Valentines Card...

I thought I had posted this card, but could not find where I had, so apologies if I have posted it before but thought it was topical.... I made these for a swap when I went for some Stampin' Up! Training with my upline last month... I will have to show you the cards I got in return once I have photographed them.

For this card I used Pretty in Pink Cardstock and stamped the hearts from the Love You Much Stamp Set all over the cardstock in Pretty in Pink Ink. I stamped and embossed the other images in Gold on Bravo Burgundy Cardstock and cut out the hearts using the Heart Punch. I used the Lace Border Punch to punch some white edging and stuck it all together. The ribbon is also Bravo Burgundy... everyone seemed to like them so I was pretty pleased with my offering.

Off to training again tomorrow and I have made 35 swaps, but cannot show you yet in case someone who is going comes and peeks on my blog.

Have a great weekend everyone, keep safe.

Linda xx

3 New Cards

I have 3 new cards to show you today... I have been really busy making 70 Christmas Cards for my 2 little boys to write for their friends at school, plus I am making 30 boxes for Saturday and haven't even started yet.... lol

Patterned paper is from stash, flowers are made using 2 of the Stampin' Up! Punches, 5 Petal Flower and BoHo Blossomes, Cardstock is Night of Navy and Whisper White from Stampin' Up! and the sentiment is from Verve Stamps.

Stampin' Up! Old Olive Cardstock, Summer Sun and Whisper White. Ribbon is Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Up! Ribbon. Isn't it wonderful how it all matches each other.

Stampin' Up! Bravo Burgundy and Whisper White Cardstock. A Tree For All Seasons Stampin' Up! Stamp Set and the sentiment is Computer Generated.

Will post a photo of my 70 Christmas Cards tomorrow, plus have 2 other projects I have been working on that I cannot post yet as I dont want people to see them until they receive them.

My Christmas Shopping that I did on Sunday is starting to turn up today, really pleased as that is another thing out of the way, just need to check now who else I need to buy for and to get on with the making of the gifts that I am making. And bigger bonus, my little boy's birthday present turned up today, was worried it wouldn't arrive in time for Saturday as he will be 7 then... just need to get around to making him a card now...

Have a great evening all, take care xx

Bookcase Tuesday...

Can you tell I have run out of titles for my blog posts... well anyway, today I bought a bookcase and my son came to visit and made it up for me, but looks like Argos have changed their bookcases as it is smaller than the one we currently have and Argos only do 2 now, a deep bookcase or a baby bookcase, so looks like they are just going to have to look odd. They are in our upstairs hall, so not very noticeable, so shouldn't matter too much as long as it does the job it was intended for. Just need to re-arrange all my books now.... (maybe DH will do it later, although he likes to put things in alphabetical order, and I like to sort them by size)....

Tomorrow I will be making a Mother's Day card, so will post that then, but for today, here is my card.

Rose Red, Whisper White and Bravo Burgundy Cardstock. Rose Red Patterned Paper, Whisper White Taffetta Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch and Season of Joy Stamp Set for the Swirl, which was stamped in versamark and embossed with Stampin Up White Embossing Powder, and Level 2 Hostess Set, Cause For Celebration. The sentiment was computer generated.

Off to take my son to cubs, have a great evening all xx

Yay.... I am feeling happy....

Because I am getting through my to do list today pretty well, and have nearly finished it. First thing I went to the Doctor's as my blood pressure has been high for over a month now and on Tuesday when I went to see the nurse it was still high, so she booked me an appointment with the Doctor today, and guess what, it was normal, so she wants to see me in a month just to check. My daughter also went along to the Doctors to get something to help her give up smoking, whether she will succeed or not I do not know, but let's hope so...

Cant say too much about other things I have done incase DH decides to read my blog today, but I did make his Valentine's card today and have sorted a couple of other things. I also got my tickets for The Killers today, soooooo excited, just over a week to go, I just so cannot wait, although I still have things to scrap from when I went to see them 2 years ago in Berlin... I collected all the bling that fell from the ceiling and DH managed to get me the guitarists plectrum which he threw out into the crowd.... I do have one of our photographs from then as my desktop though... he he

Anyway now to todays card...




The colours used are Not Quite Navy and Bravo Burgundy Cardstock. The Patterned Paper is form my stash, the punch used on the inside of the card is Martha Stewart. The Stamp Set I used is Carte Postale, the idea came from the Stampin' Up! catalogue, which used the same sentiment as I did from God's Blessings. The pearl is from the Pretties Kit.

Have a good Friday evening all xx

Bad, Bad Blogger

I am such a bad blogger, I try to update this every day except the weekend and this week I have failed badly, I haven't even got around to making a card using my own Sketch Challenge, although my members forum does have the latest Colour Challenge on it.

Today I have been busy making a Valentines Card for my son to give to his girlfriend, he said he wanted a heart and a bunch or roses. Unfortunately I was not sure how to make a bunch of roses as I only had single ones on my cricut and I dont have any bunch of rose stamps, so he will have to settle for a couple of roses...

At the point of photographing this card I hadn't realised that one of the roses had fallen off the front, the 2nd rose is positioned on the top curve of the heart and is now securely restuck there.

For this card I used Real Red, Garden Green, Handsome Hunter and Bravo Burgundy Cardstock. The Patterned Paper is Tea and Crumpets. The roses and hearts have been cut using my Cricut Expression using the Wedding Cart and the Indie Art Cart. The lace and bling was from my stash. The inside of the card was stamped using the Seasonal Wishes Stamp Set and the "Love You" is from the Stampin' Up! Rub-Ons. The top layer of the hearts was embossed using a cricut embossing folder.

Had a trip to the orthodontist today with DD, unfortunately her teeth have not moved enough yet, so she is to go back in 8 weeks, eventually she will have to have a bottom fixed brace to match the top one. Couldn't believe how everywhere around here is still so flooded, I took a route to the orthodontist that I wouldn't normally take, mainly because the roads around here were not gritted and they were literally skating rinks, the children had the fright of their lives on the way to school when DH braked and he continued travelling onto the other side of the road, and twice the lady behind nearly ran into the back of him because she couldn't stop, thought she would have learnt the first time...

Have a great evening all, dont forget to have a go at my Weekly Sketch Challenge... take care 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

Here is My Card Using My Challenge Sketch....

So I thought I should make a card using my Card Sketch, otherwise it is just not fair is it?? So here is my attempt. It is my son's girlfriends 18th Birthday on Saturday, so thought I would kill 2 birds with 1 stone and combine the card he asked me for with my Card Challenge. I hope he likes it though, teenagers are funny aren't they. All I need to do now is to make a card for her too, and some kind of box or bag to put her gift in...

I used Scenic Route Papers, Bravo Burgundy Stampin' Up! Cardstock, Stampin' Up! Scallop Edge Punch and a little BossKutz die for the teddy..... awww how sweet.

If you want to take part in my Card Challenge with a chance of winning a Stampin' Up! Saleabration Stamp Set of your choice check it out here.

Have a good evening all xx

Day 10 - 12 Gifts of Christmas

So we are nearly at the end of our 12 days, todays gift I have seen several times on blogs and forums, but I have taken it to the next level (meaning I haven't seen one quite like this before).. so lets get on with making this....

Tealight Shade (please only use the battery operated tealights in it, I am sure it is highly flammable otherwise).

I started with an A4 sheet of vellum and cut it down to 6", the other side I left alone.

I picked a stamp set that I wanted to use, this was Wondrous Gifts and stamped onto the vellum using Always Artichoke and Bravo Burgundy Ink Pads. I dried it off using a heat gun...

Now this is the bit I didn't do, but in hindsight (such a wonderful thing) should have done. Stick double sided tape along both long sides and along one of the short sides, but do not remove the strip. Next I took a Versamark Ink Pad..

and light dabbed it all over the vellum. Once it was totally covered (dab the vellum not rub otherwise you will smudge the ink already on it) I sprinkled it with Stampin' Up!s Heat and Stick Powder. I then removed the excess and put it back into the pot.

I heated it until all the Heat and Stick Powder had melted and then sprinkled it with the Dazzling Diamonds, I then removed the excess and put it back in the pot.

I reheated again to set the Dazzling Diamonds. Remember not to leave the heat gun for too long in one place and remember you will have your double sided tape along the edge, so try to avoid direct heat on that too... Once the Dazzling Diamonds is set in place, set this aside and we shall make some decoration for it.

I took a sheet of Bravo Burgundy Cardstock and using the Scallop Edge Punch punched scallops all along 1 edge...

After the edge was scalloped I cut the piece of cardstock to the depth that I wanted. I then repeated to make a second strip.

I then peeled the strip of the Double Sided Sticky Tape and stuck the Bravo Burgundy Cardstock strips all the way around the top of the vellum sheet and the bottom of the vellum sheet. I then made the Vellum sheet into a circle, first peeling the strip from the Double Sided Tape on the short side of the vellum.

I then placed a Battery Operated Tealight Candle on the side and placed the shade over the top. You could make a base for it if you like, but I prefer mine without. Then all it needs is a nice dark room to show it off properly.

To be honest, these photos do not do this justice at all, it really is so, so sparkly if you use the Dazzling Diamonds and really does look Christmassy... just have a go and see for yourself.

I have also made a Moving Home card... for this I used Real Red and So Saffron Cardstock, along with Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon. The stamp set used was Loads of Love and the Loads of Love Accessories too... The Patterned Paper is So Saffron Designer Paper.

I will be back tomorrow with Day 11 or the 12 Days of Christmas...

Have a good evening all, take care xx

12 Gifts of Christmas - Day 3

Today's is a simple one as long as you can get the template right, I will post a picture of a template and you can print it at any size you like to make different sizes.... of what you ask?? Well today we are going to make a....

Pillow Box

So I will just tell you that this was really easy for me as I cut out the Pillow Box on my cricut expression, so that made life so much easier, but I will include a template for those of you who have to cut by hand. You can also download a PDF file from here... The black lines are where you cut and the red dotted lines need to be scored.

Here is the cut out pillow box, it is a bit hard to see as it is see through..


Next you need to fold along all the lines and then add a bit of the double sided tape to the edge piece so that we can stick it together as shown here...

It is a bit tricky to line it up properly as the acetate has a mind of its own, but stick together with the flap on the inside, then make sure you run your fingers along the flap on the inside so that it has stuck together properly. It should then look like this.

Fold the flaps in at one end, I stuck a small amount of double sided sticky tape to one end to make sure it didn't come open, and then decorate. I did this very simply using the I Wish Simply Scrappin Kit where there are lengths of sticky patterned Paper, I then cut a scallop circle, and matted it with a 1 3/8" circle and then stuck the 1 1/4" circle on that which I had decorated.

I then filled one with Smarties (hence the sticking one end, would be a tragedy if they all fell out) and put twilight mints in the other.

These are ideal for putting on the branches of your Christmas Tree incase someone turns up who you haven't bought a present for, you can just hand one of these out, or to give out in your office. You could put a mini first aid kit in one or a sewing kit, the ideas are endless.

I will be back with Day 4 tomorrow...

I just wanted to show you a card I put together really quickly yesterday as my neighbour wanted it for her daughters 26th birthday, I didn't use all Stampin' Up! stash as my other stash is feeling a bit neglected lately, but I cannot stay away from this awesome Stamp Set...


the patterned paper is Basic Grey Sugared, the lace punch is a Martha Stewart punch, the pink ribbon is actually velvet although you cannot see that from this photograph, and the A Rose is A Rose Stamp Set was stamped using Rose Red and Bravo Burgundy Ink Pads, the leaves were Sage Shadow and Old Olive, I used glamour dust on the rose, it isn't really as glittery as it looks in the photo, it is more of an irridescent glitter, but the flash on the camera made it all sparkle. The Sentiment is from the Fast Notes Stamp Set and I cut it out using the scallop punch, I fitted the sentiment into a scallop on either side and cut out, I then used a ruler from one side of the scallop to the other and cut with a craft knife, I then did the same below the sentiment, see no need for the US's Word Window that we so desperately wanted...

Do You Want A Bargain...

Then why not sign up to one or all of these clubs....

CLUB 1 (PATTERNED PAPER) (8 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the patterned papers check out pages 70-71 of the current catalogue) or click on the catalogue picture on the left hand side of my blog.
You will get 1 6x6 sheet of each patterned paper which makes a massive 84 sheets of 6x6 paper.
Price £14.75 including postage.

CLUB 2 (GROSGRAIN RIBBON) (6 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the ribbons check out page 80 of the current catalogue)
You will get 2 metres of 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon in the following colours
Whisper White
Very Vanilla
Chocolate Chip
Pumpkin Pie
More Mustard
Real Red
Elegant Eggplant
Night of Navy
Tempting Turquoise
Certainly Celery
Always Artichoke
Price £7.25 including postage (22 Metres of ribbon)

CLUB 3 (5/8" GROSGRAIN RIBBON) (6 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the ribbons check out page 80 of the current catalogue)
You will get 2m of 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon in the following colours
Very Vanilla
Chocolate Chip
Bravo Burgundy
Real Red
Regal Rose
Brocade Blue
Certainly Celery
Old Olive
Price £8.50 including postage (16 metres of ribbon)

CLUB 4 (GINGHAM RIBBON) (6 PEOPLE PER GROUP)
To view the ribbons check out page 80 of the current catalogue
You will get 2m of 4.76mm wide Gingham Ribbon in the following colours
Black
Red
Light Blue
Light Pink
Moss
Caramel
Price £5.50 including postage (12m of ribbon)

CLUB 5 (TAFFETA RIBBON) (4 PEOPLE PER GROUP)
To view the ribbons please check out page 80 in the current catalogue
You will get 2m of 9.52mm wide Taffeta Ribbon in the following colours
Whisper White
Very Vanilla
Kraft
Chocolate Chip
Basic Gray
Mellow Moss
Bashful Blue
Pretty in Pink
Price £11.25 including postage (16m ribbon)

CLUB 6 (DOUBLE STITCHED GROSGRAIN RIBBON) (4 PEOPLE PER GROUP)To view the ribbon please check out page 80 in the current catalogue
You will get 2m of 1" Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon in the following colours
Rose Red
Bashful Blue
Chocolate Chip
Price £5.50 including postage (6m of ribbon)

If you join 3 groups, you will get a discount of 2.5%
If you join all 6 groups you will get a 7.5% discount (£52.75 - 7.5% (£3.96) = £48.79

SPOTS AND MARKERS CLUB (4 PEOPLE PER GROUP)
How does it work?
4 people sign up for 4 months and each month they receive a set of markers in 1 colour family and a set of ink spots in 1 colour family.

How much does it costs?
It will cost £45 per month including postage.

What do I get out of it?
You will each get a free level 1 Hostess Set plus £15 of free goodies of your choice from the current catalogue. I will pick names at random and allocate a month to each of the 4 people, they will then need to pick the Stamp Set and Goodies that they want. You will also get the awesome storage for the markers, as each month I will puchase a full set of markers and they come packed in the storage container (which you dont get with single purchases of the markers) and each month 1 person will get their one set of markers in a storage container, so by the end of the 4 months, you will have all Stampin' Up! colours in the inkspots and all the Stampin' Write markers in the awesome storage container without a huge single layout.

If you are interested in any of the above clubs, please e-mail me on LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

First Time I've Made One Of These Cards...

I've never had to make one of these cards before, personally I dont send them as I wouldn't be keen on receiving them either, dont know why, just one of those things, but I have been asked to make 2 of them, so go gentle on me as this is my first attempt.



Again the light was not too good, but the colours are Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke and a small bit of Bravo Burgundy, also Bravo Burgundy ribbon and the image was from a hostess set in the last catalogue called Oh So Lovely...

Which brings me to this weeks news.... order over £25 of goods from the catalogue before Sunday and I will post them to you for free.. nada, zilch... however much you order... and if you have a really really big order, (over £150) you can also enjoy a free Level 1 Hostess Set from the catalogue and an additional £15 of free goods of your choice also from the catalogue... can't be bad!! The above offer is for UK only, sorry no international orders... So take a look at our new scallop edge punch, or the textured 12 x 12 cardstock, and all the yummy new stamp sets, including 3 which have 20% off if you buy over £20 worth of stash... which are Crazy For Cupcakes (Page 32), Birthday Best (Page 33) and Cheer and Wishes (Page 58)...

What are you all doing this weekend? I will be busy making little freebie kits for my 2nd 10 Month Club, my 1st 10 Month Club received these last month... check the right hand side to find out more about joining my 3rd 10 Month Club...

Have a good weekend whatever you do xx

Getting too excited about the new catalogue, so had to make something...

So I am so excited about the new catalogue I just had to make something else using another of the new sets, this is the first time I have done this so it isn't quite exactly how I wanted it, but hopefully will get better with practice.

I stamped the flower image from True Friend stamp set onto some tissue paper and then melted it into a candle, then decorated with a brad and some ribbon and made a little holder to stand it in so I could package it nicely....

For this I used the True Friend Stamp Set, stamped with Sage Shadow and Pale Plum with Bravo Burgundy ribbon and cardstock, also a brad from the Rich Regals pot...

I also made a card using the Carte Postale Stamp Set.... here goes..

For this I used Always Artichoke, and Very Vanilla Cardstock, image stamped using Always Artichoke ink using Carte Postale Stamp Set plus the retired hostess set Welcoming Words, plus Always Artichoke Brads, the paper used was the Le Jardin Patterned Paper, the ribbon was the Very Vanilla Grosgrain.

So getting closer to the new catalogue, I think I have 2 left to be reserved with the £2.50 voucher to take off of any order over £30.00.

If you would like to become a Stampin Up Demonstrator, either to sell at your clubs, at workshops or purely to buy your own items at a discount, I am currently giving to you a free stamp set of your choice from the new catalogue no matter what the price... this is on top of the great bargain starter kit you will be getting for £155 (a really great saving on this), plus sign up in September and you get 8 of the old catalogues plus 8 of the new catalogues included in your Starter Set. Email me at LindaLloyd@gmx.net for more details.

Have a good evening all xx