did it all start and how did I end up with Stampin'Up!



This was my 1st Stampin'Up! card

Well, I have always been interested in all kinds of crafts, but specially in paper crafts. We did Christmas cards with my mom and we used techniques like heat embossing and stamping.


When I moved to Ottawa in 2003, I wanted to do some scrapbooking (this was something new to me then) and started by buying various card stocks and a ton of stickers. Don't get me wrong, the pages turned out great, but it was SO expensive to keep buying those stickers (and I still buy stickers!).



Then a colleague of mine asked, if I'd like to come to a "Stampin'Up!" -party. Well, why not, cannot hurt me - right?



One of my most recent projects

And that's when it all started. I LOVED the fact that the company has everything coordinated! Although it took me few parties before I really figured what I needed to get. First I bought some stamps, well... then I needed the inks, the papers, the word stamps.... you get the point :-)

But I just love how everything coordinates: shapes, colours, ribbons, buttons....

It makes it so easy but at the same time SO versitale!

So I got totally hooked on Stampin'Up! So much so, that I ended up becoming a demonstrator myself in 2010. I have been watching Stampin'Up! develop and grow these past years and I love all the new ideas and colours they come up with!. And eventhough I'm doing mostly cards, I have seen SO many beautiful scrapbook pages, mixed media projects and fabric creations done with Stampin'Up! products. You just have to let your creativity flow and most wonderful things can happen. And if you don't always get that inspiration on you own, there are so many beautiful creations and ideas on the Stampin'Up! Idea Book and Catalogue. I cannot throw the old ones out just because of that!