3 days in a row.....

Hi all. Well not sure what happened to the weather today but the heavens opened when it was time to pick the children up from school, I think we have been spoilt the last couple of days with the beautiful sun. My neighbour is getting married on Saturday, I hope the weather is good as I dont have a jacket to wear in the rain that is smart enough. I already stepped outside of my box and bought a dress which I never wear. I never even wore one when my daughter and my son got married (not to each other of course).

This is another Church Order card, I am loving these vibrant colours and the flowers are made out of felt. The cardstock is Stampin Up Chocolate Chip and Old Olive.

And as usual here is the matching inside. I do tend to make all my insides to match, I just dont always remember to take a photograph of them.

This card was for a little girl in our Church's birthday, I liked the princess sentiment because when her mum was pregnant with her baby sister, she said she didn't want a little sister because she wouldn't be a princess anymore.... awwww, the things that go through little one's heads.

Anyway, have to run, have a great day all xx

ILWS September Challenges

Better late than never and you still have time to take part in the challenges over on In Love With Stamping, if you dont know where this is, follow the link on my right hand list, scroll down and you will find it.

This months challenges were varied. This is the sketch challenge, we were given this sketch and had to make a card using it.....

I did turn the sketch around to make this card. I used the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, Old Olive Satin Ribbon and the Hello Again Stamp Set. The Cardstock is So Saffron.
The next challenge was to make a card using a tone on tone. This means to use one colour but 2 tones of the colour, so, light blue and dark blue, or in my case, light purple, dark purple....

I used Perfect Plum Patterned Paper from Stampin Up and the Blooming With Beauty Stamp Set which is retiring at the end of the month, I will be very sad to see it go.

We also had to make a Children's Party Invitation, I used the Fox and Friends Stamp Set from Stampin Up, glad to see this is not retiring, the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, Brilliant Blue Cardstock, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon and Old Olive Satin Ribbon.

And last but not least, a masking technique. This means you stamp something, place a mask over the top and stamp another image on top so you dont actually stamp on the bottom image... does this make sense. I used a Saleabration Stamp Set for this card, I love this stamp set, such a shame it was never in the catalogue. Again I used the Sweet Pea Paper Stack and Not Quite Navy Patterned Paper. The Cardstock is Whisper White and Rose Red.

So that is it from me today, off to the opticians in a minute. Went to the dentist yesterday and that cost me a fortune..... will definately be needing new glasses too, I think I must be falling apart.

Have a great day everyone... xx

Getting Behind.... Why are there not 8 days in a week?

I have been super duper busy, there are so many birthdays this month, plus Stampin Up! Training in High Wycombe and I had to make 70 swaps..... the new Stampin Up Catalogue is also out on 1st October so have been busy deciding what to buy and also making some examples using the new sets I do have. I have also just finished a Wedding Album for my sons Godmother who is getting married on Saturday, so it is all coming together very slowly.

So here are a few cards I have made recently, this one was for my Church Order.... I used Stampin Up Soft Suede, Bella Bleu Papers, Melon Mambo Ribbon and the background writing is the Stampin Up En Francais Background Stamp, so glad they are not retiring this one.

The next one was for a birthday, the image is from Whiff of Joy Stamps, the paper is I think, Cosmo Cricket, the cardstock is Stampin Up Real Red and the Ribbon is from Papertrey Ink, a real mixture on this one. The image is coloured in using copic markers.

This next card was for Father's Day, have I already shown this.... not sure, but incase I haven't here it is. Stamp Set is Papertrey Ink, as are the Cloud die cuts, the background stamp is also from Papertrey Ink, the Cardstock is Stampin Up Real Red and the Ribbon is also Stampin Up Real Red Striped Grosgrain which IS retiring at the end of this month. If you would like to see the current Stampin Up retiring list, some items are more than 50% off.... just drop me an email at LindaLloyd@gmx.net.

This card was also for my Church Order, the Patterned Paper is the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, the Ribbon is the Old Olive Satin Ribbon, and the butterfly is a Martha Stewart Punch.

And here is the inside....... made to match the front.

Hope you enjoyed looking at these cards, keep checking back as I hope to post more soon.... take care everyone xx

Ally Pally Stash and a Few Cards.....

So here is my stash that I got at Ally Pally, some nestabilities, loads of punches, loads of Stamps including Whiff of Joy and Lili of the Valley, 11 packs of bling, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, 6 x 6 Patterned Paper Pad, brads, pins and loads more.... today I am going to start working on my craft area and will be sorting all my stuff out and getting rid of what I no longer use to make room for all my new purchases... I will show you my PTI purchases tomorrow...

Below is a card I made, the sentiment is computer generated, the Patterned Paper is from the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, Cardstock is Old Olive and Barely Banana, with little leaves punched out using Rose Red Cardstock. The ribbon is the new lush Old Olive Satin Ribbon, how gorgeous is this.....

The shapes were cut out using nestabilities and the flowers are from my stash.....

For this card I used the All of A Flutter Patterned Paper, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip Cardstock. The ribbon is the new lush Stampin' Up! Real Red Satin Ribbon and the flowers are from my stash. The shapes were cut out using nestabilities and the sentiment was computer generated. The leaves and butterfly punch are Martha Stewart.... hope they give you some inspiration, I will be back tomorrow with a Colour Challenge and a photo of my stash that I got from Papertrey Ink....

Have a great day, take care xx

Worn out but I do have something to show you...

Well I did have fun yesterday, whilst Hubby and boys went off Geocaching I spent a leisurely few hours spending money at the Ally Pally.... I must admit I was on a strict budget but I did have a few "necessities" on my shopping list... bling for a start, how can you make cards without bling? And dont forget a girl definately needs some Basic Grey 6 x 6 Pads.... watch this space to see what I do with my new patterned paper.... But for today you have got another church order card to look at, I thought of posting piccies of my stash but I didn't want to make you all jealous so you will just have to wait to see what I make with it all.... lol

The sentiment is computer generated, the Patterned Paper is from the new Sweet Pea Stack from Stampin' Up!, you get 48 lush sheets of double sided heavy quality patterned paper for just £19.99 and believe me it goes a very very long way, I have hardly started on the stack and have already made 10s of cards with it.... definitely value for money. I used Old Olive and Barely Banana Cardstock and new Satin Ribbon in Chocolate Chip... all from Stampin' Up, the flowers are from my stash and the punches are Martha Stewart and Fiskars....

Was definitely a day for decorating the insides of cards, out of 12 cards I have made recently I have only not decorated the insides of 2 of them and that was incase the lady who they were for wanted to write a long message inside of them.... Again I used matching Patterned Paper and Cardstock...

Thanks for looking and I will let you know how I get on with my tidying up this week... you never know I may just give you a little peek at my Ally Pally Stash and also my Papertrey Ink Stash before I put it all away in its new home. Thanks for looking, have a great relaxing Sunday... take care all xx

Happy Easter Monday

Matthew 28:5-6 The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

Another Church order card for today, kinda similar to Friday's Card because I used the Same All A Flutter - Wings and Things Patterned Paper.....

I also used Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White and Rose Red Stampin' Up! Cardstock and Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon. The sentiment is computer generated and is finished off inside of the card. I used the Eyelet Border punch from Stampin' Up! too...

And the inside matches the outside nicely, using the same papers and colours, but using the Scallop Circle Punch, the 1 3/8" punch and the 1 1/4" punch to make the bird embellishment.

Thanks for looking and have a great Bank Holiday Monday... take care xx

New Mini Catalogue Blog Hop...

Well if you have started this blog hop here, work your way around all 16 of us otherwise you would have come here from Sara's Blog. We have all published projects using stash from the new Stampin' Up! Mini Catalogue. If you would like to get your hands on a copy, just drop me an email.

I made this project for the Demonstrator Choice at Reading last week, which I attended for Stampin' Up! Training... much to my surprise I actually won the Demonstrator Choice Competition.... there were so many stunning entries and many that I thought were much better than mine.

For this project I used Tempting Turquoise and Rose Red Cardstock and the new Sweet Pea Paper Stack.

And can you believe the lushness of these felt flowers and leaves.... how absolutely wonderful are they, you will find these in the Mini Catalogue too...

And here is what was contained inside.... 4 cards, all very different with envelopes to match....

Here are the cards on their own, again using Patterned Paper from the Sweet Pea Stack, all the colours match and co-ordinate and make them so easy to use together.

Here are 2 of the cards and matching envelopes.....

And true to form, I also decorated the insides of the cards. This is the inside of the cards shown in the photograph above this one...

And the other 2 cards with matching envelopes, I am just loving these easel cards at the moment and they are so easy to make...

And again, the insides of the cards.... the colours are just so bright and vibrant...

For this card I used Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red and Old Olive Cardstock. I used the Patterned Paper from the new Sweet Pea Paper Stack and cut some extra flowers out to decoupage on the ones on the front of the card, you can probably see this if you look closely. The ribbon is the Rose Red Stitched Grosgrain and the Tempting Turquoise Grosgrain, and the Old Olive Cardstock has been punched using the Scallop Border Punch....

For this card I used Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip Cardstock, the papers from the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, the birds were punched out of a sheet of the Patterned Paper. The Tempting Turquoise Cardstock was punched using the Scallop Border Punch and the Old Olive Cardstock and Patterned Paper were stuck on top, I then punched three 1 3/8" holes down this stack.... this whole stack was then mounted onto dimensionals to hold if off the card blank. The Scallop Circles were punched and then punched again using the 1 3/8" punch to leave just a scallop frame. These were stuck around the holes punched into the stack and the birds were stuck through the holes and onto the Rose Red Card Blank so that they were lower than the rest of the card to add some dimension... I'm not sure if you can see that looking at this picture.

For this card I used Pretty In Pink, Tempting Turquoise and Rose Red Cardstock, again Patterned Paper from the Sweet Pea Paper Stack, Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon.. The bird was again punched out from the Patterned Paper and I punched 7 Tempting Turquoise circles to place underneath the bird punch out to make a flower shape. I pierced the corners to add a bit of interest.

This project used Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip Cardstock. Again Sweet Pea Paper Stack for the Patterned Paper, punched out bird and I also cut out a bird for the top image. The ribbon is Chocolate Chip Grosgrain... I also used the Scallop Border Punch and the Scallop Circle Punch.

And that is my project completed. I hope you enjoyed looking, now move on to Debbi's Blog where you will find another great project.

I am also selling off a huge amount of my stamps (not Stampin' Up!) if you are interested, check out my blog post here...

Take care all xx

Dont Waste Your Thursdays - Card Challenge

Well I just happened across this sketch challenge by accident, but as I needed some inspiration I thought I would make a card using it.... started with the sentiment and worked my way from there and it just came together..... here is the sketch...

And here is my interpretation of it......

I used Rose Red, Old Olive and Whisper White Cardstock and the Chocolate Chip Patterned Papers. The little flowers stamp is from the Level 1 Hostess Set Darling Dots...., and the blooms are from my stash. The sentiment is from Verve Stamps...

And the inside is above...... am definately into decorating the inside at the moment... lol

Have a great day all, may be back later with another sketch challenge entry....

Take care xx

More Thank You Cards....

After making that gorgeous Scrapbook at Monica and Bekka's Training Day in Peterborough, I still had quite a bit of the Sunny Day Scrappin' Kit left (well actually we only got half the kit each but there is still tons left, you definately get your money's worth with these kits).... I am determined to use it up, so after using some on a couple of thank you cards the other week, I decided to make another 10....

I did run out of cardstock so just used the matching cardstock that I had that matched the kit.... this is Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Pixie Pink and Old Olive, but I did also add some Kraft Cardstock just coz I like it....

The ribbon didn't come in the kit either, but you can get Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise in the narrow grosgrain and Old Olive in the wider grosgrain, all which match this gorgeous set...

There were plenty of stickers and patterned paper left to make these cards...

and a tip I found this weekend is when you send cards to someone, like this thank you card, write your message on a Post It Note and stick it inside, that means that the recipient can also forward the card on, so an extra little thank you gift for them.....

I did stamp the "Thank You" sentiment, this is in the Ovals All set and punches out nicely using the Scallop Punch...

I stamped the cardstock on the tall cards using the little leaf/tree stamp from the Saleabration Set Good Neighbours.... I just love this set....

and I also punched out little circles to add even more colour to the cards and stuck them on... here I have used the Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon...

These cards didn't take long to make either, probably around 30 minutes and that was because I used the Scallop Border Punch to punch along a lot of the cardstock I used.....

I have already used one of these cards already, but still have 9 left to use... I tend to use tons of thank you cards so will be making some more soon.....

Especially as I still have a load of the Patterned Paper left....

And can you believe, just before the training day I ordered my own Sunny Day Scrappin' Set, so once I finish this one up I have a whole new set to play with.... cannot wait as I want to use some of the stickers with the On Board Chipboard I won at Training Day....

Hope these cards might inspire you to use up some scraps you have laying around, I am really bad at using up scraps which is why I have set the goal of using this set up before starting my new set.... and the colours are so lovely and bright they are really great for the grey days we have had recently.... add a bit of colour to your life....

Just to let you all know, my card classes are full for this week but there are still a few spaces left for next week.... so if you are in the area and want to make some beautiful cards using A Rose is A Rose stamp set, then drop us an email at LindaLloyd@gmx.net...

Right off to make something now, the morning started badly with a dead battery on my car which is now on charge, then it has took me forever to blog, so really need to do something constructive.

Have a great day all xx