At least we are halfway through the week already.....

So glad this week is going so quickly, really need to have a nice relaxing weekend.... I thought I would show you another few cards I have made, cannot show you anything I have made with the new Stampin Up Product until Friday, only 2 more days to go now.

This card I made for my Step Dad's 75th birthday.... we went out for a lovely meal on the Sunday, and had a great family time at their house afterwards.... I made the background by stamping a Papertrey Ink background stamp onto some brown distressed paper, I used a script background stamp. I then stamped another background stamp of squares onto the distressed red cardstock. I used Kraft Cardstock to coordinate with the card and punched out a star using some distressed blue cardstock. The Happy Birthday sentiment is also from Papertrey Ink.

This next card I made for someone in our Church's 30th birthday, I dont really know what he is into so decided that you cannot go wrong with stars. I used a retired kit from Stampin Up to make this card... I love the brightness of the card after the more muted colours of my Step Dad's card.

My daughter asked me if I could make a card for a friend of hers who was having a son, so I love this stamp and it had never seen ink, so I made this for her. I used the retired Bashful Blue Patterned Paper from Stampin Up, the image is from Lili of the Valley Stamps.

Back to work, no rest for the wicked.... have a great day, take care xx

Welcome to the World Little Ones.....

My daughter asked me to make her 2 baby cards, 1 girl and 1 boy one.... as I didn't have much time last week as it was my Dad's birthday, my daughters birthday, my downlines birthday and then I was looking after my grandson, so I CASE'd a card from the PTI forum and made one in pink and one in blue.... actually DH couldn't see that it was similar but I can...

I used SU Bashful Blue Patterned Paper and Bashful Blue Cardstock and the stamps and ribbons are from PTI..... as are the buttons.

And the pink one is the same.... Except everything is PTI this time.... and I did faux stitching around the edge...

And the insides were made to match too.... how cute is this sentiment.

Have a great evening... xx

Simon Says Challenge

I was looking around for some challenges and I came across this one... make anything BABY... well I dont know anyone who is having a baby but it caught my imagination and I decided to make these cute baby shoes out of paper....

I used Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue and Whisper White Cardstock to made the band around the box and the Animal Stories Stamp set... isn't it a cute little owl?

The little shoes were made out of Bashful Blue Patterned Paper with Bashful Blue Cardstock for the base and Whisper White Cardstock for the front, the ribbon is also Stampin' Up! Blue and White Gingham. I used Not Quite Navy to line the base of the box. The box was made out of Stampin' Up! window sheets.

And above is the finished project all wrapped up nicely in its box... forgot to mention the dots around the owl image is from the Stamp Set Circle Circus... now just need to find someone to give them too.... lol

You can find the Simon Says Challenge here .

Dont forget to check out my video tutorial just below here for A Rose is A Rose card.... have a great weekend all xx

In Love With Stamping Saleabration Blog Hop...

Welcome to our In Love With Stamping Blog Hop... there are 30 of us taking part so we have split it into 2 blog hops 15 in each. Each project will use something out of the Stampin' Up! Saleabration Set and we hope this gives you some inspiration so you can design your own goodies with the stamp sets. If you have reached me that means you have come from Jan's blog here (hopefully) if not please make sure you go back and visit Jan's blog and her wonderful designs.

To get these sets you just need to spend £45 in the current Stampin' Up! catalogue and pick one of the sets free... if you would like to place an order with me just contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

I decided to be a bit more adventurous with these designs and made a suitcase out of Sahara Sand, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip Cardstock using the Spiced Cider Patterned Paper. The Stamp Set I used for this set is the Good Neighbours set and it is stamped using Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive and Bashful Blue Ink. The above photo shows the whole set including the suitcase.

The above photograph shows all the cards packed into the case, it has room for 2 different size cards, some decorated paperclips and pens and pencils.

This is a close up of the inside of the case, you can see in this picture that there are dividers in the box made out of Whisper White Cardstock... this would make a brilliant gift for a friend who was moving, although I didn't put any sentiments on the cards so they can be used for any occasion.

The small cards are 3 x 3 in size, the paperclips have been decorated using the Vintage Tags Saleabration Stamp Set and embossed. The back of the paperclips that you cannot see has the leaf shaped tree stamped onto the Scallop Circles.

The big cards are 4 1/2" x 5 1/2". The little houses fit nicely onto a 1 3/8" punched out circle which can then be matted onto the Scallop Circle.

I then moved on to making a little box set which would make a lovely gift for a friend. I used Real Red, Rose Red, Whisper White and Regal Rose Cardstock. The Stamp Sets I used are Happy Moments and Whimsical Words. The Patterned Paper is from the Kaleidoscope Set and the Pink Flamingo Set.

You cannot see very well, but the box is covered in a Medium Window Sheet which Stampin' Up! sell. I used Gold Cord to wrap around the box and Regal Rose Ribbon to decorate it.

These are the cards I made, they measure 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" and the chocolates in the middle of the box are Hersheys.

The above photo was taken after I had removed the window sheet cover from the box so you could see everything packed away. I used the pink colours as it is soon Valentines Day, but not everyone wants Valentine Cards so made them so they could be used for various occasions.

Well I hope you enjoyed your stop here. Your next stop is Dawn's blog. I know you will love her contributions to the blog hop..

Have a great Sunday, take care all.. xx

A Couple of Challenges

I am still busy making my card order and needed a bit of inspiration, so decided to look up some challenges. This card was made using a couple of challenge, a colour one and a sketch one. I used all Stampin' Up! Stash for this card, am trying to do this more often now... it is so lush!!

The colours I used were Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, More Mustard, So Saffron and Whisper White as we dont have Deep Red and Baja Blue in the UK.

And the sketch I copied almost exactly except I added a bit of bling in the bottom right hand corner.

I used the new SAB set Happy Moments for the sentiment "Thank You", Circle Circus to edge the inner circle and flight of the Butterfly for the main image, and the Butterfly Punch to punch out the butterfly. I used the Level 1 Hostess Set Darling Dots for the flower on the Bashful Blue Cardstock. It is very unusual for me to use no Patterned Paper, but I did manage it....

The snow is nearly gone around here, but I am having big trouble with my car since the snow. The battery totally died, so had a new one fitted yesterday at a cost of more than £100 and this morning something has drained the battery and the new one is flat.... grrr thats all I need electrical problems with electrical diagnoses costing more than £50 an hour....

Dont forget my card workshop on Thursday, should be good as I am loving the Stamp Set Flight of the Butterfly at the moment, such pretty cards, hope my ladies like them.

Take care all, have a safe day...

Birthday Card

It was my nephews 17th birthday last week and I decided to combine the PTI challenge this week with the card. Had to use stars which i thought was ideal for a 17 year old boys birthday card.

Had to make it really quickly as I had nearly forgotten his birthday, so this card is very basic to what i would normally do. I stamped the PTI stars onto Bashful Blue Cardstock using Bashful Blue Ink. The stars were stamped using Night of Navy Ink onto Whisper White Cardstock and punched out using the Stampin' Up! Star Punch, I then attached 2 blue buttons to the middle of the stars and tied some Linen Thread through the middle. I cut a piece of Night of Navy and cut a v shape one end and mounted it onto a piece of Kraft Cardstock punched with a Martha Stewart Punch. And voila a really quick card. This also qualifies for the PTI Challenge which is to use stars.

Have a great snow day everyone, both schools are closed, DH is working from home. Unfortunately daughter dropped my grandchildren off here this morning whilst she took her hubby to work as she needed the car (grandsons are 12 weeks and 19 months) and she broke down on the way, possibly the water pump. She waited for the car to cool, but it overheated again quickly. In the meantime hospital rings to cancel her appointment (reason she needed the car in the first place) and her hubby rung work to see if someone could come out to pick him up and take him in and his boss said he was sending everyone home anyway.... what a waste of time. Luckily the boys were all nice and warm with me, but then I had to go pick her and hubby up, pick up the boys from mine and take them home.... not sure what they are doing about the car.

Take care and be safe. xx

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

18th Birthday

My son celebrated his 18th Birthday on 28th December...... we all went out for a meal the day before and surprised him by having his other siblings and their partners ready and waiting at the restaurant. Not being very organised I had to put together this card quickly before Church on the Sunday morning, I thought about buying one but cannot quite manage to actually buy a card when I am perfectly able to make them (Plus I have tons of stuff to use up.... lol).

Have used Bashful Blue and Night of Navy Cardstock, plus the Old Olive Patterned Paper edged with the Border Punch at the top and the bottom. The circles are stamped with the Circle Circus Stamp Set in Whisper White ink and the stars are cut out using the Star Punch and Bashful Blue Cardstock. The Sentiment was stamped using the Happy Everything Stamp Set. All these items are available from Stampin' Up!

Now the inside was a bit of a joke, he is a trainee butcher and always telling us about the meat he cuts up and he seems to cut up a lot of lamb, so what better to put inside his card than a little lamb.... lol. Inside was created using Whisper White, Bashful Blue and Night of Navy Cardstock. The sheep was made using Stampin' Up! punches, Scallop Circle, Oval, Five Petal Flower (for ears) and Word Window Punch for legs.

There is a Cup Challenge on ILWS tonight, check out my right hand side bar and scroll down for a link to In Love With Stamping, be there at 5pm to register for an evening of fun and crafting.

Take Care all xx

Phew..... just about finished..

Hmmmm I am doing quite a lot of these kind of cards lately, white, silver, black and none of them photograph that well...

This is my grandson, he is now 6 weeks old and my daughter asked me a few weeks ago (probably quite a few weeks ago) if I could make her some thank you cards for all the gifts that Cain received after he was born. And true to form and running late as usual I finally got round to making them today. I used Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy Cardstock. The ribbon is Stampin' Up! Striped Grosgrain. I embossed some of the Whisper White with an embossing folder.

The "Thanks" is the inside of the card, this is a die cut, cut using Bashful Blue Cardstock. Nearly forgot the stamped bit on the back of the card, but did remember in time... lol

I was hoping to make my boys their Christmas Cards, do you know what, I haven't made 1 Christmas Card yet and it is making me panic (other than the set for my Card Making Workshop). I really do need to get on and make some stuff for Christmas. I have 3 styles of cards for the boys, so know basically what I am going to do. I also have several albums I need to make too, and I have made a list, but for everything I cross off I add 2 things to it...

Oooooh hubby is home and I really fancy a chinese takeaway tonight, so I will say bye bye and have a good weekend, I will try and blog tomorrow and Sunday so keep checking back. Oh yes, I also have a Greetings Farm Stamp to give away, just need to photograph it and put it on my blog.

Take care all xx

Paper Share and New Demonstrator Offer

This will stay at the top until filled, please scroll down for newer blog posts.

Stampin Up are bringing out a Mini Catalogue which will start on !st April until 30th September, click on the mini catalogue picture on the left hand column. I will be doing a Paper Share once the Catalogue comes out, you will get 1 6 x 6 sheet of all the Designer Patterned Papers in the current catalogue, plus 1 6 x 6 sheet from the 3 new packs in the mini catalogue, you will also get 1m of each of the 3 new Striped Grosgrain ribbons in So Saffron, Pretty in Pink and Bashful Blue. So in summary
102 6x6 sheets of Patterned Paper, from current catalogue, plus the new PP from the Mini Catalogue
1.2" Grosgrain Striped Ribbon in Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink and So Saffron. 1m of each of these = 3m
The total cost will be £20 including postage. I will also have a Level 1 Hostess Set to Raffle off, so one of the 8 lucky people will receive a Level 1 Hostess Set of their choice.
I need 8 people for one of these groups and this will be dispatched to you in April once the Mini Catalogue comes out. If you are interested please let me know at LindaLloyd@gmx.net

Seven people have signed up so far, only 1 space left!!

If you would like to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Stampin' Up! are doing a special offer starting 12th March until the end of March. You can purchase the Starter Kit for only £125 with goods to the value of £240 in it and you can also personalise a lot of this kit so that you get the stamp sets and colours that YOU want. So what do you have to lose, you can sign up as a hobby demo and just buy stash for yourself and get the demonstrator discount on all the stash you want. If after a couple of months you think it is not for you, then you can resign and keep everything that you have already bought including the Starter Kit, how can you lose. If you sign up through me I will also give you 4 FREE stamp sets, one of each of the Saleabration Sets which are no longer available and that you cannot purchase. So this is what you get...

1. 4 Free Stamp Sets

2. £240 worth of SU Stash personalised to your choice for only £125.

3. Both are yours to keep forever even if you decide Stampin Up is not for you.

4. A friendly team I currently have a team of 10 people, plus a forum which is only available to my team and Stampers 10 Club, plus I am always at the end of the phone or an e-mail if you need help or advice.

For more information, contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net

Take Care

Thank God It Is Friday........

This week seems to have taken so long, haven't been able to get motivated for anything really, so luckily it is the weekend and once the housework is out of the way tomorrow, we can enjoy the weather which is supposed to be really nice.

I really need to make a birthday card for my sister whose birthday is on Monday, plus decorate a little bag to put her gift in, money is tight at the moment so only bought her a small gift, but thought if I made a really nice pretty bag, this might make up for it... lol (we only ever buy each other small gifts anyway). Hope you are all looking forward to Mother' Day on Sunday, cant wait to see all my brood, although most of them come for dinner on a Sunday anyway, I wonder if anyone else will offer to cook it this time.... lol

My most exciting news of the day, in fact of the week, DH managed to buy 2 U2 tickets before they sold out this morning, plus they are awesome seats too (they need to be, they cost two arms and 2 legs) and so am so excited and cannot wait until August when we get to see them. The last time we saw them live was in Poland in 2005 and for a while it was touch and go whether we would get out there to see them, but as usual they were awesome, and I was so amazed at how the Polish people couldn't talk english, but could sing all of the U2 songs... and we were told on the minibus on the way to our hotel, that the whole stadium where wearing white and red depending on whether you were sitting or standing to make a great big polish flag, and wow, was Bono impressed with this, he was absolutely blown away, shame the English don't make as much of their concerts as the other countries do....

Anyway, I do still have a card to post, and here it is...


Hmmm cannot remember which colour cardstock I used, whether it was Barely Banana or So Saffron plus Bashful Blue. The set is a Level 2 Hostess Set, Spring bundle and the inks used are Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue. The sentiment is from the Seasonal Wishes Stamp Set. I also used the Scallop Edge Punch.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend and make the most of the good weather, take care xx

Mother's Day...

So its nearly time for Mother's Day, the day we can put our feet up and rest.... ha ha, not likely at least not in my house, although everyone does make an effort to do something nice for me, so cant be bad... lol And today I have made my Mum a Mother's Day Card, haven't tackled the problem of what I am going to buy her yet, maybe I will take a photo of all the children left here and buy a frame for it as she is definately lacking in photographs of my children. But then again she is not their Mother... hmm, will have to think that one through.
Anyway, here is todays card...

For this card I used the New Ski Slope Patterned Papers which are in the new Mini Catalogue which you can order from, from 1st April. The cardstock is Old Olive, and the image is also from the new Mini Catalogue and is a set called Soft Summer. The sentiment is from the Occasional Greetings Stamp Set and the flowers are Accents and Elements, oh yes, the ribbon is again from the New Mini Catalogue and is Pink Striped Grosgrain (it also comes in So Saffron and Bashful Blue). And Bashful Blue brads for the flower centres.