Pretty Pines wreath

Hello bloggists, and welcome. 

I’ve got a bit of a thing about foliage.  There are lots of pretty flower stamps and punches and dies out there, but to look their best they need a background, and what looks better than a bunch of greenery?  So you can imagine how excited I was when I saw the Pretty Pines dies in the Autumn/Winter catalogue – the set went straight to the top of my wishlist! 

The dies are perfect for Christmas cards, of course.  Today I’ve cut a pile of pine boughs and used them to make a wreath –

This is how I made the card –

I’ve also used one of my very favourite stamp sets in this card, the Wondrous Wreath set.  These stamps were one of the very first things I bought from Stampin’ Up!, about two years ago.  I’d been looking for the (now retired) Word Window slot punch and found that it was (at last!) possible to buy online.  When I got my order, the Demonstrator I’d chosen sent me a catalogue – and the Wondrous Wreath stamps and matching dies were available as a bundle – so I ordered them.  That started something...

That Christmas I asked my husband if I could have the Demonstrator Starter Kit as my present because there was so much stuff I wanted and if I became a demo I could get it at a discount.  I’d found out that I wasn’t obliged to sell to anybody or do workshops or parties unless I wanted to;  I just had to buy enough to meet the minimum target, which was about what I was spending on crafting anyway. I took the plunge and pushed that “Join Now!” button. 

I thought I’d stay in until I’d got everything I wanted  and then I’d resign...

After a while I wanted to share what I was making and thought I’d try making video tutorials.  I reckoned I could do one a week and the early ones were a struggle!  I’m up to three a week now and I’ve yet to make one where I just go right through from beginning to end (in fact, all of the projects I’ve shared this week are “version 2” because “version 1” went in the bin!).   My latest venture is live streaming, which frankly terrifies me when I think about it but really enjoy when I’m doing it (and I really must schedule another one soon!)

I’m coming up to my second anniversary with SU and in that time I’ve become part of a great team, met so many wonderful people.  I’ve attended SU training events and conferences (I wasn’t going to do that!) met some incentive targets (I didn’t bother reading about them because I wasn’t going to meet them either).  I’m loving every minute of it.  Oh, and I haven’t got everything I need from the catalogue yet so I suppose I won’t be resigning for a while...

Thank you for staying with me to the end of this.  If you love SU products and  think being a demo might be for you, please do contact me, I’d be happy to share my experiences with you.  Very long post so , for now I’ll just say,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren