Snow-tastic!

Wow after having no snow at all yesterday I thought it was going to miss us out and I absolutely, definitely, without a doubt love the snow... it just makes me want to roll around in it, snow angels, the lot, I love it when it is crispy and squeaky and soft, not icy, and overnight we had a small sprinkling and I thought that was going to be our lot... but lo and behold by 8am this morning it was coming down thick and fast. DH started to take the older children to school but got about a mile in the school direction (it is 6 miles away) and turned around and came home... it was just too bad out there. We later found they closed the school around 11am anyway, so would have been dangerous and a waste of time taking them all the way in. Unfortunately the primary school didn't close, so I trekked through the blizzard (oh no, what a hardship!) and got the boys to school 5 minutes late. Their school was the only one in the area which wasn't shut but at home time we were informed they wouldn't be opening tomorrow. Hometime entailed another trek through an even worse blizzard to pick them up, but following some school children home and watching them all throw snow at each other and the joy on their faces was just heartwarming. Here is a photograph I took from my bedroom window, doesn't it look beautiful?

The bad news is that I had to cancel my Card Workshop for tomorrow, the weather will be too treacherous to expect people to trek to my house for this event and I would hate for anyone to get hurt on their way here, it has been rescheduled for next Thursday and so far all people are able to make it. I have 3 more spaces if anyone is interested, it will be based on Flight of the Butterfly stamp set.

Saturday night the forum In Love With Stamping held a challenge evening. There were 4 challenges set at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm and 10pm. You had 45 minutes to complete the challenge (unheard of for me, normally takes me 2 hours to make a card) and then 15 minutes to upload it to the gallery. Well I did complete the challenges, yes all of them in 45 minutes each....

The photograph above was my interpretation of Challenge 2 which was use one stamp set, one ink and cardstock and no embellishments, we could use punches and piercing tools but nothing else, this was my interpretation of that challenge. I used Basic Black and Whisper White Cardstock, the Bella Toile Stamp Set which I stamped with Basic Black onto the Whisper White Cardstock. I punched the flowers out using Whisper White and Basic Black and glued them together. I then stamped a tealight candle with the same stamp set and black ink and put it in the box. There were some very talented ladies on this forum and their ideas were absolutely brilliant.

The card above was from the first challenge which was a sketch challenge and guess what? YES I WON... woohoo, cannot believe it as I thought there were entries there that were far superior to mine... glad someone liked it though. The stamp set used was Mr and Mrs and the patterned paper was Nouveau Chic. I used all Stampin' Up! stash for all the cards that I made. The gorgeous ribbon is the new Striped Grosgrain that came out in the new catalogue.

This challenge was challenge 4 and there were 2 stipulations to this one, one was to mask and stamp and the second was to use something that you were throwing out in your house and recycle it. I masked the little house from the new Saleabration Set and tore up one of my Stampin' Up! boxes destined for the rubbish to make the outer circle on the image. The sentiment was from Bella's Bloom. If you would like to know how to get this stamp set for nothing, email me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

And this last challenge was a colour combo challenge, the colours were Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose and Old Olive. I used the A Rose is a Rose stamp set for this and although at first I was horrified at the mix of colours, I think it turned out okay at the end and I am really pleased as I would never normally use this many colours together and it really got me thinking outside of the box. If you would like to purchase any of the Stampin' Up! stash that I used in these cards please contact me at LindaLloyd@gmx.net. If this is the first order that you have placed with me I will give you 10% off and free postage, so could be worth quite a lot to you. If you spend over £45 you will also get a free Saleabration Stamp Set. This offer ends midnight Sunday though, so get in quick.

Have a great evening all, stay indoors, stay warm and stay safe.... take care. xx