A Little Boy's Birthday Card...

Today I am very proud of myself, I have actually made a card for a little boy whose party my son is going to on Sunday.... yep Sunday, and today is Friday, I am organised, how thrilling is that!! And I have the birthday present too, so no last minute running around in Tesco on Sunday trying to find something for this little boy just before his party starts... I hope I can continue this way. I have also needed a couple of thank you cards this week and all I needed was to reach into my box and lift one out... what bliss!! Now I hope that I can do my 12 card order so smoothly AT THE BEGINNING of next week instead of rushing to finish them on Saturday. Aaaah so what am I waiting for you want to see the card of course...

My photographic skills have gone way down the pan this week, doesn't matter which camera I use, so it is obviously down to me... I have used a Stampin' Up! Stamp Set for this card called All in The Family and the little Rugby Ball is from Family Accessories... The patterned paper is Scenic Route Metropolis, cardstock is matching Bazzill cardstock BUT the bigger hearts have been punched out using the Stampin' Up! Star Punch. "Ben" has been die cut using my Quickutz Ginger alphabet.

I have a very busy weekend, we have a loft conversion and have loft cupboards that aren't very accessible but just enough that you can load junk into the cupboards. This weekend our task is to tidy out one of the cupboards and list anything we dont want on e-bay... one persons junk is another ones treasure, or something like that. I have lots of annuals from when I was young in there, not sure what I am keeping them for so they can go if they dont appear to be worth anything. Then I also need to get two punctures fixed on my car, one is a slow puncture so have had it a while and now I have another one, so will have to get both fixed, and the boys all have a Pantomime to go to, The Wizard of Oz.... oh no they haven't, oh yes they have. Plus my little boy wants to be enrolled next week at Beavers, so we need to buy him his top and the place where we buy it is only open tomorrow.... looks like I will be getting up at 5am....

Hope you have a less busy weekend than me, take care xx

Been Busy...... again..

I am hosting a card swap, and have been busy trying to get my second lot of 10 cards made today, as they are supposed to be with me tomorrow and just because I am hosting the swap and can take advantage as I know there are still a lot of cards that I need to receive, doesn't mean that I shouldn't complete mine on time.... lol But unfortunately I cannot share them with you yet as I know some of the people in the swap read my blog.

But I have made one small card to share with you, which I am really not sure about, and then my daughter came home from school (she is 14) and said I really really love this card.... I was surprised, I showed her the cards I was making for the swap (which I really like) and she said no this small one is much better..... hmmmm so I will show it to you and I guess you will either love it like she does or not like me....

Todays card is made from Stampin' Up!, Real Red, Bashful Blue and Always Artichoke Cardstock, Real Red and Red Gingham Ribbon and Summer Picnic Designer Paper the image is from the Tart Tangy Stamp Set. The sentiment was made using my old fashioned dymo machine.

Have a great evening all, dont forget to take part in my Monday Card Sketch Challenge, just scroll dont a few posts to find it, or click on the link above this post where is says Weekly Challenge.

Take care xx

Trip to Dentist and Watching an Assembly...

My poor child number 9, he is 8 years old and his teeth are crumbling, the dentist has said it is nothing to do with too many sweets etc, it would happen whatever he eats or drinks (they only have water to drink, no juice and some fizzy on birthdays and Christmas), so today it was his trip to the dentist, he has to have 17 fillings in all to hold his teeth together, they think his 2nd teeth will be stronger and he shouldn't have this problem then.... but today his trip entailed having half of these filled, they dont drill, they just pick any lose bit out and fill in the hole, he is so brave, but I guess he is used to it by now... trip 2 will be next week.

Then this afternoon, a trip to the school to see Number 10s Assembly, a bit of a mix up as I thought I was seeing Number 9s, but the school rung to say they had swapped them around, so Number 10s it was.... poor boy had been trying to tell me for 2 days it was his assembly but as I had paperwork saying otherwise I didn't believe him.... quick apology after school today. And after his trauma from Monday, he is obviously feeling much better because...



he has grown two sets of arms.... how on earth did that happen. Please excuse the quality of the photograph, I bought a new small camera just after Christmas, but just lately the photos I have been taking with it are atrocious, in fact I have resorted back to my Canon 40d to take the photographs for my blog, just mega big to carry around just for a school assembly. So as you may have guessed this is my little boy acting to the story of The Three Little Pigs in his school assembly this afternoon, they also spoke to the parents in French and sung a song about Pinocchio..

And now on to today's card....

The image is a Stamp from Leanne Ellis and I bought it at http://www.funkykits.co.uk/. And guess what, I didn't use any Stampin' Up! whatsoever except for the sentiment inside the card which is from the Sincere Salutations Stamp Set. The cardstock was from my stash, as were the flowers, brads and bling. The punch is Martha Stewart.

Dont forget to take part in my Monday Sketch Challenge, scroll down a few blog posts and you will find it, otherwise click on the tab above this post. Leave a link in my Mr Linky box so that everyone can view your card.

Have a great evening everyone, take care xx

K Werner Colour Challenge....

I thought today I would make a card for the K Werner Colour Challenge just because the colours are so awesome, but when I sat down to make it I didn't have a clue what to do, so I also went for a Mojo Monday Sketch....

and this is what I came up with....

All the cardstock is the suggested colours in the challenge, the patterned paper is from Stampin' Up!, the Real Red Patterned Paper is only available if you get a Level 1 Hostess Set and is in the 6 x 6 Patterned Paper Pack. The brads are also Stampin' Up! in Black, Green Galore and Real Red. The Image was stamped using the Live Your Dream Stamp Set and the Sentiment is from the God's Blessings Stamp Set.

And here is the inside using Real Red, Whisper White and Basic Black Cardstock, scalloped using the Scallop Edge Punch, the Patterned Paper is So Saffron Patterned paper and the gems are from my stash. Hope you like it...

Thank you for the comments on my little boy's face, it looks much better today with only his lip and forehead noticeable. He did go to Beaver's last night and is being enrolled next week... but he was worried about going to school today as he thought everyone would laugh at his face. I asked him if someone else had hurt their face would he laugh at them... he said "yes"... not quite what I was expecting, but I followed it up with "then they are entitled to laugh at you aren't they"...which he then had to think about.

Have a great evening everyone xx

My Card For My Card Challenge....

Check down to the last Blog Post for this weeks Card Sketch Challenge. I thought it is only fair to enter one of my own, so here it is....

Okay, so the sentiment isn't quite in the right place, but it is my challenge so I can do as I please.... lol. No really, the sketch is there just to inspire you and give you something to work from, it doesn't have to be exactly the same, you just need to have used it to inspire the card you have made. Once you have made your card, add your link to Mr Linky and then you can inspire other people.

For this card I have used Stampin' Up! Lavender Lace Cardstock, Basic Grey Patterned Paper, and the image is from Magnolia Stamps... the ribbon is Bravo Burgundy Grosgrain from Stampin' Up! along with the Circle Fire Brad and the sentiment stamped in Bravo Burgundy ink, the sentiment is from the Daily Flexible Phrases Stamp Set. The inside sentiment is from the Stampin' Up Sincere Salutations Stamp Set.

Well my week didn't start off to well, firstly our neighbour came round to say all our drains are blocked again, this happened last Sunday too and Anglian Water came out, cleared the drain a short distance from our Cul-De-Sac and said that there were bricks in the drain so it looks like they may be collapsing (oh joy) so they would write a report stating that. Well today another neighbour rang them and they are now saying it will take a couple of weeks to sort out as they will need to shut the main road where the drain is.... er.. hello, the sewage is about to overflow out of all our manholes, not just our cul-de-sac, but the next one along and another couple of roads too that run into this particular drain, so not quite sure what happens next.. we shall see.

Then after this happened, I was taking my 2 little boys to school and they were chasing each other, despite me always telling them to be careful as they will fall over, and guess what? My 6 year old did fall over and this is what he did to his face...

We had to carry on to the school and we went inside and bathed his face, at first it was just his lip, forehead and knee, but then the scrapes below his eye appeared and it just seems to have been getting worse all day, so he had the day off and played the Wii..

Lets hope tomorrow starts off better than today....

I also started my diet today, if I post it on here, I cant really get out of it can I and so I will post my weight loss each week, I am hoping to lose around 45lb, so quite a bit and hopefully putting it on my blog will stop me from failing this time... lol

have a great evening everyone, take care xx

Monday Challenge...

Here is today's Challenge, you have 1 week to make a card using this sketch, and it would be great if you could post a link to your cards in my comments box... I am looking to set something up so we can link directly from the Challenge Page, but haven't yet done it...


Okay, so it is not particularly professional, but I am working on it... lol and my writing is better than that in real life too...

Have a great day, take care... xx

And we have a winner.......

So I was going to get my little boy to draw a name out of a hat, but he was too busy playing football until after it had got dark, so I went to http://www.random.org/ and used that to pick a number. I wrote down all the names and then numbered them from 1 to 16 for all the entries... and the Random.Org picked out number tdaaaaaaaa 4... So Lisa you are my winner, if you would like to check out the Saleabration Leaflet on the side of my blog and let me know which of the Saleabration stamp sets you want I will get it into the post to you as soon as possible... Well Done.... and thank you to everyone who took part, it was great to see all of your cards, a real inspiration to me....
I will hopefully be posting a sketch every Monday from now on, so check back tomorrow for the next one, although there will be no more prizes for now... have a great day all xx

Thought I Would Go For Something Different....

Yep, I was getting bored with those colours, so thought I would try something different today, and stamped and coloured some images... It is my little boys birthday on Saturday, so thought I would be really prepared and make him a card, didn't use too much Stampin' Up! today either...

I used my Prismacolor Pencils, Sansodor and Paper Stumps to colour in the Sugar Nellie image. The patterned paper is Basic Gray, I also used the Stampin' Up! Hodgepodge Hardware, and tied a piece of Kraft Taffetta Ribbon (also Stampin' Up!) to a piece of the Hardware. The big eyelet is surprisingly enough also Stampin' Up!. The sentiment is from the stamp set A Bit of Birthday Cheer. I used Kraft Cardstock for the card blank.

I again used Basic Gray Paper, the card blank and red cardstock is Real Red from Stampin' Up! as are the brads and the ribbon. The image is from Leanne Ellis which I bought from Funky Kits and it is coloured in using my Stampin' Up! waterbrush and Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The flowers are Prima and the sentiment is the same as the last card from A Bit of Birthday Cheer Stamp Set. For the inside I used Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray and Whisper White Cardstock... I dont have anyone in mind for this card so will put it in my very depleted card basket.

My son's basketball team lost their tournament yesterday, in fact they only won one game, so better luck next time guys....

And today is also my little Pug's birthday, Happy Birthday to you Belle, she is 2 today.... this is a rare photo of her sleeping on her own, she normally sleeps on top of our Great Dane...

Have a great evening everyone.. take care xx

Time is Running Out....

If you want to enter for my blog candy, all you have to do is enter a card using my Sketch here

Well I have been making some more cards, but only another 3 which means I have six of these card blanks left, so will have to make some more in these colours tomorrow... hope you are not getting too bored of them, but I do love the colours.

These were all made using the same colours as yesterday, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron. The Patterned Paper is Haiku... The front of the card was made using the Stampin' Up! cardstock flowers, the gems were from my stash and the Thanks was from the Thank You Kindly Stamp Set. The scallops were cut using the Scallop Edge Punch...

The front of the card was Stamped with Pumpkin Pie Ink using the Bella's Bloom Stamp Set, I then added gems from my stash to the middle of the flowers. I used the Scallop Circle Punch to cut the Scallop Circle and the sentiment is from the Pocket Silhouettes Stamp Set. Same Cardstock and Patterned Paper as before.

Same Cardstock and Patterned Paper as before, the sentiment on the front is from the True Friend Stamp Set and I used my Nestabilities dies to cut out the shapes, the ribbon is Always Artichoke... again the gems are from my stash. The inside was again cut using the nestabilities dies and the Stamped Image is from A Beautiful Thing Stamp Set.

To all the people who are waiting on Stampin' Up! stash, I posted your orders out to you this afternoon, so they are winging their way to you as we speak. To anyone who would like to place an order, please e-mail me at LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

My son was playing in a BasketBall Tournament this afternoon and I need to pick him up from school soon, wonder if they won or not...

Have a great evening everyone, take care xx

I actually got round to making some cards....

And they are all made from Stampin' Up! Unfortunately not the 20 I had planned but I have made 3, I was going to make 20 3 x 3 cards, but I decided against it and I have 24 card blanks ready and waiting to be made into cards and they are a variety of sizes, just to make things a little bit different. I guess they take me longer as I like to decorate the inside too... I have photographed the insides so will show you them too...



For these cards I used Old Olive, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie Cardstock, I used the Stampin' Up! Cardstock Flowers on the front and the sentiment was from the Thank You Kindly Set, the inside Stamp Sets were Season Of Joy for the Green Swirl, I stamped the flower first using A Beautiful Thing Stamp Set in So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie, I then masked the flower and stamped the swirl over the top.... I think it looks quite attractive.. oh yes, the size is 4" x 4". I used the swirls cuttlebug folder and the spots cuttlebug folder to give it some dimension and the Patterned Paper is Haiku.
Next up is another 4" x 4" card...

I am using the same Patterned Paper and Cardstock throughout these cards, so again, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron Cardstock and Haiku Patterned Paper. Pumpkin Pie ribbon on the front of the card and again I used the Cardstock Flowers. The brads are Old Olive and the sentiment is from the Stamp Set Circle of Friendship, you get 8 sentiments in this set and they punch out nicely using the Stampin' Up! punches. Inside I used the same colour cardstock but used the Scallop Edge Punch on the Patterned Paper. All supplies are Stampin' Up!.

This time the card is an A6 size, and again I used the same colour cardstock, Old Olive, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie. The ribbon on the front of the card is Old Olive, and the Image comes from the Garden Whimsey Stamp Set, I coloured the stamp in with the Stampin' Markers and stamped it that way, so I could use 2 colours. The "Thank You" sentiment is from the Occasional Greetings Stamp Set. On the inside I used the Scallop Edge Punch on the edge of the So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie cardstock and I used the Cardstock Flowers... the Patterned Paper is Haiku. Hope to make some more cards in these colours tomorrow, bit of a challenge getting them all different but using the same colours, so should be fun.

And apart from making cards I have no other news to share... aaaah, but a letter was sent home via my son today to say this Academic Year he has already got 30 merits, so very proud of him as it is his first year at Secondary School.

Dont forget to take part in my Blog Candy Challenge, you have until Saturday to submit a card and you can find out more here.

Dinner is now ready, so off to have that.... have a great evening all xx

Well I didn't make the 10 cards.... something came up.

But I do have a card to show you....

I have used Real Red Cardstock, brad and ribbon, I cannot remember who makes the paper, you wouldn't believe the big pile of it I have, and the image is Sarah Kay (I think).... and the flowers are from my great mountain of stash....

My 15 year old daughter received a parcel today, quite rare for any of the children to receive parcels, but she was thrilled and opened it and it was from Hotel chocolat. She made this double chocolate cheesecake at school for her GCSE and everyone told her to enter it for a competition on the Hotel Chocolat website and it won this months prize.... I keep looking at the chocolates and she has told me to help myself, but so far I have resisted... not sure I will be so good tomorrow though.

My little 6 year old son starts Beavers tonight, he was supposed to start last week but he was running a temperature and didn't want to go, so in a short while I will be taking my 6 and 7 year olds to Beavers and I will be staying too as it is my name that is on the Parent Rota this week... woohoo!!! lol

Have a good evening all xx

I Made 10 Cards Yesterday....

But I cannot show you them, they are all the same, but they are for a swap I am doing on In Love With Stamping, 10 people make 10 cards the same and send them off to the host. Once all 10 peoples cards have been received, they are sorted so that each person gets one of each, so ends up with 10 different cards, how cool is that, so I am hosting the swap and I have 2 groups of 10, and I need to make 10 cards for each group... so 1 lot of 10 down, 10 to go...

Tomorrow I have set myself a goal to make 20 Thank You cards, just nice simple 3 x 3 cards, similar but not identical as I am always needing Thank You cards and my card box is empty... so should have a good few to show you tomorrow or the day after. But this doesn't mean I have nothing to show you today though... here is the card for today....


This card was made using Kraft, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red and So Saffron Stampin' Up! Cardstock, cannot remember who made the stamp, and the sentiment was computer printed... The patterned paper is Kraft Patterned Paper which you can get free if you host a Stampin' Up! workshop and achieve Level 1 Sales of £150. You get a nice thick book of 6 x 6 Papers in colours that you cannot buy, so well worth holding a workshop for. The pink flowers are also Stampin' Up! and are made from felt. And believe it or not the brads are also Stampin' Up!!!

Have a great day all, off to do my ironing whilst children sing Karaoke and play golf on the Wii and DH is tidying up the front and back gardens... xx

Stamper's 10 Club....

Hi everyone, just recently I have had several people approach me about my Stamper's 10 Club and so I am looking to start one during February, but I do not have enough people yet, so if you are interested or want to know more, contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net and I will answer all your questions. But in the meantime, this is what it is all about....

What Is This?
This is a monthly club run for 10 people for 10 months.

How Does It Work?
Each month each of the 10 people spend £15 or more in the Stampin' Up! Catalogue. If 10 people spend £15 each this adds up to £150, which equates to a virtual party, and this means that you are entitled to a Hostess Level 1 Stamp Set plus £15 of free goods of your choice out of the catalogue. Each of the 10 people take it in turns to be the virtual hostess.What Do I Need To Do?Just let me know you are interested and I will add your name to my list as we need 10 people to start a club. Once we have 10 people I will send out a catalogue to you and you can decide on what you are going to buy for £15 or more in your first month.

What Do We Get Out Of This?
You get a free Stampin' Up! catalogue worth £4.95, at least a free Level 1 Hostess Set plus £15 of free goods of your choice from the catalogue (you can get Level 2 plus more money to spend if your sales are higher). Plus you get to join my Stampers 10 Forum, only for my club members plus every other month you will find a little freebie in your box of goodies, it could be a make and take, a step by step project guide, or just a little gift from me. You also get to buy some of the things on your Stampin' Up! wishlist.

When Can We Start?
We can start as soon as 10 people are interested, at the moment I have 2 people on the list so need 8 more people. Just contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net to either be added to my list or for more information.

So get your name on the list fast....

In the meantime I have been making again, this time I have made myself a Birthday Book, I found it on here and thought it was an excellent idea, so made myself one using Stampin' Up! Stash.



I used Rose Red Cardstock to make the pages and Whisper White to print the months onto, I then used Stampin' Up Patterned Paper to run a line along the bottom of each page, I used the Forever Flowers Wheel with Chocolate Chip Ink to run along the edge of the page, and I lined the envelopes with Rose Red Cardstock edged with Forever Flowers also in Chocolate Chip. The envelope can then be used to put the stamps and address labels in, so you never have the excuse that you couldn't post the card as you didn't know the address or have a stamp handy... as I layer up my cards quite a lot, I have to stock up on the large stamps otherwise the recipient would end up paying postage on their own cards.... lol

So this evening I have to take the cards and presents to my son (the 18 birthday ones) and then we can relax with a bottle of wine, and I will snuggle up in bed with my hot water bottle also... not sure what we are up to tomorrow other than the housework and washing first thing, I did get some new stamps today, but they have to be stuck onto Kling-On first (I have done one as I wanted to see what it would stamp like)... so maybe in the next few days I will get to make some cards using these. I am also hoping to complete 10 cards for a swap I am running at http://www.inlovewithstamping.com/ and then that only leaves me 10 more to do.... plus it is my little boys birthday next week, so will need to get a card made for him, I also need to get him a birthday present, but every day he has a different idea of what he wants.... boys eh!! So what I really need to do is get off of here and get making...

Have a great weekend all, take care xx

I Have Some Entries....

For my blog candy, and very nice they are too, thank you everyone who has entered so far, for putting in the effort and giving me some much needed inspiration too...

I went to my daughters for dinner last night as I said in my last post and it was yummy, yummy, yummy, I just soooo love Paella, and then we had chocolate cake and cream for dessert, so glad I am not on a diet as everyone had two helpings of Paella to start with.... he he I meant to take my camera and photograph it, but forgot, but I guess that is just as well for all of those who are currently on a diet.

My offering today is another card...

No stamping at all on this one, I have no idea who the patterned paper is from, but the ribbon is Very Vanilla Grosgrain from Stampin' Up and Mellow Moss Taffetta Ribbon also from Stampin Up. The sentiment is computer generated, the cardstock is Very Vanilla and I used the Scallop Edge Punch (yep, Stampin' Up! again) to make the scallops...

Hope to be back later with something else.... keep your eyes peeled, and if you haven't done already, dont forget to enter the Blog Candy Competition, unfortunately Stampin' Up! cannot be shipped outside of the UK, but I would still like to see what our international crafters have made... have a good day all xx