A Bit of A Mixture.....

Have been a busy bee today and I dont mean scrapping either.... unfortunately. I need a really good day tomorrow, so far there is nothing to interrupt, and I'm hoping to get 2 birthday cards made, 4 thank you cards and 30 swaps for a Training Day in Peterborough on Sunday, and seeing as I am out Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday is the day, I really need to get a move on.

Today's card is a bit of a mixture, I seem to have used lots of companies stash....

I used Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake Cardstock along with some Striped Grosgrain Ribbon. The punches are from Martha Stewart and the sentiment is from Verve Stamps along with the butterfly image. The pearls I had in my stash... I must admit out of all the cards I made this was my least favourite but when I asked my boys which one they liked the best this was it.... so glad someone liked it... ha ha

See you all tomorrow xx

So Where Did The Week Go?

I am just soooooo happy, my UPS man has bought my second order from the new catalogue and it is full of stamp sets..... cannot wait to play with them, but have really got into a book I am reading and so want to go read that too.... it is called Bomber's Moon by Iris Gower and I am really enjoying it...

May have a play later with the new Make a Monster Stamp Set as I have to make a card for my grandsons birthday tomorrow....

But for today I am showing you a card I made for my Church order this month. I made the rosette using the new Tim Holtz die which is awesome and definately makes it easy to make this wonderful rosette....

The Patterned Paper is retired from Stampin' Up! but the cardstock isn't and I used the new Cherry Cobbler Cardstock and Basic Black, and then the Cherry Cobbler Ink for the cross... I think this is my favourite card of all I made....

Have a great day, the weather is set to be really nice here today, the sun is coming out and it is really warm. Have also bought some Topside Beef and am going to cook roast beef and yorkshire puddings for dinner tonight, yum yum.... see you all tomorrow xxx

Another Preview and ILWS Challenge

Its that time of the month when ILWS have their challenges, and this month they are really great ones.... the first challenge was a Colour Challenge, we had to use Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.....

So I thought I would kill 2 birds with 1 stone and combine the Colour Challenge with new product from the new 2010\2011 Stampin Up Catalogue.... this set is called Ornate Flowers and the stamp set comes in Wooden or Clear Mount....

And because I really liked this colour combination I thought I would make another card using the same colours, so that is Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White Cardstock, Real Red Satin Ribbon, Ornate Flowers Stamp Set, image stamped in Basic Black and the Elegant Thank You Stamp Set which consists of only the 1 stamp so perhaps more affordable than a set of more.....

And yes, what am I thinking of blogging on a Sunday again.... lol. I am just so, so excited about this new catalogue, my new order is in and I am waiting on its delivery, I just cannot wait. Have a nice relaxing Sunday, take care everyone xx

Its Here.... the waiting is over.....

I thought I would start off my previews with my favourite stamp set from the new catalogue. If you have a new catalogue you will notice that a lot of the stamp sets come in the normal wooden block mounted or the new clear mount which mount on to blocks. I would just like to mention that the name is misleading, they are not clear but are the red rubber mounted onto grey rubber but you can see the picture through the acrylic block so it is much easier to stamp in the right place without the use of the Stampamajig. You can also add more than one stamp at a time to create images.... The acrylic blocks are also gorgeous (can an acrylic block be gorgeous?) they have grooves around in which your fingers fit nicely and they come in loads of different sizes so that there will always be one to fit your stamp...

This first card I made because I just had to use the stamp set. I had also just grasped brayering, and although you cannot see the gradiation in the reds very much in this photograph, it does go from dark red which is the new Cherry Cobbler, to a light red which is a new "in colour" Poppy Parade. The newsprint background is the new Patterned Paper, called Newsprint. I also stamped the image from the Artistic Etching Stamp Set onto the red and black embossed it, I then stamped some of the other images onto the Newsprint PP in Cherry Cobbler Ink and Basic Black.... More images were used for the Amour and were punched out using the Oval Punch and Oval Scallop Punch. I then finished it off with Black and Very Vanilla Grosgrain Striped Ribbon which now comes in more colours than before....

This tag I made for Stampin Up Training in High Wycombe, I again used the Artistic Etching stamp set, Newsprint Patterned Paper and Cherry Cobbler, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla and Basic Black Cardstock. I finished it off with Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon. I had to make 70 of these for swaps...... wish I hadn't of embossed the Eiffel Tower image as my whole desk was covered in black embossing powder by the time I had finished.... lol

So there you have it, the first previews from the new catalogue. I will be back tomorrow with some more, hope to see you all then. xx

A Male Card....

Well after a truly awful day yesterday and a day of running around after other people today, I did finally manage to make a birthday card for my Son in Law..... my daughter has been warned not to go on my blog until after her birthday next Monday..... lol

Not good at making male cards at the best of times and definitely not when under stress, but I was quite pleased how this one came out, the colours look much better in real life. I used the Groom Speciality Patterned Paper and the Jackpot Patterned Paper from Stampin' Up! The cardstock is Basic Black, Real Red and So Saffron and the Stamp Set is Cheers to You and is awesome for making mens cards..... they always love a pint of beer.... lol The ribbon is More Mustard and the images were coloured in using my Copic Markers.

This is the inside of the card, all nicely matching and with the added benefit of a Martha Stewart Punch.

Have a great evening all, hopefully will be back tomorrow after my card class some time... take care all xx

StampyCarol's Sketch Challenge...

I told you I would be back.... lol

Here is a card I made for StampyCarols Sketch Challenge, I promised her I would try and make it this fortnight and I have.... you can find the sketch here

I used Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White and Basic Black Cardstock... the image are the Stampin' Up! Rub Ons and the patterned paper is Nouveau Chic... the sentiment is computer generated and the Ribbon is the Whisper White Satin Ribbon from Stampin' Up! The dots around the edge are also SU rub-ons....

Hope you like it... thanks for the challenge Carol

Tackle It Tuesday Colour Challenge #3

Right, it is Tuesday fortnight and time to draw my Colour Challenge #2.....

And this is you Donna..... thank you very much for taking part in my Challenge, I will be putting a little bag of goodies together for you. Please could you contact me at LindaLloyd@gmx.net with your address please and it will be winging its way to you shortly...

On the this fortnight's Colour Challenge, have picked the following colours because I thought they went well together, haven't quite managed to get the colours looking right, but the names are underneath so that should help a bit.... and here they are....

If you dont have the Stampin' Up! Colours just pick something similar, you will find that the Pretty in Pink and Sage Shadow are slightly darker than shown (not sure what happened to the colours after I had done them)..... anyway, here is my attempt for this fortnight...

Have not used all SU stash, I used a couple of Martha Stewart Punches and a Verve Sentiment Stamp.... the other stash is Rose Red, Sage Shadow, Basic Black and Pretty in Pink Cardstock, To The Nines Speciality Paper, Pretty in Pink Taffetta Ribbon and Rose Red and Pretty in Pink Brads....

and here is the inside of the card...... again Pretty in Pink and Rose Red Cardstock along with Basic Black, and the To The Nines Speciality Paper.... the white shape is a Nestabilities Label Die.

I would love to see you take part in my challenge this fortnight, I love some inspiration for my cards and there will again be a little goody bag for the winner who will be picked out randomly. Unfortunately I cannot ship the prize to anyone outside of UK or Europe, but if you live elsewhere, please still post your cards on here as we would all love to see them, and a challenge is a challenge with or without a prize....

Dont forget to check back tomorrow for my Why Not Make It Wednesday Tutorial.... just need to get it edited now.....

Have a good evening all, I am going to post this quickly before I lose it again, had typed it up earlier, lost my internet connection and lost the post....

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge

I do like the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenges they actually make me get off my butt and do something. Here is this weeks sketch...

and below is my interpretation of it.... and it is the first card I have made in my newly organised craft area.... woohoo...

I have used SU stash, Pink Flamingo Patterned Papers, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Summer Sun, Sage Shadow and Whisper White Cardstock. The little blue button from the Button set, the Black and White Gingham Ribbon and the Black and Very Vanilla Striped Ribbon... The sentiment is from Verve Stamps and the little pearls are from my stash. The scallop edges were punched using the SU Scallop Border Punch....

Hope you like, will be back tomorrow with some more cards... have a great evening all xx

Why Not Make It Wednesday - Lion Chocolate Bar Cover

So today on Why Not Make It Wednesday I am going to show you how to make a lion out of Stampin' Up! punches and how to cover a bar of chocolate so you can give these away to customers, friends etc.... It is so easy to make you could maybe use this idea to make more to amuse the children whilst off school next week during Half Term...

He does look a bit of a friendly lion with his tongue hanging out, better hope he doesn't eat the chocolate.... so check out the video tutorial below to see how it is made.... I know that the angle of the video camera is not too good, will try it in a different position next week....

Hope you have enjoyed it..... see you tomorrow xxx

Haven't Been Up To Much......

Haven't really been up to much, although now I think about it I was very busy last Friday, just haven't photographed the cards yet... will have to sort that out.

But..... in the meantime I threw this Valentine Card together in about 5 minutes flat as I was trying to demonstrate to someone what was in my head, so if you have a lot of loves of your life, then this is the ideal card for you coz you can make about 12 in an hour.... lol

I used Basic Black, Whisper White and Real Red Cardstock. The Scallop Border Punch and Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon... the hearts were cut out using the Heart to Heart Punch.... the word LOVE is from the Basic Phrases Set.....

Have been busy today putting together a video tutorial for tomorrow, I hope you will like it, so dont forget to check back tomorrow.... also there is another week to go to submit your challenge for the Tackle it Tuesday Colour Challenge... just look in the left hand column and click on the #2 Challenge and it will take you to the post. There will be a small parcel of candy for the winner picked out by Random.Org... I was going to pick the winner myself but I found it too difficult last time... so there you go.

Have a great day all, take care 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

Can You Guess....

Who we went to see on Saturday....? Yes it was Madness, excellent concert and yet again we were at the barrier at the front. Unfortunately on our way to the concert we had a car accident with another car. The weather was awful, very wet, raining and we were down a very bendy country lane. DH braked to take a bend (we were doing less than half the speed limit of 60) and as he turned the wheel to take the left hand bend the car just kept going sideway and there was a car coming in the opposite direction and we hit him side onto side. Luckily no one was hurt and the guy was very calm and not at all angry, he said he had debated using that lane as he thought it was dangerous in the wet.... yep, he was right. Luckily after details were exchanged we were able to go on our way, our car was not too badly damaged, but his was much worse....

Anyway, after that we managed to arrive at the concert safely, and despite some real idiot guys who were so drunk behind us and threatening to kill everyone who didn't get out of their way (unfortunately 2 girls who we had been chatting to and who had been standing behind us had to move because these guys were just too violent). I have rub marks on my back bruised ribs and back because of them, but hey... no way was I giving my space on the barrier up... lol


Anyway, onto my makes.... I made 70 of these cute Father Christmas cards for my boys to give to their school friends, I cased it from a very talented ladies website (unfortunately I do not remember her blog at the moment, will add it later) and she cased it from someone on SCS... how cute are they? Not so cute after making 70 of them I can tell you.

Recipe: Cardstock:- Stampin' Up! Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black and Whisper White. tools: Cuttlebug folder, Crinkler, Stampin' Up punches.

The next card was made using Papertrey Ink paper... I glittered the snowflakes to give them a bit of sparkle.

Recipe: Patterned Paper: Papertrey Ink. Cardstock:- Papermill Shop, Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery and Real Red. Tools: Stampin' Up! Tag Punches, Nestabilities Snowflakes. Ribbon:- Stampin' Up! Real Red, Stampin' Up! Silver Cord.

Hope you like them, will be back with a couple more tomorrow... just wondering how to photograph them as they are acetate cards and photographs just do not do them justice.

Have a great evening all xx

A Black and White Day......

Well this afternoon we are off to see The Specials... woohoo, another group from my youth, like Spandau Ballet who we saw last month.... cannot wait to see them, we are seeing them at The Cliffs Pavillion in Southend, so a nice small venue, and of course you cannot sit down if you are seeing a group like this, so standing it is..... and because when they were around in the 80s it was all black and white SKA music I decided that today I would have to make a black and white card, albeit not a very happy one though, but the idea came to me and I just had to make it...

I used the new Whisper White Craft Ink to stamp the image and then embossed it with white embossing powder, all from Stampin' Up! and the new White and Black Thick Grosgrain Ribbon... the sentiment is from the new Trendy Trees stamp set and the main tree image is the Lovely As A Tree stamp set. The pearls are from my stash.

The inside I stamped with the middle image of the stamp on the front of the card, I just coloured that particular tree in with the Black Stampin' Up! marker, and the sentiment is from one of their retired sets.

My bookworm counter has now hit 2000, but I dont have time today to make the draw, but I will be drawing it tomorrow at 10am UK time.... I am also expecting a huge box of Stampin' Up! stash as my Stampers 10 Stash is arriving and will be making the trip to the Post Office tomorrow afternoon hopefully. If you would like to join my new Stampers 10 Club starting in January, contact me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net, you can choose the month you would like to be hostess, plus you will get a free 6 x 6 paper pack with your first order. Check out my left hand sidebar for more details.

Have a great day all, I am sure I will 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