Look What Stampin Up are Offering....

Look what Stampin Up are offering until 25th March. If you sign up to become a demonstrator between now and 25th March the Starter Kit will only cost you £125, that is a 10% saving on normal, plus you will get £240 worth of goods in your parcel. And that is not all, I am also offering you the 4 Saleabration Stamp sets to go with your parcel, which are exclusive and no longer available to buy.

So here is what is on offer:-

1. Starter Kit at 10% off

2. 4 Free Stamp Sets from me

3. 30% off the first order you place with Stampin Up

4. 20% off of further orders placed.

You dont even have to hold parties, you can become a hobby demo and just buy for yourself, your friends and family and get this discount on all your stash. And if after a few months you find it is not for you, you can leave and keep everything you have received. No obligation.

For more information contact LindaLloyd@gmx.net

How Expensive is This Christmas...

Well not only do we have tons of prezzies to buy but my 7 year old threw a strop Thursday night, run away from the dinner table into the lounge and then sheepishly came back saying "I accidently threw a sweet and it cracked the fish tank and there is water coming out".... aaaarrggghhh, and yes there was not just water coming out, it was spraying out everywhere and the crack was about 2 inches from the bottom from side to side.... quick grab of the biggest storage boxes we could find, luckily I only have 2 large fish and they were fished out and put in one of the storage boxes, then we rescued the water into the other storage box too.... managed to track down another fish tank but we were about to go to see my daughter in her Christmas Concert at school, so fish tank had to wait until Friday afternoon, and it cost £125!!!! because it is part of a cabinet/fishtank set, we need to get the same fishtank, but unfortunately it comes with the filter, heater, lights etc which we do not need.... ho hum.......



For this I used Basic Grey Urban Prairie and a Sugar Nellie stamp....

Have a good evening all xx

Finished... WooHoo....

As you may have noticed, I am absolutely thrilled by the fact that I finished all my Christmas Cards and thy are now posted to everyone they need posting to... I even made a special one for DH's Boss.... his wife runs a chicken business advising people on how to keep chickens etc, so here is the card I made for them....


I sponged on a lot of the the Blue SU inkpads, and used the So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie for the moon. I used the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set which I stamped in versamark and embossed with black embossing powder... I drew snow around the trees with the SU White Ink Pen. The sleigh was made using my cricut and the chickens are quickutz dies... the gold "reins" is the gold elastic from SU.

I also made another card using the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set, it is just so versatile and can be used for almost any occasion...


I used Kraft and Real Red cardstock and Bashful Blue Patterned Paper, I embossed the trees using white embossing powder. The swirl is from the Hodgepodge Hardware set and the brads are from Stampin Up... the sentiment is from Verve Stamps...

That's all I have to show you today, if you would like to check out more of my cards, then go take a look at my other blog www.agaggleofgadgetsandscrappingtoo.blogspot.com.

Have a good evening all xx

Ribbon Storage

I forgot to show you the brilliant ribbon storage I bought the other weekend. It cost me £3.99 from Poundstretcher... now bear in mind before I show you my photograph that I am not the tidiest crafter, and so it does look a little bit messy, but if you are the kind of person that sticks a pin in the end of your ribbon to stop it unravelling it will look much neater, so here goes

It is just a trouser hanger, but each rail unhooks at the end so that you can thread your ribbon onto it, and the hook at the top holds a pair of paper snips...

How excellent is it xx

Where Does The Time Go....

How fast is December going, I swear I am going to be better organised next year, in fact in my members forum, I am going to have a thread for Christmas Cards made each month, and that will give me an incentive to make my Christmas Cards over the year and use up some of the stash that has accumulated.... lol

So what have I been up to, well aswell as packing and posting loads of parcels and ordering my £100 of free Stampin Up Stash that I won by getting a promotion, plus the 12 stamp sets I also won by the amount of sales I had, plus my recruits, I have been making loads of cards (if you are interested in signing up as a hobby demo or business demo to Stamping Up, just e-mail me for the special offers I have in store for you in the new year... LindaLloyd@gmx.net). Not all the cards are Stampin Up, in fact only 1 is, I really need to use up some of my other stash, so here are some of the cards I have been making. They all have bible quotes on them as they are used by a lady in my church who reaches out to people in need...

I used Basic Grey Ambrosia PP and cut out a butterfly using a spellbinders butterfly die... the sentiment is computer generated.

Not sure about any of this paper, was just in my stash, love the colours though, again the sentiment is computer generated.

Again the PP is Basic Grey but it is from the Cupcake collection this time, the flowers were cut out using various punches and the sentiment was computer generated.

I used Basic Grey Eva for this card, the bird stamp is from katzelkraft and the sentiment is again computer generated.

Again not sure what the paper is, but the sentiment is computer generated... but now I have just received my Stampin Up "Gods Blessings" stamp set, so hopefully you will see lots more cards using those sentiments instead.

Have a very busy week ahead, but will try and post some more cards tomorrow inbetween my Dad making his yearly visit, posting out parcels and attending DH's Christmas Works do, oh yes and 2 of the children going on their scouts Christmas Treat which is toboganning... whew I am exhausted just thinking about it.

Have a good evening all xx

Little Gifts For My Stampers 10 Clubs...

As it is Christmas, I included a little extra in my Stampers 10 Club parcels.... as well as their normal bi-monthly gifts that they get.... and here they are, very non-traditional Christmas colours...

And I am so excited because tonight I got to order my free 12 Stampin Up Stamp Sets, that I managed to achieve by being a Stampin Up Demonstrator, and 2 of my downline will get 2 each of these sets...

If you would like to be a demonstrator, even if you want to be a hobby demo and only buy items for yourself at discounted prices, ask me about the great deal you will get by signing up in January (2 Free Sets)... (e-mail me at LindaLloyd@gmx.net)...

Have a great evening all xx

I Haven't Deserted You, Just Been Really Really Busy.... sorry...

Well I cannot believe it has been nearly a week since I last posted, but life has just taken over at the moment.... Last Thursday I went Christmas Shopping For the 3rd Thursday in a row, hopefully only one more next week and that should be everything finished.... Saturday one of my Inkspots And Markers ladies came over with her husband so that we could do some scrapping together, must say I chatted too much and didn't get much done, but here is the card I made..

Sunday my Step Dad's brother died, although they knew it was going to happen, no-one realised it would be so quickly, and just before Christmas too.... how absolutely awful as he has children and grandchildren... I just had to make a card for him, to show how sorry we all are...

For this card I used Kraft, Real Red and Bashful Blue cardstock, plus some of the Bashful Blue Patterned Paper. I used Stamp Sets Lovely as A Tree and Close as A Memory. The tree was embossed using Black Embossing Powder... I tied some of the Linen Thread around 2 Stampin' Up! Black Brads...

I have been desperately trying to get all my Christmas Cards made so that I could write them and send them out so that I can concentrate on other things that need doing, and apart from around 6 I have finished them. I make the ones I give out in Church all the same (don't want any arguments that yours is better than mine.... lol) and I feel pressured to make my own as our Pastor always says "I have been waiting to see what you would make this year"... so these are the ones I have made for Church, they look a bit dull in this photograph, but look much better and sparkly in realy life, the gems in the righthand bottom corner are silver..

I used the So Swirly wheel with an uninked cartridged inked with versamark, ran this over the cards and then embossed using the Silver Embossing Powder. The main part of the card is a Stamp Set called Christ is Born, I stamped the other sentiment from the set on the inside, onto red card and using Silver Ink.

The next card is the special card that I have made for family and best friends, I used the Stamp Set Silent Night for this, I stamped the image, coloured it in with markers and then using Heat and Stick Powder and Dazzling Diamonds, I went over the top of the whole image to make it nice and sparkly, I used Always Artichoke as the card base and the retired Patterned Paper Dashing, which you can still buy whilst stocks last. And try as I might, even when I used the Stamp A Ma Jig, I could not get the Happy to sit straight, I think I managed it on 1 in 9 cards.... never mind, at least you can tell they are handmade... lol


Tomorrow is another busy day, my little boy is performing in his Christmas Play (he is 6) tomorrow afternoon and of course we all have to go watch him, he is A Cloud and Wind... so should be interesting... hope to get back here as I have something else to show you, but cannot share it today, so watch out for it...

Am about to go off and make 10 cards for a swap I am in, I have an idea, but as usual I am sure it will all change...

Have a good evening everyone, take care xx

More Lucky Winners

Unfortunately I have nothing I can show you at the moment, I am busy busy busy making stuff I haven't sent out yet, so cannot post it until then as I know a lot of the people read my blog....

I have just drawn 2 more of the raffles taking the total to 3. The first was for my Ink Spots and Markers Club, I gave all 4 girls a number and used a Random Number Generator to pick a number between 1 and 4 and it came up with 3, which is Tracy's number. Tracy, you will receive the following....

Cold Play (page 91 of the current Stampin Up Catalogue)

1 Real Red Ink Pad

1 Bashful Blue Ink Pad

6 x 6 Designer Paper

1m Real Red Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

1m Bashful Blue Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

4 Sheets Bashful Blue A4 Cardstock

4 Sheets Real Red A4 Cardstock

and last but not least, I numbered my second Stampers 10 Club and using the Random Number Generator again it picked out number 8. This is Clare, so you will receive the following...

The Wondrous Gift Stamp Set worth £19.95 (page 17 of the catalogue)

1 Real Red Ink Pad

1 Always Artichoke Ink Pad

Designer Paper 6 x 6 (including the Real Red and Always Artichoke Colours)

1m Real Red Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

1m Always Artichoke Thin Grosgrain Ribbon

4 Sheets Always Artichoke A4 Cardstock

4 Sheets Real Red A4 Cardstock

I am so sorry that everyone cant win, but there will be a little Christmas Present in all 24 of the boxes when they arrive with you soon.... Have a good Christmas Girls xx

Day 12 - 12 Gifts of Christmas...

So we have finally made it to the 12th Day, and todays Gift is one I have seen about a lot lately (but I hadn't seen so many when I made mine)... have made it slightly different too as I thought it looked neater, it is an

Advent Calendar

I started off with 24 large matchboxes from Tesco, they must have thought I was mad buying so many, and now I dont know what to do with the matches now... but I thought I wouldn't be able to fit anything in the small ones, so big ones it is...

I took the inner and coloured the end in by rubbing 1/2 of them along an Olive Green Ink Pad and the other 1/2 on a Real Red Ink Pad, I then coloured round the edges using the Stampin' Write Markers.

I continued until all of them were coloured and you couldn't see any white when they were put back inside their outer covers.

Next I put double sided tape on the top of the matchboxes...

And stuck six in a row alternating the colours...

I did this 4 times until I had 4 piles of 6 boxes...

I next needed to cover the sides with Patterned Paper and yet again I used Patterned Paper from the I Wish Simply Scrappin Kit... I cut 4 pieces measuring 3 1/4" x 8 "

I used Snail Adhesive to stick them to the boxes...

I stuck them to the left hand side (when you are looking at them)... like this..

I know it looks like the right hand side, but it is definately the left... I did this for all 4 strips.

Next we need to make the base and top. For this I used chipboard and cut it 6 1/4" square. I covered the top of each with patterned paper again from the I Wish Kit and at 6 1.4" square.

I then stuck double sided tape to the top of each of the six columns and stuck them to the top chipboard piece, taking care to make sure they were central...

I did this until all 4 were stuck and they looked like this...

I then stuck the base on making sure the patterned side was the right way up.... and this is the end result..

I next added sticky strips and ribbon to the boxes so that they were easy to open and looked good. I also decorated the top and the sides, plus I stamped the numbers randomly on the boxes using the Square Serif Mini Alphabet and Numbers Stamp Set. The decorations come from the I Wish Kit too...

The Top...

And the sides... all it leaves to do now is to fill the little boxes up with treats, I was also going to put pieces of paper in for things like a trip to cinema etc

I hope some of these Gifts have inspired you to make some of your own, I enjoyed making them and I now have some little gifts to give away to people...

Sorry the posting is a bit late tonight, it is my little boy's sixth birthday, and we have had KFC for Dinner and birthday cake, and had to help him with his new Dinosaur Nintendo DS Game... hopefully we have worn him out and he will now go to sleep.... Here is a picture of him with his brother and Dad (my DH) at my daughters wedding in March... he is the smallest one... doesn't he look smart??

Well that's all for tonight, maybe I will get time to make some Christmas Cards now.... have so many to make and so little time... have a good evening all, take care xx

November Stampers 10 Club...

Hi to my November Stampers 10 Club, I decided that as the order will go off tomorrow I would draw the raffle for a winner of the following goodies tonight...

The Wondrous Gift Stamp Set worth £19.95 (page 17 of the catalogue)

1 Real Red Ink Pad

1 Always Artichoke Ink Pad

1/2 Designer Paper 6 x 6 Pad (including the Real Red and Always Artichoke Colours)

1m Real Red Wide Grosgrain Ribbon

1m Always Artichoke Thin Grosgrain Ribbon

4 Sheets Always Artichoke A4 Cardstock

4 Sheets Real Red A4 Cardstock

As it is nearly Christmas I put together a little package like this for both my Stampers 10 Groups. I have given everyone a number and used a Random Number Generator to pick the number and it picked out Nicola's number... so congratulations to you Nicola, I will get your parcel in the post to you tomorrow.

I will draw the December Club on 29th just before your order goes in, so watch this space for another lucky winner... and girls of my Ink Spots and Markers Club.... watch this space... I haven't forgotten you....

Take care all xx

Day 11 - 12 Gifts of Christmas

Well the gifts wouldn't be complete without a small box of

Thank You Cards

So I made 10 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" cards and using the stamp set Pocket Silhouettes I decorated them all differently. I didn't really have room for a sentiment on the outside, so put it on the inside... here are the cards along with the inside of them, plus the envelopes.



Next I needed a box to put them in, and this is how I made it...

I took a 12 x 12 piece of textured card and cut it down so it measured 10 x 10. I then scored it at 3" and 7" in both directions so that I ended up with a piece of card that looked like this...

I then cut along the crease at 3" and at 7" on one side and then the opposite side (not on all sides)... I also cut a slight slither out here and added double sided tape as shown...

Next taking each piece bit by bit I peeled the tape off one corner and bending up the side and tucking it in I securely stuck it to the inside of the longer piece. I did this with all 4 corners so it ended up like this...

And it looked very neat from the side...

The cards fit very nicely in this size box...

We next need to make the lid. For this I used a 12 x 12 piece of Holiday Treasures Patterned Paper (which was the PP I used on the cards, so that everything matches nicely...) and cut it to measure 10 1/4" x 10 1/4". I scored it at 1 1/2", 3", 7 1/4" and 8 3/4". Do this both ways so that it is scored all around.

I then had to cut the corners so the box would fold together properly, so cut along the white lines I have drawn on the next diagram...

Do this on all four corners. When it has been cut out it will look like this...

Put double sided tape along the outer edge on all four sides, if you look carefully at the photo above you will be able to see where I stuck it. You will also need to cut downwards to the next score line on opposite sides, from below where the tape is. You fold the corners in and tuck the outer sides over the corners (remember to remove the strip from the double sided tape before you do this. It should look like this...

Next I decorated the lid by putting a length of Regal Rose around the edge of the box and tying in a knot. The paper is nicely patterned so I didn't feel it needed too much decoration. I then made a little to and from label to go on the box and tied it through the knot of the ribbon with Stampin' Up! Gold Elastic.

A very thoughtful present for someone as they can then use them to send out their Thank You Notes after Christmas.

Will be back tomorrow with the last of the 12 Gifts of Christmas....

Have a good evening all xx