The Queen Comes to Town......

Yep honestly, the Queen came to our little town, in the middle of nowhere to visit Maldon Salt Works and Tiptree Jam Factory..... how awesome..

And we were very close, we were on the barrier until the Queen arrived when we let some little girls go in front of us as they were trying to take photos with their phones and cameras....

I cannot believe how good these photographs came out, especially as it looked like it would rain when she arrived, luckily it held off until afterwards when we were walking back to our car....

When we arrived home we realised that although she flew into town, she would be driving 20 minutes to Tiptree to the Jam Factory and would therefore be going past the end of our road which is a cul de sac and so we have a pull in for cars at the end of our road, so along with some neighbours we took our flags and went and waited for her to drive past.... she was going past at about 35 miles an hour so photos are not very good, but she did wave to the cars that had stopped for her and at us... you can just about make her out in the back of the Bentley.... waving!!

So that was my exciting day, and when I arrived home there were 3 parcels awaiting me, some chain I needed for a cuckoo clock I am altering, my impressions plate from Papertrey Ink and my new ipad cover which matches my handbag, red crocodile skin... and a gorgeous Halloween card from Vannessa..... thank you so much Vannessa, it really means so much to receive cards from people....

Have a great evening everyone... xx

Busy, Busy, Busy, Busy.......

Have been busy, busy, busy.... Friday night we went to another Church as there was an awesome preacher there, just for the weekend, this guy always preaches what is on my heart and I couldn't pass up a chance to see him again, he is over 70 now and lives in Australia, so just HAD to see him...... So Friday evening we rushed over to Bishop Stortford to The Hub Church and watched this guy, the boys loved him too... then Saturday morning, back to The Hub for Leadership Training, so up again stupid o'clock for a Saturday morning, we arrived back at 6pm, and then Sunday morning stupid o'clock yet again to go to Peterborough to meet with my Stampin' Up! mummy and children and some other friends. We all live far away from each other so really good to meet up every now and again. So as you can imagine I need another weekend to get over last weekend.... roll on next weekend when we get an extra hour in bed.... lol

This is a card I made for my Church Order, I just love it, Papertrey Ink Stamps and Stampin' Up! Cardstock and ribbon..... and the gorgeous Martha Stewart Doily Edge Punch... the sentiment stamp is Verve Stamps..... Now this is not the sort of card I would normally make but I do really like it, watch out, you never know, I may be stepping out of the box more often.....

Have a great evening everyone xx

It will soon be Christmas at this rate......

How quickly are the weeks going? I think they are speeding by and I haven't even started on Christmas yet.... really do need to but seem to have so much else going on at the moment.... like 30 swaps for Peterborough on Sunday.... ha ha...

Today's card was for my Church Order.....

For this card I used the retired Stampin' Up! Sweet Pea Patterned Paper Stack and I made the top pattern by stamping an image from Delightful Dahlia from Papertrey Ink.... the Sentiment is from Verve Stamps.... the ribbon and cardstock are also Stampin' Up! so definately a mixture again today.... hope you like it, off to get busy... xx

Halloween ILWS Challenge....

The second challenge on ILWS (Just click on the bar on the left hand side of the blog and it will take you to their forum where you can join in the challenges and upload to their gallery), is to make something Halloween....

I made these type of boxes last year but I loved them so much I thought I would make them again this year.... they are full of halloween style sweets, like eyeballs etc.

And this second little bag is from Papertrey Ink, its one of their new dies, and so is the big label which I stuck to the front. The stamp set is Tiny Treats - Halloween.... am definitely loving this set... Couldn't get away with using no Stampin Up product though, so I used Pumpkin Pie and Elegant Eggplant Cardstock..... and Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon too, dont these colours go well together.

So here we are, the start to another week, need to get on and make my Mum a birthday card for tomorrow, you would have thought that by now I would have managed to be more organised.... no chance, we seem to have so many birthdays in October.... have a good day all, hope you are more productive than I have been lately... xx

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

How Did Life Get This Busy........

So Monday carried on in the manic way that the weekend passed, have so much to do and no time to do it. I have also lost another evening during the week as our church is running an Alpha Course and me and DH are running one of the small groups as we had training a few years ago..... I was hoping to make some thank you cards for some of the people at the wedding on Saturday, 6 cards for my DT on ILWS and another 12 for Church Order. Then I need to make 8 invitations to my grandsons birthday party next week and then birthday cards for all the birthdays this month. I really need to make myself a list I think and organise things slightly better. I have another order from Stampin Up arriving today, really excited about that, so hoping to use some of my new stash for some of the cards, and then hopefully in just over a weeks time my Papertrey Ink order will arrive and I will be able to put another order into Stampin Up from the new catalogue..... woohoo!!!!

So this card was made using colours that I would not normally use, it was really outside of the box for me, but I do really really like it..... Butterfly is Papertrey Ink, as are the buttons and cardstock. The Patterned Paper is Basic Grey.

The card above I made for my daughters 16th birthday from all her friends at church, it was also the card I made for our Papertrey Ink Day last month, where I got together with some really lovely ladies to make lots of Papertrey Ink stuff..... it was a brilliant day, hope we can do it again sometime.

For the card I used all Papertrey Ink Product, including dies, felt, cardstock and stamp sets.

This card I made from us, her family, for her birthday, she was very honoured as I used some of my favourite flowers on her card, the Patterned Paper was from a scrapbook kit and is such a gorgeous vibrant paper. The image I got from the Ally Pally in April as is by Mo, from Mo's Digital Pencil....

Must run, have a great day everyone xx

Yawn.... Monday Again

Back to the normal routine today then..... had another busy day yesterday... our church was invited to another church for the day, we had morning service with them and then they did a bbq for our church to thank them for all the help we have given them since the new Pastor joined. After that it was round to our Assistant Pastor's house for Coffee and Muffins in celebration of Mr Assistant Pastor's 50th birthday.... so nice easy day with no cooking to do. Thank you everyone for your generosity.

These are the cards I made to send out with a couple of friends Papertrey Ink products that they ordered via me. We sometimes group together because it is cheaper on postage and customs charges... I used the Papertrey Ink stamps, ribbon, Cardstock and Patterned Paper for this card, not forgetting the buttons too, but I did use Stampin Up Little Tag Punch and Stamp set for the little tags. How sweet are they....

So here are the last 2 of the Church Order Cards I have, I will try and be better organised next month and get them out of the way quickly, I didn't post much this month so have had photos building up... again Papertrey Ink Ribbon, they are such lush colours and polka dot ribbon is my favourite.

And more chipboard on this card, it matched the Patterned Paper wonderfully (dont know who made it) but the ribbon is Papertrey Ink, and the little circles were die cut using a Papertrey Ink Die, these are really wonderful. Right need to get my nose to the grindstone, have a great day all xx

Wow Wow Wow........

Well I am so absolutely thrilled, but never has a trip to Lakeside cost so much money....... My desktop computer has been playing me up for a while, it is very very high spec and although nearly 2 years old is still very very high spec, it is super speedy has an i7 processor and I loved it...... but for about 2 months now my screens keep flickering, scrolls through pages etc. At first we thought it was the wireless keyboard, so we swapped it. Still kept happening, so we swapped the mouse (it acts like there is a button stuck down somewhere but obviously there isn't as we swapped keyboards), guess what it keeps happening, then DH saw it happen several times and doesn't understand why it does it, so we reinstalled Windows 7.... did this fix it? Not a chance, it has in fact been worse since then, so we uninstalled all the drivers and reinstalled them, nope as bad as ever, so DH said you need a new computer, but I always said there is nothing out there better than this so of course I dont. Well yesterday he said it to me 3 times, so I thought about it and checked out the Apple website and I saw this gorgeous mega big iMac.

It has an i7 chip but runs at 2.93GHz, and has a 1TB drive.... woohoo..... so whilst buying the boys clothes for a wedding on Saturday in Lakeside last night we popped into the Apple shop to look at the computer..... wow, how big is it? 27" screen.... And we left the shop with it, cannot believe that 1. they had it in stock, coz when I wanted to buy my ipad in there they didn't have the version I wanted.... and 2. The guy gave us a student discount of over £200..... was obviously meant to be... now all I need to do is learn to use a Mac instead of a normal Windows PC...... So today I am posting from my new PC.....

Another card today from my Church order, I am thinking that they are starting to look a bit samey with the design, so when I start the next lot next week I am going to have to try and change them.... I have some ideas..... I love that Chipboard SMILE. I used Papertrey Ink stamps for this card, not sure who the papers are.....

I used Soft Suede Spotted Grosgrain Ribbon for this card from Stampin Up and Matching Soft Suede Cardstock.... the little card is from a die from Papertrey Ink, as is the stamp image on it. The Sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs.
And here is the inside of it, all nice and matching.

Have a great weekend everyone... take care 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

In Love With Stamping Design Team Challenges

I am lucky enough to be on the In Love With Stamping Forum Design Team for the next 6 months which means I will have to get my act into gear and make some cards each month. The following is from the August Challenge.

The first challenge was to use Basic Gray, So Saffron and Certainly Celery Cardstock as the colour scheme and the card below is what I came up with.

So Saffron and Nouveau Chic Patterned Paper, Whimsical Wings Level 2 Hostess Set and Oval All Stamp Sets. The rose I made myself using Basic Gray cardstock and some Dazzle Diamonds sprinkled on afterwards, the leaves are from the Bird Punch.

This card I also made for the same challenge, again using the Nouveau Chic Patterned Paper, Basic Grey Cardstock stamped with Papertrey Inks Tin Types Stamp set for a bit of pattern. The Praying for You sentiment is from Verve Stamps and the beautiful flower is from the In Bloom Stampin Up Stamp Set.

The next challenge was an inspiration piece, we were shown the picture below and had to make something using inspiration from this sketch.

I made a box using the Groom Speciality Patterned Paper and put little tags into each of the 4 sections using colours from the picture. I tied silver elastic thread so that they can be hung off of gifts. This would make a wonderful little gift for someone.


The next challenge was a sketch challenge using the sketch below.

I used the Sweet Pea Paper Stack to make the strips of paper, stuck them to a piece of Taken with Teal cardstock (that is retiring at the end of next month) and cut around leaving a small border.

I used Trendy Trees stamp set for the images, the scallop border punch for the edging along with a Martha Stewart punch and a Stampin Up button and ribbon to finish it off with.

The next challenge was to use Saran Wrap (or cling film), scrunch it up and dab ink or paint onto your project in some way.

I used the Stampin Up Silver Shimmer Paint and dabbed it onto Night of Navy Cardstock. I used the Season of Joy Stamp Set for the main image and cut out some snowflakes in silver cardstock to make a nice Christmassy card.

I also made a card for this challenge using ink. I dabbed the cling film onto an inkpad and decorated some pale plum card. I then stamped it with the En Francais background stamp. The image is from Vintage Vogue Stamp Set using the Oval All for the sentiment. This was finished off using Old Olive Satin Ribbon.

Have a great day everyone, hope you enjoyed what I have made, if you would like to join in with the challenges visit www.inlovewithstamping.com.

Holiday, new craft room etc.....

Ha ha, excuses, excuses on why I haven't updated my blog. but really we have been on holiday, and then we had some personal problems when we got back, resulting in my daughter moving out, which meant that I got my own craft room. Wasn't sure about it at first, but now I have moved everything I am really pleased about it, and daughter looked at it this morning and said how good it looks, so dont feel so bad now.

Am off to a Papertrey Ink day on Sunday with some wonderful people from In Love With Stamping forum, some I have met before and some I haven't so really looking forward to meeting them all and spending the day making some wonderful Papertrey Ink Designs. Plus we are all taking our stamp sets so will get to share stamp sets to our hearts content.... How cool!! A BIG THANKS to Val for organising it and being so generous as to let us meet up in her house even if it is 2.5 hours away from where I live.... early morning Sunday then!!

Since swapping my craft room I am unable to get online with my desktop computer until some cable turns up to rewire it up to the router, I know I could have wireless, but cabled speed is about 100 times faster than wireless and I am just impatient with my computer speed.... ha ha So what I am getting at is that I have only one project to share with you today. I cannot show you what I have made for our PTI day as it is a surprise for everyone going so can share next week.

Last week was my nephews birthday and here is the card I made for him....

The Greetings Farm Stamp coloured in with Copics, and the paper is from the Scrapbook Kit I get from America each month. The sentiment is a PTI one, ribbon is Stampin Up, so quite a selection here.

Have a great evening all, will try and get some more cards made and posted in the next couple of days...

My Grandson's Birthday Card

Ha ha, better late than never.... you've guessed it, this was a while ago and I just haven't posted the pics.... in fact his birthday was in May...

The Greetings Farm stamp of a fireman, Stampin' Up! patterned paper, Summer Sun, Night of Navy and Real Red Cardstock, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon and a Computer Generated sentiment. The buttons are Papertrey Ink. The star is Papertrey Ink stamp set with Stampin' Up Punch.

The sentiment is also Papertrey Ink

Thanks for looking, have a great evening xx

Well tomorrow is DH's birthday, so organised a bbq for him today. I told him I thought we should have a bbq for daughter and son who helped out whilst we were in South Afrcia which he agreed, but I told everyone it was a surprise birthday bbq... birthday cake was all ready when we got home for church with lighted candles and everything, I asked if it was a surprise and he said he had an inkling of what I was doing because I was going to so much effort... hmmmm, I am sure I would have taken that much trouble for my children too.... anyway a good time was had by all...

My card today was for my nephew who passed his driving test first time and he is only 17, so a great achievement for him. He has his own car now so he is really pleased with himself.

For this card I used Papertrey Ink car stamp and die and I also used the Star Stamp Set from PTI and the Star Punch from SU... the buttons are also PTI, oh yes and the paper. The sentiment is in the same set as the car.

Have a great evening everyone, off now to relax, think I deserve it after such a busy day. xx

My Dad's birthday card

So here is my dad's birthday card, and yes I am late posting this too as his birthday was in May.

This card I CASE'd from the PTI Gallery, I was just so pleased with how it turned out and I got to use some of my old papers up too.... and I even did some sewing... how about that!!

And as per usual I decorated the inside to match... so there we go....

Thanks for visiting my blog and have a great evening xx