Spooky times

I am noticing that there are a few project with are Halloween based appearing on blogs, its that time of year again that just before all things Christmas take over we see a glimpse of green, orange and purple.
Marlene once did a great feature for a magazine with the Nellie & Luca set of four Halloween characters but I can not find it anywhere so can only now show you a picture of the kit

This is our kit on special for August while stocks last. See them here

But there are other Halloween stamps at Funkykits

but my favourites from last season are these two from Mary

So would you like to show off your Sugar Nellie Halloween cards and creations, I would love to see other characters coloured in the Halloween colours especiall some of the Mangas :)

DIY challenge Pick your own Prize

Challenge 40 is up over on the Sugar Bowl and its all down to you. Pop over and see what its all about and be in with a change of winning one of the bigger prizes out there in challenge land. Remember you can multi task and enter more than one challenge with one card if your "play your cards right" old Bruce was right "points make prizes" and I am sure you remember the "Brucie (sp) bonus"................. 90 entries last time,so close but just not close enough, you know I wanted 100! Ok so I will still offer to double the prize so we can have two winners IF we get the 100 entries.

Now Debbie was quick off the mark and has entered this beautiful orange and red card into our challenge and three others, visit Debbie to see how time management should be done.

But the very first entry was from Kathrin with a beautiful pastel coloured card with a Diane Duda illustrated stamp also, just so cute. Again Kathrin has multi tasked with this card.

Good luck girls and I will look back soon to see all the other entries.

Karen

Girls just wana have fun

So as the Manga range expands, girls a more popular than boys but for the Christmas release in August we have even number of both and they also work well with 2009 Manga Christmas stamps.

My posts for the next wee while will be themed, we have covered Mangas so now I am on the hunt for DT cards with Halloween theme.

Christmas stamps are already beginning to sell out as we have not re made many of these since last year. It always amazes me how early card makers start on Christmas, I know its the same time each year and we get a12 months pre warning, but I always run out to time as I like to do more than cards at Christmas and before then there is Halloween which is my favourite holiday.

Lets just enjoy summer for a little while longer its not often we see it!

take care

Karen

PS Tomorrow I am back to the house of sugar to collect all the kids and supplies for our trip to Ellon in Aberdeenshire, tomorrow morning we will remove the event booking option and work with our final numbers to ensure everyone has a kits for the day, no last minuet tickets as we leave early on Saturday. So if the girls from Aberdeen shire wana a little fun.........

Boy Oh boy

Manga boys are so popular with us that we would like to do some more before the end of the year.

So what ideas do you have for me, more sports, or dressed up as....

we do have a range of boys which are

more real to life from Home Grown too.

Tomorrow I am away down the road and if I get time I will use the scheduled post option.

I will be looking to choose some guest DT members to help with the August launch of stamps, this will include our new Christmas designs, they are amazing I bet you cant wait! :)

take care

Karen

Monday Musings

Good morning sugar addict, here goes another short working week for me as I have to go down south for a family funeral, so I will do as much work as I can today as my kids are running wild on our farm with their father, oh the joys of school holidays for working parents.

I have read each and everyone one of the 68 opinions on decoupage, a few points
I love it when your "brutally honest"
you all  made very valid points
If I could bring you more stamps I would have done it long before now
I have read each post but deleted them all as this is my market research for my eyes only *wink*
thank you to all of you who took the time to leave a comment, I stand by my original decision but its
nice to have back up sometimes because I am not trained to do this job, no degree in business here only many years at the "school of hard knocks".

So now I need to be on the look out for something new to bring to you all...............suggestions on a postcard please!
With CHA on in USA this week, Janiel is off to view what new and what's hopefully going to be hot.
I can't say that we came home last year with loads of new product ideas, (just lots of craft shopping),
I am sure that this industry is having to work much harder that in past years to find a product idea to compete in this market, is there anything out there that is totally original and new, I doubt it, it's only fashion trends and re vamping old ideas, much like everything else in the world. The last original and exciting product was cuttle bug embossing folders, I was so please not to have to use those brass stencils and light boxes ever again.

take care
Karen

Decoupage or not to decoupage

When the craft house press took out their range of Gorjuss decoupage sheets we ask ourselves if our customers would like these, after much discussion it was decided that with 100% of our web customers being stampers that no they would not deviate back to pick and stick. But after a long phone call from John at CHP we find ourselves asking the same question again, so lets put it out there and ask..........

 would you be interested in Gorjuss Decoupage, toppers and other pre printed material?

We value your opinion and it is important to us that you tell us what you want as there are so many of you reading this blog that it make sense to ask, I know only a few of you will take the time to leave me a comment but I do listen to you all.

Take a vote yes or no to decoupage and other printed sheets?

Karen

HOS News

Summer is generally a quiet time in the HOS, with Kate on holiday from the store we have been one down which fills our day nicely. We eventually got a new supplier for pick & mix A4 card and we now have the best selection of quality textured card in a beautiful range of colours, essential to any good crafter.
What else is new.............

Lots of summer visitors who travel hour to visit our store in ELGIN
The launch this week of the new four Manga.
Re stocks of the quickly sold out kanban clear stamps
Low stocks on the Trinketts charms and bracelets.

I can understand the popularity of the new Kanban stamp range, this company has improved greatly in my opinion and has many lines that we now choose to stock at Papercrafts, here are some of our favourites out of the new range.

this is one of several cute sets of clear stamps at £9.99 a set. The first thing I asked when I seen those was
 " is that the same artist who designs for Lily of the Valley?"  , she did not know only that they have 10 artist work for them. I can bet it is or someone has a serious breach of copy rite to answer too.LOL

These are a little similar to our own Gorjus Girls range, its been over a year and we have had no new designs so I am sure that these will appeal to our fans of cute little girls.

and finally how about these for a little bit of dress up fun with the kid's in the holidays, this set is even Scottish!

Have a great weekend and please do your challenges  for the Sugar Bowl blog as we want to double the prize this time :)
Karen

Re draw.......

Here we have four beautiful creations made with the new stamps by Donalda while she was on her holidays.

Now these are not all cards, Donalda has taken to decorating boxes and its something I would like to try also, there are so many more things you can decorate than cards. Oh the possibilities :)

***************

Who would believe that out of all you sugar addicts the same name would be drawn twice?!
Ruby, best you buy a lottery ticket this weekend as you have twice the lucky!

We received an email from Ruby and she would like us to re draw the Scooter boy candy, very kind of you, and random.org pulled up number 95 which is http://lainyslittleblog.blogspot.com/, email Mark for you candy at info@funkykits.co.uk

Now a little sweetener to you all , the four mangas are being released this weekend and for this weekend only you can purchase all four at an introductory price :) a little thank you from us to you as Mangas are your favourite range. Loyal supporters of Sugar Nellie Mangas deserve a treat as not everyone can win the candy.
Find then here. We are currently looking at other loyalty options *wink*

I hope the sun is shining where ever you are and here in the HOS we are counting down to our visit to ELLON next week, Aberdeenshire girls do you all have your ticket for a day fo sweet crafting?

Karen

Winners

Random.org chose the following numbers as winners

Fore! Golf boy #23

Princess #133

Scooter boy #3

Woodland  Fairy #56

So if those lucky winner would like to email info@funkykits.co.uk we can arrange for Mark to send you stamp out to you. Congratulation everyone.

The DT have been busy and have started to create with these new manga's, I will be back tomorrow with a preview of a few different things that you might be interested in.

Karen

Last Manga candy #4

Is she not adorable, dont I always save the best for last?

Who is going to have so much fun with this Woodland Fairy?

Winners will all be drawn tomorrow, good luck.

New manga candy #3

Boy oh boy is this lad going places?

{And look at that Edward Cullen hair!

Yes sad as it is I have OCD and have enjoyed watching

Eclipse as much as the next "Twilight Mom"}

But SCOOTER boy is perfect for those older boys desperate to get themselves a set of wheels.

DO you want to take this one for a test drive?

New Manga candy #2

Every girl dreams of being a princess.......

Well my Katie's 18 and dreams of being a Kardashian!

So you woold you like to pretty this princess up with glitter and bling?

New manga candy #1

If you're caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning,

hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron: Lee Trevino

*

The people who gave us golf and called it a game

are the same people who gave us bag pipes and called it music: Anon

*

 

As I googled golf jokes there were so many, I had to have a giggle at most.

Clean ones, not so easy to find!

But the first one if for the poor folks at St Andrews this week.

And the second, because yes ANON was right !

 

 

So this is one of the FUN images from the set of of four. If you would like to play a round with

this fella leave me a link.

Double winnings....

Jump on over to the Sugar Bowl and catch the new challenge, with two weeks to do it I am sure you can.

Gayle and the Sweeties have beautiful cards to inspire you and remember that you can entry this in other challenges too, killing two challenges with one cards so to speak!

AND if I see 100+ entries I will double the winnings and give away a second prize of the same :)

Now this would be a great craft room, so cute clean and colourful. It is in fact the Doodbug stand a Orlando CHA 2009. Using this old lap top I have discovered some old photos that I had forgot I had. I always love Doodle bug stand and the Sizzix stand, Tattered Angels had the most beautiful arty display, there was just so much of everything and with it almost a year since we traveled to Florida and I know that all four of us look back and have a good old giggle at our little trip to CHA.........and the rest!

Now its the golf open at St Andrews and the weather is horrendous but hey its Scotland it might be a heat wave tomorrow and then again in might not!

SO for all those lovers of men who are happiest hitting a small ball with a long stick, I will start the peeks of the new Mangas tomorrow ;)

FUN & FAIRY TALES

4 new Mangas

giving one away each day her on this blog

{you could win all four on the challenge blog}

Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

stay dry, keep warm

Karen

Letraset competition

Letraset are one of the UK's success stories, this company has been on the go since forever, remember those

rub on letters...............years ago?

But times change and all good business must change with the times. Bring on the pens...........so many different colouring mediums out there its hard to choose, you cant always try out every one as it takes time to build up a collection of colours enough to satisfy any cardmaker.

Letraset Pro Markers are our number one seller in our store, Papercrafts  in ELGIN.

Many times a week we get asked  "how do you get you colouring right", my answer to that is practice (says she who really needs to take her own advice).

Some mediums are easier to shade with than others and many years ago I used water colour pencil.

But this is 2010 and Letraset have launched Aquamarkers and I cant wait to test these babies out.

How do you fancy winning £50 to spend with Letraset?

They are running a competitions which you might be interested in, find more details HERE

If you don't fancy that, how about trying out for the next challenge.

The prize will be announced along with the next sketch on Thursday.

All you have to do is follow the sketch and make a card, you can do that can't you?

For those of you who already have the Aqua Markers, let me know what you think?

take care

Karen

Organized mess

OK so this is my mess, a  table in the spare room, I can call it a spare room because its not in use since Debbie moved to Glasgow two years ago. It's now just another room that's full of junk, oopp sorry, I mean things we no longer need but are too expensive, sentimental or bulky to get rid of. My dream is to turn this room into a proper craft room but It's never going to be done as I spend all my free time downstairs on the sofa with my lap top! If there were to be  power cut I would be so lost I would surprise myself by getting around to all doing all those jobs that need doing, does that sound familiar?

In resent years I have spent a lot on rubber stamps, yes I am a stamp tart, infact I am worse than that, I am  a snobby stamp tart! I like my stamps to be quality rather than quantity, good brand names that you will all know

10 years ago it was all PSX and HeroArts

Then cute kids came on the secen and we discovered Magnolia & Stampin Bella in 2007, I have a box especially for these.

Sugar Nellie was born 2007 and I took a few home ;)

A visit to Sweden 2008 boosted by Hanglar Stanglar collection and this year 2010 ebay has seen a lot of my pennies for more Hanlars

CCdesigns and The Greeting Farm  have a  little space on my table too.

What I do miss out on are the sentiments, Hero Arts do a few sheets and Personal Impressions have some great value clear stamps that are always usable at £4.99 a set.

Rubber Rubber and a little bit of clear, but no wood mounted any more, those days are gone for me.

Buttons, ribbons,punches, bling and flowers, along with a couple of boxes of brads and charms.

A few boxes of 12" papers and pads, I prefer 6" when it comes to pads but sometimes need the bigger size for boxes.

A score board, cutters large and small and a few ink pads.

My couring choice is Prisma, Pro markers and Copics.

For cutting tools I have a cuttle bug, I did have a big shot once upon a time but there is not much in it between those two.

Somewhere in the mess is a Cricut and if only I could find the cart to go in them........

My biggest waste of money..................only my opinion..............craft robo.

I can't use it and don't have the time to learn.

All in all, after 10 years I don't have as much as some crafter's but then again, I don't get the time to

craft as much as I would like. But there is something about a craft shop, I just cant walk past without going in to see whats new...........

Karen

Presies galore

Back to my desk today and what do I find....................parcels :)

Where do I start, its like Christmas, lets start with the biggest!

A huge packet of cards made by Donalda

Digi stamps illustrated by Diane Duda, available for an instant sugar fix

I just love the frog detail on this one.........

Bashful Blossom digi stamps are sooooo cute

more beautiful art stamps from Leanne Ellis

Hedge hog girl from the Autumn kits which is on special this month

a selection of Mary Hall designed stamps, so pretty.

There were so many more, too much, she's too kind. A huge thank you from me to Donalda and I will see

that these are used to make lovely displays in the house of sugar. Thank you dear.

The other packet where more rubber stamps for me to play with, some extra special ribbon and a delivery

for Funkykits of new release clear stamps from KANBAN

Some eagle eyed crafters amongst you will notice some elegant ladies which sold out when on TV and other may notice the way to obvious similarity to LOTV stamps.

And don't ignore those cute dress up teddies as way to keep the kids busy this holidays,there is even a Scottish set!

Add those to your wish list with everything else that's new especially rolls of ribbon which are a must for

all serious crafters and so lush and classy when added to a simple card, yes I do have  few rolls myself.

Speaking of what I have on my desk, tomorrow I will show you my craft desk. JUDY do you believe me when I say I did not stage the table! You show me yours and I'll show you mine. Take a picture of yours tonight and lets show the world that some of us work in an organised mess.

Karen

I'm sorry......

I'm sorry that I have been missing in blog land, its the first week of the school holidays here in Scotland and I have had to take some time off from the House Of Sugar, I will be back at my desk on Monday as Kate is off on holiday and myself and Sofia will cover for her. Mark is busy over at Funkykits, restocking rubber and getting ready for some new Mangas arriving, he has also added some yummy extra's on to the web site that might just jump into a few baskets, I just love buttons and ribbons too :)

I manage to work from home most of the time I dont make it into town but my power lead has given up on my lap top and I am reduced to tears of frustration using Debbie's lap top which is home to get an MOT, boy does it need it!

As a family we have had a busy week and the most painful part for me was shopping for fancy clothes, I hate clothes shopping and will never try on in store, so I have bags of shopping that need to be returned......................for a bigger size!

I hope your weekend is full of fun, I have to be somewhere in an hour so thats all from me for now, catch you again when I get back to my desk and a working computer, on Monday. Take care.

Karen

Join in the fun

Mina

Max

Tillymint/Alison

Here are  three of the entries to the Sugar Bowl Challenge blog, a fantastic  mix of styles,

 colours and stamps, its great to see them all.

Girls all need to try out for the CMOTY. Seriously, you'll never get anywhere without trying,

if I had not bothered trying to find cute kids stamps to fill a gap in the market 3 years ago, Sugar Nellie would never have been born. You never know where it will lead, and winning may not be the ultimate prize here, you might find that your efforts are rewarded in other ways ;)

Just have a look at our fantastic five and the girls of the DT before them, magazine features, teaching and demoing slots and to be so in demand that you can pick and choose which DT to be on. This industry is full of opportunities and with there being so many challenge blogs and DT being created by every sector of the craft world, all need creative help and some even give away real freebies to their teams, there is nothing as sweet as free supplies to play with :)

take care

karen

We would like to announce........

All of us here in the House of Sugar are excited to announce that Sugar Nellie will be sponsoring the

CARD MAKER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2010

big drum roll please

*£6000 worth of prizes to be won*

read all about it in

For a small rubber stamp company based in Scotland, we are delighted to give back something to our lovely supporters who have made our name known out there in the stamp world.

 I have been on a gag order not to say anything until it went to press, I have no idea who the other sponsors are or how to enter. I do know that I will have to go pick up a copy and read more, so should you. There are so many prizes you have to give it a go. I also know a few of the ladies who have won it in the past and our very own local craft celebrity Kath was one of those winners. It could be your turn next.

So don't wait until tomorrow, dust off those cob webs and get creating for today is a sunny day!

Karen

Tomorrow

[from the musical ANNIE]

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

Bet your bottom dollar

That tomorrow

There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about

Tomorrow

Clears away the cobwebs,

And the sorrow

'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck a day

That's gray,

And lonely,

I just stick out my chin

And Grin,

And Say,

Oh!

The sun'll come out

Tomorrow

So ya gotta hang on

'Til tomorrow

Come what may

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

I love ya Tomorrow!

You're always

A day

A way!

**************

So now that you have Annie in your head singing about tomorrow, be sure and come back and see me tomorrow as I have some big news to tell you all.

Some have asked why we pulled out of SCS members forum, after 18 months, we believe its time to shake up how Sugar Nellie is promoted and we are now in a position to do new things both on the Internet and with other forms of media.It's time for change to try something new and see where it takes us.

see you all tomorrow

Karen

Sugar Overload

Very very pink and totally sweet. After discovering Amy Atlas desert tables I knew that the first excuse I could find I was going to do a sweet table. This was our first trial, the plates which are empty are for the cupcakes which I have now collected fresh from the bakers in pink and white, tomorrow we will put it all together again along with some paper crafting touches. Speaking of touch, NO touching, I just want it to look pretty, after 3pm you can dig in :)
This is part of our VISUAL DISPLAY in the House Of Sugar as part of our demo tomorrow and it fits in perfect with our theme from July CUPCAKE'S & CANDY.
I will have to balance my intake tomorrow or I will be dancing on the tables after all that sugar!
Sweet pickers have bigger knickers, RIGHT!

I would love to see you tomorrow if you choose to pop in by the HOS, with over 1000 followers I know that a lot of you are to far to visit but with the summer holidays now started, we get a lot of visitors from further afield who make the detour to find us.

Tomorrow will see Erika Gunter from Personal Impressions demonstration classy card making with Martha Stewart Punches and Nestabilities, and she will also have some lovely samples with the new NITWITS range which was featured in both magazines I picked up the other day. We decided against special offer in store this time and to make things easy on a busy day its 10% off all your shopping in store tomorrow. Come in and say hello to Erika, Kate, Katrina and myself, you might be lucky and get a cupcake.............after 3pm!

have a great weekend where ever you are
Karen

More yummy prizes

Join the girls over on the Sugar Bowl Challenge blog and be in with a chance of

winning a box of yummy crafty things.

One lucky winner (chosen at random) will win a purple goodie box containing a selection of Leanne Ellis stamps, ribbons and other assorted goodies including a special ‘Trinkettes’ bracelet.

Now there were 90 entries in the last challenge, so a huge thank you to all of you who took part and congratulations to the lucky winner SUZI

*********************

Its the first of the month again, where does the time go? Its also my 21 wedding anniversary and DH is taking me out tonight for a meal, it was supposed to be a surprise but someone let the cat out of the bag last night by inviting us to arrive early for drinks................why where are we going? said I.

Ok so last month we gave you the chance of buy a set of stamps at a great price, this month I have an other offer for you..........

Our country cousins Autumn Kit is a great price for July with 4 character stamps and a few accessories if you did not get one last year now you can add these sweet stamps to you collection for an even sweeter price.

Thank you to the girls who reported the incorrect link in yesterday's post, all sorted now.

Paula there have been 3 + 2 new Pro marker packaging sleeves featuring Sugar Nellie stamps :)

I have new Manga stamp designs on my desk, the sketches are brilliant but I ain't telling you yet *wink*

take care

Karen