A Super Fabulous Day....

Well yesterday we went to Dublin for the day, yep you did hear me right, only for the day. This entailed us getting up at 4.15am and going to Stanstead to fly out at 8.05am... unfortunately we were delayed due to fog but did fly out at 8.55am. We arrived in Dublin just under an hour later and caught the bus into Dublin.... now for the "I am very sad" bit... whilst on the bus into Dublin we drove past this church... one of many, but I was convinced it was the one where Stephen Gately had his funeral.... of course the family humoured me but on the way back to the airport last night I just had to take a photo, because it was dark I ended up with a photograph of myself and a nice big flash, but today I checked it out and it really was the Church..... at one point I wanted to hunt it down whilst we were in Dublin but had changed my mind, but by some fluke we drove straight past it.... okay saddo bit finished.



We visited this church by The Four Courts, St Michans, and went down into the crypts where there were some very old coffins and very old squashed coffins with bones sticking out, the guide was excellent and the boys listened in amazement whilst my daughter just cringed... lol At the end we saw some mummified bodies, but the oldest was 900 years old and the guy said we could touch him.... well my 6 year old was there like a shot, but my 8 year old and my daughter wouldn't touch him, but just before we left they were persuaded to... lol. My daughter would only do it if I went with her to hold her hand (she is 15)... apparently it is lucky, so wondering if I should be buying a lottery ticket for tomorrow night... So if you were to ask everyone the highlight of their day in Dublin they will tell you it was "touching dead people".... yep I see social services arriving on my doorstep soon.



Anyway, here is a card I made for an order I fulfill each month for a lady from Church...



I have used Crate Paper for this and some flowers from my stash, the scripture was computer generated. Thank you for looking, have a great weekend.

Take care xx

Blog Candy

Wow Look at this blog candy.




This lady is very talented and to be in with a chance of winning visit here... . A winner will be announced Sunday evening....

Will be back later to update my blog... xx

A Halloween Card....

My 2 little boys are going to a Halloween Party on Saturday, we don't celebrate Halloween but I don't feel I can stop them going to the party as the rest of their classes will be there, so I have made a card for the little boy whose party it is... not really sure if I should get a pressie too as it was his birthday a couple of months ago, so the only occasion is Halloween. Any ideas or suggestions?

I don't have any Halloween stamps other than the Papertrey Halloween Tags, no images or anything and I have left it to late to buy online as I am unlikely to get anything because of the threatened postal strikes again this week. So had to use what I had here. I find the Stampin Up Cardstock in Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant the perfect colours for halloween things and so used these colours, and they matched the Patterned Paper I had beautifully (not sure who the paper is from, I had it left over from last year)... I used a Quickutz die to cut out the pumpkin and bats, and I used the Stampin Up Pastels (chalks to us plebs) to colour the edge of the pumpkin in slightly so it gave it a bit of dimension. Again the inside is decorated to match the front....

Can you see the little googly eyes on the top bat? How cute are they and finish the card off perfectly methinks.

And this is the inside of the card, and even the little ghost has googly eyes.

I have been trying to make myself a watermark today to put on my cards but since I upgraded to elements 6 I cannot get any watermarks to work. I used to have PSP and my watermark worked brilliantly, then I changed to elements when I got my graphics tablet and my watermarks have never worked again. They are transparent until put onto the cards and then they are no longer transparent. Can anyone help me out here please... I would be very grateful.
I have wasted all afternoon on this, and I have used 2 different tutorials and ended up with the same result. Transparent until added to my picture.... grrrrrr!!!

Anyway, need to get dinner started, we are having Chilli Con Carne and Rice tonight, not sure I have any rice, so will check before I start and send one of the children to the shop if I haven't... why do I always forget the most important part (well apart from the mince of course.. lol).

Have a good evening all xx

Forgot to Photograph This...

So had to get it back from my daughter for 5 minutes so that I could take a piccy... I made this card for when she had my little Grandson and it was all so quick I gave it to her without photographing it... doh!!! So here it is, couldn't photograph the inside as I had written in it, but it was decorated to match the outside.

I used a Whiff of Joy stamp which I bought especially for this card. The Patterned Paper is Stampin Up, and so is the ribbon with white stitching. The dark colour is Not Quite Navy and the White is Whisper White. The image was coloured in using copics, and my daughter does have blonde hair.

Off to cook dinner, have a great evening all xx

WooHoo, Cannot Believe I Got Top Spot

Wow, I cannot believe I got topspot on the StampWithUs Challenge. Thanks girls I am so excited..... and I will display by blinkie with pride. Dont forget to stop by there for this weeks challenge which is a Sketch Challenge and a nice simple one at that.... have a great Sunday.

A couple of Challenges...

I know, I have managed to post twice 2 days running, I think this is a record for me, but I just wanted to get this card entered for the Stamp With Us Challenge here and the Sketch Saturday Challenge here.


The Stamp With Us Challenge needed me to use 3 patterned papers, 3 brads, 3 coloured cards and 3 different stamps, which I have managed. The patterned papers are a new Stampin Up Set called Bella Bleu, and I used 3 different papers from this set. The 3 brads are from Stampin Up and are at the bottom of the Flower Image. The 3 coloured cards I used are Brocade Blue, Very Vanilla and Kraft which you can just see poking out from underneath the image. And the 3 different stamps are the sentiment stamp which comes from the Stampin Up Say It With Scallops Set, the little blue stamped circle just underneath the flower is from the Stampin Up Circle Circus Set and the flower image itself is from the Stampin Up Bloomin' With Beauty Set. The border punch is also the new Stampin Up Eyelet Border Punch and I used the 5-Petal Flower Punch for the flower. To finish it off I stuck a Kraft Taffeta bow onto the flower stem and layered the middle of the sentiment with dimensionals. Oooh one last thing, the holes around the edge of the image is made using the Tool Set from Stampin Up, although you can now buy the Template, Mat and Sticky Tool seperately.


And again I decorated the inside to match the outside.... If you click on the images they will be shown larger and will be much clearer.

And just so that you can see the how deep it is and how I have raised the images to give dimension...

The Sketch Saturday challenge looked like this...



Hopefully I have fulfilled this sketch too, the 3 circles I have used as a flower and 2 sets of leaves... hope this counts. Everything else is in order though.

Thanks everyone for the challenges, I have had great fun making this card today.

Take care all xx

A Little Something For The Halloween Trick or Treaters....

I thought I had better make a little something for the Halloween trick or treaters, even though we dont really celebrate Halloween ourselves, we have quite a few small children living in our cul de sac so I expect they will be calling. Last year I made the jubbly boxes so this year whilst at the Ally Pally a few weeks ago, I bought this shaker box die specifically for using with the Halloween treats... so here they are..


I made 16 in all, 8 of each design and stuck some cute googly eyes on the cat and the spider. The stamp set is Papetrey Halloween Tags... I love this set, I am not sure why Stampin Up dont make Halloween Sets for the UK as I am sure they would sell well, celebrating Halloween is on the increase in the UK... But I did use Stampin Up Cardstock in Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant and also the matching Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant thin Grosgrain Ribbon. I think the Patterned Paper is My Minds Eye.

Off out in a minute to get a girly birthday present for a party my 8 year old is going to today, he says she has long hair, so I am thinking some pretty girly hair stuff which I may just put into a small takeaway box and decorate with ribbon and gems... we shall see how much time we have left once they finish tidying their room.. (ha ha ha).

Have a great weekend guys xx

On a Roll Today.....

Well I have made another card, the creativity is flowing today. My 8 year old is going to a birthday party tomorrow so thought I had better make a card, I am trying to be more organised so dont want to make a last minute one at the last minute. It is for a little girl and I thought I would take part in another challenge so would kill two birds with one stone and combine the card and challenge. Well I cheated slightly as I already had the image coloured in, but thought it was quite an appropriate image, it is a Sugar Nellie Stamp and I think they are so cute. I used one of these designs on my daughters card back in August. Anyway, here is what you have been waiting for...

I used Basic Grey Papers and Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery and Rose Red Stampin Up Cardstock, along with the SU punches. I also used Stampin Up Old Olive Striped Grosgrain Ribbon and Tempting Turquoise Brad. The Stamp Set I used for the sentiment is again SU Circle of Friendship. I used a strip Cuttlebug Folder for the embossing on the left hand side of the card and sanded it slightly to bring out the white core and make it stand out more, and I lightly inked the edges of the paper in white. The border edge punch is Martha Stewart and flowers and gems are from my stash. And true to form, I have also decorated the inside to match...


Luckily my 8 year old is quite a neat writer so there should be enough room on the white cardstock to write his message. By the way, the Challenge I made this card for is the Papertake Weekly Challenge. I hope my card meets the criteria as I made it on a rectangle card and not a square one, but one of their DT made a cover for a rectangle notepad, so I guess it will be okay.

Have a great weekend everyone xx

A Couple of Things For You Today.....

Yep, thought I would treat you with a couple of things today, first a card I made which I adapted so would be suitable for 2 challenges at once, and the little image folder that I made for my downline.



So firstly the image folder, I used the new stamp set Good Friend, and the new Perfect Plum Patterned Paper, also Elegant Eggplant Cardstock and the new Pumpkin Pie Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, I also used Stampin Up Brads, and Stamp Set for the For You.

I used DL sized Vellum envelopes for the pockets, cut them in half and then punched the tops with the new eyelet border punch. I then punched more Perfect Plum PP with the tab punch to make little tabs for the tops of the pockets. I then finished off by stamping some images to put in the pockets and posted them out to my 5 downline. But the creating didn't stop there, I made some little folders to post out the image folders in, but I thought that as everyone would rip them over I would use some of my retired Stampin Up Patterned Paper along with Sage Shadow Cardstock and here are the finished projects waiting to be posted.

The above photo was the front and I just stuck an address label on the patterned paper, again I used the eyelet border Stampin Up Punch.

And the above photo is the back of the CD folder, I used the scallop border Punch and Grey Taffeta Ribbon.

My next project was a Get Well Soon Card, for this I used my Whiff of Joy Stamp as I thought it was really cute with the angel blowing kisses, I thought these could be get well kisses....


I used Glorious Green and Pumpkin Pie Cardstock and Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, I also used the Sincere Salutations Stamp Set for the Get Well Soon sentiment, although I did use the Stamp a ma jig to shuffle the writing around a bit so it would fit into a circle punch. And as with all my cards I decorated the inside to match....

If you would like details of any of the items I have used or would like to purchase any Stampin Up items, then just drop us a line at LindaLloyd@gmx.net and I will do my best to help you out.

Take care everyone, have a great weekend.

A Birthday Card for my Daughter

It was my daughter's birthday last week and here is the card I made for her. The image is from The Greetings Farm and was coloured in using Copic Markers, the paper is Basic Grey and the punches are Dovecraft, Stampin' Up! and Martha Stewart. The ribbon is also Stampin Up, in Old Olive. Anyway, my daughter loves daisies, so although I thought this card was a bit daisy overload she loved it, so another happy recipient.

My poor little 8 year old is off school today, he was sick last night but has not been since, although he does carry his bucket around with him. He has also had something to eat today and all is well and good. He is complaining of headache, sore throat and the sickness, his brother had the same thing last weekend, but no sickness thank goodness.... I am not a very good sickness person... lol Thank goodness for half term next week when they all have a whole week to recover from all the little things they pick up from school.

I have a favour to ask. Does anyone have or can purchase for me some Hanglar and Stanglar stamps. I absolutely love these stamps but they will not ship to UK, so can I beg, steal or borrow some from someone please. I can do some Greetings Farm stamps as a swap, or I am willing to pay if anyone is selling, or can purchase on my behalf, I will meet all costs. Okay begging over.

Have a great afternoon and evening everyone xx

Did I tell you I was published???

Cant believe I forgot to tell you all... lol. I was published in the September Edition of Craft Stamper, it was for a Challenge, I was given a colourway and sketch and had to make a card along those lines and here it is....

I used Really Rust and More Mustard cardstock from Stampin Up and the Garden Whimsey Stamp Set. The punch is from Martha Stewart and the flower punch was x-cut I think. the brads are also Stampin Up and the card itself was cut using my cricut.... the article in the magazine is below...


I was so thrilled to be asked to enter this challenge, thank you Katie for giving me this chance.

Have a great day all, take care xx

Have Been Busy, Have a Lot to Show You This Week....

I hope you have all had a great weekend, we went to see my daughter who has moved into a house with her boyfriend in Sudbury, she was all alone this weekend as her boyfriend had to unexpectedly fly back to South Africa (he is Zimbabwean) as his Grandad died and he had to go to the funeral, so she was rather upset that she hadn't been able to go with him and felt lonely, so we took a trip to see her and went for a lovely meal in Prezzo and then geocaching to walk off our meal... a really nice day, thank you Ashleigh.

I have been mega busy over the past week, what with cleaning my house to within an inch of its life (so I dont feel too lazy crafting all this week too) an I even used a toothbrush to clean the skirtings... lol I have also been busy making cards, halloween gifts etc... and have lots of other ideas too... I really would like to make some Christmas Cards this week, and I have bought far tooooo many Christmas bits, so should have enough to last me for the next 10 years... lol

So here is a card I have made...

And I also have another card to show you, not sure if I have already shown it to you, but just incase, here it is... Not sure about the paper or the image, and the ribbon and buttons were from my stash.


This image was coloured in using copic markers and the image is a Sweet Nellie image, the sentiment is computer generated and the paper I expect is Basic Grey... my favourite.

And as promised, here are my before and after photos from my diet. The before was taken last summer when we were on holiday, I cannot believe I looked so awful and even my children have said we didn't realise you looked so bad mum... so here is the before.

> Yep, very bad photo, this was me at around 14stone 9lb and a size 20, and here is the end result which I arrived at in August this year...

And this is me at the Haagen Dazs Cafe in Leicester Square at 11pm on 31st August, which was our 10th Wedding Anniversary. We stayed at a 5* Hotel in Mayfair (The Metropolitan) and I wasn't ashamed about being fat, I was so happy with what I had achieved and that I finally looked normal. So this is the end result, 9 stone 12lb and a size 8 to 10...

So here's hoping that you all had a great weekend, and that your weekend will be just as good.

Take care

Still For Sale...

I have updated this post http://purelystamping.blogspot.com/2009/08/magnolia-whiff-of-joy-sugar-nellie.html to show the stamps that are still for sale... please email me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net. I will accept personal cheques, postal orders, or gifted paypal payments. Will be back soon to update, but my daughter had a little baby boy, Cain Mitchell this afternoon at 2.38pm, and I have been running up and down the hospital like a loony and looking after my grandson who is 17 months old.... and my crafting space is a mess as I am re-organising it to incorporate my new Stampin Up Stash. If you would like to purchase anything from the new Stampin Up Catalogue, check out http://www.stampinup.co.uk/ and just let me know what you would like. I am offering a 10% discount for all orders over £35... take care and have a good weekend.

A Little Something For a Challenge

Right, well I have decided to totally turn around my life and everything I do (not that I have much time after being a mum to 10 children and running them around to various appointments etc), but I need to get on and do something instead of being in front of my computer all the time. I also want to keep all the weight off that I have lost and being more active will do that hopefully. The plan is to also have a bit of a sort out in my craft area and put away stuff not used so often and take out stuff that is used whenever I craft like cardstock.... I also intend to have a major bloghop and find a challenge for each day of the week, which will hopefully inspire me to get things made in advance instead of making cards at the last minute.... lol Which reminds me, must get on and make some halloween gifts....

Anyway, here is my first Christmas Items of the year... and made for the Stamp With Us Challenge, which is a Stampin Up based website run by some brilliant demonstrators whose work I greatly admire. The challenge was to make something that wasn't a card, and since I received my new catalogue stash this week I decided instead of stroking it I would use it... (see I said I was turning my life around, I would normally have stroked it for weeks)...

I made a small box with a flap using the new Stampin Up Simply Scrappin Kit "Christmas Jingle", you get everything you need to make some brilliant scrapbook pages, cards or mini albums and it all co-ordinates including the cardstock, stickers and paper. And inside this little box I made is a mini folding album which I intend to fill with pictures from Christmas this year. A brilliant little gift to give to a loved one this Christmas so that they can save their own memories.... and here is the mini album out of the box...

Not yet filled as I want to put some photos from this year in it, and will make sure I take some really good ones especially for this album as I have never had an album before. It is also a good size to carry around in your handbag so that you can brag about the excellent Christmas you had, or just to remind you of the good times you had once, the cold, snowy, dull new year comes round.... have a good day all. xx

Have loads of made cards, just need to post them on here....

Well I have a backlog of cards that I have made to put on my blog, but I dont want to spoil you, so will plod along 2 at a time. Keep checking back as I will have some blog candy to give away soon, plus some stamp sets to sell, so watch this space.

I have been making cards today, trying to finish an order I needed to finish and was pleased to finish it at last, haven't managed to photograph them yet, yucky light...

Well it looks like Autumn is finally on its way, it was very windy around here today and decidedly chilly too.... nearly the kind of weather for thick soup and bread or hot and tasty stews, which reminds me, I will need to post a before and after photo of myself, I have been on the Cambridge Diet and lost nearly 5 stone... should be amusing, it will be worth checking back just to see these photos... lol

Anyway, I have 2 cards to show you today...

As I made this a while ago I cannot remember what I used, but it is all Stampin Up, I am sure those of you who use Stampin Up will know what it is... lol

Next is a Gorjuss Girl card from http://www.funkykits.co.uk/...


Again I have no idea what I used, but I remember digging deep into my piles of stash for the paper, the ribbon is Stampin Up, but I think that is all... image is coloured using copic markers..

Have a great Saturday evening, wrap up warm and chill in front of the tv... cya all tomorrow xx

A Few Cards..... and a really nice lady....

Have been busy this week making some cards and thought you might like to see it.... so much has been going on in my life at the moment and everything had to be put on a shelf until I get through the other side, and hopefully now I am re-emerging....

Sunday afternoon I had a phone call from my DDs boyfriend who she was out with saying his friend (they are 14) had fallen off his bike, couldn't move his leg and there was blood.... having worked on the ambulances could I please come and help him. I told him to call an ambulance and I zipped off in my car to their location. Took one look at the blood, realised it was nothing to do with his leg and all to do with the handlebars of his bike that had pierced his lower torso, there wasn't too much blood, so decided not to move him but try and calm him down. No one could contact his mother so DH went off to his to see if she was there, and meantime I managed to calm him down so much he was talking on his mobile phone to his Dad when the ambulance arrived. His mum turned up shortly afterwards and we planned that I would take his new bike to my house and lock it in my garage, so I gave her my address so she could pick it up when she was ready. Her friend then turned up and took the bike and I took off, leaving Mum, son and ambulance waiting for a back up ambulance... Well Wednesday evening there is a knock at the door, this lady remembered where I had lived and bought me a bottle of wine for looking after her son until she got there.... how kind was that, and it turns out she is a newly trained midwife who has seen my pregnant daughter on a couple of occasions for a check up.... her son started to bleed really badly once they got him on the ambulance, so I was so glad I hadn't moved him, and had to have an operation, but came home Wednesday afternoon....

Anyway, on to the couple of cards....

This is for Mum, it is her birthday on Monday, but she has gone away for a few days as a birthday treat, so had to get it made and finished for yesterday....

Recipe:- Stampin Up Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant and Lavender Lace. The flourish is cut out using my Cricut Expression and the edging is a Martha Stewart Punch. The "Happy Birthday" was made using my new Start Rite font stamps and cut out using the Window Slot Punch from Stampin Up. Old Olive and Whisper White Ribbon used along the edge. The diamond embossed rectangle that the flower is sitting on was made using acetate and a cuttlebug folder.

This card was made for my little boy's friend whose birthday party he went to last week.... I coloured a skateboarder and a fireman and my little boy chose the fireman...

Recipe:- Greetings Farm Fireman Stamp, Stampin Up Stamps, Stampin Up Tempting Turquoise cardstock, Green Galore Cardstock and Elegant Eggplant Cardstock. Real Red and Tempting Turquoise Inkpads... The Greetings Farm image was coloured in using Copic Marker and the star shape was cut out using the Stampin Up Star Punch....

That's all for today, have a good evening everyone xx