A Special Offer when you join the Stampin Up! family

Good Morning, I am doing an extra blog post today to tell you about a very special offer when you join Stampin' Up! in July! For one month only you can get your hands on a set of 10 FREE ink pads in any of the colour families in addition to the already fabulous Starter Kit!

 So for £99 you can choose £130 worth of goodies from the catalogue PLUS a set of ink pads from the ones listed below! This will be really good to get you up and running if you are wanting to run as a business or will fill you ink collection if you are simply wanting to join as a hobbyist! I would love to welcome you to our fun team and have a chat with you about joining. If you would like further info please email me HERE or if you know you want to go for it then you can SIGN UP HERE but only from Sunday 1st July to take advantage of this offer.

 I thought I would give you a 

little reminder I still have 2 spaces left on my In Colour Club starting on 1st July, you can find all the details HERE

 And also not forgetting my special offer for the last few days of June to celebrate my 10th anniversary with Stampin' Up!

We have a brand new set of tutorials that are available when you spend £45 or more on my store. These will be emailed to you, 12 exclusive tutorials from around the world!

 Or you can purchase them as a one off payment

Upcoming Classes

Hello there! Well I slept in today! I thought I had set my alarm but clearly I hadn't! I did enjoy the impromptu lie in though and was grateful it was on a day when I don't have a class!

Today I wanted to share a couple of photos from the lovely baby shower I hosted for Anna last weekend. We spent a lot of time decorating the studio with various props and her friends enjoyed quizzes, pink lemonade, a craft project and a lovely cream tea on my vintage china.

 If you are planning a Baby Shower and would like to book with me at The Paper Haven then please do get in touch. I have 3 different price bands to cover different budgets, all include a craft project and cream tea.

So onto my Upcoming Classes. As well as all my regular classes that you can find on my Facebook Page HERE I also have a number of extra classes over the next few weeks, some are almost full. First up is this class to make the lovely big bag, small bag and matching card.

I have seats available on the following sessions

Weds 20th April - 10am - 2 seats left

Weds 20th April - 7pm - 7 seats left

Sat 23rd April - 10am - 7 seats left

The cost is £20 and you can pay securely online via my Classes/Events page 

Also coming up is this class to make this Exploding Box on Saturday 30th April at 2pm

This is the only thing we will make in the class as it will take some time, I have allowed 3 hours to make it. The class cost is £25 and includes a full pack of Shine On papers or you can upgrade and include the Balloon punch for £40. Again you can book on my Classes/Events page here

 Not forgetting my popular Crafternoon Tea events. These have been selling out a month before they take place.

I have seats available on the following dates

Saturday 14th May - 5 seats left 

Saturday 11th June - 5 seats left

Saturday 9th July - 7 seats left

The cost is £22 for the full afternoon tea plus craft project. Again you can book on my Classes/Events page

 Hope to see you at one of my events soon.

Thank you!

 Well today is the LAST DAY of Sale-A-Bration 2016. Just a little reminder for those of you who may have any last minute orders to make the most of the free goodies. I will be closing off the Online Code Club Order around 9am this morning so please do get in touch before then if you want to use the code or if you are local if you want to add onto the order.

I have now been at The Paper Haven craft studio for a month and I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on my first month. It has been hard work and tiring but it has been so amazing and I am very glad I made the decision to go for it. 

Moving most of my craft things out of the house and down here was a little strange but I am enjoying the fact that when I get home it's family time, as well as all the cooking and cleaning of course. I think I am actually being more productive too! If I do need to nip down and collect something or do some extra work it's only 7 minutes drive! I have received so much positive feedback from my existing customers and also my new customers who have joined me at classes now that I am here at the studio. 21 new class attendees joined me during March which I am thrilled with and I am looking forward to welcoming more people.

I had a lovely open morning with lots of new people popping in to see the new place and sign up for classes. Thank you to those who attended and to everyone who helped me out.

 My Crafternoon Teas are proving to be the most popular event at the moment. I offer one per month on the second Saturday of the month. We make a lovely craft project and then enjoy a full afternoon tea provided by my caterer on vintage china. I have seats left for 14th May and 11th June if you would like to treat yourself. I can arrange for groups of friends to sit together too.

And so as the month ends I am feeling happy and grateful that I have been able to make this leap into the world of owning a craft studio, a dream I have had for a long time. I am looking forward to adding to and enhancing my class lists and in April I am excited to be hosting my first Baby Shower and private Birthday Crafternoon Tea Party. I have lots of events planned including this one to make the beautiful bags and card below. 3 different sessions available, all on my Classes/Events page or on Facebook here

So it's only appropriate to end with a tonne of thank yous. Firstly to my husband Robin who has tirelessly listened to my ramblings and ideas about the studio since the middle of November 2015 and has helped me to lift and shift my old craft room down here, as well as many other jobs. My Dad who has been a big help with the paintbrush and moral support. My Mum and Kate who washed up every piece of cutlery, cup, saucer, plate, teapot, mug, sugar bowl, milk jug and organised my cupboards for  me. To Sharon who came and painted chairs and pulled about 100 staples out of old chairs. To Monica who kindly gifted me the gorgeous dresser (that has had many comments) and came and painted whatever I asked her to and organised my ribbon drawer. To everyone who sent a card, gift, flowers and messages of good luck to me, I was overwhelmed by those. To all my class attendees who have had to change their routes to craft class, some are now nearer, some slightly further away but all have been positive about the space. To my team for adjusting to a new setting and set up for team trainings events and for bearing with me whilst I was a little distracted for the last few weeks. To the staff at Gaunts who were great at dealing with my requests and answering all my questions. To my fellow tenants at the Springfield Centre, thank you for welcoming me to the "family", I feel like I have new friends. Finally to anyone who I have forgotten (huge possibility) and to the many people who I have pitched ideas to, used as a sounding board and have listened to me bang on about the studio for the past few months. I am truly grateful, my glass is brimming and I am looking forward to many many many more months and years at The Paper Haven. 

Last of the ReTREAT projects

Hello there. Well the decorating is starting today, very exciting and cannot wait to see our new room finished. Today I am sharing the remaining ReTREAT day projects with you. I saw some amazing cards on Dena Rekow's BLOG. I am a big fan and I love what Dena did with the Botanical Gardens set so I CASED her style for this gift bag and matching card.

 The flowers on the gift bag have been stamped and then cut out with the dies. The flowers on the card were simply cut from coloured card stock. I think I prefer the flowers on the card.

I went for quite a bright combo of Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral and Cucumber Crush which was a contrast to the papers we used in the morning. We also used a bit of the lush Gold Foil card which goes so well with the black/white combo.

Really enjoyed making these projects but I am not rolling any more of those flowers out for a week or so! I was seeing them in my sleep for a few days, as I am sure most of my ladies were!

There are only 2 days left of Sale-A-Bration 2016. 2 days to get your hands on the free exclusive goodies. I will be closing my Online Code Club tomorrow at 9am, please make sure you order before then if you are wishing to take part and receive a gift in April.

Bucket of flowers

Hello there! The good news is we managed to get most of the former craft room sorted out yesterday. Probably just got another half an hours work in there to do before the decorator arrives on Wednesday morning! Very exciting I must say.

Today I am sharing another project from my ReTREAT days last week. As soon as I saw the cute little flowers in the terracotta pots in the catalogue I knew I had to have a  go at one. I went along to a local wholesalers and tried to find some but there were none to be had and time was of the essence (plus Mr K was with me and was getting impatient) so I had to settle for the metal buckets! But I was really pleased with them in the end.

I filled the bucket with a piece of Oasis and then made the flowers using green floristry wire, the die cut flowers and some strong tape. I should really have included more flowers in my bucket but again time was of the essence. 

My ladies faired much better than I did and some of the Saturday ladies had the fab idea of adding the various leaves at the back of some of the flowers using some Mossy Meadow card! Don't they look amazing, they put mine to shame! Below are Jill and Pat's creations.

If you would like to have a go at these then the Stampin Up products used can be found below and the other items should be available online or in a local garden centre.

See you tomorrow for more projects.

Retreat Days

Good Morning and a very Happy Easter to you all. I've been up early today despite being shattered after a full on day at the studio yesterday for my Retreat Day. This week I have welcomed 20 ladies to my retreat days, 8 on Wednesday and 12 on Saturday. This is the first time I have been able to offer a midweek Retreat Day and I am looking forward to arranging more.

As it is Easter this week I just had to make sure there was a little Easter treat for my ladies and my lovely friend and downline Anna popped over and helped me make these little treats. They contain a Malteser chocolate bunny. Thank you Anna.

 Here is my table all set up for Wednesday's session. We started at 10 and were supposed to run to 7 but we didn't manage to last that long!

The ladies all received a generous goody bag containing the Botanical Gardens stamps, dies and papers AND the Botanicals SAB stamp set, plus card and accessories to complete the projects.

 When the ladies arrived I had hot drinks and pastries waiting for them. The day includes Brunch, Lunch and Afternoon Tea, provided by my caterer Jayne.

 On the Saturday I changed the flowers around. I LOVE roses and I enjoyed popping these out on the tables to make it look pretty!

We also had a birthday girl in the house on Saturday as Gillian had celebrated her 60th birthday the previous weekend so we just had to make a little fuss of her and I made her this card and got these roses for her.

 I was so busy talking and distracting my ladies that I barely took any photos but I did manage to take one of the cakes we had for Afternoon Tea. Gorgeous Victoria Sponge, Coffee and Walnut and of course, Scones with cream and jam!

 I will share the projects we made over the next couple of days. If you would like details on my future retreats then please just message me on thepaperhavenleeds@gmail.com

Seats have already been taken on some of the days

SUMMER RETREAT DAY - 10-6 - £85

Wednesday 13th July

Saturday 16th July

CHRISTMAS RETREAT DAY - 10-6 - £85

Wednesday 16th November

Saturday 19th November